WE Blog

Don’t try to play chess with David Axlerod. They should have known that.

Here’s the Chicago Tribune’s Opinion on why Obama won:

5 reasons Obama won
1. He owned the word “change” when voters were fed up with the status quo. In a field of older, better-known candidates, he represented “the new.”

2. He opposed the Iraq War when others were equivocal. The issue was a clear winner against Clinton, who had voted in 2002 to authorize the invasion.

3. His oratory was electrifying. While his early debate performances seemed halting and uncomfortable, he steadily improved. His stump speeches were assured, and he drew crowds as large as 75,000.

4. His campaign was better strategically and operationally, particularly in taking the long view and focusing on caucus states and primaries beyond Super Tuesday.

5. He won the Internet, notably in raising record amounts of money and building networks of supporters through non-traditional methods.

5 reasons Clinton lost
1. Her campaign was too corporate and hierarchical. It spent too much on staff, was too slow in decision-making and had too little independent thinking.

2. She didn’t recognize the threat Obama posed early enough, and went straight from “inevitable” to in trouble.

3. She invested heavily in Iowa, then lost to Obama there. Her deputy campaign manager had urged her to skip the opening caucuses, which her husband, Bill, had bypassed in 1992.

4. She had no coherent post-Super Tuesday plan. While she held her own in the Feb. 5 primaries, including a big victory in California, she lost the next 11 contests.

5. She failed to connect with African-American voters, a demographic that had always been in her corner. Early in the race, poorly timed comments by Bill Clinton hurt her among blacks.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/chi-clinch_charticlejun04,0,522435.story

Obama won because Democrats hate women more then they hate blacks.

Ok, all people of America, you need to vote for Obama now to prove you are NOT a racist.

We know the Democrats are Sexist, because they voted against a Woman.

Ignore the positions of Obama on the Issues. Just vote for him because he’s black, and your vote for Obama will cleanse you of all your past sins of racisim.

Don’t look at this, the issues don’t matter:

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Barack_Obama.htm

Oh, did you notice Obama’s positions on Gun Control?

==================================================

Ok for states & cities to determine local gun laws. (Apr 2008)

FactCheck: Yes, Obama endorsed Illinois handgun ban. (Apr 2008)

Respect 2nd Amendment, but local gun bans ok. (Feb 2008)

Provide some common-sense enforcement on gun licensing. (Jan 2008)

2000: cosponsored bill to limit purchases to 1 gun per month. (Oct 2007)

Concealed carry OK for retired police officers. (Aug 2007)

Stop unscrupulous gun dealers dumping guns in cities. (Jul 2007)

Keep guns out of inner cities–but also problem of morality. (Oct 2006)

Ban semi-automatics, and more possession restrictions. (Jul 1998)

Voted NO on prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. (Jul 2005)

http://www.ontheissues.org/Senate/Barack_Obama.htm#Gun_Control

Hey good link, Max. I heartily recommend it.

Just maybe Obama won because he’s the better person for the job?
And just maybe American’s are sick of politics as usual and are ready for something different…I know I am.

Based on SOME of his supporters?

Obama STOLE the nomination by being willing to do anything TO anybody. He should really be a Republican. A lot of his supporters already are.

We will have a Democratic House and Senate. Barack obama can kiss my ass. I hope he loses in 40 states.

I love Obama’s campaign platform:

“End the war” and “don’t let Bush have a third term”!

The country can’t take anymore of Bush’s ideology. What a tragic chapter of American history this will be. I hope we’ve learned our lesson.

Well, JR..you were wrong about Hill/Bill and I imagine you’ll be wrong about this also.
Yes, he is my candidate…and I feel pretty damn good about that!

“What a tragic chapter of American history this will be. ”

Mary – It’s America’s Dark Ages.

BlueJay:

“Clinton, in an e-mail to supporters, said she “will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.” ”

I gather you DISARGEE with Hillary Clinton?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24974674

love Obama’s campaign platform:

“End the war” and “don’t let Bush have a third term”!

That in itself is a great platform.
Much better than McCains “continue the war, I’ll be bush’s third term.”

As I told you ben, Senator Clinton is being leaned on by the goon squad behind obama.

