Month: September 2009

Paul Kirk Jr. Interim Replacement For Senator Ted Kennedy

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Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has selected Paul Kirk, Jr, the head of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a close aide in the past to Senator Ted Kennedy, and former Democratic National Chairman during the 1980s, to be Senator Kennedy’s interim replacement until the election to replace Kennedy on January 19, 2010.

Kirk was favored by the widow of Senator Kennedy, as well as his two sons, as he represents the continuation of the Kennedy commitment to social and economic reform, and is a devout Kennedy loyalist.

Kirk is an excellent choice to promote the memory of Senator Kennedy, and he will be proud to be a vote in favor of health care reform over the next few months, a cause that Ted Kennedy spent decades advocating.

I am sure that Ted is pleased up in heaven that a person of true commitment and principle will be his voice as a bridge to the future. Good job, Governor Patrick! 🙂

Barack Obama: Please Listen To Joe Biden On Afghanistan!

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President Obama, it is time to face the facts: Afghanistan is an unwinnable war, not worth more American lives. We will never win in any typical sense, and the cost in lives and treasure is too heavy to bear, particularly when other NATO nations are unwilling to take a heavier burden in that war that was lost by George W. Bush by his obsession with Iraq. The American people want out, and they are right!

Your vice president, Joe Biden, is an expert on foreign policy, and he knows that escalating involvement in this war will doom your administration and add tremendously to the national debt. It will doom your domestic reform plans, which are urgently needed.

Do not go down the road of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush. Do not sacrifice our youth on wars that cannot be won. Work on intelligence, aerial bombing of key sites, and drones to deal with the threat, and spend more on homeland security and building up our defense structure, which is weakened by these endless wars that cannot be won.

Joe Biden is right! You made him your Vice President! Now listen to him and follow his lead, as he knows what is best! Be smarter and wiser than other Presidents! Do not let GOP attacks deter you, as they do not wish you well in any form, and were you to stay in Afghanistan, they would still condemn you!

Do what is best for America, and PLEASE listen to Joe Biden!

Eric Cantor And Health Care Solution

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House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia showed that he had no concern on the issue of health care at a recent Town Hall meeting.

A woman described a friend who had lost her job and health care coverage, and had recently been diagnosed with stomach tumors that required immediate medical and surgical attention.

Cantor’s response was to say that unfortunately a certain percentage of people do not have health care, but that this woman could seek charity to help her situation.

This was an uncaring response, and shows the problem with the GOP and many people who call themselves conservatives, who believe in limited government. Basically, if you are unlucky and do not have health care, don’t expect any sense of support and willingness to find a solution. Just wait to die, because it is evil if everyone has access to health care. Your life does not matter, if you don’t have money, as health care is NOT an entitlement. Rather, it is a privilege that some have and others do not. This is simply survival of the fittest, and really survival of the haves, and to hell with the have nots!

Shame on Eric Cantor and his party, who claim to be the party of life, when it comes to the issue of abortion, but once you are born, oh well, there is no responsibility to preserve life by offering health care to those who do not have it. You see, it is all a question of money and profit. That is all that matters in a capitalist system–money and profit. There is no place for concern for human life. We actually often give better care to our pets than to human beings! What an absolute disgrace! 🙁

Sarah Palin At Hong Kong Investors Conference

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Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin made her first speaking appearance overseas at a Hong Kong Investors Conference, and managed to state something that is totally false.

She claimed that the Great Recession occurred because of too much government regulation over banks, other financial firms, and corporations generally.

This is exactly opposite of the truth, as under GOP leadership in Congress and the White House, there was a lack of oversight and regulation, and this caused the economic collapse.

For Palin to say the answer is for the government to get out of the economy is precisely the wrong approach, and shows how she lives in her own created dream world of illusion.

The answer is that Sarah Palin does not have a clue about anything involving America, and were she somehow to be the GOP nominee for President in 2012, the party and the country would be faced with a candidate who is a true disaster area!

