American Republic Online

The present presidential campaigns have gotten me thinking.  As I’ve pointed out before, parts of the current campaigns remind me a lot of former elections, just reversed.  The Republican candidates (now just McCain) have made their potential opponent a key part of their campaign(s): i.e., Hillary Clinton.  In 2004 we heard, “vote for me, I’m not Bush,” now we are hearing “vote for me, I’m not Hillary.”  I find it quite interesting that each party has been able to rally support based upon hatred of another.  Let me reiterate what I’ve said before, I want to vote for someone, not against another.  I want my vote to be a statement that affirms something, not just out of disagreement of something else.  These rallying cries carry little more significance for me than “vote for me, I don’t smell like poo.”   “Well, in that case, you got it.  We wouldn’t want the White House to smell icky.”

Joking aside, it brings to light what is becoming more and more apparent to me.  Liberalism truly is based more upon emotional decisions, as opposed to rational ones.  Conservatism is the opposite: relying more on rationality than emotion.  That is why Kerry (yeah, remember him, he served in Vietnam?) was able to create so much support based upon such a ridiculous premise.  This is also why I believe if McCain relies upon a similar argument, he’ll lose come November.

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In response the the Georgia Legislature believing it prudent to move Georgia’s northern border into Tennessee, the Mayor of Chattanooga issued the following proclamation:

PROCLAMATION

WHEREAS, it has come to pass that the heavens are shut up and a drought of Biblical proportions has been visited upon the Southern United States, and

WHEREAS, the parched and dry conditions have weighed heavily upon the State of Georgia and sorely afflicted those who inhabit the Great City of Atlanta, and

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(The local cable monopoly has finally anointed me as worthy of access to the internet again…)

Recently, presidential hopeful senator Clinton reacted quite strongly to an MSNBC host’s comments regarding her daughter, Chelsea. As ARO has pointed before, Mrs. Clinton doesn’t take too kindly to those who speak out against her. True, his comments were a bit much, but it still raises an important issue: will the senator continue to “kneecap” those who criticize her if she becomes our next president? What if the criticism comes from a foreign “dignitary” (i.e. dictator)? Will she allow herself to be goaded?

However, on the other side, we have senator McCain, co-author of McCain-Feingold, a terrible abridgment of free speech. McCain’s violation is different: he comes across more as a “love of country means obedience of country.” This is still, nonetheless, disheartening.

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Gary Hubbell at the Aspen Times has an interesting piece on the angry white guy voting block. Give it a read and you’ll be surprised how much you like AWM. I liked his description so much that I have reprinted his article in its entirety here for posterity.

There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates — a woman and an African-American — while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.

Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.

There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.

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From Rick Moran at the American Thinker:

I’m not exactly sure how much traction this story is going to get. It’s all over the internet and cable news nets which could mean Mrs. Obama’s statement that:

“[F]or the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction…”

…is a 24 hour phenomenon or this is a needle that can puncture Obama’s balloon and bring him back down from his lofty perch as Messiah and Agent of Change.

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In case you haven’t figured it out from the utter lack of coverage, the US Military has been kicking butt in Iraq. The surge helped our forces reach that critical mass of manpower. Coupled with the additional time, defections, and other gains - the point spread on this game has shifted considerably in the last 6 months. The underdog Al-Qaeda now just looks like a dog and a rather small one at that.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq faces an “extraordinary crisis”. Last year’s mass defection of ordinary Sunnis from al-Qaeda to the US military “created panic, fear and the unwillingness to fight”. The terrorist group’s security structure suffered “total collapse”.

These are the words not of al-Qaeda’s enemies but of one of its own leaders in Anbar province — once the group’s stronghold. They were set down last summer in a 39-page letter seized during a US raid on an al-Qaeda base near Samarra in November.

The US military released extracts from that letter yesterday along with a second seized in another November raid that is almost as startling.

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Between Super Tuesday and Romney stepping out, John McCain has all but locked up the Republican Nomination. And in much of the country there was weeping and nashing of teeth. In the past few days, I have spoken with countless Republicans that are struggling with which is stronger: their love of the party or their disgust with the Maverick.

McCain has been a liberal media darling for a variety of reasons: 1) historically he has tried his best to please the media (regardless of voter preferences) 2) the media sees him as a beatable candidate 3) if he some reason he did win, he’s liberal enough to be palatable as a Republican president. But NOW that the nomination has been sewn up for McCain the Democratic mouthpieces can focus on promoting Obama Mania.

WASHINGTON (AP) — While Republican John McCain is urging his conservative critics to rally around his presidential campaign, there is a lot of water under that bridge.

Here are the top 10 reasons some conservatives dislike the Arizona senator:

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Sunday, the Giants completed the ultimate Cinderella Story: a wild card team, not only makes it to the superbowl, but prevents what would have been only the 2nd perfect season in NFL history. And it was a great game right down to the last minute score to win the game. This was one of the rare moments where a ARO staffer could be called un-patriotic…

But seriously, as the big day in Primaries ramps up this morning - could the underdog spirit spillover from Sunday?  Certainly Obama’s camp has positioned itself in this manner. And it has worked well up to this point. Meanwhile, pundits have been calling the race as McCain’s for longer than he’s actually been leading.

American’s love underdogs - that can win. It’s really about perceived critical mass going today.  I would wager 20-30% of the vote today will hinge on how close people believe the race is.  The closer the perception of the gap is - the more those crucial votes will go to Obama and Romney.