Joyce Skyler's Blog

A Canadian columnist POV of Palin

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:41:50 EDT

A Mighty Wind blows through Republican convention

Heather Mallick
CBC.ca - September 5, 2008

I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right.

So why do it?

It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman. They're unfamiliar with our true natures. Do they think vaginas call out to each other in the jungle night? I mean, I know men have their secret meetings at which they pledge to do manly things, like being irresponsible with their semen and postponing household repairs with glue and used matches. Guys will be guys, obviously.

But do they not know that women have been trained to resent other women and that they only learn to suppress this by constantly berating themselves and reading columns like this one? I'm a feminist who understands that women can nurse terrible and delicate woman hatred.

Palin was not a sure choice, not even for the stolidly Republican ladies branch of Citizens for a Tackier America. No, she isn't even female really. She's a type, and she comes in male form too.

John Doyle, the cleverest critic in Canada, comes right out and calls Palin an Alaska hillbilly. Damn his eyes, I wish I'd had the wit to come up with it first. It's safer than "white trash" but I'll pluck safety out of the nettle danger. Or something.

Doyle's job includes watching a lot of reality television and he's well-versed in the backstory. White trash -- not trailer trash, that's something different -- is rural, loud, proudly unlettered (like Bush himself), suspicious of the urban, frankly disbelieving of the foreign, and a fan of the American cliché of authenticity. The semiotics are pure Palin: a sturdy body, clothes that are clinging yet boxy and a voice that could peel the plastic seal off your new microwave.

'Turn your guns on Levi, ma'am'

Palin has a toned-down version of the porn actress look favoured by this decade's woman, the overtreated hair, puffy lips and permanently alarmed expression. Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the "pramface." Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi "I'm a fuckin' redneck" Johnson prodding his daughter?

I know that I have an attachment to children that verges on the irrational, but why don't the Palins? I'm not the one preaching homespun values but I'd destroy that ratboy before I'd let him get within scenting range of my daughter again, and so would you. Palin's e-mails about the brother-in-law she tried to get fired as a state trooper are fizzing with rage and revenge. Turn your guns on Levi, ma'am.

Palin has it all, along with being vicious and profoundly dishonest. Just hours after her first convention speech, the Associated Press did a good fast listing of her untruths and I won't dwell on them.

I did promise to watch the entire convention so you wouldn't have to, but I discovered a neat trick. I switched between the convention and the 2003 folk music mockumentary A Mighty Wind on Bravo.

They were indistinguishable. Click on a nervous wreck with deeply strange hair doing a monologue on society today and where it all went wrong. Are you watching Christian belter Aaron Tippin singing Where the Stars and Stripes and Eagle Fly in the Xcel Centre in St. Paul or the actors from Spinal Tap remixing the 1966 version of Potato's in the Paddy Wagon?

Who delivered this line: "To do then now would be retro. To do then then was very now-tro, if you will." Was it Rev. James Dobson of Focus on the Family talking about Bristol Palin's shotgun wedding or was it a flashback to the Kingston Trio?

The conventioneers are nothing like the rich men who run the party, and that's the mystery of the hick vote. They'd be much better served by the Democrats. I know Thomas Frank answered this in What's the Matter with Kansas?; I know that red states vote Republican on social issues to give themselves the only self-esteem available to their broken, economically abused existence.

Lie works for Palin

But surely they know Barack Obama is not planning to finish off the ordinary hillbilly when he adjusts tax rates. He's going to raise taxes on the top 2% of Americans and that doesn't include anyone at the convention beyond the Bushes and McCains and random party management. So why cheer Palin when she claims otherwise?

Is it racism? I'm told that it is, although I find racism so appalling that I have difficulty identifying it. It is more likely the dearly held Republican notion that any American can become violently rich, as rich as those hedge funders in Greenwich, Conn., who buy $40-million mansions unseen and have their topiary shaped in the form of musical notes.

When Palin and Rudy Giuliani sneered at Obama's years of "community organizing" -- they said it like "rectal fissure" -- the audience ewww-ed with them. Republicans dream of a personal future that involves only household staff, not equals who need to be persuaded to vote.

So I'm trying to imagine the pain of realizing, as they all must at some point, that it is not going to happen for them. It's the green light at the end of the dock. It's the ship that never comes in, gals, as Palin would put it. But she won't because the lie works for her. It helps her scramble, without compassion, above all those other tense no-hoper ladies in the audience.

American politics isn't short of smart women. Susan Eisenhower, Ike's granddaughter, who just endorsed Obama, made an extraordinary speech at the Democratic convention (and a terrific casual appearance on The Colbert Report as Palin was speaking). The Republican party has already consumed nearly all of its moderate "seed corn," she said aptly. Time to start again.

Eisenhower, a scholar and journalist, has a point. Or am I only saying that because she's part of the thoughtful demographic that I'm trying to reach here? Think, Heather, think like a Republican! The Skeptics, shall I call them, are my base, and I'll pander to them as ardently as the Republican patriarchs tease their white female marginals.

http://www.heathermallick.ca/cbc.ca-columns/a-mighty-wind-blows-through-republican-convention.html

Palin = SnowJob SquareGlasses

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 06:42:05 EDT

Lipstick Bungle

By CHARLES M. BLOW Published: September 19, 2008

Mr. McCain, on Monday you repeated your delusional notion that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Now, the federal government is working on a deal to save that economy from collapsing. You have admitted that the economy is not your forte, so you could have used a running mate with some financial chops. (Remember Mitt Romney?)

But no. Who did you pick? SnowJob SquareGlasses whose financial credentials include running Wasilla into debt, listing (but not selling) a plane on EBay and flip-flopping on a bridge to wherever. In fact, when it comes to real issues in general, she may prove to be a liability.

In what respect, you may ask?

It turns out that the Republican enthusiasm for Sarah Palin is just as superficial as she is. They were so eager for someone to cheer for (because they really don’t like you) that they dove face first into the Palin mirage. But, on the issues, even they worry about her.

In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted this week 77 percent of Republicans said that they had a favorable opinion of Palin. But when asked what specifically they liked about her, their top five reasons were that she was honest, tough, caring, outspoken and fresh-faced. Sounds like a talk-show host, not a vice president. (By the way, her intelligence was in a three-way tie for eighth place, right behind “I just like her.”)

When those Republicans were asked what they liked least about her, they started to sound more like everyone else. Aside from those who said that there was nothing they didn’t like, next on the list were: her lack of experience, her record as governor and her lack of foreign-policy experience.

Also, most Republicans think you only picked her to help with the election, not because she is qualified, and a third said that they would be “concerned” if for some reason she actually had to serve as president.

And Palin is proving to be just as vacant as people suspected. In her interview with Charles Gibson last week, she didn’t know what the Bush doctrine was. At your first joint town hall meeting with her in Michigan on Wednesday, in front of an invitation-only crowd of Republicans no less, she dodged substantive questions about the issues as if they were sniper fire, while issuing a faux challenge to the audience to play a game of “stump the candidate”. Seriously?

Many of your supporters will no doubt cry sexism. Fine with me. But that defense rings hollow. I find many of them to be sexist. Fresh-faced? Delegates on the floor of the Republican National Convention wearing buttons like “Hoosiers for the hot chick”?

Seriously.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20blow.html?_r=2&ref=opinion&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

A naturalized Iraqi voting for the 1st time

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 05:31:39 EDT

Oud awakening

by Jon Kelly - 20 Sep 08,

On 4 November, Rahim Al-Haj will be a first-time voter. His eyes were wide with boyish enthusiasm as he told me how excited he was at the prospect of exercising his democratic right. But Rahim was no callow 18-year-old straight out of high school.

