George Ajjan | Official Website

Quoted in The National on Ellis Island Immigration

2009-11-07T06:28:00.000-05:00

I was quoted by Alasdair Soussi in the UAE newspaper The National for their magazine section in a story about immigration to Ellis Island, particularly from the Arab world.

Below are the relevant quotes.

On reasons for immigration:

But not all Arabs became pedlars. Some, such as George Ajjan’s descendants, were drawn to the gates of Ellis Island by a very different profession.

Ajjan, a resident of New Jersey, and one of about 3.5 million Arab-Americans, can trace his family line back to early 20th century Syria when all sides of his Christian-Arab family left Aleppo to try their luck in the most dynamic country on earth.

"They were all drawn to the United States because of the silk industry," says 33-year-old Ajjan, a prominent US political analyst and entrepreneur.

"Aleppo was a major silk producer. They ended up in Paterson, New Jersey, which was known as Silk City, so that was basically what drew them. For many Arabs at that time, the idea was to go to the land of opportunity, strike it rich, and after five or 10 years, to come back and live the life of an aristocrat. But I think assimilating and leaving behind that life just became a reality that was insurmountable."

On the impact of health concerns:

Though most immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were admitted, many of those who were not – on the grounds of disease or the grandly titled Moral Turpitude – used their initiative to great effect, as Ajjan explains.

"We have relatives who we still keep in touch with in Mexico on my father's mother's side. When they arrived in New York, they failed an inspection on Ellis Island for trachoma, and instead of going back on a boat to their home country, they chose to go on a boat that took them down to Mexico. Many of the Arab immigrants who ended up scattered around Latin America, whether Argentina, Brazil or Mexico, for instance, were initially intending to head to the United States but ended up in Latin America because they failed the health requirements."

On the differences between early 20th century immigration and today's immigration:

"At the time when Ellis Island was active, there wasn’t this [political] stigma against Arabs as there is today," says Ajjan, whose grandfathers fought for America in the Second World War while maintaining their Arab heritage. "Back then they were just another garlic-eating ethnic group that was viewed as something foreign to white Anglo-Saxon America, whereas today, there's a whole bunch of political overtones that are associated with immigration."

Quoted in The Guardian on Dakar statue

2009-09-25T16:04:00.003-04:00

I was quoted in today's Guardian newspaper out of London, regarding the immense bronze statue being completed in Dakar:

"I pass that statue at least once a day, and more often than not, the taxi driver accompanying me makes a snide remark about what a waste of money it is in a country where many people struggle to eat.

But for tourist purposes, the statue is well-placed, because travellers journeying from the current airport and chic area near the beach to downtown Dakar pass right below it on well-paved, well-maintained roads that hug the coastline. So despite being a boondoggle, it could make a heck of a first impression for a visitor upon arriving in Senegal."

Here is the picture from the article.

Africa moving forward...

2009-06-30T12:48:00.001-04:00

it's coming along!

Adventures in Homeland Security, Part I

2009-05-09T07:16:00.006-04:00

Recently, I began using Twitter to update friends/readers/colleagues on my ongoing activities. I also linked my "tweets" into facebook, so that my "friends" can get the latest news.

It really became a blast when I told the story (delayed I admit) of my recent trip back to the USA and the run-ins I had with security personnel, which I call "Adventures in Homeland Security, Part I".

