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Consequently, the few Democrats you see out there campaigning for Obama are all we're most likely going to see. What you see is what you get.
No, not become the first black president.
Running against both the Democratic AND Republican parties simutaneously. IMO more Democrats want him to lose than the Republicans. Someone asked, "Where is Bill Clinton? He should be out on the trail slamming the Republicans."
Well, for all we know Obama's people could be calling Bill for help and he sees OBAMA on his cell phone caller ID and lets it go straight to voice mail. Then when asked, he can always say "I haven't talked to 'em."
I've said this before and I'll say it again: The Democratic leadership couldn't care less if he wins or not because even if he loses, he'll generate excitement that will translate to the downticket races. So Billy Bob in VA might pull that lever for Mark Warner but not for Obama and it's not going to matter to the Democratic leadership because at least they'll have their Democratic majority.
They can also use Obama's loss to pump the brakes of any other black or hispanic person who dares to run for the nomination again.
I just feel like if Obama loses, his loss will be used to stamp out the aspirations of not just blacks but other non-whites. Like Obama said, it's not about him, it's about us.
I did read where Terry McAuliffe promises to campaign hard for Obama in Virginia, but that's more about him trying to run for Governor of VA in 2010. But if it gets Obama in office, campaign away and Virginians will deal with his ass later.
I couldn't agree with you more.
BTW
I hate when politician say, "I think the American people are smart enough to BLAh BLAH BLAH" Smart enough my ass we voted for BUSH twice and McSane is still in the race with no plan. He is pretty much riding on his whiteness and damnit if that doesn't trump Rightness every time.
.... http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/m...
“...We’re not getting that now. We have economic functions which are equivalent that are treated differently depending on where the trades take place. Every economic function should be treated the same from a regulatory point of view. If it’s the same trade, it should be regulated in the same way. There are some standards that we just have to aim for, and we just haven’t met yet.’’
But Mr. Holtz-Eakin did not provide specifics. “I think that the moment when we write down a specific plan is the moment we send legislation out from a McCain administration to Congress,’’ he said. “That’s the moment that happens.’’
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/5050/story?id=58...
it's in a diary over at DailyKos
http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/11/28...
This article mentions Barack Obama but doesn't actually talk much about the presidential election. But it includes a needed reality check on poverty and race for those who might suddenly (and stupidly) believe his election ends all arguments and excuses for Black under achievement.
While we're all on an "emotional roller coaster", I keep in my heart and mind - your compassion!
This situation is extremely critical!! His body is broken and he hasn't spoken!!
I have known him for the past 10 years [He's 22.]
I will be away from my computer during MOST of the day and some of the night.
Missing you! But carrying your support!; for which I/Brandon/family THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! God Bless y'all. :>)
http://www.huliq.com/3277/68477/spike-lee-%E2%8...
Spike Lee: George Bush Took Out Wall Street
Film director claims American president "succeeded in doing what Osama Bin Laden could not."
NEW YORK, NY (Sept. 15, 2008) Director Spike Lee ignited a firestorm of media coverage in the European press over the weekend with remarks stating that American President George Bush “has succeeded in doing what Osama Bin Laden could not: Destroying Wall Street.”
Lee’s remarks came in response to news over the weekend that Wall Street investment bank Lehman Bros. would be forced to declare bankruptcy, and that rival Merrill Lynch was so weak that it was forced to sell itself to Bank of America at fire sale prices.
SKIP
“Through its almost pathological aversion to any form of regulation of the financial markets whatsoever – even the most mildest and rational -- the Bush Administration has allowed what was previously one of America’s safest financial investments, the American home mortgage, to be turned into a weapon of mass destruction against Wall Street,” said Lee, who been headlining the 10-day long Deauville American Film Film Festival held this past week in France.
“Anyone still searching for George Bush’s famously missing WMD need only look at the Republican administration’s reckless failure to regulate the American home mortgage industry.”
Spike Lee HATH spoken - again!
wow.
and people are STILL UNDECIDED?
Now that BoA has both Countrywide AND Merrill Lynch, if they fail, the government almost has to bail them out...or risk everything going under.
Risky as hell.
In other words, the big conglomerate banks are starting to dip into YOUR money to save themselves, and state gv'ts are starting to grant them the exceptions to let them play roulette.
It's dangerous as hell. You figure if they won't bail out Lehman, why would they bail out BoA? That ship's sailed.
End of the day, once Uncle Sam finishes rescuing Wall Street. There WILL be money to be made.
Merrill recently worth $100 B. BofA copped it for less than 10.
a LOT less than 10.
if you got it...why WOULDNT you buy a BRAND NAME like ML, chop off the useless dead weight and fold in all the profitable parts that are left.
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2008/09/15/pow...
Powell Still Undecided: Says Obama Win Would Be Electrifying
- Former Bush Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that he has not yet decided which candidate to back in this year’s presidential race.
The election of an African-American president “would be electrifying,” Powell told a George Washington University audience, “but at the same time [I have to] make a judgment here on which would be best for America.
“I have been watching both individuals, I know them both extremely well, and I have not decided who I am going to vote for. And I’m interested to see what the debates are going to be like because we have to get off of this ‘lipstick on a pig’ stuff and get into issues,” he said.
Welllllll!! Guess we still have to wait! :>)
America is waiting with "baited breath." Will you endorse Barack...or will it be John? Will you go back to the United Nations and admit you were a pawn for pre-emptive war?
