Well-said, Woody

Dear Obama quit now: Maybe you should transfer to a better college because it isn't teaching you much about critical thinking or research for accuracy. Obama had an adviser who belongs to Hamas? That's not true. Michelle Obama hates America? Wrong again. And I suppose you think Jeremiah Wright did honorable service to this country in the Marines because he hates America? Uh-huh. Please try not to be so gullible about everything you read on the Internet. The more mud folks fling at Obama, the better he does, and that tells me he is ready to take on the Republicans in the fall and win this election. As a white woman who grew up in the segregated south, I will be proud to see how far this nation has come on Inauguration Day, 2009. I am proud to support Barack Obama.

I agree with you, Obama needs to get out of this race now and try and save the Democratic Party. His advisor was with the Hamas, his pastor is anti-american, and his wife hates America. What makes you think with his inexperience, covering up and his saying there is 57 states that he has campaigned in that this is what the American people want? Heavens NO! I am a young black and in college and I have enough sense to see through his misconceptions and so does the rest of the nation! Bring it on Hillary, take the Presidency and unite this country!

I have had it with Obama, too. Why can't people see that he and his campaign manager came right out of the Daly machine in Chicago which isn't known for its upright nature. Axelrod's chief job for a good bit of his life was putting a positive spin on Daly's misdeeds. I am sure there are lots of Daly's buddies are getting ready to line their pockets with contracts given to them by the "Obama presidency".
I am proud of Hillary for hanging in there and attempting to break the glass ceiling. Obama can run when he is older and wiser.

The current question will be the same in 2012,will the USA ever get beyond it's racism.

The collective state of denial from Obama supporters is amazing! It sure looks like it's over, Folks. It doesn't matter how many delegates or wins Obama managed to garner prior to Reverend Wright becoming public knowledge. What matters is what happens now.

If Pennsylvania is any indicator, Obama will have to pack it in. Do you poor naive souls honestly believe the DNC will put a candidate up against McCan who is guaranteed to lose? Unless Obama can prove that he still has it, he's finished.

What you all must realize is that this election is not about Obama, it's about electing a Democrat to the presidency. If Obama were to continue to lose and the DNC chose him in spite of it, their monetary support would quickly dry up and you would see a huge movement to have Clinton run on an independent ticket.

It is best to let this thing play out. If Obama wins the upcoming contests, then we can all be assured that he's still competitive. If not, he needs to do the right thing for the Democrats and bow out gracefully.

P.S., Andres, as for your stupid assertion that the Democrats would draft Gore over Clinton. I don't think the party would ever recover from the massive loss of women it would incur. Don't be so sexist!

Yes, people can be that easily bought. As I have noticed from the above comments, people can see things in any way they want to see them. If a stupid person wants to believe that a gas tax moratorium will just affect his own personal pocket and won't look far enough ahead to see the ineffective outcome of this policy( less money to fix our roads and the the salaries to pay those who fix their roads), then he is also going to believe that there are no further consequences to voting for a war (like Iraq, where there was only circumstantial evidence of wmd and lots of pandering to fear) and actually having to deal with the consequences of a 50-50 chance that Iraq might have WMD. Those consequences? The war in Iraq that we have now.

So, those stupid people who want " I would obliterate Iran" Hillary are also stupid enough to go with the tough retoric without thinking through the consequences of THAT action. ie: the whole of the middle east against us, Isreal getting demolished , loss of oil (we've seen what that does to our economy), and our Allies not being with us again because of our foolishness. Now, I'm not saying not to believe Iran is a threat, but we did play the Cold War well, didn't we? I see both Hillary and McCain pandering to stupid people who want quick and easy answers and those people are believing them. I guess America does deserve who it votes for.

The reason Obama is a hope is that he WAS getting democrats, independents and republicans to work together so that the smart people could get things moving in Washington if we had a voice of many behind us. Hillary and her willingness to throw mud and get her spot at the table has ruined that Hope. Now, too many people are divided again. My republican friends and relatives still willing to vote for Obama, will vote for McCain in the general election if Hillary gets in. And, I will still be able to play my drinking game with Rush- you know, I get to drink every time he utters the word "Clinton"Which is every 10 minutes or usually less. Don't know it? Turn on the radio, you ONLY get Rush in every part of the country. That's part of why we've been so divisive the last 20 years. Ready for more?

Boy! Did Allen J Duffis (3/3/08) hit it right on the nail. His comment was the best I heard from anyone or any journalist. I totally agree with him on the entire article. We need more intelligent voters like him. "Way to go Allen"

I like the final settlement, draft Gore.We have already let the pundits choose our candidates for us. McCain is Bush with a vengeance. I am sick of Oballary. I don't want either of them. Obama is an elitist who doesn't want to get dirty, and Hillary is Republican light - just like her husband. If not Gore, then Edwards. I would really like to see an "adult wing" of this party.

A MIDDLE OF THE ROAD VIEWPOINT

What Happened to the Fly on the Wall?

By Allen J Duffis
Published: May 2, 2008

A statement defining the most important attribute of a news reporter, has for decades stood the test of time - until the advent of television news reporting. It aptly defined the required objectivity of a news reporter via his journalistic posture when covering a news story: 'He must be the fly on the wall.'

In order for a reporter to be truly objective and eliminate any of his own prejudices spilling over into his story, he or she must remain aloof from the circumstances of the story and its participants - like the fly on the wall. He has only to observe, listen and ask pertinent questions, and then report what he or she has seen, heard and been responded to by any of the participants. And most certainly he or she must 'never take sides' to the detriment of his objectivity. Unfortunately, today's reporters have almost completely abandoned this age-old, time proven valid principle.

In modern news reporting's present day ratings driven 'cult of personality' imperative, personal opinions of the reporter (or talking head as they used to be referred to) is taken by the major networks as far more important than raw objectivity. The networks encourage them to become 'News Personalities' rather than just news reporters, like the legendary Walter Cronkite, Roger Mudd and Mike Wallace.

A particular case in point is the highlighted career and reporting styles of MSNBC's Chris Matthews (Hardball) and Keith Olbermann (Countdown). Both of these men with huge viewership followings have decided that Barack Obama "should" be the Democratic Party nominee for president, and that contender, Hillary Clinton, regardless of the qualifications she may or may not have for the position, should fold up her campaign tent and simply fade away into the political night.

Just in case the point I am trying to make is not clear to some, here it is again: two network 'opinion specialists', masquerading as 'nonpartisan newsmen' have taken a side in a hotly contested presidential campaign. They have taken it upon themselves to declare that - Barack Obama - not Hillary Clinton - should be the Democratic Party nominee for president.

The key point of their not so stealth partisanship is that they don't come right out and state their obvious preferences. Instead each, in his own way, works very hard at belittling the candidacy of the contender they don't want to win - which in the present instance happens to be Hillary Rodham Clinton. What they don't seem to be aware of is the reverse of their pronounced prejudices. By taking the stands they, their between the journalistic campaigns have effectively made Barack Obama the one thing he didn't want to be - the Affirmative Action Candidate.

The Art of Reporting the News

In November of 1999, the United Nations Department of Public Information published a paper by Ann Grier Cutter entitled Journalist: Must Remain Neutral in Conflict? The question it addressed was to the effectiveness of reporting from both journalistic and moralistic vantage points.

"The rise of objectivity as a journalistic ethic occurred in the last 60 years. Journalists, seeking to improve their status as purveyors of information, found that their credibility increased with non-partisan reporting. Objectivity and related norms of neutrality and fairness are now considered inviolable by journalists as part of their profession's commitment to discovering and reporting the truth. But they are also impossible ideals. Reporting is constantly influenced by the ongoing subjective decisions a reporter must make, such as whom to interview, which quotes to include, and what pictures to discard."

Objectivity is an interesting choice as a sacred value for a profession that has no other established standards of credentials or training. If however it is to be the chosen sacrament, choice dictates that it should be followed religiously. In support of this well defined point of view, I again quote the article:

"In their observance of objectivity, journalists can be grouped into three camps. The first assigns a strictly passive, neutral role for journalists; the second believes that reporting can be objective and create an incentive to take action; and the third abandons objectivity as the core value in war reporting...

Objectivity in journalism is a form of neutrality, a "fly on the wall". According to Leslie Gelb, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, "journalists are in the business of news, not truth. When journalists forget that, they do very misleading and destructive things. News is what you can honestly find out that day. This is a constant process that bows to reality and doesn't impose any view on that reality."

All of these outlooks and presented options are based upon war reportage, and they are limited to that arena. But internal political reportage is another matter entirely.

Most intelligent reasoning people can can readily understand that first option has to be the prevailing one for internal news reporting. Why? Because the manner in which one reports a war affects how nations and groups involved are seen by the public. But nonobjective internal reporting of politics interferes with the effective capability of the public to make intelligent and informative decisions as to who will administrate their country.

In general, Political Reporters within their own countries are in fact citizens who, due to their profession, have been appointed as the disseminators of of information - the very lifeblood of a democracy. In the end, as individuals, they too will cast a single vote toward the outcome of an election - and that single vote should be the sum total of their 'personal' viewpoint. But when they disseminate news reports with an open bias that highlights their personal political prejudices toward one candidate over another, they can do as much damage to a country as any enemy can on the battlefield.

