Letters From The Right to The Right

Pat Buchanan is one of those guys that people avoid talking about, not because hes totally out of control and makes no sense (cough..Ann Coulter)…but because many people from both sides of the isle actually understand, agree, and even secretly respect parts of what he argues, if not most of it. The problem with him is that he has spent a lot of time in his 45 year public life in front of a camera which has given the media ample opportunity to put together a collection of sound bites that makes him venom to anyone that agrees with him publicly.

This is truly unfortunate because he has many very useful opinions, assuming they are not taken out of context. Hes been called a “protectionist”,”nativist”, and an “isolationist” because he argues in favor of American jobs, American products, against out sourcing, and is a major critic of our very flawed boarder controls. He’s been called a racist and sexist because hes against affirmative action. But it is interesting what he hasn’t been called.

Most people would be surprised to learn that he is a huge critic of Bush, “The American Empire”, Neo-cons, The Iraq War, NAFTA, and the out of control “conservative” led spending that has been happening on the hill since Bush took office. Heck he even defended Ron Paul, and many of his views (not all though) are very Libertarian-esq.

He writes a pretty regular column for Human Events, which unfortunately puts way too many ads in their emails. I think I’ll be running regular piece right here though as he releases new columns so people can avoid all the spam I get .

So enjoy he latest article in which he breaks down Bush’s latest unresearched double speak.

GOP Delegate Count Tools

I started this post many moons ago to track the delegate count for the GOP. Obviously as time went on the chart got bigger and more unmanageable. So rather then posting the actual detailed delegate count here I am giving you my fair readers the tools to get the most up to date and accurate information possible.

For a good basic overview of the state of the delegates and who they are going to I recommend RealClearPolitics.com, for the GOP scroll down the page past the DNC results. It shows total numbers and State by State results, it even gives a very basic view of un-pledged delegates.

Due to the fact that the notion of un-pledged delegates has been largely ignored when it come to the GOP I am also offering a more detailed source for you hard hitters out there. If you want a very detailed delegate source for both the pledged and un-pledged I recommend thegreenpapers.com, they have some great coverage over there!

As always if you have any question just leave a comment and I’ll gladly help if I can.

Democratic Delegate Count Tools for Voters

I started this post many moons ago to track the delegate count for the DNC. Obviously as time went on the chart got bigger and more unmanageable. So rather then posting the actual detailed delegate count here I am giving you my fair readers the tools to get the most up to date and accurate information possible.

For a good basic overview of the state of the delegates and who they are going to I recommend RealClearPolitics.com, The Democratic results are at the top of the page. It shows total numbers and State by State results, it even gives good coverage of Super Delegates.

If you would like to know more about what Super Delegates are check out this great, well written article from MSNBC.

There is also a good all encompassing article on Wikipedia that I have found useful.

Lastly if you want to know WHO the Super Delegates are, there is a complete list provided by the Washington Post. It’s organized by State and if your thinking about writing a letter to affect the convention these are the people you want to contact. Note that most of these people are public servants and should care what their constituents are saying.

As always if you need any help or insight just drop me a comment and I will respond.

I’m Proud!…of Kucinich?! A Message To All Long Shots.

Being a Libertarian i know what its like to support a long shot. Non-mainstream candidates often have a very hard up hill battle. Just getting on the ballot is a hard task and can often suck up the majority of the campaigns meager funds. Then there is the advertising, as well as building a good support network of campaign offices. Really its not easy if you choose to stand for a higher moral fiber by not selling your soul to PAC’s, special interests, and lobbyists. All that work and you’ll be lucky if you pull the 5% needed to get some extra funds from the government next time around. Really the only one to do it in modern times was Ross Perot, and heck he is a very, very rich man.

Due to these insurmountable odds I can never fathom why the networks and major campaigns always play bully. They exclude candidates even during the primary debates, do everything to make it hard to get on the ballot, and then poke fun at any even remotely quirky ideas the long shot guy has had like some kind of child. As if some of their ideas aren’t totally off the wall too, they can just afford the air time to spin it so people will believe their stupidity is really intelligence.

Now I know what everyone is thinking: Nader. Nader split the vote in 2000 which caused a long shot candidate to ruin the election for Al Gore. In that one instance David beat Goliath and we all got screwed….right?…WRONG. In 2000 Nader failed to even pull a FRACTION of a percentage point, for a whopping total of popular votes less then 3 million FOR THE ENTIRE COUNTRY, and NO electoral votes. Now seriously people if your running for office in an election that covers the entire U.S. and you winning hinges on less than three million popular votes…pretty much you’ve failed to deliver a message worth a damn. In 2000 (and 2004 for that matter) we were forced to pick between dumb and dumber and many choice option C, and thats their right.

I do have a big complaint about long shot campaigns though, they actually think they can behave like a front runner and expect everything to be handed to them. Whats worse they don’t turn lemons to lemon aid and stand up for them selves. They get excluded and they whine about it instead.

If your a little guy and your backed up against a wall you have two choices: 1) Stand by and get eaten by the wolves wasting your time and the time of your supporter, or 2) Draw a line in the sand and fight like a bastard. Well the Vegan from Ohio has chosen the later and im hoping that others are taking notes!

After being invited to a debate in Nevada that was then rescinded the same week, Dennis Kucinich threw down the gauntlet and sued….and WON. Just like in NH where he demanded a recount he has continued to fight back in the name of the little guy.

In many ways everyone that has ever supported a long shot should give Dennis a big thank you because hes showing us how it should be, and has to be done to get noticed in a land where money talks and ideals are worthless.

Whats more in the notion of “turning lemons in to lemon aid” I propose that all the long shots running Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul, Duncan Hunter, and Mike Gravel do a bit of excluding themselves and have a series of debates to highlight why America should give a damn about their campaigns. I think it will make the front runners crap themselves, and that alone is worth it.

And This is a Good thing?………..

So today former presidential candidate John Kerry formally threw his support behind Barack Obama. Now I ask is this really a good thing for Obama?

Sure Kerry still has some of his former campaign network intact that can be at Obama disposal but is it worth it to be associated with Kerry? Kerry did lose the presidential race, and has since damaged his image both within and outside the party. Indeed he’s often seen breaking with the party and having unproductive spats over nothing with fellow Democrats on the hill.

Kerry is after all not Al Gore, there is no question that Kerry lost his bid and that he ran a terrible campaign. When Al Gore threw his support behind Howard Dean in 2004 he still held considerable clout being a former nominee (and incumbent VP) that many Dem’s felt got gilted in 2000. Indeed Gore could affect even this campaign for those reasons. It was no mistake that even after his campaign imploded in 2004 that Dean was able to secure a high level position in the party, he had made all the right friends.

For Obama after his tight loss I think that Kerry may do more harm than good.

Much Ado About Nothing

Today I did something I almost never do, watch the news on an actual TV. It didn’t seem to matter what station I was on they were all talking about the same thing: the New Hampshire Primary.

I mean this does make sense since it happens in less then eight hours, but what i was surprised at was the use of polls. I have never put much stock in them and still don’t but it seemed like every station had their own poll to throw around.

Now, the reason i never put much stock in political polls is simply the sheer number of them, with every interest group and news outlet armed with their own poll they do nothing but confuse the electorate. Indeed most voters would be better off to ignore them entirely.

Tonight on one station i believe it was New England Cable News had Obama leading Clinton by 9 points, and then on MSNBC it was Obama by 20 points, AND now CNN is saying their neck and neck. Its a similar story on the republican side between Romney and McCain, though apparently Guliani is closing the gap. See how confusing it all is ?

Now when i was in college one of my concentrations was Sociology which a major portion of the work is taking and analyzing polls and surveys. I think this is another reason why I don’t like political polls because i know that they meet no standard of accuracy. LOL I remember i had this one teacher that would ostracize anyone that even considered using a Gallop poll in their work.

Tonight i found it so amusing that NBC had a poll for the Democrats that they talked about for like 10 minutes that had Obama 17 points ahead of Clinton. At the end of the program they announced the numbers for the poll…they had only surveyed 349 people…and then had the audacity to say their poll had a 5% margin of error. A 5% margin of error for what? They only surveyed 349 people, any idiot knows you need at least three times that to even come close to a useful sample. I am also sure that they selected voters from all over NH from every age group, evenly divided for sex, and that every race, religion, and sexual orientation were represented in proportional numbers to NH’s total population…… riiight.

Taking a poll is very hard work and can’t be slapped together in a day. Your best bet on New Hampshire is to wait for the only poll that matters…the Exit Poll.

It’s All About The News

When I think about the news it sometimes makes me ill. I personally don’t remember a time when the news was impartial and I wonder if it ever really existed. One of the news sites i frequent is Al Jazeera’s new English site. Indeed many of my entries are at least in part inspired by that source. I get a lot of flack for it too, but really I can’t see why. I find that their reporting is no more biased than any other cable outlet and that they often touch on stories that are totally missed by other outlets. For proof of that check out some of the stories I’ve posted on my other blog. Now maybe their English site is more moderate then their core audience is used to but it really is a great source for the news.

The best way for me to illustrate my view of the news is a quote from the show Boston Legal. At the end of the episode “Let the Sales Ring” Alan Shore (James Spader) makes one of his famous closing arguments on behalf of a high school student that is suing his high school and principle for putting a block on the Fox News Network and no other news source. Its a bit long but totally worth the read! P.S. Sorry about the odd spacing pasting block quotes is one of the weak spots of WordPress.

Judge Peter Harding: Mr. Shore, this is a school. Is it wise to expose students to programs which send a message you’re anti-American if you question the government?
Alan Shore: Your Honor, before we convict them as the network of Conservative values, or any
values for that matter, let’s remember these are the folks who brought you Joe Billionaire and
Who’s your Papa?
Judge Peter Harding: That’s the entertainment division, Mr Shore. I’m talking about the news.
Alan Shore: And I’m telling you it’s all the same. This isn’t about political content. This is
corporation looking to make money. They began as alternative news programming to grab a
market share. They saw ratings and profit in a Conservative demographic and they’ve been
waving the flag ever since and so what! News today, all of it, is infotainment. Last February a
deadly toxin known as Rizen was found in the mail room of the Senate majority leader. Headline
news led with Janet Jackson’s exposed breast. A month ago, while we’re in the middle of a war,
news casts all across the country led with Prince Harry’s costume at a keg party. It’s a business!
And while some news groups go with the deeper social issues like Brad and Jennifer’s breakup,
the one here chooses to run with red, white and blue. And by the way, before you vilify them, a
survey done in 2002 revealed that 70 percent of the people in this country believe it is good when
news organizations take a strong, pro-American, point of view. 70 percent!
Judge Peter Harding: Does that make it right?
Alan Shore: Of course it makes it right! Because the rule in infotainment is, give the people what
they want. This is money, Your Honor, not politics. Let me say, I am a great lover of the news.
Judge Peter Harding: I can see that.
Alan Shore: I watch it all. On days like 9/11 or for other world-changing events the news
programs are nothing short of spectacular. When Martin Luther King delivered I Have a Dream.
When President Kennedy was shot. When we walked on the moon. The Ted Offensive? Our lives
are shaped by these events, in part because of the news. But on all other days they’re
businesses, looking to compete like anybody else in a highly competitive marketplace. They sell
product. And even if you’re determined to believe that this particular network is some evil empire
looking to spread right-wing propaganda, that still doesn’t change the fact that we’re in this room
today, because a principal is shutting down the expression of ideas simply because he disagrees
with the content. If anything needs a champion today, it’s the First Amendment. In a recent poll,
half of today’s high school students thought newspapers should get government approval of
stories before publishing them. The First Amendment has become an endangered species, and
here we have a high school principal practicing censorship. My, my. We do have a problem.

