Labels: 2008, primaries

Arctic temperatures and ice-covered sidewalks certainly did not keep people from the polls yesterday — they came in masses, said College Democrats Chair Oliver Kiefer.

“I’m pretty sure my whole floor has come through,” said Witte Hall resident Abrianna Barca, a UW freshman and member of the College Democrats.

Barca was stationed at the Gordon Commons polling place as a poll watcher. Sitting next to the voter registration tables, Barca said she was there to make sure every student was able to vote and if one was turned away to figure out why. Her presence had nothing to do with supporting Democrats, she said.

“It is so important for students to vote because we are coming into the age where politics will really affect our lives,” she added.

The College Democrats stationed poll watchers at every ward around the city where students vote.

Labels: 2008, Badger Herald

Labels: 2008, primaries

Labels: 2008, primaries

Labels: 2008, demographics, polls, primaries

Chelsea Clinton's appearance, meanwhile, was a prelude to at least two more events focused on campus voters, including an appearance by Sen. Clinton herself on Monday and an event featuring former President Bill Clinton Thursday.

Labels: 2008

Former President Bill Clinton will campaign in Madison on Thursday for his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president, the campaign announced today.
No further details were available.
Bill Clinton will also campaign in Milwaukee and La Crosse.
Hillary Clinton of New York hasn't announced a visit to Madison, but her daughter, Chelsea Clinton, told a crowd at UW-Madison this week that her mother would be in Madison prior to Wisconsin's Feb. 19 primary.
Hillary Clinton's primary opponent, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, is due to appear at a rally at Madison's Kohl Center at 8 p.m. tonight.

Labels: 2008

Labels: 2008

Yes, sexism still exists.

THE woman in question became a lawyer after some years as a community organizer, married a corporate lawyer and is the mother of two little girls, ages 9 and 6. Herself the daughter of a white American mother and a black African father — in this race-conscious country, she is considered black — she served as a state legislator for eight years, and became an inspirational voice for national unity.

Be honest: Do you think this is the biography of someone who could be elected to the United States Senate? After less than one term there, do you believe she could be a viable candidate to head the most powerful nation on earth?

But what worries me is that he is seen as unifying by his race while she is seen as divisive by her sex.

What worries me is that she is accused of “playing the gender card” when citing the old boys’ club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations.

Yes, sexism still exists.

Take MSNBC correspondent David Shuster, for example. He asked last week, "Doesn't it seem as if Chelsea is sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" Pimped out? So campaigning for someone is now called "pimped out?" Yes, I get it, she's making calls to superdelegates. But my question is, if Oprah Winfrey - or Michelle Obama - were to make calls to superdelegates on behalf of Senator Obama, would Shuster dare say that Oprah was "being pimped out?" And no one is saying Bill Clinton is getting "pimped out" (though he arguably is).

Yes, sexism still exists.

Let's not forget -- and I'll be brutal -- the reason she's a U.S. senator, the reason she's a candidate for president, the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around. That's how she got to be senator from New York. We keep forgetting it. She didn't win there on her merit. She won because everybody felt, "My God, this woman stood up under humiliation," right? That's what happened.

Yes, sexism still exists.

Now, I like MSNBC, and I generally enjoy the commentary of Keith Olbermann and the Obama-loving Chris Matthews et al. But MSNBC is not the only station or news outlet and David Shuster and Chris Matthews are not the only journalists or voices to use these kinds of comments that demean gender during this race.

News organizations often publish photos of Hillary Clinton...that make her look crazy, while pictures of Barack Obama...portray him as cool and reflective.
...
Typically, Hillary looks like a crazy person, her mouth agape, her eyes as bug-eyed as the runaway bride’s. Meanwhile, Barack Obama typically looks cool, calm, collected - or, better yet, pensive and reflective.

In monarchies, women who rose to the top dealt mostly with a narrow elite, so they could prove themselves and get on with governing. But in democracies in the television age, female leaders also have to navigate public prejudices — and these make democratic politics far more challenging for a woman than for a man.

...

“It’s an uphill struggle, to be judged both a good woman and a good leader,” said Rosabeth Moss Kanter, a Harvard Business School professor who is an expert on women in leadership. Professor Kanter added that a pioneer in a man’s world, like Hillary Rodham Clinton, also faces scrutiny on many more dimensions than a man — witness the public debate about Mrs. Clinton’s allegedly “thick ankles,” or the headlines last year about cleavage.

Yes, sexism still exists.

