Letter to Joseph Andrew

"While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our Party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us."

I am sorry Mr. Andrew, but polls aren't showing that the tone and temperature of the race is hurting us, it is showing that it is hurting Senator Obama. Senator Clinton is now polling higher against Senator McCain and Senator Obama. The latest Quinnipiac polls show that Senator Clinton outperforms Senator Obama in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida.

"We need a candidate who will re-invigorate the economy and keep good jobs here in America."

Going along with the "polls," these same polls show that Hillary Clinton is trusted more on the Economy than Barack Obama.

"We need a candidate who will provide health coverage for our 45 million uninsured neighbors."

This is absolutely true. Obama's health plan leaves out 15 million people. That is a third of our uninsured neighbors.

"If the campaign's surrogates called Governor Bill Richardson, a respected former member of President Clinton's cabinet, a "Judas" for endorsing Senator Obama, we can all imagine how they will treat somebody like me."

This is a big jump. First, it was James Carville who called Bill Richardson Judas. While he is a Clinton supporter, he does not speak for Hillary Clinton. Secondly, to automatically assume you hold so much praise and standing in the party is quite arrogant if I may say so myself. To be honest, I am sure most of the 30 million voters who have voted so far would not even recognize your name unless they picked up a paper in the last few days and have been watching cable news non-stop, and in a month, they will forget your name. Bill Richardson on the other hand, ran for POTUS, and quite frankly, many more people know him than know you. Lastly, no one in the Clinton campaign has called you a name.

"When they use the same attacks made on me when I was defending them, they prove the callow hypocrisy of the old politics first perfected by Republicans. I am an expert on this because these were the exact tools that I mastered as a campaign volunteer, a campaign manager, a State Party Chair and the National Chair of our Party."

I really hope you will retract this statement. Suggesting it is doing no more but using the same type of "callow hypocri[tical] of the old politics" that you now say you reject.

"My stomach churns when I think how my old friends in the Clinton campaign will just pick up the old silly Republican play book and call in the same old artificial attacks and bombardments we have all heard before."

I dont know, but maybe you have not been paying attention. It is the Obama campaign that has used Republican memes throughout this campaign. Saying "she will say anything and do anything to win" - Right wing play book. "She is untrustworthy" - Right wing play book. "D-Punjab" using xenophobia... right wing play book. Lumping Bill Clinton's presidency with George H.W. and George W. with the "problems we've faced for the last 20 years" is not only throwing the only 2 term democratic president since FDR under the bus, but misleading, disingenuous and, quite frankly, insulting.

"People flock to Senator Obama because they are rejecting the hyperbole of the old politics."

The difference between the candidates votes have been less than 1%. How do you suggest that Obama has brought in tons of people because of his campaign yet ignore the millions that have voted for Hillary?

I do not fault you for switching your support, but if you switched for a more coherent reason, instead of self contradicting reasons (see your polling data) I would take it more into consideration, but quite frankly, it just seems like you, yourself are playing politics.

Jose Sepulveda
Part of the forgotten class of young, male, progressive, latte drinking, wine sipping, environmentally conscious voters for Hillary Clinton.

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Hillary Clinton: Driver's License Exchange

OK so lets clear some things up about what REALLY happened at the debate, and expose some Dodd/Edwards/Obama memes that are taken for truth, but are actually quite wrong when you look at what actually happened.

First Russert Asked: "Senator Clinton, Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer has proposed giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants... Why does it make a lot of sense to give an illegal immigrant a driver's license? "

At no point in the response does Hillary say that 1. Illegal Immigrants should get drivers' licenses. 2. That she agrees with Spitzer's plan.

What she does do is explain the position Gov. Spitzer is in right now in New York.

