Special for Bill Bradley
Bill railed me today during a PokerStars tournament. He asked me when I would return to RGP. I told him, "maybe never." He asked me to at least come back and give my perspective on the 2008 elections. Since Bill has always been very nice to me, except when debating same sex marriage, I decided to honor his request. After all, he did send me a bunch of autographed 2+2 books, most of which were newer editions than those in my library.
So here is my succinct impression of the 2008 presidential election so far. I will just make a few comments about each major candidate, then a few miscellaneous observations about the election in general.
Democrats --
Hillary Clinton -- You know I have always been a strong Hillary supporter, and I haven't changed my mind. You can check the archives. I have posts dating back to 2005 calling for a Clinton/Obama ticket in 2008. Some of her positions bother me, like being hawkish on the Iraq War, and voting for the Iran resolution which some say gives Bush the green light to attack Iran.
Despite these differences, I still think she is far and away the most intelligent and most competent of all the candidates from both parties. There have been a lot of polls showing she would trounce any Republican candidate except McCain. The argument that she is unelectable is the purest nonsense.
Barack Obama -- I really like the guy. He is charismatic and a great public speaker. Politically, I am closer to Obama than Clinton. The one thing that really bothers me about Obama is his tendency to use right-wing talking points from sources like Faux News, Matt Drudge, and Bob Novak. He attacks other Democrats and important Democratic constituencies like unions and trial lawyers with these talking points. He talks about "fixing" Social Security. Please. That is a straight right-wing talking point. Social Security, as I have explained many times, doesn't need fixing. With all our other economic problems, including huge trade and budget deficits, $9 trillion in national debt, and Medicare and Medicaid facing financial meltdown in the near future, it makes absolutely no sense to try to "fix" a program which is solvent for at least the next 35 years. That is assuming an average GDP growth rate of less that 2% annually during that time period. If the economy continues to grow at a 3% annual rate, as it has for many years, the Social Security Trust Fund never runs out of money. The fact that Obama doesn't know this, and panders to right-wing delusions about Social Security, really bothers me.
John Edwards -- Again, I really like the guy. Charismatic and excellent public speaker. Of the three major candidates, Edwards most closely reflects my views. The one thing that bothers me about Edwards is that he sends his cancer-stricken wife out to be his attack dog.
I am disappointed in all three candidates in that none of them are proposing universal single payer health care, which is the only viable solution to the health care crisis in this country and the imminent financial meltdown of Medicare and Medicaid. Instead, they are all proposing plans which keep the insurance companies making hundreds of billions per year and which guarantee that all doctors become extremely rich.
All these plans would be better than what we have now, and everybody would be insured, but these plans will do little or nothing to increase efficiency and reduce costs of health care. Reducing health care costs is essential if Medicare and Medicaid are to be saved. It's so simple. Just make Medicare available to everyone. As I have posted many times, Medicare has much lower overhead and provides equivalent health care at a much lower cost than private sector health insurance. No big new government bureaucracy would need to be created. Since everything is computerized, only a modest increase in the size of the Medicare bureaucracy would be required.
Republicans --
Mitt Romney -- A complete airhead and pathological liar. Need I say more? Naturally, Mitt is Mo Ron Charles favorite candidate. Do any of you remember when Mo Ron told you to short oil futures any time the price went over $50/barrel? If you followed his advice and invested a significant percentage of your net worth, then of course you are now penniless, because oil futures are highly leveraged. Mo Ron has repeatedly displayed his complete lack of understanding of the basics of economics, as I have demonstrated in many posts.
Rudy Giuliani -- An arrogant, mobbed up, lying asshole. Need I say more? Naturally, Rudy is Bell Ding Bat's favorite candidate. Of all the right-wing nutcases on RGP, Bell Ding Bat is certainly the most clueless. There are certain conservatives, like Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, who have the uncanny ability to be wrong about absolutely everything. Bell Ding Bat is one of these.
John McCain -- Shameless Bush fellator and berserk warmonger. "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." (Sung to the tune of Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys.)
At one time, I respected McCain. Even though he is extremely conservative, I thought he was at least honest, which is a rare trait among Republicans. And I respected the fact that he opposed the catastrophic Bush tax cuts, and that he advocates a sensible policy on undocumented workers. But since he has become warmonger in chief, I can't stand the guy. He is the only Republican with a realistic chance to defeat whomever the Democrats nominate.
Mike Huckabee -- A Southern Baptist from Hope, Arkansas who is a former Arkansas governor and a muscian. Of all the Republican candidates, he is the only one who is a decent human being. I think I would find him most tolerable as a Republican President, although having a President who doesn't believe in evolution would be a mindblower, to say the least.
By the way, you may remember a post I made sometime back, when polls showed McCain and Giuliani way out in front of everyone else, that neither McCain nor Giuliani would be the Republican nominee. That prediction is looking pretty good right now.
