Barack Obama Calls For End To Race Fighting In Campaign

...not that he ever started it.

Senator Barack Obama called for a stop to the name-calling and race-baiting that has come to mark this campaign. According to The Politico , Obama said :You have seen a tone on the Democrat[ic] side of the campaign that has been unfortunate. I want to stipulate a couple of things. I may disagree with Senator Clinton and Senator Edwards on how to get there, but we share the same goals. We all believe in civil rights. We all believe in equal rights. They are good people. They are patriots....

I don't want the campaign at this stage to degenerate to so much tit-for-tat, back-and-forth, that we lose sight of why we are doing this."

Obama also said "Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have historically been on the right side of civil rights issues. They care about the African American community.… That is something I am convinced of. I want Americans to know that is my assessment."

That's Barack: being Presidential.

Terrell Owens Cries After Giants Loss; Romo Press Insult

One Feminist's Perspective on the 2008 Election

By all rights, I should be a Hillary Clinton supporter. I'm white, in my late 30's, mother of two, educated, pro-choice, and was, up until recently, a member of EMILY's List. I'm a soccer Mom, happily married, and live just about an hour south of DC. If forced, I declare myself Protestant, though I'm not a Sunday church go-er and consider myself more spiritual than religious. I was raised to believe that there is nothing a woman can't do and since I heard the word, I have categorized myself as a feminist.

When it became clear (and honestly, when wasn't it?) that Mrs. Clinton was going to run for President, I knew that I would support her. Come on, a woman as leader of the free world? What woman-like-me wouldn't go for that? My knee jerk reaction was, "Go, Hillary!" But there was something niggling at the back of my mind.

I hate to go backwards. I detest the idea that people running for President aren't allowed the mistakes of their pasts. And yet there are certain mistakes that belie candidates' internal compasses and these mistakes, I believe, are fair game. With Mrs. Clinton, her conduct during her husband's pecadillos is, for me, one of these watershed moments.

As arguably one of the most visible women in the world, Hillary Clinton had a choice when Bill screwed around. She could stand up for herself and, by extension, women around the world or she could stand by her man and essentially prove that women deserve to be treated with little or no respect. She chose the latter and sent a message to men everywhere that they could screw around and to their women that we have to take it and not only shut up, but vehemently defend them.

Several feminists and feminist organizations have looked past Mrs. Clinton's stand-by-your man example and into an endorsement of her campaign. I love that they looked past this traditional, "shut up and take it for the the good of the marriage" role, championed her as a feminist, as Gloria Steinem has done on the New York Times Op Ed page, and then refused to cry foul when Mrs. Clinton essentially won New Hampshire because she got weepy when discussing how hard it is to have perfect hair and stay perky on the campaign trail. In fact, when writing in the New York Times on January 8, Ms. Steinem made the case that, ". . . Hillary Clinton could (not) have used Mr. Obama's public style - or Bill Clinton's either - without being considered too emotional by Washington pundits." It is convenient to be able to make such a comment in print and then overlook the national hubbub over the "mist" that won New Hampshire.

My point here, of course, is that championing Mrs. Clinton as a feminist and then overlooking such blatantly un-feminist actions is, at best, hypocritical. I can hear the old guard now, scolding me because I didn't live through the 60's and was only a babe in the 70's when they were fighting for the equal rights I now enjoy. While I appreciate their vision, I think it has left them with blinders. My point is that we shouldn't support the wrong woman just because she is the only one running.

When I went shopping for a new feminist candidate, I found Barack Obama. Coincidentally, he has also been called a feminist by Gloria Steinem on the OpEd page of the New York Times. He has a stellar record on reproductive rights issues; a plan for addressing math and science education, which is an area of concern for girls; an economic plan with focuses on expanding child care tax credits, providing a living wage, and job training; and a platform of promoting responsible fatherhood.

So, thanks Gloria, et al., for your input, but I'll be voting for Barack in my state's primary. He's one man I can both stand by and endorse.

Republicans Have More Sex Than Democrats - Playboy And UPI.Com

This is a test of the Sexual Broadcast System...

