Substance? I Like Substance.

This morning I found this article by Paul Krugman about how much (or little) substance there is currently in the primary campaigns.

The way I see it, the substance on the Democratic side has been spurred on by John Edwards need to find a foothold against Obama and Clinton.

On the Republican side there isn't quite as established a hierarchy. Sure, Rudy Giuliani is the front runner, but some of his more liberal stances make him vulnerable. Without any Clinton or Obama like front runners there is little incentive for a 2nd tier candidate to put forward the substance of their policies since it would just be dissected by the rest of the field. I hope we'll see more substance from the republicans as the primaries start to rank the pecking order of candidates and it becomes more advantageous for somebody needing a boost in the polls to push for more substance in the campaigns.

George McGovern's Heirs And Arnold Schwarchenegger As A Nixon Republican

As you can tell by the fact that we run a blog, website, and MySpace page devoted to old political campaigns, we find the lineage of political ideologies pretty interesting. So, clearly this article about “McGovern heirs” putting their stamp on the 2008 campaign was interesting for us.

Since we’re talking about old politicians influencing today’s political leaders I do have to mention what I think is one of the most bizarre instances of this. It happened during the 2004 Republican Convention. In Arnold Schwarchenegger’s speech he reminisced about hearing Richard Nixon in the 1968 Presidential Debates.

“Then I heard Nixon speak. He was talking about free enterprise, getting the government off your back, lowering the taxes and strengthening the military. Listening to Nixon speak sounded more like a breath of fresh air. I said to my friend, I said, "What party is he?" My friend said, "He's a Republican." I said, "Then I am a Republican." And I have been a Republican ever since!”

With these words he became one of the world’s few admitted “Nixon Republicans.” That’s not a knock on Nixon’s accomplishments in office, it’s just that after Watergate I didn’t expect to have such a high ranking Republican embracing Nixon at the National Convention.

If you want to proclaim yourself a “McGovern heir” or “Nixon Republican” feel free to head over to the shop and pick up a Nixon or McGovern shirt.

Will 2008 Finally Be The Year For A Senator?

In this article Martin Frost takes up an issue I've always found interesting, the difficulty that sitting senators have had getting elected president since 1960. While it's a decent sketch of the topic Frost offers little more than the usual explanations as to why this has been the case; i.e. the troubles of juggling both a senate schedule and a presidential campaign combined with the many controversial votes that senators have to cast that come back to haunt them.

This trend could come to an end though, as the 2008 has more legitimately viable senators running for the presidency than any other race in recent memory.

Republican Debate Recap

The Republican candidates debated today in Iowa. From the coverage I've seen there were a couple major themes;

-First, there was the debate on the abortion issue, with Brownback and Romney going at each other before turning the focus to Giuliani's pro-choice stance.

-Secondly, the candidates were able to stay focused on their differences with the democratic challengers even as they debated within their own party. Here are a couple of samples;

"In four debates, not a single Democrat said the word, 'Islamic terrorists.' Now that is taking political correctness to extreme" -Rudy Giuliani

"I mean, in one week he went from saying he's going to sit down, you know, for tea, with our enemies, but then he's going to bomb our allies, I mean, he's gone from Jane Fonda to Dr. Strangelove in one week." -Mitt Romney on Barack Obama

Condensed Yearly Kos

David Weigel at Reason Magazine blogged the democratic candidates statements at Yearly Kos. It's a pretty good read, particularly the candidates answers on an early question about the deficit and Hillary's defense of some Washington lobbyists which drew negative responses from the crowd.

Tired Of The U.S. Media?

No matter which side of the political spectrum you find yourself on it's likely you think meda in America is inadiquate, slanted, or both. If you think you need a break head over to Watching America, it's a site that translates articles from all over the world into english to give Americans a better sense of how the rest of the world views us. I can't promise that you'll think the news from abroad is better or less slanted, but at least it does have pictures like these:

Continuing the Campaign Commercial Theme...

I saw this last month, but since he’s still in the race I figure it’s still somewhat relevant. Senator Mike Gravel has a couple of campaign commercials posted on YouTube that are…um…quizzical, to say the least.
Here’s the first;


And here’s the second;


If you’re looking for an explanation, you’re in luck, MSNBC.com has the answers.
Apparently the point of the first one “is not the rock but the ripples it leaves in the water," They represent what he hopes to accomplish “as an ordinary citizen who’s trying to make a difference by doing something and it causes ripples in society.”

And the second one; “Branches are what people acquire in the way of wisdom,” he said. “And then he reaches down and acquires a little more experience, a little more wisdom. Reaches down, picks up a little more wisdom. And then goes out and starts a fire.”
“What does a fire represent?” Gravel asked rhetorically. “Fire represents light, heat, warmth. It’s the sustenance of life.”