Election News

Thursday 5/29/2008

GOP senator's wife donates to Obama 5/29/2008 AP: "But at least during the presidential primary, Hagel's wife, Lilibet, is helping McCain's likely Democratic rival, Barack Obama. According to Federal Election Commission records, Mrs. Hagel donated twice to Obama's campaign in February for a total contribution of $500. The contributions were first reported by the Washington Post The contribution came a month before Sen. Hagel, a sharp GOP critic of the war in Iraq, appeared on ABC's "This Week" and declared that he and McCain have "pretty fundamental disagreements on the future of foreign policy."

Tuesday 5/27/2008

Breaking: McCain Campaign General Co-Chair At Heart Of Foreclosure Crisis 5/27/2008 Crooks and Liars

Sunday 5/25/2008

Obama meets Miami Cubans on level ground 5/25/2008 Miami Herald: "For once, a politician came to Miami and spoke to and about Cuban Americans as if they comprised a diverse community of thinking adults, instead of a single-celled organism. The crowd rewarded him with several standing ovations, the longest of which came after Obama promised to lift the 2004 Bush travel restrictions. ''There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans. That's why I will immediately allow unlimited family travel to Cuba and remittances,'' he said, and the rest of his reference to mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, was drowned out in whistles and cheers. He also repeated his promise to talk with Raúl Castro without preconditions, but with a plan: ``We will set a clear agenda.'' Here, voicing those ideas can represent an act of bravery. And even those who might have been skeptical of Obama's proposals couldn't help applaud the freshness of his message."

Saturday 5/24/2008

CUBAN-AMERICAN RESPONSE - Foundation warm to Obama's ideas - Sen. Barack Obama spoke to an enthusiastic Cuban-American crowd. 5/24/2008 Miami Herald: "When Obama arrived, the room burst into a standing ovation as people yelled and snapped pictures. His speech was frequently interrupted by applause."

Friday 5/23/2008

McCain's Puts His Temper on Full Display with Anti-Obama Rant  5/23/2008 Alternet: "These endless diatribes and schoolyard taunts from the McCain campaign do nothing to advance the debate about what matters to the American people."

Rove Protégé to Dig for Dirt on Obama  5/23/2008 Consortium News: "FirstRead, a political Web site of NBC News, cited a Republican source as confirming that Griffin was being brought onboard by the Republican National Committee to handle opposition research on Obama. Griffin hung up on me when I contacted him at his home and asked him to comment about the report. An RNC aide told me he could neither “confirm nor deny the report.” Griffin’s return to the RNC as an opposition researcher – a post he held during the Bush-Cheney campaigns – would seem to mark a return to a “dirty tricks” style of campaigning that presumptive Republican nominee John McCain has vowed to avoid."

John McCain is releasing medical records, to a few  5/23/2008 LA Times: "After a long delay, John McCain's campaign plans to release the 71-year-old Republican's medical history in Phoenix today, but has decided to restrict access to the records to a small number of reporters. Campaign aides told several news outlets this week that among newspapers, only the Washington Post and the Arizona Republic would be permitted to view the Arizona senator's health records, providing a "pool report" to other print reporters who travel with the candidate."

Obama says he would meet with Cuba's leaders  5/23/2008 LA Times: "Sen. Barack Obama called today for "direct diplomacy, with friend and foe alike," saying he would meet with Cuba's Communist leaders in hopes of advancing democracy on the island. In a luncheon speech to the most powerful Cuban exile group in the country, the Illinois Democrat vying for his party's presidential nomination also said he would immediately allow unlimited family travel and remittances. "It's time for more than tough talk that never yields results. It's time for a new strategy. There are no better ambassadors for freedom than Cuban Americans," he said, noting the prospects for influencing Cuba's political course by engagement and example. The annual Cuban Independence Day banquet of the Cuban American National Foundation cheered Obama's avowed commitment to fostering democracy in Cuba. But the audience showed its wariness of his talk of meeting with Cuban leaders. Mere handfuls applauded that statement from among the crowd of at least 500. Obama contrasted his plan to break nearly half a century of deadlock in U.S.-Cuba relations with the stated intentions of Republican rival Sen. John McCain. He said the Arizona senator "joined the parade of politicians who make the same empty promises year after year, decade after decade" when he promised Tuesday to maintain the status quo of refusing any dialogue with the Cuban leadership."

Transcript of Barack Obama Speech to Cuban American National Foundation  5/23/2008 Miami Herald

Thursday 5/22/2008

The Hillary Myth and the Good Reverend Wright? 5/22/2008 Black Commentator: "The single most important debate that has not even touched the lips of the corporate media is that both Bill and Hilary Clinton were involved in the importation of cocaine into the Untied States during the Iran Contra Affair. If Hilary were to get the Democratic nomination and be elected President, we can be assured of the fact that like Presidents Clinton and Bush before her she will do nothing to address the biggest scandal in US history: US government involvement in the narcotics trade. A complete investigation into this problem is the start of any program to rebuild the inner city."

Wednesday 5/21/2008

Obama's Message Of Hope Needs Elaboration In Florida 5/21/2008 Tampa Tribune: "On Cuba, Obama is refreshingly unafraid to question the effectiveness of the long embargo. He would talk with Cuba's leaders about a better future. That stance won't play well with the most vocal of Florida's older Cuban-American community, but the younger generation and mainstream Florida are eager to hear what Obama wants to see happen in Cuba."

Tuesday 5/20/2008

McCain lashes Obama over Cuba 5/20/2008 AFP: "Cuban exiles have traditionally been a safe vote for Republican presidential candidates in the key battleground state of Florida. But Obama's call for lifting parts of the five-decade-old sanctions against Cuba has drawn some support, amid frustration over travel and money transfer restrictions imposed by President George W. Bush in 2004. The Illinois senator, who has called US policy on Cuba a "failure," proposes lifting the travel and remittance restrictions as a first step toward transforming relations with Cuba."

Chuck Hagel Takes On McCain, Repeatedly Praises Obama 5/20/2008 Huffington Post: "Chuck Hagel is quickly becoming Barack Obama's answer to Joe Lieberman. The Republican Senator from Nebraska was a political thorn in McCain's side on Tuesday night, repeatedly lavishing praise on the presumptive Democratic candidate and levying major foreign policy criticisms at the GOP nominee and the Republican Party as a whole. At one point, Hagel even urged the Arizona Republican to elevate his campaign discourse to a higher, more honest level… And when asked to respond to rumors circulating within political circles that the Bush administration was ginning up the possibility of war with Iran, the Senator even raised the specter of impeachment. "You've got the power of impeachment, now that is a very defined measure if you are willing to bring charges against the president at all. You can't just say I disagree with him, let's impeach him," said Hagel. An attack on Iran without Congress' consent, he added, "would bring with it... outstanding political consequences, including for the Republican Party."

Sunday 5/18/2008

Republicans fear Obama victory after polls shock 5/18/2008 Guardian, UK: "The McCain campaign is also now closely studying a dossier of tactics drawn up by Obama's Republican opponent in a Senate election of 2004. That opponent, Jack Ryan, dropped out due to a sex scandal, which ensured the dossier went unused. But now it is being dusted off by McCain staffers. It detailed various votes and statements by Obama that could be used to portray him as being in favour of legalising marijuana, soft on crime and too tolerant of sex offenders. The dossier's contents and tone seem likely to ensure the coming anti-Obama assault will be dirty. One internet advert attacking Obama's wife, Michelle, is already being circulated by the Tennessee Republican party, featuring a four-minute video based on her remarks that she became proud of her country only after her husband decided to run for President. The video plays Michelle Obama's words six times, interspersed with ordinary Tennesseans explaining why they have always been proud of America. McCain's campaign team also believes that Obama is going to be vulnerable on a traditional Democratic weakness: national security. Recent statements seeking to link him to Hamas, and Bush's speech in Israel last week on appeasement were seen as the first attempts to paint Obama as weak on terrorism. 'If Obama can convince the American people he can protect them, then he cannot lose. But it is a tough job. And if he can't convince them, then I don't think he can win,' said Covington."

Saturday 5/17/2008

Obama picks up delegates in Kan., Md., Nev. 5/17/2008 AP: "The pickup brings Obama's delegate total to 1,907 to Clinton's 1,718. The number needed to secure the nomination is 2,026."

Friday 5/16/2008

How Bush's grandfather helped Hitler's rise to power  5/16/2008 Guardian, UK: published 9/04, still topical with W's talk of appeasement, backed by McCain - "George Bush's grandfather, the late US senator Prescott Bush, was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. The Guardian has obtained confirmation from newly discovered files in the US National Archives that a firm of which Prescott Bush was a director was involved with the financial architects of Nazism. His business dealings, which continued until his company's assets were seized in 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act, has led more than 60 years later to a civil action for damages being brought in Germany against the Bush family by two former slave labourers at Auschwitz and to a hum of pre-election controversy."

What Went Wrong?  5/16/2008 New Republic: "The exclusive story of Hillary's fall, as told by the high-level advisors, staffers, fundraisers, and on-the-ground organizers who lived it."

How will Barack Obama get to 270?  5/16/2008 Salon

Pity Party  5/16/2008 WSJ: by Peggy Noonan - "Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party's fortunes from the president's. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn't be left with a ruined "brand," as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership. This is and will be the great challenge for John McCain: The Democratic argument, now being market tested by Obama Inc., that a McCain victory will yield nothing more or less than George Bush's third term. That is going to be powerful, and it is going to get out the vote. And not for Republicans."

Tuesday 5/13/2008

Carville: Obama likely to win nomination  5/13/2008 CNN: "I still hear some dogs barking," Carville said, according to The State newspaper. "I'm for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee." "As soon as I determine when that is, I'll send him a check," he added."

