James Prescott

First and foremost, if in 2004 I said “one veep candidate is going to be a white guy who makes racially suspect comments, and the other is going to be a woman” who would have guessed the first would be the Dem and the second would be the Republican.

Brian and the MSNBC commentators have made several solid points, at least on its face, against Sarah Palin as a legitimate vice presidential candidate. And the “on its face” is not a knock on Brian or MSNBC. This choice came as a surprise to almost everyone (*cough cough*), and there has not been a lot of public vetting. Palin was not a staple on the Sunday morning television shows, like Biden was, and is from the boondocks. But I would like to provide a response to a lot of the common arguments that I have seen.

I am not going to say that this choice was not meant to target women as a primary consideration – it was. However, I think what a lot of people are overlooking is that Palin appeals to that other Clinton demographic that the Democratic Convention did not reach; the blue collar, union democrats. The group of individuals which Barack Obama supposedly called “bitter.”

Sarah Palin’s husband is a lifelong union guy. She is a member of the NRA who enjoys the outdoors. She has worked hard and is not upper class. She is a hockey mom, and thus can appeal and relate to that constituency in a way Obama, Biden, and McCain cannot. (Although, I still don’t know how Clinton related, but that is my own deficiency). Barack Obama accused John McCain not understanding what the average American was going through. Well Sarah Palin knows, and better than Barack Obama because she is decidedly not a millionaire.

Now, I mentioned that there was an appeal to women. Let us get back to that. Brian and others have mentioned that she won’t whittle away the democrat’s base among women since she doesn’t represent women’s issues.

Lets cut the bullshit right here and now. The above paragraph is misleading. It is not women’s ISSUES, its women’s ISSUE; specifically abortion. While I admit that I am not familiar with her position on wage and other issues of discrimination, I am pretty sure she is against those things, but pursues ending those issues using conservative means. Call it a hunch. So if Senator Biden, the old white guy, wants to challenge her on any women’s issue outside of abortion, I am pretty sure she has a zinger in her back pocket that will make him look silly.

Now for abortion, I will be equally intrigued to see how Senator Biden will go after her prolife stance, especially given her background story. Her youngest child was born with Down’s syndrome, and I do not have to tell anyone the difficulties that are involved with raising a child with that particular disease. These complications are reason enough for a lot of people to abort a child when they find out it has this disease. She walked the walk and had the child. As a result, I would find it difficult to see how Biden could attack her on her position.

And now to the best part of the nomination, and the aspect that makes me downright giddy, because now, I get to educate the liberals on something. Specifically, “the downside of attacking a female candidate.” As a conservative, I know a little bit about this.

A lot of people are saying she is unqualified, but don’t know anything about her; not really. They know of her positions, but she is a dark horse. So don’t all the accusations that she is unqualified or not suitable smack of small mindedness? Is she unqualified because she is a woman? Because she didn’t go to the right school? Because she isn’t a Washington insider? Pick your poison. I mean answer.

See, wasn’t that fun? The problem is you do not know her that well, especially her background, so you really don’t have a solid basis to judge her. Not your fault, no one knows much about her. But any judgment on her preparation, especially at this point, leads to those type questions.

Now I know what you are thinking. We are liberals! We don’t do that stuff. But here is the thing. You are running against a woman now from outside the beltway. This is the type of crap you have to look forward to!

(Note to Josh: Don’t start in on the foreign policy stuff. Seriously, it’s a loser. Why do you ask? Because in 2007 Palin went on an international tour to Kuwait and Germany, much like Obama. Unlike Obama, she didn’t have a presidential following, didn’t go to a lot of fancy dinners, and DID go to the military hospitals. How do you think that would play in Pennsylvania?)

This leads me to the whole experience issue. “How can McCain pick someone who is only a heartbeat away from the presidency with so little experience? She has only run the smallest state in the union, and a town?” Obvious response. “The guy at the top of your ticket has comparable experience. And he has never run anything! Forget a heart beat away…he is already there!”

Fundamentally this is still a risk for the McCain campaign. She gave one speech, which was fine. She introduced herself and painted a fine narrative for herself which is how you start. She still has a long way to go, and a lot to do to prove that she is ready. She could have a ton of gaffes. I am not going to say she is going to win the election McCain, she won’t. She probably won’t lose it for him either. However, this does change the dynamic of the election and in a way that can not be dismissed by saying it is a cynical calculation? Was Joe Biden not a calculation to get more votes on the part Obama?

