Oh Hillary…
(*Note: This post was originally written around a week ago and I just got around to finishing and posting it, sorry for the tardiness of the subject, but I felt it still needed to be posted.)
“I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on,” she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article “that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me.”
As if this election couldn’t be more meticulously monitored based on ethnicity, Hillary Clinton makes this winner of a statement. Of course, I’m more likely to attribute this to a case of “lack of head on tight”, however the fact remains, she related being hard-working to being white. I’m not sure what’s worse: the fact that Hillary, despite her best intentions, drew a strong parallel between which race is the most “hardworking”, or the fact that John McCain is touting the foreign policy card but continues to confuse Sunni and Shi’a. (For those who are not familiar, McCain stated that Al Qaeda was a Shi’a group.)
Will this hurt Hillary in the long run? Probably not. I think if anything sealed her fate, it was the extremely narrow margin with which she won in Indiana this week. If anything, it’ll just be another quote added to one of those nifty little tear-off calendars with a new stupid quote made by a politician each day.
All the same, she shouldn’t just expect to be able to shrug it off her statement by saying “these are the people you need to win”. Au contraire, if the news networks have proven anything in their obsession with race and exit polling, it’s that more than just one group counts, stupid. Both Latino and Black Americans are going to have a lot of impact on this election.
Of course, to add a more current note to this post, let’s have a looksie at what some of our favorite conservatives have had to say lately:
“That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He’s getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he — he dove for the floor.” – Mike Fuckabee, referring to a loud noise backstage as he presented at the NRA convention on Friday.
^^ Yes, because considering the history of political assassinations as far back as, you know, THE BEGINNING OF TIME, this was a REALLY great statement. Calling Mike Huckabee a “douche” doesn’t even begin to cover it… For the rest of my life, Mike Huckabee shall be referred to as receptalacum testis, you know, to exemplify the ornate and diverse language and ideas he has tried to impart.
“As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American Senator declared, ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this may have been avoided’. We have an obligation to call this what it is: the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.” – President Bush, in reference to the Democrat’s stance on the Iraq war.
Right… because being best friends with Saudi Arabia and allowing Prince Bandar in the White House on September 12th, 2001 after their country funded 9/11… that is so completely not appeasement. Folks, I’m beginning to think it’s time that every citizen of this fine nation should mail President Bush a dictionary. Maybe his speech writers, too.
Some Catch-Up
We interrupt our normal programming to bring you all a game of catch-up here at Political Bitches. Unfortunately, do to outside forces (*cough*midterms*cough*) this hasn’t been as kept up to date as we would like it to be, so let’s have a little news medley, shall we?
1. NY Governor Spitzer is caught in a prostitution scandal. These are always the types of stories I hate getting out about politicians, and it’s for the exact reason everyone else loves them getting out: people have an odd fascination with knowing what their public officials are doing with their private lives. Here’s an idea for those people who only care that he had *gasp* sex out of wedlock: he’s put his wife and children into an absolutely TERRIBLE position, and not only does this make him a jackass, it makes him a hypocrite. Generally, it’s not a good idea to buy sex and then go after prostitutes, Governor. I don’t give a damn that he risked his own health and career – the real problem here is he has exposed his family and the young woman (‘Kristin’ as she is known) to a great deal of public scrutiny. So let’s actually try focusing on that issue, as opposed to just being shell-shocked by the act, kay?
2. Obama: “I don’t know how somebody who is in second place is offering the vice presidency to the person who is first place.” I know a few people seem to feel this provides necessary reason to call Obama out for “arrogance”, but I don’t think that’s the case at all. No one is perfect in this race, but the Clinton camp just keeps on trying to use more and more tactics in order to bring about a benefit, when in reality, it’s just adding to the separation of the Democratic party. Sure, Obama is confident in his current lead, but at least when he was behind in delegates, he wasn’t offering lesser positions to Clinton.
3. Wright and Ferraro: Not helping. Guess what? This isn’t a color race. STFU. You’re only giving stupid people ridiculous things to say about these candidates because you can’t stop flapping your mouths for two seconds.
4. Sending Dick Cheney to the Middle East to lower oil prices. Riiiiight, let’s send Mr. Halliburton to convince OPEC to boost output. Furthermore, according to this merry band of shrubs, our tanking economy is to be blamed on the increase in oil prices! But never mind that war we spend millions of dollars on every day – no, that couldn’t possibly have anything to do with our economy or the high oil prices.
