The Primate Press

I thought that Obama had made inroads into the very changes in the Democratic Party this piece discusses, but he has really only begun to scratch the surface. Of course he has, there hasn’t been time. The primary race is barely over, and in some ways it’s still being fought.

Well, time’s up. Democrats have to get this message, right now:

WHAT MAKES PEOPLE VOTE REPUBLICAN? [9.9.08]
By Jonathan Haidt

And Barack has to come back from the primary race himself, right now, and show (not tell or describe or orate about or run ads and catchy slogans about, but demonstrate!) that he really does stand for unity in this horribly and unnecessarily divided country.

“Most Democrats don’t understand that politics is more like religion than it is like shopping.”

link

Please refer to this story for soundbites of McCain, Cheney, and Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) using this very same expression. One of them — who’s name you can guess — was referring to a different lipstick-wearing presidential candidate’s policies — who’s name you also should be able to guess. What’s more, 3 years ago, McCain was in such a huff about his own running mate’s Bridge to Nowhere earmark, whose state has since received and spent that money on other things, not turned it away, it wouldn’t be hard to imagine him using the same expression in regards to her policy.

The genius of the GOP has always been its prescient self-knowledge. Usually it turns this into a highly effective weapon by instinctively painting its opponents as the very thing it knows itself to be. This time, though, the Republicans saw a mirror image in an innocent remark of Obama, and could not help noticing their VP candidate there. She is perky, pretty, bubbly, surrounded by babies, and a woman — and yet she promotes an ideology that is in direct opposition to sensuality, personal freedom, the wellbeing of children, the rights of women, and American democracy.

The resemblance really is uncanny.

I don’t want to leave.

I parked my car in the loading zone in front of my building tonight and put the flashers on, unloaded my suitcase and went upstairs. Four hours later, on my way to get the laundry, I spotted it — my car, in front of the building with the flashers on. I’m not sure how I didn’t get a ticket.

I’m still in New York, even if my body’s here. I haven’t re-adopted the mindset of leaving a hulking metal vehicle somewhere on the street like a placeholder for my body. I just want to walk a few more days, smell burnt knishes, and lie down in the park. I just want to eat another Mister Softie.

Fortunately for them, elections aren’t won on realities — in fact, far from it:

George Lakoff on the selection of Sarah Palin.