I think she is going to win the nomination. And I think she is a formidable candidate. And I am opposed to sexist rants against her just like I am opposed to racist rants by her.
But we are going to win. Barack is going to prevail.
New York Times: Signs Grow That Palin May Run: Sarah Palin is fortifying her small staff of advisers, buying a house in Arizona — where associates have said she could base a national campaign — and reviving her schedule of public appearances. ...... Palin and her husband, Todd, have bought a $1.7 million house in Scottsdale, Ariz. ...... the Palins, who have become especially protective of their privacy in the maelstrom that has followed them since 2008 ..... Palin has reshuffled her staff, rehiring two aides who have helped plan her political events. And she is expected to resume a schedule of public appearances soon — perhaps as early as this weekend — to raise her profile at a moment when the Republican presidential field appears to be taking final form. ...... the moves are at odds with conventional wisdom — if not wishful thinking — among establishment Republicans in Washington that Ms. Palin has decided not to run. That thinking has been voiced increasingly as the party’s professional political class, which Ms. Palin has railed against, has sought to declare the field of candidates closed. ..... None of the likely and declared candidates have fully galvanized the Tea Party activists who form the core of Ms. Palin’s support. ...... “I want to make sure that we have a candidate out there with Tea Party principles,” she told the Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity last week. ..... “We have got to have faith that the Republican Party is going to surface somebody who can take on both sides of the aisle,” she said on Fox Business Network. ...... “I have that fire in my belly.” ...... her one-woman media conglomerate
She will run. She will win the nomination. She will lose in the general election by a wide margin. And that will be the end of Sarah Palin as a political figure in America. Image via Wikipedia
Emphasizing values like faith, family and work is one thing. Talking small government is one thing. Talking low taxes is one thing. But rabid racism is quite another. The Tea Party is not getting away with rabid racism. They shall be countered.
Sarah Palin "gets" the basic conservative principles. She can talk in broad outlines. She is telegenic. She is charismatic in her own way. But on the specifics of policy she remains shallow.
Let there be a fair fight. Let opposing philosophies and worldviews be fully heard by the people, and let the people decide. It does not have to get ugly. Racism is ugly. It worked during the depths of the Great Recession when Palin appealed to the baser instincts of the masses. But that Great Recession is over, thanks to Barack. If this country had done what Palin wanted done during those depths, the unemployment rate in America today would have been more like 29% and not the 9% it is.
We are for eliminating the deficit. Bill Clinton and Barack Obama have a better track record on the deficit than do George W Bush, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan.
Barack Obama just had his Oklahoma City moment. A Congresswoman got shot at in Arizona. It is good for him politically. Now the political pendulum will swing. His re-election begins now. That is the political reality. The political pendulum started swinging the way of Bill Clinton after the act of terror in Oklahoma City.
But is the violence worth the price?
There is a political responsibility to be taken. This act of violence was Palin inspired. When you talk in terms of "reloaded" from the podiums of the world, am I supposed to give you a pass just because you are white and not brown like a certain guy by the name of Osama Bin Laden? If you incite violence, you are no different from Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden does not command an army. He inspires people to engage in acts of violence. He is a sought after man. He is on the wanted lists of the world.
A politician in a democracy speaking from public podiums whose language can be construed as inciting violence is no different from Osama Bin Laden. There is a direct connection between the language the Palins of the world used over the past two years and what ended up happening in Arizona.
MLK: In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
If your economic anxiety makes you have racist thoughts, guess what infant mortality makes me want to do. I should be having World War III thoughts. But I have been learning positivity from Barack Obama. He is a special person. America is not my country, but Barack is my president.
If your newly minted millionaire leader Sarah Palin wants her guns "reloaded," I am not going to beat around the bush. I got done doing that in 2008. I am going to think she is talking not about lower taxes, or smaller government, I am going to think she is having violent thoughts. That is the Taliban way.
A presidential election guarantees you a president, it does not guarantee you a great president. Democracy has its limitations. About once or twice in a century, someone like Barack Obama shows up and you get to vote for him. You get lucky.
The Palin way is the way for America to lose its number one status in the world. After the Roman Empire collapsed, Europe again became a society of hunters and gatherers. A Palin who urges you to "reload" wants you to more than lose your number one status. She wants you to go back to hunting and gathering.
Citizenship gives you rights, but it also gives you responsibilities.
America is in crisis. America is at crossroads. From here America could go to never before seen heights, and emerge a stronger, healthier, richer country than ever before. Or it could pull a Japan and become a has been country. America could become yesterday's power fast.
The crisis was not of Barack's making. It was the making of the people who have not yet changed the policies that brought the crisis in the first place. They never said sorry. This thing could still get much worse. The hole could go much deeper. Unemployment could go to 29% from 9%. It is still very much possible. When that happens to Image via Wikipediaa society, suicide rates go up. Palin's "reloaded" is going to have a whole new meaning then.
Deep in my heart I believe this crisis is a direct parallel to the crisis FDR faced. But by the time FDR was done, America emerged stronger than ever before. America has huge advantages over its nearest competitor China. Those advantages are democracy and diversity. But those who say "reloaded" do not believe in democracy. Those who talk racist talk do not believe in diversity. Minus those two advantages China w-i-l-l have a shot.
Yes, we Obama people took this country. We did that in 2008. We did that through house parties, not gun rallies. You have a right to organize. But gun talk is Taliban talk. Violence is not the democratic way.
I believe this country could go to new heights of greatness if it handles this crisis well. And this country is lucky to have a global president like Barack Obama. Barack Obama is the most global president America ever had. This guy exhibits at least three different continents in his persona. After his eight years are up, it might be a long time before America sees a global president like him again. America is lucky to have him in the White House. Because the biggest challenges America faces today all have global dimensions. Some people try to teach themselves global world views. This guy was born with those global instincts. They are his reflexes. And so America is lucky.
The Palins of the world should be punished for saying the stimulus bill should never have been passed. Minus the stimulus bill America would have been at a 20-30% unemployment rate right now. If you think 9% is bad, imagine that. If I were America I would go ahead and cancel one of her book contracts. Ask her how much for a gallon of milk.
The stimulus bill was not perfect. The health care reform bill was not perfect. The Wall Street reform bill was not perfect. Barack Obama himself is not perfect. He owned up to it before you ever voted for him.
But the choice is not between perfection and whatever. You put 10 Obama people in a room and they are not going to be able to agree on a perfect health care reform bill. You put 100 Ralph Nader people in a room and they are not going to be able to agree on a perfect Wall Street reform bill. You put 1,000 Sarah Palin people and they are not going to be able to agree on a perfect tax bill.
That is what democracy is all about. There are tens of millions of voters in this country. The political process tries its best to balance the interests, and wishes of all of them. One person's tax cut is another person's many many children left behind. How do you strike out balances? How do you get things done?
When Sarah Palin talks about tax cuts for the super rich, I end up thinking she wants to eat children for breakfast. Not even the Taliban eats children for breakfast. What do we have here?
In many ways supporting Barack Obama on the campaign trail in 2007 and 2008 was much easier than it has been to support him once he got in to office. Maybe back then we did not fully comprehend what we were getting into. Power is a complex thing. On the campaign trail it was only about getting people to show up and vote.
But then the hard part begins. You get into power. And you have to sit in government. There are three branches and numerous agencies to the government. And Sarah Palin goes ahead and retires from being Governor and gets a job with Fox television. I mean, whatever happened to the idea of public service?
Being in power is more complex than being on the campaign trail. A lot of Obama 08 people this year have been acting like they miss being in the opposition. Trust me, you don't want to go back to being in the opposition. When you were in the opposition, you wondered why not even common sense things were getting done. Now you wonder why Barack Obama is not even bigger and better than he has proven to be.
This is a president who inherited a crisis that was on its way to becoming a Great Depression. He did damage control and turned that into a Image via WikipediaGreat Recession as step one. The jobs will come back. The deficit will go down. The debt will stabilize. But it will not happen tomorrow.
