Hillary’s Voice

How many Obots does it take to screw in a lightbulb? (by Joseph Cannon at Cannonfire)
Two. One does the screwing, while the other beats your face in if you don’t see the light.

Obama Up Against The Wall (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

Obama’s globe-prancing, as if he is already the elected President of the United States, has instigated a dispute within a foreign country. The distinction between elected state leaders and a partisan candidate (one who has yet to be formally nominated!) has not escaped German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was upset by the request by Barack Obama to give a speech at the Brandenburg Gate, calling such a rally “inappropriate.” She does not believe that Germany should give any impression that it is involved in American political races. The Obama team is apparently surprised at the controversy, which in itself reveals a lack of understanding of the world community and international protocol. One cannot bluster into a sovereign foreign country without regard for its tradition and political situation.

Disillusioned about Barack Obama (by Nat Hentoff, Village Voice, writing at the Sacramento Bee)
I, for a time, was buoyed by not only the real-time prospect of our first black president but much more by the likelihood that Obama would pierce the dense hypocrisy and insatiable power-grabbing of current American politics… But after abandoning his pledge to abide by public financing, this apostle of cleansing the political culture is now going after the high rollers… Then there is the current furor … about his change on the “compromise” FISA Amendments Act of 2008… [T]he president and such supporters [of the bill] as Obama … have made it close to impossible to conduct meaningful investigations… But what could be wrong with a new Obama approach, to assert his religious faith by, if elected, expanding the government funding of faith-based social services through churches and other religious institutions?… Obama insists this program will be the “moral center” of his administration. Just where is his own center of credibility?

Centrism, Triangulation and the Netroots (by madamab at The Confluence)
Hillary Clinton’s phenomenally successful Presidential run showed me that the center of the Democratic Party is where the country feels most at home. 18 million voters came out to say “Yes!” to Hillary’s populist, New Deal-style platform. Hillary won more votes than any candidate, male or female, had ever won in a primary contest. Senator Clinton’s voters completely ignored all the machinations of the media and the DNC/Obama conglomerate. They were told their votes wouldn’t count in Michigan and Florida, but millions voted anyway. They didn’t listen to the grandiose pronouncements of Hillary’s early demise after Obama’s long run of victories in February. They didn’t care that Obama was being declared the winner before all the votes had been counted.

New Denver Group Ad: Would Dean and Pelosi Have Kept FDR’s Name off Ballot? (by campskunk at Alegre’s Corner)
Take a look at the new Denver Group ad. The Denver Group already bought space in the Chicago Tribune for their “Boston Tea Party” ad; this one is the work of Janis at the Confluence, and is appearing today in the Congressional Quarterly, a targeted buy if there ever were one.

Superdelegates and an Honest Vote in Denver (by Alegre)
It’s not too late to change your mind superdelegates.  The future of our party AND our nation rests in your hands.  Are you going to go with a guy who’s clearly in over his head in battling McCain in the general election?  Or will you back the one candidate who’s sure to beat McCain and take back the White House for us in November - rebuild the middle class by fixing our broken economy, bring our troops out of Iraq and fight tooth and nail for universal healthcare that will allow the 47 million of us now living without insurance to see a doctor if they need to?

Development: US fails to measure up on ‘human index’ (The Guardian, U.K.)
Despite spending $230m (£115m) an hour on healthcare, Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed country. And while it has the second-highest income per head in the world, the United States ranks 42nd in terms of life expectancy.

These are some of the startling conclusions from a major new report which attempts to explain why the world’s number-one economy has slipped to 12th place - from 2nd in 1990- in terms of human development…

The report not only highlights the differences between the US and other countries, it also picks up on the huge discrepancies between states, the country’s 436 congressional districts and between ethnic groups…

Inequality remains stark. The richest fifth of Americans earn on average $168,170 a year, almost 15 times the average of the lowest fifth, who make do with $11,352.

The US is far behind many other countries in the support given to working families, particularly in terms of family leave, sick leave and childcare. The country has no federally mandated maternity leave.

The US also ranks first among the 30 rich countries of the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of the number of people in prison, both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the total population.
Does Senator Obama plan to do anything about these disparities?  He’s been funded by an awful lot of wealthy people, who have benefited tremendously from the policies that created this situation.

Freedom Rider: Obama to Make World Safe for the Rich (by Margaret Kimberley at the Black Agenda Report)
Barack Obama has spent years avoiding being “pegged” or “tagged” as a man of the Left. People should accept the fact - he’s no progressive. And no Black militant, by any stretch of the imagination. “He has to slander all black men. He has to threaten war with Iran. He can’t end the occupation of Iraq.” Obama’s full of compulsions, and phobias, too. “He has to tell lies and claim he was against warrantless surveillance and then vote in favor of it.” Mostly, Obama has to do whatever is required to service his mega-million campaign apparatus, “a well oiled marketing machine that convinces gullible people to believe he is who they want him to be.”

