Hillary’s Voice

United in Unity, NH (Political Wire )
Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton will make their first joint campaign appearance on Friday in Unity, New Hampshire. Both candidates received exactly 107 votes in the town during the January primary.

Excuses, Excuses (by Charles Lemos at No Quarter, from his blog, By The Fault)

A round up of comments in Obamaland (Talking Points Memo and Crooks and Liars, I dare not tread the threads on the DailyKos, not enough disinfectant in California to delouse me later) on Senator Obama and FISA:

“105 Democratic representatives voted for the bill. Obama doesn’t have the political capital to win this battle. It’s silly for him to make his last stand here when he’s fighting for the presidency–the larger war.” - Because the Constitution is just a scrap of paper.

“Let’s keep in mind that Senator Obama is a Constitutional lawyer, and calm down until we know exactly what we are talking about.” - More like he lectured on Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago, I don’t think he ever practised in the field and he certainly isn’t practising in it now, but hope springs eternal.

“…I can see already that driving himself into a buzzsaw with his own party over this one issue will not win him the election. He needs to keep his eye on the prize and as others have stated not look weak grandstanding over something he can’t change anyway.” - Apparently, an election matters more than the Constitution.
Click through for more.

How Hoyer got the deal done (Politico)
In an interview with Politico on Monday, Hoyer called the FISA legislation a “significant victory” for the Democratic Party… According to several Democratic insiders, Hoyer was able to keep the [“compromise”] talks going by pointing out that he, more than anyone else in the room, was taking a huge political risk by trying to reach a deal. The Democratic leader in the House was also able to bridge the rancor between the two main Senate negotiators and their respective aides, joking frequently during tense negotiations and keeping the conversation going despite an obvious animosity in the room, aides said.
One can only imagine what those jokes were about.

The New Republic syndrome (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
Throughout the Bush era, the Democratic Party has been dominated by The New Republic Syndrome — Democrats who are either petrified of meaningfully opposing the right-wing agenda that has dominated our country or who support virtually all of it, while eagerly volunteering to serve as the most vocal demonizers of those who want our country to have a real opposition party. Despite [numerous] forced mea culpas and reversals, TNR never actually learns. [Monday] — in a post bearing the very sensible and Serious title: “Keeping FISA in Perspective” — TNR is here, via Josh Patashnik, to tell you that there’s nothing truly disturbing about the FISA bill that is about to pass. What’s more, those who think there is, and those who want to oppose Democrats who support the bill, are — just like war opponents of 2003 and Lieberman opponents of 2006 — nothing more than shrill, hysterical radicals who are irresponsible and even insane…

It’s exactly that mentality that has brought us to where we are as a country and a political system today. It’s not at all surprising — and wouldn’t have surprised the Founders in the least — that a radical and corrupt political faction (the Bush-led Right) has been able to take over parts of the Government and sought to consolidate political power. The expectation was that this would happen, and the solution was to devise a litany of checks — the Congress, the media, opposition parties — that would stand up to and vigorously oppose that faction and prevent it from running rampant.  It’s primarily the failure of those institutions, rather than the emergence of a corrupt and lawless faction, that has made the Bush era so unique and distinctively destructive. Those institutions have failed because they have been, and continue to be, defined by the meek, amorphous, principle-free New Republic Syndrome, which thinks that its restrained tolerance and complicit embrace of patent Bush extremism is some sort of mark of political sophistication and Seriousness.

The “New Republic” syndrome (by lambert at Corrente)
Yes, apparently it’s “the New Republic Syndrome” that’s responsible for the Democratic Party’s position FISA, among other things. Fancy that! Smooth move, there, Glenn. Nice deflection. Gotta hand it to you. Although, last I checked, Marty Peretz wasn’t the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, who was wished on us by Glenn, among many of our other tribunes of the people on the A list.

