Political Frenzy

As most people know Stephen Colbert has announced that he will run for president…in South Carolina. He is attempting to get on the ballot in South Carolina as a Democrat and a Republican.

“Man of the Year” for real? No, he is only running in one state.

While the tone of his ‘candidacy’ is humorous at best, other candidates have actually responded to it. Colbert says he is the favorite son of South Carolina, and Doritos will sponsor his candidacy.

This is a joke, but it didn’t stop the John Edwards campaign from ‘firing back.’ “What is more troubling than his quest for a status his own mother won’t grant him (favorite son) are his ties to the salty food industry,” Wells said. “As the candidate of Doritos, his hands are stained by corporate corruption and nacho cheese. John Edwards has never taken a dime from taco chip lobbyists and America deserves a President who isn’t in the pocket of the snack food special interests.”

Are they joking? It is hard to tell.

Colbert has an enormous fan base and is wildly popular with the college crowd, I watch “The Report.”

Something like this has never been done before. It will be interesting to see if his one state candidacy actually makes real candidates keep responding to things that he does.

Source: AP

Recently the issue of health care has been at the top of the agendas of the media and presidential candidates. So let’s roll with it.

An editorial in the New York Times today, “Bleak Findings on Health Insurance,” discussed how there are over 47 million Americans without health insurance. This is a terrible number because each of these people are one health problem away from being ruined financially, which means our taxes WILL go up. Somebody has to pay their bills.

In my home state, California, there is a heated debate between Governor Schwarzenegger and the state legislature on what to do about the health care crisis (I like how when people pay attention to it it becomes a crisis, even though the numbers have been the same for years). California has the opportunity to set the example for the rest of the country, let’s hope we do so.

However the big crisis is not that of health care, it is of politics.

The only reason that our nation does not have truly universal health care is because of partisan bickering. Canada has universal health care; there is no reason that we cannot! The only thing that politicians care about is who gets the credit for coming up with the plan.

It is ridiculous.

Here is a video from John Edwards’ presidential campaign in which he discusses health care. I am not supporting any candidates yet, but this video has some strong points:

Today John Edwards, seeking to capitalize on his YearlyKos moment, asked Senator Barack Obama to co-sign a letter to Democratic leaders to ban the acceptance of funds from Federal Lobbyists. Both men have policies, unlike Mrs. Clinton, to never accept money from Federal Lobbyists.

Obama declined the Edwards “invitation,” his campaign stated, “It’s not enough just to refuse their money, we have to curb their influence.” In other words… ‘Damn, I should have asked HIM first!’

It is a great idea to ban money from Federal Lobbyists, most Democrats (who want to get re-elected) would agree. The problem is that it will never happen…ever. The concept is not the problem; the problem is that members of Congress hate to give credit to someone else for a good idea.

Instead of admitting that another member’s idea is good, they will re-word it and say that the proposal is not enough, that the author did not think of all the angles.

This is the main problem with Congress today, nobody wants to give anyone else credit for a good idea, and one party will never (ever) give the other credit for a good idea. It is a perfect formula for getting nothing done.

Did you hear that sound? I think it was Thomas Jefferson rolling over…

If you have done any looking into the issue positions of the myriad of presidential candidates you will be disappointed, there is nothing of substance there, with two exceptions.

Candidates are very reluctant to offer specific plans on their views, which is why so many candidates are shying away from the YouTube debate. They are afraid to face specific questions. They like the broad questions that are (underhand) tossed to them at traditional debates in which they can dance (the cha-cha) around specifics while offering a flimsy view.

Why should we vote for someone when they provide no plans for change? Because we like their smile?

The two exceptions to this are Barack Obama and John Edwards. On their websites (by far the best of all the candidates) they have actual pdf documents with specific plans on the tough issues. To be honest I never really paid much attention to Edwards, but after reading his SPECIFIC plans I was impressed.

On the other candidates websites all you will find are carefully orchestrated essays that skirt solutions to the major issues. It takes guts and confidence to post pdf files with specific plans…props to John and Barack.

Source: BarackObama.com

Barack Obama’s views on the use of military have been making headlines lately. He made a comment about how, as president there would be no use of nuclear weapons…on civilian targets. Which was criticized by the other candidates including John Edwards who said, “A candidate for president should, in general, avoid talking about the potential use of nuclear weapons.”

Now other campaigns are giving campaign advice?

Obama then made a comment about attacking al-Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, which caused everyone within a 10,000-mile radius to try to spin it to harm his campaign…ahh yes good old politics.

Obama’s comments also caused President Bush to call the President of Pakistan and discuss how the comments, “were unsavory and often prompted by political considerations in an environment of electioneering.” A presidential candidate has that much pull? I’m impressed.

The Obama campaign has been ratcheting up its display of a ‘tough’ Obama who will fight terrorism. An update email to supporters displayed the image above of an angry Obama and talked about the pressing need to deal with Taliban and al Qaeda and how the Bush Administration missed its chance to take them out. All other update emails have been about ending war, then highlighting his views on domestic issues…there must have been a poll that suggested he would gain points if he took a tough terrorism stance.

I like the move because every other Democratic candidate is preaching the same things. Obama realizes that he must beat the other candidates to get the nomination, to do so he must separate himself from them.

It is good to see the anti-war candidate talking about something other than a pullout. A pullout will only cause the strife in the Middle East to fester.

Don’t you love it when microphones are left on? We get to see what politicians are really thinking. This conversation between Hillary Clinton and John Edwards was captured recently following a debate amongst the large field of Democratic presidential candidates.

Hillary says that the other candidates are “just being trivialized.”

Trivialized: –verb, cause to appear unimportant. (Thanks Dictionary.com)

I don’t think the other candidates appeared unimportant at all. They were making great points. I think Mrs. Clinton was the one who was made to look unimportant. She feels threatened by truth.

If I was in her shoes, and felt invincible, I would want a million candidates around me so that I can show that I am the best. By her saying she wants less candidates around, it means she wants less competition. If you are clearly the best (in your mind) why do you want less competition?

She can’t handle the heat?