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Undertoad · 10-05-2008, 08:37 AM

Yeah,

I always look at these sort of pickers as not giving us the whole story. They only tell you where the candidate stands on issues, not whether they have the leadership to actually try to accomplish things, which items will on the agenda and which simply will never be, what they are actually able to do from the office, whether they are unflappable under pressure, whether they can convince the people of what to do, etc. etc. I think a gut-level feeling about the people is a better predictor than random policy statements they've made.

Similarly the quiz show failure of Ms. Palin. Of course she's underqualified. But does it even make a decent predictor of what sort of President she'd be if in office? Truman never went to college at all, ran a men's clothing store into the ground in three years as preparation for his station as Senator, which would lead to the VP selection after sessions of booze and poker played out of his office. He'd surely fail the quiz show format; and at the time they thought he was lousy as Pres; but history turned that around and now he's seen as one of the better ones.

10-05-2008, 08:37 AM	#30
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Yeah, I always look at these sort of pickers as not giving us the whole story. They only tell you where the candidate stands on issues, not whether they have the leadership to actually try to accomplish things, which items will on the agenda and which simply will never be, what they are actually able to do from the office, whether they are unflappable under pressure, whether they can convince the people of what to do, etc. etc. I think a gut-level feeling about the people is a better predictor than random policy statements they've made. Similarly the quiz show failure of Ms. Palin. Of course she's underqualified. But does it even make a decent predictor of what sort of President she'd be if in office? Truman never went to college at all, ran a men's clothing store into the ground in three years as preparation for his station as Senator, which would lead to the VP selection after sessions of booze and poker played out of his office. He'd surely fail the quiz show format; and at the time they thought he was lousy as Pres; but history turned that around and now he's seen as one of the better ones.