Clinton and Obama: First comes love…

I love perfect timing. To kill time at work, I was reading this story:

Bill Clinton: Race, gender key in S.C.

It included this great quote from Bill Clinton:

Voting for president along racial and gender lines "is understandable because people are proud when someone who they identify with emerges for the first time," the former president told a Charleston audience while campaigning for his wife.

He was basically said, black voters are voting for Obama simply because he’s black. (It also kinda implied that women would vote for Hillary because she's a woman) Nice. I’m sure that didn’t offend anybody. Sorry to have to tell you this, but only white males aren't superficial in their decision making process. Read the full story at some point, it’s filled with bickering between both candidates. It really shows how Obama is running against both Clintons.

Now, at the EXACT same time that I was reading this story, I got an campaign email from Michelle Obama, “the wife”, with the subject line: What We Didn’t Expect.

I’ll let her explain in her own words:

“In the past week or two, another candidate's spouse has been getting an awful lot of attention.

We knew getting into this race that Barack would be competing with Senator Clinton and President Clinton at the same time.

We expected that Bill Clinton would tout his record from the nineties and talk about Hillary's role in his past success. That's a fair approach and a challenge we are prepared to face.

What we didn't expect, at least not from our fellow Democrats, are the win-at-all-costs tactics we've seen recently. We didn't expect misleading accusations that willfully distort Barack's record.

Barack Obama isn't relying on a former President of the United States to campaign for him.”

I love it; this race is officially REALLY interesting to me.

See you on Law & Order Fred Thompson

Fred Thompson Drops Presidential Bid

I would like to congratulate Fred Thompson for the least spirited presidential campaign in history. I don’t see how an old boring guy with no outspokenness didn’t get more support.

Last summer, many pundits considered him a potential frontrunner. Here’s what I said in an earlier post:

I may vote for him, but he’ll need to stand up and be a little more outspoken. Stop reading from a script and speak from the heart…He’s normal enough. If he ever wakes up and uses his personality, he may win this thing.

Well, he didn’t and now he’s kaput. What a waste.

GTKTPRFP - Who Wants My Help?

I got a personal call today from a supporter of Barack Obama. The volunteer’s name was Liz and she encouraged me to vote for Barack, let me know that early voting was underway, and invited me to visit Barack Obama’s Tennessee headquarters here in Nashville. She also asked how I would be interested in helping the campaign. I don’t think I’m going to help him, but it was an incredible show of his push into TN. Two thumbs up for the nice lady Liz and for Obama’s campaign in general.

On another note, I got an email from Rudolph Giuliani’s campaign today. It was an endorsement written by a Hollywood celebrity. It was from Jon Voight. Yeah, that Jon Voight. Who in their right mind got this email and thought: “You know what, I was leaning toward Mitt Romney, but this shakes EVERYTHING up.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Jon Voight. His range in portraying FDR in Pearl Harbor to Larry Zoolander is one for the history books.
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He’s a likable guy (Well except to Angelina Jolie. Yeah I watch E!, back off), but who cares who this guy votes for? Two thumbs down for random irrelevant political endorsements. (Mine included)

GTKTPRFP - Hillary Clinton: Part I (Seriousness Level: Severe)

*Disclaimer - For every candidate I’m going to devote 2 hours to look over their opinions on key issues and pointing out where I disagree. Then I’ll be looking at the major issues playing in the media that will dissuade people from voting for them. I’m trying to summarize thoughts, so please don’t take my words as absolute fact. If you have any gripes with my summary, please look to the candidate’s website for their official opinion. This is my interpretations from 2 hours ONLY. I reserve the right to change my opinion as this proceeds.


Baseball Card Statistics:
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Full Name: Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton
Age: 60
Marital Status: Politically Married to Bill Clinton
Party Affiliation: Democratic
Most Recent Office Held: Junior Senator, New York
College: Wellesley College, Yale Law School
Religious Affiliation: United Methodist
Eric’s Official Nickname: HillBilly
Official Candidate website: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/
Randomness: She has won a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in 1997 for the book “It Takes a Village” audio recording.
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Pre-issue thoughts
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For some reason, I don’t like her. Not really sure why just yet. Maybe it’s because everybody around the Clinton’s ends up dead. Yeah, I’ve had 2 clients independently tell me that a bodyguard died at Waco, aids getting knocked, just random stuff happens to people who cross the Clinton’s. I’m sure all of this is silly and made up and those people were anarchists, but I still haven’t heard anything that bad about any other candidate. Well besides the Internet rumor that Dennis Kucinich killed the Wizard of Oz. Also, what a crazy dynamic of a former first lady becoming the President. She used to make Bill sandwiches in the White House and know she may be running the free world. Step up for HillBilly. Also, let’s pretend that Bill is a devout Christian. How could he ever “lead his family”, when his wife is the most powerful person in the world? Talk about a getting knocked down a few notches. But HillBilly is the “Democratic establishment choice” as of right now. A victory by Obama would liven this up going to New Hampshire. I hope this happens.
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Abbreviated Interesting Issue Watch
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Immigration – HillBilly calls for “a path to earned legal status for those who are here, working hard, paying taxes, respecting the law, and willing to meet a high bar.” I have mixed feelings about this. I mean, somebody broke our laws to get in our country. So then, since they are behaving themselves, we’re supposed to forget how they got here in the first place. That’s like me breaking into somebody’s house, but because I started cleaning and helping around the house, they let me stay. Ok, maybe that’s a bad example, but at least you see where I’m going with it. I do believe that we need to make it easier for people to become citizens. One of my professors was from Spain and was working for a couple years on a work visa and couldn’t get citizenship. It seems like he should have been shoo-in for citizenship.
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“Hillary believes we need to repair those broken portions of our immigration system that irrevocably damage families and force citizens and lawful immigrants to choose between their newly adopted country and living with their spouse or children.” This makes sense. Shannon and I saw a man at the US-Mexican border who had to talk to his wife and children through a fence. That got me thinking though. ANYBODY can stroll into Mexico near San Diego. We walked in with no problems, not even an ID check. So this guy that was talking to his family HAD to be an illegal immigrant. Right? Because he could have walked in to talk to them, but I guess he was afraid he couldn’t get back to the US. That’s all I can think of. Sad and illegal. Bad times at the Mexican border. (Side note: Tijuana is the scariest place I’ve ever been; but that’s a post for another time.)
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Abortion – “Hillary has fought the relentless and insidious efforts by far-right Republicans to limit the protections of Roe v Wade, while also working hard to expand access to family planning services.” Look HillBilly, I’m not far-right. Religion aside, I just don’t see how a nation can justify abortion. In the cases where a rape causes pregnancy, a woman should be able to have an abortion. She never chose that for her body. No offense to anybody, but isn’t abortion the termination of another life? How is this legal?
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Here’s the thing I don’t get. Why is abortion only legal until a certain time in the pregnancy? What’s the magical line? Oh, here it is: “the state's interest in protecting "potential life" prevailed in the third trimester unless the woman's health was at risk.” I wonder how often the health of a woman comes into play. If that’s the case, what a tough decision. I know a woman wants to “have complete control over her fertility and pregnancy”; but at what expense.
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“Hillary has seen what happens when governments try to control a woman's reproductive health decisions. Whether it was Romania under a dictatorship saying you had to have children for the good of the state or China saying you had to have only one child for the good of the state, governments have dictated the most private and important decisions that we as individuals or families can make.”
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Umm..yeah, great comparison HillBilly. I’m not saying that government should create birth quotas. I think the government should protect life whether is old, normal, deformed, or in a woman’s belly. I know this is a tough issue, but if a woman had consensual sex, in normal health, they should not be allowed to terminate a pregnancy. It seems like they would be ending a life for their own convenience.
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Iraq – "Our message to the president is clear. It is time to begin ending this war -- not next year, not next month -- but today.
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Ok, I’m with you so far.
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"Well, the right strategy before the surge and post-escalation is the same: start bringing home America's troops now."
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Still good.
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“As president, one of Hillary's first official actions would be to convene the Joint Chiefs of Staff, her Secretary of Defense, and her National Security Council. She would direct them to draw up a clear, viable plan to bring our troops home starting with the first 60 days of her Administration.”
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Heard this before.
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"A New Intensive Diplomatic Initiative in the Region. In her first days in office, Hillary would convene a regional stabilization group composed of key allies, other global powers, and all of the states bordering Iraq."
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WHAT!? She’ll convene a group of all states bordering Iraq. That’s nice. Will she ask nice? Will she bribe them? All this sounds nice and all, but its kind of a pipe dream. Do you really think that Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Turkey are all going to sit down and have any sort of a consensus on Iraq?! That’s not counting the struggle for Iraq between the Shiites, Sunni, and Kurds. It seems like HillBilly is assuming this will be as simple as asking for delegates from Vermont, New Hampshire, and California to get together over tea. The only way that group is getting together is if HillBilly wants to invade Israel.
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Eric’s Gut Feeling After 2 Hours of Research
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She’s got the name recognition to carry her a long way. I don’t now if she’s electable though. Don’t most Republicans despise her? I think Obama/Edwards is a safer choice for the Dems.
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Eric’s Official Rating
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I give her a 65. Would she have gotten anywhere without her husband? She’s a genius, but she’s still Bill’s wife to me. Nothing terrible impressive and I disagree with a lot of her core values. I’ll be writing about her more, but probably not in a good way.

GTKTPRFP - Barack Obama: Part I (Seriousness Level: Severe)

*Disclaimer - For every candidate I’m going to devote 2 hours to look over their opinions on key issues and pointing out where I disagree. Then I’ll be looking at the major issues playing in the media that will dissuade people from voting for them. I’m trying to summarize thoughts, so please don’t take my words as absolute fact. If you have any gripes with my summary, please look to the candidate’s website for their official opinion. This is my interpretations from 2 hours ONLY. I reserve the right to change my opinion as this proceeds.

Baseball Card Statistics:

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Full Name: Barack Hussein Obama

Age: 46

Marital Status: Married to Michelle Obama

Party Affiliation: Democratic

Most Recent Office Held: Junior Senator, Illinois

College: Columbia University, Harvard Law School

Religious Affiliation: United Church of Christ

Eric’s Official Nickname: Ophrama

Official Candidate website: http://www.barackobama.com/

Randomness: He is a pretty good poker player and is trying to quit smoking.
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Pre-issue thoughts
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Ophrama is the most interesting candidate running for President in my opinion. But he’s facing a couple challenges. First, randomly, no United States senator has been elected president since John F. Kennedy. He doesn’t have a ton of experience, compared to heavyweights McCain and Biden. But for me, the key and tough question to ask is: “Can a non-white, multi-cultural candidate win the Presidency, whose name happens to be Barack Hussein Obama?” I mean are you kidding me? I know there are millions of Muslims named Hussein that are great, but running for President with that name. We just got done invading Iraq, which lead to the trial and execution of a guy named, wait for it…Hussein. I guess it’s like the Michael Bolton line from Office Space. One guy ruins it for the rest of them. Ophrama should have changed his name last month to George Lincoln Kennedy. But he’s a unique guy who has the backing of Oprah. Now that’s a heck of an endorsement. She should travel to different speaking locations and give his audiences new Dodge Neons or something. I really want to like this guy.
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Abbreviated Interesting Issue Watch

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Iraq – Regardless of your feelings about the war, we’re there, things aren’t going great, and some sort of plan needs to be put into place. Democrats blame the war on the Bush Administration, but they voted for it too. I’ve said this before, but one website projects the Iraq War has cost us $482 billion. That’s unbelievable. I love that Ophrama always lays out everything in practical steps. It doesn’t feel like its as much jargon and that’s actually thought about this stuff before. Here are a couple of his points: Bringing Our Troops Home; Regional Diplomacy; and Press Iraq’s Leaders to Reconcile.
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First Ophrama, you can press all you want. You’re not going to persuade leaders following separate doctrine to just because the US wants them to. He says “The best way to press Iraq’s leaders to take responsibility for their future is to make it clear that we are leaving.” In a related story: Insurgents rejoice that the infidel is leaving their country and begin assassinating US-backed leaders. (See Pakistan).
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Also about regional diplomacy: “Obama will launch the most aggressive diplomatic effort in recent American history to reach a new compact on the stability of Iraq and the Middle East.” Then the next day he will begin to make sure to put down the Alabama-Auburn and Ohio State-Michigan rivalries. I like his moxie, but I think it’s a little presumptuous.
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He is also going to begin bringing troops home immediately. “Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months.” I’m not smart enough to know the difference, but I wonder if this includes all National Guard units, etc. Also, what if the region goes crazy? Are we still pulling out then? What if there is a coo and another bad guy takes over? Are we calling a do-over and going back in later? I think we’re in a mess and this is too simple an answer.
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National Security – Here are his category listings for homeland protection: “Evacuating Special Needs Population in Emergencies; Keeping Track of Spent Nuclear Fuel; Protecting the Public from Radioactive Releases; Keeping Our Drinking Water Safe” At least these are practical. He doesn’t really mention the Patriot Act, because he voted to keep it around. He spoke against it before he became a Senator and then…whoops.
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Eric’s Gut Feeling After 2 Hours of Research

