Category: Politics

27Oct

The Obama Financing Revolution

Posted in election2008, Politics | Leave a comment


The election is a week away, and Barack Obama is leading nationally. While the polls indicate a strong lead, I think the election will be a lot closer than the polls indicate. John McCain still has a slim chance of pulling this out.

The McCain campaign has been mismanaged from the start, but one item that comes up over and over again in this election is money. Barack Obama has a huge money advantage over John McCain. Pundits think that the Obama campaign will have a dramatic change on how political campaigns are run in the future.

Obama’s focus of small internet based donations is not a new tactic, the Dean campaign revolutionized Internet campaigning in 2004, and Obama’s people built upon that success in 2008. The Republicans foolishly continued to focus on max donations from wealthy people.

John McCain likes to bring up Obama’s refusal to accept federal funds, and I disagreed with Obama’s reversal, but the Obama financing revolution has nothing to do with his refusal of federal money. The real story is Obama’s ability to pull in first time donors.

Before this election, almost nobody I knew donated to political campaigns. The amount of people I know who have donated to Obama’s campaign is staggering. Obama’s message has really resonated with people, and the American people realize the importance of this election. The tough primary fight with Senator Clinton aided Obama’s general election effort by getting exposure in every state.

Obama’s ability to raise funds is a testament to his message. The American people have spoken in mass with their wallets. Its not the “elites” who are empowering the Obama campaign, its middle class folks giving small donations.

25Sep

Suspend the campaign?

Posted in election2008, Politics | Leave a comment

With 40 days left till election day, the last thing we need to do is cancel debates and suspend campaigning. John McCain is simply grandstanding to try and avoid a further slide in the polls. Some sort of stimulus or bailout is definitely needed, but we need to uphold the constitution.

Today, John McCain mentioned that the country needed to get together like we did after 9-11. Remember what legislation was rushed together after 9-11? It was called the Patriot act, and it was the single worse piece of legislation passed in my lifetime.

The last thing we need to do is pass a rubber stamp bill, that give the treasury secretary unprecedented powers with little oversight. The idea that we need to pass a huge stimulus bill by the weekend is not only flawed, its reckless. The government should pass a short term bill, and work on a comprehensive package that is well thought out.

Finally, why does McCain need to suspend his campaign? Isn’t that what his vice president pick is for? If McCain can’t let Palin run the campaign for 2 days, why would anyone consider her to be fit for the oval office?

11Sep

My Last Palin Post

Posted in election2008, Politics, War | 2 Comments

From a political perspective, the Palin VP pick has worked beautifully for the Republican party. Nobody is talking about the issues for the last few weeks, instead the media and bloggers have been chattering nonstop about Palin.

This will be the last time I ever blog about Sarah Palin, unless the voters of the United States are actually dumb enough to make her the vice president. We need to focus on the issues facing the country, instead of spending time blogging about a VP candidate that is really a red herring.

So what’s today’s Palin shocker? Remember how the Bush administration spent years trying to connect 9-11 to the Iraq war? Remember how the majority of Americans thought we were invading Iraq because of 9-11?

Well, a few years ago, even the Bush administration stopped trying connect 9-11 to Iraq, because even the most ill-informed Americans were starting to realize that Iraq had nothing to with the global war on terror.

Well it turns out that there are still a few people who actually think Iraq has something to do with 9-11, including Sarah Palin.

FORT WAINWRIGHT, Alaska, Sept. 11 — Gov. Sarah Palin linked the war in Iraq with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, telling an Iraq-bound brigade of soldiers that included her son that they would “defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the death of thousands of Americans.”

For once, I’m speechless.. Normally, I think celebrity opinions are absolutely useless, but this Matt Damon clip is on target.

31Jul

McCain Gets Dirty

Posted in election2008, Politics | 1 Comment

It didn’t take long for McCain to get completely desperate. I guess when you have no viable platform to campaign on, and you completely outmatched, the only can do is go negative.

In this campaign spot, John McCain compares Barack Obama to Britney spears.

Its amazing how far McCain has fallen. John McCain inspired me so much in 2000, he was the first politician I donated to.. Now, he is a joke. Expand offshore drilling? That will do absolutely nothing for global oil prices. John McCain wants to continue the unsustainable economic, energy, and foreign policies of George Bush.

Just like Bill Clinton in the primary, I’ve lost all respect for John McCain, and its not even fall yet.

20Jun

Drilling is NOT the Answer

Posted in Politics, Rant | 3 Comments

For the first time in a long time, Americans are really starting to feel true pain at the pump. So what do politicians do? They use this unfortunate period of time to push initiatives to help special interest groups.

President Bush and John McCain announced that they will seek an end to the offshore drilling ban, citing high gas prices and our dependence on foreign oil.

Sadly, opening up the rest of the gulf to drilling is not going to do a damn thing for gas prices. At least not for the next 7-10 years or so. Around 2018 gas prices might be a few cents lower, but it essentially does nothing for the average American now or in the long term.

The only beneficiaries of this policy are oil companies. The environmental risks are definitely real, although offshore drilling is a lot cleaner today than it was in the 70’s and 80’s.

Here’s a thought, why don’t we push policies to reduce our oil consumption through energy efficient technologies, and the use of alternative fuels? Why don’t we have an Apollo program to get the majority of cars sold in the US to use hydrogen by 2020?

Opening up more drilling isn’t going to do damn thing for the price of gasoline. We need to move beyond oil.

01May

The McCain-Clinton Gas Tax

Posted in election2008, Politics | 1 Comment

John McCain first pushed a federal suspension of gas taxes for the summer. After a few days, Hillary Clinton jumped on the bandwagon, showing once again that she will do anything to get elected.

By supporting the gas tax suspension, both candidates show a complete lack of basic economic knowledge. Any college freshman who was semi-awake through ECON 101, would know that a suspension of the gas tax would just increase demand, and sustain or raise gas prices.

Not surprisingly, there is a chorus of economists criticizing the gas tax suspension plan.

Where is Barack Obama on this? He was smart enough to know that a gas tax suspension was completely stupid, and he was heavily criticized for it. Bravo to Obama for not following the herd of stupidity.

John McCain is an honerable guy, but I find his lack of economic knowledge frightening. Hillary Clinton? She would support anything if she thought it would lead to more votes.