Obama Calls Meeting With Diva Democrats Dec. 15

Joe Lieberman turns out to be the biggest stumbling block of all.

But democrats largely have been unimpressive. Many of them have been behaving like Divas with their pet projects. I'm talking about the progressives and the moderates. The liberals in Congress got all wrapped up in the public option to the extent that they ignored everything else. The moderates got all wrapped up in costs and abortion. No one seems to have the interest of the American people at heart.

To think the democrats have the majority but haven't been able to get it together. Mitch McConnell was right on that point. But the republicans have been worse than useless. Maybe it is time for smaller government because Congress can't seem to get anything done right.

Pretty pitiful if you ask me. Tomorrow, Obama will meet with Dems:

President Barack Obama will meet with Senate Democrats at the White House Tuesday to press for action at a make-or-break moment for his health care overhaul.

All 60 members of the Democratic caucus have been invited, according to three Democratic officials. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement was not yet public. MSNBC

On Ben Nelson's pet abortion project, Bob Casey is handling that:

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., has said he wants stricter limits on abortion. Casey has been working privately with Nelson in hopes of reaching a compromise on the issue.

Obama's Pre Super Bowl Interview

Update: See the interview with Matt Lauer here. 

If you haven't already heard, Obama's rooting for the Steelers.
Before the game, Matt Lauer will interview Obama live: 

NBC News' Matt Lauer before the game. (This would be the TV network delivering the game in all its 6 pm EST kickoff glory.)

Obama's Super Bowl party partial guest list:

Senator Bob Casey (D-PA)

Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)

Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)

Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD)

Congressman Artur Davis (D-AL)

Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT)

Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA)

Congressman Mike Doyle (D-PA)

Congressman Trent Franks (R-AZ)

Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ)

Congressman Paul Hodes (D-NH)

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-DC)

Congressman Patrick Murphy (D-PA)

Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI)

John McCain was invited but said he'll be watching with his family.

The Sad Spiral of John McCain

Joe Biden said this morning at a rally in Florida that Palin's smears against are Obama are wrong and McCain knows better. He said McCain went out and hired the same smearers that smeared him when McCain adopted his daughter from Bangladesh (there were rumors that McCain had an affair). 

Biden, stealing a line from Sen. Bob Casey, said "You can't call yourself a maverick when all you've been is a sidekick." 

I, like many people, have never known the Maverick McCain, the one that Palin likes to talk about. We just look at her bemused, kind of the way Obama looked at McCain last night. For those of us who never knew, all we see is a man out of control, trying to tear down Obama by innuendos and exploiting people's racial prejudices. McCain has signed on to the year-long underground wingnut attacks on Obama, that have tried to push Obama as a secret Muslim terrorist.

Maureen Dowd skips the snark and tells of McCain's descent: 

NYT: But if McCain loses, he will have contributed to his own downfall by failing to live up to his personal standard of honor.

John McCain has long been torn between wanting to succeed and serving a higher cause. Right now, the drive to succeed is trumping any loftier aspirations. He cynically picked a running mate with less care than theater directors give to picking a leading actor’s understudy. And he has been running a seamy campaign originally designed by the bad seed of conservative politics, Lee Atwater.

It was adapted in 2000 in Atwater’s home state of South Carolina by Atwater acolytes in W.’s camp to harpoon McCain with rumors that he had fathered out of wedlock a black baby (as opposed to adopting a Bangladeshi infant girl in wedlock). Sulfurous Atwater-style rumor-mongering by Bush supporters — that McCain had come home from a Hanoi tiger cage with snakes in his head — aimed to stop him during that primary after he had zoomed in New Hampshire.

Atwater relished teaching rich, white Republicans to feign a connection to the common man so they could get in office and economically undermine the common man. In the 1988 campaign, the Machiavellian ran to help George Bush Sr. defeat Michael Dukakis with this unholy quintet of charges:

The Democrat was a ’60s-style liberal who would raise taxes and take away guns. He was weak and would not protect the country militarily. He was a member of the elite “Harvard Yard’s boutique.” He had a foreign-sounding name and was not on “the American side.” He was on the side of the Scary Black Man.

Sound familiar?

Democratic Convention Preview Aug. 26

painting by Shel Starkman


Tuesday is Hillary's night. Mark Warner will keynote. Other big names include Deval Patrick and Bob Casey.

