my life » Clinton

Clinton’s biographer calls her out on obfuscations

Devon — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 18:15:15 +0000

There’s a great article today on Anderson Cooper’s blog by Carl Bernstein about how Senator Clinton has a tendency of misstating important facts. For those who don’t know, Carl Bernstein was one of the two reporters who cooperatively broke the story of the Watergate … continue reading: Clinton’s biographer calls her out on obfuscations

Clinton campaign – still confusing the voters

Devon — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:41:52 +0000

Failing to pick up enough delegates to be the Democratic front-runner, Senator Clinton is now attempting to ensure herself a spot on the Democratic ticket should she fail to overtake Senator Obama. Despite the use of negative attack ads which portrayed Sen. Obama as inexperienced and unprepared, the Clinton campaign values Sen. Obama enough to still offer him the Vice-Presidency. Evidently, they feel that by November, he’ll have plenty of experience under his belt. Writes Michael Goodwin of the New York Daily News, “It’s a dream team all right, as in dream on. It’s a fantasy because, in the Clintons’ pitch, naturally, she is on top of the ticket and Obama is her No. 2. That’s rich of her, considering that Obama leads in both the delegate race and the popular vote. Forget those pesky voters – Hillary has declared herself the winner!” Many Democratic leaders are discounting the Clintons’ offer, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who stated that the Clintons lost their opportunity when they claimed that Senator McCain was more qualified than Senator Obama. With Michigan and Florida still in limbo, voters may have to wait a long time before a Democratic ticket is resolved.

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Fairness in political media coverage

Devon — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:59:33 +0000

Thanks to SNL’s skit last Saturday, the debate over fairness in the news media has found a new proponent in Senator Clinton. First of all, let me say that I love SNL, but at the same time, I recognize that it’s a comedy show based in NYC, not a think tank out of Washington. The media does have a responsibility to truthfully report the news, but that duty does not apply in the same way to political coverage. Senator Clinton is not complaining about the lack of coverage that Ralph Nader is receiving, just her own portrayal in the media, indicating that she wants to use the TV networks as scapegoats for her declining position in the polls. While media coverage and poll position are undeniably correlated, Senator Clinton is attempting to reverse the relationship between the two. Her diminishing portrayal by the media outlets is a direct result of her failure to win any of the last 11 primaries. The news outlets just don’t want to make the mistake of backing a loser.

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Super Tuesday

Devon — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:33:00 +0000

If you haven’t taken the time to vote yet, get out there and do it already! The reason we got stuck with the Bush administration for eight years is because people were too frakkin lazy, in the words of Chief, to get out of the house and make a difference.

Those who have read my blog regularly probably realize that I’m a big Obama supporter, but no matter whom you personally support, your support means nothing unless you make it to the polls today. (Remember though — it was the Clinton presidency that set the stage for Bush’s rise to power in 2000. Just keep that in mind in case you were planning on voting for Billary.)

Here in Utah, to vote in the Republican primary, you must be registered with the Republican Party. The Democratic Party allows for Independents to vote in their primary without registering with their party. Since I’m not from Utah, I don’t know if you can change your party affiliation at the polling location or if you just have to cast a provisional ballot.

For those voting en absentee, your ballots must be received by your election board before polling ends this evening. Some states, including Oklahoma, require that your ballots be sent through USPS and cannot be delivered in person. In other words, the only way you’re getting your absentee ballot in this late is if you know the Postmaster General himself.

With polls open in Michigan, Clinton campaign keeps stirring the pot

Devon — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:58:57 +0000

Has anyone else noticed that CNN’s political blog has completely gone to heck? I say heck, but it’s actually a lot closer to something else which I won’t mention. I should have realized that back when they started posting articles that described how one candidate’s supporters began to boo, upon hearing comments from an opposing candidate. While CNN certainly attempts to be impartial (okay, not that much), there is a discernible push for Clinton. Just today there was a post on how a “Major Clinton supporter calls Obama remark ‘absolutely stupid’.” That “major supporter” turned out to be Charlie Rangel, a Congressman from New York who wants to reinstate the draft. While reinstating the draft would ensure an immediate end to the war in Iraq (or an uprising here at home), creating chaos is not the best way to bring about change in a modern society.

What CNN hasn’t publicized is that fact that Clinton’s supporters are actively trying to prevent food service workers from participating in the Nevada caucuses. The Teachers’ Union is claiming that by having caucuses on the Strip, it unfairly facilitates those who work on the Strip. The reality is that the Clinton campaign is doing everything possible to prevent the Nevada Culinary Union from actively backing Obama. Add this to the whole “race card” accusations and the New Hampshire recount and the whole primaries are now just a complete mess.

And then there was Michigan …

Devon — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 05:33:30 +0000

This last weekend passed by all too quickly. I spent Friday evening and most of Saturday running errands all over Orem and Provo. My parents had given me a gift card to Sams Club, so I stocked up on groceries for work. (I had to have some apples and pudding cups to go with my peanut butter and honey sandwiches, obviously.) I spend way too much at the campus vending machines to justify not wanting to find a better price for TGI Friday’s potato skins. Buying them from Sams, I save over $.40/bag. Now if I sell them to my co-workers at $.25 …

I was invited to go to Nevada next weekend to help with the Obama campaign in Elko. While I really would have liked to help out — especially since I might have been able to meet Senator Obama in person, it didn’t look like it would fit into my schedule. Leaving town for three days really isn’t an option with four computer science courses. Shame really; there aren’t too many chances to participate in a presidential election.

It will be interesting to see how things shake out in the primary in Michigan tomorrow. With Obama taking Iowa and Clinton winning the New Hampshire primary, Michigan, South Carolina and Nevada are extremely critical for the candidates from both parties.

On a lighter note, there were new episodes of Prison Break and the Sarah Connor Chronicles on tonight. I just hope the writers’ strike ends soon. American Idol begins tomorrow, but even that won’t offset the lack of new content when the current series run out of scripted episodes.

Future content

Devon — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 18:37:57 +0000

For one of the classes I’m taking this semester, CS 404 Ethics and Computers In Society, we’re required to setup a blog and publish the occasional post. This means that next time you visit this blog, there might actually be some content that isn’t three months old. I know, I know, they said it wasn’t possible, but I might finally start blogging on a regular basis.

I can’t say that anything terribly exciting has happened over the course of the last few months. Unsurprisingly, I spent most of the Christmas break catching up on sleep and watching the BCS games. OU talked a lot of trash and then failed to perform against WV, once again proving that in-season performance is a poor indicator of any post-season bowl qualification.

With the commencement of the presidential primaries, it’s been interesting to watch the huge fluctuation of public opinion regarding the candidates, particularly Huckabee, whom I absolutely abhor. Anyone who thinks that he or she can singlehandedly demolish the current US tax structure is running a few quarts low. McCain’s success in New Hampshire may either be the result of his intense campaigning in that state or the more-liberal population’s backlash against the rhetoric of the more conservative / religious candidates for the GOP nomination. On the part of the Democrats, I was gladdened to see Obama take Iowa, even if it didn’t translate to a victory in New Hampshire. The last thing I want to see come November elections is Clinton as the Democratic candidate and Huckabee as the Republican candidate. Were that to occur, I’d seriously consider looking for employment outside of the States.