John McCain: Senator Obama, Come on. Let's Talk to the American People. Leni Riefenstahl Concerts for Obama's Talking at Them Won't Do

Barack Obama is a rock-star. Like The Who in Cincinnati's Riverfront Coliseum in 1979, Obama's fans pack any venue. Dave Axelrod 'papers' the house with 'new voters.'

By the way, with all of them 'New Voters,' How come Obama's numbers are so crumby?

I was at John McCain's Townhall in Greendale, Wisconsin - the place was crowded and needed to accommodate folks with overflow rooms - but, it was comfortable and very friendly. I got and earful from Obama supporters who expect John McCain to take a pasting here in Illinois. I said,"I'm not too sure about that. I believe that John McCain will make it a squeaker or even take Illinois." The tall Democratic voters from Racine said, "You are Nuts!" Coals to Newcastle, my friend, I hear that alot.

It was a nice venue for People to see "Just how much straight talk Americans will get from John McCain:

The only boos came when Pat Hickey stood up and identified himself as a Chicago resident and a Democrat. He quickly noted to applause: "There are a lot of us supporting Senator McCain."

Hickey, a teacher at a private school in Chicago, asked McCain about school choice, which McCain supports.

Other questions ranged from college affordability to the appointment of Supreme Court justices. All brought familiar responses.

One woman questioned McCain on the war and its cost to the economy.

"It's succeeding," McCain said of the war. "I can look you in the eye and tell you it's succeeding."


Leni Refiensthal was young film maker and today she would be a contributor to Huffington Post. She was mesmerized by a hitherto unknown politician from Bavaria.

She had exactly the same reaction to this hypnotic orator as Chris 'Tingle Thighs' Matthews:

Riefenstahl heard Adolf Hitler speak at a rally in 1932 and was mesmerized by his talent as a public speaker. Describing the experience in her Memoiren, Riefenstahl wrote: "I had an almost apocalyptic vision that I was never able to forget. It seemed as if the earth's surface were spreading out in front of me, like a hemisphere that suddenly splits apart in the middle, spewing out an enormous jet of water, so powerful that it touched the sky and shook the earth."[9]

Wikpedia Entry.


Reifenstahl filmed and helped orchestrate the Rock Star of Reich's massive events.

History proved Townhalls are might have had a much more positive impact on history.

John McCain has asked Senator Obama to join him for Straight Talk with the American People in Townhalls. McCain also asked Senator Obama to join him for a trip to Iraq - no dice. Obama's surrogates and especially Dave Axelrod want no part of smaller, free-wheeling and unorchestrated events - especially a Townhall.

People get tired of being talked at. Americans are chatty folks. Just try ducking a talk with your neighbors. Americans are genuinely interested in one another.

Progressives? Not so much. They like to talk at you, smile pityingly, shake their heads and then turn up the volume. Senator Obama is the Progressive Politician in marble - the audio is extra.



For Immediate Release

June 13, 2008 Contact: Press Office
703-650-5550

McCain Statement Accepting Invitation to Hold Joint Town Halls



ARLINGTON, VA -- U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today released the following statement by Communications Director Jill Hazelbaker after accepting the invitation by the Ronald Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Libraries to hold joint town hall meetings with John McCain and Barack Obama, and responding to the Obama campaign:

"We are proud to accept the invitation from Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson to hold joint town hall meetings at the Ronald Reagan and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Libraries. As Luci Baines Johnson said in her invitation, these meetings offer an opportunity to 'deliberate the great issues of our time.' The American people deserve a great debate about the future of our country, and we hope that Barack Obama will join us for these important events at these historic venues."

Letter Sent To The Obama Campaign:

Dear Mr. Plouffe,

Thank you for responding to our proposal. Just to reiterate, we have proposed at least ten joint town hall meetings once a week until the week before the Democratic Convention begins. As we understand your counter-proposal, you have proposed only one town hall meeting before the Democratic Convention.

In keeping with our original proposal, we are planning a joint town hall meeting in Minnesota next Thursday evening (June 19, 2008). We will hold time on our schedule for joint town halls every Thursday night until the Democratic convention. I hope Senator Obama would reconsider his position and agree to join Senator McCain as early as next week.

We have also today accepted the invitation from Mrs. Ronald Reagan, Lynda Johnson Robb and Luci Baines Johnson to attend town hall meetings in July at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. As Mrs. Johnson said, these town halls will truly be an opportunity to "deliberate the great issues of our time." Their sponsorship certainly meets our standards for a positive and productive opportunity for voters to interact with the candidates. I hope you will agree.

However, at this moment, we fear that our negotiations over joint town hall meetings are turning into a debate about process. That is exactly what we have always hoped to avoid, and why we proposed a town hall format that would render many of these process issues moot. As Senator Obama has said, he is prepared to meet "anywhere, anytime" for a town hall.

We remain committed to this idea because joint town hall meetings offer the best format for presenting both candidates' visions for our country's future in a substantive way. We have a chance to change the way presidential elections are run and elevate the political dialogue. Americans deserve this kind of opportunity, and we hope that Senator Obama will join us at town hall meetings throughout the summer months.

Sincerely,


Rick Davis

John McCain: Cammy Paglia is Bullish for Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as Obama VP Gal Pal!

But I've come to feel that Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius is Obama's best bet. She is a polished public presence who epitomizes that cordial, smoothly reassuring, and blandly generic WASPiness that has persistently defined the American power structure in business and government and that has weirdly resisted wave after wave of immigration since the mid-19th century. An Obama-Sebelius pairing would be visually vibrant and radiant, like a new day dawning.

Camille Paglia

That old bull dyke can write! When an in-your-face lesbian feminist with the brains of Tolstoy and the ability to make John Donne something more than a dead old white guy speaks, the trendy elites perk up their ears. Joe Biden my Aunt Bridgey! That tired speech lifter will always be a back bencher. I was huge Joe Biden fan until I learned that he was even lazier and more ambitious than the plungers in my Honors English Class back in 1988. Joe, they were grade hungry, but fought the inclination to lift passages without citing them according to MLA standards.

Paglia gives Biden and Jim Webb the brush off and really lays into Senator Clinton - according to the same script followed at MSNBC, Move0n.org, Daily Kos and teh Obama Campaign. Stayed tuned to U.S. Attorney Pat Fitzgerald - Obama might be turning in his elegant wardrobe for the same orange jump-suit that Bob 'The Kite Runner' Creamer of Huffington Post wore in Terra Haut, Indiana. From what I hear Tony Rezko is singing like a canary - or that Brazilian babe that you write about at the close of your essay.

Do, clique my post title for Camille's fine piece ( too sexist?) on Barack's VP choice.

Camille, like the weasely little Stanly Fish who was OH, SO! collegial with Billy 'The Bomber' Ayers and his odious old lady Bernadine Dohrn while looting the State of Illinois as titular smart guy for University of Illinois at Cement City ( Chicago. Campus), wears Obama's pledge pin.

John McCain, thank God, has no such BOHOs hanging around his Campaign. McCain does not need parsers to explain talking points to his supporters.

We are the working stiffs who read the news and make judgments about some candidate on merits of his/her words and deeds.

I know firemen who read Salon, Back Hoe Local 150 Operators who have season tickets to the Chicago Lyric Opera and CSO, school teachers who summer in the Illinois National Guard, Chicago Cops who teach boxing to black kids in Englewood, when they are not ignoring daily slanders in the Chicago Sun Times, and Pulitzer Prize winners who are voting for John McCain.

Camille, I Loved - Break Blow Burn, but remember Sweetie, what Wallace Stevens said,

People are not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches Tigers
In red weather.