The Truth About Torture (by Stuart Taylor, Jr.)
To get a full accounting of how U.S. interrogation methods were used, the president should give those accused of ‘war crimes’ a pass.
Don’t read the entire article.  It will make you sick.  Taylor works for the Brookings Institution, which I believe used to be considered a left-leaning think tank.  Now it has the kill- em- first- and- ask- questions- later Michael E. O’Hanlon and this guy, who doesn’t seem to know the first thing about human nature.  People don’t confess to crimes unless you can hold something over their heads.  Give these people a free pass, and they’ll all clam up.  What’s your stand, Senator Obama?

It Gets Worse (by Brad at Sadly, No!)
[T]his, my friends, is the absolute nightmare of the Village Mindset: years of partisan warfare. Why do evil people like George W. Bush and Dick Cheney feel they can simply break the law with reckless abandon? Because they know that modern American political culture simply does not believe in accountability for its political class. They know that in the end, they’re part of the same Villager club of Special People who are too powerful and too privileged to ever face any consequences for their actions.
Unless that member of the political class is a Democrat and his name is Clinton, of course.  HE can be impeached for any old private matter, but Bush-Cheney can’t be investigated for obvious war crimes.

Jack Cafferty: Viagra Is For A Medical Condition, Birth Control Is A “Lifestyle Choice” (by Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars)
In discussion of McCain’s painful fumbling over why health insurance covers Viagra but not birth control, … Jack Cafferty … issues the befuddling “answer” to McCain’s predictament: “CAFFERTY: Well, you know, the answer is Viagra is used to treat a medical condition, erectile dysfunction. Birth control is a lifestyle choice.”
Click through to watch the video.  Where are you on this, Senator Obama?

DeLauro, Clinton seek act ending disparity
WASHINGTON — Rep. Rosa DeLauro stood side by side with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton Thursday urging Congress to pass legislation aimed at closing once and for all the pay disparity that exists between men and women. “Women earn only 77 percent of what men earn. America is better than that,” said DeLauro, D-3. “It is time to value the work women do.” Clinton said that as a presidential candidate she heard firsthand from women about the reality of being paid less than men. “Every employer who shortchanges a woman’s paycheck is shortchanging her family,” Clinton said.

FactCheck.org takes issue with Obama’s pledge to ‘fast track’ energy solutions (On Politics, USA Today)
In a TV ad it released yesterday, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign says he would “fast-track alternatives so we stop spending billions on oil from hostile nations.” Not so fast, say the folks at the nonpartisan FactCheck.org: “Obama released a national ad saying he has ‘fast-track alternatives’ to imported oil. On closer examination, those turn out to be his proposal to spend $150 billion over the coming decade on energy research. Ten years doesn’t sound all that ‘fast’ to us, and there’s no guarantee that the research will result in less oil being imported.”

… The saddest are these: (by lambert at Corrente)
It might have been…: “Just as John F. Kennedy set his sights on the moon, Al Gore is challenging the nation to produce every kilowatt of electricity through wind, sun and other Earth-friendly energy sources within 10 years, an audacious goal he hopes the next president will embrace… The Nobel Prize-winning former vice president… said fellow Democrat Barack Obama and Republican rival John McCain are ‘way ahead’ of most politicians in the fight against global climate change.”  [Emphasis added.]That’s interesting, isn’t it? Bill Clinton did the same thing just the other day; praise McCain and Obama in the same sentence on climate. What’s going on? Besides the obvious fact that they’re both racists who hate the Unity Pony.
Crooks and Liars has the video of Gore’s speech.  Unfortunately, however, both candidates not shoved out of the race believe that nuclear power can be part of the solution to the climate change crisis.  See below.

Don’t Drink the Nuclear Kool-Aid (by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now, writing at Common Dreams News Center)
While the presidential candidates trade barbs and accuse each other of flip-flopping, they agree with President Bush on their enthusiastic support for nuclear power. Sen. John McCain has called for 100 new nuclear power plants. Sen. Barack Obama, in a July 2007 Democratic candidate debate, answered a pro-nuclear power audience member, “I actually think that we should explore nuclear power as part of the energy mix.” Among Obama’s top contributors are executives of Exelon Corp., a leading nuclear power operator in the nation.

