Blogging is a hobby, balanced with a wife, three teenagers a marine on active duty along with a full time job. I do the best I can with the moments I have available in the Blogosphere. I think I hold my own pretty well!

Thanks again!

Flash
Centrisity.com

You could have asked:

“Senator, what makes you think that when we DO pull our troops out (withdrawal already being a serious topic, a year ago) that the joint Mesopotamian Choir will start harmonizing on Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”?

You could have asked:

“Don’t you think it’s possible that by the democrats unwillingess to depict, and talk about, the reality of what is going on in Iraq, and what is VERY likely to go on, are we start withdrawing, that that means that you are voluntarily sharing the GOP’s responsiblity for dispensing more of the same koolaid and snakeoil that bush and the republicans have been peddling since before the war?”

“I would rather have the chance to schmooze with one of the top candidates, and have him on my blog, while studiously avoiding asking him the tough questions, than not have him at all.”

So, Flash, are you saying that questions about Iraq, a year ago, were not worth asking, at the same time you were:

“…so honored to have this opportunity.”

You did a puff-piece. Deal with it.

Obama has nothing of substance to offer.

Hillary’s comment about Turkey was misleading and strategically incorrect as represented by the following commentary. “Our troops and their equipment will be extremely vulnerable. There are only two ways to get them out. One [is] through the north through Turkey — and you recall that Turkey did not allow us to move troops through their country [at the start of the war]. So therefore, we will have to go south.” The reason Turkey did not allow the U.S. to come from the north was not because Bush the elder shortchanged Turkey $8 billion dollars for the damages done in the Iraq 1 war. The reason was that it was against the Turkey Constitution. In their “congress” it was clearly stated that if Bush would wait just two weeks and then have a legal basis for entering Iraq then Turkey would support the safer entrance from the North.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmDQ7GswIq0

I refuse to watch ‘Beauty Pageant’ pseudo-debates, in which candidates are expected to explain the Fate Of The World in under 2 minutes. In contrast, the candidates@google.com has an hour long conversation, and Google employees ask questions of the candidate. There is not a single ‘inside the beltway’ question, but there are a number of excellent questions (about the economy, about science and technology) that Beltway Insiders would probably never ask.

In the last five minutes of the video, Richardson explains the linkages between a number of key issues: Transportation > Global Warming > Federal Highway Funding Bills > Urban Design and Smart Growth. It blew my mind; these issues have been festering for years, and they’re extremely expensive. But they’ve never been addressed well at the federal level.

(BTW: I remember when Al Gore raised the issue of Smart Growth back in 2000, and Dean Broder and the rest of the Beltway Press yawned and acted like Nobody Important would ever be interested in the relationship between city planning and gas consumption — yet Richardson explains how these are connected. I found the Google format, as well as Richardson’s responses, very refreshing.
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BTW: Google also has excellent author interviews. I highly recommend the one with Paul Hawkens, whose “Blessed Unrest” is insightful and energizing. If you don’t realize how outdated accounting practices have enabled us to ignore the ‘external’ costs of resource use, watch Paul Hawkens.

The conversation took place Friday morning, about 10:30 am Central Time. I had 5 minutes, that became about 10. I ended cutting half my questions.

– Of Obama’s “interview”, all you need to do on THAT, is speed-read through it and note that the word “Iraq” does not appear in the entire piece.

Understand I spoke with Obama LAST spring while he was in town campaigning for the Dems victorious Senate candidate. So the context was slightly different.

The sycophant comment was interesting. Let’s just say that I prefer the ‘friendly’ interview over the potential ‘burn the bridge’ combatant ones. I am appreciative of the time these individuals are willing to give to a blue collar blogger like me. I would rather have access, than no access at all. Think smart so to speak.

A special thanks to those who visited and appreciated their visit to Centrisity!

Flash
Centrisity.com

This just reminds me of the ‘92 race where the field had a 3rd (Perot) and the Republicans blamed him endlessly for stealing their votes.

Is Bloomberg just there to divide the Giuliani vote? Is he there to shield Hillary from the Right the way Obama shields her from the Left? Just how many billions are being spent to ensure Hilary gets the nomination?

Every time she’s interviewed the person doing the interview always remarks with great surprise how she’s seen the light and moved to the left and is arguing for troop withdrawal from Iraq. But, later, with more objectivity, when one reads the transcript she’s saying the same old thing over and over — withdrawal, but with 20,000 to stay forever (and presumably do some non-torturing).

When are people going to realize Hilary is NOT Liberal and might not even be a Democrat. I’d bet she and Bloomberg would make a good ticket, but I’m not sure which would be the Democrat and which the Republican.

They should ALL have been asked:

“Why do you think that none of the major democratic candidates, including yourself, have pointed out that george bush, the man responsible for creating this clustre d’phuque, can start bringing our troops home tomorrow MORNING with a flick of his wrist, presumably helped by the rest of the republicans in congress, who were nearly unanimous in supporting the sending of those troops?”

PW, I thought that I would lean towards Obama because of his views on health insurance but this question swayed me “I graduated a son this year, tomorrow is his Open House celebration. What can I tell him, and my younger two boys what a Richardson Administration will do to assure them a shot at the American Dream?”

Pretty solid answer.