June 3, 2008

It's not plagiarism if I attribute it

From Craptocracy:

While Hillary Clinton’s grossly mismanaged campaign is now being dissected, not mentioned is how her bungled strategy was the consequence of stereotypes.

She and her brain trust assumed she would win at least some of the black vote; thinking blacks might put race first is not a thought liberals allow themselves to have. They also assumed white voters in caucus states like Idaho and North Dakota were bigots who would never vote for a black man, so she didn’t compete enough in those places.

and

When McCain talks about 'climate change' he seems desperate and grasping, like he doesn’t really care about it one way or the other. It’s as if he’s saying, “I’ll give you your global warming, just let me get my hands on some bombs. Just let me get my hands on some bombs and I will agree to whatever you want that doesn’t involve not bombing.”

Meanwhile, Udolpho resurfaces to announce he has a life.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

The shift to "Climate Change" from "Global Warming" is an attempt to make the scare unfalsifiable. If it gets colder, that's an example of climate change; same if it gets hotter. Any storms can be blamed on the vague phrase. It's right out of Crichton's "State of Fear".

There's another reason why McCain is quick to latch onto the sort of environmental policies that will make energy more expensive, eliminate high-paying jobs in the energy and industrial sectors, and lead to slower economic growth: he has no understanding or affinity for the private sector. Except for his brief work as a spokesman for his wife's father's beer distributorship, he's never even worked in the private sector. It's an embarrassment that America is faced with this choice of leaders in November.

- Fred

Anonymous said...

Yeah, anon, McCain is nearly as bad as Ike. You know, that guy who also never worked in the private sector.

McCain at least gets that in a nuclear proliferating world, being weak just invites attack. Don't want AQ or whatever nuking NYC, better scare the Pakistanis or Iranians. Unless you think hugging them is going to work.

As for Global Warming, it works on two levels. For Libs like Laurie David, it's a religion. One infinitely hipper and cooler than Christianity. It also allows total control over the life of ordinary people and huge taxes. So it's a win-win for politicians and elites constantly striving to control everything in people's lives. Since modern life allows "too much" ability for people to live their own lives.

Yeah, Hillary ran a stupid campaign. Unlike Clinton's brain trust in 1991, she had a bunch of cronies and thought she was inevitable because of her name recognition.

She did not however give up, and showed how weak Obama was with blue collar voters.

Anonymous said...

Hillary lost because she represents NY and had to accomodate donors like Hiam Saban, who are basically pro-Israel war supporters.

She could never get out in front of the Democratic electorate on the Iraq issue and was always a follower not a leader.

Obama just stayed a little more antiwar, and that is all it took. He is actually less liberal than Hillary on some issues, including health care.

Anonymous said...

But Ike did manage a large war machine and seemed quite effective at it.

Anonymous said...

I'd rather have McCain with nukes and all than Obama with his Africanization of the US government and public institutions, in addition to increased private ass-kissing of minorities in order to suck up to government.

Anybody who has witnessed the "transformation" of functioning Rhodesia and South Africa into just two more African failed states can only hope Obama stays out. Even if a white were to get in after Obama again, the damage is there and cannot be reversed. Once blacks get into an institution they have a canny way of staying there (leave me alone or I'll call you a racist, kill you or riot) and just keep dragging in more of their kind. The result is dysfunctional and corrupt institutions which are considered as private banks. Taxpayers ain't seen nothing yet.

Anonymous said...

Anybody who has witnessed the "transformation" of functioning Rhodesia and South Africa into just two more African failed states can only hope Obama stays out.

You are just so wrong here. Obama is going to sorely dissapoint anyone who thinks he will do anything radical. Many of his policies are less liberal than Hillary's, including medical care reform.

And he will spend less than McCain. McCain's chief advisers want to increase the military from 700K to 1 million troops. That alone will dwarf any social spending Obama can come up with.

And that does not include the certain increases in "off budget" spending that we will see for all McCain foreign adventures.

You have not been paying attention if you think Republicans are not big spenders.

And the truth is Obama is not going to implement very much in the end. The corporate interests (which have donated heavily to his campaign, including wall street) are going to make sure that nothing radical is done. Don't worry about their ability to protect their interests.

Remember, we had lower deficts (include a year or two of surplus) under Clinton. Stonger dollar and less inflation too.

There is no reason to think that Obama won't bring us back to that point. He certainly can't do much worse than the Republicans and he will save lots of lives and dollars if he just gets us out of Iraq - lots of white lives and white dollars.

Only Bill Kristol and even neocon (testing99) want to really kill white people and spend their money.

Stopped Clock said...

I have studied enough about global warming to be confident that I understand what's going on. I would say that around 2002 there came in a lot of evidence that destroyed the case made by the global warming deniers ... a case which, up until then, was resting on some pretty good arguments.

So now what's left of the global warming deniers is mostly the people who have an agenda. They are an increasingly dislikable group of people, and the Republicans are beginning to realize that they have to dissociate themselves from global warming denial as far as is possible. Hence Bush's admission a few years back that global warming exists, and McCain's much more outspoken agreement of the same.

I agree "climate change" is a euphemism, but it's a good idea, because to be honest, half of the United States lives in climates with cold winters and probably wouldn't think global warming is such a bad thing. I've been wishing for people to call it "global drought" to call attention to the fact that that's what it really is going to be for a lot of people, not just in the Third World but in the United States as well.

Anonymous said...

I read an article a while back on Real Clear Politics on "The Biggest Mistake of the Clinton Campaign". The article was 100% spot on, how did Clinton's people miss Reverend Wright? If they had released those videos in December, Obama would have been creamed in Iowa.

Hillary had this big team of media savvy eggheads from New York, and they totally dropped the ball.