I think he’s an interesting candidate. I disagree a lot with comments on Faith and his view of US Healthcare. He’s going to be around for a while, so I can discuss him in-depth again. If I were a Democrat in Iowa, I would probably be voting today for Biden, Ophrama, Edwards in that order. It will be interesting how America continues to respond to him. I think that he would/will make an incredible VP candidate, but we’ll see. By the way, don’t you think that Iowa has a little too much power in this race? Right Said Fred might drop out if he loses Iowa. Are all states that similar? I mean if Fred is more popular in the South, then why would he pack up shop after performing bad in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada? Shouldn’t he just start campaigning everywhere else and go for the bigger stats? I guess that’s why I don’t work for CNN.

Eric’s Official Rating

I give him an 81. If I woke up tomorrow, I wouldn’t be ramming my head in the wall. That’s good enough for now I guess.

GTKTPRFP - Fred Thompson: Part I: (Seriousness Level: Severe)

*Disclaimer - For every candidate I’m going to devote 2 hours to look over their opinions on key issues and pointing out where I disagree. Then I’ll be looking at the major issues playing in the media that will dissuade people from voting for them. I’m trying to summarize thoughts, so please don’t take my words as absolute fact. If you have any grips with my summary, please look to the candidate’s website for their official opinion. This is my interpretations from 2 hours ONLY. I reserve the right to change my opinion as this proceeds.

Baseball Card Statistics:

Full Name: Fred Dalton Thompson
Age: 65
Marital Status: 2nd Wife, Jeri – Married for 5 years
Party Affiliation: Republican
Most Recent Office Held: Former US Senator from Tennessee
College: Memphis State/Vanderbilt
Religious Affiliation: Church of Christ
Eric’s Official Nickname: Right Said Fred
Official Candidate website: http://www.fred08.com/
Randomness: Played a district attorney named Arthur for 5 years on Law & Order.

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Pre-issue thoughts

I was making conversation with one of my clients about 6 months ago and knew he loved politics. So I casually asked who he thought the Republican candidate for President was going to be. Without hesitation, he said Right Said Fred would be the next President of the United States. My client is a self-made millionaire and a VERY smart man, so I’ve felt Right Said Fred was a front-runner for quite a while. The common line that keeps being uttered is: When is Right Said Fred going to break out of his shell. Nothing about this man stands out. He’s a prototype Republican candidate, but without ANY excitement. But he does have a couple things going that I like. He’s from Tennessee, he graduated law school from Vanderbilt, and his wife is a landslide favorite in the hottest potential first wife race. She is what we call a trophy wife. So with Right Said Fred; I want to like him, I’m just kinda bored with him. He has this incredible TV personality, but it hasn’t translated into the race. I think he should wear shirts that say: “Remember me, I’m the Law & Order guy” or “Arthur Branch and Jack McCoy 2008”.

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Interesting Issue Watch

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Immigration – For the most part, Right Said Fred is identical to other Republican candidates on immigration. But something stood out to me, and not in a good way. On his website, he starts out with this statement: “The United States is a nation of immigrants. Throughout our history, legal immigrants have brought energy, ideas, strength, and diversity to our country, our economy, and our culture.” Well, we are a nation of immigrants, well..besides the Native Americans, but that’s something for another time. What got to me was later in his immigration section when he said he was committed to: “Uniting Americans by welcoming legal immigrants willing to learn English, assimilate into our communities, and become productive citizens.” So on one hand, he praises the diversity of immigrants, but then is committed to making them assimilate into our communities. I know he just wants them to become productive, but the word assimilate is a very dangerous one. It’s basically loss of native culture and being absorbed into a new one. So listen up foreigners. If Right Said Fred becomes president be sure to bribe the immigration office with hot dogs, fireworks, and bad mortgages.

National Security – To come up with his platform on National Security, I imagine his people sat around a table and basically said: “Ok, lets just paste together a bunch of scary terrorism-related words”. Here are some of my favorite words and phrases from his 150-word intro paragraph. Protect the American People; Way of life; Radical Islam; Al Qaeda; Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD); Kill Millions; Defeat the Terrorists Abroad; Iraq and Afghanistan; Global War; Will to Fight and Win; A Weakened America; We must persevere; Mapping out a Clear Vision; (and my personal favorite broad meaningless phrase)Comprehensive Strategy.

