What has become of John McCain’s “Straight Talk”? His campaign has not put out an honest ad about Barack Obama yet.
According to factcheck.org, John McCain’s advertisements have either misstated or misrepresented Barack Obama’s positions every time he has put out an ad.
The Republicans first said that “Obama "voted 94 times for higher taxes." But their count is inflated and misleading.”[1] In fact, Barack Obama has never voted to increase taxes on anyone making less than a million dollars per year. John McCain also put out an ad which said falsely claimed that Barack Obama voted to raise taxes on those making $32,000 a year. Factcheck.org said ‘That's wrong.”[2] And, he has said he will cut taxes for the middle class. In reality, Obama’s own plan “would provide a tax cut of $502 for a non-married taxpayer earning $35,000.”
The Republicans have said that Barack Obama has “no new solutions”[5] to the energy problem. Barack Obama “has proposed $150 billion in spending over 10 years for biofuels, plug-in hybrids, low-emission coal plants and the rapid commercialization of other new, clean energy technologies. The ad also recycles the misleading claim that Obama has said "no" to nuclear. Obama said he is open to nuclear if it is clean and safe.”
So, who’s really given the American people “straight talk”? It’s not John McCain, George Bush and the Republicans.
But the beginning of this has only now turned to the ugliest possible scenario. John McCain and his cohorts have started to not-so-subtly introduce race into this contest. So much for McCain’s claim he wanted a civil campaign.
First he forthrightly suggests that Obama’s patriotism would lose a war in his desire to win a political race. Then his campaign puts out an ad which is a complete LIE about Obama ignoring the troops…and his ad has been refuted by just about every news organization around. Finally, his campaign has an ad which tries to tie Obama to white women of not so pure repute, Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton.
To quote “Blazing Saddles”, “Where’s the white women?”
It would be silly if it wasn’t so sad, so racial, so biased and so sick.
How anyone can support John McCain now that he has turned his back on all he has purported to stand for all these years?
Today, his campaign chair said that it is Obama who is playing the race card. Now that’s a bad joke. It’s also a LIE. Notice if you will that McCain’s campaign loves to LIE!!! They do it well!
Barack Obama believes that the American people are smart enough to see through the lies. He believes America is up to the task to conquer the problems facing us.
[1] Factcheck.org, “Tax Tally Trickery”, 7/3/08
[2] Factcheck.org, “The $32,000 Question”, 7/8/08
[3] Factcheck.org, “Errors in Espanol”, 7/8/08
[4] Barackobama.com, Statement on Free Trade
[5] Factcheck.org, “A False Accusation about Energy”, 7/9/08
I just got this from one of the posters on the NewsJunkies list.
This is just more proof that McCain is nothing more than an extension of Bush. His campaign obviously believes that if someone disagrees with them it's always better to arrest or kick-out them out. Even if they are a quiet librarian.
Here's the story and the links.
Progress Now captured this video of Carole Kreck, a 61 year librarian, waiting in line this morning at the Denver Center for Performing Arts to attend the John McCain town hall meeting. She held a sign that said "McCain = Bush." She was on public property at an event that was open to the public.
Go here if the imbedded link in this email doesn't work. http://www.youtube.com/v/6lyaMrS0hzk&hl=en&
I've been a part of a national e-mail list about journalism for over 12 years. This is remarkable only in that I am NOT a journalist. I'm a computer nerd. But I am also a news and political junkie, so this list has been an important part of my life. And I've been honored to be a part of it all these years.
So today, as I was working away, came the initial e-mails....Tim Russert was dead! I was overwhelmed with saddness.
But I had a job to do. The first thing was to make sure the word was getting out to my friends on the list. So I put out the word. In very simple terms:
Tim Russert, dead at 58.
SHIT!!!!!
This is a sad day for both journalism, which he was the best in his field, and politics, which needed him more than any politician will admit. Who will step forward, who will take the responsibility to be the watchdog of our body politic?
Who will be the person to lead us through the drama of election night? Who will make sense of all the senselessness that is politics?
I don't know the answers. All I know is that I sit here, having watched a special about the life of Tim Russert, I'm struck with saddness. And hope.
Just as there was a Tim Russert, there is another. A person who will be the watchdog of our democracy.