The force behind obama. I’ve always wondered who that was. But I’m comforted knowing he will never be President.

All this political fighting reminds me of the Shiite/Sunni feud, or the gangs fighting each other. Eventually conflicting groups need to quit retaliatinig against each other else no progress can be made.

“hate of capitalism,”

?????

Where does this come from??

“or vote 3rd party.”

Sol, you have expressed nearly my own view. I’d rather not sit it out. I believe voting for a third party independent candidate – as a formerly registered Republican, will make a statement.

I think it is important to vote if only to express my disappointment with republicans and any of that species which attempts to call itself “conservative”.

But what name will appear on the final ballot?
Will I go to the election booth only to find a communist party alternative?

I believe voting for a third party independent candidate – as a formerly registered Republican, will make a statement.

You’re DAMN STRAIGHT!!!!

True conservatives need to make their voices heard. Drag the party back to its roots. Blind fools will vote for McCain, because ‘he is our guy and we can’t let the other side win.’ The only message that sends is ‘I’m a blind phucktard that will swallow what ever you force into my mouth.’ And the party will continue its liberal slide.

Amen brother. Vote your conscience and encourage other conservatives to do the same.

Barack vs John.

Dem’d if you do, dem’d if you don’t.

Barack Obama(change and hope) vs Sidney McCain (thousand year war and Bush’s third term lackey).

Sucks to be Republican.

BTW I’ve seen “sucks to be Republican ” bumper stickers but not a SINGLE McCain bumper sticker!

“Drag the party back to its roots.”

Or abandon it entirely. It will be a decade before republicans can be trusted to be conservative. “If” ever.

First, how do they campaign as conservative when their voting records reflect the opposite.

Second, they have to PROVE their views by actually voting conservative and saying NO.

Not likely in my life time.

A new party should probably emerge.

JR,

I don’t really care how you feel, but I think your hatred of republicans has seriously damaged your ability to see.

Do you also hate Bill Clinton? He too reached across the aisle. Hell he had conservatives in his cabinet. So to follow the whacky rules you have set out for yourself, you also hate Bill Clinton and by proxy, Hillary.

Shake off the hate JR. You hate conservatives, roughly half of the American populace. Now you hate Obama and his supporters. Roughly a quarter of the populace. You are going to find yourself a very lonely bitter hate filled person in a very short amount of time.

The media is so easy to manipulate anymore.

Until Hillary is forced out of the race, and the pressure on her IS tremendous and shameful, I will continue to hope she takes it to the convention and beats that strutting, sloganeering, smarmy SO bama.

The sky is falling!! The sky is falling!!

Boy, the tighty righties have themselves in a wad this morning.

Must really suck to be them today.

It’s your guy obama wants to sit with such folk as Regular there Capn. Enjoy and try and build a coalition with YOUR new friend.

“You are going to find yourself a very lonely bitter hate filled person in a very short amount of time.”

Waaay too late.

Obama faces lingering divide in Democratic Party

Democratic Party elders who hoped the emergence of a presidential nominee would end the bitter divisions of the primary race got a startling reality check Wednesday.

One day after Barack Obama clinched the nomination, supporters loyal to Hillary Clinton kept up the fight and in some cases antagonized Obama and his campaign.

Even as more than a dozen superdelegates drifted to the Illinois senator Wednesday, Clinton backers flooded the office of one Obama supporter on Capitol Hill with threatening calls and some urged other Clinton-ites to shift their support to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.

Meanwhile, bloggers on Obama’s Web page and major liberal Web sites threw charges and slurs at Clinton for refusing to concede the race Tuesday night in New York City.

“Hillary Showed No Class!” read one headline on Obama’s community blogs page.

The strife among supporters underscores the challenge ahead for Obama and Democratic leaders working to bridge the party divide in their quest to galvanize voters on a message of hope and change, and take back the White House.

Clinton could ease some of that tension Friday, when she is expected to drop out of the race and endorse Obama.

But supporters on both sides of the Democratic fence almost immediately began drawing a line in the sand Tuesday over what likely will be the big question facing Obama over the next few months: whether he should tap Clinton to be his running mate.

If there’s middle ground on the issue, it was hard to see Wednesday.