So nearly a 1/3 of his words were either scary or political jargon. I’m kinda scared to leave my house now. I want a candidate to be blunt. I wish it said: “people hate us, they’ll always hate us. We need to figure how to prevent Americans from being murdered because of that hate.” Now THAT’S a blunt/broad statement I can deal with.

He also promotes: “A judicial system that deals with the realities of terrorists and unlawful enemy combatants.” English translation: “If I want to kick down your door because you last name sounds funny, I shouldn’t need a warrant. Let’s go Patriot Act”

Family Values – He states that his pro-life and against same-sex marriage. RANT: It’s hard for me to see how people are for same-sex marriage, but are also pro-choice. I agree that a government should not be able to discriminate against individuals for life-style choices. I am personally against same-sex marriage (because of personal beliefs), but I also realize that from a national level, our citizens should not be held to different standards. I mean, if you say you’re for same-sex marriage, don’t you HAVE to be pro-life. Not even from a religious point of view. Doesn’t the unborn child deserve the same rights that are being demanded for same-sex couples? We must protect the rights of individuals. When a woman becomes pregnant, she still should have rights, just as long as they aren’t at the expense of others, specifically the one inside her. I mean, we ban smoking in public because of second-hand smoke, but abortion is ok….really? By saying a mother’s right to choose is more important that a child’s life; you are making a similar argument to “traditional couples” deserve better governmental treatment than alternative life-style couples. You are taking one segment of the population and treating them better than another. If you want equal rights for everybody, then promote equal rights for EVERYBODY.

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Eric’s Gut Feeling After 2 Hours of Research

Look, this guy’s great, but he’s a clone. I can’t find a reason to vote for him, but no real hindrances from voting for him. Maybe that’s a good thing. If you want a safe, bland President, here’s you man. I may vote for him, but he’ll need to stand up and be a little more outspoken. Stop reading from a script and speak from the heart. COME ON ARTHUR!

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Eric’s Official Rating

I’ll give him a 75. He’s normal enough. If he ever wakes up and uses his personality, he may win this thing.

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Tomorrow Afternoon: Rudy Giuliani

GTKTPRFP - Ron Paul: Part I: (Seriousness Level: Severe)

*Disclaimer - For every candidate I’m going to devote 2 hours to look over their opinions on key issues and pointing out where I disagree. Then I’ll be looking at the major issues playing in the media that will dissuade people from voting for them. I’m trying to summarize thoughts, so please don’t take my words as absolute fact. If you have any grips with my summary, please look to the candidate’s website for their official opinion. This is my interpretations from 2 hours ONLY. I reserve the right to change my opinion as this proceeds.

Baseball Card Statistics:

Full Name: Ronald Ernest Paul

Age: 72

Marital Status: Wife, Carol – Married for 50 years

Party Affiliation: Republican

Most Recent Office Held: US Congressman from Texas

College: Duke

Religious Affiliation: Baptist

Eric’s Official Nickname: Rupaul

Official Candidate website: http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

Randomness: He recently had the largest one-day fundraiser in US history.

Pre-issue thoughts

I’ll be honest. Rupaul’s opinions are powerful. He’s a Republican candidate that has previously been endorsed by the Constitution Party and ran for president in 1988 as the Libertarian candidate. He walks across party lines and stands up for what HE believes in. I really feel like he loves this country more than anything and sometimes that gets him into trouble. Reading through his statements on issues, for every opinion I loved, the next I disagreed with, maybe hated. Like when he said 9/11 was kind of our fault. Yeah, that’s not very good. I would love to talk with Rupaul for about 5 hours, but I’m not sure yet if I’d want him to be my president.

Interesting Issue Watch

Global Diplomacy: To cut to the chase, Rupaul thinks that the US should not be a part of any international body in which decisions are ultimately made for the US, i.e. the United Nations. Quote time: “Under no circumstances should the U.S. again go to war as the result of a resolution that comes from an unelected, foreign body, such as the United Nations.” Rupaul goes on to imply that he likes the idea of the U.N. for diplomacy sake, but not where an international body can vote to make laws for our country. Hmm…how to respond to this? I agree that other countries should not be making decisions for us, but we have to get global input before we take actions with global impact. I don’t think he’s promoting an isolationism policy, but we can’t just shut our doors and pretend everything outside is ok. Speaking of shutting doors…

Immigration: Let’s allow Rupaul to throw the first couple grenades. These two come out of his six point plan for immigration reform.

