Every year I attend a BBQ held by a friend of the family.  Her name is Deborah and sadly is a big-time Republican, though oddly enough not so much a conservative (well socially at least).  Now her late father and my father go way back, fought together in North Africa in WW2, so these people are practically family. Well, as mentioned, she holds an Independence Day BBQ cook out every year, and my father goes out of respect... and a free meal. Outside of me, sometimes, he's the only other non-Republican at these things.

The first half of today's show was about patriotism, and it was juicy. The second was about Barack Obama's shift to the center and John McCain's Campaign Shake up.

A substantive discussion amongst the panelists about what patriotism means. Bob Scheer expounds on George Washington's farewell speech; Tony Blankley talks about how the theme plays out politically; Matt Miller shares thoughts by Peter Beinart of Time Magazine that the right says "America's great," the left says, "Here's what would make America great;" and Arianna Huffington mentions the USA Today poll that says 2/3 of Americans think that protesting is patriotic. Are Obama's moves toward swing voters going to win him votes or just the animosity of his base? And will John McCain's campaign recover its footing with new guy, Steve Schmidt, at the helm.

A diary like this needs a disclaimer, so lemme provide it:  

I'm a Democrat.  I'm gonna vote for Obama.  I've already donated to his campaign five times.  I also donated to Richardson and Dodd at various points.  I'm very liberal on most issues, and proud to call myself a Democrat.  I'm here to help get Democrats elected.  Please nobody forget this in the following.

I like to read conservative columnists and bloggers, of a certain kind anyway.  I read George Will, Peggy Noonan, Ross Douthat, Megan McCardle, David Brooks, Reihan Salam, and even Pat Buchanan from time to time (yes, he's outta his skull, but he does have an interesting point of view). There are others, from time to time.  Why, might you ask?  

Well you'll just have to read on, I guess....

The primary battle during this cycle was a long, hard-fought campaign. There are still, and probably always will be, bruised egos and bitter feelings on all sides of the Democratic party. Some of the hurt will fade away or scar over given enough time, but time is not a luxury we can afford at this critical time in our country's history.

I've wondered for some time if there is any way we can all come together before the November election. Thinking about that question led me to take a hard look at our side of the political spectrum. The last word of the preceding sentence, spectrum, is what I want to talk about in this diary.

Much of the infighting on our side seems to be caused by a mistaken belief that anyone who doesn't believe the same way we do about all of the issues is a troll or a closet republican. We've fallen into the 'my way or the highway' thinking of our opponents. If this thinking is allowed to grow we will end up tearing our party apart.

read more...

Ben Smith from Politico posted a fun little look behind the scenes of John McCain's Clinton backers conference call yesterday, and a couple of things made my eyebrows lift a bit.

After his public conference call with Clinton supporters (covered extensively by Jonathan Martin) Saturday, John McCain met privately with some 75 of those supporters in his Virginia headquarters, two people who were there said.

. . . .

"He stayed for a good almost half hour afterwards shaking hands, listening to our concerns, talking to us," said PUMA founder Will Bower, who said he thought many of the people there would vote for McCain.

. . . .

Bower said he'd liked McCain's answer on judges, in which he "pointed out that he supported Bill Clinton with both Ginsberg and Breyer."

Another person who was present, but asked not to be named to avoid conflict with fellow Democrats, said he'd pressed a McCain staffer on McCain's position on same-sex marriage.

The staffer "said it was the same as [John] Kerry's position," he said.

And now we see the problem that will emerge from chasing Democrats. It's going to further exacerbate the divide between the two McCains and his needed base. I'm sure conservatives are quite surprised to hear about his professed support for two of the most liberal members of the Supreme Court. I'm also sure they would be surprised to hear that McCain supports civil unions?

We're going to see more of this, I predict. Perhaps Republicans are more than willing to accept a Republican president that seems to have no problem pledging to vote like a moderate Democrat, but I doubt it. It still means that they won't get anything done. McCain will have to pick a side at some point and push the other side away.

Check out this quote from the New York Post that's supposed to scare people from voting for Obama due to tax issues, "Right now [it] is 35 percent, Obama wants to take that to 39 percent . . . We're talking about people who make over $200,000. That's not rich. So it's actually going to impact more people than you may think."

