Posted on 06/23/2008 4:13:20 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
WASHINGTON — While this year's presidential campaign has been marked by historic firsts, the nominations of senators McCain and Obama will renew one surprising trend: For the fifth time in the last 35 years, America will have a lefty in the White House.
Both major party candidates are southpaws, contributing to a largely unexplained phenomenon that has vexed researchers and historians — and drawn notice from a federal judge destined for the Supreme Court. Though left-handers comprise just 10% of the population, they are dominating presidential politics.
Their recent success transcends ideology. Since 1974, presidents Ford, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Clinton have all favored their left hands, while President Carter and the current President Bush are righties. The trait is also not exclusive to winning candidates: Vice President Gore is left-handed, as are past presidential contenders Robert Dole, John Edwards, Bill Bradley, and Ross Perot. A prominent New Yorker who flirted with a White House bid, Mayor Bloomberg, is a lefty.
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
I told one of my liberal friends I’d better not hear any complaining for the next four years. He’s getting his lib president one way or another.
If he gets McCain, he’ll get a liberal president. If he gets Obama, he’ll get a Marxist dictator. I think there’s a difference.
Aside from that, however, the list of left-handers in the article was interesting.
I noticed a large number of linguists and cryptologists working in military intelligence were southpaws. They I found out that half the cryptologists working at NSA were left-handed!
A lefty or a commie muzzie.
LLS
That’s strange. I thought that cryptologists had to be good with numbers. Most lefties I know (including my own humble self) can barely count to 20 without taking off their socks.
When is mccain going to finally pick a running mate?
I am a leftie. Again. No joking.
A decade and a half ago, I began suffering from ‘writer’s cramp’, a condition known as ‘idiopathic focal dystonia’ with the pros. I could not write anymore with my trusted left hand. I had to make do with forced righthand writing and the use of a keyboard; annoying to the extreme, once you have to.
Luckily enough things have changed in the past year, and now I can reasonably write lefthanded again. Thank God for that.
“If he gets McCain, he’ll get a liberal president. If he gets Obama, he’ll get a Marxist dictator. I think there’s a difference.”
Hey, there’s no reason to insult all Marxist dictators like that. Some Marxists dictators actually are proud of the nations they control.
> I am a leftie. Again. No joking.
I’m a leftie who was forced as a kid to write right-handed. I couldn’t get the grip of the pencil right because it felt unnatural and awkward, so I still hold my writing hand all funny-and-cramped.
But I’m also ambidextrous in most things as a result. In all, not a bad outcome.
Explains a lot...
Oops! Sorry for the misinterpretation. It just goes to show never post when in a hurry.
The career guy I knew best from NSA never showed any great interest in numbers or math puzzles, but he was interested in every other kind of puzzle, obscurity, trivia, history, and etymology.
I think he spoke fluent Japanese and Farsi, but he never showed off with it or even gave a demo. You just inferred he did from other things he said.
Over the 5+ years I knew him, what he actually did in his job remained an enigma.
Enough with the hyperbole already. The facts: McCain has a lifetime ACU rating of 83. Though that’s not as conservative as we may like, to say that he is a liberal is totally baseless. Let’s elevate the conversations around here by sticking to the facts.
Now, if "the powers that be" really wanted to spite us, Obama and McCain would join forces and run together, on the same ticket.
You’re right. I had an initial false reaction to the title myself, but it doesn’t take long to discover the real thrust of the article.
I recall someone saying that the only difference between a liberal and a Marxist is that the liberal is just afraid to admit to himself he’s a Marxist.
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