Not only that but bigger and better things will happen. This president has been laying the framework to give America its second industrial revolution, one based on clean tech. This president has visions for high speed electric trains that crisscross the vast spans of this country.
This president did not get into the White House on his own. And he can not do his job on his own. He needs the willful participation of the people to take this country to new heights.
I can't think of one reason why the people who supported him and voted for him in 2008 should abandon him in November. If you ever thought pulling a lever for a second is all it takes to change a country, boy, were you wrong! 2008 was about making the change. 2010 is about keeping the change. Change is hard work. It takes years.
There are a whole lot of black people in America who are thinking, okay so Barack Obama is in the White House, and why am I still working this minimum wage job? I am going to sit this one out: change does not seem to be happening. Just like there are a whole bunch of women in this country who kept thinking, if only Barack had let Hillary win, or had not run himself in the first place, they would be seeing gender equality right about now. Let's go sit this one out.
I grew up watching parades of women heads of state in South Asia. Their coming to power did not change the gender dynamic at the ground level much, if at all. The take home lesson is that it helps to have a black president, or a woman president, but ultimately it is for each black person, and each woman to do what it takes at the ground level to make change happen, and even then it takes time. Barack can pump billions into inner city schools like he did, but the kids are still going to have to show up and work hard. And don't tell me you were not having self esteem issues before Barack showed up.
Supporting a president like Barack Obama is sustained, hard work. It asks for governance literacy. You have to feel his pressures of power. You have to understand the principles behind the three branches of government.
The choice is between going backwards in time, or forging ahead into the future. Barack Obama represents the future. Sarah Reloaded Palin represents the past. She is the American Taliban: Sarah Mullah Omar Palin Taliban.
America need not go into the past. America need not relinquish its number one status. But the American people sure have a choice to make. You have to support a president for him to be able to do great things.
The recession has been painful, sure. But this guy did not create it, he prevented it from getting even worse, and he now deserves the time it will take to put things back to normal and to take the country to new heights.
It is not a choice between Barack Obama and Gandhi. It is a choice between Barack Obam and Sarah Palin. Make the right choice. You will be rewarded.
On my way back, at the train station, on the platform, as I lay sitting, waiting for the train, a Reshma 2010 staffer walked over to me, former Reshma 2010 staffer. Jay Ko. New York is a big city. It is rare to meet people you know when you are out and about town. Happens about once a year for me.
I never really turned that Google Alerts thing off. For days it was yet another publication breaking news that "the Indian American woman who ran for Congress lost." Okay, I got that. I was at the election returns watch party, and that was like two weeks ago. I snapped out of it within seconds. Or maybe minutes. Definitely by the following day. Carolyn Maloney is mediocre. That is my permanent impression.
Looks like Reshma Saujani's coming out event was some Punjabi dude running for City Council. At some level she never really woke up from the Obama 08 Democrat From Punjab episode. I took a personal hit when that happened. It just felt wrong. I was the only full timer Obama 08 volunteer in the city at the time. And I am Indian, watch out. (There Is An Albert Einstein On The Obama Campaign Staff) I sent out a missive and Barack Obama personally responded. He said that press release was "stupid" and the work of some lowly staffer.
Reshma has a Punjabi roommate.
The Prime Minister of India is a Punjabi. Barack shall soon meet.
I am in America because Nepal is not safe. America is safe, or so I thought. Bobby Kennedy was no longer campaigning in June. (Competing With Hillary Now)
Politics was not safe, I thought, and so I decided I was going to pour myself into tech entrepreneurship. 2009 was my tech year. (The Dumbfuck Immigration Laws) I was a regular at the Science House MeetUp, not to say the NY Tech MeetUp, which is where I met the Science House people in the first place. Late in 2009 the FBI started sniffing around the Science House. A few months later they were still sniffing around. And I lost it. I am thinking, not now, not when my guy is in the White House. (Obama's Got Momentum: He Could Defy History In November)
Tech was not safe either. What to do?
