Ok. So this is a blog. It's not a purely editorial space and it's not a breaking news space. It's a forum meant to bring folks up to date on politics and current events to inspire some thought and conversation. For my readers, you know I'm a news junkie with an emphasis on politics. I love it all. So, when I get sick of certain news stories, it's a big deal. I'm here to tell you I'm sick of the Spitzer story and I'm sick of the Ferraro story. I've written about them and I'm ready to move on--even though I know they are still dominating the news cycle. So let's just get caught up on some interesting news tidbits that actually may have greater impact on our lives than the afformentioned stories. Let's start with a resignation. No, not that one. I mean the resignation of Adm. William Fallon.
This looks like another case of dissent within the ranks of the Bushies rewarded with a premature golden parachute. Literally. As in getting pushed out of the plane. The other side is that some people have claimed that Adm. Fallon was way over his head as Commander of Central Command or Centcom . The truth, as usual, is somewhere in the middle. Adm. Fallon has been outspoken in his views on the Administration's strategy in the Middle East. He was against the surge, and does not think that saber rattling with Iran is a good idea. That's fine. He is supported by a lot of military folks who worry that the Armed Forces are being stretched thin by Iraq and cannot absorb another conflict with a large nation. Fallon's problem was that he stated these feelings publicly, for example, on the Arab TV network Al Jazeera. And recently an Esquire interview printed a catalogue of his differences with the Bush Administration on Middle East strategy. Not good. So he's stepped down. Because we've seen this happen before (remember Erik Shinseki who said that we'd need hundreds of thousands of troops to secure Iraq?), we wonder if the Bush Administration has a process for the brass to air differences in private--so they don't have to go public to be heard.
The flap over John McCain's role in the Airbus contract for a new airplane fuel tanker may be nonsense. That's my word. One of our favorite reporters, Fox News's (that's right, I said Fox News) Jennifer Gardner broke it all down on Xm Radio's Potus '08. She stated that in 2004 McCain exposed corruption at Boeing (the competing company) when the Air Force was ready to lease Boeing's tankers. Two Boeing execs were sent to jail. McCain then wrote letters to encourage a fair bidding process for the tanker, in order to save taxpayers money. And this is exactly what happened. According to Gardner, the Airbus entry is cheaper, better and will provide 5,000 new jobs in Alabama. Democrats efforts to demonize McCain on this one are way off the mark.
This is why I don't like polls. A Pew Center Research poll (whom I really respect) stated that Americans are more hopeful about the Iraq War. 53% think that we'll achieve our objectives there. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9016.html
But then an NBC/WSJ poll stated Americans, by a 50% to 37% margin want a Democrat as President. Even though the Democrats are in favor of bailing on Iraq. And then the poll went on to show that Americans barely favor the Democratic candidates over McCain. In fact, it's a statistical tie. Okaaay. So what do I know now that I didn't know before? That we're all confused? Didn't need a poll to tell you that.
Finally, there may be a deal to have a re-vote to seat Florida's Democratic delegates. It's a combo plan of mail-in and in person votes and I urge you to check out the article to get the details. http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/13/primary.proposal/index.html
There. We did it. Got into news that didn't involve the words 'race' or 'prostitute'.
Talk about anything you want, even race or prostitutes, by hitting 'comments' below, bypassing the Google sign-up and hitting the nickname or anonymous button.
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