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US Elections - 2006

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ONLY NICE THINGS

11:05 / 20.10.06

One writes pages of fiction, the other writes to pages for friction.

23:14 / 23.10.06

I don't know if the reality of the situation matches this, but the newspapers since last week seem to have had article after article talking about how the Democrats are set to win next month...

Is this a sign that there's a chance? If the media starts saying it's true, is it more likely to happen? (or influence people to vote Democratic?)

20:36 / 26.10.06

Some G.O.P. candidates are running on their closeness with Clinton.

Absolutely bizarre turn of events.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

20:42 / 26.10.06

Makes a sick kind of sense to me. Over here Mr Tony, having been basically Thatcherite for years, despite being nominally Labour, is being aped by the Tories all over the shop (and why not? He's got most of their policies, but more charisma). Cameron seems basically to be trying to be the new Mr Tony. But with lower taxes.

IS there actually a represented left in either the US or the UK any more?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

11:51 / 27.10.06

Is the Left/Right divide still the defining feature of politics? Or are other issues more significant? Environment vs. Commerce? Nationstate self-interest vs. Internationalist? Corporate Government vs. Governed Corporations? Liberal vs. Moralistic? Rights vs. Order?

And so on.

Or is it that the political arena, after the fiascos of the pseudosocialist efforts of the 20th Century, needs to do away with rhetorics of the left which are compromised, and to allow the general rottenness of capitalism to educate a genuine Proletariat in the need for change? Socialism was supposed to arise as a consequence of capitalisms excesses and inability to govern, not as a competitor.

unheimlich manoeuvre

16:30 / 28.10.06

Nick it is a combination of all your comments. Marxism does give some tools to address the questions, in the sense that Government is being run for and by the rich rather than for all people. But I suppose it is the lack of Democracy, rather than a viable "represented left", that is the pressing concern. The UK and USA both being two party states that are trying to occupy (Iraq) the centre ground.

Of course, as has been discussed in other Marx threads here, 19th Century Europe is a different place from now. How will "a genuine Proletariat" form in light of new technologies and the (ever?) coming apocalypse?

We're The Great Old Ones Now

05:49 / 30.10.06

Government is being run for and by the rich rather than for all people.

Yes, although it would be interesting to know whether you mean globally or locally.

The UK and USA both being two party states that are trying to occupy (Iraq) the centre ground.

Control, I think, rather than occupy. Both of those nations would (as far as one can tell from last week, and most especially the US or the Bush administration, which is increasingly handicapped by the war as the midterms approach) like to get out of Iraq but retain a measure of control over the country. Occupation by proxy - a very modern imperium.

How will "a genuine Proletariat" form in light of new technologies and the (ever?) coming apocalypse?

Slowly. Naturally. Without the need for cadres to educate and direct them. The revolution may not be unpleasant. Wouldn't that be a shame?

unheimlich manoeuvre

16:38 / 30.10.06

Nick/Dao Jones. I want to respond but this is drifting further off topic. Also looking back at Nick-for-Marx in your discussion with jbsay, the Von Mises follower, still makes me smile.
(I'm well aware that my thoughts-to-text isn't as good as many people here, but I'll try to explain myself.)

me- "Government is being run for and by the rich rather than for all people."

Yes, although it would be interesting to know whether you mean globally or locally.

Who the rich are is dependent on whether you think locally or globally.

Government is run by and for the business and political elite. Often with politicians taking company directorships and business leaders like Lord Sainsbury, for a UK example, taking jobs in government.
Idealisticallly it's with the intention of wealth creation. But with the lack of social mobility in the UK and a growing lack in the USA the increasing social stratification is becoming apparent. Though not neccessarily leading to class consciousness.

Globally an average person in "first world" north-western democracies is wealthier than your typical person in the "third world". Many of the Western advantages are historical as a result of colonialism and imperialism.

me - "How will "a genuine Proletariat" form in light of new technologies and the (ever?) coming apocalypse?"

Slowly. Naturally. Without the need for cadres to educate and direct them. The revolution may not be unpleasant. Wouldn't that be a shame?

