Okay so it finally happened. I've been trying to stay away and live a clean life. But sometimes it's just all around you and you find yourself saying, "well just once won't hurt me any". And from there, there's no turning back. So it is with a great sense of shame that I admit that I'm plugging back into American politics. For my starting point I've put politico.com on my homepage and would recommend that any readers interested in the upcoming election do the same. Still, it's hard not to feel dirty about the whole thing. Malcolm doesn't seem to have the same trepidations that I do but then again he's a Labour man (more in a good sense than bad, but still).
While East coast liberals like to view themselves as true defenders of the blue flame it has commonly been the sons of the plains and mountains that have bled in two World Wars (although no bets on which side we took in the first one), Korea, and Vietnam. Not to mention Bush's folly which I won't even touch for fear of sparking an aneurysm which leaves my wife to find my body slumped over a keyboard when Hillary is the best alternative we've got.
Though a few notes real quick on things. Certainly Ron Paul has the mantle in terms of guerrilla campaigning in this election. Former commanders of this force have been Ralph Nader and Ross Perot. While they certainly add an entertainment value to the race they're really only that. Though the fact my grandma's neighbor who is a member of the John Birch Society and drags a UN flag from his truck has a Ron Paul sign in his yard means that I will not be joining that carnival.
Interesting note in regards to funding for the Dems and Republicans. After playing the social conservative card to get into office, the lack of action on immigration (a major issue for both parties), moral judgements, and fiscal conservatism has finally come back to bite the administration and his heirs in the ass. Corporate donations to both Hillary and Obama from the likes of Warren Buffett have been forthcoming and I've already mentioned how Hillary is the darling of Wall Street. While this is good news for the two Democratic front runners it does become a bit problematic when the big three attempt to play the populist card. Even Hillary has been playing up how during her husband's tenure the economy was peachy keen. Maybe we don't want to look too closely at how NAFTA and free trade agreements with China hit the rust belt.
In other news, the Latino vote has come under scrutiny. Of interest to yours truly was this little tidbit from the upcoming primaries in Nevada in which Paul Lopez of previous fame was noted as a "rising star".
Canvassers are generally told never to enter a home. But with this program, the canvassers try to get inside and talk at length with the voter to develop a deeper level of engagement.
Paul Lopez, a 29-year-old Denver City Council member and a
rising star in politics there, was in town recently for a weekend of this
intimate canvassing. Asked about the best way to reach Hispanic voters, he pointed to his shoes. Door-to-door and face-to-face.
In other words, winning among Latinos is like winning with everyone else.
So yeah, all in all I'm not getting all giddy over any of the selection just yet. I'm glad some people can get more excited about getting rid of Bush than me. But then again I don't think that getting rid of bush should mean getting frigid, but what the hell do I know?
Obviously this section will be updated at my leisure, or should I say, as my neurosis impels me.
6 comments:
Keep it going. I'm amazed by the election and all the info you can collate will be great.
Like I said, I've put www.politico.com on my daily reading list and highly recommend it to others.
What I'm struck by on a personal level is the apathy on the ground. Maybe it's too soon for non-politicos to get revved up but I have a feeling that it may run deeper.
A co-worker told me (quite awhile ago now) that he's been a lifelong Democrat because they were the ones who were supposed to care about the working people in this country but that he's going independent because it doesn't look like they give two shits about us anymore (and I would agree with that statement).
These last eight years have seen many lifelong Republicans become very disillusioned with the administration and the GOP in general. Some may gravitate to the different candidates but many who aren't active party members seem to simply have given up on the process all together. I feel the same can be said for Democrats as well since the largest grouping is now independents. The problem being that there is no third party to collect these votes and many candidates simply try go purple to catch as many votes as they can. This seems to have worked in the short term with Democrats making inroads with rural, business, and military candidates. And while this has provided a short term boost I think that it may lead to longer term chronic disillusionment as voters ask, "just what is the difference here?" when they go to the ballot box. We'll have to wait and see.
C'mon, OAC.
It's easy: vote as left as you can get.
That seemed OK, when it was fed me in the early 60s. The only change I've made to the mantra in nearly half a century is to insert "electably" before "get".
Works for me.
Malcolm,
The problem with that is that we now find ourselves in a situation where Hillary therefor counts as left. And though she herself professes that when it suits her I don't believe that any candidate subsidised by Wall Street will be an agent of change at least in a good sense. I presume she still stnads by NAFTA which was did indeed harbor alot of change.
Sorry about that last comment. One would think that I've been drinking when in fact I just haven't had enough coffee yet this morning.
OAC: in my adult life-time you've given us Nixon, Reagan and two Bushes (one of whom was almost house-trained, by comparison).
Viewed from Europe, Hillary looks like a decent prospect (though, in an ideal world, there are better). We don't ask much: just someone capable of running a decent economy, not further mucking up the environment and not water-boarding Kiribati, and not running foreign policy based on the collected works of John Wayne.
It's a foul wet day here in London, so, like you, back to the caffeine.
Regards.
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