December 2007

Better Liars Please

ArchPundit December 12, 2007 3 Comments

The Oprah runs a virulently non-union shop meme is shot down by Bob Johnson at Kos, but really, it wasn’t hard to disprove:

‘Oprah & Friends’ and AFTRA Enter into New Contract

The Point Isn’t that Policy Details Are Bad

ArchPundit December 12, 2007 1 Comment

Dana Milbank has a column being criticized in several places for suggesting that Hillary Clinton comes off as too smart. 

“We have one form of learning, which is pretty much an auditory form of learning supplemented by some visual aids,” she announced. “We are leaving out . . . kinesthetic and esthetic learners.”

Further, she reported that “60 percent of our in-age cohort will not graduate from college” and that “a child drops out of school in America every 29 seconds.”

She blamed Bush education policy, which “homogenizes the classes,” and pledged to help “individual districts and states achieve a level of facility and teacher preparedness and adequacy.”

Let’s hear it for facility preparedness and adequacy! Put your hands together for kinesthetic learning and the de-homogenization of the classroom! Save the in-age cohort!

The audience sat quietly through this, applauding in the appropriate places. They gave Clinton a seated ovation when she finished, rising only to put on their coats.

For a quarter-century now, Democrats have had a habit of selecting brainy, establishment presidential nominees who are frequently pedantic but rarely passionate. Al Gore and John Kerry were bookish, and Michael Dukakis didn’t even show emotion when asked about the hypothetical rape and murder of his wife.

The lone exception was Hillary Clinton’s husband — and it’s no coincidence that he has been the only successful Democratic presidential candidate in three decades. But Hillary lacks Bill’s presence on the stump; hers is a message of leadership by laundry list.

“I also created the Healthy, High-Performance School programs,” she told the teachers. And, “We worked hard to create a program for 100,000 federally funded teachers.” And, “I proposed . . . the National Teacher Corps.” And, “I’ve joined up with several of my colleagues to propose renovating and rebuilding crumbling schools.”

The initial response I’ve seen is that this is a horrible attack on her and that only the empty press would argue that knowing details is a bad thing.

The problem is that’s not what he said  His examples make the point. Who of the last 4 Democratic Presidential candidates could talk policy longer than any of the rest?  Bill Clinton.  Yet he could talk in public about policy in a way that discusses values more than policy details.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is deals in details and it’s not effective.  People are motivated not by policy discussions, but by values.  That’s how George Bush won twice even though his policy prescriptions were in the minority.  He convinced people they share his values.

If Democrats want to go down this path again, we can have the same fights we’ve been fighting since 1988.

Same as Michael Dukakis

Sames as Al Gore

Same as John Kerry

Or there are at least two candidates who actually talk to people about how the policies relate to their values and actually reach them instead of giving them a 10 point plan.  And both of those candidates can give you the 10 point plan other times.   The fetishization of wonkishness is the biggest weakness Democrats have.  Not because it’s bad to care about policy, but because elections are largely about values and if you aren’t fighting primarily about values then you aren’t engaging in the right fight.

Someone Else’s Good Predictions from Comments a While Ago

ArchPundit December 7, 2007 3 Comments

Here 

We’ve seen the stages before because we’re from here, but it’s fun to watch the national press go through it all over again.

1. Holy shit, you’ve got to hear this guy speak.
2. Holy shit, this guy was the first African American editor of the Harvard Law Review. Everyone we talk to says he’s really smart.
3. Holy shit, in his book he talks about doing blow, this could hurt him big time.
4. Holy shit, the right is going bonkers (He’s not really black because he wasn’t decendant from slaves – Keyes, His middle name is Hussein – tv right, Holy shit he’s in our church – religious political right, He’s a false messiah and the anti-Christ – nutjob right)
5. Holy shit, everywhere you look people are wild about Barack Obama. Don’t they know he did blow and HIS MIDDLE NAME IS HUSSEIN?
6. Holy shit, he won huge.
7. Holy shit, I can’t believe I lost like that. But at the end of the day I can’t really be too upset about it because I like the guy. (Dan Hynes 2004, Hillary Clinton 2008)

Not McCain though, we all know how he gets when Barack steals his thunder. (see Ethics, WATB)

Apparently Me Tooting his Horn Wasn’t Enough

ArchPundit December 7, 2007 1 Comment

errr…that sounds much different than I meant,

Rich points out he was right on the black vote breaking… 

Who Else Voted Present?