I'm serious. That's what the study reads and it means that Democrats, with all of the worries of the American World on their shoulders, just aren't as horny as they should be, whereas Republicans, carring only about bombing the enemy, have more time to get sexual.

Look, I'm a Democrat, but the study doesn't speak for me. Playboy commissioned the study, which also reports...

that it was done by pollster Frank Luntz, conducted exclusively for Playboy magazine, and found that 25 percent of all Republicans and 35 percent of all Democrats have had more than 10 sexual partners in their lifetime.

The survey of 900 registered U.S. voters between the ages of 18 and 65, all of whom are very likely to vote in the 2008 presidential election, also found, on average, Republicans say they were 18.4 years old when they first had sex, Independents say 17.6 and Democrats say 17.5, the survey said.

Fifty-five percent of people who attend church every week consider themselves to be "sexually adventurous," while 51 percent of Republicans and 67 percent of Democrats have watched pornography with their sexual partners.

Americans belonging to both parties say they are more turned on by intelligence than by physical appearance, yet 23 percent of all Republicans and 24 percent of all Democrats would "definitely" or "probably" say yes to a one-night stand in the oval office with a president they found physically and sexually attractive.

Now if you compare that with the recent (as of this writing) ABC polls showing women preferring Senator Obama over Senator Clinton for president -- even the person who made Clinton cry -- you can draw some obvious conclusions.

Hillary Clinton's Campaign of Deparation - Fear Of Losing To Obama Makes Her Nuts

Hillary Clinton's Campaign of Deparation - Fear Of Losing To Obama Makes Her Nuts

Senator Hillary Clinton's running a campaign that makes her appear constantly deparate. She gets on "Meet The Press" and talks mostly about Barack Obama in the negative, not her message in the positive. She's so desparate not to lose to Obama, it makes you wonder what the problem is. I think she does not want to be seen as losing to him because he's Black. Yes, I think she's that terrible in this campaign.

How do you explain her behavior, with the crying and anger and whining? Do you want a president like that?

She fails to point to several problems of her own. She has a near 40 percent negative approval rating in her own state of New York, according to GovTrak.com. She also has a below average legislative record. According to GovTrak.com,...

"Hillary Clinton has sponsored 350 bills since Jan 22, 2001, of which 304 haven't made it out of committee (Very Poor) and 2 were successfully enacted (Average, relative to peers). Clinton has co-sponsored 1706 bills during the same time period (Average, relative to peers)."

Which means she doesn't have the relationships necessary to even think of being an effective president. Senator Obama's record is much better. And why do you think the majority of U.S Senators endorse Obama?

CloverField Movie Called A Landmark Genre Film

Ok. After months that seemed like years of anticipation and speculation, all caused by a terrific Alternative Reality Game marketing strategy, the pet movie J.J. Abrams has produced through his "Bad Robot" production company, Cloverfield has been seen and under tight security, by Harry Knowles of "Ain't It Cool News."

Now Harry seldom gives a bad review, but in this case he wrote a review that makes me think this flick's going to be an instant classic.

I'm not going to give away Harry's review, I'm just going to link to it here and post the video I made a while back that said Cloverfield was going to be the best movie ever.



..And this, the newest trailer that gives you a great idea of what this movie's all about.

Senator Dick Durbin: Obama Always Against Iraq War - Warns Bill Clinton To Stop Obama Attacks

I knew it would come to this point where Illinois Senator Dick Durbin would step into the fray of words between the Obama and Clinton campaigns. In this case, according to Politico, Durbin has said President Bill Clinton’s comments about Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are getting “too personal,” and called on the former president to refrain from attacking Obama’s integrity.

“I’m really troubled by his questioning the sincerity of Barack Obama’s opposition to the war in Iraq,” Durbin said. “I really think it is unfortunate to question Barack’s sincerity on the war. He has been there from the start, opposing this war.”

That Durbin stepped was a sign of an establishment politco excercizing power over a campaign, to an extent, but also sending a message to the electorate that Senator Obama's role as a U.S. Senator should be respected, something the Clinton people have not done of late.

Young Republicans At Mike Huckabee Rally - Video

It's cool to get a camcorder view of what a political rally is really like. This one's front the Young Republicans and features their chairman Janet Colon.



