Does She Care About The Party?

Many have asked why I haven't written much in the last month...or at all. The simple answer is that I am lazy. But, how could I pass on writing more about this historical election and why one person seems determined to ruin the Democratic Party.

Hillary Clinton is in a lose lose situation. She either loses her battle to become the Democratic nominee for President, or she convinces the "Super Delegates" that she is the better candidate, even though Obama has won more states, votes and delegates. Hillary did not make the nominating rules, but whoever the Democrats were that came up with the idea of having over 800 Super delegates were idiots. I guess they never expected to have two popular candidates within the party running...I mean having ONE is a BIG DEAL.

While Hillary didn't make the rules, she should know a bad one when she sees it. A person who wants to be President, who wants to be a leader, should be able to spot a rule that is unfair and wrong. She claims to have experience and to fix Washington, but can't even accept that Democratic Party rules are horrible. Simply, if the voters of the party do not want Hillary, then Hillary should not use a bad rule to circumvent those voters to become the nominee. If she somehow accomplishes this (I doubt she will), the Democrats will certainly lose the Presidential election and probably seats in Congress. Why should voters elect someone representing a party that ignores the wishes of the voters?

It is pretty much impossible for Hillary to win without the super delegates, now. Sometimes, though, being a leader means you sacrifice yourself for the greater cause. If the voters have chosen another candidate, you must accept that and move on, no matter how much you want the position. I blame this problem on Al Gore. I know many believe he was the rightful winner. Maybe he was. But, he should have learned from previous politicians and accepted the loss and move on. Instead he fought it. I know that 500+ vote difference is grounds to challenge, especially for President, but now everyone contests every election, even when it's not as close as the 2000 election. If this comes down to the super delegates and Hillary loses, she will probably sue, because she is not a leader. She only wants to be President to make history and to be the most powerful person in America. If she were a real leader right now, she would accept her defeat for the good of her party and the voters and move aside. But, Hillary wants to have power, not be a leader. This is why she is the worst candidate for President. Why don't Democrats see that? Well, they did pick Kerry for President in 2004, so I guess we can't expect much common sense from them.

SUPER TUESDAY

It has been a while since my last post, I have been on the campaign trail, talking to candidates, hearing their speeches, drinking their booze, making advances on their spouses (some making advances on me...Bill). But today is the day. Do or Die. Live Free or Die Hard. Today is the day that it is likely we will have two candidates...or have four candidates, or three candidates...I never was good at math. But, I do know, who ever gets the most votes...will probably win.

Political Pig Endorsements

Republican Party: John McCain. John is hands down the right man for the job. He has the experience regarding the military and foreign issues (honestly the two biggest issues for a President, since that is really what the President has control over). Yet, McCain is not one to go the party line, just for the sake of power. He is bipartisan. He works with all parties and he is often pitted against both parties. He looks out for what is best in America. Does it suck that he says we may be in Iraq for 100 years. Yes. But, is it the truth? We have been in Korea for over 50 years. It's not like Iraq right now, but I think that's what John McCain sees...not 100 years of bombings and deaths. Still, it isn't something pleasant to think about. W got us in a real pickle, now we have to find the best way to solve the problem. While just leaving is the easiest, is it the right choice? Who knows.

Democratic Party: Barack Obama. Yes, I picked McCain for experience, and now I pick Obama, when Hillary has 182.3 years of political experience. Huh? Clinton (Hillary) has been around politics a long time, but has only held elected office for 6 years. Obama has been in a state legislature and in the Senate. So, for actual hands on experience, they are about equal. I pick Obama though for his message. America needs a uniter, not a divider. Clinton is the biggest divider since W. This is easy.

Political Pig's Prediction: Clinton and McCain will win tonight. Obama will stay in the race, Huckabee and Romney will drop out. I say this because I have spoken to 100 million likely voters and counted their votes. They promised me, they wouldn't change their minds either.

How Can Bush Save the Economy?

I love when I read articles about what Bush is going to do with the economy. Let me sum it up for you...very little. Now, I am not saying this because I think Bush is evil and wants people to starve and die and have the second great depression. It's just that he is the President, and has very little power over the nation's economy. He cannot write legislation, he does not directly control the Federal Reserve, which controls interest rates.

