Election News

From Coast to Coast, Black Americans Savor a Historic Moment 11/5/2008 Black America Web: "Hundreds of residents spilled into the streets near the White House, carrying balloons, banging on drums and chanting "Bush is gone!" Along U Street, once known as America's Black Broadway for its thriving black-owned shops and theaters, men stood on car roofs, waving American flags and Obama posters. Nearby, at historically black Howard University, hundreds of students erupted in cheers, broke into song and chanted, "Yes, we did!"

Sunday 11/2/2008

Katherine Harris, Sarah Palin Linked To Same Prayer Warfare Network 11/2/2008 Talk To Action: "Katherine Harris became notorious for her role in the U.S. 2000 presidential election when Harris, then Florida's Secretary of State, ordered the Florida election vote recount shut down amidst numerous charges of election fraud and irregularity and with Al Gore trailing George W. Bush by only several hundred votes in the contest for Florida's electoral votes which ultimately went to George W. Bush and so determined the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. A recording of an October 3, 2006 conference call [link to YouTube video with 3:26 segment from call] between Katherine Harris, then Florida U.S. Congressional Representative, and Florida evangelist Ken Malone [transcript of call], reported on in a November 4th, 2006 Tampa Tribune story because of remarks Harris made during the call which some took as anti-Jewish, indicates that Katherine Harris was then active in the same national Spiritual Warfare network which Sarah Palin has been associated with and may still be a member of."

Saturday 11/1/2008

Palin Prank Call: Canadian Comedy Duo Convinces Palin She's Talking To Sarkozy (AUDIO)  11/1/2008 Huffington Post

U.S. election could shift policy on Cuba  11/1/2008 Reuters

Palin's Movement Urges 'Godly' To 'Plunder' Wealth of 'Godless'  11/1/2008 Talk To Action: "As the top leader of the New Apostolic Reformation, which extensive evidence suggests is Sarah Palin's chosen religious and political movement, C. Peter Wagner proclaimed, on June 21, 2006, that "God has declared through His prophets that the wealth of the wicked will be released to the Kingdom of God," and Wagner declared, threateningly, "the enemies' camp will be plundered."

Friday 10/31/2008

Palin's Spiritual Warfare Network Partners With Homeland Security 10/31/2008 Talk To Action: "A new 36 page report [read online / PDF file], from an independent research team that has specialized in studying Sarah Palin's faith, contains ground breaking information on a religious movement Sarah Palin is closely and intimately tied to."

Thursday 10/30/2008

The fate of the U.S. Embargo of Cuba rests on down and dirty campaigns in South Florida 10/30/2008 Ann Louise Bardach: "Dade and Broward counties, which include Miami and its surrounding suburbs, are the most populist in the state, with about a half million Cuban-American voters. The balloting there will likely determine which presidential candidate nails Florida’s 27 coveted electoral votes, along with the fate of the 48 year old U.S. Embargo against Cuba. During this election season, John McCain has morphed into a fierce hardliner on Cuba, aligning himself with the two Republican congressional incumbents. Barack Obama has said that he is open to diplomacy with Cuba, regardless of whether Fidel or Raul Castro are in power, and has vowed to rescind the Bush Administrations’ harsh restrictions on travel and remittances. That is heresy to the Diaz-Balarts, who are also the sons and grandsons of a famous Cuban politicians, which means that there is little sunlight between the personal and the political in Miami. Think of the Castro/Diaz-Balart saga as the House of Atreus, a Hispanic Hatfields and McCoys or simply as a five decade running telenovela. The Cuban-American community has undergone dramatic changes, with the majority now backing dialogue with Cuba. Still, hardliners control many of the major levers of power in Miami, their influence felt in media, law enforcement, even the courts."

The Battle Over CA Prop 5: Special Interests Overwhelming the Public Interest 10/30/2008 Huffington Post: "Enter Prop 5, a ballot initiative that will reduce prison overcrowding, increase public safety, cut costs, expand drug treatment programs inside California's prisons, and start the state's first drug treatment program for at-risk youth. Prop 5 is structured to build on the proven success of Prop 36, a law promoting drug treatment over incarceration for nonviolent drug offenders. It was approved by 61 percent of California voters in 2000, despite almost unanimous opposition from public officials. Since being enacted, Prop 36 has saved California taxpayers $2 billion -- and graduated 84,000 people who, according to studies, are far less likely to become repeat offenders. "Prop 5 finally addresses the twin tragedy of crushing prison costs on society and the revolving trapdoor of incarceration that stems from locking up too many nonviolent offenders," filmmaker Gabriel London, who has documented the state of our prisons, told me."

Monday 10/27/2008

Miami-area congressional races getting ugly as vote nears 10/27/2008 Miami Herald

Dozens Of Call Center Workers Walk Off Job In Protest Rather Than Read McCain Script Attacking Obama 10/27/2008 TPM

Sunday 10/26/2008

In Defense of White Americans 10/26/2008 NYT: "A leading vehicle for this journalistic mind-set has been the unending obsession with “the Bradley effect” — as if nothing has changed in America since 1982, when some polls (possibly for reasons having nothing to do with race) predicted erroneously that a black candidate, Tom Bradley, would win the California governorship. In 2008, there is, if anything, more evidence of a reverse Bradley effect — Obama’s primary vote totals more often exceeded those in the final polls than not — but poor old Bradley keeps being flogged anyway. So do all those deer hunters in western Pennsylvania. Once Hillary Clinton whipped Obama in the Rust Belt, it’s been a bloviation staple (echoing the Clinton camp’s line) that a black guy is doomed among Reagan Democrats, Joe Sixpacks, rednecks, Joe the Plumbers or whichever condescending term you want to choose. (Clinton at one low point settled on “hard-working Americans, white Americans.”) Michigan in particular was repeatedly said to be slipping out of the Democrats’ reach because of incorrigible racism — until McCain abandoned it as hopeless this month in the face of a double-digit Obama lead."

Vigilante Pals of Palin's not so Distant Past 10/26/2008 Talk to Action: "Largely unreported is the deeper extremism of the AIP and its national party organization, the Constitution Party. The Ayers story is a distraction from the real and ongoing relationships that Sarah Palin has with armed rightists, a story she invites with her vacuous allegations on "terrorism." The Constitution Party, formerly known as the U.S. Taxpayers Party (USTP), was founded in 1992 as an electoral vehicle for the growing vigilante movements that called themselves militias, as well as racists and violent antiabortion militants. The origins of the national party go back to the American Independent Party of 1968, which was a joint effort of the John Birch Society and the Ku Klux Klan to run George Wallace for president. Various carryover elements, including the Birchers, led to the creation of the Constitution Party."

Saturday 10/25/2008

Abortion clinic bombers not terrorists, Palin says 10/25/2008 AFP

Palin's 'going rogue,' McCain aide says 10/25/2008 CNN

Friday 10/24/2008

How Lee Atwater Perfected the G.O.P.'s Appeal to Racism - Boogiemen 10/24/2008 Counterpunch: "A number of news entertainers have repeated the McCain charge that the media are in the tank for Obama. Two academic studies and one by Lexis Nexus have disputed the media’s supposed love of Obama. I watched three hours of Morning Joe on Oct. 20th. Much of the time was spent analyzing General Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama and debating whether it was given because both were black."

Friday 10/17/2008

Is 'Joe the Plumber' a plumber? That's debatable 10/17/2008 AP: "The burly, bald man acknowledged he doesn't have a plumber's license, but said he didn't need one because he works for someone else at a company that does residential work. But Wurzelbacher still would need to be a licensed apprentice or journeyman to work in Toledo, and he's not, said David Golis, manager and residential building official for the Toledo Division of Building Inspection. State and local records show Wurzelbacher has no license, although his employer does. Golis said there are no records of inspectors citing Wurzelbacher for unlicensed work in Toledo. And then there was the matter of his taxes. Wurzelbacher owes the state of Ohio $1,182.98 in personal income tax, according to Lucas County Court of Common Pleas records."

Stop Dog Whistle Racism 10/17/2008 SDWR

Thursday 10/16/2008

Max Blumenthal on Sarah Palin’s Radical Right-Wing Pals and Her Ties to the Pro-Secessionist Alaskan Independence Party 10/16/2008 Democracy Npw: "Now, this is the language of spiritual warfare that comes out of her church, the idea that behind reality is a secret spiritual world, a clash between Satan and God. And this is what they believe, and this is, you know, the Manichean worldview that informs Sarah Palin’s extreme conservatism. It’s why she treated someone like Howard Bess so harshly. And I went to this McCain-Palin press conference, which you heard and saw there, about the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan to ask how the theology of her church influenced her decisions in dealing with perceived political enemies like Walt Monegan. Of course, they treated it like an illegitimate question, but I think it really is an essential question to understanding how Sarah Palin thinks about the world. In a way, she’s more George W. Bush than George W. Bush was."

Make-Believe Maverick - A closer look at the life and career of John McCain reveals a disturbing record of recklessness and dishonesty 10/16/2008 Rolling Stone

Wednesday 10/15/2008

The GOP's Bill Ayers? 10/15/2008 Slate: "As a result, McCain's campaign and advisers find themselves allied with and/or supporting militants who have committed acts that any reasonable observer would define as terrorism. On July 20, while campaigning for McCain in Miami and just prior to speaking at a McCain event, Sen. Joe Lieberman met with the wife of convicted serial bomber Eduardo Arocena and promised to pursue a presidential pardon on his behalf. Arocena is the founder of the notorious Cuban exile militant group Omega 7, renowned for a string of bombings from 1975 to 1983. Arocena was convicted of the 1980 murder of a Cuban diplomat in Manhattan. In 1983, Arocena was arrested and charged with 42 counts pertaining to conspiracy, explosives, firearms, and destruction of foreign government property within the United States. He is currently serving a life sentence in federal prison in Indiana. His targets included: Madison Square Garden (he blew up an adjacent store); JFK airport (Arocena's group planted a suitcase bomb intended for a TWA flight to Los Angeles—in protest of the airline's flights to Cuba. The plane would have exploded if not for the fact that the bomb went off on the tarmac prior to being loaded); Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center (causing damage to three levels of the theater and halting the performance of a music group from Cuba); the ticket office of the Soviet airline Aeroflot; and a church."

GOP Site Endorses E-mail Smears, Said 'Waterboard Obama' 10/15/2008 Wired

Sunday 10/12/2008

"Break the Back Of The Enemy" 10/12/2008 Atlantic: "A chilling video from Wasilla by Max Blumenthal that helps explain more deeply how Palin is a product of some of the most extreme forms of Christianism that exist."

Why Are McCain Backers So Angry? 10/12/2008 Consortium News: "Similarly, one could go back through McCain’s connections to radical right-wing groups during the 1980s when he listed himself as a supporter of the U.S. Council for World Freedom, which was affiliated with the World Anti-Communist League, a haven for neo-Nazis, racialists and “death squad” operatives. Or there’s Sarah Palin’s links to the Alaska Independence Party, a group whose leader has denounced the United States and advocated secession from the Union. Palin has spoken on behalf of the party, where her husband Todd was a member. Indeed, those connections are more relevant than the Ayers’s guilt-by-association tag – since they involved direct actions by the principals, not what some other person did in an earlier phase of his life."

Saturday 10/11/2008

As governor, Palin at times bonds church and state  10/11/2008 AP: ""What a blessing that the Lord has already put into place the Christian leaders, even though I know it's all through the grace of God," she wrote in March 2000 to her former pastor. She thanked him for the loan of a video featuring a Kenyan preacher who later would pray for her protection from witchcraft as she sought higher office. In that same period, she also joined a grass-roots, faith-based movement to stop the local hospital from performing abortions, a fight that ultimately lost before the Alaska Supreme Court. Palin's former church and other evangelical denominations were instrumental in ousting members of Valley Hospital's board who supported abortion rights — including the governor's mother-in-law, Faye Palin."

Palin violated ethics law, inquiry concludes  10/11/2008 IHT

At Palin Church, Jews For Jesus Head Says Terrorism vs Israel Is God`s Punishment  10/11/2008 Israel eNews: "Do terrorist attacks on Israel, as recently preached in Sarah Palin's current church, amount to divine judgment on Jews for refusing to accept Jesus as "Lord and savior"? Does Palin concur with Jews For Jesus head David Brickner in this belief?"

Palin plays Wright card, but Dems say she has her own pastor issues  10/11/2008 Jewish Chronicle: "They note Palin’s presence in church when speakers praised Jews for Jesus, suggested that terrorism in Israel was divine retribution for rejecting Christianity and argued that corruption would end if Christians took control of the financial sector. In addition, a prominent Democratic strategist and liberal bloggers have responded to Republican efforts to link Obama to a domestic terrorist-turned-education activist by noting that John McCain once served on the board of an organization accused of anti-Semitism."

