Archive for January, 2008

Yes We Can!

Posted on: January 26th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

Senator Barack Obama scored a historic win tonight in the Southern state of South Carolina. With 99% of precincts reporting, he currently holds a commanding lead of his chief rival, Senator Hillary Clinton. The former First Lady was hurt by the negative campaign tactics employed by her campaign and her husband. Their outright lies about Obama’s record and misquoting him evidently played a big factor into people’s votes. After 8 years of lies from the Bush administration, it is clear that Democratic voters do not want to replace George Bush with another administration of liars.

Obama – 55%

Hillary – 27%

Edwards – 18%

I am extremely proud that the state of South Carolina rebuked the negative campaigning of Bill Clinton. As I showed in the video I made earlier this week, the Clintons have been campaigning on fear. The Politics of Fear lost to the Politics of Hope tonight. And in a big way. While the Clintons undoubtedly will try to spin this 28% victory as a black man winning a black state, that same cynicism is the very reason they are in the predicament that they are in. They LOST nearly all white Iowa. They came within 3% of losing nearly all white New Hampshire. Two states with little diversity.

When we get to a state that has a lot of diversity, all of a sudden it doesn’t count? I don’t think so. That’s what the Democratic Party is about! We are the party of everyone – whites, blacks, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, Catholics, men, women, gays, the elderly and the young. This is not the Republican Party of old white men. If Hillary’s only strength is going to be among women and old people, how the heck does she expect to win in November against the Republicans? By the way, 61% of the voters today were women. That’s more than Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. If that wasn’t an advantage for Hillary, I don’t know what is.

Let me make my point this way: 290,000 people voted in the Democratic primaries in 2004. Barack Obama’s unofficial total is at 295,000 right now. It will go above 300,000 once all of the votes are counted. Barack Obama alone outperformed EVERY Democrat COMBINED from the 2004 primaries (John Kerry, John Edwards, Howard Dean and Dennis Kucinich). The Democratic turnout for 2008 is nearly twice what it was in 2004. Something is happening, folks. Young people are turning out in record numbers, women are supporting a man over their own, and white people (in the South no less) are doing what no one thought possible. This is astonishing. America is finally changing for the better.

The good news is, you can be a part of it. February 5, 2008 is “Super Tuesday”, the closest thing we have ever had to a national primary. 22 states will vote on Super Tuesday, including mega states like California, Illinois and New York. If you live in one of these states, VOTE. Obama needs your support! This is not going to be an easy fight. The Clintons will throw everything and the kitchen sink at Obama to prevent him from winning. They want the White House. If you live in one of the states below, please get out on February 5 and support Obama:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho (Democratic Party Only)
Illinois
Kansas (Democratic Party Only)
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New Mexico (Democratic Party Only)
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah

Obama Wins South Carolina

Posted on: January 26th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

Just came in at the top of the hour (7 p.m. Eastern). For the first time this primary season, all the networks were able to project a winner as soon as the polls closed. Barack Obama trounced Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in South Carolina, John Edwards’ home state and a state where Hillary Clinton had led in the polls until this month. I’ll have another post later tonight about the results once all of them are in. Only 13% are reporting right now with Obama holding a 25% lead.

Hillary Tries to Steal Michigan and Florida Delegates

Posted on: January 25th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

ROCK HILL, South Carolina (Reuters) – Sen. Hillary Clinton, in an about-face, said on Friday she wants the Democratic Party delegates in two states that were barred by the national party to be reinstated and counted in the race to determine the party’s U.S. presidential nominee. In those states, Michigan and Florida, Clinton could stake claim to nearly all the delegates to the nominating convention in question — more than 350. She was the only candidate on the Democratic ballot in Michigan and holds a strong lead in Florida, which holds its contest on Tuesday.

The national party eliminated the delegates from Michigan and Florida because the states broke party rules by holding primary voting contests before February 5. But just four days before Florida’s primary, Clinton said she wants the delegates reinstated. “I know other campaigns have tried to downplay the significance of these two states,” Clinton told reporters. “I think that is not a good strategy for Democrats or any of us who cares about the outcome of this election.”