McCain and the 'Unitary Executive'  5/13/2008 Consortium News: "If John McCain wins the presidency – and gets to appoint one or more U.S. Supreme Court justices – America’s 220-year experiment as a democratic Republic living under the principle that “no man is above the law” may come to an end."

Racist Incidents Give Some Obama Campaigners Pause  5/13/2008 WaPo: "The first person I encountered was like, 'I'll never vote for a black person,' " recalled Ross, who is white and just turned 20. "People just weren't receptive." For all the hope and excitement Obama's candidacy is generating, some of his field workers, phone-bank volunteers and campaign surrogates are encountering a raw racism and hostility that have gone largely unnoticed -- and unreported -- this election season. Doors have been slammed in their faces. They've been called racially derogatory names (including the white volunteers). And they've endured malicious rants and ugly stereotyping from people who can't fathom that the senator from Illinois could become the first African American president. The contrast between the large, adoring crowds Obama draws at public events and the gritty street-level work to win votes is stark. The candidate is largely insulated from the mean-spiritedness that some of his foot soldiers deal with away from the media spotlight."

Monday 5/12/2008

Ron Paul's forces quietly plot GOP convention revolt against McCain 5/12/2008 LA Times

"Bomb Syria" Woolsey advises McCain 5/12/2008 Real News: video - "John McCain has recruited several members of "The Committee on the Present Danger" as foreign policy advisors, including former CIA head James Woolsey. Do Woolsey's viewpoints represent McCain's vision for America and the world?"

Sunday 5/11/2008

Ohio Dems wish Clinton would exit 5/11/2008 Cincinnati Enquirer: "Even most of those who will be going to the Democratic National Convention in August pledged to vote for Clinton wish she would give up her campaign and allow Barack Obama to claim the nomination. “It bothers me that she won’t give it up,” said former state representative Catherine Barrett of Forest Park, a delegate pledged to Clinton from the 1st Congressional District. “It’s exasperating.”

Saturday 5/10/2008

Leader of GOP convention quits after Myanmar ties reported 5/10/2008 AP: "The man picked by the John McCain campaign to run the 2008 Republican National Convention resigned Saturday after a report that his lobbying firm used to represent the military regime in Myanmar. Doug Goodyear resigned as convention coordinator and issued a two sentence statement: "Today I offered the convention my resignation so as not to become a distraction in this campaign. I continue to strongly support John McCain for president, and wish him the best of luck in this campaign."

Obama Pulls Ahead of Clinton in Superdelegates 5/10/2008 NYT: "Mr. Obama racked up seven endorsements in the last 24 hours from superdelegates, the Democratic Party insiders who are granted autonomy to support whomever they wish at the convention in August. One, a New Jersey congressman, switched his allegiance away from Mrs. Clinton, allowing the Illinois senator to pull ahead of his opponent, according to the latest New York Times count. The Times’s tally shows Mr. Obama with 266 superdelegates against 263 for Mrs. Clinton, based on telephone polls conducted with CBS News as well as public endorsements. A separate count by The Associated Press shows Mr. Obama running even with Mrs. Clinton. And a measure by ABC News showed the Illinois senator ahead as of this morning."

Friday 5/9/2008

Obama Now Takes The Lead in Superdelegates Too  5/9/2008 ABC

Official Ohio results: 53%-45%  5/9/2008 Jed Report: "Daily Kos diarist svotaw1992 had some time, a spreadsheet, and a little bit of curiosity -- and discovered that Ohio's official results show Clinton winning a narrower victory than originally. Apparently, now that Ohio has finally finished counting all of the roughly one hundred thousand provisional ballots, Clinton's final margin of victory was 8.7%, not the double-digit win reported on election night. Now at this point, it doesn't make any difference as far as the nomination goes, but for two months we've suffered through discussion after discussion about how Clinton destroyed Obama in Ohio. Now, all that turns out to have been based on numbers that exaggerated the size of her win. Moreover, since exit poll data is based in part on actual vote results, the exit poll data also exaggerated the size of her win."

Poll: Most Jewish voters want Obama to win  5/9/2008 Jerusalem Post: "A new Gallup survey found that 61% of Jewish voters prefer Obama to McCain, who got 32% of the Jewish support. That number is far greater than the rate found for the general population, who only preferred Obama to McCain 45-43, according to the poll. Obama also still trails Clinton in Jewish support, according to the survey, with Clinton winning against Obama in the Jewish community 50%-43%. Though the results showed Obama is favored by the Jewish community, the Republican Jewish Coalition pounced on them to attack Obama. "In 2004, John Kerry received 75% of the Jewish vote and George W. Bush received 25%. The recent polling numbers demonstrate Obama's weakness among Jewish voters. This data comes on the heels of the exit poll data from the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton beat Obama among Jewish voters 62%-38%," said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks. But the Obama campaign dismissed his comments, with one adviser calling it, "a desperate attempt to squeeze one drop of lemonade out of a mountain of lemons."

Thursday 5/8/2008

Obama picks up 9 superdelegates, union endorsement  5/8/2008 AP

Rev Icarus, the Obama Campaign and the Left  5/8/2008 Black Commentator: "Rev. Wright should be criticized for abandoning tactics and putting himself before the movement. He should not, however, be criticized for challenging the myths associated with US history. Even if one disagrees with aspects of what he relayed - such as his take on the origin of AIDS - much, if not most of his argument is backed up by a genuine examination of the foundations of the USA and its current role domestically and internationally. Space to make that argument is essential. And we, to the Left of Senator Obama, must continue to advance an accurate sense of the history and role of the USA. This will put us at odds, at times, with the Obama campaign which either cannot or will not agree with such an analysis."

Clinton supporter pressures Pelosi over White House battle  5/8/2008 CNN: "In a heated phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late last month, Hillary Clinton supporter Harvey Weinstein threatened to cut off campaign money to congressional Democrats unless Pelosi embraced a new plan by the movie mogul to finance a revote of the Democratic presidential primaries in Florida and Michigan, according to three officials who were briefed on the contents of the conversation. The three officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about the private phone conversation, said Weinstein, a top supporter of Clinton’s presidential campaign, appeared determined to buy Clinton more time in her battle against Sen. Barack Obama by pushing for the revote and pressing Pelosi to back off her previous comments that superdelegates should support the candidate who’s leading in pledged delegates in early June. Weinstein, a co-founder of Miramax Films who now runs the Weinstein Company, called CNN Thursday to vehemently deny that he issued any threats. “Never, ever was the thought about denying funding to Democrats,” he said."

Clinton Touts White Support  5/8/2008 NYT

Wednesday 5/7/2008

Analysis: Democrats quietly send word to Clinton it's over 5/7/2008 AP

CLINTON STRATEGIST TO CLINTON: IT'S OVER. 5/7/2008 CBS: "CBS News reports that a top Clinton strategist has told Clinton that she absolutely cannot win the nomination."

Tuesday 5/6/2008

MSNBC's Russert: 'We Now Know Who the Nominee Will Be' 5/6/2008 MSNBC: video

Monday 5/5/2008

California superdelegates' wavering bodes ill for Hillary Clinton 5/5/2008 La Times: "Ybarra, though, said he might remain uncommitted through the convention and not vote for either candidate. Chairman of the voting rights committee of the national Democratic Party's Hispanic Caucus, he is angry that neither the party nor the two candidates have put together plans and a budget for recruiting and retaining Latino voters -- particularly Mexican Americans."

McCain Finds His Own Radical Friend - Who's more of a threat to America, Liddy or Ayers? 5/5/2008 Reason Online: "What McCain didn't mention is that he has his own Bill Ayers—in the form of G. Gordon Liddy. Now a conservative radio talk show host, Liddy spent more than four years in prison for his role in the 1972 Watergate burglary. That was just one element of what Liddy did, and proposed to do, in a secret White House effort to subvert the Constitution. Far from repudiating him, McCain has embraced him. How close are McCain and Liddy? At least as close as Obama and Ayers appear to be. In 1998, Liddy's home was the site of a McCain fundraiser. Over the years, he has made at least four contributions totaling $5,000 to the senator's campaigns—including $1,000 this year. Last November, McCain went on his radio show. Liddy greeted him as "an old friend," and McCain sounded like one. "I'm proud of you, I'm proud of your family," he gushed. "It's always a pleasure for me to come on your program, Gordon, and congratulations on your continued success and adherence to the principles and philosophies that keep our nation great."

Sunday 5/4/2008

"Obama" Candidate Wins that Louisiana Special Election 5/4/2008 ABC: "Last night Democrat Don Cazayoux won the Louisiana special election for the 6th Congressional District, which has been held by Republicans for more than 30 years. As you may recall, Republicans had tried to defeat Cazayoux by attempting to tie him to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in what can't be seen as a welcome trend for the lanky Illinoisan. (It's also happening in Mississippi.) The GOP tried to "nationalize" the election. It didn't work. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., heralding that the Democratic numbers in the House have expanded to 235-198, said, "for the second time this cycle, Republicans were reminded that 'all politics is local.' House Republicans tried to nationalize this election, illegally coordinated with Freedom's Watch, used false and deceptive special interest smears, and funneled nearly a million dollars into a district that Republicans held for more than three decades."

