being a republican does not mean cannot criticize a politician, but if you have been paying any attention at all these past 8 years, criticizing Obama for simplistic language is a bit hypocritical don't you think?
Obama will have a very hard time to create the positive change he seeks when all the fascist conservative republican bagers are so hostile and the blowback and box they have put us all in is going to be very hard to get out of/away from, it will take a warrior of peace.
good luck to him i say the fate of humanity is at stake
Clinton is losing
by kos
Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 02:29:52 PM PDT
Let's count the ways that Obama is winning:
1.) Pledged Delegates: (Using AP's numbers, with Obama's count in parenthesis)
Obama: 1,390 (1,411)
Clinton: 1,248 (1,250)
2.) Popular vote: I updated this post with results from Mississippi. I took out the Texas caucuses just to give this the best pro-Clinton spin possible, though I still think the caucuses are a separate contest and need to be accounted for. (Obama ended up winning Mississippi by over 100,000 votes.)
Obama: 13,614,204
Clinton: 12,801,153
3.) Primaries Won: There are 37 total primary contests. All Obama has to do is win three more and he notches the lead in these contests. He can do that easily with just three out of Montana, South Dakota, Oregon, Indiana, and North Carolina.
Obama: 16
Clinton: 12
4.) Caucuses Won
Obama: 14
Clinton: 3
5.) Overall contests Won: It's a 2-1 Obama advantage (includes territories and Democrats Abroad).
Obama: 30
Clinton: 15
6.) Red and Blue States Won (including DC, not including territories or Democrats Abroad):
Obama: 16 Red, 11 Blue
Clinton: 8 Red, 6 Blue
8.) Money Raised (through February)
Obama: $168 million
Clinton: $140 million
So that leaves the Clinton campaign with what, exactly? Big states! Big states! Big states! I addressed that one yesterday.
Team Clinton has nothing except schemes of coup by super delegate, which they apparently think they can do by insulting entire Democratic constituencies and most of our nation's states.
But really, what else do they have? Their campaign is losing by every metric possible.
Have you ever wondered how the liberal media works? We put together this timeline of how “news” spreads in the liberal media....Take a look at this interview Glenn did on the Tuesday, March 4th edition of Glenn Beck on Headline News...
In the video above did Glenn really question if Barack Obama is the anti-Christ? Well, as noted in this Newsbusters article Glenn was 'doing it in a humorous fashion which gave no credence whatsoever to the notion that Obama is the anti-Christ. In fact, he was clearly belittling it...'
Now a reasonable person might take a look at the video above and question why anyone would report this as news when clearly it's done in a comical fashion. Well that's not how the liberal media works. Take a look at this news headline from Think Progress which appeared shortly after the interview was aired...
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 - Think Progress
Beck: ‘Is Obama the Antichrist?’
Today on his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck asked Pastor John Hagee whether Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is the embodiment of evil:
There are people — they say this about Bill Clinton — he might be the anti-Christ. Odds that Barack Obama is the Antichrist?
On Wednesday, March 5th Media Matters picked up on the story with this...
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 - Media Matters
Beck failed to ask Hagee about controversial statements, instead asked him if Obama might be the Antichrist
Note that within the Media Matters article they reference back to the Think Progress article...
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 - Media Matters
As the blog Think Progress noted, Beck wrapped up his interview with Hagee by asking him if Sen. Barack Obama might be the Antichrist
Next up on the liberal hack parade is MSNBC's Keith Olbermann who names Glenn the 'Worst Person in the World' for his question about Barack. Note that Olbermann doesn't use the actual audio or video from the interview, instead he just reads the transcript (adding in his own take of Glenn’s supposedly panicked voice). This is clearly done in effort to remove the context of a light hearted question belittling those who believe every new politician on the scene that doesn’t agree with them is the antichrist.
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 - Keith Olbermann
OK, well that was all nice and everything but at least it's over...right? What else is left to report?
