And, no, the following rant will not be a partisan one, and will equally refer to both Kerry and Bush in unflattering terms.
The reason why this country is so divided and contentious is that, absent a compelling candidate on EITHER side, we have to resort to the lesser of two evils, mainly along the lines of how we were raised politically. If your were R's you likely voted for Bush - if your parents were D's, you likely voted for Kerry. Since neither was an interesting candidate, we get the electoral mess we have now.
The fault for this lies with the MEDIA. Since we have gone to a 24 hour news cycle, the media struggles for something to report on. Therefore they cover whatever minutiae they can, including ancient things from a candidates personal life. This leads to two types of candidates - the Bland and the Lying.
Kerry is bland - never did anything wrong, so they had to cover made up stories, like the swift boats. Bush is more the liar type, where he successfully got people to focus on terrorism rather than what he himself had done in life and on the domestic front.
Occasionally we get lucky, and get a liar who is a good candidate, like Clinton, but that's been rare. Gore and Dole were both bland bastards.
What we need is a straight talker type, who avoids bullshit, apologizes for mistakes, and ISN'T PERFECT. McCain and Dean (minus the scream) are good examples of the types we need to run - people who would actually present a compelling case for what should happen.
Anyways, as you can tell, I am sleep-deprived and pissed off. I'll have more for you later - though I may try and avoid anything resembling the news at all costs for the next week or so.
2 comments:
Well, I've contradicted you. My parents are Republican, I'm Republican, but I voted Democrat. Not because I hate Bush and not because I like Kerry, but because I looked at the issues that mattered most to me right now and found that Kerry was in agreement with most of them. Unlike most people, I don't think we're doomed or that the immigration rates in Canada will rise, but with every presidency we must continue to fight for what we believe in regardless of our political stances. I guess that's the right we have as Americans. But as JFK said, "No one has a right to grade a President who has not sat in this chair, examined the mail and other information that came across his desk, and learned why he made his decisions."
I do agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your post.
~Dawn
Big ups to my girl Dawn for posting. Nothing but love. Good point - it's not all based upon your parents - some poeple, like Dawn, actually think and make up their minds. A lot of poeple don't, though.
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