Monday, April 14, 2008

Doctor Faust in 2008

The issue is honesty, justice, and fairness in American politics.


Gary HartRumors abound questioning Senator Barack Obama's commitment to a free and democratic Israel. Gary Hart says, in this piece at Huffington Post, "I find it outrageous and the height of political cynicism for any other candidate or campaign, Democratic or Republican, to question Senator Obama's commitment to continuation of the U.S.-Israeli partnership and particularly to do so in a sinister, duplicitous, and scurrilous manner by spreading false rumors. When he campaigns against the politics of the past, and attracts hundreds of thousands of young people and independents as a result, that is the kind of politics he means."

Opponents are flinging everything they can at Obama, hoping to find something - anything - that will stick. Barack ObamaLately his wealthy opponents, both veterans of the DC scene for decades (at least if you accept Senator Clinton's math) have had the audacity to suggest he's an out-of-touch elitist. Read about "bittergate" if you've somehow missed it, but rest assured it's backfired. If you don't know the reference to "Faust" you might not get Hart's reference, but it's about hubris, and selling one's soul to the devil.

The issue is honesty, justice, and fairness in American politics. Gary Hart gets it. He knows that Obama gets the bitter voters, and the situation in the middle east.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Obama talks about Senator "Annie Oakley" Clinton in Steelton, PA

Bittergate? Obama's lovin' it.

Do you feel bitter? Are they playing politics with bittergate? Do you think Senator Clinton would look good in hunter's orange in her duck blind? Obama responds to bittergate today in Steelton, PA. Let's be blunt: the reason we cherish his hope is that decades of self-interest by insiders in DC has disenfranchised most of us normal people. Let's talk about hope!



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Saturday, April 12, 2008

AARP millionaires saying OBAMA is out of touch? Get real.

Bittergate? Is that the best they can do?

Colin PowellLifting a comment out of context that provides Obama a perfect reason to talk about hope versus the same old-school say-anything to get elected politics? The faux outrage of Senators Clinton & McCain is nearly tailor made to have him repeating his message - are his opponents so desperate they've forgotten that people ARE bitter, that it's politics as usual that Obama is AGAINST, and that voters are responding with renewed hope and enthusiasm?

Colin Powell certainly sees Obama positively. Several great vids connected to this article, including the one before somebody convinced CNN to be nice to Clinton instead of calling her out on this issue, as they had earlier in the day.


Chums in the Senate

That's right, they're looking up... wondering how they'll catch him.

Bitter and Angry in Rural Pennsylvania

"Yes, people ARE angry, and bitter, but Obama never said that they aren't resilient, opitmistic or hard-working. Those are Hillary and McCain's twisted words, and for them to stand up and suggest that rural Pennsylvanians aren't fed up with the way things are, only reveals how out of touch they really are with at least this part of the country." This is a great article from a woman who lives in Rural PA. Take a moment. Bittergate, people, isn't about Obama being out of touch (how dare McCain think he could make that stick?) it's about Obama's opponents so desperate to find another smear that they played the out-of-context card again -- only this time, it's working in his favor, because he's "forced" to talk about... you guessed it... HOPE.

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PA Wrap-Up: The Politics of Fear vs. the Politics of Hope

The PA primary has come to this. No it's not a fallout shelter, just the vault in the Ardmore Obama'08 office mentioned in my previous diary.

