Debate Poll

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 634

Rather than give my commentary on last night's debate or, worse still, provide a blow-by-blow of a televised event that everyone who would even consider coming to this site has already seen (twice, probably), here's a poll. And, rather than make it a poll where one person gets to say 300 times that their candidate could do no wrong on the night, I've made this a poll aimed at finding out whether last night's debate actually changed anyone's mind about the candidates.

So, here goes!

Did the South Carolina Debate Change Your Mind?

Did the South Carolina Debate Change Your Mind?

No - I was undecided before, and still am Yes - I was undecided before, but now support one of the candidates No - I supported a particular candidate before, and still support that candidate Yes - I've switched allegience from one candidate to another Yes - I supported a candidate before the debate, and am now undecided

View Result

Free Web Polls

H.R. 1591

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 635

Following the House vote on Wednesday, the Senate today passed and sent to the President the final Iraq spending bill. Since the bill contains legally binding provisions for a responsible end to the war, President Bush has vowed he will veto it.

That veto will be a turning point in the political struggle over our country’s Iraq policy. With no dictator left to depose, no weapons of mass destruction ever discovered, no link between Saddam and al Qaeda ever credibly established, and not a shred of legitimacy left to the administration’s original premises for starting the Iraq war, the administration and their Republican supporters in congress have stuck their head in the sand, repeating the word “progress” – none of them speaks about victory anymore – as though the word itself will rescue them from the consequences of their own policy failures. They have simply run out of options, out of ideas, and out of time. It is obvious that President Bush’s supporters now see, with the clarity peculiar to the blind, no other recourse for themselves but to follow their leader off a cliff, and are trying to drag the next president – and the country - over the brink with them. Americans will have none of it.

When President Bush issues his veto, it will mark the crossing of the final threshold of public patience with his administration and his war. Congressional Republicans may succeed in thwarting an override of Bush’s veto, this time. But all that does is put the issue right back in play without having moved the debate once inch in the administration’s direction. And with each passing week of public anger over the war, what support the president has left for his policies from congressional Republicans will steadily ebb away, finally disappearing altogether by Labor Day. When the veto occurs, mark it on your calendars as the day George W. Bush became a lame duck in office.

Radio Silence

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 637

Internet radio is one of the coolest things about the information age. Any day, any time, I can launch iTunes or surf to Live365 or Pandora, and hear an astounding variety of music, news and commentary beamed from all around the world right to my computer. What's on top of playlists in Holland? Got it covered. Singapore? Ditto.

Unfortunately, internet radio is under immanent threat of extinction (and no, this isn't the old hoax about the internet tax, blah, blah, blah). Last month, the Copyright Royalty Board, a three-member commission of the Library of Congress responsible for administration of statutory copyright licenses, issued a ruling that effectively increases royalty payments owed by internet radio operators by 300 to 1200 percent, depending on a station's audience size. The ruling is scheduled to go into effect May 15, 2007, when it will then be applied retroactively back to January 1, 2006.

Make no mistake, this is a measure that will kill internet radio. Moreover, it is designed to do so: satellite radio operators pay only one quarter of the rate imposed on internet radio, and - surprise! - broadcast radio doesn't pay it at all. The International Webcasting Association fought this measure, and lost. They then appealed for a rehearing, and lost. The only recourse left is direct action by listeners to internet radio for legislative intervention by Congress.

So, here's what to do:
1. Learn more
2. Contact your representatives in Congress
3. Tell a friend - email this post, or any of the embedded links, to as many interested people as you can think of.

This stuff only takes a minute, and time is of the essence; again, this measure takes effect on May 15. A few minutes now can save internet radio into the future. Please act to save internet radio while there's still time.

Joe Biden's Speech at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 638

Joe Biden was the last candidate to address the crowd, and took the stage to robust applause. Every election cycle, he said, America puts up a job description for president. The job description changes from cycle to cycle, but this time, according to Biden, the job description is: restore America’s place in the world, restore the middle class, and put an end to the politics of polarization. In today’s America, Biden said, there is not a single problem that lends itself to a solution supported by 51% of the people and opposed by the other 49%. In order to prevail in the general election, Biden said, the Democratic nominee will need to not just win the same tier of 20 or so “blue” states won by Al Gore and John Kerry in the last two cycles, but also be competitive in at least 9 or 10 traditionally “red’ states as well.

Establishing his thesis for the night, Biden said, “I’m not running for the exercise.”

