Thoughts on Patriotism

I've read several books by British author Louis de Bernieres, the author of Corelli's Mandolin, recently. I have really enjoyed all of them. I just started The War of Don Emmanuel's Nether Parts, which is the first novel in a trilogy, and I came across this quote about patriotism that spoke to me:

There are two types of patriotism, although sometimes the two are mingled in one breast. The first kind one might call nationalism; nationalists believe that all other countries are inferior in every respect and that one would do them a favor by dominating them. Other countries are always in the wrong, they are less free, less civilized, are less glorious in battle, are perfidious, prone to falling for insane and alien ideologies which no reasonable person could believe, are irreligious and abnormal. Such patriots are the most common variety, and their patriotism is the most contemptible thing on earth.

The second type of patriot is best described by returning to the example of General Fuerte. General Fuerte did not believe in "my country, right or wrong"; on the contrary, he loved his land despite the faults that he could so clearly see and that he labored to correct. It was his frequently stated opinion that anyone who supported his country when it was obviously in the wrong, or who failed to see its faults, was the worst kind of traitor. Whereas the first kind of patriot really glories in his own irrationality and not in his country, General Carlo María Fuerte loved his country as a son loves his mother or a brother his sister.

Prayers, Petitions, and Thanksgivings?

So Marcus and I have been in New York since I last blogged and I plan to post pictures and talk about that (including my Hugh Jackman sighting!), but since we got back I’ve been sick so I just haven’t gotten around to it.

Anyway yesterday I felt a little better and I came across an article/news clip on the Huffington Post (a liberal blog/internet newspaper) about a new line of merchandise with a Christian anti-Obama message. Except that at first it looks pro-Obama, and it isn’t just anti-Obama, it’s a thinly veiled reference to praying for his assassination. Basically the bumper stickers, t-shirts, etc say Pray for Obama Psalm 109:8

Most Christians know that we are instructed in 1Timothy to pray for our leaders, so at first glance this looks like a nice suggestion, except that it’s not. Psalm 109:8 says “May his days be few; may another take his place.” Since this isn’t written out on the merchandise one assumes they want you to actually look up the verse in the Bible. Upon doing so it’d be hard to miss the next verse (not to mention the entire content of that chapter). Psalm 109:9 reads “May his children be orphans, and his wife a widow.”

Anyway, being a pretty liberal website, many of the Huffington Post commentators are atheists. Lots of those atheists have a very negative view of Christians and organized religion in general, but still have a positive view of Jesus. There was a whole lot of Gandhi quoting going on in the discussion. (Ya know,"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.")

While I hate that so many have such negative opinions of Christians (although I understand why they do), I always feel a little better when these same people state that they know the difference between what Jesus was all about and what U.S. Christians seem to be all about.

But then I started to wonder, probably because this was all going on while I was getting into UnChristian, how much longer can we expect that to continue? One generation, maybe two? How long before we Christians become so terrible as a group that the rest of America simply forgets or doesn’t even wish to know what Jesus was actually all about?

You can see the Huffington Post artcile/video clip here

And here's a link to a story in Christian Science Monitor, which seems to be the first time anyone in the media discussed it.

We're Number 37!

Every semester, when we got to the chapter on the U.S. health care system in my Social Problems class, I would tell the class that the World Health Organization ranked the health care systems of 191 countries in 2000 and then ask the students where they thought our system ranked on that list. Typically, about half the class would say we were in the top 5. Almost all the students thought we were at least in the top 10. You should have seen the shocked look on their faces when I told them we were ranked 37th.

Here is a fun little song about our ranking. Warning: the song makes fun of right wing ultraconservatives that disrupted the health care town hall meetings.




Here is a link to the press kit from the 2000 release of the WHO report that gives a summary of how the rankings were determined.

Women in the Military

I discovered this article on MSNBC.coms website today. Apparently, the Associated Press released the photo of a Marine after he was severly wounded in Afghanistan. He later died during an operation in a field hospital. The crux of the article is an explanation of why the AP decided to release the photo. As someone who has 2 cousins in the Marines, I have an opinion about that, but that actually is not the focus of my post.

After reading the article, it is very clear that the photographer was in a combat zone, on the front lines so to speak. It's also clear she is a woman. So female Marines (and women in all branches of military service) are not allowed on the front lines, but female reporters/photographers are? Hmm.......That makes about as much sense as openly gay people being barred from serving in the U.S. military at all.