5. House supports revision the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act. And of course, Bush isn’t happy about this, but what else would we expect? As a point of interest, this is the first time the House has held a secret meeting since 1983. Under these revisions, telecommunications companies can be sued for surveillance without warrant, which of course, would be getting rid of another ‘essential tool on terror’. Maybe one day we can wiretap and water board at the same time – double wammies, take that terrorists!!!!!
Laura
Controlled Drowning… what a great idea!
…or not. As I’m sure many of you have heard, President Bush vetoed an anti-waterboarding bill, which would prohibit the CIA from using widely disputed torture tactic in order to extract information from prisoners.
This is no shock… but it’s still WTF worthy. In his weekly broadcast, Bush said that, “The bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror…So today I vetoed it.”
But hey, I mean, the only way we can keep violence at the merely ridiculous level is by sending over more troops, Iraqi people in Basra are protesting because of the lack of security, and terrorist groups are reforming in the region… But don’t worry! Strapping individuals down to a plank of wood and filling their lungs with water is working!
Even if you do think waterboarding is a proper tactic for extorting information from prisoners (though, it blows my mind that people recognize John McCain was tortured by his captives in Vietnam, yet have no moral or ethical concerns for the idea of resorting to such crude and primitive methods), it should be a great concern that less than 10% of Guantanamo detainees are affiliated with Al Queda.
Torture is a moral issue, folks. Because the Bush administration tries to avoid that fact by saying waterboarding is not a form of torture, it again shows their utter disregard for the sanctity of life they go on about (don’t get an abortion, but nearly drowning someone is okay?) and ultimately, their incompetence in the political arena, and anywhere else, really – I wouldn’t trust that bunch running a fast food restaurant.
Laura
The Dems of Folly
I got a really thought-provoking comment on my last entry, so I thought I’d reply to it publicly.
“You know, I think at this point, the country is just SO fed up with Republicans and conservative ideals that a democrat is kind of a shoo-in..then again, maybe the fact that McCain is so damn middle of the road, there might be a problem. With the way most people in this oh so lovely country of ours are, they’ll probably be more inclined to vote for a republican with sort of liberalish ideas than someone who is a democrat and a liberal. Then again, maybe I’m just speaking for my own neck of the woods. I don’t know, just something I’ve been observing.
What do you guys think?”
-Amanda
I think you make really important, logical observations, and I’d like to be able to unequivocally agree. Unfortunately, not everyone is as rational as you, and the average American voter seems to come down with a case of Illogicalaria during election season. John Kerry, though perhaps not the most inspiring candidate to ever grace American politics, should have been a shoe-in in 2004 too. We were pretty disenchanted with the Bush administration by then.
But you touched on a really key issue: McCain is a dying breed. He’s a moderate Republican. I disagree with him on a whole host of issues, including the economy, but he is anti-torture, anti-marriage amendment to the Constitution, etc. He can draw in the Independents. For all the fuss the GOP base is causing over his presumptive nomination, the Republican voters made a smart fucking move in choosing him. Huckafuck or Romney wouldn’t stand a chance against either of the Democratic candidates. Not to mention that McCain has done a better job than most of the GOP from separating himself from the Bush administration. He was one of the first Republicans to recognize how shittily Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld were handling the war. He hasn’t been afraid to make criticisms of his own party. Sane Republicans will see him as someone who hearkens back to the credibility lost under the current administration.
Truthfully, though, if you want to know the real reason why I don’t think a Democrat is a shoe-in, it’s because of the Democrats themselves. In the midst of war, we took an 80% incumbency rate in Congress and turned it on its head to make the Democrats the majority. They’ve had control of both Houses for 2 years now, and have done little to enact the “change” that provided the basis for their entire platform leading up to the 2006 midterm elections. No one talked about policy or bills. No one even raised an eyebrow over domestic affairs. The only hot-button topic was the war in Iraq and how, if we the people kicked out the Republicans, they would stand up to the Bush administration and pick up the pieces of our dignity. Two years later, they’re devoting countless hours and resources to and holding full legislative committees for a “steroid scandal.” …Steroids. In professional sports. *GASP* OH NOEZ IS U SERIOUS?! WHO CULD HAVE KNOWN?!?!!!!!!1
No, you know what the real fucking scandal is? That there is a god damned war going on, that school shootings are popping up faster than fucking daisies, that there’s a genocide occurring in Sudan, that millions of Americans don’t have access to health care, that our own government is engaging in illegal wiretapping and overstepping Constitutional boundaries, that Social Security will soon be lost to the mesozoic era, that Guantanamo Bay flies the American flag, that we even have to debate whether torture is “okay”, that gays and lesbians are treated like second-rate citizens, that our borders are about as secure as a prostitute’s chastity belt…. and that all the fucking while, Congress would sooner waste a week of our precious time and money on god damned Mark Clemens than any one of these crucial issues.
