Daily Rants: Clinton, the primaries, hypocrisy, and much more

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Sunday January 27, 2008 · 7:22 PM PST

2008/01/27 · 19:22

Voting Machines. After the New Hampshire primary there were dozens of posts about how there must have been cheating, fraud, or broken voting machines. Yet, today, I don't see anyone on daily kos posting about the issue of faulty voting machines in South Carolina.

I do not believe there is fraud in either case, but I do think the hypocrisy is appalling and something I would expect from Tim Russert and the mainstream media, not from daily kos diarists.

michaelmapes

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Saturday January 26, 2008 · 4:48 PM PST

2008/01/26 · 16:48

As the South Carolina results come in I was struck by how soon we will know who the Democratic nominee is. I also realized that I had never explained a very personal reason that I have for supporting Senator Clinton. I realized that if I did not share this now, I might not have another chance, because I will be so busy campaigning passionately for Senator Clinton in the next few weeks.

I write a lot about the reasons that I support Hillary Clinton and the reasons I believe that she is best suited to be our next President. A lot of these reasons rely on things like electability, experience, issues, and substance. In this diary I abandon those arguments. I am not abandoning them for good or because they are not valid arguments, I am abandoning them to share a very personal reason that I have for supporting Senator Clinton.

michaelmapes

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Thursday January 24, 2008 · 12:54 PM PST

2008/01/24 · 12:54

It never ceases to amaze me the tactics that other women will use to try and drag Hillary Clinton down. Here's an excerptfrom an article summarizing Senator McCaskill's comments on Senator Clinton

"Missouri voters are won and lost on passion, who is motivated to come out and vote and if people are motivated for change, there is a good result. If Republicans are motivated, whether it's fair or not, no one motivates the Republicans in Missouri like Hillary Clinton."

The GOP, she said, was "in chaos. The only thing I can see right now that excites the very conservative base of the Republican Party in Missouri is coming out to vote against Hillary Clinton and that worries me."

michaelmapes

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Sunday January 20, 2008 · 10:20 AM PST

2008/01/20 · 10:20

Constituencies do matter. Someone left a comment on a diary I wrote the other day that said constituencies were no longer important to winning elections. The Nevada primary illustrates that several key voting blocs were central to Clinton's success.
Hispanics

Clinton defeated Obama 51 to 45 percent, with John Edwards finishing a distant third with 4 percent. Due to a quirk in the rules, however, it wasn't clear if Clinton had won a majority of the state's delegates.

and women

The results in Nevada had encouraging signs for Mrs. Clinton. She did well among women and Hispanics, two constituencies she is counting on as the campaign heads toward a coast-to-coast showdown in 22 states on Feb. 5.

Poll

726 votes Show Results

Who will win the South Carolina primary?

726 votes Vote Now!

Who will win the South Carolina primary?

Clinton

511 votes

Obama

207 votes

Edwards

8 votes

Highlights From Springfield, MO

michaelmapes

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Thursday January 17, 2008 · 10:52 AM PST

2008/01/17 · 10:52

The last few weeks has brought a lot of disagreements between Democrats about who should be the Democratic Presidential nominee. All the focus on the Democratic contenders left me little time to blog about the people we can all agree to hate: the Republicans. The local paper of Springfield, MO (the city in which I attend college) is called the Springfield News Leader. Here are a few highlights from the opinion section.

Enjoy!

Michael G. Beck writes,

Are we not about to elect the chief executive of the executive branch? There has never been a more experienced executive or manager to be a candidate for president than Mitt Romney.

And it continues

With Romney, you get a scandal-free, experienced executive, a family man and a man of faith. Who has been more qualified to be president?

I would agree with Mr. Beck's conclusion that there is no one more experienced to be President except for the fact that other people exist!

michaelmapes

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Sunday January 13, 2008 · 10:57 AM PST

2008/01/13 · 10:57

Barbara Grier said, "It is the closet that is our sin and shame." This is a bold statement. If LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) individuals want to mount a meaningful challenge to heterosexism bold statements will be required. For too long it has been deemed acceptable by the LGBT community to argue for acceptance of LGBT individuals that "choose" to stay in the closet. The decision to stay in the closet is a coerced choice that harms not only the individual but also the LGBT population as a whole.

Every single person who comes out of the closet (with the possible exception of Ted Haggard) benefits the project of gay rights and equality. Coming out of the closet challenges two of the fundamental pillars of heterosexism. First, it challenges the belief that gay people do not exist. Second, it confronts the belief that being gay is a disease that only affects non-normal people.

michaelmapes

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Saturday January 12, 2008 · 10:58 AM PST

2008/01/12 · 10:58

The Democrats are lucky to have three very capable candidates running for President. Each person brings something unique to the race, and each person appears presidential. That said, I believe that Senator Hillary Clinton is the most electable candidate. This diary is not meant to argue that electability is the only criteria that should be taken into consideration when choosing a President. This diary is also not meant as an attack on Senator Obama. The purpose of this diary is to centralize the reasons I believe Senator Clinton is the most electable.

michaelmapes

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Friday January 11, 2008 · 7:31 PM PST

2008/01/11 · 19:31

I do not have much time to write a huge blog today, and I wanted to take a break from writing about the election. My friend Britton does not have a blog, however, he composed this short note, and I asked if he would allow me to post it here. We are both very concerned about our generations obsession with Ron Paul. Here is the note.

When I hear older people reminisce about the crowning achievements of their respective generations, I often find myself pondering about what type of systemic or political impact our generation will be remembered for. You know where I'm going with this. Our generation's endless pursuit of hyper-libertarianism is profoundly disturbing to me. My grandparents generation ended segregation. My parents generation ended the Vietnam War. What is our generation going to end? The estate tax?

michaelmapes

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Thursday January 10, 2008 · 1:17 PM PST

2008/01/10 · 13:17

The Obamamania that has been sweeping the globe in recent weeks is almost as irritating to me as my generation's obsession with the MTV hit show Tila Tequila. The blog-o-sphere is making the same mistake as big media by its refusal to subject Barack Obama to a serious evaluation process. This willful refusal to vet Senator Obama will leave us in serious peril during a general election if he becomes the Democratic nominee. There are several problems I do not think that Obama should be the nominee.

michaelmapes

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Wednesday January 09, 2008 · 2:15 PM PST

2008/01/09 · 14:15

Hillary Clinton should be the next President of the United States. She is respected around the world, she is very intelligent, and no one doubts her seriousness about hard work. As Clinton goes forward I decided to write a message to all of her supporters. There are four things that every Clinton supporter should be aware of. Being aware of these four things will help make us better advocates for Senator Clinton.

1.Sexism is still deeply ingrained in American politics. I naively underestimated the role that sexism would play in this election. I desired to believe that men, especially liberal men like Obama and Edwards, would have moved above sexism. After watching the New Hampshire debate on Saturday it is clear that the sexism is alive. The way Obama and Edwards came to each other's defense, while perhaps politically savy, showed that Clinton was not off base when she talks about the all boys club of presidential politics.

Sexism may have been one of the major reasons Hillary did not perform as well as she had hoped in Iowa. Gloria Steinem, in her article, "Women are Never Front-runners" notes that

RSS

Daily Rants: Clinton, the primaries, hypocrisy, and much more

Hillary Clinton and strong women

Senator McCaskill: Sexism, politics, and the Republican play book

What Nevada Taught Us About Hillary

Highlights From Springfield, MO

Being out of the closet is a responsibility not a privilege

Why Clinton is the Most Electable

Ron Paul

Why Not Obama?

4 Things Hillary Supporters Should Know