I real Gail Collins in the Times this morning. Harvey does not like her, and cats are to be respected. Maybe it is that I complain a bit about her. Harvey sits there this minute, as I mouth strange things to myself about her, and pundits in general. Sometimes I think that he looks at me with a 'you are just jealous that you have not been selected to be one of them' kind of a look. But maybe that is my imagination. When I get in the tub every morning, he stands on the very thin edge with all four paws (how do they do that?), then he dips one into the water and has a taste. I yell at him. He yells back. Then he goes to lay next to the hot air vent on the rug, near the wall. Smug. Looking at me. Like he has done his duty. What duty? Yes, there is something there. I just don't get it. I will never get it. But back to Collins. She is not all that obnoxious, really. It is this Geithner thing that has got me going, because she is so totally wrong, and her opinion is read by so many. Half of her column in the paper was spent running on about the fact (her fact) that anyone whom is brought into this current administration must be squeaky clean. They must bear no stain of failure at all. And Geithner is her example of the kind of failure that should be given enough negative credit to have him disqualified from service. He did not pay enough in taxes for two years. Oh please. And here is Gail Collins, another of the Ivy Leaguer's. I have been hard of them of late, mostly because of the devastation they have wrought with their 'legacy' operation of our nation's financial houses. Gail would allow us to believe that the best person for any job is the person who has never had a published or demonstrated failure. In any way. In any area. Else Geithner's venial sin would not even be brought up by her. The current crop of Ivy Leaguer's running the banks had no failures. No, most of them went straight to their top positions right out some post college training program (usually owned by their Dads). Do we not all know, deep down in our heart of hearts, that failure is the single force that has helped us all be better at what we do? When we fail we are faced with only one real conclusion. That we failed in some way. Even in a marriage gone bad. The other person may have gambled, drank, drugged or slept around...but, at the very least, we failed in selection going in. We face the full realization, when we fail, that we are not so great. That we must do better. That is what we are looking at right this minute, as an entire nation. We have failed. What are we to do? Follow Gail's unspoken advice? Move aside and let another country lead? Resign? Be fired? Assign ourselves to the scrap heap, for cause? No, I do not believe so. Not me. Not you. Not Obama. We need the weathering and toughness our failure has wrought. We need it for the awareness, the hyper vigilance it can give us.
I went to dinner with a guy who wears a phoniy Seiko watch. I did not know that they made phony Seiko watches. I would have thought that the phony watches out there, and there are a whole ton of them, would have Seiko insides. But I learn as I age. It seems that there is an automatic special Seiko that is fairly expensive, so it is worth it to some to copy and make a cheaper version. What does this fact have to do with anything, as the man who was wearing it exudes quality in every other area of his life. It was a conundrum and I had a hard time trying to puzzle the opposition out. The obvious opposition of genuine quality demonstrating fakery and trash. He let me carry that mental juggling load all through dinner. Then he revealed that he had acquired the watch to wear for our dinner alone, so that I would have to spend the evening in wonder. I have a very few friends (this one is like no other) who are every bit my equal when it comes to arcane clever aforethought and deep consideration. My friend will read this blog and find my rendering of the event as a bit fictional. He will wonder why I added or subtracted from what really happened. Or so I hope.
from-the-chateau-dif.blogspot.com
If the Republicans lose this election my guess would be that Gov. Palin would continue to work to separate Alaska from the United States for wealth and political purposes. Look at it this way; if successful she would be the President of Alaska.
So, the pundits were on Fox News sunday debating McCain's new strategy to go negative on Obama. Should McCain bring up Ayres, Wright and Rezko they all asked. In doing so rhetorically, they bring up the issue and remind viewers about those big 3 names. Not once, did any surrogate or anyone on the panel say, well Chris, if McCain did that, they open themselves up to McCain's past associations with the Keating Five. After Americans had to painfully swallow a trillion dollar bailout, I don't think they want to be reminded that not so terribly long ago, McCain's associates bilked investors in the Keating Five Savings and Loan scandal. McCain was one of those five. Now, he didn't get exonorated, nor was he as guilty as the other four, but noone can dare say he wasn't fully associated with that mess.
So in all this punditry and surrogacy, listeners get to be reminded of the big 3 for Obama while no mention is made of McCain's less than pure past.
Let's be fair and balanced here...even in analysis. IF we point out the pros, we must also point out the cons and remind people there are always two sides.
My initial reaction to the Debate was to call it a draw ... I've never considered Obama to be a great debater. But, Barack held his own on Foreign Policy issues with John McCain. I believe Barack missed out on some major opportunities to press McCain on the failure of Trickle Down economics which has hurt the American Middle Class; However the Longer debate format gave Obama an opportunity to talk about the issues in substantial ways ... which is his strong suit.
According to Instant Polls after the debate ... viewers from MSNBC and CNN Obama won the debate 70% to McCain's 30%. Msnbc indicated that Barack Obama's Debate performance succeeded in winning over Two major demographics Indie Women and the elderly.
So why do the debate polls indicate Obama was the winner ?
If anything ... McCain lost this debate because he tried to distort both his and Obama's records on the issues. But worst of all John McCain never once had the courtesy to make eye contact with Mr. Obama that kind of body language indicates to me both contempt and dishonesty. The recent Financial Meltdown was in the back of everyone's mind and McCain's inconsistent message has created alot of mistrust among voters so when McCain talks about reforming Big government (The Bush Administration ?) most voters just don't believe him.
The McCain camp has No consistent message. Ten Days ago John McCain's positions on the U.S. economy was it is fundamentally sound then when the Financial Bailout proposal is announced he takes on the mantle of a reformer because the economy is bad... people aren't buying this marlakey....because its like a bad re-run of the last 8 years of Bush and Cheney.
We have alot to be proud of .... our candidate Barack Obama has shown the political establishment and pundits that a candidate can run a clean campaign by strictly focusing on the issues and do well.
Thanks to all of you ... for your incredible enthusiastic support for our candidate.
For the First time in a long time I feel truly optimistic that real change is coming.
BR,
-Vince ;-)
Barack / Biden '08 .... Real Change is coming.
I thought of this tonight, while listening to NPR's coverage about the Republican strategy and that damn made up "pig" everyone seems to get so excited about.
First... I applaud Senator Obama's rhetoric from Ohio about EDUCATIONAL POLICY ISSUES. He hit the nail on the head!! He brought his speech back around to the REAL ISSUES.
And I also enjoyed his shot about the "proverbial pig." It was just vague enough, but just juicy enough, that Senator McCain just couldn't resist crying "fowl."
If he'd vetted that come-back first with his speech writers, they'd never have let him say it. Because they know much better than he does how many times different politicians have used that same image... including Senator McCain himself!
OK... you've had your fun and John put his foot in the noose. But that's enough loose and colorful metaphors.
TAKE THE HIGH GROUND BACK!! McCain used his speeches (and all the media-bashing Sarah Barracuda stirred up) to try and grab the HIGH GROUND. Here's how you can grab it and back McCain & his new Alaskan "consort" into a public corner.
Come out in a nationally televised speech challenging Senator McCain and Governor Palin to cut the crap and get back to the REAL ISSUES!
You wouldn't want to put it QUITE that bluntly. Maybe something more like this:
OK Senator McCain... we've all had some fun and a few laughs at one another's expense. But now the time has come for both Political Parties, and both of us to quit distracting the American public from the REAL ISSUES with homilies and rhetorical distractions, and begin again to address the real issues!My Campaign Staff, Joe Biden and myself challenge the GOP, you and your new VP candidate to change the tone of this election and redirect the American Public to consideration of the REAL ISSUES. AND, FURTHERMORE, we challenge all the NETWORKS AND REPORTERS COVERING THE CAMPAIGNS to from today, STOPE CONDUCTING AND REPORTING ALL THESE EXPENSIVE AND DISTRACTING OPINION POLLS!All this opinion polling just emphasizes "personality cults," and detracts from us both trying to articulate our positions on issues of national and INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE!!We call for both campaigns and all the media to entirely cease all reporting on polls and personalities for the next 60 days and renew our determination to shift the national dialogue BACK TO THE REAL ISSUES!
OK Senator McCain... we've all had some fun and a few laughs at one another's expense. But now the time has come for both Political Parties, and both of us to quit distracting the American public from the REAL ISSUES with homilies and rhetorical distractions, and begin again to address the real issues!
My Campaign Staff, Joe Biden and myself challenge the GOP, you and your new VP candidate to change the tone of this election and redirect the American Public to consideration of the REAL ISSUES.
AND, FURTHERMORE, we challenge all the NETWORKS AND REPORTERS COVERING THE CAMPAIGNS to from today, STOPE CONDUCTING AND REPORTING ALL THESE EXPENSIVE AND DISTRACTING OPINION POLLS!
All this opinion polling just emphasizes "personality cults," and detracts from us both trying to articulate our positions on issues of national and INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE!!
We call for both campaigns and all the media to entirely cease all reporting on polls and personalities for the next 60 days and renew our determination to shift the national dialogue BACK TO THE REAL ISSUES!
OK... I know lots of your "political advisors" are going to probably react by saying I've been (as Bob Dylan says in his ballad Desolation Row): "... off sniffing drainpipes, And reciting the alphabet."
See: Desolation Row Lyrics, by Bob Dylan
But here's the thing: There's a segment of American Voters out here who are sick and tired of these networks and news services endlessly spinning public opinion with their incessant polling. I swear! They come out three times a week. If it's not Gallop, it's Roper. If it's not the Hew York Times, it's the Wall-street Journal!
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
If you make a big enough deal about it, and challenge John and Sarah to bring things back around to the REAL ISSUES, what you'll accomplish is to strike a cord with a large segment of the American public and channel all that dissatisfaction that Sarah managed to stir up against the media (notice she didn't have to try very hard...) and throw down a gauntlet that McCain will be too embarrassed to ignore.
If he doesn't respond to the challenge, he'll look like a wimp that's afraid to accept a challenge, AND LOOSE THE HIGH GROUD.
If he accepts the challenge, he'll have to come out on the issues AND HE"LL LOOSE THE ELECTION POST HASTE.
Hell... I can predict THAT outcome EVEN WITHOUT ALL THOSE DAMN ANNOYING POLLS!
OK... there it is guys. Take it or leave it.
Again... you and your staff did a GREAT JOB on your "education" speech in Ohio. America was listening. I may not be the mythical "everyman," but I sure would like to hear more Obama speeches like that one.
And... tomorrow I'm making another modest donation to your campaign. It's all I can afford, but it's time for the tough and the dedicated TO GET DOWN AND GET GOING!
Very sincerely yours,
BobBl
P.S. I can't wait for the press to dig up some more dirt on Sarah Palin's pork. When they they do, one of the pacs should throw out this one: "Sarah Paola." Anyone out there old enough to remember what paola was??
How many times did you find yourself shouting at the TV when another so called political specialist is obviously lying through his teeth and gets away with it?
The current role of the TV media and its pundits has become so obviously scrutinized by money that it becomes unbearable to watch. I feel pity for the people in this country that don't have the time to use other sources to get their information and or don't have the analytical training to connect the sound bites with all the details in real live or see through the pitch pundits are using.
The saddest part of the TV media is now that they even admit not going to discuss the issues but rather talk about the process. Discuss for hours a controversy that doesn't even exists. Or discuss in detail the importance of another one of the McCain adds, admitting that the add is ill conceived and should be dismissed instantly. Admitting that the speeches given that day by Obama and McCain will not be given more time than a background backdrop.
Without any shame this same media will, in the next hour of their show, interview people in their audience and let them complain about the lack of beef in the message of Obama. They will let pundits sit there and repeat that same complaint, while another town-hall meeting with all the beef of the day is squandered away as another backdrop.
This has to stop.
The Republican pundits and bandits are off and running, in an unsurpassed negative campaign, as expected, so it's very important to nullify the misinformation that's surfacing daily, some of which is not truthful, but most of which is intended to create an aura of doubt about Barack's ability to conduct business as the US President.
Since those negative insinuations won't take the day, the dirty tricks committee will probably resort to low blows and intimations that suggest the siqnificance of other things that are not only unique to this election, but will represent a major shift in the overall attitudes of the voting public, in a negative, scare-tactic type of strategy.
