Campaign
 



"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal"

Barack Hussein Obama
 





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Note This page is in chronological order, beginning in January 2007 and ending January 19th, 2009.
Change Did you know that Obama finishes EVERY campaign speech with "we will change America ... and we will change the WORLD" ...
The
Phantom
The real Obama does not exist.  We learned that from his book.  The man is a talking identity crisis -- a stew of sentimental politics -- inspired vignettes and platitudes that he reads from a teleprompter.

However, his wife, the Reverends, Rezko and the terrorists, Ayers and Dohrn, are real.
Here We Go Obama says he is taking a first step toward running for president next year.

"I will be filing papers today to create a presidential exploratory committee," the Illinois Democrat said, adding that he will announce his final decision February 10 from his hometown of Chicago.

Obama’s announcement also included this gem: "I know that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I’ve been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change."

Even Jesse Jackson was asking, "What did he say?"
I Am Not
A Muslim
The Obama Exploratory Committee released the following statement, "To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago.

This statement is amended by the campaign on March 14th, to say, "Obama was never a practicing Muslim."

Is it clear yet?  Maybe not, because the official Obama 08 website currently contains this statement: "Obama Has Never Been A Muslim."

 

This demonstrates the fundamental problem with Obama, his dissimulation.  One just doesn't know what to believe.

 

To Dr. Danielle Allen and the Washington Post -- Obama started the Muslim rumor.

I Am The One On February 10th, 2007, Obama, standing in front of a cheering crowd, formally announces he is a candidate for the Office of the President of the United States of America.

Obama told the crowd he would tackle problems like poor schools, economic hardships and oil dependence.  He also implored the crowd to demand that there be "universal health care in America by the end of the president's first term."

He called the Iraq war a "tragic mistake" and said, "It's time to admit that no amount of American lives can resolve the political disagreement that lies at the heart of someone else's civil war.  That's why I have a plan that will bring our combat troops home by March of 2008.

In his speech, he lauds what he called the founding fathers' "genius" in creating a system of government that can be changed.

 

Please notice, the change Obama speaks of is changing the system of government.

So, when you hear Obama speak of change, remember what he is speaking about -- changing the system of government!

I Am Not Prime Minister John Howard of Australia blasts Obama, saying his policy of withdrawing troops from Iraq will destabilize the entire Middle East.

"I think he's wrong.  I think that will just encourage those who want to completely destabilise and destroy Iraq, and create chaos and a victory for the terrorists to hang on and hope for an Obama victory."

"If I were running al-Qaeda in Iraq, I would put a circle around March 2008 and be praying as many times as possible for a victory not only for Obama but also for the Democrats."
I'm Wasted Obama says that the lives of more than 3,000 American soldiers killed in Iraq had been "wasted." (video)

Within a day, Obama apologizes for saying troops' lives were "wasted."
Lemme Bum
One Of Those
Maureen Dowd writes that Barack Obama looked as if he needed a smoke and he needed it bad.

 


So there he was, trying to meet the deep, inexhaustible needs of both Iowa activists and the global press behemoth on his first swing across the state, while giving up cigarettes.  He was a tad testy.

"I’ve been chewing Nicorette all day long," he told reporters at a press conference in Ames on Sunday.

The question begs asking, how much of a striver can he be if he's also a smoker?

Loose Ends Obama begins the process of cleaning up his loose ends by paying $400 in parking tickets to Cambridge and $71 in excise taxes to Somerville for fines and taxes incurred while he was living in Massachusetts and attending Harvard Law School during the early 1980's.

Obama’s operatives paid 17 outstanding tickets in Cambridge for a vehicle with Illinois plates.

Demonstrating how Democratic politicians help each other, the two cities wave the penalties and fees on the 17 year old tax bill, which I can tell you from personal experience, are considerable.
Oops! Obama is put on the defensive over stock purchases from companies whose investors included his political donors.
"Present" Obama, asked if homosexuality was immoral, in the wake of comments by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Peter Pace, sidestepped the question.  After pressure from gay groups, Obama issued a statement stating he did not agree with Pace "that homosexuality is immoral."
He's A
Socialist
An analysis of "lifetime voting records," shows Obama as the most liberal Democrat in Congress, with a score of 84.3 after two full years in the Senate.  The most liberal score possible was 99.

The study, released in March by the National Journal, a respected inside-the-Beltway research report, places Obama even in front of Dennis Kucinich, with a lifetime score of 79.4.
But...
S
how Me
The Money
Obama's campaign announces that they raked in $25 million for his presidential bid in the first three months of 2007, placing him on a par with front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton and dashing her image as the party's inevitable nominee.

And the link is to al Jazeera, that will continue to report Obama's campaign in great and sympathetic detail.
Halleluja! During his first public Tampa campaign appearance, Obama says, "The sun is shining on me, that's what's going on."

"At each and every juncture in American history, ordinary folks said, 'We don't care about the world as it is, we imagine the world as it might be.  We want to write a new chapter,'" Obama told the crowd.  "That is the moment that we are in right now."
Pure
Alinsky
'We don't care about the world as it is, we imagine the world as it might be.  We want to write a new chapter,'" Obama told the crowd.  "That is the moment that we are in right now."
A Really
Bad Idea
Obama shows his affinity for more socialism by  endorsing "comparable worth," a truly bad idea.  In case you don't know what comparable worth is, it's an idea concocted by feminists in the 1970s or early 1980s.  They said that jobs typically held by women pay less than jobs typically held by men.

To eliminate this inequity, somebody–the courts, maybe, or some administrative agency, presumably with appeals to the courts–should decide what those jobs were really worth, based on some sort of convoluted criteria.  So that it could be possible to prove that secretaries were of comparable worth to truck drivers and should be paid the same wages.

Comparable worth would subject the private-sector economy to the equivalent of the federal civil service system.  Bureaucrats would have to classify every job, with their classifications subject to administrative and judicial review.
Wright
Surfaces
The New York Times has a report on its front page  about Obama's strained relationship with his pastor, also known as his "spiritual mentor."  The Times does tend to downplay some of the harsher statements that Pastor Wright has made about Israel, Wright's support for Louis Farrakhan; trips to Libya and more.

The Times does tend to downplay some of the harsher statements that Pastor Wright has made about Israel, Wright's support for Louis Farrakhan; trips to Libya and more.

Pastor Wright is a supporter of Louis Farrakhan, and in 1984 traveled with him to visit Col. Muammar al-Gadaffi, an archenemy of Israel and America and a firm supporter of terror groups.

Wright has also been a severe critic of Israel.  In his own words:

"The Israelis have illegally occupied Palestinian territories for almost 40 years now.  It took a divestment campaign to wake the business community up concerning the South Africa issue.  Divestment has now hit the table again as a strategy to wake the business community up and to wake Americans up concerning the injustice and the racism under which the Palestinians have lived because of Zionism."
Run, Run, Run Obama receives Secret Service protection -- earliest ever.  Aside from former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama is the only presidential candidate with Secret Service protection.

The code name used for Obama by his Secret Service detail is "Renegade."  He was given his choice of several names starting with R, and that's the one he picked.
10,000? Obama, caught up in the fervor of a campaign speech Tuesday, drastically overstated the Kansas tornadoes death toll, saying 10,000 had died.

The death toll was 12.

"In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died -- an entire town destroyed," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a speech to 500 people packed into a sweltering Richmond art studio for a fundraiser.

His excuse for this blunder was, "There are going to be times when I get tired," he said.  "There are going to be times when I get weary. There are going to be times when I make mistakes."

Obama is the youngest candidate running and he "was tired."

How would he respond to a terror attack if he tires so easily?
Big Iron Obama spent the better part of his remarks criticizing U. S. automakers for not building more hybrid vehicles like Toyota and Honda.

Well, we're glad to see Obama's shifting the blame from the consumer to the automakers.  That must explain why the Illinois Senator and Presidential candidate owns a HEMI-powered V8 Chrysler 300C. 

Obviously it's Chrysler's fault Obama bought a big 5.7-liter engine from them -- he just didn't have a choice.
Flak John McCain responded to Obama's recent remarks in tough enough, if predictable, language:

"While Senator Obama's two years in the U.S. Senate certainly entitle him to vote against funding our troops, my service and experience combined with conversations with military leaders on the ground in Iraq lead me to believe that we must give this new strategy a chance to succeed because the consequences of failure would be catastrophic to our nation's security."

But, McCain being McCain, he can't help himself and goes the next step in the statement's kicker:

"By the way, Senator Obama, it's a 'flak' jacket, not a 'flack' jacket."

Which is McCain's way of saying, "there is only one of us in this argument who has ever worn the uniform." (my words)

And if you still don't get it, a McCain aide blows away the anthill with, well, a rocket.

"Obama wouldn't know the difference between an RPG and a bong."
Universal
Remote
Seeking to add heft to his presidential bid, Democrat Barack Obama is offering a sweeping plan that would require every American to have health coverage and calls on government, businesses and consumers to share the costs of the program.
Show Me
The Money
Presidential candidate Barack Obama will give $16,500 in contributions linked to indicted donors to charity, part of the Democrat's effort to distance himself from a friend and fundraiser.

The donations came from two Chicago businessmen who worked with indicted entrepreneur Antoin "Tony" Rezko, Obama's friend since his Harvard days and financial beard in the purchase of Obama's home and property.

Rezko has pleaded not guilty to charges that he shook down investment firms that wanted to do business with the state of Illinois.  Obama last year gave charities $11,500 to clear his campaign fund of donations that had come directly from Rezko.
A Dumb
Mistake
Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, on Monday (6/19/2007), said his campaign made a "dumb mistake" when it circulated a memo criticizing rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's financial ties to India.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Obama disavowed the memo which carried the headline -- "Hillary Clinton (D-Punjab) --  and referred to Bill and Hillary Clintons' investments in India; her fundraising among Indian-Americans; and the former president's $300,000 in speech fees from Cisco, a company that has moved U.S. jobs to India.

"It was a dumb mistake on our campaign's part and I made it clear to my staff in no uncertain terms that it was a mistake," Obama told the AP in a brief interview in which he referred to the memo as "unnecessarily caustic."
The Back
Stabbers
Despite often-lofty rhetoric that he plans to bring the nation a ''new kind of politics,'' Sen. Barack Obama has surrounded himself with operatives skilled in the old-school art of the political back stab.  Yet when Obama was criticized this week for opposition research memos critical of Sen. Hillary Clinton's ties to India and Indian-Americans, he was quick to blame his staff.  /snip/  It was at least the third time since February the Illinois Democrat has blamed his staff for a glitch.
Division Sen. Barack Obama told a church convention Saturday that some right-wing evangelical leaders have exploited and politicized religious beliefs in an effort to sow division.

"Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and faith started being used to drive us apart," the Democratic presidential candidate said in a 30-minute speech before the national meeting of the United Church of Christ.
Clueless PowerLine blog thinks that Obama is "Clueless."

To say that Barack Obama is not ready for prime time understates the case.  He isn't ready for a 3:00 a.m. infomercial.  The latest from Obama: "Obama: Shift Troops to Fight al-Qaida":

"We cannot win a war against the terrorists if we're on the wrong battlefield," Obama said.  "America must urgently begin deploying from Iraq and take the fight more effectively to the enemy's home by destroying al-Qaida's leadership along the Afghan-Pakistan border, eliminating their command and control networks and disrupting their funding."

Our military commanders have repeatedly stated that the number one foe they are fighting in Iraq is al Qaeda.  Al Qaeda's leadership has declared Iraq the main front in their war against civilization.  Zawahiri has urged radical Muslims to "hurry to Iraq."  Bin Laden has declared Baghdad "the capital of the Caliphate."  Iraq is the one place on earth where al Qaeda has chosen to risk its prestige on an effort to engage our forces, exhaust our patience, and drive us from the field.

John Wixted offers a more detailed, and excellent, rebuttal to Obama here.
Sex Ed On July 18th, ABC News' Teddy Davis and Lindsey Ellerson report that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told Planned Parenthood that sex education for kindergarteners is "the right thing to do."
 

Can't teach homosexuality too soon -- gotta get 'em while they're young (video at link).

Solutions His "solutions" will sound familiar to those who listened to Lyndon Johnson's poverty gurus and their fellow travelers under Jimmy Carter who promised massive government assistance:

"When I'm President, I will raise the minimum wage and make it a living wage by making sure that it rises every time the cost of living does. I'll start letting our unions do what they do best again – organize our workers and lift up our middle-class. And I'll finally make sure every American has affordable health care that stays with you no matter what happens by passing my plan to provide universal coverage and cut the cost of health care by up to $2500 per family."

"The philosophy behind the project is simple – if poverty is a disease that infects an entire community in the form of unemployment and violence; failing schools and broken homes, then we can't just treat those symptoms in isolation. We have to heal that entire community. And we have to focus on what actually w
orks."

It was federal government policies and programs that caused most of the problems of the inner city today. The fact that Obama wants to try more of the same only shows that absolute dearth of ideas emanating from the left regarding urban policy. They just can't help themselves. And Obama can no longer disguise his far left policies by advocating them using soothing, non-threatening rhetoric.

If it walks like a Socialist, talks like a Socialist and spends like a Socialist, it must be ...
Not Good
Enough
Obama says, "the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there," even though he admits, "it's likely there would be increased bloodshed if U.S. forces left Iraq."

Screw 'em, just like the Southeast Asians -- way to go Obama -- the dhimmicrats never change their defeatist ways.
La Raza Obama is in South Florida to address the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), the nation's largest Hispanic so-called civil rights group.

La Raza is Spanish for "the race," although NCLR claims it means "community" on their website.  La Raza supports legislation such as the Civil Liberties Restoration Act, which would roll back policies adopted after Sept. 11 designed to protect national security.  It supports the "DREAM Act," which would mandate states to offer in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens -- thus providing them with benefits not available to U.S. citizens from other states.

The group opposes the "Clear Law Enforcement for Criminal Alien Removal Act of 2003" and the "Homeland Security Enhancement Act" would give state and local police officers the authority to enforce federal immigration laws.

"While the safety and security of our communities and our country are of the utmost importance, new policies that would allow local police departments to enforce federal civil immigration law will hinder terrorist and other criminal investigations, and have a serious negative impact on Latino communities," La Raza explains.

The group also supports legislation to ensure illegal immigrants' ability to obtain driver's licenses.

La Raza continues to lobby the Senate for virtual open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens.

La Raza's motto is, "Por La Raza todo.  Fuera de La Raza nada," which translates to ""For The Race everything.  Outside The Race, nothing."

The La Raza movement teaches that Colorado, California, Arizona, Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon and parts of Washington State make up an area known as "Aztlan" -- a fictional ancestral homeland of the Aztecs before Europeans arrived in North America.  As such, it belongs to the followers of MEChA.  These are all areas America should surrender to "La Raza" once enough immigrants, legal or illegal, enter to claim a majority, as in Los Angeles.  The current borders of the United States will simply be extinguished.

This plan is what is referred to as the "Reconquista" or the re-conquest, of the western United States.

But it won't end with territorial occupation and secession.  The final plan for the La Raza movement includes the ethnic cleansing of Americans of European, African, and Asian descent from "Aztlan."

No surprise here -- a Marxist addressing Marxists.
I'll Meet
With The
Worst
At Monday night’s Democratic debate in Charleston, SC.  A questioner, speaking via debate sponsor YouTube, asked whether, in the spirit of “bold leadership,” the candidates would “meet separately, without precondition, during the first year of your administration…with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea, in order to bridge the gap that divides our countries.” Obama had a ready answer.

"I would," he said without hesitation.

With those words, Obama seemed to commit himself to talks with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Bashar al-Assad, Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and Kim Jong Il -- separately, without precondition.

Sen. Barack Obama’s closest political adviser, David Axelrod, wants you to know that Obama did not say what he appeared to say.  "He said that he would be willing to talk," Axelrod explained.

Sen. Joseph Biden, who has emerged as the clear-eyed antiwar realist in the Democratic race, told National Review Online that the idea of a president meeting with Ahmadinejad, Chavez, and others was "naďve." "World leaders should not meet with other world leaders unless they know what the agenda is, so you don’t end up being used."

This guy truly is a babe in the woods and his advisor, David Axelrod, is a bold-faced liar.
Superior
Judgement
At a closed-door, off-the-record meeting with media mavens and corporate titans at the Time Warner Center in Manhattan Tuesday evening, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the freshman senator who just three years ago was an Illinois state senator, said he had better judgment about foreign policy than any presidential candidate in either party.

"One thing I'm very confident about is my judgment in foreign policy is, I believe, better than any other candidate in this race, Republican or Democrat."

Obama clarified his remarks by saying, "What I was drawing on was a set of experiences that come from a life of living overseas, having family overseas, being able to see the world through the eyes of people outside our borders."

So, what qualifies Obama to be Commander in Chief, in a time of war, is the fact that he lived as a Muslim in a Muslim country and all his relatives overseas are Muslims.

Now, doesn't that give you a warm feeling?
Threatens
An Ally
Following up on the above absurd statement, Obama said, in a speech prepared for delivery at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, that he would send troops into Pakistan to hunt down terrorists, an attempt to show strength when his chief rival has described his foreign policy skills as naive.

The Illinois senator warned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he must do more to shut down terrorist operations in his country and evict foreign fighters under an Obama presidency, or Pakistan will risk a U.S. troop invasion and losing hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.



Hello? Hello?! Is this Pockiston?


"Let me make this clear, there are terrorists holed up in those mountains who murdered 3,000 Americans.  They are plotting to strike again.  It was a terrible mistake to fail to act when we had a chance to take out an al-Qaeda leadership meeting in 2005 (of course he neglects to mention Bill Clinton' refusal to accept bin Laden from the Sudan in 1998).  If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will."

You got that, Obama condemns the Bush Administration for invading an enemy country, Iraq, but suggests we should invade an ally in the fight against terrorists.

This guy proves once again that he is a complete idiot and shouldn't be let anywhere near the White House.

Did you carefully look at the telephone?

Profound
Mistake
Obama proves he's definitely not ready for prime time with the following statement, "I think it would be a profound mistake for us to use nuclear weapons in any circumstance."

When asked whether his answer also applied to the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons, he said it did.
Most
Knowledgeable
Obama, who majored in political science with a specialization in international relations at Columbia University, has repeatedly claimed to be the most knowledgeable Democratic candidate in the area of foreign affairs.

On the 7th, during the Democrat Party presidential debates, Obama was asked if he would scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as president.

His response was that  he would, "immediately call the president of Mexico (and) the president of Canada" to discuss the issue.

Of course, Canada has no "president," but a Prime Minister.

This gaffe further shows Obama's unfamiliarity with foreign nations -- even our next door neighbor -- proving his unsuitability to lead our country during an era where foreign policy will be of prime importance.

Obama must have been smoking pot  the day they discussed Canada at Columbia.
Gay
Moments
Obama, calling a televised forum focusing on gay rights, "a historic moment ... for America," argued for civil unions for gays.

Obama said he wanted to tap into the "core decency" of Americans to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians, and argued that civil unions for same-sex couples wouldn't be a "lesser thing" than marriage.

Brian Graden, LOGO president, said, "We already won because the candidates are here."

LOGO, the lesbian & gay channel, is owned by MTV Networks.
 

Obama's church, the United Church of Christ, has supported gay marriage since 2005.  Obama is on board.

Obama's
Vision
Obama, sharing his vision of America as welfare state with the annual meeting of the National Council of La Raza, compared last year's massive immigration rallies, led by Hispanics, to the civil-rights marches of African-Americans in the 1960's.

To the Harvard-trained lawyer, the illegal immigrants are just "undocumented immigrants" who just haven't had a chance to get the paperwork done.

It certainly is new for someone, campaigning for our nation's highest office, to see representation of the millions who are here illegally, as part of those responsibilities.

Can it be that Obama thinks he is running for secretary-general of the United Nations and not president of the United States?
Killing
Civilians
Appearing before about 800 people in Nashua, NH, Obama, when asked whether he would move U.S. troops out of Iraq to better fight terrorism elsewhere, he brought up Afghanistan and said, "We've got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there."

Someone ought to tell this fool that the Taliban and al-Qaeda ARE CIVILIANS.

Is Obama suggesting we shouldn't KILL the ENEMY?
Show Me
The Money
A man who has long been dogged by charges that the bank his family owns helped finance a Chicago crime figure host a Windy City fund-raiser tonight for Sen. Barack Obama.

Alexi Giannoulias, who became Illinois state treasurer last year after Obama vouched for him, has pledged to raise $100,000 for the senator's Oval Office bid.

Before he promised to raise funds for Obama, Giannoulias bankrolled Michael "Jaws" Giorango, a Chicagoan twice convicted of bookmaking and promoting prostitution.

Giannoulias is so tainted by reputed mob links that several top Illinois Dems, including the state's speaker of the House and party chairman, refused to endorse him even after he won the Democratic nomination with Obama's help.

Giannoulias was the bank's vice president and chief loan officer for most of the more than $15 million in loans.
Goofy
Notions
Obama spent September rattling off a laundry list of goofy notions he would implement as president.

On the 12th, Obama committed his latest gaffe by describing ethnic cleansing as a positive thing, saying, "We've seen a very modest reduction of violence in Baghdad, partly because entire neighborhoods have essentially been ethnically cleansed.  Those are all positive things, but we are now back at the levels of violence we were 18 months ago."

On the 16th, Obama recommended a 12.4 percent Social Security tax hike on "the rich" -- those who make more than $97,000 per year.  The tax would be paid by employees and half would be paid by employers.
 

On the 17th, Obama, Hillary and Bill Richardson attended the Steak Fry of Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) in Indianola, IA, where Obama disrespected the National Anthem.

Ethnic cleansing is  good, tax the rich, collaborate with despots, relax the drug laws and do the crotch salute.



Richardson and Clinton have their hands on their heart, but not Obama who plays with his crotch.  Does he perhaps believe that, like wearing the flag pin, the hand on the heart isn't "true patriotism" or is that the Muslim salute?
 

Obama's reluctance to salute the flag may be more sinister.

A Muslim's allegiance is to Allah, he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt and when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names.
 
Why else does he stand there like a foreigner?

You tell me.

September On Tuesday, September 18th, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, on a tour of South Carolina to register new voters, sharply criticized presidential hopeful and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for "acting like he’s white."

On the 24th, despite the controversy that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York City has triggered, Obama still vowed to meet with rogue leaders if he is elected.

On the 27th, Obama's Campaign moved quickly to dampen expectations raised by Michelle Obama, who said that her husband had to win Iowa.

On the 28th, Obama said that, as president, he would relax drug sentencing laws and address vast racial inequities in the justice system as part of his crime policy.

On the 29th, Obama said his public service experience trumps that of rival Hillary Rodham Clinton's, and he tried to use her husband's words to make his point.
Free
Money
Obama urged Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign the Dream Act, a bill that would make illegal immigrant students who graduate from high school eligible for college aid.

Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar measure last year.

The legislation would make sure "more students can see that a college education isn't a faraway dream," Obama said.

Obama wants free money and education for illegals.
Foot In
Mouth
Obama, once again, puts his foot in his mouth.

A supporter asked the '08 presidential hopeful if Obama would consider taking "the wind out of Hillary’s sails" by asking Nobel prize winner former Vice President Al Gore to be his running mate before the primaries.

Obama's response was priceless:  "I can promise you that as president I will have him involved in our administration in a very senior capacity in his role," Obama responded that, "having won the Nobel Peach Prize and an Oscar that being Vice President again would be probably a step down for him."
 

Got that?  The Nobel Peach Prize -- just Wow!

 

And Al Gore has never won an Oscar.  The Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth" was won by the film's director, Davis Guggenheim,and its producers.

Marx
Brothers
Obama made this startling comment, "We've got to make sure that people who have more money help the people who have less money."

Obama agrees with Karl Marx on income redistribution.
Cheap
Shot
On November 3rd, Obama took a cheap shot at the Administration, saying, "For the first time in a long time, the name George Bush will not appear on the ballot," he told the crowd of about 500 people at Converse College in Spartanburg.

"The name Dick Cheney, my cousin, will not appear on the ballot," Obama said. "We had been trying to hide that cousin thing for a long time.  Everybody's got a black sheep in the family.  A crazy uncle in the attic."

Like his real relatives in Africa are something to write home about.
Crotch
Salute
On the 7th, Obama complained about an Internet photo that  showed the Democratic presidential candidate didn't hold his hand over his heart during the Pledge of Allegiance.  The Time photo and accompanying text never claimed any such thing (see Sep 17, above).



 

Obama said the photo was taken during the singing of the National Anthem, not the Pledge of Allegiance, which was exactly what Time.com reported.

However, that is a distinction without a difference because the tradition is to place the hand over the heart for the Anthem as well as for the Pledge.

The United States Code, Title 36, Chapter 10, Sec. 171, states that "during rendition of the National Anthem, when the flag is displayed, all present except those in uniform should stand at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart."

Ask The
Imam
End of story -- Here is the video.

One must ask, Is Obama simply following this advice from "Ask the Imam?"

Question: Could we sing national anthem and say the plegde of allegience to the secular state while the flag is being raised up?

Answer: As Muslims, our pledge of allegiance is only to Allah and His Rasul (Sallallaahu Alayhi Wasallam). However, as Muslims in a non-Muslim state, we are obliged to follow the laws of the country which are not contrary to Shari’ah.

The allegiance of pledge by singing the national anthem of a secular state which has many un-Islamic laws, for example, legalising homosexuality, lesbianism, pornography, etc. is not permissible.

And Allah Taăla Knows Best.
Was salaam
Mufti Ebrahim Desai


Or this?

Question: Should I stand up for the national anthem? Should I stand up when a judge enters the court and everyone is ordered to stand up?

Answer: 1. No.

2. It is not necessary to stand up, you should not do so.

and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
Show Me
The Money
Barack Obama "has been the most aggressive of presidential candidates in using his leadership PAC-money to help the campaigns of state and local candidates in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.  "More than one-third of his leadership PAC money is being used this way," Alex Knott reported.
 
"Some of the recipients of Hopefund's largess are state and local politicians who have recently endorsed Obama's presidential bid," John Solomon reported November 26, 2007, in the Washington Post.
 
"The bulk of donations from Obama's PAC to state and local candidates this year went to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.  In addition, there were more than $60,000 in donations to national candidates in those same states, including $9,000 for Rep. Paul W. Hodes, the first member of Congress from New Hampshire to endorse Obama earlier this year.
 
"In addition to donating to individuals, Hopefund donated to several key Democratic groups in the battleground states, including $30,000 each to the Iowa House Truman Fund and the Iowa Senate Majority Fund and $15,000 to New Hampshire's Friends of a Democratic Senate," Solomon reported.  Hopefund Inc. also made two $5,000 contributions to the New Hampshire Democratic Party: on July 26, 2007, and September 27, 2007.
Pothead Obama told a group high school students that when he was their age he was hardly a model student, experimenting with illegal drugs and drinking alcohol.

"You know, I made some bad decisions that I've actually written about.  You know, got into drinking.  I experimented with drugs," he said.  "There was a whole stretch of time that I didn't really apply myself a lot.  It wasn't until I got out of high school and went to college that I started realizing, 'Man, I wasted a lot of time."'

"Junkie.  Pothead.  That's where I'd been headed: the final fatal role of the young would be black man," Obama wrote.  Mostly he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol, Obama wrote, but occasionally he would snort cocaine when he could afford it.

Five or six years of drugging and drinking is some experiment and he still doesn't have the personal will to stop smoking tobacco.

And, he clearly conveyed the message -- Hey, it's OK to do drugs while your in high school and college.  You can straighten out later.
No Fear Obama said a president should be unafraid to meet with the tyrannical leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea during his first year in office and provide them with political and economic incentives.  He also said he would restore the nation's moral authority by ending torture, closing Guantanamo Bay's military prison and helping fight global poverty and AIDS. (video here)

Responding to criticism of Obama's lack of experience, Bill Clinton's former national security adviser Tony Lake said ,"His life experiences of living abroad (as a Muslim an a Muslim country) when he was young, traveling by bus in Kenya, have given him a real grasp of the troubles around the world."

Yo, Obama, you idiot, we don't torture anybody and where you gonna put those fanatics in Gitmo?

Hey, how about in that house the Rezko's put you and Michelle into?

Fighting global poverty and AIDS = billions into the empty pit called Africa.
False
Claims
Speaking at a rally in Harlem, Obama said, I don't want to wake up four years from now and discover that we still have more young black men in prison than in college."

Obama has repeated this false claim to predominantly African American audiences, even after The Washington Post pointed out the mistake to his campaign. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 106,000 African American men ages 18 to 24 were in federal or state prisons at the end of 2005. An additional 87,000 were temporarily held in local jails in mid-2006. According to 2005 census data, 530,000 African American men in this age group were in college.

