Tag: 2008

Bob Barr

Post author By David
Post date April 11, 2008
6 Comments on Bob Barr

Warning: Undefined array key "adf" in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 69

Warning: Undefined array key "sim_pages" in /home4/hpvcxhmy/public_html/wp-content/plugins/similarity/similarity.php on line 70

Unless you are an active participant in the Libertarian Party, this is probably the first and last time you will hear that Bob Barr is exploring a run for President in 2008. Why do I bother to mention it – because I was bored.

I got an email as part of an email list I didn’t know existed with the announcement about Mr. Barr. As soon as I located the way to unsubscribe I visited the campaign website. I decided to write about it because of how familiar some of the features were – they looked like they had been lifted off of the Ron Paul website. Some of the widgets he had looked like leftovers from the Mike Huckabee website. It turns out that the firm that designed Bob Barr’s site also designed Ron Paul’s site. (I have no information on who designed the Huckabee website.)

Unless Obama is convicted in October of having McCain assassinated in September there is no way we will be hearing about Barr in November. If he, or any other third party candidate, gets into any debates he will be largely ignored as every minor candidate is (as determined by the media) during each debate where they are allowed a backstage pass – I mean a place at the debate.

Tags 2008, national candidates

National

Really Inevitable

Of all the things that we don’t know about the outcome of this year’s election there is one outcome that would be dependable. If Clinton is elected we will see more news like this. Those who vehemently dislike the Clintons will continue to make comments that most of us consider inappropriate. When they do we can also be sure the Clintons will never let any slight pass unchallenged.

I’m fairly certain that David Shuster meant to elicit a reaction from viewers but did not mean any particular offense towards any of the Clintons. I don’t mean to suggest that his comments were appropriate, but the only apology that might be acceptable to the New York Senator would be an unequivocal endorsement from MSNBC (and even that might not be enough).

The thing we know for certain is that another Clinton term would mean years of investigations and acrimony in Washington guaranteeing that nothing useful gets accomplished. No other candidate would produce such a predictable response from the country.

Tags 2008, Clinton, national candidates

National

Keeping the Race Alive

Ever since Romney ended his bid for the Republican nomination I have seen much commentary on how Huckabee would need to end his bid soon to preserve his chances at being selected as the VP on the McCain ticket. I have seen one article suggesting the reverse. The logic is interesting and plausible:

How can a longer primary campaign good for Mr. McCain? So long as it’s civil, it keeps him in the news as a winner in Republican primaries, and provides a forum for Mr. McCain to continue traveling the country and spreading his message in a relaxed, unthreatening political environment. Think of it as the heavyweight boxing champion drawing TV coverage for workouts with his sparring partner. . .

And why would Mike Huckabee want to run such a friendly campaign? Because he knows all this, and would like to spend the next few weeks building the case for his selection as John McCain’s vice presidential nominee.

Tags 2008, national candidates, Republican

culture life

Polls Are Open

“I Voted”

If you are registered and you haven’t yet – do. If you have already – encourage others to vote as well.

Tags 2008, civic participation, primaries

National

The Real Standings

I can’t stand the way that the media has been talking up the Republican race is if it’s McCain’s to lose. The facts point to a race that is far from decided and less favorable to McCain than the news lets on. The current delegate counts are 97 for McCain and 92 for Romney with 1191 needed to win the nomination. It’s also rather pitiful to read the professions of the Huckabee campaign that they are in a close race with the front runners – they have 29 delegates.

Of the 8 nominating contests so far the results for each of the 4 remaining candidates are:

McCain
- 3 wins
- two 2nd place finishes
- one each of 3rd, 4th, and 6th place
- delegates from 5 of the states
Romney
- 4 wins
- three 2nd place finishes
- one 4th place
- delegates from 6 of the states
Huckabee
- 1 win
- one 2nd place finish
- two 3rds, three 4ths, and one 5th place finish
- delegates from 5 of the states
Paul
- one each of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th place
- four 5th place finishes
- delegates from 2 of the states

Don’t be fooled by the message of the media – Romney has every bit as good a chance at the nomination as McCain if not better. And don’t be fooled by the bravado of Huckabee – his best opportunity is to be a spoiler for Romney (those who still support him are unlikely to support McCain).

Tags 2008, media, primaries, Republican

culture

Confusing Parties and Family Values

Post author By David
Post date February 4, 2008
No Comments on Confusing Parties and Family Values

I have long thought it rather incongruous that the party of the "values voter" (the GOP) was offering all the candidates with horrendous personal histories related to family values while the party favored by those who seem intent on eliminating any traditional definition of family offered candidates with relatively clean personal lives in the family values department. I decided to do some research to see if this was a matter of gut-reaction, media coverage, or just plain reality.

Among the Republicans it has been fairly well covered that Giuliani was on his third marriage after a variety of extra-marital affairs, that Thompson was quite publicly a philanderer between his two marriages, and that Gingrich (who narrowly decided not to run) was having an affair that would end the second of his three marriages while he was prosecuting Bill Clinton for an affair that failed to end his marriage. Virtually nothing has been said about the extra-marital activities of McCain that ended his first marriage.

Among the Democrats I vaguely recalled that Biden was on his second marriage after his first wife died in a car crash. So a second marriage with a sterling personal history. I also remembered that Kucinich was married to a wife half his age – turns out this is his third marriage. To be fair to all the candidates I looked at those who I had no indication of having any reputation for familial instability and discovered that Dodd is in his second marriage. While Clinton seems to have a sound record personally on marriage there is always the specter of her husband to scare away any expectation of a scandal free term in the white house on those grounds.

This is not intended to malign any of the candidates – it was really a fact check against the gut reaction. Like most other people I believe each person has the ability to change their habits and lives but it was disturbing that so many of the Republican candidates had rocky marital histories while so few of the democrats did. It was also disturbing to see how much more was made of the personal failings of those Republican candidates when nothing was said of similar situations for democratic candidates (Dodd and Thompson have eerily similar marital histories but only Thompson’s history was ever mentioned that I can recall.)

If GOP voters really believe in family values it would be hard to tell based on many of the leaders that are coming forward for the party.

Tags 2008, national candidates

National

Primary Season

The New York Times has a prime example of voters approaching elections the wrong way:

Senator John McCain has long aroused almost unanimous opposition from the leaders of the right. Accusing him of crimes against conservative orthodoxy like voting against a big tax cut and opposing a federal ban on same-sex marriage, conservative activists have agitated for months to thwart his Republican presidential primary campaign.

That, however, was before he emerged this week as the party’s front-runner.

Since his victory in the Florida primary, the growing possibility that Mr. McCain may carry the Republican banner in November is causing anguish to the right. Some, including James C. Dobson and Rush Limbaugh, say it is far too late for forgiveness.

But others, faced with the prospect of either a Democrat sitting in the White House or a Republican elected without them, are beginning to look at Mr. McCain’s record in a new light.

Once the parties have chosen their nominees (meaning not yet) it is important for voters who lean toward one party or another to look at the candidate for their chosen party and decided if that candidate represents them enough to earn their vote. The problem in the above example is that this should not be happening before the nominee is chosen. During the primary elections is the nest time to go vote your conscience. That is the time to speak up and cast your vote for someone you can support. If the eventual nominee was not someone you could support in the primaries then it is time to take another look and decide if they might be “good enough.”

Settling for good enough too early is what leads to elections where 60% of voters feel like they are choosing the lesser of two evils when they go to the ballot box.

I don’t have to hate John McCain (and I don’t) to oppose him in the primary election. He does not represent me close enough to earn my primary vote. That does not mean that I could not vote for him in November if he is the nominee (that depends on who his opponent is) but my vote is wasted if I give up now. If I vote for the front runner in the primary contest when only 10% of the delegates have been awarded merely because they are the front runner then I am guilty of letting other people choose how I will vote. If I am not going to choose how I vote then I have no business participating in the political process.

Tags 2008, McCain, primaries

National

A Voters Guide

I know everyone has been waiting anxiously for me to offer a voters guide to Utah’s presidential primary next week. Here it is.

First and most importantly – go vote. Even if you have no particular interest in politics you should get into the habit of participating in this “government by the people.”

Second – if you are going to vote you need to pick a single candidate because we don’t have instant runoff voting. For those who still need to pick a candidate – here are your four candidates and two dividing issues to help you choose. (If you don’t want to vote for one of these four you should have already made your choice.)

