Gratuitous Puppy Pic

Work has been frying my brain a bit lately which is why I haven't posted much of anything.

Clinton Lies: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

MARCH 17: Clinton: "There Was No Greeting Ceremony, And We Basically Were Told To Run To Our Cars. Now, That Is What Happened." "Everyone else was told to sit on their bulletproof vests," Clinton said. "And we came in, in an evasive maneuver....There was no greeting ceremony, and we basically were told to run to our cars. Now, that is what happened." [CNN, 3/1708]

MARCH 17: Clinton, Speaking About Her Trip To Bosnia, Said "I Remember Landing Under Sniper Fire. There Was Supposed To Be Some Kind Of A Greeting Ceremony At The Airport, But Instead We Just Ran With Our Heads Down To Get Into Vehicles To Get To Our Base." Clinton: "Good morning. I want to thank Secretary West for his years of service, not only as Secretary of the Army, but also to the Veteran's Administration, to our men and women in uniform, to our country. I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia, and as Togo said, there was a saying around the White House that if a place was too small, too poor, or too dangerous, the president couldn't go, so send the First Lady. That's where we went. I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base. But it was a moment of great pride for me to visit our troops, not only in our main base as Tuzla, but also at two outposts where they were serving in so many capacities to deactivate and remove landmines, to hunt and seek out those who had not complied with the Dayton Accords and put down their arms, and to build relationships with the people that might lead to a peace for them and their children." [Clinton speech (remarks as delivered), 3/17/08]

FEBRUARY 29: Clinton Said That The Welcoming Ceremony In Bosnia "Had To Be Moved Inside Because Of Sniper Fire." "At the rally, she belittled the idea that Mr. Obama's 2002 speech 'at an antiwar rally' prepared him to serve as commander in chief. She said he was 'missing in action' on the recent Senate vote on Iran and as chairman of a subcommittee responsible for NATO policy in Afghanistan. Contrasting that with her own experience, she evoked foreign battlefields, recalling a trip to Bosnia as first lady, when the welcoming ceremony 'had to be moved inside because of sniper fire.' She said she had traveled to more than 80 countries and was 'on the front lines' as the United States made peace in Bosnia and Northern Ireland and helped save refugees from ethnic cleansing in Kosovo." [NYT, 3/1/08] VIDEO

DECEMBER 29: Clinton That When She Went To Bosnia, "We Landed In One Of Those Corkscrew Landings And Ran Out Because They Said There Might Be Sniper Fire." Clinton, in Dubuque, Iowa on December 29, 2007, said "I was so honored to be able to travel around the world representing our country. You know, going to places that often times were, you know, not necessarily a place that a president could go. We used to say in the White House that if a place was too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the first lady. So, I had the time of my life. I was the first, you know, high- profile American to go into Bosnia after the peace accords were signed because we wanted to show that the United States was 100 percent behind the agreement. We wanted to make it clear to the Bosnians of all backgrounds. Plus we wanted to thank our American military and our allies for a great job. So, we landed in one of those corkscrew landings and ran out because they said there might be sniper fire. I don't remember anybody offering me tea on the tarmac. We got there and went to the base where our soldiers were and I went out to a lot of the forward operating bases to thank our young men and women in uniform and to thank the Europeans, including the Russians who were part of that effort." [CNN, 1/1/08]

via Americablog
Ahh, let's give Clinton a pass, after all, she's only human. And tired.

Call me crazy, but I think we should be able to trust the person in the White House.

That T.V. Theme - Six Million Dollar Man & The Bionic Woman

It's a T.V. theme mash-up!

Obama's Take On Foreign Policy - "The Obama Doctrine"

The American Prospect has a report on the philosophy Obama has towards foreign policy and how it breaks away, in many ways, from the foreign policy of the past, including the current Bush disaster. Worth the read.

Gay Marriage - Hmmm. Obama Could Have Said That Better

While I agree that there are bigger things than gay marriage (passing non-descrimination, etc), Obama could have been a little better when speaking...

The reason that we have to talk about and deal with these divisions is because we get distracted every political season and election cycle by these divisions. And then we end up ignoring these big problems. Think about what these last few election cycles have been about. We argue about immigration, but we don't try to solve the immigration problem. It's an argument that is all about people's passions instead of trying to figure it out. We argue about gay marriage. In the meantime the planet is...potentially being destroyed. We've got a war that is bankrupting us. And we're going to argue about gay marriage? (applause) I mean, that...doesn't make any sense.

via Towelroad

Clinton Is To Jesus As Richardson Is Too...well, you know

Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic

-James Carville referring to Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama.

god complex, anyone?

