WELCOME -- This is a site where I keep rough unchecked research notes (and some rants) on the 2008 campaign. To search it, click on http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=opera&rls=en&hs=8XV&q=site%3A1950democrat.livejournal.com+&btnG=Search
and add your search term after what is in the box already.

( more boring reference stuff )

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/12/interview_with_bill_clinton_1.html

Bill Clinton: Yeah. But I have been doing it for a very long time. And I had also had extensive international economic experience because of my economic development efforts.

There are a lot of people who honestly believe what you have done for other people in your public life --

Charlie Rose: Or your private life.

Bill Clinton: Is completely irrelevant, but what matters is what you symbolize.

Charlie Rose: And you don't.

Bill Clinton: No, I don't. I don't based on not only the good things we did when I was president, but the challenges I faced even with the experiences that I had. I think she's -- for this moment in time, significantly better qualified, Hillary is, to be president --

Charlie Rose: Because her preparation is significantly better than --

Bill Clinton: Than mine was.

Charlie Rose: Than yours was.

Bill Clinton: Yes.

Charlie Rose: And if this is between --

Bill Clinton: And because of what she's achieved in working with Republicans as well as Democrats in the Senate, and security and the work she's done in healthcare. She and John McCain took skeptical Republicans to the northern most village in Norway to see what's happening on global warming, to the northern most American town, Port Barrel -- Point Barrow, Alaska. We now have a bipartisan majority of the US Senate set a limit on carbon emissions, to put America back in the forefront of this change. And I think it's critical to our economic future. She did that. And I think she played a role in that. I think that matters. I think those kinds of things matter.

Charlie Rose: What is happening --

Bill Clinton: But the voters are entitled to say they don't

.......

One is, a lot of the Republicans running don't have particularly good credentials with the far right, and they're so really important in the primary process. So they're trying to make up for their lack of credentials by dumping on her. If you notice, almost no Republican senators have criticized her. They like her because they do things with her, they think she's an honorable person, they think she's a good person. Senator Lindsey Graham was one of the managers of my impeachment, wrote the tribute to her in -- when Newsweek or Time or whatever talked about the best young senators, first term senators. That -- those attacks affect independent voters who are very smart on the issues but don't like politics. They think you become polarizing when someone else attacks you. And she is not in a position to answer back what the Republicans are doing in the primary, not right now. So I think that has had a, you know, has not been good. And that's the second reason the Republicans are doing it. They think -- I know because I talk to a lot of them who are candid with me. They think she would be the hardest to beat because she has been vetted and because she consistently does better with Republicans as they get to know her and see what's she's done. So that's what's happening in New Hampshire. In Iowa, nobody wants to go negative on television, so really it's a war underneath the radar screen and it's -- has more to do with how the press interprets it than anything else. But most people are -- she was doing -- what broke her momentum there was the extraordinary attention given to her not very great answer on the driver's license for illegal immigrants.
....
Bill Clinton: The new leaders of Northern Ireland came to Washington to see the president. They -- it represents a stunning change. I think everybody we met, right, stunning change in Northern Ireland.

Charlie Rose: It's unbelievable.

Bill Clinton: And they asked to see another person. They asked to see Hillary, because she played and independent role in their peace process when I was president, independent of me.
....

the GOP made him a rock star. lugar pushed for him to be on the foreign relations committee for a reason. he’s a GOP tool

Once in Arkansas, she immediately founded a legal aid clinic and then went to work organizing the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families. As First Lady of Arkansas, she traveled around the state working toward change in education, healthcare and women’s rights.

she set up the first environmental task for. Wal-mart is now seen as the leading retailer in green stores, and praised by greanpeace for their work in this regard. That task force Hillary set up is considered to have fostered that ethic.

Earlier this month, President Clinton questioned Sen. Obama’s Iraq War Record:

It is wrong that Senator Obama got to go through 15 debates trumpeting his superior judgment and how he had been against the war in every year, enumerating the years, and never got asked one time, not once, well, how could you say that when you said in 2004 you didn’t know how you would have voted on the resolution, you said in 2004 there was no difference between you and George Bush on the war, and you took that speech you’re now running on off your Web site in 2004, and there’s no difference in your voting record and Hillary’s ever since.

President Clinton’s statements are confirmed by the facts. In 2004, Sen. Obama said he didn’t know how he would have voted on the Iraq War resolution.

‘When asked about Senators Kerry and Edwards’ votes on the Iraq war, Obama said, “I’m not privy to Senate intelligence reports,’ Mr. Obama said. ‘What would I have done? I don’t know. What I know is that from my vantage point the case was not made.’

