How Many Dead? (Don't Ask Our Media!!!)

Dianne, Incredible article and really devastating and heart breaking video.

It's so hard to believe that such evil people exist who would lie about war and cause all those deaths exemplified in those tombstones.

Really, really heartbreaking!

You should post this at Kos and DU.

DiAnne,

Sobering video. Gives a truer picture of the enormity of loss than does, say, showing a "hero"'s picture (a fallen soldier) at the end of a television program, once an evening.

As far as the media being complicit with shushing the Iraq war right now, it is either part of the Establishment's propaganda, or it is that the networks want the highest ratings possible and so they focus on the race for the W.H.

They should keep it in balance, because from what I have seen so far, it appears that the poll numbers on people being concerned with Iraq as one of their biggest concerns seems to be waning. At least one poll I saw this past week indicated that the economy had taken over the #1. spot on list of concerns that American's have that will help decide this election.

IMO, if the media is complicit in putting the war horrors and stats on the back burner, and polishing up the image of the war via the "surge", then they too are part of the Establishment (even MSNBC). If it is done for ratings, then they need letters from us telling them that to be honest they need to remain honest and fair about the truth of what is happening in Iraq. So far, in the past three weeks, all I have seen on MSNBC is Republicans saying that violence and casualties are down significantly in Iraq, and Democrats arguing that we are still in a quagmire in Iraq, and losing our troops still at a horrific rate. I mean, what is a horrific rate? One would be if it were your child, or husband, or brother, or mother. I feel that I am hearing two different reports daily on Iraq - Republicans say we are finally making "progress" and can win if we stay in Iraq (what is new about this, for heaven's sake?), and Democrats saying we are no closer to a solution than we've ever been, and we need to bring our troops home.

Ahem.

I would comment on the main thread, but I cannot get in to do so.

Christy,

Because of the way our government is (or was) set up, we have to at least try to trust someone to be a decent person (not perfect, but decent). I agree with you that no one should be trusted to the length of having total control over another. But, somehow, we need to be able to look at a candidate when one presents himself, and check out his demeanor, his words, his actions, his aspirations, and his trustworthiness, along with his past.

I had a pastor one time who decided before anyone commit to a significant commitment, the person considering it should do a background check on the people and circumstances involved. He also suggested calling ex-wives and ex-husbands and checking with children and relatives, if need be to get a well rounded background on a situation or person. If the reorts align with what you see of that situation or person, support that person, (all the while checks and balances doing their job).

We've each been hurt by someone or another in our lives, right? Because my dad was such a nice guy I went blindly in to relationships with men automatically believing everything they told me, good, bad, indifferent, lies, and truth.

This is a bit personal, but I even dated a guy I met at the Christian Singles group in my city. We dated for a year, and he came to the group each week with a nice suit on, presented his business cards to everyone, and said he was busy working as a salesman and supplier of medical supplies to hospitals and hospital supply outlets. We never spent any time together except on our dates (yes, that stems back from the way I was raised), and so believing every word he told me, I said yes and we were married. Woah, Betsy. He turned out to be dishonest, not only in the fact that he didn't have a job - ANY job, but he had hidden the fact that he had severe personality disorders akin to those of a sociopath, and he sat around his office all day everyday staring into space while in his underwear. I didn't leave him because he didn't have a job, but the fact that he had lied to me didn't set well. I went to his psychologist (who did pre-marriage counseling for the two of us), and said "I think there is something the matter with him", and the psychologist said "TSP, I should have had him committed a year ago."

Okay, so I couldn't trust the man I married, or his psychologist to be truthful and honest with me and not look after their own interests instead of mine, or at least along with mine. When asked why he wasn't honest with me about not having a job, the guy said "Well, that's no way to get a woman to marry you, is to tell her you don't have a job." So, he lied in order to gain something he wanted, without consideration for me. The psychologist didn't "mention" the fact that his prior client was so depressed, and that he knew he just sat around in his underwear and stared in to space each and every day, because he was wanting the money for the premarital counseling. I stayed in it for five months, but things kept getting even more bizarre, so I left.

We have each known people who are self serving, but we CAN NOT give up our hope. Because as far as the scale tips to one side, there is an example of a sincere, honest, giving, loving person that can tip that scale to the other side with the same amount of weight the other person tipped it to on the negative side.

I have seen greatness in many people, and I have seen depravity in others. If we are going to make it as a people we, IMO, must keep in mind that there is yin and yan to almost everything, and we must have hope and determination that there is a chance to bring things to a balance.

Thanks guys. I did post this video at Kos. It died fairly soon but those who responded were really aware of the news blackout tragedy and sobered by the physical representation of the numbers.

Two points -

Truth

I wonder if people aren't connecting the horrible economy, gas prices, global warming etc. to THE WAR!!!! Imagine how much petroleum those horrible tanks, drones etc. take & those huge ships that hold 3000 people and serve as mobile air strips. Plus generators and air conditioning in the Green Zone and all (while many Iraqis don't have working utilities.) Wonder how many of our tax dollars help support those evil contractors like Blackwater and whether people realize that we paid for the propaganda service costing hundreds of billions which was totally ineffective?

& about people getting involved with those who lied to them, read about the McCains. Both lied about their age, he didn't disclose his background, they married knowing very little about each other - like that he was married and had kids. Later, she learned to pilot a plane and got addicted to drugs, all behind his back. Is this the kind of couple that we need to increase the "transparency" in the White House? After the Bush family? After the Clintons, even though they were Democrats & there was apparently forgiveness (but don't read the National Inquirer last week..)

Where did our love go?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1boUrvAWteA

Chuck in Houston

I am trying to find the Birds on the the concept of California Dreaming but no joy yet so in the meantime:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUworKXBzdE

Oh well, best I could do:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAQ-AeUlijU

Hey all, anyway, I need to be up well before the dawn tomorrow so my wife can take the pledge and be a citizen of the US of A, so one or two more links and I'm outee!

All the best!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LV7TMFceriw&feature=related

Congrats to your wife, Chuck.

"WASHINGTON (AP) — John McCain's stance on the war is unambiguous: He voted for it, supports the current enhanced U.S. troop presence in Iraq and vigorously opposes any timetable to withdraw.

The public's stance on the war is as equivocal as McCain's is not: A strong majority of Americans oppose it and believe it was wrong in the first place, but more find McCain better suited to handle Iraq than his Democratic presidential rival, Barack Obama.

"He's more experienced militarily," said Ann Burkes, a registered Democrat and retired third-grade teacher from Broken Arrow, Okla. "And I don't know if I agree with stay the course (policy) but I think the good probably outweighs the bad with him, experience wise."

Burkes illustrates the conflicted voter -- one who is as likely to be influenced by McCain's policy positions as by his personal biography as a former Navy pilot who spent five years in a North Vietnam prison."

http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-candidates-iraq

I think Americans are, once again, trying to brush away disturbing thoughts. This tendency is perhaps best viewed as the flip side of our archetypal optimism. Unfortunately, it never works. Problems eventually have to be confronted head on, typically at a much higher cost than would have been incurred had action been attempted earlier - but it might work this time, at least through November, so long as the media continues to conspire with negligent coverage.

The American voter of the 21st century has the thickest skull since Cro-Magnon man.

Ohno Wereckedus

http://www.jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/

Matthew
I just read that article at the Comcast main page - the one that says the American public is torn about the war - about the nose-plugging Democrats who will vote for McCain & the equivocating Independents.

