How Trouble in Pakistan and Kenya Helped the Iowa Caucus Winners
Following the death of Benazir Bhutto and the chaos that erupted over the disputed election in Kenya, convention wisdom in the US was that candidates for President who stressed experience over change would stand to benefit.
The argument seems on the surface to be completely plausible. After all, isn’t Hillary Clinton more equipped to handle an international crisis with her years of experience over the upstart Barack Obama? Wasn’t she the candidate to beat? With only 1 term in the senate to his resume, the only link Obama had to Kenya was that his father was from there.
Mike Huckabee was a governor from Arkansas. Unlike many of his rivals he has zero experience in foreign affairs and made several high profile gaffes on the topic.
It seemed that international events were working against both candidates. Yet by the time the polls closed on Tuesday night, conventional wisdom proved to be dead wrong. Why?
It seems that Americans are so distraught on the current state of American affairs that they are willing to embrace anything new.
Consider this. On the Republican ticket there has been a ‘Bush’ or a ‘Dole’ for every national election since 1976 (that’s before this author was born). Since 1988 we have had: Bush, Clinton, Clinton, Bush, Bush. The outcome of the last quarter century of American presidential politics hasn’t exactly been a call for change. Maybe now voters are tired of keeping it in the family. Maybe now after so many years of more of the same, the change crowd will now move front and center.
There is a sense in America that the current Administration has failed to lead in many international fronts. In Pakistan, Bush strongly supported Pervez Musharraf, gave billions in aid that appeared to have been wasted, and failed to push for stronger security for Bhutto. In Kenya the White House initially offered their congratulations to the winner in an election we know know was riddled with flaws so great that the Kenyan attorney general is now calling for a redo.
After mistake after mistake after mistake, could the country do any worse than go with someone new? There is a sense in this country that the old guard has failed us. This failing extends to the media as well. Perhaps that is what is so appealing to Americans about the ‘change’ candidates.
Conventional wisdom says that eventually the experienced and establishment candidates win out. Think back to when the upstart John McCain shocked George Bush in New Hampshire only to be sent back to earth by the establishment in South Carolina. Remember all those stories about Howard Dean and his loyal followers rocking the democratic party with a new style of politics that would make him the 2004 party nominee? Instead, the establishment candidate, John Kerry won, without losing a single important primary to Dean. As it does again and again. And so it was assumed that the same would hold true for 2008, but perhaps, as was the case in Iowa, conventional wisdom in this election cycle will be wrong.
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2 Responses to “How Trouble in Pakistan and Kenya Helped the Iowa Caucus Winners”
Iowa has shown us that the American people can see through the Clintons’ 2-for-1 strategy, which we first heard from Bill back in 1992. At President Bush’s first inauguration, Bill said, “We’ll be back.” It’s part of Bill and Hillary’s life-long plan. Fortunately, it’s been rejected, and we can only hope the rest of the country follows suit.
I did not ask for 2-for-1 then, nor do I ask for it now. That’s just the life-long Clinton strategy that moves Hillary into a position for which she is not qualified.
Every time Bill moves up (Gov of Arkansas), Hillary moves up with him (Attorney General of Arkansas). Bill moves up again (President of the US); Hillary moves up with him (US Senate). See the pattern, women?
Consider what America got with the first Clinton co-Presidency:
• Abuse of the powers of the office of the President
• Granting Presidential pardons to buy Hillary’s election to the Senate. As a woman who made it on my own, Hillary’s need to ride Bill’s coattails and her sense of entitlement (as in “it’s my turn and Obama should wait his turn”) makes me doubt her capabilities.
• Hillary’s long-suffering marriage to Bill, enabling a lifetime of sexual trysts and trying to contain the Bimbo eruptions, gives me a President without the backbone to stand up to a man. Hillary claims to be tough enough to play with the boys when, in fact, she is unable to leave a cheating husband. How will she stand up to other male leaders who see this in “Mrs.” Clinton and walk all over her?
• Being married to a former President does not make one qualified to be President.
Hillary has less experience in elected office than Barack. She’s held elected office for one Senate term plus one year and has introduced no major legislation during that time. She showed us in the interview about Pakistani elections the extent of her foreign policy experience–she did not know what office the election was for or who was on the ballot! Is this the kind of experience we want in the Oval Office?
I am not a “Hillary hater;” I am an America lover. Please consider very carefully which candidate the Democratic Party puts on the ballot. The future of this country absolutely depends on it.
Comment made on January 4th, 2008 at 6:04 pmThe Republican Party is a sick joke, and the people of this country are fed up with them.
From Nixon to Bush, and from Scooter to Larry “Toilet Stall” Craig, the Republicans have proven themselves to be a bunch of lying, corrupt, evil, perverted, over-spending crooks.
When you look at all the money Bill Clinton left this country, it makes us all cry to know that Bush spent it all.
