T. Boone Pickens is not actually my cousin, though if he gets old enough to develop dementia, I will most definitely do my best to use my middle name to trick him into writing me into his will... but I do really like his energy plan... and in thinking about it from a political perspective, I wonder why neither politician has rushed to embrace the plan... I really haven't spoken with anybody who disagrees aggressively with his plan... I think the mere fact that someone, anyone, actually has a plan is incredibly encouraging... and I think that if either candidate cozied up to T. Boone and even acquired an endorsement, it could make a tangible difference in November...
Speaking of things that might make a difference, I wonder why candidates never announce cabinet positions ahead of time... I do realize that doing so would make the other side go crazy, and you would get called presumptuous, arrogant, etc... but especially if you're Barack, you've been getting called all of those things anyway, so who cares? I really think that the benefits outweigh the negatives...
For example, imagine if John McCain announced that Meg Whitman would be his Secretary of Commerce... people feel that McCain may be weak on the economy, but Meg Whitman is arguably the foremost authority on internet commerce in the world, and played a role in creating literally millions of jobs (by the way, I don't know why McCain didn't pick her as his VP... is she a pro-choice atheist or something?)... or how about Ron Paul as his Secretary of the Treasury? I also think that Secretary Gates has done a great job, and that it would only help McCain to announce that he will be retained...
How about Barack? Here's a Lone Star Lunatic dream team... either retain Secretary Gates or convince Colin Powell to come out of retirement as Secretary of Defense (by the way, I think we should take notice that the title of that position is Secretary of DEFENSE, not Secretary of Aggression and Empire Maintenance)... tell me that Hillary Clinton wouldn't be a great choice as Secretary of State (I actually think he should try to get Hillary and Bill as Secretaries of State- in fact, I think that all presidents should choose Secretaries of State as it would allow you to get so much more face to face diplomacy done without making people feel slighted for meeting with assistant secretaries)... and how about Warren Buffet as Secretary of the Treasury? Tell me that wouldn't f**k up the Republicans... and like I said, I'd make my cousin the Secretary of Energy... I think Barack should also take FEMA out of the Department of Homeland Security and reestablish it as a cabinet level position... and Russell Honore would be a no brainer choice as the Secretary of FEMA... if Barack were to retain Secretary Gates, General Powell would be awesome as the Secretary of Veteran Affairs...
Again, I think that either candidate should go ahead and put some ideas out there... I know that breaks with tradition, but I think the momentum shift could be worth it... and by the way, I think that either candidate who tries this must make his cabinet bi-partisan... I think that the intense partisanship is one of the things that most frustrates and turns off the 18% of undecided likely voters (and believe it or not I'm one of them)... I think we all believe that no matter which party wins, if there's no bipartisan cooperation, we all lose...
That's about it for now... sorry I missed my last post (that apology was to JBH, as I think he's the only one reading)...
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5 comments:
Peter,
One of my favorite Jay-Z lines is, "I keep one eye open like PBS."