Disillusionment of Ten O'Clock: Wallace Stevens

John McCain: MSNBC - I Can Not Fold Laundry to It Anymore

Chris Matthews hates McCain! Olbermann is bloatedly self-absorbed. MSNBC is so in the tank for Obama! Not a newsflash - just tiresome, like Shemp Howard episodes on Three Stooges Marathons. 'When is this over?'

Not since Goebbels and Riefenstahl has one candidate for National Office had so blatant a propaganda mill.

I used to fold laundry with MSNBC on because it mildly amused me and I took its message and method as seriously as I do four year old Patrick McCann. Patrick McCann is now Iron Man. Why? 'He's really strong and does things.' Which comes mighty handy when doing things.

Iron Man McCann limits his powers to tossing bits of rock and sticks down the sewer behind my garage. 'That's another one! That's another one! That's another one . . .' ad infinitum! Much like the Tool Shed of intellectually and morally limited personalities who dominate MSNBC - Chris 'Milky' Matthews - now, I'd bring the yokel to Rainbow Beach with me, as my see-through Irish pallor looks like The Rock by comparison; Keith Olbermann - America's # 1 Juice Bag; Rachel Maddow - America's loneliest Swamp Donkey; Dan ' Nepotism' Abrams - Dad Sues for NBC - Boy Works & the balance of its Obama shock troops.

What put the starch in my boxers was Milky's pile on of John McCain with women voters by bringing in Townsend-Kennedy, Planned Parenthood and some other Third Wave Feminist for a balanced discussion on how McCain can not possibly get suburban white women to vote for him. Three harpies and a loud dim-wit - I can not believe that Tip O'Neill allowed this Yam-head withing forty feet of him.

Watching Olbermann is like being water-boarded for days on end with non-stop Shemp Howard Videos. Abrams must have bodyguards 24/7 to keep from getting hinder binders by Americans unalloyed by drugs and alcohol. The others??? Some one pays them?

Pretend to mean something. Click my post title for a story that ran in New York Observer during the primaries - it was funny then - now, it is hilarious. MSNBC is sad.

Hickey's laundry folding gets done to the Discovery Channel!!!!! Clique!

John McCain: Scarlett Johansson says"I am engaged to Barack Obama,"

Uh, Uh! No, You Don't, skinny White Girl! Barack is Married! And, Barry, as your Kansas-bred maternal forebears would be wont to say, 'Dance with who brung, you, Bub!'

What's all this in the Denver Post? While squirreling around Al Gore's invention for an update on P-Diddy's Paeon to Obama ( HuffPo dogged it off the website quicker than Keith Olbermann can wolf down a 32 oz. sack of Frito Flamin'Hots) I came upon this touching, albeit self-serving, bit of cheesecake from the actress her own bad self.

"My heart belongs to Barack," she told an Associated Press reporter in January. "I am engaged to Barack Obama," she joked.

Now, you know how these hateful and vicious rumors like, ' Hey, Barry! When didn't you not refuse to blow up the Pentagon with Billy Ayers?' or ' Senator, where is your birth certificate?' I'd say something like, 'I left it ( Birth Certificate) in my jeans after biking and Michele washed them and it's in pretty bad shape. Not the Birth Certificate I remember.'

Hell, Scarlett Johansson is your e-mail buddy, Senator? Dang. I get e-mails from the good folks at Colon Cleanse, or announcements that I am the only person in the world that Nigerian Blood Diamond Martyrs trust with conducting a bank account securement - in THIS country. Here's what Obama gets:

Actress Scarlett Johansson says she is stunned that Barack Obama has the time to answer her e-mails. But he does, often, with fan messages of his own to the 23-year-old film star, the New York Daily News reports.

Johansson, star of such big-screen hits as "Lost in Translation" and "The Nanny Diaries," has campaigned tirelessly for Obama and did a turn in his celebrity-packed "Yes We Can" Internet music video.

"My heart belongs to Barack," she told an Associated Press reporter in January. "I am engaged to Barack Obama," she joked.

The New York-born actress told Politico.com she has swapped friendly e-mails with the Democratic presidential hopeful for months.

Johansson expressed shock that Obama finds time to respond to her with messages she described as "thoughtful" and more than a brief line or two.

"You'd imagine that someone like the senator who is constantly traveling and constantly 'on' - how can he return these personal e-mails?" she told the Politico website. "But he does, and in his off-time I know he also calls people who have donated the minimum to thank them."

Here's mine from a Solicitor Mark Evans in Old Blightey:

Mr. Mark Evans.
Private Email: markevansesq@gmail.com



ATTN:

We do not know each other, but you are one of the three persons I sent this email with hope to get a positive and sincere response, in order to go into a deal that would bring life fortune to both of us.

I am Barrister, Mark Evans solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney to Engr. Morris Haddad nationality of your country, who was a Contractor and has spent most of his life in my country (Spain).

On the 19th of April 2004, my client, his wife and their only son were involved in a ghastly car accident along Pinto express road. All occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries to his embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives but all efforts was unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to contact you and solicit for your assistance as a foreigner to execute the claim of this fund.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the assets and Capital valued at US$10.5million left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the BANK in, Madrid Spain where these huge deposits were lodged. The said Bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of Kin or have the account confiscated within the next twenty-one Official working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years now, I seek the consent to present you as the Next of kin to the deceased since no-one has come for the fund, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. The request of a foreigner as the next of kin in this transaction is occasioned by the fact that my client was a foreigner and it will be better for you to stand as the next of kin to my client. Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer. I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim.

All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please reply via e-mail at; markevansesq@gmail.com

Waiting to hear from you

Best regards,

MARK EVANS

Cheers, Mark. You can set your Rolex by my reply!

I can imagine what John McCain gets from Wilford Brimley:

Dear John,

I caught you on TV in New Orleans last week. Must say, you looked mighty peekid. Seriously, Mr. President, I thought I was watching Bill 'Now, Wait a Damn Minute' Clinton with that nauseating Green Back drop and all.

Now I helped millions of Americans get healthy. Well, we all are what we are, I guess you might say by an accident of birth.

Try a week or two of Quaker Oats, Mr. President - John as your friend, but most of as one of your troops. As a man much wiser once said "It's the right thing to do and the tasty way to do it." Now that's the By God Truth, my Friend.

Any truth to the rumors, John, that Scarlett Johansen is engaged to that Obama kid? Just asking.

My Best to Cindy and kids!

Wilford

John McCain: Jan Schakowsky Goes Capt. Queeg on HuffPo: ' a command is a lonely job. It isn't easy to make decisions.'

Last Saturday I sent a letter, along with Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Judiciary Subcommittee Chairman, Jerald Nadler and 53 other members of the House of Representatives to Attorney General Michael Mukasey asking him to "appoint a special counsel to investigate whether the Bush administration's policies regarding the interrogation of detainees have violated federal criminal laws." It goes on to say, "We believe that ...serious and significant revelations warrant an immediate investigation to determine whether the President, his Cabinet, and other Administration officials are in violation of the War Crimes Act (18 U.S.C. 2441), the Anti-Torture Act, (18 U.S.C. 2340-2340A), and other U.S. and international laws! They were all disloyal. I tried to run the ship properly by the book, but they fought me at every turn. If the crew wanted to walk around with their shirttails hanging out, that's all right, let them! Take the towline - defective equipment, no more, no less. But they encouraged the crew to go around, scoffing at me and spreading wild rumors about steaming in circles and then 'Old Yellowstain.' I was to blame for President Bush's incompetence and poor seamanship. Lieutenant McCain was the perfect officer, but not Captain Jan. Ah, but the strawberries! That's, that's where I had them. They laughed at me and made jokes, but I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and with, with geometric logic, that, that a duplicate key to the wardroom icebox did exist. And I would have produced that key if they hadn't pulled the Congress out of action. I, I know now they were only trying to protect some fellow officer. (Jan pauses - looks at all the questioning faces that stare back at her, and realizes that she has been ranting and raving. Steven Webber Chirps " Iwish I wrote This! It is So . . . Bobbyesque! Roy Secoff gnaws on walnuts and giigles like Olbermann in the bathtub!) Naturally, I can only cover these things from memory...