I wish Colin Powell would have ignored his wife and ran for the presidency in 96 against Clinton or 2000 against Bush. I wish that Kerry would have won in 2004 to help avert THE REAL-DEAL CATASTROPHE OF 2008--the collapse of Wall Street.
Woulda-shoulda-coulda...A Colin Powell endorsement is like an Al Gore endorsement or a John Edwards endorsement...too little...TOO LATE.
Bush would have slimed Powell instead of McCain..
But he wouldn't be able to use "Powell has a black child" 'cause that would have been true.
I don't think Bush would've beaten Powell, even with Rove. From what I remember of the '00 election season (and granted, I spent most of it in boot camp), the warming-up period to the idea of a "President Powell" seemed shorter than the one to a "President Obama."
We saw him follow orders as Sec of State w/ his taking the Cheney/Armitage information on Iraq and put his heart into it on the floor of the UN. Look what happened.
Powell in 2000 would have been what McCain wants to be in 2008: the respected military hero who wants to serve his country one last time.
He wouldn't have beaten the Bush crime family in securing the Republican nomination. But his support for affirmative action and assuming a moderate social conservatism (getting the mega-church crowd to notice), combined with his military credibility and his charity work -- I think he could have energized both Black conservatives and moderates toward his corner.
Though I think he would've beaten Bush (though he would've been forced into some sort of compromise; maybe a Powell/Bush ticket?). Enough people on all sides-black, white, Republican, Democrat, independent-liked/respected him that I think he would've gotten the nomination...and hell, probably have beaten Gore as well (though not in a blowout. Could you imagine a Gore v. Powell and how the SCOTUS would have decided?)
Stuart Miller, Multichannel News
- The cable industry has long strived for diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism in the workplace. But executives agree that over the last year and a half — as the nation followed a historic presidential primary race between an African-American and a woman — operators and networks have ramped up their recruitment and career-building efforts.
Scripps Networks is one company that has recently “turned up the intensity,” according to senior vice president of corporate communications Cindy McConkey.
Eighteen months ago, Scripps hired Chris Powell, an African-American from outside the cable industry as executive vice president of human resources. “He brings a new point of view to the executive committee,” she said.
“People see this effort at first and think it’s just the politically correct thing to do but there is a strong and obvious business case to be made,” McConkey added, citing a shift in economic power.
JJP: Any comments regarding NAMES/STATIONS?? Thank you! :>)
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/09/pathological-l...
Almost immediately after Sarah Palin's acceptance speech, McCain supporters began to spread a false story that due to a TelePrompter malfunction, she had ad libbed significant portions of her speech.
As it turns out, the story of TelePrompter bravery was false (a fact confirmed by the video in this post), but that hasn't stopped the McCain campaign from continuing to spread the strange myth. Here's Sarah Palin earlier tonight, telling a group of Ohioans her false TelePrompter fable:
"In the convention I had you to thank afterwards, because there Ohio was right out in front, in front of me," she said. "And you know, I walked out there on stage and we started the teleprompter going in front of me. Teleprompter got messed up, and I wasn't able to follow it. So, I decided, I'm just going to talk to the people in front me. And it was Ohio."
The WSJ says Palin's story has been "largely debunked," adding that independent observers noted "that any teleprompter issue was minor at most."
Jake Tapper also calls bull, and gets a bizarre statement from the McCain campaign denying that Palin was claiming to have ad libbed her speech.
And after looking through video of her speech, I found five instances where I could read what was on the prompter -- and in all five cases, the prompter was working perfectly. Here's that video:
YouTube link
This isn't about beating up on Sarah Palin. Even though she happened to be the one to tell this particular lie, the point here is that John McCain and his campaign have nothing left to offer but lies.
They are totally out of gas when it comes to real solutions to our economic problems, so instead they spin up false tales both big and small, about issues both silly and serious.
The bottom-line is that you cannot believe a word they say.
If elected, this is how they would govern, with the same lies and deceit of the past eight years creating big new problems for our country without taking care of the problems we already have.
Whew! Liar! Liar! Pants on fire Deep Breaths! :>)
p.s. You know that there's a song!! :>)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMenB9Ywh2Q
Another One Bites The Dust - Queen
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-budget1...
California Lawmakers Reach compromise on Budget
The proposed state spending plan involves no new taxes. Votes on the plan are scheduled for Monday.
SACRAMENTO -- Legislative leaders announced Sunday that they had reached a deal on a no-new-taxes state spending plan, bringing the longest budget impasse in modern California history nearly to an end.
Their proposal would increase spending for education and healthcare, though not enough to avoid cutbacks in services. It would borrow against the state lottery. And it relies heavily on maneuvers that would push the state's financial problems into the future at a time when economists have little hope that revenue is on the rebound.
That plan would require hundreds of thousands of businesses and individuals to hand over more of their taxes sooner, so the state could use the cash infusion to pay its bills. The payments made now would not be available for next year's budget.
Votes on the plan are scheduled for today in the Assembly and Senate.
http://www.newser.com/article/d937mpf80/asian-m...
Asian Markets Plunge As Demise of Lehman Fans FEARS of Global Financial Crisis
Asian stock markets tumbled Tuesday amid growing fears of a global financial crisis as investors reacted to the demise of two of Wall Street's biggest names, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch
It would be nice to know what OTHER countries have said!! Hmmmm??
by Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet at 3:56 PM on September 13, 2008.
A politically timed lawsuit by the state’s Republican attorney general may create chaos at polling places on Nov. 4.
