2008 Presidential Choices

[Tiggeroshii]

[Tiggeroshii]

1. Landslide victory for Gore?

[FrenchieCat]

3. After two minutes of putting a poll on the last thing we really need

here at DU at this exact time.....you have the nerves to make a projection calling the winner? :shrug:

:wtf:

[RestoreGore]

7. Are you a member of algore08?

They always hawk these polls on their website after a story breaks where Al Gore does something...Coincidentally today there is a story about an ad he made for Proposition 87, so GEE he MUST be running, right? Because we all know no one does anything because they truly BELIEVE in it. An election in less than a month means nothing to them. North Korea possibly conducting a nuclear test means nothing to them. The climate crisis means nothing to them. Just push this 24/7 like cheerleaders to get new members to their website. Totally predictable.

[AtomicKitten]

20. yes please

[Wayne_in_WA_State]

24. Let the American People choose, not 5 repugs on the SCOTUS

In this hour of trial, we are so fortunate to have Al Gore as a voice for the people and not the powerful. Restore Democracy in America. Let history show that crime does not pay in the end. Al Gore by a Landslide !!

Wayne in WA State

[saracat]

2. Why are you posting this?? It is just weeks before the

2006 general election when we need to be focused on our current candudates and elections? Why distract people now when we need their attention most? This is just wrong IMHO.

[stevietheman]

4. No, here's what's really wrong: the current criminal regime.

Polls don't hurt anybody.

[saracat]

6. Of course but polls hurt because they distract.People should be

out working to elect candidates rto limit the destruction instead of daydreaming online about an election years away!

[frogcycle]

29. Roger that

[longship]

5. Too early for this, but I played anyway.

This is a good poll because it includes lots of dark horses. I voted Gore because I think he's our best shot and is also what this country needs. However, in general, I don't like these polls. They

The main deal here is that us politicals tend to support predetermined configurations. In this case, we're being continually asked about our 2008 election choices when it's years off. I'd hate like hell for Democrats to get "locked in" so that somebody of very high quality but of low public exposure gets "locked out" only because they do not have "rock star" popularity. The last two Democratic presidents were both relative unknowns at this point in their campaigns. It was only the campaign season which brought them the notariety to achieve the White House.

Good examples of this rock star mentality is the existance of Obama and Clinton on just about every one of these lists. I would not put either one of them on the list. Clinton is on the list only because she's Big Dawg's wife. Obama has literally been described as a "rock star". I am not comfortable with either one of these as qualifications for the presidency. In fact, these are the types of reasons why we have had six years of Dubya--family and popularity trumped good sense.

In the upcoming presidential race, I would hope that Democrats will find people, like Bill and Jimmie were, principled and qualified but whom were unknown quantities when they launched their campaigns. How about some women? Sebelius, Napolitano, Tubbs Jones, come to mind. There are any number of Congresspersons who have worked hard in the House for years and might be talked into running.

I love Al Gore, but there's no certainty that he'll even run. Maybe we need to forget the rock stars and put our hands deeper into our pockets. It's not just a matter of getting locked into another bad president. It's a matter of not restricting our choices by using flawed criteria.

[wiley]

8. I'm somewhat shocked you would post such a poll

I typically like your posts. I care even less about news saying Kerry is likely to run in 2008, but this is a distracting and meaningless post.

We will remember all the potential candidates who are letting shit about their 2008 aspirations out less than a month before the midterms.

[WildEyedLiberal]

9. The article you're talking about was something the media wrote

It's not like Kerry is going around on TV shows talking about "his potential 2008 aspirations." Of course the media ASKS him about it - but to imply that 2008 is the reason he goes to those shows is false. It is, as you pointed out, less than a month before the midterms, and Kerry has been traveling all across the country raising support for 2006 candidates. He has also raised more than $15 million for other Dems in this cycle. Because REPORTERS choose to ask him about 2008 has what to do with anything? KERRY has been out working and raising money for scores of Dems in 2006. That REPORTERS are focused on 2008 is no surprise, but it is interesting that you choose to interpret that Boston Globe article as something promoted by Kerry as opposed to something reporters have chosen to focus on while he campaigns across the country for Dems in 06.