Quote Of The Day

They think they have a sense of entitlement to the presidency.

-Bill Richardson

Hillary Clinton Dodging Bullets?

So Hillary Clinton has been talking about her harrowing adventures in Bosnia.

"I remember landing under sniper fire. There was supposed to be some kind of a greeting ceremony at the airport, but instead we just ran with our heads down to get into the vehicles to get to our base."

-Hillary Clinton, March 17, 2008
Problem is? All that sniper fire? Never happened.

According to Pomfret, the Tuzla airport was "one of the safest places in Bosnia" in March 1996, and "firmly under the control" of the 1st Armored Division.

Far from running to an airport building with their heads down, Clinton and her party were greeted on the tarmac by smiling U.S. and Bosnian officials. An eight-year-old Moslem girl, Emina Bicakcic, read a poem in English. An Associated Press photograph of the greeting ceremony, above, shows a smiling Clinton bending down to receive a kiss.

via The Fact Checker

If lying is one of the "ready on day one" tests Clinton keeps talking about, I guess she really is ready!

If we cant' trust Clinton to tell the truth about something like this, how can we trust her in the White House?

Integrity

Health Care

From Ezra Klein.
"A week or two ago when I listed off my favorite magazines, I forgot to include The Columbia Journalism Review, which I read religiously. This month, they've got a great piece on how the media missed the credit industry's transformation "from a lending and underwriting paradigm to a sales paradigm [in which] penalties, fees, and default interest at rates that were illegal a generation ago are no longer regrettable outcomes to be avoided but central to the business model." Of course, the current crisis is in part a consequence of that shift -- people can't pay back their debt because they weren't signed up under conditions where they were supposed to be able to pay back their debt. Charming. The piece also contains this nugget:"

As always, irresponsible and unethical business practices were preceded by a regulatory rollback. In the case of credit cards, the U.S. Supreme Court started it with a 1978 ruling that allowed banks to override state usury laws and offer whatever rate was allowed in the bank’s home state. (This is why so many banks’ credit-card operations are now in South Dakota.)
To be clear: Before 1978, credit practices were regulated by state. After 1978, they were tied to whichever state the bank was based in. This, of course, kicked off a search for the state with the laxest usury regulations, and a race to be that state and get all the new banking jobs. South Dakota won, and a few of the more devious tricks of the credit industry are a direct result.

"This is exactly what Republicans -- ranging from Congressional types like Enzi or Shadegg all the way up to John McCain -- want to do with health insurance. Currently, insurance is largely regulated at the state level, and different states demand different levels of comprehensiveness and transparency. Republicans argue that that's too much regulation -- but rather than simply create a single national regulatory body that could standardize the rules, they want you to be able to buy from whichever state you want. Which means if Mississippi wants to attract insurance business by refusing to regulate at all, insurers can sell their plans from there, disallowing all preexisting conditions, refusing to cover all manner of common ailments, and generally creating insurance policies that trick folks into believing they have care when they don't, and believing they'll get their treatments paid for when they won't. It would be, literally, a national race to the bottom, and the baton being passed would be your health coverage".

Breach

Obama's passport records have been breached on Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. Now we can go into all sorts of conspiracy theories here, but, as Glenn Greenwald points out, this raises the question of how much we can trust the Federal Government with unlimeted spying powers.

Why would anyone trust the current administration and subsequent administrations -- not just their political officials but the thousands and thousands of permanent government and private employees -- to spy on Americans, and store and collect extremely invasive information about Americans' private lives, with no oversight or requirement to demonstrate probable cause to a court -- as the Founders required -- to believe that the citizen being spied on has actually done something wrong? Whatever the outcome of the Obama passport investigation is, whoever the parties responsible are and whatever their motives, shouldn't this rather conclusively demonstrate the complete folly, the serious dangers, of continuing to vest in the government powers to spy on and collect data about Americans with no oversight?

Glenn Greenwald

Not to be outdone, Clinton says her passport was breached in 2007, also!

via CNN
McCain was breached, too. It's Breachapolooza over in the Fedreal Government!
via TPM

Hillary Clinton Denies Nothing. Obama's Camp Questions Clinton Trustworthiness

It's called a non-denial...

