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Posts Tagged ‘presidential candidates’

Obama’s agenda

Posted by Richard on February 25, 2008

One of the chief criticisms of Barack Obama is that he mouths empty platitudes about hope and change and the future, but doesn't actually say anything specific or concrete about his agenda. That may be true of his speeches (and, hey, they make women faint, so empty platitudes are obviously working for him). But his campaign website is actually chock-full of information about his agenda. Some of the proposals are not all that specific and concrete, but there's certainly no shortage of them.

To save us the effort of wading through many, many pages of Obama's website, an Obama supporter at Democratic Underground has compiled a list. I checked it a bit against the Obama website, and it appears to be accurate, but not complete — it's limited to those proposals and positions that have reasonably clear one-line titles or summaries. 

To spare you the trip to Democratic Underground (I know some of you try to avoid that kind of neighborhood), I'm reproducing the entire list here. If you can make it more than a third of the way through without gagging, you have a stronger stomach than I do — or you're a True Believer. Here it is:

Opposed the Iraq war from the start.
Voted to end the war in Iraq.
Supports capturing and killing Osama Bin Laden.
Favors a $1000 tax cut for every working American family.

Will implement tax form simplification to reduce filing time.
Provide tax credit for all middle class homeowners.
Provide a tax cut for all families making less than $75,000 a year.
Amend NAFTA to protect American workers.
Amend NAFTA to strengthen environmental protections.
Providing Flex Ed training accounts for workers.
Extending Trade Adjustment assistance to service workers.
Supported Patriot Employer Act of 2007 that gives tax credits to large companies that keep workers here in America.
Double funds for basic federal research.
Implement a long term research and development tax credit.
Invest in green technologies.
Reduce carbon emission gases.
Tackle the challenges of global warming.
Create an energy focused youth jobs program.
Create Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard.
Extend the Production Tax Credit.
Expand Broadband into every community.
Keep the Internet tax free.
Expand high speed internet access in rural areas.
Fight for passage of Employee Free Choice Act.
Ensure freedom to unionize.
Would overturn "Kentucky River" classifications of Bush's NLRB
Protect rights of striking workers.
Increase the mininum wage to index it to inflation.
Crack down on predatory lenders.
Provide a universal mortgage tax credit for homeowners who don't itemize.
Sign the Stop Fraud Act to prevent lending fraud.
Mandate accurate loan disclosure.
Create a fund to protect people from foreclosures.
Close the bankruptcy loophole for mortgage companies.
Establish a credit card rating to improve disclosure.
Ban utilateral credit card charges.
Apply interest rate only to future debt.
Prohibit credit card interest on fees.
Prohibit Universal defaults.
Require prompt and fair crediting of cardholder payments.
Protect working people from unfair bankruptcy laws.
Ban executive bonuses for bankruptcy companies.
REquire disclosure of pension investments.
Cap outlandandish interest rates on payday loans.
Implement legislation to drive unscrupulous lenders out of business
Create a bankruptcy exemption for people that went broke because of medical bills.
Double funding for after school programs.
Extend Family and Medical Leave Act.
Encourage states to adopt Paid leave.
Expand the Child Care Tax Credit
Supports ratification of UN Convention Rights of Persons With Disabilities.
Supports independent, community based living for people with disabilities.
Expand educational opportunites for people with disabilities.
Expand job opportunities for people with disabilities.
Strengthen civil rights enforcement.
Sign into law the Fair Pay Act.
Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against women.
Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against racial minorities.
Strengthen federal hate crimes legislation.
Eliminate the sentence disparities regarding crack cocaines.
Establish drug courts for first time, non violent offenders.
Create a prison to work incentive for those transitioning back into society.
Passed a law to prohibit the practice of racial profiling.
Supported reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act.
Opposes all discriminatory barriers to voting.
Helped reform death penalty system in Illinois to protect innocent people on death row.
Voted to ban cluster bombs.
Provide high quality affordable child care to families.
Will quadrulple Early Head Start funding.
Will increase Head Start funding.
Creates early learning challenge grants.
