May 09, 2008
Ever wonder why Obama, an unknown junior senator, is where he is today, vying against the Republican machine for the highest job in the land? Ted Kennedy, with the aid of Howard Dean and other white neoliberals, deliberately set out to remake the party into a bastion of neoliberalism. White neoliberals deliberately used Obama's race to draw support from Hillary Clinton. Clinton had dedicated much of her long career working on issues important to the black community, accumulating strong support along the way. The only way she could have lost this support was to a black candidate (aided by false charges of racism by the white neoliberals). Obama, the unknown junior senator, was chosen by the neoliberals specifically for this purpose. If Obama were not black, Hillary would have wrapped up the nomination long ago. But due to an inept choice of black candidate, the neoliberals endangered an election that...
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May 08, 2008
Interesting that after trashing women, the working class, and minorities - after a misogynistic campaign against a senior, more qualified woman candidate - the Democratic party-backed Obama machine now plays the Roe card with rightfully disenchanted women. What little we know about Obama does not inspire further confidence - and it could be argued that an experienced executive, even if Republican, could pick a justice more likely to rule prudently and uphold Roe. With Obama's lackluster performance regarding womens' issues, propensity to pander for favors, and general inexperience in national government of any kind, I believe he is far more likely to make poor choices of justices. For years, women have been told, with much disdain, do not be single issue voters. We have been told to suck it up and back anti-choice men in top Democratic offices, time and time again. For example, the Democratic party picked anti-choice Harry...
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From Susan at No Quarter: ...Here’s some of the transcript from Donna’s nasty meltdown: BRAZILE: Well, Lou, I have worked on a lot of Democratic campaigns, and I respect Paul. But, Paul, you’re looking at the old coalition. A new Democratic coalition is younger. It is more urban, as well as suburban, and we don’t have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics. We need to look at the Democratic Party, expand the party, expand the base and not throw out the baby with the bathwater. BEGALA: We cannot win with egg heads. We cannot win with egg heads and African-Americans. OK, that is the Dukakis Coalition, which carried ten states and gave us four years of the first George Bush... ... For months now, I’ve jokingly said to pals that I’m looking hard for video of Barack Obama in bed in a threesome with Tony Rezko and...
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When slimeball Bob Novak admits something, listen up. From the Washington Post: Buyer's remorse was beginning to afflict supporters of Barack Obama before Tuesday's primary election returns showed he had delivered a knockout punch against Hillary Clinton. The young orator who had seemed so fantastic, beginning with his 2007 Jefferson-Jackson dinner speech in Iowa, disappointed even his own advisers over the past two weeks, and old party hands mourned that they were stuck with a flawed candidate. The whipping Obama gave Clinton in North Carolina and his near miss in Indiana transformed that impression. The candidate who delivered the victory speech in Raleigh, N.C., was the Obama of Des Moines, bearing no resemblance to the gloomy, uneasy candidate who had seemed unable to deal with bumps in the campaign road. Returning to his eloquent call for unity, the victorious Obama dismissed in advance Republican criticism of his ideology or his...
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So the wealthy and elites commandeered the party, but apparently the plan stopped short at actually running against the Republican nominee. Or maybe it was their plan to just take charge of the party - they knew it would cost Democrats the White House, but didn't care. As for the stooges, there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth when those first 527 anti-Obama commercials hit the airwaves. A rude awakening, indeed - fantasies slashed and dashed. "Kitchen sink"? How about "cesspool". Just ask John Forbes Kerry, a virtual altar boy compared to Barack Hussein Obama. From Talk Left: This may come as a surprise to some people, but there will be an election in November. To read some blogs, you would think that Barack Obama's almost certain victory over Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination means Obama advances straight to the White House. In case they did not know,...
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May 07, 2008
Mayor McDermott of Hammond, Indiana rocked challenging Mayor Clay of Gary, Indiana. Here's the video on you tube: CNN coverage...
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Wow, this is brilliant. From J Brown, New American Disenfranchisement: ... The media has portrayed this race as a battle between two very good candidates that has now reached a point that could hurt the Democratic Party’s chances in November and damage their voter coalition. However, the reality is that this is a battle between the Wealthy & Elitist Far-Left Leadership & Supporters of the DNC and the Left-Of-Center Clinton Political Machine. This primary turmoil was directly brought on by the far-left of the Democratic Party who have turned to Populism, Voter Disenfranchisement, and taken advantage of states with inequality in how they award pledged delegates. ... The best gauge of a Clinton Presidency is to look at Bill Clinton’s presidential record. Since leaving office, Bill Clinton, has struggled with his legacy, primarily because there was no world changing event on his watch and no single societal changing policy that...
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Of course, the Democratic primary process has nothing to do with determining which candidate is the most electable. So I'm sure nobody cares that a lot of people will vote for McCain or stay home if Obama is the nominee. Hey, he took North Carolina, that's all that matters (that there is no way in hell a Democrat will ever take North Carolina in the general is insignificant to the DNC). From CNN: According to early exit polls, half of Clinton's supporters in Indiana would not vote for Obama in a general election matchup with Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. A third of Clinton voters said they would pick McCain over Obama, while 17 percent said they would not vote at all. Forty-eight percent of Clinton supporters said they would back Obama in November. Obama got even less support from Clinton backers in North Carolina, where [half...
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From Fred Siegel in The Australian: When Obama had a chance to back clean Democratic candidates for president of the Cook County board of supervisors and Illinois governor, he stayed with the allies of the Outfit. The gubernatorial candidate he backed, Rod Blagojevich, is under federal investigation, in part because of his relationship with Tony Rezko, the man who helped Obama buy his house.The Chicago way has delivered politically for Obama even this year. Ninety per cent of his popular-vote lead over Hillary Clinton comes from Illinois, and two-thirds of that 90 per cent comes just from Cook County.For 20 years, Obama, who had planned to run for mayor of Chicago, kept silent about the close, if at times competitive, relationship between Wright, whose 8000-member mega-church gave him his political base, and Farrakhan. His ambition overrode his moral integrity.Obama laid the blame for the sub-prime mortgage crisis on those who...
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May 06, 2008
From Real Clear Politics: Tomorrow evening we will know the outcome of the Democratic primaries in two important states that could decide the political fates of Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. In Indiana, a primarily white state, we will know whether white voters, who are close to 75 percent of the population of the U.S., accept Senator Obama's explanation of why, after first stating, "I can no more disown him [Wright] than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother," he now rejects Wright after Wright's appearance before the NAACP and the National Press Club. Obama went on to explain: "The person [Wright] I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago. His comments were not only divisive and destructive, but I believe that they end up giving comfort to those who prey on...
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May 04, 2008
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell, The reason why, I cannot tell; But this I know, and know full well, I do not like thee, Doctor Fell. ~ Mother Goose From Adolph Reed Jr. in The Progressive: Obama’s style of being all things to all people threatens to melt under the inescapable spotlight of a national campaign against a Republican. It’s like what brings on the downfall of really successful con artists: They get themselves onto a stage that’s so big that they can’t hide their contradictions anymore, and everyone finds out about the different stories they’ve told different people. And Obama’s belonging to Wright’s church in the first place was quite likely part of establishing a South Side bourgeois nationalist street cred because his political base was with Hyde Park/University of Chicago liberals and the foundation world. I’ve never been an Obama supporter. I’ve known him since the...