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/democracy/98702
Now, that is the most juxtaposed and crazy thing?!?!?!?
McCain Campaign: Monegan Fired for Being Pro-Victim of Sexual Assault
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/16/0018/20...
She's female, but I wouldn't call her a woman.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...
OUCH.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0908/Jew...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/16/7641/09...
Jack, somebody, please post this.
See, McCain can make an ad with a leering Obama staring at innocent white children with a voiceover saying that Obama wants to teach sex to your (white) kids, that's professional.
Obama makes an ad using McCain's own silly words that the "fundamentals are strong" even as the Dow reaches it's lowest level in 7 years, and that's unprofessional.
McCain can make an ad showing Obama morphing into a wolf to get at Sarah Palin, that's professional.
Obama makes an ad saying that McCain is old and out of touch, that's unprofessional and he should apologize to McCain.
McCain makes an ad saying that Obama is disrespectful to Sarah Palin, that's professional. McCain makes an ad saying that Obama disrespected Hillary Clinton, that's professional.
A Democratic 527 makes an ad with a POW sayign McCain shouldn't be anywhere near that red button, that's just wrong.
McCain and Palin blatantly lie about everything including the size of their crowds, the MSM feels no need to probe further. Obama says he wasn't in church on 9/11 for Rev. Wright's sermon, Hannity demands to see the church attendance rolls.
Obama's been front page news since Jan. 4th. But people still don't know much about him. Sarah Palin's been front page news for 2 weeks but everyone knows all they need to know about her.
See how this works?
telling the truth and explaining how it is....as usual.
Back to politics, anyone with half a brain knew what John McCain meant when he said the fundamentals of the economy are sound and he certainly wasn't talking about "Americans". Moreover, this wasn't the first time he said it. So, why is a supposed objective journalist, Andrea Mitchell, giving advice to John McCain on how to cover up his mistake with an implausible explanation? On this morning's Morning Joe, she was effectively giving McCain tips on how to lie. Is that now the job of MSNBC "journalists"?
Dang, what time were you watching this? That interview I saw was on around 7:20/30am ET
Biden said, John McCain confuses me, and then went off about the economy, gas prices, and how the middle class has been getting screwed (yes he said screwed!)etc...
The reporter asked him to name at least 3 things an Obama administration would make to improve our situation and w/o hesitation he laid out a great economic strategy.
I think he Obama was just a little more straightforward and got to the point like Biden, the polls would definitely NOT be this close.
Good Job Mighty Joe!
Even with an aid from the soft interview (no follow-up at all) and the tense one Biden got (constantly being interrupted and challenged on every point he made), McCain appeared to be lying and not really able to lay out a plan or defend his talking points he tries to pass off as a plan.
1. Middle class tax breaks
2. Invest in infastrucature (bridges, highways, etc) to create jobs in the US.
3. I honestly can't remember, but I think he had to do with changing the regulations on Wall Street. Accountability was mentioned.
Brave New PAC
For those people who don't notice detail, they may work well...
1 hour, 58 minutes ago
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said "no thanks" to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere.
ADVERTISEMENT
But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla, that's a different story.
A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska's largest city to Palin's town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/15/palin-...
This investigation was spearheaded by Republicans and she is still refusing to cooperate? So much for a new kind of government... sounds like George "everything I do is legal cuz I'm President" Bush.
AND- this notion that her husband is involved with this and other decision making? Why isn't anyone vetting THIS dude?
And none of them knew about her billing the state for staying at home!
http://mudflats.wordpress.com/
It's a shame this town hall wasn't on C-Span.
I watch the documentary of 4 Little Girls. I couldn't help from crying. What a piercing through the heart!
Jay: Why don't Colin Powell just endorse Obama! Geez, why doesn't he just say it!
Hey MS.Martin, Craig, Webb, GreenLady, Miranda
::
Timing is everything.
Hey Justice.
It highlights a continuing cultural and cognitive divide between "liberals" and "conservatives." "Liberals"tend to see systems that shape human behavior. "Conservatives" focus on personal responsibility and choices.
So when conservatives see poor people, they see lazy leeches on society who made bad choices. Liberals tend to see failures in our society.
I doubt any intellectually honest conservative thinks that Wall St's problems are merely about personal failures a/k/a "greed." "Greed" is the basis of all capitalism -- if that was "bad," then our entire economy is screwed. So McCain's approach to, in blaming individuals, is just oversimplistic and wrong -- just as when it comes to poverty, teenage pregnancy (except in the Palin household), etc., it's always personal responsibility.
The question is, regardless of whether he's right or not, what is it that the American people want to hear? Most people find it a lot easier to blame people, because they can understand people, while systems -- regulations, job training, etc -- can be very hard to fathom. The failure of progressive politics in the past few decades has been going too abstract, getting too tied up in the system and getting disconnected from common people's intuitions.
Blaming the Wall St meltdown on greed is an incorrect diagnosis (just as when it comes to poverty). but it's a lot easier for the average voter to understand. How do we cross that chasm?
Jennifer Hudson engaged to reality star (Punk from I Love New York)
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hPPMSGuhm02z...
pre nup
"Sarah P. - BOO-yah!"
is what happens when you mix Icehouse, a remote control, and cable TV on a Monday night. Obama needs to get Emmitt Smith on the stump - he's not the most eloquent brother out there, but his passion literally jumps off the screen.
I'd hate to see him on a voter registration drive! He does not look like he wants to hear "no" for an answer to ANYTHING.
