Politics
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Palin the tethered goat
It seems to me that the McCain campaign is using Sarah Palin to draw out the worst of the democratic leaning population, which will cause the not that interested voter to associate the Obama campaign with the Move-On/Cindy Sheehan crowd, and hence be turned to Obama. Pretty clever.
On another note, isn’t Palin a wonderful blank canvas on which people can project their hopes and desires? She’s the equal of Obama in that regard.
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Palin!
Via the Agitator – I bring you VPILF.com!
And I now coin the term “McCain’s other trophy wife” which the Dems will start using in approximately fifteen minutes.
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Col. Lang on the VeepStakes
His argumentation is logical, passionate and usually (unlike the occasion mentioned,) delivered behind a screen of civility spread across a vast hostility.
Petraeus is youthful, well spoken, handsome, intelligent, successful in the war in Iraq, youthful, and youthful. Petraeus has reached the top in his profession. There is no “up” in the Army from full general and theater commander. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Yawn… The professional politicians would probably not like to have Petraeus on the ticket, but his presence there would make victory inevitable.
My money’s still on Meg Whitman as the veep choice.
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The agitator brings the Biden pain
Biden’s record on other criminal justice and civil liberties issues is just as bad. Opponents of the federalization of crime might note that the 1994 crime bill he sponsored created several new federal capital offenses. Biden also wants to expand federal penalties for hate crimes. He supports a federal smoking ban. His position on the federal drinking age is, and I quote, “absolutely do not” lower it to 18. He believes “most violent crime is related to drugs” (if he had said “drug prohibition,” he’d be closer to the truth). Biden also has an almost perfect anti-gun voting record. He said last year he favors “universal national service,” either in the Peace Corps or the military. Sounds like conscription to me. He says he’s opposed to the PATRIOT Act, but he voted for both the original bill and its re-authorization in 2005.
Foreign policy? Biden voted for the war on Iraq. Yes, he’s opposed to it now (and I like the partition plan he pushed in the primaries). But he didn’t vote correctly when it counted most. Biden also voted to send troops into Darfur. He wants to enlarge NATO. He voted in favor of the air strikes in Kosovo. He voted to strengthen the trade embargo against Cuba. His seems to be a meddling, interventionist, Clinton-esque foreign policy. His first instinct seems to be that the U.S. military’s objective include some vague notion of “doing good in the world.” Never mind the disastrous consequences that notion has reaped over the years.
I obviously disagree with Biden on a host of economic and regulatory issues, too (though he does seem to be fairly decent on free trade). But that’s to be expected. My problem with Biden is that he’s not even good on the issues the left is supposed to be good on. He’s an overly ambitious, elitist, tunnel-visioned, Potomac-fevered Beltway dinosaur, with all the trappings. He may well have been the worst possible pick among congressional Democrats when it comes to the drug war and criminal justice.
Meg Whitman seems like a more obvious choice now.
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Random insight from the ride back: Modern politics
The Bush administration has been like a movie version of a Jimmy Carter book, starring Steven Seagal, and lasting eight years.
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Here’s a first
I actually donated money to a political candidate for the first time in my life. Go Barr!bob
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McCain’s first wife
Check out this story about McCain’s first wife. Oddly, the hero of the tale is Ross Perot; a crazy nut, but a classy guy.
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The Libertarian candidates
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The amazing McCain
According the the wonderful site, Electoral-Vote.com, Clinton (who won’t be the nominee) beats McCain 280-241 in the electoral college, whereas Obama loses to McCain 237-290. Granted, it’s quite early, but it’s amazing nonetheless.
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Helpful profane campaign slogans
Contains some profanity, which makes it not safe for work if you work in uptight places.