Jan, and You Want to My Latex Salesman! I mean Senator.

John McCain: Chavez, Castro & Morales - Ayers' Pep Boys of Revolution

We have backyard problems that Senator Barack Obama seems incapable of handling. In South America, Fidel Castro's pup, Jefe Hugo Chavez has made a path to Communism in South and Central America unparalleled since the 1950's when the Soviet Union brokered World Revolution.

Yesterday, Reuters reported on an assault of the U.S. Embassy in La Paz, Bolivia by 'protesters' orchestrated by Bolivian President Evo Morales - the Amerindian Strongman.

Morales is a charismatic leftist who has managed to Balkanize Bolivia by 'championing' Diversity!

Evo Morales has declared himself the first Amerindian president, a controversial claim due to the Amerindian heritages of such prior Bolivian presidents as Mariano Melgarejo (1864), Carlos Quintanilla (1939), René Barrientos (1964), Juan José Torres (1976), Luis García Meza (1980), and Celso Torrelio Villa (1981).[citation needed] While the claim is a potent symbol to many people who have seen themselves as disenfranchised and oppressed by a European minority, this claim has been challenged publicly by the novelist Mario Vargas Llosa,[65] who accuses Evo of fomenting racial divisions in an increasingly mestizo Latin America.

The Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano responded to Vargas Llosa saying: "I see what is happening in Bolivia as a very significant act of affirmation of diversity [which is opposite to] racism, elitism and militarism, which leave us blind to our marvellous existence, to that rainbow that we are".[66]

However, on June 3rd, Morales sought to defeat a vote giving indidvidual states in Bolivia autonomy - Celebrating Autonomy is one thing but Democarcy quite another to Jefe Morales:

LA PAZ, Bolivia - The fractious outcome of a vote on autonomy for Bolivia's states and the government's apparent failure to win enough backing to rewrite the constitution could dampened the leftist agenda of President Evo Morales.

Voters in Bolivia casts ballots on both issues Sunday. The wealthier eastern half overwhelmingly endorsed autonomy while those in the poorer and heavily indigenous western highlands, Morales power base, vigorously rejected it.

The results make it likely that Morales will face stiffer opposition as he seeks to improve the lot of Bolivia's Indian majority by more evenly distributing wealth and exerting greater state control over the economy.

An Aymara Indian and coca-growers leader elected in December with a strong populist mandate, Morales campaigned against autonomy, saying it would benefit the traditional elite.

He and his Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party were able to persuade most voters - 55 percent nationwide according to unofficial results - to reject autonomy by portraying it as a catastrophic harbinger of dissolution for South America's poorest country.

Morales said that he would respect the outcome of the autonomy vote, but that no state would be permitted to gain control of natural resources such as natural gas.

But the endorsement of greater political and fiscal autonomy by voters in Bolivia's wealthiest states could slow Morales' political crusade, particularly if those states succeed in keeping a greater portion of their tax revenues at the central government's expense.

http://www.kxnet.com/getARticle.asp?ArticleId=20052


Morales has articulated the driving force behind MAS ( (Movimiento al Socialismo - Move Toward Socialism) in the following terms:

“ The worst enemy of humanity is U.S. capitalism. That is what provokes uprisings like our own, a rebellion against a system, against a neoliberal model, which is the representation of a savage capitalism. If the entire world doesn't acknowledge this reality, that nation states are not providing even minimally for health, education and nourishment, then each day the most fundamental human rights are being violated. ”

He has also stated:

“ … the ideological principles of the organization, anti-imperialist and contrary to neoliberalism, are clear and firm but its members have yet to turn them into a programmatic reality.[21]

Protesters shot fireworks at a U.S. flag flying just beyond the compound's concrete wall, as helmeted Marines looked on from the embassy's roof. When crowds tried to push through a police line, officers cleared the street with tear gas.

Bolivia's government called the use of tear gas excessive. "Security is one thing, repression is another," Government Minister Alfredo Rada told reporters.

La Paz state's police commander was fired Monday night along with top policemen in Bolivia's eight other states. But government officials said the change had been planned since a new national police chief was named last month.

The 2003 "Black October" protests were initially sparked by a government plan to sell Bolivian natural gas to the United States by building a pipeline through neighboring rival Chile. The idea angered El Alto's poor, who often struggle to obtain their own gas for cooking and heating.

The protests quickly snowballed as the city's largely Aymara Indian population vented centuries of anger over bitter poverty and political marginalization.

The uprising eventually drove then-President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada from office, fortifying a growing indigenous political movement that brought President Evo Morales to power two years later.

Sanchez Berzain's lawyer, Howard Gutman, declined Monday to confirm whether his client has been granted political asylum. But he and other lawyers acknowledge and cite Sanchez Berzain's asylum status in a motion filed last month in a Miami federal court to dismiss a U.S. civil case against him.

Accusations of deadly force
Plaintiffs, including families of the 2003 victims, accuse the former defense minister and the ex-president of authorizing the use of deadly force against protesters and say they are liable for the deaths.

Lawyers for the two exiled politicians say protesters instigated the violence and that their blockade of La Paz, which cut the capital off from food and fuel, justified a military response.

Their legal team includes Washington attorney Greg Craig, an adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Asked for comment, Phillip Goldberg, the U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, said the legal proceeding is "not a political matter, it's a judicial matter, and we have to respect the independent judicial branch in the United States."

President Evo Morales repeated his demands that Washington send the two men home to face trial.

"We want the United States to help us to bring to justice those who have done so much harm to Bolivia," Morales said Sunday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25068973/

Obama is handled by Progressives; Progressives control the DNC; Progressives for Obama are in Solidarity with Castro, Chavez and Morales. Click my Post Title to Progressives for Obama and witness Obama's Foreign Policy for South America. It is a mini-course in political folly.

William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn are enthusiastic laborers in the Revolutionary Vineyards. This is not McCarthyism, kids. This is in hard copy. Billy Ayers lavishes his talents to Jefe Hugo.

http://progressivesforobama.blogspot.com/
John McCain has a clearly articulated Foreign Policy

Cathleen Falsani Moves From Pfleger to Benson

Not long after Cedric Benson showed contrition Monday for his latest arrest, the Bears showed him the door.

The team released the troubled former first-round draft pick Monday as a result of Benson's arrest early Saturday morning in Austin, Texas, on a charge of driving while intoxicated. It was Benson's second alcohol-related arrest in five weeks and enough to convince the Bears he just wasn't worth the headaches.

"Cedric displayed a pattern of behavior we will not tolerate," general manager Jerry Angelo said. "As I said this past weekend, you have to protect your job. Everyone in this organization is held accountable for their actions. When individual priorities overshadow team goals, we suffer the consequences as a team. Those who fail to understand the importance of 'team' will not play for the Chicago Bears."

Chicago Tribune Click my post title for the real full story.

Now, the Chicago Sun Times fabricated news update!

They print news like it almost happened.

Cathleen Falsani Religion Editor of the Chicago Sun Times had this to say about Benson 'Time Out.'

There's something painfully ironic about Cedric's (if temporary) ouster.