We live in an age of infotainment and its up to the customer to filter out the commercials, its been the same way for decades its just more so no since there are more outlets.

The Prime Example Why States Rights Matter

States Rights have often been the rallying cry for Republicans, but as the years have passed the number of asterisks after that belief have grown. The latest attack by this Republican administration on this tried and true belief is courtesy of the EPA.

On Wednesday the EPA had suit filed against it by a coalition of states led by California because the Nixon era agency denied a waver for California (and victoriously any state that has adopted the California emissions standards, which currently is totaling 14 states) to have tougher emissions standards than the rest of the country. This is the first time ever the EPA has denied such a waver.

This is simply the most ridiculous thing Ive seen in some time. The fact that the EPA denied more stringent standards to several states under a clause of the Clean Air Act seems to just stink to me. The fact that the administration is actually listening to the auto makers just shows how lacking in smarts Bush&co really are.

U.S. Auto makers are getting their collective ass kicked buy foreign companies because they have massively under estimated how important fuel efficiency is to Americans. Now that Ford has been deposed by Toyota for the number two sales spot in the U.S. market and seems to be posed to over take GM as well it makes you wonder how long it will take Washington to realize Detroit is broken and that they should stop listening to them.

In the Consumer Reports’ Annual Car Owner Satisfaction Survey domestics got knocked around like a feather weight in the ring with Mike Tyson. Of the satisfied portion of the survey Toyota dominated and domestics got only a piddly 7 out of 39 models on the list, heck even the Korean cars are starting to make the list before domestics. But dont worry plenty of demostics made the survey! 20 of the 22 least satisfied owners had domestic cars…oh wait never mind. But the key here is that the two top cars were the Prius and a BMW both of which have excellent gas mileage.

States see that fuel efficiency is important for their people in their daily lives, and are trying to do something about it. The California emissions standards are directed at the global warming crowd but they do much more than the Fed is doing to promote fuel independence which is why other states are jumping on board with it. Fuel efficiency is also the reason Toyota is rising to the top very fast. The bottom line is that the California emissions standards represent the serious kick in the pants Detroit needs in order to remain relevant for years to come.

Thoughts on The Iowa and Wyoming Caucuses

Well the first two caucuses in the country are done (well one and a half actually since only the Republicans had a caucus in Wyoming this past week). So far the voting is looking a bit ADD to me but there were several surprises.

On the Democratic side of things I was mostly surprised. Obama wining didnt surprise me too much though, he has a excellent organization. I can see why he’s getting so much support, and having Oprah at his back certainly helped. For Democrats the message of change is always a winner. But I wonder if he will be able to capitalize on this pop in the polls.

Edwards placing second surprised the heck out of me though, I have maintained that he was done back in 2000. He really is the guy that just won’t die. If he places second again in NH and then takes SC like he did in 2004 the talk that he is a sleeper may be warranted. I still don’t think he can win the nomination but he may get a nod for VP yet again. He would be a great running mate for Obama. Also the Dems would be smart to concentrate on youth this cycle, it will give the possible administration longevity which is something Bush’s administration lacked (thank god for that).

Hillary doing poorly was another surprise, I really thought she would have had a close win in Iowa or would have at least placed a close second. Her numbers show that this really is an open election and that no one is safe. I think shes going to have an upward battle in both NH and SC too, she may have to hope she can keep it together until the bigger states hit the polls. Personally I think she needs to use her husband less and try to find a more positive energy to excite people.

I was pleased that Bill Richards pulled the 2% he did, it’s always nice to see when at least some people recognize talent when they see it. Who knows maybe Bill could contend for VP as a fresh face over Edwards, but he will have to survive through SC to pull it off.