1) Physically secure our borders and coastlines. We must do whatever it takes to control entry into our country before we undertake complicated immigration reform proposals.

2) End birthright citizenship. As long as illegal immigrants know their children born here will be citizens, the incentive to enter the U.S. illegally will remain strong.

I vote for a climbing wall to be placed around the Canadian and Mexican borders. Then we can use our American Gladiators to race up and pull them down before they get over. This worked in the early 90s and it will work today. Have I told you I’m excited about NBC bringing back that show?
About the birthright issue: It’s clearly stated in the controversial 14th Amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” So Rupaul is calling to amend an amendment to get the constitution back to an earlier state. It’s like trying to triple stamp a double stamp.

Iraq/Patriot Act: I gave this its own area; because I think it’s worth nothing that Rupaul is a rare Republican that has always been against the war in Iraq and the Patriot Bill (he voted against both). I as a God fearing Republican hippy have always been afraid to say how much I despise the idea of the Patriot Bill and the war in Iraq. So I feel a pretty good connection here. As a disclaimer, I think our military should always be supported at times like these. We all have friends or family that’s been impacted. Anti-war does not mean Anti-soldiers. It’s a shame our troops are over there without a long-term solution for the region. That’s all. A couple great points by Rupaul:

“The war in Iraq was sold to us with false information. The area is more dangerous now than when we entered it. We destroyed a regime hated by our direct enemies, the jihadists, and created thousands of new recruits for them. This war has cost more than 3,000 American lives, thousands of seriously wounded, and hundreds of billions of dollars. Both Jefferson and Washington warned us about entangling ourselves in the affairs of other nations.”

Was Saddam good for the world; of course not. But if you’re taking him down, you gotta go after a list of dictators that are equally punishing their people. One site estimates the cost of the war at $400 billion dollars or $4,100 per household. Yeesh. For Rupaul, this issue is more of an "I told you so". I don't like that he can use this example to rule out justified international action at a later date though.

And the Patriot Act. It was sold to us at a time of fear as a way to protect us. It’s even got a name that suggests that if you’re against it, you’re a nazi. Look, I don’t want to get into an ends justifies the means argument. Who knows how many lives its saved. But there has to be a point where you stop giving up civil liberties to the government. If somebody busted into your house tonight without a warrant, cited the Patriot Act, what would you say? I would probably start by hiding all my Cat Stevens albums.

Eric’s Gut Feeling After 2 Hours of Research

I think Rupaul is a great Congressman. He is somebody who is not afraid to offer a dissenting opinion in times when public pressures are clouding long-term judgment. I’m very bothered by some things he says. He’s very intent on protecting the US at all costs. I think he may resist entering into future international affairs that we need to be involved in. In Washington and Jefferson’s time, the world was a very big place. It probably took 3 years to get from Independence, Missouri to Oregon. And even then you would have to hunt buffalo and make sure you didn’t come down with cholera or get a snake bite. Now, innovations have made the world smaller, a place where the US needs be a world player.

The question I’m asking myself now is: Do I want a leader who leads by a set of personal beliefs and who is not afraid to offend a part of the country to put them into practice?

Eric’s Official Rating

Rupaul is very polarizing. Somebody I really respect said he is crazy and would never vote for him. Some other people seem to be very intrigued at what this man is fully about. I’m going to give him an 84 at this point. At the very least, he makes Mittens look boring and bland. I want to learn more about him, the good and bad.

I may be very naïve to consider voting for him, but regardless, he’s very good for this 2008 race and will hopefully force the other candidates to come out of their shells a bit more.

Tomorrow Afternoon: Fred Thompson

GTKTPRFP - Mitt Romney: Part I: (Seriousness Level: Severe)

For every candidate I’m going to devote 2 hours to look over their opinions on key issues and pointing out where I disagree. Then I’ll be looking at the major issues playing in the media that will dissuade people from voting for them. I’m trying to summarize thoughts, so please don’t take my words as absolute fact. If you have any grips with my summary, please look to the candidate’s website for their official opinion. This is my interpretations from 2 hours ONLY. I reserve the right to change my opinion as this proceeds.

