The Weeks Text Exchanges (Part II)

Later in the day...

PW: From HuffPost--"Howard Fineman: White House Gives In On Bush Tax Cuts"
CW: Did they really? $#!t...
PW: [Eff Obama], man. [Eff} him and his chicken$#!t Bill Clinton-style triangulating
CW: Eh, more like [eff] the Republicans and [eff] Fox News for making things practically impossible to get $#!t done
PW: I firmly believe that's just an excuse to not do what would piss off their corporate patrons while telling their base, "Oh well, we tried. Nothing we can do!"
PW: If they really wanted to get something done, they would. They're full of $#!t.
PW: Sorry, this has just put me in an incredibly bad mood. It's just one kick in the teeth after another.
CW: I still believe that they're doing the best they can and genuinely do wanna do good. The Republicans are just a bunch of well funded evil geniuses that are willing to play every dirty trick in the book to get what they want. While Dems are underfunded and overworked. Plus nicer.
PW: There are definitely some good Dems, but they're far outnumbered by 'Blue Dogs' and other corporate lackeys
PW: And are you sure you really wanna call GOPers geniuses?! :-P
CW: I think it's the other way around. Seems like it was just those handful of Blue Dogs that [effed $#!t] up with Health Care reform
PW: (Draft-didn't send) Either way, they can't get truly progressive $#!t done. I've all but lost faith in Dems as a whole
CW: Yeah. I do. Evil geniuses that have figured out a way to consistently energize their moronic and hillbilly base into voting for them through the various forms of media, which liberals haven't figured out how to do the same
PW: Liberals just don't have enough money. It's almost as simple as that. Until there's campaign finance reform, the deck will always be stacked against us
CW: It's also proved to be a very successful business model for News Corp and the talk radio shows. Which is why they have had such longevity
PW: Yeah.. There are too many people with too much power with too much to lose if they can't game the system
CW: I completely agree. That is certainly a start. You'd probably have to regulate media as well. But that is even more tricky
PW: There used to be antitrust laws that prohibited multimedia outlets from having monopolies-more magic of deregulation
CW: Yep

The Weeks Text Exchanges (Part I)

PW: From HuffPost--"Howard Fineman: White House Gives In On Bush Tax Cuts"
TW: I'll admit that if he caves on this I'll begin to lose my faith in Obama
PW: Are you saying you haven't already begun that process?! He's a [mothereffing] triangulating chickensh!*
PW: Next he's gonna end up endorsing raising the social security age to 69 even though it's in surplus for the next 25+ years. He's gonna get primaried to the left
PW: Luckily whoever the GOP nominee is will have Palin running to the right of him
TW: I don't think anyone will challenge [Obama] in the primaries
PW: If he keeps this $#!t up, especially considering how many more times he will inevitably cave over the next 2 years, seems like a fairly decent chance to me
TW: The only credible challenger would be Hillary and I doubt she's gonna run
PW: Nah man, we need to get Mike Gravel back into the mix :-P I know Howard Dean's name has been mentioned in passing-I'd totally support him, he prolly wouldn't though
PW: Dean would be cool because he comes from money and would be more likely to stand up to money, a la FDR
TW: I wouldn't [support Dean]. As frustrated as I've been with Obama I know that he's governing as a moderate because that's as far to the left as circumstances will allow him to
TW: Besides I think Dean would get clobbered in the general election. He's too easy for the right to demonize
TW: Although its not like they need reasons to demonize people
PW: Yeah, well this country is really [effed] if this is the farthest left it can be governed.. Fascism here we come!
PW: I know what you mean about Obama & circumstance but I just don't see how he can or ever will pivot; he chose this Clinton-esque route from the very start
TW: He had to in order to get Senate moderates on board. I don't think he anticipated all the moderate Republicans marching in lockstep with the party on everything
PW: Well it shouldn't have taken him so goddamn long to figure out that would continue to be a problem indefinitely
PW: I also believe Dems conveniently use the GOP as their foil.. "Oh rats, we can't get something done that would piss off our corporate masters, at least we 'tried.'"
TW: I don't deny that they were (are) somewhat beholden to corporate interests that fund their campaigns. But when you consider the alternative...
TW: @ least Democrats try to balance public well-being with corporate interest, whereas Republicans... Well it goes without saying
PW: I know, it's just infuriating this is the status quo.. To what degree should we let corporations run roughshod over us?
TW: I agree. But the reality is that you have to work within the status quo in order to change it, & that takes time & a lot of finagling
PW: I dunno if you remember this suggestion but I still think it'd be cool if you & me did a politics show on public access TV

It's Hard Work!

