On the Contrary

This Sunday morning talk shows brought us some interesting interviews and once again an insight into our political choices and our press and their failings.  Here are some of the more poignant moments as I interpreted them:

• In Tom Brokaw’s interview with Colin Powell on Meet the Press, Powell indicated basically everything that is wrong with the Republican Party: that he is concerned about more conservative judge picks; That the Republican party had moved too far to the right; the poor judgment shown in the Sarah Palin pick;  the corrosive and divisive campaign that John McCain is running; and the need for real change as his reason for endorsing Barack Obama.  Most importantly he identified what most of us consider the root problem, that John McCain will continue the failed policies of the Republicans without any real change.  Did Brokaw follow up on any of this?  No he asked about William Ayers again, which Powell dismissed and wondered when the press is going to focus on the real issues and not the head fake called William Ayers.  By the way for another well thought out endorsement of Obama, read Fareed Zakaria’s endorsement in the Newsweek or read the transcript of his endorsement on GPS.
• In the same Meet the Press program when we had a forum of pundits, they all pined for the old John McCain and wondered which would show up for the last two weeks.  Instead of focusing on the real problems that Colin Powell had identified in the Republican Party, they longed for the good old guy they think they use to know.  What I can’t ever figure out is why pundits cannot distinguish between charm and substance.  John McCain is not what he says, but what he does.  And what he is doing tells you all you need to know about his character and who he is.  At least Collin Powell could see this reality.
• David Brooks has written an editorial recently that opined that John McCain just needs to establish a vision for the country and a plan to get there, that his policies were scatter shot and did not represent a cohesive whole in support of this vision.  It is the failure of pundits and intellectuals like David Brooks to understand that there is not a Republican vision other than low taxes, cuts in spending, and let the market place make us great.  Any other vision would mean that government “that is the problem” must be the solution.  This is not Republican ideology.  To do this would bring the whole Reagan legacy into question.
• On CNN’s Reliable Sources Lara Logan was interviewed about her trip to Afghanistan and her reporting on the war there that will be featured on 60 Minutes Sunday evening.  The discussion focused around how these stories of the war have lost airtime even though the war there is intensifying.  It occurred to me that there is a symbiosis between those reporting on the war and the war itself.  If you are reporting stories about how brave our forces are and the tough fight they are fighting there, do you buy into the story line that this makes a difference and your reporting is also critical?  Maybe the way forward in Afghanistan is not an escalating and continued military campaign.  In other words do reporters who are reporting on these wars have too much invested in them and thus we don’t get a realistic picture of a way forward?
• Also on Reliable Sources was an interview with fired National Review editorial writer and son of William Buckley, Christopher Buckley, after he endorsed Barack Obama.  What Mr. Buckley raised in this interview and that has been quite obvious to those of us on the outside, is that conservatives do not allow dissent.  Instead of a lively debate among conservatives on where the Republican Party has gone wrong, what we get is enforcement of ideology.  It is a glaring example of the “religious” tenor of conservatives today in that they are no longer willing to engage in rational examinations of their philosophy, only strict enforcement for failure to adhere to the party line.  One of the real complaints about fundamental Islam is that it does not brook any discussion of the “revealed word” and as such is frozen in time.  The same could be said for these conservatives.
• Her Majesty the Queen Rania of Jordan was on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS and she spoke eloquently to promote the voices of moderation in the Muslim world.  She stated that she did not believe that Islam in and of itself subjugates women, but certain people choose to interpret Islam in a way that does hold women back.  Although admirable, the trouble with this line of reasoning is that it doesn’t get to the root problem of the “revealed word”.  If each of us can interpret it as we see fit, who is to say whom is correct?  It is the whole problem of faith versus rationalism.  For my money, religion should be seen as a philosophy of life that is susceptible to rational evaluation and change.  But that is counter to very definition of religious belief.  Good luck Queen Rania.
• Finally there is the claim by John McCain in his campaign speech on Saturday (it is the fear card again) that Barack Obama is a socialist.  It is the old class warfare of the rich versus everyone else.  It was evident in the debate when McCain said, “this is no time to be spreading around the wealth.”  This is part and parcel of Republican mythology that protecting and growing the rich will mean more enterprise and raise up everyone, except it hasn’t worked in this global economy.  What the Republicans can’t seem to incorporate into their ideology is that a vibrant and growing middle class is critical to a vibrant and growing economy. Actually that is not quite true.  They believe that, but they can’t let go of the dogma that making the rich richer benefits everyone.  Numbers don’t lie and under the conservative economic policies, our middle class is shrinking and the poor are growing.  So what John McCain labels socialism is really looking at new ways to grow this middle class again for a vibrant economy.  It’s too bad that the “maverick” can’t see reality because he is blinded by his conservative glasses.

So there is a lot out there to tell you that there is only one real path for change.  It is amazing that with differences so stark, and the history of failure of the Republican policies, this election stays close.  But I heard an interview with an undecided voter that struck terror in my heart.  He basically came away from the debates feeling that he likes John McCain more because he related to him.  It’s a beauty contest and they have thrown rational thinking out the door if they ever had any.  I would say to that voter,” Judge not what he says, judge what he does”, and what he is doing is proposing old solutions to new problems and using the campaign strategy of intolerance and fear to gain their votes.  He is no maverick.  That is just wishful thinking.

I watched an interview on Chris Mathews with Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican from the 6th District in Minnesota, where she claimed that being liberal is un-American.  She also wanted to root out all those anti-Americans in Congress (CBS):

“What I would say is that the news media should do a penetrating expose and take a look. I wish they would,” Bachmann said. “I wish the American media would take a great look at the views of the people in Congress and find out, are they pro-America or anti-America. I think people would be — would love to see an expose like that.”

One has to wonder who this mental midget thinks is an anti-American.  Clearly it is anyone having a different opinion than she does.  Maybe we should reconstitute the House Un-American Activities Committee.  You remember Joseph McCarthy, another fine Republican from Minnesota? Is it something in the water there?  She is an extreme example of what the Republican Party and the McCain Campaign is engendering right now which is gross intolerance.  Oh you can say, like many in the media have, that there are fringes on both sides, and that is true.  But the Republican Party is actively encouraging them to act out their hate and intolerance with the William Ayers nonsense and questioning that you do not know who Barack Obama is.  Representative Bachmann is just an extreme example that is more overt than the subtle hate and racism of the campaign.  They are branding Obama un-American and the sad thing is most of the press seems to be going along with it as just politics as usual instead of condemning it when they see it.

But this goes deeper than that.  Republicans are afraid, really afraid, for the first time in their short conservative history.  This election may become a referendum on conservatism and it may not turn out well.  Their political philosophy is much more dogmatic in a religious sense than progressives.  And in a sense much more simple minded for simple minded people.  Just as fundamentalist Christians do not welcome questioning of their beliefs and throw up all kinds of nonsense in denying the reality of global warming or evolution, these conservative Republicans do not welcome or tolerate ideas outside their ideology.  But like fundamentalists, they are not interested in a rational discussion of issues and their merits, but in believers and heretics, Americans and anti-Americans.  It is a dangerous mix and is why they should fade away as a party.  Look at the campaigning that is going on.  It is an attack on character that uses innuendo and falsehoods to attempt to label people who don’t think like them, and specifically Barack Obama, as anti-American.  It is evil and intolerant and it is against everything that is American.  If I were a Republican, I would be truly ashamed.  Nor does the argument that there are fringe elements on both sides hold water.  Show me examples of Democrats utilizing the same extreme language or behavior and I would agree, but this behavior is primarily Republican and is being encouraged by the language of the campaign.

But if you are not one of the mentally stunted few who are undecided about this election because you have been asleep for eight years, then this latest campaign should tell you something very important about the Republican Party.  The party is based upon intolerance.  They vaulted into power by appealing to white supremacy in the south with code words like “states rights”.  At the very heart of this party is the belief that everyone gets their just desserts and if you are not rich, you are stupid and lazy.   And because it is held as a religious belief (we are rich and special because we deserve to be), change will not happen under the leadership of Republicans. Or as John McCain said in his last debate, “this is no time to be spreading the wealth around.”

I am continually amused at news pundits who keep waiting for some economic plan from John McCain different from tax cuts for the wealthy, cuts in spending, and an more unregulated market place to encourage business.  That is their religion.  It would be heresy to do otherwise.  In other words that is all they can do because the invisible hand of the market place should not be guided by government.  The prime example of this is Secretary of Treasury Paulson being so slow to react to the failing markets by not going to the heart of the matter, government involvement and ownership of the banks.  It was forced upon them as events worsened and yet it was the first course of action recommended by our European friends who were not blinded by their economic religion of government staying out of the market.  If your belief system makes you ineffective, maybe it is time to jettison some of those beliefs to be more flexible.  But we are promised that this is only temporary and we will reinstitute our sacred philosophy as soon as things are restored.  I would say only if this makes sense, not because it is called for by my market religion.

Think about it:  Except for our war policy, Republicans are reactionary, not pro-active.  They will only take government action when they are forced to because government “is the problem”.  Look at government actions in the last eight years under Republican stewardship and it is pitiful.  They have forced out competent managers and replaced them with political sycophants, and then exercised it only after the fact to react to its failures.  Katrina and the FDA failures to regulate products from China come to mind, but some of you might think of the latest crisis in the market.  These are not aberrations; they are direct results of conservative philosophy in action.  Republicans have had unfettered control of Congress for twelve years, eight years in the Presidency, with six of those years in commanding control of both branches of government and our problems are the fault of the Democrats and anti-American liberal thinking?

No, I am appalled by the campaign that the Republican’s are waging and the hate and intolerance that it is fomenting in our mentally challenged.  But the good news is that you can see the Republican Party for what it is.  Behind all the dogma, is a party of very selfish and intolerant people who want to keep things just the way they are and bar anyone who does not look or think like them from every holding office.  If this is the change you want, I strongly suggest you vote Republican.