Barack Obama And Early Polling On 2012

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New polling reveals that Barack Obama, after eight months in office and bitter, nasty attacks by right wing media, the Republican party, Freedom/Works and Tea Party Patriots, and confrontational Town Hall meetings in August, is still in an excellent position to win re-election.

What the polling shows is that among those who voted for Obama, more than 53 percent, extremely high numbers still are pleased with him, in the 90s percentiles.

At the same time, among those who voted against Obama, most (over 90 percent) are still vehemently against Obama, but remember John McCain only won about 47 percent of the vote.

So, in other words, Obama remains in a very similar position in public opinion polls as he was on Election Day last November.

Therefore, despite all the screaming, yelling and demagogic attacks, Barack Obama is in an excellent position for the next Presidential race.

If anything, the attacks against him have only solidified support for him, as it is recognized that he was given the toughest inheritance on his succession to the Presidency since Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Glenn Beck, John McCain, And Theodore Roosevelt

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Glenn Beck is truly nutty, and it was proved further in his web interview with Katie Couric of CBS News today.

After calling President Obama every nasty name under the sun in the past eight months, Beck expressed the view that John McCain, Obama’s opponent in 2008, would have been worse as President than Obama.

He also said that he would probably have voted for Hillary Clinton over John McCain had she been the Democratic nominee. Is that something Hillary Clinton should be happy about? 🙂 LOL

But then he also attacked every Democrat’s second most favored Republican, Teddy Roosevelt (of course, Abraham Lincoln is Number One 🙂 ). He said TR was a “progressive” and that McCain is also a “weird progressive like Theodore Roosevelt”.

So Beck is now attacking TR, regarded as the fourth best President in our history in almost any poll, because he actually promoted some basic reforms and believed in “progressivism”.

Need I say that this is just further proof of how crazy and loony Glenn Beck is? 🙂

Oh, and by the way, McCain DOES like to compare himself to TR, but McCain does not get it that TR was really a “progressive”, and while McCain is less conservative than most of his Senate colleagues, he truly does not understand TR’s motivations and is NOT a “progressive” himself, despite his constant statements of admiration for the second greatest Republican President!

Rick Perry And The Great Recession: Does It Exist?

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Texas Governor Rick Perry has a talent for making a fool of himself, and that may hurt him in the Texas primary for Governor next spring against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Earlier this year, he sided with secessionists at a rally in Austin, the state capitol. He also had rejected stimulus funds from the Obama Administration, and then had to accept it.

Now he seems unaware that Texas is part of the nation, in regards to the Great Recession that we have been in since last fall. While it is true that Texas has been less impacted by the economic downturn, it is still a fact that Texas has been hurt by the economic collapse, but he recently commented to a reporter the question: Is there a recession occurring?

Perry is an embarrassment to Texas, and it is hard to believe that somehow he has survived to be the longest serving Governor in Texas history, and longest serving Governor in office at the present time, a total of nine years at this point with one year left to go before the election.

It is hoped that Perry will soon be a former Governor, as he actually makes George W. Bush, the governor he succeeded, look a lot better as Governor for six years than Perry has been for nine years.

The New York Political Scene And Barack Obama’s Intervention

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New York is a strongly Democratic state, with all but two Congressmen now being Democrats, and two Democratic senators and a Democratic governor.

But New York has been tormented by controversy–first with former Governor Eliot Spitzer being forced out of office because of a sex scandal involving a prostitute; then the controversy over the replacement of Hillary Clinton in her Senate seat; and then with the quick rapid collapse of public opinion around Governor David Paterson, who succeeded Spitzer when he resigned.

Paterson has come across as inept and ineffective in the Governorship in the nearly 18 months he has been Governor, and there is real concern that the Democrats could lose both the Governor’s office and the Senate seat of Kirsten Gillibrand, Hillary Clinton’s appointed successor, in 2010.

The loss of the Governorship could hurt some Congressmen state wide as well, and that could affect reapportionment of seats both in the House of Representatives and in the state legislature, if the GOP wins control of the State Senate, which they briefly controlled this past summer when a couple of Democrats briefly switched parties before going back to the party that elected them. The state legislature came across as totally inept and chaotic, and New York does not present a very impressive image right now, which is an embarrassment to many who regard New York as one of the premier states of the Union.

