Via Ezra Klein, Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings makes the case for Obama on the merits as a good guy and a good senator.
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More Obama
25 Oct 2006 09:04 am
Comments (6)
Meanwhile, Michael Currie Schaffer makes the case in the New Republic that Obama's cigarette habit may be good for his electoral fortunes.
As an on-again, off-again smoker myself (presently on-again) I applaud this line of thinking. And just in case photojournalism makes a comeback, everyone knows you look more dignified in Life Magazine with a cigarette between your fingers.
Damn those triangulating Democrats like Barack Obama! How dare he seek Republican support for what he wants to do!
Indeed, the former Vice President did turn up at Grover's Wednesday Group meeting, apparently at his own request, to give an abbreviated version of his global warming presentation...
Above all, Gore the practical politician may have come to realize something the environmental movement is resolutely clueless about: there can be no serious progress on any environmental issues without the participation of conservatives, for the obvious reason that the conservative movement is a potent force that is not going away any time soon. And with most other foreign conservative parties having joined the green/global warming bandwagon to some extent, this leaves the American conservative movement as the most significant remaining holdout. Most environmentalists want to demonize conservatives; Gore says he wants to talk to us. Good for him.
--January 6, 2002, The Corner
Damn those triangulating Democrats like Al Gore!
I don’t think she minds me using her name: Sheri Gumbleson from Northwest Minnesota. I didn’t know about Duchennes disease ‘til she told me about the struggle of her little boy with Duchennes disease. And then, I learned from her and other parents, and once you meet her, and once you meet children, it’s not out of sight, out of mind. And then I teamed up with Thad Cochran, Republican Senator from Mississippi, and we worked and worked and worked, and then we worked with members of the House, including Collin Peterson, and then we passed a piece of legislation - and we’ve had many celebrations with families – that now calls on the NIH to have a center of excellence, and have the money and find a cure for a disease which is muscular dystrophy of children – it affects little boys – it’s like Lou Gherig’s disease: There is no hope. And now I hope and pray that there will be a cure for that disease. But you know what? It has nothing to do with left, right or center; it has to do with trying to do well for people. That’s what it means to be a United States Senator from the state of Minnesota. [Applause.]
And just yesterday – two days ago, Sheila and I were at a gathering in D.C. and there was a delegation from Minnesota, and Jimmy Lee Coulthard was there. He is a saint! Does all this work with homeless veterans. What a scandal, that we have so many homeless people, many of them women and children. But I would guess that about a third of the homeless males are veterans, and many of them are Vietnam veterans, and they haven’t received the treatment they need for – whether it be mental illness or PTSD, or whether it be substance abuse, and it’s been a scandal. I teamed up with Chris Smith, Republican from New Jersey, Lane Evans, Democrat from Illinois, and we passed this bill. We just passed it last session, which finally puts the focus on homeless vets, finally gets the resources. Doesn’t have a thing to do with left, right or center; has to do with being a senator for people in Minnesota and around the country! I am a proud United States Senator from the state of Minnesota! [Applause.]
--Paul Wellstone, May 3, 2002, DFL State Convention Speech
Damn those triangulating Democrats like Paul Wellstone!
The Gore meeting was in 2006, not 2002.
TWIN CITIES PUBLIC TELEVISION DEBATE
OCTOBER 11, 2002
WELLSTONE: ...Over the years, what he doesn’t tell you is I’ve voted for like, 20 military spending bills, and I’ve voted against some military spending bills, and sometimes when I voted against them it was with John McCain, and sometimes, a smaller number, with Russ Feingold, and one of the things that the General Accounting Office was telling us was, you’ve got, over a decade, $1 trillion of unaccounted for money. So, what we were saying was, don’t spend it so much on obsolete Cold War weaponry – let me finish – instead, we ought to be thinking about the challenges of this new century, and that’s exactly where we need to go. So, he tells half the story.
COLEMAN: It’s not half the story. And Senator, I think it’s actually pretty shameful to invoke the name of a war hero, John McCain, trying to defend votes that were 96-2. John McCain wasn’t one of the two. And for you to say that it was somehow related to pork or something, it was you and someone else standing there alone, far outside the mainstream, Senator. More than anybody, perhaps Russ Feingold, I think there’s a debate about who is part of more 99-1 votes, Paul Wellstone or Russ Feingold. Wait, but to somehow say, to invoke the name of John McCain, in 1999, when the vote was 93-5, it wasn’t John McCain. And in 2000, which by the way, had the largest pay raise for our service men and women in 14 years, the vote is 90-3. Not John McCain. And that commercial’s reference to an antiterrorism bill, and I think, I believe that vote was something like 91-8.
WELLSTONE: Can I -
COLEMAN: So, Senator, to talk about, you’re against pork, or the budget office - no. You have from the very beginning came into the United States Senate, and your vision, your plan was to say we should cut $200 billion of a $300 billion defense budget. In 1995, you wanted a seven-year freeze on defense spending. That’s your record. And the reality is, history has proven you wrong. We do have enemies. We do have folks willing to inflict damage on us -
WELLSTONE: Wow -
COLEMAN: And defense is a priority and you haven’t been there.
WELLSTONE: This is getting rough. First of all, what I said - and I sure am glad people are getting to watch this debate. And by the way, can I turn this radio on for the Twins game, by any chance?
[Crosstalk.]
WELLSTONE: By the way, I sure hope people will watch it another time. My reference to John McCain was to say that some of the military spending bills I voted against, I voted with John McCain. And all of a sudden, I hear, “How dare you invoke the name of a war hero.” Hey, Norm, you know why I invoke the name of a war hero? Because John McCain is a close friend of mine. Because John McCain and I pass a lot of legislation together. Because John McCain and I have a lot of mutual respect for one another. That’s why I invoke the name of John McCain. I’m proud to have him as a friend in the United States Senate. I’m proud to work closely with him. I’m proud to consider him a good friend. It’s mutual. I know that troubles you, but that’s why I talk about John McCain.
[...]
Goddamn, I hate those triangulating Democrats who talk up John McCain! They're not real Democrats!
QUESTION: You're now governor and you're actively involved in health care. Do you have any insights on why Clinton's health care plan failed?
DEAN: ...was very complicated and it alienated every interest group in Congress all at once, who then financed the Harry and Louise ads, who managed to convince the American public that they were going to lose quality and choice, which they value in our health care system, if we radically reformed it. And the lesson I took is do universal health care first, don't fight about the means with the Democratic Party, with others in the Democratic party, first. And second of all, build on the existing system so you don't have to explain it to the American people. And that's what we're going to do.
Q: You've got Congress though, you've got people who have been working on this issue for 20 or 30 years, and I don't think they even tried to work with Congress [in developing the plan].
DEAN: I agree with that. My first year in office, the first thing I'm going to do is to get people like Henry Waxman and Pete Stark and obviously Gephardt and Daschle if they're still in the positions they're in, and whatever Republicans we need to get, Bill McCrery would be one that appeals to me the most because of the Atlantic Monthly article, Jim McCrery I mean from Lousiana, and sit down with them and try to hammer out a solution that we can all agree on. It doesn't have to be my way or hit the highway but we've got to have something we can sell to the American people.
--Howard Dean, July 10, 2002
[...]
Oh no, another triangulating Democrat!
Comments closed November 08, 2006.
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Heads in the Sand
So if we as a nation alternate between periods of bitter Radical Right partisanship and conciliatory Democratic bipartisanship [1], where do we end up in, say, 30 years?
Cranky
[1] I won't use the "triangulation" word in this rant.
Posted by Cranky Observer | October 25, 2006 10:32 AM