Tyler Adair

national- Gov. Bill Richardson Drops

http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/richardson-reportedly-ends-2008-bid/20080109205309990001

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has ended his run for the White House with two fourth place primaries. It is expected that it wasn’t his ideas or decisions on issues was what lost him the race, but the fact he doesn’t have the star power of Clinton, Obama, and Edwards didn’t give him the chance to move to the top. Trends showed that if he’d had more time, and probably more money, he would have came in closer to the top. But he’s calling it quits and is expected to speak sometime Thursday afternoon. However, a spoksmen for Richardson hinted at another bid for the presidency is in the Governors future.

Personally, I don’t know very much about Bill Richardson. So me commenting on whether his lack of support is a good or bad thing for America is impossible to do, the thing I see as important in this story is to see where his support goes. With each candidate that falls off, more support has to go to one of the front runners and just in watching the news I think that most of the lower candidates votes may go to Obama. This said I think Clinton should expect to gain more dems over or forget about winning, because when Edwards drops out I’m pretty sure those supporters will head to Obama as well.


national- Polls Get It Wrong

http://youdecide08.foxnews.com/2008/01/09/good-night-for-clinton-but-not-so-good-for-pollsters-pundits/

Polls are not always right. This statement was resounding throughout America on Tuesday as the results of the New Hampshire primary came in showing that, not Barack Obama, but Hillary Clinton had won. This was a marjor surprise to the media as the been viewing and reporting polls which showed Obama up by 10%-15% over Clinton. It was also a surprise for Clinton, who campaign was simply hoping that they came out of New Hampshire losing by under 10%. Some credit Hillarys emotional moment, some credit her experience, whatever it was it certainly put the Clinton campaign back on their feet after tons of people said this whole election was Obamas.

I couln’t believe it when I turned the news on Tuesday night. And, not that I like Hillary for President or anything but I was kind of proud of a candidate for turning around what seemed to be an inevitable loss. While I think that all the things mentioned above pushed Hillary to a victory, I think that the candidates who win in Iowa automatically have a battle to climb in New Hampshire because so many interviews with New Hampshire voters pointed out they are not Iowa and arn’t going to vote based off of the way Iowa voted.


international- Iranian boats speed to US naval ships.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,321227,00.html

Wednesday the navy released video of Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats speeding at 60 mph towards US ships in the Persian Gulf. Also an audio clip was released which reportedly says the Iranian guards threatened “we’re going to blow you up.” The ships did not fire any thing at the boats and the Iranian government is calling the whole thing a conspiracy saying they only interaction was their men asking for identification and then simply passing into the gulf with no trouble. An official Iranian guard said that the US fabricated both the tape and the audio; the US Defense Department of course refutes that claim. This upset, however, happens just as Bush is heading over to the mid-east to call attention to the Iranian influence on the middle east.

As I was watching Hannity and Combs for a bit I thought three ideas were kind of stood out: (1) that we were lucky those weren’t intending on actually setting off a bomb because without firing at them many US soldier’s lives could have been lost, (2) that we had total right to fire on those boats for coming so close for no purpose and sending messages like they did, and (3) that Combs, the liberal host, said it would have been the US’s fault if we would have fired on those boats and lives were lost. I think these are all interesting because it seems kind of risky not firing on the boast. I totally agree we would have been just ion firing on the boats. And finally I have affirmed my beliefes that liberals are nuts! It would be OUR fault if we had fired on boats that said “we’re going to blow you up”? what an odd way of thinking things through…


international- Iraq

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,321408,00.html

In an operation to kill or push out insurgents on Wednesday went successfully and with less resistance than US forces had planned there being. The operation was in Baghdad and targeted extremist and Al-Quaida members in northern Baghdad. 3 US soldiers died in the combat and it is estimated that 20-30 insurgents were killed and that many have been forced out by recent US operations. In this are of Baghdad there are estimated 24,000 US troops, 50,000 Iraqi troops, and 80,000 police. The high number of soldiers has helped to secure Baghdad and has made the city accessible to social workers who are helping rebuild schools, sewer lines, pave roads, and build portable water movers. Commanders in Iraq feel confident and are planning on pushing north where most radicals are hiding out. One problem the forces say they are having is the fact that right now Iraqi soldiers only have detectable walkie-talkies and cell phones, which is making communication difficult.

Two thing have happened in Iraq in recent past: (1) more victory for the US; less soldier casualties, more Iraqi soldiers and police officers, and more successful operations; and (2) it has somehow fallen off the newscasts and front pages. I think it is horrible that we receive our news from people who seem to be anti-American. Why was this story (which happened today) hidden on the subheadlines on the FOX website, and not reported at all on the local or even national news I saw last night. Is it that we as Americans don’t care about good news and all we want is graphic violence and negativity or is it that the media doesn’t find it in their agenda to put in a good report about Iraq. And some Dem. Candidates want us out of the