Jack & Jill Politics

felicia,


check out www.factcheck.org to get a summary and analysis.

Hamas' Ahmed Yousef: 'We like Mr. Obama. We hope he will (win).'


Wow. All in all, if I were an American presidential candidate, I'd prefer to be denounced by Hamas.

Sharp James convicted in corruption trial ...


http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6j8Dre7jUyJpxvaCMx2edrqtvaQD9035JNG3



Currently on my night table -



Amy Chua - Day of Empire: How Hyperpowers Rise to Global Dominance -- And Why They Fail. Off the hook!



Christoper Bracey - Saviors or Sellouts: The Promise and Peril of Black Conservatism, from Booker T to Condi Rice. Good stuff!

Today: 25 of 35 South Dakota Democratic State Legislators endorsed Obama.

I just saw Angela Davis speak at the College of Charlesotn in Charleston, SC on Monday night. This was my first time hearing her, and I am in awe. More than before.


That is all.

I read this USA Today article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-04-15-obama_N.htm



Can someone explain to me what Dilanian is saying. I'm confused. Isn't there a big difference between an employee of a company raising money for a presidential candidate on that employee's own time and an employee's company donating money to a presidential candidate's campaign.



In other words, Obama has fundraisers who work for law firms (and I guess these law firms are lobbyists), and Dilanian in USA Today is saying there is no difference between a law firm giving money to a campaign and an employee raising money.



This is crazy. I work at a college. Is he saying that my fundraising efforts for Obama constitute lobbyist money from colleges?

rikyrah Wed Apr 16, 12:40:00 AM 2008 posted a link to Bill Clinton's comments about older voters (Bill Clinton Says Older Voters too Savvy to Fall for Obama)


And then today I see this article:



Chelsea Clinton is Hillary's new weapon



Yeah, yeah, whatever. Actually, I had a co-worker in her early 30s who was pretty laid-back about the whole election thing but she said, pretty early on "Chelsea scares me!" Don't know what that was about exactly, but there it is.



(I also think it's funny that Chelsea works for a hedge fund.)

This was a great comment on DailyKos. The question was why doesn't Hillary accept that it's over:




because they are stuck in stages 1-3 (3+ / 0-)



Recommended by:

neroden, doinaheckuvanutjob, Sharon Wraight



of the 5 stages of grief.



1. Denial: "It can't be happening." (I am not losing!)



2. Anger: "Why me? It's not fair." (Caucuses are unfair! Bill Richardson is a Judas!)



3. Bargaining: "Just let me live to see my children graduate." (Maybe he can be my veep? Maybe the superdelegates will save me?)



Once Hillary starts looking depressed, you will know she is on her way to acceptance.



wikipedia



If you love Bush, Vote John McCain '08



by biscobosco on Wed Apr 02, 2008 at 10:20:50 PM PDT

from Reuters/Zogby:


McCain was seen as a better steward of the economy than either Democrat despite their repeated criticism of his economic credentials. He led Obama by 3 points and Clinton by 5 points on the question of who would best manage the economy.

Senator Arlen Specter's cancer has returned. Pray for him and his family.


Many thoughts and prayers to Senator Specter and his family. He's a good man, and has served PA and the country honorably.

I wish him all the comfort and peace.

Saw Michelle O on the Colbert Report.


All I can say is, "Barack ... brotha you married well. Very well."

This is a reply in the above post, and I really liked it. It's from a teacher:


*********************************



Related observation by my students (7+ / 0-)





My High School Juniors have an essential question all year long: What does it mean to be an American?



This question is the lens through which all our literature, writing, and Socratic Seminars must be looked through.



As an English teacher - well, more of a Humanities teacher because I can't separate the Social Studies out of it - I further have a huge Social Justice bent.



My Juniors have been following the presidential race.



One student made this observation: Obama, if elected, HAS to keep his word. Why? Because, he'll be the first. If he screws up, he screws up for everyone else.



The rest of my students picked up on that idea. They see it deeper than that. He has to conduct himself well throughout. He understands what his breaking the ceiling really means - and it's an awesome responsibility - and he accepts it.



Clinton on the other hand just wants to break the ceiling. She just wants to be the first. She doesn't much grasp or seem to care about how she does it or the long term reprocussions of her actions.



In other words, my students believe that - and I could cite a litany of instances - Clinton has done more harm than good to women seeking power. They're not convinced that the damage is complete. She could still exit magnanimously and lift Obama up and be the heroine and be gracious...



But right now, my students see Clinton as having taken women one step forward and two steps back.



