Obama '08?

It's okay to call either one a monster, but it has to have an explanation behind the adjective. If it's true, there's no apology to be made.

I wouldn't want to be McCain in that scenario. Probably would have an unfortunate accident , like many Clinton associates who became inconvenient.

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/BODIES.html

I don't really care one way or the other truth be told. I expect more and more of this kind of thing. It will be decried when coming from the Clinton camp, rationalized and excused for the Obama camp.

I stopped giving a **** about two weeks ago although Hill is my preference. I'm in it for the laughs now.

Not being ignored. We've discussed it on Soz's blog thread. I'll crosspost my comment about it.



And expand on it with this:

I see this as a two-edged sword. It is a loss for the Obama campaign but it may also free Samatha to be able to speak out much more forcefully against Hillary without the need to protect the Obama positive campaign strategy. It is certainly very much needed. She may be the strong female voice we've been looking for to speak out assertively and aggressively for Obama and against Clinton.

You were always in it for the laughs.

Cycloptichorn

so you're saying that this is part of the Obama strategy? To have an attack dog on the loose that he can separate himself from and keep his good guy image while still getting the mud slung?

Because that's exactly what you would accuse Hillary of.

Business as usual. No messiahs, no new playing field and transparency.... just another guy who wants to be president.

Is that what I said?

Although I see Obama's message of change has universal appeal, it can't go anyplace after the elections. There's a thing called the congress that usually has a say in what legislation passes.

The message has to be a whole lot more than just "change."

Anyone who pretends we've "brought freedom to Iraq" is a monster imo. Death and destruction, mass murder is what we've brought to Iraq. Hillary versus McCain means I sit this election out. First time for everything I guess.

Obama's message of change is dependent on his constituents being vigilent and hard working and non-apathetic. Of course he wont bring much change alone. But a dedicated to change constituency could bring change and is the only thing that could. Bushie brought big change and it was due the dedication of his constirtency which defended his every lie and war crime.

in so many words you made it clear you'd approve of it.

That's different then something being Obama's strategy.

Cycloptichorn

I'm not hearing any denials.

OLBERMANN: I didn?'t know until this day that it was Barzeni all along.

For a week now: Senator Clinton has bashed Senator Obama and even possibly won votes based on the story that Obama had publicly railed against NAFTA while a memo by a Canadian diplomat claimed that Obama?'s campaign secretly assured them his stand, quote, "Should be viewed as more about political positioning than a clear articulation of policy plans."

In our fourth story on the COUNTDOWN: Obama?'s adviser denied speaking those words and now, we learned a much higher source from Canada revealed late last month that the NAFTA promises came from a very different source?-the Clinton campaign. According to an unnamed source speaking to that nation?'s equivalent of the "Associated Press", the "Canadian Press", it was Clinton?'s campaign that contacted the Canadian government to reassure them about Clinton?'s anti-NAFTA rhetoric.

The "Canadian Press" reporting that the source heard the chief of staff to Canada?'s prime minister saying in a room full of television journalists, quote, "Someone from Clinton?'s campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. Someone called us and told us not to worry."

Let?'s turn now to MSNBC political analyst Howard Fineman, of course the senior Washington correspondent for "Newsweek" magazine. Howard, good evening.

HOWARD FINEMAN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Hi, Keith.

OLBERMANN: Am I oversimplifying this? Or this story now basically, exactly the opposite of what it seemed to be a week ago?

FINEMAN: I loved your godfather imitation. I feel like Tom, the lawyer, you know, now advising you. Yes, it is 180 degrees different. Because I think it was the Clinton camp that started the conversation with the Canadians about "don?'t worry about NAFTA". But the Obama campaign really either didn?'t know about it or didn?'t realize it at the time.

OLBERMANN: Yes, when the story first broke, there was a mention, although much obscured, relative to the Obama stuff, of Clinton?'s camp doing something like this. But Canadian TV focused on Obama. Obama gave that qualified denial. Clinton denied it flat out. Does she pay anything like the price Obama paid for it on Tuesday?

FINEMAN: Well, I was just talking to the Obama campaign. I don?'t think they noticed or knew about the Clinton side of this thing until today. And so far, they haven?'t decided to make a big issue of it because they think the far more fundamental issue is that over the last few years, Hillary has had a lot of nice things to say about NAFTA.

She said it was a great achievement for her husband?'s administration. You know, she had a lot of positive comments about it. So, what her lieutenant said to the Canadians seems a side issue to them.

But as you point out, the question is really about truthfulness. A flat denial of something that wasn?'t true. They haven?'t gotten to that point yet but I?'m sure they will. I just talked to some of their top level (ph) who said that they?'re looking at it carefully.

OLBERMANN: Is this the situation perhaps, if the construction is accurate, or even if we?'ve just seen separately two halves of the same story, that you said that the Obama campaign did not necessarily know about the Clinton part of this until today. But in their own defense, why did they not scream more loudly from more roof tops about their own relative or at least at worst, 50/50 guilt in this thing last week?

