Fantasy Politics USA

Yesterday the Senate voted on a new resolution to bring the troops home by next year. The vote won by a narrow margin of 48 to 50. The Democrats owe this victory to Chuck Hagel, a critic of Bush’s war in Iraq, for crossing over and voting on the Democratic side. Two weeks earlier he opposed a similar measure, but yesterday he walked in about an hour before the vote and said he would “not support sustaining a flawed and failing policy.” “It’s now time for the Congress to step forward and establish responsible boundaries and conditions for our continued military involvement in Iraq,” Hagel added. His vote is important because if had voted as he was expected to do the vote would have been a 49 to 49 tie, and vice President Dick Cheney would have been able to vote it down. The resolution was tacked on to a 122 billion package to fund the troops. Also tacked on was 20 billion dollars of pork packages that Nancy Pelosi negotiated to get the votes necessary to pass this thing. That is a common practice, yet the right wing is attacking her for it. This bill will get to the President’s desk eventually and he has already promised to veto it. Meanwhile funding for the troops will have to be renegotiated. The Democrats tacked the resolution on the funding bill because they thought it was the best way to get Bush to pass it. Doesn’t look like it will work though, but it will force Bush to veto a 122 billion dollar funding for the troops, which is more than he asked for. This is an example of why the making of politics is often compared to the making of sausage.
John McCain has used this vote to his advantage, and was President of the airwaves today criticizing the vote. This morning he was on Fox and Friends talking with Brian Kilmeade. McCain said, “It’s a mistake, a serious mistake on the part of my colleagues. But the president of the United States will veto this bill. It will be funded — the war will be funded and we will give these young people a chance to succeed, not a signal that we are going to — we’re going to depart at a certain date and divorce totally from reality on the ground.” Then he was talking with Meridith Viera of NBC’s “Today” show. There he said, “It’s tough. It’s dangerous. It’s long. It’s hard. Many mistakes were made. But I am confident, if given the opportunity, we can have success. And the consequences of failure — the consequences of failure are catastrophic, because if we come home — if you read Zarqawi and bin Laden, they want to follow us home.” If you turned the channel you could catch McCain talking to Hannah Storm of CBS’s “Early Show”. he used this opportunity to talk about all the pork barrel spending in the bill. McCain told Hannah, “And also, by the way, this bill that was passed yesterday is particularly odious because it’s loaded down with $20 billion worth of pork, outrageous pork-barrel spending — by the way, something the Democrats promised they wouldn’t do when they came to power; $25 million for peanut storage. I mean, you can’t make it up. You can’t make it up.” The next channel had McCain talking with Chris Cuomo of ABC’s “Good Morning America” where he was talking about the reasons why the troop withdrawal would be a bad idea by saying, “What I’m worried about is losing this war, and then they’ll follow us home. And then we’ll have a lot more to worry about than politics.” It was like McCain TV this morning. That’s two Republicans with two distinct views on this war in Iraq. Could this war in Iraq split the Republicans as more and more of them splinter off because of constituent pressure?
Alan Cosgrove

Yesterday John McCain changed some of his views on gay marriages it seemed. For a little while on McCain’s MySpace page it read, “Today I announce that I have reversed my position and come out in full support of gay marriage…particularly marriage between two passionate females.” Turns out his campaign didn’t put that there, and he really doesn’t support gay women. The campaign camp used a common template designed by by Newsvine Founder and CEO Mike Davidson. To see the free MySpace template McCain used click here. They let people use the template for free, but he ask that you give him credit for it. McCain’s people used it, but gave Davidson no credit. Not only that, they used images that were on his server, therefore; McCain was using up Davidson’s bandwidth as well. So he changed the images on his sight, resulting in the images changing on McCain’s sight. Note, he did not hack McCain’s sight as has been reported, only changed the pictures on his own sight. That’s funny, I don’t care who you are. Besides, what is a 70 year old geezer doing with a MySpace page? I wonder if McCain has job openings for a new web designer?
Alan Cosgrove