Imprisoned and tortured in his native Iraq for his opposition to Saddam Hussein's regime, Rahim, 40, became an American citizen at a ceremony on 16 August, having arriving here as a refugee eight years ago.

"I cried that day," he told me. "And the very first thing I did afterwards was fill in a voter registration form.

"My polling card arrived this morning. I picked it up and did this," he said as he mimed kissing it.

"After 40 years, I can't wait to vote freely at last."

But Rahim didn't want to be thought of as a dissident or a political activist. He's an exceptionally skilled musician, one of the world's most accomplished players of the oud - a lute-like stringed instrument whose origins date back over 5,000 years.

I asked him to play for me. He obliged with a quick-paced, melancholy composition. His affinity with the instrument and the gentle, mournful sound it produced was striking.

"It's much more intimate than a guitar," he explained as he strummed. "You have to hug it like you'd hug your wife or girlfriend."

As a small boy, his bond with his oud was so strong that he used to sleep with it in its carry case. His love of music won him a string of awards and a place at the Institute of Music in his native Baghdad.

But it was Rahim's passion for composing and performing that forced him into exile. He used his talent and popularity to speak out against the regime by writing songs which protested against the Iran-Iraq war.

The authorities didn't hesitate. His recordings were banned and he was thrown into prison at the mercy of Saddam's torturers.

"But worst degradation was that they took my oud away," he recalled. "I'd practice playing on my wrist. It was as though I could hear the music."

After he was released from prison during the first Gulf War, Rahim fled the country using false papers. But because musicians had to declare their instruments before leaving Iraq, he had to leave the oud behind.

He went to Jordan before settling in Syria, where he met his wife and stayed for eight years. But when Iraq and Syria restored diplomatic relations in 1998, he had to leave again - this time for the USA.

The United Nations refugee agency sent him to Albuquerque, New Mexico, because they thought the desert landscape would remind him of home.

At first it seemed strange to him. It wasn't the bustling New York-style metropolis he had expected. But as he learned English and made friends, it became his favourite place in the world.

Rahim's career flourished. He played with symphony orchestras in New York and teaches music at the University of New Mexico. In 2008 he was nominated for a Grammy. And like any American, he exercised his constitutional right to complain about the state of the nation.

"America is a wonderful place - the country is gorgeous and the people are so open and welcoming," he said.

"But Americans are very isolated. The only people around them are the Mexicans, who they treat badly, and the Canadians, who are just like them.

"If I can do anything while I'm here, I'd like to help them understand other parts of the world."

I asked him how he was planning to use his first-ever free vote. The answer came back on the beat: Obama. The occupation of his homeland had been a disaster, he said.

"I had mixed feeling when Saddam was overthrown because he was such a terrible man," Rahim said. "But I also saw the devastation and the suffering that my people experienced as a result of the invasion.

"When there's a snake in your house, you don't destroy the house to get rid of it. But there have been four million people displaced in Iraq, one million dead, Shia turned against Sunni.

"It isn't just about Iraq. We need change at home too. Ask anyone about how the economy's affecting them. The Americans have suffered under Bush, too."

Before I left, we embraced. He made me promise never to take my right to vote for granted again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/talkingamerica/2008/09/oud_awakening.html

A good laugh

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 17:37:04 EDT

My Gal

by George Saunders September 22, 2008

Explaining how she felt when John McCain offered her the Vice-Presidential spot, my Vice-Presidential candidate, Governor Sarah Palin, said something very profound: “I answered him ‘Yes’ because I have the confidence in that readiness and knowing that you can’t blink, you have to be wired in a way of being so committed to the mission, the mission that we’re on, reform of this country and victory in the war, you can’t blink. So I didn’t blink then even when asked to run as his running mate.”

Isn’t that so true? I know that many times, in my life, while living it, someone would come up and, because of I had good readiness, in terms of how I was wired, when they asked that—whatever they asked—I would just not blink, because, knowing that, if I did blink, or even wink, that is weakness, therefore you can’t, you just don’t. You could, but no—you aren’t.

That is just how I am.

Do you know the difference between me and a Hockey Mom who has forgot her lipstick?

A dog collar.

Do you know the difference between me and a dog collar smeared with lipstick?

Not a damn thing.

We are essentially wired identical.

So, when Barack Obama says he will put some lipstick on my pig, I am, like, Are you calling me a pig? If so, thanks! Pigs are the most non-Élite of all barnyard animals. And also, if you put lipstick on my pig, do you know what the difference will be between that pig and a pit bull? I’ll tell you: a pit bull can easily kill a pig. And, as the pig dies, guess what the Hockey Mom is doing? Going to her car, putting on more lipstick, so that, upon returning, finding that pig dead, she once again looks identical to that pit bull, which, staying on mission, the two of them step over the dead pig, looking exactly like twins, except the pit bull is scratching his lower ass with one frantic leg, whereas the Hockey Mom is carrying an extra hockey stick in case Todd breaks his again. But both are going, like, Ha ha, where’s that dumb pig now? Dead, that’s who, and also: not a smidge of lipstick.

A lose-lose for the pig.

There’s a lesson in that, I think.

Who does that pig represent, and that collar, and that Hockey Mom, and that pit bull?

You figure it out. Then give me a call.

Seriously, give me a call.

Now, let us discuss the Élites. There are two kinds of folks: Élites and Regulars. Why people love Sarah Palin is, she is a Regular. That is also why they love me. She did not go to some Élite Ivy League college, which I also did not. Her and me, actually, did not go to the very same Ivy League school. Although she is younger than me, so therefore she didn’t go there slightly earlier than I didn’t go there. But, had I been younger, we possibly could have not graduated in the exact same class. That would have been fun. Sarah Palin is hot. Hot for a politician. Or someone you just see in a store. But, happily, I did not go to college at all, having not finished high school, due to I killed a man. But had I gone to college, trust me, it would not have been some Ivy League Élite-breeding factory but, rather, a community college in danger of losing its accreditation, built right on a fault zone, riddled with asbestos, and also, the crack-addicted professors are all dyslexic.

Sarah Palin was also the mayor of a very small town. To tell the truth, this is where my qualifications begin to outstrip even hers. I have never been the mayor of anything. I can’t even spell right. I had help with the above, but now— Murray, note to Murray: do not correct what follows. Lets shoe the people how I rilly spel Mooray and punshuate so thay can c how reglar I am, and ther 4 fit to leed the nashun, do to: not sum mistir fansy pans.

OK Mooray. Get corecting agin!

Thanks, Murray, you’re fabulous. Very good at what you do. Actually, Murray, come to think of it, you are so good, I suspect you are some kind of Élite. You are fired, Murray, as soon as this article is done. I’m going to hire someone Regular, who is not so excellent, and lives off the salt of the land and the fat of his brow and the sweat of his earth. Although I hope he’s not a screw-up.

I’m finding it hard to concentrate, as my eyes are killing me, due to I have not blinked since I started writing this. And, me being Regular, it takes a long time for me to write something this long.

Where was I? Ah, yes: I hate Élites. Which is why, whenever I am having brain surgery, or eye surgery, which is sometimes necessary due to all my non-blinking, I always hire some random Regular guy, with shaking hands if possible, who is also a drunk, scared of the sight of blood, and harbors a secret dislike for me.