One last thought:  One of my college fraternity brothers discovered by blog recently and raised a very good question:

“This is the key to the whole argument of either party’s claim to change – the candidates each represent their whole party and bring all the party baggage with them. Who then can change the massive party structure that elects them, that they put into appointed positions, and that advises them?”

If you look at Republicans with their ideological underpinnings, and Democrats that really represent a whole cross section of this country, and many have complained about the description of them as an organized political party as an oxymoron, I think you will understand that progressives are more inclined to try new approaches, not hoe to ideology.  That doesn’t mean there are not Democrats who haven’t learned the lesson that the market place is the best place for some solutions or that government can’t solve everything, but the party tolerates dissent and new ideas and is much more likely to compromise.  Today’s Democrats are much less anchored to some core philosophy and are much more likely to work cooperatively to solve problems.  The biggest ideological difference is that they don’t believe government is the problem.  If you doubt this comparison, ask yourself why in the last two years of a Democratic majority in Congress, were the Senate Republicans blocking almost everything the Democrats tried to do with a Filibuster and used it a record number of times?  If you want change, it is time to throw the Republicans out of office.  It will be good for us and it will be good for them.  Maybe they will finally shed their religious right, and come back as the party Barry Goldwater envisioned and we would all be better for it.

Fall in the Vineyard This Morning

Vine: It has been an interesting week.  While I was in New York last week, it actually snowed here.  It didn’t stick of course, but it got quite cool.  When I returned on Sunday, fall weather was returning and it has been in the high 70’s all week.  The Mourvedre is all that is left hanging and rumor is it will be picked on Saturday.  The reason I say rumor is because priorities change, both with the pickers and the processing capabilities of the winery, but I think Saturday is the day.  I have not checked the Brix yet this morning, but it is in the 26 – 28 range with good maturity in the tannins.

Once the Mourvedre is picked, the season for me is basically over.  There is very little to do until spring other than some minor housekeeping chores like weed control and gopher patrol.

Mourvedre and Rapidly Turning Leaves

I have dumped water to all the plants except the Mourvedre and as soon as they are picked, they will get about 96 hours of drip and then nothing until next year unless we have a very dry winter.

Wine: Well I gave you a detailed description of my adventures in New York (New York Part I, II, & III – Click on the links in the right panel) and the wonderful food and wine I tasted last weekend.  So if you are a reader who ignores my political commentary (like my wife) and only reads Vine/Wine I would refer you there for some great wine recommendations.  I would also strongly recommend that you stay at the Mercer Hotel, but if my daughter had not been taking care of me, I would have been in some fleabag in the Bronx.  It is a beautiful hotel located right in the middle of Soho, and the staff are wonderful.  Everyone ought to be treated like somebody once in their life and they do it with class at the Mercer.  If you do stay in the city, Soho is beautiful and everything is walkable including Greenwich Village and the Meat Packing District (Chelsea Market and the Art Galleries).  And it is either a short taxi ride ($15) or the subway to Central Park or the major museums.

Anyway there is not much more to report.  After my adventures in New York in which I met an interesting fellow who recommends an all vegetable and fruit juice diet, I am in fact doing just that so that the

Ready for Wine! Mouvedre and Its Last Day on the Vine.

next time I have a really memorable wine or dinner, I will appreciate it.  If they pick the grapes on Saturday, I will follow them through to the winery and their initial crush and give you a complete breakdown of how Holly’s Hill processes my grapes for you budding enologists.  Their process is somewhat different than A Donkey and Goat and to appreciate both, you really have to taste the two styles side by side.  Sadly federal regulations and technology limitations prevent me from including wine tasting samples in my blog.  Carpe Diem

As usual, most of the pundits didn’t get it.  They try to respond too quickly to what they saw and in the process, they focus on form over substance.  The exceptions were David Gergen and Chris Mathews.  The majority saw McCain attacking and they thought that was winning.  It is the same mentality that thought George Bush was a good leader because he acted confident (read bull headed).  But the cool and collected Obama won the night, and if racism does not play a major role on election night, he will win the election.

I think what Americans saw, at least the ones who are still thinking, was John McCain throwing out the kitchen sink to try to tarnish Barack and Barack parrying deftly.  I leave the fact checking to others, but most of it was bogus.  But more importantly, they saw John McCain’s arrogance, intolerance, and disdain for other points of view.  It raises real doubts about any of his claims for change.  They heard nothing but Republican talking points they have heard for the last eight years on the economy.  Probably the most telling moment was when John McCain said, “this is no time to be spreading out the wealth”, and that is his belief system in a nutshell.  You will get nothing different from John McCain but more protection and tax cuts for the rich, and claims to cut spending to solve all our problems.  Most American’s realize this is the same old conservative approach that has not worked for them.

What the pundits keep missing is that there is a basic shift in the voter’s fundamental belief away from trickle-down economics. It simply has not worked for them and reality is informing them for a change.  John McCain is a creature of his fundamental beliefs and he cannot offer anything that denies his basic belief in this obviously failed economic philosophy.  So he can throw all the mud on the wall he wants to see what sticks, but with the average voter, they know this approach to our problems applied to the future is the same approach that created the problems in the first place.  It simply reinforces the status quo and favors the wealthy.  That added to his demonstrated intransigence to new ideas is what the undecided saw.