With "slowly, naturally" are you implying teleology or determinism?
The cadre? I'm not a vanguardist so have no intention to defend it. Being a pacifist I'd prefer non-violence though I doubt that future changes will be pleasant for everyone.
Regarding redemption/revolution, as Emma Goldman said "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

We're The Great Old Ones Now

17:02 / 30.10.06

Nick/Dao Jones

Well, now, ain't that a blast from the past. I feel like Obiwan. I haven't used that name since... Dang, I'm old. And more to the point, DJ was a persona. He was one o' them Fiction Suit things we all had back in the day when it was cool to be a bunch of people, before the Dark Times, before the Troll Empire... So let's assume it's just me in here, ok?

Who's under that big old hat you're wearing, anyway?

With "slowly, naturally" are you implying teleology or determinism?
The cadre? I'm not a vanguardist so have no intention to defend it. Being a pacifist I'd prefer non-violence though I doubt that future changes will be pleasant for everyone.
Regarding redemption/revolution, as Emma Goldman said "If I can't dance, I don't want to be part of your revolution."

I don't know of any evidence for teleology or any kind of Time's Arrow in social development. On the other hand, it is in the book, as it were. It seems plausible to me that some kind of traumatic capitalist experience is a pre-condition of radical change.

I don't propose that anyone defend vanguardism (although I imagine someone may, at some point) least of all so that I can take a stick to the idea. I'm simply as skeptical of the idea that you can nudge societal evolution as I am of the notion that what comes is inevitable and cannot be avoided.

Ultimately, I don't believe the system is the key; I think the point where we start to see the kind of decisionmaking and action Marx attributed to an informed proletariat is the point where system ceases to be relevant. Trouble is - and here we get on-topic again - I don't see that kind of decisionmaking. The Dems are in good shape for this election not because they've found new followers, but because Mark Foley got caught chatting up a minor and Hastert won't quit, and because Iraq's costing too many American lives (the others not being such a big deal), and so on. The electorate is composed of intelligent people. Collectively, it often seems to have the brains of an unruly toddler.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:53 / 31.10.06

Meanwhile, back in Virginia, things are just getting weird. George Allen has taken to accusing James Webb of being disrespectful to women in his novels. A republican campaign strategist, speaking on cyborg freedom fighter Sean Hannity's radio show, said:

And the things that he wrote in those books were a hundred times worse than anything Mark Foley ever wrote to a 16-year-old boy in an email, and yet, you know, that story has been going on for week after week after week and, quite frankly, could cost the Republicans the House.

I particularly like the bit here where she doesn't mention that Mark Foley was writing his IMs (not emails) with the intention of grooming underage boys for naughties, which I imagine Webb wasn't planning in his novels, but there we go. Webb apparently spent too long reading out reviews of his books in response - you don't want to remind people that you're a reader, much less a writer - but ended on the good point that if you're engaging in literary criticism a week before the elections, you're not in great shape.

Webb's an odd fish himself, of course. A Democrat who served under and whose favourite president is Ronald Reagan. There's some talk of him using racist language at ROTC, although whether or not this is substantiable I know not. He's gone around the stump in combat boots, which apparently he is wearing to honour his son, currently in Iraq. A decorated Vietnam war hero, he appears to demonstrate once again that while there are no atheists in foxholes, you'd be hard-pushed to find anyone willing to line up with the current flock of Republican politicos.

Startlingly, Webb-Allen is now neck and neck, if apparently still Allen's to lose. What on Earth can they pull out next? Well, the big guns are hitting the stump - tomorrow, Webb will be accompanied by Barack Obama and Michael J Fox, which is high-quality Dem star power... a week to go , and it still seems possible that the Democrats won't screw it up totally...

Our Lady Has Left the Building

17:50 / 31.10.06

Some woman called Michelle Malkin who I don't know but I guess is another of those Bush supportin' hard-right bloggers is spending a lot of effort attacking John Kerry because she thinks she's caught him out insulting the troops.

“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”

Which, to me, suggests that he's saying Bush is a moron, not the troops, but when you're as deep in the shit as the GOP is, any port in a storm right? They can't attack the Dems who are standing for election so let's go for the guy who they beat last time.

ONLY NICE THINGS

18:20 / 31.10.06

Especially given that a lot of soldiers are in the army for the tuition benefits...

Michelle Malkin is a pretty standard sub-Coulter right-wing demagogue - ugly mind, ugly tongue. Kerry might have meant it either way, but the fact remains that he did actually serve in Vietnam, and surprisingly few Republicans at his level can say that. However, he does tend to get blustery and self-righteous - it might be better at this point just to state that the fact that this is happening, and the fact that the Republicans are trying to accuse a decorated veteran of mocking the armed forces, as they just accused a novelist of being worse than Mark Foley, suggests that they are self-destructing.