Only later I read somewhere that Carolyn Maloney's husband had died in Nepal late in 2009. And I am thinking, fuck.
Nepal has a Shangrila image, and rightly so, it has been the most popular destination among Peace Corps volunteers for half a century, but that is only half the story. Nepal is also the poorest country outside of Africa. It only a few years back ended a decade long civil war. Nepal saw the rise of the number one ultra left group in the post Cold War era. Compared to the Maoists of Nepal, the Shining Path of Peru was not much. One of the drug routes goes through Nepal. High level people in the country's army get involved for the money.
I have walked in every part of New York City, and at all hours of day and night.
I am a nonviolent person, always have been. I am a political person, always have been. But nonviolent militancy is still nonviolent. (To: The Ayatollah, Newt Gingrich: Monkeyface)
I am too politically gifted to be wowed by a Barack Obama, even when it is my firm judgment he is going to go down in history as a great president. (I Touched Obama: Babel, Barack) I might not have felt the same intimacy if he had been a pastor or a pilot, but politics I know.
A few days back I read a piece where Osama Bin Laden was seeing a connection between global warming and the recent unusual floods in Pakistan. No politician in Pakistan saw that connection, not that I heard of. When random fires erupted all over Greece a few years back, they arrested all sorts of arsonists with records. They did not know to blame global warming. And I am thinking Bin Laden is a smart guy, just like I thought. He is that other butterfly effect dude on the planet.
And here you have two blog posts from Reshma Saujani. The question I have asked - before ever meeting - is what if she is too racist and too sexist by my extremely high standards? Internalized racism and sexism are still racism and sexism.
Reshma Saujani: Want to Break the Glass Ceiling? Give Young Women a Running Start: the outcome of the 2010 midterms could lead to the biggest reduction of female representation in Congress in over three decades...... Women make up 17 percent of the members of Congress, ranking the United States 68th internationally in women’s political representation ...... in the 20th century, twelve of the nineteen presidents were thirty-five years or younger when they were elected to their first office. ...... nurture and mentor young female candidates who lose their first local, state or federal race and empower them not to get discouraged and to continue to strive for elected office. ..... What progressives cannot do is let Sarah Palin’s Mama Grizzlies define what the female politician looks and sounds like in the 21st century. This country is hungry for female leadership, and as women continue to be the majority of voters, we must take the opportunity to paint our nation pink.
Reshma Saujani: Bullhorn: Democrats Need to Fire Up the Fed-Up: we need more candidates running insurgent campaigns to engage communities who feel they do not have a voice. ..... the turnout of the South Asian community in the 14th district primary reached historic proportions. On election day, I saw crowds of Bangladeshi Americans come out and vote who have never participated in a primary election before. Young South Asian girls surrounded me holding my campaign materials, telling me that they too can run for higher office. ...... dropout factory schools ...... The ironic outcome of America electing the first black President is that it energized the right but not the left. ..... For many of us who were moved by President Obama’s historic campaign, we are fired up and ready to go – but the question is, where are we headed?
Palin is gearing to run for president. That part is obvious. This is going to be the first serious run by a woman not a former president's wife, although Hillary is a big talent in her own right. I hope more women - in political size - like Palin emerge on the progressive side as well.
I have a feeling it might be Barack versus Palin in 2012. I am on Barack's side, of course. Barack will win by a Reagan landslide.
The word for McCain was maverick, the word for Palin is rogue. It was not mere coincidence Palin ended up on the ticket. Maverick-Rogue is a ticket.
If she runs for president in 2012 - I am certain she will - and loses - I am certain she will - she is over. She can't run for president again in 2016. She can't not run in 2012. There will have been too much build up.
At the end of the day, Palin will have made her mark not as a politician, but an an entrepreneur. I find her inspiring. I want to make a few millions doing political work myself. (Selling 5% Of Nobel For 50K)
Palin's political rise and shine shows the pro anti choice life thing no longer defines the gender debate in America. That is settled. Abortion is legal. And it will stay that way. Palin is running on the fulcrums of faith, family, work, small government. Progressive women have to run on faith, family, work, agile government. Gender talk is now co-opting the men of their very non gender specific issues. That is Palin's contribution to gender.
