To an extent HRC was off my radar for a couple of years. I thought of her in the vague sense of ‘yeah she’ll probably run for President in 2008′ but I didn’t give much serious thought to her prospects. My Hillary Hate didn’t really pick up until Primary Season.

I’d never say she was anything less than 100% politician before the primaries even picked up. I have even said in the past that she is a very good politician; I have no doubt she is cutthroat and would do whatever she had to do to get what she wants. I just think she’s slipped up.

As for the anger, there was Angry Hillary at the 2004 DNC, who was kind of awesome. That woman is very, very tough, but even nerves of steel start to crack at some point. When I was watching the last Hillary/Obama debate, I no longer saw as blazing-angry-politician. It was more of a “If I were Obama, I’d be afraid that Hillary would try & kill me in my sleep.”

Anecdotally, it would be interesting to see her really snap, but she’s too together for that to actually happen. Also, if Obama eventually wins the nomination, will she support him or fade into the background?

The thing about hillary is we know she’s going to “let us down.”

I think people like Obama because he lets us pretend that he’s not going to let us down.

So it’s officially McCain and it’s officially going to be a stupid election.

I predicted yesterday that Hillary will take the Democratic nomination and delay the election of a female president by at least 50 years. (Of course, someone responded with “especially if she wins”) I don’t understand women who say that they’re voting for Hillary because it’s time to get a woman in the White House. I mean, I understand it, I just don’t respect it. I don’t think having Hillary as president would break down any new barriers. Hillary is a rich, white women. Most white women have it pretty good. The lives of the disadvantaged women will not change solely because there is a woman in the White House. Being female does not make her uniquely qualified to handle “women’s issues” nor is it a guarentee that she’d pay any attention to these alleged special issues.

I don’t like Hillary and I don’t like the people she surrounds herself with.

First of all, one of the random top stories on cnn.com was about how 8 people died in a volcano explosion and how this was a catastrophe. How is 8 people dying a catastrophe? They should have just called Tommy Lee Jones or Pierce Brosnon.  Catastrophe, apparently, applies only to things happening outside Iraq. If it happens in Iraq well, that’s just preventing the terrorists from winning.

Second there was a line “Obama To Stop Wearing Flag Pin”

Kevin’s response “Well, looks like I’ve finally decided on a candidate.”

If I were voting Democrat (or rather, if I were a registered Democrat and were voting in the primaries) ((and if New Jersey mattered at all in the primaries)) then that might be enough to get me to vote for Obama. (Also, hating Hillary, but hopefully she’ll be gone by then)

I kind of feel sorry for Edwards. He’s all charming and Southern and innocent looking (even though he is a professional liar). And his son died! It would have been a hook to grab voter sympathy. That sounds terrible, but it’s so true.

Not like any of this is a surprise; Kerry basically swept the primaries, overall. Kerry is certainly not an ideal candidate, but then again, who is? (Besides Andrew Shepard in the American President, of course) And so long as it’s not Howard Dean, I’m mildly satisfied. So Kerry 04’, etc…

I’m still doubting Bush can lose, unless he does something really, really stupid before the election. Bush hasn’t even started campaigning yet, and there are plenty of Nascar dads to convert.

“Dean annouces he will stop campaigning but leave his name on the ballot”

This means, that after the news stops covering Dean’s “BOLD” move, I will see less of him. And less of the woodchuck man is a good thing. I have real qualms with Dean, but it is more fun to be immature and judgemental about it

Marge: Homer it’s very easy to judge…
Homer: Hehe, fun too!
-yes, exactly.

Bah. I don’t like any of the Democrats very much. My burst of enthusiasm for non-Dean characters is ending. (Although I still say Anybody But Bush, Any Democrat but Dean ((but that also sounds cool!))).

Bill Clinton should come back and declare himself Caesar.

And I am only the SECOND biggest Clinton apologist. Kevin beats me, but then again, thats part of the reason he won Coolest Person of 03.

Oh it’s Valentine’s Day, isn’t it? I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day; manufactured love is kind of a turn off. Instead Christina is going to get drunk and I’m going to make sure she doesn’t drunk dial anyone. And I’ll get some good champagne out of it.

Also, does anyone know if Sheryl Crow is “Lesbian Rock” and if she’s a lesbian? This was an object of debate for far longer than it needed to be on Wednesday night. I’m glad we’re all so fucking productive.

This was posted in my comments by the other girl who managed to escape IHHS (and Skidmore!) with some brains, and its so cool that it bears repeating. Her comments in bold

3) I really don’t think its a big deal that Kerry and Edwards voted for the war. Luckily, most Democratic voters don’t seem to think so either.”
-As to this…whatever…the way I see it at that point in time if you voted for the war, good for you, if you voted against the war, you were strung up in Senate. Newsflash Deany-boy…nearly EVERYONE voted FOR the war…old news. so old.

