Month: August 2010

Palin and Reagan and bears, oh my.

Not to be mean-spirited about this, but it’s at times like this that Arianna Huffington demonstrates that she has a black-box approach to understanding Americans*.  In discussing the inexplicable (to her) attraction so many people have towards THAT WOMAN, Arianna wrote:

It’s not Palin’s positions people respond to — it’s her use of symbols. Mama grizzlies rearing up to protect their young? That’s straight out of Jung’s “collective unconscious” — the term Jung used to describe the part of the unconscious mind that, unlike the personal unconscious, is shared by all human beings, made up of archetypes, or, in Jung’s words, “universal images that have existed since the remotest times.” Unlike personal experiences, these archetypes are inherited, not acquired. They are “inborn forms… of perception and apprehension,” the “deposits of the constantly repeated experiences of humanity.”

…and then goes on to compare said mama grizzly video with this Reagan campaign video, which is apparently also ‘policy-free’ (that’s the latest progressive buzzword for ‘black magic’). And oh, yeah!  That has a bear, too!  That’s Jungian!  And it links Old Devil Figure to New Devil Figure, so that’s a plus!  Yes!  IT ALL COHERES!

Yes.  It makes Allahpundit’s head ache, too. Continue reading Palin and Reagan and bears, oh my.

RGA: “Thirteen.”

13 Weeks from Republican Governors Association on Vimeo.

Yes, they’re fairly obviously going to be doing one of these a week until Election Day.  Because the RGA – and the rest of the GOP – is hungry, in a way that the Democratic party is not.  Watch Democratic legislators these days; their shoulders sloop, ever so slightly.  Their eyes aren’t quite as bright as they were in 2008 and 2006.  They cough just a bit more. 

But they won’t go down without a fight!

…Fine by me.
Continue reading RGA: “Thirteen.”

…blamebushblamebushblamebush…

As I’ve noted before: one of the most horrible things to encounter in politics is to watch a group wreck itself and its electoral chances.  The sensation is much like running in mud or maple syrup; you move and move, but never quite fast enough to matter.  For true horror, the situation has to be as follows:

  1. The situation has to be easily repairable;
  2. The needed repair has to be something that is politically unpalatable to the people affected;
  3. The people affected have to know how much trouble they’re in;
  4. They have to spend a lot of effort and capital trying to energetically do the wrong thing;
  5. And they have to keep up with the energy and effort and earnestness until the final collapse and wreck.

Really, it’s horrible.  Frustrating.  The sort of thing that would make any reasonable person want to go into a national party HQ and start beating people with other people while screaming “Why won’t you just LISTEN to me for a change?”  The ability to see a disaster but not be able to do anything about it has been the fuel for particularly frightening tragedies since the days of Homer, and has nothing to recommend it.  Unless, of course, it’s happening to the other guys.

Then it’s just funny. Continue reading …blamebushblamebushblamebush…

On the Lovecraftian nature of United 93.

There have been sufficient people asking about my observation here that the most successful Lovecraft/Mythos movies made were Alien, Pleasantville, and United 93 – particularly the last one – that I will attempt to explain what I meant there.  Let’s dispose of Alien quickly: malevolent universe, deliberately hostile towards humanity; overwhelming doom – everybody on-board with that one?  We good?  Good. Continue reading On the Lovecraftian nature of United 93.

#rsrh Giannoulias bank lent to Rezko.

Before we go any further, let us never forget: Alexi Giannoulias (D CAND, IL-SEN) made his political career all about his experience in working in his family’s bank.

So it’s kind of fascinating to hear the state treasurer of Illinois claim he knows nothing, nothing! about the almost twenty-three million dollars that his family bank lent a notorious Blagojevich crony who was under federal investigation at the time.

Through a spokeswoman, Giannoulias says he knew nothing about the $22.75 million loan to Riverside District Development until reporters contacted him.

“Alexi left daily operations of the bank in September of 2005, months before this loan was made,” says Kathleen Strand of his campaign staff. “He had no knowledge of it, and his name is not on any documents related to the loan…

Continue reading #rsrh Giannoulias bank lent to Rezko.

Meet John Colbert (R CAND, CA-29).

It’s pronounced ‘Kohl-bert,’ he’s up against Adam Schiff, and John can’t stand that stupid delta smelt, either. That last is starting to be a theme among California candidates and legislators: well, the Republican ones, at least. Anyway, we talked yesterday:

John’s site is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

“Blame Bush,” RIP: 2001-2010.

It was a good run for the Democrats, but all things must come to an end some day.  I know, I know: it’s downright horrible for the American people to start expecting the political party that’s held Congress since 2006 and the White House since 2008 to actually take personal responsibility for the bad things happening to the economy.   But the Democrats will have to live with it, as the American people have started to assign more responsibility to Obama for the current economy than to Bush – at least, the Republican and Independent sections of the American people have, which is really the important thing these days.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters now think Obama’s policies are to blame for the continuing bad economy, up three points from last month. Forty-seven percent (47%) say the recession that began under Bush is at fault.

There are, of course, many hidden victims here of this betrayal of the Democratic party by the people of the United States.  No, really.  I mean, think of all of those soon-to-be Democratic former Congressmen who have to hope that the lobbying industry can handle the sudden influx of new glad-handlers, parasites, and influence-peddlers that comes from a Congressional readjustment!  For that matter, think of those poor, poor staffers who next January will be facing the specter of having no job and no prospect of getting one – and in one of the more expensive metropolitan areas, to boot.  Some of them may even have to move back in with their parents.

The horror. Continue reading “Blame Bush,” RIP: 2001-2010.

Minorities and the GOP: not yet DOOM?

Sean Trende over at RCP finds something interesting going on with minority polling.  The basic numbers at the heart of what may or may not be an important trend are these: the exit poll numbers for 2004/2008.

2004 2008
Voters GOP Dem GOP Dem
African American 10 89 5 93
Hispanic 44 55 29 68

As Sean notes, how these numbers shake out in future elections determines how much of the white vote each party generally needs to win.  Using 2008 numbers, the GOP’s target number for white voters is apparently 60%, which is a number that gives Democrats some comfort. Continue reading Minorities and the GOP: not yet DOOM?