Golden Years? Well, maybe bronze…

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

I got my 401k statement the other day. The timing couldn’t have been better – I needed a good scare just before Halloween.

With a good 40 years to go before I’m retirement age, I’m not all that worried. I still have time to continue a long-term retirement plan. Of course, that plan doesn’t include Social Security, which will not be available to me. All of the promises of Obama and others to “protect social security” is a transparent vote grab – and a reasonable one, because seniors tend to vote more often. I’d pander to them too. But here in the real world, I have to figure out how to save for retirement while flushing 7.5% of my paycheck down the crapper for a government-mandated retirement plan that’s about as dependable as an Enron pension.

As Election Day draws near, Republicans across the country will be accused of wanting to dismantle Social Security, Medicare, and other entitlement programs – as if these programs worked.

George Mason Economics Professor Walter Williams has a great line about government entitlements. Professor Williams points out that the facets of American Society that people are most satisfied with – the Internet, the availability of retail goods, etc. – are items in which the free market has been allowed to flourish. But the more regulations and government control exists, the more people tend to be dissatisfied – as they are with education, roads and traffic, fuel supplies.

I know I’d be a lot happier if I could bolster my 401k by saving 7.5% of each paycheck, instead of throwing it away.

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Me? I’m supporting McCain’s redistribution of wealth…

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

This is a couple weeks old, but a friend just showed it to me. King of All Media Howard Stern interviewed Barack Obama supporters in New York City and asked them if they supported Obama’s “pro-life” stance, or his call to “finish the job” in Iraq. They enthusiastically agreed with many of McCain’s positions:

It’s no surprise to find uninformed voters who support a candidate but really don’t understand what he or she stands for. This leads to two conclusions:

1. The 2008 election is not a referendum on any political philosophy, and should not be read as a fundamentaly shift to the left from the American electorate. It is a fundamental shift toward a guy who is great on TV and gives a great speech.

2. The Republicans – specifically, conservatives – need to step up the candidate recruitment, because there are plenty of people out there who will jump on board if you look great on TV and give a great speech.

That’s not exactly what we mean by dirty campaigning…

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

GOP Congressional candidate Zane Starkewolf is under fire because his campaign’s robocalls sound like they were recorded by a cast member from Girl 6. Some of the folks in CA-01 understandably complained the calls were inappropriate.

This is Starkewolf’s answer and, appropriately, there is no apology. Starkewolf, 27, shows wisdom and message discipline beyond his years:

“I acknowledge that the idea behind the ad, and indeed the execution of the call, was not the safe route to take. And if my run for office was simply for personal gain, I would not have taken a risk. But the content and the facts within the message were there and need to be discussed… The message is there–and what it says is that Mike Thompson went against the people of this district when he voted to pass and have us pay for the 700 billion dollar bailout and went along with George Bush…”

Well said, Zane. An tail-between-the-legs apology would have done nothing for Starkewolf’s long shot bid. His bold stance demonstrates that he stands behind his decisions and keeps the discussion about the issues raised in the robocall. It sets a trap for his opponent, too; if incumbent Mike Thompson stops talking about his platform to demand an apology, Starkewolf will be in control of the media discussion a week before Election Day.

And, if nothing else, it earns his campaign some free publicity.

Campus politics for Halloween week. Spooky…

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Indoctrinate U, a documentary about political discourse (or lack thereof) on college campuses, comes to the Documentary Channel multiple times next week.

If you’ve spent any time on a college campus in the last 30 years, you know that a movie about campus politics is appropriate viewing. But documentarian Evan Coyne Maloney’s independent film takes on the issue with a dry, biting sarcasm. To expose the hypocrisy of gender politics, Maloney (clad ironically in tshirts which bash Republicans or promote the Soviet Union) wanders into each campus’s Women’s Center asking for directions to the Men’s Center. At his own alma mater, Bucknell University, campus police threaten to arrest him – just before a lecture on free speech.

Throughout his journeys to several bastions of higher learning (including UC Berkeley, Yale, and others) Maloney is more than happy to play the unwitting traveller and let the administrators, bureacrats, and students tell the story.

It makes for an effective and – more imporantly – fun documentary that’s worth setting your TiVo for.

But all PR is good PR, right? Right?

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released a study this week that showed coverage of John McCain in the mainstream media was predominantly negative, while coverage of Barack Obama is fairly even and balanced.

(I know – I’m shocked to learn this, too.)

In fact, the study shows McCain gets more bad coverage than typical Presidential candidates received in 2000 or 2004. Pew spokespeople are quick to point out that their findings do not indicate a partisan slant to the news (although, watching the news does indicate a strong partisan slant).

