Since I’ve heard this three times in the past week, and hadn’t really heard it mentioned before then, I thought I’d stick this little thought up here very quickly. As I’m sure you all know, a poll conducted by the BBC, with the help of several newspapers worldwide, found Obama miles ahead of McCain in every country–an average of 4 to 1 in support of That One. But the weird thing is the role of race… Read more »

So, several Tennessean bloggers and Mark Tapscott are in a huff over the $150,000 the RNC blew at Saks, Atelier, and other fine retailers. And I’ve got a lot to say about it. Let’s take, for instance, Dork Nation:

“But . . . do real Americans, the folksy kind, spend 70 grand at Saks, especially during a recession? Or perhaps the RNC was just doing their part to prop up the sagging retail sales for this quarter?

“Ah, yes I know, how can you focus on such trivial matters when the economy is in the toilet, etc. Well, bud, this speaks directly to that issue. You gotta have balls the size of Sasquatch’s prostate to spend your donors’ hard earned cash on clothing the entire Palin clan.”

The point is not that the RNC may have bought the Palin family clothes (speaking of, some of that $75,000 in St. Paul may also have gone to clothing the Jimmy and Jack McCain for the day), the point is that the RNC felt like they needed to buy them clothes because whatever the Palin family had bought at the Alaskan Macy’s on their $200,000 combined salaries for themselves and their five children wasn’t cutting it on the national stage.

This is a bit like that time Michelle Obama took a ton of flack for her $600 earring comment — totally stupid. Of course, she’s going to spend $600 on earrings, she’s married to a senator who’s running for president. People want Jackie Onassis, not Rosalynn Carter.

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It’s always funny to me to hear people who have grown cynical of American politics say that Democrats and Republicans are not different enough.  In fact, to anyone paying attention, they are quite different.

My original choice for the Democratic nominee for President, John Edwards (not even ashamed), ran on the concept that there are two Americas and that to progress we must move past this divide.  Barack Obama adopted a similar message of reconciliation between the culturally divided areas of our nation.  

This is where the party differences that I referenced earlier come in.  The Republicans now agree that there are two Americas, but they don’t see that as a problem.  In fact, it’s quite useful around election time.  This past week we listened to a Congresswoman from Minnesota talk about the Pro-Americans and Anti-Americans in Congress.  We watched Sarah Palin explain how people from big cities weren’t “real Americans” like those from small towns.  We heard from the McCain campaign about “real Virginia” and “fake Virginia.”  By the way, I learned from John McCain’s brother that Fake Virginia can also be referred to as “Communist Country,” you know, if you’re going for something more tactful.  

This found me conflicted, not just from a political standpoint but also on a personal level.  I realized I’m not sure whether I’m a real American or a fake American.  I’m from a small town in the South that votes heavily Republican, so that should give me real American status, right?  But then Robin Hayes, a Congressman from North Carolina, informed me that “liberals hate real Americans that work and achieve and accomplish and believe in God.”  I’m a liberal.  So I guess I hate real Americans? But I believe in God…  although people who work and achieve do kinda piss me off… hmm… if only there were some sort of list to tell us who’s anti-American…I wonder if anyone’s ever tried that.

This represents a major philosophical difference between the two parties.  You can go with the Democrats and try to find common ground amongst the obvious differences in our hugely diverse nation, or you can go with the Republicans and stick with yer own kind. I personally find that categorizing people based on shallow regional stereotypes is much easier than actually trying to understand people of different backgrounds, which is why I’m voting McCarthy/Palin ‘08!

The non-stop Joe the Plumber hoo ha has gone viral, with people at McCain and Palin rallies holding up signs identifying themselves as Rose the Teacher, Hal the Cop, Ed the Dairyman, etc. American Princess puts forth a possible theory about it:

“On the other hand, for something to go so viral that people market it on their own is like the Holy Grail of social media based marketing theory. Has the GOP unintentionally hit Dark Knight status?”

