I didn't misremember how to read my Political Palantir: Gauley Dam, whitewaters ahead

CorpGovActivist

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Thu Feb-14-08 12:01 PM
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I didn't misremember how to read my Political Palantir: Gauley Dam, whitewaters ahead

Edited on Thu Feb-14-08 12:20 PM by CorpGovActivist

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=4521730&mesg_id=4521730">Prognosticating the Potomac Primary: Stick a Spork in Her, She's Done, I said this past Sunday.

After http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=7468936&mesg_id=7468936">55 hours awake, then 5 hours asleep, then 4 hours awake, then 9 hours asleep, and 2 mostly inadequate cups of coffee so far this morning, I'm now looking forward to the "director's cut" of the Potomac Primary: some will call it the Beltway echo chamber effect (i.e., the DC-based Sunday talk show pundits giving overweighted importance to their own Beltway backyard races this coming Sunday, as they try to discern the "deeper meaning" of this week's rout).

But the fact of the matter is, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=7468936&mesg_id=7469077">the domestic and foreign press convergence seen here in the vicinity of the nation's capital this week, coupled with the hardly-noticed arrival of operatives who otherwise would've been very much noticed, really did create a very unique and special opportunity to efficiently and effectively share data, and will, in fact, ensure that the Potomac Primary's primary shock wave lasts at least until a week from this Sunday. It doesn't matter that the "principal players" have now moved on from here; in fact, that's the added bonus (it all took place right under their noses, and the convergence event is now over, so it's too late for the principals to try to do anything about it).

Yes, I'm guessing that the Potomac Primary's primary shock wave will last for at least two Sunday talk show cycles, and I'm betting some of my chips on three, which gives me better odds, and more than covers my lost chips on two, if I'm right.

Why?

1. When a large data dump about a complex campaign-related story cluster is given to investigative journalists, the fact-checking takes time. But when multiple outlets all know that others have it, too, the scramble to complete that process is anything but a slow motion affair. So while there's incentive to paddle carefully through the data stream, there's also incentive to break a sweat.

2. However, looking at the primary calendar right now, the media can see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapids">a short, restful, breath-catching run ahead before the next set of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_democratic_primaries#February">whitewaters on March 4th. Yes, I know that Hawaii and Wisconsin occur before then. But Mark Penn's own publicly-stated "strategery" is to hold forth his divining rod and miraculously part the waters on March 4th. So, the investigative journalists have *some* time to play with here, and experienced rafters know to conserve their energy to maximize their fellows' enjoyment of the choppiest waters.

Just between you and me, though, Mark Penn is up the proverbial creek without a crash helmet or a paddle (or even a real palantir, which might at least be good for forecasting where his raft finally washes up, if he could manage to hold it still long enough to give it a really good gaze).

But I've got the video to show that I hang better than most bigger boys.* When you grow up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_River_%28Kanawha_River%29">the New River, navigating cold, frigid, unforgiving whitewaters becomes second nature.**

Time for me to http://www.class-vi.com/">go book a last-minute March trip on the New River with Class VI River Runners, to ride the roller coaster that is the New River (a misnamed misnomer, if ever there were one, geologically speaking). March is when the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_whitewater_rivers">whitewatering will be at its best, and the soft touristy types are scarcely to be found. No, I doubt Mark Penn can hang with me in any March whitewatering rafts, and I don't think my crash helmet would fit him, either.

Best to all, even to those of you lazy louts who slept regularly the last three days,

- Dave

* Does anyone have a recommendation on how to: (1) take a VHS tape with broken "lip" (broken during our last move) and (2) convert its contents to DVD, so that (3) posterity can see the hilarious, "caught-on-tape-by-the-outfitter's videographer/kayaker" antics of my lummox of a partner falling out of the raft his first trip down the New River?

** For a REALLY challenging ride, do the nearby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauley_river">Gauley River. In springtime, there are rapids that are simply marked "unclassified," since they're "off the Richter," so to speak. Be sure to note the nearby http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summersville_Dam">Summersville Dam, which became a bit of a poser for the Army Corps of Engineers, naming-wise. By tradition, the first choice of naming a dam is the nearest post office. That would be Gad, West Virginia, named after the Biblical references. Gad Dam. Um, no. Not in 1966, when the damn dam was completed, anyway. The next choice is usually the river being harnessed. The Gauley River. Gauley Dam. They *almost* went with it. But the higher-ups in DC vetoed it. Spoil sports. The next closest post office (not really that close, actually), is Summersville. Hence, the misnomer.