Letters to the Editor
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Clinton-Obama race
Obama is a good talker--he talks until he is blue in the lips--and gives us nothing we can take to the bank. He has no experience except to be a neighborhood organizer (does this mean bake sales, car washes?} and to vote present (what does that mean? I don't understand the issue?) and to stall health coverage for the citizens of Illinois. And now because he has lost in New Hampshire, Al Sharpton, Bob Herbert, Michael Dyson, James Clyburn, to name a few, have handed him the old racism crutch. All I can say to these men is this: If you can't stand the heat, hobble yourselves out of Hillary's kitchen. If Obama wins the Democratic nomination, the Republican nominee, regardless of who he is, will eat him up like a Christmas turkey. This country cannot withstand another warmongering Republican in the White House. Hillary has been crucified, insulted, lied about by the male media and is still alive and well and going strong. We need her strength, experience and intelligence to sweep the mess the Republicans have made into the dumpster. Nobody sweeps better than a woman. Time for male dominance to end in Washington DC.
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surfer-z says.....
This primary campaign needs a referee and occasional vacation days.
Unfortunately, he dropped out of the race last week. That's the role I saw of Bill Richardson in the New Hampshire debate. And he was effective in defusing an ugly situation on stage as Obama and Edwards were double-teaming Clinton, and Clinton was shooting back.
Yes, the campaign needs a referee. I totally agree. I also agree with the writers who say things will get worse once the republicans start tossing bombs at the democrat nominee. And to think that the election is still 10 months away!
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It's not about MLK
Hillary's remark about Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't about MLK at all. It was a statement about the office of the presidency. As 'the decider,' the president can ram a thing through (see Iraq War, Domestic Eavesdropping and Terri Schiavo) or cock-block a thing (see Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the US, Stem Cell Research and Joe WIlson). It's ridiculous to even think she would try to take the Civil Rights movement away from African Americans. Why would she?
And I think that most of the hysterical pundits out there know it.
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Settle it with ethnic rioting, arson and genocidal bloodlust
Like all the people we imagine we're worse than.
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My focus group
On Saturday I got involved in an impromptu focus group with three ladies, I will call them Mrs. Pink, Ms. White, and Ms. Black.
Mrs. Pink said she was going to vote for Hillary, 1) she would get health coverage for all, and 2) because that was the best way to get Bill Clinton back in the White House.
Other candidates seemed to have a problem with name recognition, but Ms. Black said she was going to vote for "Bahama", because he was Black and there was no reason why Black folks should not have a turn in the White House like everyone else.
Ms. White said that Bahama was not pure-bred Black, because he was biracial "like my kids--you can't put Black on forms at school, you have to put Bi-racial".
Ms. Black said that she was not pure-bred Black either, because there was White blood in her veins, though not voluntarily; it was there by rape. Anyway she was still going to vote for Bahama as a gesture of solidarity.
Mrs. Pink had not heard of Bahama and asked me if it was true he was Black. I said he was undisputedly African-American.
After a bit more discussion about the candidates Mrs. Pink said she might think about voting for Bahama, because she has two brothers-in-law in Iraq and Bahama might get them out of there quicker than the other candidates.
Ms. White wanted to know which of Clinton and Obama was going to do something about men who do not pay child support. [I said that I am no constitutional scholar, but I believe that this power is deferred to the states.]
All were agreed that they ain't going to vote for no Mormon.
Obviously the members of my focus group are not current affairs policy wonks, but even so I suspect that they are more typical of the average voter than are many readers of Salon--which makes one wonder how relevant ANY of this discussion is.
My view is that more Hillary supporters will vote for Obama in the general election that Obama voters will vote for Hillary. This argues in favor of Obama.
The general election really comes down to two states, Florida and Ohio. Whomever wins both of those will surely get to be Commander-in-Chief.
I'm not terribly hopeful for either of them in Florida. Hillary seems to be widely disliked, and many voters have family serving in Iraq, which war, whatever her real feelings, she does not seem to have opposed very vocally. Obama does well with younger voters, but there are few of those in Florida and he may have problems with Florida's elderly population, who are perhaps less likely to vote for melanin-rich candidates.
McCain would probably do well with the older voters.
I conclude that the fate of the nation is more likely to depend on Oprah than on Russert, undeniably popular though he is with the chattering classes.
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Cigars - sex - some sad man getting drunk and driving...........
So you are re-living the 1990s with a frisky Bill Clinton cavorting with Ms. Lewinsky in the White House. We had this salacious story imposed on us by the media here in Europe too and most adults would prefer to forget that tawdry tale. I lost respect for BC after that but lustful urges are nothing compared to the invasion of a country, resulting in the deaths of thousand and further destabilising of the Middle East. Btw, your military stops at Shannon Airport when young American men are on their way to or from Iraq. Last May, because I still smoke cigarettes, I went to an area forsmokers to find myself on the edge of a group of American soldiers. They smiled and greeted me. I reacted politely but kept my own counsel. To be perfectly candid, I felt sorry for the young of yet another generation being sent out to fight a war based on a lie - the BIG LIE of WMD. Oh yes, I was travelling to France that day, a country which was demonised by the American media because it would not support Bush's war. British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, earned the disdain of the British public for being - and I quote - "George Bush's poodle". London was bombed on its subway system and so was Madrid for what the terrorists believed was British and Spanish support for Bush. So far, nobody on this discussion board has told me to butt out of your Presidential debates which is just as well since we live in the global village now. A woman born in this place in Ireland from where I'm writing, died on one of those planes hi-jacked on 9/ll. She had American citizenship and her American-born 5 year old daughter also died on that horrifying day.
As for Hillary Clinton and Barack (Barak?) Obama, I've seen postings on the Internet about the Clinton marriage which are revoltingly prurient. All marriages are different, as marriage requires the meshing of different personalities. If Hill loves Bill, despite everything, it is not for outsiders to judge. There is a cruelty in the way the American media taunted Chelsea Clinton as a very young girl in the White House because her looks didn't come up to the standard these vultures required. I've just seen Rev. Jesse Jackson trying to explain to Jon Snow (British Channel 4 News) what all the race rumpus is about in the U.S. Speaking from Washington, Jesse Jackson was calm and conciliatory because you can bet he knows exactly what's going on. I also caught a glimpse of the famous Tim Russert. I don't want to be accused of "lookism" but he wouldn't make my cork pop.
Now, as regards Senator Obama, I've read on this discussion board that he took "a little pot" while in High School but it was clearly stated on Channel 4 News (British) that BO admitted to having taken cocaine, which toxicologists claim is a more potent drug. When "Time" magazine was worth reading, it had a front cover illustration and main article on "Cocaine: Ego Food". Cocaine is in Europe too, and the drug cartels of Colombia are involved in its proliferation. If Obama took cocaine in High School, this was a fairly sophisticated drug for a youngster in the Seventies. I have no idea whether he went to High School in Hawaii, Indonesia or on the American mainland. You can be damn sure, however, that the Republicans will find out if he becomes a "person of interest" to them.
It is now almost 9 p.m. and I'll leave you to your deliberations.