Fat News Day To Close Out Our First Week

Well, we come to the end of our premiere week at Power to the People with a fat news day of weird, scary and predictable news items plus initial thoughts on the Republican Debate.

First, the weird. Yesterday, French bank Societe General SA discovered that Jerome Kerviel, a 31 year old futures trader, created "fictious transactions" resulting in a 7.2 biiilllion dollar loss (as Dr. Evil might say). http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120115814649013033.html?mod=hps_europe_whats_news. I know, it's not funny. But the question does come to mind: what's all this talk of a European "Big Brother" regulatory system that can't protect against this kind a fraud? Maybe it's because the dude just did it for kicks. He stood to make nothing on the trades. Oh, by the way, no one knows where he is. Where's Austin Powers when you need him?

Speaking of Dr. Evil, The AP reports that Paul Wolfowitz is rejoining the Bush Administration as head of an arms control panel. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080124/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/wolfowitz_3. Now look, we try not to be overly partisan here, but Paul Wolfowitz? The guy who was the architect of the Iraq war and then bailed on the administration when the criticism got too hot? The guy who went to the World Bank and put that institution on its ear by forcing through a sweetheart compensation deal for, well, his sweetheart? And now the chickenest of the chicken hawks is named Chairman of the International Security Advisory Board that reports to the Secretary of State with advice on arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation? Really, we don't need the Bush Administration to reacquaint us with the definition of irony.

And to predictable occurrences, Dennis Kucinich officially drops out of the Presidential race today. After attracting less than 1% of the votes in every primary and caucus he participated, word is, he's blaming his lack of traction on his lack of exposure in the debates. In fact, insiders point to the serious challenge he's facing for his congressional seat-- and that he's attracting less than 1% of the vote. I will say this: it might be interesting to have a ticket of Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul run the country for one term. Could they really be any worse than...oh, never mind.

More predictable occurrences: After kneecapping Obama with a reference to his helping Chicago "slumlord" Tony Rezko, Hillary is trying to explain away a photograph that has surfaced of her and Bill standing (and looking pretty happy) with, guess who? That's right. Tony Rezko. It would be unbelievable--except that it's sooo believable. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22839654/

And now a look at the Republican debate, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/which was refreshing in it's civility and clarity. I've got a ton of notes which will form the bulk of tomorrow's post, but here are some general thoughts.

Tim Russert got each candidate (except Ron Paul) to unequivocally state that the Iraq War was "a good idea and worth the blood and treasure". I mean, none of these boys now has any wiggle room on this issue in the general election. And Russert framed the question in the context of a poll that shows 60% of respondents believe the war is a bad idea.

Mike Huckabee (in the candidate to candidate question and answer) got Mitt Romney to say that he, Romney, believes that there should be no new gun control legislation passed, even for assault weapons. Romney stated that Americans should be able to own guns for hunting or for"protecting themselves". Whoa. Kennisaw, Georgia, anyone? (I'll explain that in a later post, but Google it and you'll get my reference.)

Once again, Mike Huckabee was the only candidate talking about poor people, using the term "trickle up economics" to make a point of addressing the economic woes of the lower middle class folks who are struggling. He also made what I thought was a great point about "building two new lanes of highway from Bangor to Miami...using American labor, American steel and American concrete..." as a real stimulus package for the economy. Can you say, "Dwight Eisenhower"?

All in all, I thought Romney, Huck, and McCain were strong. Rudy sounded polished, though not compelling, and, as usual, Ron Paul made an awful lot of sense about the war and fiscal discipline.
Today's question is: how can the eventual Repub candidate convince those 60% of Americans that don't like the war that they should vote for a supporter of the war?

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