Hillary: The Movie - So Bad, The Supreme Court Just Said NO

For those of you who have lives and can't follow pathetic political news, a right-wing crazy group has spent nearly a year trying to release a "documentary" about Hillary Clinton and her "evil ways" that stars Ann Coulter. Good one guys, really legitimate. It also tries to blame her for the death of every American Soldier in any war ever, not to mention attacks her for supporting the right to speak out against your government. Um, wait, isn't freedom of speech a good thing? Anyway, the release caused a stir because, well, it's SO UNTRUE that the courts are deciding whether it is simply an extended political attack ad, which means it is subject to a slew of campaign finance laws. By the courts, I mean THE SUPREME COURT. Thank you, right wing, yet again, for keeping the Supreme Court busy with stuff like this. By the way, by putting Ann Coulter in your video you're basically saying, "yeah, we know it's crap, but most people just take anything as true these days, so there!" Here's a link to the trailer of this "thriller." And here is where you can read about the court case. Well done Republicans. Well done.

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Kyle Taylor

Hillary Clinton Is Always A Good Filler

I am yet again buried, which means news stories will have to suffice for now. Still, there is so much diplomatic good happening at the minute, it's hard to keep up! It's public knowledge by now that I love Hillary Clinton, so it should come as no surprise that I'm posting two stories about her current trip to Asia as America's top diplomat! Bottom line, the woman is a machine and even at 60, it seems no one can keep up with her pace - not ever her staff. Enjoy!

The first story is here. The second is here. The image came from here.

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Kyle Taylor

First Pictures, Now The Story

It all started at 7am, when fiver weary troopers arose to toast, juice and coffee (minus the coffee for me) before beginning our trek down to the National Mall. One said trooper had a ticket, so she veered off in an effort to get closer. The rest of us rendezvoused with 9 other trooper-like folks and continued on our journey.


Brilliantly, the organizers funneled everyone onto one main drag, which kept foot traffic moving. Things were full but calm. Overwhelming but reserved. We managed to canoodle all 13 of us into a perfect spot just steps from the Washington Monument. A jumbo-tron was just to our left, the dome of the Capitol visible on the horizon. Three hours to go and every square inch of space is nearly full.

An hour passes and the freezing temperatures start to take a toll on our toes. Fortunately, people were beginning to arrive, which allowed for collective "cheering and booing, depending on who emerged. Actually, only one person solicited boos. I'll leave that to you to determine.

Every time they go to a shot of Obama, his motorcade or someone who looks like Obama, people go crazy! The environment is electric. 11:30am finally rolls around. President Elect Obama emerges. It's go time.


This is the moment where everything starts to feel like it's happening in slow motion. Invocation creepy, as Warren gutturally expounds the names of the first children: "Sashaaaaaa and Maliaaaaa." Just take the oath. Aretha's voice booms and people are overwhelmed. Just take the oath. Biden is sworn in. Please just take the oath! Finally, at 12:02pm Chief Justice Roberts stumbles through the oath of office, Obama kindly repeating what he has said even though it's incorrect (now that's class). And just like that, Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.

People go crazy! I am in a state of shock. Could it be? Is George W. Bush really no longer the President? He has reigned my entire adult life and I don't quite know how to digest a Bush-less world. More than anything, I am relieved. Relieved that it has finally happened. Relieved that Bush will go back to chopping trees or starting fires with sticks or something. Relieved that a brilliant, inspirational man is now at the helm.

The speech scores big with most of the crowd. The 40 and overs are crying. Still, a peaceful calm weights on the crowd. A unified sense of "woosh, we can relax now. It finally happened." Then, just as all 2 million of us tromped in, we tromp right back out. National Guardsman direct our path, smiles on their faces. They're gunless. I am further confused. We top it all off with an All-American cheeseburger from Five Guys.


At home we watch the parade and rest up, only to learn of the events that followed - Ted Kennedy and Bobby Byrd falling ill. Hillary Clinton sticking it to some rogue Republican Senator who is questioning the philanthropic work of the Clinton Global Initiative. Toasts. Applause. A parade. Balls. A new way forward.

Oh what a day. Oh. What. A. Day.

UPDATE: And oh what a week. Within 48 hours we begin to close Guantanamo, put an end to secret CIA interrogations, reinstate habeas corpus and freeze White House staff salaries. Booya-kasha!

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Kyle Taylor

Madame Secretary

How sweet does that sound? For anyone who managed to see her confirmation hearing yesterday, you were probably aware of two major themes:

1. It was a love-fest all around. Democrats were lovin' on her nad even Republican's were lovin' on her. At one point Dick Luger, the senior Republican, called her "the epitome of a big-leaguer." Yes please.

2. She was SO PREPARED. Word on the street is that she has spent the last two weeks researching, studying and reading every brief the State Department produced. She also met with every member of the Foreign Relations Committee IN PERSON.

While I'm not going to get into too much detail, all I'll say is that it was 6 hours of real intelligent people talking about really important issues in really nuanced ways. Elite? I think not. Just bright. Now that's who I want at the helm of Diplomacy! My two favorite quotes:

"I am proud to be an American at the dawning of this new American moment."

“Foreign policy must be based on a marriage of principles and pragmatism, not rigid ideology, on facts and evidence, not emotion or prejudice."

Now, tell me again why having intelligent people in charge is bad?

