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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Fun with politics



The big US political news is that good old Joe Biden won't be running for president. It's interesting that during his “non run” he did better than the two times he actually tried for the job. Perhaps had he thrown his hat in the ring his poll numbers would have plummeted.

For practical purposes the Democratic race is down to Hillary and Bernie. Yeah, there's some other guys running -extra points if you know their names without looking it up. However, you've got to do better than 1% to get noticed. The field has narrowed quite a bit, all before the first primary.

On the Republican side, against all main stream media expectations (and prayers?), Trump is still the man to beat. Interesting times.

What really fascinates me is the recent Canadian election. Justin Trudeau was elected PM by a significant margin. I remember his father, Pierre Trudeau. Pierre was PM pretty much from the late 60s until about the mid 80s, if memory serves. He was such a flamboyant and intelligent figure that even Americans knew who he was.

No one thinks Justin is as smart as his old man was, however, by all accounts he's a liberal like his old man. All that means is that Canada goes back to being Canada.

I followed the Canadian election by listening to Quebec radio over the Internet. I've been trying to improve my comprehension of the French language. As it turns out understanding only half of what's being said is more than enough to follow politics.

I think from now on I'll only listen to French language coverage of the US election. As it turns out, politics make more sense if you only catch half the words.

-Sixbears

14 comments:

  1. The only French words that I can remember with any clarity are 'merde' & 'bouffon' - both of which are most apt for the topic of politics.

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    1. Those two words should get you through the current political cycle.

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  2. I like the way you put that last phrase Sixbears. I might have to use it sometimes.
    Joel
    ( I still don't know why blogger won't give my name or my blog's name!)

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    1. Glad you like it.

      I've had little luck trouble shooting blogger. Good luck!

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  3. I'm sure it couldn't be due to an overabundance of words in the first place. ;-)

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  4. POLITICS MAKES MORE SENSE IF YOU ONLY CATCH HALF THE WORDS - Hah, isn't that the truth.

    I think it'll be Hillary - Sanders is only there to make her look reasonable to Dem voters (you REALLY want all of those 'Free Government Programs' ?). Dem voters will hold their noses when they cast their ballot - the Clinton legal scandals continue even before a single vote has been cast. Funny thing they mention about the Bill Clinton terms - I cannot recall any good things that occurred due to his efforts. The 90's economy was booming, the homeless all found homes, the unemployed found jobs and unicorns ran around, sprouting rainbows whereever they roamed. Dee-light-full!

    I'm glad that Trump is still there. I still think he'll drop out eventually, but I really enjoy watching him make a monkey out of the press. The press throws mud, lie about what he said and what he meant when he said it - just really funny.

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  5. Liberalism, like communism, just doesn't work. History and 'enlightened' voters keep trying though. I pick up a lot of the Canadian radio stations overnight and early morning on my little portable radio. Just the same as most NY stations.

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  6. About half the words are all you really need to keep up with politics, anyway.
    And "too late" for Biden to run? It's the same week of the pre-election year in which Bill Clinton announced his candidacy, I believe, and it worked for him ... Maybe all of Biden's past plagiarism sins might be catching up to him, that's all. And more to hide from.

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    1. Wow! You actually remember something from one of his previous runs. Amazing. All that stuff would have come out if he ran.

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    2. Not really, Sixbears. I didn't pay that much attention to him the first 2 times around. Just heard it on the Michael Berry radio talk show. He's a local guy, but is heard in such diverse places as Portland and upper state NY. Crazily conservative, but makes a lot of sense and knows his facts. You might enjoy listening if you can find him up your way.

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    3. There might be an Internet stream of his show. I'll have to look into it.

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