In 2004, Sen. Obama also said there was little difference between his position and George Bush’s position on Iraq:

In a meeting with Chicago Tribune reporters at the Democratic National Convention, Obama said, “On Iraq, on paper, there’s not as much difference, I think, between the Bush administration and a Kerry administration as there would have been a year ago. […] There’s not much of a difference between my position and George Bush’s position at this stage.” [Chicago Tribune, 07/27/04]

While running for Senate, Sen. Obama acknowledged that he took his anti-war speech off his campaign website, calling it “dated”:

Specifically, State Senator Obama maintains that an October 2002 anti-war speech was removed from his campaign web site because “the speech was dated once the formal phase of the war was over, and my staff’s desire to continually provide fresh news clips.”

Finally, Sen. Obama and Hillary do have almost identical voting records on Iraq:

In fact, Obama’s Senate voting record on Iraq is nearly identical to Clinton’s. Over the two years Obama has been in the Senate, the only Iraq-related vote on which they differed was the confirmation earlier this year of General George Casey to be Chief of Staff of the Army, which Obama voted for and Clinton voted against. [ABC News, 5/17/07]

Take a look at this excerpt from a story from the Chicago Tribune:

(newser) – Barack Obama showed his acumen for sharp-elbowed politics early on, according to a report in the Tribune. The 2008 hopeful, famous for his affable and earnest optimism, launched his career in an old-fashioned Chicagoan way, by pushing a former political mentor off a ballot, He won "not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it," the report says. • Alice Palmer, a South-Side Democrat, appointed Obama heir apparent to her state senate seat; when the two found themselves seeking the same nomination, Obama challenged her signatures, successfully purging her, and three other competitors, from the ballot. Remembering the incident, Obama is elegantly evasive: " If you can win, you should win and get to work doing the people's business." NOTE THIS LAST LINE.

Fresh from his work as a civil rights lawyer and head of a voter registration project that expanded access to the ballot box, Obama launched his first campaign for the Illinois Senate saying he wanted to empower disenfranchised citizens.

But in that initial bid for political office, Obama quickly mastered the bare-knuckle arts of Chicago electoral politics. His overwhelming legal onslaught signaled his impatience to gain office, even if that meant elbowing aside an elder stateswoman like Palmer.

A close examination of Obama's first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career: The man now running for president on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it.

One of the candidates he eliminated, long-shot contender Gha-is Askia, now says that Obama's petition challenges belied his image as a champion of the little guy and crusader for voter rights.

"Why say you're for a new tomorrow, then do old-style Chicago politics to remove legitimate candidates?" Askia said. "He talks about honor and democracy, but what honor is there in getting rid of every other candidate so you can run scot-free? Why not let the people decide?"

I don't mind the ruthlessness (any Democrat will need it), just the holier than thou cover-up.

Linda
-- Linda-english
[Read Linda-english's other letters]

Much good well-researched info here about Clinton admin vs Reagan, on economics, civil rights, etc.

http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/01/18/obama-alert-reagans-dismal-legacy-on-civil-rights/

President Clinton signed the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, “which passed Congress without a single Republican vote.”
It raised taxes on the wealthiest 1.2% of taxpayers,[35] while cutting taxes for 15 million low-income families and making tax cuts available to 90% of small businesses.[36] Additionally, it mandated that the budget be balanced over a number of years, through the implementation of spending restraints.

This is what balanced the budget, created a surplus, and began paying off the National Debt. (See graph at the top of my blog: the high blue peak is the Clinton years, 1990's.) Even after the GOP took congress back, they could never quite overturn this: Clinton kept vetoing them.




From the New York Times editorial page on March 21, 1988:
Ronald Reagan appears determined to go down in history as a President who sought actively to set back the cause of civil rights. How else can one read his veto of the four-year, bipartisan effort to restore the reach of antidiscrimination laws narrowed by a Supreme Court ruling? Congress appears to have the votes to override the veto. Decency argues for doing so, without delay. […]