Black male college students outnumber black male prisoners even if the age group is expanded to 30 or 35. The Obama campaign has not responded to several requests for statistical data to support the senator's remarks, and it has not explained a similar claim that he made to an NAACP audience on July 12.
I Have It Obama says, "I have the kind of experience the country needs right now."

But, Bill Clinton says, "I mean, when is the last time we elected a president based on one year of service in the Senate before he started running?"

Remember that --  one year of national experience.  Prior to that, Obama was a less than impressive back-bencher in the Illinois State Senate.
I Win! Obama wins his first of many election contests with a win in the Iowa Democratic caucus with about 37.5% of the vote.
Taxes
Are Good
Obama appeared on "American Morning."  Fresh off his second place finish in the New Hampshire Democratic primary, he told host John Roberts high taxes were in the best interest of the American economy.
Obama's
Ebonics
Why isn't Barack Obama's speech, which he touts on his presidential website, being used as exhibit A, not only for using words that reach out to his community, but also as an example of how he's using race whenever he can and when it suits his needs and benefits his candidacy?

As the South Carolina primary campaign built to a climax, Obama addressed a largely African-American audience in Sumter.

In this video, Obama drops his eloquent Harvard accent, and says,  "They're trying to bamboozle you.  It's the same old okie-dokie. --  Y'all know about okie dokie, right? -- They try to bamboozle you. -- Hoodwink ya.  Try to hoodwink ya.  Alright. -- I'm having too much fun here. ... "

This speech had been borrowed from one of Obama's heroes, Malcolm X, who said, "You've been hoodwinked. You've been had. You've been took.  You've been led astray, led amok.  You’ve been bamboozled."

It is strange that a candidate, who belongs to an "Afrocentric" church, that bestows awards on Louis Farrakhan, would borrow from Malcolm X, who was a spokesman for the Nation of Islam,  right before complaining about e-mails claiming he is Muslim.
Truth
Squad
Hot on the heels of Barack Obama’s rout of Hillary Clinton in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, the Obama campaign announced today it’s forming a “truth squad” of California supporters who’ll refute what they say are mistruths spread by Clinton’s campaign.

California Truth Squad members include House Education & Labor Committee Chairman George Miller, D-Martinez, Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Lakewood; Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose; Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank; Assembly Majority Floor Leader Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles; state Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, D-East Los Angeles; San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris; and LA Federation of Labor Executive Secretary/Treasurer Maria Elena Durazo.
Believe!

Obey!
Obama sent out an email (with the disrespectful subject line "My response to Bush") after the State of the Union speech. It contained the following statements:

"Next year, when it will be the job of someone new to report on the state of our union, the entire nation can have a president they believe in."

"And with your help in the coming days and weeks, that's the kind of president I will be."

Obama should be advised that State of the Union addresses aren't given by newly inaugurated presidents.

Therefore, contrary to this promise, Obama's first prospective State of the Union would not be "next year," but would be in 2010.
Driver's
License
For
Illegals
In California, in order to garner support from Hispanics, Obama announces his support for granting driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

"Barack Obama has not backed down" on driver's licenses for illegal  immigrants, said Federico Peńa, a former Clinton administration Cabinet member and Denver mayor now supporting Obama.  "I think when the Latino community hears Barack's position on such an important and controversial issue, they'll understand that his heart and his intellect is with Latino community."
Most
Liberal
The National Journal identifies Barack Obama, D-Ill., as the most liberal senator in 2007, according to National Journal's 27th annual vote ratings.  The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries, after ranking as the 16th- and 10th-most-liberal during his first two years in the Senate.
Muslim
Summit
Obama said he would hold a summit with Muslim countries if he is elected president.  "Once I'm elected, I want to organize a summit in the Muslim world," he told the French magazine Paris Match, "with all the heads of state, to have an honest discussion about ways to bridge the gap that grows every day between Muslims and the West," adding he would "listen to their concerns."

Obama added, "I want to have direct talks with countries like Iran and Syria because I don't believe we can stabilize the region unless not just our friends but also our enemies are involved in these discussions."

The Illinois senator added that to repair the image of the United States in the world, he would "put an end to the war in Iraq."

"Occupying the country has put the odds against us with the world," Obama said.
Higher
Taxes
Obama said he would pay for his proposed new programs, including mandatory health insurance, by imposing higher taxes on "the wealthy" and raising the tax on Social Security wages.  He added, "What we have had right now is a situation where we've cut taxes for people who don't need them."

According to recent Gallup data, "The wealthiest 1 percent of the population earn 19 percent of the income, but pay 37 percent of the income tax.  The top 10 percent pay 68 percent of the tab.

Meanwhile, the bottom 50 percent -- those below the median income level -- now earn 13 percent of the income but pay just 3 percent of the taxes.
Farrakhan Obama employed and continues to employ Farrakhan acolytes in high positions on his campaign and office staffs.

Among those are Cynthia K. Miller, treasurer of his U. S. senate campaign.  There’s also Jennifer Mason, who is Obama’s Director of Contituent Services in his U. S. Senate office and in charge of selecting his interns.  Shakir Muhammad held an important role in Obama’s state senate campaign.
Barack
Is My
Homeboy
The cult-like status of Obama is a function of a personality that simply resonates with anyone who meets him: buckets of charisma and charm.  And aware of managing expectations, not only for his campaign but what might be beyond, he constantly refers to the challenges ahead.

 


"We can do this," he told ecstatic supporters on Tuesday night.  "It will not be easy.  It will require struggle and sacrifice. There will setbacks and we will make mistakes."

But then Obama, in the next sentence, in attempt to appeal to more voters out there, didn't even mention the Democratic Party but instead his "movement," saying: "I want to speak directly to all those Americans who have yet to join this movement but still hunger for change: we need you.  We need you to stand with us, and work with us, and help us prove that together, ordinary people can still do extraordinary things".

Well known political journalist Joe Klein of Time magazine, who was traveling on the campaign plane this week with Obama, too, wrote of a nagging concern about this kind of rhetoric of inspiration over substance, noting "there was something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messiahnism."

As Klein notes, this is "not just maddeningly vague but also disingenuous: the campaign is entirely about Obama and his ability to inspire.

"Rather than focusing on any specific issue or cause -- other than an amorphous desire for change -- the message is becoming dangerously self-referential.  The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."

I hear that too in the voices of Obama's staff constantly, themselves referring to this "cult of Obama".

The
Messiah
While on the subject of "Obama as messiah" -- just take a look at this website:

Is Barack Obama the Messiah?

 

"... a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany ... and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama" - Barack Obama Lebanon, New Hampshire.
January 7, 2008

Messianic
Hysteria
Consider these numbers on recent Google searches using only Obama's name plus one other word:

Obama + messianic 75,200
Obama + savior 226,000
Obama + prophet 312,000
Obama + Christ 504,000
Obama + change 4,540,000

A number of internet postings indicate that a great many see Obama in not only political terms, but also wrapped in the untarnished cloak of some vague spiritual-awakening.
Cuba, Si!
Yanqee, No!
The Obama Campaign Office in Houston, TX, is decorated with the flag of Cuba, this hemisphere's longest-lived totalitarian communist dictatorship, with psychotic Marxist thug Che Guevara's image superimposed:



It's particularly ironic that this is a campaign volunteer office of a candidate standing for office in a free election, and it's decorated with the flag of a nation that hasn't had a free election in three generations.

Global
Poverty
Act
Sen. Barack Obama, giving America a preview of his priorities, is rejoicing over the Senate committee passage of a plan that could end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars in an attempt to reduce poverty in other nations.

The nice-sounding bill, called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a $845 billion global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.

The scary part of the bill is this:

In addition to seeking to eradicate poverty, that declaration commits nations to banning “small arms and light weapons” and ratifying a series of treaties, including the International Criminal Court Treaty, the Kyoto Protocol (global warming treaty), the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The Millennium Declaration also affirms the U.N. as "the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realize our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development."

The U.N.'s "Millennium Project," says that the U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of its GNP in increased foreign aid spending would add $65 billion a year to what the U.S. already spends. Over a 13-year period, from 2002, when the U.N.'s Financing for Development conference was held, to the target year of 2015, when the U.S. is expected to meet the "Millennium Development Goals," this amounts to $845 billion. And the only way to raise that kind of money is through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
 

Will somebody tell this idiot that it's not the job of the United States to cut global poverty by taxing its citizens and giving those monies to the corrupt United Nations.

Welfare doesn't work in America and its sure not going to work anywhere else.

 

It's just more billions and trillions down the toilet.

Global
Poverty
Act
Sen. Barack Obama, giving America a preview of his priorities, is rejoicing over the Senate committee passage of a plan that could end up costing taxpayers billions of dollars in an attempt to reduce poverty in other nations.

The nice-sounding bill, called the "Global Poverty Act," sponsored by Obama, is up for a Senate vote on Thursday and could result in the imposition of a $845 billion global tax on the United States. The bill, which has the support of many liberal religious groups, makes levels of U.S. foreign aid spending subservient to the dictates of the United Nations.

The U.N.'s "Millennium Project," says that the U.N. plan to force the U.S. to pay 0.7 percent of its GNP in increased foreign aid spending would add $65 billion a year to what the U.S. already spends. Over a 13-year period, from 2002, when the U.N.'s Financing for Development conference was held, to the target year of 2015, when the U.S. is expected to meet the "Millennium Development Goals," this amounts to $845 billion. And the only way to raise that kind of money is through a global tax, preferably on carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
Zbigniew Two weeks after Obama names Zbigniew Brzezinski as his Chief Foreign Policy Advisor, Brzezinski arrives in Damascus, Syria, to begin talks with the terrorists and political assassins of the Assad regime.

The visit was not coordinated with America's embassy and will not be covered by the press, although Syrian press accounts said the delegation would visit Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad; vice president, Farouq al-Sharaa, and foreign minister, Walid Mouallem.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) commented, "I remember thinking, 'Why are we listening to him?' (Brzezinski)  He was the national security adviser for Jimmy Carter 30 years ago.  He proceeded to talk to us about Iran, and I said, 'Let me see, didn't the ayatollahs come to power, didn't we have this problem when you were in the White House?'"

Brzezinski was also the great promoter of Islamic fundamentalism, which he celebrated as the greatest bulwark against Soviet Russian communism.  Using the Islamic fundamentalists, Brzezinski hoped to make the entire region between the southern border of the USSR and the Indian Ocean into an "arc of crisis," from which fundamentalist subversion would radiate into Soviet territory, first and foremost into the five Soviet republics of central Asia, Azerbaijan, etc.  It was in the service of this Islamic fundamentalist card that Brzezinski first helped overthrow the Shah of Iran, and then insisted that the replacement could be no one else than Ayatollah Khomeini.
Lobbyists Obama has repeatedly said he would fight lobbyists, even as they provide him with $10 million.

Obama received $9,819,390 from lawyers and lobbyists. McCain $2,980,037.

Democrats in fact received 3 times the money from lawyers and lobbyists this election cycle than Republicans.

These numbers are easily obtainable online from Open Secrets.
The
Blueprint
The Obama Campaign 2008 publishes the "Obama Blueprint for Change --  Barack Obama's Plan for America."

The campaign staff basically took the Howard Dean plan and did a global Acrobat change, substituting "Obama" for "Dean" and "Barack Obama" for "Howard Dean" -- it's the same old liberal promise to make the United States a socialized society, just like the Europeans, they so admire.

 

There is one glaring omission -- not a word on Defense.

Swoonings No less than six of Obama's recent rallies, fans have reportedly fainted.  Those incidents were caught on video or audio.  In each, Obama -- who never even thinks to put down the microphone or ask a campaign aide to take care of the matter -- narrates to the crowd as medical volunteers show up to minister to the stricken.  In two of the videos, he picks up a bottle of water and offers it to the poor, overcome admirers.

I don't mean to suggest that all this is staged.  I'm saying it straight out: It's staged.  Obama is supposedly Mr. Authentic -- the man who naturally radiates charisma and magnetic charm.  His pheromones are so powerful they strike unwitting audience members into a stupor.  He's the Beatles.  He's Elvis.  More than anything, he's the new JFK, a young, vibrant leader who will lead America into a bright new future.

Riiiiight.

Obama is inauthentic.  His creepily similar responses to the fainting incidents are too identical to be spontaneous.  The rash of swooning, star-struck supporters at Obama's speeches smacks of insincerity.  Instead of offering his fainting followers water, he ought to be offering them Kool-Aid.
Flip- Flops The Washington Post published Obama's top Flip-Flops.

1. Special interests -- In January, the Obama campaign described union contributions to the campaigns of Clinton and John Edwards as "special interest" money.  Obama changed his tune as he began gathering his own union endorsements.  He now refers respectfully to unions as the representatives of "working people" and says he is "thrilled" by their support.

2. Public financing -- Obama replied "yes" in September 2007 when asked if he would agree to public financing of the presidential election if his GOP opponent did the same.  Obama has now attached several conditions to such an agreement, including regulating spending by outside groups.  His spokesman says the candidate never committed himself on the matter.

3. The Cuba embargo -- In January 2004, Obama said it was time "to end the embargo with Cuba" because it had "utterly failed in the effort to overthrow Castro."  Speaking to a Cuban American audience in Miami in August 2007, he said he would not "take off the embargo" as president because it is "an important inducement for change."

4. Illegal immigration -- In a March 2004 questionnaire, Obama was asked if the government should "crack down on businesses that hire illegal immigrants."  He replied "Oppose."  In a Jan. 31, 2008, televised debate, he said that "we do have to crack down on those employers that are taking advantage of the situation."

5. Decriminalization of marijuana -- While running for the U.S. Senate in January 2004, Obama told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana use.  In the Oct. 30, 2007, presidential debate, he joined other Democratic candidates in opposing the decriminalization of marijuana.
Obamamania Toward the end of February, critics began to quietly voice their fear that Obama and his campaign have deliberately adopted the tone and tactics of an evangelical preacher, whipping up "Obamamania" at the expense of more serious discussion of policy and government.

There is "something just a wee bit creepy about the mass messianism" deployed by the black senator and his supporters, observed Joe Klein, the veteran political commentator the first to latch on to the political potency of Bill Clinton, then an obscure Arkansas governor, early in the 1992 White House campaign.

"The message is becoming dangerously self-referential," he wrote in Time magazine.  "The Obama campaign all too often is about how wonderful the Obama campaign is."

At the campaign's "Camp Obama" -- a training program run ahead of primaries in key states -- volunteers are schooled to avoid talking to voters about policy, and instead tell of how they "came" to Obama, just as born-again Christians talk about "coming to Jesus."

New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote: "Obama's people are so taken with their messiah that soon they'll be selling flowers at airports and arranging mass weddings."
Rorshach Obama is a Rorshach test: liberals see in him whatever they like.  They are free to assign to him whatever belief they hold most dear because he has no record, no substance to limit their fantasies.  He enables bratty child armies of baby boomers to place their political wishes beneath their pillows and dream of a 'post partisan' future, whatever that means.

There's nothing new about Barack Obama. He's the latest in a long line of foppish flim-flam men who offer verbal enchantment to the voters in order to achieve power.
Muslim
Sensitivity
The Obama Campaign showed its "Muslim sensitivity" by condemning the Clinton Campaign for allegedly releasing a photo of Obama dressed as a Somali elder (see: Obama and Africa) and referring to Obama by his middle name.

 

Obama dressed himself as a Somali elder.  Obama walked around dressed like a Somali elder.  Obama posed for the picture dressed like a Somali elder.  What is his campaign whining about?

 

And, why is the campaign crying foul for anyone using Obama's middle name?  Are they ashamed of it or are they concerned that it reminds people of the fact that Obama was a Muslim.

Obamamania There are those who suggest that Obamamania has become something of a cult.  Of course it is a cult, manifesting what writer James Wolcott refers to as "salvational fervor" and "pure euphoria."

Listen to what the Anointed One said in South Carolina, which he alludes to as tent revivals: "At some point in the evening, a light is going to shine down and you will have an epiphany and you'll say, 'I have to vote for Barack!'"  Something insidious is happening beneath this rapture.
NAFTA The Obama campaign told Canadian Television (CTV) that no message was passed to the Canadian government suggesting that Obama does not mean what he says about opting out of NAFTA if it is not renegotiated. (Video)

However, the Obama camp did not respond to repeated questions from CTV on reports that a conversation on this matter was held between Obama’s senior economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, and the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago.

Earlier Thursday, the Obama campaign insisted that no conversations have taken place with any of its senior ranks and representatives of the Canadian government on the NAFTA issue. On Thursday night, CTV spoke with Goolsbee, but he refused to say whether he had such a conversation with the Canadian government office in Chicago. He also said he has been told to direct any questions to the campaign headquarters.

CTV didn’t stop there. They announced that their sources, at "the highest levels of the Canadian government," reconfirmed the story to CTV and one of their primary sources provided a timeline of the discussion to CTV.
Penny
The
Predator
Billionaire business mogul Penny Pritzker was named the national finance chairman of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Someone should ask Obama about Pritzker -- the same Penny Pritzker that headed Superior Bank, which shut down in 2002.

One reason Obama might not want to talk about the role of financially irresponsible bank board members in creating the subprime mortgage foreclossure financial disaster is that Pritzker, is a former chairman of the board of the failed Superior Bank S&L that engaged in irresponsible subprime mortgage lending during the 1990s, many to minorities.  And this woman is running the finance campaign for Obama.  Does Obama have no shame?  He is such a hypocrite!

Pritzker was into subprime lending before it became all the rage starting in around 2000.  Prtizker's chairmanship was to concentrate on subprimelending, principally on home mortgages, but for a while in subprime auto lending, too, after the Pritzkers' bank acquired its wholesale mortgage organization division, Alliance Funding, in December 1992.

Back then they called it "predatory lending."

And Obama claims he is against these kinds of banks.  Ha!  It is all smoke and mirrors.  It is all talk.  The people that are financially raping Americans and robbing them of the American dream with these predatory loans, are the same kind of people running Obama's campaign.
National
Intelligence
Estimate
Obama criticized Clinton expressly for failing to read the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq’s weapons capabilities, a report available at the time of her October 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war.

He said that Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a fellow Democrat from neighboring West Virginia, had read the intelligence estimate as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and after a brief pause said the then-chairman had voted against the war resolution.

However, Rockefeller was not the chair at the time and voted in favor of the war authorization. Sen. Bob Graham of Florida was the intelligence committee chair in 2002 and voted against the resolution. Obama did not mention Graham’s name in the passage.

"She didn’t read the National Intelligence Estimates. Jay Rockefeller read it. But she didn’t read it. (And after a 13-second pause) I don’t know what all that experience got her because I have enough experience to know that if you have a National Intelligence Estimate and the chairman of the national…umm…Senate Intelligence Committee says you should read this, this is why I’m voting against the war, that you should probably read it. I don’t know how much experience you need for that."

Clinton campaign spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement to FOX News, "Sen. Obama is so desperate to divert attention from his limited national security experience that he’s not just misleading voters about Sen. Clinton, he’s also misleading voters about his own supporters. That is not change you can believe in."
Same-Sex
Unions
Obama told a crowd at Hocking College in Nelsonville, Ohio, that he believes the Sermon on the Mount justifies his support for legal recognition of same-sex unions.  He also told the crowd that his position in favor of legalized abortion does not make him "less Christian."

"I don't think it [a same-sex union] should be called marriage, but I think that it is a legal right that they should have that is recognized by the state," said Obama.  "If people find that controversial then I would just refer them to the Sermon on the Mount, which I think is, in my mind, for my faith, more central than an obscure passage in Romans," in which Paul's Epistle to the Romans condemns homosexual acts as unnatural and sinful.

Obama's mention of the Sermon on the Mount in justifying legal recognition of same-sex unions may have been a reference to the Golden Rule: "Do to others what you would have them do to you."  Or it may have been a reference to another famous line: "Do not judge, or you too will be judged."
Gaffes Obama made yet another gaffe while criticizing Hillary Clinton, and of course, she is trying to slam the future Democrat nominee with it:

Obama said that Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a fellow Democrat from neighboring West Virginia, had read the intelligence estimate as a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and after a brief pause said the then-chairman had voted against the war resolution.

However, Rockefeller was not the chair at the time and voted in favor of the war authorization.  Sen. Bob Graham of Florida was the intelligence committee chair in 2002 and voted against the resolution.  Obama did not mention Graham’s name in the passage.

His exact words are, "She didn’t read the National Intelligence Estimates.  Jay Rockefeller read it.  But she didn’t read it.  I don’t know what all that experience got her because I have enough experience to know that if you have a National Intelligence Estimate and the chairman of the national, um, Senate Intelligence Committee says you should read this, this is why I’m voting against the war, that you should probably read it.  I don’t know how much experience you need for that."
Show Me
The Money
According to Obama, he rejects campaign funding from "lobbyists," "Political Action Committees" and "bundlers" who bundle individual contributions into blind block contributions.
 
But according to FactCheck, he does accept "bundled" contributions from "lobbyist groups" as well as individual campaign contributions from the spouses of well-known Washington lobbyists.  He also receives tons of "bundled" funds from labor unions and Democrat 527 organizations.

When pressed on the issue, (on rare occasion), he admits "Money is the original sin in politics and I am not sinless" and states "Lobbyist influence comes from access, not money."  In short, Obama is funded by the same lobbyists and special interest groups as all other Democrats.  He's just slicker about covering the money trail.
Anti-
Oil
According to Obama and CAF, who gives him a 100% rating, indicating a strong position for energy independence, Obama will solve the problem of dependence on foreign oil and skyrocketing gas prices.
 
But according to OnTheIssues, Obama voted to defund U.S. domestic oil exploration, voted to ban U.S. drilling in ANWR and block all efforts to increase U.S. refining capacity, voted to force Americans to reduce their oil consumption by 40% by 2025 instead of the 5% supported by the balance of congress, voted to force Detroit to build more hybrids, voted to burn more ethanol (food) and factor the Global Warming Scam into all national energy policies.  Obama takes the most liberal position in congress on energy and keeps the U.S. dependent upon foreign oil as a result.
Affirmative
Action
Obama claims to oppose all forms of racism, including "racial profiling" (aka criminal and terror profiling).
 
But he has a strong record of supporting affirmative action, which provides special advantage to specific citizens over all other citizens, strictly on the basis of race.  He also supports treating drug dealing as a "minimum wage problem" and not a criminal activity, based on drug trafficking being prevalent in black communities.
National
Security
Obama claims strength in Foreign Policy, National Security and the advancement of Democracy around the globe.
 
But he opens his campaign rhetoric with this statement, "When I am this party's nominee, my opponent will not be able to say that I voted for the war in Iraq," a post 9/11 foreign policy initiative supported overwhelmingly by both parties in both houses of congress as a vital matter of both national security and the advancement of democracy in parts of the world important to America's strategic interests.

Further, he "didn't vote for war in Iraq" because he was not a member of Congress when that vote took place, nor did he have access to the intelligence reports over twelve years beginning in 1991, that caused the vast majority of Congress and his opponent Hillary Clinton, to support deposing the Hussein regime and liberate, not invade, the Iraqi people.
Retreat
And
Defeat
Obama's first promise of change comes in the form of a call for retreat and defeat in Iraq, which every international expert can tell you will destabilize Iraq's current progress towards secure democratic reform, an idea Obama claims to hold dear, but won't support.

He wants to bring our troops home immediately, but in defeat, not victory.

He wants to launch a new era of dialogue and cooperation with the worlds most brutal and committed enemies of the west in North Korea, Iran, and China, with folks like Chavez and Castro.  He says that "China is our competitor, not our enemy," even as Chinese spies are being brought to justice for infiltrating the most secret of U.S. national security agencies.

But he wants a U.S. Military enforced "no fly zone" in Africa, where the ancestors of his father live in tyranny, oppressed by African war lords and corrupt African politicians, not American slave traders.

He talks about a more secure and sovereign America as he pushes to erase U.S. borders, legalize illegal migration -- including with full voting rights for illegals, and calls for "increased tax-payer investment in our relationship with Mexico" while asking for "$50B annually to strengthen weak states at risk of collapse," not American states, third world dictatorships.
Bully
Bully
Obama said that America, under his Presidency, will stop being a "bully." (Video)

He also said an Obama presidency would work to regain the trust of Muslims worldwide with Washington-led aid programs in Muslim countries.
Undecideds Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), Sen. Barack Obama’s Missouri co-chairman and pledged Obama super-delegate, said Obama will gain the support of 50 undecided Democratic super-delegates later this week, according to the Columbia Missourian.

Said Clay: “She (Sen. Clinton) will not make up those numbers.  This race is over.”

Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw first reported yesterday that Obama had about 50 secretly committed superdelegates.  However, The Hotline quotes an unnamed Obama campaign aide who says the report is "wrong."
Punning
Out
Obama assures us that "Nobody is proposing we leave (Iraq) precipitously."  But actually, somebody is proposing that -- and that somebody is Barack Obama.

In January 2007, for example, he outlined a plan to begin "redeployment of U.S. forces no later than May 1, 2007" and "remove all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008."  Today, he vows to "immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq."

That is the very definition of precipitous.

Hedging a bit, Obama recently explained that "If al Qaeda is forming a base in Iraq, then we will have to act in a way that secures the American homeland and our interests abroad."

McCain couldn't resist pointing out the obvious: "Al Qaeda is in Iraq. And that's why we're fighting in Iraq."

Even as Obama vows to cede the battlefield in Iraq, where the Iraqi government is fighting alongside Americans against the jihadists, he proposes bombing the jihadists in Pakistan -- over the objection of the Pakistani government.  "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," he has warned.

There's nothing wrong with that.  In fact, the Bush administration has attacked targets in Pakistan -- with and without the permission of the AWOL Musharraf.  But Obama's anti-terror strategy seems to be premised on the notion that the United States can't fight jihadists in Iraq and Pakistan.

In truth, the United States can and must fight the enemy wherever it is -- the Sahara and the Horn of Africa, Iraq and Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the list goes on.  It's all the same war!

However, there's more -- and less -- to Obama's foreign policy than pulling out of Iraq and pummeling Pakistan.

Obama, who reminds us that his grandfather served in "Patton's army and marched across Europe" and helped shut down Hitler's death camps, says it is not America's job to prevent genocide -- n Iraq or elsewhere, apparently.

The AP reported it this way in July 2007: "Presidential hopeful Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot use its military to solve humanitarian problems and that preventing a potential genocide in Iraq isn't a good enough reason to keep U.S. forces there."

His defense of this position sounds surprisingly, jarringly, similar to that of isolationists on the far fringes, who always justify non-intervention somewhere by pointing out that America has not intervened everywhere.

But the problems with Obama's fusion foreign policy don't end there.  When a questioner during the CNN-YouTube debate asked whether as president Obama would be willing to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Cuba, Venezuela, and North Korea, his answer was unequivocal.  "It is a disgrace that we have not spoken to them," he intoned.  Worse, as the New York Times reported last November, Obama made it clear "that he planned to talk to Iran without preconditions."

Without preconditions?  The mullahs wouldn't have to stop funding and fomenting the guerilla war that is killing American troops in Iraq, or come clean with the IAEA on their subterranean nuclear program, or stop arming Hamas with rockets that terrorize and kill Israeli civilians?
Sgt. Schultz
Defense
The question was raised, "Did Barack Obama use indicted campaign fund-raiser Tony Rezko as a conduit to get jobs for people in Gov. Blagojevich's administration?"

The question arises from a list of 39 people Rezko's lawyers said in a court filing he urged Blagojevich to give state jobs.

Among those on the list were two people who appear to have Obama links and a third who's now an Obama presidential campaign staffer.

But did the names come from Obama? His campaign staff's short answer: Don't know -- but it's possible.

"We do not know how decisions were made to fill specific state positions, and we have no records of any individual recommendations we were asked to make or made," says Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "But we do know that Tony Rezko, among others, was helping to gather names for the positions coming open with a new administration, and, if it is established any names came through our office, we would have no reason to doubt it."
Nadhmi
Auchi
The question of Obama's Iraqi Oil for Food connection was raised when U.S. District Judge Amy J. St. Eve jailed Obama supporter, Tony Rezko, saying he had disobeyed her order to keep her posted on his financial status.  Among other things, he failed to tell her about a $3.5 million loan from London-based Iraqi billionaire Nadhmi Auchi -- a loan that was later forgiven in exchange for shares in a prime slice of Chicago real estate.  Rezko gave $700,000 of the money to his wife and used the rest to pay legal bills and funnel cash to various supporters."

Funds from Auchi's loan may have also helped finance a complex series of transactions between Rezko and Obama involving the 2005 purchase of Obama's Chicago mansion and Rezko's purchase of an adjoining landlocked parcel.

The Times of London reports: "A company related to Mr. Auchi, who has a conviction for corruption in France, registered the loan to Mr. Obama's bagman Antoin ‘Tony' Rezko on May, 23 2005.  Mr. Auchi says the loan, through the Panamanian company Fintrade Services SA, was for $3.5 million.

