Nothing to Contribute, but Everything to Learn

I think I've thought of another reason McCain is so eager to stop campaigning. I haven't heard anybody talk about his opportunity to learn about a critical issue in this campaign.

Think about it from a self proclaimed economic amateur's point of view. What do you do when you don't know much about the economy and you don't really know how the government does (or is supposed to) react to a financial crisis? What do you do when there is a sudden crisis in the economy and all of the questions you get asked on the campaign trail involve something you "know very little about"? When that crisis door opens and you realize you are falling in the polls because you have no good answers to any economic questions, you insist on postponing your beatings to go back to school. Where better to learn of the current crisis than in the negotiating rooms during the crisis? Even if you don't contribute to the discussion, you can finally have something to say to those pesky reporters who insist on doing their jobs.

John McCain is not just trying to avoid this week's debate on Foreign Policy, he knows the main focus of the debate will be on the economy. He knows he is lacking in both experience and wisdom on this issue and going to Washington to sit in on the conversation is his best opportunity for a cramming session before the big exam.

The Ironic Karl Rove

Karl Rove, in one ironic sound bite, displayed so much of what is bad about politics and the political elite. From an ABC News blogger:

ABC News' Christianne Klein reports that at a breakfast with Republican insiders at the Capitol Hill Club this morning, former White House senior aide Karl Rove referred to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, as "coolly arrogant."

"Even if you never met him, you know this guy," Rove said, per Christianne Klein. "He's the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Let's disect this, shall we.

Karl Rove must position himself as an elitist to make such a comment about a political rival. He "knows this guy" from the country club because is a country club regular. He was the mastermind behind turning a retarded golf buddy into the regular Joe president that every flag carrying American can relate to, which, for a while gave him the elevated status as a political guru.

Also, doesn't his characterization of Obama as arrogant constitute making "snide comments"? If this statement was an attempt to make someone who sits in the corner criticizing people look like an arrogant elitist, doesn't that make Rove himself an arrogant elitist.

As a denegration of another person's character, Rove sure succeeded in denegrating himself in the process. Without giving examples of Obama's actual behavior, Rove has also demonstrated perfectly what it means to project.

From wikipedia.org:

Common definitions (of projection)

* "Projection is the opposite defense mechanism to identification. We project our own unpleasant feelings onto someone else and blame them for having thoughts that we really have."
* "A defense mechanism in which the individual attributes to other people impulses and traits that he himself has but cannot accept. It is especially likely to occur when the person lacks insight into his own impulses and traits."
* "Attributing one's own undesirable traits to other people or agencies."
* "The individual perceives in others the motive he denies having himself. Thus the cheat is sure that everyone else is dishonest."
* "People attribute their own undesirable traits onto others."
* "An individual who possesses malicious characteristics, but who is unwilling to perceive himself as an antagonist, convinces himself that his opponent feels and would act the same way."

The quote makes more sense when you imagine Karl Rove talking about himself in an autobiography:

"Even if you never met [me], you know [me]. [I'm] the guy at the country club [without] the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by."

Fear of the Unknown

I am a member of several online communities and another member of one of these posted some disturbing quotes that he gathered about people who are "scared" of Barack Obama. See the rest here.

"When I first heard of Barack, a few days ago, the first thing I heard is that he is a guy who came out of nowhere and now many flock to his side. When my wife and I heard this, we both thought the same thing, the anti-christ. Now I am not claiming him to be, just something that triggered that thought in both of us.”
~Brian Raymond, 49 (a commenter on a Facebook Group called "Is Barak Obama The Antichrist?")

The "something that triggered that thought" was your indoctrinated fear of the unknown. Here are some people who also has (or had) fear of the unknown:

1. Conservatives (who think that change is bad and that anything different should be avoided because we don't know where it will lead)
2. Racists (who spread hate messages and teach their children to avoid people who are born different)
3. Bigots (who spread hate and teach their children to avoid people who think different)
4. Hitler (who fear the genes of the non-Aryan population)
5. Isolationists (who fear getting involved with foreign events so that they can feel safe at night)



People who didn't have that fear:

1. Columbus (who discovered the New World and allowed for the exploration of an area that would eventually be the homebase for freedom and equality to blossom and grow into what it is today)
2. Revolutionaries (who fought against the tyranny of England and tested an unknown system of government)
3. Astronauts (who repeatedly risk life and limb to explore space beyond what we can see from the ground)
4. Civil Rights Advocates (who risk their lives fight against racists and bigots to help grant women, gays, blacks, atheists, etc the freedoms to enjoy this life)
5. Medical Researchers (who sometimes spend their entire life searching for unknown cures for diseases that benefit everyone)
6. Explorers (who search the globe for new trade routes, bridge gaps in cultures, and find interesting things to put on the Discovery Channel)
7. Pioneers of the Western US (left the comfort of their homes in the east and spent months moving west in search of what they didn't know was there)
8. Engineers (who test the limits of human creations to impove the world around us)
9. The Military (who continue to battle an unknown enemy in an unknown environment for your beneift)

I suggest to 49-year-old Brian Raymond, stop being such a scared little child and learn about the issues. Please check out:

http://www.barackobama.com/issues/

It may enlighten you and help you make an informed decision instead of one based on the fear of the unknown.

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See the cross post at BarackObama.com.

Keith Olbermann Special Comment On Hillary and Ferraro

Keith Olbermann is one of my favorite political commentators. I find his honest, pointed criticism of almost anyone to be a refreshing departure from what the mainstream media typically spits out. I especially like his "Special Comment" segments when he really bites down and focuses his attention on one issue of the day. Sometimes he rails against Bill O'Reilly and "Fox Noise", sometimes he picks on people he usually agrees with, who just happened to slip up and do something really, really stupid.

Recent headlines have caused Mr Olbermann to bring the hammer down on Senator Clinton:



Obviously, I am supporting Barack Obama to be the nest President of the United States (just check out the HUGE banner on the right). I don't really have much against Hillary Clinton but I really do agree that she needs to denounce/reject Ferraro just as she demanded that Senator Obama denounce/reject Farrakhan (the important segments of this clip are Obama's comments at 3:00 and Clinton's response at 8:00}: