Campaign 2008

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Comparisons to Zell Miller aren't going to help Lieberman.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

I think just because your a Democrat or Republican doesn't mean you can't endorse whoever you want or exercise independent thought. The major problem in the political system right now is "partisanship or nothing" that leaves little middle ground.

 

No it's not.

 

Czech, imagine if a prominent Republican politician took a position unpopular with the party base on a major issue of the day. Let's say that he favored race based affirmative action back in the 90s when that was a salient issue.

 

Now, not only does this politician favor race based affirmative action, he goes on to claim that everyone who opposes it is a knuckle dragging racist bigot (and publicly sucks up to an unpopular left wing president, and endorses liberal Democratic candidates for president). This might give you some sort of an idea of how those of us to the left feel about Holy Joe.

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Lieberman also denied being kissed by President Bush. Unfortunately for Honest Joe, the whole fucking thing is on videotape. The video probably should have been censored.

[NoCalMike 0]

Lieberman can support a Republican, but if he is going to, it would make more sense to find one that is not so conservative across the board. Maybe one like Guliani who at least has a history of some issues not falling in lock step with the conservative agenda.

 

Lieberman supports the War in Iraq, we get it, but last time I checked there isn't really any Democrat besides Kusinich claiming that they are immediately withdrawing from Iraq anyway. Of course Lieberman also supports going to war with Iran, or at least taking a hard-line stance against them, but hey, Hillary Clinton voted for the Lieberman bill regarding Iran guards being labled a terrorist organization, so again, I don't see why Lieberman necessarily has to go outside the party for support. Add to this the fact that he has a pretty liberal voting record(well at least in the past) on most other issues, so it really boggles the mind why he would want someone like McCain as the President.

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He pretty much straddled every single issue, tried to play America's Mom, and is now a Bush groupie.

 

And, again, there is ABOLUTELY NOTHING conservative about the Iraq War. How anyone can call nation building at that expense anything but liberal (remember, the neoconservative movements roots are with the LBJ Administration) is beyond me.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

On another note, Hillary got Magic Johnson to campaign for her in Iowa today. CNN is playing this up as a major shifting point in the campaign but Magic's speech was downright horrendous if you saw the whole thing. If you thought his commentary on TNT for the NBA didn't make any sense you should've seen this speech where he was confusing his lines and his punchlines came off mangled and lame. I can't fathom what impact this is going to have in the polls positive or negative.

[snuffbox 0]

Who thought that would be a good idea?

[The Robfather 0]

Someone from the Hillary campaign needs to lock Bill Clinton away. Every day, it seems, he's saying something crazy, this time some kind of proposal that he didn't run by anyone (not Hillary, not the first President Bush). It does raise the question, just who is running this campaign? hmmm

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Has anyone checked Drudge in the last several minutes? There appears to be a developing scandal involving John Edwards that he may have a love child with another woman. Granted, it looks like a National Enquirer story but the tabloids also broke the Jesse Jackson love child incident many years ago.

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Wasn't it the Enquirer that finished Gary Hart's presidential hopes?

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Wasn't it the Enquirer that finished Gary Hart's presidential hopes?

 

Yes it was. However, until this thing becomes verified I'm not buying into it. I remember when Drudge also released information on a Kerry intern affair towards the end of the Democratic campaign in 2004 that was eventually refutted.

 

If this is true, though, this is bad news for the Edwards team as they are now tied with Barack Obama in Iowa and are ahead of Hillary Clinton in the state.

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If it's true, with his wife's cancer, Edwards will be one of American history's more reviled characters.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

As a followup, I should caution that this story is not really new news. It appears that in doing an Internet search that the Enquirer broke this story back in October but it gained little traction. Also, the Enquirer is not saying that the woman's child is Edwards, just that she is pregnant.

 

I think if this causes Edwards to fall out of the race it could be a help more to Obama than to Hillary. Obama could become the focal point of anti-Hillary sentiment in the party and run with that to the nomination. It's really Hillary's best bet to have them pull support from each other right now I would assume but it's not a given that Edwards voters would reject Hillary's bandwagon either.

 

Edit: And it also appears that a Clinton ally Roger Altman, an investment banker, owns the National Enquirer. Hmm.....

[The Robfather 0]

The 'is the bookshelf a floating cross or not' debate is one of the silliest things I've seen yet.

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Jesus died. Vote for me.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Looks like part of my speculation on how McCain's candidacy may not be dead may be coming to fruition...

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Arizona Sen. John McCain has surged in New Hampshire in the past month and is now tied with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the state race for the Republican presidential nomination, a poll showed on Thursday.

 

The survey by the American Research Group found McCain, a strong backer of President George W. Bush's Iraq war strategy, had 26 percent support, up from 11 percent in a poll in late November.

 

He was tied with Romney, who had dropped 10 percentage points since the last survey.

 

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNew...=22&sp=true

 

However, McCain is under criticism for favoring a special interest group (GASP!) in crafting legislation. Looks like he's got his fighting gloves on, though, and is viciously denying the charges contrary to him not saying much when the Bush smear campaign targeted him in South Carolina in 2000.

 

 

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

I've heard some ridiculous things in this election but this one has to be up there (courtesy of the NY Daily News):

 

Elect me and oil prices instantly drop, says Hillary Clinton in Iowa

 

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Hillary Clinton predicted Saturday that just electing her President will cut the price of oil.

 

When the world hears her commitment at her inauguration about ending American dependence on foreign fuel, Clinton says, oil-pumping countries will lower prices to stifle America's incentive to develop alternative energy.

 

"I predict to you, the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil," Clinton said, speaking at the Manchester YWCA. "They will once again assume, once the cost pressure is off, Americans and our political process will recede."

 

Clinton argued that former President Jimmy Carter in the late 1970s actually started moving in the right direction toward energy independence, but his successor, Ronald Reagan, "dismantled" that work.

 

"Because costs were low, people didn't care, didn't complain," she said.

 

She warned that folks shouldn't be grateful now if oil countries cut prices from near $100 a barrel to $60 or $70, and compared it to trying to boil a frog.

 

"You put him in hot water, it jumps right out, you put him in cold water and turn up the heat - he's a goner," she said. "We've got to figure out how were going to not be the frog in the cold water anymore."

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2...-1.html?ref=rss

 

Yea, I bet OPEC is just shaking in their boots at the thought of another Clinton presidency...

 

 

[snuffbox 0]

A President could try cutting the gas tax that we all have to pay. That could relieve people of about 10-15 cents per gallon. But, empty rhetoric will have to suffice.

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

Well after reading Mrs. Clinton's comments I think what she is hitting around is making Americans pay MORE for energy so we can switch to alternatives. Her comments indicate that low prices are bad for getting off of oil (and I could see the economics of that) but it seems as if she has a plan on the backburner for increasing the gas tax or planning an individual "carbon tax" to pay for alternative energy research/production. While using a carbon tax makes economic sense I doubt that it would be politically popular and may even be a bit misguided depending on who is supposed to supervise that this money actually goes to alternative energy which surprise, surprise is the U.S. Congress who waste billions of taxpayer dollars a year regardless of which party is in control.

 

The problem I'm most worried about on the horizon isn't healthcare, Iraq, or even energy. Instead, I'm worried about this credit crunch and the negative impacts it could have on the global economy.

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There are more and more predictions of our economic situation reaching (or even surpassing) the level during the Depression. This is George W. Bush's second major economic crisis, not to mention the deficit, etc.

 

We need Experienced Republican Leadership more than ever!

[Danville_Wrestling 0]

There are more and more predictions of our economic situation reaching (or even surpassing) the level during the Depression. This is George W. Bush's second major economic crisis, not to mention the deficit, etc.

 

We need Experienced Republican Leadership more than ever!

 

Yes, I have seen those predictions but consider some of them to be a bit extreme although a financial crisis in an age where our currency is fiated and not backed by gold anymore is scary on many levels. The place where the crisis is at its worst is in the banking sector because investors are fearing how much the mortgage meltdown has affected banks are unwilling to provide them with additional capital. There is a major economic correction due, that is apparent and the next administration will be forced to handle that.

 

However, it would be helpful if the U.S. Congress and the President would actually balance the budget like every normal American has to do in their home. A major problem is all of the entitlement programs are championed by the left and the all the defense programs are championed by the right with everyone thinking they have a "right" to the spending in the budget.

 

I am hoping that the end result of this credit crunch is a correction of the way financial systems operate but also some serious cutbacks in our nation's budget of things we cannot afford. Will that be painful? Absolutley but someone has to stand up and make the cuts. Unfortunately, though, I don't forsee any politicians who are bold enough to do that as we now have polticians championing more intervention that would harm the marketplace (such as limiting home foreclosures) or championing protectionism (which also played a role in worsening the Great Depression).

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http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/articles/2...3c100054e2b.txt

 

More from Fred Thompson's joke-campaign.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Well after reading Mrs. Clinton's comments I think what she is hitting around is making Americans pay MORE for energy so we can switch to alternatives. Her comments indicate that low prices are bad for getting off of oil (and I could see the economics of that) but it seems as if she has a plan on the backburner for increasing the gas tax or planning an individual "carbon tax" to pay for alternative energy research/production. While using a carbon tax makes economic sense I doubt that it would be politically popular and may even be a bit misguided depending on who is supposed to supervise that this money actually goes to alternative energy which surprise, surprise is the U.S. Congress who waste billions of taxpayer dollars a year regardless of which party is in control.

 

The problem I'm most worried about on the horizon isn't healthcare, Iraq, or even energy. Instead, I'm worried about this credit crunch and the negative impacts it could have on the global economy.

A little local news, but the mention of a carbon tax is interesting here in MD because the fucking Democratic Governor OMalley just raised taxes across the board (sales tax up to 6%, 4 income tax brackets instead of 1, an 8.25% corporate income tax up from 7%, $1 increase in cigarette tax) to cover a "structural budget deficit" (Read.."we're not getting enough of Marylanders money to cover all the money we want to spend, so instead of spending less we'll tax more!"). Well, apparently theres another "structural budget deficit" looming in 2010, and with little way to increase those taxes any more (Corporate and Cigarette taxes are now in the top 5 highest in the country) and a lot of state money riding on Marylanders passing the slots referendum in November, I do believe I heard the first rumblings of a state carbon tax that will soon be coming down the pipeline in Maryland, probably in the name of Maryland taking a stand on Global Warming or something completely stupid. So it wouldn't surprise me that the Presidential Democrat candidates are thinking the same thing.

 

I was looking up stats on Carbon taxes and it seems the standard is $100 per ton, so that would mean a tax of about $.90 per gallon of gas, and it would also raise costs of coal, natural gas, diesel fuel and electricity since they all generate carbon emissions as well.

 

 

 

 

[EricMM 0]

I do believe I heard the first rumblings of a state carbon tax that will soon be coming down the pipeline in Maryland, probably in the name of Maryland taking a stand on Global Warming or something completely stupid. So it wouldn't surprise me that the Presidential Democrat candidates are thinking the same thing.

 

w00t w00t!

 

*bows*

[Perfxion 0]

Why are you happy that a bunch of people will end up paying 25% more per fill-up of gas? So someone living on a $8.50 to $10.00 an hour wage has to pinch their money even more just to get to and from work?

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Martin O' Malley will probably be a Democratic candidate for President in 2012 or 16.

[EricMM 0]

You really need to ask me why I'm in favor of a carbon tax???

 

Really?

[Guest My Pal, the Tortoise]

Why are you happy that a bunch of people will end up paying 25% more per fill-up of gas?

Because he's retarded. We know this.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

Wisconsin better not look at a "carbon tax". We already have enough damn taxes built into our state mandated gasoline prices already.

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The new one-dollar-a-pack tobacco tax will hopefully be enough for us.