Kinda done with charisma.

Cam Paglia:

"Charisma is the radiance produced by the interaction of male and female elements in a gifted personality. The charismatic woman has a masculine force and severity. The charismatic man has an entrancing female beauty. Both are hot and cold, glowing with presexual self-love." - SP, p521

"It also seems to me that rock and roll, right from the start, has had a cult in it of the pretty boy, the boy who is at blurry borderline between childhood and puberty. There are periods where this fashion of the pretty boy is stronger than others. The David Cassidy and Peter Frampton period, which my gay friends adore, was the same period where Death in Venice came out as a movie with that angelic-looking, long-haired youth. I think there's an element of it in Mick Jagger, going all the way back to my period, when I was in junior high school. And Ricky Nelson, my god, what an incredibly pretty, airbrushed pictured we would have of him in the teen magazines. As I said in Sexual Personae, quoting from Freud, all very beautiful people have an element of the childlike within them. That is what charisma is. True charisma, true magnetism, is when you see the childhood glow inside the adult face in some way." -- The Guide, 1995

Maybe from showbiz. Thinking out loud here.

"If we're splitting hairs here, they're both corrupt, but she's at least a corrupt adult.)"

Love to see your evidence for this. Weren't Hillary and Bill the ones in charge when the White House was trashed prior to W moving in?

So, let's see if I have the tally right. We have:

a liberal democrat who's a crony capitalist;
a liberal democrat who's a violator of national security;
a man who agrees with THE BERN! 73% of the time;
and Jill Stein

Lovely mix, there. I'm afraid the Free Shit Army will vote for the person that promises them the most free shit, and that will be that.

Not that it really matters. There's insufficient will (in Congress, or in the country for that matter) to make actual change. Because change is difficult, and in this case will involve a bitter pill being swallowed.

Even if the Libertarians were able to win the election, they'd be a party without members in Congress. Interesting...they can't even win a Congressional District? whoa.

"Weren't Hillary and Bill the ones in charge when the White House was trashed prior to W moving in?"

Trashed, and she stole things. I miss Laura Bush. SHE was an adult.

"The presidency is a policy/administrative job, so maybe we should hire a policy/administrative person, and get our showbiz needs met somewhere else."

Having our own monarchy would be great for tourism.

"Having our own monarchy would be great for tourism."

We kind of do... look at the tourists in Hollywood.

So we're looking for our charismatic libertarian... I just realized something, reading an article on PJM written by Roger L. Simon. You know who that libertarian is? It's Peter Thiel. Consider: Heartland native (Cleveland), Silicon Valley insider, good public speaker and ad-libber, probably as wealthy as Trump if not more so, openly gay but doesn't make a big deal out of it, and principled libertarian. And... he seems to be in favor with Trump. I kind of wish he'd gotten the Veep nomination instead of Pence.

> Having our own monarchy would
> be great for tourism.

I see what you're getting at, but we're already there. Obama's "charisma" got him a Nobel Peace Prize in a matter of months, before the rest of the world even knew the bloodflows this guy and his cabinet (winkwink) were going to release.

People don't need encouragement to think of governmental authorities as progenitors: The human mind is built to do that.

There's chatter -- some of it seemingly serious -- about Gary Johnson announcing Jeb Bush's endorsement next week, as well as a possible Mitt Romney endorsement.

Those who never would vote for Trump will take this as a sign of his complete unpalatability, while those inclined toward Trump will see it as further proof Trump is not the establishment. I don't think it will have much effect on its own, but it will be a watershed moment for the Libertarian party in general, and I'll be interested to see if Johnson can build on it ... if it happens.

Another thing about Johnson is that he's polling very well with military people, both active duty as well as those who have separate from service. Florida has a significant military vote, it will be interesting to see if the state is actually in play.

Of course, in the event that no one reaches 270 electoral votes, the House will cast the deciding votes, so Trump.

The LP hasn't finished up getting on the ballot in Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York and that's a bunch of electoral votes to miss out on.

At this time, their goal is letting everyone know they're in the race and that they're viable. Johnson knows his crucial audience currently isn't the libertarians; it's the loose Bernie supporters who hate Hillary. So he and Weld are spotlighting their social views in their TV spots.

I like Bill Weld's gruff affect. Gary Johnson needs coaching. I won't argue there because I say it all the time. He can improve his charisma by working on his body language and intonation, and he needs to be better prepared to answer pointed questions about controversial libertarian positions in a way that is palatable to a TV audience.

If you talk about legalizing any drug, you've got to expect they're going to trot out "mother of a kid who overdosed drugs and died," as they did in the CNN town hall. He should have been armed with at least three different ways to respond, and none of those responses should have mentioned needle exchanges in Australia. It was too philosophical for a sound-byte type forum.

Until they ramp up, they have to be careful to stay within the Overton window and not come off as radicals. Many libertarian beliefs, when completely torn away from their context, sound outright shocking to the uninitiated. "I have certain objections to the Civil Rights Act," for example, is a terrible ice breaker.

> I kind of wish he'd gotten the
> Veep nomination instead of Pence.

☑

Or the Big Chair.