The Washington Independent - U.S. news and politics - washingtonindependent.com: Comments by mindy huie

mindy huie — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:03:14 GMT

Has cynicism really blinded people from not seeing what is rally taking place? Obama is uniting people, inspiring young and old, moderate republicans and democrats, liberals and conservatives, black and white, asian and native american, latinos and all cultures to vote for him.

Others complain that he is going to talk to conservatives and republicans to get them on board. I wonder how many of those people have read about his record? His record of working with some of the most conservative republicans that successfully passed legislation without compromising his principles puts that argument to rest.

Others think Obama is not “experienced” enough. Obviously they are not taking into account Obama has had more years as an elected official that Hillary. His “experience” is much more conducive to changing “politics” as usual because he is not entrenched in Washington politics.

Some say he is too young: Bill Clinton was two years younger than Obama when he took office.

This election is not about race; it is not about “experience;” it is however about making wise decisions based on sound judgment & common sense. We’ve had an excruciating 7 years of trickery and deceit with “experienced” . Do we want more?

Which candidate is more likely to bring change: a candidate entrenched in the Washington political establishment or the one whose experience is outside Washington?

Last but not least: With a deep understanding of the human psyche and a grasp of world events and how the two are inseparable indicates Obama is uniquely qualified to become the next president.

Let’s not allow cynicism to blind us to a unique opportunity for real change.

mindy huie — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:26:31 GMT

sorry meant “really” rather than rally.

mindy huie — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 08:15:41 GMT

Has cynicism really blinded people from not seeing what is really taking place? Obama is uniting people, inspiring young and old, moderate republicans and democrats, liberals and conservatives, black and white, asian and native american, latinos and all cultures to vote for him.

Some say he is too young: Bill Clinton was two years younger than Obama when he took office.

Which candidate is more likely to bring change: a candidate entrenched in the Washington political establishment or the one whose experience is outside Washington?

Last but not least: With a deep understanding of the human psyche and a grasp of world events and how the two are inseparable indicates Obama is uniquely qualified to become the next president.

Let’s not allow cynicism to blind us to a unique opportunity for real change.

mindy huie — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:04:33 GMT

McCain says he walks the walk, but he doesn’t. He was described by one of his republican colleagues as “deceitful.”

When McCain reverses positions on issue after issue, both large and small, and knowingly says things that are not true it mostly goes unreported in the traditional media which is unfortunate.

His most recent claims that offshore drilling would bring oil prices down almost immediately and even went further saying off-shore drilling is safe environmentally are both irrevocably wrong.

Not only would offshore drilling have little effect on the price of oil—pennies—production would not start before 2017. Furthermore oil prices are determined on the international market. Moreover off-shore drilling is much more expensive than on-shore drilling. Consider too that McCain collected $724,000 through May from the oil companies.

Equally important to note is McCain’s statement “not even Hurricane Katrina and Rita could cause significant spillage from battered rigs off the coasts of New Orleans and Houston” is an out and out lie. Hurricane Katrina caused such significant oil spillage that it was visible from space. The damage was on the scale of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

“Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has made his principled opposition to earmarks, pork, and federal subsidies well known. Based on those principles, he has:

– Opposed subsidies for alternative fuels like ethanol.

– Blocked tax incentives for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

– Opposed legislation to protect the Everglades.

– Mocked funding for research on threatened species."

On every issue, from health care to tax-cuts to Social Security, et al McCain takes positions that are based on political ideology rather than what works. He is the first candidate in history to stump against 2 bills bearing his own name:

1) campaign finance
2) immigration

McCain is well-known to favour military might over diplomacy. And in moments of confusion he says things that are troubling. Recently he said the number of troops in Iraq were below pre-surge numbers. That is untrue. It is disconcerting that he does not seem to know the difference between Sunni and Shiia.

While McCain rails against lobbyists 128 lobbyists are advisors and fund raisers for his campaign. Twelve or more had to resign for conflict of interest and/or corruption charges. Ten, of the twenty-two former oil lobbyists, are on track to win Iraqi oil no-bid contracts. Others lobby for telecoms and foreign countries.

Phil Gramm, McCain’s co-chair and economic adviser lobbied for a Swiss bank to head-off relief for victims of the mortgage crisis.

Rick Davis, McCain’s campaign manager, acted in direct opposition to America’s foreign interests. McCain knew about Davis’ activities in the Ukraine in 2005.

Furthermore while McCain vilifies special interests his record shows he personally intervened and even brokered several deals for big money contributors. Seven or more of his campaign staff and fundraisers lobbied for Airbus. McCain intervened and Airbus got the Pentagon contract. He has helped ranchers get land deals at bargain rate prices.