To become the Democratic nominee in the November election, a candidate must collect a majority of more than 2,000 delegates by competing in state contests around the nation. Because Michigan and Florida violated the rules, all the major Democratic candidates pledged not to campaign there before their primaries. Clinton said she did not think she was violating that agreement.

“I think it’s important we send a message to the people of Michigan and Florida that Democrats care about their lives and their futures, and I will certainly do everything I can to be a good president for them,” she said. In Michigan, Clinton won the primary after the other major candidates pulled their names from the ballot. Polls show she holds a strong lead in Florida, where all the candidates are on the ballot.

A spokesman for her chief rival, Sen. Barack Obama, accused Clinton of changing course. “Senator Clinton’s own campaign has repeatedly said that this is a contest for delegates, and Florida is a contest that offers zero,” campaign manager David Plouffe said in a statement. “Whether it is Barack Obama’s record, her position on Social Security, or even the meaning of the Florida primary, it seems like Hillary Clinton will do or say anything to win an election,” he said.

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Saw this one coming. Hillary didn’t care about Michigan or Florida… until she needed their delegates to win the Democratic nomination. Now that she ran uncontested in Michigan (and won only 55% of the vote), she wants those delegates. Obama and Edwards weren’t even on the ballot! This is yet another sign of how desperate the Clinton campaign is. They must be scared as hell of what is going to happen on February 5 if they are counting on states with 0 delegates to win. It’s obvious they don’t want to play by the rules.

The Smears Keep on Comin’

Posted on: January 24th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

CNN ran a story on the continued smear tactics being used against Barack Obama on the topic of religion. It’s sad Obama has to refute stories about him being a Muslim when he is and always has been a Christian. Not that it should even be an issue in the first place. Again, this kind of stuff just shows the Clintons will do anything, including using racial, ethnic and religious fears against Obama, to get back in the White House.

Virgin Galactic Unveils Spaceships That Will Take Off in 2009

Posted on: January 23rd, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

These things are pretty cool. Virgin just unveiled their commercial spaceships that will begin taking passengers into outerspace in 2009. Yep, in a year, we’ll have our first commercial spaceline. Link to pics below:

ImageShack

Source: Gizmodo

Bush and aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war

Posted on: January 23rd, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

WASHINGTON (CNN) — President Bush and his top aides publicly made 935 false statements about the security risk posed by Iraq in the two years following September 11, 2001, according to a study released Tuesday by two nonprofit journalism groups.

“In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003,” reads an overview of the examination, conducted by the Center for Public Integrity and its affiliated group, the Fund for Independence in Journalism.

According to the study, Bush and seven top officials — including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice — made 935 false statements about Iraq during those two years.

The study was based on a searchable database compiled of primary sources, such as official government transcripts and speeches, and secondary sources — mainly quotes from major media organizations.The study says Bush made 232 false statements about Iraq and former leader Saddam Hussein’s possessing weapons of mass destruction, and 28 false statements about Iraq’s links to al Qaeda.

Source: CNN

Lessons from Washtenaw County

Posted on: January 23rd, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

I’m just now looking at election results from last week’s Michigan primary. The Democratic side was only a symbolic vote, as the state was stripped (along with Florida) of all of its delegates due to their moving up the primary past February 5, which broke party rules for all states except Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. Well, Hillary Clinton was the only major candidate on the ballot. “Uncommitted” was her main opponent as both Barack Obama and John Edwards were not on the ballot. The statewide total was:

Hillary Clinton – 55%

Uncommitted – 40%

In other words, without any serious opponent, Hillary only won the state of Michigan by 15%. That was stunning to me. But even more stunning were the numbers within. She actually managed to lose to “Uncommitted” in Washtenaw County, home to Ann Arbor. The county has a black population of 12%, compared to a white population of 77%. Women and men both make up 50% of the population. Washtenaw County is one of the few counties in Michigan with decent growth, averaging nearly 7% population increase since 2000, compared to only 1.6% statewide. Nearly 50% are college educated, and over 90% graduated from high school, compared to 22% and 83% statewide.