The All-White Elephant in the Room 5/4/2008 NYT: "BORED by those endless replays of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? If so, go directly to YouTube, search for “John Hagee Roman Church Hitler,” and be recharged by a fresh jolt of clerical jive. What you’ll find is a white televangelist, the Rev. John Hagee, lecturing in front of an enormous diorama. Wielding a pointer, he pokes at the image of a woman with Pamela Anderson-sized breasts, her hand raising a golden chalice. The woman is “the Great Whore,” Mr. Hagee explains, and she is drinking “the blood of the Jewish people.” That’s because the Great Whore represents “the Roman Church,” which, in his view, has thirsted for Jewish blood throughout history, from the Crusades to the Holocaust. Mr. Hagee is not a fringe kook but the pastor of a Texas megachurch. On Feb. 27, he stood with John McCain and endorsed him over the religious conservatives’ favorite, Mike Huckabee, who was then still in the race."

Saturday 5/3/2008

Obama attacks Clinton's gas tax plan  5/3/2008 AP

Obama, Clinton vie in Guam Democratic caucuses  5/3/2008 AP: "Barack Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton by seven votes in the Guam Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday. The count of more than 4,500 ballots took all night."

'Beware the Terrible Simplifiers' By Bill Moyers  5/3/2008 Consortium News: "The furor over Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s outbursts has altered Campaign 2008, inflicting grave damage on Barack Obama’s candidacy. But is this media obsession fair when compared with far less attention given to other political pastors, like John Hagee, a John McCain backer, who called Hurricane Katrina God’s punishment of New Orleans?"

Hillary's 'Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy'  5/3/2008 Consortium News: "As the "War on Obama" grinds on, politics truly has become a place for strange bedfellows, with Hillary Clinton striking a tactical alliance with the leaders of what she famously dubbed the "vast right-wing conspiracy."

Friday 5/2/2008

The Right's America-Hating Preacher  5/2/2008 Consortium News: "One of the advantages that the American Right has achieved from investing tens of billions of dollars in media – from talk radio and cable TV, to print and the Internet – is the ability to define what is and what isn’t a “scandal,” a powerful factor in determining who wins national elections."

Questioner Dragged Out Of McCain Town Hall Talks To OffTheBus  5/2/2008 Huffington Post: "This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I've been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a cunt?"

Even missionaries botch their facts  5/2/2008 St Petersburg Times: "American missionaries who lived in Kenya have spun a conspiratorial tale about Barack Obama that's bouncing around the Internet, but the allegations don't hold up to scrutiny. Sound familiar? "

Fair Play for False Prophets  5/2/2008 WaPo: "Do white right-wing preachers have it easier than black left-wing preachers? Is there a double standard?"

Thursday 5/1/2008

DNC chairman under Bill Clinton: Unite behind Obama  5/1/2008 AP

The Real Rise of Barack Obama - The Dark Knight - By WAJAHAT ALI  5/1/2008 Counterpunch

The Peter Paul vs Hillary and Bill Clinton Album  5/1/2008 Hillary Truth: [First photo] "Clintons, Pauls and Jim Levin sit together at the Hollywood Gala Farewell Concert Salute to President Clinton , August 12, 2000. It was the largest event ever produced for a US President in Hollywood, it was the largest private concert produced closed to the public and it was the largest fundraising event ever produced for a Senator. It also became a federal crime when Hillary Clinton's campaign hid the source and amount of Peter Paul's $1.2 million plus expenditures for Hillary Clinton's campaign."

Sidney Blumenthal Uses Former Right-Wing Foes To Attack Obama  5/1/2008 Huffington Post: "Former journalist Sidney Blumenthal has been widely credited with coining the term "vast right-wing conspiracy" used by Hillary Clinton in 1998 to describe the alliance of conservative media, think tanks, and political operatives that sought to destroy the Clinton White House where he worked as a high-level aide. A decade later, and now acting as a senior campaign advisor to Senator Clinton, Blumenthal is exploiting that same right-wing network to attack and discredit Barack Obama. And he's not hesitating to use the same sort of guilt-by-association tactics that have been the hallmark of the political right dating back to the McCarthy era."

Wright Remains a Concern for Some Democrats  5/1/2008 NYT: "Senator Barack Obama picked up several endorsements by Democratic superdelegates on Wednesday in his presidential campaign, as some party leaders tried to assess the damage done to his candidacy by the controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr."

Wednesday 4/30/2008

McCain Endorser Pastor John Hagee: God Curse and Doom America 4/30/2008 Talk To Action: "As a nation, America is under the curse of God, even now." That ominous slam at America came from Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement Republican presidential candidate John McCain sought, secured, and recently affirmed to ABC News that he is "glad to have." Hagee claims God's "curse" and "doom" is upon America because of two key issues: reproductive freedom and broad support for the teaching of the theory of evolution."

Saturday 4/26/2008

Obama guru's moment of truth 4/26/2008 Chicago Business

Two Jacksonville Students, Wearing Obama Shirts, Asked To Leave Clinton Rally 4/26/2008 WITN, Jacksonville: "Spring says, the two Northside students, 18 year old Shatonya Bailey and 17 year old Marisa Head --didn't follow instructions to leave, which is why they were removed from the rally and charged with failure to disperse." [The Northside is the black section.]

Friday 4/25/2008

Sean Bell Verdict Complicates Things for Obama 4/25/2008 Black Commentator: "Obama’s attempts to speak about real black anger during his Philadelphia speech appear to have been not well received if the media’s ongoing obsession with Jeremiah Wright is any indicator. Failure to use his rhetorical gifts to speak forcefully to and about real black and non-black anger about the Sean Bell verdict may re-animate doubts about commitment to that part of his base that is not white middle and working class. Beyond Obama, all of us need to raise our voices and point at the abyss of our country’s institutional racism as was painfully and transparently reflected in the Sean Bell verdict. We might want to start by pushing Obama, Clinton and McCain-and the mainstream media- to speak honestly and continually about what the 50 bullets in Sean Bell say about justice in the 50 states of our tattered and bloodied union."

Senator Hillary Clinton Must Explain the Praising of a Group of KKK Supporters 4/25/2008 Black Commentator: "BlackCommentator.com has learned that Bill Clinton, while president, repeatedly praised the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). This is an organization that many, including some whites and a former U.S. senator from Illinois, have called racist. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, the UDC is a neo-Confederate organization which is affiliated with such white supremacist groups as the Council of Conservative Citizens and the League of the South. Formed in 1894, the UDC limits its membership to women who are related to Confederate veterans of the “War Between the States.”

Thursday 4/24/2008

Rep. James Clyburn says it: Hillary is gunning for 2012  4/24/2008 Daily Kos: "Many of us have been speculating for weeks now that since the nomination is out of reach, Hillary's main objective is to clobber Obama enough so that he won't beat McCain, thus preserving her viability for 2012. And now the top-ranking African-American congressman from South Carolina is saying just that."

Assessing Strength in Swing States  4/24/2008 NYT: "Yet for all of her primary night celebrations in the populous states, exit polling and independent political analysts offer evidence that Mr. Obama could do just as well as Mrs. Clinton among blocs of voters with whom he now runs behind. Obama advisers say he also appears well-positioned to win swing states and believe he would have a strong shot at winning traditional Republican states like Virginia. According to surveys of Pennsylvania voters leaving the polls on Tuesday, Mr. Obama would draw majorities of support from lower-income voters and less-educated ones — just as Mrs. Clinton would against Mr. McCain, even though those voters have favored her over Mr. Obama in the primaries. And national polls suggest Mr. Obama would also do slightly better among groups that have gravitated to Republican in the past, like men, the more affluent and independents, while she would do slightly better among women."

Top House Democrat denounces Clinton campaign tactics  4/24/2008 Reuters

Wednesday 4/23/2008

Obama Snubs Black Media  4/23/2008 Black Agenda Report

The New Media Math in Pennsylvania - What Double Digit Win?  4/23/2008 Counterpunch

The Low Road to Victory  4/23/2008 NYT: "The Pennsylvania campaign, which produced yet another inconclusive result on Tuesday, was even meaner, more vacuous, more desperate, and more filled with pandering than the mean, vacuous, desperate, pander-filled contests that preceded it… It is getting to be time for the superdelegates to do what the Democrats had in mind when they created superdelegates: settle a bloody race that cannot be won at the ballot box. Mrs. Clinton once had a big lead among the party elders, but has been steadily losing it, in large part because of her negative campaign. If she is ever to have a hope of persuading these most loyal of Democrats to come back to her side, let alone win over the larger body of voters, she has to call off the dogs."

Why Clinton won Pennsylvania  4/23/2008 Politico

Tuesday 4/22/2008

Pennsylvania's Six Week Primary Ends Tonight - Hillary: If Iran Attacked Israel With Nukes 'We Would Be Able to Totally Obliterate Them' 4/22/2008 ABC: "I want the Iranians to know that if I'm the president, we will attack Iran," Clinton said."

Saturday 4/19/2008

The Weather Underground 'Theme'  4/19/2008 Consortium News: "But none of that is true. The offensive comment that Clinton and Stephanopoulos referred to was from an interview about a memoir that Ayers published earlier in 2001. The comment was included in a New York Times article that appeared in the newspaper’s Sept. 11, 2001, edition. As Sen. Clinton and Stephanopoulos surely know, that edition went to press on Sept. 10, hours before the 9/11 attacks. In other words, the Ayers comment had no relationship to the 9/11 attacks. What Clinton and Stephanopoulos did was what lawyers refer to as “prejudicial” – they introduced an emotional component, 9/11, in a deceptive way to elicit a visceral reaction from those listening."

"Hero" John McCain as Phony and Collaborator: What Really Happened When He Was a POW?  4/19/2008 Counterpunch

Krugman's Latest Attack on Obama Not Supported by Evidence  4/19/2008 Real Clear Politics: "It is clear from these data that the Democratic Party's problems in recent years have not been confined to white voters in the South. Democrats have also lost ground among white ethnic and working class voters outside of the South, voters who were once crucial components of the party's electoral base. While Barack Obama's formulation of the problems that the Democratic Party has been having with these voters may not have been artful, there is no doubt that the problem is real."

