I remember debating with high school friends how difficult it is to withstand years of torture. Do read about this remarkable friend of John McCain and his testimony.
http://www.eveningsun.com/ci_10629060
Five-and-a-half years in a North Vietnamese prison isn't what would make Sen. John McCain a great president - it's what he did during those years that shows a former fellow prisoner what kind of president he will be.
Col. Thomas N. Moe stopped in Gettysburg Thursday afternoon for a brief meet-and-greet on behalf of the man he said will be the next president of the United States.
Moe, a retired fighter pilot, spent five-and-a-half years in the cell next to McCain while the two were prisoners of war in Hanoi, North Vietnam.
Showing posts with label President. Show all posts
Showing posts with label President. Show all posts
Friday, October 3, 2008
Friday, September 12, 2008
Great opinion piece about fading Obama "aura"
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10444672?nclick_check=1
snip
Charles Krauthammer: Pallin steals Obama's fading spotlight
WASHINGTON — The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. Tom Friedman tells him to "start slamming down some phones." Camille Paglia suggests, "be boring!"
Meanwhile, a posse of Democratic lawyers, mainstream reporters, lefty bloggers and various other Obamaphiles are scouring the vast tundra of Alaska for something, anything, to bring down Sarah Palin: her daughter's pregnancy, her ex-brother-in-law problem, her $60 per diem, and now her religion. (CNN reports — news flash! — that she apparently has never spoken in tongues.) Not since Henry II asked if no one would rid him of his turbulent priest, have so many so urgently volunteered for duty.
Paris Hilton ads
But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues — there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues — but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.
The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked.
snip
Charles Krauthammer: Pallin steals Obama's fading spotlight
WASHINGTON — The Democrats are in a panic. In a presidential race that is impossible to lose, they are behind. Obama devotees are frantically giving advice. Tom Friedman tells him to "start slamming down some phones." Camille Paglia suggests, "be boring!"
Meanwhile, a posse of Democratic lawyers, mainstream reporters, lefty bloggers and various other Obamaphiles are scouring the vast tundra of Alaska for something, anything, to bring down Sarah Palin: her daughter's pregnancy, her ex-brother-in-law problem, her $60 per diem, and now her religion. (CNN reports — news flash! — that she apparently has never spoken in tongues.) Not since Henry II asked if no one would rid him of his turbulent priest, have so many so urgently volunteered for duty.
Paris Hilton ads
But Palin is not just a problem for Obama. She is also a symptom of what ails him. Before Palin, Obama was the ultimate celebrity candidate. For no presidential nominee in living memory had the gap between adulation and achievement been so great. Which is why McCain's Paris Hilton ads struck such a nerve. Obama's meteoric rise was based not on issues — there was not a dime's worth of difference between him and Hillary on issues — but on narrative, on eloquence, on charisma.
The unease at the Denver convention, the feeling of buyer's remorse, was the Democrats' realization that the arc of Obama's celebrity had peaked.
Oh no! John McCain not a computer whiz! ;-)
How terrible for the liberals! I guess that means he also hasn't blown the head off of a prostitute while playing the video game "Grand Theft Auto" either! How can the libs vote for a President who hasn't done that!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
More American folk lore for my younger readers
Recently you have observed heated discussions about "being qualified" to be President or "a heartbeat away from the President." I want to give you, young readers, a perspective that used to be held by everyone in the United States, and has now virtually disappeared.
Kids who grew up in the 1940's and 1950's all heard America praised as the place where "Anyone can grow up to be President." This is true and it has been demonstrated to be true, and it is the shining example that was the exception to every other country in the world. Quite literally anyone of any back ground, rich or poor, privileged education or not, could grow up to be the President.
In the course of this coming true various "ceilings" have been or are being broken regarding the electability of candidates from various groups (Catholics, women, Afro-Americans). But remember, that is the electability of a given candidate; it was never a blockage to their being able to launch and run a serious political campaign. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, many children when I was growing up said "President." No one replied, "Well, you will have to do this list of things to be 'qualified.'"
So this grates me about the rancor, especially about Governor Palin, in this Presidential race. It was exactly the American dream that anyone who was a good citizen (like a small town mayor) could and should aspire to the Presidency!
America during the 1940's and 1950's was a totally different, more common sensible and yet more idealistic and optimistic time than it is now. In fact, today is unrecognizable in total to those of us who witnessed those times. Here is an example. When my dad returned to the United States after serving as an Army paratrooper in World War II, he was immediately sworn in as a deputy sheriff. Many of our veterans stepped directly into law enforcement, governmental and other jobs with no other 'qualifications' than their maturity and their armed forces service. You, dear young people, do not realize that you grew up benefiting from a time when the American dream was active and real (although with glass ceilings that society had to address), where the "average Joe and average Mary" did aspire for public service and walked directly into those jobs based on their character, maturity and some demonstration of ardent public service, such as the armed services or, for many women, the PTA. You all, dear young people, inherited a thriving and optimistic country (though it no longer is) because government and business positions were packed with these men and women who walked into the jobs with 'character' and 'maturity' being their 'qualifications.'
