08' presidency

[OBODAOUR]

I would definitely vote for Hillary! I think she's just what this country needs. A strong woman is long over due for prez. I also like John Edwards as well... guess we'll have to wait and see. I seen Mr Edwards in person at a democratic rally back when Kerry was running for prez.... I thought to myself.. man this guy should be running for prez not vice but we all kno how that turned out.


Peace
ObOdAoUr

[laughingwillow]

I've been meaning to make a post in this thread for a while now, but lacked the gumption until this morning....

I don't know what it is, but there's something about Hillary that doesn't sit well with me. (And this is coming from a guy who wouldn't mind seeing a female president.)

ANyway, living on this corner of the prairie has allowed us to see the various presidential candidates up-close and somewhat personally over the years, as most flock to the state to compete in our caucuses. Apparently, the race is already on. Hillary has been in town this weekend and drawing crowds where ever she stops. National news media types can be found poking their bored noses in the nooks and crannies of Iowa minutia. Shucks, even I've had breakfast at a table next to Larry King's. hehe

I was headed to Iowa City with my nephew yesterday afternoon to watch the Hawks wrestle Wisconsin when I noticed a line of black suv's being led out by a highway patrolman onto the interstate. I moved into the passing lane to make room and the next thing I knew, we were in the middle of the motorcade. Actually, I wasn't sure it even was an official procession until noticing the unmarked highway patrollman who had pulled up on my right and was motioning me by hand to get the heck out of the middle of their party. The mystery was solved this mornign when I picked up the local morning rag and read the first article about Hillaries day yesterday, including comments about her rather large motorcade and the fact that the convoy left Des Moines for Cedar Rapids in the afternoon, taking the same route we did to Iowa City and as far as I'm concerned, disrupting the flow of traffic along the way.... I'm not sure that's the image Hillary wants to give the peeps of Ioway, if'n she wants to carry this state, as we are fairly down to earth and prefer our politicians to be the same.  

Prolly the most interesting person  I've met because of the Iowa democratic caucuses was Cornel West, who was campaigning for Bill Bradley back in the day.West ended up at a friends party for Bradley one evening and I had the chance ot talk with him a little. I really admire that guy....  

Anyway, if you guys want to get in front of the candidates, the season appears to be upon us here in good old Ioway......

lw

[JRL]

Cornel West has sme kind of Sacramento connection, can't remember exactly.

[laughingwillow]

I'm pretty sure his mother was an award winning educator in the Sacramento school disctict back in the day.

lw

[laughingwillow]

....I read this morn that C West graduated from JFK? High in Sacramento.

lw

[senorsalvia]

I see Hillary as being part of the old guard Dem machine dressed in new age rhetoric....  At this juncture, I'm going for John Edwards....  Subject to change of course----sal

[cenacle]

I liked Edwards for awhile too, not my favorite but a man to watch...but then he came out with comments regarding Iran, saying "all options" are on the table...I was pretty shocked by such comments, even more so that they were made to some kind of pro-Israel group. In other words, people who won't forget such a statement since they have their own security issues with Iran.

I think waiting to see how things shake down for the next few months is a good idea, but really, it's about the War right now. None of these candidates, save those in office currently, can do a damned thing to help any of us right now...

Oh, Senor, I agree with you, Hillary definitely seems as old school DNC as there is...

[Syd]

The financial reports of 2008 Presidential candidates begin to document the underpinnings of a drive for dollars that is expected to make 2008 the nation's first billion-dollar presidential campaign. Top-tier candidates are hard at work courting wealthy political enthusiasts who can deliver scores of thousand-dollar donors.

[senorsalvia]

Yo Syd,,,   Have  you heard any info concerning George Soros (sp?) and how he's gonna use his finances during the upcoming run to the Preziduncey??

[Stonehenge]

If Hillary got elected then the BJ's in the oval office would be given by the chief executive, not received this time around

The demos are poised to blow it in 08. It looks like an easy win for the repubs, I'm sorry to say. On the demo side it's either going to be Hill or Obama, neither of whom can win. The country is not ready for an inexperienced black man or an inexperienced woman with her background. Not that a black or woman can't win, just that neither of these is right at this moment. Doesn't anyone remember the rosewood law firm and the records that vanished and reappeared by magic? What about her support of the Iraq war? And don't forget her desire to nationalize health insurance. Her main qualification is that she put up with slick willie for all those years.

