9:31 PM: Boy, Hillary sure got CRUSHED tonight. Why doesn't she just drop out? Hillary's Texas strategy is looking a lot like Giuliani's Florida strategy.
* * *
In her pep rally in Texas (where there isn't much pep), she talked about how she wants to make energy cheaper. What a dumb place to say that, Texas is booming right now because of the high oil and gas prices.
* * *
Meanwhile, the talking heads note that McCain, although he won Virginia, he only won it by a slim margin, unlike the massively huge margin by which Obama beat Hillary. Obama is looking like a much stronger frontrunner than McCain.
* * *
9:45 PM: Obama is getting better at giving speeches. I actually laughed at his quip about Republicans for Obama: Obamicans. And he never says a single policy thing, so he never has to turn anyone off with actual policies they might disagree with.
9:58 PM: The "hope-monger" comment was funny also. This is a long speech.
can uplifting emptyheaded drivel carry a candidate into the white house? what a trick if it works. obama can afford to say nothing because his identity is enough to lock down the left, freeing him to blather mindlessly like a self-help guru as the moderates and fence-sitters fall for his psychological mirroring technique.
the harridan has her work cut out for her. she needs to call him out on his lack of substance and his flirts with radicalism, but his race is like quicksand -- the harder she attacks him the deeper she'll get stuck.
what a spectacle. live by identity politics, die by identity politics.
Posted by: roissy | February 12, 2008 at 10:19 PM
It looks like the Democrats are going to be an Obamination.
Posted by: Rob | February 13, 2008 at 12:23 AM
It looks like the Democrats are going to be an Obamination.
Posted by: Rob | February 13, 2008 at 12:24 AM
How about calling his victory an Obamination?
Posted by: Rob | February 13, 2008 at 12:27 AM
I've been hoping for so long. He's really miles better than Clinton. Even you guys should agree with that.
Posted by: JewishAtheist | February 13, 2008 at 12:53 AM
roissy asks:
can uplifting emptyheaded drivel carry a candidate into the white house?
When was the last time a politician got into office by "keeping it real"? Ron Paul gets called a racist by someone relatively smart guy like Half Sigma just because he doesn't support funding to Israel. Now imagine trying to "keep it real" while explaining complicated things to a nation of average intelligence people AND getting voted into office. Forget about it. You'll be called a treacherous, racist, bigoted, serial killer who enjoys making love to sheep on coke.
So George Bush has the right idea when he says God talks to him. Empty headed drivel got him voted in twice. Don't underestimate it.
Running on anything *other* than empty headed drivel is a good way to lose an election. (But you only notice it when the guy you're not voting for speaks it).
Posted by: InterestedParty | February 13, 2008 at 12:56 AM
I've been hoping for so long. He's really miles better than Clinton.
Well, he's black, and she's a woman.
Outside of that, I guess I'm just missing their substantial differences in ability or policy ideas. But maybe that's just me.
Posted by: Rain And | February 13, 2008 at 01:14 AM
Rain And:
Well, he's black, and she's a woman.
Outside of that, I guess I'm just missing their substantial differences in ability or policy ideas. But maybe that's just me.
And McCain is old. And Huckabee is from Arkansas. There's hardly any policy difference between any of the final four.
Posted by: InterestedParty | February 13, 2008 at 02:46 AM
There's hardly any policy difference between any of the final four.
This is clearly not true. The two conservatives and the two liberals are similar enough, but the liberal and conservative candidates are very different from each other.