I read the statistics carefully and the numbers are small - 1 in 10 for Obama compared with 3 in 10 for McCain isn't a big difference, for example, since it means 9 in 10 vs 7 in 10 if flipped over. This article essentially took pretty much a non-issue (hardly statistically significant) and slanted it in favor of McCain.

Taken together, the reports that things ARE GETTING BETTER in Iraq and juxtaoposed with the RELATIVE NEWS BLACKOUT in Iraq - then the "spin" is that things are better in 2008 than in 2006 so even though we have been there two years longer, people are fine with it.

Brainwashing via propaganda!! Disinformation!!

Not only that, I just saw a poll that said McCain and Obama are now "even" - among WHITE PEOPLE. I doubt they are even among NONWHITE PEOPLE, which means Obama wins. That's not what they report though.

I've also heard these "cherry picking" type of reports where they take a few college students who favor McCain and make it sound like young people are splitting evenly, which they decidedly are not.

Working toward a rigged election. I think that over on Facebook (which I can't access from here) there is something from Greg Palast about attempts to rig this election & how we can try to beat that.

One thing I'm going to do is to donate to Wes Clark's back by the end of June 30 (2nd quarter), now that he's jumping on and helping Obama after supporting Clinton. The local General (Eaton) who started the Stryker Brigade at Ft. Lewis disagrees with McCain's approach too.

Then there is energy - McCain isn't a global warming denier but he believes drilling along pristine waterfront where there have already been horrendous oil spills is the answer. McCain believes that we should tap into our "vast domestic reserves." McCain believes in coal-fired electric plants and nuclear power plants, without knowing where to store the waste (if not Yucca, somewhere else, he vaguely says.)

Meanwhile, Obama is either learning really fast or has some very good advisors because his plans on energy sound really good, even after having Gore and Kerry run. The issue is even more in the foreground now.

It's so sad to read the news and know who has "control" of the media on a particular day. It's so apparent when surrogates have been sent out to do a candidate's dirty work. It's so obvious when polls aren't objective and even moreso when newspaper reports of them are slanted.

There are other polls that show that even though the media is tired of the war, people who will be voting aren't. There is a Republican district near here (swing, actually) that is more than 80% against the war. They aren't so much socially conservative either, just money grubbing. So it's not a safe bet at all that they will vote Republican.

Dino Rossi is so scared (running for Governor) that he is calling himself the "GOP" candidate, even on the ballot if he can, to dissociate himself from the Party of Bush. Michelle Obama is coming to lunch with Christine Gregoire, the incumbent who I want to kick Rossi's sorry Mafia-supported butt.

Matthew
I just read that article at the Comcast main page - the one that says the American public is torn about the war - about the nose-plugging Democrats who will vote for McCain & the equivocating Independents.

I read the statistics carefully and the numbers are small - 1 in 10 for Obama compared with 3 in 10 for McCain isn't a big difference, for example, since it means 9 in 10 vs 7 in 10 if flipped over. This article essentially took pretty much a non-issue (hardly statistically significant) and slanted it in favor of McCain.

Taken together, the reports that things ARE GETTING BETTER in Iraq and juxtaoposed with the RELATIVE NEWS BLACKOUT in Iraq - then the "spin" is that things are better in 2008 than in 2006 so even though we have been there two years longer, people are fine with it.

Brainwashing via propaganda!! Disinformation!!

Not only that, I just saw a poll that said McCain and Obama are now "even" - among WHITE PEOPLE. I doubt they are even among NONWHITE PEOPLE, which means Obama wins. That's not what they report though.

I've also heard these "cherry picking" type of reports where they take a few college students who favor McCain and make it sound like young people are splitting evenly, which they decidedly are not.

Working toward a rigged election. I think that over on Facebook (which I can't access from here) there is something from Greg Palast about attempts to rig this election & how we can try to beat that.

One thing I'm going to do is to donate to Wes Clark's back by the end of June 30 (2nd quarter), now that he's jumping on and helping Obama after supporting Clinton. The local General (Eaton) who started the Stryker Brigade at Ft. Lewis disagrees with McCain's approach too.

Then there is energy - McCain isn't a global warming denier but he believes drilling along pristine waterfront where there have already been horrendous oil spills is the answer. McCain believes that we should tap into our "vast domestic reserves." McCain believes in coal-fired electric plants and nuclear power plants, without knowing where to store the waste (if not Yucca, somewhere else, he vaguely says.)

Meanwhile, Obama is either learning really fast or has some very good advisors because his plans on energy sound really good, even after having Gore and Kerry run. The issue is even more in the foreground now.

It's so sad to read the news and know who has "control" of the media on a particular day. It's so apparent when surrogates have been sent out to do a candidate's dirty work. It's so obvious when polls aren't objective and even moreso when newspaper reports of them are slanted.

There are other polls that show that even though the media is tired of the war, people who will be voting aren't. There is a Republican district near here (swing, actually) that is more than 80% against the war. They aren't so much socially conservative either, just money grubbing. So it's not a safe bet at all that they will vote Republican.

Dino Rossi is so scared (running for Governor) that he is calling himself the "GOP" candidate, even on the ballot if he can, to dissociate himself from the Party of Bush. Michelle Obama is coming to lunch with Christine Gregoire, the incumbent who I want to kick Rossi's sorry Mafia-supported butt.

Disgusting to hear about the media, NMP.

It looks like the Moonie buyout of America is complete.

Tomorrow we'll all be speaking Korean.

Demand the Steering Committee remove Joe Lieberman's position within the Democratic Caucus.

Lieberman Must Go!

We CANNOT tolerate a leader of the Senate Democratic Caucus who supports George Bush and McCain's War in Iraq. We CANNOT tolerate a Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee who endorses and stumps for McCain. We call on the Senate Democratic Steering Committee to strip Joe Lieberman of his chairmanship and his leadership role.

Sign the Petition
http://liebermanmustgo.com/

Thanks for the Lieberman link...

As I mentioned there, I find myself SERIOUSLY questioning his actions and motives as Gore's running mate...

Got My Mojo Workin

Yes - thanks for the LIE-berman link. I singed it immediately.

Yes - thanks for the LIE-berman link. I signed it immediately.

Your welcome Guys.

Bush - The Insult to Primates

I posted this on the main thread:

As crass as this sounds, Americans have become conditioned not to respond to the Iraqi Occupation. For years, we were lied to and prevented from learning the full truth about the debacle. Just like an abused individual who has been conditioned to accept abuse, Americans have become conditioned to the horrors of the Fiasco we created. There is nothing newsworthy to many people who have heard the stories before. So why should the networks keep telling us the same type of story over and over, if we have become blase´ about it? That was a rhetorical question.

We have not been allowed to even see the caskets of the returning Americans. Yet, we are given the privilege to see the deceased's memorial pictures, and those pictures suggest some strange immortality for those individuals (Bush logic at work here: Hey, they really are not gone, here is their picture).

Our indifference to the the plight of the Iraqi citizenry is part of an even more developed defense mechanism. Americans have a hard time accepting that we are responsible for the misery of millions of people who did nothing to harm us. Hence our collective subconscious fails to recognize and accept what we have done.

It is a challenge for any candidate to remind people about something they do not want to hear. But, it can be done. Remind people that Americans are spending FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS EVERY TWO SECONDS IN IRAQ, and then people might start caring more about ways to end this tragedy. People will start to realize there is better use for our money. Like I said it is crass.

OC, it's not crass, it's a fact, that the pursuit of the (once)almighty dollar drives everything we do as a people (pardon the generalization)...