Former President Jimmy Carter, now an Obama supporter, told the Guardian’s Weekend magazine that picking Clinton “would be the worst mistake that could be made.”

Meanwhile, Clinton supporter Bob Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, wrote the Congressional Black Caucus asking its members to urge Obama to place Clinton on the ticket.

Clinton supporter Lanny Davis also was circulating an online petition pushing for the joint ticket, saying such a match-up would be “unbeatable.” In an interview with FOX News he denied that Clinton was bullying her way into the No. 2. slot.

CBC spokeswoman Keiana Barrett told FOX News, though, that the caucus “is not considering any appeal and will support Senator Obama’s right to make his own selection; like all other nominees have done in the past.”

Obama named a three-person team to spearhead the vice presidential search Wednesday. And the campaign is tight-lipped about whether they’d seriously consider the overtures for Clinton to be his running mate.

The campaign was also tight-lipped about Clinton’s refusal to concede after the final two primaries Tuesday night. Obama said simply that she was “understandably focused on her supporters.”

But she stunned Obama supporters and several Democratic strategists by not acknowledging his historic achievement.

While Clinton extended her congratulations to Obama for running what she called an “extraordinary race” Tuesday night, her address almost took the tone of a victory speech, rather than a concession, as she talked up her supposed popular vote advantage. At one point, supporters started to cheer “Denver! Denver!” — a nod from them that she should take her fight to the August convention.

Democratic strategist Bob Beckel said whoever made the call to not recognize Obama’s delegate majority Tuesday night was “stupid,” and he said she effectively jeopardized her chances at being the No. 2 by doing so.

After Obama’s victory, there was some scuttlebutt about Clinton backers breaking for McCain.

Cristi Adkins, of the newly formed Clintons for McCain group, told FOX News she wants Clinton backers to throw their support behind McCain and not the presumptive Democratic nominee because they have more in common.

“I can fairly comfortably give all of my passion over to McCain should Hillary Clinton be bullied out of the White House,” she said.

“I look out for my children and I fear Senator Obama. He wants change, what kind of change is that?” she said, adding that it’s going to be “very challenging” for Obama to pick up Clinton supporters.

Obama will have fence-mending to do with Clinton supporters, especially women voters.

Amid all the talk about a first black president, many women are deeply disappointed, in some cases furious, that Clinton’s own historic campaign fell short and that Obama’s campaign undercut her along the way.

Obama himself must heal the rift with women, said Clinton fundraiser Susie Buell of San Francisco, or a new brand of “stay-at-home moms” might sit out the election.

“I know that women are very worked up right now,” she said. Obama “has never apologized for the way Hillary has been treated.”

Emotions boiled over at last weekend’s televised meeting of a Democratic Party rules committee, when some women chanted “McCain ‘08? after the Clinton team lost its bid to win more disputed delegates from Michigan.

Many party insiders believe that, over time, most Clinton supporters will decide that a reluctant vote for Obama is better than a spiteful vote for McCain. Still, polls underscore Obama’s challenge.

FOX News exit polls from the South Dakota Democratic primary — where Clinton scored her final victory of the campaign Tuesday — showed that 30 percent of voters there would be dissatisfied with Obama as their nominee.

Healing the wounds will require a strong endorsement by Clinton of the man who beat her, says Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., one of Obama’s most prominent female supporters. And the reality of the presidential stakes will sink in, too, she says.

“As time passes and everyone begins focusing on the differences between John McCain and Barack Obama,” she said, “I think the medicine is going to be a little easier to swallow. But right now I think it’s really hard for these women.”

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, S.C., also said Wednesday that his office has been deluged with angry phone calls from people identifying themselves as Clinton supporters.

Clyburn, who endorsed Obama Tuesday, told FOX News Radio there were racial overtones in the calls and that some of the callers used “names that I would not repeat on this show today.” He said some threatened to “sabotage this election.”

He later told FOX News that “there are a lot of immature people in this country, and those of us who are mature are going to have to work that much harder to overcome that.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday that Obama is the clear nominee, and that it’s time to “rally around” him. Other Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill made a strong call for party unity.

Washington Rep. Adam Smith, an Obama supporter, told FOX News there was absolutely no bad blood between Obama and Clinton.