[wiley]

14. Only because the ardent Kerry 08 supporters here are the first

to post stuff like that. They ask the same question of many other Democrats who are doing as much or much more than Kerry. The answer is usually a flat out no, or ask me after the midterms are over - if the questions is responded to at all. I know all about the media, and The Boston Globe is not a publication that I read. That's intentional.

Actually, I was referring to a joke I heard on Jay Leno the other night. It started so did you hear that John Kerry is running for President in 2008. The audience is silent. Leno makes a point regarding the complete lack of response by saying, "We're just not that into you, John". It was just comedy, right?

Once again, you have really defensively responded to a post regarding John Kerry and the 2008 presidential race, just as others start listing the things that John Edwards has done for the Democratic Party in the last few hours. I get it. I just want everyone to stop talking about 2008 already, at least for 30 days. I see the polls and the posts as just so much distraction. I'm sorry that you take it as an attack on John Kerry.

I'm not the Czar of DU or a closet Republican or even someone with any candidate in mind for 2008. But if I smell something like 2008 electioneering I'm going to say something.

[Tom Rinaldo]

17. Ironically these posts too become part of the distraction

Which of course is why I would rather not see polls like this posted on DU until the November election is over. Sooner or later someone says something that someone thinks is a put down of someone else and next thing you know we got a heated debate going on that has nothing to do with beating the Republicans in Novemember, but risks pitting ourselves against each other instead.

Bah Humbug. And with that I will stop adding posts to this thread.

[WildEyedLiberal]

23. Gee, YOU specifically mentioned Kerry - no other candidate - in your post

You don't think that you were deliberately baiting Kerry supporters with your little aside?

I have no idea what point you're trying to make with your first paragraph. If you have seen me - or any other Kerry supporter - disparaging the work of any other Dem working to elect Dems in 2006, please post the link. Otherwise, your comment is a petty jibe at a specific group of people on DU and you're damn right you're going to get called on it.

Tom Rinaldo is right. Comments like yours - especially those that single out a particular candidate or candidate's supporters, as yours did - add every bit as much to the "distraction" from 2006 as the poll itself did. I was not going to reply to the thread until I saw your little remark. Nor would I have replied to you if you hadn't singled out Kerry. But of course, you'll keep on pretending that your comment was completely innocuous and that I am the one "overreacting" when it's perfectly clear that you singled out one particular candidate for some reason unknown to me. Whatever - I'm leaving this thread.

Oh, and for the record, Jay Leno hasn't been funny in years, Kerry jokes notwithstanding.

[Tiggeroshii]

10. I was frankly just curious where Obama stands in a lot of our minds next

to other potential candidates. I clearly understand how necessary this next election is and how much we need to focus on it, but I have lately been fascinated with Obama and wanted an idea of what we thought of him compared to everyone else, that's all.

[wiley]

15. I love Obama

Not as much as Ford or Webb or Menendez or Casey, i.e., at the moment, however.

[beaconess]

31. Obama is SO much better than Ford, Casey and Menendez!

[Up2Late]

11. Good to see folks coming around to the wisdom of a President Clark!

:woohoo: :applause: WooHoo!

[IndianaGreen]

12. Clark has been sounding the alarm about Bush's reckless Iran policy

Clark fears, as many of us do, that Bush has already decided to bomb Iran. Scott Ritter issued the same warning as Clark on Wolf Blitzer today.

[Up2Late]

16. Seymour Hersh said the same thing several months ago...

...I can't remember who it was, either Richard Clark or Bob Woodward said recently that, because Hersh had nothing in writing, very few took him seriously.

He was on The Daily Show taking about it, but I don't see it at YouTube, so I might have to go upload it if I have it, I think I do.

[Up2Late]

18. Here's the link to Seymour Hersh's New Yorker article ...

<http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact>

THE IRAN PLANS
Would President Bush go to war to stop Tehran from getting the bomb?
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH
Issue of 2006-04-17
Posted 2006-04-08

The Bush Administration, while publicly advocating diplomacy in order to stop Iran from pursuing a nuclear weapon, has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and intensified planning for a possible major air attack. Current and former American military and intelligence officials said that Air Force planning groups are drawing up lists of targets, and teams of American combat troops have been ordered into Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with anti-government ethnic-minority groups. The officials say that President Bush is determined to deny the Iranian regime the opportunity to begin a pilot program, planned for this spring, to enrich uranium.

