Fantasy Politics USA

Al Gore has done it again, now The University of Minnesota may give him an honorary degree for his work in climatology. There is talks of plans to have him speak and then get his degree. Chris Dodd is depending on states like Iowa and New Hampshire to pull him past the big three; Obama, Clinton, and Edwards. Dodd said in an AP interview, “There is enough time yet to change this, because there are places like Iowa and New Hampshire that give candidates like myself a chance to be heard.” Dodd said he prefers the small intimate settings like cafe’s and living rooms, compared to the large settings the other candidates are using, “Unless this has all changed, and I don’t believe that it has, then chatting in a living room face to face is still a very important feature of campaigning here,” Dodd said. “I don’t think you can come in here and do sort of a wholesale political operation from 35,000 feet with a pit stop here and there and a media campaign behind you.” Dodd is attracting 30 to 50 people per speach, whereas the other candidates have had thousands at their rallies. In one of those sparsely attended speeches Dodd said he wanted the troops home now, and that he is sorry he voted in 2002 for the war. Joe Biden is in Reno talking about the last time he ran for President, 1988. He dropped out of that campaign because he was caught lifting passages from others candidates speechs, and using them as his own. Now Biden says the important issue is national security. Since Biden is in his sixth term as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he feels he is best qualified to run this country so concerned with national security. Biden is scheduled to appear at the Wednesday’s forum at the Carson City Community Center. Also scheduled to appear are; Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Bill Richardson, Tom Vilsack and Dennis Kucinich. the only candidate not appearing, because of scheduling conflicts, is Obama. Maybe Obama lacks the experience to debate still, give him a bit of time. Hillary was in Florida and said that Bush’s No Child Left Behind program has left some children behind. She was speaking in Liberty City a mostly black neighborhood near Miami, where she said the federal government can do more to help minority businesses. It is clear that Clinton is trying to attrack the black vote that might otherwise vote for Obama. Her husband was once dubbed the first black President, and she is trying to follow his legacy. Mitt Romney is going to release his first Presidential ad. It is supposed to tell about how Romney saved the Winter Olympics, and turned around a Democrat state as Governor. It is scheduled to start Wed. and air in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Michigan and Florida. This is the first ad from a major candidate, and a start of an ad campaign that may cost about a billion dollars before it is all over. As soon as I find it I will post it for all to see.
Alan Cosgrove

President George Bush was at Mount Vernon today, the home of the first President, George Washington. He used this time to compare the struggle against terrorism with the struggle faced by Washington when he was fighting to start this great nation. “Today, we’re fighting a new war to defend our liberty and our people and our way of life,” said Bush, “And as we work to advance the cause of freedom around the world, we remember that the father of our country believed that the freedoms we secured in our revolution were not meant for Americans alone.”
John McCain was still in South Carolina today, and in a speech at a retirement community he said, “I think that Donald Rumsfeld will go down in history as one of the worst secretaries of defense in history.”…..”We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement — that’s the kindest word I can give you — of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war,”
Hillary Clinton has been accused of trading endorsements for money in South Carolina. Darrell Jackson, one of South Carolina’s most influential black politicians endorsed Hillary last week, and shortly after that was given a $10,000 per month contract with Clinton’s campaign. Hillary explained that, “Senator Jackson was someone who was involved in my husband’s campaigns. He was someone we turned to for political advice and counsel and I’m proud to have him on my team.” And while we are speaking about Hillary’s husband; The Washington Examiner has suggested that some would like to see Bill Clinton take over Hillary’s Senate seat when she becomes President. Hillary also suggested that South Carolina should remove the Confederate flag from its Statehouse grounds. John Edwards was in Dubuque, Iowa today saying we should be talking to Iran. According to Edwards, “It’s a huge strategic mistake not to be dealing directly with Iran.”….”What we should be doing with Iran, both on the Iraq issue and the nuclear issue, is being much smarter than we’re being now. We have tools available to us to engage them.” Mitt Romney has been talking about stem cell research while in Soux City, Iowa. Even though scientist have said that embryonic stem cells show the most promise in helping us possibly treat and cure disease, Romney feels that we can find just as good research with adult stem cells. Romney said, “I believe that science is able to receive the stem cells necessary for research through means that don’t represent a serious, moral problem.” Bill Richardson was speaking words of wisdom to the rest of the Democratic contenders. Richarson said he thought all the Democratic contenders should sign a pledge not to attact each other because, “we will go into a general election stronger.” The hottest ticket in Hollywood right now is to the Barack Obama fundraiser at David Geffen’s Beverly Hills house. About 40 people are invited, and you have to rasise $46,000 to get in. There was also a cocktail reception at the Beverly Hills Hilton, and other stops. They expect to raise over a million dollars from this trip.
Alan Cosgrove

