Debate part 2

Another question has arisen that will allow the candidates to criticize themselves…..Will anyone take the bait and fess up?  Edwards uses the opportunity to again apologize for his vote on the war.  Clinton expresses regret for that war, given the misuse of power by Pres. Bush.  Dodd regrets not filibustering the Military Commissions Act last year.

Incentive pay for teachers:  This is a tough issue for me.  I agree that teachers are valuable and deserve a good salary.  How does a teacher earn that incentive pay?  Is it based on the testing the students?  If so, teachers changing the answers on their students’ bubble sheets would create a problem.  I am not bashing on teachers, but this activity does go on.

Richardson proposes a minimum wage for teachers.  Clinton talks about early education through more access to pre-kindergarten and Head Start.

Biden:  If you want to know what someone values, just look at the budget.  It’s time we start valuing our teachers

Decisive Moment in your life:

Kucinich:  Living with his family is their car

Obama: Transition from high school to college.  I didn’t have a relationship with my father.

Biden:  Involvement with Civil Rights movement.

Richardson:  Getting married…..35 years of marriage.  9-11 inspired me to get back into public life

Gravel:  Did not answer the question as best I can tell

Edwards:  Father worked in Mill, didn’t go to college.  He learned to fight for those less fortunate.

Dodd:  Joining the Peace Corps after inspiration of JFK

Clinton:  Womens Rights and Civil Rights movement made it possible for her to be on the stage.  Her mother instill her with a can-do attitude.

And that’s a wrap.

The top 3 went into the debate in a 3 way tie for first in Iowa, according to an ABC News poll.  I don’t see how this debate offers much separation.

Iowa’s still going to be tight.  Clinton maintains her national lead.

Sunday Morning Debate

The debate is underway……as is always noted, Sen. Clinton is wearing a camel colored suit instead of the usual bright colors……..on to the highlights…..

Dodd is taking on the comments of Obama regarding Pakistan once again, which roles nicely into  highlight of his experience on Capitol Hill.

Richardson:  Obama represents change.  Clinton has experience.  “With me, you have both!”  Nice line, it drew laughter instead of applause though!

The nuclear controversy is brought to Sen. Clinton:  She has led herself into a campaign against hypotheticals.

In a discussion about nuclear weapons and terrorism, Edwards jumps in and starts by saying, “How about a little hope and optimism?”   hmmmmmm…..I don’t think I like that one.

Sen Gravel:  Cheney “should be committed.”  Looks like he got his laugh against this morning.

Obama:  If Clinton wins the primary, she will win the general……..  I know he wanted to be careful in saying she can’t win, but this isn’t a good admission on his part.

Edwards:  If the Democrats are the party of status quo, we will lose in ‘08……..I think this is better worded than Obama’s response.  Any strategy against Clinton needs to conclude that she is unelectable.  If not, she cruises to victory.

Clinton:  I am a proven winner.  I have taken on the right wing machine before.  Of course my negatives are high as a result, but I’ve come out on top.

Richardson:  We must have all our troops out, all of them! Residual forces will not allow for peace talks…….It’s worth noting that Richardson dropped his 6 month, controversial timetable this morning.

Scratch that……..In his rebuttal, Richardson noted that an ABC News war expert says that 6 to 8 months is doable.  Biden says it would take 1 years.   Who do you believe?

Clinton:  We were attacked on the way in, we will be attacked on the way out.  Richardson’s timetable is too quick.  We must use severe care in leaving to minimize further American casualties.

Richardson:  If any troops are left, aren’t they even more susceptible to attack?  Thats why we must get them all out.

Biden:  We must separate the 3 groups, Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds……..As usual, Biden demonstrates his vast knowledge of foreign relations.

Obama:  I am the one who didn’t vote to authorize this war.  We cannot give Pres. Bush a blank check to continue this war…………..Didn’t Obama vote for funding?

Obama always tries to say how he didn’t vote to authorize the war.  He has the luxury of not being in the Senate at the time.  However, once again, Kucinich one-ups him by saying that not only did he not vote for the war, he also has not voted to fund the war.

Obama comes to Iowa and criticizes farm subsidies!!  He is making the point that small family farms are hurt by them.

Fifty-five minutes in and we are to the first commercial…… I wonder which candidate’s tv ads are playing on the television sets of Iowa right now.

Enough is Enough for Obama

Through a campaign spokesman, Obama announced that he will not be participating in any more debates, outside of the 5 remaining officially sanctioned Democratic Party debates.  Five more debates seems like a reasonable amount.  Obama says the reason for him saying enough is enough is that he just does not have enough time to fit any more into his schedule.

Steven Stark of the Boston Phoenix offers a different perspective.  Each time Obama appears on stage with the other six or seven candidates, he loses more and more of his fresh, new appeal.  He becomes just another candidate fighting the overwhelming lead of Sen. Hillary Clinton.

Why isn’t Obama doing better in the debates?  Of course there are some commentators who say Obama has won a debate or two, the the typical reaction is that Sen. Clinton went into the debate with the lead and left the debate with the lead.  Stark also notes that Obama is suffering from a gang of opposition, like when Biden and Dodd criticize him on foreign policy.  Stark suggests that the reason for this is that Biden and Dodd are campaigning for spots in the Clinton Administration.  Another reason, one I believe to be more accurate, is that Dodd and Biden share Clinton’s extensive experience in foreign relations and are unwilling to offer threats towards Pakistan, or lay down for other hostile leaders.