'The Great Schlep' may seal the Presidency deal for Barack Obama  10/11/2008 London Times

Friday 10/10/2008

Alaska panel finds Palin abused power in firing  10/10/2008 AP

McCain Camp Ignores Questions About Candidate’s Military Record  10/10/2008 CQ: "The Rolling Stone piece, “Make Believe Maverick,” by Tim Dickinson, likewise calls into question McCain’s military legend. It portrays him running from his burning jet on the Forrestal’s deck and virtually hiding in the carrier’s ward room while others died fighting the ferocious fire and exploding ordnance. In all, 133 sailors died in the tragedy. Publicly, McCain’s campaign has ignored the story. It also declined to respond to my requests by phone and e-mail for a comment on the story’s accuracy. Likewise, it has not responded to slashing blogs circulating intensely on the Web that offer an even darker view of the Forrestal incident. According to these accounts, McCain, whose A4-E Skyhawk was queued up in a line of jets waiting to take off, “wet started” his engine, a prank designed to startle a trailing pilot with a flame of exploding kerosene."

Conservatives' Race-Baiting Miscalculation  10/10/2008 Huffington Post: "President Bush won 40 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004. In contrast Barack Obama currently has a more than 2-to-1 edge with Hispanic voters over John McCain. That may have something to do with conservative "satirist" Rush Limbaugh encouraging Hispanic voters to either "shut your mouth, or get out." The Latino vote could shift the election in Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Nevada and North Carolina. All states that in recent years the Republicans could nearly bank on. North Carolina especially is turning into a dicey proposition for Republicans. In addition to Hispanic voters, there's expected to be an increased turnout among black voters who should top the 85 percent support they gave to John Kerry in 2006. That combo has given Team McCain enough worry that they've had to feverishly dispatch running mate Sarah Palin to North Carolina in an effort to shore up the state."

McCain Defends His Rabid Crowds  10/10/2008 Huffington Post: "The rabid nature of the scene has startled longtime political observers and even former associates of McCain himself. John Weaver, the Senator's former top strategist, has said McCain is making a tactical mistake by letting abusive hecklers have their voices heard during his forums. David Gergen, a longtime Washington strategist, has warned that the rhetoric from these attendees could "lead to some violence." Veteran Republican Congressman Ray LaHood criticized Sarah Palin in particular, saying her rhetoric did not "befit the office she's running for." AFL-CIO President John Sweeney denounced the recent campaign stops as dangerous and expressed alarm that the top of the Republican ticket would not protest the crowd's language."

Analysis: Mocking the Jews  10/10/2008 Jerusalem Post

Investigation ties Palin to 'extreme right-wing fringe'  10/10/2008 Raw Story: [With Video of Rachel Maddow show] "However, Blumenthal told Maddow that when he and co-author David Neiwert, who has been investigating anti-government militias since the 1990's, interviewed people in Palin's home town of Wasilla, they found that "Sarah Palin is far more intimately associated with the extreme right-wing fringe of Alaska than the media has acknowledged or than she is willing to acknowledge." Blumenthal said that Palin used former AIP chairman Mark Chryson and a local John Birch Society activist known as "Black Helicopter" Steve Stoll "to advance her political career on a local and state level -- and she sought to reward them with plum political appointments." In 1996, Chryson and Stoll helped Palin with her campaign of negative, character-based attacks on the incumbent mayor, and after Palin was elected she attempted to appoint Stoll to the seat she had formerly held on the Wasilla city council."

Meet Sarah Palin’s radical right-wing pals  10/10/2008 Salon: "Extremists Mark Chryson and Steve Stoll helped launch Palin’s political career in Alaska, and in return had influence over policy. “Her door was open,” says Chryson — and still is."

The Palins’ un-American activities  10/10/2008 Salon: "Imagine if the Obamas had hooked up with a violently anti-American group in league with the government of Iran."

Keating Connection: The Sequel - Cindy McCain Makes a Deal  10/10/2008 Washington Independent: "Sen. John McCain’s wife and father-in-law continued a lucrative business partnership with disgraced financier Charles H. Keating Jr. for 11 years after the GOP presidential nominee said he ended his close friendship with Keating in March 1987. Cindy McCain’s business partnership with Keating in a real-estate development between 1986 and 1998 netted her a tidy profit, in addition to years of significant tax benefits. Her father, who died in 2000, earned similar returns."

Thursday 10/9/2008

Memo to Media: The Palin Rape-Kit Story Has Not Been 'Debunked'  10/9/2008 Alternet

Sarah Palin: Country First Or Alaska First  10/9/2008 Black Star News, NY: By Robert F. Kennedy Jr

Made Man - How Cindy Hensley invented John McCain  10/9/2008 The New Republic: "The feds demonstrated that the Hensleys went to elaborate, if sometimes crude, lengths to hide their illicit sales. A former United Distributors office manager named J.F. Ratliff testified that he noticed dozens of cases of whiskey missing when he showed up for work one morning. "I thought we had been robbed," Ratliff told the court, until he found a pile of phony invoices on his desk in Jim Hensley's handwriting. The jury found Jim guilty of seven counts of making false entries, and Gene of 23 counts. It also convicted both men of the conspiracy charge. The court sentenced Gene to one year in federal prison and Jim to six months and fined both men $2,000. (An appeals court eventually suspended Jim's sentence and sent Gene to a prison camp but affirmed the convictions.) Hensley continued working for Marley's liquor interests for several years after his conviction--long enough, in fact, to earn another indictment in 1953. (The court dismissed his portion of the case.) The previous year, he and Gene had bought a racetrack in Ruidoso, New Mexico, along with a Phoenix gambler named Teak Baldwin. Baldwin was a known criminal, and the New Mexico authorities were concerned enough about his possible involvement to investigate. By 1955, the investigation had triggered a statewide scandal. Fortunately for Jim, he'd sold his stake in the track a few months earlier. It was, perhaps not coincidentally, less than a year after the birth of his second daughter, Cindy."

Wednesday 10/8/2008

Is Palin a Member of 'Spiritual Warfare' Prayer Group?  10/8/2008 Alternet

"I Don't Mess With Black Men" - Palin's Racist Remark  10/8/2008 Counterpunch

Obama struggles to attract wavering Jewish voters  10/8/2008 CSM

How Bad Is McCain's Melanoma?  10/8/2008 Huffington Post: "Provided with only a scant review of the information, questions have begun to rise as to the danger of McCain's most recent bout with cancer. Bronow noted that there are two reports detailing the stage of McCain's latest (his fourth) bout with melanoma. One report put it at a stage 2a, which has a relatively high five-year survival rate; another put it at a stage 3b, which is much more dire in nature."

Tuesday 10/7/2008

The Army of God  10/7/2008 AoG: [Both McCain and Palin have strong ties to this terrorist organization.]

McCain Tied to Iran-Contra Group  10/7/2008 AP: " The U.S. Council for World Freedom was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America. The group was dedicated to stamping out communism around the globe. The council's founder, retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub, said McCain became associated with the organization in the early 1980s as McCain was launching his political career in Arizona."

McCain connections coming back to haunt him  10/7/2008 Raw Story: "The Obama campaign's disquisition on Charles Keating just scratches the surface of what's out there, as reporters and liberal activists dig into McCain's web of connections. Blogger Jed Lewison highlighted McCain's opposition to a 1994 law that made it a federal crime to bomb or blockade abortion clinics or to attack abortion doctors. McCain's vote against the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act put him in league with the Senate's most radical anti-abortion advocates, who split with more than two dozen anti-abortion senators who voted to crack down on clinic bombers as a matter of preserving law & order."

The Palins' un-American activities  10/7/2008 Sa;on

John McCain, Shelly Shannon and the Army of God  10/7/2008 Taslk to Action: "...John McCain, against the advice of wiser heads, addressed a conference of the far right Oregon Citizens Alliance in the early 90s. He should have listened. The speaker just prior to McCain publically expressed sympathy for Shelly Shannon, who then stood accused (and was eventually convcicted) of the attempted murder of Dr. George Tiller of Wichita, Kansas -- as well as carrying out a multi-state spree of clinnic arsons across the West. Shelly Shannon also considered herself a soldier in the underground terror organization, Army of God, which views Shannon as a "hero of the faith" and a "Warrior Soldier in the Army of God." The group devotes a section of its web site to celebrating her exploits and her martyrdom."

Monday 10/6/2008

Obama Hatred At McCain-Palin Rallies: "Terrorist!" "Kill Him!"  10/6/2008 Huffington Post

McCain Campaign Palling Around With Schenck  10/6/2008 People for the American Way: "Since Sarah Palin decided to go after Barack Obama for his essentially non-existent ties to William Ayers, maybe now is the time to remind everyone about the McCain campaign’s ties to Rob Schenck, who has a long history of militant anti-abortion activism, fines, arrests, and run-ins with President Bill Clinton."

THE COMPANY THAT HE KEEPS.…  10/6/2008 Washington Monthly: "Americans need to ask themselves if they've ever befriended a convicted felon who advised his supporters on how best to shoot federal officials in the head. John McCain has. Americans need to ask themselves if they've ever used the money of a convicted criminal to help them buy their house. John McCain has."

Sunday 10/5/2008

McCain Backers Expand Attacks on Obama's Character, Patriotism  10/5/2008 Bloomberg

Palin Nomination Stirs, Worries Jewish Delegates  10/5/2008 Jewish Week

Remains of Alaska Separatist Are Identified  10/5/2008 NYT: [Palin's Alaska Independent Party founder Vogler killed in a plastic explosive sale gone bad.] - "Fingerprint tests show that human remains found in a gravel pit east of Fairbanks on Wednesday are those of Joe Vogler, the founder of the Alaskan Independence Party, who vanished in May 1993, Alaska state troopers said today... The blue tarp and duct tape in which the remains were wrapped, officials said, matched a description given by a convicted thief, Manfred West, who confessed last summer that he had killed Mr. Vogler in a plastic-explosives sale gone bad and had then buried him."

Saturday 10/4/2008

McCain campaign surrogate invokes the Holocaust 10/4/2008 America Blog: "Then there was the Jews for Jesus leader who spoke at Palin's church, with her in attendance, in August, and told the congregation that terrorist attacks in Israel are God's punishment for Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity."

Wednesday 10/1/2008

The Palin Payoff: How Sarah Brings in the Christian Cash  10/1/2008 Alternet

AIP former chair: "The fires of Hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American Government"  10/1/2008 Daily Kos: "You get to think why the hell do I owe them anything and then you get mad; and you say to hell with them; and you renounce allegiance; and you pledge your efforts, your effects, your honor, your life, to Alaska; that is how I do it; I am an Alaskan; they know it; I've told them to go to hell in every way I can in a nice way; I took a case to the Supreme Court believing in the Supreme Court, but I'd rather be tried in a whorehouse with the madam as the Judge; there is more Justice in a whorehouse than in the Supreme Court; and if they don't like they know where they can go; ..... and if you think I am ever going to forget that, the fires of Hell are glaciers compared to my hate for the American Government, and I won't be buried under their damn flag; I'll be buried in Dawson and when Alaska is an independent nation they can bring my bones back to Alaska, back to my country."

Experts: Palin's religion misunderstood  10/1/2008 Politico: "An unusual video showing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential nominee, being blessed by a Kenyan bishop against witchcraft has rattled liberal bloggers and fueled scorn among her detractors, but religious experts say the matter has been blown out of proportion by ignorance and intolerance." [Intolerance for the witch hunters who kill witches in Africa?]

Sarah Palin, Joe Vogler, and The Alaskan Independence Party  10/1/2008 YouTube

Monday 9/29/2008

Is front group for Israeli organization trying to influence November election? 9/29/2008 Michigan Messenger: "The Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group with an office in Southfield, Mich., has asked the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) to investigate whether the distributor of millions of copies of an anti-terrorism DVD is a front for a pro-Israel group trying to help Republican presidential candidate John McCain. If so, that could be a violation of campaign law."

Sunday 9/28/2008

Conservatives Begin Questioning Palin’s Heft 9/28/2008 AP: removed from Fox News site

Neo-cons, ex-Israeli diplomats push Islamophobic video 9/28/2008 Electronic Intifada: "A group of hard-line United States neo-conservatives and former Israeli diplomats, among others, are behind the mass distribution, ahead of the November US presidential election, of a controversial DVD that critics have denounced as Islamophobic. The group, the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), is working with another organization called the Clarion Fund, which produced the 60-minute video and is itself tied closely to an Israeli organization called Aish Hatorah. The Fund is currently distributing some 28 million copies of the DVD through newspaper inserts in key electoral "swing" states -- states like Michigan, Ohio, and Florida that, according to recent polling, could go either way in November's presidential election."

