I haven't done a random thoughts in a while and since there's quite a bit going on, I thought I'd give it a go.
1. Must be election time again
Remember the color codes? Yellow for be on edge. Orange for start to panic. Red for duck and cover, etc. We have fortunately left this little exercise in maintaining power by scaring the shit out of the populace behind. Or have we?
As the election nears, suddenly terror attacks are all the rage. It seems every week we hear reports of one attack or another broken up by law enforcement just in the nick of time. In the past few months we have heard about terrorists with guns and bombs in Washington, blowing up bridges in Cincinnati, and the latest version of the underwear bomb (this one fits into briefs instead of boxers). Add to this the stories about would-be terrorists hiding bombs inside their body and in pets on airplanes and you would think that we were under high alert all the time.
Of course what all these "attacks" have in common is they all involve either informants or undercover agents for the FBI or CIA. I'm starting to think that if it wasn't for these agencies, Al Qaeda may not be active at all.
This isn't anything new, of course. Once again, the Obama administration is taking a page from GWB when it comes to foreign policy. In 2004, I fully expected a "red" warning in the weeks running up to election. Of course they didn't need to because Bin Laden did the work for them by releasing an ominous video just before the election which served the administration's purposes just fine.
Ever since 9/11, we have looked for real leadership in this nation. Instead of leaders we keep having charlatans selling us security in exchange for our rights. In 2008, we thought we were getting an FDR. But instead of "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," we got another dose of "The only thing we have is fear."
2. Stop!
There are a lot of reasons to criticize Mitt Romney. If you don't feel you have enough, wait minute and he'll say something to add to your cache.
But there is one thing that I am hearing more and more commentators on the left using and that is attacking his faith. STOP! We're better than this, people. There is absolutely no reason to make Mittens's Mormonism an issue in this race and the more it is done, the more it is going to give rise to a backlash against the left.
Let the right turn themselves into pretzels over their own discomfort with Romney's religion. We simply do not need to engage in this type of outrageous bigotry.
3. A Winning Strategy
Amid all of the bluster and non-issues that are being portrayed in the media's coverage of the presidential election, there is one issue out there that almost no one is talking about. It also just happens to be an issue that is ripe for the picking for the President's reelection team.
One thing has been constant in every election across the world so far this year and that has been the people's rejection of austerity in favor of economic policies focusing on growth and jobs. This election should be about the same thing.
It is clear that the Romney camp is a fan of austerity measures. This will become abundantly clear if he picks someone like Paul Ryan, the biggest proponent of such measures, as his VP pick. They are promoting economic measures which focus on slashing government spending and programs, raising taxes on the poor and middle class, and cutting taxes for the wealthy. It doesn't seem to matter that these policies have never worked anywhere and are currently throwing the UK and most of Europe back into recession.
In his first term, Obama has been all too eager to give into neo-Liberal economic policies and focus ostensibly on deficit reduction rather than job creation. So it is quite possible that he won't be willing to go all in against these austerity measures like he should.
We know from his first campaign that Obama is a master at populist rhetoric even if he isn't willing to follow through with populist policies once elected. He could pull this off and if he and the Democratic party ride the wave of anti-austerity opinion, they could end up taking back the house as well.
Of course whether he and the rest of the democrats would follow through on this once elected remains to be seen and past performance does not leave me feeling optimistic.
4. Silver Lining of the Week
I'm trying to be more of an optimist. So, rather than ranting and raving about what an absolute idiot Jamie Dimon is, or how evil he is, or how his head should be chopped off, I will look on the bright side of his bank's $2 Billion loss on a wild bet from a division which was supposed to be helping the bank avoid losses.
On the bright side, at least this guarantees that he won't be Obama's treasury secretary in a second term. See, there's hope for the economy yet.
5. My Cheap Unfunny Pundit Schtick
I've noticed that in order to be accepted in the pantheon of punditry that you have to have a rhetorical gimmick that you and your fans think is hilarious but in reality is pretty unfunny. You also have to use it ad nauseum just so your base can yuck it up as much as possible while getting maximum eye roll from everyone else. An example would be Sarah Palin's "lame stream media". There's another right wing asshole whose name I can't remember who always says "New York Slimes.". Funny stuff, right? I mean it must have taken you all of 10 seconds and the comedy sensibility of a 12 year-old to come up with those.
So, taking a cue from these pillars of political commentary, I've decided to join the fray. I've done it in the past a little by referring to Fox News as Fox Comedy (ok, I wasn't trying to be funny, I just didn't really think that they were really serious. I mean, c'mon, right?).
So, because I want to be accepted by this esteemed fraternity, I will from now on refer to Republicans as Banana Republicans and Democrats as Plutocrats. See, aren't I funny? I can hear your knees slapping already, right? I know!!!!
On second thought, perhaps I'll just stick to not trying to insult the intelligence of my audience, as small as you may be.
'Til next time...
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