text:
Writing is at War. Apparently.
Good morning, Readers.
Someone has declared war on writing and (unpublished) writers. Apparently. Specifically, it's some guy named Tom Mitchell who has declared war on writing and writers, and he did so in THIS article. Friend and fellow writer A. Laramey made his ridiculous screed known to me in her blog post last Wednesday. She said she was conflicted about it. I'm not. It's a stupid rant from a frustrated writer who hates that the 'wrong sort of people' write and let it be known they're writing on social media.
He actually states that he "...realised the full extent of my hatred for unpublished novelists during an evening of drinking craft beer with a friend."
How horribly ironic, him being an unpublished novelist and all. Perhaps he's trying to come off as ironic/funny hipster-ish but, as April said, he misses the mark. By a wide margin.
He looses me completely when he starts in on genre, but I'll start from the very beginning.
This casual plan for a future novel-writing is indicative of the literary world's failing health. We must wake to this imminent danger. Soon, more people will write fiction than read it. Much like my parents' inevitable adoption of Facebook, I dread the day Dad announces he's writing a novel set in an alternative reality where the Nazis won after all. I'd rather bring up my son in the Third Reich than a world in which nobody reads fiction but everybody writes it*.
Oh for Pete's sake! This was his reaction when a friend told him that he wanted to write a novel. This was Mr. Mitchell's reaction.
Dafuq did I just read? People planning to write novels in the future are a symptom of the failing health of the literary world? What? Am I the only one who finds this nonsensical? Not to appear rude, but people not writing would be far more indicative of the literary world's failing health. After all, there must be people to write in order to have a healthy literary world. There must be writers. More, there must be new writers, new voices, new perspectives, else the blood of the literary world stagnates and goes stale. People writing lots is ultimately good for the literary health. Sure, not all of what will be written is good, but that is neither here nor there.
Like many people, he has a fear that more people will be writing fiction than reading it. I'm not sure that that has not already come to pass myself. However, in general, people who write also read. People who hope to write well should read a lot. Those who are serious about the craft soon come to realise this, and they start reading. A lot. Even if they never become serious about their craft, what's the harm? Let them write. What's it to you?
The internet has mutated reasonable people into wannabe writers. Starting a novel is the middle-class equivalent of getting a fake tan and manicure, sure that you're only an audition away from pop chart success.
This is actually more loaded than I think I can handle without loosing my temper. I find the most problematic aspect of all are the grossly overt classist overtones of this sentiment. Working class people starting a novel? Say it ain't so!
And is the desire to be a writer unreasonable? I didn't get that memo. I don't find it unreasonable at all. Anyone can and should write a story if they feel they have the skill and discipline to get it done. Does that mean they're entitled to be picked up by traditional publishers? No. But if it gives them pleasure and purpose to try, what's it to you? If they decide to self-publish, well, good on them. That's a lot of work and expense. Again, if that's what they decide, how is that a problem? They will be tried in the court of popular opinion, if they're seen at all.
It's like the X Men but if the X Men had convinced themselves of their mutant powers through overuse of the #amxmen hashtag, rather than concrete proof of superhuman ability.
Wait, there's an AmXMen tag? Get me in on that! My superpower is not going postal when people prove to be snobbish, elitist jerks. Joking aside, I have no idea what this complaint is about. If someone is writing, they have every right to say so. And if they write every day, be it only fifteen minutes a day, they have every right to identify themselves as a writer, whether or not they have a finished manuscript. Whether or not they are published. If they're writing, they're a writer. Let me define writer for those who still don't understand:
One who writes.
There you go. That's all you need to know about what a writer is and who can claim to be one.
NaNoWriMo's got a lot to answer for.
Yes, because encouraging people to follow their passions and give them a platform with which to achieve something is inherently evil/wrong. Do I have an eye roll gif? Where is my stockpile of eye roll gifs?
He then goes on to express 'almost' pity for agents, who must be flooded every December with ill-edited manuscripts, having to read piles and piles of drivel around the end of NaNoWriMo. This, I concede, may well be an issue. Even still I cannot fault these writers - and they are writers, whether any of us like it or not - for trying.
I've been trying to be a novelist for ten years.... #amwriting is constantly trending on Twitter and 75% of Twitter accounts use the word 'writer' in their profile bio. FACT. It doesn't matter if you're unpublished. The act of putting finger to keyboard is qualification enough. Writing '#amwriting' is qualification enough.
If you have a completed, semi-completed or barely started manuscript, you, sir/madame, are a writer. As it happens, you are currently an unpublished writer, but a writer nonetheless. Given this is the case, please excuse my confusion as to what the point of this is exactly. Is this a projection of self-loathing?
Then there is this sentence:
Being skilful, rather than a braggart, once held value.
Mr. Mitchell, I'm curious how you propose people acquire this skill without practice? Writing, like all skills, must be constantly practiced in order to be improved upon. Skill is not something that someone is born with. It is learned, worked upon. Like throwing a ball or shooting an arrow accurately, it must be practiced. How are people to get sufficiently good at writing to please your obviously very delicate sensibilities if the very act of practicing - i.e. writing - irritates you enough for you to write an entire screed against people who do it.
So sure, what they're writing now might not be great stuff, but give these 'wanna be writers' a few years, and they'll be the next Steven Erikson (I chose a very good fantasy writer specifically because of the next quote)... if they're lucky enough to be noticed.
And yes, plenty of unpublished stuff out there is utter rubbish (and a lot of published stuff, I might add). There is also plenty of unpublished stuff out there that is absolute gold. Just because a work is currently unpublished does not mean that it is entirely unworthy.
Part of the problem is that the fantasy genre is becoming mainstream. Unpublished writers often write fantasy. Over seven million 'normal' people watched the last episode of Game of Thrones, for fuck's sake.
At risk of being one of those people, OMFG! What? Fantasy gaining popularity is a problem? For the record, he targets science fiction as well, with space opera receiving a special mention. As a speculative fiction writer, I'm trying very hard to contain my current ire. I fail to see a problem with fantasy becoming mainstream. Do you know what that means? It means that more people are reading speculative fiction. Let me reiterate what is important about that sentence.
More. people. are. reading.
And if more people are reading speculative fiction, it means that publishers are going to be hungry for more talent in speculative fiction. That means some of those currently unpublished speculative fiction writers will one day be published speculative fiction writers. Is this what is really bugging Mr. Mitchell? That these speculative fiction writers may be published before him?
I will also add that he paints the average fantasy lover in a terrible light:
... fat middle-aged men with extravagant facial hair and weird dice and cards with pictures of unicorns on them.
As a fit young woman with little to no facial hair, I'd like to send a hearty 'piss off' to Mr. Mitchell. I love fantasy. I love science fiction. I'm less thrilled by horror, but that's neither here nor there.
(And I have thus far played one game of a tabletop R.P.G. I loved it. I own a D20, and plan on acquiring a full set. Come at me, bro.)
...if the thing has to happen (gaming and fantasy loving), I'd rather it took place silently, without drawing attention to itself. What ever happened to clandestine meetings in your basements? Why must everything take place in Starbucks, pimped through Facebook and Twitter? Dignity, as traditional publishing, as God, is dead.
RAGE!
What a tit. Look, I would be apologetic that the wonderful unadulterated love of gaming and speculative fiction is bothering Mr. Mitchell, but I'm not quite that Canadian. No one is forcing you to join in a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. People enjoying themselves... in public (gasp)... makes you angry? You think the harmless partaking in some games is undignified? You need to seek a therapist.
Let me guess, a card game after dinner is fine, BUT THEY BETTER NOT BE MAGIC: THE GATHERING CARDS SO HELP ME (dead) GOD!
Seriously, where are my eye roll gifs? Where did I put them?
And then there is this gem:
It used to be cool to be an unpublished writer. It used to be sexy. The witty, intelligent bookish type, bothering his/her imagination at unreasonable hours, taking Mexican amphetamines to keep the muse awake.... More importantly, the unpublished writer was unappreciated in his/her lifetime. John Kennedy Toole – there's an unpublished writer, with the suicide to go with it.
I think this is the crux of the matter. Somewhere in Tom Mitchell's psyche sits the archetypal writer; the lonely bookish type who knows his genius... and is lonely in that knowledge. In Mr. Mitchell's psyche, that's sexy. I'm going to leave alone the glorification and romaticisation of a life so unfulfilled it results in suicide alone. I'm pretty sure I don't need to point out how incredibly wrong and twisted that is.
I'm not going to, actually. Fuck anyone who reduces serious mental illness, reliance on drugs and tragic loss of life to some twisted aspiration. Fuck that guy right in the ear.
I'll wager, however, that Mr. Mitchell envisioned himself as that sexy under-appreciated unpublished writer; that rakish bookworm with a good heart and tortured soul (excuse me while I barf, please). I suspect that this piece is a reaction to finding out that he is not so special after all, not nearly as unique. And he doesn't like it. What's more, he doesn't like anyone who doesn't fit the embarrassingly archaic and archetypal image of an unpublished writer he's bought into heart and soul. Those people are undignified, are fat and gross, they play games and have fun. It may be that Mr. Mitchell had the sudden realisation that his exclusive club - the club of unpublished writers - has a broader membership than he wanted, and it includes some (in his opinion) undignified types; it includes types that do not match the extremely limiting image of the unpublished writer he has so clearly romanticised in his own mind.
The reality is, anyone can be an (unpublished) writer, and that makes us all less special. I would contend that we most certainly ought to get paid for our work, just as plumbers, taxi drivers and check-out clerks. I would also contend that we are no more special than plumbers, taxi drivers and check-out clerks. Furthermore, just like plumbers, taxi drivers and check-out clerks, we are varied in our interests and hobbies outside of our occupation, including but not limited to playing tabletop R.P.G.s. We're human beings, not gods.
The bottom line? Writer's aren't special. It's time to come down from our ivory towers. It was time a long time ago.
That reality seems a little tough to bear for some.
Found one! Image courtesy of Giffy.com. Click for link.
How do you feel knowing that you almost were categorized by this line: "But times have changed and the unpublished writer is now a middle-aged office temp writing dinosaur erotica. " How do you even write that? o.O Seriously this guy can go shove it where the sun don't shine. (It also just made me laugh... who fantasizes about dinosaurs? I digress...)
I think part of the reason unpublished authors go straight into the Fantasy genre is because to get into the other categories is actually much harder. To get any traction as a *well paid* writer, is much harder. Take a look at the highest paid authors from 2010 [and I picked 2010 because I was looking for a different article that I have printed, but also because I refuse to have that shitty author of that horribly BAD trilogy being turned into a movie have any recognition for her tacky, non researched pile of horse dung (I'm sorry, I like horses.. no insult to them intended)] http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/19/patterson-meyer-king-business-media-highest-paid-authors_slide.html
With the exception of one author on there (there is only one or two I actually am not familiar with), every author has published something like 10 or more novels. They have refined their craft immensely. The chances of a new author making a lot is not going to, for obvious reasons.
This guy, Tim Mitchell, is likely just butthurt that his novel of 10 years has not been published. Clearly he hasn't put any effort into other novel ideas. Everyone who is serious about writing in even a part time fashion has more than one novel on the go.. I'm almost a hundred percent positive on that one. If they don't, they'll always have more ideas later on. Inspiration will hit them. This guy needs to get off his high horse thinking he's the big dog because he's not. I want super authors to wreck this guy just for fun but that's just me...
Off to job hunt and get ready for school stuffs!
S.M. Carrière link
Dinosaur erotica is actually a thing, and I think that's HILARIOUS!
http://jezebel.com/dinosaur-erotica-exists-and-its-just-as-amazing-as-you-1438081697
It's not my cup of tea, but people get a kick out of it, who am I to judge?
The thing is, most writers these days hold down a 'day job' because there just isn't much money in writing. There simply isn't.
And I do think that Mr. Mitchell is a very frustrated writer. To be fair, so am I, but I don't feel the same bitterness, I guess. Le sigh. To each their own, I guess?
Have fun at school!
I....what?.... my god.. I'm now horrified...
That's worse than half the romance novels out there o.O
Thank you! I'll have fun when I go :) (on Wednesday... I am doing some tidying and stuff in prep for it so that I'm not all chaos. lol! )
Eric Desmarais link
I read the article a few days ago and tried to comment on A Laramey's post.
I assumed he was being sarcastic until I read the part about genre.
He comes off as a wannabe hipster who probably spends more time complaining then writing.
I strongly believe that the more people write the more they will read. Also it takes me (a slow reader and writer) 1 to 2 wells to read a book but 4-6 months to write one. So if I complete 1-2 books a year but a read 30+ that means I need lots of other authors to fill my year.
I don't think people write genre because it's easy or because it's popular I think they wire it because it's fun. A "literary novel" will be about an alcoholic man who beats his wife. A genre novel will be about the same thing but set in an abandoned haunted hotel that wants to ear their souls.
I also think that we, people in the wiring community, have an exaggerated idea of how many people are writing. Or feels like 99% want to write and 80% are writing. I'm sure the numbers are way lower.
You might be right about the number of writers. I would imagine that if you consider the number of serious writers (those who are looking to make a career of the craft) and the number drops lower still.
April Laramey link
"tried to comment"? Uh oh. Did you get an error I should know about?
April, it's not you but my work computer. It's special and only runs ie8...