4) Dean did not invent the concept of civil unions. Dean was also not revolutionary in his support of civil unions. But he did not invent the concept. (Just like Al Gore didn’t invent the internet) ((yes but Al Gore did take the initiative to fund the project which started the internet in the 80s, if anyone cares))”
Furthermore contrary to many what many w ithin the GLBTQ community thinks, Dean really isn’t all that great for gay folks. If people actually took the time to go back and look at what Dean was debating back and forth about during the whole civil unions vs. gay marriage thing, I think they’d find that Dean is on par with Kerry. They’re both against gay marriage (and civil unions are NOT the same thing no matter how much the politicians, and some gay activists for that matter, try to dress it up with pretty rainbow ribbons) whereas Edwards actually stated that marriage is a state’s rights issue and while he didn’t come out in support of gay marriage, he also didn’t come out as condemning the recent MA decision either.

7) People who endorsed Dean really screwed up. First of all, it is really dumb to endorse a candidate that early (ie, the Al Gore endorsement…it made no sense to do a YEAR before the election). Now th ere are all these pledged delegates who are realizing “Uh, maybe this guy doesn’t have the support we thought he did”. A man supported by college liberals does not a presidential candidate make. (I wrote that sentence just so I could phrase it like that, because I am so cool)”

no duh AND I jus t want to state that I was attacked on several fronts by other people who fall into the same categories as I do as A) Democrats; B) liberal arts college grads; C) women and D) lesbians, when I said I didn’t support Dean because his policies were pretty shitty and I don’t trust a man who looks like a woodchuck when he’s trying to smile. And yeah, Sassy…you ARE cool

Gina is SO getting a place on the world leadership council. Look for the campaign around 2025

I’ll probably write something more detailed and articulate, but then again, I might decide to get a life.

1) John Edwards is growing on me. He has charisma, he’s a decent politician. He has a southern accent and can charm southern voters.

2) Can someone articulate for me why Kerry ‘sucks’, as my liberal friends keep saying? (Besides the fact that he voted for the war and looks like a tree)

3) I really don’t think its a big deal that Kerry and Edwards voted for the war. Luckily, most Democratic voters don’t seem to think so either.

4) Dean did not invent the concept of civil unions. Dean was also not revolutionary in his support of civil unions. But he did not invent the concept. (Just like Al Gore didn’t invent the internet, hehe) ((yes but Al Gore did take the initiative to fund the project which started the internet in the 80s, if anyone cares))

5) I like Clark better than Kerry in terms of the military men in this race. However, I think a lot of votes that could have gone to Edwards went to Clark. And I like Edwards better than Clark, so I want Clark to drop out

6)Dean even lost to Al Sharpton!

7) People who endorsed Dean really screwed up. First of all, it is really dumb to endorse a candidate that early (ie, the Al Gore endorsement…it made no sense to do a YEAR before the election). Now there are all these pledged delegates who are realizing “Uh, maybe this guy doesn’t have the support we thought he did”. A man supported by college liberals does not a presidential candidate make. (I wrote that sentence just so I could phrase it like that, because I am so cool)

8. Al Sharpton should be given his own TV show. Maybe he can take over the daily show and Jon Stewart can run for president

9) The Daily Show last night rocked, and I want to marry Jon Stewart

10)There should be an industry devoted to gambling on politics

Kevin: total gets on the model un pepole

Auto response from Rachel: Reading about the UN, which is so much less cool than the EU. 5 days in an NYC hotel vs a week in a bungalow park in the Netherlands? It’s just no contest

Rachel: if you ever go back to the netherlands, i highly recommend berksee bergen bungalow park. its only a few letters off from belsen-bergen concentration camp

Kevin: lol

Rachel: super tuesday is march 4 this is like, mini super tuesday coming up

Kevin: dean was heroicly on meet the press (is that a word)

Rachel: did anything cool happen

Kevin: i don’t think so

Kevin: i mean he kept up his attacks on kerry basically

Rachel: how droll

Kevin:

Rachel: dean is such an angry monkey

Kevin: no he isn’t

Rachel: on local news station here, they were interviewing people about the primaries and someone said “i don’t care if its a monkey, as long as it can beat bush”

Kevin: i like his style

Kevin: pro-monkey!

Rachel: someone had to inform her though that we already have a monkey in the white house

Rachel: although monkeys fight each other

Kevin: yes

Rachel: so maybe we could just have that instead of an election

Kerry won the NH primaries!

Had a relatively good conversation with someone about the primaries today regarding “Anybody but Bush, Any Democrat but Dean.” Oh sure, I’ll vote for Dean if he’s the nominee, but really people

What the liberals don’t seem to understand is that the centrist vote is desperately needed. The centrist/swing vote is one of the only sectors that matters in this election. Dems will vote for Dems, Republicans will vote for Republicans, especially in this election. The Dems desperatly, desperately need a candidate who can get the swing votes. These ‘swing votes’ aren’t people who are ‘afraid’ of liberals or Dean’s radicalism or whatever. They just aren’t that liberal.

