Letters to the Editor
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Yah Right
Please read Uber Conservative David Brooks in the NYT "The Long Defeat" It sums it up succinctly with no floss
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/opinion/25brooks.html?th&emc=th
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Hey, Wessie-poo, it's a beautiful day in the neighborhood
I'd match my 3 1/2 year old's intellect and judgment against yours anyday, anytime. Frankly, given his political awareness, there's quite a bit you could learn from him.
And, even better, unlike you, he actually plays well with others, and doesn't abuse Mommy and Daddy's internet access!
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@bearpaw
Maybe if they get upset enough about the merely suggestive nature of their precious primary votes, they will realize the same problem we have with the general.
It's not my job to make people feel good about our quadrennial national kabuki theatre. The fact is that the electorate is so easily manipulated by the nonsensical ravings of media, is so easily dazzled by overtly manipulative TV ads, is so adverse to free thought and outside the box solutions that they deserve the process they have.
Not long ago, I felt pretty good about the Democratic slate of candidates. I liked the line up of straw men babbling on the Republican side.
Somehow in the last 6 months we have managed to create the perverse spectacle we have before us today. We are wired into a survival trip now. Ironic, since we have long cast aside those who were best suited to ensuring the party's survival.
Of course, I do realize that the superdelegates are only human and subject to the same crass manipulation as the rest of the public; but at this stage in the game, when the instruction manual lies in tatters at our feet, the gameboard is stained with spilt grape juice and our little cousins are stupidly choking on the shiny plastic pieces, I have to at least pretend that these assholes will be able to concoct a meaningful plan. That plan needs to select the stronger candidate, pair them with a rock solid VP and construct a forward-thinking platform which can be acted upon from inauguration day.
This absurdist pipedream is the only thing that stops me from becoming a cynical asshole.
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WES Demostrates the Ethos of a Clintonite
"Honor," to WES and Clinton supporters, would be to throw an old friend and spiritual adviser under the bus simply because of media hype. "Honor," to them, would be for the candidate with the lead in the polls and the primaries to step aside for the person who clearly (in their minds) deserves the nomination. Their candidate, who utilizes racism and lies to achieve status among fearful voters, is, to their minds, "honorable."
In the same manner that people are said to resemble their pets (and/or vice-versa), political zealots like WES and the hardcore Clinton crowd come to resemble their candidates: Barack Obama's supporters exhibit "hope" for America and "faith" in the Democratic process.
Clinton and her crowd, on the other hand, exhibit a twisted morality where breaking primary rules is "the right thing to do," where lies written into a prepared and vetted speech becomes "she misspoke," and where the leading candidate is the one who should step down.
Hillary Clinton is the George W. Bush of the Democratic Party. She twists her ethics to suit her desires. She waves away her own misdeeds while magnifying the mistakes of others. She lies and calls it an accident. She makes a mistake and blames others for it. While she is of course not nearly as big of an idiot as Bush (few are), she bears the same stunted morality, absence of personal responsibility, and lack of ethics which defines Bush both as a person and a President.
We've had eight years of Presidential "misspeaking," where "the right thing to do" involved breaking laws and ignoring the will of the people. We don't need another President like George W. Bush.
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Maybe it's time to wait again
If the Democratic Party chooses Obama, the choice will be one-termer McCain versus one-termer Obama, and then after the one term is up, the country will fall desperately for the other party.
So, if I have waited thorough the current disaster for two terms, I guess I can hold out for one more term to see an effective Democrat in the oval office. In four more years, we may actually get an effective Congressional majority for the new Democratic President in 2012.
Of course, if somehow Obama finds a way to trash McCain as much as he has Hillary Clinton, and wins the general election, then we will probably have at least a decade more of Republican presidents.
Maybe older voters do not want to wait that long, and that is why they support an effective leader like Hillary Clinton. She may not be flashy and she may not be a slick campaigner, but she has the ability to lead this country.
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OK, I'll bite
I've seen the Rev. Wright thing on YouTube several times, including the longer bits of the sermon that add more (gasp) context to what he said, and I have to ask: What did he say that was so wrong?
-It has been well documented that the government was sending drugs into the black neighborhoods of this country.
-US funded-terrorism did indeed come back and bite us in the ass on 9/11.
And that's just what is well known. Considering the bullshit the US government has historically put it's black population through (including the The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment amoung many others), is it really that difficult to understand why a black man from Rev. Wright's generation would say "God damn America" when faced with hypocritical patriotism from the mouthbreathers?
What did he say that was wrong?
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Still
For Hill.
I am having second thoughts however about Obama as her vice presidential running mate. He may be too damaged politically.
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@ EMStoveken
Maybe if they get upset enough about the merely suggestive nature of their precious primary votes, they will realize the same problem we have with the general.
Nah, that'd take something much more extreme. Like for instance, a general election where (1) the candidate who lost the popular vote won the election through (2) a Supreme Court decision split along partisan lines about (3) a very questionable electoral process.
Oh, wait ...