"Three weeks later, Mr. Obama bought a house on the city's South Side while Mr Rezko's wife bought the garden plot next door from the same seller on the same day, June 15.  Mr. Obama says he never used Mrs. Rezko's still-empty lot, which could only be accessed through his property.  But he admits he paid his gardener to mow the lawn."

The sudden emergence of Auchi into this story indicates Rezko's deals may include a money trail leading back to dead Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.  Auchi's Saddam links trace back to a failed 1959 assassination attempt on the life of then-Iraqi-prime-minister Abdul Karim Qasim.

Auchi's General Mediterranean Holdings company was also the largest private shareholder in Banque Nationale de Paris which later merged with Paribas to become BNP Paribas.  At Saddam's insistence, billions of dollars of Oil for Food transactions passed through BNP from its 1995 inception until 2001.

The Auchi-Obama links go beyond the mansion deal.  The Times of London (February 1) reports uncovering, "state documents in Illinois recording that Fintrade Services, a Panamanian company, lent money to (an) Obama fundraiser in May 2005.  Fintrade's directors include Ibtisam Auchi, the name of Mr. Auchi's wife."

Obama has refused to sit down at length with the Chicago reporters who have worked this story for years.  But as reporter, Dana Milbank, has pointed out, "The questioning...has only just begun."  With old-time Chicago corruption now going international-and Presidential -- finding those answers is more urgent than ever.
Telecom
Immunity
In an interview with National Journal magazine, an intelligence adviser to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign broke with his candidate’s position opposing retroactive legal protection for telecommunications companies being sued for cooperating with a dubious U.S. government domestic surveillance program.

"I do believe strongly that [telecoms] should be granted that immunity," former CIA official John Brennan told National Journal reporter Shane Harris in the interview.  "They were told to [cooperate] by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context."
Power
Is Out
Obama senior advisor Samantha Power paid for her "monster" dig by resigning Sunday, but Hillary Clinton's campaign seized on potentially more damaging remarks suggesting Barack Obama might renege on his pledge to pull U.S. troops from Iraq promptly.

Even before the Harvard professor and Obama's chief outside foreign policy adviser stepped down, the Clinton camp was gleefully circulating another interview where Power called Obama's 16-month withdrawal plan "the best-case scenario."

"[Obama] will, of course, not rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. senator," Power told the BBC in what the Clinton campaign flagged as eyebrow-raising remarks.

"He will rely upon a plan -- an operational plan -- that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn't have daily access now, as a result of not being the President," she said. -- (Video)
Education
Reform
Obama quits school reform talk on trail.

Obama has been backing off post-partisan rhetoric on education, looking more like a stick-in-the-mud Democratic regular on schools and less like the reformer who supported test-based accountability and performance pay for teachers.  The Chicagoan had bucked teachers' unions and other stodgy liberals, supporting charter schools in Illinois and mentorship programs in Washington.

But a campaign-hardened Obama is sounding more like a traditional lefty, waffling when the issues get tough and even employing an advisor who has worked to kill the avant-garde Teach for America (which subverts certification standards cherished by unions).
Ferraro
Gagged
On the same day, former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who is stepping down from Hillary Clinton’s finance team after telling a California newspaper that Barack Obama has been aided politically by his race, said Wednesday evening that the remarks were nothing more than a "statement of fact."

"Somebody must have seen this (article) and said, 'Wow, this is really something -- we go after Ferraro, we go after Clinton,'" Ferraro said in an interview Wednesday night on FOX News' "Hannity & Colmes."  "They made this a divisive issue, not me."

Former Maryland Lieutenant Gov. Michael Steele, who is black, said that Ferraro’s comments are true, and the fact she can’t speak them "goes to the heart and ugliness of racism."  He said Obama's candidacy is not diminished by her words, but an oversensitivity is harming debate in America.

That Obama won 92% of the black vote in Mississippi adds credence to Ferraro's and Steele's allegations.
Show Me
The Money
BARACK OBAMA (D-IL) -- Top Contributors -- and look who leads the list! Did you know universities contributed to political campaigns?  I didn't. 

1 University of Chicago $156,054
2 Kirkland & Ellis $143,138
3 Henry Crown & Co $79,500
4 Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal $74,950
5 Northwestern University $72,930
6 Exelon Corp $71,850
7 Sidley, Austin et al $71,432
8 Mayer Brown $69,960
9 Jenner & Block $62,710
10 Soros Fund Management $61,605
11 Goldman Sachs $61,500
12 Clifford Law Offices $59,550
13 Simmons Cooper LLC $58,500
14 Tejas Securities $57,250
15 JP Morgan Chase & Co $56,600
16 Ariel Capital Management $55,650
17 Skadden, Arps et al $54,071
18 Winston & Strawn $52,450
19 Piper Rudnick LLP $45,600
20 Holland Capital Management $43,350

The organizations themselves did not donate, rather the money came from the organization's PAC, its individual members or employees or owners, and those individuals' immediate families.  Organization totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.

I guess "special interests" only include oil companies, not lawyers and investment bankers -- and I certainly would identify George Soros as a "very special interest."
Wright's
Rants
Jake Tapper reports, that according to a New York Times story from a year ago, the Obama campaign disinvited Wright from delivering a public invocation at Obama's candidacy announcement.

"Fifteen minutes before Shabbos I get a call from Barack," Wright told the Times.  "One of his members had talked him into uninviting me."

In a phone call with Wright, Obama cited a Rolling Stone story, "The Radical Roots of Barack Obama," (the name of which has curiously been changed on the RS website) and told him, according to Wright, "You can get kind of rough in the sermons, so what we’ve decided is that it’s best for you not to be out there in public."

That story included the following passage: "The Trinity United Church of Christ, the church that Barack Obama attends in Chicago, is at once vast and unprepossessing, a big structure a couple of blocks from the projects, in the long open sore of a ghetto on the city's far South Side.  The church is a leftover vision from the Sixties of what a black nationalist future might look like.  There's the testifying fervor of the black church, the Afrocentric Bible readings, even the odd dashiki.  And there is the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a sprawling, profane bear of a preacher, a kind of black ministerial institution, with his own radio shows and guest preaching gigs across the country.  Wright takes the pulpit here one Sunday and solemnly, sonorously declares that he will recite 10 essential facts about the United States.  'Fact number one: We've got more black men in prison than there are in college,' he intones.  'Fact number two: Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run!'  There is thumping applause; Wright has a cadence and power that make Obama sound like John Kerry.  Now the reverend begins to preach. 'We are deeply involved in the importing of drugs, the exporting of guns and the training of professional KILLERS.  ... We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority and believe it more than we believe in God.  ... We conducted radiation experiments on our own people.  ... We care nothing about human life if the ends justify the means!"  The crowd whoops and amens as Wright builds to his climax: 'And.  And.  And!  GAWD!  Has GOT!  To be SICK!  OF THIS S***!'"

This was more than a year ago.

So ... what did Obama know then and what did he just all of a sudden learn?
Obama
Condemns
It
The First Rule of Obama?

"If it offends you, I condemn it!"

"All of the statements that have been the subject of controversy are ones that I vehemently condemn." -- Barack Obama

This seems to be the General Rule of Obama -- if it's going to damage him, he condemns it!  And rejects and denounces.  Vehemently!  The Rule would seem to apply to all past and future controversial statements -- his campaign could get that sentence printed up on little laminated cards and hand them out to reporters, or include them after the statements of all Obama surrogates, like those fine-print 'void where prohibited' waivers.

"Condemned if controversial."
Favorable
Unfavorable
Obama's favorable-unfavorable is 46 to 51, its all time low, demonstrating no ability yet to stanch the bleeding.  No wonder they trotted out Bill Richardson with his Fu Man Chu beard.

But here is the real evidence of what has happened with white voters:

Arkansas: McCain leads Clinton 50-43.  McCain leads Obama by 59-30.

Kentucky: McCain leads Clinton 53-43.  He destroys Obama 64-28.

Lower middle income whites have deserted Obama. In one Pennsylvania poll, Clinton now leads Obama by 26.  She has now taken the lead from him in North Carolina.  Rasmussen national numbers: Clinton 46, Obama 44.

Head to head general: McCain 49, Obama 41; McCain 49, Clinton 43.
The
Polls
New InsiderAdvantage Poll indicates Obama’s speech meets unsympathetic ears with Americans.

The pollsters screened poll respondents to find those who were aware that Obama’s pastor was in the news.  A startling 82% knew about Obama’s speech, and about the controversy surrounding the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Of those who knew about the controversy and the speech, we asked, "Taking all this into account, are you more or less likely to support Obama for president?"

Less likely (52%)
More likely (19%)
About the same (27%)
No opinion (2%)

The poll was conducted March 19 among 1,051 Americans.  After filtering out those not aware of Rev. Wright and Obama’s speech about him, the sample is 807, for a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2%.  The data have been weighted for age, race, gender and partisan affiliation.

Only one out of 50 poll respondents had no opinion.

The poll displays no numbers flattering to Obama.  Most startling is that blacks by 56% to 31% said the speech made them less likely to vote for him.

Democrats disapproved 48% to 28%, which looks sobering for Obama on first glance, but might portend otherwise.

The disturbing numbers for Obama are the independent voters.  By 56% to 13%, they said they’re less likely to vote for him because of the speech.

And there's no surprise here -- Democratic whites were more sympathetic with the speech’s message than black ones.
McPeak The interview of Tony McPeak in the Oregonian has turned into a bigger headache for Barack Obama than first thought.  Obama’s Chief Military Adviser told the newspaper in a 2003 interview that the US should keep troops in Iraq for "a century … if we do [the war] right," echoing exactly the same sentiments that Obama has ridiculed as "a hundred years of war" when John McCain made them.  Now Obama has to explain why the former Air Force Chief of Staff blames the Jews for the Iraq war:

In an interview with The Oregonion about five years ago, McPeak argued that the influence exerted by American Jews is responsible for the lack of progress in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.  According to the general the problem was New York and Miami.

"We have a large vote here in favor of Israel. And no politician wants to run against it," he said.  In the same interview, McPeak spoke of his personal experience with Israel.

"I’ve spent a lot of time in Israel, worked at one time very closely with the Israeli Air Force as a junior officer," he said, "but that’s maybe the more cosmopolitan, liberal version of the Israeli population."

McPeak also charged that Jews and Christian Zionists manipulated American foreign policy in Iraq.  "Let’s say that one of your abiding concerns is the security of Israel as opposed to a purely American self-interest, then it would make sense to build a dozen or so bases in Iraq," he said.

McPeak’s formulation uses a little more subtlety than most of the Jewish-cabal conspiracy theorists, but the thrust is the same.  Jews and "Christian Zionists" operate from a concern for the interests of Israel over America.  It’s not that protecting the region’s only democracy and our strongest ally somehow doesn’t fall within our own interests, but that this group of Americans act against our national interests to manipulate American policy at the expense of our country.

Basically, Jews and Christian Zionists are traitors, according to McPeak.

How can Obama explain this away?  Will this be yet another "crazy uncle" whose views on Israel Obama will disavow while not repudiating McPeak?  The last one, Jeremiah Wright, included anti-Israel rants in newsletter from the church that Obama has attended for 20 years and to which Obama has contributed tens of thousands of dollars.  The animus towards Israel among Obama advisers has begun to form a distinct pattern, one that shrugs and wan, partial denials cannot hide.

And it’s not just the animus towards Israel that Obama has to explain, either.  Why does Obama associate with people who indulge in conspiracy theories to explain reality?  Wright believes that the government created HIV to commit a genocide; his replacement believes that the CIA created crack cocaine to destroy African-American communities; and now his military adviser believes that Jews and Christian Zionists conspire to undermine America.  Is this the kind of Cabinet we can expect to see in an Obama presidency?
Total
Withdrawal
Day
Today Was Obama's Total Withdrawal of Combat Troops Day.

Perfunction remembers that back in January 2007, Barack Obama wanted today to be the last day U.S. combat troops were in Iraq.

The legislation commences redeployment of U.S. forces no later than May 1, 2007 with the goal of removing all combat brigades from Iraq by March 31, 2008,

Think Iraq would be in better shape if the surge had never happened?  Think U.S. national security would be in better shape if there had been no surge?

Think Moqtada al-Sadr would be in better shape if the surge had never happened?

Perhaps MoveOn.org's fundraising would be in worse shape if they had never had a chance to run the "General Betray-Us" ad.
Texas
Falls
Obama has won the overall delegate race in Texas thanks to a strong showing in Democratic county conventions this past weekend.

Obama picked up seven of nine outstanding delegates, giving him a total of 99 Texas delegates to the party's national convention this summer. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton won the other two, giving her a total of 94 Texas delegates, according to an analysis of returns by The Associated Press.

Texas Democrats held both a presidential primary and caucus. Clinton narrowly won the popular vote in the state's primary March 4, earning her 65 national convention delegates to Obama's 61.
Smokin! Obama just told MSNBC's Chris Matthews on a special "Hardball" college tour edition on Wednesday that "I fell off the wagon a couple of times" when it comes to smoking.

Obama told the students at West Chester University in Pennsylvania -- with an April 22 primary against Hillary Clinton -- that after lapsing he "was able to get back on" the wagon right away.

Obama says he quit smoking when he starting running for president last year, a condition laid down by wife Michelle.

"I fell off the wagon a couple times during the course of it, and then was able to get back on.  But it is a struggle like everything else.  And I think that it is important to just keep in mind, I have a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old daughter," Obama said.

"And I want to give them away in their weddings and I want to see my grand kids, and I want to set a good example for all these young people here, and I want to make sure as president of the United States, everybody knows that I'm going to try to stay healthy."

"I need you guys to stay healthy, too, because we need to bring our health care costs down," Obama said.
Withdraw?

Maybe!
A key adviser to Senator Obama’s campaign is recommending in a confidential paper that America keep between 60,000 and 80,000 troops in Iraq as of late 2010, a plan at odds with the public pledge of the Illinois senator to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within 16 months of taking office.

The paper, obtained by The New York Sun, was written by Colin Kahl for the center-left Center for a New American Security.  In "Stay on Success: A Policy of Conditional Engagement," Mr. Kahl writes that through negotiations with the Iraqi government "the U.S. should aim to transition to a sustainable over-watch posture (of perhaps 60,000–80,000 forces) by the end of 2010 (although the specific timelines should be the byproduct of negotiations and conditions on the ground)."

Mr. Kahl is the day-to-day coordinator of the Obama campaign’s working group on Iraq.  A shorter and less detailed version of this paper appeared on the center’s Web site as a policy brief.
Show Me
The Money
"The hottest ticket in San Francisco this weekend may well be the $2,300-a-head reception for Democratic hopeful Barack Obama at the Pacific Heights mansion of billionaire couple Ann and Gordon Getty."  Ah, that Getty home -- it could only be the legendary one in the heart of Billionaires Row.

 


 

The mansion, seen here in wedding-cake colors, may not look overly impressive at street level, but it sits on the crest of a ridge overlooking the bay; the estate actually cascades down the hillside behind, out of sight from the front façade.

While inside this magnificent structure, receiving the adulation of the Swells, Obama says the following:

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not."

"And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."


By the next Friday, these words reach the public -- and all hell breaks loose -- see above.

Systematic
Corruption
Excerpt of legal letter from Ryan, Phillips, Utrecht & MacKinnon to the Nevada State Democratic Party:

This letter (.pdf) is not intended as a response to the Obama campaign’s letter.  However, in the interest of a complete record, and in contrast to the alleged minor procedural problems noted by the Obama campaign, the Committee wishes to bring to your attention information we have received evidencing a premeditated and predesigned plan by the Obama campaign to engage in systematic corruption of the Party’s caucus procedures.  Compounding this blatant distortion of the caucus rules was an egregious effort by the Obama campaign to manipulate the voter registration process in its own favor, thereby disenfranchising countless voters.  Finally, the Committee has received a vast number of reliable reports of voter suppression and intimidation by the Obama campaign or its allies.

...Caucus chairs obviously supporting Obama:

o Deliberately miscounted votes to favor Senator Obama.

o Deliberately counted unregistered persons as Obama votes.

o Deliberately counted young children as Obama votes.

...Many Clinton supporters were threatened with employment termination or other discipline if they caucused for Senator Clinton.

...On the whole, these reports show a troubling effort by the Obama campaign and its allies and supporters to advance their own campaign at the expense of the right of all Nevada Democrats to participate in the democratic process in a free, fair and open manner.
Anti-
Semitism
April 6th -- Here's another piece of anti-Semitism brought to you by Barackobama.com, the official Web site of Barack Obama's campaign that should serve as a red-flag to Jewish voters.

Israelis fighting Israeli Apartheid By Tony Wicher -- Oct 11th, 2007 at 12:31 pm EDT

But what’s clear enough is that for the past 40 years, there has been only one state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, and that state has been Israel.  And Israel has been an apartheid state: Like South Africa, it’s a democracy ruled by law for one group of people, and a military-colonial regime for another.  Those who complain about it the use of "apartheid" to describe Israeli policies are either in deep denial, or else argue, as many liberals do, that the term is not helpful because it is provocative or "demonizes" the Israelis. This, too, though, is an evasion: The purpose of using the term is precisely to draw attention to the fact that Israel is routinely engaged in practices long deemed abhorrent by the international community, but because of Israel’s claim to represent the Jewish people and because of our history of suffering, this reality is simply overlooked, excused, or ignored.  So, yes, using the word "apartheid" to describe what Israel is doing in the West Bank is meant to make people feel uncomfortable over what Israel is doing, and to recognize that condoning it is the moral equivalent of condoning apartheid.  Clearly, that’s why Israeli human rights advocates routinely use the term.

The last two outrages are on a website that is under the direct control of Obama.
Booooooooo! The legislative district caucus for Seattle’s 43rd District was held at Lincoln High School in Wallingford today.

The gymnasium was overflowing with precinct delegates who had been elected at their precinct caucuses on Feb. 9 -- and with what seemed to be an even larger number of wannabe alternate delegates.  Of the 67, 53 delegates pledged for Obama and 14 for Clinton.

When someone suggested doing the Pledge of Allegiance, there were groans and boos at the mere mention of doing the pledge.

Then, when the district chair put the idea of doing the Pledge of Allegiance up to a vote, it was overwhelmingly voted down.  One might more accurately say the idea of pledging allegiance to the flag (of which there was only one in the room, by the way, on some delegate’s hat) was shouted down.
Violation! Barack Obama's presidential campaign violated city Department of Education regulations when it made a video at a Bronx high school classroom starring students, an official said.

The campaign violated the chancellor's regulations against filming in school buildings for political or promotional purposes, education department spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said.  The video was forwarded as an e-mail attachment to potential donors.

Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the campaign did not know about the regulations.

"The intention was to share a story that inspired Sen. Obama and one we hoped would inspire others," Psaki said. "We regret any difficulty this positive project caused the school."

The 13-minute video was shot on March 18 at the Bronx High School for Performance and Stagecraft.

Jackson Shafer, a 25-year-old teacher at the school, said he contacted the Obama campaign after his students decided to write their own version of the Illinois senator's "Yes we can" speech.

He said he was surprised when the Obama campaign responded with a request to film the students.

"This was not about helping them fill their coffers," he said, adding that he did not know that the video would be used alongside a pitch for donations.

The school's principal, Mark Sweeting, said that he knew that the video shoot violated the chancellor's regulations. But he defended it as an educational benefit to his students.

"The bottom line is I have a senior Hispanic student that is now interested in politics. I have a male African-American student... that is now in tune with what a superdelegate is," he said. "That to me is outstanding."

The Department of Education is considering disciplinary action against the school's administration, Feinberg said.
Timetable Obama said that the United States should set a timetable to pull its troops out of Iraq to pressure leaders there to establish peace.

"Increased pressure in a measured way, in my mind ... includes a timetable for withdrawal.  Nobody's asking for a precipitous withdrawal, but I do think that it has to be a measured but increased pressure," Obama told Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Obama telling this great general how to run a war -- now, that's funny!
Diplomatic
Surge
Obama called for a "diplomatic surge" including talks with US foe Iran, to help stabilize the situation in Iraq.

"We should be talking to them as well," Obama told the top US General in Iraq David Petraeus and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker.

"I do not believe we are going to be able to stabilize the situation without that" said Obama

He used his question period during the crucial Senate hearing to restate his initial opposition to the war in Iraq, which Clinton voted to authorize.

"We all have the greatest interest in seeing a successful resolution to Iraq," Obama told Petraeus and Crocker.

"I continue to believe that the original decision to go into Iraq was a massive strategic blunder, that the two problems you pointed out, Al-Qaeda in Iraq and increased Iranian influence in the region are a direct result of that original decision.

"That's not a decision you gentlemen made.  I will not lay it at your feet.  You are cleaning up the mess afterwards."
Nostradamus Scholars for the Smithsonian Institute have reported new interpretations of Nostradamus prophecies that may relate to Barack Obama, the Illinois senator vying to become the next US president.

The Institute which holds some very rare Nostradamus manuscripts, believes that some of the quatrains written by the 16th century soothsayer are very close to describing the fight for the White House that is happening now.

Professor Eugene Randell, Deputy Director of the Smithsonian Institution Archives, said that it is well known that some of the quatrains are open to interpretation.  However, what he has translated from the previously unreleased manuscript will certainly "ruffle a few feathers".

243
The great empire will be torn from limb,
The all-powerful one for more than four hundred years:
Great power given to the dark one from slaves come,
The Aryana will not be satisfied thereby.


Nostradamus' previously unreleased quatrains are a heavily guarded secret and the scholars have broken with tradition to reveal a few tidbits in the Smithsonian's monthly circular.
Weird
Ideas
If you go to the most expensive private school in Hawaii and then move on to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, you may not understand normal Americans. Their beliefs are so alien to your leftwing viewpoint that you have to seek some psychological explanation for what seem to be weird ideas.

They can’t really believe in the right to bear arms.

They can’t really believe in traditional marriage.

They can’t really believe in their faith in God.

They can’t really want to enforce the law on immigration.

Therefore, they must be "bitter" and "frustrated."

This is the closest Senator Obama has come to openly sharing his wife’s view that "America is a mean country."  Not since Governor Dukakis have we seen anyone so out of touch with normal Americans.  It makes perfect sense that it was in a fundraiser in San Francisco that he would have shared the views he has so carefully kept hidden for the entire campaign.
Bush
Crimes
Obama would ask his AG to "immediately review" potential of crimes in Bush White House should he be elected in November.

An Obama administration would seek to prosecute officials of a former Bush administration on the revelations that they greenlighted torture, or for other potential crimes that took place in the White House.

Obama said that as president he would indeed ask his new Attorney General and his deputies to "immediately review the information that's already there" and determine if an inquiry is warranted.
Perfect
Democrat
Obama is the perfect Democratic candidate.

Mixed race, diverse, past-drug use, radical, corrupt, elitist, big government, anti-gun, pro-abortion socialist.

Everything a good Democrat loves?
The Pin Return of the pin.



As a reader noticed, Obama was sporting the much-debated flag pin on his lapel for his speech to veterans today.

UPDATE: The pin was given to Obama by a disabled vet at the event.

Why do I think the acquisition story sounds like a tall tale?

The
Myth Of
New Politics
Barack Obama has spent most of the last 15 months conjuring up a myth, a facade of "New Politics" to explain why voters should support someone with only three years of experience in national politics for President. 

This myth involves having hope that someone unencumbered by a long history of engaging special interests in Washington DC would bring a fresh look to policy and governance.
The Last
Debate
The last Democratic debate has finally concluded, and perhaps the last chances of ending the primaries early.  Thanks to a surprisingly tenacious set of questions for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from ABC moderaters Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous, Barack Obama got exposed over and over again as an empty suit, while Hillary cleaned his clock.

ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, a co-host of Wednesday night’s Democratic debate, quizzed presidential candidate Barack Obama about his relationship with William Ayers, a member of the Weather Underground, a radical group that conspired to bomb buildings such as the Pentagon in the 1970s.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But first, a follow up on this issue, general theme of patriotism in your relationships.  A gentleman named William Ayers, he was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s.  They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol and other buildings.  He’s never apologized for that.  And in fact, on 9/11, he was quoted in the New York Times, saying, "I don’t regret setting bombs. I feel we didn’t do enough."  An early organizing meeting for your state senate campaign was held at his house and your campaign has said you were "friendly."  How could a man running for the presidency of the United States possibly have anything to do with, or have anything but disdain for a man who did what he has done to this country?  Can you explain that relationship for the voters and explain to Democrats why it won’t be a problem?

Oddly, Obama went on to compare a man who was involved in bombings that killed people to his colleague, Republican Senator Tom Coburn from Oklahoma, who once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.

BARACK OBAMA: The fact is that I’m also friendly with Tom Coburn, one of the most conservative Republicans in the United States Senate, who during his campaign once said that it might be appropriate to apply the death penalty to those who carried out abortions.

Obama, however, never did figure out the First Rule of Holes.  Once again, he described religion as a refuge people use when government doesn’t work -- a fatal misreading of religious faith in America.  He not only came up with bad answers, he looked lost and tentative throughout the entire period.

Hillary didn’t let him off the hook, either, not when it came to Crackerquiddick or on the Wright Stuff.  Noting that "you choose your pastor, not your family," Hillary once again pounded Obama for not doing anything about Wright when he had the chance.  She also jumped at the chance to note that former Weather Underground terrorist William Ayers was more than just a "neighbor," as Obama described him.  Hillary pointed out that Obama and Ayers worked on a foundation together for years, even after 9/11, even after Ayers said publicly that he didn’t regret his terrorism.

By the time Gibson got around to the issues, Obama looked lost and upset.  It got worse when Gibson asked about capital-gains tax rates, which Obama has pledged to raise.  When Gibson repeatedly pointed out that decreasing the rates actually increased the revenues, Obama simply couldn’t come up with an answer, stammering while trying to change the subject.

Obama got destroyed in this exchange.  If superdelegates had begun to reconsider their support of Obama after Crackerquiddick, they’re speed-dialing Hillary after watching Gibson dismember Obama on national TV tonight.

He never did explain his relationship to Ayers.
Media
Bias
Debate outrage proves media bias -- in favor of Obama

Politico reporters John Harris and Jim VandeHei review the outrage from offended journalists over the ABC debate this week with a particularly jaundiced eye. They claim it proves exactly what they have themselves experienced in their work — starry-eyed reporters who wind up having to be "de-toxed" from their crushes on Barack Obama:

In fact, the balance of political questions (15) to policy questions (13) was more substantive than other debates this year that prompted no deluge of protests. The difference is that this time there were more hard questions for Obama than for Clinton.

Moreover, those questions about Jeremiah Wright, about Obama’s association with 1960s radical William Ayers, about apparent contradictions between his past and present views on proven wedge issues like gun control, were entirely in-bounds. If anything they were overdue for a front-runner and likely nominee.

If Obama was covered like Clinton is, one feels certain the media focus would not have been on the questions, but on a candidate performance that at times seemed tinny, impatient, and uncertain.

The difference seems clear: Many journalists are not merely observers but participants in the Obama phenomenon.
Journalistic
Malpractice
If Obama was covered like Clinton is, one feels certain the media focus would not have been on the questions, but on a candidate performance that at times seemed tinny, impatient and uncertain.

The difference seems clear: Many journalists are not merely observers but participants in the Obama phenomenon.

"We're in the midst of a presidential campaign which is really getting rotten -- down and dirty between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama," Helen Thomas said.

"The Democratic candidates -- Obama has the edge, he's a rock star.  He's galvanized the youth vote of this country, but I have yet to see what he has done to take the highest office in the land.  He is no Martin Luther King and his campaign, like all others, is backed by people with deep pockets."

"Hell yes, he sure has," Thomas said, after being asked if Obama had been given a free ride by the media. 

"I think more people, a lot of people are afraid of being called racists by opposing Obama.  And I'm not saying he hasn't been a very eloquent orator.  He's won a lot of people over."
Polls Gallup Poll Daily tracking shows that Hillary Clinton now receives 46% of the support of Democrats nationally, compared to 45% for Barack Obama, marking the first time Obama has not led in Gallup’s daily tracking since March 18-20.
A Bloody
Nose
Obama will not debate Hillary any longer.  And the reasons are pretty clear after last Wednesday’s debacle in Pennsylvania.  Obama simply doesn’t fare well when forced to defend himself extemporaneously.  He gets almost incoherent, and not just on the supposed "distraction" questions, but also on policy.  His answers on capital-gains tax increases had Hillary smiling and the rest of the nation wondering if he had bothered to study the issue at all.

After last Wednesday, it looks like a retreat.  Obama got a bloody nose, and suddenly he doesn’t want to appear on national TV, even up against a cupcake like Katie Couric.  The strategy may be sound, but only if one has no confidence in Obama’s ability to stand up to tough questioning.  In fact, his withdrawal from the debate appears to be an admission of exactly that.

It’s like a championship boxer refusing to spar so that his pretty face doesn’t get messed up.  Then he expects to step in to the ring and go toe to toe with the real deal and win.