He's been thumbing his nose at authority -- secular and sacred -- for years in pursuit of what he believes God has called him to do: fight for the poor yardage and the press coverage; battle injustice in whatever form it appears to taxing him at the moment, be it racism, sexism, or classicism; and to above all present the God of revolutionary love and radical grace to the world around him like he did when those cracker Texas Gomers boarded his boat. That sometimes has meant disobeying civil and Man law.

Benson has been arrested several dozen times over the last five weeks for civil disobedience. He's taken on drug dealers aboard his boat, big alcohol content while driving, the tobacco products when needed, Jerry Springer for his posse, the guns in lobby of Executive Suites, and gun-toting gang-bangers from his own entourage. He's also run afoul of three splendid theologians of Chicago, beginning with Bishop Manning, who drove no where near him in 2001 and called him ' A Long-legged Mack Daddy,' and who threatened to 'open a can' on him in 2006 when Benson blamed Grossman for all his fumbles.

After three seasons of clashes with authority, Benson's tripping points arrived in a three-minute video clip from a powerful, 47-minute-long sermon on race to the line of scrimmage. In those few moments, Benson, who is not white, made snarky comments about Grossman, who is white, that many people -- the Bear Organization has been inundated with complaints since last week -- thought were racist or sexist or both.

He apologized, but it was too late.

So in the days after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president -- the first African American to do so in the history of our nation -- Benson, a man who has spent his life fighting for his kind of racial justice, is looking for a place to play.

Beson told me he plans to take his 'Dog,' Armani, whose name is an Italian word for " Glossy Loud and Garish Suit," with him. For company, and, perhaps, as a reminder of what sustains him in good times and in bad. The Bling! God's cool with Cedric and I'm Cool with God! Sin Boldly and Stay Thirsty My Friends!

The Chicago Sun Times will devote 85% of its columns and print space to Justice for Cedric Benson. Carol Marin is expected to make her thoughts public, as far as that goes, on Chicago Tonight. National Public Radio will devote a portion of its taxpayers dollars to the Cedric Beson Recidivist Foundation.

The Faith Community of St. Sabina will hold a news conference in five days announcing Cedric Benson's return, without restrictions, to Bears Camp in Bourbonnais.

Praise Jesus!

John McCain: ImPerfect Storm & Brit Writer Sees McCain Victory - So do American Voters

Given the ecstasy of his own followers and the support he has had from the mainstream media in the United States, that event should have brought with it a sense of inevitability, an overwhelming tide of belief that he was now unstoppable: that the future belonged to him. It should, in short, have given him a real bounce in the polls. But it didn't. What he got was a very small spike.

The two polls taken immediately after Hillary's withdrawal speech (and her effusive expression of support for him) gave Obama leads so small as to be virtually within the margin of error.

Some of this could be put down to the disappointment of Clinton followers, which may be expected to dissipate over the coming months. But the other explanation is that Obama's support has peaked: that his coalition of the young, the urban liberal and the black community has already max-ed out at its highest point and is going nowhere from there.

We are having us some kind of storms here in the Midwest. Working men are fighting to put power back in the homes of working people. Many in Obama's camp are locked in with the Utility Giants here in Illinois. Billy Ayers' silver-haired Pappy was the CEO of ComEd. You say you wanna Revolution?

Every time a huge Public Utility (ComEd and Peoples Gas) gets its ears pinned back in Springfield by the State Legislature, corporate stooges like the over-paid fashionista ex-wife of Obama financial funder John Rogers - Desiree goes on TV and decries over paid Union Workers. ComEd has Illinois Senate President doing the boo-hooing for the profit devouring Utility and does not need Desiree - well, neither did John Rogers, but that is . . . another story. Desiree was a laugh riot a few years back when Peoples Gas was called on the carpet at City Council - she made the traditional blond look like a Phi Beta Kappan.

These 'over-paid Union stiffs,' like my pal Gino Ford, have not been home since Friday night. They are restoring power. They are skilled blue collar union tradesmen - And Women! They do not cause the rate-hikes, but they get blamed for them.

They earn their money, in the most exhausting and dangerous manner. They work with electricty - God's way of letting us know that you've gone too far: turn off the circuit before working with wire; don't commit murder in 1930's gangster movies; put the 9 iron down when the storm starts.

Electrical High Tower linesmen are not joined for beers after work by John Rogers, Emil Jones, Tony Rezko, or Desiree Rogers, let alone Senator Barack Obama. I have seen John McCain break bread and wind with blue collar men and women. John McCain, while a privileged son of an Admiral, has a deep and abiding respect for the trades and all working people.

Barack Obama gets along swell with academics and political players and that's nice.

A British Journalist, Janet Daley, records this fact and predicts a McCain Victory In November.

But it is also true that John McCain is not a market leader on economics. He, too, is from a privileged background. Interestingly, however, he seems more able to relate comfortably to ordinary working people than Obama.



This may well be a function of his background as a military officer who was conspicuously loyal to his men, having refused to abandon them when he was offered release from a Vietnamese POW camp.

And this brings me to what may still prove to be the most significant fact about McCain: he is a war hero. (Indeed, in this respect, he bears more of a resemblance to John Kennedy than does Obama.)

He has proved himself to be unflinching in danger and courageous under fire. When people (especially Americans, who still regard military bravery as an exemplar of virtue) come to choose the man to lead them through a crisis, that will count for a lot.

To European eyes (and to some American ones, too) this is an election to determine how America sees itself: can it elect its first black president? Can it present itself to the world in an entirely new guise - as a member of the modern European club of social democratic societies?

But to most Americans - the ones who are less beguiled by rhetoric and more concerned with financial survival, and those who need practical reassurance more than inspiration - this election will be about proven character and tested judgment.

Gino Ford is probably ass-dragging tired right about now, but certainly not bitter or clinging - he has a strong safety belt well-secured. At least the rain has put some gas money in his pocket. Gino Ford likes John McCain. Like me, Gino votes Democratic in almost all local races.

Janet Daley of the Telegraph ( U.K.) is sensitive to Gino Ford, unlike the loud-mouths on cable T.V. and radio - that's one good thing about a power outage.


Ms. Daley predicts a McCain Victory in November and so do I!

John McCain: Man Versus Afflatus: Secular ἐνθουσιασμός

The Democrats have extraordinary enthusiasm on their side.

There is a sour US mood, mostly directed at President Bush. John McCain has had to walk a fine line in terms of distancing himself from Bush, and has, so far, done well. Obama's challenge will be to sustain the mood of enthusiasm over the summer

Many polls have shown the race is dead even - but there are a lot of variables. Pew Polls, for example, have shown John McCain ahead on handling Iraq. The issue of national security will be seen as his strength.

However, there is less attention focused on Iraq at the moment. It's on the back burner and there is a steady simmer but the economy is the strongest issue.

Many Americans feel that the country has gone off on the wrong track, with inflation etc. There are certainly concerns over Barack Obama's inexperience.

Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute.


John McCain calls himself ' a flawed servant.' You may say. John McCain is all too human - by his own admission. Huffington Post, MSNBC, Daily Kos, DNC, and Obamamaton Bloggers are a great source for McCain Pain.

To them ( especially daffy Chris Matthews and bloated baritone Keith Olbermann), Barack Obama is a secular god - a rock-star deity - an ubermensch (Superman) and so far the kryptonite has been working slower than a teenage boy with long driveway full of snow.

American Progressives have helped create the Obama Nation - that throng of Americans (voters and enthusiasts)which seems to fill every Obama event venue like a Leni Riefenstahl Spectacle.

Progressives grew out of the 19th Century tradition of religious enthusiasts and shed the God centered 'nonsense' for the secular welding of the world to their will.

