Clinton (D)
SYMPATHY FOR THE SISTERS
If you have a bone of compassion in your body, you gotta feel for the women. This was their year, dude! Finally, finally, 88 years after getting the right to vote, one of their own was poised, on the brink, an easy primary season and a walkover general election away from the presidency.
This was big. This was huge. A woman president. Not Vice President, not Ladies’ Auxiliary President, not Presidentette, but President of The United States of America. The biggest job in the world.
Bill Bucked Kennedy on the Race Issue
Two weeks ago Senator Kennedy had warned Bill Clinton to stop splintering the Democrat party along race lines. Bill did not listen.
Did it cost Hillary the endorsement of the Kennedy Clan?
The Race Is About Race
In what is shaping up to be a presidential race about race the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday showed Barack Obama attracting 47% of the vote while John McCain earns 46%. McCain leads by double digits among White Men and Women while Obama overwhelmingly attracts the black votes 58% to 35%. Obama leads 59% to 35% among those who rarely, never, or occasionally attend Church or other religious services. Among those who attend services at least a couple of times a month, McCain leads 56% to 37%. Obama holds a 52% to 42% advantage over Clinton nationally
Close-in supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign are convinced he never will offer the vice presidential nomination to Sen. Hillary Clinton for one overriding reason: Michelle Obama who is outright hostile toward Hillary.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid may not save the Homeland Security Committee chairmanship for Sen. Joseph Lieberman if he goes through with plans to address the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn. Reid will not kick Lieberman out of the Democrat caucus because he has endorsed McCain. A rumor that is blistering Washington DC is that Lieberman recently approached one prominent supporter of Hillary Clinton with a suggestion that he consider supporting McCain if Barack Obama is nominated.
Hillary appears set to overshelmingly win West Virginia
More States Take Cutting Gasoline Tax Idea.
Forty-six percent (46%) of America’s Likely Voters favor a federal gas tax holiday this summer. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% are opposed and 12% are not sure. Most voters who earn more than $75,000 a year oppose the gas tax holiday. Most who make less than $60,000 a year favor that policy change. Among those make less than $20,000 a year, 62% favor the gas tax holiday while only 11% are opposed
OPEC may decide to increase production taking pressure off of prices and feightening speculators who account for 20-40% of crude oil costs. Analyst say there is an even change crude will fall below $100 a barrel if OpPEC increases production.
It’s not about the party. It’s about the people.
Ah, it’s the political season and the hypocrisy is running rampant. I’ve been hearing for weeks now about how Hillary Clinton has to get out of the race. This recommendation has come from a number of different sources, from the talking heads that deliver the news to George McGovern, a former Clinton supporter who recently turned tail and defected to Obama. But, hey, don’t worry. They’re making this recommendation because it’s good for the party. Continuing the race is not good for the party. I really hate to be the one to point this out to those so much more politically astute than myself, but it isn’t about the party, stupid. It’s about the people. In the end, the process of electing the president belongs to the people and that is exactly what our forefathers intended.
What we know is that there’s still a race. According to the latest CNN estimates, Obama has 1,845 delegates, to Clinton’s 1,686. That’s a difference of 159 delegates. Neither Obama nor Clinton will win the 2,025 delegates needed to take the nomination. * To me that says there is no clear mandate and absolutely no reason for Hillary Clinton to quit. Every single vote should count, and there are still people who want to support Hillary Clinton. The supporters I am referring to are not the not-so-super superdelegates, nor the out-to-pasture former Democratic demagogues, like George McGovern. I am referring to the people who take the time out from their day to visit the polls and cast their votes. Even Nancy Pelosi weighed in on the subject Thursday saying, “The people should all have the opportunity to speak as long as two candidates wish to compete in those primaries and caucuses.”
The use of superdelegates makes a sham of the election process because it allows Democratic Party ‘elitists’ to unduly influence and control the outcome of the election. It takes the power away from the people and that is definitely not what our forefathers intended.
