At Home On Piety Hill

UPDATE!
10/27/2008   This just in: The Obama-O’Biden campaign blackballs a CBS affiliate for asking tough, pointed, fair questions — treatment that conservatives routinely and courageously respond to daily!!! It seems like just yesterday that the jackbooted thugs silenced an Orlando FL station for asking appropriate questions that, frankly, should have been asked of Obama and O’Biden throughout the campaign. 

I haven’t seen a news anchor treat a Democrat like a Libertarian or Republican in a long time. It was kind of refreshing for a change, but it seemed odd to see someone with all the trappings of the progressive media asking O’Biden tough questions. Though the depth and thoughtfulness of the interview was surprising, the Democrat response was predictable:

Biden so disliked West’s line of questioning that the Obama campaign canceled a WFTV interview with Jill Biden, the candidate’s wife.

“This cancellation is non-negotiable, and further opportunities for your station to interview with this campaign are unlikely, at best for the duration of the remaining days until the election,” wrote Laura K. McGinnis, Central Florida communications director for the Obama campaign.

Get ready for at least four years of this sort of Stalinist retaliation against any dissenting voices. By the way, I once heard someone say “dissent is patriotic.”

Well, a lot has happened since I began the draft of this post almost two months ago and photoshopped the images. Back then, Obama was on top and I thought he was the sure bet. Then, McCain came back with a surprisingly crisp campaign apparatus, but he quickly went into a tailspin and it looks as if it’s Obama by a nose. This go-’round I don’t have a horse in the race, so I’m enjoying this election a lot more. I don’t care for either of the candidates. I suppose Fred Thompson would have suited me.

Anyway, I think I’ll blog a lot of politics for the next week to sort of purge it out of my system and then get back to the fun stuff: Family and friends, Maine, art, books and music with some Krazy Kitsch thrown in for good measure.

Now, there’s plenty of talk out there about hope and change, but not much detail about what or who we’re hoping in and what kind of change we want to see. It’s as if the two words are floated out as empty containers and the audience is left to fill in their notions, their ideas about what kind of change each of the candidates is offering. Actually, I think that’s the strategy. Put out some reassuring, yet imprecise phrases to make people come away with an optimistic feeling about one candidate or the other.

So, which of our two presidential candidates presents us with the best chance to see some positive changes?

Thoroughly Modern McCain First, we have John McCain who has been in politics since I was a boy. He’s a bona fide war hero with a compelling story and I salute him for that. But, he was also one of the Keating Five, the gang of fourteen and he crafted legislation which limits my right to free speech under the First Amendment. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he’s a deal-maker and I think he would get rolled by the Congress every time. So, under McCain I would expect to see government grow… not much change there. I’m  already bored just writing about a McCain presidency.

His Holiness Barak Obama All of the institutions came together and anointed Obama King of the World, so I suppose we’ll have to change some things around here to accommodate him after he makes the triumphal entry into Washington in January. Gwen Ifill, the vice-presidential debate moderator, wrote a prophetic book about Barak’s ascension, slated for release on inauguration day. In his case, not only will congress work him pretty good, but I expect Russia or China to test his mettle before Summer ‘09. I suppose the only real change I expect with an Obama presidency is a decline in US influence abroad. It didn’t take long for him to become a Washington insider… and fabulously wealthy.

Joey O’Biden What about Obama’s choice of Joe Biden for VP? He’s also been in the Senate since I was a boy and doesn’t show signs of change. During his failed primary, He joined Hillary Clinton in declaring Obama is unqualified to be Commander in Chief, but now Joe seems to see Barak as a regular George Patton or something. Of course, he did certify that Obama is an  ”articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.“ Same old beltway politics. Biden has, however, changed history, which is pretty slick. He said FDR addressed the nation on television in 1929 to calm the fears of the American people following the stock market crash. What a buffoon! You know what would be a change? If Saturday Night Live lampooned this clown for the most enormous verbal gaff of the entire political season.

Governor Sarah Palin Now, John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for VP has introduced some changes. She and her husband have a combined family income that’s down there in the normal range. She’s a Republican, running against the real enemy: snotty, east coast pseudo-intellectuals and pop-journalists. Man, that’s a refreshing development and I sure wish there was a real man at the top of the ticket, to watch her back. 

Oh, well… we’ll see what the next 30 days bring.