So amazingly enough substance over form is what is informing the electorate this year and that does not bid well for Republicans.  Note to Press:  It is not the brand Republican that is their Achilles heel, it is their conservative philosophy that has left this country in the shape it is in.

This is from an interview with Fareed Zakaria on GPS last Sunday. JEFFREY SACHS, PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS AND DIRECTOR, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S EARTH INSTITUTE:

“I do think the era of big tax cuts, whether for stimulus or other things, are over. We’re going to have to grow up and understand that we need taxes to pay for basic government services. We’ve been neglecting that for a long time.

We’re going to have to come back to reality. We’ve been in fiscal unreality even before the crisis. Now the crisis is going to make all of this more dramatic. We’ll have large budget deficits, as Fred and Sebastian have said.

The scope for big tax-cutting – the McCain ideas are absolutely surrealistic. They are completely outside of anything sensible.  Rich people are going to have to pay taxes again. That’s just going to be part of America once again.

We’ve been trying to run a government on about 17 percent of national income in taxation ever since the Reagan era came in. It’s been a myth all the way along. We’ve been borrowing heavy amounts all through the period.

You can’t squeeze government when you take into account Social Security and Medicare, Medicaid, military, the interest on the debt – things that have to be done. When you see all the other things that we care about, the quality of our lives, all squeezed into a tiny little amount, which is what’s happened for almost 30 years now, we’ve run out of that game.

So, this is not only a financial crisis, it’s the end of the Reagan era. It’s time to grow up again and understand that we’re going to have to pay taxes – rich people first – and that from there, we’re going to have to use those revenues for the things that count: health, education, infrastructure, energy.

This is not an invitation to ignore our future. It’s an invitation to start thinking seriously about it again.”

Well there it is.  The party is over and we have to pay for what we want in the future, not to mention pay for what we have already consumed when we embarked on the great Ronald Reagan free ride.  Dr. Sachs went on to say that in reality, there should be no tax cuts for anyone.  We have to embark on a whole new direction and we need to start responsibly paying for it.  I totally agree.  Tax cuts usually just fund additional purchases (and not effectively) of foreign produced goods and like the last tax rebate, many people just saved it.  It’s time to start spending on things that build our future.

I can hear it now from my conservative friends who have bought the low tax mantra that all we need to do is to reduce waste and abuse, and cut wasteful programs, and my taxes are already too high.  But when you touch one of the programs that they benefit from they squeal like pigs.  Every study ever done says that at best you could cut maybe 3%-5% out of the budget in real waste.  Like earmarks, it makes a good story but the reality is we want more than we are willing to pay for.

The bottom line here is that conservatives are just very, very selfish.  The present system has work well for them and has made many of them rich and they fail to feel any responsibility for the majority of our citizens who have suffered under their economic policies.  They will hang on to their beliefs to the very end because it has served them so very well.  Here is a real email conversation I had with one of them I had on Wednesday that emphatically illustrates my point:

HE: Double standard is applied to us.  I am voting “white and my wallet”.

ME:  And making the same mistake you made voting for George Bush.

HE:  Wrong!  I made a fortune and kept it.

Me:  While the rest of the country atrophied

The rest of the rant was about how we established two democracies in the Middle East, won the war against Al Qaeda, and that water boarding works.  Do we live in two different worlds?  You bet, but in mine reality has finally hit home with the market crashing to demonstrate the bankruptcy of Republican economic promise of low taxes, no regulation, and making the wealthy wealthier will make us all wealthy.  There is a level of selfishness here that is the hallmark of conservative thinking.  I am glad their time is almost over. They have almost destroyed our dear country. Or as Dr. Sachs put it:

“This is not an invitation to ignore our future. It’s an invitation to start thinking seriously about it again.”

There are two classes in America (who vote) and they are the rich and the middle class, with some poor thrown in (many don’t vote).  There is a war for our future going on between them.  What this war is about is free enterprise in its present form, which has allowed for large profits and gains for the wealthy, but also has resulted in a shrinking middle class, job insecurity, and a growing split between the haves and the have-nots.  Because of the laissez-faire approach to our economy, the economy ran wild with greed and group-think which allowed for very risky investments to seem the norm and the resulting crash.  Clearly the old concept of markets that are rational; that markets will determine where value lies and make the appropriate choices with the invisible hand; and that these allocations are neutral and fair and to be preferred to any government solution needs to be rethought.

Now for conservatives like David Brooks, this will bring on socialism (‘Big Government Ahead‘).  Note that in conservative speak “Big Government” is code for socialism and in their dogma this idea of big government is anathema to their idea of freedom.  The question in this discussion is freedom for whom?  Yet in the last eight years the conservatives have grown government larger than any other administration.  It is not that they are hypocrites (although they are), it is that their competing dogmas don’t quite mesh.  Incorporating the religious conservatives into the party means injecting government into your life on your personal choices.  Being xenophobic means an ever-increasing military and border police, not to mention incursions into what we though was private.

