Candidates, Candidates Everywhere

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Tag(s): 2008 Election Presidential; 2008 Election Presidential Primary; 2008 Elections; 2008 Presidential Debates; Elections And Campaigns; Government; Presidency; Republican
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August 13, 2007 at 14:24:23

Candidates, Candidates Everywhere

by Stephen Pizzo Page 1 of 2 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

I spent the last week coming to terms with the fact that not a single candidate running for President is worthy of the job. Not in the Democratic Party, or the GOP. And no worthy third party candidates have emerged yet either.

So I decided to sit down and try to sort out what is is I don't seem to like about any of the current batch of candidates. Forget deep thinking and rational analysis. Because I suspect I, like most other voters, don't caste of our final vote rationally. I believe other motivations are trump rational thinking when it comes to picking the person we hope will become our national savior every four years. Emotions like fear, personal and religious values and our old standby reason, “the lesser of two-evils.” In other words, we don't vote with our heads. We vote with our gut.

So that's what I tried to sort out last week. All the policy blather aside, what's my gut reaction to these candidates. I didn't even try to fair and balanced. And if you are looking for the most penetrating analysis of these candidates, stop reading now, because you sure a hell aren't about to get it from what follows.

The Democrats

Hillary R. Clinton: Hillary is the anti-Christ of Democrats According to polls, 50% percent of registered have been bewitched by this shape-shifter. I figure that if you think you're sick of George W. Bush after 7 years in office, just wait until you get a snoot full of a Hillary Clinton administration. If elected President I fear she may be the last Democrat to see the inside of the Oval office for a generation. And the same goes for the next woman nominated by either party for that office. And she's not even much of an improvement over what we have now. Hillary is at least as big a serial liar as Bush, and just as shameful at it. For example, earlier this month she gang-banged Obama for saying he would take nukes off the table in dealing with Pakistan's unruly, terrorist infested tribal regions. Hillary claimed it proved Obama was too unseasoned and naive to be president. But wait -- just two months before that Hillary herself told reporters she would take nukes off the table in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions. Holy on-the-record hypocrite, Batman. I don't want four more years of that kind of cynical duplicity, phony baloney, valueless and dangerous crap. And that's what I fear a Hillary Clinton presidency would be. Same old, same old, only this time in pantsuit.

Barack Obama: I had such hopes for Barack. But, so far, they have been hopes unrealized. To call the Obama campaign uninspiring would be an understatement. It verges on somnolent. I was ready and eager for a young Martin Luther King/JFK hybrid. Instead all I've gotten so far is a nice, smart, mild-mannered, well-spoken, well-meaning, tan version of an upwardly mobile Chicago alderman. I had hoped for more, lots more. Because, if America ever needed a no-nonsense dope-slap-upside- the-head kinda president, it's now. But rather than swinging for knockouts, Barack has turned out to be a cross between Oprah and Dr. Phil.

John Edwards: He's smart enough. He's ambitions enough. He's too pretty by half. I wouldn't hold that against him except that he seems to care way too much about it. Something deep within tells my gut that it says something about a person when they can get a perfectly acceptable $25 haircut anywhere in the US but pays $400 for a stylist instead. Is that petty of me? Probably. But, over my 62-years of rubbing elbows with all kinds of people I've learned more than a bit about character. And somewhere among all that are data that gives me concern about this guy. A rich guy who billing himself a champion of the poor, who spends a year getting himself filmed working with poor people, but stops long enough to get $400 haircuts. Maybe I shouldn't find that kind thing a turnoff, but I do. Bottom line on Edwards – He's too cute by half (physically and politically.) The only thing about him that makes him even passingly creditable is his wife, Elizabeth, who if were running instead of her husband, I would vote for with out hesitation.

Bill Richardson: A nice guy, but reaching. Sure he's held a lot of high-level jobs in government, but it those were his peak career moments. Richardson just doesn't “feel” like Presidential material. VP, maybe, but not P.