Now, I loved the line long before I knew your middle name is Boone (Which I think is a GREAT middle name!), but after I learned that, it became my favorite line ever! I've always thought you've had an awesome ability to flip an issue on its head and stick your head all up in its ass to see the truth. My point is that most people don't want to be completely honest about a lot of issues when it comes to presidential politics because sometimes the truth stinks. Because you are a certified lunatic, with no ties to either party, a little shit doesn't bother you. I can't agree with you more about Barack announcing he'd either keep Gates on board or assign Colin Powell. Shit, McCain has already said he'd fire Paulson(sp) if elected. I think cabinet positions are just as important, if not more so, then a VP pick(I understand that VP must be ready to be pres if something happens to the pres, but I think cabinet positions have a much more immediate impact.). That would be a great change in the way presidential campaigns are run. I don't think it will ever happen because both parties are invested in keeping as much real information and discussion away from the masses as possible(I'm not so sure that the masses mind.)Look what happened to your boy crazy Ron, he was suppressed by the machine. Fox news didn't know what to do with his crazy ass and his crazy ass supporters. I thought Sean Hannity was going to kill him after one of the debates when Crazy Ron was spittin' hard facts about how irresponsible the war was. Then they got the poll results (informal post debate online fox poll) and Sean about shit himself when Ron dug up in all the dude's guts. That was the last time I saw Crazy Ron get any significant airtime. The way the Republicans dealt with Crazy Ron highlights the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Barack beat Hillary because he and his squad were organized and got on their grind and worked the shit out of the process. The establishment Democrats did not want this, but they are a bunch of disorganized reformed pot heads who always get out organized by the Republicans (Listen to Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin, President Bush, or any Republican talking head and those motherfuckers are on message, ALWAYS!). The Republicans are way too organized to let a nut like Crazy Ron come in and shake shit up. Ron was the realest Republican running (This is why my favorite blogger loves him so much. the are kindred looney spirits!). Look how the Republicans have come together to support McCain. Most of those dudes hated him because he was such a maverick (In an ironic twist,Mitt the beautiful figured out that being a Mormon is almost as bad as being Muslim, black, or gay.),but now that it's game time, everybody is lined up ready to get him in the endzone. What are the Dems doing? Shit Hillary & Bill are pulling a Terrel Owens right now and just hating! I saw McCain give the opening speech at the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting this morning?! What!? Bidens out there contradicting Obama. Barack is out there trying to get to the endzone and a few lineman are blocking, but not all. Some receivers are not running hard routes nor are they blocking (Hillary and Bill need to get their asses to Penn and Ohio and tell those people Hillary was talking about in the primary, those "working class people. white voters" to go vote for his black ass!! GRRRR!). I have work I gotta do, I'll continue this later. Peter, you are my favorite blogger and I hope you keep doing this because I love it. All we're really doing is having our same angry crazy conversations via a blog. Keep up th egood work man. Love you man. John. By the way, I got WAY TOO excited when I saw the title of your post was "My Cousin..."! For all of you that don't know, Peter's cousins are HOT (at least the two I've met. He may have some other wildabeast cousins I don't know about.).
Wow... I hope I'm one of the hot cousins you are talking about John....
And by the way, I tune in every day to read the blog. ... so you are doing it for more than just John. I find them well versed, informative, bi-partisan (sometimes) and very interesting.
I am in total agreement with all your choices for cabinet members on both sides of the ticket- especially Meg Whitman and Gates. Only one I disagree with is Hillary... I couldn't stand to see anymore sound or media bytes of her - we already get enough. While she is definitely capable of the job she just personally bugs the shit out of me
You do realize that you two are the only family members Peter has ever allowed me to meet. I have been the Essie Mae Washington-Williams to his Strom Thurmond, the Sally Hemings to his Thomas Jefferson, I am his dark secret. I know he only keeps me around so he can tell everybody he has a bigger dick than a black guy (When all stereotypes die, black men will fight to the death to protect this one. Unfortunately for me, I've been naked in too many crowded places to tell that lie). Meredith, of course I think you're hot and always have (I mean this in the most respectful way to you and your hubby. I've always thought he looked like he could kill a motherfucker if he wanted to...and get away with it to:) Peace.
Pete,
I just realized something. The line is, "keep one eye opened like CBS." and I changed it to PBS when I found out your middle name was Boone.
T Boone Pickens is an oil person advocating a large wind project to generate energy. He sure sounds like a solid citizen, doesn’t he...
It’s like our politicians/Congress... it’s not what they are saying you need to understand – it’s what they don’t disclose. Here is what Pickens is up to... Pickens has purchased hundreds of millions of acres of land with the water rights underneath them. Pickens could care less about wind power … he just wants us lemmings to buy into the idea of government (us the taxpayers) to build the transmission facilities from wind farms through eminent domain – by seizing property. What Pickens wants is the right to build a pipeline along such a transmission grid at the same time exclusively as a “partner” of the government whereby he can move his water from up north to the south --- this is his real game, his only game. Pretty soon, water will price like gasoline by the gallon in areas that do not have an abundant supply. Pickens knows this.
This is as disingenuous as you can get and our politicians are in bed with him on this.
The game of business...
The American public needs to start thinking for itself and stop believing what the TV/Printed Media is reporting... we are not getting full disclosure from our politicians and the media no longer matters.
D-Row
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