Letters to the Editor
BryanS
Published Letters: 365 Editor's Choice: 1
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The worthlessness of polls
[Read the article: The haunting of the Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Does this even bear repeating? No poll taken today will result in any accurate prediction of the November general election. Hell, just look at how the Pennsylvania polls have swung in the last six weeks alone.
Saying that Obama or Hillary should be the nominee because they're currently the stronger candidate against John McCain is ridiculous. So much is going to change in the next seven months. There will be stumbles, blunders, scandals, and yes, maybe even a few stellar performances that will reshape the landscape of the race, and we can't predict any of them with certainty. There are those who thought that Rev. Wright would be the nail in Obama's coffin. It barely dented his numbers. Hillary's Bosnia gaffe and Mark Penn's Columbia meeting were supposed to cost her Pennsylvania. Much as I'd like that to be true, it ain't gonna happen.
You've also got to take into account the hyper-partisan atmosphere of the Democratic primary. There are a lot of Hillary and Obama supporters who will swear up and down right now that they'd vote for McCain over their candidate's primary rival in the general. But as the general election gets underway and McCain is defined more clearly, I can't imagine that many voters who are now enthusiastic about Obama or Hillary would choose to vote for McCain over the Democrat who shares most of their preferred candidate's positions. I can't even contemplate the sheer effort it would take to hold onto that much bitterness for that long.
So let's all chill out about hypothetical matchups against McCain, or who's looking strongest on the electoral map, at least until September, okay?
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@ riconap
[Read the article: The haunting of the Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]All of this has been part of the Obama team game plan from the beginning. It makes one wonder who the real divisive candidate is after all.
Well, I'm biased, but if I had to venture a guess, it's probably the one who's using Osama bin Laden in her latest campaign ads, not the one who's gotten 1,500,000 supporters to donate to his campaign and earned massive support from young voters and the party establishment alike. But that's just one man's opinion.
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Hillary's health care plan
[Read the article: The haunting of the Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How is it that a health care plan crafted by a wide coalition of interests (large employers, unions, city and county governments, Democratic house and senate members) becomes "her" plan?
Uh, because she was the head of the 1993 Task Force on National Health Care Reform, and the only man who put her in that position was her husband. I understand that victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan, but come on: if you're put in charge of a major initiative, and it fails, the buck should stop with you. At least, that's what Democrats used to believe.
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Wow!
[Read the article: Even Santorum can't stay away]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That is the frothiest endorsement McCain's gotten so far!
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@ Ben Sen
[Read the article: The haunting of the Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If I was able in today's entry to have a few folks re-consider their positions on Clinton's health care initiative the energy wasn't wasted. I think it's ignorance of history in many cases, and the attempt to confuse and dissemble in others.
When did you post anything about Hillary's failed healthcare initiative? I only saw one other letter from you in response to this article, and it had nothing to do with healthcare.
Did you just unintentionally out yourself as "Christopher Carrington?" If so, how terribly embarrassing for you to get caught posting under multiple names to make it seem as if you are a chorus of voices in agreement.
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@ maureen
[Read the article: The haunting of the Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Way to jump all over a gaffe made by someone who quickly acknowledged it as soon as it was pointed out, and then ignore everything they've said since then, in a cheap attempt to score more points.
Remind me again, which candidate are you supporting?
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Signs of the apocalypse
[Read the article: The haunting of the Democrats]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No. I think O'Hehir is wrong; as is Howard Dean and all the other "worried voices." This is OUR time - whether it is Clinton or Obama. Nobody I know is going to lose sight of that.
Given some of our previous contentious exchanges, I never thought I'd find myself saying this, but I completely agree with ljwalker. Well, at least for these three sentences. :)
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Credit where credit is due
[Read the article: Campaign roundup]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm not the world's biggest Hillary fan, but I was very happy to hear her give what sounded like an unequivocal endorsement of Obama, should he win the nomination (and this isn't even the first time she's said something similar lately). That helps to take the edge off of some of the sharp elbows that have been thrown lately, and it just might keep my blood pressure from spiking at dangerously high levels today.
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This is as good as it gets for McCain
[Read the article: Comparing McCain to an "Internet stock circa 1999"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If I were a McCain supporter, I'd be incredibly nervous that, despite the fact that the Democratic candidates are tearing into each other with everything they've got and largely ignoring their Republican rival, the best McCain seems to be able to do is poll even with either one of them.
What happens once the Democratic nomination is resolved, and the general election campaign begins in earnest? Eventually, some of the hard feelings between Obama and Hillary's supporters have to subside, which means you'll start to see a decline in the numbers of Hillary's former supporters who say that they'll vote for McCain over Obama in the general (or vice-versa).
Also, the reason that the Democratic primary has turned so petty and divisive is because there's not a hair's breadth of difference between Obama and Hillary's platforms. Once the Democratic candidate only has to worry about one opponent attacking from the right, they're free to unleash a barrage against McCain solely on the issues, and that doesn't even take into account all of the viable personal attacks against his flip-flopping, ties to lobbyists, support of failed Bush policies, infamous temper, advanced age, questionable health, etc.
I also have to wonder how McCain's stamina and bank account will hold up over a grueling months-long campaign, especially if it's run in accordance with the Howard Dean 50-state strategy, which should force McCain to spend more time and energy shoring up red states than he might ordinarily have to.