Month: October 2008

Goodbye Fear and Loathing

Post author By Don Wigan
Post date 28 October, 2008
925 Comments on 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.

Tags Bush, Clinton, Nixon, Reagan, USA, Watergate

Open Thread

Obama for VP

I am no psephologist, but as the owner of one of those V-thingies, I have had a particular interest in the women in this election. Sadly, with one exception, they have shamed my gender and behaved in general as if they have one of those P-thingies instead.

Tags McCain, Obama, USA, VP

Open Thread

Another Dull Debate or Blue Touch Paper, Lit?

Post author By jaundiced view
Post date 15 October, 2008
626 Comments on Another Dull Debate or Blue Touch Paper, Lit?

The McCain team is feverishly attempting CPR on the lifeless thing that is their campaign. Will the third and last debate provide the super-defibrillator they need?

The possibilities for excitement on stage today all hinge on McCain. To what do you ‘throw the switch’ in these circumstances, in which you are 8-10 points down nationally with 3 weeks to go? Vaudeville won’t help. He’s already tried that with Sarah the ventriloquists’ dummy. Perhaps you say, “We’ve got nothing to lose, let’s go for the goolies.” If Rove and his ilk are now running things, that is probably what McCain will attempt. Even winning the talking points in the debate is not sufficient for him.

Tags McCain, Obama, USA

Open Thread

A Rear Admirals’ Vice is A Vice Admiral in his Rear!

Post author By Gaffhook
Post date 11 October, 2008
770 Comments on A Rear Admirals’ Vice is A Vice Admiral in his Rear!

Like Nelson said to Hardy “kiss me Hardy” and Hardy replied “kiss ya be fucked Horatio I’m next in line for Admiral”

The only things that Captain McCain and I have in common are that we both sailed through more water than the average shark, in the Grey Funnel Line, in roughly the same era except for the fact that he made more of a career out of it than me. We served in the same waters at the time of the Vietnam War. We both probably sailed past more lighthouses than the average Chucky Six Pack has seen shithouses and both probably saw more Action Stations than Barbie Six Pack has seen railway stations. He was a “Birdie” and I was an electrician. We were of course in different Navies, he in The USN and me in the RAN. Now days the life of a sailor is considered as the ships being made of steel, the men made of wood, and it is all Wine, Women and Song, but way back then the ships were made of wood, the men of steel, and it was Rum, Bum and Gramophone Records.

Tags McCain

Open Thread

Red is Blue and the Whitehouse Black

Post author By Ferny Grover
Post date 7 October, 2008
671 Comments on Red is Blue and the Whitehouse Black

Left is right; Keynes is King; Banks are poor and your average worker is….well…poorer. And in the midst of it two candidates vie for what has become the poisoned chalice that is the Presidency of the United States.

Tags McCain, Obama, Palin