I cannot emphasize how the expression, "Any child can grow up to be President" was such a common and real part of everyday speech during those times. It was one of the most frequently mentioned shared values of our country during that time.
So I really object to the creating of the "experience aristocracy of arrogance" in both our public service offices and also as I have encountered it in business. America, far from having less glass ceilings and discrimination, has gone backwards in this regard. Despite two hundred years of spectacular results in the "average Joe and average Mary" aspiring and receiving every office, including the highest office of the land, the Presidency, now there is a mythology of "qualifications." Qualifications in the sense of experience to recommend them to office is one thing, but we all know that there are many who resent maturity and character being the drivers of their aspirations. This is one reason I have not bashed Barrack Obama for his "experience," but I question his maturity. Those are two very different things. Thus, I am annoyed that liberal operatives bash Governor Palin's maturity while trying to mask it in "questioning" her "experience."
When we look at the mistakes of past Presidencies, both Democrat and Republican, they were all mistakes of maturity and character, not of "experience." Think about it. The mistakes that both parties have made in the Presidency did not occur because "they didn't have the right stuff on their resumes, or they missed the classes that would have taught what they needed." Both President Bush and President Clinton have made very serious mistakes based on lack of maturity and character in certain areas rather than "having missed out on some enriching job experience." Think about it.
I hope that my readers, especially the young people, can, through me and what I am explaining, recapture some of the birthright of optimism and excitement that America used to have, back when everyone truly believed, and saw it happen, that "any child can grow up to be President," and how our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, walked from real life "living" experience straight into jobs and responsibilities of great importance based on their life experience, character and maturity. Those are the people who kept this country thriving, and it is their passing and marginalization that is costing this country dearly and plunging it into this loss of genuine values.
Kids who grew up in the 1940's and 1950's all heard America praised as the place where "Anyone can grow up to be President." This is true and it has been demonstrated to be true, and it is the shining example that was the exception to every other country in the world. Quite literally anyone of any back ground, rich or poor, privileged education or not, could grow up to be the President.
In the course of this coming true various "ceilings" have been or are being broken regarding the electability of candidates from various groups (Catholics, women, Afro-Americans). But remember, that is the electability of a given candidate; it was never a blockage to their being able to launch and run a serious political campaign. When asked what they want to be when they grow up, many children when I was growing up said "President." No one replied, "Well, you will have to do this list of things to be 'qualified.'"
So this grates me about the rancor, especially about Governor Palin, in this Presidential race. It was exactly the American dream that anyone who was a good citizen (like a small town mayor) could and should aspire to the Presidency!
America during the 1940's and 1950's was a totally different, more common sensible and yet more idealistic and optimistic time than it is now. In fact, today is unrecognizable in total to those of us who witnessed those times. Here is an example. When my dad returned to the United States after serving as an Army paratrooper in World War II, he was immediately sworn in as a deputy sheriff. Many of our veterans stepped directly into law enforcement, governmental and other jobs with no other 'qualifications' than their maturity and their armed forces service. You, dear young people, do not realize that you grew up benefiting from a time when the American dream was active and real (although with glass ceilings that society had to address), where the "average Joe and average Mary" did aspire for public service and walked directly into those jobs based on their character, maturity and some demonstration of ardent public service, such as the armed services or, for many women, the PTA. You all, dear young people, inherited a thriving and optimistic country (though it no longer is) because government and business positions were packed with these men and women who walked into the jobs with 'character' and 'maturity' being their 'qualifications.'
I cannot emphasize how the expression, "Any child can grow up to be President" was such a common and real part of everyday speech during those times. It was one of the most frequently mentioned shared values of our country during that time.
So I really object to the creating of the "experience aristocracy of arrogance" in both our public service offices and also as I have encountered it in business. America, far from having less glass ceilings and discrimination, has gone backwards in this regard. Despite two hundred years of spectacular results in the "average Joe and average Mary" aspiring and receiving every office, including the highest office of the land, the Presidency, now there is a mythology of "qualifications." Qualifications in the sense of experience to recommend them to office is one thing, but we all know that there are many who resent maturity and character being the drivers of their aspirations. This is one reason I have not bashed Barrack Obama for his "experience," but I question his maturity. Those are two very different things. Thus, I am annoyed that liberal operatives bash Governor Palin's maturity while trying to mask it in "questioning" her "experience."
When we look at the mistakes of past Presidencies, both Democrat and Republican, they were all mistakes of maturity and character, not of "experience." Think about it. The mistakes that both parties have made in the Presidency did not occur because "they didn't have the right stuff on their resumes, or they missed the classes that would have taught what they needed." Both President Bush and President Clinton have made very serious mistakes based on lack of maturity and character in certain areas rather than "having missed out on some enriching job experience." Think about it.
I hope that my readers, especially the young people, can, through me and what I am explaining, recapture some of the birthright of optimism and excitement that America used to have, back when everyone truly believed, and saw it happen, that "any child can grow up to be President," and how our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, walked from real life "living" experience straight into jobs and responsibilities of great importance based on their life experience, character and maturity. Those are the people who kept this country thriving, and it is their passing and marginalization that is costing this country dearly and plunging it into this loss of genuine values.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
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