Well the liberal media works in magical ways, watch as Media Matters reports that Olbermann named Glenn the Worst Person in the World. In other words they're simply reporting that Olbermann reported a 'news' story that they reported - in their new report. Get it?
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 - Media Matters
O'Reilly, Beck receive honors in Olbermann's "Worst Person" segment
Olbermann also gave CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck the "Worst Person" "bronze" for saying on the March 4 edition of his program, as both Think Progress and Media Matters documented...
But it's still not over...
So far we’ve just seen the slow build in the echo-chamber of liberal hacks. From the more esteemed sources, all the way down to Keith Olbermann, who can’t even do his own reporting on fake news that didn’t happen. But, next up on the liberal media...
Sunday, March 9th, 2008 - New York Times
Obama and the Bigots
Proponents of this theory offer detailed theological explanations for why he is the Antichrist, and the proof is that he claims to be Christian - after all, the Antichrist would say that, wouldn’t he? The rumors circulate enough that Glenn Beck of CNN asked the Rev. John Hagee, a conservative evangelical, what the odds are that Mr. Obama is the Antichrist.
So there you have it. By reporting the same story multiple times and using themselves as sources and removing all context the liberal media was able to take a clearly sarcastic comment and turn it into nearly a week of (liberal) news.
Of course, the kicker to the whole endless story is: Glenn had predicted that exactly this would happen. (Free audio)
GLENN: By the way, this is all going to be transcribed by Media Matters today as a completely dead serious conversation.
GRAY: I know, I know.
GLENN: It's going to be great. There are going to be media alerts: Glenn Beck announces Obama is the antichrist. You watch. It's going to be everywhere. (Laughing.).
As for the media, if each side belittles the methods and biases of the other, as they do, I call it a wash -- and may the devil take all of it. Elliot Spitzer was lynched, if you ask me.
[Robert Parry:] The U.S. news media can’t devote enough time to the prostitution scandal that just forced New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation and gave the ethics enforcer of Wall Street a bitter taste of his own medicine. But the unspoken counterpoint to Spitzer’s dramatic fall from grace is how the same U.S. news media views public calls for the impeachment of George W. Bush or Dick Cheney -- over war crimes and violations of the U.S. Constitution -- as nutty and unworthy of serious debate. In this guest essay (which was written before Spitzer announced his resignation), Rabbi Michael Lerner looks at the perverse state of America’s ethics.
that would be an ironic twist if it was the white governor of new york lynched, to put in place the first black governor in new york. not to mention he is legally blind.
btw... wonder who Governor David Paterson will endorse for president?
"Last August, New York’s incoming governor, David Paterson, spoke at Riverside Church in Manhattan during the funeral of the jazz legend Max Roach. In his address, Paterson invoked the memory of blacklisted actor and singer Paul Robeson, abolitionist Harriet Tubman and black nationalist leader Malcolm X."
What do these stories all have in common?
Glenn Beck
# A woman who says she lost more $1 million gambling in Atlantic City sues some casinos for $20 million, claiming they should've stopped her compulsive gambling.
# People who bought houses they couldn't afford with loans they didn't understand want their lenders to change the terms.
# Congress authorizes a war and then tries everything it can think of to get out of it.
# Our country gets addicted to oil and then blames OPEC when it doesn't like the price.
These stories prove how personal responsibility has all but vanished in America, and our government is leading the way.
Don't Miss
* Glenn Beck on Headline News
* Glenn's new book: 'An Inconvenient Book'
Remember the kid from that interminable 1980s commercial whose father caught him using drugs? The father incredulously asked, "Who taught you how to do this stuff?" and the kid responded, "You, alright? I learned it by watching you."
Well, we are that kid and our government is that drug-using father who doesn't think that anyone notices his bad habits.
Our government is leading us by example, and I don't mean that in a good way. For years, it has spent us into oblivion, mortgaging our future for programs we can't afford, and Americans have happily followed suit, running up credit card bills and home equity loans for things they never should've bought.
