Remember the days not too long ago when there more than a half dozen Democratic candidates engaging what was called a debate? And then there were three? Now there’s just two. Obama and Mama head to head!
Senator Hillary Clinton of New York and Senator Barack Obama of Illinois in a good old Texas throw down. In this corner, the orator par excellence and in the other corner, the debater of all evil right wing conspiracy theories.
The debate was held on the campus of the University of Texas, and carried live on CNN, CNN International, and on Spanish Univision.
For me the key phrase came from Hillary Clinton at the end when she said “Whatever. Whatever happens in this campaign we’ll both be okay.” That sounds like a resignation to what’s happening and may happen come March 4th. We’ll know in 12 days. Sounds like an hasta la vista Patti. On the other side of the coin, Hillary’s attempt to put in one of those pre-planned cute lines bombed when she said Barack was for “change that was zeroxed”.
And the crowd actually did boo her.
The debate was far more civil than most people thought. So much of a debate has to do with “expectations”. Hillary NEEDED a knock out punch. She didn’t get it. Barack just needed to hold his own. He DID that. Moving from the boo to the most funny line was when Obama said that Hillary was indicating that he and his supporters were not being real, or as what Obama called DELUSIONAL.
He asked. Are twenty million people who have voted for me delusional? Are all of the major newspapers who have endorsed him in Texas somehow DUPED?
So, it’s onward with the Texas-Ohio battle. Will the Obama tsunami keep rolling? Polls show that Obama is closing the gap and moving closer as he has historically done over the past month. And with twelve days to go, more money than Hillary has, and more boots on the ground, I can’t see Hillary winning, at least not in Texas.
Back to the campaign trail where Hillary now has another 527 giving her $10,000,000 to help her sagging television budget. If Hillary loses, sh’ll go out fighting.
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The scene of this terrible accident — Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. [The third GOP presidential debate -- Tuesday, 5 2007].
My friend Paul Reyes likened them to a “convention of morticians,” in their last debate. Mark Mellman, a pollster says these candidates make the Republican party look like “a front for the Flat Earth Society.” I equate them with a congregation of angry, trembling middle-aged white men.
In fact, Rep. Tom Tancredo, the Congressman from Colorado might have injested a lethal concoction of “Viagra and Cialis” — judging by his shrill, “blood cuddling” and discombobulated allocution.
They threatened nuking Iran with tactical nuclear weapons, kicking out all immigrants. John McCain even insinuated that Bill Clinton started the Kosovo war, comparing it to erroneously Bush’s “illegal” Iraq war.
For the record: The Kosovo War was a conflict between Serbian and Yugoslav security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army, an Albanian guerilla group seeking independence. Clinton came into the picture in 1999 — when NATO attacked Yugoslav targets. Clinton and NATO intervened, they did not initiate this war by lying Bush-Cheney style.
With eyes darting uncontrollably, an angry and trembling Tancredo declared — “We will not survive as a nation!” “We are testing our willingness to hold on to something known as the English language, the one thing that holds us glued together,” adding — “this is why I will go after any Republican Senator who supports this bill,” — The comprehensive immigration bill currently being debated in the Senate.
“We are becoming a bilingual country — and that is not good!,” wailed an emotional Tancredo, following this statement with a torrent of distorted attacks at immigrants, ranging from welfare benefits to school congestions, to English, ….!
“Bilingual countries don’t survive!” …., “We need ‘that thing’ to hold us together!” ….yelled Tancredo. Tancredo even suggested that ALL immigration should be stopped …..because America faces “death!”
“It’s simply not fair to say those people get put ahead in the line of all the people who’ve been waiting legally to come to this country,” the Master flip-flopper, Mitt Romney said. Lets enforce the current laws enacted in 1986 — READ: Lets hunt down the immigrants, and suffocate them to submission.
The “communal braying” of the word “Amnesty” without any offer of a workable alternative was nauseating — all they could furnish was a tired chorus: “Enforce the existing laws!” “Enforce the border!” “Build the fence!” ….”They will all self-deport!” …as if 12 million immigrants will depart the United States at the wave of a Republican magical wand!
Shows how out of touch with reality these Republican candidates are.
Meanwhile, Gov. Romney is airing campaign ads in SPANISH, the language of the same group of people he is attacking, so relentlessly — What a hypocrite!
Gov. Tommy Thompson proposed putting George Bush on a “lecture circuit” after his retirement — Bush, a man who cannot pronounce anything right!
