SodaHead - Nina ~COB~Yes We Did's Questions

ROVE'S BRILLIANT ANALYSIS

2008-09-14T16:16:52Z

ROVE'S BRILLIANT ANALYSIS

13 answers, +6 raves

Republican strategist Karl Rove said on Face The Nation that he expected presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama to choose a running mate based on political calculations, not the person's readiness for the job. "I think he's going to make an intensely political choice, not a governing choice," Rove said. "He's going to view this through the prism of a candidate, not through the prism of president; that is to say, he's going to pick somebody that he thinks will on the margin help him in a state like Indiana or Missouri or Virginia. He's not going to be thinking big and broad about the responsibilities of president." Rove singled out Virginia governor Tim Kaine as an example of such a pick. "With all due respect again to Governor Kaine, he's been a governor for three years, he's been able but undistinguished," Rove said. "I don't think people could really name a big, important thing that he's done. He was mayor of the 105th largest city in America." Rove continued: "So if he were to pick Governor Kaine, it would be an intensely political choice where he said, `You know what? I'm really not, first and foremost, concerned with, is this person capable of being president of the United States." Yes, according to Rovethe real problem with Tim Kaine is that he's only been governor of a large state for three years, and before that, he was only the mayor of a mid-size city. This, of course, made him "undistinguished," unprepared for national office, and the very idea of putting him on a national ticket was practically ridiculous. Here are the facts about John McCain's choice for VP: Alaska 670,000 Virginia 7,643,000 Wasilla, Alaska(palin was mayor) Population in July 2007: 9,780 As of 2007, the city of Richmond,Virginia (kaine was mayor) estimated population is 200,123 Virginia, under Governor Kaine... a few stats: *Commonwealth receives third straight 'Best State for Business' ranking by Forbes.com *Virginia One of Five Most Successful States in America for Reducing Poverty *Virginia again received the top score in the Government Performance Project’s “Grading the States 2008” report, the nation’s only comprehensive, independent analysis of how well each state performs in serving the public. *Education Week says Virginia children are the most likely in the nation to experience success as they move from childhood to adulthood. The journal, in its annual “Quality Counts” report on the progress of the nation’s public schools, says that the typical student in the commonwealth “enjoys higher achievement and is more likely to finish high school and continue on to college than in other states.” More can be found at: http://www.governor.virginia.gov/initiatives/VaLeads/index.cfm

Rove is a real BOZO	46% (6 answers)
Open your mouth, Rove, insert your foot	31% (4 answers)
Leave him alone, he was just being Rove	8% (1 answers)
Just more liberal media bashing	8% (1 answers)
None of the above	8% (1 answers)
I like Rove, he knows how to fool the American uninformed	0% (0 answers)
Undecided	0% (0 answers)
All of the above	0% (0 answers)

Reformer maverick McCain chooses lobbyist for transition team

2008-09-13T17:47:39Z

Reformer maverick McCain chooses lobbyist for transition team

13 answers, +9 raves

A prominent Washington lobbyist who has worked for every Republican President since Richard Nixon has been tapped by the McCain campaign to conduct a study in preparation for the presidential transition should John McCain win the election, according to sources familiar with the process. By tapping Timmons, McCain has turned to one of Washington's steadiest and most senior inside players to guide him in the event of a victory — but also to someone who represents the antithesis of the kind of outside-of-Washington change he has recently been promising. One Republican familiar with the process said the decision to involve Timmons could become a political liability for the campaign's reformist image, especially in the wake of the controversies over the lobbying backgrounds of other McCain staffers, including campaign manager Rick Davis. "It's one more blind spot for Rick Davis and John McCain," the person said. http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1840722,00.htm...

That's not reform, that's a lobbyist	38% (5 answers)
None of the above	23% (3 answers)
But he got the recommendation of George Bush, and he goes with George	15% (2 answers)
All of the above	15% (2 answers)
Stop picking on Sarah	8% (1 answers)
He's not a lobbyist if McCain says he's not	0% (0 answers)
Undecided	0% (0 answers)

Palin called Hillary Clinton a whiner!

2008-08-30T00:26:09Z

Palin called Hillary Clinton a whiner!