I believe I have alluded to this in the past and it again occurs to me that due to the profoundly strenuous nature of Presidential Campaigns in this country, by the time the winning candidate is finally sworn in, he is likely so depleted that his capabilities for decision making are diminished to the degree that many important decisions are conferred upon other cabinet members and staff, who may or may not share the same agenda the president had set forth throughout his campaign. 

 

The office of the Presidency is one that makes it almost impossible for the Executive to truly focus on all the myriad occurrences that transpire throughout the country.  I was listening to old clips of myriad Republicans denouncing the administration for ‘Mirandizing’ the Christmas Day Bomber, as if Obama himself actually had a say in the matter at the exact time the would-be terrorist was taken into custody: 

 

“Mr. President, sorry to bother you on Christmas Day.  You’ve probably already heard about this underwear bomber we’ve apprehended…  Yeah, I know-can’t make this shit up.  In any event, we thought we should go straight to the top on this one and ask you if we should read Mr. Fruit of the Boom his Miranda Rights.  Yeah?  But won’t the GOP (and Lieberman) go absolutely apeshit?  Do it anyway?  Yes sir.  And Merry Christmas, sir!”

 

That is undoubtedly how it all went down.  All the same, Obama (as most presidents do) has quite a bit on his proverbial plate and I know from my own experience that if one is overwhelmed and has the option of handing off a task or responsibility to a subordinate here or there, chances are he will do just that.  This is especially so regarding matters the President perhaps feels are outside his comfort zone, say matters of finance and the economy.   This obviously brings us to the circumstances surrounding Elizabeth Warren, her proposed and now codified Financial Protection Agency and the fact that she will likely not end up being the head of it because Geithner, Sommers, etc. know she’ll actually enforce regulations.

 

A somewhat disparate point that still draws upon the aforementioned principle is Obama’s lauded LBJ-esque legislative record.  One pundit made the point that the proficiency of congress to churn out bills for the President sign demonstrates efficiency more than effectiveness.  That is, just because a bill has been signed into law does not necessarily mean that it will achieve what it is designed to accomplish.  It’s illustrative of the national mentality of kudos for mere participation that George Carlin and yes, even Glenn Beck have excoriated.  Despite what Woody Allen has famously (and slightly tongue-in-cheek) pronounced, oftentimes it is not enough in life to just show up, especially not when you are POTUS.  Thus when the President, or anyone else for that matter, is continually told by his staff what can and can’t be done, he will likely just show up and not actually fight for truly effective legislation.

GOAAAAAL!!!

Right then. I know everyone is so fucking gung-ho right now about the good old U-S-of-A futbol victory in the Copa del Mundo (including, apparently, Bubba). I dig that. I was going to say that we got lucky against England, but we were also quite unlucky against Slovenia and even had another goal disallowed against Algeria before the clock struck USA. I know I shouldn't be raining on the parade of what is truly an amazing and historic victory, and the sideshows that are sporting events are dependably good thought-taker-offers, but the fact remains that the aforementioned U-S-of-A is in a terribly bad place right about now and even if we were to shock the world and "win the whole fucking thing" (thanks be to 'Major League') our collective situation would still be about as good as Greece's (who were not as fortunate as US).

This fallout with McChrystal is huge, even though the White House will do everything possible to demonstrate otherwise. This, on top of the oil spill debacle, to go along with the debacle that will surely be the so-called financial reform bill, simply begs the question: what in god's name can Obama possibly do at this point in time to divert attention from just how entirely fucked we are, aside from praying to Allah we win the World Cup? Sorry to be the harbinger of bad news, but even that won't save us.

