Beyond the obviously historic elements of the 2008 presidential race — first nominee who is either a woman or African-American — have been others, noted Bob Schieffer in a commentary on CBS’ “Face the Nationâ€:
“Who’d have thought we would ever see one of Richard Nixon’s daughters supporting a Democrat — but there was Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s name listed as a contributor to the Obama campaign.
“Who’d have thought the first African-American who had a real chance to be president would be defending himself against charges that he was a condescending elitist?
“Who would have believed that a politician would call in the cameras to record her drinking whiskey? But there was Hillary Clinton knocking one back for the TV boys.â€
33 Comments
Who would have thought that Newt Ginrich would call the race for the Dems (either one)? Basically saying that McBush wouldn’t get elected.
Yes in deed we are living the Chinese curse of living an interesting life! I use to marvel at my Grandmother, her family had travel to Kansas from Texas in a covered wagon and before she died she watched a man land on the moon. Seen the invention of the automobile, Radio, TV, microwave ovens, saw flight as not just a crazy man’s dream but a way of traveling for the masses.
And now my grandchildren will marvel at me for having seen the first woman or Black become the President of the Untied States. But then with God’s will such thing will not be thought of as so special in their times!
The Hillary Clinton death watch continues.
I was thinking the other day how Obama could have knocked her out long ago with some attack ads pointing out how she used to be a “Goldwater girl” in college, her sweetheart deals like making money on “cattle futures” when everybody else lost money because her broker basically just covered her losses, her lobbying work for Wal-Mart and Coca-Cola.
Then there’s Bill wagging his finger and saying “Ahh did not have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinski,” a course of action that insiders say Hillary herself advised him on.
Obama could have run attack ads showing that little vignette over and over.
But, alas, he has too much class, and he doesn’t want to win that way.
Hopefully, America can see that over Hillary’s braying and Fox News noise.
Hey captain, want a little cheese to go with that whine?
“Obama could have run attack ads showing that little vignette over and over.
But, alas, he has too much class, and he doesn’t want to win that way.”
or in other words, he doesnt have the stomach for the fight. Imagine what the repukes will do to them. Would he rather be a gentleman and lose than fight them tooth and nail?
‘Cause that’s what some of us fear. He’ll take the high road while the repukes run him and the country into the ground.
Please link to attack ads from Hillary using the Rev. Wright.
Cant find any? As gomer would say, “well, gooooolllly”.
obama is positioning himself to be above the fray, but it looks like he’s also claimed the ground that is “superior” to his base, the American voters, and the media.
How’s that working for him right now? No one likes someone who thinks they are far superior to the rest of us. And before you throw the “uppity” insult out, think about it.
We want our leaders to BE better than we are, but not to THINK they are better than we are.
I’d say barack is failing miserably at the moment. He better be glad he got a free pass for so long. It’s THOSE votes that make his case. The votes he got while he was humming Edgar Winter’s “Free Ride”.
“The Hillary Clinton death watch continues.”
We got to get you some help Capn.
This spell or whatever it is you are under is blurring your conception of reality!
Obama is SO far gone from “the fight”.
I don’t know how he could win me back at this point.
And he did it to himself. With ample help of course from his lunatic pastor.
kssfarmgrl, I can see your opinion on Obama. But to say that he is failing miserably is just not true. Joe Andrew is just another turn of events that can cause the voter to say, once again, not so fast. I myself am not going to presume anything until at least next tuesday. I think Bluejay made an interesting point on another thread yesterday afternoon. This battle may need to go on so that McCain won’t know who he is going to be up against.
“ksfarmgrrl” offers –
“No one likes someone who thinks they are far superior to the rest of us. And before you throw the “uppity” insult out, think about it.
We want our leaders to BE better than we are, but not to THINK they are better than we are.”
I don’t know about that. George WMD Bush’s smug smirks indicate he thinks he’s better than anyone. And Senator Clinton’s knocking back boilermakers ind a redneck bar and bragging about shootin’ up the countryside outside Scranton were, honestly, embarrassing to watch.
It’s patently absurd for a presidential candidate with a Yale law degree and an $8 million book under her belt to insinuate that her opponent should be condemned as an “elitist.” Hell, all three candidates are among the “elite.” That’s why they’re in line for the presidency.