Labels: 2008, women

DENVER - Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters'sympathies but never diverted his campaign, The Associated Press has learned.

Labels: 2008

Take, for example, John McCain’s admission that economics isn’t his thing. “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” he says. “I’ve got Greenspan’s book.”

...

Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani wants us to go for broke, literally: his answer to the economy’s short-run problems is a huge permanent tax cut, which he claims would pay for itself. It wouldn’t.

About Mike Huckabee — well, what can you say about a candidate who talks populist while proposing to raise taxes on the middle class and cut them for the rich?

...

But Mr. Romney, who really needs to take chances at this point, apparently can’t break the habit of telling Republicans only what he thinks they want to hear. He’s still offering nothing but standard-issue G.O.P. pablum about low taxes and a pro-business environment.

On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party’s policy agenda. He’s done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures.

Last week Hillary Clinton offered a broadly similar but somewhat larger proposal. (It also includes aid to families having trouble paying heating bills, which seems like a clever way to put cash in the hands of people likely to spend it.) The Edwards and Clinton proposals both contain provisions for bigger stimulus if the economy worsens.

...

Anyway, on Sunday Mr. Obama came out with a real stimulus plan. As was the case with his health care plan, which fell short of universal coverage, his stimulus proposal is similar to those of the other Democratic candidates, but tilted to the right.

For example, the Obama plan appears to contain none of the alternative energy initiatives that are in both the Edwards and Clinton proposals, and emphasizes across-the-board tax cuts over both aid to the hardest-hit families and help for state and local governments. I know that Mr. Obama’s supporters hate to hear this, but he really is less progressive than his rivals on matters of domestic policy.

...

Labels: 2008, economy

Mike Huckabee, thee Republican former governor of Arkansas, said he had “lowered taxes.” While he did lower some taxes as governor, he raised others — with the net effect that tax increases outweighed tax cuts by some $500 million, as he seemed to acknowledge when pressed by Mr. Romney.

...

In the Republican debate on Saturday, Mr. Romney made a claim against Mr. McCain during a heated back-and-forth on immigration, saying: “I don’t describe your plan as amnesty in my ad. I don’t call it amnesty.” But Mr. Romney has run television and Internet commercials and has sent mailings describing Mr. McCain’s immigration proposal as just that: amnesty.

He said in a television interview Sunday morning that he had not seen the advertisements. “I was simply incorrect,” Mr. Romney said on “This Week with George Stephanopolous on ABC.

Labels: 2008, debate

• America is the greatest country in the world. Our military is the strongest in the world. Islamo-fascism will kill us all. America! Fuck yeah! God Bless the USA.
  (I could stop here, and that would have effectively summarized the whole Republican debate...)
• Ron Paul is there! I feel sorry for Rep. Kucinich that he wasn't invited to the Democratic debate but this newcomer and fellow renegade got himself invited to the Republican debate. I guess winning the MySpace primary really did mean something for Paul.
• The question of "running on or running away from" Bush foreign policy.
• Rumsfeld gets a beating from all sides (Huckabee: don't let the politicians make the decisions).
• Radical Islam, Islamic jihad, and Islamo-fascism are buzzwords that are meant to strike fear (and hatred) in the hearts of the voters - and after repeating them enough like the candidates did tonight, the message does get through
• Giuliani: the Patriot Act and electronic surveillance is "very, very good" AND we should increase the size of the military immediately (smell that? ah the draft cards are burning)
• Some embrace the Bush Doctrine of pre-emption. Romney defends him, and McCain gives him credit for his oh-so-great leadership.
• McCain: "America is not safe, America is safer."
  
• Ron Paul: They "don't attack us because we're free and prosperous" but because we invade their country. I was surprised that the other candidates laughed at this and so vehemently opposed this reasoning.
• Fred Thompson: "We should only go in where we should and where we are able to." Uhhhh thanks for that brilliant insight. You really cleared up things for me.
• Huckabee (the candidate that has openly distanced himself from President Bush): He supports the President but his [Bush's] policy has problems. Then, Gov. Huckabee, do you support him because golly gee he's a nice guy?
• Huckabee: "I'm not running for George Bush's third term."
• Romney and Huckabee try to one up each other on the history lesson about Sayyid Qatb by pulling random dates out of their heads. Ok, so you're smarter than the current President. Congratulations.
• Asked about the constancy of their principles:
  