Biden and Dodd doing miserable and promptly dropping out was no surprise. Being a career Washington insider never helps your chances and few are more “inside” than those two.

Huckabee winning in Iowa was a total shock, it really shows how much sway Christian groups have in that party. Then again having 5 candidates within a 24 point spread really illustrates that the GOP is moving in a new direction, but who the hell knows what direction it might be. Now Huckabee didn’t even place in Wyoming and I’m wondering if most of the GOP field was even on the ballot since only three candidates pulled numbers. Like Obama I wonder if Huckabee can translate this win into a another win in NH though.

Romney did well in Iowa and won in Wyoming that sets him up well for NH. But he has also been doing a lot of negative campaigning which I know works sometimes but for many people its a turn off. With a race so close its a very risky gamble to go negative. He is certainly not a lock in NH because hes not so popular in MA but who knows.

John McCain tied for third in Iowa which isn’t bad since it looked like his bid totally self destructed a few months back. He could also be a threat in NH since he remains popular there. If he doesn’t do well in NH though hes going to have very large up hill battle, and it might even be the end of the line for him since doing bad in NH will inhibit his ability to raise funds that he desperately needs .

Fred Thompson tied in Iowa with McCain and placed second in Wyoming. He did only slightly better then I thought he would. He has really failed to set himself apart from the other candidates so far and with numbers like this I’d be surprised if he makes it to SC. In Iowa he really seems to have just split the vote between Ron Paul and McCain. Placing second in a field of only three candidates in Wyoming, one of which being Duncan Hunter who’s totally off the radar. With these showings I really don’t see how hes going to survive NH where Romney,McCain,Paul, and now Huckabee are dumping loads of energy. Bottom line is he hasn’t been able to translate that pre-campaign hype into votes and in the end thats what you need to do.

Ron Paul did very well and if he does well again in NH he could be a threat. Another thing that will play into his favor is if Thompson or possibly McCain drop out after NH. Now I don’t think he can win but I think he might pull a Howard Dean and use his delegate power to become the party leader or possibly VP. Heck it could even open the door for an eventual Senate bid if he does well in Texas. This campaign can really open doors for him since hes the only real voice that Libertarians have in the GOP.

Rudy Giuliani has become the vacuum of votes and I couldn’t be happier. That said he has been concentrating on larger states and has the war chest to sit out the early contests and play the numbers game later on. I don’t expect him to do well in NH, but he may draw a line in SC and become more of a threat there after. Keep an eye on this shifty character hes far from done.

Now the Libertarian Party has been pretty quiet and hasnt even updated its site since before Christmas. That said us Libertarians are pretty ho-hum about nominating a presidential candidate. Our convention isn’t until the end of May (in Denver), but right now Wayne Allyn Root seems to be the front runner. Ill keep you posted as things develop.

***I got my info on Iowa here, and Wyoming here

*** no one seems to have really good numbers for Wyoming, if anyone has a better source please let me know.

Third Party Rant

I received a comment I just had to respond to in a separate post. It goes like this and is in response to my “Why Do People Think I Care about The Primaries” post in which I talked about my Libertarian Party alliance.

“A Libertarian may be able to vote for local candidates and may occasionally have a vote in congress but by not supporting a main party you will basically be throwing your votes to the wind and in some cases like one I remember a few years back, a third party can help get a lousy candidate elected by splitting the vote. Do we really want that to happen again? Research the candidates. We all have an opinion and the right to support the candidate we feel is best but please before you make a decision do research on every candidate and look at them at all angles. Do not just trust main stream news media to pick your candidate or give you all of the information. We have a problem with fighting among congress right now. We need to elect a candidate that is most likely to bring the parties together and get congress working together.”

 

I can’t even begin to describe how totally illogical these kind of comments really are. If it were true that by some divine right we could only have two major parties our country would look a lot different today.