Hillary Clinton was in Iowa today, and she explained the difference between President Bush’s firing of 8 U.S. attorneys and President Clinton’s releasing of 93 U.S. attorneys. In an interview with AP Hillary said, “That’s a traditional prerogative of an incoming president.” The difference is President Clinton released all those attorneys at the beginning of his term and replaced them with U.S. attorneys more to his liking, like Democratic ones. President Bush, on the other hand, released all his mid term and many were involved in investigations of Bush cronies. Democrats say the firings were for political reasons, but the Bush administration maintains they can do what they want. It is true they can fire U.S. attorneys at will because they are political appointees, but the timing with these guys is a bit off. Hillary Clinton went on to say that if elected president she would probably fire all 93 of Bush’s appointees and replace them with her own bunch.
While in Iowa Hillary received a major endorsement from Tom Vilsack. It was payback time for Vilsack since Hillary did some fund raising on Vilsack’s behalf during his first run for governor in 1998. Vilsack said, “I don’t forget those things and I don’t think we in politics should ever forget what people have done to help us.” Vilsack said Hillary, “is the person to be the next president of the United States,”…..“She is tried, she is tested and she is ready.” This is an important endorsement because Iowa holds the first caucus, and the Vilsacks have a lot of influence in Iowa. Hillary has given both Vilsack and his wife Christie a job in her presidential campaign. Tom will be a national campaign co-chair, and Christie Vilsack will be her Iowa campaign co-chair. The Vilsacks plan on campaigning with Hillary from time to time. I think Tom is trying to get a V.P. job.
Alan Cosgrove

Chuck Hagel almost called for impeaching Bush. In Esquire’s April addition he is interviewed and said this about President Bush, “He’s not accountable anymore, which isn’t totally true. You can impeach him, and before this is over, you might see calls for his impeachment. I don’t know. It depends on how this goes,” Hagel went on to say this, “This is not a monarchy,” he added “There are ways to deal with it. And I would hope the president understands that.” Hagel has been a frequent critic of Bush’s Iraq war in the past. He doesn’t actually call for Bush’s impeachment, but he does say that it is becoming more and more a possibility. If the Democrats do actually impeach Bush, it may come back to haunt them later. This could give the Republicans a candidate to rally around. Dick Cheney could step down prior to the impeachment due to health problems, something that has already been mentioned. Then the Republicans and neo-cons could pick a new vice-president. Perfect for going into the next election, an incumbent vice-president, or president if the Democrats do decide to impeach. May be a way to boost Fred Thompson, or even trump the Democrats with a vice-president Condi Rice. It would be a perfect storm for the republicans.

Fred Thompson gets a big endorsement. According to Bob Novak, Thompson’s wife is encouraging his to run. He seems to be interested, but said he will wait to announce.
Tom Tancredo was at the Johnson County Republicans’ Fourth Annual Spaghetti Dinner on Friday, and told the crowd of about 100 that he encourages an English only law, and protecting out borders. He also said immigrants should be encouraged to assimilate, to “cut ties that bond you to your country politically and otherwise.” allowing immigrants “to connect with America,” Tancredo said. This will help America unite so that it will be stronger for the war on terror and the war in Iraq.
Mike Huckabee has been in Iowa lately telling all that will listen that he is the real conservative out there, and that is why he will win. “If people of genuine conservative convictions don’t support a conservative with convictions, then quite frankly I’m not sure what the point would be to be in politics,” Huckabee said in an interview. Later on in Sioux City he told a crowd, “There are two things this country needs in a leader: consistency and authenticity” Huckabee said, “I’ve been singing the same song I’ve been singing my whole life, and that won’t change.” Huckabee’s conservative values have held strong his whole political career. He passed 90 tax cuts while he was governor of Arkansas. He touched on several topics including immigration saying this, “I get on my knees and thank God every day that I live in country people want to break into, not break out of. But if people want to come here, they need to play by our rules.” It’s still early, and the front runners haven’t released all their skeletons from the closet yet, so maybe players like Huckabee and Brownback will still have a chance. They still need to raise huge sums of cash though, and name recognition helps the front runners on this part.
A straw poll vote at the Summit County party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner in downtown Akron, Ohio has Giuliani the winner with 31% of the vote. Rounding out the rest of the top five was, John McCain with 26%, Fred Thompson with 12%, Mitt Romney with 8%, and Newt Gingrich with 7%. Two of these guys haven’t even announced yet. It was a small sampling of only 752 total votes.
John McCain is worried he might have started to late, “We started late, our money raising, and we’re going to pay a price for it because we got off to a late start.” McCain said they will not meet their fund raising goals, and will probably raise less than Mitt Romney. Fund raising totals will be released March 31, and then we will all know how strong each of these guys are. Without the funds the candidates becomes less viable.
Alan Cosgrove

