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One of the premises I often read about from various media sources are that some Republicans will vote for Senator McCain because of his support for the Troops and his understanding of military matters. I am a big fan of the show Countdown however due to the time difference I don’t often get to watch it live on MSNBC here in Ireland so I often watch the clips the next day but here is that famous clip of McCain clashing with a Vietnam veteran:

Senator McCain takes credit for the GI Bill in this clip, the one that Senator Obama votes YES for, unlike Senator McCain. This video highlights the pandering nature of Senator McCain, not that Senator Obama is any different but as I have said in previous posts; if you add up all the pandering/flip-flops in the McCain campaign you could probably build a bridge linking Boston to Dublin. Senator Obama on the other hand would probably only make it half-way.

Well, Senator McCain has not made that many flip-flops but last night’s Countdown video made me question Senator McCain’s fitness to be the next President. Don’t get me wrong, I have talked to some fairly older people here in Ireland and in America whose minds are as sharp as when they were 20 years old but I don’t think Senator McCain is one of these older people:

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Republican Riddle

July 12th 2008 13:26

I mentioned yesterday that I have come to a new realization with regards to the state of the media environment within the United States. This realization is that conservatives receive the lions share of content from organizations like ABC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN who are traditionally known as liberal news outlets. This leads me to the question:

Is politics ultimately about power? The ability to retain power within the government for yourself and your political party?

The Republicans/Conservatives seem to have done this on the radio networks according to a report published by the Center for American Progress in 2007. This report is over a year old but given the current FCC push for more deregulation, I doubt the facts of this report have changed. The main fact of the 40 page report is that through an analysis of 257 news/talk programs in the Spring of 2007, it was revealed that 91% of weekday programming is conservative and 9% is progressive:

This report may seem irrelevant because many people may be thinking how many people listen to the radio in the age of the internet? Well according to the report, Americans listened to 19 hours of radio per week on average in 2006. I myself listen to the radio roughly about 7 hours per week in Ireland and about the same when I was in America.

The report attributes these statistics in part to the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine by the FCC in 1987 during the Reagan administration. This repeal was another republican move under the guise of “regulation is bad” to take control of the media that they felt was dominated by liberal content. Secondly the report mentions the deregulation efforts on the part of the FCC recently to allow big networks to snap up all the media outlets they want. This further deregulation has been spearheaded by the current chairman of the FCC appointed by none other than President Bush.

Again the majority of the American public are being screwed by conservatives and the GOP so that we only recieve one side of a story. Any conservative must admit that there are two sides to every story and to make an informed opinion you need the liberal/progressive opinion as well as the conservative opinion. According to these statistics, if you live outside of a few liberal cities, you are in deep trouble of being republican washed.

These kinds of actions make me really angry since I am a fair player however I am naive when it comes to politics. I have come to realize that the Democrats are the true party for the people as they are the one’s who sponsored the Media Ownership Act of 2007 which has been squashed at the committee stage. Anyone want to guess why the Republican’s made sure this bill was never passed? Here is a video detailing why we need to get media back into serving the public interest because Fox is just a cog in the Republican machine:

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Obama at LULAC

July 10th 2008 09:44

Senator’s Obama and McCain both spoke at the LULAC convention today with Senator Obama receiving the warmer reception. This is no surprise given the Republican Party’s association with tough immigration reform which is seen as quite hurtful to the Hispanic population. I just finished watching Senator Obama’s speech a few minutes ago and I was impressed by his usual demeanor and rhetoric but what really struck me was that he has a really good Hispanic accent. By this I mean that he pronounced the names of the Mayor of L.A and the President of LULAC correctly, this may seem like a small thing but the most common saying in business is that first impressions is a lasting impression.

If Senator Obama is elected, I believe he will finally be the leader that can pronouce President Hu Jin Tao, Medvedev and Calderon correctly. That pronounciation can go a long way in international relations in the same way that current President Bush treats everyone like his next door neighbor. Mexico is the next door neighbor to the United States and Senator Obama touched on a theme that is most important to me which is that it is no longer the “American” econonmy, it is the “Global” economy.

We are a globalized world, as much as the current nationalistic backlash around the world wants to move society backwards, globalization is going to increase for the overall benefit of the whole globe. Mexico is part of that globe as are the rest of the Latin American nations, however the Republican party has chosen in recent years to alienate the Hispanic vote. President Bush drew 40% of the Hispanic vote in 2004 but Senator McCain is unlikely to accomplish any number close to this given his recent statement that he would not support his own immigration bill. This statement combined with the feelings of the Republican base on the issue is going to keep the Senator on his toes and hopefully unable to maintain a coherent position on the issue.

The Republican base is also opposed to his immigration bill, something Senator McCain is going to have a hard time explaining at the convention. The key for Senator Obama is to make sure that all 18 million eligible Hispanic voters register by the time the general election roles around and that the upper majority vote for him. Recent polling data keeps me optimistic on this front and I believe the RNC have severely underestimated the Latino base which will, so far, come out in support of Senator Obama.

