From: DemocracyArsenal.org
One Heartbeat Away
(Apologies for my inability to embed!)
In the latest snippet in the Barack Obama being too presumptuous narrative, Marc Ambinder is reporting on The Atlantic magazine's website that his aides are already starting to plan his transition to the White House -- three months before the November election and five months before the next president is inaugurated.
" 'Barack is well aware of the complexity and the organizational challenge involved in the transition process and he has tasked s small group to begin thinking through the process,' a senior campaign adviser said," Ambinder reports. 'Barack has made his expectations clear about what he wants from such a process, how he wants it to move forward, and the establishment and execution of his timeline is proceeding apace.' … A campaign spokesperson confirmed that transition planning had begun but would provide no further details. An adviser said that the campaign wants to keep the process as low profile as possible in order to minimize distractions."
That brought this response from McCain spokesman Brian Rogers: “Before they’ve even crossed the 50-yard line, the Obama campaign is already dancing in the end zone with a new White House transition team. The American people are more concerned with Barack Obama’s poor judgment and readiness to lead than his inaugural ball.”
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Author Foon Rhee failed to include the last part of O's campaign memo as Marc Ambinder reported:
“Given the myriad challenges that will face the next president, Barack would encourage Sen. McCain to begin to undertake a similar process,” the adviser said.
Read Marc Ambinder's full article.
Justice Advised CIA in '02 About Legal Waterboarding
"Lawyers for the Bush administration told the CIA in 2002 that its officers could legally use waterboarding and other harsh measures while interrogating al-Qaeda suspects, as long as they acted "in good faith" and did not deliberately seek to inflict severe pain, according to a Justice Department memo made public yesterday.
The memo, apparently intended to assuage CIA concerns that its officers could someday face torture charges, said interrogators needed only to possess an "honest belief" that their actions did not cause severe suffering. And the honest belief did not have to be based on reality.
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Bush looked for ways to legalize criminal behavior, so this is not news. What would be news is if CIA agents actually came forward on their own whose stomachs turned when told to use waterboarding. You know, those who have good, decent values and could not suspend their "honest belief" that waterboarding anyone was not torture. I cannot believe that decent people would be able to commit such acts. Because of this I'm sure those decent people were TOLD to suspend "honest belief", and if they disobeyed they would face consequences for having a moral core.
But no one will come forward. Not one.
I wouldn't bet a nickel on it.
Veterans Respond to McCain's "Obama Wants to Lose" Remark by: Brandon FriedmanTue Jul 22, 2008 at 17:21:12 PM EDT While Barack Obama spends the week in Afghanistan and Iraq, speaking to throngs of cheering troops and diplomats, John McCain is accusing the likely Democratic nominee of wanting to "lose" the war in Iraq. Here's what he said today: MCCAIN: It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign. It looks to me like desperation brought on by Maliki's endorsement of Obama's plan is starting to settle in--especially considering that most Americans and very few Iraqis even look at Iraq in terms of winning and losing anymore. But the question, then, becomes this: If McCain thinks Obama wants to lose in Iraq, and thousands of troops support Obama's policies, does this mean that McCain thinks those troops want to lose in Iraq?
MCCAIN: It seems to me that Senator Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign.
It looks to me like desperation brought on by Maliki's endorsement of Obama's plan is starting to settle in--especially considering that most Americans and very few Iraqis even look at Iraq in terms of winning and losing anymore.
But the question, then, becomes this: If McCain thinks Obama wants to lose in Iraq, and thousands of troops support Obama's policies, does this mean that McCain thinks those troops want to lose in Iraq?
This is especially fitting for such an ardent Bills fan!
http://www.petitiononline.com/basenji/petition.html
Thank you, Tim. We all miss you. 'Meet the Press' may not be the same, but whoever takes up the torch will continue its greatness in your honor.
Love from Cleveland,
Karen S.
