Here is a great clip from July in which Sarah Palin and Ted Stevens are talking about the earmark process and what it means for Alaska.
You will note that Palin is hardly saying that she feels Alaska should avoid earmarks and instead is saying that she merely recognizes that both presidential candidates would be curbing earmarks and she is just reading the handwriting on the wall.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Another McCain Adviser Touts Economic Health
McCain adviser Donald Luskin had a lengthy article up this weekend in which he goes into detail about the great shape of the US Economy.
This was published on Sept. 14 as Lehman, AIG, and Merrill were falling apart.
Perhaps it is easy to overlook that the current administration and its policies have gotten us here in the first place, but to continue to stick there head in the sand causes me to believe the GOP needs to change its logo to an Ostrich instead.
McCain Responsible for Blackberry?
This morning one of John McCain's campaign spokespeople touted McCain as being the man responsible for the Blackberry because of his time as Commerce Committee chairman.
This would seem to fall in line with the Al Gore claim of inventing the internet since both men claim that their chairmanships were the key factor.
In Gore's case his stewardship can be directly connected to the mainstream evolution of the net, since its invention was actually part of government scientific work. However, in the case of Blackberry the problem is the device was actually created in Canada.
Furthermore, the moves that opened the door for the explosion of wireless devices was actually the purview of the Clinton run FCC which auctioned off the spectrum and licenses which allowed the cell phone and data age to take off.
This would seem to fall in line with the Al Gore claim of inventing the internet since both men claim that their chairmanships were the key factor.
In Gore's case his stewardship can be directly connected to the mainstream evolution of the net, since its invention was actually part of government scientific work. However, in the case of Blackberry the problem is the device was actually created in Canada.
Furthermore, the moves that opened the door for the explosion of wireless devices was actually the purview of the Clinton run FCC which auctioned off the spectrum and licenses which allowed the cell phone and data age to take off.
McCain Adviser Created Bank Crisis
A review of the record of John McCain's economic adviser Phil Graham is a clear road map as to who got us in this unfortunate mess:
Phil Graham is the guy who said America is in a "mental recession" and just a bunch of winers is actually the guy who wrote and shoved through the deregulation that got the banking industry in its current mess.
Phil Graham is the guy who said America is in a "mental recession" and just a bunch of winers is actually the guy who wrote and shoved through the deregulation that got the banking industry in its current mess.
Late in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which served to reduce government regulations in existence since the Great Depression separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities.
Critics now point to Gramm and this same legislation as having been pivotal in encouraging the corporate practices that led to the 2008 mortgage crises in America.
Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry.
As lobbyist for Swiss bank UBS, Gramm has pressured congress to ease it's restrictions on predatory lending tactics by mortgage brokers. For his efforts, Gramm received $750,000 from UBS in a one year period starting in 2007.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
98 Bottles of Beer
Fourteen weeks from today we all have the opportunity to elect a new course for this country, or sell ourselves down the river with another 4 years of depressingly oppressive Republican policies.
With this in mind I am going to try and get things going again with the blog in hopes that I can offer some insight to what promises to be a most intriguing 3 months.
For now I would tell everyone to basically ignore the Likely Voter polling data (not that the Registered Voter screens are that much better).
This figures to be a very different electorate this year and because of the expected higher turnout among the general electorate and African-American and younger voters in particular tend to make the art of creating models to analyzing polling data that much more of a crap shoot. Since older white voters have a tendency to be a reliable voting block in an average year, they would tend to be oversampled in a year like this since in the past African-American and younger voters tended to vote in lower numbers than even the greatest skeptic would suggest.
With this in mind I am going to try and get things going again with the blog in hopes that I can offer some insight to what promises to be a most intriguing 3 months.
For now I would tell everyone to basically ignore the Likely Voter polling data (not that the Registered Voter screens are that much better).
This figures to be a very different electorate this year and because of the expected higher turnout among the general electorate and African-American and younger voters in particular tend to make the art of creating models to analyzing polling data that much more of a crap shoot. Since older white voters have a tendency to be a reliable voting block in an average year, they would tend to be oversampled in a year like this since in the past African-American and younger voters tended to vote in lower numbers than even the greatest skeptic would suggest.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Obama Takes Superdelegate Lead
I am happy to report that Barack Obama has finally overtaken HRC for the superdelegate lead and now leads 274-270.5.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Obama to Pay Clinton?
Over the years there have always been stories about how people running for office and lost saw their finances in ruin and their debts run to the ceiling. It is because of these horror stories that many very well qualified candidates have stepped off the stage when they saw the numbers just didn't add up.
