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Part the first, wherein the author establishes his bona fides
I am a lifelong Democrat. Growing up in Chicago with a father in the pipefitter's union pretty much set me on that course, but I was not an indifferent Democrat.
In high school, I worked on Gary Hart's presidential campaign. I handed out flyers in Chicago neighbourhoods that under any other circumstance could be dangerous to my physical well-being.
I supported Paul Tsongas and Bill Clinton. I've worked for campaigns, national and local, calling constituents and stuffing envelopes and even speechwriting.
For a while, I served on my County's Central Committee.
Over the years, I've had my arguments on policy and philosophy with other party members, but we've always come together on issues relating to social justice, civil rights, and (more recently) fiscal sanity.
While he is not the Second Coming (contrary to what some supporters may think), Senator Barack Obama is the Necessary Man. He has the skills and vision to put this country back on the correct path, a path that under this current administration has been forsaken.
He has the charisma of Bobby Kennedy and the wonkitude of President Clinton, and he is clearly what our country badly needs right now.
And as much as I may joke that Joe Biden is the reincarnation of Gerald Ford, I respect his background and his service in the Senate.
I am proud to be a Democrat, and I'm proud of our candidates.
Part the second, wherein the author chides his fellow party members
Having said that, however, I am profoundly ashamed of some members of my party.
When Senator McCain chose Governor Palin as his running mate on the Republican ticket, a great many of my fellow Democrats lost their collective minds.
The knee-jerk contempt and unalloyed vitriol that has been unleashed against the Governor is horrifying.
Attacking the Governor's record, ethical behaviour in office, and political views are required to the proper functioning of our adversarial democracy. This is not the issue.
What shames me deeply are the ad hominem attacks. The nasty, Rove-worthy snipes against her personal life and her family life, inlcuding words and phrases that reveal more about the screeder than the screedee.
You know the ones. Retarded breeder. Welfare queen. Hick. Skanky. White trash. The ridiculous charge of "faking a pregnancy".
For God's sake, people, can you hear yourselves? This is as bad as, if not worse than, the right-wing nutjob smear campaigns unleased against then-President Clinton. And it's exactly the kind of personal-destruction politics against which Senator Obama is campaigning.
This is not frakkin' high school, people. Grow up.
Part the third, wherein the author issues a grave warning
This election is ours to lose. And those using this sort of language against the Governor are doing their very best to lose it for us.
Senator McCain is many things, but he is not a stupid man. His choice of Governor Palin was brilliant strategy. Never mind the shallow "Hillary voters will flock to her" bit. That was never the plan.
Look for a moment at Senator McCain's problems with his party. Right now, the Republican party is a loose alliance of three very different factions: old-school conservatives, the Evangelical right, and the NeoCons.
They can't agree on policy, much less a candidate, which is why McCain got the nomination at all.
But Governor Palin is all three of these. And she's young.
She can unify the Republican base behind McCain the way few other people could have.
And, like it or not, your personal attacks on Sarah "just plain folks" Palin are going to backfire. Have backfired. Look at the poll numbers, people.
When you get up on your high horse (or ivory tower) and insult the family and lifestyle of Governor Palin, most of America thinks you're insulting their families and lifestyles.
She is middle-America. And the more you attack her for being who she is (instead of what she's done), the more middle-America thinks you're attacking them.
Remember Adlai Stevenson? How well did the perception of disdain for ordinary rural and suburban Americans work out for that campaign?
The more you make Governor Palin the focus of the media and of this campaign, the more you firm up the Republican base and drive the middle to the right.
Focus on Senator McCain. Focus on the spectre of continuing the past eight years of horror and the cheap sale of our liberties. Focus on winning. For America.
I am a lifelong Democrat. Growing up in Chicago with a father in the pipefitter's union pretty much set me on that course, but I was not an indifferent Democrat.
In high school, I worked on Gary Hart's presidential campaign. I handed out flyers in Chicago neighbourhoods that under any other circumstance could be dangerous to my physical well-being.
I supported Paul Tsongas and Bill Clinton. I've worked for campaigns, national and local, calling constituents and stuffing envelopes and even speechwriting.
For a while, I served on my County's Central Committee.
Over the years, I've had my arguments on policy and philosophy with other party members, but we've always come together on issues relating to social justice, civil rights, and (more recently) fiscal sanity.
While he is not the Second Coming (contrary to what some supporters may think), Senator Barack Obama is the Necessary Man. He has the skills and vision to put this country back on the correct path, a path that under this current administration has been forsaken.
He has the charisma of Bobby Kennedy and the wonkitude of President Clinton, and he is clearly what our country badly needs right now.
And as much as I may joke that Joe Biden is the reincarnation of Gerald Ford, I respect his background and his service in the Senate.
I am proud to be a Democrat, and I'm proud of our candidates.
Part the second, wherein the author chides his fellow party members
Having said that, however, I am profoundly ashamed of some members of my party.
When Senator McCain chose Governor Palin as his running mate on the Republican ticket, a great many of my fellow Democrats lost their collective minds.
The knee-jerk contempt and unalloyed vitriol that has been unleashed against the Governor is horrifying.
Attacking the Governor's record, ethical behaviour in office, and political views are required to the proper functioning of our adversarial democracy. This is not the issue.
What shames me deeply are the ad hominem attacks. The nasty, Rove-worthy snipes against her personal life and her family life, inlcuding words and phrases that reveal more about the screeder than the screedee.
You know the ones. Retarded breeder. Welfare queen. Hick. Skanky. White trash. The ridiculous charge of "faking a pregnancy".
For God's sake, people, can you hear yourselves? This is as bad as, if not worse than, the right-wing nutjob smear campaigns unleased against then-President Clinton. And it's exactly the kind of personal-destruction politics against which Senator Obama is campaigning.
This is not frakkin' high school, people. Grow up.
Part the third, wherein the author issues a grave warning
This election is ours to lose. And those using this sort of language against the Governor are doing their very best to lose it for us.
Senator McCain is many things, but he is not a stupid man. His choice of Governor Palin was brilliant strategy. Never mind the shallow "Hillary voters will flock to her" bit. That was never the plan.
Look for a moment at Senator McCain's problems with his party. Right now, the Republican party is a loose alliance of three very different factions: old-school conservatives, the Evangelical right, and the NeoCons.
They can't agree on policy, much less a candidate, which is why McCain got the nomination at all.
But Governor Palin is all three of these. And she's young.
She can unify the Republican base behind McCain the way few other people could have.
And, like it or not, your personal attacks on Sarah "just plain folks" Palin are going to backfire. Have backfired. Look at the poll numbers, people.
When you get up on your high horse (or ivory tower) and insult the family and lifestyle of Governor Palin, most of America thinks you're insulting their families and lifestyles.
She is middle-America. And the more you attack her for being who she is (instead of what she's done), the more middle-America thinks you're attacking them.
Remember Adlai Stevenson? How well did the perception of disdain for ordinary rural and suburban Americans work out for that campaign?
The more you make Governor Palin the focus of the media and of this campaign, the more you firm up the Republican base and drive the middle to the right.
Focus on Senator McCain. Focus on the spectre of continuing the past eight years of horror and the cheap sale of our liberties. Focus on winning. For America.
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Feel free to hate Palin and McCain. Just do it for real reasons.
Date: 2008-09-10 07:14 pm (UTC)Make sure you've got the correct ammunition in your gun. Ain't never killed a moose with a paint ball.
Or something folksy like that.