Diggapedia

Tiger can’t change its stripes, a leopard can’t change its spots, if it looks like a duck and swims like a duck…   In addition to be animal-related idioms, they also relate to the GOP’s current predicament. The GOP is looking to rebrand itself after   doing the math from the November election.   While Republicans are not known for their math skills, some pollsters and strategists recognized that the party of angry white guys, business special interests, and the 1% was in danger of irrelevance in the face changing demographics.     Now I am no marketing expert, but I am aware of the 4-Ps of Product, Place, Price and Promotion which dovetails into my simpler analysis of: Product, Message, and Messenger.   The PPM model may actually be more applicable to the GOP’s problem and opportunity. Let’s start with the product.   What is the GOP offering and what does it stand for?   Bobby Jindal says that the GOP needs to stop being the stupid party...

  1.        How can you expect to convince a creationist about climate change if they think the earth is only 6,000 years old. 2.        Still can’t figure out how Silver Linings Playbook garnered all of those Oscar acting nominations.   Further putting Bradley Cooper in there with Daniel Day Lewis is pink slime to filet mignon. 3.        Memo to Frank Luntz and GOP: you can’t call it rebranding and then roll out the same tired message.   And using young Marco Rubio is like polishing a turd.   It’s still a turd. 4.        Rumor in AZ is retired astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of Gabby Giffords, is considering a run in 2016 against John McCain.   Let’s hope so. 5.        A Bieber-free and Gaga-free Grammy Awards was very special.   Now if we can keep Taylor Swift away. 6.    ...

John Brennan, President Obama’s choice for CIA chief, faced questioning this week from the Senate Intelligence Committee on the administration’s drone program.   This coming soon after the release of the Department of Justice’s memo establishing the legality of drone strikes against American citizens linked to terror organizations like al-Qaeda, has raised a great deal of awareness about the administration’s anti-terror program.   The debate has stirred a lot emotion, confliction, and conversation; a national dialogue that is important and necessary.   I have seen liberal vs. liberal arguments in the media, social and otherwise, and there seems to be some debate, to a lesser extent, amongst those on the right. Yes the debate is good.   When people question the legality, effectiveness, and ethics of a policy, we are better off.   This week I have seen multiple versions of the following opinions: ·          Drones ...

Another post from 40,000 feet above the Atlantic on my way back from Israel, and like every previous visit there was plenty of news, experiences, fun, hard work, and observations.   And of course wherever there’s an election, there is election analysis. Over a week ago, 64% of Israelis went to the polls to elect a new government after the current government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for early elections.   Netanyahu’s Likud party and its coalition partners assumed an easy go of it and that the electorate would deliver a mandate of four more years of lip service concerning a two state solution, bellicose relations with the US, increased isolation from Europe, and more settlement building.   Well a funny thing happened on the way to the polls, of the 120 Knesset (Parliament) seats up for grabs, 60 seats when to left or center-left parties, and 60 seats when to right or center-right parties. Mr. Netanyahu’s Likud party (Likud merged with Yisrael Beite...