image is politics

it's nine o'clock on friday night. you're at the university of missisippi and out come the candidates. as they make their entrance bear in mind that these two men have ruthlessly campaigned against and attacked each other for the past few months. they have every right to hate each other, but no, not tonight. tonight there's an audience and they're the best of friends. as they stroll towards their respective podiums the warmest of smiles automatically appear on each candidates face and an arm or two points itself at its opposite preparing for a handshake. these type of greetings are generally reserved for old friends at their fifty year high school reunion but are also used by presidential candidates of the backwards american political system that favors image over all else. this brings me to my main point. we live in a very shallow society, the new generation of voters have been conditioned to favor appearence instead of experience and ability. this type of outlook has affected all aspects of life, and now it's affecting politics. i understand that most americans take comfort in the possibility that democrats and republicans can attack each other one day and be pals the next, but seriously now, that's just not realistic. once all american voters can focus less on image and more on exactly how the candidates feel, some genuine progress will be made.

nader - gonzalez '08

so, apparently this guy is running again. i do not know why. he is such an idiot. he loses every election year by huge margins, you would think he got the message by now, but no. he's back again just like that cockroach who refuses to be flushed down the toilet of society and just in time to take votes away from the democrats when they need them the most. it's people like ralph nader that make me wish we lived in a fascist state. if you are an independent than you need to make up your mind, i understand that the point of a democracy is so anyone can run for office and any voice will be heard, but as the last couple of elections years have depicted no one cares about your voice and you really should just pick a side. the day that all third parties go away and let the two parties that actually have a chance of winning the election campaign unhindered is the day american politics becomes that much more tolerable.

lipstick on pigs

In a recent speech, Obama made the following statement "you can put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig." McCain interpreted the statement as a personal attack on palin calling it a sexist remark and demanding an apology. To worsen matters, the media has blown the statement out of proportion as Obama continues to falter in the polls. But, i ask you what does it say about McCain, when he hears the phrase "lipstick on a pig" and immediately thinks of his running mate Sarah Palin. Also, what does it say about our nation's press, they blow tiny issues out of proportion especially in regard to politics and have done the same with this innocent statement. As obama stated in a follow-up speech "i love this country too much to let them take over another election with lies and phony outrage and Swift-boat politics. enough is enough." He's exactly right, the best thing the Obama campaign could do right now would be to put McCain on the defensive by speaking about the below-freezing approval rating of our current president, the unpopular war in iraq, and the suffering economy. The race is tied and the media needs to focus more on what each candidate plans to do about our nation's problems and less about lipstick on pigs.