Friday 4/18/2008

Obama's Ayers connection never bugged anyone  4/18/2008 Chicago Sun Times

Who is Bill Ayers?  4/18/2008 Chicago Sun Times

Hillary Drops Back - A new Newsweek poll shows Obama pulling away.  4/18/2008 Newsweek: "Despite her campaign's relentless attacks on Barack Obama's qualifications and electability, Hillary Clinton has lost a lot of ground with Democratic voters nationwide going into Tuesday's critical primary in Pennsylvania, a new NEWSWEEK poll shows. The survey of 1,209 registered voters found that Obama now leads Clinton by nearly 20 points, or 54 percent to 35 percent, among registered Democrats and those who lean Democratic nationwide. The previous Newsweek poll, conducted in March after Clinton's big primary wins in Ohio and Texas, showed the two Democrats locked in a statistical tie (45 percent for Obama to 44 percent for Clinton). The new poll puts Obama ahead among women as well as men, and voters aged 60 and older as well as younger voters. (For the complete poll data, click here). One of the more devastating results for Clinton was that a majority of all registered voters now see her as dishonest and untrustworthy. According to the poll, just four in 10 (41 percent) registered voters view the New York senator as honest and trustworthy, while 51 percent think the opposite. This compares with solid majorities of voters who see Obama and McCain as honest and trustworthy (both polled 61 percent)."

Thursday 4/17/2008

Resurrecting Greenspan - Hillary Joins the Vast, Rightwing Financial Conspiracy 4/17/2008 Counterpunch

Chief McCain Strategist Went To Bat For Convicted Felon 4/17/2008 Huffington Post

Wednesday 4/16/2008

Clinton-Obama Debate: ABC Decides Top Issues Facing Americans Are Gaffes, Flag Pins and '60s Radicals 4/16/2008 Editor & Publisher

Fox's Hannity again smeared pastor of Barack Obama's church as "black separatist" 4/16/2008 Media Matters: published 6/07

Tuesday 4/15/2008

Clinton 'stalls' Obama in PA. Poll 4/15/2008 Baltimore Sun: "The first fresh and reliable look at the mood of Pennsylvania voters since the controversy over Barack Obama’s comments about the bitterness of working-class voters flared up over the weekend has arrived: Hillary Clinton holds a steady 6 percentage-point advantage over Obama in a critical state holding its primary one week from today."

Monday 4/14/2008

Obama’s Explanation of “Controversial” Remarks Moves Democrats and Independents 4/14/2008 HCD Research: "A new national study among 843 self-reported Democrats, Republicans and independents, indicated that Senator Obama’s explanation for his recent controversial remarks, successfully addressed criticism, especially among Democrats and independents."

Sunday 4/13/2008

Obama Turns Table on Clinton  4/13/2008 AP: "Democrat Barack Obama lashed out Sunday at rival Hillary Rodham Clinton, mocking her vocal support for gun rights and saying her record in the Senate and as first lady belied her stated commitment to working class voters and their concerns. "She knows better. Shame on her. Shame on her," Obama told an audience at a union hall here. The Illinois senator has spent three days on the defensive after comments he made at a San Francisco fundraiser were disclosed that suggested working class people are bitter about their economic circumstances and "cling to guns and religion" as a result."

A Bitter Pill To Swallow  4/13/2008 Huffington Post: "Already, Hillary Clinton has gone too far with her criticism of Obama, and is beginning to frame the issue in a way she might actually lose. By suggesting that Obama is out-of-touch at the same time that she insists that people are optimistic, not bitter, she is putting herself at great risk. After all, countless Pennsylvanians are in fact quite embittered at being abandoned by their government and will likely be unreceptive to the notion that they don't deserve to be. Hillary might be in touch with some, but it seems likely that Obama is in touch with far more."

What Clinton wishes she could say  4/13/2008 Politico: "Rip off the duct tape and here is what they would say: Obama has serious problems with Jewish voters (goodbye Florida), working-class whites (goodbye Ohio) and Hispanics (goodbye, New Mexico). Republicans will also ruthlessly exploit openings that Clinton — in the genteel confines of an intraparty contest — never could. Top targets: Obama’s radioactive personal associations, his liberal ideology, his exotic life story, his coolly academic and elitist style. This view has been an article of faith among Clinton advisers for months, but it got powerful new affirmation last week with Obama’s clumsy ruminations about why “bitter” small-town voters turn to guns and God."

Friday 4/11/2008

Obama defends 'bitter' remarks  4/11/2008 CNN

Six Questions About Saturday’s Nevada Caucus Do-Over  4/11/2008 CQ Politics

Obama delegate wannabes reinstated  4/11/2008 San Jose Mercury News: "The large and "unwieldy" number of people trying to win a delegate spot, in some cases more than 90 competing for as few as three positions, was a primary reason the cuts were made, Morrison said. Another was concern that some competitors might not reliably represent the candidates. "The campaign has had to be concerned about the delegate picks because there's been news that Clinton is going after Obama delegates," he said."

Thursday 4/10/2008

Clinton laughs off Colombia questions 4/10/2008 CNN: "Hillary Clinton used her trademark laugh Thursday to deflect a question about the $800,000 her husband earned in 2005 giving speeches for a Bogota-based group that supports the Colombia free trade agreement — the same trade deal she currently opposes. Asked by CNN if those earnings represented a conflict of interest given that she has dipped into her family's pocketbook to pay campaign bills, Clinton threw up her hands and laughed loudly for several seconds."

LA TIMES REVIVES OBAMA SMEAR… 4/10/2008 The Nation: "Does being friends with Palestinians make one anti-Israel? Peter Wallsten of the LA Times apparently thinks so. His latest piece about Barack Obama's past ties to pro-Palestinian activists in Chicago is certainly meant to give the reader that impression. [See my recent Nation article, "Smearing Obama," for background on this topic. One of Wallsten's sources happens to be a key purveyor of the "Obama is a Muslim" lie. Updates below.] "

Wednesday 4/9/2008

In Defense of Rev. Jeremiah Wright 4/9/2008 Alternet: "I heard that great humanitarian Karl Rove criticizing Dr. Jeremiah Wright's sermon in which he talks about a black and poor Jesus being crucified by the Roman ruling class. He expressed outrage that Dr. Wright would say this. At that point it clarified for me why so many people had rushed to call Dr. Wright's words hateful and racist. The reverend had attacked all of America's sacred cows, including its civil religion, in which the idea of a black Jesus just doesn't fit."

Tuesday 4/8/2008

The New Decider - Hillary's Western Swing  4/8/2008 Counterpunch: "While watching NCAA basketball, I overheard the bartender and a bunch of older white guys down the bar just going off on the Rev. Wright issue. Seems they were all Marines and they were hopping mad that Wright was coming under attack. One of them cited the fact that he knew of three Marines whom Wright had helped "save their lives" back in the LBJ era when Wright served as a medical corpsman. I thought I was having a Hillary "mishearing" moment and commented such to Dan sitting at my side, but it was all true. Wright gave up his student deferment and enlisted in the Marines in 1961. After two years in the Marines, Wright reenlisted as a Navy corpsman, graduating as valedictorian of his corpsman class. He later even served on the team that treated LBJ in 1966 at Bethesda Naval Hospital and gained three letters of commendation. Obama did his pastor a grave disservice, not to mention his own campaign, by not forcefully retelling this history in his now-famous speech on Race. Contrast Wright's actual patriotism and compassion with the ravings of the pro-GOP clerics (Hagee, et al.) that McCain has been aligning with and it's no contest--kinda like the Democratic Party Primary."

Why Obama Lost Massachusetts  4/8/2008 Counterpunch: "It was basically a sop to the insurance industry, and it forced everyone to buy insurance or be fined as with car insurance. (This year one must submit proof of health insurance with the state tax form or else pay a fine!) And the legislation used numbers of uninsured that were too low, thus underestimating the state subsidies that would have to be paid to employers and employees. Now the chickens have come home to roost; and it is apparent that the plan is much more expensive than the pols had claimed with a big revenue shortfall as a result. Patrick's answer is a wave of hiring freezes, layoffs and funding cuts. ...Of course Patrick and the Dems had another choice --a single-payer plan, which has wide support in the state. In fact the Mass Medical Society commissioned two studies some years back, both showing that single-payer in Mass would ensure everyone and result in lower costs than the present system, which leaves untold hundreds of thousands without insurance. ...So like Obama, Patrick has no use for single-payer. And like Obama he is very much into book contracts. In Patrick we already have our Obama. Another one as president? No thank you."

Bill Clinton's Ties To Colombia Trade Deal Stronger Than Even Penn's  4/8/2008 Huffington Post: "Former President Bill Clinton has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars speaking on behalf of a Colombia-based group pushing the trade pact, and representatives of that organization tell The Huffington Post that the former president shared their sentiment. In June 2005, Clinton was paid $800,000 by the Colombia-based Gold Service International to give four speeches throughout Latin America. The organization is, ostensibly, a development group tasked with bringing investment to the country and educating world leaders about the Colombia's business opportunities."

McCain ties with Arizona blacks strained  4/8/2008 Politico: "But the widespread perception of activists in the state’s traditional civil rights organizations and the African-American press is that McCain has consistently treated them with indifference. He had few if any important relationships with these usually Democratic-leaning institutional pillars. The main reason, say leaders of these groups, was that McCain never demonstrated much interest in building them."

