Link via [Crooks & Liars]
Showing posts with label john mccain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label john mccain. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Net Trends '08: How candidates are using the net
http://thinkprogress.org/nettrends08
I couldn't help but notice this as soon as I first clicked on this link:
So, are the conservatives trying to alienate the youth vote? How long does it take for Rudy's or McCain's staff to set up a goddamned MySpace profile?
Oh, hey, found Mitt Romney's Facebook page -- the lone GOP candidate using some technology other than static HTML.
On a related note, peace out to Tom Vilsack's presidential aspirations. You had a funny name, pal, but that's about all we knew about you. Good luck in all your future funny-name-havin' endeavors.
Link via [Crooks & Liars]
I couldn't help but notice this as soon as I first clicked on this link:
So, are the conservatives trying to alienate the youth vote? How long does it take for Rudy's or McCain's staff to set up a goddamned MySpace profile?
Oh, hey, found Mitt Romney's Facebook page -- the lone GOP candidate using some technology other than static HTML.
On a related note, peace out to Tom Vilsack's presidential aspirations. You had a funny name, pal, but that's about all we knew about you. Good luck in all your future funny-name-havin' endeavors.
Link via [Crooks & Liars]
Thursday, January 18, 2007
On the topic of Electability
The primaries are still over a year away, and every day we're hearing about new exploratory committees to determine someone's chances of being elected to the highest office in the land. To some, this is the beginning of a too-long election process that will dominate headlines and conversations. To me, it's an encouraging sign that folks still care enough about democratic politics to have dozens of hopefuls revving their engines at the starting line here in January 2007.
Right now, though, it's a bit discouraging to tune in on cable TV or talk radio when they're talking non-stop about the elect-ability of a person; especially when they're discussing things like gender, race, religion, marital status, and other things that should have no bearing on a campaign two years ahead of Election Day (or at all, in most cases). Save that shit for the primaries, when strategy actually will count for something. Now is the time for original ideas, policy discussions, and public service track records.
Instead, we're already descending into the petty and the mundane. Everyone's asking one another the same silly questions with the same incredulous, wide-eyed faces as though they were the first people to think:
"Will Americans vote for a woman?"
"Will Americans vote for a black guy?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy who's been married three times?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy who's smoked pot?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy whose name doesn't sound of Anglo-Saxon origin?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy who did coke?"
The answer to most of the above WOULD be yes, but unfortunately the questions get asked so much that folks get spooked and tend to shy away from these candidates, gravitating toward more "safe" choices -- candidates that are, as the term goes, more "electable". We sacrifice the chance to have the best public policy and to have the best possible leaders in office because we're all scrambling to put our money down on the one who we think has the best chance to win.
Because of this phenomenon, genuinely interesting candidates like Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, Hilary Clinton, and John McCain are already being thrown under the bus by a mass media that has nothing better to talk about at this point in the campaign than how black, divorced, female, or old they are. It's as though if they're being punished for coming to the party early; and yet, anyone who dares to make a late entrance will be dismissed as being a long-shot. What's left are the in-betweeners, the play-it-safers, the favorites in Vegas -- the leaders Americans choose not because they want the best government, but because they want to Win At All Costs.
Right now, though, it's a bit discouraging to tune in on cable TV or talk radio when they're talking non-stop about the elect-ability of a person; especially when they're discussing things like gender, race, religion, marital status, and other things that should have no bearing on a campaign two years ahead of Election Day (or at all, in most cases). Save that shit for the primaries, when strategy actually will count for something. Now is the time for original ideas, policy discussions, and public service track records.
Instead, we're already descending into the petty and the mundane. Everyone's asking one another the same silly questions with the same incredulous, wide-eyed faces as though they were the first people to think:
"Will Americans vote for a woman?"
"Will Americans vote for a black guy?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy who's been married three times?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy who's smoked pot?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy whose name doesn't sound of Anglo-Saxon origin?"
"Will Americans vote for a guy who did coke?"
The answer to most of the above WOULD be yes, but unfortunately the questions get asked so much that folks get spooked and tend to shy away from these candidates, gravitating toward more "safe" choices -- candidates that are, as the term goes, more "electable". We sacrifice the chance to have the best public policy and to have the best possible leaders in office because we're all scrambling to put our money down on the one who we think has the best chance to win.
Because of this phenomenon, genuinely interesting candidates like Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, Hilary Clinton, and John McCain are already being thrown under the bus by a mass media that has nothing better to talk about at this point in the campaign than how black, divorced, female, or old they are. It's as though if they're being punished for coming to the party early; and yet, anyone who dares to make a late entrance will be dismissed as being a long-shot. What's left are the in-betweeners, the play-it-safers, the favorites in Vegas -- the leaders Americans choose not because they want the best government, but because they want to Win At All Costs.
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