American Millennials have had a lot of contradictory views on Uganda this year…
Arsenal for Democracy will be back soon.
Author Archives: Bill Humphrey
My first book is out
My first book, over a year in the making, is now on sale at Amazon for $2.99 for Kindle! Get yourself ready for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions by learning about the importance of American Dream rhetoric in past presidential nomination acceptance speeches.
I Accept Your Nomination: American Dream Rhetoric in Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speeches, 1932-2008: William Humphrey: Amazon.com: Kindle Store
Note: That link goes to the U.S. Kindle store but if you are overseas and search for the title in your country’s Kindle store, you should be able to find it without any trouble.
Abstract
Since 1932, Democratic and Republican presidential nominees have delivered speeches in person at thirty-seven conventions, accepting their parties’ nominations for that election.
These speeches occur at the official nexus of primary and general election campaigns, and they are delivered to live audiences of supporters and millions of undecided voters from across the spectrum watching at home. They have developed into their own internally consistent and self-referential genre within American political rhetoric, filled with shared motifs, themes, and components.
Despite that, there has been only limited academic research on the speeches so far. This project examined, in particular, representations of the common motif of the American Dream across the genre in an effort to answer part of the question of how American political candidates (specifically presidential nominees in this case) appeal to ideas (such as the American Dream) in the American political culture.
Most references in the speeches to the American Dream, however, are oblique or indirect. I therefore conducted a content analysis and identified seven distinct “vehicles” that the nominees have used to introduce the concept into the speeches and define it. I argue that these references communicate information to voters about ideological positions and disposition of the nominees, which help voters form impressions to use when casting their votes.
It is hoped that this work will have both campaign and academic applications, and I conclude by suggesting some possibilities to that end. It is additionally hoped that this book will be accessible to general audiences.
“AFD Ep 29 – The Sixties, Welfare, and Society Since”
Bill and Anna start off with a speculative discussion about the relationship between social and economic libertarianism from the 1960s onward (based off Kurt Andersen’s dubious NY Times column), which transitions into a discussion of the money woes of cash-strapped cities selling ads on public services, and then into a report on the tax hikes on the rich that the French Socialist government has just proposed. After the break, they discuss Rep. Joe Walsh’s latest outrageous offense, as well as a story about the border patrol arresting a former governor of Arizona. They close out with a mocking look at the impending fiscal meltdown of the Creationism Museum as the Noah’s Ark project hits the rocks.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
“AFD Ep 25 – The Generation War”
Bill, Kelley, and guest host Anna from ONTD_p discuss the policy implications of a worsening generation gap between Millennials (and the next generation after them) and Baby Boomers, especially now that White births are no longer a majority in the United States. Eventually Bill gets really angry about Harry Reid’s failure to reform the Senate filibuster rules in January 2011 now that Reid has come around to see the wisdom of the “young” Senators who proposed the change.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
“AFD Ep 18 – Let’s Talk About Uganda”
Bill and Kerry take advantage of the pre-emption of the FM broadcast to record an extended discussion of several important stories of the week. They break down the facts and controversies surrounding the ‘Kony 2012’ video, cover Rush Limbaugh’s contraception freakout and loss of dozens of sponsors, look into a drug-running scandal in the Afghan Air Force, and they speculate on Mitt Romney’s options for securing the nomination without winning a majority of the delegates. Kelley is out this week.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
“AFD Ep 17 – Sen. Tom Carper Interview”
Bill interviews United States Senator Tom Carper, Democrat of Delaware, asking him about jobs, youth/young adult and minority unemployment, student loans, poverty, and his role at the center-right Democratic Leadership Council in pushing the Democratic Party away from the Left. After that there was 20 more minutes of great discussion with Kerry and Kelley, but it was accidentally deleted right after the show, so unfortunately Bill could only briefly re-summarize the topics and end the show.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Romney is not a winning dynasty
The New York Times decided to write about Mitt Romney’s other parent’s ill-fated political campaign, and how that defeat also influenced him. It also mentioned another relative who was unsuccessful in a campaign. Which brought to my mind the following revelation: Come to think of it, who thought Mitt was going to be a good candidate anyway? Considering how many Romneys there are across North America, how many have had successful political careers in the United States?
Turns out they’re quite good at business and they’re even pretty good at getting elected to state legislatures (perhaps by buying them easily), but they’re not so good at politics above that level. Here’s what I found, with some digging through Wikipedia, for statewide offices…
Miles Romney Sr.: MT Governor — Defeated 3x in primaries
L.C. Romney: 1956, UT Governor — Defeated
*George W. Romney: 1962, MI Governor — Successfully elected
George W. Romney: 1964, Presidential — Favorite son convention candidate, defeated
*George W. Romney: 1964, MI Governor — Successfully re-elected
George W. Romney: 1968, Presidential — Dropped out
Lenore Romney: 1970, MI US Senate — Defeated
Mitt Romney: 1994, MA US Senate — Defeated
Ronna Romney: 1994, MI US Senate — Defeated in primary
Ronna Romney: 1996, MI US Senate — Defeated
Scott Romney: 1998, MI Atty. Gen. — Defeated at convention
*Mitt Romney: 2002, MA Governor — Successfully elected
Mitt Romney: 2006, MA Governor — Declined to seek re-election
Mitt Romney: 2008, Presidential — Dropped out
Mitt Romney: 2012, Presidential — Struggling to win nomination against weak field (Editor’s note: Mitt Romney subsequently won the nomination but lost the general election.)
Despite their amassed wealth and sheer number of family members they keep spamming at the ballot boxes of the American people, Mitt’s just the latest of a family of chronic political losers, isn’t he?