First we would still be choosing between the Federalist and the Anti-Federalist, and none of our modern parties would have ever existed….because they used to be a third party at one point or another. The list of successful “alternative” parties goes on and on! There were the Wigs and the Democratic/Republicans both of which held the presidency on more then one occasion. Even those parties/groups that failed to take the government had enough power to change the course of this country. Groups like the Anti-Masonic, Progressive, Temperance Movement, Civil rights, and of course the Reformists of the 1990’s… all made a huge impact on how this country has evolved. Some even forced the “main stream” parties to drastically change their stance to remain relevant. Indeed without third parties our major political realignments would have never happened.

Third Parties being popular are a giant red flag that the main parties have failed their people. They show discontent and anger. Sometimes like in the years of the Great Depression the main parties listen and they make changes, don’t forget that the idea of Democrats being liberal is less then 80 years old. Also sometimes the discontent makes a multitude of third parties that coalesce into a single new entity, Thats how we got the GOP less then 150 years ago or so. The GOP is “The Party of Lincoln” and started out as a liberal party that housed discontents from all over the the political map, but most of its power came from the several third parties and party remnants that it absorbed.

So now we come back to this comment. First and fore most I am not “throwing my vote to the wind”, I’m sending a message. I want the main parties to fall on their face, I want people like Bush to get elected so they can show how backward our political system really is, and most of all I WANT THEIR TO BE A SPOILER because I don’t want either “side” in power. Honestly does anyone really think Al Gore or John Kerry are less incompetent then Bush? I am not going to vote out of fear of who might win, but rather vote my conscience and know that I stayed true to myself. Most Americans lack the moral fiber to make the distinction, and it would make the founders sick.

Now, as far as I’m concerned there are really only two reasons someone makes the “spoiler” or “split vote” comment:

1. It’s a tactic by a main party loyalist to scare people into voting for their substandard candidate, it’s intentional, and in the case of Ralph Nader it worked. But no one that jumped ship on Nader thought twice about how they were being manipulated by the dim witted Al Gore camp because they needed votes due to the fact that he ran a horrible campaign, debated like and undergrad and a State College and not the Vice President, and of course made the fatal mistake of under estimating his opponent. Al Gore deserved to lose, and shame on the people that bought in to this tactic. Politics is a dark art and you have to be ready to stand your ground when spells like this one are cast.

2. The person saying it has no clue what they are talking about and is just repeating the programed responses that parents, the church, friends, coworkers, and of course the media ingrained into their head. For these people please wake up and think for yourself for once, or at least stop voting.

I actually have respect for the first group because being able to control peoples decisions with nothing more then rhetoric and your wits is just an amazing feet.

Finally the whole “Research the candidates. We all have an opinion and the right to support the candidate we feel is best but please before you make a decision do research on every candidate and look at them at all angles.” part of the comment I will say this:

Actually I have researched the candidates and because of my beliefs I am very disappointed, with the exception of Ron Paul. Now if Ron Paul by some miracle gets nominated I’ll vote for him, but I’m not jumping parties to make it happen. Further, I’m a Libertarian there fore no big government Democrat is ever going to get my vote. Democrats don’t even give voice to Libertarian issues, especially the ones running this cycle. As for the GOP my party EXISTS do to discontent within the GOP ranks. Back in the 70’s what we now call “Reagan Republicans” started courting the religious right and became took over the party. Along the way they abandoned the ideas of Small Government, States Rights, Individual Liberty, Low Taxes, and a Notion of non-interference in foreign governments….oh and they also used followed the Constitution. Sure they still talk about these things, but they do something much different once they are in office. Really Ron Paul (a Former Libertarian that was our party nominee in 198 is the last throws of real conservatism left in the GOP, a party now populated by Bible Thumping Freaks, Neo-cons, and Fascists. Thats why I think It’s time to let someone new try their hand, sticking with the status quo only guarantees failure.