Wednesday, November 30, 2005

President Bush Says He Has a Plan. Oh, Really?

The President was off today attempting to sell the idea that he and the Republicans have a plan for the fiasco in Iraq. The Washington Post has all the information about the speech. David Sanger of the NY Times also has a piece on it tonight. There are a couple of issues here to discuss.

The first is Bush’s struggle to explain what the plan is for our involvement in Iraq. It looks like a strategy of long-term containment, where the US could be in Iraq for years and years. To me, it looks like this administration is making it up as they go along.

My second issue is how the military has become totally partisan and Republican. And the Republican Party is fostering and supporting this relationship and support. Sanger in his article says the midshipmen at the US Naval Academy were “cheering”. They wouldn’t be cheering if they were a Walter Reed with out an arm or leg wondering to themselves, why this had to happen? This partisan military is an issue the country and military leaders in the future will have to face.

Republicans don’t give an inch with respect to military factors. Congresswoman Jeannette Marie "Jean" Hoffman Schmidt spoke on the House floor and was very insolent towards Congressman Murtha, who is a Congressman and someone who’s greatly sacrificed for our country. “Mean Jean Schmidt” knew exactly what she was doing and so did her Republican handlers. They wanted to be aggressive towards anyone who disagrees with them, to the point they threaten and insult. Republicans are also very territorial when it comes to the military. They know they’ve done the military poorly. They’ve sent men and women into combat ill prepared, they’ve attempted to reduce military benefits, and then, look at all the casualties from the Iraq conflict. They know, if the military guys figure it out that they’ve actually been ‘had’ by the Republicans, the military will turn on their party. No more sweet contracts paid for by honest taxpayers.

There is good news however, Howard Dean on next year’s elections.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Washington DC Should Be Early Primary State in 2008
The Democratic Party National Committee is deciding and studying right now the presidential nominating process for 2008. In other words, who's going to be the first in the nation primary? In the past it has been New Hampshire and Iowa. But that may change and DC may be in the hunt. The Washington Post has an article about this that is worth reading. It seems to me pretty clear that D.C. should be one of the first primary states. Why? Because it has a real cultural mix of people, which isn't present in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Washington is a place where "retail politics" reins. Meeting people is easy, but big and expensive media buys don't exist and are not necessary. Just look at what Howard Dean did in Washington early in the last presidential primary season. Dean won DC and spent very little if any money at all. Washington is a great place for Presidential candidates to meet voters of all different ethic background, religion and socio-economic levels. Washington DC needs to be on the list.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Washington DC Voters Won’t Forget a Friend

All candidates for higher office best look up and take notice of an important issue which greatly impacts the people of Washington DC. That issue is the right to equal representation in the House of Representatives. It seems to me that virtually everyone in DC supports the idea that the people should be represented in Congress. We are not today.

Someone who has been very supportive of DC citizens right to vote has been the former Vice President Al Gore. Gore was one of three co-sponsors of the New Columbia Admission Act to make DC the 51st state. He understands that it is fundamentally unfair that United States citizens living in our Nation’s Capitol don’t have a vote in Congress. People here in DC won’t forget a friend and will actively support Al Gore for President.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Hello everyone!

Thanks for contributing to the DC 4 Al Gore blog. We’re here for a couple of reasons. First, we support Vice President Gore for President of the United States. Secondly, we are urging Al Gore to run for President in 2008, so we are a grass roots effort to draft Gore for President. And our third raison d’etre is supporting Al Gore in the Washington, DC primary in the spring of 2008. There will be a Presidential Primary in DC and we intend on helping Al Gore win DC.

Thanks for support and stay turned for more discussion on the Gore national campaign and our efforts here in Washington, DC.

Paul