Jeezis. And I thought the format war between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs was the ultimate example of a completely lame and unnecessarily drawn-out battle towards a foregone conclusion. Now that Barack Obama has the delegates to get the Democratic nomination — an outcome perfectly obvious and inevitable for a long time to all but Hillary Clinton and her most doe-eyed disciples — hopefully we can get on with things and enjoy an exciting campaign between now and November.
There seems to be a lot of pressure right now on Obama to offer Hillary his VP slot. I'm agin' it, mainly because I dislike Hillary intensely and am convinced she's simply been body-surfing her ego for the last several months, putting her ambition above the good of her party and the country. People praise Hillary for her never-say-die "fighting spirit," failing to recognize that that isn't a praiseworthy trait in and of itself. After all, creationists have plenty of "fighting spirit." If your "fighting spirit" is rooted in hubris and delusion, and a mule-headed refusal to acknowledge reality, then your role model for said "spirit" is the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. That isn't the kind of "fighting spirit" I want in the White House. It's what we've had for the past seven years, and look how that's turned out.
The argument for offering the VP slot to Hillary is that she does have a thoroughly fanatical contingent of supporters who seem to have bought into her ideas that the presidency is some kind of entitlement for her, and if she isn't the Democratic nominee, will cast a revenge vote for McCain in November, thus plunging the country into four more years of Republican-led foreign policy disaster (McCain has voted with Bush over the years on damn near everything, so anyone who thinks he's going to be a standard-bearer for "change" really needs to start taking better drugs) simply to salve their bruised feelings. Bring Hillary into the frame as Obama's running mate, and perhaps her supporters will chill and, most importantly, not jump ship.
Still, I can't help thinking that Obama's choosing Hillary for his running mate would be not unlike a long-suffering parent caving in and buying a toy for an ill-behaved and unruly child, simply to stop it constantly screaming and crying and carrying on. Not exactly a character-building choice, if you take my meaning. I've read from more than one source that an Obama/Edwards ticket will trounce McCain/Anybody come November, and that would be a ticket I could get behind with enthusiasm. Still, if Obama does choose Hillary (and she accepts), he will still get my vote. After all, my vote's not about my ego, it's about what I think will be the best way to undo the damage that eight years of the cretinous Bush have left us in. And that comes down to casting my vote for a fresh voice and a sincere agent for change, not a huggy sycophant.
Okay, Hillary lovers, bring it on...!
Actually, I agree with you.
ReplyDeleteIt was like Coke vs. Pepsi there for a little while, and you know how that can go. Same basic product, one a little sweeter than the other.
Then someone switched the Pepsi for a bitter tea that made you feel a little ill, but the Pepsi supporters were so entrenched, they didn't realize there had been a switch, or they wanted to argue that you just had to add more sugar.
Ok, enough with the soft drink analogy. bottom line? You're right!
I think Hillary's plan for the past few months has been to create power for herself in order to get the VP position. I think she thinks she can then run for the top job in 8 years, or even better, Obama will get assassinated and she's right there to step in.
ReplyDeleteron paul anyone?
ReplyDeleteRon Paul is a psycho Hyper-Christian Libertarian White Supremacist who wants to put both doctors who perform abortions and the women who have them in jail. Also wants to do away with ALL government services other than the military and police and turn them over to private enterprises, and I do mean ALL.
ReplyDeleteI would vote for John McCain before I'd vote for Paul and I would NEVER vote for McCain even if my life depended on it.
Yay, the knives are out! This is now officially a real political thread.
ReplyDeleteWhat kevinbbg said.
ReplyDeleteReally though, I'm really amazed at the number of young Ron Paul supporters there are. I get the impression that people think that the rejection of science (evolutionary biology), being anti-choice, and supporting the strengthening of private power is revolutionary.
Ron Paul is not a white supremacist. Those who accused him of that were guilty of a smear job.
ReplyDeleteI name 4 or 5 really terrible things and you only deny one of them, and you're wrong. You need to do your homework
ReplyDeletehttp://tinyurl.com/38ou5t
From this web site:
Past issues of "The Ron Paul Survivor Report" survive in archives at the University of Wisconsin and elsewhere and bloggers are digging them out and re-publishing them so voters understand the true nature and political philosophy of this candidate.
A few excerpts:
"...our country is being destroyed by a group of actual and potential terrorists -- and they can be identified by the color of their skin."
"Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action.... Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the "criminal justice system," I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal."
"We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, but it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings, and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."
I think you begin to get the idea of who this man is and what he REALLY believes. Such toxic, racist diatribes have no place in civilized men and civilized culture. Please don't support Ron Paul.
Not to mention that a vote for Ron Paul is one of those thrown-away votes for a third-party candidate (assuming he even chooses to run as one) that won't matter worth a fart in a high wind. Yes yes, we can all whine and bitch that American politics is a two-party system and it just ain't fair, but it is reality, and sometimes to get things done you gotta play the game the way the cards have been dealt.
ReplyDeleteThe only third-party candidate I really want to see come along is Huckabee. If he runs as an independent, he'll Naderize McCain's votes by siphoning away all the evangelicals, and Obama can just walk it in at that point.