The big reason the economy has tanked this time, is because of the housing and lending meltdown, coupled with the fact that Americans do not save a dime. Lenders were giving out money to anyone who asked, with terms that were ridiculous. Many borrowers were uneducated on how these loans worked and figured if the bank was giving them the money, it must be an okay deal. Now the Banks won't give anymore money, and Americans have nothing saved up. That means, people will have to really cut spending...leading us into a recession.

No one can predict what is going to happen. Most likely, the economy will continue to slide until the housing and lending markets have corrected. The interest rate cuts and tax cuts will help the average consumer, but things still are going to be tight. Inflation will creep in and then the extra money people have will be used up in the higher prices of goods. What is sad about this all, is it could have been avoided if people actually read what they were borrowing and Banks actually had limits in place. Now, we have to hope that Congress can actually agree on anything to stimulate the economy and the tax cuts by the Federal Reserve help and don't hinder the economy in the long run.

Your Candidates Are....Are They?

Well, according to CNN last night the Democratic Candidate for President is Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney. I about threw up. If these two end up being our candidates, than I have lost faith in the American voter. One, I could maybe handle, but these two are just two political saps that say and do whatever it takes to win. I mean, Hillary moved to NY because it was her best shot to get into the Senate. Mitt changes his mind daily...would love to have him in control of the nukes.

However, the most troubling about all of this isn't the actual election, but the election coverage, especially on CNN. I really wish another cable news network would come along that had competent reporters and was not so blatantly biased. Fox News is a joke and really, so is CNN. I watched CNN last night and they were talking about how this win was huge for Mitt and really caused problems for everyone else, including McCain, because he is out of money. Did I miss something? CNN said it was huge, when Huckabee won, then McCain, and now Romney...and none of these wins were that big of a surprise, least of all the one last night. Romney had been leading many of the polls up to the election, and his family is very big in that state. Yet, the CNN drama queens were all in a lather about this "comeback". Come on, report the news, give some analysis, but make it sane.

Also, they are calling South Carolina must wins for Obama and McCain. Another joke. While, if they win, they will prove they are sticking around for a while and gives them an even better shot to win it all, I mean, that is the point...to win, but the true test will be Super Tuesday. This year is not like other years, for so many reasons, none of which CNN can accurately get out. But, basically you have a lot of candidates on both sides, no true front runner on either side (you could argue Hillary) before the primaries started, and there is a war and a crappy economy. This just spells out insane election. Plus, look at college football this year and how crazy that was...we should have known this was coming (I am practicing for my CNN audition). So this means wins alone will not get you the nomination, but it may be the delegate count.

Michigan did not even count for the Democrats, because like Florida, they moved their elections up to a date that Dr. Death errr I mean Dean did not like. So Hillary's win is meaningless, there are no delegates being awarded. That means Obama won 1 (Hillary came in third) and Hillary won 1 (Obama second). As for the Republicans: Huckabee, McCain and Romney have each won a primary or caucus. This is a dead heat and nobody knows who will win the next round (CNN has gotten about every prediction wrong). I really wish there was news coverage that wasn't so biased or so ridiculous. If you want a real analysis, just keep reading what I say (even though I have absolutely no reporters or inside information). At least, I will make some stuff up that is somewhat believable.

Transportation Mess

In the 1950s, a trend developed that set the course for a transportation disaster...suburbs. Today a study came out that outlined how to save America's transportation infrastructure. The answer, was of course, raise taxes, specifically gas taxes. The funny thing, the answer probably would work. Raise gas taxes 40 cents over 5 years. Many economist and public policy experts believe that if you raise gas taxes (many want to raise it even higher), you would cut the demand for gas, because people would use other forms of transportation. There is only one problem: There are no other forms of transportation in America.

Sure, some of the major (and I mean major) cities have a decent mass transit system, such as New York or Chicago. Also, in major cities you can walk to work. What about the rest of the country? How are average workers going to get the twenty or thirty miles from their suburban house to a smaller downtown, such as Orlando, FL? There are no subways or commuter trains. No real extensive bus system. This leads to the question, what comes first...the chicken or the egg? Or should I say, raise taxes first or build the infrastructure?

Some politicians (you can probably guess which party) say that it should be left to the private industry to build roads. Okay, I am all for the private markets, but what will be their next suggestion? Exxon , Wal-mart and Kroger should arm their own troops, too? There are certain things that a government must provide for in a society, certain functions the private market place cannot account for, such as police and fire protection, the armed forces...and yes, transportation. If you left transportation to a private company, how would companies allocate that? There is the option of impact fees, which some local governments assess to raise money to go towards new roads around new developments. This may help force corporations to pay their private share (but those same politicians would say this is government taxing the private marketplace, hurting business). So, that would leave you to hope that Best Buy would build a road to your house so you could shop there. Does this make any sense? Not to me either.

