THE GRAVITY OF GRAVITAS

Gravitas is a word I thought was almost obsolete until it became the principal Democratic buzz word in George W. Bush’s bid for the Republican nomination and then the presidency in 2000.

Defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “Substance; weightiness. . . A serious or dignified demeanor,” gravitas soon became the prime catchword in Dem talking points in 2000 which, in turn, made it the prime catchword among liberal pundits and talking heads all over the media who get their marching orders from the DNC.

Bush, the former cheerleader and party animal, was seriously gravitas-challenged but Al Gore and, in 2004, John Kerry were verily overflowing with substance, weightiness, seriousness, and dignity.

Al Gore had loads of gravitas and John (I-Served-in-VietNam) Kerry was the virtual poster boy for gravitas with his hangdog, funereal, demeanor which betokened a president who, though he was charisma-challenged, was more than well endowed with loads of the G-word.

Unfortunately for them, Bush chose the almost equally dour Dick Cheney for his VP which more than counterbalanced his easygoing image. Gravitas proved to be insufficient since both G-men, Gore and Kerry, lost.

Apparently, Americans appreciate seriousness but they also prefer human beings to be their leaders....

(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/)

It's truly amazing how libs such as Shapiro can get away with setting up a straw man issue and then use it to attack the opposition.

He posits a "racial factor" to suggest that anyone who opposes Obama is a racist in hopes that a sufficient number of white people will feel so guilty that they will vote for a black as restitution for their evil racism.

That gambit has gotten old, very old.

Only Obama has brought up race in this race and he has done so for the same reason, to capitalize on white guilt.

In Ohio and elsewhere most people will vote for the guy they feel represents them, for the guy who is best qualified to lead this country.

Obama may or may not win Ohio and the nation. If he loses, the rumor is that blacks will seek vengeance and wreak havoc, which is another way of saying to the country, Vote Obama Or You Will Regret It!

That's yet another reason to vote McCain. Otherwise, we will be electing a president out of fear and not because of issues and qualifications.

(http://genelalor.com/)

"A sacramental chocolate Dove bar" says it all Anne.

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RACE IN AMERICA: A RETROSPECTIVE AND A NEW PERSPECTIVE

The following article was previously published on this website as well as on a number of others (in May of this year) and is being republished at this time since it is more relevant today than it was then. It concerns the very volatile issue of race in America and has been slightly edited to reflect political developments in the last four months with updated commentary following the original article.

(APOLOGY: WordPress may have altered correct paragraphing and my inexpertise prevents me from correcting that flaw. Do wade through it, however. I sincerely believe it’s worth the effort.)

Some things are best left unsaid, especially in politically-correct America in 2008 and a prime subject non grata at our PC table today is the issue of race.

It seems that you’re damned if you do talk about it and you’re damned if you do talk about it. Being an elder, a seasoned-American-citizen, and a non-candidate for public office, I can talk about it with a measure of impunity, if not immunity.

What follows is a not a racist screed but does address serious omissions in our national dialogue, the touchy issues of racism and of White Guilt, and how that guilt may influence the upcoming election. If honest commentary and reasoned understandings are considered racism, then so be it.

First, let’s concede the obvious: Most White Americans, on the whole, have it better than most Black Americans, on the whole. To deny that is to deny the reality of life in America today.

There are always exceptions to such sweeping statements, as Ben Stein points out in this month’s edition of Newsmax, writing that in the last fifty years Blacks have made advances in our society that are “simply unprecedented in human history in such a short time.” (”Daylight in America,” May 2008, p. 24).

I fully agree with that assessment although I can’t subscribe to Stein’s endorsement in that same article of Michelle Obama’s statement that “she was never proud of America until now.”

He went on to say that, “The life of a black person in this country has never been easy and is still not.”

I’ll go on to say to that few people live easy lives, here or anywhere and that no one ever said life should be easy. JFK was equally correct when he famously said that life isn’t fair either.

Easy and fair are relative terms but if any two Americans ever led lives that could be described as pretty easy and eminently fair, Michelle and Barack Obama would have to be sitting on the top of the list....

(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/)

Mike, you think "gays" feel threatened by Todd Palin?

Or, are they more threatened by Sarah?

Or, do they just relish threats?

(http://genelalor.com/)