Ron Paul -- Needless to say, Paul Genaro's favorite candidate. Since I am a left-wing libertarian, I really like some of Ron Paul's views. End the Iraq War now? Agreed. Repeal the PATRIOT Act? Agreed. Abolish all drug laws? Agreed.
Abolish Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid? Are you fucking nuts? Get out of the United Nations? Are you fucking nuts? Abolish the income tax? Are you fucking nuts?
One thing that really bothers me about Ron Paul is his enthusiastic support by white supremacists and Nazis. That doesn't mean that Paul is either of these, but it is very troubling that he receives such enthusiastic support from the lunatic fringe of the right-wing.
On the election in general, it looks like the economy, not the Iraq War, will be the dominant issue. The MSM has brainwashed most people into thinking that the surge worked, and that everything is just fine now in Iraq.
The surge hasn't worked, and everything is not just fine in Iraq. Yes, violence is down against both Iraqis and U.S. forces. 2007 was still the deadliest year for American troops in Iraq. What we have done is to arm and ally ourselves with the Sunni militias which we had been fighting. Smart move. The Sunni militias in turn have effectively liquidated Al Qaeda in Iraq, which was never more than 5% of the insurgency.
Now you have both Sunni and Shiite militias which are heavily armed, a totally corrupt and powerless central government, and zero political progress toward any political settlement. As we are forced by logistics to reduce our military presence this year, look for a resurgence of the insurgency, movement to an all out Sunni/Shia civil war, and increased American casualties.
But there is good reason why the economy looks to be the dominant issue of the 2008 election. The results of the disasterous economic policies of the Bush administration, as well as the feckless mismanagement of monetary policy by Alan Greenspan, are finally coming home to roost.
The wheels are finally coming off the economy, and it is hilarious to see the Fed try to stabilize the situation by cutting interest rates and pumping hundreds of billions of dollars of liquidity into the financial system. It won't do any good.
Here are the fruits of managing the economy according to conservative principles --
$100/barrel oil
Dollar at record lows against the Euro
Gold at record highs
Huge trade and budget deficits
Housing market in freefall
Record foreclosure rates
Hundreds of billions lost in hedge funds ( you know, those guys like Mo Ron Charles, who think they are smart and understand how the economy works?)
Increasing rates of poverty and income inequality
Record numbers of people with no health insurance
And so on and so forth. If we are in a full blown recession in November, look for a Democratic landslide and a Democratic President. If the economy is somehow still defying gravity and muddling along, anything can happen, given Republican proclivities for voter suppression and outright vote fraud.
William Coleman (ramashiva)
So here is my succinct impression of the 2008 presidential election so far. I will just make a few comments about each major candidate, then a few miscellaneous observations about the election in general.
Democrats --
Hillary Clinton -- You know I have always been a strong Hillary supporter, and I haven't changed my mind. You can check the archives. I have posts dating back to 2005 calling for a Clinton/Obama ticket in 2008. Some of her positions bother me, like being hawkish on the Iraq War, and voting for the Iran resolution which some say gives Bush the green light to attack Iran.
Despite these differences, I still think she is far and away the most intelligent and most competent of all the candidates from both parties. There have been a lot of polls showing she would trounce any Republican candidate except McCain. The argument that she is unelectable is the purest nonsense.
Barack Obama -- I really like the guy. He is charismatic and a great public speaker. Politically, I am closer to Obama than Clinton. The one thing that really bothers me about Obama is his tendency to use right-wing talking points from sources like Faux News, Matt Drudge, and Bob Novak. He attacks other Democrats and important Democratic constituencies like unions and trial lawyers with these talking points. He talks about "fixing" Social Security. Please. That is a straight right-wing talking point. Social Security, as I have explained many times, doesn't need fixing. With all our other economic problems, including huge trade and budget deficits, $9 trillion in national debt, and Medicare and Medicaid facing financial meltdown in the near future, it makes absolutely no sense to try to "fix" a program which is solvent for at least the next 35 years. That is assuming an average GDP growth rate of less that 2% annually during that time period. If the economy continues to grow at a 3% annual rate, as it has for many years, the Social Security Trust Fund never runs out of money. The fact that Obama doesn't know this, and panders to right-wing delusions about Social Security, really bothers me.
John Edwards -- Again, I really like the guy. Charismatic and excellent public speaker. Of the three major candidates, Edwards most closely reflects my views. The one thing that bothers me about Edwards is that he sends his cancer-stricken wife out to be his attack dog.
I am disappointed in all three candidates in that none of them are proposing universal single payer health care, which is the only viable solution to the health care crisis in this country and the imminent financial meltdown of Medicare and Medicaid. Instead, they are all proposing plans which keep the insurance companies making hundreds of billions per year and which guarantee that all doctors become extremely rich.