Barack's Presidency will in fact represent a major milestone in our political history, and I do believe that many of us are undecided about who we want to lead this Nation. There's no way to hide the fact that this will be a critical factor in our final selection, even though we may not currently think that way, and assume that we will all support the Democratic nominee.
But it would seem that there is no confusion as to the kind of person we don't want to lead this Nation. And because of that, we feel compelled to cast our votes for that person who will truly effect a change in our government. I believe that it is Barack who will be the one to effect that change, or at least to create the environment for it to happen.
But change is the key word here, and we all will have to change not only our choices in government leadership, but also our choices in the way we perceive our fellow Americans. That I believe, is crucial to this general election, as it will be for all future elections, if we are to have a Country that lives up to what it suggests in its Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights.
We have not always followed suit with respect to the intent of our inspired documents. That has been painfully obvious throughout our history.
So let's join together in seeing that our Democratic Nominee and his Vice Presidential Nominee are the next Americans to occupy the White House and that they will effect that much needed change in American Government.
Barack Obama, against all odds, has slowly cemented his hold on the nomination for the Democratic presidential candidate. Just over a year ago when he started, the pundits were excited by his presence, the first African American with a real chance at the top spot who dared to hope with such little 'experience'. But they knew best. Many would have chuckled to themselves rather smugly at this seeming no-hoper taking on the giant presence of the Clintons, their cronies and their reputation. In fact, if one followed Hillary's campaign closely, by September of 2007, it seemed to be a done deal for her nomination. They seemed sure. But the problem with trying to be fortune tellers without the crystal ball is that something always goes awry.
Regardless of the predictions, Obama has calmly stuck with it, displaying a determination, vision, organisation and stickability which has defied all the learned politicos every step of the way. Now it seems that he might even be on the home straight to making history. But this would be surprising only to those without the intuition to see what this man represents and why he will be the next president. Where the pundits have gone terribly wrong is that they have depended on three things in this race, while missing the only other thing that really mattered. But tradition seldom has all the answers. One has to always allow for that tiny element of surprise in life.
Just listening to a little bit about the campaign on Fox, POTUS '08 and MSNBC today I can see that the push is on to define the candidate by explaining to the press what Barack's speeches really mean. The question arises, Who makes up the mind for the Press? Do they buy into the spin of the opponents or do they actually do the work of listening to the whole speech and parsing it for themselves? The hot topic tonight was whether BO is flip-flopping on Iraq by saying that he wouldn't force a precipitous withdrawal from Iraq. The Republicans and also McCain lambasted Barack for being inconsistent, whether or not they agreed with what they misconstued his original position to be. It is necessary to go beyond what the pundits say an listen to Barack's and McCain's speeches in full to see what is really bgeing said. How many citizens will take the time to do that? It is up to all of us to learn who we are supporting and answer or friends and families' misconceptions.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/7/2/164430/9517/585/545554
I've been reading with dismay the messages on the newest, fastest-growing MyBO group, SenatorObama-PleaseVoteAgainstFISA. Many (not all) of those people are really taking things too far. They are withdrawing all support from Obama and even asking for refunds for all previous donations made to the Obama campaign.
I am appalled. Who in their right mind would rather see a President McCain who would strengthen and expand spying programs and invade more and more of our privacy. There are many ways to put pressure on Obama, but threatening to put in office someone who is much, much worse on the very issue you are upset about... well, that's just stupidity.
Let's get real here, people. Obama is supporting a compromise. You know you've got a compromise when people on both sides are unhappy... and, well, that's what we've got. People on both sides are definitely unhappy. I'm unhappy, a lot of people on this site are unhappy, conservatives are unhappy. Meanwhile, McCain is laughing and loving this.
Obama's central platform has always been compromise versus gridlock. He has told us over and over that he will compromise rather than allow gridlock to rule the day. Did these people not listen? Or did they just choose to ignore that. Obama has told us over and over that the pursuit of perfection is the enemy of improvement. Entrenchment is the enemy of progress.
This bill is a first step, not the end game. It's up to us to ensure that we keep moving forward on this issue. Now, I'm not saying that I like this compromise, but I am saying that moving forward an inch by electing Obama is much better than moving backwards by a mile by electing McCain.
I think the reason we're seeing so much opposition is because Democrats are feeling too comfortable about November. People are taking it for granted that Obama is doing so well now that he is a shoo-in (as a matter of fact, many of the FISA activists are saying so explicitly). But he is not a shoo-in. This race will be much closer than it appears now. Remember the Republican primary when everyone thought McCain's candidacy was dead? Heck, remember when everyone thought that Hillary was inevitable? Remember 2004 when everyone thought that the hatred for Bush was so wide and so deep that he had to lose???
Many presidential candidates have been considered inevitable and then lost. Many times a candidate has been way ahead and then America had buyers remorse close to the election. Many things could also change between now and then to make Americans more fearful, more willing to accept a war-monger like McCain. We need to be building a lead, a cushion of support, if you will -- not taking it for granted that we can do whatever we want right now and still win in November.
If Obama gets into office, I believe we will see movement in the direction we want on this issue. But I also believe with all of my heart that if McCain gets into office, we're going to see movement in the opposite direction. Do we really need to be reminded of all of the things that are different about Obama and McCain, including FISA?
Obama is in a no win situation right now, and it is unreasonable supporters who have put him there. If he did not compromise on FISA, he would have lost support from Independents and moderates who he needs to win in November. At the same time, he is being treated by some purity trolls as a traitor (or worse) for compromising.
The best way to get support for the position we want on FISA is to change public opinion. Obama made the compromise he made because public opinion is what it is. You can have an opinion, but so can the rest of America. And guess what... numbers matter most!
So, the bottom line... do what Obama has asked of you all along: Get out there and work to make change, don't expect him to do all of the heavy lifting without support and involvement from the grassroots. How many times has Obama said he can't do it without us? Did you really understand what that meant? Give it some thought. Much of the work and support he was talking about was about changing public opinion and putting pressure on other elected officials to support these very positions.
Obama told us what he needs us to do so that he can accomplish the goals we set forth. Instead of doing that, some people have chosen to attack him instead, even asking for donations to be refunded from months and months back.
Well, I will be donating as much as I can scrape together this month to make up for those who are resorting to such nonsense. Who's with me?
