A dismal thought at day's end
Thursday October 9, 2008
Categories: Republicans
And now, as we say our nighttime prayers and prepare for bed, having seen that the Japanese stock market lost 10 percent of its value on Friday, let us turn to Ross Douthat for a melancholy meditation on the flailing...
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About Crunchy Con
Rod Dreher is an editorial columnist for the Dallas Morning News, and author of "Crunchy Cons" (Crown Forum), a nonfiction book about conservatives, most of them religious, whose faith and political convictions sometimes put them at odds with mainstream conservatives. The views expressed in this blog are his own.
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So what's he supposed to say? McCain doesn't have a clue about how to fix the economy. Obama doesn't have a clue how to fix the economy. Paulson doesn't have a clue about how to fix the economy. Nobody does. We're all in the passenger compartment of the plane that is about to hit the World Trade Center.
Fact that the McCain campaign is focusing on Ayers in the midst of a ONCE IN A CENTURY financial crisis exposes the bankruptcy of ideas in the Republican party. Rod and his "Culture of Death" compatriots should take a long hard look what has lead them to the point of supporting this ticket and its predecessor.
You think it's meaningful that Obama served on a board with Ayers and a bunch of Republicans, on a project funded by the Annenberg Foundation (Annenberg being a big Republican donor)? Does that mean that Annenberg's association with Ayers is meaningful, too? And the association of the other Republicans on the board?
I suggest then that you consider the matter of Palin's associations (I'd like to take up McCain's with the Nazi collaborators, Latin American death squads etc., via the World Anti-Communist League and the USCWF as well as his sharing a stage with a woman who commended another woman that a judge called a terrorist for attacking a physician at abortion clinic, but let's stick to Palin for the moment.)
"Meet Sarah Palin's Radical Right-Wing Pals"
Two radical right wing extremists helped Sarah Palin get elected as mayor of Wasilla, and according to one of them "her door was open" to them, and still is. One of them is a guy known as "Black Helicopter Steve" because he buried several large guns in his yard just in case the New World Order took over. The other is Mark Chryson, former chairman of the Alaska Independence Party.
"Though Chryson belongs to a fringe political party, one that advocates the secession of Alaska from the Union, and that organizes with other like-minded secessionist movements from Canada to the Deep South [there are roughly 30 of these, folks--who knew?], he is not without peculiar influence in state politics, especially the rise of Sarah Palin. An obscure figure outside of Alaska, Chryson has been a political fixture in the hometown of the Republican vice-presidential nominee for over a decade. During the 1990s, when Chryson directed the AIP, he and another radical right-winger, Steve Stoll, played a quiet but pivotal role in electing Palin as mayor of Wasilla and shaping her political agenda afterward. Both Stoll and Chryson not only contributed to Palin’s campaign financially, they played major behind-the-scenes roles in the Palin camp before, during and after her victory."
"Palin backed Chryson as he successfully advanced a host of anti-tax, pro-gun initiatives, including ONE THAT ALTERED THE STATE CONSTITUTION'S LANGUAGE TO BETTER FACILITATE THE FORMATION OF ANTI-GOVERNMENT MILITIAS [Emphasis mine]. SHE JOINED IN THEIR VENDETTA against several local officials they disliked, and listened to their advice about hiring. She attempted to name Stoll, a John Birch Society activist known in the Mat-Su Valley as `Black Helicopter Steve,' to an empty Wasilla City Council seat. `Every time I showed up her door was open,' said Chryson. `And that policy continued when she became governor.'
"In Wasilla, the AIP became powerful by proxy — because of Chryson and Stoll’s alliance with Sarah Palin. Chryson and Stoll had found themselves in constant opposition to policies of Wasilla’s Democratic mayor, who started his three-term, nine-year tenure in 1987. By 1992, Chryson and Stoll had begun convening regular protests outside City Council. Their demonstrations invariably involved grievances against any and all forms of `socialist government,' from city planning to public education. Stoll shared Chryson’s conspiratorial views: `The rumor was that he had wrapped his guns in plastic and buried them in his yard so he could get them after the New World Order took over,' Stein told a reporter."
Word on Troopergate out tomorrow: stay tuned. Since the McCain campaign issued a statement tonight defending Palin, that's a pretty good indication the report says she abused her power in firing Walt Moneghan. It's an impeachable offense. What will McCain do? Now that her negatives are shooting up after she whips up crowds to call for Obama's death, maybe he's rethinking his decision.
Around here, a new group has formed: GASP, or "Girlfriends Appalled by Sarah Palin." They doubled their membership in less than a week and every one of them is out volunteering for Obama.
