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September 03, 2008
Al & Mike Show - Episode 36 - Election! Pt.2
We talk more Canadian election, some American election, and more Canadian election... and a bit of everything else. Jay Currie (http://jaycurrie.info-syn.com) joins us for the show, sitting in for Al.
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Posted by Mike Brock on September 3, 2008 | Permalink
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I enjoyed listening to this episode, and would like to offer a few comments in regards to the U.S. presidential election. (1) It will be very difficult for Sen. Obama to move to the political center after courting the Democratic Party's leftist activist base. No Democrat has accomplished this feat. Bill Clinton staked out the center--and stayed there--by shrewdly crafting a panoply of several issues, with stances that appealed--depending on the issue--to centrists, liberals and conservatives. This did not endear him to the Jackson/Chomsky/Cockburn/Van den Heuvel axis, the 68-ers, and the nattering classes of Madison, Cambridge, and Tribeca, but he DID win votes and delegates. Obama's populist appeal is limited to Black Americans, who are understandably enthused with his candidacy. (2) The choice of Joe Biden is one that will provide SOME balance for Obama's candidacy, but his appeal to working-class white ethnics (like your humble servant) is limited. Biden's talent and experience are considerably vitiated by his public persona, which is that of a gaffe-prone, painfully humorless, arrogant windbag. No one has referred to him as Obama's Agnew--yet. (3) Sen. McCain's choice of Gov. Palin as his VP-designate is an audacious one, to say the least, but she seems to have buttressed the McCain candidacy; she appeals not just to "fundamentalists" but to Defence Conservatives like your humble servant and to the O'Reillyesque traditionalists. This allows McCain to venture beyond the 50-yard line (or C-55 if you will) to snare crucial independent and Latino voters. FIN DE COMMUNICATION--for now. Cheers.
Posted by: Joe Tully | Sep 8, 2008 12:40:16 AM
Word has it that Mr. Harper has called for a new election--news travels slowly across the Ponds, though rest assured that it has reached Chicago. If I may offer some more comentary on the U.S. presidential campaign: (1) Mr. Bush's unpopularity is exceeded by that of both houses of congress and the Democrat congressional leadership. Also, many of Bush's critics (such as myself) are on the right. We fault the Bush regime for its failure to engage the public--and thus confront the liberal media--over the War on Jihadism and all other major issues. Not only does the administration do little, it says even less. An infuriatingly inarticulate President and a shadowy Veep have allowed the media to fill the info vacuum--not good for McCain or for the country or for the West. In other words, I would bet that MOST of Bush's detractors are on the Right. (2) Sarah Palin has had some tough sledding (pun intended) this past week-and-a-half, but the narcissists of the media have, if anything, galvanized support for her. McCain's support has increased dramatically among female voters, according to one recent poll. I sense that this support is particularly strong among MARRIED, MIDDLE-AGED women, but I'm not sure; the identity politics of the Left don't extend to age and marital status. At any rate, many of us have figuratively "formed square" around her and Sen. McCain. Here's wishing you--and Mr. Harper's Tories--well.
Posted by: Joe Tully | Sep 9, 2008 12:35:56 AM
Dept. of/Service de Corrections: Oops! Please replace "MOST" with "MANY" of Bush's detractors. Looking forward to Episode 37.
Posted by: Joe Tully | Sep 10, 2008 3:33:34 PM
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