It will be terrible if Bush wins. Those supreme court justices are getting old…It means a lot of things, but the thing I am personally most worried about (and yes, I know there are certainly more pressing issues, etc) is abortion. I am vehemently pro-choice and can’t stand the thought of that right taken away, blahblahblah pro-choice cakes. That’s another reason I support Kerry over Dean. He’s been far more outspoken regarding woman’s right to choose then Dean. Not that I think Dean would ever try to take away abortion rights, he just won’t do anything to a) protect them b) get rid of some of the ridiculous regulations.

.
I have a lot more to say, but I am too brain-numbed right now. GO 351 is going to kick my ass. I need to spend some quality time with my 10 lb Shakespeare tome. Looks like I’ve got a hot date for the weekend!

In other news, the third eye blind song is STILL in my head. I get songs in my head and they stay there forever.

New plan: Quit government major. Become evil doer and build weather machine to make Upstate NY less of a tundra. Whose with me?? If I’m an evil doer I need a following of conspirators who help me out and follow my orders!

I think I also need a life..

Anyway, the results of Iowa caucus we’re surprising at first, but then when you started to think about it, not that surprising at all.

Kerry won, and although he has no personality, he might be the most qualified of any of the Dems to be president. Plus he’s a Vietnam vet, so they can’t go after him for a military record. A lot of libs don’t like that he voted for the war, but he’s certainly a much better option then Bush. Anyone but Bush…Edwards was second, and although he’s a little too into God for me (he’s Southern) at least he has charisma. A Kerry/Edwards ticket could be pretty powerful against the Bush Dynasty.

Dean was a distance third, and I’m pleasantly surprised. Dean is just unelectable. In addition, I don’t like him. I don’t know why I don’t like him, but I don’t. I mentioned to Brent that it was irrational for me to dislike him for being ‘phony’ because all politicians are phony, but Dean’s brand of phoniness really bugs me! He’s also kind of scary with his anger. He made this really crazy concession speech about how ‘I have only begun to fight’ and he just looked like he was rabid.

Dean’s not really running on anything besides contradicting Bush with the whole Iraq situation. Which someone needs to say, obviously, but he’s made himself into a sound byte candidate. So we went to war, and you didn’t like it. So what.

Most of the candidates have realized that in the minds of voters, that’s in the past. Foreign policy is still a key issue, and they need to have a viable platform. Dean just spouts rhetoric on the subject. That’s certainly not saying that any of the other candidates have any less rhetorical, but at least they’re saying something other than “the war is bad. Bush is bad. I wouldn’t have gone to Iraq.” Because yes Dr. Dean, we already know that, now how about telling us what you are planning on doing?

Dean’s supporters keep saying that people are ‘afraid’ of nominating someone so far left. The thing is, Dean isn’t as far left as he’s pretending to be, if you actually look at his past record. He’s not any more ‘liberal’ in American political terms than Kerry or Edwards. He’s just good at using the right catchphrases right now. And while that’s attracted a certain type of voter, its simply not realistic, and he hasn’t really done anything but complain. Someone like Kerry, Edwards, and Clark CAN get the centrist vote, which, whether lefties like it or not, is going to essential in this election. It has nothing to do with fear, or control, or any of those things Dean keeps spouting. It IS about electability, because its about getting rid of George Bush, and if the Dems could show a united front instead of bitching and nitpicking at each other, then maybe that would be possible.

I still like Clark, but I think the other military guy (Kerry) will beat him out in NH. If Edwards does decently in NH its also going to be a huge boost to the campaign because a lot of the Super Tuesday primaries are in the South. This is actually an exciting primary for once, unlike 2000. Stupid Al Gore. Stupid, stupid Al Gore and the wasted nomination.

In other news, the state of the union is tonight, which is the ultimate in rhetoric. I always get angry about it. Stupid Bush. I really, really, really hope he loses in November.

I’m watching all the primary stuff, and hard as I try, I can’t seem to get into Dean. There’s just something…off…about him that keeps me from enthusiastically supporting him.

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So here, there was a meeting of Howard Dean supporters, and there was a false email sent out that Dean would actually be here.

Which he wasn’t, obviously. Why would Howard Dean come and speak here, in Davis auditorium tha tonly seats about 100 people?

Anyway, on the GWB front, it’s not so much him I hate, it’s the people who fall for his nonsense. This is six months from the fall of the regime in Iraq, and his bs declaration of “major combat over.”  What is of course infuriating is that the same people that jumped on Bill C for lying about a blow job have yet to jump on Bush of course)

If Bill C. had tried to go to war the was Bush did, he would have no domestic support, whereas people rally around Bush with “our president, right or wrong?”