Corporate profits trump safety and sensibility, and we are, after all, USA, Inc.

Bleeding Red Inc

Bush - The Insult to Primates

Ahahahahahahahah poor Monkey.

Our indifference to the the plight of the Iraqi citizenry is part of an even more developed defense mechanism. Americans have a hard time accepting that we are responsible for the misery of millions of people who did nothing to harm us. Hence our collective subconscious fails to recognize and accept what we have done.

But, Right On Oncall

Conyers to Yoo: Could President Order Suspect Buried Alive?

By Kate Klonick - June 26, 2008, 11:14AM
David Addington is going to say as little as possible to the House Judiciary Committee today. The Vice President's chief of staff didn't submit testimony today or make an opening statement, and he successfully stonewalled the first round of questioning from subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). He did submit 10 exhibits to the committee as evidence, but it's not yet clear what they consist of.

But then it was Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) turn to ask questions. And he went toe to toe with Yoo, the former DOJ attorney and torture-memo author extraordinaire:

Conyers: Could the President order a suspect buried alive?
Yoo: Uh, Mr. Chairman, I don't think I've ever given advice that the President could order someone buried alive. . .

Conyers: I didn't ask you if you ever gave him advice. I asked you thought the President could order a suspect buried alive.

Yoo: Well Chairman, my view right now is that I don't think a President . . . no American President would ever have to order that or feel it necessary to order that.

Conyers: I think we understand the games that are being played.

Here's the video from the hearing:

Conyers and Yoo: "The Games That Are Being Played"

I'm at work so am going to post a quick comment.

I have been besieged with calls and especially emails from people who are receiving the Obama smears, in fact, it is starting to worry me a bit.

A friend of mine called this a.m. to say her sister had sent her an email with a discussion by James Dobson about Obama, that was not positive about Obama. I told her I had actually spent a week with Dobson at an intimate session (about twenty of us and Dobson)on parenting, in the late seventies, or early eighties. I sensed he was a good man.
So then she asked me, "Well, then, how could Dobson say those things?" I said "Well, maybe he just doesn't know about Neocons and Imperialists and all the ills our corporate run government has done."

And, even though my brother admitted he was kidding, he sent me another email this week saying "I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but take a look at what the Special Forces think of Obama". It takes up alot of time to counter these comments and attacks, but I must do so to try and get the truth out there. What has me the most concerned is the fact that the Neocons are bombarding everyone with a computer with negative emails about Obama. They are swiftboating him, MEGA...

I read somewhere where Obama's team has formed it's own counter-smear department to counteract some of those smears. My suggestion to Obama's team is: Get more staff in there, they are shooting off those derogatory emails like fireworks.

TSP
I'm doing what I can to counter McCain - there are those in the middle or who supported another Dem who threaten to go that way. They can be dealt with since they are not hard core conservatives. Then there are those far to the left who might go Nader or something because of FISA or NAFTA or other disagreement with Obama, or not buying the idea that he now must posture to the center in order to win.

The other thing is to register young voters who do not have old baggage and are tending not to be racist, xenophobic, sexist or homophobic to the degree some of their elders are - & minority voters who sometimes had not bothered, feeling they and their vote didnt count.

I have Republican-voting relatives but so far they have not sent me anything but if they did I would send them a heavy does of facts and not water it down. On Saturday, there are over 3000 events, with some in all 50 states - people are encouraged to bring swing voters and Republican friends because it's a sharing of information.

Also if some small donors are financially pinched or don't feel in a donating mood just now, once Clinton and Obama consolidate most of their forces and have the capacity to fund raise and campaign jointly at times, they may be better able to compete with McCain.

Stocks have plunged to 2006 levels and oil is at $140/barrel, headed up towards $200. We have not seen anything yet. We need to just keep plunging forward, keeping our overhead as low as possible and look at this as a period of 'hitting bottom' while Lame Duck Bush is still in. Hope he doesn't try anything funny before leaving.

Lifting sanctions off N Korea & no longer considering them a terrorist harbor may be a way to concentrate force toward Iran. If so, it will take decades for either party to make a dent in undoing Bush's mess. I put my Impeach Bush sign up in 2002 and when it didn't happen, another election appeared to be stolen in 2004, & getting more Dems in 2006 didn't seem to make much dent - kind of decided to just put one foot in front of the other and try to impact only things I directly can - like registering voters.

Don't want to get complacent for a moment and won't, but saw these two tidbits about Grandpa at DKos.

Is John McCain even trying?
Since effectively capturing the Republican nomination when Mitt Romney dropped out of the race on Feb. 7, John McCain has held just one public campaign event on a weekend.

Instead, after workweeks full of fundraisers, town hall meetings and interviews, McCain has been, in campaign parlance, "down" on nearly every Saturday or Sunday for 20 weeks, largely sequestered away from the news media.

Running for president is a grueling process, so they have to definitely to pace the 71-year-old senior senator from Arizona.

Yup. The presidential candidate who doesn't know how to use a computer despite the ubiquity of the tool in the modern world is the one who is out of touch.

Don't worry,Monkey. You are a much cuter primate than George W. Bush, and a whole lot smarter.

DiAnne,et.al,

I'm telling you I have a very uneasy feeling about the huge masses of smear emails they are sending about Obama. I just feel like saying "Okay fine, vote for who you want." But I feel like I can't do that - I have been entrusted with information these past four years, and I feel I am to be as truthful with people as I can.

I don't understand Dobson, but he is very highly respected in the Evangelical circuit. VERY.

I asked my friend to send me the email on Dobson talking about his vote this year (he doesn't care for McCain, either) just to see what exactly it is that he won't endorse him over....(besides the A. word). I am going to be greatly distressed if we lose another election because of that particular wedge issue.
It could happen.

I'll read what Dobson had to say, then I most likely will say to my friend, "well, he means well, but he doesn't have ALL THE FACTS about what Republicans have done and how they have squandered our money, jobs, infrastructure, peace of mnd, and dignity.

I. JUST. CAN'T.. UNDERSTAND... HOW.... THESE.....PEOPLE CAN SEE ONE OR TWO SMEAR CAMPAIGNS AND JUST BELIEVE THEM? WE ARE A PITIFULLY DUMBED DOWN SOCIETY.

O.K. I want to do something. I want to write to the Obama camp and tell them about the surge of emails people are getting smearing Obama. I want to somehow, some way, educate these people that the Republicans are NOT THEIR FRIEND. We don't have a minute to lose, and would rather get a movement going about these smears and answering them quickly and forcefully. If I could (and I might be able to) get some time off work I would go help them write counter-slime emails, posters, letters, etc. If they could match my pittance of a wage, I could go.

We need to do something, lots of things, NOW. Every day is precious as minds are being brainwashed. I mean, I NEVER thought I would see the day when the media claims Obama and Mumbles are neck and neck.

Anybody got any ideas?

TSP

Go to http://www.dailykos.com right now - go to the left and one of the top stories - by KOS - is about the various things Rove & the Republicans have tried (& Hillary road-tested a few) - he has the framing and attacks all figured out & the latest is "elitist." He has the attacks all grouped by 3-4 categories of attack. It's very sensible. Use that as your starting point.

THEN MY NEW IDEA - look at the "recommended diary title" on the right about THIS JUNE IS THE WORST ON RECORD SINCE THE GREAT DEPRESSION - that means that 80 years have passed and the REPUBLICANS HAVE NOW HAD THE ECONOMY COLLAPSE ON THEIR WATCH. Republicans are concerned about money and being fiscally conservative. BUSH HAS RUINED THE ECONOMY. McCain ADMITS he doesn't know much about economics. He also can't operate a computer but relies on his wife.

