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2012 and Interstate 80

My sporting advice to liberals is to keep blaming Palin for the Tucson shooting, despite its apparent failure as shown by recent polls. Oh dear, here comes a military metaphor: they can fail tactically while winning on a strategic level. Attacking Palin solidifies the notion that she is the front runner, the heir apparent. If Republicans fall for this and "rally 'round the Palin", the liberals will end up getting the last laugh, since she is a weak candidate. 

Palin is unqualified, dumb, and unpresidential. Is it not obvious that Palin was chosen to fight the "tired old white guy" image that McCain had? (Think Bob Dole in 1996.) Also, the first (half) black candidate for president was generating a lot of excitement on the Democrat side, so the GOP didn't want to be completely left out of the affirmative action presidential sweepstakes.

I think that trend has become passe. The example of Obama will bring Americans back to the sensible notion that a half-term in the Senate is really not very good training for the presidency. The governor's mansion is. And all the interesting new governors are Republican: they are the ones who are making reputations at having the guts to confront the issues of 2012, such as persistently high unemployment, municipal and state bailouts, pension crises for unionized public sector workers, and finally fuel and food inflation. 

The Democrats must distract the Republicans with their Palin ploy so that this new and promising crop of governors is neglected, thereby denying the GOP the fruits of its recent victory. Meanwhile the Democratic governors are seen as urban-machine politicians, who are slaves of the public unions.

The presidential election of 2012 could be won along the eastern half of Interstate 80. Start on the Atlantic in New Jersey, with quite a few electoral votes which normally go blue: Governor Christie is quite popular there and making a reputation for being a real leader. Perhaps his halo extends to electorally-rich Pennsylvania; normally Filthadelphia keeps the state from going red, but just barely. Filthadelphia will probably be begging for a bailout.

Moving west, we pass West Virginia. President Green Energy has been trying to destroy their coal industry. Driving west, we now go through red Ohio and Indiana.

Now we come to one of America's premier "failed states", Illinois. Naturally it's blue. It is the poster child for the connection of Blueness with Bankruptcy, job losses, and shrinking population. Republicans could make a real billboard of Obama and the Chicago Way.

Finally we jump out to Nevada. It has been borderline blue just because Las Vegas has become a refuge and overflow bin for Californians. But as Las Vegas sinks into the desert, the stink of decay will poison the whole image of blueness. Nevada, outside of Clark County, will reassert its redness. 

In summary, Blueness will be so connected with financial problems that it will be perceived as being of the wrong side of History. Decaying, failed Blue states will be seen as the moral equivalents of Greece.

Comments

Unknown said…
A prediction... If Palin actually gets to that point of winning a primary, she will drop out of the race. Why? She realizes that talk, books and reality TV is a whole lot easier and makes more money with a lot less effort than making decisions about governing. The fact that she resigned as governor of Alaska makes this a possibility. I also recall that she resigned the governor role to effect "change" outside of government.
Wandrin,
Well I certainly do see her and her family on the front page of lots of tabloids, as I wait in line at the grocery store.

Multi-million dollar book deals would await her if she put in one term in the White House. She could choose some boring policy wonk as vice-president, and delegate 90% of the real work to him. Then she'd be free to make state visits all over the world, make controversial statements, attend gala receptions, etc.
Anonymous said…
Texas has been an experimental lab for "small" government for a long time and yet has to deal with one of the larger budget gaps, 25 Billion over two years. FL has a new governor who promises to lower our property taxes 19% and improve education at the same time. Two years is forever in Politics. Not disagreeing with you, just not one to make bets on Politics. Repubs are going to have to actually govern now, and leave fingerprints. I don't see how they can avoid some responsibility for the countries problems.

Tom in Orlando

Sarah Palin is a good business woman, who has managed to leverage sarcasm into Millions. She is deeply indebted to the "lamestream" media for keeping her franchise alive.
Anonymous said…
Somehow society today is interested in blending hollywood with politics and I'm not sure why. Is it our human weakness for hedonism, always seeking entertainment? Palin would never have had a chance for celebrity 40 years ago. She would unanimously have been seen as frivolous. I see Tom Delay on Dancing with the Stars, etc. and I just don't get it.
You can't call Palin dumb though. I think it's very clear she is after the money and is a genius at it. The real fault lies within the soul of the American people for ultimately they are responsible...for her celebrity, for bad mortgages, overconsumerism, etc. Blaming government workers is scapegoating. They are human, nothing more, nothing less. Each will vote according to polls, etc. They want to keep their job and will vote and behave accordingly. The real power lies with the masses and unfortunately they appear to be drunk and under the influence of the next ipad or ipod.
Anonymous, you probably know more about Palin than I do. All that mattered to me was that she is a weak candidate who the Democrats are trying to sucker the GOP into choosing.

The absurdity of politics combined with boob toob combined with sports... ah dear, that was the theme of the movie Network, made in the mid-70s.

I agree that the Republicans bear some responsibility for financial crises, especially at federal level. They specialize in squandering billions on eternal wars.