On Monday morning, I flew to Spain from Senegal and entered the country with no questions asked, not even the slightest delay...
...and with my flight to EWR not leaving until 13:05, I took the Metro to have breakfast with friends, and returned to Barajas at 11:00...
...so I arrived at the check-in counter for Continental and was #2 in the "OnePass Elite" line (a consolation for these zany travels)...
(side note) 2 uptight Americans got on line behind me, then a Spanish couple pulled up alongside us. The Americans freaked out on them...
"Can't you see that we're on line?!?!" "Oh, I thought there were 2 lines." "NO, THERE IS ONLY ONE LINE!". At this point, I stepped in...
"I'll tell you what- you can have my spot and I'll go the back of the line. We're 2+ hours early - it's not like they'll leave without us!"
Why oh why must my fellow countrymen be so poorly behaved at airports?!? (side note ended, now back to the story...) (continued...)
...before checking in, you talk to a security agent who inspects your passport and inquires about luggage. Seems pretty standard, right?...
...it starts as usual: "where are you going, how long in Spain, etc." until seeing 6-month-old visas and stamps from Syria and Lebanon...
..."what were you doing in Syria and Lebanon?" "visiting." "what?" "tourism." (why didn't you ask me in Jan. when I came through here?)...
..."do you have family there?" "no." (well, I do have 2 cousins of my grandfather - nuns, age 70+ - anyway what business is it of theirs?)
...now she prances over (little squealer that she is - "I've never seen a squealer like her yet") to find her supervisor and tattle on me...
...the squealer returns for round 2. "ok sir, so where are you going today?" "to my house, in New Jersey!" now I'm getting annoyed...
..."where were you before coming to Spain?" "in Senegal." "what were you doing there?" "business." "what kind?" "export and restaurant..."
..."do you have any business cards?" (with smart-ass smirk): "yes, I do, but I'm not showing them to you, b/c I think this is ridiculous"...
...the squealer backed down faster than a math teacher threatening a lower grade for not "showing my work" despite having correct answers...
...feeling rather victorious, I bought my mom some Spanish pastries with the €8 burning a hole in my pocket. time to board my flight home...
...on line, I am approached by 2 men in suits. "excuse me, Mr. Ajjan?" "yes?" "we are w/US Immigration. Can we see your passport please?"
(back to the story) I hand over my passport almost reflexively, but as the suit starts to flip through it, a rebellious instinct kicks in...
...I rip it out of his hands saying, "NO, you can't see my passport. I'm a US citizen and don't need to answer questions from Immigration."
the other suit: "no reason to be hostile, we're citizens too, we represent US gov't here." they play good cop/good cop, so I decide to CtFO.
...the passport is the legal property of the US gov't, not me, so I gave it back and explained that the squealer ticked me off earlier...
1st suit is from Paterson, we chat about St. Joe's/Eastside. "just 1 question: where were you on this trip?" "Senegal." "ok that's all."
...so I board the plane. good flight: watch Valkyrie and Bedtime Stories, nap, and chit-chat with the lady next to me from Short Hills...
...we land 15 minutes early. Arrive to the checkpoint, and there is almost no line. Excellent, methinks, I'll be out of here in no time!
(side note) on line, I was preceded by the Spanish couple from check-in. behind me: the uptight Americans. what comes around, goes around.
...it's my turn. I hand my passport to the lady, she scans it. "they're gonna have to ask you some questions. follow me." buckle up...
we get to the waiting room, been a few years but the joint hasn't changed a bit. "sit and wait, you're a citizen so it shouldn't be long..."
waiting. Peru this, Denmark that. 1 lady must have been there a while, an officer offers her food. "pepper steak or veggie pasta?" mmm...
still waiting. phone ringing, my ride is here (love you mom!) & is gonna kill me for being late! 30, 40 minutes pass, they call my name...
BtW these border cops are real tough guys w/gun in 1 holster & jumbo-size "your freedom is subject to my whims" passport stamp in the other!
I am handed my stamped docs. "ok you can go." "what was all this for?" "just a random check." (whatever. enjoy the pepper steak, Wiggum...)
oh, we're not done, not yet! stay tuned for the grand finale of "Adventures in Homeland Security, Part I"...
(finale) I claim my baggage, get on line & hand over stamped card for final customs check. officer inspects, directs me to inspection area.
officer returns in a few minutes, addresses me. not "good afternoon sir", not "can you please come here", he goes: "do you speak english?"
...game on. I explode with indignation. "YES I SPEAK ENGLISH!!! I'M A THIRD-GENERATION AMERICAN!!!"
"what's the matter?" "I'VE BEEN HARASSED ALL DAY FOR NO REASON, THAT'S WHAT'S THE MATTER!" "where are you coming from?" "Senegal/Spain."
"what were you doing there?" "business, car export/restaurant." "can I see your business cards?" "NO I'M NOT SHOWING YOU MY BUSINESS CARDS."
"you won't show me your biz cards?" "why should I?" "you know you can't leave w/o my ok." "yeah." "so will you show me your biz cards?" "NO"
he starts walking away. "why I am being interrogated?" keeps walking (this punk turns his back on me?) "EXCUSE ME I'M ASKING YOU A QUESTION"
turns around. "I WANT TO KNOW WHY I'M BEING INVESTIGATED." "you're not being investigated you're being inspected. can I see your biz cards?"
"No, you can't see my biz cards." His colleague who probes through luggage looks over. The punk tells the proctologist: "I'll handle this."
punk returns w/his supervisor to warn me again that they control my destiny. ooh, I'm impressed. more standard q&a: where been/what doing...
again, punk wants biz card. to his boss: "why?" "proof of activities." "but there's nothing official about a biz card!" "we need to see it."
you see, my fellow Americans, this is how Barack Rodham McBush & their minions keep us safe: force our enemies to show their business cards!
what were they expecting to see? "al-Qaeda Global: recruitment director, West Africa region"? or "Escobar & Associates: narcotic logistics"?
...boss leaves after the letdown of a japanese restaurant and a car export biz, so now it's time to see the proctologist w/the punk as his nurse...
...while the proctologist amuses himself with vehicle documents from Senegal, the punk decides to give me a nickel's worth of free advice...
punk: "acting evasive typically means that you've something to hide." huh? I picked a fight w/you so you'd be LESS inclined to search me???
then I was free... thus concludes "Adventures in Homeland Security: Part I". I'm sure there'll be a sequel, hopefully I can tweet it live!
Vive la résistance!