The question becomes: how many Washtenaw County’s are there in America? Rather, what major cities reflect Ann Arbor in a way that could help Obama? Plenty in the Midwest, where Obama is likely to do best. Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati, Ohio; Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota; Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin; Columbia, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; Iowa City, Ames and Cedar Falls, Iowa, where Obama already won. And if the primaries drag on long enough, Bloomington, South Bend, Lafayette, and Indianapolis, Indiana.

Rudy’s Woeful Ways

Posted on: January 23rd, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

Throughout 2007, Rudy Giuliani was the Republican “front-runner”, crowned by none other than the same media that proclaimed Hillary Clinton the Democratic nominee. When voting started he fell faster than a rock – or a Howard Dean scream. Yet where has the media been in covering the meteoric decline of Rudy Giuliani? Virtually none of the networks made much of a deal of either Rudy’s or Hillary’s losses in Iowa. New York bias, anyone?

Iowa – 6th place, 3%

Michigan – 6th place, 3%

New Hampshire – 4th place, 9%

Nevada – 6th place, 4%

South Carolina – 6th place, 2%

Wyoming – Last place, 0%

As you can see, his highest showing was a 4th place finish in New Hampshire, the same region as New York. He has yet to break into double digits in any state. Ron Paul has finished ahead of him in 4 states, a full 7% ahead of Rudy in Iowa and 10% in Nevada. The former New York mayor is all but finished long before he even gets a chance for redemption in his home state. Polls in New York even show him trailing there to John McCain. Even if he somehow manages to win Florida (a state with a considerable New York transplant population) and New York, where does he go from there? One home state and one “snow bird state” does not make a nominee.

The Politics of Hope vs. The Politics of Fear

Posted on: January 22nd, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

Four years ago, a little known state senator from Illinois was the keynote speaker at the Democratic Convention in 2004 on behalf of John Kerry. He spoke eloquently about how there were no red state or blue state America, just the United States of America.

“Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy; our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… … that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

That is the true genius of America, a faith…

… a faith in simple dreams, an insistence on small miracles; that we can tuck in our children at night and know that they are fed and clothed and safe from harm; that we can say what we think, write what we think, without hearing a sudden knock on the door; that we can have an idea and start our own business without paying a bribe; that we can participate in the political process without fear of retribution; and that our votes will be counted — or at least, most of the time.”

That speaker in Boston was Barack Obama. He spoke at a time when our country was perhaps more divided than any time since the 1960s. The divisions of the Clinton and Bush years have torn our country apart. Neighbors can not have a civil conversation about politics. Talk show hosts yell at their guests and pundits declare victors before a single vote is cast. Hillary Clinton was all but declared the Democratic nominee before Iowa even kicked off the process.

Barack Obama proved them wrong. His message of hope and change transcended political lines, bringing Democrats, independents and Republicans together to support one candidate. But as quickly as victory was realized, the Clintons turned their sights on him. It was actually three or so weeks prior that the dump trunk began rolling back. Surrogates to the Clintons posed the question of whether Obama was a drug dealer, repeatedly distorted his record on the Iraq War, claimed that he went to a madrasa and had a Muslim heritage, and didn’t fail to remind people that his middle name was Hussein.

Americans aren’t stupid. They see exactly what the Clintons are doing and I expect them to punish them at the polls, starting in South Carolina. The Politics of Hope that Obama coined is under siege by The Politics of Fear. Former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary are tag teaming personal attacks on Obama, along with their classless surrogates in hopes that their tactics can bring him down.