* My words*
Have we become so imature, selfish and politicaly unethical that if we don't get what we want we vote outside of everything we believe in? Remove our support and donations? How is it "a win" if your losing big time? That being the case self distruct on your own. Don't try and bring Obama down with you. In my eyes you were never truly for his vision, positins or policies to begin with. Real Obama supporters, please stand up against those looking to destroy us from within for thier own selfish short sited agendas!
I'm utterly appauled by adults who act like children and refuse to compromise on an issue that isn't even on the list most effecting Americans today. Is this FISA bill going to put gas in my car, food on the table, keep me employed, bring down the cost of health care, bring home our troops? NO! Has anyone even read it in full or is everyone just jumpin on the "I hate Obama because he isn't doing what "I" want him to do toaday" band wagon?!
While you guys are throwing meaningless hissy fits McCain is chummin in up in Colombia with known terrorist sypothysers, deafulting on taxes he hasn't paid in three years on one of seven properties he owns, while doing another one of his famous flip flops on his ability to know somethig about how to run an economy; let alone managing his wife's hundreds of thousdand dollar spending sprees. I think your frustration is way off base. Get back on message and take your drama to your local congressman...it's their fault...oh wait they are on vacation...
Political Blog of the Year
Goodbye, Tim. Thanks for all the smarts, hard work and humanity you brought to the news, day in and day out. A nation's thoughts are with your family. You are already missed, awfully missed.
One of the most frustrating things for me, of late, is that people simply aren't understanding "the facts" of whatever topic might be the focus of a given discussion -- even more frustrating when it's my friends and family members. I see this happening more and more often these days as the punditry and mainstream media collectively present an ambiguous (at best) or purposely confusing/misleading picture of a given topic.
This was abundantly clear to me the other night when a very good friend of mine and I were talking about Saddam Hussein and his supposed ties to Al Qaeda and/or to Zarqawi. I ended up walking away from the discussion because in the moment I couldn't even convince my friend that not only was he factually incorrect, but that it was no longer even a dabatable topic -- that every group who has looked into this has come to the same conclusions: no ties, no support, and if anything there was animosity, suspicion, etc.
The next morning I was able to sit down and put together a simple primer for my friend, which I'll include below. I think it's worth sharing, and I think it illustrates just how far each of us may need to go if we expect people to start approaching politics rationally and reasonably again, instead of in the almost faith-based and definitely emotionally-driven way they are doing far too often today.
With that, here's what I wrote to my friend...
i live in Las Vegas and it seems all the A.M. radio station featuring talk radio are 24/7 bashing Liberals and Democrats. I'm quite sick and tired of this and would like to begin forming a group that targets their sponsors. We all know bill O'Reilly is famous for calling for these actions against newspapers and stores that say or do anything he doesn't agree with, well why not us?
Yesterday, I heard an awesome caller call into the Sean Hannity show and ask him how as a party of religion they twist facts about Sen. obama and report everything in some a mean spirited way. Also, why Limbaugh think Operation Chaos is good for voting and not disturbing. Hannity answered that Obama lied about what he knew about the Reverend and ONLY after this got bad he disconnected himself. So, he called Obama a LIAR. Then, on the Chaos thing, he said Rush has the 'right" to free speech and the whole Chaos things is FUNNY!!! He said libs need to get a sense of humor. Mark levin is another one that as nothing but hatred and filth slung at Democrats constantly. And Michael Savage is a friggin idiot. Even republicans stay away from him.
I would like anyone that wants to join me in my protest to get in touch with me. Let's join forces.
"A measure of racism: 15 percent? <politico.com>
Is the failure to caputure the "lunch-pail" crowd due to racism in America. From personal experience I know that working-class construction types, here in NYC at least, can be heard to say the odd deragatory euphamism for Black person. No doubt the same applies all accross the rust-belt. It makes no sense, I know. They continually vote for candidates who stroke the lesser devils of their nature, but who serve the CEO's and the establishment. Election after election this happens, so when will they learn. Clinton is following this playbook to the T.Who will she serve if she were president.
Barack's "gaffe"?!? in San Francisco, when put into context, expounds on this somewhat. He is aware that people of a certain cultural background have a hard time voting for a person of color, and one offering change no less. And certainly I have felt for some time that this is why he has failed to capture their votes. I mean what's more likely, they won't vote for him because he fails to were a fifty-cent piece of metal on his jacket, or because he's Black. I wonder...
In any case these are the same people that voted for Bush in the double-oughts and '04. I hear pundits talk about this group as the back-bone of the Democratic party, but didn't they go for Bush in '04. Wouldn't they also support the Republican in this instance, especially if Hillary was facing him. In 2004, John Kerry only won Pennsylvania by 51%. Furthermore, he won only those counties in which Barack was strongest on Tuesday. If anything the mainstream of the democratic party: liberal activists, union members and urban folk, have flocked to Barack.
GREETINGS OBAMITES!Some of you know that I lead an ongoing "charge" against the insidious journalism practiced by FOX NEWS and SHAWN HANNITY. I have taken it personally, as have many of you, when these Neoconservatives apply these dangerous, misleading and offensive practices to our candidate. While the attached letter was sent to over 80 newspapers, Editors and pundits, I took the liberty of forwarding it, separately, to Mr. Keith Olbermann and COUNTDOWN at MSNBC. I did so, because I know NO OTHER PUNDIT who could vocalize the feeling of indignation that so many of you have told me that you have felt. It warranted, I felt, the castigating tone that is one of Mr. Olbermann's "to the point" hallmarks. I was honored in that he conveyed my message "loud and clear." This, my friends, was beyond imperrative, because Mr Hannity's incidiary tone could have reasonably been expected to incite radicals who, in an a "John Wilkes Booth-like" show of mutated patriotic bigotry, could very well attempt to do PHYSICAL harm to Senator Barack Obama or to members of his family. Keith, however, took it ONE STEP FURTHER, and exposed the expressions of SANCTIONED HATE that have come forth from FOX owner, RUPERT MURDOCH and the patrons of his public-opinion boards and blogs. I have posted the TWO relevant links in the "boxed" section immediately following this one, as well as at the points of relevance in the main body of this piece for easy reader correlation. It may interest you to know that, yesterday, it was made clear, that Democratic Governor, and staunch Clinton supporter, Governor Ed Rendell, of Pennsylvania, has endorsed…FOX NEWS! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23889508#23889508). The Governor described it as "a fair and balance"news service. Keith immediately bestowed upon him the same "testimonial" earned only by the members of that most "exclusive of exclusive," "members only" order; THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD! Subsequent letter: Shawn Hannity: STOP the anti-OBAMA “FOX-VIRUS” NOW (http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rickbasora/gGBnpb)
GREETINGS OBAMITES!