Baseball Card Statistics:

Full Name: Williard Mitt Romney
Age: 50
Marital Status: Wife, Ann – Married for 38 years
Party Affiliation: Republican
Most Recent Office Held: Governor of Massachusetts
College: BYU
Religious Affiliation: Mormon
Eric’s Official Nickname: Mittens
Official Candidate website: http://www.mittromney.com/
Randomness: His family has a blog called Five Brothers.

Interesting Issue Watch

Terrorism: Mittens seems to have a very practical approach to combating terrorism. He sees the issue larger than any specific country or any one terrorist group, i.e. Al Qaeda. A title of one of his “issue watch” pieces is “Confronting Radical Jihad”. He calls it this century’s nightmare. The main point that jumped out is his call for the creation of the Special Partnership Force. This sounds a little like a superhero club. I like it. Basically this would coordinate our anti-terrorist activities under one military banner. I think this is a wise way to combat terror. Focus on individual cells rather than blow up countries that harbor terrorists.

"This [Special Partnership] Force would work hand-in-glove with local host governments. Together, they would seek to target and separate terrorists from the local population, and to disrupt and defeat them. (Remarks At AEI World Forum, 6/21/07)

Illegal Immigration: Apparently illegal immigration has skyrocketed from 3 millions per year in 1997, to over 12 million last year. Who’s counting these people? Shouldn’t they be arresting them instead of counting? Just a thought. Anyway, snow Mittens agrees, and has two points I haven’t heard before (I’m learning these issues, so this may be a common thought):

From his website:

Implement An Enforceable Employer Verification System. Issue a biometrically-enabled and tamperproof card to non-citizens and create a national database for non-citizens so employers can easily verify their legal status in this country.

This sounds WAY too much like a George Orwell book for me. Maybe we should give them tattoos of I’s on their arms. Then we can catalog them in one of my wife’s fancy spreadsheets. Maybe this is good, sounds a little weird though.

Punish Sanctuary Cities. Cut back federal funding to cities that are "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants and refuse to comply with federal law or aid federal law enforcement.

Now we’re talking. Just like cities that didn’t adhere to the national seatbelt law, let’s bring the hammer down on cities that aren’t complying. Let’s give something teeth, even though this would be almost impossible to imploy.

Eric’s Gut Feeling After 2 Hours of Research

Look, I’m trying to give each candidate a lot of my time. I know that 2 hours doesn’t sound like much, but it feels like a lot, especially because most party candidates say the same stuff. My opinions will grow, so more depth will be added as the time goes. There’s one thing that KEEPS getting brought up about Mittens: He’s a Mormon. So the question of the day is: Does religious affiliation matter when electing a president? Of course it does to some degree. I think it would be naïve to think otherwise. I live by a certain set of morale guidelines. The happen to run hand in hand with the Bible. They’re based solely from that. So why would I vote for somebody that differs dramatically from my personal set of moral guidelines?

So the larger issue for me is: Would Mitt Romney’s religious beliefs negatively impact the county as a whole? (Side note: I don’t understand the full differences between our two faiths. And there is a difference. This isn’t the time to address everything, but there are differences). I don’t see the difference between a Mormon and another candidate who calls himself a Southern Baptist just to get votes.

Eric’s Official Rating

As of today, my ranking system is out of 100 points. Those 100 points are arbitrarily thrown around. Anything under 50, I will not consider voting for and pretend they don’t exist. From 51-75, I will keep my eye on for new developments. If they do something interested, they get a second column. Anybody will an initial score of over 75 will receive a second column in the coming weeks. I know that’s about as simply as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but I’m new at this so give me a break.

I’m giving Mittens an early score of 80. We share a lot of similarities on the issues he comments on, but I’m not blown away. He has a very high appeal with voters and that makes him VERY relevant. Seems like a good guy and any Republican that wins office in Massachusetts has to have something going for him.

Tomorrow Afternoon: Ron Paul

Politics 101 (Seriousness Level: High)

In a lifelong quest to better educate myself, I’m going being a new daily series titled: “Get to know the people running for President”. But for shortness (and out or respect for Dink and Flicka) the series will be shortened to: “GTKTPRFP”.

The goal of the series will be to find the candidate I’ll be voting for. I’ll analyze the major candidates out of the 5 biggest parties in the country: Republican, Democratic, Libertarian, Green, and Constitution. Not so sure how the judging will happen, but it’ll be the same parameters for each candidate.

I’ll mix in some random daily posts, but these Daily Series posts are the ones that’ll keep me writing. Thanks to our fans so far. The best is yet to come.