Obama Notches A NH Landslide!

I just spotted this over at The Bum who found it at CNN:

Dixville Notch has spoken: It's Obama in a landslide

DIXVILLE NOTCH, New Hampshire (CNN) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama emerged victorious in the first election returns of the 2008 presidential race, winning 15 of 21 votes cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.

People in the village in New Hampshire's northeast corner voted just after midnight Tuesday.

It was the first time since 1968 that the village leaned Democratic in an election.

Obama's rival, Republican John McCain, won 6 votes.

A full 100 percent of registered voters in the village cast ballots. And the votes didn't take long to tally.

Is this a sign of things to come today?

The Beaverhausen Chronicles: Resumes

I found this over at roblog (I modified it a bit):

We have two leadership teams to choose from, which would you hire?

FORMAL EDUCATION [1]

Barack Obama
• Occidental College, 2 years
• Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations
• Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude

Joe Biden
• University of Delaware - B.A. in history and B.A. in political science
• Syracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)

Muttley John McCain
• United States Naval Academy

Anastasia Beaverhausen Sarah Palin
• Hawaii Pacific University, 1 semester
• North Idaho College, 1 year
• University of Idaho, 1 year
• Matanuska-Susitna College, 1 semester
• University of Idaho, 1.5 years - B.S. in Journalism

EXPERIENCE [2]

Barack Obama

Obama, 47, has been a U.S. Senator for Illinois for the past four years. Prior to that, he was a state senator for eight years, from 1996 to 2004. He also was a civil rights attorney for four years full time, and he practiced law part time during the eight years he was in the state legislature.

Obama also taught law school part-time and wrote a couple of best-selling books. Right after college, Obama spent three years working as a community organizer.

Community organizer: Three years.

Professional/legal experience: Four years full-time and eight years part-time.

Teaching experience: 11 years part-time.

State legislative experience: Eight years.

Federal legislative experience: Four years.

Joe Biden

Biden, 65, was elected to the U.S. Senate representing Delaware at the young age of 29. He was not old enough to hold the office on Election Day, but he turned 30 before it was time to take the oath of office. This means Biden has been a U.S. senator for close to 36 years.

Prior to his service in the Senate, Biden was a member of the New Castle County Council for two years, and he was an attorney in private practice for four years.

Professional/legal experience: Four years.

County government experience: Two years.

Federal legislative experience: 36 years.

Muttley John McCain

McCain, 72, has been a U.S. senator from Arizona since 1986, for a total of 22 years. Prior to that, he served in the U.S. Congress for four years, from 1982 to 1986. He also served for 22 years in the U.S. Navy.

Federal legislative experience: 26 years.

Military experience: 22 years.

Anastasia Beaverhausen Sarah Palin

Palin, 44, was elected governor of Alaska in 2006 and will have served two years by the end of 2008. Prior to that, Palin was the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, for six years, from 1996 to 2002. She was on the city council for four years before that.

When she was in her 20s, Palin spent about two years as a TV sports reporter from 1987 to 1989. She has also been part-time small business owner with her husband while she held office in Wasilla. The Palins had a commercial fishing operation and a snow machine, watercraft, and all-terrain vehicle business.

Reporter: Two years.

Small business co-owner: Nine years, part-time.

Municipal legislative experience: Four years.

Municipal executive experience: Six years.

State executive experience: Two years.

CONCLUSION

In the business world, you would hire the more educated, knowledgeable and experienced of the two teams. But in the political world, being highly educated and knowledgeable results in right-wing ideologues branding you as an elitist.

[1] Wikipedia Obama, Wikipedia Biden, Wikipedia McCain, Wikipedia Palin

[2] Politifact.com Truth-o-Meter

Whenever I hear people say that Palin is more qualified than Obama to lead the country, I just want to scream.

I keep hearing women say that she's qualified because she's such a great mother. Being the parent of five children, while admirable and something I'm not sure I could do myself, does not qualify you to be the president of the U.S. It means you're fertile and don't use birth control. Ummm, like your daughter. (Meow!)

How many people in your life have a lot of children? Would you consider them presidency-ready because of it?

Go Negative; Go Fast

Less than 24 hrs since Obama named Biden as his running mate and the McCain campaign has already put out two negative Obama | Biden attack ads. Can you say, Karl Rove? Bush Part 3.

Obama | Biden

It's official. Barack Obama selected Joe Biden as his running mate. I wasn't eligible to vote in the primary, but if I had, I'd have voted for Biden.

In June, after Obama sewed up the primary victory, I predicted:

President — Sen. Barack Obama
VP — Gen. Wesley Clark
Secretary of State — Sen. Joe Biden
Secretary of Defense — Sen. Chuck Hagel

I put Biden there but in the wrong slot. Maybe that makes room for Hagel as Secretary of State and Wesley Clark over at Secretary of Defense. If he gets elected, it'll be interesting to see how the cabinet shakes out. I still see Hillary consolidating her power and pushing a Democratic/healthcare agenda in the Senate.

Candidate Joe Biden On Marriage Equality

Update: Thanks to a suggestion by Idle Eyes and a Dormy, I changed references of "same-sex marriage" to "marriage equality" in this post. I like that better and I want to see how it looks in print. I may have to change my description permanently!

Presidential candidate Joe Biden, U.S. Senator from Delaware, was on Meet the Press this morning. I have to reserve final judgment on him but I've always liked what I've heard. I liked what he had to say about marriage equality today. I'm paraphrasing here, but essentially he said marriage equality is inevitable. He said that the government shouldn't dictate the meaning of marriage to religious institutions, but should also strip away discrimination against same-sex couples.

In a round about way, and in a way that makes total sense to me (see below), he staked out a position for civil unions. In fact, when host Tim Russert followed up about the recent New Hampshire civil union law, Biden said he agreed with it.

• I believe that the religious and governmental aspects of marriage/civil unions should be separated.
• I don't believe religious institutions that oppose marriage equality should be forced to support them in word or deed.
• I do believe religious institutions that support marriage equality should be allowed to support them in word and deed.
• I believe that ALL current forms of government sanctioned unions should be called civil unions — same-sex and straight.
• I believe that government civil unions should provide equal rights and responsibilities to all that enter into them.
• I believe this is an issue for the federal government, not just states, because so many of the rights and responsibilities to such couples are conferred by the federal government. This would also even the laws across state lines.

Essentially, every couple goes to the local courthouse to get a civil union whereby the government assigns legally binding rights and responsibilities to the signees of a civil union license. These couples may then go to their house of worship, or not, to enter into a marriage. (Or in the case of Mormons, they can go to a temple and get "sealed.")
*

The Double Standard Of Presidential Appearances

Potential Presidential candidate Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) was on This Week With George Stephanopoulos this morning. It occurred to me that while the press and opponents criticize potential Presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) on her changing hairstyles (apparently they can't find enough in her voting record to bash), no one mentions Joe's hair plugs. Hmmm.











A definite double standard at work here. They are both Democrats so it can't be that. They are both Senators so it can't be that. They are both attractive (okay, Joe a bit more so, but I recognize this as my bias) so it can't be that. Is this cultural misogyny?