ArchPundit December 7, 2007 No Comments

The 1997 Bill:

Those voting present were: Sens. Miguel del Valle, D-Chicago; Jesus Garcia, D-Chicago; Robert Molaro, D-Chicago; Barack Obama, D-Chicago and Margaret Smith, D-Chicago.

The 2001 Bill:

The Associated Press State & Local Wire
April 6, 2001, Friday, BC cycle
BYLINE: By The Associated Press

SECTION: State and Regional

LENGTH: 269 words



The Illinois Senate voted 39-7 Friday for SB562, a measure requiring parental notification before minors obtain abortions. Voting “yes” were 30 Republicans and 9 Democrats. Voting “no” were 7 Democrats. Voting “present” were 1 Republican and 10 Democrats.

REPUBLICANS VOTING YES

Bomke (Springfield); Burzynski (Sycamore); Cronin (Elmhurst); Dillard (Hinsdale); Donahue (Quincy); Dudycz (Chicago); Geo-Karis (Zion); Hawkinson (Galesburg); Wendell Jones (Palatine); Karpiel (Carol Stream); Klemm (Crystal Lake); Lauzen (Aurora); Luechtefeld (Okawville); Robert Madigan (Lincoln); Mahar (Orland Park); Noland (Blue Mound); O’Malley (Palos Park); Parker (Northbrook); Peterson (Long Grove); Petka (Plainfield); Philip (Wood Dale); Radogno (LaGrange); Rauschenberger (Elgin); Roskam (Glen Ellyn); Sieben (Geneseo); Sullivan (Park Ridge); Syverson (Rockford); Thomas Walsh (LaGrange Park); Watson (Greenville); Weaver (Urbana)

DEMOCRATS VOTING YES

Clayborne (East St. Louis); DeLeo (Chicago); Demuzio (Carlinville); Munoz (Chicago); O’Daniel (Mount Vernon); Shadid (Edwards); Viverito (Burbank); Lawrence Walsh (Elwood); Woolard (Carterville)

DEMOCRATS VOTING NO

Cullerton (Chicago); Halvorson (Crete); Lightford (Chicago); Ronen (Chicago); Shaw (Chicago); Silverstein (Chicago); Trotter (Chicago)

REPUBLICANS VOTING PRESENT

Myers (Danville)

DEMOCRATS VOTING PRESENT

Bowles (Edwardsville); del Valle (Chicago); Hendon (Chicago); Jacobs (East Moline); Emil Jones (Chicago); Link (Highwood); Lisa Madigan (Chicago); Molaro (Chicago); Obama (Chicago); Welch (Peru)

Do people really want to start down the road of attacking Madigan and Jones too?

Let’s Add to the Hypocrisy

ArchPundit December 7, 2007 No Comments

Who else voted Present?

Lisa Madigan on at least one vote:

ENDORSED BY IL NOW PAC

 

Statewide

Rod Blagojevich D-Governor

Alexi Giannoulias D-Treasurer

Dan Hynes D-State Comptroller

Lisa Madigan – Attorney General

He’s So Unprincipled

ArchPundit December 7, 2007 2 Comments

Hysterical once I realized who was on the Illinois side of the attack….the Hull campaign staff and Bonnie Grabenhofer the President of Illinois NOW. You know, the Bonnie Grabenhofer of Illinois NOW who came to the defense of Blair Hull after allegations of spousal abuse with this:

IL NOW pres. Bonnie Grabenhofer “said the six-year-old
allegations are troubling, but there are still reasons to
support Hull.” Grabenhofer “said voters need to balance those
private allegations with Hull’s public commitment to women’s
issues” (Chicago Sun-Times, 2/28). Grabenhofer: “The whole
thing raises some troubling questions. Just that it happened.
But I don’t know if this one incident that happened a number of
years ago undoes what he has done.” Grabenhofer “cited Hull’s
work supporting abortion rights groups financially and his
support of his daughter’s Supreme Court battle to preserve Title
IX” (Krol, Arlington Heights Daily Herald, 2/29).

Now, my primary criticism of Hull for that fiasco was not getting it out early, but at the same time there was something absurd in Illinois NOW’s defense of the incident.