Now, let’s talk about slogans. Ours is: Country First. Think about it. When you think of what should come first, what does? Us ourselves? No. That would be selfish. Our personal families? Selfish. God? God is good, I love Him, but, as our slogan suggests, no, sorry, God, You are not First. No, you don’t, Lord! How about: the common good of all mankind! Is that First? Don’t make me laugh with your weak blinking! No! Mercy is not First and wisdom is not First and love is super but way near the back, and ditto with patience and discernment and compassion and all that happy crap, they are all back behind Country, in the back of my S.U.V., which— Here is an example! Say I am about to run over a nun or orphan, or an orphan who grew up to become a nun—which I admire that, that is cool, good bootstrapping there, Sister—but then God or whomever goes, “It is My will that you hit that orphaned nun, do not ask Me why, don’t you dare, and I say unto thee, if you do not hit that nun, via a skillful swerve, your Country is going to suffer, and don’t ask Me how, specifically, as I have not decided that yet!” Well, I am going to do my best to get that nun in one felt swope, because, at the Convention, at which my Vice-Presidential candidate kicked mucho butt, what did the signs there say? Did they say “Orphaned Nuns First” and then there is a picture of a sad little nun with a hobo pack?

Not in my purview.

Sarah Palin knows a little something about God’s will, knowing God quite well, from their work together on that natural-gas pipeline, and what God wills is: Country First. And not just any country! There was a slight error on our signage. Other countries, such as that one they have in France, reading our slogan, if they can even read real words, might be all, like, “Hey, bonjour, they are saying we can put our country, France, first!” Non, non, non, France! What we are saying is, you’d better put our country first, you merde-heads, or soon there will be so much lipstick on your pit bulls it will make your berets spin!

In summary: Because my candidate, unlike your winking/blinking Vice-Presidential candidate, who, though, yes, he did run as the running mate when the one asking him to run did ask him to run, which that I admire, one thing he did not do, with his bare hands or otherwise, is, did he ever kill a moose? No, but ours did. And I would. Please bring a moose to me, over by me, and down that moose will go, and, if I had a kid, I would take a picture of me showing my kid that dead moose, going, like, Uh, sweetie, no, he is not resting, he is dead, due to I shot him, and now I am going to eat him, and so are you, oh yes you are, which is responsible, as God put this moose here for us to shoot and eat and take a photo of, although I did not, at that time, know why God did, but in years to come, God’s will was revealed, which is: Hey, that is a cool photo for hunters about to vote to see, plus what an honor for that moose, to be on the Internet.

How does the moose feel about it? Who knows? Probably not great. But do you know what the difference is between a dead moose with lipstick on and a dead moose without lipstick?

Lipstick.

Think about it.

Moose are, truth be told, Élites. They are big and fast and sort of rule the forest. Sarah took that one down a notch. Who’s Élite now, Bullwinkle?

Not Sarah.

She’s just Regular as heck.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/09/22/080922sh_shouts_saunders?currentPage=1

The Obama Man Crush

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:25:24 EDT

Sure, women swoon, but have you ever noticed that guys, too, seem almost weak-kneed over the senator with mad skills and a million-dollar smile?

Most men have gotten used to observing their wives or significant others grin at the TV whenever Sen. Barack Obama graces the screen. The Democratic nominee does not even have to be delivering one of his historic speeches--which seems to be every other day--to elicit such an adoring response.

What men might not be accustomed to are the powerful reactions that Sen. Obama has generated among other men. The indelible image of an African-American man crying during an Obama speech in Pennsylvania posted on the front page of The Rootin March, vividly captured the powerful reaction that Obama has been able to generate among some men. And while commentators may attribute this particular level of reaction to feelings of "racial pride" or being "caught up" in a moment, the reality is that these intense male reactions to Obama are not limited to black men. A recent article in Salonchronicled the passions that that Obama had generated among men.

Why do men as diverse as Colin Powell, Michael Eric Dyson, Andrew Sullivan, Tom Joyner, Ted Kennedy, Bill Richardson, Christopher Hitchens and numerous others, appear to have such a "man crush" on Sen. Obama?

The answer: his white-collar masculinity.

Despite the economic trend away from blue-collar jobs, many of the most powerful expressions of masculinity within contemporary American society continue to be associated with blue-collar imagery. The unprecedented popularity of video games like Grand Theft Auto, Halo, Madden Football, movies like 300 and the explosion of professional blood sports like ultimate fighting speak to the kind of tough-guy masculinity celebrated in media and popular culture.

These pop-culture touchstones, along with the ubiquitous images of rough masculinity in hip-hop continue to demonstrate a basic tension for males in modern society; that at the very same time that society is becoming less reliant on male brawn, the dominant cultural images of masculinity are largely derived from the "traditional" ideas of maleness.

With degrees from Columbia and Harvard and a background teaching constitutional law at the University of Chicago, Obama surely represents a break from "traditional" images of masculinity. But it must be more than his educational bona fides.

The reason men crowd televisions to watch Obama speak is the same reason NBA players rushed home to watch Michael Jordan play or the reason people who have no knowledge or interest in golf will interrupt their day to turn on the TV and watch Tiger Woods: It is because these men perform at levels that are without equal in their respective fields. It just so happens that the type of masculinity at which Obama excels is a type white-collar masculinity.

And Obama manages to blend blue-collar sensibilities into his image, as well. He not only plays word games like Taboo, he also plays basketball. And before he was the editor and president of the Harvard Law Review, he was stomping the streets on the South Side of Chicago as a community organizer.

This seamless melding of white- and blue-collar achievement has rendered Obama the embodiment of smooth. Like one of the agents in TheMatrix trilogy who moves so fast that you cannot tell he is actually dodging bullets, Obama possesses a grace under fire that men have always found intoxicating. He's like a Billy Dee Williams or a black Frank Sinatra.

The result is that Obama has accomplished what men like Sen. John Kerry and former Vice President Al Gore were not able to accomplish; he has brought sexy back to white-collar masculinity.

For African-American men, Obama has accomplished something even more extraordinary. He has arguably single-handedly transformed the black public sphere. In their eyes, it is no longer "easy" to view black men solely through the lens of deficiencies, bad behavior, their bodies or even their relationship to black women. As a result, Obama occupies a peculiar place in the collective black male imagination.

He may be the only black man in America that can smile as often as he does and still be taken seriously by other black men.

Martin Linsky attempted to explain this unique blending of masculinity in Newsweek by referring to Obama as the "first female president." His argument was that Obama embodied the qualities and values normally associated with women. While it is true that modern, white-collar masculinity can be viewed as couched between the emergence of "pink-collar" jobs and contemporary fears of the "feminization" of professional categories, Obama's appeal among men does not necessarily represent a front in the culture wars between men and women, as much as it represents a culture war among men.

In other words, middle-class white men compete with the public masculinities of a Howard Stern and Ben Stiller, just as middle-class black men compete with the public masculinities of Flavor Flav and Pacman Jones. Perhaps the easiest arena to see the battle between blue-collar and white-collar masculinities play out in this election is over the coveted white-male vote. Often derisively referred to as the "Bubba voters"--as in Thomas Schaller's trenchant article So Long, White Boy, working-class white male voters have not been nearly as receptive to Sen. Obama's change-we-can-believe-in message as college-educated white-male voters were during the Democratic primaries. The implication is that it will not be racism, nor regionalism, but class that will be most likely to determine the white-male vote for Obama in the November elections.
After a failed a presidency, where men gravitated toward the man they would rather have a beer with, Obama's brand of masculinity as president would likely resemble that of current heads of state like French President Nicolas Sarkozy or British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

What it comes down to is this: The guy with the big ears and big brain personifies a post-industrial version of masculinity for many men and boys, in a world that is still not quite sure what to do with them.

