America The Beautiful?

Sometimes people will just manufacture reasons for stupidity.

I guess I should use this time to call for some type of logical discourse in America regarding the watering of the mogwai that is identity politics in the United States.  But it would fall on deaf ears because these people aren’t as much racist or prejudiced as they are just plain stupid.

I’m all for the egalitarian fraternity that exists in the American experience but let’s be clear, we’re so much better than those peole.  For the simple fact that you watched that and then read this, you’re a better person than them.  Because you probably gave some moment of critical thought and pause before you judged them as being stupid, you’re a better person than them.  Because you can look at folks like that and feel a balance of anger and pity, you’re better than them.

If its okay for this type of bottom of the deck dealing in politics in America by McCain supporters without anyone from the McCain campaign so much as saying a peep about it being wrong, then I’m well within my right to say that I support Barack Obama because I’m better than you to the opposition.

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… this time with feeling… If you can’t come up with three legitimate reasons to vote for John McCain, I’m just going to assume that you’re a racist.  Not because you’re a cross burner or an avowed bigot, but because you stand with people like these (and yes, if associations matter, then these people are who you’re associated with).

Someone said to me today that the minute a black family occupies the White House, there will be a new definition of normal in America.  That minute can’t come soon enough.

Sarah Palin: The Reason Hillary Clinton Wasn’t Barack Obama’s Running Mate

Sprints and marathons… they both require you to run, but with different strategies.

When you run a sprint, you’re looking for a short term kick, something to give you a burst out of the blocks of a chance to spring quickly ahead of your opponent for a short distance without much concern for burnout because you’re only going a hundred or so meters before the race is over.  But when you run a marathon, you’re not so much concerned with the start as much as the pace, keeping your time, and running based on your strengths while acknowledging your weaknesses.  Difference is, you have more time to correct for mistakes in the marathon that you do in the sprint.

Here’s what we’ve learned in the election of 2008; John McCain’s campain is designed to run sprints. Barack Obama’s is made for a marathon.

If you want to know why Hillary Clinton isn’t Barack Obama’s running mate, look no further than Sarah Palin.  While Clinton and Palin both offer the sizzle of a hot name on the ticket, its quickly abated by the steak issue that they are both equally polarizing characters of the left and the right.  In August, it may have seemed like a good idea for Obama to take the chance on the sprint and select Hillary Clinton as a running mate, but in the marathon months of September and October, the marathon strategy has paid off with Joe Biden by providing a pacing figure who can help the campaign coast to November.  On the McCain side, however, after Palin’s 100 meters ran out, so did her importance and staying power with the electorate and now the sprint choice to create excitement has sputtered into her own series of useless quagmires and consistant questions of her background and readiness.

There are merits to striking while the iron is hot, but there are more merits to understanding what that really means.

If Hillary Clinton were on the ticket, she would overshadow Barack Obama in the same way that Sarah Palin has overshadowed John McCain.  No because she’s a woman, but because she’s a larger than life figure in politics.  Sarah Palin has positioned herself the same way… not as a woman looking to support her ticket get elected, but moreso as someone looking past the here and now and shoring up her own future aspirations.

Sarah Palin is using this opportunity now as a springboard to run for preident in 2012 the same way Hillary Clinton would have as soon as the air came out of the Obama balloon.  You don’t pick a person who people in your base might like more than you to win an election because they’ll overlook you to look at them.

So, all y’all out there wondering why Obama picked Biden, now you know.  He wants to be the singular president and make his own decisions.  John McCain hasn’t thought that far ahead in the sprint.

Just something for you to think about over the next few days or of you run into a disaffected Clinton supporter threatening to vote for John McCain.

An Open Letter To Sean Hannity

Dear Mr. Hannity,

I’ve been watching your show for quite sometime and after a few years of close study, much contemplation, and deep reflection, I think I’ve come to a conclusion about you using my freelance psychological examination skills.  You seem to be suffering from a terminal case of needing to be right even in the face of facts that conflict with your assertions, a touch of smugness, and an acute variation of narrow-mindedness.  In short, you are a clinical douchebag.  Now, the symptoms of your douchebaggery are quite apparent to others, unfortunately, you haven’t sought the proper treatment.

Unlike other douchebags who have been treated with various tried and true methods like a punch in the jaw, a firm billyhanded bitchslap, or a jumping in an alley, you seem to have gone untreated and thus, may be spiraling towards become malignant and inoperable.  But there is help.

The first step in treatment is admitting that there is a problem.  This is easy, just look in the mirror at your own smug, self aggrandzing, and self important face and say, “I’m Sean Hannity, and I’m a douchebag.”  Now, this may take a few days before it starts to sink in, but after a while, once you start saying it to yourself, you’ll begin to hear others say it as well.  In fact, it might help if you take Alan Colmes off his gimp collar and allow him to say it a few times too (althought I’m sure he cries himself to sleep at night thinking it).

The next step is taking this phrase and using it like you actually mean it; “Maybe I’m wrong…”  Now, there are a lot of ways to say this like a dick or a douchebag, but I want you to avoid those, what you’re doing is being strictly Socratic in posing the actual question as to the veracity of what you’ve just said or what you believe to be true.  Now, if you’re amongst the company of individuals with IQs over 50 and who don’t rely on you for a paycheck, you might actually get a response other than a nod.  Don’t be discouraged, this is a good thing because now you can move on to the next phase of treatment.

Shut the fuck up and listen.  And not in that, I’m only listening for the break in conversation where I say what I was going to say all along or that way that you listen only to attack the points being said.  No, you’re going to have to sit there quietly and take in the information and then, formulate a response based on the merits of the discussion, not just on what you deem to be true.

Finally, and this is the hard part, you’re going to have to stop associating with other douchebags.  This may mean that you’ll have to quit your job at Fox News or stop taking calls on your radio show, but let’s be honest, you are the ringleader of a confederacy of douchebags.  Now, this isn’t going to be easy because your fellow douchebags are going to want to bring you back into the fray with their easy high of self righteousness, but you’re gonna have to be stronger than that.  You’re going to have to be the better man and leave douchebaggery alone.  Don’t worry, Sean.  I’m pulling for you.

If you choose not to follow these simple steps, unfortunately the prognosis is dire.  You could wind up suffering short term affects like sneers and middle fingers aimed at you wherever you go, to dibilitating long term affects like a random beating in the street, the back of a hand hand launched by an angry African American, or worse, a knee in your nuts.

Please take this seriously, Sean.  I’m only trying to help.

Sincerely,

R. Corey Richardson