Monday 4/7/2008

Obama's Wife And Their Spiritual Adviser 4/7/2008 National Journal

HRC Colombia ties don't stop with Penn 4/7/2008 Politico: "According to the Glover Park Group contract, which was disclosed to the U.S. Department of Justice last year, the firm was to work with ProExport Colombia, an entity of the Colombian Government Trade Bureau, in developing a strategy to promote the free trade agreement. The contract called for Glover Park to identify the key concerns of members of Congress, develop a comprehensive government relations strategy, and pinpoint reporters, academics, and business leaders who could help make Colombia’s pro-free trade argument, all in close coordination with Colombian government officials. The contract was set for five months, beginning on April 2, 2007. But it is not clear from public documents whether this is an ongoing effort. Glover Park’s report on the lobbying was to be addressed directly to the Colombian minister of trade and the Colombian ambassador to the United States, among other officials."

Saturday 4/5/2008

Clinton Adviser's Firm Fired by Colombian Government  4/5/2008 Bloomberg: "Colombia ended its contract with Burson-Marsteller because Penn's comments showed ``a lack of respect to Colombians,'' according to a statement on the government's Web site. Penn apologized yesterday for meeting with Colombian officials to discuss a free-trade agreement that Clinton opposes. Burson-Marsteller's contract to promote a free-trade deal with Colombia threatens to undercut Clinton's support among blue collar workers, a key constituency in the April 22 Pennsylvania primary that she must win to keep her campaign alive. Clinton and Democratic rival Barack Obama have both made trade agreements a top issue, saying they cost American manufacturing jobs."

What Obama Could Have Said About His Pastor - Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a True Patriot  4/5/2008 Counterpunch: "In 1961, a young African-American man, after hearing President John F. Kennedy's challenge to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country," gave up his student deferment, left college in Virginia and voluntarily joined the Marines. In 1963, this man, having completed his two years of service in the Marines, volunteered again to become a Navy corpsman. (They provide medical assistance to the Marines as well as to Navy personnel.) The man did so well in corpsman school that he was the valedictorian and became a cardiopulmonary technician. Not surprisingly, he was assigned to the Navy's premier medical facility, Bethesda Naval Hospital, as a member of the commander in chief's medical team, and helped care for President Lyndon B. Johnson after his 1966 surgery. For his service on the team, which he left in 1967, the White House awarded him three letters of commendation. What is even more remarkable is that this man entered the Marines and Navy not many years after the two branches began to become integrated. While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections. Who is the real patriot?"

Fire Mark Penn Now!  4/5/2008 The Nation: "Both Clinton and Obama say they will oppose approval of the Colombia FTA. But should anyone trust a candidate who says she'll vote against a trade deal but then pays millions to one of the chief proponents of the deal -- and, presumably, will continue to take his advice and counsel not just on campaign tactics but policies? The bottom line should be clear to everyone who is following the Democratic presidential race -- but especially to voters in the upcoming primary states such as Pennsylvania, Indiana and North Carolina, where trade issues are particularly potent."

Oops. Another Clinton Story Turns Out To Be Not So True  4/5/2008 Time: "I've heard Hillary Clinton tell the story many times in speeches, and it rarely fails to bring a horrified gasp from the crowd: An uninsured and pregnant Ohio woman, working for minimum wage at a pizza parlor, is turned away from a hospital because she can't come up with $100. The baby dies, and so does the woman. Clinton talks about how this woman haunts her, and how stories like this show the moral imperative--and the urgency--of fixing a badly broken health care system."

Friday 4/4/2008

Mark Penn Has to Go  4/4/2008 Change to Win: "Sen. Barack Obama pushed back against criticism from Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who said Obama opposes the free-trade deal between Washington and Bogota because of election politics. “I think the president is absolutely wrong on this,” Obama told reporters on his plane Friday morning. “You’ve got a government that is under a cloud of potentially having supported violence against unions, against labor, against opposition.” The Illinois senator has promised to rebuild America’s reputation abroad…"

Obama cuts into Clinton's superdelegate lead  4/4/2008 LA Times: "She trails him in fundraising and in pledged delegates. Now her superdelegate edge has shrunk to 30, from 87 in February. Even some who back her say they might reconsider."

Union group wants Clinton adviser fired  4/4/2008 The Hill: "Change to Win, a group of unions endorsing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), is calling on Mark Penn, senior strategist to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), to be removed from her presidential campaign for meeting with the Colombian ambassador about a controversial trade agreement. Clinton has steadily railed against unfair free trade, but Penn, in his capacity as head of the lobbying firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, met with the ambassador to talk about the country’s trade agreement with the U.S. The Bush administration is trying to move it through Congress over Democratic opposition."

Clinton Aide Met on Trade Deal - Penn Held Talks On Colombia Pact Opposed by Senator  4/4/2008 WSJ: "Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials. He wasn't there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm. The firm has a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional approval of the trade deal, among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department."

Thursday 4/3/2008

Rev Wright: Factor military duty into criticism  4/3/2008 Chicago Sun: "While this young man was serving six years on active duty, Vice President Dick Cheney, who was born the same year as the Marine/sailor, received five deferments, four for being an undergraduate and graduate student and one for being a prospective father. Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both five years younger than the African-American youth, used their student deferments to stay in college until 1968. Both then avoided going on active duty through family connections. Who is the real patriot? The young man who interrupted his studies to serve his country for six years or our three political leaders who beat the system? Are the patriots the people who actually sacrifice something or those who merely talk about their love of the country?"

Penn calls trade meeting 'error in judgment'  4/3/2008 CNN

Political ties to a secretive religious group  4/3/2008 NBC: "Senator Clinton’s participation is surprising to observers who have investigated Coe’s group, called The Fellowship Foundation, which critics have described as a secretive organization populated mostly by conservative Republicans. “I think in part through her involvement with the Fellowship’s prayer group she was able to meet with some of these Republican senators and get to know them on a one-on-one basis,” said Joshua Green, a Senior Editor at The Atlantic magazine. In her autobiography, “Living History,” Senator Clinton describes Coe as "a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God.” She writes that “Doug became a source of strength and friendship" during her often-troubled White House years… So who is Doug Coe? He shuns almost all interview requests, including ours. But in hours of audiotape and videotape recordings obtained exclusively by NBC News, he frequently preaches the gospel of Jesus to followers and supporters. In one videotaped sermon from 1989, Coe provides this account of the atrocities committed under Chairman Mao in Communist China: "I've seen pictures of the young men in the Red Guard…they would bring in this young man’s mother…he would take an axe and cut her head off. They have to put the purposes of the Red Guard ahead of father, mother, brother sister and their own life. That was a covenant, a pledge. That's what Jesus said." In his preaching, Coe repeatedly urges a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. It’s a commitment Coe compares to the blind devotion that Adolph Hitler demanded from his followers -- a rhetorical technique that now is drawing sharp criticism."

Tuesday 4/1/2008

Max Blumenthal Probes Hannity's History With Talk Radio's 'Angry White Men' -- and Fanning the Flames of Racial Politics 4/1/2008 Buzzflash

The Top 10 Myths Keeping Hillary in the Race 4/1/2008 Huffington Post

Monday 3/31/2008

Wright Questions - What the national press should ask Barack Obama about his former pastor. 3/31/2008 National Review

Rosy Words for Clinton by ’90s Nemesis 3/31/2008 NYT: "To Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, Richard Mellon Scaife qualifies as a charter member of the “vast right-wing conspiracy,” having bankrolled an elaborate multimillion-dollar campaign throughout the 1990s to unearth damaging information about the couple… His sudden conversion from fervid Clinton basher to lukewarm Clinton fan occurred after Mrs. Clinton, a Democratic senator from New York, sat down for a 90-minute interview with reporters and editors of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, a newspaper owned by Mr. Scaife, the billionaire heir to the Mellon banking fortune."

Saturday 3/29/2008

The Top Ten Craziest Things John McCain Has Said While You Weren't Watching 3/29/2008 Alternet

Sheila Jackson Lee booed at Democratic convention 3/29/2008 KHOU: "Raw video of Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee's speech at a local Democratic senatorial district convention in Houston Saturday in which she was booed by the crowd, many of whom are in her district. Her speech was interrupted a couple of times as the crowd voiced its displeasure with her backing Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama."

Friday 3/28/2008

Obama v. Krugman - Obama's Cooper Union speech presages an FDR-like approach to our faltering economy. Why can't Paul Krugman see that? 3/28/2008 American Prospect: "The Frank-Dodd bill, which Obama is co-sponsoring, is a realistic remedy for purely the housing part of the crisis. If you read Clinton's March 24 speech on the housing crisis and how to fix it -- supposedly more robust than Obama's remedy -- she offers the same Frank-Dodd bill. She does not locate the mortgage crisis in the deeper financial one. And her idea of turning, for wise men, to Robert Rubin and Alan Greenspan -- more than anyone the people who gave us this crisis -- is appalling."

Thursday 3/27/2008

The Clinton Campaign Embraces the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to Launch Attacks on Obama  3/27/2008 Buzzflash: "After ferociously defending the Clintons in the '90s against the vast right wing conspiracy, we have seen them embrace the dangerous anti-democracy conspirators in order to attack Barack Obama. Time and time again, since 2000 Senator Hillary Clinton has sought out and used the very people who we defended her against -- and the evidence is damning."

Obama beats McCain by wide margin in Conn. Matchup  3/27/2008 Newsday: "Barack Obama, 52 percent; John McCain, 35 percent; someone else/don't know, 10 percent. Hillary Rodham Clinton, 45 percent; John McCain, 42 percent; someone else/don't know, 10 percent."

