The random political thoughts thread (Part Deux)

[Alex]

For the record, I think Leo and I are making two completely different points (though attributing the source to the same cause), so don't intertwine what I said with the point he is trying to make. The instances I've been talking about aren't relevant to the instances he is talking about. My reading of what he is saying is that when he's makes arguments of a certain type/method he is told they aren't fair, or aren't appropriate, or people are insulted by it; then they go on to make arguments of the same type and when he points this out he's told it is somehow different.

My point is that there two recent instances (in my view) of direct name calling and they were handled differently (and I don't mean moderately, just generally).

We are both attributing these different situations to the same cause of the political slant on this board making one side more palatable than the other.


Shiny taco boobies (sadly, searching that phrase at google images does not produce anything comedic).

[scaeagles]

I think Kevy could develop some sort of image about that which would be amusing.

[Alex]

I feel bad for Carly Fiorina. She answered a question honestly and in a way that makes perfect sense. And yet it was incredibly stupid of her in the political realm.

When asked if Sarah Palin could run a Fortune 500 company she said, essentially, "no, but that's not what she's running for." She later expanded that none of the four names on the ticket would be candidates to run a Fortune 500 company and that is fine because it is a "fallacy" to say that running the United States is like running a Fortune 500 company.

She's absolutely right. They are not the same skill. It is kind of like asking if any of them are qualified to coach the Green Bay Packers. We actually had a VP candidate -- Jack Kemp -- who might have been but it is irrelevant.

To blunt it, she should have immediately said "and I wouldn't be able to run the country."

In a moment of pure loaded blarney, when All Things Considered ran the story they ended it with this meaningless bit of arched eyebrow "when she ran Hewlett Packard she had revenues of $80 billion. President Bush's last budget proposal was $3 trillion."

She's right, they aren't at all the same thing. Being able to work a boardroom is not the same as being able to run a government, work with an adversarial (even when of the same party) congress, fight wars, engage in international diplomacy, play the necessities of political kabuki.

But she'll be hung out to dry a bit for speaking the truth.

And to the extent that the Repubilcans talk about the story it will be to agree wtih her that running the government is nothing at all like running the country when in 2000 Bush ran as the CEO candidate, looking to put federal government on a more business-like model.

And to the extent that the Democrats talk about the story it will completely ignore how much they ridiculed in 2000 the idea that running the government is anything at all like running a country.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by Alex

I feel bad for Carly Fiorina.

Just to get my facts straight. Is this the same "Carly Fiorina" formerly of Hewlett Packard?

The same one who left HP in disgrace due to illegal activity?
The same one that order hired goons to illegally tap the personal cell and home phones of not only HP employees but members of the press as well?

That Carly Fiorina? And now she is working for McCain?

[wendybeth]

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Just to get my facts straight. Is this the same "Carly Fiorina" formerly of Hewlett Packard?

The same one who left HP in disgrace due to illegal activity?
The same one that order hired goons to illegally tap the personal cell and home phones of not only HP employees but members of the press as well?

That Carly Fiorina? And now she is working for McCain?

I believe that is the same person. If so, then her assertion that McCain and Obama could not do as she did counts as a glowing endorsement of both, in my book. I was surprised when I saw her in his pack.

[wendybeth]

Happy Birthday to your baby girl, Scaeagles!

[Strangler Lewis]

The other day I saw a Prius adorned with McCain and pro-vet bumper stickers.

The day before I saw a guy in a minivan screeching around a minimall parking lot at an unsafe speed. He had an Obama bumper sticker.

And I think to myself . . . what a wonderful world.

[Alex]

I can understand wondering about a Prius and pro-McCain (though his daughter, who is campaigning actively for him, drives a Prius; an issue that came up recently at a Detroit stop when an autoworker asked if he has purchased this non-American car for her).

Not sure why there's dissonance between a Prius and pro-vet, though. I know plenty of pro-vet hippies.

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Alex

I can understand wondering about a Prius and pro-McCain (though his daughter, who is campaigning actively for him, drives a Prius; an issue that came up recently at a Detroit stop when an autoworker asked if he has purchased this non-American car for her).

Not sure why there's dissonance between a Prius and pro-vet, though. I know plenty of pro-vet hippies.

They weren't "support our troops-bring 'em home stickers." And they became less so being next to McCain stickers.

[BarTopDancer]

Wasn't Bush the owner of the TX Rangers? And wasn't he a fairly decent owner?