Perhaps in large part because of the unseemliness of the inordinately early timing of the current presidential campaigns, except maybe that of Fred Thompson, the candidates have already jaded the quadrennial quagmire, exposing themselves too soon and especially by the time things actually get serious to far too much investigation and/or simple viewing/hearing. Everything from the non-debate debates to the silly exercises in especially Iowa and New Hampshire, both states together having a population just half that of New York City, alone, have so trivialized the process as to cheapen it into a media sensation, and nothing more.
This means that the candidates have trivialized both the office and themselves…in both parties, although the democrat hopefuls seem the most incompetent/opportunistic/ambitious/whatever. Senator Clinton (though not even a member of the Foreign Relations Committee) hit the nadir of campaigning the other day during the Petraeus/Crocker hearing when she looked the general in the eye and called him a liar. One can only wonder what she was thinking, never mind that she is a darling of MoveOn.org, the far-left loony organization that placed the "General Betray-Us" garbage in the New York Times. She might have thought her strategy of standing up to a general made her look strong, but it made her look like a dummy, and a lot of folks, especially men, will remember what appeared to be a brassy broad.
The senator rolled out her health plan in (where else) Iowa on 17 September. One is reminded of the frenetic conduct of her and Ira Magaziner, her partner in crime, putting together the failed health plan that helped deep-six the administration of her husband soon after he took office 14 years ago. Adhering to her insistence as recorded in her book It Takes a Village, the plan was simply socialized medicine, something people see in Canada and Europe, rejecting it out of hand. Her "new" plan is already under intense fire from the other wannabes.
Senator Biden has been running ever since 1987, gradually (or hopefully) overcoming the plagiarism he employed in his speech-making back in 1988. So how does one explain his reaction the other day when he stated to Slate that he agreed with Clinton that General Petraeus is a liar? Instead of sticking someone else's speech in his mouth, he simply put his foot there this time. This was his endorsement of the loony-left.
Senator Dodd comes across as glib, ready at a moment's notice to mouth a well-rehearsed speech, rapidly ticking off the points as if from a computer chip in his brain. It seems never to occur to any of the wannabes that they've been making prognostications so far in advance of actual on-the-ground conditions by next summer that they can look silly as loons by that time, no matter if about Iraq, the economy, or anything else.
Barack Obama reminds one of a gangling high school sophomore, working on his "line" with the girls. He seems to think that people believe him when he says that while he was an Illinois legislator he was against the war. People are not so dumb that they don't know he had no vote in the matter, and not so gullible as to believe that he, with the same information as those in Congress, might have voted right along with Clinton and John Edwards in favor of the fight. In any case, he's on the record as saying the lives of GIs killed in action were wasted. How incredibly dumb! How could anyone believe someone that off-the-wall could actually be president?
Both Clinton and Edwards have been back-pedaling for campaign purposes, but actually make themselves look like John Kerry did in 2004…being for the war before they were against it. Edwards has sent his wife out to make statements he can't make, as well as campaign for him when she isn't well…and he should be ashamed. Obama has done the same, and his wife just comes off as shrill, lately informing the public that their daughters jump in bed with just her (Barack too stinky) and talk about such things as periods. Egad! These women need to go back to work.
For comic relief, there are Congressman Kucinich and former senator Mike Gravel. Kucinich seems to see things as terribly simple. For instance, he insists that funding for the Iraqi War should be stopped, thus effecting an immediate pullout of all troops, the devil take the hindmost…sort of like that last helicopter leaving Vietnam…and then all the carnage, boat people, etc. He says diplomacy is the answer but hasn't explained how one parleys with an enemy with a stated objective of killing him. He's a "Make love, not war" guy, and has a wife 31 years his junior. H-m-m-m.
Gravel's main claim to fame currently is his ability to roar at the other wannabes and exclaim upon their poor judgment and apparently whatever else he thinks is wrong with them. Formerly, his main claim to fame was the illegal release of the Pentagon Papers, secret material at the time. The Supreme Court gave him a comeuppance, so, naturally, he's presidential timber. He's the only democrat with actual military experience, though it took place over 50 years ago. He thinks the war is wrong but doesn't mention that U.S. troops have been in the war area of his duty since 1950, and that South Korea exists only because of them, more than 30,000 presently.
This is from Governor Richardson's Web site currently: Bill Richardson has a strong plan to end this war, bring ALL the troops home and start reconciliation in Iraq. But Congress must act now: de-authorize this war before the summer break. Congress didn't do that, and Richardson would do well to bring his page up to date. The Constitution doesn't give Congress the right to conduct war, but this is the simple solution that puts Richardson in the same camp as Kucinich…nuff said.
And so it goes.
Jim Clark
No comments:
Post a Comment