RedState Morning Briefing For October 6, 2011 Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge. What a funny age in which we live. At a time some are demonizing the successful and the so called 1% at the top, today the whole world is stopping to remember the guy who so profoundly changed the early twenty-first century — Steve Jobs, a man in a class by himself. I begin and end this Morning Briefing today remembering him. In my office where I sit this still, quiet morning I have an iMac, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Air Port. I am an Apple fan. Guys like me used to be called a cult. But a funny thing happened. Steve Jobs made Apple the world’s most popular consumer electronics company. The iPad is the best selling tablet computer. The iPhone is the most popular smart phone. At some point the people who derisively mocked people like me found themselves — perhaps even now they don’t know it — the cult of a small fringe of people who found it cool to hate what everyone else is embracing. The minority became the majority and the majority now is the minority. Apple is cool, hits the nostalgic elements of the age, and while seemingly exclusive has become ubiquitous — a feat few can pull off. It says something profound about Steve Jobs that a guy who grew up in the counter culture movement when “the man” and “business”, much like today, were not cool went on to redefine what cool is and what culture is through growing a business that now rivals Exxon as the most valuable in the world. Steve Jobs is genius. I grew up in Dubai. I was the only kid in my school who did not have a computer. But I would stay after school playing on the Apple IIe computers and then the IIgs and then the Mac SE. I learned programming, desktop publishing, and a love for writing and music both on computers Steve Jobs created. When I moved back to Louisiana, my parents bought me a PC. I went from Dubai as the only kid in school without a computer to rural Louisiana where I was the only kid in school with a computer. In college, I finally convinced my parents to get me a Mac. I never went back. In our lives, we occasionally come upon geniuses who give us special insight or special creations. Often we do not appreciate their genius until they have departed — like great artists whose value is undiscovered until they die. But then there are the Einsteins, the Edisons, the Disneys, the Picassos, and the Steve Jobses of the world. We not only see them and share with them that which they bring into the world, but we know we are in the presence of someone great. And so it is that much sadder when they depart and deprive us of them. Humanity is selfish, but also glorious. Many of us are sad to see Jobs go because we want more from him, but we appreciate what Steve Jobs gave us in design and ideas and innovation while he walked among us. And now we cheer on his company and his legacy. If there is one story to sum up the life of Steve Jobs and end this note with a smile, consider last night on Twitter. Margie Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church tweeted “Westboro will picket his funeral. He had a huge platform; gave God no glory & taught sin.” She tweeted that, according to Twitter, from her iPhone. I wish Steve Jobs’ family well. Requiescat in pace 1. Remember Journolist? Why In God’s Name Is The GOP Consisting to Let a Journolist Member Moderate a Debate? 2. Regarding Sarah Palin: “Tell ‘Em You’re With Tina Fey” 3. Free Ponies will be the Death of America 4. This Primary Season Is All About Not Romney 5. Dear Candidates: An Invitation to Have A Conversation 6. Steve Jobs 1955-2011 ———————————————————————- 1. Remember Journolist? Why In God’s Name Is The GOP Consisting to Let a Journolist Member Moderate a Debate? Before the MSNBC-Politico Debate, I wondered why in God’s name the Republican candidates would bother giving press and air time to a bunch of liberals asking snide questions down their noses to the GOP about issues not one person cares about. After that debate it convinced me the GOP candidates should be more discerning in their debates. And now, as Ben Domenech notes and I too can confirm, I think the candidates should boycott the Washington Post Bloomberg debate on October 11th. The debate is billed by the Washington Post as “exclusively” about the economy. I had relished them having this debate because a debate for two hours on the economy is precisely what we need. But sources in multiple campaigns tell me they are really suddenly hacked off by the Washington Post and Bloomberg changing the format. According to the campaigns I have spoken to, they too were under the impression the debate would be exclusively about the economy. Now they are being given the impression that after the first hour the debate will go to other questions. Now, if you were somewhere under a rock this past week, you will have missed that Bloomberg News has launched an all out assault on Koch Industries for crimes against humanity or some such — an attack premised on a lot of baloney, half-truths, and bad reporting, but done because the Kochs are of the right. Then there is the Washington Post who posits the man-child Ezra Klein, who has never had a real job in his life outside of left-wing think tanks and subsidized publications, as some sort of business pundit. In other words, the GOP is going to be vetted by a twenty something who actually took to the national airwaves to declare no one pays attention to the constitution because it is so old. The Washington Post also hosts Greg Sargent, the Democratic Party’s official mouthpiece at the Post. The Post hosts Jenn Rubin who claims to be a conservative but has spent the better part of her career at the Post advocating the release