52 answers, +22 raves

Palin in the Green Room NEWSWEEK's Karen Breslau shares a personal moment with the Alaska governor. Karen Breslau Newsweek Web Exclusive Updated: 2:11 PM ET Aug 29, 2008 When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin arrived backstage for our NEWSWEEK Women & Leadership Event in Los Angeles last March, John McCain had just wrapped up the GOP nomination. Palin had yet to endorse McCain—she liked Mitt Romney—and as we waited in the green room, I urged her to "feel free" to make some news on stage. She grinned broadly—looking back, I guess it was a grin of the Cheshire Cat variety—and thanked me for the offer. Once onstage, together with Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, Palin talked about what women expect from women leaders; how she took charge in Alaska during a political scandal that threatened to unseat the state's entire Republican power structure, and her feelings about Sen. Hillary Clinton. (She said she felt kind of bad she couldn't support a woman, but she didn't like Clinton's "whining.")

What????	40% (21 answers)
She's a two faced politician.	29% (15 answers)
No comment	23% (12 answers)
I don't believe it!	8% (4 answers)

What do you think of these examples of John McCain's sense of humor?

2008-07-18T01:38:14Z

What do you think of these examples of John McCain's sense of humor?

64 answers, +20 raves

Here's is a sample of Republican candidate John McCain's sense of humor as regards women. "Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, 'Where is that marvelous ape?'" And earlier this year, McCain responded to a question with the line, "And I stopped beating my wife just a couple of weeks ago," "The French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it," McCain told Fox News a few years ago. When Chelsea Clinton was 18. "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?" he asked guests at a Senate Republican fundraiser. "Because her father is Janet Reno." Why would any woman want to vote for this person?

I think those jokes are tasteless and show his real lack of respect for women.	63% (40 answers)
None of the above	14% (9 answers)
He's just an old guy and doesn't realize how offensive he is.	11% (7 answers)
Undecided	8% (5 answers)
What' wrong with that, I think those jokes are funny.	3% (2 answers)
He can tell all the disgusting jokes he wants!	2% (1 answers)
I love his jokes and I love him no matter what.	0% (0 answers)

Insurance coverage for Viagra or contraceptives? What says John McCain? Viagra?

2008-07-11T00:44:15Z

Insurance coverage for Viagra or contraceptives? What says John McCain? Viagra?

23 answers, +10 raves

McCain and reporters usually have such fun on the Straight Talk Express -- as long as no one asks a difficult question. Someone broke the rules today and asked John McCain about a controversial issue raised by his top adviser, Carly Fiorina -- the different treatment by health insurers of Viagra, which is a benefit, and birth control, which isn't: Maeve Reston of the Los Angeles Times, the pool reporter on the bus, asked McCain about comments advisor Carly Fiorina made earlier this week, calling it unfair that insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. "I certainly do not want to discuss that issue," McCain said to nervous laughter, according to the pool report. He went on to say he did not know what he voted for on the issue. "I'll look at my voting record on it," he said, before an extended pause. "I don't recall the vote right now. But I'll be glad to look at it and get back to you as to why." Surely, Ms. Reston will be banned from the Straight Talk Express -- and none of the other reporters will talk to her anymore. McCain may not know his record, but neither does Fiorina. They can, however, both read about it in the San Francisco Chronicle: Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, the nation's leading abortion and reproductive rights group, told The Chronicle that she sent Fiorina a copy of McCain's voting record on women's health issues this week after Fiorina publicly misrepresented McCain's positions. Fiorina made the comments - reported by the Washington Post - during a speech about women and health insurance, in which she argued that "many health insurance plans cover Viagra but won't cover birth-control medication. Those women would like a choice." Keenan said a McCain presidency would offer women no such choice. "Obviously, she doesn't know his record," she said. "He really did vote against a proposal that would have required insurance companies" to cover prescription contraception in the same way they pay for Viagra. So, McCain doesn't know his own record and doesn't talk about this issue -- and Fiorina got McCain's record wrong. Not such Straight Talkers after all.

You're kidding! Birth control makes more sense.	57% (13 answers)
Huh? Pay for it yourself.	22% (5 answers)
None of the above	17% (4 answers)
Undecided	4% (1 answers)

Happy Birthday to cccoke!

2008-06-20T00:28:35Z

Happy Birthday to cccoke!

16 answers, +12 raves

Today is our good friend cccoke's birthday! As many of you know, she is the proud mom of the cutest Beagle in the world, Cricket, and a very happy grandma to be. So Happy Birthday to our friend and may this be your very best year ever!

