William F. Buckley is smiling down from heaven at John McCain, who has found a new, improved, way to continue work that Buckley started.
Buckley's work: "I've spent my entire lifetime separating the right from the kooks."
Buckley has had another recent ally in George W. Bush, who by the sixth year of his administration had liberated so many conservatives from the base that Democrats carried the mid-term elections and gained control of the House. I recall thinking at the time that these liberated conservatives would become the founding members of a new movement called "Conscious Conservatism."
But the movement lagged, never gaining traction. In his general ineptitude, or indifference, it was another mission that Bush couldn't complete.
Enter Billy Pitchman. I can't remember his full name, but he is the guy who sells things on television: stain removers, carpet cleaners, scratch removers, tomato knives that also saw through nails. He has a full beard, wears a blue shirt, and has a voice like he was yelling at you through a hurricane. You've seen him?
Sarah Palin is Billy Pitchman in lipstick. John McCain put her to work hardening the base, and she is living up to the expectations of William F. Buckley. "Sarah's Base Hardener" is separating the right from the kooks in what the polls and the headlines indicate to be boatload numbers. Making the headlines are separating stalwart rightists like David Brooks, Kathleen Parker and Christopher Buckley, William Buckley's son, all of whom have floated to the top. But the real work takes place below the water line.
New, improved Sarah's Base Hardener features a secret ingredient that, when dumped into a tubful of conservatives, acts to eliminate choice. At the molecular level, it removes any molecule that doesn't look like and act like the molecule next to it. These molecules rise to the top, in a confused, multi-colored froth, while the base molecules, all exactly identical, sink to the bottom, so enraptured by their liberation from choice that they cry out against any agent of choice, including but not limited to Barack Obama, intoning, "Treason!" "Terrorist!" "Liar!" "Kill him!"
Sarah's Base Hardener has achieved such astonishing results in a few short weeks that accomplished base hardener sales hands like Rush Limbaugh are limp with envy. Looking at his own product, Limbaugh must wonder helplessly what Sarah's Base Hardener has, that his doesn't. She was on his radio show this week, and he said: "I'll tell you, I'm in a quandary here this morning. I admire you so much. I really don't even know what to ask."
But then he started to put two thoughts together, a very un-base-like thing to do (he might have wanted to rub his forehead with a little Sarah's Base Hardener, which can be applied topically), when he spoke of Sarah's "electrifying" speechmaking, and "partisan zeal." He could have been talking about Billy Pitchman and his hurricane-piercing voice. Could Sarah's Base Hardener's secret be as much about the delivery, as the product? Could be, said David Brooks, who said Sarah's "delivery skills are incredible." William Kristol, the kind of conservative for whom the choice between choice and base would have been particularly hard, but yielded quickly to Sarah's Base Hardener, said from the confused froth at the top of the tub that Sarah had "star quality. It matters a lot."
John McCain, meanwhile appears not to know what to do, with either the wonderfully hardened base or the froth at the top. His recent behavior indicates that a little Sarah's Base Hardener may have splashed on him, and he doesn't know which way to go. Rise or fall, at least he knows he has the gratitude of William F. Buckley.
October 15, 2008
October 14, 2008
Palin the media professional manipulator
Say what you will about Sarah Palin’s vice presidential credentials, she provides an excellent example of the dreadful state of media literacy in 2008 America.
Palin is a media literate, one of only about 1.5 million in America. Those 1.5 million acquired their media literacy through education. Palin has a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho, and in 1988 she worked in television as a sports reporter. Take if from an old sports writer, it doesn’t get any more MSM than that. She knows all the definitions, principles, values and rules that media professionals use every day in their work. It’s not all that complicated; the study of journalism, and all the other media forms, is as black-and-white as learning English. The media uses definitions, rules and values that are as clear-cut as the conjugation of verbs.
The other 99 percent of Americans have zero education in media. It simply is not a required subject in American schools, which is turning into more and more of a drastic educational oversight as we move deeper into the digital age, where anybody with a computer can be a “journalist.” Those people really, really do need to understand how the mainstream media works.