Bamboozled (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
“Anybody who claims this [FISA Capitulation bill] is an okay bill, I really question if they’ve even read it.” “Democrats enabled [this],” Feingold went on. “Some of the rank and file Democrats in the Senate who were elected on this reform platform unfortunately voted with Kit Bond who’s just giggling he’s so happy with what he got. We caved in.” Oh, how the Obamanation wish their guy had said that. Instead it’s Russ Feingold who stands up for principle. It’s who they think Obama is, but he isn’t.

Obama is the guy who in February of this year said he would not support any bill on FISA that included telecom immunity.

Obama is the guy who told the world that he would use public financing if his opponent did.

Obama is the guy who said Bill Ayers is just a guy in the neighborhood.
Click through for more bamboozlements.

Condescend much? (by vastleft at Corrente)
Walter Shapiro at Salon [says] chicks got no choice in November. Look, I’m arguing that Obama looks like a better option than McCain, since he hasn’t — for example — cheerled the senseless killings of a million Iraqis or done song parodies in favor of doing it again in Iran. It’s the choice I’m currently planning to make, and I suggest you consider it, too. But this snotty “I know you better than you know your little girlie selves” shit makes me feel physically ill.

Issues (by Turkana at the Left Coaster)
During the primaries, I saw Clinton supporters as generally more issues-based than were most Obama supporters… [B]ut if you cared about Hillary Clinton’s issues, you have to prefer Obama to McCain. It’s not about you or your anger or your hurt. It’s about the future of our planet. It’s about that war in Iraq, and the possibility of a war in Iran. It’s about taking steps forward on health care and the economy and education and energy policy and everything else, or taking steps backwards, if at all. It’s still about the issues. To those that cared about the issues, in the first place. Simply put: the PUMA phenomenon represents exactly what some Clinton supporters criticized some Obama supporters for being part of- a cult.
Yes, well, how do we know that Obama will keep his promises?  He breaks every one of them when convenient.  And, here’s another problem, Turkana.  McCain isn’t the only alternative to Obama.  People can stay home on November 4, they can write in Hillary Clinton, or they can vote for Ralph Nader or Cynthia McKinney.  And don’t tell me that any of those would be a vote for McCain.  It’s the Democratic Party that put itself in this position, and I say good luck digging out.  No matter what Hillary is pressured into saying.  Heck, we could even vote for Bob Barr!

GOP frets Barr could play spoiler in prez race
ATLANTA - A fiery former GOP congressman who gained national prominence for doggedly pursuing impeachment of President Clinton has some Republicans worried he’ll play spoiler in a tight presidential contest.

“I think this perspective misreads the American people” (by vastleft at Corrente)
With the incessant invocation of Supreme Court nominations (assuming there are openings over the next four years) as Obama’s trump card for skeptical progressives, I looked up his 2005 defense of Democrats who voted for John Roberts. As usual, he cultivates the something-for-everyone Forer Effect with some really swell passages bound to please those who don’t stop to ponder and raise a fuss about his fundamentally untrue and disempowering post-partisanship frame.
Click through to read the 2005 statement.

PUMAs on the Loose… (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
Salon’s tagged teamed Rebecca Traister and Walter Shapiro against us. Shapiro was especially offensive with his bad boyfriend, “Where else are you going to go?” Downright creepy. Then HuffingtonPost got into the act with Will Bower (By the way, Will, our PUMA posts are time stamped. Just sayin’) Even Big Tent Democrat got into the act. But what was amazing was the sheer number of people who were fed up with the way this primary season has been going and thought it was time to take action against the DNC. If the comments I read today were any indication, the PUMA message of “It’s my vote, you’ve got to earn it” has a lot of followers. So, keep spreading the word. A lot could happen in 2 months.

Broken promise will probably benefit Obama (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Barack Obama wants to campaign on his ideals, but he also wants to win. Indeed, if you want to gauge the gap between his principles and his pragmatics, just follow the money. Ideally, Obama would now be honoring a promise he made in 2007. He vowed that, if he became the Democratic nominee, he would run his autumn race in accordance with the federal reform rules that have guided presidential elections since 1976… The pragmatics seem obvious: Why should Obama agree to a level playing field - $85 million for him, the same for McCain - when he can simply re-stoke his private fund-raising juggernaut for the final round and tilt the field in his favor? Why should Obama volunteer to disarm himself?
Hmmm…  Let’s see.  Can we think of a reason?  I don’t know, PRINCIPLE, maybe?  NOT GOING BACK ON HIS WORD, perhaps?  Oh, Caro, you’re such an idealist.