Biden characterized the current political climate as the politics of false choices. Iraq, he said, cannot be passed on to the next president, or abandoned by the United States, without any idea about what comes next. The next president, Biden said, “needs to be smarter than his advisors,” when it comes to solving problems, and the key question to answer on Iraq is “then what?” Withdraw the troops: then what? How will the civil war be extinguished? How will we conduct our diplomacy so as to involve Iraq’s neighbors in a constructive way? Biden declared that his Iraq plan was the best answer to these questions, and went on to describe it in detail. While Biden’s explanation of his plan was lengthy and very specific, it seemed to me that he had much of the crowd hanging on his every word, a rapt silence that said the audience was decidedly in the mood to hear the details, not just the principles, of his proposals. It was a surprising moment, and a very impressive one.

Biden then turned to Darfur, and declared that when a nation engages in genocide, it forfeits its right to sovereignty. Biden then stated that U.S. troops should be dispatched to Sudan, where, he maintained, 2,500 American soldiers would quickly put an end to the genocide in Darfur. This was a bold proposal that I hadn’t heard before, and I’m at a loss as to why the mainstream media didn’t pick up on this. Biden then took a slap at John Edwards’ remarks of a few minutes earlier for decrying the genocide in Darfur and the lack of U.S. response to it, but failing to propose a solution.

Biden then turned from foreign affairs to domestic policy, specifically education. Funding seems to be the root of the problems in education for Biden, and he summed up by stating, “Show me you budget, I’ll show you what you value.”

Arriving at his summation, Joe Biden challenged his fellow candidates, and Democrats generally, to stop being tentative, stop beating around the bush. The American people, Biden went on, want leadership and are not afraid of the challenges confronting the country. The American people have never let this country down, Biden exclaimed, and “I am sick of Democrats being cowards.” Biden appealed to the audience for support as a candidate “who you know where they stand” on issues. In the best line delivered by any speaker on the night, Joe Biden concluded by saying, “It ain’t complicated, folks. It just takes courage. Join me to make hope and history rhyme.” The press was all over him as he left the rostrum, and he worked the hall for another 15 minutes after the speech.

This was not the Joe Biden you read about in the mainstream media, the long-winded, academic, bloodless Joe Biden. That characterization may have been true in the past, but tonight I saw a different candidate, different even from when I met him last month, one who, indeed, is not running just for the exercise. Judging from his speech at this gathering, Joe Biden has stopped playing safe in his campaign, stopped parsing his words, and has started speaking from the heart. It was an extraordinary thing to witness, and if continued, may just be the approach that shakes up his prospects and gets him out of single digits.

John Edwards' Speech at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 638

Following Bill Richardson's address came John Edwards. WOW - what a reception he received from the crowd when he entered the hall. And again upon ascending the rostrum and telling the audience “Elizabeth sends her love.” There’s no doubt about it: John Edwards is a beloved figure to a lot of Democrats in Iowa, and that’s something the other campaigns cannot take lightly.

Edwards began his remarks by discussing what he thinks will be the most important qualities in the next president at a time of “historic challenges”: honesty, integrity, being “a good, decent human being” who can reestablish trust between the United States and the rest of the world and between the American people and their President, someone with “clear ideas,” who can “take positions,” who can tell people “what will you do as president,” and who understands that for America in the world as it now is, there is no difference between foreign and domestic policy. Edwards said that the next president must spend his/her first few months in office traveling the world to talk about, as he put it, “the idea of America”: equality, diversity, a force for good. Moreover, Edwards continued, the next president must demonstrate through action that the United States is committed not just to our own interests, but also those of all humanity, by, among other things, “solving Darfur” and addressing AIDS in Africa. “We’re better than this,” Edwards declared. “We need to show the world who we are,” by taking the $500 billion in the current Iraq appropriation bill and using it to fund primary education around the world. “We’re not an example for good,” Edwards said, “we’re an example for bad. You gotta have vision, gotta have strength. Are we going to use high rhetoric about ‘hope’ and ‘affordable health care’, or are we gonna do something about it?” Edwards managed to smack both Obama and Clinton in the same sentence, there - nice rhetorical accomplishment.

Edwards also warned against turning inward and disengaging from the rest of the world after we leave Iraq, saying that the world needs America as a stabilizing force. Reciting the litany of challenges confronting the country into the future, Edwards said, “’There’s nothing we can do’ is the Great Lie in America.”