This literacy gap has become, and ominously provides, a wedge between the media and the public. In their illiteracy, Americans accuse the media of bias, irresponsibility, moral decay, Hannah Montana. And many of those accusations are true, because media professionals, in a media-illiterate world, know they can get away with it. The result is a growing American crisis, creating fear and mistrust, even loathing, of a media institution that is the life blood of democracy, vital to our society’s constant and reasonable demand for information and entertainment, and a hub of the economy.
Palin the media professional has been providing a highly visible example, manipulating naturally media-illiterate campaign crowds in Florida with remarks blaming Katie Couric’s line of questioning for her “less-than-successful interviews with kinda mainstream media.”
“At that,” reported Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, “”Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, ‘Sit down, boy’.”
MSM professionals understand that Palin’s manipulations are only for short-term political effect, but still it is always an aggravation to witness such abuse by one of its own. Much of the aggravation rises from our feeling of helplessness to do anything constructive for the manipulated masses. Palin has all the power here. When Palin tells a crowd she “doesn’t have a very high opinion of the mainstream media,” she says it with the understanding that, without the MSM, her message, and their response, won’t be heard beyond the arena lobby. The GOP anger language has reached a point where observers wonder if McCain and Palin shouldn’t face down offenders on the spot. I wonder if Palin shouldn’t look into a mirror and have a few words with herself.
I always wish the people being manipulated had some idea of what was going on, even when it is seven-year-old girls watching “Hannah Montana.” These are the little girls who will convince their moms to spend $4,000 for a couple of tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. Shouldn’t the parents at least know how it is done?
About Palin’s manipulations, my wishing becomes extreme. She essentially is inviting revolt against an institution that is the literal oxygen of democracy. What will the long-term effects be? Universal media education, I hope.
Palin is a media literate, one of only about 1.5 million in America. Those 1.5 million acquired their media literacy through education. Palin has a degree in journalism from the University of Idaho, and in 1988 she worked in television as a sports reporter. Take if from an old sports writer, it doesn’t get any more MSM than that. She knows all the definitions, principles, values and rules that media professionals use every day in their work. It’s not all that complicated; the study of journalism, and all the other media forms, is as black-and-white as learning English. The media uses definitions, rules and values that are as clear-cut as the conjugation of verbs.
The other 99 percent of Americans have zero education in media. It simply is not a required subject in American schools, which is turning into more and more of a drastic educational oversight as we move deeper into the digital age, where anybody with a computer can be a “journalist.” Those people really, really do need to understand how the mainstream media works.
This literacy gap has become, and ominously provides, a wedge between the media and the public. In their illiteracy, Americans accuse the media of bias, irresponsibility, moral decay, Hannah Montana. And many of those accusations are true, because media professionals, in a media-illiterate world, know they can get away with it. The result is a growing American crisis, creating fear and mistrust, even loathing, of a media institution that is the life blood of democracy, vital to our society’s constant and reasonable demand for information and entertainment, and a hub of the economy.
Palin the media professional has been providing a highly visible example, manipulating naturally media-illiterate campaign crowds in Florida with remarks blaming Katie Couric’s line of questioning for her “less-than-successful interviews with kinda mainstream media.”
“At that,” reported Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, “”Palin supporters turned on reporters in the press area, waving thunder sticks and shouting abuse. Others hurled obscenities at a camera crew. One Palin supporter shouted a racial epithet at an African American sound man for a network and told him, ‘Sit down, boy’.”
MSM professionals understand that Palin’s manipulations are only for short-term political effect, but still it is always an aggravation to witness such abuse by one of its own. Much of the aggravation rises from our feeling of helplessness to do anything constructive for the manipulated masses. Palin has all the power here. When Palin tells a crowd she “doesn’t have a very high opinion of the mainstream media,” she says it with the understanding that, without the MSM, her message, and their response, won’t be heard beyond the arena lobby. The GOP anger language has reached a point where observers wonder if McCain and Palin shouldn’t face down offenders on the spot. I wonder if Palin shouldn’t look into a mirror and have a few words with herself.
I always wish the people being manipulated had some idea of what was going on, even when it is seven-year-old girls watching “Hannah Montana.” These are the little girls who will convince their moms to spend $4,000 for a couple of tickets to a Hannah Montana concert. Shouldn’t the parents at least know how it is done?
