Hi Nina,

It sounds strange but due to the power and the influence your government has in the world I would like to also put my point of view across.

I am a Kiwi (from New Zealand), and I would urge all those that can vote in the USA to put into government someone who does not feel that the world is their playground.

We are on the other side of the world but looking at it from where we are, I think the president should worry more about the issues in his own country before any other country.

Let the UN do that job as was the original reason to set that up..

OK, will hop off my soap box now.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent… hehe

Hope u have a great day Nina.

kisses and hugs

It’s amazing that you can find healthy debate and the expression of alternative ideas a threat to the integrity of the Democratic party. Did you also think it was our patriotic duty to remain silent after 9/11 and stand by as Bush consolidated power in the executive and began undermining our civil liberties?

If you’d like to talk about the issues, fine. If you’re parroting the latest spin coming out of the Obama campaign… that’s fine, too. It’s certainly none of my business to meddle with people’s beliefs.

It simply seems that, much like Mr. Obama, our author lacks substance in her political opinions.

Let’s not, as Democrats, start believing that our own discourse is so much superior to that of the Republicans. If you want to see authoritarianism on display, we don’t need to look any further than statements like “get the fuck out of the race now.”

Nina - I was a regular reader of your blog because of one good product review. Now that I see your expertise lies exclusively with sex toys, I’ll have to unsubscribe. Best of luck to you in the future.

Stellar,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I think it’s interesting to hear from non-Americans about how this country is perceived by the rest of the world.

Tho I could spend all day talking about geopolitics (my degree is in Political Science and I have a bit of a past in that arena too ;) )

There are certain things I find curious — I mean, as an American citizen, with a Father with a Navy background, we were raised with certain views about our own country — but as I got older I began to explore my own international heritage and began to question the notion of blind patriotism. What really concerns me as an American is this idea that our government can dictate terms to the world. We need a foreign policy and a president who “gets” that America must be part of the world community, not the world’s bully — which is sadly what we’ve become. I think Barack Obama represents that opportunity.

I would also strongly agree with the notion that the next American president needs to address the far more pressing and significant domestic issues we face here. We have serious deficiencies with respect to health-care, education, poverty, economic issues, and national security with respect to how decimated our National Guard/Military has become due to our un-necessary excursion in Iraq.

All of these issues need to be confronted by the next American President before we even think about picking a fight in a part of the world where we don’t belong. As a mother, I’m far more worried about health-care and education and the economy than what’s going on in the Middle East. Sadly, we have been saddled with an administration and president which has guarded the interests of Saudi Arabia and the associated American oil conglomerates rather than the needs of the American people. That’s no conspiracy theory — if there wasn’t oil under those sands in Iraq, we wouldn’t give a shit what happened there. That’s just the way it is.

I don’t mind the soap box! Hey, I write a blog, I get on the soap box every day! lmao!

The UN is a great idea in concept which unfortunately hasn’t lived up to the promise, for a lot of reasons, mostly because nations and governments tend to be more self-interested rather than being of a mind to do the right thing for everyone in the world. Money and power still rule the day, and sadly, the frailties of humanity will still stand in the way of progress for many years to come, but then again, there is Hope.

Thanks,

xoxo,
nina

L.H.,

Huh. Well, without questioning which side of this you’re truly coming from, let me simply say this;

I know three things to be fact.

1) Hillary Clinton has no mathematical way to win the nomination with the states left to hold either primaries or caucuses. She’s currently 150+ pledged delegates behind Obama, she’s won 1/2 of the states Obama has, and she’s well behind in the cumulative popular vote. Throw in Mississippi today, and Obama looks to extend his delegate, state and vote lead. The only way she gets the nomination is if she convinces enough super-delegates to back her in Denver, which will split the Democratic Party and cost the Democrats the White House — especially if Barack Obama goes into Denver as he’s expected to with more pledged delegates, more states won, and more of the cumulative popular vote. If the super delegates reverse the will of the voters, it will be a disaster for the Democrats. I think you need to check your history here and research 1968 — another election the Democrats blew with a similar storyline which ended up putting Richard Nixon in the White House.