John Edwards concluded with a prose hymn to organized labor and the question to the audience, “What are you going to do for this country?” emphasizing that the solutions to our problems lie not so much with the next president as with the country as a whole.

At times, Edwards’ address seemed more homily than speech, brimming with conviction and a sense of mission. Indeed, for long stretches in Edwards’ remarks, the crowd was silent, as if in church. Where some other candidates make their claims on experience and leadership, Edwards seems to stress personal qualities - honesty, integrity, etc. That strikes me as trickier ground to walk, since it requires supporters to take quite a bit on faith, and the consequences to the campaign can be severe should the candidate’s halo slip. Like Barack Obama, John Edwards may be more vulnerable to character attacks than more experienced, if lesser known, candidates, and needs to guard against that. This is one of the things that, in my view, keeps John Edwards’ actual prospects for becoming president just this side of longshot territory, regardless of how he does in Iowa.

Bill Richardson's Speech at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 638

I should mention that in his introduction of Richardson, Polk County Democratic Chairman Tom Henderson noted that the candidate has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times, no less. I didn't know that.

Richardson started by praising the other candidates, concluding that "any of them would do a great job in the White House...as my vice president!" He then went on to sketch out his plans for what he would do, day by day, in his first week as president.

1st Day: get all troops out of Iraq (and he emphasized all, in counterpoint to Hillary Clinton's position that some troops may have to remain in Iraq after most US forces are redeployed). Convene diplomacy between Iraqi factions and also between Iraq and its neighboring countries.
2nd Day: announce plans for energy independence, a 10-year "Apollo program" to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy. One feature of the plan would be a 40 mpg target for automobiles, which Richardson said would in itself completely eliminate the need to import oil from abroad.
3rd Day: address global warming and carbon dioxide emissions, with a target of making 20% of all domestic energy originate from renewable sources.
4th day: tackle education. Better teacher pay, universal preschool, smaller class sizes, college education for all who want it.
5th day: universal health care. Not many details here, other than to find new ways to get care to people.

Richardson's main point to the crowd was "Let's make this election on who's the most qualified" to be president. He touted his foreign policy experience, his ability to bring the country together (as evidenced by his landslide electoral record in traditionally Republican-leaning New Mexico), and what he characterized as not just competence and plans, but leadership for the future. He concluded by pledging, "I'm gonna outwork everybody [to win]. Keep your powder dry." Richardson then left for the Iowa Cubs - Albuquerque Isotopes AAA baseball game at Principal Park; unfortunately for the Governor, his homeboys went down 6-5 on a grand slam by the Cubs' Scott Moore. Holy Cow!

If résumés were everything in presidential politics, Bill Richardson would have it made. But we all know there's more to it than that, and I think Richardson himself understands he's got a tall hill to climb to break out of the pack. We'll see how he does over time.

Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner Wrap Up

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 638

As promised, I was at the Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner Friday night. In a lot of ways, this was the quintessential Iowa caucus campaign event: held at the state fair grounds, in that building past the 4H Hall and right next to the horse corral; where you park your car in the dirt parking lot and trade waves with the guy in the truck who just pullled out to make room for you; where you sit down with about a thousand other people at long tables to eat 2 inch-thick pork chops, boiled vegatables and defrosted Sarah Lee desserts; where the candidates walk in, stroll among the tables like troubadors, and shoot off a couple of jokes with each other while standing off to the side of the stage awaiting their turn at the rostrum. Nothing else quite like it anywhere.

The event actually starts even before you walk into the hall. Lining the sidewalk leading up to the door is a gauntlet of volunteers for the various candidates, all waving signs and chanting slogans in turn for their chosen one, all in the best of humors, and all, seemingly, having the time of their lives.

Once inside, it's grab a paper plate, pile on the food and find a seat as close to the stage as possible (not easy, as the all the closest tables had been reserved by a single person or group for their own people), and start working the room, finishing dinner in between hand shakes and back slaps. I got a chance to talk with Leonard Boswell, member of Congress for my district, about whether he has taken a position on the Common Sense Budget Act of 2007 (H.R. 1702) , which would take some $60 billion allocated to obsolete cold war-era weapons systems and readirect that amount toward education, children's healthcare, etc.; Boswell expressed qualified support, but said he wanted to see some changes, like taking some of the money to replace equipment lost in Iraq.

I also got a chance to chat with Bill Richardson about his recent successful trip to North Korea, which he summarized by saying, "Yeah, that was a good trip. We got things done."