McCain disavows aide’s comment about terrorism
A top adviser to John McCain said another terrorist attack on U.S. soil would be a “big advantage” for the Republican presidential candidate, drawing a sharp rebuke Monday from both the presumed GOP nominee and Democrat Barack Obama.

McCain and Obama on Tax Reform (Business Week)
[A]mong his proposals, McCain wants to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent (with the exception of the estate tax repeal), phase in a two-thirds increase in the dependent exemption, and offer a voluntary alternative tax with two rates and a larger standard deduction and exemption… Obama is more aggressive in the number of his proposed tax plans. They range from creating income-related subsidies for health insurance to refundable “Making Work Pay” credits and “Universal Mortgage” credits. He’ll increase the maximum capital-gains tax to 25%. He will keep some of the 2001 and 2003 tax laws, such as the child-credit expansions and the 10%, 15%, 25%, and 28% income rates.

Obama raps McCain on flood prevention programs
MIAMI - With communities in the Midwest still under water, Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday criticized Republican John McCain for opposing federal spending on flood prevention programs and opened a new debate in the White House race.

Ever wonder why there’s nothing growing in those fields on the Obama logo? (by garychapelhill at The Confluence)
Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that help shape his views. And when it comes to domestic ethanol, almost all of which is made from corn, he also has advisers and prominent supporters with close ties to the industry at a time when energy policy is a point of sharp contrast between the parties and their presidential candidates… I found this tidbit from the website of California Sen. Dianne Feinstein: “… [S]ays David Pimentel of Cornell University, it takes the equivalent of 1.29 gallons of gasoline to produce enough ethanol to replace one gallon of gasoline at the pump. Instead of making the nation more energy self-sufficient, ethanol production actually increases our need for oil and gas imports…”

So let’s be clear.  Obama says he is against lobbyists and special interests, yet he employs lobbyists in his campaign and flies around on corporate jets.  He says he is for a greener economy, but supports subsidies that actually harm the environment and may actually contribute to world hunger.  So am I too harsh when I call Barack Obama a BIG FAT LIAR?  I don’t think so, do you?

McCain praises NAFTA on Canadian trip
OTTAWA (Reuters) - Republican John McCain defended the North American Free Trade Agreement in Canada on Friday during an unusual foreign trip as a U.S. presidential candidate to draw a contrast with Barack Obama, his Democratic rival in the November election.

McCain to propose $5K tax credit for clean cars; Obama vows to close ‘Enron loophole’ (On Politics, USA Today)
Republican candidate John McCain will today say that as president he would issue a “Clean Car Challenge” to automakers. If they produce a zero-emissions vehicle, a McCain administration would push to give buyers $5,000 tax credits.

Sen. McCain offers $300 million prize for new auto battery
PHOENIX - John McCain hopes to solve the country’s energy crisis with cold hard cash.

More Web ‘fun:’ Dems add critiques of McCain’s economic advisers to online site (On Politics, USA Today)
There’s no shortage already of online material posted by the two major parties and their presidential candidates about what’s “wrong” about the other guy. [Monday], the Democratic National Committee adds sharp critiques of three of Republican John McCain’s economic advisers to its McCainpedia website. One place to go for a decidedly different view is MeetBarackObama.com, a website run by the Republican National Committee.

McCain Seeks Blue Collar Voters (Political Wire )
The Republican Party “is going after blue-collar voters and other key blocs that traditionally support Democrats but did not back Sen. Barack Obama in primary contests,” the Washington Times reports. “The party also is aggressively pursuing female, Catholic and Hispanic voters - groups that lean Democrat but which Republicans think could defect this year to likely Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.”