Saturday 9/27/2008

Jewish Vote  9/27/2008 Jews Vote

Barack Obama's team believes he can win by a landslide  9/27/2008 Telegraph, UK: ""Public polling companies and the media have underestimated the scale of new Democratic voters registration in these states," the campaign official told a friend. "We're much stronger on the ground in Virginia and North Carolina than people realise. If we get out the vote this may not be close at all." To win the presidency, Mr Obama must win 270 votes in the Electoral College, which awards votes to the winner of each state broadly in proportion to the size of the population. Statewide surveys put the likely Electoral College result at a slender Obama win, 273-265. But his campaign staff believe they have a good chance of securing between 330 and 340 votes, and could win up to 364 votes, a landslide on the scale of Bill Clinton's wins."

Sarah Palin's Foreign Policy Follies  9/27/2008 Time Magazine

Jewish Democrats Asked to 'Schlep' Home for Obama  9/27/2008 WaPo: ""If Barack Obama doesn't become the next president of the United States I'm going to blame the Jews." So says Jewish -- and infamously potty-mouthed -- comedienne Sarah Silverman in an edgy new video at TheGreatSchlep.com, a Web site designed to encourage young Jewish voters to "schlep it" to Florida -- a state with a substantial Jewish population -- and other battleground states to persuade their older Jewish relatives to vote for Obama."

Friday 9/26/2008

Sarah Palin ‘witchcraft’ flap all smoke and no fire 9/26/2008 Boston Herald: "Catholic League President Bill Donohue echoed that sentiment, saying witchcraft is a “sad reality” in Kenya that has resulted in scores of deaths." [resulted in hundreds of death as people kill accused witches]

Palin should step down, conservative commentator says 9/26/2008 CNN: "“If BS were currency, Palin could bail out Wall Street herself," Parker also writes. "If Palin were a man, we’d all be guffawing, just as we do every time Joe Biden tickles the back of his throat with his toes. But because she’s a woman — and the first ever on a Republican presidential ticket — we are reluctant to say what is painfully true." Parker, who praised McCain's "keen judgment" for picking Palin earlier this month and wrote the Alaska governor is a "perfect storm of God, Mom and apple pie," now says Palin should step down from the ticket. “Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves," Parker writes. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first. Do it for your country."

Thursday 9/25/2008

Florida Congressman: Palin 'Don't Care Too Much What They Do With Jews and Blacks'  9/25/2008 ABC: "If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay attention," said Hastings. "Anybody toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through."

Did Sarah Palin Really Say She Wouldn't Hire Blacks?  9/25/2008 Alternet: "But in a phone conversation, Gwen Alexander of the African-American Historical Society of Alaska stuck by her contention that Palin made the racially charged retort. She also charged that Palin did not support or even officially acknowledge the group's annual Juneteenth Commemoration. June 19 is celebrated as the date of slave emancipation in Texas. Alaska is one of 13 states that has designated it an official holiday. Other Alaska governors have sent the traditional greetings and acknowledgements to the Society. Alexander says Palin snubbed the group."

WITCHCRAFT IN WASILLA  9/25/2008 American Prospect: "But Palin's vacuousness on any substantive questions point to a more -- pun intended -- fundamental concern. Given that many of her followers believe Palin is anointed by God, and she said in her 2008 Wasilla Assembly of God speech that she believes in the spirit of prophecy and revelation, you've got to wonder how much that, in her mind, is a substitute for facts, analysis, and policy-making. It might very well explain why she acts so confident despite her utter lack of preparation to be vice president of the United States. And that is one hell of a scary faith-based initiative."

Palin once blessed to be free from 'witchcraft'  9/25/2008 AP: The Muthee story hits the corporate media, in a predictably watered down form: "A grainy YouTube video surfaced Wednesday showing Sarah Palin being blessed in her hometown church three years ago by a Kenyan pastor who prayed for protection from "witchcraft" as she prepared to seek higher office."

Palin once blessed to be free from 'witchcraft'  9/25/2008 AP: "On a visit to the church in June 2008, Palin spoke fondly of the Kenyan pastor and told a group of young missionaries that Muthee's prayers had helped her to become governor. "Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he's so bold," she said. "And he was praying 'Lord make a way, Lord make a way' ... He said, 'Lord make a way and let her do this next step.' And that's exactly what happened." Muthee returned to the Wasilla church last weekend, where he gave a series of sermons over three days. Palin was campaigning in Florida. The Rev. Zipporah Ndiritu, who studied under Muthee in the Kiambu, Kenya-based Word of Faith Church, said the bishop is revered among evangelicals there. In a phone interview from Mombasa, Kenya, she said church doctrine focuses on ridding the world of demons — and witches. "Even in the days of Jesus Christ, according to the Bible there were witches who were manifesting through demonic forces," she said. "You can seek from the Lord, and if you find demonic forces you cast them out."

Sarah Palin's 'Rev. Wright' or a big nothing? Watch and read for yourself  9/25/2008 Dallas Morning News

Video shows Palin in anti-witchcraft prayer  9/25/2008 Guardian, UK: "The video, available on YouTube, shows Palin standing in front of him at the service, head bowed, her hands held by two members of the congregation. Muthee, in the sermon, calls on church members to try to gain footholds in centres of influence, such as politics and the media, and praises Palin for her bid to become governor of Alaska. He spoke about the hindrances she faced from her enemies. "In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, every form of witchcraft is what you rebuke. In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, father make away now," Muthee said."

Palin pastor: 'Israelites' run economy  9/25/2008 Jewish Telegraph Agency: "It's high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations. That's what we are waiting for. That's part and parcel of transformation. If you look at the -- you know -- if you look at the Israelites, that's how they work. And that's how they are, even today."

Kenyan witch-hunter blessed Palin  9/25/2008 Press TV, Iran: More details on Muthee's story here than in the AP reports.

Wednesday 9/24/2008

Shocking Footage of Palin Praying with 'Witch Hunter'  9/24/2008 Alternet: "On the first night of services, Muthee implored his audience to wage "spiritual warfare" against "the enemy." As I filmed, a nervous church staffer approached from behind and told me to put my camera away. I acceded to his demand, but as Muthee urged the church to crush "the python spirit" of the unbeliever enemies by stomping on their necks, I pulled out a smaller camera and filmed from a more discreet position. Now, church members were in deep prayer, speaking in tongues and raising their hands. Muthee exclaimed, "We come against the spirit of witchcraft! We come against the python spirits!" Then, a local pastor took the mic from Muthee and added, "We stomp on the heads of the enemy!" Behind the Christian right's enthusiasm for Palin's conservative credentials is a visceral sense that that she has come from them, not to them. Some right-wing evangelicals even believe she has messianic potential. As former Christian Broadcasting Network vice president Jim Bramlett wrote, "Sarah is that standard God has raised up to stop the flood. She has the anointing."

Your wicked liberal spells and curses cannot hurt Sarah Palin  9/24/2008 Guardian, UK: includes video - "We need God taking over our education system... If we have that in our schools, we will not have kids being taught how to worship Buddha, how to worship Mohammed. We will not have, in their curriculum, witchcraft, and sorcery. Is anybody hearing me? The other area is in the area of media. We need believers in the media. We need God taking over the media in our lands... And the last area is in the area of government. Hello? We need believers there. We need men and women of integrity. You know, as the secretaries of state. We need them right there. People that are born again, spirit-filled; people who know God, and who are serious with God."

On Banning Books and Hunting Witches  9/24/2008 Huffington Post: "Lynch mobs have killed hundreds of Tanzanians whom they accuse of witchcraft as black magic hysteria sweeps East Africa. Most of the usually elderly victims have been beaten or burnt to death by gangs of youths. Some old women have been singled out simply because they have red eyes -- regarded as a sign of sorcery by their assailants. The condition is actually caused by years of toiling in smoky kitchens cooking family meals. ... Police say 357 suspected witches have been killed in the past 18 months, but the Ministry of Home Affairs believes that the true figure is much higher. A departmental survey said as many as 5,000 people were lynched between 1994 and 1998."

The Witch Hunter Anoints Sarah Palin  9/24/2008 The Nation: "Muthee's mounting stardom took him to Wasilla Assembly of God in May, 2005, where he prayed over Palin and called upon Jesus to propel her into the governor's mansion -- and beyond. Muthee also implored Jesus to protect Palin from "the spirit of witchcraft." The video archive of that startling sermon was scrubbed from Wasilla Assembly of God's website, but now it has reappeared."

Monday 9/22/2008

Mushroom Clouds Over Wall Street 9/22/2008 Counterpunch: "The claim is that this is intended to 'promote confidence and stability' in the financial markets. It will do no such thing. It will instead strike terror into the hearts of investors worldwide who hold any sort of paper, whether it be preferred stock, common stock or debt, in any financial entity that happens to be domiciled in the United States, never mind the potential impact on Treasury yields and the United States sovereign credit rating. I predict that if this passes it will precipitate the mother and father of all financial panics."

POLICE ORGANIZATIONS BACK OBAMA-BIDEN 9/22/2008 MSNBC

Sunday 9/21/2008

Republicans Allege McCain Covered Up His Collaboration with the North Vietnamese While a POW  9/21/2008 Alternet: "A 1992 video featuring a Republican senator, Republican congressman and top Capitol Hill staffers who worked on Vietnam prisoner of war and missing in action issues say John McCain collaborated with North Vietnamese while a POW, and then covered up that involvement to the detriment of POW/MIA families seeking access to classified Pentagon records about their own family members."

Sarah Palin's Troopergate Scandal Reveals Her Fundamentalist Street Cred  9/21/2008 Anchorage Daily News: "Kenai City Police Chief Chuck Kopp was a rising star in Alaska's Christian conservative movement. He was a frequent speaker at local religious and patriotic gatherings. He was school board president of Cook Inlet Academy, the fundamentalist Christian high school in Soldotna his missionary-educator father founded. Kopp also was on the board of Port Alsworth's Tanailan Bible Camp, also founded by his father... Palin's connection to what Jeff Sharlett has called "elite fundamentalism" is of interest now that she is an election and a heartbeat away from the presidency. Franklin Graham has been the keynote speaker for the Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast the past two years. According to their Web site, the organizers believe, "God directs the affairs of Man and is the ultimate authority over human events." The Alaska Governor's Prayer Breakfast is connected to the National Prayer Breakfast sponsored by The Fellowship Foundation, also known as "The Family," which espouses similar beliefs. The Family is headed by Doug Coe, one of the most influential evangelicals in Washington, D.C. Coe's group tends to operate behind the scenes organizing small cells attended by the power elite, mostly Republicans. George Bush was saved in such a cell while in Texas. Elite fundamentalists believe, according to Sharlett, not only in religious determinism but that they are personally chosen by God to be in positions of power."

The discussion on race Obama didn't want  9/21/2008 Politico

Saturday 9/20/2008

Sarah Palin Heaps Praise on a Witch Hunting Preacher 9/20/2008 News Blaze: "Americans recoil in horror when we remember the Salem witch trials, which resulted in the hanging of fourteen women and five men. We gain some comfort knowing that this outbreak of religious hysteria took place in 1692, and that in the ensuing centuries we have rejected the superstitious belief in evil Christian-hating witches. But some Christian sects still believe in the existence of evil witches who cast demonic spells and seek the destruction of believers."

Racial views steer some away from Obama 9/20/2008 Politico: "Statistical models derived from the poll suggest that Obama's support would be as much as 6 percentage points higher if there were no white racial prejudice."

Friday 9/19/2008

McCain: Worse than you think  9/19/2008 BrassCheckTV: "John McCain is running as a war hero. There are just a few problems with that. He's despised by fellow Vets, especially fellow POWs, not only for cooperating with the enemy, but also for blocking every effort to make sure all American POWs were returned after the war. Interestingly enough, the other veteran who obstructed truth on the matter was John Kerry, the fake candidate and Skull and Bones member who ran against Bush in 2004 and stepped aside in spite of massive and obvious electoral fraud in Ohio."

Polls Show Palin Is Starting to Drag Down McCain  9/19/2008 Daily Kos: "Since Sept. 13, Palin's unfavorables have climbed from 30 percent to 36 percent. Meanwhile, her favorables have slipped from 52 percent to 48 percent. That's a three-day net swing of -10 points, and it leaves her in the Sept. 15 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll tied for the smallest favorability split (+12)** of any of the Final Four. [UPDATE: The Sept. 17 Diageo/Hotline tracking poll shows Palin at 47 percent favorable and 37 percent unfavorable--an even narrower +10 split.] Over the course of a single weekend, in other words, Palin went from being the most popular White House hopeful to the least."

Keith Olbermann & Shannyn Moore: Pastor Problem  9/19/2008 MSNBC: Summary of the Bishop Muthee witch hunter story on the Keith Olbermann show, with video. First US mainstream media to break the story. Features Alaska talk show host Shannyn Moore.