Enthusiasm (ἐνθουσιασμός) root - en-theos = in God. An enthusiast is a person inspired by god. *see: Biblical inspiration - (inspiration Greek - θεοπνευστος - Theopneustos = literally God breathed) When the early Christians would see someone convert to Christianity there was this overwhelming joy that followed the gift of Salvation but they had a problem there was no word to describe this feeling so they combined the two words (in God) creating the word (entheos) from which we get the English word Enthusiasm.

Its uses were confined to a belief in religious inspiration, or to intense religious fervour or emotion. Thus a Syrian sect of the 4th century was known as the Enthusiasts. They believed that by perpetual prayer, ascetic practices and contemplation, man could become [inspired] by the Holy Spirit, in spite of the ruling evil spirit, which the fall had given to him. From their belief in the efficacy of prayer, they were also known as Euchites. Several Protestant sects of the 16th and 17th centuries were called enthusiastic. During the years immediately following the Glorious Revolution, "enthusiasm" was a British pejorative term for advocacy of any political or religious cause in public. Such "enthusiasm" was seen in the time around 1700 as the cause of the previous century's English Civil War and its attendant atrocities, and thus it was an absolute social sin to remind others of the war by engaging in enthusiasm. The Royal Society bylaws stipulated that any person discussing religion or politics at a Society meeting was to be summarily ejected for being an "enthusiast."[citation needed] During the 18th century, popular Methodists such as John Wesley or George Whitefield were accused of blind enthusiasm (i.e. fanaticism).

From Wikpedia.

The American Great Awakening which brought about the Abolitionist Movement, Womans Suffrage, Abortion Rights, Prohibition, Antiwar Activism and Gay and Lesbian Activism through the activism of William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown,Matilda Bradley Carse, Frances Willard, Margaret Sanger, Jane Addams and Roger Baldwin is root of the Progressive grip on the Democratic National Committee. Catholic politicians who 'personally oppose Abortion, Gay Marriage etc.' publicly worship at the altar of Progressivism.

These secular Inquisitors made the Dominican lads in Spain seem like Quakers.

Their descendants have held control of Democratic National Committee since 1972, when the McGovernites staged a coup of the Democratic Party. The Enthusiasts have called the tune and Barack Obama's Campaign dance like Isadora Duncan on Bennies!

Watch the scarf.

I'll take a 'flawed servant' one who has record of heroism, independence, courage and service: John McCain!

Click my post titel for Obama Enthusiasm

I Deleted My Previous Post: Juan Carlos of Tennessee Does Not Help Senator Obama

I was sent a link to the site operated by some one named, or calling himself Juan Carlos: Socialist for Obama. This may be dirty tricks being played on the Obama Campaign. In fairness, I deleted a previous post, because it does not seem likely that Senator Obama, given his sound counsel and political instincts would allow such a hate filled post.

Click my post title for that link.

John McCain: The Audacity of Truth - McCain Family Walks the Talk

I received an e-mail from Miss Vicki Hampton of Alabama which I post in Full.

My Parish, neighborhood - in largely Irish Catholic Democratic Chicagoese - st. Cajetan's has its former pastor and scores of its young men and women serving Iraq. There is hardly a tree on any block unadorned by Yellow Ribbons in support of the kids in harm's way: McGarry, Ford, Hayes, Burke, & etc. These are the folks our junior Senator, Barack Obama, snidely referred to as 'Bitter and clinging.' In 2001, Obama's pal Pastor Pfleger smeared our parish and all the others, St. Barnabas, Christ the King, St. John Fisher, St. Christina, St. Bede, Queen of Martyrs and Holy Redeemer with his broad race-baiting brush in a now forgotten bit of National Press coverage. None of my neighbors ever got so much as a smirk from Tony Rezko and more than enough contempt from Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn - most of cops around here remember them very well!

Here is why McCain will get many Democratic Voters.

This was an email message I got earlier from a friend of mine, so thought I would put it on here for all to read. I know for a fact that this is all true.

John McCain's Sons

Talk about putting your most valuable where your mouth is! Apparently this was not "newsworthy" Enough for the media to comment about. Can either of the other presidential candidates truthfully come close to this? .... Just a question for each of us to seek an answer, and not a statement.

You see...character is what's shown when the public is not looking. There were no cameras or press invited to what you are about to read about, and the story comes from one person in New Hampshire.

----------------------------------------

One evening last July, Senator John McCain of Arizona arrived at the New Hampshire home of Erin Flanagan for sandwiches, chocolate-chip cookies and a heartfelt talk about Iraq. They had met at a presidential debate, when she asked the candidates what they would do to bring home American soldiers - - Soldiers like her brother, who had been killed in action a few months earlier.

Mr. McCain did not bring cameras or press. Instead, he brought his youngest son, James McCain, 19, then a private first class in the Marine Corps about to leave for Iraq. Father and son sat down to hear more about Ms. Flanagan's brother Michael Cleary, a 24-year-old Army First Lieutenant killed by an ambush ... A roadside bomb.

No one mentioned the obvious: In just days, Jimmy McCain could face similar perils. 'I can't imagine what it must have been like for them as they were coming to meet with a family that ......' Ms. Flanagan recalled, choking up. 'We lost a dear one,' she finished.

Mr. McCain, now the presumptive Republican nominee, has staked his candidacy on the promise that American troops can bring stability to Iraq. What he almost never says is that one of them is his own son, who spent seven months patrolling Anbar Province and learned of his father's New Hampshire victory in January while he was digging a stuck military vehicle out of the mud.

Two of Jimmy's three older brothers went into the military. Doug McCain, 48, was a Navy pilot. Jack McCain, 21, is to graduate from the Naval Academy next year, raising the chances that his father, if elected, could become the first president since Dwight D. Eisenhower with a son at war.

----------------------------------------

I chose to share this with those who I believe will pass it on, to others who will pass it on. We hear so much inflated trash out there. How about a simple act of kindness .... And dedication to others placed above oneself?

Has anybody heard if Barack Hussein Obama has served in The American Armed Services?

This is for all you Barack voters.

From Barack's book, Audacity of Hope:

"I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction."

HE DID NOT SAY STAND WITH AMERICANS!!!!!

Click my post title for more on McCain.

John McCain: Doc Sauerberg Might Give Senator Durbin the Night Sweats

"More than most people, a senator lives by his words ... occasionally words fail us, occasionally we will fail words."

Senator Dick Durbin (D IL U.S. Senate) 2005 on reversing himself for statements condemning U.S. Armed Forces you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."

Senator Durbin became a stronmg advocate of Planned Parenthood's continued genocide here in America, after years of opposing Abortion as a Congressman.

Likewise, Senator Durbin reversed himself on the issue of sugar tarrifs:
"The sugar program depended on congressmen like me from states that grew corn," Durbin said, referring to the fact that, though they were formerly a single entity, the sugar market and the corn syrup market are now largely separate.

From Wikpedia.

Now, Senator Durbin. a lawyer, is confronted with a physician as his opponent.

Dr. Steve Sauerberd, MD from Chicago's western suburbs. I like what Dr. Sauerberg has to say on Abortion - dead set against it; reforming Health Care; and most of all Education.

Dr. Sauerberg just might give Senator Dick Durbin, the Daily Kos, Moveon.Org, Huffington Post and MSNBC Senator. Dr. Sauerberg, like John McCain, reflects the attitude of most Americans.

Here is Dr. Sauerberg's polar opposition to Senator Durbin - as stark a contrast as the one drawne beteeen Obama and MCCain:

Dick Durbin’s record on fighting for taxpayers is pathetic,” continued Sauerberg. “He consistently votes to raise taxes on the hard-working men and women of Illinois. Adding insult to injury, Senator Durbin then turns around and supports spending those tax dollars on special interest pork barrel projects all across the country.”