Some of you know that I lead an ongoing "charge" against the insidious journalism practiced by FOX NEWS and SHAWN HANNITY. I have taken it personally, as have many of you, when these Neoconservatives apply these dangerous, misleading and offensive practices to our candidate. While the attached letter was sent to over 80 newspapers, Editors and pundits, I took the liberty of forwarding it, separately, to Mr. Keith Olbermann and COUNTDOWN at MSNBC. I did so, because I know NO OTHER PUNDIT who could vocalize the feeling of indignation that so many of you have told me that you have felt. It warranted, I felt, the castigating tone that is one of Mr. Olbermann's "to the point" hallmarks. I was honored in that he conveyed my message "loud and clear." This, my friends, was beyond imperrative, because Mr Hannity's incidiary tone could have reasonably been expected to incite radicals who, in an a "John Wilkes Booth-like" show of mutated patriotic bigotry, could very well attempt to do PHYSICAL harm to Senator Barack Obama or to members of his family. Keith, however, took it ONE STEP FURTHER, and exposed the expressions of SANCTIONED HATE that have come forth from FOX owner, RUPERT MURDOCH and the patrons of his public-opinion boards and blogs. I have posted the TWO relevant links in the "boxed" section immediately following this one, as well as at the points of relevance in the main body of this piece for easy reader correlation. It may interest you to know that, yesterday, it was made clear, that Democratic Governor, and staunch Clinton supporter, Governor Ed Rendell, of Pennsylvania, has endorsed…FOX NEWS! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23889508#23889508). The Governor described it as "a fair and balance"news service. Keith immediately bestowed upon him the same "testimonial" earned only by the members of that most "exclusive of exclusive," "members only" order; THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD!
Subsequent letter: Shawn Hannity: STOP the anti-OBAMA “FOX-VIRUS” NOW (http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rickbasora/gGBnpb)
KEITH OLBERMANN presents: THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
March 19, 2008 - Hannity's Site Features Outrageous Obama Posts http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643 March 21, 2008 - FoxNews.com HATE SPEECH http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23750779
March 19, 2008 - Hannity's Site Features Outrageous Obama Posts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643
March 21, 2008 - FoxNews.com HATE SPEECH
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23750779
From: Rick Basora [the_dragonwolf@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:23 AM
To: KEITH OLBERMANN & COUNTDOWN [countdown@msnbc.com]
Subject: FW: SHAWN HANNITY - THE PINNACLE OF IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST
The very “worstest” person in the world
Keith, You are my absolute “bestest PUNDITARIAN hero.” I’ve circulated this “modestly” but my deepest hope is that it gets to you. Kindly note the “Olbermannisms.”
SIC’EM!
Nothing can excuse the extremes of irresponsible journalism exhibited by Shawn Hannity and FOX on the 3/9/08 edition of Hannity's America. There, he deliberately attempted to vilify a Presidential candidate with tabloid-worthy disinformation. This is how tyranny is raised; by feeding it. I wrote this letter and sent it to the journalistic world in order to expose this un-American "jester". I am forwarding it to the respectable and credible Keith Olbermann, in hopes that he may use it as a "belt" with which to "spank" this buffoon for discrediting your legitimate profession of "informers of the world." If this “Roman Circus” of an election campaign succeeds in its apparent objective of robbing America of its “popular” will, let all Americans know, that Shawn Hannity stands charged and convicted of complicity.
From: Rick Basora Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 11:26 PM
To: Hannity@foxnews.com; Feedback@foxnews.com; yourcomments@foxnews.com
Cc: 'americasnewsroom@foxnews.com'; 'Myword@foxnews.com'; 'Friends@foxnews.com'; 'Jamie@foxnews.com'; 'Newswatch@foxnews.com'; 'Foxreport@foxnews.com'; 'Atlarge@foxnews.com'; 'JER@foxnews.com'; 'Lineup@foxnews.com'; 'Martha@foxnews.com'; 'Ontherecord@foxnews.com'; 'Special@foxnews.com'; 'Cavuto@foxnews.com'; 'editor@ajr.org'; 'mailto:editor@ajr.org'; 'rrieder@ajr.org'; 'rsmolkin@ajr.org'; 'tkunkel@ajr.org'; 'executive-editor@nytimes.com'; 'managing-editor@nytimes.com'; 'washington@nytimes.com'; 'national@nytimes.com'; 'metro@nytimes.com'; 'news-tips@nytimes.com'; 'public@nytimes.com'; 'president@nytimes.com'; 'CEO-CarolineLittle@wpni.com'; 'executive.editor@washingtonpost.com'; 'wsj.ltrs@wsj.com'; 'a.murray@wsj.com'; 'a.latour@wsj.com'; 'd.pettit@wsj.com'; 't.cullen@wsj.com'; 'j.fry@wsj.com'; 'darren.mcdermott@wsj.com'; 'ombudsman@washpost.com'; 'metro@washpost.com'; 'national@washpost.com'; 'tips@tribune.com'; 'ctc-tribletter@tribune.com'; 'publiceditor@tribune.com'; 'EAchenbaum@tribune.com'; 'ctc-editor@tribune.com'; 'bdold@tribune.com'; 'TMcNulty@tribune.com'; 'gdelama@tribune.com'; 'JCWarren@tribune.com'; 'aaguilar@tribune.com'; 'aahmed@tribune.com'; 'KAlleynemorris@tribune.com'; 'LBAnderson@tribune.com'; 'rranderson@tribune.com'; 'kataiyero@tribune.com'; 'NBendavid@tribune.com'; 'lbowean@tribune.com'; 'SChapman@tribune.com'; 'LCohen@tribune.com'; 'JChase@tribune.com'; 'JCrewdson@tribune.com'; 'HDardick@tribune.com'; 'MDorning@tribune.com'; 'askamy@tribune.com'; 'national@latimes.com'; 'tvtimes@latimes.com'; 'op-ed@latimes.com'; 'letters@latimes.com'; 'info@ap.org'; 'mediainquiries@msnbc.com'
Subject: SHAWN HANNITY - THE PINNACLE OF IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST
To Shawn Hannity and to the Management of Fox Broadcasting;
Last night, as I watched Shawn Hannity, on Hannity’s America, corrupt the minds of “the corruptible” with a program that tendered accusations of “terrorist” affiliations between Barack Obama and William Ayers of the former Weathermen, I was reminded of the collective “brainwashing” that, as a child, I was taught to believe was a characteristic only of “evil” nations like the former Soviet Union and of former Nazi Germany. As a child, I recall being assured by my 6th grade teacher that such a robbery of the human “will” would never be tolerated in America. FREEDOM, she said, could only be achieved by a people who were empowered with TRUTH as the element that, along with a sense of identity, made valid their RIGHT to CHOOSE it. Last night, your Shawn Hannity usurped that right from those Americans susceptible to the inflammatory; from those vulnerable to the politics of FEAR and from those ignorant BY CHOICE to the REALITIES of the Presidential candidates at large.