Witch Hunter that Prayed Palin into Office is Coming Back to Wasilla!  9/19/2008 Mudflats, Alaska: "I just had coffee with fellow blogger and Anchorage talk radio phenom Shannyn Moore. While we were fuming over the McCain hijacking of the Troopergate investigation, she got a call from MSNBC. They asked if she’d come on Keith Olbermann’s show tonight to talk about ‘the witch hunter’. The witch hunter, aka Pastor Muthee, was the guest pastor from Kenya that appeared at Palin’s church, The Wasilla Assembly of God, and “prayed over” Sarah to help her become governor… When Shannyn was talking in a serious, businesslike way about coordinating with a major media outlet to discuss the ‘witch hunter’, it struck me how absurd this is. We both started to laugh so hard, we couldn’t stop. Our governor believes in the power of a guy who believes that demons live in pythons, and witches cause traffic accidents. She believes that a Kenyan witch-hunter prayed her into office. Ladies and Gentlemen, behold the Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States of America, and tell me what that says about the Presidential candidate who nominated her."

Sarah Palin's Interview with Hannity Night 2  9/19/2008 Real Clear Politics: Hannity is a white supremacist - see Hannity Denies Past Association With White Supremacist But Evidence Suggests Otherwise and Max Blumenthal Probes Hannity's History With Talk Radio's 'Angry White Men' -- and Fanning the Flames of Racial Politics

Sarah Palin Witch Hunting Pastor Returns to Wasilla  9/19/2008 YouTube: Summary of Muthee story, with details on Kenyan witch hunting, where even 100 year old women are burned.

Palin's Witch Hunting Pastor  9/19/2008 YouTube, MSNBC: Keith Olbermann show segment on Palin's Bishop Muthee, witch hunter.

Thursday 9/18/2008

TrooperGate  9/18/2008 Countdown, Keith Olbermann

McCain a.k.a. Mickey Mouse: the candidate for US presidents was the agent of KGB  9/18/2008 Moscow Post: "Chan Chong Duet, the chief of Vietnam prison of that time, informed The Moscow Post Far-Eastern reporter, that he remembered this American very well. According to his words, many of the soviet military men constantly watched by his ward. McCain father soon must be nominated to the post of Commander-in-Chief of one of the USA Fleets. Having known what a big shot fell into their hands, McCain was transferred to solitary ward. «It was special treatment, - Duet says, - his meals was another, and Soviet commanders spent much time in conversations with him. I don’t know the theme of their conversations. To tell the truth, once he was brought to my room, where he signed papers. Soon after that McCain was placed to hospital served by Soviet doctors. After that I have never seen him.»

Hackers Access Palin's Personal E-Mail, Post Some Online  9/18/2008 WaPo

From basket case to boomtown without a dime of aid  9/18/2008 WorldNet Daily: Description of Palin's Bishop Muthee at work in Kenya, published 6/05 - "Their first priority was to figure out what on earth was the source of the trouble. After six months of research and prayer, it became obvious that it wasn't economics or politics, but a person – one oversized, 40-something woman named Mama Jane. She was a witch. Forget pointy hats and broomsticks, she was the real thing. I'll concede that the majority of "witches" are cranks and dabblers who possess no special powers at all. But in dark places worldwide, there are millions of exceptions, and she was one. Typically, witchcraft is evidence of evil, but there it was the source of evil. Three factors convinced the Muthees of her powers. First, the top government and business leaders visited her continually, afraid to do anything without her approval. The keyword: fear. Second, at least once a month, someone would die in a horrible traffic accident on the dusty little road right in front of her divination house, called Emmanuel Clinic – though it wasn't a clinic and had nothing to do with Emmanuel, the Christ."

Wednesday 9/17/2008

Palin staff won't testify in trooper probe, AG says  9/17/2008 CNN: "Palin initially denied that anyone in her administration or family had pressed for action against Wooten, whom she has branded a "rogue trooper." But in August, two weeks before her nomination as a vice presidential candidate, she acknowledged that members of her staff had contacted Monegan's office nearly two dozen times about the trooper. An aide was suspended after being taped telling a state trooper lieutenant that the Palins were concerned that there had been "absolutely no action for a year on this issue."

Palin under fire over African pastor friend who waged witch-hunt against woman he believed caused car crashes  9/17/2008 Daily Mail, UK: "According to accounts of the witch-hunt circulated on evangelical websites, after Mutheee spoke out against Mama Jane many villagers demanded she be stoned. Police raided her home and shot a pet python which was believed to be a demon. Muthee,who said he became a pastor after "God spoke" to him in 1989, has frequently referred to this witch-hunt in his sermons as an example of the power of “spiritual warfare”."

Co laczy Sare Palin i kenijski mlot na czarownice?  9/17/2008 Interia, Poland: "Kandydatka na republikanska pania wiceprezydent - która sama siebie zwie uszminkowanym pitbullem (choc senator Obama wspominal niedawno o innym uszminkowanym zwierzeciu) -opowiada, ze zawdziecza swoja pozycje gubernatora Alaski modlom pewnego kaznodziei - Thomasa Muthee."

Palin credits witch-hunting pastor with her run to the governor’s office  9/17/2008 Minnesota Independent: "She has recently called Muthee “awesome,” despite the fact that Pastor Muthee still refers to his witch hunt more than decade ago against the aforementioned Kenyan woman as an example of the power of “spiritual warfare.” And Palin showed her support for Muthee only three months ago at an Assemblies of God event that marked the graduation of students from the Wasilla Assembly of God’s Masters’ Commission, an organization that believes Alaska will be the refuge for American evangelicals upon the coming “End of Days.”

Former Federal Prosecutor Speaks Out About Palin  9/17/2008 Motley Moose: "When asked why we were attacked on 9/11, Sarah Palin answered because the terrorists hate our freedoms. While she has been derided for her lack of foreign policy experience, she may have come up with the most innovative program yet to deter terrorists: taking those freedoms away. Just like many Middle Eastern countries, Mayor Palin punished the women of Wasilla for reporting rape. Her administration charged them substantial fees for the rape kits used to prove the crime. After being attacked, a Wasilla woman could look forward to being billed up to $1200 in return for a grueling forensic pelvic exam."

Palin credits electoral success to witchhunter  9/17/2008 Raw Story: "According to accounts of the witchhunt circulated on evangelical websites such as Prayer Links Ministries, after Pastor Muthee declared Mama Jane a witch, the townspeople became suspicious and began to turn on her, demanding that she be stoned. Public outrage eventually led the police to raid her home, where they fired gunshots, killing a pet python which they believed to be a demon. After Mama Jane was questioned by police – and released – she decided it was time to leave town, the account says. Pastor Muthee has frequently referred to this witchhunt in his sermons as an example of the power of “spiritual warfare”. In October 2005, he delivered ten sermons at the Wasilla Assembly of God, the audio of which was available on the church’s website until it was removed around the time Mrs Palin’s candidacy was announced. The blog Irregular Times has listings and screen grabs of the sermons."

Sarah Palin's wasteful ways  9/17/2008 Salon: "She poses as a fiscal watchdog, but when Palin was mayor, she grabbed city funds to give her office a pricey "bordello" makeover."

Transformations I - Trailer Clip  9/17/2008 sentinelgroup.org: Triumphalist segment on Muthee in Kenya.

PALIN TRUTH SQUAD: BURNING BRIDGES IN ALASKA  9/17/2008 Shannyn Moore: "The “last straw,” Meghan-Super-Spokes-Model Stapleton said, was a July trip Monegan planned to Washington D.C. to seek federal money for investigating and prosecuting sexual assault cases. You would have thought he was planning to lobby Washington D.C. for a new super trooper jet-boat, complete with lightening bolts, water cannons, cup holders and satellite television. If it is true Monegan was fired for trying to drum up funds to protect Alaskans, I’m more disturbed than if he was fired for NOT carrying out an old family proxy vendetta against Trooper Wooten. Four days before Walt Monegan was fired, John Katz, the governor’s special counsel and inaugural PTSer, in a July 7 e-mail, noted two issues with the trip: the Governor hadn’t agreed the money should be sought, and the request “is out of sequence with our other appropriations requests and could put a strain on the evolving relationship between the Governor and Senator Stevens.” Why the continuing theme of subverting the treatment of epidemic sexual assaults in Alaska?"

Palins Kirche mit Extremisten verstrickt  9/17/2008 Tages Anzeiger, Switzerland: Muthee witch hunter story is mostly untouched as yet by mainstream US media, except for the Drudge report, which links to the London Times article. Many US media executives read the Drudge report, so they are in denial.

McCain and the POW Cover-up  9/17/2008 The Nation: "Alfond stated, without any challenge from the committee, that in 1974, a year after the supposedly complete return of prisoners, the gathered data showed that a person or people had manually entered into the sensors--as US pilots had been trained to do--"no less than 20 authenticator numbers that corresponded exactly to the classified authenticator numbers of 20 US POW/MIAs who were lost in Laos." Alfond added, says the transcript: "This PAVE SPIKE intelligence is seamless, but the committee has not discussed it or released what it knows about PAVE SPIKE." McCain, whose POW status made him the committee's most powerful member, attended that hearing specifically to confront Alfond because of her criticism of the panel's work. He bellowed and berated her for quite a while. His face turning anger-pink, he accused her of "denigrating" his "patriotism." The bullying had its effect--she began to cry. After a pause Alfond recovered and tried to respond to his scorching tirade, but McCain simply turned and stormed out of the room. The PAVE SPIKE file has never been declassified. We still don't know anything about those 20 POWs."

Tuesday 9/16/2008

Targeting cities with 'spiritual mapping,' prayer  9/16/2008 CSM: published in 1999, details Pastor Thomas Muthee's spiritual warfare - "Russell Spittler, provost at Fuller Theological Seminary, in Pasadena, Calif., suggests that the practices flourish most among Pentecostals. "Pentecostals approach Scripture literally, so they see the world populated with demons. It is not a far step to start naming them, assigning them territories, devising prayer strategies. For Pentecostals, 'spiritual warfare' is not a metaphor - it's reality."

What is the Wasilla Assemblies of God Trying to Hide for Palin?  9/16/2008 Irregular Times: "Why is the Wasilla Assembly of God trying to cover up the sermons that Thomas Muthee gave? We know, thanks to that video of Sarah Palin from June 8, 2008, that she was in close contact with Muthee in 2005. One thing they may be trying to cover up is Thomas Muthee’s history as a witch hunter. Muthee gained political power in Kenya by accusing women of being witches, and stirring up popular fury against the supposed witchcraft. That’s a dangerous game. People have been burning accused witches in Kenya recently."

Palin linked electoral success to prayer of Kenyan witchhunter  9/16/2008 London Times: "The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.At a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8 this year, Mrs Palin described how Thomas Muthee had laid his hands on her when he visited the church as a guest preacher in late 2005, prior to her successful gubernatorial bid.In video footage of the speech, she is seen saying: “As I was mayor and Pastor Muthee was here and he was praying over me, and you know how he speaks and he’s so bold. And he was praying “Lord make a way, Lord make a way.”

Monday 9/15/2008

Fired Official: Governor Sarah Palin Did Not Tell the Truth to ABC  9/15/2008 ABC

McCain and the BlackBerry  9/15/2008 ABC: "He did this," Holtz-Eakin said, holding up his BlackBerry. "Telecommunications in the United States, the premiere innovation in the past 15 years comes right through the Commerce Committee. So you're looking at the miracle that John McCain helped create. And that's what he did."

Sarah Palin and the Thomas Muthee Witch Hunt  9/15/2008 Irregular Times: "Sarah Palin has been linked to a witch hunt. No, not a figurative witch hunt, the kind in which people are made to feel pressured and discriminated against. I’m talking about a real witch hunt, in which a woman is accused of witchcraft by someone seeking political power, and the woman is forced to flee her home in fear of her life. That’s what one of Sarah Palin’s favorite preachers, Pastor Thomas Muthee, has done. Muthee wanted to get control over the town of Kiambu, Kenya - a place just outside of Nairobi. Not content to set up a church and slowly gain the trust of the local inhabitants, Muthee decided to get publicity and gain political power through a piece of cruel theater. Muthee chose a local woman named Mama Jane who happened to work as a fortune teller. Mama Jane had never caused much trouble before, but she was an important target for Muthee, because she was a close associate of town’s leaders. Muthee accused Mama Jane of being a sorceress - a witch who was engaging in spiritual warfare to curse to town of Kiambu."

McCain’s Radical Agenda  9/15/2008 NYT: "A study coming out Tuesday from scholars at Columbia, Harvard, Purdue and Michigan projects that 20 million Americans who have employment-based health insurance would lose it under the McCain plan... For starters, the McCain health plan would treat employer-paid health benefits as income that employees would have to pay taxes on. “It means your employer is going to have to make an estimate on how much the employer is paying for health insurance on your behalf, and you are going to have to pay taxes on that money,” said Sherry Glied, an economist who chairs the Department of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health."

