Mike's Daily Lockup

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Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72

Hunter S. Thompson is the type of reporter that I doubt we will ever see again on the campaign trail.

So far, just a 115 pages into his book, "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," more people have been drunk, thrown off of campaign trains, heckled, and stoned out of their minds. Comparing local Orange County campaigns to the experiences of Thompson, our campaigns come across as a Puritan event. Some YD events in San Francisco and Sacramento, still pale in comparison to the ruckus the Thompson brought to the campaign trial.

Sometimes you have to look at the past before you can see the future. One of the reasons why Thompson's book is so pertinent to Orange County is his coverage of Nixon and his race for the Presidency. One comparison that instantly jumped out in my early reading of his book was the rowdy inauguration that occurred for Nixon similar to Shrub's (Bush, Jr). Each had protesters and each were disliked. But Nixon took the easy way out and resigned, Shrub looks like he is going to stick it out while those with absolute power "modify" our rights (just to protect a privileged few while sticking it to the middle class).