All Posts Tagged With: "Primaries"
Disco, Manilow and Obama
I wrote over half of an article before I realized that my conclusion wasn’t what I thought it would be. In fact, it was the exact opposite. Yet in light of these unexpected findings I am now feeling optimistic about John McCain’s chances in the upcoming election. So how did I come to this conclusion?
My initial premise was that going back to Peter lying about knowing Jesus over 2,000 years ago right up to today, people lie about liking someone if it might be dangerous or unpopular or simply uncool to admit they liked or knew that person. For example, how was it that disco was so popular back in the 70’s if everybody now say they despised it back then? Same with Barry Manilow, who everyone hated yet he still managed to sell millions of albums. Or more recently, if everyone says that Amy Winehouse is, at best, sad and, at worst, mentally deranged, how is it that her Back To Back CD is the biggest selling album of all time on Amazon.com?
I went on to say that this same phenomenon happened during this election where people are lying both for and against the candidates. Obama’s message of change is what everybody says they want. And yes, his race is also a major issue but a positive one, for to say you are voting for Obama proves you are not a racist, right? On the other hand, everybody hates Bush and the Republicans and therefore they dislike John McCain, too. Plus everyone is saying he is too old to be president, and more importantly, voting for him might indicate that you are a closet racist. Therefore if you want everyone to know that you, too, want change and are popular, cool and definitely not a racist then you tell them you are for Obama and against McCain and those awful Republicans.
I continued by saying that we saw this during the primaries. Obama easily won in the caucuses where people had to publicly indicate who they wanted and may have feared being considered a racist or even uncool if they literally didn’t stand in Obama’s corner. On the other hand when people voted in the secrecy of a voting booth where no one would know who they chose then Obama lost.
Where I got in trouble with this article is that based on all of the above I would assume that people are continuing to lie and say they are for Obama in order to look good to the pollsters. So a review of the polls should therefore show that Obama is decisively beating McCain, right? But he’s not. A few polls show he is ahead but only by single digits and one recent poll showed that they were tied!
What does this mean? How can McCain be doing so well when everyone knows that Obama is the man of the hour. He’s even on the cover of Rolling Stone and you can’t get much cooler than that! What about the historically known premise that people tend to lie to pollsters to make themselves look good? This would mean lying that they are for Obama because lets face it, nobody would lie about voting for McCain thinking that would make them look popular. So if you factor in that some people are lying about planning to vote for Obama and if he currently only leads by a few points, at most, then, oh my, it might mean that McCain is actually in the lead.
If the election were held today I wouldn’t be surprised if, to the shock of everybody, McCain is the winner. But the election isn’t for another 4 months and a lot can happen. Nonetheless, Obama shouldn’t be quite so certain that everybody will be voting for him, even including those who are standing in his corner. As for McCain? He needs to let people know that a vote for McCain is definitely not racist nor a third term for Bush. Most of all McCain needs to let us know that it is ok to support him and maybe even popular and cool to vote for him. Although just like disco and Manilow, if you want to deny you liked McCain after the fact, well, once elected and in the White House McCain probably wouldn’t even mind if you denied him three times.
Hillary’s Slip
Poor Hillary. Talk about open mouth and insert foot! Maybe I am naive but I honestly don’t think she meant that she was staying in the race hoping that Obama might be assassinated in June as was Bobby Kennedy. I know it sounded that way and the media and pundits jumped on her but I really think it was more of a case of not being more careful of how she was saying something.She was trying to defend why she should stay in the primaries and was simply giving examples of other primaries that were still being contested in the summer months. She said that her husband didn’t wrap up his first primaries until June and that Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June. Again, she was only trying to point out that Bobby was still campaigning in the month of June, not that she was waiting for someone to assassinate Obama.
What is interesting is how everyone immediately thought the worst of her. It says a lot about her character or at least how others perceive her character that they would even think she might be hoping her opponent was shot. And more than anything else that is why she should never be president. How could you possibly trust Hillary when you believe she is capable of doing almost anything to obtain her goals? And some would say that she has done the unthinkable before to protect herself (think Vince Foster).
Even though Hillary might not have meant she was waiting for Obama to be assassinated I am nervous that there are some who might take her up on that. God forbid, if Obama were to be shot, Hillary could not be the candidate for too many people would remember this statement and say she was the cause. One bright spot is that the majority of Hillary’s most ardent supporters are middle aged white woman. That is the least likely group to pick up a gun and go after somebody. But as they say, it only takes one crazy person and no matter what the demographics every group has at least one nut case.
On the other side, John McCain should be on his hands and knees thanking Hillary for her controversial statement. Late Friday he published his medical records and his wife’s tax returns from last year. It is a typical politician’s tactic to provide potentially damaging information on the eve of a three day weekend when most people have the TV’s turned off and aren’t paying attention to the news. Clinton’s faux pas combined with all the continuing weather related disasters and stories on the high gas prices dropped McCain’s news to the bottom of the stories being reported.
Most people, though. aren’t paying much attention to politics right now. And I must admit that I love this weekend. As a child it meant a big parade in my small town where if I wasn’t marching in my Girl Scout uniform then I could be found with my family under the big tree waving my little flag. And then regardless of how cold it still might be you just had to take a dip in the pool even if it was just a quick in and out. As an adult this was always the first big national holiday since February and I really looked forward to the much needed three day weekend.
As you enjoy your holiday here is a final fun political thought. In addition to parades, pools, beaches and cook outs, this weekend also marks the start of the summer movie season. For me, as for many others, I can’t wait to go see the new Indiana Jones movie. But keep this in mind as you watch Harrison Ford in this action packed movie – this vibrant, energetic man is just 7 years younger than John McCain!
What is Happening When & Where in the 2008 Primaries
For the lowdown on the 2008 Schedule of Presidential Primaries Click Here.
About Primaries
This feature will help us “Organize..Hypocrisy..Right Here”
And for you to be able to check out some of the goings on. We provide several ways for you to search among each of the primaries as well as each of the candidates. Check out the ave separate Drop Down Features in the brown line above and in the Drop Down Categories to the right for both Candidates and Primaries.
Before you know it we will be down to the “FINAL TWO” among the Reublican and Democratic candidates of their choice for the November Madness unless money and politics conspire to provided us with a “Final Three” this year.
Is this more fun that the Final Four or what….?
Jonathan Martin on Republicans in the Primaries
What the Republicans up to in the 2008 campaign according to Jonathan Martin of Politico.com