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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: American Spirit who wrote (91637)	12/11/2006 6:54:53 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 363007

The refreshing thing about Obama is that he actually TELLS THE TRUTH and admits what he has done...We know Bush has taken drugs and has lied to take our country into a reckless war -- Dubya will NEVER admit it though. We don't need a perfect leader but we do need a smart, charismatic leader who has the courage and integrity to TELL THE TRUTH...Tell the nation what it needs to hear and not what it wants to hear. -s2@BushIsntTheOnlyGOPCandidateWhoHasFailedToTellTheTruth.com btw, Clinton didn't inhale either...;-)

To: American Spirit who wrote (91637)	12/11/2006 7:04:15 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 363007

Harold Ford is a good candidate and it was unfortunate he lost the Senate race this year...Yet, Ford is not in the same league as Obama -- who is married and has a wonderful family...Obama has more charisma and a much stronger ability to connect to a broad audience. Obama is the Tiger Woods of political candidates and it may take a while for many of the talking heads and pundits to fully understand this. -s2@Don'tUnderestimateObama.com btw, look at the impact Tiger has had on the Golf establishment -- he was able to win early on and he continues to win.

To: American Spirit who wrote (91637)	12/11/2006 8:05:19 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 363007

Bush and the Family Franchise _______________________________________________________________ How George W. Bush has ruined the family franchise. WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY By Eleanor Clift Updated: 5:27 p.m. CT Dec 8, 2006 On the eve of a report that repudiates his son’s leadership, former president George H.W. Bush broke down crying when he recalled how his other son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, lost an election a dozen years ago and then came back to serve two successful terms. The elder Bush has always been a softie, but this display of emotion was so over the top that it had to be about something other than Jeb’s long-ago loss. The setting was a leadership summit Monday in Tallahassee, where the elder Bush had come to lecture and to pay homage to Jeb, who is leaving office with a 53 percent approval rating, putting him ninth among the 50 governors in popularity. The former president was reflecting on how well Jeb handled defeat in 1994 when he lost his composure. “He didn’t whine about it,” he said, putting a handkerchief to his face in an effort to stifle his sobbing. That election turned out to be pivotal because it disrupted the plan Papa Bush had for his sons, which may be why he was crying, and why the country cries with him. The family’s grand design had the No. 2 son, Jeb, by far the brighter and more responsible, ascend to the presidency while George, the partying frat-boy type, settled for second best in Texas. The plan went awry when Jeb, contrary to conventional wisdom, lost in Florida, and George unexpectedly defeated Ann Richards in Texas. With the favored heir on the sidelines, the family calculus shifted. They’d go for the presidency with the son that won and not the one they wished had won. The son who was wrongly launched has made such a mess of things that he has ruined the family franchise. Without getting too Oedipal, it’s fair to say that so many mistakes George W. Bush made are the result of his need to distinguish himself from his father and show that he’s smarter and tougher. His need to outdo his father and at the same time vindicate his father’s failure to get re-elected makes for a complicated stew of emotions. The irony is that the senior Bush, dismissed by Junior’s crowd as a country-club patrician, looks like a giant among presidents compared to his son. Junior told author Bob Woodward, for his book “Plan of Attack,” that he didn’t consult his father in planning the invasion of Iraq but consulted a higher authority, pointing, presumably, to the heavens. The father also consulted a higher authority: family fixer James Baker. The Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by Baker, pulls no punches in calling Bush’s policies a failure. It’s a statement of the obvious, but when you have a collection of Washington wise men, plus retired Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor (perhaps doing penance for her vote that put Bush in the White House during the disputed 2000 race), it’s the equivalent of last rites for Bush’s Iraq policy, along with his presidency. It’s not a plan for victory because that doesn’t exist except in Bush’s fantasy. The recommendations Baker and company offer—of more international engagement and shifting U.S. troops to a backup role to Iraqi forces—may help the administration manage and mask defeat. Even so, that may be hard for Bush to accept. His body language when receiving the report, while polite, was dismissive, thanking the eminences assembled for breakfast at the White House for dropping off a copy. This president has lost all capacity to lead. Eleven American servicemen died in Iraq on the day Bush was presented the report, which calls the situation there “grave and deteriorating.” Events on the ground threaten to overtake even this grim assessment. And we’re left to analyze Bush’s tender ego and whether he can reverse course on the folly that is killing and maiming countless Iraqis along with U.S. troops. Historians are already debating whether Bush is the worst president ever, or just among the four or five worst. He has little choice but to accept the fundamental direction of the Iraq Study Group. He’s up to his neck in quicksand, and they’ve thrown him a rope. It’s trendy to make fun of the over-the-hill types in Washington, but they’ve done a noble thing in reminding us that war is not just about spin and a way to win elections. It’s about coming together to find a way out, however unpalatable. Bush was asked during the campaign in 2000 what would happen if he lost. He said he’d go back to Texas, watch a lot of baseball and have a great life with Laura and the girls. He’s an accidental president, a man who was vaulted into a job he wasn’t prepared for, and who treated war like a lark. Bush’s father observed between sobs in his Florida speech, “A true measure of a man is how you handle victory and how you handle defeat.” He was talking about Jeb, but surely it’s his first-born who triggers the tears. msnbc.msn.com