On the eve of the final Democratic Primaries another Republican, John Albaugh who used to be chief-of-staff for Rep. Istook (R-Ok), pled guilty in the ongoing Abramoff scandal investigation may be bad news for McCain. That plea brings the Senate Indian-Affairs investigation into question which McCain was in charge. He collected over 750,000 pages of documents, but only released less than 7,000. McCain promised to follow the money, but didn’t.

The lobbying system Abramoff worked was created by Charlie Black who is running McCain’s campaign. [FYI: Black is the CEO of a subsidy company owned by Mark Penn’s company].

Note that the aforementioned are a small sampling of examples that ought to give one pause. McCain is a walking contradiction and, as his colleague aptly described him, “deceitful.”

Last, but not least McCain’s push for nuclear plants is a really bad idea. Aside from the radioactive waste disposal issue imagine what would happen if an earthquake hit.

mindy huie — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:22:39 GMT

A few days ago a poll showed 44 percent of the American public think it is okay to torture “terrorists.” That is shocking and deeply disappointing. I cannot believe we are even having this conversation. The people who engaged in carrying out the orders, those who re-wrote the laws and those who gave the orders must be brought to Justice.

Since most of our legislators have no intention of taking action others are. “A conference to plan the prosecution of President Bush and other high administration officials for war crimes will be held September 13-14 at the Massachusetts School of Law at Andover.”

"This is not intended to be a mere discussion of violations of law that have occurred," said convener Lawrence Velvel, dean and cofounder of the school. "It is, rather, intended to be a planning conference at which plans will be laid and necessary organizational structures set up, to pursue the guilty as long as necessary and, if need be, to the ends of the Earth."

"We must try to hold Bush administration leaders accountable in courts of justice," Velvel said. "And we must insist on appropriate punishments, including, if guilt is found, the hangings visited upon top German and Japanese war-criminals in the 1940s."

Vincent Bugliosi, who successfully prosecuted Charles Manson, claims to have an airtight case against Bush for committing murder. He lays out the case in his newest book “The Prosecution of George W Bush for Murder” and despite the media’s silence it is already on the top seller list. It has been documented that over 100 prisoners have died while being tortured.

Once out of office Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Yoo, Gonzales, Bybee, Addington in addition to all the others involved will not be able to travel outside the US; they will be arrested. Charges have already been filed in several European nations. Rumsfeld was minutes away from getting arrested in France, but made a quick getaway.

Since there is no statute of limitations on murder that means Bush and the rest could be summoned, tried and prosecuted at any time. For the remainder of their lives they will always be looking over their shoulders never knowing when. That alone is punishment, but not nearly enough! They deserve far, far worse.

It is a question of when, not if, Justice will be served.

mindy huie — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 23:02:57 GMT

At the outset let me say I honour McCain’s service, but the point Clark was making about serving in the military does not automatically qualify a person to become a president was not an attack on McCain personally or on his record. But McCain would like everyone to think otherwise thus distract the public from the issue.

Clark’s statements are important:

“In the matters of national security policy making, it’s a matter of understanding risk,” Clark said.

“It’s a matter of gauging your opponents and it’s a matter of being held accountable.

” John McCain’s never done any of that in his official positions.

“I certainly honor his service as a prisoner of war. He was a hero to me and to hundreds of thousands and millions of others in the armed forces, as a prisoner of war….

“He has been a voice on the Senate Armed Services Committee and he has traveled all over the world, but he hasn’t held executive responsibility,” Clark said.

“That large squadron in the Navy that he commanded — that wasn’t a wartime squadron.”

Nothing Clark said was false. By bringing into question McCain’s ability to lead having no prior leadership roles in no way demeans McCain or his record.

In contrast a McCain surrogate had this to say about Clark’s service:

“General Clark probably wouldn’t get that much praise from this group. I can’t speak for them, but we all know that General Clark, as high-ranking as he is, his record in his last command I think was somewhat less than stellar.”

That is a personal attack on Clark’s record.

Clark never said anything about McCain even closely resembling the Swiftboat attacks that falsely accused Kerry of lying about his service and winning medals he had not earned.

McCain is manufacturing or pretending to be outraged knowing he will get some free press out of it.

Last but not least the authour is absolutely correct in saying “McCain can’t have it both ways. He can’t simultaneously hide—and hide behind—his military record. If it can give insight into how he would act as a leader, he should let us see all of it. If he’s not willing to do that, he should instruct his staff to stop referencing his military service every time a reporter raises a difficult question.”

Hear, hear!

mindy huie — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:33:37 GMT

McCain evidently is enjoying the same media deference given to Bush. The media rarely made demands on Bush to answer questions surrounding his scurrilous past and dropped the ball on his (scrubbed or destroyed) military records. The media’s silence on McCain’s refusal to release his entire naval record and Cindy’s complete financial records is puzzling and implies a double-standard: one for McCain and Bush and the other for Kerry and Obama.