Therefore, by abandoning their objectivity and misusing the power of the press accorded them to press their personal viewpoints upon the public through one-sided journalism, they can affect the outcome of elections. Such actions should be looked upon as immoral and patently - undemocratic.

Unfortunately for American electoral process, at present, this is exactly what is taking place within its presidential race. And in my opinion and that of many others, Senator Hillary Clinton has been the repeated victim of - 'ambush journalism.'

Hillary Clinton vs. The Favorite Son of the Left

A year ago, Senator Hillary Clinton was the frontrunner in the Democratic Party to be their anointed nominee for the office of President of the United States. She would be a first of her sex, to have a fair shot at that powerful office, and she had, indeed, paid her dues. She was a successful lawyer and graduate of two of the highest rated universities in the nation, First Lady of Arkansas for the twelve cumulative years of her husband's governorship, a well traveled First Lady for eight years of his presidency, and New York State Senator for almost seven years. Normally for anyone, this impressive resume would signal a win. Unfortunately for Senator Clinton along came first term Senator Barack Obama, and her easy run up to the nomination became a full blown contest of unprecedented proportions.

After outlasting all of the other contestants in this heated race, she was left with only Obama to contend with. Normally, dealing a political death-blow to a lightweight freshman senator with no major accomplishments on his resume would not pose a major problem; but the dynamic had drastically changed. Hillary Clinton was no longer the darling of the Neo political Left, Barack Obama was, and he was also - Black.

In order to present a more balanced appearance to her candidacy, Mrs. Clinton repositioned herself more to the political center. Obama on the other hand was unabashedly Far Left leaning, and in fact, he was considered one of the most liberal senators in congress. In short order, Hillary Clinton's formerly solid Liberal political base within the Democratic Party began to abandon her candidacy in open favor of Obama.

The difficulty the Democratic Party bosses never expected to run into was the intransigence of Senator Clinton. She refused to accept her party's dictated fate; namely to roll over, play dead, endorse their chosen standard bearer and quit the race. This stance astonished them because the game had been played this way for more than a century, and they had no prepared response to Clinton's obstinacy.

Added to Hillary Clinton's many 'crosses to bear', the liberal oriented press began to, between the lines, take cheap shots at her candidacy: clearly they preferred Barack Obama.

This open prejudice was obvious in the early debates between Clinton and Obama, when the moderators threw out the most difficulty questions, pointedly, to Hillary. This allowed Senator Obama to plan and evaluate his own forthcoming responses in the light of the one's she gave. But the negative journalistic barrage did not work, because Hillary Clinton kept on winning in the face of terrible odds, negative poll numbers and pundit outrage.

Clearly, this candidate was tough beyond the expectations of her detractors and had something else going for her, and slowly the light in front of her began to glow. The Democratic Party heads which included their leader, Howard Dean, began to realize that, Hillary Clinton, was more than just a candidate for the American presidency. Among her staunch supporters - and there are many and they were legion - she was an iconic cult figure for American women.

Obama's Dilemma: No Way Out

Senator Barack Obama had it rather easy at the beginning of his candidacy. Like it or not, because he was Black (just as Geraldine Ferraro rightly stated), very few of the usual opening political shots of a primary race were taken at him. Even in his own party, his fellow contestants walked softly during the early debates. And as they were knocked off the political primary stage, or voluntarily dropped out one by one, his star began to shine more brightly. Then, without warning, his run for the White House really took off.

First there was the 'angry Black woman' push from Oprah Winfrey, who actually initiated Obama's initial theme, "It's time for a change." It was, however, the senator's campaign staff and advisors who would eventually change it to a more catchy phrase. And it was this same group who took a page from Howard Dean's presidential run book of 2004, by clocking onto the Internet to raise funds.

Soon, Obama was raising unprecedented amounts of money from the Internet via the Black Community, the college campus crowd and young upper middle income professionals. These groups all flocked to his support in unprecedented numbers, and Barack Obama began to play to his new found constituency - and he began to win primaries and Caucasus with his newly revamped theme - "Change we can believe in.". So when John Edwards campaign funds were depleted and dropped out, the only challenge he faced was Hillary Clinton - and she refused to give way.

Like World War ll's famed Merrill's Marauders final battle, when they ran into the cream of the German Army so did Obama run into a modern firewall. The firewall in question was the Clinton Political Machine - also known as the house of 'tried and true' Dirty Politics. This was where he made his first mistake - he didn't take Hillary Clinton's challenge seriously.

Everything went well for Obama until he hit the New Hampshire primary, and Hillary Clinton - cleaned his clock. No one had expected her win, least of all the Obama campaign. She fooled everyone including the newspaper polls and all of the lauded political pundits - with the notable exception of columnist and former presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan.

At this point, Obama made his second mistake, he refused to fight dirty. His reasons for refusing at first to for refusing to do so were twofold: one, he preferred the high-brow high road of continuous speeches, hammering home his aims as president, and his second reason to avoid getting down in the dirt kicking and scratching was - he simply didn't know how.

Sen. Obama now he faces the most damaging blow to date against his candidacy in the form of his former pastor, one Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose church he and his family have admittedly attended for over 21 years. It would appear (on video tape) that the reverend has a bucolic view of the United States, and has gone so far as to accuse the American government of some deliberate crimes against humanity. And taking these vitriolic statements aside, the Senator and his family claim never to have heard such remarks coming from Rev. Wright - in the 21 years they attended his church.(Click to read Rev. Jerimiah Wright's church 'Original' website - before it is completely removed)

Needless to say, Obama has some not so easy to observe personal problems that, in the long run, may inflict far more damage to his candidacy. One in particular is that the senator appears to note really like mixing with - common people.

Strategy to Strategy: Clinton vs. Obama

No one seems to notice that Senator Clinton virtually never tries to dress in the style she most certainly can afford. Instead, she dresses like a woman who had purchased her frock from Wal-Mart, or at best K Mart, and the press has taken much liberty in making fun at her expense because of this dress style.

Senator Obama on the other hand dresses as though he had his expensive custom tailored suit 'painted on' that morning just before he came to work.

It should also be noted that Senator Clinton does not mind being photographed doing common 'human like things', such as making faces, allowing her wrinkles to be seen and looking haggard after long periods with inadequate sleep.

On the other hand, Senator Obama goes out of his way to look incredibly neat. Who notices this difference? Just about every working White woman, mother and two job holding White man and father in the country, and a good number of Black ones too. Hillary Clinton looked far more like 'them' than Barack Obama did.

The point is Hillary Clinton follows a grueling campaign schedule and looks like hell for it. While, Senator Obama keeps to that same schedule, but always comes out looking neatly pressed and fresh. Normally, if this was an age issue it would work for the likes of Obama. But unfortunately for him, Hillary Clinton still looks more and more like the people she's attracting to her base - 'Blue Collar' dirt under the fingernails working people.

What Quality is More Important - Likable or Touchable?

It can be argued from recorded history, that after an elective office is attained, very few of the public ever get to actually reach out and touch the officeholder - physically. But during the run up to that office, it's a given that politicians have to - 'press the flesh.'

Hillary Clinton does not mind being touched and genuinely appears to like being physically embraced by admirers. She dives into crowds as though they were a welcoming pool of water on a hot day, and more than likely this tendency makes her Secret Service protectors a bit nervous.

Barack Obama on the other hand appears just the opposite in his reaction to crowds. It is clear to anyone who takes the time to notice - this man does not like being touched by other than a brief handshake. In fact, when someone gets close enough to give him a hug, he immediately braces them away from himself defensively - always trying to keep that minimum or maximum distance as the case may be.

When Senator Clinton speaks to a crowd or audience in a debate, she responds to questions by first pointing out to the person who asked the question, then slowly sweeping the grouping as she completes her response. By doing so, she in a virtual sense reaches out and touches everyone gathered there.

Senator Obama however usually tries to avoid direct eye contact with the individual who makes a query. Instead he looks briefly in that persons general direction, then almost characteristically up a bit as though thinking of a response, then in general at the audience when delivering his response. He will however speak directly to a reporter or narrator who asks a question.

The truth of the matter is that the woman so many refer to as a 'witch' with a capital B, actually comes off as far more human that anticipated every time she is seated next to Obama on a stage. And this desired 'personality softening by proximity' has not escaped the notice of her campaign strategists, or for that matter Hillary herself. And this is why she so desperately wants a 'Lincoln - Douglas' style 22nd debate. The lady knows exactly what she's doing.

Should Hillary Quit?

Why should she? This is what the American system of politics is all about: a fight to the finish whether it be between opposing political parties or, as in the present case, within a political party. After all, who would you rather have as a leader in these dangerous and trying times, a tough contender who refuses to capitulate in the face of what appears to be certain defeat - or one who simply surrenders to the numbers? To quote the famed New York Yankees catcher of old, Yogi Berra, "It ain' t over till it's over!"