There are much more interesting things to think about at the end of the day.
The kids are in bed.
You are married to a smart, hot, young woman.
The 'Hokey Pokey' may not be what it is All about,
but it does make everything else bearable.
You mean George Bush is a terrorist who's hijacked America?
I might have to agree with you there.
Kirk: So what's [McCain] supposed to say?
Well, "I have no freaking idea what to do, but we'll give it our best" might be nice. Certainly more honest and relevant than tired attacks based on guilt-by-association. I've already posted this on another thread, but it bears repeating. Some of the members of the Alaskan Independence Party are as creepy as Ayers ever thought about being, and the Palin's association with them seems longer-term and deeper than any association that Obama had with Ayers. Note that the founder of the party had support from Iran and died in a failed arms deal; that Chayson, an early mentor of Palin, thinks the Civil War was not about slavery but about states' rights; that this party has links to white supremacist and militia groups; and so on. Rod, Kirk, and any others who think Ayers's link to Obama is important, I challenge you: why is this stuff not as relevant, if you're going to make the argument on Ayers? You think Ayers may have influenced Obama's beliefs, and these guts had no effect at all on the Palins?
In Rod's case, I appreciate that he understands and points out the relative triviality of the Ayers rap vis-a-vis the economy. But, if that's so important regarding Obama, what about the AIP and Palin?
Anonymous at 11:33: High five, and thank you for the greater detail about Palin's and McCain's questionable associations! Sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander. Also, thank you for pointing out the savage ugliness displayed by the crowd at Palin's rallies. It is truly disgusting.
feel the same sense of eye-rolling, you-don't-get-it disdain I do whenever a liberal freaks out over John Hagee's name being attached to McCain. As if that had anything to do with anything that mattered.
I don't freak out about John Hagee, and I don't freak about Ayers, because, as you say, none of it has anything to do with what matters. In the end, most of what's been going on for the last 10 years has had little to do with anything that matters, and we are now going to pay through the nose for that. I specifically include The Pony Wars. The invisible hand is about to get midieval on our asses.
having seen that the Japanese stock market lost 10 percent of its value on Friday,
Remember: the slaughter will continue. Remember also: we have made it through many panics and depressions.
max
['Cold comfort.']
Funny....but, you know, maybe Thomas Frank is right. Maybe the GOP has suckered a lot of Americans into voting for policies that hurt their own economic prospects. I mean, just this week the Bush administration said it would oppose extending jobless benefits, with ever-lovely Dana Perino declaring, "that the best way to help the economy" is for "unemployed people to get back to work." As if the jobless are eating bon-bons in bed, living like kings on thirteen weeks of unemployment checks.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/10/08/perino-unemployment/
It's this kind of White House stand that feeds the 2008 voter perception that the GOP really doesn't "get" the concept of economic pain. Could it be the voters are right?
Here's where the Ayers association matters in terms of the economy.
The Reverend's only executive experience consists of the work that he did at Ayers' behest for the Annenberg Challenge in Chicago -- a project which produced no demonstrable improvement in Chicago's very bad public schools and which seems to have consisted in little more than the distribution of political spoils to cronies of the Reverend's and Ayers' in the form of groups like ACORN, which -- along with Trinity United Church of Christ, the former pulpit of Jeremiah Wright -- received money from the Reverend and Ayers.
This is the same ACORN that played an pivotal role in bringing about the financial crisis by threatening to sabotage banks that refused to issue loans to ACORN's (and the Reverend's) (and Ayers') (and Wright's) constituency.
This is the same ACORN that is now being found to be engaged in electoral fraud across the country in swing states essential to the Reverend's success next month.
This is the same ACORN that the Reverend worked with himself in his community organizer days, that he has represented in lawsuits brought against banks in an effort to pressure them to lower their credit terms, and that his campaign has contributed a million dollars to this year for help with the election.
This sort of thing is what one will be voting for if one votes for the Reverend -- the U.S.A. made over in the image of left-liberal machine politics in the ghettos and the slums of our inner cities, made over in particular in the image of among the worst ghettos and slums in the country (the South Side of Chicago) in among the most backward and moribund states in economic terms (Illinois).
Which brings us back to Bill Ayers.
Ayers' distinction for this election is that he appears to be the first to join the Reverend's congregation.
Even more damning than the fact that the Reverend has chosen to associate himself with Ayers is the fact that Ayers has chosen to associate himself with the Reverend.