Mr, Hannity, I am compelled to remind you that, despite your reluctance, we still reside in a country where the rule of law prescribes that a person is innocent, and not by association, until proven guilty. I feel further obligated to engage your cynical racial and religious bigotry by reminding you that, if African Americans find refuge in institutions and churches whose very names herald a predictable WELCOME, it is because the sins of our fathers have forced them, however subconsciously, to find refuge in an identity. (Keith Olbermann's observations - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23750779) No, Mr. Hannity, a church with a name that speaks to a black congregation is not a racist statement; it is a statement of fraternity that you and our forefathers insisted on disallowing white America from fully participating in…and yet…they welcome us. Further, you “mouth” the word “Muslim” as if it were the very “sound” of social and religious leprosy. You might recall that legitimate Muslims are a peaceful people in non-complicity with the fanatics that did us and still wish us harm. Your message, sir, is one that has a history of inciting lynch mobs and, just in case Jenna, LA taught you nothing, ALL OF AMERICA will put that mob DOWN. While I am certain that Senator Obama would strongly sensor my statement, I will ask you that, if you must hate the mutations of religious principal, then, Sir, hate the religion of The Crusades, of the THOUSAND YEARS of European Inquisition, of Waco, Texas and of The Salem Witch Trials. Hate whatever fed the narcissism of Reverends Jim Baker and Jim Jones and you can start by hating the perversion of 10,000 pedophile priests, the Institutions that fed them our children. Hate those who sanctioned their rape and that, in doing so, stripped many of us of the comfort that one should find in the words “In God We Trust.”
As it has become commonplace with radical Conservatives, last night Mr Hannity invoked the late President Reagan and his anecdote of a father who, back in the days of the “cold war”, declared that he would prefer to see his two little daughters dead…rather than to see them live under a faithless and godless Communist regime. With that story, Mr. Hannity attempted to rouse his audience to a “pitch” of nationalistic outrage. It appeared to me that he was IMPLICIT LY charging Senator Obama of practicing a communist-like godlessness. Allow me to remind FOX and Mr. Hannity that it was Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s Wellsley College thesis honoring her ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT mentor, Saul Alinsky and his MARXIST teachings, that earned her the appellative “Alinsky’s daughter.” The document necessitated its being SEALED to the public by a 1993 special Presidential order issued by her husband who considered it a political liability because of its “radical” content. This document was “unsealed” in 2001 after the Republicans took office and is currently available for your scrutiny and review. What happens to human convictions after 40 years have passed is known only to those minds that contain them and to God Himself who made them; not to Shawn Hannity.
He went on to showcase President Reagan in a clip from his “Star Wars” speech, where he indicated that America was “a country that did not start wars.” Gentlemen, if this was Shawn Hannity’s way of weaving “illusions of war-mongering” with which to surround a Presidential candidate who stands on a platform of DIALOGUE as his preferred weapon of pre-emption of war, you may want to advise him about the fact that we ARE, in fact, in a war unjustly started; a war that he endorsed and that he is a member of the political party that started it. Senator Obama was the legislator who attempted unsuccessfully to galvanize an effective movement to avoid it. History has proven him to have been STRATEGICALLY CORRECT and no degree of Mr. Hannity’s resenting him for it will grant him access to that elite minority reserved solely for the JUDGEMENTALLY SOUND.
As the pariah of last nights “Hannity’s America” unfolded, it was clear that Mr. Hannity extended warm and humane concern for the life and wellbeing of one Britney Spears. In stark contrast, was his misguided and malicious presentation of the character, principals, religion and persona of one Barack Obama; a legitimate Senator of the United States, respected by what most polls reflect as the majority of our country’s electorate. In doing so, this contemporary carpetbagger has insulted the MILLIONS whose voices are the mandate that drives his candidacy. Hannity has slapped the essential face of Democracy; of the decent journalists and pundits of FOX and of our media. He attempted a coupe on the people’s right for TRUTH to be allowed to guide the American Electoral process. Most of all, Mr. Hannity has provided the most educated minds in America, described by Frank Newport of the Gallup Organization as being the core of Senator Obama’s support, with irrefutable evidence that any legitimate opposition to Senator Obama’s Presidential bid can only find momentum in feeble minds inspired by synthesized realities delivered by “tabloid” journalists beholden to tyrants who, regardless of their party affiliation, are certainly worthy of the descriptive, “MONSTERS.” It is no wonder, gentlemen that we are referred to in Europe as “hypocritical contradictions of ourselves.”