I would have a considerable amount more empathy for Obama if he had actually followed through with the whole 'change' campaign schpiel. I mean, I know that's the kind of thing one must regurgitate ad nauseum until the cows come home, but change is not continuing and (in one out of two instances) escalating the wars of the previous President, who couldn't have done more to catapult Obama into the White House if he tried (I guess escalation technically is change, just not the kind I can believe in).

The instances of such failure to be the 'change we can believe in' are excruciatingly many and not at all far between, and while I continue to hold out, at this point in time, an extremely dim 'hope' that perhaps Obama will come around and possibly do the right thing on any number of different issues, it will continue to be mere hope, for to borrow the campaign song of a certain also-ran in 2000: "[we] ain't [really] seen nothing yet."

AKA Obama Street

Am I right, Glenn Beck?!

Who You Callin' A Liberal?

One issue that I wanted to address throughout the campaign was this nonsensical assertion that somehow Barack Obama is the most liberal Senator in that branch of the legislature, (even more liberal than Bernie Sanders of Vermont, as stated by McCain). I did not want to address this issue because it is acutely similar to the charges of Obama being a Muslim; firstly, it’s not true and secondly, so what if he is?! Sanders being one and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin another who is without question more liberal than Obama, not to mention Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Sherrod Brown, etc., etc. This assertion is made based upon the findings by a trumped up formula that coincidentally found John Kerry to be the most liberal senator in 2004. I believe that at his core, Obama is indeed a liberal/progressive, but due to his freshman status in the senate, his desire to run for president (and dare I say the color of his skin) it had been impressed upon him that he must shore up his moderate credentials in order to be more mainstream.

I strongly reject the notion that simply because we have elected an African-American to be our president all our egregious sins over the past eight (plus two hundred) years will be magically absolved. Let us not forget that this country had a chance to reject Bush and all that he and his stand for four years ago. We did not and what damage had been done in the first term might have been addressed and corrected by now. Ironically, the blatant mishandling of this country by the republicans created the perfect storm from which a black president could emerge-yet these are not necessarily the ideal circumstances for such an advancement to occur. Nevertheless, this is an extremely important event in American, if not World history. Seeing people around the globe celebrating this occasion evokes a great deal of pride as if they are commending us for finally doing something right instead of what is patently wrong. Of course the international elation likewise speaks measures apropos the president going out and the one coming in.

At Long Last

I have avoided writing anything for quite some time because it felt like everything to say had already been said. When everybody is opining about what will transpire, how it will transpire and everything in between – there leaves little room for the punditry of an amateur. Now that all is said and done, I feel the need to reflect on this monumental election (especially since Senator Obama has emerged victorious). This is without question a sea-change in the American political landscape and a referendum, not only on the Republican Party, but all in which it stands for. I would like to think that a considerable number of citizens have finally seen the light, in that the GOP is just that: old (and really, not so grand). The only thing grand about that party is the degree that is has managed to impede and retard the progress necessary in restoring this country to some semblance of its former (pre-Reagan Revolution) self. The so-called Reagan/Thatcher model of governance has proven itself to be an abject failure time and time again and I implore that we as a nation are never subjected to this madness again. To be sure, there still remains some semblance of an influential constituency that believes strongly in the principles of further empowering the wealthy at the expense of the not wealthy, and all that this entails. There will always be ideologues such as these, but the same people who volunteered/voted for and put their faith in Barack Obama must continue to make bold statements such as this. As President-Elect Obama said, his victory is not the end but merely the beginning…

Georgia On My Mind

Do not be surprised if the conflict in Georgia is dragged out on into November, for while this “October Surprise” may have occurred in August, it is entirely plausible that feet will be dragged and more sabers will be rattled for the next two months. Remarkably, despite being generally incoherent, intentionally belligerent and all the while running one of the most poorly organized and ill coordinated campaigns in recent memory, John McCain remains within striking distance of Barack Obama. The McCain campaign seems to have gambled on and won their wager that the American people for the most part would not pay much attention to his fledgling campaign until the fall, when perhaps it might actually buckle down and stay on message. This can already be seen in McCain honing his relentless attacks on Obama’s patriotism (that is, lack thereof), and how Obama wants the US to “lose” in Iraq, essentially entailing treason.

