Hang Bernie Kerik Around Giuliani's Neck

The Washington Post has an article about how the Bush Administration, acting on the advice of Rudy Giuliani, rushed the appointment of Bernie Kerik as Secretary of Homeland Security. Kerik had been Police Commissioner on September 11, 2001 and had partners with Giuliani in a consulting business. Although red flags were raised about the nomination, the vetting process was taken over by Alberto Gonzales when he was White House counsel. After Gonzales cleared him, Bush went forward with the nomination, only to have it collapse about a week later.

Kerik is just another example of the incompetence of the Bush Administration, but its value to Democrats isn't what it says about Bush, its what it says about Giuliani. According to the article there was evidence that Kerik was "mobbed up" with a New Jersey organized crime family. It is hard to believe that Giuliani didn't have some clues about Kerik's associates. He was, after all, Mayor of New York which, the last time we looked, is right across the river from New Jersey.

America doesn't need another administration where people who are incompetent, unethical, or worse, are put in charge of Federal agencies and departments. We saw what happens when such people are in charge of the government during the Iraq War and Hurricane Katrina: People needlessly die. Democrats need to make sure that the American people hear about "mobbed up" Bernie and the Mayor.

Human Compassion Goes Down as Number of Victims Goes Up

If you click on the link in this entry's title you can read an article about a study in human compassion. The author of the study concludes that as the number of victims goes up, human compassion goes down. He concludes that this is one reason why humans will respond emotionally to reports about one human in trouble, but not to reports of large scale suffering.

Although the author's conclusion is open to debate, it is a very provocative thesis. Of course, as the American aid response to Hurricane Katrina shows, there are millions of humans who are greatly affected by scenes of mass tragedy. Yet, news stories about events that affect one or a small number of humans do bring about intense responses.

Think of the emotional responses to the news story about the child who fell down the well back in the nineties and was rescued. There was an intense interest in that story. Or the story about the miners who were trapped down in West Virginia. That was also intensely followed.

Maybe its because we can see how are actions can affect one person, but find it much harder to see how our actions can affect a large number of people. Maybe there is something in our make-up that emotionally protects us from being overwhelmed by reports of mass suffering.

This study does have political implications. If you are interested in bringing about a societal response to a problem, like say the lack of health insurance for millions of Americans, don't cite statistics, rather tell a story about how the lack of insurance affects just one child or one family. Listeners will be able to make an emotional connection and once that connection is made, they will be able to then understand what the statistics mean.

Newsweek Poll: 58% of Americans Wish Bush Presidency Was Over

According to a new Newsweek Poll, 58% of Americans wish this Presidency was "simply over." The poll breaks down to 86% of Democrats feeling that way, 59% of independents, and even 21% of Republicans. The number of Americans who think that Congress should be more assertive in challenging the Bush administration on the way is 64%. The number of Americans who are satisfied with the direction of the county is 30% while the number of Americans who think that the country is headed in the wrong direction is 61%. (The link in this entry's title takes you to the Newsweek story about the poll.)

The challenge for Democrats is to take the distrust of this administration on Iraq and drive home the point that the Bush administration is the natural result of a radical conservatism that is in control of the Republican Party. A conservatism that believes that government is the enemy and that America should go in alone in foreign affairs. A conservatism that brought us reckless tax cuts, the Iraq War, and no response to Hurricane Katrina. A conservatism that cares more for the rich than the middle class. A conservatism that wants to dismantle the government's safety net for the middle class as well as the poor.