This is my last day canvassing in PA. On my way back home, I will stop off northeast of Philly for the campaign-sponsored meeting tonight with Dan Kurtzer, our former Ambassador to both Egypt and Israel. It has been nine years since I last saw him at the Department of State, where he was my boss during my last two-year tour of duty in Washington before we both headed overseas to very different destinations. It will be good to see him again, but even more important to hear how he addresses the concerns of the Jewish community here, which has clearly been influenced by the politics of fear.
Dan Kurtzer is both the consummate diplomat and a great human being. And that is why I was very pleased to hear last month that he had come out in support of Barack Obama. With his Middle Eastern experience and as an observant Jew, Kurtzer should have considerable credibility in addressing Jewish concerns. But I do not want to minimize the challenge here, underlined by the young female rabbi visiting from NYC who told me yesterday that she was surprised by the degree of suspicion of Obama in the Jewish community.
wizinit :: PA Wrap-Up: The Politics of Fear vs. the Politics of Hope
A couple in northern Indiana County [PA] awoke yesterday morning and discovered their Barack Obama lawn sign had been spray painted with a red swastika.
"I was really disgusted. It's completely un-American," said Kamal Youssef, an artist and engineer from Egypt who became a U.S. citizen in 1958. "Everybody should have his own feelings and ideas and opinions," but he and his wife were stunned that someone defaced the sign.
...Mr. Youssef, 86, ...is Muslim...his wife, Maria, 75, is Jewish and Christian Orthodox and became naturalized after immigrating from Czechoslovakia.
--from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 6, 2008
I do not share the rabbi's surprise, but do feel her disappointment. After all, with his unique heritage and message of unity, I believe Obama transcends historic racial and religious divisions in our society. And when it comes to his past actions, he has a "100 percent pro-Israel" voting record. So what is the reason for the resistance in about half of the Jewish community here to voting for Barack Obama?
For those of us who have closely followed this contest over the past year it would appear that the targeted campaign against Obama in the Jewish community was launched big-time in mid-January of this year. Former Israeli Ambassador to the US Danny Ayalon published an anti-Obama Jerusalem Post article entitled "Who Are You, Barack Obama?" January 23 that questioned the motives and encouraged suspicion of Obama's policy views vis a vis Iran and Israeli military security. At about the same time, at a relative's wedding in Florida, I learned that virtually every member of my family had received a version of the similarly entitled "Who Is Barack Obama" slurmail, which also circulated widely in white Christian communities in the south.
The campaign continued in February, reflected in an email forwarded to me by a relative that apparently originated with Lee Farber at the University of Pennsylvania. It contained Ed Lasky's American Thinker article of January 16 entitled "Barack Obama and Israel". Whatever his intentions, Farber did not mention that Lasky, who has by now published at least five anti-Obama articles, is critical of most Democrats and in 2004 argued "Why Jews Should Vote for Bush". In fact, Lasky's diatribes are very similar to the February 21 Jerusalem Post's "Obama and the Jews" by Marc Zell, who happens to be the Co-Chairman of Republicans Abroad in Israel.
If there is HOPE in this tale, it is that approximately 50% of Jewish voters I have talked to since Saturday are open-minded, or even commited Obama supporters. Many are actively volunteering in the campaign. Most question the Likud and GOP arguments directed against Barack Obama. They all realize that at this stage of the Presidential contest the anti-Obama attacks can only benefit Hillary Clinton's campaign.
Another encouraging indicator comes from the Pennsylvania Secretary of State's party registration data, which yesterday reported that, for the first time in 30 years, Bucks County has joined Montgomery County and "flipped" from Republican to Democrat. Just since last November, there are 300,000 new Democrats in Pennsylvania, while Republican registrations have dropped by almost 60,000.
I ran into five Republicans this week who had recently re-registered as Democrats (since I was only canvassing previously registered Democrats, this was entirely by coincidence). All intend to vote for Obama on April 22. There were two other voters who did not leave the Republican Party, but hope to vote for Obama in November. When you combine these anecdotal stories with the fact that statewide there are now a million more Democrats than Republicans in PA, the prospects for an Obama victory in November are very positive indeed.

Barack Obama gets it! Charges of Elitism ring hollow

“No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania, I know what’s going on in Indiana, I know what’s going on in Illinois,” Mr. Obama said, his voice rising. “People are fed up, they’re angry, they’re frustrated, they’re bitter and they want to see a change in Washington. That’s why I’m running for president"

Barack Obama gets it! Mindy is a Pennsylvanian and she said, "I know, he spoke the truth. Some people may choose to stick their heads in the sand and pretend everything is honky dory, but the reality is that things are tough everywhere, and there are many many people who are angry and frustrated. There is no insult there. What is offensive is how the Clinton/McCain camp try to spin a perfectly true and fair observation into something negative. What is offensive is how the Clinton/McCain camp continue to insult out intelligence by assuming that we should all be running around like happy idiots despite what is going on around us."

Even CNN has labeled it as a non-story lacking in credibility, but getting some traction because it's got some potential as more out of context sensationalism when there's nothing much else getting covered - why talk about the actual issues, or keep remarks in context, after all?

Still not sure? Read the transcript, or watch CNN:


Why vote for Obama?

All politicians say they're for the people.

How many priests, evangelists, and politicians do we have to endure before it's OK to be cynical and expect him to be just one more like all the rest?An Aspiring Obamist

Don't his remarks, now being characterized as "bittergate", show a run of the mill, old-school, out of touch politician?