My advice - don't rebut and answer all your conservative or Obama-doubting friends' contentions on their terms. Tell them that you will but that first you want to present some things they MAY NOT KNOW - some NEW INFORMATION. I'd get a pen and paper and go to YearlyKos for starters, and the news, and maybe join a couple Obama groups, or go to his website and READ - collapse it all together into something SIMPLE that makes sense to you.

Consider it a curriculum. If the viral emails are looking scary, look at the STATE polls for the states Kerry barely lost to Bush last time, or even the strong red states. You will soon see why the Republicans are scared out of their pants!! It would take a major scandal or an engineered terror attack or absolutely everyone on the planet bailing from Obama who are already committed to him - for him to lose.

McCain is even saying he LIKES being an UNDERDOG. Google McCain and NEWS for today or McCain and UNDERDOG - you will soon see.

I am not afraid. If worst comes to worst, McCain wins and is the worst or second worst president of all time.

Tell your friends that McCain takes weekends off already, just as Bush used to take month long vacations to the "ranch" in TX - including right before 9/11 when he should have been watchful and in learning mode. Tell them that McCain does not know anything about computers so how is he supposed to fight terrorism when terrorists don't have tanks - they have computers!

TSP

I will find another suggestion - hold on.

Ok. Go to Obama's site. Go to KNOW THE FACTS. It has wisely now been collapsed with and linked to the Fight the Smears page, which was previously a separate site. They did this based on lots of feedback. The campaign will also appreciate your feedback. I would write to the directly. They do know about the smears and emails because they have been collecting them and studying. They can't really stop people from sending them unless it's a case where they can sue for libel but they are making more attempt to nip them in the bud than other candidates have. If this is your focus, get with others who are doing it.

I don't think the usual wedge issues of guns, gays and god will be as prevalent this time because the economy is too horrific and the war has dragged on. I think people would be more antiwar if there was not the constant propaganda that the "surge" has worked. Coulter, Hannity and all the rest are sending a bunch of stuff to troops to try to butter them up but so are the "Netroots" (you can see this also at DailyKos.)

Anyone wanting to come up with strategies to fight them keep posting and we can brainstorm together. I'm heading home but will go to one of the Obama training events on Saturday and march with 200 plus at Pride on Sunday. I'll keep my ears open and help spread ideas I hear that are good - what works here should work in ND or Colo. or any other state. Seattle is blue but Washington state sure as hell isn't.

Our Obama-supporting from day one woman governor is being smeared by the Republicans right and left. Some multimilliionaire is behind it. It is evil. Same thing in OR with Smith sucking up to Obama trying to get middle-of-road voters. We have to fight for every smidgeon of blueness we ever have. & we will.

NMP,

Thanks. This is the first time this election cycle I have gotten concerned that the smears might just work.

You haven't (or maybe you have) got ANY IDEA how fast and furious these smear attacks are coming...everyone I have talked to has gotten some and is starting to believe them. Honestly.
I wouldn't be concerned if it wasn't several of the people I have talked to over the past four years and warned them about what this administration was doing to our country. People 8 months ago were sick of the war, now they are sick because their budgets can't meet the current strain of the cost of gas and groceries. Don't forget, we live 70 miles from the nearest city, and most of us used to hop in the car and go to the city weekly to go to dinner, the malls, and other activities. Now we scrimp and save and car pool to be able to go once a month, if that. (I know you can probably relate, I don't know where in South Dakota you were raised, but if it was anything like it is here, everything fun takes place in the city.) This is kind of like a quiet little suburb, only without the McDonald's or Taco Bells. It is a clean town, people really keep their yards and homes up nice. You can still buy a home here for $20,000.00.

One of my good friends passed away last week. She was only 52, and we have gone to the city together. She broke her leg when her niece drove a go cart into it, and had to have surgery. We are assuming it was either a clot because she had been immobile for four weeks and it happened when she got up. Anyway, I had talked to her for hours about political realities, and she got so interested that she and another friend got their own computer so they could keep abreast of what was going on. But EVEN SHE got smears over the net(s) and the last two times we were together she was adamant about not voting Obama. Part of it may have been racially motivated, but she was certain he was Muslim, etc. Her father is too. I have talked to him three or four times and told him that a vote for McCain was a vote for a third term for Bush. I think he may be racially motivated, too, but whatever smears and lies his daughter got, he believed.

Then when my closest friend here called me yesterday to tell me about her sister emailing her and telling her that Dobson had some derogatory things to say about both candidates (and I had her and her husband convinced to vote for Obama) now she is freaking out, because Dobson is extremely respected in his sphere of influence.

And DON'T EVEN get me started on my relatives here where I live. They are "churched",they are "religious", but they follow the denominational line of reasoning for almost EVERYTHING. I finally got my uncle to admit that not everyone who isn't their faith is doomed, but to them (I'm sorry, I know y'all have heard this before ~ so whip out the violins) if Hagee or Dobson says something it's like the Pope says it. I would give alot to find out if Dobson even knows about thesecret and covert dealings of the Imperialists and Neocons. These people believe the first thing that comes their way that is negative about any Dem. My friend who's sister called her and told her about the comments Dobson made said yesterday "Well, I guess I probably won't vote for anyone," THIS after a year of 'splaining alot of things to her. Even my boss won't vote for Obama, and I know it is racially motivated.
Now, we may say, these are country bumpkins, not very well educated, German and Scandinavian, so they are very strong people and set in their ways. I just cannot believe that all the work I have done in the past four years gets washed away with one mean derogatory email. It's maddening to the point of a bit of rage welling up in my throat.

O.K. I have a really B!+ch of a schedule this weekend and all next week. I have some pressing matters to take care of this weekend, then we get extra hours next week to work, then their is the 4th of July and I wanted to have a BBQ and party, but I know these smears are a top priority too.

The thing (I AM REDUNDANT) I am most concerned about is that these people who I thought I had in the bag so to speak are running scared now and don't know who to vote for.

I told my girlfriend that Dobson at first said he wasnt' voting for either candidate, then he came back and said he is voting because it's his moral responsibility to vote. I told her that if she felt both candidates had flaws, to vote for the lesser of two "evils" (although I don't consider Obama evil.)

Please keep in touch, NMP. May need you to help walk me through a bit on how to compile data, then what to do with it.

I just cannot take it if we can't get someone new in there with fresh ideas. I never expected to get such backlash over Obama. All you have to do is look at the two side by side and see who the most sincere candidate is, with the most ability to converse with people on their level, who has the the attitude of rooting out the corruption in our current government, who has alot of passion and hope, and it should be a no brainer.

ARRGGHHH.

Hi everyone.

I've had a seriously rough week (or two). I work this morning but hopefully will catch up with all of you later.

TSP
Then if those people can't be convinced, they will either have to vote for McCain or SIT OUT, if McCain is also too liberal. & he might just be, even though he's a war hawk. He is "soft" on immigration for some, & is not a global warming denier. & he's not particularly churched, though he did suck up to Robertson. Those are the objections some find on the right. He's divorced, he is "elitist" though he hangs at NASCAR - it's only because his wife has a major stock in Bud and is worth hundreds of millions. Same people used to worry about Kerry and his wife's millions. They need to take a closer look at McCain.

If you can't convince them with Obama, first have them take a real look at McCain & they could also vote for Bob Barr, a real nice Republican who is also running (their version of Nader.)

