What if…Nixon had been shot in Dallas in 1963?

President Nixon: Tragically Slain in Dallas, 1963.

PRESIDENT NIXON DEAD. SHOT IN DALLAS. VICE PRESIDENT CABOT LODGE SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT.

The murder of Richard M. Nixon on the 22nd November 1963 by Lee Harvey Oswald brought a meteoric political career to a cruelly abrupt end. The man who had risen from entering Congress in 1946 to defeating Senator John F. Kennedy in the razor thin election of 1960 was almost certain to be re-elected in 1964, given his adroit handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, tough line on Vietnam (remembering Truman’s “losing China”) and his hard-line on civil rights solidifying black votes into the Republican column. The death of the young, cheerful and endearingly awkward war hero president stunned America.

Vice President Henry Cabot Lodge easily defeated Senator Lyndon Baines Johnson, running on a thinly veiled racist (against his own better judgement, he admitted years later) states rights campaign the following year. As history now shows, the Republican landslide of 1964 was the last good thing to happen to the former Massachusetts senator. Read more…

Why not let US politicians give money to voters?

Why not give the voters a taste?

Watching the vast amounts of money being spent in the Republican primaries, one can’t help wondering what’s the point? Given the way that US politicians keep finding loopholes to sidestep campaign finance laws (SuperPACs anyone?) why not change the law to reflect reality?

Why not let candidates just give money direct to voters? I’m not talking about buying their votes, as the secret ballot would have to be protected. But given the amounts of money spent, why not just cut out the waste and let voters get the benefit of the cash, with the only rule being that they can only be given money before they vote? Ironically, by doing so, it would lessen the power of spin doctors because they wouldn’t be able to make as much money as they do now. Secondly, once voters knew that it was legal for candidates to give them money, they would demand it. Would it effect how people vote? Possibly, but possibly not. Would it force politicians to raise more money? Again, possibly, but so what? The effect of money on the US political system is there anyway, and growing every election cycle, so why not recognize that? This way, at least the voters would benefit directly from the vast infusion of money into US politics. True, you might end up with politicians being betrayed by voters, discovering that after the election the voters had taken their money, lied to them, and voted for the other guy. Would that really be a bad thing?

SOPA. Hmmm.

It’s very fashionable to defend internet piracy. Technically, by posting some of the stuff I do, I suppose I’m doing it too. Whereas SOPA (That’s the Stop Online Piracy Act) seems draconian, there is another issue which is dismissed to one side, but which Bill Maher raises very legitimately here. Isn’t it stealing? I’m no angel myself, I have watched movies and TV stuff online that were posted illegally, but nearly always after attempting and failing to purchase them legally. I spend a lot of money with Amazon and iTunes buying stuff, and you know why? Because this stuff costs money to produce professionally, and people have to get paid for their efforts, and the funny thing about the vast majority of the “everything should be free” advocates is that they don’t do their jobs for free. That’s why I have started posting Amazon links to any commercial stuff I post, to at least give people an opportunity to buy things legitimately, and yes, for me to earn a few euro to pay for the blog.

I said this to someone recently, and they said that iTunes were “ripping people off”. At 99c a track? Seriously? Since when did wanting access to the fruit of other’s labours for free become a human right? Funnily enough, do you ever notice how the great majority of the “everything should be free” crowd rarely ever produce anything creative, like a song or a movie?   

Gingrich to seek TransAtlantic Adultery Pact.

I don't know, maybe three, four times a day?

Former Speaker and adulterer Newt Gingrich took time off today from lecturing on family values to announce that he would seek to agree an Adultery Exchange Programme with France if he were elected President of the United States.

“I’m not Mitt Romney. I don’t speak French as well as him, even though I did live in France for a while. But there are areas where I am indeed more French than Mitt Romney. Take marriage vows, for example. Romney is like Obama and Clinton and Carter, still married to the same woman, whereas I’m more of a Domnique Strauss Kahn kind of guy when it comes to the ladies. I’m committed to family values, sure, but for other people, not me. Hey, check out the tail on that fine piece!”

Hubert Horatio Humphrey, forgotten giant.

HHH: The coming man who never arrived.

I’m always intrigued about how major political leaders or celebrities, people who were major figures in their day, are almost completely forgotten within a few decades. From a US political point of view, Hubert Humphrey tops the list of forgotten giants. From the late 1950s until the mid 1970s, it was almost impossible to draw up a list of possible presidental contenders without having Humphrey’s name near the top of the list, and not in a Herman Cain five minutes of fame kind of way, either.