This is an article talking more about her prep work.

Here is one on "Hillary Clinton Reimagined."

Here's a video recap of the hearing.

Okay, en route to DC for the Inauguration!

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Kyle Taylor

Photo of Hillary from the Washington Post Article

Media Overload

I took this snapshot of the TV screen during one of the Democratic debates. All this hoopla was up for the full two hours. It wasn't something that appeared for a second or two then disappeared. No, there were swiggly lines, scrolling text and flying graphics the entire time.

For starters, we've got the Fox News logo in the bottom left, constantly transforming into itself again and again and again. Then there's the scrolling text, which has nothing to do with the debate. It's just random news stories dominated by celebrity gossip. Super. The stock quotes stay put in the bottom right, switching between the Dow Jones and NASDAQ exchanges. Above the stock quotes is the spinning, swirling "You Decide 2008" logo that Fox has so "cleverly" come up with to define this year's election. Of course between the two logos we absolutely need a brief text explanation of what the candidate is talking about, since we have very little time or ability to pay attention to them, what with all the other crap on the screen.

Next, we have this ridiculous graph that's conceivably charting nothing, ranking the reaction of Fox's self-proclaimed "Liberals" and "Moderates," thought who knows who is actually driving the "returns" of those squiggly lines, ranked from a very scientific "thumbs down" to an even more intellectual "thumbs up." Just in case you weren't certain of how things were being rated, you can look at the ENORMOUS thumbs up and thumbs down images located directly in the middle of the screen that strangely resemble the Tivo buttons.

Finally, a solid day and a half later, you can finally focus in on the actual debate, which has kindly been allotted the top left quarter of the screen. Honestly, what is mass media doing to American politics? Is this what discourse has been reduced to? Celeb news, flying graphics and large cartoon thumbs? OH. MY. GOD.

Gloria Steinem, Brilliant

Well, it turns out that Generation Q article was published in October and I just missed the boat until recently. Needless to say, a direct reply to the editor would be long overdue. Instead, I decided to link to another article - this one about the upcoming Presidential Election and the Obama vs. Clinton question. Enjoy!

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/opinion/08steinem.html?pagewanted=all

BBC World Service Clip Online!

I just managed to upload the BBC World Service clip to my own personal website. You can check it out here. It was a great time and I really enjoyed being able to talk about why I believe Hillary is the most capable candidate to lead this country. Questions came in from Pakistan, Uganda, South Africa, Iraq and the United States.

It must have worked, because she came from nowhere to win New Hampshire, reinvigorating her campaign and finding, as she put it, her voice. I think that voice speaks for America and I do hope she goes all the way. Experience + Passion = REAL CHANGE. Woo!

The link: http://www.kyletaylor.com/kyletaylor/Audio/Entries/2008/1/10_Defending_HIllary_On_BBC.html

ON BBC RADIO TODAY! TUNE IN AT 1PM EST

Hello All!

I just thought I'd share the exciting news - BBC World Service found my blog online and has asked me to go on the air today to discuss the Presidential Election with bloggers writing about American politics. Pretty exciting! If you're interested, you can tune in online here:

The link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/

The panel is mixed - both Democrats and Republicans supporting all candidates.

It will be on at 6pm London time, which is:

1pm EST

10am PST

I hope you can tune in!

Real Change Takes Real Passion & Real Experience

Ok, so I'm not holding back anymore. I'm a full-blown Hillary supporter, and I didn't come to this decision lightly. I courted Obama, had a brief stint with Edwards, thought Biden was brilliant but not electable (why, I have no idea - too smart, probably - who wants an intelligent president, right?) and went back and forth to Hillary throughout. At the end of the day it came down to Hillary and Obama (Edwards was just too angry for me).

Then the word "change" entered the debate and somehow, Barrack Obama (and to some extend John Edwards) bogarted that word, pinning Hillary as the candidate of "experience" then making a pathetic if not desperate case as to how experience and change were mutually exclusive. Quite frankly, I don't believe they are, and I'm sick and tired of pundit after pundit pinning these two political buzz words - change and experience - against one another. The fact is, being able to create change requires experience and no one at the top can offer more than Hillary Rodham Clinton. What's odd is that almost everyone seems to agree that she has the most experience, they just say they're "ready for change."

At the end of the day, the policies of all the top Democrats are roughly the same (come on, be real, it's true) so that said, don't you want the person who is most capable of getting something done? You can't change a system you don't understand. You can't simply shout "change" from a soapbox and think it's going to happen. Creating change takes hard work, experience, knowledge, commitment and passion. I work with young people everyday, all around the world who are doing a whole lot more to create change than most of these candidates could ever dream of doing.

I don't doubt that Senator Obama will - in 8 years - be the best this nation has to offer but right now, at this, the most trying of times I can remember, I don't want to fiddle around with someone just because he talks and talks about change. I want to a President who knows what the heck they're doing! I mean, look what happened last time - we elected a guy that lots of people said they wanted to have a beer with. I'd rather skip the beer and get right to, oh, I don't know, equal rights, health care reform, ending the war and restoring the "can-do" spirit of America.

For anyone who thinks Hillary doesn't have that drive inside her, watch this clip. See her passion. Change takes a whole lot more than just talk. You've gotta act. Vote for the one candidate who really knows what she's doing.



The link, in case it doesn't embed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl-W3IXRTHU&feature=related