Day: November 13, 2011

George McGovern’s New Book: Promoting Liberal Values Forty Years After His Presidential Candidacy!

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Former Senator and 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee George McGovern is coming to the Miami Book Fair International to promote his book, WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A DEMOCRAT.

Now 89 years old, already the second longest surviving major party presidential nominee who lost the election, only surpassed by former Republican nominee and Governor Alf Landon in the 1936 Presidential election (who survived 51 years after his defeat), McGovern wishes to emphasize the importance of government in our lives at a time when many Republicans refer to government as a great evil in our lives!

Proud to call himself a liberal, he is critical of those who promote fear, and mourns the loss of bipartisanship in Washington DC, which used to see much cooperation across the aisle in the US Senate and US House of Representatives. He is supportive of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and critical of the Tea Party Movement.

On December 2, as part of the CONTENDERS series on Friday nights from 8-10 pm Eastern time, the life and career of George McGovern will be examined on C Span. Everyone should tune in and admire and appreciate the greatness of this man who lost, but added dignity and principle to the political process that is American democracy!

Jon Huntsman Comes Through In Republican Foreign Policy Debate!

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Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman performed admirably last night in the GOP Foreign Policy debate in South Carolina, sponsored by CBS News and National Journal.

Sadly, he is not being taken seriously by news media, because of his low public opinion poll ratings, but in the three opportunities he had to speak up on his expertise, foreign policy, he waxed brilliant and principled.

He told the audience and the moderators that it is time for us to leave Afghanistan and focus on dealing with domestic problems.

He also said that waterboarding was torture, and unacceptable under our American value system of freedom and democracy, in this agreeing with 2008 Republican Presidential nominee John McCain.

Huntsman also said we should not consider a trade war with China, that China policy needed to be more sophisticated, and was more complex than what everyone else in the Republican race either said or has stated during the campaign.

Huntsman is the only sensible, common sense, and rational person, other than Ron Paul, among the eight competitors for the GOP nomination, when it comes to foreign policy, and some of them–particularly Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry–are absolutely horrifying in their stated views of the world.

Ron Paul was rational and reasonable in his few opportunities to answer questions, and if only his domestic views were less weird and looney as a result of his libertarian views, he might be considered acceptable by those who do not want America to be constantly hawkish in foreign policy.

The shame is that too much time was spent on the reckless rhetoric of Cain, Bachmann, Perry, and Gingrich, and not enough time given to Huntsman and Paul.

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney was barely acceptable in his answers, but again seemed unprincipled as usual, while Rick Santorum was Rick Santorum!

But it is clear that in foreign policy, Huntsman still presents by far, the best credentials, and we cannot afford to have a reckless, ignorant hand on the power given to an individual as Commander in Chief!

Richard Nixon After 37 Years: What It Tells Us About The GOP Race For President!

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Richard Nixon’s grand jury testimony, given in 1975 after he resigned as a result of the Watergate Scandal, and was given a pardon by Gerald Ford in 1974, shows the same Richard Nixon we know–manipulative as always, feeling sorry for himself, and avoiding responsibility for ANYTHING! The National Archives and the Richard Nixon Presidential Library released new evidence a few days ago.

He is a master of the filibuster, as his party has been conducting in recent years in the Senate!

He claims to have no recollection of lots of details, even though he was the master detail man in the Presidency!

Nixon tries to explain away the famous 18 and a half minute gap as maybe a blank spot never erased!

Nixon spent a lot of time in the 298 pages of grand jury testimony talking about his love of foreign affairs, and in complaints about the brutal nature of politics, which he, of course, heavily contributed to!

Imagine if he was around in the age of the internet and blogs and the 24 hour news cycle, when he complained at the time about constant assault from the electronic news media for 30 minutes per evening!

Nixon portrays himself as the victim , a favored tactic of Sarah Palin and other Republicans today who love to attack the media for exposing their fallacies and shortcomings!

He also talks about his fragile health, emphasizing that he could die any minute because of his trouble in the fall of 1974 with leg phlebitis.

So he wants pity, and to be given a pass, and is insulted that he was not given one!

Reading Nixon should make us aware of the dangers of selecting for presidential nominations or elections ANY candidate who makes himself out to be a victim, who has demonstrated lack of ethics, who has obvious mental problems, who is ill informed, who says inappropriate things in debates, who acts strangely in ways that we can see–in other words, ALL of the GOP candidates except Jon Huntsman, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul! And this includes a much rumored candidate, who thankfully, did not run–Sarah Palin!