Unfortunately, we're also learning something else from our government: how to avoid taking responsibility for our actions.
From Eliot Spitzer's alleged hooker craze to the revelation that Arnold Schwarzenegger commutes to work in a large private jet even as he preaches the dangers of carbon dioxide emissions, there's never been a shortage of "do what I say, not what I do" hypocrites in politics.
But that same attitude has seemingly spread from individual politicians to an entire party.
Democrats aren't happy that delegates from Florida and Michigan won't be seated at the national convention because those states broke clear party rules. Well you know what? Too bad. We don't say that enough anymore. Too bad. You agreed to the rules; you broke them. Now you've got to deal with the consequences.
"But Glenn. ... Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama will have enough delegates to win the nomination. We don't want this to be decided in some backroom by superdelegates."
Too bad.
"But Glenn. ... You don't understand. If we don't seat delegates from those states now, then we might lose their votes in the general election."
Too bad.
"But Glenn. .... The voters in these states are going to be disenfranchised if we don't let their voices be heard."
Too bad.
If you want to talk about disenfranchised voters, then let's talk about why just 17 percent of Americans have a positive view of Congress. Let's talk about why we still have wide open borders despite most Americans wanting them sealed. Let's talk about why we keep selling out our sovereignty and our security by borrowing billions of dollars from-less-than friendly countries, such as China.
Americans aren't disenfranchised because our leaders won't count votes in a couple of states. They're disenfranchised because our leaders aren't doing their jobs. They're disenfranchised because after working hard to support their families and to raise kids who understand the difference between right and wrong, their leaders do exactly the opposite.
In the cases of Florida and Michigan, I've patiently listened to all the moving arguments about why there should be a "do-over," but quite honestly, they're not arguments at all. They're excuses. If this race wasn't so close, or if these states offered a combined 36 delegates instead of 366, do you really think anyone would care? Of course not.
But no matter what you think should happen, you have to admit that Clinton's idea that we should simply count her "wins" in Florida and Michigan is completely ridiculous.
In fact, if you played a rimshot and a laugh track behind her every time she recited that line, people might actually agree to a two-drink minimum to see her speak. How could you possibly count the results from an election when your main opponent wasn't even on the ballot (at least in Michigan)? You can't -- unless you think the rules are simply there for your own amusement.
Last year, when the punishment against Florida was first approved, Donna Brazile, a member of the Democratic National Committee rules panel, said she hoped that the harsh consequences would "send a message to everybody in Florida that we are going to follow the rules." And Brazile knows a little something about that ... she ran Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.
Voters in Florida and Michigan should ask themselves one important question before they blindly follow their party: Why did no one seem to care about "alienating" them last year when the rules were intentionally broken? It's only now, when their vote really matters, that everyone is suddenly so concerned about "enfranchising" them.
Florida and Michigan have a golden opportunity to stand up and say enough is enough, to send a message that it's time to not only take responsibility for their actions but for those of our leaders as well.
After all, what would it say about personal responsibility in this country if we allow the two states that broke all the rules to end up having the biggest say of all?
"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue."
In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks.
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."
how could anybody not understand what Wright is saying i think it gives Obama more power to win and he would do better to embrace the understanding of why Blowback happens. Not like is will be a easy job to undo all the imperialistic adventures and harm...
