The Clintons should not think that they are going to force Barack to put Hillary on the ticket. I think Barack should put a woman on the ticket, but that woman need not be Hillary. Kathleen Sebelius would do just fine. (Running Mate) She might actually do better. She will bring a freshness to the scene that Hillary can't. There is a Clinton fatigue going on across the country.
Barack's first term is not going to be Bill Clinton's third term. Bill Clinton is an amazing political talent, but Barack is more amazing. (Bill Clinton In Top 10, Barack Obama In Top 5)
Hillary did the best she could. If this bitterness is about not having been able to advance the cause of gender, she needs to realize that preparing to be running mate would be the best thing to do on gender. Instead Hillary sounds like those West Virginia and Kentucky whites who votes against Barack in droves. Oh no a black guy is about to go to the White House.
And I am not worried that the groups that went for Hillary will not go for Barack. Iowa is not exactly Harlem, and we know how Iowa went. A Barack-Kathleen ticket will get all the voters that a Barack-Hillary ticket will. The party will unite just fine.
Besides Kathleen Sebelius has her own bonafides. She is more like Barack in that she has a track record of bringing Democrats and Republicans together.
One Senator and one Governor might also be a better mix than two Senators.
Hillary's Bobby Kennedy comment is like when Trent Lott made his lightning strike comment on Hillary herself. It is unfortunate.
Roe V Wade will not overturned. So abortion will continue to be legal. But if you are staunchly against the very idea of abortion, what you do is you explore every possible way to make sure there are as few abortions as possible. You get into social programs, and sex education, and calls to abstinence.
Intelligent Design
If you are going to tell me you are for intelligent design, I am going to say I respect your religious beliefs. Christians say the Lord created this universe in six days, Muslims say seven. I respect both worldviews. I respect both religions.
The Dalai Lama has said every time new scientific views clash with his religious beliefs, he discards those religious beliefs. That is my religion Buddhism, but that does not have to be yours. I respect your religion, whichever it is.
No To Gun Control
Hunting should be cultivated as a sport. But then you don't need machine guns to go deer hunting. And urban areas are different from rural areas when it comes to guns. Noone is trying to ban hunting, but we all want lower crime rates.
Gay Marriage
Is the sex less good if it is called civil union as opposed to marriage? No discrimination based on sexual orientation is already the law of the land. The law has to be implemented.
In The News
WRAPUP 2-Obama empathizes with Clinton over Kennedy comment Reuters Clinton's remarks drew headlines and became a hot topic of debate on talk shows ..... There have long been concerns about the safety of Obama, who would be the first black U.S. president. The Illinois senator was given Secret Service protection 18 months before the November election -- earlier than any other candidate has received increased security. ...... Clinton's comment brought up the taboo topic of the possibility of a rival's assassination, and political analysts said the remark was a serious gaffe. .... "This is serious. It's more serious because there were already questions about why Hillary Clinton was still in the race and what she was hoping for," said Calvin Jillson ..... "What she articulated was the most catastrophic possibility," he said. Jillson said the reference to Kennedy's assassination made the chance of Clinton being asked to be Obama's vice presidential running mate even more unlikely. Between McCain and Obama, it could get nasty AFP Clinton Apologizes for Referencing 1968 Kennedy AssassinationVoice of America She said she was trying to make the point that in 1968, candidates were still campaigning in June when Kennedy was killed. Clinton says sorry for Robert Kennedy remarksEuronews.net Obama: campaigning gets 'careless' TVNZ Obama has lost women 'with sexist campaign'Telegraph.co.uk Miss Ferraro, the losing Democratic candidate for vice-president in 1984, saidthat she might abandon her lifelong party loyalties and vote for the Republican John McCain if Mr Obama is confirmed as the nominee. .......... Some other partisan female Clinton supporters have already insisted that they will either vote for Mr McCain or write the former First Lady's name on the ballot in November, in retaliation for her allegedly sexist treatment by the media and fellow Democrats. ....... Mrs Clinton blamed the media rather than the Obama campaign, saying: "It's been deeply offensive to millions of women." ....... Obama also apologised to a female reporter he called "sweetie" in an aside that received widespread coverage. ........ several women media commentators have responded to the "sexist" allegations by insisting that Mrs Clinton's downfall is due to a badly-run campaign. Obama Says Clinton Meant No Offense With RFK CommentCBS News Obama Says Clinton's RFK Comment Was Merely 'Careless' Washington Post Barack Obama-Ted Kennedy bond intensifiesBoston Herald Kennedy quickly recognized Obama’s commitment and star power and took the Illinois senator under his wing ......... the senators talk on the phone almost daily ..... “Barack seeks out his opinions and advice whenever he can” ...... Perhaps the most telling sign of their bond came this week when Kennedy, 76, had to back out as commencement speaker at Wesleyan University because of his health woes. Kennedy chose Obama to fill in for him in speaking to the graduates, one of whom will be Kennedy’s stepdaughter. ..... In accepting the invitation, Obama said, “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.” You Get Careless': Obama Blames Clinton RFK Quip on Stress of ...ABC News Clinton apologises for Kennedy remarkIrish Times Clinton: Rewriting history with June hopes Baltimore Sun Clinton Remark on Kennedy’s Killing Stirs UproarNew York Times Obama accepts Clinton's explanation for RFK commentChicago Tribune Clinton remarks create new flapSeattle Times Victim of Sexism? Women Rally 'Round Clinton ABC News Hillary Clinton apologizes over Robert F. Kennedy remarksLos Angeles Times How Clinton’s Comments Didn’t — Then Did — Catch Fire Wall Street Journal Blogs, NY Killer gaffe: Hillary Clinton cites RFK assassinationBoston Herald Clinton apologizes for citing RFK killingBoston Globe Clinton sorry for Kennedy gaffeScotsman Clinton apologises for Kennedy assassination remarkEdmonton Sun Clinton tries to move past Kennedy assassination comment AFP Clinton raises spectre of assassinationGlobe and Mail Clinton Apologizes for Reference to Bobby Kennedy AssassinationBloomberg Clinton's RFK analogy: Made, withdrawnBaltimore Sun Barack Obama wants Bill to heal Hillary Times Online, UK She quickly apologised, ashen-faced, for a comment which appeared dangerously close to wishful thinking about Obama, but the damage was done. ........ After the Kennedy gaffe, however, the implausible has become the unthinkable. ....... “It would be hard to take the country in a new direction with the Clintons in the White House,” a source in the Obama campaign said. “They bring controversy.” ....... They both came from lower-income families with a strong mother and went on to become very well educated and devoted their lives to public service. ..... Bill Clinton predicted last week that Chelsea, his 28-year-old daughter, could one day enter politics. Barack Obama is master of the new Facebook politics Times Online, UK a generation that is now used to relating, thinking, talking and meeting online. ....... she missed the key element of the new politics: social networking. She was still AOL; Obama was Facebook. ....... “What’s amazing is that Hillary built the best campaign that has ever been done in Democratic politics on the old model – she raised more money than anyone before her, she locked down all the party stalwarts, she assembled an all-star team of consultants and she really mastered this top-down, command-and-control type of outfit. And yet she’s getting beaten by this political start-up that is essentially a totally different model of the new politics.” ......... It transformed its website into a social networking zone ....... One of the men Obama hired to set up this new effort certainly knew what he was doing: Chris Hughes is a co-founder of Facebook. ...... Obama’s campaign has in fact been the least elitist and most democratic fundraising operation