The Liberal Politics & Current Events Book Club discussion

Hi again!

Just read your last post on the other thread so this is convenient for me to reply here.

It is going to be a fascinating next couple of months, at least for those of us who can feel free to spend as much time listening, reading, watching, and opining. Since my interest in politics goes back so long, I really wonder what kind of result the electoral college will produce come November. It surprised me when in 1964 Goldwater was trounced so badly. My opinions were not grounded in the real world, but in only another 4 years Americans - in particular, the younger generation, were becoming more actively engaged. We understood that it was the older ones sending us overseas to fight wars, based on theories, against people who had done nothing to us. Nixon's troubles did not seem at all surprising to me. My first vote would have been for him or Humphrey, and I refused to vote for either. It should have been RFK. And then, Eugene McCarthy. To many of us, Hubert was just more of the same.

That time and this one are so starkly different I can only begin to imagine how historians will examine them. Politics is more bound to the ends of the pole now, to a major degree because of the communication revolution. If Rupert Murdoch had not come along to present the alternate reality of FOX news, someone else would have. There is money to be made. And pitting people against each other sells product. It is not the reality that people would choose if they realized their emotions were being so thoroughly manipulated by the likes of purveyors of "reality" TV.
Trump loves the power he feels by manipulating people. When he stands before his flock, he knows they won't settle for anything but what he gave them from the start. Bigotry. Hatred.

So Goldwater, McGovern, and Mondale were all beaten badly in the electoral college though millions and millions voted for them.
Personally, my opinion is that HRC is the most highly qualified person to ever be nominated by either party. Period. Based on what should be the result, it should not be a contest at all. Her opponent is a nonentity who has zero skill other than promoting himself. That is why it is such a captivating election season. It all comes down to the same old struggle between Republicans and Democrats. This election may bring on a new party or something, who knows in advance?

Thanks, Meredith, we watch cable news here at home in SC almost constantly, so the polls are never far away. I didn't know about this one PPP, but NC is an important swing state. The governor is a real cretin, in my view. Are you in Bergen now? What a wonderful place.

I can't stand seeing these Polls broadcast. I thought there was a law against it. I think they skew the results of the election.

As the protest/folk song goes "The only poll that counts is the one on Election Day." Unfortunately, because America has several time zones, when they report the exit polls on the East Coast, I think that it effects election outcomes in earlier time zones where the voting is still going on.