But until that person steps forward....
Rest In Peace, Mr. Russert.
I've been working crazy hours again. But that doesn't mean I don't keep up with the news. Since a long coherent thought is out of the question...here's some quick thoughts.
I have become a one-man information center for friends and acquaintances for Barack. I probably get one or two e-mail requests a day for information on stands which he has taken or opinions about what he has said. This is especially true of my fellow Jews. This is great, because I'd rather they come to me for information than rely on information not fact-checked.
I find it sickening that the Repub's have decided to target Michelle Obama. It shows was a desperate and cowardly group they really are. I appreciate Barack's speaking up in her defense.
Speaking of sickening, Fox News....enough said.
My latest thoughts on who I would be for Barack's VP:
1) Sam Nunn
2) Jean Napalitano
3) Bill Richardson
4) Michael Bloomberg
5) Kathleen Sebleius (probably misspelled....I have a tough time with her name)
So, it's "not too important" when are brave men and woman get to come home. McCain, either just doesn't get it about families wanting their kids or parents to come home or just doesn't care about them (I'm betting on the first).
Love the initial polling numbers, but I'm pretty sure they are way under-reporting reality. I truly believe that young people will come out this year in droves, and droves, and droves.
BTW, favorite new Obama video...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xYkXLQ1YIc
My son got his official invitation to D.C. for the Presidential Inauguration. I shall now watch $2400 leave my coffers...but how can I not send him to observe the day Barack become's president. And he gets to go to an Inaugural Ball. Lucky, lucky, lucky.
OK, back to work for me
Volunteering this weekend for Obama....please do the same.
YES WE CAN!!!!!
Ooh, am I going to catch crap when I finish this entry. I know it, and I'm ready to face the music.
There's been no one more upset and disgusted than I have been at some of Hillary Clinton's tatics during this campaign. She has acted in ways that has absolutely diven me up the wall.
But we are now about to enter into an entirely different realm. We need a unified party in order to win in November. And so I look out amongst the landscape and ask who can help us do this. I also remember Abraham Lincoln. I have read "Team of Rivals". I believe those unwilling to learn from history is sure to repeat it.
I already see Barack bringing in Joe Biden to assist with foreign policy questions. He is asking Bill Richardson to help with Hispanic and Latino voters and policy. He surely has been working with Chris Dodd. You know he will with John Edwards.
So, if she can show over the next few days that she is willing to be a team player, then I think.....
OK, Hillary should be on the ticket as the VP.
Facing facts, there is a large part of this party (and the electorate overall) who revere Hillary and Bill Clinton. They respect the work she has done, and what she speaks to. In order for us to effect change, we must also recognize that some are going to be unwilling to shift with us without some sort of a security blanket.
Hillary is that blanket. She brings with her both attributes which help our campaign and voters to our campaign which no one else really can (and believe me, I've looked).
So, we need to put away our anger, angst, hurt and everything else which has been a part of this primary campaign and accept the fact that she may well be the right person to run with Barack.
For the good of the country....let's do it.
I submitted this to Clinton website. I'm sure I won't get an answer:
Dear Ms. Clinton, Mr. Wolfson and Mr. McAuliffe,
On Friday, as I went about my normal business, I overheard on the news the remarks which Ms. Clinton said to the Argus Leader editorial board about why she was still in this race.
I was lucky enough to watch her entire statement via the internet, so there was no filtering from the talking heads on the TV.
What I heard was a statement which had the following subtex: I'm still around because sooner or later what happened to RFK will happen to Barack Obama. Then the Democratic Party would have no choice but to make me the nominee.
This was not a suggestion given to me by the Obama campaign, as Mr. Wolfson and McAuliffe stated today on the Sunday talkfests. I am an intelligent man who can understand both the statements and the subtexts of what is being said. Please do not continue to offend my ability to understand what I hear by telling me that I cannot understand the obvious.
Why is it that Ms. Clinton continues to state that she is being afflicted by unfair press when it is her words which speak loudest about what she really feels? It is not the press nor the Obama campaign which continues to use logic and mathmatics twisted by desire for either office or power (or both) and ignores completely the unfairness which she pushes down others throats who disagree with her.
Ms. Clinton, you continue to want everything both ways. You agreed to the rules of the game concerning Michigan and Florida, then you accuse others of trying to take away their votes when you did not speak up at the time the decisions were made. I am especially appalled by your stance on Michigan, where thousands upon thousands would have voted for Barack Obama had he not agreed with the other candidates to take their names off the ballot. Now you speak of disenfranchisement? It is sad, and twisted.
Up until today, I was willing to let whatever happen happen, as the end I thought would soon be here.
But now, as the horrible accusations from your campaign continue to denegrate this process, I must beg of you to do what is best for this nation you claim to love and suspend your campaign.
And please believe me when I tell you that this has nothing to do with you being a woman, there is no sexism in this request. I actually could have (and was well on my way to) gotten past your remarks until your Communications Director and Mr. McAuliffe (whatever his title is in your campaign) opened their mouths and made me ill.
So now, I will again beg of you. Please serve this nation by ending this charade today. If you have any caring for us as a nation at all, you will do what I request.
Regards,
Kevin Brabant Roswell, GA
I'm OK with proportional ceding of delegates for the Democratic nomination. I do feel it is one of the fairest ways to show a strong candidate(s) battling each other and allow a candidate to hang on through a rough batch.
But it does seem that we need a little tweeking here. I have an idea (and I'm sure someone has thought of this before me). Let's reflect a landslide in a state with all the pledged delegates available. To me, a landslide is a win by at least 15%.
If this idea had been in place this year. Here's the breakdown of delegate:
State Winner Delegates Clinton Obama % Margin Clinton ObamaIowa Obama 45 14 25 8 14 25New Hampshire Clinton 22 9 9 3 9 9Nevada Clinton 25 11 14 6 11 14South Carolina Obama 45 12 25 28 0 45Massachusetts Clinton 93 55 38 15 93 0Connecticut Obama 48 22 26 4 22 26New York Clinton 232 139 93 17 232 0New Jersey Clinton 107 59 48 10 59 38Delaware Obama 15 6 9 11 6 9Georgia Obama 87 27 60 35 0 87Tennessee Clinton 68 39 29 13 39 29Alabama Obama 51 24 27 14 24 27Illinois Obama 153 49 104 32 0 153Minnesota Obama 72 24 48 34 0 72Missouri Obama 72 36 36 1 36 36Arkansas Clinton 35 27 8 44 35 0North Dakota Obama 13 5 8 24 0 13Kansas Obama 32 9 23 48 0 32Oklahoma Clinton 38 24 14 24 38 0American Samoa Clinton 3 2 1 2 1Colorado Obama 55 20 35 35 0 55New Mexico Clinton 26 14 12 1 14 12Arizona Clinton 56 31 25 8 31 25Utah Obama 23 9 14 18 0 23Idaho Obama 18 3 15 63 0 18California Clinton 370 207 163 10 207 163Alaska Obama 13 4 9 49 0 13Louisiana Obama 56 22 34 21 0 56Washington (caucus) Obama 78 26 52 26 0 78Nebraska Obama 24 8 16 36 0 24Virgin Islands Obama 3 0 3 0 3Maine Obama 24 9 15 19 0 24D.C Obama 15 3 12 51 0 15Maryland Obama 70 28 42 23 0 70Virginia Obama 83 29 54 29 0 83Wisconsin Obama 74 32 42 17 0 74Hawaii Obama 20 6 14 52 0 20Vermont Obama 15 6 9 20 0 15Ohio Clinton 141 74 67 10 74 67Rhode Island Clinton 21 13 8 18 21 0Texas(P) Clinton 126 67 61 4 67 61Texas© Obama 67 27 38 12 27 38Wyoming Obama 12 5 7 23 0 12Mississippi Obama 33 13 20 24 0 33Pennsylvania Clinton 158 85 73 10 85 73Indiana Clinton 72 38 34 2 38 34North Carolina Obama 115 58 67 19 0 115West Virginia Clinton 28 20 8 41 28 0 Kentucky Clinton 52 37 14 35 52 0Oregon Obama 53 21 31 18 0 53Puerto Rico 56 Montana 16 South Dakota 16 1508 1639 1269 1868
So as you can see, using my system instead of the 131 pledged delegate lead we currently enjoy, we'd have 499 pledged delegate lead and this race would be soooo over.