All of the above	56% (9 answers)
Happy Birthday!	44% (7 answers)
Best Wishes on your Birthday!	0% (0 answers)
Have a wonderful Birthday!	0% (0 answers)
Where's the cake?	0% (0 answers)

Why are gas prices so high? Ever heard of the "Enron Loophole"?

2008-06-19T01:59:47Z

Why are gas prices so high? Ever heard of the "Enron Loophole"?

24 answers, +9 raves

Unregulated speculation in oil futures is driving up gas prices and keeping them high. The Gramm-Enron legislation of 2000 exempted electronic trading of energy commodities from regulation. "The Enron loophole," as it is called, was the product of former Texas senator Phil Gramm. It exempted energy futures trading from the Commodities Futures Modernization Act just in time for his wife Wendy, who was on the Enron board of directors, to benefit from the artificially created energy shortages in California that brought Enron down. These "dark markets" traders, exempt from Commodity Futures Trading Commission rules, make huge amounts of money at the expense of the nation's economy and our family budgets. President Bush knows this. Sen. John McCain knows it, too. He opposed the recent $307 billion farm bill because it contained legislation that would end deregulated speculation. Gramm is his economic adviser. In Senate hearings on oil prices, portfolio manager Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management testified that demand from index speculators pushed oil prices up. More and bigger cars contribute to rising gas prices. But a 15-cent jump in one day is more likely the result of e-trading. It's time to contact our representatives in Congress, urging them to reverse the Gramm-Enron legislation of 2000. Over the long run, only a well-considered national energy policy will help us through the messy transition from a petroleum-based economy to something better. But right now we can save money and make America stronger by regulating rapacious trading by those who already have too much money.

Yes, and this loophole should be reversed	71% (17 answers)
None of the above	13% (3 answers)
No, I didn't know, I'm outraged and I think it should be reversed.	8% (2 answers)
Yes, and I see nothing wrong with it.	4% (1 answers)
No, I didn't know, but what's the big deal?	4% (1 answers)
Undecided	0% (0 answers)

Karl Rove is going to be a Fox News contributer. Do you think this is a good thing?

2008-02-02T03:13:27Z

Karl Rove is going to be a Fox News contributer. Do you think this is a good thing?

39 answers, +11 raves

No	38% (15 answers)
Yes	31% (12 answers)
I don't care	31% (12 answers)

A Question Of Care: Military Malpractice? Are you willing to email Congress about this?

2008-02-02T00:44:49Z

A Question Of Care: Military Malpractice? Are you willing to email Congress about this?