He is in some sense the John-the-Baptist to the Jesus Christ that the Reverend presumes "Himself" to be for his flock of lost sheep in search of golden calves.
If Ayers' imprimatur is one that you yourself can endorse, then, by all means, the Reverend is The One for you.
But please -- come now -- let's not pretend that Ayers' endorsement of the Reverend or the Reverend's endorsement of Ayers are not as suggestive -- *more* suggestive in fact -- of what kind of President the Reverend would be than any evidence we have.
And likewise let's not pretend that what kind of President we have will not have some bearing on what kind of economy we're likely to have in the next four years.
It could be argued that concerns about the Reverend's likely Presidency are themselves a part of what it is that's driving the sell-off in stocks right now -- a sell-off that is having the ironic effect of furthering the Reverend's chance to gain the Presidency.
If ever a circle were vicious, then that one is it.
If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.
And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.
From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.
That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.
Kudos to author Lee Greenwood.
Kit Stoltz:
Believing that the narcissistic politicians in DC, or the pointy-headed intellectuals or the self-agrandizing academicians can actually manage the economy is the ENTIRE cause of our economic problems now.
That you think that government is actually the ANSWER to the problems now, is that YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND A THING... More importantly, that you haven't learned a thing from history and present events.
The very last thing on earth this country needs is a petulant government running around robbing the successful out of spite.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
Lose not a moment's sleep. We will NOT fear. Go boldly, God's on YOUR side.
"The very last thing on earth this country needs is a petulant government running around robbing the successful out of spite."
Actually, the very last thing we need at this point is more trite sloganeering and puerile music. Grow up.
All right, people. Let's all take a deep breath here.
According to the latest Zogby poll, Obama is only up by 4; very close to the margin of error. Factor in the Bradley factor, and he's probably actually down by 2.
He hasn't closed the deal yet. My guess is that he won't, especially if he doesn't come up with some real specifics as to how he's going to handle the banking/stock market problems. McCain actually started hitting him for his connections to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae today, and that's going to count for something.
Don't start the dirges yet, troops. This one may go into overtime.
When all is said and done, however, I'm still voting Bob Barr. Christus, I'm going to vote minor-party all across the board; neither faction of AmNatSoc strikes me as being competent to govern anything more complicated than a hog pen.
Your servant,
Lord Karth
JPL. You have faith in idiots.
I know what works.
Good luck with your faith in foolish and arrogant twits. Faith in government is a delusion. A deception. No evidence on earth suggests we should believe in government as anything but a rather mediocre and limited capacity servant.
Karth... what's your point? You are not going to help Obama's opponent, which is the effective equivalent of helping him, but still keep claiming you dont' want him.
I detect no serious intent or thought on your part, here.
Zogby is one of the most unreliable pollsters out there. I wouldn't trust him to get a high school student council election right, much less the presidential race.
Night, you have no idea who I have faith in, and I'm not inclined to enlighten you. But I am dead certain that whenever a man claims "he knows what works", and spouts the nonsense you spout, he has grossly confused being certain with being right.
Juvenile or childish music... Hmmm...
JPL, these are the same sentiments that my father expressed.
Not a juvenile or childish person, was he.
Jumped out of an airplane in a recreational tour of Europe wearing some green funky uniform and an indulgently large pack on his back, and some useless weaponry and other instruments of weekend revelry.
He went on to experience one of history's celebratory multi-day international events otherwise known as "The Battle of The Bulge".
And then spent much of the rest of the American's mass vacation in Europe as a conceirge for the German delegation at the aforementioned festival.
My father's first language was not english, he had to learn it after he was sent to school. He managed 5 grades before the family, wearied of all the celebration going on during the festival known as The Great Depression, made him stay home and party with the rest of them, by working for a few cents an hour.
yeah, my dad was juvenile and childish for loving the country his parents adopted for him.
Or you're a unsufferable arrogant twit.
I definitely lean to the latter explanation of your observational reactions.
For what it's worth, Night, I was a United States Marine for many years, and saw a fair share of action in Central America and the Drug Wars of the 1980s. I've served under brave men, and had brave men serve under me. I know a fair amount about honor, courage, camaraderie, esprit de corps, etc.
None of which makes that sort of sappy, sentimental, and lazy-hearted nonsense anything but what it is. Patriotism, at least of that kind, is the last refuge of scoundrels.
Yay for your dad. Boo for you.
LOL, back to the "Any claims of knowledge mean you're wrong" school of thought.
Of course, JPL, you're going to tell us that you, of course, are exempt from the rules by which you judge others, and that you're CERTAIN you're right, and that, of course, is supposed to be evidence of your enlightened veracity.
