3 posts tagged “politics”

I'm getting really tired of the "gotcha" politics where every little sound bite is exaggerated and misinterpreted to make a point.  Of course, Hillary Clinton jumped on Barack Obama's remarks about economically-depressed small town voters and accused him of being an elitist out-of-touch with regular people. It's no wonder that Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter would rather vote for her than John McCain.  It sometimes seems like we have two Republicans and one Democrat left in the race.

Obama did himself no favors with his word choice in his speech.  The Mainstream Media reduced what he said to "blue collar workers are bitter gun nuts that cling to religion", when what he said was more of an indictment of politics as usual that left these people behind.  I hope that people in Pennsylvania are smart enough to understand the difference.

I find it hard to believe that Hillary wants to paint herself as a "regular gal", when she comes from the same "elitist" background as Obama.  She went to Wellesley College and Yale Law School.  Obama went to Columbia and Harvard Law School.  Neither one's educational background sounds like they spent two years at community college and started working at the car repair shop.  Having shots with the regular folks at the local bar (like Hillary did) seems like a trick from the Karl Rove playbook: Fool everyone into thinking you're "regular folks", even when you're not.

I hope the polls are wrong about John McCain catching up to both Hillary and Obama.  Regardless of who the Democratic nominee ends up being, the Democrats have to win the 2008 election.  More Republican rule will ruin the country (if it hasn't already).  The only difference between McCain and the Bush administration will be fiscal restraint.  So all we'll end up doing is not crashing into the ditch as hard.

Both John McCain and Barack Obama got a chance this week to look "presidential."  Naturally, the Republican way is to go to Iraq, put on a helmet and pretend to be a soldier.  The better way is to give a bold, inspiring speech addressing one of the issues that some critics of Barack Obama believe why he shouldn't be President: his race.

When California had our primaries in February, I voted for the person I thought would be the most effective in creating change from the previous administration: John Edwards.  Now that he's out of the race (and given the choice), I prefer Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton or John McCain.  While Hillary is perfectly competent, Obama just seems to inspire people.  Hillary will likely continue the same partisan politics we've had for the last 16 years.  McCain intends to be Bush's third term.

According to Hillary, all Obama does is give speeches.  Maybe so, but Hillary could never deliver a speech like that.

• I am really looking forward to the NCAA College Basketball tournament.  This should be a really competitive tournament with a good chance for some upsets in the first few rounds.  My favorites are UCLA, Memphis and North Carolina.  My alma mater (Cal) didn't make it, so I have to watch them in the NIT.
  
• Speaking of the NCAA, I still hate the Bowl Championship Series.  There are no excuses for not having a playoff.  Just start with the top 4 teams and add more every few years.
• I just bought a Digital Video Recorder.  Unfortunately, it's crap and I'll probably have to return it.  All I want is a replacement for my VCR in anticipation of the Digital Broadcasting switchover in 2009.  I don't want to pay for a service, so that rules out TiVO.  I think the search continues...
  
• The Bear Stearns buyout seemed like a panic move by the Bush Administration (but what hasn't been a panic move by those incompetent boobs?).  I would love to see the Democrats win the White House, but my fear is that their stupidity in running campaigns will continue in the election this fall. If they're smart, they hammer home that "McCain = Bush" and you'll get more Iraq and more recession.  Hopefully, Hillary won't burn down the house in order to win the nomination.
• Movies have been pretty blah so far this year.  Saw "Horton Hears a Who" on Saturday.  Meh.  I was hoping it would be funnier.  I'm anticipating the summer films this year.  Indy Jones and The Dark Knight in particular look pretty good.
• Anyway, that's my brain dump for today.  Happy St. Patrick's Day!