Arkansas Blog

Iowa's the Arkie of the north. I envy their early primary.

Martha,

I really appreciate the reporting here and what's to come. Sounds so exciting! Looks like your daddy raised ya right. :) Don't worry about those Obama folks. Like you said, we'll all be on the same team eventually anyway.

Keep up the good work, and have fun.

This is great. Keep it coming!

Marthat Brantley needs to become a newspaper editor.

Martha Brantley needs to become a newspaper editor.

Very nice report, Martha. Thank you. I know you are busy, but I hope you might enlighten us as to why beyond old friendships and familiarity you are working so hard for Hillary? Obviously your career at the moment places you in a situation which Clinton has always favored.. I mean your sector boomed after NAFTA while millions of Americans lost their jobs and now work for 20 to 30 percent of their 1970's and 80's income level.

Are you comfortable with our occupations and robber baron intentions in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are you comfortable with millions of dead people or refugees in our name at nearly a trillion dollar a year cost? You must be since Hillary has promised to maintain the situation at least through a first term.

Are you comfortable with our current criminal cabal? If not, why are you supporting someone who works with them instead of standing up and doing something now with the very power position she holds to demand we be a nation of laws not war criminals? Do you really think bad folks will just go away if we don't hold them to account?

Are you comfortable with the idea folks back home in AR now have an Anti Choice Dem Senator Pryor who Hillary raises money for his reelection?

What about the dismal infrastructure of American internet service? Surely you must understand how vitally important it is that every American have speedy access in todays world? Hillary is helping big telcos hold onto their monopoly. She did nothing to stand up with Senator Dodd this month against Bush and Big Telcos for the constitution and rule of law. Nothing.

Are you comfortable with a Senator who did not read intel info before voting to send our nation to war for no valid reason..now being our president?

If any of these types of things make you uncomfortable, what besides old loyalty makes you think Hillary is an agent of accountability or an agent of upholding an oath to the constitution now, since she never has before?

I believe Hillary would love to bring back M. Albright, God help us all! What about Joycelynn Elders? ****crickets****

I believe a vote for Hillary is as faith based by Dems as a vote for Huck is faith based by the fundies.

I hope you get a chance to meet Elizabeth Edwards while in Iowa. I hope you meet Dodd or Richardson, even Kucinich. And I hope you start reading Glenn Greenwald and Digby every day.

Despite our differences, I hope you have fun and stay warm, somehow.

Thanks so much for sharing your time in Iowa with all of us.

I would like to sign on to Eureka's post.

I would like to point out that while I don't agree with Eureka 100%, he makes some very valid observations and raises some very important questions that I hope Hillary will answer in the coming year. Like Reid and Pelosi caving in to the Bushies and the NY Times hiring Bill Kristal, too many of Hillary's votes leave those of us on the left bitterly frustrated.

I'd also like to point out that Eureka is showing us how to frame a discussion of our differences in a constructive manner. He is attacking the message and not the messenger. Democrats must hang together while we work to put forth the very best candidate for President. The entire future of the world hangs on our next vote. The Pryor Democrats must be flushed. As Neville Chamberlain proved, appeasing the dark forces doesn't work. Assuming we'll have an election, we must pick the very best person to lead us out of the Cheney-Bush ruination we're wallowing in.

I've never much liked Hillary personally, but I've never doubted her intelligence. I do make the faith based mistake of hoping she's more liberal than she currently appears. I'm also am guilty of thinking all will return to normal if Bill Clinton lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue again. And my 3rd wish is for Obama or Edwards to be our number 2 man for the next 4 to 8 years and number 1 for 8 more years after that. But by next November I will cast my vote for the 1 person I think, more than anyone else, will rescue America and put us back on the right track. The soul of America has been lost. We drift closer to the edge of extinction every day. If there is such a thing, one of these Democrats is our savior. We've about forgot how to do it, but this time we have to be smart.

Stay warm Martha, and safe.

martha i really think it is time for a female president. there are some things i disagree with hillary but i also think that if she is elected will put her above anything on the other side. i hope you stay warm and have a good time. i have a niece who spent the fall working in her washington office and came back with many good things to say. work hard.

