The US Election

[Serial_Apologist]

that does it boycott Eastwood movies!

Just goes to prove what I've always said: being a friend of Jamie Cullum doesn't always help...

[Lateralthinking1]

Mitt Romney is annointed in Tampa - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19406134



The L A Times on the process - http://www.latimes.com/news/politics...,2261747.story

Paul Ryan - the Vice Presidential candidate - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19223011

Sarah Palin yesterday on people considering voting for Obama -

“These people who still have that addiction to the hope-ium that he had promised, that hope-y, change-y stuff that was really bogus four years ago.........well they have about 71 days to open up their eyes and realize the path that he has put us on, a path toward insolvency, a path toward fewer freedoms and, really, orchestrated chaos and bankruptcy.”

[Pabmusic]

Here's the Guardian editorial: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisf...ce?INTCMP=SRCH

A slightly chilling tone.

[Sydney Grew]

. . . the one year circus . . .

I am afraid they all seem like peas in a pod to me: brash, loud and inhumanly cruel. Every week (according to the article quoted below) the "elected (n.b.) president" personally selects the people he is going to have killed that week without trial:

http://johnpilger.com/articles/histo...ecome-the-news

The New York Times published a long article documenting how Obama personally selects the victims of his drone attacks across the world. He does this on "terror Tuesdays" when he browses through mug shots on a "kill list", some of them teenagers, including "a girl who looked even younger than her 17 years". Many are unknown or simply of military age. Guided by "pilots" sitting in front of computer screens in Las Vegas, the drones fire Hellfire missiles that suck the air out of lungs and blow people to bits. Last September, Obama killed a US citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, purely on the basis of hearsay that he was inciting terrorism. "This one is easy," he is quoted by aides as saying as he signed the man's death warrant. On 6 June, a drone killed 18 people in a village in Afghanistan, including women, children and the elderly who were celebrating a wedding.

The New York Times article was not a leak or an exposé. It was a piece of PR designed by the Obama administration to show what a tough guy the 'commander-in-chief' can be in an election year. If re-elected, Brand Obama will continue serving the wealthy, pursuing truth-tellers, threatening countries, spreading computer viruses and murdering people every Tuesday.

[Lateralthinking1]

I am afraid they all seem like peas in a pod to me: brash, loud and inhumanly cruel.

Thank you to Pabmusic for an informative article from The Guardian and to Sydney Grew for the link to John Pilger. I am really pleased to have received those contributions as this thread can feel like one-way traffic. The election process has fascinated me for many years. I thought that some information on the US election could be presented here in a reasonably entertaining way. Clearly though there is much cynicism. I fully understand it to the extent that it is something that increasingly I share.

Much of the emphasis has been on the process leading to a Republican nomination. This has been a challenge as instinctively I have been for Obama. Rick Santorum notwithstanding, I have tried to be fair. I don't agree with Ron Paul but there is quite a lot about his individuality that encourages thinking about a distinct political philosophy. Lessons can be learnt from it, even if they are mainly about having confirmed what one has already chosen to reject. We might too easily fall into the trap of believing that it couldn't happen here. I write as it is being speculated that Boris Johnson will be the MP for my constituency in 2015. How awful.

Once Romney's candidature was guaranteed, a positive neutrality between him and Obama became more difficult. First, we had all the allegations about Bain Capital and tax avoidance. Then his notorious "flip-flopping" was a stumbling block and it is highlighted again in Pabmusic's link. Plus there have been gaffes in London, the comments on rape by Todd Akin, and the choice in Paul Ryan of the most right-wing Vice-Presidential candidate in US history. And yesterday I read the following from 'The New Yorker' which is ghastly. It is likely to infuriate several forum members quite rightly and it will, without question, confirm their opposition:

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...nd-romney.html

Speaking of the ghastly, that article, Sydney, about both Obama and drone missiles and Lord Coe and Agent Orange has not helped the breakfast go down easily. It is absolutely shocking. Full marks to John Pilger. There are so few journalists who write with such relevance and determination. I don't know how he does it as to focus on such issues must be depressing. Civil Servants know that policy is never easy. Perhaps though Romney and Obama are two peas in a pod. I am sure that people don't speak about cruelty - or kindness - enough. Such words are regarded as weak or impractical when more often than not they are accurate.