Here is her answer:

"Well, what Governor Spitzer is trying to do is fill the vacuum left by the failure of this administration to bring about comprehensive immigration reform. [Failures of immigration reform on REPUBLICANS] We know in New York we have several million at any one time who are in New York illegally. They are undocumented workers. They are driving on our roads. The possibility of them having an accident that harms themselves or others is just a matter of the odds. It's probability. [This is a lot of nothing]

So what Governor Spitzer is trying to do is to fill the vacuum. [Vacuum caused by the federal government] I believe we need to get back to comprehensive immigration reform because no state, no matter how well intentioned, can fill this gap. There needs to be federal action on immigration reform.[Again, we need to get back to comprehensive immigration reform is referring to the federal government]"

AT NO POINT DID HILLARY SAY SHE WAS FOR THE PLAN.  If you can spot it in there, then please show me where she says "I support giving Illegal Immigrants driver's licenses."

OK - Now lets move on

RUSSERT THEN ASKS A DIFFERENT QUESTION

QUESTION 2

"Does anyone here believe an illegal immigrant should not have a driver's license?"

Dodd doesn't think so, and gives his answer.

Dodd: "This is a privilege. And, look, I'm as forthright and progressive on immigration policy as anyone here. But we're dealing with a serious problem here, we need to have people come forward. The idea that we're going to extend this privilege here of a driver's license I think is troublesome, and I think the American people are reacting to it.

We need to deal with security on our borders. We need to deal with the attraction that draws people here. We need to deal fairly with those who are here."

OK - this is a DIFFERENT QUESTION AGAIN. In here, Dodd disagrees with giving Illegals a drivers license. He, at no point discusses the same points Hillary discussed. He doesnt discuss comprehensive immigration reform, or the strain the lack of action on behalf of the Federal Government has on State and Local governments.

OK at this point Hillary states:

HRC - "Well, I just want to add, I did not say that it should be done, but I certainly recognize why Governor Spitzer is trying to do...  And we have failed. We have failed.

She clarifies that she didnt say she agrees with the plan. IF YOU READ WHAT SHE DID SAY, you will see that she is right, at no point did she endorse the plan.

Dodd flips out - maybe because he wasnt paying attention to what she actually answered.

Dodd: "No, no, no. You said -- you said yes..."

She did?????????????????????????????? Again, where did she say yes????????????????? Did i miss it???????????????

Dodd again:

"you thought it made sense to do it." Umm thats different than what was said as well, what she said is that she understands the hard position Spitzer is in, and understands that Governors are trying to pick up the slack of the Federal Government.

Russert, smelling a fight, has to chime in again, and now asks a DIFFERENT QUESTION. Its not the same question he asked the first time, and its not the same question he asked Dodd.

Russert: "Senator Clinton, I just want to make sure of what I heard. Do you, the New York senator, Hillary Clinton, support the New York governor's plan to give illegal immigrants a driver's license?

Now this is Clinton answering AGAIN:

"You know, Tim, this is where everybody plays "gotcha." It makes a lot of sense. What is the governor supposed to do? He is dealing with a serious problems. We have failed. And George Bush has failed. Do I think this is the best thing for any governor to do? No. But do I understand the sense of real desperation, trying to get a handle on this? Remember, in New York, we want to know who's in New York. We want people to come out of the shadows.

He's making an honest effort to do it. We should have passed immigration reform."

Again, she makes the SAME arguments as in her first answer. The administration failed in fixing the problem, congress failed in passing immigration reform, and we (meaning the congresspeople on stage) should have passed immigration reform. She also states AGAIN that Spitzer is in a horrible situation because of federal inaction.

OK, so it seems like people will move on, but Edwards, of course, who probably also wasnt paying attention until Dodd flipped out, has to chime in as well.

Edwards:

"I want to add something that Chris Dodd just said a minute ago, because I don't want it to go unnoticed. Unless I missed something, Senator Clinton said two different things in the course of about two minutes just a few minutes ago."

Actually Edwards, you have it wrong. She didnt say anything different. You just are playing fast and loose with the facts.

So, now that people can actually read what was said, Dodd should apologize for losing his temper because he made a mistake. And Edwards should apologize as well.