So, whoever the powers that be may be. Please consider my idea for the next election cycle.
YES WE CAN....YES WE ARE!!!!!!
After Hillary's comments to the Souix Falls Argus-Leader (great name for a newspaper, BTW), I decided to take a more direct tack to the non-committed superdelegates. Here's what I wrote...use it if you like:
Dear Sir or Madam, I would like to thank your for your willingness and commitment to be a leader in our party. To stand for the hopes and dreams of the people of this country is impressive on its face and I appreciate this greatly. Up until today, I have not had a problem with anyone of you standing as non-committed in your decision as to who you would support for the nomination. I believe that allowing the entire country to vote before you made your decision was absolutely understandable and allowable. But Friday, that scene changed. Hillary Clinton spoke words which should never have been spoken. She basically said that she was still in the race hoping for Barack Obama's assassination. It was a sickening reference, and no responsible leader should ever say those words.So in my humble opinion, Mrs. Clinton has given up any right to the nomination of the Democratic Party. I actually believe that she no longer has the right to sit in the Senate, but that is not your decision or mine. Hence, I respectfully request that you now stand for decency. Commit today to Sen. Obama's nomination, and end the charade which Sen. Clinton has made of this race. Regards, Kevin BrabantRoswell, GA
I am sending this to all my friends....I think something like this should be put out to everyone we know. We have an opportunity in this campaign in so many ways it is unbelievable.
Use it if you like.
YES WE CAN!!!!
I'm lucky. I am sure that all of my friends and family members are not racists. I'm also lucky to have lived in a time in America where I've been able to see so much improvement in race relations.
No where is that more evident than in the fact that one of the two finalists (wow..doesn't that sound so American Idol-ish) for the presidency is a black American.
Now, as the vast majority of you are aware, I am supporting Obama for president, but this e-mail is only tangentially about that.
I read in the Washington Post this morning the story (which I have attached) about the acts of racism facing those who are working in support of Barack Obama. The scary thing is that this would be happening in 2008, to any candidate for any office. As I read this piece, I was so saddened. This is certainly not representative of the country which I know so well and love so much. I have called hundreds of people during this campaign and have been so welcomed on the phone, no matter that I was probably interrupting someone's dinner.
But the more I thought about this, the more I believe this is a HUGE opportunity for us as a country. I believe this can be used to further our country in achieving racial harmony. Here's what I am asking each of you to do.
For the purpose of this request, I personally don't care if you like or dislike, love or abhor, care or not care about Barack Obama. But over the next few month's I'm sure you will be discussing him during your conversations with family, friends or neighbors. If during the conversation a statement is made which seems to be of a racist or bigoted nature about him which has no basis in fact, be willing to talk to the person about it. Ask them if what they are saying is true, or just based on a stereotype. See if we can agree that they may not agree with his politics, but that we really should only judge him on those political beliefs he holds. And certainly, if you see any acts of violence or complete discourteousness to those who may be working on his behalf that you will call the local authorities immediately.
If nothing else, I personally want our country to rise even higher toward a color-blind society. But to do this, we must be willing to put ourselves on the line when we see other's acting in a bigoted fashion.
Please do so. Make the commitment to yourself, and to our country.
Here's the attachment:
Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners
By Kevin Merida Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, May 13, 2008;
Danielle Ross was alone in an empty room at the Obama campaign headquarters in Kokomo, Ind., a cellphone in one hand, a voter call list in the other. She was stretched out on the carpeted floor wearing laceless sky-blue Converses, stories from the trail on her mind. It was the day before Indiana's primary, and she had just been chased by dogs while canvassing in a Kokomo suburb.
But that was not the worst thing to occur since she postponed her sophomore year at Middle Tennessee State University, in part to hopscotch America stumping for Barack Obama.
Here's the worst: In Muncie, a factory town in the east-central part of Indiana, Ross and her cohorts were soliciting support for Obama at malls, on street corners and in a Wal-Mart parking lot, and they ran into "a horrible response," as Ross put it, a level of anti-black sentiment that none of them had anticipated.
