So I have been noticing something over the last few weeks and months. The party that we currently know, and some actually love, is dying a tortuous death. Now I want to clarify that I am not talking about conservatism, just the republican party. They, in my opinion, are two different entities loosely tied together. If we look at this country’s recent history (60s to the present) we can see the “Eben Flow” of things in the politico. The 60s were filled with excess and rebellion and the society reflected that, e.g. - Drug culture, Sex culture, Haight-Ashberry movement, Civil Rights movement, etc. Then the 70s came and the free wheeling culture slowed, due to the Vietnam War. The eighties came at a time when liberalism was finally coming down from its unapologetic high (no pun intended). Whether you agree with the policies of the Republicans and especially Reagan or not, he was the right man at the right time. He was the figure that the disenfranchised conservatives, more specifically Republican party, needed at the time. The country was seemingly very tired from running on some much excess for so long. Its like having access to unlimited amounts of candy as a kid that eventually you go overboard and get sick. So what happens…massive inflation, government spending out of control, so called leadership was lacking (this is not necessarily what was happening but this was the perception for a lot of Americans - perception is reality). So then the US goes through what I like to call its needed republican/conservative phase. Now we are seeing the end of it. All these phases whether liberal/conservative or republican/democrat last seemingly about 30 years max. So just like the death of the liberal movement that truly crested in the 60s, the conservative movement dies a hard death with this current administration. If you haven’t noticed it yet or disagree than take a look at the political climate and who is has appeared on either side, and you draw your comparisons. History is always due to repeat
- The constant push for societal changes are becoming more and more prevalent. Largest example is gay marriage. (Percentage of American’s supporting it is higher everyday)
- Inspiration leader of the opposite side gains massive appeal and is creating a new group of politically motivated and aware populous.
- The old fighting tools no longer working, i.e. - calls for un-Americanism, slams against patriotism, religious confrontations.
- Controlling side’s old warriors are leaving the fight and new warriors from the opposite side are coming up and outnumbering them.
- Social justice is becoming paramount.
- Unpopular war has gone on to long.
- Message from the news is changing, e.g. - Rupert Murdoch says a liberal might actually win the presidency.
- News begins to challenge the government again.
- The controlling side is losing in its on heartland, e.g. - Democrat wins special election in Mississippi for a House seat. Democrat is in statistical tie for Senate seat in Mississippi.
- Controlling side is riddled with scandals.
- Society is slowly but surely shifting closer to the middle again (true middle - not middle right or middle left). 75% of Americans support abortion in rape/incest situation.
So there are just a few reason that I can think of that I see the Republican party dying a much deserve death. I say deserved because they have gone out of control. They will be reborn with more centrist ideals in the years to come. Most likely nudged that way by people like Ron Paul, Chuck Hagel and the like. I mean if you need anymore evidence that the right has completely lost it, just got 2 words for you…Dunkin Donuts. They just pulled an ad because Rachel Ray was wearing a scarf that seemed be similar to a Palestinian scarf. This outrage was manufactured by blogger and commentators from the right wing. So I say with a very light heart that I am glad to see the Republican party die this way. They totally deserve it. In 30 years, I will be saying the same thing about the Democrats. Good Luck with the Phoenix thing Republicans.
Ok, so we shouldn’t be surprised that this Jeremiah Wright stuff is bullshit. Here is a comparison of what he said as a sound bite versus what he said in full context
Here is a quote from one of Clinton’s top advisors, Geraldine Ferraro.
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”
Are you kidding me…(yes I said it twice). This is clearly one of the dirtiest run primary campaigns in modern Democratic history. So lets see if I understand this correctly. Obama isn’t going to win any votes outside of “black areas” because he is black. Then he is only winning because he is black. Look I am a liberal black man living in America, and I don’t know what part of planet earth they are on, but its no place I have ever heard of. I guess Obama won in Vermont (which I have visited before…Go Vermont!) because of the HUGE black population there? When I visited there, I thought I was back in Baltimore with all the people who looked like me there…not. I guess Iowa was another black stronghold for Obama or maybe Idaho. When people make comments about how the Clintons will stop at nothing to win they are absolutely right. Mathematically Hillary has no chance of winning the election, yet she will destroy any and everything that gets in her way. If she can’t have it, no one is allowed to. This is the exact type of disgusting politics that keeps people from being engaged. Now we actually have a chance to see how it would work using the method of substance versus name calling. As most people already know, tomorrow is Mississippi’s primary. Obama is favored to win by about 12 percentage points. Keep plugging away at those delegates Barack…. End this childish nonsense and put her away for good.
So I have not had a chance to write on here in a while, but I am back and pissed.
