Friday, November 10, 2006

New Orleans: 2008 Democratic Convention


New York City will be nice to have since it is hometown, the adopted hometown, the basetown. And Denver is not a bad choice. Colorado is the closest thing to Nepal America has. Denver is Kathmandu-like. But I would root for New Orleans. Like Iraq symbolizes Republican failures in the world, Katrina symbolizes the failures on the home front. You want to go for the jugular.

In a democratic framework, you strike your opponent's greatest strength. The South is the GOP's greatest strength. So we hit New Orleans.

Obama Or Hillary

Say both can win the general election for the Democrats, but of course only one can. Who should get the ticket? Who deserves it more?

2016 will be too late for Hillary. She is the older between the two. But Obama will be just fine in 2016, a sitting Vice President who goes on to be President.

But then running for president is the best way Obama can make sure he ends up on the ticket even if he loses.

A spirited, clean, ideas based primary contest between the two will be nice for the party, the contry, and for both of them. They are the only two serious contenders. So a competition will prepare them both better for the general campaing. Minus Obama, it will be too eary for Hillary. Minus Hillary, it will be too easy for Obama.

Never Underestimate Billie Clinton

I just read this news item on him - Clinton would pursue peace differently now Canada.com - and suddenly the guy has won me over all over again.

Obama-Clinton, Clinton-Obama

That is what it will be. Which one? I don't know. That is what primaries are for. Me? I am throwing my lot with Obama.

Neither need worry about money or organization. Both will have plenty of both. So expect a fierce competition of ideas. I can't wait.

The two should stay above the fray and launch no personal attacks against each other whatsoever. Both are on great personal terms as is.

These two have been the only two Senators I have linked to from my blog. I got in early. Let that be on the record.

