I was on vacation for the past week and a bit. I'll be getting back up to speed within the next few days. Judging from friends' reactions to the RNC convention - outright shock and unmitigated fury - I can safely say I'm glad I had a news blackout. As news of McCain's VP choice slowly seeps into my info-sphere, the old gloom is setting back in too. I mean, c'mon, a right-wing extremist? Most laughable: Republicans went after Obama for being an inexperienced unknown, even though the "inexperienced" part stems from a willful distortion of Obama's record. (See here.) And what do they do? They trot out an unimpressively experienced unknown, a predictably regressive candidate who appeals to the very people who gave the US, and the world, George W. Bush. Ugh.
I miss that news blackout.
I miss that news blackout.
5 comments:
Hope you enjoyed your time away (Canada, yes?). Sarah Palin depressed me for a few days, but I'm still nursing depression over Joe Biden. These were not the greatest choices ever. But remember Dan Quayle and Geraldine Ferraro?
What's really pissing me off Frederik is that I didn't get a news blackout here in Australia. We've been getting news on the new VP candidate and they're making out like she's something special too! Totally avoiding the fact that she's a right-wing nut job with a heavy religious background totally bent on screwing the average person and making millions from the oil industry. Hey welcome back! :)
Yeah, Joe Biden didn't make me break out the bubbly either. It was, like Palin is for McCain, a political stunt to spin voters. Unsurprisingly, ideals give way to politics, if there even were any ideals to begin with.
Nick, it's nice to know the foreign press is as easily duped as the American media biz.
Unfortunately the Australian press seems to be following the election in the US like as if it matters to Australians. We have the wonderfully controlled TV news casts and the controlled news papers with huge stories on the upcomming US elections. They're in the middle of the paper, but still. Even though I do care somewhat, really does it matter who the hell the president is here in Australia? Even worse why we should even comment on it since we can't do anything about it anyway? It's not like Americans are buying Australian papers... Also the TV broadcasts of Palin were pathetic by the way they only showed the famous "hockey mom" quote and the put downs of Obama and the democrates. Like as if she wrote the f**king speech... Don't you like the possibility that Palin could be president? Here's a link you might find interesting, some people got upset about it but I thought it was well done:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-harris3-2008sep03,0,5745350.story
I think it's a good reflection of the average American voter.
For better or worse, the American president has a tremendous impact on the rest of the world, hence the world's vested interested in the election's results.
Sam Harris makes a good point, one that actually popped into mind once I learned about Sarah Palin. By choosing a youngster, he tacitly admits to being too old to be president. But shh...don't say that out loud.
(Oh, and I did enjoy my trip to Canada. Thanks!)
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