Dear pinheads:
Take a good long look at the picture to the left. This is a saguaro cactus. It is native to Arizona, parts of Mexico and a small piece of California. It DOES NOT GROW in New Mexico.
Despite this fact, every four years you morons insist on putting it on the slide for New Mexico that appears on the giant screen behind the stage at the Republican convention.
In 2004, I was in Madison Square Garden during the run through and stopped you idiots from doing this. I saw the slide, called some folks at the convention, and got it taken out just before it went on air.
Unfortunately, I can’t be there every four years, so you’re going to have to write this shit down and put it in a file for next time. I cannot be clearer. THE SAGUARO CACTUS DOES NOT GROW IN NEW MEXICO! Including it is an insult to New Mexicans – all of whom know that this cactus doesn’t grow there.
The fact that you do it every four years says, “F**k You!” to a state that you need to win.
It would be easy enough to let someone from the delegation see the slide before you use it. So please, for the love of God, stop doing this.
Sincerely,
An Angry New Mexican
I have to give the convention people credit for trying to involve visitors and get a community together around the upcoming convention. While I have my doubts about building a vibrant community around an event destined to vanish from consciousness in 5 months, at least their trying. I wish them well.
My only real concern about their effort thus far is their recently announced “Name the Blog” effort. I’m not sure who vetted the names to “narrow” the list, but I see at least three euphemisms for excrement in the list.
Elephant Droppings
Midwest Movement
Junk From The Trunk
I’m not sure if those were submitted by some Democratic Prankster Squad or what, but I am tremendously surprised that they made it into the final voting.
My favorite, and I think the only one worth the digital ink, is Conventional Wisdom. Voting is open now, though at the moment you can’t yet vote on the 3/12 “games.”
Update: I’ve added a link to the contest for your use, sorry about the oversight. Also, all the stuff that was labeled for 3/12 voting now inexplicably says 3/17. The stuff that was 3/17 yesterday now says 3/13 – but you can’t vote on it yet, despite the fact that it’s been the 13th for almost 8 hours.
If you needed more evidence the Democrats have shifted dramatically to the Left in recent years, this article tells you all you need to know.
[N]one of the eight Democratic contenders for the White House are making time for the Democratic Leadership Council convention Sunday and Monday in Nashville, although DLC staffers sought for weeks to woo the candidates.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be homebound and resting on Sunday, instead of seeking allies at the coalition that is behind the only two-term Democratic president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
The DLC is the organization that saved the Democrats in 1992. The organization’s founders had tired of watching the party nominate ultra-liberal after ultra-liberal only to lose handily in general elections. The DLC took a young (relatively) governor from Arkansas and connected him with the moderate wing of the party that had been all but abandoned. In doing so, they elected the first Democrat to the White House in 16 years, and re-elected him four years later.
How were they repaid by their party? With screams that the party had sold out and demands that it return to the bygone days of Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, and Walter Mondale.
The explanation for blowing off the one organization that has actually elected a President in the last quarter century? They have togo hang with the College Dems because they’re the activists.
This actually makes me feel better about our chances next year. I can’t imagine the field of GOP candidates blowing off the ACU or RTL convention to attend a CRNC conference. As long as the Democrats are putting all their eggs in the basket of college students (a group not traditionally known for voting strength) we should be just fine in November of 2008.
Last May, I made a prediction about the locations of the two national conventions. I picked Minneapolis-St. Paul to get the GOP business while the Dems were chilling in the mountain air of Denver.
When the GOP picked Minneapolis (and irritated the Dems by doing so), I knew I was right. Unfortunately, I had no idea Denver would do all it could to pooch the bid. They had union troubles, money troubles, more union troubles, organizational problems, and even more union troubles. I almost thought for a moment that they’d blow it.
But they finally pulled it out. Denver has been picked to host the Democrats and I have been proven right yet again.
The New York Times is just full of goodies today. First, they’re reporting on the hire by Giuliani’s camp of RNC Political Director Mike DuHaime. They follow that up with reports from cocky NYC officials claiming the Democrats 08 convo is as good as theirs.
The convo is the low hanging fruit, so I’ll pick it first. I think the NYC officials are underestimating the importance of the one piece of the puzzle they don’t have – a swing population in a target state in a targeted region. It’s great that they have unions, and it’s great that they think they can raise ungodly sums of money for the convention, but the reason for a convention is to appeal to the electorate through the very small bit of coverage they’ll see.
Colorado makes a great showcase for a party that wants to put out a welcome mat for disaffected moderates and libertarians who are turned off by the GOP’s religious wing. New York has none of that.
The RNC was very wise to pick Minneapolis early and beat the DNC to the punch. Minnesota is much like Colorado in its appeal as a showcase for swing votes. Should the DNC decide to go with New York for money and union reasons, it will be clear that they’re not at all interested in actually appealing to a more moderate voter.
On the Giuliani front, DuHaime is a great hire. Mike is a really good guy and very talented. He also is pretty savvy with technology so he should be willing to be more aggressive and try different things online.
I have fears that McCain, trying to be the establishment candidate, is going to forego some of the technology innovations that would be the hallmark of a maverick campaign – and certainly marked him as one of the first Internet savvy campaigners. He’s likely going to play it much closer to the sleeve and take fewer chances now that he has the lead. Even with Dean’s Internet guy on board, don’t expect to see a Dean-like campaign.
DuHaime will add a lot to Giuliani’s effort, but the big question now is whether he can attract more high-caliber talent to his team. The giant sucking sound coming out of Alexandria is the McCain team trying to reassemble the Bush-Cheney operation. They’ve been largely successful, so we’ll see who Rudy can tap.