I wont get into what Obama said, because I think he came in so late in this situation, it fell on deaf ears.

Hillary Live: A Conversation with Hillary Clinton

Last night, Hillary Clinton was in NYC for the event "Hillary Live" at The Town Hall in NYC.  The event was moderated by Tom Vilsack and had a special guest, Gen. Wes Clark who was in NYC for his new book.  The crowd was mixed - there were many Asian Americans, Latin Americans, African Americans - a pretty even (60f/40m ???) gender difference, lots of college students, gay men, and the age range was pretty healthy as well.  In attendance was former Mayor Dinkins, as well as a few other state officials (roughly 10?). Well.. moving on...

Tom Vilsack opened up the night, speaking for about 15 minutes, and told two stories about people from Iowa, he was a good speaker, but didnt really do much for me. He was all right, but people just wanted him to finish so that HRC can come on. He then introduced Sen. Clinton to loud applause that took a while to settle down, Hillary actually had to wave people down to begin speaking.

Hillary spoke for about 25 minutes and then introduced Gen. Clark (With some people yelling Clinton/Clark and/or VP Clark). Gen. Clark then addressed the audience stating tht Hillary is by far the most qualified person to lead in the race. He called her smart and brilliant, pointed out that she has been to Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He said she will be the best President America has ever had, lastly he said "she has paid her dues" (a military slogan suggesting someone has worked hard for their position).

She outlined her four main goals as President, and some of these points were also spoken about in the question and answer session:

1. Leadership in the World:  In this section, she spoke about a lot of the problems in the world right now, every thing from the increase in antagonistic governments in South America; problems in the middle east (Iraq, Iran/Israel/Syria tension); problems in Africa (Sudan/Chad); and Russia moving away from Democracy.  At the end of talking about all of these problems, she bashed the Bush administration. She then went on to say the day after the election, before she is inaugurated, she will send both highly respected republicans and democrats around the world to declare the end of "Cowboy Diplomacy" to great applause.  

She spoke in depth about Darfur, and the fact that the US is no longer leading in the world on humanitarian issues, unlike during Bill's Presidency during the Kosovo campaign. She said the US and NATO should have enforced a no fly zone in Darfur two years ago, as well as going into detail why. She also said the UN backed AU troops do not have enough air support, logistical support, and its basically a losing mission unless something gets done. She complained that the UN is moving too slowly. The failure to do so, will only cause more problems. Lastly, she said this is a position in which the US can get tough on China, and that China has to stop enabling the disaster.

On Iraq, she stated that the US military has done everything asked of them: Getting rid of Saddam Hussein, get elections to occur, and allow a government to be formed, and they must now stop policing a civil war and move out of combat rolls. She went into the ins and outs of how Congress works (which i wont do here). She spoke about the Webb Amendment that didnt pass because of the dire need for 60 votes, and the Republicans want to stay the course. She pointed out the hypocrisy of Bush's statements saying that they are withdrawing 30K troops, because they were going to be withdrawn anyway.  She also said (which you might have caught on CNN) that every time there is Republican angst, Cheney comes down in his motorcade, and out comes "Darth Vader" to which the entire place shook with laughter and clapping. (Her humor was spot on and worked well). She again expressed the need for either Republicans to vote with Democrats on the issue, or to vote them out (at which point she mentioned Udall, Shaheen, and Warner as people who would be great additions to the Senate).

