Disqus - Latest Comments for RickTaylor

Re: Is there a Cowardly Lion running for the White House?

RickTaylor — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:51:21 -0000

"McCain has been on Letterman’s show before so the only reason I can think of for this change in schedule is that his staff saw a bias of Letterman towards Obama during the Chris Rock interview of a few days ago."

No, he interviewed with Katie Couric because it was imperative they take the focus off the disastrous interview with Palin ealier. It worked; the main story became McCain's interview instead of hers.

Re: Now Rangel is publicly criticizing Hillary

RickTaylor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:56:13 -0000

What exactly should Obama do? He's already won the primary; the only reason to be concerned about Clinton taking things to the convention is it's likely to be divisive and to inflame her more ardent supporters. How would Obama publicly getting tough with her help with that?

Re: Encouraging Signs?

RickTaylor — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:46:38 -0000

It's no longer her most ardent detractors. Now you have Charlie Rangel, governor Rendell, and Hilary Rosen all making noises and wondering what she's up to.

Re: Much ado about “Whitey”

RickTaylor — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 12:20:53 -0000

"While I have avoided covering this rumor here on these pages, this week we may finally see an end (one wary or the the other) to speculation. . . "

Nope. I'll bet the speculation keeps on going all the way to the election and beyond. It's based on nothing at all, it's just a low level buzz to give an impression about Obama. Even this article, how ever unintentionally, keeps the idea alive and perpetuates the buzz. It's better just to ignore baseless rumor mongering.

Re: Friends of Clinton who advocate a convention fight shouldn't work in the party ever again

RickTaylor — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 19:26:46 -0000

I think they know that. I think Hillary is going to actually concede the race in the coming week, but if she doesn't, I think you'll see a sudden exodus of her remaining support.

Re: Some perspective on the media's attempts to overblow yesterday's protests at the DNC meeting

RickTaylor — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 11:59:22 -0000

I'm content if the media payed attention to the protesters. It makes Clinton look bad, which is fair as she pushed the Florida 2000 comparison and made no effort that I know of to discouraging the protests; I even saw a notice of the protests on her campaign website. Obama on the other hand discouraged any sort of counter protest.

Re: Hillary Clinton Falsely Claims She Leads In Every Poll

RickTaylor — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:36:30 -0000

There's no need to use euphemisms: "fasely claims," "credibility gap," "A look at all the polls simply do not support her assertion." She's lying.

Re: Stephanopoulos: Hillary's campaign is talking about taking the fight to the convention

RickTaylor — Sat, 24 May 2008 17:41:22 -0000

I think the Obama campaign knows what it's doing; give Hillary enough rope to hang herself, which is pretty much what's happening. The super-delegates are being polite but they can't be at all happy, first with the white hard working voters comment, then comparing the primary to Zimbabwe. I don't think this going to go on much longer than after the last primary. They'll give her another chance for a dignified exit, but that's it.

Re: Clyburn's "outrage"

RickTaylor — Sat, 24 May 2008 14:01:36 -0000

We have no idea what's going on. The Obama campaign has been artful in its timing and use of endorsements; for all we know Clyburn's offered and Obama is keeping it in his back pocket for when the time is right. Regardless, it's been clear for a while where Clyburn stands.

Re: Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid - Where the fuck are you?

RickTaylor — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:21:24 -0000

Actually, I have to say, the hands off strategy of letting her self-destruct has been more effective than I ever would have imagined.

Re: Hillary supporter Ed Koch wins 4 Monicas for pulling the Israel card, and Farrakhan and Wright

RickTaylor — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:04:21 -0000

"So, we award Hillary supporter Ed Koch, who's obviously doing this at Hillary's request. . . "

Ok, I'm slow. Why is it obvious Ed Koch is doing this at Hillary's request? Ed Koch backed Bush in 2004, he's certainly capable of being saber rattler all on his own.

Re: Maureen Dowd: "Obama will never be at his best around Hillary"

RickTaylor — Mon, 12 May 2008 12:02:48 -0000

John, if you read my previous posts, you'll see I'm an Obama supporter who's been horrified at the lengths Clinton is willing to go to to pursue the nomination. So with that in mind, I have to tell you, you're going off the deep end here, citing Maureen Dowd's personality pieces and coming up with "Monica awards." The contest is coming towards an end and one of our goals here is to bring the party together; this isn't helping.

Re: Maureen Dowd: "Obama will never be at his best around Hillary"

RickTaylor — Mon, 12 May 2008 11:59:19 -0000

"Like that Dowd woman, nearly all the Obama posters here call one candidate Hillary and they call the other Obama. That is blatant sexism used to demean Clinton, meaning she should stay at home in the kitchen."

I see Hillary Clinton's supporters doing exactly the same thing. Here is Hillary Clinton's website: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/splash It says "Hillary for President."