“We’re rather happy this morning,” he said. “We have secured the nomination. There is no consternation whatsoever about what Senator Clinton said last night.”

FOX News’ Aaron Bruns and Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

I can hardly wait for universal health care. You nurses better be training for another profession. You won’t be needed. No new doctors either. We just won’t get fixed if we are old or have unhealthy lifestyles. JR and PMom that means you won’t be covered. Look at the model we are looking at in Great Britain.
——————
Don’t treat the old and unhealthy, say doctors
By Laura Donnelly, Health Correspondent
Last Updated: 11:47PM BST 18/04/2008 | Comments 173 | Have Your Say
Doctors are calling for NHS treatment to be withheld from patients who are too old or who lead unhealthy lives.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1576704/Don‘t-treat-the-old-and-unhealthy,-say-doctors.html
———————-
And for this premium coverage you will see a huge tax increase. I can hardly wait.

Boy, the tighty righties have themselves in a wad this morning.

Don’t they, though? :) No, make that :) :) .

Scared spitless.

And notice that the ONLY thing they can post is against the Dem candidates. Not ONE SINGLE WORD about how great their candidate is. Of course there isn’t. There’s nothing currently great about McCain.

The Republican party (and especially the NeoCons currently running it) screwed themselves this time. They, like Hillary, thought this would be a cakewalk. Both were wrong. Never underestimate the memories of the voters.

But I’m comforted knowing he will never be President.

Then I have to assume you’re also comforted knowing that for the next 4 years, your life will most likely be as lousy as it is now. Your SON’S life will not improve. Why? Because you didn’t get your way. That’s damn pitiful.

I read a collection of writings by Hunter Thompson, the author of Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas and the first time he used the term “fear and loathing” was in describing his feelings at hearing of the Kennedy assassination.

KansasNative posts;
“BTW I’ve seen “sucks to be Republican ” bumper stickers but not a SINGLE McCain bumper sticker!”

That’s because Republicans and Conservatives have more class and more intelligence than to sick bumper stickers on their cars like genetic deficit DemLibs.

Today, Barack Obama selected Howard Dean, architect of the “50 State Strategy,” to remain as head of the Democratic National Committee.

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/breaking_howard_dean_to_stay_a.php

Barack Obama also made the following announcement:

“Mr. Obama is announcing today that the D.N.C. will no longer accept contributions from federal lobbyists or political action committees, which follows the rules he established for his own campaign last year.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/obama-camp-sets-new-money-guidelines/

Obama’s initial moves as head of the Democratic Party are absolutely the rights ones, and I am very enthused about the direction in which he is taking the Democratic Party–namely, away from Clinton-era triangulation and corporate DLC compromise.

Given all this, Barack Obama has earned CF2K’s unconditional endorsement. It also earned the DNC another donation from me.

Boxlick,

Didn’t click on the link, eh? Can’t blame you: if I were in your permanent state of denial and projection, I wouldn’t want to have to acknowledge the vile machinations of my ideological allies.

As for the doings on my part that give you satisfaction and a sense of identity, Boxlick: hate much? Ressentiment seems to have consumed you. Here’s a definition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ressentiment

Sucks to be Republican…double sucks to be a Boxlicker (man without honor or integrity as he’s proved on this blog over and over).

CF giveth…

“Given all this, Barack Obama has earned CF2K’s unconditional endorsement. It also earned the DNC another donation from me.”

And J R taketh away.

I have today quit the Democratic party. I think this is the third time. It’s also likely the last. I don’t see a dime’s worth of difference between how they treated Senator Clinton and the way Karl Rove operates.

Too bad BJ…it now officially sucks to be you.

BlueJay,

Your call. But just know that your decision removes every Democrat here from any obligation to indulge or placate you.

As for your stupid, laughable comparison with Karl Rove, who are “they,” anyway? The Superdelegates? Chairman Dean? Ted Kennedy? Did “they” use the Department of Justice to throw Hillary Clinton in jail in Alabama? Did “they” leak Hillary Clinton’s name to Robert Novak? Did “they” use U.S. Attorneys to maliciously and selectively prosecute Democratic officeholders?

