Obama '08?

nimh- your out of it mate. Go to bed.

yes indeed, now the Clintons are racists all of a sudden. What a laugh....

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.

if the polling results are screwy, how exactly does that make the vote count wrong?

I don't know if there is a more astute observer working in the political press today than Frank Rich. Sunday's column is extraordinarily sharp.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/13/opinion/13rich.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

McCaskill, who was elected to the Senate two years after Obama, in 2006, said she is backing him because he has proven to be a leader willing to work with both sides of the political aisle.

"I have kind of staked a tent in the middle ground and with some frequency I ran into Barack Obama there," she said. "As I worked with him trying to find a way to get past the partisan food fight, I realized this was an extraordinary leader."

McCaskill said she has quickly found Washington a disappointing place.

"You don't have to be there very long at all to realize that it is broken," she said. "I have been frustrated and disappointed and some times, actually depressed, over the inability of people in Washington to talk with each other about public policy and not just focus on partisan politics."

McCaskill also sought to dispel the notion that Obama is nothing more than a gifted speaker.

"There is no question that he is truly gift by God with an ability to speak to people in a way that touches them. But for me, that is the whipped cream and the cherry," she said. "For me, this is a man who has incredible intellectual heft. He is a very smart guy with a wise soul who is not afraid to figure out a new and different way to tackle problems."

McCaskill suggested that waiting to elect Obama so that he could gain more experience carries more risk than reward.

"I honestly believe that only once in a generation does a leader come along that has that particular gift and I think it would be a terrible disappointment to our country if we didn't grab this opportunity right now," she said. "I get 'the fierce urgency of now.' I feel it in my bones and I believe this is an extraordinary man at an extraordinary time in history and we must take advantage of his gifts for the benefit of our country and the benefit of the world."

She later added: "If he were to wait and run later, I don't know that he would be capable of the kind of boldness and the kind of willingness to step places that haven't been stepped before. I think he's important that he is where he is in his career to take on this important responsibility."

McCaskill stressed that endorsing Obama was not an easy decision.

"I have deep respect for Hillary Clinton. She is a smart woman. She is a strong leader," she said. "But at this moment in history, it is very important that we look forward with a kind of optimism and hope that we have not been able to gin up in this country for a while."

McCaskill said she respects Obama because he has not resorted to "winning by making the other guy look bad."

"This is, you know, fascinating to me. I think what we saw this morning is why the American people are tired of Washington politicians and the games they play," Obama said. "Look, Sen. Clinton made an unfortunate remark, an ill-advised remark, about Dr. King and Lyndon Johnson. I didn't make the statement. I haven't remarked on it, and she, I think, offended some folks who felt that it somehow diminished King's role in bringing about the Civil Rights Act. She is free to explain that, but the notion that somehow this is our doing, is ludicrous."

I got an e-mail today that shows exactly what he's on about, spendius. At least according to the nutball wing of the kickycan family.

Here, check it out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who is Barack Obama?

<snip>

The Muslims have said they plan on destroying the US from the inside out,
what better way to start than at the highest level - through the President of the United States , one of their own!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

<snip>

True, most of us, as children, are guided by our parents in the ways of religion, taking up the faiths of our mothers and fathers, but a choice later in life to deviate from their religious beliefs does not nullify the fact that we once attended the churches, synagogues, mosques, etc. sanctioned by our parents. To this extent, Barack Obama did practice Islam and was subjected to the fundamental tenets of the ideology.

This fundamental truth is important for at least a few different reasons. Fundamentalist Islamists, radical Islamists, Wahhabists, believe, among other things, that :

▪ When one is born of Muslim parents they are Muslim

▪ Everyone who does not embrace Islam is a non-believer and thus, is an enemy to Allah, his Prophet and believers

▪ Should one leave the faith of Islam they are considered an apostate, a denier of the Koran, and should be killed

When you acknowledge the fact that Barack Obama was brought to mosque to practice Islam as a child and that he was born of a father that was Muslim, in the eyes of Wahhabists and Islamist fundamentalists he is considered an apostate. Under fundamentalist Islamic dogma -- Wahhabi dogma -- he is considered an enemy of Allah, his Prophet and believers. In the world of radical Islamists, Barack Obama is the worst kind of infidel -- a traitor -- and should be killed.

This is pretty bad news for Barack Obama. Not only does he have Hillary Clinton "gunning" for him -- which can be dangerous in and of itself -- he has the entire radical Islamist world looking to kill him -- by fatwa, by religious edict, not because of his politics, but because he is a Muslim apostate.

<snip>

Barack Obama's political credentials for the office of President of the United States may very well be debatable. But the fact of the matter -- as dictated by fundamentalist Islamic ideology, by fatwa and by the Koran -- is that Barack Obama's credibility and status within the Muslim world is already diminished. And the United States cannot afford a leader of limited potency as we battle the war against radical Islamist aggression.

BET Founder Slams Obama in South Carolina
By Katharine Q. Seelye

"And to me, as an African-American, I am frankly insulted that the Obama campaign would imply that we are so stupid that we would think Hillary and Bill Clinton, who have been deeply and emotionally involved in black issues since Barack Obama was doing something in the neighborhood -­ and I won't say what he was doing, but he said it in the book -­ when they have been involved."

Lots of interesting Obama endorsements lately -- Kerry*, Ned Lamont, Janet Napolitano, Ben Nelson, etc. Claire McCaskill's today is especially interesting though, I think.

Endorsements don't usually count for much. But if they're big enough and come at critical moments they can count for a lot. And this string of endorsements Obama has picked up since his narrow defeat in New Hampshire four days ago is, I believe, a major story that has not gotten the attention it deserves.

Since losing the New Hampshire primary four days ago, Obama has been endorsed by Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Gov. Janet Napolitano (D-AZ). Additionally, he's also been endorsed by Rep. Miller (D-CA), Sen. Kerry (D-MA) and Ned Lamont. But they're in a slightly different category and it's the first four I want to discuss.

The first of these came from Sen. Tim Johnson (D-SD) who put out word he'd be endorsing Obama the day after New Hampshire. Johnson is a protege of former Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD). And Daschle has close ties to Obama [..]. So when I saw word of the endorsement I figured this was something Daschle or his former staffers had helped put together [..].

But now you have three others -- Nelson, Napolitano and McCaskill. Nelson and Johnson are from very red states while Napolitano and McCaskill are from swing states.

Now, there are a bunch of things you can draw from this spate of endorsements. [T]hese are people from either very conservative or somewhat conservative states. Despite the fact that Obama is running in some ways to the right of Clinton (at least tonally, as the candidate of unity and bipartisan reconcilation), there are still a lot of questions inevitably being asked about whether the country is 'ready' for Obama, whether that's his race, his name, his background in community organizing, his youth, etc. So these folks think America's ready; in fact, more ready than they are for Hillary.

But that isn't the biggest significance. The key is timing. You don't hit a big time politician like Hillary Clinton when she's down unless you're really against her and you're fairly confident she's not getting back up. After winning in New Hampshire, albeit narrowly and after the clobbering in Iowa, there's been a sense that Clinton may be back on track to consolidating her frontrunner status and perhaps following a modified version of the standard script in which the anointed frontrunner gets a scare in the early states before mopping up the competition as the race goes national. But these four clearly don't want that to happen. In fact, they're sticking their necks pretty far out to help make it not happen. And their endorsements, coming right now, tell me they have some confidence it won't.

Meanwhile there's lots of dead in Iraq for no good reason. That's a crime.

Interesting take on the spate of Obama endorsements

Quote:

Since losing the New Hampshire primary four days ago, Obama has been endorsed by ...... Miller .....