April 24th, 2008 Riley
It’s been a while, and since she scored a rather big win in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, I think Hillary deserves some props on here today.
She also collected ten million dollars in the twenty-four hours following the PA primary, which I think is pretty impressive.
Now, let me start by saying, I am not a huge fan of going negative in politics. I don’t like attack ads, and I have enough cynicism of my own. I really don’t need to get it from politicians. I do NOT like some of the things that Hillary has been doing. However, I also happen to be rather aware of the fact that Hillary is not the only one going negative. During the Ohio primary, Obama’s campaign sent out some seriously negative literature about Hillary. One of these pieces of hate mail… er, propaganda… er, informative copy, included a quote by Hillary about Nafta that weren’t actually her words. This mistake was admitted, but the mailings weren’t stopped. What I am saying here is, Obama is using negative campaigning too. Since his message is all about hope and change, though, he is forced to keep it more on the down low.
Now to the point.
I have questions for Obama supporters, because I have a real curiosity. This is not meant to be anything other than information gathering, so let’s not be getting any panties or boxers in a wad, whatever the case shall be. I was going to ask them all at once, then I realized how many there were, so now I’m going to ask one at a time in hopes of actually getting responses. This will be my way of giving Obama a share of blog space.
Question #1
Do you honestly believe that, if Obama gets into office, there will be real, fundamental change in Washington and politics in general?
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April 17th, 2008 Riley
The dollar has reached another all-time low. $1.60 against the Euro. At an even exchange against the Swiss franc and the Canadian dollar.
Personally, I think George Bush is making a concerted effort to wreck and destroy as much as he possibly can on his way out of office. He wants to sign treaties that the U.S. will stay in the Middle East until Thor returns to Earth. He wants to spend, spend, spend money that nobody has. Oh wait, that’s not true! We have it.
“Let’s just take more money from people who don’t have it to lose, and give it to all my rich oil friends.”
Insert stupid-sounding laugh here.
I’ve decided that, since he had to have known from day one that he could never be a great president… you know, it takes brains and stuff for that… he set out to be remembered as the absolute worst president this country has ever seen. Of course, even an idiot could see that he faced some stiff competition, just in recent history, so he really had to fuck shit up.
Job well done. Even if you can’t beat Nixon, Bushie, you managed to top dear ole daddy.
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April 14th, 2008 Riley
Because I said so fools!
No, actually it’s because I read this quote yesterday -
“All these suckers with their fancy powers! They need a reality check, and only one guy can do that, and that’s me, Mr. T. There ain’t no difference if they’re a vampire, a dinosaur, a mutant; if they’re doing wrong, then it needs Mr. T to set things straight.”
- and, while he was actually talking about a new comic book series in which he’s the hero, it doesn’t change the fact that, as soon as I read the quote, I thought, “Those are the qualities that I want in a president. I want a president who can protect me from vampires, dinosaurs, and mutants, but only if they are doing wrong.” Did you notice that little qualification in there? Mm hm, diplomacy.
And he was part of the A-Team. The A-Team got shit done!
Mr. T, my heavyweight god of badassness, I hereby pledge my allegiance.
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February 25th, 2008 Riley
Because everybody cares, right?
Last night, I stood still for four hours. That part was every bit as fun as it sounds. For the first two hours, I stood out in thirty degrees with occasional wind gusts of “Goodness, did that just blow my ass off? No? Damn! Maybe just part of it?” The next hour, I stood amongst people who elbowed their way into spaces that didn’t exist and then complained because they didn’t have enough room. I’ve been doing a lot of group activities lately, and have been consistently reminded of just how douche people can be. Even the surprisingly good high school band who played Green Day’s “Holiday” more than once couldn’t make up for their severe douche-ballness.
The last hour, however, made up for it, because I’ve wanted to hear President Clinton speak in person for a long time, and that’s what came next. And we were right up by the railing again, so I got to shake his hand. So, now I am two Clintons down. One Chelsea to go.
Come on Hillary!