From his entry into national politics as the barnstorming liberal pro-civil rights Mayor of Minneapolis, HHH became the standard bearer for the liberal wing of the party. He lectured the 1948 Democratic convention on civil rights for blacks, at a time when the Democratic party still had large numbers of members with pictures of Jefferson Davis on the walls.

As a US senator, he emerged as a leader of the party, losing to JFK for the party nomination in 1960, and eventually serving as Vice President to Lyndon Johnson and then amazingly getting re-elected to the Senate after losing to Nixon in 1968.

Nicknamed “The Happy Warrior”, Humphrey combined liberal beliefs with solid political nous (he was very popular with the unions, when unions actually mattered in US politics) and came close to beating Nixon in 1968, losing by a mere 1% point despite being Vice President of one of the most hated US administrations ever. Even in the 1970s, he was a serious contender for president, until he discovered that he had terminal cancer. He handled that with class too, and spent his last months calling all his old allies and opponents (including now disgraced Nixon) to say goodbye and invite them to his funeral. 

How fundraising can help Irish politics.

Interesting Youtube piece below from President Obama’s campaign manager about fundraising. In Europe, we tend to sneer at the effect money has on US elections, and how raising money is as important as getting actual votes, but there is a very positive side. In the US, it is very easy to donate money to candidates you support, and something that is done by millions of people as a very clear declaration of support.

In Ireland, giving money to candidates is sneered at as being almost corrupt. I’ve met people who cannot comprehend why you would give money to a politician if you weren’t getting something in return. The other side of it is that many people who do feel enthusiastic about a party or candidate are embarrassed that they can’t afford to donate a large sum of money, and so don’t donate at all, and that is something that candidates need to address. Thousands of small online donations should be the lifeblood of Irish politics, not a novelty. I can only recall one candidate (John McGuirk) in the last election who openly pointed out that he would be grateful for small donations.

The other side is that when you do donate, the candidates should have the decency to acknowledge it. I donated (very modestly) to a number of candidates in the last election. Some did not even acknowledge it, whereas one wrote back a handwritten letter thanking me and addressing the points I raised in my letter, and bear in mind that I had donated a very modest amount of money. Not only will I donate again to him in the future, but he was also elected.

What if…Al Gore had been elected President in 2000?

Vice President Al Gore’s hair’s breadth carrying of Florida in the 2000 presidential election meant that when terrorists attacked the United States in September 2001, the former highly experienced vice president and senator was in control of the nation’s defences, as opposed to Governor Bush. President Gore spent the following months assembling an international coalition at the United Nations to support the US invasion of Afghanistan and the destruction of both the Taliban and Al Quaeda. His defence secretary (and former Reagan administration official) Robert Gates was criticised for his strategy of utilising a large scale invasion force, with former Ford chief of staff Donald Rumsfeld regarding the large amount of resources used as wasteful, saying that he was “Shocked and awed at the amount of troops committed”. Calls for an invasion of Iraq from former defence secretary Dick Cheney and neo-conservative think tanks were dismissed as a distraction, and didn’t get much traction in the media. 

The Gates strategy was vindicated by many, however, when in March 2002, Al Quaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, fleeing advancing US forces, was shot dead by French Special Forces in caves on the Pakistan border, triggering an outbreak of Francophilia in the US and cheering crowds for President Chirac when he visited New York and Washington the following month. British prime minister Tony Blair was lambasted in the British media for not keeping the UK as close to the US as France.

In 2004, President Gore was easily re-elected, defeating Senator John McCain, and causing serious reversals for the GOP in both the house and senate as the Democratic party surged ahead in the polls on national security issues, and the Republicans opposed a Patriot Act which included increased measures to combat white collar crime and money laundering. The collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, however, meant that the Lieberman-Bayh campaign based around a platform of national security and prosperity disintegrated, ending the sixteen year Democratic domination of the White House.

The new Bush-Palin administration immediately began spending the large budget surplus left by the Democrats on pork barrel projects for key GOP districts mixed with tax cuts for the wealthy, in an attempt to stimulate the economy. It didn’t work, as wealthy taxpayers immediately moved their new found cash abroad to seek better investment returns. At the same time, the administration refused to assist large businesses in difficulty, resulting in the collapse, amongst others, of General Motors, which was promptly bought at a bargain basement price by the Chinese government.

