Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Why Don't the Indies Listen?



Ok. You want to focus on an Exec. ticket even after I (backed by Ken Kerns) suggested against it? Fine. Put all your efforts on a race you can't win, meanwhile in the senate races, where you could actually be doing some damage -- totally downplay that.

WHAT did I tell you people? Tommy is your presidential candidate, he should focus on being the candidate and let party brass be party brass. First and foremost, I think that the Gator Party's Steven Hoffstetter did a very good job [I personally think he's full of it, but he did Karl Rove proud]. Hoffstetter mentions the full Gator ticket, the President, the Veep, the Treasurer, you can tell he put time into this effort. Also major kudos for brevity -- students don't want to read a book! President, BAM! Veep, BAM! Treasurer, BAM! Senate, BAM! Hoffstetter also discusses the Senate slate, albeit briefly, he's wise to point out the large demand for seats, giving the reader a sense that those that represent Gator stood out from the rest.

Orange & Blue starts out really stupid -- 'it's all over, who cares,' more of the defeatist-hope-they'll-identify-with-SG-is-really-lame-but-I'm-cool-so-vote-for-me-mentality that has never brought home the bacon -- never!

In the first paragraph there's a citation to an 80's classic (CHEESEY), there's immaterial stats leading up to online voting; there's words being used totally out of the pallet of the general study body (e.g. "therefore," "nay," & "intellectual honesty"); there's also two questions that most students wouldn't be able to answer.

Paragraph #2. Very misleading. You never held a position in SG? You were in the Executive Ad Hoc Committee for Online Voting (under Access) - that's a bit misleading, you also ran Impact, Action, and now O&B - a bit of a stretch. Point two of Paragraph 2....you never sold out? .... Never?

And what does Tommy's sexual orientation have to do with the Party? Does it tie into Frank? The Treasurer candidate? The Senate Slate? Why mention his service to the Republican Party...why disenfranchise potential-liberal voters...voters that might correlate O&B with Bush, the War in Iraq, the Patriot Act??? SG has always remained virtually apolitical in that kind of context, why draw a line when it's clear you want TO GAIN votes against a much stronger, better funded, and more connected adversary?

Paragraph #3: "Engagement, activism and truth"... - are you a preacher now? Is O&B rallying for student votes in an SG election or are witnessing the metamorphosis of Tommy Jardon into Mike F. Belle?

So few students vote in SG elections because the options presented to them in the past have been so mediocre. Orange and Blue presents a bold change. Positions will not go to legacies, but talents. Senate will not speak to students, but will speak for students. Orange and Blue knows students depend on free printing, and we want it all over campus. We know how frustrating it is checking UF Webmail, so why keep it one day longer and not switch to Gmail?
This sounds 99.9% like Charles Grapski




Paragraph #4: "I've done nothing but fight for honesty and integrity in a system that has forgotten what that means." Someone untie this man and bring him down from the cross for a breather... Seriously, are you a candidate for Student Body President or the Son of God incarnate? Is this Student Government or Calgary.

This article wreaks of E-G-O, it's all about Tommy Jardon and most students will get soo turned off by this that they just might vote Gator -- I'm that serious. You don't lash out at potential constituents, you don't narrow your pool of supporters, you don't have candidates doing party work (I mean that looks so unprofessional -- why couldn't Sam have written this article?).

In the end, you the GDI's have a great exec. ticket, but this article has done a great disservice to everyone else that running for office, except for the SBP. There's still time left in the game, I just hope that the Organization that is this O&B Party, take the initiative to have strong candidates like Tommy Jardon worry about being candidates - and allow the party brass - to at least look like they're on the ball.

Sadly, props to Gator for being on their game; O&B what gives?...

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're missing the point Christian, the Alligator's not pleased by what Gator did. They wanted a letter about their own individual candidacy from each SBP candidate, not a cliche from the party president. Next week they're running follow-around articles on each of the exec candidates and this was kinda a kickoff for their every-2-week extended opinions piece.

If they wanted to hear from Sam Miorelli, they would've heard from Sam Miorelli. As it is they look like they're hiding their candidate from the media IMO.

Anonymous said...

sam didnt write it because it would have been even more self-aggrandizing, less coherent, and completely unreadable

Anonymous said...

"Is this Student Government or Calgary."

I didn't know that Jesus was crucified in Canada. Was he a Flames fan?

Anonymous said...

I thought the viewpoint was weird myself.

But going off topic did you see the ad in the Alligator? Aw man, I laughed when I saw it. My suggestion is don't give it any attention.

Christian Duque said...

Calgary...oops.

LOL

Even still, Tommy sounds too much like Grapski. I agree with everything he said, a part of me wanted to wet myself with glee, however, to get elected, you need to play the game - even if a little.

Less half empty and more half full.

Just my take.

Anonymous said...

Hey Christian, I thought you might thought this interesting \/ (channel 4). At 9:00 PM (today Friday), another great activist for Palestine is coming on and will talk about all sorts of things.

www.gcnlive.com/Listen_Live.html

Please delete this post.

Anonymous said...

Aw man. The day the indies stop listening to Christian Duque is the day IT ALL FALLS APART!

Christian Duque said...

Amen, brother!