mydd.com/story/2008/1/17/222449/626
Hillary has opposed this all along, voting against it in 2002. Bill vetoed it a few times.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071217/FRONTPAGE/712170301/
[ Before moving to ARkansas to marry Bill ]
Fresh out of law school, she bypassed lucrative careers in favor of the nonprofit Children's Defense Fund. In Fayetteville, she ran a legal aid clinic and prisoners' assistance project
....
Her early career was ascendant: After a brief stint working for the nonprofit Children's Defense Fund, Hillary Clinton joined a select group of attorneys working on the impeachment of President Richard Nixon.
....
Bill Clinton won election as the state's attorney general in 1976
....
If health care would become the defining policy effort of Hillary Clinton's tenure as the nation's first lady, education won her attention in Arkansas.
At the time, census figures showed that fewer than 11 percent of Arkansans over age 25 had completed four years of college, well below the national average. Charged by her husband with leading a committee on education reform, Hillary Clinton sought to defuse tension over controversial changes and made a point of holding hearings in all 75 counties.
By all accounts, she was a success. "We've done elected the wrong Clinton," Dumas recalled one conservative lawmaker saying, after listening to Hillary Clinton report on the committee's findings. "She became a very popular person in her own right."
....
Local political observers had long considered her a prominent behind-the-scenes adviser. In conversation, Bill Clinton would mention his wife's take on policy issues. "I don't think there's any doubt that she was his home cabinet," Nelson said. [....]
"Throughout his final decade as governor, even as their marriage went through a series of tests, their professional partnership grew ever stronger," David Maraniss, the author of a biography about Bill Clinton, wrote in the Washington Post in 1998. "[S]he emerged as his key policy adviser and political strategist.

[ need to look this up ]

Her work with Cesear Chavez and other. Her Educational Advocacy in Arkansas and others.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/jackson/740744,CST-EDT-jesse15.article

When Obama said that Hillary was "likeable enough,'' it was not a gender insult; it was a gentle compliment. These two were friends; they have campaigned together. To turn it into anything else is simply silly. When Hillary said Lyndon Johnson was necessary to get the Voting Rights Act passed, of course she's right. It took years of demonstrations, litigation and legislation to challenge segregation. King appreciated what Johnson helped achieve, even as he continued to challenge him. Hillary's statement is not a racial insult.

[ need cite ]

Administration Total No. of Women Appointees
Carter
1977-1981 124 13.5%
Reagan
1981-1989 277 12.0%
Bush
1989-1993 181 20.0%
Clinton
1993-2000 592 27.4%

Cabinet Positions
Only 22 women have held cabinet or cabinet-level positions in the history of the United States. The following executive departments have never been headed by a woman: Treasury, Defense,Interior, Agriculture, Energy, and Veterans Affairs. 1
________________________________

President Richard Nixon: 1969-1974
Cabinet Positions: 12 (1969-1973), 11 (1973-1974)
Total Number of Cabinet Appointments: 31
Number of Women Appointed: 0

President Gerald Ford: 1974-1977
Cabinet Positions: 11
Total Number of Cabinet Appointments: 12
Number of Women Appointed: 1

President Ronald Reagan: 1981-1989
Cabinet Positions: 13
Total Number of Cabinet Appointments: 33
Number of Women Appointed: 3

President George Bush: 1989-1993
Cabinet Positions: 14
Total Number of Cabinet Appointments: 17
Number of Women Appointed: 3

President Bill Clinton: 1993-2000
Cabinet Positions: 14
Total Number of Cabinet Appointments:17
Number of Women Appointed: 11

Here are some short highlights of Hillary's foreign policy experience, and a list of 32 ambassadors supporting her:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jan/18/Just-plain-politics-play--large-caucus-site-brouha/#comments

Here is a neat list of some of Hillary's accomplishments before and after her time in the White House:
http://1950democrat.livejournal.com/21858.html

And here is a longer piece quoting many substantive sources about Hillary's accomplishments for women and children, much of it overseas:
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2007/12/18/the-rights-of-women-and-children-worldwide-the-candidates-differ/

Elsewhere on this blog are cites from the online Encyclopedia (overview of life) and from hostile sources (about how much influence she had in Bill's administrations).

See early life of candidates sources here too.

?NV casinos mad about Obama anti-casino statements in past?
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-gambling18jan18,0,4330126.story?coll=la-home-center

http://www.prnewschannel.com/absolutenm/templates/?a=177
12/7/2007 -- The Clinton campaign is releasing a letter today signed by 32 former U.S. ambassadors and diplomats who served while Senator Clinton was First Lady that attests to her unique foreign policy experience.

During her tenure as First Lady, Senator Clinton traveled the world as a representative of the United States, meeting with Presidents and Prime Ministers, refugees and victims of war and genocide. In her diplomatic role, she fought for human rights from China to Uganda to Kosovo, and helped pave the way for improved U.S. relations with countries such as India.

Having seen her activities first hand, these former diplomats and ambassadors write that Senator Clinton "is the candidate with the strength and experience to restore America’s standing in the world and to return the United States to a position of global leadership."

