I'm a big Thomas Friedman fan and I think he hit the nail on the head in his op/ed piece, "Making America Stupid." I also thinks this speaks directly to my previous post and may help understand why many (not just die hard environmentalists) are against drilling. While oil will likely remain a primary source of energy for the next 10-20 years, I have to agree it seems terribly short sighted to make drilling for oil a cornerstone of your energy policy. It's also just passing the problem to the next generation as at some point, we're going to have to develop a new energy source. Not to mention the numbers game makes drilling for oil domestically highly unlikely to remove our dependence on foreign energy.
I'm curious if Friedman is also correct that the McCain/Palin ticket have decided to turn this election into a "culture war." Palin is clearly a divisive figure, people either seem to love her or hate her. While I'm not sure if I would describe it as a "culture war," the election has certainly taken a nasty turn, at least in my opinion.
Of all the election coverage I think PBS is by far the best. On NOW, David Brancaccio talked to psychologist Drew Weston about how people make their decision about candidates. It was interesting to me how he outlined the difference between Democrats and Republicans. In speeches, Democrats tend to begin with an appeal to the mind, then the heart, then close with the mind. Republicans, do just the opposite, they appeal to the heart, then the mind, then close with an appeal to the heart.
There seems to be a bit of truth in this and I think the Republicans definitely seem to be staying away from any policy issues lately. Some of their attacks I think should be called what they are, downright lies (has anyone seen the McCain add accusing Obama of teaching about sex before being able to read - see it here and the factcheck here or here), but their purpose must be to keep the issues emotional, rather than intellectua, to focus on the heart rather than the mind. While I have no doubt this is meant to divide, to create an us against them image, I'm not sure I I'd go as far as culture war.
Will it work? Should it work? I for one, hope not as I think this type of politics reduces American democracy to something between a popularity contest and mob rule.
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The nasty turn of the election (which I think is pretty heavy handed on the Republican side though the democrats seem to be trying to catch up a little) is particularly offensive coming from Mr. Straight Talk....
I agree the PBS has great coverage, but the Daily Show and Colbert Report are the only reasons I'm able to sleep at night without echoes of Palin responding to that question about the Bush Doctrine with "In what respect Charlie," and then "It's his worldview."
Just for fun, check out this article from the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/09/22/080922sh_shouts_saunders?currentPa
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