Search Results for 'nG'

[JoB]

new resident.. i don’t think of you as interfering at all. sometimes an outside viewpoint is a breath of fresh air…

we can get so busy defending our own little tree that we miss the forest around it:)

and i do think it will be interesting what you ultimately decide to do… i don’t envy your position at all… especially when McCain starts to campaign for those independent and cross-over votes.

If you decide to support him.. i for one will be very interested in your reasons.. and again.. i chose my words carefully.. (i don’t think your reasons will be just rationalizations).

the more we talk to one another about issues, the more we find that on some very basic levels… we have more in common than our political parties would like us to believe.

[JoB]

you and your girlfriends remind me of my daughter and hers… that’s a good thing:)

[Anonymous]

I think I’ve decided to not interfere with the debates between you all. You are going to say what you want about Republicans (just as I could say whatever I want about Democrats). The truth is, it’s politics. It will get ugly. I do really enjoy browsing the discussions regarding Hillary and Obama. But, that is not my discussion to have.

I will say this, though. I’ve said it before. I think the Democrats have a better chance of winning if it’s McCain/Clinton. That’s coming from a Republican.

And, JoB, you are always invited to drink!

[beachdrivegirl]

Thank you. It was from my best friends wedding last summer.

[charlabob]

absolutely, JoB — speaking only for myself, of course, i suspect we’re going to need these drinks long before November.

[JoB]

new resident.. one would think that charlabob’s comment on republican shenanigans gave you renewed hope for your party’s victory ;->

JUST A GENTLE JOKE .. An all in fun poke in the ribs for those who didn’t see that.

can i come drink too? either way i think i am going to need it:)

[Anonymous]

charlabob – you definitely have yourself a deal! The Democrats win, I buy you a drink. Republicans, you buy! I like that plan!

[Anonymous]

Erik – funny! I’m curious if you posed for the picture or did you just get on here and then realize that was you. Or maybe you’re just being funny.

[JoB]

Beachdrivegirl…

“And Charlabob, of course Sims is going to defend the way he votes and why he thinks it is okay to do so…”

It IS ok for him to vote his conscience. This is exactly what a superdelegate is supposed to do.

And his argument is rational… perhaps it even has merit.

Superdelegates only come into play when there is not a clear victory in the popular delegate count for either candidate (enough delegates to secure the nomination)…

it is the party’s method of insuring that the candidate with the greatest chance of survival and the ability to govern is nominated … when there is no clear mandate from the popular vote.

They are supposed to vote their conscience.. not simply add to the delegate count of their state…

ken posted a great explanation of how this all came to be somewhere.. i bet jans can find it… she finds everything…

there is a really good historical lesson buried there.

[JoB]

beachdrivegirl.. the delegate count does not necessarily reflect the popular vote.

In this state, delegates are split according to the caucus turnout (which by the way was nearly impossible for handicapped folks where i caucused… so that’s one group that wasn’t heard from)… but many states are all or nothing.. so the portion of their population who voted for the other delegate are totally unrepresented.

There is no clear consensus here… no matter how numbers are used to present one. if there was.. we would have a delegate.

Talking about Obama’s “popular mandate” at this point is comparable to Bush’s claiming a mandate from the people when at best he squeaked by and at worst he stole the elections.

I am not implying that Obama is stealing an election.. but just pointing out that Bush really lowered public perception of the standards for a mandate…

If Obama truly was the people’s choice, he would have his nomination secured by now. McCain does.. and i don’t think there is much question that he has a mandate.

[JanS]

my opinion…when it comes to politics, no one “plays nice”. I have friends that have voiced to me that if it gets to muckraking and slime as usual that they will be totally turned off to the process…and that will definitely harm the dems, whoever the candidate is. These are liberal, educated people who simply don’t want the “same ol’, same ol’ “

[beachdrivegirl]

I have been wondering about that for awhile now…thanks erik

[beachdrivegirl]

Franci-as I stated above this is a widespread issue. And Washington state is in the minority with holding both a Caucus and Primay.

[beachdrivegirl]

The super-delegate trend is not just an issue in Washington state. It is an issue nation wide. Obama leads right now by a margin of 135 delegates. However, as of today, Hillary leads pledegd super delegates by 44 votes. I am not trying to change the game to favor any canidate; however, I think that they do need to consider and reflect on the popular vote. And Charlabob, of course Sims is going to defend the way he votes and why he thinks it is okay to do so…

[Franci]

I don’t know if you can truly compare the caucus results to the popular vote. I for one didn’t caste a vote for President in the election because I knew it was essentially meaningless. For those that voted in the caucus and the election there is nothing to say that they voted the same way both times.