I know that the current climate favors the anti-Washington and the anti-Establishment, but lets not confuse the Bush Administration with the entire Washington Establishment.  Experience and competence matter.  If we haven’t learned that by now, I don’t know when we will.

The next debate is Sunday, Aug. 19th at 9 a.m. on ABC.  Will Sen. Clinton continue to lead the pack?  That is certainly my guess.

Cheney: 1994 and 2002

By now, I am sure everyone has seen Cheney’s remarks in 1994 regarding the decision to not topple Saddam Hussein in the first Gulf War. To summarize, he stated that without Saddam, outside forces would be eager to take over parts of Iraq. Syria would come in from one side, Iran from the other. In the north, the Iraqi Kurds could potentially band with Turkish Kurds and attempt to create their own state, “threatening the territorial integrity of Turkey.” In a word, Iraq would be a quagmire.

Today, Cheney supporters are quick to point out that 2002 was a whole different world than the one we lived in in 1994. After Sept. 11, 2001, the world changed, and Cheney’s views of the world changed as well. That is a fair point, one that I will concede to the Cheney crowd.

However, the real story here is about the case the administration made in selling the War to the American People. Cheney said that we would be greeted as liberators. Clearly, he knew this was false. Our role in the world may have changed after 9-11, but that change did not include a mass conversion of the Iraqi people. This is the real problem that the 1994 video showcases.

More retirements

White House Press Secretary, Tony Snow says he is not leaving his post yet, but will not last through the duration of the President’s term.  Usually, when a Washington politico resigns, he/she does so to “spend more time with family.”  However, Secretary Snow says he will stay on until he runs out of money.  If you are curious just what kind of financial strain he is under, the Washington Post reports that Snow is one of 17 top advisors to the President who earned $165,200 in 2006.

I know Washington is an expensive city to live in, and Snow may have more than one home to pay for, but $165,200 is a pretty nice salary.  Along with that, he has the best health care around and most likely a wealthy stock portfolio.

With Washington Insiders struggling to live off of six figures, one would think that more empathy would be given to the majority of Americans who make their lives with much less.

Time for Retirement

The Election is 15 months away, but its never to early to take a look at who’s leaving the race.

In Illinois, 2 Republican Congressmen are set to step down:  Dennis Hastert and Ray LaHood.

In Mississippi, Congressman Chip Pickering has confirmed that he will not seek re-election.

From Ohio, Congresswoman Deborah Pryce signaled her intentions to leave her seat.

Who else will join them?  Republican Congressman Vern Ehlers, R-MI, is not getting any younger and may not want to put up with anti war protesters showing up at his home in Grand Rapids, MI too much longer.

The Bourne Ultimatum: Anti-American?

As an interested campaign observer, I am sitting here watching Mitt Romney on Fox News, backtracking on his Massachusetts Health Care plan and attempt to portray Barack Obama as anti-American. During the comercial, I caught an advertisement for tomorrow’s edition of The O’Reilly Factor.

He asks the question, is the new movie, The Bourne Ultimatum, anti-American? What kind of debate will this possibly be? First, it is a movie. Second, it’s rated R, meaning it’s intended for those aged 17 and above, meaning that all viewers know the difference between reality and a movie. Third, I assume that the case for this movie being anti-American is because is included a secret government agency that assassinates political opponents around the world. Further, it portrays the leadership in the organization as being reckless in their pursuit to kill Bourne and those he comes in contact with. However, the movie also includes a character in the agency who stands up to the injustice and sheds light on the secret program. Certainly,our country conducts covert CIA actions. We know for a fact our country has engaged in assassination attempts around the world.

It seems that the movie is very American! More importantly, its a movie. I know there are pundits out there who want to lump Hollywood with Democrats and liberals, but this is just not fair or accurate.

I’ve seen the entire Bourne trilogy. It is an entertaining series of movies, very fast paced and action packed. When making the movies, I am entirely convince that all involved people were interested in making a good movie that would attract a large audience and bring in a large profit. To say they intended to attack America is nothing more than another ridiculous comment from the mouth of Dennis Miller.

Update:   So…..I tuned in to watch.  It was basically another segment to bash on celebrities.  Bill says that while he knows that its just a movie, Pakistanis won’t understand and will think worse of America….hmmmmmm.

Another campaign casualty

With the Ames Straw Poll behind us, Tommy Thompson has ended his failed presidential campaign.  Thompson is a 4- time governor of Wisconsin and held the position of Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush.

Thompson was never able to gain traction in the campaign.  He had no issue to justify a campaign.  Tancredo is the clear anti- illegal immigration candidate.  Duncan Hunter is a candidate for a strong military.  Brownback focuses on being the most pro-life candidate.  These candidate with little support have found a niche.  Thompson never accomplished that.

Only 2 times in this campaign have I seen someone ask a question of a candidate and been so shocked by the response that they assumed the candidate misheard the question.  First, Thompson was asked if homosexuals could be fired for being homosexual.  He responded with a yes…….only later to muddle his clear response through press releases.  Second, Gov. Richardson was asked if he believed homosexuality was a choice or a biological characteristic.  He said it was a choice……only later to muddle his clear response though press releases.  In both cases, the questioner was caught off guard by the response and repeated the question and received the same response.

That is the only campaign moment I can remember from the Tommy Thompson candidacy.  Good bye Tommy.  I would have thought you’d stick around long enough to get some of the confused support going to Fred Thompson.