Asked how he would use George Bush if he becomes president, Rep. Tancredo recalled that White House aide Karl Rove had once told him to “never darken the door of the White House.” With eyes bulging fiercely, Tancredo said he’d tell Bush the same thing.
Congressman Ron Paul provided the usual theatrics. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani looked like a toothless bull-dog, Duncan Hunter was his usual “anti-immigrant self,” Huckabee emphasized that God created man — but didn’t know how, yet he conveniently refuted Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. As for flip-flopper Romney — why would anyone believe anything said by someone whose “faith” didn’t believe blacks were human until as recently as the the late seventies.
All in all, this was a sorry group of vicious and pandering pretenders. A bunch of middle-aged white-men immersed in “Gunsmoke Freakdom,”…..as my friend Ike, quite correctly states: U.S. Political campaigns become an **** of prevarication . . . One rich guy tells one set of lies, the other rich guy tells a slightly different set of lies, and you get to base your vote on which set of lies you like the best. “I’ll cut taxes!” . . . “I’ll give you better schools!” . . . “I’ll cut crime!” . . . “I’ll cut welfare!” . . . “I’ll build more jails!” . . . “I’ll create more jobs!” . . . “I’ll cut the deficit!” . . . “I’ll end the war!” . . . “I’ll start the war!” . . . “I’ll put a chicken in every pot!” . . . “I’ll keep those Immigrants in their place!”.
Pure PoliTRICKS!
The other Sunday, the Democrats looked more relaxed, more resourceful and much less angry — compared to this Republican group who offered nothing substantive in terms of policy, other than fear-mongering and the usual empty and predatory rhetoric.
VERDICT: Senator McCain won this debate. Simply put — he seems to be the wiser of this Fear-Mongering bunch — his patriotic speech at the end of the debate, I think, was his strongest moment. But his immigration stance will definitely hurt him with the Republican base, a base that has stopped reasoning totally, when it comes to immigration — “because America faces death,” if 12 to 20 million immigrants are assimilated into the system.
If that’s the case, then America should have died already, because these 20 million are already here, and some have been here for 20+ years.
So, what’s Tancredo’s REAL problem? Your guess is as good as mine.
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Okay, I chose the debate. If I can remember some of the talking points from the previous debates, why can’t the candidates? Mainly it was McCain who didn’t seem to remember the talking points. He got some points wrong about the Obama healthcare plan. These were the same points he got wrong last week. Then, he looked surprised when he was corrected by Obama for the second time.
The CNN coverage featured a split screen showing each candidate and that just wasn’t good for McCain. Maybe he suffers from the same curse as George W. Bush….kind of a superior look on his face. Obama generally looked like he was either paying attention to McCain as he spoke or he was taking notes. McCain’s look seemed to say “this guy doesn’t know anything”. Which may be true, but the look didn’t serve him well.
McCain seemed to start off well, but then went downhill. He seemed to fall into trap that Obama set and ended up looking whiney about the campaign ads and talking about Bill Ayers.
McCain’s biggest problem seems to be the economy. Probably doesn’t matter who the Republicans ran as their candidate for president. If the economy was in decent shape, McCain might have a chance. His poll numbers have done nothing but trend down since the debates began. Part of the problem is his performance, but the party that is in power gets to take credit for a good economy or the blame for a bad economy. It might not be right, but that is the way it is.
At least you can count on 104inc.com to give you unbiased information.
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Independent Greens of Virginia
www.VoteJoinRun.us
Parker Offers Positive Solutions Missing From Big Two Party Debate
Unlike her opponents, Gail Parker, Independent Green candidate for the US Senate offers solutions specific to Virginia and invaluable in this time of economic crises.
Only Ms. Parker has consistently addressed the federal deficit and the need to balance the budget immediately. Plus she offers a simple plan to pay off the federal debt in five years – by installing an auditable accounting system in the Department of Defense where no-bid contracts and improper payments are bankrupting our Treasury.
Gail “for Rail” Parker served as an officer in the US Air Force and was a former budget analyst at the Pentagon. She is uniquely qualified to address issues that neither of the two former Governors has even thought about. One of her issues is forcing the US to oblige by the Arms Export Control Act.