Hi dad - you got my birthday right, but my job wrong. Close enough for horseshoes, though.

Eureka Springs, thank you for your message. I am about to pick someone up from the airport and head to Newton, so I don't have time for much, but I will say a couple things.

My support of Hillary comes down to effectiveness. I think, by a long shot, she'll get the most done. I have healthcare, in particular, in mind. I believe her plan can be funded. (I know some stuff about biotechnology, and I think it's a travesty that the FDA has done nothing to set standards for generic equivalency of biopharmaceuticals and manufacturing standards for biogenerics. If, as HRC proposes, we do create these rules, it will completely revolutionize the cost structure of providing pharmaceutical care.) It is also, unlike some other plans, truly universal, and I think it offers enough compromise on choice that it could actually get put in place. That's a real concern to me -- and after 1994, it obviously is for Hillary as well. She's been working on this for 30 years. I've spoken to a lot of doctors who think she knows more about healthcare than anybody out there. That means a lot.

As for the "criminal cabal" -- well, I applaud her ability to work with 'em. I wish she didn't have to -- I wish they'd all get voted out of office -- but like it or not, they're there, and nothing's gonna get done without compromising with at least a few of them. Not too idealistic, I know, but better 80% of something than 100% of nothing.

The war is hard for me. But I am legitimately unsure about the best way to get out - I think if someone could convince me that another candidate really had the answer, and he had a couple good generals and human rights advocates and NGOs on his side, it would have a great effect on me. I hate what we have done in Afghanistan as well as Iraq, and I want our occupation to end, but I also want civilians there to have shelter, food, electricity and running water, and freedom from violence. I don't know how to get that if we just leave. I don't know how to get it if we stay.

I believe Hillary won't bend on a woman's right to choose. I know she will prioritize education and energy efficiency. I know she isn't liberal enough for a lot of people I love -- but *America* isn't as liberal as the people I love. I want to support someone I know to be brilliant, tireless, experienced, and compassionate, things that I personally know her to be. I want to support someone that I think Americans will elect over whichever no-good Republican wins the nomination, and someone that the world's leaders will receive with respect. We Dems have a strong field, but I think Hillary has the edge on experience, effectiveness, and knowledge.

I'm sure loyalty plays a role. But I like to think there's more. Thank you for the questions and observations. They sure made me think. I will pose some of them to my fellow volunteers.

ARK. BLOG: She's always been a smart alec as well as smart. I'm well aware, of course, that Martha is on a risk arbitrage team at a hedge fund, but, striving for economy of words, it seemed a reasonable phrase to use to describe someone who takes other people's money and invests it in hopes of profit for an employer whose many investment activities inlcude mutual funds, etc. I am aware investment banking is a term of art for Manhattan hotshots and, not for the first time, I stand bloodied but unbowed.

As a former political hack for hire, now retired from active polhack employment at 35, I have to say it is nice to see a good, southern, female liberal to pick up the reigns and run with them.

Because of individuals like you, I don't drive myself nuts worrying about our future.

Nicely done....

Undecided, but leaning toward Hillary. Martha's post has helped nudge me a bit more in that direction.

"I would like to sign on to Eureka's post."--elwood.

Me too.

Because I'm voting for 'just about' anyone over a Republican, I try not to get too worked up about the individual Democratic candidates (saves the wear/tear). What's sad, however, is that I'd love to get excited about the chances of having our first female prez; but Hillary's senatorial record is a dismal thing. Bush would never have been able to take us into this based-on-lies war or trash the Constitution without our enabling Democrats...with Hillary leading the way. And, those are issues that I'm tired of being swept under the rug in the name of 'being too liberal.' What's so liberal about preserving the Constitution/habeas corpus, or making sure that war is waged as an absolute last resort and that presidents are accountable for their actions (whether they're intentional lies or just uh ohs)? It's not that Hillary isn't liberal enough, it's that she's bought the Republican line that anything non-war, non-torture, non-corporate is liberal, and that 'liberal' is a dirty word...which is bullshit.