********************************************************
Jewel Woods is a gender analyst specializing in men's issues and executive director of the Renaissance Male Project . He is also the co-author of 'Don't Blame it on Rio: The Real Deal Behind Why Men Go to Brazil for Sex.'

http://www.theroot.com/id/47331

Obama news from Canada

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:43:16 EDT

I've been off the blog for the weekend. I've been helping a friend who was a vendor at one of Caribbean festivals here around Vancouver (18000 attendees) yesterday.
Needless to say I was not too excited about being there from 10 am to 10 pm, but she's my BFF and needed my help.
What I didn't expect is that I would be cheering and clapping for most of the day and it's not because of the music which was excellent by the way.
Actually, I was in the middle of a sales pitch when I heard the emcee say "let's give it up to Obama" and the crowd started shouting "Obama" and cheering.
OMG I couldn't believe my ears!
I knew Canada is Obamaland but I never dreamed of seeing the crowds cheering for BO alive.

I quickly excused myself to the lady and started shouting "Obama" and clapping with everybody. It was great!

Things didn't stop there. One in three singers would praise Obama between 2 songs and ask if there are any supporters and the crowds would roar with passion.
When I was able to take a couple of breaks, I would see people of all hues wearing Hope and Obama 08 shirts. In the parking lot, I saw half of dozen of cars and bikes with Obama 08 stickers.
Guys, this is Canada. I didn't expect this much passion!

Now I can really feel what you feel when you rally and cheer for Barack. I was elated. I loved every bit of the day.
I told my friend if she can guarantee me BO supporters at the events she's doing, I'll be there to help her but most importantly to cheer for BO and share my support with Obama fans.

BTW I have no voice today from the shouting and cheering but I feel so energized!

Obama in Canada: 'Uncle Rocky' and his Burlington family ties

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:20:50 EDT

If you've taken the Queen Elizabeth Way from Toronto to Niagara Falls you know what Barack Obama, the potential next leader of the free world, faced in August 2004 when he made the sometimes white-knuckle drive with his wife Michelle.

Fresh off his rousing keynote address to the Democratic convention in Boston, Obama was in the area to celebrate his Canadian connection.

The occasion was the wedding dinner for the 2003 marriage of his younger sister Maya Soetoro and Burlington, Ont., native Konrad Ng. Like many tourists visiting southern Ontario, Obama wanted to see Niagara Falls.

Obama, who was in the midst of his campaign for a Senate seat, was following his brother-in-law for the 70 kilometres on the QEW. Ng didn't want to lose the future leader of the Democratic party.

Obama and his wife Michelle had flown into Toronto and got a hotel room with their daughters Malia Ann and Natasha, before they rented the car and drove the 120 kilometres south to Niagara Falls.

"[Obama] was able to take a couple days [from the campaign] and visit us and meet his new niece," said Ng, 34, whose daughter Suhaila, now four, was born a month earlier.

Obama commented that Toronto reminded him of Chicago.

"Every place we went he would remark on the commonality [of the places he visited]. I think it's in his character to see those things that are common to us," said Ng.

Family members who had not been able to attend the Hawaii wedding in late 2003 were invited to attend an event at a Chinese restaurant in Mississauga.

In addition to the Falls visit, the Obamas also stopped in Burlington, where Ng's parents live, and hung out at Spencer Smith Park for a few hours.

"[Obama] has young children so we went to the lake and played at the playground. Lake Ontario for me, growing up around it, has always a place to reflect. It's a very peaceful place. I always like sharing it with people," said Ng by phone from Hawaii.

Obama was recognized everywhere he went.

"They would say, 'Hey, are you that guy that gave that terrific speech?' I think that was pretty amazing when you are in Burlington in Spencer Smith Park and some people are walking their dog and they come up," recalled Ng.

Family important to Obama
Ng, who studied philosophy at McGill University and cultural studies at the University of Victoria, is now a professor at the University of Hawaii, where he teaches at the Academy for Creative Media.

Ng met his future wife in Hawaii while working on his PhD in political science at the University of Hawaii.

After Obama's mother divorced Barack Obama Sr., she married Lolo Soetoro and moved to Indonesia and later gave birth to Maya. The family moved to Hawaii, where Barack Obama was being looked after by his grandparents.

The brother and sister, who was teaching night courses at University of Hawaii before taking a bigger role in the election campaign, have a lot in common.

"We both love a good story that captures the human experience in all of its complexities," Maya Soetoro said of her brother Barack in an interview last year with the Associated Press.

Ng said the family is close, and during a visit the conversations "are in the context of family.

"For my wife and I and our child -- our daughter calls him Uncle Rocky -- he's my wife's older brother, my wife's his sister. We just talk family."

Loves his Bulls
Obama is a basketball fan who keeps tabs on his beloved Chicago Bulls, who have had some good battles with the Toronto Raptors over the years.

"When I first met him we talked sports, we talked about the Bulls, we talked about the Raptors. He was aware of [Toronto], but he's a Bulls fan," Ng said with a laugh.

Ng, who is campaigning for Obama, but only some, as his daughter is only four, said he tries to remain unfazed by his connection to the presidential candidate and needs "to keep it all in perspective that we're just family and [Obama] just happens to have a good job."

Ng's conclusion: "He's got a very interesting and widely recognized job he is going for."

Ng can feel the excitement "around his message, his vision" that has formed during the Obama run for the presidency.

"That's when it really starts, for me, to sink in. Wow, there's enormous movement for change… that's when I think this can be historic.

"Then the idea that he is my family sort of floats off into the distance and I realize there is a larger movement going on."

Ng said he could not ask for better in-laws, and described Michelle and Barack Obama as "down to earth, caring, understanding people. They are good listeners. They are intelligent. They're smart."

People often ask Ng -- who hopes to get to Denver in August for the Democratic convention -- if Obama is any different from what they see and hear when he expresses empathy or kindness during a speech.

"That's who he is."

As for the effects of an Obama presidency on Canada, Ng said: "Any change in the direction of U.S. politics will resonate throughout the world. The type of hope he promises will spill over borders will give the world a decent shot at getting to a better place."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/18/f-ng.html

Canadians prefer Obama to their own PM

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 05:10:34 EDT

Canadians prefer Obama to their own PM: poll

1 day ago

OTTAWA (AFP) -- Canadians hold US presidential hopeful Barack Obama in higher esteem than any of their own politicians, including their prime minister, a public opinion poll suggests.

Twenty-six percent of respondents to the survey for the Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper and CTV television identified Obama as the politician they "admire most".

In second place was conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper at 21 percent, followed by Obama's former rival for Democratic nomination, Hillary Clinton, who easily bested all Canadian opposition leaders with 16 percent.

"It's one of those relatively rare moments when we look south of the border at their politics with something approaching envy," said pollster Peter Donolo of Strategic Counsel, which conducted the poll.

The Republican candidate for the White House, John McCain, was admired by just three percent of respondents to the poll that was published on Monday, the eve of Canada's national holiday.

Strategic Counsel questioned 1,000 respondents between June 12 and 28.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hRnQplyteghUW6DcCNWp2qnH59XQ

Powell tells B.C. crowd he might vote for Obama

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:52:34 EDT

June 13, 2008 - VANCOUVER --

"Colin Powell, the former Republican secretary of state, says he is not ruling out a vote for Barack Obama, the presumed Democratic nominee for president.

