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Goodbye Fear and Loathing

Hunter S Thompson added to our political lexicon when he used the term “Fear and Loathing” (or rather re-used – he’d already used it a year earlier to describe some ugly Las Vegas doings) to describe the 1972 Nixon campaign trail. It was singularly appropriate for Nixon. The only ambiguity at all was whether it was a description of the reaction in liberal media and academic circles to Nixon’s nasty cheap populism. Or whether it was in fact the aim of Nixonian politics to invoke those feelings among voters against other different Americans. It was, alas, this latter.

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It's the economy stupid!

We are about to witness the biggest landslide in US political history. Everything is against the Republicans. History tells us that no incumbent party overlooking such an economic disaster, survives. Everything is pointing to wipeout. Never mind the fact that the Democrats have 8 out of the top 10 major issues going for them. None of that counts when it comes to the economy. Bill Clinton won well when the economy was on the down turn. This is different, the economy is an unmitigated disaster, who are they going to blame?

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Open Thread

Last call for Princess Hillary

The Princess has a reputation to take care of (don’t we all), and Obama is not all too keen on having the show blown apart by Bill and Hillary. Lined up for padgent is a who’s-who of the political game. Kicking of proceedings is Michele Obama, Nancy Pelosi and maybe a guest appearance from the Lion King himself. Tuesday brings on Hillary paired with Mark Warner, Wednesday Bill takes the stage and we’ll be waiting with baited breath to see if he can finally pull his thumb out of his mouth. Thursday the media does its midnight scramble and we go for the all star platform with Al Gore, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.