There has been a lot of talk about whether the cross-over vote (Republicans voting in the Democratic primary) helped Hillary win Texas over Obama. I am of the idea that cross-over voting isn't a good idea and shouldn't be encouraged by public pundits for the following reasons:
1. It's not honest.
2. It's something that Democrats do, and Conservatives should try not to imitate bad ideas by the Democrats.
3. Conservatives would be upset if we ended up with a candidate that was pushed over the top by cross-over Democrats. (Hey. . . )
4. The law of unintended consequences. Conservatives did this because they thought it might help John McCain by having Hillary and Obama spend more money before the general election. But who knows if this will be a helpful or not.
5. This adds to conspiracies on the left that the Republican machine messes around with elections.
6. This confirms bad stereotypes of Republicans with independent voters.
7. The media will figure out a way to spin this that will hurt Conservatives.
8. From an idealistic viewpoint, each party and their members should be free to put forth their best candidate. If you believe in the American system of government, you must believe that messing around in other people's organizations is not right.
9. Thanks to her primary victory in Texas, Hillary might be the 44th president of the U.S.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
This Is Our Country (Not Yours!)
Once upon a time, Chevy's theme song was "Like a Rock" by Bob Seger. For several years, while watching any sporting event, we had to listen to Seger sing one of his lamer songs to Chevy trucks spinning their wheels in slow motion over rocky terrain.
A couple of years ago, Chevy started playing "This Is Our Country" by John Mellencamp. The visuals in the commercial--lots of '60's protest kind of stuff--and the lyrics to the song initially hit me as kind of odd. Here are the lyrics of the song (those included in the commercial are bolded):
Well I can stand beside
Ideals I think are right
And I can stand beside
The idea to stand and fight
I do believe
There's a dream for everyone
This is our country
There's room enough here
For science to live
And there's room enough here
For religion to forgive
And try to understand
All the people of this land
This is our country
From the east coast
To the west coast
Down the Dixie Highway
Back home
This is our country
That poverty could be
Just another ugly thing
And bigotry would be
Seen only as obscene
And the ones that run this land
Help the poor and common man
This is our country
The dream is still alive
Some day it will come true
And this country it belongs
To folks like me and you
So let the voice of freedom
Sing out through this land
This is our country
From the east coast
To the west coast
Down the Dixie Highway
Back home
This is our country
When taken as a whole, it seemed to me to be rather obviously politically left of center. "The dream is still alive" seems to allude to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but "this country it belongs to folks like me and you" strikes me as collectivist.
I assumed at the time that GM was making a pitch to a particular demographic, but this advertising campaign has gone on so long, that I think this is just their general pitch to American truck buyers.
Recently, John McCain had been using this song in his playlist at events. When Mellencamp found out, he sent a letter to McCain's campaign asking him to stop. Mellencamp's publicist elaborated for Fox News:
The letter explained Mellencamp was a liberal who had supported Democrat John Edwards, who recently dropped out of the race.
Publicist Bob Merlis said Mellencamp told him that the situation made him uncomfortable and he couldn’t imagine McCain would want to be associated with him.
“You know, here’s a guy running around saying, ‘I’m a true conservative.”‘ Merlis told The Associated Press. “Well, if you’re such a true conservative, why are you playing songs that have a very populist pro-labor message written by a guy who would find no argument if you characterized him as left of center?”
I like a couple of Mellencamp's songs quite a bit ("Cherry Bomb" and "Key West Intermezzo" being his best), but I think for him to get huffy that McCain is using his song at events should give GM pause about the person they are paying to sell their trucks. Are McCain and the people who support him not part of "our country"? Are they not "folks like me and you"? Seemingly, not to John Mellencamp.
A couple of years ago, Chevy started playing "This Is Our Country" by John Mellencamp. The visuals in the commercial--lots of '60's protest kind of stuff--and the lyrics to the song initially hit me as kind of odd. Here are the lyrics of the song (those included in the commercial are bolded):
Well I can stand beside
Ideals I think are right
And I can stand beside
The idea to stand and fight
I do believe
There's a dream for everyone
This is our country
There's room enough here
For science to live
And there's room enough here
For religion to forgive
And try to understand
All the people of this land
This is our country
From the east coast
To the west coast
Down the Dixie Highway
Back home
This is our country
That poverty could be
Just another ugly thing
And bigotry would be
Seen only as obscene
And the ones that run this land
Help the poor and common man
This is our country
The dream is still alive
Some day it will come true
And this country it belongs
To folks like me and you
So let the voice of freedom
Sing out through this land
This is our country
From the east coast
To the west coast
Down the Dixie Highway
Back home
This is our country
When taken as a whole, it seemed to me to be rather obviously politically left of center. "The dream is still alive" seems to allude to Dr. King's "I Have a Dream" speech, but "this country it belongs to folks like me and you" strikes me as collectivist.
I assumed at the time that GM was making a pitch to a particular demographic, but this advertising campaign has gone on so long, that I think this is just their general pitch to American truck buyers.
Recently, John McCain had been using this song in his playlist at events. When Mellencamp found out, he sent a letter to McCain's campaign asking him to stop. Mellencamp's publicist elaborated for Fox News:
The letter explained Mellencamp was a liberal who had supported Democrat John Edwards, who recently dropped out of the race.
Publicist Bob Merlis said Mellencamp told him that the situation made him uncomfortable and he couldn’t imagine McCain would want to be associated with him.
“You know, here’s a guy running around saying, ‘I’m a true conservative.”‘ Merlis told The Associated Press. “Well, if you’re such a true conservative, why are you playing songs that have a very populist pro-labor message written by a guy who would find no argument if you characterized him as left of center?”
I like a couple of Mellencamp's songs quite a bit ("Cherry Bomb" and "Key West Intermezzo" being his best), but I think for him to get huffy that McCain is using his song at events should give GM pause about the person they are paying to sell their trucks. Are McCain and the people who support him not part of "our country"? Are they not "folks like me and you"? Seemingly, not to John Mellencamp.
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