The danger is that it is likely that former Mayor Rudy Guiliani may challenge Governor Paterson, and in any poll, wins over the governor, who only has in most polls about a 20 percent rating. Also, the possibility exists that former Governor George Pataki may challenge Senator Gillibrand, and has a lead in polls on that race.

This situation would greatly change if Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor Mario Cuomo, and very popular in all polls, was to be the nominee for Governor. The belief is that if he was the nominee and did not have to deal with a divisive primary race against Paterson, that he could beat any opponent, and that Guiliani might not even run if Cuomo was known to be his opponent. Also, Cuomo could help Gillibrand, and might convince Pataki not to run for the Senate, and hopefully, most of the congressional seats and state legislative seats would be safe, as well.

So the fact that there has been pressure from the Obama Administration for Paterson NOT to run may be embarrassing, but makes sense for the long term future of the Democrats in New York and nationally. The hope is that Governor Paterson will see the handwriting on the wall and will withdraw from a race for election, and maybe end up with some position that President Obama can offer him in 2011.

Barack Obama At Eight Months In Office: Time Of Troubles And Turmoil

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President Obama was everywhere this Sunday morning, appearing on five taped shows (from Friday) to explain his health care plan, the Afghan war, the economy, and the flu virus threat.

Obama has hit a rough patch in all of these areas. The honeymoon is over, but of course, it was bound to end in any case.

Criticism is rampant on the left and the right on these issues. At a time of such economic hardship and the growing fear of terrorism at home with the recent revelations of plans to attack the NYC train transportation system, the President is facing harsh attacks on both extremes of the political spectrum.

The fear of growing costs for health care reform at a time when unemployment continues to rise makes any action on this issue highly questionable that it will succeed. The growing debate on increase of troops in Afghanistan places the President more with his domestic GOP critics than with his Democratic supporters, an example being Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin of Michigan, who has made it clear that we should not send more troops there, even though Obama today pointed out that it was from Afghanistan where Al Quaeda struck on September 11. Obama seems to be on a tightrope on this issue, not yet willing to agree to increased troops, but not hinting that he will change course either.

The H1N1 virus threat also plagues many Americans, and the reality that vaccine will not be available for awhile, and one can not be certain that when it is available, that it will work and not cause more grief than protection for American citizens.

Obama backed away from backing President Jimmy Carter on the issue of racism causing a lot of the problems and division that now exists in America, the only statement he could be expected to make. Still, it is troubling that we are allowing so much attention to be drawn to those who promote hate and controversy for their own aggrandizement, so why does Time Magazine have to put an outrageous picture of Glenn Beck on the cover of its magazine this coming week? All this does is feed the paranoia and insanity that he and other talk show hosts represent.

So basically, it is reality that Barack Obama in in very difficult circumstances at eight months in office, but yet his public opinion rating remains in the mid to high 50s, despite all of the attacks and criticisms.

One thing is for certain: We live in challenging times, and constant turmoil will continue as we try to face the many difficult issues this country faces. We can only pray that we do not see a resort to violence and bloodshed because of the poisonous environment that we find ourselves in.

As Barack Obama said, Franklin D. Roosvevelt and Ronald Reagan also faced vitriol and wild extremist reactions because they represented fundamental change, and that he understood that is occurring again because he is involved in similar actions, and there will be predictably negative responses as in the past.

Obama called for civility and decency in political discourse, but unfortunately, that seems extremely unlikely. 🙁

Mike Huckabee The Winner In Straw Poll at Values Voters Summit

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is the winner of the straw poll taken at the Values Voter Summit in Washington DC taking place this weekend.

With 29 percent of the vote, he beat out four other candidates who each had about 12 percent of the vote–Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, and Mike Pence. The other four candidates–Newt Gingrich, Bobby Jindal, Ron Paul, and Rick Santorum–received single digits in the poll.

While this is a nice moment for Huckabee, it is clear that it is no bellweather as to what will happen at the GOP National Convention in 2012. The race for the White House has barely begun!