It's cool that Dean is first.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/91424

Dueling chain e-mails claim he's a radical Muslim or a 'racist' Christian. Both can't be right. We find both are false.

Dueling chain e-mails claim he's a radical Muslim or a 'racist' Christian. Both can't be right. We find both are false.

If these two nasty e-mail messages are any indication, the 2008 presidential campaign is becoming a very dirty one.

One claims that Obama is "certainly a racist" by virtue of belonging to Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, which it says "will accept only black parishoners" and espouses a commitment to Africa. Actually, a white theology professor says he's been "welcomed enthusiastically" at the church, as have other non-blacks.

Another e-mail claims that Obama "is a Muslim," attended a "Wahabi" school in Indonesia, took his Senate oath on the Koran, refuses to recite the Pledge of Allegiance and is part of an Islamic plot to take over the U.S. Each of these statements is false.

These false appeals to bigotry and fear remind us of the infamous whispering campaign of eight years ago, when anonymous messages just before the South Carolina primary falsely accused Republican candidate John McCain of fathering an illegitimate child by a black woman.

...

more ABB (anybody but Barack), this time from Mario Cuomo (his ABB almost sounds like anybody but black):

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/10/choice-words/index.html?ref=opinion

By Tobin Harshaw

...

Andrew Cuomo, New York’s attorney general and a Hillary Clinton supporter, had this to say about the early, small-state primaries in a radio interview: “It’s not a TV crazed race. Frankly you can’t buy your way into it … You can’t shuck and jive at a press conference. You can’t just put off reporters, because you have real people looking at you saying answer the question, you know, and all those moves you can make with the press don’t work when you’re in someone’s living room.”

Interesting choice of words, to say the least. As Eric Kleefeld at TPM informs us, “According to Joan Houston Hall’s Dictionary of American Regional English, the phrase ‘shuck and jive’ means, ‘To be deceptive or evasive; to tell tall tales or lies; to fool around. esp freq among Black speakers.’”

Damage control efforts were swift, according to the Politico’s Ben Smith:

“ ‘It was never about Obama in the first place,’ ” Cuomo told me of the use of the phrase, which he said he was using ‘as a synonym for ‘bob and weave.’ ”

Pam Spaulding thinks that’s a tad too easy:

This whole “post-racial” nonsense is a simple fantasy or delusion uttered by people who think race isn’t a problem anymore. I’d like that to be the case as much as anyone else, but the fact of the matter is for Democrats, the alleged party of tolerance, this kind of bush-league nonsense exposes the real problem — that the lack of engagement on how race and political races bring out the worst in people, and plays to the base fears of voters …

dnA, one of the contributors at the Too Sense blog on race and politics, sees a strategic pattern: “I think it’s become pretty clear that between Bill calling Obama a ‘kid,’ Hillary’s comments belittling MLK, Shaheen’s suggestion that Obama would be asked if he was a drug dealer, Bob Kerrey repeatedly invoking Obama’s ‘Muslim background’ and this statement from Clinton backer Andrew Cuomo, the Clinton strategy is now an attempt to force Obama to play the race card, triggering resentment among white voters.”

typo - this time from Mario Cuomo   s/b - this time from Andrew Cuomo

kudos to Janet Napolitano, she doesn't believe in ABB:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080111/ap_po/obama_endorsement_5

Arizona Gov. Napolitano to endorse Obama

By PAUL DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer

25 minutes ago

PHOENIX - Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano is endorsing Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination for president, The Associated Press has learned.

...

Not in his stump speeches. Nobody is.

Criticize Obama's record. Criticize his proposals. But don't engage in shallow and specious foolishness.

Some quotes from Dean's Stump speech:

“It's not that the Patients' Bill of Rights isn't a good idea,” he said. “But it doesn't extend health coverage to a single person. Democrats should go to Congress every day and talk about universal health care. We should make the President explain every day why Americans can't have what the British have, and the French, and the Germans, and the Canadians, and the Costa Ricans.”

