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This Is What Democracy Looks Like
www.NationalView.org's Note From a Madman
December 16, 2008
The Race for the Senate
(Time to Stir Up the Pot)
"If anything, it makes me more determined to run,"
-Rep. Peter King (REPUBLICAN-NY)
Peter King is the last of a dying breed: a New York City area Republican
Representative. King's comments came on the heels of the news that Caroline
Kennedy has thrown her hat into the ring for the Junior US Senate seat from New
York being vacated by the probable confirmation of sitting Senator Hillary
Clinton as Barack Obama's Secretary of State.
Yes Peter King thinks that he can beat a Kennedy if he runs against her in two
years for the Clinton seat, assuming of course that Caroline Kennedy is awarded
the seat by New York State Governor David Paterson.
Others in the running for Governor Paterson's appointment, which would last two
years then come up for a special election in 2010 (and them again in its regular
turn in 2012), are New York's Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the son of
three-term New York Governor Mario Cuomo. The younger Cuomo's resume includes a
stint in the Clinton White House as HUD (Housing and Urban Development)
Secretary. and US Congressman Anthony Weiner, a former candidate for New York
City Mayor and as aggressive a candidate as there may well be anywhere.
Kennedy (her full name is Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg) isn't the Kennedy that
everyone thought would be the logical choice to sit in the seat occupied by her
uncle Robert F. Kennedy who was assassinated in 1968. Most thought that his son,
attorney and environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would be the Kennedy for
the job.
The two Kennedy's were on two different sides of the Democratic Primary for
President this past year with Caroline, and Uncle Ted, the Senior Senator from
Massachusetts, supporting President-Elect Obama. Cousin/ nephew Robert endorsed
Senator Clinton.
The cries about Caroline Kennedy's experience, if she is chosen, will come from
all sides. It surely will sound like the cries the New York State GOP and
Republican National Party members used against then-First Lady Clinton. The
truth of the matter is that Caroline Kennedy doesn't have the kind of experience
that her would-be opponents might have, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing,
especially when examining the record of front-runner King.
The American Conservative Union give King an over 76 percent acceptable rating.
The rest of the New York State Congressional delegation rates just above 18
percent (18.07%). In other words, King's out of touch with the rest of his
state.
Caroline Kennedy is a Kennedy and that moniker comes without privacy in a very
public life. Sure having a father who was a US President, and an uncle who has
spent a lifetime as a US Senator doesn't qualify her for a Senate seat of her
own, but her life's experience makes her a very interesting candidate. And
personally, I like the idea of having a trained attorney, author, activist and
mother - yes, mother - in that seat.
We have had many millionaire businessmen run for higher office without the
skills one might think necessary to hold that office. Likewise we've had good
candidates come from walks of life not thought of as a breeding ground for
higher office: Senator Paul Wellstone (DEMOCRAT-MN) was a teacher and a fine
Senator not in the usual mode. One wonders what he might have done had he not
had been killed just before the 2002 election.
We constantly hear from all sides that people who come from other walks of life
other than politics should come forward and run for office. Caroline Kennedy has
spent a lifetime trying to stay out of that political limelight.
Caroline Kennedy's experience is the right kind of experience and I think she
could make a very effective Senator.
-Noah Greenberg
Joe the Plumber and Muntazer the
Shoe-Thrower
A friend of mine just sent me what he considers to be a humorous note regarding
"Ali the Shoe Thrower" as he calls the Iraqi Journalist whose courage and
outrage sadly exceeded his accuracy in aim. Actually he tried to compare
Muntazer al-Zaidi, The Iraqi TV JOURNALIST, to our own "Joe the Plumber"... a
comparison that I didn't see. And yet upon reflection there is much to compare
and contrast between Mr. Zaidi and Joe.
Joe the plumber was in the news again this week, because he now has turned on
John McCain. He still loves Sarah Palin though but he admitted to a Glen beck
that McCain's answers to his (Joe's) questions "appalled" him. And yet he still
supported McCain over Obama.
Now Joe is the moron who got to talk to Obama and asked him about his tax plan.
And in one of those "man bites dog" moments that makes news... Joe the Voter
lied to Barack the Politician. Joe claimed to be pulling down $250,000 a year
and said that Obama's tax plan would make his taxes go up. And yet the reality
was that Joe was pulling down about $45,000 a year and would actually get more
back under Obama's plan than McCain's.
But Joe wasn't having that... Despite dodging his own taxes to the tune of $1200
and owing a local hospital $1300, Joe still identifies with the wealthy of this
land. He is still more concerned about the rich having to pay more taxes because
he is terrified of the expression "spreading the wealth around". But he's not
too concerned about the transfer of wealth from everyone else in this country to
the rich, it's the though of some of those rich people having to pay a bit more
that gives him night terrors.
On the other hand, Mr. Zaidi has seen his country invaded. If asked, he may be
able to tell us exactly how many Iraqi's have been killed by Chimpy McF---ups
Big Adventure, whether that number is still close to 625,000 or if it's reached
a million or more, I know for a fact that Mr. Zaidid knows some of the Iraqi's
who were killed. And he knows, just like the rest of the world outside of the
Red States, who is responsible for the devastation that has wracked his country.
So he threw his shoes at the Smirking Chimp.
And that's our moment of clarity. On the one hand, an idiot too stupid to
realize which side of the plantation's pecking order he's on, and on the other
hand, man who saw his one last chance to send his oppressor a message of
defiance and took it.