A Long Time Coming

Here is link to Richard Beck's blog about ACU's changes to opening chapel this year. (Dr. Beck is a Psychology professor at ACU and a member of our church). He explains what changed and why much better than I could.

While it was fun to play The Battle Hymn of the Republic in the Big Purple every year and the huge American flag was pretty cool looking when it was dramatically released, it was all very innapropriate during a worship service. It bothered me both as a student and an instructor and I am so thankful that President Money and the Board of Trustees finally had the courage to do away with it.

Apparently they have taken quite a bit of flack for it, so if you are a former ACU student and you are glad they made this change please contact President Money or the Alumi Assoication to state your support.

You can mail letters to:

Dr. Royce Money

Abilene Christian University
Abilene, Texas 79699

Or contact or call our alumni association:

Toll free: 800-373-4220

Fax: 325-674-6679

E-mail: jae08a@acu.edu

I'm Still Excited!

Here's President Obama's entire speech from earlier today in Egypt. Normally I read political speeches (don't have to sit through all the built in applause moments that way), but I can't find the transcript for this one yet. Here's the video:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I'm loving this country's new direction under President Obama!

For those of you who didn't vote for President Obama...

I came across this article today on msnbc.com, which might make those of you who did not vote for President Obama feel a little bit better about him being elected.

Apparently al-Qaida leaders are concerned about President Obama's growing popularity among Muslims around the world. It's hard to convince Muslims that America hates Islam when the president is popular with people who practice Islam. Fewer Muslims in Middle Eastern countries who feel threatened or hated by the U.S. and it's president is definetly a good for our safety.

Oh, and I am still so excited about President Obama!

I'm so excited...

President Elect Obama takes office on Tuesday and I am super excited about it. I’ve looked forward to January 20th 2009 since the November 2004 election! The fact that I am enthusiastic about the person taking President Bush's place is a great bonus!

In general, I am so looking forward to having a president who doesn’t divide up the entire world into two categories good/evil or us/them, one who is not so ideological and divisive, but is instead practical and willing to find common ground with others, one who will uphold America’s basic freedoms and values instead of making a mockery of them in the name of fighting the war on terror. In short, I think it will be nice to be proud of my president instead of being exasperated or embarrassed by him.

(I do have to say that President Bush has done a fabulous job during this transition period. His administration has worked really closely with the incoming administration.)

Here are some specific things about the incoming Obama administration I am already super excited about:

1. President-Elect Obama’s nominee for Attorney General, Eric Holder Jr, told a Senate committee that waterboarding is torture. This is something that members of the Bush administration refused to admit. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28672011/

2. The House and Senate are already working on a bill to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and it should be ready for Obama to sign shortly after he takes office. President Bush vetoed a similar bill twice. CHIP is a joint state and federal program that provides low cost health insurance to children whose famlies make too much to qualify for Medicaid but can not afford private health insurance. According the U.S. Census Bureau, 11.7% of children in this country have no health insurance. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28542769/

3. Obama has promised to close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Actually John McCain promised to close it too). And here’s a really radical thought, he is actually going to charge the people held there with crimes and make them stand trial or, if there is not enough evidence, release them.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28624679/

I know that many of you are not nearly as excited as I am (I wish we could all be thrilled about the outcome of every election), and you may have found this post annoying and are eagerly awaiting January 20th 2017, but I can't help it. I am just so dang excited!!!

Gaza Crisis

Here is a link to an abcnews story that includes several agencies that do humanitarian work in Gaza http://abcnews.go.com/WN/story?id=6604378&page=1



I chose to donate to Mercy Corps because I could direct my donation to the Gaza crisis (they also have several blog entries from teenagers in Gaza), but there are several more to choose from.



Since the fighting started more than 250 children have been killed in Gaza, and since 56% of their populaiton is 17 or younger the number of childern killed will probably go higher.

Anybody seen the secret service?

I disliked President Bush WAY before it was cool, so I very much understand why someone in Iraq may be angry with him, but umm shouldn't the Secret Service have prevented this? I mean how did the guy throw not one but two shoes before anyone tackled him? And why didn't anyone rush to stand in front of the president after the first shoe flew past his head?