Now there are loud rumors and reporting that the Obama campaign will cut a deal with the Clinton campaign that would include paying off her campaign's debts. This raises a number of intellectual and emotional questions.
1. What financial incentive does Hillary have to get out if Obama will just bail her out?
2. Why should Obama supporters be saddled with paying for the losing campaign that did nothing but call them irrelevant latte drinker's and blacks from small states?
3. Even if Obama agreed to pay for her true expenses to the little guy, should Obama have to pay off her campaign's lingering debt to Mark Penn?
4. Hillary lent herself money, that would seem to be her own at risk capital, in light of that fact, shouldn't this debt be treated as her own "buyer beware"?
Clearly, this is only a few of the issues that this can boil in my mind but make no mistake about it, this is not about the money to pay the delivery service bill or the pizza guy.
The real issue is that if the Obama campaign does write Hillary Clinton an 11.5 million dollar check to pay her back for what she lent her campaign. Should this happen the right will spin this and MSM will pick it up as being nothing more than a political pay off to get her out of the race.
Besides, did John McCain pay Mitt Romney back for the money he invested out of his pocket in his campaign?
Now there are loud rumors and reporting that the Obama campaign will cut a deal with the Clinton campaign that would include paying off her campaign's debts. This raises a number of intellectual and emotional questions.
1. What financial incentive does Hillary have to get out if Obama will just bail her out?
2. Why should Obama supporters be saddled with paying for the losing campaign that did nothing but call them irrelevant latte drinker's and blacks from small states?
3. Even if Obama agreed to pay for her true expenses to the little guy, should Obama have to pay off her campaign's lingering debt to Mark Penn?
4. Hillary lent herself money, that would seem to be her own at risk capital, in light of that fact, shouldn't this debt be treated as her own "buyer beware"?
Clearly, this is only a few of the issues that this can boil in my mind but make no mistake about it, this is not about the money to pay the delivery service bill or the pizza guy.
The real issue is that if the Obama campaign does write Hillary Clinton an 11.5 million dollar check to pay her back for what she lent her campaign. Should this happen the right will spin this and MSM will pick it up as being nothing more than a political pay off to get her out of the race.
Besides, did John McCain pay Mitt Romney back for the money he invested out of his pocket in his campaign?
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Myanmar's Katrina and Hypocrisy
It is stunning to see that at least 22,000 people died over the weekend in Myanmar in a cyclone that has many similarities to Hurricane Katrina.
Much like here, the government failed to do what was necessary to warn the citizens and has been slow to accept food, medical, and disaster aid from the outside world.
However, this tragedy has also brought us a monumental dose of chutzpah coming from the Bush administration.
Yesterday, they sent out Laura Bush to complain about the slow response by Myanmar's government as well as to complain that the government won't let disaster assessment and recovery teams in to do their work.
All of this comes from an administration that watched the news for 5 days before getting help to the people in New Orleans and who flew over the top of one of America's great cities and did nothing.
Clearly, Laura was sent out because she would seem the least controversial on the subject, but at the end of the day, this hypocrisy and stagecraft is why America and the world can't wait to get rid of the Bush's
Much like here, the government failed to do what was necessary to warn the citizens and has been slow to accept food, medical, and disaster aid from the outside world.
However, this tragedy has also brought us a monumental dose of chutzpah coming from the Bush administration.
Yesterday, they sent out Laura Bush to complain about the slow response by Myanmar's government as well as to complain that the government won't let disaster assessment and recovery teams in to do their work.
All of this comes from an administration that watched the news for 5 days before getting help to the people in New Orleans and who flew over the top of one of America's great cities and did nothing.
Clearly, Laura was sent out because she would seem the least controversial on the subject, but at the end of the day, this hypocrisy and stagecraft is why America and the world can't wait to get rid of the Bush's
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Death Takes a Holiday
The only 2 things that are supposed to be inevitable in life are death and taxes. Well if John McCain and Hillary Clinton had their way at least one of these would take a holiday.
The problem is that it is not so easy to make the gas tax disappear for the summer since doing so basically means giving it up for all time. After all, does anyone really think you could get people to swallow an $.18 per gallon increase come the fall? People are naive if they think the oil companies aren't going to just look at this as more money they can ultimately tack on to the cost thus not giving us any holiday at all.
If the government wants to go after big oil it could do a windfall tax and then use that money to fund tax rebates back to consumers. This type of action would also prevent less than honorable pricing activities from occurring.
