That was the headline at The Poor Man a week before Iowa, 2004. That was the moment I decided not to get riled up by THIS primary, and why, during all these months of OMG HILLARY and “national polls say WHA?” and YA HALLO THAR OBAMA and other such things, none of it really bothered me that much. The numbers, I mean, certain things about everybody’s campaigns bothered the shit out of me. The numbers didn’t bother me, though, because I knewthis would happen:
In Iowa, it’s a three-way dead heat, at least when margins of error are factored in: Clinton (29%), Obama (26%), Edwards (25%).
So, you know, I refuse to worry about Hillary or Obama or Edwards as she or he or he relates to the Republican’s choice of freak, incompetent, racist or (and) sociopath until I absolutely have to. Because I think it’s been conclusively proven many times over that absolutely nobody has any idea what the fuck is going on, and I am no different in my uncertainty, other than thinking that this big strong killativemayunn should be our next president:
U.S. Senator and democratic presidential hopefully Chris Dodd takes part in SEIU’s Walk a Day in My Shoes by going to work with SEIU member Colleen Mehaffey at Head Start in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Thursday, July 26, 2007.
Photo by David Lienemann
Anyway. Declare right now: Who are you loving at the moment, and why?
A.
ps. We will have a crack van going on the evening of Jan. 3, so try to get over your New Year’s hangovers by then.
What?
Only three days to recover from the New Year’s hangover?
Sheesh, lady, you’re really pushing it.
Of the frontruners, Edwards.
He’s the only one that I believe means what he says about the inequities that are burdening the common working and middle class Americans.
Not crazy about his record on glbt but he appears to at least be honest re a dialogue.
I’m not in a position to evaluate his health care plan, but it doesn’t seem any more unrealistic than anyone else’s.
He electable? Dunno.
Of the frontrunners, the the least Business as Usual.
Otherwise, yes, I agree Dodd’s impressive but I can’t see him getting the national support he needs.
I will most likely vote for Obama, not out of great enthusiasm, but because I refuse to vote for either Clinton or Edwards based on their Iraq invasion votes, and none of the other candidates have a chance at the nomination. If I thought he had a chance I would vote for Richardson.
Any Democrat is many times better than any Republican, so in November of course I will vote for the Democrat.
Edwards for the presidency since his numbers are viable. I’d love Dodd too, but realistically I think Dodd would be totally awesome as Senate Majority Leader.
I’m skipping big celebrations this New Year’s eve and next so my liver will be rested and ready for the party on January 19th, 2009. I may never recover from that hang-over, but surviving this administration will necessitate a celebration for the ages.
The UN will declare January 19, 2009 a world holiday. The lions will sit down with the lambs for a clover dinner. The sun will shine 24 hours straight.
Loving Edwards now and for the last 10 months or so. I don’t disagree with him much on policies, but the intangibles are what really attracts me to Edwards. He grew up poor, attended public schools and universities, made a successful career for himself and managed to have an apparently healthy family life. That tells me he is a hard worker, has good character and is able to find a way to accomplish his goals. And accomplishing progressive goals is what I’m looking for in Democrats these days.
I’ve been with Edwards for a more than a year. It started when I tuned in mid-broadcast to a live NPR forum not knowing what it was or who was speaking. After listening to this guy for about 10 minutes – back and forth with the moderator about a lot of topics but mostly poverty issues, I thought, dayum! who is this guy and why isn’t he the president??? Then I found out who it was and I’m still waiting to hear anyone else match him. The Iraq vote does bother me, but I guess I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on him sincerely saying he was wrong.
Obama.
Obama was against the Iraq War on the same grounds as Al Gore, he had his pick of half million dollar a year to start jobs out of law school and choose to return to his job as community organizer, and the deeper you dig into his record, the MORE is there. He’s not just passing legislation to pass legislation or score points with voters (cough..v-chip). He’s fixing stuff that needs to be fixed. He’s REPAIRING things that are broken. If you read about Lincoln he used to concede a lot of rhetorical arguments to the point where his law partner thought he had given away the store. But always, always Lincoln would prevail. From the book ‘Lincoln’s Herndon’:“He would good-naturedly concede nine points out of ten to the opposing counsel, until it seems he had given his case away. But on the tenth point he would insist, and it was the nub of the action.”
