Who will win on Nov. 2nd?
Posted : October 25, 2004 at 10:53 am [America/Los_Angeles]
Yesterday, while spending quality time with my family, my elder brother brought up this all important question, “Who will win on Nov. 2nd?”. I was the first to jump in and proclaim that Senator Kerry will win. No ifs and buts. While some agreed with me, I think my elder brother was not so sure. Needless to say, that got me a trifle worried.
Am I guilty of the same thing as folks who watch “Fox News” everyday? Am I living in my own little virtual “cocoon” (blogs) surrounded by opinions from like-minded individuals who are really a minority in this country? I would like to believe otherwise. I would like to believe that I am part of a huge grassroots campaign made popular by people like Joe Trippi while working for Gov. Howard Dean. A campaign that in the end would dethrone a powerful, well-connected and stubborn Administration come Nov. 2nd.
Having said that, I am also a pragmatist. Anyone who has read my blog these past few months knows that I would like Senator Kerry/Senator Edwards team to win. However, I have also stated too many times on this blog that in the end “On Nov. 3rd, Americans will get a President that they deserve”.
If President Bush and Vice President Cheney win, it will mean two things:
- the lack of a real “fair and balanced” Media continues to fail the people of this country and will be a major problem for the very fabric of this country’s democracy in the years to come
- the “Democrats” are dead! If they can’t win this time around, it will take a miracle (or a Hillary Clinton) for them to win the Presidency again
I don’t expect the next President of the United States to be perfect. However, I do expect the next President to be someone who is willing to acknowledge and learn from his mistakes. I do expect the next President to truly be a “uniter”, someone who will reach out to “all” Americans - blacks, whites, gays, lesbians, theists or atheists. I do expect the next President to champion the cause of advancement of science and technology and not cite excuses to curtail its advancement. I do expect the next President to understand that while 9/11 did change many things, it has not changed the basic axioms on which this country was founded and has prospered all these years. And lastly, but not the least, I do expect the next President to never ever play politics with the lives of humans - Americans or non-Americans, Civilians or Soldiers. It is imperative for the next President of the United States to understand that “a preemptive act of aggression alone cannot be a solution to any problem, let alone the current problem of terrorism”. Violence begets violence. It’s that simple.
So, who will win on Nov. 2nd? Actually, I really don’t know. And that’s what makes the next 7 days so damn hard 
- Anand
Category: United (or not) State of American Politics 2004
2 Comments
Who will win? For the first time in my voting life, I have never felt so strongly for a candidate. I sure hope it’s Kerry who wins, which is a break with my republican past. And you’re right about the media. It’s funny that you portray them as Republican biased while if you ask any conservative Republican, they’ll say it’s the other way around (barring Fox News of course). For them, it’s all about the money.
Posted by: Ben C at October 26, 2004 @ 6:34 am
Ben:
Here are a few sites that do a great job of documenting the crap that’s frequently spewed by the Media. Granted they might have bit of a “liberal” bias (meaning they primarily document crap that’s against liberal hosts or viewpoints), but a crap is a crap:
1. Media Matters for America: http://www.mediamatters.org
2. Newshounds.us: http://www.newshounds.us/
3. The Daily Howler: http://www.dailyhowler.org
Let’s see:
1. Radio: 95% conservative, 5% liberal
2. Network News: CBS (Liberal), ABC and NBC (in the name of being “fair”, they’re unfair to both liberals and conservatives most of the time)
3. Cable 24×7 News Channels: CNN and FOX are really “symbols” of everything that’s wrong with this country’s Media. As for MSNBC, they have the same problem as ABC, NBC. Namely, in the name of being fair, they’re really not saying anything of substance. However, I will grant you that Chris Matthews and Keith Olberman are not really proponents of “conservative” ideals. Ofcourse, they have an hour of Pat Buchanan (and Joe) to balance it out. I know Joe tries his darndest to sound like a fair guy, but talk about being obsessed with John O’Neil.
4. Print Media: The major newspapers like NYTimes and Washington Post are decidedly liberal-leaning. On the other hand, the editorials of Wall Street Journal are right-leaning, to say the least. As for the print media across the nation, well I could not tell. Seems to me like Red States have more Red-leaning newspapers and Blue have more Blue-leaning newspapers. You can’t blame them. You’ve to right what folks in your town like to read. In any case, how many in this country get their news from reading newspapers..:-)
5. Internet/Blogs: Everyone gets to chime in and get indexed “equally and fairly” by Google and other search engines. Ofcourse, there are ways to manipulate these search engines. But no one on the internet can complain that they only get “one” side of the story. Despite a few weaknesses, I like this medium the most and feel that this will ultimately change the way the world “consumes” news. Hopefully, change it for the better.
Anyway, that’s just how I feel about the Media and their bias..:-)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Ben
Posted by: Anand Sharma at October 27, 2004 @ 11:01 am