A LOVE SUPREME

I am now blogging at a new blog: erdman31.com

If you post comments here at Theos Project, please know that I will respond and engage your thoughts in a timely manner.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Diverging paths for two parties

The Republican and Democratic presidential contests began diverging Tuesday, leaving the Democrats facing a long and potentially divisive nomination battle and the Republicans closer to an opportunity to put aside deep internal divisions and rally around a nominee.
Adam Nagourney, Diverging paths for two parties, New York Times

10 comments:

Kellsotr said...

I just cannot believe that McCain is what anyone thinks is best as a candidate to put against the Dems. His views so closely align with Bush that I do not see how he can even compete.

Jonathan Erdman said...

I agree with you that M. will get eaten alive in the gen election. This is the Dems year......the only exception is if Hillary wins the Dem nomination. The Conservative base might rally w/ M. if for no other reason than their fear of more Clinton years and their hatred of Hillary. Come to think of it, that just might do it.

I think if B.O. wins the nomination, he will win the general election.....so says I.....

john doyle said...

"The Conservative base might rally w/ M. if for no other reason than their fear of more Clinton years and their hatred of Hillary."

Somebody speaking in favor of Obama at the CO caucus actually made this argument for why the Dems ought not to endorse Hillary.

john doyle said...

"I think if B.O. wins the nomination, he will win the general election."

What if Bush invades Iran and maybe Pakistan too -- do you think McCain would win then? Believe it or not, there are people on the left who fear that Bush/Cheney will, for the security of the country, refuse to relinquish the presidency if the winner of the election promises to pull out of Iraq.

Jonathan Erdman said...

there are people on the left who fear that Bush/Cheney will, for the security of the country, refuse to relinquish the presidency if the winner of the election promises to pull out of Iraq.


Wow, that's a cool theory....What then? Martial law?

That would make for interesting blogging...unless all the blogs were then shut down.....then I would just have to sit at home and think about all the cool things I could blog about....

Kellsotr said...

Oh...you'll love this!!!

http://www.weeklyradioaddress.com/WRA20070127.htm

john doyle said...

Regarding a possible Bush-Cheney coup, the question was: who will stop them? Presumably not the military, if Bush-Cheney contend that they have to stay the course for the sake of American safety. The Supreme Court? It's a close call, but they didn't override the Florida election fiasco of 2000. Congress? What can they do about it? I think the smoother plan is for the corporate donors and the intelligence community to make sure that any Democrat who might win the election is bought into the program before s/he takes office.

I predict: McCain names Huckabee as his running mate and they win the presidency. Romney is the real face of the Republican party, representing big business. But it's not an attractive face as far as the general populace is concerned. So you get as the front men a war hero and a religious right guy, leaving the suits to operate in the back rooms. Between now and the election, the US occupies Pakistan in order to chase down al-Qaeda. Both Afhganistan and Pakistan will be declare failed states, requiring US military presence to "stabilize the region." The American public will once again rally around this cry for war against an Islamic Asian foe.

Jonathan Erdman said...

For a while it seemed as though McCain would pick Giuliani, and that still seems to be a possibility, but picking Huckabee satisfies and energizes the evangelical base. So, picking H makes more sense to me. McCain can go out and get the coveted "independents" and "swing voters," while H can go preach in the churches. I'm not sure that G adds much to the ticket: kind of sucks for him, b/c G was fawning over McCain seemingly in the hopes of a Veep job. But that's politics, Rudy!

A possible flaw in the Bush coup idea is that it is likely that the Democrat nominee (should s/he be elected to the Presidency) will take more of a centrist position on the war: withdraw, but withdraw over time in a way that maintains the stability of the country. Even O will have to take a centrist position on the war if he hopes to win the general election.

So, how would B&C make a case that the national security is at stake if there is no clear and present danger?

john doyle said...

I agree: the fix is already in; Obama and Clinton are centrist regardless of public opinion. I don't really think anybody cares much about the stability of Iraq -- what's of interest to the moneyed backers of both parties is the stability of the AMERICAN PRESENCE in Iraq. The American public that voted Dems into power in the midterm elections expected the Dems to get the US out of there. The fact that they haven't, and that they've spun their own supporters to accept this centrist gradual withdrawal stance, points to the conclusion that the Dem party bosses don't really want to leave either.

The left has the same problem with O and C that the right has with McC: neither candidate is really a liberal. I'm not persuaded by O's "change" rhetoric -- it seems more like a marketing slogan than a platform. I remember reading a Consumer Reports discussion of vacuum cleaners: the ones that were called "quiet vac" or some such thing actually tested LOUDER than competitive products.

Jonathan Erdman said...

But remember: How a candidate looks and speaks is the most important thing. A candidate need not have a core. An elected official need not have a center. A politician need not have a soul.

If we believe in Obama's "change," then that's the only thing that matters.

Ktismatics, maybe if we all believe in Obama's change, maybe he will begin to believe it, himself???? Do you see? The politician's spin convinces the public and perhaps eventually the politician believes his own spin and his spin becomes him.