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From Andre Willis at The Root: It is important to remember that without his Christianity and his South Side service to black people—both directly due to guidance, commitment and expertise of Rev. Wright—Obama may never have been elected a senator, and would not be in position to be the next president. He trumpets his Christianity—which is indebted to prophetic black liberation theology where faith demands fighting for political justice—along the campaign trail and leverages it in order to connect with American voters. But Sen. Obama was not born into a Christian home. By his own admission he became a Christian because of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Barack Obama is deeply indebted to Rev. Jeremiah Wright for two crucial elements of presidential campaign: The first is Obama's Christian faith and the second is his work with black Americans on the South Side of Chicago. On March, Obama claimed that the video clips...
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May 03, 2008
From Reuters: Robert Kennedy Jr. — a Kennedy who is not backing Sen. Barack Obama — campaigned on Thursday for Sen. Hillary Clinton, saying he wanted to explain why other members of his family are wrong and he is right. “I am here because I love this woman,” he told a crowd of Clinton supporters in southern Indiana, which holds its presidential nominating primary on Tuesday. “There are some members of my family who have decided to do the wrong thing and support Barack Obama,” he said. “Let me tell you why they’re wrong and I’m right, because I know Hillary Clinton better than they know Barrack Obama.” Kennedy’s uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and cousin Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of slain U.S. President John F. Kennedy, have thrown their support behind Obama. But Robert Kennedy Jr., the son of Sen. Robert Kennedy who was assassinated while campaigning for the US...
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May 02, 2008
From the Montana Standard: ... It feels like this is a part of history we’re going to be lucky we saw,” said Mary Kelly, of Missoula. At 9:22 a.m. in the arena, a flash of stage lights elicited whoops and catcalls from the crowd. At 9:35 a.m., the energized early risers started the wave. “I just want to touch him,” said one. Just before 10 a.m., the crowd began chanting Obama’s can-do theme, and they chanted faster and faster. “Yes we can, yes we can, yes we can.” “Yes-we-can. Yes-we-can. Yes-we-can.” “Yeswecan.Yeswecan.Yeswecan.” After campaign organizers said thank yous and officials gave introductions, someone yanked the podium off the stage. Then Obama met his Montana fans “We love you!” and it was Mon-Bamania all around. Junell Gill, who is visiting family in Missoula, was a Clinton supporter until she heard Obama talk in person. “He was just very, very inspiring, and...
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April 30, 2008
Knows the issues inside and out, argues her points with dignity and grace, and always puts the American people front and center. Check her out on Taylor Marsh, and while you are there, click on the donate link - matching is in effect again today! And check out this poll from Fox News: Nearly half of Democrats (48 percent) think Hillary Clinton has a better chance of beating John McCain in November — 10 percentage points higher than the 38 percent who think Barack Obama can win, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday. This represents a significant shift from March, when Democrats said Obama was the candidate more likely to beat McCain....
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April 29, 2008
April 28, 2008
"I don't know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes - it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, 'well, if I'd known better I'd have done better,' that's all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, 'I'm sorry,' and then you say to yourself, 'I'm sorry.' If we all hold on to the mistake, we can't see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror; we can't see what we're capable of being. You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one's own...
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April 27, 2008
April 26, 2008
"The contrast between the Clinton economy and the Bush economy is the best free advertisement that Democrats have had since Herbert Hoover" - this is what I find most astonishing, and not wanting to be associated with such a bunch of fools - Obama and his supporters bash Bill Clinton. Not only dishonest, but stupid as the day is long. We want fools like this running the country? From Paul Krugman in the New York Times: From the beginning, I wondered what Mr. Obama’s soaring rhetoric, his talk of a new politics and declarations that “we are the ones we’ve been waiting for” (waiting for to do what, exactly?) would mean to families troubled by lagging wages, insecure jobs and fear of losing health coverage. The answer, from Ohio and Pennsylvania, seems pretty clear: not much. Mrs. Clinton has been able to stay in the race, against heavy odds, largely...
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From Heidi Li: Of primaries and presidential nominees 1. The end of winner-takes-all primaries: The 1968 Democratic Party Convention in Chicago was extremely contentious. George McGovern narrowly lost the nomination to Hubert Humphrey, who in turn, narrowly lost the general election to Richard Nixon. As a direct result, McGovern led a commission to change the Democratic National Party’s approach to allocating delegates elected in state contests. The Party adopted the McGovern commission recommendations, abandoned a winner takes all approach to the state contests, and permitted states to allocate delegates according to a variety of formulas, each chosen by state parties themselves. The McGovern commission claimed the change would ensure greater representation of diverse voices in the nomination process. A more cynical take: by implementing this change, McGovern helped to ensure his nomination as the party’s nominee in 1972. With McGovern as the 1972 nominee, the Democratic Party suffered a catastrophe....
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From No Quarter: Senator Obama and his surrogates, including MoveOn.org, are waging a public relations battle to pressure the DNC to refuse credentials to the Michigan and Florida delegations for the Democratic National Convention. Their message consists of misrepresentations and lies about the DNC rules concerning these states. Unfortunately most news outlets and commentators are repeating this misinformation without ever checking the Obama campaign’s claims for accuracy against the actual DNC rules. It is critical that every one of us combat this misinformation. There has been much discussion recently about the will of the voters. We can’t accurately determine which candidate has the greatest support amongst primary voters if we disregard the preference of 1.5 million voters in Florida while giving outsize weight to the 250,000 who caucused in Iowa, and even more outsize influence to the mere 20,000 people who participated in the Democrats Abroad contest. Senator Clinton won...
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April 24, 2008
"Jealousy is the great exaggerator." ~ Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller...
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I hate to link to this sexist, Obama love-fest excuse for a magazine, but the mathematician in me admires the way the author of the article analyzes demographics and trends. From John Judis at The New Republic: ...Even though he campaigned extensively among white working class Pennsylvanians, he still couldn't crack this constituency. He lost every white working class county in the state. He lost greater Pittsburgh area by 61 to 39 percent. He did poorly among Catholics--losing them 71 to 29 percent. A Democrat can't win Pennsylvania in the fall without these voters. And those who didn't vote in the primary but will vote in the general election are likely to be even less amenable to Obama. But Obama also lost ground among the upscale white professionals that had helped him win states like Wisconsin, Maryland, and Virginia. For instance, Obama won my own Montgomery County, Maryland by 55...
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April 23, 2008
After last night's decisive victory in Pennsylvania, more people have voted for Hillary than any other candidate, including Sen. Obama. Estimates vary slightly, but according to Real Clear Politics, Hillary has received 15,095,663 votes to Sen. Obama's 14,973,720, a margin of more than 120,000 votes. ABC News reported this morning that "Clinton has pulled ahead of Obama" in the popular vote. This count includes certified vote totals in Florida and Michigan....
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Listen to the relentless, around the clock barking of a horrible neighbor's dog in Oklahoma - You Tube video. As he says, dogs bark because they are neglected. And people suffer as a consequence. I often wonder why this happens. There is a false image from advertising (which makes lots of money from the dog products industry) that dogs have the equivalent status in our society as people. But dogs are not people, and treating them as such is a disservice to both dogs and people. Also advertising perpetuates the myth that any dog owner is automatically a dog lover. The dog left alone in the yard, for any amount of time, is utterly miserable. The dog left to bark all day in front of a screen door is similarly miserable. Dog trainer Cesar Milan said, "Look at a dog in a natural setting; she doesn’t bark and yelp. So-called...
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Just heard on MSNBC: Rachel Maddow: Democrats don't go negative. Pat Buchanan: Well they should. What in hell is wrong with the Democratic pundits - still no clue why only one Democrat has held the office of the presidency in 28 years? And that was no thanks to them, but due to his own political genius (Bill Clinton). Whatever happened to the tradition of give 'em hell, Harry Truman?...
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April 22, 2008
April 21, 2008
I'm not going to link to the rabid right wing sources, but google: Obama Lies - Quick Glance...
