I’ve had mixed feelings (but mostly good ones) about being overseas during the health care debate.
On the one hand, it’s been nice to avoid the incessant talk about health care reform and only peek in on the debate from afar when I feel like it. Being at home for the last year of drawn-out debate might have pushed me a little too far towards the line of insanity that I’m precariously near already. For me, it’s almost like all of the mudslinging and Faux News reports and lies and deceit never even happened.
On the other hand, it’s surreal to miss out on the celebrations and the gloating that progressives back in the US get to engage in now that the bill has finally passed. It would feel a bit strange to throw an HCR party here in Thailand (besides, HCR stands for “High Commissioner of Refugees” ’round these parts).
On the third hand (yes, I am special), stories like this are scary, and remind me why it’s good that I still have another 6 months before I come back home. Can someone please make the scary people go away before I come back?
(On a somewhat related note, TPM considers whether there is, or ever was, a Tea Party Movement, or whether these people are just regular old hard line Republican base voters with a new name.)
I’ve been meaning to write up some thoughts on the ridiculous spectacle that was yesterday’s nationwide “Tea Party” protest. But I just came across this post from Kos that quite accurately sums up my feelings on the matter, the following paragraph in particular:
What was the message? Too much taxes? I didn’t see many bank executives and Wall Street types out on the streets. And coming on the heels of the biggest tax cut in American history, almost entirely directed at the middle class, this message didn’t have much salience. Furthermore, the theme of these protests “taxation without representation”, was pretty silly considering that these people did have representation. It’s just that they lost the elections, which sort of happens in a democracy. “Representation” doesn’t mean you always get your way, it means that you have a vote. So it was an indefensible frame to base the protests around.
Andrew Sullivan on the brouhaha over Michael Phelps taking a bong hit:
…the only conceivable news is that a 23 year-old had a good time at a party, breaking no professional rules since he was not competing when he was goofing off.
And, seriously, does anyone think that smoking pot would give him an unfair advantage in the pool? Please. When on earth are we going to grow up as a culture?
Published on
February 24, 2008 in
Politics.
It’s hard not to hate the guy (unless you’re a Republican). He’s an egomaniac who shows no apparent shame about popularizing the myth that there was little difference between Gore and Bush back in 2000, or about splitting the Democratic vote to make that year’s election tip ever so slightly towards Bush.
In fact, his attitude about this year’s election seems rather similar to the one he held eight years ago:
“I think it always would probably pull votes away from the Democrats and not the Republicans, so naturally, Republicans would welcome his entry into the race,” Huckabee said Sunday on CNN.
But Nader — citing the Republican Party’s economic policies, the Iraq war, and other issues — told NBC, “If the Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form.”
If Mr. Nader is truly confident that the Democrats will pull off a landslide given the favorable political climate, all I can say is that he’s seriously underestimating the Democratic Party’s ability to completely f— things up. Unless he’s simply trying to prove that it is time for the Democratic Party to take some time off and seriously reevaluate itself. Or unless his uber-point is that he doesn’t care who wins this election, because Democrats and Republicans are still all the same to him.
I just hope that he gets seriously destroyed this time around and the experience discourages him from ever running for office again.
Published on
January 31, 2008 in
Politics.
You can consult this caucus finder to get the location of a Democratic caucus site near you for the February 9 event. I don’t know whether a similar site exists for the Republican caucus locations.
I moved to Washington state just as the 2004 primary season got into full swing, but I didn’t caucus (shameful, I know, but the nomination was all but tied up for Kerry by the time our caucus rolled around). This will be my first caucus experience and I’m looking forward to seeing how the process works. And it’s possible that Washington state will even be relevant this year — I for one suspect that this thing won’t be decided on February 5 (on the Democratic side at least).
Update 02/05/2008 9:30am:
Here are the websites to check for the Republican caucus locations:
Published on
January 10, 2008 in
Politics.
From Salon:
More important, if you take Edwards out of the equation, our money says the stunning but narrow victory Clinton won in New Hampshire becomes something that looks a lot more like the defeat that almost everyone was expecting. Clinton beat Obama by about 8,000 votes in New Hampshire. Edwards, finishing third, drew about 48,000. Assuming that Clinton is right in arguing that Obama and Edwards are aligned against her — and also assuming that race isn’t the controlling factor here — doesn’t it stand to reason that an overwhelming majority of Edwards’ supporters would have voted for Obama rather than for Clinton if Edwards hadn’t been in the race?
C’mon, John. Everyone knows you have no chance anyway. Time to set your ego aside so that you don’t spoil this race for Obama.
Published on
January 10, 2008 in
Politics.
Until recently, I was undecided about who I would support for the 2008 Democratic nomination. I enjoyed watching the race from the sidelines without choosing sides. And in the back of my mind, I did think that Hillary was inevitable. And besides, I like her.
But Andrew Sullivan’s December article in the Atlantic, Goodbye to All That, made an impression on me. After letting it stew for a while, along with continuing to follow the news and speeches made by both Hillary and Barack, I became convinced that Barack was the candidate who could bring about much-needed change in this country — not just a change of policy (and anyway, I’m convinced that all of the major Democratic players are essentially the same on policy), but a change in tone — and enable us to move on from the culture war that’s had us stuck in political deadlock for so long. Maybe it’s naive, but I’ve really bought into Obama’s message of hope.
I saw the Iowa primary results on the Bloomberg network from my hotel room in Saigon (our only English-language news channel). Having not followed the primaries in the preceding weeks that I’d been on vacation in Vietnam, I found that I was not only very surprised but also ecstatic about Obama’s win. So I suppose that confirmed for me that I really am an Obama supporter.
I’ll certainly support Hillary if she wins the nomination. And I genuinely like her and often find myself defending her when I hear others criticize her. But I’d be much more excited to get behind Barack. In any case, it’s going to be an interesting primary season.
Published on
September 20, 2007 in
Politics.
Via Andrew Sullivan, an interesting survey that assesses your attitudes about five basic “moral foundations” and allows you to compare your answers against others who have taken the test and self-identified as “liberal” or “conservative.”
Andrew took the survey to try to confirm or deny his assertion that he’s “still a conservative,” in spite of the stance he’s taken against Bush and his war.
I didn’t have too many doubts about which side of the issues I’d end up on…
Update: I forgot to mention, the green bars represent my responses… (a reference from Kevin reminded me that I had failed to clarify that).
Published on
October 10, 2005 in
Politics.
This is kind of crazy, but kind of awesome: SUV Drivers in Paris Get Wind Knocked Out of Them.
Link courtesy of my Mom.
(I’ve forgotten a lot of my French, so I hope that title made sense. I’ve been focusing more on Spanish lately…)
Published on
October 5, 2005 in
Politics.
I hope this is a permanent trend and not just a passing thing:
Sales of sport-utility vehicles took a dive in September, dragging down U.S. automakers who were already expecting a consumer payback after a summer of employee-pricing discounts. Gas prices that topped $3 nationwide after Hurricane Katrina didn’t help.
I read somewhere that Americans won’t really start to change their driving habits until gas hits $5/gallon. It’s getting closer…