When asked, Clinton ignored the Wright portion of the question and said "well my campaign has been making the case that I am the most electable that I have said that for a year or more that I am the person best able to make the challenges that our country faces as commander in chief."

When Clinton was then asked specifically if her campaign was pushing the Wright story –- she shrugged and took the next question, ignoring the reporter.

via ABCNews


The Obama camp is now pushing back harder against Clinton, specifically her trustworthiness.

The Speech

So, that's what Presidential is.

I've been reading various commentaries on the speech from the left and right of the spectrum, but one commentary has stuck in my mind, Michael C. Dawson's comment over at The Root. Dawson says Obama's speech is a too little too late. I disagree. Obama could not have made this speech three or four weeks ago, he could only do this when the "cry" (for lack of a better word) was loud. If Obama had simply come out one day and given a speech like this, it would have, no doubt, been read by the press, pundits as being "racial" in the sense that Obama would have been seen as lecturing us, and seen by some as pandering. There would be questions of whether this was some calculated political move or it would have polarized some even more so than they are now. Because of the Wright speeches and the public's awareness of the speeches, it was the best time for Obama to make this speech. To do so before knowledge of Wright was widely known, the impact and power would not have been as meaningful.
There is no doubt Obama had to give this speech in order to answer the many questions about his involvement with Wright and his Church. But, it is to his credit that the speech was intelligent and nuanced. This was not a speech with ideas that were created on the fly, or out of panic. It was a sincere speech, a speech that reflected what Obama has been talking about for a very long time.
My view may be seen as cynical by some, perhaps it is, but I feel it is simply a reflection of my observations of how politics work. I don't know if Obama was ever planning on giving such a speech, but the fact that he did, and the content of the speech carries a great message that I hope we all see.
Obama's speech showed us what a President looks like. What a leader looks like.

Obama's Speech Tonight

Obama will be giving a speech dealing with Wright, Religion and Race tonight. I don't know what he is going to say, but I do know that because of what Wright has said it is something that has to be done. People are saying that Obama can't possibly be who he says he is because of Wright. I disagree. You just have to listen to Obama speak, read his book (have you?) and follow his career to know that what Wright said in the sermon everyone is talking about is not the way Obama thinks. To say otherwise is to be ignoring the evidence and simply being a lazy thinker.
Below, I posted what Glenn Greenwald has to say about the hypocrisy of what the Right when it comes to these issues, but I also what to point out how many seem to have forgotten our past as a nation. So many people are acting as if our past happened in a vacuum, as if what happened 30, 40, 100 or 200 hundred years ago has no bearing on today. Pretending racism does not exist is silly, but pretending we are steeped in racism is equally silly. My feeling it is somewhere between the two, and depending on where you are and who you are, your experience will be different. So when I hear the pundits poo-poo what Wright says as being un-American, or gesticulate wildly and scream "how can anyone say such a thing!", I know they are either being disingenuous and trying to score political points, or they just don't understand our past as a nation and how many perceive our nation now.
I am not defending what Wright has said, but we can't ignore that these feelings are real in many parts of our nation and to continue to ignore these realities is something we can not afford to do. Fortunately, Obama seems to be able to bridge the chasm between us, move beyond that without forgetting about these real issues. Is Obama the great hope that will close the racial divide? Of course not. But he represents someone that seems to be able to move forward, away from the past, but without forgetting the past.
I hope we don't let this issue stop a man that has the ideas and the skills we need now to move forward.

Glenn Greenwald Calls Out The Hypocrites

Glenn Greewald points out the hypocrisy of the Right Wing's treatment of the Wright brouhaha.

