Tag: campaigning

 

Hail, Gunslinger!

OK, I don’t go for the Tex impersonation thing often but I got a kick out of this one… There’s a new sherrif in town.

Kerry needs to put person in front of Politics

I like to joke in private that the turning point of John Kerry’s campaign – while he was being blasted and left for dead by Howard Dean before the presidential primaries — was his “Kerryfuck” scandal. John Kerry said during an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, “Did I expect George Bush to fuck it up (Iraq) as badly as he did? I don’t think anybody did.”

Kerryfuck was born. Not just that, but it got me cracking jokes about his need to be obscene to get any press…. Well, I think Kerryfuck actually might be part of what John needs to get back into the press.

I looked in the St. Petersburg Times Perspective section today and like every other Sunday it is chock full of Bush talk… How bad Bush is doing, how Bush wouldn’t have chose this war if he served in one, how Bush this and Bush that… In each article there is brief mention of John Kerry as his opponent in November’s election and I have to wonder how much this is hurting John Kerry’s campaign.

Not only is John Kerry hurting his own campaign by not embracing the art of the Kerryfuck, the media is hurting Kerry’s campaign by focusing squarely on Boy Blunder and how bad things are going. Maybe it’s because Boy George comes off more like a human in screwed up circumstances than John Kerry? Kerry — a decorated war veteran and a Junior Senator from Massachusetts — comes off like a politician in his campaigning. He looks like the candidate who will kiss babies and then steal their lollipops in the future and not like the every-man he needs to be. He has that aristocrat flair of fictitious candidates / Presidents of the past — but does he have what it takes to seem less like a caricature and more like a human? Would John Kerry be willing to, say, show up at a Red Sox game, or perchance make an appearance at a Stanley Cup playoff game? That would certainly make him seem more human (he’s a big sports fan – that’s why I mention these things). Would he profit by making campaign stops, or by making TV appearances on Letterman, Leno, Kimmel, O’Brien and Kilborne (not to mention Jon Stewart which might trump all of the aforementioned talk shows)? By going shopping in a public place instead of having another dinner affair with chieftain fundraisers?

He’s got to generate interest in his campaign once again… For both the sake of getting media attention and for getting people’s attention. He needs to show the world that Kerryfuck – the relaxed and the more human side of John Kerry — exists and not the pompous asshole who campaigns and makes speeches and uses botox to not seem so old. He needs to get back to beating George W. Bush and not sitting back and wait9ing for Bush to beat himself.

Come on, Kerry, don’t further “fuck it up”… That’s George W’s Job…. America needs to get it’s head out of it’s ass and that will not happen with continued elitist arrogance from the Bush regime.

Nader for Senate

Democrats loathe Ralph Nader (well, some of them do) because of the 2000 election which AL Gore lost because of poor campaigning. Voters looked for an alternative that was closer to their ideals and more of a stark contrast between Gore and Bush and Ralph Nader fit the bill.

I should know, I was one of those disillusioned voters that switched to Nader. Not just because I was tired of the Clinton / Gore scandals, not just because Gore was pandering too much to the swing voters, but also because I had some idea that I could help build the Green Party by getting 5 percent of the vote for their candidate and thus matching funds for 2004.

Mistake.

There is talk that Nader may run for President again in 2004 and I am one of many voters who sent Ralph’s exploration committee a note encouraging him NOT to run for President. The election is too important for a third candidate to play spoiler.

But there is still relevance to the man that is Ralph. There is still aneed for Nader in American Politics…

See, there’s this guy in Connecticut — Ralph’s native state — that has been running for senate the past few years and being successful at it. The problem is this senator – a democrat – is nothing like a democrat in his voting record… Not only that, he isn’t a progressive — he’s a moderate or Bush Lite.

I’m talking about little Joe Lieberman.

In the current state of America, where Democrats are afraid to stand up – Joe Lieberman is an embodiment of Democratic failure. Ralph Nader is an icon of the liberal/progressive kind… Which one will do more for the left politically in Senate?

Ralph ought to be running for Senate.

A stark liberal influence in the senate is what America needs. Washington Democrats are proving to be notorious for acting as the minority and bending to the will of Republicans. Though Nader is not a Democrat or a Green, he is Progressive enough to take stances on issues that would benefit both parties — and America with his votes.

So Ralph, if by some miracle you read this — stay out of the Presidential election… Do America a favor and run for Senate — we’re in need of your influence… But make sure your influence is felt through a election you CAN win, not a farce that only coddles your ego.

Campaigning

…With lack of much more to do right now (though I should be writing) I decided to offer my web design services to Mike Emmons and his District Seven campaign here in Florida. Of course there are bigger issues at stake than just his web site but of course – first things first and I am just a humble web designer who’s got one too many Political thoughts for his own good.

Emmons happened to be screwed in the IT field by Outsourcing. My only concern is his campaign is a one-trick pony like Nader’s was in 2000… He’s probably got more stances on more things and an idea what constituents are thinking of but right now his site reflects only one concern and thus – well, it leaves many to wonder how much this guy is supposed to be better than the incumbent?

There are a lot fo things I deducted looking at his page — room for improvement is there. The question is, can the passion of a presidential campaign rub off on a US House race and use some of the same logic? I am guessing that it very well could work.