Obama’s campaign strategy now mirrors his cut and run tactics on the war in Iraq.
Risky Obama is risky -- even Massachusetts Democrats are starting to take notice.

John Adams noted during the Boston Massacre trial that "Facts are stubborn things."  And it appears that, for the moment, the facts have caught up with Obama here in Massachusetts.

How else to explain the amazing, astounding and unthinkable results of the latest SurveyUSA presidential poll: Republican John McCain is tied with Barack Obama in the Bay State.

The last Republican to win Massachusetts?  Ronald Reagan.  The last Republican before that?  Dwight Eisenhower.  Even George McGovern managed to carry Massachusetts in 1972, the one Democratic holdout in Richard Nixon’s 49-state landslide.

Replace "McGovern" with "MoveOn.org" and you’ve seized the essence of the Obama candidacy.  He’s the most liberal U.S. senator, advocating tax increases on the "wealthy" and enjoying the support of Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Ted Kennedy, The Boston Globe-Democrat and every 9/11 conspiracy kook in the People’s Republic of Cambridge.  He’s got all the players in Massachusetts behind him except the ones who actually vote.

Holly Robichaud, the "Lone Republican" of Boston Herald fame, blames Gov. Patrick for Obama’s woes.  "We’ve already elected one inexperienced candidate running on a vague platform of hope in Massachusetts, and it’s not working out.  This is a classic example of 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.'"

Not a bad theory, given that SurveyUSA also found only four in 10 residents approve of the job Gov. Patrick is doing.
Media In a blink of an eye, the media has jumped ship from the Obama campaign and become a crucial Clinton ally, pressing just the message -- that Obama is a likely loser in the general election -- that Hillary and her allies have been promoting for the past six weeks.

The new tenor of media coverage is visible almost everywhere, from Politico, Time and The New Republic to The Washington Post and The New York Times.
Attitudes Obama understands that the real threat to his candidacy is less Hillary Clinton and John McCain than his own character and cultural attitudes.  He came out of nowhere with his autobiography already written, then saw it embellished daily by the hagiographic coverage and kid-gloves questioning of a supine press.  (Which is why those "Saturday Night Live" parodies were so devastatingly effective.)

Then came the three amigos: Tony Rezko, the indicted fixer; Jeremiah Wright, the racist reverend; William Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist.  And then Obama's own anthropological observation that "bitter" working-class whites cling to guns and religion because they misapprehend their real class interests.

In the now-famous Pennsylvania debate, Obama had extreme difficulty answering questions about these associations and attitudes.  The difficulty is understandable.  Some of the contradictions are inexplicable.  How does one explain campaigning throughout 2007 on a platform of transcending racial divisions, while in that same year contributing $26,000 to a church whose pastor incites race hatred?

What is Obama to do?  Dismiss all such questions about his associations and attitudes as "distractions."  And then count on his acolytes in the media to wage jihad against those who have the temerity to raise these questions.  As if the character and beliefs of a man who would be president are less important than the "issues."  As if some political indecency was committed when Obama was prevented from going through his latest -- 21st and likely last -- primary debate without being asked about Wright or Ayers or the tribal habits of gun-toting, God-loving Pennsylvanians.
Marxist
Blogger
In the same week the Obama campaign quietly removed from its official website a page managed by a fundraiser tied to the Islamic terrorist group Hamas, its official blogger has come under attack as a "hardcore Marxist" for hanging a Communist Party flag in his Harvard campus apartment and publishing in a self-professed 'revolutionary Marxist' journal.
Polls Fox News Poll: Obama’s favorable rating drops.

Nearly half of Democrats (48 percent) think Hillary Clinton has a better chance of beating John McCain in November -- 10 percentage points higher than the 38 percent who think Barack Obama can win, according to a FOX News poll released Wednesday.  This represents a significant shift from March, when Democrats said Obama was the candidate more likely to beat McCain.
Polls As May began, the results of a statewide survey indicate a dramatic shift of support from Obama in favor of Hillary Clinton in the Indiana Democratic presidential primary.

The survey, conducted by Indianapolis-based TeleResearch Corp. and released exclusively to 6News, showed Clinton with a 10-point lead over Obama -- 48 percent to 38 percent -- with 14 percent of respondents undecided.  The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percent.

The telephone poll of 943 randomly selected likely Democratic primary voters was conducted from April 25 through April 29.

What is particularly striking in the results is the declining support for Obama in favor of Clinton over successive days in which respondents were questioned.

On the first day of the survey, Clinton held a 2 percent lead -- 45 percent to 43 percent, despite a 20-point lead for Obama among male respondents.  Each day, more respondents supported Clinton.

By the last day of polling, Clinton took 4 percent lead among men -- 45 percent to 41 percent -- representing a staggering 24-point swing.
Surgically
Excised
It's time to disown Granny, if Obama's famous Philadelphia "race" speech is to be believed.  Of course, the speech was not just believed.  It was hailed, celebrated, canonized as the greatest pronouncement on race in America since Lincoln at Cooper Union.  A New York Times columnist said it "should be required reading in classrooms across the country."

These equivalences having been revealed as the cheap rhetorical tricks they always were.  Obama has now decided that the man he simply could not banish because he had become part of Obama himself is, mirabile dictu, surgically excised.

At a news conference in North Carolina, Obama explained why he finally decided to do the deed.  Apparently, Wright's latest comments -- Obama cited three in particular -- were so shockingly "divisive and destructive" that he had to renounce the man, not just the words.

What were Obama's three citations?  Wright's claim that AIDS was invented by the U.S. government to commit genocide; his praise of Louis Farrakhan as a great man; and his blaming Sept. 11 on American "terrorism."

But these comments are not new.  These were precisely the outrages that prompted the initial furor when the Wright tapes emerged seven weeks ago.  Obama decided to cut off Wright not because Wright's words or character or views had suddenly changed.  The only thing that changed was the venue in which Wright chose to display them -- live on national TV at the National Press Club.  That unfortunate choice destroyed Obama's Philadelphia pretense that this "endless loop" of sermon excerpts being shown on "television sets and YouTube" had been taken out of context.

Obama's Philadelphia oration was an exercise in contextualization.  In one particularly egregious play on white guilt, Obama had the audacity to suggest that whites should be ashamed that they were ever surprised by Wright's remarks: "The fact that so many people are surprised to hear that anger in some of Reverend Wright's sermons simply reminds us of the old truism that the most segregated hour of American life occurs on Sunday morning."

Obama's newest attempt to save himself after Wright's latest poisonous performance is now declared the new final word on the subject.  Therefore, any future ads linking Obama and Wright are preemptively declared out of bounds, illegitimate, indeed "race-baiting" (a New York Times editorial, April 30).

On what grounds?  This 20-year association with Wright calls into question everything about Obama: his truthfulness in his serially adjusted stories of what he knew and when he knew it; his judgment in choosing as his mentor, pastor and great friend a man he just now realizes is a purveyor of racial hatred (like Obama); and the central premise of his campaign, that he is the bringer of a "new politics," rising above the old Washington ways of expediency.  It's hard to think of an act more blatantly expedient than renouncing Wright when his show, once done from the press club instead of the pulpit, could no longer be "contextualized" as something whites could not understand and only Obama could explain in all its complexity.

Turns out the Wright show was not that complex after all.  Everyone understands it now, even Obama.
Distractions Yesterday, a Time magazine a columnist declared that issues of "character" were a "distraction" in the Presidential race.  Obama actually said the same thing in his North Carolina press conference, that the Reverend Wright affair has been a "distraction."

It's what liberals usually say when their own character comes under public scrutiny?

What a heap of pure poppycock!

Character is the primary issue in every Presidential election.

John Adams' words on the matter:

The people "have a right, an indisputable, inalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge -- I mean of the character and conduct of their rulers."

We, the people, now have indisputable evidence that Barack Obama lacks the integrity of character to be President.
Polls A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 30% of the nation’s Likely Voters believe Barack Obama denounced his former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, because he was outraged.

Most --58% -- say he denounced the Pastor for political convenience.

Only 33 percent believe Obama was surprised by Wright's statements at the National Press Club, while 52 percent say he was not surprised. Some 26 percent say it's very likely that Obama "shares some of Pastor Wright's controversial views about the United States" and 56 percent say it's somewhat likely he does. 

Only 7 percent of voters and 12 percent of black voters say they share those views.

The survey was conducted on Wednesday and Thursday night.  Obama made his statements about Wright on Tuesday.
Maoists Bill Ayers, who has been identified as an Obama "adviser," has long held what the left once knew, broadly, as "maoist" politics -- a view of the world that was opposed to Russian style bureaucratic communism from above, instead advocates of this approach supported sending revolutionary cadre to "swim among the masses like fish in the sea."

There are other ex-SDS types around the Obama campaign as well, including Marilyn Katz, a public relations professional, who was head of security for the SDS during the disaster in the streets of Chicago in 1968.  She is close (politically) to Carl Davidson, a former vice president of SDS and longtime Fidelista, who is webmaster for a group called Progressives for Obama, that is headlined by other former 60s radicals like Tom Hayden and the Maoist Bill Fletcher.  Davidson and Katz were key organizers of the 2002 anti-war demonstration where Obama made public his opposition to the Iraq war that has been so critical to his successful presidential campaign.  Davidson apparently moved into the Maoist movements of the 70's after the disintegration of SDS.
Black Voters
Understand
May 5th -- Obama has been avoiding stops in black communities in his quest to become the first black major party nominee for the U.S. presidency.

Isaac Onah, a political science professor at the University of North Carolina, told the Boston Globe that black voters appear to understand Obama's campaign strategy.  They also understand why Obama had to repudiate his longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Onah said.

Typical!
Wright's
Damage
Obama damaged by Wright flap: USA Today/Gallup poll

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama's standing has been significantly damaged by the controversy over his former pastor, according to USA Today/Gallup poll published on Monday.

The poll showed Hillary Clinton leading Obama 51 percent to 44 percent nationally among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent voters, in contrast to a CBS News/New York Times survey released on Sunday that had Obama leading Clinton by 12 points.
Zero John McCain dismissed Democratic rival Barack Obama as having zero national security experience.

"Senator Obama wants to sit down with an Iranian leader who is dedicated to wiping Israel off the map -- his words," Mr. McCain told reporters on his campaign bus in North Carolina, where he was making a campaign stop and attending fundraisers.  "I don't think we should give him that kind of prestige.  Senator Obama obviously has no national security experience, and therefore that's reflected in his judgment on a number of those issues."
Polls Exit polls now being reported show Barack Obama way behind Hillary Clinton among working class voters in Indiana and North Carolina.

("Working class" being defined in this poll as "whites with no college degree.")

Indiana -- Clinton: 65%, Obama: 34%

North Carolina -- Clinton: 67%, Obama: 26%
Off Limits Obama tries to declare another topic off limits:

"This is offensive, and I think it’s disappointing," Obama told Wolf Blitzer, when asked his thoughts about McCain’s comments that the terrorist organization Hamas wants Obama to be president.  "Because John McCain always says 'I am not going to run that kind of politics,' and to engage in that kind of smear is unfortunate, particularly because my policy toward Hamas has been no different than his."

"I’ve said it’s a terrorist organization and we should not negotiate with them unless they recognize Israel, renounce violence, and unless they are willing to abide by previous accords between the Palestinians and the Israelis.  So for him to toss out comments like that I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination.  We don’t need name calling in this debate."

Too bad for Senator Obama that McCain’s comment is 100% true.  Then again, truth never has exactly been Obama’s strong point, has it?

Barack obama is whining and saying that John McCain is smearing him because McCain said, "a spokesperson from Hamas said they wanted Sen. Obama. … It’s indicative of how some of our enemies view America.  I guarantee you they’re not going to endorse me."

It always amuses me how politicians accuse others of "smearing" them when the simple truth is stated.

News for Obama and Obama supporters…when the truth is told, it isn’t a smear, that is when someone lies and since a Hamas top adviser, Ahmed Yousef, told WABC radio, "We don’t mind–actually we like Mr. Obama.  We hope he will (win) the election and I do believe he is like John Kennedy, great man with great principle, and he has a vision to change America to make it in a position to lead the world community but not with domination and arrogance," John McCain’s comment is not only the truth, it is spot on.

Bottom line here is that John McCain told the truth and will continue to do so and Barack Obama doesn’t like the truth being stated in this regards.

Tough.
57 States Yesterday Barack Obama said that John McCain was "losing his bearings," a remark that McCain's campaign, perhaps protesting too much, took as a reference to his age.

In fact, though, it is Obama, not McCain, who keeps having senior moments.  In particular, Obama is weirdly unable to remember how many states there are in the Union.

It seems that Obama wants to be president of all 60 states -- the "57" he visited, the "one left to go" and "Alaska and Hawaii" -- where his staff won't let him go.

Can't blame public education this time.

Perhaps Obama is just remembering how the states went from his grammar school days and was thinking of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, which represents the 57 Islamic states.
57 States Obama Campaign Introduces Customized Lapel Pins

In celebration of his having traveled to an impressive 57 states in his bid for the Presidency (and to finally put to rest the notion that he abhors patriotic accessories), Barack Obama's campaign has introduced a custom line of American flag lapel pins.

Get yours today and show your support for the least senile candidate in the race!


Nomination
Assured
Barack Obama "has enough super-delegates to win Democratic nomination."

Barack Obama believes he has already secured the private support of enough super-delegates to beat Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic White House nomination.
The Pin Flag lapel pin sighting reported in West Virginia.

The obligatory photo. The last time he wore one was at a rally in Pennsylvania when a disabled vet put him on the spot by handing one to him. Congrats, Barry: The issue you manufactured is now of sufficient interest to the media that this idiocy actually qualifies as newsworthy.
Hamstrung Terry McAuliffe, campaign chairman for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), said Tuesday that the former first lady is hamstrung by a biased media.

"Clearly it has been a biased media, no question about it," McAuliffe said on Fox News.  When asked how much of the mainstream media is "in the tank" for Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who leads Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, McAuliffe estimated that about 90 percent of the media favor Obama.

"It is what it is.  We’re not complaining," he stated.  "We have to deal with the hand we’re dealt with."

McAuliffe added that "every independent study has said that this is the most biased coverage they’ve ever seen in a presidential campaign."
A Loss How Badly Did Obama Lose W. Virginia?

Barack Obama lost in every single category in West Virginia.
Symbolism Alec Rawls observes that the two most widely recognized symbols of Islam are the crescent and the sword.  Kind of amusing that Barack Hussein Obama’s campaign logo can be seen to feature both a crescent and a curved Islamic scimitar:
 

 Obama logo animation, crescent and scimitar

 
The crescent shape in Obama’s logo has the round part on top, just like a traditional crescent shaped mihrab (the Mecca direction indicator around which every mosque is built).  The animation shows the two most famous mihrabs in the world: the mihrab from the Great Mosque in Cordoba, and the Prophet’s mihrab in Medina.

The lighter vertical column in the center-bottom of the logo, presumably meant to indicate reflected light, even conveys the full vertical shape of a traditional mihrab.  The scimitar in the animation is from the flag of the Bosnian regiment of the Nazi SS.

If Obama himself had come up with this crescent logo, one might suspect Islamic intent, given his Islamic heritage.  But the logo was not designed by Obama.  It was designed by a Chicago based branding firm named Sender, which claims credit for coming up with: "a white sunrise against a blue sky, over a landscape implied by red and white stripes."

Obama definitely deserves to be made fun of for having a fairly obvious crescent shape in his logo, given his efforts to convince the public that he is not Muslim.  This is already an uphill climb, when both his grandmother and his cousin are telling documented lies about their religion, claiming to be Christian in one venue while professing themselves Muslim in another.  Lying about being Christian: it’s an Obama family tradition!

Still, there is no indication that the crescent and scimitar shapes in Obama’s logo are intended to convey any Islamic meaning.  A genuine coincidence apparently.

Sweetie? Obama patronizingly blew off a female reporter during a Michigan campaign stop by referring to her with the dismissive, "sweetie" -- and after he blew her off -- he never did answer her question.


 


And this isn't the first time Obama has used the familiar term of endearment, causing some to ask, is Obama being dismissive to the point of being sexist or was he trying for a little machismo in front of the male workers at the Sterling, Michigan auto manufacturing plant.

By the way, "sweetie’s" name is Peggy Agar.  She is a professional journalist from WXYZ, Channel 7, Sterling Heights, Michigan.

And you won't hear a peep from a single feminist about this either -- just imagine if George Bush had dismissed a reporter as "sweetie" with a wave of the hand?

Fox's
Fault
Obama blames Fox News for likely loss in Kentucky.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, facing a likely defeat in next Tuesday's primary election, won't travel to Kentucky before the voting.

He also blamed Fox News for disseminating "rumors" about him and said that that and e-mails filled with misinformation that have been "systematically" dispersed have hurt him in Kentucky.
We're The
Fugawie?
South Dakotans, Tom Daschle and George McGovern, lavished all sorts of praise on Obama, according to reporters present.

As the large, enthusiastic crowd of some 7,000 supporters roared and waved "We can do it" signs and Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" blared, Obama bounded onto stage, grabbed the microphone and said, "Thank you, Sioux City!"

Trouble is, Obama was in Sioux Falls.
Unpresidential Mark Steyn mocks the Ninny Pity Party for crying about President Bush's speech to Israel's Knesset.

Senator Obama was not mentioned in the text.  No Democrat was mentioned, save for President Truman, in the context of his recognition of the new State of Israel when it was a mere 11 minutes old.

Nevertheless, Barack Obama decided that the President’s speech was really about him, and he didn’t care for it.  He didn’t put it quite as bluntly as he did with the Reverend Wright, but the message was the same: "That’s enough.  That’s a show of disrespect to me."  And, taking their cue from the soon-to-be nominee’s weirdly petty narcissism, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry, Joe Biden, and company piled on to deplore Bush’s outrageous, unacceptable, unpresidential, outrageously unacceptable, and unacceptably unpresidential behavior.

Honestly, What a bunch of self-absorbed ninnies.  Here’s what the president said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.  We have heard this foolish delusion before.  As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.'  We have an obligation to call this what it is -- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

It says something for Democrat touchiness, that the minute a guy makes a generalized observation about folks who appease terrorists and dictators, they  assume: Hey, they’re talking about me.
Whiner Just what office is Barack Obama running for?  Commander in Chief?  Or perhaps Keeper of the Constant Whine?  Or maybe Lord High Commissioner of the Bitch?

To Obama, it’s always something.  Bush challenges his foreign policy positions and he whines about a "political attack" rather than responding.  McCain rightly points out that Obama has absolutely zero foreign policy experience (except that advanced course in foreign relations he took when he was 8 years old and living in Indonesia -- or whatever Obama’s claim to superior experience is this week) and the candidate weeps like an 11 year old girl, complaining about McCain using the "old politics" to diss him.

Now Obama is whining about not being able to win in Kentucky on Tuesday.  First, he blames Fox News.  Then he fingers an email campaign in the state against him.  Finally, he lamely explains that he just doesn’t have the time to sit down face to face with the good folks from Kentucky and work his magic spell on them.

The more he whines the more the press bends over backwards to cover for him.  He makes a statement about there being 57 states and gets a pass.  McCain confuses Shias and Sunnis and he’s a senile old man.  Obama calls a reporter "sweetie' -- on two separate occasions -- and its no big deal -- apology accepted -- end of story.  When McCain apologizes for anything, it’s never enough.

Whenever Obama is criticized, the press immediately jumps to his defense with cries of "unfairness" and dirty politics.
You Can't
Say That
From Rush:  With Obama we started out, we couldn't talk about his big ears 'cause that made him nervous. We've gone from that to this: Not only can we not mention his ears...

We can't talk about his mother.

We can't talk about his father.

We can't talk about his grandmother unless he does, and brings her up as a "typical white person."

We can't talk about his wife,

can't talk about his preacher,

can't talk about his terrorist friends,

can't talk about his voting record,

can't talk about his religion.

We can't talk about appeasement.

We can't talk about color; we can't talk about lack of color.

We can't talk about race.

We can't talk about bombers and mobsters who are his friends.

We can't talk about schooling.

We can't talk about his name, "Hussein."

We can't talk about his lack of experience.

Can't talk about his income.

Can't talk about his flag pin.

This started out we can't call him a liberal.

It started out we just couldn't talk about his ears.

Now we can't say anything about him.
Shirley,
You Jest
Barack Obama has been selected as one of the "25 Fittest Guys In America."

In a wonderful example of media suck-up, the June/July issue of Men's Fitness magazine includes Obama with elite athletes, such as an Olympic boxer, an Ironman triathalete, three mixed martial artists and several professional sports stars in its annual list of "25 Fittest Men in America."  From the article:

"It takes a certain stamina to endure months of 16-hour days in pursuit of the land’s highest office. Obama is not the first politician dedicated to fitness, but the Illinois senator starts every day with a morning work-out, whether it’s machines at the hotel gym or a brisk 45-minute run. He’s also quit smoking. Obama can be excused for enjoying the occasional state-fair corn dog because he mostly stays away from fatty foods."

"He’s wiry-looking but actually pretty strong."
Distractions The Obama campaign is seeking to preemptively declare what they unilaterally have decided -- with the implicit assistance of the media -- are the permissible rules for engagement of their gaffe-prone candidate? 

There are three basic components to the Obama "Distraction" Defense:

1.  The ordinary meaning of words spoken by the candidate, his supporters, surrogates and wife (especially his wife) are always to be placed in a larger "context" or dismissed as incidents of "misspeaking."

2.  Obama’s lack of significant experience is not to be held against him, but rather, we are to assess his qualifications based on his superior judgment.

3. Troublesome voluntary associations with nefarious, noxious and infamous characters are to be dismissed as trivial and unimportant.
Gaffes All it takes is one gaffe to taint a Republican for life.  The political establishment never let Dan Quayle live down his fateful misspelling of "potatoe."  The New York Times distorted and misreported the first President Bush’s questions about new scanner technology at a grocers’ convention to brand him permanently as out of touch.

But what about Barack Obama?  The guy’s a perpetual gaffe machine.  Let us count the ways, large and small, that his tongue has betrayed him throughout the campaign.

Michelle Malkin has an extensive list of Obama's gaffs, here.
Decemberists

From CNN to the New York Times, the media hyped Barack Obama's Portland, Oregon rally on Sunday, some comparing him to a rock star.

Unmentioned in national reporting was the fact that Obama was preceded by a rare, 45-minute free concert by the rockers, The Decemberists.  How odd that the mainstream media didn't tell us that a few of the 75,000 in attendance might have come for the music?
 


Obama in Oregon -- 75,000


Now it is revealed that the hugely popular indie rock band typically opens their concerts with the Soviet National Anthem.  The name Decemberists is a reference to the Decembrist Revolt of 1825 against the Russian monarchy.

And did the Obama rally begin with the Soviet National Anthem?  The concert went for 45 minutes and was widely pitched on Facebook etc.  But did the band trim their act to make it Obama-appropriate?

There's nothing wrong with a candidate using celebrity power to draw a crowd, but the media have a responsibility to report their presence.  By ignoring the free concert, the Times and other outlets made it appear that 75,000 people were drawn only by Obama's charisma.

Gaffes Obama's Gaffes Start To Pile Up.  Sounds like a headline from this week's newspapers, right?  Nope, it's from the Chicago Sun-Times over a year ago, March 28, 2007.  One of the most glaring gaffes mentioned is his claim that "because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge, [his parents] got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born."

The famous "Bloody Sunday" march over the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama took place on March 7, 1965.  Obama's parents "got together" around November, 1960 as he was born August 4, 1961.

Bear in mind that he made that claim in Selma to an audience commemorating the Selma march, the date of which was clear to everyone.

So Obama has been gaffe-ridden for some time.  Another beauty occurred on May 8, 2007: In a campaign speech, he said 10,000 people had died in a tornado that hit Greensburg, Kansas a few days earlier.  The death toll was 12.

In the past few weeks, however, the O-gaffes have been proliferating.

On April 28 in Wilmington, North Carolina, he thought the month was "March" and that it was "nine months to November."

On May 13 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, he claimed the war in Iraq was responsible for a shortage of interpreters in Afghanistan: "We only have a certain number of them and if they are all in Iraq, then it is harder for us to use them in Afghanistan."  Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish.  Afghans don't, speaking Pushtu, Dari, and various tribal languages.

On May 16 in a press conference, he claimed, "When Kennedy met Khrushchev, we were on the brink of nuclear war."  The two met in Vienna in June, 1961.  The Cuba Missile Crisis, which Obama claimed was resolved by the meeting, was in October 1962.

On May 18 in an interview to the Lexington (Ky) Herald-Leader, he said: "I'm not very well known" in Kentucky compared to Hillary because of her husband and "her coming from a nearby state of Arkansas."  Illinois -- the state he's a senator of -- borders Kentucky; Arkansas does not (Tennessee is in between).

The champion O-gaffe was committed on May 9 in Beaverton, Oregon.  You have to see it to believe he actually said that during his campaign, "I have now been to 57 states with one left to go and my staff won't let me go to Hawaii and Alaska."

No matter how exhausted from campaigning you are, you don't make a mistake like that under any normal circumstances.  Saying there are 57 states (the way he phrased it, actually 60 -- is such an egregiously stupid error that it is evidence of brain malfunction.

A neuroscientist with years of research into drug abuse and brain chemistry tells To The Point that the behavior exhibited by Obama is consistent with the use of either amphetamines or cocaine.

"His campaign's almost impossibly high level of activity, mental and physical, unrelenting day after day for month upon month is incredibly hard to maintain," he says. "The temptation to maintain it psycho-pharmacologically is great, especially for someone with a history of drug use.  The drugs of choice would be amphetamines or cocaine, which can cause amazing mistakes, errors of incredible stupidity."
Gaffes How many gaffes can a politician get away with?

Obviously none if you're a Republican -- remember Dan Quale and potatoe?

But Barack Obama can pretty much say anything and the media brushes it off.

Aren't double standards wonderful?

SUNRISE, Fla. -- At first, it seemed as if Barack Obama might just be speaking figuratively, as is his wont sometimes.  "How's it going, Sunshine?  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you everybody.  It's good to be in Sunshine!"  Obama declared on taking the stage this afternoon for a rally at the BankAtlantic Arena in Broward County, Fla., just west of Ft. Lauderdale.

But then he said it again, and again -- "When we are unified Sunshine, nobody can stop us!" -- and it became clear: Obama thought he was in Sunshine, Fla. But he was not. He was in Sunrise, Florida.

At four different points during the speech, Obama referred to the town as "Sunshine," as opposed to "Sunrise."

Amazingly, the crowd of 16,000 played along and no one corrected him.
Slow
Boating
The Washington Post cries "Swift Boating" in this article and reports:

"The following, and many other implausible accusations were offered by a group of conservatives yesterday -- including a living relic from the House Committee on Un-American Activities -- in a Capitol Hill basement.  The charges ranged from the absurd to the merely questionable, but anybody who watched the Swift Boat campaign of 2004 make John Kerry look like a war criminal knows that's not the point."

1.  That he was mentored in high school by a member of the Soviet-controlled Communist Party.

His name was Frank Marshall Davis.  Davis was a drinking companion of Obama's grandfather, Stanley.  Obama, himself, writes of his long and close relationship with Davis in "Dreams," although Obama only identifies him as "Frank."

2.  That he launched his Illinois state Senate campaign in the home of a terrorist and a killer.

Well, he did!  In 1995, during Obama’s first run, the unrepentant terrorists, Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn hosted a "Get to Know the Candidate, Obama" at their home.

3.  That while serving as a state senator, he was a member of a socialist front group.

During first run for the Illinois State Senate, Obama received the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) for the Illinois state senate seat.   Obama, himself, was an associate of the Chicago branch of the DSA.

4.  That his affiliations are so dodgy that he would have trouble getting a government security clearance.

As an ex-member of the US Army, Military Intelligence, Counter Intelligence, and charged with conducting personal background investigations (BI's) for security clearances, I can tell you that every red flag in the book would go off if Obama was ever subjected to a BI.

5.  That there is reason to doubt his "loyalty to the United States."

I guess the Post believes there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to doubt his loyalty -- none -- zero -- zilch.

And, there's a bunch of other allegations in this article that the Post discounts -- all of them HAVE BEEN DOCUMENTED in other forums.

According to the leftists in the media, Barack is without sin, as is appropriate for any messiah.
Gaffes Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama made another gaffe on the campaign trail Friday when he suggested at a luncheon hosted by the Cuban American National Foundation that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez came to power while George W. Bush was in the White House.

Chavez was first elected president in 1998, and reelected in 2000, both occurring while Bill Clinton was serving his second term.
Gaffes The gaffes continued this holiday weekend for the media's presidential candidate.

Confusing Sunrise, the Florida city he was speaking in on Friday, for someplace called "Sunshine" -- four times -- as well as identifying the wrong president in the White House when Hugo Chavez took over Venezuela, Barack Obama talked about seeing dead people in the audience during a Memorial Day speech in Las Cruces, New Mexico. (video)

"On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes -- and I see many of them in the audience here today -- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong."

Tee-hee!  -- This guy's seeing dead people, and folks are worried about McCain developing Alzheimer's?

To be sure, none of this will harm Obama's campaign, because outside of the rightosphere, conservative talk radio, and Fox News, nobody will report this.

It must be nice for a presidential candidate to be able to say whatever he wants with complete protection from the media, so much so that dead Soviet premiers must be rolling over in their graves wondering why they didn't have it this good.

Update (5/27) -- More media hanky-panky -- In a report on "CNN’s Election Center," correspondent Joe Johns used that Obama sound bite in a piece on the candidate’s "polling problem on patriotism -- but snipped out the part where Obama seemed to be seeing ghosts.
Sensitivity During Wednesday's, "The O'Reilly Factor," Dennis Miller described Barack Obama's sensitivity to any criticism:

"I don’t even notice the color of his skin.  I do notice the thinness of it, though."
Hate
Speech
Here are screen shots of pages that the Obama campaign had to delete from its official web site (My.BarackObama.com) because they contained testimonials, endorsements and hate-speech from communists, socialists and other anti-American and anti-Semitic organizations and individuals.

This stuff has been up there for months -- no surprise -- since Obama's official blogger, Sam Graham-Felsen, has spent time in France participating in labor riots, has written for a socialist magazine, hung a communist flag in his home, and was a fan of Marx while at Harvard.
Axelrod And just look at who is on a fundraising committee for the racist Fr. Pleger's church.

 


 

MoveOn.org founder David Axelrod helped Obama win his U.S. Senate seat in 2004 and currently serves as strategist and media adviser to Obama’s presidential campaign.  He is Obama's Karl Rove.

White
Women
According to a new report by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, half of Democratic, white women now have a negative perception of Obama.

Forty-nine percent of white women view Obama unfavorably, while only 43 percent hold a favorable opinion.  In February, 36 percent of these women viewed Obama unfavorably, while 56 percent had a positive perception of the likely Democratic nominee.

Over the same period, Democratic white women’s negative view of Obama increased from 21 percent to 35 percent, while their positive view decreased from 72 percent to 60 percent -- roughly the same rate as white women overall.
Like
Jimmah
TIME Magazine notes the similarities between Jimmy Carter and Obama:

Of the two likely nominees this year, Obama is closest to Carter in background and policy leanings.  The parallels between his campaign so far and the one Carter ran in 1976 are striking.  Like Carter, Obama had little national experience when he started to run.  Neither was given much chance of winning the nomination.  Instead of running on a detailed platform, Carter told crowds that what Washington needed was "a government as good as its people" -- just as Obama promises "change we can believe in."

And like Carter, an Obama administration will fail in confronting Iranian aggression.
People
Lie
Billings, Montana -- The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told a few hundred supporters gathered at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center, "The way this campaign has been run is the way we need to be forever," Obama said.  "Don't trust bloggers or someone else's opinion, because people lie."

Michelle doesn't identify which people she accuses of lying -- maybe she means the campaign's media adviser and strategist, David Axelrod.



David Axelrod lies about Obama’s pre-surge position  (01:32


Postscript -- From the Washington Post, June 1st -- There's been a relative lull in news coverage and debate about Iraq in recent weeks -- which is odd, because May could turn out to have been one of the most important months of the war.

While Washington’s attention has been fixed elsewhere, military analysts have watched with astonishment as the Iraqi government and army have gained control for the first time of the port city of Basra and the sprawling Baghdad neighborhood of Sadr City, routing the Shiite militias that have ruled them for years and sending key militants scurrying to Iran.

At the same time, Iraqi and U.S. forces have pushed forward with a long-promised offensive in Mosul, the last urban refuge of al-Qaeda.  So many of its leaders have now been captured or killed that U.S. Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker, renowned for his cautious assessments, said that the terrorists have "never been closer to defeat than they are now."

Obama, who has zilch in the experience department, has been running on his "superior judgment" instead.  This video proves that Obama's judgment in military affairs is as bad as his judgment of the people surrounding him (Wright, Pfleger, Meeks, Ayers, Dohrn and his media adviser, Axelrod, the founder of MoveOn.org).

Without From William Bennett:

The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of George McGovern, albeit without McGovern’s military and political record.

The Democratic party is about to nominate a far-left candidate in the tradition of Michael Dukakis, albeit without Dukakis’s executive experience as governor.

The Democratic party is about to nominate a far left candidate in the tradition of John Kerry, albeit without Kerry’s record of years of service in the Senate.

The Democratic party is about to nominate an unvetted candidate in the tradition of Jimmy Carter, albeit without Jimmy Carter’s religious integrity.
Wow! Last night Barack Obama broke all records for campaign promises, with one of the most over the top self-aggrandizing statements ever uttered by a presidential candidate.

"I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal."

"... when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal" -- does this guy really believe the bullsh!t coming out of his mouth? -- if he does, he's insane!
Messiah The San Francisco Chronicle's Mark Morford, buys into the Obamamessiah mania by writing:

"Many spiritually advanced people I know (not coweringly religious, mind you, but deeply spiritual) identify Obama as a Lightworker, that rare kind of attuned being who has the ability to lead us not merely to new foreign policies or health care plans or whatnot, but who can actually help usher in a new way of being on the planet, of relating and connecting and engaging with this bizarre earthly experiment.  These kinds of people actually help us evolve.  They are philosophers and peacemakers of a very high order, and they speak not just to reason or emotion, but to the soul."


Experience Dhimmicrats assess Obama's experience:

Sen. Biden: ABC's George Stephanopoulos: "You were asked is he ready.  You said 'I think he can be ready, but right now I don't believe he is.  The presidency is not something that lends itself to on-the-job training.'"  (ABC's "This Week," 8/19/07)

Sen. Biden: "Having talking points on foreign policy doesn't get you there."  ("Biden Lashes Out At Obama," ABC News' "Political Radar" Blog, blogs.abcnews.com, 8/2/07)

Sen. Dodd: "Over the past several days. ... Senator Obama's assertions about foreign and military affairs have been, frankly, confusing and confused.  He has made threats he should not make and made unwise categorical statements about military options."  (Anne E. Kornblut, "Obama Again Stirs Up Rivals With Statement On Use Of Nukes," The Washington Post's "The Trail" Blog

Sen. Clinton: "Senator McCain will bring a time of experience to the campaign.  I will bring a lifetime of experience and Senator Obama will bring a speech he gave in 2002."  (CNN's "Newsroom," 3/8/08)

Sen. Dodd: "If you're making a mistake today, you ought to stand up and say so.  It was a mistake in my view to suggest somehow that going in unilaterally here, into Pakistan, was somehow in our interest.  That, I think, is dangerous.  And I don't retreat from that at all."  (Sen. Chris Dodd, MSNBC AFL-CIO Presidential Candidates Forum, Chicago, IL, 8/7/07)

Former Gov. Tom Vilsack: "I must say that after reading and reviewing Senator Obama's comments, I have found them to be condescending and disappointing and they reflect in my view a very flawed reading and understanding of people who live in small towns in Pennsylvania and across the United States. Press Release, 4/12/08
Gaffes


The affirmative action candidate on the hustings -- this guy is clueless  (00:40)

Gaffes


The faker makes his 4,087th gaffe of the campaign -- "breathalyzer" (00:30)


Obama, the youngest of all the candidates, has repeatedly used the excuse of fatigue or being tired to explain away his gaffes.  What is this guy going to do when he needs to do a three or four-dayer because of a national emergency -- take naps or snort coke?

The "old man" McCain has more energy that this putz and will absolutely clean his clock in a town hall debate format -- not only does Obama not know what he is talking about without his "Cliffs Notes" -- he can't even fake it well -- Obama is an embarrassment.

I Googled -- Obama tired fatigue (no quotes) -- Google returned 97,900 results.  Just take a look at the first page or two.  He has repeatedly used this excuse for his gaffes.  If he really tires as easy as it appears, Obama has some kind of health problem.

Website


Obama's official website is loaded with communists, socialist, jihadists and anti-Americans of all stripes.  You really won't believe this stuff.  Click image to see who is supporting Obama and what they have to say in support of his candidacy.

Minions Obama and his minions have been beating the "McCain would be Bush's third term" drum for weeks now.

Yesterday, John McCain answered this foolishness with the following comment:

"Senator Obama says that I’m running for Bush’s third term.  It seems to me he’s running for Jimmy Carter’s second."
The
Birth
Certificate
Most of the blogs and news sites that I visited this AM are buzzing over the reluctance of the Obama Campaign to release a copy of Obama's birth certificate.

The St. Petersburg Times, a generally dhimmicratic organ, asked for the birth certificate and reported the result of their inquiry -- "We tried to obtain a copy of Obama’s birth certificate, but his campaign would not release it and the state of Hawaii does not make such records public."

Of course, this obfuscation only heightens speculation that something nefarious if going on -- again? --still?
Judgment The Obamamessiah has bee touting his judgment as his biggest asset.  Here are some examples of his superior judgment:

 

The Rev Jeremiah "God damn America" Wright -- mentor
 

The Rev. Michael "Vanilla Ice" Pfleger -- spiritual advisor
 

Rev. James "We don't have mayors, we have slave masters" Meeks -- spiritual counsel
 

William "unrepentent terrorist" Ayers and his wife, Bernadine "the bomb-thrower" Dohrn -- employer and friend
 

Frank "OK, I'm a communist -- it doesn't make me a bad person" Marshall Davis -- mentor
 

Tony "convicted swindler and fixer" Rezko -- friend and business associate

 

Now, one of Obama's hand-picked members of his vice presidential search committee, James Johnson, has had to quit after a newspaper reported that he may have received $7 million in preferential mortgage terms from Countrywide Financial Corp.

Johnson, the former chairman of Fannie Mae, received special deals on mortgages from Angelo Mozilo, the chief executive officer of Countrywide, the biggest U.S. home lender, the Wall Street Journal reported on June 7.

The newspaper reported this morning that Johnson "was the beneficiary of accounting in which Fannie Mae’s earnings were manipulated so that executives could earn larger bonuses.  The accounting manipulation for 1998 resulted in the maximum payouts to Fannie Mae’s senior executives -- $1.9 million in Johnson’s case -- when the company’s performance that year would have otherwise resulted in no bonuses at all."

Obama defended his superior judgment by saying, "I am not vetting my VP search committee for their mortgages,'' during a news conference in St. Louis, and defended his campaign's ties to Johnson, an unpaid adviser, saying it wasn't realistic to think aides would be doing extensive checks on everyone connected with his campaign -- LOL, I'll say -- his campaign is loaded with Marxists and other assorted left-wingers!

Johnson's role at Fannie Mae, where he was chairman from 1991-99, has also come under scrutiny.  The Washington Post reported today that executives of the Washington-based company were concerned in 2004 that a consulting arrangement they had with Johnson would be publicized in confirmation hearings.

Another of Obama's hand-picked member of the committee, former Deputy U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, has also come under fire.

The criticism Thursday centered on Obama adviser Eric H. Holder Jr., who is scrutinizing candidates to be the Democratic presumptive presidential nominee’s running mate.  As deputy attorney general under President Clinton, Mr. Holder reviewed the last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich.

Charged with 51 counts of fraud, tax evasion and illegally trading with Iran, Mr. Rich fled to Switzerland in 1983 but won a pardon from Mr. Clinton in 2001.  The decision prompted a congressional investigation because Mr. Rich’s wife was a major Democratic donor and prosecutors said they were never consulted.

Indicted by then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Rich failed to return to the U.S. following the indictment and was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for several years.  Mr. Holder had given a “neutral, leaning towards favorable” opinion of the pardon that led directly to the pardoning of Mr. Rich on Mr. Clinton’s last day in office.

That leaves Carolyn Kennedy -- a nice lady -- but she has absolutely no business picking vice presidents.



"One of the most important decision I can make"  (01:10)

 

My favorite line is this:  "These aren't folks who are working for me" -- well, Obama, who are they working for -- George Soros?


If you're looking for a man with superior judgment -- the Obamamessiah is your man -- /sarcasm off/

Post
Turtle
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Texas rancher, whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man.

Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'post turtle'."

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him, "what's a 'post turtle'?  The old rancher replied, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'."

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain.

"You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just wonder what kind of a dumb ass put him up there!."
Town-Hall
Debates
Obama continues to run away from John McCain and his invitation to 10 town-hall debates.

Without his teleprompter and/or his 3 X 5 cards, Obama is gaffe-prone and subject to going brain dead during his speaking engagements (see videos below -- 6/7/08).

Obama's handlers know that McCain would eat his lunch in an open, voter-driven format.

The more intimate town-hall format would allow real interaction with voters and would be more revealing than formal televised debates where Obama's toadies in the press would control the event and the questions.

The Obama camp hardly seems courageous.  They only want their candidate to participate in a free-form debate on July 4th, when most people will be on vacation and taking a well-earned respite from politics? 

It seems that hope and change do not bring testicular fortitude.  Why not just do it at 2 am and have it televised on C-SPAN 3, or ESPN 2?
Stunner Delegate’s reversal stuns party.

As an avid supporter of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Debra Bartoshevich is not alone in her frustration over Clinton's defeat.

She’s not alone in refusing to support Barack Obama, and she’s not entirely alone in saying she’ll vote this fall for Republican John McCain instead.

But what makes her unusual is that she holds these views as an elected delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Denver this summer.

"I’m sure people are going to be upset with me," said Bartoshevich, a 41-year-old emergency room nurse from Waterford in Racine County, and convention delegate pledged to Clinton.
No
Muslims
In separate incidents, two Muslim women, at Barack Obama’s rally in Detroit Monday, were barred from sitting behind the podium by campaign volunteers seeking to prevent the women’s headscarves from appearing in photographs or on television with the candidate.

The first incident began when the volunteer asked Aref’s friend Ali Koussan and two other friends, Aref’s brother Sharif and another young lawyer, Brandon Edward Miller, whether they would like to sit behind the stage.

The volunteer "explained to me that because of the political climate and what’s going on in the world and what’s going on with Muslim Americans it’s not good for her to be seen on TV or associated with Obama."

There was second event of discrimination.

Shimaa Abdelfadeel’s story was different.  She’d waited on line outside the Joe Louis Arena for three hours in the sun, and was walking through the giant hall when a volunteer approached two of her non-Muslim friends, a few steps ahead of her, and asked if they’d like to sit in "special seating" at the back of the stage, said one friend, Brittany Marino, who like Abdelfadeel is a recent University of Michigan graduate who works for the university.

When they said they were with Abdelfadeel, the volunteer told them their friend would have to take the headscarf off or stay out of the special section, Marino said.  They declined the seats.

The irony of it all is just so rich!  Obama is trying to kill the "He’s a Muslim" meme.  The visual of him with Muslim women is bad for his campaign.

UPDATE:  One of the hijab-encrusted, rejected whiners, Hebba Aref, was an official of the Muslim Students Association (MSA), in charge of proselytizing.  The Chicago Tribune identified the MSA as part of the American manifestation of the Sunni terrorist group, Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen -- The Muslim Brotherhood.  Aref served on the executive board of the University of Michigan-Dearborn's MSA, which demanded and obtained tax-funded Muslim foot baths at that university.

Aref was not just any officer of the U-M Dearborn Muslim group.  She was in charge of Dawa, or proselytizing, from 2000 to 2003 at the school.  Yup, she was the chief "Conversion to Islam" officer at one of the most pan-Islamist college campuses in the country.

Shimaa Abdelfadeel, the other woman allegedly excluded by the Obama campaign, was chair of SAFE, a University of Michigan-Ann Arbor group that hosted the 2002 Divestment Conference against Israel at which "Annihilate the Jews!" was chanted and Islamic Jihad founder Sami Al-Arian was keynote speaker.  She's the author of vehement anti-Israel vitriol and propaganda.
Great Seal
Of Obama
The "Great Seal of Obama" debuted on Obama's podium Friday, sporting iconography used in the U.S. presidential seal, the blue background, the eagle clutching arrows on left and olive branch on right, but with symbolic differences.  Instead of the Latin 'E pluribus unum' (Out of many, one), Obama's says 'Vero Possumus', rough Latin for 'Yes, we can.'  Instead of 'Seal of the President of the United States', Obama's Web site address is listed.  And instead of a shield, Obama's eagle wears his 'O' campaign logo.
 


The Law:  18 USC Sec. 713 ...

(a) Whoever knowingly displays any printed or other likeness of the great seal of the United States, or of the seals of the President or the Vice President of the United States, or the seal of the United States Senate, or the seal of the United States House of Representatives, or the seal of the United States Congress, or any facsimile thereof, in, or in connection with, any advertisement, poster, circular, book, pamphlet, or other publication, public meeting, play, motion picture, telecast, or other production, or on any building, monument, or stationery, for the purpose of conveying, or in a manner reasonably calculated to convey, a false impression of sponsorship or approval by the Government of the United States or by any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

(b) Whoever, except as authorized under regulations promulgated by the President and published in the Federal Register, knowingly manufactures, reproduces, sells, or purchases for resale, either separately or appended to any article manufactured or sold, any likeness of the seals of the President or Vice President, or any substantial part thereof, except for manufacture or sale of the article for the official use of the Government of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

This is just small Change -- wait until you see the Change he has planned for the country, when he and the loony left Congress implements American socialism.

Update:  Like the man says, he insists on the suppression of ego; he just didn’t realize it might come off as egotistical to debut his very own presidential seal until his friends and allies in the media politely informed him of it.  And so under the bus it goes, assuming there’s any room left under there with Wright, Pfleger, Rezko and who knows who else crowded in.

COLB Obama's birth certificate has become an issue on the Internet.

Before the Obama campaign starts whining about this issue being an unfair "distraction," remember, John McCain underwent intense scrutiny of his citizenship status because of his birth in the Panama Canal Zone, leading the Senate to declare him a natural-born citizen in April.

At one point, PolitiFact.com, operated by the St. Petersburg Times, tried to obtain a copy of Obama’s birth certificate, but his campaign would not release it and the state of Hawaii does not make such records public.  On June 12, 2008, the Obama campaign finally e-mailed a copy of the senator's birth certificate to PolitiFact.

At the same time, the Obama Campaign released a copy of Obama's birth certificate to Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, operator of the Daily Kos, as noted on this site on June 12th.

Now there is a copy on the official Obama Campaign website, under the page title, "The truth about Barack's birth certificate."

The document that is currently making the rounds is a "Certification Of Live Birth" or COLBIt is NOT a "Birth Certificate."

The Hawaii State Department of Health (HSDH) confirms the following:

1. Certified copies of birth are NEVER sent electronically.  Copies can be requested by qualified individuals in person, by mail, or on line; and the Vital Records (VR) office will MAIL the Certification of Live Birth within 4 to 6 weeks.

2. Certifications of Live Birth will ALWAYS include an embossed seal and a stamped signature.

3. The Vital Records office will NEVER black out the certification number.

The following observations and questions can be seen on many sites:

1. Obama's "Certification Of Live Birth" and a "Certification Of Live Birth" for Patricia Decosta are printed on the same form, identified in the lower left corner as, "OHSM 1.1 (Rev. 11/01) LASER."  This document identification means that this form was revised and approved in November, 2001 for use with laser printers, and would have been produced by the HSDH VR office after November 2001.  However, if they are the same revision of the document, would they have such a vastly different border hatching?  Would the revision numbers on the bottom of the certificates look different?

Please note:  Both certificates come up in half-size format -- clicking them will expand the certificates to original size.

2. In the lower left section, Obama’s document contains the legend "Date Filed By Registrar."  Decosta's certificate contains the legend, "Date Accepted By State Registrar."  If they were both produced on the same document revision, why is the language different?

3. Decosta’s "Certificate No.," in the upper right region, is not altered.  Obama’s is blacked out with a clean-edged block.  When was this done, by whom, and why would a birth certificate number be a secret?  Again, this is never done by the HSDH.  Also, note that the words: "ANY ALTERATIONS INVALIDATE THIS CERTIFICATE" -- blacking out the number invalidates Obama's document.

4. Decosta’s shows an embossed seal in the lower center region; Obama’s has no embossed seal.  Again, HSDH says certifications never leave the office without one.

5. Decosta’s shows a stamp with signature in the lower left region; Obama’s does not.  Again, a violation of HSDH standard procedure.

6. Obama’s "father’s race" is shown as "African."  There is no such race and many have found this odd, given that it’s not descriptive for race -- hell, John Kerry's wife is "African" and she's as white as snow.  According to HSDH VR, the certificate should use the descriptive, "Black."

7. Decosta's certificate appears to show in the lower center region a faint date, such as the kind produced by a standard ink-pad stamp purchased in any office supply store.  Obama's does not. Maybe this is supposed to be the date that the certification was approved, or mailed?

8. The font on Decosta’s is much bolder than that on Obama’s.

9. Decosta’s reveals fold marks, which you’d expect from a mailed document; Obama’s shows no signs of being mailed, or otherwise handled, as if it was never printed but transmitted electronically (and if that’s the case, how was the certificate number blacked out?).

10. In order for a document to be a certified document, from a court or any government office, it would have an official seal, of some type, and also a stamped legend stating that the copy was a "true copy" of the original document of record and was ALWAYS signed by a records official .

Looking at the Decosta document, this legend is clearly seen to the lower left of the seal.  The Obama document does not have this legend.  Therefore, it is probably not a "certified document."

Since Obama is running for the presidency, proof of birth could fall under the Freedom of Information Act, because Hawaii had only been a state for two years and verifying the location and date of his birth is important to the Constitutional requirements of eligibility.

The birth history and ancestry of the person taking this office should be crystal clear.  In fact, Obama's is NOT crystal clear.  Everything we know, or think we know about Obama is based entirely on his autobiographic fable.

There may be nothing here. On the other hand . . .
Update:  You can download a blank Hawaiian birth certificate template on photo bucket and fill it in.
 

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m35/opendna/HI_birthcert.jpg?t=1213561049 (http://s277.photobucket.com/albums/kk71/daisydannymom/?action=view¤t=HI_birthcert.jpg&newest=1)
 

If you look at the template on photo bucket it’s blank except for two entries. Hour of Birth: 7:24 pm and OAJU.


Isn’t it a coincidence that Obama was born at 7:24 pm the same time that’s on the blank form?

Another Update Obama stonewalls on uncertified birth certificate, official doubts mount.

Killer UpdateProof positive that Photoshop was used on the BC image posted in the Daily Kos.

Latest Update:  This guy is taking it seriously.  He's going after the State of Hawaii to release the original birth certificate and he makes some really, really good arguments.

Even Later Update:  *Breaking* Techdude Finds Original Text on Alleged Obama Birth Certificate.  The "smoking gun" that will be conclusive in proving that the Certificate of Live Birth (COLB) proffered by Barack Obama on his official campaign website is fake.

Manchurian
Candidate
Have you noticed a change in Barack Obama’s campaign?  Instead of avoiding controversies over values, religion and race, he seems to welcome them and wade into the debates with an increasing enthusiasm.

Characterizing how the Republicans will attack him, he predicted that they would criticize his "funny name" and add "and by the way, did you notice that he’s black?"

Obama used to go out of his way to avoid this kind of reference, but now he brings it on.  Deliberately.

Why?

Obama and the conservative right are mutually trying to keep the debate about his candidacy on the existential level -- is he the hope for America’s future or a Manchurian Candidate, a kind of sleeper agent sent to destroy our democracy?  That debate, which pits Obama’s rhetoric against the Rev. Wright’s rants, is a contest that could go on all day, and Obama would win it.  It is simply a bridge too far to believe that Obama is that evil and that invidious.

But the more the debate covers such fundamental questions, the more it ignores the details -- details which could bring Obama down.

Quite simply, Obama would rather address his religious views and his optimism about America and his embrace of diversity than talk about his plans to raise taxes, let gasoline prices soar and socialize healthcare.

Read more . . .
Arrogance

I'm A
Blank
Obama is an introspective candidate, and perhaps the best analyst of his own political style.  "I serve as a blank screen," he wrote in "The Audacity of Hope," "on which people of vastly different political stripes project their own views."

That's just what America needs in these perilous times, a "blank screen."

Ahmadinejad is going to like that when he negotiates with Obama.  First, Obama wants no preconditions, and second, he is a "blank screen" upon which Ahmadinejad can project his own views.
Beckwith
Responds
Beckwith responds to The Washington Post.

The first thing I have to say about "An Attack That Came Out of the Ether," published by The Washington Post on June 28th, is that at NO time was I ever contacted by this woman, Danielle Allen, from Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS).  I spoke to two male Post reporters, who spoke to me over the phone for a period of months.  The first contact was in the fall of 2007.  They told me they were trying to track down the source of emails they considered negative to the Obamamessiah.

Allen, who is an Obama shill from Chicago and who has contributed $2,750 to Obama (going back to 2004), obsesses about the "Muslim" Obama stories, but steers clear of Obama's relationships with communists, Marxists, socialists, terrorists, racist reverends and convicted swindlers.  The trick she attempts to use is to knock down one or two or three items so the other four thousand don't count.

The following notice appears on my website's "About" page: "I don't write this stuff -- I cherry-pick it and publish it here -- every attempt is made to provide attribution and/or links to the original source -- if you don't like the writer's viewpoint -- send them an email -- not me.  If the reader finds content that is incorrect, I will correct or delete it upon the submission of two links to an independent source with more accurate information."

And I mean just that and I do just that.  I want The Obama File to be able to withstand the type of attack that Allen attempts in this article.

I was quoted as saying, "If 20 percent of what's on my Web site is true, this guy is a clear and present danger," the report left out out the entire statement.  I told her reporters that I believed that The Obama File content was better than 95% accurate, but that If 20 percent of what's on my Web site is true, this guy is a clear and present danger.  I still believe that.

Allen writes, "There was 'Beckwith,' whom she pegged as a veteran from Boston, old enough to vote for John F. Kennedy, in uniform by 1964 (I got out in '64), and host of a Web site that devotes considerable space to an 'Obama file' that says the senator is 'by birth, blood and training, a Muslim.'"

That statement is true.  Just ask Obama's sister Maya.  In an interview with the New York Times, published on April 30th, 2007, Maya Soetoro-Ng, Obama’s younger half sister, told the Times, "My whole family was Muslim, and most of the people I knew were Muslim."

I assume Maya thinks of her brother, Obama, as a member of her family?

Even if Maya didn't make such a statement.  Islam is patrilinear.  The son of a Muslim is a Muslim (birth, blood) and Obama did study Islam, the Quran and the Hadith at the Besuki Primary School in Jakarta, Indonesia for two years (training).   Further, he attended mengaji classes where he studied the Quran in its native Arabic (more training).

In his autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," Obama, himself, mentions studying the Quran and describes the public school as "a Muslim school."  He wrote, "In the Muslim school, the teacher wrote to tell mother I made faces during Koranic studies."

According to Tine Hahiyary, one of Obama's teachers and the principal from 1971 through 1989, Barry actively took part in the Islamic religious lessons during his time at the school.  His teacher was named Maimunah and she lived in the Puncak area, the Cianjur Regency.

"I remembered that he had studied "mengaji" (recitation of the Quran)" Tine said.

These facts can account for the startling statement Obama made on February 27th, 2007, when he said the Muslim call to prayer was "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth."

In an interview with Nicholas Kristof, published in The New York Times, Obama recited the Muslim call to prayer, the Adhan, "with a first-class [Arabic] accent."

The opening lines of the Adhan (Azaan) is the Shahada:

Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
Allah is Supreme! Allah is Supreme!
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that there is no god but Allah
I witness that Muhammad is his prophet...

According to Islamic scholars, reciting the Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith, makes one a Muslim. This simple yet profound statement expresses a Muslim's complete acceptance of, and total commitment to, the message of Islam.

Obama knows this from his Quranic studies -- and he knows the New York Times will publish this fact and it will be seen throughout the Islamic world.

Regardless of Obama's religion, what message is he sending the world's 1.2 billion Muslims?

I suppose it's easy for Obama to remember the Shahada for the 35 years since he left Indonesia -- and in 'first-class' Arabic -- especially since he believes the Muslim call to prayer is "one of the prettiest sounds on Earth." -- no matter what religion he belongs to, those Muslim prayers must run through his head, and often -- what does that really make him?

And although I do have a Boston accent, of which I'm proud (you can hear it on the webcast at the link on the main page), Allen gets in a little ethnic stereotyping by calling my accent a "... thick Boston brogue" -- Bostonians don't have brogues -- my antecedents from Ireland do -- it's a good thing I don't have a chip on my shoulder and charge "racism" at such obvious stereotyping -- like some folks might.