Time How Sarah Palin Is Winning the War With(in) the GOP: mirror-still Lake Lucille ..... what she terms the "lamestream media" ...... Her "rambling resignation speech should take her off the political map for the duration of the Obama era," wrote conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat .... "It is not clear what her strategy here is by exiting the governorship 2½ years through the term," Karl Rove said on one of its shows. He pronounced himself "perplexed" by her rush for "the national stage that she may not yet be prepared to operate in." ...... She has earned an estimated $9 million by talking and writing ..... she has just wrapped a reality show about Alaska (pocketing $2 million for the effort) ...... the most famous and charismatic Republican in America ..... Palin denounced the "old boys' club" ...... like a hunter knowing where the bear is — without knowing precisely how she knows — her gut veered further right a year ago. After flirting with Washington, she retreated to Alaska and became more involved with, and a de facto leader of, the Tea Party movement..... She cyber-brandishes her power directly to her followers via a stream of Facebook posts and tweets ..... he likes being unpredictable: in many cases, her endorsements take even the candidates themselves by surprise ..... she seems politically sure-footed, riding the Tea Party wave like a skilled surfer
After Alaska: Sarah Palin's Year of Living Large: Knee deep in financial troubles, embroiled in ethics complaints and in the middle of a nasty, public he-said-she-said fallout with team McCain, the Thrilla from Wasilla traded in a modestly paid government spot for the chance to "fight for what's right" without any fancy title. One year later, Palin finds herself $12 million richer, the "Mama Grizzly" of America's Tea Party movement, a buzzed-about 2012 presidential hopeful and front and center in the nation's political stage. ....She taunts Obama supporters, asking, "How is that hopey-changey stuff working out for you?" .... Obama's days of "big government ... big debt" are over. "We're not going to sit down and shut up," she cries, adding, "It's time to reload!" ....... backing a host of Tea Party candidates, including Nikki Haley (for South Carolina governor) ..... 55% of the nation views Palin unfavorably and 71% still think she is unqualified to be President.
How Palin Is like Clinton Attn. Media and Politicians: It's All About Palin: she can dominate the news cycle with a single tweet and generate three days of coverage with a single speech ..... the mistake you are making is to assume that Palin needs or wants to play by the standard rules of American politics. Or that it even occurs to her to do so. ..... The past 22 months have been replete with situations in which Palin has refused to adhere to the conventional playbook of presidential contenders and party honchos. ...... All of you are certain she can't win the presidency — and as of today you are right. But the nomination is another kettle of salmon
White supremacy is like fossil fuels: ultimately unsustainable. There is no going back. The idea of a black president is no longer revolutionary, it was in 2008, but not anymore. The idea of a nonwhite president is ordinary like milkshake.
New York Times: G.O.P. Uses Obama ‘Otherness’ As Campaign Tactic: Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, who this week accused Mr. Obama, whose father was a Kenyan economist and spoke out against the occupying force in his country, of exhibiting “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.” ..... Dinesh D’Souza, who, in exploring Mr. Obama’s attitudes toward business, settled on the theory that Mr. Obama was taking directions from the anticorporate apparition of his long-departed father. (That Mr. Obama never really knew his father is apparently beside the point.) ..... these attacks seem to be having little influence on the general electorate ..... only about 28 percent of voters said their vote this November would be a vote against Mr. Obama ..... “The mosque is an interesting point, but tell me how you’re going to get jobs and fix the economy.” .... three distinct factions: the champions of free enterprise, the foreign policy types often described as neoconservatives, and the social conservatives who became the spine of the party’s grass-roots campaign apparatus. ...... If Ronald Reagan was the party’s Great Communicator, then Republicans seem to be hoping that Mr. Obama is its Great Galvanizer. The assault on Mr. Obama’s cultural affinity, the clear implication that he is neither suitably Christian nor American in his values, adds a sinister subtext to the argument against his economic agenda. ...... Mr. Obama’s alleged sympathy for so-called Muslim extremists who would desecrate the World Trade Center site, his socialist African ancestry and his early years in Indonesia — all of this creates a shadowy archetype that every conservative enclave (fiscal, foreign policy and religious) can find a reason to fear...... the constant innuendo about Mr. Obama’s allegiances may be doing exactly what Republicans need it to do.