When the money was gone, Bush went to China for help.
Just think, we owe money to China!
That is the Bush way.
Cheney is no better.
You can’t trust either of them.
No one does.
Why are we in Iraq?
The war should be on terror, not in Iraq.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, and yet Bush has spent all that money to fight “his” war.
Yes his, because many Republicans have backed off from the war.
By the way, the war in Iraq has cost the U.S. almost five hundred billion dollars.
Forget Rudy.
Rudy Giuliani is no hero.
While he is often called the hero of 9/11, the truth is that Rudy was a terrible leader during his years as mayor of New York City.
He made bad decisions and took a girlfriend while being married.
In fact, he even wanted his lover to live in the same house with his wife.
Most people would call this perverted.
New Yorkers were so sick of his antics, that they wanted him out of office.
Then came 9/11.
The only reason people call Giuliani a hero today, is because he just happened to be NYC’s mayor during that bad time.
Any mayor would be looked at as a hero if they showed their face under those circumstances.
If there was no 9/11, Rudy would have become a joke.
This is not the kind of leader we want in the White House. In closing, the New York Post reported in their paper on April 23, that Giuliani spent more than $48,000 dollars of campaign money on posh hotels while claiming to have spent the least of all the Republican candidates.
Rudy is a good time leader, and does it with other people’s money.
Forget Mitt.
His ads look bad.
He can’t seem to get his facts right, and will say things to make himself look good.
Red flags go up around him.
I spoke with his son Tagg at the New Hampshire debates back in June (2007), and while he seemed like a nice man, Tagg could not get his facts right either.
The worst Republican as of late, though, is Larry Craig.
He is a lying pervert who wanted gay sex with a strange man on a dirty toilet seat.
He pled guilty, then said he was not guilty.
Say what?
He is another Republican moron.
Did you hear about Washington State Republican Rep. Richard Curtis?
He offered $1,000 to a young man for unprotected sex while dressed in women’s lingerie.
This sort of thing just goes on and on with them.
Remember Mark Foley?
Here is a letter I wrote that was in many newspapers and Web sites:
Once again, the Republicans have turned my stomach with shocking and repulsive behavior.
Mark Foley, a Republican member (now ex-member) of Congress, has sent many e-mails with perverted sexual content to a sixteen year old boy.
This is the same man who while in Congress, backed a bill that was meant to protect children from child predators.
Foley himself, is a man who preyed on a child with lust.
What is also incomprehensible, is the fact that some Republicans knew of Foley’s behavior, and yet, did not take a hard stand against this until it became public news. If I had a teenage son and/or daughter, I would not want them to go near any Republican leader for fear of either or both becoming a victim of a sick Republican pervert.
George Vreeland Hill
There were more than three hundred such letters in newspapers in 2007 alone.
Many of them in New Hampshire.
There are thousands on the Internet.
No lie.
THOUSANDS!
This does not even include articles, ads, radio, TV and other areas where the public takes notice.
In fact, one Republican in California wanted me stopped once, because I was hurting some Republicans in their elections.
I just want to do my part in helping to get rid of every Republican scumbag.
From phone scams to the Union Leader (NH) covering up for Republicans, the garbage never ends.
But the Republican Party will end.
Did you know that George W. Bush once made fun of the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
He did, and in front of some shocked people during a black-tie event in 2004.
He said…. (While looking under a piece of furniture) “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere.”
Then, while pretending to look out of a window, Bush laughed as he said….. “Nope, no weapons over there.”
While he was laughing, there were men and women fighting and dying in Iraq because of WMD.
George W. Bush should be removed from office because of that alone.
Face it, Bill Clinton lied about having sex, and was impeached because of it.
George W. Bush however, did far worse, as he laughed at the very people who are fighting for the United States of America!
That about sums it all up!
(By the way, this Bush/WMD was part of an article and letter I wrote as well.)
This leads us to John McCain.
All he seems to do is attack other candidates.
His Woodstock ad against Hillary Clinton was boring and without the facts.
He tells of Hillary wanting to spend a million dollars on a museum while he (McCain) supports spending more on the war in Iraq.
He wants you to believe that the Democrats are the big spenders, while it is McCain’s Republican Party that has spent all the money Bill Clinton left us to a point where Bush had to borrow money from China.
Think about that again.
We owe to China.
That is the Republican way.
Also, it must be noted that McCain even laughed at war.
Remember when McCain changed the words of a Beach Boys song to Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran?
McCain even laughed when he was done.
He thought starting a war with Iran was a laughing matter.
That is the real John McCain.
He just can’t be trusted.
He is another George Bush, and you know what we got with him.
The Republican Party is a mess, and getting worse.
People do not trust any of them, and we are all tired of their act.
I am doing my best to make sure that no Republican wins an election.
Thank you for your time.
George Vreeland Hill
Comment made on January 4th, 2008 at 10:14 pmLeave a Comment