Jill Biden to Teach at Northern Virginia Community College
Northern Virginia Community College has attracted what’s becoming an increasingly well-known face, Jill Biden, Ed.D., the wife of Vice President Joe Biden.
I’m glad to see Dr. Biden take up the opportunity to stay in academia, and I’m even happier to see that she has chosen a community college over some of the higher-profile institutions in the area such as Georgetown, George Washington, George Mason, or even American.
With the economy in the tank, many people are finding themselves unemployed or unhappy with their current positions. One would hope that with this being the case, more Americans will take advantage of the vast network of community colleges across the country and get the skills they need to obtain a more desirable (and profitable) career.
Who knows, maybe Dr. Biden will have the power to convince her husband to push more agressivelly for student loan funding instead of sod for the National Mall and money for groups like ACORN.
In terms of a higher yielding long term investment, I think education will provide much better returns in both the short and long-run than any voter registration group.
NBC bans PETA Super Bowl ad. Is it too sexy?
It looks like the executives at NBC have deemed that the Super Bowl ad created by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), titled “Veggie Love,” was just too risque for its viewers.
Here is the video. You be the judge, is it too sexy?:
I’ve had a variety of opinions on this one, but after thinking about it for awhile, I’m set with the opinion that this ad is a bit over the top, even with every Super Bowl advertiser competing for the best ads. With that being said, I’m pretty sure that I’ve seen worse things than this on Saturday Night Live (also on NBC), but that’s amongst an audience that is expecting situations that are crude and/or questionable.
But let’s be realistic, I’m pretty sure that PETA knew this would happen in advance and are just milking (or soying?) the free media. Even though I wouldn’t call myself a PETA supporter, I think it’s a great marketing move.
Besides, if they really wanted to take things over the edge, they could have gotten even more creative with the vegetables.
Oh, ads like these:
‘Veggie Love’: PETA’s Banned Super Bowl Ad
and
‘Veggie Love’: PETA’s Banned Super Bowl Ad
and
‘Veggie Love’: PETA’s Banned Super Bowl Ad
and
‘Veggie Love’: PETA’s Banned Super Bowl Ad
Anyone think the right will ever have any organizations like this? I know they’ve had a great deal of success with this style of marketing with the Conservative Party in the UK, but I guess we’re too puritanical to try it here.
Republican Minority Leader John Boehner goes High Definition
Here is a great video from House Minority Leader, John Boehner, showing that Republicans in Congress are finally starting to “get it” when it comes to getting their message out to the masses.
I would have been pleased with a cell-phone quality video, so shooting this in HD is even more impressive.
We are Republican?
Here is a new video from RebuildTheParty.com, titled “WeAreRepublican.” I’m not sure why it’s one word, but for whatever reason that’s how they decided to do it on their YouTube page. While it doesn’t earn points in terms of search engine optimization and quality YouTube tagging, I think it’s well produced.
My thoughts on some of the profiles:
Warie: “I’m proud to be a Republican, because the Republican Party offers the best opportunities to all.”
While that sounds great, who is “all?” One of the problems that we have within the GOP is our position on immigration. Some factions of the party would like to see a more “open-border” approach implemented, whereas others would like to build fences and make everyone waits there turn.
Even though it’s easy to make a statement suggesting that we offer the best opportunities for all, the reality is that currently (as a party), we don’t even have a definition of “all.”
We can’t brand ourselves as the party that offers the best opportunities until we know who they apply to, and more importantly, what those opportunities are.
Sean: “I just align myself with the Republican Party, anything from going hunting, to buying my first firearm, starting to pay taxes…”
This clip was obviously designed to target the pro-gun crowd, which I agree is an important segment of the Republican Party. However I always find it odd when people try to bring the NRA into these political debates by making it sound like the NRA is a Republican front-group. The reality of this is false, as the NRA has endorsed dozens of Democrats over party-line towing Republicans.
Dale: “I never followed politics until I owned my own business. I’m a small business owner…”
Perfect! Now this is exactly what we need to be focusing on. People vote with their pocketbooks, and unfortunately over the last 8 years, the Republican Party hasn’t done much to protect and/or expand them.
Velle: “I immediately found out that most of my beliefs are in line with what the Republican believe: Less taxes, less government, defense of my community and my nation…”
I agree with Velle, but unfortunately you’re always going to have caveats due to the power of single issue voting blocks. Sure, we might push for less government in terms of business and the economy, but then when it comes to issues like abortion, gay marriage, and even education, we’ve often been the first to show up with a plan to use the big hand of the government to exert power.
Barry: “I want to see a leader who believes in what they do, not someone who says or will do anything because they think it will be popular.”
Excellent.
Diana: “To be a conservative, to be a Republican, means that you believe in the core Republican values… lower taxes, smaller government, transparency in government…”
One of the biggest challenges that the Republican Party needs to face is the fact that we are never going to be the party that is 100% conservative (unfortunately).
The problem is that “conservatism” has become so skewed by the religious right over the last 30 years that many don’t even know what true-conservatism is anymore. Beyond that, I think it’s safe to say that Americans are becoming even more libertarian (some fusionist, maybe), so that’s an audience the Party will eventually have to cater to as well. However, she is spot on with the rest of her vision.
Harry: “The Republican Party is a party that believes in the equality of all people…”
Unfortunately, as long James Dobson is on his soapbox instructing his followers what to do, the Republican Party is going to have a tough time becoming something that emphasizes total equality for all.
I was extremely thrilled to see that they brought Barry Goldwater into this video, highlighting a quote from his 1964 speech at the Republican National Convention:
Our Republican cause is to free our people and light the way for liberty throughout the world.
While that’s a good quote, there are two even more fitting quotes from the very same speech:
Fellow Republicans, it is the cause of Republicanism to resist concentrations of power, private or public, which enforce such conformity and inflict such despotism. It is the cause of Republicanism to ensure that power remains in the hands of the people. And, so help us God, that is exactly what a Republican president will do with the help of a Republican Congress.
and
Balance, diversity, creativity – these are the elements of Republican equation. Republicans agree, Republicans agree heartily to disagree on many, many of their applications, but we have never disagreed on the basic fundamental issues of why you and I are Republicans.
Unfortunately, it seems like that last quote is the one that many Republicans (some who we’ve spent countless hours trying to get elected) have forgotten.
There is No Fat Lady in Washington
I noticed one thing about the recent coverage on the new administration. Little to nothing has been said about the Vice-President beyond his daily gaffes. While one is constantly bombarded with biographies and odes to the POTUS, even the shoddiest clip montage of Biden is a rarity. The media decided that the simple man from Scranton is little better than a prop in their slick Ron Howard production; something to be used, filmed and then sold at some studio auction along with Doric columns from the Denver convention. Well, I say to hell with that! They won’t get away with their atrocities so easily. Props matter too dammit and it is high time that we all pay tribute to a man that has bucked the odds, suffered more than one political death and survived a blood soaked game that eats its young and forces it’s brightest into the loony bin.
Up until August Joe Biden was one of the big losers of the Democratic Party, not once, but twice. The man had lost two bids for the White House in only what could be deemed embarrassing failures. His 2008 campaign was something of a joke, doomed from the beginning and more of a fare-well tour than anything else. After all, five people voted for Joe Biden in the primaries, and two of those people were dead.