Political notes
Friday, December 28, 2007 by Dave Winer.
Being head-down programming basically for the last four months, I've been paying attention to US politics, but not writing much about it. 
It's terrible of course that assassination plays such a big role in the politics of India and Pakistan. It's also a shame that we didn't hear much from Ms. Bhutto before she was killed yesterday. She was very thoughtful and brave, her friends say there wasn't much doubt that she knew she would be killed. On Sept 11, the thought that someone could believe in a cause so completely that he'd commit suicide to further it was a soul-chilling thought, a nightmarish idea. Her commitment was just as serious.
It was just a couple of days ago that Carolyn Kennedy was doing TV interviews, talking about her life at the White House as a child. Almost everyone in her life that we knew is dead now, many of them tragic deaths. When you look at Ms. Kennedy you see a beautiful woman, but you can't help but see the tragedy that has surrounded her.
We've experienced what Pakistan is experiencing, but the American experience is a very different one. I was a small child the last time a President or candidate was assassinated.
On to the US political process, that's about to shift into high gear, with the Iowa Primary on January 3 (next Thursday) and the New Hampshire primary, 5 days later on January 8.
Here are the candidates I'd like to see eliminated in the first two primaries: Clinton, Giuliani, Romney, Huckabee.
And the candidates I'd like to see do well: Edwards, Paul, McCain, Dodd, Richardson.
I'm ambivalent about Obama, but I expect him to be the Democratic nominee.
I don't have any idea who the Republican nominee will be, but if it's McCain or Paul, we will have a good election, and the President that emerges from the process will be infinitely better than the one we have now.
I want Clinton to be eliminated because she's wounded now, and I don't see her regaining strength.
And I don't think she'd be a good President.
I saw an ad just now that said McCain would make a great President. I don't agree, but he's the first one, in a long time, to suggest that that might be a good reason to vote for someone. Already signs that 2008 will not be like 2004.
The rest, if there are any left, don't mean much to me, except Kucinich, who proves that we don't listen to the words and ideas of candidates. He seems too earnest, but damn, he's usually right. I wouldn't vote for him but I'd like to shake his hand and say that I appreciate what he does.
I'd like the TV networks to stop running stories about TV ads. They have the biggest possible conflict of interest there. Do I even need to explain it?