One thing I do like about President Bush is that he seems to have a great sense of humor, even about himself. Apparently his only comment about the shoe incident was that they were a size 10.

When did that happen?

I bought a Newsweek with Obama on the cover today, mainly as a collector’s item. They are already showing up on eBay. I read an article a few days ago that said magazines with him on the cover were flying off the shelves. That didn’t seem to be a problem in Abilene though! Anyway, the magazine was $5.95! When did that happen? Last time I bought one I think it was like $3.80. Goodness!

Missing a good friend

It’s funny how you can see something that will trigger memories about someone who passed away and make you just really miss them all of the sudden. The missing them can almost feel just like it did the moment when they passed away. Today I was missing my good friend and mentor Dr. Charles Trevathan.

Charles was my favorite professor when I was a student at ACU, and when I started teaching there a few years later he helped me tremendously with my own classes. He and I had a lot of great discussions and he always had an encouraging word for me when I was struggling. He thought I was awesome at my job, and that meant a lot to me.

Charles passed away from a sudden heart attack about a month before the last election in 04. He and I discussed every presidential debate that year, and I have missed him throughout this whole election season. He would be so excited about Obama winning the election. He would be even more excited about discussing this election cycle in Cultural Diversity.

I came across something today that made me miss him even more. I’m thinking about replacing my vote Obama bumper sticker with a new one since the election is over. As I was looking through all the Obama victory stuff on cafepress.com I found this t-shirt design:

That image reminded me of a framed set of pictures Charles had in his office that he would take into his Cultural Diversity class when they discussed the African American Civil Rights Movement. The first picture in the frame was of Rosa Parks sitting on a bus looking out the window. Charles said that when he found that picture he wondered what she was looking at and what she was thinking about. Several years later he found a picture of a white family at a KKK rally. The mother and father were in full Klan garb, and their little girl, who was probably two, was standing in between them, her hands holding onto a hand of each parent. The three of them were facing away from the photographer and were watching a burning cross. He put that picture in the other half of the frame with the Rosa Parks picture, so that is looks like she is looking at and thinking about that family.

When I saw the pictures of Dr. King and President-elect Obama side by side, I had a sudden urge to talk to Charles about his pictures of Mrs. Parks and that white family and suggest that he remove the Klan picture and replace it with a picture of Obama. I think he would have loved that idea. As soon as I thought of it, it just hit me again that he was gone and I suddenly missed him almost as much as when I found out he died.

Some Random Stuff....

1. Please pray for my friend Jan and her daughter Stacey. Stacey lost her baby yesterday. She was due in about 2 weeks. Jan, Stacey and her family are devastated.

2. I am teaching my first class in a little over a year tomorrow! I’m teaching a 3 hour Social Theory class for my department chair that is out of town. I’m excited and nervous, but mostly I’m annoyed that I need to prepare when all I want to do is watch election results!

3. I am super excited about the election, but it does really stink that no matter who wins, roughly half the nation will be happy and half will be unhappy. I hope that this year I am part of the happy half! That would be a nice change!

"How can you vote for him?"

As we get closer to November 4th, and it becomes more and more likely that Senator Obama will be our next president, I have seen an increase in comments from other Christians questioning how a Christian could vote for Obama. A lot of this concern comes from his staunchly pro-choice opinion on abortion. Many Christians wonder how someone can call themselves a Christian and support a candidate who supports Roe vs. Wade. Since I am pro-life, a Christian, and a supporter of Barack Obama, I thought I would try to explain my vote for him as it pertains to the abortion issue.

First of all, I am very pro-life. I believe life begins at conception. When I discuss this issue I refer to the unborn as a baby, not a fetus. If I was in charge of things I would outlaw abortion in all cases except to preserve the life and health of the mother. (Of course I would change a lot of other stuff too!)

The way I see it, there are 3 approaches to eliminating abortion and/or greatly reducing abortion.

1. Overturn Roe v. Wade making all abortions (with possible exceptions for the life and/or health of the mother, rape, and incest) illegal.

2. Work to prevent unplanned pregnancies through sex education.

3. Work to eliminate the root causes that lead women to choose abortion over adoption/keeping the baby when they are faced with an unplanned pregnancy.

Obviously the first approach is both the most direct and ultimately would be the most successful in eliminating abortion out right. This approach is very consistent with Christianity, and is favored by the religious right and republican politicians.

