Election Day Commentary
All the way to school, I've been hearing "Do You Hear the People Sing?" from Les Mis in my head. When I searched for a link to the lyrics, I found lots of folks citing it w.r.t. the election. It's apparently resonating with lots of us.
From tzikeh, Pat Buchanan's op ed piece "But Where Did Bush Go Wrong?"
After losing control of the Senate and 30 House seats in 2006, the GOP is bracing for losses of six to nine in the Senate, and two dozen to three dozen additional seats in the House.
If the party "were a dog food," says Rep. Tom Davis, "they would take us off the shelf."
How many Republicans have repudiated the Bush Doctrine that got us into Iraq -- the belief that only by making the world democratic can we keep America secure and free?
Americans no longer believe that, if ever they did. And history proves them right. For Iraq has never been democratic, and America has always been free. Yet, the Republican Party has never renounced the Bush Doctrine
Indeed, it is being applied today in Afghanistan.
The party says it is losing because the economy went south. But who caused that? Was it not because Republicans colluded with Democrats in pushing "affordable housing," subprime mortgages, for folks who could not afford houses?
Is the GOP prepared to demand tough terms for home loans?
Was it not GOP presidents who appointed the Fed chairmen who pumped up the money supply and created the bubble? How many Republicans objected to the easy money when the going was good?
The country wishes to be rid of the Bush policies and the Bush presidency. But where does the Republican Party think Bush went wrong, other than to be asleep at the wheel during Katrina?
The GOP needs to confront the truth: The failure of the Bush presidency lies not in a failed execution of policy but in the policies themselves and the neoconservative ideology that informed them.
Yet, still, the party remains in denial, refusing to come to terms with the causes of its misfortune. One expects they will be given the time and opportunity for reflection soon.
Also, this was an email from my principal to the entire staff today:
In the early morning hours of November 4, 1948, President Harry S Truman was passing through Union Station in St. Louis on his way back to Washington. Two days earlier, he had been reelected in a contest that no one believed he could win -- no one, that is, except Harry Truman. When he stepped out on the rear platform of the train, someone handed him a copy of the Chicago Tribune of November 3 with a headline proclaiming, "Dewey Defeats Truman." Truman held it up and, with his characteristic grin, said, "That's one for the books!' The result is probably the most famous political photo in US history.
Why am I sharing this with you? For one, elections are not over until the votes are counted, and political prognostications, while often accurate, often are not. Only the American voter decides an election. That is the most important lesson of the 1948 (or any) election.
Later the same day, November 4, 1948, just a few blocks from where the photo was taken, a proud and excited man decided to name his new born third son after Harry Truman, whom he knew and admired. The child's mother, a more level-headed individual, decided differently. Although Mother was probably right, it might have been interesting going through life named Harry S Truman Powers.
Don't forget to vote!
Joe
I'm liking my new principal. :-)
From tzikeh, Pat Buchanan's op ed piece "But Where Did Bush Go Wrong?"
After losing control of the Senate and 30 House seats in 2006, the GOP is bracing for losses of six to nine in the Senate, and two dozen to three dozen additional seats in the House.
If the party "were a dog food," says Rep. Tom Davis, "they would take us off the shelf."
How many Republicans have repudiated the Bush Doctrine that got us into Iraq -- the belief that only by making the world democratic can we keep America secure and free?
Americans no longer believe that, if ever they did. And history proves them right. For Iraq has never been democratic, and America has always been free. Yet, the Republican Party has never renounced the Bush Doctrine
Indeed, it is being applied today in Afghanistan.
The party says it is losing because the economy went south. But who caused that? Was it not because Republicans colluded with Democrats in pushing "affordable housing," subprime mortgages, for folks who could not afford houses?
Is the GOP prepared to demand tough terms for home loans?
Was it not GOP presidents who appointed the Fed chairmen who pumped up the money supply and created the bubble? How many Republicans objected to the easy money when the going was good?
The country wishes to be rid of the Bush policies and the Bush presidency. But where does the Republican Party think Bush went wrong, other than to be asleep at the wheel during Katrina?
The GOP needs to confront the truth: The failure of the Bush presidency lies not in a failed execution of policy but in the policies themselves and the neoconservative ideology that informed them.
Yet, still, the party remains in denial, refusing to come to terms with the causes of its misfortune. One expects they will be given the time and opportunity for reflection soon.
Also, this was an email from my principal to the entire staff today:
In the early morning hours of November 4, 1948, President Harry S Truman was passing through Union Station in St. Louis on his way back to Washington. Two days earlier, he had been reelected in a contest that no one believed he could win -- no one, that is, except Harry Truman. When he stepped out on the rear platform of the train, someone handed him a copy of the Chicago Tribune of November 3 with a headline proclaiming, "Dewey Defeats Truman." Truman held it up and, with his characteristic grin, said, "That's one for the books!' The result is probably the most famous political photo in US history.
Why am I sharing this with you? For one, elections are not over until the votes are counted, and political prognostications, while often accurate, often are not. Only the American voter decides an election. That is the most important lesson of the 1948 (or any) election.
Later the same day, November 4, 1948, just a few blocks from where the photo was taken, a proud and excited man decided to name his new born third son after Harry Truman, whom he knew and admired. The child's mother, a more level-headed individual, decided differently. Although Mother was probably right, it might have been interesting going through life named Harry S Truman Powers.
Don't forget to vote!
Joe
I'm liking my new principal. :-)