Posted on 06/19/2007 3:13:48 PM PDT by StatenIsland
As a young news junkie, I for years wondered what it was that Archer Daniels Midland did that made it important enough to sponsor Meet the Press and Face the Nation alongside legendary corporations like General Electric and financial mammoths like Smith Barney and Merrill Lynch. ADM's commercials didn't promote a product that could be purchased by the general public, but the ads were vague as to reasons why it should be invested in as well -- it was like ADM was more of a charity than a business ("Supermarket to the World").
Only later did I understand that the targets of ADM's campaigns were not individual consumers, but politicians who watched the shows every Sunday. ADM was insisting it was the be-all and end-all to all sorts of "problems" that government claimed to be able to solve, gave gobs of cash to politicians, and every Sunday showed sixty second promotionals showing the pols how they could sell soybeans and corn as panacea to the electorate. Finally, it all paid off with ethanol getting its toehold in the market as "cleaner" and "greener" although the green is mostly in the form of greenbacks.
Now, after many years of mentioning it in speeches, President Bush is still holding on to the heretofore fruitless notion that sawgrass could help break the nationwide addiction to oil. In retrospect, I am not surprised he would buy it.
I don’t think so Steve_Seattle. I wish nothing more but the polling I’ve seen so far has him hurting GOP candidates in purple and blue states. Also, right now, a large amount of the GOP feel like Bush and the Republican Party has left them. You and I of course know that the “Republicanism” represented by Bloomberg has nothing to do with genuine conservative values, but middle of the road Republicans we count on might get pulled in by him.
Given that Ghouliani is currently behind a candidate that hasn't even announced yet in the Rasmussen poll, I assume your comments aren't serious?
so the buffoon thinks he can get the Dems nomination?
It's really easy to "buy" a solution that involves no cost and no tradeoffs and is far enough away that noone can prove it's a stupid idea. The green movement has thrived on that kind of magical thinking for decades.
This is hugh! And series! A mayor with a history of changing parties has changed parties again!
If anyone should be concerned about him running it ought to be Hillary since Rudy hasn’t any genuine chance of getting the nomination.
Thanks. On thinking about this further, the best example of the rich in their buy-the-pols mode today is our country's China policy. One cannot explain the truly insane behavior both Clinton and W have engaged in with respect to the Chinese without resorting to the massive support for appeasement of China by the chamber-of-commerce guys--and, of course, China itself buying the Clintons.
I think you give him far too much credit. The media connection is his asset. Everyone knows he's a spineless pipesmoker.
Bllomberg is now an independent.
That’s not as bad as leaving the GOP to join al Qaeda like Ron Paul.
Right on. His progression is from opportunistic Liberal Democrat to opportunistic Liberal Republican to opportunistic Liberal Independent and he will draw away liberal Progressives making it good for the GOP if they get their s..t together in time.
No way. He’ll steal liberal votes, not conservatives. I think this is a good thing for Republicans. Let the RINOs leave now.
However, Giuliani is staying steady in the polls despite the fact that his liberal social positions are becoming widely known.
The only reason Thompson is ahead by one point in the Rasmussen poll is because they stopped including Newt in the list of candidates, so Newt's supporters had to choose someone else. But the trend is clear...Thompson gaining and Rudy steady.
The media have not yet started to rip Thompson apart and neither has any of the candidates. When they get through ripping him to shreds, what will be left? This we don't know. Fred has hinted he may very well get out his red plaid shirt. Will that work today, the way it did in 1994?
Anyway, I like Fred, but I also think Rudy may have the best chance to beat the Beast. As Reagan said, "If you can't get the whole thing, some is better than nothing."
Bloomberg peeling away a bunch of Hillary's support would be a sweet thing to behold, wouldn't it? :-)
I will bet you Rudy will not be the republican nominee. Democrat, maybe. But not republican.
He may spend $1 billion on the race. If so, he will have impact. The billion dollars is his words.
He could spend 10 billion. He could not get more than 2%. Don’t get me wrong. I hope he does better than I think, because he takes votes right out of the Democrats’ hide. But, he is simply a bad candidate. He has a voice that makes Hillary’s sound mellifluous. He will not win or even come close. You can take that to the bank.
Except that Hagel is pro-gun, pro-life, and anti-taxing and spending. I don’t see how he could run on a ticket with Bloomberg.
With the majority of conservative voters still very upset with both the Democrats at every political level and with the Republicans at every political level, is there any possibility that both the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party will start seeing much more support and much more votes for their candidates at every political level from now on?
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