Oldies but Goodies from 2008

2009-04-06T22:10:00.003-04:00

I finally got hold of these 2 clips from Sky News that I filmed in London last fall. The first is a convention wrap-up, the second was shot the weekend before the election when McCain was already doomed.

Quoted in The Observer re: Jonathan Krohn

2009-03-15T04:11:00.005-04:00

While overseeing plumbing, telephone installation, and other details for a soon-to-be-opened japanese restaurant in Senegal, I received a call from David Smith, reporter for The Observer newspaper in London.

He asked me to watch 2 videos of and compare:

14-year-old Jonathan Krohn addressing CPAC this year
16-year-old William Hague addressing the Tories at their Party Conference in 1977

I was quoted as follows:

"I imagine that, in 1977, to make a speech at a party conference, you had to be quite well read in policy and political history. Today you can watch a few video clips and read a few blogs, then make your two-minute speech and get the video posted around...

People always find a bright young person appealing. If [progressive action group] MoveOn.org put up a 16-year-old liberal, we'd all be gooing and gaaing over it."

Crise? Quelle crise?

2009-02-26T14:29:00.004-05:00

The latest example of progress in Dakar. All that is missing now is a japanese restaurant in Senegal!

plus ça change...

2009-01-20T04:19:00.002-05:00

...plus c'est la même chose!

Tonight, thank God it's them instead of you

2008-12-24T08:07:00.003-05:00

Listen to the dialogue between Bono and Bob Geldof:

Bono: "Are you sure you want to do that? You want to say that?!?"

Geldof: "Yes, I DO want to say that."

Bono: "There's no way. I'm not singing it. 'Tonight thank God it's them instead of you?!?!' I can't sing it. I don't...I just can't sing that line."

Geldof: "You have to. Because that's the one that's going to hurt the most...

Can you imagine your family living through this? Can you imagine it?!? That's what this is about. We're having Christmas - it's fantastic. It's cozy, it's warm, we're giving each other this stuff. Outside that cozy window, there's a completely different REAL WORLD.

And when he sang it, he nailed exactly that frustration and anger in me."

Quoted in Election Day issue of as-Safir

2008-11-11T11:25:00.007-05:00

Thanks to my dear friend and fellow MBA2003 graduate from London Business School, Biland Sadek, I was interviewed during my recent trip to the Middle East by Diala Chehade of the Beirut-based daily newspaper السفير (as-Safir), which tranlates to "The Ambassador" and fancies itself "the newspaper of the Arab world in Lebanon, and the newspaper of Lebanon in the Arab world."

Below are the relevant paragraphs in Arabic - I have highlighted my name جورج عجان in red, fittingly:

وحتى بالنسبة لجمهوري سوري الأصل، مثل جورج عجّان، الذي سبق أن ترشح لعضوية مجلس النواب، فحظوة أوباما لدى الناخبين العرب باتت أمرا مفروغاً منه، بسبب »خيبتهم من سياسة بوش« في العراق وفلسطين. وإن انتقد عجّان، في لقاء مع »السفير«، خطط أوباما الضريبية، متخوفا من مجلس شيوخ يسيطر الديموقراطيون عليه، إلا أنه لم ينكر ترجيحه فوزهم بالبيت الأبيض.
برأي عجّان، وهو »جمهوري مستقلّ«، يكمن خطأ أفراد الجالية العربية في أنهم »لم ينغمسوا في الحياة السياسية الاميركية كمواطنين أميركيين«، وركزوا على قضايا السياسة الخارجية، فلم يتمكنوا من حفر أثر ذي وزن على مسرح السياسة الاميركية. وفي جميع الأحوال، فعجّان يتوقع تحسناً في السياسة الأميركية المتعلقة بالشرق الأوسط »أياً كان الفائز بالرئاسة«.

Here is a rough translation:

"Even for a Republican of Syrian origin, such as George Ajjan, who had been nominated for membership of the House of Representatives, Arab voters favorable to Obama have become taken for granted, because of 'disappointment in Bush's policy' in Iraq and Palestine.

Ajjan criticized, speaking with as-Safir, Obama's tax plans, fearing the Senate controlled by Democrats, but he did not deny their hopes of winning the White House.

