If you haven’t seen it, in addition to George Will, other conservatives are highly critical of McCain, mainly his choice of Palin, and they seem to be smart enough to see that she is completely out of her league and realize that would be a BAD thing for the country.
It’s so easy to get blinded by your own ideals – by the things we ~want~ to be true, that I have admiration for people who can see the truth about their own candidates.
LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-palin28-2008sep28,0,3440078.story
The National Review (that bastion of the liberal media – ha): “Palin Problem: She’s out of her league.”
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MDZiMDhjYTU1NmI5Y2MwZjg2MWNiMWMyYTUxZDkwNTE=
And of course, omg, SNL!!! Tina Fey was brilliant, and she DIDN’T EVEN HAVE TO CHANGE WHAT PALIN SAID!!!
http://www.hulu.com/watch/36863/saturday-night-live-couric--palin-open
(You can pick your own video of Palin to compare: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=palin+couric&search_type=&aq=f )
Debatable Thoughts:
A lot of liberals I know are commenting that they wish Obama hadn’t said so much how he agreed with McCain, or how McCain was absolutely right on certain points, but I think that was a very smart move, and a good sign, for a couple reasons:
Obama was playing to the undecided voters and those who weren’t comfortable with him. He showed, by giving credit and agreeing, that he can work with Republicans, that he is not some outrageous scary guy with nothing in common with other politicians (though, I know some of us would like to think he doesn’t have much in common with them – ha). By playing to the undecideds I believe Obama gained votes, or lessened fears, both steps in a positive direction. McCain, on the other hand, was playing to his base, and so probably didn’t gain any votes from the debate that weren’t already in the bag.
I think it also shows what Clinton spoke about this morning – that he is intelligent, adaptable, and can listen to other people’s ideas and incorporate them. Clinton commented that Obama’s proposed policies have gotten better and better as his campaign has gone on, which to me is a very strong positive – especially after 8 years of a president who, in the immortal words of Stephen Colbert, “thinks the same thing on Tuesday as he did on Sunday no matter WHAT happened on Monday”! One party, and especially one person, doesn’t have a corner on the good idea market, so it’s wonderful to have someone as a presidential candidate who can actually listen and recognize good ideas from his opponents.
What I think of when I think of what Obama’s presidency might look like is Lincoln’s “Team of Rivals” - some of the best and brightest who may also challenge Obama’s ideas and help him become even better.
That’s all for now...
Except:
Thanks for giving me an outlet to share my thoughts and news/humor bits I find enlightening, thought-provoking and entertaining. Most folks have replied saying “keep it coming” - but if it’s too much or you already see enough political stuff, please let me know and I’ll take you off my “liberal friends” mailing list! :) Conversely, if you know of other friends who’d like to be included, let me know – I tried to only put people on the list who I was pretty sure would enjoy/appreciate/have time for the emails, but I could easily have missed some!
Keep up all the good work out there people. I know some of you have been on the phones for Obama – here’s a funny blog post from a guy who did that and his experience – I call it “A Democratic Angel gets his wings” :)
http://tj.tntluoma.com/tales/sporadic-democrats