Won't Obama just get greedy and help special interests and line his own pockets if we elect him?

Here's a guy saying there's s fundamental difference about Obama's maturity. Read his reasons, decide for yourself, and if you agree, vote it up at DIGG!

Mayhill Fowler An Ememy of The Obama For America Campaign

This is my letter to the Obama Rapid Response Team

Hello ORR,

Just some FYI. The person behind the installation of the "video" with Senator Obama's comments on the plight of Pennsylvania small towns is Mayhill Fowler. She's an Oakland resident of 61 years old who I first met online via Amanda Michel of The Huffington Post.

At first, our emails were fine as I wrote about videoing her -- we both live in Oakland But as her coverage became obviously anti-Barack, I not only backed off, I stopped contacting her, except to tell her that she was being biased.

All of her coverage at the time was pro-Hillary and Anti-Barack. Plus, she had the nasty habit of quoting Barack or any supporter without taking notes or using a camcorder. That habit was SO BAD she pissed off key members of the Obama For America campaign in Northern California.

Nuts.

Also, my Huff Post articles were pro-Obama and I was open about it. But they -- the Huff Post -- had a WEIRD tendency to promote Mayhill's anti-Obama coverage over my pro-Obama work, which also attacked Clinton.

Thus, I stopped submitting work to the Huff Post because of that, plus the fact that my interest is in building my blog network and not Arianna's. I love Ariana and I've copied her here, but all's fair in the Internet business.

My point was to tell the world the other story and that was being slowed, so I concentrated on using better "SEO" systems than the Huff Post, to rank higher -- it's worked. One thing I've learned is that once a person in this business finds the right formula, all of the beneficiaries of the "old" way give way to the new.

This will be true for the Huff Post, as much as any other website. You can't sit still, and yet they do. Just how is something I know. It's not that I don't respect the Huff Post -- in fact, I love it -- but I did not like the Mayhill matter. It stuck in my craw and fueled me to make my own news and not contribute to their content, or try to.

Meanwhile Mayhill pressed on. To her partial credit, this article has some evidence which I frankly think is good for the campaign. Barack's a speaker of the truth and the fact is that small towns in Pennsylvania have really been hit hard. He's right to talk about where they're coming from and it should spark conversation. Like the "race" issue, we will come out on top in the end. We're fighting against people who use dishonesty as a weapon -- I've learned that the best counter is honesty.

Also, I suspect that Mayhill's getting some assistance from Huff Post, but if so it's small. That $10 million they got is not going into the pockets of editors and writers as it should -- bully for me!

In closing, if you want to contact Mayhill yourself here's her email:
JuneHill@aol.com

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Friday, April 11, 2008

Why vote for Obama?

All politicians say they're for the people. How many priests, evangelists, and politicians do we have to endure before it's OK to be cynical and expect him to be just one more guy who talks the good talk but worries about himself and those who help him get rich? After all, isn't he really just like all the rest? Won't he just get greedy and help special interests if we elect him? This guy doesn't think so.

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Tavis Smiley Quits The Tom Joiner Show Over Barack Obama



Tavis Smiley Quits The Tom Joiner Show Over Barack Obama



After his disasterous handling of the Barack Obama presidential run and his snub of Michelle Obama during the promotion for his "State of Black America" event, Tavis Smiley has quit the Tom Joiner Morning Show. Joiner himself says it's because of the "hate" he's getting around the Barack matter.

Florida Cheerleader Beating Shows Teenage Cruelty To World

This video is all over the place and on YouTube and various other online video distribution sites. These Lakeland Florida cheerleaders were upset with a girl that wrote "bad things" about them on MySpace page and on text messages, and then set up a plot to entrap and then eventually beat a 16-year old girl.

Here's the video:



That video also shows Ms. Garcia, who's the mother of one of the girls responsible for the event. I feel sorry for the mother as I don't think she knows the gravity of what's happened and is trying to protect her daughter against a angry society.

But the fact is that teenage girls like this have been around us for years. What's happened is that we have sent messages to them that violence and "beat-downs" are just fine, and oh, let's show it all on YouTube.

The kids are teenagers who don't know better and should not be tried as adults in my view. But I think some kind of message should be sent and we also need to take a hard look at how society is raising these 21st Century "Heathers".

This is the video of the incident itself: