Corey’s Vice Presidential Debate Drinking Game!

In anticipation of tonight’s much balleyhooed Vice Presidential debate, I’ve decided to help spice things up for you and yours by introducing a bit of revelry to your celebration of our democracy at work.  So, I came up with a drinking game for just this occasion to liven things up and make practicing your right to civic information as exciting as possible.  A couple of things before we get to the rules…

1.) I don’t condone drinking and driving, so make sure you’re playing this game in the safety and comfort of your own home or you’ve designated a driver to ferry you home afterward.  I’d hate for your candidate to lose a potential vote to irresponsibility.

2.) Please use a standard American 1oz shot glass.  Don’t try to cowboy up and use generic measurements like just pouring a three count pour into a cup.  If there’s anything we’ve learned from the Bush Administration, its that using fuzzy math and iffy judgment isn’t the best way to solve problems.

3.) If you’re over the age of 25, please avoid using Tequilla as your drink of choice.  You probably have to go to work tomorrow and function and the go hard juice of yore should be limited to weekends only.

4.) Please do not participate in this game if you’re under 21, pregnant, nursing, or a mean drunk.  We don’t want you getting arrested, causing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, getting your baby slizzard, or getting stole on by an angry McCain supporter.

The Rules:

-Find a bottle of your preferred liquor

-Find a television with ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News and turn it to that channel at 9pm EDT, 8pm CDT, 7pm MDT, or 6pm PDT

-Select a candidate (you don’t want to do both, trust me) and when they speak, listen intently (extra points if you perfect the Joe Biden comb-over or the Sarah Palin beehive)

-Have a seat

The following words or phrases from Joe Biden are worth ONE SHOT:

-Literally

-I know

-Experience

-Kitchen Table

-Scranton

The following words or phrases from Sarah Palin are worth ONE SHOT:

-Wasilla

-Thanks but no thanks

-Reform

-Maverick

-Shake things up

The follwing words or phrases from Joe Biden are worth TWO SHOTS:

-My friend John McCain

-Amtrak

-My wife, Jill

-Any mispronunciation of Barack Obama’s name

-Any slight or slur against an ethnic group

The follwing words and phrases from Sarah Palin are worth TWO SHOTS:

-Hockey Mom

-Joe Six-Pack

-Snowmobile Racing

-Any reference to a Supreme Court case that isn’t Roe v. Wade

-Anytime she says, “Well ya’know Gwen” before not answering a question

The following words or phrase from EITHER CANDIDATE is an all drink for ONE SHOT:

-Middle Class

-Tax Cut

-Bailout Bill (which is also my new DJ name)

-Special Needs Children

-Main Street

Now, for the capper…

ONE UNMEASURED GUZZLE STRAIGHT FROM THE BOTTLE:

-If Joe Biden cries

-If Sarah Palin talks about humans and dinosaurs coexisting on Earth

Here’s hoping you and yours have an enjoyable and informative debate viewing and a festive round of imbibition watching representative democracy at work.  George Washington would be proud… not just because he was our first president, but also because he was a whiskey distiller (he was!).

I Think I Figured This Sarah Palin Thing Out…

Admittedly I don’t watch reality television unless the premise of the show and its participants are so ridiculous as to compel me to see it only for the laugh and reminder as to how fortunate I am.  So I don’t watch American Idol or America’s Next Top Model or The Hills, nothing like that… but a show like I Love Money, where the same contestants who were vying for the affections of Brett Michaels, Tiffany “New York” Pollard, and Flavor Flav are pitted against one another for $250,000 and I’m all in.  Why?  Because unlike other reality shows, I know that this breed of inanity and this type of behavior is so far from the respectable norm that its just laughable and senseless entertainment.

But other people watch reality television and they become fully invested.  They see these shows and think, “hey, I could do that!” and the democratization of fame and talent breeds another group of people who aspire to be famous for the sake of being famous.  But that’s what’s wrong with reality television, the democratization of fame and talent.  See, there used to be a time where, in order to get to the top of any field, you had to be uniquely skilled and qualified while possessing some manner of individual grit and determination to turn your dream into reality.  America was a meritocracy that way.  But now, in the world of reality television and with the notion of the reality television star, all you really have to be is there.

You don’t have to be the best.

You don’t have to be the most qualified.

You don’t even have to be good at what you’re supposed to do.

All you have to be is imbued with a deep lack of shame and the brutal desire to get on television and there’s a network out there that will make you famous.

Like I said before, I don’t watch reality shows unless they’re based on a ridiculous premise.

That’s how I finally figured out Sarah Palin.