The full letter follows below:

( Read more... )

http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48738621_diplomats-back-hillary-clintons-foreign-policy
This should also be at hillaryclinton.com

12/7/2007 -- The Clinton campaign is releasing a letter today signed by 32 former U.S. ambassadors and diplomats who served while Senator Clinton was First Lady that attests to her unique foreign policy experience.

During her tenure as First Lady, Senator Clinton traveled the world as a representative of the United States, meeting with Presidents and Prime Ministers, refugees and victims of war and genocide. In her diplomatic role, she fought for human rights from China to Uganda to Kosovo, and helped pave the way for improved U.S. relations with countries such as India.

Having seen her activities first hand, these former diplomats and ambassadors write that Senator Clinton "is the candidate with the strength and experience to restore America’s standing in the world and to return the United States to a position of global leadership."

The full letter follows below:
( Read more... )

http://www.chicagoreader.com/obama/951208/

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-0704030881apr04,0,3337845,full.story?coll=chi_news_politics_obama_promo

http://www.pickensdemocrats.org/info/TheAgitator_070319.htm

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=opera&rls=en&hs=3O2&q=site%3Ablackagendareport.com+obama+&btnG=Search

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/05/us/politics/05clinton.html

http://search.eb.com/women/article-9095812

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-obamaprofile8sep08,1,7542776,full.story?ctrack=2&cset=true

And this:

(may duplicate above article)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-070403obama-ballot,1,4762574,print.story


Profile of Obama from a UK paper:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080111.wobama-cover12/BNStory/Front/home

http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/article/view/?id=1336
She delivered her Senate resolution speech on Oct. 10. It was Clintonian in character. On the one hand, she rejected the Bush policy of pre-emptive war. On the other hand, she also rejected the view that the international community "should only resort to force if and when the United Nations Security Council approves it." Drawing on the lessons of Bosnia, she said sometimes the world had to act, even if the big powers couldn't agree.
She sought a third way: more U.N. resolutions, more inspections, more diplomacy, with the threat of force reserved as a last resort. She was triangulating, but the Senate resolution offered her a binary choice. She voted yes in order to give Powell bipartisan leverage at the U.N.

I'm omitting the name (keeping it on file) but here are witnesses supporting the original story in the comment string at www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/early-line/2008/jan/16/incident-paris-las-vegas/#comments
I was there when this all went down. Your all right. It is disgusting. I believe that the union representatives approached sylvia specifically because she appeared to be vulnerable because of her admittingly low level of knowledge on the way the caucus will work. She was sitting with us. Once I realized what was going on, I looked over at the women who represtented the union and said, Are You Out Of Your Mind??? My mother and I couldnt believe it! The union rep had told her that she had to sign a pledge card today that said she would vote for Obama or she couldnt caucus on Saturday. Sylvia said she didnt know if she was going to vote for Obama and the union rep said "Then you can't attend the caucus". And Sylvia believed her! She wasnt going to vote anymore. There is no doubt in my mind after witnessing this and being involved in it that this is not the only incident. Afterwards the union representative showed no remorse for it and never backed down from it until she was told we were going to report her. They have been in and out of the employee cafeteria harrassing people who are on their lunch breaks since the endorsement was announced. Its happening all over the city, no doubts about it. And Something definately ought to be done! My mother and I are are willing to share our story with media outlets if anyone can get us in touch with them...

(   )

This long blog has many good cites about Obama's vote against capping credit card interest rates, and other actions of his favorable to corporate interests.
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/01/16/fess-up-sen-obama-about-those-predatory-credit-card-interest-rates/#more-1327

One article quoted there:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2006/11/0081275

Here is more detail about Obama's vote against capping credit card interest, at a site with lots of interesting stuff. I've verified it; they are quoting a Chicago Tribune profile last summer (not the recently sanitized one).
http://209.85.173.104/search?q=cache:pYgQc-uyol0J:prorev.com/obama.htm+Chicago+Tribune+interest+rate+30+%22random+number%22+Obama&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us&client=opera
To some liberals, the proposal was a no-brainer: a ceiling of 30 percent on interest rates for credit cards and other consumer debt. And as he left his office to vote on it, Obama planned to support the measure, which was being considered as an amendment to a major overhaul of the nation's bankruptcy laws.
But when the amendment came up for a vote, Obama was standing next to Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), the senior Democrat on the banking committee and the leader of those opposing the landmark bill, which would make it harder for Americans to get rid of debt.
"You know, this is probably not a smart amendment for us to vote for," Obama recalled Sarbanes telling him. "Thirty percent is sort of a random number."
Obama joined Sarbanes in voting against the amendment [....] There remains no federal ceiling on credit card interest rates.