we are nearing interesting times

[Occhidiangela]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1199320302...p_us_whats_news

A very interesting article. Especially the part about the snow shovels.

I always have very double feelings about these small factors that can influence an election.

I'm looking forward to reading more about everybody's opinions on the elections here on the lounge and have some good discussions.

Huckabee used the P word.

Plutocracy.

Intent: distance himself from the neoconservative core of the current GOP leadership, smear Romney as a neocon.

He also contrasts his own humble roots with the privileged life of his chief rival here in Iowa, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "If politics is going to end up being nothing more than about who has the most money, then we've not had a presidency, we've had a plutocracy, and we might as well put it on eBay and sell it to the highest bidder," he said yesterday in Mason City.

The Huckster (word deliberately chosen) in this appeal to fear of "those nasty elites" brushes over the last fifty years of American politics: the bolded condition is the current state of play.

"Populist" is an imprecise term, and one to be wary of, eppie.

It can be used to describe an appeal to nativist, nationalistic, or unionist sentiments, depending upon which candidate is using it, or selling it, and when. Something to consider: David Duke ran some years back as candidate from The Populist Party. This does not make all Populists Clansmen, nor Good Union Men. To make a Populist appeal is to assert the existence of "the common man" (who, truth be told, don't as a group agree on much of anything) by whomever is using it. As a label, it roughloy what the speaker intends it to mean, a la Humpty Dumpty.

In other news, Senator Clinton continues with her carefully fabricated persona, and hypocritically attempts to address a populist concern, even though she is one of the elites, well connected, whose income has soared in the last seven years.

Sen. Clinton has spiced up her own stump speech with a bit of middle-class populism this week. "The wealthy and the well-connected have had a president for seven years," she told a crowd in Ottumwa last night. "Meanwhile, most Americans have seen their incomes stall."

Cheeky bunt, that one.

Another note: populist sentiment is commonly tapped into by Libertarians.

Occhi