Ajjan opined, as an 'independent Republican', that it is a mistake of the Arab community that they 'did not dedicate themselves in [domestic] political life as American citizens', and focused on foreign policy issues; they have been unable to create a meaningful impact in the theater of American policy.

In all cases, Ajjan expected improvement in U.S. policy on the Middle East, 'whoever wins the presidency."

Too bad I never had any coaching from Karen Hughes.

Emerging powers in the Middle East

2008-11-09T05:44:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a brief session of a conference entitled “Emerging Powers in the Middle East”, (thanks to Damian Quinn for the recommendation), sponsored by the Carnegie Middle East Center based in Beirut. The CMEC is the regional arm of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, set up by the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie nearly a century ago, with counterparts in Washington, Moscow, Beijing, and Brussels.

The conference had about 100 attendees, I would guess, so it was cozy – contained in one conference room at the Rotana Gefinor hotel in the Hamra. The panel I attended featured three speakers, offering perspective on the objectives of China, India, and Russia with respect to the Middle East.

First came Chu Shulong, a professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing. His talk reminded me of the Simpsons episode based on an imaginary future, in which Lisa is President and Bart is a loser wanna-be rock star who loafs around the White House, mucking up her policies. “What happened to you China? You used to be cool…” The Chinese diplomat, who could easily be Chu Shulong, pleaded in response, “China still cool!”

Shulong’s English was okay, but his accent was very strong. A young Lebanese student sitting next to me asked me to translate for her. I laughed as I tried to do so, because Shulong seemed to repeat the same sentence over and over again for the duration of his talk, which probably made me appear a very lazy and incompent interpreter!

Anyway, Shulong’s basic thesis was that China’s goal was to “break out of the isolation imposed since 1949 by Europe and the US”. China, he said, was wiling to compete with the US in the Middle East through the friends it supports. But Shulong could not seem to repeat enough times that China had no security interest in the Middle East, that its objective were economic only, and that a American/European political leadership role was acceptable to China.

Generally speaking, the audience was not buying. I stopped Shulong after the panel and shared with him the maxim of Thomas Jefferson: “commerce with all, alliance with none.” China, according to his portrayal of its objectives, seemed to be following the advice of America’s Founding Fathers much better than any leaders of the US in the past decades, from either party.

Offering a Russian perspective was Alexej Maleshenko, a Scholar-in-Residence at Carnegie’s Moscow branch, who is also a Professor at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He railed at length against the US policies of pursuing NATO expansion to Russia’s doorstep (thanks to Clinton’s reckless policy, continued by George W. Bush, in contrast to his father who had better sense both in Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East).

Maleshenko identified 2005/2006 as the first time since the dissolution of the USSR that Russia played a major role and advanced its own interests in the region. He pointed to the Russian efforts to broker a truce between Hamas and Fatah (though it failed). Also, he noted Putin’s travels to the Middle East, and numerous meetings with Arab and Muslim heads of state. I would cite Russia Today’s Arabic satellite channel as further evidence of its desire to be a player in the region.

Russia was a winner in the Georgian conflict, according to Maleshenko, and it became a permanent actor on the world state once again. Russia wants to come back, he said, and has big ambitions. He cited the American hypocrisy of supporting Kosovo’s independence, which Russia opposed, while condemning that of Abkhazia or South Ossetia. But he recognized Russia’s limitations, lamenting that no Arab or Muslim nation dare recognize the independence of the Georgia provinces for fear of the US. I would suggest that many a nation in the region views separatism as a powder keg that it wants nothing to do with – appeasing the US is a much smaller consideration.

An appropriate tidbit raised by a Russian participant: USA Today, in the Weather section, lists Georgia in the “Africa/Middle East” region.

Finally came remarks by M.K. Bhadrakumar, a career Indian diplomat, which I found very interested and multi-faceted. First, he said that India sees not the Middle East, but rather West Asia. He conceded that India chose to invest in it’s Israeli relationship in order to help with its American one. With Gulf nations, ties remain strong (they ought to, considering who populates the joint!). India has long-standing ties to Iran, and sees no conflict of interest with Iran or its objectives.

“We hope Obama wins,” he concluded. Careful what you wish for, Mr. Bhadrakumar.

Beware the L-word

2008-11-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

1980: 9 points
1984: 18 points
1988: 8 points
1992: 5 points
1996: 9 points

Sorry, but 3 points does not constitute a landslide.

UPDATE (19:28 GMT): ok, so it looks more like 6 points. It's a convincing win and a mandate. Though still not on par with the elections noted above (save '92).

I voted Republican, but not at the top

2008-11-04T04:09:00.002-05:00

WASHINGTON/ADAMS '08!

