Posts Tagged ‘2016 Elections



30
Apr
15

An Open Letter

Well, we now have two declared candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination. (If we’re being charitable, three, but who’s counting Lincoln Chafee?)

Hillary Clinton is on her “listening tour” (didn’t she do that in 2008?), and seems to be listening somewhat. She gave a speech calling for the end of mass incarceration; a mass incarceration she called for back when her husband was president. But, people change, that was 20 years ago, and being the good rationalist I am I will keep an open mind. I’m certainly not going to dismiss her out of hand if she wins the nomination, because the thought of someone more conservative and unhinged than Antonin Scalia taking his seat on the Supreme Court should give even the most side-eyed Democratic Clinton-hater a bucket-full of pauses.

And then we have Bernie Sanders. I really don’t know why he’s running. He might have made an impact as an independent; but, props to him, he didn’t want to split the left vote, so he’s giving it the old college try. But an old guy with unkempt hair who looks like he should be feeding the pigeons probably won’t have the financial wherewithal to take on the Koch/Adelson money machine (something Hillary will have no problem doing should she win). Bernie running is part vanity, and part to get his issues out beyond his acolytes. (This is assuming that the media give him any attention, even if he is running as a Democrat. The media is good at ignoring those who are inconvenient.)

Some are rooting for Deval Patrick to enter. Many are pinning their hopes on Martin O’Malley. And, of course, there’s always Jim Webb. (I jest.)

Of course, I have questions.

Continue reading ‘An Open Letter’

16
Jan
15

The President’s Day

President Barack Obama greets Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom prior to a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, Jan. 16, 2015 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama meets with PM Cameron at the Oval Office. The two leaders discussed bilateral issues including economic growth, international trade, cybersecurity, Iran, ISIL, counterterrorism, Ebola, and Russia’s actions in Ukraine

Barack+Obama+Barack+Obama+David+Cameron+News+yUemxP_bbdIl

President Obama and PM Cameron participate in a joint news conference at the East Room of the White House

****

****

U.S. President Obama takes question during joint news conference at the White House in Washington

President Obama is asked a question about Romney running for a third time by ABC’s Jon Karl

Barack+Obama+Barack+Obama+David+Cameron+News+08_nr5xJLsPl

Barack+Obama+Barack+Obama+David+Cameron+News+_eAsRqLX8B6l

****

****

****

****

08
Nov
14

A Political System On Life Support

The results of Tuesday’s “earth shattering” election are quite revelatory, but not for the reasons bruited about by your average MSNBC/Fox/CNN vacuous pundit.

Although President Obama won’t use the word—and bless him for it—it was a “shellacking” which the voters meted out to the Democratic Party. But let’s examine this “mandate” a bit further.

The turnout for the midterm election stands at 36%, a low not seen since the 1940s. That’s 36% of registered voters. Voter registration in its turn doesn’t encompass all eligible voters. This Al Jazeera article has this telling paragraph:

Election turnout is often cited as an indicator of the strength of the mandate of winning candidates, but it can be a misleading statistic: Turnout is usually measured as a proportion of registered voters rather than of those eligible to vote — and census numbers show that more than 70 million U.S. citizens of voting age are not registered voters.

Get that? 70 million Americans who are eligible to vote aren’t even registered. What does this mean? That the number of registered voters is at best a bare majority of eligible voters. And then that the voters who turned out were a minority of that number. And then that the GOP “landslide” depended on a further minority of registered voters, which in turn doesn’t account for all eligible voters.

This opens up a veritable cornucopia of delicious dysfunction.

Continue reading ‘A Political System On Life Support’




@POTUS

@BarackObama

@WhiteHouse

@FLOTUS

@blog44

@PeteSouza

Enter your email address to receive notifications of new posts by email.

@TheObamaDiary

@NerdyWonka

@Lib_Librarian

@Our4thEstate

@DaRiverZkind

@zizii2

RSS White House.gov

  • Weekly Address: Dispose of Your Expired and Unwanted Prescription Drugs
  • More than 4.83 Million Records Released
  • In Photos: Pope Francis Visits the White House
  • West Wing Week: 9/25/15 or, “Our Common Home”
  • Third Estimate of Gross Domestic Product for the Second Quarter of 2015

RSS WH Tumblr

  • “Our work together—to increase our trade, boost the global...
  • “On behalf of the American people, welcome to the United...
  • President Obama greeted Pope Francis at the White House this...
  • “When it comes to the care of our common home, we are...
  • “Climate change is a problem that can no longer be left to a...

RSS The People’s View

  • Speaker John Boehner resigns Liberal Librarian
  • On Catholicism and the sanctity of life Liberal Librarian
  • Open thread - Midweek Ha-has Liberal Librarian
  • The End Times Nancy the Artist
  • Could a Shutdown Threat “Break the Fever” and Provide an Opening to Stimulus and Recovery? Randy Abraham, Guest Blogger

RSS Smartypants

  • Boehner Gets Himself Out of a Jam
  • The Republican "Southern Strategy" is Still Alive
  • DOJ and HUD Target Redlining
  • "Hope Builds on Itself. Success Breeds Success"
  • The Pope's Speech to Congress Was Grounded in Morals, Not Politics

RSS A Writing Corner (LL)

  • #Pixels: A sign of the Apocalypse?
  • Annals in “WTH Were You Thinking??” – Potty Training
  • For the young lady and her love of Seamus Heaney
  • On compassion
  • A Mass for the Dead

RSS Greg Sargent

  • Open Thread
  • Happy Hour Roundup
  • Marco Rubio knows how to take on Donald Trump. Jeb Bush doesn’t.
  • Was John Boehner a victim of circumstance or an incompetent bumbler?
  • Morning Plum: Jeb Bush raises the ghost of Mitt ‘free stuff’ Romney

RSS Steve Benen

  • Citations for the September 25, 2025 TRMS
  • Millions expected for Pope Francis in Philadelphia
  • Surprising stature among pope's congressional protectors
  • GOP's hard-right a wild card in replacing John Boehner
  • Political world shocked by John Boehner resignation announcement

Categories

Archives

Blog Stats

  • 32,570,090 hits
September 2015
M T W T F S S
« Aug    
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930