The only way the transportation mess (the crumbling bridges, traffic jams, etc) are going to be fixed, is if the government invests in the infrastructure. Additionally, the government cannot tax the hell out of Americans, without an alternative. Of course, the government already spends more than it makes, so what's the solution? Well, its actually simple. The federal government should stop taxing us for the many items that are really only state issues, such as education and stop taxing us on the vast entitlements that people abuse every day. It amazes me, after going to Europe, that America has no real extensive rail network. If we had more railways, we would have options other than driving cars. So, rather than building more roads and bigger highways, maybe we should be investing in railways, which take up a lot less land and has a better effect on the environment.

Something to Smile About

So, McCain and Hillary won the New Hampshire primary and the news media is running around in circles not knowing what to make of it. All of the reporters and commentators had written off Hillary just hours before. So, what happened with the democrats? Well a few things, actually. One, polling is a tricky thing to do and we are finding out election after election that sometimes it isn't always very accurate, mainly because we don't know if those polled will actually vote and because some haven't made up their minds. While polls can give you an indication, you can never totally count on them for the election result.

Another thing that must be accounted for is the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary are very different beasts. Comparing those results and how a candidate won is apples to oranges. With the caucus, there is vote trading, if one candidate isn't going to reach a viable number, voters switch to another. In some ways this could predict more of who the party wants as a whole, between a lesser amount of candidates. If Bill Richardson had not run in New Hampshire, Obama may have won by 3% points. It is hard to tell.

That leads me into the final thing that happened...there are still too many candidates running in both parties. This splits up the votes and takes votes from the stronger candidates. Until it is trimmed down to two or three people, we are going to have these weird results that may differ from state to state. That will leave us with the media creating these crazy elaborate stories trying to explain why this happened..."The voters felt touched by Hillary crying and shooting that man in the back" "Barack wore green today, and voters don't like green in January" "Mitt has nice eyes and that got him into college, which lead him to go fishing, which is why he lost". So, until Bill Richardson, Fred Thompson, Ron Paul, insert names of people that barely get 1 % get a clue...and possibly some bigger names like Rudy Guiliani and John Edwards get out of the race, prepare yourself for an annoying media coverage and uncertain candidates for a little while longer.

As for last night, we must keep things in perspective. It was still a win for McCain and Hillary, strengthening their campaigns. Additionally, it had to weaken Romney and Edwards some. But, it was a close battle between Obama and Hillary, so I see very little weakening there...and we need to wait and see if Guiliani can make a comeback of his own in the Super Tuesday states, and whether Huckabee can spread his message to a national audience.

Not Enough Ballots?

Today is the first primary in the Nation...New Hampshire. I know all one of my readers have been waiting eagerly all day for my account on this primary. But, I want to talk about something other than the candidates. I read that voting locations are running out of ballots, because of the unusually warm weather and the appeal of the "change" candidates. Too Many Voters!!!! What?!? Run out of ballots??? Isn't this America, not Pakistan or Venezuela?

Nothing is more ridiculous during an election than not having enough ballots. Some may say, this is why we need electronic voting (maybe) or the death of a democracy...INTERNET VOTING (I will save my hate for the idea of Internet voting for another post). But, regardless of what type of balloting is used, there should always be enough. If there are 40,000 registered voters in a political district, then there needs to be 40,000 ballots printed. I don't care if only 6% of the people showed up for the last special commissioner race. It is possible that something could happen to force 15% or 30% or 80% the next time. No one can predict this. What is the reason for not printing up the large amount of ballots.? Well, saving the trees is not the first response given I bet, but rather saving money. So, government saving money trumps a person's state right to vote (there is no federal constitutional right to vote)? When did government care about how much something cost? There should never be one ballot less than the number of registered voters, period.

As for the primary, if Obama wins...it would take something huge to get Hillary back up as the front runner. Remember, Howard Dean was the Hillary of 2004 until the scream. It doesn't take much to destroy the leading candidate. On the Republican side, it will be a shoot out, but I think McCain will pull it off, if all the independents don't vote for Obama. If Romney wins, I have pity for the next few states up that have to deal with more political hate ads.