Perhaps, Mr. Hannity, you may want to discuss issues that are current and of legitimate concern to America. I might suggest that you begin with programming devoted to the more than TEN MILLION DOLLARS in Saudi, Middle Eastern and Taiwan contributions received by the Clintons and disclosed by The Washington Post, The NY Times, Jihad Watch and more. Some good questions to begin with would be; how will this impact “President” Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy decisions regarding the war on terror if she and her husbands personal interests are funded by the world’s largest supporters of it? How will this Saudi endorsement affect her right to speak to women’s rights? How will Taiwan’s “offering” temper her engagement of China as the possible new “owner” of America? There are REAL issues, I assure you, that scream for addressing; issues of far greater nobility than your need for tabloid ratings. If, however, that is all that we can expect from you, you might consider a piece on the story that just broke on New York’s Governor Spitzer admitting to involvement in a prostitution ring. It is, as you know, yet another scandal from a State plagued by the seemingly polar opposites of unspeakable hardship and of chronic corruption by its politicians. That should be sordid enough to satisfy your personal and/or political libations, Sir.
Take heed of these, my closing words. The irresponsibility of Shawn Hannity’s “rabble rousing journalism” could very well inspire right wing radical extremists to commit acts in PATENT SUPPORT of his bastardized rant. Because you, Mr. Hannity, are in contempt of the most basic of professional standards and of the ethics of personal decency, we, the majority of America’s electorate hold you and The Fox Network personally responsible for any such actions and further hold you accountable for promoting them and for inspiring them. (KEITH OLBERMANN'S observations - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643)
If we are to learn the lessons willed to us by the American “giant” that was Robert F. Kennedy, it behooves us to recognize that YOU, Mr Hannity, are THE EXTREMIST.
“What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.” Robert Francis Kennedy
Rick Basora
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 6:00 PM
To: letters@time.com; WebEditors@newsweek.com; Letters@newsweek.com; letters@usnews.com
Cc: 'Atlarge@foxnews.com'; 'Hannity@foxnews.com'; 'JER@foxnews.com'; 'Lineup@foxnews.com'; 'Martha@foxnews.com'; 'Ontherecord@foxnews.com'; 'Special@foxnews.com'; 'Cavuto@foxnews.com'; 'yourcomments@foxnews.com'; 'editor@ajr.org'; 'rrieder@ajr.org'; 'rsmolkin@ajr.org'; 'tkunkel@ajr.org'; 'president@nytimes.com'; 'executive-editor@nytimes.com'; 'managing-editor@nytimes.com'; 'washington@nytimes.com'; 'national@nytimes.com'; 'metro@nytimes.com'; 'news-tips@nytimes.com'; 'public@nytimes.com'; 'letters@nytimes.com'; 'CEO-CarolineLittle@wpni.com'; 'executive.editor@washingtonpost.com'; 'letters@washpost.com'; 'ombudsman@washpost.com'; 'metro@washpost.com'; 'national@washpost.com'; 'wsj.ltrs@wsj.com'; 'a.murray@wsj.com'; 'a.latour@wsj.com'; 'd.pettit@wsj.com'; 't.cullen@wsj.com'; 'j.fry@wsj.com'; 'darren.mcdermott@wsj.com'; 'tips@tribune.com'; 'ctc-tribletter@tribune.com'; 'publiceditor@tribune.com'; 'EAchenbaum@tribune.com'; 'ctc-editor@tribune.com'; 'bdold@tribune.com'; 'TMcNulty@tribune.com'; 'gdelama@tribune.com'; 'JCWarren@tribune.com'; 'aaguilar@tribune.com'; 'aahmed@tribune.com'; 'KAlleynemorris@tribune.com'; 'LBAnderson@tribune.com'; 'rranderson@tribune.com'; 'kataiyero@tribune.com'; 'NBendavid@tribune.com'; 'lbowean@tribune.com'; 'SChapman@tribune.com'; 'LCohen@tribune.com'; 'JChase@tribune.com'; 'JCrewdson@tribune.com'; 'HDardick@tribune.com'; 'MDorning@tribune.com'; 'askamy@tribune.com'; 'national@latimes.com'; 'tvtimes@latimes.com'; 'op-ed@latimes.com'; 'letters@latimes.com'; 'ctc-TribLetter@Tribune.com'; 'info@ap.org'; 'headlinenews@cnn.com'; 'mediainquiries@msnbc.com'; 'letters@msnbc.com'; 'Nightly@NBC.com'; 'Dateline@NBCUNI.com'; 'transnet87@aol.com'; 'countdown@msnbc.com'; 'race08@msnbc.com'; 'Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com'; 'views@phillynews.com'; 'letters@post-gazette.com'; 'opinion@tribweb.com'; 'mm-tips@mediamatters.org'; 'barrett_td@yahoo.com'; 'wholesalershoppers@yahoo.com'; 'karendillard@hotmail.com'; 'dplouffe@barackobama.com'; 'john@greenskydesign.com'; nancymillinger@theamericaninitiative.org; Blackberry Muppet; Mutt; Sis; Cousin Jeannette; Marmaduke's Office; Marmaduke ; Mike Beauregard; Rick Basora ; Tuneta; Gizmo Chula; Broomrider; The Wielder of the Wand; Wiccan Bride of the Elder God
Subject: Shawn Hannity - STOP the anti-OBAMA FOX VIRUS NOW
Dear Mr. Hannity;
By now you must certainly be aware that a NATIONAL MOVEMENT is in motion against you and against what America has come to know as THE FOX VIRUS that comes forth from the RADICAL EXTREMIST NEO-CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN mouthpiece that you and FOX have become. Presenting our voice to the media of America now comes in the form of the Robert Greenwald film “Fox Attacks Obama (Spreading the Virus)” which, as you can see, is the envelope sent “special delivery” and containing the national petition now underwritten by moveon.org and their Political Action’s Adam Green.
After the travesty of ethical journalism perpetrated by FEMA on October 26, 2007, where it hosted its own “staged” televised news conference reporting on the state of EMERGENCY SERVICES to victims of Hurricane Katrina, it was brought to the attention of America that, not only was the person addressing this “skit” a FEMA official, but so were those asking the questions who, while posing as reporters, were exposed by Al Kamen of The Washington Post in his article FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA. The fact that the article alleges that you carried this charade LIVE, and then passed on the video to MSNBC and other news outlets, renders FOX Television, and its agents, complicit in the efforts of what Christy Hardin Smith, of FIREDOGLAKE, calls The Department of Planting Your Own Propaganda And Hoping No One Notices assigned to the Bush administration.