"Sarah P. - BOO-yah!"
http://simplifythepositive.blogspot.com/2008/09...
Good article!! :>)
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/15/palin-cut-f...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/us/politics/1...
You have to remember that McCain's goal right now is to nuke the battlefield. Better that NEITHER party get the message out than for Obama to succeed, because Obama's got the better message. So, upend the gameboard.
I wrote up a thought-piece on this that I wanted to share with you: http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/anderkoo/2008/09/1...
... but on further reflection, I also wonder if it's possible for the progressive blogosphere to start coalescing so that instead of "message fracture" we can begin to focus on a handful of ideas and just keep hammering at them.
Get on the phone or walk door-to-door and get Barack's message out, one voter at a time.
This is about the ground game. Nothing more; nothing less.
Fuck the media.
Our phone bank last night was still focused on recruiting more volunteers. We were stuffed into a Democratic field office, over 20 of us on a Monday night. I nailed down 2 people to drive to NH this weekend and 3 more for October. If we keep at this we will be flooding the swing states with Obama supporters who know that the entire game is in our hands.
Our phone bank last night was still focused on recruiting more volunteers. We were stuffed into a Democratic field office, over 20 of us on a Monday night. I nailed down 2 people to drive to NH this weekend and 3 more for October. If we keep at this we will be flooding the swing states with Obama supporters who know that the entire game is in our hands.
Our phone bank last night was still focused on recruiting more volunteers. We were stuffed into a Democratic field office, over 20 of us on a Monday night. I nailed down 2 people to drive to NH this weekend and 3 more for October. If we keep at this we will be flooding the swing states with Obama supporters who know that the entire game is in our hands.
http://entrylevelliving.wordpress.com/2008/09/1...
Insurance companies are evil. Pure and simple.
This is catastrophic - whether the Feds use taxpayers dough to bail them out or not - this is just a harbinger of things to come. We are in terrible economic shape. I don't envy President Obama; he's going to have a great deal of cleaning up to do.
What the economic advisers I'm listeniing to/reading are saying is that if AIG goes down, a lot of people with 401K retirement investments are going to be in big trouble, since a lot of people's retirement funds are invested in AIG products like Sun America Annuities and Mutual Funds. The problem doesn't seem to be the insurance products; it seems to be with the financial poducts they offer. Another example AIG VALIC is called the the nation's leading provider of retirement plans. If you are employed and if you have a retirement plan through your company, chances are that a portion is invested in an AIG product.
The Feds just announced that they are looking to do a 'bridge loan' to AIG in an attempt to save the company. Yesterday, they turned them down but so much of consumers' retirement funds are in AIG products/subsidiaries that they may have to do something. Unfortunately, as Paul Krugman said yesterday, risk is being socialized and bailing out companies like Bear Stearns, Lehman, and even AIG is throwing a lot of taxpayer money at the financial system; in essence, each time the feds make a loan like this, they put us on the hook. To quote Krugman, "A lot of moral hazard is being created."
Washington Mutual's stock has been downgraded to junk.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/...
McCain on Tuesday(9/16): "What I was obviously saying and I believe is the American workers, the most productive and the most innovative--they are the fundamentals of our economy and the strength of it and the reason will we will rebound." (apparently backtracking from his the "fundamentals are strong" gaffe)
Let's look at data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Friday, September 5, 2008
In August 2008, the unemployment rate rose from 5.7 to 6.1 and non-farm payroll employment continued to trend down.
The number of unemployed persons rose by 592,000 to 9.4 MILLION in August, with the rate rising 0.4 percentage points.
Over the past 12 months the number of unemployed persons has increased by 2.2 MILLION and the unemployment rate has risen by 1.4 PERCENTAGE POINTS, with the most increase occurring over the PAST FOUR MONTHS.
So according to John McCain, the American worker will rebound the economy---even though job losses have increased the most over the last 4 months.
This man is so out-of-touch---SCARY indeed.
[something tells me, JJP needs a bigger server.]
Harry Reid wants Obama to hand over some of his money, since he's got so much. Obama said no, I need this money.
Just like with Hillary and her people demanding that Obama help them out of the $20 million she ran up when she knew she couldn't win.
Why isn't Harry Reid and 'em raising their own money? What is going on?
Maybe this is why you don't see that many Democrats out there riding or dying for Obama because he will not hand over his money to them.
They continue to show their contempt for Obama by pulling stunts like this. Their reasoning being that since Obama has cut off their cash cows, and since he raises so much money from their constituents, he can/should now pick up the slack.
The lot of them are lousy lowdown Blue Dog Dems - most of the CBC, Pelosi, Hoyer and Reid, to name just a few, need to get primaried and/or get kicked out of office. Obama had better not give them one red cent of the money he's raised for his campaign.
However, he will raise an estimated record $9 million for the DNC tonight when he visits Greystone Mansion in BevHills for a $30K per person dinner event before heading over to the Beverly Wilshire Hotel for a Barbra Striesand event. They'll take that and like it.
Or not.
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make ye free."
He's PISSED.
He made mincemeat of McCain.
If there's a video, I'll post it.
Carly Fiorina, a key surrogate for John McCain on economic issues, said on Tuesday that Sarah Palin does not have the experience needed to run a major company like the one that Fiorina formerly headed.
"Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?" asked the host.
"No, I don't," responded Fiorina. "But you know what? That's not what she's running for."
