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Monthly Archives: October 2008

In Four Days We Can Send a Message

31 Friday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

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cooperation, division, partisanship, presidential election, unity

Four more days, my fellow Americans, four more days. In four days we have a decision to make about the future of our country, and the choices are crystal clear. We can choose to continue the politics and policies of the past, or we can turn the page and begin a new chapter in American history. A chapter that is about unity instead of division, cooperation instead of partisanship, and about appealing to our better nature rather than our baser instincts.

We can put behind us forever the kind of political campaign that would send out mailers like this:

 

 

 

 

 

Or ads that seek to pit one race against the other, like this:

 

 

We have a chance to put this type of campaign on the ash heap of history and send the message to all who would use such tactics in the future that it will no longer be successful. We can let our future candidates for president know that it is no longer acceptable to label their opponent as “anti-American” or “socialist” or “communist” or say that they “pal around with terrorists.”

We can choose a president who sees the politics of divide and conquer as the failed strategy of the past. A president who can reach across all boundaries and begin to heal the divisions that have resulted from decades of that strategy. A president who wants America to be the land of opportunity for all Americans, not just for the rich and powerful few.

This president:

 

To quote a famous line, “If not us, who? If not now, when? We are the who, the when is now. We cannot afford to let this opportunity pass.

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Barack Obama: Right Man, Right Place, Right Time

28 Tuesday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Barack Obama, Clinton machine, President of the United States, presidential campaign

As this long and grueling presidential campaign nears it’s final week, it is time to reflect back on where we have come, what we have seen happen, and why. How did Barack Obama, a first term Senator from Illinois, a virtual unknown when this process began nearly 2 years ago, manage to defeat the powerful Clinton machine and now stand on the brink of being elected President of the United States.

To put it in a few words, he is the right man, with the right message, in the right place, at the right time in our country’s history.

While I agree with Obama’s economic policy of lessening the income disparity and putting purchasing power back in the hands of the middle-class, and I agree with his stance on getting our troops out of Iraq and drawing that war to a close, neither of those are the transcendent issues that are facing our country, in my opinion.

The most important problem we face is spanning this chasm of partisan political division and public discourse that is eating away at our society like an aggressive form of cancer. In this election, our only hope of building a bridge across this divide and restoring some sense of common purpose among all our people is to elect Barack Obama.

I believe Colin Powell had it exactly right, Obama is a “transformational figure” at a time when our political system is in need of transformation perhaps like no other time in our nation’s history.

And in this election our choice is crystal clear. Do we allow the politics of division and personal destruction to win and in so doing insure another 4 years of partisanship and bickering while the problems facing us go from bad to worse? Or do we at least start down the road of putting this country back together with the only candidate capable of doing that.

Here are the closing paragraphs from an article Andrew Sullivan wrote in December of last year that sums it all up for me:

“If you believe that America’s current crisis is not a deep one … if you believe that today’s ideological polarization is not dangerous, and that what appears dark today is an illusion fostered by the lingering trauma of the Bush presidency, then the argument for Obama is not that strong.

But if you sense, as I do, that greater danger lies ahead, and that our divisions and recent history have combined to make the American polity and constitutional order increasingly vulnerable, then the calculus of risk changes. Sometimes, when the world is changing rapidly, the greater risk is caution. Close-up in this election campaign, Obama is unlikely. From a distance, he is necessary. At a time when America’s estrangement from the world risks tipping into dangerous imbalance, when a country at war with lethal enemies is also increasingly at war with itself, when humankind’s spiritual yearnings veer between an excess of certainty and an inability to believe anything at all, and when sectarian and racial divides seem as intractable as ever, a man who is a bridge between these worlds may be indispensable.

We cannot let this moment pass.”

 

 

History Could Have Repeated Itself in Pittsburgh

25 Saturday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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Charles Stuart, Fox News, Matt Drudge, McCain communications director, Pittsburgh, Willie Bennett, yesterday

Does anybody recognize the name Charles Stuart? How about Willie Bennett? Probably not. Here’s the story and how it relates to the events in Pittsburgh yesterday.

Charles Stuart and his wife Carol were driving home from childbirth classes in Boston on the night of October 23, 1989 when, according to a statement Stuart later gave the police, a black gunman forced his way into their car, robbed them, then shot Charles in the stomach and Carol in the head. Carol died that night and their baby died 17 days later.

Boston police searched for a suspect, based on the description given by Stuart, using what is known as the “stop and search” method. That is, they stopped every black man within a ten mile radius in hopes of catching the killer more quickly. This resulted in the arrest of Willie Bennett.

On December 28, Stuart picked Bennett out of a lineup and identified him as the assailant.

