THE DAILY BLADE: Sharp Elbows At The Dem Debate
Clad in her "asbestos pantsuit" at yesterday’s Dem debate in Las Vegas, Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY) showed the media – who heaped scorn on her for coming down with the vapors over being engaged and attacked by her opponents – that she could dish it out and take it. What she didn’t show the voters was that she could answer a question directly and forthrightly (this time, she had trouble getting her position on NAFTA straight).
Right off the bat, Hillary evaded CNN reporter Campbell Brown’s question about "your opponents are saying that … you often avoid taking firm positions on controversial issues" (in this case, illegal immigration):
[T]he American people know where I've stood for 35 years. I've been fighting for issues affecting women and children, workers and families. I've been fighting for universal health care.
Yes, but Brown did not ask that. She asked whether you you’re a poll-driven panderer. Sen. Barack Obama (IL) wasted no time in calling Hillary out:
[W]hat the American people are looking for right now is straight answers to tough questions. And that is not what we've seen out of Senator Clinton on a host of issues, on the issue of driver's licenses for illegal immigrants. We saw in the last debate that it took not just that debate but two more weeks before we could get a clear answer in terms of where her position was.
[H]e talks a lot about stepping up and taking responsibility and taking strong positions. But when it came time to step up and decide whether or not he would support universal health care coverage, he chose not to do that. … The Republicans are not going to vacate the White House voluntarily. We have some big issues ahead of us, and we need someone who is tested and ready to lead. I think that's what my candidacy offers. [Judging by the cheers and applause here and at other points during the debate whenever she landed a punch, this was Hillary’s crowd – even though Gov. Bill Richardson should have had the hometown advantage. He just can’t seem to capitalize on the few opportunities he gets to speak as Republican Mike Huckabee has.]
Moderator Wolf Blitzer gave Fmr. Sen John Edwards (NC) his crack at Hillary, and he chose to focus on her record on the Iraq War, as well as her personal integrity – unwisely, as it turned out:
Senator Clinton says she will end the war. She also says she will continue to keep combat troops in Iraq and continue combat missions in Iraq. She says she will turn up the heat on George Bush and the Republicans. But when the crucial vote came on stopping Bush, Cheney and the neocons on Iran, she voted with Bush and Cheney. … [S]he says she will bring change to Washington while she continues to defend a system that does not work, that is broken, that is rigged and is corrupt, corrupted against the interest of most Americans and corrupted.
I don't mind taking hits on my record, on issues, but when somebody starts throwing mud, at least we can hope that it's both accurate and not right out of the Republican playbook because what I … [the crowd goes wild] believe is important is that we put forth what we stand for. … [F]or him to be throwing this mud and making these charges, I think, really detracts from what we're trying to do here tonight. We need to put forth a positive agenda for America [the crowd goes wild again].
Given their chance to jump into the fray, Sen. Joe Biden (DE), Sen. Christopher Dodd (CT) and Richardson (NV) all demurred. Ever supportive of Hillary, Richardson also implored the other candidates, "[L]et’s stop this mud slinging. Let's stop this going after each other on character, on trust."
Ironically, when Blitzer went down the line asking the candidates whether they supported giving drivers’ licenses to forged documented aliens, Obama gave exactly the kind of answer that he had opened the debate slamming Hillary for – causing Blitzer to dryly remark: " … this is the kind of question that is sort of available for a yes or no answer. Either you support it or you oppose it."
One by one, the candidates refused to give a yes or no answer. Only Biden and Hillary flat out said, "No." That’s it - just "no." In Biden’s case, it was personal conviction; in Hillary’s case, it was Pavlovian conditioning. Having been punished in the first debate, she had learned exactly what to say this time around.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says that OfficeMax (NYSE: OMX), a leading office products retailer, has pulled its ads from the nationally syndicated radio program, "The Savage Nation," because of host Michael Savage's views on Muslims and Islam. CAIR has posted this statement it says is from OfficeMax on its Web site:
On November 9, OfficeMax Incorporated was notified that one of its corporate radio advertisements purchased on a national radio network aired during Michael Savage’s syndicated "The Savage Nation" show. Upon notification, OfficeMax contacted the network and direct them to cease advertising on this program going forward. The network assured OfficeMax that the radio advertisement was pulled.
