Categories

Archives

Jan. 5th NH Debate

Posted January 5th, 2008 at 11:54PM

I watched the two debates tonight on ABC. Was pleasantly surprised for the most part. Ron Paul provided a bit of sanity during the “national security” part of the Republican debate, contrasting with all the talk of “islamofascists” and “giving Bush kudos” for his foreign policy. (Seriously, w-t-f.)

I’ve been surprised with Huckabee though. For such a silly name and background as Baptist minister, he comes across as remarkably levelheaded. I don’t agree with many of his politics, but he’s not as abrasive as the others and could really get some bipartisan work done. I would love to see Huckabee win the nomination, especially considering the competition. McCain, Romney, Guiliani. These guys make me retch for so many reasons.

It was interesting to see how much the Democratic debate differed. The way they chose who participated was obviously flawed with the inclusion of Bill Richardson but none of the other candidates polling single digits. Nobody really shined among the Democrats. Obama seemed steady, Hillary had a few moments.

I think whoever wins among the frontrunners will be a better candidate and less painful to vote for than anyone in the past two presidential election cycles. And that’s always a good thing.

Tags: , , , , , | Category: Electoral, Politics
Be the first to comment!

The Iraq Election Primer

Posted February 3rd, 2005 at 6:02PM

The Iraq Election Primer

Written a week before the election, try reading it, and then keep watching the news over the new few weeks. See how David Enders’ expectations faired.

Meanwhile…

“Coalition troops and Iraqi security forces may be responsible for up to 60% of conflict-related civilian deaths in Iraq — far more than are killed by insurgents, confidential records obtained by the BBC’s Panorama programme reveal.” As the BBC reported recently, these numbers were compiled by Iraq’s Ministry of Health, in part because of the refusal of the Bush and Blair administrations to do so. In the case of Fallujah, where the U.S. military estimated 2,000 people were killed during the recent assault on the city, at least 1,200 of the dead are believed to have been non-combatant civilians.

And on the home front…

Elections don’t end on Election Day. The Presidential vote has just been finalized and John Kerry picked up another 500,000 votes to lose to President Bush by almost exactly 3 million. (Yeah, I know, he does better when he’s not campaigning.)
…
The actual polls decided the Presidential Race, but the National Exit Polls established the meaning of the election. The “liberal” American media used the polls—exit and actual–to twist the meaning of the election into being a mandate for “Moral Values”. This view has been somewhat revised. Analysts observed that while 22% of the electorate did select “Moral Values” as their key issue, economic issues were disaggregated while moral issues weren’t. 20% said the “Economy” was their most important issue while 19% said “Terrorism”. Few have bothered to point out that all were within the margin of +/-3% error, so, in reality, they are tied for most important issue. The Moral Values question wasn’t asked in 2000, so we don’t even know whether the issue is increasing in importance.

Tags: , , , , , | Category: Foreign, Politics
3 comments

Elliot Spitzer?

Posted January 8th, 2005 at 3:56AM

If the presidential election did anything for me, it really brought home the notion that, if progressives want to make any sort of change, we can’t do it at the federal level – at least in the short term. Of all of the successes I have heard of, around the country, most have been fairly small in scope, local. This is not to reduce their importance. Everything from electoral reform, to social justice issues, to drug reform and more have triumphed at various levels across the nation in the past few years. To say that the conservative agenda triumphed in 2004 is to only look at half the picture.

But the defeat in November reinforced the old adage that the way to create change in America is through grassroots efforts. None of the progressive triumphs on the federal level were ever founded there. They were always the result of small-scale efforts.

And as names are floated for possible 2008 Democratic presidential candidates, my heart fills with dread. Topping most lists are lackluster tools from the DLC, an effort to further conservatize the Democratic Party. This is why I look forward to the 2006 midterm elections. Specifically, the race for governer in New York State. Governor George Pataki is currently polling far behind Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in a theoretical race between the two. Pataki has yet to announce whether he will run for re-election, Spitzer has already expressed his intention to run.

Eliot Spitzer you say? Besides name recognition, and usually knowing what office he filled, I knew little about the guy. I still can’t claim to know a whole lot about him, but what I have turned up seems promising. Especially in light of the opposition.

Spitzer has made quite a name for himself over the past few years as Attorney General, from attacking insurance companies and Wall Street, to enforcing environmental standards. Browse his obligatory government site if you want. His official campaign site for 2006 is right here. I’ll be keeping an eye on the guy.

Tags: , , , , , | Category: Electoral, Politics
2 comments