In fact, we can give them rough rankings based on 20 policy questions from the Glassbooth website:
- 2 hard conservative
- 1 soft conservative
0 neutral
+ 1 soft liberal
+ 2 hard liberal
[Skip to bottom for tally]
--------------------------------
1) increase in taxes for the wealthiest Americans
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - hard liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
2) unrestricted free trade
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - neutral
Clinton - neutral
3) restrictions on access to firearms
Huckabee - hard conservative
McCain - neutral
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - soft liberal
4) death penalty
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - soft conservative
Clinton - soft conservative
5) human pollution is a significant cause of global warming
Huckabee - neutral
McCain - soft liberal
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - soft liberal
6) path to citizenship for illegal immigrants
Huckabee - neutral
McCain - hard liberal
Obama - hard liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
7) temporary guest worker program
Huckabee - hard liberal
McCain - hard liberal
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - soft conservative
8) a fence along the US and Mexico border
Huckabee - hard conservative
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - soft conservative
Clinton - soft conservative
9) universal health care
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - neutral
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
10) 2006 extension of the Patriot Act
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - soft conservative
Clinton - soft conservative
11) giving the federal government more domestic surveillance power
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - soft conservative
Clinton - soft conservative
12) marijuana available for medical reasons
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - neutral
13) withdrawal timetable for US troops to leave Iraq
Huckabee - hard conservative
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
14) increase in US troop levels in Iraq
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - hard liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
15) woman's right to have an abortion
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - hard liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
16) Roe v. Wade decision of 1973
Huckabee - hard conservative
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - hard liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
17) gay marriage
Huckabee - hard conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - soft liberal
18) civil unions
Huckabee - hard conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - hard liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
19) increase in the federal minimum wage
Huckabee - neutral
McCain - hard conservative
Obama - soft liberal
Clinton - hard liberal
20) tax cuts for middle-class families
Huckabee - soft conservative
McCain - soft conservative
Obama - hard conservative
Clinton - soft conservative
--------------------------------
MAX CONSERV = -40
MAX LIBERAL = 40
Huckabee = -20
McCain = -17
Obama = 16
Clinton = 15
Posted by: Jason Malloy | February 13, 2008 at 04:35 AM
Someone else can give them libertarian vs authoritarian or paleolibertarian vs neocon rankings, or however you see the political spectrum.
Posted by: Jason Malloy | February 13, 2008 at 04:45 AM
I noticed the 20 policy questions ignored health care, a huge issue for americans. Please comment on this from a Florida newspaper:
Your views: An ailing America
Readers express a variety of opinions in their letters to FLORIDA TODAY.
First lady clueless on health crisis
Recently, first lady Laura Bush has been urging Americans to go to a heart specialist to check for heart disease.
Laura, my son sprained his ankle at Wickham Park recently and we did not go to an emergency room. Whenever we get hurt we just hope it gets better because our health insurance has a $7,000 deductible.
An emergency room visit would cost at least $1,000 and, with an MRI, another $3,000. I feel that Laura Bush is taunting me.
She can never have her free health insurance cancelled. She delights in thinking about all the free health checks she enjoys and then brags about it, tells the rest of us Americans we should go to doctors, too.
If you take her advice and the doctors find you have some stage of heart disease, then you will never be able to buy health insurance in the free market should you ever need to.
And Laura, where is my $500-plus to take my whole family to the heart specialist?
Laura Bush is royalty. She is out of touch with reality.
L. Hartmannph
Melbourne Beach
http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080209/OPINION/802090306/1004
Posted by: skippy | February 13, 2008 at 08:51 AM
I saw where Al Gore was advocating people buy hybrid cars.
Well it turns out they are $30,000 and are small! I naturally assumed that some level of government was supposed to buy it for me, but so far nothing!
I feel like Gore is taunting people.
Posted by: Turambar | February 13, 2008 at 09:26 AM
Why can't our first black president be Thomas Sowell?
Posted by: hugh go naught | February 13, 2008 at 09:26 AM
Thomas Sowell isn't really black because he isn't a good enough victim.
Posted by: | February 13, 2008 at 10:24 AM
"Laura Bush is royalty. She is out of touch with reality."
Well, Skippy, I would definitely support your decision to vote against Laura Bush. BTW, Who’s she running against?
Posted by: slwerner | February 13, 2008 at 10:40 AM
"In her pep rally in Texas (where there isn't much pep), she talked about how she wants to make energy cheaper. What a dumb place to say that, Texas is booming right now because of the high oil and gas prices."