We the people, and more often the political parties themselves, have a dangerous tendency to forget that in matters of government, the country as a whole is more important than the political party. What's good for the party is not necessarily what's good for the country. When choosing a leader we must strive to elect the best and most determined follow through-individual we can muster from our citizen ranks. And we must never allow dubious poll numbers, opinionated political pundit predictions and 'openly biased and politically prejudiced television news talking heads to dictate our decisions.

Hillary Clinton has managed to come back four times from what the pundits and poll taker's predicted would be her presidential run death knell. When are they going to take note that they have been wrong every time? Enough already with the polls and predictions. I say forget the objectivity blind news reporters and talking heads, they're not running for office. If they want a say - let them vote like everyone else - and shut up until the votes are counted.

I don't know how it will all turn out on May 6th in Indiana and North Carolina. But if Senator Clinton should ask my humble opinion as to whether she should just throw in the towel, I would be moved to shout out to her - "Hell no! If you can, take it all the way to the convention. Those bastards need a lesson in Constitutional civics!"

(www.conserveind.com)

2 Questions

What do the 2 Arabic words OBAMA and OSAMA
translate as ??

Are OBAMA and OSAMA introverted snobs ??

Sorry, that should have been
NOT TRUE... Cone said those things...
My bad

James,

I do not say that what you say is true regarding Cone.. what I am saying is that not all churches adhere specifically to his teachings.. and if you knew anything about this church. which you seem to take great measures to desecrate instead of taking the same measures to research, then you would see that is is not some radical left wing kill whitey racist church!!!!!!!!!!!! Good god, wake up person... stop looking through your lense of bigotry or racism or whatever is is that makes you hate... I don't understand you.... Yes..Barack Obama attended that church...
and I will paste here a response I gave to an earlier posting... because anybody that thinks that Barack Obama doesn't have a min of his own is really drinking the Kool Aid
I have been wondering why people have been attacking Obama for being in a church for twenty years and, then, not bothering to look at themselves.. to look into facts... what was the topic of every single sermon in those twenty years... how often was Sen Obama in church to hear them... (I don't go to church every Sunday)..
And worst of all.. to assume that the pastor is the be all and end all of a church. A church is made up of the people.., the pastor should guide but there is more to the church.
I watched him when he came to the American people to tell us that he had to renounce his pastor. I saw the pain in his demeanor and I heard the devastation in his words and the sadness and anger that his NOT a man who believes in any sort of racism, bigotry, sexism or political expediency. He knows and loves his country so much that he is out there campaigning for President. I can say that there are very very few people in this nation that would put themselves through the slings and arrows of the opponents and the attack machines.
That we, as an American people can not see that Reverend Wright is not running for President.. that a congregant can go to a church for twenty years for the fellowship.... to me.. this is an equivalent of the "mean girl" tactics... You find one thing that you don't like about a person and you drive a stake through it over and over again. You don't ask how that makes that person feel.. you don't really care, because this sort of attack serves only one purpose.. and that would be to belittle and tear down that person.
These tactics are usually done out of jealousy.. and Yes.. Clinton is jealous that he is ahead... and Yes.. McCain is jealous that he's young and has lured the Independent votes and the youth vote... We are all jealous,quite frankly, because this guy is so awesome.. He speaks to a higher purpose in our lives.. and he actually has a plan to get us there.
I am not living in fantasy land.... but I DO KNOW that what we have going on right now is NOT WORKING.. I know that what he proposes isn't going to happen over night. What I DO know.. is that until we get a LEADER who has a vision other than leading us into more of the same..(the policies that have driven our economy into the dirt).. We need a LEADER who will start to change the way we do business.. one that will really be looking out for US!
Barack Obama is not Jeremiah Wright.. and if you have ever sat in your church and been brain washed by your pastor..well, you are probably not going to vote for him anyway. If you realize that you can get spiritual advice from your pastor on whether or not what you did was a sin.... what you are doing is moral.. and still believe that all men are created equal... then if you were for Obama, you still are. If you changed your allegiance to him, then please look deeply into why you wanted him in the first place... then look into your own soul and judge yourself.

This man has the vision, temperament and judgment to lead us into this next chapter of our great nation.

An Active Duty Navy LCDR

Foolishness, utter foolishness. If baggage was to be considered a variable in electing a nominee or president, then we wouldn't vote at all. Let's not continue under the illusion that Obama has no baggage- unknown perhaps, but non-existent, not at all. Then I hear people say that Americans are smarter than to vote for another Republican. Oh please, are you kidding me?! They voted for Bushy boy twice! This general election is not going to be about how many votes go to one or the other candidate, but how many people you can mobilize to come out and vote. If Democrats want to win the race to the White House, well then, they have to get off their lazy bottoms and vote; whether the candidate is Hillary or Obama. HRC is not the one dividing the party, nor is it Obama. The party is being divided by every other Democrat that decides to throw mud at the candidate he/she doesn't support.

Stop saying that Hillary has too much baggage, or that Obama is not patriotic enough, or whatever. Highlight the strengths of your preferred candidate, and then vote in November for the one which received the nomination. If you have nothing to say in that matter, then restrict your comments to how sunny or cloudy it is today.

FIRST OFF, Barack is half WHITE and half black. Why is it that people only see his black side? Second, he is NOT african-ameican. He was born in Hawaii. Considering Hawaii is a US state, that makes him American(sadly). If you are BORN HERE you are american, that of course depends if your parents are LEGAL citizens. Second, if any non-liberal person understands his previous voting record, they would NEVER vote for this anti-identity american. Barack is as far-left as they get and wants to force moral americans to bend at the knees for people who break our laws and choose to be different! I find it funny that most college students are for this man. It just goes to show you how TRULY uneducated and unloyal college students are to America's history and identity!

My goodness, every time I hear someone mention Obama's baggage, all I can think of is that if Hillary is the Democratic candidate and the Republicans open THAT baggage there'll be such a dust storm and dirt pile coming out of it that a natural disaster may have to be declared!

G. C. -

I am sorry to hear that after 73 years, you can't come up with a more nuanced analysis than "my guy is a saint and his opponents are bad."

Of course, demonization of those with differnt is part and parcel of liberal ideology. I was just hoping that common sense might kick in after a few decades.

Apparently not.

Enough of the whining about the "Republican Dirt Machine".

What do you call Olbermann, Maher, Michael Moore, <oyers, Froomki, every political cartoonist, MoveOn, Air America, et al?

Let me guess. You are one of the many liberals who thinks Anne Coulter is evil but Bill Maher is "speaking truth". At least have the honesty to admit they are both hate-mongers.

""Posted by: (and then anonymous) on May 2 at 4:40 pm eastern - writes "" :

:::We have seen the Republicans tear their party apart in the past 8 years and now we are seeing Clinton tear our party apart. She is so much like Bush; when people refer to McCain being a third term for Bush I strongly suggest Clinton well fits that same example. She says she is ready to fight; I think we have had enough fighting in Washington; it is time Washington learned to work together for the good of the United States and our citizens,:::

I can endorse all the writer is 'saying', EXCEPT that the Dem party is not MINE (it was, at one time, and so was the Republican party, but I resigned both), and became an INDEPENDENT. I like the way the writer drawes the analogy, vis a vis Clinton is so much like Bush -which thrust is reflecting how "the Republicans have torn their own party apart" . Plus, our country) . I lay a lot of the above to Bush, and I mean Bush the Junior of the clan.

Visionary, and Uplifting, Inspiring our hope for Change in this horrid Fed government, inCLUDing the Congress, "thy name certainly is NOT GW Bush, BUT it very possibly might be Obama." He MAY have "some demerits", but, as man to man, I say he's "still my man" for the toughest job in this world

As independent in voting (and in a lot of other things )I will NEVER vote for a Republican, BUT I will DO ALL I CAN, with my trip into the balloting, to FIRE McCain as he certainly is last that I can see in the "Three" that I could support.

Thus, I will probably vote Obama. BUT I WILL vote Nov the 4th, or whenever-I promise you. I am a citizen of North Carolina and we have already voted (early voting), for Obama for our NC primary election. I am,

mustyceltic, in North Carolina

OBAMA BRAGS ABOUT BUYING AND USING COCAINE IN HIS BOOKS.

LET ME REPEAT THAT.

OBAMA BRAGS ABOUT BUYING AND USING COCAINE IN HIS BOOKS.

HE DIDN'T JUST "TRY IT"

HE DID IT EVERY CHANCE HE GOT.

THAT MAKES HIM UNELECTABLE.

THE WORDS CAME RIGHT OUT OF HIS MOUTH.

THE COKE WENT RIGHT UP HIS NOSE.

THAT MAKES HIM UNELECTABLE.

ITS HIS OWN FAULT.

OBAMA HARD DRUG HISTORY MAKES HIM UNELECTABLE!!!!

Since Hillary wants to hold Obama responsible for his pastor, maybe we should hold her responsible for her husband getting his dic--- sucked in the White House while she was home. HmMMM

Sweetheart, You sound young and and bit foolish.
I'm a 73-year old woman, white, feminist from way back)who at first was thrilled to have a woman run until I saw her style.