Here, Mike Huckabee comes out with Chuck Norris:

Andrew Cuomo - "Barack Obama Beautiful Symbol; Powerful Speaker"

As it turns out, New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo did not say the now infamous "shuck and jive" statement in refernce to Senator Barack Obama. He was talking in general terms about what politicians should do and how they should conduct themselves in a campaign. This is the full transcript of what Cuomo said from the Albany Times Union:

Fred Dicker: You know I’ve said this on my show before, I think the American people are very lucky to have most these candidates, the major party candidates, I think they’re all quality people, they have disagreements, but they’re all quite talented, and I think the people of Iowa and now New Hampshire really have allowed the rest of America to see much of this because I think to their great credit it requires politicians to kind of get down, not kind of, get down in the grassroots, I think I heard John McCain say he had something like 110 community meeting before the primaries - fabulous - you know, I wish we could see that here in New York.

Andrew Cuomo: You know I’ve spent a lot of time in other races, especially in Iowa and in New Hampshire, back with Gore and back with Clinton. Those races require you to do something no other race does, you know, and I like it, and I agree with you, it’s a good thing. It’s not a TV-crazed race, you know, you can’t just buy your way through that race [FD: Airport press conference and the media markets…..], it doesn’t work that way, it’s frankly a more demanding process. You have to get on a bus, you have to go into a diner, you have to shake hands, you have to sit down with ten people in a living room. You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference, you can’t just put off reporters, because you have real people looking at you saying answer the question, you know, and all those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room. And I think it’s good for the candidates, I think it makes the candidates communicate in a way that works with real people because you know in a living room right away whether or not you’re communicating, and I think the questions are good and I think the scrutiny is good, so you can, you can say they’re small states and they get a lot of attention — they are very good for the process, I believe that.

And Ben Smith of the Politico wrote this about what Cuomo thinks of Senator Obama:

"Barack Obama is a beautiful symbol. He's a powerful speaker. He's a charismatic figure. And what he has to say is important for the Democrats," Cuomo says in the interview, with the New York Post's Fred Dicker.

"It was never about Obama in the first place," Cuomo told me of the use of the phrase, which he said he was using "as a synonym for 'bob and weave.'"

All I can say is "whew!" Because in this campaign some people I've admired for a long time, prominent Democratic elected officials, have really said some terrible things, from Senator Clinton's dis of MLK, to Bob Kerrey's focus on Barack Obama's mythical religious background. A lot of Clinton supporters have said some really dumb things racially.

But I was hurt to discover Andrew Cuomo amoung them according to the Huffington Post at the time, and now I'm happy that's not the case. His father, Mario Cuomo was a hero to me, and I'd always rooted for his son. But yes, I'm an Obama supporter, and when I saw the Huff Post, my anger hit the ceiling.

I can chill now.

Andrew Cuomo On Obama - Cuomo Shucks And Jives And Sticks Foot In Mouth

Duho!!!!

While we wait for the outcome of the recount of New Hampshire Primary votes, at least we have Andrew Cuomo to entertain us. Cuomo proves that one can't "Shuck and Jive" at a press conference by, well, shucking and jiving at a press conference.

Cuomo said that Barack Obama, who's African American, could not "shuck and jive" at a press conference. Andrew, thanks for the demonstration!

It's a great example of someone sticking their foot in their mouth, it's no surprise he's a Clinton supporter because the good Senator Clinton made a race-based error herself in dissing Martin Luther King.

Wild.

SC Rep. Jim Clyburn Considers Endorsing Obama After Clinton's MLK Mistake

On Monday, Senator Hillary Clinton kind of lost her moorings and said that Martin Luther King, Jr. wasn't as important as President Johnson in having America improve civil rights for African Americans. This caused long time lawmaker South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn to hit the ceiling and now he's floating the idea that he may endorse Barack Obama ...

But why not just do it? Jim. Get behind Barack!

Michael Klein Of eGroups Dies In Plane Crash

This is a terrible development and bad news. I remember learning about Mr. Klein in my work, but never had the chance to meet him.

I'm confident I will learn more at the months progress.