About Palin’s manipulations, my wishing becomes extreme. She essentially is inviting revolt against an institution that is the literal oxygen of democracy. What will the long-term effects be? Universal media education, I hope.
October 05, 2008
How bad could it get? Who knew?
This afternoon I looked through some of my old blogs relating to the Bush administration. I knew as soon as I did it that it was a big, fat, depressing mistake. Below is my blog from Nov. 8, 2006, the day after the midterm elections. What it foresaw was rosy, compared to where the nation stands on Oct. 5, 2008. We're not behind 150-14. We're behind a trillion to nothing. Here's the blog.
"The Tuesday elections have proven to be a repudiation of George W. Bush and his administration. Democratic and independent candidates carried the day, and Republicans no longer possess a conservative majority in Congress.
"Either way, the nation was going to lose. We’ve lost already, and it’s only the first days after Election Day. Bush has a team that knows how to get around Congress, if it has to. If the Bush team doesn’t have a Republican Congress to 'work with,' then the team will work without Congress. Loss of a Republican congressional majority has been a repudiation, but only a vocal one. Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzales will continue on their same path, maybe with more machete work to do on balances of power put in place in 1789, but continuing all the same.
"It is this inevitability that is so depressing. It’s like the nation is behind, 100-0, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, there’s no mercy rule, and nobody can leave until the fat lady sings. If the Congress had remained Republican-controlled after the elections, who knows what the final score might have been? Now that Republicans have lost control – I don’t say, 'Democrats have gained control,' because it’s not that black-and-white (or red-and-blue) – but now that Republicans have lost control, the final score, when Bush is finally carried off the field in 2008, may be 150-14.
"Surely a non-Republican Congress can scratch out a couple of scores in two years, but most of the drives won’t get inside the 40-yard line, against an opponent that knows how to use the rules so well.
"But who cares? What good are 14 points in the last quarter of a game that was over at the half? In the Congressional locker room, what will the coach say? 'Folks, you did your best.' Well, rah rah rah. The stories in the morning papers, when the gun finally sounds in 2008, will be about which nation is bloodied the worst, Iraq or America.
"And all we can do is sit in the stands and watch. Can’t leave, can’t get away, can’t go home and fix a martini and turn on the TV and try to forget. Wait til next year? Sheesh. Who wants to watch 2007 in America?
"I have nothing against Republicans, or Republican or conservative philosophy and ideology, or honest Republican elected representatives, or evangelical Christians gay or straight, and I am not energized by the prospects of a party that counts John Kerry among its leaders. I am just an American, sitting in the stands, rooting for a country that is behind 100-0 with a full quarter left to go. Remember Andy Griffith’s funny monologue, 'What it was, was football'? A well-oiled fellow next to Andy in the stands slaps him on the shoulder and says, 'Buddy, have a drink,' only Andy says, 'drank.' To you, my seatmates in this stadium from hell, I slap you on the shoulder and say, 'Buddy, have a drank. Have several.' "
One thing has changed, this afternoon, from that November day two years ago. I am energized by the prospects of a party that has made Barack Obama its candidate for president. I think he has the makings of a patient leader and, equally important, a coach who knows the value of values, and who teaches that principles are principal. God knows we face a rebuilding program.
"The Tuesday elections have proven to be a repudiation of George W. Bush and his administration. Democratic and independent candidates carried the day, and Republicans no longer possess a conservative majority in Congress.
"Either way, the nation was going to lose. We’ve lost already, and it’s only the first days after Election Day. Bush has a team that knows how to get around Congress, if it has to. If the Bush team doesn’t have a Republican Congress to 'work with,' then the team will work without Congress. Loss of a Republican congressional majority has been a repudiation, but only a vocal one. Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gonzales will continue on their same path, maybe with more machete work to do on balances of power put in place in 1789, but continuing all the same.
