Americans are weary enough of presidential candidates who blurt out one of those intellectually dishonest sound bites known as “the pander” when they are caught in the last moments of a do-or-die race. But what are they to make of a candidate who goes straight to the pandering, with comments that are offensive to millions of people?
That’s what we found ourselves asking when Rudolph Giuliani told reporters in Alabama that it should be up to the state to decide whether to fly the Confederate battle flag over its Capitol. Never mind that the flag has not flown there for nearly 15 years. Never mind that nobody is pushing to return it. Never mind that lawsuits have been decided on this issue and that millions of Americans find the standard to be a symbol of slavery and repression.
Explaining his let-them-fly-flags philosophy, he declaimed that one of the “great beauties” of American government is that “we can make different decisions in different parts of the country.”
He added: “We have different sensitivities.”
Mr. Giuliani cannot truly believe the issues surrounding the Confederate flag are just a matter of local taste. The Civil War, the civil rights movement and the Supreme Court answered that question. Even the Southern states have largely moved on.
If he missed all of that, surely he noticed how Senator John McCain humiliated himself in 2000 over the flag in a vain attempt to win the primary in South Carolina. There is no excusing that pandering, but at least the flag was an issue that year in that state. In 2007, Mr. Giuliani simply looks as if he wants to convince voters that no matter what his beliefs are, they should vote for him anyway because he’s prepared to put them aside.
He said he believes in the right to own guns, but he would let the states decide how to regulate them. The other day he said he was for abortion rights and preened about his political courage. Then he refused to say whether states should spend public money on abortions or require a woman to view an ultrasound picture of her fetus before an abortion.
Mr. Giuliani ought to stop waving in the wind, because that would be the right thing to do. It is also not working. Southern political strategists said he’s too moderate on abortion and pronounced him dead in their states. In Alabama, the local press mocked him for failing to recognize an actual Confederate battle flag on a flagpole. Americans know a pander when they see one.
Friday, April 13, 2007
John McCain in His Own Words
“ I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq. Unlike the veterans here today, I risked nothing more threatening than a hostile press corps. And my only mission was to inform my opinions with facts.
We still face many difficult challenges in Iraq. That is undeniable. But we have also made, in recent weeks, measurable progress in establishing security in Baghdad and fighting Al Qaeda in Anbar province.
To deny the difficulties and uncertainties ahead is an egregious disservice to the public. But as General Petraeus implements his plan to correct the flawed strategy we followed in the past and attempts to spare the United States and the world the catastrophe of an American defeat, it is an equal disservice to dismiss early signs of progress.
And now we confront a choice as historically important as any we have faced in a long while.
Will this nation’s elected leaders make the politically hard but strategically vital decision to give General Petraeus our full support and do what is necessary to succeed in Iraq? Or will we decide to take advantage of the public’s frustration, accept defeat and hope that whatever the cost to our security, the politics of defeat will work out better for us than our opponents?
For my part, I would rather lose a campaign than a war.”
We still face many difficult challenges in Iraq. That is undeniable. But we have also made, in recent weeks, measurable progress in establishing security in Baghdad and fighting Al Qaeda in Anbar province.
To deny the difficulties and uncertainties ahead is an egregious disservice to the public. But as General Petraeus implements his plan to correct the flawed strategy we followed in the past and attempts to spare the United States and the world the catastrophe of an American defeat, it is an equal disservice to dismiss early signs of progress.
And now we confront a choice as historically important as any we have faced in a long while.
Will this nation’s elected leaders make the politically hard but strategically vital decision to give General Petraeus our full support and do what is necessary to succeed in Iraq? Or will we decide to take advantage of the public’s frustration, accept defeat and hope that whatever the cost to our security, the politics of defeat will work out better for us than our opponents?
For my part, I would rather lose a campaign than a war.”
Clinton to give ideas for rebuilding gov't
By BETH FOUHY, Associated Press Writer
Fri Apr 13, 3:18 AM ET
NEW YORK - Pledging to rebuild "the competence of government and the confidence of the American people," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to streamline the functions of the federal government and boost its accountability to taxpayers.
The Democratic presidential front-runner was to offer details of a government reform plan Friday in a speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. She was expected to propose cutting 500,000 government contractors for a savings of up to $18 billion a year.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said the government needed to become more consumer-friendly, cost-efficient and transparent in the way it does business.
"We have to bring the government into the 21st century," she said. "We expect to be able to go to an ATM machine, stick a card in and get money, but we can't figure out how to get medical records from the Department of Defense over to the VA. It makes no sense."
Among other things, Clinton said she would propose a Web site that would track the effectiveness of government agencies and start a "corporate subsidy information service" to determine whether such subsidies benefited citizens and not just the corporations that receive them.
She said she would limit the Bush administration practice of hiring private companies to perform government functions and would work to boost the performance of key agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which she said performed well during her husband's White House years.
"People are rightly disturbed by what they see as the incompetence and corruption in this administration. And that's undermined confidence in government, which makes it very difficult for us to meet the challenges we face today," Clinton said.
Her proposals echoed "Reinventing Government," or REGO, a program launched during her husband's administration and run by Vice President Al Gore. REGO was credited with saving taxpayers more than $136 billion over eight years by cutting the federal work force, trimming layers of management and cutting subsidies for items like mohair and wool.
Clinton said some of the proposed changes would be made through executive order and others through legislation. She said she'd move quickly as president to implement the changes.
"We've gone backward in many agencies and we have a string of failures" to repair, she said.
Fri Apr 13, 3:18 AM ET
NEW YORK - Pledging to rebuild "the competence of government and the confidence of the American people," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to streamline the functions of the federal government and boost its accountability to taxpayers.
The Democratic presidential front-runner was to offer details of a government reform plan Friday in a speech at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. She was expected to propose cutting 500,000 government contractors for a savings of up to $18 billion a year.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said the government needed to become more consumer-friendly, cost-efficient and transparent in the way it does business.
"We have to bring the government into the 21st century," she said. "We expect to be able to go to an ATM machine, stick a card in and get money, but we can't figure out how to get medical records from the Department of Defense over to the VA. It makes no sense."
Among other things, Clinton said she would propose a Web site that would track the effectiveness of government agencies and start a "corporate subsidy information service" to determine whether such subsidies benefited citizens and not just the corporations that receive them.
She said she would limit the Bush administration practice of hiring private companies to perform government functions and would work to boost the performance of key agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which she said performed well during her husband's White House years.
"People are rightly disturbed by what they see as the incompetence and corruption in this administration. And that's undermined confidence in government, which makes it very difficult for us to meet the challenges we face today," Clinton said.
Her proposals echoed "Reinventing Government," or REGO, a program launched during her husband's administration and run by Vice President Al Gore. REGO was credited with saving taxpayers more than $136 billion over eight years by cutting the federal work force, trimming layers of management and cutting subsidies for items like mohair and wool.
Clinton said some of the proposed changes would be made through executive order and others through legislation. She said she'd move quickly as president to implement the changes.
"We've gone backward in many agencies and we have a string of failures" to repair, she said.
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