If the War On Terror is like the Cold War, we are perhaps 20% done. The War On Terror does not have to last as long as the Cold War, and it does not have to end in America getting trounced. America can still win. But racism is not how you get there.
China has done many things right. It is right now taking the lead on clean tech. It is not playing catch up to America on clean tech. If China could somehow get to multi-party democracy without losing the total campaign finance reform it already has, and if China could become better at handling immigration, welcoming, pragmatic, and proactive, then America is yesterday's power faster than the Tea Party can say tea. Languages can be learned.
Or perhaps India will do total campaign finance reform. It already has plenty of democracy and immigration. India is a more diverse country than America. It can sometimes feel like a billion people speaking a billion languages.
In a global era an Indian in America is no minority person. The Americans might elect the President Of The United States, but by now that office is very much a global office. Face it.
New York Times: Rebel Republican Marching On, With Baggage: became quickly known to Americans as the woman who once made dire warnings about the negative impact of masturbation. ..... Ms. O’Donnell’s decisive victory over one of the state’s most popular and longest-serving Republicans ...... she has reported earnings of only $5,800 between most of this year and last and she has defaulted on her mortgage — and fudged her educational background ...... her role in an abstinence organization in the 1990s that denounced masturbation as a form of adultery ...... denounced by Karl Rove as unelectable, untruthful and “nutty” moments after her victory ...... (the state Republican Party’s Web site did not even acknowledge her victory) ..... a state that a month ago looked solidly in Republican hands ..... “a major chapter in the civil war among Republicans” ...... “Republican, but not a Delaware Republican.” ..... evolution is soft science .... She feels she is following biblical principles.” ...... Ms. O’Donnell, an avid cook, was disappointed that she had not married and had children ...... A file in a 2007 Federal Election Commission dossier features a note she wrote by hand pleading, “We are not professionals and for many of us, this was our first campaign!” ...... “As O’Donnell’s manager, I found out she was living on campaign donations — using them for rent and personal expenses.” ..... while she participated in the cap-and-gown ceremony nearly two decades ago, she was unable to formally graduate because of unpaid tuition. Poll Suggests Opportunities For Both Parties: while voters rate the performance of Democrats negatively, they view Republicans as even worse ..... one-third of those in the coalition that elected Mr. Obama, now say he does not have a clear plan to solve the nation’s problems or create jobs ..... far more people still blame Wall Street and the Bush administration .... 63 percent disapproving of Democrats and 73 percent disapproving of Republicans .... the federal budget deficit barely registers as a topic of concern ...... Voters do not perceive Republicans as having better ideas and disagree with them on the biggest economic issue of the campaign — whether to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy ..... Nearly half of voters say they are undecided or have not heard enough about the Tea Party to form an opinion ..... 30 percent of independent voters have an unfavorable view of the Tea Party, with 18 percent holding a favorable view ...... 45 percent of voters said Mr. Obama would not be a factor in their vote in November .... the public has an increasingly negative opinion of Sarah Palin ..... Two-thirds of Americans think that Ms. Palin’s primary motivation is staying in the public eye, rather than helping conservative candidates get elected. ..... “whether it be or financial purposes or in order to run for something again.”
