11/15 Debate: Hillary "Turns up the Heat"

I just finished watching tonight's Democratic Presidential Debate on CNN and I must say I was very impressed with Sen. Clinton. I commented after the last debate in Philly that there was no clear winner. Well tonight, there was definitely a clear winner. Like her or not, Sen. Hillary Clinton won the debate hands down.

What is interesting to note is that most of the sparks in the debate took place in the first 15 minutes or so. Right from the start, Obama and Edwards went after Clinton, but unlike previous debates, Clinton responded. Clinton's forceful responses were spot on and she super-effectively made the case that she is the most qualified candidate to be President. I also find it interesting that after Clinton responded to her attackers, both Edwards and Obama left her alone for the remainder of the debate; she essentially shut them up.

Clinton's best response came when she was asked about playing "the gender card". Clinton correctly responded by saying that her opponents were not ganging up on her because she was is a woman, but rather because she is ahead. Another fact that will play to Clinton's favor is that she answered every question directly. No one can accuse her of parsing her answers or trying to get around the question. If anything, Obama had problems answering the questions directly; he himself got tripped up on the immigration question that Hillary messed up on in the last debate.

In the past few weeks, Obama has really grown as a candidate. He got a huge boost coming out of the last debate, but he completely failed to capitalize on that momentum tonight. Obama completely lost tonight. He indeed had one of his worst debate performances.

It would not surprise me if Hillary regains her strength and Obama loses his. Tonight was a complete win for the Clinton campaign and really a huge loss for everyone else involved. You could tell this by the crowd reaction. At the start of the debate, the audience was evenly split between Hillary, Edwards, and Obama. By the end of the night, the crowd loudly booed anything Obama or Edwards said negatively about Clinton. Clinton had managed to win over about 90% of the Las Vegas audience by the end of the night. And possibly the most important thing of all, Clinton looked the most presidential and she succeeded in presenting herself as the strongest, toughest, and most experienced candidate in the race.

As many of you know, I typically rank the candidates in the order in which I think they scored, but tonight there is simply no need for that. Sen. Clinton is the solid #1 winner. There is no reason to rank anyone else, because frankly, Clinton was in a totally different league then everyone else tonight.

With that being said, if you saw the debate and have any thoughts, please share them. I want to know what you think.

Presidential Primary Season

The beginning of the Presidential primary season is just around the corner and in the near future we will know the Democratic and Republican nominees.  Hopefully the American people will take this process seriously and truly vote for the person they think can best lead our country into the future.

 

What the candidates say is very important even with their double talk.  Those candidates who presently hold office and those that did in the past will be saying things that don't add up when compared to their actual record.  The most important thing to listen for is what they say they will actually do if they are elected President.

 

Candidates who resort to personal attacks on character, morals, and family values and try to tell people what other candidates will do have a big problem.  They do that because they can't tell the people what they themselves stand for nor can they articulate their positions.

 

It is noticeable in the debates that many candidates spend their time attacking others and fail to inform the people what they are going to do if they are elected President.  The primary season is when candidates should inform the American people how they are going to handle the many problems they will inherit.  It is unfortunate the people will get no help from the moderators of the debates.  Moderators are stuck on questions concerning the past and not on the future.

 

Voters should resist when a candidate tries to paint another as unfit because of a single issue such as abortion, immigration, or religion.  The people also need to understand that journalists on the cable networks have to fill up so much time that they try to create issues that are not there.  They are really a sad bunch.

 

There is no one candidate on either side who is perfect and without imperfection, so the people will have to choose the candidate who can best lead our country for the next four years and possible eight years and reverse the calamity the nation has been exposed too for the past seven years.  Listen closely to the candidate who talks about the future and has the character to explain the direction he or she purposes to take the country.  Our future depends on it.

America's Right to Privacy----Under Siege

The Patriot Act, surveillance without a warrant, and torture----all in the name of protecting America by the most secret administration in history.  And make no mistake about it, the secrecy started prior to the tragic events of 9-11.  The President believes privacy is only a right for himself and his administration, but not for the American people.

 

And now it has been reported that Donald Kerr, a deputy director of national intelligence, wants the American people to change their definition of privacy.  In fact, he is quoted as saying privacy can no longer mean anonymity.  He wants government and businesses to safeguard people's private communications and financial information. (From Associated Press writer Pamela Hess)

 

Mr. Bush and the intelligence community want to shield telecommunication companies from lawsuits for giving the government access to people's private emails and phone calls with out a court order.  After the WMD fiasco concerning Iraq and the leaking of Valerie Plame's name, can anyone imagine trusting this administration or intelligence when it deals with protecting the privacy of millions of Americans?  The closer this administration gets to leaving office the more the people are going to discover just how reckless this President and his administration have been.

 

Telecommunication companies who turn over private records of  American citizens to intelligence agencies without a court order deserve no protection.  Those companies who said no to our government agencies when asked to do so without a court order should continue to stand tall.  It is called checks and balances and being patriotic the patriotic way. 

 

We know that this administration met with oil, gas, and other energy companies behind closed doors and never revealed what took place.  In fact they fought to keep their discussions secret.  Now we have lived with the most sustained price increase for oil and is now in the $90 barrel range. 

 

The absence of checks and balances during the run up to war in Iraq led to the President misleading the American people and the Congress.  Because of this administration,  men and women in uniform were committed to a war and occupation in Iraq over WMD that did not exist.  This administration has already failed the test.  No american should trust this administration to protect their privacy.