Covering the Presidential on BBC Arabic

2008-10-31T17:37:00.002-04:00

Here I am on BBC Arabic, discussing the homestretch of the Presidential race, filmed in the BBC's central London studios on October 31.

Public Diplomacy in Syria

2008-10-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

I have just returned from 2 great weeks in Syria. I will be posting some detailed observations shortly, but first is this footage from the Q&A discussion of a lecture that I gave to a Think Tank called the Syrian International Academy (SIA). This group invites a group of intellectuals, foreign diplomats, journalists, and people close to the Syrian government (including former officials) each month to discuss political topics.

I was honored to receive the invitation, and to engage in dialogue with this group. It's more than I can say for the likes of Karen Hughes and Dina Habib Powell!

This 10-minute excerpt covers:

US-Syria relations
negotiations with Israel
democracy promotion in the Middle East
defense of American Democracy
anti-Arab comments at McCain rallies

Sky News - VP debate predictions

2008-10-03T10:52:00.002-04:00

Apologies for not getting this online yesterday, but there were technical difficulties.

I was invited into the Fox News studios in Manhattan yesterday to film a clip for Sky News, along with Washington Times reporter Stephen Dinan, who joined from DC.

Clinton's self-serving remarks on Africa

2008-09-29T14:13:00.002-04:00

Even though I dislike him, and the many failures of his foreign policy, I gave Bill Clinton credit for giving a very lucid speech at the Democrats' convention in Denver. Now a few words concerning his remarks about Africa on Meet the Press yesterday.

Basically, Clinton is saying that the American image is very popular in Africa, with which I agree - and my readers know that I travel to Senegal frequently:

We're not going to have the America we want unless prosperity is broadly shared, and to do that, we have to have economic opportunity in the poorest parts of America. And in the world, the places where America is popular today in the world, really popular, 10 countries in central and eastern Africa. Look at the Pew poll. Wildly popular. Why? Because they see us through the prism of President Bush's AIDS and malaria programs and the work the Gates Foundation does, the work that I do, the work that others do. So we can--this should be presented to the American people that as a part of our participation in the interdependent world, we actually make more partners and fewer enemies.

From plenty of first hand experience, I can vouch for the fact that American businesspeople are perceived as forthright and honest in business dealing, while American products enjoy an outstanding reputation for quality and reliability. Couple this with leftover resentment of French/British colonizers, and Americans have a great opportunity to establish fruitful relationships in Africa.

This does not, however, require a Bush-style outlay of capital to fund AIDS/Malaria projects. If Clinton, Gates, or other non-taxpayer funded organization wish to act, brilliant. I salute them. In the meantime, entrepreneurs like me will continue to do our thing. I'm proud to represent my country in Africa, and do my small part to reverse the US's trade deficit. I note regularly, however, that the Chinese seem to have absorbed the advice of America's founders better than we have: commerce with all, alliance with none.

Clinton also makes a worthwhile point about media attitudes toward Africa:

"I wish we could have a cessation in the use of the word Africa for just 18 months while America learns that Africa is a continent that just in sub-Saharan Africa has 48 separate countries, and that it's not just the geography, it's the politics, the culture, the language, everything is different..."

True, each country has its own challenges and characteristics. We Americans tend to look at the whole continent as one village! Identities in Africa are complex - tribal/ethnic linkages remain important, as do national allegiances - but a pan-African consciousness does remain as well.

Slick Willy manages to whitewash his selective interventionism, however:

"Yes, there's been bad news in Darfur, yes, there's been bad news out of Zimbabwe, but you have country after country after country with very high growth rates and remarkable progress. I mean, Rwanda, genocide in '94, 10 percent of the country dies in 90 days. Four years later, their per capita income still well under $300 a year, 10 years later, $1,000 a year. Nearly quadrupled their per capita income. That's the real Africa. That is far more representative of what the African people are doing and can do tomorrow than the other..."

And perhaps the least effective way of encouraging this positive trend is by dumping more foreign aid directly into the laps of corrupt governments.

Sky News - mock debate

2008-09-26T17:07:00.019-04:00

I appeared on Sky News this evening in what was supposed to be a "mock debate" this evening, opposite a London MeetUp organizer for Obama, Ms. Carole Bell. I hear the M4 (major London highway) was closed, however, which caused Carole to arrive late in the studio, so the format had to be altered slightly.

Exile on Baker Street - the 1st 3 Sky News clips

2008-09-07T01:23:00.006-04:00

Apologies for the delay, but without access to TIVO in London, I had to rely upon Sky to provide me with a DVD of my appearances during the 2 convention weeks. Below are the first 3 clips, which are also included in my complete YouTube page that archives all my tv appearances.