On Friday three Democratic hopefuls spoke to a members of the Culinary Workers Union, Local 226 in Las Vegas. These are the cocktail waitresses, housekeepers and line cooks that keep Vegas going. This is the state’s largest union. The union invited eight candidates, but only three managed to speak. Hillary Clinton told them she used bus tables and wash dishes. Hillary told the union that, “I respect the people that do the hard work,” she said. “People who make life better for all of us who enjoy the fruits of your labor, I thank you.” Bill Richardson showed up in cowboy boots and jeans, and spoke about the Iraq war, health care, and affordable education. Barack Obama also spoke to the crowd and recalled a time when he walked the picket line with a Culinary sister union in Chicago. Obama told the crowd, “As long as there are folks unemployed we’re going to keep on organizing, as long as there are people being taken advantage of, we’re going to keep on working. … if we keep on working, if we keep on organizing, all the workers across America are going to enjoy the American dream.” A car in the garage, and a chicken in the pot. Chris Dodd was scheduled to appear, but couldn’t because of a Senate vote. Dennis Kucinich showed up late, and didn’t speak. Biden, Gravel and Edwards said they already had commitments, and therefore; declined their invitations.
This big meeting preceded another big Union blow out on Saturday sponsored by the Service Employees International Union where the candidates talked about health care. The sponsors said they invited Republican candidates, but none accepted. The candidates that did show up were Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Richardson, Dodd, Kucinich, and Gravel. They all called for universal health care, the only difference was how to pay for it, and how quick. Edwards assured everyone that he was “definitely in the race for the duration.”
Alan Cosgrove

Tom Vilsack, who recently dropped out of the Presidential race because it cost to damn much, will endorse Hillary Clinton for President next Monday when she drops by to see him in Iowa. The Clinton camp would not confirm this, but it is expected that the two term Iowa governor will be a big part of a major announcement planned for this Monday in Des Moines. Iowa is the first test in this race, and a win there is good for momentum into the rest of the caucuses. The race is so close now that every little bit helps. This could be just the boost Hillary needs to get past Obama for good. In a telephone interview with AP, Barack Obama had this to say about Vilsack’s endorsement of Hillary,

“Obviously he’s got credibility in Iowa and I think highly of him as a former governor. But my sense is this race will ultimately not be won, probably, on endorsements, but it will be more on who gives voice to the real hunger that the American people have for change right now,” Obama said in a telephone interview.

“The Clintons have been on the national scene for a real long time,” he said. “I think the surprise would be if they didn’t garner a lot of endorsements from well-established political figures.”

Since dropping out of the race last month Vilsack has been courted by plenty of folks in the Democratic party. Many consider him a viable vice-presidential candidate. He has a reputation for being a centrist. During his campaign Vilsack called for the US to end it’s dependence on foreign oil, and encouraged alternative fuels. He has also been a critic of George Bush and his war in Iraq. It looks like Vilsack might now be running for vice-president, and he is betting it all on Hillary to win this thing. If Hillary does win in Iowa then I am sure Vilsack will be looking for a little pay back.
Alan Cosgrove