Democrats: it's not too late to draft someone—anyone—else

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Mondo Washington

by James Ridgeway

John Kerry Must Go
Note to Democrats: it's not too late to draft someone—anyone—else

April 27th, 2004 11:45 AM



WASHINGTON, D.C.— With the air gushing out of John Kerry's balloon, it may be only a matter of time until political insiders in Washington face the dread reality that the junior senator from Massachusetts doesn't have what it takes to win and has got to go. As arrogant and out of it as the Democratic political establishment is, even these pols know the party's got to have someone to run against George Bush. They can't exactly expect the president to self-destruct into thin air.

With growing issues over his wealth (which makes fellow plutocrat Bush seem a charity case by comparison), the miasma over his medals and ribbons (or ribbons and medals), his uninspiring record in the Senate (yes war, no war), and wishy-washy efforts to mimic Bill Clinton's triangulation gimmickry (the protractor factor), Kerry sinks day by day. The pros all know that the candidate who starts each morning by having to explain himself is a goner.

What to do? Look for the Dem biggies, whoever they are these days, to sit down with the rich and arrogant presumptive nominee and try to persuade him to take a hike. Then they can return to business as usual—resurrecting John Edwards, who is still hanging around, or staging an open convention in Boston, or both.

If things proceed as they are, the dim-bulb Dem leaders are going to be very sorry they screwed Howard Dean.

[Cal&Ken]

I am starting to think he is a good candidate. The more he lies and people realise it, the more I like him. Of course, this is America, there are still yahoos out there that will vote for the man. Pretty soon is going to be as viable as Howard Dean - i hope anyway. Surely America is not that stupid.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

I am starting to think he is a good candidate. The more he lies and people realise it, the more I like him. Of course, this is America, there are still yahoos out there that will vote for the man. Pretty soon is going to be as viable as Howard Dean - i hope anyway. Surely America is not that stupid.

OH>> we are that stupid, at times, I am afraid :cry: ! Look who this country put in office (Pres.) for a second time almost 8 years ago and who NY voted for it's Senator as well.

[Memdawg]

They will end up drafting the "shrill" one!!!

Dudes, can anyone say "Nader?" The man is a winner, if only the masses of misinformed Democrats would check him out!

[DCDAWG]

Tyler, what's a good conservative like you doing reading a weepy liberal rag like the Village Voice? Good idea, but I find this particular column more informative:

Mondo Washington
by James Ridgeway
The Royal Business
In this slick little Bush family saga, Bandar is the prince, and we're the paupers
April 22nd, 2004 6:15 PM


WASHINGTON, D.C.—Bit by bit, the Bush family's personal ties to the Saudi royal family and their intertwined social and business arrangements are emerging as the scandal over Iraq grows. Bob Woodward, for example, further elaborates the familial ties between Papa and Junior Bush and Prince Bandar, the Saudi ambassador in Washington, and his wife. The families, he reports in Plan of Attack, are locked together, with Bandar coming and going into the Oval Office, the Prince's wife inviting a lonely Bush daughter over for Thanksgiving dinner, and so on. Prince Bandar got the news of the coming war with Iraq before anyone else, and the president made sure the prince was a happy camper before going forward. Just to make sure the prince knew he was for real, Bush got Cheney to tell the prince, that, for sure, "Saddam was toast. " All in all, the Bush clan regards Prince Bandar and his wife are family, and vice versa.

Being adopted into the Saudi royal family is no small event in the transplanted Connecticut Yankee WASP's life. After all, there are an estimated 5,000-plus Saudi princes, each one of whom is given $500,000 at birth as a sort of start-up fee. The family propagates at the extraordinary rate of 35 to 40 princes a month. The founding King Ibn Saud kept four wives, four concubines, and four slaves, whose numbers he replenished frequently. He married into 30 tribes, deftly building the country by tying it together into a network of mothers and children.

The bedrock of the relationship between the U.S. and the Saudi royal family is Aramco, which began as a joint venture between the international oil giants Standard Oil and Texaco for exploration and development of the kingdom's immense oil and gas reserves, a business endeavor producing billions of dollars in revenues for the royal family. That money is turned right around and paid to American defense contractors for armaments of all types. Woodward says Bandar realized that Bush would need to show some economic progress before the 2004 election and that meant getting Saudi help in dropping the price of oil. "They're high," Woodward told 60 Minutes, referring to oil prices. "And they could go down very quickly. That's the Saudi pledge. Certainly over the summer, or as we get closer to the election, they could increase production several million barrels a day and the price would drop significantly."

Of course, the Saudis aren't talking about a drop in prices to Joe Six Pack, the prince's term for the American public. It means a drop in price to the American oil men in an effort to inflate their profits, because, after all, they are major supporters of Bush and have been pumping money into his campaign.