In foreign policy, President Bush had greater success, especially with the outbreak of large scale dissatisfaction in the Middle East, and tyrants being toppled by their own people. When President Bush ordered US aircraft based in Saudi Arabia to support Iraqi protesters and rebel Iraqi army units attempting to overthrow Saddam Hussein, he was welcomed by cheering crowds when he arrived in Baghdad following the lynching of the dictator and his sons by a mob the previous week. The former governor of Florida had been looking forward to the 2012 contest, and the Democratic lineup, including a young and charismatic black second term US senator from Illinois, when an oddly shaped pretzel lodged in his throat and he was found dead on the floor of his living room. America’s first female president was sworn in 35 minutes later.

And every one a squeaker!

Pres. Obama’s campaign manager outlines possible ways for him to win. If he does, it’ll be closer than the hair on Steve McGarrett’s chin, as they say in Hawaii. Where the president is from.

Ghost of Osama Bin Laden endorses Gingrich/Palin ticket in 2012

The ghost of evil bigoted terrorist mastermind  Osama Bin Laden has endorsed former house speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Sarah Palin for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.

Speaking from hell, Bin Laden is quoted as saying: “I have spent a lifetime trying to convince young Muslims that the United States is prejudiced against  Islam. Then they go and elect Obama, a man who has some actual knowledge of Islam, and treat Muslim soldiers in the US army as equals. They even have a Muslim in Congress! This is what I’m up against, so I really appreciate Newt and Sarah stirring up bigotry over the Islamic Centre two blocks from Ground Zero. Seriously, I could not have written it better myself, well, other than “We surrender, Praise Allah!” But now I can go to young American Muslims fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan, who laud the US, and go “In your face, over here, working for the honky man!”. If I’m not trying to raise money to put Newt and Sarah into the White House in 2012, then my uncle’s a rabbi! It’s not as much a donation as an investment. Anyone see any virgins down here?”

The Gingrich/Palin approach to the proposed centre, thus ensuring that US Muslims know their place, is part of a radical new Republican approach to hot button issues the GOP hopes to showcase in the November midterm elections. Another issue is that of attitudes towards homosexuality, where Republican members of congress and formers chairs of the RNC are having gay sex regularly so as to be able to lecture family values voters on the evils of a hot gay banging with a buff intern named Chad. Repeatedly.

2012: Drama, drama, drama.

The odds are against him.

2012 promises to be, both in Ireland and elsewhere, another year of high drama, and that’s assuming that it’s not the end of the world.

1. The US Presidential Election. I still expect Pres. Obama to be defeated, which will be sad, but an indication of the way the US is heading. There will be people without two cents to rub together who will either not bother voting, or vote for a Republican to give a tax cut to billionaires and cut unemployment aid to people who can’t find work. I’m on the right, but even for me, that’s throw hands in the air and walk away time.

2. The EU referendum in Ireland will not be as dramatic as expected, because it doesn’t really matter whether it passes or not, as Irish ratification is not required to implement it. If the Irish choose to exclude themselves from the room, that’s our business, and no one else will really care, as we are obeying most of the Fiscal Compact rules through our IMF deal already.

3. Will the eurozone stay the same? Everything hinges on Greece, but even if Greece defaults on pretty much all her debts, which she would have to if she quit the euro, as they would multiply in cost against the new drachma, it still doesn’t make much sense. Tourism costs will drop, but will rise again as energy and imported food and consumer goods rise feed through. Devaluation is a short term gimmick that counts for nothing if a country does not deal with competitive issues, and the Greek government knows this.

4. Ireland potentially faces two referendums (referenda?) on Children’s Rights and abolition of the Senate. If the Children’s Rights one turns into a ban on smacking, it will go down. The Senate campaign will be more interesting, assuming Enda doesn’t give in to his backbenchers and kick it into the Constitutional Convention. Having said that, I can see the argument against leaving the Dail to its own devices gaining some traction. Could the Irish people vote to keep the Seanad? Potentially, yes.

5. The Constitutional Convention will begin work on rewriting Ireland’s 1937 constitution. I should be excited by this, but I remain deeply cynical, for the reasons stated here.

6. Finally, will Sarko survive April/May’s French presidential election? Run off polls currently put him losing to the Socialists’s Hollande by 20%. Interestingly, Hollande beats Le Pen by 76%, yet Sarko only beats her by 63%, which means that there’s a substantial number of people out there who just plain hate Sarko’s guts. Imagine that!