Steerpike's Knee

My US based buddies are once more getting excited about the upcoming Superbowl.

As usual, I have zoned out a bit - avoiding Twitter, where I can, as my timeline is getting stuffed full of meaningless NFL chat.

 

On the other hand I am quite enjoying the other spectator sport, taking place in America at the moment, the Republican primaries. 

It's fascinating sitting here, in Fortress Europe, discovering that we are living in a communist world that is force feeding us a fair and equitable health system at the expense of the super rich. 

 

Perhaps hidden away, within the stone walls of Gormenghast, I am blissfully unaware of the dastardly liberals who seek to destroy my freedom.

 

Anyway, what better time to play 1960:The Making of the President and live the American dream?

 

Last night I took up the challenge of defending the old guard (not something I am known for) and leading the Nixon campaign to an ahistoric victory.

 

The young and fresh face Kennedy was having none of it. With youth on his side, he unexpectedly turned up in California, had his picture taken with a young body builder called Schwarzenegger, and accepted a huge swing in public support towards his left wing policies.

(Left Wing in a US sense. What we, in the UK, would call slightly right of Margaret Thatcher).

 

Unperturbed, I advised Nixon to concentrate his campaigning in New York in an attempt to capture the 'Friends' demographic.

And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling kids.

 

Or, more precisely, the Media.

Kennedy adopted an aggressive advertising strategy which alleged that I had asked the Lady Fuchsia for an open marriage, so that I could spend more time consorting with my gaming collection, and he questioned whether I was paying the right amount of tax on my eBay sales.

Sure, he made a few Gaffes - claiming that he did not like the poor, because they all had safety nets around their trampolines, and forgetting his three key priorities (make the coffee, don't rattle your 'off-board' cubes, decrease gaming expenditure as a proportion of GDP).

 

As Election Day dawned, I had secured both New York and PA - but Kennedy held California, the Deep South, and a huge swathe of the Mid West.

Beaten in my own backyard.

(That's not a euphemism and anyone who says it is can expect a call from my Lawyers)

 

It was great to get 1960 back to the table even if I could not reverse history.

 

Ah, well, I am off for a few days R&R in Dallas.