Re: Edwards: Hillary Clinton “has to be really careful that she’s not damaging our prospects”

RickTaylor — Sun, 11 May 2008 19:53:46 -0000

I don't think she's getting out of the race until after the rules committee meets to decide on Michigan and Florida on May 31. If she wasn't planning to fight for those delegates and the corresponding popular vote, there would have been no reason to turn down the compromise solution offered for Michigan.

Re: Bill Clinton earns a "Monica"

RickTaylor — Sun, 11 May 2008 10:10:27 -0000

I think there's enough ill filling between Obama supporters and Hillary supporters without brining up Monica, even as a joke. And I say that as someone who's been staggered at the lengths Hillary Clinton has been going to win.

Re: Should Democratic nominee Obama pay off Hillary's debts?

RickTaylor — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:35:35 -0000

I really have no idea. Obama should use his resources to most effectively win the Presidency. Maybe paying off her debts, getting her to drop out earlier, and generating good will among her supporters (or at least shaming them into not calling him names for a while) would be the most effective use of those funds; I'm not a politician and don't really know.

Re: Clinton continues attacks on Obama.

RickTaylor — Fri, 09 May 2008 18:26:26 -0000

Honestly, I've been fed up with Hillary, but this one doesn't particularly bother me. First, it's about policy, not a character attack. And second, she's taking him from the left rather than from the right; it's not like McCain is going to be able to pick this up and tell Obama is health plan isn't inclusive enough. I'm already convinced she should bow out, based on her comments about white working class voters and her shenanigans concerning Michigan and Florida, but this isn't a big deal.

Re: More and more SuperDs for Obama

RickTaylor — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:52:46 -0000

Why are the super-delegates coming in in such a trickle? As soon as the Clinton campaign started making this about race, and started pushing Michigan and Florida, they should have just all made their preferences clear, and pushed to end this as quickly as possible.

Re: Hating Hillary

RickTaylor — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:59:08 -0000

I wasn't quite at the "hate" level when I wrote my last comment, but her campaign's decision to run explicitly on race in the last 24 hours has pushed me over.

Re: Vote for Hillary - She's Whiter

RickTaylor — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:50:00 -0000

Another video from the same youtube poster, this time of a Clinton surrogate declaring it's about the white middle class, and white middle class voters are the one's hardest hit by the recession. What the hell are they doing?

Re: Hillary’s Bittergate

RickTaylor — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:40:05 -0000

It's not the "hard working" part comment that bothers me. I'm sure she feels black working class people work hard to. What bothers me is she's presumably making an argument as to why the super-delegates should over-ride the pledged delegate count and the popular vote and select her as the nominee. And no matter how I slice it, she seems to be saying that white peoples' votes ought to count more than black peoples' votes. They should select her, because white-working class voters are a key demographic the Democratic party needs. Evidently, black-working class voters are not so essential (otherwise her argument falls apart). So the super-delegates have to intervene, because the votes of black voters shouldn't count as much as the votes of white voters.

Anyway, my conclusion is the same as yours.

Re: Hating Hillary

RickTaylor — Thu, 08 May 2008 03:27:26 -0000

I'm not much of a hater, but I have certainly turned around concerning Hillary in the last few months. I even voted for her in the primary, and now I absolutely regret it. I expect politicians to push the envelope and play to win (and Barack has done things I haven't liked, especially his attacks on Hillary's health care), but she's gone way past the boundaries. My biggest trouble with her is her attacking the legitimacy of the process, not playing by the rules but constantly trying to redefine the rules in a way where she can win, to the point of suggesting if Obama wins, it won't be legitimate. That's just out of bounds. I'm speaking here of her attempt to seat the Michigan and Florida delegates, and her constant belittling of any group that doesn't support her (smaller states are not important, caucus states important, now it's white working class votes that are important, if only we had all or nothing primaries I'd be the nominee, on and on). Quite frankly I'm floored; I had no idea she was like this. And if she'd won handily as originally expected, I'd still be clueless.

Re: Slate: "Can we please stop pretending she has a plausible chance to win the nomination?"

RickTaylor — Sat, 03 May 2008 15:51:27 -0000

Actually, there have been a couple attempts on youtube to map out how Hillary could still win.. .

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uBGyuYKlxIg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fJR44p1yESg

Re: Iraq: Are the Democrats More Reasonable?

RickTaylor — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:10:21 -0000

"If the Republicans follow suit, we might actually start to have intelligent discussions and find that elusive “third rail,” the one that helps us maintain stability in Iraq while ending our active engagement in the conflict there."

I'm sorry, I have to laugh. The Republicans put policy and coming together above immediate political gain? It's been five years, and except for a few noble exceptions, I've seen no sign of it. The only option is to beat them so badly in the elections that they finally become irrelevant.

Re: Beginning of the End?

RickTaylor — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:05:51 -0000

"Hope springs eternal."

"This time I'm going to kick that football all the way to the moon!"