In a speech before about 800 people in South Carolina John McCain said, “I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.” Roe V Wade was the landmark case in 1973 that made abortions legal in the United States. It was ruled that abortions violated the right to privacy under the due process clause of the 14th amendment. McCain also said that he would appoint judges that “strictly interpret the Constitution of the United States and do not legislate from the bench.” This is code for, I will appoint judges that will overturn Roe V Wade. In 1999 McCain had a different view on abortions and Roe V Wade. In an interview with the San Fransico Chronicle he said, “I’d love to see a point where it is irrelevant, and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary,”….. “But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to [undergo] illegal and dangerous operations.” Giuliani has also said that he would appint judges that don’t legislate from the bench, but at the same times he says that he respects a womans right to chose. This is McCain and Giuliani’s way of appeasing the far right of the Republican party. These Social conservatives are a critical voting bloc in the Republican presidential primaries. McCain also announced on Sunday that Frank Keating and former Texas Sen. Phil Gramm have endorsed him for the President,and will join him on the campaign trial on Monday. Keating even went so far as to say that John McCain is the, “only candidate who is a true-blue, Ronald Reagan conservative.” I remember Ronald Reagan, so that would only encourage me not to vote for McCain, but it seems to have a different effect of true blue conservatives who still call Reagan the greatest President ever. McCain later spoke to a group of teens and parents and talked about promoting abstinence. He also spoke about his time as a prisoner of war during Vietnam, mentioning the torture he and others suffered. Isn’t it ironic that now he so whole heartedly supports Bush’s war on terror, including the torture and CIA rendention programs.
Alan Cosgrove

US News and World Report are known for their best of and worst of list, and now they have an article about the 10 Worst Presidents
They say it is to early to judge G.W. Bush, but at the end of the article they let us pick who we think is the worst. You get to pick the three worst. The results surprised me, G.W. Bush is far ahead of everyone. When I voted, he was voted on 82% of the time. Another surprise was Ronald Reagan at number three, and George Bush 41 was number 5. It really isn’t fair or balanced, because Bush’s screw ups are still pretty fresh in our heads. Bush does have a lot to answer for though. The deaths of thousands that never did anything to harm America. He has created so much turmoil in the middle east with his cowboy policies that we will be cleaning up that mess for many years to come. How about habeus corpus, suspended to fight terrorist, will we ever get that back? How long will it take us to pay back the close to a trillion dollars he has spent on his war in Iraq. With Bush it really is to early to put him on the lists, but plenty of folks still seem to think he deserves to be put at the very top of the list.
Here is a Rolling Stone article with a look at the worst President ever, and George W Bush is in serious contention for the title of worst ever. If you google worst President ever, you get a whole bunch of anti Bush stuff, there’s http://www.worstpresident.org/, and One Thousand Reasons Documenting the Failures of the Bush Administration. among a long list. This is all surprising, since G.W. Bush also had some of the highet polling numbers since they have been looking at this stuff, yet he has tumbled almost to the bottom to be considered by many to be the worst ever.
Alan Cosgrove