All the flag-waving and chest-thumping in the world will not bring back the war dead, now will it bring back our status as a fully-respected member of the world community. Too bad this all has to be swept under the rug -- especially at election time.
want to hear about what's REALLY happened in Iraq + Afghanistan? listen.
apparently this weekend, 37 years later, a Winter Soldier is taking place about Iraq and Afghanistan at the National Labor College in Washington, DC. Winter Soldier took place 37 years ago for the Vietnam soldiers to give accounts of the war. if you haven't heard it, you should definitely listen... (democracynow.org check out 03/14 broadcast)
"The country doesn’t know it yet, but it’s created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history."
perhaps it would better guide the decisions our presidential candidates make if they actually SUPPORTED the troops and LISTENED to what they have to say.
barack was in indianastan yesterday. but rather than come to indianapolis he was in hendricks county. i don't know where the hell that is. maybe cuz the big ten tourney was in town and his appearance would have confused things? wtf? come to where the people are...
actually i think he went there to promote change, as indianastan is republicanish. he was out there talkin to the salt of the earth and they seemed to like it...
i was in hendricks county yesterday (sunday), vado. it's just up to your northwest. we were in brownsburg, but it's also where danville is. i saw people!
i highly recommend reading this...
i am an obama supporter, and i do well not being caught up in all the insanity surrounding his campaign, but honestly, this speech is exactly what needed to be said... though it says it subtly, i feel this might be one of the most profoundly truthful things ive ever heard from a politician.
"Our greatest hour of segregation is on Sunday mornings"
that statement really struck a chord with me... because it is so true.
"I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible."
"On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike."
"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."
THIS is what sets him far above and beyond Hillary. FINALLY someone talks about the issues and what has been needed to be said for so, so long.
how would disowning a racist preacher disown the black community?
and i don't see how reminding everyone that his wife and kids carry 'the blood of slaves and slaveowners' helps. what does that have to do with anything?
no one alive was a slave or slave owner. i certainly don't deny it happened, but constantly reminding little kids that they were once slaves (which they weren't) is counterproductive. but it fits wright in with wright's idea that we live in the u.s. of KKK.
there is an unequal playing field. if you are unable to see it, or accept it, i would suggest you explore a bit.
that unequal playing field is created and maintained by social institutions tacitly supported by our entire nation.
either it is our responsability to fix it, or it is not. that is a legitimate argument to have, and that is the crux of what Obama is saying.
whether or not you agree with the semantics (which it seems your either purposefully inflamatory post does, or perhaps you just didnt read the speech) is irrelevant.
much as I really like Obama, if I see another speech of his where he mentions the Constitution and his faith simultaneously, I'm gonna start throwing chairs.
I don't want to hear about you being a christian anymore!
Your level of irrationality is of no interest to me!
VOTE OBAMA
Ramos,
You need to take a rhetoric class and sharpen your judgment skills. Your arguments are really superficial. W and Obama have little in common.
This is interesting:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/3/12/132529/189/283/474666
being a republican does not mean cannot criticize a politician, but if you have been paying any attention at all these past 8 years, criticizing Obama for simplistic language is a bit hypocritical don't you think?
Obama will have a very hard time to create the positive change he seeks when all the fascist conservative republican bagers are so hostile and the blowback and box they have put us all in is going to be very hard to get out of/away from, it will take a warrior of peace.
good luck to him i say the fate of humanity is at stake
Clinton is losing
by kos
Thu Mar 13, 2008 at 02:29:52 PM PDT
Let's count the ways that Obama is winning:
1.) Pledged Delegates: (Using AP's numbers, with Obama's count in parenthesis)
Obama: 1,390 (1,411)
Clinton: 1,248 (1,250)
2.) Popular vote: I updated this post with results from Mississippi. I took out the Texas caucuses just to give this the best pro-Clinton spin possible, though I still think the caucuses are a separate contest and need to be accounted for. (Obama ended up winning Mississippi by over 100,000 votes.)
Obama: 13,614,204
Clinton: 12,801,153
3.) Primaries Won: There are 37 total primary contests. All Obama has to do is win three more and he notches the lead in these contests. He can do that easily with just three out of Montana, South Dakota, Oregon, Indiana, and North Carolina.
Obama: 16
Clinton: 12
4.) Caucuses Won
Obama: 14
Clinton: 3
5.) Overall contests Won: It's a 2-1 Obama advantage (includes territories and Democrats Abroad).