To: American Spirit who wrote (91637)	12/11/2006 8:43:05 PM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 363007

Kennedy drops support for a Kerry presidential run in '08 ______________________________________________________________ By Rick Klein Boston Globe Staff December 11, 2006 WASHINGTON --Senator Edward M. Kennedy Monday dropped his public commitment to support Senator John F. Kerry in a 2008 presidential race, saying that he won't wait "indefinitely" for Kerry to declare his intentions while the Democratic primary field takes shape. Kennedy said he doesn't currently plan to endorse another candidate and still might support Kerry if Kerry decides to run. But in an hourlong interview with the Globe's Washington bureau, Kennedy offered strong praise for two of Kerry's possible presidential rivals: senators Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, calling them "formidable figures" who are connecting with rank-and-file Democrats. Kennedy said his oft-stated commitment to support Kerry again was based on the assumption that Kerry would state his intentions by early 2007. Since Kerry pushed back his decision in the wake of following an election-eve "botched joke" that damaged his public standing, however, Kennedy said he has informed Kerry that he may get behind another Democrat for president. "I was under more of the impression before that he was going to run and was waiting in time [to declare his candidacy], but now he's deferred that decision," Kennedy said. "I have no plans of supporting anyone else at this juncture. I'm also not going to just wait indefinitely until he's made a judgment or a decision." Later in the day, Kennedy's office issued a statement clarifying that Kennedy will support Kerry if he declares his presidential candidacy "in the near term," though Kennedy aides declined to define that schedule. Kennedy's comments mark the first public fissure between the two Massachusetts Democrats on the issue of Kerry's presidential aspirations. Kennedy has been one of Kerry's strongest supporters both in the 2004 race against President Bush and in early discussions about the 2008 race. In March 2005, when asked about a possible Clinton run on ABC's "This Week," Kennedy said, "My man is John Kerry." Kennedy endorsed Kerry again last October in an interview with the Associated Press: "If he runs, I would support him." David Wade, a Kerry spokesman, said Kerry values Kennedy's friendship and guidance. While Kerry won't set a specific deadline, Wade said, the senator realizes that he must decide soon. "He has no intention of waiting too long, kicking the can down the road, or holding this decision in limbo," Wade said. "Senator Kerry remains very grateful for Senator Kennedy's ongoing counsel, friendship, and support as he makes this decision" and work together in the Senate. Kennedy's comments come at a difficult time for Kerry. Early polls show him far behind the leading Democrats in potential presidential fields, and many party activists want Democrats to look for a fresh face in 2008. Aides and associates said Kerry has been assessing the political fallout from his comment _ eight days before midterm elections _ suggesting that poor students "get stuck in Iraq." When Republicans blasted him for insulting the troops, Kerry apologized, calling it a "botched joke" meant for President Bush. However, Kerry associates said the stinging public rebukes he got from Democrats revealed the deep skepticism he'd face from his own party if he ran for president again. Losing Kennedy's support would be a huge psychological blow to Kerry's White House ambitions. Though their relationship has been testy at times over the years, Kennedy was instrumental in keeping Kerry's 2004 presidential candidacy alive, working tirelessly for him in Iowa when few believed he could prevail in the party caucuses. Kennedy's praise for Obama and Clinton adds to the growing perception that the two are distinct front-runners for the Democrats' 2008 presidential nomination, with Kerry trailing along with a cluster of lesser-known governors and senators. If Kerry runs again, he'd have to break through a crowded field of emerging contenders, Kennedy said. "You'd have to say that there's a number of people who are out there -- Barack and Hillary, if Barack runs and Hillary runs -- they're obviously very formidable figures," said Kennedy. The senator is set to become chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, a panel on which Obama and Clinton both serve. "They're obviously having a good deal of appeal, because I think that's what people want to hear about," he added. "They are ringing the bells, because they're talking about what people were, I think, concerned about during the course of the [congressional] election." Obama and Clinton have not declared their intentions, but both have made moves in recent weeks that make presidential campaigns appear more likely. In his first visit to New Hampshire, Obama sold out a 1,500-ticket fund-raiser in Manchester on Sunday and was received enthusiastically, and Clinton has begun to connect with local party activists in early-primary states. Kennedy acknowledged that Kerry has more flexibility to decide than some of the other candidates, because he has wide name recognition and a campaign war chest of $13 million. But Kennedy, a presidential contender himself in 1980, demurred when asked his advice for Kerry. "I've known John long enough and been with him enough and he's a good enough friend -- this is going to be something he's going to, you know, make up his own mind about," he said. Assessing the chances of one of the leading Republican presidential contenders, Kennedy said Governor Mitt Romney's strategy of contrasting himself with his home state "has its minuses as well as its pluses." He said the strategy invites comparisons between Romney's record and what he's said while running for office in Massachusetts, including Romney's recently revived 1994 promise to "provide more effective leadership" on gay rights than Kennedy himself, his opponent in that year's Senate race. "People go back through his record and see what he's been and where he's been in terms of Massachusetts, and where he is now coming from," said Kennedy, who defeated Romney in that 1994 campaign for his Senate seat. "That has been increasingly, I would imagine, an issue of concern for him."