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February 5th, 2008 Riley
So, it’s a veritable showdown between Hillary and Barack. Oh, and there’s some stuff going on on the Republican side too, but, seriously, who cares? Okay, that’s not true. If McCain gets the Republican nod, he might just be able to pull the Republican party out of the stone ages, but not entirely. He’s a helluva lot better than the scary people he’s running against though. So, go McCain for the Republicans! And then… I can’t wait to see you get your ass beat in the general election.
Now, onto the Democrats. Wow, this is pretty cool. I have had the opportunity to experience a lot of things in my lifetime. I’ve been present during some amazing events. It’s important to be a part of history, and something truly history-making is happening in this country right now. If you’ve been keeping your head down, if politics are of no interest to you, I implore you to look up. This is an amazing time.
Whatever happens is set to bring about great change in Washington, and I am not using that word as a key word or a catchphrase, as has been so often done during this campaign. No matter who has uttered it more often, both Democratic candidates will offer it. It is not a decisive word. As for the Republicans, even if John McCain gets the nod, let me just say, change is not exactly an important term in the Republican handbook. If you happen to be a Republican, I’m sorry. That you are a Republican… not that I said it.
As for the Democratic hopefuls, Obama is generating a lot of excitement, which is great. I am totally for involving people in the political process. Now, let me tell you why I am keeping my fingers crossed that people go into the polls today and vote for Hillary.
1. Obama speaks in generalities and ideals.
His delivery is electrifying. His optimism is inspiring. His grasp of what he is actually proposing is limited. He cannot adequately explain how he plans to get from point A to point B. He says what he is going to do. He has a more difficult time saying how.
There is no time for a learning curve, not after the destruction left behind by this administration.
2. Those idealistic notions are not realistic notions.
Bill Clinton got a lot of flack for calling Obama’s campaign a fairy tale. It was turned into an insult. It was turned into a race issue. I don’t believe it was either of those things. I believe that the point that was trying to be made was that Obama does not have enough experience to realize that what he is saying is going to be a lot more difficult to actually make come to pass than he thinks.
He’s going to bring the parties together? Great. How? And don’t say, “because I was able to do it in Illinois”. In Illinois, no matter what side of the aisle they were on, the people in charge cared about the people in Illinois. If you think a Republican senator from the northeast cares about the people of rural Louisiana, you are going to be sadly disappointed.
3. The idea of getting people involved in their government is wonderful, but it won’t last.
People in this country notoriously go about their business without much thought to the government’s part in their lives. When the excitement of this historic election dies down, people will, sadly, return to the way they are currently living those lives. If it does renew interest in helping out with the country, it will not last. It is sad, but it is true. 1968 was a year of some of the greatest political and social change this country has ever seen. Forty years later… complacency.
Young people flock to Obama, have come out of the folds to support him. That’s great, except that it is based on a catchphrase mentality. It’s celebrity over substance. A “Yes we can!” rings in their ears, and in depth talk about facts and policy are tuned out. They don’t want to know how hard it is to do, just that it can be done. I want to believe that it can be done too, but, when you set out to do something, you’d better damn well know how you are going to go about doing it.
4. Hillary’s Iraq vote.
She is taking a serious amount of grief for her initial Iraq vote on the campaign trail. It seems to be the Achilles heel into which Obama is consistently piercing. It seems to draw more blood every time. The day after this last debate, I read everywhere that Obama was stronger on the war.
Just because he claimed to be doesn’t make it true, and here is why that is an unfair assessment.
It is easy to say, now, that Clinton’s vote to send inspectors into Iraq was the wrong decision. It is easy to say this now, because what happened after, the rush to war, the outrageous military spending, were carried out based on that initial vote. We can see the mistake clearly everyday on the news.
What we cannot see is what might have happened if that vote had failed. I am not saying that something would have happened, but let’s just cover one scenario -
Let’s say Hillary voted ‘no’ on the bill to send inspectors into Iraq along with Barack. Let’s say it failed and no inspectors were sent. Let’s say the U.S. was bombed three months later by Iraq. It’s easy to see Hillary’s mistake, because it turned out Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. What if they had?
More importantly, if Bush had not been commander-in-chief, there would have been no war. A commander-in-chief that does not have an itchy trigger finger and a need to restore Daddy’s honor would not have sent innocent people into a useless war when the inspection turned up naught.