The election I'd hate to see is any Bush vs Hill-billy. But, that might mean a resurgence for the Greens or Libertarians since a lot of other people would feel the same way. 08 is already in the repubs pocket. They just have to decide amongst themselves who is going to get it.

[cenacle]

Democratic Hopefuls Show Political Heft
By David Broder, Washington Post Staff Writer

Published Friday, April 27, 2007 by The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

ORANGEBURG, S.C., April 26 -- In the final minute of Thursday night's televised Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware was asked by NBC's Brian Williams if he saw anybody on stage, aside possibly from himself, who could lead the party to victory next year.

"I see a bunch of winners," Biden replied, gallantly singling out Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) for special praise.

Biden may be biased, but the overall impression from the first formal debate from this early-starting campaign is that the Democrats have a field of contenders that, by any historical measure, matches in quality any the party has offered in decades.

At least six of the eight declared candidates -- Biden, Clinton, Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.), former senator John Edwards (N.C.) and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson -- showed themselves to be both substantive and direct in their responses. The other two, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (Ohio) and former senator Mike Gravel (Alaska), provided a counterpoint of left-wing ideas that drew rebukes for a lack of seriousness from Biden and Obama. The challenges from the liberal flank allowed almost all the others to assert that, despite their criticisms of President Bush's Iraq policy, they are ready to use military force to retaliate against future terrorist attacks.

The debate, aired nationally on MSNBC and carried by NBC stations in South Carolina, site of an early primary next winter, was fast-paced and civil, with few sharp jabs among the serious contenders.

In the segment on Iraq, all the candidates vowed to end U.S. military operations in short order -- with varying dates for withdrawal. Obama repeated his assertion that he opposed the war from the start, while Clinton -- still declining to apologize for her vote to authorize hostilities -- said that "I take responsibility" for her mistake in judgment. Edwards, who has apologized for taking the same stand as Clinton, passed up an invitation to criticize her directly for not having apologized.

There was similar unanimity of criticism of the recent Supreme Court decision to uphold the recent ban on one form of abortion, with Clinton and her male opponents saying they "trust women" to make that decision for themselves, rather than have the court make it for them.

Clinton, who is leading in some early South Carolina polls, took advantage of a question about Republicans' supposed eagerness to run against her as an opportunity to argue that if they were not worried by her candidacy, they would not spend so much time attacking her. Appropriating a theme Obama has tried to make his own, she said she is the candidate of change who Republicans most fear.

As is his custom, Obama alternated outlines of specific policies on health care and other issues with broadly worded appeals for a new spirit of bipartisanship.

Edwards, who won South Carolina's 2004 primary, made a point of reminding viewers that this is his native state.

But for all the pre-primary attention focused on those three, it was by no means clear at the end of 90 minutes that they are any more effective advocates of the Democratic cause than Dodd, Richardson or Biden. The field seems both talented and evenly balanced.

In one section, when Williams warned the candidates that he would focus on their vulnerable points, Edwards conceded that it had been a "mistake" to use campaign funds for a $400 haircut. And he struggled to explain how his work as counsel to a hedge fund was consistent with his emphasis on combating poverty. But Clinton came to his rescue by praising the New York-based investment firms as examples of the nation's entrepreneurial spirit.

In the same section, Richardson acknowledged that he had delayed calling for Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales's resignation because of his sympathy for a fellow Hispanic. And Obama brushed off, without a detailed explanation, his relationship with a Chicago political fundraiser who is facing criminal charges.

Dodd, who has been in office longer than any of the other candidates, said it is true that he has accepted money from interest groups but insisted that he is a longtime advocate of public financing of campaigns.

But it was Biden, a supposed long shot, who got the best of Williams. The moderator said that critics have condemned Biden's garrulousness and called him a "gaffe machine."

"Can you assure voters you have the discipline to be president?" he asked.

"Yes," Biden said, smiling, as the NBC newsman paused, waiting for more. As the silence continued, Williams shrugged, as if to concede he had been had.

[cenacle]

I don't have a favorite yet, and am not sure at this point there are a great many differences to be seen among the front-runners, Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. I'd like to see them wrangle some more and see who rises over the rest.

[VajraPirate]

Ron Paul '08!!

If it has to be a republican, it better be him.


Bill Richardson, I wouldn't mind voting for either, but he's a dem.



Stoney, I hope and pray to God, that you are wrong.

[Bushpig]

diff sides of the same coin folks, it's all a scam


Boooshig