Excuse me while I laugh a bit.
You're right, I don't really "know" you, but you do reveal some of what you think when you post here. It's not like that's a complete mystery.
Wow, it's hard to really decide if you're more rude or more ignorant. No, I don't believe that any claim of knowledge means you're wrong. Nor is there any such school of thought, which would be a uniquely recursive school of logic. But I am of the school of thought says when someone claims certain knowledge of topics which are inherently loaded with opinion and mutually contradictory claims, about which men and women of good faith have debated and argued for centuries, that individual is of course wrong. Unless they possess a unique insight that the great humans of centuries past all lacked.
Add to that a juvenile tendency towards name-calling, posting entire song lyrics on blogs designed to hold conversation and debate, bad grammar, and standing on your father's record of service to country rather than cite his own, and I feel pretty clear I know what I'm dealing with. One more conservative chickenhawk, always proud to watch others fight and die for their right to remain ignorant.
Anyway, I'll now exercise some of those rights your dad and I fought for, and you like to sing country-western songs about, and ignore you. Please return to your regularly scheduled mindless trolling.
What planet do these people live on???
Nightstalker. Consider this. It has become evident that neither the Republican or Democratic parties are responsive to the people they claim to represent. What each party has done, theugh, is to make sure that their constituents are terrified that the oppoesite party will win. Why? They effectively maintain a bi-partisan monopoly on power that does nothing so much as favor encumbants so that they can continue in their chosen career and not get fired. Thats it. Tell me again why its better to vote for the republicans who have proven to be absolutely unresponsive to their own constituents except in a couple of cases where public outrage was so evident as to scare the arrogance out of them. Tell me again about the democratic party that said it would stress ethics and does nothing about the criminals in their ranks. I will vote third party as well and hope that enough people do that we can convince the career poiticos that this is a government of, by and for the people not a government from the people by and for the encumbant. If this economic mess doesn't wake people like you up to the way we've been used (myself definitly included) then we WILL loose the government and, i am convinced, become subjects rather than citizens. We are already moving down that road. Personally, I think its probably to late. Fascism is not, technically, politically institutionalized racism and violence. It is a system of corporatism where the government technically does not own business, but it does control it. Profit can be made privately, but loss is owned publicaly. After the last couple of weeks with a republican president and a democratic congress exactly how far are we from the classic difinition of fascist (its an Italian more than a German definition, by the way, just like the historic Fascist party)? I know, its an emotionally loaded word so some people have probably quit listening. Thats a shame because we are heading down a very bad road and Republicans and Democrats are both playing the pipe we're following. And you ant us to vote for one of these parties?
So what's he supposed to say? McCain doesn't have a clue about how to fix the economy. Obama doesn't have a clue how to fix the economy. Paulson doesn't have a clue about how to fix the economy. Nobody does. We're all in the passenger compartment of the plane that is about to hit the World Trade Center.
Oh, I think you're pretty much right. It's not like I think Obama has anything worthwhile to say (after the last "debate," I decided that I'm sitting the presidential race out). But then again, Obama doesn't have to say anything; he just has to be Not A Republican.
As someone who works in the finance industry, I more hopeful right now than at any time in the last two weeks. For one, I heard an excellent idea from a Wharton School Business professor and echoed by Vince Farrell on CNBC last night: Have the Fed guarantee interbank loans. This would help greatly in counter-party and credit loosening areas. I don' think this would be terribly costly and it would be a big step toward getting money moving again. Credit is the key. The longer credit is locked up the worse it is for our economy. We have to get the credit market unlocked to get moving on the road to recovery. I hope Mssrs. Benarnke and Paulson were listening. We need to start enforcing the naked short sales rule and reinstate the uptick rule - paging Chris Cox and Pres. Bush.
Wow, it's hard to really decide if you're more rude or more ignorant.
I think he's just cranky.
"We need to start enforcing the naked short sales rule and reinstate the uptick rule - paging Chris Cox and Pres. Bush. "
You mean the short selling ban that expired on Wednesday?
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/6045834.html
Gallup has Obama up 11 points 52-41. Not that national polls mean that much.
Rod, I agree wholeheartedly about the Bill Ayers connection. My father, a WWII vet, who was a registered Republican for years, preached against the Vietnam war (Lutheran minister) starting about 1965. I grew up in an anti-war family, but always thought the Weather Underground were creepy, and sick puppies.