Mitt Romney and his wife Ann was on ABC’s This Week. George Stephanopoulos main question was about Romney’s Morman faith. “I’m not running for pastor-in-chief. I’m running for commander-in-chief,” Romney said, “If I’m lucky enough to be elected president of this country and I take that oath of office, there will be no higher promise than to abide by the Constitution and the rule of law.” Romney called that, “Abraham Lincoln’s political religion.” Stephanopoulos then had some more pressing questions about Romney’s views on gay marriages, since he was the Governor of Massachusetts, the only state that allows gay marriages. Stephanopoulos also pressed Romney on the abortion issue, which Romney responded saying that should be for the right of the states to decide for themselves, “My view is that we should let each state have its own responsibility for guiding its laws relating to abortion.” Romney sides with President Bush on the war in Iraq, saying troop increases are necessay to prevent destabilization in the region. He also called Iran, “a genocidal nation, a suicidal nation.” Joe Biden was on Face The Nation and skipped all the talk about religion, gays, and abortion and cut straight to the chase, war in Iraq. Biden wants to change the 2002 War authorization act which everyone voted for. Biden said, “I’ve been working with some of my colleagues to try to convince them that’s the way to go – to repeal and restate the president’s authority.” Richard Lugar was also on Face the Nation, and told Biden it would never get through the Senate, and if it did the President would just veto it. Another toothless resolution about the war in Iraq. Newt Gingrich appeared on Fox News Sunday to talk about the war in Iraq too. Gingrich said the Democrats, “want what I think is the worst of all worlds. They want the ability to undermine the president, the ability to cripple the Defense Department, while disclaiming any responsibility.” Gingrich went on to say that if the Democrats are really serious then they should cut off the money forcing the President out of Iraq. What is going on now is destructive according to Gingrich, “But as long as the president has the duty and burden as commander in chief of trying to win the war, crippling him, it seems to me, doesn’t just hurt George W. Bush. This hurts America.” Chris Wallace asked Gingrich about running in 08, and why he hasn’t entered the race yet. Gingrich responded with,

So I want to start and say I think there may be a market out there for somebody who has enough sense not to run two years early, that if you think about it, these candidates are running for an entire year — to get into a campaign to run for an entire year to get sworn in in January of 2009.
And I just think the average — this is going to be like watching bad reruns of Survivor. People are going to say get them off the island, I don’t want to see this anymore. You watch. Mark my word.
I’ll come back this summer at some point, if you’ll have me, and we’ll talk about how bored people are with this campaign.

It is probably a good idea to sit on the sidelines and watch others get voted off the crowded island before Gingrich jumps in. As Chris Wallace pointed out, “We asked people who under no circumstances would they vote for, and you came in second on that dubious list at 64 percent, behind Ralph Nader, but far ahead of everyone else. And I should add 44 percent of Republicans said they would not vote for you.” I’m sure after a couple more months of this campaigning there will be a few more folks on the no vote list, making more room for Gingrich on the island. That’s all from the Sunday news shows this week.
Alan Cosgrove

The one question Hillary keeps facing is will she admit she made a mistake by voting for the war in 02, or at least apologize for the mistake. Hillary has the same answer each time, if she knew then what she knows now, then she wouldn’t have voted for the war in 02. If Hillary really believes this then, isn’t she already admiting she made a mistake in 02? Then why not just come out a say it in plain english. Hillary’s team is probably afraid of the flip flop tag that haunted Kerry so bad. Or she might be accused of being a poll watcher like her husband Bill. Speaking in Dover New Hampshire this morning, Hillary indicated there would be no apology, “I take responsibility for my vote,” Hillary said, “And it was a sincere vote based on the facts and assurances that we had at the time. Obviously, I would not vote that way again if we knew then what we know now. But I have to say that, if the most important thing to any of you is choosing someone who did not cast that vote or who has said his vote was a mistake, then there are others to choose from”…..“But to me, the most important thing now is trying to end this war.” Edwards has said he believes his vote was a mistake. Hillary now has a roadmap out of Iraq, and talks about it on her websight, which has her ideas on ways to end this war. Hillary has proposed legislation which would, require the start of a phased redeployment of troops in 90 days, or else Congress would revoke its 2002 authority resolution; cap the number of American troops in Iraq; and put conditions on the Iraqi government in return for continued American financing. Speaking about this on her websight in a video Hillary said, “This bill is a roadmap out of Iraq.”……“I hope the President takes this road. If he does, he should be able to end the war before he leaves office. But, let’s not kid ourselves, from everything we’ve seen, this president is going down a very different path. He’s fighting to escalate the war, not end it.”….“We have to end this war in a smart way, not a Republican or a Democratic way, but a way that makes us safer and gets our troops home as soon as possible.” Hillary needs to admit it was a bad decision, and she allowed herself to be mislead. Some would say she shows strength by holding her ground, but I see weakness by not admitting mistakes. Could she be just as easily mislead in the future as our President?
Alan Cosgrove