Fortunately, from there Stuart’s story began to unravel when his brother confessed that Stuart killed his own wife to collect on an insurance policy, and that Stuart shot himself to make the story more believable. Bennett was released and on January 4, 1990, Stuart committed suicide.

Ten years later, Willie Bennett was interviewed by the Boston Globe.

“Yesterday, in a rare interview, Bennett told the Globe the case still haunts him. He blames it for his mother’s premature death and frayed family ties. And he refuses to hide his frustration.

“I don’t trust anybody. I barely trust myself,” said Bennett, now 50. “The police falsely pinned a crime on me once and they can do it again.

“I have no faith in the law enforcement and I don’t like cops,” said Bennett. (Boston Globe, 4/6/2000.)

I said all that to say this. If the police in Pittsburgh had not quickly discovered the inconsistencies in the allegations made by the woman there yesterday, history could have very well repeated itself. Every 6 foot 4, 200 pound black man in Pittsburgh would have immediately become a suspect. Someone could have been falsely arrested and jailed, and harbored the same resentment toward police that Mr. Bennett still held 10 years later, and rightfully so.

The fact that some members of the media, specifically Matt Drudge and Fox News, were so quick to pick up this story and run with it before anything was confirmed, also should be alarming. Both, in my opinion, have discredited themselves as reputable news sources and both should have issued an apology for their actions.

The McCain communications director who gave the story to the local news media in Pittsburgh, and even went so far as to embellish some of the details, should either resign or be fired today.

This story had the possibility of consequences far beyond a political campaign. Let’s just all be thankful that it fell apart so quickly, before any of those possibilities became a reality.

McCain Mailer Evokes Images of 9/11

23 Thursday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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9/11, mailer, McCain, Missouri, Obama, Virginia

As the McCain campaign sinks lower and lower in the polls, the level of their desperation grows greater and greater. Case in point, a mailer they are sending out in Virginia and Missouri which evokes memories of 9/11 and makes shameless accusations against Barack Obama.

This is the front of the mailer:

Inside is this. Notice the statement at the bottom:“Islamic extremists want our laws changed, our culture destroyed and our families converted. We don’t. What is there to talk about?” The implication being that either Barack Obama wants to do the same, or is sympathetic to those that do.

And what did Senator McCain say when asked if he was proud of this piece of garbage? “Absolutely.”

Just more of the “respectful” campaign we have come to expect from the Republican nominee.

Are You In The “Real America?”

22 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Pfriend or Pfoe

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “Are You In The “Real America?”“, posted with vodpod

 

This Is The “Real America”

22 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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Daily Show, Jon Stewart, real America, Wasilla

Vodpod videos no longer available.

more about “This Is The “Real America”“, posted with vodpod

 

The Barracuda Is Now An Albatross

22 Wednesday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

George Bush, McCain, NBC News/Wall Street Journal, negatives, Palin, Pew, polls

Two new polls released yesterday, one by Pew and one by NBC News/Wall Street Journal, show that John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate has turned into an unmitigated disaster. Her negatives are rising at an alarming rate and, if you can believe this, the list of voter’s biggest concerns about McCain’s candidacy now has Sarah Palin at No. 1, and continuing George Bush’s policies at No. 2.

She is also losing the support of women that she was allegedly put on the ticket to attract, and is turning off independent voters at an ever-increasing rate. And if that wasn’t enough, Gov. Palin has made McCain’s age an issue that it wasn’t in previous polls. In baseball terminology that is known as the golden sombrero, Sen. McCain, 0 for 4.

Here’s how the numbers break down. From Pew:

* 49% now have an unfavorable view of Gov. Palin, up from 32% in mid-September.

* 60% of women under 50 now have an unfavorable view, up from 36% in mid-September.

* 53% of all women have a negative view of Gov. Palin, up from 38% in mid -September.

* 56% of independent women have an unfavorable view of Palin, up from 28% in mid-September.

* 27% of all independents have a very unfavorable opinion of Palin, up from 10% in mid-September.

* Gov. Palin has maintained her support among the Republican base, you know, the “real Americans” with the same 83% approval she had in previous polls.

* 34% now say McCain’s age is an issue, up from 23% in mid-September.

 

From NBC News/Wall Street Journal:

* 55% say Palin is not qualified to serve as president if the need arises.

Just as an aside to all the “guilt by association” zealots out there, on the list of the top 4 concerns about Obama, his relationship with people like Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright ranks dead last. See, I told you so.

Apparently Governor Palin’s vast knowledge of foreign policy by virtue of being able to see Russia from her front porch, and her rather unique interpretation of the Constitutional powers of the vice-presidency is not impressing the voting public.

