[US 2008] Primaries #17

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Op zondag 9 maart 2008 11:34 schreef Montov het volgende:
Dinsdag, Mississippi.

Echter in het noorden was Clinton sterker,
Tennessee: 54%-41%
Arkansas: 70%-26%

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Op zondag 9 maart 2008 15:56 schreef popolon het volgende:
Ook een leuke:

Is Clinton more electable with Obama as running mate: Yes 80% No 20%
Is Obama more electable with Clinton as running mate: Yes 30% No 70%

En dat was een panel van 10 politieke medewerkers.

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Two new polls from Mississippi report that more than 20 percent of white voters plan on voting for Barack Obama in the primary Tuesday, but they have drastically different pictures of the race overall.

An American Research Group poll shows Obama leading Hillary Clinton by 24 points, thanks to near-unanimous support from African-Americans, who make up 55 percent of ARG's voting pool.

Insider Advantage (PDF), on the other hand, has a much closer race, with Obama ahead by only six points (46% - 40%). This is partly due to less support among African-Americans and a surprisingly high percentage of independent voters who favor Clinton.

One last note: ARG reports that 48 percent of white voters say they would never vote for Obama.

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Op zondag 9 maart 2008 21:34 schreef matthijst het volgende:
The next time Hillary uses the recycled red phone ad, counter with one of your own. When the phone rings in the middle of the night, have a woman’s voice, with a flat Midwestern accent, answer it and say, “Hold on” into the receiver. Then she should shout, “Bill! It’s for you!”

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Op zondag 9 maart 2008 23:28 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:

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Wel triest (jammer) dat de verschillen tussen blank en zwart ZO groot zijn... al is het hier ook wel (in mindere mate) hetzelfde verhaal. Nog een lange weg te gaan...

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Maybe it sounded good when politicians, pundits and online fundraisers talked about American deaths as though they were the deaths that mattered most.Maybe it sounded good to taunt the Bush administration as a bunch of screw-ups who didn’t know how to run a proper occupation.

And maybe it sounded good to condemn Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush for ignoring predictions that several hundred thousand troops would be needed to effectively occupy Iraq after an invasion.

But when a war based on lies is opposed because too many Americans are dying, the implication is that it can be made right by reducing the American death toll.

When a war that flagrantly violated international law is opposed because it was badly managed, the implication is that better management could make for an acceptable war.

When the number of occupying troops is condemned as insufficient for the occupying task at hand, the White House and Pentagon may figure out how to make shrewder use of U.S. air power — in combination with private mercenaries and Iraqis who are desperate enough for jobs that they’re willing to point guns at the occupiers’ enemies.

And there’s also the grisly and unanswerable reality that Iraqis who’ve been inclined to violently resist the occupation can no longer resist it after the U.S. military has killed them.

If the ultimate argument against the war is that it isn’t being won, the advocates for more war will have extra incentive to show that it can be won after all.

If a steady argument against the war maintains that it was and is wrong — that it is fundamentally immoral — that’s a tougher sell to the savants of Capitol Hill and an array of corporate-paid journalists.

But by taking the political path of least resistance — by condemning the Iraq war as unwinnable instead of inherently wrong — more restrained foes of the war helped to prolong the occupation that has inflicted and catalyzed so much carnage. The antiwar movement is now paying a price for political shortcuts often taken in the past several years.

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One of his key backers has been John McCain, who was one of the first patrons of Chalabi’s grand-sounding International Committee for a Free Iraq when it was founded in 1991. McCain was Chalabi’s favored candidate in the 2000 election since Chalabi knew that he would be able to free up the $97 million in military aid plus millions pushed through in Congress and earmarked for Chalabi’s exile group, the Iraqi National Congress, but held up by the Clinton State Department.

(...)