TSP

PS I grew up in Plankinton South Dakota and when we worked for McCarthy and McGovern, we did go to some hard-core Republican towns (which for some reason were the Dutch immigrant towns, at that time) but didn't assume we would get them. Their fears and prejudices were deeply entrenched and they really didn't study the candidates but believed the most superficial and comfortable with their reactionary belief systems.

& yes we did have to go to a larger town for entertainment. I would get so desperate I would hop the freight train (which was dangerous.)

TSP

Remember - Obama won ND and did fairly well in SD (which the Clintons blitzed) and it will be in the larger towns and near universities that he does best, & on the reservations.

ND and SD have alot of Republicans and they may have also changed since I lived there. I do not remember alot of the social conservatism and for the most part, the rich Republican ranchers on the western side of the Missouri were Republican, & the poor smaller acreage farmers on the eastern side tended more Democratic.

My family were from SD and on my dad's side go back Democratic for generations and SD is the place of McGovern, Brokaw, Daeschle. ND has two Dem Senators.

Both states go RED for President. I suppose they think terrorists are going to hit the Corn Palace.

The only way that the Right can win in this cycle is through smears and deception. And they know it - and I believe that they will do anything, absolutely anything, to retain their failing hold on power.

Even McCain has adopted this approach - as witnessed by his willingness to literally say anything to try and get the "agents of intolerance" on aboard his campaign. But if I were McCain, I'm not sure that I'd want to be associated with a Bush 3rd term - not with the economic nightmare that is likely ahead for this nation.

As Kevin Phillips points out in his excellent "Bad Money", both parties are profoundly indebted to corporate and Wall Street interests, and have played their part is stripping away the kind of regulations that were specifically implemented to prevent the excesses that the system is reeling from today. But Republican/Bush Administration economic policy has become so reckless, so short-term oriented, so over the top, that many Wall Street interests now see the Democrats as a safer bet to keep the system afloat. They understand that too much greed, too recklessly and egregiously pursued, can only lead to the premature end of the party.

My sense, for what it’s worth, is that this will be extremely dirty campaign – and I remain pessimistic about Obama’s chances, given the utter gullibility of so much of Red State America. But I think the GOP is nonetheless in for an ugly surprise in November – and that surprise is that many “McCain voters” will be hedging their bets, and voting Democratic in House, Senate, and local races. Appeals to race and religion can only fly for so long – and when faced with $4-$5 dollar a gallon gas, slowly imploding real estate and stock markets, rising food prices, and a collapsing dollar, the GOP’s vaunted southern strategy may have finally run its course.

TSP (& anyone else interested in lies & smears of FOX) -

Go here & participate:
http://colorofchange.org/foxobama/?id=2369-548764

Only takes 30 seconds.

Pick a Meme, Any Meme
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-benen/pick-a-meme-any-meme_b_109586.html
This outlines what the Republicans did with Gore ("he exaggerates") and Kerry ("he flip flops") and what they've tried with Obama (that hasn't stuck well but they wont' give up.)

We need to be armed double - we need to know what is being tried by them and what the strategy is here on out. If you're signed up for Obama's mailings, a new video just came out about strategy (which I can't watch from here right now.) I also check the site daily (Obama's) and read at Politico and Real Clear Politics and get TPM and HuffPo mailings. Then Google news.

I'm sure there is crap on tv & can only imagine what that is, & I do sometimes get sent copies of smear emails people have gotten from relatives plus I do subscribe to Coulter's rag (last election it was NwesMax), to check that out. & then radio.

Got to be able to get a quick overview in a flash and not get hung up in details that are supposed to mire us down - I like polls but they can't be internet polls as people "freep" them and they aren't true statistically representative samples, even if with a large number responding. So "real" polls & have to know their track record. Actually Kos is pretty on top of polls, & polling report and TPM and Real Clear Politics. I check them all. When they are presented in the newspapers and on tv, they are slanted as they emphasize what they want or the polls that support the view they want to propagate. Alot of tv seems to be about demoralizing people so that's why it's best with a brick through it in the first place.

Good analysis Matthew! I think alot will depend on turnout and strategy - not only may the southern strategy be outdated but so may be the swing state model. The West and inner west especially should not be underestimated, nor should the youth turnout and changes in demographics since last time a Democrat was in power in the White House.

Even if McCain won somehow, I agree that the Dems would pick up seats in both houses and provide some balance to a system that has become completely right-centric, all three branches! For one thing, there could be some redistricting in our favor (too bad Tom Delay.) The Right tried their damndest to stack the courts but hasn't gotten as far as they hoped.

The Executive Branch needs some of its power taken away, no matter who is in office. Right now with the vetoes and Executive Orders and Signing Statements and all the rest, it's hard to tell whether I'm hearing about Bush or Mugabe!

This is great - from what Kos just put up at his site, from a book by Bowers:

Bowers:

It must be really scary to be a conservative. To be one, you must live in constant fear of terrorists nuking the United States, of gay people on the verge of convincing you that you really enjoy sodomy, of Spanish becoming the official language of the United States next week, of every African-American voting seven or eight times in the next election, of radical Islam suddenly becoming the latest hip thing among kids across the country, of perpetual lesbian orgies in girls bathrooms in high schools across America, of liberals forcing everyone to become a vegan, of Christians being rounded up into concentration camps, and of Democrats outlawing private property if they were to ever take power again.

Great collection of articles on failed conservative values

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/27/13400/0316/150/542930

The latest tactic will be to present McCain as a Tough Guy who has sacrificed for his country, whether being a POW or working across the aisle. Obama will be presented as a conventional politician, not really Change.

So that's the story.

& here is something on the winning strategy, taken from the Obama strategist Power Point presentation:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143474
The Case for Winning

All good to know when planning one's personal involvement. There are Obama Fellows in all fifty states and 3000 events tomorrow so this eletion, it would be nice not to hear people say they have been forgotten. Some things may involve travel, donation or doing things on line but there is no excuse not to get involved except cynicism.