The second approach is advocated in different ways. Some support safe-sex sex education, some support abstinence only education, and some support a mixture of the two. Obviously if you can prevent people from having sex at all or from being irresponsible when having sex, you decrease the likelihood of an unplanned pregnancy.

Abstinence only programs also fit in really well with Christian teachings about sex. Recently members of the religious right have succeeded in getting a lot of abstinence only programs off the ground. The findings of the early studies on the effectiveness of abstinence only sex ed are not good.

The third approach recognizes that women who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy choose abortion because they believe that abortion is the best option for them. People who advocate this approach want to know why women feel that this is their best choice, and how we as a society can make choosing life the best choice for these women.

On the surface this can seem counter to Christianity because advocates of this approach often do not focus on overturning Roe vs. Wade or working on legislation to make abortions more difficult to attain. (The exception to this would be Crisis Pregnancy Centers who try practical ways to help women choose life and also take a traditional political pro-life stance)

Abortion is a topic that has been widely researched, and social scientists know a lot about why women choose to have an abortion. The leading reasons are economic stress and lack of support. An abortion is much cheaper than prenatal health care, day care, and 18 + years of food, clothing, and shelter. Raising a child also requires a lot more help and support from others than a one hour medical procedure does.

Our society offers very little support for lower income Americans and working mothers, and in many ways our policies make life harder for them. We are one of only 4 nations in the world that does not have paid maternity leave. It is legal in most states to fire a woman for being pregnant as long as the company has fewer than 25 employees. Unlike most European nations, we subsidized pre-school/day care for only a very small number of children. If a father does not pay child support we garnish his wages, put him in jail, or strip him of his business license. If those things don’t work (and they often don’t) the child is just out of luck. If the child’s mother is on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (the welfare program that provides cash for basic expenses), the father’s child support payment goes to the state.

Our support system for lower income citizens is very stingy compared to the rest of the developed world. Citizens are allowed to be on welfare for 5 years total in their lifetime, the average TANF payment is $180, and in order to stay eligible for welfare, one must meet stringent work and/or school requirements. And once a person successfully transitions from welfare to work they are often in worse shape finacially, not because welfare pays so well, but because low skill jobs pay so poorly and typically come with no health benefits.

Our healthcare system, while impressive in research and development, is among the worst in the developed world when it comes to health outcomes. We are the only country in the developed world that does not provide healthcare to all our citizens, even though no other country spends more on healthcare per capita than we do. We also have the highest infant mortality rate and highest percentage of low birth weight babies born in the developed world.

In short, there is a real lack of societal support for women who are faced with an unplanned pregnancy. That is why they choose abortion. Increasing societal support for lower income Americans is favored by democrats, and although it is often not recognized as such in the U.S., it is very biblical. (American Christians tend to prefer the church helping lower income people rather than the government. That is a whole other issue).

I favor the third approach mainly because I am the type of person who likes to meet people where they are. It doesn’t do any good to talk about why a woman got pregnant when she already is pregnant. Working to change the law, which is a very long term process (Roe vs. Wade was decided 36 years ago), does nothing to help a woman who is pregnant and struggling right now. I also do not see an end to legal battles over the abortion issue. The moment Roe is overturned, pro-choice advocates will begin work to reinstate it, and pro-life advocates will have to work to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Politics would be super easy if all three approaches to reducing/eliminating abortion were advocated by one party, but they are not. Both parties favor sex ed, but take different approaches to it. As I alluded to earlier, abstinence only education is not effective. Republicans have the market cornered on the legal approach to eliminating abortion but……frankly, the laissez faire, trickle down economic approach advocated by republicans is bad for poor people, single mothers, and struggling families, and makes choosing life more difficult. While I believe the out and out elimination of abortion is a correct and biblical goal, I just can’t support a party that focuses only on that aspect while simultaneously advocating social policies that make it more likely that a woman facing an unplanned pregnancy will feel that abortion is her best option, and offers her and her child very little support if she does choose life.

So I support Barack Obama, despite his commitment to Roe vs. Wade, because I believe his economic and social policies will make it more likely that women will choose life. So there you go, that is my rather long explanation of how a very pro-life Christian can vote for such a staunchly pro-choice candidate.

Updates

1. I found the picture of a mother at her son's grave in Arlington Cemetary that Colin Powell referenced in his endorsement of Obama for president.