And there is no "unnamed 'colleague' in Europe" -- that's probably my friend and fellow FReeper, ExpatGuy, who operates the "An American Expat in Southeast Asia" blog (a truly great resource about Obama's time in Indonesia).  But, what the heck, Europe, Southeast Asia, they're all foreign places-- ya' seen one, ya' seen 'em all.

Allen is also incorrect when she writes, "His initial goal was to take swats at the liberal left.  'Then this new guy comes along called Obama,' he said." -- All one has to do is to read the "About" page on my website to get it right -- "The Obama File is a spinoff of www.FreedomsEnemies.com where it started out as a single page.  Freedom's Enemies documents the relationship between the political left and Islamofascism.  Along comes Obama -- with a foot in each camp -- and The Obama File just evolved.

The reason I spun off The Obama File is that I did not want the name, Freedoms Enemies, to be a pejorative to the information I was compiling on Obama.

This sentence is also false -- "Beckwith said he built a Web site that features hundreds of pages of material intended to undermine Obama." -- There are 18 subject area pages on my website.  Because I take pains to document and provide attribution for everything, those 18 pages link to thousands of source articles, primarily from mainstream media sources (including The Washington Post), and my intention is not to "undermine" poor Barry -- just like it says on my "About" page -- it is to "oppose the most liberal (read "left-wing") member of the U. S. Senate sitting in the Oval Office" -- and there is No requirement to be fair and balanced -- this is an opposition website.

I suppose it could have been more of a hatchet job, but what amazes me is Allen's obsession with the Muslim thing -- that rumor is more than a year old and has been fed by Obama and members of his family more than anyone else.  If she wants to know where the "Muslim rumors" came from, she should look towards Obama.

Had Obama just come out at the beginning of his campaign and simply stated that he had spent a couple of years as a child in Islamic studies as the result of having a Muslim step-father, but has since moved away from Islam, he wouldn't have to deal with this issue.

Instead he insists on his official website, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, "Obama Has Never Been A Muslim" -- and that's simply not true.

 

It's Obama's own mendacity and dissimulation that is his problem and Obama is the source of that problem -- not me or the others that Allen has chosen to attack.
 

What I want to know is why she isn't knocking down stories about Obama's relationship with communists, Marxists, socialists, terrorists, convicted swindlers, and don't forget the racist Reverends -- Wright, Pfleger, Meeks and Moss.

 

Could it be that those long-term relationships are just too easy to document?


Danielle S. Allen is Dean of Humanities and a Professor of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of Chicago (where Obama taught) and the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), at Princeton.

She is a past member of the Obama Campaign, resigning the day before she began this investigation.  She is a maximum contributor to the Obama Campaign ($2,750) and is probably violating federal law by using tax-exempt facilities and her grant money to do opposition research for the Obama Campaign?

She is hardly an  independent investigator, but more likely a friend of Obama from Chicago -- I wonder where she goes to church?

The Washington Post is silent on these critical details.

But it is kinda cool that this website is now one of "the most vexing problems in the universe."

And Matthew Mosk, whose byline the article appears under, is the reporter who wrote about FreeRepublic.com's (FR) "involvement" with a "smear campaign" against Maryland's notorious governor, Martin O'Malley.  Mosk got himself caught up in the story, known as the nefarious MD4Bush scandal,
so much so that he is rumored to have had an FR screen name at one point.

What is known for sure is that somebody at the Washington Post was participating in the O'Malley threads; and then, lo and behold, the Washington Post's Matthew Mosk writes an "expose" about FreeRepublic.com!

So, one has to wonder about this new attempt by the Washington Post's Matthew Mosk and this think tank woman to smear FreeRepublic.com and the rest of us -- all conservative, and all in opposition to the Obama candidacy.

How did Danielle Allen find Matthew Mosk to write this piece?  Or did Matthew Mosk feed the FR threads to Allen, and then "discover" her investigation?

Legendary Chicago Internet columnist and Obama author Andy Martin, another of Allen's targets has some interesting observations on Allen, Mosk and The Washington Post -- and here is an update -- "Washington Post "Obama girl" Danielle Allen; the mystery woman in her own words."

Read the National Review Online's take on the Washington Post article.

At least the Washington Post could have put a link to my website somewhere in this article so their readers could judge "The Obama File" for themselves.

Update -- Reader, Stanley V. makes several interesting observations:

Dr. Allen seemed impressed with the level of technical proficiency required to launch an electronic smear campaign.  Do these emails exist or is this just an excuse to try and discount the information content of your site.  For someone advertised as having, "the classicist's careful attention to texts and language with the political theorist's sophisticated and informed engagement" her article sadly seemed to talk a lot about nothing.  What did these emails say, that he was a Muslim?  He was educated to be Muslim, was that point lost on Dr. Allen?

Perhaps, Dr Allen would like to discount all sources of information, web or email based, as suspect, if they are negative towards Obama, since there are obviously sophisticated internet conspirators that are following a schooling fish model acting to confuse and mislead the easily manipulated American voter.  From the IAS towers we may be too stupid to be allowed to make up our own minds based on the information from both sides.

It’s interesting that she was put up as the author of this article after the fact it needed the IAS logo, otherwise it would have no credibility.  I can understand that a candidate would want a fair chance to offer a rebuttal to an email that has false content, but as the reader I didn’t see any rebuttal.  I was left with the underlying message to disregard any negative information about the candidate, and the subtle reminder that I’m too ignorant to be able to spot a false and fabricated email if there ever was one.  How do I know if the email if fabricated if the Washington Post won’t publish it along with the article that references it?  If it’s fabricated why not reference the claims and demonstrate why they are false.  This comes back to the audience is felt to be too limited to follow logic.

Google Google shuts down anti-Obama sites on its blogger platform.

It looks like Google has officially joined the Obama campaign and decided that its contribution would be to shut down any blog on the Google owned Blogspot.com blogging system that has an anti-Obama message.  Yes, it sure seems that Google has begun to go through its many thousands of blogs to lock out the owners of anti-Obama blogs so that the noObama message is effectively squelched.  Thus far, Google has terminated the access by blog owners to 7 such sites and the list may be growing.  Boy, it must be nice for Obama to have an ally powerful enough to silence his opponents like that!

It turns out that there is an interesting pattern where it concerns the blogs that Google's Blogspot team have summarily locked down on their service.  They all belong to the Just Say No Deal coalition, a group of blogs that are standing against the Obama campaign.  It seems the largest portion of these blogs are Hillary supporting blogs, too.

All I can say is, WOW!  If Google is willing to abuse its power like this even against fellow leftists, what does it plan against conservatives, the folks Google hates even more!?

Here is a list of the Blogspot blogs that have been frozen by Google thus far:

Blue Lyon @ http://bluelyon.blogspot.com
Come A Long Way @ http://comealongway.blogspot.com
Hillary or Bust @ http://hillaryorbust.blogspot.com
McCain Democrats @ http://mccaindemocrats.blogspot.com
NObama Blog @ http://nobamablog.blogspot.com
politicallizard.blogspot.com @ http://thelizardannex.blogspot.com
Reflections in Tyme @ http://reflections-in-tyme.blogspot.com
Whoa! Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must "kiss my ass" for his support.
Strategies Dreams From His Grandmother -- Ten general-election strategies Obama can use to disguise his hard-left views, by Victor Davis Hanson.

"I think we are beginning to see the full measure of the Obama general campaign strategy, framed along ten or so key directives that can allow the election of the most leftward candidate in American political history."

"So far the candidate himself needs no coaching, inasmuch he has proved to be one of the most pragmatic, flexible, and ambitious figures in recent memory, with superb handlers who understand the challenge of getting such a hard leftist past the suspicious American electorate."

VDH's ten strategies are here.
Eloquence As always when Obama waxes "eloquent," the media swooned.  And, as always, the Missouri speech raised interesting questions if you actually read it.

The implicit premise of the speech was that Obama's patriotism is being widely questioned.  As far as I've seen, that isn't true.  What has happened is that Obama's judgment and political ideology have been questioned because he has chosen to associate himself closely with people who manifestly are not patriotic, like Bill Ayers and Jeremiah Wright.

In his speech today, Obama said that America "is the greatest country on Earth."  I'm happy to assume he means it, although whether Obama ever means what he says is an open question.  But how, then, did Jeremiah "God damn America" Wright become Obama's spiritual guardian for twenty years?  And how do we reconcile Obama's "greatest country on earth" rhetoric with the cynical comment by his political sponsor Bill Ayers on Ayers' own acquittal: "Guilty as sin, free as a bird.  What a great country!"  Obama failed to acknowledge, let alone answer, the questions that are raised by these associations.

Then there's this gaffe:

I remember, when living for four years in Indonesia as a child, I listened to my mother reading me the first lines of the Declaration of Independence, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they're endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

I would have thought that pretty much everyone -- certainly every Presidential speechwriter, and every Harvard Law School graduate! -- knows that these are not the "first lines" of the Declaration, which begins, "When in the course of human events....

What, exactly, accounts for the fact that Obama is not a laughingstock?

Finally, this:

"As we begin our fourth century as a nation, it is easy to take the extraordinary nature of America for granted."

"Fourth century?"  The United States of America came into being in 1789.  We have just recently begun our third century.  I suppose Obama would say that the 21st century is America's fourth, just as Minnie Minoso played major league baseball in five decades.  As always with Obama's howlers, you should ask yourself: would the press have bought it if it came from Dan Quayle?

Maybe there'll be 57 states in the fourth century?  Is Obama trying to get the on bullsh!t?

Read more here . . .
Patriotism Obama traveled Monday to Independence, Missouri, to proclaim his patriotism in an appearance linked to the Fourth of July holiday.  He said: "I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign, and I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine."



The patriot, Obama, does the crotch salute during the National Anthem. (video)


Obama is a damned, sneaky bastard.  He knows he doesn't have to question the patriotism of others, meaning John McCain, of course, because he has a core group of surrogates that have been performing this nasty "artful" work for some time.

On July 8th, George McGovern argued that John McCain's war experience was not a qualification for the White House, saying, "But I don't recall ever saying that experience as a bomber pilot equipped me to be very strong on how to run a war, how to command the armed forces.  Of course, John McCain never said it was either.

In June, Wesley Clark dismissed the import of McCain’s military background in the current race. "I don’t think getting in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to become president," Clark sniffed.  The real issue, according to Clark, was that McCain was "untested and untried."  Again, John McCain never said it was.

But CNN's, John Roberts, pointed out the most glaring contradiction in Clark's theory of military experience: his enthusiastic endorsement of the treacherous John Kerry, whose strategic command experience was nowhere near McCain's.

Jim Webb didn't have any problem using his military service to run against George Allen, but now he says, "Let's get the politics out of the military, take care of our military people, or have our political arguments in other areas."

Rand Beers, a former Clinton White House aide, was appearing at the McCain University, a day-long symposia attacking Senator McCain hosted by John Podesta's Center for American Progress, and he, too, went after Senator McCain for his service with an equally outrageous statement.

Beers attacked Senator McCain, saying that he was isolated during the Vietnam years, causing him to miss all the social revolutions going on in the 1960s.  Yes, he was isolated.  He was in a prison cell in North Vietnam.  And he said because he was captured, his national security experience in that regard is sadly limited -- pretty outrageous comments.

In May, Tom Harkin told reporters on a conference call, "He (McCain) comes from a long line of just military people, so I think his whole worldview, his life view has been shaped from a military viewpoint, and he has a hard time thinking beyond that, and I think he's trapped in that. And I think that can be pretty dangerous."

On April 7th, Senator Jay Rockefeller, in an interview with The Charleston Gazette, said, "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit. What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn’t know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."

The Obama Campaign doesn't want the conversation to be about military experience, foreign relations or qualification to run our nations defense -- how convenient, since Obama has no experience with any of them.

Obama has less than zero military and defense experience, and his foreign relations experience is limited to being the chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee's 11-member Subcommittee on European Affairs.

The committee's jurisdiction includes the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has been providing military support to Afghanistan since it assumed authority for the International Security Assistance Force mission in 2003.

As subcommittee chairman, Obama could have held hearings pertaining to the role of NATO in the war in Afghanistan, but he has not held a single hearing

He's far too busy bamboozling, hoodwinking, and okie doke'ing his way to the White House.

100
Christians
Given the option of either supporting McCain or withholding support in light of the presumed nomination of Barack Obama for the Democratic party, 100 Christian leaders have met and decided to make their stand with McCain.

In making the announcement, Mat Staver, the chairman of Liberty Counsel, a legal advocacy group, said. "Collectively we feel that he (McCain) will support and advance those moral values that we hold much greater than Obama, who in our view will decimate moral values."
Counterfeit Blogger admits Obama's Hawaiian Certification Live of Birth is a forgery, subverting Obama's claims. (see below, 6/22/08)

There is a copy of this document on the official Obama Campaign website, under the page title, "The truth about Barack's birth certificate."

Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist, has implicated himself in the production of fraudulent Hawaiin Certificate of Birth images similar to the one endorsed as genuine by the Barack Obama campaign, and appearing on the same blog entry where the supposedly authentic document appears.

The evidence of forgery and manipulation of images of official documents, triggered by Israel Insider's revelation of the collection of Hawaiin Certificate of Birth images on the Photobucket site and the detective work of independent investigative journalists and imaging professionals in the three weeks since the publication of the images, implicate the Daily Kos, an extreme left blog site, and the Obama campaign, in misleading the public with official-looking but manipulated document images of doubtful provenance.

The perceived unreliability of the image has provoked petitions and widespread demands for Obama to submit for objective inspection the paper versions of the "birth certificate" he claimed in his book Dreams from My Father was in his possession, as well as the paper version of the Certificate of Live Birth for which the image on the Daily Kos and the Obama "Fight the Smears" website was supposedly generated.

Without a valid birth certificate, Obama cannot prove he fulfills the "natural born citizen" requirement of the Constitution, throwing into doubt his eligibility to run for President.

And here is more . . .
Polls In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey completed in early June before the New York senator ended her White House bid, 60 percent of Clinton backers polled said they planned on voting for Obama.  In the latest poll, that number has dropped to 54 percent.

In early June, 22 percent of Clinton supporters polled said they would not vote at all if Obama were the party's nominee, now close to a third say they will stay home.

In another sign the wounds of the heated primary race have yet to heal, 43 percent of registered Democrats polled still say they would prefer Clinton to be the party's presidential nominee.

That number is significantly higher than it was in early June, when 35 percent of Democrats polled said they preferred Clinton to lead the party's presidential ticket.
Research Did the Obama Campaign Manufacture Internet "Research" for the Washington Post?
by: Andy Martin
Executive Editor
ContrarianCommentary.com

Does the Washington Post Owe Readers a Fuller Explanation?
(New York)(July 5, 2008)

A week ago the Washington Post ("WP") published a full-page article about the "research" of Dr. Danielle Allen concerning anti-Muslim e-mails against Senator Barack Obama:

We have continued to investigate this story.  I have also sent a new e-mail to the subject of the WP story, Dr. Allen, seeking new information and new answers.

Our conclusion: there is a reasonable basis to believe the Washington Post allowed the Obama campaign to "manufacture" "research" for use in the WP story.

The now undisputed timeline is critical to understanding why our theory of the case triggers intense suspicion.

In November, 2007, the WP contacted Beckwith, who manages an Obama web site, The Obama File.  Thus, as early as November of last year, a WP reporter was working on a story about anti-Muslim e–mails directed at Obama.

WP reporter, Matthew Mosk, also contacted me about the same anti-Obama e-mail story.  Mr. Mosk subsequently reported our conversation accurately so I have no personal dispute with his writing.  Although it was several months ago I unfortunately did not keep a record of the date of my phone call with Mosk.

Mosk's story claimed Allen received an anti-Obama, anti-Islam e-mail on January 11th, 2008.  She allegedly did nothing about the e-mail until March 5th.  In an e-mail to me, Ms. Allen stated that she did not start researching the anti-Obama e-mails until March 5th. March 5th was the day after Obama suffered major losses in primary elections.

Allen says that "word of mouth" led Mosk to Allen between March 5th and late June when Mosk's article appeared in the WP.  Here is where the facts start to look slippery.

Allen has never published anything publicly about her study of the anti-Obama e-mails.  So we are left to accept the claims about her "research" in the WP at face value.

Whose "word of mouth" was used to refer Mosk to Allen?  When was Mosk referred to her?

Mosk had done his own research and reporting in 2007.  He did not need Allen to do a story on anti-Obama e-mails.  They were circulating across the Internet and "hard left" Obama operatives in the media had already identified me as the alleged mastermind of a vast conspiracy to defame the candidate.  Indeed, Ben Smith of Politico.com takes credit for "exposing" me last year as the e-mail majordomo, when all this time I was sitting out in the open.  How do you "expose" something that isn't secret?

When and how did Allen surface, and why?  By March 5th, when Allen began her research, Mosk had not yet published any story on the anti-Obama e-mails; Allen herself apparently did nothing about the supposedly urgent anti-Obama e-mail before March 5th.

It appears Mosk did his own research for months, and found nothing sufficient to generate a full-page story.  Then Allen began her "research" and a full-page story suddenly appeared about her efforts to uncover the anti-Obama online operatives.  My conclusion: Mosk went to the Obama campaign and told them he was working on a story.  The Obama campaign mobilized Allen to do "research" that could be used to float the report ultimately appearing in the Washington Post.

Is this a plausible conclusion to draw from the available facts?  I believe it is.  I invite your responses and suggestions.  We need to get to the bottom of whether the WP allowed itself to be used to suppress information about Obama, by allowing his campaign to "manufacture" research for use in a WP feature story.  Alternatively, it looks as though the Post "held" the e-mail story after being told by the Obama campaign they had someone "doing research" on the anti-Muslim attacks.  We don't have all of the answers, but there are sure a lot of questions floating around out there.  Mr. Mosk and the WP do not appear to have been candid with their readers.

I originally commented on this Washington Post story on 6/29/08 under the title:  Beckwith responds to The Washington Post.

I would agree with Martin that, on the whole, Matthew Mosk reported our conversation accurately.

The only thing I have to add, is that in my conversation with Mosk, we spent time talking about these emails originating at the beginning of 2007 and how the "madrassa," the  "swearing in on a Quran " and other early rumors were knocked down in the spring of 2007.  There was never any talk about Obama being a "radical Muslim," as Allen charges.

 

Mosk directly asked me if I thought Obama was a Muslim, and I replied that I thought Obama was a particularly skilled politician who was able to be whatever the observer wanted him to be.

I don't know what he is -- bit I know I don't want to see him sitting in the Oval Office.

High-Test Hot Air has the quote of the day.

"If you refined crude oil as often as Obama has refined his policy positions, it would long since have turned to high-test gasoline."
Polls In the latest Newsweak Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent.  The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month's Newsweak Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

The race for the White House is tied.  The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows Barack Obama and John McCain each attract 43% of the vote.
Gaffes


Obama's Unity Gaffe  (01:26)


Obama forgets why he came to the event -- It was supposed to be a moment for Obama to soothe some of the tension that still exists between his camp and Hillary's.  It was supposed to be a chance for Obama to solicit donations to help retire Clinton’s campaign debt, that could total $30 million.  It was supposed to be all that.  The only problem is, he almost forgot.

Perpetual
Campaign
Obama spent almost half of the past decade campaigning for higher office instead of representing his constituency.

Let's work backwards from November of this year.

2008: Barring some nefarious plot by Hillary Clinton, Obama will be running for president until November.  For purposes of this exercise, we'll count this as 11 months of campaigning.

2007: Announced exploratory committee on January 16.  Formally announced presidential campaign on February 10.  I'm counting all 12 months.

2006: Serving in U.S. Senate.  While some would argue Obama was unofficially campaigning already, including appearing at events in Iowa, for the purposes of this calculation we will count his campaigning as starting from the announcement of the exploratory committee. 0 months.

2005: Serving in U.S. Senate.  0 months.

2004: Running for U.S. Senate; elected in November.  11 months.

2003: Running for U.S. Senate.  12 months.

2002: Spent half the year preparing the groundwork for his U.S. Senate campaign; he launched his campaign committee in late June.  His campaign often cites the 2002 antiwar rally as a key moment in his campaign. 6 months.

2001: Serving in Illinois State Legislature. 0 months.

2000: Lost the March 21 House primary against Rep.  Bobby Rush. 3 months.

1999: Announces bid to challenge Rep.  Bobby Rush in September. 4 months.

1998: Serving in Illinois State Legislature.  0 months.

There are 120 months from November 1998 to November 2008.  Of those 120 months, Obama was campaigning for higher office in 59 of them, or about 49.1 percent.

If you begin counting from September 1999, there are 112 months between then and November 2008, and Obama has been campaigning for higher office in 52.6 percent of those months.  (This does not count any campaigning to retain his seat in the state legislature.)

In other words, Obama has spent about half of the past decade campaigning for higher office.
Insufferable After a brief bout of Obamamania, some Capitol Hill Democrats have begun to complain privately that Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is insular, uncooperative and inattentive to their hopes for a broad Democratic victory in November.

"They think they know what’s right and everyone else is wrong on everything," groused one senior Senate Democratic aide.  "They are kind of insufferable at this point."
Rookie

Polls The New York Times and CBS News released a poll this week; in it, Americans answered detailed questions about Obama as the Commander-in-Chief.

The poll’s answers shocked the strategists at the Obama campaign headquarters in Chicago, because the poll shows Americans consider Obama lacking in the abilities necessary to run the armed services, and are afraid of Obama as Commander-in-Chief.

The poll says only 24 percent say Obama would be effective as commander-in-chief.  In fact, 36 percent think it is "not likely" that Obama will be effective in the position.

Obama’s talents lie in his gift of oratory and his ability to move people with emotion, but this does not necessarily make for a good commander.  The chief executive’s job requires forward thinking, realistic assessments of the world’s threats, and the maturity to make judgments in a crisis.

Not only does Obama have dangerous disarmament plans for America, he sorely lacks in experience. Besides being a junior senator, he has not been on any of the major defense committees.  He has no previous hands-on experience with the military nor has he spent time with the men and women of our armed forces.
The
300
Every day around 8 a.m., foreign policy aides at Senator Barack Obama's Chicago campaign headquarters send him two e-mails: a briefing on major world developments over the previous 24 hours and a set of questions, accompanied by suggested answers, that the candidate is likely to be asked about international relations during the day.

Behind the e-mail messages is a tight-knit group of aides supported by a huge 300-person foreign policy campaign bureaucracy, organized like a mini State Department, to assist a candidate whose limited national security experience remains a concern to many voters.
Tour
Of
Duty
Whoa!  NBC News believes it apt to compare Obama's sojourn to ... an actual military tour of duty.  Yes indeed.  Check out this video showing anchor Lester Holt introducing last evening's Nightly News -- the legend, "Tour of Duty" is prominently displayed.

Echoes of John Kerry!
Rejected! An editorial written by Republican presidential hopeful McCain has been rejected by the New York Times -- less than a week after the paper published an essay written by Obama.

The paper's decision to refuse McCain's direct rebuttal to Obama's "My Plan for Iraq" has ignited explosive charges of media bias in top Republican circles.

In McCain's submission to the Times, he writes of Obama: "I am dismayed that he never talks about winning the war -- only of ending it... if we don't win the war, our enemies will.  A triumph for the terrorists would be a disaster for us.  That is something I will not allow to happen as president."

NYT's David Shipley, who served in the Clinton Administration from 1995 until 1997 as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Presidential Speechwriter, advised McCain to try again: "I'd be pleased, though, to look at another draft."

Shipley continues: "It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece.  To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq."

A top McCain source claims the paper simply does not agree with the senator's Iraq policy, and wants him to change it, not "re-work the draft."

McCain writes in the rejected essay: "Progress has been due primarily to an increase in the number of troops and a change in their strategy.  I was an early advocate of the surge at a time when it had few supporters in Washington.  Senator Barack Obama was an equally vocal opponent.  "I am not persuaded that 20,000 additional troops in Iraq is going to solve the sectarian violence there," he said on January 10, 2007.  "In fact, I think it will do the reverse."

After rejecting McCain's rebuttal, Shipley went on vacation.

Update:  On Fox News' "The Live Desk," McCain's spokesperson Jill Hazelbaker said the op-ed was rejected because Shipley wanted troop levels, timetables and other criteria for  a withdrawal.

McCain has repeatedly said his criteria for withdrawal is VICTORY -- but that is contrary to the Times' agenda of surrender and defeat.

Update:  Here’s the full text of Shipley’s e-mail:

From: David Shipley/NYT/NYTIMES [mailto:XXXXXXX]
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 8:31 PM
To: XXXXXXX
Cc: XXXXXXX
Subject: Re: JSM Op-Ed

Dear Mr. XXXXXX,

Thank you for sending me Senator McCain’s essay.

I’d be very eager to publish the Senator on the Op-Ed page.

However, I’m not going to be able to accept this piece as currently written.

I’d be pleased, though, to look at another draft.

Let me suggest an approach.

The Obama piece worked for me because it offered new information (it appeared before his speech); while Senator Obama discussed Senator McCain, he also went into detail about his own plans.

It would be terrific to have an article from Senator McCain that mirrors Senator Obama’s piece.  To that end, the article would have to articulate, in concrete terms, how Senator McCain defines victory in Iraq.  It would also have to lay out a clear plan for achieving victory -- with troops levels, timetables and measures for compelling the Iraqis to cooperate.  And it would need to describe the Senator’s Afghanistan strategy, spelling out how it meshes with his Iraq plan.

I am going to be out of the office next week.  If you decide to re-work the draft, please be in touch with Mary Duenwald, the Op-Ed deputy.  Her email is XXXXXXXX; her phone is 212-XXXXXXX.

Again, thank you for taking the time to send me the Senator’s draft.  I really hope we can find a way to bring this to a happy resolution.

Sincerely,

David Shipley
Road
Trip
The Obama Iraq trip puts on display the unbelievable hypocrisy of the Obama Campaign.

 

Obama is in Iraq to meet with General Petraeus, supposedly to receive his counsel, but anyone that is paying attention knows that Obama doesn't give one hoot what Petraeus thinks, believes or knows.  It certainly isn't going to change Obama's surrender in 16 months at all cost plan.

David Axelrod is Obama's Strategist and Media Adviser.  He is Obama's Karl Rove, and primarily responsible for this road trip.  He is the founder of MoveOn.org.  MoveOn.org
published a despicable, full-page ad in The New York Times on September 10, 2007, attacking General Petraeus as "General Betray Us."

 

Does anybody believe that the very people that libeled General Petraeus 10 months ago, calling him a traitor, are willing to listen to him today?

Anybody that thinks Obama's road trip is anything other than a campaign stunt is a fool, and anyone that thinks anything happening over there will change Obama's mind is worse than a fool.

 O-Force
One
The Obama Campaign has removed the American flag from the tail of Sen. Barack Obama's official campaign airplane and replaced it with the presidential candidate's trademark "O" symbol.



Obama's redressed airplane boasts Obama's anthem, "Change We Can Believe In" and the candidate’s website address.

Polls The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows Barack Obama attracting 42% of the vote while John McCain earns 41%.  That’s the lowest level of support measured for Obama since he clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination on June 3.

McCain is viewed favorably by 57% of voters, Obama by 53%.  McCain is currently supported by 86% of Republicans and holds a modest -- four percentage point -- lead among unaffiliated voters.  Obama earns the vote from 77% of Democrats.

Another Rasmussen Reports telephone survey released Monday, of 1,000 likely voters, "found that 49 percent of voters believe most reporters will try to help Obama with their coverage, up from 44 percent a month ago," compared to a piddling 14 percent who "believe most reporters will try to help John McCain win" while "just one voter in four (24%) believes that most reporters will try to offer unbiased coverage."

Exactly half, 50 percent, "believe the media makes economic conditions appear worse than they really are," a separate Rasmussen Reports telephone survey posted on Monday determined.  That poll discovered "a plurality of Americans (41%) similarly believe that the media has tried to make the war in Iraq appear worse that it really is, while 26 percent say reporters have made it look better than reality and 25 percent think they’ve portrayed it accurately."

Newsweak, for example, has had Obama feature on its cover 6 times -- 5 times in the last six months.
Tour
Of
Duty


Obama Is Hiding From The Press In Iraq  (00:32)


Lat evening, on MSNBC's Obama-fawning "Hardball," Andrea Mitchell complained about the Obama camp's management of the news.

Mitchell says Obama's handlers have kept the media far away from the Senator while he has been on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan, instead, distributing carefully selected pictures and interviews from the military.

Mitchell reports that this level of media censorship is unprecedented and she says that the Obama-related news coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan is so filtered that "some may call it fake interviews.  They're not interviews by a journalist."

Mitchell says that Obama has had no reporters, no press pool and no press conferences during what CBS called "Obama's Tour of Duty."

"We've not seen a presidential candidate do this, in my recollection, ever before."

Postscript -- MSNBC has not published this video or transcript on its website -- how curious?

This video illustrates beautifully why Obama's handlers won't let him talk to the press.  This phony is helpless without a script and a teleprompter.