I think that the democrats need to split the delegates between the caucus and the election, much like the republicans do.

It still bothers me that anyone who wasn’t able to be there on caucus day doesn’t get to opportunity to vote for their candidate.

I’ve heard things like “Well if it was important to them they would have been there”. That is short sighted and ignorant. There are people who have a valid opinion who simply had to be at work. I also heard “They could get away on their lunch hour to participate”. There are many of us who may commute by bus to other parts of the city to earn a living.

If we are going to debate who should or should not get the super-delegate vote; and compare popular vs caucus; both popular and caucus votes need to count in delegate race.

[JoB]

charlabob.. you make me blush. i thought i might have erred just a bit on the side of righteous crankiness there…

beachdrivegirl… i didn’t “work” for Hillary or give her money myself until this last push because i didn’t think she needed it.

what seems obvious to you about your candidate seemed like a real no-brainer to us with ours. she is a remarkable woman and she paid her dues… for the past (nearly) 40 years.

If you had not had Obama, you might have come to appreciate her more.

The thing that really surprises me is how polarizing the Obama campaign is…

he was really stupid to publicly dismiss Hillary last night on national tv. I think dismissing a woman that way.. trivializing her.. will create a backlash he doesn’t expect.

at least i hope it will… it wasn’t nice.

[charlabob]

So true!

What really scares me (when I’m not watching MSNBC) is that we’re just bopping along here having primaries and caucuses because no one is interfering. I see no sign that the Dems are ready to defend their voters against the bogus accusations of fraud *planned and funded* by the Republican party.

“Caging” was done here in King County in 2004 — basically, it consists of blanketing a democratic area with letters saying voters have to check in and prove they still live in a place. Then, when they don’t answer the letters, a designated Republican files challenges. The challnges scare off some people and, ultimately, lower the vote.

The Bellevue woman who did this in 2006 should be in jail, because that’s the penalty for election fraud. The late (republican) Prosecutor chose not to prosecute; the dems chose not to protest.

(That, by the way, is why I don’t vote for a Republican even for what seems a safely nonpartisan position — when the rubber hits the road, their trunk will show.) I see no sign we’re more ready this time.

[Kayleigh]

JoB, she showed her true colors, her ruthlessness, with that ad. She will do anything to get the nomination—including planting fear and mistrust of Obama in the heads of indepdents, swing, and conservative voters.

I didn’t like her before because I suspected this about her. She just proved it to be true. My mom was a huge supporter of Hillary’s till she saw that ad–she’s even alienating her *own* supporters.

That she would betray the party with that kind of ad makes me doubt she would stand true to liberal principals once she’s in office. She is a politican through and through—and that is no compliment.

[JoB]

Nobody needs to give McCain ammo… Believe me.. they already have plenty of ammo to use no matter who wins our nomination.

but we need to remind ourselves that winning an election takes a lot more than showing up for rallies…

There will be votes to get out and we will all have to campaign tirelessly… and that means being willing to listen to the other person’s ideas with respect before you volunteer your own.

Nobody listens unless they feel they have been heard.

it will mean volunteering to drive people to the polls.

it will mean convincing a lot of people (roughly half the democrats) that even though their candidate didn’t win.. this election is about issues and the issues are important…not voting or throwing your vote to nader in some symbolic gesture has real consequences…

we are just having fun now.. the real work doesn’t start until after the convention.

[beachdrivegirl]

I should have chosen my words a bit wiser. I am not completely on Kayleighs boat-I dont want to campaign for Hillary or give her my money, but yes if she is the nomination in November I will support her. I dont hate Hillary, and am tyring not to bash her .I just dont believe that she is the right nomination. I guess we all just get a little too passionate sometimes. :)

[charlabob]

Ron Sims is a superdelegate on behalf of the National Association of County Executives so he lives in Washington but he represents a nationwide slice of people. I don’t remember the details, but he asked all of the Senators running for president to come and talk about some funding issues of particular interest to counties and Hillary was the only person who replied at all and she said many of “the right things.”

The point is superdelegates don’t necessarily represent the state in which they live and if they voted as their state did, they might well be disenfranchising their real consituency. There are young dems, overseas dems, unions — they all live somewhere and that doesn’t matter.

(I heard all of this from Sims on his monthly NPR interview.)

JoB, of course you don’t get to change the game — but you sure as hell get to try — that’s what makes it a game. :-)

I don’t for one minute believe the Democrat are not going to seat any delegates from Michigan or Florida so both sides have to battle to get the advantage from the situation. There’s enough ambiguity in the situation, and in the super delegates, to justify any and all positions, so it should be interesting. Who knows — maybe, ultimately, Governor Dean will get to decide.

