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McAvoy Layne
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Welcome to Nevada, where we drink whiskey and fight over water. When we Nevadans learn about the gambling preferences of our presidential candidates, well, we tend to examine those preferences in an attempt to mine information that might be helpful toward placing an educated vote.
Let’s examine the personality profile of the poker player for example, poker being Barack Obama’s gaming vice of choice.
This person has to deal with as many as 10 wildly disparate personalities at the same time. Take the serious fellow in the sunglasses who calls you all the way to Tehran with every underpair, then folds up his tent when you bet. Do you negotiate with this person, or stonewall him? This just could very well be President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself, hoping to muscle you off the pot the moment he senses the slightest weakness. This same rogue will suddenly raise and raise and raise until either you call a time out and negotiate with him in the men’s room, or call his bluff.
It seems obvious that an awareness of a poker player’s mentality can be a distinct advantage when dealing with geo-political gamblers.
Now let’s take a look at the personality profile of the craps player, craps being John McCain’s gaming vice of choice.
The craps player relies on player support. Personality has a lot to do with building player support, and apparently John McCain is able to find his personality and let it roll at the crap table. The craps player is usually a type-A personality looking for a victory that will carry the rest of the players at the table on his shoulders. This is not a bad personality trait to have when running for president.
In the final analysis, the craps personality will serve one best in the short haul, or a campaign for the presidency, while the poker personality will serve one best in the long haul, or the presidency itself.
I’m sometimes asked as the Ghost of Twain, how American politics has changed over the decades, and I’m apt to respond, “Oh in early Nevada, our politicians did their gambling, they did their drinking, they did their womanizing, yes, but they did it with the press.”
Once the innocent reporter discovered he could sell his story recounting the various vices of his political associates, well, the days of the politician and reporter drinking from the same trough were over.
I’m not suggesting we vote for our next president based on what we know about his gambling habits. No, I believe we should base our vote for President of the United States primarily on the Marriam-Webster definition of the word, “surrender,” … to give (oneself) up to the power of another, especially as a prisoner.
If my memory serves me, we invaded Iraq. Anybody who uses the word “surrender” to characterize our withdrawing troops from Iraq does not begin to understand the nature, nor the conditions, of the whole sordid affair.
Anyone for a fresh deck, and a new game of Texas hold’em?
McAvoy Layne is an Incline Village resident who visits area schools as the ghost of Mark Twain.
Let’s examine the personality profile of the poker player for example, poker being Barack Obama’s gaming vice of choice.
This person has to deal with as many as 10 wildly disparate personalities at the same time. Take the serious fellow in the sunglasses who calls you all the way to Tehran with every underpair, then folds up his tent when you bet. Do you negotiate with this person, or stonewall him? This just could very well be President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself, hoping to muscle you off the pot the moment he senses the slightest weakness. This same rogue will suddenly raise and raise and raise until either you call a time out and negotiate with him in the men’s room, or call his bluff.
It seems obvious that an awareness of a poker player’s mentality can be a distinct advantage when dealing with geo-political gamblers.
Now let’s take a look at the personality profile of the craps player, craps being John McCain’s gaming vice of choice.
The craps player relies on player support. Personality has a lot to do with building player support, and apparently John McCain is able to find his personality and let it roll at the crap table. The craps player is usually a type-A personality looking for a victory that will carry the rest of the players at the table on his shoulders. This is not a bad personality trait to have when running for president.
In the final analysis, the craps personality will serve one best in the short haul, or a campaign for the presidency, while the poker personality will serve one best in the long haul, or the presidency itself.
I’m sometimes asked as the Ghost of Twain, how American politics has changed over the decades, and I’m apt to respond, “Oh in early Nevada, our politicians did their gambling, they did their drinking, they did their womanizing, yes, but they did it with the press.”
Once the innocent reporter discovered he could sell his story recounting the various vices of his political associates, well, the days of the politician and reporter drinking from the same trough were over.
I’m not suggesting we vote for our next president based on what we know about his gambling habits. No, I believe we should base our vote for President of the United States primarily on the Marriam-Webster definition of the word, “surrender,” … to give (oneself) up to the power of another, especially as a prisoner.
If my memory serves me, we invaded Iraq. Anybody who uses the word “surrender” to characterize our withdrawing troops from Iraq does not begin to understand the nature, nor the conditions, of the whole sordid affair.
Anyone for a fresh deck, and a new game of Texas hold’em?
McAvoy Layne is an Incline Village resident who visits area schools as the ghost of Mark Twain.
