DEM Primaries/Candidates thread

[Texsox]

The "conservatives" want a true conservative candidate, who also has name power. No one outside of a select few really gives two craps about the guys in the race now. The two guys leading the race are both guys who are way to centric to satisfy that wing of the party. Thompson gives them name recognition and a record to go with it. Personally I do think you are reading too far into that statement to make it into something else convient. All of the candidates seem to be trying to corner the "one with God" thing. Its rather annoying actually, as if you know anything about Christianity, you aren't supposed to be doing things for recognition, it is supposed to be between you and God.

 

If religion is a system of beliefs, isn't it important to know what those are for a candidate?

[YASNY]

If religion is a system of beliefs, isn't it important to know what those are for a candidate?

 

What is between man and God should be between man and God. How a man in a leadership position is going to lead his fellow men is what man (speaking of man in the both genders sense here) should be concerned with.

[YASNY]

Just saying here ... I'm going to have to take a closer look at Chris Dodd.

[NorthSideSox72]

What is between man and God should be between man and God. How a man in a leadership position is going to lead his fellow men is what man (speaking of man in the both genders sense here) should be concerned with.

Well put.

 

[Balta1701]

Obama seems like he's going to wind up pissing off a potentially important constituency here.

A Gospel concert tour that the Barack Obama campaign has organized for this weekend is stirring controversy among some gay activists.

 

Grammy Award-winning gospel artist Donnie McClurkin, who has offended gay rights groups by promoting the view that homosexuality is a choice and that gays can be "cured," is among several gospel singers scheduled to campaign on behalf of Obama in South Carolina. McClurkin is one of the singers featured in the tour's finale on Sunday.

 

McClurkin, who is also a Pentecostal minister, has said he struggled with homosexual "demons" for 20 years--which he attributes to molestation as a child by male relatives--but is now straight.

 

McClurkin's involvement in the tour has stirred a flurry of heated commentary on the web from gay activists and liberal bloggers.

 

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said Monday evening that the campaign has no plans to drop McClurkin from the concert series, though Obama did issue a written statement late Monday distancing himself from McClurkin's views on homosexuality.

 

“I have clearly stated my belief that gays and lesbians are our brothers and sisters and should be provided the respect, dignity, and rights of all other citizens. I have consistently spoken directly to African-American religious leaders about the need to overcome the homophobia that persists in some parts our community so that we can confront issues like HIV/AIDS and broaden the reach of equal rights in this country," Obama said in the written statement.

 

"I strongly believe that African Americans and the LGBT community must stand together in the fight for equal rights. And so I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin’s views and will continue to fight for these rights as President of the United States to ensure that America is a country that spreads tolerance instead of division," the statement added.

Awful lot of negative press in the left leaning blogosphere and in the homosexual communities already.

[Rex Kickass]

You know what, the "gay leaders" need to shut up. The singer is a dumb ass, but he's entitled to his views.

 

Obama has never been strong on gay rights. He just isn't. Neither is Hillary either. But they are better for the community than the GOP alternative, so who cares if Obama has a gospel singer perform who thinks homosexuality is a choice? Nobody really. Just people wanting to outrage for the sake of outrage.

[kapkomet]

You know what, the "gay leaders" need to shut up. The singer is a dumb ass, but he's entitled to his views.

 

Obama has never been strong on gay rights. He just isn't. Neither is Hillary either. But they are better for the community than the GOP alternative, so who cares if Obama has a gospel singer perform who thinks homosexuality is a choice? Nobody really. Just people wanting to outrage for the sake of outrage.

OUTRAGEOUS!

 

I agree.

 

[BigSqwert]

Romney mixes up Obama, Osama

 

Mitt Romney is causing a stir by mixing up most-wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in an apparent slip of the tongue today.

 

Campaigning in South Carolina, Romney was criticizing Democrats on foreign policy when he said, according to the Associated Press:

 

"Actually, just look at what Osam -- Barack Obama -- said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. ... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland. Their idea for jihad is to retreat, and their idea for the economy is to also retreat. And in my view, both efforts are wrongheaded."

 

Romney apparently was referring to an audiotape broadcast Monday of a man purported to be bin Laden called for insurgents in Iraq to unite.

 

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said later: "Governor Romney simply misspoke. He was referring to the recently released audiotape of Osama bin Laden and misspoke when referencing his name. It was just a brief mix-up."

