Conservativa

People learned during Katrina that text messages may go through when voice calls won’t. Now people are using Twitter to update friends, family, and the world at large about what’s going on with hurricane Gustav. Good article here on twittering Gustav, from MSNBC. Rick Sanchez of CNN, apparently pretty-well caffeinated and loving the new media, has a Twitter feed (see link). Mega journo oriented Gustav aggregator here from Poynter. Everyone stay safe!

My print copy of this morning’s Times-Dispatch has a headline in the Metro section: “Leaders meet on transit solution,” above the byline of Jeff Schapiro. But the article says,

“The road to a transportation fix yesterday led to the Executive Mansion, where Gov. Timothy M. Kaine huddled privately with Democratic legislative leaders and his personal pollster…. ete Brodnitz, who measures public opinion for Kaine and U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., presented fresh polling data on transportation… The poll, the source said, also reveals support for higher taxes for roads and rails.”

What’s funny is that the online edition of the same article (link here, printer-friendly link here) has this headline instead: “Kaine gathers Dems to talk roads,” a more accurate headline, and the online version does not list the article’s writer at all!

So for the dead-tree edition… I have to guess that its headline was written by the article’s writer, Jeff Schapiro. The meeting seems to have consisted of Kaine, a Democratic pollster, and some state House and Senate Democrats. You know they were thinking not “whether” but “how” to increase taxes, because the survey Kaine evidently commissioned told them that they might get away with it. And only a very Democrat-friendly writer would look at such an event and describe the participants as “leaders.” Aren’t leaders supposed to have some vision and some convictions? You know, good ideas and the courage to try to carry them out?

Memo to Democrats:

• A poll result is not the equivalent of a good idea.
• A committee with a poll-driven plan, as opposed to something driven by convictions and facts, is not the equivalent of a courageous person driven by convictions and facts (i.e., a leader).

Memo to Media General: How’s that stock doing? (Click on the “1-year” tab on the stock chart.” Do you think this kind of headline bingo leads readers to trust you less?

Fed up with politics? Take a look around - there is life (outside politics) happening everywhere, including on a ledge of the McGuire Woods building in downtown Richmond. The Virgina Department of Game and Inland Fisheries reports that the peregrine falcons are back at the nesting site there, and the female has just laid a second egg.

You can look in at any time to see the falcon family’s progress and read running commentary by the VDGIF wildlife biologists. Here’s the link to the FalconCam page. There is the current webcam shot, plus recent highlights of activity. Check out the video from Feb. 29 - let it load, then at about the 2:00 mark, you can see a closeup of one of the falcons looking around from the ledge, with the Richmond skyline behind her. They are beautiful creatures.

This is my first attempt at editing video in Final Cut Express, so, transitions might be a little raggedy, etc.. Video is about 2-1/2 minutes, shot from within the crowd. Be sure to listen from 2:05-2:23. Attempted video embed didn’t work, so here are links.

McCain rally video for Windows (smaller version)
McCain rally video for Windows (larger version)
McCain rally video, Quicktime (MP4)

I agree with the always-excellent Patrick Ruffini - let McCain be McCain.

“By flashing his trademark pugnacity and humor, by deploying his straight talk on behalf of red meat conservative issues, he can go a long way towards amping up the enthusiasm level of grassroots conservatives…

The last thing we need in a race against youth and excitement is a boring and conventional older Republican. John McCain has already shown the capacity to transcend that image. We could use the happy warrior of old, the one who can shoot the breeze interminably with reporters… and puncture the Obama hype with authenticity, wisdom, and wit. “

Photo details - still photo, not video frame. Canon EOS5D, ISO 640, 1/80 at f/5.0.

Why to elect Jim Gilmore to the senate; and why to contribute to his campaign! The Senate is so closely divided right now - one more Democratic senator would be a real problem. Well worth a listen - start here at Captain’s Quarters and follow the link to Blog Talk Radio.

Funny video from Slate - Hillary’s Inner Tracy Flick. Great editing. H/T: Captain’s Quarters.

1. Beautiful photography, and -

2. I dare you to watch without wanting to stand up and put your hand over your heart.

Our Marines.

(H/T: American Digest).

Here’s some good post-Christmas reading: Frank Capra as avant-garde moviemaker. Why Miracle on 34th Street is “is the exact and precise opposite” of It’s a Wonderful Life. Enjoy this long but worth it essay on Capra by Rod Bennett.

Already been linked to lots of places, but it deserves another. Funny stuff. Really nice editing. Heh.

How Have House Democrats Performed Their First Year? (YouTube link)

Cantor blog post with video embed and comments

Virginia’s Attorney General Bob McDonnell was very visible at the RPV Advance. He was kind enough to take time out for an interview, and here is an excerpt.