• McCain: I am a veteran.
• Romney: Family values. America is great. At the "heart of our strength is the family." Moms and dads (but don't even think about two mommies or two daddies!).
• Giuliani: Ronald Reagan. I laid out my 12 commitments. End illegal immigration. Appoint strict constructionist judges.
• [Charlie Gibson, the moderater, goes around and points out how each of them has waffled on issues...except Paul who just switched parties]
• Giuliani: But wait! Ronald Reagan!
• Huckabee: "...the simple answer for me is all the way back to the document that gave us birth. And it goes like this: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that we are endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, these being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That we are created equal." Really, Mike? Is that how the Declaration goes? Maybe you haven't distanced yourself from our current President enough...
• Thompson tries to one-up Huckabee with a lesson on the 9th and 10th Amendments. Really, guys, if you invested in our public schools a bit we wouldn't need you teaching us civics on TV.
• Healthcare - why can't we afford insurance for everybody?
• Private insurance is good, socialized medicine is bad.
  
• McCain: "problem isn't quality - it's inflation."
• Romney stands by his Massachusetts plan.
• Paul: don't print any more money!
  
• Thompson: never going to achieve total coverage
• Romney likes mandates...but only his kind
• Giuliani: Health Savings Accounts
• McCain attacks Big Pharma (and wants reimportation of drugs from Canada)
• Romney defends Big Pharma
• Illegal immigration
• We like legals, we swear we do.
• McCain: "God's children" and we need biometric documents to keep track of everyone
• How many times can you mention that you are painting this as a national security issue?
• Romney: id card of some sort
• Giuliani: Build a fence, build a technological fence. Tamperproof ID card. We "can't throw out 12 million people" so focus on those who have committed crimes.
• Y'all have to read and write and speak English good now, ya hear?
• Romney: get in line -- outside the country
• Giuliani: Ronald Reagan!
• Thompson defines amnesty as being rewarded for your illegal behavior in any way and advocates "enforcement by attrition."
• Huckabee: The "government didn't escort them over the border in the first place, so the government doesn't have to take them back."
• Paul: The tamperproof ID opens the door for a national ID card - bad idea.
• What don't you like about Barack Obama?
• Change is good, and Obama is an inspiring figure (they all agree on that).
• Romney: Washington is broken. I've lived the change.
  
• Thompson: He's adopted the position of every major liberal interest group (painting Obama as extreme left-wing).
• McCain: Dealing with radical Islamic extremists requires "a lot of knowledge, a lot of experience, and a lot of background."
• Giuliani: Obama wants a "precipitous withdrawal in Iraq."
• Huckabee: Welllll, the 2nd Amendment, sanctity of life, same-sex marriage
• Paul: Young people like us. But I don't like his welfare state. And c'mon, Obama's not going to talk about getting rid of the income tax. But I will! Free markets!
• Gas prices are high. Duh.
• Paul: Gold standard would have fixed everything.
• McCain: Alternative energy good, greenhouse gas bad.
• Thompson: Cleaner coal and tap into the oil reserves in the US (aka ANWR).
• Giuliani: We need to think about "energy independence on the scale of putting a man on the moon."
• Huckabee: It is possible to achieve energy independence in 10 years.
• Romney: No, it's not. But it's possible to be "on track" to get there. This is our "highest domestic economic priority."