I suppose it comes down to the old adage that every political system is a bad one but democracy is the least worst. Still, much as I enjoy the spectacle of elections, what I miss are the politicians with thought and compassion. I see Emily Benn is now working for the UBS bank, not long after standing as a left-wing Labour candidate in Sussex. That shows how current systems are creating potential future leaders who are conflicted. I've also spotted this excellent interview with her grandfather. He isn't perfect - he never has been - but I recommend a viewing. Whatever ones political persuasion, it reminds us that there can still be hope:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBsaQ5ltcK8

[amateur51]

Disturbing reading in all these posts, people - thank you!

I'm not surprised by the Romney revelations and I think that Edmund White's piece is valuable because he gives us an insight into the teenager who became the man. someone needs to challenge Romney about this bullying and seek answers to where he (and we) see this fitting into his contemporary behaviour.

The Obama revelations are a surprise to me and a grave disappointment but then so was the rapid decline of Blair's morality. What these stories tell me is that whenever a politician makes a bid for power, and s/he's basic platform is that they're 'not X' (ie not Bush or not Thatcher) then they have to be questioned ten times more closely if we are to protect ourselves from the perils of mediocrity.

I was delighted to listen to Tony Benn and offer up this report about Desmond Tutu's refusal to take part in a conference about Leadership in Africa in which Blair is participating.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...ver-tony-blair

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel laureate and icon of the anti-apartheid struggle, has withdrawn from a seminar in South Africa in protest at the presence of Tony Blair and the former prime minister's support for the 2003 Iraq war.

"The archbishop is of the view that Mr Blair's decision to support the United States' military invasion of Iraq, on the basis of unproven allegations of the existence in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, was morally indefensible," said Roger Friedman, a spokesman for the cleric, who won the Nobel peace prize in 1984.

"Morality and leadership are indivisible. In this context, it would be inappropriate and untenable for the archbishop to share a platform with Mr Blair," he added.

[scottycelt]

And there's me with this preconceived idea of Americans as forthright people who speak their minds, whereas we are the duplicitous in that regard.

I have a sister who lives in the US, originally in Louisiana and now currently in Maine. She has strong left-liberal views and she says she now thinks she lives in a totally different country after feeling a bit of an oddball (to say the least) in the 'Bible Belt'.

American is a particularly huge country, and, like every other nation, must have its significant 'regional' differences in general populist viewpoint.

I suspect the Americans are just as bemused at international stereotypes applied to them as any other nation, including the British?

[amateur51]

Two attendees were ejected from Republican National Convention on Tuesday for throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman. The individuals told her "this is how we feed animals" as they threw the nuts, multiple witness said.

Convention security and police removed the two from the convention centre shortly after the incident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19414600

[Lateralthinking1]

Two attendees were ejected from Republican National Convention on Tuesday for throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman. The individuals told her "this is how we feed animals" as they threw the nuts, multiple witness said.

Convention security and police removed the two from the convention centre shortly after the incident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19414600

Ams - I feel that when the world moved on to years beginining with a "2", a significant percentage of people lurched backwards. At one time some of it might have been put down to ignorance. These days it is maliciousness where that runs very close to insanity.

I will still take Sydney Grew's "brash, loud and inhumanly cruel" as my phrase of the week. I had just come back from an early morning walk when I read it. It seemed at 6am both to be a precise indicator of all that is wrong with the modern day and yet something that you will never hear people say or read in the popular newspapers. Much too accurate for comfort probably.

Scottycelt - It is true that the United States is many different places. That is why President Obama currently has an OP lead of just 1.1% and it is diminishing. There is a post from Chris Newman on this thread. He noted how extraordinary it was that the election twelve years ago could have been decided by a handful of votes in Florida. Something similar could easily happen in 2012.

[scottycelt]

Two attendees were ejected from Republican National Convention on Tuesday for throwing nuts at a black CNN camerawoman. The individuals told her "this is how we feed animals" as they threw the nuts, multiple witness said.

Convention security and police removed the two from the convention centre shortly after the incident.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-19414600

I think it is appropriate that the idiots who apparently did the offensive and probably drunken deed are described as 'throwing nuts'.

By far the most impressive and capable Republican politician in recent times (admittedly not a particularly tall order) has been a multi-talented lady called Condoleezza Rice.

No white male has come anywhere near to matching her international standing and reputation.

Romney and Ryan in comparison come across as the American equivalent of defensive, flag-wrapped 'Little Englanders'

Depressing outlook for not just the USA but the whole world if Obama is defeated, imv ...