5. The Economy & Healthcare.
If the economy is everyone’s main concern, there should be no debate here. The problem is that many young people who are now of voting age have no recollection of the economic prosperity of the Clinton years. So, without sounding ancient here, let me just say that I could get gas for less than a dollar a gallon every time I got gas. In some places, I could get it for under nintety cents. This was not back in the day, people, this was less than ten years ago. And, despite what we are led to believe, the price of oil has not skyrocketed. The value of the dollar has plummeted.
Fast food restaurants were paying $8.50 an hour, because the economy was so good that high school kids could get $10 an hour office jobs. Today, people are scrambling for any job they can find.
There is pretty much one fix for this extreme economic problem. A Clinton.
On healthcare, I understand that a lot of people don’t want to be told what to do, that they must have healthcare. But universal healthcare isn’t a punishment, it’s a privilege, a privilege that is working very well in many other countries. As for concerns that not everyone can afford it, this is not like healthcare now. This is not two hundred dollars from every paycheck. Social security is a huge program that exists on a few dollars a month from every working citizen. It’s called compound interest people. It works wonders.
And for those healthy people who don’t want to have to pay in to a system that they will not be using, consider yourselves very lucky, and, let me tell you, I was very glad that I had health insurance during this past year and a half. No one expects to suddenly be getting regular MRIs because there is an unidentifiable spot on his or her brain. I have racked up over twenty grand in hospital costs in a matter of months. I would have been seriously screwed without insurance. Yes, you are healthy. Good. But it’s insurance. Like all insurance, it’s meant for ‘just in case,’ and you hope like hell you never have to use it.
Obama’s message of change is hopeful, which I like, but in saying that Hillary is a part of the old Washington system, it lumps her in with the current administration. It’s unfair and inaccurate.
What exactly is it we need change from? This current administration? Most definitely. But do we really need change from Washington entire? From the way things are done? Yes. From the partisan politics? Yes. But from what Hillary represents of Washington’s past? Do we need such drastic change from that?
The Clinton years were a time of human rights, economic prosperity, and relief for middle and lower-class families around the country. Some people may feel that there was “moral decay” marring the Clinton years, but, in the areas that should truly matter politically, it’s a return to the past that I welcome.
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January 8th, 2008 Riley
At the risk of alienating those who come to my site to escape the reality of the real world, this post will now venture into one of the most hideous aspects of that real world - Politics.
The above is a completely false headline that I hope, with a little fairy dust, might turn true. After a third place finish in the Iowa caucus, the latest poll numbers which showed Obama jumping to a double-digit lead in New Hampshire, and early poll results coming back with those results, it looks like things may not be going Hillary’s way.
That’s right. I’ve just declared my support. If that offends, I’m not going to lie, I’m not sorry about it.
Bill Clinton earned the nickname ‘the comeback kid’ by scoring a second place finish in New Hampshire on his way to the presidency in 1992. Here’s hoping for a Clinton Redux.
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December 18th, 2007 Riley
So, Obama’s numbers are surging. Oprah has been on the campaign trail with him. Coincidence? I doubt it seriously. The woman has made some very bad books must-reads. She starts trends. She does things to people.
If Oprah fed her studio audience shit sandwiches, they’d say ‘mmm’ and ask for seconds.
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December 1st, 2007 Riley
So, I had all kinds of thoughts while the drama was unfolding at Hillary Clinton’s New Hampshire campaign office yesterday. Right now, I can’t think too much on any of them, because I am having a fairly decent day and I would like to keep it that way for as long as possible. What tends to happen when I am thinking about things is that I decide I want more information. That’s one of my most debilitating traits. I always want more information, so then I go looking for it, and I realize, yet again, just how full of cretins the world is and get depressed.
When I was looking for some info on the hostage drama of yesterday, I discovered that a former talk show host that was introducing Fred Thompson in California today had this to say:
“In case you missed it, some nut job broke in and took hostages and apparently threatened to blow himself up unless he got a chance to speak to Hillary. Now, I found this rather odd because I always feel like blowing myself up after I hear Hillary Clinton speak.”
I find this comment, made one day after people could have been killed, exceptionally callous and disturbing.
Of course, this quote may be completely inaccurate and misleading. After all, I did find it on Fox News.
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