You can read about it here

2. Here is a link to a Christianity Today blog and follow up comments about the Focus on the Family Action 2012 letter. You can join the nonpartisan facebook group protesting this letter here

3. Here is a link to a response to the FOTFA 2012 letter by Jim Wallis, the head of the left leaning Christian evangelical gorup Sojourners.

To Hell in a Hand Basket......

I came across an article on msnbc.com about a recent letter distributed by Focus on the Family Action, the political arm of Focus on the Family. This is an imagined letter written by a Christian from 2012, lamenting all the changes that have taken place because of an Obama presidency. You can read the entire letter here. (Be warned: it is long)

There are way too many negative things to say about this letter, so I'll start with something positive.

1. I did not find a reference to Obama being Muslim or the Antichrist

There is also this statement in the introduction to the letter:

“Of course, there are many evangelical Christians supporting Senator Obama as well as many supporting Senator McCain. Christians on both sides should continue to respect and cherish one another’s friendship as well as the freedom people have in the United States to differ on these issues and to freely speak their opinions about them to one another.”

But since the actual content of the letter strongly chastises any Christian who supports Obama and is obviously an attempt to scare such Christians into not voting for him, the above reads as a typical legal disclaimer that you would find on a McDonald’s hot cup of coffee instead of a sentiment that is actually believed by the authors, therefore I have a hard time seeing it as positive.

Here is an excerpt from the end of the letter. This follows the main body of the letter, which is a point by point analysis of how America went to Hell in a hand basket because Obama and the democrats were elected.

"How did this happen?

When did this all start? Christians share a lot of the
blame. In 2008, many evangelicals thought Senator Obama was an opportunity for a “change,” and they voted for him. They did not realize Obama’s far-Left agenda would take away many of our freedoms, perhaps permanently (it is unlikely the Supreme Court can be changed for perhaps 30 years). Christians did not realize that by electing Barack Obama — rated the most liberal U.S. senator in 2007 — 39 they would allow the law, in the hands of a liberal Congress and Supreme Court, to become a great instrument of oppression.

Many people thought he sounded so thoughtful, so reasonable. And during the campaign, after he had won the Democratic nomination, he seemed to be moving to the center in his speeches, moving away from his far-Left record. No one thought he would enact such a far-Left, extreme liberal agenda.

But the record was all there for anyone to see. The agenda of the ACLU, the agenda of liberal activist judges in their dissenting opinions, the agenda of the homosexual activists, the agenda of the environmental activists, the agenda of the National Education Association, the agenda of the global-warming activists, the agenda of the abortion-rights activists, the agenda of the gun-control activists, the agenda of the euthanasia supporters, the agenda of the one-world government pacifists, the agenda of far-Left groups in Canada and Europe – all of these agendas were there in plain sight, and all of these groups provided huge support for Senator Obama.

The liberal agenda was all there. But too many people just didn’t want to see it.Christians didn’t take time to find out who Barack Obama was when they voted for him.Why did they risk our nation’s future on him? It was a mistake that changed the course of history."

Back to the msnbc.com article about the letter….

”Margaret Feinberg, a Denver-area evangelical author, predicted failure. "Young evangelicals are tired — like most people at this point in the election — and rhetoric which is fear-based, strong-arms the listener,and states opinion as fact will only polarize rather than further the informed, balanced discussion that younger voters are hungry for," she said."

I certainly pray that this woman is correct. Frankly, I am tired of all this fear mongering nonsense coming from groups supposedly representing Christians. Commited Christians do disagree about many political issues, and they should do so respectfully. Tactics like this make that hard to do, and further the notion that there is only one way to vote if you are a Christian, implying that you are not a real Christian if you vote the other way, ie for a democrat.

Apparently I wasn’t the only one….

It seems that many others beside myself are grateful to General Colin Powell for his comments on Meet the Press last Sunday. I came across an article on msnbc.com today about how some Muslim Americans have been feeling this election cycle and how happy they were when Powell spoke out against using their religion as a political smear.

Colin Powell is my Hero

Colin Powell went on Meet the Press today and endorsed Obama for president. That’s nice. But what made me really happy is that he said what I have been waiting for someone, anyone, in government to say publicly.