Frank Lloyd Wright once said, “I had to choose between false modesty and honest arrogance. I chose honesty.” Okay, he had an ego the size of a skyscraper. But he was pretty damned good.
George WMD Bush has shown us what happens when all that “Aw, shucks” stuff takes the place of actual competence in public office. Maybe Hillary doin’ shots and shootin’ ducks will play in the general election. We’ve done worse.
And still, I’m reminded of the story from 1956 when a woman approached Adlai Stevenson and said:
“Governor, every thinking American will vote for you!”
And Stevenson replied:
“Thank you, madam. But I need a majority.”
And Shrub didn’t even get that.
I’m begining to think Hill has a problem with alcohol…do you ever remember any other presidential candidate having to drink whiskey shots to secure votes? Sounds like she’s trying to beocme one of the bitter small town Americans that Obama described..with all her drinkin’ and shootin’ and stuff.
Yeah, she used to try to sound like a black preacher, but now she’s just like one of us!
Nice try vet. If yer gonna quote me, use the WHOLE quote. I said he’s failing miserably AT THE MOMENT!
Yes, he had a run of success. So did Hillary. And now the race is almost too close to call. But at the moment? The big MO is NOT favoring obama.
“I don’t know about that. George WMD Bush’s smug smirks indicate he thinks he’s better than anyone.”
Yep. And it worked, didnt it? The voters fell for it. And he ended up with the lowest approval rating for any president in the history of such measurements.
“And Senator Clinton’s knocking back boilermakers ind a redneck bar and bragging about shootin’ up the countryside outside Scranton were, honestly, embarrassing to watch.”
Well, that’s your opinion, but I’d point out…
It worked.
You are just confirming my suspicion about obama and his supporters not being willing to do what they need to do to beat the repukes.
Voters go for that stuff. But feel free to look down your nose. I see how well that’s working for your candidate. At the moment anyway!
Back in February on a snowy, blustery night I went to my first political caucus. I didn’t know what to expect but came away almost euphoric with the unity of the thousands who were there. We crowded into a too small space, were hampered further by a complete lack or organization and total chaos, we were happy people who knew there were great choices and if our first choice wasn’t the nominee, the second or even third or fourth choice was still top-notch!
When the jockeying for position that happens here on the blog every day gets me down, I remember that night.
Then I think about the other guys who are stuck with an old man who has no ideas, no charisma (he literally puts me to sleep!), and isn’t even liked or respected by his own party.
writerdog………any chance you are a writer?….i.e.last name
“ksfarmgrrl” boasts –
“It worked.
“You are just confirming my suspicion about obama and his supporters not being willing to do what they need to do to beat the repukes.”
Yeah, and maybe that’s my problem with the whole thing.
Who is the philospher who said something like, “Pick your enemies carefully, for the are whom you’ll come closest to resemble”? Something like that.
If we have to win back the presidency by out-Republicaning the Republics, so be it. But I’m not quite ready to accept that as the only way to get a Democrat back in the Oval Office.
I realize that “appealing to our better angels” seems anachronistic in today’s politics. But it worked for Lincoln.
I respect and admire the Clintons, but Hill is no Bill; she knows the words but he knows the music.
I realize that good Democrats such as you and “Blue Jay” think Obama is all music, but we disagree.
“Voters go for that stuff.”
Yeah, I know.
So bowling-a-37 is more important than waging war in Iraq. (sigh)
And a beer-and-a-bump (even if it’s from a velvet bag of Crown Royal) makes Senator Clinton “one of the boys.”
You may be right.
And if it turns out redneck Hillary gets the nomination, I’ll support her candidacy. But it’s a sorry way to pick the leader of the free world.
Linda, I agree! The in-fighting is just as vicious as with the opposing teams.
“Please link to attack ads from Hillary using the Rev. Wright.”