GOP convention and Hurricane Gustav:

McCain's surprise selection of Sarah Palin:

Democrat convention kick-off:

"I thought we could muddle through..."

2008-09-04T11:05:00.001-04:00

Sarah Palin came out last night and got as much applause as President Clinton got at the Democrat convention, more than 2 mintues worth. Impressive hero worship for a woman to whom the audience was mostly introduced just last Friday.

Her delivery was outstanding. She was snappy with the one liners, and super confident. She came out wearing a skirt, and spent a good 30% of her speech laying out her own biography and introducing her family, solidifying her image as the all-American girl and devoted working mom.

She doted on her husband who was "still my guy" and touted her PTA and "hockey mom" credentials, explaining with impeccable delivery that "the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick".

In fact, for the better part of the introduction, it was more like a speech you'd expect to hear from a ass-kicker of a 1st lady, not a candidate for VP. But, these are unchartered waters for the GOP, alas.

Much like Obama's bit on the 1st night in Denver, Palin's family spotlight will have great appeal across America, and runs the risk of overshadowing McCain himself. Because of Hurricane Gustav, Cindy McCain played a very minor role at the GOP convention, which is strategically unfortunate.

Palin used the example of Democrat Harry Truman, to extol the virutes of small-town roots, and with an obvious swipe at Michelle Obama, proclaimed the inhabitants of those places as being "always proud of America".

The rest of Palin's speech fit into 3 themes - reformer, McCain surrogate, and attack dog.

If Sarah Palin is the evangelical Christian's dream candidate, you'd never guess it from this speech - she used the word God twice, exactly as many time as Barack Obama did in his keynote remarks last week. This suggests that either 1) the McCain team is afraid of Palin being chastised by the ultra-religious right and the liberal left as a hypocrite, considering her daughter's misfortune, or 2) they are once again taking conservative Christians for granted: the evangelicals have skipped the light fandango and turned cartwheels across the floor for McCain's shade of Palin, and they're in the bag.

Her speech was peppered with snappy digs at Obama in particular, but she didn't refer to her counterpart much at all:

"I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer', except that you have actual responsibilities - the video showed someone dragged away for protesting
"In small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening"
"We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco"
on the media - "I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion, I'm going to Washington to serve this great country"
"When the stadium lights go out, and those styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan?"
"Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems - as if we all didn't know that already"
"...the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals" (ouch!)
"Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate..."
"He said, quote, 'I can't stand John McCain'...clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain"
"The American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of 'personal discovery'"
"This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer"

Today during the live blog chat on the Sky News website, I sparred with their US correspondent Jon-Christopher Bau, for saying that I was surprised that Palin played the attack dog. Bau countered that the running mate always plays that role. Generally, this is true. However, in a speech that sounded for 12 minutes at least like Palin was auditioning for the role of 1st lady, showing off her "girl next door" credentials, it took some good talent to pull off the sassy lines later in the speech.

This was her debut performance, and she exceled. What remains to be seen is how well Palin can walk the tightrope of likability and readiness to attack.

As for her Reform credentials, she listed them in a straightforward fashion, but didn't tie the theme as strongly to McCain as she probably should have.

Key reform-oriented quotes:

"I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good-ol' boys network"
"I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for (brilliantly timed pause)...that luxury jet was over the top - I put it on eBay"
"I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef - although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her" (how could you not like that line?)
"thanks, but no thanks, on that bridge to nowhere...if our state wanted to build a bridge, we were gonna build it ourselves"

She also boated of being aggressive on the Veto, a lovely gesture to those fiscal hawks among us hopelessly upset with Bush. Palin threw out the figure of $.5 billion worth of vetoed spending. Alaska's total annual budget is $11.2 billion. So in 2 years, Palin vetoed nearly 2.2% of all spending. Without the exact figures, I'm going to guess that Bush's combined 8 years have a total vetoed spending percentage that is an order of magnitude below Palin's as Alaska Governor.

Palin closed with a good deal of admiration for McCain, focusing on energy issues, although I must say her tone was not totally hawkish. For example, she didn't say, "those who hate us", she said, "dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart". Same message, classier delivery. Interesting choice.

Again, an outstanding performance. Can Palin maintain this level of energy, and balance the likability with the attacks? I look forward to watching.

Meanwhile, the website still sucks and the audio was beyond horrible. The closing 5 minutes to Palin's speech, when McCain came out and joined her, were ridiculously unprofessional.

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis...

2008-09-03T18:46:00.006-04:00

I have heard from numerous sources that some footage that the Ron Paul campaign recorded of me speaking about his candidacy at the Arab American Institute conference from last October was broadcast at the Rally for the Republic held this week as a "shadow convention" in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Here is a pic, thanks to my young friend Abraham Hamadeh.