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My Economic Ally

July 7th 2008 12:02

The Economy is officially the number one issue on the minds of Americans given the new record price of oil today and other negative economic indicators. Analysts also point out, rightly so that it is the current party that takes the blame for a bad economy. John McCain is running for that party at the moment and he is going to have a hard time justifying current GOP policies that have not done any good for the American economy. Deregulation has allowed American companies to take advantage of the system to “cook the books” and create the current sub-prime crisis that sparked the global economic downturn. The Iraq war continues to cost the American people and future generations of Americans more money that they do not have. Tax cuts to the oil companies have done nothing to prevent the price of oil increasing to $142.89 cents as of today. Companies deserve a certain measure of freedom but you let a dog run free and you can guarantee he is going to do some damage.

A recent Gallup poll show’s the negativity of each state with regards to the Economy

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Calculating The Change

July 5th 2008 16:02

A few of the blogs I visited today are talking about the disunity amongst the Democrats, I believe there is a certain portion of the Democratic base that feels that Senator Obama has betrayed liberal principles or that Hillary should have been the Democratic nominee. Given the political smarts the Obama campaign has on their side, I would ask the following question:

Why have the Obama campaign not urgently addressed this issue?

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Mugabe Madness

June 30th 2008 12:33

Today is a sad day in Africa, Robert Mugabe has been sworn in for a 6th term in a country that is falling apart. Some people even argue this fact which is beyond understanding since the numbers tell the story; 3 million Zimbabwean refugees live in South Africa. That is 25% of the countries population as Zimbabwe is rumored to contain just over 12 million people according to a July 2008 estimate. Can you imagine a quarter of a population being forced to leave their own country? Shouldn’t that give an indication to the President that things are not good?

Not in the fantasy land of Robert Mugabe where he might term these 3 million people “malcontents.” The situation is even tougher because of the politics involved. Robert Mugabe is well regarded in Africa for fighting for independence for his country therefore the leaders of the African Union give him a wide bearing. This is understandable but antiquated, how can the leaders of the AU abide by the level of violence and intimidation that preceded the election

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Right Is Wrong

June 29th 2008 15:53

I first decided to purchase this book when I heard about its imminent release on crooksandliars.com however there is a distinct shortage of books focusing on the political situation in America in Ireland. That is not too hard to explain given that there are only 4.4 million people in Ireland and it is simply logic to only sell the books that people want. Needless to say I was forced to order this from amazon.co.uk for about 15 pounds which is close to $30. I know that sounds a bit pricey to pay for a hardcover but I believe that books are slightly more expensive in Europe.

The title of the book is “Right Is Wrong” written by Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post, I don’t think many people have not heard about her but she runs the biggest online newspaper in America. The Huffington Post is the bane of many Republicans but the best place to read liberal news if you are a liberal like myself. The book has received mixed reviews on amazon.com with 9 people giving it a 5 star rating, 1 person giving it a 4 star rating and the other 6 people giving it below 3 stars

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I Am So Green

June 26th 2008 10:50

Well I am not really, the one thing I really dislike about Ireland is that I have to pay for plastic bags every time I go to the grocery store. I remember the good old days of PriceChopper where not a penny in my pocket went to pay to carry my own groceries out of the store. That being said I have come to accept the fact that everyone on this planet must become more environmentally progressive to ensure that future generations have a planet to live on and won’t have to live on the moon with me when I retire ( A childhood fantasy).

This recent debate on the price of oil is pointless and typical short-term thinking of the GOP. America needs to think in the long term and make a plan to embrace renewable energy. I want you to imagine a scenario where America is the leader in the world in terms of renewable energy, that can be a reality if America catches up to Europe and surpasses the EU in embracing green technology. When burgeoning economies like China and Russia exhaust their oil supplies, the majority of Americans will be using renewable energy therefore preventing the economy from suffering any impact from such a energy disaster

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I Have Read John McCain’s Mind

June 22nd 2008 18:08

Well the time has come for me to focus my attention on Senator McCain who is going to be the competition in the general election. Given the likelihood that more Superdelegates will be shifting to Senator Obama in the coming days, I will call him the presumptive nominee from now on. John McCain is in a unique position in that he has quite a few liberal views that I might agree with, but his overall view is decidedly Republican therefore I cannot in good conscience support him. That being said, this is why he proves so enticing to some of the more experienced focused Clinton supporters and some people who simply cannot come to terms with Senator Obama as the next President of the USA. Using the wonderful Google Quote function again, I have selected a few Senator McCain quotes and provided some satirical insight into his thoughts.

“I think that the people should understand that I will be Hamas’s worst nightmare,” he said late last month in a conference call with conservative bloggers. - 10 May 2008 (New York Times)

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Middle Class Mystery

June 21st 2008 19:38

Well I was surfing the internet when it occurred to me that this election has created so many websites on both sides of the political divide. Each of these sites is seeking its own audience and information in order to give it an edge with its readers. I spent two hours on Sunday looking through some Senate votes before I found the Washington Post project. I never imagined that I could spend a Sunday afternoon doing that but in all honesty I really enjoyed that research and found it fascinating in terms of who vote for what and when.

During my trek around the internet today, I found this great site called factcheck.org where they had a great factual analysis of some of the things Senator McCain has said with regards to the budget. I am going to post the video at the bottom of this post but the one issue I did want to touch on was Tax cuts. Tax cuts are great but I believe like most liberals that the Bush Tax Cuts went to the wrong person which is the wealthier half of society. John McCain wants to renew these Tax cuts for “middle-class people” but like many Democrats, I want them to expire and go towards the “real middle class

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July 2008

5 Posts

June 2008