2:  The second major topic was Healthcare. She spoke about her recent health care plan which came out on Monday.  She said she didnt specifically pick a Single Payer plan because it probably will not be possible to pass. People like Choices, and her plan gives plenty of choices. People can keep their plan (which she also said was not stressed in 93/94... people thought the Government was taking over medicine, and people dont like that idea. Americans especially always want multiple choices for everything, and also want choices for insurance).  She spoke about opening up Congressional plans. She said when she brought that up in 1993, a lot of people in Congress spoke out against it, and now that she is actually in Congress, she doesnt understand why Americans, who pay for Congressional healthcare cannot get the same options.  She spoke about not being denied due to pre-existing conditions, and spoke about a public plan like medicare that will also be an option.  She was very clear that if you like your insurance, you can keep it, and it will not change if you do not want it to. She also said that was a lesson learned in 93. If people feel like the Government is interfering in their insurance, then they will turn against it, but if they know that it wont affect them, then they will not be antagonistic against it, and it will help in the long run to cover the 47 million uninsured Americans. Lastly, she said Congressmembers pay on average 3K less than the average American, and many Americans will most likely want to save that 3K. Then there is the public plan option which might be attractive to many Americans as well. (I think I touched on most of her points on UHC).

3. Energy - She spoke about Global warming and how important an issue it is. (Here she also knocked Bush and had a little joke saying "wouldnt it be great to have a president who isnt afraid to say global warming" too loud applause). She also included it on the list of one of the biggest threats to America along with Global terrorism and WMD proliferation. She said we have to learn from other countries (the Dutch on Wind, Brazil on biofuels etc.) as well as Americans making an effort at becoming more energy efficient (Talks about California using 50% less per capita than the rest of Americans).

There wasnt a follow up question on Energy so she only had a chance to talk about it during her opening speech.

4. Children -

Here she spoke about her time in the Childrens Defense Fund, SCHIP, and the Healthy Schools Act. She spoke about the need for Universal Pre-K and the failures of NCLB (and how she doesnt want our children to turn into walking standardized tests) to great applause.  She spoke about how she doesnt want to be a part of the first generation that sets children in America back instead of moving forward.  There should be no reason why America is the most productive country in the world, and yet, every 29 seconds someone drops out of high school.  She said that even though education is mostly State/Locally funded, the Federal Government should make it easier and areas that are poorer should get more federal funding.  She covered many aspects about different issues facing children, including getting access to vaccinations and other accomplishments.

Both Wes Clark and Hillary Clinton spoke about the current administration blurring the lines between civilian leadership and military roles. They both said Gen. Petraeus was an extraordinary leader but who has an unachievable goals. Political progress has not taken hold in Iraq because there is no military solution.  They said that President Bush has confined Petraeus' mission into set parameters, and he can only move within those parameters. General Clark said that Bill never hid behind a general, and neither will Hillary. Hillary also said she is not intereseted in Yes men/women.

Overall, the night was pretty amazing.  At one point Hillary stated that "Bill is a force of Nature" and she conceded that she isnt like him, they campaign differently, but the crowd didnt have any of it, as exemplified by a gentleman yelling "SO ARE YOU!" to yet more applause and laughter.  Hillary was interrupted with applause many times and General Clark was a pleasant surprise to the mix.  All that for $25 - I say sign me up next time as well.

P.S. My roll of film didnt work out (I forgot my digital camera) but i have some videos from my phone, will try to get those up ASAP.

Bill Clinton- An asset to Hillary

Well, my apologies for not updating this in such a long time. Today, I am going to talk about Bill Clinton, and why Americans and people all over the world love him. He's gifted beyond belief with political skill. He is a tremendously charismatic figure. He is an accomplished author and his most recent book is already a top seller. A project by Bill Clinton, the Clinton Global Initiative, has brought medicine and tremendous amounts of antiretroviral drug therapy to hundreds of thousands of people with HIV around the world. He was also put in charge of the Indonesian Tsunami relief project for two years by the UN. He still keeps busy, and is leading the fight against childhood obesity in the US. (Plus he's great friends with Nelson Mandela!).

Bill Clinton is probably the most captivating public speaker. Here are some clips of Bill speaking at Harvard Commencement. It is in 3 parts, just watch them one after another. Its about a half hour long, but once he starts, you wont want to stop.









Bush currently is sitting at an approval rating of about 33%. When Bill Clinton left office in 2001, he was sitting on a whopping 66% approval rating.


Here's Bill Plugging for Hillary: This is when he was not taking small steps in her campaign.



