We support the President’s deal with Iran to limit its nuclear capabilities. He came into office promising that Iran would not get a nuclear weapon. He supported sanctions against the country as a means to bring them to the negotiating table. That’s exactly what the sanctions were for, to get them to give up the notion of making a nuclear bomb. They’ve agreed, and set a program where verification is entirely possible. Is this not what this administration set out to do?
When he was running for office Barack Obama said he would communicate with the leaders of countries with which we were not friendly. He’s done that.
Here’s hoping that our Congressman, Chris Gibson, gives careful consideration to the proposed treaty, and gives us his best explanation for his vote when the issue comes to the floor of the House of Representatives.
Could it just be coincidence that the audio portion of a Youtube video entitled ‘Scott Walker: The Boy Scouts’ Ban On Gay Troop Leaders ‘Protected Children,’ has disappeared just as he attempts to walk back his statement? Here’s what the deleted audio said: “I have had a lifelong commitment to the Scouts and support the previous membership policy because it protected children and advanced Scout values” (obtained from another source.) Now he’s trying to say that he only wanted to protect the children from the debate. Right.
This just illustrates the difficulty that Republican presidential candidates will have throughout the whole primary process, trying to appeal to a far right base that will have an inordinately large say in who wins the primaries, while trying to maintain a rational presence with the greater American electorate, that has appeared to have moved left and beyond the issues that will make up the Republican battleground.
And thus we find Donald Trump at the top of the heap, perhaps temporarily, to the great entertainment of us all. His latest boast of being worth ten billion certainly puts him in greater touch with the common man. And so may his sit-com suck up all the air from the Republican contest…
Locally, politically, as we swing into the meat of the primary season, we’ll have only one in Woodstock, the three candidates for town board on the Democratic side, incumbents Ken Panza and Jay Wenk seeking to hold their seats, while Laura Ricci, who stepped down as Democratic chairwoman in order to make the run, challenges for one of the seats. In years past, we’ve had much more primary excitement, but things could heat up when the Republicans choose their candidates after the primary.
The most compelling race so far seems to be for Kingston’s mayoralty, pitting incumbent Shayne Gallo, with a large Washington Avenue sinkhole still staring him in the face, against Steve Noble, brother of the current Common Council Alderman-at-large. Gallo can be ferocious, but perhaps has lost some friends in the process. We’ll watch how this one unfolds.
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