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Colleen's thoughts on writing, directing and coaching, and her unique take on life itself!

Friday, January 04, 2008

Unmentioned winners & losers in Iowa

Winners: us.

The US.

The United States of America.

92% white, rural, middle class, mostly evangelical, voters turned out en masse for the Democrat/progressive candidates, giving the majority of their votes to a black candidate promising change - Barack Obama. Promising a rebuke and elimination of the Rove-Bush-Cheney dynasty and all it has stood for and wrought on this nation for the past seven years.

It was as if Iowa voters said, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? You are outta here!"

Losers: Corporate media, FOX news and others who covered the campaign as politics and issues as usual.

They barely mentioned John Edwards, but he still came in second place, beating Hillary Clinton. According to "mainstream media," the fight for the presidential candidate nominee is just a battle between Hillary and Barack. According to "mainstream media," especially FOX, Republicans have much stronger support than they actually do.

Voters clearly made their way to alternative sources of information to educate themselves about the candidates and issues rather than commerical media because they made their choices based on what they researched and knew and interviewed or whom they saw debate, rather than what they were told by formerly reliable sources. This is probably a reflection of the high turnout of younger voters participating in the process.

Knowing it was one of the few times he would have access to national media, John Edwards used his TV-aired Iowa voters' response speech time to elucidate why he is running and the people for whom he wants to fight and change "business as usual."

Clinton's speech was both generous and conciliatory, showing her geniality in the face of a shocking defeat. Unlike Edwards and Obama, however, her speech was partisan, emphasizing her assurance that the next president will be a Democrat and that the nation will be run by Democrats by the end of the year.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a genial, personable, affable and articulate candidate won the Republican straw vote in Iowa - upsetting the politics as usual multi-millionaire former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. His speech was conciliatory, positive and inclusive - making change and unity the key issues.

Huckabee is a fundamentalist Christian, a former Baptist minister who does not believe in evolution and certain science, but does believe the Bible is literally the truth.

The message was clear: Iowa voters want significant change from the Rove-Bush-Cheney policies and mentality. Unfortunately, coming in to change the mess they've made of our economy, military, foreign policies, neglected infrastructure, health and domestic issues will be a herculean and overwhelming task by whoever takes residence next at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Meanwhile, FOX and right-wing radio talk stations have had their notice - When you don't tell the truth but care only about spinning everything to serve your biases, people will stop believing you (when they may have years ago) and will in fact seek out other, more trustworthy information sources.

Progressive radio stations are attempting to get the truth out; the moment they slip into the self-serving ego trip taken by so many right wing radio chat show hosts? They too, will lose their credibility.

We'll have to remind them of that if they make that fatal mistake.

Meanwhile - another win has been gained by independent voters nation-wide. Watch for New York City Michael Bloomberg to step in as an independent candidate if the candidates don't specifically outline how they will put the country back on track to serve the national interest - not the partisan, personal, financial or special interests - just one byproduct of the Rove-Bush-Cheney dynasty.

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