This Week in Magazines: Dirty Elections Edition

The latest issues of both Foreign Policy and the New Yorker inspire my recalling one Vincent Sirabella, a tough and charismatic labor organizer whose lanky frame, white pompadour and working class panache would fit a Martin Scorsese flick. He labored hard, partied hard, led strikes at Las Vegas casinos and Yale University and even practiced transcendental meditation, all the while surrounded by some bad apples in the hotel and restaurant employees union.

"Mouthwash!!!!" he proclaimed at a fancy Miami eatery 20 years ago, a nanosecond after I ordered a Pinot Grigio for Vinny, two ethically-challenged colleagues with their bimbo girlfriends and a fellow ink-stained wretch. He told the sommelier to bring an expensive, smooth-as-silk Italian chardonnay to go with a $50 per-head porcini mushroom appetizer.

"Mouthwash!" might be reaction to the hand-wringing over our "dirty" and "nasty" campaign. Just check Foreign Policy's website for "The World's Ugliest Elections," then the New Yorker's "The Destroyer," Jon Lee Anderson's profile of Robert Mugabe, the liberator-turned-kleptocratic dictator of Zimbabwe. The latter shares space with Jane Mayer's look at how a distinctly establishment cadre of Washington conservatives, including the Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol (old chum of mine), were critical in influencing the selection of "maverick" Sarah Palin by John McCain, though this piece continues to leave the extent of her pre-selection vetting unclear.

But as far as campaigns, we don't know dirty.

Picking recent and ongoing campaigns in Nigeria, Russia, Austria, New Zealand, Taiwan and Zimbabwe, they remind that we're watching a Stepford Wives Tupperware gathering by comparison, with all the venom of virtually any congressional hearing ("I thank the gentle lady from Florida...."). Here's the video of last week's Al Smith Dinner in New York and the ever-civil, wink-wink, ha-ha appearances of the two candidates.

In Nigeria, the outgoing president totally rigged the vote to ensure victory by an ally, while instructing journalists to label as a crook his own vice president, who wanted the top job. Meanwhile, the president's candidate was subject of a book whose titled called him a pathological liar, usurper and satanic.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin's hand-picked candidate obviously won but not before his was object of a crazed anti-Semitic attack for an alleged Jewish background. One ultranationalist candidate used a rifle to shoot a cardboard cutout of Putin's guy at one rally. Meanwhile Austria's March elections included virulently xenophobic and racist attacks, with one candidate proposing a law to prevent Austrian girls from "being fondled by hordes of immigrants."

In Taiwan's presidential campaign in March, a former education secretary declared that one candidate's father had multiple affairs and had screwed his adopted daughter. And Foreign Policy omits the truly bloody legacy elsewhere of shootings, extortion, Machete-wielding surrogates and grotesque ballot fraud, as recently exemplified by Zimbabwe. The ballot-rigging, torture, mutilation, gang rapes and murders there are chronicled by Anderson in the New Yorker, with the depressing reminder that Mugabe does have his supporters throughout Africa (as one saw when he came to the United Nations last month and was actually applauded by some).

So don't get too exorcised over references to Bill Ayers or ACORN. It's mouthwash.

---Shane Harris, a terrific reporter on intelligence matters, gives us "Toxic Information" in the new National Journal, or further reason to stick your money under the mattress. "U.S. Intelligence officials increasingly fear that computer hackers could wreck banks and large financial institutions, or send stock markets into one more panicked frenzy, by covertly manipulating data and spreading false information."

---November Bloomberg Markets is good on the history and recent flailing of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., reminding one of our frequent mistake of assuming the perils of thinking the past is prologue; in this case using history to assess future loan risks in the housing market (predicting as recently as March that the cost to cover bank collapses in 2008 might be a mere $1 billion). It's also good on how Virginia-based Promontory Interfinancial Network brilliantly exploits a gap in the FDIC rule allowing us to open federally insured accounts up to $100,000. Promontory, which is run by a gold-plated group of former federal banking officials, arranges for wealthy investors to put just under $100,000 in each of a slew of banks. "One man's loophole is another man's God-given right," says Promontory board member Bill Seidman, a cable news regular and former FDIC chairman.