Since I’m not a hardcore Hill or Barack fan, I come down on the side of bring on the battle — it will be nothing compared with what happens for the general election and at least we might not have another John Kerry “above the fray” loss.

[JoB]

beachdrivegirl…

yes, obama won our state’s delegates when it came to the caucus.. but did you notice that he didn’t when it came to the popular vote?

You get to choose.. if you play by the rules Obama keeps Kennedy and Kerry… and Florida doesn’t count.

if you think the rules shouldn’t count… you lose that along with what you think you will gain.

The will of the people isn’t so clear. If it was, he would already have all the regular delegate he needs to win. He doesn’t.

You don’t get to change the game when it doesn’t seem to be going your way.

[beachdrivegirl]

It would be fun for everyone to get to see each other in person….maybe we need to plan a bbq when spring comes…

[JoB]

i can’t get there from here as i am not on facebook beachdrivegirl.. but i sure look forward to meeting you in person..

and thank you house for stepping forward to put faces to some of the names…

[JoB]

i didn’t particularly like the 3AM add myself… but if you think that’s fear mongering.. you should look at some of what is coming out of the McCain camp.

It was apparently just good campaigning. it was on point and it worked.

Truth is ladies.. you don’t like her. It wouldn’t much matter what she did. and right now you need an excuse. You found one. but that doesn’t mean she should step down.

It is still a horse race… and i for one am going to come down pretty hard on sore losers if Hillary wins the nomination.

Did you notice i said wins… because she is in the middle of a political fight and doing what it takes to win… and making some progress.

She spent 2 million less than Obama in Texas and took the popular vote. She is doing something right.

Obama supporters may be able to control the caucus in Texas with their unwillingness to hear both sides of the story like they did here in Washington, but in the privacy of the ballot box… those who can’t stand up to the censure of the caucus prevail and hillary wins. They did here as well… too bad it doesn’t count.

And i didn’t use the word censure lightly… i have talked with a lot of Clinton supporters who felt exactly the same way i did at my caucus. And there is sure plenty of it on this blog.

I don’t know how to put this other than bluntly.. but we are people too and we have will… it is easy to dismiss us as middle aged housewives (not) but we have huge numbers… we pull across the aisle…we have faithfully shown up for our party (we actually voted against Bush in both elections)… and there are plenty of young people in our midst. In this election, we are the (mostly) silent majority.

You may be young hip and with it and really invested in your dream.. i don’t fault you for that. I will work for that dream if Obama wins… if you believe your own rhetoric, you need to be ready to do the same.

and i am not just blowing air.. i signed up to do the vote turnout in my precinct at the caucus… in a room full of healthy young Obama supporters… and a young latino woman will be helping me… another Clinton supporter.

We are the workers you depend on to deliver your dream where it really counts… against McCain.

And i wouldn’t be surprised if most of us in West Seattle who will be doing the work this year are Clinton supporters.

I grant you your right to fight like heck for your candidate before the nomination.. but if the only way you can do that is by bashing Clinton… it won’t get your candidate very far when the real fight starts.

the more you bash McCain, the more republicans will stand up to defend him.

Did you see how the last article (i forget which paper) ended up in an apology from the editor… not for the main content of the article which has now been forgotten… but because of the unsupported allegation of an “improper relationship” between McCain and the lobbyist.

And again, i chose my words carefully.. unsupported.. not necessarily untrue.

never mind that McCain blatantly intervened in matters that weren’t his province for the benefit of a lobbyist and then lied about that as well… and was caught out in that lie by his own testimony.

McCain hasn’t been the target of the republican smear campaign… at least not for the past 4 years since he rolled over during the campaign… and people don’t think it’s nice to bash the war hero. Even the conservative block who hated McCain days before rallied to his defense.

But they will think it’s fine to expose Obama… because that’s one of the problems with a campaign of personality.. the higher they rise.. the more people are willing to see them fall.

You will need the old warhorses to get Obama elected. You should be glad that we have the perspective to realize that if your candidate wins the nomination… he will become our candidate.

I wish you would do the same… because whoever wins our nomination, we are going to have one heck of a fight on our hands to win in November.

You want the tried and true campaigner who has worked tirelessly for her party to stand aside because all you can see is that she stands in the way of your dream. Yet.. your dream isn’t possible without the rest of us tried and true campaigners who support her.

perhaps a little more respect is in order here.