Appearing on the McGraw-Milhaven Show on St. Louis KTRS Radio, Fiorina went on to stress that the Alaska Republican had more executive experience than anyone else on the ticket, specifically Barack Obama.
"I find it quite stunning actually that the Barack Obama campaign is questioning Sarah Palin's experience," she said. "She has more executive experience than he does and she is the vice presidential nominee and he is the presidential nominee."
But the admission that Palin wasn't prepared to run the very business that Fiorina once headed is a gaffe that could come back to haunt the McCain campaign. Certainly, when critics mainly argue that Palin lacks the gravitas to step in for McCain at a moment's notice, and when the economy is the major topic on the campaign trail, it is easy to see how Fiorina's comment could make it's way into an Obama or DNC attack ad.
2. Fiorina ran HP......almost into the ground.
Is Palin qualified Sen. Obama? Uh...no.
Hopefully there will be a relevant graphic posted to punditkitchen.com sometime soon on this issue.
Also, LOL and co-sign what Sepia says below.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/16/113954/...
I saw video of that little boy....he literally threw himself into Obama's arms. Can't remember where I saw it though.
When I saw the diary, I stared at his face for minutes because I was speechless.
Please make sure to see the articles he lists in the "here and here and here and here" sentence.
Pretty funny - Jon Stewart for Secretary of FUNNY!
That's what happens when Bush's people tutor you... you get his hand me down lines.
I refuse to have four more years like the last 8 years.
They are unfit to be in the white house!
Just too funny!
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/...
Excellent Question! Like it or not, Bill Clinton can do more for Obama RIGHT NOW than Obama and Biden combined. In the last 20 years between 1998 and 2008, the only period of relative peace and prosperity has been during the Clinton Administration, 1992-2000. Obama needs to tie himself to that legacy, stressing that for all the talk from conservatives of the how damaging Democratic (Liberal) economic policies are, the only president with a proven track record on the economy in the last 20 years has been a Democrat. The mere presence of Bill Clinton on the trail in OH, MI and PA will make voters yearn for those days again. Tens of thousands of Democrats will turn out in each state to the two together. It will force the media to ignore Palin and McCain or McCain and Palin, which ever one is really running for President. Rather than trying to market himself as a Democratic Ronald Reagan, Senator Obama needs to market himself as the heir to the Clinton economic legacy.
Not having Bill Clinton out on the trail today or at least on television is endemic of the biggest problem with this Campaign, the inability to pivot and quickly adapt to the day-to-day changing environment. They always seem to be 24 hours behind the news cycle.
They got better today, no doubt about it, but they have to keep it going and step it up!
Everything is exactly has it should be.
For all we know Bill could bring more harm to the campaign than good right now.
How's your phonebanking campaign in the battleground states going?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/16/142156/...
http://www.drudgereport.com/flashcbs.htm
http://www.jedreport.com/2008/09/mccain-many-am...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/16/rnc-de...
haha..you get the picture.
LOL.
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2008/09/16/ran...
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2008/09/16/war...
Sorry that I have to leave these "hangin'". I'll return L8R. :>)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/15/bra...
hahahahah!
She does not mince words. I am glad to have her on our team at least in the interim. She is an effective surrogate. Much better than the other lukewarm former Hilary surrogates.
Black Comic Introduces McCain
The Palin Pick Spurs National Organization For Women To Endorse Obama
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?v...
Prominent Clinton backer and DNC member to endorse McCain
Posted: 10:07 PM ET
From CNN Political Editor Mark Preston
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a prominent Hillary Clinton supporter and member of the Democratic National Committee’s Platform Committee, will endorse John McCain for president on Wednesday, her spokesman tells CNN.
The announcement will take place at a news conference on Capitol Hill, just blocks away from the DNC headquarters. Forester will “campaign and help him through the election,” the spokesman said of her plans to help the Republican presidential nominee.
Forester was a major donor for Clinton earning her the title as a Hillraiser for helping to raise at least $100,000 for the New York Democratic senator’s failed presidential bid.
In an interview with CNN this summer, Forester did not hide her distaste for eventual Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
“This is a hard decision for me personally because frankly I don't like him,” she said of Obama in an interview with CNN’s Joe Johns. “I feel like he is an elitist. I feel like he has not given me reason to trust him.”
Forester is the CEO of EL Rothschild, a holding company with businesses around the world. She is married to international banker Sir Evelyn de Rothschild. Forester is a member of the DNC’s Democrats Abroad chapter and splits her time living in London and New York.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122161744550146...
Here's another article on Rangel.
Rangel Pledges Cleanup of Records
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ar...
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 16, 2008; Page A10
Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) says he will hire a forensic accountant to untangle his confusing and error-prone financial records and eventually will make public his tax returns and the accountant's report.
The announcement yesterday came as Rangel faced new questions about his annual financial disclosure filings, prompting a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to discuss his ethics troubles. Enveloped by three separate ethics inquiries, Rangel is under increasing pressure to step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee until the investigation is complete.
Rangel said the accountant will turn over findings to the House Ethics Committee, which is conducting the probe. And he promised to make public tax returns for the last 20 years after the ethics panel has determined whether he violated any rules.
Rangel said in a statement that he erred in delegating responsibility to staff. "I owed my colleagues and the public adherence to a higher standard of care not only as a member of Congress but, even more, as the chair of the House Ways & Means Committee," he said.
Pelosi said after meeting with Rangel yesterday that he was not asked to temporarily step aside and he did not volunteer to do so. Emerging from Pelosi's suite, Rangel declined to respond to inquiries.