The two choice issues are party compatibility and change vs status quo.

If you prefer the Republican view your choices are Mitt Romney or John McCain. If you lean Democratic you may choose Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton. If you want to see a change you can choose Mitt Romney or Barack Obama (not that the change of mitt Romney is the same change as you would find with Barack Obama). If you like the status quo you can select John McCain or Hillary Clinton. So now, in alphabetical order, here are the individual candidates and what they offer.

Hillary Clinton – she would bring all the advantages of having a woman in power (I don’t see what advantages are related to one gender over the other, but that’s what she offers). Her baggage includes her husband who has demonstrated a willingness to insert himself into the public discussion and a penchant for breeding divisiveness (as if we didn’t have enough divisiveness already). Hillary not only represents the status quo, but she guarantees – by virtue of her name – that most of the country won’t leave the partisan rancor that we have seen for more than a decade.

John McCain – he brings the advantage of serving 26 years in federal office. He knows how our political system currently works. His baggage is that he has spent 26 years in Washington D.C. Chances are pretty good that he has friends there who are invested in keeping the current system.

Barack Obama – he has the advantage of not serving 26 years in federal office. He also has an impressive ability to inspire people and look towards the future. His baggage is that “he doesn’t have enough experience.” He has been a U.S. Senator for only four years. I’m not sure why the senate is such a guaranteed training ground for a president other than it gets you close to the action to know how things work. It seems to me that if you can’t figure it out within four years I have no confidence that you can figure it out in 8 years, or 26 years either. By the way, I think that the way Barack Obama canceled his campaign appearance in deference to president Hinckley’s funeral and personally offered his condolences to President Monson was very dignified. Many candidates would have simply expected a smaller crowd or silently called of their event.

Mitt Romney – he has the advantage of a wide variety of experience with positions of authority and no excess of experience in government. His baggage is that some people don’t trust him, some people associate him with the current administration (based on party affiliation), and some people dislike him for both of the preceding reasons.

There you have it. Make your choice. I think it’s obvious that I favor change over the status quo. I hope you do too. It would be a nice change if we had high voter turnout on Tuesday.

Tags 2008, national candidates, primaries

National State

And Then There Were Two (Each)

Post author By David
Post date January 29, 2008
No Comments on And Then There Were Two (Each)

The results of Florida’s primary have functionally whittled the Republican field to two candidates. no longer is there the possibility that Giuliani will suddenly jump back into the front runners circle. No matter what other candidates may hang around there are really only two candidates among the Republicans – Romney and McCain – who have a reasonable expectation of getting the nomination. Similarly, the Democrats buried any hopes of Edwards rising as a contender after his dismal third place finish in South Carolina leaving only two candidates – Obama and Clinton – with any legitimate shot at the nomination.

It’s time to start pushing for Obama here in Utah since there is no Republican contest in Utah’s primary.

Tags 2008, national candidates, primaries

National

Uncommitted in Michigan

In case this election cycle was not convoluted enough already we now get to approach the Michigan primary. The combination of having an open primary and having the DNC strip the delegates from Michigan for moving their primary into January meant that we faced the prospect of Democrats in Michigan voting in the Republican primary which does nothing to make the Republican contest any clearer. All the major Democratic candidates promised not to campaign in Michigan and Obama and Edwards went so far as to leave their names off the ballot in Michigan so the only major choice on the Democratic ballot there is Clinton. Now comes the news that Obama and Edwards are encouraging their supporters in Michigan to vote “Uncommitted” rather than allow Clinton to sweep that state.

From the sound of things, having all their delegates stripped by the DNC does not actually indicate that they have no delegates. I’d love for someone to explain how that works for me, but NPR reported that if “Uncommitted” receives 15% or more in a district then those delegates could later support Obama or Edwards.

If Michigan Democrats take this course there would be more confidence in the Republican results there. If they don’t then it really makes you wonder how satisfying this “victory” would be for Clinton. It reminds me of the Iraqi elections under Saddam Hussein – Mr. President-for-Life just loved getting 99.9 – 100% support as the only candidate on the ballot with citizens being required to “participate.”

Tags 2008, delegates, primaries