Waiting for Santi
As I type this the sun is still shining brightly through the dining room windows, perhaps mocking those forecasters in PAG-ASA who hoisted Storm Signal Number 2 over Metro Manila and Rizal (among other places) earlier this morning. Blah. I just can't accept my high-school age sister being home while the sun is shining so brightly outside. It's not fair, haha.
And the rains or winds haven't even come. Funny, since ever since they announced a rainy Halloween, I've been expecting rain--not of Ondoy proportions, of course, but just rain. I've never had a wet Halloween weekend before.
But then mahirap maghintay. LOL.
I've just finished a book entitled Fear and Loathing: on the Campaign Trail '72. It's basically a campaign account of "gonzo" journalist Hunter Thompson, who, in between joints and shots of whiskey, manages to weave a detailed, vivid picture of the 1972 US presidential election as Washington correspondent for Rolling Stone magazine. If anything, it was a maddening, exhausting campaign trail, from the Democratic primaries to the general election. Not unlike today, I suppose.
One section in the book that caught my attention was about perception. Kinda made me recall my Psych 101 class. The Democratic nominee, Senator George McGovern, lost in a terrible landslide to President Richard Nixon, (61%-38%, winning only Massachusetts and D.C. Not even his home state of South Dakota). Yeah, McGovern was clearly a bleeding-heart liberal, and was perhaps the party's most leftist candidate in years, but according to Thompson, this wasn't the reason McGovern lost. It was primarily due to the electorate's perception of him, that is, of being an incompetent, indecisive buffoon who couldn't make up his mind whom to run with.
After announcements to the countrary ("I'm for him 1000%), McGovern dropped his first running-mate, Senator Tom Eagleton, after it was later revealed he was electro-shocked in the 1960s for mental problems. He was replaced by a Kennedy in-law, former Ambassador Sargent Shriver (father-in-law of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger), whom McGovern's campaign staff derisively mocked behind the scenes. Tsk tsk.
As you can see I'm on a book marathon this sembreak. Feverishly trying to catch up on the backlog of reading I've accumulated because of all the Ondoy hurly-burly, and other life issues.
***
Oh! Oh! Congratulations to UP Diliman Team A, Anna Arcellana and Aaron Chan, for winning the 11th National Debate Championship! We're so proud of you! :)