Entries from June 2008
It seems the presumptive Democratic nominee may be getting off to a shaky start. Progressives, who were not too happy with his FISA comment, are now questioning his comment about MoveOn and his distancing himself from Gen. Wesley Clark.
For more on these two stories:
UPDATED with video: Obama criticizes MoveOn.org in patriotism speech: Wesley Clark hears it too…
by John Amato at Crooks and Liars
… which included this comment: “Can we draft Hillary at the Convention?” Meanwhile, some of the former (and probably would be current) Hillary haters now find they must redirect their, well, hatred.
Wesley Clark and the Mock Military Molehill
by Taylor Marsh
But if you want to read something reprehensible, it’s not Clark. Stop over to see Ben Smith’s column if you haven’t already.
“A lot of people don’t know … that McCain made a propaganda video for the enemy while he was in captivity,” wrote Americablog.com’s John Aravosis. “Putting that bit of disloyalty aside, what exactly is McCain’s military experience that prepares him for being commander in chief?”
“Getting shot down, tortured and then doing propaganda for the enemy is not command experience,” Aravosis wrote in the blog post, titled “Honestly, besides being tortured, what did McCain do to excel in the military?”
Not having Hillary to hate has obviously caused Mr. Americablog’s last wheel to come off. Joan Walsh calls it. To add, this is the type of crap that makes people walk away from being Democrats. It asks the wrong question completely, while taking valid points off the table because the track is so unseemly.
The entire post led one commenter to suggest that maybe Obama needs a bigger bus.
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Categories: 2008 election · Sen. Barack Obama
Following a Thursday night meeting in DC where Sen. Clinton urged her major donors to support Sen. Obama (and where he contributed the maximum amount allowable to help pay her campaign debt), the two were off to New Hampshire for a unity rally.
In what will most likely be the first of many such events the two took to the stage to remind Democrats why we need to defeat John McSame in November.
Rivals turned allies, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton made a display of unity Friday in a hamlet named for it, their first joint public appearance since the divisive Democratic primary race ended.
“Unity is not only a beautiful place as we can see, it’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it? And I know when we start here in this field in Unity, we’ll end on the steps of the Capitol when Barack Obama takes the oath of office as our next president,” Clinton said just after she and Obama took the stage together.
In turn, Obama praised both Clinton and her husband, President Clinton, as allies and pillars of the Democratic Party, saying: “We need them. We need them badly. Not just my campaign, but the American people need their service and their vision and their wisdom in the months and years to come because that’s how we’re going to bring about unity in the Democratic Party. And that’s how we’re going to bring about unity in America.”
The location for the event seemed fitting for a number of reasons:
Moments earlier, the two snaked their way through some 6,000 people who gathered in a wide-open field and overflowed some bleacher seats in this town of 1,700. It was a carefully chosen venue in a key general election battleground state: Unity awarded exactly 107 votes to each candidate in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary in January.
Which, in hindsight, set the tone for the next six months.
Clinton encouraged her supporters to join with his “to create an unstoppable force for change we can all believe in.” She addressed any of her backers who are considering not voting or voting for McCain instead of Obama: “I strongly urge you to reconsider.”
“I know that he’ll work for you. He’ll fight for you, and he’ll stand up for you every single day in the White House,” Clinton said, calling Obama “a leader who invests in our future.” [...]
“For 16 months, Senator Clinton and I have shared the stage as rivals for the nomination, but today I could not be happier and more honored and more moved that we’re sharing this stage as allies to bring about the fundamental changes that this country so desperately needs,” Obama said. “Hillary and I may have started with separate goals in this campaign, but we made history together.”
“I’ve admired her as a leader, I’ve learned from her as a candidate. She rocks. She rocks. That’s the point I’m trying to make,” Obama said in response to cheers from the crowd.
Okay, I simply can’t let this moment pass without making one final observation. Did Obama call Clinton to coordinate their wardrobe before the event? Just asking …
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Categories: 2008 election · Sen. Barack Obama · Sen. Hillary Clinton
What is it with clergy and Sen. Obama? A controversy erupts … it gets press for a few days … the person in question apologizes … Obama apologizes … and then a few weeks later the person who provoked the controversy is BACK IN THE NEWS!