A Democratic Congress, no less.
Don’t get me wrong. I’d take the blue over the red almost any day of the week, and I completely agree with your implicit suggestion that we need to stomp out the GOP. But I don’t think Democrats are going to escape this election season unscathed, and I think there’s good reason for that.
-Elysa
The crusty old guy… endorses the other crusty old guy
Today, Former President George H.W. Bush endorsed John McCain in what many news and political outlets are calling McCain’s presumptive nomination.
Now, it’s really no great shock that this should happen – McCain has been, for the most part, a complete tool for the Republican party. Yeah, sure, he went through his rebellious stage – but now that it’s all over, McCain should be a shoo-in for the Republicans. Unfortunately for him, (as we’ve already touched on in this blog) hardcore, get-down conservatives (see: most southern super Tuesday states) don’t want anything to do with him. You know it’s bad when everyone’s favorite conservative rumor mongers say they’d vote for Hillary Clinton over John McCain.
What does this mean for people across the political spectrum? Well, unfortunately for Democrats, it means the Republicans are getting mobilized. CNN actually featured two political analysts (whose names I sadly didn’t note), and something towards the end of their discussion left me feeling unsettled. The Republican analyst rightly noted that going to the convention floor with a party as split between two candidates as the Democrats are is campaign death. Even though the Democratic analyst tried her best to refute this, it was pretty easy to see that she knew her opponent was right. Sigh. For such a long time, I’ve been rejoicing because it appeared that for once, the Dems were going to get organized first.
So here is my plea to the Democratic party: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do NOT let us lose this election just because we can’t back up behind a candidate. If, for any reason, Clinton and Obama are still duking it out come convention time, there are things we can do to ensure that we don’t have a continuation of the Bush administration’s legacy failure:
1) Register to vote. This may sound trivial – if you’re actually reading this blog, you probably already are, however, I’ve been shocked by the amount of people I know at my college who are politically savvy but couldn’t vote in their primaries because they hadn’t yet registered. If your state has not held its primary yet and won’t within 30 days, Google search for your states voter registration form, print it out, and mail it to your secretary of state. If for whatever reason you’ve missed the deadline, register anyway. Generally, you must be registered 30 days prior to the general election in November, so do it now so you don’t forget. Also, encourage friends to do the same.
2) Mobilize your age group. The 18-24 age group historically has the worst voter turnout. We’re starting to see a change this year with young people coming out in swarms to vote in their state primaries and caucuses. This is great, but we need to make sure college students stay interested in the direction of their country. Turn on the news when you have five or so minutes of free time, talk to your friends about what you’re seeing there – join your political societies on campus and learn more about the candidates. Hell, start your own political blog – we don’t care, just keep yourself and your friends interested!!
3) Educate yourself and others about the issues.
If you disagree with the war in Iraq or the Bush tax cuts, it’s probably not a good idea to be a McCain supporter. If you think we should make permanent bases in Iraq, then… you and I probably shouldn’t talk, and I hope you come to your senses. In all seriousness – question your convictions. If there is a war going on and 70% of the country disapproves of it, it’s probably legitimate of you to at least consider what the other side is saying – don’t be fooled into viewing politics only in the present. For instance, the recent troop surge in Iraq is working – no one denies that. But how much longer are we going to keep sending people over there? Do you really want to spend the next God-knows-how-many-years in a region of the world where we’ve already caused so much damage? Not to mention, we haven’t exactly done a lot to put a permanent end to the sectarian violence of the region, and you know what? A five year, ten year, or one-hundred year war is NOT going to put an end to thousands of years of religious rivalry and hatred, and furthermore, trying to push off our beliefs and systems of governing on them is certainly not going to help either.
So whether you’re reading this because you agree or disagree, please, I implore you – educate yourselves. Learn about the mess our generation is going to be left to clean up. We are seriously looking at a horrifying possibility of not doing as well or better than our parents did socially and economically.
Jon Stewart had it right when he labeled election 2008 as “Clusterfuck to the White House” – so let’s give ‘em a good fight and take the country back.
Laura
