By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Nov 20, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
What the band U2 means to you at 50.
A portrait of human philosophical maturation and wisdom.
In my late 20s and early 30s, I listened over and over to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” I wasn’t sure what the song was about. It had a great sound and the lyrics sounded very deep.
So I listened to the song frequently because it made me feel smart and depressed about the right philosophical questions in life. (Always better than being depressed about the wrong philosophical questions in life).
At 50, it’s still a great song. And I enjoy listening to it.
But I have an entirely different perspective on it when I just heard it again tonight for the fist time in a while.
I thought to myself, “I found what I was looking for but can’t remember why I started looking for it in the first place and now don’t know what to do with it now that I’ve found it.”
Followed by, “Dang it! Where did I put it? Now I can’t find it again. Oh well. Who cares. Maybe a bird will eat it.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Mon Nov 19, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Genealogy and cultural symbolism.
I have never been very good at quickly following family relationships on large family trees. I get parents and children and even grandparents and first cousins. But after that, it starts to get confusing. …
Which got me wondering about metaphorical family trees.
I’ve been reading a lot recently about the show Modern Family is emblematic of America—and the American family—today. I love the show and don’t argue much with the contention.
Likewise, when I was a boy I liked The Waltons. They were described back then as emblematic of America –and the American family.
But that was 40 years ago. Which leads to my next question:
Is Cam John Boy’s son or nephew? And which one of the Waltons gets blamed for Phil Dunphy?
Q: I’m a first-time candidate. After guiding me to victory in my primary, one of my chief strategists asked me to hire his ne’er-do-well son. The son was a campaign volunteer and got along well with everyone, but I turned down the request. I didn’t want to start out my career like that. Did I make the right call, or did I make an enemy for life?
—A Political Neophyte, Kansas City, Mo.
Both.
Q: Does direct mail still work? Is it a good use of money relative to other forms of communication, like TV, radio or knocking doors?
—Initials withheld, New York City
Increasingly, no. There are some places it still works, though. Rural Missouri and St. Louis’ southern suburbs, for instance, are home to large concentrations of seniors, some of whom rarely leave the house, aren’t online except to use email, and for whom snail mail is a highlight of the day. Parts of the outer boroughs in particular also have high concentrations of elderly residents.
Of course, in rural Missouri, television buys are cheap. And moving images (TV ads) are generally more effective/persuasive than mail. So TV is preferable to mail there. But in a legislative race in the outer boroughs, New York City media market TV buys aren’t feasible, so mail is a decent option.
Radio is often a good option for negative ads, since listeners tend to forget the source of the attack and thus don’t hold the attacks against the candidates making them to the same degree they would with a television spot, for instance. But again, this is prohibitively expensive for legislative and City Council candidates in the New York City market. Upstate, it is much more feasible.
Of course, having someone actually talk to voters is always preferable to mail, radio or TV. But some areas are remote and/or difficult to canvass because of the distance between homes. And even in areas that can be canvassed effectively, some campaigns lack volunteers. They may employ paid canvassers as a substitute, but that can be dicey: Those jobs typically pay approximately $10 an hour or even less, and sometimes paid canvassers have more legs than teeth.
My chief opponent in a congressional primary used an oxymoronically named D.C. firm called Grassroots Solutions that hires paid canvassers. They were so stupid that they picked the only day of the entire election cycle when you know who is actually going to vote—Election Day—and spent the morning waving signs outside my office instead of at poll sites talking to voters. So be cautious about hiring anyone who claims they’ll help create “organic” grassroots support.
In sum, yours is a question with which every campaign must grapple. Except in anomalous areas like senior-heavy sections of the outer boroughs, money that once went toward mail will largely be steered toward online advertising in the future. In addition to the Internet’s status as a place where people spend more time than the 15 seconds it takes them to go from the mailbox to the trash can, the Web provides ad buyers information about the number of people who actually see and click on an ad, which mail is unable to do. In a metrics-obsessed Moneyball world, tools that enable campaigns to gather information while assessing the effectiveness of their messaging are increasingly essential.
Read the rest of… Jeff Smith: Do As I Say — A Political Advice Column
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri Nov 16, 2012 at 8:35 AM ET
Last night, I had the incredible opportunity of playing straight man to The Daily Show‘s hilarious Al Madrigal in a segment of the Comedy Channel’s most popular franchise — and one of my all-time favorite shows.
As Madrigal exposed, No Labels — the national grassroots movement I co-founded, that involves 600,000 Democrats, Republican, and Independents in efforts to promote problem-solving to replace hyper-partisanship — is really a front group for immigrant harassment, forced Chick-fil-a feeding, and spinning in circles.
Or something like that.
When the show was first run, I tweeted my commentary simultaneously. You can read my wacky insights by clicking here.
So if you missed it last night; now, here’s my moment of zen:
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu Nov 15, 2012 at 6:00 PM ET
Yep, you read that right.
Tonight at 11:00 PM EST, I will be appearing on one of my all-time favorite television programs:The Daily Show, starring Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central.
Daily Show correspondent Al Madrigal interviewed me this summer at the No Labels headquarters in Washington, DC for a segment on hyper-partisanship. I had planned to make a passionate case for Make Congress Work, our 12-point plan to help transform Washington from hyper-partisanship to problem solving.