This is how I now see our choices (Gore won't run)

1.- an unprincipled, Machiavellian and power-obsessed inventor of truth, come to cash in payback from her perfidious and serial 'story fabricator' of of a hubby, (to think I once voted for him!), an expert lance-thrower; a dirty fighter and sore loser; an unfair planter of the seeds of doubt and fear who has chosen to use the race card against her fair-playing Democratic opponent. In other words, a Republican in Democratic clothing.

2.- a war-loving elder citizen, inept and out of touch with reality, better suited for a top notch Assisted Living facility than the White House, blessed, by his own admission, with an uncontrollable temper, (heard live by Ben Barber and others)spiced with a foul mouth; suffers myriad senior moments in public on a regular basis and displays amnesia, confusion and/or ignorance of world geography, economics, and other kind of important issues, with impunity. Whether we attribute his remarks to 'truthlessnes' or 'memory-failure' both are pretty lousy choices.

3.- a young, multiracial honest and honorable man, brilliant, charismatic and inspiring speaker, born without the customary silver spoon and raised on hope and a sense of integrity, whose knowledge of history and love for his country is what motivates him and not the usual thirst for power; a man whose intelligent wife could make us proud to have as a first lady. A man who keeps rising above darts digs and mud-slinging of outrageous opponents, who rejects fear mongering never stooping to their level; a man I believe cares deeply about all Americans who suffer the disregard and disrespect of our present inept administration, a man who voted to NOT give Bush power to start a stupid war in the first place.

Maybe you have 4 years to throw in the incinerator, but I don't and I doubt there are many who do.

This B.O. is done for 2008 and beyond. I'm concerned that such a racist bigot got so close to being our President! Polls are starting to show America's outright denial of this extremely scary and terrifying individual.

http://rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/election_20082/2008_presidential_election/58_say_obama_denounced_wright_for_political_convenience_not_outrage

Will someone inform Rip Van Winkle (author of this rubbish) that Obama has a lead in pledged delegates that is impossible for Clinton to catch. No one disputes this.

Why not also throw in the fact that Obama has earned over 80% of the Superdelegates since Super Tuesday. This is fact.

Oh, and don't forget to inform Mr. or Mrs. Van Winkle that Obama has earned 2/3 of the Superdelegates that have announced in the past week (and that was during a particularly negative newsweek for Obama).

Time to wake up and smell the coffee, folks.

Sorry, this whole interaction appears to be written by someone who writes to himself followed by an appropriate answer that fits his own agenda. He writes about Obama in the past tense and displays a moderate degree of racism.

Republicans will tremble at the prospect of confronting Obama; crucially they know Obama means to deconstruct the bills, laws, devices and executive orders that have blinkered, threatened and hypnotized a great American nation whose faith in American politics has shrunk to the size of a pea.

Corruption and lies so de rigeur for the Bush administration has awakened and excited a swage, a rush of public awareness that screams for change - and change is Obama.

you can see the repubs trying to knock off obama in here, and they're always fun to read. i wonder if it's working? most people see the smear tactics as being exactly what they don't want, same old crap. i can certainly understand the wish to compete against hillary, and of course these karl-rove-inspired hits are just what i would expect. the need for power does strange things to people, makes them forget their principles.

BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!

Stumped Stupid!
This is the second hypothetical empty-headed argument proposing that Senator
Obama should step aside in this nomination process. First of all, he is soon to become not only our nominee but also our president (begin practicing the phrase "President Obama" Andres). Secondly, our nation can not tolerate even one more minute of either the Clintons or the Republicans. They both represent more of the same crap and we can't and won't take it any more.

All I know is that I won't be voting for McCain. Up until recently I probably would have, but his unyielding support for our continued presence in Iraq has sealed the deal. Hillary or Obama can't do worse imo.

I'm an independent.

BTW, this whole fascination with the obama reverend thing is such crap. Why do people care about this? Argue about his lack of experience or argue with his policy - this is just "swiftboating" all over again.

I don't know whether Obama will be the Democratic nominee or who will win the general election. I know that our country is in big trouble; the argument made by Richard Lampe is similar to that made by German socialists and communists in 1932. They said, "Let the National Socialists run the government. Those idiots will sink the country into even bigger trouble than we now have. The voters will turn to us in the next election".

I don't equate the Republicans with the Nazis or John McCain with Hitler. However, there are some lessons of history. Hitler was not elected president or Chancellor of Germany, contrary to what many Americans have been taught in school. Hitler ran against war hero Paul von Hindenburg and other candidates in the 1932 German Presidential election. Although Hitler had written Mein Kampf and was notoriously anti-Semitic, he was mostly quiet about this during the election. Hindenburg got 49.6% of the vote, Hitler 30.1 %, Thaelmann, the Communist party candidate 13.2%. This led to a run-off in April 1932; Hindenburg now got 53.0%, Hitler 36.8% and Thaelmann 10.2%. Hindenburg was re-elected President and appointed Franz von Papen chancellor. Papen dissolved the Congress and called for new elections. The NSDAP (Nazis) got 230 seats, more than any other party but only 37.8% of the Congress. Hitler demanded that he be appointed chancellor and put in control of Germany. Hindenburg refused but the Congress was paralyzed, leading to another election in November 1932. The Nazis fell back to only 196 seats, more than any other single party. Papen was fired and a new Chancellor appointed, who got nowhere. The new guy resigned during a time of great economic distress. On January 30, 1933 Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor. In less than a month, the Nazis caused the Reichstag fire and "discovered Communist documents". Hitler persuaded Hindenburg to sign an order suspending civil rights. Two weeks later he demanded that the Reichstag vote him emergency powers, suspending the Constitution, to deal with the Communist threat, which they did - more than 400 members voted to give him these powers. The rest was history.

More economic misery is much more likely to bring dictatorship than a turn to Obama. And by the way, many German soldiers wore belt buckles proclaiming "Gott mit uns" during the war. Now think of General Boykin and McCain's pal, John Hagee. These pseudo-Christians are eager to shed the blood of foreigners and bankrupt our country. They frighten me much more than Reverend Wright, although I would not want to spend a weekend with any of the three.

Hillary Clinton is the same old same old triangulating politician. She objected to a proposed New York State gas tax holiday as a gimmick in 2000, now she says that it is necessary. The moral of German history is that defeating extremists in an election is not enough. Hitler was defeated in April 1932 but by the end of January, 1933 he was all-powerful chancellor Germany and relied on the German respect for authority and fear of auslanders (Muslims?) to keep them quiet while he grabbed the levers of power. Our administration curtails civil rights, produces Photoshop documents to scare the people with Syrian reactors and other Muslim threats. Our media remain obedient and silent.

If Obama gets the nomination and loses, which he will, he's toast. When was the last time a Dem presidential loser ever got another chance? He'll sink into oblivion. Obama miscalculated so badly and used such horrible judgment that he won't deserve a second chance. It'll serve the Dems right for not vetting him. HRC warned him that he didn't know what he was getting himself into. But he and Michelle were both arrogant & Axelrod was equally naive. Pity the dumb super dels who are still coming out for him. Risking their careers to support a loser? Btw, when is someone in the media going to write a piece about Obama's "superior" judgment - since he made such an argument that he had so much of it while HRC had none? Well, not only is Obama human but he's also pretty simple. And people are going to vote for this guy????? Talk about pity ----

We have heard of them AND I AM ONE OF THEM: those who will vote for McCain if Clinton is nominated to represent our party. The Republicans would love to see Clinton nominated as they know her and her background and all the dirt that goes with her. They will be able to tear her apart and I would almost like to see it done, but, I do not want her nominated to represent our party. We have seen the Republicans tear their party apart in the past 8 years and now we are seeing Clinton tear our party apart. She is so much like Bush; when people refer to McCain being a third term for Bush I strongly suggest Clinton well fits that same example. She says she is ready to fight; I think we have had enough fighting in Washington; it is time Washington learned to work together for the good of the United States and our citizens, We have seen noting but fighting in Washington and out of it has come nothing of value but rather a continual decline in our quality of life. Hillary has been a part of that mess for almost 8 years and she continues too sound like them. If elected she would do no more than carry on the mess she has learned to live with; what she thinks Washington is all about. She claims to be the best qualified to be president; that statement alone makes me think she does not understand the role of the president. Maybe she is comparing her qualifications to those of Bush; and there is not a whole lot of difference between the two of them!

OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08
OBAMA 08

When I think about what is being done to Obama, I want to cry. I want to cry from sheer frustration. Anyone who knows anything about the Clintons--before, during and after their White House Tenure--knows that in terms of "baggage," with THEM you need a cargo plane. But Americans aren't listening. They're watching cable television channels who all, one way or another, have an agenda. What's worse is that the agendas that they all have are so damn transparent that, like many people I know, we rely on the media, someone, anyone with an ounce of scruples to set them straight but it isn't happening. No one is setting them straight. If Hillary Clinton had the extreme good luck to have ONLY the baggage (he's human afer all) that Barack Obama does we wouldn't know a thing about any of it. We have the proof in McCain and Hagee. One thing after another keeps happening to Obama. Look at Texas. Texas would have gone for Obama except for Naftagate. Later of course we find out all sorts of interesting things about Naftagate but it is too late to have done Obama any good. Now this who Reverend Wright thing, which is simply ludicrous. If Wright were McCain's pastor some loons would be airing him but none of the mainstream media. If he were Clinton's pastor she would just "denounce" him and that would be IT. End of story. Same thing with this BS about Obama being out of touch and condescending and elitist. What? Because he said the working class was bitter. He didn't say angry or fed up so we had to put up with the media and they're endless analysis of "bitter." Give me a break. He merely said that Joe Average is sick and damn tired of politics. Joe Average listens to politicians who promise economic reform which never appears so Joe Average has stopped listening. Instead of economics, Joe Average votes for the guy who supports the Second Amendment so he can at least keep his damn gun. Whoop-de-doo. This is reason to excoriate the man? Everyone knows Hillary Clinton. The entire country knows you can't trust her as far as you can throw her but they don't care. She mocks the common man saying "screw 'em" in Bill's campaign but now, NOW she can down a shot so suddenly she is all that. She's one of them! Crap. Total BS. This country knows Clinton has the moral fortitude of a cockroach but they don't care. And people wonder what is wrong with America these days? Why are our young people turning us off in record numbers? Because we don't have any credibility with them and we damn sure don't deserve to.

As a Clinton supporter, I would be Ok voting for Obama in 2016 after he's actually done something of substance in the Senate or at whatever job he's holding where he's accountable to the public.

- A speech doesnt make your legacy on the Iraq War.
- Coming in late for meetings, doesnt make you a champion of immigration reform.
- Not showing up for meetings doesnt make you the poster child of campaign finance reform.
- Not holding meetings as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relation Commitee, doesnt make you an expert on US Foreign Policy.
- Having your wife work at a childrens hospital in Chicago doesnt make you an expert on Health Care Reform.
- Talking exclusively about the need for renewable energy, doesnt make you the go to go guy for a new energy policy (we are still gonna need more oil until we can get cars that run on electricity)

DRAFT GORE!
WIN THE WHITE HOUSE....arrive then:
the 21st Century!

Wow....the left is really gone crazy.
Obama is done. You actually think academia,
blacks(many don't vote)& college kids,(who rarely vote) is a coalition for the Presidency.McCain will kill him when the 527s are done with him.
Look at what you morons did in Conn to Lieberman. All he has to di is switch to Rep & the Senate is GOP again. I watched the results when he lost & KOS was purring how poweful they were. I sat their amazed at how naive they were. I told my wife,
"Lieberman will win as an independent".
Get out of academic hibernation & into
reality. No tenure in real life.

Is the Obama ship sinking? there aren't too many people around bailing.

"This week we learned the limit of a dream in American politics. At Barack Obama's darkest hour, not one prominent ally came forward to support him. Everyone abandoned Everyman.

No prominent black clergyman came forth to make even the simple point that Jeremiah Wright's notion of the "black church" is but one point on a spectrum of faith. Rev. Wright, now written off as a virtual nut case, got more support from black clergymen than did Obama.

Barack Obama was bleeding by Monday and needed cover. Where, when he could have used them, were Obama's oh-so-famous endorsers: Jesse Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Oprah, John Kerry, Chris Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Tom Daschle, Amy Klobuchar, Claire McCaskill, Jay Rockefeller, John Lewis, Toni Morrison, Roger Wilkins, Eric Holder, Robert Reich, Ted Sorenson, Alice Walker, David Wilhelm, Cornel West, Clifford Alexander, Donald McHenry, Patricia Wald, Newton Minow?

Where were all the big-city mayors who went over to the Obama camp: Chicago's Richard Daley, Cleveland's Frank Jackson, Atlanta's Shirley Franklin, Washington's Adrian Fenty, Newark's Cory Booker, Baltimore's Sheila Dixon?"

Has anyone noticed that "those pesky blue-collar white" Americans which Senator Obama is not able to convince are the same individuals who by their votes brought us the eight hellish years of the Bush/Cheney administration?

The Democratic problem from the beginning of the primaries is that the pundits and some Democratic leaders anointed Mr. Obama as the savior not only of the party but of the entire nation and promptly proceeded to belittle Hillary Clinton's record, to besmirch her reputation, to exaggerate her flaws, leaving her viability as a legitimate presidential contender in tatters. Now that poor Barack Obama has been torn to shreds by his pastor, the Democrats are stuck with two weakened candidates and neither one may be able to beat McCain in November. This has been the tragedy of the Democratic Party: one way or another it manages to lose the presidential elections.

Just remember that you can buy votes in Chicago for $5 and a sandwich. This is Obama's state culture and it frankly reeks. And, why has no one asked him why he voted present on so many issues before the legislature? Is it because he didn't want to leave a policy track record? This man is phony and a manipulator of fools the who follow this Pied Piper of Politics. As for Hillary, she's a manipulating, congenital liar. Unfortunately, is this is the best and finest that the Democratic party can field?.....WOW.

Both of you sound like you've been at the MSM bar all night where Hillary's been pouring free shots - not the Crown Royal she drank of course. You're an average working people - you get the cheaper watered down stuff.

So let's recap you're conjoined arguments: -let another 4000 troops die, let another 12,000 suffer brain damage, let another 50,000 Iraqis die, let another 200,000 Americans die only because they don't have health insurance, I could go on but I want to cut to the most horrific result of your racist, anti-American, pro-war, pro-hard line foreign policy, pro-everything
anti-Democratic when the Republicans elect another Scalia, you're rights are screwed and you get to watch the Democrats begging in the dirt for spare change to pay for another minimum wage hike..

I'll make all three of you a deal. -I'll vote for Hillary when the three of you -including especially your whiney blubbering female friend - join the army or the Marines -whichever branch will take your sorry asses. And do it now so that you'll be out of boot camp and headed to Iraq or Afghanistan -when McCain wins in November.
Then, if you make it home in time for the next election, you can try pushing Hillary again and again as you're on your 4th or 5th deployments, until you give up hope and join all the other troops blowing their brains out for the lack of any hope for their futures..
McCain and Joe Lieberman will thank you for that, because in their eyes, that's after all the most patriotic thing you can do, isn't it, to defend America and our Constitution and your fellow citizens.

Hoo-rah to THAT advice!

Obama in '08 and '12

Hillary does not deserve to win. She race baits. It is not just race baiting, but actual instances of attempts at suppressing black and other minority voters by the robo-calling campaign that Hillary Clinton's supporters have done now in 4 or 5 states, including South Carolina. These are dirty strategies from the Republican racist playbook.

I don't believe Bill Clinton was making these comments without Hillary's approval. It is an old tactic, old as Machiavelli, to appoint a cruel administrator, then dismiss him after the dirty work is done, thereby proving one's "fairness." It seems to be the case that feminists are going for Hillary no matter what. This is not feminism, electing women regardless of their impact on issues of concern to women.

I am appalled at Hillary Clinton's dirty strategies and by these, as Machiavelli said, and Hillary would do well to consider this, one may win power but not honor, and, I would add, without the soft power honor confers, there is no real power.

I don't look for "toughness" or "sensitivity" but for moral leadership, and race baiting and vote suppression are disgusting examples of why Hillary Clinton does not represent women and does not represent the higher values of what it means to be a decent person. It is ironic since her early efforts were to register voters. I guess power corrupts and cold power corrupts absolutely.

Before you send any more of your, or your parent's, hard earned money to Barry Obama --

Please Watch this report on Obama, Obama's slums, Rezko, and $100M of wasted taxpayer money, from Channel 5, NBC news, Chicago's most respected TV news program.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDHsHM0laT8&feature=related

How do you explain away the fact that Barry Obama never followed up on the 11 slums that his friend Rezko was supposed to repair in Obama's district in Chicago, and continued to do nothing about the 40 slums that Rezko was supposed to repair or replace in Chicago, even after Obama joined the US Senate?

From the Chicago Sun Times:

For more than five weeks during the brutal winter of 1997, tenants shivered without heat in a government-subsidized apartment building on Chicago's South Side.

It was just four years after the landlords -- Antoin "Tony'' Rezko and his partner Daniel Mahru -- had rehabbed the 31-unit building in Englewood with a loan from Chicago taxpayers.

Rezko and Mahru couldn't find money to get the heat back on.

But their company, Rezmar Corp., did come up with $1,000 to give to the political campaign fund of Barack Obama, the newly elected state senator whose district included the unheated building....

The building in Englewood was one of 30 Rezmar rehabbed in a series of troubled deals largely financed by taxpayers. Every project ran into financial difficulty. More than half went into foreclosure, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found.

"Their buildings were falling apart,'' said a former city official. "They just didn't pay attention to the condition of these buildings.''

Eleven of Rezko's buildings were in Obama's state Senate district....

Rezko and Mahru had no construction experience when they created Rezmar in 1989 to rehabilitate apartments for the poor under the Daley administration. Between 1989 and 1998, Rezmar made deals to rehab 30 buildings, a total of 1,025 apartments. The last 15 buildings involved Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland during Obama's time with the firm.