Theres also the media blitz that follows Bill: In the last two weeks, he was on Letterman, Larry King, Oprah, and on the campaign trail.

So why am I writing this diary? People say that Bill Clinton will only hurt Hillary Clinton's campaign. They'll bring up the drudge from the scandal. I say, any right wing bullshit will be flattened by this campaign, and lets face it, people have a high favorable opinion about Bill. He's simply an asset to Hillary.

Some thoughts

As much as I absolutely hate the idea of funding the war without any benchmarks/timeline etc, I think Bush may have won this battle. Pelosi wants a bill to be signed by Memorial Day. She has 1 week to get something done. There arent enough votes to override a veto, there isnt even a majority in either house to cut off funding, and people are getting fed up with Congress.

Congress barely polls above Bush in approval ratings, but thats not saying much as Bush's numbers are in the gutter. The Democrats are in control, but just barely. They cant pass sweeping legislation, and people who voted and are pissed off about the war have to realize that. Furthermore, one Dem is in the hospital, and another supports the war (Lieberman). Hagel is anti war as a republican which means the count is really 50-49. Those are NOT good numbers, so stop thinking everything is going to change. A majority see this as preventing money going to the soldiers. Be careful Pelosi/Reid.

But Congress has done something, but I wouldnt call it an accomplishment, not yet anyway. Thats holding Al Gonzales accountable for what he's done. The longer Bush holds on to Gonzales, the worse off the Republicans are. But he's still the Attorney General, getting him out would be the accomplishment, just a little shy there. Soon enough!

What is the deal with Margaret Spellings? How much did the Secretary of Education know about the kickbacks for colleges from "preferred" loaners? What is she doing to deal with the situation? CUOMO SHOULD NOT HAVE TO DO YOUR WORK MRS. SPELLINGS! Thank god Cuomo is a good AG (for NY state), maybe if Gonzales had half his brains, half his integrity, and half his skill, he wouldnt be in his sad position. Even still, Mrs. Spellings, we need some answers. Do you actually do anything as Secretary of Education? Why are college costs increasing so much? Why is interest on college loans going up? Do you ever tell Bush anything? Do you ever tell him that college students should not have to pay for the Iraq war through increased interest on their loans? Do you tell him NCLB is a failure because he doesnt fund it? Do you sleep at night thinking you are helping American children? Do you tell him he is ignoring students? Do you remind him that Americans are slipping further and further from other countries in science and math? Do you ever say anything about Intelligent Design? And how that will only make our students less prepared in the future?

And of course, everyone's favorite NJ Gov (sarcasm) Christie T. Whitman. What were you smoking when you said the air quality was ok in Downtown Manhattan? Were you FORCED by other administration officials to say so? Were you drunk? What was going on? Dont use this crap answer that you have litigation going on, you should be sued for your inadequate leadership and your willful and wanton negligence, thats exactly what it was, gross negligence. How do you feel? Are your lungs in danger? Are you breathing all right? Are you sick? You might be fine, but hundreds of others are sick because of what you said. Shame on you.

People are sick and tired of the Administration, but that mostly stems from dissatisfaction on Iraq. If people learn about all of these other things, it will get worse and worse for Republicans. Schumer (D-NY) has done a lot in the Senate Judiciary Committee making Gonzales look bad, Specter (R-PA) has to come around and just say he wants Gonzales to resign. Other republicans have done so, but once Specter does it, I think others will follow. He is the Republican ranking member on the Judiciary Committee, he has to step up.

I generally think Specter is an ok Senator, having lived in PA for 4 years, he was actually pretty well liked. He's pro stem cell research because he's really sick which sets him apart from other Repubs. But his term ends in 2010, and then he will be 80 years old. I dont think PA can hold on to Specter for long, and it doesnt seem like the state will be red much longer. PA WAKE UP! GO BLUE AND STAY BLUE!

Wolfowitz OUT

Wolfowitz has resigned- read here

Up next. Alberto Gonzalez.