Tag Archive for 'US elections'

John McCain and the future of the Republicans

Published
by
Terry
6 months, 2 weeks ago
in Foreign Elections, Politics, Sociology and USA
. 19 Comments

Cross-posted at Terry Flew’s blog.

Most attention in the U.S. Presidential elections has been given to the Democratic Party, and the wide schism revealed in its support base between supporters of Hillary Clinton (majority of women, Latinos, older voters, lower income, lower average levels of education) and Barack Obama (majority of African-Americans, younger voters, higher income, tertiary educated). It has been cast as “a standoff between the Dukes of Hazzard and the Huxtables”, but its fault lines are pretty clear. This cannot be said for the Republican Party going into the 2008 elections.

John McCain does not bring a strong hand to the election, although the ongoing saga of the Democrat nominee has helped somewhat. There is usually a change in the governing party after eight years of one President holding office. While this was not true in 1988, George Bush gained the presidency with Ronald Reagan having a personal approval rating of about 60%. George W. Bush has a personal approval rating below 30%, and sinking. Even if his approval figures were better, this would be no guarantee against change. Bill Clinton left office with personal approval ratings over 60%, but his Vice-President Al Gore could not defeat the Republicans in 2000.

The position of the Republicans as a party is far worse than that of John McCain as its presumptive Presidential nominee. Continue reading ‘John McCain and the future of the Republicans’

Chic-Lit Meets Hanging Chad

Published
by
Mark
3 years, 8 months ago
in Culture and Politics
. 2 Comments

Daughter of the 2000 Demo presidential candidate, Kristin Gore, has published her first novel:

Samantha Joyce is one of the most irritating people you might ever have the misfortune to meet. She wears non-matching shoes to work. What a hoot! She imagines that she only has one arm and must perform her daily tasks with just one hand. Hilarious! But it’s all right because Samantha has a cause. Samantha cares. She cares about people, about the world, about exploitation, about almost anything. A scatterbrain of the highest order, a delusional, demented, paranoid hypochondriac, Samantha somehow manages to hold down a high-powered job advising a US senator on, of all things, health policy. She even gets to write the policy that becomes the defining issue of a presidential election campaign.

I’m sure that this inspirational heroine had her adventures published solely through the intrinsic merits of her tale. Consider this example of fine writing:

My brief time in DC had made me aware of just how difficult it was to effect positive change, but working for RG had also bolstered my faith in the potential for progress, and I wanted my confidence to be rewarded with a tangible advancement - something I could point to and know was improving people’s lives. I firmly believed that a comprehensive prescription drug plan for the millions of Americans struggling to afford their health care would provide just that.

Miramax are releasing the film. Can’t wait.

I think film maker Alex Kerry would have been a far better First Daughter.