Paglia: Since when did Democrats become so judgmental and intolerant? Since everyone has gotten that way. Liberals. Conservatives. We're all like small monkey's up trees throwing poo. One reason I favor Obama is I want my government to get some work done. We'll see.
Conservatives, he said, prove quite adept at thinking like liberals, but liberals are consistently incapable of understanding the conservative point of view.
In my experience that's more of a sort of. Although, I'd be curious what selection set they analyzed. As dad, the trail lawyer, often told me (and then learned to regret it), statistics can be made to lie and experts are prostitutes (then mom made him answer my natural next question, "What's a prostitute?").
There are conservatives who have contempt/anger for the liberal point of view. There are liberals who have contempt/anger for the conservative point of view. Again, a trip to realclearpolitics or pick a generalized news outlet, has pundits on both sides flinging.
These positions have increased in vehemence over the last twenty years. There are people who have control over their emotions to exploit the resulting anger.
Not that I want to use literary references to discuss a point (history being superior and if I never hear about that one Trek episode again, I'll be a pig in clover - a monkey pig, with wings, but no lipstick), but it seems apt to say that in Julius Caesar, when Marc Anthony stands over Caesar’s corpse, it is a very effective rhetorical technique for Shakespeare to have him say that he comes to bury Caesar, not to praise him. When really, he's there to bury the Stabby McStabbys. The inherent danger being if you aren't really good at this technique, the speaker can come off weak or spend too much time in grass level details.
Mind you, it's also an effective technique to start out with "That MacBeth guy sucketh." It gets people riled up. However, people who aren't convinced tend to smile, nod, and back away slowly. The more shrill and desperate, the faster people run.
Obviously, in politics, you choose someone who will help you win an electoral advantage. That's basic strategy. In those terms, Obama chose poorly.
Well, I'd say yes and no. There are multiple things that go on in the VP choice. There is adding an emotional connection to win the election. For example, Johnson helped Kennedy with the southern vote. Quayle helped Bush Sr. soften his image. Clearly Palin enables McCain to connect to his base in a way he wasn't able to before, and garners him some support from women (although I'd be curious to see some more analysis of where age/class/geography falls on that statistic) who have felt disaffected from Republicans & Democrats.
The second has a focus on what that person will do to help the President once they're in office. For example, Bush Sr. gave Reagan international level patina to a state level official. If McCain had been interested in my vote, then he'd have picked someone with a strong financial background. My take is that if Obama's eye had been solely on winning the election, he'd have picked Clinton. I'm inclined to think that's like yoking two kings to a ticket. Great for the election, not so great for running a country. Biden was a choice more geared to someone like me. Given the t.v. ratings for every show I've ever liked, we'll see if Biden was a good strategy or not.
So, I imagine, that your first instinct is probably correct…which she saw the opposition.
Fair enough. I do apologize if clearly enough articulate that I do believe that everyone has their opinion, which is shaped by their own unique life experiences and is perfectly valid. Huzah to the US where we can have this discussion.
That's also why I responded to you with a particular focus on why the articles that you linked to, like the other similarly written articles that I've read, miss the mark on articulating why I (everything is about me, unless it’s about you) should like Palin, and instead berate me because I don't.
And I apologize for the long response, I’d write something shorter if I had more time.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-09-16 03:51 pm (UTC)Since everyone has gotten that way. Liberals. Conservatives. We're all like small monkey's up trees throwing poo. One reason I favor Obama is I want my government to get some work done. We'll see.
Conservatives, he said, prove quite adept at thinking like liberals, but liberals are consistently incapable of understanding the conservative point of view.
In my experience that's more of a sort of. Although, I'd be curious what selection set they analyzed. As dad, the trail lawyer, often told me (and then learned to regret it), statistics can be made to lie and experts are prostitutes (then mom made him answer my natural next question, "What's a prostitute?").
There are conservatives who have contempt/anger for the liberal point of view. There are liberals who have contempt/anger for the conservative point of view. Again, a trip to realclearpolitics or pick a generalized news outlet, has pundits on both sides flinging.
These positions have increased in vehemence over the last twenty years. There are people who have control over their emotions to exploit the resulting anger.
Not that I want to use literary references to discuss a point (history being superior and if I never hear about that one Trek episode again, I'll be a pig in clover - a monkey pig, with wings, but no lipstick), but it seems apt to say that in Julius Caesar, when Marc Anthony stands over Caesar’s corpse, it is a very effective rhetorical technique for Shakespeare to have him say that he comes to bury Caesar, not to praise him. When really, he's there to bury the Stabby McStabbys. The inherent danger being if you aren't really good at this technique, the speaker can come off weak or spend too much time in grass level details.
Mind you, it's also an effective technique to start out with "That MacBeth guy sucketh." It gets people riled up. However, people who aren't convinced tend to smile, nod, and back away slowly. The more shrill and desperate, the faster people run.
Obviously, in politics, you choose someone who will help you win an electoral advantage. That's basic strategy. In those terms, Obama chose poorly.
Well, I'd say yes and no. There are multiple things that go on in the VP choice. There is adding an emotional connection to win the election. For example, Johnson helped Kennedy with the southern vote. Quayle helped Bush Sr. soften his image. Clearly Palin enables McCain to connect to his base in a way he wasn't able to before, and garners him some support from women (although I'd be curious to see some more analysis of where age/class/geography falls on that statistic) who have felt disaffected from Republicans & Democrats.
The second has a focus on what that person will do to help the President once they're in office. For example, Bush Sr. gave Reagan international level patina to a state level official. If McCain had been interested in my vote, then he'd have picked someone with a strong financial background.
My take is that if Obama's eye had been solely on winning the election, he'd have picked Clinton. I'm inclined to think that's like yoking two kings to a ticket. Great for the election, not so great for running a country. Biden was a choice more geared to someone like me. Given the t.v. ratings for every show I've ever liked, we'll see if Biden was a good strategy or not.
So, I imagine, that your first instinct is probably correct…which she saw the opposition.
Fair enough. I do apologize if clearly enough articulate that I do believe that everyone has their opinion, which is shaped by their own unique life experiences and is perfectly valid. Huzah to the US where we can have this discussion.
That's also why I responded to you with a particular focus on why the articles that you linked to, like the other similarly written articles that I've read, miss the mark on articulating why I (everything is about me, unless it’s about you) should like Palin, and instead berate me because I don't.
And I apologize for the long response, I’d write something shorter if I had more time.