It was unfortunate that Obama was essentially forced into participation at Rick Warren’s mega-church, mega-presidential forum or whatever over the weekend – religion has not exactly been his friend this campaign cycle, what with it being insinuated that he’s a Muslim and his ties to Rev. Wright and Father Pfleger, etc. etc. I didn’t watch the event but I did happen to catch Warren tossing McCain softball, Larry King-style questions: “What is your definition of marriage?” (Union between only man and woman… applause) “What is your position on abortion?” (It should be outlawed… applause) The best was when McCain managed to tie together his devout belief in Christ to his POW experience in ‘Nam; anything to summon the good old POW days.

Bayh, Bayh, Obama Bayh Bayh?

http://koulflo.wordpress.com/2008/08/05/obama-bayh-08-on-wednesday/#comment-357

The Trend Continues...

Endgame

When I play chess, I am generally quite proficient at drawing the game out to a point that would be considered the “end game”. It is almost without fail at this point when blunders start to occur and the game ultimately slips between my fingers, inevitably followed by an angry tirade. The Democratic Primary has reached the end game and Barack Obama has performed more or less masterfully up until this point. He and his campaign just don’t seem to be able to get that elusive checkmate, much less a resignation. Obama is correct when he says the nomination is within reach, which is why it would be so much more devastating if he were to let said nomination slip away. Hillary Clinton, who seems to lose a little more touch with reality every day (e.g. Florida & Michigan = Civil Rights & Suffrage), has made it clear that she will take this fight to the convention – essentially a Mutually Assured Destruction, making the issue all the more pressing for Obama. He absolutely must get his cache of super-delegates to reveal themselves before it’s too late, i.e. Denver in August. It has been said all along that the most important matter for the Democrats is to get themselves an opponent against John McCain and since Hillary has made it abundantly clear she is far more interested in her possible presidency than a potential Democratic one, this should be the cue for super-delegates to begin the painful process of ushering her out the door. Hillary knows all too well that Democrats are painfully civil and will avoid dropping the hammer at all costs, which is one of the primary (pun intended) reasons she has been permitted to make such a fool of herself. Another being that she is a Clinton, and Clintons hold way too much sway (and swagger) within the party to simply bow out gracefully. For this same reason, Obama must not let this content go to Denver, where any number of Clintonian strings can be pulled. No, the time is now; Obama says he wants change and this is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his willingness to induce the changing of the guard. Make Florida and Michigan a moot point, brandish those super-delegates like a knife in the knife fight this primary has been.

Letter To the Editor

To the Editor:

Re “Obama Admires Bush” by David Brooks (column, May 16):

It is curious that David Brooks feels so threatened by Barack Obama and his so-called liberal foreign policy proposals that he would resort to name-calling: “He’s not just Jimmy Carter, he’s Noam Chomsky!” (I’ve heard he’s also a smelly-head). I find it curious that Mr. Brooks seems so very insecure about the prospect of returning to the way the United States once conducted diplomacy a long, long time ago; actually TALKING to your enemy! (What a concept!) I will go out on a limb and presume that ever since 9/11, we can no longer employ the old tactics, which I might add – actually worked.

So thanks to Mr. Brooks’ in depth analysis, what we can deduce is that Obama is a really liberal liberal who would rather talk to his enemies than drop a bomb on them, kind of like W.’s wimpy father, H.W. I think Obama should be impeached before he’s even elected president!

(I guess it is not at all coincidental that a certain President W. and his clone, John McCain, are making the exact same argument, which begs the question: is the tail wagging the dog or vice versa?)

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/16/opinion/16brooks.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Coming Soon, To A Town Hall Near You!!