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Since the media won't say it, let's listen to a MyDD blogger: Clinton will have won every important state in the northeast, Florida, the entire southwest from Oklahoma to Nevada, the industrial Midwest and California. She has also won Tennessee and is favored heavily in Indiana, W.Va and Ky. Since when does the loser of all those states get the nomination? ...here are a few facts that should tell them, Obama's supporters and Obama himself that they are not in Kansas anymore. Obama's lead in the popular vote is, as of now, a day before the PA primary, 0.06%.That is 92,000 votes. That is going to be gone after Tuesday and Clinton will have taken the popular vote lead and in all liklihood will not give it up since she is favored to win 6 of 8 of the remaining primaries. So it will be Clinton who is going to...
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April 20, 2008
From WRAL (video link there): Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton set the tone for her campaign event in Winston-Salem by announcing that she and poet Maya Angelou would be having a "conversation." "If you came for a political speech, I hope you aren’t disappointed," Clinton said. The event was relaxed; the two sat in front of the audience at Wait Chapel on the campus of Wake Forest University. Angelou tossed Clinton questions on topics, including racism and education. Clinton also touted her comprehensive plan to create 5 million clean renewable energy jobs in the next 10 years. The jobs would be funded by taking subsidies from oil companies, she said. Clinton praised the state's education system, specifically its strides for early childhood education. She discussed the need for making college education, including community colleges, more affordable. "Community colleges should be viewed as the 13th and 14th years of public...
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The emperor has no clothes, and Helen, after 47 years of covering the White House, is not afraid to say it. Comments while promoting her book, "Watchdogs of Democracy?: The Waning Washington Press Corps and How It Has Failed The Public," on April 19 at the Bethesda Literary Festival: "We're in the midst of a presidential campaign which is really getting rotten - down and dirty between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The Democratic candidates - Obama has the edge, he's a rock star. He's galvanized the youth vote of this country, but I have yet to see what he has done to take the highest office in the land. He is no Martin Luther King and his campaign, like all others, is backed by people with deep pockets." Has Obama gotten a free pass by the media? "Hell yes, he sure has. Hillary has been pilloried. And, I'm not...
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Online activists on the far left, such as the Move On crowd, do not tend to vote Democratic consistently. For instance, they often will bail for a third party or stay at home instead of vote if their idealistic wish list does not seem like it will be met in the primary - such as in 2000, they were anti-Gore; in 2004, they were anti-Kerry. In fact, it's very clever of a candidate like Barack Obama to seem like he's going to accede to their wishes (seem being very much the operative word), but he also runs the risk of alienating the traditional base, which I believe we are seeing now. The traditional Democratic base, distrustful of Obama's sound and fury signifying nothing, has turned to Hillary Clinton. Democrats have always remarked upon how the radical religious right seems to bully the Republican party into meeting their extreme demands. Democrats...
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April 19, 2008
Ronald Reagan's biggest fan, Barack Obama, loves bashing Democrat Bill Clinton, the only Democrat who managed to get himself elected - twice - in 28 years, and who left office with a 68% approval rating. Apparently Bill's 8 years of peace and prosperity isn't good enough for the green freshman senator who has been running for president ever since he lucked into office, instead of learning the ropes. Bill Clinton has more skills and ability to get the job done in his little finger. From Paul Krugman: If I were a Democratic Party elder, I’d urge Mr. Obama to stop blurring the distinction between Clinton-era prosperity and Bush-era economic distress.Let’s hope that once Mr. Obama is no longer running against someone named Clinton, he’ll stop denigrating the very good economic record of the only Democratic administration most Americans remember. Will Barack Obama’s now famous “bitter” quote turn out to have...
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From ABC: Jessop said she remembers the sect's dress as hot and uncomfortable, especially during the Southern summers, when temperatures can often top 100 degrees. "You end up with layers and layers and layers of clothes. There's a health issue here, because it's like my body had lost the ability to heat and cool. Think about how you would feel if you're weighed down with all that clothing. It affects your personality in a very literal way." When the women of a Texas polygamist cult emerged from self-imposed seclusion into the media spotlight this week, it looked to some outsiders as if they had stepped out of another century. Wearing heavy pastel-colored dresses buttoned up to the neck and reaching down to the ground, their hair pinned up into tight, tall waves, the women congregated on the porches of the sprawling Yearning for Zion Ranch and pleaded for the return...
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April 18, 2008
On my way in to work sometimes I catch XM Radio's Good Morning America (ABC) - which is mostly the same feed as the TV show with a radio host occasionally engaging in live discussions with ABC news "poltical experts" (all men). They're running the primary race like a soap opera. Poor Obama, bravely enduring having to run against a - gasp - woman! When will she discover her place is, after all, supporting the man, not challenging him! Stay tuned for more of, As The Primary Turns. After the debate she won, in a state she's going to win, here's their gem about the sad little woman scorned: "She's talking about what was, not about what is." Say what? What her opponent said last week, disparaging the people in a state that's going to vote next week, is not what is? And she has been repeatedly outlining her policy...
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Massachusetts: Clinton 56 McCain 41 Obama 48 McCain 46 New Mexico: Clinton 46 McCain 49 Obama 44 McCain 50 Missouri: Clinton 47 McCain 46 Obama 42 McCain 50 New York: Clinton 55 McCain 39 Obama 52 McCain 43 Ohio: Clinton 53 McCain 42 Obama 45 McCain 47 Oregon: Clinton 47 McCain 46 Obama 51 McCain 42 Virginia: Clinton 39 McCain 55 Obama 44 McCain 52 Minnesota: Clinton 47 McCain 46 Obama 49 McCain 43 Wisconsin: Clinton 46 McCain 46 Obama 49 McCain 44 Kansas: Clinton 36 McCain 57 Obama 37 McCain 54 Alabama: Clinton 34 McCain 60 Obama 32 McCain 64 California: Clinton 53 McCain 40 Obama 50 McCain 43 Iowa: Clinton 42 McCain 48 Obama 49 McCain 42 Kentucky: Clinton 46 McCain 48 Obama 29 McCain 63 http://www.surveyusa.com/electionpolls.a spx http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2008/ 04/17/april-head-to-head-contests-six-st ates-flip/...
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Obama's smug, frat boy schtick is offensive enough. But the thought of someone so inexperienced and with such poor judgement at the top job in the country is scary. From Joe Wilson: Senator Obama's ill-conceived remarks likening small town Americans to embittered guns-and-God bigots have triggered a justifiable furor. Not only are the remarks insulting, but also factually incorrect. As it happens, at the same event in San Francisco, Senator Obama made other remarks, equally startling, insulting our Foreign Service, Intelligence Officers, members of Congress who provide oversight, and friendly governments. Like his comments about small town Americans, Obama demonstrated a cavalier disregard for Americans who every day get up determined to make this a better country, whether running the general store in a small town, or representing our national security interests in a foreign country. This is what Obama said: Experience in Washington in not knowledge of the world....
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April 16, 2008
Let's see: Democrats have only held the presidency in 28 years because of a Clinton The times during his administration were prosperous; despite challenges from dealing with a Republican congress for most of his two terms, he accomplishes many good things He leaves with a high approval rating - 68% And that nearly 8 long years ago, because the Democrats couldn't find anyone in the whole country who could sufficiently run a campaign to beat the complete and utter moron the Republicans ran Finally, the moron has no choice but to go (his maximum allowable timeframe to destroy the nation has expired under law), and the country is falling apart The moron's approval rating is at an all time low - 28% The mood is for a Democrat this time, with many nostalgic for Clinton, and even some Republicans saying things were better under Clinton Clinton's wife, a respected senator...