McCain welcomed Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the Iraqi National Congress (INC), to Washington and pressured the administration to give him money. When General Anthony Zinni cast doubt upon the effectiveness of the Iraqi opposition, McCain rebuked him at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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3,971 US Soldiers Killed, 29,203 Seriously Wounded
For your quick reading, I've listed key statistics about the Iraq War, taken primarily from data analyzed by various think tanks, including The Brookings Institution's Iraq Index, and from mainstream media sources. Data is presented as of February 24, 2008, except as indicated.

US SPENDING IN IRAQ

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $600 billion of US taxpayers' funds. President Bush has requested another $200 billion for 2008, which would bring the cumulative total to close to $800 billion.

U.S. Daily Spending in Iraq - oover $270 million, in November 2007

Cost of deploying one U.S. soldier for one year in Iraq - $390,000 (Congressional Research Service)

Lost & Unaccounted for in Iraq - $9 billion of US taxpayers' money and $549.7 milion in spare parts shipped in 2004 to US contractors. Also, per ABC News, 190,000 guns, including 110,000 AK-47 rifles.

Missing - $1 billion in tractor trailers, tank recovery vehicles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and other equipment and services provided to the Iraqi security forces. (Per CBS News on Dec 6, 2007.)

Mismanaged & Wasted in Iraq - $10 billion, per Feb 2007 Congressional hearings

Halliburton Overcharges Classified by the Pentagon as Unreasonable and Unsupported - $1.4 billion

Amount paid to KBR, a former Halliburton division, to supply U.S. military in Iraq with food, fuel, housing and other items - $20 billion

Portion of the $20 billion paid to KBR that Pentagon auditors deem "questionable or supportable" - $3.2 billion

Number of major U.S. bases in Iraq - 75 (The Nation/New York Times)

TROOPS IN IRAQ

Iraqi Troops Trained and Able to Function Independent of U.S. Forces - 6,000 as of May 2007 (per NBC's "Meet the Press" on May 20, 2007)

Troops in Iraq - Total 166,895, including 157,000 from the US, 4,500 from the UK, 2,000 from Georgia, 900 from Poland, 650 from South Korea and 1,845 from all other nations

US Troop Casualities - 3,971 US troops; 98% male. 90% non-officers; 80% active duty, 12% National Guard; 74% Caucasian, 10% African-American, 11% Latino. 18% killed by non-hostile causes. 51% of US casualties were under 25 years old. 70% were from the US Army

Non-US Troop Casualties - Total 307, with 174 from the UK

US Troops Wounded - 29,203, 20% of which are serious brain or spinal injuries (total excludes psychological injuries)

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

US Military Helicopters Downed in Iraq - 68 total, at least 36 by enemy fire

IRAQI TROOPS, CIVILIANS & OTHERS IN IRAQ

Private Contractors in Iraq, Working in Support of US Army Troops - More than 180,000 in August 2007, per The Nation/LA Times.

Journalists killed - 126, 83 by murder and 43 by acts of war

Journalists killed by US Forces - 14

Iraqi Police and Soldiers Killed - 7,924

Iraqi Civilians Killed, Estimated - A UN issued report dated Sept 20, 2006 stating that Iraqi civilian casualities have been significantly under-reported. Casualties are reported at 50,000 to over 100,000, but may be much higher. Some informed estimates place Iraqi civilian casualities at over 600,000.

Iraqi Insurgents Killed, Roughly Estimated - 55,000

Non-Iraqi Contractors and Civilian Workers Killed - 548

Non-Iraqi Kidnapped - 305, including 54 killed, 147 released, 4 escaped, 6 rescued and 94 status unknown.