Saujani received the maximum primary donation earlier this year from lawyer Marc Bern. Mr. Bern is one of the lead attorneys for thousands of people suing for compensation for illnesses and injuries suffered in the wake of working on the World Trade Center site or being exposed to its toxic dust. ...... He has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates over the years, including donations to Ms. Maloney in her past two elections. He declined to comment Thursday when asked why he now supports Ms. Saujani...... Last week, the legislation championed by Ms. Maloney to provide long-term health care for Ground Zero workers failed a vote in the House. ..... "It breaks my heart that the New York delegation, led by Carolyn Maloney, hasn't been able to deliver for our city's 9/11 heroes. A real leader would have passed this bill years ago,'' said Ms. Saujani. ...... Alix Anfang, a spokeswoman for the congresswoman, said ..... unions and liberal activists.
Maloney's heart might be in the right place, but she is plain incompetent.
The labor bosses were all with Hillary in the fall of 2007. De ja vu.
And who is this Alix Anfang person? I keep reading her name in news articles. I did a search on her and found out she is a Reshma 2010 volunteer. It is good to have our people deeply embedded in the opposition camp.
Mar 23, 2010 ...alix anfang rsvped for March Volunteer Organizational Meeting. 2010-03-18 15:40:17 -0400 · Comment · Like ... www.reshma2010.com/profiles/8247-alix-anfang - Cached
The debate around the Cordoba House—or “the Ground Zero Mosque,” as it is sensationally being referred to in the media ...... That religious freedom and interfaith dialogue can endure at such a symbolic site, I believe, is a testament to the strength of American democracy. ...... Sarah Palin urged her supporters to reject the “Ground Zero Mosque” and implored “Peace-seeking Muslims” to scrap plans for the Cordoba House because it represents “unnecessary provocation” and a “stab in the heart.” ...... Michael Berry, a Republican talk-radio host in Houston, told listeners, “I hope the mosque isn’t built, and if it is, I hope it’s blown up, and I mean that.” ..... they have forgotten what makes this country great. The Cordoba Initiative was actually named for the city of Cordoba, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived in peace for nearly 800 years during the Middle Ages...... In many ways, New York City today strikes me as a modern day Cordoba ..... We must both relentlessly pursue terrorist networks and staunchly defend our pluralistic democracy. The raw human component of this challenge calls on us to make an equal effort to combat extremism with education, intolerance with interfaith exchanges.
If Bobby runs in 2012, he could not win in 2016, because that will show he does not have good political sense. But I think his wife Supriya has made it absolutely clear he is not running in 2012. If he does not run in 2012, all bets are off for 2016.
The party elected Michael Steele in a knee jerk way, but I don't get the impression they are accepting his leadership. The guy is too black for many old fashioned Republicans.
Bobby has to do now what Bill Clinton did when Reagan was president. His effort was called the Democratic Leadership Council. He did not try too hard to become a big shot inside the party. He focused on being a good Governor, and he worked hard to come up with a new set of ideas to reinvent his own party, take on his own special interests that had taken the party into the ditch. And when it was his time, he ran and won.
What could some of those ideas be to claim the center?
This economy will turn around. Once it does, Obama will work hard to cut deficits, but he might not manage to get it all done. So Bobby's message today of balancing budgets will suddenly become sexy in 2016. About the current financial mess, Bobby had this to say: "Let's face it, we are addicted to debt!" That is one sharp-eyed conservative. He is not putting all blame on the bankers. He is saying we the people have to take responsibility.
Emphasize family, emphasize faith. But emphasize family without sounding sexist, and emphasize faith without sounding racist, or you lose independents like me.
Image via WikipediaAs soon as McCain lost, Palin started running. She never really stopped. She took a break due to the incident in Arizona. (Inciting Violence: Beyond Wrong, It Is Criminal) But it was just that, a break. Now she is back like she always intended to be. 
Image via Wikipedia
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_svDCR33vfuyI4Y9dgPaF8fwyjFMgZ74NHqFx-XzcPZZ7USI4dQCtVwjATw7YjHUSXQtGIymxFSL64Uhrdxg6WgcPpiviQCoDTqjwJcR01aE4U2E9bfjPizbHMq8NbEf8YPSN5kKAFJmXXRNG_zQdlk=s0-d)