text:
title:  Misijas ziņas
date:   14/02/2020
---

#### Sabata izaicinājums

_Vincenzo Gallina (29)_

Vācu IT speciālists Vincenzo Gallina bija samulsis, viņš nevarēja saprast, kas pasaulē īsti notiek. Viena globāla krīze sekoja otrai – 11.septembris, Eiropas finanšu nemieri, Krimas okupācija, problēmas ar migrantiem.

Kaut kas nebija kārtībā, un Vincenzo prātoja, vai tikai pasaules vēsture netuvojas savam noslēgumam. Vincenzo centās izprast politiķu lēmumus, kuri viņam šķita neloģiski. Atbildes uz šiem jautājumiem viņš meklēja kanālā YouTube. Viņš atgriezās savas bērnības draudzē.

Vincenzo neapmeklēja tikai parastos svētdienas dievkalpojumus vien. Uz dievnamu viņš devās arī sestdienās un trešdienās. Draudzes vadītāji ievēroja viņa interesi par reliģiju un centās pārliecināt viņu kļūt par priesteri. Vincenzo tam pretojās. Viņš tikai vēlējās atrast atbildes uz globālajiem jautājumiem un dzīvot svētu dzīvi.

Vincenzo savos meklējumos nonāca pie trīs principiem, kurus viņš apņēmās ievērot. Tie bija – sekot patiesībai, lai ko tas arī prasītu, būt godīgam pret citiem un īpaši pret sevi un sekot, lai paša darbi būtu saskaņā ar vārdiem.

Lasot Bībeli, viņš jutās vīlies. Vincenzo ļoti bieži lasīto neizprata.

Kādu vakaru viņš izmisīgi lūdza Dievu, lai Viņš sūtītu kādu, kurš viņam palīdzētu saprast Bībeles patiesības.

"Dievs, lūdzu piedod, ka es esmu tik stulbs, ka nesaprotu Tavu Vārdu," viņš lūdza.

Kad viņš nākošo reizi caurskatīja YouTube, viņa uzmanību piesaistīja kāda Septītās dienas evaņģēlista svētruna. Klausoties to, viņa prātā kaut kas ieslēdzās. Vincenzo patika, ka runātājs visus savus vārdus pamatoja ar tekstiem no Bībeles.

Drīz vien viņš katru dienu noskatījās piecas svētrunas un jaunās zināšanas uzsūca kā sauss sūklis.

Būdams pārliecināts, ka nedēļas septītā diena ir Bībeles sabats, Vincenzo savā pilsētā Ķelnē sāka apmeklēt adventistu draudzi. Viņš vēlējās pielūgt Dievu Radītāju un pierādīt, ka, sātana vārdi, ka Dieva baušļus ievērot nav iespējams, nav patiesība. Vincenzo vēlējās sekot patiesībai, lai ko tas arī prasītu.

Tā kā Vincenzo joprojām dzīvoja kopā ar saviem vecākiem, viņam svētu dzīvi dzīvot nebija viegli. Pirms ēdienreizēm viņa vecāki Dievam nepateicās, televizors bija ieslēgts arī sestdienās. Un Vincenzo uzmācās šaubas par sabata ievērošanas nozīmīgumu. Viņš pārdomāja Jēzus vārdus Marka.2:27: "Sabats ir celts cilvēka dēļ un ne cilvēks sabata dēļ." Viņš atcerējās arī Pāvila vārdus: "jūs neesat padoti bauslībai, bet žēlastībai," Rom.6:14. Un Vincenzo pārtrauca ievērot sabatu.

Reiz piektdienas vakarā pēc saules rieta, kad Vincenzo strādāja pie sava datora, viņš izdzirdēja kādu balsi sakām: "Zini, tu neievēro vienu no Maniem baušļiem."

Vincenzo atcerējās savu principu par godīgumu pret sevi un citiem.

"Jā, sabatu es neievēroju," Vincenzo sacīja. "Bet vai patiesi tas ir tik svarīgi?"

Un viņš turpināja darbu.

"Zini, tu neievēro likumu," balss sacīja. "Tas ko tu dari, nav pareizi."

"Vai tiešām ir tik svarīgi ievērot šo dienu?" Vincenzo jautāja un pacēla tumši zaļo Bībeli no galda. "Vai tad Jēzus neteica, ka cilvēks nav celts sabata dēļ? Vai tad mēs tagad esam zem likuma?"

Taču balss neapklusa.

Beidzot Vincenzo lūdza pēc Dieva vadības. Viņš nometās ceļos, vienā rokā turot Bībeli, un lūdza Dievu pēc skaidras atbildes.

"Vai Tu vēlies, lai es ievērotu sabatu?" viņš lūdza. "Vai šī diena Tev ir tik nozīmīga? Lai pieņemtu lēmumu, man nepieciešama palīdzība."

Vincenzo domāja, ka viņam tagad bija jādod iespēja Dievam atbildēt. Raugoties uz Bībeli, kas bija viņa rokā, viņš nolēma to atvērt kādā nejauši izvēlētā vietā un pieņemt visu, ko Dievs sacīs. Vincenzo aizvēra acis un atvēra Bībeli. Ieskatījies Bībelē, viņš izlasīja Jes.58:13,14: "Kad tu atturi savu kāju no sabata pārkāpšanas un nedari Manā svētā dienā pēc savas patikas, bet nosauc dusas dienu par svētu prieku un par Tā Kunga svēto dienu un to turi godā, neizlietodams to saviem ceļiem, sava veikala nokārtošanai un tukšām valodām, tad Tas Kungs būs tavs prieks."

Vincenzo sāka raudāt. Saņēmis šādu atbildi, viņš savu darbu turpināt vairs nespēja. Viņš izslēdza datoru un atvēra Bībeli.

Kopš tā laika Vincenzo vairs nekad nav šaubījies par sabata ievērošanas svarīgumu. Viņš atgriezās draudzē un tagad dievkalpojumus apmeklē regulāri.

Daļa no Trīspadsmitā sabata ziedojumiem palīdzēs atjaunot Marienhohes Akadēmijas galveno ēku Darmštatē, Vācijā. Paldies jums par to, ka plānojat pienest dāsnus ziedojumus.

**Misijas ziņas**

- Ap 1844. gadu visā Vācijā parādījās ticīgo grupas, kuras ievēoja sabatu un gaidīja Kristus drīzu atnākšanu. Bavārijā dzīvoja kristieši, kuri pieņēma sabatu, iespaidojoties no Tenhardta, 18. gadsimta Bībeles pētnieka, rakstiem. 1902. gadā divi vīri no Virtembergas, kuri sabatu bija ievērojuši vairāk nekā 50 gadus, tika kristīti Septītās dienas adventistu draudzē.

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We are an indiginous company in Duncan, British Columbia, Canada; right in the heart of the Cowichan Valley. Here you can shop for internationally acclaimed Cowichan Knit Apparel.
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All products sold directly benefit local Coast Salish artists and families. Our knitters are paid higher than any other 'reseller' traditionally pays, which we do not consider ourselves. We just do the marketing for the artists; the Face of Native. Our knitters do what they do best - create long lasting, spectacular pieces. We believe that local businesses should benefit their community, and this is just the first step.
As we continue to expand, further resources will be reinvested in our community.
Mabel Antoine is a 65 year old Cowichan born and raised First Nation woman. She has 4 children, 10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Mabel prides herself on her family, and culture; always making time for both.
Mabel has now been knitting for over 50 years; since 1965. She started knitting at the age of 13, when she became a young lady. Mabel learnt how to knit from her Mother.
Her proudest moments of knitting was knitting for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in which she had knitted some sweaters for the event.
Mary Antoine is a 59 year old Cowichan First Nation woman. She has 1 son, and 1 grand-daughter. Mary has always been a family oriented woman who is always involved in family events.
As Mary grew up she always remembers watching her mother and sisters knitting from a very young age and grew to learn how to knit in her early 20's, after giving birth to her son; giving her about 37 years of knitting experience.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading. It gives us great pleasure in knowing that we are passing on such great work and values to you. We invite you to browse our web page, check out our products, and by all means, feel free you ask us a question.


text:
Kyjatice jsou obec na Slovensku, v okrese Rimavská Sobota v Banskobystrickém kraji. V obci žije  obyvatel.

Poloha
Obec leží v jihovýchodní části Slovenského rudohoří, mezi údolími Blhu a potoku Papča, v mikroregionu Teplý vrch. Povrch je vrchovinového typu s nadmořskou výškou v rozmezí 450 až 565 m n.m., střed obce je ve výšce 465 m n. m. Území je tvořeno andezity a vápenci. Z celkové výměry 615 ha připadá na zemědělskou půdu 390 ha (63%), z toho je 85 ha orná půda 15 ha zahrad a 290 ha jsou 290 ha. Lesy (dubové) se rozprostírají na ploše 206 ha.

Historie
Archeologické nálezy z roku 1941, 1974 a 1985 dokládají osídlení území v pozdní době bronzové s bohatými nálezy tzv. Kyjatické kultury. První písemná zmínka o obci pochází z roku 1413, kde je jmenována jako Kyethe. Pozdější názvy jsou Kiecice z roku 1773 a od roku 1927 Kyjatice. Obec patřila rodu Derencsényů, v 16. a 17. století Lórantfyům a Rákocziům. Od 18. století patřila pod Muránské panství. Kolem roku 1560 byla zničena Turky.

Hlavní obživou byla zemědělská výroba a výroba dřevěných předmětů.

Památky
Evangelický románsko-gotický kostel z 13. století, přestavěný v 15. století se zachovanými nástěnnými malbami z 14. století a renesančním malovaným dřevěným stropem z roku 1637. Renesanční oltář je z roku 1678. Kostel je kulturní památkou Slovenska.

Odkazy

Reference

Literatura
 FURMÁNEK, Vaclav. VELIAČIK, Ladislav. VLADÁR, Jozef: Slovensko v dobe bronzovej. Bratislava: VEDA, 1991. s. 146 nn.