Obama Woos Black Voters — Carefully (Political Wire)
Sen. Barack Obama’s strategists “believe they have identified a gold mine of new and potentially decisive Democratic voters in at least five battleground states — voters who failed to turn out in the past but can be mobilized this time because Obama’s candidacy is historic and his cash-rich campaign can afford the costly task of identifying and motivating such supporters,” according to the Los Angeles Times. They are “quietly laying plans to draw African American voters to the polls in unprecedented numbers by capitalizing on the excitement over the prospect of electing the nation’s first black president… The trick lies in wooing them without alienating whites.”

Obama’s presidential seal gone after one use (Political Ticker, CNN)

(CNN) – Barack Obama’s communications director said Monday that the presidential seal the campaign unveiled last week at a meeting with Democratic governors won’t be seen again. “That was a one time thing for a one time event,” Robert Gibbs told CNN.
A one-time thing.  They think we’re stupid, friends, I’m telling you.  They got rid of it because everyone laughed at Obama for it.  It was like Richard Nixon dressing in Prussian-looking uniforms the band that played “Hail to the Chief” for his entrances.

The Hedonists of Power (by Chris Hedges at TruthDig)
We cannot differentiate between illusion and reality. We trust courtiers wearing face powder who deceive us in the name of journalism. We trust courtiers in our political parties who promise to fight for our interests and then pass bill after bill to further corporate fraud and abuse. We confuse how we feel about courtiers like [Barack] Obama and [Tim] Russert with real information, facts and knowledge. We chant in unison with Obama that we want change, we yell “yes we can,” and then stand dumbly by as he coldly votes away our civil liberties. The Democratic Party, including Obama, continues to fund the war. It refuses to impeach Bush and Cheney. It allows the government to spy on us without warrants or cause. And then it tells us it is our salvation. This is a form of collective domestic abuse. And, as so often happens in the weird pathology of victim and victimizer, we keep coming back for more. 

Chris Hedges, who was a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, says he will vote for Ralph Nader for president.

Barack Obama inspires Milan men’s runway styles
The latest “first” for Barack Obama comes off the Milan runway. Calling the U.S. presidential hopeful “the man of the moment,” Donatella Versace dedicated her Spring-Summer 2009 collection presented Saturday evening to Obama, creating a style she said was designed for “a relaxed man who doesn’t need to flex muscles to show he has power.”
I wonder how Karen Hughes likes Chicago.

Applying a Personal Touch to the Campaign in the Media
In posing for Us Weekly, Barack Obama is stealing a page from Bill Clinton, who appeared on People’s cover with Hillary and Chelsea after clinching the 1992 nomination. Us Editor Janice Min says the Obama campaign immediately agreed to the request by her magazine, whose soft-focus profile dealt with such matters as Michelle Obama shopping at Target and enjoying Sex and the City.

Bonus Quote of the Day (Political Wire )
“Even if you never met him, you know this guy. He’s the guy at the country club with the beautiful date, holding a martini and a cigarette that stands against the wall and makes snide comments about everyone who passes by.” — Karl Rove, quoted by ABC News, describing Sen. Barack Obama to Republicans at the Capitol Hill Club.

Sorenson Says Obama Like Kennedy (Political Wire)
In an interview… on Bloomberg Television, former JFK aide Ted Sorensen discusses his new bestselling book, Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History. Notably, Sorenson compares Sen. Barack Obama to the president he used to serve, saying “Obama is more like John F. Kennedy than any candidate for president since then, except Bobby Kennedy, because Obama, like Kennedy who had to overcome the catholic opposition, has his own demographic obstacles, the color of his skin… When people say ‘Obama is way too young’ they forget that at 46 he’s an old geezer compared to Kennedy.” Sorenson also speaks openly about Kennedy’s extra marital affairs: “Unlike some of his successors, JFK was sufficiently prudent, wise, and discreet in selecting his companions and in selecting the places of meeting, that there was no public information out there.”
Kennedy was groomed for politics from the day he was born.  Obama was not.  It’s pretty revealing that Sorenson tells us the Clinton hatred comes, not from his affair or affairs, but from a presumed lack of discretion.  One wonders what would have been revealed about Kennedy’s philandering if he had had the same kind of right-wing war against him that Bill Clinton had.  Please note also that the hatred for BILL Clinton somehow transferred itself to Hillary—and to Al Gore eight years ago, if I’m not mistaken.

First Obama attack book in the works (Politico)
The same publisher that distributed the 2004 best-seller that took aim at John Kerry’s Vietnam service is planning a summer release of what’s scheduled to be the first critical book on Barack Obama. Conservative journalist David Freddoso’s “The Case Against Barack Obama” will offer “a comprehensive, factual look at Obama,” according to Regnery Publishing president and publisher Marjory Ross. But the book’s subtitle makes clear its perspective: “The Unlikely Rise and Unexamined Agenda of the Media’s Favorite Candidate.” Ross contends that the mainstream media has offered insufficient scrutiny of Obama and likens the goal of Freddoso’s book to that of “Unfit for Command,” the scathing assessment of Kerry’s war record that rocketed to No. 1 on The New York Times best-seller list.

Obama’s strange appeal to high priests of US conservatism
They’re called the Obamacons — the conservative thinkers who are disgusted with the Republicans and are rallying to Democrat Barack Obama as the nation’s economic and diplomatic savior. Thinkers such as Francis Fukuyama, Andrew Sullivan and Andrew Bacevich — all vehemently opposed to the war in Iraq — dislike Republican candidate John McCain and see something alluring in his Democratic rival.
Andrew Sullivan is a THINKER?  How could we have known without being told?

“Der Partei ist Obama. Obama, aber, ist Amerika wie Amerika Obama ist!” (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
This comment republished on Corrente exemplifies why we must oppose the Obama cult: “Obama could murder somebody at this point and I would still vote for him…..in other words…go f*@& yourself!!!” HT to Elizabitchez, who adds: “Meet the new Dems. Aren’t you proud of what our party has become?”
JUST like the Bushbots of 2000.

James Dobson accuses Obama of ‘distorting’ Bible
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - As Barack Obama broadens his outreach to evangelical voters, one of the movement’s biggest names, James Dobson, accuses the likely Democratic presidential nominee of distorting the Bible and pushing a “fruitcake interpretation” of the Constitution.

Few cite religion as ‘most important influence’ on their politics (On Politics, USA Today)
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life is out with its latest U.S. Religious Landscape Survey and among the conclusions from its survey of 35,000 adults is this: “Only 14% cite their religious beliefs as the most important influence.
Um, where was this information eight years ago?  Four years ago?

With Clinton Out, More Boys on the Bus
Elizabeth Holmes: In the decades since Timothy Crouse penned the famous campaign trail diary Boys on the Bus, the moniker has been amended to a more gender-friendly one. But on Monday the label was appropriate. The McCain traveling press corps gathered for the morning security sweep and it became apparent that among the two dozen men there was only one woman.

FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS BELIEVE RUMORS: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
Michael Bloomberg did a remarkable thing last Friday; he went to Florida and told Jewish voters that people frequently make sh*t up. His statement was blindingly obvious, yet truly remarkable; given the history of the past twenty years, it’s amazing how rarely voters are given similar warnings. People will lie to you, Bloomberg said… Good for Bloomberg, who used a basic word— “lies.” Good for Bloomberg—and very bad for several important elites.

As everyone secretly knows by now, rumors, inventions and well-crafted lies have driven an astounding amount of our discourse in the past twenty years. In the next few days, we’ll go back to December 1999 to show you a few examples—to let you recall the work that was being done at the news division Tim Russert helped run. More specifically, we’ll let you review the work being done by one of Russert’s Irish-Catholic confreres. The gentleman sat on TV last week and waxed, at length, about his group’s vast and exceptional love for the truth—about the way We Irish behave like “prosecutors” when others stray from the path. We think you should see the basic reality behind the myths that were peddled last week. You need to see the actual conduct that transpired at Russert’s network—right in Washington, where Russert served as NBC chief. Right under his nose. On his watch.

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com