Chris, you are known to play and write nonsense in your editorial. I wonder if you are really competent to hold your job. Time and time again, you write bizzard an weird editorial.
Truly Chris, you exhibit all symtoms of someone with intractable brain tumor. Get a medical attention, and retire.

femalenick writes
"He is, to me, a roll of the dice"

Nick, they're all a roll of the dice.

"Anyone who thinks that the political division that exists today is somehow going away is naive."

I disagree. I think another down-to-the-wire election would likely continue the division, particularly if a candidate wins the EV but loses the PV. Another 50%+1 strategy where the red states go red, the blues go blue and the swingers are all 49 to 49 will be a good predictor of another 4 years of divisiveness. But what if there's a candidate who can win a landslide? What if there's a candidate who can win not only their traditional states and the swing states, but eat into the opposition's territory as well? Wouldn't that kind of candidate have a chance at ending the bickering in Washington? Wouldn't a resounding loss tell the losing party that they needed to shape up their act & start working together towards common goals rather than driving wedges between parts of the electorate? Both parties have the chance to nominate candidates that could do exactly that. Both parties could pick a candidate that appeals to independent voters - the very people who make the purple states purple & could potentially turn red states blue or vice versa. That the parties are so stubbornly resistant to this approach is one reason that I don't find myself attracted to either party. They're less interested in solving problems than in retaining their own power.

Thanks for the link, Claudia. Interesting that the Kennedy family is also split between the two.

Only if someone on the other side other than John McCain were to get the nomination could I cast a vote for Obama today. He is, to me, a roll of the dice, and there are way too many serious issues facing us today for me to want to take that chance. I think it could be argued that today's foreign policy problems can be attributed to Bill's naivete when he was first elected and exacerbated by the election of another ignorant fool.

Anyone who thinks that the political division that exists today is somehow going away is naive. Too many people - bloggers, talk show hosts & pundits on the radio and TV - make money from the divisions that do exist; it's in their best interest to keep the divisions going. So I'm not buying the Obama promise of ending divisive politics. Politics is, by definition, divisive.

There is not a perfect candidate out there - not even Hillary whom I support. But given the uncertainties and troubles we face, I'm going with my head rather than my emotions, and my head says that Obama is too green for me.

Bsimon asked:

"Does that endorsement ease some of your concerns about Rezko & the article discussed on Sunday?"

Considering that the Trib has worked at being BHO's critic, it does ease my concerns somewhat. I prefer BHO to the other two Ds.

McC would probably run a clean campaign on his side against any of them, but I am guessing the McC-BHO match up provides the most enlightening "vision" forums.

drindl, I think I understand the "readiness" argument now.

I also think that the entire SASCommittee, R and D, was so angered by Rummy's insistence on three star general clearance for any "final push" on OBL and the resulting zero risk tolerance for ops that Levin would be almost as affirming as McC that he knew better than the Admin how to "get" OBL.

That having been said, McC is certainly reveling in hyperbole with military audiences.
Big deal.

Wait till Mr. Smug, Lord of the Stain, Prizdin o' th' Werrl & Denizen of the Underdesk, hears that in Islam all the libidinous hubby has to do is say "I divorce thee" a couple of times to wifey dear. An Egyptian dude just TEXTED it to his spouse! The "Tear BAG" should not forget the husband's Harlem digs is on the same block as Muhammad's Mosque Number Two (where al-Malik ash-Shabazz preached).

"even if he were a muslim, is that an instant disqualifier to run for public office in the United States?"

Not in my district (MN-5).

All this discussion about the religion of a candidate is totally un-American. It's proven beyond a doubt that Barack Obama is not a muslim, but even if he were a muslim, is that an instant disqualifier to run for public office in the United States?

Who is smearing Obama? Well let's see, first it has to be a tightly organized group, with adequate finances, which can't act or react overnight, with good access to the media. Ring a bell yet?

Being "half-Muslim" is not an actual condition. Apparently, to many a poster, being a half-moron is.

proudtobeGOP writes
"In an intrview from Nov. 16, 2005, Mitt Romney said "U.S. businesses must globalize or whither away and die.""

You forgot to note that he has since learned that 20 billion dollar handouts from the Gov't can delay the withering process. Hey, the guy 'woke up' to his true feelings on abortion well into adulthood, certainly he could rethink his position on globalization just as easily. The man seems to experience epiphanies on an ongoing basis. We should all be so lucky!