Rezko and Mahru also managed the buildings, which were supposed to provide homes for poor people for 30 years. Every one of the projects ran into trouble:

* Seventeen buildings -- many beset with code violations, including a lack of heat -- ended up in foreclosure.

* Six buildings are currently boarded up.

* Hundreds of the apartments are vacant, in need of major repairs.

* Taxpayers have been stuck with millions in unpaid loans.

Well, I believe that race is still very tighten and Clinton won in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania mostly because the democratic machinery was working for her. It happens that I astonished attack dogs calling Richardson a betrayer and questioning his freedom of thoughts and endorsement which arguments which sound much more like exchange of favours and life-long gratefulness. I am surprised that someone earning $109mio dollar in 8 years can call elitist someone earning less than a 20th, Hillary calling for support of superdelegates to overrule the democratic vote, saying Obama is out of touch with the people.
There are so many points that I really do not understand about the arguments I read while keeping informed about US primaries.
I see Obama inspiring people, inspiring ideas, and firmly believe this inspiration will go further and produce fruits not even the Clinton's oligarchy will be able to stop.
I started sympatheinzing with Clinton, after several months of campaign I am sorry to admit she would not get my vote in a race against McCain. The second, at least, is consistent and does not change opinion and statements according to the wind of the polls.

Convergence is a funny thing. Were it not for a strong and viable candidate like Hillary with a very good chance of winning, I think Obama would have waited another 4 to 8 years.

Here's the logic. If Obama had stayed out, then the chances of Hillary winning the presidency would be extremely high. And even for 2 terms.

Thence, after 8 years, the country would have been ripe to swing back to the GOP and another 8 years.

16 years is just too long for Obama to wait. (Although a more seasoned Obama then might be the right ticket for then too).

It is because of the arithmetic above that he decided to wade in now. And now, with two very viable candidates the DNC is in a horrible bind. As Newt said the other night on the Daily show the Republicans are not exactly crying over the Obama-Clinton deadlock.

IT IS STATED,
IN THE US CONSTITUTION:

Ariticle 6:
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

REPEAT: NO RELIGIOUS TEST SHALL EVER BE
REQUIRED AS A QUALIFICATION TO ANY OFFICE
OR public TRUST under the United States.

Next, ITS THE SUPREME COURT, INTELLIGENT
THINKING ELECTORATE!!!

If YOU think that corporations, neocons, corporate Christian mercenary soldiers that are flurishing under this corrupt, incompetent administration, and that Human Rights arent important unless you are the Right Human, then VOTING FOR McW will aid in all the above and make it will make sure the UNBORN will be paying for all this for who knows how long!!
100 years of NeoCon rule.
Hmmm Hitler posed that thought too.
Vote Democrat in the General Election,
our soldiers, veterans, children, and most importantly our Country and our Constitution AND Civil Liberties are at stake.

In spite of what Obama thinks, even white stupid bitter rednecks that Believe in God, loves this Nation, support the second Amendment, & Article IV Section IV against Invasion, know this much: When you take money out of your wallet and lay that money down for the same cause, week after week, month after month, year after year, for 20 years...you HAVE endorsed and believe in the Message and you have most assuredly endorsed the MESSENGER.

For 20 years Obama has supported Reverend Wright and his Radical American Hating Racist Paranoid message, but now that he wants to be President he throws the man under the bus alone with his Grandmother. The question is just how bitter is Obama at whites, and what kind of man is he that is seeks to be President? It seems that with Obama Bull Sh-t Talks and Honesty, Truth, Principles and Character walks!

In spite of what Obama thinks, even white stupid bitter rednecks that Believe in God, loves this Nation, support the second Amendment, & Article IV Section IV against Invasion, know this much: When you take money out of your wallet and lay that money down for the same cause, week after week, month after month, year after year, for 20 years...you HAVE endorsed and believe in the Message and you have most assuredly endorsed the MESSENGER.

For 20 years Obama has supported Reverend Wright and his Radical American Hating Racist Paranoid message, but now that he wants to be President he throws the man under the bus alone with his Grandmother. The question is just how bitter is Obama at whites, and what kind of man is he that is seeks to be President? It seems that with Obama Bull Sh-t Talks and Honesty, Truth, Principles and Character walks!

Sen. Clinton claims she has been vetted. In fact, all the major dirt in her present campaign from Mark Penn's influence peddling in Columbia to her connections with the Harper government in Canada have been quickly deep-sixed by the mass media and all her past indiscretions totally ignored. Who's behind the coverup? We don't know. But the fact that Obama has stood as tall as he had for all the one-sided nature of the campaign especially in the past month (see the ABC "debate"), is obviously sending a powerful message to watchful superdelegates who can see behind the smoke-screen of the ridiculous proportion of attention focused on Obama's former pastor which the media is inflating.

Worse scandals from the Clintons? No there were several other Presidents that have far surpassed the Clintons the current resident of the white house for one - but unfortunately for us the Clintons are the only ones that seem to know how to manage this big monstrosity we call the federal government - I like Gore he would have done a great job in 2000 but I think the current mess is over his head too - go Hillary.

politics is not a baseball game.

I keep on hearing that Mrs. Clinton has all this garbage - that she's men spirited and tough as nails and goes for the throat etc. etc. etc. Who cares? Is she the smartest one of the bunch or not? Is she the one most likely to get things done that will make the elites and fat-cats unhappy? And get us out this dependency relationship with red China? Yes to all questions. We need somebody who going to kick %$#& and take names. End of story.

I'll start from early on in my evolution... I am a biracial man whose father is African-American and mother is Caucasian. My parents met in 1959 when my un-wed mother was in a nursing school where my father was employed as a nurses aide... my mother was engaged to a white man who was attending engineering school. My father had an African-American wife and (5) children at the time of his extra-marital relationship with my mother. At some early point of my mothers pregnancy with me she made the decision to marry her fiance, and to lie to everyone about who the father of her un-born child was... she achieved this by claiming that I had been afflicted with a skin-disease called "melanism".

My mother and step-father had four more children together in the space of nine years after I was born, and we grew up together in a middle-class household in white america where the subject of "race" was never discussed. My earliest recollections of having to be aware of race was when I was asked questions about the color of my skin by other classmates in first grade... "Why was my skin dark?", "Was I adopted?" race was certainly a hot-button issue in 1965-66 when I began school , but any awareness that my mother and step-father had achieved from growing up in their white neighborhoods in the 40's and 50's was insufficient in preparing them for raising a biracial child... and to complicate things, they were both in complete denial of their complicity in my mis-education. When I came home from school after having been asked questions by fellow students from my all-white school district, my mother then explained "the skin-disease story" to me... "other kids with this disease usually have dark blotches all over their bodies, so you should feel fortunate". When I would tell my mother about other boys and girls who would call me names or act aggressively for no apparent reason, I began to understand that I would get no further assistance from her to explain this rationale... my step-father was even more removed from the conversation and would only add, "You know what your mother said".

By the time that my step-father transferred jobs and our family of (7) had moved from the all-white Cleveland, Ohio suburb of Stow to the all-white school district of Portville in Western up-state N.Y. it was the spring of 1970 and I was in fourth grade, and already the veteran of many racial incidents and altercations between myself, classmates, and even some adults. My four younger siblings had also been told the same story, and had to explain the same things to their friends when asked why they had a brother who was black... "Hey, did your mother fool around a little bit??" I remember how much that hurt me when I heard it, and I'm sure that they felt just as badly when they did... nonetheless, this was a "subject" that we never discussed as a family, not once, at least in my presence.

I was taught through my observations of my mother and step-father to keep quiet about things that I wasn't sure about, and I was also taught to ignore the obvious.

As I matured into my teen-aged years and began to experience societies issues and insecurities in coming to terms with this countries racial in-equalities during the 70's, I felt an increasing need to rationalize and then codify the information that my mother had given me, regardless of what I was beginning to realize inside... I felt a growing discomfort/conflict, yet there was no one in my life to offer any other perspective... I had learned that black people were a part of society that we didn't talk about. ( There was a black family in our small town, and they were poor and lived in a run-down house near the river...I never had any opportunity or reason to associate with them)

I was a "B" student and also began taking an interest in sports where I was above average. Meeting other schools and student athletes were opportunities to then be exposed to populations that had not been inured by my story, yet...I was just another black kid to them.

Communicating my experiences to my mother and step-father was difficult because they had no experience with racial prejudice, therefore when I had problems with other children it would be looked at as an issue that "I" had in getting along with others(as well as intra-family sibling issues).
Because "race" was being ruled-out entirely, by my mothers denial of my father, she could not logically use that rationale to explain any conflicts that I would have... part of my step-fathers complicity in this was to blindly support my mothers viewpoint...

The "white" viewpoint has always been that blacks(black society) were pretty well cared for, and what contact they did have would be polite and careful... What, with the Voting Rights and Civil Rights Acts being passed, the playing field had been leveled.(re: my mother and step-father's generation)
The feelings and comfort of my mother were apparently what was important, and her inculcation had to have been partly comprised of the idea that white society acted as the gate-keepers and care-takers of an infantilized black population.

questions:

How has black society formed its identity?

What role models have been used, and how does white society react to positive
black role models today? (Are they held to a more critical prism??)

Is there enough information readily available for black people to easily form a
positive racial identity?

Is it important that black society is able to connect accurately the dots of its social
evolution in America? and is it also important that white society can connect those
same dots??

What is White Privilege?

What is White awareness?

What is Whiteness?

What about Affirmative Action?

Is" Race" a social construct?

How do we improve our society in America?

Is there any other way(besides the attrition of the old guard) to achieve this??

...** These questions are not rhetorical... I'd like to hear from those of you who have
courage... and the wherewithall, to provide feedback.

Dave Myers
www.discussrace.com

*** Link to current "related" dialogue...

http://www.strategytalk.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=62154#62154

the only baggage that Obama has is the hyped up baggage that the MSM wants him to have...the words that came out of Rev. Wright's mouth has somehow been tied to Obama..I said it before and I'll say it again..the only power that Rev. Wright's words have is the power that the media and that pathological liar Hillary Clinton gave to them... his words did not call for people to take action against the government he just raised a question... we have become so controlled by the right wing that people are alarmed when someone even questions the government... they have us just where they want us...and we might as well walk to the window and jump out because that is what's next... $4 a gal gas...foreclosures galore...the dollar has tanked... food prices are rediculous, our sons and daughters are dying fighting a senseless war and the insurance companies are left to run amuck with price goughing...stop worrying about petty bull and hold Bush and Cheney and the Corporations accountable for what they have done to our standard of living..

Yes, I agree...I'm for Obama for 2012
........also in 2008. Hillary is living in Hillaryland...Obama's will have the most delegates after all the states have voted...and dem's da rules folks...he's going to be the nominee. Get used to it.

@todd

I feel you 100% brother.

Obama is a farce. A marketed creation. Talk is cheap Obama.

RC,

Are you stupid? That 20-30 dollars from a hundred million US taxpayers keep the roads you drive on repaired. There are far better worthless taxes that can be cut. Or attempts to increase efficiency in government agencies that would save a significantly larger amount of money without any negative impacts.

This Gas holiday is exactly how Obama depicts it and I'm not even voting for him. Its a sham to get voters. Its the same political BS that these jackholes running for office use at each election and the vast majority of ignorant/stupid americans seem to fall for each and every time they use it.

Open your eyes and use your own friggin brain and maybe spend the 10 seconds it takes to research stuff before spouting the nonsense garbage the media writes.

People do realize that he voted for Ill. gas tax holidays, don't they?

How much of the Wright story was media driven? Check this out: The Daily Show is suggesting that the Wright controversy has been media driven.

Festival of Wright
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=167429&title=festival-of-wrights

Spiritual Advisor
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=167430&title=spiritual-advisor&to=2

Although the MSM is salivating over the Wright story and Clinton as this new working class fighter candidate- us vs. them- it is precisely the style of politics many of the super-delegates remember and deplore old partisan game of eking out slim victories by pandering to the narrow interests of the swing voters of the moment while leaving the remainder of the nation deeply divided. Look at the mess this has gotten the nation into -- botched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an enormous deficit, a debased currency and a stumbling economy.

Thank YOu Joe Andrew

Nice Remarks

1737 Delegates OBAMA

go OBAMA almost to 2025

Go IU GO INDIANA

GO KELLY BUSINESS STUDENT

GO NORTE DAME STUDENTS

GO BALL STATE

GO OBAMA and you too Purdue my home town

Independent: The Douglas Coe story has already been debunked. Read the following from NBC:
DOUGLAS COE IS NOT HILLARY'S PASTOR: NBC News Exclusive: Political ties to a secretive religious group -- Posted on Thursday, April 03, 2008 7:10 PM PT -- By Andrea Mitchell and Jim Popkin, NBC News --
For more than 50 years, the National Prayer Breakfast has been a Washington institution. Every president has attended the breakfast since Eisenhower, elbow-to-elbow with Democrats and Republicans alike. "I am really proud to carry on that tradition," President Bush said at this year's breakfast. "The people in this room come from many different walks of faith. Yet we share one clear conviction: We believe that the Almighty hears our prayers -- and answers those who seek Him."
Besides the presidents and first ladies--Bill and Hillary Clinton attended in 1997--the one constant presence at the National Prayer Breakfast has been Douglas Coe. Although he's not an ordained minister, the 79-year-old Coe is the most important religious leader you've never seen or heard.
But Doug Coe is well known to scores of senators in both parties--and many faiths--including Sam Brownback, Mike Enzi, Mark Pryor and Bill Nelson. They go to small weekly Senate prayer groups that Coe attends. Participants tell NBC News that so have senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, which those campaigns confirm. Asked about Coe's influence on Hillary Clinton, people close to her told NBC News that she does not consider him one of her leading spiritual advisors. They added that Senator Clinton has never contributed to Coe's group, is not a member of The Fellowship and has never heard the sermons obtained by NBC News. And, they said, Doug Coe is not Hillary Clinton's minister.

OregonDan: I see your point about your dad, but shouldn't we expect a little more from those who will be the Commander in Chief of the most powerful country in the world? Obama has shown a terrible of character and judgment in attending a racist black liberation theology church for 20 years. It flies in the face of his assertion that he can bring this country together.

Does Webb Hubbell/Doug Coe DISQULAIFY Hillary?
(Note: One of them had to be IMPRISONED.)

Does Haage/Fallwell DISQULAIFY McCain?

I keep thinking about this Wright thing and wondering if we aren't all being hypocrites. Yes, the man has some wacko conspiracy theories, but he has apparently also done very much good in his life. I wonder how I would feel about a pastor with such various conflicting sides to him.

My stepfather, a farmer and a wonderful man with a heart full of kindness for all around him, once got so worked up on a steady diet of Rush Limbaugh that he suggested at my wedding reception that someone should assassinate Bill Clinton. My Mom, a nurse,who is kind to nearly everyone, will go on an anti-gay tirade about once every year or so, but will admit that all the gays she has worked with are kind and lovely. She gets such ideas from "The Dove" her christian radio station. Would I disown them for their comments? Hell no, I think that a steady diet of propaganda worked them up and disengaged their brains. Point is, good people say assinine things daily, and judging someone on their most absurd statements is silly.

As for Obama, I really think he is being screwed and tattooed when most of us would have done something similar. Yes, he should have probably said something sooner, but then folks would have thought he was being politically correct.

Oh here we go, more Obama-bashing from the WaPo. You media clowns are either GOP shills or jsut incredibly stupid. The GOP is not eager to go against Obama, that is why they are trying so hard to discredit him NOW so Hillary would win.

As for the suggestion that it be given to Gore, that's just racism. Sorry, you don't just pat the first black candidate to win the nomination in American history on the head and hand it off to frankly an inferior and less likable old white guy.

Obama will likely win. Why keep carping on his supposed weakness against the ancient, lying, serial adulterer McCain? WaPo has sadly become an Obama-bashing rightwing rag, and on top of it, you protest too much.

By the way, Liberoservative, do you agree with the statement of James Cone describing black liberation theology (printed again below for reference)? Also, if Hillary Clinton belonged to a "white" church which had the same theology in reverse, would you give her the pass that you seem so eager to give Obama?

Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community. Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

What do people not GET about Hillary support? It's the same as Obama's - so WHAT makes him special? He's black? He's male?

Hillary should just run as an Independent.

I'll be writing her in if the Super Delegates hijack We The People of this party's best candidate.

Obama "couldn't wait" - like a spoiled child. Daschle is enjoying being back in power and control. Obama is the Viegra of the DC White Haired Establishment Trolls.

Guess what!!?

ChrisDodd
John Edwards
John Kerry
Tom Daschle
Joe Leiberman
Joe Biden
Diane Feinstein
Chuck Schumer

ALL VOTED THE SAME AS HILLARY ON IRAQ
OBAMA WASN'T EVEN IN DC - SAFE IN CHICAGO

That is who Mr. Obama is - Mr. SAFE POLITICS

That's why he's never gotten ANYTHING done in his entire Equal Opportunity Life.

The only thing Obama is good at is taking things and Using them

His father's skin color (black like me vote - dad was a dead beat who never looked back)
Rezko money
Wrights community connections
The DC Boys Club
Axelrod's Marketing team
His mother's death (never did a thing about health care after her death - but uses it on the STUMP)
Other people's speeches
Xeroxed Policies

I'm certain he cheated in school
And lied to his mother - she let it go

Mr. Obama is a marketing miracle puppeted by the oldest of the DC Establishment White Boys Club. Mr. Obama is NOTHING DIFFERENT.

Obama is a Chiago politician who took A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS from Tony Rezko to get where he is. And he threw Tony under the bus after seventeen years of his monetary and political support in Chicago. Obama says he never gave one favor for that QUARTER MILLION. Right. (the obama campaign began disclosure of the money at 25K - way off until they realized people could investigate the truth).

Obama USED Rev Wright to network and gather the black community around him in Chicago. I wonder how much he went to church? Another "set prop" for his white house run.

Obama asked Rev Wright to pray with him in the basement of the building where he announced his candidacy. He canceled the Revs blessing upstairs - but he did a secret prayer session with him in the basement. Kind of like Servant's Quarters.

That's what political supporters are to Obama - his servants. And who is HE? We have no idea. Just a big fat ego and a marketing team.

WHAT DOES OBAMA DO WITH POLITICAL FRIENDS WHEN THEY CAN'T HELP HIM ANY MORE?

UNDER THE BUS!!!

Obama is a plastic David Axelrod invention. David is the Product Team Manager. Mr. Obama is a marketing miracle indeed.

David Axelrod created something from a DO NOTHING.

Hillary Clinton - Madame President.

God DOES BLESS America

"only one of them -- Clinton -- seems predisposed to swing those bags at her opponent's head, which is why so many voters in Pennsylvania and elsewhere still think she is the party's best hope come November." hello! - give me a break. Obama has swung plenty of bags, just sneakily and under cover of having the words come from his surrogates (whom he then would fire or otherwise throw under the bus). and Clinton has not swung much baggage at anyone, at least not nearly to the extent the media tries to make it appear. I, like oh, gee, just half the country, am supporting her instead of Obama for reasons that have nothing to do with any so-called bags she swung, because frankly I've heard none of them. Get some genuine perspective, Stumped, and quit pretending your personal, sexist bias is political reality. That said, I've always thought it should be Gore, and if that's the way it turns out, good for all of us.

joeboe2001:

Sorry if this sounds condescending, but you're reading Martinez uncharitably. The tone of the piece makes it pretty clear that the inclusion of "rubes" in that sentence is a tongue-in-cheek continuation of Obama's poor choice of words.

Irony and sarcasm: lost on too many.

Liberoservative: James Cone, 1990, regarding Obama's black liberation theology: Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community. Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.

James Cone's "Black Theology and Black Power" was reissued in 2007 with no substantive changes in tone. In the forward, James Cone's primary criticism of his prior work was that he did not include women as much as he should have. No apologies for the racist tone against whites, whatsoever.

What do people not GET about Hillary support? It's the same as Obama's - so WHAT makes him special? He's black? He's male?

Hillary should just run as an Independent.

I'll be writing her in if the Super Delegates hijack We The People of this party's best candidate.

Obama "couldn't wait" - like a spoiled child. Daschle is enjoying being back in power and control. Obama is the Viegra of the DC White Haired Establishment Trolls.

Guess what!!?

ChrisDodd
John Edwards
John Kerry
Tom Daschle
Joe Leiberman
Joe Biden
Diane Feinstein
Chuck Schumer

ALL VOTED THE SAME AS HILLARY ON IRAQ
OBAMA WASN'T EVEN IN DC - SAFE IN CHICAGO

That is who Mr. Obama is - Mr. SAFE POLITICS

That's why he's never gotten ANYTHING done in his entire Equal Opportunity Life.

The only thing Obama is good at is taking things and Using them

His father's skin color (black like me vote - dad was a dead beat who never looked back)
Rezko money
Wrights community connections
The DC Boys Club
Axelrod's Marketing team
His mother's death (never did a thing about health care after her death - but uses it on the STUMP)
Other people's speeches
Xeroxed Policies

I'm certain he cheated in school
And lied to his mother - she let it go

Mr. Obama is a marketing miracle puppeted by the oldest of the DC Establishment White Boys Club. Mr. Obama is NOTHING DIFFERENT.

Obama is a Chiago politician who took A QUARTER MILLION DOLLARS from Tony Rezko to get where he is. And he threw Tony under the bus after seventeen years of his monetary and political support in Chicago. Obama says he never gave one favor for that QUARTER MILLION. Right. (the obama campaign began disclosure of the money at 25K - way off until they realized people could investigate the truth).

Obama USED Rev Wright to network and gather the black community around him in Chicago. I wonder how much he went to church? Another "set prop" for his white house run.

Obama asked Rev Wright to pray with him in the basement of the building where he announced his candidacy. He canceled the Revs blessing upstairs - but he did a secret prayer session with him in the basement. Kind of like Servant's Quarters.

That's what political supporters are to Obama - his servants. And who is HE? We have no idea. Just a big fat ego and a marketing team.

WHAT DOES OBAMA DO WITH POLITICAL FRIENDS WHEN THEY CAN'T HELP HIM ANY MORE?

UNDER THE BUS!!!

Obama is a plastic David Axelrod invention. David is the Product Team Manager. Mr. Obama is a marketing miracle indeed.

David Axelrod created something from a DO NOTHING.

Hillary Clinton - Madame President.

God DOES BLESS America

"as he came across in his remarks about those poor mid-American rubes who have to cling to their guns and God"

You, sir, seem to have the same problem. The majority of those people you refer to as "rubes" are hard-working, generally decent U.S. citizens, many of them failed by U.S. industry and government. They are religous, and many own guns, but they do not deserve either your or Mr. Obama's condescension.

LOL wheres that guy who writes the "NeoConservatives for Hillary" posts whe you need him - this is his chance to be relavant.

James:

It is called "Operation Chaos," orchestrated by Republicans. Go look it up. Republicans who absolutely hate Hillary are voting for her as they preceive her to be the weaker candidate against McCain. Obviously Hillary is not the popular, as polls continously show high negativity numbers for her, basically ~57% of the country absolutely hates this Hillary witch, which represents all that is wrong with our current, corrupt government. I am one of those who cannot stand to see the lying Hillary, just like I feel about Bush Jr.

Oldman&theC is spot on.

The fact that Wright is an issue is depressingly sad. How about some real politics? What happened to news having to do with international relations and our domestic issues?

Obama can't recover because the Clinton machine and conservatives have banded together to take him down. Fox News is giving Obama more negative segments then any other candidate in history. They even refuse to air reports on the most recent Clinton scandal, where a judge declared that Hillary doesn't have to testify until after the election. If the DNC allows Hillary to steal the election, it will be difficult for them to win as a party.

Obama will recover from this Reverend Wright debacle, if only the press will give it a rest. They have declared war on Obama since the ABC debate in hopes of keeping their ratings up.

With the Clintons, we had some of the worst scandal and corruption ever in the White House.We lost majorities in both Houses of Congress, in most of the statehouses and local offices all the way down to dogcatcher. We had a president who narrowly escaped being thrown out of office and was ultimately stripped of his right to practice law by the Arkansas Bar Association and this was backed up by the Supreme Court. The Clintons have continued to dabble in theses illicit deals. They have np shame. They will lay the Democratic Party low again.

If we were going to have an "I Told You So" candidate, it would be Al Gore. Democrats know better than to re-nominate last cycle's loser. Unfortunately, Wright and Ayers have dropped a bomb on Obama's presidential hopes. The GOP is not going to pick the Democratic nominee, the DNC is, and they are going to go with whoever shows the strongest performance against McCain. Since the Penn primary, that has been Clinton, and likely will remain so. Obama has been "Kerry-ized" and I do not see much chance of him bouncing back enough to hold onto overall voter confidence. We'll see after the May 6 primaries.

James,
You can also look at what it is today...

All Things Considered, March 18, 2008 · Presidential contender Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) defended his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, on Tuesday, even as he repudiated some of the pastor's inflammatory sermons. But Wright's comments likely come as no surprise to those familiar with black liberation theology, a religious philosophy that emerged during the 1960s.

Black liberation theology originated on July 31, 1966, when 51 black pastors bought a full page ad in the New York Times and demanded a more aggressive approach to eradicating racism. They echoed the demands of the black power movement, but the new crusade found its source of inspiration in the Bible.

"God's presence in the world is best depicted through God's involvement in the struggle for justice," says Anthony Pinn, who teaches philosophy and religion at Rice University in Houston. "God is so intimately connected to the community that suffers, that God becomes a part of that community."

Freedom and Liberation

Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School, says black liberation theology often portrays Jesus as a brown-skinned revolutionary. He cites the words of Mary in the Magnificat -- also known as the "Song of Mary" -- in which she says God intends to bring down the mighty and raise the lowly. Hopkins also notes that in the book of Matthew, Jesus says the path to heaven is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and the prisoners. And the central text for black liberation theology can be found in Chapter 4 of Luke's gospel, where Jesus outlines the purpose of his ministry.

"Jesus says my mission is to eradicate poverty and to bring about freedom and liberation for the oppressed," Hopkins says. "And most Christian pastors in America skip over that part of the book."

Hopkins attends Trinity United Church of Christ, where Rev. Wright just retired as pastor. In the now-famous sermon from 2003, Wright said black people's troubles are a result of racism that still exists in America, crying out, "No, no, no, not God bless America! God damn America -- that's in the Bible -- for killing innocent people."

According to Hopkins, that was theological wordplay -- because the word "damn" is straight out of the Bible and has a specific meaning in the original Hebrew.

"It means a sacred condemnation by God to a wayward nation who has strayed from issues of justice, strayed from issues of peace, strayed from issues of reconciliation," Hopkins says.

A Loud, Passionate, Physical Affair

Anthony Pinn of Rice University acknowledges that black liberation preaching ofte