In a country where people like Kato Kaelin and Nicole Richie have achieved relative stardom without so much as exhibiting the slightest hint of talent or competence, we’ve allowed this obsession with worshipping the fruits born of mediocrity to seep into other aspects of our lives.  The “hey, I could do that” mentality has led us to view accomplishment as some kind of right versus being the result of real work.  In fact, actual work has gone by the wayside and the notion of luck is commonly attributed to success.  Americans worship the success of the mediocre because its more inspiring than telling people the truth and that is, this shit is really as hard (if not harder) than it looks. But again, with the democratization of talent, words like prepared and qualified take on new meanings.

This leads me to Sarah Palin.

I was watching her on television today and it dawned on my why a lot of people seem to gravitate toward her.  Its because they think, “if she can do it, I can do it too!”.  I mean, where else but in America could a woman go to six colleges in six years, graduate with a degree in journalism, then make the metoric rise from PTA to city council to mayor of a booming metropolis like Wasilia, Alaska,  turn that into becoming the governor of the third least populous state in the union AND THEN be nominated for the vice presidency of the United States?  Not only that, but you can present these credentials against a Columbia and Harvard educated constitutional scholar and sitting United States senator and actually have people say that they’re not sure if magna cum laude lawyer should run the country, but maybe a hockey mom should.  The problem here isn’t that Barack Obama isn’t good enough for the job, he might just be too good.

In a culture where good enough is good enough and just enough will get you by, people look at Sarah Palin and think, “Maybe one day all of my shortcomings will be rewarded too.” and “See, running the country can’t be that hard.” in a continuing cycle of bar lowering that we’ve been experiencing since 2000.  In America, we don’t trust the experts, nope, what to those eggheads know anyway.  We like to choose leaders who go with their gut and, right or wrong, stick to their guns regardless of the facts in front of them.  We choose leaders this way because its comforting to know that they guy in charge is just like you and makes decisions the same way you do.  And that’s the problem.

Running the government isn’t about making decisions from the gut, shooting from the hip, or being just like you.  In fact, its the opposite of all of those things.  You must be well informed, you must make decisions that are measured and rational, and you can’t just be anyone off the street to do it.  Fact is, there was a time when we chose our leaders based on the fact that they were “better” than us.  They represented a greater capacity for knowledge and leadership, they were eloquent and graceful, and we chose them because they were the best representation of us in the corridors of power and to the rest of the world.  But then, politics became reality television and people looked at leadership and thought, “hey, I can do that” and looked for leaders that were more like them.  Sarah Palin isn’t neccessarily bad, its just that beyond being adequate, she’s not exemplary, and since Americans fear that which they do not undersatnd, people are drawn to her because they’re just like her.

I don’t think Americans are stupid individually, its just that when you get them in groups their collective IQs begin to plummet.  This election is merely a reminder that sometimes, stupidity is rationalized because everyone else seems to be doing it.

And yes, the irony of ironies is that I’m talking about mediocrity and the democratization of talent on my blog.  Ruminate on that.

Why D.W. Griffith Would Approve Of The McCain Campaign

In 1915, D.W. Griffith’s film The Birth Of A Nation premiered as one of the first feature length films that has, over time, garnered critical acclaim and been noted by critics and historians as a piece of great cultural significance. Adapted from the novel, “The Clansman” Its story revolves around America in the waning days of the Civil War and the burgeoning of Reconstruction, painting a glowing picture of the antebellum south while disparaging the ideals of Reconstruction era whites and propagating the opinion that blacks were inferior. It is a movie that glorifies and romanticizes the rise and purpose of the Ku Klux Klan skewing history as such to portray them as a noble organization of righteous men who sought to protect the honor of the south.

Its plot focuses on the savagery of a murderous freed former slave named Gus and his pursuit of a white woman whom he intended to rape and the rise of the noble Klan who come to defend her honor. Upon its showing, whites were known to have hunted down and lynched blacks (this happened after a screening in Lafayette, Indiana), and was fodder for rioting in several cities. Its subtext was clear, blacks will know their place and we (the whites) will show them if they get out of line.

Woodrow Wilson hosted a private screening of the film for his cabinet and assembled guests after which he is quoted as saying, “It is like writing history with lightning.”

Though The Birth Of A Nation was only one film, it encapsulated and articulated the prevailing thoughts of many whites of the day. That the negro population was dangerous and, particularly, black men were not to be trusted by instead controlled. That if black men were to accost white women, in any way, it was the duty of white men to defend their honor and subsequently dispatch of black men through various means of violence and intimidation and this was justifiable grounds for lynching.

Griffith’s message was clear; white men can use any means to protect white women.

This message was sent to the residents of Rosewood, Florida.

This message was sent to Emmit Till.

OJ Simpson didn’t get the memo.

Now let’s fast forward to two weeks ago.

I recalled before sitting in an airport listening to an older white man telling his son how much of a brilliant pick Sarah Palin was for Vice President and how I decided to debate him on the merits and the facts leading him to come up short. I thought I won the argument. But I was wrong.