...
But the idea that America deserves terrorist attacks and other horrendous disasters has long been a frequently expressed view among the faction of white evangelical ministers to whom the Republican Party is most inextricably linked. Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God. John Hagee continues to believe that the City of New Orleans got what it deserved when Katrina drowned its residents and devastated the lives of thousands of Americans. And James Inhofe -- who happens to still be a Republican U.S. Senator -- blamed America for the 9/11 attacks by arguing in a 2002 Senate floor speech that "the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America" because we pressured Israel to give away parts of the West Bank.
...
Nor have the views of televangelist Rod Parsley, one of McCain's self-proclaimed "spiritual advisors," received a fraction of the attention generated by Wright. As both David Corn and Alan Colmes, among others, have documented, Parsley espouses views at least as extreme and radical as Wright, including his proclamation that "America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion [Islam] destroyed." Unlike Wright and Obama -- for whom the former's controversial views are found nowhere near the latter's public or private conduct -- both George Bush and John McCain's Middle Eastern militarism are perfectly consonant with the most maniacal and crazed views of Christian Rapture enthusiasts such as Hagee, Parsley, Inhofe, and Robertson. Yet the controversy created over their close ties is virtually non-existent.
...
The Republican Party long ago adopted as a central strategy aligning itself with, and granting great influence to, the most radical, "America-hating" white evangelical Christian ministers in the country. They're given a complete pass on that because political orthodoxy mandates that white evangelical Christian ministers are inherently worthy of respect, no matter how extreme and noxious are their views. That orthodoxy stands in stark contrast to the universally enraged reaction to a few selected snippets from the angry rantings of a black Christian Minister. What accounts for that glaring disparity?

via Glenn Greenwald

Obama Talks To The Chicago Tribune About Rezko

Obama spoke with a room full of Chicago Trib reporters for 92 minutes about his dealings with Rezko. For those that have been following the Rezko story, The Chicago Tribune broke the story about Rezko's dealings, not only with Obama, but other dealings that have now put him on trial - this is the paper "of record" on Rezko.
After the talk with Obama, The Trib has come away satified that Obama has answered all their questions; The Trib has cleared Obama of any wrong doing with regard to Rezko.
Some highlihts:

Obama fleshed out his relationship with Rezko -- including the disclosure that Rezko raised as much as $250,000 for the first three offices Obama sought. But Obama's explanation was less a font of new data or an act of contrition than the addition of nuance and motive to a long-mysterious relationship.

We fully expect the Clinton campaign, given its current desperation, to do whatever it must in order to keep the Rezko tin can tied to Obama's bumper.
...
We said in that same editorial that Obama had been too self-exculpatory in explaining away his ties to Tony Rezko. And we've been saying since Nov. 3, 2006 -- shortly after the Tribune broke the story of Obama's house purchase -- that Obama needed to fully explain his Rezko connection. He also needed to realize how susceptible he had been to someone who wanted a piece of him -- and how his skill at recognizing that covetousness needed to rise to the same stature as his popular appeal.

Friday's session evidently fulfills both obligations. Might we all be surprised by some future disclosure? Obama's critics have waited 16 months for some new and cataclysmic Rezko moment to implicate and doom Obama. It hasn't happened.
...
Obama should have had Friday's discussion 16 months ago. Asked why he didn't, he spoke of learning, uncomfortably, what it's like to live in a fishbowl. That made him perhaps too eager to protect personal information -- too eager to "control the narrative."

Less protection, less control, would have meant less hassle for his campaign. That said, Barack Obama now has spoken about his ties to Tony Rezko in uncommon detail. That's a standard for candor by which other presidential candidates facing serious inquiries now can be judged.

via Chicago Tribune

And as a shout-out to Clinton, I want to highlight that last sentence: That's a standard for candor by which other presidential candidates facing serious inquiries now can be judged

Saying you are fully vetted and actually being fully vetted are two differenct things, Senator Clinton.

Obama And Wright

Let me say at the outset that I vehemently disagree and strongly condemn the statements that have been the subject of this controversy. I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies. I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue.

You can read the whole thing via Huffington Post

Bush Administration's Lack Of Acountability: Iraq Edition

I need to stop watching Bill Moyer's Journal on Fridays, the show just makes me so angry that the Bush Administration's complete lack of ethics, accountability and any sense of justice is allowed to continue.
Take about an hour and watch last night's episode about the disaster the Bushies have been in Iraq.
It's eye opening.
Remember, what the Bush Administration is doing? It is doing in our names. With our taxes (well, loans from foreign governments, but still...you know...*sigh*)
Bill Moyer's Journal

Good Question

So the same people who are telling us that Obama is a Muslim and controlled by Islamic law are saying that he's a serious Protestant, controlled by his minister. Come on kids, decide on a story line.

Funny we have never heard about any previous candidate's minister. Billy Graham was spiritual adviser to Ike, Nixon, Johnson, the Bushes and Clinton but nobody pointed out that he was an anti-semite (although his anti-semitism is well documented in the Nixon tapes). And rightly so.

But with Obama, for some reason, it's different.

What a crock.