If you haven’t been sleeping under a rock for the last few weeks than you know how negative the Clinton campaign has gotten towards Obama. Just for those of you who are unaware Obama is a DEMOCRAT. Why is she trying to kill his chances in the general elections on some made up personal attacks. Instead of fighting over policy differences Hillary is battling Obama like he stole one of her kids or something. Of course the more crazed she gets the more calm he becomes. I think we are seeing the systems of the past and future collide at full speed. There can be only one should be the adage for this Democratic primary. The Democrats have a real opportunity to put a foothill in a new generation of voters. If they screw this up I don’t know how they will recover going forward. However, never underestimate Democrats amazing ability to snatch lose from the jaws of victory.
Senator Obama wins South Carolina…by a landslide. The black vote was a strong influence on his victory. However, the win for Obama broke down largely on generational lines. I am excited and pleased to be apart of watching what I think is history in the making.
Florida for the Republicans in Tuesday. I have a feeling this will be the last we hear from Rudy Guiliani. Bye bye America’s mayor.
So Barack Obama has won Iowa…as one of his supporters I couldn’t be any happier. It was a great day in America when a black man wins a 92% white state in the primaries. Its still the beginning of a long race, and a decent amount of time before Super Tuesday, but he will have a lot of momentum to push him further in the next few races. Also, not that its any less important news but Mike Huckabee, the come behind kid, has securely trounced the rest of the Republican party in Iowa. Huckabee won Iowa with a 9 point lead on Romney, the 2nd place winner. While both Obama and Huckabee have many differences, they seem to have a general message of needed change that resonates with voters. While I do not want a evangelical preacher as my president, I appreciate his fairly progressive social views…abortion and gay rights notwithstanding.
As I read the news this morning it seems that going into New Hampshire Hillary Clinton and John McCain held the largest leads. Clinton with 9 points over Obama, and McCain 4 points over Romney. However, today those leads have shrinked significantly. Obama is now within 4 points, and Romney now within 2 points. So it looks like Iowa’s outcome will play a pretty strong part in what kind of race we have in New Hampshire. From the looks of it, the Democrats race there will be another close one going into voting day.
With mix feelings I had to read that Chris Dodd and Joe Biden have both dropped out of the race. While I think they are both great candidates for their party, realistically they had no chance at the presidency. Both are said to most likely throw their support behind Obama, as Kucinich has already done. I don’t think Clinton or Edwards will end of picking up any major amount of votes from Dodd and Biden supporters. However, this race has been all over the place, so we shall see.
On the Republican side, Fred Thompson actually got 12% of the vote, which surprised me because I think most people believe he is barely running a campaign. Ron Paul pulled in 10% of the vote. He is hoping for a big jump in NH, but I don’t think this is going to ever happen. While I think his supporters work hard to push their candidates message, I think they can be a little delusional to think 10% is enough to start a real charge towards the Whitehouse. Guiliani came in with a whopping 3%, of course he is concentrating on Florida for his first victory, which I think is a stupid idea. The little states can make of break you just as easily as the big ones. However, as much as I hate his campaign, I am sure his has some crafty stuff up his sleeve.
So we keep our eye on NH and see if this makes or breaks the remaining candidates.
Mitt Romney gave his much awaited speech this past week, and the mainstream media seems to love it, sort of. Well they liked it the first time when it was by JFK. Romney made a point to say to his listeners that he was just a regular Joe American and his religion was not important. Also he stated that America was founded as a Christian nation, and that people of secular (i.e. - agnostics and atheists) were wrong. Hey Mitt, when you decided to try and mirror a great president maybe you should actually listen to what he said. The general premise of Romney’s speech is not surprising, it is a gigantic pander to the religious right in this country. Romney knows that he cannot be honest and say that agnostics and atheist are just as welcome in this country as anyone else, because he is base will crucify him (pun intended). That my friends, is the saddest part of what has become politics in America. The inability to be intellectually honest to your own base. Sad.
Huckabee is surging! Just off his stylish victory over the plethora of loser who are now representing the republican party, he is sitting in the number one spot. Of course, with the title comes the spoils. Unfortunately, the spoils in a primary race are generally nothing you want. He now is being put under a microscope over he past record in Arkansas, as he should. Huckabee the fun loving politician who seems to have all the right things going for him has a closet filled with a few rather large skeletons. The main carcass looming over his Cinderella story is the one of a serial rapist he let go, and who of course raped and killed two women after being released. Letting him go is not the issue, doing it for purely political purposes is another. In a word, disgusting. This story isn’t really hitting mainstream news like I would have liked, but time will tell. The other story that is making some headlines is that fact that Huckabee made several statements that he was in favor of a quarantine of AIDS patiences in the early 90s. Huckabee was questioned on this by Chris Wallace this week and he danced around it with semantics at first and then stood by his statements. The statement to begin with is quite ridiculous, but as a evangelical preacher I am not surprised. I think Huckabee has a real chance to walk away with Iowa without breaking a sweat. However, once people start to see him for what he really is things will change. A candidate who does not believe in evolution will have a hard time getting the final vote from Americans come November ‘08. Until then keep dancing Huckabee, we are just waiting to see if you get tired before we do.