Archive for the issues

Hillary’s faith-a-faith-a-faith

July 9, 2007 · Filed under campaign strategy, democrats, religion, republicans, the issues

When you think of religious voters, what party affiliation comes to mind?

It’s certainly not Democratic. Hillary Clinton, like other Dems, has realized that the Republicans have had a hold on the religious demographic for far too long, and is trying to change this. Obama has already been talking more openly about the role his Christian faith plays in his life for a while now, and it seems Hillary is now following suite.

The New York Times recently featured an article about Hillary’s faith. The article states that Hillary’s new religious overtures just might work to win over centrist voters, but will do very little with religious conservatives. Some of the tactics that Hillary is trying include talking about her faith (ie, how she carries a bible with her when she travels), hiring Burn Strider, an evangelical christian to do religious outreach, and speaking to religous opponents of abortion to show her respect for their stance, while still being a firm supporter of abortion rights.

So how is the public reacting? Read the rest of this entry »

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So does she actually care about the environment… and know what she’s talking about?

June 29, 2007 · Filed under Al Gore, Hillary's platform, Obama, the environment, the issues

Listening to an episode of Fresh Air on NPR with Jeff Goodell the other day, I heard that, in spite of a evidence to the contrary (like League of Conservation Voters’ naming him as their candidate of choice), Barack Obama’s stance on the environment is actually a bit contradictory. On the one hand, he advocates reduction of dependance on Middle Eastern oil. But in order to do this, he supports the US’s continued reliance on coal to generate electric power with coal-to-liquid programs which produce diesel fuel out of coal. What the US public does not consider is that coal-to-liquid conversion produces greenhouse gases and seriously increases the detrimental effects of global warming. So what looks like a good policy on the surface (‘decreasing our reliance on foreign oil’) is actually bad for the environment (increases global warming).

This made me think about the particularly thorny Environment Issue in general. It is one of a few places in which all candidates take a similar stance (no one is ‘anti-environment’, after all, and if you look at most candidates’ websites they have to at least give a symbolic shoutout to the issue). Most of the public, too, has realized the seriousness of the issue, and has some general feelings about conservation. However,  in reality, the specific policies which candidates suggest may appear like a good idea, but could be seriously flawed when dissected by an expert such as Jeff Gooddell. The environment isn’t exactly an issue that the average voter can decipher with a gut feeling or moral compass, like they can abortion or gay marriage.

 So how does Hillary measure up? Is she really proposing viable solutions, or is she merely making sure to fit in with the public’s newfound post-’Inconvenient Truth’ eco-friendly speculation? Read the rest of this entry »

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Hillary challenges “don’t ask, don’t tell”

April 26, 2007 · Filed under gay rights, iraq, the army, the issues

I found out in a recent Des Moines Register article by Tony Leys, that Hillary Clinton has come out to criticize the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that the US army currently holds towards its gay members. While answering a question in Iowa, Clinton stated that gays should be allowed to serve in the army while being open and honest about their sexuality. To drive home her point, Hillary quoted the late Senator Barry Goldwater, saying, “think the question should be not whether you are straight, but whether you shoot straight.”
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Hillary: unelectable?

April 23, 2007 · Filed under female voters, Hillary Clinton, Hillary vs Obama, Obama, reporting, the issues

I was reading an interesting blog today “about the politics of reporting– and the reporting of politics.” On it, Greg Sargent dissects and analyzes the way in which reporters and popular newspapers, such as the New York Times, write about politics and political candidates.

In one article, Sargent points out that, when asked about Hillary, most pundits will say something about the impossibility of her being elected because she is “polarizing” and, although she sticks closely to her pretty centrist agenda, this makes her “unelectable”. Sargent debunks this myth with an ABC/Washington news poll showing that Hillary is in fact far more electable than another presidential hopeful, John McCain.

So why the presumed “unelectability”?
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Let’s get down to business…

April 12, 2007 · Filed under campaign strategy, Hillary Clinton, Hillary videos, Hillary's platform, the issues

…and discuss Hillary’s views on the issues most pertinent to this presidential campaign (according to ontheissues.org).
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1) Clearly, the Big One: IRAQ
In October of 2002, Hillary voted to authorize the war in Iraq. Since then, she has become a critic of the way that Bush has handled (or mishandled) the war, but does not recant her vote (it is possible that she holds the course so decisively here because wants to avoid the stigma of a “flip-flopper” that plagued Kerry). Most recently, Hillary has become a proponent of a steady redeployment of troops from Iraq, calling on Iraq’s government to take a more proactive role in the own security. Hillary’s stance on Iraq gets her in trouble more than any of her other views– although she is a moderate Democrat, she often treads dangerously close to the Republican party line. Her stance is hardly what many liberals want to hear, and she is bound to lose a lot of voters here.
In this video, Hillary outlines her stance on Iraq: Read the rest of this entry »

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