2) Hillary Clinton is pursuing a scorched earth, throw the kitchen sink strategy at Barack Obama which is dragging the both of them down in national polls, as well as dragging every other Democrat down. She is not, as you’ve tried to imply, engaging in any sort of “healthy debate” about ideas, because on points they’re more or less exactly the same on the issues, so this is about ego and personality now. This nuclear strategy against Barack Obama is giving John McCain and the Republicans ammunition to use in the general election. Making your opponent so bloody because your ego can’t deal with reality does not help Democrats. So, I’m not of the opinion that this is a good thing — see number one.

3) Hillary Clinton’s “No Democrat can be President but me” attitude is bad for the party and bad for the country. Her inconsistent message and multiple personality disorder on the campaign trail makes her seem more like Sibyl than a potential leader of the free world. And also take into account that she’s trying to morph being married to the President of the United States as somehow equating to “experience” is actually pretty silly, especially since she didn’t even have any kind of security clearance or credentials to engage in any kind of foreign policy during those years. So, tagging along with Bill Clinton with respect to the Belfast Accords and holding a First Lady Tea doesn’t equate to bringing peace to Northern Ireland. Sorry, it just doesn’t.

All things considered; Hillary Clinton has just about the same amount of foreign policy experience as Barack Obama does — and if you examine the question of experience as Time magazine recently did, the conclusion was that the most successful presidents didn’t require this so called “experience” that the former First Lady is trying to sell here. The fact is, the only way you get the experience of being President is by being President. The issue then comes down to character and judgment… and it would seem that the majority of Democratic voters and caucus-attendees believe Barack Obama is a better choice.

If you bothered to check the demographics of how this primary contest is breaking, Barack Obama has a far broader consensus among Democrats and has a better chance of winning Independents and crossover Republicans, and of beating John McCain in November. Hillary Clinton’s negatives have never broken the 50% threshold, and she’s a divisive figure who will unite Republicans. These things are facts, not the latest “spin” out of the Obama campaign. And be so good to tell me if you will, how claiming that Barack Obama isn’t ready to be president, but he’d be a great VP choice for her, actually works for the Democrats? And what foreign policy trump card does Hillary hold here that Obama doesn’t? — see numbers one and two.

I’m not sure what to make of the rest of your comment and remarks, so rather than try to parse your thought process and try and figure out what 9/11, civil liberties, or my opinion of the stability or competency of John McCain — a candidate that the Republicans don’t even want I might add — and the rest of that disjointed outburst which has nothing remotely to do with my thought of the moment means…. I’ll simply wish you well and encourage you to read someplace that doesn’t remotely challenge the comfortable insular world view you’ve apparently constructed for yourself since my thoughts and opinions seem to frighten you.

I stand by my statement and my opinion that Hillary Clinton should get out of the race now for the good of the Democratic Party before she does it more damage. That isn’t authoritarian… it’s a smart and practical opinion formed by looking at the facts and by being grounded in reality.

Tho, I don’t recall ever claiming to be an expert on anything — I’m just a chick with a blog — but if the only reason you read here was because of one sex toy review, well, I wouldn’t be so quick to imply that I’m the one who is small minded or lacking substance.

I may be a lot of things, but that certainly isn’t one of them.

Good luck.

nina aoki

Living in Iowa I have been hearing the lies of the latest crop of presidential hopefuls, from both parties, for over a year now. I regret to say that for the first time in 28 years I am seriously thinking of staying home come November.

Andy

Hi Andy,

Huh. Wow, that’s really odd to me. I mean, I respect your opinion and how you feel about the election, but for me — I find myself really excited about the election this year, more so than at any other time that I can remember. I think we have a real opportunity to make real changes. I think it comes down to your perspective and what you think is important. All of the candidates have campaigned in my state as well, and I got a chance to hear two of them and I came away really impressed with Obama. But you know, voting is a personal choice. I hope you reconsider.

xoxo,
nina

OK, like, not to be, like, confrontational, and, like, rude, but, y’know, Hilary is really super-keen-neat-o, what with her reconsidering NAFTA (as opposed to Obama, who wants to flat out kill it), and her experience sucking the cock of the middle at the expense of the left and the right. I mean, uh, her foreign policy experience.