Of course, this is Comedy Central. And we spent about three hours in an “interview” that can only be characterized as a comedy improv session.
I had to comply with 2 rules: No jokes. No laughing.
And that was a lot more difficult than it sounds — Madrigal and his crew are really, really funny.
The scariest part about tonight’s airing is that I have no idea what parts of the interview survived the editing floor. And if you have ever seen the pretaped segments on The Daily Show, you can anticipate a whole lot of making fun of… yours truly.
If you’d like to experience the show with me — virtually speaking — I will be running a live feed of my spontaneous tweets here at this site as the show runs tonight at 11. You can join me with your comments, critiques, and put downs (keep it civil!) by using the hashtag #RecoveringPol from your personal Twitter account. Your comments will appear live aside mine here at The Recovering Politician home page.
If you are fast asleep at 11 — don’t worry, there will be many other chances to watch me implode on national television.
The show will re-run again tomorrow (Friday, November 16) at 1:00 AM, 10:00 AM and 7:30 PM (all EST). And, of course, I will have the clip up here at The Recovering Politician as soon as technology permits.
So join me tonight (or tomorrow) on The Daily Show. It could be the last time you will ever see me in public…
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Nov 15, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
Aha!!! And the secret of movie popcorn.
I love those “aha moments.”
You know the kind…Like when you finally realize why and how movie theaters get away with charging $4.75 for a bucket of popcorn (chewy air, basically, with artificial butter flavoring).
I think I figured it out.
You know when you are at a movie with your spouse and a scene begins that reminds you of a recurring disagreement you’ve had with your spouse on som e petty matter? And the scene takes a decided and clear turn in the direction you did not want it to take? And you sense it is only going to get even more apparent and more embarrassing to you? And you are waiting for the person representing your spouse is going to say the exact same words on screen that your spouse has said to you. Except this time the entire audience is on her side?
And you know that she knows. And suspects that she knows that you know.
At that exact moment, you stand up, let out a sigh to indicate boredom, and say, “I’m going to go get some popcorn.”
And you go in the lobby by the concessions until the scene is over and a new scene is far enough along that she may have forgotten (or out of courtesy, really, not mention) the scene when you return to your seat. And you start to feel a little relieved.
But before you go back inside the theater you go up to the concession stand and say, “I’ll take an bucket of popcorn, please.” And however much they want to charge you for it, you will pay. Even $4.75.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Nov 14, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
What can begin as a “Point of Resistence” can turn into a “Right of Passage.”
Which is a bummer.
Tonight I was with my daughter shopping for clothes. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror wearing what were “Dad jeans.” And it was my moment to slink into depressive moment or rage against nature.
I asked for the “Jeans department” to regain my youthful dignity. After pawing through rows of Vin Diesel jeans, torn, ripped, stone washed, bleached and with cute button flys (for guys who would think having a cute button down fly is a good idea).
After refusing help several times from the sales clerk, I finally broke down and said, “Basically I am trying to find some, you know, jeans. That are ….um… ‘age appropriate.’ But not too obviously age appropriate.”
He asked me my size and said, he may have something in the back….like Lucky Jeans. He brought me three pair of what I immediately exclaimed were “Dad jeans.”
Another shopper about 5 years my junior started laughing and said, “Look, man, Lucky’s are OK.”
I said I would browse some more. I did but after 5 minutes felt the end of the “jeans phase” of my life ending.
Like when I was no longer able to get away with collecting Pop-a-Shot tickets at Gattilamd for a prize.
At 35. As I walked out the clerk shouted “Any luck?” “Nope!” I said. “Just gonna have to admit my jeans days are over.”
I paused. “Do up have white socks, sandals and plaid shorts in this section?” And I didn’t have to use the qualifier “age appropriate.”
By Lauren Mayer, on Tue Nov 13, 2012 at 5:00 PM ET
As in any election, there were some predicted results (Obama re-elected, Nate Silver fan clubs popping up), some lovely surprises (20 women in the senate, legalized pot and gay marriage), and some disappointed losers (including every senatorial candidate who mentioned rape . . . who’d’ve thunk?) I know some people feel the saddest for Florida, which ended up not even mattering this year. But my sympathy vote goes to Karl Rove. Whatever you think of him, he has to be a fundraising genius to have gotten $300 million from his donors, but of all the candidates he supported, not a single one was elected. I mean, I disagreed with him on almost every issue, but I never wished this much pain on the man. Not only did Donald Trump publicly shame him via tweet (I don’t know what part of that was more humiliating!), but now he’s even a joke on The Simpsons. What’s Rove supposed to do now? I seriously doubt he has much of a future as a political fundraiser, and after his election night meltdown on Fox News, his punditry career may be shot.
So while Rove sorts out his options, he can use this song as his soundtrack . . . (And after this last political song, I will be turning my musical attention to more general current events, the upcoming holidays, and the latest pop culture silliness that gives me an intellectual excuse to buy People Magazine.)
In my late 20s and early 30s, I listened over and over to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” I wasn’t sure what the song was about. It had a great sound and the lyrics sounded very deep.