Mr. Savage’s recent comments and viewpoints against the American Islamic community do not represent the viewpoints of OfficeMax. OfficeMax respects the diverse views and beliefs in our communities and will not knowingly promote discrimination, hatred or intolerance against any group or religion.
CAIR also says Citrix Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS), which describes itself as "the global leader in application delivery infrastructure," has also stopped advertising on the program, which airs on more than 300 radio stations nationwide, because of his October 29th broadcast in which he equates Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hitler – as well as the Koran and "Mein Kampf" - and accuses CAIR and the ACLU of being members of a fifth column in the U.S. using our civil liberties against us to further the aims of Islamofascism.
To get a flavor of the broadcast, listen to this six-minute segment (video file), along with this highlights reel of snippets (audio file) put together by CAIR.
Editorial Note: Calls to OfficeMax and Citrix media spokespeople for comment were not immediately returned. The Stiletto will update this post as necessary.
The Other Shoe Drops: Updates To Previous Posts
† The Part About Illegal Liberals Don’t Understand
: NY Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer (D) dropped his controversial and widely unpopular plan to grant driver's licenses to an estimated 1 million forged documented aliens living in the state, blaming "the federal government's failure to solve the nation's immigration troubles and a poisonous political climate," adding that "his opponents used it against him and to drown out other debate," reports The Washington Post. Some 70 percent of New Yorkers were opposed to the cockamamie plan, so that must mean that that Spitzer regards them as his "opponents."† Garbage In, Garbage Out: Part II: In a study that compared standardized math and science test scores of eighth-grade students in each of the 50 states against those of their peers in 45 countries, students in AL and other low-performing states did better than those in most other countries – but students throughout Asia outperformed our best and brightest, even in high-performing states, such as MA.
"In this case, the bad news trumps the good because our Asian economic competitors are winning the race to prepare students in math and science," study author, Gary W. Phillips, chief scientist at the American Institutes of Research, a nonprofit independent scientific research firm, tells
The New York Times.The US scores came from the National Assessments of Educational Progress, which was administered by the federal Department of Education in 2005 and 2007. The international scores came from math and science tests administered in 2003, as part of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timss).
In the Timss survey, the highest-performing nations were Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Japan. US students "lagged far behind those nations, but earned scores that were comparable to peers in European nations like Slovakia and Estonia, and were well above countries like Egypt, Chile and Saudi Arabia," notes The Times.
Woo hoo! We smoked the developing countries! Next time you pay your school tax bill, be proud.
† Why Middle Class Americans Can’t Afford Health Insurance: Part II
: The Los Angeles Times reports on yet another slimy practice by private health insurance providers: setting "performance" goals and paying bonuses to employees who cancel policyholders’ coverage after costly medical treatment has been authorized, to save the company as much money as possible. The bonuses came to light during an arbitration hearing in a lawsuit by breast cancer patient Patsy Bates and one of CA’s largest health insurers:Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million in medical expenses by rescinding about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. During that period, it paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies, documents disclosed Thursday showed. …
The revelation that the health plan had cancellation goals and bonuses comes amid a storm of controversy over the industry-wide but long-hidden practice …
These cancellations have been the recent focus of intense scrutiny by lawmakers, state regulators and consumer advocates. Although these "rescissions" are only a small portion of the companies' overall business, they typically leave sick patients with crushing medical bills and no way to obtain needed treatment. Bates, a hairdresser whose coverage was rescinded by Health Net in the midst of chemotherapy treatments - she still has a catheter embedded in her chest where the cancer-killing drugs had been injected into her bloodstream - is seeking $6 million in compensation and damages.
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