It seems to have worked, if ever so slightly, in New Hampshire and Nevada. Yet New Hampshire and Nevada always were states where Hillary led by wide margins. It’s clear now that her crying performance helped her win women in both states, while the lack of independent voters hurt him in Nevada. If women continue to vote for Hillary in the numbers that they are, it will be impossible for Obama to win. Just as Hillary has had to give blacks reason not to vote for Obama, Obama has to give women reason not to vote for Hillary. I have several:

1. Obama’s appeal extends far past core Democrats. He can win independents and Republicans in a general election that Hillary never will.

2. The level of personal attacks and dishonesty on the part of the Clintons is on level with Bush and Cheney. They are using true Karl Rove tactics to win. Their greatest weakness may very well be that they will do anything to win.

3. Playing gender politics doesn’t advance women’s issues or the country. Not only will Hillary lose the general election, doing so will guarantee that we will not advance as a nation on important issues of race, gender and sexual orientation.

Obama has proven to be an inspiring leader the likes we haven’t seen since John F. Kennedy. In Iowa, people under the age of 30 made up 22% of the vote. 22%! They say that young people don’t vote and yet they did in overwhelming fashion. The Obama coalition of young voters, independents and anti-war Democrats was a powerful force in Iowa and will be on February 5. Kennedy didn’t have an easy road to the nomination. It took a win in Protestant West Virginia to prove that he was viable. It will likely take Obama winning women in a few states, like he did in Iowa, to win the nomination.

Endorsements, Nevada and Bill

Posted on: January 20th, 2008 by Kyle. | No Comments

I haven’t posted a blog in a little while, so time to update things. Since I last posted about John Kerry’s endorsement, a number of other people have come out in support of Obama. Below are just a few of the endorsements he has picked up, most of them from important February 5th primary states (bolded):

Senator John Kerry (Mass.)
Senator Conrad (North Dakota)
Senator Johnson (South Dakota)
Senator Ben Nelson (Nebraska)
Senator Dick Durbin (Illinois)
Senator McCaskill (Missouri)
Governor Tim Kaine (Virginia)
Governor Napolitano (Arizona)
Governor Deval Patrick (Mass.)

That’s four Senators and two governors from five different February 5 states. Other than in New York, find me a prominent Senator or Governor of a February 5 state backing Hillary. You can’t. More importantly, each of those Senators or Governors come from a state that George Bush won in 2000 and 2004, except for Illinois and Massachusetts. I don’t know if John Kerry and Deval Patrick can help Obama carry Massachusetts, she still has to be favored in most of New England, but it should help quite a bit organizationally.

Now let’s pivot away from endorsements to election results. First thing’s first: Nevada. I was personally shocked this week by the Clinton tactics in that state. Nevada never played a very important role and their slim win there doesn’t mean much. So why did they use arm twisting to win there? Charges of voter suppression were rampant with reports that the doors were closed a half hour early at 11:30 a.m. instead of 12:00 noon at the request of Clinton campaign people. Furthermore, her teacher union backers tried to prevent workers in Las Vegas from voting by going to court.

Bill Clinton went further into wacko land when he denied any involvement in the lawsuit and turned around and said he supported preventing the workers from voting. His argument was one of the oddest I’ve heard. Basically, allowing workers on the Las Vegas strip to caucus by putting caucus locations in casinos somehow gave them an advantage that no one else had. Um… you’ve lost it, Bill. Last I checked, we’ve always used schools and churches as polling places. Doesn’t that give an “unfair” advantage to teachers and ministers? Why are you complaining about shift workers getting a place to vote? Give me a break!

Last point. Hillary won Nevada with 51% of the vote to 45% for Obama. Two good things came out of Nevada:

1. Obama only lost by 6%, despite Nevada being a closed caucus. That means independents could not vote in the Democratic caucus. Independents were largely responsible for Obama’s win in Iowa, besting Hillary by more than 3-to-1 among independents. Also, Bill Clinton carried Nevada twice as president. Other than Bill Clinton, no Democrat had won Nevada since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.

2. Obama left the state with more delegates. It is starting to look like this race may continue for many months to come. If that happens, the delegate count could factor in for the first time in decades. Right now Obama has a 2 delegate lead nationally over Hillary.