While Mr. Powell served in the administrations of two Republican presidents, he suggested yesterday his support for presumed Republican nominee John McCain is not a forgone conclusion.

He noted that although both he and Mr. Obama are black, he would not cast a vote for the Illinois senator on the basis of race. "I will vote for the individual I think that brings the best set of tools to the problems of 21st-century America and the 21st-century world regardless of party, regardless of anything else other than the most qualified candidate," Mr. Powell said at a news conference before delivering a speech to about 800 people attending a leadership forum at the Vancouver Convention Centre.

"Both of them certainly have the qualifications to be the president of the United States, but both of them cannot be," he said.

Mr. Powell has been supportive of Mr. Obama's successes, but was commenting after the senator recently clinched the Democratic nomination.

A 35-year veteran of the U.S. Army, Mr. Powell also noted he would not necessarily support Mr. McCain because of his extensive military service.

Asked whether he thought it was a difficult choice, he said: "I think so. Yes.""

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080613.BCPOWELL13/TPStory/National

"Hillary supporters at their best"

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Mon, 19 May 2008 15:08:58 EDT

Don't believe all the hype in the media: as usual they are looking for headlines and creating sensation to sell. The MSM and the GOP are the ones instigating divisiviness in the DNC.

A must read for all those who are worried about HC supporters voting for JM or staying home...these are reports from members of our blog family about their experience at their State Assembly Conventions

Posted by Odessa from Colorado Springs, CO.

“HILLARY SUPPORTERS AT THEIR BEST Yesterday I had the honor of attending the 2008 State Assembly Convention in Colorado Springs, CO where I reside. I was there to sell the book Peace Admist Conflict, by Author Rene Reid. Needless to say I had a venue table. I shared this table with a woman from Denver, CO that had nothing but OBAMA everthing, tshirts, buttons, pictures, mouse pads, just to name a few..The posters also were all OBAMA. This is too funny.
Although everyone was very respectful to one another (Hillary/Obama Fans) it struck me kind of odd that all the Hillary people were grabbing the free Obama stuff. There was a gentleman selling posters and to boost his sales he started handing out free ones to everyone on the floor. He came back and told me that he could not figure out why Hillary people were the ones snatching them up. He gave out approximately 150 free posters and he said over 80% of the people taking them had vote for Hillary gear on. So to see for myself I went in the Arena and he was so right...lol..I personally asked this lady with respect did she intend to burn it or keep it or what. Her exact words were and I quote. Well honey, I am going to the end no matter what, but I think you and I know both who our nominee will be when it's all over..she was very nice and she said that as long as we are democrats what does it matter. So you see...All the women that are saying they won't vote for OBAMA, are speaking for a small few..She also said she wanted to have some OBAMA signs when the time comes..I met quite a few Hillary supporters yesterday that were not at all bitter. Between setting up on Friday and being there alll day yesterday, I met a lot of them..and I can honestly say they were very polite and so was our supporters. Whew! I am truly tired but it was well worth it.”

Again posted by Odessa from Colorado Springs, CO. later

“…I had a cigarette (for Barack...lol) and the 2 ladies were Hillary Fans...We chatted the whole time...I'm telling you I did not run into 1 person that was impolite, snobbish or anything...They even complimented me on my gear and I on theirs...Guys I'm telling you...It was a great day...We also had people just walking up to the table and taking a look see at the OBAMA stuff. I talked to a few about the book which predicts Obama as our President. I passed out hundreds of free Bookmarks to Hillary supporters..What they did with them, I can't say..put they were very polite in excepting them.
So please don't believe the HYPE...It's not like that all from what I saw in the past couple of days. Oh..I can't forget this...I had 2 customers that were for Hillary that bought a book anyway..One woman said her daughter was for OBama and she wanted to have it sent to her..One man bought one for his mother--in --law because she was for OBAMA..I'm telling you...it was great..Hope this lifts everyone's spirits.”

posted by ricmpicm:

“I too attended the Colorado State Assembly/Convention. I drove a van from Ft Collins with 7 people that had never meet before. We had 3 men and 2 women Obama and 2 women Clinton supporters. We all agreed that we need to come together after all states and territories vote. “

Posted by Emilie Rankin PCO :

“I can second that from the Washington State Congressional caucus. The Hillary subcaucus finshed electing their delegates earlier (Obama had 150 people running for National delegate and each got a one-minute speech.) When they elected their two delegates, they came over to meet the Obama side and gave a nice speech on party unity.
I would say at least %85 of the Hillary supporters here are cool with it. There is a rivalry but it is sort of like competing sports (Great Taste/Less Filling) fans at this point. We actually had fun trying to convince people to cross over, we waved and smiled at each other, and when the divider was drawn for the subcaucus both sides waved goodbye with great good humour. When unity was mentioned by the speakers there was a lot of applause on both sides.
There is a core of people who are not so nice about it -- but there are some people in the world who are frustrated and I think they use the election as an excuse to take it out.”

Posted by Donna Henderson,NV :

“I too must add we drove from Las Vegas to Reno Friday to our state convention and we experienced the same polite and cautious behavior only to find out later that many Hillary supporters converted and we picked up 3 more delagates.
Sunday morning the Reno headline read " Hillary relinquishes Nevada to Obama" and Bill even made an appearence.”

Posted by yvettehusseinmdgirl4obama-

"when i was canvassing in NC we came upon 3 HRC supporters that were also knocking on doors.

Well it was hard to avoid each other so we sort of met in the middle of the street and starting talking. We told them why we supported Barack, they said why they supported Hillary and we actually talked for about 2 hours (we had finished our last house and hope we kept them from theirs )lol

One of the HRC supporters had a son that supported Barack Obama. She actually called him so we could talk to him. We told him to BaRock ON.

they were very nice and it really made our weekend. they said they had no problem voting for Barack if he got the nomination.

So, we may not get all the HRC supporters, but it is not as bleak as they make it."

This is the funniest thing I read in recent days!

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:25:27 EDT

Commentary: It's over...let me count the ways

Will Durst, Raging Moderate -Special to the DN

I'm not saying Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's historic presidential run is toast. Finished. Down the drain. Caput. Washed up. History. A memory. In the archives. Defunct. Extinct. Artifacto. Took a hike. Sleeping with the fishes. Part of the vast past tense. Joined the choir invisible. Totally obliterated. Entering Sidekick City. Sheer finito. Thoroughly through. Down goes Frasier. Swept away by the Tahiti Express. See ya, wouldn't want to be ya. So long and sayonara sweetheart. Became an ex-presidential run. Experiencing fossilization. Stick a fork in her -- she's done. Game over, man. Say bye. No. No. No. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that it's down to the wire but that wire is starting to unravel. She's hanging by a thread, down to her last dime and the wheels are coming off. It's two outs, two strikes, nobody on, bottom of the ninth and she's behind by about 142. Got her back up against the wall because an elephant is standing on the couch with the remote. It's closing time, and she doesn't have to go home but she can't stay here. The window of opportunity has slammed shut on her fingers while hanging outside onto the sill 12 stories up. Her time clock has been punched by a mob of boxing kangaroos. Half of her team is handing her a white flag to wave and the other half is throwing in a towel on her behalf. She's down to the last banana in the bunch and even though that one is pretty bruised up, the tarantulas won't let her go there anyway. She's going down for the umpteenth time in high seas. The two-minute warning was a minute fifty ago and it's fourth-and-97. The undertaker is walking this way pulling out a tape measure while whistling to the jingling of the nails in his pocket. The horse she rode in on can smell its stall and is starting to gallop. The fat lady has adjusted her horn helmet and is reaching for the throat spray. Could that be the referee looking at his watch with the whistle in his mouth and he's starting to pucker? Why yes, it could. Not to mention the train has pulled out of the station and the conductor is waving a lantern from the railing of the caboose. They say that anything can happen, and it can, except for what the Junior Senator from New York needs to have happen -- and that, my friends, simply can't happen. Or could it? A week is a year in politics. The moon could fall out of the sky. Pigs could sprout wings and fly to Mars. Jeremiah Wright could have another attack of the talkies. Who knows? Bill could rustle up the Arkansas Cavalry to ride to her rescue. Look. Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. No, it's a flock of Superdelegates. Is that a light at the end of the tunnel? Unh, no, sorry. It's Obama with a flashlight directing her to the shoulder, and he's repo-ing the Clinton bandwagon. The math just doesn't work. We've moved from the eminently possible to the minorly theoretical. Unless, that is, something really, really odd happens. Which it very well could. At any moment. But then again, probably not. Oh yeah. It's over.