Externí odkazy

Obce v okrese Rimavská Sobota
Obce v regionu Gemer

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
The BARACKY HORROR UNITY SHOW
There was no rain, no thunder and no lightning crackling across the sky. There was no foreboding mansion with creaky doors and broken windows as a stand in for Democratic National Committee headquarters in Chicago. But there just as well could have been.
What the DNC was trying to bill as a show of unity both Thursday night at the Mayflower Hotel and in Unity New Hampshire on Friday was an ongoing horror show produced by those masters of Democratic horror, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Howard Dean.
Hillary Clinton showed up playing the kidnapped heroine and appeared on stage in New Hampshire with Barack Obama and you could almost feel members of the audience gasping and wanting to shout " No! Don't do it! Watch your back! Get away!" as if they were expecting Jeremiah Wright to leap out from behind a tree any minute.
Clinton read her lines from the prepared script and talked about electing Obama the next President and her supporters cringed in horror. Everyone knew the kidnapped heroine was doing everything that Dean and the DNC and Obama wanted her to do because that's what kidnapped heroine's do, and she played her part to the hilt.
It was ironic because after causing more disunity than the party has ever seen in it's history, Dean, Pelosi and Obama now wanted Hillary Clinton to try and save the day because they know they can't win in November without her.
As Clinton praised Obama and the figurative lightning and thunder crackled overhead, you could sense that most Clinton supporters were watching through their fingers and biting their lower lips at the hard to take parts, like what a wonderful, dashing and decisive commander-in-chief Obama would make. The audience probably bit their lips in solidarity thinking that Clinton was doing the same thing.
When Obama spoke, he talked about his grandmother in Hawaii and how she expressed sympathy for Clinton during the campaign and you could feel the audience suck in their breath, wanting to chant "I told you so". "She was rooting for her grandson," Obama said, adding that she also had complained that Clinton was being treated unfairly.
This little line must have sent more waves of horror through the crowd. Imagine. His own grandmother felt Hillary Clinton was getting unfair treatment. It certainly wasn't a line that is going to inspire a lot of unity with Clinton voters. Having him acknowledge it now after the damage has been done is probably going to evoke more horror for the DNC in the future.
The show had its premiere a few nights ago at the Mayflower Hotel to similarly bad reviews. According to most reports from the Clinton donors invited to the preview, it bombed.
In a brief Q&A that took place Obama was asked if he supported having Clinton's name on the ballot and a roll call vote at the convention. His answer was "I'm not here to negotiate the convention". You could almost hear the major chord from a gothic organ.
The answer was telling. The one who is really scared to death by all this is Obama. He knows he can't win without her if he is the nominee. But he also knows that if he is able to get Dean and the DNC to throw democratic principles over the side and keep her off the ballot in Denver he will alienate her 18 million voters. Given his last two weeks of his own Obama horror show with breaking his campaign pledge on public financing, his reversal on Jerusalem, his embrace of the telecom immunity bill, and the Johnson fiasco, ( not to mention his famous seal) he probably wakes up nights in a cold sweat worrying about a roll call vote.
He was afraid of her in the primaries, he was afraid to debate after getting roughed up at the ABC debate which is why he backed out of the last two, and he is now afraid of what might happen if Clinton's name is on the ballot and super delegates get to vote without pressure from Vampirella herself, Nancy Pelosi.
In the interim, this phony show of unity isn't fooling anyone. Clinton voters see through it, even if they are seeing through it through their fingers. Everyone knows she is playing the role she's been asked to play, doing what she was asked to do.
But in spite of the DNC's best efforts, The Unity Show is laying an egg with audiences -- especially Clinton donors and supporters, the very people for whom it is aimed.
Maybe someday it will become a cult classic with Obama supporters having midnight showings, wearing Pelosi and Dean masks and squealing with delight as he throws Wright, the Trinity Church and his seal under the bus, but for now the show gets another performance at the Mayflower on Sunday night. And after the kidnapped heroine makes her entrance, reads her lines, and the show is over, its going to be obvious that it's not Clinton who needs saving but the Democratic Party. And if Obama, Dean and Pelosi should somehow rub their hands together and think they can save it by throwing democratic principles into a vat of acid, and hold a convention without Clinton's name on the ballot and no roll call vote, the next horror show will be at the Democratic Convention in Denver. And that one will be rocky.
Posted by Marc Rubin at 1:25 PM 28 comments:
Labels: The Baracky Horror Unity Show
AN OBAMA SUPPORTER EXPLAINS IT ALL TO US.
Since so much of what Barack Obama has had to say has sounded like nonsense and snake oil to so many people and since many people consider him to be an underhanded and dishonest politician that cant be trusted , and given that he has recently made news by reversing himself and breaking his pledge on public financing, embracing the anti-civil liberties telecom immunity bill and making statements about Jerusalem that has angered both sides, I decided the best way to find out what it was about Obama that attracted his supporters was to ask one.
MR: So tell me, what has Senator Obama ever accomplished
that qualifies him to be President of the United States?
OS: There you go again playing the old politics of the past.
MR: So accomplishment is the old politics of the past?
OS: Yes.
MR: So the new politics, the one Senator Obama and you
support and represent is that you don't have to
actually have done anything to be President.
OS: Senator Obama represents hope.
MR: Hope for what?
OS: Hope.
MR: Hope for hope?
MR: I see.
OS: And Senator Obama represents change.
MR: What kind of change? from what to what?
OS: Just change.
MR: But it has to be change from something to something.That's
what change is.
OS: Senator Obama stands for a new change in Washington
and a new change in politics, ejecting the old
politics of the past.
MR: The old politics where you had to actually
accomplish something
OS: Yes.And hope and change.
MR: But you cant say what kind of hope and change
OS: Not yet.
MR: Why not?
OS; He hasn't told us yet.
MR: Do you expect him to?
OS: I don't know.
MR: What kind of change are we talking about?
OS: A new beginning.
MR: Wouldn't anyone represent a new beginning after 8 years
of Bush?
OS: Not this kind of beginning.
MR: And what kind of beginning is that?
OS: A beginning of hope and change.
MR: If Senator Obama represents change from the old
politics why did he use an old Washington insider to
vet his vice- presidential candidates and then have
to dump him because he was involved in shady loans deals?
OS: You're using that as a distraction.
MR: What's it distracting from?
OS: Senator Obama's message.
MR: And what message is that?
OS: Hope and change.
MR: Senator Obama broke his pledge to finance
his campaign with public money, something he
promised during the primary. He went back on
his word.
OS: Sometimes you have to.
MR:.Why?
OS: To fight against the old politics of the past so he
can do what the country needs.
MR: And what's that?
OS: Bring hope and change.
MR: Hope and change for what?
OS: For what matters.
MR: What matters?
OS: Hope and change
MR: Okay so what would be the single biggest change
Senator Obama would accomplish if he were elected?
OS: He's African American.
MR: That's not an accomplishment that's genetics.
OS: You're being divisive. That would be a big change.
MR: But when the country elects the first black President
shouldn't it be because he or she is the best candidate
and the fact that they are black be totally besides the
point?
OS: No. It's about hope and change.
MR: Is it hope for change or hope and change
OS: Either one. its up to you.Its all good.
MR: So it doesn't matter.
OS: No.And he can unify people and bring them together.Help
us over come the divisions that divide us.
MR: Then why is the Democratic Party the most divided in
it's history with almost half the party against him and
most refusing to vote for him?
OS: Uneducated racist Clinton voters.
MR: What flavor Kool-Aid is that?
OS: Cherry.
Posted by Marc Rubin at 12:37 PM 27 comments:
Labels: An Obama supporter explains it all
OBAMA'S SEAL OF DISAPPROVAL
It's interesting how the mind works.On one level it always wants to tell the truth and sometimes it devises ways to do it on its own even when someone consciously is trying to hide it. That's why people slip up.
Obama's unveiling of his fake presidential seal seems like the perfect example. Its almost as if its both he and his advisors' way of getting the truth out about Obama's and his candidacy.The symbolism of a fake Presidential seal is hard to miss.
After capping off probably the worst first two weeks any supposed Presidential nominee ever had, two weeks where he angered Muslims, Jews, civil libertarians, Democrats who opposed the telelcom immunity bill, and the editorial boards of every newspaper that had endorsed him because of backing out of his pledge on public campaign financing, Obama did what any thoughtful, serious, reflective serious, nominee for President would do. -- he unveiled his own fake Presidential seal. Not the kind that flaps their fins and catches fish in mid air. He already has enough of those with Keith Olbermann, Arianna Huffington, Newsweek and the rest of the news media swallowing everything he throws their way.
This one is supposed to make him look presidential which if you think about it, shows how unpresidential he really is, since if you are Presidential you don't need a prop to make you look like you are. It was obvious they needed a political strategy, something to make him look Presidential because obviously nothing coming out of his mouth has. So in pure Obama fashion they discarded substance and came up with something that looks like it came off the wall of a Knights of Columbus rec room.
No one knows exactly where it came from. One inside rumor has it that he saved box tops and mailed them to Kellog's in Battlecreek Michigan to cash in on their "very own Presidential seal" offer but the box tops didn't count because they were fraudulent. Supposedly Senator Levin intervened and Kellog's sent it anyway. But this is unconfirmed. The other speculation is that it came from a store in Chicago that makes bowling trophies.
But actually, in the end this seal is going to have a very real and useful function. It's going to function exactly the same way the real Presidential seal functions. Its going to remind people of who he is.
Speaking behind a phony Presidential seal is going to be a reminder of everything else that's fake that the seal represents. All the lies, deceptions, deceits and conceits that has earmarked his entire campaign, from his lies about his relationship to Wright and the Trinity Church to NAFTA, Iraq, and his current lies and reversals of the last two weeks. It will act as a warning label, reminding people that when he speaks no one needs to listen because what he has to say isnt any more genuine than the seal he is standing behind.
The seal itself is so preposterous and clownish, it's almost as if Obama is intentionally trying to make a fool of himself and he is succeeding, exhibiting the kind of behavior crisis counselors describe as a cry for help, as if he were saying "I'm over my head and I know it, I know I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing, I've suckered all these people in but now what? What am I going to do? Help me. Get me out of this".
And possibly super delegates who declared for him will do just that, since every day Obama is helping them come to their senses. Which is another reason that Senator Clinton's name needs to be on the ballot in Denver. Aside from the fact that there is a moral obligation to let the democratic process play out and for Senator Clinton's candidacy to be recognized, the Democrats and super delegates need to be in a position to make a choice. They clearly need a safety net. Any attempt by Howard Dean and the DNC to remove Clinton's name from the ballot for the sake of an appearance of party unity that would be as genuine as Obama's seal, would not only destroy any chance the Democrats would have for an alternative, it would also be met with mass desertions from the party by most of Clinton's 18 million voters.For them, taking her name off the ballot would be the last straw. And given the way Obama is going this is not what the DNC needs.
Anyone who had the two weeks Obama's had, would, one would think, lay low and regroup. After all, losing the person you put in charge of vetting your vice presidential candidates because of shady loan deals, adding Muslim women to the list of all the other women he's insulted,making statements about Jerusalem, the thorniest problem in the Middle East and then reversing himself within 24 hours angering Israelis, American Jews and Palestinians who all are now united in thinking that he is an idiot who cant be trusted, then angering most liberal Democrats with his embrace of the telecom immunity bill, and as if that wasn't enough, topping it off by going back on his pledge to publicly finance his campaign showing how shamelessly he can lie and angering editorial boards all across the country who feel betrayed, would not, to a sane person, call for the unveiling of your own fake Presidential seal. But this is Obama. Always looking for something to hide behind. Always looking to put out more snake oil in the hopes that people will buy. Maybe he's been hoping the Philadelphia Inquirer will see this as another "Lincoln moment".
As the Obama people have been saying for months, this is the candidate of change. He is certainly the first candidate to unveil his own Mother's Best Boy Presidential seal. No one can deny that. But he is showing super delegates and the Democrats who have supported him that, as every day goes by, he is becoming not so much the candidate of change, but the reason to change candidates. And it's possible that in Denver super delegates are going to do just that and give him their own seal of disapproval that he can take back with him to Illinois.
NOTE: For those of you who haven't heard, Fox News reported last night that Obama has decided to drop the seal. Either that or Kellog's demanded he return it. This might eventually make it's way into the language. From now on when someone does something incredibly stupid people can say, "He dropped the seal".
FURTHER NOTE: THE DENVER GROUP, a new PAC whose goals are to make sure Senator Clinton's name is on the ballot and that there is a roll call vote at the convention in Denver is now up and running and accepting contributions.
Posted by Marc Rubin at 10:49 AM 32 comments:
Labels: Obama's seal of disapproval
OBAMA'S AMATEUR NIGHT CANDIDACY AND WHY THE DEMOCRATS NEED AN OPEN CONVENTION NOT AN OPEN MIC NIGHT
Howard Dean,Nancy Pelosi, the press and super delegates supporting Obama never seemed to understand that running for the Presidency of the United states isn't the same as having open mic night at the DNC.
In the last two weeks alone Barack Obama's candidacy has had a lot more in common with amateur night at the Comedy Store than anything resembling a serious candidate for President
But a funny thing has happened to Obama on his way to Denver. No one is laughing. Obama's act is bombing. And even Howard Dean, Pelosi, Obama's supporters and the super delegates sitting in the audience are looking grim. And for good reason. Obama's act isn't funny. Except to those who didn't vote for him.
In less than two weeks Obama, the candidate who said he was ready to be President on day one, has had Jim Johnson, the person he put in charge to vet Vice Presidential candidates resign within days of his appointment because of questions over shady loans, he angered Muslims, probably all over the world but especially in the US because he removed two Muslim women who were sitting directly behind him because he didn't want them to be seen, then Mr. Agent of Change reversed himself and broke his pledge to have his campaign publicly financed showing for the millionth time his word means absolutely nothing, and last but certainly not least, he told an audience of 7,000 Jews that he completely supported an undivided Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and then 24 hours later after the Palestinians went ballistic, reversed himself again trying, almost hilariously, to say that he didn't make himself clear about what he meant by "undivided".
What he managed to do within a 24 hour time span, was completely shred his credibility with both Israelis' and Palestinians on the most important and difficult foreign policy question in the Middle East.
It looks like Obama is going to have to find another introduction to his act by Howard Dean, his possible MC, who is not going to be able to introduce him as "Mr. Words Matter," or "The Change Candidate". Some people are saying Obama sounds like a loose cannon, but given his campaign slogan maybe from now on he'll be referred to as "loose change".