Obama: 30
Clinton: 15
6.) Red and Blue States Won (including DC, not including territories or Democrats Abroad):
Obama: 16 Red, 11 Blue
Clinton: 8 Red, 6 Blue
8.) Money Raised (through February)
Obama: $168 million
Clinton: $140 million
So that leaves the Clinton campaign with what, exactly? Big states! Big states! Big states! I addressed that one yesterday.
Team Clinton has nothing except schemes of coup by super delegate, which they apparently think they can do by insulting entire Democratic constituencies and most of our nation's states.
But really, what else do they have? Their campaign is losing by every metric possible.
Permalink :: Discuss (495 comments)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/13/134235/517/95/475879
March 10, 2008 - 21:00 ET
Have you ever wondered how the liberal media works? We put together this timeline of how “news” spreads in the liberal media....Take a look at this interview Glenn did on the Tuesday, March 4th edition of Glenn Beck on Headline News...
In the video above did Glenn really question if Barack Obama is the anti-Christ? Well, as noted in this Newsbusters article Glenn was 'doing it in a humorous fashion which gave no credence whatsoever to the notion that Obama is the anti-Christ. In fact, he was clearly belittling it...'
Now a reasonable person might take a look at the video above and question why anyone would report this as news when clearly it's done in a comical fashion. Well that's not how the liberal media works. Take a look at this news headline from Think Progress which appeared shortly after the interview was aired...
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008 - Think Progress
Beck: ‘Is Obama the Antichrist?’
Today on his CNN Headline News show, Glenn Beck asked Pastor John Hagee whether Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) is the embodiment of evil:
There are people — they say this about Bill Clinton — he might be the anti-Christ. Odds that Barack Obama is the Antichrist?
On Wednesday, March 5th Media Matters picked up on the story with this...
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 - Media Matters
Beck failed to ask Hagee about controversial statements, instead asked him if Obama might be the Antichrist
Note that within the Media Matters article they reference back to the Think Progress article...
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 - Media Matters
As the blog Think Progress noted, Beck wrapped up his interview with Hagee by asking him if Sen. Barack Obama might be the Antichrist
Next up on the liberal hack parade is MSNBC's Keith Olbermann who names Glenn the 'Worst Person in the World' for his question about Barack. Note that Olbermann doesn't use the actual audio or video from the interview, instead he just reads the transcript (adding in his own take of Glenn’s supposedly panicked voice). This is clearly done in effort to remove the context of a light hearted question belittling those who believe every new politician on the scene that doesn’t agree with them is the antichrist.
Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 - Keith Olbermann
OK, well that was all nice and everything but at least it's over...right? What else is left to report?
Well the liberal media works in magical ways, watch as Media Matters reports that Olbermann named Glenn the Worst Person in the World. In other words they're simply reporting that Olbermann reported a 'news' story that they reported - in their new report. Get it?
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 - Media Matters
O'Reilly, Beck receive honors in Olbermann's "Worst Person" segment
Olbermann also gave CNN Headline News' Glenn Beck the "Worst Person" "bronze" for saying on the March 4 edition of his program, as both Think Progress and Media Matters documented...
But it's still not over...
So far we’ve just seen the slow build in the echo-chamber of liberal hacks. From the more esteemed sources, all the way down to Keith Olbermann, who can’t even do his own reporting on fake news that didn’t happen. But, next up on the liberal media...
Sunday, March 9th, 2008 - New York Times
Obama and the Bigots
Proponents of this theory offer detailed theological explanations for why he is the Antichrist, and the proof is that he claims to be Christian - after all, the Antichrist would say that, wouldn’t he? The rumors circulate enough that Glenn Beck of CNN asked the Rev. John Hagee, a conservative evangelical, what the odds are that Mr. Obama is the Antichrist.
