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USA Presidential Election watch - have you got USA Presidential Election

23 watchers

paul the builder Nov 2016 8:05am, 10 Nov 2016 5,822 posts	Quote Pin paul the builder I'm waiting for the punchline to that, postie.... Unless you're serious?
DeeGee Nov 2016 8:07am, 10 Nov 2016 17,673 posts	Quote Pin DeeGee My local MP is a local lass. She's 37 and before getting selected for this constituency on an all-female shortlist she earned a B.A in politics and international studies, worked for 10 years at Labour Head Office and then became regional organiser for UNISON. So she's got a thorough grounding on just what life's like for the jobless ex-fishermen and food technicians in Great Grimsby. Still, she wore a red rosette at the last election. independent.co.uk
postieboy Nov 2016 8:12am, 10 Nov 2016 3,928 posts	Quote Pin postieboy I am serious. It's pitchfork anger with nearly every article and opinion. I want to read something from both sides, a bit of balanced coverage regardless of whether I agree or not. I've seen this all before, not long ago either....
paul the builder Nov 2016 8:16am, 10 Nov 2016 5,823 posts	Quote Pin paul the builder Clearly the Guardian has a 'side', and some of the articles can fairly be said to adding to the piles of hyperbole currently affecting everyone. What I mean is - so which paper are you going to buy instead?
simbil Nov 2016 8:22am, 10 Nov 2016 7,389 posts	Quote Pin simbil A balanced and dispassionate newspaper postie? Good luck I used to read 'The Week' many years ago before it was bought out and became crap - it was just an amalgamation of other newspaper's articles with some editorial analysis. Interesting seeing several consolatory posts saying we should not demonise and that everyone needs to work together. True of course from a pragmatic standpoint but this all asks some bigger questions about what are acceptable beliefs these days and how campaigns can be run. We're seeing a real race to the bottom at the moment - fear, innuendo and personal attacks rather than positive campaigns. Appealing to people's inner bigot has always been the dark side of democracy and the unspoken agreement is that candidates don't go there too much. If the unspoken agreement doesn't hold, there should be some rules of engagement around incitement and making claims that are demonstrable untrue.
larkim Nov 2016 8:25am, 10 Nov 2016 1,267 posts	Quote Pin larkim @DeeGee - so if she was from a family of jobless ex-fishermen would that make her better qualified to scrutiinse legislation on Brexit, education policy, foreign policy, taxation, defence, terrorism etc. I'm not suggesting that there isn't a bias towards university educated, middle class individuals who have sought out careers in politics. But it equally doesn't mean that they don't understand the issues they face and can't represent their constituents well.
Fellrunning Nov 2016 8:35am, 10 Nov 2016 1,777 posts	Quote Pin Fellrunning The issue always is that if you appeal to the lowest common denominator in people it becomes very hard to row back from that. Trump knows (or will have been told) he has to strike a different stance now he's won. He may be able to - but his supporters will simply carry on in the same vein. The same applied to Brexit, and the same genie remains very firmly out of the bottle. I've said before that there's a sense of people having been allowed off the leash to give free reign to their innermost prejudice. I hesitate to raise the N word as its got me into trouble before. However if you read contemporary writings by quite ordinary Germans who lived through the Nazi era they are almost to a man/woman unable to explain why they behaved in the way they did, and why they went along with it all.
postieboy Nov 2016 8:45am, 10 Nov 2016 3,929 posts	Quote Pin postieboy I might buy a couple of newspapers, the joint coverage might balance itself out. Anger, frustration, despiration. That's why people look for alternative or indeed extreme solutions like voting for a maverick of dubious qualities.
postieboy Nov 2016 8:48am, 10 Nov 2016 3,930 posts	Quote Pin postieboy I'll add prejudice into that as well unfortunately.
SODIron © 2002 Nov 2016 8:53am, 10 Nov 2016 11,383 posts	Quote Pin SODIron © 2002 I treat news articles in the press like the stories my children tell me...my first thought is "Why are they telling me this?" quickly followed by "What are they not telling me?". There is no independent news outlet anywhere, they are all pushing their own agenda and the truth is always the casualty.