Not that this will stop them playing it over and over and over, which is a problem.

18:34 / 31.10.06

"Early voting" irregularities reported in South Florida electronic voting machines.

There's also some speculation that the company that owns the voting machine company is really controlled by Hugo "Your President is Satan" Chavez, which is, well, a very confusing turn of events. Smartmatic for the Latin Communists, Diebold for the cyborg Neo-con-o-tronics?

Both those links go to the Miami Herald, by the way, which may require free registration to read.

00:41 / 01.11.06

Ex-Marine law student asks Allen about sealed divorce papers ("is it true that you spit on your wife?"), Allen's aides respond with a display of force.

Looks like battery charges are being filed.

More here and here.

17:43 / 01.11.06

Aaaand Florida's gubernatorial race joins the congressional GAY G.O.P. MAN-SEXING FUROR with this article from tomorrow's Broward/P.B. New Times:

A videotaped sworn statement has surfaced that bolsters the contention that Florida Attorney General and Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist had a recent romantic relationship with a convicted felon and former travel aide to U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris.

Last week, I reported that 21-year-old GOP staffer Jason Wetherington had claimed to credible sources that he had a sexual relationship with the 50-year-old Crist and had identified the frontrunner's "long-term partner" as Bruce Carlton Jordan, who remains on state probation after serving a 30-day jail sentence for a conviction on grand theft and forgery charges.

Crist has repeatedly denied that he is gay and, with the election looming next week, has recently become more vocal in his stance against adoption by gay couples and in support of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage.

More at the link.

Crist has been dodging gay rumors for years; here's a denial from two Januaries ago.

18:56 / 01.11.06

Here's an absolutely ridiculous ad for Republican candidate Vernon Robinson. This one seems like a parody of Republican beliefs, but it's all too real. The thing I don't get about this is we're led to believe that things are getting worse and worse, absoultely out of control. Yet, the Republicans have had total control of the government for six years. If they were going to do something about it, wouldn't that have been enough time?

I don't see how people can vote on the basis of an issue like abortion, considering that the Republicans never actually do anything about it. There's that one thing in South Dakota, but generally speaking, nothing particularly changes, despite all the Republican rhetoric. So, if Republican government brings us the out of control government depicted in this ad, why would voting for Vernon Robinson change anything?

21:41 / 01.11.06

More fun in Florida . . .

ASSOCIATED PRESS: State rep. resigns for racial slur

HIALEAH -- State Rep. Ralph Arza resigned Wednesday from the Legislature, bowing to pressure to quit after leaving messages filled with obscenities and a racial slur on a colleague's voice mail.

If only Kerry hadn't stuck his foot in his mouth the other day.

15:40 / 02.11.06

He's also being charged with two felonies -- tampering with a witness and intimidation.

For, essentially, prank-calling another state congressman. With his cousin. After drinking red wine.

12:37 / 03.11.06

Oh, and in case y'all missed this one: Ann Coulter under investigation for felony voter fraud in my home county.

Go Palm Beach. Rush gets busted for hillbilly heroin, Coulter gets snagged for voting in the wrong place. Or lying about her address, which amounts to the same thing.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

13:17 / 03.11.06

How has the Kerry foot-mouth incident played in the States? Has it succesfully helped the Republicans get back some lost ground?

14:21 / 03.11.06

Yes, it has. I mean, from where I'm sitting, it looks like a grasping at straws, what with Kerry not actually running for anything, but yeah, it's gotten wide play. The cave-in around evangelical God-Warrior Ted Haggard is a more than adequate counter, though. Gay prostitutes and crystal meth in the house of GOD and all.

16:47 / 03.11.06

A friend of mine (not a Barbelith member or occult practitioner) is circulating a somewhat convincing explanation for what we've been seeing lately.

There's a condensed version of that newsblog comment-thread here.

Super-condensed: It's a double whammy. Hunter Thompson's ghost and New Orleans Voodoo. Angry bones on the march.

