Guardian - Matt Frei - Taming the cyber beast
The 2008 election was a popular insurrection against the paranoia, secrecy and high-handedness of the Bush era. It was also a shot fired across the bows of the Clintons and the mouldy scent of dynastic entitlement.
Yea, 2008 was all about the Clintons. keep to the Fen Causeway
you are the media you consume.
Since 9/11 Americans have been told that the so-called war on terror required the government to know everything about its citizens while they needed to know as little as possible about the process of government. It was a Faustian pact that both Democrats and Republicans always felt uncomfortable with. It nurtured the fungus of corruption in an administration that shunned accountability and invited the opposite of trust. The 2008 election was a popular insurrection against the paranoia, secrecy and high-handedness of the Bush era. It was also a shot fired across the bows of the Clintons and the mouldy scent of dynastic entitlement. Instead of Molotov cocktails and rocks these polite rebels used the web and the ballot. Barack Obama has created a friendly beast that roared for him and wants to be stroked. He will have a tough time keeping it tame.
Since 9/11 Americans have been told that the so-called war on terror required the government to know everything about its citizens while they needed to know as little as possible about the process of government. It was a Faustian pact that both Democrats and Republicans always felt uncomfortable with. It nurtured the fungus of corruption in an administration that shunned accountability and invited the opposite of trust. The 2008 election was a popular insurrection against the paranoia, secrecy and high-handedness of the Bush era. It was also a shot fired across the bows of the Clintons and the mouldy scent of dynastic entitlement.
Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.
While plenty of people rejected Hillary on dynasty grounds, the elephant in the room remains Iraq. Why people in the press are too stupid to get that, I've no idea, because it should be quite obvious. Had Hillary voted against the war, she would probably be president right now. There wouldn't have been any oxygen for Obama.
Here, too, is an example of the BBC as Useful Idiot to the Village problem, because it's an easy guess why the press here, with a few exceptions, refuses to acknowledge the role that Iraq played. It would require the press to acknowledge how hopelessly out of touch it has become with the electorate.
The election was most certainly not "a popular insurrection against the paranoia and high-handedness of the Bush era." It was a popular insurrection against what was, by any measure, a disastrous presidency. Bush started off his second term by (1) trying to privatize Social Security, (2) trying to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case, and (3) surrendering New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. All of which people found horrifying. Then came the corruption scandals of the 2006 cycle, with Jack Abramoff and half the GOP getting caught. By 2007 and 2008, the banks were failing. By the time we got to the fall of 2008, things had gone completely to shit. House prices were collapsing, people's 401(k)s were basically cut in half, the recession became one of the longest of the post-war era, etc.
It's not rocket science. Things sucked, and the public decided GOP ideas were at least partly the cause of the suckage. That's what normally happens when a party loses power, except to say that the degree to which Bush sucked was much greater. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
The only logic to Romney was Michigan, but Obama won Michigan by -- what, 16? Doesn't matter who you put on the ballot. Even Romney couldn't have overcome that. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Romney had serious problems in the South, for obvious reasons. He did alright in Florida, which is much more secular than other states in the region, but he did quite poorly elsewhere.
To the economic point, I think you'd find Romney to be an even easier hit than McCain. Romney also just happened to make his money by essentially gutting companies, fire workers, and selling them off. Combine that with the fact that Romney's positions changed faster than anyone could keep up with, and that he was a pretty lousy debater (even by the pretty lousy standards of McCain and Obama), I think you would've found Romney flaming out in short order. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Romney's problem on that would've been much bigger than McCain's (maybe Obama at 80% instead of 68%), as Romney was second only to Tom Tancredo -- indeed, he received Tancredo's endorsement -- on the anti-Latino hatred. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Excellent point Mr. Jones. She definitely lost me there. I vowed right then to never vote for anyone who was on that side of the aisle.
That and all the other points add up to: Another person with the same charisma as Obama, and the operation and nearly flawless campaign, but lacking the race issue, would have slaughtered McCain. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
The other thing I think is neglected: McCain was, throughout the GOP primary season, the only Republican who polled with ten of Obama. Taking the myth of McCain the Maverick -- and don't forget that everything must be good news for John McCain -- and the fact that most Americans at least had some idea of who McCain was (while 70% of the country hadn't even heard of Obama until the primaries ramped up), I think it makes some sense.
McCain was the only one who had a prayer of not being completely humiliated. Romney polled about 15 points behind Obama. Huckabee polled about the same. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Now it´s up to 8 minutes without taking a breath:
http://troyshouse.blogspot.com/2009/01/8-years-of-bush-in-8-minutes.html Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.
Since 9/11 Americans have been told that the so-called war on terror required the government to know everything about its citizens while they needed to know as little as possible about the process of government. It was a Faustian pact that both Democrats and Republicans always felt uncomfortable with.
Otherwise, it's a one sided piece that manages to miss both Howard Dean and the personal charisma side of Obama in discussing the way Obama used the internet in the elections. Its predictions are wrong: the 'beast' Obama created is entirely dependent upon Obama's infrastructure. If he chooses not to listen to his roots, they will dissipate and fall back to blogs, facebook groups and moveon.
