The LuLac Edition #583, Sept. 26th, 2008

PHOTO INDEX: OUR TOP

40 AND 1968 LOGOS.

KANJO ON CSPAN

This morning, Congressman Paul Kanjorski was on CSPAN talking about the Financial bailout issue. The Congressman was articulate, poised and filled with knowledge on the subject at hand. After twenty some years, he knows what he's talking about and is quite impressive. The challenge for the campaign is to have that image come across in the general campaign.

EMK IN HOSPITAL

Senator Edward M. Kennedy was taken to the hospital today. The Senator is suffering from brain cancer. The story was he was taken to a facility to readjust his meds.

ELECTION TOP 40

FOREIGN POLICY #39

The 2008 presidential campaign began with only one foreign policy issue -- Iraq. Senator Barack Obama, was seen by Democratic activist voters in the primaries and caucuses as being the most anti-war of the candidates. This certainly was a key to his eventual success over Senator Hillary Clinton, who was not seen as being as anti-war. Obama could rightly say he was against American involvement in Iraq even before he became a United States Senator. He has been for a timetable to bring U.S. troops home since becoming the junior senator from Illinois. On his trip this summer to Iraq he seemed to have the president of Iraq agree with his timetable for withdrawal. Iraq was main issue in helping Senator John McCain win the Republican nomination for president. The Arizona Senator has been outspoken in his views on Iraq, which are almost the exact opposite of his Democratic opponent. McCain calls for victory in Iraq before American troops can leave. The former fighter pilot in the Vietnam War has been a cham of the troop surge of American soldiers that most analysts feel has helped change the military situation on the ground more favorably for the Iraqis and the Americans. But I can’t help but feel that McCain has used the Iraq War as an issue to get back in the race after he faltered in the summer of ’07 and later to vanquished his rivals for the nomination.
But something funny happened on the road to the general. Iraq has faded as a main foreign policy issue. For awhile the presidential campaign moved away from foreign policy to a discussion of America's troubled economy. The cost of a tank of gas, the high number of foreclosures, rising unemployment, fear of inflation, the problems with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and a general malaise about the economy had the candidates turn away from foreign policy issues to focus on how to get our economy moving again. Tonight’s debate most likely will focus on the bailout of the American economy. But one thing is for sure, during this foreign policy debate, the lines will be clearly drawn on where the candidates want to go on this issue. Issue # 39 is the war, and while on the backburner for most voters other than American families involved with military overseas, it will be interesting to see how both Obama and McCain highlight their differences. From You Tube: the late Edwin Starr.

A FACE IN THE CROWD

The other night, I was watching a retrospective of Warner Brothers on WVIA TV. I was happy so see a mini tribute to one of my TV idols, producer William T. Orr, Jack Warner’s son-in-law who developed wonderful shows from the fifties like “77 Sunset Strip”, “Hawaiian Eye”, “Bronco”, “Maverick” and “Surfside 6”. After that diversion, the announcer talked about the Andy Griffith/Patricia Neal movie “A Face in the Crowd” where Griffith played the role of Lonesome Roads, a hillbilly singer who caught the imagination of the American people. In one scene, Roads is lying on a bed saying, “I own those people”, “I’ll tell them what to think so they don’t have to”. Strange, there’s a Rush Limbaugh promo where he says “He owns Wilkes Barre” and another where he says, “I’ll do the thinking for you, so you don’t have to”. Scary. Fiction becomes reality.

1968

Forty years ago, Hubert Humphrey gave a speech in Salt Lake City that started the turnaround of his beleaguered Presidential campaign. The speech was no great policy document but was the first time that HHH said he would be for a complete bombing halt with no conditions from the North Vietnam forces. He called Johnson just before the speech, told him what he was going to do and for the first time broke with the President on Vietnam. LBJ tersely said, “I’ll listen” and then hung up. The Democratic National Committee barely scraped together the $100,000 it took back then for a nationwide broadcast. After the speech, Humphrey seemed liberated. The next day, 5,000 letters came into the DNC, and those letters contained 10, 20 and 50 dollar bills. By the first week of October, the speech raised $250,000 for the Dems. In addition, the speech gave the wayward McCarthy forces a face saving method to join the Humphrey/Muskie effort. From that speech forward, the crowds were more enthusiastic and it looked like Humphrey might be competitive for the first time in the ’68 race......................Sitting Senator Hugh Scott makes the rounds around the Commonwealth supporting the campaign of Congressman Richard Schweiker.......In the third district race in Pittston, State Rep James Musto campaign hard against GOPer Sam Daley for the Representative seat.....In the fifth, newcomer Richard Adams goes hard after one term State Rep Frank O’Connell. Both are Kingston restaurant owners.....and forty years ago, the number 1 song in LuLac land was “1,2,3 Red Light” by The 1910 Fruitgum Company. A far cry from “Hey Jude”.