Keith Olbermann, Glenn Greenwald Feud Over FISA

A war of words has broken out between two of the progressive blogosphere's most beloved figures: MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and blogger/author Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com.
In a post yesterday, Greenwald charged that Olbermann's "blind devotion to Barack Obama" had let him to excuse and defend Obama's support of the FISA 'compromise' legislation. Greenwald noted that Olbermann has previously condemned the idea of giving immunity to telecom companies that spied on Americans, calling it a "shameless, breathless, literally textbook example of Fascism" and comparing it to the actions of the Third Reich.
"But," Greenwald wrote, "[n]ow that Barack Obama supports a law that does the same thing -- and now that Obama justifies that support by claiming that this bill is necessary to keep us Safe from the Terrorists -- everything has changed."
Last night, Olbermann invited Newsweek's Jonathan Alter onto his show to discuss Obama's support for the FISA and telecom amnesty bill (video of the segment is here). There wasn't a syllable uttered about "immunizing corporate criminals" or "textbook examples of Fascism" or the Third Reich. There wasn't a word of rational criticism of the bill either. Instead, the two media stars jointly hailed Obama's bravery and strength -- as evidenced by his "standing up to the left" in order to support this important centrist FISA compromise. [...]
Grave warning on Olbermann's show that telecom amnesty and FISA revisions were hallmarks of Bush Fascism instantaneously transformed into a celebration that Obama, by supporting the same things, was leading a courageous, centrist crusade in defense of our Constitution.
There's much more -- you can read Greenwald's full post here. And Olbermann responded with a post last night on Daily Kos.
He explained his segment by citing former Nixon aide (and frequent Countdown guest) John Dean's argument that the FISA compromise "clearly did not preclude future criminal prosecution of the telecoms - it only stopped civil suits." (He added, "I think John Dean is worth 25 Glenn Greenwalds (maybe 26 Keith Olbermanns)."
More Olbermann:
Thus, as I phrased it on the air tonight, obviously Obama kicked the left in the teeth by supporting the bill. But anybody who got as hot about this as I did would prefer to see a President Obama prosecuting the telecoms criminally, instead of seeing a Senator Obama engender more "soft on terror" crap by casting a token vote in favor of civil litigation that isn't going to pass since so many other Democrats caved anyway.
When Markos was on (Monday? Again, blurs) he made the simple but essential point that if this is Obama's rationale for this, maybe he should explain it. I think it can be argued that if he's caught the same hole in the bill that Dean has, his best course is actually to shut up and take the criticism and hope the Republicans don't see the loophole.
I don't know much about Mr. Greenwald and I didn't read his full piece, but I do know that the snippet he's taken out of the transcript of my conversation with Jon Alter last night makes it sound like I was saying defying the left was a good thing. I was actually contrasting it to not cowering to the Republicans, simply as a different thing.
I do think Mr. Greenwald's suggestion of some kind of betrayal on my part is simplistic and childish. I'll take the Dean interpretation of this. If it isn't the Senator's game plan, he'll catch hell from me about it later.

Quick Poll
Who's right?
Glenn Greenwald ============ 46.1%
Keith Olbermann ============ 48.75%
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/27/keith-olbermann-glenn-gre_n_109572.html

On the poll...I won't vote. It's election year politicking and I won't beat up either progressive. So they have different opinions. I have different opinions with people here sometimes, but we're still on the right side.

I do believe that January 9th, Obama will go into office and do the right thing. And for that reason, I am not taking sides now.

Another wave of layoffs today at the investment bank where I temp.

nmp--the conservative 'wrongs' seem to thrive on hate and on violence and sex (abuse) or marital affairs.

Larry Craig & Vitter co-sponsoring marriage protection legislation - I'm serious!!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/6/27/14319/6945/137/542951

adult diaper man and toilet leg kick man are going to tell us about marriage

Minister who married Jenna Bush & her fiance is launching a pro-Obama website
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/politics&id=6232919
He prayed with Barack before the Texas primary and he talks about his religious beliefs.

Jenna Bush's Wedding Pastor Launches Pro-Obama Website

"James Dobson Does Not Speak For Me."

http://jamesdobsondoesntspeakforme.com/

Reverend Kirbyjon Caldwell is one of so many people who took a moment to get to know Obama and is now ready to help Obama get eleced for the good of our country and teh world.
Besides - Dobson is a wack-a-doodle.

An Attack That Came Out of the Ether
Scholar Looks for First Link in E-Mail Chain About Obama

The e-mail landed in Danielle Allen's queue one winter morning as she was studying in her office at the Institute for Advanced Study, the renowned haven for some of the nation's most brilliant minds. The missive began: "THIS DEFINITELY WARRANTS LOOKING INTO."

Laid out before Allen, a razor-sharp, 36-year-old political theorist, was what purported to be a biographical sketch of Barack Obama that has become one of the most effective -- and baseless -- Internet attacks of the 2008 presidential season. The anonymous chain e-mail makes the false claim that Obama is concealing a radical Islamic background. By the time it reached Allen on Jan. 11, 2008, it had spread with viral efficiency for more than a year.

During that time, polls show the number of voters who mistakenly believe Obama is a Muslim rose -- from 8 percent to 13 percent between November 2007 and March 2008. And some cited this religious mis-affiliation when explaining their primary votes against him.

As the general-election campaign against Sen. John McCain has gotten underway, Obama's aides have made the smears a top target. They recently launched FightTheSmears.com to "aggressively push back with the truth," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor, and go viral with it. The Web site urges supporters to upload their address books and send e-mails to all of their friends. "

But long before this, Allen had been obsessing about the origins of her e-mail at the institute, which is most famous for having been the research home of Albert Einstein. Allen studies the way voters in a democracy gather their information and act on what they learn. She was familiar, of course, with the false rumors of a secret love child that helped sink McCain's White House bid in 2000, and the Swift boat attacks that did the same to Democrat John Kerry in 2004. But the Obama e-mail was on another plane: The use of the Internet made it possible to launch anonymous attacks that could reach millions of voters in weeks or even days.

As an Obama supporter -- she had met the senator while she worked as a dean at the University of Chicago -- it made her angry. And curious.

"I started thinking, 'How does one stop it?' "

Allen set her sights on dissecting the modern version of a whisper campaign, even though experts told her it would be impossible to trace the chain e-mail to its origin. Along the way, even as her hunt grew cold, she gained valuable insight into the way political information circulates, mutates and sometimes devastates in the digital age.

Much more (fascinating article!):
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703781.html?referrer=emailarticlepg

Dobson vs Obama
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062702490.html

Slugbug,

That article about Danielle Allen was quite good and interesting.

I have to say that I got into battles with people by telling them that these forwards are the equivalent of cyber-bullying. And I got into more trouble by tossing the suggestion out there that spreading misinformation and lies, or at least information IF you have no proof of it being true, is a ethical/moral question.

Needless to say that the person who forwarded to me the Obama smears and lies defended her ethics and simply took me off her email list, but she doesn't "care enough to set the record straight" even though she was told of the truth.

Ethics, right?

slugbug...

you're ahead of the times too. Only just recently has someone posted the same article at Kos.

I just came from one of the 4000 Obama events in 50 states.

Let me tell you, the Obama fellows are as inspired as I was at their age, and one of them's mother also worker for Eugene "Clean for Gene" McCarthy, like I did.

They are young but already they have stories - of making phone calls for Kerry while still in high school, of being in college now and really believing one individual can make a difference, of studying the '60s as an academic course in which they have to research the history that was made back then, and of travelling across the country to donate six months of their time after being trained by the Obama campaign.

They are out there all day registering voters and organizing communities, and they inspire me once again. If they can't have hope, how can they even have a future?

Check out the two new Obama articles - in Rolling Stone and in Esquire.

On the way home I saw a law office with an Obama 2008 flag flying overhead and in front of me was a car with two elderly people. They had taken the photograph of Bush and McCain kissing, lettered it with "No Way Jose McCain" and put it in the back window of their car.

It occurred to me that Obama is sort of using an idea similar to Democracy Cells. Let's hope it works!!

NMP,

The WaPo article is very interesting, not just for the model that it describes among right wingers, but how any group of people can communicate to a broader audience via the electronic media, be that media internet blogs, e-mails, social network sites, etc.

The Progressive movement have a lot to learn in this realm. There is no reason that the facts, not misinformation, can't be distributed to a wider audience. There is no reason that the truth about Bushco trampling of the Constitution, raping of the environment, lies about Iraq, you name it, can't be distributed to the general population via e-mails and the like. As the WaPo article pointed out, spreading the truth anonymously is somewhat complicated and it may be difficult for the public to accept that truth if the author(s) do not take responsibility for the content. Still there are people who know the facts and want those facts disseminated. And, just as the article points out, these types of things take on a life of their own - they evolve to become a self sustaining, internally energized process. There is no reason that a "viral" truth letter can't evolve from a Progressively energized source.