I have a child due in May. I don't know the sex. If it turns out to be a daughter, I hope to be able to look her in the eye and tell her that she really CAN be president some day - that there are no more double standards out there. But, my fear is that this hypothetical daughter and my actual neices rely on the ego of a short sighted power driven woman who right now seems bent on destruction.





We have discussed here about Obama being Jackie Robinson, and all that means. It's interesting that these students pick up on that and understand that.



Hillpatine COULD HAVE BEEN a female Jackie Robinson, but she just doesn't understand what that means, because it's always ALL ABOUT HER. And the only time it's about 'Women', it's when she's pimping the White Woman Victim Card to get votes.

Interesting post at DailyKos about a Hillpatine Ad in North Carolina.


Deconstructing Hillary NC "Jewel" ad

IN THE SUN-TIMES, Obama-Auchi questions: "Dem presidential contender Barack Obama's handlers may be telling the press Obama has NO 'recollection' of a 2004 party at influence peddler Tony Rezko's Wilmette house, but a top Sneed source claims Obama not only gave Rezko's guest of honor, Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi, a big welcome . . . but he made a few toasts!"

"I am happy that I am divorced now. I will be able to go back to school."
Says the 8-year-old girl Nojud Mohammed Ali, whose lawyer said "I believe there are thousands of similar cases" in Yemen.



http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jgV6-R80B4lnQEWi3llZ9Y5s4PRg

Obama gets endorsement of Super Delegates
1. Andre Carson (Indiana)

2. Mel Watt (North Carolina)

3. David Price(North Carolina)



Watt and Price were former Edwards Superdelegates

This author's thoughts about which candidate would be most likely to end The Imperial Presidency.


I Don't Want Yoo to Show Them the Way :Which presidential candidate would exercise the most self-restraint?

"What's Up"...I'm good.


1. I am cutting class people because I spend to much time on internet blogs like JJP and I forgot to complete the rough draft for my senior thesis=/



2. Truthseeker I voted 100 for obama and 100 for rev.wright!!!



They wrote as a con for Wright:

"Infusing radical politics and language into your sermons to work up the crowd? Acceptable. Referring to the "goddamn" United States as the "U.S. of KKK. A." and claiming 9/11 was the result of corrupt U.S. policy? Not so much. "



That is not what he said. Why the distortion of his words...I swear ppl please get real.



3. I missed Michelle Obama on the Colbert Report. I will watch the video.



4. The Pope is in town.



5. I was thinking about Bruce Springsteen just the other day when someone used his song against Obama and his Obama's preacher. It's nice to see that he endorsed him!!! Obama 08



6. Not a really eventful day but I am enjoying the idea of a daily open thread!! If I find anything, I will be back to report.

From NBC's First Read:


Obama is also meeting with 50 American Jewish leaders in Philadelphia this morning.



The meeting will include rabbis, professional leaders and lay leaders. An Obama aide says that the goal of the meeting will be to introduce Obama to the Jewish community and re-affirm his strong support for Israel.

Superdelegate: Rep. Andre Carson endorses Obama today.


Three papers: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Bucks County Courier-Times and the Patriot News endorses

@ Craig Hickman


did McCain say that!?? Outrageous!

@ john shreffler
That Jedreport video was great! Everybody, view it, rate and comment..(even just one word) to bump it up in honors.

Bruce Springsteen endorses Obama!....BORN IN THE USA!!! Take that Hildebeast!
Springsteen endorses Obama!



Vote for Obama in Time most influential People. I hear Rev. Wright is on the list too.

Vote for Obama at TIME



State Dept warns diplomats of compulsory Iraq service. Ha!

Compulsory Iraq service for Diplomats



Man in Clinton Bitter ad not registered to vote in PA! He's from New Jersey! He said he explained this to the Clinton Campaign.

Poor Hillary, she just doesn't have any luck

Col. Peters shows what economic depravity at its worst will foment, and how evil can exploit and employ, and misdirect for its own benefit extreme resentment and hatred.


Our government exists at its very core to 'establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.'



The hot-beds of radicalism and Islamic extremism exisit where the state has failed in its most basic responsibilites to its citizens.



The depressed economic circumstances of blue-collar voters are real, but not irreversible, because of the freedom and opportunity provided by this country.



People here are free to choose to improve their economic circumstances and do, even in this economic downturn, have opportunities available. While those choices themselves may present difficult obstacles, they are not impossible to overcome.



Looking to government is one choice. But it is also the choice most outside an individual's control.



Relocating, re-educating oneself are also options. Choices more within one's own control.

Check out the latest vid from Jed Report. Hillary "Tonya Harding" Clinton gets the plate returned with heaping extras.

Craig,
Fair enough.



What's your thoughts on the rest of COL Peters' writing?

Um. I'm not comparing McCain to Obama. I simply posted the introduction to a provocative article and provided a link for those who wanted to read the rest.


Don't shoot the messenger.

craig,


macain=cafferty=democrats=obama



ergo



mccain = obama





mccain wins.



obviously you believe obama is right in his premise of frustrated voters voting on wedge issues because they feel frustrated in the government's ability to help them economically. this argument is just one more reason for white rural small town hillary supporters who also believe this about themselves to swing to mccain.



some of the republican base may stay home, but mccain is planning to offset that with the swing, independent vote.



if mccain is seen as an acceptable and more experienced, he can beat obama.



the dem strategy is to tie him to bush. you're tying him to obama and that's not wise.

Craig,
Talk about picking and choosing. Here's the next paragraph that explains that statement:



"The foreign twin is the Islamic, or sub-Saharan African, or Mexican university graduate who faces a teetering government, joblessness, exclusion from the profits of the corruption distorting his society, marriage in poverty or the impossibility of marriage, and a deluge of information telling him (exaggeratedly and dishonestly) how well the West lives. In this age of television-series franchising, videos, and satellite dishes, this young, embittered male gets his skewed view of us from reruns of Dynasty and Dallas, or from satellite links beaming down Baywatch, sources we dismiss too quickly as laughable and unworthy of serious consideration as factors influencing world affairs. But their effect is destructive beyond the power of words to describe. Hollywood goes where Harvard never penetrated, and the foreigner, unable to touch the reality of America, is touched by America's irresponsible fantasies of itself; he sees a devilishly enchanting, bluntly sexual, terrifying world from which he is excluded, a world of wealth he can judge only in terms of his own poverty."



At least COL Peters explained the relationship between his contrasts. Obama just kinda fired off his mouth.



Though-in all fairness-Obama's comments aren't that big a deal to me. If that's how he sees voters, fine.

I'm (finally) finishing Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine. After that, I'm torn between reading WEB Dubois' The Souls of Black Folsk and Susan Faludi's The Terror Dream...

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette endorses Obama.


Barack Obama: Democrats deserve a nominee for change

John McCain's Elitism: Blue-Collar Workers = The Taliban


The intro:



What if an adviser to one of the presidential candidates -- one who writes regularly for a major American newspaper and frequently appears on television -- had not just described residents of small-town America as "bitter," but had actually equated laid-off blue-collar workers with the Taliban?



What if this statement had not been just an off-the-cuff remark at a campaign event, but had actually been published in an official US government publication?



Specifically, what if he had said this:



"The American who graduated from high school in the 1960s expected a good job that would allow his family security and reasonably increasing prosperity. For many such Americans, the world has collapsed. . . . These discarded citizens (his emphasis) sense that their government is no longer about them, but only about the privileged. Some seek the solace of explicit religion."



And:



"These noncompetitive cultures, such as that of Arabo-Persian Islam or the rejectionist segment of our own population, are enraged. . . . The laid-off blue-collar worker in America and the Taliban militiaman in Afghanistan are brothers in suffering."



Yes, you read that right. Laid-off American blue-collar workers are no different than the Taliban -- just two noncompetitive losers in the great game of globalization. And "bitter"? No, they're "enraged."



And it happened.

New poll results from the Washington Post


Highlights.



Barack Obama has knocked down one of the three tent poles of Hillary Clinton's campaign for president, surging ahead of her as the candidate Democrats see as most likely to win in November. He's challenging her on leadership as well, leaving only experience as a clear Clinton advantage in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.



On the eve of their debate before the Pennsylvania primary next week, Democrats by a 2-1 margin, 62-31 percent, now see Obama as better able to win in November -- a dramatic turn from February, when Clinton held a scant 5-point edge on this measure, and more so from last fall, when she crushed her opponents on electability.



Quick Poll Summary:

Best Chance in November

O 62%

C 31%



Clinton Honest & Trustworthy

Yes 39%

No 58%



Rift has risen to new high (high 30's)of supporters on both sides not willing to vote for the other



General Election Preference

O 49%

M 44%



C 45%

M 48%



Poll finds Obama has better chance to:

Win 62% to Clinton 31%



Bring Change 56% to Clinton 35%



is more Honest and Trustworthy 53% to Clinton 30%



Better understands Problems 46% to Clinton 41%



and he closed the gap on leadership 44% to 49%, Clinton led by +24 when last polled now it's +5



Choice Among Democrats

O 51%

C 41%



These are similar to Gallups Tracking Poll

Senator Arlen Specter's cancer has returned. Pray for him and his family.