The pastor who clashed with Palin  9/15/2008 Salon: "I pushed her on the earth's creation, whether it was really less than 7,000 years old and whether dinosaurs and humans walked the earth at the same time. And she said yes, she'd seen images somewhere of dinosaur fossils with human footprints in them."

LIFE BEGINS AT RAPE…ASK MAYOR PALIN  9/15/2008 Shannyn Moore

Sarah Palin and the Thomas Muthee Witch Hunt  9/15/2008 YouTube

Sunday 9/14/2008

NYT: Palin Personally Sought To Ban Book From Library 9/14/2008 TPM: "But in 1995, Ms. Palin, then a city councilwoman, told colleagues that she had noticed the book "Daddy's Roommate" on the shelves and that it did not belong there, according to Ms. Chase and Mr. Stein. Ms. Chase read the book, which helps children understand homosexuality, and said it was inoffensive; she suggested that Ms. Palin read it. "Sarah said she didn't need to read that stuff," Ms. Chase said. "It was disturbing that someone would be willing to remove a book from the library and she didn't even read it."

Saturday 9/13/2008

Very Bizarre 'Holy Laughter Annointing' Theology at Sarah Palin's Juneau Church  9/13/2008 Alternet

White Privilege, White Entitlement and the 2008 Election  9/13/2008 Buzzflash: "White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you’re being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you’re somehow being mean, or even sexist."

Christian Fundamentalism Permeates the Republican Party: Sarah Palin’s links to the Christian Right  9/13/2008 Global Research: "As one researcher familiar with the history of the Third Wave Movement or Dominionism describes, ‘The Third Wave is a revival of the theology of the Latter Rain tent revivals of the 1950s and 1960s led by William Branham and others. It is based on the idea that in the end times there will be an outpouring of supernatural powers on a group of Christians that will take authority over the existing church and the world. The believing Christians of the world will be reorganized under the Fivefold Ministry and the church restructured under the authority of Prophets and Apostles and others anointed by God. The young generation will form ‘Joel’s Army’ to rise up and battle evil and retake the earth for God.’4 The excesses of this movement were declared a heresy in 1949 by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, and again condemned through Resolution 16 in 2000."

The Palin-Whatshisname Ticket  9/13/2008 NYT: "This was made clear in the most chilling passage of Palin’s acceptance speech. Aligning herself with “a young farmer and a haberdasher from Missouri” who “followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency,” she read a quote from an unidentified writer who, she claimed, had praised Truman: “We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty and sincerity and dignity.” Then Palin added a snide observation of her own: Such small-town Americans, she said, “run our factories” and “fight our wars” and are “always proud” of their country. As opposed to those lazy, shiftless, unproud Americans — she didn’t have to name names — who are none of the above. There were several creepy subtexts at work here. The first was the choice of Truman. Most 20th-century vice presidents and presidents in both parties hailed from small towns, but she just happened to alight on a Democrat who ascended to the presidency when an ailing president died in office. Just as striking was the unnamed writer she quoted. He was identified by Thomas Frank in The Wall Street Journal as the now largely forgotten but once powerful right-wing Hearst columnist Westbrook Pegler. Palin, who lies with ease about her own record, misrepresented Pegler’s too. He decreed America was “done for” after Truman won a full term in 1948. For his part, Truman regarded the columnist as a “guttersnipe,” and with good reason. Pegler was a rabid Joe McCarthyite who loathed F.D.R. and Ike and tirelessly advanced the theory that American Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe (“geese,” he called them) were all likely Communists. Surely Palin knows no more about Pegler than she does about the Bush doctrine. But the people around her do, and they will be shaping a Palin presidency. That they would inject not just Pegler’s words but spirit into their candidate’s speech shows where they’re coming from. Rick Davis, the McCain campaign manager, said that the Palin-sparked convention created “a whole new Republican Party,” but what it actually did was exhume an old one from its crypt."

YouTube censors viral video documentary on Palin's churches  9/13/2008 Talk to Action: includes video - "Most Americans do not want an American jihad to conquer the world in the name of God let alone a global nuclear war. Judging from the churches Palin attends and from her public statements we have to take very seriously the prospect of having a Vice President, a heartbeat away from the United States presidency, who holds such apocalyptic goals."

Friday 9/12/2008

Attorneys: Gov. Palin's record on Alaska Natives  9/12/2008 IndianZ: ethnic cleansing: "1. Palin has attacked Alaska Native Subsistence Fishing 2. Palin has attacked Alaska Native Subsistence Hunting 3. Palin has attacked Alaska Tribal Sovereignty 4. Palin has attacked Alaska Native Languages"

Out of bounds! Palin confuses Iraq with al Qaida  9/12/2008 McClatchy: "You'll be there to defend the innocent from the enemies who planned and carried out and rejoiced in the deaths of thousands of Americans," Palin told an Army brigade in Alaska that will ship off to Iraq later this month."

Sarah Palin's Church tied to Jesus Camp Armageddon Dogma  9/12/2008 Salon: "The Third wave is dedicated to raising an army of young soldiers to fight in “Joel’s Army.” The Joel’s Army movement is a Neo-Pentecostal belief concocted from an esoteric reading of the second chapter of the Old Testament Book of Joel, in which an avenging swarm of locusts attacks Israel. In their convoluted view, the locusts are a metaphor for the minions of Joel’s Army. Believers in the Third Wave movement are focused on training a young "Joel's Army" to become an Armageddon-ready military force of young people with a divine mandate to physically impose Christian “dominion” on non-believers of the United States and the world... Third Wave Joel's Army believers are hard-core Christian dominionists, meaning they believe that America, along with the rest of the world, should be governed by conservative Christians, and ruled by a conservative Christian interpretation of biblical law. There is no room for democracy or pluralism in the doctrine of Joel’s Army dogma, just theocracy."

Thursday 9/11/2008

Gov. Palin's treatment of Alaska Natives  9/11/2008 IndianZ

Whistleblower breaks 15-year silence to allege McCain hid wife's drug abuse  9/11/2008 Raw Story: "Tom Gosinski, a former employee of the medical-aid charity Cindy McCain used as personal supplier of Percocet and Vicodin, is speaking out publicly for the first time. On Wednesday, Gosinski sat down with RAW STORY and other outlets to tell his story and distribute copies of his personal journal from his time with the American Voluntary Medical Team in the last half of 1992, where he voiced ever more acute concerns and frustrations over McCain's drug use and its impact on her mood and job performance."

On Morning Of 9/11 Attacks, McCain Immediately Began Making The Case For Iraq War»  9/11/2008 Think Progress

John McCain's ads are LIES. Here's the video proof.  9/11/2008 YouTube

Wednesday 9/10/2008

Is Palin a Magnet for the Extreme Right-Wing? 9/10/2008 OpEd News: "Palin's and her husband's dalliances with the Alaska Independence Party (AIP), which advocates the secession of Alaska from the United States is the tip of a web of organizations that count among their membership extreme right-wing elements, many of whom also participate in Republican Party candidate selection and the lobbying of Republican members of Congress on behalf of Big Tobacco, Big Mining, Big Agra, and the small arms and defense industry clients. The AIP is part of a network of extreme right-wing secessionists around the country, many of whom are linked to white supremacist causes. In 2006, the AIP participated in the first North American Secessionist Convention in Burlington, Vermont. Also attracted to the convention were a number of Southern secessionist movements, including the League of the South; the Southern Caucus; the Southern National Congress; and Christian Exodus, which advocates the secession of South Carolina as an independent republic governed by the Ten Commandments as the foundation of law."

Tuesday 9/9/2008

Sarah Palin and the Wasilla Church of God  9/9/2008 Democracy Now: "New revelations about Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin continue to raise questions about how her religious views might affect her decisions on public policy. Much of the scrutiny has focused on Palin’s church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. This past a week, a video emerged of Palin telling students there that the US invasion of Iraq is a task from God. Her comments have raised concerns she could see some government actions as inevitable or preordained as part of a theocratic belief in “end times.” "

Sarah Palin’s Churches and The Third Wave New Apostolic Reformation  9/9/2008 End Times Prophetic Words

Palin and The Fringe  9/9/2008 Jackson Free Press: "The extreme right is declaring a third-party victory with Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin on the presidential ticket this fall. “News of Sarah Palin’s ties to the Alaskan Independence Party inflamed the left yesterday, and what a joy it was to behold!” crowed League of the South board member Michael Tuggle on the League’s “Rebellion” blog. The “LS Blog” button on the League’s home page, dixienet.org, links directly to Rebellion (subtitled “Current events and commentary from a Southern perspective. The most powerful political forces of our time—localism, secession, and confederalism—vindicate the Southern Cause”)."

Sarah Palin Vetting Document  9/9/2008 Sarah Palin Exposed: "Looks like at least somebody vetted Sarah Palin. No, it wasn’t John McCain. It was the Alaskan Democratic Party back in 2006. One of my readers brought up the Sarah Palin vetting document that was put together during Palin’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign."

Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home  9/9/2008 WaPo: "Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a "per diem" allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business."

Monday 9/8/2008

AIP Official On Tape Saying Sarah Palin Was A Member  9/8/2008 Mirror on America: "Vice Chairman of the AIP (Alaskan Independence Party) Dexter Clark is seen on video at a 2007 Convention mentioning Sarah Palin as a member. "the Governor" was a member "before she ran for the Mayor" of Wasilla...and he goes on to mention that she is still "sympathetic" to the AIP."

Todd Palin's AIP Sympathetic To White Supremacist Group  9/8/2008 Mirror on America: "AIP Vice Chairman Dexter Clark didn’t think of the League of the South — a neo-Confederate group that promotes the Confederate flag and seeks an independent Southern republic — as a strange ally for the Alaskan Independents, the third largest political party in the northernmost state. Alaska Independence Party has no problem rubbing shoulders with White Supremacists groups. In fact Clark, who went to the 2007 Second North American Secessionist Convention, went out of his way to legitimize groups like the League of the South when interviewed by the Anchorage Press."

Sarah Palin's Demon Haunted Churches - The Complete Edition  9/8/2008 Talk to Action: extensive researched borrowed by the London Times

Sunday 9/7/2008

Sarah Palin's Media No-Show  9/7/2008 Consortium News

Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave: New Video Documentary  9/7/2008 Huffington Post: "Thomas Muthee visited Wasilla Assembly of God and gave 10 consecutive sermons at the church, from October 11-16 2005. As both Palin and Wasilla AoG Head Pastor Ed Kalnins have attested, Thomas Muthee 'prayed over' Sarah Palin and entreated God to "make a way" prior to Palin's successful bid for the Alaska governorship. Muthee made a return visit to the Wasilla Assembly of God in late 2008. Thomas Muthee's Word of Faith Church is featured in the "Transformations" video which details an account on how Muthee drove "the spirit of witchcraft" out of Kiambu, Kenya, liberating the town from its territorial demonic possession and enabling a miraculous societal transformation. The "Transformations" video set is used as an argument for social improvement through spiritual instead of human means, and as the best method for fighting corruption, crime, drugs and even environmental degradation. In the video, producer George Otis declares that after Thomas Muthee and his followers banished the "spirit of witchcraft" from the town, the crime rate in Kiambu dropped almost to zero, along with the rate of alcoholism, and according to Otis most of the residents of the town joined churches. The "Transformations" video has helped spark a network of 'Transformation' ministries and mission organizations and 'transformation' has become a buzz word for change based on supernatural instead of human efforts."

Sarah Palin's Secret Emails  9/7/2008 Mother Jones: "The Palin administration won't release hundreds of emails from her office, claiming they cover confidential policy matters. Then why do the subject lines refer to a political foe, a journalist, and non-policy topics?" [contains PDF with 78 page list of redacted email subject lines and To lines]

Saturday 9/6/2008

Sarah Palin, Anne Kilkenny and the Authority to Ban Books  9/6/2008 Associated Content: "And then there was the citizen's letter from Wasilla resident Anne Kilkenny that has been circulating on the internet. Time magazine and the New York Times have gone on record that the allegations in the letter have been corroborated."

Palin's 'Trooper-gate' Cover-up  9/6/2008 Consortium News: "Now, rather than cooperate with an independent counsel assigned to examine whether Palin fired the state’s public safety commission because he refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law from the state troopers, Palin, her husband and seven witnesses close to Palin are resisting giving testimony. Moreover, on Tuesday, just one day before giving her widely acclaimed speech to the Republican National Convention, Palin took the unusual step of filing an ethics complaint against herself – to move the investigation to the state personnel board whose three members are appointed by the governor. Palin’s decision to, in effect, turn herself in so she could get a hearing before more sympathetic investigators was known by the U.S. news media before Palin’s speech, but was rarely, if ever, mentioned by TV pundits filling hours of air time with chatter about her charisma, her moose hunting and her 17-year-old daughter’s pregnancy."

