Ron,
I'd be much pleased to advise your State Dept. friend about a range of foreign matters --on a brainstorming session basis.... <ggg>
Now, how come a "kooky" outsider like me has, all in all, a shrewder grasp of what's going on in the current US Presidential elections than the whole crop of yanks discussing the issue on this thread?? It's beyond me.... <g>
I glanced with great interest through your posts about Democracy, the Electoral College, and the several shortcomings of US balloting.... Sure enough, a majority in popular votes brings unquestionable legitimacy to any would-be US President and to mitigate the outcome of such a direct democracy with an intermediate body or through a biased geographic carve-up may appear ill-founded. But as we are to criticize the US electoral process, why don't we just spit out the whole of it? And while you're at it, bring up the spoils system, fraudulent canvassing, and, most importantly, the polling institutes' rip-off. On this point, below is an article exposing the "magic turnaround" Vice Prez Al Gore enjoyed in the polls after he picked Holy-Joe Liebermann as his running mate (I've been unable to access the original so I sneaked to it via the Google.com cache):
08/08/00- Updated 01:07 PM ET
Lieberman lifts Gore's standing in polls
By Laurence McQuillan, USA TODAY
NASHVILLE — Vice President Gore on Monday chose Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman, a political centrist sometimes called "the conscience of the Senate," to be his running mate on the Democratic ticket.
"The vice president asked me if I would do him the honor of running with him, and I said, 'Believe me, it's my honor,' " said Lieberman, the first Orthodox Jew chosen to be on a major party's national ticket.
A USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll Monday night after Lieberman's selection shows that Texas Gov. George Bush's lead has almost disappeared among registered voters.
Bush's lead was reduced to 2 points, 45%-43%, in the poll that included Lieberman on the Democratic ticket. That's down from 19 points among registered voters in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll Friday and Saturday. Gallup Poll senior editor David Moore says polls of registered voters are not as accurate as those of likely voters. Among that group, Bush led by 17 points in the Friday-Saturday poll.
[snip]
google.com
A 19-to-2 pts squeeze in a matter of hours????? Is that the crap you want me to buy? TO HELL WITH IT!!!
As I said, the "Bilderbergers" and the transatlantic profiteers didn't flinch from taking the whole US public opinion for a ride! It's obvious that Gore's allegedly dramatic upturn in the polls was a JOKE! After all, why the heck would Americans suddenly be hooked on some Orthodox Jew?!? Gimme a break! 'Cause the guy's the so-called "conscience of the Senate"?? <LAUGHTER> BULLSHIT! And the ensuing neck-and-neck election race is a hoax....
So, maybe before we start speechifying about the improvement of the American democracy we should address the question of all these behind-the-scenes wheeler-dealers and media crooks whose full-time jobs are about swindling the electorate out of their true longings.
Maybe there're actually four kinds of lies: lies, damn lies, statistics, and opinion polls....
Gus. |
