Comments on: Frank Rich Agrees with Me

By: DLS

DLS — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 23:03:11 +0000

1. Obama is the kid in this election, supported most by younger voters, not “one of the grown-ups”; the
politician favored by the 50-and-over Dem crowd is Clinton, while here in Iowa, Obama is supported by more young people than Clinton. Not elsewhere.

C. O. C. O. C. O.
50- IA 28%-34% NH 32%-20% SC 42%-38%
50+ IA 36%-16% NH 46%-17% SC 48%-23%

2. Huckabee is good, but although he’s doing very well here in Iowa (second at 24% to Romney’s 25%), he has much less support elsewhere. Not only is the Religious Right not the Leviathan mischaracterized by the opposition, but the vote is split because many are favoring Giuliani instead to “stop Hillary.”

By: kritt

kritt — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 21:01:49 +0000

One politician won’t be able to reform the whole rotten system, any more than Jimmy Carter was able to restore clean government after Watergate. He ended up being isolated and ineffective, because he hated the Washington social scene and couldn’t work with the system the way it was.

By: AZChas

AZChas — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:32:42 +0000

Mark is right that Huckabee and Obama are this year’s “un-politicians”. Neither of them are part of the current power structure that has created legislative gridlock. Both of them are young enough to have lots of fresh ideas about how to govern in a new way.

The Washington power establishment will never abandon the deep partisanship that divides our government, and it has worn down a great many presidential outsiders in the past. But more than the other candidates, these two at least seem to want to try a new approach, and I think that’s why people like them. Voters are tired of a government that doesn’t solve our country’s problems.

By: kritt

kritt — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 16:10:16 +0000

This is from Think Progress-

In 1992, Huckabee wrote, “If the federal government is truly serious about doing something with the AIDS virus, we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague.”

“It is difficult to understand the public policy towards AIDS. It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents.”

In the same AP interview, Huckabee also claimed that “homosexuality is an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle, and we now know it can pose a dangerous public health risk.”

As Fox’s Chris Wallace noted this morning, “seven years before” Huckabee “made” his statement, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) “said that AIDS could not be spread by casual contact.” At the time of his comments, the CDC had recently reported that

By: kritt

kritt — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:53:03 +0000

I was considering Huckabee until I read some virulently anti-gay statements (very typical of Baptist ministers) that he made in the ’90′s. WaPo reported today that he is standing by them. Also, I can’t get past the fact that he doesn’t believe in evolution. Our present-day anti-science agenda is holding us back in making needed advances in medicine and combatting global warming.

By: Jim Satterfield

Jim Satterfield — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:00:12 +0000

I couldn’t vote for Huckabee. Whatever else he says, the plain truth is that he supports the social conservative agenda of control of the personal lives of those who don’t follow their faith and I just can’t support that.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:31:53 +0000

I’m a Richardson supporter, but if he can’t pull off an upset in the primaries, I would have very little problem voting for Obama or Huckabee. And the grown-up, common-sense, let’s all work together attitude that they share is a big part of why I feel that way. You get the sense from both Obama and Huckabee that regardless of their personal feelings on issues, they will listen to all sides and find a working compromise.