The first person I encountered was like, "I'll never vote for a black person," recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20.
"People just weren't receptive." For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed --and unreported --this election season.
Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president.
The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight. Victoria Switzer, a retired social studies teacher, was on phone-bank duty one night during the Pennsylvania primary campaign.
One night was all she could take: "It wasn't pretty." She made 60 calls to prospective voters in Susquehanna County, her home county, which is 98 percent white. The responses were dispiriting.
One caller, Switzer remembers, said he couldn't possibly vote for Obama and concluded "Hang that darky from a tree!"
Documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy, the daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, said she, too, came across "a lot of racism" when campaigning for Obama in Pennsylvania. One Pittsburgh union organizer told her he would not vote for Obama because he is black, and a white voter, she said, offered this frank reason for not backing Obama "White people look out for white people, and black people look out for black people."
Obama campaign officials say such incidents are isolated, that the experience of most volunteers and staffers has been overwhelmingly positive.
The campaign released this statement in response to questions about encounters with racism "After campaigning for 15 months in nearly all 50 states, Barack Obama and our entire campaign have been nothing but impressed and encouraged by the core decency, kindness, and generosity of Americans from all walks of life. The last year has only reinforced Senator Obama's view that this country is not as divided as our politics suggest."
Campaign field work can be an exercise in confronting the fears, anxieties and prejudices of voters. Veterans of the civil rights movement know what this feels like, as do those who have been involved in battles over busing, immigration or abortion.
But through the Obama campaign, some young people are having their first experience joining a cause and meeting cruel reaction. On Election Day in Kokomo, a group of black high school students were holding up Obama signs along U.S. 31, a major thoroughfare. As drivers cruised by, a number of them rolled down their windows and yelled out a common racial slur for African Americans, according to Obama campaign staffers.
Frederick Murrell, a black Kokomo High School senior, was not there but heard what happened. He was more disappointed than surprised. During his own canvassing for Obama, Murrell said, he had "a lot of doors slammed" in his face. But taunting teenagers on a busy commercial strip in broad daylight?
"I was very shocked at first," Murrell said. "Then again, I wasn't, because we have a lot of racism here."
The bigotry has gone beyond words. In Vincennes, the Obama campaign office was vandalized at 2 a.m. on the eve of the primary, according to police. A large plate-glass window was smashed, an American flag stolen. Other windows were spray-painted with references to Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, and other political messages "Hamas votes BHO" and "We don't cling to guns or religion. Goddamn Wright."
Ray McCormick was notified of the incident at about 2:45 a.m. A farmer and conservationist, McCormick had erected a giant billboard on a major highway on behalf of Farmers for Obama. He also was housing the Obama campaign worker manning the office. When McCormick arrived at the office, about two hours before he was due out of bed to plant corn, he grabbed his camera and wanted to alert the media. "I thought, this is a big deal."
But he was told Obama campaign officials didn't want to make a big deal of the incident.
McCormick took photos anyway and distributed some. "The pictures represent what we are breaking through and overcoming," he said. As McCormick, who is white, sees it, Obama is succeeding despite these incidents.
Later, there would be bomb threats to three Obama campaign offices in Indiana, including the one in Vincennes, according to campaign sources.
Obama has not spoken much about racism during this campaign. He has sought to emphasize connections among Americans rather than divisions. He shrugged off safety concerns that led to early Secret Service protection and has told black senior citizens who worry that racists will do him harm: Don't fret.
Earlier in the campaign, a 68-year-old woman in Carson City, Nev., voiced concern that the country was not ready to elect an African American president. "Will there be some folks who probably won't vote for me because I am black? Of course," Obama said, "just like there may be somebody who won't vote for Hillary because she's a woman or wouldn't vote for John Edwards because they don't like his accent. But the question is, 'Can we get a majority of the American people to give us a fair hearing?'"
Obama has won 30 of 50 Democratic contests so far, the kind of nationwide electoral triumph no black candidate has ever realized. That he is on the brink of capturing the Democratic nomination, some say, is a testament to how far the country has progressed in overcoming racism and evidence of Obama's skill at bridging divides.
Obama has won five of 12 primaries in which black voters made up less than 10 percent of the electorate, and caucuses in states such as Idaho and Wyoming that are overwhelmingly white.
