Letters to the Editor
-
jeb
Yeah. Older voters have seen people flame out. But on the whole I don't think older voters make better decisions. Older voters make safe decisions.
-
@HealThisNation
Exactly, exactly!! It is age. And even then it is not monolithic, just a tendency. Groups are made up of individuals.
I just want people to understand the level hurt the insults have caused here in West Virginia to see all this blamed on Appalachian people rather than looking at it analytically. It's like kicking a poor defenseless little dog for no reason at all except to kick it.
-
@HealThisNation
I think the core of this election hasn't really been race v. gender, even though those have certainly been significant. The core has been people who want change for change's sake v. people who would prefer stability. 9/11 threw us all off balance, and Bush's reaction hurt more than it helped. The economy is a wreck, our world standing is destroyed, terrorism is dramatically up, and it's looking possible that the situation(s) middle east might turn into WWIII. "Safe" is not a bad thing. I would love to feel safe again. I would love to know that the economy will stabilize, and the war will end, and our children will be able to prosper, that we won't collapse after another terrorist attack. Which is why I was initially reluctant to trust the Presidency to a man whose leadership experience is limited to editor of a law review, who has minimal government experience, and who has not even ever passed a bill without assisstance.
I think that is why it doesn't bother me so much that McCain is almost certainly going to win this election - as much as I hate his politics, he is a competent leader. Part of me dreads Obama being President, because I have seen no indication that he has the experience to be able to sort out the complexities he will have to deal with. McCain may screw things up politically, but I trust him to respond to any crises we have with good judgement. I do not trust Obama. He is not current on the issues (as evidenced by his debate performance and unwillingness to answer many spotaneous questions from the press), he has virtually no leadership experience, and he has shown poor judgement in a number of associations (particularly Rezko, whom he continued to respect after finding out that he was a slumlord).
When you're under 40, change is a good thing. You know you'll have time to rebound from the consequences if things go wrong. Later... there is something to be said for "safe".
-
@october271986
By the way...
1) Jackson did not say that he didn't think Clinton's tears were fake. He said he wouldn't go so far as to say they were, not that he didn't think they were.
2) Any health plan that doesn't cover people who can't afford it isn't complete coverage, and Obama has been lying about that repeatedly. Any national health plan that does not require heatlhy people to participate will fail, and Obama has been ignoring that reality, or perhaps ignorant of it.
-
i WANT TO KNOW HOW JEB GOT HER STAR.
Is it like in elementary school? When you get rewarded? In salon's case, I'm assuming it's cause you a good clinton/rush bobblehead.
How in the world did you get on of those precious propogandist stars. I would like one. Maybe then I could be taken seriously by clinton/rush/gop propogandists. hahahahahahahahha
-
@rufus11
If you pay for a membership, you get a gold star. Red stars come from editors - but I don't think Walsh does that on comments to her blog.
-
ohhh
Ok. I've been wonder why all clinton supporters have that star. thank you. I mean no disrepect. Trying to point and and marginalize. Welcome to my world. :)
-
the people who are deciding clinton's fate. mi and fl resolution
"Rules and Bylaws Committee Members
Co-Chairs - no endorsement
Alexis Herman (co-chair, Washington , D.C. )
James Roosevelt, Jr. (co-chair, Massachusetts )
Members - Clinton supporters (13)
Hartina Flournay (DC)
Donald Fowler (SC)
Harold Ickes, Jr. (DC)
Alice Huffman (CA)
Ben Johnson (DC)
Elaine Kamarck (MA)
Eric Kleinfeld (DC)
Mona Pasquil (CA)
Mame Reiley (VA)
Garry Shay (CA)
Elizabeth Smith (DC)
Michael Steed (MD)
Jaime Gonzalez, Jr. (TX)
Members - Obama supporters (8)
Martha Fuller Clark (NH)
Carol Khare Fowler (SC)
Janice Griffin (MD)
Thomas Hynes (IL)
Allan Katz (FL)
Sharon Stroschein (SD)
Sarah Swisher (IA)
Everett Ward (NC)
Members - no known endorsement (7)
Donna Brazille (DC)
Mark Brewer (MI)
Ralph Dawson (NY)
Yvonne Gates ( NV)
Alice Germond (DC) - DNC Secretary
David McDonald (WA)
Jerome Wiley Segovia (VA)
"
When joan kept mentioning donna brazille over and over, was she on clinton's or obama's side. I tuned it out. :)
-
seems everything goes party lines these days.
Which party is clinton considered now? The d, the r, or her own?
I bet the clinton supporters will all do as their told. The obama supporters will have to mob up to combat them. That leaves the non endorsers as the shot callers. Is this democracy? If not what do you call it? what happened to loyality to country over party or person? to much money invloved, huh?
Just blame obama and his supporters for everything. that seems to be a safe stance these days. Unbeleivable.
-
jeblemn You are not writing something honest about Obama's health care
When Hillary Clinton first tried to get her health care plan through Congress, she ran into exactly the same problem she has with Obama's plan. Congress had legislators who had spent years trying to get an incremental plan that would result in what she calls universal coverage (which is not technically universal either unless you punish people for not deciding to buy it--something she has not ruled out but declines to specifically discuss).
Obama's plan is more of a baby step in the right direction. I lived in Massachusettes for a year with mandatory health care, and I worked in social services. I was earning around $20,000 per year or so before taxes. Paying rent, paying heating bills, all of that was a big pain. I had a health plan I didn't like. The mandatory health care made me angry at big government (and I'm a Democrat) because it gave insurance companies more power. They could offer me any crappy plan they wanted and I would NEED to buy it....how much would it cost out of my budget? The plans in my price range took money out of my pocket, but I still ended up with $3,000 + of dental bills. And around $100 a month for health care (or $1200 a year).
When you are talking about car insurance, this is not the same, because you can choose not to drive a car.
Clinton can talk about "universal coverage" but there's a big difference between talking about it and delivering, between either of the two plans.
The way that Clinton has treated Obama during this process has reminded me of the way she treated members of Congress who wanted the incremental voluntary health care coverage (offered to ALL and therefor denying coverage to no one) she said "I'll demonize you if you oppose me on this."
So, this many years later, Obama has been demonized. I lived under mandatory health care in MA, and I hated it, so why won't she try what other Democrats have advocated?
"My way or the highway" is the biggest reason that I think Clinton does not make as good of a politician as her husband, or Obama, who treat their opponents with more, I'm not sure the word Im looking for--diplomacy. Fighters are only good when they are fighting against the right people. Clinton is taking more money from any other politician (including Republicans) from health insurance companies, and promising to fight FOR the little people? She isn't "giving' anyone health care. All she is offering is a program to force people to buy health insurance that they might not want.
There are more nuances to this issue than you, or other Clinton supporters, are acknowledging. The only way in which it would help poor people to mandate health insurance is if you brought the costs of health care down first (or the insurance companies have no incentive to lower costs). Obama's plan allows for a small step first, and a second step, once costs are lowered, IF there are people gaming the system, of deciding what the next step should be.
His plan appeals to me more as a person who has financially struggled at various times in my life, and I don't come from a family with money or resources.