Uh . . . okay, you asked for it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-dreier/sidney-blumenthal-uses-fo_b_99695.html
Almost every day over the past six months, I have been the recipient of an email that attacks Obama’s character, political views, electability, and real or manufactured associations. The original source of many of these hit pieces are virulent and sometimes extreme right-wing websites, bloggers, and publications. But they aren’t being emailed out from some fringe right-wing group that somehow managed to get my email address. Instead, it is [Clinton Campaign Operative] Sidney Blumenthal who, on a regular basis, methodically dispatches these email mudballs to an influential list of opinion shapers — including journalists, former Clinton administration officials, academics, policy entrepreneurs, and think tankers — in what is an obvious attempt to create an echo chamber that reverberates among talk shows, columnists, and Democratic Party funders and activists. One of the recipients of the Blumenthal email blast, himself a Clinton supporter, forwards the material to me and perhaps to others.
These attacks sent out by Blumenthal, long known for his fierce and combative loyalty to the Clintons, draw on a wide variety of sources to spread his Obama-bashing. Some of the pieces are culled from the mainstream media and include some reasoned swipes at Obama’s policy and political positions.
But, rather remarkably for such a self-professed liberal operative like Blumenthal, a staggering number of the anti-Obama attacks he circulates derive from highly-ideological and militant right-wing sources such as the misnamed Accuracy in Media (AIM), The Weekly Standard, City Journal, The American Conservative, and The National Review.
To cite just one recent example, Blumenthal circulated an article taken from the fervently hard-right AIM website on February 18 entitled, “Obama’s Communist Mentor” by Cliff Kincaid. Kincaid is a right-wing writer and activist, a longtime critic of the United Nations, whose group, America’s Survival, has been funded by foundations controlled by conservative financier Richard Mellon Scaife, the same millionaire who helped fund attacks on the Clintons during their White House years. Scaife also funds AIM, the right-wing media “watchdog” group.
The Kincaid article that Blumenthal circulated sought to discredit Obama by linking him to an African-American poet and writer whom Obama knew while he was in high school in Hawaii. That writer, Frank Marshall Davis, was, Kincaid wrote, a member of the Communist Party. Supported by no tangible evidence, Kincaid claimed that Obama considered his relationship to Davis to be “almost like a son.” In his memoir, Dreams from My Father, Obama wrote about meeting, during his teenage years, a writer named “Frank” who “had some modest notoriety once” and with whom he occasionally discussed poetry and politics. From this snippet, Kincaid weaves an incredulous tale that turns Davis into Obama’s “mentor.”
Check this passage from the documentary film “The War Room” about Clinton operatives in ‘92.
At 4:40, Mickey Kantor–who now works for Hillary–comes in with exit polls and says “Look at Indiana! 42 to 40! Those people are shit. [Sees camera] Oh, excuse me . . . ”
Yeah, I’m from Indiana.
F*** you, Clinton Arkansas hicks.
Here’s the link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_wKOgMNs0U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It6JN7ALF7Y
This is the kind of ad Obama could run on Hillary.
“I certainly do remember that trip to Bosnia. We came in in an evasive manuevuer. I remember landing under sniper fire. We ran with our heads down. There was supposed to be somekind of greeting ceremony at the airport. We were told to run to our cars. That is what happened.”
The level of detail in her lie is breathtaking.
well KSFARM, AT THE MOMENT, he seems to be enjoying yet another important superdelegate leaving Clinton and going to him. So how is it that he is failing miserably, AT THE MOMENT?
A former member of her hubby’s staff, a supercandiate from Indiana. Yes, he really is from Indiana to. He was actually BORN there. Clinton’s political advisor actually had to challenge whether or not he is from Indiana,,,,,,,,AT THE MOMENT.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/nonprofit_womens_voices_women.php
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/30/11055/6499/141/506343
But wait, there’s more:
Who’s behind the mysterious “robo-calls” that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?
Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women’s Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among “unmarried women voters.”
What’s more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women’s Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn’t the group’s first brush with controversy. Women’s Voices’ questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.
First, a quick recap: As we covered yesterday, N.C. residents have reported receiving peculiar automated calls from someone claiming to be “Lamont Williams.” The caller says that a “voter registration packet” is coming in the mail, and the recipient can sign it and mail it back to be registered to vote. No other information is provided.
[Lamont Williams turns out to be a phony name.]