in the history of American politics. ...... he has a huge list of names to ask for more. This is a money machine unlike any other. ......... open-source, web-based operation: the personal drain on a candidate is lessened ......... Everyone who wanted to get into the 75,000-strong rally in Portland, Oregon, last weekend had to provide an e-mail address. ....... By the time they came home from the event, an e-mail was waiting for them, asking them for money or for referrals to other friends, and encouraging them to form “affinity groups” to spread the network wider and wider. ......... No one had asked them. They were arranging the parties or performances or gatherings through Facebook and MySpace, without any formal leadership from Obama headquarters. ........... the online president of social-networking democracy is imminent. To Claim Popular Vote, Clinton Is Seeking Wins in Last 3 Primaries Washington Post, United States Clinton's Loyalists Say They're Also in the Race `to the End'Bloomberg Obama picks up two delegates, Clinton one The Associated Press
Don't accuse me of starting the rumors, but now Bobby is in contention to be McCain's running mate: Bobby Jindal For President Of The United States 2016. It is entirely possible he will be keynote speaker instead of running mate, but running mate is a big possibility. I think it will be good for the country if Bobby gets to be on the ticket. I take ethnic pride in him, but he is so much of a social conservative, he is scary. He is "100%" opposed to abortion, he is totally opposed to the very idea of gay marriage, he is for teaching intelligent design in schools, he is against gun control. A lot of Indians in the diaspora are pissed off enough that he converted to Catholicism - he was born a Hindu - and I am not one of them. I think he is an amazing political talent, but his social conservatism is hard on me. I can't bring myself to swallow. I am primarily a progressive, a Democrat for social reasons. On the economics the wisdom fluctuates, and sometimes the Republicans do make sense. But Bobby seems to want to turn the clock when it comes to social issues. How can you be so smart and so damn conservative? I mean, intelligent design, that is not education, that is superstition. But just like I accept white conservatives to be part of the political reality, and black conservatives, I am going to say Bobby is entitled to his views. He is as Indian as anyone else. Go rumbo. If someone of Bobby's ethnic background can run for Vice President of the United States, there is something very right about this country.
"Rush Limbaugh has described Jindal as "the next Ronald Reagan."" Hmm.
May 24, 3 PM
To: Tracey Denton
Hello Tracey.
The urgent aspects of my Nepal and Obama work are behind me. And my primary focus is on my young company, but I am a political animal and you know it. It is in my blood from both sides of my family. I can't stay away. I seek to become active. And I am thinking the first organization I got associated with after arriving in the city might be the best vehicle for the kind of work I seek to do.
I instigated a French Revolution in Nepal, and you watched it in the local media in April 2006. None of the DFNYC Executive Directors have done anything like that. I want to be made the fifth Executive Director. Step one would be a one on one conversation with you. You are the organization's dynamo. I would want to put across 10-20 questions that will help me understand DFNYC and DFA the way you don't understand by just showing up for events. Then I would want to carve out a role for me. I am not a loner seeking to become a team player. I am a digital democrat wanting to digitize all aspects of DFNYC and possibly even DFA. We are the original grassroots people.
In short, give me a conversation. But if you don't, I will understand DFNYC is not interested in my active participation. And I will show up for select events, and DFNYC will be a spectator sport to me like it was in the early months, for some very different reasons.
It was good to see you the other day do your video camera thing.
Take care. The Drinking Liberally Charm
I think there is a certain charm to simply showing up at Rudy's and making small talk with all sorts of liberals. Politics does not seem to dominate the conversations, not at all.