If anyone has video of this segment, which I was told was played around the time of the great Tom Woods' speech, please send it to me.

UPDATE - here is the C-SPAN footage - I come on at 1:19:00.

"I know many of you are angry and frustrated..."

2008-09-03T11:52:00.001-04:00

Last night, the Republican Party sold out its dignity and allowed the turncoat Senator Joseph Lieberman to address the delegates. This is nothing short of sickening and disgusting, and shame on any Republican who approved of or applauded this action. A special disdain is reserved for the architects of McCain's appearance. If anyone knows of any delegates who spoke out against it publicly, please let me know, I'd like to congratulate them and thank them.

Yes, as Lieberman said:

"I know many of you are angry and frustrated by our government and our politics, and for good reason."

Joe, what dignified political activists are frustrated by is the acceptance of turncoats like you. If you wanted to speak at the Republican convention, you should have switched your registration and announced that you would henceforth caucus with the GOP. I don't know who to pity more - the spineless Republican delegates who clapped like trained seals for you last night, or the Democrat leaders who continue to accept you as one of their own.

So, what did Turncoat Joe have to say? Well, my personal favorite was his quoting from George Washington's farewell address. Well, here is a clip from that speech that Lieberman seems to have missed:

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all...In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated...Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest."

Yes, Joe, you hit the nail on the head when you told us last night:

"George Washington was absolutely right. The sad truth is -- today we are living through his worst nightmare, in the capital city that bears his name."

Speaking of "particular nations", we heard from Joe that "what we need most is not more party unity in America but more national unity!" That's right, folks! "We are all Georgians!"

Of course, Turncoat Joe's top task was to gin up support for the hyper-interventionist foreign policy that he and McCain embrace. He noted:

"When others were silent, John McCain had the judgment to sound the alarm about the mistakes we were making in Iraq. John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion..."

Too bad it's not the "original maverick" McCain from 1982, who said:

"The fundamental question is: What is the United States' interest in Lebanon? It is said we are there to keep the peace. I ask, what peace? It is said we are there to aid the government. I ask, what government? It is said we are there to stabilize the region. I ask, how can the U.S. presence stabilize the region?... The longer we stay in Lebanon, the harder it will be for us to leave. We will be trapped by the case we make for having our troops there in the first place.

What can we expect if we withdraw from Lebanon? The same as will happen if we stay. I acknowledge that the level of fighting will increase if we leave. I regretfully acknowledge that many innocent civilians will be hurt. But I firmly believe this will happen in any event."

Yeah, and Sarah Palin supported Pat Buchanan in 1996. Oh, how things change...

Serving a cause lesser than web design expertise

2008-09-02T05:04:00.000-04:00

As was my custom last week, I logged on this morning in London to view the videos from last night's convention. First, I went to the RNC main site. No obvious link to the convention site. So I went back and found the actual convention site.

Looks good on the surface. I click on "Videos". It immediately begins playing Laura Bush standing in front the crowd, being applauded for a long while, and then talking about Gustav. No idea who introduced her or how.

Then I try to find the entire video log of speeches, play by play of the convention. I find something that resembles it, but all they have are the videotaped addresses of the 4 GOP Gulf-state Governors, the Laura Bush clip I already saw, and Cindy McCain's address.

I click on the Cindy McCain one, it was a very short clip, lasting less than 4 minutes, and focusing only on the hurricane. The crowd looked pretty full to me - did they really bother to assemble for such little content, or is the media plan of the RNC team WAY below standard? This does not make me happy.

Secondly, on the Dem site, there was a dedicated, very high-quality video player, which, though it required installation of 2 plug-ins (at least for Firefox on the Mac it did) was well worth it, because the quality was outstanding. The GOP opted for YouTube. Now I'm a fan of YouTube as everyone who reads this site knows. And I use it regularly to promote my activities. But I'm not the Republican Party at a national level.

The clips looked to be of poor quality, and for lack of a better word, "cheesy". Granted, it is easy to embed Cindy McCain's charity appeal (see below), which wasn't the case on the Democrats' site. But watching it felt like just any other mediocre YouTube video.

Finally, I click on each day on the main page, and Tuesday through Thursday are identical, not updated. The theme for each day "Serving a Cause Great than Self Interest" (sic - no hyphen), is the same. Amateur hour.

And all I was worried about was that the Democrats would have a better house band?!?! My party had better suss this out immediately.

"I believe in recycling, but this is ridiculous!"

2008-08-29T04:05:00.000-04:00

I refer of course, to rolling out Al Gore yet again.

Speaking objectively (and recall I did compliment Bill Clinton on his presentation and perspective in his speech), Gore's delivery was absolutely atrocious. He rushed through the script, killing even the jokes and applause lines. It was terrible.

