The Meat and Potatoes by Shir Haberman

Hillary balks at Iraq vote question

2007-04-16T13:52:09Z

The love fest for Democratic presidential hopefull Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York that occurred in Hampton at Winnacunnet High School ended abruptly Saturday when a woman from Clinton's home state asked her a pointed question about her 2002 vote to allow armed forces to invade Iraq.

]]> "Did you read the 92-page document?" the woman asked, referring to a declassified CIA document released by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham. Graham, in a speech before the Senate, said his colleagues would have "blood on their hands" if they pursued a course of action that involved an invasion of Iraq.

Clinton responded that she was "thoroughly briefed by my staff" on this document, as well as others available at the time from other sources. When asked directly if she had read the document, Clinton again indicated she had been thoroughly briefed.

Clinton said she had been told by the Bush administration that approving the resolution would simply result in the U.S. sending "advisors" into Iraq. "If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have voted for it," Clinton said.

The questioner, hoping for a more protracted discussion with Clinton on this issue, found a spot near the raised stage from which Clinton had been speaking as the Senator finished her program and began shaking hands. Clinton, as she approached the woman, quickly made a U-turn and began shaking hands with members of the audience situated on the other side of the stage.

It appears the issue of vote for the U.S. invasion of Iraq will dog Clinton and another of her Democratic presidential rivals, Sen. John Edwards, where ever they speak.

Obama talks about his bill

2007-03-23T22:08:24Z

Illinois Senator and presidential candidate Barak Obama made it a point to speak to New Hampshire reporters shortly after delivering a speech on the floor fo the Senate on Wednesday. He spoke in support of his bill to start the pull-back of U.S. troops from Iraq on May 1 of this year, with a March 1, 2008 deadline for completion of the task.

]]> Obama's bill does not, however, bring all the troops home. It retains an as yet undetermined number of military units in the region to continue fighting in the ongoing conflict in Afghanistan and to engage Al Qaeda. The number of American forces that will involve will be determined after conversations with military commanders in the area, Obama said.

The Illinois Senator also had no answer to what would happen in Iraq after the U.S. pull-back is complete. "I don't think anyone has an answer to that," he told reporters.

What Obama hoped was that U.S. diplomats would work within Iraq and with the "international community" to find solutions to the problems that country is now facing.

Obama refrained from attacking the his two major opponents for the Democratic nomination - New York Sen. Hillary Clinton and North Carolina Sen. John Edwards - at least directly. He did note, however, that his speech in 2002 against involvement in a war in Iraq, delivered while he was still a Illinois state lawmaker, was made on the basis of information that was available to everyone at that time. Edwards and Clinton, both of whom were in the Senate and voted for the war.

The Dodd Dance

2007-02-16T04:30:19Z

It seemed like a pretty straight-forward question a woman asked Connnecticut Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd at a meet-and-greet at the Redhook Ale Brewery at the Pease Tradeport Thursday: What are you going to do to lower health care costs?

]]> The long-time Senator launched into his "answer" using phrases like "We're going to have to take a look at Medicare" and "We're going to have to start talking about" something else.

When it was noted that these were not new issues, that he had been a Senator for a long time without finding a real solution to escalating health costs and the question was posed as to what new he would be bringing to the table as president, Dodd countered with a list of health care-related bills he had sponsored and passed, such as the medical leave act and infant screening program.

"When you ask what I would do, you have to take into consideration what I have done," he said.

In the end, he never answered the woman's question, but instead insisted the real power lay, as he put it, "In the Oval Office."

Gee, and we thought it was the Congress that passed the laws that the president could either sign or veto and that Congress could even override a presidential veto if it had its act together.

I think Dodd's response could rightfully be called "The Connecticut Two-Step."

Obama's apology

2007-02-16T04:08:21Z

The question is: Will Barack Obama change politics or will politics change Barack Obama?

]]> While Illinois Democratic Senator and presidential hopefull Barack Obama was touting the fact that he says what's on his mind regardless of the consequences to a standing-room only crowd of about 3,500 at UNH's Field House on Monday evening, his campaign was issuing a formal apology for Obama saying that the lives of the 3,000-plus soldiers killed in Iraq had been "wasted." Obama called that statement "a slip of the tongue."

It seems to me there is very little difference between saying members of the US military have died fighting a war that should never have been fought, which has resulted in nothing but misery for the Iraqi people and has alienated large segments of the world's population, and saying those soldiers' lives had been wasted. But Obama chose to retract his statement rather than stand by it.

It was obviously the reaction Obama got to the word "wasted" that elicited the apology, but it is disheartening that the man who prides himself on saying what he means decided he didn't really mean what he said in this instance.

In this case, political correctness trumped honesty and that may shows not only Barack's lack of political experience, but his willingness to compromise his integrity in order to get elected.

Only time - and more public exposure for the Illinois Senator - will tell.

Process in shambles

2007-02-09T21:23:34Z

The Democratic National Committee's decision to revamp the presidential primary process for 2008 has thrown the entire political system into chaos as state's jockey to make their primaries relevant.

It has even caused a rift between New Hampshire and its traditional political partner, Iowa, because the laws of each state set time requirements for their contests.

]]> The DesMoines (Iowa) Register reported that Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said he wants to gather legislative and political leaders from both parties in Iowa to make plans to protect the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses. At issue is the possibility that - late this fall - New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner will move the date of that state's primary and leave Iowans scrambling to set a new date for our caucuses.

Iowa law requires the caucuses be held eight days earlier than any other caucus or primary. Since the Legislature isn't in session in the fall, if law changes are needed, they need to be made now. (They're also needed to send a signal to New Hampshire and all other states that Iowa won't be easily rolled.)

The 2008 Iowa caucuses are tentatively scheduled for Monday, Jan. 14. The Nevada caucuses are scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 19, followed by the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, Jan. 22.

But New Hampshire officials are peeved at Democrats for scheduling the Nevada caucuses ahead of their event. The Granite Staters fear it will diminish the importance of their primary. Gardner has wide authority to change the date of the primary to protect that luster and has done so in the past.

New Hampshire state law requires that its primary be held a week and a day before any similar contest. There is no indication yet whether Gardner considers Nevada's caucuses a similar contest.

But if he does, he might try moving New Hampshire's event up one week, in which case both Nevada and Iowa could move as well. But Iowa's governor is concerned that Gardner could try to leapfrog both Nevada and Iowa.
If that happens, Iowa could be forced to move its caucuses into 2007.

And with all this jockeying around and more states scheduling early primaries, the 2008 primary season could essentially be over by March and we will all have to listen to the largely meaningless rhetoric of two candidates (three if Joe Lieberman decides to run as an independent) with little to gain for seven months before the election.

About this Blog

2007-02-07T04:55:52Z

This blog is called "Meat and Potatoes" because it deals specifically with what the candidates have said or done during public appearances or via their campaigns' press releases. It comments on the what is the meat and potatoes of a political campaign rather than what others have said of it or how the pundits view it and, hopefully, gives the reader some insights into who these people who would hold the nation's highest office are.