It hasn't taken Obama long to show what more than half the Democratic party saw throughout the primary. There is no talent or skill there other than for lying and deception and duping the easily duped, and he is leaving no one laughing. Least of all the DNC. Jerry Seinfeld would make a better President.At least he would leave them laughing.
But for the DNC and the Democrats chances in the fall its no laughing matter. Before he has even become the official nominee ( and if the Democrats have an open and honest convention with Clinton's name on the ballot and a roll call vote anything can happen) he has had the person charged with vetting his Vice Presidential candidates resign, he has destroyed his credibility with both Israelis and Palestinians, he has insulted Muslims which can do us no good whatsoever in the war on terror, he has alienated those who believe in campaign finance reform, including the editorial boards who supported him for his position on that, but one thing he has done -- he has miraculously unified Israelis, Palestinians and Muslims who all now collectively agree that he is an idiot.
This should come as no surprise. Obama has lied, backtracked and changed his story repeatedly throughout the campaign, most evident in the Wright episode displaying the same lack of credibility and character we have come to expect. He did the same during the Florida and Michigan controversy, running on a campaign slogan that "voices must be heard" then doing everything he could to keep the voices in Florida and Michgian from counting simply to furhter his own personal ambitions. The press chose to ignore all this rank dishonesty and instead of holding his feet to the fire, acted like it was nothing.
The press actually praised his attempt to wriggle out from under the lies he was caught telling in the Wright episdoe with his Philadelphia speech, the "I am not a crook" moment which the same editorial writers who praised Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq called his "Lincoln Moment".
Following his "Lincoln Moment", Obama lied to the people of Ohio about his position on NAFTA, misrepresented his position on Iraq which was revealed by one of his former foreign policy advisors and after the Wright episode where he lied repeatedly about his relationship to him and his church,what he knew, when he knew it, and majestically said he couldn't disown Wright or his church, any more than he could disown his own grandmother or the entire black community disowned both Wright and his church when it became to his political advantage to do so..We are still waiting news on his grandmother. And probably so is his grandmother.
Then we had this great line from Obama's Memorial Day speech, something Im sure even Seinfeld envied.
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors it's unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience today..."
Okay now that was funny.But not if your Howard Dean, the DNC or super delegates supporting him. And not if you were a Democrat hoping to take back the White House which is looking more and more remote every day as long as Obama is the nominee. But maybe now super delegates are starting to see why the majority of the party voted against him in the first place. And why Clinton supporters kept using the term "drinking the Kool-Aid".
But there is still something that can be done and Howard Dean needs to do it. He needs to insure the Democratic Convention in August is an open convention not a coronation. And not the open mic night Obama's candidacy has become.
There is a better act waiting in the wings. Hillary Clinton has not withdrawn her name as a candidate. She hasn't released her delegates. Her campaign is suspended, not over. Obama's actual pledged delegate lead over Clinton is only 1% -- a lead of only 77 delegates not counting the 55 disputed delegates he didn't win and didn't earn in the Michigan compromise that the Clinton campaign said they would take to the credentials committee.And lets not forget that Hillary Clinton is the winner of the popular vote.
Howard Dean and the DNC need to have an open convention with Hillary Clinton's name on the ballot which is what should happen in any case. They must have a roll call vote as the democratic process dictates, so that delegates for Clinton, duly elected have their voices heard and the votes recorded and also so that super delegates can do what they were supposed to do in the first place -- use their judgment to pick the best nominee -- not the judgement of someone with a lower job approval rating than George Bush which is what Nancy Pelosi has, and not Dean's judgement, but their own. It is the only sensible thing to do, and the only thing that can give the Democratic Party time to ensure the best candidate is the nominee.
Obama as the Democratic Presidential candidate has already become the bad joke a lot people thought he would be. And it should be obvious by now that he is not going to leave anyone laughing. Instead the time may be coming for Obama to simply flick the ash off his cigar and say, "Say goodnight Michelle". And if he doesnt, the Democrats still have that cane.
NOTE: THE DENVER GROUP is a new PAC that will be seeking to insure that Howard Dean and the DNC have an open convention and that Clinton's name will be on the ballot and that there will be a roll call vote which the democratic process demands. The PAC should be up and running by Tues and ready to accept contributions.
Labels: Obama's Amateur Night
GORE ENDORSES OBAMA, DEAN AND PELOSI RELEASE TIPPER UNHARMED
I don't know if Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi and the DNC had gotten so desperate they kidnapped Tipper to get Gore's endorsement, but they were probably close. Al Gore endorsed Barack Obama and most people yawned. So what else is new? It wasn't anything that wasn't expected. But what it is notable is that it came two weeks after Hillary Clinton endorsed Obama.
There is no doubt that he was pressured heavily by Howard Dean, Pelosi the Axelrod of Evil and the DNC to come out and endorse Obama. Does anyone think he just forgot? The longer Gore waited the worse it looked for Obama and a lot of people in the Obama camp were wondering what he was waiting for.
Gore was being nothing more than a grudging party loyalist, doing what was asked to do, and whose lack of endorsement to date was speaking volumes by it's omission. It's obvious he was asked, cajoled, then finally pressured, then ultimately gave in and came out for Obama.
Given the pathological fear of losing that infects Dean and Pelosi, the pressure must have been enormous. How would you like to hear Nancy Pelosi suffer shortness of breath in your ear? Gore gave them the nightlight, pacifier and endorsement they needed and you can almost imagine Pelosi fanning herself in the parlor moments later.
The truth is if Gore were really enthusiastic about Obama he would have endorsed him a long time ago. I couldn't help but notice that while Pelosi and Dean where whipping super delegates like Egyptian taskmasters to declare for Obama on June 5th, Gore was strangely silent. Moses seemed to have escaped. But last night after either a lot of begging and pleading and "Al, if you don't do it now it looks bad", or Tipper being held captive somewhere, Gore came out and endorsed who he thinks is probably going to be the nominee of the party. And he did it for the sake of the kind of party unity that Dean, Pelosi and the DNC are still in fantasyland about.
The real point about Gore's endorsement is this: Since Hillary Clinton's speech two weeks ago the choices for President looked like they had come down to either Obama or McCain. And for two weeks Al Gore couldn't make up his mind.
Posted by Marc Rubin at 9:40 AM 12 comments:
JIM JOHNSON, OBAMA STANDARDS AND WHY CLINTON VOTERS ARE SAYING "I TOLD YOU SO".
In his first official act since becoming the likely Democratic nominee the first thing Obama did was put a man in charge of vetting vice presidential candidates, Jim Johnson, who had to resign within days because of questions about loans he received from companies involved in the U.S. housing crisis.
Most people see this as not just a political and PR disaster but more proof of how bad Obama's judgement really is --the same bad judgement he has shown throughout his political career when he has had to show any judgment at all. It is also proof of how low his standards not to mention his competence really are.
This is the candidate whose campaign theme was bringing change to Washington. But the only change Obama has brought so far is his loose change. The first time he gets to appoint anyone to do anything the candidate of change appoints a long time Washington D.C. insider who has been around the Washington political scene for decades who then has to resign within days because of reports of shady loan deals. This is who Obama chose to do the vetting of his Vice Presidential candidates.
This is the likely Democratic nominee who claimed Clinton represented the old politics of the past, and that he was the change candidate. But he is revealing more and more that he is the snake oil salesman many thought he was from the beginning.
What we saw with the Johnson episode was not rejecting the politics of the past but an episode from Obama's politics of the past. The same politics, lack of judgment, low standards and lack of a moral compass that had him involved with Rezko, (who has now been convicted of fraud), Jeremiah Wright, and Obama's facile serial lying about the church that he said "wasn't particularly controversial", the sermons he said he never knew about except that he did but was never there to hear them except that he was, that he wouldn't disown Wright or his church any more than he'd disown his own grandmother and don't forget the vacation land in Florida he wants to sell you where you can be neighbors with Keith Olbermann and Bill Richardson.
So maybe it wasn't simply incompetence on Obama's part. Maybe Johnson was vetted well enough after all and Obama is so used to consorting with shady people he didn't care. Or even worse didn't notice. Either way things have not gotten off to a good start for Obama and his candidacy.
Now that the whole country, Nancy Pelosi,Howard Dean, and those brave political Neanderthals known as super delegates are getting a good look at just how incompetent and unqualified Obama is, now that his precocious high school level speeches designed to impress the easily impressed have no audience and he actually has to do something, I'm sure the entire side of the DNC that engineered this political disaster in the making are squirming and eyeing each other out of the corners of their eyes not daring to say a word while Clinton voters are having a good laugh, sitting back with their popcorn and enjoying every minute of this fiasco while saying "I told you so". And everyone will have their popcorn ready and waiting for the next Obama disaster to strike which it most surely will.
But is this really coming as a surprise? Dean and Pelosi and super delegates all chose to ignore Obama's serial lying concerning Wright and his church and his relationship there which showed from day one just how bad his judgement was. And so did most of the news media. They were all wrapped up in the idea of the "the first black president" even if he had no accomplishments, no character, no judgment no convictions beyond his own political ambition and never did a thing in his life to prove he had the ability to do any of the things he said he could do. The only conviction that he's ever been associated with is Rezko's.
Like those of us who knew Iraq was a huge mistake, we knew Obama was a mistake from the beginning.And we saw the same kind of spinelessness that kept the press from nailing Bush on Iraq at work with Obama because the press runs in a herd and they run on fear and their biggest fear is to be out there on their own when they prefer the safety of saying and doing what everyone else is saying and doing.
In Bush's case the press was afraid of being called unpatriotic. Katie Couric told of getting calls from the administration that she found intimidating and she actually thinks that feeling intimidated is an excuse for her caving in and buckling under to the pressure. In the case of Obama, the intimidation is being afraid of being called racist, or, not properly supportive enough of "the first black candidate for President:" even if he does say things like --
"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes, and I see many of them in the audience today..."
Not exactly Colin Powell. This is more than just a gaffe.That one sentence tells you all you need to know about Obama -- how truly empty he is. He is so used to just spewing nonsense, wrapping it some glossy wrapping paper and getting away with it that he himself isn't even paying attention to what he is saying anymore. This is from the candidate who said " words matter".
It is not possible for anyone much less a candidate for President, who has an ounce of sincerity to utter a sentence like that.And on Memorial Day no less. This is also the candidate who told a Chicago journalist at his book signing when he was still in the Illinois state legislature, "Maybe I ought to go back to the senate and actually do something".
It also tells you all you need to know about the press' standards, which aren't that different from Obama standards, since most of them also let it pass. Maybe because it was as much a reflection of their own inept judgement or their discomfort at realizing that they were taken in by a snake oil salesman, as much as anything else. Remember this was the candidate whose speech in Philadelphia they found "Lincolnesque".
There are two months to go before the convention. Clinton has only suspended her campaign not ended it. There is still time for Howard Dean to come to his senses assuming he has any left and make sure Hillary Clinton's name is on the ballot.Then let the process play out and see if after a few more bad decisions from Obama which are surely to come, super delegates are willing to make the same mistake twice. After what we've seen at Obama's first official attempt at doing anything, they might not.
IS THE DNC EXPECTING 1968 IN 2008?
Is the DNC preparing for 1968?
No one knows if Howard Dean and the DNC are taking seriously the threat of massive demonstrations against the strong arm tactics of the DNC this year but it seems that the city of Denver is taking it seriously.
A report on Fox News indicates that the city of Denver might be preparing some controversial methods of crowd control against demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention in August. Denver has refused to release information on the kinds of security equipment it purchased with a $50 million grant to be spent on security measures for the Democratic national convention and the ACLU has filed suit to make them public, so far unsuccessfully.
But this something that the Howard Dean-Nancy Pelosi wing of the DNC brought completely on themselves.
First there was the miscalculation Dean made in creating the Florida and Michigan mess which laid the groundwork for the claims that the democratic process was subverted ( which it certainly was) that will be motivating many of the demonstrations. Secondly, there is the fact that the powers that be tied Clinton's hands when she tried to hit back at Obama's attacks which resulted in the feelings of many that there was not a level playing field. And last but not least there was the rush to judgment by Dean and Pelosi insisting that they have a nominee now and pressuring super delegates to make their choices within days of the last primary and not wait till August.
Between Dean's wrecking ball to swat a fly decision to ban the delegates of Florida and Michigan and Pelosi making the statement that super delegates had an obligation to declare according to whoever had the delegate lead in an attempt to pressure the vote in favor of Obama, (if that were the case there would be no need for super delegates in the first place, the DNC Rules would just be whoever had the most delegates wins) the majority feels the whole process was manipulated to achieve a preconceived result.
Super delegates following Pelosi's lead then made their decisions and declared for the popular vote loser. And not just the popular vote loser but the loser of every metric used to gauge the strength of a political candidate. The rationale was that Obama had the most pledged delegates, a 77 delegate lead out of more than 4000 and a lead created solely by victories in outmoded caucuses where the process heavily favored Obama's demographic, not to mention the reports of widespread cheating by Obama supporters at these caucuses ( I myself was contacted by a Clinton delegate who told me about cheating by Obama supporters that she witnessed at a caucus site).
Given all this, what did Dean and the DNC expect? That no one would notice? Or just that people would follow like sheep?
Right now the only people on their way to slaughter is the Democratic Party, first in August, then in November. They have a hornet's nest brewing of their own making and unless they take steps between now and August to fix it they are facing a convention where more than half the party is going to stand against their nominee. They can expect speeches of protest from pro Clinton speakers, demonstrations outside the convention hall against Obama, Dean, Pelosi and the way the process was manipulated, and protests against the same from inside the convention hall.
But they still have time to fix it. And it's simple. The way to fix it is to have Hillary Clinton's name on the ballot at the convention. You know, like an election. And let the convention function the way it's supposed to and for its stated purpose -- to choose a nominee.