Guess those 28 years counted for something!? But if "they" want him - he will be gotten!
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2008/09/16/seb...
Sebellius Says GOP is using racial 'code language'
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius accused Republicans on Tuesday of injecting race into the presidential campaign, arguing that they are using “code language” to convince Midwesterners that Democrat Barack Obama is different from them.
“Have any of you noticed that Barack Obama is part African-American?” Sebelius asked with sarcasm. “(Republicans) are not going to go lightly into the darkness.”
Sebelius was responding to a question from the audience at the Iowa City Public Library about the tenacity of Democrats and whether they would fight for victory as hard as Republicans in the closing weeks of the election.
She did not elaborate on her comment.
I highlighted her great line!! :>)
Someone needs to get the message to McCain surrogatore from Indiana that was on CNN Morning - he said that Barack never says anything intelligible and he can't understand him and that he took a beating in Indiana in the primaries.
The Democratic surrogate reminded him that Obama only lost Indiana by three tenths of a percent and that there would be a fight in Indiana.
ENOUGH said! :>)
This is very interesting! :>)
http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2008/09/16/now...
Now for Brazil's Barack Obama - all 6 of them
- Walk into a polling station in Belford Roxo, an impoverished city on the fringes of Rio de Janiero, on October 5 and you will be faced with an historic choice. You could vote for Alcides Rolim, the Workers’ Party mayoral candidate promising a “city for all” or Elizeu Pitorra, a local communist who believes it is “time for a change”. Most voters, however, will probably opt for Barack Obama, a 39-year-old Brazilian who, until recently, was known as Claudio Henrique dos Anjos.
Welcome to Obama-mania, Brazil-style. Few countries have embraced the idea of the US’s first black president as enthusiastically as Brazil, a country with one of the largest Afro-descendant populations on Earth yet where black faces remain a minority in politics. Obama T-shirts are everywhere while chat shows and newspaper columns are filled with talk of the 47-year-old Illinois senator.
Now even Brazil’s politicians are lining up for their piece of the pie. Due to a quirk of Brazilian law, candidates are allowed to run under the name of their choice. As a result, at least six Brazilian politicians have officially renamed themselves “Barack Obama” in a bid to get an edge over their rivals in October’s municipal elections.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/mccain-comm...
McCain doesn’t know what his own committee does.»
With Wall Street’s financial institutions in turmoil, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) argued in a series of interviews today that his experience on the Senate Commerce Committee meant he knew “how to fix this economy.” “I understand the economy. I was chairman of the Commerce Committee that oversights every part of our economy,” McCain told CNBC’s Squawk Box. Watch it:
But, as the Washington Post points out, the Commerce Committee doesn’t oversee “every part of our economy,” let alone “the very areas now in crisis“:
In fact, it is the Senate Banking Committee that has oversight of “banks, banking and financial institutions; control of prices of commodities, rents and services; federal monetary policy, including the Federal Reserve System; financial aid to commerce and industry and money and credit, including currency and coinage.”
According to its Web site, the Commerce Committee oversees 13 areas, beginning with the Coast Guard, and continuing through “regulation of consumer products and services … except for credit, financial services, and housing” — the very areas now in crisis.
It’s not that surprising that McCain is confused about the Commerce Committee’s economic responsibilities, considering that he freely admits, “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should.”
Do I have to go and get that video on "McAncient" entitled - C-O-N-F-U-S-E-D and DAZED!?? :>)
http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b29224_amy_poeh...
Amy Poehler Moves Up SNL Exit
Amy Poehler is about to birth herself a baby and a new TV show, and she's now decided to kick Saturday Night Live to the curb sooner than expected.
Although it was widely known that Poehler would leave the late-night sketch show after this season, no timetable had been announced. But NBC confirmed today to E! News that Poehler would not be back after she breaks for maternity leave in a few weeks.
Poelher's due to become a real-life baby mama in October. After she takes a brief hiatus (presumably to teach husband Will Arnett the ins and outs of diaper changing), she will go straight to work on her new, still untitled mockumentary show from the producers of The Office.
Meaning she will officially be a Ready for Primetime Player and her services will no longer be required on SNL after nearly seven years.
O.K.!?
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13181...
Or maybe that should be: "McCain loses the day." A day after trying to explain his way out of his suggestion that the American economy is "strong," McCain still lacked a serious, persuasive response to the week's financial upheaval. The candidate started the day with a feint toward policy talk, suggesting that a 9/11-style commission should examine the causes of the teetering market. Any substance behind that suggestion, though, got drowned out by a series of unhelpful comments made by advisors Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who implied that McCain helped invent the BlackBerry, and Carly Fiorina, who told MSNBC that Sarah Palin wouldn't be qualified to run Hewlett-Packard.
McCain seized on a more aggressive message toward the end of the day, attacking Obama for attending fundraisers in Hollywood tonight and vigorously condemning the behavior of Wall Street executives. But while these comments might attract some attention, they don't do much to present McCain as the candidate who can actually fix the economy.
Obama, on the other hand, seemed energized by the continued focus on the economy, keeping up the heat on McCain for his comments yesterday and beginning to outline his own campaign's approach to rethinking market regulation. As tracking polls showed McCain's narrow lead eroding, Obama showed no sign of backing off the pugilistic stance he adopted Monday. The Democratic candidate hasn't reversed his opponent's post-convention momentum just yet, but if the McCain team doesn't get its act together soon its polling edge could go the way of Lehman Brothers.