The only thing Rovian in any of this, BlueJay, has been YOUR constant moving of the goalposts, and disrespect for the DNC’s Primary rules, to provide some rationale for Hillary Clinton’s now-ended campaign.

And now that you can’t change the rules anymore, you’re going to take your ball and go home. Fine by me. There will be some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters who will do as you have done. But the vast majority, after eight years under Bush/Cheney, know what is in store under McCain, and will do otherwise.

To imagine that John McCain will be more agreeable to Democrats as President than Barack Obama is ludicrous and laughable on its face.

You want to let the perfect be the enemy of the good? Fine. That’s your choice. But if you’re going to attack the Democratic candidate for President, you have made yourself into a political enemy of many posters on this blog–myself included.

““BlueJay wants McCain to win?”

That’s the other side of the coin.

I’m fairly confident obama will lose. I HOPE he doesn’t win.

I’ve made no secret of it. I am uneasy that obama will try to out Reagan even John McCain. He’s already making noises like a con.

CF2K,

BlueJay’s “they” is also the over 17 million American voters who caused Obama to win more pledged delegates than Clinton.

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/clinton-obama_slugfest.html
“Both Bill and Hillary Clinton have lauded Reagan’s political skills. Tom Brokaw’s “Boom! Voices of the Sixties” quotes Clinton as saying that Reagan was “a child of the Depression” who understood pressures on the working and middle class:

Hillary Clinton (in Brokaw book): When he [Reagan] had those big tax cuts and they went too far, he oversaw the largest tax increase. He could call the Soviet Union the Evil Empire and then negotiate arms-control agreements.
He played the balance and the music beautifully.”

Apologize for what?
Look who’s miss using nics, “Boxlicker”.
If you notice above I used your correct nic, as I have done recently except for once, I think, when habit took over.
Just relax KansasNative, you are looking childish, but then maybe that’s just what you are.
You decide.

“The campaign expected to lose big states such as California, Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania, but it made up for it with delegates from smaller states, which Clinton mostly ignored. For example, the Obama campaign sent staffers to Kansas three months before Clinton organizers arrived, the Post reported, and by Super Tuesday, his staff outnumbered Clinton’s 18 to 3.”

Put more simply?

They set about creating an appearance of a candidate that could win using states that no Democrat can likely win in the fall. In other words, style but no substance.

Which pretty much also sums up obama.

My prediction is the map on election night is gonna have a lot of red, little blue, and less or NO purple. Hey don’t blame me if you’ve jumped on board with a loser.

BlueJay,

How do think your first choice, Kucinich, would do against McCain?

Why do you oppose running a 50-state general election campaign?

In header,
“The campaign expected to lose big states such as California, Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania.”

But Obama WON Texas, 99 to 94.

And a recent poll showed that Obama would probably win CA if it was done over.

‘Californians Would Switch Clinton Vote For Obama’
http://cbs5.com/politics/poll.clinton.obama.2.720136.html

I’m sorry Rage.

I don’t trust obama and I don’t trust this whole ascendancy of his. The media love affair, the lately known and maybe still unknown OBVIOUS political skeletons, the fainting masses chanting change,

I find it….kinda scary. obama has been afforded an awful lot with not a lot of cost.

And he’s young enough yet I’m not sure even HE knows who he is or what he is for. It looks like a recipe for another Reagan to me. But Reagan had to work for it.

“. But if you’re going to attack the Democratic candidate for President, you have made yourself into a political enemy of many posters on this blog–myself included.”

That is, as you say, your call.

The nomination is not official until the convention. It is my opinion the Democratic party is making a terrible mistake. Though no longer a Democrat, I will continue to advocate full and thorough exploration of Barack Obama. I am never dishonest. IF he is the best nominee, he can stand the scrutiny. There is still time to undo this. And if I am wrong he has lost nothing other than my vote.

Which in Kansas, is worth nothing.

find it….kinda scary. obama has been afforded an awful lot with not a lot of cost.

P.S. One striking thing to me about this campaign is that, if you take all the venom and backbiting that came from surrogates, supporters, blog posts and whatnot, and just look at what the 2 candidates have said, it’s actually been fairly civil.

We can have that one out again cosmos.

You FREQUENTLY remind me that I did not hear what I heard, read what I read, etc.