For over 20 years the administrations in power have allowed the Department of Defense to supply defense articles to foreign governments without going through the arms sale approval process. The unauthorized sale of certain technology could cause the unnecessary loss of U.S. service men and women’s lives if unexpectedly faced in combat with our own lethal technology and places innocent U.S. citizens at increased risk of retaliatory terrorist attacks.
She has posted plans on rectifying these policy blunders on her website, stating: The sale of arms without going through the arms sale approval process is a violation of the U.S. Constitution since the authority to approve arms sales is delegated to the U.S. Congress, therefore anyone unknowingly participating would have been subject to punishment by law if the sales became known.
Gail Parker attended the September 18 debate in McLean between her big two party opponents, but was not permitted to participate. Another televised debate is scheduled in Roanoke with the TV station sponsoring the debate claiming that a ten percent poll reading is necessary for Ms. Parker to participate.
The latest USA survey poll indicates a 20% increase in support for Independent Gail “for Rail” Parker. Advocating energy solutions starting with More Trains, Less Traffic, she is connecting with independent and swing voters who are not impressed by either of the big two. She urges voters to call WSLS TV 10 in Roanoke VA at 540-512-1550 demanding her inclusion in the upcoming debate.
Gail will take her campaign to the Isle of Wight County Fair this weekend and the state fair in Richmond next weekend.
Contact: Joseph Oddo, 703-338-0200
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Obama’s attorney general Eric Holder has decided the whole unity thing is overrated. Last week in front of Justice Department employees he called out Americans for being racial cowards
“Though this nation has proudly thought of itself as an ethnic melting pot, in things racial we have always been and continue to be, in too many ways, essentially a nation of cowards,” said Holder, nation’s first black attorney general.
Race issues continue to be a topic of political discussion, Holder said, but “we, as average Americans, simply do not talk enough with each other about race.”
“It is an issue we have never been at ease with and, given our nation’s history, this is in some ways understandable,” Holder said. “If we are to make progress in this area, we must feel comfortable enough with one another and tolerant enough of each other to have frank conversations about the racial matters that continue to divide us.”
Vanderbilt Torch writer Mike Warren rightly takes issue with Eric Holder’s assertion that we people are afraid of discussing race, primarily because, well – we discuss it all the time
“At a university, where discussion is a critical tool for learning, I think it’s good to at least talk about these things. But the conversation is stitled, predictable, and really not too free. I am pretty outspoken about several issues in class, but I don’t exactly rattle off the numbers on the rise in black crime and its correlation with the rise in black single motherhood without being extremely measured.
The point is that we talk about race all the time; some professors believe it informs a lot more than it probably does. The plain meaning could not be clearer – talk, which we have had legions of over the last four decades, must become a permanent one-way street, where government plays the role of collective caretaker!).”
Of course, Mike is still at Vanderbilt, and I haven’t been in a Vanderbilt classroom in a nearly a decade. However, I do recall no shortage of discussions of race in the pertinent class setting (I do go on record hoping race never comes up in, say, calculus). If there is a problem to be addressed, it is certainly not a lack of discussion.
Indeed, let us address the real problem. I say we need to stop being cowards in discussing Eric Holder’s comments. Let us move toward a more relevant discussion, and dissect the difference between what Holder said and what he meant. If you take Holder’s words as spoken, they hold little, if any, real meaning.
Let us begin discussing what a “frank discussion” actually means. He isn’t talking about “talk”. If you don’t think we talk race, or talked race during the latest and longest presidential campaign in history, I cannot help you. If we take Holder’s words at face value, we will always be racial cowards because there is never going to be enough time to talk. Talk is cheap and ineffective when seeking real incentive and societal reform.
And that is just it – this was a clarion call for more race pandering, not a broader race discussion. We already have race discussion, but when it is “frank”, it just does not seem to be well-received. Certainly, Eric Holder remembers what happened to Bill Cosby when he dared mention the real problems in minority communities. Unlike a century ago, white oppression can no longer be deemed the cause for black poverty. Growing single motherhood, higher male incarceration rates, and the growing masses of ignorant, uneducated young people are the plague of urban America.
Indeed, the only way we can truly address the root causes of this ongoing urban societal disaster flick is by getting to frank discussions that move past race. The aforementioned problems began to accelerate after World War II, and have gotten even worse as racial issues have been materially addressed. In fact, the urban areas that have seen the most societal breakdown along with the surrounding white suburbs are the populations who voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama and propelled the first black president into the White House.