Joe Biden: OMG, imagine four or eight years of having to listen to that windbag. Joe is smart-- just ask and he'll tell you. Don't ask, and he'll tell you – and tell you, and tell you, and tell you... Because all Joe Biden does – besides having his teeth-whitened – is talk. Poor Joe was born a century too late. He would have made a bigger splash back in mid-1800s when senatorial windbags were all the rage. Biden would make a great Secretary of State, but not a good President. Besides, if you think Bush has burned out the US military, Biden would do the same thing to the White House press corps. His entire administration would one long, non-stop extemporaneous news conference. I have visions of Helen Thomas fleeing the White House Press room screaming, “No, no... not another news conference?!!! ... I can't do it.... Let me cover golf or American Idol. Just get me out of the Biden White House....”

Chis Dodd: Don't like him. Every time I see him I expect Madam Tussaud to show up to return him to his place in her Wax Museum.

Mike Gravel: No thanks. We already tried turning the nation over to a raving lunatic, and it hasn't turned out well.

Dennis Kucinich: I like him. But I'm not ready for a socialistic solution to every problem that comes down the pike. While a single-payer health system is a good idea, turning the entire health care industry into not-for-profit enterprises would kill innovation. Whether liberals like to admit it or not, free enterprise is almost always more efficient and dynamic than government. Rather than removing the profit motive from medicine, the answer lays in installing and maintaining a government regulatory system that tempers inevitable free enterprise excesses.

Republicans

Rudy Giuliani: Oh man, if Republicans think Bill Clinton's “personal habits” were an embarrassment wait until they get a taste of a Giuliani presidency. Ruddy Rudy would wear out the sheets in Lincoln bedroom. Then there's current Mrs. Judith (don't-call-me-Judy) Guiliani Whoa! This is one needy gal. If you think Nancy Reagan was piece of work, wait until you get a gander at Judy. Just spend a few minutes scanning the Vanity Faire profile of her. Then close your eyes and try to imagine all the things that could set Judith off as First Lady. And imagine the soap opera that would ensue when (not if, when) President Rudy decides that Judy is past her “use by” date and tries to toss her out of the White House. Talk about the War of the Roses!

John McCain: Remember the old Mr. Magoo cartoons? I do.

Mitt Romney: This guy is difficult to describe because our lexicon has no words to capture this level of slickness. Every time I see this guy on TV I expect him to say something like, “Do you know how much you'd save on your heating bill and maintenance if you installed our aluminum siding on your home?” Then there's the whole Mormon thing. I know it's politically incorrect to dump on person's belief structure, but when it comes to choosing a new Commander-in-Chief I think we need to put some limits on that indulgence. I mean it's unnerving enough that all the candidates running believe it's important to trot out their spiritual creds – mostly the Christian variety. In a time when real weapons can anniliate mankind, I am uneasy that we insist on electing only certified spirit worshipers to the presidency. But Romney's religion, Mormonism, is a bridge too far along that path. Mormons rank right up with Scientologists for unadulterated nonsensical beliefs. Would you put Tom Cruise in the White House? I hope not, (though after two Bush victories it's clear voters are quite capable of doing just that.) Anyway, don't ask Romney if it's “boxers or briefs,” because it's neither. It's worse.

Sam Brownback: When it comes to religious nuts, Brownback is the Macademean of the GOP pack.

Tom Tancredo: The Southwest's David Duke-lite

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http://www.newsforreal.com

Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a Pulitzer.

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3 comments

Computer program debugger and database redesigner, 911truth.org, Kucinich for President 2008 supporter.
DavidComputer program debugger and database redesigner, 911truth.org, Kucinich for President 2008 supporter.

