My three criteria for a candidate in the 08 Pres. Primary.

[John Q. Citizen]

1. Opposes an American Empire supports a democratic republic. (This is my Iraq war criteria and beyond.)

2. Supports Single Payer fee for service universal health care.

3. Supports comprehensive election reform including but not limited to free, open, transparent election process.


It's a tall order. Who is my candidate?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Kucinich?

I know for sure he's anti war and anti-imperialistic US, and the other positions sound like something he would support.

[John Q. Citizen]

6. I just went to his site and I like what I see. Common wisdom says he

can't win, but the same folks who brought us that common wisdom also got us stranded in Iraq, ran up huge deficits for defense spending, and offer no good answers or idea on a multitude of issues. And this is the primary.

So Dennis is going onto my A tier list.

Thanks for the recommendation.

[illinoisprogressive]

2. check out obama's site. All three are known things including the fact

that he was a major sponsor for universal health care for kids under 18 here in Illinois and has talked about this subject alot.
he just sponsored a major bill on reform. it is something he is committed to.
The first is a given.
don't make up your mind till you go check for yourself and see all the legislation, which is alot, he has sponsored or co sponsored in the past 2 years.

[John Q. Citizen]

3. I'll check out Obama. Most in the party claim they are for universal

coverage, everyone says they favor "affordable health care, (even the Repos)but only a few support single payer fee for service, because it puts them on the wrong side of the private health insurance corporation vultures.

[blm]

4. Illinois didn't implement SCHP bill in the 90s?

I thought most states did.

[John Q. Citizen]

11. Well I went to his site, and can't find his support of Single Payer Health

Insurence, or anything on cleaning up the elections mess.

Did I miss something?

thanks

[capi888]

5. Wes Clark

Did you see his video from Alabama, last week...single payer universal health care!
Supports definatly democratic republic
Supports comprehensive election reform...
go to his site and check him out
www.securingamerica.com
his policies and videos are there...also on You Tube

[John Q. Citizen]

9. I have an old friend who's a total Clarkee so I'm favorably predisposed.

However, this is what he's says on the Wes pac site:

"Universal Access to Health Insurance

All Americans deserve excellent, affordable health care.

Provide tax credits for health insurance premiums.

Increase the value of health spending by employing the latest research
and technology to increase quality while reducing costs. "


So he fails my #2 criteria. As long as people allow the private insurence industry into the middle of health care dciions, we will always be paying too much and getting too little.

Everyone right now has universal access to health insurence, after all, as long as they have the bucks.


Wes goes on my B list.

[FrenchieCat]

16. Clark is changing his posture as we speak....and coming over

to singlepayer insurance as where we need to go.

What you are reading on the WesPAC site was his stance in 2003-2004, during the primaries. As he is not yet running, he has no new policy papers.....although he has progressed in his view....and has articulated publicly. Three years have gone by the the health care system in this country is at an all time mess. Wesley Clark has been studying the issue and is making needed adjustment to his platform.

Considering that he was a "New" candidate with not a lot of time to research some of the policies areas in late 2003, the fact that he is comtemplating a different approach means that not only is he smart, but he is "open-minded" and flexible toward progress.

I met with him on Thursday and this issue is one that was discussed at length.

Here's an article from Friday about his current stance:

Well, it turns out one prominent Democrat did just that in a speech about a year ago, only we didn't know it (even though it generated a lot of buzz online). As pradeep points out in his DailyKos diary, 1. Wesley Clark endorsed moving towards a single-payer model during a 2006 speech to the New America Foundation . (Thanks to fellow Kos health care diarist DrSteveB for the tip.)

Here's the key passage:
No child in America should grow up without regular medical check-ups and care - or regular exercise and physical fitness - and every adult should be provided access to the kinds of diagnostic testing and preventive treatments which can slow the onset of aging diseases like diabetes, atherosclerosis, and Alzheimer's. Additional insurance coverage should be directed to catastrophic illness and injuries, the kind that wreck families and shatter productive lives. And inevitably this will mean transitioning over time from a work place centered, private payer system toward greater reliance on some form of single-payer system to ease administrative burdens and reduce costs. (Emphasis mine.)

