As a Florida Democrat, my vote in the primary election on January 29, 2008, would not count. This is the official word from the national Democratic Party. All Florida Democrats are effectively disenfranchised in the 2008 Presidential primary, and that’s that. The Republican Party has stripped Florida of half its convention delegates, which apparently means that in Republican-land we Florida people are only half as worthy as voters elsewhere. But half a vote is still better than none, right?
After the January 29 primary I’ll go back to being an “unaffiliated” voter, a group whose number is increasing in Florida faster than either Republicans or Democrats (which might tell you something about the growing contempt here for the leaders of both major political parties).
If you are a Florida resident who wants to make the same (hopefully temporary) switch to the Republican Party that I made this morning, you need to do it before January 1 (effectively, by the end of this week) for your vote to count in the primary. I’m not saying you *should* do this, just that if you *want* to do it, you don’t have a lot of time to waste.
Worse, some of the secular libertarians who support him need to deal with the fact that he’s not big on that silly old church/state separation thing, either — or at least he wasn’t back in 2003 when he wrote a Limbaugh-like screed titled The War on Religion. And a few extra-astute Paul followers may even note, to their dismay, that Rep. Paul isn’t talking about religion in general here, just Christianity.
Oh, well. A number of religions (including Christianity) warn about idols with feet of clay. It looks like Ron Paul falls into that category. Sorry, Ron Paul supporters. I’d hoped he was different, too.
Naturally, you’ll want to go to Linux.com to see the story links Lisa mentions. Besides that, this is a pretty good example of how to make a “talking head” video interesting enough to watch for over four minutes, which isn’t the easiest task in the world.
In this video she talks about being at the debate and about her aspiration, and breifly interviews Chris Nandor. Elsewhere, Stacie made the best spin room video from the debate. She should have called it, "Where’s Chuck Norris?" but she didn’t. It was still a great premise; she obviously agrees with me that Chuck Norris, not any of the candidates, "won" the debate.
I’ve decided that if someone wears more makeup on-camera than to go to the supermarket, he or she is an actor or “TV personality,” not a reporter, and that any show featuring that person is, therefore, entertainment instead of news. I think a lot of people instinctively realize that special TV lighting and makeup create false images, and that this is a major reason so many of us have trouble taking TV ‘news’ seriously.
The most popular person in the ‘Spin Room’ (open interview area) after the show was broadcast wasn’t any of the candidates. It was Chuck Norris, who was there to boost his friend Mike Huckabee. Chris ‘Pudge’ Nandor didn’t draw as much attention as Chuck, but he got a good amount — and since he has a beard, just like Chuck, he obviously deserved it, and then some!
I was at the GOP debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, with my video camera in hand, happily chatting with Chuck Norris (yes, that Chuck Norris) and Fred Thompson’s lovely trophy wife, Jeri, when Gen. Kerr happened by. Naturally, I shoved my vidcam in his face and asked him a couple of questions — including, “Which Republican candidate do you support?” Watch the video to learn the answer…