Article inconsistency

You theme was no deep thought, but your gut took a back seat to an overly weak analysis of public vs. private health care. No gut involved, but you also fumbled... I don't want my HEALTH CARE PROVIDER "innovating!" Geeze Think man! The UNIVERSITIES do that. At least get your bad thinking straight. :) Thanks.

by David (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments) on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 12:19:18 PM

57Yo m I'm a "been there, done that! Bought the tee shirt,to hide the scars!" type of person Ive workedï¿½many jobs fromï¿½a chicken slaughterer to managing a branch of a multinational and many jobs in between.Raised in colonial PNG Left School 16,Grad Hi school 22 Night School, University 36ï¿½ BBus (majored in Psyche and Marketing), Dip Comp prog and project Mmnt.at 50 I've been in 48 different community org ,23 on board with 18 prez or deputy prez.First social campaign at 17 for the aborigine...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Andris57Yo m I'm a "been there, done that! Bought the tee shirt,to hide the scars!" type of person Ive workedï¿½many jobs fromï¿½a chicken slaughterer to managing a branch of a multinational and many jobs in between.Raised in colonial PNG Left School 16,Grad Hi school 22 Night School, University 36ï¿½ BBus (majored in Psyche and Marketing), Dip Comp prog and project Mmnt.at 50 I've been in 48 different community org ,23 on board with 18 prez or deputy prez.First social campaign at 17 for the aborigine...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Health care

Australia has exactly the structure you fear.

First everyone has health care good here no dark corners like the US system

second health care is about people/health uncontrolled health care is about profit.....people? profit? Pharmacy is affordable here most meds under $10. you choose I know which ! want

Didn't an Ausie just win the Nobel prize for medicine? Didn't an Aus lab help invent Tamiflu ? How much inovation do you want?

Where is the proof that that proves private enterprise provides public needs better? There is no such proof. Theres's lots of rehtoric but proof?

Capitalism is about profit not people and Healthcare is about well, healthcare/ people. To maintain private enterprise 'efficiencies' there must be rigidity standardization procedures and delivery mechanisms. These structures etc are to deliver minium benefits for maximum profit.

Public control's outcomes are different they are predicated on delivering appropriate benifits. In a perfect world the two should be the same but in practice they're not.

Apart from that your discriptions give us the idea: Cryogenics seem like the answer for us if it works, wake up after their term is over. Freeze the candidates if it doesn't work and start again. Wait... I get chill blains!.... freeze them anyway.

by Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 532 comments) on Wednesday, August 15, 2007 at 10:45:50 PM

I am a retired opera singer. I was a leading soprano with the New York City Opera for ten years. I am a strong supporter of Dennis Kucinich and worked for his campaign in 2004. I believe that he is the ONLY honest man in congress. He has been working against this insane war since before it began. I am 72 years old and I have been so frustrated with the media, the Congress and the American people that they don't tell the truth.
CaronomeI am a retired opera singer. I was a leading soprano with the New York City Opera for ten years. I am a strong supporter of Dennis Kucinich and worked for his campaign in 2004. I believe that he is the ONLY honest man in congress. He has been working against this insane war since before it began. I am 72 years old and I have been so frustrated with the media, the Congress and the American people that they don't tell the truth.

Dennis Kucinich

Have you really listened to Dennis Kucinich? If you would do that you might realize that he is on the button with every thing he says. It is an obsecenity that we do not have a national health care plan that covers everyone. Are we a third world nation? Are England, France, Canada and every other civilized nation better than America? The answer is "YES". These countries make it possible for businesses to actually succeed in their field without the burden of providing the outrageously expensive insurance they must buy for their employees. We have arlready lost many manufacturers to other countries that do provide health care.

Listen to Dennis talk about the evil war that is raging in Iraq. It should never have happened. HE voted against it every time from the beginning.

He said the other day on Sunday with Stephonopolis' show that he is really in the middle and all of the other candidates are to the right of him Think about it. Hillary sounds like a Republican hawk. And she is tight with Murdoch! I can't vote for her.

Obama is an attractive guy but he is stll too inexperienced to be president. Maybe in twenty years.

Kucinich is my candidate and he will win if every person who hears him and likes what they hear will vote for him!

by Caronome (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 186 comments) on Saturday, August 18, 2007 at 1:33:10 AM

3 comments

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