• Nuclear terrorism/Osama bin Laden/national security
• Obama: We should go into western Pakistan without the agreement of the Pakistani government if necessary. Al Qaeda is stronger now than it has been at any point since 2001.
• Edwards: Go get Osama. We need to deal with nuclear nonproliferation in the long term. Musharraf is a radical, and we need to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
• Richardson: Diplomacy comes first in any foreign policy situation. We would ask Musharraf to step aside using "leverage" and a "high-level envoy." We act when we have real and actionable intelligence and the leader aka Musharraf is incapable.
• Clinton: We need more NATO troops training the Afghan army. We have to be careful not to inflame the Pakistan/India conflict. Musharraf must share the security responsibility of the nukes. This is the "forgotten front line of the war on terrorism."
• What if a nuclear weapon hits a US city?
• Edwards: Find out who's responsible and go after them. And stop them. But we must be strong and calm.
• Obama: This is our most significant foreign policy issue. We must rebuild the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
• Clinton: "There is no safe haven" for "state-less terrorists."
• Richardson: "Transnational challenges requires international cooperation."
• Concept of change.
• Clinton: We're all advocating for change.
• Edwards: Obama and I are "powerful voices for change." The "forces of status quo" are attacking us.
• Clinton: "Making change is not about what you believe; it's about results." "I'm running on 35 years of change."
• Richardson: I've been in "hostage negotiations that are a lot more civil than this." "Is experience kinda a leper?"
• Edwards: We have to "fight for the future of the middle class." Costco and AT&T are good corporations.
• Obama: The "American Dream is slipping away."
• Has the surge in Iraq worked?
• Clinton: It was designed to create time for the Iraqi government to fix itself, but there has been "no political action. They're not willing to do what they need to do."
• Richardson: There is "no military solution." There is "only a political solution."
• Obama: "Two years later, we're back where we started two years ago." We must be "as careful getting out as we were careless getting in."
• Edwards: The President must consult the uniformed advisors.
• Richardson: As Governor, I'm sick of flying flags at half-mast.
• Likeability.
• Clinton: "Well that hurts my feelings." [being called not really likeable]
• Obama: "You're likeable enough.
• Responding to Republican attack on Obama.
• Obama: I was watching football. But seriously, they'd do that to any Democrat.
• Is relative youth a detriment?
• Richardson. I'm the only one who has balanced a budget. I've lowered taxes, improved education, insured 12 million children. I'm the only one who has negotiated with foreign governments. "Both parties have been failures in dealing with energy policy." We need American people to sacrifice a bit. I'm glad Al Gore stayed out of the race. JFK JFK JFK!
• Edwards: I'm the son of a millworker. I don't take money from lobbyists or special interest PACs. I'll fight for the middle class. I'm the son of a millworker. Health insurance companies killed Natalie Sarkisyan. I'm the son of a millworker. Where is their voice in this democracy?
• Obama: Bet on the American people. They're ready for change. I prohibited lobbyists from buying meals from Congress... but there's something about standing up and sitting down that confuses you, Charlie Gibson.
• Clinton: "Reality break." I'm going to be the buzzkill for this session of warm-fuzzies and talk about how "words are not action" even though they are "beautifully presented and passionately felt." We need to "translate talk into action and feeling into reality."
• Clinton follows the footsteps of Gerald Cox and his favorite word tendentious and pulls out "excoriated" to describe what Edwards and Obama did to the special interests.
• Clinton: Bill Clinton rocked. "Change is hard, but change is possible."
• Edwards: "Entrenched interests are literally stealing our children's future."
• Obama: America is hungry, "hungry for something different." "Yes we can."
• Richardson: "You guys and the President get nothing done" and the burden is on us Governors. I'm sick of Washington bickering - we need bipartisanship.
• Edwards: It is the responsibility of the President to unite. I'm going to "fight FOR the American people" because "I have been in the trenches."
• Global warming and the carbon tax.
• Richardson: Carbon tax is a bad idea because it is not a mandate. Cap-and-trade is the way to go.
• Obama. Cap-and-trade, I agree. We must shield the consumer from the cost, though. Change your lightbulbs and insulate your homes, everybody!
• Clinton: The economy is slipping towards a recession. The energy issue will jumpstart economic efficiency.
• The fate of the Bush tax cuts
• Clinton: The middle class will get the "tax relief they deserve." Don't cut the taxes on the wealthy.
• Edwards: We have to help the homeless veterans and help people find jobs. The "trade and tax policy is bleeding American jobs." I would know - I'm the son of a millworker.
• Obama: We must close tax loopholes and offer specific tax relief immediately. It's a change.
• Richardson: We need a balanced budget and line item veto authority for the President. And I want to talk about education! We must improve schools, pay our teachers better, end NCLB, emphasize the arts, and fund science and math education.
• What do you wish you hadn't said in the debates so far? What would you take back if you could?
• Clinton: We're all great candidates, and the Democrats are in such contrast to the Republicans.
• Richardson: "I was asked who my favorite Supreme Court justice was, and I said, dead or alive? ...I should have stuck to the alive because I then said, "Whizzer" White, because I idolize John F. Kennedy and I figured if he appointed "Whizzer" White, this was a great Supreme Court justice. Well then I find out that "Whizzer" White was against Roe versus Wade, against civil rights. You know, so that's -- that wasn't a good one."
• Edwards: "I made the horrendous mistake of teasing Hillary about her jacket. And I want her to know I think you look terrific tonight."
• Obama: "Here's an area where I agree with Hillary." We need to be "ending the politics of fear."

Labels: 2008, debate, primaries

Labels: 2008

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Labels: 2008, debate, Media, primaries

Labels: 2008