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His dubious past and now his present, from USA Today: Barack Obama often boasts he is "the only candidate who isn't taking a dime from Washington lobbyists," yet his fundraising team includes 38 members of law firms that were paid $138 million last year to lobby the federal government, records show. Those lawyers, including 10 former federal lobbyists, have pledged to raise at least $3.5 million for the Illinois senator's presidential race. Employees of their firms have given Obama's campaign $2.26 million, a USA TODAY analysis of campaign finance data shows. TESTING THE LIMITS: Obama's claim of independence questioned OBAMA FUNDRAISERS: Which lawyers bundle money? Thirty-one of the 38 are law firm partners, who typically receive a share of their firm's lobbying fees. At least six of them have some managerial authority over lobbyists. "It makes no difference whether the person is a registered lobbyist or the partner of a...
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April 15, 2008
From 2000: EXPANDING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL Unemployment Down to 4.1%: The unemployment rate in Pennsylvania has declined from 7.3% to 4.1% since 1993. 503,600 New Jobs: 503,600 new jobs have been created in Pennsylvania since 1993 — an average of 71,096 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 500 jobs were lost each year under the previous administration. 486,300 New Private Sector Jobs: Since 1993, 486,300 new private sector jobs have been created—an average of 68,654 jobs per year, compared to an average loss of 2,325 private sector jobs per year in the previous administration. 43,600 New Construction Jobs: 43,600 construction jobs have been created in Pennsylvania since 1993 — an average of 6,155 jobs per year. In contrast, an average of 8,775 construction jobs were lost each year during the previous administration. Poverty Has Fallen: Nationally, the poverty rate has fallen from 15.1% in 1993 to 12.7%...
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Clinton won the "must win" big states. From Rasmussen: The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Florida shows McCain attracting 53% of the vote while Obama earns 38%. If McCain is matched against Hillary Clinton, the race is a toss-up—Clinton 45% McCain 44%....
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April 13, 2008
Obama dissing Bill Clinton's 8 years of peace and prosperity (after praising Ronald Reagan) is beyond wrong, on so many levels. The anti-working class, anti-women, anti-the only Democrat in 28 years to get elected president (AKA BillClinton) remarks all show how it's a big mistake to push an unvetted, inexperienced guy. This is NOT going to fly in the general election. Barack Obama: Mayhill Fowler is reporting on the Huffington Post that at a fundraiser in San Francisco this week, Obama put the blue collar voters of small town Pennsylvania on the analyst's couch: "You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna...
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April 12, 2008
"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation." ~ Henry David Thoreau I contend that people who use dogs as weapons to traumatize others are desperately miserable. But quiet? Forget about it. They want to make others miserable, too. Dogs give them the perfect opportunity - it's the society-sanctioned weapon. Such people are really dog and people haters. The irresponsible dog owner is passive aggressive. He exerts power over innocent neighbor victims, as well as weak authority figures, via his dog. Like a juvenile delinquent who misbehaves, the barking dog owner knows he can get away with it. Madison Avenue hypnotizes the masses, sanctifying dogs, so Americans will buy, buy, buy, and the dog products industry will rake in the dough. Other players in the dog money game, like apartment owners who allow multiple large dogs in a tiny one bedroom apartment, then do nothing about the noise, are...
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April 11, 2008
From Donna O'Donnell in the Philadelphia Inquirer: In a Pennsylvania speech, as she fielded unfiltered questions, the reasons for Hillary's election were ever more apparent. Her analysis of issues, foreign and domestic, is as deep as it is wide. In response to a question on renewable energy, her recitation on ethanol alone was doctoral-quality research synthesis. Her grasp of the foreign-policy implications of oil makes it clear that in Hillary's administration, the moon we will be shooting for is energy independence. Her position on health care is clear: We must spend our national resources - time, talent and treasury - on insuring all Americans. We can and must and will do better, if she is president. When Virginia Kelley, Bill Clinton's late mother, wrote her book about raising a president, I rushed to read it. In Leading With My Heart, this self-made woman, born to poverty and hard luck, became...
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April 08, 2008
Wow, check out the photo below of Faith Hill, before and after airbrushing. She looked far more appealing in the before picture, with wrinkles and 15 extra pounds - and character! The airbrushers even canted her head (society's preferred submissive posture for women). In the first picture, she looks spirited and full of life. In the retouched picture, she looks inhuman - even young girls have more lines on their faces than that. It's funny how in the quest for youth, the ideal has become not what real young people look like, but scooped out eyes that never occur in nature (young people have naturally draped eyes), faces with no expression, and malnourished bodies. And the funny thing is, the audience for Redbook is older women with families, so they could relate a lot better to the real Faith Hill. There was a Twilight Zone episode where Ann Francis was...
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Markos Moulitsas AKA Kos of The Daily Kos is the piggiest of all male chauvinist pigs. But he's got plenty of company. The sexism of Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, part 76 in a series of sexism against Hillary Clinton documented by Shakesville (check out the bottom for parts 1 - 75)......
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Let's see, run up a lot of bills and buy more house than you can afford, and other people who lived within their means and saved money, who are living in an apartment and earning a piddly rate on their savings, will pay to lower your interest rate and pay down your principal. What's wrong with this picture? From My Budget 360: One of the unintended consequences of this housing market is the punishment conservative savers are taking. Last month we had the rather astonishing release of data from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics telling us for the month, that inflation was at 0 percent. As disconnected as this is from reality, there is a reason the Federal Reserve is chopping rates even further and it is the opposite of what they are telling you. Behind closed doors, they are hoping that you go out and spend and go...
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April 04, 2008
April 02, 2008
"I have never seen in my career greater favoritism applied in the national media." ~ Lou Dobbs...
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In the BarkingDogs.net Forum, someone describes how they had to abandon their house and move into a trailer to get away from nuisance barking dogs - and their house, still mortgaged, is not selling because of the neighbor's dogs: ...Whatever happened to common decency? If your dog is barking go out and take care of your dog. A barking dog is usually an agitated, fearful, and/or nervous dog that needs human guidance to help it understand and react appropriately to confusing stimuli. A dog is not a self sufficient creature. It is heavily dependent on humans for guidance, companionship, exercise, shelter, food, grooming, and health care. A barking dog is a dog that is not being adequately cared for. Not only is the dog in need of attention but everyone within earshot of the barking dog needs relief from the noise. A barking dog is a signal that something is...
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April 01, 2008
From Hillary's Blog: You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise. This is not the first time you have seen Hillary Clinton seemingly at her wits end, but she has always risen, always risen, much to the dismay of her adversaries and the delight of her friends. Hillary Clinton will not give up on you and all she asks of you is that you do not give up on her. There is a world of difference between being a woman and being an old female. If you're born a girl, grow up, and live long enough, you can become an old female. But, to become a woman is a serious matter. A woman takes responsibility for the time she takes up and the space she occupies. Hillary Clinton is a woman. She...
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From Jerome Armstrong on MyDD: Quinnipiac has a new PA poll out for Clinton vs Obama, but they also poll the GE match-ups in the states of Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania: * Florida: Clinton 44 percent - McCain 42 percent; McCain beats Obama 46 - 37 percent * Ohio: Clinton beats McCain 48 - 39 percent; Obama gets 43 percent to McCain's 42 percent * Pennsylvania: Clinton tops McCain 48 - 40 percent; Obama leads McCain 43 - 39 percent. [One thing to note here (for this large poll sample), in highlighting Clinton leading the states of PA & OH, and not Obama: the leads by Clinton in PA & OH are outside the MOE, while the leads of Obama in those two states are within the MOE. In FL, Clinton's lead is within the MOE, while Obama trails McCain in FL outside the MOE.] One of the things I've...