The Wright Controversy Revealed America's Deeply Insecure Side  3/27/2008 Rolling Stone: "But whether or not any of Wright's "controversial" statements have any validity at all is beside the point. The point is that a country that had any balls at all -- that was secure enough in its patriotic self-image to stare vicious criticism right in the face and collectively decide for itself, in a state of sober reflection, what part of it was bullshit and what wasn't -- such a country wouldn't do what it did in the case of the Wright flap, which is to panic instantly, collectively leap off the ground in terror like a bunch of silly bitches, and chase the criticism away in a torch-bearing mob with its eyes averted without even bothering to talk about what was actually said."

I'm not a Campaign Manager, but I play one on this blog..  3/27/2008 The Nappy Diatribe, Vibe

Lest We Forget: An open letter to my sisters who are brave.  3/27/2008 The Root: Alice Walker on Obama - "True to my inner Goddess of the Three Directions however, this does not mean I agree with everything Obama stands for. We differ on important points probably because I am older than he is, I am a woman and person of three colors, (African, Native American, European), I was born and raised in the American South, and when I look at the earth's people, after sixty-four years of life, there is not one person I wish to see suffer, no matter what they have done to me or to anyone else; though I understand quite well the place of suffering, often, in human growth. I want a grown-up attitude toward Cuba, for instance, a country and a people I love; I want an end to the embargo that has harmed my friends and their children, children who, when I visit Cuba, trustingly turn their faces up for me to kiss."

Wednesday 3/26/2008

Jesus plus nothing: Undercover among America's secret theocrats  3/26/2008 Harper's: published 3/03 - "The Los Angeles Times reported in September that the Fellowship Foundation alone has an annual budget of $10 million, but that represents only a fraction of the Family's finances. Each of the Family's organizations raises funds independently. Ivanwald, for example, is financed at least in part by an entity called the Wilberforce Foundation. Other projects are financed by individual “friends”: wealthy businessmen, foreign governments, church congregations, or mainstream foundations that may be unaware of the scope of the Family's activities. At Ivanwald, when I asked to what organization a donation check might be made, I was told there was none; money was raised on a “man-to-man” basis." ...“The Cedars has a heart for the poor,” they like to say. By “poor” they mean not the thousands of literal poor living barely a mile away but rather the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom: the senators, generals, and prime ministers who coast to the end of Twenty-fourth Street in Arlington in black limousines and town cars and hulking S.U.V.'s to meet one another, to meet Jesus, to pay homage to the god of The Cedars. There they forge “relationships” beyond the din of vox populi (the Family's leaders consider democracy a manifestation of ungodly pride) and “throw away religion” in favor of the truths of the Family. Declaring God's covenant with the Jews broken, the group's core members call themselves “the new chosen.”

Showing Faith in Discretion  3/26/2008 LA Times: published 9/02 - "The Fellowship does not solicit money. A handful of wealthy backers, including Detroit lawyer and GOP donor Michael Timmis, Denver oilman Jerome A. Lewis and former Maryland investor Paul N. Temple, support the Fellowship with personal contributions. Private foundations they control also contribute hundreds of thousands yearly to the International Foundation, tax records show. Other money has come through word of mouth, stock bequests, and donations from friends, estates and even foreign governments including Taiwan, which Coe said sends about $10,000 a year to the Fellowship. He said the ambassador usually delivers the check in person."

NBC-WSJ POLL: NEW CLINTON LOWS  3/26/2008 MS NBC

Clinton backers warn Pelosi on superdelegate rift  3/26/2008 Reuters: "A group of prominent Hillary Clinton donors sent a letter to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday asking her to retract her comments on superdelegates and stay out of the Democratic fight over their role in the presidential race."

Hillary's Minister Problem  3/26/2008 The Atlantic

Clinton Wounded By Bosnia Comments  3/26/2008 US News & World Report: "The brouhaha over Sen. Hillary Clinton's sniper-infested description of her trip to Bosnia in 1996 reached a crescendo in the media in the last 24 hours, despite efforts by Clinton to defuse the situation. In addition to being the butt of late-night comedian jokes, all three network news broadcasts last night led with critical coverage of Clinton, with the CBS Evening News running footage of three instances in the last few months of Clinton claiming to have been vexed by sniper fire during the event. ABC World News reported in a lengthy and negative piece, "In light of the Bosnia incident, Clinton's other foreign policy experience will now face tougher scrutiny," and correspondent Jake Tapper added, "The bottom line is, Senator Clinton's biggest claim on the presidency is her perceived experience. Her biggest weakness as a candidate, is the fact that so many Americans do not trust her. The fact that her biggest weakness could undercut her biggest strength is potentially devastating."

Tuesday 3/25/2008

Conservatives' Hate-Based Campaign Against Obama  3/25/2008 American Prospect

McGovern: Hard to elect female president  3/25/2008 AP: "Former Sen. George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, said Tuesday it would be easier for a black man to be elected to the White House than a woman… He says he likes Obama but didn't know much about him when he endorsed Clinton last year. "I think very highly of him now," McGovern said."

The Crazy Rev. Wright By ISHMAEL REED  3/25/2008 Counterpunch: "The classic indicator for racism has been the double standard applied to blacks and whites. This still exists for blacks in everyday life. In the criminal justice system, the mortgage lending industry, and the treatment of blacks by the medical industry, etc. Why is Rev. Wright crazy for citing racism in the criminal justice system? ..."The infringement of black Americans' rights to their own bodies in the name of medical science continued throughout the 20th century. In 1945, Ebb Cade, an African American trucker being treated for injuries received in an accident in Tennessee, was surreptitiously placed without his consent into a radiation experiment sponsored by the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission. Black Floridians were deliberately exposed to swarms of mosquitoes carrying yellow fever and other diseases in experiments conducted by the Army and the CIA in the early 1950s. Throughout the 1950s and '60s, black inmates at Philadelphia's Holmesburg Prison were used as research subjects by a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist testing pharmaceuticals and personal hygiene products; some of these subjects report pain and disfiguration even now. During the 1960s and '70s, black boys were subjected to sometimes paralyzing neurosurgery by a University of Mississippi researcher who believed brain pathology to be the root of the children's supposed hyperactive behavior. In the 1990s, African American youths in New York were injected with Fenfluramine -- half of the deadly, discontinued weight loss drug Fen-Phen -- by Columbia researchers investigating a hypothesis about the genetic origins of violence." With this kind of record, is Rev. Wright paranoid when he speculates that AIDs might be the result of an experiment gone wrong or even as some black intellectuals assert a ethnic weapon?"

NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD WELCOMES DISCUSSION OF RACISM OCCASIONED BY SENATOR BARACK OBAMA'S HISTORIC SPEECH  3/25/2008 National Lawyer's Guild

Clinton tries to steer back to Wright controversy  3/25/2008 Newsday: "Hillary Rodham Clinton was full of Wright-eous indignation Tuesday, seeking to change the subject as she fended off criticism of inconsistencies in her Bosnian war story."

War of the Word  3/25/2008 Truth Dig: "However, in this season of pastor-baiting, McCain has his own problem, having expressed his thrill in receiving “the endorsement of Pastor John Hagee.” Hagee, citing a planned “homosexual parade,” had previously told National Public Radio that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment of the people of New Orleans for “a level of sin that was offensive to God.” Obviously, the almighty with whom Hagee is on intimate terms is in need of MapQuest, given that New Orleans’ gay neighborhoods were among the ones least impacted by the hurricane. Hagee long has been denounced by Catholics for labeling the Vatican “The Great Whore” and blaming Hitler’s genocidal policies on his having “attended a Catholic school as a child.” A Hagee issue that has some current relevance to the Iraq disaster is his blasting of the Roman Catholic Church for sponsoring the Crusades, which “plunged the world into the Dark Ages.”

Monday 3/24/2008

The Right Choice? The conservative case for Barack Obama  3/24/2008 American Conservative

Clinton 'misspoke' about '96 Bosnia trip  3/24/2008 AP: "Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign said she "misspoke" last week when saying she had landed under sniper fire during a trip to Bosnia as first lady in March 1996."

A Response to MoveOn's Umpteenth Forward of Obama's "Amazing Speech" - A Letter to Mom on Obama  3/24/2008 Counterpunch: "Obama included statements condemning the effect of corporate lobbyists on Congress -- without acknowledging that his own voting record is one of kowtowing to the corporate agenda or that he himself has accepted millions of dollars from corporate PACs and registered corporate lobbyists. He mentioned that the founding fathers failed to stop slavery; he did not mention that the founding fathers institutionalized slavery in the Constitution in order to achieve a union in the first place. (Those bits about suppressing insurrections were put in there to lure the slavery-dependent South into the nascent nation by promising to put down revolts by slaves.) Obama apologizing for his corporate-controlled voting record and vowing to amend his ways and forego contributions from corporate PACs and lobbyists would have been radical. Confronting, instead of flattering, the self-deceits of the passive American public would have been radical. What he did do was politely divert unfair criticism. Well done and good job. But there is nothing to bowl me over into thinking that I would vote for a candidate who failed to defend the precious amendments to that Constitution known as the Bill of Rights."

Hillary's Berserker Campaign ... for 2012 - Blonde Ambition  3/24/2008 Counterpunch: "Hillary is following the Reagan model. In 1976, Ronald Reagan bled Gerald Ford through the long winter and spring months, before bludgeoning him the late primary in Pennsylvania. As told in Adam Clymer's new book, Drawing the Line at the Big Ditch: the Panama Canal Treaties and the Rise of the Right, Reagan finally found a theme to his weird internecine challenge in the Panama Canal Treaty. Reagan fell short in the end, but he had hobbled Ford, who stumbled and fell against Carter in the fall election. Carter inherited a stagnant economy, soaring oil prices and a simmering crisis in the Middle East. Reagan easily unseated Carter in the 1980 election. The Clintons are shrewd enough to detect the striking historical parallels here and craven enough to exploit them for their own long-term advantage."