Uninformed voters went to the polls unknowingly elected a media creation to run the country might do so again unless reporters hold McCain to the same standard as they do Barack Obama.

Had voters known beforehand every business undertaking went bankrupt Bush probably would not be in the WH today and our economy would not be in a meltdown on the brink of recession.

How confident can we be that the next President will refrain from manufacturing intelligence to wage unnecessary war; will not suppress, censor or hide reports containing environmental, science, medical information; will not make decisions based on ideology for political gain, etc. etc. etc… Separating the wheat from the shaft is an impossible task when the media withholds pertinent information and/or frames a narrative couched in terms intentionally meant to obfuscate the facts.

While Obama receives unrelentless criticism for alleged policy changes based on a false media narrative, yet McCain’s 180 degree changes on 61 separate issues concerning national security, the economy, immigration, energy, domestic and foreign policies, et al goes scott free… See here:

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/16124.html#…

In addition to the 61 reversals, earlier this week, McCain originally agreed with Phil Gramm that Americans are whining about a recession that amounts to nothing more than a “mental” recession. Of course later he sought to distance himself from Gramm’s remarks. But understand, Gramm, McCain’s senior economic advisor, has been advising McCain, I believe, since the inception of his campaign. [painting Barack Obama as out of touch and elitist gives new meaning to hypocrisy and hubris].

However not all voters are in the dark. After touting a record for supporting the troops McCain found himself in an awkward situation with a Viet Nam veteran who took umbrage at McCain’s audacious dishonesty. With documented evidence in hand the vet effectively disassembled McCain’s entire speech. I do not know how many times McCain has purported to have done one thing when his record and other evidence clearly illustrate the opposite, however, it’s well-documented that was not his first time. Voters need to know this.

The upside is ultimately the media’s double standards along with McCain’s unpresidential and unstatesman-like conduct, ever-changing positions, conflicting statements will become wider known thru YouTube and alternative sources of information that will suffice, at least for now, for a media in absentia.

mindy huie — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 01:23:44 GMT

Matthew

I’d bet if the women mentioned in your column had known about McCain’s voting record it would probably dampen their enthusiasm.

Although McCain tries to sell himself as a pragmatic politician his record clearly proves he is is neither a moderate nor a maverick. I suspect his definition of pragmatic differs from many people’s, mine included. If you consider Bush to be pragmatic, McCain is your guy.

Women and men both care about women and family issues— between now and November, I suggest research some of the legislation McCain voted against and voted for.

After 25 years in the Senate: he is consistent:

voting against women’s issues:

Equal pay; discrimination; women’s health plans; insurance coverage to include birth control; family assistance programmes—and of course women having control over their own bodies.

Veteran’s Affairs

While McCain’s record is a little better on veteran’s affairs he votes against veteran’s healthcare, housing, education so on and so on ….

Social Security:

Iam flummoxed by the fact, that a US Senator lacks a fundamental operational-working knowledge on Social Security. McCain argued that younger workers ought to voluntarily put their money into a separate account because

“They pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees. That’s why it’s broken, that’s why we can fix it.”

The system is not broken; doesn’t he realize that is how SS was set-up on day one.? Social Security is one of the more successful programmes and continues to be wildly popular.

Habeas Corpus:

After the SCOTUS voted to restore habeas corpus McCain seemed confused. He adamantly railed against it, he seemed to be under the impression the prisoners at Guantanamo would be released?

Reversing positions:

When McCain reverses positions (tally of 61 times) on issue after issue, both large and small, why isn’t it reported? He knowingly says things that are not true yet that mostly goes unreported, too which is unfortunate.

Humans are multi-faceted made up of both strengths and drawbacks. McCain is no different.

However voters need to be informed on his positions. Otherwise a majority will go to the polls uneducated about their candidate. That is a sad referendum on the elections and politics in America.

mindy huie — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 00:15:42 GMT

Great article.

I agree it is a smart move on Obama’s part.

Obama will do great. There is no doubt that he will be greeted warmly—opposite from the throngs of protesters greeting Bush.

McCain wants it both ways—he criticized Obama for not visiting Iraq. Then after Obama announced his plans to go overseas McCain started complaining about that. Apparently he is envious that the press from all 3 networks are traveling with Obama for a couple of reasons: 1) they did not accompany him to South America. 2) Obama is getting free press and a lot of attention.

What McCain fails to understand is that this is history in the making. The first African American US presidential candidate who is not only charismatic, but intelligent, gracious and popular is making his first debut on the international stage is exciting and historical. McCain cannot compete with that!

The whole world is already impressed by Obama. Wooing foreign leaders will be no problem. Obama has already improved America’s image on the world stage. This trip will solidify his credentials as a statesman and as a world leader and quell any lingering doubts in the voters’ minds.

Yes, a very smart move indeed.