Cajun water

I can't say why, but I was passing some time trying to come up with an expression for salesmanship similar to, "So-and-so is such a good salesman he could sell a nun a baby carriage."

Here is what I came up with, applied to Bill Clinton:

"Bill Clinton could sell powdered water to a Cajun."

A reminder

Here is the final scene from "The Great Dictator" by Charlie Chaplin.



The machine men are as tireless as they are tiresome, but they are mortal nonetheless.

Pin the tail

George Lakoff is one of the few messaging maestros that I like to read. In a recent article he writes:

" If conservatives succeed in cutting government by the people for the public good, our lives will still be governed, but now by corporations. We will have government by corporations for corporate profit. It will not be a kind government. It will be a cruel government, a government of foreclosures, outsourcing, union busting, outrageous payments for every little thing, and pension eliminations."

Source

It is a well written article and I recommend you read it. It was so well written it made me believe, at least for a little while, that the problem with the democratic party was messaging.

What I truly believe is that their messaging was sufficient to get them elected in droves, but their natures  dispirited a once-hopeful movement. Caesar learned that betrayal cuts deep and I fear the emptiness of spirit I see everywhere. If Brutus Obama really knew how much everyone was ashamed of him he might be less smug in his betrayal.

A mole by any other name

The president Obama is doing such a thorough job of turning opportunity into defeat for the democratic party that I am starting to wonder if he is a GOP mole.

He is costing the party money

He is costing the party credibility:

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He is dividing the party by routinely inflaming supporters.

His actions suggest that he believes in his bones in the right of corporations to rule.

He is essentially doing those things that a good GOP mole would, isn't he?

A divorce made in heaven

The president Obama seems to enjoy betraying  his supporters.


The president Obama doesn't want me.

He is either a fool or a tool and I believe the latter.

Felicity

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.”

How many of our modern papers would rather coddle corruptors rather than expose them? How many will sit idly by as Julian Assange is railroaded into prison for publishing leaked documents? How many would refuse to publish the epic Napalm Girl photo? How many refused to publish the Danish cartoons?



What is being lost, and what is being gained?

Drowning, not waving

The Obama administration is flailing about in the political waters while our "ship of state" is sinking.

My advice is this, "find the people that were wrong and replace them with people that were right."

For instance...

Paul Krugman said from the beginning of the financial crisis that the stimulus was too small to be effective, and as soon as the first wave of spending ran out the recovery would stagnate. He was right and even the Fed seems to concede the point via its recent actions.

Howard Dean is a fighter that knows the democratic party doesn't have to concede defeat in every red state, and on every issue. His 50-state strategy was a huge success and he was quickly thrown under the bus.

Kevin Drum keeps offering reasonable solutions on Healthcare, on Social Security, and on tax issues.

Washington is broken because what works cannot be spoken of and what doesn't is courted with polished shoes and dirty deals. A president must advocate throatily for what is right to be an agent of Change.

There is no  Greatness without Goodness.

Quotable

"One of the major reasons for government secrecy is to protect the government from its own population"

Noam Chomsky

Source: Democracy Now, November 30th, 2010