The Path Toward a More Perfect Union? The Politics of Jeremiah Wright  3/24/2008 Counterpunch: "Jeremiah Wright" as the excesses of "the Black Church," "black rage," and "the Civil Rights generation," do not possess the requisite level of knowledge and sophistication of skill to deal with the problems facing a new generation. "Jeremiah Wright" is impolite when speaking on American imperialism abroad and capitalist empire at home. "Jeremiah Wright" uses outdated language to speak to the fact that the public schools are as segregated now as during the age of Brown and the gap between the rich and the poor is at a level unseen since the Depression era. "Jeremiah Wright" tells inconvenient truths of the expansion of American policing abroad and the politics of policing and prisons at home."

Presidential primary fight doesn't bother Reid  3/24/2008 Las Vegas Review Journal: "Michigan and Florida wouldn't play by the rules," Reid said. "They're not my rules. They're not the caucus' rules. They're DNC rules. They broke the rules." Adding delegates for those states, he noted, would alter the number of delegates needed to get the nomination, currently 2,025. It wasn't crystal clear, but Reid seemed to suggest that delegations from those states should get to attend the convention, but not vote."

Peter F. Paul  3/24/2008 Wikipedia: "Peter Paul was a lawyer in Miami, Florida, representing foreign governments and political leaders in South America and the Caribbean.[citation needed] He also served as President of the Miami World Trade Center[3] and was the original owner and operator of the largest[citation needed] Foreign Trade Zone in the U.S., Miami Free Zone Inc.[2] As a result of what Paul described as anti-Communist and anti-Castro political activities,[4] he directed a fraud on the Cuban government of $8.75 million dollars by selling agents of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro nonexistent coffee. The plan apparently also involved sinking the ship that was to deliver the nonexistent coffee to hide the fraud from Castro and, according to TIME Magazine, to defraud its insurer, but the ship was abandoned in Costa Rica and never sunk.[2][5] Paul pled guilty to federal conspiracy charges. When his home was raided by the police in connection with this crime, they found cocaine in his garage, and Paul also pled guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to distribute.[2] … Paul emerged in 2000 as the largest contributor to Senatorial candidate Hillary Clinton. Paul and his attorneys have at various times offered two explanations for this. First, that he was trying to attract her husband, then-President Bill Clinton, to serve on the board of Stan Lee Media after leaving office. Second, that he hoped to negotiate a pardon for his previous criminal convictions.[29][30] Paul produced and underwrote what he described as the largest fund raising event ever held for a federal candidate [31], in Los Angeles, days before the 2000 Democratic Convention began."

Saturday 3/22/2008

First a Tense Talk With Clinton, Then Richardson Backs Obama  3/22/2008 NYT: "It was a stinging rejection of her candidacy by a man who had served in two senior positions in President Bill Clinton’s administration, and who is one of the nation’s most prominent elected Hispanics. Mr. Richardson came back from vacation to announce his endorsement at a moment when Mrs. Clinton’s hopes of winning the Democratic nomination seem to be dimming. But potentially more troublesome for Mrs. Clinton was what Mr. Richardson said in announcing his decision. He criticized the tenor of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. He praised Mr. Obama for the speech he gave in response to the furor over racially incendiary remarks delivered by Mr. Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr."

Hillary Clinton's campaign uses pastor scandal to undermine Barack Obama  3/22/2008 Telegraph, UK: "While ordering staff not to comment directly on the controversy surrounding the inflammatory black liberation rhetoric of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, senior Clinton aides have privately made the case to Democratic officials that nominating Mr Obama would be a reckless gamble."

Richardson Throws Support to Obama  3/22/2008 WaPo: "New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson offered a strong endorsement of Barack Obama for president Friday, appealing for peace in the Democratic Party and hailing the Illinois senator as a unifying force for the country."

Friday 3/21/2008

Hillary's Balkan Adventures, Part II  3/21/2008 Fact Checker, WaPo: "When her account was challenged by one of her traveling companions, the comedian Sinbad, she upped the ante and injected even more drama into the story. In a speech earlier this week, she talked about "landing under sniper fire" and running for safety with "our heads down." There are numerous problems with Clinton's version of events… According to Pomfret, the Tuzla airport was "one of the safest places in Bosnia" in March 1996, and "firmly under the control" of the 1st Armored Division. Far from running to an airport building with their heads down, Clinton and her party were greeted on the tarmac by smiling U.S. and Bosnian officials. An eight-year-old Moslem girl, Emina Bicakcic, read a poem in English. An Associated Press photograph of the greeting ceremony, above, shows a smiling Clinton bending down to receive a kiss."

Meet The (White) Man Who Inspired Wright's Controversial Sermon  3/21/2008 Huffington Post: "Meet the man who inspired Reverend Jeremiah Wright's now famous tirade about America's foreign policy inciting the terrorist attacks of September 11. His name is Ambassador Edward Peck. And he is a retired, white, career U.S. diplomat who served 32-years in the U.S. Foreign Service and was chief of the U.S. mission to Iraq under Jimmy Carter -- hardly the black-rage image with which Wright has been stigmatized. In fact, when Wright took the pulpit to give his post-9/11 address -- which has since become boiled down to a five second sound bite about "America's chickens coming home to roost" -- he prefaced his remarks as a "faith footnote," an indication that he was deviating from his sermon. "I heard Ambassador Peck on an interview yesterday," Wright declared. "He was on Fox News. This is a white man and he was upsetting the Fox News commentators to no end. He pointed out, a white man, an ambassador, that what Malcolm X said when he got silenced by Elijah Muhammad was in fact true: America's chickens are coming home to roost.""

Story behind the story: The Clinton myth  3/21/2008 Politico: "One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning. Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party’s most reliable constituency. ...One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning. Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party’s most reliable constituency."

Thursday 3/20/2008

Hillary's Ties to Religious Fundamentalists  3/20/2008 Alternet: "At the heart of the Family's American branch is a collection of powerful right-wing politicos, who include, or have included, Sam Brownback, Ed Meese, John Ashcroft, James Inhofe, and Rick Santorum. They get to use the Family's spacious estate on the Potomac, the Cedars, which is maintained by young men in Family group homes and where meals are served by the Family's young women's group. And, at the Family's frequent prayer gatherings, they get powerful jolts of spiritual refreshment, tailored to the already-powerful. Clinton fell in with the Family in 1993, when she joined a Bible study group composed of wives of conservative leaders like Jack Kemp and James Baker. When she ascended to the Senate, she was promoted to what Sharlet calls the Family's "most elite cell," the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast, which included, until his downfall, Virginia's notoriously racist Sen. George Allen. This has not been a casual connection for Clinton. She has written of Doug Coe, the Family's publicity-averse leader, that he is "a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God."

Obama Race Speech Analysis  3/20/2008 Black Commentator: by 14 Editorial Board Members.

Obama: the attacks have only just begun  3/20/2008 Black Commentator

When Reality is Too Much - Obama and the Pyshic Auto-Shrink-Wrapping Called Race in America  3/20/2008 Counterpunch

Hillary's Prayer: Hillary Clinton's Religion and Politics  3/20/2008 Mother Jones: published 9/07 - "Clinton's prayer group was part of the Fellowship (or "the Family"), a network of sex-segregated cells of political, business, and military leaders dedicated to "spiritual war" on behalf of Christ, many of them recruited at the Fellowship's only public event, the annual National Prayer Breakfast. (Aside from the breakfast, the group has "made a fetish of being invisible," former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said.) The Fellowship believes that the elite win power by the will of God, who uses them for his purposes. Its mission is to help the powerful understand their role in God's plan."

Hannity Denies Past Association With White Supremacist But Evidence Suggests Otherwise  3/20/2008 News Hound: "Another night, another high tech lynching of Barack Obama on Hannity & Colmes. It was the usual attacks on Obama over those with whom he associates. But last night (3/19/08), Sean Hannity was confronted about his own past association with white supremacist Hal Turner. First Hannity denied knowing Turner, then he said he had long ago banned Turner from his show. While it’s probably true that Hannity banned Turner, what Hannity didn’t mention is that before Turner got banned, he was regularly welcomed on Hannity’s show, even after saying on the air that if it weren’t for the graciousness of white people, "black people would still be swinging on trees in Africa." "

Camp Hill mayor switches parties  3/20/2008 Penn Live: "Camp Hill (PA) Mayor Lou Thieblemont switched his lifelong Republican registration this week so he can vote for Democratic Sen. Barack Obama in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. "I'm sick and tired of the politics of fear in this country. He's the only one who doesn't do that," Thieblemont said of Obama. "He's the only candidate who's said he'd talk to our enemies and try to get some common ground."

Hannity's Soul-Mate of Hate  3/20/2008 The Nation: published 6/3/05

Hannity's Soul-Mate of Hate  3/20/2008 The Nation

McCain London fundraiser raises issues about illegal foreign donations  3/20/2008 Wayne Madsen Report

Wednesday 3/19/2008

Fire and Damnation Awaits Those Who Transgress Against White America’s Civic Religion  3/19/2008 Black Agenda Report: "Wright questioned white America's civic religion, its fraudulent self-image as benevolent conqueror and justified leader of the planet. Heretics of this kind are speedily cast from the public American public discourse, despite the fact most of the planet agrees with them. What does it say about the "change" Obama "brings with him" that his "multiracial coalition" seems to depend is eagerly endorsing pernicious lies rather than speaking truth to power. Who will Obama denounce, or be required to denounce next?"