I suspect there are others who are uncomfortable with this concept because of the anonymous nature of the information dissemination, but if that information is truthful and factual, does it really matter where it comes from?

OnCall

I think there is already a form of viral truth email, or of electronic dissemination of information and that is all the forwarding and the sending of newspaper articles, & then the news services like TruthOut all have an easy way to pass them on.

& it's pretty often that I get antiBush things (not so much now that he's a lame duck) of either satirical nature (YouTube video links & the like) or things about how many chickenhawks never served in the military and so on, & also quite a few stories about bad things happening in Iraq or due to poverty or injustice in our own country.

Someone ought to do a study on it, if there is a way to do so without violating people's privacy.

News dissemination services like their articles spread. Here is an example. One problem I can think of is that "preaching to the choir" phenomenon, but I do know a few people who were once completely on the "other side" and more information reinforces their ability to hear more angles. By the way, check out the article - it's a wierd one on McCain, who also has failed to pay taxes on one of his houses for several years and is losing it, according to a Newsweek article which is not even out yet! See - who says only the right can do it!

As the owner of Op Ed News,
let me express my gratitude to you for sharing our article
at http://www.opednews.com/articles/POW-MIA-Families-Alleged-M-by-elliot-cohen-080626-953.html

If you have a distribution list or a group of friends you
send news links to, we have a way to make it really easy.
Every day, we send out a special list of our latest articles
to web and print editors. This makes it easy for them to link
to articles on our site.

A little something from one of today's Unity events:

I never thought I would vote Democrat, much less join the party, but George Bush and John Mcain opened my eyes so much, I am proud to join the Democratic Party, and help elect our next President Barack Obama...

Political FreeLancers Use Web to Join the Attack
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/us/politics/29opposition.html?em&ex=1214884800&en=f79fc54e2850dbf5&ei=5087%0A

It's being done all across the political spectrum - ordinary people making attacks such as on YouTube that years back would have been done by highly-paid political operatives.

Republican Mud Won't Stick This Time
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotian/1064778.html
Maureen Dowd

Evangelism May Be Losing Its Sway
http://www.gazette.com/articles/obama_37766___article.html/trying_say.html

Colorado Springs Gazette?

Hell froze over.

Can Obama Win Any Former Confederate States?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/29/MN5U11GBH1.DTL&type=politics

Oncall and slugbug,

Truth is being spread out there via email. And Youtube has been one of the BEST ways to get truth out there, but don't underestimate places like Facebook and Myspace.

Like on Facebook, I saw that my nephew had added a link to a group called "Support our troops" but in that group when I clicked and read about it, it was 'authored' by a 'former soldier who thinks that dissent against the war was not supporting the troops."

So I went and located the IVAW and other type groups and linked to them in my "my groups".

I noticed that my nephew no longer has his link up. Either he's learning more, now that he's at college--although that college is in the "red area" of the state--or he saw that there were vets who think Peace is supporting troops!

But my concern with those blind emails is that the lies seem to go a lot further via emails. They gain traction there.

I think it's cyberbullying myself. I think it's morally wrong to forward information if you can't verify the truthiness of it. I think it's no different than that bratty highschooler who posts a hit job on a classmate and hides their real identity.

And in politics don't forget there are disgusting people who wouldn't hesitate to start emails like that. And there's gross people who decide to put up those false webpages (think of "Hey John" which was complete lies! but that went viral and then the media picked it up. And yet to this day, we don't know who set up that lying website.)

This is a good protest diary

Here's the video from it. Watch how the protesters get hidden from view.

Time for some people to grow up!

June 29, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
‘It’s Over, Lady!’
By MAUREEN DOWD

UNITY, N.H.

Unity was spared the banality of unanimity.

Carmella Lewis, with her Hillary T-shirt and Hillary placard, came all the way from Denver to make sure there would be plenty of ambiguity, duality and ferocity in Unity.

Just as Hillary was testing out the unfamiliar familiarity “Barack and me” Friday and talking about “his grace and his grit,” Carmella began loudly booing and waving her sign.

“We want Hillary!” screamed the 57-year-old retired ad saleswoman and Clinton delegate.

“It’s over, lady!” yelled some Obama supporters a few yards away.

Standing between the Sharks and the Jets, David Axelrod took pity on an older friend of Carmella’s who was suffering from aridity in the Unity humidity. The chief Obama strategist fetched a glass of water and brought it to the woman, who was wearing five Hillary buttons.

This amenity did not stop the disunity. Carmella and her friends continued to cry, “Nobama!” “We love you, Hillary!” and “We need Hillary!” as Barack Obama sat onstage on a stool behind his former rival, his finger studiously at his lips.

Carmella was not impressed with all the kissing, laughing and whispering that Hill and Bam were diligently doing for the cameras, so that the moment could produce, as Obama press aide Robert Gibbs put it on “Larry King Live,” “a great picture.”

When it was Obama’s turn to speak, Carmella announced loudly, “I wish I had ear plugs.” Then, as Obama tried to ingratiate himself with the Hillary partisans in the crowd by saying that because of the New York senator, his daughters “can take for granted that women can do anything that the boys can do and do it better and do it in heels,” Carmella put her fingers in her ears.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/opinion/29dowd.html?hp

Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support

Bill Clinton is so bitter about Barack Obama's victory over his wife Hillary that he has told friends the Democratic nominee will have to beg for his wholehearted support.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/2211812/Bill-Clinton-says-Barack-Obama-must-%27kiss-my-ass%27-for-his-support.html

Christy
I read elsewhere that isn't true about Bill Clinton - I don't know. The Clinton supporters ar still at various stages in their grief processes.

Yesterday I met Obama supporters who were still saying negative things about Kerry. After all this time, they have not forgiven that Dean was not the nominee.

By the way, the only thing that matters is getting Obama elected, because if McCain gets in, about three of the oldest on the Supreme Court could drop and he would install arch-conservatives. If even one is replaced, the balance shifts to the right in a divided court and there goes choice, there goes any kind of real justice.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/06/29/ST2008062900126.html

Movable Type has somehow decided I have the same name for both parts of the website which is convenient but confusing. Not My President seems to be Slugbug now.

Anyway, I went to the website of a former strong johnkerry.com contributor who then went heavily for Hillary and she is now very pro party Unity. I think this is spreading and the press likes to write articles about the holdouts.

There are many former Hillary supporters at Obama's blog and some who have lurked at McCain's say some went there but those types may have done that anyway, if they were too stupid to realize that Hillary and McCain would be diametrically opposed re the Supreme Court, with Hilllary's position favoring women.

The Obama Unity events and Obama blog also have fairly frequent proud Republicans who are shifting for the first time ever or first in years. People want to go with a perceived winner.

The media uses their own polls to keep the horserace close and they think of ways to say Obama is vulnerable (with certain populations where he is not actually lagging any more) and they don't point out that some of McCain's lead is because Republicans do well in the states that used to be the Confederacy.

The media is slow to change its zeitgeist and is invested in making the horse race appear closer than it is. (& of course, a close race is easier to rig.)

In reality, there are now more Democrats than Republicans, whereas there used to be more Independents than either. So it is is still essential to woo Independents (why Obama has shifted some center since closing the nomination) but there is still a net advantage for Democrats.

People want to be on the perceived winning side so the media is trying to keep the perception that is is a close race, to slow the race of the rats from the sinking ship.

Rove counts on two things - hatred of gays and fear of terror. Neither has the force that it did in any past year.