Sarah Palin's Churches and The Third Wave  9/6/2008 Vimeo

Friday 9/5/2008

A Dissent on Palin's Success 9/5/2008 Consortium News

Thursday 9/4/2008

Alaska Independence Party  9/4/2008 AIP: "Todd Palin was registered as a member but never participated in any party activities aside from attending a convention in 1994."

An Open Letter to Gov. Sarah Palin on Women's Rights  9/4/2008 Alternet: "According to press reports your water broke while you were giving a keynote speech in Texas at the Republican Governors' Energy Conference. You did not immediately go to the hospital -- instead you gave your speech and then waited at least 11 hours to get to a hospital. You evaluated the risks, made a choice, and were able to carry on your life without state interference… When Pamela Rae Stewart, allegedly, didn't get to the hospital quickly enough on the day of her delivery, she was arrested in California on the theory that she had violated the rights of her fetus. When Laura Pemberton chose to give birth at home in Florida, a Sheriff came to her house. Doctors believed that she was posing a risk to the life of her unborn child by having a vaginal birth after having had a previous c-section and were in the process of getting a court order to force her to have a c-section. The sheriff took her into custody during active labor, strapped her legs together and forced her to go to a hospital where an emergency hearing was taking place to determine the rights of her fetus. She was "allowed" to represent herself. A lawyer was appointed for the fetus. This woman, who vehemently opposes abortion, nevertheless believed in her right to evaluate medical risks and benefits to herself and her unborn child. She was forced to have the unnecessary surgery and when she later sued for violations of her civil rights, was told fetal rights outweighed hers."

Palin's secession flirtation  9/4/2008 LA Times: "It's untrue that Palin has no foreign policy experience, anyway. In fact, she appears to have seriously flirted with the idea of trying to turn Alaska into a foreign country. How many vice presidential candidates can put that on their resumes? Over the years, Palin has actively courted the Alaska Independence Party, or AIP, an organization that supports Alaskan secession from the U.S. To be clear, we're not necessarily talking about friendly secession either: As the AIP's founder, Joe Vogler, told an interviewer in 1991: "The fires of hell are frozen glaciers compared to my hatred for the American government. ... And I won't be buried under their damn flag.""

Sarah Palin, aspiring book banner?  9/4/2008 LA Times

Wednesday 9/3/2008

Sarah Palin and the Jewish community 9/3/2008 Jerusalem Post

Sarah Palin's Jewish Problem 9/3/2008 Salon: "In his talk at Wasilla on August 17, 2008, with Palin in the audience, Brickner described terrorist attacks on Israelis as God's "judgment of unbelief" on Jews who have not converted to Christianity. "Judgment is very real and we see it played out on the pages of the newspapers and on the television," Brickner said. "It's very real. When [my son] was in Jerusalem he was there to witness some of that judgment, some of that conflict, when a Palestinian from East Jerusalem took a bulldozer and went plowing through a score of cars, killing numbers of people. Judgment — you can't miss it."

Tuesday 9/2/2008

Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview  9/2/2008 Huffington Post: "Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God," she exhorted the congregants. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."

Sarah Palin and Christian Dominionist Theocracy  9/2/2008 Huffington Post: by Chip Berlet - "The goal of the Constitution Party is to restore American jurisprudence to its Biblical foundations and to limit the federal government to its Constitutional boundaries. If you are unclear about what this means, read the book of Leviticus in the Bible. Biblical law as interpreted by these folks means the death penalty for homosexuals, adulterers, and recalcitrant children."

The Christian Right, Dominionism, and Theocracy  9/2/2008 PRA: by Chip Berlet

The Sarah Palin Church Video Part One  9/2/2008 YouTube: "JESUS, GIVE US A PIPELINE!"

Transformations: A Documentary Trailer  9/2/2008 YouTube: "Muthee made his experiences into a video called Transformations, which documents his "spiritual warfare" against demons and occult practices. Spiritual warfare is more common in Latin America and Africa, where the concept of day-to-day demons has a stronger hold. The video's trailer is available here."

Monday 9/1/2008

Biden quoted as saying that Israel will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran  9/1/2008 Haaretz: "Democratic vice-presidential candidate Joe Biden was quoted Monday as telling senior Israeli officials behind closed doors that the Jewish state will have to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran. In the unsourced report, Army Radio also quoted Biden as saying that he opposed "opening a additional military and diplomatic front." Biden, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has long been considered strongly pro-Israel. His nomination as Barack Obama's running mate had been expected to shore up the Democrats' strength with U.S. Jewish voters. Advertisement Army Radio said Israeli officials expressed "amazement" over the remarks attributed to him."

Jewish Democrats: Palin is out of step with Jewish public opinion  9/1/2008 Haaretz

Biden: Israel should accept 'nuclear' Iran  9/1/2008 Press TV, Iran

Sunday 8/31/2008

Questions Raised: Is Sarah Palin Actually the Mother of Her 5th Child? [Photos + Video] 8/31/2008 Alternet: "Checking with the Anchorage High School that Bristol Palin attended, reporters were given word that her family had taken Bristol out of school due to contracting infectious mononucleosis. The amount of time Bristol was absent shifts from five to eight months. Mono can last anywhere from two weeks to three months, but an eight month infection is a freak oddity. Yet it remains a common excuse given by girls in private & Catholic schools around the nation when pregnancy comes into play. Not the first time, not the last time."

Sarah Palin and the Alaska Independence Party. Palin addresses AIP convention 8/31/2008 YouTube

Saturday 8/30/2008

Sarah Palin and Feminists for Life  8/30/2008 Alternet

'Troopergate' inquiry lurks for Palin  8/30/2008 Anchorage Daily News

McCain VP Pick Has History of Clashes  8/30/2008 Consortium News: "For two years, she stayed out of politics, acquiring a business license for a marketing and consulting company named Rogue Cou, “a classy way of saying redneck,” Palin told the Anchorage Daily News in a June 2005 interview."

2 Top Alaska Newspapers Question Palin's Fitness  8/30/2008 Huffington Post: "His paper found a number of leading Republican officeholders in the state who mocked Palin's qualifications. "She's not prepared to be governor. How can she be prepared to be vice president or president?" said Lyda Green, the president of the State Senate, a Republican from Palin's hometown of Wasilla. "Look at what she's done to this state. What would she do to the nation?" Another top Republican, John Harris, the speaker of the House, when asked about her qualifications for Veep, replied with this: "She's old enough. She's a U.S. citizen." "

'Arming' for Armageddon - Militant Joel's Army Followers Seek Theocracy  8/30/2008 Southern Poverty Law Center: "As the church begins to take on this resolve, they [Joel's Army churches] will start to be thought of more as military bases, and they will begin to take on the characteristics of military bases for training, equipping, and deploying effective spiritual forces," Joyner wrote. "In time, the church will actually be organized more as a military force with an army, navy, air force, etc." In a sort of disclaimer, Joyner writes at one point that God's army "will bring love, peace and stability wherever they go." But several of his books narrate with glee what he describes as "a coming civil war within the church." In his 1997 book The Harvest he writes: "Some pastors and leaders who continue to resist this tide of unity will be removed from their place. Some will become so hardened they will become opposers and resist God to the end."

Vietnam Veterans Against McCain  8/30/2008 VVAM

Friday 8/29/2008

Sarah Palin: Dominionist Stalking Horse 8/29/2008 Daily Kos: "A look at the home website of Palin's church tends to be revealing. Among other things, a particular Assemblies buzzword associated frequently with Hillsong A/G and New Zealand Assemblies churches shows up ("Destiny", here, is a buzzword for "Joel's Army", and is being preferred even as the phrase "Joel's Army" is getting enough negative spin that even the Assemblies is now having to do some rather massive spin control); cell churches are promoted (of the same sort that are linked to short-term and longterm psychological damage and are among the most coercive tactics ever documented in spiritually abusive groups). The church, like a number of other large Assemblies churches, is the center of a dominionist broadcast TV center whose programming is carried across multiple channels in Alaska."

McCain's Hail Mary Pass 8/29/2008 The Nation: "Choosing Palin kills the "experience" argument. Republicans must have recognized from their own market research that it wasn't working for them. For two months or more, McCain and his handlers have smeared and slandered Obama, mocked his star quality talents, belittled his lack of tenure in Washington back rooms and accused him of unpatriotic egotism. Clearly, their internal polling told them this line of character attack wasn't grabbing the public. Playing the wise old man was not going to be enough to overcome McCain's other significant handicaps, his somewhat doddering style and memory lapses, his deadly embrace of right-wing cant and G.W. Bush."

Monday 8/25/2008

Obama to DOJ: Block terrorist ad 8/25/2008 Politico: "Sen. Barack Obama has launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire’s efforts to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative television ads. Obama’s campaign has written the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of the “American Issues Project,” the vehicle through which Dallas investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements."

Sunday 8/24/2008

John McCain's Skeleton Closet 8/24/2008 Real People for Real Change: " In 1995, McCain sent birthday regards, and regrets for not attending, to Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonano, the head of the New York Bonano crime family, who had retired to Arizona. Another politician to send regrets was Governor Fife Symington, who has since been kicked out of office and convicted of 7 felonies relating to fraud and extortion."

Saturday 8/23/2008

Obama Sued in Philadelphia Federal Court on Grounds he is Constitutionally Ineligible for the Presidency 8/23/2008 AmericasRight: "In the lawsuit, Berg states that Sen. Obama was born in Kenya, and not in Hawaii as the senator maintains. Before giving birth, according to the lawsuit, Obama's mother traveled to Kenya with his father but was prevented from flying back to Hawaii because of the late stage of her pregnancy, "apparently a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight." As Sen. Obama's own paternal grandmother, half-brother and half-sister have also claimed, Berg maintains that Stanley Ann Dunham--Obama's mother--gave birth to little Barack in Kenya and subsequently flew to Hawaii to register the birth. Berg cites inconsistent accounts of Sen. Obama's birth, including reports that he was born at two separate hospitals--Kapiolani Hospital and Queens Hospital--in Honolulu, as well a profound lack of birthing records for Stanley Ann Dunham, though simple "registry of birth" records for Barack Obama are available in a Hawaiian public records office. Should Sen. Obama truly have been born in Kenya, Berg writes, the laws on the books at the time of his birth hold that U.S. citizenship may only pass to a child born overseas to a U.S. citizen parent and non-citizen parent if the former was at least 19 years of age. Sen. Obama's mother was only 18 at the time. Therefore, because U.S. citizenship could not legally be passed on to him, Obama could not be registered as a "natural born" citizen and would therefore be ineligible to seek the presidency pursuant to Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution."

Why the Senator is Not a War Hero - John McCain in a New Context 8/23/2008 Counterpunch: "Why do you only reference the time spent as a prisoner in the Hanoi Hilton"? When will you provide details about the time spent in the prison referred to as “Plantation Gardens"? Did you ever receive any preferential or atypical treatment while a POW in any location where you were held? How soon and when did you reveal your true identity to your Vietnamese captors - did you simply give name, rank and serial number? Has any other former Vietnam Prisoners of War or Vietnam veteran questioned the record that you claim particularly your claims of "torture"? What was your connection to the “Peace Committee”? Have you ever referenced the “blue files” in any speech that you have given? What are the “blue files”? Where are those files housed? Why do you not want those files released?"

Thursday 8/21/2008

Is Georgia 2008 a Repeat of Hungary 1956? With John McCain as Agent Provocateur?  8/21/2008 Counterpunch

I Spent Years as a POW with John McCain, and His Finger Should Not Be Near the Red Button  8/21/2008 Military.com

Is It Racist to Say Obama's Untested?  8/21/2008 The Nation

Tuesday 8/19/2008

A Book Written to Defeat Obama 8/19/2008 Consortium News: "Jerome R. Corsi has written a “new attack book” titled: The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality The chief editor of the publisher, Threshold Editions, is Mary Matalin, the former Republican operative turned publisher-pundit. As of Aug. 17, the book was No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list for the second week, being pushed along by a large volume of bulk sales to conservative organizations and an estimated 100 author interviews with talk show hosts."

Thursday 8/14/2008

Military donations favor Obama over McCain 8/14/2008 AP: "U.S. soldiers have donated more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported Thursday. ADVERTISEMENT Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much money to Obama's presidential campaign as they have to McCain's, the Center for Responsive Politics said."

Georgia War: A Neocon Election Ploy? 8/14/2008 Global Research

Tuesday 8/12/2008

The Lies About Obama 8/12/2008 Consortium News: "What is happening in the 2008 general election is that Senator McCain has (literally) hired highest level operatives who worked for George Bush and Karl Rove (this is simply a fact) and is employing the carbon copy tactics that Rove used against his political opponents (including McCain himself)."

