lowercase thought.
Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Vice-Presidential Debates are best watched with lots of lager
Last night, Andy (the guy who lives just two doors up and lets me crash in his basement) and I sat down at Pottsville Dem. HQ to watch the debate the Weekly Standard called, "freestyle wrestling". I must say, 220z. of Yuengling Lager helped get me by through that love-fest without banging my head against a wall.
Anyways, here's my take on what happened: Edwards has obviously never conducted a *political* debate, particularly one that focuses its first 45 minutes to foreign affairs and the War Of Terror. He tried to use his natural charisma much like he did in the courtroom to woo the jury of the American Public.
That shit just doesn't play with "security moms". It's the same reason why Bush had his ass handed to him by JK in the first debate. "Security moms" want experience, knowledge and gravitas. Middle-aged single women as seen on "Sex and the City" want a leader with a cute smile that makes you feel special. Note to John Edwards: There are ten times as many "security moms" as there are "Carries", and about twenty times more in the major battleground states of OH, PA, WI and MI.
Not only this, but Edwards doesn't fit the important, traditional role of the Veep candidate as "attack dog" very well. His smiling, southern charm simply doesn't lend itself well to calling the opposition a bunch of idiots and misleaders. That's a good job for a brooding, overly serious former Defense Secretary who warns of imminent attack if you pick the other guys.
All of this goes back to what I've said since the beginning of this thing: John Edwards was the wrong pick for the VP nomination. That doesn't mean that my buddy Wes was the right guy either, but there were much better choices hands-down.
Dick Gephardt comes to mind here. Howard Dean, despite his penchant for going on the offensive, does not. Cheney does not exhibit anger when tearing apart the other side, but simply the air that he honestly believes that Democrats are pinko commies who would turn the United States into New France if they had the chance.
Bill Richardson would've rocked. Unfortunately he turned the job down.
All in all, I like John Edwards and frankly he might have made a decent nominee for the Presidency. As VP though, he needs to do some serious political "growing up", or John Kerry will need to defend himself on his own.
Anyways, here's my take on what happened: Edwards has obviously never conducted a *political* debate, particularly one that focuses its first 45 minutes to foreign affairs and the War Of Terror. He tried to use his natural charisma much like he did in the courtroom to woo the jury of the American Public.
That shit just doesn't play with "security moms". It's the same reason why Bush had his ass handed to him by JK in the first debate. "Security moms" want experience, knowledge and gravitas. Middle-aged single women as seen on "Sex and the City" want a leader with a cute smile that makes you feel special. Note to John Edwards: There are ten times as many "security moms" as there are "Carries", and about twenty times more in the major battleground states of OH, PA, WI and MI.
Not only this, but Edwards doesn't fit the important, traditional role of the Veep candidate as "attack dog" very well. His smiling, southern charm simply doesn't lend itself well to calling the opposition a bunch of idiots and misleaders. That's a good job for a brooding, overly serious former Defense Secretary who warns of imminent attack if you pick the other guys.
All of this goes back to what I've said since the beginning of this thing: John Edwards was the wrong pick for the VP nomination. That doesn't mean that my buddy Wes was the right guy either, but there were much better choices hands-down.
Dick Gephardt comes to mind here. Howard Dean, despite his penchant for going on the offensive, does not. Cheney does not exhibit anger when tearing apart the other side, but simply the air that he honestly believes that Democrats are pinko commies who would turn the United States into New France if they had the chance.
Bill Richardson would've rocked. Unfortunately he turned the job down.
All in all, I like John Edwards and frankly he might have made a decent nominee for the Presidency. As VP though, he needs to do some serious political "growing up", or John Kerry will need to defend himself on his own.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
30 days to go...
...and things are starting to heat up here in Schuylkill County. I've only been on the ground here for about 5 weeks, but I'm finally picking up the pace.
Being on staff for the PA Coordinated Campaign is everything I expected--long hours, lots of local politicking and quite a bit of fun.
A local elected official told me a few weeks ago when I first got on the ground here that I could "write a book about politics in this county." She was right. If I was working on writing one, I'd have probably finished 3 chapters already.
Being on staff for the PA Coordinated Campaign is everything I expected--long hours, lots of local politicking and quite a bit of fun.
A local elected official told me a few weeks ago when I first got on the ground here that I could "write a book about politics in this county." She was right. If I was working on writing one, I'd have probably finished 3 chapters already.