FINEMAN: Well, because I think they think perhaps mistakenly, but they think they have the upper hand on the NAFTA debate. They think if people focus on the fundamentals, which by the way is the substance of the Obama mailers, the flyers they?'ve been sending out, that Hillary has at best waffled on NAFTA from the very beginning and said a lot of positive things about NAFTA.

Whereas Obama has a much cleaner record on that and they would rather emphasize that and they?'re prepared to do that, here in Pennsylvania, where I am speaking to you from Pittsburgh. Then, that?'s what they?'re prepared to do here in this state.

OLBERMANN: All right. Wrap this stuff up for me. We have all, again, another compliment to John McCain and an analogy from the Clinton campaign of Ken Starr and Barack Obama and this remarkable thing about NAFTA, where the story is, you know, the other side of the coin entirely.

I can?'t follow the Clinton campaign anymore. What is going on? I thought things turned around for them Tuesday night, thing seems like it?'s crashed after the best day of the campaign so far?

FINEMAN: Well, I think they?'re still flailing around for exactly what tact to take. You know, maybe the red phone worked a little bit in Texas. Maybe the NAFTA dust-up worked a little bit in Ohio. But they?'re still having trouble basically distinguishing their message from Obama?'s message, in saying that their message, the Clinton message, is also one of hope and optimism about the future of the country.

Here in a place like Pittsburgh, things have changed a lot. This is a different city from what it used to be. A lot of the younger people want a message of hope and excitement and optimism and Clinton hasn?'t figured out a way to reach that with anything other than negative attacks on her opponent.

OLBERMANN: Although, she has moved into contention for the vice presidency for Mr. McCain in case things fall apart.

FINEMAN: I guess.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23521269/

ICARUS REDUX
www.gendergappers.org

Finally it seems people are realizing that Barack Obama [BO] is an empty suit with a megaphoneyed preacher's voice. Many voters woke up and got turned off by his Johnny-one-note calls for change without specifics. Style, yes - substance, no.

It is not so surprising that people are finding out there is no there, there. When he announced his candidacy he likened himself to Abraham Lincoln. The media made much of another tall, lanky Lincolnesque candidate coming out of Illinois.

From then on, he wrapped himself into one great American after another. Why? Because when one has little experience or substance, one either fakes it or steals the accomplishments of someone else.

So his campaign continually presented him to the crowds in the pseudo-regalia of a known hero, letting the luster of the real person encompass BO, thus giving him form and function.

This way the myth of a movement was built up with the aid of college students and an adoring media. By restricting his early appearances to college campuses, they created the illusion that thousands of citizens flocked to hear him. Then the illusion became a reality but one based on falsehood.

At various times before Super Tuesday, he was presented as another Martin Luther King II or the first black Jack Kennedy; the latter with the blessing of brother Ted Kennedy.

BO so obviously believed in his own omnipotence that he was caught off stride when the once friendly media, with the help of the Canadian Government discovered his feet of clay. So instead of owning up to bad judgment, he lied. Other chickens from his Chicago days also came home to roost.

Chris Matthews, who now gets thrills in his legs when he hears BO speak, had forgotten how he had formerly panned him for having NO record of accomplishments when he ran for the Senate. He was painfully reminded of this on his own program.

Todd Spivak wrote in a lengthy and comprehensive article: "I called some of my contacts in the Illinois Legislature. I ran through a list of black Chicago lawmakers who had worked with Obama, and was surprised to learn that many resented him and had supported other candidates in the U.S. Senate election. Anybody but Obama," the late state Representative Lovana Jones told me at the time.
http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-02-28/news/barack-obama-screamed-at-me/full

His connections to the accused slumlord, Tony Resco, had been out there for weeks without the media noticing. But when Resco was brought to trial, it was big enough so even the media could either smell it, or tripped over it, and started asking BO real questions. At one point, he ran away from reporters questioning him and resorted to sulking, claiming the media was picking on him.

Following his several defeats in Super Tuesday II, his reaction was to whine and blame the media and HRC. This characteristic of blaming others for his own mistakes is hard to miss if one examines his history.

But the media has given him pass after pass. A marked contrast to the way it has treated HRC. Dana Milbank, the Washington Post national political reporter, told the truth back in December: "The press will savage her no matter what ... they really have the knives out for her, there's no question about it ... Obama gets significantly better coverage."

BO happily accused HRC of lying and made other personal attacks against her during some of the debates, always denying that they were negative attacks. Now he is crying like a baby because his past has come out to bite him in the ass. He has declared himself pure and thus above the fray and resents being exposed. He calls everything negative attacks if it does not compliment him.

BO, a latter day Icarus, has flown high, using the wax and feathers of famous men. If he should be nominated and elected president, his trip to the sun will bring us all down in flames with him.

While I disagree with you about Hillary (Iprefer Obama over her, given a choice), the rest of your post I do agree with.

John McCain is going to get a free ride while the press and the pundits concentrate on Hillary and Obama.

Clinton: "I Would Not Accept" Caucuses In Michigan, Florida
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ DNC Source: Michigan Will Caucus

There is nothing to deny. You are the one seeing invisible words in my post.

