Saturday, May 31, 2008

Hilary Clinton proves the worst about herself

For years before Hilary officially ran for the Dem nomination, I contended that her negatives were too high with the radical right for her to win a general election. (that is of course before the "other choice" became a black man and the far right GOP and Bushies embraced Clinton b/c apparently she's better than a black man in office). When they hated Hilary they claimed she was power hungry and didn't care about making America better as much as she wanted the power and in her efforts to win the Delegates of Florida and Michigan, this side of her has come out.

She and the other candidates agreed not to campaign in Mich/Fla b/c they knowingly broke the rules of the DNC and were warned of the consequences. By not running there, she agreed that they broke the rules, so she can't claim ignorance. The fact that she didn't remove her name from the ballot while others did, is now used by her to claim she has some right to all the delegates and that is extremely distasteful and shows a lack of principle on her part.

She is shouting about disenfranchisement, when she knew in January that this was going to happen when the states violated party rules. Now, that she is losing she has decided that the rules should be changed now to benefit her, even though she agreed to them when she looked like the winner and that is very sad and shows a thirst for power over principle.

I've always liked Hilary, but in this campaign she has reinforced to me what the Clinton-haters used to say...she is power hungry. It appears that she will pander(shots anyone?) and change her principles when it's politically expedient. We've had 8 years of abandoning principle for the sake of securing power, we don't need that any longer.

Michigan and Florida Dem Parties "disenfranchised" their states, not the DNC, not Obama. And lets not forget this isn't "an election", the selection of a nominee is a party matter. The use of Super Delegates, Caucuses and various backroom deals through the years in all parties should make it clear that this is not "an election", it's a party matter. Directly electing the nominee is probably a good thing for the party, but they don't even do that today. The winner of the popular vote is not guaranteed the nomination, which is why there are delegates and super delegates. No one is "disenfranchised" in Florida or Michigan and if Hilary had class and principle she would stop claiming that is happening.

Frankly the DNC should stick to their guns and not seat a single delegate from either state. That is what was threatened, that is what was agreed to and the rules of the game shouldn't change because your team is losing.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

America is great IN SPITE of fundementalism and fear of change

This was sent in response to an email about some guy who wishes he lived in the 1950's. Specifically about the California same sex marriage decision.

Everything great that America ever achieved happened by the force of will of free-thinkers challenging the status quo. The Bushies would have you believe in these supposed "American values" of hating change and social evolution (as well as being educated). Fortunately this desire to preserve the status quo has been overridden by those willing to make change happen.
It's those Intelligent open-minded challengers of the status quo that have made America great, while the GOP wants to claim that "real Americans" are those that embrace stasis and hate education. Again, fortunately it's the stupid, lazy and closed-minded that are cast to the dustbin of history.

In a word, "Progress".

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Myth of Voter Fraud

The whole political philosophy of the Bushies is based on these myths. The myth of illegal immigrants voting en masse, the welfare mother who has 8 kids so she can get more money, Mexicans stealing jobs from hard working Americans (doing the jobs you wouldn’t do when you lose your job), gay people “recruiting”, suppression of a vast Christian majority in America…on and on it goes.

Just because you continually claim “everybody knows” to make yourself feel less detached from reality, doesn’t make it real. Saying that “people are smarter than this” is another of your rhetorical ticks. “Most people” don’t read newspapers, most people don’t know where Canada is on a map. Most people don’t know shit about voter fraud. But they believe the lies spread by politicians.

They are the imagined bogeymen of the fear mongers and you eat it up. I guess it makes sense b/c the Bushies have spent nearly 8 years trying to scare you into every single thing they want to have happen. Living is fear is a hell of way to live, especially when the fears are not based on the real world.