Maureen Dowd: Yes, she can 8/12/2008 IHT: "While Obama was spending three hours watching "The Dark Knight" five time zones away, and going to a fund-raiser featuring "Aloha attire" and Hawaiian pupus, Hillary was busy planning her convention. You can almost hear her mind whirring: She's amazed at how easy it was to snatch Denver away from the Obama saps. Like taking candy from a baby, except Beanpole Guy doesn't eat candy. In just a couple of weeks, Bill and Hill were able to drag No Drama Obama into a swamp of Clinton drama."

Sunday 8/10/2008

WPost Admits Bungling Obama Quote 8/10/2008 Consortium News: "The Washington Post’s ombudsman says the newspaper’s original source for a quote that was used to portray Barack Obama as a megalomaniac now disputes the Post’s negative interpretation that has spread across cable TV, the Internet and even into a John McCain attack ad."

The coming Republican fall 8/10/2008 Honolulu Star Bulletin: "Pay no attention to the national polls, an analysis of state voting trends shows Obama's the guy"

Saturday 8/9/2008

Palin's Churches and the Third Wave 8/9/2008 Information Clearinghouse: extensive links

Friday 8/8/2008

Why We Disrupted Obama's Speech - What About the Black Community, Obama? 8/8/2008 Counterpunch: "These issues include the targeting of African and Latino communities with predatory “sub-prime” mortgages – a scheme that has made millions for people like Obama’s chief financial advisor Penny Pritzker, while stripping black families of billions of dollars, the greatest loss of wealth our community has suffered since being brought in chains to this country. We also challenged Obama to take a stand against the police shootings of unarmed African people, and explain why he has publicly defended the judge’s acquittal of the NYC police who murdered Sean Bell. He has said that he cannot speak out on behalf of those who have been historically oppressed for fear of offending other people. Yet in Miami, he promised the Jewish community, which considers itself a historically oppressed community, that he supports turning all of Jerusalem over to Israeli control, despite the internationally enforced sharing of that city with the Palestinians. When Obama speaks to black audiences, he attacks us, attributing our community’s poverty, not to systemic oppression, but to bad culture and lack of work ethic."

Top McCain adviser lobbied for nation of Georgia 8/8/2008 McClatchy

Wednesday 8/6/2008

Why McCain May Well Win 8/6/2008 Consortium News: "Williams’s quip fit with one of the press corps’ favorite campaign narratives, Obama’s flip-flopping. But the coverage ignored far more important elements of the story, such as the feasibility of Obama’s vow that “we must end the age of oil in our time” or the wisdom of McCain’s emphasis on drilling - and nuking - the nation out of its energy mess. And, as for flip-flops, McCain’s dramatic repositioning of himself as an anti-environmentalist - after years of being one of the green movement’s favorite Republicans - represents a far more significant change than Obama’s modest waffling on offshore oil."

Monday 8/4/2008

It's Time for Obama to Get Tough 8/4/2008 Huffington Post

Saturday 8/2/2008

McCain, Anthrax & the Afghan Blunder 8/2/2008 Consortium News: "The scene of John McCain – during the anthrax attacks in October 2001 – opining to David Letterman that Iraq might be responsible underscores McCain’s central role in what may go down as one of the biggest strategic blunders in U.S. military history, the premature pivot from Afghanistan to Iraq."

Tax-Factless Wall Street Journal-omics 8/2/2008 Consortium News: "On July 29, the Wall Street Journal forfeited a full half page of op-ed space to a specious article called "Obamanomics Is a Recipe for Recession," written by Michael J. Boskin, a Stanford University economics professor and "senior fellow" of the Hoover Institution. Boskin chaired the Council of Economic Advisors under President George H. W. Bush."

Thursday 7/31/2008

WPost Calls Out 'Uppity' Obama 7/31/2008 Consortium News: "“The Post left out the important first half of the sentence, which was something along the lines of: ‘It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign, that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have just become a symbol …’” So, it appears that Obama’s attempt to show humility was transformed into its opposite – what is fast becoming a powerful attack theme against him, that he is too big for his britches, that he is coming across, as Capehart put it, as an “uppity” black man. [Capehart himself is black.]"

Monday 7/28/2008

Why McCain is Wrong 7/28/2008 Defense and the National Interest: "The twin pillars of McCain’s assessment of the war are a) the surge worked and b) because the surge worked we are now winning. Neither of those views is based in fact. The first represents the long-recognized logical fallacy known as post hoc ergo propter hoc, i.e., because one event occurred after another, it was a consequence of the first event. Because the cock crows before sunrise, he thinks he makes the sun come up. Because violence in Iraq dropped after the surge, McCain claims the surge caused the reduction in violence. He is quick to add that he supported the surge at the time, which Obama did not. In the real world, neither rooster nor Senator has quite so much reason to strut upon his dunghill."

Sunday 7/27/2008

Joel’s Army the manifest sons of deception! 7/27/2008 The Prophetic Years

Thursday 7/24/2008

Obama against Iranian air strikes 7/24/2008 AFP

McCain Campaign Running Obama-Castro Ad 7/24/2008 Huffington Post

Wednesday 7/23/2008

Obama on the Brink  7/23/2008 Huffington Post: "Barack Obama is betraying his promise of change and is in danger of becoming just another political hack."

Obama talks tough about Iran during visit to Israel  7/23/2008 McClatchy

Big GOP Donor Faced Trouble Back Home  7/23/2008 WaPo: "For two years, Berkman had been battling his investment partners after admitting that he had lent himself $5 million of their money without telling them. A civil fraud case against him was about to go to trial. Berkman continued to raise money for McCain. He and his wife have donated $50,000 to Republican candidates and party committees this election cycle, including a $28,500 check to the Republican National Committee's Victory Fund on May 29 to support McCain's bid. Berkman's political generosity has angered his former investors, who prevailed in court but have not seen a penny of the $28 million in civil damages that a jury awarded them."

Tuesday 7/22/2008

McCain gaffes pile up; critics pile on 7/22/2008 Politico: "McCain will turn 72 the day after Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) accepts his party’s nomination for president at the age of 47, calling new attention to the sensitive issue of McCain’s advanced age three days before the start of his own convention."

Saturday 7/19/2008

Iraq Leader Maliki Supports Obama's Withdrawal Plans 7/19/2008 Der Spiegel: "Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki supports US presidential candidate Barack Obama's plan to withdraw US troops from Iraq within 16 months. When asked in and interview with SPIEGEL when he thinks US troops should leave Iraq, Maliki responded "as soon as possible, as far as we are concerned." He then continued: "US presidential candidate Barack Obama talks about 16 months. That, we think, would be the right timeframe for a withdrawal, with the possibility of slight changes."

McCain adviser on Iraqi PM's Obama endorsement: 'We're f**ked' 7/19/2008 Raw Story

Friday 7/18/2008

Obama Campaign Unveils Details of Overseas Trip 7/18/2008 Fox News: "The campaign did not get into specific dates or locations, other than to restate it would include stops in France, Great Britain, Germany and Jordan. Aides would not confirm reports that he would visit the West Bank. They said, however, he would meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salaam Fayad. Obama also plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli President Shimon Peres, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Jordanian King Abdullah and several other foreign officials."

Thursday 7/17/2008

McCain reverses course on Afghanistan policy, follows Obama’s lead 7/17/2008 Crooks and Liars

Wednesday 7/16/2008

Obama Wants to Shrink One War, But Expand Two Others 7/16/2008 Alternet: By Tom Hayden -- "Obama is serious about a withdrawal plan for Iraq, but he's committed himself to expanding the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Dumb Idea."

Venezuela's Chavez: No warmer a reception for Obama 7/16/2008 Raw Story: "Chavez told his supporters not to raise their hopes that relations with the United States would improve if Obama is elected U.S. president, saying there was little difference between him and Republican candidate John McCain. "The two candidates for the U.S. presidency attack us equally, they attack us defending the interests of the empire," Chavez said at a meeting of his socialist party."

Tuesday 7/15/2008

Cynthia McKinney stands for real change 7/15/2008 SF Bay View

Monday 7/14/2008

How the Crumbling Economy will Change Cuba Policy - Will Miami's Cubans Vote Blue? 7/14/2008 Counterpunch: "The rise of Cuban American economic power, primarily tied to the conversion of farmland to platted subdivisions, dovetailed with the economic model-- suburban sprawl-- that is now in shambles."

Sunday 7/13/2008

Michelle Obama Watch 7/13/2008 MOW

Saturday 7/12/2008

10 McCain Gaffes from This Week That Should Have Damaged His Chances 7/12/2008 Huffington Post

10 McCain Gaffes from This Week That Should Have Damaged His Chances 7/12/2008 Huffington Post

Friday 7/11/2008

Glow Fading? 7/11/2008 Newsweek: "Obama's reversal on FISA legislation, his support of faith-based initiatives and his decision to opt out of the campaign public-financing system left him open to charges he was a flip-flopper. In the new poll, 53 percent of voters (and 50 percent of former Hillary Clinton supporters) believe that Obama has changed his position on key issues in order to gain political advantage. More seriously, some Obama supporters worry that the spectacle of their candidate eagerly embracing his old rival, Hillary Clinton, and traveling the country courting big donors at lavish fund-raisers, may have done lasting damage to his image as an arbiter of a new kind of politics."

Thursday 7/10/2008

ABC's Gibson repeatedly prodded McCain to brand Obama "a flip-flopper" 7/10/2008 Media Matters: "During an interview with Sen. John McCain aired on ABC's World News, Charles Gibson asked McCain whether he "see[s]" Sen. Barack Obama "shifting positions." Gibson also asked McCain, "You're not ready, yet, to call him a flip-flopper?" But at no during the interview World News aired did Gibson ask McCain about the multiple instances in which McCain has "flip-floppe[d]."

Wednesday 7/9/2008

JESSE JACKSON SAYS HE WANTS TO CUT OBAMA'S 'NUTS OUT' 7/9/2008 NY Post: "Fox planned to air the recording on Bill O'Reilly's "The Factor" show."

Monday 7/7/2008

Obama, FISA and the Netroots 7/7/2008 Huffington Post: "As you may know, the largest "group" on the Obama campaign's social networking site, MyBarackObama.com, is now a group assembled to protest Senator Obama's reversal of his promise to filibuster against the FISA legislation up next week. Reading through the blogoshpere, many commenters appear baffled at the intensity of the passions involved, and criticize the protestors for making such a fuss over "just one issue." But there are good reasons why core activists have taken a strong stand, and why the campaign may look different after this is over. For many Obama activists, a key issue that propelled them into campaign activism is dismantling the unconstitutional legal measures the Bush administration put in place in the aftermath of 9/11."

Thursday 7/3/2008

So, That's Why McCain Went to Colombia 7/3/2008 The Field: "Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa will hold a press teleconference on Wednesday, July 2 to discuss John McCain's trip to Colombia to push another job-killing trade agreement with a country that continues to turn a blind eye to human rights violations, including an alarming rise in murders of trade unionists. More than 2,500 trade unionists have been assassinated in Colombia since 1986, more than in any country in the world. Already this year, 27 Colombian trade unionists have been killed."

Wednesday 7/2/2008

TransAfrica Forum Reflects on U.S. Foreign Policy towards Colombia as John McCain Travels to South America 7/2/2008 TransAfrica: "Senator John McCain visits Colombia this week. At issue is the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and Plan Colombia, the multi-billion dollar, U.S.-backed, drug eradication effort designed to halt coca production and end cocaine shipments. According to news reports, his campaign committee is financing the trip."

Monday 6/9/2008

Elliot D. Cohen: The Bush/McCain Game Plan: What May Be in Store for Obama -- And the Rest of America. The Iran Attack. 6/9/2008 Buzzflash: "In addition to these more conventional manners of voter fraud, there are also other possible ways to steal the election. All electronic voting machines transport their data over telephone lines to a central computer where tabulations of votes are made. These telephone lines are not secure, however, because, in putting into operation its unlawful warrantless surveillance program, the Bush Administration had installed computer technology at major telecom company hubs, such as those of AT&T, which intercepts and reads messages before they reach their final destination. It is therefore quite conceivable that the balloting data being transported from individual voting precincts could be intercepted and reconfigured before it reaches its main tabulation point."

Sunday 6/8/2008

Make No Mistake: McCain's a Neocon 6/8/2008 Consortium News: "McCain is a hard-line neoconservative who buys into Bush’s “preemptive war” theories abroad and his concept of an all-powerful “unitary executive” at home. From McCain’s pre-Iraq invasion speeches to his campaign’s recent embrace of Bush’s imperial presidency, American voters should realize that if they choose John McCain, they will be locking in at least four more years of war with much of the Islamic world while selling out the Founders’ vision of a democratic Republic where no one is above the law."