I always get a bang out of the WAPO

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:27:11 EDT

This Is an Ex-Candidate
By Dana MilbankWednesday, May 14, 2008;

C ustomer: "Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now."

Pet-shop owner: "No, no he's not dead, he's -- he's resting! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian blue, isn't it, aye? Beautiful plumage!"

-- From "Monty Python's Flying Circus"

11:45 a.m., Melrose Hotel, Foggy Bottom: It's Day 7 of the Clinton Campaign Death Watch -- a full week since the official arbiter of the Democratic primary, Tim Russert, declared the campaign over and Barack Obama the nominee. Hillary Clinton's advisers continue to insist that the candidate's prospects are very much alive, but the press isn't buying it. Exhibit A: There are two press buses waiting at the hotel here for Clinton's trip to her victory rally in West Virginia, but the entire press contingent doesn't quite fill one. It isn't until the entourage arrives at Dulles Airport that Clinton aides learn that the second bus is still idling, empty, at the hotel.

If there is importance in the results of the primary in West Virginia, the press corps isn't letting on. During the security sweep at Dulles, some play Hacky Sack with a cigarette carton. Awaiting the candidate on the tarmac, two guys from CNN toss a football. Aboard the plane, one member of the press corps entertains his colleagues by flopping down the aisle on his belly, like a fish.

But Clinton, wearing a salmon-colored jacket and dark sunglasses, is all smiles as she boards the jet. She hugs and kisses her campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe. Still grinning, she helps herself to a cracker with spread from the snack tray as the plane taxis to the runway. And why shouldn't she be happy? Within minutes, Clinton has crossed the Blue Ridge and is over the green hills of West Virginia, home of what she calls the "hardworking Americans, white Americans." This is Clinton Country.

Customer: "That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not half an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it being tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk."

Pet-shop owner: "Well, he's, he's, ah, probably pining for the fiords."

2:57 p.m., Yeager Airport, Charleston, W.Va.: A steep descent brings Clinton's plane to Charleston's hilltop airport. After an appropriate wait, she steps from the plane and pretends to wave to a crowd of supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the airplane's wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points and gives another wave; in fact, she was waving at an aide she had been talking with on the plane minutes earlier.

On the way into town, she makes an unscheduled stop at an upscale farmers market, but about 30 Clinton supporters, several wearing AFSCME T-shirts and waving Clinton campaign signs, have somehow gotten wind of it. Clinton works the crowd, signing autographs and making small talk ("Is that your dog?"). She makes her way past rows of geraniums and marigolds, and Clinton aide Doug Hattaway suggests some metaphors to the reporters (" 'Everything's blooming'?" " 'Fertile ground'?").

Or maybe nipped in the bud? But even here in this verdant electoral garden, Clinton is reminded of her troubles -- in this case, her financial ones. She stops at Ellen's Homemade Ice Cream and orders a scoop of espresso Oreo and a scoop of butter pecan. "Ooh, that looks good," she says after taking the confection, then pauses. "Now, let's see. Who's got my money?" asks the woman who has lent her campaign $11 million to keep it afloat. She laughs. "Where -- where'd they go, the people with my money?" Finally, two aides arrive to retire Clinton's dessert debt.

Customer: "He's not pining! He's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He's expired and gone to meet his maker! He's a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! . . . His metabolic processes are now history! He's off the twig! He's kicked the bucket, he's shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible! This is an ex-parrot!"

7:30 p.m., Charleston Convention Center: The moment the polls closed, MSNBC, playing on the television screens backstage at the victory celebration, declares Clinton the winner of the West Virginia primary. This is no surprise: Exit polls have showed a 2 to 1 margin of victory for Clinton. But a Clinton spokesman rushes into the press area. "Look at that! Look at that! Clinton wins!" he says with mock surprise. There is no television playing on the convention center's red-carpeted floor, where all of 89 Clinton supporters have arrived so far. After a 12-minute delay, somebody thinks to turn on the television in the hall, and the small group breaks into a chant: "It's not over." A few of the supporters attempted to follow that up with a chant of "Yes, we will!"

We will? A week ago, Clinton won the Indiana primary by two percentage points -- and the media decreed that she had lost. Now she's trouncing Obama by double digits in West Virginia -- and nobody seems to be paying attention. This, no doubt, has something to do with the fact that she is trailing Obama in the popular vote, states won, pledged delegates and, now, superdelegates.

"W.Va. win unlikely to change race for Clinton," ABC News reported Tuesday morning. CBS pointed to "her nearly nonexistent chances." NBC likened the vote to "the final football game of the regular season, which really won't impact the teams headed to the playoffs." Even Clinton loyalist James Carville called Obama the likely nominee.

But Clinton aides press on in their effort to demonstrate life in the Clinton candidacy. At the Charleston victory celebration, McAuliffe climbs the press risers and speaks into the CNN camera. "Let's let the voters vote," he pleads. "They don't think this is over, Wolf."

Top 10 Reasons Obama Defeated Clinton for the Democratic Nomination

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Tue, 13 May 2008 16:45:05 EDT

Freash from the Huffington Post press:

Here are top 10 reasons why Obama defeated Clinton for the Democratic nomination:

#10.Great Team
Obama assembled a great team that could work together
#9. All-State Strategy
Mark Penn was convinced that Clinton could sew up the nomination by Super Tuesday focusing only on the big states. Obama's team hunted for delegates especially in the caucus states that Clinton really didn't contest
#8. No Plan B
The Clinton campaign had no fall-back plan when it failed to capture the nomination on February 5
#7. Excellence in Execution: Great Field
Obama ran the best field operation in American political history and left no stone unturned, or a vote on the table, in any state
#6. Explosive Obama Fundraising
By the time the primary season ends, almost one of every ten Obama primary voters will have made a financial contribution to his campaign. That is beyond unprecedented
#5. Obama Out-Communicated Clinton Using One Consistent Message
Obama's message has been consistent from Day One. Clinton lurched from "experienced insider" to "populist outsider" from Margaret Thatcher-like "Iron Lady" to a "victim being bullied."
#4. Hope and Inspiration trumped Fear and Anger
A core element of that Obama message has always been hope and inspiration. Hillary played the fear card never managed to inspire and resolve that fear into hope
#3. Unity Trumped Division
Obama showed that appeals to division - whether from elements that stirred up fear that a "black candidate couldn't win" - or from his former pastor - could be overcome by America's overwhelming hunger for unity
#2. Change Trumped Experience
Clinton Chief Strategist Mark Penn's fundamental strategic error was to position Clinton as the "Experience" candidate, when America desperately wanted change. Eighty percent of the voters think America is on the wrong track
#1. Obama is an Extraordinary Candidate
Inspirational, articulate, brilliant, funny, attractive and naturally empathetic - his history as a community organizer, his experience abroad, his beautiful family, accomplished wife, and adorable kids: Obama is the kind of candidate any campaign manager would want in any year. While the Clintons represented the Bridge to the 21st Century, Obama is the 21st century. His own, multi-cultural story is the future of America. As the campaign tested him, he showed he was cool, deliberate and effective under fire

And we think that Democrats are divided!