Daily Insurgent Attacks, Feb 2004 - 14

Daily Insurgent Attacks, July 2005 - 70

Daily Insurgent Attacks, May 2007 - 163

Estimated Insurgency Strength, Nov 2003 - 15,000

Estimated Insurgency Strength, Oct 2006 - 20,000 - 30,000

Estimated Insurgency Strength, June 2007 - 70,000

QUALITY OF LIFE INDICATORS

Iraqis Displaced Inside Iraq, by Iraq War, as of May 2007 - 2,255,000

Iraqi Refugees in Syria & Jordan - 2.1 million to 2.25 million

Iraqi Unemployment Rate - 27 to 60%, where curfew not in effect

Consumer Price Inflation in 2006 - 50%

Iraqi Children Suffering from Chronic Malnutrition - 28% in June 2007 (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

Percent of professionals who have left Iraq since 2003 - 40%

Iraqi Physicians Before 2003 Invasion - 34,000

Iraqi Physicians Who Have Left Iraq Since 2005 Invasion - 12,000

Iraqi Physicians Murdered Since 2003 Invasion - 2,000

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 1 to 2 hours, per Ryan Crocker, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq (Per Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2007)

Average Daily Hours Iraqi Homes Have Electricity - 10.9 in May 2007

Average Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 5.6 in May 2007

Pre-War Daily Hours Baghdad Homes Have Electricity - 16 to 24

Number of Iraqi Homes Connected to Sewer Systems - 37%

Iraqis without access to adequate water supplies - 70% (Per CNN.com, July 30, 2007)

Water Treatment Plants Rehabilitated - 22%

RESULTS OF POLL Taken in Iraq in August 2005 by the British Ministry of Defense (Source: Brookings Institute)

Iraqis "strongly opposed to presence of coalition troops - 82%

Iraqis who believe Coalition forces are responsible for any improvement in security - less than 1%

Iraqis who feel less ecure because of the occupation - 67%

Iraqis who do not have confidence in multi-national forces - 72%

quote:

Op maandag 10 maart 2008 14:26 schreef pberends het volgende:
Waarom zou Obama eigenlijk president willen worden, in een termijn dat dingen alleen maar erger kunnen worden?

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Op zondag 9 maart 2008 15:13 schreef popolon het volgende:
De chairman van de MI Dem. partij is op tv en vertelt dat het samenstellen en organiseren van een 'do over' minimaal 10 maanden vereist. Dus volgens hem is het onwaarschijnlijk en een hertelling is sowieso niet aan de orde.

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Op maandag 10 maart 2008 14:55 schreef Montov het volgende:

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Er wordt nu hevig gesproken over een mail-in primary, ergens in juli of augustus.

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Op maandag 10 maart 2008 16:09 schreef Cesare-Borgia het volgende:

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dat is ook niet echt eerlijk, en te ver weg ik snap het niet deze staten hebben toch regels overtreden en daarvoor zijn ze gestraft, waarom moeten ze nu opeens per se meetellen?

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Op maandag 10 maart 2008 17:00 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Kritische media.

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Op maandag 10 maart 2008 17:43 schreef Perico het volgende:
Als je echt de mensen in Florida een definitief verkiezingstrauma wil bezorgen, moet je de stemming vooral niet laten meetellen.

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Op maandag 10 maart 2008 12:31 schreef Monidique het volgende:
"McCain pounced, taking to the Senate floor to predict that "when the people of Iraq are liberated, we will again have written another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America.""

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http://usliberals.about.com/od/homelandsecurit1/a/IraqNumbers.htm

another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America.

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Op maandag 10 maart 2008 17:43 schreef Perico het volgende:

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In Florida gaat het congres bijvoorbeeld over het vaststellen van de datum van de primaries, en daar zijn de Republikeinen in de meerderheid. Die hebben de vroege datum erdoor heen gedrukt, de amendementen van de Democraten zijn door hun meerderheid weggestemd.

Dat zag ik gisteren op FOX news, het is dus voor een groot deel overmacht!

Maar de DNC kan niet 2 miljoen stemmen in Florida zo maar negeren. IK bedoel, daarvoor was de verkiezing in IOWA geweest, Obama heeft toen veel voortreffelijke publiciteit gehad, de mensen hadden echt wel een goed beeld van de kandidaten, en stemden 50% voor Hillary, 33% voor Obama.

Als je echt de mensen in Florida een definitief verkiezingstrauma wil bezorgen, moet je de stemming vooral niet laten meetellen.