Bakker Bugle Blog Say it three times fast. In Luxembourgish.

9 May 2009

Dublin Politics = Face Posters

Filed under: culture,dublin,ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 11:33

This week brought the return of Anita’s beloved “face posters,” the primary form of campaigning that we’ve noticed. These posters, of uniform size and a standard design, are attached to nearly every pole in the neighbourhood. Here are two examples near Baggot Street:

faceposters08may09`

The upcoming election (in Dublin) is for two levels of government: representatives to the local councils and to the European parliament. The newspapers lead me to believe that there is a close parallel between these elections and mid-term Congressional elections in the US. In both cases, the media and the parties take the results to indicate the popularity of the parties at the national level.

19 December 2008

One request regarding Blago

Filed under: culture,mental state,politics,usa — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 2:39

Our Illinois friends and family asked us: “Did you hear about the Governor?” The short answer is “Yes.” I’d like your help in getting the long answer just right.
(more…)

21 October 2008

Recommended Listening: Looking at the US

Filed under: politics,usa — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 20:40

Ordinary Dubliners want to talk about the coming election for the US Presidency, given any excuse. In fact, the Europeans we meet want to talk about the coming election, given any excuse.

And everybody talks about the American economy, but especially Americans.

All that is by way of introduction to two podcast episodes that I found fascinating and accurate in representing the mainstream of English-speaking European thought about the US. (more…)

13 June 2008

Lisbon Treaty: Ballad for an Undecided Irish Voter

Filed under: entertainment,ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , — Will @ 17:48

Are you ready for a smirking, cynical over-simplification of yesterday’s vote on the Lisbon Treaty? If so, (more…)

Lisbon Treaty: The Campaigns

Filed under: ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Will @ 16:47

At midday here in Ireland, the consensus was that the vote on the Treaty of Lisbon is too close to call. I find this remarkable, given that every political party holding seats in the Dáil (except Sinn Féin) endorsed the treaty. The major Irish political parties have impressive networks of party loyalists on the ground. Their networks seem more oriented toward mass mobilization than the US’s Democratic and Republican parties. While the US’s parties are fund-raising machines, they struggle with voters’ apathy and fragmentation on particular policies. So I assumed that the parties would get out the vote. But the relatively high turnout rate for this referendum appears to tell against ratification, according to the results so far.

Let’s look at the campaigns for and against the Lisbon Treaty, as I saw and heard them. (more…)

12 June 2008

The Treaty of Lisbon: Dazed and Confused

Filed under: ireland,politics — Tags: , , , , , , , — Will @ 20:59

Today, many Irish citizens will vote “Yes” or “No” to the Lisbon Treaty. For the past six weeks, Ireland’s political scene centered on this issue — one which I find even more complex than the notorious Mahon tribunal. The Bugle must admit, at the outset, that this post will not bring you the incisive analysis and deep insight that you’ve come to expect. In fact, it may be impossible for anyone to analyze the Lisbon Treaty from a neutral perspective right now — but we’ll get to that in a paragraph or two. (more…)

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