Hillary Clinton is not the first Democrat to take her case all the way to the convention. Gene McCarthy (1968), Ted Kennedy (1980), Gary Hart (1984), and Jesse Jackson (1988) came before her. Let’s allow the political process to play itself out the way it should. The election should not be hijacked by a bunch of political insiders.
*Obama can win the 2,025 with the superdelegates included.
Less Affluent Favor Gas Tax Holiday.
According to a rasmussen Poll released Thursday forty-six percent (46%) of America’s Likely Voters favor a federal gas tax holiday this summer. A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 42% are opposed and 12% are not sure. Most voters who earn more than $75,000 a year oppose the gas tax holiday. Most who make less than $60,000 a year favor that policy change. Among those make less than $20,000 a year, 62% favor the gas tax holiday while only 11% are opposed.
McCain proposed suspending the 18 cents a gallon federal tax and Hillary supports it. Obama opposes it.
Dizzy’s Ten Post Round-Up
Put on your thinking caps. You will definitely find today’s Ten Post Round-Up educational:
1: Why does it seem that people who have a problem with women having abortions seem to have no problem with war?….
2: Gas is almost up to $4.00…
3: 4,327 Florida 10th graders can’t read…
4: Do we really want four more years of GWBs policies?…
John McCain didn’t vote for George Bush in 2000: Has adopted his platform for 2008–Crooks and Liars
5: The woman who helped overturn the law that banned interracial marriage, has passed away (Dizzy and her husband are thankful for that)…
Liar, Liar Pants On Fire - Obama’s Self-Immolation
Just 30% of the nation’s Likely Voters believe Barack Obama denounced his former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, because he was outraged. Most—58%–say he denounced the Pastor for political convenience according to a Rasmussen Poll released Friday. Only 33% of voters believe that Obama was surprised by the views Wright expressed at Monday’s press conference. Fifty-two percent (52%) say he was not surprised.
Fifty-six percent (56%) say it’s at least somewhat likely that Obama “shares some of Pastor Wright’s controversial views about the United States.” Just 7% of the nation’s voters agree with Wright’s views of the United States. African-American voters, by a 64% to 12% margin, disagree with Wright. Seventy-four percent (74%) of Republicans believe it’s somewhat or very likely that Obama shares some of Wright’s views. That assessment is shared by 48% of Democrats and 49% of those not affiliated with either major party.
In Indiana Clinton attracts 46% of the Democrat votes while Obama earns 41%. With just a week to go before Election Day, 13% remain undecided. Clintonleads by nineteen percentage points among White voters. Obama leads 90% to 4% among African-Americans.
In North Carolina Barack Obama leads Hillary Clinton 49% to 40%. Earlier this week, Obama led by fourteen, 51% to 37%. A month ago, Obama led by twenty-three percentage points. Clintonleads by twenty-three points among White voters while Obama leads 74% to 10% among African-Americans. Clintonleads among senior citizens, the candidates split those in the 50-64 age range, and Obama leads among younger voters.
McCain’s 12th Amendment Mêlée - Maybe, Maybe not.
Imagine the disruption if McCain is elected, and sworn in as President and then he is declared ineligible because of the 12th Amendment, and Hillary Clinton finagled her way to the Democrat nomination, and demands to be seated – what a fracas.
Wednesday night the Senate unanimously declared John McCain a natural-born citizen, eligible to be president of the United States. But, the resolution has no legal standing and is only opinion. At least three pending cases are challenging McCain’s right to be sworn in as president. McCain was born to U. S. parents in a U. S. military hospital, on a U. S. base while serving in the U. S. Navy assigned to the then U. S. Panama Canal Zone.
Article II of the Constitution states that “no person except a natural born citizen . . . shall be eligible to the office of president.” The problem is that the Founding Fathers never defined exactly what they meant by “natural born citizen,” and the matter has never been fully tested in court. The same question bubbled up in 2000 but when he failed to get the GOP nomination it fizzled and disappeared.
