Category: Politics

Best line on election after-shock come from Tim Goodman, the TV critic of the San Francisco Chronicle:

This can-you-believe-it-happened moment coalesced with Jay Leno, host of “The Tonight Show” — where Schwarzenegger announced he was running — introducing the governor-elect for his acceptance speech in a move that was simultaneously ludicrous and embarrassing, a shill-fest that gave the rest of the country and political reporters in Sacramento a taste of life ahead.

All I can say is, Ugh.

I hope for California’s sake that Governor Schwarzenegger does a good job. But I fear the growing pains as he adjusts to the realities of politics are going to be ugly.

Oh, and Orrin Hatch has introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution’s ban on non-American-born presidents by allowing people who have been U.S. citizens for at least 20 years to be elected to the White House.

Joy.

Election Days always remind me of the famous paradox of physics, Schroedinger’s cat. The election results are already out there, we just don’t know what they will be until we open the ballot boxes and find out.

And yes, I voted. No on the Recall, Yes on Camejo.

I know he won’t win but he’s the only one I feel OK about voting for. The actual act of voting was somewhat surreal. The volume of names on the ballot was a little overwhelming and it wasn’t easy to find the candidate I wanted on the list. And actually holding that long list of names in my hand, after all the hue and cry in the press, was a strange feeling. Almost dizzying. A part of me still doesn’t accept that this recall is an actual event, even though I’ve now voted in it. Hopefully tonight after the polls close it will all be just a bad dream.

Hubby & I are going over to Berkeley tonight to see some old friends and watch the election results. I hope it’s not too depressing.

According to this NY Daily News article, not only is retired General Wesley Clark not a registered Democrat, but he’s not abiding by the rules of the Federal Elections Commission:

Wesley Clark was registered as a lobbyist when he jumped into the presidential race, but he has yet to actually register as a presidential candidate – or even enroll as a Democrat.

Clark has yet to change his voter registration in his home state of Arkansas from independent to Democrat, BusinessWeek reported yesterday.

“This has been a whirlwind two weeks. There are a lot of things we have to do, and that’s one of them,” Clark spokesman Mark Fabiani told the mag.

The Federal Election Commission also said yesterday it still hasn’t received a statement of Clark’s candidacy, although the rules say a candidate must file a declaration within 15 days of spending or raising $5,000.

Clark announced his candidacy Sept. 17 – exactly 15 days ago – and his aides say they’ve already raised more than $2 million.

Maybe it’s just an oversight, but IMHO not good news for the Clark campaign. And it’s extremely stupid of them to not change Clark’s registration before he launched his campaign. It makes the “carpetbagger’ label seem all that much more plausible.

The Post is a Murdoch publication, with all that implies about their political leanings, but still, it looks like they’ve gotten their facts right on this one.

Lots of political posts lately. It’s that time of year, I guess. I TiVoed the CA Governor’s debate since I wouldn’t get home from work early enough to watch it. Scott and I plopped down on the couch with some Chinese takeout and watched.

IMHO, Camejo and McClintock actually came out the best of all of them; Hufffington’s attacks on Bustamante and Schwarzenegger drove things off topic and divided those candidates’ attention from their answers. By staying out of Huffington’s firing line, the other 2 had the chance to actually answer some questions and talk about issues. Bustamante did do some talking about issues, but I also noticed that he ducked at least one question to go off on unrelated issues. Schwarzenegger did OK considering how much he was getting sniped by Huffington, who didn’t miss a chance to attack.

I wateched the debate hoping I would figure out who to vote for but have not come to any firm conclusions. Here’s where I am now:

-Huffington’s a joke.
-McClintock is too right wing.
-Camejo is too left wing.
-I don’t like Bustamante and his $4 million Indian casino donation shell games.
-Then there’s Schwarzenegger – but I think he doesn’t really grok how different running a state is from running a company and his inexperience will cause problems. Plus I have a hard time voting for any Republican knowing that a Republican governor will make things harder for the Democratic nominee in next years’s election.

I suppose I could vote for one of the no-names, but I don’t want to waste my vote either.

I don’t have to be at the store until noon today, so I’m scanning the headlines today. And I found this howler of a quote on Yahoo!

Bush said he insulates himself from the “opinions” that seep into news coverage by getting his news from his own aides. He said he scans headlines, but rarely reads news stories.

“I appreciate people’s opinions, but I’m more interested in news,” the president said. “And the best way to get the news is from objective sources, and the most objective sources I have are people on my staff who tell me what’s happening in the world.”

Am I the only person who finds it scary that the President of the United States can’t be bothered to read the news personally and make his own judgements on what’s happening and what’s important?

Heard on the radio as I was driving home from work tonight…. the US occupation of Iraq was called “Compassionate Colonialism”.

Unfortunately I don’t know who originated the phrase, but I’ll try to find out.