Electability

electabilityThere has been, in recent elections, a new word that adds to the rhetoric of the role of the media in telling us what to think and helping to shape the outcomes of elections, whether wittingly or unwittingly. “Electability” is a subjective term, taken, I suppose, to mean that the platform and views held by the candidate have what the media deems to be a dose of reality and pragmatism. So, no dreamers, no idealists, definitely no socialists, but no fascists either (although Trump comes close to the latter).

Isn’t the concept of “electability” just another way of deciding an election before the ballots are cast? Why do discussions like this even exist, if it were not for the promotion of one candidate over another? Not sure why Biden is being picked on, I am not partial to him, myself; but I think that some things need to be left to the minds of the voters, and not tell them what to think. I shouldn’t care about “electable”; I should only care if a candidate shares my views and supports policies that affect “me”.

Electability, in the context of the 2020 American elections, begins to sound too much like being careful not to upstage Trump and for the Democrats to return to the role of Greek Chorus to Trump’s every new outrageous distraction.

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4 thoughts on “Electability”

  1. What disturbs me the most is how the Democrat Party and the media are attempting to undermine and undo the results of a legal election via subterfuge. If that happens and a precedent is set, the result of ANY election will become null and void in the US.

    THAT is scary.

    1. I am really more interested in how the media sets the scene for future elections. In this mini-article, I was referring to Joe Biden and the Democratic primaries. There was an article I was reading in the New York Times about him, and I wondered why all these column inches on this one candidate out of the other 20 or so, who are also widely-known names? Who gets to decide that Biden is “electable” and the others less so?

      As for the past election that got Trump in power, I agree that any trouble Trump is in, is not living up to the hype. If there was a “Russian conspiracy”, they would only be capable of a most miniscule influence. Trump knows this, just by the fact that the Dems haven’t proceeded sooner. I mean, the Russian economy is as small as Greece’s, isn’t it? The Russians can probably troll the internet, but I don’t think this is a big influence.

      I don’t think it is possible to undo the results of the last election, although they make a lot of bluster about it. No one is talking about reversing the appointment of the Supreme Court judges — at least not seriously. The last election is like most elections, bought and paid for by donors. But both parties are guilty of that stuff.

      Investigators might find some problems with a Trump Tower being built near Red Square — and that might raise eyebrows in Congress, but this is small compared with the original accusation of stealing the election.

      But like Nixon, obstruction of justice will likely get him in bigger trouble than anything I’ve mentioned. Will anyone control the insane levels of donations to parties election coffers? Ever hear about that in the press? Any press, left or right?

      It is interesting to note that Noam Chomsky has said that the press (like CNN and NYT), along with Congress might actually help Trump get elected by using Russian interference, which appears to be doomed to amount to minor issues at best, distractions from issues that matter to the public and their everyday lives.

      The biggest thing that might get Trump is trouble is his own paranoia, causing him to obstruct justice when he doesn’t need to. Let the Dems reveal the whole mess for the nothing-burger that it is. That way, Trump will win 2020. Thank-you, Democrats.

  2. There was another NYT article I read yesterday centering on “fact-checking” the Sanders campaign. I think that, unless similar fact checking is done with other candidates, it amounts to an attempt to show Sanders as a “lesser light” compared with Biden, who is the current front-runner.

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