So there you have it. By reporting the same story multiple times and using themselves as sources and removing all context the liberal media was able to take a clearly sarcastic comment and turn it into nearly a week of (liberal) news.
Of course, the kicker to the whole endless story is: Glenn had predicted that exactly this would happen. (Free audio)
GLENN: By the way, this is all going to be transcribed by Media Matters today as a completely dead serious conversation.
GRAY: I know, I know.
GLENN: It's going to be great. There are going to be media alerts: Glenn Beck announces Obama is the antichrist. You watch. It's going to be everywhere. (Laughing.).
Read the fantastic recap at Newsbusters here...
I like those numbers. . .!
so do i! just a few days for glenn beck's humorous statement to be reported as 'bigoted'
ah, makeArchitecture's numbers, that is.
As for the media, if each side belittles the methods and biases of the other, as they do, I call it a wash -- and may the devil take all of it. Elliot Spitzer was lynched, if you ask me.
Eliot Spitzer was lynched? are you for reals?!?!
This seems pretty timely:
Rabbi Michael Lerner: Spitzer & America's Perverse Ethics
[Robert Parry:] The U.S. news media can’t devote enough time to the prostitution scandal that just forced New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation and gave the ethics enforcer of Wall Street a bitter taste of his own medicine. But the unspoken counterpoint to Spitzer’s dramatic fall from grace is how the same U.S. news media views public calls for the impeachment of George W. Bush or Dick Cheney -- over war crimes and violations of the U.S. Constitution -- as nutty and unworthy of serious debate. In this guest essay (which was written before Spitzer announced his resignation), Rabbi Michael Lerner looks at the perverse state of America’s ethics.
that would be an ironic twist if it was the white governor of new york lynched, to put in place the first black governor in new york. not to mention he is legally blind.
suggested listening: democracy now!
btw... wonder who Governor David Paterson will endorse for president?
"Last August, New York’s incoming governor, David Paterson, spoke at Riverside Church in Manhattan during the funeral of the jazz legend Max Roach. In his address, Paterson invoked the memory of blacklisted actor and singer Paul Robeson, abolitionist Harriet Tubman and black nationalist leader Malcolm X."
In what way does using a prostitute make a man unfit to do the public's business ? We live in a seriously fucked society. . .
apparently spitzer endorsed hillary in 2007. and he was a superdelegate. so scratch one off her list.
conan o'brien said:
'hillary clinton lost a super delegate, but bill clinton gained a super-wingman!'
Ah -- SOME good had to come from this.
Paterson has endorsed Hillary, but he apparently is not a superdelegate.
*sigh*
Looks like he has learned a lot from both George Bush and Bill Clinton.
A freakn' men
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/03/14/beckfloridamichigan/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
What do these stories all have in common?
Glenn Beck
# A woman who says she lost more $1 million gambling in Atlantic City sues some casinos for $20 million, claiming they should've stopped her compulsive gambling.
# People who bought houses they couldn't afford with loans they didn't understand want their lenders to change the terms.
# Congress authorizes a war and then tries everything it can think of to get out of it.
# Our country gets addicted to oil and then blames OPEC when it doesn't like the price.
These stories prove how personal responsibility has all but vanished in America, and our government is leading the way.
Don't Miss
* Glenn Beck on Headline News
* Glenn's new book: 'An Inconvenient Book'
Remember the kid from that interminable 1980s commercial whose father caught him using drugs? The father incredulously asked, "Who taught you how to do this stuff?" and the kid responded, "You, alright? I learned it by watching you."
Well, we are that kid and our government is that drug-using father who doesn't think that anyone notices his bad habits.
Our government is leading us by example, and I don't mean that in a good way. For years, it has spent us into oblivion, mortgaging our future for programs we can't afford, and Americans have happily followed suit, running up credit card bills and home equity loans for things they never should've bought.
Unfortunately, we're also learning something else from our government: how to avoid taking responsibility for our actions.