---"Anthrax in Transit" should not prompt bus and subway riders to carpool out of fear. No, it's a fascinating look in Isis, the journal of the History of Science Society, at how scientific knowledge played out in the 19th century, with anthrax outbreaks the peg. Susan Jones and Philip Teigen lay out how distribution of information was influenced by distinctly local events, circumstances and personal relationships. A prime example involves Silas Stone, a doctor and Civil War veteran, who was a one-man "C.S.I" in trying to understand 25 deaths at a Walpole, Mass., horsehair mattress factory during the 1860s. In a world without telephones, Smith-Corona electric typewriters or even Matt Drudge, Stone parlayed a web of professional relations possessed by Massachusetts doctors and scientists to spread the lessons of his theories and findings.

---Newsweek mulls how a President Obama might govern but, if looking for relief from politics, Jeremy McCarter's essay on a big New York festival celebrating the late Leonard Bernstein inescapably raises questions about the divide between elite and popular culture bridged by the brilliant maestro. He concedes that a greater appreciation of Mahler by Sean Hannity fans wouldn't prompt their cozying up to Nancy Pelosi but wonders if there's positive change afoot in how we view the arts and ourselves.

---Time's cover essay on presidential temperament is a solid Nancy Gibbs essay, with historians mulling how much it matters and one presidential analyst wondering about a possibly beneficial combo of "Gerald Ford's fundamental decency. Jimmy Carter's discipline. Ronald Reagan's sunny optimism. George H.W. Bush's diplomatic instincts. Bill Clinton's intellectual curiosity. And George W. Bush's dogged determination."

---October's Scholastic Parent & Child offers the nonprofit Common Sense Media's picks for new kids TV shows and actual previews here. They include the best for preschoolers: "Imagination Movers" on the Disney Channel, "Sid the Science Kid" on PBS and "Turbo Dogs" on Qubo. The picks for five- to seven-year-olds are: "Star Wars: The Clone War" on the Cartoon Network and "Willa's Wild Life" on Discovery Kids.

---October Sunset explores the West's "underrated" month for travel, with 10 October destinations, including a modestly-priced family ranch with canvas tents (from $99 with breakfast) at Linn Canyon Ranch in the foothills of Caribou-Targhee National Forest in Victor, Idaho (25 miles from cushy Jackson Hole, Wy.). But if you're staying home and just hiking somewhere (maybe to the supermarket), there's an unrelated survey of energy bars as far as calories, protein, fiber, etc. Alas, Sunset likes a bar called Sunset peanut butter cranberry go-bars ("wholesome and fresh") and isn't big on Luna peanut butter cookie ("nasty bitter aftertaste").

Finally, I noted last week how those Viagra TV commercials ask us to check out the Viagra ad in Golf magazine. Now I see that the Cialis TV ads urge inspection of their print pitch in Golf Digest magazine. Which prompts an obvious question: What about readers of Golf World magazine?! Do they not suffer from erectile dysfunction?

Comments

[MadeleineNZ]

New Zealand politics is dirty.Our Prime Minister called her most likely opponent at our last elections "cancerous and corrosive" having only claimed on national TV the night before that she didn't engage in muck-raking.

This election (we head to the polls in two weeks) her deputy leader has called the main opposition a "rich pr*ck" (excuse the language of our country's politicians).

This is just a sample. I recall a leaders debate on TV where both candidates were asked to say something positive, to complement an attribute in their opponent. Our current Prime Minister, then in opposition, would not answer!

It is utter poison in New Zealand.

[judesedit]

Because other countries dupe their people with gusto, does not mean that we should be proud because our country is quieter about it. It doesn't sound all that different from what is going on in this country to me, anyhow. Many people have seemed to commit "suicide", when, sorry, Americans are not that dumb. Or are they? The dumbing down of America has been somewhat of a success, I guess, for people to accept the childish name-calling of a campaign the GOP is supporting . And their underbelly is busy rigging the election. Since early voting has started, electronic voting machines have been switching Obama votes to McCain in at least 3 states...WV, TN and FL, I think American cheaters are just sneakier about it, and don't have the balls to claim responsibility. Why not? They won't be held accountable anyway. I just pray Obama is using some of that campaign $$$$ to pay people to be diligent in finding and prosecuting these crooks.