Anonymous said...

Ike also preserved a skepticism for government that probably had its roots in a prairie upbringing where the only trace of government was a post office. One might say he recognized that all that armies are supposed to do is win wars. So, other than building an interstate highway system--as part of national defense--he left well enough alone.

McCain actually believes in government because, as Fred points out, it's all he's known. And when I look at McCain I don't think "strength." I think "short guy with a chip on his shoulder." He's not confident; he's truculent. And terrorism is the weapon of the weak against the strong: they already know this. Parking a carrier group off the coast and sending the Marines to kick in the door of some peasant's hovel doesn't impress them.

And finally, Professor Ledeen, you're still fighting the Cold War. You're going to be in the Situation Room poring over satellite photos of Iran and scrambling fighter jets while some Arab-looking guy wearing jeans and a T-shirt wanders into a shopping mall in Jacksonville, Florida, smashes a bunch of glass vials on the floor, and wanders out before anybody can react.

One more point: stomach has captured the feeling of the white majority. I would be extremely surprised if Obama wins the popular vote, much less the Electoral College.

Brent Lane said...

McCain at least gets that in a nuclear proliferating world, being weak just invites attack. Don't want AQ or whatever nuking NYC, better scare the Pakistanis or Iranians. Unless you think hugging them is going to work.

Did it ever occur to you that the 'AQ or whatever' can only nuke NYC if they are actually in NYC?

Hugging them wouldn't work. Keeping them out of the country would.

Anonymous said...

It's neocons like testing99 and their well proven track record of ineptness and limitless misplaced obessions for more that will swing the election to Obama among the middle ground masses.

McCain's only slim hope is if every thing dies down for a long period just before the election when some apparently unimpeachable dramatic "terrorist" event just happens to occur. Get working on it guys. I'm thinking something in E. Africa which justifies our expansion there. Iran is too controversial to deal with before the POTUS is secured.

Jim O said...

Yep. Ike ran the whole European half of the Big One, proving he could have succeeded in business with or without really trying. Then McCain came along and finally got himself captured by losing his fifth jet. If he weren't the son of an Admiral, he would have been shown the door by the Navy after number two or three.
That's not to say he's weaker on nnational defense than Obama. But, of course, who is?

Anonymous said...

I agree with what testing99 said and I'm not a neocon. My preference is for a Ronald Reagan type leader vis a vis foreign policy (and just about everything else). Not that he was perfect, but he was strong and hard to improve upon. McCain is no Reagan, but Obama is simply abominable. I also think McCain is a true believer in global warming. He even is still for embryonic stem cell research despite the fact that it is 100% not necessary as of just a couple months ago. McCain simply has an ear only for "science" that the Left spouts. And even they aren't spouting for the latter anymore (during the youtube debate in Florida, all "stem cell questions" were yanked because that was the week that the scientific breakthrough was made rendering esc research not necessary"). It's embarrassing. This rant goes hand in hand with the observation that Obama is the piper and McCain is dancing to his tune. Obama hits McCain for not being "independent" enough and McCain responds with "I'm not Bush, I'm not Bush!" Now to everyone else, the response would be to laugh at his audacity and point out that Obama is the most liberal senator who is allergic to anything that might come from the Right and associates with the most radical elements of society. I want to like McCain, but we're in trouble. I totally concur with John Hood today in his, "Mash of Mediocrities":

"Edwards lost because he is a white male. Giuliani lost because he is a social liberal. Romney and Huckabee canceled each other out, paving the way for McCain’s improbable recovery. Thompson left Law & Order at just the right time, before it truly went stale."

C. Van Carter said...

Congratulations to Udolpho. For a wedding present we should all chip in and buy him an iMac.

I've reconsidered, and I think McCain's environmentalism is really a reflection of his urge to seek out Big Problems that he can provide Big Solutions for, and thus be a Big Man. Because of this, if McCain wins I predict he will send troops to Darfur. Not only would it be responding to a Big Problem, it would serve as atonement for his defeating a black man.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting the link to Craptocracy, Steve. After a few hilarious posts there a few months ago, I checked in on it regularly, until I gave up after 6 weeks with no new content. I figured the guy had totally run out of steam.

Anonymous said...

As I said before, I'll take McCain over Obama because I think Obama is more likely to explode entitlement spending, beyond its already un-affordable trajectory. Wars end, eventually. Middle class entitlements just get bigger.

"Then McCain came along and finally got himself captured by losing his fifth jet. If he weren't the son of an Admiral, he would have been shown the door by the Navy after number two or three."

For those of you who missed it, recently there was a great 10-part documentary on life aboard an aircraft carrier on PBS. I think Mel Gibson's production company may have been behind it. In any case, one pilot, during a mission over Iraq, failed after a few tries at mid-air refueling and was forced to land at Baghdad's international airport. The plane and the pilot were fine, except for a tire blow out during the landing. The CAG had this pilot grounded for the rest of the cruise and intimated that they were reevaluating the pilot's future as a naval aviator. This pilot wasn't the son of an admiral, I'm guessing.

- Fred

Anonymous said...

"The CAG had this pilot grounded for the rest of the cruise and intimated that they were reevaluating the pilot's future as a naval aviator. This pilot wasn't the son of an admiral, I'm guessing. "

I can tell you that such a pilot, were he a black in a recently "liberated" country such as South Africa or Zimbabwe, where AA rules supreme, would most certainly not have ben grounded. AA is a scourge.

Anonymous said...

"I can tell you that such a pilot, were he a black in a recently "liberated" country such as South Africa or Zimbabwe, where AA rules supreme, would most certainly not have ben grounded. AA is a scourge."

For what it's worth, the pilot appeared to be vaguely mixed race, perhaps part-black.

- Fred