04:01 / 04.11.06

Yes, now Haggard has only to check into rehab, and lo, the circle is complete. I like his Clintonesque denial, yes, I bought the meth and hired a gay prostitute, but it was only for a massage and I didn't use the meth, I just looked at it.
God damn it.
These repressed, guilt-ridden conservatives and their self-hating, forbidden fruit-craving, twistedness. I guess in this case the fruit is a banana, a huge banana, has to be huge, cause, you know, size matters. I heard some great quote by this tool today, something about everyone having a demon assigned to tempt them. I'd love to see the dueling homunculi demon and angel in his little head.
Angel: Just admit you're gay, embrace it, and stop this madness!
Demon: Don't listen to that fuckin pansy! Get into your room now, flagellate yourself, and go nail your wife with righteous vengeance! Next, go initiate a referendum against gay marriage, get out the vote, and...
Angel:get some crystal meth?
Demon:Umm, yeah. that'll work. Oh, and a one of those bus-sized motor homes, with a Humvee to tow behind it...
Sorry, it's late. Really it is quite sad and infuriating.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

14:29 / 04.11.06

TPM is now predicting Saddam Hussein will be sentenced to death tomorrow.

16:15 / 04.11.06

This election? It's just mass media getting what they want (again). That being, of course, an easy job and lots of ad revenue.

17:58 / 04.11.06

I am really loving the "Pastor Ted" scandal myself. Just goes to show that if a Republican says they're against "GAY" Marriage (Ugh it has only been recently that I've begun to realize how much I hate that term), they are probably big Gayers in disguise. I hear the Republican National Committee is going to hold its next convention in a giant closet.

In all seriousness, I am sort of like a kid at Christmas rubbing my hands in glee as Bush's base implodes, a victim of its own hate, hypocrisy and corruption. Don't want to talk about Pastor Ted? Don't feel like talking about Foley or Allen? Fine with me. Let's talk about Iraq then. We can talk about Iraq as long as you like...

"Turdblossom's" traditional method of moving away from the real issues and to "moral" values doesn't seem like it's going to work this time. And Bush is so universally disliked that he has to travel all the way to Elko, Nevada to find anyone who likes him. (By the way the last person who visited there was that other popular president, Herbert Hoover.

I am still quite scared from the 2000 and 2004 elections, but hope springs eternal. How great would it be to wake up on Wednesday and find out the Repubs had lost both the house AND the senate? BWAHAAHAAAAAA....

07:20 / 05.11.06

Wouldn't it be nice...

In the battle for the House, Democrats appear almost certain to pick up more than the 15 seats needed to regain the majority. Republicans virtually concede 10 seats, and a split of the 30 tossup races would add an additional 15 to the Democratic column.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

07:40 / 05.11.06

The Pirate Bay has got a Torrent up of the HBO 'Hacking Democracy' program that Diebold tried, unsuccesfully, to get stopped.

08:51 / 05.11.06

I hear the Republican National Committee is going to hold its next election in a giant closet.

That's going straight to Barbequote, and probably also my Livejournal.

01:36 / 07.11.06

For some last-minute nastiness...

It seems that the Republicans are using automated calls to voters, that a) appear to be from the Democrats, and b) call the same number dozens of times in a row to annoy the hell out of people.

There's something very messed up about this kind of thing...

Our Lady Has Left the Building

06:04 / 07.11.06

Well seeing as the 2004 election had so many Republican groups pretending to be independent in order to slam Kerry it seems the obvious next step that the Republicans pretend to be Democrats. I suspect the next stage is that Republicans join the Democrats properly and fight them from inside, expect a big scandal involving genuine Democrats in 2008.

23:03 / 07.11.06

Is anyone watching the results? I'm at work, and waiting for them to appear on Yahoo's page. Does anyone know any better sites for this?

...I wish I was home so I could watch the live daily show coverage...

23:40 / 07.11.06

I've ben listening to Radio Pacifica's coverage of elections events. Stirring and disturbing but there's hope still. Have a listen.

Keith, like a scientist

00:38 / 08.11.06

Thank god. Ken Blackwell lost in Ohio (33%)! Not that I think Ted Strickland (61%) is Jed Bartlett, but Blackwell is a malaciously deceitful politican who practically gave Bush the win the last time in my poor beleaguered state. We also voted Mike DeWine out of his Senate seat. Hurrah.

Interesting: Dems are currently winning the House, Republicans are retaining the Senate by a slim margin. Still a lot of races to go, but it seems that a lot of chips are falling the Democrat way so far.

02:20 / 08.11.06

Can it be?

CNN is predicting that the Democrats have won control of congress...

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