Mr. Hannity, neither you, nor your colleague-at-arms, Rush Limbaugh, can be allowed, by a nation on the very brink of social, economic, political and global chaos, to continue manipulating puppet strings, pushing buttons and pulling levers the outcome of which you CLEARLY know nothing about. Mr. Limbaugh’s disgracefully titled attempt at hijacking the current Presidential election has earned him the dubious distinction of being named WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23908634#23908634) by MSNBC's KEITH OLBERMANN. It now appears on his own website with the headline Operation Chaos Under Assault.
As you frantically attempt to continue the milking of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright controversy, synthetically created by your Conservative minions, you appear less than pathetic before an increasingly intolerant nation that, as you can see, by Senator John McCain’s attainment of the honorable position of The Republican Presidential Nominee, America has declared you and your Neoconservative “cult”, politically, philosophically, morally and subversively UNDESIREABLE.
I, and America, continue to observe your frenzied contribution to the engineering and staging of a premeditated and choreographed conspiracy aimed at discrediting the legitimacy of Senator Barack Obama as a Presidential candidate, as well as the WONDER of the grass-roots movement taking shape around him. We watch in dismay as you question your guests, carefully selected to provide the most desirable answers for the damming of the voice of HOPE that FOX radio has described as “sounding like Hitler.” Yet, when Democratic Analysts, Tanya Acker and Bob Beckel, as well as your own Alan Colmes, have asked you questions as simple as “So, are you saying that every child whose parents took them to the Trinity United Church of Christ is, therefore, disqualified from growing up to aspire to one day becoming President of the United States,” you conspicuously, and at every turn, refuse to answer the question. You are fully aware that, answering that question, honestly, would reduce you to the hypocritical contradiction of yourself that you are. Take note, Mr. Hannity, your refusal to respond implicitly convicts you in spite of you.
I was held in utter disbelief … which then slowly grew to anger when, last night, you summoned former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, to join in the spreading of THE FOX VIRUS. I found two things to be in poignant opposition with your intention of subverting America. The first was Mr. Gingrich’s repeated insistence that he did NOT question Senator Obama’s integrity, his loyalty to America or his non-alignment with Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s apparent anti-American rants. Later in the same program, and despite your best efforts, this same opinion was echoed, with even greater emphasis and eloquence, by Senator John McCain, who insisted on addressing issues of legitimate concern to our country and clearly, refused to participate in your scripted outcomes. You must, as a consequence, Sir, be torn between wondering if the walls of correctness are closing in on you or whether they, in fact, are spreading so far apart that your only company would be the members of your own League of Liars.
The second observation, born of your program’s intentions, last night, was your patent set-up of “JUDGMENT” as the supposedly flawed characteristic displayed by Senator Barack Obama in his choosing to continue to attend Wright’s Trinity church. You spoke the word “JUDGMENT,” with diacritical accentuation, no less than a dozen times and consistently modified it with adjectives such as “flawed,” “poor,” etc in your transparent attempt to pre-empt the Senator’s platform of SOUND JUDGEMENT in the furtherance of his Presidential bid. I will excuse myself from redundancy and I will quote my own words from the letter that, on March 16, 2008, I sent to you and Fox Management titled SHAWN HANNITY - THE PINNACLE OF IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST:
“Gentlemen, if this was Shawn Hannity’s way of weaving “illusions of war-mongering” with which to surround a Presidential candidate who stands on a platform of DIALOGUE as his preferred weapon of pre-emption of war, you may want to advise him about the fact that we ARE, in fact, in a war unjustly started; a war that he endorsed and that he is a member of the political party that started it. Senator Obama was the legislator who attempted unsuccessfully to galvanize an effective movement to avoid it. History has proven him to have been STRATEGICALLY CORRECT and no degree of Mr. Hannity’s resenting him for it will grant him access to that elite minority reserved solely for the JUDGEMENTALLY SOUND.”
Last night, what achieved the “apex of the offensive,” Sir, was that you utilized former Speaker, Newt Gingrich, to assist you in making the point of presenting Senator Obama’s judgment as, somehow, flawed. Might I remind you that Newt Gingrich headed the 1998 charge to impeach President William Jefferson Clinton on charges stemming from the extramarital affair that he sustained with one Monica Lewinsky. In a March 8, 2007 Associated Press article featured on your very own FOX News, titled "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Acknowledges ...Having Affair During Clinton Impeachment," we are presented with an interview with James Dobson of Focus on the Family that reveals the following:
“Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.”
"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."
Sir, translated into common English, this says…There are rules and laws that apply to ALL, including the President of The United States, but that I, because my name is Newt Gingrich, a Neoconservative, reserve the right to exempt myself from them. No, Mr. Hannity, your show, your network, your self-righteous, pontificating ploys called supporting guests, your intentions, your manic obsession with imposing dynastic rule… but most of all, YOU… are tacitly UNACCEPTABLE as is your effort to present this morally diseased neoconservative “fowl” as someone qualified to “judge the judgment” of EAGLES. I am taking the liberty of forwarding this correspondence to Representative Henry Waxman, who, last year moved to have yours and Mr. Rush Limbaugh’s actions investigated, as well as to Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Kevin Martin, who, I am advised, has been put on notice of the nature of your endeavors, that now appear to many, as being contrary to our very national security.
America will NEVER belong to your minion of disguised patriotic indigence, Sir, and, least of all, to YOU. I would suggest that you listen to a song, considered by many of my generation as an American Anthem, and that I recently sent to the Democratic Superdelegates as well. In ’64 Bob Dylan spoke of times that were “a-changing. I submit to you, Shawn Hannity, that there is an unmistakable wind of CHANGE in the air and MILLIONS, like me, bear witness to its hopeful reality. To you, and to those like you, frantically trying to stop this will be like trying to stop the wind. We have paid for this campaign and for this movement, unlike the politicians of yesteryears and of today, with our own monies, 5, 10, 25 dollars at a time. I know that you must resent the force that such a movement presents. Your colleagues must , as well, fear the threat to their lifetime relationships with lobbyist dollars that will scatter like fallen leaves on this wind. Yes, Mr Hannity, make no mistake. More than times a-changing, Sir, the times …THEY DUN HAVE CHANGED!
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'.
From the song The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan (1964)
Complete lyrics - http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/times.html
Listen to it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vou4qUu5YY
RICK F. BASORA