*****
Some have also questioned the ties between Women’s Voices operatives and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. Gardner, for example, contributed $2,500 to Clinton’s HILLPAC on May 4, 2006, and in March 2005 she donated a total of $4,200 to Clinton, according to The Center for Responsive Politics’ OpenSecrets.org. She has not contributed to the Obama campaign, according to the database.
Women’s Voices Executive Director Joe Goode worked for Bill Clinton’s election campaign in 1992 as a pollster; the group’s website says he was intimately involved in “development and implementation of all polling and focus groups done for the presidential primary and general election campaigns” for Clinton.
Women’s Voices board member John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, donated $2,300 to Hillary Clinton on April 19, 2007, according to OpenSecrets.org. Podesta also donated $1,000 to Barack Obama in July 2004, but that was well before Obama announced his candidacy for president.
“The reports from other states are very disturbing, especially the pattern of mass confusion among targeted voters on the eve of a state’s primary,” Democracy North Carolina’s Bob Hall tells Facing South. “These are highly skilled political operatives — something doesn’t add up. Maybe it’s all well-intended and explainable. At this moment, our first priority is to stop the robo-calls and prevent the chaos and potential disenfranchisement caused by this group sending 276,000 packets of registration forms into North Carolina a few days before a heated primary election. We need their immediate cooperation.”
Clinton’s campaign manager, Maggie Williams, was involved with the robo calls.
*****
Willfully spreading lies to confuse voters is a felony. Clinton’s people are guilty.
And even the right-wing Real Clear Politics is posting polls showing Obama blowing Hillary out of the water in NC, holding even in Indiana, and both candidates beating McCain nationally.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/latestpolls/index.html
Oops . . . sorry about the Kantor clip.
Turns out he said, “Look at Indiana! 42 to 40 [in our favor]. It doesn’t matter if we win [in Indiana], those people are sh!tt!ng in the White House.”
That’s what happens when one takes bits and pieces of conversation out of context.
I was wrong. I apologize for my error.
“and both candidates beating McCain nationally.”
Right now that is the most important thing.
So…then the answer is NO, you do not have any ads run by the Clinton campaign using Rev. Wright. You have someone not on the campaign sending questionable emails. And you have a tinfoil hat group making robo calls that are not sponsored by the campaign.
And then you try to spin the Kantor crap? Good thing you apologized. I noted today that story was debunked as fast as it came out. And it WAS spread by the obama camp, no?
So… you got nothing connecting Clinton with using wright against obama.
We are amused, and we do suggest you get YOUR tinfoil adjusted.
Capn
I regard you well.
I respect your right to cling to “hope” and “change”. Even though my take is that is naive.
Now I know you are smarting because your candydate with “the mojo hand” is flagging. But he is failing only on his own words and personal associations.
I’ll put it simply. Keep hitting at Senator Clinton and I am going after Obama in the same manner.
Heh JR. Remember when the obama folks said Clinton was bad for down ballot candidates?
Looks like the GOP, in TWO states, has already started using obama in campaign ads to help THEIR candidates.
But keep on whistling past the graveyard.
“Keep hitting at Senator Clinton and I am going after Obama in the same manner.”
Ya’ better duck, Capn’, he means bid-ness!
/sarcasm/
Well technically they are using the words of Pastor Wright.
But you are correct kfg. I agree. One ADVANTAGE Obama supporters used to be able to claim is that Hillary’s negatives and the attendant turnout would be bad for down ballot Dems.
But it seems that is now a wash or even a deficit in Obama’s direction.
Like I just said on ANOTHER such thread, at least for the foreseeable future, pastor Wright is now the focus of the entire election season and on both sides!
Well I’m glad you made it there WS.
There the other day I thought we were gonna lose you.
Well I’ll tell you about something that will NOT be much a surprise.
I know how Billo operates.
Senator Clinton went on his ego driven show. I’m not crazy about her granting him the recognition, but she did well up against the rights King Bloviator.
Here’s where the non surprise comes in.
Billo will now daily and several times per day DARE Obama to do an interview. And the bad part for Obama is that he already agreed to O’Reilly in person to do so.
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[...] damnum absque injuria wrote an interesting post today on Campaign surprises keep comingHere’s a quick excerptNixon’s daughters supporting a Democrat — but there was Julie Nixon Eisenhower’s name listed as a contributor to the Obama campaign. [...]