Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Utah County Convention

This happened Saturday. I was elected as an alternate delegate, but when a delegate's mother died and I stepped in, the "party" refused to let me in. I went anyway.

Immediately it became clear that the majority of Republicans are unhappy with Taylor Oldroyd as party chair. I heard several people who came out of the initial executive committee meeting asking if they could just declare the chair vacant.

Even though I wasn't allowed to participate, I take comfort that my one vote wouldn't have changed the outcome of anything. Brad Daw beat Calvin Harper by more than 60% and will be the GOP nominee for our district's House seat. Most of the county nominations went the way I would have, or my vote wouldn't have stopped them anyway.

In the speeches, Steve White threw out that Gayle Ruzicka supported him, which drew snickers from the section I was sitting in. White was soundly beaten by Doug Whitney for County Commissioner.

Next time I plan to be nominated as an actual delegate.

Obama can only be as radical as his party

Michael Medved asks is Hillary would have done anything differently.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Holy Ghost Hokey Pokey

When I was a kid, I used to resent Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart's TV shows. They just seemed so fake; why did people keep sending them money? I was not surprised when they fell.

Now here's the next generation. It's just... my, my. My favorite is the bored keyboardist in the background.

Utah County GOP Meet-and-Mingle

I had a chance to go to this, as I may or may not be a county delegate. (Jury's still out.) Got to meet UC Commissioner nominees Gary Anderson, Steve White, Leon Frazier, Doug Whitney and Linda Houskeeper; the three sheriff candidates Jim Tracy, Robin Wall, Dan Burton; and other nominees for UC Recorder, Surveyor, etc. The big meeting's tomorrow, so I'll learn more from meeting more people and hearing what they have to say. It IS pretty apparent that there are certain incumbents that would really like other incumbents out, and certain challengers who really want other incumbents out.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Wingnuts author lists his favorites centrist pundits

John Avlon, author of Wingnuts, which looks at the extremes on the political spectrum, made a list of his 25 favorites centrists, most of whom made me think "They're a centrist?" What he really means are his favorite center-right or center-left people who aren't afraid to criticize their own side. Interesting that not one is from Fox News.

1. Kathleen Parker - Center-right Washington Post columnist who received grief in 2008 when she said that Sarah Palin ain't that bright. Often appears on NBC's The Chris Matthews Show.

2. David Brooks - Center-right New York Times columnist - their token conservative -he frequently guests on NBC's Meet the Press.

3. Michael Smerconish - Center-right Philly radio host, frequent MSNBC guest, he voted for Obama in 2008.

4. Matt Miller - The "center" from NPR's "Left, Right & Center."

5. David Frum - Former Bush staffer blasted for calling the Health Care Reform bill's passage as the "Waterloo" for Republicans. He wrote a cover story in Newsweek last year on why Rush Limbaugh is wrong.

6. Irshad Manji - Author of The Trouble with Islam Today.

7. Jon Stewart - Center-left host of The Daily Show, he's clearly progressive but has no problem blasting lefties when they make fools of themselves.

8. Joe Scarborough - Center-right former GOP congressman and host of MSNBC's Morning Joe, he'll debate anyone and he'll do in a civil manner. I keep hoping he'll debate Keith Olbermann, because I know he'd clean his clock, but Olby will never let that happen.

9. Andrew Sullivan - Center-right blogger for The Atlantic, he's big on the Reagan-Thatcher era of conservatism but disgusted with today's neocon movement and the rise of Sarah Palin.

10. Ron Brownstein - Frequent NBC talking-head who loves criticizes extremists.

11. Mark McKinnon - Helped John McCain in 2008, now a center-right columnist for The Daily Beast.

12. David Gergen - CNN talking-head, he worked in the White Houses of Nixon, Reagan and Clinton.

13. Harold Ford Jr. - Former Democrat congressman, current MSNBC talking head. I guess he made this list because he's polite.

14. Charles Johnson - Blogger from LittleGreenFootballs.com.

15. Doug Schoen - Former Clinton pollster, he'd love to see an end of the two-party system.

16. Peggy Noonan - Center-right speechwriter for Reagan, Wall Street Journal columnist, often appear on ABC's This Week.

17. Thomas Friedman - Liberal New York Times columnist; he's one I was surprised to see on this list. He wrote The World Is Flat.

18. David Broder - Longtime columnist/talking-head who's believed the two-party system's been broken for decades.

19. Joe Klein - Liberal Time columnist, another one where I guess I need to reread some of his stuff. Also appears a lot on NBC's Chris Matthews Show.

20. Christopher Buckley - Son of conservative stalwart William F. Buckley, he endorsed Obama in 2008, now works as a columnist for The Daily Beast.

21. Robert Guest - columnist for The Economist.

22. Jonathan Capehart - MSNBC talking-head. I thought he was flat-out liberal but maybe I've just caught him at all the wrong times.

23. Joe Gandelman - Founder of TheModerateVoice.com.

24. Ronn Owens - Author of Voice of Reason: Why the Left & Right Are Wrong.

25. Patricia Murphy - Never heard of her.

RNC's Michael Steele plays the race card

Personally I look forward to what SNL's Kenan Thompson will do with the latest Michael Steele bungling. Letting $1600 for a lesbian bondage club land on an RNC credit card was bad enough, but now to whine racism? Really?

Reuters photographer killed by US troops in 2007

One of those horrible, horrible mistakes that begs the question: why are we still in Iraq?