However, what the prince told Woodward, and what was going down in Washington after 9-11 are two different things. Flooding the market with oil can mean different things to different people at different times.

As Bush was ramping up for the Iraq war, OPEC feared that the U.S. would use its expected new-found control of Iraqi oil to hurt the cartel's power. In the fall of 2002, Saudi oil people in Washington were speculating (i.e., warning) that should the U.S. invade Iraq and then turn around and flood the market with Iraqi oil in an effort to wreck OPEC, Saudi Arabia was prepared to open the gates and together with Iran, the region's other big producer, flood the world oil markets, forcing prices downward. The last thing on anyone's mind was helping out consumers. As always, the suckers were paying top dollar for gasoline, home heating oil, and natural gas purchased from the big international companies, which still control international markets because of their clamp on refining and distribution.

If the Saudis decided to let the so-called free market take over, flooding the globe with crude and sending oil prices into a steep dive, then the U.S. would be faced with a true nightmare. Lower prices would finish off not only smaller international companies that had been enticed into the oil play by high prices, but could wipe out the domestic oil companies in the U.S. , causing sheer political hell for President Bush in his little oil bastion of Houston.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

If you LIBS/DEMS would let us drill more in Alaska, offshore California, offshore Florida and get after the Oil Shale in the Green River Formation of the western states we would not be in this mess to begin with. The good old USA has plenty of oil and especially natural gas. The "tree huggers " are KILLING US and making America dependent on OPEC oil. I know, I am in the O & G business. Hey, high prices are great for me right now. But I know what is good for the country and drilling and producing our own is where we should be. YOU SHOULD BE BLAMING THIS OPEC/OIL PROBLEM ON YOU and YOUR LIBS/DEMS! The rest of your article about the Bushes is just BS. Terrorism in this country and abroad is now the wild card and has changed everything. LET US DRILL AND FIND OUR OWN HERE IN AMERICA NOW! ALL COASTS and ALL STATES

[DCDAWG]

Gee, I would never have put Jeb Bush in the Dem/Lib category, but since he continues to block Lease Sale 181 to save Florida's beachgoers from the sight of oil rigs, I guess you're right.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Hey, if Jeb is doing that and not his Fla State Congress/Regulatory body ect... then he is just playing the political game and that makes me ill as well. Just like the slogan "Made in the USA" we need a O & G policy whose mottos are "Found in the USA" and "Drill in the USA not Foreign Countries"!

IF YOU LIBS/DEMS WANT TO SAVE LIVES then LET AMERICAN O&G Co.'s DRILL and EXPLORE ALL USA LANDS and let's not "fight wars for OIL" like you claim. Oh yea, and quick backing the killing of innocent unborn and almost born (late term)babies! Your policies are KILLING the LIVING and UNBORN FUTURE AMERICANS! :evil:

Sorry guys, I am mainly speaking to the far left wing of this group. Not many of you on BB&B.

[DCDAWG]

Hey, if Jeb is doing that and not his Fla State Congress/Regulatory body ect... then he is just playing the political game and that makes me ill as well. Just like the slogan "Made in the USA" we need a O & G policy whose mottos are "Found in the USA" and "Drill in the USA not Foreign Countries"!

IF YOU LIBS/DEMS WANT TO SAVE LIVES then LET AMERICAN O&G Co.'s DRILL and EXPLORE ALL USA LANDS and let's not "fight wars for OIL" like you claim. Oh yea, and quick backing the killing of innocent unborn and almost born (late term)babies! Your policies are KILLING the LIVING and UNBORN FUTURE AMERICANS! :evil:

Sorry guys, I am mainly speaking to the far left wing of this group. Not many of you on BB&B.

There's no "if" to it. Read for yourself. I know it's not off Drudge or WorldNetDaily, but the governor's own press release should provide enough proof: http://www.myflorida.com/myflorida/g...news070601.pdf

And where did this abortion rant come from? I thought we were talking about oil and gas exploration. I happen to agree with you that we need more domestic production. I worked hard to get that lease opened up. It would mean a lot for Louisiana. But it's not going to happen because Florida's tourism industry is too powerful. It's not a party issue, it's a NIMBY issue, just like most energy policy.

I'm not a liberal, anyway, and if you think I am you need to get out of Texas more often. Just because I don't like Bush doesn't make me one. Around here I'm considered rather conservative, which tells me I'm probably just right.

[TYLERTECHSAS]

Sorry about the ranting there DC. Bad day with all of this nasty CUSA speculation.

[DCDAWG]

Sorry about the ranting there DC. Bad day with all of this nasty CUSA speculation.

No problem. When UTEP goes bankrupt traveling to all its new away games, it will bring a smile to my face.