Live Blogging: Democratic Presidential Debate 2

Different format for tonight–”No bells, No lights” according to Wolf Blitzer, no opening statements, one short scentence introductions–”I’m Wolf Blitzer and I’m with CNN.”

Is Pres. Bush’s anti-terror campaign a success?–Sen. Obama–Some have been successful however this war in Iraq has made us less safe. He continues to stand against the war, and has asserted that again.

Does the Bush administration deserve some credit for the lack of terrorist attacks on the U.S.? Sen. Obama–No!

Sen. Edwards–The “War on Terror” is a bumper sticker not a plan.

Sen. Clinton–I have seen what terrorism can do to a city, and we are not safe enough.

Sen. Kucinich–Patriot Act–It has undermined Civil Rights in this country, it is unconstitutional, Americans need to reconnect with our sense of self.

Live Blogging: Democratic Presidential Debate 1

Starting at 7 PM!

House Republican tell President Bush that the GOP has had enough

House Republican moderates, in a remarkably blunt White House meeting, warned President Bush this week that his pursuit of the war in is risking the future of the Republican Party and that he cannot count on GOP support for many more months. Read the whole article here.

President Bush has been steadfast in his position on Iraq, we have seen some straying off course over the past 2 days as the President has agreed to establish benchmarks. “One message I have heard from people of both parties is that benchmarks make sense and I agree,” Bush said. The administatrion plans to set up meeting with the Presidents Chief of Staff and members of congress, in order to agree upon a series of benchmarks.

House Republicans are doing the right thing by telling the President their position, like most Americans they are equally tired of the war. As well GOP needs to consider what their actions today will do to impact their 2008 election prospects.

President Bush will veto, again

The Politico Reports:

On a largely party-line vote, 221 to 205, the House narrowly approved another $42.8 billion in defense spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – the first stage in a two-step, phased-in emergency spending package.

The vote followed President Bush’s earlier public concession that he would accept selective “benchmarks” in compromise legislation that would be linked to the performance of the Iraqi government in curtailing violence and stabilizing the war-torn country.

The President has also threatened to veto this bill, which I highly disagree with. I believe that the idea of benchmarks that Congress is requesting is something that in this scenario is warranted, however this could set a precedent for future wars, which could hurt our countries cause.

I commend the Democrats for being steadfast in their position to perform there oversight duties, however I think that this maybe going to far. The framers of the constitution worked hard to ensure that no one person has to much power, they did name the President, the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and therefore it is ultimately his decision.

What do you think?

Blog The Vote- John Edwards is connected!

David All of the David All group has an excellent post on what campaigns should be doing interms of social networking site (e.g. Facebook, MySpace, etc.). In his article he asserts that John Edwards is by far the most connected.

I have never visited the Edwards campaign site, I decided to do some investigating. On the homepage their is a link titles “Social Networks: Connect with the Campaign.” Once clicking the link you are brought to a page with over 20 different links to social networking sites, from YouTube to Flickr to others which I am invesitgating.

Why is this important, cause the campaign has tapped into something that everyone else has but has gone the extra mile. This will be the first presidential election which these websites are going to play an integral role. The website TechPresident is watching how the campaigns are doing according to the sites. Recording the number of friends a candidate on MySpace  or Facebook has, after the election we will see if being “connected,” is how to win an election.

What do you think? 

Breaking News

House Democrats were unable to garner enough votes to override the Presidents veto, of Iraq Supplemental Bill. Hopefully we will see a cleaner bill the Congressmen Boehner has spoken about today.

Blog The Vote-Congressional Black Caucus

According to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper, Sen. Barack Obama has yet to fulfill a promise to the Congressional Black Caucus to hold a fundraiser for their PAC.

His arch rival Sen. Hillary Clinton and her husband Bill Clinton, have both held fundraisers for the CBC.

Obama’s failure to match Clinton is significant because both are battling for support among black Democrats in the run-up to next year’s primaries. In South Carolina, for instance, the second primary in the nation, African-American voters are expected to make up about half of Democratic voters.

What do you think?

Congress sends War Supplemental Bill to the White House

This week the U.S. Congress passed a bill, which the President has vowed to veto. The bill provides the funding for the war in Iraq, however it includes a timetable for withdrawal.

According to the piece of legislation, the withdrawal of U.S. troop would have to begin in October, 2007 and be completed by March, 2008.

The Democrats have pulled a slick political move here, next Tuesday is the anniversary of the “Mission Accomplished” speech President Bush gave about an Naval ship. They know he is going to veto the bill, and are hoping for it to be done on Tuesday.

The Democrats are playing a political game with the lives of our troops, and their families. It needs to STOP now, provide the funding in a patriotic way and figure out a plan to bring them home that does not starve them of the armor and ammunition they need.

What do you think?

Obama Walks into a trap on Israel

Courtesy of the Politico.com:

That may not have been very nice of Brian Williams, but Barack Obama did just walk right into a trap he set.

Asked to name America’s three most important allies, Obama headed out on a world tour, starting with the European Union and NATO, straying into Afghanistan, tipping his hat to Japan, and then evaluating China.

“I didn’t hear you mention Israel,” Williams noted, before raising an old Obama quote (which, in context, is a pretty hard-line pro-Israel quote) about Palestinian suffering.

Obama assured Williams that Israel is a friend…but I suspect that one will be remembered, both for the indiscipline of the response and, for strong Israel backers, for what wasn’t in it.

Obama has been very shaky on this issue, some days while at AIPAC events he is pro-Israel all the way and at other times he is not. Obviously I would like our next President to be pro-Israel, but couldn’t he take a stance.

What do you think?    

Blog The Vote-Democratic Frontrunner Confront Giuliani

Earlier in the week, presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, Democrats “do not understand the full nature and scope of the terrorists’ war against us.” The two Democratic front runners fought back against Rudy.

Sen. Barack Obama said,

“‘America’s mayor’ should know that when it comes to 9/11 and fighting terrorists, America is united. We know we can win this war based on shared purpose, not the same divisive politics that question your patriotism if you dare to question failed policies that have made us less secure.”

Sen. Hillary Clinton  said in a written statement that “politicalrhetoric” won’t stop plots currently in the works against the United States.
CNN Political Ticker quoted Clinton

“We have to protect our country from terrorism — it shouldn’t be a Democratic fight or a Republican fight,” the New York senator said. “The plain truth is that this administration has done too little to protect our ports, make our mass transit safer, and protect our cities. They have isolated us in the world and have let al Qaeda regroup.

“The next president is going to be left with these problems and will have to do what it takes to make us safer and bring Democrats and Republicans together around this common mission of protecting our nation.”