Tom Brokaw moderated a group of friends and colleagues to celebrate the life and work of Tim Russert. With tears streaming from my eyes, I realized where Tim would be. Sitting right beside his friend Tom he would be eagerly saying with his signature enthusiam, "What's next? C'mon, who is going to sit in that chair? Who will continue the tradition of 'Meet the Press'? Isn't this exciting? It doesn't get any better than this!"
Tim, Thank you for your exuberance, your enthusiam, your love of family and country.
NBC, Tim's waiting...so what's next?
From: Supreme Court Judges Obama Right on Constitution (The Nation.)
"During the Democratic presidential primary campaign, more than 125 constitutional lawyers and legal experts signed a "Habeas Lawyers for Obama" letter that read:
We are at a critical point in the Presidential campaign, and as lawyers who have been deeply involved in the Guantanamo litigation to preserve the important right to habeas corpus, we are writing to urge you to support Senator Obama.
The Administration's Guantanamo policies have undercut our values at home and stained our reputation around the world. All of us are lawyers who have worked on the Guantanamo habeas corpus litigation for many years, some of us since early 2002, and we were all deeply involved in opposing the Administration's attempt to overturn the Supreme Court's Rasul decision by stripping the courts of jurisdiction to hear the Guantanamo cases. We have talked with Senator Obama about why the Guantanamo litigation is so significant, and we have worked closely with Senator Obama in the fight to preserve habeas corpus.
Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue. When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration's efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration's bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us. Senator Obama worked with us to count the votes, and he personally lobbied colleagues who worried about the political ramifications of voting to preserve habeas corpus for the men held at Guantanamo. He has understood that our strength as a nation stems from our commitment to our core values, and that we are strong enough to protect both our security and those values. Senator Obama demonstrated real leadership then and since, continuing to raise Guantanamo and habeas corpus in his speeches and in the debates.
The writ of habeas corpus dates to the Magna Carta, and was enshrined by the Founders in our Constitution. The Administration's attack on habeas corpus rights is dangerous and wrong. America needs a President who will not triangulate this issue. We need a President who will restore the rule of law, demonstrate our commitment to human rights, and repair our reputation in the world community. Based on our work with him, we are convinced that Senator Obama can do this because he truly feels these issues "in his bones."
We urge you to support Senator Obama.
Among the signers of that January 28 letter were: Rear Admiral John Dudley Hutson, U.S. Navy (Ret.), the Judge Advocate General of the Navy from 1997 to 2000 who currently serves as dean and president of Franklin Pierce Law Center; Rear Admiral Donald J. Guter, U.S. Navy (Ret.), the Judge Advocate General of the Navy from 2000 to 2002 who currently serves as dean of Duquesne Law School; Michael Ratner, the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights; and Edwin Chemerinsky, the renowned constitutional law and federal civil procedure scholar and founding dean of the Donald Bren School of Law at the University of California, Irvine."
Supreme Court Judges Obama Right on Constitution
posted by John Nichols on 06/12/2008 @ 11:13am (The Nation)
When the U.S. Senate voted in September, 2007, on whether to restore habeas corpus protections for those detained by the United States, the senators who would emerge as the presumptive Democratic and Republican nominees for president parted company.
Illinois Democrat Barack Obama embraced the basic Constitutional principle that individuals who are detained by the U.S. government have a right to challenge their detention -- no matter where they are held.
Arizona Republican John McCain rejected the wisdom of the founders of the American experiment and voted against restoring habeas corpus protections for foreign suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and others who are detained by U.S. authorities.
Today, the Supreme Court said Obama was right and McCain was wrong.
I grinned from ear to ear throughout this entire article! It's truly amazing how Barack has given America back to us, even before he is POTUS!!!
Obama on the Nile
by Thomas Friedman, NY Times
Here's a blurb:
"It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Democrats’ nomination of Obama as their candidate for president has done more to improve America’s image abroad — an image dented by the Iraq war, President Bush’s invocation of a post-9/11 “crusade,” Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the xenophobic opposition to Dubai Ports World managing U.S. harbors — than the entire Bush public diplomacy effort for seven years."
McCain's Web Site: Golf Gear Forever!
