The Candidates and World Leadership

Steve Hamm, a senior writer at Business Week, worries about the nation's diminishing role as a world leader.

Over the past eight years, the United States has lost a tremendous amount of influence on the world. The Bush administration's stance on global warming, its bullying style, the war in Iraq, and lack of leadership on fair trade have left the country as an outlier in the global community of nations rather than a true leader. So one of the most important tasks of the next president will be to fix that.

Hamm views John McCain as "positively enlightened" compared to Bush. McCain talks about the need to lead "by demonstrating once again the virtues of freedom and democracy, by defending the rules of international civilized society and by creating the new international institutions necessary to advance the peace and freedoms we cherish." But Hamm quite rightly worries that McCain undermined that position by selecting a vice presidential candidate who counteracts his message. [more ...]

[Palin is] a person who is focused narrowly on the provincial interests of conservative, right-wing Americans (or maybe just Alaskans), who advocates exploiting natural resources and burning fuel rather than conserving and coming up with energy alternatives, and who considers the defense of human rights to be unpatriotic. Imagine how the leaders of the rest of the world would deal with her as president. The United States would be a laughingstock among nations.

Hamm argues that McCain could "start to redeem America in the world's eyes" if he drops Palin, but not otherwise.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has an immediate advantage over McCain, in Hamm's view.

It's clear from Obama's reception in Europe and the Middle East earlier this year that world leaders would embrace him as a colleague.

Obama, Hamm writes, is "insisting that the values we (or at least some of us) hold dear are fully expressed in how we engage with the world."

Maybe most voters don't care about how America is perceived in the world. President Bush certainly doesn't. But voters who are concerned about the nation's loss of its leadership role in the world should heed Hamm's analysis. McCain isn't about to jettison Palin, given the reception she received at the Republican National Convention. If voters want the United States to regain its standing as an international leader, Obama is the clear choice.

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The Latest Sports News

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There Is A Cloud Over The Vice-Presidential
Candidate

Okay, stop me if you've heard this before: High-ranking government official abuses their power to put a dedicated public servant out of a job, then hides behind the stone wall of omerta to ride out the subsequent investigation. Yes, that would be Sarah[...]

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didate/

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Cheers and Jeers: Rum and Coke FRIDAY!

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...

My Thoughts on the Republican Convention:

Republicans sure are angry people. They should take a class or something to get that under control. Or maybe just do what Jesus did: chill, man.
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When John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his veep choice, she became an instant mega-celebrity, eclipsing even Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Whoops!
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The RNC would like to thank the fine folks at Crayola Color Wonder for the backdrops last night. Optometrists would like the thank the RNC for the influx of patients that streamed into their offices with retina burns this morning.
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Republican operatives have officially welcomed 9/11 into their bag of acceptable advertising and marketing tools. The families of the victims must be thrilled to know that the horrific deaths of their loved ones can now be used to sell stuff.
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If McCain doesn't get a 15-point bounce, the convention will be repeated over and over until he does.
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If we lose this election it will be traced directly back to one thing: our team didn’t have a balloon drop and theirs did.
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Sarah Palin is the new savior of the Republican party as long as she never takes a single question from a reporter ever again as long as she lives.
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I wonder if Republicans ridicule community service organizers when they need something from them, or if they just ridicule them during conventions.
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President George H.W. Bush said during his 1989 inaugural address: "I have spoken of a thousand points of light, of all the community organizations that are spread like stars throughout the Nation, doing good." Save it for your liberal pals, you no-good San Francisco Marxist hippie.
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Gee, what will the "proper authorities" in Mineapolis-St. Paul do with their time now that they no longer have innocent protestors to beat the crap out of and unlawfully arrest? Go back to kicking kittens, I expect.
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I agree: John Bush is his own man. Too bad John McCain isn't.
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Wardrobe malfunction: McCain didn’t have the common decency and patriotism to wear a flag pin. But I hear his nipple medallions had eagles on them.
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This is just my opinion, Cindy, but $300,000 seems a little steep for duds. I hope that wasn't the red-tag sale price.
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Compared to this, Bob Barr's convention is gonna rock!

My friends, it’s the weekend. Please spend some time delivering bottled hot toddies to dehydrated bloggers. Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]

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Say Nothing. Know Nothing

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CNN - Biden hits GOP on economy

copyright ? 2008 Betsy L. Angert

What do you talk about when you, a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate have nothing good to say of yourself?  What can be said to encourage people to endorse you when your proposed policies will hurt them?  What do you talk about when you cannot explain, the last years that define the failure of your Party?  

You speak of others.  Then, no one will notice what you do not want them to acknowledge.  When you are not as wondrous as people hope you will be, criticize someone else.  Slice, dice, and place people on the defensive.  Lessen the worth of one who looms too large for your liking.  Then, attention will be diverted away from you.  A common enemy can be your cause.  If people in your Party have someone to actively oppose they will joyfully join you in a quest to conquer.
If you have nothing good to say of yourself or your plans, consider the options.  You might lie by omission.  Certainly, what someone does not know will not hurt him or her, or more importantly, you will not be scathed.  Build on a your personal tale. We have all experienced pain and suffering.  A real-life crisis will cause a heart to bleed.  People relate to a sad saga or a situation.  Perceived strength can be an asset.  Everyone loves a survivor.  As a society, we admire those who sacrifice.  Be that person, the saint who suffers in silence, or share the story of a sympathetic son, a daughter, a husband, or wife.