Way to go Obama-Biden '08!!!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/16/usa...
General Ray Odierono Profile
General Ray Odierno, who takes over today as America's top commander in Iraq, played a key role in the "surge" strategy that pulled the country back from the brink of anarchy.
As deputy to the outgoing General David Petraeus, Odierno carried out the detailed counter-insurgency campaign that poured US troops into Baghdad, drove al-Qaida insurgents out of areas surrounding the capital and clamped down on Shia extremists.
But, will he tell "President" Obama the correct information?? :>)
From CNN:
It appears Barack Obama's teleprompter is hitting the campaign trail.
The Democratic presidential nominee has never tried to hide the fact he delivers speeches off the device, though normally he doesn't use one at standard campaign rallies and town hall events.
But the Illinois senator used a teleprompter at both his Colorado events Monday — making for a particularly peculiar scene in Pueblo, where the prompter was set up in the middle of what is normally a rodeo ring.
Tue Sep 16 2008 06:25:55 ET
The nation's financials may be in a spiral, but cash is flowing into the Obama campaign faster than Marvin Hamlisch can play "Niagara"!
Yesterday, Obama declared how we are in "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression."
Today he will host a dinner in Beverly Hills --- costing attendees $28,500 dollars each!
Hundreds of high rollers, including some of the biggest executives in film, television and music, will munch gourmet chow and hang out with the candidate.
Streisand will then sing at the five-star Beverly Wilshire, no doubt reviving the Depression-era standard "Happy Days Are Here Again" with new urgency.
Obama is set to break a single-day fundraising record of $9 million.
Tuesday's events in Tinseltown come after Obama racked up a record-breaking $66 million dollars in fundraising last month, beating his previous high mark of $55 million last winter.
"The fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are still very, very difficult times," rival McCain said, sunny-side up.
"Sen. McCain, what economy are you talking about?" smiled Obama.
Thomas Sowell nails it in this article, IMHO. In a "melting pot," 13% of a nation's population isn’t going to force the other 87% to change everything in order to accommodate the demands of the 13%.
"There was a time when most blacks, like most of the Irish or the Jews, understood this common sense. But that was before the romanticizing of identity took over, beginning in the 1960s." Chinese, Cubans, Japanese, etc. can also be added to the Irish and Jews. The American society doesn’t owe black Americans anything, i.e. no more than it owed any other racial or gender or ethnic group.
Always has been, always will be.
-Er, -um, That would be a NEGATIVE 321!
Thank you 99% Sure! :>)
The paradox is that his own arguments consume some of his fiercest moral judgments in a real nitzschean way.
That as context to say: I agree with you. Racial hype is garbage. I can easily get jacked in my neighborhood by a fellow black person not much concerned with identity. We ain't always down for each other, but I ain't goin looking nowhere else, because when Black is good, it is indeed Beautiful. That's what I use to combat the fools who do play with and peddle identity as an opiate.
But, I invite you out of this tired third grade discussion on baggy pants and whatnot to a higher problem. I don't deal in identity. I do deal in racial reality - the infrastructure of race as an organizing principle in this country. It's not to cry as victim, but rather to call the system out on principle and then do something about it.
Your perspective reminds me of the people who decry affirmative action but won't dare to argue it with one of its biggest proponents: Colin Powell; people who were "just shut up" about Apartheid but who never dared to challenge Arthur Ashe.
It's easy to attack baggy pants, Jesse, Al, et. al. but, again, I'm inviting up to a real discussion.
Racial reality is a daily thing that many folks are not ready to deal with intellectually. I'm sometimes one of them, to Thomas Sowell's point, too busy trying to keep my hustle on to worry about you calling me Black or African-Americant.
If you really were a Sowell charge, you would begin to see the incentives that pervade our government and country for flawed and race-biased decision-making. You would also see that true black identity does have a place in discussion but what you're using as "identity" is actually a corruption of the idea.
The proof? The best critics of black folks are black folks. There are voices that talk of identity-peddling and sagging pants in terms that are stronger and that you cannot understand.
You would also, if you like Sowell's points in K&D, be far from this current republican ideology as it has put a lot of distance between the decision-maker and the people who feel the consequences.
The New York Times reported this five years ago:
The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago.
Under the plan, disclosed at a Congressional hearing today, a new agency would be created within the Treasury Department to assume supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored companies that are the two largest players in the mortgage lending industry.
The new agency would have the authority, which now rests with Congress, to set one of the two capital-reserve requirements for the companies. It would exercise authority over any new lines of business. And it would determine whether the two are adequately managing the risks of their ballooning portfolios.
The plan is an acknowledgment by the administration that oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — which together have issued more than $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt — is broken. A report by outside investigators in July concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors, and critics have said Fannie Mae does not adequately hedge against rising interest rates.
This should have been a no-brainer, right? With hindsight, we can see that the Bush administration had accurately diagnosed the problem in the lending market and had a plan to address it. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reluctantly supported the plan. However, Democrats objected (emphases mine):
Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.
”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”
Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.
”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.
Sounds a little like the Democratic denial of problems in Social Security, doesn’t it? Nothing to see here, no crisis on the horizon. Everybody just move along, now. The Democrats had forced lenders to assume more risk at lower interest rates in the 1990s, as IBD points out today, and they didn’t want to countenance an end to their populist policies:
But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street’s most revered institutions.
Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties.
The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but “predatory.”
Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the ’90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.
And it was the Clinton administration that mismanaged the quasi-governmental agencies that over the decades have come to manage the real estate market in America.
It was the Bush administration that wanted to rein in the madness in the credit markets, and the Democrats who wanted to extend the Clinton policies that created the crisis we have now. After the fit hit the shan, as Michelle says, these same Democrats want to shift blame back to the administration that wanted to increase oversight and curtail risk in lending practices while reducing patronage at the giant GSEs.
The Bush administration isn’t blameless in letting this get out of hand, but clearly the origins of the disaster and the efforts to keep bad policies in place fall on the Democrats in this case.
Adding 1 point! :>)
Take your stink elsewhere.
By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY | Posted Monday, September 15, 2008 4:20 PM PT
Big Government: Barack Obama and Democrats blame the historic financial turmoil on the market. But if it's dysfunctional, Democrats during the Clinton years are a prime reason for it.
Read More: Business & Regulation
Obama in a statement yesterday blamed the shocking new round of subprime-related bankruptcies on the free-market system, and specifically the "trickle-down" economics of the Bush administration, which he tried to gig opponent John McCain for wanting to extend.
But it was the Clinton administration, obsessed with multiculturalism, that dictated where mortgage lenders could lend, and originally helped create the market for the high-risk subprime loans now infecting like a retrovirus the balance sheets of many of Wall Street's most revered institutions.
Tough new regulations forced lenders into high-risk areas where they had no choice but to lower lending standards to make the loans that sound business practices had previously guarded against making. It was either that or face stiff government penalties.
The untold story in this whole national crisis is that President Clinton put on steroids the Community Redevelopment Act, a well-intended Carter-era law designed to encourage minority homeownership. And in so doing, he helped create the market for the risky subprime loans that he and Democrats now decry as not only greedy but "predatory."
Yes, the market was fueled by greed and overleveraging in the secondary market for subprimes, vis-a-vis mortgaged-backed securities traded on Wall Street. But the seed was planted in the '90s by Clinton and his social engineers. They were the political catalyst behind this slow-motion financial train wreck.
And it was the Clinton administration that mismanaged the quasi-governmental agencies that over the decades have come to manage the real estate market in America.
As soon as Clinton crony Franklin Delano Raines took the helm in 1999 at Fannie Mae, for example, he used it as his personal piggy bank, looting it for a total of almost $100 million in compensation by the time he left in early 2005 under an ethical cloud.
Other Clinton cronies, including Janet Reno aide Jamie Gorelick, padded their pockets to the tune of another $75 million.
Raines was accused of overstating earnings and shifting losses so he and other senior executives could earn big bonuses.
In the end, Fannie had to pay a record $400 million civil fine for SEC and other violations, while also agreeing as part of a settlement to make changes in its accounting procedures and ways of managing risk.
But it was too little, too late. Raines had reportedly steered Fannie Mae business to subprime giant Countrywide Financial, which was saved from bankruptcy by Bank of America.
At the same time, the Clinton administration was pushing Fannie and her brother Freddie Mac to buy more mortgages from low-income households.
The Clinton-era corruption, combined with unprecedented catering to affordable-housing lobbyists, resulted in today's nationalization of both Fannie and Freddie, a move that is expected to cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars.
And the worst is far from over. By the time it is, we'll all be paying for Clinton's social experiment, one that Obama hopes to trump with a whole new round of meddling in the housing and jobs markets. In fact, the social experiment Obama has planned could dwarf both the Great Society and New Deal in size and scope.
There's a political root cause to this mess that we ignore at our peril. If we blame the wrong culprits, we'll learn the wrong lessons. And taxpayers will be on the hook for even larger bailouts down the road.
But the government-can-do-no-wrong crowd just doesn't get it. They won't acknowledge the law of unintended consequences from well-meaning, if misguided, acts.
Obama and Democrats on the Hill think even more regulation and more interference in the market will solve the problem their policies helped cause. For now, unarmed by the historic record, conventional wisdom is buying into their blame-business-first rhetoric and bigger-government solutions.
While government arguably has a role in helping low-income folks buy a home, Clinton went overboard by strong-arming lenders with tougher and tougher regulations, which only led to lenders taking on hundreds of billions in subprime bilge.
Market failure? Hardly. Once again, this crisis has government's fingerprints all over it.
Here's the quote in context:
"People are frightened by these events,'' McCain told a crowd of 3,000 supporters on the opening day of a two-day Florida tour. "The fundamentals of our economy are still strong but these are very, very difficult times. I promise you we will never put America in this position again.''
On Obama's campaign blog, there's a lengthy transcript and video clip of Obama hitting McCain for saying this, and then an almost perfunctory, "Barack understands what's going on and has a plan to jumpstart the economy, provide middle class Americans tax relief, support small business and create new jobs. He will work to help struggling Americans reclaim the American Dream."
Cherry-picking McCain's quote is disingenuous and Obama is using this financial crisis for purely political gains. That's not leadership, it's opportunism.
This conversation doesn't help our economy. Even if Obama could conclusively prove that McCain is wildly over-optimistic in his assessment of the economy, that doesn't necessarily mean Obama has the better solution.
Passing off whole block quotes from National Review without listing the source is wrong. When Daddy gets home (the white house) you are gonna get it!
xoxo
Sasha
This made my day.
Now M is going to get a time out and sit in the "Bad Chair"! :>)
Adding 1 point :>)
Take your stink somewhere else.