And yet I am a member of this congregation and will remain one. Why? As I said, I like the rabbi (the regular one, not the annual visitor) despite disagreeing strongly with many of his views. More important, this is the congregation that my kids grew up in. This is where their Bar Mitzvahs took place. The people there (not the war criminals though) are kind of like family. It's home. Probably how Obama feels about his church.

In 2000, when Joe Lieberman ran, do you recall articles about the political views of his rabbi? I don't know who his rabbi is (that tells you something) but Orthodox rabbis are invariably very conservative on the same issues on which Democrats are very liberal. They also tend to feel strongly that Jews and non-Jews should not marry each other or even date each other. Some Orthodox rabbis will tell you that dietary laws prevent Jews and non-Jews from even having a meal together except in a kosher locale.

So what. That's religion. Lieberman's politics (not his moderately liberal politics then or his conservative politics now) has nothing to do with his rabbi. Lieberman is pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-feminist, all the things Orthodox rabbis tend not to be. There is a good chance Joe's rabbi is against the Iraq war (75% of Jews are) but Joe sure isn't. But, as I said, Joe's rabbi, whoever he is, was never an issue. Obama's is. Why is that?

-M.J. Rosenberg

House Passes Surveillance Bill without Retroactive Immuni

Update
For an exhaustive commentary of what this means, I highly recommend reading what Glenn Greenwald has to say about the House passing the surveillance bill.

Wow, rule of law. Whoda thunk?
via TPM

Quote Of The Day

Clinton seems less like a candidate with each passing day and more like a suicide bomber intent on taking the Democratic Party out with her. I’m beginning to feel embarrassed for having voted for her husband.

-Dan Savage

Ferraro Quits

Ferraro's out

Quote Of The Day

Think of it this way. It was easy for Obama to reject and denounce an out-there hatemonger like Louis Farrakhan, and it should have been easy for John McCain to fully reject and denounce anti-Catholic whack job John Hagee (why he hasn't is mindboggling). But the Clinton campaign can't reject and denounce Geraldine Ferraro, because it would be rejecting and denouncing itself.
-Attywood

Clinton's "Rules" And Other's Rules

Update below

She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything

-Obama aid, Samantha Power to The Scotsman

With deep regret, I am resigning from my role as an advisor [to] the Obama campaign effective today. Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign. And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama, and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months

-Samantha Power resigns

If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race

-Geraldine Ferraro, April 15, 1988 Washington Post (by Howard Kurtz)

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept

-Geraldine Ferraro, Clinton Campaign fundraiser and advisor

I do not agree with that, and later added, It's regrettable that any of our supporters _ on both sides, because we both have this experience _ say things that kind of veer off into the personal.
We ought to keep this on the issues. there are differences between us

Hillary Clinton

Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up, Ferraro said. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?

-Geraldine Ferraro

Ferraro is still working for Clinton...

The difference between the two? One is a political novice. She left out of decency. One is a seasoned politician. She's still there. Just how the "game" is played? No, it's about decency and integrity. Who's got integrity? I think you know my answer.

What the Clinton campaign is revealing is the ugly underbelly of many politician's thinking. The high and mighty attitude of many is crumbling once the reality that a black man is reaching, and gaining, the highest office in the land. It's as if some are not truly progressive at all. Once the reality hits them in the face and they see they can no longer play the role of the enlightened politician, their political rhetoric is exposed as just simply a tool to use for polictical purposes and nothing more. They have been exposed as the unscrupolous, two-faced politicians they are. This is same pattern the Clinton's show with regard to the Gay community. The chance that the door to true equality is cracked just a bit more, truly frightens some, it seems.

Update
Oh, lord. The American Spectator says pretty much the same thing (except the gay part). Shoot me now!

Britain Tells Iranian Gays: Just Don't Act So Gay...

On turning down Ms Emambakhsh and Mr Kazemi's asylum applications, the Home Office has said that, provided Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted.

Disgusting.

via Americablog

A Little Bit Of The Clinton's Anti-Gay Reality

Via Americablog

I wonder what they are thinking up now to support the gays...rose petals and kittens to all, I would imagine.

That T.V. Theme - Columbo

House Files Contempt Lawsuit

The House committee early last year subpoenaed Bolten for documents and Miers for testimony in trying to make a case that the White House directed the firing of nine U.S. attorneys because they were not supportive enough of Republicans' political agenda.


Bolten and Miers refused to comply.

