Day: March 6, 2020

Why I can’t let it go

I very openly predicted Warren not doing well…even to the point where one dear friend (from my Naval Academy days) wondered why I didn’t do a “I told you so?”

Well..part of it is that I don’t want my temper to harm the candidate I now support. But part of it is the mourning for Warren’s political demise speaks straight to my character defects.

I follow a “spiritual program” (not sure what “spiritual” means but anyway..) and one saying in it is “To conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got.” (it is from the book Alcoholic Anonymous).

And OMG, did the Warren campaign failure bring that out. Instead of “well, maybe next time, she, or someone like her, could try this instead”. Instead: they blamed the voters. Good Lord..she finished 3’rd in her own state…and as far as I know..that was her BEST finish.

Then it came to me: if something in others really eats at me…it is probably something that I see in myself that I do not like.

Busted. Lord, help me to be more introspective and to change the things I can change and accept what I can’t change..and to realize that there is much I cannot change.

(yes, I remain an atheist but the old Catholic upbringing is still in me …as one of my dear friends said: “I am a Jewish atheist..you are a Christian atheist..” and I KNEW exactly what she was talking about.

And yes, liberals are not prone to introspection, which is one reason we lose so damned much.

Workout notes
walk (2 miles afterward)
pull ups 15-10-10-10-5-5 (good)
rotator cuff
bench press: 10 x 135, 3 x 185 (good..) 5 x 170 (good)
incline: 10 x 135
decline: 9 x 165
shoulder (dumbbell) 5 x 50, 2 sets of 10 x 45
rows: 3 sets of 10 x 115
back squats: lots of free sets, 5 x 45, 5 x 85, 5 x 85 (time to step it up)
plank, headstand

Then the walk.

I didn’t sleep worth a darn but my workout was ok.

And the walking weather was glorious.

Why the mourning for Warren….

First: yoga class, then a 5 mile walk in 1:17:53 (roughly the same course as last week; right around 15 min/mile as it was slightly over 5)

It felt fine.

Well, Elizabeth Warren has dropped out and the usual collection of wokes are in mourning.

Yeah…where was the mourning for Amy?

Read some of the replies on the tweet.

This tweet is also interesting:

But I think this sums up their attitude:

FANTASTIC CAMPAIGNERS do not finish 3’rd in their own state.

My guess: they meant “I loved her campaign and so did my friends.” This is classical “bubble thinking.” In my opinion, Warren ran a campaign aimed at activists, not voters.

And her niche was..well, if you listened to NPR, if you attend a Unitarian Church, were an academic or just a feminist with an advanced degree, you probably loved her and the way she spoke. I sure as hell did not, at least not as a candidate.

When I heard her speak, my mind races with “oh no, more “diversity training” “campus climate survey” or other such wastes of time that are popular with large segments of the faculty.

Here is what I find interesting: it did not have to be that way. Warren has a very compelling personal story: she grew up in a lower middle class household..did things like enter Betty Crocker contests …dropped out as an undergraduate only to go back later in life…and went to public schools. She was so brilliant and hard working she worked her way up to being a full professor at Harvard: a truly elite level of attainment. And he got elected Senator.

“Betsy” (as she was called when she was growing up) really would have been a great story. Instead..she campaigned heavily on wokeness..and frankly the public doesn’t react well to that.

And some of her most vocal supporters didn’t help; it was “misogyny and sexism” is the real reason Warren didn’t do better. After all, she was a “fantastic campaigner.” (huh? Don’t fantastic campaigns either win or overperform?)

Of course, liberals didn’t learn a damned thing for the latest election results..they are still “slicing and dicing” wish lists of potential VP candidates into “we need a member of demographic X” and “we won’t stand for it if the candidate isn’t from this group.” …

They haven’t learned that the general electorate doesn’t care what Twitter liberals think or how “angry and hurt” they are.

It is a bit like this old Godfrey Elfwick meme (from Brexit)

Disclaimer: yes, I support Amy Klobuchar for VP, but her being female has ZERO to do with it.