Somewhere on the internet, someone wondered whether the shoes that Mr. Zaidi
threw at Der Monkey will become stylish fashion wear in Iraq, the commentator
mentioned that they may be buying a lot of them here in America as well.
-David W.
In response to Lew Warden's rant against...well... everything, Denise writes:
In your rambling ons you have wrapped up everything that is wrong with the
Republican party. You put down workers in the manufacturing sector and call them
idiots changing hubcaps when they are actually hard working people who also PAY
TAXES. Oh yeah, a lot of them are probably not the educated, college airhead
that you probably are.
The Obama connection with the Illinois Governor is hogwash. Obama doesn't need
to sell one Senate seat and is way to smart to even embark on such a stupid
thing. Yes, once again it is a Republican boogey man story. No connection will
be made and on this I am sure I will not be wrong. Yes, he as well as any other
politician from the state can speak to the Governor about the empty seat but
that doesn't mean evil doing.
You also show your disgust for immigrants instead of respect for another hard
working group of people that are caught in hateful cycle caused by Republicans
and their hate, fear mongering speeches in the last several elections.
May your days always be bright and merry and the hardships of life never hit you
or your family. However, if the hardships do hit you, maybe you will learn a
lesson and be less callous to others less fortunate.
As far as the Iraq war goes, I can only imagine what would happen if a foreign
country had invaded the U.S. and the foreign countries' leader came here. It
would probably be more than a shoe thrown. Iraqi families have probably all lost
loved ones in this preemptive war against weapons of mass destruction and wish
to have their country back no matter what they would face in the future because
of it
In response to a lot of stuff Victoria Brownworth writes:
Gov. Blagojevich is a Democrat. He was the first Democrat to be elected in
Illinois in 30 years. While I certainly hope Barack Obama is not involved in the
pay-to-play events, his initial foot-dragging in response to the scandal was not
a good thing. And dropped his approval rating considerably. I would hate to see
the promise of the new administration derailed by a Democratic scandal.
Despite being a big fan of unions and union-organizing, I think painting the
Detroit bailout as a Republican effort to break the UAW is simply nonsense.
Eighty percent of Americans are against the Detroit bailout. And even the
useless Nancy Pelosi has said it's just a stop-gap measure. Are we expected to
foot the bill for egregiously arrogant corporate mismanagement every three
months? Because Detroit has said that the $34 BILLION that they have demanded
will last only till March. While I can empathize with UAW workers, who on
average make $92 an hour (which is hardly minimum wage and speaks to the power
of the UAW), and have the best benefits package outside of the federal
government.
And last I looked, it was Bush who was the big bailout promoter. He IS a
Republican, isn't he?
As a socialist, I find it difficult to understand why we are supposed to reward
the theft the big three have presented as their entitlement with our tax
dollars.
In response to, "What's so damned infuriating about this is that we've
sacrificed over 4,000 lives to give this a--hole the right to throw that shoe
and live to see another day.
"Had he done that 6 years ago, he would have ended up in one of Saddam's torture
chambers being fed feet first into a wood chipper and his family would have been
fed to Saddam's son's dogs!", David W. writes:
First off... I admire the show thrower. Too bad no American journalist bothered
to challenge Chimpy McF---up's lies and distortions for the last 8 years.
Considering that now that Saddam is gone and all of the torture chambers in Iraq
are now under American management it took incredible courage for him to say and
do what the overwhelming majority of Iraqis (and quite a few Americans) would
have liked to do.
Sadly, there's good reason to believe that the Iraqi journalist is already dead
and "disappeared" by now. In much the same way dissidents were disappeared with
US tax dollars in El Salvador and Chile under Reagan and Bush 41.
So much for being "welcomed as Liberators".
And Lew Warden writes:
Dang, it! Now I’ll have to read your next issues to see if your other readers
are sufficiently motivated to fire back.
Regarding old Bushie’s ducking the reporters shoes – You know I’m no Bush lover,
but George hung in there and showed some nice moves. All in all he took it
pretty good considering the natives’ propensity for more serious missiles.
Reminded me of a carnival act that was common when I was a kid – pre-WW-II. They
had a black kid in a barrel and sold baseball shot’s at his head for the wanna
be pitchers and common place bigots. The kid had some good moves and no one ever
hit him, unless some fool in the crowd took a cheap shot just as the kid was
coming back up for more. Kind of like the reverse of shooting squirrels. In case
you don’t know it, a .22 bullet doesn’t reach the squirrel, who sits in his hole
with just his head and neck above the rim, before the click of the hammer as it
drops on the firing pin. So when he hears this click, the squirrel goes to
ground. But the canny shooter will fire just above the edge of the hole and nail
old mister squirrel right in his eye-ball as he drops down. Of course you Libs
never hunted squirrels or hurled base balls at a black kid in a barrel. See what
you’ve missed?
In response to, "Auto Bailout Defeated (for Now)," Pat Thompson writes:
I guess everyone is aware that the $70 figure the union workers are accused of
extorting hourly includes all of the costs for retiree's pensions and retiree's
medical insurance. That $70 an hr. sure does shrink after all those legacy costs
are deducted. This is also about union busting. And how much does the CEO make?
How many millions, or hundred millions?
In response to the end of Boston Legal and the reviews by many, Pat Thompson
writes:
Well, since I have never once watched Boston Legal, and hearing your review of
it, I will surely get some DVD's to watch all at once if we get a big snow
storm, or I get the flu.
Send your comments to: NationalView@aol.com
-Noah Greenberg