When you have nothing to say that might help endear you to those you most wish to influence, then say nothing of the economic decline that you helped to create.  Do not remind the many of a corporate culture that endorses you and yet, denies people adequate pay or employment.  If your words will cause worry to those who have lost income and a sense of self then do not dare mention the numbers out of work.  As a Party or person who permits big business to outsource jobs, you must not speak of opportunities that no longer exist for the poor and Middle Class here at home.

The unemployment rate jumped to 6.1 percent in August, its highest level in five years, pushing the troubles of American workers to the center of the political debate as the presidential campaign enters its final weeks.

For the eighth consecutive month, the nation's employers shed jobs, 84,000 last month, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.  In all, 605,000 jobs have been lost since January.  The steady rise in unemployment, from 5.7 percent in July and 5 percent in April, is one that many economists associate with recession.
U.S. Jobless Rate Climbs Past 6%, Highest Since '03
By Louis Uchitelle
The New York Times.
September 5, 2008

If you are among the rich or the Right who deny health care coverage to all children, and to every citizen do not speak of the millions who must declare bankruptcy due to an illness.  Do not tell the tale the  will push people away from you at the polls.  If you have nothing, good to say of the medical coverage your Administration will offer say nothing at all.  Surely, you cannot quote the analysis.  You do not wish for people to ponder.

In the July 23 update of its analysis, Tax Policy Center (TPC) added a preliminary estimate of the candidates' health care proposals.  Because the campaigns did not provide complete plans, TPC assumed certain details.  We conclude that the McCain plan, which would replace the current exclusion for employer-paid premiums with a refundable income tax credit of up to $5000 for anyone purchasing of health insurance and make other changes to the healthcare system, would increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion over 10 years and modestly trim the number of uninsured.  

The Obama plan, which would make relatively low-cost insurance available to everyone through non-group pools and subsidize premiums for low and moderate-income households, would cost $1.6 trillion, but would also cover virtually all children and many currently uninsured adults.
A Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans
Executive Summary of the August 15, 2008 analysis
By Roberton Williams and Howard Gleckman
Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

As a candidate who wishes to tax the Middle Class, and not the affluent, do not tell the masses what you will do once in the Oval Office.  They cannot know for a common man or woman will not cast a ballot if they see or hear the projected statistics.  There is no need to remind millions of Americans of what will alienate them, the actual reality.

The Obama plan would reduce taxes for low and moderate-income families, but raise them significantly for high-bracket taxpayers (see Figure 2).  By 2012, middle-income taxpayers would see their after-tax income rise by about 5 percent, or nearly $2,200 annually.  Those in the top 1 percent would face a $19,000 average tax increase-a 1.5 percent reduction in after-tax income.

McCain would lift after-tax incomes an average of about 3 percent, or $1,400 annually, for middle-income taxpayers by 2012.  But, in sharp contrast to Obama, he would cut taxes for those in the top 1% by more than $125,000, raising their after-tax income an average 9.5 percent.
A Updated Analysis of the 2008 Presidential Candidates' Tax Plans
Executive Summary of the August 15, 2008 analysis
By Roberton Williams and Howard Gleckman
Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

Say nothing or say what will generate gratitude for you, for your service, for your chutzpah.  Be bold.  Be brave.  Be brassy.  Be brazen, just be safe.  Say nothing of what will bring attention to you.  Divorce yourself from your political past and your Party.  Be the agent of covert change.  Certainly, that is what citizens who know nothing of what you have not said will believe in.

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Sarah Palin the Earmark Queen of AK Left Wasilla
$20 Million in Debt

After finishing as a runner up for Miss Alaska 1984, Sarah Palin went on to be crowned the state’s Queen of Earmarks and its Empress of Fiscal Irresponsibility. Wonk Room: Sarah Palin: Earmark Queen Of The Earmark StateIn 2000, Sarah Palin, as mayor of the Alaskan town of Wasilla, hired a Washington lobbyist [...]

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-wasilla-20-million-in-debt/

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Fox News' Jarrett to Obama adviser: "I'll shut
down the microphone if you continue" to use "talking points"

During the September 5 edition of Fox News' Studio B, after Obama campaign senior adviser Anita Dunn stated that "[Sen.] Barack Obama believes stronglythat health carehas to be accessible and affordable, that you should be able to get health carewithout having to shop all over the country," guest hostGregg Jarrett interrupted Dunn,and said: "All right, now you'regetting into your talking points. ... Now you're getting into your talkingpoints." Dunn responded, "No, no, Nancy gave us the[...]

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Wash. Post's Weisman ignored actual criteria used
in study finding McCain voted with Bush 90 percent of the time

In a September 5online chat, Washington Post national political reporter Jonathan Weisman claimed of the finding thatSen. John McCain voted in line with President Bush 90 percent of the time,"The 90 percent figure is true, but I cover Congress. The vast majorityof those votes are procedural, and virtually every member of Congress voteswith his or her leadership on procedural motions." In fact, Congressional Quarterly's finding thatMcCain had voted with Bush 90 percent of the time was based on[...]

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"Media Matters"; by Jamison Foser

A test for the mediaOn MSNBC onThursday, Time'sJay Carney offered an assessment of the McCain campaign's most recentassault on the media: "Clearly,the campaign has decided that one way to win is to attack the media. Now, thatcould work. It does not have a great history of working. 'Annoy the Media: Re-Elect George Bush,' 1992 -- Bush got, I think, 39 percent of the vote or 37 percent of thevote."Carney didn't explicitly say it, but he seems to beunder the impression that the point of the McCain[...]

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Sobriety & the U.S. Presidential Race

No, this is not a post about alcoholism, and the only drunkenness to which it might refer is the manic inebriation that comes with the exercise of great power.As the U.S. presidential race settles into its pattern of opposing camps supposedly at great[...]

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