I think Obama is the best one to start doing repairs. He’ll prevail on “the nub” and that’s enough.
I’d have to give you a list and why (in no particular order). I’m certainly on the demo side in this election.
Dodd – I hadn’t given him much thought. But his recent move to prevent passage of very ill conceived legislation, has caused me to give him a second look. His web page is one of the few that actually gives specifics of what he would do.
Edwards – my pick in the primaries 4 years ago. Seems to be concentrating on issues that are important to me with a reasonable approach.
Obama – The “experience” thing has been hashed to death (and he has been caught with a few naive answers). I’d like to have more concrete details on how he’d bring his ideals into concrete form. Great orator.
Clinton – a little hawkish in my book. At the same time, and a lot of the “bad” about Clinton is that she seems honestly trying to give real-world answers which just don’t let her bring it down to easy, simple solutions and platitudes. Also, it isn’t fair, but the “Clinton” name is going to be a problem for her.
Kucinich – He seems to hold on to the “working man’s solution” to problems. I find it refreshing. But I don’t think he has a chance of making it.
Prefer Kucinich, I’ll vote for Edwards (if he’s still there in May; isn’t that when the Texas primary is? Used to be? Or is my memory completely shot?).
Prefer Dodd, in some ways, but I’m leaning Edwards, so maybe Dodd after all. We’ll see. Anybody but GOP, in November, so it matters little to me, to be honest.
Edwards because I like what I hear when he speaks and feel that he believes it. He’s not perfect, but if we can get a good bunch of progressive freshmen in Congress to cover his back, I think he has much more upside potential than the others.
Edwards, because I decided months ago.
i can’t choose, so what will be will be, unless WI is part of the mix.
hillary reminds me of thatcher.
Edwards…
I like McCain fir the following reasons:
01) I really think he’s the one politician that can reach out to the other side of the isle
02) As a former POW he would put more thoughtful consideration into sending our troops into war
03) I believe he’d grab Joe Lieberman as his running mate setting a precedence not seen in my 45
years of life.
04) I think he’s smart enough to know that if you want to be a successful as a leader in this
day and age, you must suround yourself with succesful people
05) I believe his cabinet would be a mixture of all parties not just same party cronies.
I think his only weakness is Immigration, but if he placed Duncan Hunter, Tom Tancredo, & Bill
Richardson in the proper positions in his administration, they then could turn the tables back around on Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and the others who are trying to stop the southern border fence.
[shudder] Bill, that isn’t even funny.
Edwards, because god-fucking-damn it, it’s about time *somebody* got angry. Srsly, yesterday I nearly crawled right through my teevee and started poking Joke Line’s eyes out with my non-sharp, 1/16″ fingernails. (To which Mr. BuggyQ says, “That does it. No more Chris Matthews on Sunday mornings.”)
I lovelurvlove Chris Dodd, but when we find a Democrat in Congress with a spine, I’d really hate to see him leave that body. We need him there so he can keep poking Harry Reid with a sharp stick.
Ditto Dennis Kucinich.
Obama makes me nervous, simply because I’m fucking tired of people trying to make nice with the other side of the aisle. How about demanding that they fucking make nice with us for a change, hmmm? It’s like battered wife syndrome or something–“Maybe if I was just a little nicer, he wouldn’t keep hurting me.” STFU. I’d also like to have a little more substance from the man. I haven’t gone to any of the candidates websites yet, but I know a lot more about Edwards’ policy stands than I do Obama’s, despite Edwards getting precisely dick in coverage from the MSM. I’m not going to vote for someone just because they’re a great orator and they smile a lot.
Every logical part of me says I ought to give Hillary more of a look. I’d love to see a woman elected preznit. The economy was great during the Clinton years. They left the country with a surplus. All that says to me I should give her a chance. But then she does something like voting for that misbegotten Iran bill. Margaret Thatcher as president I Do Not Want.
Edwards in the White House. Let the VP be Wes Clark or another veteran, a sensible man with no jones for wars.
Dodd as Majority Leader.
Kucinich as Speaker.
Yeah, you heard me.
We must have not merely anger and outrage but guts.
We must have not merely progressive appearance but real progress.
We must have no return to the rage-fueled testosterone-soaked Clinton years, for nothing will be achieved thereby.
bill, mccain was a flyboy. they have a different view of war. too breezy for me.
An Obama nomination would make me very, very happy.