Ahem.

To be more to the point:

1> Republicans, Democrats, they’re still both politicians, stuck within a broken system.

2> Republicans, Democrats, they talk big but in the end do the same shit.

3> Our election system is flat out broken. When not one but two times in a row a guy who wins the popular vote doesn’t win election, plain and simple, it’s broken. And, the fact that the chairman of Diebold guaranteed a win in Ohio for the Republicans when his machines were used there kind of makes you wonder.

4> Obama v. Clinton is on the face of it good for the party. Her party machinery is likely going to bring out anything they can find on him, and his will do the same to her. Once the nomination is secured by one side or the other, I believe the party in general will side with the winner.

4.1> What I am concerned with is this: If Hilary wins, all the Obama supporters won’t vote in November, thus giving the presidency to McCain. The reverse is also potentially true, but in my mind less likely to be. If the concern is ‘electability’, Obama is the winner by a monkey’s hair. Whether that’s enough to beat McCain, I’m not sure. So, that’s why I say on the face of it. Because, in truth, in the end, if nobody yields gracefully, it could be a bloodbath.

Have I been vague enough about for whom I’m pulling? I suppose my opening statement kind of ruins the surprise.

hapes,

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me; and I would agree, politicians are all basically full of shit — tho I’ve become convinced that Obama is less full of shit than the other two, but still, the two party system is broken and it’s going to take a lot more than just one man to change Washington.

What I think has really bothered me about this primary season is just how ugly the Clinton campaign has gone, and I started out as a Clinton supporter! What I think has really come out of this is the angry white Democratic woman, the ultra-feminist who sees this election more in terms of gender than race, and they’re using everything they can to make this as ugly as possible.

As an Asian/American woman I don’t even get polled as a demographic group! Think of how I feel! We’ll never see an Asian become president! lmao!

But, I’ve become saddened by what I’ve seen and heard out of Hillary Clinton. I guess she really thought we owed it to her to make her president, huh? But I’ve lost so much respect for Hillary that if she managed to wrest the nomination out of the super-delegates, I’d consider staying home in November and letting John McCain and the GOP fuck things up for another four years and wait until 2012 to get things straightened out. That way Hillary will be seen as damaged goods by the party and will be out of the picture.

Thanks!

xoxo,
nina

Nina, your comments to LH could not have been more on point. The longer Hillary stays in the fray, and the longer she rips Obama apart and gives McCain ammunition, the more damage she does to the Democratic Party. Statistically she can’t win and logistically she is unelectable.
I do hope to see one more debate between the two of them though, so Obama can ask her directly to explain how her experience tolerating Monica sucking Bills cock makes her more qualified to be our leader.

Impishm8,

Hi there! Thanks! It’s nice to see you back around geishaland again!

Well, LH hasn’t come back to refute my points, so I’ll declare victory and move on! What I am concerned about is that I think all of this mud-slinging over the last couple of weeks has hurt both of them, and yes, I blame that on Hillary, and now the media is doing the Clinton’s heavy-lifting since the campaign started complaining about the coverage. I mean, really, does anyone give a shit about Obama’s Chicago pastor? I know I don’t!

Here’s the other thing — I think (and I think a lot of other women agree with me) that Hillary should have walked after being embarrassed and humiliated by Bill on a truly global stage. And then she has the audacity to say she didn’t know? Bah! We ALWAYS know when our men are acting up, or are about to! I don’t buy it. She should have left him, but I think they made a deal for political convenience. And truly, if her last name was anything other than “Clinton” she would have been written off long ago. ugh… I can’t stand her anymore.

I just hope that Obama comes thru this ugly media cycle relatively unscathed. The media and Clinton, are forcing his hand now, and he’ll have to go ugly just to defend himself.

I will never vote for Hillary. On that much my mind has been made up.

Thanks hon! ;)

xoxo,
nina