Add this to the ever increasing pile of Obama faux pas.  I watched it myself and just shook my head in disbelief.

Speaking to reporters this AM, in Amman, Jordan, Obama wanted to be absolutely clear on who is Israel's friend and said, "Let me be absolutely clear.  Israel is a strong friend of Israel's.  It will be a strong friend of Israel's under a McCain...administration.  It will be a strong friend of Israel's under an Obama administration.  So that policy is not going to change."

Axelrod never should have allowed the Obamamessiah to speak directly to the press -- he screwed the pooch big time. 

Yup, the eloquent one actually said, "Israel is a strong friend of Israel."  Genius -- pure genius.

Herr
Obama

The "Arrogant One" campaigns for "President of the World"


This is pretty extraordinary.  A candidate for the American Presidency is using flyers printed in German to turn people out for his campaign rally in Berlin on Thursday.  This flyer can be found on a bilingual page on BarackObama.com advertising the event.  The German flyers bear Obama’s campaign logo and say "Paid for by Obama for America."

So, this isn’t just some sober, high-minded foreign policy speech, part of a foreign trip occurring under the auspices of his official Senate office and therefore paid for by US taxpayers.  It is a campaign rally occurring on foreign soil.  They are using the same tactics to turn out Germans to an event as they would to any rally right here in America.
 

"It is not going to be a political speech," said a senior foreign policy adviser, who spoke to reporters on background. "When the president of the United States goes and gives a speech, it is not a political speech or a political rally."
 

"But he is not president of the United States," a reporter reminded the adviser.

The
European
Scott at PowerLine blog says the text of Barack Obama’s sermon to the Germans in Berlin yesterday is an incredibly rich and revealing document.  Perhaps more than anything else, it was almost perfectly calibrated to tell the Germans what they want to hear.  The fecklessness of the UN shows how little it means to be a "citizen of the world."  It means something, though, to be a citizen of the EU, and Obama espoused distinctly European views, pledging to move American policy in a European direction -- and to make the United States more European -- under a President Obama.

After giving the Obama version of Cold War history, where humanitarian aid rolled back communism, Obama devoted a sentence to discussing the terrorist threat.  He moved on to the heart of his speech, stating, implicitly or explicitly:

• That the Europeans are right to consider global warming the primary threat we face: "As we speak, cars in Boston and factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, shrinking coastlines in the Atlantic, and bringing drought to farms from Kansas to Kenya," and "This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet.  Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands."

• That the US will not act independently of the Europeans: "That is why we cannot afford to be divided.  No one nation, no matter how large or powerful, can defeat such challenges alone."  Especially not the Iranian nuclear threat: "My country must stand with yours and with Europe in sending a direct message to Iran that it must abandon its nuclear ambitions."

• But that the goal of abolishing nuclear weapons supersedes the goal of preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon: "This is the moment when we must renew the goal of a world without nuclear weapons… It is time to secure all loose nuclear materials; to stop the spread of nuclear weapons; and to reduce the arsenals from another era.  This is the moment to begin the work of seeking the peace of a world without nuclear weapons."

• That trade policy under an Obama administration won't be for free trade, but for trade conditioned upon union, environmentalist demands.  Trade will facilitate wealth redistribution rather than a free market: "Together, we must forge trade that truly rewards the work that creates wealth, with meaningful protections for our people and our planet."

• That the European Union is the model of the future and that we have transcended the era in which America should assert itself on the world stage: "…we need a strong European Union that deepens the security and prosperity of this continent, while extending a hand abroad.  In this century -- in this city of all cities -- we must reject the Cold War mind-set of the past, and resolve to work with Russia when we can, to stand up for our values when we must, and to seek a partnership that extends across this entire continent."

• That we should emulate the Germans on carbon reduction ("Let us resolve that all nations - including my own -- will act with the same seriousness of purpose as has your nation, and reduce the carbon we send into our atmosphere.")

• Finally, Obama apologized for America's wrongdoing, promised to stop the use of torture, and asked for Germany's (and Europe's) help in extending European policy across the Atlantic: "Will we reject torture and stand for the rule of law?" and "Let us build on our common history, and seize our common destiny, and once again engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world."

Josef Joffe noted in The New Republic, "If he ran in Germany, Obama would carry the country by a landslide, with 67 percent of the vote."  This comes as no surprise, as this is a speech about turning America into the European Union more than anything else.
The
Snub
Hot Air reports that the Obama Campaign tried to excuse its snub of wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans by claiming that it wouldn’t be appropriate to visit the Landstuhl and Ramstein hospitals while on a campaign-funded portion of his trip -- but that wasn’t the real problem.  When Obama found out he couldn’t use the visit as a photo op, he canceled.

One military official who was working on the Obama visit said because political candidates are prohibited from using military installations as campaign backdrops, Obama’s representatives were told, "he could only bring two or three of his Senate staff member, no campaign officials or workers."  In addition, "Obama could not bring any media.  Only military photographers would be permitted to record Obama’s visit."

The official said "We didn’t know why the request to visit the wounded troops was withdrawn.  He (Obama) was more than welcome.  We were all ready for him."

This makes the decision track very clear.  Obama and his team set up the visits to military installations before going overseas.  After seeing how the media got excluded in Iraq and Afghanistan, they decided it wasn’t worth traveling to Ramstein and Landstuhl to visit the severely wounded troops because they couldn’t bring the campaign and get the photo ops they wanted. 

Instead, Obama went shopping in Berlin.
Natural
Born
Citizen
FOREWORD by TexasDarlin

This is the second article in a two-part series by Judah Benjamin challenging the Constitutionality of Barack Obama’s bid for President.

PART ONE explores the legal history and definition of "natural born citizen" under Article II of the US Constitution.

PART TWO explores the factual basis for Barack Obama’s dual citizenship, and concludes that he has been a citizen of at least two countries, and therefore is ineligible to be President.

The Author’s End Note presents a request for professional review.
Blackwater During the Democratic primary battle, blasting the private security firm Blackwater USA as a bunch of unaccountable trigger-happy mercenaries was an easy crowd pleaser -- particularly after the September 2006 Nisoor Square incident and a subsequent congressional report that stated the company's use of force was "frequent and extensive."

Obama made clear his disdain for the outfit, trumpeting in Iowa City last October his proposal for "tougher government reforms than any other candidate in this race -- reforms that would eliminate the kind of no-bid contracts that this administration has given to Blackwater."

In Pennsylvania in March he stated that "we have to crack down on private contractors like Blackwater, because I don't believe they should be able to run amok and put our own troops in danger and get paid three or four times or ten times what our soldiers are getting paid."

So who do you think protected Obama and his fellow senators Jack Reed and Chuck Hagel during their recent and much ballyhooed congressional delegation trip to Afghanistan?  Yep, that's right -- Blackwater.

It will be interesting to see whether Obama's public position on Blackwater changes as a result of his up-close time with their personnel in Afghanistan.
Show Me
The Money
Atlas Shrugs is all over Obama's Anonymous Foreign Donors and Other Bizarre Illegal Activity

I have been pouring over documents from Obama's foreign contributions and it's rotten.  As I pointed out here, there are way too many overseas contributions and I find it hard to believe they are all American citizens.  $500,000 came into the campaign via "not employed" people.  How does the FEC monitor that?

Ranging in value from 75 cents to $250 (well over the anonymous limit) there are 81 donations from all the world (and this is just in the document I have been analyzing).  It is rather suspicious that all 81 anonymous donations are devoid of any identification information.  My file on anonymous donations: Download Atlas-AllAnnonymous.pdf

For example, there are two donations on sequential on the 13th and 14th of February of $250 by anonymous country "information requested" no employer no occupation.  Again, over the maximum allowed for anonymous contributions.

Mind this list is not complete.  I have no idea how much more there is.

If one lists by city, there is $223,000 from "information requested" (meaning no info) city.  Helloooooooooooo.  These are some big donations.  Download Atlas-Allindividualdonations.pdf

Single Donors from overseas that exceed the legal limit: [UPDATE CORRECTION -$4,600 is the legal limit--$2,300 for primary, $2,300 for general.]

Single amounts from $4,600 from Margaret Vento (homemaker) on the 8th of June 2007 her country and state was unidentified. [Can she donate $4,600 to the primary race?]

There 5 donations of $4,600. There are three individuals Philip Ryan who works for Credit Suisse, London and he gave four separate donations:

On 31st of March 2007, he gave $2,300.

Then on the 29th of September he gave $2,300 which was then "given back" and on the same day gave he gave $4,600.[Again, this esceeds the primary limit]

Philip Ryan of London gave of total of $6,900 in the year 2007.

The next bizarre donor is Richard Baumann (UK lawyer) has a total of 29, yes folks, 29 transactions. Seven of which are negative. And the balance of which are of course positive.

The total of $4,850 over the legal number. Strangely enough, the all date January, February, May of '08. They range from $25 to $2,125.

What a mess.

How much money was raised from the phone banks in Gaza (see video)?

There is a large contributor in the 'G's'.  Largest.  Name is Monir Edwan.  City is Rafah and the State is GA.  You'd think GA is for Georgia.  IT'S NOT!  There is no Rafah Georgia.  It's Rafah GAZA.  Although election donor data indicate Georgia, USA here: Donation Details: Adwan, Monir | Rafah, Georgia.  There ain't no such place in the land of Georgia peaches.

It's a Gaza refugee camp.

The file attached has both Monir & Hosam Edwan.  Both from Rafah.  Both over allowed spending limit.  Here is the file: Download EdwanDetail.xls.  It details Edwans's contributions totaling $24,321.41.  The contributions are all to Obama the candidate.  Different files for the party or committees.

Cathy's source of the data is from the FEC site.  Presidential download file zip.  Named ALL.  Dated 6/30.  She went back to find it today so I could be sure it was legit.

There's a ton more here . . .
The
Symbol
Jonathan Weisman tells us that in a closed door meeting with House Democrats Tuesday night, presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama delivered a real zinger, according to a witness, suggesting that he was beginning to believe his own hype.

Obama was waxing lyrical about last week's trip to Europe, when he concluded, according to the meeting attendee, "this is the moment, as Nancy [Pelosi] noted, that the world is waiting for."

The 200,000 souls who thronged to his speech in Berlin came not just for him, he told the enthralled audience of congressional representatives.  "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions," he said, according to the source.

On Wednesday morning, House leadership aides pushed back against interpretations of this comment as self-aggrandizing, saying that when the presumptive Democratic nominee said, "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America," he was actually trying to deflect attention from himself.

No tape of the event exists and no one is denying the quote.


So Obama confuses himself with "our best traditions" and out the other side of his mouth (next item) reminds us how evil America is.

Flaws As August begins, one must reflect on the fact that Obama has absolutely nothing going for him except that he's young, good looking, black, and does a great job of reading the speeches his handlers have prepared for him. 

Once you get beyond those paper-thin qualifications for office, Obama is nothing but a mass of flaws, bad character traits, and left-wing agitprop.  While the press lauds Obama as if he just cured cancer and invented a car that runs on lawn clippings in the same day, everyone else can't help but notice the Top Ten Flaws That Will Cost Obama in November:

The Snobbery
The Phony Idealism
The Anti-White Racism
The Lack of Patriotism
His Liberalism
His Changing Position On The War in Iraq
His Inexperience
The Poor Judgment
He's Gaffe Prone
His Fuzzy Platform

Details here . . .
Undocumented There is no documentation behind Obama.  He's a cipher.

Considering this guy wants to be president, We the People have a right to know who and what he is.  We deserve to know.

Original, vault copy birth certificate -- Not released
Certificate of Live Birth -- Released -- Counterfeit
Obama/Dunham marriage license -- Not released

Obama/Dunham divorce -- Released
Soetoro/Dunham marriage license -- Not released
Soetoro adoption records -- Not released

Soetoro/Dunham divorce -- Released
Fransiskus Assisi School  School application -- Released
Punahou School records -- Not released
Selective Service Registration -- Released -- Counterfeit
Occidental College records -- Not released
Passport (Pakistan) -- Not released
Columbia College records -- Not released
Columbia thesis -- Not released
Harvard College records -- Not released
Harvard Law Review articles -- None (maybe 1, unsigned?)
Baptism certificate -- None
Medical records -- Not released
Illinois State Senate records -- None
Illinois State Senate schedule -- Lost
Law practice client list -- Not released
University of Chicago scholarly articles -- None

Chicken! Obama chickened out  from rival John McCain's challenge for a series of joint appearances at town hall meetings, agreeing only to the standard three debates in the fall. 

The "debates" will be moderated by the usual bunch of liberals from NPR and NBC, ensuring a fair contest.

In May, when a McCain adviser proposed a series of pre-convention appearances at the town hall-style meetings, Obama said, "I think that's a great idea."  In summer stumping on the campaign trail, McCain has often noted that Obama had not followed through and joined him in any events.

Obama's reversal on town hall debates is part of a play-it-safe strategy he's adopted since claiming the nomination.  Advisers to the Illinois senator, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss strategy, say Obama is reluctant to take chances or give McCain a high-profile stage.

McCain's campaign disparaged Obama for backing off.  Spokesman Brian Rogers said. "We understand it might be beneath a worldwide celebrity of Barack Obama's magnitude to appear at town hall meetings alongside John McCain and directly answer questions from the American people, but we hope he'll reconsider."
Show Me
The Money
In violation of every election law in the books, the Obama Campaign is actively soliciting and accepting money from all over the world.

It is illegal for any U.S. candidate for federal office (and most state and local offices) to accept campaign contributions from foreign nationals.  It is also illegal for any U.S. candidate for President to accept more than $2,300 per election cycle.

So, why has Barack Hussein Obama accepted over $24,000 from Monir and Hosam Edwan in Rafah, Gaza?  And why is he lying about it by noting on his official filings with the Federal Election Commission that Rafah is in Georgia?  Rafah is the HAMAS-controlled city on the border of Egypt and is the site of the Rafah gate.



Does reporting to the Federal Election Commission FEC on contributions really matter anymore? 

The following information sources are all over this unreported scandal.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=peqNcgAEryLZfJn3e9-K7Cghttp://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2008/07/obamas-gazan-co.html
http://www.debbieschlussel.com/archives/2008/07/why_is_barack_o.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2054545/posts?page=35
http://donordata.org/rafah-city.htm http://donordata.org/0827326-donor.htm

O-Force
One

O-Force One -- the "President's" airplane


Barack Obama’s new campaign plane is nothing short of grand.  Well, for the candidate that is.

Obama’s section of the plane rivals that of any first class.  Recently the front cabin of the Boeing 757 was retrofitted to install four individual chairs that resemble La-Z-Boys.  They are free-standing and made of plush leather with pockets on the sides.



Obama's chair has his name and campaign logo embroidered on the back top -- "Obama ‘08" on one line and "President" underneath.

Show Me
The Money
More on the Obama Campaign's illegal foreign campaign fundraising.

Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are listed in government election filings as having donated $29,521.54 to Sen. Barack Obamas campaign, according to WorldNetDailys (WND) Jerusalem bureau chief, Aaron Klein.

The donations would violate election laws, including prohibitions on receiving donations from foreigners and guidelines against accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election, Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, said in response to a query.

The contributions also raise numerous questions about the Obama campaigns lax online donation form, which apparently allows for the possibility of foreign contributions.

Last week, the Atlas Shrugs blog outlined a series of donations in 2007 made to Obamas campaign from two individuals, Monir Edwan and Hosam Edwan (See 8/4/08, below).  In an online form on Obama's campaign site, the Edwans listed their street as Tal Esaltan, which they wrote was located in Rafah, GA.

Rafah is not a city in Georgia.  The Atlas blog immediately raised concerns that the money may have been donated from the Gaza Strip town of Rafah.

A WND investigation tracked down the Edwans, who are brothers living in the Tal Esaltan neighborhood of Rafah, a large refugee camp in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Speaking to WND, the two brothers praised Obama and admitted giving the money online to his campaign.  They said they are not U.S. citizens or green card holders but are citizens of Palestine.

Monir and Hasam Edwan denied their financial transactions online were actual donations to Obamas campaign.  Instead they claimed they purchased about $30,000 in Obama T-shirts from the presidential candidates online store -- a contention that did not hold up during a WND interview, when they changed their story several times.

Monir Edwan claimed he sold the T-shirts in Gaza for around $9 and that a profit was made.

But it was pointed out to Edwan the T-shirts for sale on Obama's website are listed as $20.08 and that selling the merchandise for less would not yield a profit.

Edwan could not explain how he managed to get shipments of T-shirts into the Gaza Strip during the months he claimed to have purchased the merchandise, since Israel imposed a tight closure of the Gaza Strip starting in June 2007 that lasted until June 2008.

We don't want to cause any damage to Obama's campaign, was Edwan's reply.

Update (8/10):  And here's more ILLEGAL, FOREIGN contributions to Obama '08.

I just found $399,323,24 in fishy donations from overseas.  Searched for "NA" as State, and voila, 760 contributions from overseas.  NONE of the results are for McCain or Clinton.  I used the Orlando Sentinal's search page.

Click here for search results showing foreign contributions.

Update (8/12/08):  In digging deeper into the illegal foreign campaign contributions from Palestinians, Cathy came across these FEC letters.  Obama knew these contributions were illegal and "Palestinian". He didn't report them. He took a page from his days as a "commnity organizer" for the most corrupt political machine in America.  It's what they do.

Update:  (8/18/08):  Obama's campaign contends it returned $33,500 in illegal contributions from Palestinians in Hamas-controlled Gaza, but the donors told WND Today they have not received any money.

The Wall Street Journal reported it spoke to Obama officials who said the donations from three Palestinian brothers were received between Sept. 20 and Dec. 6 last year, and virtually all of the money was returned by Dec. 6.  The campaign said, however, the refunds were not reported to the Federal Election Commission due to a technical error.

The Obama camp insisted the remaining $2,500 was refunded Monday and all of the refunds will be reflected soon in an amended report.  The campaign said new controls are in place to prevent any similar attempts in the future.

But WND asked two of the brothers -- Monir and Hasam Edwan -- to respond to the campaign's claims.

"No, we did not receive any money back from the Obama campaign at any time," said Monir Edwan.
Overexpossed

Obama and his supporters got their panties all in a twist when the McCain Campaign compared Obama's celebrity to the celebrity of Britney and Paris -- but Obama made the comparison first!



And that's a quote.

What,
Me Worry?

This image has not been Photoshopped -- It's the latest Mad magazine cover.

 

Aloha! Before flying with his family for a week's holiday in Hawaii yesterday, Barack Obama expressed concern about taking a break in election year.  "During the middle of a campaign you're always worried about taking some time off," he said.

He may have good reason to worry.  He leaves behind a Democratic party that over the past fortnight has been showing signs for the first time of nervousness about the November 4 election.

For them, this is supposed to be the Democrats' year, an inevitable march towards the White House after the catastrophic defeats of 2000 and 2004.  Almost everything seems to be going their way: unpopular president, disenchantment with the Iraq war, a faltering economy and an inspirational Democratic candidate.

What is worrying the Democrats, in spite of all these pluses, is that Obama's poll lead has remained stubbornly small.  According to today's tracking polls, Rassmussen has the race tied, 44% - 44%.  Gallup Has Obama, with a slight lead, 46% - 43%.

"I think there are a lot of Democrats who are nervous," said Tad Devine, chief strategist for the Kerry White House bid in 2004.  "I think they thought this election would fall into their laps."
The "O"
Salute
If a Los Angeles creative agency gets its way, Sen. Barack Obama will see fans meet him with his own salute like the one above.  "Our goal is to see a crowd of 75,000 people at Obama's nomination speech holding their hands above their heads, fingers laced together in support of a new direction for this country, a renewed hope, and acceptance of responsibility for our future," says Rick Husong, owner of The Loyalty Inc.



Husong tells me that he got the idea after seeing the famous Obama-Progress poster by artist Shepherd Fairey.  "We wanted to get involved some way," he says.  So, the agency came up with their own a symbol of hope and progress that also plays off Obama's name.  "We thought, 'Let's try and start a movement where even while walking down the street, people would hold up the O and you would know that they were for Obama,'" says Husong.  Much thought went into the relatively simple idea.  "You interlace your hands in a circle, the interlacing being a symbol of different types of people coming together and the circle a symbol of unity," he says.  Their design, unlike Fairey's, is free, and Husong is urging people to download it and print it on posters and T-shirts.  "We want to see it everywhere, but more importantly we want this sign to take the world by storm."

Show Me
The Money
       

.

contbr_nm count contb_receipt_amt

.

ANDERSON, ROBERT 85 13,768.80

.

ANDERSON, JAMES 86 12,651.55

.

ADLER, ROBERT C 6 11,500.00

.

ANDREAS, LOWELL W. 3 10,000.00

.

BROWN, MICHAEL 98 24,755.89

.

BERGER, JONATHAN 15 18,650.00

.

BARBAKOW, MARGO B 7 13,800.00

.

BEHRMAN, GRANT G. 15 13,100.00

.

BROWN, DAVID 82 11,936.26

.

BROWN, LAWRENCE 6 9,700.00

.

BROWN, ROBERT 44 9,388.76

.

COHEN, ROBERT 36 14,334.79

.

COHEN, DAVID 30 13,060.00

.

CLARK, ROBERT 34 11,025.00

.

COZEN, STEPHEN A 3 9,500.00

.

DATE, RAJEEV 9 18,400.00

.

DIES, MARTIN 6 13,800.00

.

DAVIS, MARK 20 10,258.81

.

DAVIS, JAMES 32 10,250.00


This is just a sample.  There's a whole bunch more at
this link.

 

These Marxists have never played by the rules, so it's not surprising that it is the policy of the Obama Campaign to accept contributions from anyone, anytime, in any amount and from anywhere.

Saddleback There were many revealing moments during the candidates' forum in Saddleback

Obama is simply not as comfortable as McCain when it comes to answering questions.  This is due in part to the fact that McCain's has been dealing these kinds of questions on the back of his bus for years.  But it's also due, I think, to the fact that Obama understands that his liberalism is outside of the mainstream and, if revealed, will cost him votes.  Because virtually any question, no matter how simple and straightforward, raises the threat of enabling voters to ascertain who he really is, Obama often can't quite get comfortable.  Instead, he feels the need to dance or to withhold information.
Don't
Worry
Describing the Administration as, "...the knuckleheads who have been in charge," Obama guarantees a win in November, saying, "I will win, don't worry about that."
Electoral
College
The Electoral-Vote.com web site has graphic maps that can be used to compares the current electoral college projections with those on the same date four years ago.

Today's map shows Obama with a projected 275 votes to McCain's 250, with 13 up for grabs. 

Four years ago, the map shows Kerry with 317, Bush 202, and 19 tied.
Bullsh!t

Obama addresses the Veterans of Foreign Wars

Gaffes According to several Democrat political consultants presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama spent part of his Hawaiian vacation working on weaning himself from a heavy dependence on teleprompters.  Even in what are staged as "town hall" events for Obama, remarks are scripted or formatted into bullet points that scroll on teleprompter screens.  Obama has had several embarrassing events where the teleprompter either malfunctioned or the screens were not fully visible.

"He just locks down and can't get the words out," says one political consultant.  "For such a fine speaker, it's really quite remarkable that he's had issues."

Obama's troubles with unscripted moments contributed to his campaign's refusal to participate in town hall format debates or discussions with Sen. John McCain, who feels much more comfortable in the unscripted moments.
Show Me
The Money
Nigerian Police Probe Obama Fundraising Dinner.

Nigeria's anti-corruption police were questioning the head of the stock exchange after she organized a gala dinner in support of Barack Obama's U.S. presidential campaign which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Ndi Okereke-Onyiuke, chairwoman of the "Africans for Obama" campaign group, organized the fundraising dinner in the commercial capital Lagos on August 11.  A "platinum" ticket for a table of eight cost 2.5 million naira ($21,226).

It is illegal under U.S. law for foreign campaign groups to donate funds to political parties in the United States.
Battle
Grounds
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has put the brakes on ads that were running in seven states carried by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election, FOX News has learned.

Of the seven states -- including Alaska, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota -- Florida and Virginia are considered key battlegrounds this year.  Obama’s decision to stop advertising in those states is raising eyebrows.
Ineligible A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee and the Federal Election Commission.

The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen.  Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States.

He's "demanding" a jury trial.

PHILIP J. BERG v. BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA - Complaint

From the lawsuit:

17.  Obama claims he was born in Honolulu, Hawaii on August 4, 1961; however, has never given the name of the hospital he was born in; whereas Obama’s grandmother on his father’s side, half brother and half sister claim Obama was born in Kenya.  Reports reflect Obama’s mother went to Kenya during her pregnancy; however, she was prevented from boarding a flight from Kenya to Hawaii at her late stage of pregnancy, which apparently was a normal restriction to avoid births during a flight.  Stanley Ann Dunham (Obama) gave birth to Obama in Kenya, after which she flew to Hawaii and registered Obama’s birth.  There are records of a "registry of birth" for Obama, on or about August 8, 1961 in the public records office in Hawaii.

20.  Wayne Madsen, Journalist with Online Journal was a contributing writer and published an article on June 9, 2008, stating the GOP sent a research team to Mombasa, Kenya and located a Certificate Registering the birth of Barack Obama, Jr. at a Maternity Hospital, to his father, a Kenyan Citizen and his mother, a U.S. Citizen.

The guy's got a website.
Joe Biden

Joe Biden -- VP



Joe Biden On Barack Obama  (00:32)
 

Is Obama Ready To Be President?  Joe Biden says no, but Obama doesn't hold a grudge and picked him anyway.  On Saturday, Obama was so excited that he introduced his running mate as "The next president." (video)

John McCain called Obama's gaffe a "Freudian slip'' that betrayed the 47-year-old Senator's readiness to serve as commander-in-chief.

Then, Biden -- maybe over-compensating for his desire not to call the junior senator from Illinois "Osama" -- actually called him "Barack America!" (video)


 

It's been 68 years since either party put forward a ticket with no military experience.  Now, in 2008, at a time of war, the Democrats offer us a modern first, a national ticket with two candidates who never served a day in uniform in any capacity.

Least
Qualified
This week, the least qualified man to receive a major party nomination for the presidency of the United States in modern times will be anointed by his party.  He could well win the general election.

Here is Obama's résumé: an Ivy League law degree, a few years of community organizing, seven years in the Illinois senate, three and a half years as a U.S. senator.  Kind of modest.  What has he accomplished in any of those jobs?  Not much, not much at all.

Has he shown great courage in his political career?  Has he shunned the easy path or broken with the conventional liberal pieties of those around him?  Has he taken on his own party on a major issue?  Nope.

Has he shown exemplary character?  He has undoubted skills and abilities.  He has always had great potential.  But has he followed through on it?  Is there a moment in his public life that one looks to and says: Agree or disagree, that was impressive?

His defining moment so far was his keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic convention.  If one rereads that speech today, one sees more clearly the emptiness beneath the eloquence, the lack of substance behind the sizzle.
Intimidation Intimidation is standard operating procedure with the Obama Campaign, and it uses its willing and eager supporters in the mainstream media to apply the pressure.

When attacks from "journalists" fail to censor Obama's critics, then the lawyers go to work.

Remember this from a few weeks ago?
 

Beckwith responds to The Washington Post.

The first thing I have to say about "An Attack That Came Out of the Ether," published by The Washington Post on June 28th, is that at NO time was I ever contacted by this woman, Danielle Allen, from Princeton's Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS).  I spoke to two male Post reporters, who spoke to me over the phone for a period of months.  The first contact was in the fall of 2007.  They told me they were trying to track down the source of emails they considered negative to the Obamamessiah.

Allen, who is an Obama shill from Chicago and who has contributed $2,750 to Obama, obsesses about the "Muslim" Obama stories, but steers clear of Obama's relationships with communists, Marxists, socialists, terrorists, racist reverends and convicted swindlers.  The trick she attempts to use is to knock down one or two or three items so the other four thousand don't count.

The following notice appears on my website's "About" page: "I don't write this stuff -- I cherry-pick it and publish it here -- every attempt is made to provide attribution and/or links to the original source -- if you don't like the writer's viewpoint -- send them an email -- not me.  If the reader finds content that is incorrect, I will correct or delete it upon the submission of two links to an independent source with more accurate information."

And I mean just that and I do just that.  I want The Obama File to be able to withstand the type of attack that Allen attempts in this article.

Extract -- Read the rest of response on the Obama's Campaign page -- Find "Danielle Allen"

Toga!  Toga!

A proper and fitting venue for the Obamamessiah


Raw Video: First Look Inside Invesco Field  (01:02)


Obama's acceptance speech, presented from a movie set "Greek Temple" is the most ill-advised and ridiculous political misstep ever made by a presidential candidate.  This "temple," from which the would-be leader is to speak, is a concept 180 degrees out of phase with the notion of the democratic election of a president of the United States of America.  It's more like the crowning of an emperor.