Nonetheless, Ayers today is a part of the Chicago Democratic political scene, like it or not. He's not in prison, he's a professor. The Chicago mayor, whose name, BTW, is Daley, does business with Ayers. Making too much of this connection is the classic "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
I'm voting for Obama because I simply don't trust McCain to govern the country. And McCain's behavior during this campaign has reinforced all the doubts I had about him heretofor.
Here's what Daley had to say about Bill Ayers:
"Leading Chicagoans, including Mayor Daley, now commend Ayers for his service to the city. "I don't condone what he did 40 years ago, but I remember that period well," Daley said last April. "It was a difficult time, but those days are long over. I believe we have too many challenges in Chicago and our country to keep refighting 40-year-old battles.""
See David Tanenhaus's article in today's Slate Magazine "Barack, Bill and Me" - http://www.slate.com/id/2201953
Meaningful...how? They are acquaintances. They are not close friends. He was an established part of the community when Obama moved to Chicago. If he were some pariah it would be different. He was accepted and respected in Republican circles (Annenbergs are Republicans), and made himself useful. He obviously wasn't all that radical, despite the McCarthyistic breathless jingoism being spewed about now, to scare people into thinking that Barack Obama is secretly a terrorist. It is a nothingburger. And it is insulting that John McCain is so morally and ideologically bankrupt that he can't sell his plans to the populace and resorts to scare tactics as base as this to get votes. He is irresponsible and utterly unfit to be president.
Now McCain is calling for the arrest of Dodd and Frank? You got to be kidding me. That is freaking hilarious.
NOWHERE HAVE I READ IN ANY CENTER TO RIGHT PUBLICATION HAS ANY REPUBLICAN BEEN BLAMED FOR THE ECONOMIC CRISIS!!!!
Your party is a freaking joke.
Alicia: "He's not in prison, he's a professor."
An unrepentant terrorist who belongs in prison today is teaching college instead, and traveling to Venezuela in his spare time to toast Hugo Chavez.
This is a travesty of justice beyond words.
I was reading an old Esquire magazine in the doctor's office today, and it had a long and interesting and colorful section on the best bars in America, with some interesting drink ideas and recipes thrown in. I think a bar might be the best place to spend the next few months.
Anonymous at 12:53: Cheers, l'hayim, and na zdorovie! Not a bad idea--if we can round up the cash....
I'm with Anon and Turmarion. I could stand to hoist a few pints after looking at my 401K yesterday. Reaganite, you should join us. You really need somethin' to take the edge off.
Reaganite, the point is, whether you like Ayers or think he is a creep, he is an accepted part of the Chicago political scene.
You may not like it, but the fact that Obama sat on the same boards (along with lots of conservative businessmen) with Ayers doesn't mean much.
I think Ayers is a creep, personally (and I think Chavez is an undemocratic clown and a very dangerous person) but that doesn't change my opinion that McCain would be a far riskier choice for our next President than Palin.
Oops, haha, Reaganite, I meant to say McCain would be a far riskier choice than Obama. But, McCain might also be a riskier choice than Palin.
I was "Anon" at 12:53. Sorry - forgot to input my John Hancock before hitting the "Post" button.
Maybe the bartender will put it on our tabs. :^)
Lord Karth
According to the latest Zogby poll, Obama is only up by 4; very close to the margin of error. Factor in the Bradley factor, and he's probably actually down by 2.
You're looking at the wrong thing. Presidents don't win the popular vote, they win the electoral vote.
Obama is, at this point, posed to win in a win a huge, 340+, blowout electoral vote. Check out 270towin.com, Obama has 264 electoral votes from states with stronger than 5% Obama support...and needs 270 to win. McCain has 163 votes with 5% support.
Or, to rephrase, McCain has to win every state that isn't polling at +5% Obama: FL,OH,NC,VA,IN,MO,CO,NV (There is, indeed, a reason, McCain was in Ohio a few days ago, despite him being well behind there...unless he turns it around there, he loses.)
Of course, that's just one site, but, OTOH, Real Clear Politics, which is generally regarded as right leaning, has Obama 277, McCain 158, which means Obama wins, period.
Republicans and the media like to quote the 'average' like it's meaningful, for different reasons... Republicans because it keeps them from admitting how far they're behind, and the media because they love a close race. But don't delude yourself...if the election was held tomorrow, it's entirely possible possible it would be callable for Obama when the EST polls close if Florida, Ohio, Virginia, or North Carolina voted for him. (Me, I'm hoping for Georgia! Yes, Georgia. I give it 1/10 odds.)
Granted, it's still a month before the election. OTOH...when is that Alaskan report getting released? Today?
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