Let both sides make their arguments and speeches in support for their respective candidates. Then let super delegates, given the Democrats bizarre nominating system, do what they are supposed to do -- cast their votes for who they believe is the candidate that is both the will of the majority of the Democratic Party and who also has the best chance of winning in November.
Neither Dean nor Pelosi will like that remedy because it will make them look foolish. But given the fact that more than half the party thinks they should both resign, they already look worse than foolish.
Putting Clinton's name on the ballot and letting the process play out will fix some of the damage done by Dean and Pelosi. It's the best they can do now. And it will give a platform to the majority of the party who feel the whole process was manipulated in favor of an agenda to push a questionable candidate with no credentials, no accomplishements and a lot of political baggage, just to fulfill a false set of expectations created by a biased news media, Obama supporters and the Obama campaign itself.
The majority of the party will get their platform. It's up to Dean and the DNC to decide where it will take place. Either inside the convention hall where it belongs as part of the democratic process or on the streets of Denver. It will be up to Dean and the DNC to decide whether they will let the convention choose the nominee by having Clinton's name on the ballot. If they do, it will keep 1968 where it belongs. In the history books.
NOTE: Life imitates art. The information circulating in the last hour is that Dean is moving DNC operations to Chicago to be closer to Obama's home base. So it may really be Chicago 1968 even before they get to the convention.
Labels: Is the DNC expecting 1968?
AFTER MATH: HOW DEMOCRATS FAIL MATH, LOSE ELECTIONS,THINK MC2=E AND THEN IMPLODE.
This has been a historic primary. Historic for many reasons but it was historic in one way that hasn't gotten a lot of attention. This was the first time in the history of Democratic Presidential primaries that the person with the most votes lost.
This came about because the insane Democratic apportionment system which gives almost as many delegates to a landslide loser as a landslide winner, didn't produce a clear cut nominee. So super delegates are asked to do something you hate to see a Democratic elected official do -- exercise their political judgment and pick the candidate they think has the best chance to win in the fall.
Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Howard Dean insisted it had to be done now even though the convention was 2 months away. And why? Because Pelosi, Reid, Dean and the Obama wing of the party are trying to sell a candidate with a resume and a list of accomplishments that you can read faster than a value meal menu and they didn't think Obama could stand up to 2 more months of Hillary Clinton. Given the way Clinton finished and Obama limped to the finish line they might have been right.
But what did super delegates do when they exercised their political judgment? They looked at the popular vote and decided to choose the candidate the majority of voters in the Democratic Party voted against. They looked at the delegate count and saw that, not counting the 55 disputed Michigan delegates, Obama ended with a delegate lead of 77 out of over 4000 even though the democratic apportionment system awarded Obama over 700 delegates in states where he lost by landslide margins. They saw that Clinton was the winner of the 13 biggest and most populous states in the country won every big state in the northeast, took the industrial midwest, the entire southwest from Oklahoma to Nevada, Kentucky, W.Va Tennesse, Florida, Michigan, and California by landslide margins and decided they wanted the loser. And now they've got him and half the Democratic Party is ready to defect.
Clinton's 19 million voters are not politicians.They wont say one thing and do another. If 50% - 80% of them say they will won't vote for Obama they wont vote for Obama. They will vote for McCain or a third party candidate or not vote but they will not vote for Obama.
Exit polls showed 80% of Clinton voters in Kentucky said they won't vote for Obama, The same is true for W.Va. Exit polls in Ohio and Pa, showed that at least 50% of Clinton voters said they won't vote for Obama. In New York the number was 30% but its a good bet that if 30% are saying it 60% will do it. So how is Obama going to possibly win without the support of half the Democratic Party? Almost everyone agrees the Democrats needed Florida to win. So what are Obama's chances of winning Florida? About the same as Fidel Castro's.
The way it looks now there are going to be mass defections from the Democratic party and its not going to be as Clyburn or Obama may try and make it appear, over race. Its going to be because of an spectacularly unqualifed candidate, an unfair process, blatant sexism, party elders that played favorites and said nothing when Obama attacked Clinton in an underhanded way but was all over Clinton if she hit back and pressuring super delegates to declare now and to declare for the pledged delegate winner when the all the primary results taken into account showed that Clinton was clearly the stronger candidate.
They short circuited a process that should have been allowed to play out at the convention by more of out of their own fears than anything else. And by not letting it play out at the convention all they did was create a hornets nest of angry and resentful Clinton voters who felt that Obama was the candidate the party elders wanted in the first place and stacked the deck against Clinton. And now more than half the party is going to defect in the fall.
Because the results of the primary was so close and both were groundbreaking candidacies and given how much there was at stake, there was nothing very smart, politically or otherwise, about not giving everyone time to let things sort themselves out.
If they had allowed super delegates to take their time and wait until August, let everyone have their say, let the process play itself out, let everyone air their thoughts and feelings and let everyone make their case until a decision was made at the convention there might have been time to mend fences and everyone would have gotten what they had to say out of their system which is partly what the convention is supposed to be about in the first place.But that would have been too smart for Pelosi and Dean.
Instead the Democratic leadership ( if that isnt an oxymoron I dont know what is) decided to play Mayor Daly with Clinton voters ( for those who don't get the reference Google "Mayor Daly,Democratic Convention, 1968), out of fear that the process would go on too long and possibly damage the Obama kewpie doll, so they shouldn't be too surprised if what they get at the convention is protests of every kind, delegates getting up and walking out, delegates refusing to make the nomination unanimous by acclimation, a party split in half and the potential of Obama giving his acceptance speech in a half empty convention hall.
What the powers that be in the Democratic party want in August is a coronation and so they forced the issue, and super delegates actually ignored the math instead of using it. Then they selected the weakest, most unqualified unprepared candidate for President in history. Which may be this year's punch line to the question, "how are the Democrats going to lose this time?" Instead of a coronation what they might have to look forward to is a revolution. Unless they can figure out some way to fix it.
Labels: AFTER MATH: HOW DEMOCRATS LOSE ELECTIONS
THE CONCESSION SPEECH OBAMA MADE
My first reaction to Clinton's speech was that Chelsea Clinton was tied to a chair bound and gagged in an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Washington and as soon as the speech was over she was set free by Bill Richardson and Nancy Pelosi.
That speech was nothing less than the best endorsement either candidate received from anyone through the entire process.
But the more I listened the more I started to realize that it wasn't Clinton's concession I was listening to. It was Obama's.
Naturally Clinton would have preferred to be the candidate and so did the majority of the party who voted for her -- that same majority who Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and super delegates thumbed their noses at last week and which may cost them the election.
But a few days ago, unlike James Clyburn who likes to send out subliminal race baiting messages, Clinton sent a message that was anything but subliminal. It was a message that she sent loud and clear.And right out in the open.And she sent it right to Obama and his campaign.
She said it over and over again just to make sure they got it. "what does Hillary want? What does she want?" then just to make sure they understood she said it again, two more times. "What does Hillary want"?
You know that Obama and the Axelrod of evil got the message because the next day Obama was on a plane to Washington. Obama and Clinton met privately. At her home.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but McCain didn't go see Huckabee and he didn't go see Romney. And the VP candidates that McCain is considering also went to see him, he didn't go see them.Obama went to see Clinton because he understood that he couldnt win without her and that she wanted something and that if he wanted her support there was something he was going to have give.
And so he went, and they met privately, and based on her speech, she got what she wanted.
I don't know if Obama left that meeting with Clinton's footprints all over his back but the more I listened to the speech the more I realized that whatever she wanted he agreed to. Her speech on Saturday was Clinton holding up her end of the bargain.
What that price was, I have no idea. Whether wanted the VP slot or whether it something else. Clinton doesnt need the VP slot. She has a lot of options including keeping them all open. But listening to that speech she certainly sounded like a VP candidate stumping for the top of the ticket and doing it better than Edwards ever did it for Kerry or Lieberman ever did it for Gore or either of them could ever do for Obama.
Clinton made a speech that was so praiseworthy of Obama it was better than anything Obama's own mother could have given. It was better than Oprah. In fact it was better than any speech Obama ever gave about himself. She said everything the Democratic Party leadership ( if that isn't an oxymoron I don't know what is) wanted her to say. And did all she could have in that speech to promote the idea of unity.
But with a large percentage of Clinton voters sure to defect because they wont vote for Obama for any number of valid, substantive reasons and others because they are so disgusted with the Democratic Party and the way they subverted and trashed the entire process they want to teach the party a lesson, the question will be, even with Clinton's endorsement, even if she is on the ticket as VP will it be enough to win?
Obama is hoping it will. He made his concession speech the other night. In private. To one person. But that was the only person who mattered. Whatever Lola wanted, Lola got.
NOTE: If Clinton does not release her delegates, technically she is still a candidate;. If polls next week start to show that Obama will have an uphill climb against McCain now that people are going to focus on him as the candidate, then, showing that she has been a team player and doing all that she could have done in that speech to support him, will make it a lot easier for super delegates to change their minds once again before making it official at the convention. And if by August it should start to look like McCain has a huge lead instead of it being a competitive race, changing their minds is exactly what some super delegates might do.
NOTE #2.: Donna Brazille said on CNN back in February when Clinton had a substantial lead in declared super delegates that " if super delegates decide this nomination Im resigning from the Democratic Party". We're still waiting.
THE RACE MAY BE OVER, BUT RACE ISN'T
As everyone is well aware, deep divisions have been created by the Obama campaign between Obama and Clinton's supporters. Much of the resentment comes from the free pass given by the press and Democratic Party leaders to some of the most damaging cracks and fissures in a person's character ever seen in a candidate for President.
There were also Obama's famous guns and religion comments which alienated most of small town rural America and his underhanded bullying tactics, snide remarks and sexist attitudes towards Clinton which alienated just about all of Clinton's women voters.And then his passive aggressive style which he used to attack by claiming to be the victim, all of which has helped make him the most divisive figure in the history of Democratic politics.
But nothing seemed to divide the party more and cause more anger and resentment than Obama's divisive playing of the race card, the architect of which was James Clyburn of South Carolina.
Obama and the party knows ( or should know) that far from unity, they are right now looking at mass defections with no contributions to either the DNC or the Obama campaign from any of Clinton's supporters. And the stupefying fact is, this is not a disgruntled minority but the majority of the party.Which shows just how out of touch with reality Pelosi, Reid and Dean and super delegates have been.
Everyone in the Obama camp agrees that his first priority was to go about the business of trying to unify the party and Obama stated as recently as yesterday that he was "confident" he could do that. Where that confidence comes from is hard to say. Certainly not from anything connected to reality. And nothing that Obama has ever been able to do in his life. But it didn't take long for even that fantasy to get blown out of the water.
Congressman Clyburn did Obama no favors on PBS last night ( June 4) when he said "there is no doubt that there are people in the Democratic Party who wont vote for Obama because of race".
So, before anyone has even had a chance to take a breath, the Obama campaign was whipping out the race card which is one of the very things Clinton voters resented from the start. And now it's going to get most of them to dig in their heels against Obama even more. And who can blame them? The ugly assertions and underlying message of Clyburn, the subliminal message they are trying to send, the one trick pony that is Clyburn's brainchild, is that if you don't back Obama you are a racist.
Clyburn played the race card in South Carolina and it worked. It not only went unnoticed by the media but 90% of what used to be called the liberal press but which can now be safely described with another "L" word, the lunatic press, took the race bait. Clinton's campaign which should have fought back was passive.The result was that in South Carolina and in every primary since,Obama won 90% of the African American vote.
Judgement was supposed to be one of the hallmarks of Obama's campaign even though everyone on the other side saw that if anything, Obama's judgement left a lot to be desired, especially regarding his 17 year close relationship with Wright. The issue was how he could have continued a close relationship with someone like Wright whose anti American, anti-white and anti-Semitic stances were an integral part of his church. And Obama's judgment for not leaving that church and what it said about him is and was fair game. After all, this is the candidate who proclaimed he had the judgement to be President from day one, and it took him to day 6,253 to sever his relationship with Wright and his church.
Many Chicago journalists have written that they believe it was for political reasons since the church was in the district Obama represented, and if Obama chose to compromise his personal beliefs for his political career that would come as a shock to no one. But Obama has asserted repeatedly that he did not share the beliefs of Wright and many felt, and rightly so, that the issue was not Obama's beliefs but his lack of conviction, not to mention character and judgment that his relationship with Wright brought to light.
But Clyburn has now given people cause to wonder. The race card had already stained and besmirched Obama's candidacy throughout the campaign, but it had been less than 24 hours since Obama talked about post primary unity and an Obama surrogate decided to throw out the race bomb in the typical passive aggressive style that has been the Obama trademark. Attack by playing victim.
Racism as we all know is not an issue. Racism is a disease. And if Clyburn had felt the Democratic party had symptoms of this disease where, by implication, white voters or white members of the party who would not vote for an African American because of racist attitudes, in all his years as a Democratic congressman and a Democratic party insider, he never said a word. Until last night.
Obviously Clyburn and Obama feel that playing the race card worked to get the nomination and maybe they think it will work to try and bully Clinton voters into supporting him this time around. It wont.
It worked to help secure the nomination ( secure it -- not finalize it which can't happen till the convention) but only because super delegates following the lead of Pelosi and Reid, two people with lower job approval ratings than Bush pushed them into it and they followed.
Clyburn's comments last night dragged an already tawdry and underhanded Obama campaign into the mud where its probably going to stay. Simply the word "unity" uttered by anyone remotely connected to the Obama campaign is going to remind people of all the reasons the disunity exists in the first place.