In an intrview from Nov. 16, 2005, Mitt Romney said "U.S. businesses must globalize or whither away and die."

"That's the message Massachusetts' governor and top technology executives said at the Forrester Research executive strategy summit in Boston on Wednesday.

Gov. Mitt Romney, a former Bain Capital venture capitalist who is mulling a presidential run in 2008, said jobs will continue to be lost to emerging economies but U.S. businesses have far more to gain by selling their products into massive markets such as China and India than they risk losing by not participating at all.

He advised CIOs and technology executives to stop worrying about lost jobs and concentrate on innovating globally that will grow jobs here and abroad.

"I'm not happy exporting jobs but we must move ahead in technology and patents. I don't like losing any jobs but we'll see new opportunities created selling products there. We'll have a net net increase in economic activity, just as we did with free trade," Romney said. "It's tempting to want to protect our markets and stay closed. But at some point it all comes crashing down and you're hopelessly left behind. Then you are Russia."

Gee, Mitt. That's not quite what you told them in Detroit two weeks ago. But, hey, I'm sure they know that you didn't really mean it when you promised them a 10 billion dollar bail out plan, or that their jobs would come back.

Despite Romney's huge outlay from his personal checking account, the facts speak for themselves about his record as an executive...Mitt Romney was a liberal governor of Massachusetts who raised taxes, imposed with Ted Kennedy a big government mandate health care plan, and managed his state's economy incompetently.

The Romney-Kennedy mandated health insurance plan is now an albatross around the taxpayer's necks, although Mitt Romney considers it one of his hallmark achievements for the 'little guy'.

Mark, thanks for the link to the Trib. Does that endorsement ease some of your concerns about Rezko & the article discussed on Sunday?

"there was some talk of how much this campaign has damaged rudy's 'brand'. why should anyone pay him big bucks to speak now when he can't fill a south florida high school auditorium--free of charge?"

For a while I was starting to wonder if his real motivation in running for Pres was really just to boost his 'brand' - for the purpose of jacking up speaking fees. Whether that was the plan, or not, it certainly seems to not be the result...

drindl! Please stop gloating!

:-)

"It's also raging in paid advertising on TV and radio. Romney has spent $30 million on TV ads in Florida this year," said Bash. That's five times as much as the McCain campaign, which is now using less expensive radio commercials to directly question Romney's credibility on the economy."

mittens spends 5 times as much and ties with mccain, while rudy is at 4th, polls dropping lower the longer he campaigns, just like new hampshire. he said yesterday he'd say what he's going to do next after the florida vote. i'd say he's out.

on NPR yesterday there was some talk of how much this campaign has damaged rudy's 'brand'. why should anyone pay him big bucks to speak now when he can't fill a south florida high school auditorium--free of charge?

Lyle,

Beware of them four scary African Americans. They talk "The Medias" jive.

A hedged endorsement by his hometown paper.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0127edit1jan27,0,847324.story

for you, Nick and lyle

--By Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kerry Kennedy

"By now you may have read or heard that our cousin, Caroline Kennedy, and our uncle, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, have come out in favor of Sen. Barack Obama. We, however, are supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton because we believe that she is the strongest candidate for our party and our country.

While talk of unity and compromise are inspiring to a nation wary of divisiveness, America stands at a historic crossroads where real issues divide our political landscapes. Democrats believe that America should not be torturing people, eavesdropping on our citizens or imprisoning them without habeas corpus or other constitutional rights. We should not be an imperial power. We need healthcare for all and a clean, safe environment.

The loftiest poetry will not solve these issues. We need a president willing to engage in a fistfight to safeguard and restore our national virtues."

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-oe-kennedy29jan29,1,1101821.story

CsueW: The "Religion" thing is being used by both parties against their own. I was at the hospital today and overheard some conversation about the politics of today. Not surprising there were four blacks talking about Obama, and it was not pleasant to hear. Little by little FACTS are surfacing about this guy despite The Medias all out effort to suppress anything that could even be considered negative in any way, shape, or form.

Barack HUSEIN Obama is not muslim, his name was given by his father who was muslim ambasador from Africa.
He received endorsement today today from Tedd Kennedy,who is failed candidat for president.
Tedd was involved in the death of his secretary,and when he was asked what happen:he said -I dont remember i was under influence of alcohol.
Not a good start for super tuesday
political drama.