In The News
Hillary's Vice-Presidential Tango Time the Naval Observatory, where vice presidents live in Washington ....... the Clintons tried something similar — though far more muted — about this time four years ago ...... a "whisper" that never amounted to "pressure," but was an unmistakable pass nonetheless. ..... female voters who had backed Clinton and were reluctant to transfer their loyalties. ...... the female-voter-threat idea What Does Hillary Want? a business as fraught with ego and ambition ....... key supporters of Hillary Clinton who are showing signs of wanting to jump ship ....... In Bill Clinton's view, she has earned nothing short of an offer to be Obama's running mate ....... her lopsided victories in Kentucky and West Virginia have helped her narrow his lead in the popular-vote count to a virtual tie. ....... crucial voter groups that Clinton won — women, Latinos, older voters, blue-collar whites — ........ she is likely to insist that her name be placed in nomination on the first ballot, opening up all the divisions once again. The Keys to McCain's VP Pick He said that while he liked Quayle, he felt the former vice president had "not been briefed and prepared for some of the questions." ........ and Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard Scouting Micro Social Networks gather.com, which is sort of like a slow-going, pared-down Facebook. Jindal, McCain's probable running mate NDTV.com, India Bobby Jindal represents the same for the Republicans. ...... At 36, this second-generation Indian-American Rhodes Scholar is America's youngest governor in a southern state with a long history of racial discrimination. ...... a fervent opponent of embryonic stem cell research and abortion and even favours teaching ''intelligent design'' in schools as an alternative to evolution. .... This could help win votes among evangelicals who have not yet warmed up to McCain because of his moderate views. ..... a win-win situation for Jindal. .... 'He goes from being a state party leader to becoming a national Republican Party leader. Either way, he will be considered as a candidate for President in the next elections'' ...... the only grilling that will take place this weekend will be the steak. ..... Jindal's age, conservatism, and executive experience Who wins if Bobby Jindal gets tapped for veep? American Thinker, WA the notorious Landrieu clan of Democrats ...... Jindal next to the top of the GOP ticket poses the most serious threat yet to Sen. Mary Landrieu's re-election. 10 Things You Didn't Know About Bobby Jindal U.S. News & World Report, DC As a young convert, he wrote of the emotional and intellectual struggles of his spiritual journey in several articles that were published in the New Oxford Review, a Catholic magazine. ......... He turned down admissions to medical and law schools at Harvard and Yale to attend Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar. ....... While attending Oxford, Jindal contemplated joining the priesthood. ...... In 2006, Jindal and his wife, Supriya, delivered their third child at home. Barely able to call 911 before the delivery, Jindal received a nurse's coaching by phone. Just as he was completing the umbilical cord procedure with a shoestring, paramedics arrived. ....... Prior to public service, Jindal worked for the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. ...... Jindal's first bid for governor was unsuccessful. ...... In 2004, he sought the congressional seat from Louisiana's First District. He won with a whopping 78 percent of the vote and was re-elected in 2006 with almost 90 percent. ..... In 2007, Jindal ran for governor again and won. The victory was largely attributed to old-fashioned politicking, which included Jindal "giving testimony" in Pentecostal and Baptist churches in rural and remote sections of Louisiana. Jindal Meets With McCain WDSU, LA Jindal is being seriously considered for a prominent role at the party convention this summer. .... one more chance for the nation to be focused on levees and wetlands restoration ....... Jindal has been positioned as a rising star in the Republican Party. Four years ago, another rising star was featured as a speaker at the Democratic National Convention. That speaker, Sen. Barack Obama, is now the likely presidential nominee for his party. Who Is Bobby Jindal? Donklephant Jindal heading to McCain's ranch, fueling speculation about ... Leesville Daily Leader, LA McCain invites VP frontrunner Jindal to weekend retreat Hindu, India Norquist likes Jindal for Veep Politico, DC Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist believes Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal would be the strongest running mate for John McCain this fall. ..... a true movement conservative ...... Once thought of as something of a