Letters to the Editor
Alan Lloyd
Published Letters: 294 Editor's Choice: 63
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Some things to keep in mind.
[Read the article: NYT breaks long-rumored story on possible relationship between McCain, lobbyist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]First, the NYT has had this for some time. If they'd been leaned on to sit on this back in December/January, they've had this material for a while.
Second, everyone in this is lawyered up. Everyone. Which means there's got to be some verifiable something behind the Times' front page. Just what, we don't yet know. Something tells me this isn't fading away in a day or two.
Third, other publications were apparently getting ready to break this. What does that mean? It means it's been reasonably common knowledge for some time, and other reporters have had time to cultivate sources and get material.
What does this all mean? It means that we (a) have not seen the last of it, (b) there is a there there, of some as yet incompletely known nature, and (c) we'll see and hear more with the passage of a few news cycles, as the investigative reporters get fully into things.
It also reminds us that a Senator getting too cozy with a lobbyist while presenting himself as a paragon of ethics during his presidential campaign is still news.
My bet? This wounds him. Not enough to cause him to drop, but enough that he's on the defensive for some time. A bitter, snarling, hostile defensive, to be sure - it's McCain's personal style, after all.
And those who have already posted asserting that this was an Obama "plant", or a Democratic plant in some general way? Consider this: Even if it was a Dem who did point someone in McCain's general direction, if nothing of substance was there, it would have died quickly. That's the point you're missing.
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A fundraising letter? Brilliant!
[Read the article: When life gives you an NYT investigation, make lemonade]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Thank you John McCain - your efforts will keep this story alive while other reporters dig further. We'll get more of this than even Willard Romney may have hoped when his staffers complained about the late timing of the piece.
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I simply can not resist the temptation:
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Yeeeeeaaaaaahhhhh!
OK, that's out of the way.
Nicely done, Gov. Dean! This is what a DNC chair is supposed to do during primary season. While the candidates are vying for the delegates needed to secure the nomination, the head of the party takes the shots at the leader of the opposition.
Between this and the 50-state strategy, the Democratic Party has been needing his particular variety of fresh air for a long time.
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Working from memory
[Read the article: Zell: Clinton, Obama partially to blame for economic woes]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Turning to Sam Zell, the man who almost makes me embarrassed to be a Chicagoan and lifelong fan of the Cubs, and quoting from Nancy Marchand's memorable portrayal of Livia Soprano:
"Oh, poor you!"
Seriously, Sam, get yourself back to the real world now. Not that it misses you or anything, just sayin'...
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Airlines will never be the largest contributor to climate change.
[Read the article: Ask the pilot]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]People in general have that one sewn up tight.
We, the humans, are finding more and more ways to do ourselves in every year. Coal, oil, motor vehicles, methane, the removal of the carbon-absorbing rainforests, and sheer weight of numbers.
By mid-century, there will be roughly 50% more people in the world than there are today. What will they eat? How will they heat their houses? Where will they find clean water?
I'll either be dead or in my mid-90's, it won't be my immediate problem. It will be someone's - or lots of someones' - and it won't be pretty.
Airlines and cars are just simple proxies for our sheer, ever-increasing numbers.
Walt Kelly, draped over that Saigon bar, was right: "We have met the enemy..."
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Dennis Kucinich = Harold Stassen
[Read the article: Cleveland to Dennis Kucinich: Phone home]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Dennis Kucinich = Harold Stassen.
Well, almost. Harold Stassen was actually involved in the founding of the UN. (That the nations of the world fail repeatedly to live up to the promise of that forum is very much another question.) Kucinich has accomplished nothing of that magnitude.
Let's look at Kucinich step-by-step. Three things any successful politician requires are communication skills, a record of accomplishment, and a record of winning elections.
1) Communication skills: Grade - D
Kucinich has good ideas. I even agree with many of them. Where he fails is in his ability to persuade others to follow his lead. If he had been a better communicator, his vote totals in primaries would have been higher, and he'd have fared better in the press. (Getting < 3% makes a candidate "not news" by definition.)
2) Record of accomplishment: Grade - Incomplete
Incomplete because he has spent most of his Congressional career in a Republican majority Congress that was singularly devoted to accepting no input from anyone across the aisle.
3) Record of winning elections: Grade - C+
He's been reelected multiple times from his district. I wonder how he'd fare in a statewide election in his home state of Ohio. Likely not all that well.
I'm sure there are those among you who will take umbrage at this. Fine by me. I do not need, want, or necessarily respect your opinions. Especially the singularly uninformed opinions of many Kucinich backers, who seem to live in a world where vote totals mean little. It's about winning elections, people. Makes the rest of it much, much easier. There's nothing to be proud of in "losing pure". Nothing whatsoever.
To me, the guy is, and will always be, little more than an electoral curiosity.
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@ suekzoo
[Read the article: Michigan, Florida governors want delegates seated]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As Mark Twain said...
"I am not a member of an organized political party. I'm a Democrat."
I believe that was Will Rogers...
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Governors and primaries and voters, oh my!
[Read the article: Michigan, Florida governors want delegates seated]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Gov. Crist has already proposed the state of Florida hold another primary, and at state expense. Perhaps Gov. Granholm would join in this, the primaries be held, with Clinton, Obama, and "uncommitted" on the ballot, and the question resolved in this proper way.
Then seat the delegates that result from these and call it a day.
Anyone got any better ideas?