On President Bush's behalf, White House Counsel Fred Fielding said such information is private and covered by executive privilege.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his predecessor, Alberto Gonzales, told Congress they would not refer a contempt citation to a prosecutor if the subjects were acting as directed under executive privilege.

The lawsuit says executive privilege — intended to protect the confidentiality of advice from the president's closest advisers — does not cover documents that don't involve the president.

via SFGate

The Attorney General is not the President's personal attorney, he is the people's attorney.

Clinton on Rush's Show

You may have missed this, Sully didn't...

Bill Clinton was on Rush Limbaugh's show the day of the Texas primary. Limbaugh himself was sick that day, apparently, but he had already urged Republicans to cross over to keep Hillary Clinton in the race. Bill saw an opening - and went there.

Now just wrap your mind around this: the Clintons were happy to support a cynical, partisan Republican campaign to wound the Democratic front-runner, and they were brazen enough to go on the Limbaugh show to do so.

There also seems little doubt that Republican mischief played a real role in affecting the results. And they call Obama's call for them to release their tax returns a tactic worthy of Ken Starr. I repeat: the chutzpah and the cynicism just leave you speechless. And as you find it impossible to do much but splutter, the Clintons plow on with new self-serving lies.

You know how I realized this? I saw first hand the way they dealt with gay issues in their first term. They didn't just winp out on our ouch for marriage equality, they actively pivoted off homophobia to get a few points (ask Dick Morris; it's one of the things he's actually ashamed of in retrospect). The Clintons even put anti-gay ads on Christianist radio stations in the South to build support for the 1996 re-election. And they continue to show up at gay events claiming to be avatars for our civil rights. And the stupid gays still believe them!

via Andrew Sullivan and TPM

(emphasis mine)

I had no idea the Clintons ran anti-gay ads in the south in 1996! How can you support people like that?

Tell me, again, why Clinton is good for us? I've gone beyond baffled, I'm incredulous.

Not So Dark?

I posted below about the Clinton campaign's darkening of Obama, well, there is a piece in the The Washington Monthly saying it isn't what all the hoopla says it is.

Over the past few days there's been a huge fracas over accusations that Hillary Clinton's campaign deliberately darkened Barack Obama's face in an ad they ran in Texas. It started with a post over at Daily Kos on Tuesday and has been spread far and wide since then.

The problem is that it's impossible to compare color tones using YouTube clips because their compression process doesn't preserve color fidelity. However, FactCheck.org got hold of a high-quality recording of the ad as it appeared on station KCEN in Waco, Texas, and then compared it to MSNBC's streaming version of the debate from which the clip was taken

via SLOG

Much ado about nothing? I'm going to see if a friend of mine that works in video compression for the internet company he works for agrees. I'll let you know what he says.

Quote Of The Day II

"Senator Obama is right to say the issue is judgment not years in Washington. If Mrs. Clinton loses the nomination, her failure will be traced to the date she voted to empower George W. Bush to invade Iraq. That is not the kind of judgment, or wisdom, required by the leader answering the phone in the night. For her now to claim that Senator Obama is not qualified to answer the crisis phone is the height of irony if not chutzpah, and calls into question whether her primary loyalty is to the Democratic party and the nation or to her own ambition."
-Gary Hart
via The Huffington Post

Primary elections are here for the differenct political party's to elect the candidate best qualified to run for President. The primary is not, as Clinton is doing, a time to destroy your own party's chances at winning the Presidency. The question of whether Clinton is loyal to the Democratic Party has been answered. Clearly, her loyalty is to herself, not party. There is no other explanation for her constant touting of McCain over Obama. It is one thing to say one she feels she is better qualified to answer the magical phone at 3:00 am, it is quite another to say the rival party's candidate is better qualified. Her subtle allusions to race (and not so subtle), Obama's religion ("as far as I know"), her verbal jujitsu with regard to the photo of Obama in traditional Somali dress. Cleary, Clinton is in this for herself and not for the party. These are the kind of tactics Rove used with zeal against John McCain. Do we really want to embrace what we have been living with for the past eight years? Can we really let ourselves pass up an opportunity to break free from the Rovian politics of the past? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves.

With all that in mind, I did not write this because I am afraid Clinton will get the nom (the numbers are still in favor of Obama, even if Michigan and Florida are counted.) But at what cost is Clinton's tactics to the Democratic nominee? I suppose if Clinton can't be the Democratic President, no one can.

We have heard of the politics of personal destruction. Clinton is practicing the politics of Party destruction.