Several things here that are refreshing to hear:

1. His priorities are in the right place.

2. He is being honest about a likely run for governor (why does any politician ever bother say, “Oh, no, I hadn’t even _thought_ about running for XYZ”?)

3. He’s right about who has created the good climate for growth and opportunities that we have now in Virginia.

More excerpts will be posted later.

Thank you very much to the AG and his staffers for arranging the time for the interview!

Photo details here: Canon EOS5D, 20omm lens, 1/60 at f/2.8, ISO 1250.

Photo details on most of the pictures in the slideshow: same as above, but with 24-70mm lens, and ISO 1600. No flash.

Former Gov. Jim Gilmore was everywhere at the Advance. His campaign had a good, well-organized presence. His address to the College Republicans was a good one, providing a brief preview of an amped-up Jim Gilmore that some of us who are fairly new to politics haven’t really seen.

After the speech to the CRs, Gov. Gilmore was kind enough to sit down for an interview. Here is part of the Gilmore interview, with photos and audio all taken at the Advance. (Opens in a new window. Then you can click the small white triangle at bottom left to play the interview).

The excerpt has Gilmore’s thoughts on Iraq, and how it fits into the bigger picture of the war on terror. Did you read the Gilmore op-ed in the Washington Post this summer, and did it leave you with questions? Then you will want to check out this interview.

More excerpts will be posted later.

A very big thank you to Jim and Roxane Gilmore for sharing their time. And a big thank you to them for being willing to give up who knows how much time to make this Senate run and then serve, I hope, in the Senate.

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling gave a strong speech to the crowd at the RPV Advance on Saturday morning. He urged everyone to concentrate on the 2008 races. After the breakfast I asked Lt. Gov. Bolling to comment more on the 2008 races and their importance.

See the slideshow of the Bill Bolling interview, with photos and audio excerpts. (Opens in a new window. Then you can click the small white triangle at bottom left to play the interview).

More of the audio will be posted later, including a discussion of upcoming legislative priorities.

A big thank you to the Lt. Governor for taking the time for the interview!

In November, Tom Garrett was elected Commonwealth’s Attorney in Louisa County. That was the first time an incumbent constitutional officer had been defeated there in decades. In a state that is supposed to be trending blue, this young attorney won with about 58% of the vote. At the Republican Advance I asked Tom Garrett about his victory, and what he thinks about how to grow our party.

See the slideshow of the Tom Garrett interview, with photos and audio excerpts. (Opens in a new window. Then you can click the small white triangle at bottom left to play the interview).

More of the audio will be posted later.

My thanks to Tom Garrett for taking the time for the interview, and to Mary Ellen Dolan-Odor, who has worked on several campaigns with Garrett and who appears in a couple of the photos.

It is becoming irritating to hear Republicans say, “When we run on our ideas, we win.” Um, no. Not unless that running involves relentless marketing of our ideas. We’re a little short on relentless these days. Yes, we have great ideas, but we are often uncomfortable reducing them to soundbites. I don’t mean we should reduce them thusly. But if we are going to run on more complex ideas, that means we must reach more people with more content more often.

This puts us at a disadvantage, as we don’t own old media. We have plenty of good bloggers, but what are we doing with that? For good thoughts on this, see Patrick Ruffini (posting at Hugh Hewitt’s place).

Excerpts:

…I can identify two information flow problems for the right, neither of which have to do with “blogs” as commonly understood…

…And the Bobby Jindal story is also a litmus test. The fact that an Illinois state senator with few accomplishments got fawning coverage when he first ran, while the younger Jindal’s storied accomplishments and unique narrative are A17 news speaks volumes…

…Republicans have research operations as sophisticated if not more. The challenge is that they’re tied up on campaigns, the RNC, Congressional leadership, think tanks, etc. They can only release information that supports their message on any given day. Or they’re focused on long term policy studies, not day-to-day political battles. To the extent they’re “official,” they’re also seen as less credible. If any of these operations could release the majority of their work product on a blog, it would be incredibly powerful. But they’re prevented from doing so, for institutional reasons.

If someone has $2 million to throw around on Rush Limbaugh’s letter, then someone has a few million to spend on a blogger-journalists to investigate Democratic corruption or on a sustained project to get out different storylines about Iraq or to set up an open-source research operation to more closely bracket the coverage.

Read the whole thing, as they say. Especially if you are a party leader.

Michael Yon is a first class freelance photojournalist. Please read his new dispatch from Iraq: Resistance is Futile: You Will be (mis)Informed. Terrific writing, fine photographs. Learn what it’s like in Iraq, and what it’s like to try to report from Iraq.