How about this?

You put up the quote in question, in full, and then you dice it into anything other than it is?

Ya know? The ironic thing about all this is that if you looked back a year ago and more, I didn’t HAVE a strong favorite among the candidates. I liked best what Kucinich had to say, but I wasn’t strong for him

The ONE candidate that I gave a hard time was Senator Clinton. I didn’t like the whole bush Clinton dynasty thing.

But the one thing I always loved about Hillary was how damned bad the right hates her. To me, the time is right to give them a great big dose of what they least like. And that’s her.

Then, the other candidates fell away. When it was down to Edwards, Clinton, and Obama, I didn’t have a clear favorite. I leaned maybe a little towards Edwards. Even though I find him ….fakey.

And then obama started in with the hope change yes we can work with them bit. So that spaced him to the back.

So down to Clinton and Obama and I’m grudgingly for Clinton. And with all his money and crowds and as many times as they wanted to call her dead only to see her rise again, I grew to really like her.

And then in one day, SOME of the Obama supporters want her to throw herself under the obama train.

The way she was treated in this is abysmal.

“The way she was treated in this is abysmal.”

I agree with that JR.

And the postings this morning about the angry and thuggish men here? (and you know who you are) I think this Hillary hatred has given them license to express something that is always simmering just below the surface.

There’s TONS of women hating and sexism out there. And when women pile on with the Hillary hatred, it gives them some kind of perceived permission to whoop it up.

I dont care if people dont support Hillary as their candidate. But this all HillaryHate all the time has been very telling.

And if you didnt see the HillaryHatred under the thin veneers of middle class civility?

Heheheeh. Well then,

You might be a Hillary Hater if…

If obama picks sam nunn as his vp, well, let’s just say gays will be, under the obama administration, under and at the back of the bus for a veeery long time.

That’s what happens when you give him a pass on pandering to homophobes. He knows there’s no penalty for him if he picks one as his vp.

jesus WEPT. there’s a million military men he could pick besides nunn the wingnut.

Guilt By Association: Obama’s Relationship Baggage
by Associated Press

Thursday, June 5, 2008

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Who’s Tony Rezko? William Ayers? Few Americans know, but they probably will by Election Day.

Rezko is a Chicago businessman, convicted of more than a dozen charges this week. Ayers is a professor — and former member of the radical Weather Underground. Both have ties to Barack Obama and may well show up in anti-Obama ads you’ll be seeing before long.

These days, presidential candidates can expect to have every personal relationship, new or ancient, inspected like a crime scene on “CSI.” Then, if there’s political hay to be made, a version of the details is quickly out.

Republican John McCain has his own potential problem people whom Democrats may try to exploit. In some cases, they have been for years.

For example, there’s Charles Keating Jr., a wealthy savings and loan executive from Arizona who was the focus of a congressional ethics investigation in which McCain was ensnared in the 1980s. Rick Davis and Charlie Black, two men in the inner circle of McCain’s campaign, are former lobbyists — hardly a crime but still fodder for critics who want to undermine McCain’s self-portrayal as a senator fighting to lessen big money’s influence on politics.

So both parties will be researching — and putting the worst face on what they find.

It’s especially true for Obama, still a newcomer to the national scene. Voters haven’t had years to form impressions based on what he has said or the legislation he’s passed. Or associates they’ve heard about forever.

Here are brief descriptions of some people who may show up in ads, debate questions and Internet chatter over the coming months.

JEREMIAH WRIGHT: Wright was Obama’s minister for 20 years. He helped Obama embrace Christianity, performed Obama’s marriage and baptized Obama and his two daughters.

Most of America knows Wright only through a few snippets from his sermons and a couple of contentious public appearances. They’re familiar with him shouting “God damn America” and accusing the government of creating AIDS.

Obama has done his best to distance himself from his former minister, to the point of resigning from the church that Wright once led. But that’s unlikely to stop ads that portray Wright as a bigot and ask why Obama would listen to him for so many years.

ANTOIN REZKO: “Tony” Rezko is a businessman who has helped raise campaign money for Obama and many other Illinois politicians. He was convicted Wednesday on 16 of 24 counts involving mail fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery.