Thare, She Blows!

via CNN

They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains
the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.

All the whales in the wider deeps, hot are they, as they urge
on and on, and dive beneath the icebergs.
The right whales, the sperm-whales, the hammer-heads, the killers
there they blow, there they blow, hot wild white breath out of
the sea!

And they rock, and they rock, through the sensual ageless ages
on the depths of the seven seas,
and through the salt they reel with drunk delight
and in the tropics tremble they with love
and roll with massive, strong desire, like gods.
Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale-blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and
comes to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's
fathomless body.

And over the bridge of the whale's strong phallus, linking the
wonder of whales
the burning archangels under the sea keep passing, back and
forth,
keep passing, archangels of bliss
from him to her, from her to him, great Cherubim
that wait on whales in mid-ocean, suspended in the waves of the
sea
great heaven of whales in the waters, old hierarchies.

And enormous mother whales lie dreaming suckling their whale-
tender young
and dreaming with strange whale eyes wide open in the waters of
the beginning and the end.

And bull-whales gather their women and whale-calves in a ring
when danger threatens, on the surface of the ceaseless flood
and range themselves like great fierce Seraphim facing the threat
encircling their huddled monsters of love.
And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of whales
most happy, happy she!

and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea
she is the female tunny-fish, round and happy among the males
and dense with happy blood, dark rainbow bliss in the sea.

Whales Weep Not!
-D.H. Lawrence

Quote Of The Day

>"And the primary candidate for maintaining the occupation indefinitely on the Democratic side is Hillary Clinton. As for Obama, I disagree with my fellow hacks. He will be in a very tough spot if he becomes president. But he will be able to leverage a unique movement in the country and a uniquely powerful honeymoon in world opinion with a uniquely potent rhetorical skill to at least attempt an exit from the quicksand of the Middle East occupation. He has a chance to shift the paradigm. The Clintons, to put it bluntly, will not. And Clinton will swiftly realize that the most potent antidote to conservative criticism of her at home will be buttressing her military image, working the Thatcher thing, constructing an Iron Lady persona that will both appeal to her white ethnic base and keep the Republicans at bay. She will no more withdraw troops from Iraq than John McCain will. Anything that could make her look weak - and it's Hannity and O'Reilly to whom she will defer in this perception game [emphasis mine] - she will resist. She has so little raw political talent and so few rhetorical skills she will be a captive of polls and caution and, as always, self-preservation. Bush knows this, which is why he is so keen to prevent Obama from changing the Beltway consensus and to preserve his own legacy. In some ways, a return to the Clintons, his fellow dynasts, as long as they legitimize and extend his new empire, is what he really wants."

via Sullivan

Democratic Primary - Now In Clinton Color!

You know, Clinton's campaign really shouldn't deny doctoring the Obama photo and say it didn't come from her campaign when a screen shot says otherwise.
Why would Clinton do that? Oh, that's right. Because she's a class act.

"Despite the strong similarities between the ad on the DailyKos site and the original ad on Clinton’s Web site, Clinton spokesman Jay Carson said he spoke with the campaign’s chief ad maker, Mandy Grunwald, who said emphatically the ad on DailyKos "was not their ad."

"We don’t know what is up there, but it is not our ad," Carson said.

Uh, huh.

via DailyKos

Why Won't Clinton Release Her Tax Returns?

So, in 2000 Hillary Clinton demanded Lazio release his returns. She made all sorts of hay about it.
Jump forward.
It's now 2008, Hillary Clinton is running for President. She now refuses to release her returns until she is the Democratic nominee (she said as much in a debate). Why is she waiting? She demands others to release theire returns, but she is exempt? Why? Oh, that's right, Hillary Clinton doesn't have to play by the same rules - she'a Hillary Clinton and is above all that. Shameless.

via Americablog

Clinton Endorses McCain For President Over Obama

I think Clinton's appetite for power has nothing to do with what is right for the Democrats or the country, it's only about Hillary Clinton. Why else would she say that it is only her and McCain (a Republican) that are the only ones qualified to be President? It is astonishing that she would rather destroy the Democrats chances at the Presidency if she can't have it. It really is all about Hillary Clinton and only Hillary Clinton. If she can't be the President, than she would rather see a Republican in the White House. She really is beyond belief.