If Obama is indeed the nominee, he is from a practical point of view, going to have to devise a general election strategy that can win without Clinton supporters and their money, all 18 million of them and the influence they will have on independents, because they have lost those voters and wont get them back. And if the party brain trust is feeling that Obama cant win without Clinton voters they should have thought of that before artificially ending the whole process because of their own fears.
Clinton is scheduled to make a speech on Saturday. Everyone knows what the party wants Clinton to say. And if she says all the right things about party unity, Clinton voters understand this is what she is expected to say. It wont mean a thing to her supporters.
There are last straws and there is grasping for straws and Obama went past the last straw with Clinton voters a long time ago but just for good measure Clyburn inadvertently piled one on. Now whistling in the dark they are claiming "confidence" in party unity. But they are grasping for straws and Clyburn's clumsy attempts at "unifying" the party by trying to brand those who don't go along with the program racist just made it a whole lot worse. Irreparably worse.
News reports say that Clinton is going to concede on Saturday. I'm not so sure. She may very well decide enough is enough. But most of the media is reporting that she is going to "suspend" her campaign. And, as usual, most of the media are too stupid and incompetent to know that suspending and ending are two different things.
If Clinton just suspends her campaign and does not concede she is leaving the door open for super delegates to still cast their votes for her in August at the convention. If she does not release her delegates it will mean that while she may not continue formal campaigning, she has not withdrawn. That is the difference between conceding and suspending. The media might have been told that Clinton is going to suspend her campaign and in their usual stupid inept jumping to the wrong conclusion might be assuming that means she is going to quit when she isn't.
On the other hand she may very well do just that and concede. But if she suspends her campaign, if that is the word she uses, if she does not release her delegates, she is not quitting. And a few more comments like the one made by Clyburn could be the reason why.
A NIGHT TO REMEMBER OR A DOG AND PONY SHOW?
Last night Barack Obama, CNN, Tim Russert and the rest of the media proclaimed Obama the Democratic nominee for President. For the 4th time in the last two weeks. What else is new?
It obviously didn't occur to them that according to the rules (remember "the rules"?) that can't happen and wont until the Democratic National Convention nominates someone.Obama has tried to proclaim himself the nominee before with the media's help. And each time they tried to proclaim it, there was nothing real about it. Last night was no exception. It was just another in a long line of media and Obama dog and pony shows for all the reality last night had.
Either intentionally or out of sheer stupidity ( and its probably a combination of both) the media refuses to acknowledge that none of the super delegates proclamations of support count for anything until they are actually cast in August. And all can change their minds as many times as they want between now and then. Meaning that what these super delegates say now carries no more weight than a public opinion poll suggesting who people say they will vote for in the future. And those can and do change every day.
What happened last night carries no more official weight than a poll now showing McCain beating Obama in a general election.The only way Obama can be the nominee now, before the convention is for Clinton to quit And while I have no way of knowing if she will, when her campaign chair introduced her last night as the next President of the United States it doesn't sound a whole lot like she is conceding. Nor should she.
The only way super delegate votes can have any real meaning right now is if she quits. But then super delegates wouldn't be able to change their minds even if they wanted to which doesn't sound like a very good idea given the volatility and changing fortunes of politics, that the convention is more than two months away, and given the fact that we are dealing with people who have made a way of life out of sticking their finger to wind to see which way it happens to be blowing.
The irony is, Clinton actually has more reasons to stay in than Obama does. She did win the popular vote ( for Democratic officials reading this that means more people voted for her than Obama) and her claim that she has received more votes than any Democratic candidate in the history of the primaries is true. Obama's lead of pledged delegates is only 77 out of over 4000 when the 55 challenged Michigan delegates aren't included. And no matter how one wants to look at it, in a winner take all system like the Republicans and the general election Clinton beat Obama for pledged delegates by more than 500.It is only the insane way that Democrats apportion delegates than has allowed Obama to pick up almost 700 delegates in states where he lost by landslides something that seems to have gone over the heads of Democratic super delegates. Without that Clinton is the clear winner.
Given the general ineptitude of Congressional Democrats and Democratic politicians, which is where most of the super delegates come from, it seems like a good idea to give them the ten weeks to the convention to make up their minds. The only reason they are being pushed now is because the Democratic leadership, led by two people who have a lower job approval rating than George Bush want it done for reasons that makes no sense other than these are people who react to nothing but fear.
But the rules which everyone likes to tout say there is no nominee until the convention nominates one. And a super delegate's vote isn't binding until then. To quote Obama supporters, those are the rules. Super delegates who have come out for Obama now would run from him like the plague if events started to re-enforce what many people can see now -- that he would lose badly against McCain.
Obama has finished with a whimper staggering to the finish and looking like a beaten candidate. If the timing were different and Clinton had reeled off these last 9 out of 11 landslide wins two months ago and Obama had won the small mid west caucuses now, Obama would be an afterthought and no super delegate would be supporting him. That is how short sighted and inept politicians can be. So it makes all the sense in the world to give it the two months to the convention and let these super delegates think about what they are doing.If Clinton were to get out now then they are stuck with Obama and there is no going back. Waiting until the convention is the only thing that makes sense for super delegates to do. But sense, common or otherwise is something that has been in short supply among Democrats for the last 8 years. So maybe it is up to Clinton to save the Democratic elite from themselves.
Last night CNN and Tim Russert and the rest of the media carried on as if anything that happened last night was official. It wasn't. And they know it. Nothing super delegates say now is binding and they know that too. But that didn't stop them from pushing the story they want to push. Politicians being what they are, sticking their finger to the wind to see which way its blowing, and sometimes not even getting that right, it is more of a sure bet that in a week if events changed so would their minds.
And even as the news media and super delegates were celebrating their collective wisdom with their usual degree of misplaced certainty, like that close up of the cordial glass in the movie "A Night to Remember" about the sinking of the Titanic, showing the brandy in the glass starting to tilt while the aristocracy played cards, four new polls came out yesterday that showed Obama losing ground and now in a tie with McCain while the same polls showed Clinton beating McCain in all four polls by 4 points.
Clinton should take this to the convention. Its the only lifeboat the Democrats have. If she doesn't, last night may very well be a night to remember for the Democrats. And for the same reason as the first one.
Labels: OBAMA'S DOG AND PONY SHOW
WHY SUPER DELEGATES NEED TO IGNORE PELOSI, REID AND DEAN AND THEIR NERVOUS RUSH TO JUDGMENT
The last time a political leader rushed this county into something, we ended up in Iraq. But last week Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Howard Dean let it be known that they want the uncommitted super delegates to declare within 48 hours of the last primary on Tuesday.
In an election this close where one candidate is going to finish the popular vote winner and the other with a delegate lead of less than 5% out of 4000 delegates, (and a lead that is to say the least, tainted both by the decisions regarding Florida and Michigan and the fact that the Democrats' apportionment system awards almost as many delegates to a candidate who gets crushed as it does to the landslide winner).trying to force super delegates to make up their minds before they actually have to when there is so much to consider makes no sense.
Its an exercise in incompetent leadership which is what you would expect from someone with a lower job approval rating than George Bush which is exactly what Pelosi and Reid have. As for Dean, does the Democratic Party really want listen to what is best for winning a Presidential election from Mr. Yee Hah himself?
Pelosi needs to be told to keep her nose out of it. Pelosi and Reid have achieved what most people would have thought impossible -- they have led the Democratically controlled congress to a lower job approval rating than George W. Bush. If super delegates are to exercise any judgment at all before the week is out it should be to ignore them.
Nancy Pelosi and Reid have demonstrated that they have the political instincts of a couple of drunken sailors on shore leave on Bali on a Saturday night.
Right now all of the metrics for the fall election ( which if Obama gets the nomination is going to be renamed the gall election) favor Clinton by a mile. She performs better than Obama against McCain not only in electoral votes by a substantial margin on the RCP electoral vote map but because she creates more toss up states than he does,with many of the toss ups in McCain's column against Obama, (30 for Clinton 6 for Obama) Obama's totals aren't going to change much and give the Democrats a better chance at winning states that went Republican in 2004 than he does.
With an electoral vote lead of 38 it wouldn't take much of a swing to give McCain the election. And these maps are NOT taking into consideration the reality that if Obama were to get the nomination, 95% of Clinton voters are not going to support him or vote for him. That would change the RCP electoral map substantially in favor of McCain.
Clinton with a 61 vote lead in the Electoral College is more likely to add to that lead because most of the toss up states in a Clinton McCain match up are states that go Republican against Obama. And in the important state that went Republican in 2004 that the Democrats need in November( W.Va, Kentucky, Ohio, Florida) all are in the Republican camp vs Obama but become toss ups with Clinton.
In the Electoral-Vote.com match ups the news is even better for Clinton and worse for Obama.On their map Clinton is leading McCain 327-194 with 17 toss ups with Clinton winning Ohio, W.va, Kentucky, and Florida. The Obama map shows a close race with Obama ahead only 276-238 with 24 toss ups but losing Florida, Ky, and W.Va and barely winning Ohio. And again this map is not factoring in the certainty that Clinton voters will desert the Democratic Party if Obama is the nominee.
There is so much for super delegates to think about that for Pelosi, Reid and Dean to be pressuring anyone to make a decision after the last primary because they are afraid of "damage" being done to the Democrats chances in the fall shows that these are people more worried about not losing than winning. It also shows they are driven by fear and weakness which Pelosi and Reid have shown for two years, getting bamboozled by the Republicans.
The last thing super delegates or anyone in the Democratic party needs to do now at a crucial time is listen to Nancy Pelosi. About anything. A job approval rating lower than George w. Bush qualifies you to stop talking and nothing else.
Obama is finishing out the primary season in a whimper and momentum seems to be on Clinton's side. The metrics for Clinton keep getting better including polls which show her leading now in the Democratic preference for the nomination. This in spite of all of Obama's dog and pony shows trying to act like its over and that he is the winner.
And every day there is something else coming out about Obama that even more assuredly guarantees his defeat, the latest being Obama's recent decision to leave his church over another pastor problem. Dont forget, this is the church that Obama said when the Wright story first broke, was "not particularly controversial". It's getting pretty crowded now under Obama's bus.
More recently is the buzz about a video showing Michelle Obama and Louis Farrakhan together on a panel at Obama's non controversial Trinity Church, with Michelle Obama doing a rant about "whitey".
In other words there is a lot to think about. And a lot that can happen. Super delegates need to digest and deliberate. Two months is a long time in politics and once a nominee is picked there is no going back.
There is more than two months before the convention. Pelosi,Reid and Dean need to be ignored and all their vacuous chicken little reasons for trying to force a decision brushed aside.
If super delegates aren't going to ignore political leaders with a lower job approval rating than Bush, and rush into something when it isn't necessary, then they shouldn't be surprised that if they make the wrong decision, when the convention opens in August, the Democratic Party is going to look like Baghdad.
SUPER DELEGATE WATCH: BILL RICHARDSON'S ADVICE AND REMEMBERING WHO DID WHAT
This from Sunday's NY Times:
"Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who endorsed Mr. Obama nearly two months ago, recently called Gov. Bill Ritter Jr. of Colorado, who has yet to endorse a candidate. "Hey, Ritter!" Mr. Richardson said. "After June 3, it means nothing. Those who take a little bit of a risk, he'll remember you."
Aside from the fact that Richardson sounds like a Mafia soldier trying to convince a capo from another family to come join them, Clinton supporters might want to remember too.
Below is a list of super delegates and elected officials courtesy of Politically Drunk whose constituents voted for Clinton but who have come out for Obama and the political cash contributions made by Obama to their re-election campaigns.
The one under it are undeclared super delegates whose constituents voted for Clinton but who also recieved contributions from the Obama campaign.
Clinton supporters might want to let these super delegates know that they are being watched and, in Bill Richardson's words, will be remembered when the time comes for their re-election.They can also let them know what they can expect if they ignore the will of their own constituents especially those taking money from Obama.
Elected officials whose constituents voted for Clinton but who voted for Obama
Robert Cramer – Alabama
Gov. Janet Napalitano – Arizona
George Miller – California
Gerald McNerney – California - Obama Donation $5,000
Fortney Pete Stark – California
Zoe Lofgren – Cal.
Howard Berman – Cal.
Adam Schiff – Cal.
Henry Waxman – Cal
Linda Sanchez – Cal
Joe Donnely – Indiana - Obama $7,500 Donation
Baron Hill – Indiana – Obama $12,500 Donation
Ben Chandler – Kentucky – wow Obama drew less than 10%
Bill Delahunt – Massachussetts
Gov. Deval Patrick Mass.
Sen. Ted Kennedy Mass. - $10,000 from both candidatesS
en. John Kerry – Mass.
Gov. Bill Richardson – New Mexico
Carol Shea-Porter – New Hampshire
Gov. Brad Henry – Oklahoma
Patrick Murphy – PA Donations from Clinton $2500 Obama $18,826
Sen. Bob Casey – PA
Patrick Kennedy – RI
Charlie Gonzalez - Texas
Eddie Johnson - Texas
Rick Boucher – Virginia
Nick Rahal – WV
Sen. Robert Byrd –WV $10,000 from both candidates
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV – WV - Obama $5000 Donation
Uncommitted delegates whose constituents voted for Clinton and those accepting money from Obama.
Sam Farr – Cal.
Jim Costa – Cal. - Obama Donation $5,000
Bob Filner – Cal
Joe Courtney – Connecticut - Obama $5,000 Donation
Gov. Steve Beshear
KentuckyRep. John Oliver – Massachussetts
Rep. Niki Tsongas – Mass. – Obama $5,000 donation
John Tierney – Mass.
Ed Markey – Mass
Travis Childers – Mississippi
Sen. Frank Lautenberg – New Jersey - Obama $9,000
Gov. John Lynch – New Hampshire
Charlie Wilson – Ohio – Obama $7,000
Marci Kaptur – Ohio
Dennis Kucinich – Ohio
Zack Space – Ohio - Obama $7500
Sen. Sherrod Brown – Ohio $10,000 from both
Dan Boren – Oklahoma
Jason Altmire – PA - Obama $10,000
Tim Holden – PA
Gabriel Gifford – Arizona Obama Donation $9,000
Michael Honda – California
Sen. Jack Reed – RI – Obama $5,000
Lincoln Davis – Tennessee
Bart Gordon – Tennessee
Gov. Phil Bredesen – Tenn.
Nick Lampsen – Texas - Obama $5,000
Alan Mollohan – WV
Gov. Joe Manchin – WV
Posted by Marc Rubin at 9:26 AM 3 comments:
Labels: SUPER DELEGATES AND CONTRIBUTIONS FROM OBAMA
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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William James Finley  (1863–1912) was a 19th-century professional baseball player. He played catcher and outfielder for the 1886 New York Giants. He attended Columbia University and Manhattan College.