All these plans would be better than what we have now, and everybody would be insured, but these plans will do little or nothing to increase efficiency and reduce costs of health care. Reducing health care costs is essential if Medicare and Medicaid are to be saved. It's so simple. Just make Medicare available to everyone. As I have posted many times, Medicare has much lower overhead and provides equivalent health care at a much lower cost than private sector health insurance. No big new government bureaucracy would need to be created. Since everything is computerized, only a modest increase in the size of the Medicare bureaucracy would be required.
Republicans --
Mitt Romney -- A complete airhead and pathological liar. Need I say more? Naturally, Mitt is Mo Ron Charles favorite candidate. Do any of you remember when Mo Ron told you to short oil futures any time the price went over $50/barrel? If you followed his advice and invested a significant percentage of your net worth, then of course you are now penniless, because oil futures are highly leveraged. Mo Ron has repeatedly displayed his complete lack of understanding of the basics of economics, as I have demonstrated in many posts.
Rudy Giuliani -- An arrogant, mobbed up, lying asshole. Need I say more? Naturally, Rudy is Bell Ding Bat's favorite candidate. Of all the right-wing nutcases on RGP, Bell Ding Bat is certainly the most clueless. There are certain conservatives, like Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer, who have the uncanny ability to be wrong about absolutely everything. Bell Ding Bat is one of these.
John McCain -- Shameless Bush fellator and berserk warmonger. "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran." (Sung to the tune of Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys.)
At one time, I respected McCain. Even though he is extremely conservative, I thought he was at least honest, which is a rare trait among Republicans. And I respected the fact that he opposed the catastrophic Bush tax cuts, and that he advocates a sensible policy on undocumented workers. But since he has become warmonger in chief, I can't stand the guy. He is the only Republican with a realistic chance to defeat whomever the Democrats nominate.
Mike Huckabee -- A Southern Baptist from Hope, Arkansas who is a former Arkansas governor and a muscian. Of all the Republican candidates, he is the only one who is a decent human being. I think I would find him most tolerable as a Republican President, although having a President who doesn't believe in evolution would be a mindblower, to say the least.
By the way, you may remember a post I made sometime back, when polls showed McCain and Giuliani way out in front of everyone else, that neither McCain nor Giuliani would be the Republican nominee. That prediction is looking pretty good right now.
Ron Paul -- Needless to say, Paul Genaro's favorite candidate. Since I am a left-wing libertarian, I really like some of Ron Paul's views. End the Iraq War now? Agreed. Repeal the PATRIOT Act? Agreed. Abolish all drug laws? Agreed.
Abolish Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid? Are you fucking nuts? Get out of the United Nations? Are you fucking nuts? Abolish the income tax? Are you fucking nuts?
One thing that really bothers me about Ron Paul is his enthusiastic support by white supremacists and Nazis. That doesn't mean that Paul is either of these, but it is very troubling that he receives such enthusiastic support from the lunatic fringe of the right-wing.
On the election in general, it looks like the economy, not the Iraq War, will be the dominant issue. The MSM has brainwashed most people into thinking that the surge worked, and that everything is just fine now in Iraq.
The surge hasn't worked, and everything is not just fine in Iraq. Yes, violence is down against both Iraqis and U.S. forces. 2007 was still the deadliest year for American troops in Iraq. What we have done is to arm and ally ourselves with the Sunni militias which we had been fighting. Smart move. The Sunni militias in turn have effectively liquidated Al Qaeda in Iraq, which was never more than 5% of the insurgency.
Now you have both Sunni and Shiite militias which are heavily armed, a totally corrupt and powerless central government, and zero political progress toward any political settlement. As we are forced by logistics to reduce our military presence this year, look for a resurgence of the insurgency, movement to an all out Sunni/Shia civil war, and increased American casualties.
But there is good reason why the economy looks to be the dominant issue of the 2008 election. The results of the disasterous economic policies of the Bush administration, as well as the feckless mismanagement of monetary policy by Alan Greenspan, are finally coming home to roost.
The wheels are finally coming off the economy, and it is hilarious to see the Fed try to stabilize the situation by cutting interest rates and pumping hundreds of billions of dollars of liquidity into the financial system. It won't do any good.
Here are the fruits of managing the economy according to conservative principles --
$100/barrel oil
Dollar at record lows against the Euro
Gold at record highs
Huge trade and budget deficits
Housing market in freefall
Record foreclosure rates
Hundreds of billions lost in hedge funds ( you know, those guys like Mo Ron Charles, who think they are smart and understand how the economy works?)
Increasing rates of poverty and income inequality
Record numbers of people with no health insurance
And so on and so forth. If we are in a full blown recession in November, look for a Democratic landslide and a Democratic President. If the economy is somehow still defying gravity and muddling along, anything can happen, given Republican proclivities for voter suppression and outright vote fraud.
William Coleman (ramashiva)
posted by William Coleman at 10:26 PM
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