A first(?) thread on 2008: McCain,Giuliani & the Republicans

I Made the "Vote Different" Ad

Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it.

I made the "Vote Different" ad because I wanted to express my feelings about the Democratic primary, and because I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the process. There are thousands of other people who could have made this ad, and I guarantee that more ads like it--by people of all political persuasions--will follow.

This shows that the future of American politics rests in the hands of ordinary citizens.

The campaigns had no idea who made it--not the Obama campaign, not the Clinton campaign, nor any other campaign. I made the ad on a Sunday afternoon in my apartment using my personal equipment (a Mac and some software), uploaded it to YouTube, and sent links around to blogs.

The specific point of the ad was that Obama represents a new kind of politics, and that Senator Clinton's "conversation" is disingenuous. And the underlying point was that the old political machine no longer holds all the power.

Let me be clear: I am a proud Democrat, and I always have been. I support Senator Obama. I hope he wins the primary. (I recognize that this ad is not his style of politics.) I also believe that Senator Clinton is a great public servant, and if she should win the nomination, I would support her and wish her all the best.

I've resigned from my employer, Blue State Digital, an internet company that provides technology to several presidential campaigns, including Richardson's, Vilsack's, and -- full disclosure -- Obama's. The company had no idea that I'd created the ad, and neither did any of our clients. But I've decided to resign anyway so as not to harm them, even by implication.

This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.

blatham wrote:

If there is anything I've tried to send over to you through the ether it is that America has far far too much good in it to allow the bad in it to win the day.

I'm sure the message got across. After all -- I can't repeat this often enough -- you did vote with your feet against Canada, for the USA, for a Republican mayor, for a Republican governor, and for a Republican president. That's more than I can say of myself yet. I'm sure this hasn't escaped George's attention. Although you may eat the occasional rhetorical quiche for camouflage, George knows that you're a true Republican just like him, and that I'm the real leftie in this thread. (Okay, maybe me and nimh.)

Outside of political machinations, Americans and Canadians are about 99% the same and 1% different. But I find that true with people in any western country and it doesn't change much more elsewhere. Everybody wants to cuddle their grandchildren regardless of the language or the religious figurines on the wall.

But you get up into the political machinations and we have America actually initiating war, and America actually condoning, planning and executing torture. That's ugly stuff and those are ugly people. But the folks on my street here are delightful. This is such an interesting and incredible city..

The much cited reactions of the rest of the world have as much to do with schadenfreud and envy as anything else.

Errors and mistakes, I'll concede, but the notion of some corrosive internal darkness or worse, doesn't stand up to thoughtful scrutiny.The much cited reactions of the rest of the world have as much to do with schadenfreud and envy as anything else.

You poor deluded fellow. You have become, it seems, constitutionally unable to conceive otherwise. It is a pity that you don't recognize how you and advocate would make a swell set of bookends, the contents between not oozing with happy endings.

I'm certain that even you don't suppose that delight in the discomfiture of the 'superpower' and traces of envy & "they had it coming..." are entirely absent from the reactions of others. (indeed one can observe that on A2K) We then differ in this only by degree - I said they are as significant as other elements, not the only one.

First off, to start our mornings...

Quote:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shift23mar23,0,195804.story?coll=la-home-headlines

george said

Quote:

I'm certain that even you don't suppose that delight in the discomfiture of the 'superpower' and traces of envy & "they had it coming..." are entirely absent from the reactions of others. (indeed one can observe that on A2K) We then differ in this only by degree - I said they are as significant as other elements, not the only one.

By numerous international polls, perceptions of and feelings towards the US have simply fallen out the bottom over the last five or six years. That's a universal response (with Israel sometimes the singular exception) and it has steadily grown worse. That is a response to this administration's attitudes, policies and acts.

Jealousy is completely inadequate to explain this decline in how the people of canada, britain, spain, australia, new zealand, thailand, belgium, switzerland, germany etc etc have so recently come to regard the contemporary US presence in the world. Such levels of world citizens' dismay and unease and dislike and even fear were NOT the case prior to this adminstration. You can hang on to the jealousy thesis if you like, george, but it doesn't reflect well on your discernment or your capacity to rise above a real nationalist blindness.

Better you try to objectively consider the "delight in discomfiture" you mention, perhaps through analyzing when you respond that way to some individual or some entity and why you respond that way.

Assuming that you are correct,and the rest of the world has come to think so little of the US,

how does that jibe with the fact that those same countries still are turning to the US to solve problems?

They want the US to take the lead in dealing with Darfur,they want the US to take the lead in dealing with North Korea,they want the US to take the lead in dealing with global warming,etc.

If this country is truly that bad,why are we still expected to take the lead in so many things?

Writers attack EU failure to end Darfur violence
A coalition of Europe's most eminent intellectuals today delivers a devastating critique of the failure to end the violence in Darfur by the European Union, as its politicians embark on a weekend of lavish 50th birthday celebrations.

how does that jibe with the fact that those same countries still are turning to the US to solve problems?

They want the US to take the lead in dealing with Darfur,they want the US to take the lead in dealing with North Korea,they want the US to take the lead in dealing with global warming,etc.

California has moved its presidential primary ahead four months, from June to Feb. 5. Twenty other states may follow suit, creating what some pundits have dubbed Super-Duper Tuesday. If that happens, experts predict money would rule and pro-family issues would be the victim.

Meredith McGehee of the Alliance for Better Campaigns told Family News in Focus that the wealthiest contenders will control the elections. [..]

Brad Miller, director of the family policy council department for Focus on the Family, said the new primary schedule limits campaign stops in smaller states.

"It would be an unfortunate thing for South Dakota, North Dakota, Indiana, Colorado," he said, "to not get visits from these candidates to hear in person what they believe about the key issues that are important to those folks who live in the heartland."

Less attention to these issues might leaving conservative voters apathetic, Miller warned:

"That will equate in a failure of conservatives to win substantial gains in the next election cycle."

Picked this up through TNR: Blogger "Marginal revolution" predicts a Giuliani victory in '08 - well, I hadnt even heard of this blog so I dont care

Doesn't mean their analysis is necessarily wrong, but it sure favors the outcome we presume these bloggers would like to see.

Bay- owwww!

It's possible, but I doubt it. Unlike some simplistic political quizzes, Tabarok and Cowen are sharp-eyed and intelligent observers. I'm sure they noticed that mayor Giuliani's didn't govern like a libertarian, and that there's no reason a president Giuliani would rule differently.

Libertarianism is a secular philosophy. If the battle for the Republican party is between the secularists and the Moral Majority, I would think the secularist libertarians would favor Giuliani.

Are you here? (In the states?) It is a GLORIOUS day. I literally stopped in my tracks on the way across campus and said, "My God, what a beautiful day!"