U.S. Presidential Elections 2008

[HisSelf]

Either the political risks of invading Saudi Arabia are too great, or the Saudis have bought enough influence, especially in the Republican Party, to forestall any hostile actions against them.

This is in fact the essence of the American political system. In a developing country you have to give bribes to lower officials. In the US, you can give them straight to the President!

Chretien had the balls to pass the Elections Funding Act. Whatever else his sins might have been, he just may have saved democracy in this country.

[bush_cheney2004]

...Finally, the electric car. 40 years ago, I did a project I presented in front of my grade 6 class on electric cars and how we would all be driving electric cars by the time we grew up....................still waiting!

Then surely you would know that we have already had alcohol and electrics....cars...vans...trollies....years before that. It's not a new idea at all.

Most of the 5,000 U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia will leave by the end of the summer.[/i]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,85446,00.html

The USA has been phasing out Saudi operations since before Bush was president. See Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait and.......drumroll please.....IRAQ! Going to be there long long time.

[WIP]

To get back on topic, I want to add a few thoughts about John McCain, since he's been able to safely hide in the shadows lately. Listening to the radio earlier, I heard Rush Limbaugh, the prescription pill-addicted, closeted homosexual leader of conservative radio, expounding on how well John McCain was doing in recent polls and how he's going to win the election. It seems Limbaugh has changed his tune since I last listened to his show. Before McCain won the Republican nomination, Limbaugh has said previously that he would never support McCain, but since his first loyalties are to the Republican Party beyond all else, he's in the McCain corner now.

But Limbaugh is going to have his bubble burst this fall, along with the other diehards who think there is a hope in hell of continued Republican control of the White House. Once the General Election starts rolling, McCain will have to explain why he went from maverick Repubican in 2000 to being the insider when he started his 2008 campaign. The Iraq War is going to be hung around his neck like an albatross, and his character flaws, which were last presented by the Bush Campaign in 2000, are going to be out there on display.

Up till now, his cosy relationship with the Washington press core has kept some of his indiscretions from being given much attention. Kind of ironic, sing the right is always claiming that the media is biased against them. McCain has proven that the line about the media being against conservatives is bogus, and that a politician of any stripes who is friendly to reporters and responds quickly to requests for interviews, is going to get an assist from the so called "drive by media." But a Democratic fall campaign will dust off Karl Rove's dossier on McCain and go through the new material being offered by left wing writers and bloggers: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/McCain_tempe...in_92_0407.html

[WIP]

This is in fact the essence of the American political system. In a developing country you have to give bribes to lower officials. In the US, you can give them straight to the President!

Chretien had the balls to pass the Elections Funding Act. Whatever else his sins might have been, he just may have saved democracy in this country.

The problem with election finance reform is how to stop sweetheart deals that are done on a handshake and a promise of rewards to the politician after retirement. Notice how many politicians immediately become lobbyists the day after they retire, usually for the same firms they were supposed to be regulating while in office.

The Saudis have a long-standing reputation in the U.S. that any politician or State Department or other official will be appropriately rewarded for doing their bidding after they leave office. If politicians can cash in after retirement, it's hard to directly connect them to their paymasters.

[WIP]

Then surely you would know that we have already had alcohol and electrics....cars...vans...trollies....years before that. It's not a new idea at all.

Right! What would be a new idea is making them a practical alternative that could replace gasoline powered cars.

The USA has been phasing out Saudi operations since before Bush was president. See Bahrain, Qatar, Dubai, Kuwait and.......drumroll please.....IRAQ! Going to be there long long time.

What's the good of being there if it's too dangerous to explore and develop the oil, and get it to America?

[HisSelf]

.... Rush Limbaugh, the prescription pill-addicted, closeted homosexual leader of conservative radio.....

....Limbaugh has changed his tune since I last listened to his show.

My favourite is the guy who invited the son of a 9/11 victim onto his show and then told him to "Just shut up." Was that Limbugh? They all look the same to me...

