In 2008, during that year’s interminable election season, bars in my neighborhood posted signs they were showing the Democratic primary debates, the presidential debates, the vice-presidential debates; we all seemed to be comfortable and enthusiastic about the notion of election debates as spectator sport. I made plans to watch the vice-presidential debate between Sarah PalinContinue reading “Debates: Good for Drinking Games”
Tag Archives: 2012 elections
Mitt Romney, Tired Old Tropes and the Myth of Self-Reliance
Mitt Romney‘s comments at a May fundraiser describing 47% of the American population as, roughly, a bunch of no-goodnik moochers are merely the latest expression of one aspect of a peculiar view that many reasonably intelligent folks are fond of espousing. It is a view that insists on imposing a facile dichotomy on this worldContinue reading “Mitt Romney, Tired Old Tropes and the Myth of Self-Reliance”
United Against Teachers on Teacher’s Day
The Facebook statuses of some friends of mine who live in India acknowledge September 5 as the date for the observance of an Indian holiday, not, I think, ‘observed’ with any particular enthusiasm in the United States: Teacher’s Day. (A confession: I did not realize there was a Teacher Day in the US till IContinue reading “United Against Teachers on Teacher’s Day”
Political Conventions Begone
Cometh the political convention and cometh the dreary return of speculative commentary about their usefulness, their substantiveness, their relevance. Cometh too, the sight of perfectly reasonable, sensible folks tuning in to them, wasting their time in the hope of picking up meaningful political lessons. (I’ve been told that some folks tune in for the comedicContinue reading “Political Conventions Begone”
Must One Vote for President to Be Political?
I concluded yesterday’s post by saying: There is a far more fundamental problem…it centers on my disillusionment with elections–especially in modern politics in this nation–and with my evolving understanding of my political responsibilities. I should have been more specific above. I have acquired a profound dislike of presidential elections: the campaigning by candidates, the so-calledContinue reading “Must One Vote for President to Be Political?”
Not Nearly Enough Change I Can Believe In
Yesterday’s post and Dan Kaufman’s comment on it, have prompted me to pen some thoughts on Barack Obama (and elections). In 2008, I made two separate donations of $50 to Barack Obama’s campaign. I also drove down with some friends to Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania and spent the day walking around several neighborhoods, knocking on doors,Continue reading “Not Nearly Enough Change I Can Believe In”
Game Not On: Santorum Exit Left
Rick Santorum is not our man any more; the Republican candidate tree has been pruned, and suddenly, we are left with Mitt Romney (and, I believe, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul). Now is the time for Rick to swallow the bile, and get on with the business of beating the Anti-Christ, er, Barack Obama, inContinue reading “Game Not On: Santorum Exit Left”
The Campaign Trail: Where You Go To Say Dumb Things
Could there be a stupider foreign ‘policy’ decision than the one to strike Iran, ostensibly to disrupt its nuclear weapons program? (If the strike ‘succeeds’ it will: encourage Iran to build a nuclear weapon for, as its rulers are likely to notice, only nations with actual nuclear weapons don’t get attacked by the US; consolidateContinue reading “The Campaign Trail: Where You Go To Say Dumb Things”
Election Season Debates: A Modest Proposal
My only contribution, thus far, to the ‘conversation’ about this year’s election season has been a rather facetious celebration of the continued viability of Newt ‘The Professor’ Gingrich’s candidacy. My reason for disdaining seriousness in that comment was not so much contempt as much as it was weariness. The curve of the quality of electionContinue reading “Election Season Debates: A Modest Proposal”
Newt Gingrich Extends The Republican Primaries: Hallelujah!
Like wildfire, news of Newt ‘The Philandering Professor’ Gingrich’s victory in the South Carolina primary has spread through the arid grasslands of the American political landscape, bringing relief to those of us who are still grumpily and bitterly kvetching about being denied Sarah Palin’s candidacy in this election year (Mixed metaphors are called for whenContinue reading “Newt Gingrich Extends The Republican Primaries: Hallelujah!”
Samir Chopra 