If you were Clinton, would you accept a caucus?

maporsche, thankfully I aint Clinton. She wont accept a caucus but she would accept a vote where Obama was not even on the ballot. She's proven herself to be purely on a power trip imo. I'm hugely disappointed in both her and Bill. Hillary has long played the suffragette and what a noble cause. But she's proven herself to be merely using that cause for her own personal pursuit of power. Her incredible statement that we've brought freedom to Iraq certainly is not what a true suffragette would be saying at all. Reality renders her claims of Iraqi freedom to be shamelessly shameful politicking. "Iraqi Women More Oppressed Than Ever"

by Dahr Jamail
Iraq, where women once had more rights and freedom than most others in the Arab world, has turned deadly for women who dream of education and a professional career.

Former dictator Saddam Hussein maintained a relatively secular society, where it was common for women to take up jobs as professors, doctors and government officials. In today's Iraq, women are being killed by militia groups for not conforming to strict Islamist ways.

Basra police chief Gen. Jalil Hannoon told reporters and Arab TV channels in December that at least 40 women had been killed during the previous five months in that city alone.

"We are sure there are many more victims whose families did not report their killing for fear of scandal," Gen. Hannoon said.

The militias dominated by the Shi'ite Badr Organization and the Mahdi Army are leading imposition of strict Islamist rules. The Shi'ite-dominated Iraqi government is seen as providing tacit and sometimes direct support to them.

The Badr Organization answers to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), the Shi'ite bloc in the Iraqi government. The Mahdi army is the militia of anti-occupation Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Women who do not wear the hijab are becoming prime targets of militias, residents both in Basra and Baghdad have told IPS in recent months. Many women say they are threatened with death if they do not obey.

"Militiamen approached us to tell us we must wear the hijab and stop wearing make-up," college student Zahra Alwan who fled Basra to Baghdad told IPS last December.

Graffiti in red on walls across Basra warns women against wearing make-up and stepping out without covering their bodies from head to toe, Alwan said.

"The situation in Baghdad is not very different," Mazin Abdul Jabbar, social researcher at Baghdad University told IPS. "All universities are controlled by Islamic militiamen who harass female students all the time with religious restrictions."

Jabbar said this is one reason that "many families have stopped sending their daughters to high schools and colleges."

In early 2007 Iraq's Ministry of Education found that more than 70 percent of girls and young women no longer attend school or college.

Several women victims have been accused of being "bad" before they were abducted, residents have told IPS in Baghdad. Most women who are abducted are later found dead.

The bodies of several have been found in garbage dumps, showing signs of rape and torture. Many bodies had a note attached saying the woman was "bad," according to residents who did not give their names to IPS.

Similar problems exist for women in Baquba, the capital city of Diyala province, 40 km northeast of Baghdad.

"My neighbor was killed because she was accused of working in the directorate-general of police of Diyala," resident Um Haider told IPS in January. "This woman worked as a receptionist in the governor's office, and not in the police. She was in charge of checking women who work in the governor's office."

Killings like this have led countless women to quit jobs, or to change them.

"I was head of the personnel division in an office," a woman speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS in Baquba. "On the insistence of my family and relatives, I gave up my position and chose to be an employee."

Women's lives have changed, and women are beginning to look different across most of Iraq. They are now too afraid to wear anything but conservative dresses - modern clothes could be a death warrant. The veil is particularly dominant in areas under the control of militias.

Women are paying a price for the occupation in all sorts of ways.

"Women bear great pain and risks when militants control the streets," Um Basim, a mother of three, told IPS in Baquba recently. "No woman can move here or there. When a man is killed, the body is taken to the morgue. The body has to be received by the family, so women often go alone to the morgue to escort the body home. Some are targeted by militants when they do this."

Confined to home, many women live in isolation and depression.

"Women have nowhere to go to spend leisure time," Um Ali, a married woman in Baquba, told IPS. "Our time is spent only at home now. I have not traveled outside Baquba for more than four years. The only place I can go to is my parents' home. Housekeeping and children have been all my life; I have no goals to attain, no education to complete. Sometimes, I can't leave home for weeks."

In northern Kurdish controlled Iraq, "honor killings" continue. In the ancient tradition of "honor killing," the view is that a family's "honor" is paramount. As of last December, at least 27 Kurdish women were murdered on suspicion of having had "illicit" affairs in the previous four months, according to Youssif Mohamed Aziz, the regional minister of human rights.

Iraqi women are not spared US military prisons either. In December, Iraq's parliamentary committee for women's and children's affairs demanded the release of female detainees in Iraqi and US-run prisons.

According to Nadira Habib, deputy head of the parliamentary committee, there are around 200 women detained in the Iraqi run al-Adala prison in Baghdad. Habibi says there are presumably women in US-run prisons too. "But no one knows how many female detainees are now in prisons run by US forces as they always refuse requests from our committee to visit them."

As the central government remains essentially powerless, and religious fundamentalism continues to grow across Iraq, it appears that the plight of Iraqi women will get worse.