Abolish overly rigid teach to the test curriculum in schools.
Improve accountability in public schools.
Invest in intervention strategies to reduce dropout rates in schools.
Increase funding for afterschool programs.
Supports Step Up program to increase summer learning opportunities.
Support English language learner programs.
Expand college outreach programs.
Create teacher service scholarships.
Requires all public schools to be accredited.
Create teacher residency programs.
Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit for higher education.
Streamline financial aid application.
Introduced legislation to increase Pell Grant to $5,100.
Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
Confront deforestation.
Promote carbon sequestration.
Accelerate commercialization of plug in hybrids.
Promote development of commercial scale renewable energy.
Invest in low emission coal plants.
Transition to new electric digit grid.
Double science funding for clean energy products.
Create Green Jobs Corps.
Invest in programs to help manufacturers make transition to green products.
Create clean technologies venture capital fund.
Deploy cellulosic ethanol.
Expand locally owned biofuel refineries.
Increase renewable fuel standards.
Establish national low carbon fuel standard.
Increase fuel economy standards.
Invest in solar energy.
Invest in wind energy.
Establish a centralized database to track lobbyist activities.
Appoint an independent watchdog group to oversee congressional ethic violations.
Favors campaign finance reform.
Sunshine on legislation proposal.
End abuse of no bid contracts.
Release presidential records in a more timely fashion.
Prevent political appointees from working as lobbyists within two years after employment has ended.
Reform political appointment process.
Sign ethics legislation that he proposed as a Senator with Russ Feingold.
Obama sponsored a bi-partisan bill allowing regular people to track federal grants.
Take leadership in the global fight against AIDS.
Provide tax cuts to small businesses.
Provide income tax cuts for all senior citizens making $50,000 a year or less.
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Protect workers from caregiver discrimination.
Increase mentoring programs for beginner teachers.
Provide universal health care for all Americans within 4 years.
Combat fraudulent subprime loans.
Expand Nurse Family Partnership.
Provide automatic workplace pensions for workers.
Expand savings credit for retirement accounts.
Reinstate pay as you go budget rules.
Repeal Bush tax cuts for top 1% which led to lower middle class standard of living.
Slash earmarks to pre 2001 levels.
Abolish obsolete wasteful government programs.
Voted against raising the minimum debt in 2006.
Supports wiping out Al Qaeda wherever they may be.
Opposed Kyl Lieberman.
Supports tough attempts at diplomacy with Iran to protect America's interests.
Will work to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Restrengthen NATO.
Passed a bipartisan law with Senator Lugar to prevent smuggling of WMDs.
Introduced a bill with Senator Hagel to reduce nuclear arsenals around the globe.
Supports securing loose nuke arsenals from the former Soviet Union and elsewhere.
Strengthen Non Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.
Expand size of Army by 65,000.
Expand size of Marines by 27,000.
Provide our troops with new equipment and the tools they need.
Provide National Service troops with adequate leave time.
Will insulate the Director of National Intelligence from partisan politics.
Guarantee that health care can never be denied because of a pre-existing condition.
Introduce a health care plan similar to the one members of Congress have and give all Americans access to this plan.
Simplify the paperwork in health care costs.
Make premiums and co pays affordable.
Require mandatory coverage of all children for health care.
Expand SCHIP.
Expand Medicaid.
Reduce costs of catastrophic illnesses for employers and employees.
Support disease management programs.
Require hospitals and providers to have full transparency over costs.
Promote patient safety by requiring providers to report medical errors.
Establish an independent institute to guide reviews + research on comparative effectiveness in health care.
Strengthen anti trust laws to prevent insurance companies from gouging medical providers.
Lower medical costs by having electronic health info systems.
Increase competition in prescription drug markets.
Advance biomedical research field.
Improve mental care coverage.
Reduce mercury deposits to help prevent miscarriages.
Increase funding for autism research.
Cosponsored Healthy Kids Act of 2007.
Cosponsored reauthorization of SCHIP in 2007.
Obama introduced legislation to establish guidelines to monitor fuels from nuclear power plants.
Sponsored a bill with Senator Lautenberg to protect chemical plants from possible terrorist attacks.