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:26:39 EDT

This is a good article in the LA Times about the intestine fight going on in the GOP.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2008/05/ronpaulgop.html Ron Paul's forces quietly plot GOP convention revolt against McCain Virtually all the nation's political attention in recent weeks has focused on the compelling state-by-state presidential nomination struggle between two Democrats and the potential for party-splitting strife over there. But in the meantime, quietly, largely under the radar of most people, the forces of Rep. Ron Paul have been organizing across the country to stage an embarrassing public revolt against Sen. John McCain when Republicans gather for their national convention in Minnesota at the beginning of September.Paul's presidential candidacy has been correctly dismissed all along in terms of winning the nomination. He was even excluded as irrelevant by Fox News from a nationally-televised GOP debate in New Hampshire.But what's been largely overlooked is Paul's candidacy as a reflection of a powerful lingering dissatisfaction with the Arizona senator among the party's most conservative conservatives. As anticipated in late March in The Ticket, that situation could be exacerbated by today's expected announcement from former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia for the Libertarian Party's presidential nod, a slot held by Paul in 1988.Never mind Ralph Nader, Republican and Democratic parties both face ...... potentially damaging internal splits that could cripple their chances for victory in a narrow vote on Nov. 4. Just take a look at recent Republican primary results, largely overlooked because McCain locked up the necessary 1,191 delegates long ago. In Indiana, McCain got 77% of the recent Republican primary vote, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney, who've each long ago quit and endorsed McCain, still got 10% and 5% respectively, while Paul took 8%.On the same May 6 in North Carolina, McCain received less than three-quarters of Republican votes (74%), while Huckabee got 12%, Paul 7% and Alan Keyes and No Preference took a total of 7%.Pennsylvania was even slightly worse for the GOP's presumptive nominee, who got only 73% to a combined 27% for Paul (16%) and Huckabee (11%).As Politico.com's Jonathan Martin noted recently, at least some of these results are temporary protest votes in meaningless primaries built on lingering affection for Huckabee and suspicion of McCain. Given the long-since settled GOP race, thousands of other Republicans in these states, who might have put up with a McCain vote, crossed over to vote in the more exciting Democratic primaries, on their own for Sen. Barack Obama or at the urging of talk-show host Rush Limbaugh, who sought to support Hillary Clinton and prolong Democratic bloodletting.According to a recent Boston Globe tally, Paul has a grand total of 19 Republican delegates to Romney's 260, Huckabee's 286 and McCain's 1,413.In the last three months, Paul's forces, who donated $34.5 million to his White House effort and upward of a million total votes, have, as The Ticket has noted, been fighting a series of guerrilla battles with party establishment officials at county and state conventions from Washington and Missouri to Maine and Mississippi. Their goal: to take control of local committees, boost their delegate totals and influence platform debates.Paul, for instance, favors a drastically reduced federal government, abolishing the Federal Reserve, ending the Iraq war immediately and withdrawing U.S. troops from abroad.They hope to demonstrate their disagreements with McCain vocally at the convention through platform fights and an attempt to get Paul a prominent speaking slot. Paul, who's running unopposed in his home Texas district for an 11th House term, still has some $5 million in war funds and has instructed his followers that their struggle is not about a single election, but a long-term revolution for control of the Republican Party.So eager are they to follow their leader's words, that Paul's supporters have driven his new book, "The Revolution: A Manifesto," to the top of several bestseller lists.While Paul has consistently refused a third-party bid, he has vowed not to endorse McCain, a refusal mirrored by hundreds of his supporters who have left comments on The Ticket in recent weeks. And, no doubt, they'll flock back here today to spread the gospel below.

Very interesting article: What keeps Clinton, Obama volunteers going?

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:21:07 EDT

DIE-HARD VOLUNTEERS FUEL OBAMA, CLINTON CAMPAIGNS

http://www.mercurynews.com/contactus/ci_9223896

They have given up more than they ever expected to: salaries, vacations, holiday celebrations. They've traveled on their own dime to obscure American places: Sugarland, Norristown, Erie and Gastonia. For no pay, they've toiled 18-hour days in the snow, in the heat and in their own Bay Area back yards.

Now, at nearly the end of this long, drawn-out, acrimonious Democratic primary season, these Bay Area campaign volunteers for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are soon to face the bottom line: One of their candidates will be the Democratic nominee, and the other will not.

Obama surpassed Clinton in superdelegate endorsements Saturday, according to the Associated Press. Clinton had been banking on a wide superdelegate margin to claim the nomination.

Still, as mirrors of their candidates, the Clinton volunteers are not ready to call it quits, and Obama backers Saturday began a massive drive to register new voters for November.

"I never would have seen myself this involved," said Ana Yang, who at 29 left Google last year to work at a Mountain View start-up. "It's the people who I met along the way that kept me going: volunteers, staffers, voters. I met people who wanted to see Obama as our president, but they didn't have the time to give that I did. It really snowballed."

Thrilled that her candidate appears to be on the verge of nailing down the nomination, she notes that even with all her dedication, she has yet to work in a state that Obama has won.

"I'm 0 in 5," she laughs. Including Pennsylvania, where she moved for an entire month.

After arriving home to Fremont in the wee hours Wednesday from her campaign stint in Indiana, she was back to work the next morning at FriendFeed, where, even for a start-up, the days are more predictable than campaign work.

In stark contrast, Clinton volunteers Mali Kigasari, 49, and Carol Garvey, 55, are frustrated that their candidate is being urged to drop out before every state votes.

The Bay Area women met on the campaign trail in Fort Worth two months ago and have become friends. They were sent to merely monitor a Texas caucus, but ended up running it when chaos ensued.

Kigasari, an Iranian-American from Oakland, gave up her paralegal job to volunteer for Clinton. She thinks the media and some Democratic leaders are too gleeful, and mistaken, in their dismissal of Clinton.

"I'm bitter. I don't think the game is being played right. I think the Democrats misunderstand that some Democrats are not going to vote in November" for Obama. The experience makes her so livid at times that she is threatening to buck her party if Clinton is not on the November ballot.

"I'm going to write her name in," Kigasari vowed.

Whether she actually will do that is hard to know, but she says she has not been this politically engaged or enraged since 1979, when she and fellow students in her native homeland slept in campus buildings to protest their dismissal from a Tehran University in the wake of the country's fundamentalist revolution.

Fences to be mended

Garvey, president of Santa Clara County's Democratic Activists for Women Now club, vows not to carry her frustration to the ballot should her candidate lose the nomination, but thinks that Obama would have to do some work to woo back "Hillary Democrats" such as her new friend, Kigasari.