[bashou]

The tactics of American electoral politics may seem mild by comparison to those atrocious others, but the result - who will control the world's preeminently powerful military and nuclear arsenal - is of much greater importance and ramification. That it reflects the sound and considered judgment of a well-informed and humane electorate is essential, but not beyond need of constant reminder. In this and every election, even those misplaced robocalls are more than mere mouthwash; they are potential metaphors for guided missiles. Like all American political tactics, they are potential predictors of shock and awe. This is one key reason the entire world takes such intense interest in American politics and presidential elections in particular. For our presumably well-informed organs of liberal intelligentsia, such as Foreign Affairs and The New Yorker, to play down the dangers these campaign abuses, however seemingly bland by comparison to disappearances and threats of violence, is not only naiive and exhibiting an alarming deficiency of mature self-awareness, but dangerous in itself as a distraction and inuring sedative for a confused and frightened electorate. The lives and well-being of billions of innocent people will be directly affected by the results of this election - and they don't have a vote. We American voters are the surrogates for all of humanity in these elections. Our own homes might not be bombed next year. But our souls are hanging in the chads. Pay attention! Keep your eye on the ballot!

[bashou]

The tactics of American electoral politics may seem mild by comparison to those atrocious others, but the result - who will control the world's preeminently powerful military and nuclear arsenal - is of much greater importance and ramification. That it reflects the sound and considered judgment of a well-informed and humane electorate is essential, but not beyond need of constant reminder. In this and every election, even those misplaced robocalls are more than mere mouthwash; they are potential metaphors for guided missiles. Like all American political tactics, they are potential predictors of shock and awe. This is one key reason the entire world takes such intense interest in American politics and presidential elections in particular. For our presumably well-informed organs of liberal intelligentsia, such as Foreign Affairs and The New Yorker, to play down the dangers these campaign abuses, however seemingly bland by comparison to disappearances and threats of violence, is not only naiive and exhibiting an alarming deficiency of mature self-awareness, but dangerous in itself as a distraction and inuring sedative for a confused and frightened electorate. The lives and well-being of billions of innocent people will be directly affected by the results of this election - and they don't have a vote. We American voters are the surrogates for all of humanity in these elections. Our own homes might not be bombed next year. But our souls are hanging in the chads. Pay attention! Keep your eye on the ball!

[mflaneur]

further proof that the current paradigm of government - be it chinese japanese russian british american indian or wherever - is obsolete and needs a complete rethink outside the easy boxes - perhaps a good start would be a reexamination of our humanity - both personal and collective

[Star2000dancer]

How hard can it be to give an receipt to you when you vote? Ask your reps. We are getting alot of people to fight for a law requiring receipts. Make sure your vote counts!!

[goddess1871]

Sure, our elections may be "cleaner" than Nigeria or Russia. But we're not Nigeria or Russia.

[Roger486]

New Zealand in a list of dirty elections? Surely not! The NZ system of law mandates that electorates may only differ in size by 5% population, ensuring that every vote has equal value; elections are run by a truly independent commission ensuring that neither the government nor private interests can screw the scrum. Voting is by a paper ballot system with full traceability. Oversight is through a bipartisan and transparent committee process. And that in turn is overseen by the Courts, and in a country with no history of political appointees to the judiciary, that system is almost entirely free of political interference.

While the system does through up some name calling it is pretty small change and markedly different from many international examples, but that is about the limit of it. Graft, corruption and patronage is almost unheard of and would be universally condemned by the electorate.

[TonyNZ]

As a New Zealander I'm rather offended that our General Election has been lumped in with Nigeria, Russia and Zimbabwe. On what basis? I may not like all the political parties here but we are having a very constructive policy focussed election. The only downside to our election at the moment is that our three term centre-left Government is polling behind the conservative opposition.

[onetreehill]

What planet are you on??! The petty name calling of the New Zealand election has nothing on the US elections. Believe you me, New Zealanders are horrified by the US presidential race and the mud slinging (and lets face it, outright racism) that is being used. NZ is not even close to how nasty this campaign is. Not even in the ball park. Not even playing the same sport!