Don’t dare disagree with Obama (by Bill Maxwell, St. Petersburg Times)
More than a week ago, the Rev. Jesse Jackson mistakenly whispered near a live Fox News microphone that he wanted to castrate Obama for “talking down” to black people about personal responsibility and for giving the government a bye. (I agree with Obama about assuming personal responsibility, but that’s not the issue here.)… Like it or not, what we saw in Jackson’s whisper was raw frustration — the inability to speak freely about one of the most important developments in black history… If Obama’s swooning, humorless supporters continue to force critics to whisper, to shut up or to explain their artistic renderings, our precious gift and right of free expression will diminish if Obama is elected in November. These people need to know that some of us cherish free expression. They also need to know that if Obama needs to be protected from the satirist’s rapier, he doesn’t deserve to be the president of the United States of America.

CONFRONTING THE VIRAL: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
A long-time reader differed with us about that New Yorker cover. “If the satirist alone gets it, that is enough?” Really? Even if the “satire” helps create a viral stream that changes an election?… Candidate Gore was murdered by RNC-inspired “satire,” starting in March 1999. The RNC’s notions surged into the bloodstream, and almost no one complained. As a result, mainstream journalists kept pimping these notions and images for the next twenty months. Are we happy with how that turned out? It would be nice to think that these things don’t matter… But unless you don’t care who ends up in the White House, the evidence suggests something different. In our view, journalists ought to be very careful when they send viral notions about race and religion around. The New Yorker cover won’t be the end of the world. But that’s only true because, this time around, Dems and libs are complaining.

Pitts: I like NYer’s cover, but understand why it’s incendiary
Leonard Pitts writes: “As absurd, as over the top, as utterly outlandish as the New Yorker image strikes the more sophisticated among us, there is a large fringe out there for whom it will represent nothing more or less than the sum of their fears. Indeed, as I sat down to write these words, there beeped into my mailbox an e-mail with this subject line: ‘WOW, The New Yorker got it exactly right, for once.’ Said without a trace of irony.”

Keeping The DNC Chairman Busy (by Marc Ambinder, The Atlantic)
[T]he Obama campaign has found a smart way to keep the party’s reigning elder statesman, Howard Dean, busy: they’re sending him on a cross-country voter registration tour. He’ll travel in style on a 45 foot long biodisel bus flagged in red, white and blue. The tour kicks off in Crawford, TX on Thursday, heads to Austin where Dean will say hi to peeps at the Netroots Nation convention, then to New Orleans, Shreveport and Baton Rouge — note — Democrats need to pick up their efforts in New Orleans if they want to be competitive in the state because so many African Americans moved away — and then will wind through Mississippi before the good governor gets a break.

Clinton says he’s ready to campaign for Obama (AP)
NEW YORK - Former President Clinton said Thursday he is eager to campaign for Barack Obama whenever the Democrat needs him, but has not given any thought to whether he wants to speak at the party convention in Denver.
The fact that Obama isn’t asking tells me a lot.  He doesn’t want anything from either Clinton except their fundraising ability.  And how is that working out?  See below.

McCain Surrogate Fiorina Meets With Clinton Supporters (Wall Street Journal)
The McCain campaign dispatched its top female surrogate Tuesday to meet with about 25 disaffected supporters of Sen. Hillary Clinton in Westchester, N.Y. Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co. and a top adviser to Republican Sen. John McCain, met with the former Clinton backers… The Westchester meeting came at the behest of former Clinton supporters, some of whom have said – adamantly – that they won’t support Obama. Polls show Obama winning the majority of support from women voters while about a quarter of ex-Clinton supporters are leaning toward McCain… Amy Siskind, a former Wall Street executive who helped organize the meeting, declined to identify most the attendees, citing their desire for privacy. She said that some of the recently formed pro-Hillary organizations that have been critical of Sen. Obama–such as Together4Us.com, which officially hosted the event, and JustSayNoDeal.com had representatives there.

PUMAs Need to Pounce on Primary Reform, Now! (by Democrat In Exile at Alegre’s Corner)
As you may note from my many posts on primary reform, I am not a big fan of any of the current proposals for primary reform… My question to PUMAs and No Dealers is “Do you want primary reform or not?  Time to influence the process, not just the outcome!   (Hint:  If the Senate holds primary reform hearings now, it can do nothing BUT help get the word out about how fraudulent this last primary season has been.  Get it?)…  Write or call Senator Feinstein and ask her to keep her promise to hold hearings on primary reform this month.
Click through to read Democrat In Exile’s recommendations for reform.

Lots more really good stuff at MakeThemAccountable.com.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com