Well gritty
Coming back to the Iraq war and its potential effect on the election, I am still interested in the amazing fact that - rightly or wrongly - there are some Republicans who see it as a positive issue for them.
In Kansas, braving freezing rain to bring you the news (I am talking to Evangelicals in Wichita but I sense that you are bored with this topic for the moment), I meet a very charming Republican pastor who is convinced that his flock, once depressed about the war, are now back on board.
He makes an interesting suggestion for the Republican dream ticket: and , provided they can find a tough, credible position on illegal immigration.
In the smart salons of Washington DC, all the brightest chatter is about the near certainty that the mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, will enter the race if the two existing New Yorkers are knocked out. It takes a trip to Kansas to focus on grittier realities.
And Kansas in an ice storm (I am writing this on Interstate 35) is well gritty, as we English say...
Hello, I'm 
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The truth is that the US is NOT at War. Our Constitution allows only for Congress to declare War (which they did not) and it doesn't allow Congress to give that power away.
Congress gave the President unlimited police power to wage his own battle against whomever he wished (something not mentioned in the Constitution of the United States).
The Conservative movement is divided among traditional conservatives (such as Patrick Buchanan) and Neoconservatives (Bush & the Republican Party).
Traditional conservatives have left the Republican Party in droves. The Neocons are NOT Conservatives--they can call themselves what they want, but it just isn't true.
Surely Mchael Bloomberg entering the race would just secure a Republican victory?
Surely it would just split the Democrat vote?
Obviously it's up to Americans as to what they do but I hope he doesn;t stand for election.
What America (and the world) needs is a Democrat in The White House.
I like Michael Bloomberg and am sure he would would make a fine president but I hope he doesn't stand in the way of that.
Anyway, does an ice storm mean lots of hail stones?
We had hail stones in Bristol (England not Connecticut) the other day. It was hailing well hard.
Man, the Republicans have to be nuts to believe that the Iraq war is a positive thing. The war has been mismanaged, cost the US too much in world reputation, money and most gravely--lives.
I guess it's the special interests that keeps the pressure on the Republicans in order for them to believe that this war is still a good thing.
Still no Ron Paul Profile on your website,
i am sure he is a candidate, yes i just checked he is still running and now has passed your hollywood man, in republican polls.
But i know how busy you are at the Ö÷²¥´óÐã to actually do your main job. So you keep fighting that good fight and make sure that we are ill-informed and that you never actually tell us who is running in the Election.
Just out of interest Do you believe in the NAU?
I am guessing that seeing as you dont believe in the existance of Ron Paul your not going to believe in the NAU.
So Justin your Claim is that you 'cannot lie', well when you avoid and omit information that means you are not reflecting the truth, a silent man cannot lie but he doesnt tell the truth either.
So speak and tell us about the NAU or the federal reserve or blackwater or 911. Or do you avoid these topics as you know in oreder to keep your job you would have to lie
In response to the post about freezing rain...it's not hail, it happens when precipitation falls as rain but then freezes when it hits the ground. It's not fun. I live in the Midwest...believe me.
The neocons have hijacked the republican party but the democrats have allowed their opposition to dictate what the political conversation will be about. So who is right and who is wrong? Here in America we are being asked to choose between equally bad alternatives. The opposition is out there--it's just too quiet. What America and the world really needs is for people to decide they care. It's corny but Dr. Suess said it best, "Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, things aren't going to get better. They're not." Anyone care to place bets on that happening?
And of course, it's just disgusting to hear that anyone could believe the Iraq war is a positive thing...
And to that last post: this is a blog, not a newpaper. He doesn't have to 'report' on every little thing here. That's what the rest of the website is for. You have eyes (I assume) so go read.
What's so "charming" about an alleged pastor enthused about support for war?! Only in America... anyway, sadly, those alleged 'brightest and best' in the "smart salons" of D.C. are the real culprits, the ones who've always goaded and guided the country into war with an 'evangelic' imperialist realpolitik zeal of their own. The religious crackers just serve as their political (and military) foot soldiers. Bloomberg is no less enthusiastic about carving up the M.E. for AIPAC than Kansas pastors are to pave the way for the alleged Second Coming.
