McCain, Mormons, and Mitt

Flashback two months ago. In April, some McCain activist from Iowa made a blunt statement about Mormons and the Church of Latter-day Saints. Mitt Romney is a Mormon. Some speculate some republican on republican hate going on here, but honestly, tying McCain to these Mormon comments are ridiculous. Chad Workman is the chairman for Warren County, a county in Iowa which supports McCain and in April, questioned whether Mormons were Christians and referred to an article which linked the Mormon church to a Islamic militant group known as Hamas. Clearly, this guy didn't know what he was doing and should be fired. Trying to link hostile militant groups to another candidate's faith and reilgion is something that demoralizes character and therefore leads to a negative link to McCain and his campaign. John can't control everything his lackeys say and do for him and therefore, although not personally, his campaign came out and publically apologized to the Romney campaign about these comments. Although McCain isn't at fault here, it makes him look bad. Workman clearly did not take a class in ethics and at this point of the campaign, they should let their candidate do the bashing themselves. These candidates do a good job of making their fellow collegues look bad on TV during these debates anyways. Comments about one's religions and tying them into their stance on abortion and gay rights and the army are starting to wear thin on the public. The debates are fun to watch and Workman probably screwed McCain over because Mitt is probably going to stump McCain publically on TV sooner or later.

Dinner with Obama

Four donors to the Obama campaign were chosen today to have dinner with the Illinois senator next month. These four are considered to be small donors to the campaign, but the amount contributed was not disclosed. These four people are "average joes" and citizens of the United States who support the democractic party, in particular Barack Obama. Reading about this made me wonder about how much contact these candidates get with the people they're trying to get votes from. Sure, these candidates meet and greet people at every rally they hold, but its so early for all of this. True, its been almost 40 years since an encumbant hasn't run for President, and I don't remember the 2004 presidential being this crazy either. Its funny because the four peopel chosen to have dinner with Obama are from four states that are purple and usually sway the overall votes. Nevada, Florida, New York, and Louisiana are four states that aren't politically affiliated yet. I just wonder what they would talk about. Politics? Families? One lady who is having dinner with Obama has a husband serving in Iraq. I wonder if they will talk about Obama's presidential plan. Will these four have interviews with the media afterwards? I'm very curious to see what will happen with these four. I wish I could spend time with a candidate and talk candidly about anything that pops into mind. Sports, movies, gossip. Just to get a feel of what kind of person this candidate will be.

Back in Business

Originially, I didn't intended to write in this blog any longer than I needed to because I was for a school project. However, reading about politics everyday made me more aware of the campaigns, foriegn involvement, and politics in general. I renamed by blog and it will no long cover the presidential campaign exclusively, but if I read something interesting, I'll post something about it. I figure, since I already have something up, why not keep at it until I get bored. So I hope that for those of you who read this, you will continue to enjoy and comment on what I have to say. I love reading comments and it motivates me to write even more. Thanks.

The Third Republican Debate

The debate today focused more on the war in Iraq than anything else. Each candidate came out and had something negative to say about how the current administration handled the war. There was something wrong when we invaded Afghanistan, after we caught Saddam, or how we're currently handling the situation now. Many candidates also poked fun at Clinton's juke on a question during the democratic debate held a couple of days ago. The debate felt like the candidates were just pointing fingers about what's been going on. Well first off, the current administration is republican. Pointing fingers within your own party is a no-no, however there's been a lot of in house fighting in recent administrations.

Romney in 1994

Its true that political campaigning has changed over the last four years. The Internet wasn't used to its potential and now one's whole campaign could be used via the Internet. The Internet can be used by anyone, anytime, and anywhere. Information about a candidate can be sent to millions of people instantly and people don't have to wait any longer. Also, records, footage, and anything from the past can be revealed. This clip I found on youtube.com is about a debate between Mitt Romney and Ted Kennedy in 1994. 1994! Thirteen years ago! People can see Romney's views from 13 years ago and see if it fits with how he is today. Would you like to see a presidential candidate 13 years ago? Sadly, however, I'm unable to post acutal videos yet, but I can link the site. Please watch it if you're interested. Its quite fascinating actually. Without the Internet, this video would have only been shown to a limited number of people, and it would have taken weeks for it to circulate.

Mitt Romney in 1994!!!

Democrats Debate!

The democratic candidates met today for a live debate in New Hampshire. and I've been watching clips all day. The biggest issues were Iraq, energy, and health care. Edwards called out some of his colleagues about about Iraq and he had some legitimate points. He particularly called out Clinton and Obama stating that they were the last senators to make their vote when issuing the time table for withdrawing the troops and cutting funding. However, Obama came right back and stated that Edwards was "four and a half years" too late about showing leadership in his stance on the war. Obama said that he opposed the war from the beginning and that Edwards took his time to make a firm stance, due to the fact that Edwards supported the war while serving his term as Senator. I haven't seen the full debate in its entirety, but I've been watching clips. I hear Biden was fun to watch.

Hugh Hewitt

Last night, we had a guest speaker by the name of Hugh Hewitt. He's one of the original political bloggers and has a radio show nationwide. He came to speak to us about the origins of blogging, the blogosphere, and how it has affected politics. check him out at www.hughhewitt.com
He's a mid-right republican and most of his comments are legit. He told us the story of how old media is dying and how the Internet is going to replace all media. I believe it as well. Newspapers will be obsolete because everyone reads their news online. Influential bloggers are going to have a bigger network than TV news anchors. After watching some local news reports, its mostly about petty crimes and regurgitated material. Petty crimes affect local governments, but to have big news and news you wouldn't normally hear about, Internet and the bloggers are a prime source. Liberals and conservatives also have different approaches.