If thirty months ago someone had bet me the D party would have a female and or African American candidate leading the pack...neither of whom I would be able to support in good conscious.. I would have lost the farm betting against them.

Nor would I have been prepared for this truly historic event.. Updates from Iowa, from and with fellow Arkansas citizens in real time on the internet.

This form of communication will be a our countries saving grace if we can keep it free and open and utilize it properly over the long haul.

MarthaB, thanks for the reply.

I know you are busy so I will just sort of touch on a few points..

I think what little i know about the health care proposals floating around suggest Hilary is planning on giving big pharma and insurance the main seats at the negotiating table.. Once again.. and the plan involves leaving each individual sorting out their payments and their level of care.much like the recent Medicaid pharma nightmare. They are part of the problem and clearly have been the major impediment to the solution. I just don't trust negotiating with them, period. It's time we the people/consumer (through the power of the peoples government) tell them what to do and how..not the other way around.

In re biotechnology.. hey, wont it be fantastic when any Dem takes office and science returns to the table! Wish I knew much more in that area and am thrilled you are both knowledgeable and a proponent of advancement.

Want universal health care like me? Kill Insurance companies! Kill the billing department as we know it..provide care first without a patient fearing loss of everything. Negotiating with big insurance and pharma terrorists is not the answer.

Like big lobby for telco, insurance, pharma, MIC etc... working with the criminal cabal.. gives these giants far to much control..The lobbyists write most of the laws these days. Edwards says no lobbyists will be allowed in the White House, is that so hard? If anything we should know by now working with them equals capitulation and failure for our countries people and its laws and revenue, its soul. And the DLC embodies capitulation more so than any other entity I can think of in modern history.

I mentioned yesterday Hillary hired Michael O'Hanlon for PNAC military advice.. Anyone who reads an hour a day can tell you everything O'Hanlon believes and stands for and that it has always been an egregious failure on every humane level. This is just one of a myriad of examples of her working with folks that I find to be stomach churning. She wont learn anything new from him.. just more constant push for active use of our military. The enemies she keeps close tend to get their way over and over again without a fight in opposition.

As for Senator Pryor...Hillary is bending on womens rights, right now. How does one work for a anti choice senator and expect me to believe they will appoint good judges or Attorneys General having done everything possible to make sure there are good senators in place to approve good nominations, which Pryor has proven time and again he is incapable of?

In terms of war, universal health care, the economy.. the people are far more progressive than the DLC is allowing for.. Unfortunately the hard questions are rarely asked and solid answers from candidates like Hillary are even fewer and further between.

Her smarts... are what bothers me because I think a lot of smart people, including many with a D by their name, have put our nation on the downward genocidal spiral we are in today, for the sake of power and greed alone.

We need more than smarts and hard work.. We need to fight, stand up and say.. get away from the table you miserable Grima Wormtongues.. you have always been wrong, had your chance, now go away.

And this is a life long pacifist speaking..)

The way I see it, for the people to get universal health care big pharma, big medical and big insurance are going to have to die. I know how radical that idea is.....even to me. But those big 3 are sucking the life blood out of America and Americans.

There are hardly any independent doctors any more. Most belong to medical groups, whatever you chose to call them. They are managed by bean counters always looking for the bottom line. Their charges our outrageous......the cost of a medical procedure sounds more like Michael Jackson on a shopping spree. The amazing thing is that big insurance will accept the inflated fees, of course passing the cost on to you.

When I visit my independent Vietnamese doctor, I can generally tell which pharmaceutical rep has visited him last. Out comes the samples and then the prescription.

It's why they hire cute 20-something women to hock their pills to old doctors with comb-overs....hey.....I'm happy if you screw the young rep....just don't screw me by prescribing whatever sugar-bottom is pushing. I know it would be worse if I went to a medical group.

The bottom line is those big 3 lavish our Congress with millions each year....to vote their way. So not only will we have to kill big pharma, big medical, and big insurance, but we'll have to kill Congress's addiction to the money and goodies they've gotten for years from the big 3.

I'm not sure any President can't fight successfully against such odds. Plus....how much big 3 loot do the candidates have rattling around in their pockets already? I fully expect to die alone under the bridge before America has universal health care.