"It is this inevitability that is so depressing. It’s like the nation is behind, 100-0, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, there’s no mercy rule, and nobody can leave until the fat lady sings. If the Congress had remained Republican-controlled after the elections, who knows what the final score might have been? Now that Republicans have lost control – I don’t say, 'Democrats have gained control,' because it’s not that black-and-white (or red-and-blue) – but now that Republicans have lost control, the final score, when Bush is finally carried off the field in 2008, may be 150-14.
"Surely a non-Republican Congress can scratch out a couple of scores in two years, but most of the drives won’t get inside the 40-yard line, against an opponent that knows how to use the rules so well.
"But who cares? What good are 14 points in the last quarter of a game that was over at the half? In the Congressional locker room, what will the coach say? 'Folks, you did your best.' Well, rah rah rah. The stories in the morning papers, when the gun finally sounds in 2008, will be about which nation is bloodied the worst, Iraq or America.
"And all we can do is sit in the stands and watch. Can’t leave, can’t get away, can’t go home and fix a martini and turn on the TV and try to forget. Wait til next year? Sheesh. Who wants to watch 2007 in America?
"I have nothing against Republicans, or Republican or conservative philosophy and ideology, or honest Republican elected representatives, or evangelical Christians gay or straight, and I am not energized by the prospects of a party that counts John Kerry among its leaders. I am just an American, sitting in the stands, rooting for a country that is behind 100-0 with a full quarter left to go. Remember Andy Griffith’s funny monologue, 'What it was, was football'? A well-oiled fellow next to Andy in the stands slaps him on the shoulder and says, 'Buddy, have a drink,' only Andy says, 'drank.' To you, my seatmates in this stadium from hell, I slap you on the shoulder and say, 'Buddy, have a drank. Have several.' "
One thing has changed, this afternoon, from that November day two years ago. I am energized by the prospects of a party that has made Barack Obama its candidate for president. I think he has the makings of a patient leader and, equally important, a coach who knows the value of values, and who teaches that principles are principal. God knows we face a rebuilding program.
October 03, 2008
No refuge from Sarah Palin's wink
I'm sipping coffee at 7 a.m., minding my own business on a cozy, cloudy morning, in total thrall with no classes to teach on Friday when Karen says from across the kitchen nook table, "We need new tires. Can you do that this morning?"
Karen is so cool and dear. She and the sisterhood of women live in a non sequitur universe, wonderful in that way they can be sitting quietly when an idea that might as well have originated with the Big Bang and swirled around their universe for three billion years, suddenly arrives, zips through the window, goes in between the eyes, and comes right back out of the mouth thusly: "The bathroom needs painting; can you do that this afternoon?"
It's eerie how often the idea meets a man's need. Going for tires was just what I needed after the debate, the bailout, the mess of the world without. I walked into Discount Tire at 8 a.m. and entered a showplace of huge tires (they look so much bigger off the car) and hulking rims and manly refuge, not gym men but regular men, talking tires and treads and plies with a light seasoning of manly patois and one-liners, and at the counter, manly decisions being growled out: "Go ahead, put 'em on."
My guy was Willie. We agreed on some mileage credit and tires identical to the old ones, and Willie said, "How are we going to take care of that?" "I knew it would come to that," I said, and we chuckled together in a manly way. It was such a simple world. Willie told me it would take about 45 minutes.
Then Sarah Palin winked at me. She has winked at me at least once an hour since the debate ended, including all the hours in the middle of the night. She is the first human being related to either the presidency or the vice presidency of the United States who has ever winked at me. I take that back. Sometimes in ads for President's Day sales, there will be a dollar bill in the ad, and George Washington is winking at me. I never buy anything from the stores that believe George Washington would wink at his constituency or that I am going to be impressed by it.
I was as relieved as anybody when Palin didn't crash and burn. Surprised, too, unless she was sandbagging in those Katie Couric interviews, purposely lowering expectations as some people have suggested. The best debate reaction I have seen was provided by Steve Breen, editorial cartoonist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. In this morning's paper he shows a high-jump pit with the bar one foot off the ground. Lying on her back in the pit is Palin, big grin, fists pumped, and she is saying, "Cleared it!"
A couple of days ago on public radio, I listened to a discussion of probability theory, that branch of mathematics in which models can be created to predict the future. I would like to know, just out of curiosity, what the models would say about the effect on the stock market of Sarah Palin becoming President of the United States of America.
