Fox Rant & Rave on campaign promises.
07 Aug 2009
If you didn’t get a chance to watch it yesterday when it was live during the four p.m. newscast, my most recent Rant & Rave is now live on Fox – Link. I also recommend Tom Waniewski’s from Tuesday if you haven’t watched his yet, Link.
Lisa,
Great “Rant and Rave”!!
I especially liked the part about, (I’m paraphrasing here. I hope this is a fair analysis.), how the electorate doesn’t really want the full truth from candidates, because that often means sacrifice on their parts. The public wants improvements in government services that OTHERS sacrifice for and/or pay for.
When Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-AZ) ran for President in 1964, (Yes! I’m old enough to remember that campaign.), he was a true, consistent, unhypocritical conservative and very honest. Goldwater went to Tennessee and Kentucky and told them that the Tennessee Valley Authority, that brought electricity to areas that had never had it, was terrible because it was “creeping socialism”. Goldwater would campaign in Florida, which already had a LOT of retirees, and promote making Social Security a voluntary program. He was CREAMED in the November election!
To make this local, Mike Ferner came close to beating Carty the first time Carty won the mayor’s office, way back in 1993! Mike lost by less than 200 votes, I believe. In an interview during the campaign, Mike stated that he didn’t belong to any particular church and that, religiously, he was agnostic. This, of course, means only that a person has not chosen one particular religion as the “right” one. Well, you would have thought the he had stated that he was a mass murderer! In such a close race, no one can convince me that Ferner’s position on religion, one that in our nation is supposed to be the most personal of issues, didn’t cost him the mayoral election. I even remember the “exit polling” that November evening. Exit polls are extremely accurate. Via those polls, Ferner was supposed to win a somewhat close race. He, of course, lost in the tightest mayor’s race I can ever remember in Toledo.
It’s like that line spoken by Jack Nicholson’s military character in that great movie court scene: “The truth!! You can’t handle the truth!”
August 8th, 2009 at 2:11 pmDale, that was a fair and accurate summation, we criticize candidates for not keeping their promises or telling us only what we want to hear but we don’t take any responsibility for helping to create why they act that way. They tell us what we want to hear because we’ve shown them that’s how they win.
I also really believe that if you watch how a campaign is ran you’ll have a very good idea what type of an elected official that person will be and that voters don’t pay enough attention to that. How a campaign responds to legitimate questions and concerns tells you volumes…
August 8th, 2009 at 2:21 pmdamn, you’ve become famous since I last checked in!
August 8th, 2009 at 6:58 pmBen, that made me laugh and is one reason why I miss you being around.
August 8th, 2009 at 7:02 pmLisa,
The problem is, not enough potential voters really pay attention to what candidates say and how candidates run their campaigns. Most citizens really don’t comprehend the extent of the power they have. They allow others to make decisions for them by not voting, or not even registering to vote! And too many of those who do vote often make their decisions based upon sound bites and second hand information. I couldn’t confirm this in Bartlett’s, but I believe it was Churchill who said, “In a democracy, people get the kind of government they deserve.”
But, of course, they then complain! With all of these candidates for Mayor, and with all of these candidates for City Council, what do you think the percentage of Toledo voters will be who actually vote in the September Primary where they will have the most choices? How many Toledo voters realize that the local Primary is non-partisan and does NOT require any voter to declare a political party before they can vote on the candidates? Toledo needs greater voter participation than has been traditional.
August 8th, 2009 at 11:40 pmI try not to make excuses for the actions of government people I like. I do criticize a lot, especially the ones I don’t like.
I remember when Ferner ran. I didn’t live in the city of Toledo back then, but I remember that I disliked Carty even then and hoped that Ferner would win. I think his religious views had a lot to do with him losing that election.
August 10th, 2009 at 2:54 pm