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Politics : Actual left/right wing discussion -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sedohr Nod who wrote (5043)	11/20/2006 11:30:13 AM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

It is more clear that it is an anti-war agenda this time. His point is that you can't be for a war and against the draft. So a vote against the draft requires that you take an anti-military position. I don't think it will pass this time either but it will raise the anti-military rhetoric a notch or two. It is also a race/class laden issue.

To: Sedohr Nod who wrote (5043)	11/20/2006 2:25:07 PM
From: one_less	Respond to of 10087

Socialists Nominate Their Queen By Kim Rahir in Paris France's Socialists have made history with their new presidential candidate by nominating a woman, Ségolène Royal. Her likely conservative opponent is Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. REUTERS France's Socialist candidate Ségolène Royal will bid to become France's first female president in 2007. Ségolène Royal emerged late Thursday evening as the clear winner of the Socialist Party's nomination in France, clearing the way for her to run for president next spring. If she wins, the former Environmental Minister would be the first woman to occupy France's highest political office. The official tally gave Royal 60.6 percent of the vote, while her competitors, former Finance Minister Dominique Strauss-Kahn and former prime minister Laurent Fabius, received 20.8 percent and 18.5 percent, respectively. A year ago Socialist party leaders were openly ridiculing Royal's presidential ambitions, but for months she's been queen of the polls. For most observers her nomination by 220,000 party members was already a fait accompli -- the real question was simply whether the 53-year-old candidate would win the first round or face a run-off election in the coming weeks. Royal is a centrist reformer in the Socialist Party who was seen for a long time as less popular with her base than with the media and the general public. Whether that's still the case is questionable: Royal reminded her party in an early ad campaign that anyone could vote as long as they enlisted in the party on time. Now, the traditionally not-so-numerous Socialist Party has 70,000 new members -- many of whom may be exclusive campaigners for Royal. "Babbling old cow" Royal's first victim, ironically, was her husband, party whip François Hollande. He had his own hopes for the candidacy, despite a weak profile and relative lack of clout. The unusual spectacle of a man and wife competing in politics was jumped on by their rivals. When Royal's political career first took off, for example, Laurent Fabius asked who would take care of their four children if Ségolène became president. A Socialist senator also berated Royal -- who currently serves as president of France's Poitou-Charentes region -- as a "babbling old cow." But such attacks helped rather than hurt Royal because they showed she wasn't a comfortable member of France's political elite, which voters have learned to hate. The party's old guard laid in wait for her to make a decisive mistake. When she visited a school in a desolate, poor and violence-ridden suburb and announced that order had to be restored and that maybe some of the more at-risk youngsters should be sent to programs with military drills, Socialist leaders rubbed their hands -- until days later, when Royal made yet another leap in the polls, even within her own party. When journalists try to trap her with complex foreign policy questions, she responds with thunderous fury. Interestingly, she argues, they never ask the same questions of the other candidates -- people try to expose her just because she's a woman. Only Royal stands a chance against Sarkozy For Royal, it's all about beating the conservatives in the presidential election next spring. To the French it seems Royal and only Royal stands a chance of winning against the hyperactive populist Interior Minister and head of the conservative UMP Nicolas Sarkozy. That's why people have rallied around her flag. Jack Lang, the former Culture Minister who until a few weeks ago was a candidate himself, has announced his support for Royal. On the day of the vote he said voting for Royal was a matter of "common sense" and "efficiency." He added, "This is the first step on the way to taking back power." It's a frighteningly candid assessment, since it deals not with the issues but with finding the right personality to contend with Sarkozy. The Sarkozy phenomenon bears many resemblances to the Royal phenomenon. His by-word is a "break" with everything that is old, traditional and antiquated. That goes down well with the French, who are tired of tradition after twelve years under President Jacques Chirac, when there were plenty of scandals and affairs but hardly any reforms. Some politicians haven't grasped this new reality. Royal's rival Fabius entered the political arena in the '80s as a quasi-free market head of state, but now, as a resolute leftist, he tries to evoke the Socialists' good old days. Chirac himself tries to block newcomers who may want to do things differently. He even still toys with the idea of a third term in office. "Look how top-fit he is," his wife Bernadette recently told a gathered crowd of bystanders. But compared to Sarkozy, the president looks like a docile grandpa -- and the balding, slightly pudgy old man doesn't look any better next to Ségolène Royal. spiegel.de

To: Sedohr Nod who wrote (5043)	11/20/2006 5:47:05 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10087

Pelosi says 'no' on Rangel's draft bill WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday that the party's House leadership will not support the call by Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., for a reinstatement of the draft. She spoke after a meeting with incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., in which they discussed the Democratic agenda. She noted that a return to the draft is something Rangel has long championed to promote shared sacrifice. "It's not about a draft; it's about shared sacrifice in our country," Pelosi, D- Calif., told reporters in her Capitol Hill office. "Mr. Rangel will be very busy with his work on the Ways and Means Committee, which jurisdiction is quite different, but he is a strong voice for social justice in our country. And (pushing for a draft is) a way to make a point that this war has not involved or made any shared sacrifice." When asked directly if she supported the measure, Pelosi said, "No. No." -- From CNN Congressional Correspondent Andrea Koppel (Posted 5:26 p.m.) cnn.com