Sam Waterston Endorses Call for Unity in 2008

The Unity '08 Movement, which just unveiled their new website, has received a huge endorsement from one of the most recognizable actors on television: Sam Waterston. You may know him as Executive ADA Jack McCoy from Law and Order. The Unity '08 website features a YouTube video of his endorsement.

For those of you who are not familiar with Unity '08, it is a movement to move politics away from the left or right fringes and more toward the center. The goal of this movement is to draft a bipartisan ticket of a Democrat and a Republican for the 2008 Presidential and Vice-Presidential races. This ticket will be formed through a national primary done entirely online. It is free to sign up and be a part of what could become a nation-changing movement. I am a huge supporter and hope that the movement achieves its goal. I encourage as many people as possible to sign up.

Ace

Washington DC to get representation in Congress

This is some interesting news. There is a bill before Congress to give the District of Columbia a congressional representative with voting rights. The bill would effectively increase the number of representatives in the House to 437. The additional House seat would go to Utah, giving it a total of four. This is part of a deal that ensures that both the Democrats and Republicans gain a seat, thus having each cancel the other out. The Utah legislature is currently redrawing there maps to allow for a fourth legislative district. The measure has bipartisan support and incoming Speaker Nancy Pelosi has vowed to try and pass it before the end of this Congressional term.

Read more about it here.

Whether it gets passed by the Senate or gets challenged in court are other issues is another issue. Let me know what you think.

Ace

Will Gore Run?

Ahhh, Al Gore, the man that should have been President. After winning the popular vote in 2000, but losing the electoral vote in a contentious Florida recount, Al Gore may be rising from the ashes. Or at least everyone but him seems to think so. Now, he has often publicly stated that he will never run for office ever again. But let's break down the arguments for or against him running.

For him running:
- he has released a movie (An Inconvenient Truth) at just the right time to get himself back in the public eye

- he has left open a tiny window at an economic forum in Stockholm, Sweden, when he said, "I do not completely rule out some future interest, but I do not expect to have that."

- he won the popular vote in 2000, and can cry foul over losing the electoral vote

- this is a pretty wide open Presidential race, with no incumbent running. He just has to prove that he can be a good alternative to Hillary Clinton

Against him running:
- he still did get beaten in 2000

- not too many people want to go back to the stress of politics after retiring

- despite the window he has left open, he still says he isn't running


Altogether a strong argument for him running. I think he will at least look into it. Take this poll and tell me what you think.

Vilsack kicks off Presidential race

Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is making an early start to the Presidential race. It will be well over a year before delegates are even chosen. However, Vilsack does have good reason to do this. Outside of his home state he has very little name recognition, especially when compared to certain high-profile candidates like Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Edwards, who are also believed to be candidates in the Democratic primaries.

Vilsack's only advantage, which looks to be a slim one, is that he hails from the state that holds the first race of the year, the Iowa caucuses. However, that did not help Senator Tom Harkin in 1992 when he ran. Harkin won Iowa, but everyone else had instead focused on New Hampshire, diminishing the importance of that race.

Vilsack is a moderate Democrat who aligns himself with the Democratic Leadership Council, so it will be interesting to see how the party faithful view him. They may see him as too moderate, a DINO (Democrat in name only) who is not in tune with their values. Personally, and this is a recurring theme with me, I like people who buck their party on occasion. Rubber stamping makes me think a robot represents me instead of a human being. We'll see.

If you want to read the Vilsack article, you can here.

Ace

The short-lived love for Jim Webb

I don't understand why everyone is so crazy about Jim Webb. He's a former Republican, which means until right before the Senate race, he wasn't even a Democrat. Ok, so he's on the Dem side on Iraq, but other than that he is much more moderate. He is economically liberal, favoring keeping the estate tax and opposing renewal of Bush's tax cuts. He is pro-environment, and opposes ANWR drilling. He is opposed to gun control and does not support same-sex marriage, though (although he does support civil unions).

Here you get a better idea of how different he is from George Allen on most issues. However, Allen is very conservative, so any change was likely to move the delegation leftward. Webb does note himself for having a very independent streak, which I am sure is going to frustrate Harry Reid and other Democratic leaders. Of course, many of the new Democrats that were sent to Congress are also very independent, so I'm expecting strange things to happen in the Senate.

Overall, this is good for independents, though. Although I myself prefer a more economically conservative politician, I appreciate almost anyone who is willing to buck the system. And according to this, Webb should fit in with the Democratic Party just fine (at least when it comes to their feelings for President Bush).

Colin Powell becomes a pain in the ass of President Bush

Sweet revenge, I guess you could call it. After humiliating himself in the act of attempting to make George Bush's case for war at the United Nations, Powell has now been speaking out publicly against the war. In this article, Powell has stated that Iraq is now in civil war:

"Former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Wednesday that Iraq's violence meets the standard of civil war and that if he were heading the State Department now, he might recommend that the administration use that term.

Many news organizations and analysts are calling the Sunni-Shiite sectarian warfare that exploded this year, killing thousands and causing widespread displacement, a civil war.

Powell's comments -- made in the United Arab Emirates at the Leaders in Dubai Business Forum -- are significant because he backed the war and was the top U.S. diplomat when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

Bush has avoided using the term "civil war" to describe the situation in Iraq."

Of course, I would have to say that Powell has quite a bit more credibility than Bush on this issue, since he is a former general. He never supported the war in Iraq in the beginning, though. He had been at odds with Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney over whether to use diplomacy or force on the matter in Iraq.

The truth is, we should never have gone to Iraq in the first place. George Bush either lied or seriously screwed up, but now that we are there it is our responsibility to rebuild the country before we leave. Of course, if Iraqis are going to get into a civil war, I guess they don't really want it rebuilt...

Ace

Frist will not seek Presidential bid

Today, Senator Bill Frist (R-TN) has decided to pass on a bid to become President. This is believed to be due to his own ethical problems, as well as his party's poor showing a couple weeks ago, when Republicans lost control of the Senate.

Here is an excerpt form the AP:

"Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist renounced a bid for the White House in 2008 on Wednesday, an early dropout from the most wide-open presidential race in decades.

"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close," said the Tennessee Republican, a surgeon before he entered politics in 1994."

The full article can be read here.

Personally, I am glad that Bill Frist is not running. He has been a major part of the current government and a huge rubber stamp for George Bush. I would rather have a more independent-minded Presidential candidate from the Republican Party running, such as John McCain or Rudy Giuliani. Bill Frist's only break from George Bush has been on the issue of stem cell research, which the President proceeded to veto.

I also believe that Frist has huge problems regarding his blind trust fund and possible insider trading, which is a bad thing to have hanging over your head when ethics has become a big issue this election year. Let me know what you think.

Ace