longshot, Jindal has now drawn praise from opposing factions of the GOP: from Rush Limbaugh, an early fan, and Norquist to McCain loyalists Louisiana Jindal, McCain and Motivations Bayou Buzz, LA Jindal Plans To Talk With McCain About LA, Not About VP KSLA-TV, LA Jindal back in contention as McCain running mate Hindustan Times, India I Can’t Like Bobby Jindal Progressive.org, WI Jindal has embraced a really conservative version of Christianity ......... he is “100 percent against abortion, no exceptions.” He has supported the teaching of intelligent design and opposed stem-cell research. He is backing as governor a statehouse bill, with the Orwellian title of the Louisiana Science Education Act, to allow intelligent design in schools ......... He is adamantly pro-gun ...... favors a constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning. ....... “Anti-abortion, pro-gun, anti-secular, pro-war, anti-science . . . the list is endless” ...... he stooped to using timeworn coded racist language to deride Jena protesters as “outside agitators.” ........ And Jindal has run away from his Indian heritage as a way to ingratiate himself with the majority. Shashi Tharoor, former U.N. undersecretary general, reveals that Jindal once mangled the pronunciation of his own brother’s name while accepting an award. As a Congressman, Jindal pointedly skipped a function organized by the Indian community to commemorate Diwali, the festival of lights, the biggest religious celebration among Hindus. (Not that this has stopped him from showing up at Indian-American fundraising events.) ....... “Indians beam proudly at another Indian-American success story to go along with Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, Hargobind Khorana and Subramaniam Chandrasekhar, Kal Penn and Jhumpa Lahiri,” writes Tharoor. “But none of these Indian Americans expressed attitudes and beliefs so much at variance with the prevailing values of their community.” ....... now in the running for the second-highest office in the land, a startling achievement for someone who is a member of a tiny ethnic minority and so young. Louisiana Gov. Denies Veep Rumors ABC News Exclusive: Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Family Security Matters, NJ Invitation puts Jindal in pivotal position 2TheAdvocate, LA • Jindal trying to quiet talk of McCain's No. 2 The Times-Picayune - NOLA.com, LA Senator John McCain considers choosing Asian running mate to take ... Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom audition by barbecue ..... At 36, Mr Jindal is also half Mr McCain's age ...... parents who arrived from India in the 1970s ...... a staunch conservative on social issues such as abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage ..... a bit of a domestic policy wonk ...... Mr Jindal has followed protocol by saying he is not interested in the job but stopped short of ruling himself out of contention. Roemer says Jindal is on McCain's VP list WWL, LA Jindal restates intent to remain governor Opelousas Daily World, LA “I don’t think Sen. McCain is going to offer it to me.” ..... Standing near Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who would become governor if Jindal were elected vice president, Jindal said “I’ve teased Mitch about planting these rumors.” Leave Jindal Alone! City Journal, NY Jindal - 'I've got the job I want' KTBS, LA A Shot at Veep with McCain, Romney, Crist and Jindal The Ledger, FL McCain to vet Jindal as running mate Calcutta Telegraph, India McCain Veepstakes: Bobby Jindal Human Events, DC What About Jindal? RealClearPolitics Blog Lack of Progress in McCain’s Bid Is GOP Concern New York Times the holiday weekend at his Arizona ranch along with three Republicans assumed to be under consideration as his running mate ...... Although Mr. Obama has continued to raise far more money than Mr. McCain, Mr. Bush’s fund-raising machinery has helped keep the Republican Party competitive. The McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee, between them, have $11 million more on hand — about $62 million — than the combined cash-on-hand of Mr. Obama and the Democratic National Committee. ...... the Republican Party brand is very, very badly damaged, in some places broken ....... any Republican who doesn’t say panic is in the wind is lying through their shirt ...... part of a contrast he said they would draw with Mr. Obama for “giving great speeches” but having no record of accomplishment. Nepal's Prime Minister Asks Maoists to Form New Government Voice of America Microsoft Abandoned Book-Search Race With Google Enews 2.0 `Indiana Jones' Earns $56 Million in First Two Days (Update1) Bloomberg The uproar over Clinton's RFK slaying analogy Baltimore Sun Clinton blames sexism for failure to overtake Obama Sunday Herald Obama and Clinton Are Spending the Holiday Campaigning in Puerto Rico New York Times Clinton Remark on Kennedy’s Killing Stirs UproarNew York Times the comments touched on one of the most sensitive aspects of the current presidential campaign — concern for Mr. Obama’s safety ........ Bill Clinton is musing about the possibility that the vice presidency might be his wife’s best path to the presidency if she loses the nomination. ..... Privately, aides to Mr. Obama were furious about the remark. ..... Obama’s own remarks about “bitter” small-town voters ricocheted around the Internet. ...... “Earlier today I was discussing the Democratic primary history and in the course of that discussion mentioned the campaigns that both my husband and Senator Kennedy waged in California in June, in 1992 and 1968,” she said. “And I was referencing those to make the point that we have had nomination primary contests that go into June. That’s a historic fact.” ........ a new thematic landscape: a campaign that is more consumed by questions about its own future McCain, at 71, fit to lead, doctors say Chicago Tribune New questions about McCain's melanomaSan Francisco Chronicle A fit McCain set to audition Jindal, 2 others as running mateSify three potential running mates including Bobby Jindal ..... his 96-year-old mother, Roberta, still trots the globe with her twin sister. ..... Heiress to a large Arizona beer distributorship, Cindy McCain's worth has been estimated at more than $100 million. ...... state Republican leaders across the US have given a tentative nod to Bobby Jindal, the first Indian American US governor and two others as McCain's potential running mates ..... Louisiana governor Jindal, Florida governor Charlie Crist and former rival presidential candidate Mitt Romney ..... Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. Say What? Hillary Clinton Does it Again what, exactly, Hillary Clinton was thinking when she referred to the assassination of Bobby Kennedy in explaining her decision to keep on campaigning ........ Clinton tried to excuse her inexcusable outburst by saying she was distracted by the shock of the news of Senator Edward Kennedy’s malignant brain tumor ...... “I think people have short memories. Primary contests used to last a lot longer. We all remember the great tragedy of Bobby Kennedy being assassinated in June in L.A.” Obama Begins Search for Vice President Obama, who intends to wait until the final primaries end on June 3 before declaring victory in the presidential nominating fight
On The Web
Bobby Jindal - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"one of America's top 10 extraordinary young people for the next millennium." ..... Rush Limbaugh has described Jindal as "the next Ronald Reagan." ...... at Oxford, he wrote an article for the New Oxford Review in which he described witnessing a friend being possessed by a demon ........ his work for Indian tycoon Lakshmi Mittal of Arcelor Mittal. ....... The meeting, however, may instead serve a different purpose, presenting Jindal with the opportunity to speak at the 2008 Republican National Convention, in a similar fashion to Barack Obama at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, cementing a place for him in the party and opening the gate for a future run for the presidency. Jindal Triumphant in Louisiana - TIMEthe youngest chief executive of any state. ...... the first non-white politician to hold the state's highest office since Reconstruction ...... "Don't let anyone talk badly about Louisana," he said during his Saturday night victory speech at a Baton Rouge Holiday Inn. "Those days [of corruption and incompetence] are officially over. ....... a region where college football is a religion ....... Jindal took almost 700,000 votes, the highest ballot numbers for a for a non-incumbent primary candidate in recent history ....... an ambitious policy whiz kid. ....... has traveled often to northern Louisiana, hitting up churches and pressing the flesh. ....... "the only colors that should matter are red, white and blue." ...... "pass ethics reforms with real teeth" and has promised to institute a variety of 10- to 31-point plans that reflect his policy wonkiness. As he put it on Saturday: "The rest of the country, keep your eyes on Louisiana." Michelle Malkin » Smearing Bobby JindalI met Bobby Jindal two years ago, and what impressed me the most above everything else was how sincere and openly he talked about his Christian faith.......... Bobby will bring a new vision to Louisiana, removing the negative image of the past and present regarding corrupt elected officials. With Bobby Jindal as our Governor, a positive light will shine on Louisiana as other states look on. ....... we finally have a chance to change how the rest of the world looks at Louisiana if we elect Bobby as our next Governor