American and European intelligence agencies, and the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.), agree that Iran is intent on developing the capability to produce nuclear weapons. But there are widely differing estimates of how long that will take, and whether diplomacy, sanctions, or military action is the best way to prevent it. Iran insists that its research is for peaceful use only, in keeping with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and that it will not be delayed or deterred.

There is a growing conviction among members of the United States military, and in the international community, that President Bush’s ultimate goal in the nuclear confrontation with Iran is regime change. Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has challenged the reality of the Holocaust and said that Israel must be “wiped off the map.” Bush and others in the White House view him as a potential Adolf Hitler, a former senior intelligence official said. “That’s the name they’re using. They say, ‘Will Iran get a strategic weapon and threaten another world war?’ ”

A government consultant with close ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon said that Bush was “absolutely convinced that Iran is going to get the bomb” if it is not stopped. He said that the President believes that he must do “what no Democrat or Republican, if elected in the future, would have the courage to do,” and “that saving Iran is going to be his legacy.”

(more a link) <http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060417fa_fact>

[IndianaGreen]

22. That's some scary stuff!

A Messianic Bush will get us all killed in the name of "a mission from G-d."

[Tom Rinaldo]

13. But Clark doesn't want us focused on this right now

He is putting all his energy into helping Democrats retake Congress and wants us to do the same.
Clark refuses to speculate on 2008 in public right now, and for all I know in private either. Clark wants to get past the mid term elections and make sure we install a Democratic Congress.

[Up2Late]

19. Yes, and I agree with him on that, I just said it's good to see that...

...folks here are realizing that Clark would be the best candidate.

[Guaranteed]

21. Yyyyyyeaaaaah....

;-)

[michreject]

25. I'm pulling for Russ Feingold

I would love to see Feingold get in. Hope he runs.

[robcon]

26. It's often humorous to read the posts on these polls...

First, the obligatory "it's a distraction to talk about the presidential race," then the obligatory "hurrah for my candidate" in a paragraph or five on a favorite in the presidential race.

btw, hurrah for Hillary Clinton, our next president.

[AtomicKitten]

27. kick

[RestoreGore]

28. Al Gore Should Be Our UN Global Environmental Ambassador

He already is mine. Saving this planet's sustainability for us and future generations goes beyond any Presidency. But you need vision to see that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/10/prweb446712.htm

Patriots For Al Gore UN Effort Announcement

Download this press release as an Adobe PDF document.

Patriots for Al Gore, a Federal PAC advocating for our environment, civil liberties and positive social change, requests that the United Nations establish the post of UN Global Environmental Ambassador, and to consider our recommendation that the Honorable Al Gore Jr. be the first to serve in this post.

Auburn, IL (PRWEB) October 6, 2006 -- Patriots for Al Gore, a Federal PAC advocating for our environment, civil liberties and positive social change, announces it’s effort to request that the United Nations establish the post of UN Global Environmental Ambassador, and to consider our recommendation that the Honorable Al Gore Jr. be the first to serve in this post.

Patriots for Al Gore sees the urgency of the climate crisis, the repercussions of which are being felt in many parts of the world, predominantly Asia, Africa, Australia and the Arctic. We request the creation of a UN Global Environmental Ambassador post that would provide the leadership qualities and experience necessary to bring leaders together on a global scale regarding this issue.

The right person in this post could inspire a global grassroots movement to bring about the visionary changes that will be necessary in the moral, spiritual, scientific, technological, political and economic spheres to effect the expedient changes that are necessary on a global scale in order to avoid reaching the tipping point that scientists have warned us about. We believe the best candidate for this position is the Honorable Al Gore Jr. whose knowledge, experience, conviction and inspiration regarding this issue are well established.

Our effort will be ongoing and will consist of letter campaigns, petitions and other outreach efforts with the United Nations over the course of the next year. All interested in supporting this effort can fax and or write to the following:

To fax the office of Public Inquiry at the UN:
[phone].

Or write to:
Public Inquiries
United Nations
GA-57
New York, N.Y. 10017

For updated information about this effort, access our website.

[beaconess]

30. I want Obama - even if it's just to hear him give his acceptance speech

That alone is enough! :-)