From the Gut

I have to admit that I have an automatic “gut level” prejudice against Republicans. When I am in the presence of a Republican “gang member” the hair on the back of my neck goes up. I have a subconscious defensive response that is something like what most people feel when they are about to be mugged. Whether it is reasonable or not; I subconsciously, at a “gut level” automatically link Republicans with criminality, the “Black Hand” and organized crime. I guess it is from early childhood experience growing up here in Chester County. Andy Dinniman says to try to get along with Republicans here in Chester County. That is something that is very difficult for me to do because to me at a “gut level” Republicans are gangsters.

That “gut level” prejudice is very strong in me. You need to understand that some of my best friends and some family members are Republicans, but I have had to work that out on an emotional level in order to be friendly.

John Kerry was a decorated war hero on a Navy riverboat. George W Bush was a drug addict alcoholic bum in a “rich boy” National Guard “country club” unit. I don’t need to tell you how Carl Rove handled Bush’s campaign against Kerry.

Barack Obama is a neighborhood organizer; a man of the people and a man of Democracy who is fighting for the rights of ordinary people. John McCain is a rich “country club” boy from and of the very wealthy. In my opinion he is one of the “gang members” of the “Republican Kleptocrats’s Contract on America” that has nearly stolen our country dry. Carl Rove and a collection of former and present lobbyists (except for Jack Abramoff) are handling McCain’s campaign. McCain’s weak point is that he is joined at the hip with the rest of the Republican Kleptocrats, so:
Carl Rove and the 59 lobbyists working for McCain’s election bills him as an agent of “Change” fighting against the Washington lobbyists.

It’s easy for me to figure out what is going on in this election; but then my “gut level” early childhood experience pre-disposes me to distrust anything Republican.
Jim Pitcherella-September 10, 2008


"The New York Times
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
From the Gut
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
If John McCain can win this election race with a 50-pound ball called “George W. Bush” wrapped around one ankle and a 50-pound ball called “The U.S. Economy” wrapped around the other, then he deserves to represent America in the next Olympics in any race he wants — swimming, cycling or track — I don’t care how old he is. He would be the Michael Phelps of politics.
I confess, I watch politics from afar, but here’s what I’ve been feeling for a while: Whoever slipped that Valium into Barack Obama’s coffee needs to be found and arrested by the Democrats because Obama has gone from cool to cold.
Somebody needs to tell Obama that if he wants the chance to calmly answer the phone at 3 a.m. in the White House, he is going to need to start slamming down some phones at 3 p.m. along the campaign trail. I like much of what he has to say, especially about energy, but I don’t think people are feeling it in their guts, and I am a big believer that voters don’t listen through their ears. They listen through their stomachs.
If you as a politician connect with voters on a gut level, they will follow you anywhere and not fret about the details. If you don’t connect with them on a gut level, you can’t show them enough details. Obama early on, and particularly with young people, connected on a gut level like no other politician since Ronald Reagan.
But in recent weeks, I feel as though he has lost that gut connection. I thought his convention speech contained no memorable lines or uplifting visions. It never got me out of my seat. Forget trashing McCain’s ideas. If Obama wants to rally his base, he has to be more passionate about his own ideas. I have long felt that what propelled Obama early was the fact that many Americans understand in their guts that we need a change, but the change we need is to focus on nation-building at home. We’re in decline. We need to get back to work on our country. And that is going to require strong, smart government.
Who is bailing out Fannie Mae? Who is going to build a new energy system? Health care? More tax cuts are not going to do it. But I am just not sure that Obama is making the sale that he has the plan and passion to unite and mobilize the country for this task.
In a way, I would love to hear Obama say, just for shock value: “I am so eager to do whatever it takes to fix these problems that I am ready to be a one-term president."
Read the rest of the column here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/opinion/10friedman.html?hp