Whether or not the war will be a positive or negative next November really depends on how things go this coming year.
Right now we've had 3-4 months of things going pretty well in Iraq. Security situation has improved dramatically, refugees are going home rather than fleeing from their homes and we're back to talking about handing regions over to local control rather than how much more force we need to put into them to make that possible.
If these trends continue for another year and US force numbers end up decreasing a bunch, then this war is going to be a huge political positive in the next election. Americans really hate losing and really like winning. If it looks like we're winning, people are going to like the war.
Nothing new that some republicans find the so called positive in the Iraq war, because most of their kind, the owners operators of the industrial-military-
political-security-banking-petrochemical-
pharmaceutical-media-organized religion-
do gooder so called not for profit-dynamics of disaster economy complex, are making money hand over fist. They care less about the US troops that are expandable, along with millions of Iraqi, with their country and the infrastructure destroyed.
Their perverse ideology of inequality, rights only of their kind
and their indifferent malignant narcissism is so ingrained that the only thing they trust money which has on the back " in god we trust"
In my view, any candidate who is elected will be expected to end the war. Period.
That makes the war a non-issue, in selecting a candidate.
Emily#5 "...The opposition is out there--it's just too quiet...."
That is the problem...it is out there, but because they don't prescribe to the media and incumbant Govt's line of debate they get no air time or publicity.
This is oddly enough, one of the fundemental problems with the "freedom of speech" in the US. As long as it is roughly in line with those who are shouting loudest, it gets a voice. Otherwise it falls on deaf ears and is never reported, even just for the sake of ballance in an argument. The sadest aspect is, no one is even complaining or protesting that the media just follow the Govt's line...
I am confident that a Democrat will be moving into the White House in 13 months time, but cautiously
so. To take it for granted would be a misstep but one the Democrats are more than capable of making.
It may be unlikely but it's possible, isn't it, that the chaos in Iraq will have calmed and that fewer American soldiers will be dying? Whether or not that's happening already certainly the media coverage of it is already in decline. The main headlines on the Washington Post website as I write? Michael Vick, USSC rulings on crack sentences, Romney and Scooter Libby. The "GWOT" doesn't get a mention on the front page.
Keen as I was last year for the Democrats to take both the House and the Senate I was concerned that there would only be one referendum on the Iraq war and better for it to come in the form of a Presidential election than a congressional one. Will the American people still be so eager to make a point, still be clamouring for change in a year? I hope so, but I'm not so sure.
Will Americans still be clamouring for a sea change in November 08 or have they made their feelings known on Iraq?
The number of variables that could end up altering the scope of this election is almost incalculable. A lot can happen in a week so a year is almost a lifetime for these candidates.
The determinants of the election will be defined far closer to November 4th. If the election is dominated by Iraq then I don't see how the Dems can lose but they'd better prepare for the possibility that it won't be and that they might.
They need, more than anything, to show that they can lead, to give the American people a reason to vote *for* them, not just *against* the GOP.
They're not doing a bad job so far but it's gonna be interesting.
Justin,
As usual, your disgust and disdain for the American midwest shines through. Yet as I was reading this morning, my usual nausea did not rise. Instead, I found myself chuckling at how you must be suffering---stranded in midwest Kansas in an ice storm, surrounded by what you surely consider to be backwoods, gun-toting, bible reading, uneducated and unsophisticated red-state citizens (have I left out any of your usual stereotypical labels?). You seem to believe that the importance of the American voting population lies only in DC, Manhattan and California.
And yet----there you are, in the midwest, forced to endure the hospitality of states whom you disdain. The midwest seems to have gained in significance, else why would you be there? Perhaps this visit may display for you the ignorance of your assumptions toward the midwest and its people.
I suggest to anyone that wants to make projections and/or commentary about the state of politics that a course in macroeconomics would help. That way it will become well evident where the source of all motivations for our current state of affairs is.
Please could we hear more about Ron Paul. He is raising big money from large numbers of supporters. He is anti-war, a traditional conservative and has some radical and interesting ideas. Thanks