The charges have no connection to Obama, but Rezko is tied to the Illinois senator in other ways.

Rezko and his family donated at least $21,457 to Obama and helped raise over $200,000 more, though not for his presidential bid. He also advised Obama on the purchase of a new Chicago home and, in his wife’s name, purchased a vacant lot next door to the new Obama home when the seller wanted to dispose of both properties at the same time. Rezko then sold a slice of the property to Obama.

Obama has donated Rezko’s contributions to charity and says it was a mistake to work with Rezko on buying the house.

WILLIAM AYERS: Today, Ayers is a university professor and a member of Chicago’s intellectual establishment. Forty years ago he was a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that claimed responsibility for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol.

Ayers was a fugitive for years with his wife, fellow radical Bernadine Dohrn. But after surrendering in 1980, the charges against Ayers were dropped because of prosecutorial misconduct.

Obama has a very limited relationship with Ayers, who lives in the same neighborhood. They served together on the board of a Chicago charity, and in the mid-1990s when Obama first ran for office, Ayers hosted a meet-the-candidate session for Obama at his home.

EMIL JONES: Jones, the president of the Illinois Senate, amounts to Obama’s political godfather and was an important part of Obama’s longshot victory for U.S. Senate in 2004. He helped the little-known politician meet the right people, and he picked Obama to handle high-profile legislation during the two years leading up to the election.

But Jones’ political style is very different from Obama’s.

Jones is known for steering state money to a few favored institutions, including some that employ his relatives. Several of his relatives have gotten state jobs, and his wife’s government salary jumped 60 percent after he became Senate president. He has played an important role in blocking ethics legislation in Illinois.

RASHID KHALIDI: Khalidi is a scholar and author on Middle Eastern affairs who has criticized Israeli policies and was part of a Palestinian advisory panel to peace talks in the early 1990s.

He’s also a friend of Obama.

They met while both were teaching at the University of Chicago and living in the same neighborhood. Obama and his wife sometimes had dinner with Khalidi and his wife, Mona. The Khalidis hosted a political fundraiser for Obama in 2000, and the Woods Fund charity gave money to the Arab-American Action Network, run by Mona Khalidi, while Obama served on the charity’s board.

Khalidi and Obama have both said they hold very different opinions on Israeli issues, but their friendship has been used to raise questions about Obama’s support for Israel — and to generate Internet headlines such as “Meet Obama’s Terrorist Friend.”

MICHAEL PFLEGER: Pfleger, the white leader of a mostly black Catholic parish in Chicago, has been known as a firebrand for years. He protests everything from gun shops to Jerry Springer. Obama has referred to him as a spiritual adviser.

Recently, he visited Obama’s church and preached a sermon in which he mocked Hillary Clinton and accused her of expecting to win the presidential nomination because she was white. Pfleger apologized, but Obama condemned the remarks and resigned from the church.

Obama was not nearly as close to Pfleger as he was to Wright, but now he’s likely to face questions about his relationship with both men.

MICHELLE OBAMA: His wife has been a valuable campaigner for Obama, but she has also stepped into controversy from time to time.

She served on the board of TreeHouse, a food company that did business with Wal-Mart, which Obama has often criticized. She resigned from the paid position, citing a lack of time.

Most significantly, she said at one Obama campaign appearance, “For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback.” She later said she meant she was proud of the way Americans were participating in the political process — not that she had never been proud of America before.

Her comments contributed to Internet broadsides arguing that the Obamas don’t love the country and somehow aren’t “true” Americans.

“He HAS to offer VP to Senator Clinton”

Why?

BlueJay,

“And the Republican approach, I think, has played itself out. I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.”

The R’s HAVE been considered the “party of ideas” — it’s partly how Reagan got elected.

‘Is There Life After Disaster?’
Monday, Nov. 17, 1980
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,950488-4,00.html
Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York wrote tellingly last summer: “Of a sudden, the G.O.P. has become a party of ideas.”

Again, Obama never said that the “ideas” were good, or that he “liked” them.

It’s like if you say your “first choice was Kucinich”. That does not say how strong your support is. It could be anything from extremely weak, to rabidly strong.

“I’m not a bumper sticker person, but there are one or two I’ve been tempted to get and use.”