8/29/08 Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign on Friday blasted his Republican rival's choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as a running-mate, highlighting her "zero" foreign policy experience.

"Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement.

Burton also criticized Palin as a vice presidential pick for her support of oil drilling in the Alaskan wilderness and her anti-abortion stance, referring to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the United States.

"Governor Palin shares John McCain's commitment to overturning Roe v. Wade, the agenda of Big Oil and continuing George Bush's failed economic policies.  That's not the change we need, it's just more of the same," he said.
Bill Ayers Breaking: David Axelrod, Obama's Karl Rove, is talking regularly with Bill Ayers.

I now have two sources confirming that Barack Obama’s Communications Director, David Axelrod has been communicating regularly with unrepentant terrorist and former member of the Weathermen, Bill Ayers, about how to respond to stories trying to report on Obama’s longstanding relationship with Ayers.  One of my sources tells me that one person, a TV pundit who wishes to not be named, is talking about this without mentioning Axelrod.  This person told my friend:

"I predict that the howling and whining we hear from the Obama campaign about Billy Ayers, the unrepentant terrorist who bombed the US. Capitol and has been linked to candidate Obama at least for the last dozen years, will get louder, and more hysterical and more damaging because we will find that not only did Billy Ayers work closely with Barack Obama to fund left wing school schemes in the hands of Maoists (Mike Klonsky) and Neo-Stalinists (Bill Ayers) but also Billy Ayers himself, now, regularly, is talking part in strategy sessions with major Obama advisers as to how to bury the truth about the terrorist and the candidate."

Another source with direct access to the Obama campaign reports that it is David Axelrod who is fielding these calls.  It is astonishing that the Obama team thought they could contain this information.  But they will fail.  Their fear about Ayers has little to do with his past as a bomber of U.S. Government facilities and more to do with the mismanagement of more than 100 million dollars that was spent by the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC).

Do you ever ask yourself why Barack has not touted his "EXPERIENCE" as the Chairman of the Board of the CAC?  You would think that a man who headed a $100 million plus foundation would put that at the top of his resume if he is running for President.  Well, he doesn’t.  Why?  It appears that his ties to Ayers and how the funds were actually spent are facts the Obama campaign wants to keep buried.  But the shovels are out and the facts will emerge.  I guess the next question for Barack will be if he thinks it is okay for his Communication’s Director to talk regularly with an unrepentant terrorist?  I bet most Americans would say no.
Hmmmm? I wonder if the fact that Stevie Wonder, Will.I.Am, Michael McDonald and Sheryl Crow performed  before Obama’s speech and Bon Jovi after had anything to do with the large crowd?
Radicals Eighty-five thousand cheering fans. Pyrotechnics. A dramatic, temple-style backdrop.  Such was the scene in Denver Thursday night as Barack Obama accepted his party’s presidential nomination with "great humility."  As his deep voice reverberated throughout the massive venue, thousands of eyes welled up with tears of hope and change.  In the sea of faces and waving flags stood a woman by the name of Marilyn Katz, the head of security for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS).

Like several of the other radicals who populate Obama’s sphere, she once advocated guerilla tactics against police officers and participated in violent riots.  Unlike some of her more infamous counterparts like Bill Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn -- who are in self-imposed exile until November 5 -- Katz is deeply, and officially, involved in Obama’s presidential campaign.
The
Klan

Klansman Endorses Marxist -- Robert Byrd, Democratic senator and former Kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan in Raleigh County, West Virginia, raises Obama's hand in support. (photo)

The Washington Post reports that Bob Byrd, a politically ambitious butcher from West Virginia, wrote to Samuel Green, an Atlanta doctor and the Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, in late 1941 or early 1942, expressing interest in joining the Klan.  Some time later, he received a letter from Joel L. Baskin of Arlington, VA, the Grand Dragon of mid-Atlantic states, saying he would come to Byrd's home in Crab Orchard whenever Byrd had rounded up 150 recruits for the Klan.

Byrd recruited 150 of his friends and associates to form a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.  After Byrd had collected the $10 joining fee and $3 charge for a robe and hood from every applicant, Baskin came down to tiny Crab Orchard, W.Va., to officially organize the chapter.  Baskin was so impressed with the young Byrd's organizational skills that he urged him to go into politics, saying, "The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation."

Byrd wrote that he continued as Kleagle, recruiting for the Klan until early 1943, when he and his family left Crab Orchard for a welding job in a Baltimore shipyard.  Returning to West Virginia after World War II ended in 1945, he launched his political career, but not before writing another letter, to one of the Senate's most notorious segregationists, Theodore Bilbo (D-MS), complaining about the Truman administration's efforts to integrate the military.

Byrd said in the December 11, 1945, letter -- which would not become public for 42 more years with the publication of a book on blacks in the military during World War II by author Graham Smith -- that he would never fight in the armed forces "with a Negro by my side."  Byrd added that, "Rather I should die a thousand times, and see old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels."

Byrd's Klan past became an issue again when he joined with other southern Democrats to oppose the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  Byrd filibustered the bill for more than 14 hours as he argued that it abrogated principles of federalism.  However, just 12 years later, when Senator Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) retired as majority leader in 1976, Byrd, now known as the "the conscience of the Senate", easily captured the post.

As recently as 2001, the West Virginia Democrat was still using the N-word in television interviews.

'Bilities Watch this hilarious video of Obama defending his uh…uhhh…uh.. ability to govern.

CNN's Anderson Cooper: "Some Republican critics say, you don’t have the experience to handle a situation like this [Hurricane Gustav].  They’ve in fact said that Governor Palin has more executive experience as mayor of a small town and as governor of a big state like Alaska.  What’s your response?"

Obama: "Well, you know, my understanding is that, uh, Governor Palin’s town of Wasilly [sic] has, uh, 50 employees, uh, uh, we’ve got 2500, uh, in this campaign.  I think their budget is maybe $12 million a year.  Uh, uh, we have a budget of about three times that just for the month.  Uh, so I think that, uh, our ability to manage large systems, uh, and to, uh, execute, uh, I think has been made clear over the last couple of years.  Uh, and certainly, in terms of, uh, the legislation that I’ve passed just dealing with this issue post-Katrina, uh, of how we handle emergency management.  The fact that, uh, many of my recommendations were adopted and are being put in place, uh, as we speak indicates to extent to which we can provide the kinds of support and good service that the American people expect."

Obama completely ignores the fact that Gov. Palin runs a state with a $9 billion budget, manages $13 billion in revenue, directs 25,000 employees, and as the commander of the Alaska National Guard, she has military command experience.
American
Idol
On Fox's "America's Newsroom", Lt. Col. Orson Swindle (USMC Ret.) said, "we're not here to elect American Idol. We're here to elect the president of the United States and leader of the Free Wold."

Captured by the North Vietnamese near the city of Vinh Linh on November 11th, 1966, Capt. Swindle spent the next seven years being shuffled around various prison camps, including the notorious Hanoi Hilton complex. While in captivity, he shared a cell with future senator and presidential candidate John McCain.

Swindle had a distinguished military career in the US Marine Corps, receiving 20 military decorations for valor in combat including two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars and two Purple Hearts.
Fake Related -- Jay McKinnon, a self-described Department of Homeland Security-trained document specialist, has implicated himself in the production of palpably fake Hawaiin birth certificate images similar to the one endorsed as genuine by the Barack Obama campaign, and appearing on the same Daily Kos blog entry where the supposedly authentic document appears.
Berg
Lawsuit
On August 21st, 2008, Philip J. Berg, Esq. filed a federal lawsuit in federal court (Berg vs. Obama, Civil Action No. 08-cv-4083) seeking a Declaratory Judgment and an Injunction that Obama does not meet the qualifications to be President of the United States.

Yesterday, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Obama were served with a complaint and summons.  The DNC was served at noon and Obama was served at 1:00 p.m.  All Defendants have now been served so the case can proceed.

In his lawsuit, Berg stated that Senator Obama:

1. Is not a natural-born citizen; and/or
2. Lost his citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia; and/or
3. Has dual loyalties because of his citizenship with Kenya and Indonesia.

Berg said: "I filed this action at this time to avoid the obvious problems that will occur when the Republican Party raises these issues after Obama is nominated."

Berg is a former Deputy Attorney General of Pennsylvania; former candidate for Governor and U.S. Senate in Democratic Primaries; former Chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery County; former member of Democratic State Committee; an attorney with offices in Montgomery County, PA and an active practice in Philadelphia, PA.

Details and artifacts here . . .
The
Brown
Shirts
To counter Palin, Obama to dispatch female surrogates attack dogs.

Obama will increasingly lean on prominent Democratic women to undercut Governor Sarah Palin and Senator John McCain, dispatching Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton to Florida on Monday and creating a rapid-response team to deploy female surrogates to battleground states, Obama advisers said on Thursday.
Irony Apparently, Barack Obama is no fan of irony.  CNN reports on John McCain’s strategy of attacking Obama on change, with his attack on Obama’s lack of track record on reform or legislation while arguing for his own.  Obama, predictably, wonders how they can make that case:

Lord, please have Obama continue to use that Bridge to Nowhere line.  It has progressed from a dumb attack almost all the way to a Big Lie.  Obama voted for that bridge -- twice!  So did Joe Biden.  Obama has requested almost a billion dollars in earmarks in just three years of being in the Senate; McCain doesn’t earmark at all.

Obama is flailing, because he’s getting exposed.  All anyone has to ask Obama is this question: "what have you yourself done to effect change and reform at any political risk to yourself?"  His only examples come from bills he co-sponsored that were so uncontroversial that they passed without roll-call votes.

More at Hot Air . . .
Follow
The Money
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama tried to direct more than $3 million in taxpayer funds to a Chicago museum whose chairman is one of the Illinois senator's largest campaign fundraisers.

Mr. Obama has twice since fiscal 2006 sought to have taxpayers foot the bill for a new theater projector and other equipment at the Adler Planetarium on the Lake Michigan waterfront.  Neither of the requests, which totaled $3.3 million, was approved by Congress, the museum said.

The planetarium's chairman, then and still, is Frank Clark, chief executive of ComEd, a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Energy.  He has pledged to raise more than $200,000 for Mr. Obama's run for the White House.

Moreover, the Adler Planetarium is represented by the lobbying firm National Group LLP, co-founded by William Oldaker, who helped launch Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s political action committee in 2005.  Mr. Oldaker, a partner with the Delaware Democrat's son in another Washington lobbying and law firm, is no longer involved with Mr. Biden's PAC, Unite Our States.

Two years earlier, Mr. Obama sought $300,000 for the Adler in another unsuccessful earmark request.
The
Brown
Shirts
There is a secret group in the Obama-Biden campaign tasked with shutting off any leaks from the record that links Barack Obama to his longtime adviser and mentor Bill Ayers, professor of education at the University of Illinois and unrepentant Weatherman terrorist and fugitive from the 1970s.

This surprising fact has been developed by Chicago-born Professor Steve Diamond of Santa Clara University Law School, who maintains the Global Labor and Politics blog and has pieced together over many months the unusual surreptitious activity around the public records of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC) grant now housed at the University of Illinois and Brown University.

Diamond believes this Obama-Biden "Plumbers" unit was responsible for the harassment of Stanley Kurtz of National Review, who sought access to public records of the now defunct CAC at the University of Illinois Library in Chicago in mid-August.  He also believes it may have played a part in frustrating his own investigation of similar CAC records in the papers of the nationwide Annenberg Challenge program that are housed at Brown University.  The question now is who among the major figures in the Chicago progressive circle, as well as former Annenberg Challenge officials, are unofficial members of Obama's Plumbers?  And who among other responsible officials of the University of Illinois are their unwitting allies?

There is a substantial independent report from a major Democratic source that confirms Diamond's suspicions.  The source confirms the unit is led by Bill Ayers himself and likely includes Tom Hayden and other members of "Progressives for Obama."  Most critically, the Democratic source says this unit has direct access to media adviser David Axelrod of the Obama-Biden campaign.

Details here . . .
Convicts
Too
Obama organizer targets convicts

Barack Obama's campaign prides itself on grassroots organizing, with thousands of staff members targeting numerous subsets of the population for voter registration and persuasion. One even sought to register inmates.

An internal email from the Michigan Department of Corrections in August describes a request from the campaign to enter jails to register those inmates set to be released before Election Day.

An Obama spokesman in Michigan acknowledged that a new organizer made the request, but supervisors nixed the idea as soon as they found out about it.  The campaign denied all association with a second request to the Department of Corrections.  The emails say that a Theresa Collins, identified as the national coordinator of "Inmates to Support Barack Obama," asked the prison to post information about how prisoners could make campaign contributions to Obama.  That group doesn't appear to have any Web site.
Obama's
Mind

Obama's Teleprompter Hits the Campaign Trail

It appears Barack Obama's teleprompter is hitting the campaign trail.

The Democratic presidential nominee has never tried to hide the fact he delivers speeches off the device, though normally he doesn't use one at standard campaign rallies and town hall events.

But the Illinois senator used a teleprompter at both his Colorado events Monday — making for a particularly peculiar scene in Pueblo, where the prompter was set up in the middle of what is normally a rodeo ring.

Obama's handlers are terrified that the "uh-uh-uh" guy might say what he really thinks.

Dirty
Tricks
The story of the Sarah Palin email hack has taken a new turn.  According to security experts, the hackers have been traced to Barack Obama’s hometown of Chicago.  His national headquarters is located there.

In many ways the Palin email hack of her Yahoo account reminds voters of the Watergate break in of 1972.  A generation ago, a very suspicious presidential candidate ordered his men to break into George McGovern’s campaign headquarters in Washington DC.  The episode was emblematic of an administration known for dirty tricks politics as usual.

According to an internet security expert located in San Francisco, Gabriel Ramuglia, the Palin email hackers were careless and left a digital trail.  That trail leads directly to a server site in Chicago which happens to be the city where all of Obama’s men plot their daily moves.  Mr. Ramuglia says that their electronic signature will be easily obtained from the server logs at that site.

Mere coincidence or more Obama dirty tricks?  Nobody can say yet but we will all know soon.

And why is that?

Those familiar with the FBI understand that they take their time with criminal cases.  The FBI methodically develops their evidence over a long period of data gathering, only bringing criminal indictments when they feel there is an overwhelming case.  Many cases are dropped or drag on in secret for years because the FBI prizes a high conviction rate.

Not so with the Secret Service which has taken over from the FBI in this case.  The Secret Service has one primary mission, which is to protect the individuals under their watch.  Their mission is not just physical protection but privacy protection as well.  They report directly to the Department of Homeland Security under a no-nonsense director named Michael Chertoff, a Bush political appointee.

Gawker Media published the private emails of a vice presidential candidate under Secret Service protection.  Right Pundits wonders if our friends at Gawker understand the stakes.  We would not be surprised if their servers are seized within the week and that the individuals responsible are arrested for election tampering.  The Secret Service does not dick around with evidence building.  They act to protect their subjects.

Stay tuned. The explosive turn of events in the 2008 presidential election leave much unknown at this point.  Was the Obama campaign involved?  Or did individuals act alone?  We should know who was behind the Icegate breakin before the election on November 4th.
The
Alinsky
Now we know where Obama’s mean, nasty, abusive followers get their marching orders.  At a Nevada rally Wednesday, Obama said this to about 14,000 people:

"I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face."

Nice.  So much for the politics of hope and unity.  So much for teaching our youth how to be good citizens and neighbors.  So much for teaching tolerance, respect, and bi-partisanship.  If someone doesn’t agree with you, especially if they don’t choose Obama, just get in their face and pick a fight.

Is this how Obama plans to train his National Citizen Service Corps?

How presidential.  Teaching young people how to be Chicago thugs.
More
Alinsky
Obama is demonstrating his Alinsky tactics on the campaign trail -- "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, polarize it."

Extensive research was conducted by the Jawa Report to determine the source of smears directed toward Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.  Those smears included false allegations that she belonged to a secessionist political party and that she has radical anti-American views.

Their research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false.

These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign.  While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. 

Namely:

 Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own.  Yet this effort took place on company time.

Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod's firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as "astroturfing."

David Axelrod is Barack Obama's chief media strategist.

The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing fringe.  Their findings follow.

This incredible report is worth reading.  These guys really did their homework.  Watch this story.
Media
Bias
In the final stretch, members of the mainstream media have gone over the line and are now straight-out propagandists for the Obama campaign.

While they have been liberal and blinkered in their worldview for decades, in 2007-08, for the first time, the major media consciously are covering for one candidate for president and consciously are knifing the other.  This is no longer journalism; it is simply propaganda.  (The American left-wing version of the Volkischer Beobachter cannot be far behind.)

And as a result, we are less than seven weeks away from possibly electing a president who has not been thoroughly or even halfway honestly presented to the country by our watchdogs -- the press.  The image of Obama that the press has presented to the public is not a fair approximation of the real man.  They consciously have ignored whole years of his life and have shown a lack of curiosity about such gaps, which bespeaks a lack of journalistic instinct.

Thus, the public image of Obama is of a "man who never was."

More . . .
Mortgage
Meltdown
Former Fannie Mae chairman Jim Johnson, one of the architects of the current economic crisis,  was dumped from Obama's vice presidential search team, but as of the end of September, he's still playing a behind-the-scenes role on the campaign.

"Jim Johnson and I have scheduled another informal breakfast discussion and update on the campaign early next month," former Senator Tom Daschle wrote to a list including Senator John Kerry, James Carville, and Richard Holbrooke, as well as Clinton's former top campaign aides, including Howard Wolfson, Geoff Garin, and Harold Ickes.

Johnson's involvement comes at a moment when political association with the failed mortgage giants is particularly toxic.  He was already the subject of a McCain ad attacking Obama.
Mo
Money
Secret, Foreign Money Floods Into Obama Campaign

October began with the revelation that more than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't disclose.

And questions have arisen about millions more in foreign donations the Obama campaign has received that apparently have not been vetted as legitimate.

Federal law does not require the campaigns to identify donors who give less than $200 during the election cycle.  However, it does require that campaigns calculate running totals for each donor and report them once they go beyond the $200 mark.

Surprisingly, the great majority of Obama donors never break the $200 threshold.

"Contributions that come under $200 aggregated per person are not listed," said Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the FEC.  "They don’t appear anywhere, so there’s no way of knowing who they are."

The FEC breakdown of the Obama campaign has identified a staggering $222.7 million as coming from contributions of $200 or less.  Only $39.6 million of that amount comes from donors the Obama campaign has identified.

It is the largest pool of unidentified money that has ever flooded into the U.S. election system, before or after the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms of 2002.

There's more here . . .
Mo
Money
More than half of the whopping $426.9 million Barack Obama has raised has come from small donors whose names the Obama campaign won't disclose, ad questions have arisen about millions more in foreign donations the Obama campaign has received that apparently have not been vetted as legitimate.

Federal law does not require the campaigns to identify donors who give less than $200 during the election cycle.  However, it does require that campaigns calculate running totals for each donor and report them once they go beyond the $200 mark.

Surprisingly, the great majority of Obama donors never break the $200 threshold.

"Contributions that come under $200 aggregated per person are not listed," said Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the FEC. "They don't appear anywhere, so there's no way of knowing who they are."

The FEC breakdown of the Obama campaign has identified a staggering $222.7 million as coming from contributions of $200 or less.  Only $39.6 million of that amount comes from donors the Obama campaign has identified.  It is the largest pool of unidentified money that has ever flooded into the U.S. election system.

In a letter dated June 25, 2008, the FEC asked the Obama campaign to verify a series of $25 donations from a contributor identified as "Will, Good" from Austin, Texas.

Mr. Good Will listed his employer as "Loving" and his profession as "You."

A Newsmax analysis of the 1.4 million individual contributions in the latest master file for the Obama campaign discovered 1,000 separate entries for Mr. Good Will, most of them for $25,  totaling $17,375.

There's more . . .
Mo
Money
Federal Election Commission auditor blows the whistle on $200 million in fishy Obama donations.

An auditor for the Federal Election Commission is attempting to have his bosses seek a formal investigation into the collection by the Obama for President campaign of more than $200 million in potentially illegal political donations, including millions of dollars of illegal, foreign donations, and has sought a request for assistance from the Department of Justice or Federal Bureau of Investigation.

But the analyst's requests have largely been ignored. "I can't get anyone to move.  I believe we are looking at a hijacking of our political system …no one wants to touch it."
Obamalytes President-elect Barack Obama's top asset in pushing his agenda will not be his Cabinet secretaries or aides, but rather his online network.

Obama's political e-mail list tops 13 million names, a digital force that the incoming White House can tap to push for his legislation, tamp down critics or bolster popular support.  It's also a way for Obama to reach into every state, every city, and every neighborhood.

A study released Tuesday found that a quarter of Obama voters said they would continue to work online to support the new administration. The nonpartisan Pew Internet and American Life Project also found 62 percent of Obama's voters say they would ask others to support Obama's policies.

Welcome to the Democrats' new permanent campaign, one planned online and executed on Main Street.

If it works the way Obama's top lieutenants plan, the White House would marshal hundreds of thousands of phone calls within hours if it looked as if the president-elect were losing a policy battle.  With the click of a keyboard, Obama's aides could ask supporters to flood the phone lines of Congress, making it untenable to ignore the clamor.

That, at least, is the idea.
Obama's
Illegal
Lottery
Received this email on 1/6/2009:

Thanks to you, President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden will take their oaths of office in just 17 days.


You helped shape history, and now you can be a part of it.

Ten supporters and their guests will be selected to come to Washington, D.C. for several days of inaugural events.  You could be chosen to fly to Washington, attend the welcome ceremony, the Inaugural parade, the swearing-in, and an official Inaugural ball.

Donate $5 or more now. You could be part of the historic events you made possible.

This inauguration will be open to hundreds of thousands of people. To do that, it takes unprecedented resources.

In the past, inaugurations have been funded by lobbyists and corporations making six-figure contributions.  Like our campaign, this inauguration is going to be different.  But that means, once again, Barack and Joe need to ask you for your help.

Supporters like you made this possible, and with your help Barack and Joe will run their administration without the influence of big money from Washington lobbyists or special interests.  Funding the Inauguration this way is another example of the change you helped bring to Washington.

It's up to you, at this crucial moment, to make the Inauguration a success and give change a strong start.

Make a donation of $5 or more now for the opportunity to join Barack and Joe at the beginning of this historic journey to change our country:

https://donate.pic2009.org/tickettohistory

Thank you for your extraordinary efforts throughout the campaign.

Happy New Year,

Obama for America

P.S. -- You can participate without donating.  We recognize this day is as important as it is historic, and we want to hear in your words what this inauguration means to you.


Update -- later in the day -- AND, the first winner is Cynthia Russell from Newberry, Florida.  Cynthia and her guest will attend the welcome ceremony, Barack's swearing-in, the Inaugural Parade, and our Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

Cynthia is a builder and has been feeling the impact of the recent economic crunch. She wrote:

"I'm a single woman who has been building homes for over 18 years.  I've supported myself and have been able to help out my mother from time to time.  Now I find myself wondering how much longer I can hold on and be able to pay my bills and keep the doors open for business.  Barack gives me hope.  Hope that 2009 will truly bring change to Americans who find themselves in this mess with me."

Michelle say they need to select 9 more supporters like Cynthia, and would love for you to be one of them.

So send your money in right away!  And check out the Alinsky -- Cynthia's world is collapsing -- Obama to the rescue!
It's Over,
For Now

 A reader just emailed that the electoral votes were just counted and announced by Vice President Cheney.

Not one legislator, Republican or Democrat, Senator or Representative, could or did refute even one of the undisputed facts concerning the eligibility of Barack Hussein Obama to the office of president under Article II, Section 1, United States Constitution.  Not one!

 

Well, maybe one. Check out the guy with his hand up, standing next to Dennis Kucinich.

 

Congress
Certifies
Today is January 8th -- Congress is scheduled to meet in session to certify the Electoral ballot count.

Many believe the Supreme Court has not involve itself prior to today because there is a clear statutory procedure for challenging the qualification of a President elect.

3 USC 15 provides for a challenge by one Senator and one Representative at this Session of Congress.

§ 15. Counting electoral votes in Congress

...the result of the same shall be delivered to the President of the Senate, who shall thereupon announce the state of the vote, which announcement shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons, if any, elected President and Vice President of the United States, and, together with a list of the votes, be entered on the Journals of the two Houses.  Upon such reading of any such certificate or paper, the President of the Senate shall call for objections, if any.  Every objection shall be made in writing, and shall state clearly and concisely, and without argument, the ground thereof, and shall be signed by at least one Senator and one Member of the House of Representatives before the same shall be received.  When all objections so made to any vote or paper from a State shall have been received and read, the Senate shall thereupon withdraw, and such objections shall be submitted to the Senate for its decision; and the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall, in like manner, submit such objections to the House of Representatives for its decision; and no electoral vote or votes from any State which shall have been regularly given by electors whose appointment has been lawfully certified to according to section 6 of this title from which but one return has been received shall be rejected, but the two Houses concurrently may reject the vote or votes when they agree that such vote or votes have not been so regularly given by electors whose appointment has been so certified.

The 20th amendment describes how the Congress is to proceed if a President elect is found unqualified.
Dirty
Money
Obama spent a record $741 million on his campaign but has disclosed donors for only $485 million of his windfall.  Many of those donors are subject to questions about exceeding campaign donation limits and being legitimate donors.  His campaign spent $309 million on Broadcast Media while groups like ACORN received funding and abused voter registration processes.

Barack Obama filed expenses for $255 million more than he showed donation receipts for?

The campaign produced over 2.5 million donor transactions, but there is no unique identifier to monitor the donors’ total donations and little validation that they are legitimate donors.  The Obama submissions were riddled with errors on city, state and zip code information, and a single donor could have several name variations.  Some of the records were flagrant trash like Jfggjjfgj, Jgtj and Khv, Khv and Hkvkv, K Vkn K V and Hdusahfd, Dahsudhu.  Numerous donors had a single letter given for their last name.  Others were listed as Anonymous.

Most of these are errors that can be checked by a simple computer routine.  If the candidate is unwilling to check their own submissions, then the FEC should have procedures for such checks upon submission and reject reporting with errors over specified tolerance levels.  And late reporting penalties should be applied.

And then there is the issue of foreign donorsť, which are expressly forbidden by U.S. campaign finance law.  There are 4,166 donors listed in the Obama donor records that have foreign address information and are not obviously with the military or government services overseas.   The Obama campaign’s donation form apparently has no entry for foreign country specification.  There was no attempt made by the Obama Campaign to verify the American citizenship of each and every donor.

Read the details here . . .
Mistakes This article’s got lots of fuel for the Obama fans, and it closes very well (though I can think of at least 6 "first mistakes" that it left out).  What’s remarkable to me is that even when given a partial list of the Obama administration’s fubars --as listed by leftist/Obama supporting sites --Obama supporters often deny any and all mistakes; dismiss them, degrade them.  I’ve even seen them declare that in the time between being elected and being sworn in…he can do no wrong because, "Barack Obama isn’t even President yet."

While those same supporters suggest that his opponents (almost half the nation) "give the man a chance" (i.e., ignore his mistakes until X/Y/ZZ) there’s a simply delicious irony that the right and Obama’s opponents are enjoying right now.  That irony is that as every day goes by, Obama’s Administration is either

1) Screwing up so bad that even the friendly media recognize it
2) Changing his policies, positions, and promises to not only match, but EXCEED the hated George W Bush policies and John McCain promises
3) Proving that it IS NOT INFALLIBLE

Check out the list of mistakes here.
The
Coronation
Atlas Shrugs asks if anyone recalls how disgusting the liberal press was when Bush was inaugurated and the economy was not in dire straits.  This is amazing ......billions on a bleeding country and $150 million celebrating a socialist coup.  Oh the irony!

President Bush has declared a DC emergency for the Inauguration. The emergency declaration will let the nation's capital tap deeper into federal coffers for Barack Obama's inauguration.

When President Bush’s inauguration cost $40 million, liberals screeched.  Now, with Obama's coronation costing in excess of $150 million, liberals beam with pride.

MSNBC will put the news channel's inaugural coverage in 27 theaters around the country.

Free tickets are being handed out via MSNBC.com to see the inauguration and parade from 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. ET at the 27 theaters run by 11 exhibitor partners in 21 markets.
Joint
Resolution 5
Press Release

111th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. J. RES. 5

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

January 6, 2009

Mr. SERRANO introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

JOINT RESOLUTION

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to repeal the twenty-second article of amendment, thereby removing the limitation on the number of terms an individual may serve as President.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

Article -- ‘The twenty-second article of amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed.’.

Introduced in the House of Representatives.  This is the original text of the bill as it was written by its sponsor and submitted to the House for consideration.  This is the latest version of the bill available on this website.

Obama isn't even sworn in yet and the dhimmicrats are setting the stage for Obama to pull a Hugo Chavez.

©  Copyright  Beckwith  2008
All right reserved