2008 US Presidential Election.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Former Sen. John Edwards jabbed gently at Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday in the first all-candidates forum of the 2008 Democratic presidential campaign, saying her refusal to disavow a 2002 vote on Iraq was “between her and her conscience.”

“It’s not for me to judge,” said Edwards, who — like Clinton — voted in 2002 to authorize the invasion of Iraq, but unlike her, has since apologized for his vote.

The event format did not permit Clinton to respond to Edwards’ swipe, which stood out on an afternoon in which Democrats launched serial attacks on President Bush’s war policies.

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For those among us who were witness to the goings-on in the White House in the 1990’s and asked ourselves, “Why doesn’t she dump that guy?” Here’s why.

It’s been said and written on numerous occasions over the years that Hillary Clinton, champion “feminist,” wouldn’t be anywhere near where she is today without a man — specifically Bill Clinton. Like Jane Fonda, who billed herself as a “feminist” but yet had the audacity to get breast implants, Hillary Clinton is one of those “both ends against the middle” political hacks. In other words, if Hillary Clinton were black, she’d join the KKK to get the peckerwood vote and later spend some of the money she raised from the group on ads calling for stiffer penalties for hate crimes.

mensnewsdaily

Last Saturday, in the not new news event of the weekend, Senator Barack Obama made it official. He is running for President. He is a strong candidate and a welcome addition to the race. During his remarks, he said this:

“…I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.”
Senator Obama sincerely believes in his vision of a better country, a more hopeful and decent place.

But as we checked through the reviews of his announcement, we were filled not with hope, but with concern.

Huffington Post

Senator Barack Obama announced his bid to be America’s first black president by urging an end to the Iraq war and portraying himself as a fresh face capable of leading a new generation.

Obama, 45, the youngest contender among his fellow Democrats, told thousands shivering in the cold at the campaign’s launch in Springfield, Illinois: “Let us transform this nation.”

Although relatively new to national politics, Obama is already considered one of the top challengers in his party to front-runner Senator Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election.

IOL

CONCORD, New Hampshire — Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton faced questions Saturday from New Hampshire voters skeptical about her stand on the Iraq war, including one who demanded that she repudiate her 2002 Senate vote to send U.S. troops into battle.

In her first presidential campaign visit to the early voting state, Clinton focused on her plans to revive struggling small-town economies, provide universal health care and make college more affordable. But at a town hall meeting in rural Berlin, New Hampshire, and at a boisterous gathering of some 3,000 people in the state capital, Concord, Ms. Clinton was peppered with …

online.wsj.com

WATERLOO, Iowa (AFP) - Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) was taking to the ice-bound campaign trail, a day after launching his 2008 White House bid with a vow to lead a generational drive to purge the cynicism from US politics.

The charismatic 45-year-old senator opened his quest for the Democratic nomination in Illinois, invoking anti-slavery icon Abraham Lincoln as he set his sights on a historic goal — to become the first black US president.

Obama demanded an end to the “tragic” war in Iraq and said he felt a call of destiny to transform his nation.

“Let’s be the generation that ends poverty in America,” Obama told a outdoor crowd of thousands in frigid temperatures in the midwestern city of Springfield, former president Lincoln’s hometown.

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) announced his bid for president Saturday, a black man evoking Abraham Lincoln’s ability to unite a nation and a Democrat portraying himself as a fresh face capable of leading a new generation.

“Let us transform this nation,” he told thousands shivering in the cold at the campaign’s kickoff.

Obama, 45, is the youngest candidate in the Democrats’ 2008 primary field dominated by front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and filled with more experienced lawmakers. In an address from the state capital where he began his elective career 10 years ago, the first-term U.S. senator sought to distinguish himself as a staunch opponent of the Iraq war and a White House hopeful whose lack of political experience is an asset.

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CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton on Saturday attacked President George W. Bush for “arrogance and incompetence” in Iraq but faced tough questions over her own vote to authorize the war.

On her first visit in a decade to the state that helps kick off the 2008 White House race, Clinton told voters in New Hampshire that Iraq was a challenge because of “the arrogance and incompetence of our administration in Washington.”

At a town hall meeting of about 300 people in the city of Berlin, the New York senator was asked by one participant to repudiate her 2002 Senate vote for a measure that cleared the way for the March 2003 invasion.

“Knowing what we know now, I would never have voted for it,” she responded. “I gave him the authority to send inspectors back in to determine the truth. I said this is not a vote to authorize pre-emptive war.”

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CONCORD, N.H. - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton faced questions Saturday from New Hampshire voters skeptical about her stand on the Iraq war, including one who demanded that she repudiate her 2002 Senate vote to send U.S. troops into battle.

In her first presidential campaign visit to the early voting state, Clinton focused on her plans to revive struggling small-town economies, provide universal health care and make college more affordable. But at a town hall meeting in rural Berlin and at a boisterous gathering of some 3,000 people in the state capital, Concord, Clinton was peppered with questions about Iraq.

Most of the questions were cordial, and Clinton was loudly cheered when she repeated her pledge to end the war if she is elected president next year. But several attendees challenged the New York senator to explain how she could reconcile her sharp criticism of the war with her vote to authorize the original invasion.

“Aren’t you trying to have it both ways?” asked a man in Concord.

Clinton acknowledged “a great deal of frustration and anger and outrage” over the war, and said she was working hard in the Senate to pass legislation capping troop levels in Iraq. She also vowed to try to bring to a vote a resolution disapproving of President Bush’s planned troop increase.

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SPRINGFIELD, United States (AFP) - Senator Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) launched “an improbable quest” to become America’s first black president, audaciously invoking Abraham Lincoln, the US president who ended slavery.

“I want us to take up the unfinished business of perfecting our union, and building a better America,” Obama told a crowd of thousands in temperatures of minus 11 degrees Celsius (13 Fahrenheit) in Lincoln’s hometown.

“You didn’t come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be,” said the Illinois senator, 45, muscling his way into a packed Democratic field already dominated by New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

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Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record)’s positions on a sampling of issues:

_Abortion: Favors abortion rights. As Illinois lawmaker, opposed restrictions on public financing of abortions.

_Global warming: Co-sponsored bill that would set mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions and raise energy costs. Plan would require emissions to return to 2004 levels by 2012 and to 1990 levels by 2020.

_Health care: Wants universal coverage by 2012; details not specified.

_Immigration: Voted to give illegal immigrants a route to citizenship after they pay fines and back taxes, learn English, satisfy a work requirement and pass a criminal background check. Voted for building a fence along Mexican border, and toughening requirements that citizens be given preference for jobs over guest workers.

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