Introduced legislation to upgrade monitoring of water supplies.
Introduced legislation to protect localities from radioactive leaks.
Create secure borders with additional personnel and infrastructure.
Remove incentives for people to enter this country illegally.
Crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
Invest in transitional jobs.
Improve transportation access to jobs.
Fully fund community block grants.
Create an affordable housing trust fund.
Establish a program called 20 Promise Neighborhoods.
Invest in rural areas, especially small businesses, schools, and doctors.
Implement a payment limitation program to help small farmers.
Protect family farms from anti-competitive monopolies.
Implement tough fines for CAFO violations.
Establish country of origin labeling for all products.
Support regional food systems.
Encourage organic farming.
Provide tax credits for young farmers.
Increase capital for small farmers.
Modify FCC so all rural residents have access to modern communications.
Upgrade rural infrastructure.
Supported legislation to reverse 2 billion dollars of agriculture cuts under Bush.
Cosponsored Emergency Farm Relief Act of 2006.
Sponsored a bill to combat the scourge of methamphetamines.
Expand Americorps.
Double the Peacecorps in 8 years.
Expand Service learning in all our schools.
Offer an opportunity tax credit for college students in exchange for 100 hours of community service.
Promote college work study programs with public service.
Expand on the YouthBuild program.
Create a Social Investment Fund Network.
Create a non profit entrepreneur agency.
Protect Social Security.
Reform corporate bankruptcy laws.
Strengthen laws protecting against age discrimination in the workplace.
Ensure heating assistance for senior citizens.
Protect the openness of the Internet.
Encourage diversity in media ownership.
Protect children from Internet predators with strict law enforcement.
Support transition of the internet into the digital world.
Preserve artistic expression.
Keep inappropriate advertising away from programs for children.
Enhance safety standards for toys imported into this country.
Protect the right of privacy of every law abiding American.
Update surveillance laws under the rule of law.
Higher salaries for teachers.
Work with the FTC to cut down on cyber crimes.
Eliminate teach to the test curriculum and restore true learning to the classroom.
Open up government to citizens by providing transparency.
Provide all our schools with broadband technology.
Modernize public safety networks.
Make the research and development tax credit permanent.
Protect intellectual property at home and abroad.
Reform the patent system to encourage innovation.
Allow all veterans back into the VA.
Strengthen VA care for all veterans.
Fight veterans employment discrimination.
Fix the benefits bureaucracy to help veterans.
Expand vet centers across the country.
Obama passed legilsation to slash red tape to help wounded soldiers at Walter Reed.
Introduced legislation to direct the VA and Pentagon to fix its veterans record systems.
Introduced legislation to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Rebuild the roads and bridges that need to be rebuilt.
Will end the genocide in Darfur.
Will restore habeas corpus to America.
Reject torture.
Close down Gitmo.
Pledges to obey the Constitution of the United States.
Will fully implement and enforce the Equal Pay Act.
End tax breaks for US companies sending jobs overseas.
Voted to reinstate 1.15 billion to the COPS program to reduce crime.
Wants to keep drinking age at 21.
Supports grants to local educational agencies.
Voted to protect ANWR.
Voted to protect the Great Lakes from polluters.
Favors labor and trade standards with trade with China.
Opposed CAFTA which hurts American workers.
Voting to give the District of Columbia its proper vote in Congress.
Voted to expand enrollment period for Medicare Part D.
Favors repealing the discriminatory don't ask don't tell policy.
Provide first responders with the health care and equipment they need.
Voted to implement the 9/11 commission recommendations.
Voted to restore money to ports and first responders.
Voted to establish a Guest Worker program.
Voted to increase the minimum wage.
Voted against anti-Constitution radicals Alito and Roberts.
Voted against the repeal of the estate tax that only applies to 1% of the wealthiest of estates.
Supports the first amendment freedom of religion clauses and establishment clauses.
Introduced a bill requiring public companies to give shareholders an annual nonbinding vote on executive compensation.
Protects our schools by opposing voucher schemes.
Introduced Biofuels Security Act in 2007.
Favors closing corporate tax loopholes.
Understands that global warming is a real problem that must be addressed.
Supports civil unions for LGBT couples.

Is there any group he hasn't pandered to? Is there any aspect of our daily lives he doesn't want to control? I can see why he's ranked as the most leftist member of Congress, even further left than Bernie Sanders, the Socialist Senator from Vermont.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | 6 Comments »

SNL: CNN is “in the tank” for Obama

Posted by Richard on February 24, 2008

If you missed the Feb. 23 return of Saturday Night Live, you missed one of the best opening sketches they've had in years. It parodied the latest CNN debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In the SNL version, the CNN personnel made it abundantly clear that they're "totally in the tank" for Obama, and it was hilarious. The first question posed to Obama was, "Is there anything we can get you?" The follow-up question was, "Are you sure?"

NBC is stupidly forcing YouTube to pull all posts of the video as copyright violations. Have these people never heard of viral marketing?? The broad dissemination of this 9-minute sketch would do more to build SNL's audience than all their on-air promos. What morons.

Anyway, here's the last 2:51, courtesy of the NBC's SNL video page:

UPDATE: For some bizarre reason, audio seems to work only in Internet Explorer (at least for me) — sorry. Take it up with NBC


 

If you know of a source for the whole thing or a transcript of it, please post it in the comments. 

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Unpersuasive

Posted by Richard on February 19, 2008

Former President George "Read My Lips" H.W. Bush endorsed Sen. John McCain and said McCain can carry "our conservative values" to the White House. Yeah, that's the same George H.W. Bush who scoffed at "that vision thing," abandoned his "no new taxes" pledge, and squandered the Reagan legacy he inherited.

<snark>I'm sure all the economic conservative / libertarian Republicans will rally around McCain now that he has George H.W. Bush's blessing.</snark>

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Depressed

Posted by Richard on January 25, 2008

Sorry I haven't posted anything all week; I plan to do better going forward.

I've been somewhat distracted and just plain unmotivated. Plus, I was a bit bummed by Fred Thompson's poor showing in South Carolina and subsequent withdrawal. 

And I'm totally depressed by the prospect of a McCain-Clinton race. 

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Thompson in South Carolina

Posted by Richard on January 19, 2008

Erick Erickson is on the Fred Thompson bus in South Carolina:

The Fred Thompson in South Carolina this week is the one America saw knock into Mike Huckabee as a pro-life liberal with “blame America first” beliefs whose economic policies would destroy the economy. And the crowds love it.

The crowds are enthusiastic and relieved. Finally, the Fred Thompson they hoped for is on the campaign trail. “Saying the Reagan Coalition is dead is like saying the Constitution is dead,” Thompson began one speech, taking on Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee. “The Reagan Coalition was never about the man. It was and is about the principles and values we apply to issues.” He continued, “The issues may change, but the principles do not.” The crowd roared its enthusiasm.

I hope Thompson does well in South Carolina. I like most of what I've read by and about him. One of Erickson's commenters said "Fred is like Ron Paul, but with testicles." Yeah, and without the disturbing past, unsavory friends, and hints of looney conspiracy theories.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | 1 Comment »

Unraveling Ron Paul

Posted by Richard on January 17, 2008

I subscribe to both The New Individualist and Reason. Each magazine features a cover story on Ron Paul in their latest issue. The former has a scathing critique (by blogger Stephen Green), while the latter's article is almost hagiographic. I thought about comparing and contrasting the two, but didn't get around to it. Had I done so, I'd have sided mostly with Green, although I thought he overstated the case against Paul a bit.

It no longer matters. Green's criticisms have pretty much taken a back seat to last week's New Republic story about the racist and hate-filled writings in a Ron Paul newsletter from 1989 through the early 90s. Really ugly stuff. Paul denied writing any of it, which is apparently true, and claimed he knew nothing about it, which is pretty hard to believe.

