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Wednesday, July 28, 2004
Open Thread
Posted by DavidNYCApartment hunting is the next thing keeping me busy - I need to find a place to live in DC for the coming year. Feel free to talk about new polls, the convention & what you predict the "bounce" will be. One bit of not-exactly-surprising swing state trivia coming out of the convention: Delegations from battleground states have gotten the best seats. There are some pretty snazzy maps available here. Looks like AZ, WV and AR didn't make it on to the floor, but tiny SD did. Hmm.
And man do I wish Barack Obama hailed from a swing state!
Posted at 03:22 AM in General | Technorati
Comments
Already ugly in FL?
Krugman editorial:
Why would the governor in Florida -- in Florida! -- resist an independent audit of his voting machines?
Posted by: Marsden at July 28, 2004 06:15 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Housing in DC, if you are looking for a realtively inexpensive place to live, you have to live in the suburbs, the further out you go, the less expensive it is. If money is no object I would suggest you live on Cpaitol Hill. It's a wonderful area full of good places to eat, close to 2 metro stops, and shopping at Union Station. If you like Mexican food, there is a wonderful place to eat called La Loma, on Pennsylvania Ave, SE, near Union Station. One thing you will have to get used to is the quadrant system, DC is divided into 4 quadrants: NE, NW, SE, SW. It takes a bit of getting used to, but Im sure you will do it.
Posted by: RED MEAT DEMOCRAT at July 28, 2004 06:58 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Re: Barack Obama
Colin missed his chance at being the first black US prez because he didn't play his cards right.
Obama will most likely will be the Democratic Party frontrunner in 2020, at the end of the Edwards administration.
Posted by: jogabr at July 28, 2004 10:38 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
For DC housing, I would highly recommend looking in the apartment section of the DC Citypaper and/or Craiglist. And, for my $0.02, I'd recommend you check out the areas around Dupont Circle. It's a fun neighborhood.
Posted by: Amateurchef at July 28, 2004 11:48 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
jogabr: You must have an awesome crystal ball to be able to predict the 2020 front-runner.
I agree that Barack Obama is an outstanding candidate, and an incredibly gifted speaker.
However, he has not yet held public office at the national level. He has no record yet. 16 years is a long time in politics -- his star may continue to rise, but there's an equal chance that it won't.
We have a number of other outstanding Democrats -- Hillary Rodham Clinton, Russ Feingold, Maria Cantwell -- who have already begun establishing national credentials. It is short-sighted to dismiss them this early based on Obama's few (but admittedly outstanding) weeks in the national spotlight.
Posted by: osterizer at July 28, 2004 11:50 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Note to self: Get a thesaurus and learn some synonyms for "outstanding". Jeez!
Sorry, y'all. Too early. Need caffeine.
Posted by: osterizer at July 28, 2004 11:51 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
>>And man do I wish Barack Obama hailed from a swing state!
Well, Missouri, Wisconsin, and Iowa are adjacent and Michigan and Minnesota aren't too far afield.
Posted by: Nile Kinnick at July 28, 2004 01:15 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
If Obama is such a shoo-in for the Illinois senate maybe he could take a few days to stump for Kerry in the neighboring states, like the states Nile listed. He's such a great speaker that I bet his speeches could help Kerry a lot.
Posted by: Inkan1969 at July 28, 2004 05:26 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Thanks for all the housing tips. I actually lived in the Capitol Hill area last year and thought it was the pits. There were almost no stores and restaurants in my immediate area, and there were no supermarkets whatsoever. I am definitely looking to live in a more social part of town, like Dupont, or preferably, Cleveland Park.
And osterizer: Don't leave Eliot Spitzer off of your list of up-and-coming Dems with national credentials.
Posted by: DavidNYC at July 28, 2004 07:10 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Boy, do I wish Barack Obama were running for President -- or VP under Spitzer. A truly golden ticket. I've never seen a speech more inspirational.
Posted by: shimamoto at July 28, 2004 07:31 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Obama is a shoo-in for Senate in Illinois, but he needs to serve Illinois before he runs on a national scale, and gain the experience that he will need if he is going to face the unbelievable scrutiny of a nation-wide election. I think this starts by campaigning in Illinois and not other states, to show that he is not in the Senate just to catapult his political career, but to serve the people, like I believe he truly will.
His speech was outstanding, but what it tells me is that he has taken a great first step on a long road of a national political career.
Posted by: Alex at July 29, 2004 12:31 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Not to veer off topic (but this is an open thread, right?)--the following letter appeared in the Finger Lakes Times recently (wish I had the date, but the person who sent it to me scanned it in without the date):
To the Editor:
Republicans complain John Kerry has "flip-flopped" on major issues.
Well, maybe America needs that. I flip-flopped on thr Iraq war. I
favored it when the administration lad me to believe our country was at
risk because of Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. I favored it
when the president said the Iraqis were trying to procure weapons-grade
uranium. I favored it when the administration hinted at ties between
Iraq's government and al Qaida. I trusted the president's judgment and
intelligence.
When it became known he was misleading us (or he'd been misled) and
that we were instead fighting a pre-emptive war based on trumped-up
charges, I realized war wasn't warranted. The loss of 900-plus
American lives to dump a dictator who might have someday caused us
problems was a high price. We're there now and can't just leave
without establshing some stability, but the president's lack of an exit
strategy means the price will only increase. Yeah, I flip-flopped on
that issue, and so haev most Americans (according to recent polls).
I flip-flopped on President Bush's No Child Left Behind educational
reform. I favored it when I believed the president that it would
improve public education. However, when I saw that it was too
test-oriented and bereaucratic, lacking adequate funding and becoming
an obstacle to good education, I flip-flopped.
I flip-flopped on Medicare reform. I favored it when I thought it was
going to provide prescription coverage for the elderly. I started to
become suspicious when I saw the law was being supported by
pharmaceutical and insurance companies. Then, when I saw the final
result, a system of medical cards and coverages that most people
couldn't understand and, as a result, don't apply for, I flip-flopped.
I flip-flopped on President Bush's tax cut. I favored it when we were
dealing with a budget surplus. However, it became a huge deficit; our
spending increased dramatically on the wars against terrorism and Iraq,
making it poor economic policy, and I flip-flopped again.
"Flip-flopping" on major issues reflects pragmatism, a quality all of
our best presidents had. If it works, use it. If it doesn't work,
find something that does.
President Bush is doing this country a disservice by doggedly defending
failed, ineffective policies. Four more years of that would not be
good for the country.
Richard S. MacAlpine
Penn Yan, NY
Posted by: Jake at July 29, 2004 01:16 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
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Posted by: melodias polifonicas at November 3, 2004 01:00 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment