adma
Superstar
I'm still trying to figure Biden out. It's like we haven't seen such a self-flagellating quality--though of a different kind--in a veep candidate since Nixon...
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U.S. Elections 2008
- Thread starter Admiral Beez
- Start date
http://secondavenuesagas.com/
A train man in the White House
Published on August 26th, 2008 in Public Transit Policy. 2 Comments »
Rare are the days when I, as a blogger, venture into the world of partisan politics. Those grounds are covered by people with more time for blogger than I have, and I like to keep my focus on news and views from the subway. Sure, most regular readers have probably picked up my liberal leanings, but in New York, we operate in our own political world.
So pardon my intrusion while I look across the country to Denver where, in a few days, a train man will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for vice president. On Wednesday night, Sen. Joe Biden from the great state of Delaware will issue that evening’s speech, and while his love of and reliance on commuter trains may not make it into his introductory remarks this week, it’s sure to come up between now and Election Day.
Biden, you see, is a bona fide commuter like the rest of us — or almost like the rest of us. The Senator travels back and forth from Washington, DC to Wilmington, Delaware, every day during the Senate sessions. While some people may opt to make that round trip via a chauffeured car, Senator Biden relies on Amtrak for his round trips. His monthly ticket costs over $1000, quite a bit more than our Unlimited Ride Metrocards with or without another fare hike, but it’s still rail travel.
So then as rail fans and transportation-minded writers everywhere are excited about Biden’s potential rail advocacy, we can play the “What If?†game for New York. What if Biden, via the Obama ticket, earns his spot in the next presidential administration? What sort of transportation gains can we expect?
Well, on the surface, the gains will be tough to achieve. As with any politically-oriented goal, Congress will have to approve an effort by Vice President Biden to increase funding for, say, Amtrak or Amtrak-oriented development. But perhaps Biden would begin to push for more money for the beleaguered national rail company. Perhaps, we’ll see funds heading our way for the ever-planned Moynihan Station. Perhaps other rail-oriented efforts will earn more respect — and funds — from the federal government.
In the end, it is of course far too early to speculate on the transit advances that should come out of Washington, DC, when the next administration takes over. But any rail fan should think long and hard about supporting the Obama-Biden ticket. It is, after all, the one with the rail-friendly fellow running for Vice President.
A train man in the White House
Published on August 26th, 2008 in Public Transit Policy. 2 Comments »
Rare are the days when I, as a blogger, venture into the world of partisan politics. Those grounds are covered by people with more time for blogger than I have, and I like to keep my focus on news and views from the subway. Sure, most regular readers have probably picked up my liberal leanings, but in New York, we operate in our own political world.
So pardon my intrusion while I look across the country to Denver where, in a few days, a train man will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for vice president. On Wednesday night, Sen. Joe Biden from the great state of Delaware will issue that evening’s speech, and while his love of and reliance on commuter trains may not make it into his introductory remarks this week, it’s sure to come up between now and Election Day.
Biden, you see, is a bona fide commuter like the rest of us — or almost like the rest of us. The Senator travels back and forth from Washington, DC to Wilmington, Delaware, every day during the Senate sessions. While some people may opt to make that round trip via a chauffeured car, Senator Biden relies on Amtrak for his round trips. His monthly ticket costs over $1000, quite a bit more than our Unlimited Ride Metrocards with or without another fare hike, but it’s still rail travel.
So then as rail fans and transportation-minded writers everywhere are excited about Biden’s potential rail advocacy, we can play the “What If?†game for New York. What if Biden, via the Obama ticket, earns his spot in the next presidential administration? What sort of transportation gains can we expect?
Well, on the surface, the gains will be tough to achieve. As with any politically-oriented goal, Congress will have to approve an effort by Vice President Biden to increase funding for, say, Amtrak or Amtrak-oriented development. But perhaps Biden would begin to push for more money for the beleaguered national rail company. Perhaps, we’ll see funds heading our way for the ever-planned Moynihan Station. Perhaps other rail-oriented efforts will earn more respect — and funds — from the federal government.
In the end, it is of course far too early to speculate on the transit advances that should come out of Washington, DC, when the next administration takes over. But any rail fan should think long and hard about supporting the Obama-Biden ticket. It is, after all, the one with the rail-friendly fellow running for Vice President.
Prometheus The Supremo
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just a thought - lots of american jobs were lost in the auto sector. maybe they can make up for those lost jobs in the rail car manufacturing sector.
unimaginative2
Senior Member
Thanks for posting that, Ed. Very interesting. Much better than McCain, who's been leading the charge to kill Amtrak for years now.
ShonTron
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Interestingly, David Gunn was one of the only people able to shut McCain up. He was president of Amtrak for a while until fired by Bush a few years ago. McCain was trying to grill Gunn at a transport committee meeting, when Gunn shot back whether he would support ending the subsidies for air travel, a bit deal for Arizona. That shut him up for a bit.
Brandon716
Senior Member
If you want to see Hillary's fantastic speech Tuesday night in full HD streaming format, go here:
http://www.demconvention.com/dncc-video/
When the player launches, it'll be listed under the Tuesday Aug 26 primetime section of Schedule of Events labelled "Remarks - Hillary Clinton".
http://www.demconvention.com/dncc-video/
When the player launches, it'll be listed under the Tuesday Aug 26 primetime section of Schedule of Events labelled "Remarks - Hillary Clinton".
Brandon716
Senior Member
BTW, for political junkies don't forget to also include the inspirational Dennis Kucinich speech from earlier in the day.
Roy G Biv
Senior Member
CNN ruined Hillary's speech by immediately cutting to some delusional, moronic Hillarybot.
What the hell was that about? They gave her like 5 min....
Let's see. I'm a Democrat, and don't want McCain to win... so I'll attack Obama's candidacy (and use the same experience rhetoric coming from the McCain camp) on THE MOST WATCHED NEWS CHANNEL IN THE USA, immediately after a huge speech that would have most likely enegerized the Democratic base.
Fucking idiot.
What the hell was that about? They gave her like 5 min....
Let's see. I'm a Democrat, and don't want McCain to win... so I'll attack Obama's candidacy (and use the same experience rhetoric coming from the McCain camp) on THE MOST WATCHED NEWS CHANNEL IN THE USA, immediately after a huge speech that would have most likely enegerized the Democratic base.
Fucking idiot.
Brandon716
Senior Member
MSNBC had a rather different take on the speech, most all of the commentators from Chris Matthews to Keith Olbermann and even when they got Brian Williams on with some of the others, they all praised Hillary's speech as the best in her political history.
Roy G Biv
Senior Member
It was. And Obama will return the favour on Thursday night, yet the media will continue to throw gas on the fire, because it's in their best interests the drama continues.
Brandon716
Senior Member
Yea, well I have a good sense of humor about life generally speaking, but when it comes to US politics I'm totally baffled. I know so much about electoral politics, what ticks in what state, and I understand the vibe of the US very well having been so active in my college political groups and studying, not to mention I was a committed and registered Democrat ever since I turned 18.
But lately it just seems like a surreal game that has no base in reality.
Obama should be up in the polls a minimum of 10 points after what has occurred in the past several years. It shouldn't be a maybe, it should be a coronation for Obama.
Now that's just how I feel about the polling, I personally am to the left of the mainstream Democratic party and I've gotten to the point where my fuse has already blown. I'm not sure whether its going to be replaced.
The Democrats were elected on a mandate in 2006 to stand up against Iraq war spending and war bills in general. Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat from one of the most leftist districts in America, refused to use her power to substantially oppose the war.
Harry Reid has done nothing but muddle his way through the sessions over the past two years.
If the most leftist House district in America has a representative in a leadership position who is not willing to stand up properly against the war in Iraq, there is literally no hope for the USA.
And that's just the start of it.
I supported Hillary because her policies are identical to Obama and she was willing to fight for her candidacy, not because I felt she was a perfect politician. I always believe in sacrificing my personal nit-picking for the good of the nation as a whole, hence why I've supported candidates that aren't nearly as left leaning as I am.
But at this point its seeming less reasonable to support the "most winnable" candidate when they do virtually nothing positive except keep the sky from falling.
Its too pathetic that a left leaning candidate like Obama is willing to openly campaign for more religious charity funding while McCain is against that kind of spending (because he's against pretty much all domestic programs, which is just worse).
The choice just seems like its bad and worse these days... And we can't even get a less bad choice elected.
Hopeless.
But lately it just seems like a surreal game that has no base in reality.
Obama should be up in the polls a minimum of 10 points after what has occurred in the past several years. It shouldn't be a maybe, it should be a coronation for Obama.
Now that's just how I feel about the polling, I personally am to the left of the mainstream Democratic party and I've gotten to the point where my fuse has already blown. I'm not sure whether its going to be replaced.
The Democrats were elected on a mandate in 2006 to stand up against Iraq war spending and war bills in general. Pelosi, a San Francisco Democrat from one of the most leftist districts in America, refused to use her power to substantially oppose the war.
Harry Reid has done nothing but muddle his way through the sessions over the past two years.
If the most leftist House district in America has a representative in a leadership position who is not willing to stand up properly against the war in Iraq, there is literally no hope for the USA.
And that's just the start of it.
I supported Hillary because her policies are identical to Obama and she was willing to fight for her candidacy, not because I felt she was a perfect politician. I always believe in sacrificing my personal nit-picking for the good of the nation as a whole, hence why I've supported candidates that aren't nearly as left leaning as I am.
But at this point its seeming less reasonable to support the "most winnable" candidate when they do virtually nothing positive except keep the sky from falling.
Its too pathetic that a left leaning candidate like Obama is willing to openly campaign for more religious charity funding while McCain is against that kind of spending (because he's against pretty much all domestic programs, which is just worse).
The choice just seems like its bad and worse these days... And we can't even get a less bad choice elected.
Hopeless.
Admiral Beez
Superstar
But when they panned to Michelle Obama, all you saw was her nasty fake smile. That woman doesn't get it, Hillary could destroy Obama's chances of election simply by refusing to show up at the convention or by saying something cynical.
detroitbootybass
Active Member
kEiThZ
Superstar
As they say there is only one poll that counts.
Voters haven't really started to pay election just yet. And I suspect, there is some voter fatigue from BHO carrying himself like a President for the last few months. We'll start seeing some real movements in the poll in October, just wait for it....
Voters haven't really started to pay election just yet. And I suspect, there is some voter fatigue from BHO carrying himself like a President for the last few months. We'll start seeing some real movements in the poll in October, just wait for it....
lordmandeep
Banned
Obama shows no sign of acting like an elitist rock star candidate.
At best we will see a repeat of 1960.