Even with the final primary just three weeks away, she is puzzled by the persistent calls for Clinton to bow out.

"I don't know if it's misogyny, but would they be telling a man to drop out?" The retired emergency services dispatcher from San Jose has been elected as an alternate delegate to the party's national convention in Denver, pledged to Clinton.

The experience of these three women, who put their lives on hold for their candidates, underscores the Democrats' dilemma of how to fashion electoral peace at the end of a tumultuous 18-month-long contest. There's potential for unity, but pitfalls loom among polarized Democrats - the Americans the women met on the road, who taught them lessons about the country the next president will serve.

Wider view

Yang, born in Beijing, raised in New York and whose career has taken her to Hong Kong and Silicon Valley, says her time in places like Indiana, Texas and Pennsylvania have shown her another side of life, "where people hold three jobs" to make ends meet.

She found voters in those places fascinated to learn more about Obama, including an Indiana military man who chased her down in the parking lot of a Fort Wayne diner six hours before the polls were to close Tuesday.

As a soldier who had been to Iraq and expected to be deployed again, he was leaning toward John McCain because of the Arizona senator's military service and record on veterans issues. (Primary voting in Indiana was not restricted by party affiliation.)

Yang took her cue, pulled out her BlackBerry, brought up Obama's platform on veterans issues and read aloud. He left, saying he would vote for Obama.

"It was amazing," she said. "This guy was grappling with who to vote for six hours before the polls were closing. He was already on the edge and just needed to be pushed over."

In Texas, Kigasari and Garvey were astonished at the level of commitment for Clinton from many Latinos in Fort Worth. First they voted at polls and then waited several hours for caucuses to start later that night, to show their support for Clinton a second time.

As the caucus start time lagged one hour, then two, she feared people might begin leaving.

"Everyone stayed; they told us they wanted to be there and knew how important it was," Garvey said.

Voters divided

Kigasari, who last week was in Gastonia, N.C., for Clinton in advance of that state's primary, however, said she was appalled by the racial divisions she found among Democratic voters.

It "sent cold shivers down my spine," she said. Whites, she said, couldn't understand why African-Americans were voting en masse for Obama, and African-Americans suggested to her, a white woman, "It's our turn." One black woman told her, "Honey, God never intended a woman to be president."

"Both African-Americans and women have been underrepresented. To say one deserves it more than the other gets you into trouble. And we've got trouble now."

Then again, anything may be possible in this election year, which has proved pundits wrong more than once.

After Texas, Garvey and Kigasari teamed up to go to Philadelphia. Counting on the kindness of a blogger she'd met online, Garvey got free housing.

Only when they arrived did they learn their host was an Obama supporter.

A real example that Hillary supporters are after all else democrats and first, Americans.

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:33:12 EDT

Let's follow Barack's lead and be the bigger person. Hillary supporters need some time to heal their wound. They will join us in due time....Be patient with them.Please read and let's reach to them and welcome them here.
This has been posted by Time Words.
Comment from Huffington Post, from a Clinton supporter: "Now that Obama has bagged it, lets be very positive and keep our eyes on Nov, welcoming those who may never post but are reading this blog
I make automatic contributions to Hillary's campaign, and I am continuing them until November, specifically to help with the campaign debt. You will see many others doing the same thing. Believe it or not, there are millions of people who still deeply admire both Hillary and Bill for their great contributions to America.

"Now that Senator Obama is the presumptive nominee, let's work together to rebuild the party and achieve victory in November. I went to his website today, and have to say I am impressed with the campaign's organization capabilities and enthusiasm. While I will not be contributing financially, I (after I collect myself from the disappointment of Hillary;s loss) will probably sign up to call people on his behalf. I did this for Hillary at least an hour a day (sometimes 3 if it was before a primary), and will somehow find it in myself to transfer my energy to Senator Obama. He was not my first choice, but he is a Democrat and deserves all of our respect and support.

The time for bitterness and vitriol is over (that goes for both camps). Now is the time to remember what is at stake. The Presidency is about more than nay one person. It is an expression of our collective will as citizens of this great country. Even if you're not happy with the outcome of the primary, remember Roe vs. Wade and those millions who have died from the "wars on terror". We need victory now."

This is from a blog I stumbled upon..and I agree with all the arguments the author enumerate

♥ Not.This.Time.Not.This.Year. ♥ Joyce from Canada ♥ ♥ — Sat, 10 May 2008 18:55:52 EDT

Why I like Obama better than Clintonhttp://blog.johnjosephbachir.org/2008/03/03/why-i-like-obama-better-than-clinton/

His stance against the war

Obama was against the war before it began, has criticized the war since then, and is now running a campaign centered around ending the war. All the way through he has spoken the plain truth about it: (a) there was no compelling evidence that there were any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (b) we should have been focusing our military efforts on quelling terrorist networks (c) we need to work on improving our reputation and relationships with other countries and cultures in order to not incite terrorism in the first place.

His meta-policies

Reading Obama and Clinton’s policies side-by-side, one will discover that they are pretty similar. I happen to think that Obama’s are presented much more clearly and intelligently on his website, and smack of greater sophistication and detail, but it is arguable that this has more to do with audience targeting than with the quality of the goals and final details of the policies themselves.What really impresses me about Obama, and sets him apart from Clinton, are his “meta-policies”, if you will; his policies and goals about government.Obama wants to make our government more transparent, more accessible, and more accountable. To this end he has done the following work while in the US Senate:

Introduced the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act, which requires the full disclosure of all entities or organizations receiving federal funds beginning in fiscal year (FY) 2007 on a website maintained by the Office of Management and Budget (http://www.usaspending.gov/).
Put together, with Russ Feingold, the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which amends parts of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995. It strengthens public disclosure requirements concerning lobbying activity and funding, places more restrictions on gifts for members of Congress and their staff, and provides for mandatory disclosure of earmarks in expenditure bills.
Introduced the Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, including fraudulent flyers and automated phone calls, as witnessed in the 2006 midterm elections

(Not all have passed. Click through to see current status of each piece of legislation. Descriptions lifted from Wikipedia and slightly modified.)
Now, during his campaign, he has an incredibly impressive set of policies on using technology to improve government transparency and accessibility. I could give you an overview, or I could just direct you to Lawrence Lessig’s fantastic piece on why he supports Obama, which mostly addresses technology and transparency. In a nutshell: Obama wants to make government information and information as easy to access as your favorite blog. On top of that, he has the most sophisticated position on Net Neutrality. (quick definition of Net Neutrality: not allowing the phone/cable company to charge you more to access some websites vs. others, which is what they want to start doing.)Previously mentioned here: this fantastic lecture Obama gave on government accountability, transparency, and ethics.

His style of politics

Obama has run an extremely long and beautiful grassroots campaign. He has established an extremely impressive network of paid staffers in most (all?) states. He has engaged his supporters using accessible and innovative online tools. He has the best website, by far.He has not accepted any lobbyist contributions. (see extensive discussion of this topic here).He has been able to spool up and sustain an enormous, million-dollar-a-day, grassroots fundraising machine.Only 10 percent of Clinton contributors did not donate the legal maximum $2,300 for her primary campaign. In contrast, only three percent of Obama donors gave the maximum. The rest of the cash came from small sums from many more people. (source)He has completely refrained from what, to my understanding, most people would call “negative” campaigning / mud slinging. As of a couple weeks ago, the Clinton campaign can’t say the same…That’s why Obama is such a different candidate to me.