I'll tell you this, after the Biden-Palin debate, if John McCain is elected, I will be the man's most vocal champion. I will toast his deeds and health each evening as long as I can still afford the booze, and rise each morning in celebration of the news that he is still alive, reasonably certain in the bargain that another day will pass without him winking at me.
Here comes Willie. It has been an hour now; he promised 45 minutes. He sits, looks me in the eye – I am 100 percent certain he won't wink at me – and says sorry for the delay, but my tires are not in stock. He is going to upgrade me to Michelins, no extra charge. What a simple world it is, in here.
Karen is so cool and dear. She and the sisterhood of women live in a non sequitur universe, wonderful in that way they can be sitting quietly when an idea that might as well have originated with the Big Bang and swirled around their universe for three billion years, suddenly arrives, zips through the window, goes in between the eyes, and comes right back out of the mouth thusly: "The bathroom needs painting; can you do that this afternoon?"
It's eerie how often the idea meets a man's need. Going for tires was just what I needed after the debate, the bailout, the mess of the world without. I walked into Discount Tire at 8 a.m. and entered a showplace of huge tires (they look so much bigger off the car) and hulking rims and manly refuge, not gym men but regular men, talking tires and treads and plies with a light seasoning of manly patois and one-liners, and at the counter, manly decisions being growled out: "Go ahead, put 'em on."
My guy was Willie. We agreed on some mileage credit and tires identical to the old ones, and Willie said, "How are we going to take care of that?" "I knew it would come to that," I said, and we chuckled together in a manly way. It was such a simple world. Willie told me it would take about 45 minutes.
Then Sarah Palin winked at me. She has winked at me at least once an hour since the debate ended, including all the hours in the middle of the night. She is the first human being related to either the presidency or the vice presidency of the United States who has ever winked at me. I take that back. Sometimes in ads for President's Day sales, there will be a dollar bill in the ad, and George Washington is winking at me. I never buy anything from the stores that believe George Washington would wink at his constituency or that I am going to be impressed by it.
I was as relieved as anybody when Palin didn't crash and burn. Surprised, too, unless she was sandbagging in those Katie Couric interviews, purposely lowering expectations as some people have suggested. The best debate reaction I have seen was provided by Steve Breen, editorial cartoonist for The San Diego Union-Tribune. In this morning's paper he shows a high-jump pit with the bar one foot off the ground. Lying on her back in the pit is Palin, big grin, fists pumped, and she is saying, "Cleared it!"
A couple of days ago on public radio, I listened to a discussion of probability theory, that branch of mathematics in which models can be created to predict the future. I would like to know, just out of curiosity, what the models would say about the effect on the stock market of Sarah Palin becoming President of the United States of America.
I'll tell you this, after the Biden-Palin debate, if John McCain is elected, I will be the man's most vocal champion. I will toast his deeds and health each evening as long as I can still afford the booze, and rise each morning in celebration of the news that he is still alive, reasonably certain in the bargain that another day will pass without him winking at me.
Here comes Willie. It has been an hour now; he promised 45 minutes. He sits, looks me in the eye – I am 100 percent certain he won't wink at me – and says sorry for the delay, but my tires are not in stock. He is going to upgrade me to Michelins, no extra charge. What a simple world it is, in here.
October 02, 2008
Sarah Palin on a motorcycle
Waiting for tonight’s vice presidential debate is like being passed by a motorcycle on the freeway. I’m going 70 and the motorcycle is going 90. This is very aggravating because nobody should be going 90 on four wheels, much less two, and if this guy cracks up right in front of me, I am going to be stuck with a dreadful nightmare for the rest of my life.
You can say jeez, that guy gets killed, and you are worrying about yourself? Well, yeah. That’s the way it is. I don’t want to see him get killed, particularly the way a person going 90 on a motorcycle down a freeway is likely to get killed. I do not want to see that. He sure won’t have to live with it, but I will.
In fact that is exactly what my brain is yelling at him when he goes by. Do you have a brain? Don’t you have parents? Who told you it was all right to go 90 on a motorcycle in front of other people on a busy freeway? Yes, he is an moron, but I hold my breath for him, and for me, until he is out of sight.