Canada And NAFTA

So, Canada said the Obama campaign told them not to worry about Obama's stance on NAFTA, that it was just campaign rhetoric. Turns out, that's not what happened. More mistatementlies about Obama, no doubt, to come.
Take a look


Oh, and I finally got my DSL to work. I can now safely say I will be able to trouble shoot any future problem with my DSL. Talking to the earthlink tech for an hour will do that.

Telecom Immunity

It's still out there. The Democrats seem to be poised to cave to the Bush Adminstrations demands. You might want to know the wire tapping that we are taling about took place before 911!

Bush felt the need to spy on you before the the 911 attacks. Before!

Find your Representative

Nation of laws, not of men.

Don't let Bush break the law. That's not patriotic.

Rezko...what to look forward to...

We will no doubt hear about the Rezko affair and Obama's connection with him. Glenn Greenwald has done the due diligance to see what it may all mean. His conclusion? There's nothing there. He compares it to the Whitewater investigation that turned up no wrong doing on the part of the Clintons. Let's hope the media does their due dilligence, too, rather than take a ride of the hype machine so popular in politics.

I want to point this out because I know the Republicans (and Clinton) will use this non-story to try and damage Obama.

Greenwald also has an interesting post on the media's love affair with hanging out with the very people they are supposed to be covering. It really is revealing (and sad).

On and On and On and On....

update below

As much as I was hoping this thing would be over, Clinton has maintained her place in delegate number to justify her staying in the race, which is her right, but, man, this is tiring.

It will be interesting to see how Obama reacts to this. Will he go the Clinton route of scare tactics (it's 3:00 am somewhere, isn't it?), or keep his campaign positve? Clinton, will, no doubt, continue to go negative (it's her natural inclination).

While this primary race may be exciting, I can't help but think this helps the Republicans more than the Democrats in the general election. McCain can now rest, regroup and start his plans for the general election while the Democrats will still be battling it out with no chance to rest and form a cohesive strategy, not when the party is still split like this.


Update
It has occured to me that for so long, many Clinton supporters (and Clinton herself) have hyped that she is the only one that can beat back the Republican machine; beat back the attacks that will come. But if Obama does get the nomination (it looks like he will - the number just are in his favor right now), I think it shows he can easily beat back the Republican machine. If he can survive what Clinton will, no doubt, throw at him, he can certainly stand up the the Repulicans.

Ernie Unplugs

I've kind of done this, but only because my DSL is all sorts of not working...now if I could just get rid of my T.V.

Who Will Win?

SLATE

He Said, She Said...And (lest we forget) The Republicans

Are Obama's campaign workers causing problems? Are Republican voting for their preferred Democratic in a race against McCain?

Obama's Black. Really, Really Black

You may ask yourself, "Why is Obama's skin darker than normal in Clinton's new ad?" And you may tell yourself, "because Clinton is a classy gal"

Must be part of the kitchen sink we keep hearing about...

I went and got the original footage from the Clinton ad, and then compared it to 3 different video clips of the same debate from 3 different sources. I did this so as to take into account any editing, or quality issues, that might have accounted for Obama having darker skin in any particular video. None of the 3 video sources I found showed Obama nearly as black as the Hillary ad does. Click the image above to see a larger version. Look at his lips. Look at his eyebrows. Look at how the red MSNBC background has turned more purple. Clearly the image was darkened. The question is "why."

via Americablog

This is the kind of politics Clintons embraces. Welcome to Clinton country.

It's Three AM And The Phone Rings...

That add does nothing to show Clinton is better prepared for a national security crises than any of the other candidates. None of the other candidates have had to make decisions while answering a phone at three am. Unfortunately, many people will think Clinton is better prepared based on name recognition alone, I'm afraid. Clinton has no more national security experience than Obama, but that is not the point of the ad. The point is to scare you.

Clinton defence of the ad when asked what kind of crises she had been tested? She said her service on the Armed Services Committee and her trip to China when she said "women's rights are human rights"...um, okay. Oh, and her support for "various military officers"...? I don't see how that answer shows her National Security bonafides.

It is the same kind of argument Bush is using with regard to FISA and Telecom Immunity. i.e. Bush is the only one that is holding back the terrorist horde from pouring onto our shore and Clinton is the only one between us and imminent disaster. Same story, same disaster, different story teller.

I wonder when she will return the Rove playbook?

I would post the ad, but the internet is not working at home (since Thursday), and work blocks YouTube.

Now, Please, Back Away From The Self-Riotousness

Oh, yes. This will certainly sway people to the non-smoking side. Idiots.