Thursday 6/5/2008

Clinton to end historic candidacy, support Obama 6/5/2008 AP: "An adviser said Clinton and her lieutenants had discussed various ways a presidential candidacy can end, including suspending the campaign to retain control of her convention delegates and sustain her visibility in an effort to promote her signature issue of health care. This adviser spoke on condition of anonymity because officials were not authorized to discuss the conference call Clinton held with her congressional supporters. Other options include freeing her delegates to back Obama and ending her candidacy unconditionally. The official stressed that neither Clinton nor her inner circle had decided specifically what course to take other than to recognize that the active state of her bid to become the nation's first female president had ended. On the telephone call with impatient congressional supporters including New York Rep. Charles Rangel, a longtime political patron, Clinton was urged to draw a close to the contentious campaign, or at least express support for Obama. Her decision to acquiesce caught many in the campaign by surprise and left the campaign scrambling to finalize the logistics and specifics behind her campaign departure."

Wall Street puts its money behind Obama 6/5/2008 Reuters

Wednesday 6/4/2008

Adviser says Clinton to express support for Obama  6/4/2008 AP: "Hillary Rodham Clinton planned to throw support to Democratic rival Barack Obama Friday and call on Democrats to unite against Republican John McCain, her campaign announced Wednesday. "Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington on Friday to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity," her communications director Howard Wolfson said."

CBS Poll: Obama Leads McCain - Obama Ahead By Six Points, But Threat Looms Of Many Clinton Voters Planning To Back McCain  6/4/2008 CBS: [numbers don't add up?] - "Twelve percent of Democrats say they will support McCain in the general election. That's higher than the 8 percent of Democrats who defected to President Bush in 2004. Nearly a quarter of Clinton supporters say they will back McCain instead of Obama in the general election. McCain leads Obama by 8 points among registered independent voters, considered a key voting block in November. The Arizona senator leads Obama 46 percent to 38 percent, with 11 percent of respondents undecided."

Rangel criticizes Clinton over non-concession speech  6/4/2008 CNN: "Prominent Hillary Clinton backer Charles Rangel thinks the New York senator could have been "far more generous" during her speech Tuesday night after it was clear Barack Obama had clinched the Democratic nomination. Rangel, the senior member of the New York congressional delegation and an early supporter of Clinton’s presidential campaign, said in an interview Wednesday Clinton should have been more clear about what her future plans are."

Tuesday 6/3/2008

Clintons’ control of Democratic Party fading fast  6/3/2008 Muckety

Can Barack Obama be a friend of Israel if he talks to Iran?  6/3/2008 Times, London: "The campaign recently and swiftly severed links with Robert Malley, one of its informal advisers, after The Times disclosed that he had been in contact with the Palestinian organisation Hamas, listed by the State Department as a terrorist group. It has also distanced him from Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former Secretary of State, who has been sharply critical of Israel and similarly urged America to have direct contact with Hamas. As recently as last year Mr Obama had praised Mr Brzezinski as someone “I’ve learnt an immense amount from”. Yesterday, a spokesman described Mr Brzezinski as a “supporter” who was not and had never been an adviser. The campaign refused to comment on allegations that have surfaced in right-wing blogs that Mr Obama has employed a number of Nation of Islam members. Under federal civil rights law, the spokesman said, it was illegal to ask staff about their religion."

Can Barack Obama be a friend of Israel if he talks to Iran?  6/3/2008 Times, London: "The campaign recently and swiftly severed links with Robert Malley, one of its informal advisers, after The Times disclosed that he had been in contact with the Palestinian organisation Hamas, listed by the State Department as a terrorist group. It has also distanced him from Zbigniew Brzezinski, the former Secretary of State, who has been sharply critical of Israel and similarly urged America to have direct contact with Hamas. As recently as last year Mr Obama had praised Mr Brzezinski as someone “I’ve learnt an immense amount from”. Yesterday, a spokesman described Mr Brzezinski as a “supporter” who was not and had never been an adviser. The campaign refused to comment on allegations that have surfaced in right-wing blogs that Mr Obama has employed a number of Nation of Islam members. Under federal civil rights law, the spokesman said, it was illegal to ask staff about their religion."

Bubba Trouble - The Comeback Id  6/3/2008 Vanity Fair

Monday 6/2/2008

The Lobbyist Whom McCain Won't Fire 6/2/2008 Consortium News: "John McCain has been purging lobbyists from his campaign trying to reclaim the mantle of political reformer, but there’s one lobbyist whose role as a key economic adviser makes him almost untouchable despite ties to the sub-prime debacle, links to the Enron disaster and alleged evasion of ethics rules. Former Sen. Phil Gramm, who was listed as a lobbyist for banking giant UBS as recently as December 2007, has emerged as what Fortune magazine calls “McCain’s econ brain,” filling McCain’s acknowledged void on economic expertise (“I don’t know as much about the economy as I should”)."

McCain's Attack On Obama Gets Standing Ovation At AIPAC 6/2/2008 Huffington Post: "We must apply the full force of law to prevent business dealings with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. I was pleased to join Senators Lieberman and Kyl in backing an amendment calling for the designation of the Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization responsible for killing American troops in Iraq. Over three quarters of the Senate supported this obvious step, but not Senator Obama. He opposed this resolution because its support for countering Iranian influence in Iraq was, he said, a 'wrong message not only to the world, but also to the region.' But here, too, he is mistaken. Holding Iran's influence in check, and holding a terrorist organization accountable, sends exactly the right message -- to Iran, to the region and to the world." Many cheers and whistles accompanied that part of McCain's address, followed by a convention-wide standing ovation."

Friday 5/30/2008

LA Times: John McCain Has A "Nightmare" YouTube Problem 5/30/2008 Huffington Post: "There's the Arizona senator arguing both sides of President Bush's tax cuts. Here's the supposed foreign policy wizard flubbing the simple facts about which terrorists are being trained in Iran. He's even ducking his own admission that he needs to learn more about economics. The newsreel of McCain lowlights has zoomed up the YouTube charts in the last week, with more than 1.5 million views. "John McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare" is the video's title, which might be dismissed as partisan hype but for one thing: It's true."

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare 5/30/2008 YouTube

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."

Assassination Talk Shows Hillary's True Colors  5/29/2008 Black Commentator: "To be a high-profile, charismatic leader of color in America is to find oneself under the gun, in a figurative and a literal sense. Sen. Obama and his family have received death threats, causing him to receive Secret Service protection earlier than any presidential candidate. Meanwhile Obama’s foot soldiers have experienced the full brunt of racial epithets, defamation, bomb threats and vandalism throughout the inhospitable underbelly of this nation. For Clinton to make light of this American reality - and to contemplate the assassination of her Democratic rival, an African American, as a political tactic - is to demonstrate a level of instability, insensitivity and cold-heartedness which belies, even betrays, her qualifications for the office which she seeks. For the Clintons, it has been a long journey to the bottom of the barrel. It all started with Clinton’s “kitchen-sink” strategy to “mess up” her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, and render him unelectable."

It's All About Vagueness - Puerto Rico, Obama and the Politics of Race  5/29/2008 Counterpunch: "Duany writes that Puerto Ricans have developed an elaborate racist vocabulary to refer to racially stereotyped characteristics. Kinky hair, for example, is referred to as “bad” (“pelo malo”). Meanwhile racial prejudice is apparent in folk humor, beauty contests, media portrayals, and political leadership. “In all these areas,” Duany says, “whites are usually depicted as more intelligent, attractive, refined, and capable than are blacks.” All of which is not to say that racism in Puerto Rico works in the same way as the United States. However, the island is hardly a “racial democracy” as some of the island’s boosters have claimed. Indeed, many Puerto Ricans deny their cultural heritage and physical characteristics and buy into an ideology of “whitening” through intermarriage with light skinned groups. Interestingly, a whopping 81% of Puerto Ricans called themselves “white” on the 2000 U.S. census."

Tuesday 5/27/2008

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

FBI interviews Arizona staffers 5/27/2008 The Hill: "Federal agents interviewed staffers for likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) as part of their corruption case against Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.). U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona Diane J. Humetewa and fellow prosecutors disclosed the interviews with aides for McCain and fellow Arizona Republican Sen. Jon Kyl in a written response to Renzi’s attorneys, who asked for the contents of the interview to help prepare for Renzi’s upcoming trial, which is scheduled for October."

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."

Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain  3/27/2008 Military.com

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 corrosive to his national ambitions."

"A More Perfect Union"  3/18/2008 Truth Out: Barak Obama's speech on race, full text and video.

Monday 3/17/2008

Poll: Majority of Democrats prefer Obama  3/17/2008 CNN: Among registered Democracts - Clinton: 45%. Obama: 52%

Bill Kristol Errs, Times Benefits  3/17/2008 Huffington Post: "Earlier this morning, the New York Times ran William Kristol's Monday morning op-ed, and just a short while thereafter, the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder, rifle trained on the fish-flush barrel, rooted out a ridiculous factual error at the column's foundation - namely, that Senator Barack Obama was in attendance at Trinity United Church of Christ on July 22, 2007, when Reverend Jeremiah Wright "blamed the 'arrogance' of the 'United States of White America' for much of the world's suffering. Ambinder, with relative ease, uncovered evidence - including video footage - that this was not the case. "Now, a simple Google search suggests that Obama spent most of the day in Miami," Ambinder writes, adding, "But a simple e-mail or telephone call to Obama's campaign might have cleared things up." And, one would think, a simple correction on the part of the New York Times might be forthcoming."

The difference between Jeremiah Wright and radical, white evangelical ministers  3/17/2008 Salon: "But the idea that America deserves terrorist attacks and other horrendous disasters has long been a frequently expressed view among the faction of white evangelical ministers to whom the Republican Party is most inextricably linked. Neither Jerry Falwell nor Pat Robertson ever retracted or denounced their view that America provoked the 9/11 attacks by doing things to anger God. John Hagee continues to believe that the City of New Orleans got what it deserved when Katrina drowned its residents and devastated the lives of thousands of Americans. And James Inhofe -- who happens to still be a Republican U.S. Senator -- blamed America for the 9/11 attacks by arguing in a 2002 Senate floor speech that "the spiritual door was opened for an attack against the United States of America" because we pressured Israel to give away parts of the West Bank."

Sunday 3/16/2008

Obama denounces rhetoric but stands behind his pastor  3/16/2008 Chicago Sun Times: "On Friday, after issuing a statement strongly denouncing his sermons, he said Wright would no longer be serving on an advisory committee. But, noting that Wright was retiring from the church, Obama said he had no plans to leave the South Side church. "He's like an uncle you love and respect but has lately said some things that you disagree with," Obama said."

Obama's Rezko narrative  3/16/2008 Chicago Tribune

Obama's Minister Committed "Treason" But When My Father Said the Same Thing He Was a Republican Hero  3/16/2008 Huffington Post: by Frank Schaeffer -- "Every Sunday thousands of right wing white preachers (following in my father's footsteps) rail against America's sins from tens of thousands of pulpits. They tell us that America is complicit in the "murder of the unborn," has become "Sodom" by coddling gays, and that our public schools are sinful places full of evolutionists and sex educators hell-bent on corrupting children. They say, as my dad often did, that we are, "under the judgment of God." They call America evil and warn of immanent destruction. By comparison Obama's minister's shouted "controversial" comments were mild. All he said was that God should damn America for our racism and violence and that no one had ever used the N-word about Hillary Clinton. Dad and I were amongst the founders of the Religious right. In the 1970s and 1980s, while Dad and I crisscrossed America denouncing our nation's sins instead of getting in trouble we became darlings of the Republican Party. (This was while I was my father's sidekick before I dropped out of the evangelical movement altogether.) We were rewarded for our "stand" by people such as Congressman Jack Kemp, the Fords, Reagan and the Bush family. The top Republican leadership depended on preachers and agitators like us to energize their rank and file. No one called us un-American."

A Delegate Loophole?  3/16/2008 Newsweek: "Citing wiggle room in an obscure, 26-year-old Democratic Party rule, Hillary Clinton's campaign is leaving the door open to the idea of attempting to persuade Barack Obama's pledged delegates to switch their votes at the last minute and back the New York senator—despite fears among some party officials that it could throw this summer's Denver convention into chaos."

Trying Times for Trinity  3/16/2008 Newsweek

Rumor’s Reasons  3/16/2008 NYT: "In the summer of 2004, Andy Martin, a colorful Web columnist and sometime Republican candidate for state office, put out a press release announcing his sadness at having to “expose” Barack Obama as a “Muslim who has concealed his religion.” Reporters ignored Martin’s charge, which offered no proof. But the story took root: Martin’s screed bounced about blogs, mutating over the course of a couple years into an e-mail message that suggested the senator is a kind of Muslim Manchurian candidate for the White House."

Obama's church accuses media of character assassination  3/16/2008 Politico: “Nearly three weeks before the 40th commemorative anniversary of the murder of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.’s character is being assassinated in the public sphere because he has preached a social gospel on behalf of oppressed women, children and men in America and around the globe.”

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