But exit polls show he has struggled to attract white voters who didn't attend college and earn less than $50,000 a year. Today, he and Hillary Clinton square off in West Virginia, a state where she is favored and where the votes of working-class whites will again be closely watched.
For the most part, Obama campaign workers say, the 2008 election cycle has been exhilarating.
On the ground, the Obama campaign is being driven by youngsters, many of whom are imbued with an optimism undeterred by racial intolerance. "We've grown up in a different world," says Danielle Ross. Field offices are staffed by 20-somethings who hold positions --state director, regional field director, field organizer --that are typically off limits to newcomers to presidential politics.
Gillian Bergeron, 23, was in charge of a five-county regional operation in northeastern Pennsylvania. The oldest member of her team was 27. At Scranton's annual Saint Patrick's Day parade, some of the green Obama signs distributed by staffers were burned along the parade route. That was the first signal that this wasn't exactly Obama country.
There would be others.
In a letter to the editor published in a local paper, Tunkhannock Borough Mayor Norm Ball explained his support of Hillary Clinton this way "Barack Hussein Obama and all of his talk will do nothing for our country. There is so much that people don't know about his upbringing in the Muslim world. His stepfather was a radical Muslim and the ranting of his minister against the white America, you can't convince me that some of that didn't rub off on him."
"No, I want a president that will salute our flag, and put their hand on the Bible when they take the oath of office."
Obama's campaign workers have grown wearily accustomed to the lies about the candidate's supposed radical Muslim ties and lack of patriotism. But they are sometimes astonished when public officials such as Ball or others representing the campaign of their opponent traffic in these falsehoods.
Karen Seifert, a volunteer from New York, was outside of the largest polling location in Lackawanna County, Pa., on primary day when she was pressed by a Clinton volunteer to explain her backing of Obama. "I trust him," Seifert replied. According to Seifert, the woman pointed to Obama's face on Seifert's T-shirt and said: "He's a half-breed and he's a Muslim. How can you trust that?"
***
Pollsters have found it difficult to accurately measure racial attitudes, as some voters are unwilling to acknowledge the role that race plays in their thinking. But some are not.
Susan Dzimian, a Clinton supporter who owns residential properties, said outside a polling location in Kokomo that race was a factor in how she viewed Obama. "I think if it was somebody other than him, I'd accept it," she said of a black candidate. "If Colin Powell had run, I would be willing to accept him."
The previous evening, Dondra Ewing was driving the neighborhoods of Kokomo, looking to turn around voters like Dzimian. Ewing, 47, is a chain-smoking middle school guidance counselor, a black single mother of two and one of the most fiercely vigilant Obama volunteers in Kokomo, which was once a Ku Klux Klan stronghold. On July 4, 1923, Kokomo hosted the largest Klan gathering in history --an estimated 200,000 followers flocked to a local park.
But these are not the 1920s, and Ewing believes she can persuade anybody to back Obama. Her mother, after all, was the first African American elected at-large to the school board in a community that is 10 percent black.
Kokomo, population 46,000, is another hard-hit Midwestern industrial town stung by layoffs.
Longtimers wistfully remember the glory years of Continental Steel and speak mournfully about the jobs shipped overseas. Kokomo Sanitary Pottery, which made bathroom sinks and toilets, shut down a couple of months ago and took with it 150 jobs.
Aaron Roe, 23, was mowing lawns at a local cemetery recently, lamenting his $8-an-hour job with no benefits. He had earned a community college degree as an industrial electrician, but learned there was no electrical work to be found for someone with his experience, which is to say none.
Politics wasn't on his mind; frustration was. If he were to vote, it would not be for Obama, he said. "I just got a funny feeling about him," Roe said, a feeling he couldn't specify, except to say race wasn't a part of it. "Race ain't nothing," said Roe, who is white. "It's how they're going to help the country."
The Aaron Roes are exactly who Dondra Ewing was after "people with funny feelings." At the Bradford Run Apartments, she found Robert Cox, a retiree who spent 30 years working for an electronics manufacturer making computer chips.
