Election Watch: Open thread

As well as the US elections in November, we have elections coming up in New Zealand (also in November) and Canada (in October).

Hoydenizen Deborah is guest-blogging at Larvatus Prodeo with NZ election coverage, onya Deborah!

An election ad for Stephen Harper’s Conservatives in Canada apparently features a puffin taking a crap on the NDP Liberals’ leader Stéphane Dion. Classy.

Now, onto the US (monster set of links):

And let’s just look specifically at some lies:

ADDIT: fact checking links for the presidential race



Categories: Politics

Tags: , , , ,

13 replies

  1. And Shakesville’s latest on NOW endorsing Obama/Biden, for that matter…in which I decided not to get involved.
    (Uh, are we expecting NOW to stay neutral in a race this important out of credibility, with such clearly delineated lines between the major candidates? This is NOW we’re talking about, after all.)
    I have to recommend the Feministe post by Lauren on the McCain healthcare ‘plan’. It boggles the mind.

  2. Just found this set of links on Huffington Post, recommended for fact-checking claims about smears and sleaze in the presidential race:
    Annenberg Political Fact Check (factcheck.org), a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania
    Washington Post’s The Fact Checker
    PolitiFact From St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly
    Snopes.com investigates urban legends.
    From the candidates:
    Factcheck.barackobama.com is the Obama campaign’s official website devoted to debunking malicious rumors about the Senator.
    JohnMcCain.com lists McCain’s official positions.

  3. I am not surprised at the Harper ad. The man is a slug.

  4. Y’know, I’m getting really sick of how many letters to the editor of the various corporate and college/university newspapers are popping up in my Google News Alerts harping on the theme that feminists are being hypocrites for not supporting Palin.
    The idea that we should drop all other activist concerns to cheer on just one strong ambitious middle-class woman to a top job has never been my understanding of feminism. Feminism is about raising the level of opportunities and social justice available to all women, and choosing a candidate to advocate for based on those principles is not a hypocritical path for a feminist to take.

  5. As Kate Beaton has a crush on Steven Harper, I’m sure she’ll have frequent humourous takes on the election.

  6. Palin’s a triumph of feminism, not a triumph for feminism. She is stomping on the shoulders of giants.
    Thanks for the nice words re me guest blogging at LP. I was delighted to be asked, ‘though it’s a daunting audience.

  7. Just wanted to point out that Stephane Dion is the leader of the Liberal Party. Jack Layton is the NDP leader. Obviously a disgusting ad on the part of Harper. Hardly surprising though, as he was the one who predicted that this campaign would get nasty in the first place.

  8. Cheers, Laurel – I misread Phil’s piece and got the party labels wrong. Fixed.

  9. You know Bene, I’m getting really uncomfortable about the amount of comments you make dissing Shakesville. They explain their reasons for being disappointed with NOW’s choice very clearly. They’re a good blog because they are critical of all the candidates. If you have a problem with them, write about it on your own blog, or comment in their post, rather than bringing it over here.

  10. Rachel, please leave moderation to the moderators.

  11. Thanks, Lauredhel. As a matter of interest, I checked the comments file, and apart from commenting in the same vein on August 25, this is the only other time I can fine Bene saying anything about Shakesville’s stance on the candidates. Bene’s certainly not trampling us under the hooves of that particular hobbyhorse here.

  12. Bother – McCain just made a pretty strong speech on the economy in Green Bay WI- just catching the tail end on Fox News. I’ll edit this comment to add a link when the speech turns up on YouTube.
    Given his own ties to lobbyists, it makes sense for him to come out swinging and promising the moon as far as financial regulations go for Wall Street. Will it play in Peoria? Time will tell.

  13. Strewth, on first impressions it sounds like he’s thrown half his original platform on tax policy away – I await the posts from the numbers-wonks with great interest to see if they add up.
    Interesting that the biggest applause he’s got so far is for promising to cut the tax rate on businesses.

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