The fact that Clark used the term "single-payer" seems deliberate -- and, if so, significant. True, Clark crafted his language carefully, to suggest "moving towards" a single-payer system rather than impelmenting one right away. But that's a position many single-payer advocates hold. Keep in mind, also, that Clark, like most of the 2004 presidential field, had during his campaign contented himself with more incremental measures (although his plan, like those of his rivals, was certainly a good one as incremental measures go).
-Jonathan Cohn
http://www.tnr.com/blog/theplank?pid=72899

Other source on issue in RE: Clark
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/1/19/81228/5453?detail=f
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uidxlw64PTg&NR

[jen4clark]

21. dupe

n/t

[jen4clark]

22. Hi old friend!!

:pals:

This is a site you should bookmark and check on frequently to keep up with Clark. Not gonna find it via Corpress.

http://www.rapidfire-silverbullets.com/

[John Q. Citizen]

25. Done good buddy!

[mike_c]

7. Dennis Kucinich....

eom

[John Q. Citizen]

12. See post #6 n/t

[Pithy Cherub]

8. Wes Clark

Wes gave testimony on why iraq was a bad idea in 2002 before the House Armed services Committee. He was strong enough to support Michael Moore in free speech in opposition of the invasion becoming Michael moore's candidate of choice for president. Wes was on The Daily Show proudly proclaiming his 4 stars AND that he was a proud Liberal when everyone was running from that label.

Single payer is Wes Clark's position and he believes healthcare is part of national security.

Wes took so many documents and things from bloggers about election reform because he was concerned, interested and was seeking appropriate remedies.

Team Wes!:patriot:

[John Q. Citizen]

10. Do you have a link to his single payer position? I was at his Wespac site and

didn't see that. Thanks.

[Pithy Cherub]

13. This is Wes's response to the 2006 SOTU

that covers your criterion. Wes mentions what has to happen to the current health care system and please note this is a year ago so he's not coming lately to this position.
http://securingamerica.com/node/560

[capi888]

14. Here is the Video where he discribes his single payer

This video, is from You Tube..
its on the Front Page but click the button..last week he said this

http://securingamerica.com/

[madmunchie]

15. How about the wisdom of knowing that going into Iraq was a mistake

BEFORE the vote? That is a big one for me.

[John Q. Citizen]

18. Well i knew it was a mistake. However, I think it can be argued that the

vote was nessesary to convince Hussain to let in the arms inpectors, and I actually had hopes that as a result of that, the genocidal sanctions could be lifted, if, as I suspected, the inspectors found no WMD and no capability.

So from that point of view alone I could forgive the IWR vote. It was sure to pass with the known Repos and our fathrest right wing Democrats supporting it anyway, so even if more pricipled people had made a principled stand, it would have been symbolic instead of crutial.

What I can't abide are the Dem Congress folks who were dying to send others to die for nothing.

[madmunchie]

19. The inspectors were IN IRAQ, Bush ordered them out shortly before we started bombing.

[John Q. Citizen]

23. The vote was taken prior to Saddam accepting the UN inspectors back. Then

after the vote the inspectors went to Iraq and started searching and of course finding nothing. When they didn't find what wasn't there, bush pulled them out, invaded, and occupied.

The vote occured before the UN inspectors went in.

[Hippo_Tron]

17. Any healthcare reform is unrealistic until we eliminate lobbyist and PAC contributions

I'm with you on #1. #2 for me would be comprehensive campaign finance reform so that lobbyists and PACs are forbidden from contributing to political candidates. Public financing should be available for all federal races.

Once politicians aren't financially beholden to corporate interests, they will not be so inclined to fight bills that challenge their power.

[jen4clark]

20. Clark!

But then you knew that!

