ugh. family and politics.

[alexeye]

i love my dad, but i just can't stand his most of his politics. he hopes that arnold doesn't win only partly because he doesn't think he's a viable candidate for the job (an opinion i respect). dad's main concern is that having arnold in sacramento could hurt the republican party, hence making it more difficult for dubya to be re-elected.

my response - "that actually might be the only positive outcome of arnold being elected."

dad and i aren't going to talk politics for a while.

Comments

[kickasphalt.livejournal.com]

Do you think it's a name recognition/celebrity/popularity contest thing?
um, yes.

Is it because Republican seems to be the thing to be these days (thanks in part to that scary, inept, war-mongering pres. of ours)?
i dunno about that. i think that most people i know think he's a tool, and most strangers i hear talking aren't feeling him either. (him being Shrubbie.) i don't think it's a partisan thing, i think it's a WWE, Jerry Springerish-"U-S-A! U-S-A!" kinda thing.

Or is it a combination "action hero will kick the bad guy's asses" thing?
yes. i think most people are beginning to realize that there were no WMD in Iraq, and that this war was cultivated to fatten the coffers of the current administration and their cronies. the implications, of course, are horrifying. people are beginning to believe/realize that this means that we are subject to "justified" retaliation at any time. this is some scary ass shit. and we Americans don't like to feel vulnerable, or be wrong. so here comes the Governator from the future to set the past "right."

it makes me shudder to even think about it.

[alexeye.livejournal.com]

afro, i think you hit the nail on the head with the jerry springer metaphor. we've become increasingly reactionary and jingoish in the last two years, and the trend shows little sign of slowing.

as i've been saying for months, and as much as i hope californians prove me wrong, i really thing arnold's going to win, and it's absolutely because he's a celebrity. politics is no longer run on issues, party lines, or is about anything it SHOULD be about - it's about the cult of personality, a concept that has taken over our entire country over the past 25 years.

[applehangover.livejournal.com]

'I dunno about that. i think that most people i know think he's a tool, and most strangers i hear talking aren't feeling him either. (him being Shrubbie.) i don't think it's a partisan thing, i think it's a WWE, Jerry Springerish-"U-S-A! U-S-A!" kinda thing.'

It's strange, I really don't know many people that support him either, yet there seems to be a huge number of those Toby "courtesy of the red, white, and blue" Keith types out there who think that might makes right.