I have been known to be grossly mistaken, but the prospect of a series of McCain-Obama town hall-style debates on its face seems like it would stand to benefit Obama immensely. One would think that the McCain campaign would want nothing to do with literal face-to-face confrontations, I mean look at their faces! Perhaps this is mere fantasy, but I could very easily see Obama running rhetorical and oratorical circles around McCain, at which point Senator Bomb Bomb might just try and deck his opponent. McCain is a ticking time-bomb and if his campaign knows anything about anything, I would hope for their sake that the good Senator is undergoing some serious psychoanalysis. To reference Seinfeld, I’m not talking about seeing a therapist once a week; I’m talking about going to Vienna and being constantly monitored around the clock. Even then, I still believe there is a strong possibility of him short-circuiting and reverting back to being a P.O.W. in Hanoi. I’m not trying to make light of McCain’s rather serious psychological problems (and then of course, there’s also the age problem), I’m merely trying to illustrate just what a dangerous individual he is and subsequently how even more dangerous he would be in an office of the oval variety. McCain obviously has the gift of gab and what I imagine is a very commanding martial presence, yet if a Pepsi challenge is going to be made of this contest – I simply can’t foresee people thinking McCain tastes better.

More on McCain… He is now attempting, a) to distance himself from Bush and b) to make it seem as though he is Mr. Environmentally friendly by asserting his ‘belief’ that greenhouse gas emissions must be limited, yet out of all the 450+ legislators in the House and Senate, he ranked dead last in 2007 according to the League of Conservation Voters' National Environmental Scorecard (see page 14).
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/archive/200802/NAT20080229a.html
I don’t like the concept of “cap and trade” either, although I’m aware that all three candidates are in favor of it. I realize that a certain degree of pandering to the corporations is necessary to stay financially competitive in these campaigns, although Obama has generated an astonishing amount of small contributions, yet there is no longer any time to be permitting unabashed polluters to continue chipping away at our fragile environment.

I’m happy to say that The New York Times at least alluded to McCain’s “mixed record,” but for virtually every single issue McCain raises, he has at one point said one thing and done the exact opposite and this must continue to be driven home. The man is NOT the maverick, straight-talkin’ sonuva gun he says he is and there is ample evidence to back that up. If Clinton is going to stay in this race, she must join forces with Obama and they must expose these blatant canards. Howard Dean and the DNC can’t do it all by themselves; there are two Democrats in the spotlight and they have every opportunity to try and keep knocking McCain off his high horse.

Thank You, Senator Kerry!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/30/kerry-rips-msnbc-on-wrigh_n_99491.html

Reverend Who?!

It is truly disheartening, albeit not at all surprising, that the corporate media continues to make a mountain out of Barack Obama’s former pastor, whose name I refuse to mention. I am a big fan of Bill Moyers and his Journal, which airs Fridays on PBS and thusly thought he did a fine job of giving a certain aforementioned Reverend a typically eloquent forum where he could finally clear the air and give his side of the story. Perhaps his Journal appearance went straight to his head; for there he was merely a few days later spouting off, only not so eloquently, on his own terms minus the calm and cool Bill Moyers to moderate and mediate.
Obama said what he had to say about the matter and that should be that, but upon leafing through The New York Times this morning – I saw not one, nor two, but THREE stories either about said Reverend or alluding to his impact on Obama’s campaign. I come to expect this, even of the Times, but repeatedly overhyping such non-policy related stories is unfortunate nonetheless as it necessarily detracts from considerably more substantive issues being addressed.
It is likewise demonstrative of how the same attention and over-magnification is not paid to individuals related to the other candidates that utter considerably more inflammatory and insensitive statements. I have written of John McCain and his ties to various bigoted Christian righties, along with the ‘gentleman’ who referred to Obama as the ‘Tiger Woods candidate’. But outside of Countdown I hear little to no mention of Hillary Clinton’s most recent endorsers respectively saying she makes the fictional Rocky Balboa look like a pansy and that (supposedly unlike other Democratic candidates) she possesses ‘testicular fortitude’.
For some reason, both McCain and Clinton are able to rather easily dismiss the misstatements of their supporters as ‘not their own’ – yet Obama gets repeatedly nailed. I am also reminded of when so much hay was made over Obama supposedly wanting to bomb Pakistan (just the regions were Al Qaeda is known to be hiding, actually), and G.I. Hillary talks about decimating Iran! He is much too savvy to publicly imply that this discrepancy is somehow race-related, but race certainly has something to do with it.
It is considerably easier for the media to report on something that is intriguing, which a majority of citizens are bound not to understand first hand, as a majority of Americans are not black. In the end, this nonsense truly does not have any bearing at all on what kind of President Mr. Obama would be; a really rather good one I believe.

