The Great American Election Charade (by Ernest Partridge)

Excellent piece by Partridge:

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In fact, the United States is one of the few two-party nations in which one party gets to choose both its own candidate, and also the candidate of the “opposing” party.

Well, OK, I exaggerate. But it’s not much of a stretch to say that the GOP, with the help of its wholly-owned subsidiary, the mainstream media, has routinely exercised veto power over the Democratic Party’s potentially strong opponents: Ed Muskie and the “Canuck letter” in 1972, Howard Dean and the infamous “scream” in 2004, and apparently, once again, John Edwards and his “anger” and $400 haircuts.

(As numerous polls have disclosed, John Edwards is potentially the strongest Democratic candidate against the Republicans, and Hillary Clinton is the weakest. Yet Edwards, who finished second in the Iowa caucuses, has vanished from the pages of the mainstream media, from the columns of the punditocracy, and even from the press conferences of The Democratic Leadership Council – the Republican wing of the Democratic party).

Following the conventions, the mainstream media rolls out the heavy artillery, and lays down its quadrennial barrage on the Democrats: Dukakis and Willie Horton, Clinton and “Whitewater,” Gore’s “invention” of the internet and “discovery” of Love Canal, Kerry and the “Swift Boat Veterans.” Meanwhile, the GOP candidates are pelted with marshmallows: “compassionate conservatism,” “uniter, not a divider,” while the candidate’s shady past is kept in a secure lock box: the National Guard AWOL, Harken and Arbusto and insider trading, DUIs and drug busts.

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He also quotes Matt Taibbi to great effect:

Still the establishment MICMC rolls on in its arguably pre-determined course, “populism” and the public be damned. Matt Taibbi on Bill Maher’s “Real Time” last Friday summed it up perfectly:

The (campaign) theme for awhile was that the voters were sick and tired of being told by the media who was going to be their nominee. But it seems to have come full circle now, and it looks like we may end up getting the same people we were going to get in the first place: ....

Seventy percent of the country wants to withdraw from Iraq, and we get two pro-war candidates. If that doesn’t tell you how f****d-up the system is, I don’t know what does.

More at link
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/12193

This is one of Partridge's best pieces. Please kick this so other people will get a chance to read it! BTW, I linked to Partridge's own blog on Smirking Chimp, not to a second party source.

strongly that the fix is in. We the people, are irrelevant. The rule of law is irrelevant. What we want is irrelevant. Just ask Nancy.