(no subject)
Here in Virginia, we'll be electing a new Governor this November. The current Governor, Democrat Mark Warner, will leave office with a very high approval rating (around 75% right now), and will likely explore a bid for the Presidency in 2008. It seems his popularity stems from the fact that he came out our recent budget fight looking better than both the Democrats and the Republicans in the state assembly, and he managed not to fuck anything else up either. Even I can't find too many bad things to say about him.
The three main boobs who are running to replace him are Republican attorney general Jerry Kilgore, Democrat lt. Governor Tim Kaine, and worst of all, Republican turned Independent state senator Russ Potts, who lives in the same town as I do. Potts is a scumbag who has no chance of carrying his own hometown, much less a significant portion of the state vote. Kilgore has had a consistent lead over Kaine in the polls for some time now, and that probably won't change.
The election isn't what's got me pissed off, but the campaign commercials have highlighted an issue that pisses me off. That issue is education spending. Here in the US, we spend far too much on education. We get some of the worst results, for our money, in the industrialized world. Yet the consensus solution for decades has been to throw more money at the problem. Politically, it's safer for a politician in this country to cheat on his/her spouse than it is to propose a cut in education spending, or worse, publically state that education is overfunded.
Which brings me to the commercials. Tim Kaine has a clever little commercial that shows a cute lil cake being cut up. With each slice, a voice proclaims that Jerry Kilgore wants to cut this and slash that from the education budget. The first time I saw this commercial, it nearly convinced me to vote for Kilgore, based on that alone. Until Kilgore shot back with a commercial of his own. Rather than have the balls to state that education is overfunded in this state, and making a point that throwing money at the problem has not solved anything for years, he drops the ball and just states that Kaine's record on education isn't too hot either. It represents everything that disgusts me about politics.
Why is it that mainstream politicians feel the need to avoid the real issue when the answer isn't politically correct? Why is it that anyone who does come up with a real solution is some third party whacko with no chance to actually win? Don't answer these questions, because I already know the answer.
Now I can go back to my regularly scheduled not posting for months.
The three main boobs who are running to replace him are Republican attorney general Jerry Kilgore, Democrat lt. Governor Tim Kaine, and worst of all, Republican turned Independent state senator Russ Potts, who lives in the same town as I do. Potts is a scumbag who has no chance of carrying his own hometown, much less a significant portion of the state vote. Kilgore has had a consistent lead over Kaine in the polls for some time now, and that probably won't change.
The election isn't what's got me pissed off, but the campaign commercials have highlighted an issue that pisses me off. That issue is education spending. Here in the US, we spend far too much on education. We get some of the worst results, for our money, in the industrialized world. Yet the consensus solution for decades has been to throw more money at the problem. Politically, it's safer for a politician in this country to cheat on his/her spouse than it is to propose a cut in education spending, or worse, publically state that education is overfunded.
Which brings me to the commercials. Tim Kaine has a clever little commercial that shows a cute lil cake being cut up. With each slice, a voice proclaims that Jerry Kilgore wants to cut this and slash that from the education budget. The first time I saw this commercial, it nearly convinced me to vote for Kilgore, based on that alone. Until Kilgore shot back with a commercial of his own. Rather than have the balls to state that education is overfunded in this state, and making a point that throwing money at the problem has not solved anything for years, he drops the ball and just states that Kaine's record on education isn't too hot either. It represents everything that disgusts me about politics.
Why is it that mainstream politicians feel the need to avoid the real issue when the answer isn't politically correct? Why is it that anyone who does come up with a real solution is some third party whacko with no chance to actually win? Don't answer these questions, because I already know the answer.
Now I can go back to my regularly scheduled not posting for months.