I guess I was just about the only libertarian who didn't know about Paul's long association with Llewellyn Rockwell, editor of that newsletter and probable author of much of the vile material (see this Reason article). Lew Rockwell is scum, IMHO, and crazy to boot — the libertarian movement's combination of David Duke and Lyndon LaRouche. Even though his Ludwig von Mises Institute hosts some useful resources, especially in the field of economics, I long ago stopped visiting either it or Rockwell's blog (I'm not going to link to them). 

For everything you need to know about the whole sordid tale, read the Reason article linked in the preceding paragraph and Bob Bidinotto's fine post about the controversy (which also gives you a chance to see the provocative TNI cover illustration of Paul). 

Also, read Bidinotto's earlier post about the TNI article, to which he's appended a very interesting short essay that explains why he holds candidates promoting a philosophy/ideology (like Paul or Kucinich) to a different standard than "pragmatic careerists."

I'm not entirely persuaded. Bidinotto argues that "Philosophical ideas are much more basic, powerful, and important" than the pragmatic policy proposals of most politicians, and thus can do much more good or harm. But isn't the rejection of principles/ideology and the embrace of pragmatism itself a powerful idea that does much harm?

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Another conspiracy unearthed

Posted by Richard on January 10, 2008

Last Friday, in the wake of the Iowa caucuses, I remarked that, "If I were a Republican muckety-muck, I'd hire Karl Rove to secretly help the Clinton campaign." You think maybe they did? Apparently, many of the nutroots think that's exactly what happened in New Hampshire. And that Diebold is now rigging its machines to help the Clintons.

Joe Tobacco bravely ventured into the Bedlam that is Democratic Underground and linked to thread after thread full of paranoid ravings. I just skimmed a few, and especially liked this comment:

What struck me is how they programmed Edwards to maintain 17% ALL NIGHT

That was some pretty transparent programming, if you ask me.

THIS is what a gerrymandered, computerized voting machine election looks like. From start to finish.

Made me sick.

Here are a couple that express a popular sentiment:

I wouldn't put it past the Neocons to be buggering the vote for Hillary

especially since neocons REALLY WANT HER as the Dem nominee…someone they can "work with" win or lose in the General

is clinton a preffered oponent for the republicans?

hmmm. clinton was trailing, then she finished ahead. the exit polls predicted otherwise. the exit polls were never this far off before diebold became so heavily involved in the game. it is just like the elections of 2004. so what am i saying… i personally think hillary poses both, a candidate that is easier for the republicans to beat, and, if elected, a president who more entrenched in the traditional political system. so guess what, it doesn't surprise me that the diebold machines once again felt a candidate that aligned closer to their views pulled ahead. coincidence?  

As in 2004, large numbers of the nutroots left remain utterly convinced that polls are infallibly accurate, while actual vote counts are unreliable and suspect.

They call themselves the "reality-based community." 

UPDATE: Sen. John Effin' Kerry has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. Obama thanked him. I think Obama would have been wiser to follow the Scrappleface version: 

(2008-01-10) — Sen. Barack Obama today declined the endorsement of Sen. John Kerry, saying his presidential campaign is about “hope and change”, and he doesn’t want to “send mixed messages.”

Heh. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Identity politics

Posted by Richard on January 9, 2008

According to the exit polls, Hillary Clinton won in New Hampshire because women, and especially older women, voted for her by a big margin. So I guess identity politics worked quite well for her this time.

The trouble with identity politics, though, is that it can come back and bite you. It didn't seem to matter much in New Hampshire, but in South Carolina it could be significant that Sen. Clinton claimed Martin Luther King was just talk, and it was Lyndon Johnson who really made a difference regarding civil rights. 

Well, OK, that's not literally what she said. But if I were working for the Obama campaign, that's how I'd characterize it.  

