Letters to the Editor
ironocrat
Published Letters: 269 Editor's Choice: 4
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It seems like a good ticket
[Read the article: Report: Bill Clinton pushing for wife to get veep nod]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The Obama supporters would probably vote for Obama regardless of who he picked as veep, and potentially a substantial portion of the supposed Clinton voters planning to abandon the party would get onboard as well. Slate just ran an interesting piece about the Kennedy-LBJ parallels.
The old world vs new world argument is a little tired, especially as it seems that a lot of Obama voters using this line of reasoning are more than ready to toss half of the party out and become a permanent minority. Regardless of "hope for change" or any other such slogans, a certain amount of compromise and, yes, triangulation will always be necessary in our political system. The Obama-Clinton ticket seems to me like it would be a killer mix of ideology and pragmatism, and it's not as if the veep actually does much once elected anyway (Cheney excluded). Plus, as far as the campaign for the general is concerned, Hillary has proved to be a very good presence in a debate setting.
You would think Hillary wouldn't be interested based on this primary season, but despite what many posters here say, she's hardly a huge moronic devil-worshipping racist idiot. Putting her at veep would provide just enough visibility to keep the blue collar part of the party onboard while keeping her isolated enough to (hopefully) keep the liberals happy and allow Obama to do some work.
All of this is said with the usual disclaimer that I've been pretty lukewarm towards both candidates since Edwards dropped out. I'd vote for the Democrat regardless of who was nominated, unless Obama were to select Bloomberg as his running mate.
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spoon daddy
[Read the article: Report: Bill Clinton pushing for wife to get veep nod]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You'll have to excuse me as I sometimes conflate Obama with his supporters, but a lot of the talk has seemed to explicitly excluse a 50 state strategy.
"We don't need the racist assholes in WV/KY/whatever", etc.
Granted, the campaign has of course not said this, but there is constantly talk like "Those blue collar voters aren't voting for us anyway".
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Wait, what?
[Read the article: Lawsuit seeks to force DNC to seat Florida delegates]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Is there anything that says this is connected to the Clinton campaign? There's sure a lot of haters in this thread that seem to think so.
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Freddie
[Read the article: What to expect in the next Windows: The iPhone]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"Surface's multi-touch tech preceded the iPhone, and in fact has many more useful applications than the iPhone-- which you would know, if you bothered to do 5 minutes of research on the subject."
I'll give you that Surface was being prototyped before the iPhone reached that stage, but that hardly gives MS credit for the idea of a multi-touch interface (nor did Apple invent this idea).
And with a unit price of $10k and deployed so far only to AT&T stores, what exactly are Surface's many more useful applications?
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micro ms
[Read the article: A boneheaded Bush administration lecture on science]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's not the youngest generation (of which I am a part) that concerns me, it's the ready willingness of even so-called liberals such as those on this site to engage in thoroughly anti-intellectual behavior. See the comments on any article referencing the biotech industry, vaccinations, gas mileage improving scams, etc.
The lack of science education is a problem, but it's hardly limited to just those younger than you.
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The advantage would have to be McCain's
[Read the article: McCain wants joint town halls, Obama receptive to idea]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think you're being a bit generous in saying that Obama "held his own" at the Democratic debates. I like the guy just fine, but he frequently looked off-balance and came across poorly.
That said, I'm looking forward to seeing if Obama can achieve his goal of transforming politics as the general campaign starts up by pursuing options like this, even if not obviously advantageous to his campaign. He was relatively canny during the primary season, but his campaign mostly followed the standard political playbook. It's not clear to me what other option there is, so I'm looking forward to finding out.
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Also
[Read the article: McCain wants joint town halls, Obama receptive to idea]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I can't help but think of the famous televised debates between Nixon and JFK... Obama certainly has something to gain in terms of being the more telegenic candidate.
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Read the article!
[Read the article: Obama camp open to helping Clinton with debt]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Tom Daschle, a staffer on Obama's campaign, says they'd be willing to help retire Clinton's debt, and of course the letters thread is full of variations on "Screw her, it's her problem" and "It seems like she wants a payoff".
You people are absolutely insufferable in their hate for the Clintons. You're the same ones who were writing a month ago about Hillary planning to do anything, winning at any cost, destroying the party, etc, but now that she's exiting the race in a savvy manner, you can't take it.
Your image of Clinton as a cruelly evil, manipulative woman does not square with reality, no matter how many times you repeat it.
After such a heated primary contest, I suppose the Obama camp is due a little opportunity to crow. That said, your irrational hate for a member of the Democratic party that around 50% of voters thought would be a good candidate is extreme, obnoxious, and blinding you to the realities of what faces this country.
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And by the way...
[Read the article: Obama camp open to helping Clinton with debt]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As it seems it always needs to be said, I say all of the above as an Edwards supporter who has become increasing sick of the behavior on both sides of this farce we call a (small-d) democratic primary.
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Highly suspect
[Read the article: Your fuel efficiency is so hot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Those results seems highly suspect to me. This quote from the press release raised my eyebrows:
"Project roadway. More than seven in 10 (73 percent) car buyers say if there were a reality TV show like “Project Runway” that was not about fashion design, but instead about designing the best-looking fuel-efficient and emissions-free car, they’d definitely watch."
I can't find the actual study to read, but I'm dubious of its accuracy with statements like that combined with the source of funding.
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John762
[Read the article: Clinton asks supporters to raise money for Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What are you doing posting in Salon letters threads? With brilliant political analysis like that, it seems like you should definitely be out plotting Obama's campaign.