Something is certainly amiss with our black urban populations, but it is not a frank discussion about race that we need. A more legitimate approach is required.
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We’ve all heard the old saying “Never discuss sex, money or politics”. Even conversation between good friends can end in an argument when discussing politics.
We have conservatives, liberals, democrats, republicans, independents, moderates… Everyone sees the world a certain way, and how we should go forth in improving our great nation. You would think it would be easy to talk about these things, discuss and come to agreements. Hardly! More often than not, these discussions turn into arguments, and at times get very heated.
For thousands of years there has been fighting over politics, many of which lead to wars. I we all agreed, it would obviously be a perfect world with no wars, but sometimes the political fighting gets fierce and things get ugly.
This is not only typical amongst our politicians but amongst every day people too. Seems less and less are willing to compromise when it comes to their political beliefs and the country is divided. We have world leaders arguing over politics, then we have the US politicians going at it, then state politics… you get the point, it all crumbles down, all the way to you and I.
The keys to staying cool when debating or discussing politics is to leave your emotions in check, leave room for compromise and/or discussion & realize that the other person believes in what they’re saying as well and remain respectful.
The best way to win a debate is to do so in a civil manner, presenting facts and explaining your point of view. Many times when points can’t get across, it quickly turns the debate into an argument. It’s best at that point to get back on topic, or try to move onto the next topic.
I have owned a few political on-line websites, been members & have moderated as well. Of all the forums I have participated on, the political scenery has to be the hardest for all of those involved. It’s a constant quagmire and the in-fighting never seems to cease. The best you can do is take the higher ground, remain impartial and apply rules equally.
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Fairfax, VA – Common sense centrist Independent candidate Carey Campbell challenged his two opponents for Fairfax County supervisor to a series of debates – two a day for the last twelve days – one in each of the 24 Braddock District precincts before the March 10 election. So far two others have been scheduled and the three campaigns were working on dates for more after the forum sponsored by the Braddock District Council.
In front of a packed meeting room at the Kings Park Library, Mr. Campbell reiterated his campaign theme of building “Rail Now! Fairfax should follow the example of higher density around the rail stations like that of Arlington. They have the revenue from higher home values and more businesses around the rail stations and don’t have to raise taxes as much as those proposed in Fairfax. We need this kind of smarter growth in Fairfax County.”
Campbell related stories of his exhaustive door-to-door campaign that visited up to 38,000 of the 40,000 homes in the Braddock District. “Voters tell me how to solve our challenges. I am touched by the sense of shared sacrifice. To honor their request, I propose a much lower increase in the tax rate than the county executive proposed in his advertised budget. You can read it online. They are prepared to go as high as 1.07. I say we stay at 1 mil.”
When laying out a vision as Supervisor for Fairfax County, Campbell said he is committed to rail because “it is time to get off oil. Rail is safer and cleaner. Thousands have signed petitions agreeing with us. In fact, I will contribute a portion of my compensation as supervisor to building rail around the capitol beltway, because we need more trains, less traffic.”
According to Campbell, “we could build rail for a fraction of the billion dollar boondoggle toll roads.”
He will be posting dates of upcoming forums on his website: www.careycampbell.us.
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Will the Ohio debate be the last one, the last stand for someone (can you say Hillary?). Obviously things have changed since last Thursday’s debate in Austin, Texas. Hillary has picked up on Bubba’s approach saying, “Shame on you, Barack Obama. It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public. That is what I expect from you.” Shame on you!
And then, according to the Drudge Report, “With a week to go until the Texas and Ohio primaries, stressed Clinton staffers circulated a photo over the weekend of a “dressed” Barack Obama. The photo, taken in 2006, shows the Democrat frontrunner fitted as a Somali Elder, during his visit to Wajir, a rural area in northeastern Kenya. The senator was on a five-country tour of Africa.
He’s a MUSLIM!
Well that’s the picture the Clinton camp is wanting to subconsciously get across to you. However the TRUTH is that Obama is not anything like the urban legends going around that’s he’s secretly a Muslim and plans to overthrow the United States. Obama is a Christian, a person who follows Jesus Christ (and has for twenty years), and he did not put his hand on the Koran when sworn into his office of U.S. Senator.