However, the bigger problem is the obviously bloated price of a barrel of oil. Even if you allow for the slide in the dollar and the increase in global demand the price should only be around $65 a barrel. Unfortunately, oil is the current get rich quick scheme for investors, hedge fund managers, and other speculators who see the continued rise in prices the same way you might look at the rise in the price of your stock with a smile.
The problem is that it is not so easy to make the gas tax disappear for the summer since doing so basically means giving it up for all time. After all, does anyone really think you could get people to swallow an $.18 per gallon increase come the fall? People are naive if they think the oil companies aren't going to just look at this as more money they can ultimately tack on to the cost thus not giving us any holiday at all.
If the government wants to go after big oil it could do a windfall tax and then use that money to fund tax rebates back to consumers. This type of action would also prevent less than honorable pricing activities from occurring.
However, the bigger problem is the obviously bloated price of a barrel of oil. Even if you allow for the slide in the dollar and the increase in global demand the price should only be around $65 a barrel. Unfortunately, oil is the current get rich quick scheme for investors, hedge fund managers, and other speculators who see the continued rise in prices the same way you might look at the rise in the price of your stock with a smile.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
On Wright and the Race
Barack Obama finally made like Danny DeVito and threw wright from the train on Tuesday. While there are many in the media who are now trying to question what took so long, a more realistic view of the situation shows that Obama did what he had to do in a measured and reasoned fashion.
It would have been easy to give in to the calls for Obama to throw Wright overboard earlier, but that would have been seen as caving in to the public discourse. Obama now has the cover of having let Wright hang himself. Furthermore, Obama is almost a sympathetic figure at this point as having given this person who once was a figure in his life the benefit of the doubt that real people give to each other when judgment is being made outside the public sphere. In truth, this is very much like the measured time that HRC took after finding out that Bill had been sneaking with Sally in the alley before coming out and standing by her man.
That being said, aside from fringe references, this should be the end of Jeremiah Wright. Clearly, this is a man who saw an opportunity to further his own warped vision through the sacrifice of his parishioner and thus deserves to be treated as the kook he sounded and looked like on Monday. Anyone who chooses to tie this clown to Obama at this point is clearly being intellectually dishonest and with intent.
I do think that this has prevented Obama from closing things out next Tuesday. He stood on the doorstep and Wright has now made it almost impossible for Obama to win in Indiana on Tuesday. The polls are continuously breaking her way by 5-10 points and unfortunately I do not see where he can yank these folks back. He also seems to be looking at a slimmer than expected win in North Carolina, at which point I suspect that the pundits will begin trying to stretch this out until the end. Unfortunately, the following week is only West Virginia (where she is torching him) followed by Oregon and Kentucky on 5/20. I am not quite sure how Oregon announces since it is an all mail in primary, but that seems Obama's best chance for a big win after 5/6.
It would have been easy to give in to the calls for Obama to throw Wright overboard earlier, but that would have been seen as caving in to the public discourse. Obama now has the cover of having let Wright hang himself. Furthermore, Obama is almost a sympathetic figure at this point as having given this person who once was a figure in his life the benefit of the doubt that real people give to each other when judgment is being made outside the public sphere. In truth, this is very much like the measured time that HRC took after finding out that Bill had been sneaking with Sally in the alley before coming out and standing by her man.
That being said, aside from fringe references, this should be the end of Jeremiah Wright. Clearly, this is a man who saw an opportunity to further his own warped vision through the sacrifice of his parishioner and thus deserves to be treated as the kook he sounded and looked like on Monday. Anyone who chooses to tie this clown to Obama at this point is clearly being intellectually dishonest and with intent.
I do think that this has prevented Obama from closing things out next Tuesday. He stood on the doorstep and Wright has now made it almost impossible for Obama to win in Indiana on Tuesday. The polls are continuously breaking her way by 5-10 points and unfortunately I do not see where he can yank these folks back. He also seems to be looking at a slimmer than expected win in North Carolina, at which point I suspect that the pundits will begin trying to stretch this out until the end. Unfortunately, the following week is only West Virginia (where she is torching him) followed by Oregon and Kentucky on 5/20. I am not quite sure how Oregon announces since it is an all mail in primary, but that seems Obama's best chance for a big win after 5/6.
Monday, April 28, 2008
On Florida and Michigan
It would be an understatement to say that I have had a lot to say about the Florida primary that was held in January. Unfortunately, it seems that what I stated back in February is now coming home to roost as the Clinton campaign is prepared to make the argument that Florida voters showed up because they were passionate about voting in the primary.