In my opinion, MSNBC and the other organs of the Obama campaign screwed up the announcement by going into hyper discredit mode. If they had played it cool and said “hey, we don’t know what she is about, but we sure are going to find out,” then it would have been ok and the impact would not have been as great. Later on, they could have made attacks on Palin based on better research, better understanding of the candidate, etc., and looked well reasoned.

Instead, they freaked out. They overreacted, threw out accusations about her being a non-entity, and opened themselves up to claims of being sexist/superior/out of touch and confined to knee jerk reactions. Mistake. Now every time Palin does something competent, she proves them wrong; every solid speech she give undercuts them.

Long story short, the ball is now in Palin’s court. And considering that she was a state champion point guard, that is probably a mistake.

The great mystery of Urbanagora is the identity of the man, or woman, who lives behind the mask that is Kofi. Much like Batman, he lives in the shadows and dark underplaces of Urbanagora coming out only to strive against liberal hackery and small minded thought, especially when such banalities are espoused by Brian, who, lets face it, is a bit of a Joker.

So imagine my surprise, and great honor, when I was contacted by the great and powerful Kofi himself. And I was further stunned when I was offered a view behind the mask. I now know who Kofi is, and I share that info with all of you. It is no other than that other big summer blockbuster.

“My name is Barack Obama. And I am Kofi, the commentator on that great American blog, Urbanagora.

“As you know, Illinois is my home state and I make it my business to follow closely the political discourse that happens there. Let me be honest; since I made that speech in 2004, I haven’t really had to do anything. I have pretty much been coasting on that.

“So in 2006, I began reading the blog and eventually started to contribute.

“Now, most of you will be surprised, given the seeming disparity between ‘Kofi’s’ views and my public platform. I gotta tell you, Kofi is the real guy, my platform is the act. Like anyone could actually believe that all you need is hope. I mean come on. I didn’t get here by hoping, I got where I am by kicking some ass, not by wishing myself to a good place. I am just surprised that people haven’t noticed that I have been ripping off my platform from JFK and the Beatles White Album. Revolution? Give Peace A Chance? My tax policy is based on ‘Don’t Pass Me By.’ (Although honestly, I am a little nervous about that, cause Ringo wrote that one, and, well, you know).

“So the Kofi identity has been great, as it acts like a pressure valve to all this crap I have to keep shoveling day in and day out. I mean, really, this is just ridiculous. And you all keep buying it wholesale.

“But the real reason I am speaking out is because of one of the commentators. Brian. Seriously. You need to calm down. It will be people like you that could screw this up for me. I mean, HIV? Really? There is a reason that I am losing votes daily. Its because of people like you. I haven’t changed my goddamn message since day one. You bastards are the ones annoying everyone away.

“I haven’t won crap yet, so quit acting like I have. And above all else don’t make allusions to death, disease and destruction because someone else disagrees with you. The liberals and conservatives both agree that is some truly petty shit, and makes all of us look bad.

“So, noun verb hope. Noun verb change. Yes we can, yes we can. Don’t screw this up for me.”

UPDATE: Senator Obama sent me this link of a column by U of I grad George Will. The senator thought it was especially good at pointing out some of the weaknesses of his platform.

Richard Posner, Seventh Circuit Judge and senior lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School, recently wrote a column in the New Republic decrying the Heller decision, comparing it unfavorable o other notable Supreme Court cases like Roe. This is especially noteworthy since Posner is a noted “conservative” judge and Heller was a “conservative” decision. Of particular interest, at least to me, was that Posner argues that Heller curtails federalism. Anyway, I thought this line of thought was interesting.

So, due to my lack of consistent internet access, I have been unable to put the post on a review of Obama’s economics plan. So instead, I am going to rely on someone to do it for me. This piece by Michael Boskin that ran in the Wall Street Journal seems to be a nice jumping off point for a conversation. The portion that I especially appreciated in this column, and I believe I have mentioned this idea in a comment somewhere, is the apparent dichotomy of Obama’s professed desire to “improve the United States standing in the world” and his stated plan to compel our trading partners to renegotiate international trade standards and treaties. Treaties which the United States, in many cases, were adamant supporters.

(SPECIAL NOTE TO BRIAN: This is how you do a short post that states disagreement with another person’s side and can lead to discussion, without throwing a hissy fit.)

In the wake of the presidential election season, where individuals are promising and proposing things left and right, here is an interesting article on thoughts of how to spend our money, what we should pursue, and what we should ignore.