Fiscal soundness is an important part of Dean's message. He would repeal the Bush tax cuts, rather than negotiate a second tax cut down from $760 billion to a mere $350 billion, as the congressional Democrats are trying to do. “People made a lot more money under the Clinton tax rates than they're making under Bush,” he observes. He would repeal the No Child Left Behind education package because it is an unfunded federal mandate that is helping to bankrupt the states. (He referred to it as the “No School Board Left Standing” policy.) He would fund special education federally for the same reason.

“The biggest lie that people like me tell people like you during the election season is ‘If you vote for me, I’ll solve all your problems.’ The truth is that the power to change this country is in your hands, not mine. Abraham Lincoln said that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth. But this President, this President has forgotten ordinary Americans. And you have the power to take this party back and make it stand for something again. You have the power to take this country back.”

None of the other aspirants, it seemed, had the resources, the creative instincts, or the rhetorical ferocity to match him. (He was merciless when it came to skewering President Bush, whom he ridiculed variously as “bullheaded,” “petulant,” and “reckless.”)

When he finally discussed foreign policy in the middle of his speech, the governor justified his opposition to the war in Iraq by listing a series of "lies" supposedly used by the administration to rally public support for military intervention. Dean fought his peacenik image by pledging that he would be perfectly willing to wage war but simply opposed "fight[ing] without telling the truth about why we're fighting."

ditto kudos to Ned Lamont:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ned-lamont/why-im-supporting-barack_b_80986.html

Posted January 10, 2008 | 06:56 PM (EST)

...

Not implying that you're violating copyright, Audrey.

However, a few regulars here are notorious for doing so.

Secondly, BlogPac (powered by SoapBlox, which is legitimate blogging software, BTW) has progressive portals in many states; and voter laws are also a **state-based issue only**.

Hit back button, pls.--I don't repost.

Nattering here doesn't affect change, if it isn't your state.

Too late to change voter laws now, anyways (except if Bill Gardner perceives the need to facilitate a recount in NH.).

Nobody here has control over it, BTW.

http://tinyurl.com/yrekx5

The process:

http://tinyurl.com/2odn4y

mainefem wrote "Hit back button, pls.--I don't repost."

I got a different impression.

A LITTLE OBAMA-BALANCE, FROM BLACK AGENDA REPORT

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=485&Itemid=1

Barack Obama flies high on white dreams of never again having to confront the realities of race in America. The likes of professional right-winger Bill Bennett sing Obama's praises as a "breakthrough" candidate who "never plays the race card." Hallelejah! Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton will be consigned to the dustbin, never again to interrupt the mythical American narrative with their impudent accusations. Obama's Promised Land is a place of absolution for white crimes past, present and future. Like Colin Powell and Clarence Thomas, Obama proves the unprovable - that race is no longer "a factor in public policy issues."

A black president who sides against the interests of black people will be exponentially worse than a cabinet official or Supreme Court Justice doing the same thing. The sad fact of the matter is that black America will be worse off if Obama becomes president. The hand writing is already on the wall. His success is already used as evidence purporting to prove that racism is in the past, that black people are therefore to blame for their problems, and consequently have no right to make demands on the political system.

Right wing pundit Bill Bennett summed up Obamamania with an absurd but telling comment. ". . . he never brings race into it. He never plays the race card.  Talk about the black community -- he has taught the black community you don't have to act like Jesse Jackson, you don't have to act like Al Sharpton. You can talk about the issues. Great dignity.  And this is a breakthrough."

Bennett's idea of a breakthrough is more like a nightmare. We shouldn't want a president who never discusses race. Ignoring race in America inevitably means lying, and lies are the cause of all the country's ills.

http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2008/...

Can celebrity support really translate into votes for political candidates? Probably not, although that notion was tested early in the presidential primary season when Democrat Barack Obama trotted Oprah Winfrey out on the hustings.

But celebrities themselves like to associate with various candidates. It may be because they agree with the candidates on certain issues, but it can have a certain publicity value as well.