What surprised me more though, was Gore admitting that the contest between McCain and Obama was close! Not exactly setting up Obama to close out the convention on a note of confidence. And he returned to this theme later in his speech, saying that the election was not close amongst young voters, who he said had been strongly attracted to Obama (he directly addressed the massive crowd on hand).

More on Obama's speech later.

"Don't Stop, Monica Lewinsky."

2008-08-28T07:32:00.001-04:00

I remember being in Cincinnati during late Summer, 1998. Along with several dozen other engineering new-hires at Procter & Gamble, I ventured out to corporate HQ for 2 sessions (10 weeks in total) of "Process Engineering School".

Basically, it amounted to a bunch of 22-year-olds, fresh out of college, sent away to a corporate networking summer camp, where we had to sit through several hours of "classes" and work on "projects" each day, and enjoy Cincinnati by night, complete with rental car and corporate AMEX for meals and expenses. AND, by the way, we were being paid our normal salary all the while. It was a dream come true.

As far as the academic side of things, probably the most useful thing I learned: in German, you ask wie bitte when you didn't hear someone's response, and need to know what he/she said. So that means in an American city heavily settled by German immigrants (like Cincinnati), people ask "please?" when they would like you to repeat your response to a question.

Ignorance of this etymology leads to some interesting who's-on-first moments for the rest of foreigners. For example, here was me in a supermarket, after buying some groceries:

Cashier: Would you like paper or plastic?
Me: Plastic would be fine.
Cashier: Please?
Me (thinking, jeez, these Cincinnatians are real sticklers for good manners!): I'm sorry, please.
Cashier: I said please.
Me: I know, and I responded.
Cashier: Yes, but would you like paper or plastic?
Me: Like I already told you, plastic!

Now, remember that the period of time when all these priceless life lessons were being absorbed by 22-year-old me coincided with the Lewinsky scandal in full swing. Driving to "work" one day with my friend Ben Lustig, an Indiana native and Notre Dame graduate who is one of the nicest people you could ever hope to meet, a parody of Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow" came on the local classic rock station, with the lyrics changed to Don't Stop, Monica Lewinsky. Ben nearly drove off the road he was laughing so hard, and even more so when I explained how clever the station was for using Clinton's song of choice to mock him.

The point is, after hearing the house band play Fleetwood Mac after Bill Clinton's speech from last night, all I could think of were the carefree days of P&G Process Engineering School, which should never be confused with nostalgia for Slick Willy's presidency.

However, as far as Clinton's speech from last night, I do have to say it was the best delivery I've yet heard at the Democrats' convention. The content was mostly distasteful, but Clinton did a very good job of putting the issues into perspective, instead of stringing together a bunch of forced platitudes like the others have done. I must admit, his blasting the GOP for royally screwing things up when we finally got control of the Executive and Legislative Branches, was on point (of course, I'd argue that the people responsible for that abominable agenda showed little allegiance to the conservative principles that should be guiding the Republican Party).

But Clinton's was much more natural a speech, warmed up by nearly 3.5 minutes of applause. I'll be interested to see if my party gives the same rousing welcome to Mr. open-borders-Harriet-Miers-you're-doing-a-great-job-Brownie next week.

That being said, readers of this blog know that I'm no fan of Clinton at all, and I found his speech chock full of do as I say, not as I do hypocrisy.

Among Clinton's lines:

"Restoring the American Dream..."

You mean like voting the Democrats out of control of Congress thanks to your wife's ridiculous socialized medicine program?

"America's leadership in the world has been weakened..."

Sitting idly by while millions of innocents were slaughtered in Rwanda, while pulling out all the stops to bully Serbia - that's American leadership?

"Perilous dependence on foreign oil..."

How much more "perilous" is it than when you were President, Bill? When you became President we imported only about 40%, when you left office, the figure was over 50%. Are there independent variables that affect this figure that relax the blame attributed to you? Of course. But then, don't use this as an example - it's intellectually dishonest.

"His family heritage and his life experiences have given him a unique capacity to lead our increasingly diverse nation in an ever more interdependent world..."

You'd know, you were the 1st black president!

"Revitalize the international institutions which help to share the cost of the world's problems..."

So, you're advising Obama to expand NATO? Our nation should never share the cost of backing idiots like Mikhail Saakashvili.

"People abroad have always been more impressed with the power of our example than with the example of our power..."

power of our example = ignoring genocide in Rwanda
example of our power = bombing Serbia

"Going it alone in the world, instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities..."

What do you mean, the Republic of Georgia sent 2,000 troops to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Thanks, Randy Scheunemann!

That's Clinton's America for you - a place called Nope.