Where is the Plan?

Kerry's grand (and secret) plan, that is.

You know... the one for victory in Iraq.

Or how about the one for the War on Terror.

Or the Economy...

Could we at least see a bill from him proposing funding for a Rapid Response unit for at-risk Hamsters?

I mean he doesn't really have to worry anymore that the President will try to steal his precious plans to win the election.

C'mon Johnny... give us a peek!

Detailing Groupthink

Thanks again to Rug for another nice link.

This article explains the dynamics of groupthink in Liberal Academia, but it fairly applies to the phenomena across a range of scenarios.

It serves to emphasize my desire for a better debate to break out in this country. I have high hopes for the power of the internet in introducing new ideas to people who otherwise might never have seen a differing political opinion.

Post election, Liberal Myths Die (part 1)

Yet another pillar of the Leftist's peace platform begins to crumble under the weight of honest intellectual scrutiny.

This from a Harvard Associate Professor, no less.

Before analyzing the data, Abadie believed it was a reasonable
assumption (emphasis mine) that terrorism has its roots in
poverty, especially since studies have linked civil war to economic factors.
However, once the data was corrected for the influence of other factors studied, Abadie said he found no significant relationship between a nation's wealth and the level of terrorism it experiences...

...Instead, Abadie detected a peculiar relationship between the levels of
political freedom a nation affords and the severity of terrorism.

Hat Tip to my friend Rug, who never participates anywhere outside of Fark, on the rare times he's not actually banned from commenting there.


How about OIL?

I can't be the only one to have seen Reuter's election day headline Oil Up to $50 as Bush Leads Early Vote. Or the Nov 3 headline Oil Surges Back to $51 as Bush Nears Win. Or this one. et. cetera... Until the tide changed. Journalistic integrity demanded some rationalizing... and a wavering market gave rise to a bit of nihilistic hope... and even outright defeatist triumphalism... but finally even Reuters learned that yes, there is great cathartic appeal to mercilessly beating a dead horse named Bushitler... (yes... a but is coming...) "But the market quickly refocused on more fundamental matters..." Nuh, uh!

This is one poor Red-state Rube scratching my thick neanderthal head with calloused knuckles trying to figure out how oil's plummeting price suddenly has no political connection at all. Let me see if I can figure this out now. Bush NOT dipping into our strategic reserve, and instead building it up, was a good thing? Who could have guessed? Hmmm... a man as nuanced as John Kerry surely had this pegged, right? Well... in a word... No.

JOBS anyone?

One of the left's biggest sticks this year was that Bush was going to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss in jobs. They had this right at least, yes? Hmmm... maybe Bill over at INDC Journal isn't using that New Math (tm) that is so in Vogue with today's NEA.

A few words of encouragement for my Liberal friends

I wrote this in response to a friend who voted for Kerry, and in his subsequent disapointment, lashed out at another friend of mine:

For what it's worth, whether you believe it or not, there are huge numbers of Bush voters who aren't religious, and who aren't sold on all his policies. Especially those secret policies Hollywood seems to have convinced themselves exist: We won't be allowing a Christian Conservative revolution with mandatoy prayer and round-ups of tree huggers and queers into concentration camps. The camps will be reserved for big-mouthed celebrities! :D

Part of that moderation however, requires that rational people on the left don't spin into bizarro land filled with bitterness, but instead work to retake their party from the Howard Deans and Michael Moores and meet us halfway. This will be accomplished with the calm presentation of ideas. The race-baiting, class warfare and Bush=Hitler hyperbole of the extreme left has no basis in reality, and no place in the marketplace of ideas. As long as that sort of stuff dominates the Democratic party, that party will not ever compete effectively.

If the Democratic party decides to escalate the hyperbole, and tries to block Bush at every turn, it will most likely have the effect of realizing it's worst nightmare. The American people want progress, not petty and juvenile screeching. If it sees that from one party, there will be a severe lack of voter turnout on the Democratic side. And you can bet that religious fundamentalists from the Right will try to fill that void. Power unchallenged always corrupts.

If the left moderates itself, and gives the moderates on the right a place to move to if/when the Right tilts too far, then the Democratic party will have fulfilled it's primary obligation as a political counterbalance, and nobody loses.

The biggest loser of all in this election was the MSM. Because of it's un-repentant and over the top bias, it has lost it's stranglehold on information. It is losing it's power to choose what news it subjectively determines is "Fit to print." People now have many viable options for choosing raw data, polished information or out and out spin if they so desire. Personally, I peruse sites for all 3, from both sides of the political fence in making my decisions, while completely shunning ABC, CBS and NBC. I occasionally watch PBS or Brit Hume on Fox, but I primarily get my information from the internet. I highly recommend it over any broadcast medium. When people make informed decisions, everyone is a winner. Because even if the result is counter to what you might personally like, at least you can be comforted that the result was carefully considered.

The biggest winner in the election, thanks in no small part to Kerry himself, is the American people. We have been pardoned a repeat of the juvenile 2000 antics, and have a president, like him or not, who has won both the Popular and the Electoral vote. The Right are vindicated in their faith in Bush, and the Left are freed (if they choose) of the crippling tactics of deligitimizing a sitting president, and can instead work productively on real ideas to compete with today's Conservative.

Election Day '04

Congratulations to Sandor's mom on her convalescence!

Here we are. Only the first or second most important election of my lifetime, apparently to be decided by a handful of, um, undecideds.

Good God, how utterly depressing is that?

I suppose that's being simplistic and un-nuanced. The polls are missing vast legions of potential voters:

The Republicans have an enormous get-out-the-vote effort targetting evangelicals and the ever-elusive Sept. 11'th cell-phone democrats.

And of course, the Democrats have a similar effort targetting crack-heads, cartoon characters and cemetaries.

Links? Screw it... no time for links when I'm on dial up. We've all seen the stories anyway, right?

Good luck, everyone. This country is going to need it today.

The world is going to need it today.

This is a turning point every bit as big as the one we experienced in 1980.

Oh, and whichever way it turns out, here's hoping for it to actually be over without lawsuits.

VOTE everyone. You know you really care. And if you don't, vote anyway and pull the lever for Bush, 'cuz I sure as heck care. ;)

UPDATE:

Count on Bill to say something substantive.

I don't agree with Mr. Whittle on all accounts however. He seems to think the 2000 elections were more important, owing to the decisive action taken by President Bush after 9/11.

I disagree:

This election is more important than 2000, if only for the reason that there is no question we know the stakes. We consciously decide this election the attitude the U.S. will take in the face of clear and present danger.

A Gore win in 2000 would have delayed action at worst. If he had won, and not gone after our attackers, you can be sure a Republican would have won easily today, as more attacks would have followed.

Bush's policies have apparently made us safer. That we haven't been attacked post 9/11 amazes me no end.

More importantly though, and most significant to today's election, Bush's policies have made our children's and grandchildren's lives safer, if, and this is a big IF... IF his policies are continued.

If they are abandoned today, the pendulum swings the other way, and future generations will pay a horrible price for our cowardice.