Q U E S T I O N:
And McCain is silent on Waterboarding because…?

Well, not being outspoken on the issue of torture and the president’s prerogative to commit war crimes from the man who’s not only vying for that title but also walked in a war prisoners shoes, one would think he might be a tad bit more adamant on the subject. I don’t see him fighting to stop torture.

NO?

.

The guy who runs Mediamatters is David Brock, former right-wing hit-man who was part of the “Arkansas Project” in the 90’s and became disenchanted with the dishonesty and debauchery of the modern conservative movement. He doesn’t work for the Clintons, but he likes them.

Just a few days ago, Paul Krugman wrote an article in the NYT about how nobody holds Rudy accountable for out-and-out lying to the public. That’s the only thing I’ve seen in the mainstream media critical of Rudy. Krugman is a treasure.

Well, I kinda agree with you, but look at how Russert got himself a new one ripped because his questions were too pointed toward Herself. I am pretty sure Media Matters was bagging on him today, but I thought his questions were dead on. Media Matters seems like a front group for the Clintons, and they are supposedly Progressives. Hillary has much ju-ju.

Comment by Keltoi — November 5, 2007 @ 4:39 pm

The most recent press I’ve seen has at least hinted at the idea that she’s not bullet-proof, especially after the last debate. Her opponents are beginning to take a harder line with her pointing our some of her waffling and inconsistencies.

What worries me most is that the first primaries are right around the corner and there is so little time to continue this trend, if it even exists.

In my opinion, the greatest barrier is the press, with its horse race mentality and unwillingness to do any hard work. If she gets the nomination, the press will be the first to mock her and to do the work of the Republicans to retain the WH.

Comment by gummitch — November 5, 2007 @ 4:13 pm

Well, whoever are answering these opinion polls, I guess. I hope they are wrong, and I have a feeling she is not neartly as inevitable as she seems, but polls that don’t have her mopping the deck with the other guys are hard to find.

Comment by Keltoi — November 5, 2007 @ 4:10 pm

And it doesn’t help that the media will only focus on Hillary and Obama, with Edwards to a lesser degree. And because she is acting like she’s already the nominee, the media is, too. They (the media) don’t seem to remember what the mid-term elections indicated: that most Dems want our troops out of Iraq, and certainly don’t want war with Iran. Hillary is too hawkish for most of us progressives. I’m from NY, she’s okay as a Senator, but I don’t want her for President!

Comment by Keltoi — November 5, 2007 @ 4:10 pm

“The Dems”? Who are “the Dems”?

HRC has assembled a huge war chest and has been planning this entire operation since before Bill left the White House. She has called in lots of markers and has an enormous amount of clout.

Quite frankly, the Democratic Party and the DLC have never paid much attention to what voters want in a candidate. If they had, the rank and file of Democrats wouldn’t have been stuck trying to make John Kerry look like a great presidential candidate.

Which is why it blows my mind the Dems seem intent on nominating her! She must have a political machine even more powerful than it appears.

1. NYPD = US Military
2. Mafia = foreign countries
3. Times Square = Superfund sites
4. Streets = Interstate Highway System
5. Harlem = the South
6. Squeegee Men = Terrorists
7. Central Park = National Park System
8. Firefighters = Homeland Security
9. Subways = Amtrak
10. Staten Island = rural America

Comment by gulfwargrunt — November 5, 2007 @ 4:04 pm

THAT is funny!

Did anyone watch the Hart Research Focus Group thing on C-SPAN recently, where a group of mostly Republicans from Virginia were asked their positions on various issues and Republican candidates? It was scary. Few of them seemed familiar with the candidates and their positions, some hadn’t even heard of a few of the candidates. Most only had a general idea that Rudy is a tough anti-terrorist guy who would protect the “homeland”. Despite the fact that the majority of the people in the group, when asked to use one word to describe their impressions of the candidates, used words like “cold” and even “slimy” to describe Rudy, quite of few of the dozen or so people ended up agreeing that they would still vote for Rudy if Hillary was the Dem nominee. How f-ing frightening is that? After they were done, several political reporters who had watched agreed that many of the groups’ opinions were based on erronious information. Well, duh!

1. NYPD = US Military
2. Mafia = foreign countries
3. Times Square = Superfund sites
4. Streets = Interstate Highway System
5. Harlem = the South
6. Squeegee Men = Terrorists
7. Central Park = National Park System
8. Firefighters = Homeland Security
9. Subways = Amtrak
10. Staten Island = rural America

Comment by hellinabucket — November 5, 2007 @ 3:52 pm

Bill has a ton of good will left and not a lot of hatred. Hillary, on the other hand, has been well and thoroughly hated since 1993. Conservatives hated her for daring to act like she had a role in the White House and most of them are still convinced she’s the reincarnation of Emma Goldman, regardless of how she’s actually voted as a Senator.

Y’know, I think it is a jumping off the high dive moment for the Repubs. On the one hand, the DO think there is residual Clinton fatigue, so they want to run against Hillary. On the other hand, she may win the general, and the idea of Bill back in the WH drives them mad.

I am hoping like crazy there is still some fluidity in the situation and Obama can overtake her.

Comment by gummitch — November 5, 2007 @ 3:44 pm

Yeah, thanks, gummitch, ya creeped me out, too. (shudder)

Comment by Keltoi — November 5, 2007 @ 3:35 pm

If all a person relies on for information is what they get from the media, Rudy is a plausible tough-guy candidate. In 2001, he was the icon of American courage and strength and there was never a breath of criticism to be found anywhere in the news.

The firefighters that criticized him later were drowned out by his firefighter sockpuppets by a media pretending to be “objective”. I’ve yet to see anything substantive in the MSM about his behavior as mayor, other than the occasional reference to his messed-up personal life. None of the stupid decisions that led to chaos on September 11 are ever raised, nor are the decisions afterward that so thoroughly p!ssed off the FDNY and NYPD. For those people not living in New York during his years as mayor, he’s Mr America.

My guess is the republicans are hoping it’s Hillary. They will pull out the old arguments they used against her husband and they hope there will be enough old hatred of Bill left in this country to win as the lesser of 2 evils.