According to an article in the May 2nd Washington Post, “Curiously enough, there is no record of McCain’s birth in the Panama Canal Zone Health Department’s bound birth registers, which are publicly available at the National Archives in College Park. A search of the “Child Born Abroad” records of the U.S. consular service for August 1936 included many U.S. citizens born in the Canal Zone but did not turn up any mention of John McCain.” There is a copy of a birth certificate citing his birth in the Coco Solo “family hospital.” Coco Solo was where his Dad’s submarine was based.
McCain’s case hasn’t been the only one. Hoover’s Vice President Charles Curtis was born in the territory of Kansas in 1860, a year before it became a state. The 12th Amendment requires that vice presidents possess the same qualifications as presidents. Barry Goldwater, who was born in the territory of Arizona in 1909, three years before it became a state was nominated but didn’t win. Mitt Romney’s father, George Romney, ran for President in 1968, even though he was born in Mexico. Since neither Goldwater nor Romney won the presidency, the “natural born” clause was never tested.
A 1986 Supreme Court ruling states that the United States “exercised sovereignty” over the 10-mile-wide area between 1904 and 1979, when it was handed back to the Panamanians and most think that settles the issue. But, not everybody agrees.
Life Without Rev. “Wrong” And With O’Reilly
“…just terrible, absolutely dreadful,” a prominent supporter of Barack Obama said Monday morning after listening to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s screed at the National Press Club. Obama is hemorrhaging so badly that he is metaphorically simply bleeding to death politically. NPR reporter-Fox commentator Juan Williams, himself black, told Robert Novak Wright’s demagoguery is “ridiculous. I never have heard that in church.” The damage has been severe with Obama’s unfavorable ratings jumping up and his polling numbers falling.
Rev. Wright’s rants, as Obama now calls his pontifications, are simply wrong. Joe Conason says, “So long as a religious or political leader sounds sufficiently “militant” and seems to outrage white people, he (or she) must be not only accepted and excused but celebrated. That is why Minister Louis Farrakhan — the Nation of Islam leader who shares responsibility for the conspiracy to murder Malcolm X and whose theology of hovering spaceships and evil big-headed scientists is highly eccentric, to be polite — enjoys fulsome admiration from the likes of Wright. That is why the Rev. Al Sharpton — who was paid and financed by Republican dirty tricksters in 2004 — still somehow wields influence in the media and politics. And that is why Wright himself can insinuate that the government purposely invented AIDS, and claim that the brains of white and black children function differently (a notion that would rightly be dismissed as racist idiocy coming from a white academic or preacher).”
In contrast to Obama tawdry performance Hillary Clinton was on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor looking the reasonable, measured, thoughtful candidate with good judgment.
The question writ large is, “Can Obama escape his toxic mentor or more specifically be excused for what has turned into a history of a dishonesty about ongoing relationships with the likes of Rev. Wrong?” So far the answer is an emphatic “No.”
Separation of Church and State Really of Religion and Politics.
Separation of church and state was really about separating religion from politics. Before mass media and the internet most Americans heard the news at church and then disseminated it to friends and neighbors. To have someone in a pulpit espouse an idea was tantamont to approval from on high.
The English tradition was originally a church inhabited by the nitwit siblings with less knowledge or ability than an alder brother, and virtually no theological training or even intent. The Puritans, as odd as they may have been, resisted mixing political ideology with what they saw as theology.
Now comes the personal resurrection campaign of Rev. Wright that has put a political expedient Barack Obama who used that church when it was convenient for his ambitions in a tight spot. Irrespective of the relative narcissism of that pair it underscores separation of the religious and the political.
Republicans and Hillary Clinton are giddy watching this brace of monumental egos make the other look hypocritical. Obama tossed Wright overboard Tuesday, and looks all the more duplicitous and disingenuous.
