Bent Corner

From the AP:

Bowing to President Bush’s demands, the Senate approved and sent the White House a bill Wednesday to overhaul bitterly disputed rules on secret government eavesdropping and shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits complaining they helped the U.S. spy on Americans.

The relatively one-sided vote, 69-28, came only after a lengthy and heated debate that pitted privacy and civil liberties concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks. It ended almost a year of wrangling over surveillance rules and the president’s warrantless wiretapping program that was initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The House passed the same bill last month, and Bush said he would sign it soon.

Barack Obama was one of the many Democratic Senators to bow to Bush’s demands. Hillary Clinton was not. She voted “Nay“.

Remember Ron Paul? Back when the House voted on the matter, Ron Paul was no where to be found. He didn’t vote.

Now that Hillary Clinton has ended her presidential bid and endorsed Barack Obama, I’m wondering why I am supposed to now change my mind about him. I came to the conclusion a while back that he would make a really poor choice for President. Having Hillary Clinton now drop out of the race doesn’t change that.

It wasn’t a decision I came to lightly. It wasn’t a decision I enjoyed making. On February 12, I voted for Barack Obama in the Maryland primary. I felt good about doing it. I had never felt that good about voting for a candidate. Truth be known, I usually vote against someone instead of voting for someone. For example, in 2004 I was voted against George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. I did this by voting for John Kerry and John Edwards. I was holding my nose when I voted for these two men to be President and Vice President. Continue Reading »

If you were watching the mainstream news media tonight, you would have thought Hillary Clinton placed the bloody head of a dead race horse in Barack Obama’s bed. Continue Reading »

Many of my fellow Democrats are in a tizzy over something President Bush said to the Israeli parliament. From the BBC:

“Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals,” said Mr Bush in his speech.

“We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is - the false comfort of appeasement.”

Why is everyone — including Barack Obama — assuming that Bush was referring to Obama?

When I first heard about the comment, I assumed Bush was referring to Jimmy Carter, not Barack Obama. Jimmy Carter is the one who recently met with leaders of Hamas, a terrorist organization dedicated to the destruction of Israel.

Funny that nobody thought he was referring to Hillary Clinton. Then again, she made is quite clear what her response would if she was president if and when Iran were to ever launch a nuclear attack against Israel.

Now that I think about it, many of my fellow Democrats got in a tizzy over that too. Go figure.

The numbers from yesterday’s West Virgina primary are in and Hillary beat Barack by 41 points. Haven’t these people heard that Tim Russert already declared Barack Obama the Democratic nominee?

We of course don’t really have a Democratic nominee yet. Neither candidate has the required 2,025 delegates needed for the nomination. There are still 5 primaries left to go. There are still a good many people left who haven’t voted yet.

The only thing clear at this point is that neither Hillary or Barack will have the required 2,025 delegates when the remaining primaries are completed. That means the superdelegates — not Tim Russert — at the Democratic National Convention will be deciding which one of these two candidates will be the Democratic nominee.

It’s important to stress the point that these superdelegates wont be deciding till the convention. It doesn’t who they favor now, next week, next month, or even three days before the convention. The only thing that matters is how they will actually vote in August. From Talk Left:

Superdelegates can make up their mind any time before the convention. They can switch, as many have done, from one candidate to another.

My only hope is that in August, these superdelegates look at both candidates and decide which one of the two is truly the most electable. In my opinion, it wont be the one that lost West Virgina by 41 points.

llen R. Malcolm writes over on the Washington Post:

Why on earth should one candidate quit before the contest is finished? Democrats need not be so fainthearted. Both of the party’s remaining candidates have raised tens of millions of dollars. Both have the respect of Democrats nationwide. Each has a progressive agenda that stands in stark contrast to Sen. John McCain and his adherence to Bush administration policies.

Yeah, what she said.

I get irritated listening to the rhetoric coming from Obama supports and/or the mainstream news media calling for Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race. I’m not a big fan of quitters. I never have been. What’s the harm in Hillary staying in the race while there are still a few remaining primaries left?

I realize Barack Obama has a lot more money. I realize Barack Obama has a lot more support in the mainstream news media. I realize Barack Obama has the support of the entrenched, inside the beltway Democratic power base, men like Kennedy and Kerry. I also realize Barack Obama has a slight advantage in the number of pledged delegates — 1,592 to Hillary’s 1,424 — along with a slight lead in the popular vote.

Pledged delegates are not going to decide this race. It’s mathematically impossible for either candidate — Obama or Hillary — to pick up enough pledged delegates in the remaining primaries to reach the magic number of 2,025. Even if Hillary quits and lets Obama run unapposed in the remaining contests, he still can’t reach 2,025.

So why the pressure on Hillary to quit?

I think it’s because Obama supporters and/or the mainstream news media don’t want her to take back her lead in the popular vote. That’s something she has a very good chance of doing after West Virgina and Kentucky hold their primaries. Recent polls in West Virgina show Hillary with over a 40 point advantage.

Eight years ago when the Presidential election was finally over and Gore won the popular vote, but lost the electoral college vote to Bush, many of my fellow Democrats were quite perturbed at the situation and rightfully so. Though technically it was correct and legal to pick the president by counting the electoral college votes, many felt it went against the spirit of a true democracy to choose a president in a way other then by a popular vote. The idea was that the President should be chosen by whoever gets the most votes.

