Sharp Elbows, Mavericks, and Newsmedia Reporterbots

For the entirety of the campaign, John McCain did his best to pin the label "maverick" to Sarah Palin. However, I venture to guess that the only time you ever heard the term pinned to Sarah was when Sen. McCain said it. I'm pretty sure that the mainstream media resisted the notion of calling her a maverick, although the term fit her reputation perfectly.

In light of this, I find it altogether telling that as soon as Rahm Emmanuel was picked as Pres.-elect Obama's chief of staff, the whole army of mainstream newsmedia reporterbots began to chant the phrase "He has sharp elbows."

One of the great things Rush Limbaugh does is to turn the spot light on mainstream media to show how they are a carbon copy of the Democrat Party. In regard to sharp elbows, Rush did this simply by playing a montage of reporterbots giving their report. He compiled at least 10 if not 20 different reporterbots saying, in quick succession, that Emmanuel has sharp elbows. It is comical to hear this kind of proof that the Democrats put out their little soundbyte about Emmanuel and that the newsmedia do their duty to repeat it verbatim.

I suppose we first noticed this when suddenly all the reporterbots came out saying back in 2000 that George W. lacked "gravitas."

The mainstream newsmedia have squandered their true duty to the American people. As an industry, it needs to wither and die.

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Don't Blame Sarah

This summer, I had decided not to vote at all. I reasoned, what's worse?

• A McCain presidency which would devastate conservatism?
  

or

• an Obama presidency which would give an opportunity for conservative resurgence in two years?

I figured that they were pretty much equally bad, fueling my decision not to vote. I was not the only one to be thinking this way. In my small circle of friends, a number of us had come to the same conclusion.

But then McCain brought Sarah Palin into the picture. This was enough to encourage me not only to vote but to put forth my best arguments against Obama's candidacy.

Word is that McCain people are trying to lay the blame on Sarah for his failure. They could not be more wrong. McCain could hardly draw a crowd unless Sarah were on stage with him. Sarah enthused the base and brought volunteers to disheartened county GOP headquarters throughout the U.S. McCain should be sending flowers and thank you letters to Sarah every month for the next four years to express his much owed appreciation for her tireless, enthusiastic effort to boost him over the top.

Be a Sarah Palin

In the American Civil War, the North got off with a bad start, suffering defeat after defeat, despite huge resources. These early defeats have been blamed, rightly so, on the fact that the North's brightest and best citizenry failed to sign up for military service in the early part of the war. This contrasted starkly with the Confederacy which had a culture that assumed that its best and brightest would serve.

After suffering further defeats in late 1862, leading citizens in the North came to understand that victory would only come if its brightest and best leaders would step forward for the war effort. Late 1862 and early 1863 brought into the Union army's leadership men of such worth, including, for example, Joshua Chamberlain, one of the many heroes at Gettysburg. This brought about a change in the Union's prospects for victory.

This week's election has thrust the whole of federal government into the hands of a party which could not be more wrong on nearly every issue. In some ways, Republicans must now feel like the North did in 1862, after so many serious defeats.

How then shall we now proceed? I would urge the same strategy which citizens in the North did during their dark days of the Civil War.

I urge our best and brightest Christians to consider getting involved in local politics, with an eye toward rebuilding the Republican party in district, state, and ultimately national levels. Sarah Palin has set the example and paved the way simply by starting out attending PTO meetings. We should do the same.

Not every Christian should feel called to politics. However, our churches need to encourage people to think seriously about it and to support them in their initial efforts. Pastors should preach it from the pulpit and mention it personally to people: we need faithful, competent believers dominating politics.

Who in your church will step forward for this honorable service?

Frankly, I don't have time to blog on politics. But perhaps in 1861 some Northerners took the same attitude: "I'm not going to take time off from my work at the university [or at the law firm, or at the corporation] to lead soldiers into battle; my job here is too important." But American politics is such an important cause.

As for myself, I've seen too many political losses when the stakes are so high. I don't want to lose any more battles. I might not be the brightest and best, but someone needs to help get our message out.

Join me in the political process.