A new Pew Research poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton leading the Democratic presidential race with 40%, followed by Sen. Barack Obama at 21%, Al Gore at 12% and John Edwards at 11%.
On the Republican side, Rudy Giuliani leads with 28%, followed by Fred Thompson at 17%, Sen. John McCain at 16% and Mitt Romney at 10%.Key findings:
"Clinton has doubled her margin over Obama since the last Pew Research Center poll in April, making gains among younger voters and Democratic-leaning independents who have been a source of strength for Obama. Giuliani and McCain have seen their support fall since April, but Thompson has nearly doubled his strength. Fifty-three percent of Republicans say they want the party's nominee to take a different direction on Iraq than President Bush."
Hillary and Obama are squaring off this week over nuclear weapons. Obama said yesterday that we should pull troops out of Iraq and stick them in Afghanistan and Pakistan to deal with Al-Qaeda. Looks like someone is trying to appear more hawkish and more experienced than he actually is.
1 comment:
Kondracke from Roll Call on Obama's foreign policy speech:
"naive and irresponsible. It sounds like the vision of a freshman Senator. Or, possibly, a Texas governor with no foreign policy experience" (8/2).
Also, I REALLY REALLY REALLY, agree with this statement:
Kondracke, on FNC: "If you were the President of United States, and you knew that Osama bin Laden was in a certain place, and you couldn't get Musharraf to do something about it, you very well might order a commando raid, or a pinpoint bombing, to do something. But to announce, you are a candidate, up front, we do not respect the sovereignty of a allied country that we are trying to get to do the right thing, and we are going to announce right now that we are going to go violate that country's sovereignty, whatever the consequences might be for that leader, Musharraf, is totally irresponsible" ("Special Report," 8/1). From The Hotline
Also, from the NYPost today,
"Fleshed out in yesterday's speech, Obama's foreign policy is shaping up to be a "talk to your enemies, invade your friends" approach to American relations abroad."
Bureau Chief called it, "President Bush on steroids."
This naivety and politicking on Obama's part is scary. It's scary because the people he has writing this policy are likely to have actual influence if he gets the White House. Does it frighten anyone else that he's willing to bomb one of the few Muslim allies we have? His lack of experience, especially in foreign policy, really shows on this point. Obama just calculated this response, and what a terrible one at that. He's scaring liberals, and peace activists, whom he should try to maintain the support, from his "didn't support the Iraq war from the start" rhetoric.
Instead, I think, and Kevin will probably agree, that Richardson probably has some of the most relevant and interesting insight on this topic, having been an ambassador. The guy's met with Saddam Hussein AND Fidel Castro before. I agree with Richardson's statements on tough diplomacy with Musharraf with military as a last resort. I think America's a little tired of bombs and guns.
However, what I love most is that Hillary, per usual, has risen above the fray and not directly responded to what is clearly freshmen politics. Her accepting but shrewd view on foreign policy just continues to highlight her experience as derived from the struggle and difficult decisions she's encountered not only in the Senate, but particularly the ones she watched her own husband face during his presidency.
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