But back to the topic at hand:  Conservatives see the Democrats as the party that will bring us government intervention into everything and destroy the economic engine that has made them fat cats.  Well that belief is partly true.  What was freedom for them was enslavement for the rest of us. While the current policies of the Republican administration gave them tax breaks and a free reign to ignore regulations, it increased the wealth at the top and the poor at the bottom, and made most of us fearful for our jobs.  What most of us would like to see is a more controlled economy that works for all of us.  But ideology of the conservatives will get in the way.

That is because they don’t see a middle way.  In their world things are black and white.  It is either good or bad.  If they had their way the bailout would be minimal, and like Herbert Hoover, would have fiddled, while Rome burned.  It is interesting that the real direction of the bailout is being driven by better ideas from “liberal” Europe and specifically the English.  They are not wedded to conservative ideology and are unafraid of a more aggressive government action.  Conservatives cannot accept that Democrats also know the benefits of the market place and their fear knows no bounds.  Just pick up the paper and read the letters to the editor who are terrified of a Democratic approach to problems.

But there are some realities that have to drive the train and upset the apple cart of ideology.  Here is a sampling of what I think are the realties that conflict with that conservative economic ideology:

• The profit motive does not serve many basic needs and the most salient example is health care.  Making profits by skimming the healthy or denying coverage is expensive and is counter productive to a healthy population.  What is it about the success of Medicare and health care in other countries that we cannot learn from.  The objections are usually based upon anecdotal stories and fear of anything government.  There are two medical systems in the United States, the one that works really well for the wealthy, and the one that fails miserably for the rest of us.
• The market has not been a good decision maker for public policy.  We have let the market place determine our energy policy for the last 30 years since the first oil crisis and it has served us poorly.  Had we put a dollar tax on gas, set tough mileage standards on new cars, and focused on getting off oil back then, we would not be in the fix we are in today.  Now the choices are more dire.
• Public spending has been equated with big government and we have to get over it.  In order to replace and replenish our infrastructure, only government with a grand plan for our future is going to be able to manage such a program.  We need to set priorities and this is not going to get done without federal government planning.  Did it ever occur to conservatives that this is one of the best ways to put money into the economy because it provides jobs, spending money for those employed, and increases equity for the country?
• In this time of large deficits, conservatives (who created these deficits) are going to try to leverage the bad times to reinstitute some austere spending plans and cuts in government.  It is exactly the wrong thing to do.  Even though it seems counter-intuitive, we are going to have to spend our way out of this problem we are in.  We have gone so long ignoring our problems that they only way to start turning around our country is to invest in our future. This investment will pay great dividends in the future in a robust economy and tax revenues, but in the short term will worsen our deficit.   This also has large implications for cutting military spending and our adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Being secure may have little to do with our military and everything to do with our ability to project our economic strength.  This will have to be addressed in what are the real limits of military power, and what are these implications on moving budgets from the pentagon to our infrastructure education, health care, and other investments in our human capital.

All of this is best summed up by Bob Herbert on Tuesday in his column, “Amusing, but not Funny”.  While John McCain and Sarah Palin appeal to the anti-intellectual Joe Sixpacks, with small town simplicity, racism, fear, and appeals to character and conservative ideology, Barack appeals to looking at new ways of doing business and thinking about our challenges.  What we need is a leader who is not tied to ideology and will do what works and be flexible to change.  If you listen closely to John and Sarah, they are creatures of the true faith of Republican cronyism and the interests of the old guard.  It is time for a new direction that will terrify the old guard, but will be the only path to our salvation.  Hopefully Barack will be elected and have the courage to take us down this road.

You have to wonder if we are as dumb as they are treating us.  I was watching the news about the rise of the stock market to a record increase of 936 points today and they were all dancing around like a bunch of fools.  The reality is the problem has not yet been addressed and there may be a whole lot of shoes dropping in the near future.  The rise and fall of the stock market shows, as one analyst said, how the market feels about the economy.  First question you might ask is who is the “market”.  The answer to that is the collective wisdom of people who buy and sell.  We are right back to the greed thing.  People were buying today because over the weekend they had a chance to consider the record low market and bargain stocks in companies that are not holding debt.  The market is a reflection of our own short-term memory and our ability to too quickly grab at anything that makes us feel better while the storm continues builds.

Is the market today a reflection of the economy bottoming out?  Hardly.  The credit default swaps (See Who You Gonna Blame) have not come home to roost yet.  There will be more companies that go down.  That means more jobless people and a shrinking economy.  There are going to be economic reports that will not reflect a rosy picture of our economy.  The markets are just thinking things have bottomed out and it is time to get a bargain.  The reality is that they are simply responding to a united government approach to buy equity into the banks with an infusion of cash.  It will stabilize things, but think it will only lessen the depth of the trough, not the fact that we are in a trough.  It is an overreaction to one of many things governments are going to have to do.  In other words, I know they want to report positive news, but the cancer is still there.  FOCUS!