In The News

Blair warns of 'long struggle' with terror
Independent
Clinton would pursue peace differently now Canada.com In most developing countries ''because of the strain on government budgets and the weak tax base, there is no free public education ..... ''Parents have to pay to send children to public schools.'' ..... Pakistan ...... ''If we had given them just one less plane and taken that money and put it into education. God only knows how many fewer terrorists and how many more engineers and scientists we might have educated.'' ........ In a poor country, he noted, every year of schooling adds on average of 10 per cent to a child's future earning capacity. Around the world, 130 million children don't go to school. ...... countries such as Brazil have proven that attendance can also be boosted by paying poor parents a stipend if their kids go to class. ...... 10 million children die of preventable causes annually and that half the people in the world live on less than $2 a day. ...... ''The good news is we know what to do about these challenges,'' he said. ''We can have a significant impact on child poverty in a short time'' if governments, business and non-governmental groups team up. ..... ''If there's one thing I've learned in my increasingly long life is that intelligence, ability and willingness to work are evenly distributed around the world,'' Clinton said, ''but opportunity, investment and systems that function, that establish that critical link between effort and result, are not........ All the things we can do are much cheaper than the aftermath of calamity and also, parenthetically, much cheaper than going to war. ............ he noted the U.S. has spent $400 billion US on the Iraq war and $100 billion in Afghanistan, yet won't honour a commitment to provide $30 billion a year in foreign aid.
What Amitabh Bachchan thinks of Abhishek's marriage Apun Ka Choice
Microsoft to pay Novell $240 million BusinessWeek
Democrats win control of both houses
Business Day
Communist rebels rally in Nepal
San Jose Mercury News
Tough task ahead for UN post Nepal peace deal
Hindustan Times
Obama: Pressure on Dems as he eyes 2008
Chicago Sun-Times
Obama On Presidential Bid, Elections, Ed Bradley
CBS2 Chicago
Illinois senators call Rumsfeld resignation belated WJBC News
Campaign for President in 2008 in Full Gear WREX-TV
Obama’s New Book Is a Surprise Best Seller
New York Times
Obama reaches top of the book heap Chicago Tribune
NRI tech entrepreneur’s gift to Bihar
Times of India
NDA sweep in Bihar
Calcutta Telegraph
Poverty fight cheaper than war: Clinton London Free Press
Clinton taps Mandela's power
Toronto Star
Clinton’s 2006 Victory Lap Has Futuristic Feel, Like 2008 New York Times
Bush agenda faces uphill climb in lame-duck Congress
USA Today
Strategy void deepens Mid-East crisis
BBC News Israel has been in a political tailspin since the conflict in Lebanon in the summer, full of recriminations about the war's lessons and consequences.
Thousands attend controversial gay rally in Jerusalem Monsters and Critics.com
Israel Holds Gay Rally Under Heavy Guard New York Times
Jerusalem holds gay pride rally BBC News
Doctors turn to Google for tricky cases
Guardian Unlimited Two Australian doctors have found that entering the symptoms of a tricky case into the internet search engine often results in accurately diagnosing the illness.
What's That Disease? Ask Google CBS News
Google could help doctors diagnose illnesses Silicon.com
Yahoo VP: Blogging Service May Get Makeover
PC World
Dean to deliver keynote speech
Globe and Mail
Soccer fan dies after fall in Mexican stadium
People's Daily Online
Texas sets sights on college soccer's final weekend
ESPN
Al-Qaida Claims To Have 12,000 Fighters In Iraq E Canada Now
US Death Toll in Iraq at 23 for Nov.
Forbes
Iraq Qaeda chief says Rumsfeld flees battlefield
Malaysia Star
Al-Qaeda aims to create an Islamic Iraq Middle East Online
Blair Says Terrorist Threat to Last ‘a Generation’
New York Times
Britain facing 30 terrorism plots, says spy chief Reuters AlertNet
Martin On Rumsfeld: "Irresistably Charming And Stunningly Rude"
CBS News
At the Pentagon, Concern About Blame for the Situation in Iraq New York Times
Murtha wants Defense nominee to change Iraq policy Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Vista winds its way to market
CNET News.com
Googling for a diagnosis
The Standard
Low carb, low fat diets pose similar heart disease risks
Reuters.uk
Vegetable-rich low-carb cuts heart disease risk, says study NutraIngredients.com
Hoffman's tales sound Stranger than Fiction
Toronto Star
Ed Bradley, of '60 Minutes;' a pioneer in TV journalism
Boston Globe
Britney, Kevin mingle as singles
USA Today
Massachusetts lawmakers debate proposed ban on gay marriages
Boston Herald

Dean says choosing host city a priority Denver Post, CO Dean and party leaders will choose between Denver and New York to host the party's convention. Dean said he is shooting for an announcement in early December. He said Democratic Party aides "are in negotiations with both cities." ..... he favors holding the convention in Denver because it would signal to Western states that Democrats recognize the region is "a bastion and a beacon of the Democratic Party."
Next for Dems: DNC selection Denver Post
Next on Dems' radar: Convention city pick Denver Post
Next on Dems' radar: Convention city pick Denver Post
Howard Dean to Jon Stewart: We Won't Impeach bush Editor & Publisher
Dean calls for election changes, reform KVOA.com, AZ Dean says Democratic leaders should now focus on redistricting areas that were altered by Republicans. Dean says the party should also push for reforms when it comes to improving voting machines. .... Dean says Democrats made big gains in the Hispanic vote because of the way Republicans presented immigration reform.