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Bad news for Republicans

Posted by Richard on January 4, 2008

The Iowa caucus results are a double dose of bad news for the GOP. First, their party's caucus-goers have anointed as front-runner a candidate who is a combination of Pat Buchanan and John Edwards. With some serious ethical questions to boot. So much for the Reagan legacy.

Second, the Democrats have pushed to the fore a fresh-faced, charismatic candidate who many white Americans will almost reflexively want to vote for in order to prove (to themselves and the world) that they aren't racists.

If I were a Republican muckety-muck, I'd hire Karl Rove to secretly help the Clinton campaign. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

The case against Huckabee

Posted by Richard on December 24, 2007

A commenter at NewsBusters who calls him/herself PopularTech has put together the definitive multi-count indictment of Gov. Mike Huckabee, charging that the Governor's claim to being the "true conservative" in the race is completely fraudulent:

Mike Huckabee is a Pro-life Liberal

This guy is worse than Bill Clinton on fiscal policy, has a liberal naive foreign policy, feels "compasionate" for illegals and is NOT a true conservative. We do not need another Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton. The Huckster is playing up to the evangelical suckers who do not do research and think we need a minister in the White House with a degree in Religion? God help us all.

That introduction is followed by more than fifty (!) links to video clips, news articles, and commentary to back up the indictment, organized into nine categories (eight specific issues and one general). Bravo, PopularTech — a fine job! I hope my social conservative friends and readers (both of you <g>) will check out the case against Huckabee before buying into his "good ole conservative Southern Baptist" shtick. 

Ann Coulter dubbed Huckabee "the Republican Jimmy Carter," and I think it fits (except that there are more ethics questions about Huckabee). Is there any sane, sensible person who thinks we need another Jimmy Carter?

For more anti-Huckabee stuff, check out Born Again Redneck. Go here to try distinguishing the Huckabee quotes from the Edwards quotes. Or just go to the main page and keep scrolling — lots and lots of Huckabee posts. Plus some interesting pro-Thompson stuff, including this post proving that Thompson doesn't pander to Iowa farmers (and sounds pretty damn good to me on the farm issue):

From the Waverley (Iowa) Democrat:

Q: What will you do for the farmers of Bremer County?

FT: (laughs)

Q: You knew this was coming, right?

FT: I would continue to enjoy the fruits of their labor. I’ve been looking all over Iowa for a bad steak and I can’t find it. Been trying my best. It’s not a matter of what I would do for the farmers. Farmers are not looking for a president to hand them something. Farmers want fair treatment and a chance to prosper in a free economy and that’s what I would help ensure. … 

Read the whole thing. 

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

Thompson smear discredited

Posted by Richard on December 20, 2007

Speaking of Fred Thompson, reporter Roger Simon (not to be confused with novelist, screenwriter, and blogger Roger L. Simon, who, unlike his reporter namesake, is an honest and honorable man) posted a nasty hit piece on the presidential candidate at Politico. Unfortunately for him, he forgot that nowadays bloggers will fact-check his ass. And the video that proves him a liar is available on the Internet.

Dan Riehl set the record straight quickly (and posted the video), and Jimmie at The Sundries Shack did a nice job of bitch-slapping reporter/liar Roger Simon (not to be confused with the novelist, … etc.). Be sure to watch the video and compare it to Simon's description. This is the kind of dishonest crap that the MSM feeds you all the time.

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Awesome Thompson video

Posted by Richard on December 19, 2007

Glenn Reynolds said of this Fred Thompson video, "If he's got the guts to run this in Iowa and New Hampshire, he's got my vote . . . ." John Hawkins at Right Wing News (who put this together from IMAO's "Fred Thompson facts") thinks airing this constantly in Iowa would either assure Thompson of victory "…or he would actually drop into last place. One or the other."

I think Hawkins is right — running this as an ad would be a gamble, but it just might pay off big. Anyway, its fun. The concept is derivative of the various Chuck Norris jokes, but it's nicely done. I especially like this line: "In the Fred Thompson administration, there will be no need for the leaders of terrorist states to visit Ground Zero; Ground Zero will be wherever they live."

 Oh yeah — if you like this video, you might want to check out IMAO's matching T-shirt.