Novamatt,

I have found very few colleagues in this blog with a sense of humor. Your post made me laugh. I thank you for that, friend.

Good points, rfpiktor. It's the Dennis Kucinich/Fred Thompson consolation: sure, the voters aren't into you, but who needs them? You've still got a wife who's way better looking than you. And them.

Novamatt,

But you miss the point.

Rudy will still have his Florida hammock to nap on. Rudy will still have his Judy Nathan to make things right and jolly. Rudy will still be America's Mayor in our hearts.

What's there not to love!

Completely off-topic, but I was just looking at delegate counts, and it struck me that Giuliani has 0, and since Florida is winner-take-all, he'll still be stuck at 0 Wednesday when he quits the race and goes back to whatever slimy crap he was doing before he started running.

I mean, I never thought he would win the nomination, but I thought he'd get a few delegates. All those months with Rudy in the lead, and now there will be no one there on the floor of the convention in St. Paul waving a RUDY sign. Not one person. It's like he was an un-candidate.

cartmanqb - Just how on earth did you come up with that spin? You Clitnon nutjobs have really outdone yourselves. Back under your rock!

Chris, Speaking of falsehoods and half-truths, and since you are a frequent contributor at MSNBC, please deliver the following messages to your buddies over there:
1. To Chris Matthews - Joe Lieberman is NOT a Democrat.
2. To David Schuster - The DNC WON the lawsuit filed by Alcee Hastings and Bill Nelson claiming voter disenfranchisement.
The court said the DNC can choose whether
or not to seat FL delegates at the convention. Hillary's opinion doesn't count.

Worse yet, if you do an internet search, you will find that the Clinton's hired operatives more than a year ago to search Obama's past, especially with regards to his childhood schooling, whewther he had *ever* been a Muslim (he wasn't), dirt on his father and mother, etc. etc. The Clinton's and their attack dogs (like former Sen. Bob Kerry's "slip") have racheted up this hysteria in recent days because they got called on their racist attacks over the past two weeks. After all of this, how on earthy anyone can even imagine spare a kind word for the Clinton's is a fool. These are the dirtiest, slimmiest self serving political hacks to have ever come down the pike.

Chris, perhaps this is an ongoing political move by the Obama campaign to garner sympathy for their candidate that may also lead to some beliving that the Clintons are behind it (if nothing else, it perpetuates the story of Obama as a victim). If that's the case and, say, it's not because the emails are truly pervasive, it's a pretty impressive/smart, if underhanded strategy by the campaign.

What is especially awful about this are posters like "PollM" claiming that Obama is "half Mulim", as if it were some sort of racial or genetic characteristic. And, note, this comes straight from the Clinton camp. It is a quote from her campaign manager!!!! Look, it's a *religion*! You aren't half Muslim any more than you are half a doctor because your father was one, or one quarter Mormon because your grandmother was one (but, evidently, it does make you "half *ssed" if you are a Clinton supporter). For anyone paying attention, the "half Muslim" garbage is a quote by Cltinon's campaign manager, it is a part of the Clinton constant stream of attacks and dirty tricks. Furthermore, if anyone is paying attention, go check out who is spreading this garbage. They are almost always Clinton partisan's.

You people are nuts. Your doing a great job. though. Your racism is handing him the nomination. I wish he would have to win it on the issues. He was going to.

At least the gop (clinton included) will have a good bogus excuse when they lose badly. both clinton and the gop are done. Delay it all you want. Old folk die. To sabotage obama accomplishes nothing. It is the movement he represents you should be worried about gop. We will be here with or without obama. So who is your target? Obama or those like me?

think about the future

I received that "Obama is a Muslim" email from several GOP friends almost immediately after he announced his candidacy - no way can this be blamed on the Clinton campaign. But though his father was a Muslim, he was raised by his mother, a Christian - so this allegation is completely bunk.

What deserves more attention, in my opinion, is the fact that Obama's church gave an award last year to the anti-semite Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, for "truly epitomizing greatness." Further, the award is named after Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Obama's spiritual adviser.

We all know obama is not a muslim. this post entry adn the thousand others are part of the problem.

But what if he was/is? Did the Gop outlaw muslims from being president? What other religons? Buddist? Hindu's. Mitt Romney can't be president because he's a mormon. I AM THE LAW and I just made a new one. Is that the way it works?

Shove your us weekly gossip up your as*es. You people are showing the coutnry and world that america does not exist. Everything we are about is a lie. I DON' T AGREE WITH YOU FASCISTS. THE YOUTH DOES NOT AGREE WITH YOU FASCISTS. Your all old folk. Your dying out. Your living by old rules that no longer apply.

There are american values. They are not christian. They are not republcain. they are not liberal. It is about equality and freedom. Everything the gop and moderate dem's are against. Read that again. FREEDOM and EQUALITY.

you people make me sick. I only take solence in the fact that you are old out of touch fascists that will be in for a rude awakening. But what if you still will not live by american values? What does america do then? I say open the jail cells to everyone but no violent criminals. Stick all these thousands of gop traitopr and non-americans in there. That is the law on the books is it not? We have laws. If people don't follow them then what? they go to jail.

I speak for only myself. No democrats. No candidate. We all know the gop and it's cult will never be held to account for anything they do. Not for another 10 years at least. What a great coutnry that would be. Free of gop traiotrs and sabotuers.

Enough is enough. Remeber when liberals and socialists all got thrown in jail and the crazy house. Why cna the left not recipracate? Freedom justice and teh american way.

AMERICA AND IT'S LAWS/VALUES DO EXIST. FOR TO LONG PEOPLE HAVE BOUGHT THEIR WAY OUT OF JUSTICE. IN 2010 WE GET THE COUTNRY BACK.

2012 will not be what you fasists pigs think. 2012 will be a new world. Not the end of the old one. But a new world. Free of the fascists and boundries that hold us back. "A new order of things".

To Christians that believe the end is near, they also must believe Jesus walks amoungst us now. Self fufilling prophecy. The right would end the world if it is not their way. This is america. Majority rule. We can build a new america/world, or we can let teh gop destroy them both. Do not fear the fascists. The time is now.

The future is today

r

u

f

u

s

Do not fear the fascists. The only power they have over you is the power you give them. Do not give the slave master your chain. This is america. Land of the free. MAKE THE GOP REMEMBER WHAT COUNTRY THEY TOOK OVER FOR A SHORT TIME.

We all know obama is not a muslim. this post entry adn the thousand others are part of the problem.

But what if he was/is? Did the Gop outlaw muslims from being president? What other religons? Buddist? Hindu's. Mitt Romney can't be president because he's a mormon. I AM THE LAW and I just made a new one. Is that the way it works?

Shove your us weekly gossip up your as*es. You people are showing the coutnry and world that america does not exist. Everything we are about is a lie. I DON' T AGREE WITH YOU FASCISTS. THE YOUTH DOES NOT AGREE WITH YOU FASCISTS. Your all old folk. Your dying out. Your living by old rules that no longer apply.

There are american values. They are not christian. They are not republcain. they are not liberal. It is about equality and freedom. Everything the gop and moderate dem's are against. Read that again. FREEDOM and EQUALITY.

you people make me sick. I only take solence in the fact that you are old out of touch fascists that will be in for a rude awakening. But what if you still will not live by american values? What does america do then? I say open the jail cells to everyone but no violent criminals. Stick all these thousands of gop traitopr and non-americans in there. That is the law on the books is it not? We have laws. If people don't follow them then what? they go to jail.

I speak for only myself. No democrats. No candidate. We all know the gop and it's cult will never be held to account for anything they do. Not for another 10 years at least. What a great coutnry that would be. Free of gop traiotrs and sabotuers.

Enough is enough. Remeber when liberals and socialists all got thrown in jail and the crazy house. Why cna the left not recipracate? Freedom justice and teh american way.

AMERICA AND IT'S LAWS/VALUES DO EXIST. FOR TO LONG PEOPLE HAVE BOUGHT THEIR WAY OUT OF JUSTICE. IN 2010 WE GET THE COUTNRY BACK.

2012 will not be what you fasists pigs think. 2012 will be a new world. Not the end of the old one. But a new world. Free of the fascists and boundries that hold us back. "A new order of things".

To Christians that believe the end is near, they also must believe Jesus walks amoungst us now. Self fufilling prophecy. The right would end the world if it is not their way. This is america. Majority rule. We can build a new america/world, or we can let teh gop destroy them both. Do not fear the fascists. The time is now.

The future is today

Why are these rumors still considered newsworty (not implicating you, CC)? They're asked about in debates and paraded around the MSM like they're on par with the Swifboat allegations about Kerry. These are even worse than those falsehoods. Drop it.

http://www.political-buzz.com/

could you please edit this post to say "false information instead of "negative information" in the following passage:

Obama campaign has fought for the better part of the last year against an underground e-mail campaign seeking to spread negative information about the candidate's religious background.

I had an interesting and strange email exchange with a friend of mine form awhile back. She forwarded this email to me (that had been forwarded by a friend). I slammed the rumors as pernicious, ugly, vicious, and slimy. I then received an email from said friend angry at me for attacking her friend. Go figure.

P.S. Thanks to all for not feeding the troll (cough, cough, Zouk, cough cough)

BB

Oh, delicious irony!

Since a "real" Muslim would feel besmirched to appear at a public love-in with anyone Jewish, then we must conclude that Obama's photo-op with a clique of Jewish reporters serves as proof of his non-Islamity.

Cleverly calculated, but Islamophobic nonetheless.

i thought you fancied Mann Coulter, zouk. you've always spoken so highly of her/him.

"has been a consistent conservative since then"

I guess that would be the point of contention.

"Limbaugh and Coulter and Delay " an extreme bunch wouldn't you say? not exactly the bandwagon I am prepared to leap upon.

if the conference call was to discuss issues of import to the Middle East, why did reporters from the JTW, or Jewish news service want to spend time discussing false Muslim rumor and other weirdness that goes around the internet?

Proud, I am not particularly enamored of McCain,as you know. But I am not going to knock him down, particularly in front of the Libs. same with romney - not exactly my cup of tea.

but regardless, the point is that either of them is superior to Hillary.

both lead in my direction - lower taxes, win the war, smaller government.

You can get a lot of information by Google--Barack Obama Family--Hope this helps. I also get newsmax e-mail, tried to take it off my list and they keep coming.

Appropriate that this is mentioned in "The Fix." The shameful WaPo story on this subject several weeks ago did more to keep the story alive than all the chain emails and Limbaughs in the world--and I'm not yet an Obama supporter.

Posted by: gswanrat | January 28, 2008 06:16 PM

Now that you said that - YOU ARE

Their is no SHAME - No one would be accusing anyone, if they're honest about what they are. His religion including Romney is not a plague..

.

There is no such thing as half-Muslim. It is not like ethnicity where you might be half-Irish and half-French. You either belong to one religion or another. Obama was raised by sectarian parents and later became a practicing Christian.

Posted by: jimd52 | January 28, 2008 06:03 PM

Jim52-

My point: being a Muslim in not a disease. He would better of by saying that his father was. Every time he talks about it, he describes it in a distant was as if it's a dirty religion. No one asked him how he was raised, everyone is asking him what were you born into. His mom was a Christian and dad a Muslim. What they practiced is not the question. Don't run away.

Thats all - NO SHAME in it.

.

Appropriate that this is mentioned in "The Fix." The shameful WaPo story on this subject several weeks ago did more to keep the story alive than all the chain emails and Limbaughs in the world--and I'm not yet an Obama supporter.

koz, If I'm in violation of the 11th Caommandment, then so is Limbaugh and Coulter and Delay and any number of shrieking harpies on these boards. Primary politics is not for the faint of heart after all, and bhoomes' attacks on McCain have gone unanswered here for too many weeks in a row, imo.

After our nominee is selected, the party will no doubt come together to defeat Hill and Billie. This is just sport, as you said.

But need I remind you that John McCain worked with the author of the 11th Commandment and has been a consistent conservative since then. Just ask Coburn if you don't believe me.

A huge voctory for america today, althgou you would never even know the battle is taking place from the fix. You people will be thanking people like me long after this goes down for this victroy. In time they will ask why all americans did not stand up for their rights. How will the rest of you answer? I did nothing? Not cool america. Not cool at all.

"The vote on the GOP cloture motion -- to ignore all the amendments and proceed to a final vote on the Bush-Rockefeller SIC bill -- has just occurred. The motion has failed, which means (shockingly) that Democrats have successfully mounted a filibuster preventing the vote on this horrible bill from occurring.

The vote was 48-45. Republicans missed by a whopping 12 votes to achieve cloture (60 votes needed for cloture). That's a pretty gaping defeat; the Democrats did well to stand together. Three Democratic Senators -- Ben Nelson (Nebraska), Blanche Lincoln, and Mark Pryor -- voted for cloture (Mary Landrieu originally voted for cloture, then apparently changed her vote). The rest of the Democrats (including Rockefeller, Reid, Clinton and Obama) voted in support of the filibuster, along with 1 lonely GOP Senator (Specter).

In one sense, this is an extremely mild victory, to put that generously. All this really means is that they will now proceed to debate and vote on the pending amendments to the bill, almost certainly defeat all of the meaningfully good ones, approve a couple of amendments which improve the bill in the most marginal ways, and then end up ultimately voting for a bill that contains both telecom immunity and warrantless eavesdropping. Moreover, it seems clear that Senate Republicans deliberately provoked this outcome and were hoping for it, by sabotaging what looked to be imminent Democratic capitulation so that Bush could accuse Democrats tonight of failing to pass a new FISA bill, thus helping their friend Osama.
"

Glen Greenwald

I know there are so many felonies that you can't keep track. But you can keep track of this one. The government spying on americans. If you care about no other "freedom" we have. Care about search and siezures. Care about suppression and scare tactics. What if the shoe was on the other foot gop? Big Brother? You hypocrites are done

I live in Wichita, KS and received on of those emails from a relative in Nebraska. I denounced it soundly of course, but while following up on the South Carolina race in the Greensville and Charleston papers, repeated claims of Obama being a muslum, terrorist and racist persisted in the blogs. I spent hours Friday evening and Saturday morning disputing them. I couldn't help being condensending, as I chided such posts for relying on anonymous emails for credible sources of information. However, I had the impression that some of these posts were deliberate attempts to sway voters opinions. Further, I think some were republican. Makes me sick. I don't think the media can deny those emails enough. Such practices should be punishable by law.

I've heard Limbaugh say Obama was Muslim, so I guess he must be working for Hillary now, trying to help her...

This makes him Half Muslim.

Posted by: PollM | January 28, 2008 05:59 PM

There is no such thing as half-Muslim. It is not like ethnicity where you might be half-Irish and half-French. You either belong to one religion or another. Obama was raised by sectarian parents and later became a practicing Christian.

Last night, I was too lazy to turn off the radio after listening to local Chicago radio programs.

In the place normally occupied by Matt Drudge, a right-wing lunatic whose name was either Bill or Phil Cunningham shouted "Barack Hussein Obama" EIGHT times in the 15 minutes or so before I got off my butt to change the station.

There are a lot of just plain bad people on the right.

Thank you.

This also from Wikipedia:

"He describes his Kenyan father as "raised a Muslim," but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his Indonesian stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful."

This makes him Half Muslim.

What's wrong with him being a Muslim, he does not need to run away from.

This is on Wikipedia

Obama's parents separated when he was two years old, and later divorced. In the absence of his father, Obama formed an image of his father from stories told by his mother and grandparents. His father, although reared among Muslims, became an atheist at some point.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreams_from_My_Father

.

Please. Does anyone really doubt where the muslim rumors are coming from?

Not at all.
the clinton attack, smear, lie and distort machine.

Please. Does anyone really doubt where the muslim rumors are coming from?

Not at all. Rightwing websites and radio

'Confirmed: Barack Obama Practiced Islam'

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5354

pipes, as you may know is a neocon supporter of guiliani...

One danger Obama needs to avoid is protesting too much. Being called a Muslim is NOT an insult that needs to be DEFENDED.

The only answer he should ever give is, "Not that it should matter, but I am a Christian. My campaign is about making an America that has a place for everybody, regardless of religion, regardless of color, regardless of gender, regardless of our ancestor's nationality, regardless of political party. Not a Red America, or a Blue America. But one nation. The United States of America."

Peace

Sorry typo..

Does anyone know if Obama's father a was Muslim?
.

"Let the Dems get blamed. Then have some fresh face save the country from those policies."

no guarantee that the Lib MSM will blame the actual culprit - especially one obsessed with lying and legacy and polls.

no guarantee that we will have that replacement ready to go in four years. who is it?

too risky, not enough payoff. not well thought out.

Does anyone know if Obama's father a muslim?

.

JD, suicide is not rational. the damage that the Libs will do to the country in four years is enormous. remember Carter? the judges are waiting for a Lib to appoint their replacement, a 40 year old on the bench for the next 50 years. the nationalized medicare for the middle class, once enacted will never go away, just like social security. the cutting and running from Vietnam took us almost 30 years to get over, and the vietnamese were relatively benign. how long will the cut and run from Iraq hangover last and how many cities will we risk?

no my friend, idealogy is not preferred to practicality. repubs are first the party of practicality. I accept that my candidate is not likely to win this race, but I will support strongly anyone who goes up against hillary. the issues I mentioned above are enough and we mostly all agree on them. the other stuff is just sport.

OK, last post today;

anyone who is interested in how cynical (racist?) Bill Clinton is, read Hitchens' excellent recap.

http://www.slate.com/id/2182938/?GT1=10837

Bill's willingness to play the race card is nothing short of underhanded and slimey.

"Dear Matthew,

As you watch (or do not watch) tonight's State of the Union address, keep reminding yourself that George W. Bush is not king of the United States.

As much as he would like to believe otherwise, President Bush does not have the power to make the laws of this nation. That power, according to the Constitution of the United States, rests with Congress, not the president.

Despite this unarguable truth, President Bush's people are at this very moment negotiating with the Iraqi government to set the terms of the U.S.'s long-term economic and military commitments in that country. His administration believes that no input from or approval by Congress is necessary.

As defenders of our system of checks and balances, the American Freedom Campaign is outraged by this blatant example of executive overreach. If you are similarly outraged, it is time for you to send a message to your representatives in Congress, urging them to take action to block this agreement before it is even completed.

To send a message to your representatives in Congress, click here:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22575

Last Friday, in an article in the Boston Globe, General Douglas Lute, Bush's deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, was quoted as saying, "We don't anticipate now that these negotiations [with Iraq] will lead to the status of a formal treaty which would then bring us to formal negotiations or formal inputs from the Congress."

Later that day, sensing -- perhaps six years too late -- that the Bush administration was disregarding the power of Congress, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, "The president is on notice: he cannot do that unilaterally ... Any long-term deal must meet the approval of Congress."

This is certainly a good sign. But a mere statement from a Democratic leader in Congress is not usually enough to stop a determined Bush administration from imposing its will upon the nation.

Congress must take pro-active action to make it clear to the Bush administration and to the American public that this proposed agreement is unconstitutional and will not be valid unless is it approved by Congress.

In a recent op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Yale University law professor Bruce Ackerman wrote, "The new initiative shatters ... basic constitutional constraints. The Bush-Maliki declaration not only promises the Iraqi government economic and political support, it contemplates American 'security assurances and commitments to the Republic of Iraq to deter foreign aggression.' If such guarantees don't require congressional consent, the constitutional separation of powers is at an end."

Don't sit back complacently while the Bush administration attempts to destroy the constitutional foundation of this nation. Take action today by sending a message to your representatives in Congress. Just follow the link to get started:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2165/t/1027/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=22575

Thank you for taking action.

Steve

Steve Fox
Campaign Director
American Freedom Campaign

"

bush is not the king. Can americans hear that after the last 8 years?

Zouk, as for your admonishion of proud...

Ask yourself - is the GOP better to put up the 80% candidate, as you call him... or perhaps follow the alternate radio-talk-show strategy, to pull a gambit by tanking this one, knowing that the next 4 yrs will be tough. Let the Dems get blamed. Then have some fresh face save the country from those policies.

By then, the Iraq occupation will be winding down (I hope), and the GOP will not have the headwind. Further, it will finally convince the GOP that they need to run REAL CONSERVATIVES, not guys like GWB who spend almost as much as a Dem would in office.

This is unbelievably cynical, but it's also a rational approach.

As for Krugman; he's always been an 'establishment' Dem. Like the NYT ed board itself. Of course he's going to be in HRCs army.

Posted by: JD | January 28, 2008 05:19 PM

I would say more like a pathological liar, which also puts him squarly in the clinton camp.

Please. Does anyone really doubt where the muslim rumors are coming from?

Ask yourself, who has the most to gain by submarining Obama's campaign? There's your answer.

As for Krugman; he's always been an 'establishment' Dem. Like the NYT ed board itself. Of course he's going to be in HRCs army.

Proud - you are in violation of the 11th commandment. I am confident you will not vote for Hillary so it is best to leave all other options open at this point.

My 80% friend is not my 20% enemy - hillary is my enemy.

its a site limitation

'one link is ok. a list is not'

you mean with the site or ettiqutte?

here's one

http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5354

The blue dress?

Weirdo's.

I read a story about Curt cobain's nirvana album. It had a famous picture of a naked baby swimming after a dollar (what does that mean I wonder). The pr guys wanted to put a label over the private area. Corbain ok'ed it only if the label read something to the effect of: "If you are scared or insulted by this you are a closet pedephile."

You foot tappers are a little to concerned with billy's sex life. Their is plenty to go after him for. When you go after his sex life, you people go to far. And you show your face. The old rules no longer apply. You are a joke.

bhoomes, Romney's such a notorious flip-flopper that Chris Matthews even had a pair of flip-flops on the set of Fox News Sunday and waved them at Mitt during his interview! Romney hedged on the surge and the war in Iraq.

When asked "Do you believe that there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops?" he responded: "Well, there's no question that the president and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about. But those shouldn't be for public pronouncement. You don't want the enemy to understand how long they have to wait in the weeds until you're going to be gone. You want to have a series of things you want to see accomplished in terms of the strength of the Iraqi military and the Iraqi police, and the leadership of the Iraqi government."

It was a direct question: "Do you believe that there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops?" If the answer was no, presumably Romney would have said so. He did not. He hedged.

At the debate in Durham, NH, on September 5, Romney answered a question about the surge by saying, "the surge is apparently working." Hedged again.

That's classic Romney, always hedge your bets. Just like in the business world so you can always cut your losses later on, or say you were for it before you were against it.

drindl - the resident expert on nutty websites. At least she keeps up with all the nuts everywhere.

I can just picture her furiously posting on everyone of those sites, strightening out the bloggers that reside there with her immense wit and wisdom.

what a life. then she can come here and treat us to a slice of the myasmia, lecturing us on the liberal topic du jour.

" just tried to post a list of links "

one link is ok. a list is not

I just tried to post a list [with quotes] of links to rightwing websites that accused obama of being muslim, but the wapo wouldn't allow it. strange. anyway, among them is daniel pipes, major neocon figure and advisor to rudy, and debbie shlossel, another popular neocon nut.

i also received an email from newsmax... it's no secret where this stuff if coming from... i don't understand why CC says this.

Obama was born a Christian and then converted to Narcissism.

HRC was for Driver's license for illegals at the Phil debates until the next day when she checked the polls and then put out a press release she was against it. She can hardly call Mitt a flip flopper. But she will because the Clintons have no shame and as one of their friends said: They lie with such ease.

Chris -- Off topic, but please tell me that you saw the NY NOW swipe at Ted Kennedy...

ha ha, cc. Real funny.

your not giving up on this race card are you?

How about after feb 5th? No? After the general? Never?

you show yoru face. True american patriots can ask nothing more of you than to speak your racist minds.

What's unfortunate is that it isn't necessary to lie about Obama, the truth about him is bad enough:

http://lonewacko.com/blog/archives/007424.html

He's just recently stressed that he supports DriversLicenses for IllegalAliens, something that the great majority of those even in CA and NY oppose.

What's great about the Obama movement is that he's going to take a lot of other fine people down with him.

Dunno about the Clintons; this rumor predates the '08 race by quite a bit. I suspect that it was brought to you by the same charming folks who froth at the mouth about Clinton involvement in Vince Foster's death and Arkansas drug running blah, blah, blah.

Treading lightly on the low road: does this explain Krugman's dislike of Obama?

The initial email might have been a deliberate attack, but once its in the wild, that thing will propogate endlessly. Watch for periodic resurfacing over the next 9 years.

the usual suspects are the clintons. the originators and practicioners of the politics of destruction.

Oh, them and the whole right wing vast conspiracy that made up the entire monica lewinsky thing.

except for that pesky blue dress, drindl et al would still be denying it.

Its always been a part the Clinton underground campaign to paint Obama as a black muslim(remember Bob Kerry's remarks)like louis Farraghan. The Clinton smear team played it effectively in Nevada with some the more less educated Latino's. Hispanic population is nearly 100% Catholic, nothing like invoking the crusade's to pit one group against the other. This why Ted Kennedy and other Dems said enough is enough. We will not destroy the dem party just so you sleazy Clintons can return to power.

Or Billary, I wouldn't be surprised after what they did to him in S. Carolina.

"a systematic political strategy by somebody because these e-mails don't just keep coming out the way they have without somebody being behind it."

the usual suspects -- limbaugh, malkin, glenn beck, the whole smear machine. and it will only get worse.

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