Here is an excerpt from the msnbc article about the interview:

"Stressing that Obama was a lifelong Christian, Powell
denounced Republican tactics that he said were insulting not only to Obama but also to Muslims.

“The really right answer is what if he is?” Powell said,
praising the contributions of millions of Muslim citizens to American society."

Powell even went so far as to criticize the idea that being Muslim should automatically disqualify a person from becoming president (this belief is what the rumor spreading fear mongers are banking on). He called that idea "not American."

Finally!

McCain is better than his campaign

Have you read the news reports about what has been going on at McCain and Palin rallies? In the last few weeks, as Obama has gained in the polls, the McCain campaign has ratcheted up character attacks on Obama in interviews, campaign ads, and at campaign rallies. Palin has said repeatedly that Obama “pals around with terrorists.” McCain has said things like “who is the real Barack Obama?” Basically they are/were trying to scare people or at the very least make people question whether or not they can trust Obama with the presidency, not because of his policies, but because of his character.

It may be working too well. Here’s why. Many people were already predisposed to be afraid of Obama without any help from the McCain campaign. He is the first African American with a real shot at being president, he has a “funny” Middle Eastern name, his father was from Kenya and was raised Muslim, he has a pretty liberal voting record in the Senate, his pastor is highly controversial, and he is relatively new on the national stage. Add to that the fact that the far right has been spreading outright lies about him for at least 18 months. (You know, that he is Muslim, doesn’t salute the flag, was sworn in on the Koran, that he is a Manchurian Candidate funded by terrorists and/or communists, blah, blah, blah)

At a rally a couple of days ago, a man stood up and said he was really afraid of an Obama presidency. McCain defended Obama saying he was a decent person and you did not need to be afraid of him. The crowd loudly booed. At the same rally, another woman stood up and said that Obama was an Arab. McCain had to take the mike from her. He corrected her, once again referring to Obama as “decent”.

At a rally the day before a man angrily said Obama was a socialist, McCain did not correct him, but said he understood that Americans were angry. At a rally today, an evangelical preacher gave an invocation in which he called upon God to protect His own reputation by not letting Obama win. Also today, at a Palin rally, someone held up a Curious George doll that had an Obama campaign pin on it. Palin’s rallies have actually been worse than McCain’s with several audience members shouting “terrorist”, “traitor”, “off with his head”, and in one instance “kill him” when she mentioned Obama by name. She has addressed none of that from the podium.

All of this to say, McCain is a better man than the campaign he is running at the moment. Fortunately, I think he is starting to realize that the combination of him slipping in the polls and his new campaign strategy is causing things to get out of hand. He genuinely seemed surprised and dismayed when people wouldn’t stop booing when he called Obama “decent”. Unfortunately, he may have unwittingly stoked a fire that is quickly burning out of his control.

I take back my prediction…

Governor Palin did incredibly, astronomically, WAY better than anyone expected her to do in last night’s debate. She did not set back women in politics by at least a decade as I had feared. As a friend of mine said, who is also a democrat, “as a woman I breathed a sigh of relief.”

I don’t know how many of you watched Governor Palin’s interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric, but those interviews scared a lot of Americans, including myself, and led to several conservative republican commentators to call for her to step down. Polls taken before the VP debate also showed that 60% of Americans do not believe she is ready for the presidency. So, the stakes were very high for her last night.

I agree with Andrew Romano from Newsweek when he said “For accuracy's sake, we should probably consider referring to tonight's "Showdown in St. Louis" as the "Showdowns in St. Louis." Call it the Tale of Two Debates. In one ring we watched Sarah Palin battling Tina Fey's impression of Sarah Palin. In the other we saw Joe Biden battling John McCain. They both delivered somewhat uneven performances--but both "won" their individual bouts.”

I doubt that many people who were leaning toward John McCain will be more likely to vote for him based on her performance last night, but I also think those same people won’t be less likely to vote for him either. McCain’s campaign staff has to be feeling pretty good today.

On the other hand, Obama’s campaign staff probably feels good about Biden’s performance too. He was respectful, succinct (for him), refrained from sticking his foot in his mouth (as he is prone to do), and he linked McCain/Palin to Bush/Cheney more times than I can count.

So, in short I was wrong. Her position on the ticket is safe (for now). I will take comfort in my wrongness with the fact that almost every single political pundit, including the very conservatve, were also wrong.