:hi:

#1 - America's Virtual Empire

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0311.clark.html

#1a - Opposed invading Iraq and spelled out exactly what would happen if we did. Senators Wellstone, Kennedy and others voted no on the IWR in part due to Clark's testimony before the HASC in Sept. 2002.
http://www.rapidfire-silverbullets.com/2006/12/what_wes_clark_said_prior_to_t.html


#2 - Wes Clark Wants Single Payer Health Care
http://www.awesclarkdemocrat.com/2006/01/wes_clark_wants_single_payer_h.htm


#3 - Wes Clark did an entire series on voting irregularities
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3068004&mesg_id=3068085

[John Q. Citizen]

24. Ok Jen, he's on my A list.

:toast:

[jen4clark]

26. John Q.

Did you see the American Son video back in '04? I know I'm prejudiced and all, but ya gotta see it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKchifzp2Po

There's a bunch of Clark videos by wkcmedia at You Tube. I don't know how to link it but you can do a search there.

And Frenchie Cat is a wealth of information (with links) to everything on Clark. Anything you can think of that you'd like to know about him, just ask! I sort of follow her around picking up links and information! LOL!! Thanks, Frenchie Cat!!

[John Q. Citizen]

27. I'll watch it, thanks!

[Apollo11]

28. It's gotta be Gore !!

I see everything that is going on right now as creating a "Perfect Storm" for Al Gore.

Hillary has been forced to show her hand a full 12 months before the start of the primaries!!

This means people have a full 12 months to ask Hillary about her position on Iraq, and why has she been so supportive of the illegitimate (p)Resident of the Whitehouse these past 5 years ....

People also have time to get tired of Hillary's campaign. What we might call "Hillary fatigue".

The field is getting very crowded and it will be tough for candidates to gain traction.

I like and respect both Obama and (especially) Edwards. But the fact is they are both relatively inexperienced and unqualified if you compare them to Al Gore. Obama has been 2 years in the Senate and Edwards was 6 years (but the last 2 of those he was concentrating on the 2004 campaign).

I respect the fact that Edwards has come clean about the situation in Iraq, and has admitted he was wrong to vote for the IWR. But I respect much MORE the fact that Gore spoke out agains the Bu$h-Cheney-Rumsfeld policy on Iraq from the beginning - in speeches going back to 2002 - insisting on giving the UN inspectors more time to carry out their mission and maintaining a broad international consensus.

There is no hurry for Gore to enter the race for 2008. He is doing a great job raising public awareness about the climate crisis (speaking to more than 12000 people in Boise today!). He is also busy working on his next book "The Assault on Reason" - to be published in May (see article below).

Depending on how things pan out, and the reaction to his forthcoming book, Gore can consider his situation over the summer and announce his decision sometime in the fall.

Unless and until Gore endorses another candidate, we have to assume that he is keeping his options open. So it is too soon for those of us who prefer Gore to switch our allegiance.

The Washington Post -- Sunday, September 17, 2006

Gore's 2008 Plans May Become Clearer After Release of Book

By John F. Harris and Shailagh Murray

Although saying he has no plans to run for president in 2008, former vice president Al Gore has nonetheless left the door ever so slightly ajar. It's a good bet that door will swing open a good bit wider come next May.

That is when Gore is scheduled to publish his next book. With no fanfare, he signed a few weeks ago with Penguin Press to write "The Assault on Reason."

As described by editor Scott Moyers, the book is a meditation on how "the public arena has grown more hostile to reason," and how solving problems such as global warming is impeded by a political culture with a pervasive "unwillingness to let facts drive decisions."

While that may sound abstract, both the subject matter and the timing of the release have an unmistakable subtext. In 2004, Gore cheered liberals when he lashed at President Bush for allegedly falling captive to right-wing special interests and taking flight from "fact-based analysis." If the book strikes a chord, it will produce new momentum for Gore to make another bid for the White House, presumably fueled in large part by anti-Iraq-war Democrats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600877.html

Let's all find ways to show our support for Al Gore!

In Gore We Trust :)
www.algore.com
www.algore.org
www.draftgore.com - Sign the petition!
www.draftgore2008.org
www.patriotsforgore.com

[John Q. Citizen]

29. I hope he runs. He would make my A list. n/t