"That all you got, George?"

[H2O Man]

George Foreman tells an interesting story about a question he was asked on October 30, 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire. At the time, he was the undefeated Heavyweight Champion of the World. He was defending his title against an aging Muhammad Ali. During his comeback, Ali had lost to Joe Frazier and Kenny Norton, both of whom Big George had savaged in two rounds.

The sports writers gave Ali virtually no chance against Foreman. Even Ali’s friend Howard Cosell added an epilogue to his first book ("Cosell"; 1973/1974; pages 254-255) in which he said Foreman would end Ali’s career, and that he only wished that Ali could go out in a dignified manner. The majority of sports writers declared that Foreman was unbeatable, and indeed, the greatest, most destructive heavyweight of all time.

George believed that he was unbeatable that night as he entered the ring in Africa. But a funny thing happened to him. Even though Muhammad was right there in front of him, George was having trouble landing clean punches. And when he did land hard shots, Ali was able to take them.

Finally, in the fifth round, George landed his best punch. He expected to see Muhammad crumple to the canvas. Instead, Ali looked him in the eye and asked, "That all you got, George?" And in his mind, George answered, "Yep. That’s about it." George the myth met the real George at that moment. At that point, he knew he was defeated.

There is a common experience for "famous" people: at some point, they recognize that there is a dualism between who the media and public makes them out to be, and who they know they really are. This is as true for politicians as it is for athletes, movie stars, and musicians. And at some point, when the myth intersects with the reality, it creates a crisis in confidence, and exposes them like Big George being counted out in front of millions of viewers around the world.

Tonight, Sarah Palin will be delivering a speech at the Republican National Convention. The McCain campaign is attempting to present her as a super hero. They want the media and public to believe that she is bigger than life, a powerful and brilliant politician who is so honest and honorable, that only the "angry left" would dare question her.

The republican party knows that its only chance in the November election is if they can make this contest into a culture war, and to get the media to present Palin as an idealized person – and hence, those who oppose her as hateful, dishonest, and dangerously un-American.

Even at this early stage, the McCain campaign is furious that some in the media have questioned McCain’s judgement in selecting Palin for VP. Their rage is highlighted by the fact that "mainstream" journalists were following leads they found on progressive and democratic internet sites. They seek to discredit any effort to expose the real Palin, by pushing the myth of a republican super hero.

Our job is to continue to work to expose the real Sarah Palin. The research done by some of our friends on DU and other progressive internet sites is outstanding. Palin’s political career includes numerous scandals. Her belief system, while attractive to the religious right, is a form of extremism that is out of touch with the majority of Americans. We need to continue to focus on the research, and then use it in creative ways – including letters-to-the-editor, sending information to reporters/ journalists, and calling in to television and radio talk shows.

We need to continue to expose the McCain campaign’s double-standards and hypocrisy. And we can have fun in doing this.

[bulldogge]

1. Last Night

I was drawn into watching some of the republican convention. I knew it would be a circus of ridiculous proportion, but more so than I could have even imagined. There are numerous points that I could hit on but a few minor circumstances left a lasting impression on me last night. To begin with before the main speakers took the floor they were interviewing republican delegates. One woman made the comment that she has "faith in McCains ability to straighten out the economy. Now I don't know specifically what his stance is, or what his plan is but I have faith in him." At that moment I thought of Abraham Lincolns saying "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt." Obviously this particular woman is in the group who will always vote for you. But I find this a frightening trend among voters and to stereotype republicans in general. I do not know every stance of Obama but I am aware of the vast majority and specifically the issues that effect me most such as his approach to rural development both in health care and education, his stance on the war etc. But to get in front of a national audience and spout off about a subject that you do not even know the answer to? Talk about throwing away a vote. How can you vote if you do not know what you are voting for or against? Another thing that struck me last night was when the fire chief of the twin cities was speaking, or should I say getting ready to and the Senior Bush crew made their stylishly late entrance. After the applause died down and the chief was speaking about the bridge collapsing and the chaos that followed they did a quick pan of the bushes and both of them had a s**t eating grin on their face, at first I was shocked then I quickly remembered that this was the same guy who vomited in the lap of a japanese official years ago. On a side note I would like to point out one of my relatives was at work that evening when the bridge collapsed, she said all hell broke loose, which is to be expected of course, but she claims it was a near riot, police using excessive force on people unlucky enough to be in the vicinity, other individuals immediately looting etc. So once again it is nothing more than propaganda to paint the picture of the community coming together when in all reality it was like a war zone. One item I did find humorous though were the empty seats, a lot of empty seats. I honestly believe there were more people outside protesting than inside applauding. To wrap this up I want to bring up one last point. The news anchors running the conversation in between brought up the point that 4 years ago 33% of registered voters were registered as republican. This time around it is 24%...according to these folks. So one that makes the stealing of the last two elections even more obvious and two that would seem a bit suspicious when the corporate media tries to portray this as a close race. They want me to believe nearly a quarter of independents and democrats are leaning toward McCain. Not possible..... Good night and Good luck.

[H2O Man]

2. If we look at

George W. Bush's approval ratings, we get an accurate read on the percentage of voters who will always support a republican candidate, no matter how corrupt, greedy, ignorant, crimanal and vicious that candidate may be.

One of our duties is to work on registering new voters, and coordinating efforts to make sure that all of the progressive and liberal voters get out and vote on election day. If we do that, Obama and other democrats, from the federa, state, and local levels, will win their elections.