 

But an Obama spokesman issued a sharp response: "Apparently, Mitt Romney can switch names just as casually as he switches positions, but what's wrongheaded is continuing a misguided war in Iraq that has left America less safe. It's time to end the divisiveness and fear-mongering that is at the heart of Governor Romney's campaign."

 

[Rex Kickass]

Misspoke my ass.

[mr_genius]

Misspoke my ass.

 

 

I think the Senate Dems need to send Mitt Romney a signed letter showing their disapproval. that would teach him.

[NorthSideSox72]

Misspoke my ass.

Stupid tactic, if it was intentional. What is accomplished? Fire up the Christian base? Already going to happen or not happen regardless. Romney isn't going to draw many Dem votes. That leaves the middle of the pack, and I'm guessing they aren't likely to start thinking that Obama is related to Osama.

 

[Balta1701]

As Senator Barack Obama prepared to give a major speech on Iraq one morning a few weeks ago, a flashing red-siren alert went up on the Drudge Report Web site. It read, “Queen of the Quarter: Hillary Crushes Obama in Surprise Fund-Raising Surge,” and, “$27 Million, Sources Tell Drudge Report.”

 

Within minutes, the Drudge site had injected Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fund-raising success into the day’s political news on the Internet and cable television. It did not halt coverage of Mr. Obama’s speech or his criticism of her vote to authorize the war in 2002, but along the front lines of the campaign — the hourly, intensely fought effort to capture the news cycle or deny ownership of it to the other side — it was a telling assault.

 

Mrs. Clinton’s aides declined to discuss how the Drudge Report got access to her latest fund-raising figures nearly 20 minutes before the official announcement went to supporters. But it was a prime example of a development that has surprised much of the political world: Mrs. Clinton is learning to play nice with the Drudge Report and the powerful, elusive and conservative-leaning man behind it.

 

That man, Matt Drudge, came to national prominence a decade ago as a nemesis of the Clintons who used the Web to peddle, gleefully, the latest news and rumor generated by the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

 

That people in Mrs. Clinton’s campaign orbit would tip off the Drudge Report to its fund-raising numbers is in part a reflection of her pragmatic approach to dealing with potential enemies, like Newt Gingrich or Rupert Murdoch. But it also speaks to the enduring power of the Drudge Report, which mixes original reporting with links to newspaper, Internet or television reports far and wide.

NYT Full article

[mr_genius]

Kucinich sees UFO

 

i guess the UFO even smelled like roses

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/10/..._book_clai.html

 

The smell of roses drew him out to my balcony where, when he looked up, he saw a gigantic triangular craft, silent, and observing him. It hovered, soundless, for ten minutes or so, and sped away with a speed he couldn't comprehend.

Edited October 24, 2007 by mr_genius

[Rex Kickass]

Stupid tactic, if it was intentional. What is accomplished? Fire up the Christian base? Already going to happen or not happen regardless. Romney isn't going to draw many Dem votes. That leaves the middle of the pack, and I'm guessing they aren't likely to start thinking that Obama is related to Osama.

 

If you misspeak, you accidentally call Osama, Obama. When you continue with another sentence about what the Democrats want to do when you're talking about what Bin Laden said, it's not misspeaking. Romney is running for the nomination, not for President right now. This helps him.

[NorthSideSox72]

If you misspeak, you accidentally call Osama, Obama. When you continue with another sentence about what the Democrats want to do when you're talking about what Bin Laden said, it's not misspeaking. Romney is running for the nomination, not for President right now. This helps him.

I guess I think that sort of thing helps Giulaini or McCain (who are trying to prove their conservative credentials) more than it does Romney or Thompson (who are looked at that way anyway).

 

Then again, Romney has been flip-flopping pretty wildly, so maybe he does indeed need to solidify that a bit. I think I'll retract my statement.

 

[EvilMonkey]

If you misspeak, you accidentally call Osama, Obama. When you continue with another sentence about what the Democrats want to do when you're talking about what Bin Laden said, it's not misspeaking. Romney is running for the nomination, not for President right now. This helps him.

Teddy did it, and got laughs.

[southsider2k5]

John Edwards has said he would have no problem negotiating with Iran, but he won't go over and meet his neighbor, because his wife is afraid of him, and refuses to be "nice" to him.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/20...htm?POE=NEWISVA

 

 

Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards, autographs posters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She has said she's afraid of her neighbor who brandishes a gun.