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March 28, 2008
I have subscribed to The Nation for years but will not renew because they "picked sides" - in particular, they picked the side of someone who does not well-represent their until now holier than thou progressive positions. Al Gore wasn't good enough for likes of The Nation in 2000 - they backed Ralph Nader. Now they have helped vault the ultimate insider politician to cult leader, while vilifying another Democrat who is far better qualified for the job. From Naomi Klein and Jeremy Scahill: Some of the most prominent anti-war voices--from MoveOn.org to the magazine we write for, The Nation--have gone this route, throwing their weight behind the Obama campaign. This is a serious strategic mistake. It is during a hotly contested campaign that anti-war forces have the power to actually sway U. S. policy. As soon as we pick sides, we relegate ourselves to mere cheerleaders. While Clinton and...
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From Peter Daou: THE PUNDITS Hillary Clinton will lose New Hampshire and the race will be over THE REALITY Hillary Clinton wins New Hampshire, defying the predictions and the polls THE PUNDITS Hillary Clinton will lose the big states on Super Tuesday and the race will be over THE REALITY Hillary Clinton wins the big states on Super Tuesday – and wins them by double digits THE PUNDITS Hillary Clinton will lose Texas and possibly Ohio on March 4th and the race will be over THE REALITY Hillary Clinton wins both Texas and Ohio on March 4th – and she wins Ohio by double digits THE PUNDITS Despite Hillary Clinton's big victories on March 4th, "the math" works decisively against her and the race is essentially over THE REALITY The math is simple: neither candidate has reached the number of delegates required to secure the nomination and...
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From Lynn Harris in Broadsheet: Here's reminder No. 4,297 about the gulf between the legal right to abortion and physical/financial access to abortion -- that is, the right to abortion on the long road to the only goddamn provider in your whole entire state. Well, that's Mississippi (oh, and South Dakota); now let's talk about Texas, where 93 percent of counties have no abortion provider. I mean, 80 percent is bad enough -- and that's Rhode Island. Texas, remember, is big. Which brings us to reminder No. 7,185 -- that many women with limited access to safe, legal abortion will find some other way to get one. An article in the Brownsville Herald (via AlterNet) reports that "based on data about the number of self-induced abortions seen by local clinics and social workers, it is likely that many of the abortions undergone by women in this area are done using...
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March 27, 2008
Gender and presidential elections Hillary Clinton's lead in the Democratic contest has been boosted by her extraordinary strength among women. About 60 percent of Democrats are women, while Republicans and independents tilt in the male direction. Women have been voting in substantial numbers in Democratic primaries all year, regularly casting more than 55 percent of the ballots. On Super Tuesday, women were 57 percent of the electorate and they voted for Clinton by a 10-point margin. In Wisconsin, they split their votes evenly, leading some analysts to suggest her campaign was in serious trouble given her weakness among her core female supporters. But women came back again in Ohio and Texas. In Ohio, they were 59 percent of the electorate, up from 52 percent in 2004. In Texas, they were 57 percent, up 4 percentage points. In both states, women's support helped to put her over the top in the...
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YouTube "It was a hot spot, it was a combat zone, and they needed to be very careful with the First Lady."...
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You know, Wright has a right to say these things. Maybe some of them are true. What we know isn't true is that all white people share the same views, and in fact, most of us are not racist. I understand there were great injustices. But I did not commit them. So I don't understand why he has to lump me, as a white person, in with the KKK. (And although I'm half Italian, I don't quite get what garlic has to do with noses.) But it seems to me that Obama used Wright (along with trading favors with Rezko and his other political and corporate cronies) to get where he is today - a junior US Senator, which apparently these days is all you need in the Democratic party to displace a far more experienced female candidate. From Newsday: The irrepressible Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. is at it...
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March 26, 2008
A recent Gallup poll shows 28% of Hillary Clinton supporters will vote for John McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee. Those numbers show a marked difference in Hillary vs. Obama supporters, where many more Hillary supporters feel alienated to the point of taking a rather drastic step - voting for a moderate Republican. Women feeling alienated because of misogyny against Hillary and themselves during this campaign have been told, Hon, that's just too damn bad. Deal with it. Pompous ass Markos Moulitsas AKA Kos (Daily Kos) tipped his hand about women earlier ("I certainly won't let the sanctimonious women's studies set play that role on this site. Feel free to be offended. Me, I'll focus on the important shit."), and now says "as I'm concerned, [Hillary] doesn't deserve "fairness" on this site" after decimating her with illogic. Josh Marshall (Talking Point Memo)'s editorial associate dismisses women thusly: "I...
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From Fact Hub: Hillary recently misspoke about her trip to Bosnia. She accurately describes the trip in her book, Living History: 'Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac…' "Security conditions were constantly changing in the former Yugoslavia, and they had recently deteriorated again. Due to reports of snipers in the hills around the airstrip, we were forced to cut short an event on the tarmac with local children, though we did have time to meet them and their teachers and to learn how hard they had worked during the war to continue classes in any safe spot they could find. … We were then off to the fortified American base at Tuzla, where over two thousand American, Russian, Canadian, British, and Polish soldiers were encamped in a large tent city." [Living History, p. 343] Contemporaneous...
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March 25, 2008
50% want this one, 50% want the other one, people are saying they will vote for the Republican or stay home if their choice doesn't win the nomination, entire states of people are left out of the process because of poor decisions by the top of the party on down, while other people in other states have their votes counted, although many have called foul play because of irregularities at poorly attended caucuses... In essence, what a mess. The Democratic party is about to lose what would have been a sure fire win in November. So what to do? Bring in someone everyone can live with - Al Gore. Sounds pretty wise to me. The people voted for Gore in 2000! Not only in the primary, but in the general. He earned it. The party is on a downward spiral. If real leaders made a bold move to right its...
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In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest. "Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper, "instead of toiling and moiling in that way?" "I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant, "and recommend you to do the same." "Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing, every day, corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew... It is best to prepare for the days of necessity. I know too many...
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March 24, 2008
Just as Obama is not descended from on high, Kos is not what he seems to his followers. To him, it's all about becoming part of the power elite. His pitch was to represent "youth" to Madison Avenue. What is this internet thing these young people are into? Here I am, to explain it all, says Kos. Who actually just got lucky to land some decent blogging software, timing, and a way with rabble rousing a certain market (young men). Kos/Obama set their legions out to annihilate "the enemy" (AKA Hillary Clinton and her supporters), not realizing that "the enemy" is in the same party, and that they will need the "enemy" they destroyed in order to win in November. I am mystified at to why they feel as they do about a candidate they seem to know very little about, and why they want to silence information about their...
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March 23, 2008
His faithful describe him as hope and love (Is Barack Obama the Messiah?), but he's really a better at it than most insider politician. From a 2006 Harpers article: ... it is also startling to see how quickly Obama's senatorship has been woven into the web of institutionalized influence-trading that afflicts official Washington. He quickly established a political machine funded and run by a standard Beltway group of lobbyists, P.R. consultants, and hangers-on. For the staff post of policy director he hired Karen Kornbluh, a senior aide to Robert Rubin when the latter, as head of the Treasury Department under Bill Clinton, was a chief advocate for NAFTA and other free-trade policies that decimated the nation's manufacturing sector (and the organized labor wing of the Democratic Party). Obama's top contributors are corporate law and lobbying firms (Kirkland & Ellis and Skadden, Arps, where four attorneys are fund-raisers for Obama as...
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The Florida and Michigan situation should never have gotten to this point. You can't just "play uncle" with people's votes. What good is winning a battle if you lose the war? I read a book called "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin DeBecker, where a city bureaucracy was being inflexible about a former employee's application for a $400 refund of expenses, and the employee, feeling deeply wounded, threatened a city administrator. It was a legitimate request, just not made in a timely manner. The city called in De Becker, a security consultant. De Becker said: The administrator told me, "we have rules, and if we buckle under to everybody who makes a demand, those rules will be meaningless." He could have benefited from the wisdom of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions." Like the threatener, this administrator was committed to...
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I got a math degree/computer science degree and trust me, I know. There would be 5 women in a class of 60. The male professors would buddy with the male students. Mr. This, Mr. That. The professors would never meet my eye, even when handing out test papers and it turned out I got the best grade in the class. In the good ole boys clubhouse, I could only look in the door from the outside. I persevered but it wasn't easy - the boys helped each other, and they always seemed to always be a step ahead of me. One professor even said I only had my high GPA because I was clever, not because I understood. Many is the time, since I discovered I was really good at math in grade school, to the time I graduated, that I wanted to give up. But I was too damned...
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Democratic Underground is a forum that draws mostly young people. Like most of the sites in the boygosphere, Obama supporters have taken over the site. However, not content to merely bully and abuse Hillary supporters, as on the Daily Kos, at "DU" they put Hillary supporters on "ignore" en masse. In other words, they never hear a positive word about the other candidate, or hear what is being said in the real world about their candidate that they don't want to hear. Yes, sadly, here are the people responsible for elevating Obama in the skewed caucuses, here are the people who enabled Kennedy and Kerry to have their way - read what they have to say, and you'll see the oldest age is about 21 (no adult, no matter how delusional, could sound quite this immature). Essentially, in the broader picture, we have an internet community that doesn't quite include...
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From John Kass in the Chicago Tribune: When the parish priest does right by the patronage boss to protect the mayor who gets endorsed by that great reformer Sir Barack of O'bama, that's the Chicago Way. Naturally, there are some squares who don't think taxpayers should pave the Chicago Way to make it easy for Rezko to help purchase the senator's dream house in a kinky deal exposed by the Tribune and still not fully explained. "It's really the Old Chicago Way," said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association. "In the old days they would pretty much admit it up front, and now they deny it. It's essentially about power, access to government jobs, government contracts and taking care of your own." The Chicago Way. What is it? Is it easily abused? Is it dangerous in the wrong hands? This is critical, as the nation's eyes turn...
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March 22, 2008
From MyDD: ... From any neutral standpoint, the upcoming contests do show a strong winning narrative potential for Clinton. I can see how an Obama partisan, looking at the potential of Clinton coming off of big wins in TX & OH, and riding into potentially winning all 6 of the contests in April & May would be scared enough to try and shut it down. And Clinton seems to finally turned it around on the finance side... I'd advise the Obama supporters to be calm. Neither candidate will have enough pledged delegates to win the nomination. You should also be informed that the rules do not say that, therefore, the candidate with the greatest number of pledged delegates in the winner. Besides, if Clinton does have a good couple of next few months, there's a likelihood that she'll be able to point toward having the pledged delegate lead, when counting...
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What a joke the boygosphere is today. Quoting Politico!!! I can beat a drum, too, let's see... It's a super close race with an an extremely large and significant number of people who want Hillary instead, so let's let everyone vote (as much as anyone can have a say in this jumbled up, disenfranchising, tainted mess of a primary process); in the past, the primary season lasted longer than this (and in less close races); Hillary beats both Obama and McCain in recent national polls; Hillary won the big states needed to win in November; Howard Dean's ineptitude disenfranchised one of the biggest states needed to win in November, but since they went for Hillary, I guess it doesn't matter (is it wise to "play uncle" with the citizens of FLORIDA? I suspect Florida will matter to the Democratic party long after Howard Dean does); neither candidate has enough to...
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From the AP: -- Even if Hillary Rodham Clinton and her aides do not mention Barack Obama's fiery-tongued spiritual mentor, don't expect the Illinois senator's well-publicized speech Tuesday to make the controversy disappear, political strategists said this week. Reporters, talk-show hosts and others will keep asking about Obama's close and long-standing relationship to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose most bombastic comments came to dominate the Democratic presidential contest recently, the strategists predicted in interviews. In video clips playing on Internet sites, Wright can be heard arguing that HIV-AIDS was a U.S. government plot to wipe out ''people of color,'' and that God should ''damn'' the United States for its racist policies. Should Obama become the Democratic nominee, conservative activists are virtually certain to remind voters of Obama's ties to Wright, several strategists said. ''He can give a speech a week, and it's not going to make the issue go away,''...
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March 21, 2008
There's clearly a large number of people who prefer Hillary for president - most fair-minded people would characterize this as a close race, in the 50-50 range. You can spin the words any way you want (she doesn't have enough delegates to win) and neglect to mention the logical counter-argument (neither does he have enough to win). But you can't get around the fact that there is a VERY VERY VERY LARGE NUMBER OF DEMOCRATS WHO PREFER HILLARY. So here's a novel idea - how about let's give all the states a chance to vote? Without trying to psyche everyone out. The "will of the people" arguments are so empty without actually giving a damn about - you guessed it - the people. Since Obama's weaknesses are glaring to many Democrats, how is it that you think it's likely that Republicans don't see them? And that Republicans will only see...
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Philadelphia Magazine has an article on Typical White Person gear. File this under "What not to say while campaigning in PA." Mr. Hope's lack of judgment is frightening. I can just see him making similar statements in foreign countries as president, inciting the masses. We've lived through eight long years of Bush making culture alienating gaffes. How about a wise, experienced adult like Hillary as president, for a refreshing change? From US News and World Report: Obama is drawing a new round of criticism for his comments on a Philadelphia radio sports program yesterday in which he said his grandmother is a "typical white person" who has fears about black men. He was attempting to explain a portion of his speech on race earlier this week—specifically, the statement that his white grandmother gets nervous when a black man approaches her on the street. Obama told the radio host, "The point...
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March 20, 2008
The sexist attitude of Kos (AKA Markos Moulitsas) is nothing new. He's hardly the first insecure person who, having established an unthinking gang of followers, is emboldened to put down others to establish dominance. A couple of things distinguish Kos, though. The hypocrisy in calling oneself "progressive" and not respecting women as equals. It's kind of like Bush naming former mountaintop removal execs to head the Bureau of Beautiful Mountains. Kos' lack of political savvy is also striking. He barely gets through a sentence without displaying his political naivte. One is reminded of Shakespeare: "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." And think about it - what is the thing that turns you off most about people like Bill O'Reilly? Even more than the illogic of what they say is the way they say it. There's this arrogant offhandedness that...
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March 18, 2008
From the Washington Post: Rep. John P. Murtha has announced his endorsement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, bringing his clout as a 17-term member of the House and a prominent anti-war Democrat to bear with more than a month until the primary here in his home state. "Sen. Clinton is the candidate that will forge a consensus on health care, education, the economy, and the war in Iraq," Murtha wrote in a statement about his decision. Murtha, who represents the 12th district of Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, was an early and sometimes inflammatory critic of the Iraq war. As a retired Marine Corps colonel and the first combat veteran of Vietnam elected to serve in Congress, Murtha's voice on Clinton's behalf could prove especially valuable in both inoculating her from anti-war criticism and bolstering her claim that she is the most qualified to serve as commander-in-chief. That message is the backbone...
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March 17, 2008
March 15, 2008
From Money: Inflation isn't the only worry on the minds of Fed critics. Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, says the Term Securities Lending Facility and moves like it amount to a government bailout of corporate executives who made reckless bets - and who should be made to pay the tab with their jobs. The government is showing considerable ingenuity in devising new tactics to fight the credit crunch. But some observers fear that the innovations risk making matters worse - by fueling inflation and insulating executives who made reckless bets from the full wrath of the market. The Federal Reserve set off a ferocious stock market rally Tuesday with its plan to lend banks as much as $200 billion over 28 days later this month. The plan sent shares of hard-hit lenders such as Fannie Mae (FNM), Freddie Mac (FRE, Fortune 500)...