There was also a brief handshake with Joe Biden, but he was so intent on covering the entire crowd that I didn't get a chance to chat with him. Maybe next time.

Then came speech time. Congressman Boswell ascended the rostrum to address the gathering on how exciting the first three months of being in the majority have been, noting, among other things that, "we found out that on our voting consols there were some green buttons [for voting 'Yea']." Chris Dodd, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were represented by surrogates, none of whom, I have to say, did their principals much credit; surrogates can only say, "Here's why I support my candidate," whereas the candidates can speak firsthand about why they should be president and what it is they would do in office. There's really no comparison, and candidates who pass up these types of events (especially Clinton and Obama, who were coming to the state the next day, anyway) really do themselves a disservice.

The candidate speeches were supposed to be limited to 10 minutes, but averaged closer to 17 minutes. In order to keep from turning this post into a Tolstoy-scale epic, I'll present each speech in separate posts:
Bill Richardson
John Edwards
Joe Biden

Finally, here are links to some of the mainstream media's coverage of the event:
Des Moines Register
KCCI TV News

Cattle Call at the Pork Dinner

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 640

I'm gearing up to eat massive amounts of Iowa pork and watch a parade of candidates speak at the annual Polk County Democrats Spring Dinner tonight.

Confirmed candidates:

• John Edwards: it will be interesting to see the contrast between his performance delivering a rostrum speech versus the town hall event I attended a couple of weeks ago.
  
• Bill Richardson: haven't met him yet, so I'm looking forward to checking off this last box on the candidate roll call.
  
• Joe Biden: hasn't gotten much traction since I attended his foreign policy town hall last month. His Iraq plan is the best one out there, but he's stuck in neutral. We'll see if he can shake things up tonight.
  
  The surrogates:
  
• Dodd campaign: former Congressman Rick Nolen (Minnesota 6th Congressional District). Disappointed that Dodd won't be there himself, as he's on a policy speech jag at the moment (last week foreign policy, this week energy), and it would have been interesting to hear him in person about whatever's next on the agenda. But, having met him just last week, I can let this one slide, I suppose (me: spoiled. rotten.).
  
• Clinton campaign: Christie Vilsack. Hillary will be doing a GOTCB (Get Out The Checkbook) event for Congressman Leonard Boswell (IA-03) tomorrow, so has appearantly decided to pick her spots and give tonight's event a miss. As an aside, I got a robocall from Hillary last night asking if I would be attending the Boswell fundraiser ("press 1 for yes, press 2 if you'll be unable to attend."). Upon pressing 2 to decline, the next question was, "Will you be caucusing for me next January? Press 1 for yes, press 2 if you'd like more information." That one cracked me up; "No" wasn't even an option. (NOTE: I'm not saying I would've selected "no" if it had been available. It's still only April, and I'm still undecided. Funny, though!)
  
• Obama Campaign: five-term Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, from the 9th CD in Barack's home state of Illinois (pronunced "Ella-NOIZ" some places hereabouts). Schakowsky is on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, and says her top priority is healthcare, so I'll say it's a safe bet she won't be gunning for Dodd or Biden tonight. And am I reading too much into the Obama campaign sending a woman to match up against Christie Vilsack's speaking for Hillary? Maybe. Maybe not.




Anyhow, should be a hot time at the fairgrounds tonight. I'll post a full account over the weekend.

Before Leaping to the Easy Answer...

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 643

In the face of this week's tragedy at Virginia Tech, the first question most people are asking is "why?" Don't be fooled into choosing the easy answer.

Read this post from my friend j.u.l.i.a.i.p.s.a. If it turns out to be about you, please rethink your answer.

duh

Days Until Bush Leaves Office = 644

Here's a news flash: according poll results published in today's Washington Post, Americans trust Democrats more than Republicans to deal with the ongoing debacle that is Iraq.

"A Washington Post-ABC News poll of 1,141 adults, conducted April 12-15, found that 58 percent trusted the Democrats in Congress to do a better job handling the situation in Iraq, compared with 33 percent who trusted Bush.

Bush continued yesterday to say that victory in Iraq is pivotal to the larger fight against terrorism, but Americans are increasingly agreeing with the Democratic view that the issues are separate. About 57 percent now say the United States can succeed in the terrorism fight without winning the Iraq war, an increase of 10 percentage points since January, when Americans were almost evenly divided on the question."

Geez, why would that be?