He was in his suspenders, grilling shish kebab, which he had never eaten. "Something new," Cox said, recommended by his son who was visiting from Colorado. Ewing was selling him hard on Obama.
"There are more than two families that can run the United States of America," she said, "and their names aren't Bush and Clinton."
"Yeah, I know, I know," Cox said, remaining noncommittal.
He opened the grill and peeked at the kebabs. "It's not his race, because I got real good friends and all that," Cox continued. "If anything would keep him from getting elected, it would be his name. It might turn off some older people."
Like him? "No, older than me," said Cox, 66.
Ewing kept talking, until finally Cox said, "Probably Obama," when asked directly how he would vote.
As she walked away, Ewing said "I think we got him."
But truthfully, she wasn't feeling so sure.
Staff writer Peter Slevin and polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
I have so many things on my mind. I cannot concentrate on just one subject.
So it's time for a memory dump, aka, random thoughts. Enjoy my incoherency.
I know, the race isn't officially over. Bull!!! It's so very over. I'm already making my plans to work all my relatives in Arizona to see what I can do to make sure Barack takes McCain's home state. If Barack just eats a few more chicken tacos, we'll have that in the bag.
Time for me to handicap the VP stakes: Gov. Bill Richardson: 3-1; NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg: 5-1; Gov. Kathleen Selebius: 7-1; Sen. Joe Biden: 10-1; Sen. Ben Nelson (FL): 12-1. Now, my odds may be skewed because of my respect for Bill Richardson, but I love what he could bring with him (loads of experience and probably a goodly hispanic vote). I wouldn't mind Bloomberg, would help with the Jewish vote and understands the economy as well as anyone in the world.
Isn't it kinda weird to watch Hilary and the rest of the Clinton's continue to do their thing without any hope of winning. I mean, it's rather sad, if I weren't so damn happy about it.
BTW, "working, hard working white people"??? Well, I'm white. I work hard. I grew up in lower middle class circumstances. Ooops, I messed up, I worked my way through college and graduated. That must be the reason that I'm sooooooo easily entranced by Obama.
What pundits and talking heads don't understand is that this nation is more than willing to look past their old prejudices if someone can actually offer them truth and intelligence. John McCain used to be able to provide the truth, but he is now just offering a little of the intelligence. Watching his boredom-inducing speech on the environment today made me want to cry. He was saying one set of ideas but his records smacks those words down quickly.
Early prediction of the final electoral college: Obama 315, McCain 225. We win!!!!
I'm going back to work now....good night all...and let's all dream of a nation lead by Barack Obama.
Remember "The Music Man". He said he was from Gary, IN (Class of aught-5).
Mark my words, by the end of tonight Gary will end up shutting this race down for good.
Between them and Bloomington (IU), we will pull out the big win....and this race will be OVER!!!!
YES WE CAN!!!!!!
OK, I'm here to help those like me. Here's something from a spreadsheet I'm using for tonight for Indiana. What this group to see how we are doing:
CountyClintonObamaWhy?LakeGaryPorterValpoSaint JosephNDAllenFt. WayneHowardKokomoMarionIndyDelawareMuncie/BallSt.VigoIndi St.VanderburgEvansvilleTippecanoePurdue
If you have read most of my posts, then you know that I am a political junkie. A no-holds-barred, deep-in-need, watching-returns-til-4am type of political junkie. Lately, circumstances have deprived me of my fixes.
Work, dammit, work. 18 hours of day kinda work. Too much of that to do anything other than look lovingly at my wife and let my kids know I still exist. Thank goodness I work out of my house.
But today, I am getting ready for the ultimate fix. The end of Hillary's run for the White House. I am watching the turnout in Indiana. Watching it VERY closely. If the turnout in Indianapolis, Gary and the college towns are as heavy as they have started out, Obama will win Indiana and we will start our race against John McCain.
So, the IV is now firmly placed in my arm and the returns will go directly into my system. May this fix be the one that puts us all over the top.
My goodness, it's been days and days since I have blogged. I've been working 18 hour days. I made some calls to Pennsylvania. I was able to pull myself away to our local monthly get-together. But my political work was put on complete hold.
I'm still working tons of hours. I don't see that stopping until mid-summer. But....we have two important primaries next week. If we win both, the game is over. So, no matter how much I am working, I am going to carve out two or three hours this weekend to make calls.
When I have watched the news and caught my favorite websites these last couple of weeks, I am have amazed by the lack of noticing the obvious. No matter all gales of hot air Hillary throws at Barack, he is still very much ahead. Unless the world turns on its head, he will be the Democratic nominee.
But like many, I'm concerned about the extended damage which Hillary (and even moreso, Bill) has decided to inflict on Obama if she can. It is the height of hubris on her part, but it is what it is and we must continue on.
I made sure I made my normal donation before th April deadline. I'll be making phone calls. It is time for us to pull out all the stops and finish this contest. I know the people of NC and Indiana are intelligent folks. They can see a smokescreen when they see it. It is our job to work to slow the smoke away and allow them to see the man Barack is and what he can be for our nation.
So, it is time for me to stretch. Less sleep, more calls.
Let's all do it. Let's make a difference this weekend.
YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!
From the AJC:
Former Georgia senator Sam Nunn, who toyed with the concept of a non-partisan run for president last year, has come down on the side of Barack Obama in the Democratic race for president.
If this doesn't speak to the wide-net of support which Obama draws from, nothing will!!!
I watched last night's debacle....errrr.....debate, and I kept on turning to my wife and saying, "When is there going to be a question which actually concerns our problems?"
I love Charlie Gibson, but last night was his disaster from start to finish. He asked questions which were completely biased against Barack. We he finally did get around to asking a question about the capital gains tax, his premise for the question is not factually correct.
Was he drunk? Is he on medications which we don't know about? What was the deal? I even got completely lost on the middle-class tax question, and I was an Economics major with a special interest in government taxation and spending.
What wasn't surprising was George Stephanopoulos' role in the evening. Let's face it, he was a key player in Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign and he worked in his White House. Gee, how was he supposed to pull off being a fair and impartial when there was really no way for him to divorce himself from his past? This is why judge's recuse themselves from hearing cases when there is even an appearance of a conflict of interest.
What it finally ended up being was a waste of our time. There was no real debating. There was the piddling around with the first hour of nothing but tabloid blather.
What is sad is that this is the network of Peter Jennings, who would never have allowed such shoddy journalism to occur under the banner of ABCNews.
They could now name it the All Billary Clinton News.
Luckily, Barack came through the valley of the shadow of sensationalism in proud fashion. He did not allow himself to be dragged into the mudpit that Hillary, Charlie and George so happily played in. May they enjoy the muck until this race is over....after we win Pennsylvania.
Planning to make many calls to the Keystone state this weekend. Please join me in making a difference.
YES WE CAN!!!!!!!
From politicalwire.com
"If [Republicans] could cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, middle-class Americans would see fewer benefits from their tax dollars, feel more resentful paying taxes, and become even more receptive to their appeals for tax cuts and their strategy of waging campaigns on divisive social and cultural issues like abortion, gay rights, and guns." -- Bill Clinton, in his 2004 memoirs, My Life, making the same argument as Sen. Barack Obama.
So, Barack stated the obvious in San Francisco. He said that people in small towns in middle America are bitter about the way they've been treated by politicians as they watched their jobs dwindle and disappear.
I grew up in a small town in Michigan. I've watched that town stagnate as the auto industry stagnate. There is real frustration there as politician after politician of both party stripe has promised to make changes that would change their lives, and time after time there is nothing but disappointment.
So Obama is absolutely correct. They no longer see a reason to vote based on economic concerns, as they feel they'll only be lied to. They now vote to keep their guns (my grandfather was a hunter, but would never do so unless he intended on eating it himself).
They rely on their religion. It is the only promise that seems to be kept. If that means supporting a ban on gay marriage, so be it.
I agree with Barack. Let's not allow the Clinton's and the McCain's to point their fingers without seeing the other 3 fingers point back at them. They have been a part of the establishment for years. Can they actually point to anything they've done which has helped one family get a job? Or put food on their table?
Let's keep up the pressure. Let's continue to tell America that we know they are pissed off. They are angry and they are bitter. And they have every right to be. But Barack Obama is not just here to blather on about empty promises, he stands for a real change.
And we, as American's are ready to stand with him.
