Letters to the Editor
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My Breakdown Shapiro-style
Hillary Clinton
Pros: She's very intelligent and very competent. She's married to the most skilled political mind walking this Earth. She is an extremely disciplined candidate. She the Goldman-Sachs ATM at her disposal. She has, no doubt, the most personal knowledge of the Oval Office experience. The Clinton's have a special relationship with the African American community. In her heart, she's a progressive.
Cons: Do you really think she'd EVER let her heart overrule her cadre of advisers, led by soulless uber-DLC hack Mark Penn. It's a given that triangulation will be the modus operandi of her administration. That'll mean 4 years of playing dodge ball with the Republicans instead of cleaning up this mess. The working class can't stand her, especially men...and she'll turn out the Republican base like no one else on either side...which not only hurts her chances, but will swing more than few congressional seats to the GOP.
Verdict: No way, no f'ing way
Bill Richardson
Pros: The resume is pretty great. He's run a state. He has foreign policy experience. He's been a cabinet officer. He has aggressively opposed the occupation of Iraq. He would energize the emerging Latino population.
Cons: Sadly the man can't campaign his way out of a paper bag. He has shown a propensity for dumb, off the cuff remarks.
Verdict: He's more of a Tom Hagen than a Michael Corleone.
Joe Biden
Pros: Probably the best foreign policy mind holding elective office. That's not a small thing. His Senatorial Record, as a whole, is one of substance and for the most part, reliably progressive. He's quite loquatious, and can explain foreign policy in layman's terms better than anyone in the field. He's also very clean.
Cons: Who commented that he would take on the special interests has to be out of their ever loving mind. He's done a lot of dirty work on behalf of the banking, telecom & entertainment industries...an awful lot. The sad thing is, he didn't need to whore himself out to get re-elected (he's a Delaware institution). He just did so anyway. He's also a white, Vietnam-era Irish-Catholic long-time Senator from the I-95 corridor who voted for the Iraq War against his better judgment. NO ONE is going there again
Verdict: Joe was my original political inspiration going back to the early 80's and my Senator since 1973. When he lets me down on things like the Iraq War and the bankruptcy bill, I do tend to take it a little more personally. That aside, I think he would make a great secretary of state.
Chris Dodd
Pros: He's fought this administration tooth and nail (most notably on FISA), a very, very rare quality to find in an elected Democrat these days.
Cons: He's also a white, Vietnam-era Irish-Catholic long-time Senator from the I-95 corridor who voted for the Iraq War against his better judgment. (Ain't cut and paste great?)
Verdict: He's won the admiration of the base by being one of the very few Democrats to do the job he was elected to do.
It's a shame he doesn't have a prayer. I'd love to see him as the next Senate Majority leader, though.
John Edwards
Pros: He's run a terrific campaign so far. His populist message
really resonates, especially among working class voters. He's been the fiercest critic of the Bush administration of the presidential contenders. He offers the Democrats the best opportunity to repudiate the DLC-Bush Lite Agenda of Cowardice and Failure. He also gives the Democrats the best opportunity to win the general election...and America loves Elizabeth.
Cons: The Senatorial record leaves a little to be desired. I realize that North Carolina is a red state, but his support for the bankruptcy bill (a vote, like his Iraq War vote, he has since repudiated) somewhat undercuts his populist message. He was a little underwhelming as John Kerry's running mate. Acceptance of public financing will put him at a disadvantage in the general election.
Verdict: He's definitely worthy of consideration.
Barack Obama
Pros: Of all the major candidates, he's the only one to get the question of the Iraq War correct from the outset. He is a very inspirational candidate that has a message of unity that transcends race, creed or party. He manages to attract unprecedented conservative support while remaining committed to progressive principles. He would bring high intelligence and vision to the White House. He has no problem raising money.
Cons: It seems like he's been running for President since the day he was elected to the Senate. Has generally voted the right way, but he's not taken a leadership role. While raising money is a necessity, one wonders who he'll be beholden to once elected. He's handled the experience question well, but that doesn't mean the question is going away.
Verdict: An Obama administration could be truly transformative.
What he lacks in experience he makes up in sound judgement. The choice between Edwards and Obama is a very difficult one, as both men offer distinct visions of a post-Bush America. At this stage, it's apparent that they represent the only two viable options for Democrats in 2008.
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mongoose: Decent evaluation except for comment about Clinton and Black Community
there is no special relationship for us Clintons are just another set of white folks who are not as racist as the usual lot..
White people in general hold no special relationship with us given this country's legacy and domestic holocaust against us..
Stop buying the MSM propaganda and disinformation with regard to Clintons and my people. Many of us remember when Bill Clinton was running for president in his first term he refused to commute the death sentence of a black mentally retarted male in AK who was later put to death during Clinton's tenure as governor so Clinton could prove to southern whites he was tough on crime..(early willie horton politics...
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John Edward's wealth and success
Seen several comments on it.
I have kind of an interesting perspective (at least I think so) on this.......I have had the good fortune in the last year of going from being de facto "working poor" (waiter/bartender-@$1500 a month) for most of the last 10-12 years to shall we say respectably upper middle class (finally found something to do with my MS), within stone tossing range of six figures.
While my transformation was quicker and less dramatic than John Edward's (dirt poor mining town to extremely wealthy lawyer), I can report from being in a generally similar situation that my progressive feelings about social and economic justice, the class war, et. all haven't changed.
Just something to think about. I flip back and forth between favoring Edwards and O'Bama........but hell, even if Hillary takes it even as a bought and paid for tool of the special intersts, she is intelligent, rational, sane, and not prone to hallucinating phantom threats in lands where they have brown people we need to kill.....in other words, a 1000% improvement......also, she has GOT to have a vendetta against the right wing noise machine so watching that get played out with a Democratic majority congress would be some good watchin.
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