Uechi-Ryu.com

Everybody's got a 'plan to save the country' these days. The latest? Here's one from Jennifer Granholm, the woman who presided over the worst economy in the country, and blamed all her problems on her predecessor (where have we heard this before), thinks she's got the answer. She's half-right, which is almost as bad as all wrong.

_________________
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.

Brings a smile to my lips recalling Heath Ledger's Joker talking about plans.

_________________
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.

Oy! It's like someone taking credit for the sun coming up in the east, and convincing us all we should do more of whatever.

Stay in academia, Ms. Ledger. Please!

- Bill

I thought it was interesting that she gives Perry poor chances in a national election. I see the same. I probably should admit, though, that I just don't like Perry. Even my wife, who is staunchly conservative (I consider myself moderate), doesn't like him for some reason. Bear in mind that we resided in Texas in the first 4 years that he was governor and formed our impressions back then. No doubt his speech writers will be putting some better words in his mouth than we were used to, so we'll see what happens.

_________________
Mike

I don't have any feelings about any of the Republican candidates, except Ron Paul (Foreign Policy disaster) and Mitthew Romney (Healthcare disaster, flip-flopper). That said, this new ad of Perry's is epic.

_________________
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.

There isn't a one of the Republican candidates that I don't have some reservations about.

I also remember when Ronald Reagan seemingly came from nowhere and thumped Jimmy Carter. And a lot of that had to do with how bad things were then (look up stagflation and Iran hostage crisis) and how simple Mr. Reagan seemed to make things out to be. I never saw anything good coming of Reagan, and I was wrong. The transformation of mindset in this country by Reagan was nothing short of epic. He destroyed the last vestiges of Vietnam era guilt and angst, and brought both prosperity and pride. It was inconceivable in an era where Jimmy Carter implored us all to be more humble.

I think the best bet is a (former) governor, as they have the executive experience. Even if things weren't all rosy for them, they at least can hit the ground running. After all, one of Reagan's great claims is that he slowed the RATE of inflation in California. In other words, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Oy!!! That bar wasn't difficult to get over.

In my view, it's not difficult to go in and screw things up less than Obama. But will others view the situation the same?

And will anyone out there actually impress, motivate, and inspire the way Obama did to millions of starry-eyed believers in liberal hope?

BTW, Jason, I agree with your assessment of the Perry ad. At least Madison Avenue got it right.

- Bill

I think the thing voters should look for, Mike, is a candidate who is smart enough to know when to depend on others, firm on conviction and leadership, and is capable of giving little more than lip service to social causes while staying focused like a laser beam on economic issues.

A good example... Allegedly Perry "blew it" with the requirement for adolescent females in Texas to get the Gardasil vaccination. Public health gurus applauded the effort to reign in cervical cancer while social conservatives attacked him for allegedly encouraging young girls to have sex. I don't know... I think a smart leader can say "I did this to save lives. That's the best of a myriad of choices available to me." and then get on with it. When nagged again and again and again on the issue, just say "It's a component of my pro-life point of view" and then change the subject. 'This is the way I saw it' works for most. Flip flopping makes you look spineless to everyone.

Right, Mr. Romney?

I'm not sure what else it is that makes you feel queasy about Perry, but I sense it as well.

- Bill

I sense that he is not the sort of man who finds it natural, or useful, to explain why he has decided anything. My fear is that he simply isn't able to. But I'll be trying to keep an open mind. I'm strangely more comfortable with Romney, despite that I would sooner buy a used car from Perry than Romney.

_________________
Mike

I only hope someone decides to actually start taking on a leadership mode of campaigning, rather than playing it safe. I haven't seen that from anyone. It's disturbing.

_________________
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.

Ok, so some of the candidates are NOT playing it safe. Between Cain's 'brainwashing' comment and putting his foot in the Islam mess, and having the guts to appear on MSNBC and face down @Lawrence and his brutishly nasty interview, I'm of two minds on the guy. I also think his 9-9-9 plan will actually have me paying taxes for the first time in my life.
Newt, though a longshot, came out with a radical new contract. One aspect is looked at here: Looking at the balance of government.

_________________
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.

I have always liked Newt from his years as Speaker. He's pretty high up on the list of political figures it would be cool to have lunch with. I'd rather have a dental procedure than have lunch with a lot of them nowadays. I confess that I haven't examined Newt's ideas lately, but if he's still around when the primaries start, I'll start looking closely at what he's saying.

Cain's 9-9-9 thing is interesting. It looks like it will tax everybody harder, percentage-wise, who is living paycheck to paycheck. Under that plan, the more excess income I have to save and invest, the lower my percentage tax burden. Yeah, Cain, good luck with that.

_________________
Mike

That ad is kind of funny to me, for the wrong reasons. Where you see epic, I see hilariously overblown. It works for the beginning, but after a while it sinks in that this heroic music would be perfect to accompany the saga of a lone starship facing down imposssible odds to defeat an existential threat to all mankind, but is a bit silly in the context of a guy wanting to be responsible for 1/3 of a country for 4-8 years.

Not that political rhetoric is ever anything but hilariously over blown.

For example, Perry says in this ad that "the United States of America really is the last great hope of mankind." Now is that just generic political hyperbole, or are does anyone literally believe that? Either way, that is probably the single most preposterous statement I've ever heard a politician make, which is saying something. And lest you think this is just a naive partisan attack, Obama once said this "there is no force in the world more powerful than the example of America." which I think is of the same order of magnitude, though doesn't quite reach the heights of absurdity.

Politicians say lots of stupid, vaguely scary (if people took them too seriously) things, but it's when we get this kind of mind-bogglingly arrogant rhetoric that I begin to wonder if we're going off the deep end here. Maybe it's just my liberal guilt talking and America really is the chosen land that holds the key to mankind's future. Still, when people talk this way I can't help thinking "what will people say about the USA, 2000 years from now." Probably not that we were the last great hope of mankind.

_________________
- Justin Powell

Ironically, Ted Kennedy said something very much like that in 2008 on election night about Democrats. Which is to say, I totally agree with you. I thought the first part worked as well, but the Perry part seemed superfluous and generic. Any opposing candidate could have been spliced in there.

_________________
Mike