By Eric Kleefeld - June 10, 2008, 3:02PM
John McCain is standing firm on his controversial platform -- of golf gear for all!
As you may have heard, the McCain camp was subjected to blogospheric ridicule last week over their Web site's tab layout, which for some strange reason included "Golf Gear" alongside headings like "Decision Center" and "Obama & Iraq."
The McCain camp has now revised their site. But did they get rid of the "Golf Gear"? Nope. In this case, it turned out "Obama & Iraq" was the dead wood:
Obama campaign aims to turn red states blue
WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama's general election plan calls for broadening the electoral map by challenging Sen. John McCain in typically Republican states - from North Carolina to Missouri to Montana - as Obama seeks to take advantage of voter turnout operations built in nearly 50 states in the long Democratic nomination battle, aides said.
Monday, Obama, D-Ill., will travel to North Carolina - a state that has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years - to start a two-week tour of speeches, town hall forums and other appearances intended to highlight differences with McCain, R-Ariz., on the economy. From there, Obama heads to Missouri, which last voted for a Democrat in 1996. His first campaign swing after securing the Democratic presidential nomination last week was to Virginia, which last voted Democratic in 1964.
Obama has moved in recent days to transform his primary organization into a general election machine, hiring staff members, sending organizers into important states and preparing a TV ad campaign to present his views and his biography to millions of Americans who followed the primaries from a distance.
In one telling example, he is moving to hire Aaron Pickrell, the chief political strategist of Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio - who helped steer Sen. Hillary Clinton to victory in that state's primary - to run his effort against McCain there.
Obama's aides said some states where they intend to campaign - such as Georgia, Missouri, Montana and North Carolina - might ultimately be too red to turn blue. But the result of making an effort there could force McCain to spend money or send him to campaign in what should be safe ground, rather than using those resources in states such as Ohio.
Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said the primary contest had left the campaign with strong get-out-the-vote operations in Republican states that were small enough that better-than-usual turnout could make a difference in the general election. Among those he pointed to was Alaska, which last voted for a Democrat in 1964.
"Do we have to win any of those to get to 270?" Plouffe said, referring to the number of electoral votes needed to win the election. "No. Do we have reason to think we can be competitive there? Yes. Do we have organizations in those states to be competitive? Yes. This is where the primary was really helpful to us now."
Plouffe also pointed to Oregon and Washington, states that have traditionally been competitive and where Obama defeated Clinton, as places the campaign could have significant advantages.
McCain's advisers dismissed the Obama campaign claims as bluster. "We're confident about our ability to win those states," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to McCain.
By Daniel Wallis
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A group of young Kenyans supporting Barack Obama launched what they called a worldwide campaign on Friday to defend the likely U.S. Democratic presidential nominee from smears by opponents.
Obama, whose late father was from Kenya, made history on Tuesday when he became the first African-American to win a U.S. major-party presidential nomination. The Illinois senator will face Republican John McCain at the general election in November.
Peter Mbae of Sen. Barack Obama Worldwide Supporters said the new network would organize online forums, public meetings and demonstrations to raise awareness of Obama's policies.
This is so awesome. OBAMA ROCKS!!! To the GOP: expect a landslide win by OBAMA!!!
From Time.com's The Page by Mark Halperin
What John McCain Underestimates:
1. The astonishing enthusiasm that Obama inspires in his supporters — and how much it contrasts with the respect, but not passion, McCain enjoys from his own backers. (And the size of Obama’s crowds…)
2. The “Major League vs Little League” difference between Obama’s infrastructure and his own.
3. The inherent difficulty/sensitivity of running against two figures at once. McCain will have to 1) explicitly criticize a sitting Republican president before Republican audiences and 2) prevent the historic event of electing the nation’s first African-American president that many in the country (and the media) desire.
