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I remember in 2000 when journalists asked George W Bush and Al Gore what their favorite books were. Bush said his was The Bible. Al Gore said his was The Struct
by gattis 3y ago
I remember in 2000 when journalists asked George W Bush and Al Gore what their favorite books were. Bush said his was The Bible. Al Gore said his was The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn. Probably could have called the election right then.
- danielrpa 3y agoYes, and irrespective of our opinions on each book... Reading the Bible lets you connect in some form with the majority of your electorate, while reading Kuhn does not.
- chrisbrandow 3y agoThough this argument is undercut somewhat by Bush not actually winning a majority of the electorate. ;-)
- nonethewiser 3y agoIts not undercut at all by not winning the popular vote. 81.6% of the electorate identified as Christian in 2001 and 78% by 2012. Thats a clear majority of the electorate. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_States#:~:text=In%20a%202020%20survey%20by,members%20of%20a%20church%20congregation https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_the_United_S....
- cgeier 3y agoBeing Christian probably neither means that your favorite book is the bible nor that you would rather vote for somebody whose favorite book is the bible.
- nonethewiser 3y agoNo one is saying the Bible is the favorite book of Christians nor that its enough to sway votes. The claim was saying his favorite book was the Bible connected him in some form to a majority of the electorate which it did. These seem like uncontroversial observations.
- comicjk 3y agoThey didn't ask what books both men had read - I suspect Gore has read at least a large chunk of the Bible (he still describes himself as a Baptist to this day). It's just not his favorite book.
- esafak 3y agoHe must have known that, so props to him for giving an honest answer.
- earthboundkid 3y agoI always felt like Palin got done dirty when they asked her what she read. Like obviously this is a trick question, and she hadn’t prepared a good answer for it. Who cares? OTOH, she is a nut, so maybe it was fair to stress her out and see if she cracks.
- DiogenesKynikos 3y agoIt's difficult to detect sarcasm online, so here goes: "What do you read to follow the news?" is an incredibly easy question. Even if she doesn't read any newspaper, she could have just named one. "USA Today" is a pretty safe answer that won't offend anyone. Watching Palin struggle with this basic question was painful.
- earthboundkid 3y agoIt is 100% a trick question. - "I read the Alaska Daily News" ← Small timer, not ready for national stage - "I read the New York Times" ← Liberal bias, piss off your base - "I read USA Today" ← A newspaper for babies - "I read everything" ← Cop out answer and nobody buys it (which is what she said) - "I read the Wall Street Journal" ← Actually this would be a really good answer because it's national scale and non-liberal, but it's hard to come up with in the moment The whole point of the question is "reveal something about yourself" but whatever you reveal has positives and negatives that you need to weigh out beforehand. The point of being in the limelight longer is you can burn all your bad answers earlier before anyone cares about them and figure out your strategy.
- nonethewiser 3y ago“The news is garbage, you shouldnt read it” is probably the best answer.
- wutangson1 3y agoRight. Because Gore told Oprah that his favorite book was 'The Red and The Black", making him appear like a typical waffling politician?
- nnkk8 3y ago[flagged]
- gattis 3y agoWell, I imagine everyone's favorite book changed many times over the course of their lives. Especially if you are well read.
- wutangson1 3y agoWow, you are very lucky to be continually finding books that leave such an impact on you that your _favorite_ book keeps changing. For example, for me, when I was 17, I read what I consider to be ‘The Great American Novel’. No other book has been able to replace that for me.
- nonethewiser 3y agoBut this was over the course a campaign for president.
- nonethewiser 3y agoFortunately the winner is determined by votes
- pogden 3y agoUnfortunately not who gets the most, though.
- nonethewiser 3y agoI think federalism is important. If doing a popular vote, why even have states? A representative republic? Going by popular vote seems like something youd have without states and with a direct democracy.