There has never been any suggestion of vote rigging from any side (there are more than two parties), so to lump NZ in the same sentence as Russia, Nigeria or Zimbabwe pretty much declares that maybe FP magazine don't have a clue (or any perspective).

[WolfLarsen]

He chose her the same way he chooses all his women......air pressure between the ears.

[deckbose]

Part 2--
The answer was as easy for them as the choice was for Sarah Palin. Only a political neophyte with unbridled ambition would willingly prostrate him or herself, and very likely brand his or her reputation for generations to come, in the service of racism. Palin "never blinked" at the assignment; indeed, blinded as she was by their servile attentions (which should've alarmed her in its mysteriousness rather than confirming in her mind her predestined greatness), she never understood what their plan for her was.

Make her say horrible things, use her up and throw her away. And in that way alone, she has achieved all her goals.

I know some people will say that Palin's payoff for her vile behavior is that she has now cemented her place in the vanguard of the Republican party and likely put herself at the top of the next ticket, but I don't think that's any truer for her than it was for Dan Quayle.

[deckbose]

Part 1 --
The day the Palin pick was announced, my first reaction was that McCain had just delivered the White House to the Democrats. Palin's selection seemed wrong on so many levels that, knowing nothing about the Alaska Governor, I figured she must either be an amazing speaker (and, consequently, campaigner) or have unforeseen talents that would surely become obvious in short order. Well, the former evaporated with her first national exposure and the latter crapped out soon thereafter.

So what were the McCain people thinking? Could the selection really be as empty-headed as the woman herself?

The answer has been clear in the last month, revealed by the vicious nature of the Republican campaign. In much the same way the Democrats were initially anxious about attacking Palin lest they be charged with sexist, or worse, ungenteel behavior, the Rovian mentality driving the McCain strategy knew that the attacks they needed to make against Barack Obama were so close to racist that only an easily manipulated and ultimately disposable presence on the ticket would do. Politicians of long-standing reputation would likely bristle at the direction of Schmidt & Davis, et al., to attack Obama with genuinely despicable untruths.

[MsYellowDog]

You have got it right,deckbose! It had never occurred to me that Sarah Palin is eminently DISPOSABLE! I was too busy thinking about how incredibly insulted(as a woman AND a citizen)I felt when she was selected! I am hoping so much that Rove will end up in prison,where he belongs.

[wilsonandy]

McCain sure used expert judgement in picking Palin as his running mate. He is set to announce Joe the Plumber as his Secretary of Labor later this week.

[btanner]

Congratulations to Adam Brickley for bringing down the entire Republican party with their choice of Sarah Palin. Who said the Republican party is run by old white men? They have young white men like Adam Brickley who are just ruinous as the old men. Emperor McCain, you deserve a lot of credit for listening to this young man who crafted your new clothes.

[ckt]

Wow, I can’t believe that I’m reading this. So because our campaigns have not denigrated to the levels of nasty that have been experienced in Zimbabwe, Russia, and Taiwan, it’s just ‘mouthwash’? That’s about par with telling parents not to feel so bad about their dying child as there is an epidemic going on in Asia. This election is ours and I hope that we would be incensed at tactics that subvert the best in us through malicious lies tha pander to the worst in us. We are not Zimbabwe, Taiwan, or Russia; we are the United States of America and we should seek a higher path. It’s not ‘mouthwash’, sir, it’s VINEGAR.

[treetracker]

Exactly - when I opened this article I did not expect to see data other than the U.S. - But does this article mean the author had to leave our shores to find a campaign worse than this outside of our country. If so, that speaks volumes in and of itself. In my humble opinion, McCain's campaign will go down in U.S. history as the worst - especially, if when it is over, his supporters take to the streets. I fear that is going to happen. He's angered and incited them and now telling them the election will be stolen by Acorn. It's already started with campaign workers being attacked by a homeowner who drug her across the lawn by the hair. Then we have the tire slashings. What else is out there we haven't heard about yet? These people are angry and scared and they are already taking it public. If/when they lose, there will be mayhem.

[wowjustwow]

Yes.

In a nutshell, I can't believe I'm reading this.