From Eliot Spitzer's alleged hooker craze to the revelation that Arnold Schwarzenegger commutes to work in a large private jet even as he preaches the dangers of carbon dioxide emissions, there's never been a shortage of "do what I say, not what I do" hypocrites in politics.
But that same attitude has seemingly spread from individual politicians to an entire party.
Democrats aren't happy that delegates from Florida and Michigan won't be seated at the national convention because those states broke clear party rules. Well you know what? Too bad. We don't say that enough anymore. Too bad. You agreed to the rules; you broke them. Now you've got to deal with the consequences.
"But Glenn. ... Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama will have enough delegates to win the nomination. We don't want this to be decided in some backroom by superdelegates."
Too bad.
"But Glenn. ... You don't understand. If we don't seat delegates from those states now, then we might lose their votes in the general election."
Too bad.
"But Glenn. .... The voters in these states are going to be disenfranchised if we don't let their voices be heard."
Too bad.
If you want to talk about disenfranchised voters, then let's talk about why just 17 percent of Americans have a positive view of Congress. Let's talk about why we still have wide open borders despite most Americans wanting them sealed. Let's talk about why we keep selling out our sovereignty and our security by borrowing billions of dollars from-less-than friendly countries, such as China.
Americans aren't disenfranchised because our leaders won't count votes in a couple of states. They're disenfranchised because our leaders aren't doing their jobs. They're disenfranchised because after working hard to support their families and to raise kids who understand the difference between right and wrong, their leaders do exactly the opposite.
In the cases of Florida and Michigan, I've patiently listened to all the moving arguments about why there should be a "do-over," but quite honestly, they're not arguments at all. They're excuses. If this race wasn't so close, or if these states offered a combined 36 delegates instead of 366, do you really think anyone would care? Of course not.
But no matter what you think should happen, you have to admit that Clinton's idea that we should simply count her "wins" in Florida and Michigan is completely ridiculous.
In fact, if you played a rimshot and a laugh track behind her every time she recited that line, people might actually agree to a two-drink minimum to see her speak. How could you possibly count the results from an election when your main opponent wasn't even on the ballot (at least in Michigan)? You can't -- unless you think the rules are simply there for your own amusement.
Last year, when the punishment against Florida was first approved, Donna Brazile, a member of the Democratic National Committee rules panel, said she hoped that the harsh consequences would "send a message to everybody in Florida that we are going to follow the rules." And Brazile knows a little something about that ... she ran Vice President Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000.
Voters in Florida and Michigan should ask themselves one important question before they blindly follow their party: Why did no one seem to care about "alienating" them last year when the rules were intentionally broken? It's only now, when their vote really matters, that everyone is suddenly so concerned about "enfranchising" them.
Florida and Michigan have a golden opportunity to stand up and say enough is enough, to send a message that it's time to not only take responsibility for their actions but for those of our leaders as well.
After all, what would it say about personal responsibility in this country if we allow the two states that broke all the rules to end up having the biggest say of all?
Glenn Beck is the bestest person in the world
nah, that was Bill Hicks.
"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," Obama said. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Reverend Wright that are at issue."
In a sermon on the Sunday after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Wright suggested the United States brought on the attacks.
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."
Obama has to deny this, to get elected.
I'ts TOUGH being a politician. . .
how could obama sit through 20 years of that crap?
what a nutjob
how could anybody not understand what Wright is saying i think it gives Obama more power to win and he would do better to embrace the understanding of why Blowback happens. Not like is will be a easy job to undo all the imperialistic adventures and harm...
All the flag-waving and chest-thumping in the world will not bring back the war dead, now will it bring back our status as a fully-respected member of the world community. Too bad this all has to be swept under the rug -- especially at election time.
did anyone else catch Democracy Now on Friday?
want to hear about what's REALLY happened in Iraq + Afghanistan? listen.
apparently this weekend, 37 years later, a Winter Soldier is taking place about Iraq and Afghanistan at the National Labor College in Washington, DC. Winter Soldier took place 37 years ago for the Vietnam soldiers to give accounts of the war. if you haven't heard it, you should definitely listen... (democracynow.org check out 03/14 broadcast)
"The country doesn’t know it yet, but it’s created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history."
perhaps it would better guide the decisions our presidential candidates make if they actually SUPPORTED the troops and LISTENED to what they have to say.