of the traitor Jonathan Pollard and routinely bashing Senator Jim DeMint. Then there is Glen Kessler who is the Washington Post’s in house “fact checker” where he is too busy leveling attacks at MItt Romney, Rick Perry and others to check facts. Let’s ignore also that this paper ran with the story about the rock in Texas they can’t be bothered to get a picture of. (By the way, have you heard about that reporter’s criminal record?) Let’s instead focus on the debate’s actual moderators. Please click here for the rest of the post. 2. Regarding Sarah Palin: “Tell ‘Em You’re With Tina Fey” There is a strong notion out there that I do not like Sarah Palin. That actually is not true. There are many of her supporters who I have come to clash with a routine basis and I think the cult of personality that grew up around Sarah Palin became insane and unstable. But I have always liked Sarah Palin and her husband. At one point I very much wanted Palin to run. In fact, for the longest time I would have preferred to lose with Sarah Palin fighting for liberty than win with one of the candidates pushing a Republican brand of creeping socialism. But it became clear to me she was not running. And as it became clearer and my platform at RedState and elsewhere rose and I said this, more and more of her fans piled on. There is a lot of news out there and suddenly the twitterverse and media have moved on. Nonetheless, I want to toss out a few thoughts on her. Please click here for the rest of the post. 3. Free Ponies will be the Death of America Almost six months ago, I lost my job. Since that time, I have sent out easily over 250 resumes, many of which were sent to law firms where friends were partners. They have netted me a grand total of three interviews. My friends are telling me that for jobs that pay roughly 75% of what I used to make, they are getting over 150 applications. When I graduated from law school, roughly 95% of my graduating class had real jobs. I ran into a recent graduate the other day and she told me that this year, only about 40% of the most recent graduating class is employed. I have never encountered a market this brutal in any field in which I have worked, and the struggle against complete surrender is a daily endeavor. In the meantime, I have been doing contract work when it is available. It is not nearly enough, but it is miles better than nothing and I am thrilled to have it. When I don’t, I sit around for interminable days and fire off more resumes that I am nearly sure will never result in anything. I am hopelessly behind on innumerable bills, including my house and over $160,000 in student loans – so far behind that even if I found permanent work tomorrow, I would never be able to sort out my arrearage. Without the completely undeserved generosity of family and friends, I’m not sure how I’d be eating. When I came out of law school, they were handing out more six figure jobs than they had people available to fill them – now there isn’t anything in sight that could even be qualified as full-time. I recently went to Outback steakhouse and applied for a job – which I didn’t get because the manager was sure I’d just bail and go back to lawyering any day. Please click here for the rest of the post. 4. This Primary Season Is All About Not Romney Every week brings another controversy or another debate – and another Republican POTUS front-runner. And once again, the GOP base continues its eternal (and fruitless) search for the Perfect Conservative. Each time a candidate peaks, they stick their foot in their mouth or some issue about their past pops up and they drop in the polls in favor of the next flavor of the month. It was Mitt, then it was Michelle, then it was Rick, and now it’s Herman/Herb. Every time a new flavor appears, they either blow their own popularity (cf. Bachmann) or the base picks them apart (cf. Perry). Please click here for the rest of the post. 5. Dear Candidates: An Invitation to Have A Conversation Follow the link to a letter that will be going out to each campaign for President from me. The campaigns will get additional information beyond what is in this public release, including more expansive information on the media, broadcast information, contact information, etc. But we want to make this available publicly because of the number of inquiries we’re all getting about what we are doing and also to give both the campaigns and their supporters a heads up. We do hope the campaigns will participate and grassroots conservatives will encourage the campaigns to participate. Thanks. Please click here for the rest of the post. 6. Steve Jobs 1955-2011 Steve Jobs died today after a long battle with cancer. He was 56. Founding NeXT would have been enough to turn anyone into a cult hero in his field. Acquiring Lucasfilm’s Graphics Group and turning it into Pixar would have made anyone a respected business leader. But for Steve Jobs, those were feathers in his cap called Apple, the company he co-founded with Steve Wozniak, and then later saved from extinction by returning to lead it again. He led Apple to its point today as the most valuable corporation in America, measured by public market capitalization. To do that, Jobs had to beat Microsoft and he had to beat IBM. He won in the end. Far from just a visionary, people from Apple have always said he was a hands-on leader, who had a personal stake in the success of the company and of the products he helped create. Apple ][. Macintosh. NextStep. iMac. MacOS X. iPod. iPhone. iPad. Jobs leaves behind an incredible legacy, and his death will be felt by his industry, and the world. RIP. Please click here for the rest of the post.
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Morning Briefing for October 6, 2011