The Republicans have deployed what can easily referred to as the D.W. Griffith strategy when pitting Sarah Palin against Barack Obama. That is to say that, anytime Obama accosts or makes an affront to Palin, they will drag out the sexism card as a ploy to revert minds back the culture wars of the early part of the twentieth century. It is clear, it is apparent, and it is dangerous.

“How dare he speak of our beautiful white woman that way?”

All the while, distracting the American people from the prevailing issues so that we can focus on lipstick and pigs.

I’ve seen this movie before.

I’m not promoting a separatist agenda or saying that black men and white women can’t or shouldn’t have positive interactions in our society. We do, and that’s what makes this strategy so disturbing. By appealing to what has been a taboo by couching it in another wrong, the McCain campaign has shielded themselves from playing the card on face value, but instead doubling down and letting people draw their own conclusions. They’ve hidden it in coded language and have gone so far with the insult as to say that Sarah Palin is somehow sacred and that all those who would clamor to merely speak to her are really just out to destroy her.

She’s the white princess and Obama, as portrayed in another McCain campaign ad is the black wolf. Now, the political forces of the right have a justification for their cultural lynching of Barack Obama and they can simply cry “sexism” when really they’re speaking to the base level of bigots and pseudo-racists who would believe it to be true.

Nah, I ain’t playin’ that shit.

In order for us to move into a post-racial society, we gotta put all our cards on the table and we have to be honest with one another. We cannot a legitimate claim of sexism to be bastardized by an illegitimate front for racism. We do women a disservice and we cause African Americans an injustice. Playing into taboos and wallowing in old-think isn’t the change that we need. It’s a reversion to the days when black men and white women existed behind a barrier of oppression that pit them against each other to perpetuate it power.

Don’t be fooled.

We don’t live in a world where this kind of thing makes the front page of the paper, and most pundits and talking heads are either too blind, too stupid, or too scared to call it what it is. If you see Rick Davis (John McCain’s campaign manager) or Karl Rove on the street or have their email addresses, pass this along to them and tell them that we’re not playing that game anymore.

I just hope someone else out there is paying attention.

Why I Quit The Republican Party… Or How They Quit Me

They finally did it.

They lost me.

After being intently focused on the Democratic National Convention last week for both its historic implications as well as tangential story lines, I felt that this week’s Republican Convention would serve as a counter balance with an equally, albeit different, and yet compelling narrative about what Republican leadership in America would mean in the next four years.

Admittedly, things started off a bit slow with Hurricane Gustav impeding the first night, however I expected to see what the tone and overall theme of the convention would be on Tuesday evening with some anticipation.

Unfortunately, I was gravely disappointed.

After last week’s showing in Denver which highlighted the Democratic Party’s commitment to diversity not only in thought and opinion, but also in personage and ethnicity, the Republicans failed to show any diversity in any respects.

I’m through with them.

The fact that this historic juncture in America’s history was so overlooked as to not allow the Republicans to fine one brown face, one voice of seeming dissent, or one person who didn’t look like “one of them” to be highlighted or even seen is beyond a disappointment. Its an insult. As I panned the audience I was shocked to see that there was an overrepresentation of old white men and an underrepresentation of of just about everyone else.

How can this be?

How could they even allow this to happen this time?

What were they thinking?

Obviously they weren’t thinking statistically. In a country where minorities are quickly becoming a majority and African American and Hispanic populations continue to swell, the idea of reaching out to roughly 35% of the population must have been a reach for them. Instead, they seem to want to latch on to “culture” and “taxes” voters and hope that they don’t see through this sham that is inculcated and institutionalized exclusion on the part of the country’s political system. Add to that the fact that they would choose to denigrate opposing views of American values as being somehow unpatriotic doesn’t just smack of arrogance, it is increasingly jingoistic and racist.

Yeah, I said it.

The Republicans have decided to run a campaign of exclusion and choose an “Us vs. Them” strategy with the “Us” being the so called white mainstream and the “Them” being the increasing diversity of the population of America.

I can’t stand for that.

I can’t stand with that.

I’m Corey Richardson and I don’t approve that message.

Where’s JC Watts? Where’s Michael Steele? Where are the brown faces they drag out when its time to push an issue that throws black people under the bus? Can you at least try to fool me this time? Or do me and those like me just not matter? Is there such a sense of strife in America that this election is devolving into the fight for the future as they see it vs. who we see it?

I hope not.

But then again, what should I have expected… These people have finally taken off their masks to expose their faces (or white hoods, I can’t be sure) and all I’m waiting for now is for someone to get frustrated and just say, “WE CAN’T LET THIS NIGGER WIN” on camera so I can finally be justified.

Sarah Palin is a self avowed redneck.

Fred Thompson called for a new culture war in America.

Karl Rove wants us to see Barack Obama as an Uppity Negro and wants people to put him in his place.

The whole thing makes me sick.

Now the question is, what side do you stand on?

When they say "throw your hands in the air" at this party, they're probably arresting you