$200k a year isn't rich?  Even in New York City itself, that's a pretty impressive salary.  Moreover, the bump itself isn't exactly huge.  If it were going to 50 or 60 percent, that would be one thing, but going from 35 to 39?  Even people who believe in the Laffer Curve [1] would have a hard time arguing that someone would be willing to work for 65% of their gross income but couldn't possibly be motivated for 61%.

Keep it up conservatives.  At the beginning of a recession, start arguing that a person making $200,000 a year isn't rich.  I'm sure that'll play really well among those working class voters that are supposed to be having such a problem with Obama.  Between this argument and McCain's attempt to push the Carter meme - a perfect appeal to those who became Republicans in the late 70s, but worrisome if he's having to work that hard for conservatives in their 50s and 60s - it looks like McCain and his supporters might be falling into the trap of assuming everyone is like them.  

"If we appeal to late middle aged people who make $200k a year, there's no way we can lose!  That's the vast majority of the US population, right?"

[1] By the way supply siders, note the word "curve."  That means that at some point the stimulus effect of tax cuts would stop working.  It's not enough to say that tax cuts can actually increase government income in some cases; you have to prove that we're still on that side of the curve.  Either remember that or start arguing that setting a tax rate of 0% will bring infinite revenue.  

As I drove past the Sheetz gas station in Shepherdstown this morning (once the lowest-priced venue in the area and now one of the most expensive) regular gas listed for 3.75 a gallon. It made me think. I drive approximately 30 miles a day to and from work in a car that averages 33 miles to the gallon (a 2001 Toyota Echo). That means just driving to work now runs me about $75.00 a month just to commute to work. It used to cost me a third of that... $25.00 a month.

The cost of food, largely dependent on the trucking costs that bring carrots to the Food lion in Shepherdstown, for example, has increased by about 30% in the past few months. Eating is now a much more expensive pastime.

So basics have gone up about $1800.00 a year, but payroll hasn't.

My retirement account has lost eight thousand dollars this past quarter or so because of the dive of the stock markets and the wretched effect of the mortgage fiasco on the economy. That means, with my increase in expenses, I'm now $10,000.00 poorer. I haven't figured my wife in here, but if I did, our household would have taken at least a $20,000.00 dive.

I don't feel middle-class anymore. I used to. Since Reagan, the government that regulated banks and oil and trade and insurance and airlines and all the basic needs we consider to be the foundation of middle class existence has de-regulated everything, leaving corporations and lobbyists and multi-millionaires (and Charles Gibson, apparently) in charge of this faltering economy.

Conservatives, who have dominated this country for the past 30 years or so, have always claimed to be protectors of America... champions of small and efficient government... those who see America as safe for Americans. In reality, they have destroyed the America we had and fought two world wars for. They have exploded the size of government, primarily to deal with the massive infusion of corporate lobbyists they have turned much of America over to.

The folks we now call liberals are, I believe, the real conservatives. Those who would conserve America for Americans... regulate corporations back from their status as "citizens" to their former existence as job sites... bring banks and mortgage companies under ethical scrutiny, not be their own kind, but by our elected officials.

Elected officials! We once elected people to pass laws and regulate those who would take over and rape the economy. We have to get back there again.

It is one of the reasons I support Barack over Hillary. Lobbyists and "free traders"(there's a misnomer if ever there was one!) know she will keep things in their interest. Obama, so far, actually looks like a change.

Let's hope.

Under The LobsterScope

Republican legislators seem to display a lack of consistency in their economic philosophy as they show outrage over the EADS contract to supply tankers for the U.S. Air Force.

Sen. Brownback (R-Kansas) has been a vocal proponent of NAFTA, CAFTA, the U.S.-Australian Trade Act, and free trade agreements with Oman, Chile, and Singapore. The pro-free trade Club For Growth awarded Brownback a score of 98/100 on their annual scorecard, earning him a "Defender of Economic Freedom award" from the organization.

Yet, Brownback now expresses shock and awe that the U.S. would "outsource the production" of something that could be manufactured in the U.S.

"It's stunning to me that we would outsource the production of these airplanes to Europe instead of building them in America," said Sam Brownback, the Republican senator for Kansas, where Boeing has a site. "I'll be calling upon the secretary of defence for a full debriefing."

But free trade isn't the only area of economics on which conservatives are suddenly (and conveniently) turning an about face.