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Lieberman endorsing McCain

Posted by Richard on December 16, 2007

Senator Joe Lieberman is going to endorse Senator John McCain for President on Monday:

It may seem a long journey, emotionally and politically, from being the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee in 2000, to endorsing a conservative Republican for president, less than eight years later — an endorsement scheduled for Monday morning in Hillsborough, N.H.

A top Lieberman aide says the senator disagrees with McCain on many domestic matters, including abortion and affirmative action, but "on the key issue, the central issue of being commander in chief, and leading the war against Islamic extremists, they see eye to eye." …

Last month, at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies, Lieberman eviscerated Democrats on foreign policy. "For many Democrats, the guiding conviction in foreign policy isn't pacifism or isolationism — it is distrust and disdain of Republicans, in general, and President Bush, in particular," he said.

"In this regard, the Democratic foreign policy worldview has become defined by the same reflexive, blind opposition to the president that defined Republicans in the 1990s — even when it means repudiating the very principles and policies that Democrats, as a party, have stood for, at our best and strongest."

"There is something profoundly wrong, something that should trouble all of us, when we have elected Democratic officials who seem more worried about how the Bush administration might respond to Iran's murder of our troops, than about the fact that Iran is murdering our troops," Lieberman said.

"There is, likewise, something profoundly wrong when we see candidates who are willing to pander to this politically paranoid, hyper-partisan, sentiment in the Democratic base, even if it sends a message of weakness and division to the Iranian regime."

I'm no fan of John McCain (McCain-Feingold, AKA the Incumbent Protection Act, alone is enough to sour me on him), but I think this is a good thing. I'm glad that there's at least one Democrat who understands the threat of Islamofascism and is willing to put principle above party.

And I think Lieberman's analysis of what's driving the Democrats is spot on. You go, Joe! You're not the only one who finds himself with strange bedfellows these days. The differences between Lieberman and McCain, or between me and Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson, are rather trivial compared to the differences between all of us and those who want to impose a 7th-century theocracy on the whole planet. 

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Equal treatment from CNN

Posted by Richard on November 30, 2007

There's a lot of fussing and fuming about the YouTube questioners CNN picked for the Republican debate last night (if you skipped it, read Vodkapundit's priceless drunkblogging of the event: insightful and funny). It seems to me that CNN has treated the Democrats and Republicans just about the same. 

In CNN's Nov. 15 Democratic debate, Democratic activists with easily-discovered ties to Democratic candidates and elected officials were misrepresented as undecided voters. The questions, some of which were planted, largely represented a liberal perspective and were designed to make viewers more favorably disposed toward liberal ideas and candidates. 

In CNN's Nov. 28 Republican debate, Democratic activists with easily-discovered ties to Democratic candidates and elected officials were misrepresented as undecided voters. The questions, all of which were carefully chosen by CNN from among the 5000 submitted, largely represented a liberal perspective of Republicans and were designed to make viewers more favorably disposed toward liberal ideas and candidates.

See? Both parties were treated exactly the same. What could be more fair? 

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Missed another debate

Posted by Richard on November 16, 2007

If, like me, you completely missed tonight's Democratic debate on CNN and, unlike me, you really want to know all about it, head over to Vodkapundit, who drunkblogged it to a fare-thee-well.

Actually, head over there for the entertainment value, even if you're as uninterested in what the candidates said as I am. If you're pressed for time, skip or skim the early part and start reading about 7:00 — 6:59, actually, when Stephen Green explained why he began drunkblogging and why he must continue.

It gets progressively more amusing after that, especially after they move to questions from undecided voters, about whom Green said:

Three out of four undecided voters on CNN are pear-shaped middle-agd women with a tendency to ramble, and who want things from the government. Don't blame me if you think that's cruel–I'm just reporting what I see.

Be sure to read the wrap-up at the end. (For the benefit of the scrolling-averse and time-challenged, Green posted the wrap by itself here.) Then congratulate yourself for not watching the damn thing. 🙂 

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