Obama's Multiracial Coalition and the Politics of Racial Reconciliation  3/19/2008 Black Agenda Report

Absurb Litmus Test for Black Presidential Candidates  3/19/2008 Black News: "This litmus test denies the very history of our nation and forces any potential Black candidate to completely separate himself from the African-American community. By this standard, the candidate wouldn't be Black at all – just a person who happens to have more melanin than most, but whose views and perspective reflect the majority population. These are the kinds of candidates Republicans seem to like, as evidenced by the African Americans the party promotes."

Local clergy say pastor's devotion, deeds overlooked  3/19/2008 Boston Globe: "Three years ago, when Massachusetts' largest Protestant denomination was looking for a highly regarded preacher to headline its annual meeting, the organizers chose one of the biggest names in their world: the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Wright, the pastor of one of the few predominantly black congregations in the overwhelmingly white United Church of Christ, gave a rousing sermon on stewardship to about 1,200 local clergy and laypeople at Mt. Holyoke College's Abbey Chapel, and when he was finished, the crowd rose to its feet and cheered. Now, as Wright's most prominent congregant, Barack Obama, is distancing himself from his pastor's most inflammatory remarks, leaders of the United Church of Christ, and African-American clergy of multiple denominations, say they are increasingly angry at what they view as a misinterpretation of Wright's views and an effort to use the preacher's words to damage the first African-American with a real shot at winning a presidential election."

Critics dial it up on talk radio  3/19/2008 Boston Herald

Local black clergy defend message - They say Obama's pastor expresses long-held frustrations  3/19/2008 Dallas Morning News: "The Rev. Jeremiah Wright's fiery commentary about America went beyond the usual political discourse but reflected long-held frustrations that African-Americans often release at churches and other social settings, local black pastors say. ...Many black Dallas pastors view Mr. Wright as a longtime hero and mentor, defending his message and bridling at what they call media misrepresentation of it. "I have preached at Trinity [Mr. Wright's church in Chicago] and he has preached here," said the Rev. Tyrone Gordon, pastor at St. Luke Community United Methodist Church in Dallas. "One thing I said to the church on this past Sunday is that a lot of us are taking it personally because it is an attack on the whole black prophetic experience.""

Shawn Williams: Black pastors speak truth to power  3/19/2008 Dallas Morning News: "Sick. Disgusted. Appalled. Those were some of the feelings that washed over me as I have listened to the mainstream media launch what I believe was an unwarranted attack on Dr. Jeremiah Wright Jr. in the past week or so. It should have been no surprise, but even my wary eyes were taken aback by the ferocity of the assault on his character and career. I have had the pleasure to observe the gospel genius and hermeneutical excellence of Dr. Wright many times over the last 10 years since I joined Friendship-West Baptist Church here in Dallas. Dr. Wright has served as a mentor to my pastor, Dr. Frederick D. Haynes III, and visits our church once or twice each year. What is most unfortunate about the episode with Dr. Wright and Barack Obama is that it shows how little America knows – and how much less it understands – about the black church. The concept of social activism in the African-American church is a novel concept to many observers who don't know its history."

Obama Campaign Removes New Black Panther Party Endorsement From Web Site  3/19/2008 Fox News: "“The page in question has been removed from our campaign Web site,” Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor told FOXNews.com after inquiries about the endorsement. “It’s our policy with any content generated by a group that advocates violence.” The blogosphere was buzzing Wednesday about whether his campaign planned to remove the Panther posting. The New Black Panthers, who inherited their name from the Black Panther Party of the 1960s, had the page on the Obama campaign’s public forums that says it is backing Obama because he “represents ‘positive change’ for all of America. Obama will stir the ‘Melting Pot’ into a better ‘Molten America,’” the group says. Obama spokeswoman Tiffany Edwards said before the campaign removed the endorsement that that section of the Web site “has nothing to do with us.”"

Obama's Lincoln moment  3/19/2008 LA Times: ""That was the most sophisticated speech on race and politics I've ever heard," said CNN's Bill Schneider, the only network pundit who actually has taught American political history at elite universities. It was all the more remarkable because, while Kennedy presided over what may have been the greatest speech-writing team in electoral history, Obama -- like Lincoln -- wrote his address himself, completing the final draft Monday night. Obama did what he had to do, unequivocally repudiating Wright's extreme rhetoric. But what was truly radical about his analysis was his implicit demand that black and white Americans accept the imperfection of each other's views on race. Embedded in such acceptance is the seed of that "more perfect union" toward which this country -- unquestionably great but itself imperfect -- must strive."

America needs Jeremiah Wrights  3/19/2008 NNPA: "Without the prophetic, bold voices and organizing ability of leaders like Pastor Jeremiah Wright of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, there would be no U.S. Senator Barack Obama with a decent chance at becoming the first Black president of the United States. And it is a sad testimony that to protect his credentials as a unifier above the fray, the senator is fueling the media characterization that Rev. Dr. Wright is some retiring old uncle in the church basement instead of respecting Wright for the towering astute father of progressive social and global causes that he is."

Amidst Church Controversy, Obama Envisions Receiving NNPA NewsMaker 'from the White House'  3/19/2008 NNPA: "Democratic Presidential frontrunner Barack Obama, “distressed” after disavowing controversial remarks made by his former pastor and spiritual advisor the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, says he will press past that hurdle and is looking forward to receiving the NNPA Newsmaker of the Year Award again next year – as the nation’s first Black president."

Obama and McCain in crossfire over Iraq  3/19/2008 Reuters: "At a news conference in Amman, McCain said Iran supported the Sunni group al Qaeda in Iraq, until he was corrected by a colleague. U.S. officials believe predominantly Shi'ite Iran has been backing Shi'ite extremists in Iraq, not al Qaeda in Iraq, a Sunni group. It was the first stumble of note that McCain has made since clinching the Republican presidential nomination early this month, and Obama quickly pounced on it. "Just yesterday, we heard Senator McCain confuse Sunni and Shi'ite, Iran and al Qaeda," Obama said. "Maybe that is why he voted to go to war with a country that had no al Qaeda ties. Maybe that is why he completely fails to understand that the war in Iraq has done more to embolden America's enemies than any strategic choice that we have made in decades," the Illinois senator said."

A discussion of race worth having  3/19/2008 SF Bay View: by Cynthia McKinney - "Much has been made around the edges of this campaign about the issue of race. Sadly, nothing has been made of the public policy exigencies that arise because of the urgent racial disparities that continue to exist in our country. Just last week, the United Nations criticized the United States, again, for its failure to address the issues arising from the rights, particularly the right of return, of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita survivors. Author Bill Quigley writes in "The Cleansing of New Orleans" that half of the working poor, elderly and disabled of New Orleans have not been able to return. Two weeks ago, United Nations experts on housing and minority rights called for an immediate end of public housing demolitions in New Orleans. Now, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, ratified by the U.S. in 1994, further observes that the U.S. must do more to protect and support the African American community. In 2006, the United Nations Human Rights Commission "noted its concern that while African Americans constitute just 12 percent of the population, they represent 50 percent of homeless people, and the government is required to take ‘adequate and adequately implemented' measures to remedy this human rights violation." In short, the United Nations has issued reports squarely calling for the United States to do more to eliminate racial discrimination - and this discrimination is a human rights violation."

Hillary's Nasty Pastorate  3/19/2008 The Nation: "The Family's most visible activity is its blandly innocuous National Prayer Breakfast, held every February in Washington. But almost all its real work goes on behind the scenes--knitting together international networks of right-wing leaders, most of them ostensibly Christian. In the 1940s, The Family reached out to former and not-so-former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader, Adolf Hitler, has continued, along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs. As Sharlet reported in Harper's in 2003: During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand "Communists" killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise."

Obama speech on race gives Web a workout  3/19/2008 USA Today: "Sen. Barack Obama's speech Tuesday on race and his former pastor's controversial remarks lit up the Internet on a day when the story competed with a surging stock market and a political sex scandal in New York."

A Speech That Fell Short  3/19/2008 WaPo: "The problem with Obama's argument is that Wright is not a symbol of the strengths and weaknesses of African Americans. He is a political extremist, holding views that are shocking to many Americans who wonder how any presidential candidate could be so closely associated with an adviser who refers to the "U.S. of KKK-A" and urges God to "damn" our country. Obama's excellent and important speech on race in America did little to address his strange tolerance for the anti-Americanism of his spiritual mentor."

Tuesday 3/18/2008

Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama and the Unacceptability of Truth - Of National Lies and Racial America  3/18/2008 Counterpunch: "Finally, although one can certainly disagree with Wright about his suggestion that the government created AIDS to get rid of black folks--and I do, for instance--it is worth pointing out that Wright isn't the only one who has said this. In fact, none other than Bill Cosby (oh yes, that Bill Cosby, the one white folks love because of his recent moral crusade against the black poor) proffered his belief in the very same thing back in the early '90s in an interview on CNN, when he said that AIDS may well have been created to get rid of people whom the government deemed "undesirable" including gays and racial minorities."

Best Speech This Year  3/18/2008 NYT: "Barack Obama’s speech on race just ended and, boy, can he speak! That was the best political speech I’ve heard at least since a certain keynote address in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention. And maybe this was better, because it was substantive and peeled away layers to confront sensitive matters that normally go unexamined."

The crazy uncles in Obama's attic  3/18/2008 Salon: "And it wasn't Honolulu, or Jakarta, or Nairobi that put Obama in touch with folks supposedly bent on undermining heartland values. It was the heart of the heartland's biggest city: the South Side of Chicago, where Obama launched his political career. The South Side is responsible for the black nationalist preachers and violent radicals-turned-professors whose sound bites and rap sheets have now mired Obama in the worst patch of his presidential campaign. But without them Obama wouldn't have had a seat in the state Senate, much less a shot at the White House. And now the black street cred and lefty bona fides they provided, so crucial to Barack Obama's early local success, are proving