It had to come to this: a ‘presidential debate’ would become as television-friendly as sports, that shadow-boxing encounters replete with campaign trail inanities and evasions would be reckoned the political-show equivalent of a honest-to-goodness fifteen-round heavyweight championship bout (with figurative seconds and blood buckets close at hand.) These allusions and analogies which have retained theirContinue reading “Politics As Spectator Sport In A Nation That Would Call Its Dictator ‘Coach’”
Tag Archives: 2016 elections
Presidential Elections, Marks, And Con Men
On the night of 15 October 1992, I watched a live telecast of the second presidential debate between George Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot. As I watched three men in business suits–walking back and forth on a ‘town-hall’ stage–explain how they would run the nation, manage its economy, and conduct its international affairs,Continue reading “Presidential Elections, Marks, And Con Men”
Hillary Clinton Prepares The Inaugural Ball’s Invitee List
This is an election season about the rich, the richer, and the richest. As it should be, since multimillionaires are running for election, and on their way to the presidency, hanging out with the folks who will have the most access to them after the coronation. In this regard, just like in the election polls,Continue reading “Hillary Clinton Prepares The Inaugural Ball’s Invitee List”
Top Ten Reasons America Needs Taco Trucks On Every Corner
Marco Gutierrez, founder of the group Latinos for Trump, ‘warned’ the United States about an impending disaster in an interview with Joy Reid on MSNBC on Thursday night: My culture is a very dominant culture, and it’s imposing and it’s causing problems. If you don’t do something about it, you’re going to have taco trucksContinue reading “Top Ten Reasons America Needs Taco Trucks On Every Corner”
Donald Trump Looks A Gift Horse In The Mouth
A smarter politician than Donald Trump would have realized the windfall Khizr Khan had granted him, one with which he could have pulled off a miraculous triangulation of his own. To do this Trump could have done the following: Welcomed Khizr Khan’s remarks, acknowledged his family’s sacrifice, and then said, “This is the kind ofContinue reading “Donald Trump Looks A Gift Horse In The Mouth”
Dan Savage Should Run For Dogcatcher
Dan Savage thinks the Greens should walk before they try to run: I have a problem with the Greens…. I have a problem with these fake, attention seeking, grandstanding Green…party candidates who pop up every four years, like mushrooms in shit, saying that they’re building a third party. And those of us who don’t haveContinue reading “Dan Savage Should Run For Dogcatcher”
Teflon Trump’s Terrifying Troops
I did not watch the Donald Trump acceptance speech last night; I did not want to run the risk of a disturbed night’s sleep. I did however, read a transcript that was available on the net before he went live. It was a terrifying read just because it was so ‘good’: pitch-perfect in its toneContinue reading “Teflon Trump’s Terrifying Troops”
A Trump Win And The First-Past-The-Post System
Every election cycle, we learn all over again, the bad news about ‘swing states’ and ‘undecided voters’ and ‘independents.’ There are ‘red states’ and ‘blue states’ and then there are ‘states in play’: those electoral precincts in the nation whose demographics make their electoral outcomes uncertain. Every election cycle, the political candidates of the twoContinue reading “A Trump Win And The First-Past-The-Post System”
Neera Tanden And A Cultural ‘Obsession With Hierarchy’
Over at his blog, Corey Robin details an interesting Twitter spat with Neera Tanden–“the person who many think will be Hillary Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff….the head of the Center for American Progress, the Democratic Party think tank that works closely with the Clintons.” Tanden is an arch-defender of Hillary Clinton–which is unsurprising given the passions political allegiances canContinue reading “Neera Tanden And A Cultural ‘Obsession With Hierarchy’”
Justice Hugo Black, The Ku Klux Klan, And The Trump Candidacy
In 1914, Hugo Black–a future Supreme Court Justice–was elected solicitor, or district attorney in Birmingham, Alabama. He lobbied to improve prison conditions for both black and whites, and even published a report on coerced confessions. As a trial lawyer, he had successfully represented a black man who had been imprisoned twenty-five weeks beyond his originalContinue reading “Justice Hugo Black, The Ku Klux Klan, And The Trump Candidacy”
Samir Chopra 