Here's a list of some of the celebrities who have indicated their support for various candidates, as well as the music they've adopted as their theme songs :

I can see why you have fun calling the election the way people call the super bowl, but it doesn't mean squat -- and to let it affect the choice of nominee is foolish to the extreme

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

sitka,

Of course it doesnt mean squat..........but it has been correct greater than 90% of the time..and that you cannot argue with........................

And litle old me ?  With my model of predicting winners effecting the choice of nomine? Im flattered.....................thank you.

rdorgan football doesn't hit my radar at all so doesn't matter a lot who wins altho if Jags go to Super Bowl I will really razz them about the jaguars at the Jax zoo.

Monica hope you keep us posted about the vote recount. Wonder how long it will take?

If any of you are watching the coverage of that  poor marine that was missing and now is dead, it is amazing.

the sherriff is an idiot. talk about the dumbing down of america.

he can't talk properly, won't answer a question.

and the girls stepmother came out the other day saying her stepdaughter was bipolar and a liar. wow mom thanks. now that she turns up dead and the guy who raped her is the suspect, I know you feel much better. trash.

I saw RFK, I worked for RFK, RFK was my Senator...

Barack Obama is no RFK 

With apologies to Lloyd Bentsen 

My opinion. YMMV. 

I have no way of verifying this, but I cannot imagine why my friend would lie.  She said she was watching CNN this morning, they were talking about someone being investigated for murdering a pregnant Marine, have no names, sorry, anyway she said they flashed a photo of Barack Obama. 

I have no idea what this could mean if anything.  Subliminal message perhaps?   I don't know.  Just speculating.

You made my point. There was nothing specific in that quote. 

The lack of specifity charge against Obama is a plant in the media by his opposition.

rich wrote "My opinion. YMMV."

We saw Bobby Kennedy, but not everyone did.  You're right.  It's just an opinion.

so what does bank of america buying countrywide mean???

why would they buy a bankrupt company that has bad loans.

hmm.

Of course it doesnt mean squat..........but it has been correct greater than 90% of the time..and that you cannot argue with...........

Well, of course if you say so it can't be argued with. 

Which hat did you pull "correct greater than 90% of the time" from?

And litle old me ?  With my model of predicting winners effecting the choice of nomine? Im flattered.....................thank you.

You're a legend in your own mind......... You're Welcome. 

why would they buy a bankrupt company that has bad loans.

High finance isn't my forte, but I would guess you can get a good bargain at a fire sale. 

So after my smart-ass comment I was poking around some RFK web sites and came upon this quote about the Vietnam War from one of his speeches.  The echoes are eerie.

I think there has to be a one hundred and eighty degree turn on the part of the South Vietnamese and there has to be a complete change of policy in North Vietnam.I haven't seen any indications of this up to the present time,

I would to see the South Vietnamese do more. I would to see them carry this burden I would like to see them doing the fighting and not just Americans. Because I don't think there is any alternative to that. We are not going to win unless the South Vietnamese do more, and make more of an effort. It shouldn't be just the United States and Americans doing it.

First we were making the effort there so that people had their own right to decide their own future and select their own form of government. And it wasn't going to be imposed on them by North Vietnam. We had the support of the people of South Vietnam . I think thats why we were involved in that struggle. Thats certainly the way I looked at it when I was in President Kennedy's administration and in President Johnson's.

Now we turned. When we found that the South Vietnamese haven't given the support and are not making the effort. Now we are saying we are going to fight there so we don't have to fight in Thailand . So we don't have to fight on the west coast of the United States, so they won't move accross the Rockies.

Our whole moral positioin, it seems to me changes tremendously. One we are in there- We are helping people. We are working with them. We're fighting for their independance.

Second, we're killing the enemy and we are also killing many civilians. But we are doing it because they want it.

Now we changed, we switched. Maybe they don't want it but we want it. We are going in there, we're killing South Vietnamese, we're killing children, we're killing women, we're killing innocent people. Because we don't want to have war fought on American soil. Or because they are twelve thousand miles away and they might get to be eleven thousand miles away.

Our whole moral position changes it seems to me.

linda b
Fri, 01/11/08
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Such a beautful girl too.........another tragedy from Bush, this war and young people being suckered into it for whatever reason.............................

http://www.blogforamerica.com/view/23519

Mainefem...

so, are you saying you addressed your accusation to the wrong person?

Since you previously told me to cease emoting, I thought there might be something else.

As someone with a Countrywide Mortgage, I'm glad to see someone is purchasing the company.  And maybe that's the answer to the question above.  There are lots of people like me, with solid loans and good credit who also have loans with countrywide.  If BOA can buy Countrywide for well below market value (which I assume they are) zero cash upfront, it's probably a fairly low risk investment with a big upside.

Such a beautful girl too.........another tragedy from Bush

Now you've forced me to gag myself and stick up for Bush. Blaming him for the woman's murder by a fellow marine is just going too far. There's plenty of rotteness to pin on him without scraping the very bottom of the barrel.

20.  That's the new business model.  Bankrupt the competition and then acquire them. There must be something in the anti-monopoly law which permits that strategy.

Besides, I keep telling you that bankruptcy has become a standard. 

18. Nothing specific in a pledge to roll back Bush's tax cuts?

C'mon!

Rich, Countrywide was our first morgage lending company and had such a stellar rep.

Things are really spiraling.

But I am sure with bush at the helm, they will land on their feet.

Nothing specific in a pledge to roll back Bush's tax cuts?

C'mon HJ. You know you're reaching with this lack of specifity thing. You can't be so out of real reasons to not support him that you have to spread bogus charges planted in the press by other campaigns.

sitka, are you cranky again today> more fiber.

sitka, are you cranky again today> more fiber.

Not at all linda. Just standing against bogus political mongering whether it's for or against whomever --  as always.

ABB -- It's Alive !!!

fyi - new front thread

So Dennis gets to choose the precincts?  Did some precincts use only Diebolds and others only hand counted?  I thought the rules said that you had to be 3 points or less from the *winnner* to be eligible to call for a recount.

I'm totally confused.

Please post again the place where we can send recount money help.  Thanks.

************************

Phil, who would start the racketeering charges?  Are you in communication with the Edwards campaign?  What is Trippi saying or doing if anything? 

Even tho I'm not an strong BO supporter, the slime starting about him is disgusting and I fear will get worse.  And in the final analysis, I think HC will best him (if JE doesn't pick up lots of steam) and then I agree with Mike. She'll lose the gen'l for a number of reasons.

Audrey, I like your idea!   Gore/Howard  The CM couldn't trash Howard again w/o trashing Gore and I doubt they'd do that, especially with the dem voters wanting Gore VERY BADLY.

*************************

And....lastly............I think JE has a good chance of getting the nod becuz, in the privacy of the voting booth, racism and sexism will rear their nasty ugly heads.  Edwards wins becuz he's a *white male* and has the best Iraq and health policies....and he's the most progressive of the three IMO.  Can he beat the repubs?  Perhaps the country is ready for a black VP...start off slowly since people say they want change, but slowly I think.  Throwing both a white woman and a black man at them at the same time may be a bit overwhelming to a country that still doesn't pay woman equal wages in the market place and locks up blacks whether they're guilty or not. And then there's Katrina.  The people should have demanded the occupants of the BH's heads on a platter just for that alone. I wonder what BO would have done had he been prez during Katrina. What would he do now to start addressing the inequities?  Does he ever talk about that?

An JE/BO ticket is one I could  get behind, altho I really want

GORE/? 

KUCINICH CALLS FOR 'RECOUNT' OF NEW HAMPSHIRE BALLOTS

Cites Concerns About 'Unexplained Disparities' in Hand and Diebold Machine Counted Ballots

Says 'It’s about establishing whether 100% of the voters had 100% of their votes counted exactly the way they cast them'

From a Kucinich for President press release just out... full article: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=5544

<>And I eat tons of fiber and get more aerobic excercise that most probably -- whatever it is to you.  

how bout a better attitude, dude.