The 2008 TIME 100 Finalists. Tyler Perry went from the middle of the pack to #4 after he sent out e-mails to his fans. Meanwhile, at #73, Britney Spears is ahead of Condi Rice, David Petraeus and George W. Bush,, among many others.
Garrison Keillor gets nostalgic over Northwest Airlines. Obviously, the OLD Northwest Orient, because the conglomerate that’s threatening to merge with Delta is the one airline I absolutely have refused to fly for years.
There’s a comic book show in Albany this Sunday; might go. I thought to go to the NYCC last weekend, but it didn’t work out; Fred Hembeck tells all about it. Ron Marz and my friend Bill Anderson will have been at both shows.
2. Cut/paste and send me the results (or post on your blog, and let me know in the comments section.)
3. Re-vote, but this time, indicate the intensity of your position.
4. Cut/paste and send me THOSE results (or post on your blog, and let me know in the comments section.)
Before revealing my picks, you’ll note that there is something called the Composite Candidate: “The calculator compiles the most popular responses from all voters to create a composite candidate, a candidate whose views match most with the average responses of users.”
Composite Candidate * Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) – 43.48% * Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) – 41.30% * Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R) – 41.30% * Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) – 36.96% * Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) – 36.96% * New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) – 34.78% * Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) – 34.78% * New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) – 34.78% * Businessman John Cox (R) – 32.61% * Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) – 30.43% * Arizona Senator John McCain (R) – 28.26% * Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) – 28.26% * Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) – 28.26% * Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson (R) – 28.26% * Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) – 26.09% * Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) – 23.91% * Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) – 21.74% * Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) – 21.74%
Now, here are my top selections, with no regard to intensity: Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) 100.00% match Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) – 94.74% Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) – 84.21% Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) – 78.95% Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) – 78.95% Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) – 78.95% New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) – 73.68% New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) – 73.68% Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R) – 57.89% Businessman John Cox (R) – 47.37% Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) – 42.11% Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) – 36.84% Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) – 31.58% Arizona Senator John McCain (R) – 26.32% Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) – 21.05% Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) – 21.05% Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) – 15.79% Former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson (R) – 15.79%
Whereas, when I add my intensity factors: Ohio Representative Dennis Kucinich (D) 96.88% match Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel (D) – 81.25% New York Senator Hillary Clinton (D) – 71.88% Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) – 68.75% Connecticut Senator Christopher Dodd (D) – 65.63% Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) – 65.63% Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (D) – 59.38% New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) – 56.25% Texas Representative Ron Paul (R) – 37.50% Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) – 28.13% Businessman John Cox (R) – 25.00% Arizona Senator John McCain (R) – 25.00% Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) – 12.50% Kansas Senator Sam Brownback (R) – 9.38% Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) – 9.38% Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson (R) – 9.38% California Representative Duncan Hunter (R) – 6.25% Colorado Representative Tom Tancredo (R) – 6.25%
Strange: Kucinich and Gravel, the two guys left off some recent Iowa debate, switch for the top spot, Clinton (who I’ve never voted for) moves from 7th to 3rd, and Obama falls from 3rd to 6th, but the Top 7 are still the Top 7, with Richardson 8th in both scenarios. One thing is for sure: I won’t be voting for Tom Tancredo. Or for Sam Brownback, though I’d probably enjoy hanging out with him, based on his appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows.
A curious glitch: Duncan Hunter isn’t on the first list (or on the composite candidate roster), while Fred Thompson’s missing from the second. *** “In his new book, The Evangelical President, Bill Sammon paints a riveting portrait of a president who is as committed to worldwide democracy as he is to his faith—and guided by legitimate principles that his critics aren’t willing to understand. In this far-reaching book, Sammon details: Why Bush believes the Republicans will hold the White House in 2008″
ADD notes a “website that lists all the major candidates and their stands on the issues; at least, the issues as designated by whoever created the site.” 1. Based solely on the issues, not silly things such as “electability”, which candidate best represents your positions on the issues? For me, wide-eyed liberal that I am, it’s Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who I voted for in the 2004 Democratic primary. Second is former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska.
2. Yet I’m disinclined to vote for Kucinich, or for that matter, Gravel, because they are unelectable the way the system is set up. Call that a self-fulfilling prophecy, but there it is. Then who? Let’s do this by process of elimination. Not all issues are the same in my mind. Gun background check (in favor), the death penalty (against), the war in Iraq (against), torture (against), and the same-sex constitutional ban (against) provides a pretty good litmus test. By that standard, I disagree at least thrice with Brownback, Cox, Giuliani, Huckabee, Hunter (a perfect 5 for 5), McCain, Romney and Tancredo. Thompson doesn’t have enough known positions, surprise, surprise. Who’s on your “no way, no how” list?
3. So who am I leaning towards? The person who just might have enough money to actually win whose position is closest to mine turns out to be Obama, who I still wonder about, experience-wise. How about you? *** One of those bizarre political stories involves former Congressman John Sweeney, who represented the Congressional district adjacent to Albany. He was one of those Republican thugs who helped get the 2000 recount in Florida stopped. His 2006 re-election bid was stopped, in no small part, by allegations of domestic violence against his second wife Gayle (or Gaia) in December 2005. The Sweeneys denied it, claiming it was a smear campaign by his opponent, Kirsten Gillibrand. Now, he’s saying that there WAS domestic violence, but that HE was the victim, and that he’s even gotten a judge to give him an order of protection. Gayle, who said in television commercials last fall that there was no violence, now claims she was coerced to say so, and that she was the victim. Now John’s first wife has entered the fray, stating that he was never physically violent towards her. * John getting a restraining order against Gayle doesn’t prove that Gayle was the aggressor. He’s been a very powerful man, politically. * Wife #1’s claim that she never experienced domestic violence from John doesn’t mean that wife #2, who was considerably younger and, in her own words, “in awe of him” in the beginning, wasn’t experiencing abuse. * In most iterations of this story, there’s a lot of alcohol mentioned. As I said, very bizarre *** Meanwhile, the new member of Congress, Ms. Gillibrand, had a press conference this week announcing a bill to increase the tax deduction on day care costs. She had it in an Albany daycare that is not even in her district. But then I remember that her district, that runs from Washington County to Delaware County (note to non-New Yorkers: a big chunk of territory) without including any of the cities (Albany, Schenectady, Troy); it was gerrymandered to be a safe Republican district, mostly rural. I’m sure it’s easier to get the Capital District press to come to Albany than the countryside.
