(Well said, bluemcdowell. Thanks for writing this. - promoted by Carnacki)
First I have a confession to make. I did not watch the AFL-CIO debate last night. I don't care too much for watching televised debates especially more than a year before the November general election.
I personally think it's way too early to even have debates like this in the first place. Americans including me are already sick of debates, and we haven't even had our first state primary election yet.
I'll save that for another day. Now for a more important if not more disturbing issue: Senator Joe Biden's dismissive attitude toward a Sago Miner's Widow.
Now there is a spirited debate here in coal country in W. Virginia, Kentucky, and Virginia on whether Joe Biden went too far or not. I personally think he did. But I also can understand why many think he didn't as well.
I personally don't know the name of the woman asking the question. But I do know why she would feel let down by the government. She received a huge ovation from the crowd there, and deservedly so.
Senator Biden did give his sympathies to the woman but nearly long enough in my honest opinion. All he said was that he supported "implementing all the commission's findings." I have to be brutally honest and admit I'm 100 percent stupid in not knowing what congressional body who is head of all these findings. I take 100 percent blame for that.
Sadly I am too apathetic most of the time like everybody else in the United States it seems. I take full 100 percent responsibility for it. I just wish my fellow Americans Democratic, Republican, and most definitely independents would join me in doing the same. Apathy is by far the most serious thing that's killing our beloved nation today.
But back to Senator Biden's comments. It is 50/50 I guess as to whether he fully answered the hurting and grieving widow's question or not. He might have in a way, but still I bluemcdowell and probably 99 percent of Appalachian coalfield residents wanted more in the way of specifics. And all Sen. Biden said was a somewhat half-hearted "I'm sorry for your loss" statement and the "implementing the commission findings" statement and that was it. All general stuff and no specific stuff. Typical American way of thinking. Sad but true.
What had happened earlier in the debate was that on Sen. Biden's last comment when he was talking about Pakistan he was cut off by moderator Keith Olbermann due to time constraints. I've even heard criticism in some circles about Keith Olbermann's moderation believe it or not. Well everybody is human and Keith is no exception. He makes mistakes just like you and me. And to Keith's credit he almost always admits his very few mistakes the few times he does slip it and sincerely apologizes 100 percent of the time without exception, unlike our current Commander-in-Chief...
In his haste to say all he wanted to about Pakistan he just "comforted" the woman and said "he'd implement all the commission's recommendations" and that was it.
Whether that was sufficient enough is really not mine to decide. It's the voters in McDowell, Wyoming, Mingo, Logan, and Boone Counties in West Virginia; Floyd and Pike Counties in Kentucky; and Dickenson and Buchanan Counties in Virginia. It's up to them not us.
I personally didn't approve of the way Sen. Biden handled himself. But many good people disagree with me. And that's fine. It's OK for friends to disagree, at least for now. Sadly it may not be much longer after the controversial bill that permits the federal goverment to spy on Americans without a warrant bill is signed by Bush. Very very sad but very very true.
Well just like Keith Olbermann I guess Hillary Clinton is human too. She has uncharacteristically struggled and made some very unheard of mistakes in the last two Democratic debates especially last night. And her two main Democratic opponents Edwards and Obama especially to their credit both took 100 percent full advantage of it. There have been a few times Senator Clinton has slipped up before but had gotten away with it. Not the last two debates however. Obama especially took 100 percent advantage of this golden opportunity and pounced on it immediately. And Edwards has done so too but not quite as much as Obama.
This primary and general election both are really just beginning. I honest don't know who either party's presidential nominee will be. Right now I still give a slight edge to Sen. Clinton on the Democratic side but I have absolutely no idea whom the Republicans will nominate.
We still got a long way to go folks. The election to replace Bush has really just begun.
Jan. 21, 2009 can't come soon enough. And even more so the election Tuesday in 2008.... |