Look what else Hillary said about "energy independence" (courtesy of Neal Boortz):
"I was watching a campaign commercial for Hillary Clinton last night. She was yammering about all the wonderful ways she is going to spend billions of dollars to make the United States energy independent. Then she says that she's going to get the money for all of her grand schemes from the evil oil companies by raising their taxes."
"Now think about this for a moment ... for those of you not educated by the government. What Hillary is telling you is that our federal government, under her expert guidance and tutelage, can take the money away from the oil companies and do a better job spending that money on energy exploration and new energy sources than the oil companies can."
Now whatever Hillary is, she's no dummy. She has got to realize that this is self-contradictory and makes no economic sense. Energy independence, even if we limit the term to mean independence from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Venezuela, is going to make energy cost more, probably a lot more, not less. Domestic production will have to be maximized (Hillary opposed drilling in the ANWR). Hundreds of billions of dollars will have to be spent on new technology. And all this is supposed to make energy cheaper? How can that be?
It's this sort willful ignorance of basic economic principles by the liberals that drives me crazy. Don't they ever get called on this sort of stuff?
Posted by: Ned | February 13, 2008 at 11:27 AM
Ned,
She should have said that part of her plan for energy independence includes increased drilling in Alaska and off the East/West coasts. Lost of oil there, lots of it. The exploration/drilling would create high paying jobs as well(the pipelines are safer for the environment than having tankers tooling around too)
And no, liberals never get called on this kind of economic stuff because the press is full of liberals who believe the same shit: Money grows on trees! These people have no clue about wealth creation.
Posted by: | February 13, 2008 at 11:33 AM
The schools and universities are finally cranking out the "product" that leftists have been working toward. Leftists have been promoting the irrational (post-modernist faux multiculturalism) for several decades.
Modern graduates of US education can't discriminate any longer between rational and irrational. Obama makes sense to them, reading vague generalities from the teleprompter. His voice is strong and steady, with the prompter he doesn't stumble over words. He must be "the one!"
Posted by: Al Fin | February 13, 2008 at 11:43 AM
"Now whatever Hillary is, she's no dummy. She has got to realize that this is self-contradictory and makes no economic sense."
Ned,
Campaign blunders aside, she is, as you note, “no dummy”.
However, she IS a FASCIST! She’s very much a socialist, a democrat, and given that’s she’s making national-based plans, she’s also at least somewhat of a nationalist.
Now, IIRC, there was another group of Fascists who went by the name “National Democratic Socials”. And, like their infamous leader, Hillary would also like the government to control the way in which businesses are allowed to operate in a quasi-private ownership, but under strict governmental directive manner.
Not only would she like to dictate to oil companies how they will be run, she’s on record as to her intentions to do the same to pharmaceutical manufacturers, health-care providers, and insurance companies.
Like all good Fascists (left and right), she believes that she is a part of an elite group who can better decide for everyone else what is “best’.
Heil Hillary!
Posted by: slwerner | February 13, 2008 at 11:52 AM
He must be "the one!"
Done't you mean "The One?" Can't forget the caps when talking about Black Jesus. And who says liberals aren't religious?
Posted by: | February 13, 2008 at 11:53 AM
"no dummy": but failed her bar exams in DC, didn't she?
Posted by: dearieme | February 13, 2008 at 12:06 PM
"no dummy": but failed her bar exams in DC, didn't she?"
"No dummy" in the sense that she fully understands her socialist-fascist motivations. I never meant to imply that she was anywhere near being the "smartest woman in the world", as the press once hailed her.
Adolf H. wasn't exactluy the smartest man around either. But, he also knew what he intended to do, and we all know the disasterous results.
Posted by: slwerner | February 13, 2008 at 12:22 PM
Yea, Obama gives good speeches. And that's what this country really needs, right now.
Posted by: quixote | February 13, 2008 at 07:23 PM