Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Rendell noted, "It was right years ago that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney came to Philadelphia to accept their party's nomination.  Onstage at that convention, we heard a lot about energy.  The Republican platform itself called for expanding the renewable energy tax credit.  But once elected, they broke their energy promises to the American people and let Big Oil determine our national energy policy."

The next step taken by Governor Rendell was to analyze the results of Bush-Cheney energy policies over two devastating terms in office.

"Back then (when Bush and Cheney took over in 2001) the price of gas at the pump was about $1.50 a gallon.  Back then, it cost about $900 to heat your home through the winter.  This winter, it's more likely to be $2,500.  Exxon-Mobil just announced the largest quarterly profit in history.  That's not just an outrage.  It's obscene.

"This happened because for the last eight years, the Bush-Cheney team stonewalled the taxing of oil company profits and prevented efforts to promote alternative energy production.  And guess who voted with President Bush 90 percent of the time?  Sen. John McCain."

Rendell's point is well taken.  While Palin and other Republicans piously proclaim an interest in renewable energy, McCain was never interested in establishing a renewable energy standard.  Even now the subject is mentioned as part of a laundry list that Sarah Palin articulates in her vice-presidential nominating speech.

You know that the big ticket item has been and remains ANWR, drilling in Alaska, along with the unrealistic expectation that this panacea will cure all or a substantial portion of our energy woes.

The obscene profits that Exxon-Mobil achieves that prompts no notice at a Republican Convention where energy is presumed to be a major interest could help improve a lot of sub par school facilities throughout the nation.  It could also provide needed medical care for some 45 million citizens left out of a process that, if entered under some of the most extreme conditions, can take every dollar they own.

A new IPS study also reveals the current status of the Fortunate Four Hundred, not to be confused with the Fortune Five Hundred.  The Fortunate Four Hundred have accumulated vast wealth during the Bush-Cheney years between 1997 and 2004.  During that period of less than a decade income rose 62% in the number of people with a net worth of $20 million or more.

While silence reigns relating to the issues presented the prosperous delegates of the 2008 Republican Convention, 97% of which were white, held signs during McCain's acceptance displaying the message:

COUNTRY FIRST

The conclusion that regrettably emerged was the definition of country first relative to taking care of themselves through more tax cuts promised by McCain and Palin.  

When tax cuts are given to the wealthy the trickle moves from a roll to a mighty rumble as more citizens cross the precipice and enter the realm of poverty, with many moving from the ranks to barely hanging on to a residence by ownership or rental to the next step of homelessness.  How long have these Republican champions of wealth sought to avoid this fundamental question?

These issues were not discussed by McCain or Palin in their speeches, nor in others, with appropriate attack Rudolph Guiliani's mocking through laughter community based programs in cities designed to generate jobs and with them prosperity such as that through which Barack Obama began as a community organizer on Chicago's south side.

Guiliani instead likes to spend time with his rich friends, seen often in a box seat at Yankee Stadium wearing a baseball cap and a smile as he enjoys the action, never registering a concern toward Americans that Obama and other community activists throughout America seek to assist up the financial ladder.