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Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
From the LA Weekly News. Story here. Link from Drudge.

Jeremy Bernard thinks he has been sucked into a time warp. Only five months ago, he was sitting shoulder to shoulder with U.S. Senator Barack Obama in the back of a black SUV, speeding through West Hollywood on Santa Monica Boulevard, talking about the fine points of gay and lesbian federal legislation. An hour later, the Democratic presidential candidate was hitting every detail they had discussed in the car, but this time on network television. For Bernard, it was mind-blowing. The key fund-raiser for the Obama campaign was seeing his issues dramatically migrate from a personal chat to the national stage.
. . .
During this long and bare-knuckled presidential-primary season, a campaign will get nowhere without very big money. And next to New York City, Southern California — more precisely, the Westside of Los Angeles — is the land cash-hungry politicians never ignore. But only a handful of people in this town have the contacts and relationships to deliver the big checks. It's an elite world, and one that Jeremy Bernard and Rufus Gifford are capable of dominating.
. . .
Bernard and Gifford understand their make-or-break roles. It's the prime reason they went into fund-raising. Gay issues are central to their own political agendas, and they know from years of experience that money gives them unique and up-close access to power. They have the luxury, after climbing to the top, of throwing their deep-pocketed connections only behind candidates who closely match their politics. "We work for candidates who we ourselves would be willing to give money to," says Gifford.

Once the checks are rolling in, Bernard and Gifford then have the full attention of a congressional or presidential candidate, giving them the chance, behind the scenes, to promote their own political issues. It's a level of access gays once only dreamed of, but they are living it.

"Being gay makes you inherently political," says Gifford, comfortable with using his proximity to power to influence the candidate. "You see what's right and what's wrong, and you need to do something about it."


Will this story matter in the Democrat primaries. I don't think so. Except, it illustrates how the Clintons are unable to hang on to some constituencies they need.

But, in the General Election, I suspect this story will get discrete use, if Obama is the nominee.
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
To beat the rush, I wrote my tribute to Rudy Giuliani about a month ago. Kudos to Rudy for a career of service and an honorable and inspiring campaign for the nation's highest office.

From December:

"As I have averred numerous times previously, Rudy is not a good fit for the Republican nomination. Having said that, he is a good man who possesses a thoroughly American story. He is worthy of our gratitude and our imitation. More importantly, the upcoming conclusion to his drive to be president of the United States should not end his career as an important and ultra competent public servant.

Well done, Rudy."

"Rudy: Some Final Thoughts" in full here.
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Today Richard Baehr (a McCain advocate) of the American Thinker offers a corrective to the oft-repeated criticism that the Gang of 14 somehow stabbed conservatism in the back. He writes:

"To put it plainly, the critics of the deal are flat out wrong. Conservatives should thank John McCain and the other Senators who were part of the Gang of 14 for getting three Appeals Court nominees who had been held up, Janice Rogers Brown, William Pryor, and Priscilla Owen, approved quickly and Brett Kavanaugh approved a bit later, and for Samuel Alito making it onto the Supreme Court without a filibuster blocking his way. And they should thank John McCain for preserving for the Republican Party the use of the filibuster on judicial nominations that might be made by a Democratic President beginning in 2009 or later" (essay in full here is worth reading).

For the most part, I agree. Back in the late spring of 2005, I wrote an op-ed piece for the local Waco paper regarding the so-called Gang of Fourteen and the then-controversial compromise over President Bush's judicial appointments.

From May 2005:

Last week, a bipartisan collection of fourteen moderates in the United States Senate caucused together to defuse an impending showdown over the ideological composition of the federal judiciary. Striking an eleventh-hour deal on the brink of political holy war, the self-selected centrists likely averted an injurious redefinition of established practice.

» Read More

Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
Britain's health-care system provides us with a preview of the questions we eventually will ask ourselves under many, or perhaps all, forms of universal health care. The article headline from the Telegraph says it all.

Don't treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors

With finite resources, such questions will be raised. Should universal health-care devote resources to the elderly or to others who probably will not live much longer in any case?
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
Guest Blog: Tocqueville

These two comments appeared under posts over the last twenty-four hours from regular reader and contributor, Tocqueville--but I am convinced we will all benefit from a wider consideration of these two observations.

Hillary and Obama

Obama has proceeded under a golden aura of unquestioned veracity, and I guess it's true that no one in the MSM wants to be the first to point out a few things e.g. the dissonance between his let's-all-get-along sloganeering and his hard-left positions, between the bring-people-together rhetoric and a record empty of actually bringing people together.

Hillary has gotten kind treatment too. Her gaffe on the Pakistani election -- mistakenly assuming that Musharraf was running -- would have had the media screaming for a scalp if Bush or any of this year's R[epublican] candidates had done it. They swept it under the rug. Steinem's piece the other day was absurd -- a woman never is the front-runner, indeed -- the day before Hillary became the front-runner again, as she has been since before she announced! NB: Steinem's preferred candidate is a woman whose husband serially abuses powerless women, and her most important job to know, her qualifying experience if you will, has been the further abuse and if necessary the destruction of those same women. Steinem and Hillary are moral idiots.

John F. Kerry's endorsement of Obama

OK, so John Francois Kerry has endorsed B. Hussein Obama, an announcement for
which we have waited impatiently. Now the suspense mounts unbearably
and the larger and most momentous question becomes: "Whom will Dukakis
endorse?" The Free World awaits breathlessly. Stay tuned for McGovern and Mondale's endorsements.
Tocqueville


One additional thought from a Waco Farmer: perhaps Kerry's endorsement of Obama will carry as much weight as Al Gore's endorsement of Howard Dean during the last cycle.
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
Just for grins tonight, I have taken 4 online quizzes that are supposedly designed to help me determine which presidential candidate most closely matches my own positions.

