So she can’t be a good Senator because she spends a few days doing something that is not her job, in the most limited and inflexible sense of what ‘her job’ is?
It’s not wrong for her to go learn more about Iraq. Obviously, for her, McCain, and everybody else who has gone there and didn’t need to be there, it’s also a photo op. I’m not a fan of that, but it’s part of the whole political game and those are rarely worth getting worked up over.
It sure as hell would make me! 
More national disgraces from the Senate:
[ul][li]Mitch McConnell (R-KY)[/li][li]Jack Reed (D-RI)[/ul][/li]There are more. But I’m going to stop. kanicbird, you’ve pitted a third of the Senate with this thread, and I don’t see why. Even those Senators who are not on the Armed Services Committee (thanks for pointing that out, Sam) should be praised, not pitted, for going to Iraq. They voted to send their constituents halfway around the world to fight a war. They must vote to fund our troops. Someday, they may face votes regarding an exit strategy for that war. To make an informed decision on these, and other, issues – perhaps some of the most important decisions they will ever make – it is essential that they understand the situation in Iraq. And a great place to start is taking a trip to the country where 120,000 of our troops and billions of our dollars have been sent.
One might even argue that it is those Senators who have not visited Iraq who need to start doing their jobs.
Perhaps my hampster eaten rant was a bit misplaced then. If all this and more have taken a trip to Iraq, then I really can’t single out Hillary, but then why have I only heard from her? Why not this other people. Is she better then them somehow?
You must not be paying attention, because I spent about 30 seconds getting those names from major media outlets.
What do you mean you’ve heard from her? You think the other Senators aren’t releasing statements about their trip and telling their constituents about what they’re doing? Hillary may be getting more news coverage, I don’t know.
Is it her fault that you haven’t been paying attention?
Snopes has a page on this. It basically says that the soldier may not be happy about shaking hands with Hillary, but that the “coercion” thing is not accurate.
Well, you don’t have anything written in the “Location” section of your profile, but IIRC from other threads, you live in New York. Right?
So, let’s take a guess as to why you might have heard about Hillary’s visit, and not the visit of other US Senators. Just a wild guess, mind you, with no logic behind it or anything, and based on nothing except a hunch.
Could it be because Hillary Clinton is a Senator for your state? Is it possible that’s why her visit to Iraq has made it onto your radar?
Of course, if you hadn’t heard about it, you’d probably then start complaining that your own Senator should be keeping you informed of what she’s up to.
No, it is because some ‘news’ people want to do one thing with the news. They think that the news is supposed to piss people off.
You have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to froth at the mouth at the mention of Hillary Clinton. You don’t know about or care about what the Senate does. They just mentioned her to press the button they built into your head.
No go buy some stuff at low prices at Wal Mart.
And there you have it, folks – everything the EEEEEEEEEEEE-vil Hillary does is motivated by one thing and one thing only: her EEEEEEEEEE-vil designs on the Presidency! She couldn’t possibly do anything for any other reason, oh, no. It’s all part of her EEEEEEEEEE-vil plot to run for President.
Gosh, kanicbird, thanks for alerting me, I didn’t realize such EEEEEEEE-vil, indeed nefarious skulduggery was afoot.
Well, the only reason I knew Clinton and McCain were in Iraq is because I saw them on Meet the Press this morning.
**mhendo **Perhaps it’s a local issue like you say, but I’m not willing to accept it yet.
Lets just say I have some serious issues as to her qualifications to be senator.
Wow EddyTeddyFreddy, I wouldn’t go as far as calling her the AntiChrist, but perhaps she is the Evil One.
Perhaps before you go making assumptions (including that Sen. Clinton is lying in her repeated statements that she is not planning to run for President in 2008), you might acquaint yourself with what it is that Senators and Representatives are committed to do. Start with the Constitution; there was an excellent eighth-grade Cit. Ed. text that outlined their non-statutory duties back when I went to school in New York State.
“[G]etting the US citizens to pay for ‘make work’ projects in [his/her state]” is a fairly common practice, but hardly the primary duty of a Senator; in fact, any politically minded columnist or blogger you care to name has probably denounced somebody, probably not from his/her home state, for “pork barrel politics” in this regard.
But I must commend you for carrying on a Straight Dope tradition, if not exactly a proud one.
I want it stated for the record that I never commented about the senators physical appearence, nor weight in this thread.
I think she has regrets of not running in '04, and have no doubts she is planning to run in '08, sticking it to the residents of NY.
[quote)Start with the Constitution. .[/quote]
Is this the same constitution that bans gun ownership and allows abortion? sorry I have never seen it, I have looked, but only one that allows the people to have guns, and doesn’t mention abortion but that’s another rant.
I think it’s fair to judge them by their actions as opposed to their ‘assigned’ duties.
So what, exactly, are you pitting, dipshit?
Are you pitting Clinton for going? Because, as others have said, if you are then you also need to include all the other Senators who have made or are making the trip.
Are you pitting her for telling you that she’s going? Surely, as one of her nominal constituents, you should be happy to be kept informed about her activities.
Are you pitting the media for telling you that she’s going, but not telling you that other Senators are also making the trip? If so, surely this has nothing at all to do with Hillary Clinton? It must just be one of those liberal media conspiracies.
Get your acxt together, numbnuts. You have yet to make one coherent statement about why your rant should apply to Clinton particularly. If you want to make a general point about Senators visiting Iraq, go ahead, but don’t pretend that Clinton is the Lone Ranger on this trip. And if you want to make a point about Clinton’s abilities as a Senator, then do that, but it’s how to see how the Iraq visit would make her especially bad (or good).
Which qualifications, precisely, do you feel that she lacks?
As far as i can tell, she lacks none of the requirements. From the United States Constitution:
and
As far as i can tell, those are the only qualifications required. Oh, and the need to be elected by the voters of the state in which you are running. She seems to qualify on all counts.
Sure, you’re probably going to sound off now about a US Senator should be required to have certain character attributes or moral qualities or political experience in order to qualify for the job. But this road is, of course, a rather fraught one, and when we start to investigate Senators who, over the long history of the United States, have lacked the qualities you feel they should have, your particular hard-on for Hillary is going to start looking like something of a drop in the ocean.
You do, of course, have every right to have an irrational (or even a rational, although there’s no evidence of that yet) dislike for Hillary Clinton. No-one said you have to like her, and no-one said you shouldn’t criticise her. But if you’re going to do it, then ferchissakes try to ensure that your rant has at least a semblance of coherence and foundation.
I think she made the choice not to run in '04 quite a while back, but I think she probably considers it a good one looking back. It’s an open seat instead of facing an incumbent. I agree she’ll probably give it a shot next time.
Well now that you people have edgimicated me, I would have to go with the media coverage of Hillary going to Iraq.
I think we can agree on this, and also it appears you have a knee jerk reaction of any criticism of Hillary.
As for the qualifications, well it apears she cheated many out of their life savings (whitewater), but somehow she got out of that. She was also in a law firm, oh yea just because her husband was governor. Then she lived in the White House, oh yea that was because her husband was president. But then again she spearheaded the national health care plan, which seemed to go down in flames. Hey she made cookies once, and had a ghost writer write a book for her - that must be it.