I’m not too keen on bumper stickers either. I do have the prerequisite birdy on the ball, scarlet and gold round one in my back window.

But I recently DID see a bumper sticker I really like:

YES THIS IS MY PICK-UP
NO I WILL NOT HELP YOU MOVE.

Bush did far worse than Carter could have dreamed of doing.

And might I remind you, Carter didn’t sell arms to the enemy.

“I no longer care who wins the Presidency. But it has become very important to me that obams should lose.
And, he will.”

So how’s your neighbor’s cow doing, JR?

“And lets not overlook the agreement for the release of Iranian hostages – where Clinton may have even violated law, one he initiated, in selling spare parts to Iran to gain the release of our American Hostages”

Huh? Clinton was about twelves years away from the presidency – did he sell them a slingshot made in Arkansas?

“Clinton is not lilly white”

Should read, “Carter in not lilly white”

“An amazing deal approved by the president of the United States – President Carter.”

So Carter was responsible for Iran/Contra?

Again, nice try, but thanks for playing the game.

Never said that Clark. Keep up will ya.
(puff puff pass pass)

The deal for freeing the hostages took place under the leadership of President Jimmy Carter.

But alas, for some of you, the buck stops whereever you want it to.

(puff puff pass pass)

Childish, at best.

Can’t you come up with something better?

Oh wow, you really are high.

” I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom.”

Thank you cosmos.

Now, where does obama suggest that the ideas of the GOP were bad?

He says they challenged conventional wisdom. Now to ME, that says that they were right in making the changes that they did.

Changes that have virtually erased the progress of the New Deal and the Great Society.

BUT it appears to me that you folks in the ivory towers and gated communities have driven the best candidate from the race. It is not on me to defend him, vote for him, or anything else. He was NOT my candidate. I do not see him as the rightful nominee anymore than I see bush as the rightful President.

It’s you folks, some of you, who think it is better to cut off friends to work with enemies. That was obama’s pitch. SO if some of you decide you don’t like me or what I have to say?

I don’t have a problem with that. Because I haven’t really lost anything at all.

Where does he say that they were bad cosmos?

Oh yeah. Senator Clinton called him on this remark and got him to clarify.

Or lie.

It was that same debate that Senator Clinton got obama to denounce Louis Farrakan.

BEFORE Sean Hannity started linking pastors of Obama’s church to Louis Farrakan.

Obama ADMITTED that Senator Clinton made him a better candidate. Why can’t you? Why do you continue to try and tell me I did not hear what I heard?

I didn’t sit in a room with the guy. I CHOSE not to. So I’m not spellbound by everything he says. He said what he said. It is you and his supporters have to spin it into something out of context.

BlueJay,

I give up.

You seem unable to understand that “ideas” ONLY means “ideas”.

It does not mean “good ideas”. It does not mean “bad ideas”.

And it is incorrect to insist that it means “good ideas”.

Perhaps some day, if your blinding hatred of Obama eases, you will understand those simple facts.

Your words do not “sting”. They make me wonder why you can’t understand basic grammar.

I believe that Clinton made Obama a better candidate, AND Obama made Clinton a better candidate. It was a long, close primary, and both candidates improved.

A hypothetical…

BlueJay’s son: “That group had ideas.”

Later…
A person: “BlueJay’s son said that he really liked the ideas of that group.”

BlueJay’s son: “I didn’t say that their ideas were good ones.”

Later…
BlueJay: “And my son didn’t say they were bad ones either. That person got my son to better explain himself. Or lie. Is my son lying or clarifying? I don’t know.

And AGAIN, it was that person who got my son to qualify the remark. Or…I have to say it again…lie.

It was my son who had to correct his remark with prompting from that person.”
———–

BTW: The “popular vote” is not how the candidate is nominated.

Nor is the popular vote how the candidate is ELECTED.

Look

I appreciate what you cosmos and pre are trying to do.

You want to win me over.

I appreciate that and am honored as it says that you want me “on the team”.

Thanks and I mean that.

But if you do respect me? I hope that you will respect me in my opinions even if they differ in choice of nominee from your own.

I think Obama is a mistake. Would you want me to pretend and say otherwise?