The power shift is changing. I honestly don’t know why west Tennessee legislators aren’t paying attention. And if they are, many of them are so involved with the game of politics that they are forgetting about the day-to-day lives of the constituents who voted for them.
Let me repeat, YOUR CONSTITUENTS! The people in your district, regardless if they voted for you or not, are watching plants leave, businesses close and a very real crunch of small businesses (talk to Homer) and it seems like no one is communicating.
How many times do I have to say the gravy days are over for NW Tennesseans only thanks to Gov. Ned McWherter because it did start moving south when he left office.
The voices are silent for the most part.
Man, there are times that I wish that progressive state-wide reps would watch what Barack Obama’s PR team did nationwide but I guess that would be asking for too much progress or something.
I love the Internet more than I should. I find funny things that amuse me, I read things that I’m outraged about and sometimes I get bored with it but then fall in love with something all over again. Then my eyes bleed.
With that said, you should go here and just check it out. I like the fact that readers are being asked for their stories. Smart.
I have to say that the world of communication is changing before our eyes.
“Daddy, who is the leader of America right this minute?”
I reply, “President Bush.”
“And we’re voting for one of the two other guys because he’s tired of being the leader?”
“Well, actually…” And I give him my best 60-second answer about things like term limits and such. I talk about how no one can be president forever and that we take turns, kind of like how he and his sister must take turns doing things. I finish and look forward to answering any follow-up questions he might have.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“If you get a dead ant and put chocolate on it, it will taste like chocolate.”
And this is why Chez Bez is an important and wonderful blogger.
“I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout,” Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher, told me via email, noting that EA regularly allows ad placements in their online games. “Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates,” she continued. “Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”
Obama is advertising on an X-Box racing video game.
That, my friends, is political marketing outside the box.
There is an elderly man who I know in Hoots that I always enjoy talking to. He’s a dapper fellow, always wearing a straw fedora and I’ve never seen him without a library book in his hand. To say he always looks neat and well dressed is an understatement. He doesn’t drive anymore so you see him walking, recently with a cane, around the downtown area. I’ve taken him to his home on a couple of occasions when the heat looked to be too much for him. Although I don’t know his age, I’m thinking he is in his mid-eighties.
He asked me last night if I remembered Herbert Hoover. I told him yes.
“George Bush is no different than Herbert Hoover,” he said. “I was a kid during the depression and I want you to know, we are heading down this path again.”
I told him that I really didn’t remember that much about Hoover, which I owned. He told me to go get a book. Now if you knew this man, he has the mouth of a sailor coming out of this tidy package of an older person. I must tell you, it shocks me each and every time when he comes out with an expletive.
“They are trying to scare us,” he said with a few choice words added in for effect. “This damned government keeps trying to use religion and gays and immigrants to scare the bejezus out of regular folks who aren’t paying attention to the fact that we are at war and our economy is in the shitter. It isn’t until times like this that people start noticing that their way of life is impacted by bad decisions in Washington.”
I nodded. He was on a roll.
“If that gotdamn John Tanner votes for this bailout,” he said angrily. “I swear I’ll personally give him a piece of my mind. He’s eating and will continue to eat. But some of these folks won’t and that’s what they are forgetting. It’s not for us to pay for Wall Street. Hell, we can barely pay for the recent tax increases and electricity hikes around here.”
I agreed once again.
“Whoever wins president will be blamed for the mistakes and greed of that idiot Bush,” he said. “And that’s all I have to say.”
And he didn’t say another word about it, sticking to his guns.
I watched him leave about 30 minutes later, his cane in one hand and a library book in the other. He walked out into the night.
You never know unless you listen to what other people say and how they perceive things. Mr. J (as I call him) is an angry American and he sees the sins of the past catching up to the present.
Sometimes my chest tightens us and I wonder what’s next, because, although I’m a glass half-full kind of woman, I can’t help believe that it’s only going to get worse until it gets better.
In the past, I could ignore and avoid. This year, I just can’t. When MY son is going to vote on the next president and his head is filled with sexist and racist jokes while his e-mail is filled with photo shopped pictures and ramblings about everything EXCEPT issues, it is not funny. I won’t ask my child how he voted and I won’t expect him to tell me. I DO expect him to take that vote seriously. I want him to respect the responsibility that every American has to vote. I don’t want him to be a self-centered cynic who just writes off politics as pointless and unworthy of his efforts. I want him to believe that this is a good country with good people who are trying to make it better.
As a political junkie that occasionally plays armchair pundit, I just need to say that for the first time last night I realized with wild abandon that November 4 cannot get here soon enough.
I have a lot of acquaintances and friends who I think very highly of but sometimes I have to listen to political rants. The one I heard last night was epic. It was my friend. I dig this guy but I have to tell you, when I told him I didn’t want to talk politics over an adult beverage, he just kept on. I was nice but, in all honesty, talking politics over a bar is not one of my favorite things to do when the ranting starts.
You know me, I love a conversation but when someone is a bit angry, I check out mentally and look for the exit sign.
And I was saved, fortunately, by my new friend Dababa who very cleverly got me out of nodding and sighing because by that point I had zoned out like those zombies I know and love.
Listen, my fellow left-leaners, if you don’t want to vote for Barack Obama, don’t, but could you at least write-in Hillary Clinton if that’s your choice.
I mean seriously. And if you are going to forcefully talk at me over adult beverages, could you at least buy me a beer or something?
So it’s Vice-President Tuesday or is it? Well, at least that’s what MSM is pontificating about today.
I only have a couple of random observations about the next step in the road to the White House. I think whoever is placed on the ticket for both candidates is going to be key in rural America.
Of course, I’m just talking about my rural America but I do think it’s key.
Joe Biden is relatively well-liked and respected by some of the Dems over here but so is Hillary Clinton. I think Biden has more of the edge. I hear more people around here talking about having Clinton fatigue, but I don’t really think she is on the short list at this point but that’s just me. I’ve been wrong before.
I mention Clinton Fatigue but I think it’s more about having election fatigue in general. This race has been going on for what seems like forever. With two years of campaigning, at this point I believe everyone is pretty sure of whom they are going to vote for anyway.
But those undecided will be watching the VP choices.
Sharon has a poll for you to go and add your two cents to the pot regarding whom Barack Obama is going to choose.