“Dick Durbin has turned Illinois into America’s ATM, as taxpayers here are forced to foot the bill for wasteful projects in other states. It’s shameful that Durbin has allowed our state to rank 5th worst on the return of federal dollars that we send to Washington,” said Sauerberg.

"As a graduate of the Illinois public school system and the father of two children who also went through the Illinois public school system, I understand how important it is that all our children receive a top-notch education. As your next Senator, I will work hard to strengthen our school system by taking more money out of the education bureaucracy and putting it directly into our children’s classrooms."
No unfunded mandates for our public school system. With lagging test scores in the public education system, drastic changes need to be made and evaluated in an open manner.

Increase the amount of education funding veterans receive when they return home.
Despite calls for action, I do not believe we should simply throw money at the problem. We need to evaluate from the top down to make sure education is being funded the best way possible."

I especially like Dr. Sauerberg's postion on Education. Click my post title for more on Dr. Steve Sauerberg.

John McCain: Choice, Part II: American Leadership, or 'Vote or die, motherf*, motherf*er, vote or die! '

Following close on the heels ( Ayers, Dohrn, Phleger, Wright et al.) of this morning's post, I turned to Huffington Post- Hollywood Squares and was delighted to find the return of Sean John ( redundant in Gaelic) Combs to the Life Political. Equal to Arianna's assortment of 3rd tier talents at HuffPo,the artiste subsequently named ????? - What Time is It? P-Something or P-Usually - soundly endorses Barack Obama. You can not make this stuff up -even drawing heroically on the stem of an engorged pipe full of dope!

What the heck? McCain has Abba.

Click my post title for the Huff Po Video ( easier than writing something) of young Master Combs' return to the Forum!

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969[1]), known by his stage names Diddy, P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, and Puffy is an American rapper, record producer, actor, clothing designer and entrepreneur.

He was originally known as Puff Daddy, later as P. Diddy (Puff and Puffy being often used as a nickname, but never as recording names). His nickname and stage name were then changed to Diddy (adopted in August 2005). He is still called P. Diddy in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the latter after a legal battle with another artist, Richard "Diddy" Dearlove.[2]

from the ever useful Wikpedia

Here is the Anthem chosen in 2004 that helped John Kerry to Roll his campaign into the gutter! Hey, Should do it again!

Everybody, Sing, Now!

Posse: Vote or die, motherf*, motherf*er, vote or die!
P Diddy: Rock the vote or else I'm gonna stick a knife through your eye.
Posse: Democracy is founded on one simple rule!
P Diddy: Get out there and vote or I will motherf* kill you.
Posse: Vote or die, motherf*, motherf*er, vote or die!
P Diddy: Rock the vote or else I'm gonna stick a knife through your eye.
I like it when you vote, bitch! (bitch!)
Shake them titties when you vote, bitch! (bitch!)
I slam my jimmy through your mouth roof (mouth roof)
Now get your big ass in the pollin' booth.
I said vote, bitch, or I'll f* kill you!
Posse: Vote or die, motherf*, motherf*er, vote or die!
P Diddy: You can't run from a 38, go ahead and try!
Posse: Let your opinion be heard! You gotta make a choice!
P Diddy: 'Cause after I slit your throat you won't have a f* voice
Vote or die! Vote or die!

http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Vote-or-Die-lyrics-South-Park/18A9D53C122E19D248256F5700099A4B


That's Gotta Bring America Together!

Arianna! Your Frame, Again!

John McCain: Choice: American Leadership, or 'Dreams of My Father Phleger'

The Chicago Tribune lays out the contrasts between the two Presidential Candidates: Republican John McCain an experienced independent American Leader and War Hero and Senator Barack Obama a Chicago Hyde Park political chameleon with a powerful gift for oratory. thus:

McCain, vowing to restrain government spending, wants to extend the Bush tax cuts. Obama, proposing new spending for health care, wants to boost taxes on wealthier Americans. McCain pledges to prosecute the war in Iraq to a conclusive victory. Obama promises to bring troops home in 16 months.

"These two individuals represent about as stark a choice as we've ever had in American politics," said Darrell West, professor of political science at Brown University. "Voters are going to get what Barry Goldwater long ago promised — 'a choice instead of an echo.' "

He added, "The biggest differences are age, race and philosophy ... Those are things that translate into different perspectives on public policy."

Even their campaign styles seem to come from different worlds. Obama electrifies large arenas, while McCain is far more comfortable in smaller gatherings. Possibly because of this, McCain on Wednesday challenged Obama to a series of 10 town hall-style campaign debates.

"What we haven't seen are these two candidates face-to-face with one another," said David Lanoue, chairman of the political science department at the University of Alabama and author of "From Camelot to the Teflon President." "Clearly, Obama is a very inspiring, eloquent speaker. … He is best behind a podium with a prepared speech. McCain is best in a person-to-person situation with no prepared remarks."

"I think there is another dimension, and that is whether Barack Obama is seen as an elitist candidate," said Herb Asher, professor of political science at Ohio State University. "McCain will try to wrap himself in the mantle of change and present Obama as the agent of the wrong kind of change. ... It's really going to be a chance for Barack Obama to fill in the rest of his biography."


Discontent unites
And the choice arrives at a time when Americans are unified in one thing: their discontent.

Seven in 10 Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the nation, the latest Pew Center survey has found, and 27 percent of those surveyed in mid-May voiced disapproval of the job Bush is doing.

"The fundamentals are certainly going in a Democratic direction," Pew's Kohut said. "But there are rather sharp sets of really well-defined positives and negatives for each of these candidates, which makes it a much closer race."

mdsilva@tribune.com

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-obama-mccain-differencejun08,0,3350838.story

The biggest differences are not age, race and experience - hardly. They are the people each man brings to his corner- for John McCain, Medal of Honor recipient Col. Bud Day and for Senator Obama, domestic terrorist Billy Ayers and Mike Pfleger.

More significantly, Barack Obama, whom I early tagged as a political chameleon, comfortably moved among any political opportunists who could also help him: Rezko, Billy Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, Illinois Senator Emil Jones, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Alice Palmer, and Pastor Mike Pfleger.

Click my post title for more.

John McCain: Harold Ford VP, Part II - The Kos Nut-Bags Hate Him - He's Gotta Be Great!

Howling like the denizens of Monkey Island at Chicagoland's Brookfield Zoo - Daily Kos Kosovoans want to Swift Boat Harold Ford - again. Calling on the Tool Shed - MSNBC to dump Harold Ford. They seem more interested in tearing down the Democratic Leadership Committee:

For whatever reason, MSNBC has hired former Representative and Senatorial candidate Harold Ford as a political commentator. OK fine. He is at least as qualified as is pal, Joe Scarborough, to comment, which isn't saying much. However, this once promising but sure-losing DLC (Democratic Leadership Conference)gospel no more represents current democratic movement thinking than the man in the moon.

MSNBC would do well to find a more relevant and interesting commentator.

Like Hillary and Bill Clinton, Ford doesn't seem to realize that the DLC era is OVER. A new train has left the station and Ford is not on it. Can he not spot the revolution occurring under his nose? The revolution that just put Obama over the top was every bit as much a repudiation of DLC politics as it was a rejection of Bush. When people demand CHANGE they mean to change business as usual politics as well. Not to be too simplistic, but The Obama revolution is a grassroots movement empowering people vs. traditional politcs that yields everything to the lobbyists and special interests who currently run our coutnry.

Tuesday night Ford sucked up valuable airtime extolling the virtues of John McCain, suggesting that Obama needed to be more like HIM. Close your eyes and you hear Joe Lieberman. I could barely stomach it, a LOSING democratic candidate pontificating on what Obama needs to do to win an election in 2008.