Then there is the campaign reporting that says Senator McCain has not come up with a message on the economy yet and if he can find the right message he may still pull this out.  HELLO!  ARE YOU LISTENING OUT THERE?  HAVE YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION?  What is wrong with the economy is Republican economic philosophy that they have clung to that does not address the 21st century.  Catchy phrases are not the problem.  So unless he disavowals Republicanism, he will have no answer.  Their answer is to limit government, and lower taxes and regulation.  The problem here is that that is exactly what they have been doing and we are reaping their failed economic theories much like we have reaped the Neocon’s failed foreign policy.  The media just can’t quite grasp the intellectual concept that the days of Republican economic theory (that is actually their theory for everything) is bankrupt.  THE EMPORER HAS NO CLOTHS!

Next, John McCain was then interviewed by Dana Bash of CNN on Monday and she asked him about the harsh tone and the incitement of hate and racism.  He was appalled that anyone would think that these kinds of statements are stimulating the hate we saw back in the 60’s.  The man of character won’t take responsibility for the actions of his and his campaign.  But once again our press is unable to condemn this and calls it politics when it is what it is:  Incitement to hate, racisim,  jingoism, and quite possibly violence.  Sadly because the Republican Party and everything they believe does not offer us answers for tomorrow, they must focus on character.  So John’s character must be perfect and Barack’s must be unpatriotic, Muslim, and one who supports terrorism.  Nothing could be further from the truth, but when you no new ideas to offer, character becomes the issue, you must slime the other side.  The trouble with this level of sliming is that it is dangerous and hurtful to the country and even the press should call it what it is.  The very fact that the McCain Campaign have engaged in this tactic should tell you all you need to know about character, specifically John Mcain’s and the people around him.

There was the suggestion by one pundit that McCain should use the strategy that only he can balance the nation against what is looking more and more like a very Democratic Congress.  THINK IT THROUGH PEOPLE.  Even with a minority in the Senate, the Republicans filibustered and stopped everything the Democrats tried to do.  If you want change, then the Republicans must take a devastating loss in November so just maybe they will jettison the religious right and become a Party that does not pander to the extreme.  I would agree that we need a two party system, but until the Republicans realize that their old answers are for people who lived in another time, and revamp their thinking to the new era we live in, they will continue to be just a thorn is the side of progress.

Finally, I am sick and tired of the pundits not getting it.  To wit:

• I hear over and over how effective Sarah Palin is and yet she is a woman of no substance, no ideas, and is nothing more than Phyllis Diller or Don Rickles reincarnated as a politician.  What she does is just mean and hateful.  Do we admire Adolph Hitler because he was effective at killing people?  Why should we admire her ability to be a demagogue and stir up a lynch mob?  Where is our sense of the important and relevant?  This is an important skill if you are going to excite a crowd to riot, but I don’t get what it has to do with running a country.
• Then there is the continuing pandering of our aging news pundits (like Tom Brokaw) for John McCain.  They continue to give him a pass and talk about what a wonderful man he is and ignore what he does.  In the latest instance, John was directly challenged by a woman who called Barack an Arab.  He responded by saying no he is not, but note he never said Barack is a Christian and his defense was almost a non-defense. It was not a real rebuke, but the pundits are fawning all over John saying, “See he is back”. Meanwhile the message from the campaign is keep it up.  WHEN ARE YOU PEOPLE GOING TO SEE SUBSTANCE OVER FORM?  Remember George Bush, it is not what he says, it is what he does that defines him.
• Finally there is the never ceasing Republican approach of saying it is so makes it so, and the pundits just repeat the lies.  The latest is Palin’s statement about how the investigation into Trooper Gate had absolved her of any wrong-doing.  Of course it found her completely guilty, but here is what you need to understand.  THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPORTING THIS PARTY BELIEVE HER. THEY DON’T THINK OR READ. These stories should be presented with scorn.  A lie should be called a lie.  Why is lying being tolerated by our press without pushing back?  Is it they are trying to be balanced?  When they do, they are so imbalanced they brought us George Bush last time.

And so it goes.  I wonder when we will have enough self-respect to quit tolerating  this nonsense and call it what it is nonsense.  It is not being partisan, it is being it is being factual.

Sunday:  Well we finished Saturday simply by staying in the Mercer and having a simple snack in the lobby with my daughter Serena and then about 11:30 pm we went to an exclusive club in the Mercer called the Sub-Mercer.  Obviously I am not the clientele they would normally let in down there, but when you are the general manager’s father, you can pretend you are special.  At 11:30 it was empty.  By 12:30 it was packed.  This is definitely a crowd I would not be running with, but it was a fun experience.

It is Amazing What You Can Do with A Paint Brush - MOMA

Now I am sitting at the JFK airport trying to gather my final thoughts.  Candace and I had a simple breakfast at Starbucks, and then hiked to Little Italy and the Chinese District.  I found Little Italy somewhat dirty and so loaded with tourists that it was a relief to get out of there.  The area I was in in the Chinese District was similar, with many people on the street hawking their wares.  So we decided to hop a cab uptown to the Museum of Modern Art.  Little did we know that the Colombians would be having a parade to celebrate Columbus Day.  But we finally got there and really enjoyed about 2 hours of touring through the Museum before we decide to head back to Greenwich Village and get a late lunch before we caught a cab to the airport.  We ate in a delightful little sidewalk Italian place whose Italian pasta was excellent.  You can always tell if they are packed, it is usually good. Then it was back to hotel to pickup our bags, some last minute wine with Serena and now I am siting at the airport awaiting my flight.  Here are my impressions.  The weather was stunning, low 70’s every day.  The Mercer is phenomenal. The Food and Wine Festival was wonderful and our trip to both museums is not to be missed.  But for this country boy I am ready for some space.  Everywhere you turn, it is crowded.  If there is a downturn in the economy one would never know by the shopping crowds.

