jakepease1

The crowd at the rules and bylaws committee meeting was split obviously between Hillary and Barack supporters. A representative of the Barack Obama campaign got booed by the crowd when he said that he believes the Michigan delegates need to be split 50/50.

It's a shame though to see such blatant actions in the terms of comments by the rules and bylaws committee members sticking to the Hillary Clinton playbill. I had hoped that they would remain above that.

"And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did," McCain said.

Really. You're attacking Obama because he didn't join the military? Of all the dumb things to say. Especially since Obama was criticizing you for not endorsing legislation to provide more benefits to our veterans.

Reuters summarizes McCains position so gracefully:

The Senate easily approved legislation that the Bush administration and some Republicans, including McCain, say is so generous it could encourage people to leave the military to take advantage of the benefits to get a college education, at a time of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

So lets see if I got this right. McCain doesn't want to give our veterans what he considers to generous of benefits, so Obama calls him out. Does McCain give a reason why it's not beneficial or what's wrong with the bill? Nope. McCain's position as a war veteran gives him blanket approval to shortchange our veterans.

You stay classy Johnny.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN22519277

Okay, first off, I'm a resident in the state of Florida. I listened as the leaders of our state spoke about how we weren't playing a role in presidential politics worthy of a state of our size. I heard all the comments from both Republicans and Democrats justifying the move in our state's primary election.

At the time, I agreed. We're a large state and we're relatively insignificant in the average primary voting. It's something that needed to be addressed: tradition vs actual power. Personally, I wouldn't mind if they were drawn randomly from a hat! Something at least that evens the chances any state has first dibs on the first primary.

Even after all the bickering about seating vs not seating the FL delegates, I still support that view. However what's changed is the perception of the decision. So many people are being convinced that the "Big Bad Democrat National Committee" is stealing their vote. I have no doubt that this is exactly the kind of reaction Hillary Clinton is actively promoting, so as to get her perceived share of the delegates. The truth is that it was our state government's choice (including the Democrats) to move the primary!

Here's the proof! http://www.jacksonville.com/apnews/stories/032107/D8O0PVN02.shtml

"House Republicans and Democrats passed the earlier primary bill (HB 537) by a 115-1 vote - a challenge to the national parties that are wielding threats in an attempt to prevent a nationwide race for earlier and earlier primaries."

So stop whining about how Florida was screwed. If we were, it was caused by the people we elected! And Hillary, please stop being a hypocrite and admit that Florida was an errant child that broke the rules and got punished for it. Don't playcate the naughty children! If the DNC comes out with a weakened punishment for Florida, it will only make Florida's choice more legitimate.

I have found interesting the latest bickering between John McCain and Barack Obama over the "Negotiation with rogue states" or "Appeasing the enemy" arguments (relative to which side you're on).  The argument from McCain seems to be that we can't meet with rogue leaders because they're rogue!  What doesn't make sense to me is that it's like the old "if we deny there is a problem, then there is no problem" logic. 

McCain said that he is "vowing to extend free-trade pacts throughout the region and to continue isolating Cuba until the Communist-ruled island frees political prisoners and allows multi-party elections."

Now, I'm pretty sure it's this logic that pisses off the rest of the world.  Look at what McCain's saying!  It's a "do it our way or piss off" style of leadership that assumes our way is the only way.  Wake up America...we're not great because we bully others into our style of government.  Oh, and whoever really feels that simply pretending Cuba doesn't exist suddenly makes them scream "DIOS MIO!" is absurd.  Repeat that to North Korea, Iran and every other country that hates us.

I'm not an idealist and don't feel that simply talking will solve problems, nor do I feel that many of the solutions will last, however to attack Barack Obama on the basis of his willingness to sit down and talk to nations that hate us screams of an arrogance I pray is not the majority opinion.

McCain Quote Taken from This Los Angeles Times Story

Barack Obama just sent out an email to his campaign's listserv:

"The polls are closed in Kentucky and votes are being counted in Oregon, and it's clear that tonight we have reached a major milestone on this journey.  We have won an absolute majority of all the delegates chosen by the people in this Democratic primary process."

Will this cause Hillary Clinton to shake in her boots?  Nope.  She's already said she will "fight" until every primary has cast votes.  And if I was going to bet, I'd say she may want to go to the Convention to fight there.  Will it happen?  Most certainly not.  I have a feeling that there would be some high ranking Democrats that would fight her if she wants to pull something like that.

According to a Reuters news article yesterday morning, John Edwards officially denied speculation that he was going to be the Vice President nominee for Presidential Candidate Barack Obama's campaign. John Edwards appeared on the Today Show where he said that his selection as the VP candidate "won't happen."

http://preview.tinyurl.com/66mlop