Update on the Kentucky Gubernatorial Primary
Well, Fletcher did it. With 50% of the vote to his main opponent’s 37% (Source: CQPolitics.com) he became the Republican nominee. I find it interesting that Bush’s approval rating is lower than Fletcher’s (38%), and Fletcher was indicted while in office. Yes, I know there’s the unpopular war in Iraq, but then one also has to explain why people who once supported the war suddenly became so incredibly hostile to the leader they once gave unprecedented popularity ratings. What on earth did they think was going to happen?
It just makes me wonder just how people decide what candidate to vote for, and what policies to support. It strikes me as involving momentary whims. It seems to me that George Bush is the same person who was elected back in 2000. He’s behaved as one might expect him to behave based on his history, his associates, and his campaign. Of course many thought the war would go much better, though it still astounds me that they would imagine such a thing.
What was it Churchill said? Something like “democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
OK, enough whining for today!
>It seems to me that George Bush is the same person
>who was elected back in 2000.
Yes, warts and all. 🙂
Regarding Fletcher, I wonder how much of it is the “my team uber alles” attitude that people have? I think I’m more partisan than most, but there are certainly lines I won’t cross. On the other hand, there may have been other influences. For example, the whole country slams New Orleans for re-electing Nagin, but the truth, crazy as it is, is that Nagin was the *reform* candidate. His opponent is from the family known as the “Cajun Kennedys” and things would have been “business as usual” had he been elected. Nagin was originally elected as a reformer; he’s a business man and this was his first political job. Many people felt that he made huge mistakes in Katrina, but that he’d learned his lesson and would be the right man for the rebuilding. Likewise, William Jefferson was recently re-elected mostly due to the get out the vote urgings of a Chinese sheriff in white areas of Jefferson’s district. Most of the black constituents who kept him in office previously turned their backs on him this time. These things defy the typical narrative and are not reported on, but they’re true… maybe some oddness like this is at play in KY.
You have some good points there. I think the main weakness in my whining about this is that one also has to consider the alternatives each time. Are they really better?
I can imagine a case in which I have one candidate who is scandalously dishonest, and another who holds a position I regard as immoral (to the extent I feel I can’t vote for someone who holds it), yet is very honest about his position and has integrity that is beyond question.
For whom do I vote?
I do a lot of nose-holding in the voting booth!
Me too. 🙂 Frustrating isn’t it?