6 answers, +2 raves

CBS) Carmelo Rodriguez was dancing with his niece just last year. By all accounts Rodriguez, a 29-year old, loved life, his family and the Marine Corps. He was also an artist, a father, and a part-time actor. He once appeared with Katie Holmes in a scene on the TV series Dawson's Creek. An image of Sgt. Rodriguez with his Marine buddies in Iraq in 2005 shows him as a fit, gung-ho platoon leader. CBS News correspondent Byron Pitts met Rodriguez two months ago. That once-buff physique had been whittled down to less than 80 pounds in 18 months by stage 4 melanoma. He was surrounded by family, including his 7-year-old son holding his hand. It was Rodriguez's idea we meet. When Sgt. Rodriguez was in Iraq, military doctors, he says, misdiagnosed his skin cancer. They called it "a wart." Eight minutes after Pitts met Sgt. Carmelo Rodriguez, and CBS News was preparing to interview him, he died. At his family's insistence, Pitts and the camera crew stayed. With his body in the very next room, Pitts sat down with his relatives. Pitts asked: "Why have us here for such a painful moment for your family?" "[It was] His wish to have this known, because he doesn't want any other soldier to fight for his country and go through what he had to go through," said Rodriguez's uncle, Dean Ferraro. "To be neglected." "He said, 'don't let this be it. Don't let this be it. Fight!'" his sister, Elizabeth Rodriguez, said. "That's what we're doing. We're gonna fight for him." The "fight," as they call it is over what's known as the Feres Doctrine, a 1950 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that bars active-duty military personnel and their families from suing the federal government for injuries incidental to their service. In other words, unlike every other U.S. citizen, people in the military cannot sue the federal government for medical malpractice. "When he enlisted in 1997, from his initial medical checkup - you know what I mean, physical - the doctor documented that he had melanoma, but never told him 'have anyone follow up on it,'" Ferraro said. "And that was back in '97. If we would have known back in '97, he would still be with us." CBS News was given a copy of that medical report. The doctor notes skin as "abnormal." In further details he describes it as "melanoma on the right buttocks." There's no recommendation for further treatment. Eight years pass. Sgt. Rodriguez is in Iraq. "If a birthmark is about that big [she holds up two hands], and … it has a raise like that and is pussing, just let it go and say it's a wart??" his sister, Elizabeth, said. "Who does that; how does that happen? It's not right. It's not right." His uncle Wilfredo Negron said: "Twenty-nine years old! You know all his life is good. Never into drugs, never into partying. Served his country faithfully. Served his Lord faithfully! He held on positive because he's a warrior. He's a Marine. He fought for his country and also for his family." According to a veterans group that tracks soldiers who are misdiagnosed, there are hundreds of misdiagnosed cases across the country. Twenty-five-year-old Air Force Staff Sgt. Dean Patrick Witt was one of them. Witt's family says his appendicitis was repeatedly misdiagnosed. After emergency surgery, Witt ended up brain dead. He later died. If we would have known back in '97, he would still be with us. Rodriguez's uncle, Dean FerraroPitts spoke with Military law expert Eugene Fidell, who is an attorney. "You talk to military families who believe they have a malpractice case against the military and you tell them what?" Pitts asked. "It's very very difficult when I get these calls, and I get these calls repeatedly over the course of a year. I probably get one ever couple months," Fidell said. "These people have to be made to understand that the law simply doesn't permit them to bring a lawsuit. They can bring a lawsuit, but their lawsuit will be a complete waste of time." Pitts showed Fidell a copy of Rodriguez's medical records. Military emails show that Sgt. Rodriguez's commanding officer, Lt. Col B.W. Barnhill, quotes a military nurse who called Rodriquez case "a major screw up." An email also reads: "He should have been immediately seen and the wart removed and we may not have gotten to where we are now." Pitts said to Fidell: "When he's in Iraq, the doctor says we'll have someone look at it when you get back to the states in five months." He shook his head. "If I had a comparable condition myself, or a member of my family had, and somebody would have said, 'sorry, no one can see you for five months,' I would have fired the doctor!" But Rodriguez didn't have that option. "No, he didn't. I hope members of Congress are watching this show," Fidell said. "The law has got to change." What's the military's response? "I'm not prepared to discuss the Feres Doctrine," said Navy Capt. William Roberts, the medical officer of the Marine Corps. Three weeks after CBS News' initial request, the Pentagon granted an interview with Roberts. But he wouldn't discuss the Feres Doctrine, or Rodriquez's case, saying it was "under investigation." As for how many cases like the sergeants? "I do not have those numbers at all," Roberts said. Is that because those numbers don't exist or he can't provide them? "I certainly don't know them," he said. "If Carmelo Rodriguez was a civilian, his family would have the right to seek damages," Pitts said. "I am sorry but I can't comment on the legality of that type of redress," he said. For the Rodriguez family - the best they can hope for is a final report? "They will get a final report if they ask for it," Roberts said. Because he was a Marine, Sgt. Carmelo Rodriquez received a military funeral. But, it was an honor his family paid for. As it turns out, Rodgriquez was forced into retirement due to his illness. Since he was retired, the military was no longer obligated to pay for his funeral. His son, Carmelo Rodriquez IV, was shown the gratitude of a grateful nation: An American flag - and 55 percent of his father's benefits. For those who would say these young men and women sign that line saying I turn my life over to the U.S. Military, hey willingly give up some of their rights? "George Washington said that when a person puts on the uniform, he does not cede being a citizen," Eugene Fidell said. Rodriguez was a citizen. But to his family and his friends, he was a so much more. Here's a link to find Congressional addresses: http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html

Yes, I think it's an outrage. Is this how they treat our soldiers?	67% (4 answers)
No, it wouldn't do any good. It never does.	17% (1 answers)
None of the above	17% (1 answers)
I'd rather call or write them.	0% (0 answers)
My country right or wrong. I'd never be critical.	0% (0 answers)
Undecided	0% (0 answers)