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Monday, November 20, 2006
Gingrich: ‘If I don’t seek it, it will come’
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fortune magazine has a piece out on Newt Gingrich and his non-effort for the U.S. presidency.
It’s got Gingrich sounding downright Daoist:
“The radical realist who defied conventional wisdom 12 years ago by stealing the House out from under the noses of entrenched Democrats now plans a surprise attack for the presidency.
“‘I’m going to tell you something, and whether or not it’s plausible given the world you come out of is your problem,’ he tells Fortune. ‘I am not “running” for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen.’”
Of brainwashed voters and an uncertain economy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
While you’re waiting for the turkey to thaw, we offer you some mood-altering reading material.
First is the closest thing to a concession speech that we’re likely to get from Mac Collins, the Republican who was narrowly defeated on Nov. 7 by U.S. Rep. Jim Marshall of Macon, the incumbent Democrat.
It’s a volatile, fergit-hell article penned by Bill Hagan, Collins’ spokesman during the campaign.
A snippet:
“The media and innumerable individuals such as Cindy Sheehan, Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers, John Kerry, Jack Murtha, and the remaining propagandists of the left, successfully painted a distorted picture of our nation’s mission in the Middle East.
“The result was the brainwashing of the American electorate and a Democratic victory in both houses of Congress. Incredibly, the Democrats have succeeded in convincing the public that our soldiers are fighting a war without purpose that the United States can never win.”
This is an out-of-the-ordinary bit of writing. In politics, it’s often considered bad form to imply that voters are malleable stooges capable of being hoodwinked by sharp-dealing politicians.
Next, if you want to stay ahead of the curve, take a look at this Nov. 6 speech by Janet Yellen, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. It’s been making the rounds on the Internet and elsewhere, and — while somewhat thick — it’s very much worth your time.
Since the election, you’ve seen a sharp shift in emphasis among both Republicans and Democrats toward kitchen-table issues and away from ideological hot-buttons.
Despite indicators that paint the U.S. economy as relatively rosy, exit polls turned up evidence of unrest among many Americans. The results of Nov. 7 in particular showed that Republicans are in danger of losing the lower-ranking, working-class voter who has been a mainstay of their success since the Reagan years.
Yellen pinpoints the reason why.
She shows that the real wages of those with high school educations increased only 5 to 10 percent over the last 30 years. But it’s the volatility of family income that’s the eye-opener, the force that could be driving this uneasiness even among the well-employed.
“The chances that an American family will see at least a 50 percent drop in its yearly income has more than doubled since the early 1970s, rising to about one in six families in recent years,” she said.