These clowns crack me up - sort of.

Click my post title for the full Kos squealathon. Check out the comments section and get a clear indication of the charcter of Obama's surrogates.


It seems that Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is getting a serious consideration for the McCain VP spot, but the more I see the intense opposition of nut-jobs to Harold Ford, I just know this guy's gotta be great!

John McCain: Harold Ford for VP!

Here is another Maverick - Harold Ford heads the Democratic Leadership Committee, which is under attack by the DNC forces holding the Democratic National Elections hostage since 1972. Harold Ford, former Congressman of Tennessee, just might be the McCain Campaign's key to unlock disenfranchised Democratic voters in the Battleground States. Harold Ford has worked across the aisle and voted with Republicans on issues important to Americans who are voting or leaning toward John McCain.

After, Harold Ford pointed out the intrinsic dynamite in McCain's Kenner Speech the other night which lighted the hot bulb under the padded derriers of MSNBC Tools, HUFFPO's Cavalcade of Losers, pencil-neck geeks without portofolio all over the media, I saw the worth of this tough-minded American.

Harold Ford, is young, politically and media savvy, African American, Joe Biden Articulate, independent minded, honorable and available.

Most of all, like McCain, Ford has been swift boated - aplenty. Harold Ford would be a big help getting Democrats and Independents solidly in McCain's Camp, but would probably have goofballs like Hannity and Rush swallowing tongues of fire.

They are already lighting hotfoots on McCain anyway - twist a pig's ear and watching him squeal. Win in November, Senator McCain, and give them goofs employment for four years.

The DLC is Obama's worst nightmare - consider.

It is the opinion of the DLC that economic populism is not politically viable, citing the defeated Presidential campaigns of Senator George McGovern in 1972 and Vice-President Walter Mondale in 1984. The DLC states that it “seeks to define and galvanize popular support for a new public philosophy built on progressive ideals, mainstream values, and innovative, non-bureaucratic, market-based solutions." [4]

The DLC has supported welfare reform, such as the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 [5], President Clinton's expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit [6], and the creation of AmeriCorps [7]. The DLC supports expanded health insurance via tax credits for the uninsured and opposes plans for single-payer universal health care. The DLC supports universal access to preschool, charter schools, and measures to allow a greater degree of choice in schooling (though not school vouchers), and supports the No Child Left Behind Act. The DLC supports both NAFTA and CAFTA.

The DLC has both supported and criticized the policies of President George W. Bush. The DLC opposed the partial birth abortion ban, the expiration of the 1994 assault weapon ban, the Clear Skies Initiative, and what they perceived as a lack of funding of the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program. In 2001 the DLC endorsed the idea of tax cuts for the middle class, but then opposed the tax cuts favored by Bush, which they said favored the wealthy. The organization supports some forms of Social Security privatization but opposes financing private retirement accounts with large amounts of borrowed money.

Recently, the DLC also urged Senate Democrats to vote against Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court "on principle", but firmly opposed any filibuster of the nominee.[8]


[edit] 2003 invasion of Iraq
The DLC gave strong support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Prior to the war, Will Marshall co-signed a letter to President Bush from the Project for the New American Century endorsing military action against Saddam Hussein. During the 2004 Primary campaign the DLC attacked Presidential candidate Howard Dean as an out-of-touch liberal because of Dean's anti-war stance. The DLC dismissed other critics of the Iraq invasion such as filmmaker Michael Moore as members of the "loony left" [9]. Even as domestic support for the Iraq War plummeted in 2004 and 2005, Marshall reprised his right-wing credentials and called upon Democrats to balance their criticism of Bush's handling of the Iraq War with praise for the President's achievements and cautioned "Democrats need to be choosier about the political company they keep, distancing themselves from the pacifist and anti-American fringe."[2]


[edit] Criticism
The DLC has become unpopular within many progressive political circles.

Some critics claim the strategy of triangulation between the political left and right to gain broad appeal is fundamentally flawed. In the long run, so opponents say, this strategy results in concession after concession to the opposition, while alienating traditionally-allied voters. For example, critics point out that liberal Democrat Michael Dukakis won a larger share of the vote in his presidential campaign (46%) than Bill Clinton in his first campaign (43%), despite Clinton's more centrist positions.

Others contend that the DLC's distaste for what they refer to as "economic class warfare" has allowed the language of populism to be monopolized by the right-wing. Many argue that the Democrats' abandonment of populism to the right-wing, shifting the form of that populism from the economic realm to the "culture wars", has been critical for Republican dominance of Middle America. (See, for instance, Thomas Frank's What's the Matter with Kansas.)

Still other critics believe the DLC has essentially become an influential corporate and right-wing implant in the Democratic party. Marshall Wittmann, a former senior fellow at the DLC, former legislative director for the Christian Coalition, and former communications director for Republican senator John McCain, and Will Marshall, a vocal supporter of the war in Iraq, are among those associated with the DLC who have right-wing credentials.

Finally, detractors of the DLC note that the DLC has received funding from the right-wing Bradley Foundation as well as from oil companies, military contractors, and various Fortune 500 companies.


[edit] 2004 Presidential Primary
In May 2003, as the Democratic primary of the 2004 presidential campaign was starting to pick up, the organization voiced concern that the Democratic contenders might be taking positions too far left of the mainstream general electorate. Early front-runner Howard Dean, who attracted popular support due in large part to his anti-war views despite his reputation as a centrist governor of Vermont, was specifically criticized by DLC founder and CEO Al From. From's criticism of Dean was also likely due to the former governor's opposition to the war in Iraq, which most party centrists, including From, endorsed. Dean's claim to hail "from the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party" (a phrase originally used by Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota) has been interpreted by some as subtle criticism of the DLC and the New Democrats in general. Indeed, Dean once described the DLC as the "Republican wing of the Democratic Party." [10] The DLC countered that Dean represented the "McGovern-Mondale wing" of the Democratic Party, "defined principally by weakness abroad and elitist, interest-group liberalism at home."

Senator John Kerry won the Democratic primary and chose primary contender Senator John Edwards as his running mate. Both Senators are members of the Senate New Democrat Coalition, and the DLC anticipated that they would win the general election. In a March 3, 2004 dispatch, they suggested voters would appreciate Kerry's centrist viewpoints, imagining voters to say "If this is a waffle, bring on the syrup." [11]


[edit] 2008 Presidential Primary
In the Democratic primary in 2008, Senator Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton are both prominent members of the DLC, while presumptive nominee Senator Barack Obama opposes the DLC - in 2003, he discussed why his positions against NAFTA, the War in Iraq, and in support of universal healthcare were at odds with the DLC, saying that "...these positions make me an unlikely candidate for membership in the DLC. That is why I am not currently, nor have I ever been, a member of the DLC." [12]

John McCain: Harold Ford Got It Right - McCain Set the Bar Too High for Obama Last Night

The entire Soros Information Industry is trying to gut former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford. The Democratic Leadership Committee Chair, Ford warned the Obama campaign to study McCain's speech and learn something. The MSNBC Tool Shed giggled and Oafed.

Huffington Post - Hollywood Squares the political train set for coked out movie and TV has-beens, convicted check kiter Progressive theorists and all manner of trendy goofball has its collective panties in a twist because only Harold Ford realizes the power of John McCain's speech.

Atlantic fop-journalist Matt Yglesias - no relation to the singer - spits out this:

I thought it was strange that Harold Ford's on MSNBC right now deliberately sabotaging the Democratic Party, lavishly praising John McCain and McCain's speech. Then I remembered that Ford took over as head of the DLC so boosting the GOP is part of his job.