Clinton, McCain, Obama & John Adams

While watching the Pennsylvania Primary Pregame (how’s THAT for alliteration!) on MSNBC, I found it commendable that since the two Democratic candidates have shown little to no desire to attack McCain, the DNC (Democratic National Committee) chose to run a hard-hitting ad that nailed many of John McCain’s talking points (very effectively using his very own words & voice) as counter-intuitive and essentially ludicrous. On a side note, I also like that The Nation is now advertising on MSNBC, as well! After viewing the aforementioned ad, I very nearly made a beeline to the computer to donate money to the DNC; unfortunately I have not the funds to do so at this point in time. Anti-McCain ads are good, very good in fact. It would obviously be even better if the attacks came from either Dem candidate, but we take what we can get at this stage in the game.



According to Howard Dean, head of the DNC, the ever-elusive Florida and Michigan delegates will be seated somehow by the end of June. This being the case, a halt must be called to the continuing Obama-Clinton bloodbath, for there is nothing that can be said or done before then that will be ultimately determinative. As I, and many other more prominent pundits, have stated before – these candidates would be doing themselves a great service if the two tag-teamed McCain until this is all settled (after all, the three of them had spots before a WWF wrestling match). The DNC ad touched on so many valid points and there are certainly more where those came from, thus it is almost a little scary to think of how much damage the two of them could inflict on McCain if they just got their priorities straightened.

This really does all come back to Hillary though, because she knows the only way she has a shot at pulling this out is if she continues tearing down Obama. After watching the conclusion of the HBO miniseries John Adams, it occurred to me that his example should be followed in that his ultimate concern was doing what is best for the country, not his party nor his own personal popularity. Clinton abiding by these guidelines would benefit both the party and in the long run, the country; yet I fear Hillary Rodham Clinton is no John Adams. The shining achievement of Mr. Adams’ presidency was his ability to prevent getting drawn in militarily to the ongoing struggle between France and England, despite the fact that military action would likely have bolstered his reelection campaign. We now live in an age where party politics most always trumps allegiance to country and we are at present on a fast track to yet another war that would seemingly benefit the Republican Party, particularly their candidate. The American people do not want another war. John McCain has explicitly said: “There’s gonna be more wars, sorry to tell ya this…” If the American people elect John McCain, or allow Republicans to get away with more electoral tomfoolery that would usher in the ‘President Bomb Bomb’ era, there will indeed be more wars – that is, if more wars have not already been started by President Dumb Dumb. The Democrats must convey this message and stop their petty bickering; in the long run it will most assuredly make up for not wearing a flag pin.

Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Bitter

The most recent attacks on Senator Obama certainly seem to highlight how much hot water one can find oneself in if he dares to speak truth to power. First, it was the harsh criticism of Obama’s longtime minister, Rev. Wright, for preaching a message regarding American History that while inconvenient, is quite true. Now Obama himself is being attacked for saying something that is essentially true, but likewise politically inconvenient: “it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.” There is nothing in this statement that is not in some regards true, but because the passage came from an intelligent, well-spoken black man, it is considered to be demonstrative of his elitism. If John McCain said that exact same quote, he would be LAUDED for being such a straight-talkin’ maverick, who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is.

Bracing For The (Bomb Bomb) Worst

I am starting to wearily contemplate just what it might mean for this country if we are indeed forced to endure at least four years of a Senator John ‘Bomb Bomb’ McCain presidency, which regrettably seems more and more likely by the day. The first and most consoling matter would be that Democrats in November will likely make considerable gains in both the House and Senate, thus at least somewhat putting a check on his otherwise terrifying power potential (imagine ‘Bomb Bomb’ with a GOP majority in both houses like his predecessor!). McCain finally changed his tune yesterday (Brooklyn will do that to a person) by attempting to seem more empathic regarding the housing crisis this country faces. Nevertheless, he is of course more steadfast than ever when it comes to occupying Iraq essentially for however long it takes. It saddens me a great deal that this borderline lunatic has such a golden opportunity to become the next president and particularly that the ‘Democrat’ party is successfully managing to snatch defeat from the hands of victory. Bill Clinton’s caveat that it is far better to be strong and wrong than weak and right is once again playing itself out, just like it did four and eight years ago. McCain may be a jingo psychopath, but at least he stays firm on his positions, whereas Hillary Clinton and Obama seem to have a different answer for when to leave Iraq every single time they are asked.