What do these clergy have against Obama?
The latest incident involves Father Michael Pfleger. The Catholic priest who mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” Pfleger said:
“I was giving a talk about race. And is entitlement one of the things about race that I believe in? Is an unequal playing field one of the things I believe in? Yes, so I don’t apologize for being passionate, I don’t apologize for being free … I apologize when my passion or my freeness and my flawness of character get in the way of the content, which is much more important to me — that people hear the message. And when I am in the way of the message then I’m not only apologetic, but I have to change.”
Are these guys going to keep popping up through November? If so, it’s a good thing Obama decided against public financing because he’s going to need all the cash he can get his hands on just to protect himself from some of his “followers.”
NOTE to future political candidates … lose the clergy connection.
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Categories: 2008 election · Sen. Barack Obama
Eight years ago Ralph Nader lost whatever moral authority he might have had when he turned his back on his own ethics to try and convince voters there was no difference between Al Gore and George W. Bush.
Nader: Obama trying to ‘talk white’
“There’s only one thing different about Barack Obama when it comes to being a Democratic presidential candidate. He’s half African-American,” Nader said. “Whether that will make any difference, I don’t know. I haven’t heard him have a strong crackdown on economic exploitation in the ghettos. Payday loans, predatory lending, asbestos, lead. What’s keeping him from doing that? Is it because he wants to talk white? He doesn’t want to appear like Jesse Jackson? We’ll see all that play out in the next few months and if he gets elected afterwards.”
We all know his comment in 2000 was a lie. Only a complete idiot would listen to anything Nader has to say today.
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Categories: 2008 election · Ralph Nader
~click image to play video~
Categories: fun
The federal government is considering whether or not to reauthorize taxpayer funded school vouchers in the District of Columbia. Vouchers are a bad idea because fundamentally they don’t “fix” the underlying problem.
They allow some students the option to attend other schools, usually private religious schools, at taxpayer expense. In evaluating these programs over the years the research indicates the performance of “voucher students” isn’t significantly better than that of their peers attending the public school. In other words, instead of actually fixing the problem the federal government would rather offer a “feel good solution” that in reality is no solution at all.
Here is what you can do:
Act NOW to Stop School Vouchers!
Urge Congress to End DC Voucher Program
On Tuesday, June 24, the House Appropriations Committee will mark up the FY2009 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill, which could include $18 million for private and religious school vouchers. This bill could contain a continuation of a federally-funded school voucher program even though the program was supposed to end in September 2008.
In 2003, Congress authorized a pilot, private-school voucher program for the District of Columbia. Now, even though the program’s five-year pilot period is ending, President Bush has proposed an increase in funding. Next Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee will mark-up the bill that funds the D.C. voucher program. If this Congress does not end this, the only nationally funded voucher program, more may come and your state could be next.
The D.C. public schools are in need of improvement, yet this program does nothing to help public schools provide high-quality education. In fact, congressionally mandated federal evaluations released in both 2007 and 2008 found no significant differences in academic achievement between voucher students and their peers in D.C. public schools. This program does not work and should not be funded by our tax dollars.
Furthermore, these vouchers have been funding religious education. Because sectarian schools integrate religion throughout their curricula, school vouchers allow the state to fund religious teaching as well as secular coursework.
In addition, despite receiving public money, the participating private schools are not subject to all federal civil rights laws, and do not face the same accountability standards that all public schools must face.
Please call the Majority Office of the House Appropriations Committee ASAP to urge the defeat of this misguided program! The number is (202) 225-2771.
If you cannot make a phone call, please e-mail your representative NOW to urge him or her to oppose this program. Your representative can help stop vouchers before they go any further.
Take action right now!
Categories: separation of church and state · taxpayer funded school vouchers
It seems the presumptive Democratic nominee may be getting off to a shaky start. Progressives, who were not too happy with his FISA comment, are now questioning his comment about MoveOn and his distancing himself from Gen. Wesley Clark.