They may be on to something; McCain’s negative coverage could not solely be the work of a hostile press dedicated to electing Barack Obama. Hostile press is a fact of political life. Presidents Reagan and Bush both dealt with it and were able to speak with the American people through the coverage. That’s a tactic McCain simply hasn’t mastered yet, but its an important one for the rest of us Republicans who will be talking to both national and regional media over the next few years.

McCain learns what snoring elephants sound like

~ Jim Eltringham ~ 1 Comment

There will be no third party, anti-Obama campaign this election cycle in the image of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who exposed some of John Kerry’s dirty laundry in 2004. McCain shouldn’t be surprised – the campaign finance legislation that he’s so proud of made independent speech more difficult, and his campaign has worked to subdue potential independent, non-party election speech.

Ultimately, though, it’s tough for a Republican to be excited to be a Republican anymore. What does the GOP stand for?

In 1980, 1994, and 2000 it was simple: Less government. Keep more of your money. Elections in 2002 and 2004 were a question of which party was in touch with the American public.

In 2008, Democrats have been campaigning on their plans for America: healthcare for everybody; a steeply graduated income tax that forces higher earners to pay more; and government programs to generate environmentally friendly technology.

Try to sum up John McCain’s campaign in three sentences that don’t include “war hero.” Go ahead.

And the election outlook isn’t pretty for McCain or any other Republican. And it will go downhill from there. Republican pundits and politicos will be cannibalizing each other like they’re stranded in the Andes.

The theme I hope the GOP rallies around – and a major theme I’ll be using in my efforts to promote conservatism and freedom over the next few years – is one that the President-turned-pariah George W. Bush coined 2003: the “Ownership Society.” He talked about letting us manage our own retirement, rather than flushing money down the toilet with Social Security. It meant us taking control of our own health care and driving costs down. It meant more options for savings and home ownership. And in internal discussions, Bush intended these proposals to help Americans assume more personal responsibility. It was the best summation of conservative thought since Ronald Reagan.

This never came to fruition. Democrats successfully scared the American public away from any meaningful Social Security reform. Bush passed the biggest entitlement package since the Great Depression, gave out free money when the economy started to slide, and gave handouts to people who were foolish with their (and other people’s) money.

It’s only a start, but resurrecting the idea of an ownership society would excite the GOP base: those rank-and-file voters, volunteers, and activists who fueled their rise to power. And when excited, it will be “the base” who makes the case for Republican candidates – something they are not doing in 2008, as McCain is becoming painfully aware.

Playing a new game

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

My brother Mike had the best summary about the constant harping on Sarah Palin over the past 60 days: “Everyone seems to be mad because she doesn’t play the game.” She certainly is the biggest outsider of the race.

Pundits are quick to point out that despite appearing on Saturday Night Live, she hasn’t appeared on any Sunday morning talk shows. True – but she also probably understands Saturday Night Live is probably more relevant in shaping public perceptions outside of the beltway than the Sunday morning talk shows. Fourteen million viewers tuned into NBC for Saturday Night Live last weekend. That’s 10 million more than how many tuned into NBC’s Meet the Press the previous week – and that was the top-rated show.

(And who ever imagined we’d see a national candidate raising the roof at the Weekend Update desk and not looking like a complete doofus? At the very least she raised her favorability numbers.)

Palin even criticized her own campaign (politely) for using automated phone calls, candidly saying they are annoying. Sure, that’s common sense – but it’s quite a step to admit that political campaigns are tedious for the average American. This understanding creates opportunity for connection that, really, no other person on a national ticket has made.

As I mentioned previously, the question now is whether Palin can build on this to create a stronger connection with the American people – and to become a national spokesperson for the people who respond better to her style of politics. Based on the way she rolled with the punches on Saturday, her chances seem decent.

Nazis for McCain/Palin

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Last night’s Family Guy featured a sight gag I missed until I saw it on Digg today. Apparently, Nazis are all about McCain/Palin:

I’m assuming Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane did this because of the image of McCain’s cult of personality inspiring massive crowds in Germany last summer… Oh, no, wait, that was Obama. Well, maybe it was because of the way McCain has targeted one segment of America as having too much money, and has promised to re-distribute their wealth (as Hitler did with Jewish businessowners)? Nope, that’s Obama again.

It must have been campaign finance reform.

$600 Million? This is a change…

~ Jim Eltringham ~ Leave a comment

Barack Obama has changed politics – now it can cost you $600 million to run for President, thanks to Obama’s record-shattering $150 million raised in September.

With one more month like that, the Obama campaing would have raised enough to buy both 2008 World Series participants. He has already raised enough for his White Sox.

By raising this much from small donations, Obama has indeed changed campaign fundraising as we know it. By creating a system where people can give $10 at a time, the Obama camp is getting people to invest in his campaign – and once people are invested, they stay interested. It’s a tactic that dates back to high school: a club that charges dues can expect members to be much more serious about meetings and activities; a campaign can similarly expect its donors to be more serious about getting to the polls on election day.