4. The ever-present danger on the trail that he might evoke Bob Dole with a Bob Dole-like misstep (fall off a stage, sound like a Washington fossil, seem angry and out of touch).
via MSNBC's First Read:
"a 50% cut and a halving of the delegates is not the same thing. For instance, if Florida delegates are seated in their entirety, but only have their vote counted as a .5, then Clinton will net approximately 19 delegates out of the state. But if the delegation is cut in half, that's done in every congressional district as well as statewide, then suddenly Clinton's advantage is only a net of six. That's right, the complicated nature of the DNC delegate selection process will be a good reminder to math majors everywhere that a 50% cut is not the same as a halving of an individual number. Go figure..."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/29/1075327.aspx
WOW!!!
Could it be???? This is such GREAT TIMING!!!
AUSTIN -- El Paso supporters of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won their fight Wednesday with El Paso County Democratic Party officials who support his rival presidential candidate, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
A credentials committee of the state party ruled in favor of Obama supporters, who said that El Paso officials did not award the candidate enough delegates from the county convention in March.
"We got what we asked for," said Don Williams, the El Paso Democrat and Obama supporter who challenged the delegate allocation. "We never should have been here in the first place."
At the state party convention, El Paso County will seat 131 delegates for Clinton and 44 delegates for Obama. That is 26 more delegates than initially had been allocated to Obama.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_9408903
This bit of reporting went largely unnoticed (at least by me) so I thought I'd post it, even though it was written 7 days ago:
May 20, 2008 2:41 PM
ABC News' Teddy Davis and John Santucci Report: Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., will not be lining up behind Sen. Barack Obama when the Illinois Democrat becomes the pledged delegate majority winner later today nor does he plan to make an endorsement on June 3rd when the primary season draws to a close.
But in a Tuesday speech to the liberal Center for American Progress Action Fund on the "holes" in Sen. John McCain's foreign policy, Biden showed off why he might make a strong running mate for Obama, and he upped the pressure on Clinton to embrace the "probable" Democratic nominee two weeks from today.
"From my standpoint and my unsolicited prediction will be, come June 3rd, there will be a very hard accounting on the part of Hillary as to whether or not she stays and continues this fight or shortly thereafter whether or not she fully embraces Barack Obama," said Biden.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/05/biden-clinton-f.html
I am sick and tired of the Clinton camp trying to blame Obama for HER Bobby Kennedy remark. IT MAKES NO SENSE. It's long been a Rovian/Clintonian tactic to blame your opponent for something your own campaign said, but in this case it's absolutely preposterous.
"McAuliffe accused the Obama group of "inflaming" the issue by issuing that response..."
What the hell????
Was the O camp NOT SUPPOSED TO RESPOND??? HOW DUMB IS THAT??? And it was a truly unremarkable response by first referring to her gross comment as "unfortunate." THAT was an understatement.
That's a question I haven't heard asked or answered by the press to the Clinton camp:
"How should have they responded?"
For once it really was the press that made a big deal, and they should have. The press is (supposted to be) the voice of the public to hold national figures like Hillary accountable for their actions and words. Just like W. and his administration, they can't take criticism.
The kitchen's too hot. Time to get out, Hill.
This is such a satisfying video showing how pathetic HRC's campaign has been in defending her assassination remark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZgivW-HKyQ
I was really surprised at Chris Wallace's pointed questions to Terry McAuliffe. A MUST SEE!!!
She is sick. I am actually SHOCKED and yet I know I shouldn't be.
You can see the FULL TRANSCRIPT and VIDEO from the Argus' website:
http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080523/UPDATES/80523037
You can also comment on their blog.
In her "apology" she went out of her way to apologize to the Kennedy family which she should. But as one commenter mentioned at the Argus,
"WHAT ABOUT THE OBAMA FAMILY????"
From NBC's Mark MurrayObama will fill in for Ted Kennedy in giving Sunday's commencement address at Wesleyan University, his campaign says.
“Ted and I talked about me filling in for him at Wesleyan University earlier this week," Obama said in a statement. "Considering what he's done for me and for our country, there's nothing I wouldn't do for him. So I'm looking forward to standing in his place on Sunday even though I know I won't be able to fill his shoes."
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/22/1053677.aspx#comments
What an honor! Let's continue to pray for the Lion of the Senate!