Death
Finley died at age 49 from a heart attack in 1912. He is laid to rest in Calvary Cemetery.

References

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1912 deaths
Major League Baseball catchers
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Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens)


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Anthony Kenneth "Tony" Doyle (8 May 1953 – 23 December 1994) was an Australian politician. He was the Labor member for Peats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1985 to 1994.

The son of Ken and Coralie Doyle, he was educated at Ku-ring-gai and then the University of New South Wales, where he received a Bachelor of Arts. He worked as a legal assistant, a clerical assistant with the Australian Broadcasting Commission and as executive officer to the New South Wales Attorney-General. He was also involved in the Labor Party, being secretary of the Umina-Ettalong Branch 1977–84.

In 1985, Doyle was selected as the Labor candidate for the state seat of Peats for the by-election caused by the death of minister Paul Landa. He was successful, and held the seat easily in 1988 and 1991. On 20 December 1994, Doyle quit Parliament, effective immediately, as he was seriously ill after a long battle with AIDS. He died at Umina three days later, aged 41, and became the second successive member for Peats to die suddenly before 50. Tony Doyle died at home, his long-term partner Robert Miles by his side. No by-election was held to replace him due to the proximity of the 1995 election.

References

1953 births
1994 deaths
LGBT legislators in Australia
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
AIDS-related deaths in Australia
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Australian people of Irish descent
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20th-century Australian LGBT people


Bow ties are back in style - not that they ever left - but dressing like a gentleman is all the rage! Help your young gentlemen get spiffed up with this neat bow tie and suspenders set. Carefully matched and styled, these sets are made to complete outfits with a desirable level of class, taste, and an old school style with a modern attitude.
Hanky size: 10" x 10"
Bow tie size: 4.5" x 2.5"