I am holding my breath for Sarah Palin today. When John McCain rolled a huge red motorcycle into her driveway that day in August, she should have said right then, “No way am I getting on that thing.” I know I would feel a lot better today, and so would John McCain, in spades no doubt. McCain isn’t just another driver on the freeway today, he’s on Palin’s buddy seat.
I don’t feel sorry for him because he should have known better. He wanted Joe Lieberman. No, said the party managers, if you want to be president you need this red motorcycle. Today, squirming on the buddy seat with Palin’s hair in his face, he might be thinking about Lieberman and feeling like he turned his back on Gandhi.
Am I sorry? No, but it still makes my hair stand on end. This GOP ticket looks just like another motorcycle I saw once, hauling through freeway traffic in San Diego, populated by the operator, who was a man; a woman, on the buddy seat behind him; a baby, facing backward, in a carrier on the woman’s back, and a rangy white dog, his hind feet wedged in the man’s crotch and his front feet on the handlebars. Does anybody that stupid deserve to crash? Yes. Does anybody want to watch it? No.
It’s only noon and I am in a flinch. I can’t get my eyes more than halfway open. She has to go 90 minutes with millions of people watching. She couldn’t go five minutes with Katie Couric without having to lean on her training wheels. Tina Fey, who after this debate may launch a second career playing Palin, was so funny on SNL when she said, “Katie, can I take a life line?”
I am worried that tonight it will be funny for five minutes and then we will have 85 minutes to go. Somebody, I think it was Judith Warner in the Times, wrote that McCain picking Palin was not only insulting, it was cruelty. I know, I could turn it off, not watch at all. But damn it, she is a candidate for the vice presidency of the United States of America. I am stuck on this freeway with 304 million people and I can’t get off.
You can say jeez, that guy gets killed, and you are worrying about yourself? Well, yeah. That’s the way it is. I don’t want to see him get killed, particularly the way a person going 90 on a motorcycle down a freeway is likely to get killed. I do not want to see that. He sure won’t have to live with it, but I will.
In fact that is exactly what my brain is yelling at him when he goes by. Do you have a brain? Don’t you have parents? Who told you it was all right to go 90 on a motorcycle in front of other people on a busy freeway? Yes, he is an moron, but I hold my breath for him, and for me, until he is out of sight.
I am holding my breath for Sarah Palin today. When John McCain rolled a huge red motorcycle into her driveway that day in August, she should have said right then, “No way am I getting on that thing.” I know I would feel a lot better today, and so would John McCain, in spades no doubt. McCain isn’t just another driver on the freeway today, he’s on Palin’s buddy seat.
I don’t feel sorry for him because he should have known better. He wanted Joe Lieberman. No, said the party managers, if you want to be president you need this red motorcycle. Today, squirming on the buddy seat with Palin’s hair in his face, he might be thinking about Lieberman and feeling like he turned his back on Gandhi.
Am I sorry? No, but it still makes my hair stand on end. This GOP ticket looks just like another motorcycle I saw once, hauling through freeway traffic in San Diego, populated by the operator, who was a man; a woman, on the buddy seat behind him; a baby, facing backward, in a carrier on the woman’s back, and a rangy white dog, his hind feet wedged in the man’s crotch and his front feet on the handlebars. Does anybody that stupid deserve to crash? Yes. Does anybody want to watch it? No.
It’s only noon and I am in a flinch. I can’t get my eyes more than halfway open. She has to go 90 minutes with millions of people watching. She couldn’t go five minutes with Katie Couric without having to lean on her training wheels. Tina Fey, who after this debate may launch a second career playing Palin, was so funny on SNL when she said, “Katie, can I take a life line?”
I am worried that tonight it will be funny for five minutes and then we will have 85 minutes to go. Somebody, I think it was Judith Warner in the Times, wrote that McCain picking Palin was not only insulting, it was cruelty. I know, I could turn it off, not watch at all. But damn it, she is a candidate for the vice presidency of the United States of America. I am stuck on this freeway with 304 million people and I can’t get off.
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