Dizzy’s Ten Post Round-Up
Sometimes it’s hard to believe in the “benevolent brotherhood of man”. Today’s Ten Post Round-Up will probably not make it any easier:
1: The Supremes say it’s OK to require government-issued photo ID card in order to vote…
As Election Nears, Supreme Court Upholds Repressive Voter ID Law–AlterNet
2: The Secret Service rampant with racism?…
Cox reports “Noose allegedly found at Secret Service Training Center” and the Secret Service already has serious problems with racism–AMERICAblog
3: Money-saving tip: A stamp that is always equal to whatever postage is being charged for a 1 oz. letter, forever…
4: Well, it looks like the media has found Jesse Jackson’s replacement…
5: More of your tax dollars at work, supporting the troops, in Iraq…
DynCorp Manager Used Armored Car To Transport Hookers in Iraq–Muckraked
Obama Outspends Clinton But She’s Still Better Against McCain - Maybe
Obama and Clinton have spent a combined $110 million on TV ads up to now in their nearly year long and still in conclusive campaigns for the Democrat presidential nomination. Obama has shelled out nearly $70 million of the total spent so far, Still, it hasn’t necessarily worked in Texas, Ohio and then Pennsylvania. Obama outspent Chinton two to one or more in Pennsylvania and is expected to do the same in next weeks lead up in North Carolina and Indiana. Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence/Campaign Media Analysis Group adds: “Clinton doesn’t have as much money … but if she’s allowed to dictate the tempo, she can make up for that lack of spending.” John Kerry spent a then record $20 million in his failed campaign four years ago.
Hillary Rodham Clinton has a better chance than Barack Obama of beating Republican John McCain, according to a new Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Monday apparently reflecting a “bounce” after her big win in Pennsylvania and repeated revelations about Obama. In a hypothetical head-to-head match up with the GOP nominee-in-waiting; she now leads McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, while Obama remains virtually tied with McCain, 46 percent to 44 percent.
Rasmussen polling has Obama and McCain tied but McCain leading Clinton 47-44%. 37% of Republican voters nationwide now believe the Democratic frontrunner would be the tougher candidate against John McCain. That’s down from 54% earlier this month. An essentially equal number, 35%, now believe Hillary Clinton would be the stronger Democrat in November. That’s up from 20%.Unaffiliated voters are also evenly divided on this question. Forty percent (40%) see Obama as the most electable Democrat while 36% say the same about Clinton. Earlier in April, unaffiliated voters saw Obama as the bigger challenge to McCain.
Howard Dean Clarifies
In an interview today with Tim Russert, alleged new foe of the Democrats, Howard “Dean conceded that there is no set criteria laid out for the superdelegates on how they should vote. “They have to vote with their conscience,” he said. “My personal view is that they should vote for the person who can best beat John McCain.””
Earlier in the interview he said he wants the Super delegates to commit by the end of June because if they go into the convention in Denver divided, they will come out divided. Further he said he has never seen the Super delegates go against the will of the voting majority. He was not clear how Michigan and Florida votes figure into that calculation, but said one way or another they will somehow be seated. That’s clear.
I wonder who he believes can most handily beat John McCain? He did not clarify that and of course it would be an egregious move if he did but it seemed he was making it clear that the Super delegates can meet their original mandate, that of preventing the majority from making “mistakes” as the Democratic leadership believed has happened in several past primaries that yielded Muskie, Carter and Dukakis.
I agree with Jeffry Tubin, legal analyst for MSNBC who said last week that if the Democrats can not take the White House in 2008 they should change their party name to the Whigs.
Foot-In-Mouth Disease Spreads In Presidential Nomination Tift
The attacks by her and husband Bill Clinton have been counterproductive, Obama’s damage has been self-inflicted—especially the “bitter” speech in San Francisco about gun-totting God nuts; Michelle Obama