Collectivists on (Well, okay, *IN*) PARADE

Here is the latest evidence that we have but one major party in America, and it is the Borg Party.

This weekend, PARADE “magazine” asked John McCain and Barack Obama “What is Patriotism?”

Here is the title and an excerpt of each of their responses. Without peeking, see if you can guess which nominee gave which response.

Nominee #1, What is Patriotism?

SACRIFICE FOR THE COMMON GOOD

That is the community we strive to build -- one in which we recognize we share
common hopes and dreams, one in which we continue to insist that there is
nothing we cannot do when we put our minds to it, and one in which we see
ourselves as part of a larger story, our own fates wrapped up in the fates of
all who share allegiance to America’s singular creed.

Nominee #2, What is Patriotism?

A CAUSE GREATER THAN SELF-INTEREST

We are blessed to be Americans, and blessed that so many of us have so often
believed in a cause far greater than self-interest, far greater than ourselves .
. . [T]he gift we can give back to our country is a patriotism that requires us
to be good citizens in public office or in the community spaces where government
is absent.

So, which response comes from the nominee of which wing of the Borg Party?

[TANGENT: Here's a quote from Obama's answer -- "I remember listening to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence and explaining how its ideas applied to every American . . . We can say and write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door."

Apparently, Mama Obama never spent any time in Thayer, MO. ]

This election has been going on since, like, 1066 AD.

And balding presidential candidate John McCain has opted to concentrate on early general election ads instead of deciding on a running mate.

This campaign is dragging on so much that it reminds me of what sex must be like with Bob Newhart -- it piques your interest enough to get you into it at first, but halfway through, it's so boring you just want it to be over.

One is a Sith; the other Black Irish.

Senators Palpatine* and O'Bama win MS primaries.



* - a.k.a. John McCain-Feingold

Quote of the Day.

From Grizzly Groundswell:

John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism and youth.

The destruction of the Republican Party . . .

. . . has begun.

McCain will lose if Obama is the Democrat nominee.

McCain will probably lose if Clinton is the Democrat nominee.

The only thing worse for conservatives and true Republicans would be if he won.

Democracy is three Democrats and a Nazi running for President.

It's pretty much official -- I'll be voting for a third party (virtually certainly this one) for President this November. The only scenario in which I wouldn't is if McCain-Feingold picks Nanny Huckabee as his running mate AND it looks like Missouri will be close.

In that situation, I'd give serious thought to voting for the Democrat.

Apparently John McCain-Feingold didn't get the memo.

Here's what Johnny Mac has to say about whether or not he is eligible to serve as President:

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain said Thursday the question of whether he can run for president, despite being born in the Panama Canal Zone, was put to rest 44 years ago in Barry Goldwater's run for the White House.

Note to McCain -- Barry Goldwater didn't win, so his eligibility to hold the office was never challenged in the courts.

As will be the case with McCain.

Maybe that's what Nanny Huckabee's been holding out for.

John McCain-Feingold may not be eligible to be President.

Mr. McCain’s likely nomination as the Republican candidate for president and the happenstance of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936 are reviving a musty debate that has surfaced periodically since the founders first set quill to parchment and declared that only a “natural-born citizen” can hold the nation’s highest office.

Given that Obama's going to beat him, it's probably not an issue, but it would be fitting.

[H/T 2 memeorandum.]

McCain: If I have to explain it, you wouldn't understand.

I'd have to dig out my old copies of Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology or maybe Philosophy, Who Needs It to verify this, but I'm pretty sure that argument would make Ayn Rand vomit.

It smacks of the "Everybody knows..." argument and the "It's a proven fact ..." argument. What shall we call it, the "If you question it, you don't understand" argument?

[H/T 2 M-Yg.]

I've been holding onto this one for awhile now,

but it looks like Ron Paul's sticking it out until the convention.

But on the off-chance that he does drop out of the race, keep this in mind.

Democracy is three wolves and a lamb three Democrats and a Nazi voting on what to have for dinner running for President.

Why, if Hillary doesn't muck things up, Obama is already our next President.

So I'm watching the primary results on CNN last night, when this interesting little contrast happened:

OBAMA:...That is what hope is, Madison, that moment when we -- when we shed our fears and our doubts, when we don't settle for what the cynics tell us we have to accept, because cynicism is a sorry kind of wisdom.

When we instead join arm in arm and decide we are going to remake this country, block by block, precinct by precinct, county by county, state by state, that's what hope is.

There's a moment in the life of every generation when that spirit has to come through, if we are to make our mark on history. And this is our moment. This is our time.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

And where better -- where better to affirm our ideals than here in Wisconsin, where a century ago the progressive movement was born?

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: If you want to continue listening to Senator Obama's speech, you can log on to CNNPolitics.com.

Senator John McCain is speaking live in Alexandria, Virginia.

Let's listen in to him.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: But we know where either of their candidates will lead this country, and we dare not let them.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

They are going to promise a new approach to governing, but offer only the policies of a political orthodoxy that insists the solution to government's failures is to simply make it bigger.

They will appeal to our dreams of a better future for ourselves and our families and our country, but they would take from us more of the wealth we have earned to build those dreams and assure us that government is better able than we are to make dedications and decisions about our future for us.

They will promise to break with the failed politics of the past, but will campaign in ways that seek to minimize their exposure to questions from the press and challenges from voters who ask more from their candidates than an empty promise of, "Trust me, I know better."

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

They will paint a picture -- they will paint a picture of the world in which America's mistakes are a greater threat to our security than the malevolent intentions of an enemy that despises us and our ideals, a world that can be made safer and more peaceful by placating our implacable foes and breaking faith with allies and the millions of people in this world for whom America, and the global progress of our ideals has long been the last, best hope of Earth.

[BLAH BLAH BITCH FEAR BLAH WHAT THEY'D DO BLAH!...]

You give people a choice between hope and fear (or rather, vague, undefined hope and specific, paranoid fear) and they'll choose hope every time.

And notice how Obama talks about "us" and John McCain-Feingold talks about "them."

Go read the transcript of both speeches. If Barack Obama is the Democrat nominee, John McCain-Feingold is headed for an embarrassingly Mondale-esque ass-whupping.

Robocalls.

Monday and Tuesday, I got at least SIX robocalls from the John McCain-Feingold campaign. Two were disguised as polls.

I texted the numbers they were called from with the message "The more you telestalk me, the more determined I am to vote for Ron Paul!"

One also had a "Remember McCain-Feingold!" tacked onto the end.

The campaign reminds me of a clingy ex-girlfriend who doesn't quite grasp that she is no longer of any interest to me.

But then, they were never of any interest to me. I don't date authoritarian subjectivist collectivists.

Go away, bitch. You annoy me.

Observation.

I note that the Drunks for Obama endorsement didn't put him on top in their home state.

Relatives of Drunks for Obama had similar results.