Obama '08?

Quote of the Day
"I'll take it under advisement." -- Fox's Major Garrett, responding to an e-mail from CNN's Paul Begala in which Begala denied unequivocally Garrett's report that Begala was going to work for Hillary Clinton's campaign. Begala says Fox continued to run the story Monday despite his denial, with Garrett insisting to Begala that his "sourcing" was "strong, very strong."

eoe wrote:

No she didn't!

Actually, she did. But she was quoting James Cleveland... if that helps.

Savage smeared Obama with false name, "Barack Madrassas Obama"
Summary: Discussing an Associated Press article about presidential candidates and their first cars, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage referred falsely to Sen. Barack Obama as "Barack Madrassas Obama." As Media Matters for America has documented, the allegation that Obama was educated in a madrassa has been thoroughly disproved.

On MSNBC, Jonah Goldberg claimed "you can draw a line" from Mussolini to Clinton and Obama
Summary: Discussing his most recent book on MSNBC's Morning Joe, National Review Online editor-at-large Jonah Goldberg said that Benito Mussolini is tied to the American liberal movement because he "was a socialist." When co-host Joe Scarborough asked whether he was suggesting "you can draw a line from Mussolini" to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or to Sen. Barack Obama, Goldberg replied, "Well, I'm saying you can draw a line, but it's not a straight one."

Syndicated columnist Mackenzie falsely claimed Obama was educated in a "madrassa school"
Summary: In a column posted on Townhall.com, Ross Mackenzie wrote that Sen. Barack Obama "must grow beyond offering the sum of his experience in foreign policy as his madrassa school years in Indonesia and a visit or two to his grandmother in Africa." In fact, the claim that Obama was educated in a "madrassa" has been thoroughly debunked by numerous news organizations.

Anybody ready to lay odds on which account is correct?

Quote:

On MSNBC, Jonah Goldberg claimed "you can draw a line" from Mussolini to Clinton and Obama
Summary: Discussing his most recent book on MSNBC's Morning Joe, National Review Online editor-at-large Jonah Goldberg said that Benito Mussolini is tied to the American liberal movement because he "was a socialist." When co-host Joe Scarborough asked whether he was suggesting "you can draw a line from Mussolini" to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton or to Sen. Barack Obama, Goldberg replied, "Well, I'm saying you can draw a line, but it's not a straight one."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200801100016?f=h_side

Goldberg is, of course, the son of Lucianne Goldberg, literary agent for Linda Tripp, both of whom worked with (among many others) Ann Coulter in the project to remove Clinton from office.

What Goldberg is attempting to do with this book is to rewrite or reframe history so as to recast 'liberalism' (the conservative movement's propaganda definition of liberalism, that is) as aligned with the totalitarian regimes of the last century and to try and separate such totalitarianism so that it is no longer identified with the right. It's really the same goal or strategy that Coulter uses, eg trying to reframe Joe McCarthy as a freedom fighter who has suffered unjust slights to his heroic and angelic reputation from the liberals.

And this guy has a regular column at the LA Times.

Alex Koppleman interviewed Jonah Goldberg about his Book "Liberal Fascism" and I was struck by this assertion:

Quote:

What appealed to the Progressives about militarism was what William James calls this moral equivalent of war. It was that war brought out the best in society, as James put it, that it was the best tool then known for mobilization ... That is what is fascistic about militarism, its utility as a mechanism for galvanizing society to join together, to drop their partisan differences, to move beyond ideology and get with the program. And liberalism today is, strictly speaking, pretty pacifistic. They're not the ones who want to go to war all that much. But they're still deeply enamored with this concept of the moral equivalent of war, that we should unite around common purposes. Listen to the rhetoric of Barack Obama, it's all about unity, unity, unity, that we have to move beyond our particular differences and unite around common things, all of that kind of stuff. That remains at the heart of American liberalism, and that's what I'm getting at.

I would argue that Nixon was not a particularly conservative guy. Measured by today's standards and today's issues, Nixon would be in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

Quote:

Anybody ready to lay odds on which account is correct?

I am. How about a $100 bet that Begala's denial is accurate and Fox's report that Begala is going to work for the Clinton campaign is false?

What do you say, foxfyre?

Taking a Deep Breath

It is remarkable, or perhaps it's not so remarkable, how rapidly this punching match over race has escalated between the Clinton and Obama camps. Even calling it that is perhaps controversial in itself.

I'm discussing this with you because it's quickly become a complicated editorial issue for us to deal with.

It's genuinely unclear to me how much one side or the other is consciously pushing this, how much it's escalated based in part on misunderstandings, or whether, in a somewhat related fashion, hyping journalistic accounts has given the engagement a life of its own.

Some of the statements recently attributed to the Clintons have seemed at best awkward...

I would argue that Nixon was not a particularly conservative guy. Measured by today's standards and today's issues, Nixon would be in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

Bernie quoted-

Quote:

I would argue that Nixon was not a particularly conservative guy. Measured by today's standards and today's issues, Nixon would be in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.

It's many years since I read Six Crises and a good few since I read Mr Kissinger's vast but interesting tome and the impression I got was that Mr Nixon was no further "right" than the middle.

Obama is doing a lot of that, Nimh. The problem is that the news outlets ignore it when writing their articles and go for the inspirational stuff because they think that is what their consumers are interested in.

http://www.alternet.org/story/72748/

GOP-backed election laws in many states pose barriers to Obama's supporters. Supreme court to hear challenges next weak.

Could cost Obama Indiana and presidency.

2000-Florida 2004-Ohio 2008-?????