 

Elizabeth Edwards says she is scared of the "rabid, rabid Republican" who owns property across the street from her Orange County home — and she doesn't want her kids going near the gun-toting neighbor.

 

Edwards, the wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, particularly recalls the time neighbor Monty Johnson brought out a gun while chasing workers investigating a right of way off his property. The Edwards family has yet to meet Johnson in person.

 

"I wouldn't be nice to him anyway," Edwards said in an interview. "I don't want my kids anywhere near some guy who when he doesn't like somebody, the first thing he does is pull a gun out. It scares the business out of me."

 

But Johnson defended the occasion he brandished a gun, saying those on his land didn't have the proper approval.

 

"I use the gun for protection, and I considered that an appropriate time," Johnson said. "Sometimes you have to take drastic measures."

 

Edwards views Johnson as a "rabid, rabid Republican" who refuses to clean up his "slummy" property just to spite her family, whose lavish 28,000-square-foot estate is nearby on 102 wooded acres.

 

Johnson, 55, acknowledges his Republican roots. But he takes offense to the suggestion he has purposefully left his property, including an old garage that he leases for use as a car shop, in dilapidated condition.

 

Johnson said he has lived his entire life on the property, which he said his family purchased before the Great Depression. He said he's spent a lot of money to try and fix up the 42-acre tract.

 

"I have to budget. I have to leave within my means," Johnson said. "I don't have millions of dollars to fix the place."

 

Johnson, who has posted a "Go Rudy Giuliani 2008" sign on a fence just 100 feet from the entrance to the Edwards' driveway, has criticized Edwards for the scale of their nearby home. The property and home, which includes an indoor basketball court, an indoor handball court and an indoor pool, is valued at $5.3 million.

 

The Edwardses are still putting the final touches on the property, which they purchased in 2003.

 

"I thought he was supposed to be for the poor people," Johnson said. "But does he ever socialize with any poor people? He doesn't speak to me."

 

Johnson said he has put his property on the market, in part blaming the high property taxes for his decision to leave. He also wants to move for another reason.

 

"I don't want to live somewhere where someone's always complaining about me," he said.

 

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

 

[kapkomet]

Nice. "I thought he was supposed to be for the poor people but does he ever socialize with any poor people? He doesn't speak to me."

 

This guy is the biggest fake in the field.

[Texsox]

Nice. "I thought he was supposed to be for the poor people but does he ever socialize with any poor people? He doesn't speak to me."

 

This guy is the biggest fake in the field.

 

Kap, would you go over and chat with him? GMAB and take off the partisan glasses. Plus did you notice most of the quotes were from his wife? Would you send your wife and daughter over to the crazy gun toting neighbor who chases people away from his fence? There are better things to criticize him over.

[kapkomet]

Kap, would you go over and chat with him? GMAB and take off the partisan glasses. Plus did you notice most of the quotes were from his wife? Would you send your wife and daughter over to the crazy gun toting neighbor who chases people away from his fence? There are better things to criticize him over.

Yea, because I'm sure he's some nutjob wacked out Republican and all. GMAB. Edwards is a class pig. Period.

 

[BigSqwert]

Yea, because I'm sure he's some nutjob wacked out Republican and all. GMAB. Edwards is a class pig. Period.

I just don't get the complete hatred you have for him. I'm by no means a fan of his but you make him out to be the worst human being on Earth.

[YASNY]

I just don't get the complete hatred you have for him. I'm by no means a fan of his but you make him out to be the worst human being on Earth.

 

Mr. Irrelevent in actuality.

[southsider2k5]

Yea, because I'm sure he's some nutjob wacked out Republican and all. GMAB. Edwards is a class pig. Period.

 

Well you already have the "rabid republician" part down, if you got a gun, he wouldn't talk to you anyway.

[Texsox]

Yea, because I'm sure he's some nutjob wacked out Republican and all. GMAB. Edwards is a class pig. Period.

 

Because his wife doesn't like the neighbor? Wow. It seems of all the candidates he's the only one that puts his pocketbook where his mouth is. I believe he really has tried to help the poor. But to believe he must go over and hug any poor person is crazy. But your standards are your standards.

[kapkomet]

I just don't get the complete hatred you have for him. I'm by no means a fan of his but you make him out to be the worst human being on Earth.

Because he is the biggest hypocrite of hypocrites (in both parties) in the presidential field. And I can't stand that trait.