Well, Cupcake, here is what is very clear to most Americans and Harold Ford tried to wise you dummies up a bit:

Both Senator Obama and I promise we will end Washington's stagnant, unproductive partisanship. But one of us has a record of working to do that and one of us doesn't. Americans have seen me put aside partisan and personal interests to move this country forward. They haven't seen Senator Obama do the same. For all his fine words and all his promise, he has never taken the hard but right course of risking his own interests for yours; of standing against the partisan rancor on his side to stand up for our country. He is an impressive man, who makes a great first impression. But he hasn't been willing to make the tough calls; to challenge his party; to risk criticism from his supporters to bring real change to Washington. I have.

When members of my party refused to compromise not on principle but for partisanship, I have sought to do so. When I fought corruption it didn't matter to me if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans. I exposed it and let the chips fall where they may. When I worked on campaign finance and ethics reform, I did so with Democrats and Republicans, even though we were criticized by other members of our parties, who preferred to keep things as they were. I have never refused to work with Democrats simply for the sake of partisanship. I've always known we belong to different parties, not different countries. We are Americans before we are anything else.

I don't seek the presidency on the presumption I'm blessed with such personal greatness that history has anointed me to save my country in its hour of need. I seek the office with the humility of a man who cannot forget my country saved me. I'll reach out my hand to anyone, Republican or Democrat, who will help me change what needs to be changed; fix what needs to be fixed; and give this country a government as capable and good as the people it is supposed to serve. There is a time to campaign, and a time to govern. If I'm elected President, the era of the permanent campaign of the last sixteen years will end. The era of reform and problem solving will begin. From my first day in office, I'll work with anyone to make America safe, prosperous and proud. And I won't care who gets the credit as long as America gets the benefit.

I have seen Republicans and Democrats achieve great things together. When the stakes were high and it mattered most, I've seen them work together in common purpose, as we did in the weeks after September 11th. This kind of cooperation has made all the difference at crucial turns in our history. It has given us hope in difficult times. It has moved America forward. And that, my friends, is the kind of change we need right now.

Thank you.

Harold Ford would be a powerful candidate in 2012. John McCain will have a tough time keeping such a smart and tough man out of the White House.

Sorry, Father Pfleger. You'd Like Us to Hate You, But We Can Not Oblige. Ignore, Yes!

Father Pfleger has the Chicago Sun Times, which helped create the character screaming all over You Tube, going flat-out to help save his Public Life.

Instead of going to the Catholic Parishes that Pfleger routinely smears as racist and offering a true apology, The Real Pfleger sniffled to his flock that he has received 3,000 hateful e-mails ( Is that All?) over his disgracefully racist rant at Trinity. He said he has received 'Death Threats,' which he should have reported to the Chicago Police Department - that group of brave men and women that he calls a 'systemically racist' army of occupation.

The Chicago Sun Times, a dying fool itself. offers this from Pastor Pfleger's Apology.


Hate me if you will. Hate my imperfect presentation. Hate my imperfect dramatization. Hate my imperfect articulation. I have never presumed to be anything but imperfect, but I pray I can still beat the drum of justice, even if sometimes I am off beat.

Thank you.

No Thank You, Father. You are finally out in the Public Eye, as the Man in Full.

We have always understood. You have made a career of scooping everyone that I love and respect in your convenient net. No Fisher of Men - Just a Poacher.

To make your life simple, your ministry, your enterprise, your agenda, your celebrity, your hubris, you have made me and my children, my parents, my brothers and sister, my extended family, my neighbors, my heritage, my moral foundation, my history, my identity and my Church as racist and two dimensional monsters.

I know other priests who have worked as hard as you for poor black people and with as much success in meeting their spiritual and temporal needs, but without the snap and fizz you demand in the Public Eye. They minister and that is tough and unsexy work.

You spit and vilify, get the media and attention necessary and run away for awhile. Works for you, until now.

Now, your sad and divisive methods are out in full. Endgame.

You ask us to Hate You. Sorry, I can not oblige. I ignore you.

John McCain: Electoral Map Looks Shaky, But Good for Mac! Senator, Don't Let The DNC Define the Campaign.

Senator McCain will get Democratic voters to support him - a great many Democratic Voters. According to Bob Novak's Electoral Map, it appears that McCain could scratch out a win -at this time. His problem is with Conservatives.

It seems to me that allowing the DNC to define the Campaign has made the McCain campaign team skittish with regard to Lobbyists.

From Novak:

Sen. John McCain, however, still does not appear organized to take advantage of Democratic disarray. His biggest problem may be failure to realize that the Republican coalition is not fully united behind him. The most recent defectors are lobbyists expelled from his campaign who are not happy about their treatment. We continue to hear complaints from evangelicals, economic conservatives, and other critics of McCain. The refrain continues from conservatives that maybe the country and the GOP need four years of Obama.

John McCain defined the Presidential Campaign last summer with his bold defense of the Surge in Iraq and No Surrender in the Global War on Terror.

Senator, that knocked Dean and DNC back on its heels - keep them there. The Surge has worked. Here is what DNC surrogates have to offer America.

"If the greatest command is to love, than the sin against love must be the greatest sin against God who IS love and who calls us to love one another. So that this greatest sin against God, racism, it's as natural as the air we breath." Father Michale Pfleger

Father Pfleger has a full color front page in Chicago Sun Times, which devotes itself to Obama's interests and America's most hated suspect Drew Peterson.

Father Pfleger, Tony Rezko, Jeremiah Wright, Billy Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn are stars in Obama's crown.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/rev-pfleger-ame.html

Democratic voters do not read Huffington Post, watch MSNBC, Dana Milbanks, or listen to Air America - those are DNC Progressives. Democrats have kids in Iraq and Afghanistan; Democrats drive back-hoes; Democrats pay double the tuition - taxes for failed Public Schools and Catholic/Private School tuitions; Democrats understand Straight Talk.

Senator McCain, Define Your Campaign - we will be with you! Unite America.

Democrats will support you.

John McCain: It's Crowded Under Obama's Bus! Get on the Straight Talk Express!

It is very, very crowded under Senator Obama's Bus!

1. Bitter Clinging Working Class & Gramma

2. Rev. Jeremiah Wright

3. Father Mike Pfleger

4. Trinty United Church of Christ

5. Billy Ayers

6. Tony Rezko

7. Bernardine Dohrn

8. Hillary Clinton

9. More to Come - Click my Post Title for more from Larry Johnson

10. Most Americans

11. Alice Palmer - added at 9:56 AM 6/1/08: H/t- Mr. John Rubery - Hawkeyed Reader, Thinker, Marathon Runner, Drinker of Imported and Specialty Domestic Malted Grain Beverages, and Patriot.
YIKES!!!

Calm Down, Folks. All is OK

The Straight Talk Express driven by Senator John McCain is driving the speed limit in all States -Con No Problemos!

John McCain: Bud Day Speaks of Service to a Cause Creater Than Oneself & Barack Obama Distances Himself from Friends and Quits His Church

ABARDEEN, S.D. (AP) Barack Obama is resigning a 20 year membership in Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ. It comes in the wake of inflammatory remarks by former Reverend Jeremiah Wright and a flap over derisive remarks by a visiting pastor last week targeting Hillary CLinton.

I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother – a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe.
Seantor Barack Obama 2008

Throughout his life, John has fought for what he believes is right for the United States. He lives to serve causes greater than himself. He is running for president not to be somebody, but to do something.

That is courage. That is leadership.

John McCain is battle tested — in combat and in Washington. We served with John and know the truth: There is no better man to lead us through the challenging times our nation faces today and on to our best days that lie ahead.

Col. Bud Day 2008