The quizzes varied in length, and in the sophistication of the questions, as well as in the number of possible responses per question.

For what it's worth, here is how I scored.

quizrocket (they will ask for contact information, though that can be worked around) #1 Giuliani

VAJOE #1 Gravel #2 Giuliani (I'm still trying to figure that one out.)

VoteChooser #1 (tie) Romney, McCain #2 (tie) Giuliani, Huckabee

WQAD (link from FreeRepublic) #1 Hunter #2 Thompson

I am not sure I know more than I did, but I guess Obama, Clinton, and Edwards are out for me.

One thing I did have reinforced, there are some important issues that I am not entirely clear in my head about the solutions I favor: most important illegal immigrants already in the United States, and health care.
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
I have started playing around with Vote Gopher and like it so far. Anyone else using it? It is easy to use and seems accurate in what I have looked up so far.
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
Read this. From my favorite left-leaning social/political commentator.

Excerpt: Hillary's willingness to tolerate Bill's compulsive philandering is a function of her general contempt for men. She distrusts them and feels morally superior to them. Following the pattern of her long-suffering mother, she thinks it is her mission to endure every insult and personal degradation for a higher cause -- which, unlike her self-sacrificing mother, she identifies with her near-messianic personal ambition.

The MSM usually speak of the Gender Gap as the Republican inablity to capture the "Women's Vote." I prefer to think of the Gender Gap as the modern Democrat Party's inability to capture the "Men's Vote."
Category: Politics
Posted by: A Waco Farmer
The Okie Gardener continues to encourage me to write more campaign pieces concentrating on substantive issues. In my defense, I have argued, among other things, that the candidates are basically similar on their policy proposals within their respective party races.

For example, I am currently watching the Democratic Party edition of the ABC News debate.

Thus far (half-way point), the discussion has been mainly an argument over who can withdraw from Iraq the fastest, who can nationalize healthcare the soonest, and who can best explain how the troop surge in Iraq has failed (despite all evidence to the contrary).

Another Reason for my dearth of substance: Horse race and personality are what the primaries are all about. It can be a lot of fun. Back in the nineteenth century, before TV, organized sports leagues, or the internet, (or primaries, for that matter), Americans entertained themselves with politics. For the record, approximately 80 percent of eligible voters participated in electing leaders back then. This is what I call fun. I am watching the debate instead of the wild card playoff game.

Once we pick two candidates, we can do much more with the platforms and policy statements. Until then, expect a generous portion of horse race and other sports metaphors.
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
Most media coverage of the presidential nomination race could be on the Sports Page. The focus is on the "game" of politics.

If you are a reader who is more interested in the positions and professed beliefs of the candidates, you will need to work to find the information you need.

Farmer helped all of us recently with his work on Obama's foreign policy convictions, and I hope he'll use his political and scholarly skills to do similar work on other top candidates.

For now, here is a page from the Des Moines Register that should prove helpful, though certainly not exhaustive. (This page may take a while to load because of its video links.)
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
Earlier I took notice of Obama picking up the endorsements of 20 Democrat County Chairs in Iowa.

Now I see that Obama has the endorsements of the current and of the former mayor of Des Moines (capital and largest city in Iowa).

Will this swing the caucuses his way? I don't know. But, I think I know this. Obama's ability to pick up significant support from within the Democratic Party Organization in Iowa demonstrates both a strong and effective campaign, and more importantly, the weaknesses of Clinton and Edwards. Edwards has invested heavily in Iowa for over four years, since he last ran; the Clintons have been trying to sew up support for Hillary among Democrat politicians for nearly that long. And while they have significant numbers of supporters, along comes Obama and makes inroads in a relatively short time. We'll know soon what difference this makes.
Category: Politics
Posted by: an okie gardener
Copied from Brits at Their Best, a website devoted to the heritage of English Liberty and its preservation.

Paul Johnson on the five essential qualities of a democratic leader

In the latest Imprimis, British historian Paul Johnson describes the five essential qualities of a leader. Given Britain's crying need for a great democratic leader today, and the upcoming American presidential primaries, his list is timely. Let us know what you think
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1) Ideas and beliefs. "The best kind of democratic leaders has just a few – perhaps three or four – central principles to which he is passionately attached and will not sacrifice under any circumstances. . .History teaches it is a mistake to have too many convictions, held with equal certitude and tenacity. They crowd each other out. A great leader is someone who can distinguish between the essential and the peripheral – between what must be done and what is merely desirable."

2) Willpower. "I think the history of great men and women teaches that willpower is the most decisive of all qualities in public life. A politician can have immense intelligence and all the other virtues, but if will is lacking he is nothing."

3) Pertinacity. "Mere flashes of will are not enough. The will must be organically linked to resolution, a determination to see the cause through at all costs. . .One aspect of pertinacity is patience. Another is a certain primitive doggedness. . . 'It’s dogged as does it’ is an old English proverb. True enough. But doggedness should not be confused with blind obstinacy. . ."

4) The ability to communicate. "The value of possessing a few simple ideas which are true and workable is enormously enhanced if the leader can put them across with equal simplicity. . .But where words fail, example can take their place. Washington communicated by his actions and his personality."

5) Magnanimity "Greatness of soul. It is not easy to define this supreme quality, which few even among the greatest leaders possess. It is a virtue which makes one warm to its possessor. . .Churchill, who also had it, made it one of the top quartet of characteristics which he expected the statesman to show. . ."

So, how do the current presidential aspirants stack up? Do any of them have all five characteristics?