By the way, today is Pride and there should be lots of political visibility for candidates who are progressive out there too, plus the 300 naked bicyclists are rumored to be crashing it like they did the Solstice fair. Lots of photo ops.

I signed a release with the Obama campaign for my photos from the Unity event I attended so am hoping to see them on the website.

Kayakbiker is in Paris!

Wes Clark on Face the Nation:

Bob Sheifer: John McCain commanded a squadron.

Wes: That was not a war time squadron, he didn't have to make any tough decisions.

Bob: Obama did not get shot down in a fighter plane.

Wes: Being shot down does not qualify one to be president.

Bob: What................

Slugbug Said:

Christy
I read elsewhere that isn't true about Bill Clinton - I don't know. The Clinton supporters ar still at various stages in their grief processes."

I could be true that it is a lie. Or it could be exactly in line with everything else we have seen.

However, either way, their...'grief'.. is hardly an excuse and if we all have to stop and cuddle them until they stop crying... How about we just stop coddling them?

If hillarys people wanted 'unity' then they should have thought about that BEFORE all the race baiting and lies. Maybe they can convince Obama he still 'needs them' but you will never convince me that I NEED those kind of people as my 'friends'. I just never needed a friend that badly.

McCain: On Some Issues 'Obama’s Word Cannot Be Trusted'

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/06/mccain-on-some.html

Kristol: ‘Republicans are much more open to strong women.’

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/06/29/forgetting-his-past-sexism-kristol-sarcastically-decries-the-sexism-and-misogyny-in-the-democratic-primary/

He must be joking, except I think he truly believes it.

Creepy.

hmmm...given how the name the person in photobucket used to save this image--It might be deleted soon.

June 29, 2008
Obama Supporters Take His Name as Their Own
By JODI KANTOR

Emily Nordling has never met a Muslim, at least not to her knowledge. But this spring, Ms. Nordling, a 19-year-old student from Fort Thomas, Ky., gave herself a new middle name on Facebook.com, mimicking her boyfriend and shocking her father.

“Emily Hussein Nordling,” her entry now reads.

With her decision, she joined a growing band of supporters of Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who are expressing solidarity with him by informally adopting his middle name.

The result is a group of unlikely-sounding Husseins: Jewish and Catholic, Hispanic and Asian and Italian-American, from Jaime Hussein Alvarez of Washington, D.C., to Kelly Hussein Crowley of Norman, Okla., to Sarah Beth Hussein Frumkin of Chicago.

Jeff Strabone of Brooklyn now signs credit card receipts with his newly assumed middle name, while Dan O’Maley of Washington, D.C., jiggered his e-mail account so his name would appear as “D. Hussein O’Maley.” Alex Enderle made the switch online along with several other Obama volunteers from Columbus, Ohio, and now friends greet him that way in person, too.

- more -

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/29/us/politics/29hussein.html?hp

Iran to ready thousands of graves for enemy soldiers
5 hours ago

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran is to dig 320,000 graves in border districts to allow for the burial of enemy soldiers in the event of any attack on its territory, a top commander said on Sunday.

"In implementation of the Geneva Conventions... the necessary measures are being taken to provide for the burial of enemy soldiers," the Mehr news agency quoted General Mir-Faisal Bagherzadeh as saying.

"We have plans to dig 15,000 to 20,000 graves in each of the border provinces or a total of 320,000," the general said, some of them mass graves if necessary.

Bagherzadeh said Iran was keen to "reduce the suffering of the families of the fallen in any attack against our country... and prevent any repetition of the long and bitter experience of the Vietnam War."

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gvzKq9RB7EKl5o0yjM9QNPsqPPRw

I just made a quarter-end donation for that guy that I want to beat McCain! Marched with the Obama contingent at Pride today - very fun.

Glenn Greenwald is smacking Keith Olbermann around. Mucho. I have to say I firmly in the Geeenwald camp on this one.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/06/27/olbermann/index.html

I just got this message:

We're exhausted but happy, and thankful for the amazing day that was because of all of you. You invited your friends, set your alarms to arrive on time, waited patiently for the parade to start, and when it did, handed out 5,000 stickers, danced and chanted, and made sure that the entire parade audience knew that Obama Pride was in the house! We surpassed every goal we had. We registered *577* people to vote. We raised thousands of dollars to be used for grassroots efforts to ensure an Obama victory here at home. We even won the People's Choice Award for best parade entry!!! We saw dozens of cameras in circulation throughout the parade and during the festival. I've started a Flickr photo group here for you to share your pictures from today:

people are putting shots at Flickr & videos at YouTube

Photos by D. Grieser, posted also at http://www.silencedmajority.blogs.com
YouTube video is uploading

I am committed. I am going to spend my time working toward Obama winning. Of course there will be issues I don't agree on, but time is of the essence. My over-riding concern is about the Supreme Court and the continuation of Bush's policies.

General Wesley Clark on McCain

Finally my video uploaded successfully - Obama contingent at the Pride Parade. We got People's Choice and there were 400,000 people!

Yeah, I agree with Greenwald as well. I don't think Americans' right to privacy should be dependent on the whims of Presidents.

What I don't understand is why Democrats are not offering this argument:

Bush tells you that the Patriot Act has protected America from terrorism. Yet, there was no Patriot Act during the Clinton Administration, and no successful attack launched by foreign extremists from February 1993 through the January 20, 2001 - a period of 8 years.

The Clinton Administration did as good or better a job on terrorism while respecting the Americans constitutional rights than the Bush Administration did. Those are the facts. Everything else is hot air and rhetoric, sound and fury signifiying nothing.

I've finally made the committment to read all 800+ pages of Tocqueville's Democracy in America. I'm about 110 pages into the Goldhammer translation, and came upon this fascinating reflection, on page "76".

"In the United States people rightly believe that love of country is a form of religion to which people become attached through practicing it".

The Myth of John McCain's Fundraising Disadvantage

Despite John McCain's widely praised decision to accept public funding, about half of his general election budget will be funded privately with donations funneled through the Republican National Committee.

Even though the public finance system nominally limits McCain's post-convention spending to the $84 million he'll receive in public funds, those limits are relatively meaningless thanks to loopholes that allow him to spend RNC money as if it were his own.

After all, individuals can give up to $28,500 to the RNC, more than twelve times as much as the $2,300 an individual is allowed to give to Obama's general election campaign.

McCain-RNC fundraising activities are joint operations to raise money for McCain's general election campaign.

McCain campaign manager Rick Davis gave a strategy briefing to supporters earlier this month and noted that as far as the general election is concerned, there is no meaningful distinction between McCain campaign fundraising and RNC fundraising.To get a true understanding of who is leading the fundraising battle, one must look at the combined totals of each candidate and their party.

In other words, it's not the John McCain 2008 committee versus the Obama for America committee, it's McCain+RNC versus Obama+DNC.
And when you look at the numbers that way, the world turns upside down: John McCain is leading the fundraising battle, and it's not even close.

John McCain and the RNC not only outraised Barack Obama and the DNC by more than 50% in May -- $45.9 million to $28.1 million -- they are also sitting on nearly twice as much cash-on-hand, $85.1 million to $47.1 million.

The bottom-line here is that the media have spun up a David and Goliath narrative about fundraising this campaign. They are partially right -- it is a David and Goliath battle, but they've got the roles reversed.

No matter what happened in the primary season, so far in the general election, it's John McCain whose got the fundraising advantage now.
And it's Barack Obama who is the underdog.

100% true. David Plouffe did a video about it the other day.
https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/briefing1?source=20080627_DPV_D1