Serena at the Mercer

The noise outside is non-stop.  So after about four days you are ready for some space and peace, and you don’t want to have to go inside to get it.  I can see why Central Park is so popular.  People here try to be very chic, but some are so chic they are un-chic.  Some of the outfits deny description.  It is a place to enjoy life or be seen and in the later category I think there is a lot of pushing and shoving.  I never ran into one person who was rude and everyone was extremely friendly and polite. It is no Paris and I think that is because there are gardens and parks everywhere while in New York you are kind of land locked among the skyscrapers. It was a very enjoyable trip, but I think 4 days is plenty and now I am ready to re-engage with politics until we know our future.  I loved seeing my daughter and, of course, spending wonderful time in the city with my best friend Candace, but now both of us are ready to be home and hunker down to see what the future brings.

Saturday it is off the Grand Tasting wine and food tasting event at Pier 54 on the Hudson River.  But before I go into that, last night we went to a lovely restaurant in Soho (I love this part of New York) called Commerce.  We went with my daughter Serena and three of her friends and just had a delightful time.  After struggling through a couple of mediocre California Wines, I finally ordered a bottle  of Donnahuna Aglianico. a very nice Italian wine.  I think I have figured out many New York restaurants.  They don’t really get California wines, but they know Italian so that is what you want to order.  There are, of course, some good California wines on the menu, but they are in the $100 range as opposed to some really good Italian wines in the $40-$60 range.  In the Italians, look for the super Tuscans.  They are the bigger Italians with some body and finish.  That is not to say there are not cheaper and comparable California wines, they are just not on the menu’s out here in the east.

Pier 54 Tasting

Okay on to the Grand Tasting.  Well the evening at the Chelsea Market (see New York Part I) had been somewhat disappointing so the bar was set low but it was not necessary.  The Grand Tasting was a true treat and very, very, very will organized.  When we arrived and we were in the early tasting from 11 a.m. till 2 p.m., it was about 11:30 so there was no line.  The had set up processing in a lovely park where they gave you a bag of goodies including a fairly good cookbook, a neck strap for your wine glass and a good wine tasting glass.  They had thought of everything.  They had lots of volunteers who were extremely nice and helpful.  Then you walked over to pier 54 on the water for the tasting.  It was amazing!!!

I was afraid there would not be good wineries there or knowledgeable pourers but I was wrong.  Most of the wineries were represented by their employees who were very knowledgeable about their wine making techniques and vineyards.  There were great wines from all over the world and some real surprises.  I have to tell you I like big wines and their were some big wines there.  When I knew I was in Nirvana is when I came across Yangarra wines pouring their Shiraz and Grenache.  I have always admired (Australia) their wines and it was fun to be able to taste their new offerings. Lorraine Broco of the Sopranos fame was pouring her wines and they were quite nice.  Here is the great equalizer in life, love for good food and wine.

The Evian Girls and a Very Happy Taster

I will list some of the wines I found exceptional but I must also mention the food.  It was also over the top.  There were so many chefs presenting wonderful little tastes of their food that you could have gotten lost in just the food.  It was truly fun to grab Raymond Generations Cabernet Sauvignon (excellent and big) with Washguyu (beef) braised beef with black olive risotto.  What a symphony for your palate.   I simply cannot remember all the wonderful things I tasted.  There is a listing of some of the food purveyors and chefs that were represented at the FoodNetwork.com.  The staff, the attendees, and the purveyors were extremely gregarious and fun and it was just a wonderful experience.  Here are some of the wines I loved:

Raymond Generations Cabernet Sauvignon
Cossentino, The Poet 2005 (57% Cab, 24% Cab Franc, 15% Merlot, 7% Petite Verdot,  2% Malbec
Lodola Nuova Modus, Super Tuscan (Mostly Sangiovese)
Byron Santa Maria Valley Pinot Noir
Chalk Hill Cabernet Sauvignon 2003

Raymond Wines

Antinori Marchese Ansinori
Arnalido-Capriai
Zaca Mesa Z3 (Rhone blend) and a lovely Viognier
Chateau Beaucastel Chateau de Pape
Yangarra Grenache and Shiraz

I am sure I missed some.  For food here is a layman’s guess at what some of the tasty food was and this is about one-tenth of what was there:
Butternut squash soup with foam and truffle oil
Pumpkin Almond Biscotti ravioli
Wild Mushroom dumpling
Duck confit with wild mushrooms
Barbequed brisket from Hill Country Barbeque
Steak with lumped crab meat
Korean barbequed short ribs
Ahi tuna
Steak Carpaccio
Beet and goat cheese with hazel nut vinaigrette
Gelato
Salumeria Rosi
Tons of chocolate which I skipped

Candace Running out of Hands

Then there was a ton of hard alcohol to drink including sake, bourbon, tequila, and rum.  Candace had a Makers Mark bourbon drink that was so fresh and good that it was a wonderful finish to a wonderful day.  I forgot to mention both Samuel Adams and Corona Beer that was there, and who can forget the Corona girl’s dresses.  But my favorite were the Evian Water girls who we so nice and posed for a picture with an old man.  It was just a terrific day.  Carpe Diem.

