William F. Buckley dies at 82

NEW YORK (AP) — Author and conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. has died at age 82. His assistant Linda Bridges says Buckley died Wednesday morning at his home in Stamford, Connecticut. Buckley became famous for his intellectual political writings in his magazine, the National Review.

William Frank “Bill” Buckley, Jr. (November 24, 1925 - February 27, 2008) was an American author and conservative commentator. He founded the political magazine National Review in 1955, hosted the television show Firing Line from 1966 until 1999, and was a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist. His writing style was famed for its eloquence, wit, and use of uncommon words. (from Wikipedia)

Posterizing the Modern GOP

One might think (or hope) that the people responsible for the timeless “Got Milk?” ad campaign could come up with something a little more creative than this. I guess the lack of creativity spills over into the advertising world, too! Misery loves company.

“Silverstein, who as co-chairman of Goodby, Silverstein, and Partners was behind the famous “Got Milk?” ad campaign and the Budweiser frogs, had such a grasp of what makes for effective communication in radio, movies, TV, and online, that I thought he might have some ideas on how to help the Democrats, who continue to struggle with framing an election where they are holding all the cards. He did. When I suggested that he blog about his ideas, he said that since he usually expresses himself best in visual terms, he wanted to see if he could ‘blog visually.’”

Here … blog this (visually): Uhhh… Not so much. Try again.

Asking the Hard Questions

If you choose to run for President, you deserve every hard question asked of you. As a a matter of fact, you should be ostracized from the political process for refusing to directly answer hard questions, or dancing around the issue (which is the most popular way of answering questions in today’s political landscape). The unfortunate part is that this is what people have come to expect, and when the politicians are really put to the fire, there are a few who believe that the constitutional right against cruel and unusual punishment has been violated.

For this reason, there are some liberals who don’t like Tim Russert.

Some like the status-quo. Some take offense when their candidate is made to account for how they really feel. I’m glad someone is finally asking the hard questions. It brings out the stupid in people. That’s a great thing if those people want to lead the country!

Also see:

Hillary Clinton’s campaign said late Wednesday that she supports New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s plan for illegal immigrant driver’s licenses, a clarification required after a twisted campaign performance Tuesday night left people guessing her position.¹

This is in the papers now because she could not take one side or the other when a large percentage of likely Democrat voters were watching on TV. Again, a direct result of Tim Russert’s line of questioning.

“Waaaaahhhhhhh” -Hillary Clinton

1. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,307247,00.html [↩]

What Makes Hillary Qualified?

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.” –James Madison

When I interview/hire people for my department at work, I have a baseline of experience that I want them to have before I actually agree to bring them in. When you were hired for your job, you probably had some previous experience that would benefit the company hiring you.

Why is this the case? Because the people that you work for want to make sure you can do the job in the most competent manner possible. They want to make sure that the company will be a better place when you leave than it was when you got there. They want to know you have a good understanding of what is required of you.

I’ve been reading a lot about Hillary Clinton’s qualifications to be POTUS. Let’s take a simpler, yet unique look at Hillary and her five most “popular” characteristics according to the esteemed Senator from New York and her loyal band of followers.

She’s a woman - If this makes one qualified to be President, then there are millions of others out there who are just as qualified. Those people don’t have the resources to buy their way into the system. Therefore, “being a woman” doesn’t count.

She’s a mother - Intriguing. Take a look at some of the people she claims to want to help the most (poor people). Those folks usually have more children than middle or upper class people. Therefore, let’s raid the poor side of town, pick a random woman with 5 kids. By this reasoning, that person would be 5x more qualified than Hillary.

She’s a lawyer - As the late, great Douglas Adams once said, “Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” This applies even more so to lawyers. Aside of being the scourge of society, a J.D. has provides no specific training on running a large country, the most powerful military in the world, and all the bells and whistles that come along with the job.

The ABA Journal has made an astounding prediction that the next President will actually be a lawyer, however.

The three leading candidates in both major parties all have law degrees, USA Today reports. On the Democratic side, they are Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. In the Republican party, they are Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney.

No matter who is running for President, the same rules apply. Being a lawyer does not qualify one for the office.

She was married to a President - So were 44 other woman in history. This “qualification” means that Rosalynn Carter, Betty Ford, and others are qualified to run the country. I think not. If you will agree to vote for Jackie Kennedy or Betty Ford, I’ll concede my vote for Hillary.

She was a Senator - Absolutely. A junior Senator with an unremarkable voting record. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but what makes this stand out from the other 99 Senators? Legislation that she has sponsored has also been unremarkable, and doesn’t set her apart from anyone else. And we’re not counting the hundreds and hundreds of other people who have been Senator in the past. Holding that title does not qualify one to lead the country.

Her only other experience in getting her primary issue (universal health care) pushed through came as First Lady, and failed miserably. What candidate would think that the American people want the same agenda pushed out from another office?

One thing is not up for debate. Hillary Clinton, without question, meets three MAJOR qualifications for President of the United States (as outlined in the Constitution).

• be a natural born citizen of the United States.
• be at least 35 years old.
• have lived in the U.S. for at least 14 years.

But then again, so do I and millions of other people. On paper, Hillary is no more qualified to be the President than I am to be a brain surgeon. But the hype surrounding her is still for sale at $1500.00 a plate.

The moral of the story? Much of society has reduced itself to voting for the candidate that can lie the best or somehow convince the masses that they will benefit the most by <insert candidate here> being elected. People don’t do very simple analysis (as outlined above) in the decision-making process. This is why the quality of the President has slowly declined since Ronald Reagan left office. Society isn’t getting any smarter, and the outlook is bleak.