The problem is that this is not in fact why voters showed up in January. What drew voters were the slot machine and constitutional amendment increasing the homestead exemption for homeowners that drove up the vote.
What really bothers me here is the disingenuous nature of the Clinton campaign's arguments in both Florida and Michigan. The case in Florida is obviously muddied by the fact that everyone was on the ballot, however in Michigan the case is very clear based on the commitment in writing that everyone made to not participate or recognize Michigan.
However, Clinton is now claiming that Obama removed his name from the Michigan ballot because he knew he would lose, the problem is that there is no evidence to back this claim up. The state has a large African-American population is a neighbor to Illinois and was very likely to be his as much as hers. Not for nothing, in being the only real candidate on the ballot HRC managed to outpoll "Uncommitted" by 55-40, which is hardly impressive when you consider she ran against no one.
It is also of note that Florida's Republican Governor was on TV this morning pushing the Clinton talking points including that Obama (who had bought national cable news advertising time) had been advertising in Florida prior to the vote (a huge distortion).
The problem is that this is not in fact why voters showed up in January. What drew voters were the slot machine and constitutional amendment increasing the homestead exemption for homeowners that drove up the vote.
What really bothers me here is the disingenuous nature of the Clinton campaign's arguments in both Florida and Michigan. The case in Florida is obviously muddied by the fact that everyone was on the ballot, however in Michigan the case is very clear based on the commitment in writing that everyone made to not participate or recognize Michigan.
However, Clinton is now claiming that Obama removed his name from the Michigan ballot because he knew he would lose, the problem is that there is no evidence to back this claim up. The state has a large African-American population is a neighbor to Illinois and was very likely to be his as much as hers. Not for nothing, in being the only real candidate on the ballot HRC managed to outpoll "Uncommitted" by 55-40, which is hardly impressive when you consider she ran against no one.
It is also of note that Florida's Republican Governor was on TV this morning pushing the Clinton talking points including that Obama (who had bought national cable news advertising time) had been advertising in Florida prior to the vote (a huge distortion).
Friday, April 25, 2008
McCain Showing True Colors
While I am no fan of John McCain, I have to say I am surprised how quickly his general election stripes are showing the rest of the country that this guy is one of the biggest frauds of all.
It is honorable what this man did in staying behind with his brothers in arms in the Hanoi Hilton, but that doesn't meant that he is entitled to a free pass for being a typical inside the beltway, on the take fraud who is the best friend of every lobbyist in town.
It is honorable what this man did in staying behind with his brothers in arms in the Hanoi Hilton, but that doesn't meant that he is entitled to a free pass for being a typical inside the beltway, on the take fraud who is the best friend of every lobbyist in town.
NFL Draft
A brief interlude to discuss Saturday's draft and how it looks for my (and some of the rest of your) beloved Miami Dolphins...
As a number of you know I was pushing for the Dolphins to pass on the top pick and allow themselves to slide down to a point where they could get better value than what was really available at the number one spot this year. That being said, I do applaud the phins for going out and actually getting the guy signed sealed and delivered before the draft started.
I still think they could have done better passing since they probably could have had Jake Long at number 3,4, or 5, however, at least it didn't cost as much as it would have under the last few regimes.
Expect the phins to be active through the draft and trades, I expect them to pickup a QB to push John Beck who did not impress me as having any of the tools to be a long term solution.
As a number of you know I was pushing for the Dolphins to pass on the top pick and allow themselves to slide down to a point where they could get better value than what was really available at the number one spot this year. That being said, I do applaud the phins for going out and actually getting the guy signed sealed and delivered before the draft started.
I still think they could have done better passing since they probably could have had Jake Long at number 3,4, or 5, however, at least it didn't cost as much as it would have under the last few regimes.
Expect the phins to be active through the draft and trades, I expect them to pickup a QB to push John Beck who did not impress me as having any of the tools to be a long term solution.
State of the Race
So it has now been a few days since PA and now that my annoyance at how the HRC camp continues to try and spin the numbers has started to subside I think I can offer a more clear minded appraisal of where we are at.
While there are a number of people in the MSM, HRC campaign, and sheep that continue to try and make this about everything from the electoral college to who wins what they like to term "important" states the truth of the matter is this is not about who wins the overall popular vote or any other computation that ignores what this is about delegates.
Clearly, people can complain about the setup of caucuses and primaries until they are blue in the face, but at the same time you can say that having a slow bleed for an election process doesn't make any sense either. Can you imagine if in a general election we voted for President over the course of a rolling set of elections?
That would not work, and would clearly lead to chaos. Unfortunately, so does trying to make the same type of argument out of the nominating process by applying general election rules and principals.
Another thing to keep in mind is strategy. Barack Obama has caught a lot of flack for not wanting to stomp on Hillary's head and get things over with. Some have turned to calling this closing the deal, while others have tried to equate this to some sort of general election weakness.
However, what is important to keep in mind is that in running against Hillary, Obama has had to walk a delicate line. We have already seen that happens when the media tone against her Clinton and her surrogates have a great way of spinning it as her being beaten upon as a woman. All one has to do is look at the blowback from the New Hampshire debate where Edwards and Obama were perceived to have ganged up on her. Immediately afterwards she was cast as being this wounded lamb who needed all the woman to unite and show the men that they won't allow that to happen to her. In fact, one has heard similar messages from her every time she has had to go to the well for her strongest backers (women) to come to her rescue. As a result, Obama is really running the only campaign against her that he can without completely losing the women's vote that makes up the majority of the Democratic party.
While there are a number of people in the MSM, HRC campaign, and sheep that continue to try and make this about everything from the electoral college to who wins what they like to term "important" states the truth of the matter is this is not about who wins the overall popular vote or any other computation that ignores what this is about delegates.
Clearly, people can complain about the setup of caucuses and primaries until they are blue in the face, but at the same time you can say that having a slow bleed for an election process doesn't make any sense either. Can you imagine if in a general election we voted for President over the course of a rolling set of elections?
That would not work, and would clearly lead to chaos. Unfortunately, so does trying to make the same type of argument out of the nominating process by applying general election rules and principals.
Another thing to keep in mind is strategy. Barack Obama has caught a lot of flack for not wanting to stomp on Hillary's head and get things over with. Some have turned to calling this closing the deal, while others have tried to equate this to some sort of general election weakness.
However, what is important to keep in mind is that in running against Hillary, Obama has had to walk a delicate line. We have already seen that happens when the media tone against her Clinton and her surrogates have a great way of spinning it as her being beaten upon as a woman. All one has to do is look at the blowback from the New Hampshire debate where Edwards and Obama were perceived to have ganged up on her. Immediately afterwards she was cast as being this wounded lamb who needed all the woman to unite and show the men that they won't allow that to happen to her. In fact, one has heard similar messages from her every time she has had to go to the well for her strongest backers (women) to come to her rescue. As a result, Obama is really running the only campaign against her that he can without completely losing the women's vote that makes up the majority of the Democratic party.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Stephafraudulous phones it in
For those of you who missed it, George Stephanopoulos gave a most predictably softball treatment to John McCain. He didn't ask about his wife's tax returns, claims of adultery, the keating 5, possible violations of campaign finance law this year, or any of the other litany of issues that stand out there which call into question McCain's character. The problem is, unlike the flimsy third party crap that has been dug up on people who know or have donated $200 to Obama, these are legitimate issues that call into question McCain himself.
Hopefully, Keith Olbermann with get his shot at this fraud sometime this year, though I won't hold my breath.
Hopefully, Keith Olbermann with get his shot at this fraud sometime this year, though I won't hold my breath.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Back From NAB
Ok... NAB once again showcased a wide variety of technologies pointing towards the further convergence and migration of the media to more IP based delivery models. However, it is important to note that the signs are prevalent that the technologies are starting to focus more on the delivery and distribution of this content to the end user (homes) and not just on the production and transmission benefits.
In the world of pro-sumer and smaller field production cameras the variety continues to improve with Sony now offering a nice swappable lens version of its offering. Panasonic continues to improve the storage capacity of its P2 cards, keeping in line with the increased capacity of SD chips. Canon's line still is my personal favorite as it seems the best suited for a wide variety of applications.
In the world of pro-sumer and smaller field production cameras the variety continues to improve with Sony now offering a nice swappable lens version of its offering. Panasonic continues to improve the storage capacity of its P2 cards, keeping in line with the increased capacity of SD chips. Canon's line still is my personal favorite as it seems the best suited for a wide variety of applications.
Monday, April 14, 2008
You Tube Page Up and Running
I have posted a bunch of videos that I have made over the last couple of years up on YouTube. If you haven't seen me on the Golden Nugget waterslide, or the John Tuttle for Congress spot now is your chance. For the rest of you, I have posted the last run of the Hurricanes onto the field at the OB and a beautiful sunset over Haiti in which the sun disappears into the ocean in 1:30.
I will try and get more up in the future...
http://youtube.com/user/penndaly
I will try and get more up in the future...
http://youtube.com/user/penndaly
Back from Hiatus
Ok... sorry to have been away for the last month or so, had to buckle down on some other issues and frankly I had kind of reached a boiling point on a few things that perhaps were better left unsaid...
Anyway, I am watching Obama give his remarks in Pittsburgh with regard to the latest made up flap over the so called "bitter" comment. This guy is truly a rock star.
I know that the pundits and surrogates are running around saying this is a huge general election issue, but I believe this is a sign of just how out of touch this group really is. While no one wants to admit that they are "bitter" as a person, I believe that most people outside the inner circle of Washington would say that they are bitter when it comes to what they feel they get out of Washington.
As a democrat I look at my frustration with my party leadership in Congress. How many times have I wanted to throw something because I saw them caving or taking yet another meek stance when it seemed that the public was behind them to be stronger. Closer to home I can give the example of my own Rep, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz who is Hillary's Florida Co-Chair and a DCCC (Dem Cong. Campaign Committee). Not only has DWS been the leader in blocking a revote in Florida (something HRC is for), but she also has refused to help the 3 democrats in Miami-Dade who are running to replace the trifecta of worthless (worthy of another post) because she values the long relationship she has had with them.
I don't even think I have to go within a country mile of drawing the Republican examples to the light, but Iraq, Terri Schiavo, torture, privacy, and a couple of hundred others quickly come to mind.
I do think that you will see the Republicans try to use this in the Fall. However, if Obama sticks to the type of line that he is today, that the people in Washington are the ones who are out of touch because they don't understand the true frustration and disillusion that the rest of us who are not "insiders" are feeling.
Anyway, I am watching Obama give his remarks in Pittsburgh with regard to the latest made up flap over the so called "bitter" comment. This guy is truly a rock star.
I know that the pundits and surrogates are running around saying this is a huge general election issue, but I believe this is a sign of just how out of touch this group really is. While no one wants to admit that they are "bitter" as a person, I believe that most people outside the inner circle of Washington would say that they are bitter when it comes to what they feel they get out of Washington.
As a democrat I look at my frustration with my party leadership in Congress. How many times have I wanted to throw something because I saw them caving or taking yet another meek stance when it seemed that the public was behind them to be stronger. Closer to home I can give the example of my own Rep, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz who is Hillary's Florida Co-Chair and a DCCC (Dem Cong. Campaign Committee). Not only has DWS been the leader in blocking a revote in Florida (something HRC is for), but she also has refused to help the 3 democrats in Miami-Dade who are running to replace the trifecta of worthless (worthy of another post) because she values the long relationship she has had with them.
I don't even think I have to go within a country mile of drawing the Republican examples to the light, but Iraq, Terri Schiavo, torture, privacy, and a couple of hundred others quickly come to mind.
I do think that you will see the Republicans try to use this in the Fall. However, if Obama sticks to the type of line that he is today, that the people in Washington are the ones who are out of touch because they don't understand the true frustration and disillusion that the rest of us who are not "insiders" are feeling.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Now what?
Last night's results have truly made an interesting mess of things for the Democrats. Not only will the race continue on to Pennsylvania, but unless Obama wins the Keystone state I would expect that this race plays out through the end of the "scheduled" season in Puerto Rico.
Of course that leaves the issue of what to do about Florida and Michigan. As you all know I have been working the idea of a revote for the last couple of months, and it would now seem that the rest of the world is starting to catch on to the idea. However, it is crucial that this be held and run by the party and not by the state apparatus. The reason for this is that the state process would be at the mercy of Republican control and would give them the opportunity to also highlight the fact that the Democrats just cost the state 10 million dollars that the state of Florida doesn't have.
Clear results in Florida and Michigan would lend legitimacy to either campaign that prevailed in that Obama could add huge important swing states and Hillary could make her argument that she wins where she thinks it counts.
Of course that leaves the issue of what to do about Florida and Michigan. As you all know I have been working the idea of a revote for the last couple of months, and it would now seem that the rest of the world is starting to catch on to the idea. However, it is crucial that this be held and run by the party and not by the state apparatus. The reason for this is that the state process would be at the mercy of Republican control and would give them the opportunity to also highlight the fact that the Democrats just cost the state 10 million dollars that the state of Florida doesn't have.
Clear results in Florida and Michigan would lend legitimacy to either campaign that prevailed in that Obama could add huge important swing states and Hillary could make her argument that she wins where she thinks it counts.
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