Charles Stricklin

Several years ago, when I regularly poli-blogged and read Dean Esmay religiously, I commented there that I felt the Reagan Revolution was over, and I took a lot of flak for that. I honestly believe that the election of George H. W. Bush as president marked the beginning of the decline and the results of Florida’s presidential primary proves it’s taken its last breath.

Of the five candidates left, the one who’s a clear RINO wins against at least two other candidates that are closer in principle and practice to Ronaldus Magnus, then has the unmitigated gall to claim the win somehow proves he’s the heir apparent!

I have issues with Ron Paul’s foreign policy, particularly as it relates to the war on terror in general and the Iraq in particular, but his vision of the USA in terms of limited government and strict adherence to the Constitution probably puts him closer to Reagan than anyone else up on the dais. He’ll never win the nomination, though. Pity.

Governor Romney, unlike either Mayor Guiliani or Senator McCain, has been married to one, and only one wife for nearly the last four decades. Unlike Senator McCain, Governor Romney actually earned his millions instead of marrying into money. (Being Vice President of Public Relations at an Anheuser-Busch beer distributorship doesn’t count as executive experience, sorry.) Romney’s in favor of limited government, lower and more fair taxation, a strong national defense, pro 2nd-amendment and pro-life.

Senator McCain, on the other hand, voted against the Bush tax cuts twice; co-sponsored McCain-Feingold which placed limits on the free speech of average Americans and led to the rise of advocacy groups such as MoveOn.org and Code Pink; worked with the Senate’s most Liberal member Ted Kennedy to try, not once, not twice, but three times to force amnesty for illegal immigrants down the throats of U.S. citizens; he led the “Gang of 14” that established the previously unheard of right for senators to filibuster judcial nominees; he’s embraced the anti-capitalist, man-made global warming nonsense with the McCain-Lieberman Stewardship Act; and he’s waffled on 2nd-amendment and pro-life issues.

No doubt, he’s a very personable man, and I’d support his nomination as Defense Secretary one day, but his POW days and his support for the Iraqi surge notwithstanding, Senator McCain should instead be running against Senators Clinton and Obama for the Democrat nomination, not being the front runner in the GOP primaries.

Not that Romney is the heir apparent to Reagan, either. All of the nominees fall way too short of what I’d call a Reagan Republican, meaning we’ll have gone 24 years (1988-2012) without a Reaganesque candidate. In my opinion, that means it’s time to declare the Reagan Revolution officially over.

Let’s hope someone growing up today is feeling particularly revolutionary four years from now.

…I hope your battery dies.

My given name is Charles. I’m named after my maternal great uncle, Charles Graham, who was the president of the bank and once mayor of Henrietta, Texas. My mother wanted to name me, “Chas,” which is the abbreviation of Charles (why is reducing a seven-letter name to three necessary, I always wondered?), but my father prevailed and I was named Charles.

My business cards say, “Charles.” My identification badge says, “Charles.” I introduce myself as “Charles.” Yet, for some reason, people rarely seem to pick up on the fact that my name is Charles.

They break down into two camps: Those who want to call me “Charlie” and those who want to call me “Chuck”. I bristle at the former much more than the latter.

One of Dale Carnegie’s important rules is remembering that people attach special significance to their own name. Call out, “Charlie!” in a crowded restaurant and I might not take notice… call out, “Charles!” in that same situation and my head immediately snaps around.

That’s because my name is Charles, not Charlie or Chuck.

I’m just saying…

Wow! When I posted my thoughts on Graffiti’s caustic advertising, I never expected to become the focus of a major controversy!

Some additional thoughts and clarifications, in no particular order:

1. I was mostly commenting on Telligent motives and manner of advertising, not mainly on defending WordPress. It needs no defense. I would venture 90% of those who choose it as either blogware or a CMS remain satisfied and are not looking for an alternative. It was the company’s marketing campaign that raised my ire.
   Choosing the keyword of one’s competitor was a bold and risky move of their part. I also think it was poorly executed. Because WordPress has established both market share and a devoted, almost religious following, challenging… no… taunting its devotees is almost certain to backfire on you.
   I liken it to the Catholic church placing an ad in Jewish World Daily claiming, “Judaism is a false religion… try ours instead!”, or, maybe a better example is the classic, “Hi, I’m a Mac… and I’m a PC” ads. Those ads are meant for two audiences: Mac users who feel secure in the belief that their operating system is superior and PC users who are considering switching. But because the ads portray PC in a doltish, yet not mean-spirited way, we all chuckle regardless of where we buy our software from.
2. One commenter mentioned that I’d been used to generate interest in, and no doubt Google juice for a product that, up until then, few people had heard of. I concede that’s a good point. But does WordPress have anything to fear? I think not. The people who would switch to this or other competitors are likely already unsatisfied and looking for an alternative. If I gave them free press, so be it.
3. I find it humorous the people at Telligent claim WordPress is not a CMS, like they’re the arbiters of such things. If people use it as a CMS, then regardless of how many features it has, it’s a CMS. In my opinion, their strategy should have been, “Here’s why Graffiti is a better CMS than WordPress…”
4. That they’ve created software to compete with much more well-established market leaders is commendable! Where would we be if no one dared innovate and compete when faced with daunting market leaders? More power to them!
5. Finally, what I objected to at the onset, and in the subsequent controversy, is the mean-spiritedness with which they conducted themselves. They belittled us as fanboys and not knowing what we’re talking about, and here we were, defending ourselves in a fight they themselves instigated.
   They’re free to do what they want, I just think they would have and will fare better if they focused on their strengths instead of their competitor’s perceived weaknesses.

When you produce The WordPress Podcast and your GMail address is wordpresspodcast, Google tends to pick up on the keyword… it’d be pretty hard not to. Now it turns out someone is using the WordPress keyword not to pitch themes or plugins, not to promote their consulting business or installation tutorials, but instead to diss WordPress itself.

Telligent, the makers of the Graffiti CMS software they’re promoting here, has been buying the Google AdWord ‘WordPress’ to display messages like this within GMail:

Previously, they’d said, “Tired of WordPress? - graffiticms.com/wordpress - Want something easier to work with Free and commercial versions”

Clicking the link takes you to a page that claims the Graffitti CMS is easier and quicker to install than WordPress, takes a swipe at PHP and claims that somehow Microsoft’s .NET and IIS technology is better than *nix and PHP. Many of the features they claim to hold over WordPress were included long ago. The crux of their beef with WordPress seems to be in their claim that WordPress is blogware, not a content management system (CMS). Really? Tell that to C-NET, the New York Times, Ford and several others.

What they seem to be saying, without coming out and just saying it, is, “Open Source Software = bad, proprietary = good.” And that’s a valid subject open to debate, but don’t start slinging mud and then skirt the issue.