7-10-08: Strange Politics

There are two items from the news that I think are a bit odd, so far as to say I don't see why any one of a logical mindset would get behind either of these two ideas.

The first one was a story I heard on the radio about a guy in Nevada (or maybe New Mexico; somewhere in the rural southwest) who was campaigning for John McCain. He planned on traveling around the state, visiting small towns to spread the word on McCain. The demographic he chose as his primary target was Hispanic females who had supported Hillary Clinton. Here was his pitch: "Why vote for some one who deprived you of your dream?" What he meant, of course, was that he wanted to convince these voters that Barack Obama was a poor choice because he had defeated their favorite candidate.

There are many aspects of his pitch that are either idiotic, sexist, or just downright strange. First, if Hillary had won the Democratic ticket, wouldn't McCain be her biggest obstacle? Then there's the obvious sexism involved in assuming these voters based their opinion solely on the fact that they wanted a woman in the White House. That's not to say that opinion is wrong (one might think it's a bit shallow), but to make the generalization is a bit sexist. And on top of that, it doesn't say anything about McCain as a candidate. It's poor, ill-advised, negative campaigning. Good luck, buddy.

The second story in the news is how many people might not buy into the "Obama Saves Hillary" movement, in which Obama is asking his supporters to donate to Clinton's campaign to help relieve the debt it incurred. Sure, it's quite generous and (I guess) altruistic on Obama's part, but it's not his money to spend. What is the incentive for a voter to donate to a candidate they didn't want nominated in the first place? What do they get out of it? It may send a message of unity to the Democratic Party, but it's a strange notion for voters to buy in to. If I were to donate $50 to Clinton's suspended campaign against a candidate I voted for (which I didn't, this is a hypothetical scenario), where would my $50 go?

Two strange stories, but shockingly not too uncommon to see. I was listening to a podcast where they had Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, on. It will be interesting to see how well a third party candidate will do this year.