Netroots Nation, PA Dutch-style

It appears that Democrats in Adams and Franklin county have an online edge. They’re pushing Dem Bruce Tushingham out in front of Republican Rich Alloway in this Internet poll I set up many moons ago. I don’t quite understand the results, but it seems Tushingham has support of 65% versus 10.3% for Alloway. Both are running for a state Senate seat, to replace retiring Terry Punt, a Republican.

I haven’t seen many yard signs yet, but then again, I’m not driving regularly on Route 30 between York and Gettysburg. That, after all, is the other important metric in this race. Oh, and so is the overwhelming advantage in voter registration enjoyed by the GOP. I wonder if that will make a difference in the fall…

Enthuse me?

What great news for Barack Obama! His supporters are fired up! Enthusiastic supporters, as we all know, are a sure-fire predictor of victory. Just ask presumptive GOP nominee, Ron Paul.

On another note, isn’t it time people stopped professing shock when Jesse Jackson says something some people consider offensive? Or have we forgotten Hymietown? It has been 24 years, after all.

Crash boom bang

If you can survive the Bush Boom, you shouldn’t be overly concerned about the coming Obama Crash…

Worst aid

It’s too bad the healthcare system isn’t given to the same booms and busts as our financial system. Then people might actually be talking a bit more about real reform.

Indeed, if I were paranoid, I would say the credit crisis is just a way to divert attention from more serious, long-term issues. After all, banks make money by making loans. They’ll start doing it again someday. And, as I’m sure every mortgage broker never tires of shouting (even today): Interest rates are low by historical standards! Now’s the time to buy!

But alas, people tend to get sick on a fairly regular basis no matter the state of the underlying economy, so business for doctors, hospitals, etc is pretty steady. Kind of like the forward progress the Titanic was making after it bumped into the iceberg. Too big to sink?

Freddie Freeloader

If something is too big to fail, shouldn’t it be completely part of the government rather than lie in some netherworld between the public and private sectors? That’s the only question worth asking in light of the Fed’s proposed bailout of our two big mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

What also seems odd is the constant reassurance from figures of authority that nothing is really wrong, that Fannie and Freddie don’t really need any money from the Fed. Then why all the fuss and bother?

At some point, someone in power (and their enablers) will have to start reading from a reality-based playbook. How else do you explain the large number of people who believe the country is on the wrong track and the large number of pundits and commentators who insist everything deep down is really OK?

Maybe Phil Gramm was right. Or maybe, just maybe, if you start to think about it, just for a fraction of a second, as crazy as it may sound and despite all of Gramm’s degrees and years in public life, he has no idea what he’s talking about. He just wants questions about the economy to go away.

Now that sounds like a reality-based playbook for a presidential campaign in 2008.

Hallelulah!

I wonder if we can learn any history lessons from Madonna’s hand-up to Britney Spears, and more importantly in the divergent career arcs of the two pop-stars.

Sure, there are individual personalities at play. But what about Madonna’s Catholicism/kabbalah studies versus Spears’ Southern Baptism (and Bill Clinton’s – if I don’t mention him, the media will)? Interesting, too, that Spears recently turned to the arch-Catholic Mel Gibson.

And then what about the 1980s versus the 1990s, the different decades in which the two pop stars made their debut? Some religious and environmental factors must be playing a role in how their lives and careers are turning out. Just a thought.

I’m sure there’s a PHD thesis already in the works on this.

Patriot games

Say what you will about the contest to see which presidential candidate (and which presidential candidate’s wife) is more patriotic. At least it managed to knock Bill Clinton back out of the headlines. The economy, the war, fuel prices, none of that stands much of a chance of seeing much airtime anyway between now and November.

I nearly fell down laughing when I heard someone on CNN talk about how the patriotism debate switched the topic of most news away from the economy, etc., an alleged switch that apparently benefits John McCain. I just don’t remember hearing much about those other issues. But I do recall heated exchanges over the motives and whereabouts of Bill Clinton in the aftermath of the Democratic primary.

I can’t quite understand the media’s fascination with the Clinton-Obama story line. Well, no. I can, given the obvious drama. But it seems that health care, the housing crisis, the war in Iraq all offer plenty of drama, too. They’re just more complicated and require a little more digging outside the beltway. Just don’t expect anyone to pick up a shovel.

In the meantime, I suspect Barack Obama is going to start taking a real beating from the netroots, given his penchant for announcements like this and this. But I suspect the campaign must believe it will help Obama appear more centrist if he is consistently under attack from the left. After all, the same strategy works for McCain, only with attacks coming from the right.

Obama’s decision to spurn public financing and the resulting storm, I first put down as some inside-the-beltway issue that wouldn’t much resonate. But the more I think about it, the more I think he made a mistake there. You don’t jettison systems or principles you supposedly believe in just because they’re inconvenient. Isn’t that the lesson of the last seven-plus years?