Comments on: South Texas will `member Hillary On Election Day

By: cbay

cbay — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 00:17:01 +0000

Okay, campers, it’s almost time to caucus. Don’t forget to make your voice heard tonight at your precinct caucus, because it’s like getting to vote twice. See you there and then!

By: amy anderson

amy anderson — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 22:34:48 +0000

Hi,
I just want you to know I enjoyed reading this Joaquin! I am the Detroit area now but I lived in Brownsville for 17 yrs. It was entertaining to read the descriptions of the candidates with a Valley slant! Take care.

By: Darwin

Darwin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:52:56 +0000

Clinton, Obama, and McCain each voted for the Border Wall, and I doubt any rewards are coming to the Valley from the outcome of the 2008 Presidential Election. We have long been at the bottom of Washington’s and Austin’s list of priorities, and when our day comes, it will be more a consequence of burgeoning population and economic growth spurred by immigration and trade with Mexico. Nobody is going to return any favors, unless once again, it is in their best interest.

Every election, I become more and more disappointed with why people vote for who they do.

By: Valley Newcomer

Valley Newcomer — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:15:48 +0000

Dare I say it, but I think our country may have progressed past the age when a black man did not have a chance to win a national election. This primary season has convinced me that we are beyond that, as long as the candidate doesn’t spend all of his or her time griping about the past and how repressed black people still are in this country (check on that for Obama, he’s not a griper). Griping about our country’s shameful racial history by a black American brings up white guilt, and many white people get angry in reaction to being reminded about the horrible things their anglo ancestors did to the ancestors of today’s black population. The angry stop listening and are not going to vote for that person.

Obama is not in that vein. He’s the black candidate that our Baby Boomer-JFK loving mamas always have hoped for. He’s the black candidate that makes people feel like our country has finally, at long last, made real progress from the slavery of the founding fathers and the Jim Crowe South and the race riots of the 70s and 80s (and 90s). He gives people warm fuzzies and hope that really bad stuff can be overcome. Look at him, he’s living proof.

He’s also living proof of the great ephemeral American Dream. He is the embodiment of the classic ‘boot straps’ idea that if you are smart enough and work hard enough you can overcome what the statistics say you are doomed for. He was born half-black to a single white mom who was middle class, and at times poor, yet he went on to graduate at the top of his class from Harvard Law School with no one to thank but the grace of God and his own sheer will. He’s the opposite of W. in that regard. He has pulled himself up by his bootstraps. Americans love that stuff.

I’m not saying it’s in the bag, McCain presents a formidable challenge because of his independence from the far right of his party, which allows him to attract moderates from both parties, and his moderate stance on immigration, which might allow him to attract Latino voters a la Bush. But, I think a race between Obama and McCain would be extremely close (and exciting).

By: Joaquin

Joaquin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:39:05 +0000

The part about being `rewarded’ was said somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but having said that, Republicans can dole out these rewards as well as Democrats. That’s why President George W was so nice and generous with Florida and Pennsylvania after his narrow election win in 2000. He knew he would need those two states to get re-elected in 2004, so he lavished attention on those swing states during his first. term.
Repubicans give out as much stuff as do Democrats, especially during the Bush years, and of course the biggest pork barreler of them all, Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, is a Republican.
Let’s see, I think I have a functioning brain, and read stories that say early national polls show Obama beating McCain. I don’t think those early polls carry much weight at this point, but they do all show Obama running better against McCain than Clinton.
I would guess there are Americans out there with functioning brains who are being polled on a McCain-Obama matchup, and that’s what they’re coming up with thus far.

By: Jose

Jose — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 17:57:21 +0000

“we better get rewarded” That is the telling sentence in your blog. Thats all you hear at the Obama or Hillary rally, what is in it for me. Its a long long way from the J.F. Kennedy speech in 1960 when he asked what Americans could do for the Country, not what the country could do for Americans. It seems to me that there is something screwed up with our culture when it all comes down to “we better get rewarded”. I think everyone with a fully functioning brain knows Obama can’t win in November, but Hillary can. And if she does win in November then I think she will reward us with all kinds of free programs, including some type of health care scheme.