I think many Obama supports and/or the mainstream news media fear a Democratic Convention in August where Obama has a slight lead in the pledged delegate count while Hillary has a slight lead in the popular vote. It would put the superdelegates in the uncomfortable situation of following the will of party leadership and selecting Barack Obama as the 2008 Democratic nominee while shunning the candidate with the most overall votes.

If that mean lady would just quit and let that man run unopposed, it would make their job a lot easier.

Presidential hopefuls John McCain and Hillary Clinton want to suspend the 18 cents a gallon Federal tax on gasoline - only for the Summer.  Barack Obama wants to leave things the way they are.  He thinks lowering the price might actually increase demand which would cause prices to go up.  Something like that.

They should suspend the Federal gas tax.  Not only for the Summer, but forever.

Why are they taxing gasoline?  We buy gasoline not because it is some sort of luxury item that we reward ourselves with, but it is something we need to get us from one place to another.  For better or worse, it is the fuel that we need to be productive citizens.  The government shouldn’t be taxing the gas we buy, they should be taxing the income we earn.  That’s something they already do.

I buy gas to put in my car so I can drive to work each day.  If I didn’t have to buy gas, I would happily spend my money on something else.

Instead of arguing over whether or not the Federal gas tax should be suspended for the Summer, they ought to be discussing why gas was ever taxed in the first place.

Things aren’t looking so hot for Barack Obama. A new poll just released by the AP shows that Hillary Clinton would do much better then Obama against McCain:

Hillary Rodham Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument that she is more electable than Democratic rival Barack Obama.

Obama and Republican McCain are running about even.

I think Obama’s poll numbers will only get worse. It doesn’t appear that Obama’s bigoted spiritual adviser is going to shut up any time soon. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright spoke at the National Press Club this morning and he had a lot to say. From Eric Pianin at the Washington Post:

Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his view that the government created the AIDS virus to cause the genocide of racial minorities, stood by other past remarks (”God damn America”) and held himself out as a spokesman for the black church in America.

Why won’t Wright just shut up? Why can’t the man just stay quiet till after November? Will his ego not allow it?

Everyone knows that Barack Obama is a transformational figure. Everyone knows that Barack Obama has an overwhelming money advantage. Everyone knows that Barack Obama has the admiration and support of the Democratic establishment. Everyone knows that Barack Obama is Powered by Hope™.

With all these advantages, why can’t Barack Obama win?

Because Hillary Clinton wont let him. It’s all Hillary’s fault. Hillary Clinton has been very mean to Barack Obama and she continues to be very mean. Right now at this very moment, Hillary Clinton is in Indiana asking Democratic voters to vote for her on May 6. What she conveniently fails to mention to these Indiana Democrats is that if they do what she asks, they wont be allowed to vote for Barack Obama on May 6.

Election laws only allow voters to vote for one of the presidential candidates on May 6.

She’s pulled this dirty trick before. It’s right out of the Clinton dirty play book. It’s not fair and it’s mean.

Why can’t Hillary Clinton be more like Alan Keyes? When Barack Obama ran for the Senate in 2004, Republican Allan Keyes ran against him. Keyes ran a much more subdued campaign against Obama. He didn’t make things so difficult for Obama.

He wasn’t tough on Obama like Hillary has been.

If Hillary would simply drop out and let Obama win, he could concentrate on running against John McCain. John McCain is a Republican like Allan Keyes. Because of this, we know he won’t be mean to Barack Obama like Hillary Clinton has been. He will be more like Allan Keyes. With Hillary finally out of the picture, Obama wont have to answer any more tough questions about his positions or his judgment. The scrutiny by the national mainstream news media will finally stop.

Let the Obama win.

One of the hardest things concerning the Democratic primaries is cutting through all the hyperbole. So much of what is said in the mainstream news media just doesn’t make sense. Case in point, from ABC News:

While the superdelegates might end the stalemate by picking a nominee, their involvement might also alienate and anger half of the party’s members.

“They both need the superdelegates, she just needs almost all of them,” said James A. Thurber, director of the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies at American University.

Hillary Clinton needs almost all of the superdelegates to win the nomination? Really? I guess it depends on what the word “almost“ really means.

To receive the Democratic nomination, a candidate must collect a total of 2,025 delegates. The one to reach that number wins the nomination. The total delegate count as of today is as following:

• Barack Obama - 1,491
• Hillary Clinton - 1,333

Out of the remaining states and territories, there are still 393 delegates up for grabs:

• Guam (4)
• Indiana (72)
• North Carolina (115)
• West Virginia (28)
• Kentucky (51)
• Oregon (52)
• Montana (16)
• South Dakota (15)
• Puerto Rico (55)

Obama could go on and win every delegate in every remaining state and territory and still not get enough delegates to reach 2,025.

The truth is both candidates will get a portion of the 393 remaining delegates up for grabs. One will get more then the other, but probably not much more. Both candidates — Hillary and Obama — will need a portion of the 795 superdelegates to get the nomination.

Neither Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama will need almost all of the superdelegates. That’s just silly.