.
barack was in indianastan yesterday. but rather than come to indianapolis he was in hendricks county. i don't know where the hell that is. maybe cuz the big ten tourney was in town and his appearance would have confused things? wtf? come to where the people are...
CHANGE is not doing what's expected
actually i think he went there to promote change, as indianastan is republicanish. he was out there talkin to the salt of the earth and they seemed to like it...
i was in hendricks county yesterday (sunday), vado. it's just up to your northwest. we were in brownsburg, but it's also where danville is. i saw people!
oh, and brownsburg is only ten minutes or so from the indy boundary, so really not 'out there' very far.
woah!
obeygiant.com/post/obama
i highly recommend reading this...
i am an obama supporter, and i do well not being caught up in all the insanity surrounding his campaign, but honestly, this speech is exactly what needed to be said... though it says it subtly, i feel this might be one of the most profoundly truthful things ive ever heard from a politician.
completely agree lletdownl!
you can see it on youtube
"Our greatest hour of segregation is on Sunday mornings"
that statement really struck a chord with me... because it is so true.
"I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white woman from Kansas. I was raised with the help of a white grandfather who survived a Depression to serve in Patton's Army during World War II and a white grandmother who worked on a bomber assembly line at Fort Leavenworth while he was overseas. I've gone to some of the best schools in America and lived in one of the world's poorest nations. I am married to a black American who carries within her the blood of slaves and slaveowners - an inheritance we pass on to our two precious daughters. I have brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins, of every race and every hue, scattered across three continents, and for as long as I live, I will never forget that in no other country on Earth is my story even possible."
"On one end of the spectrum, we've heard the implication that my candidacy is somehow an exercise in affirmative action; that it's based solely on the desire of wide-eyed liberals to purchase racial reconciliation on the cheap. On the other end, we've heard my former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, use incendiary language to express views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but views that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation; that rightly offend white and black alike."
"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community. I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother - a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world, but a woman who once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."
THIS is what sets him far above and beyond Hillary. FINALLY someone talks about the issues and what has been needed to be said for so, so long.
how would disowning a racist preacher disown the black community?
and i don't see how reminding everyone that his wife and kids carry 'the blood of slaves and slaveowners' helps. what does that have to do with anything?
no one alive was a slave or slave owner. i certainly don't deny it happened, but constantly reminding little kids that they were once slaves (which they weren't) is counterproductive. but it fits wright in with wright's idea that we live in the u.s. of KKK.
Brilliant speech. I think you are missing his point FRaC.
it has everything to do with everything...
there is an unequal playing field. if you are unable to see it, or accept it, i would suggest you explore a bit.
that unequal playing field is created and maintained by social institutions tacitly supported by our entire nation.
either it is our responsability to fix it, or it is not. that is a legitimate argument to have, and that is the crux of what Obama is saying.
whether or not you agree with the semantics (which it seems your either purposefully inflamatory post does, or perhaps you just didnt read the speech) is irrelevant.
im afraid the dye is cast. barack's minister has ruined him...
much as I really like Obama, if I see another speech of his where he mentions the Constitution and his faith simultaneously, I'm gonna start throwing chairs.
I don't want to hear about you being a christian anymore!
Your level of irrationality is of no interest to me!
wait a second. christian? .. i thought barack was muslim
please tell me that's a joke as well.
yes my last post was a joke. as well? no the earlier one was serious
well, no email for me. so there goes pratt I guess :-/
wow this speech is great.
i can't wait for the torrent , listening to it on Air America now
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