Letters to the Editor
Uncle Fester
Published Letters: 1346 Editor's Choice: 12
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@maureenodonell: Out of the frying pan
[Read the article: Obama hits back at Clinton ad]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Everybody understands that Americans want their country to be better but I'm not sure what way you're going now.[and we don't either!] I don't know whether the expressiong "going from the frying-pan into the fire" means anything in the US and all I can say is that I hope that doesn't happen. I must go to bed now. You've most likely guessed that I do like to argue (as a child my father told me I'd have the last word or die in the attempt) but someone else can have the last word now as I'm very tired.
The last word is available to anyone 'till they close the thread. Americans still use the "out of frying pan, into the fire" saying now and then. In many ways, that exactly what this election is about, we are considering drastic changes and currently arguing over the 'best' course of action.
But democracy does not confer wisdom, it merely allows everyone a chance to participate.
And the bottom line (IM!HO) is that selecting a candidate is really making a judgement call based upon incomplete information about the past, present, and future. And like most human activity, it's probably 10% rational, 90% rational. On a good day.
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@moishe: Texas, Huckabee, and McCain
[Read the article: Obama's got ground game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Moishe, thanks for the snapshot.
What about Huckabee? I keep thinking that he's aiming for a brokered convention as part of an Evangelical rebellion within the Republican Party. Talk Radio up here (MA) can't stand Huckabee (He's #2 on the hate list, just below Hillary). Is he getting much traction down in Texas? So far, I've been unable to see how Huck's continued existence is good for McCain in the general election.
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Kidding myself?
[Read the article: Obama's got ground game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Rove has been involved in this election up to his neck. Anyone who thinks he is limiting his involvement to an occasional editorial is delusional.
I have no doubts that Rove has been a busy little beaver. It's a fair question to ask if his tactics will be effective with the changing mood of the electorate. His math didn't look too good in 2006.
He's an instrumental engineer behind pushing the Obamateur to the frontlines.
That's a bold claim. Do you have any external links to back that up?
McCain was the most viable candidate the Repubs had. IE, the only one who could win in the west where they were on a steady losing streak. The only one who didn't alienate himself from the ever and ever more critical hispanic vote.
We really have a difference of opinion here. I think McCain was the only candidate left standing. Romney was the offical establishment candidate, but he got torched by the Evangelical vote starting in Iowa: he was Mormon and a flip-flopper. Two strikes and you're out. McCain pissed off the R. establishment by not being a kiss ass, voting against their policies. He pissed of the Evangelicals by calling Fallwell and Robertson agents of intolerance.
Those two bases are larger than the Hispanic vote, a vote that doesn't have a long history of voting Republican. The Evangelicals go all the way back to Reagan.
That's why I'm interested in what happens to Huckabee and how far he and his supporters will push it. Texas will be interesting. Also, the core Republican base will continue to push the immigration issue despite the position of the establishment. I don't see how that will attract the Hispanic vote, dispite McCain's stance. I think Hillary, and to a much lesser extent Obama, have a better shot.
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McCain the secret frontrunner, changing mood?
[Read the article: Obama's got ground game]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's a real stretch to make it sound like McCain was always the secret GOP front runner. His campaign was broke last summer and written off. He might've folded if he didn't collaterialize that $3M loan with public funds. If you think following the money is important, look at the funding levels of Romney and Guiliani vs. McCain. see http://opensecrets.org/pres08/index.asp McCain only started picking up funding after the other candidates stumbled. That's why I consider him the last man standing. McCain will win March 4th. But a sizeable number of GOP have voted and will vote their displeasure. And I do think the GOP misjudged on the Mormon issue, just like they misjudged on immigration.
What changing mood? This is your blind leap of faith again.
So you think the public's perception on Bush, the Iraq War and the economy hasn't changed between 2001, 2004, and 2007-2008?
You seem to have a nice cozy little narrative on why over 10 million democratic voters are 'committing suicide'. Carry On!