The Young American

Archive for the ‘Media’ Category

Barack Obama Slowly Fading Away

By Daniel Solis in Barack Obama, Democrats, Election 2008, GLBT Rights, Hillary Clinton, Media on October 31, 2007

Barack Obama has not seen good times lately. The Hillary machine continues to surpass him in the polls, averaging a 30 point lead in the national polls. Obama supporters might argue that in state polls such as in Iowa, those generally considered to matter the most, he has a closer edge on Hillary. Obama does most definitely have the support of an overwhelming group of young first time voters. But in the past few weeks, his campaign has made irreversible gaffes that could cost him the nomination.

Hillary has always been the front runner for the Democratic nomination. When Democrats think of the name ‘Clinton’ in elected politics, it provokes a sense of nostalgia that reminds them of the 1990s and a time of prosperity, and for the most part, peace. If Barack Obama wants to revive a handle on the nomination, he must be out there and talking about what he actually wants to do. His campaign has been great at putting out universal statements such as “Hope” and “Healing” the nation. Obama is worried about bringing the nation together, but what are his actual plans for doing that?

Lately, Barack has been missing on television. When he does get mentioned nowadays, it’s usually part of some cable news packaged story on Hillary Clinton. What he has been doing is appearing on light television shows such as Tyra Banks, Ellen Degeneres, Jay Leno, and David Letterman. He needs to be on Meet the Press or Hardball clearly stating what he wants to do, how and why he wants to bring the nation together to recover from the disastrous effects of the Bush administration.

And with the campaign releasing a memo about how “happy” gays are okay, accompanied by “ex-gay” Donnie McClurkin at an Obama fundraiser, Barack Obama is slow fading away to losing the nomination.

Wed. October 10th Live Podcast

By Daniel Solis in Interviews, Live Podcast, Media on October 10, 2007

Frank Rich, NY Times Columnist and author of “The Greatest Story Ever Sold”. Co-hosted by Jeff Pritchard, Dan Solis, and Henry Wincen of 10 Minute Blitz fame.

[audio:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ThinkYouth/2007/10/10/ny-times-columnist-and-author-frank-rich.mp3]

[Download MP3]

Money Talks: Where do the candidates get it from, and does it matter?

By Daniel Solis in Campaign Donations, Chris Dodd, Democrats, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Media, Republicans, Right-Wing Bias, Rudy Giuliani on August 3, 2007

Earlier this week it was reported that Hillary Clinton’s campaign received over $20,000 in donations from News Corp, the company owned by the same man who owns Fox News, Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch and his son personally donated to Clinton’s presidential campaign as well.

Is News Corp donating to Clinton’s campaign in hopes that she’ll get the nomination? Then that means Fox News would try to smear her during the general election. In their eyes, there is no easier target than Hillary Clinton. Well, Hillary has never lost an election, and I don’t think she plans to. She has successfully weathered smear campaigns before, and she could do it again. But the enemy, Fox News, could be harder, as it is the most viewed cable news network.

That said, Senators and Democratic presidential candidates Chris Dodd and Barack Obama have also received large donations from a News Corp top executive, Peter Chernin. John Edwards was not happy about this, and he asked them to return the money, citing Fox News’ right-wing bias.

So who is Fox News’ real candidate? Rudy Giuliani. And earlier this week it was reported that he has extremely close ties to the man who is in charge of Fox News, Roger Ailes. Ailes had previously worked on a Giuliani mayoral campaign in the past. Needless to say, they are begging for a Clinton vs. Giuliani general election. The whole thing reminds me of the Republicans donating to Ralph Nader in hopes of stealing votes away from the Democratic candidate.

Does it really matter where the candidates get their money from? I’m sure there are many people donating to candidates that they don’t completely agree with on the issues. Earlier this month there was a Republican scuffle between Tom Tancredo and Sam Brownback. It was over donations given to the Tancredo campaign by a pro-choice contributer with close ties to Planned Parenthood, a pro-choice organization. Both Brownback and Tancredo run on pro-life positions, and Brownback demanded the donations to Tancredo’s campaign be returned. Tancredo declined saying that the contribution did not reflect his own view on the issue.

Obama also announced that he will not be accepting money from PACs, (Political Action Committees). I just don’t think it could hurt a campaign for accepting PAC donations, especially if the PAC agrees with the candidate on the issues, and well if they are a progressive PAC.

Whether or not you agree with where the money comes from, money powers this race. Money is a message. Money gets out the message. It can buy the White House, it can lose the White House. If campaigns were publicly financed, then maybe we would spend more time on the real issues. Many candidates have promised that once they get elected to office, they will make campaign financing changes, but they have an election to buy first.

The Republicans are scared of the YouTube debate…

By Daniel Solis in Election 2008, Media, Primary Debates, Republicans on July 28, 2007

070727_gop_youtube.jpgand in turn the voting youth of America. They are scared to answer questions on the War in Iraq, climate change, healthcare, stem cell research, and civil rights. Why? Because they are, for the most part, on the wrong side of every issue.

Only Ron Paul and John McCain have signed on to the CNN/YouTube debate scheduled for September 17th in Florida. Both are idiots. Read the rest of this entry »

CNN-YouTube Debate Analysis

By Daniel Solis in Democrats, Election 2008, Media, Primary Debates on July 24, 2007

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The CNN-YouTUbe debates this past Monday proved to be quite historic. All candidates did fine. Their eyes looked tired after weeks of non-stop campaiging. I guess they shouldn’t have started so early. I was looking forward to the “YouTube style” videos from the candidates. They turned out to be 30 second free campaign ads.
Read the rest of this entry »