Bush lowers partisan tone after election losses Reuters
Bush concedes need for "fresh perspective" on Iraq
Youth turnout in election biggest in 20 years 24 percent of Americans under the age of 30 ..... Rock the Vote, a youth-and-civics group, said young voters favored Democrats by a 22-point margin, nearly three times the margin Democrats earned among other age groups and dealing a potentially decisive blow to Republicans in tight races. ...... of 28 seats Democrats picked up from Republicans in the 435-member House of Representatives, 22 were won by less than 2 percent of the vote and 18 were won by just 5,000 votes or less. ........ Forty-six percent favored a total troop withdrawal from Iraq within a year, while a third said troops should be withdrawn after the Iraqis take full control. ..... The "Generation Y" of Americans born from 1977 to 1994 -- shaped by the September 11 attacks, the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina -- in nine years will make up a third of the electorate.
Democrats take U.S. Senate: media Webb led Allen by about 7,000 votes out of 2.3 million cast. The final vote count could take a week, with a winner certified on November 27. Any recount could stretch into December. ...... Allen's camp has refused to concede defeat, with adviser Ed Gillespie telling reporters in Richmond, Virginia, earlier on Wednesday, "We'll see where the official tally stands on November 27 and we'll come back and visit with you then."
Republican senator won't concede in Montana
Rumsfeld a forceful, divisive Pentagon chief
Democrat win may shift focus to U.S. middle class
Nicaragua's Ortega slams U.S. over Iraq
Peace mom Sheehan arrested in Washington
Iowa's Vilsack to run for president Yahoo News
Dems complete election sweep of Congress the first female speaker in history. .... The Senate had teetered at 50 Democrats, 49 Republicans for most of Wednesday, with Virginia hanging in the balance. ..... Even Reid, the Senate's party leader, mused aloud at one point that it might take a miracle to capture Senate control. .... end a decade of one-party rule in Washington. ..... Republicans lost ground with swing voters such as Catholics, independents, Hispanics and suburbanites ...... GOP held its conservative base, but Democrats made inroads with moderates. .... Without losing any seats of their own, Democrats captured 28 GOP-held seats. The party won in every region of the country ....... Democrats took 20 of 36 governors' races to give them a majority of top state jobs — 28 — for the first time in a dozen years. Arkansas, Colorado, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Ohio went into the Democratic column.
Hand-wringing, soul-searching as Republicans mull their future last month's explosive revelations that Mark Foley, a senior Republican lawmaker, had over several years maintained a sexually explicit email correspondence with underage male congressional aides. ....... he election was not a broad rejection of the party, but of "big government Republicanism." ..... not a rejection of conservative principles per se, but a rejection of corrupt, complacent and incompetent government ....... a top-to-bottom reevaluation of Republican priorities is called for. .... we didn't just lose our majority, I believe we lost our way ....... a dramatic turn in the direction of the agenda of the Republican Revolution ...... not so much a defeat as "a two-year hiatus" from power for the ruling party.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I am a native New Orleanian. I would LOVE the democrats to hold their convention here, but it is not going to happen because we do not have the money to give to the DNC to make it happen. That is why we had to withdraw our name from the list. The parties are both all about money. If the DNC wanted to restore my faith in either party, they would come here, have a wonderful time and have GREAT pictures of its deligates helping rebuild an American city, in stark contrast to the republican deserting it. It is not going to happen though.

Anonymous said...

They sure might. The convention though is a money drain and to be honest I dont know how New Orleans could handle that. It was an extra F U from the GOP to NYC when they came here. A few days of tear gas, illegal arrests, a traffic nightmare, and millions spent hosting. And they made every effort to not spend a dime locally. However, if you feel it would help New Orleans to have the Dems I hope you get it there. Personally, I favor Denver since the West is so right wing and we are just breaking ground - of all the south New Orleans has always been like the New York of the region. It would be nice in an ideal world to mix a convention with some more rebuilding efforts.

Unknown said...

You are probably right about being a money drain. The problem for us is "out of sight, out of mind". We are forgotten and there is no way that we have the resources locally to give us the flood protection projects needed for our very survival. I am feeling a little better today about the democrats. On the local news last night it was reported that Pelosi called Governor Blanco and they had a long conversation. Maybe they won't ignore us. New York and New Orleans are bonded in a way no other American city can understand. The heartbreak, the anger and the resilency of never giving up on home.

Anonymous said...

Very interesting thought..."go for the jugular." Like the comparison of Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.