Archive for October 19th, 2008
links for 2008-10-19
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Dave Winer wrote a post about not being a liberal.
I’m going further than Dave. I’m not an American.
I believe that those who have a different idea than I do are not only American but have a right to have a different idea than I do because of our Constitution. But what do I know, I’m not an American.
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I think people who say Obama is liberal haven't bothered to find out anything about him. It's my conservative side that's voting for him.
Veering Toward The Middle of the Road
Let’s play pretend for a while. Let’s pretend that the GOP doesn’t have a nationwide system of disenfranchising blacks, Hispanics and anyone who checks the “D” box on their voter registration cards. In this more or less level playing field, endorsement from “honest” political figures would be devastating.
Endorsements like this.
In that world where everyone isn’t jumped at the ballot box for trying to vote, John McCain would be conceding the election after an interview like this.
Colin Powell’s endorsement is telling because of the kind of voter who will listen to what he says. Your average liberal or progressive will dismiss Powell because, though he served his country with honor, he’s the guy who sold out his country to push George W. Bush’s pack of lies before the United Nations. Your average wingnut will respect the uniform, of course, but dismiss what Powell says because, well, he’s black. And you know how “those people” are.
But the independent voter? The undecided? They see a honest man who made a few mistakes but who is still a respectable figure and an honorable man.
As Yglesias says:
And now here’s Powell, probably the only Republican moderate with a meaningful national profile, speaking in detail about problems with McCain, about the process of growing disillusioned with McCain, and vouching for Obama’s readiness to lead and fitness for office. In a lot of respects guys like Jim Leach and Wayne Gilchrest have, on the merits, been better messengers for this kind of message. But nobody knows who Leach and Gilchrest are, whereas everybody knows who Powell is. It’s a signal to every right-of-center person who maybe thinks the GOP has gotten too right-of-center that Obama’s okay. Meanwhile, it’s a reassuring reminder of what kind of people Obama does, in reality, pal around with. Powell was National Security Adviser under Ronald Reagan. He was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs under George H.W. Bush. And he was Secretary of State under George W. Bush. Those probably aren’t the most impressive qualifications to hard-core liberal blog readers, but to Powell’s fellow moderate Republicans I think that’s a pretty heavyweight resume.
And this feeling would only be amplified by what Powell said about Islam.
I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
Exactly.
Yeah, I know, it’s still way too early to call the election. Downright irresponsible, it is. But in that make-believe world where everyone gets a say, an endorsement like this would be a deathblow to McCain.
16 days left until the election. Plenty of time left to see what effect Powell has.