She admits that it probably has not, but the omnipresence of the Joe the Plumber and the rise of Sarah Palin may inspire a grassroots movement driven by social media, particularly in the (likely) wilderness period for the future of the Republican Party and conservative movement over the next four years. The Dark Knight analogy holds some clout, basically. In the short term, we’re looking at the “I’m Joe the Plumber” contest (Kleinheider has a Nashvillian entry), which, okay, the contest is sort of bush league, but the following exchange via National Review is not:

“Are you going to check my license, too?” he asked me. “Are you going to check my immigration status? I’m ready, I have everything here. Whatever you want, I have it. I have my green card, I have my passport — “

I was a little surprised. Did Munoz really bring his papers with him to a McCain rally? I asked.

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Courtesy Mary Katharine Ham, a charming and delightful entry from the marvelous Jon Stewart story, on stage Friday night at Northeastern University [Language Warning]:

Palin’s reaction to this would either be totally classy or involve an incredible ass kicking and either way, I would pay to bear witness. Stewart illustrates exactly why his satire can become a bit cruel and harsh — he takes himself a little too seriously, and has the luxury of waving off any serious thing he says by pleading the Comedy Central line. Like that time when Lynne Cheney sort of owned him because he kept asking questions on Iraq and gay marriage like he was Peter Jennings — oh, but ha ha ha ha, the whole show’s a joke!

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The truth hurts, evidently, but McCain senior adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer (who Mike and I literally yell whenever she’s on tv for her sheer stupidity and dumb haircut) shared the true divide between the counties of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William and the rest of the state:

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Ciao, regazzi! Expat, Sydney, here with some extremely exciting news.

I did it. Finally. It’s been a long 21 years, and I really never thought I’d make it. But it happened.

I voted in my first Presidential election! I’d tell you for which candidate, but for the sake of journalistic ethics and some semblance of objectivity, I’m going to keep it to myself. I will say, though, that doing it in a foreign country makes it feel more meaningful. Maybe it was the extra effort- not sure.

Onto business: two very important things happened this week in Firenze. Firstly, there was a protest. Secondly, I saw genuine disdain for both of our Presidential candidates.

The bad news - these events were totally unrelated. The picketers outside Florence’s main Cathedral were frustrated with educational funding in Italy, and my Italian Professor, who thinks McCain is an idiot and Obama is a “cartoon character,” wasn’t even there.

Through the process I did see an entirely new Italian view of American Politics. Matilda, my Professor, explained that she cannot speak for young Italians, but she and her friends are deeply invested in the election.

“We talk about it every night,” she said. She is not thrilled about our candidates. Neither one seems especially genuine or well suited for the job in her opinion, but she does not have trouble making a choice. Especially after McCain chose Pailin, she said, “if I were one of you, it would vote Obama.”

Of course, I had to ask, “do you think most Italians are interested in the elections.”

She admitted she was not entirely sure, but said, “Italians care, but I do not know if the younger generation knows how important the race is. For most Florentines politics was our first language. But I do not know if American politics are important to young people here.”

I suppose this weakens my original theory. Perhaps next week I’ll be completely disproved by protesters waving anti-American banners. Who knows?

     Do you remember, as a child, waking up from a terrifying nightmare in a cold sweat, unsure where you were and whether what you just experienced was actually real?  That feeling of utter terror, utter uncertainty… afraid of what might happen next.

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Really, the only thing new being talked about in the French press vis-a-vis the American election is the financial crisis, which isn’t really bringing any new information about the candidates and their capabilities, at least in respect to French opinions on the elections…

Therefore, I thought I’d show you all this clip of John Cleese–a British actor who is usually pretty conservative–damning the whole election, and Sarah Palin in particular, as something “Monty Python could have written.”

John Cleese on Sarah Palin

With a few sketchy reports about a very possible breach between McCain and Palin over how and how hard to attack Obama, Palin unleashed a flawlessly executed attack of a speech on abortion yesterday in Johnstown, PA. McCain seems totally incapable of putting together a functional, free market governing philosophy that differs fundamentally from Obama’s, and, given that the economy will dominate the national discourse for a long time, that renders him basically nonexistent as a candidate. He has to attack personally. Over at Hot Air, Allah Pundit referred to it as “one of the most red-meat social con speeches you’ll ever read.” While the campaign flails about (although the ACORN ad is an improvement), Palin has taken a sturdy, fundamental approach with four steps: Relate, Attack, Contextualize, Inspire (seasoned with blue-collar Dem political hat tips). Here’s the speech:

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