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March 14, 2008
In the past 50 years, 51 countries have been headed by women. But never America. And American women lag behind even third world countries in the legislative branch, as well - in Rwanda, for example, women hold 49% of seats in Parliament and 35% of the seats in the Senate. But in America, women hold just 16% of the seats in the House and 16% of the seats in the Senate. From Barbara Mikulski: March is Women's History Month – and this year it's truly one for the books as we watch Hillary Clinton get closer and closer to becoming the first woman President of the United States. Every generation, in every century has a particular rendezvous with destiny. I know about making history. I was the first Democratic woman elected to the Senate in her own right. We've been waiting for this a long time – since 1776. We...
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March 13, 2008
From John Carlson in the Seattle Times: Everyone knows that crushes either crash or fade. Ask an Obama supporter about the senator's greatest political accomplishment and the reaction is often the same: a crinkled eyebrow, an awkward acknowledgment that they can't think of anything, but he still inspires them because he represents "change" and "hope." OK. But soaring, uplifting sermons promising "hope" and "change" eventually run dry unless they're connected to clear ideas and a coherent agenda. ...excitement is closely tied to momentum and the Obama campaign is losing both. The affection for him is genuine, but it's less a long-term romance than a crush. And everyone knows that crushes either crash or fade. Ask an Obama supporter about the senator's greatest political accomplishment and the reaction is often the same: a crinkled eyebrow, an awkward acknowledgment that they can't think of anything, but he still inspires them because he...
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March 12, 2008
From Bonnie Erbe at Scripps Howard News Service: How much of his ability to win caucus votes has been predicated upon these alleged tactics? I have no answer to that question and pose it to you, dear reader, to answer for yourself. Given the above information and the fact many of the states Obama has won so far have been "reliably Republican ... such as Idaho, Utah, Georgia and South Carolina. Democrats have no chance in those states come November. Meanwhile, Clinton will have won at least eight of the 11 largest states, including must-win battleground states such as Florida and Ohio ..." (this written by Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Jonathan Last this week), the question of "electability" must be revisited. Search the Web for "caucus disruptions" and allegations of caucus-vote disruptions lodged against supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton predominate among the first 20 links that come...
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March 10, 2008
I loved the part where she said Oprah was playing to demographics. From Tina Brown in Newsweek: Much has been written about how boomer women have rallied to Hillary's cause (she won an impressive 67 percent of the white women voting in Ohio; they were 44 percent of the total). It's fashionable to write off this core element of her base as rabid paleo-feminists fighting the tired old gender wars of the past. But Hillary's appeal to the boomer gals is wider and deeper than that. Cynthia Ruccia, a grass-roots political organizer in Columbus, told me that in these last beleaguered weeks, women started showing up in waves at Clinton headquarters—women who told her they had never volunteered in a campaign before. "There was just an outpouring about the way she was being treated by the media," Ruccia said. "It was something we hadn't seen in a long time. We...
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It's when they don't even try to hide it that you know they are feeling strength in numbers. Emboldened by each other and Junior Senator boy Barrack, Talking Points Memo boys Josh & Andrew and Daily Kos boy Markos and the rest, well, there's a big old sign painted in red letters on the clubhouse door and it says, "No girls allowed - and that means you, Hillary". And I love the way, when a woman tells them the emperor has no clothes, they knee-jerk with a "don't let the door hit your ass on the way out" smart remark. Proof they aren't thinking people - because heaven forbid a viewpoint other than their own should be considered. And proof they aren't even very good at bread-winning - I mean, to summarily dismiss half of your potential audience, how dumb is that? The sad thing is, they aren't too smart...
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March 09, 2008
Survey USA: f Clinton and Obama do eventually join together and run as a one ticket, which would you rather see? Clinton for President with Obama as vice president? Or Obama for President with Clinton as Vice President? Clinton president/Obama vice (opposite in parenthesis): Women: 53% (vs. 34%) Men: 42% (vs. 38%) Democrats: 58% (vs. 33%)...
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March 08, 2008
All they ever talk about is delegates, not the popular vote. And make it sound so horrible that super delegates may vote for Hilary to make her the nominee - as though that were somehow negating the will of the people, when in fact, it would be following the will of the people! And they never mention that super delegates from a state that Hillary carried are voting for Obama - for example, Ted Kennedy & John Kerry said they will vote for Obama even though Massachusetts voted for Hillary. Calls for Hillary to get out of the race because of the delegates count could equally be made for Obama getting out of the race because of the popular vote count. Because Obama won so many caucus states, where only a tiny minority of eligible voters were able to participate (caucuses favor his base of the young and the wealthy,...
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March 06, 2008
I was googling this and came across this interview of Clinton campaign co-chair, Weldon Latham, from The Hill: When did you first meet the Clintons? I’ve known Hillary for years and have been a supporter. I was co-chair for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate campaign in 2000. Every few months we’d get together. I couldn’t be more supportive. You were recently named co-chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. What makes you qualified? That’s easy. I’m a voting citizen of the United States. What makes me want to do it? Passion. I’m passionate about the candidate. The last seven years have been the worst [under] any president in my lifetime. In January I started informally helping her. What do you mean, “informally”? In February I started making calls for her. You were rooting for this position. I didn’t know the position existed. Why Hillary? I believe deep down that the best...
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March 05, 2008
"In the opening stands Hillary Clinton. The first woman who ever had a chance to change the country and the world in one swoop. A woman with the U.S. military Armed Forces standing by her side and backing her up. Strength beyond wisdom, which comes through alliances gotten through years of hard work. A woman with a lifetime of experience applying for The Job. "A fighter, but not just to win. To lead. To change the world. A woman at the helm. It can happen. Believe." ~ Taylor Marsh...
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And Obama's wins were mainly in caucuses where a small minority of eligible voters, such as young college kids with time on their hands, participated (since caucuses disenfranchise most voters, including the Democratic voting base of working people, people with families, and elderly people). Hillary has won the popular vote, the votes of most Democrats, and all the big states. Can the party ignore that they will have big trouble in the general election with Obama? From The Times: ... With her victories on Tuesday Mrs Clinton could make a strong case that she had won all the big states to have voted so far – California, Texas, Ohio, New York and New Jersey. Her campaign will also redouble its efforts to allow delegates from Michigan and Florida, two other big states Mrs Clinton won but whose votes were disqualified because the two broke Democratic party rules. Most encouraging for...
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March 04, 2008
"I'm a fighter." ~ Hillary Clinton Hillary Clinton, you have shown strength and courage under fire of such extreme intensity that most men will never in their lifetimes come close to knowing. I am proud to stand with you. Women are 50% of the world, but much of the time, we are invisible to all but each other. "As a woman, I have no country. As a woman, my country is the world." ~ Virginia Woolf...
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From Tom Watson: What kind of progressive American leader would stand silent, supporting with the cold reserve of ambition the disgracefully sexist, blatantly anti-feminist attack on a well-respected woman of the same party, a political foe perhaps, but a national Democratic leader? Barack Obama - so far... At the start of the campaign, I didn't think the national media could possibly be successful in an anti-woman campaign against a Democrat. I thought surely that the left wouldn't allow it, that the rest of the Democratic field - avowed feminists all - would object, and object loudly. I may be proved wrong. And Barack Obama is silent....
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Lots of comments to read on Corrente Wire... One comment: My mother is 85 years old. She will vote tomorrow in Rhode Island for Mrs. Clinton. My mother rarely says anything negative about anyone. The last President she criticized was Nixon. Called him a crook. On Bush, she goes well he is not the nicest man but they attacked us and it is not easy being President. On Obama she told me: “That man is so full of hate. I can’t believe that his wife lets him say those things.” The sexist and the misogynistic comments and attitudes from Obama to Matthews & Olberman to even Bill Maher are something I did not expect. On the blog I contribute, we get comments like she is a whiner, or she would throw that red phone if they called at 3 AM or even that she must be menopausal. She is 61....
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From Paul Krugman in the New York Times: What we do know is that Mr. Obama has never faced a serious Republican opponent — and that he has not yet faced the hostile media treatment doled out to every Democratic presidential candidate since 1988. Yes, I know that both the Obama campaign and many reporters deny that he has received more favorable treatment than Hillary Clinton. But they’re kidding, right? Dana Milbank, the Washington Post national political reporter, told the truth back in December: “The press will savage her no matter what ... they really have the knives out for her, there’s no question about it ... Obama gets significantly better coverage.” If Mr. Obama does make it to the White House, will he actually deliver the transformational politics he promises? Like the faith that he can win an overwhelming electoral victory, the faith that he can overcome bitter conservative...
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March 03, 2008
"Her candidacy is extraordinarily important. If ever a qualified woman could hold the presidency of the United States, this is the qualified woman. And for those of us that are part of "a woman need not apply" generation that goes back to the time I went out to get my first job following college and a year of graduate work, this is an extraordinarily critical race. And I hope she stays the course and stays in it. And then we count up the delegate votes and we make a decision. "I read a lot of columns. I'm amazed at the number that are spent on really picayune things about Senator Clinton — her hair, her suits. And I think some of this just drives toward the insecurity of having a woman running for this office. ...I think some of it is driven by the fact that it's easy to hit...
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Let's see, which one of the usual feelings of inadequacy is motivating poor little Joel Stein's hatred of women. Judging by his simpering photo and juvenile writing style (that completely gives away his unfamiliarity with adult relationships), I'd say take your pick and you'd be right. One after one, the male-dominated media trots out insecure little boys (oh, and wanna-be insecure little boys, like Maureen Dowd), emboldened by each other and the worst case of puppy love ever for their crush of all crushes, Barack Obama. And don't even bother crying to mommy once the boys from the other neighborhood kick your collective asses. Because she will be cheering them on. And Joel, the bigger boys - you know, the ones who don't still pee their pants like you? - won't needlessly tick off women (you know, the ones who will actually vote in the general election) with flower articles....
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From Hillary Clinton: Hillary Clinton will set out her approach to American foreign policy in the 21st Century in a speech at George Washington University today. Joining her will be a group of senior retired military and defense officials who have endorsed her to be this nation’s next Commander-in-Chief. They are: General Wesley Clark, Lt. General Joe Ballard, Major General Antonio M. Taguba, Rear Admiral David Stone, Brigadier General John M. Watkins, Jr. and former Secretary of the Army Togo West. Generals Taguba and Watkins will formally announce their endorsement of Senator Clinton today. Many of our nation’s most distinguished military officers stand proudly with Hillary Clinton because they believe that she has the strength, experience and leadership necessary to be President and Commander-in-Chief. They include three four-star generals, a former chairman and vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and many other Americans who have served their country with...
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March 02, 2008
Senator John Glenn: YouTube "As long as Amy and I have known her, Hillary has fought for working people. She'll end $55 billion in giveaways to corporate special interests and invest that money to create jobs in research and innovation to rebuild the middle class. And Hillary will fight to change trade deals like NAFTA - she's been doing this for years. I will be proud to call her my president." Jack Nicholson: YouTube "Mrs. Clinton has been involved in issues, everything from health care, which we know and prison reform and helping the military, speaking for women and speaking for Americans."...
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From Slate: Over at the Perfect World, Cal Lanier crunches the numbers and finds that Obama, despite being ahead among pledged delegates, has fewer total votes among people who identify themselves as Democrats. (He has 7,392,809 votes; Clinton has 8,229,063.) That gives Clinton as lead with 52 percent of Democrats. Lanier also breaks the numbers down by race and points out that Obama has won white Democrats in only two states: New Mexico and Illinois. The numbers are hardly perfect. They rely on CNN and MSNBC exit polls, which are inherently rough. (Extrapolating those percentages to estimate exact numbers of voters is going to compound margins of error.) And because caucuses report delegates, not individual turnout, those stats are going to be a little murky, too. I'd also dispute their inclusion of Florida and Michigan in the count. But Clinton’s lead is still large enough to be significant. It helps...
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March 01, 2008
I was reading about economics and ran across this statement - thought it was fitting to the current political situation: In a bubble, fictitious value goes away when market participants lose faith in the religion — when their false beliefs are destroyed as quickly as they had been formed....
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Read about the question mark who would be president Stop Obama ...Another media measure readers will no doubt find of interest, is the number of times a candidate’s name has been mentioned in the press, since 1990. Far from just being a tally of the candidate’s prominence during the past 18 years, it is a direct indicator of how much, how and what kind of work or goals the candidate pursued during this time.... And when he did appear on the scene, he was missing in action, a slacker who followed along with the pack, or stood out from the pack by voting against progressive values for citizens and with Republicans and lobbyists....
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I was looking for someone to relate to what I am going through with my mother, and I found it in this beautiful essay. From Ellen Pall in the New York Times: WHEN my father was fairly well along into the dementia of Alzheimer's - not as far as he was to go, but four or five years in - he developed a taste for looking attentively at trees. At the time I was not aware that this is a common pleasure for Alzheimer's patients, some of whom are known to enter a Zenlike state of meditation before them. In my ignorance I speculated as to what the allure of looking at trees might be for my father. All he could say about it, or would say, was, "Look," pointing out the window (or, in better weather, up from a chaise lounge) at the gently moving branches of an oak...
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February 29, 2008
From David Denby in the New Yorker: As they waste time, Lazarescu lapses into semi-poetic incoherence, like Lear’s fool. The doctors’ inhuman nonsense is mocked by Lazarescu’s all-too-human nonsense as he tries to hold on to some fragment of memory and desire. Lazarescu is just a lonely man who’s going down, but we want at least a moment of recognition that a life is ending. As we watch Lazarescu’s rudely tendered drift toward extinction, our response shifts from disgust to sympathy, from bleak amusement to something like solidarity and love. Laid out, “a poor bare, forked animal,” as Lear describes himself, Lazarescu is our representative as he enters that final night. In the heartrending Romanian film “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu,” the hero—known in full as Dante Remus Lazarescu—is an unregenerate but oddly lovable mess. A retired engineer who lives in Bucharest, Lazarescu (Ion Fiscuteanu) regularly drinks something called Mastropol—home-brewed...
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From Liberal Rapture: Republicans eliminated the more popular, but less qualified, candidates as the process unfolded. Invert that for the Democrats. We have never elected a person with a thinner resume than Obama. So how have we Democrats ended up with Obama when Biden, Dodd, Richardson, and Clinton are so much stronger? ...I find it fascinating that the GOP and the Democrats have essentially taken opposite roads in the last year. Republicans eliminated the more popular, but less qualified, candidates as the process unfolded. Invert that for the Democrats. I am unabashedly Pro Clinton - but Dodd, Richardson, Biden and Clinton are ALL more likely, BASED ON THE EVIDENCE, to have competent Administrations than Obama. But we seem to have chosen Obama. No one has a rational reason for this. There are reasons to support Obama - but thus far I have yet to hear one based on merit. McCain...
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