Who could have seen that coming?

Powell Endorsement Unleashes Republican Racism

20 Monday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Barack Obama, Colin Powell, endorsement, Meet The Press, presidential campaign, racism, Republican Party

I am so angry this morning I can barely steady my finger long enough to write this post. The blatant racism that has been unleashed by the Republican Party in the closing weeks of this presidential campaign, and particularly since Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday on Meet The Press, makes me sick to my stomach.

First of all, it is as if the usual Republican suspects–Buchanan, Will, Limbaugh, Gingrich, et al, had their statements ready before Powell made his announcement. Powell endorsed Obama simply because he is black, they all spewed. Obviously these GOP mouthpieces didn’t listen to a word Gen. Powell had to say.

He gave a well-reasoned, well-thought out, detailed argument for his decision. Powell did much more than endorse Obama for president, he issued a scathing indictment of the Republican Party as a whole. See for yourself:

 

 

Then the tirades from the Republican Bigotry Brigade began.

Pat Buchanan: “Alright, we gotta ask a question, look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal democrat.”

George Will attributes support for Obama to white guilt: “Barack Obama gets two votes because he’s black for every one he loses because he’s black because so much of this country is so eager, a, to feel good about itself by doing this, but more than that to put paid to the whole Al Sharpton/Jesse Jackson game of political rhetoric.”

 

What Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have to do with anything is anybody’s guess. Oh I forgot, they’re both scary black men, just like Obama. What’s the matter George, you couldn’t work Louis Farrakhan and Malcolm X in there somewhere?

 

Rush Limbaugh went even further: “Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race, OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

Not to be left out of the ‘scare white Americans with references to angry black men’ chorus, Newt Gingrich said on This Week that Obama would govern the country “like Reverend Wright.”

Now keep in mind these are some of the same neo-con chicken hawks who were singing the praises of Gen. Powell when he was useful to them in helping make the case for George Bush’s invasion of Iraq.

But now that he dares to stray off the Republican plantation and speak his mind rather than blindly support the Party nominee, he is branded as having based his decision solely on Obama’s skin color. I guess in the eyes of the GOP bigots Powell is not ‘one of the good ones’ anymore.

“More Southern In Nature” Ms. Pfotenhauer?

19 Sunday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

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McCain campaign, MSNBC, Nancy Pfotenhauer, Northern Virginia, real Virginia, Southern in nature

As the McCain campaign continues it’s efforts to divide America, campaign spokesperson Nancy Pfotenhauer appeared on MSNBC yesterday and made the distinction between Northern Virginia, that would be the part of the state that Sen. McCain’s brother referred to as “communist country”, and the “real Virginia”, the part of the state that, according to Ms. Pfotenhauer, is “more Southern in nature.”

Here’s the video:

 

 

“More Southern in nature.” A curious phrase. Whatever could she mean? Would this be part of that “Southern nature” to which Ms. Pfotenhauer is referring:

 

 

Or how about this:

 

 

Or maybe this:

 

 

That kind of “Southern nature”, Nancy?

Michelle Bachmann: Poster Child For The Republican Party

18 Saturday Oct 2008

Posted by Craig in Election 2008, McCain, Obama, Politics, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Chris Matthews, Hardball, last night, Michelle Bachmann

As I watched Chris Matthews interview Congressman Michelle Bachmann from Minnesota on Hardball last night I could not believe my ears. Surely no one this stupid could ever be elected to Congress. I immediately checked the calendar Nope, it’s not April 1st. Then I thought, this must be a parody, maybe a clip from SNL. Nope, it’s Friday night.

The more she rambled reality finally hit me, this is for real. This is an actual member of the House of Representatives saying these ridiculous things. That’s when my incredulousness turned to depression and all I could do was to shake my head and lament, this is what has become of the Republican Party.

She went through the entire litany of Sean Hannity/GOP talking points. Radical, anti-American, Ayers, Wright, Rezko, liberal, leftist, etc., etc., etc., the usual suspects. And just when I thought I had heard it all, at the conclusion of the interview Congresswoman Bachmann began to channel Joe McCarthy. The media should investigate members of Congress for anti-American behavior, she said.

I expected the next thing out of her mouth to be that she was re-convening the House Un-American Activities Committee and would start hold hearings ASAP. I could tell by the look on Matthews’ face that he as disbelieving of what he was hearing as I was.

See for yourself, but be prepared to have the desire to laugh, cry, and bang your head against the wall, all in less than a 9 minute time span. Take it away, Congresswoman Nutjob:

 

 

 

Minnesotans must be bursting with pride this morning.

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