Eygyption Ruins with the City in the Background

First event was Thursday night at the Chelsea Market with Bobby Flay.  This event used the Chelsea Market for food and wine tasting.  When Candace and I arrived at 8 p.m. the line for entering wound down the block.  But we were here so we dutifully got in line and commensurated with our fellow line members.  The line was slowly moving and we soon figured out this line was to turn in your tickets for a wristband, and then there was a line to get in.  But soon it got moving and when we entered the Chelsea Market, it was wall-to-wall people.  Maybe they heard there was free food and with the Market tanking, they were gorging for the long fast.  We decided to go to the very end and work our way back, only tasting things that looked really good.  That, sadly, wasn’t very much.  Most of it was what I call bail of hay food.  Lots of it, but nothing for your taste buds to do.  There were a couple of exceptions.  One was shrimp with galic grits and the other lamb parpaccio.

Now Bobby Flay was cooking hamburgers and that was obviously the place to be as his groupies were about 20 deep chanting Bobby, Bobby, and singing him happy birthday.  I don’t know about you, but I have never had a hamburger that was worth all that.  Okay so much for food, and I am sure there were some other fine tasting experiences, but standing in line, pushing your way to the front, ruins the enjoyment of it.

Okay what about the wines?  Well except for the wine being served in the Chelsea Wine Vault, they were fair to poor.  Candace asked several of the servers where the wine was from and they would say California.  Apparently appellation is not part of their vocabulary.  Generally the nose told me everything I needed to know and I could just toss it.  Interesting though, this crowd was obviously more sophisticated than I was because they were slugging this stuff down like there was no tomorrow.  However Samuel Adams was there and holding up the fort.  I never saw anyone really tasting wine, either experiencing its nose, evaluating its color and clarity, or swishing it around their mouth for mouth feel and tannins.  It went straight down the throat with very little time for savoring, which for the most part was a good idea.

Okay, there were a couple of good wines and as I said they were being served in the Chelsea Wine Vault by knowledgeable purveyors of their wines.  If you are a real wine drinker, you needed to go nowhere else and I commend the Wine Vault for providing a real tasting experience.  A couple I did enjoy were:
J. Vidal Fleury Cotes du Ventoux 2005 (Southern Rhone)
J. Vidal Fleury Cotes du Totie 2001 (Northern Rhone)
Artesa Pinot Noir 2006
Poggio al Ginepri 2006
Dinastia Vivanco Rioja Reserva 2001

I am sure there were others, but those are the ones I remember.  After about an hour we had all we could take of the crowds,so we  meet my daughter Serena, and headed for a nice little cozy Italian restaurant in Soho called I Sodi.

Inside the Metropolitan Museum New York

Our waitress was, I would say, in her late 20 to early 30’s but she had a palate.  I have very little knowledge of Italian wines so we told her what we were looking for and she brought each of us a delightful wine suited to our individual tastes and a wonderful antipasti plate of salami and cheeses.  Then back to the Mercer Hotel for a nightcap in the lobby before ending a very nice day.  The perfect end to a busy day.

Friday we went over to Broadway to Dean and Delucca for a nice coffee and muffin for breakfast and then it was off to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  What an experience.

The Metropolitan Museum in NYC on a Beautiful Friday

This place is right up there with the Louvre. I saw so many Van Gogh’s that I have never seen below, even in books.  It was truly a wonderful experience.  Probably what really caught my attention is that we walked into a large circular room that had a panorama of Versailles painted in a 360° panorama.  What amazed me the most as I stood there taking it in, was that back in June I had stood in that identical place at the real Versailles.  It made me smile and tingle all over.  Then we took a long walk through Central Park, caught a cab down to Greenwich Village and strolled through the area of beautiful brownstones and then ended up in South Soho at the Barolo, a wonderful Italian restaurant that has an outside garden.  We split a Caesar salad and crab ravioli with tomato cream sauce.  I had a nice Moretti beer and Candace had a nice rose.  It was delicious.  Tonight it is off to some restaurant with my daughter Serena and I will give you the review tomorrow.  Also on tap is the food and wine tasting so I will give you a full review.

I have been fully supporting the economy and as near as I can tell so are a ton of people here in New York City as the streets are packed with shoppers, strollers, and tourists in this absolutely beautiful weather.  You would never know there are mushroom clouds just a few blocks away in Wall Street.  Are we fiddling instead of hunkering down?  Maybe but life is short.  Carpe Diem