The same way it is perceived, contrary to any substantive facts, that Obama is a Muslim and Hillary is a pinko-commie liberal, John McCain is falsely perceived to be a moderate, maverick, straight-shooting sonuva gun. Just like George W. once said, you gotta keep repeating yourself to let the propaganda sink in. McCain doesn’t even need to do this because the press corps already does it for him! There is the question: if Obama finally pulls out the nomination (whenever that might be), which media darling will prevail? I fear McCain and his generally disagreeable disposition is more in tune with the way a majority of Americans feel and that Obama will indeed be painted successfully as a phony harbinger of some unrealistic 21st century utopia. Simply put, I do not have a great deal of faith in the people this country is constituted of. Everybody and their typical white mother is so sure that the electorate will not make the same ‘sit down and have a beer with the president’ mistake three elections in a row – but I am not nearly as certain. When one takes into consideration that the average education level of Americans is currently something like 7th or 8th grade, I do not hold out a great deal of hope. Bush may have allowed September 11th to occur, but outside the affected areas most Americans did not feel the full impact of the events. I suspect however that when Senator McCain does indeed choose to bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran (or Syria, or North Korea for that matter), a military draft will most certainly be enacted and people across the country will finally feel a more direct effect of the disastrous neoconservative policies. I pray to the Beach Boys I am wrong.

Racist Much?

The hypocrisies in this presidential campaign grow exponentially by the day, yet as usual – St. John McCain is nary expected to explain his end of it. Senator John D. Rockefeller III of West Virginia, an Obama supporter, made an ill-phrased remark regarding McCain generally not being in touch with what occurs on the ground, alluding to his being a fighter pilot in Vietnam as opposed to a ground troop. Subsequently, Rockefeller profusely apologized, yet McCain’s campaign is demanding an apology from OBAMA! Among the many other blatant contradictions along the trail, upon being introduced to a pro-war veterans group, the MC alluded to Obama being the Tiger Woods candidate and McCain having the REAL ‘audacity of hope,’ or some bile like that. I am not even going to pose the question because I already know the answer, yet I wonder at what point will the ever-loving McCain mainstream media demand the same, more appropriate accountability for blatantly racist remarks made by HIS supporters?!

http://www.caribbeanworldnews.com/middle_top_news_detail.php?mid=573

Who Can't Win?

This most recent claim by Senator Hillary Clinton is most assuredly demonstrative of the increasing desperation she and her campaign face. The front page of the New York Post says it all: “Obama Can’t Win” [against John McCain] – however a slew of polls published yesterday all beg to differ. Not only do registered Democrats believe (by a two-to-one margin) Senator Obama has a better chance at beating McCain, Republicans (by a three-to-one margin) would rather McCain face off against Clinton than Obama. While it is not stated explicitly, these results suggest that Republicans are not just more, but most fearful of a potential Obama candidacy, which torpedoes the notion that “Obama Can’t Win”.

Dr. Rachel Maddow has a segment on her radio program titled “The Underbelly,” which exposes right-wing political tactics, or as she puts it: “Poking a sharp stick at the soft, white underbelly of the rrright wing scheme machine; giving you a look at their political playbook.” This is not the first time Senator Clinton has employed such tactics and most likely will not be the last. The tactic I speak of is throwing something out there and hoping it sticks. When an individual or party makes a claim based entirely NOT in reality, they are simply hoping that by throwing said claim out to the media, some publication (often the qualitative likes of the New York Post) will go to print with it.

The reported blowup by Bill Clinton last week regarding his anger towards Governor Bill Richardson’s endorsement of Obama likewise illustrates just how dire the straits are for that campaign. Ironically, after his blowup, Clinton went out and told a crowd at the Democratic convention in California that the dueling campaigns’ rhetoric must cool down.

Oh yeah - I wonder what Senator McCain thinks about the divulged Yoo Two Torture Memos..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040303345.html