Dueling chain e-mails claim (as Newsweek has reported) he’s a radical Muslim or a ‘racist’ Christian. Both can’t be right. We find both are false. If these two nasty e-mail messages are any indication, the 2008 presidential campaign is becoming a very dirty one. One claims that Obama is ‘certainly a racist’ by virtue of belonging to Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ, which it says ‘will accept only black parishioners’ and espouses a commitment to Africa. Actually, a white theology professor says he’s been ‘welcomed enthusiastically’ at the church, as have other non-blacks. Another e-mail claims that Obama ‘is a Muslim,’ attended a ‘Wahabi’ school in Indonesia, took his Senate oath on the Koran, refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and is part of an Islamic plot to take over the U.S. Each of these statements is false. These false appeals to bigotry and fear remind us of the infamous whispering campaign of eight years ago, when anonymous.
Let’s not talk about Ralph Nader running for President or any of the trivial stuff. Let’s go for the throat!
Tuesday’s Ohio debate should be a lot more acrimonious than last Thursday’s “love-fest”. After all, it’s the last time (most probably) for a one-on-one debate.
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Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York is the place where on wednesday night the last of the three presidential debates will be held. It’s the location where John McCain promises to kick Obama’s ****! And he does need to do that. Despite the DrudgeReport totally unscientific polling which has shown McCain winning the first two debates by 70-30% margins, the truth is that Obama has nudged out McCain in both (according to scientific polling).
McCain does need a TKO!
McCain has lost ground after each presidential debate. and the latest Rasmussen and Zogby polls are showing that Obama is gaining ground most importantly in the battleground states and even in a couple of RED states. Can you say Virginia, where Obama now has a 50-57% lead. Who would heve ever thought. Will it hold up? We’ll know soon enough.
Here’s the latest on key battleground states (all have Obama leading).
>Ohio 49-47%
>Missouri 50-47%
>Florida 51-46%
>Minnesota 51-40%
>Wisconsin 54-37%
>Pennsylvania 53-40%
There’s a reason that McCain pulled out of Michigan as Obama holds a 16% lead (54-38%). Only two battleground states are not in Obama’s camp at this time (North Carolina 38-38% and Indiana which is 48-45% for McCain). John McCain’s chief strategist Steve Schmidt said Monday that the campaign is “well within striking distance” of Barack Obama.
“We are running in a very difficult political environment, that’s not a secret to anybody that’s out there,” Schmidt said during an interview on National Public Radio. “I believe in this race we are approximately six points behind. There’s a lot of the media right now that is writing Senator McCain off for the third or fourth time this year. That means we have ‘em just where we want ‘em in this race.”
But McCain still needs that October surprise and he needs it soon! October is halfway over.
And in the irony of minutia, after investing $3.5m in construction and planning, Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York found out there was something missing from its preparations for this week’s third and final presidential debate. Water glasses. “We actually had to give the campaigns the exact water glass the candidates will be using during the debate,” said Hofstra president Stuart Rabinowitz.
Whatever!
Hofstra University was the location of the last debate. McCain out throwing punches and never let up. From my perspective, he won on points; however, the was an air of “superiority” flowing from the stage and it wasn’t coming from Ivy League trained Barack Obama. So, the debates have concluded. Now it gets down to will there be an October surprise in the last two weeks, and will someone stumble.
For those who wanted McCain to offer up William Ayers and Acorn as red meat for the debate, got their wish.
For the most part it was McCain throwing right hand haymakers, wth Obama doing the rope-a-dope and a little left hand (no pun intended) jabbing here and there. The major disadvantage that McCain has it that, though an independent maverick (as he likes to call himself), he’s running for PRESIDENT of the REPUBLICAN party. News flash. It’s the republican party that has historically stood for the wealthy, the upper class, the CEOs. Wall Street, power, etc. etc. Those are stereotypes, but real ones.
Obama is running a a DEMOCRAT. That’s he’s really, really liberal may be trumped by a party that’s historically been for the little man, main street, the down and out, and the powerless. Thus Obama, black and with a Muslim sounding name, has more people in “his grouping” than McCain.
Both men and their camps will proclaim victory.
But now it gets down to the last 19 days. Obama has the most money. Obama has the economic issue going for him. McCain as his honor, his sacrifice for “country first”, and an acknowledged hot running mate. Sorry Joe! So, we leave the debates in the rear view mirror and we leave it all to the fate of the political gods. And the Dow Jones Industrial gods were in Obama’s corner Wednesday by falling over 700 points a few hours before the debate.
Onward political warriors!
Kansieo.com