Russert is the Shit

I'm beginning to see how this whole presidential race will shake out (if Iowa is any indication). It'll come down to Huckabee vs. Obama. People who have been disenfranchised and are looking for a (big buzzword) change will be voting for Obama. People who consider themselves conservative, Christian-right, or simply cannot fathom the thought of a black man in the white house will vote for Huckabee. Here's a clip from Meet the Press that gravely concerns me:


I believe he's also the candidate that wants to treat AIDS as a pandemic in this country and segregate anyone with the disease. (Internment camps?) I like how Russert doesn't let him off the hook. If you can dig up the next chunk of the interview, he talks more about the criminalization of abortion and how that becomes the focus. Russert reminds him that if it's illegal, doctors could be arrested for performing the procedure. Huckabee doesn't think doctors should be arrested for it, but it should be illegal. (Huh?)

Quick jump in logic - if it's illegal, that's based on the concept that abortion is taking a life (murder). So, following his logic, consider a girl in the early stages of a difficult pregnancy where later complications could kill her. If it's up to Huckabee, she doesn't have the choice to save her own life, and if the doctor DOES perform the abortion, both he and the mother would be guilty of first degree (premeditated) murder. That is fundamentally wrong. There should be no rules that put any American in this kind of bind. Also, what about Americans that don't believe that an unborn zygote is yet a life? Or that don't believe in Huckabee's God? You get the point.

I also saw Ron Paul on Meet the Press and heard his platform for the first time. I like much of what he stands for, but it sounds like he's got little idea of how to put them into play. I don't think he stands a chance to win because a vote for him would be a vote that his total reform of government would work. (I'm not saying it wouldn't - just that people are not willing to risk it at this point.)

Russert asks the tough questions that I would like to ask. I think this one on one forum is much more enlightening than the debates because he holds each candidate accountable for their past and present ideals. How they handle the questions is equally as telling to me as what they actually say. Ron Paul, for example, started to fall apart at one point - makes me think that either he hasn't thought the particular issue all the way through, or he's easily flustered.