[bush_cheney2004]

To get back on topic, I want to add a few thoughts about John McCain, since he's been able to safely hide in the shadows lately. Listening to the radio earlier, I heard Rush Limbaugh, the prescription pill-addicted, closeted homosexual leader of conservative radio,

Wow...then I guess "closeted homosexuals" in gasoline powered cars are really bad, huh?

McCain will have to explain why he went from maverick Repubican in 2000 to being the insider when he started his 2008 campaign. The Iraq War is going to be hung around his neck like an albatross, and his character flaws, which were last presented by the Bush Campaign in 2000, are going to be out there on display.

Limbaugh didn't like Medicare Part D either, but still backed Bush in 2004. Four more years!

[HisSelf]

My mistake. It wasn't Limbuggh. It was O'Weawey.

[August1991]

But Limbaugh is going to have his bubble burst this fall, along with the other diehards who think there is a hope in hell of continued Republican control of the White House. Once the General Election starts rolling, McCain will have to explain why he went from maverick Repubican in 2000 to being the insider when he started his 2008 campaign. The Iraq War is going to be hung around his neck like an albatross, and his character flaws, which were last presented by the Bush Campaign in 2000, are going to be out there on display.

WIP, your post illustrates simply why the Democrats will not win. You rant on about how McCain and the Republicans will lose but you don't explain how that will happen? Do you really believe that Clinton can win the nomination? If she doesn't, the nominee will be Obama. Do you really think that the American people will vote for Obama?

At this point, the Republicans aren't going to win; it's teh Democrats who are going to lose.

At least Canadian Liberals have a practical sense (and unfortunately, that's about all they have.)

The Saudis have a long-standing reputation in the U.S. that any politician or State Department or other official will be appropriately rewarded for doing their bidding after they leave office. If politicians can cash in after retirement, it's hard to directly connect them to their paymasters.

You mean, like, who provides funding for the Carter Center? Edited April 18, 2008 by August1991

[BubberMiley]

WIP, your post illustrates simply why the Democrats will not win. You rant on about how McCain and the Republicans will lose but you don't explain how that will happen?

It's obvious how the Republicans will lose. Currently they're generating less than half the Dems are in donations, drawing less than half the voters to their primaries, and running on an unwinnable platform of continuing Bush's policies for four more years. Given the holiday McCain is currently getting from media scrutiny, the Republicans should be 10 points ahead. (I mean, if Bill Clinton had refused to make public his tax forms there would have been hell to pay. Cindy McCain? Not so much.) Once the campaign starts, however, that holiday will be over and McCain will have to answer for everything from his wife's drug addiction to his position on illegal immigration.

[jdobbin]

At this point, the Republicans aren't going to win; it's teh Democrats who are going to lose.

We'll remind you how confident you were of this on the day after the election.

[HisSelf]

60% of polled Americans believe that Iraq was a mistake. McCain wants to stay in Iraq.

We'll see what we shall see..

[Guest American Woman]

There's no doubt in my mind that McCain is going to win. I really hope that I'm wrong, but my money would definitely be on McCain.

[eyeball]

There's no doubt in my mind that McCain is going to win. I really hope that I'm wrong, but my money would definitely be on McCain.

I hope not too, but I suspect you're right.

[jdobbin]

There's no doubt in my mind that McCain is going to win. I really hope that I'm wrong, but my money would definitely be on McCain.

There was no doubt in many people's minds here that the Republicans were going to win the Senate and House in the mid-terms as well.

McCain still has the Iraqi monkey on his back. Hard to say surge is working when the goal was to create the stability for the Iraqi government to function. Well, the Iraqi government isn't functioning and violence is starting to rise again.

[bush_cheney2004]

60% of polled Americans believe that Iraq was a mistake. McCain wants to stay in Iraq.

We'll see what we shall see..

We already see that "Iraq" is not the top issue in the election.

The USA has no intention of leaving Iraq, McCain or no McCain.

[Topaz]

We already see that "Iraq" is not the top issue in the election.

The USA has no intention of leaving Iraq, McCain or no McCain.

Better yet, the US has no plans to leave the Middle-East area but I think that one day the US will leave when it runs out of money. That is when it runs out of money so it can not PRINT anymore money to keep the war and nation going. Is the US Embassy in Iraq paid for? It cost what....almost a billion???

[jdobbin]

Better yet, the US has no plans to leave the Middle-East area but I think that one day the US will leave when it runs out of money. That is when it runs out of money so it can not PRINT anymore money to keep the war and nation going. Is the US Embassy in Iraq paid for? It cost what....almost a billion???

I think McCain's problem is that he offering more of the same in Iraq rather than any real change. It will impede his ability to win an election.

[bush_cheney2004]

It cost what....almost a billion???

No, it cost about $600 million and will have a staff of 1000, but who's counting?

We are making progress here at MLW, with begrudging admissions that Senator John McCain could / may indeed win the 2008 election. But nothing...absolutely nothing....will beat the look on loser faces in 2004!

Let's do it again!

[bush_cheney2004]

I think McCain's problem is that he offering more of the same in Iraq rather than any real change. It will impede his ability to win an election.

That's because there is nothing more to offer but the same in Iraq. Those who cluck about the 2006 midterms and Democrat victories need to be reminded that not one damn thing has changed.

[BubberMiley]

But nothing...absolutely nothing....will beat the look on loser faces in 2004!

Except, more recently, the loser faces in 2006.

[jdobbin]

Except, more recently, the loser faces in 2006.

Many loved the loser faces at the mid-terms.

[jbg]

Good article.

Link

This is my feeling too. Obama will be a far bigger disaster for the Democrats than Clinton would be. The activist Dems (those that vote in caucuses and who have turned Obama into the Dem's candidate) are too naive, genteel, idealistic and out to lunch. They're the same gang that turfed Lieberman in the Connecticut primary only to see him run as an independent and win in November.

McGovern won Massachusetts and DC in 1972. Obama will be lucky to get that.

Your analysis is spot on. Almost as good as any American I've read.

Too bad I know a lot less about Canada than you do the US, but I guess that's ever the pattern.

[jbg]

As long as those alternative fuel ideas are coming from the present administration, then oil reigns supreme!

Oil reigns supreme because the production costs are still well under $10/bbl, and the price could easily drop that far, wiping out everything in between. Just ask how Alberta fared for the first few years after the NEP was repealed by Mulroney.

[WIP]

Wow...then I guess "closeted homosexuals" in gasoline powered cars are really bad, huh?

Limbaugh could be the most dangerous man in America (and on the planet) if man-made CO2 emissions are the primary cause of recent global warming! There has been an aggressive campaign of denial sponsored by energy companies, but it's guys like Limbaugh who try to make it cool to produce as much pollution as possible, who cause the greatest harm!

And I'm not making up the possibility that Rush is gay and either in denial or living a double life. The rumours are always being circulated by members of the Democratic Underground, but there are reasons why rumours have persisted for years. Limbaugh's marriage to Marta was likely an attempt to quell the rumours. http://www.pssht.com/biography/rush_limbaugh.html Amazing how the family values crowd can continually turn a blind eye to failed marriages and drug abuse problems also! When Limbaugh was busted for his oxycontin addiction a few years back, I would have thought he would have been rejected by this crowd. But their Christian values are only used against the people they view as enemies of the cause!

Limbaugh didn't like Medicare Part D either, but still backed Bush in 2004. Four more years!

Like I said, Limbaugh is a Republican before all else, regardless of his rhetoric during the Republican Primaries! And that prescription drug plan is an obvious example. How vigorous was the protest against Bush over the plan. Did he threaten to withdraw his support of Bush's re-election in 2004? Not that I remember! Limbaugh and all of the other Bush loyalists would have been spewing bile if it was offered up by Bill Clinton or a Democrat. It was all part of Karl Rove's permanent Republican majority strategy, and since Limbaugh believes in one party government, anything a Republican leader proposes has to be accepted by the masses.