Tuesday, August 26 2008: Renewing America's Promise
Hour #1 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM (LOCAL)
Call to Order
The Honorable Shirley Franklin
Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

Invocation
Reverend Cynthia Hale
Disciples of Christ - Decatur, Georgia

Presentation of Colors
The American GI Forum
Mile High Chapter, Colorado
Congressionally chartered Mexican-American veterans & civil rights organization

Pledge of Allegiance
Koby Langley
From Fort Mead, Maryland, he received the Bronze Star for leadership in the US Army
Credited with design & implementation of 1st Foreign Torts Claims Policy Act - Iraq

National Anthem
Rocky Mountain Children's Choir
A multicultural, multiracial choir committed to forming community around music

Remarks/Video
The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton
Non-voting Member of the US House of Representatives, District of Columbia

Remarks
Ted Sorenson
Special Counsel, advisor and speechwriter to President John F. Kennedy
Researched and drafted Kennedy's "Profiles in Courage"

The Honorable Mike Honda
Member of the US House of Representatives, California

Dr. David Gipp
Member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
President - United Tribes Technical College

The Honorable Linda Sanchez
Member of the US House of Representatives, California

The Honorable Chet Culver
Governor of Iowa

The Honorable David Patterson
Governor of New York

The Honorable Patrick Leahy
US Senator, Vermont

Hour # 2 4:08 PM – 5:00 PM (LOCAL)
Remarks
The Honorable Chris Van Hollen
Member of the US House of Representatives, Maryland

Remarks
Cecile Richards
President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Daughter of the former Governor of Texas, The Honorable Ann Richards

Congressional Black Caucus
The Honorable Carolyn Kilpatrick
Member of the US House of Representatives, Michigan
The Honorable Charles Rangel
Member of the US House of Representatives, New York
The Honorable John Conyers
Member of the US House of Representatives, Michigan
The Honorable Bennie Thompson
Member of the US House of Representatives, Mississippi

Moment of Silence

Video – “In Memoriam”

Remarks
The Honorable Dennis Kucinich
Member of the US House of Representatives, Ohio

The Honorable John Chiang
State Comptroller, California

The Honorable Jim Doyle
Governor of Wisconsin

The Honorable Ted Strickland
Governor of Ohio

DGA - Remarks
The Honorable Joe Manchin
Governor of West Virginia

Hour # 3 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (LOCAL)
US Senate Women
The Honorable Barbara Mikulski
US Senator, Maryland
The Honorable Barbara Boxer
US Senator, California
The Honorable Mary Landrieu
US Senator, Louisiana
The Honorable Blanche Lambert Lincoln
US Senator, Arizona
The Honorable Debbie Stabenow
US Senator, Michigan
The Honorable Maria Cantwell
US Senator, Washington State
The Honorable Claire McCaskill
US Senator, Missouri
The Honorable Amy Klobuchar
US Senator, Minnesota

Remarks
The Honorable Ed Rendell
Governor of Pennsylvania

The Honorable Tammy Baldwin
Member of the US House of Representatives, Wisconsin

The Honorable Xavier Becerra
Member of the US House of Representatives, California

John Sweeney
President of the AFL-CIO

Robin Golden
Autoworker from Michigan scheduled to lose his job

Video - First Time Delegates: Renewing America's Promise

Remarks
The Honorable Rahm Emanuel
Member of the US House of Representatives, Illinois

Live Performance
Alejandro Escovedo
Vocals & guitar

Hour # 4 6:01 PM – 7:00 PM (LOCAL)
Remarks
The Honorable Steny Hoyer
Member of the US House of Representatives, Maryland
Democratic Majority Leader

Katherine Marcano
Cedar Rapids, Iowa flood victim

Anna Berger
Officer with SEIU & 1st Chair of America's newest labor federation, "Change to Win"

Pauline Beck
Homecare worker & member of SEIU from Oakland, California

The Honorable Janet Napolitano
Governor of Arizona

America’s Town Hall - Economy
Moderator: The Honorable Jennifer Granholm – Governor of Michigan
Panelists: Aimee Christensen, Jim Rogers, Jim Bauer, Jerome Ringo

Remarks
Jim Whitaker
Republican Mayor of Fairbanks, Alaska

Pamela Cash-Roper
Unemployed nurse and lifelong Republican from North Carolina

The Honorable Nydia Velazquez
Member of the US House of Representatives, New York

Hour # 5 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM (LOCAL)
Remarks
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Governor of Kansas

The Honorable Frederico Peña
Former Secretary of Energy and former Mayor of Denver, Colorado

Nancy Floyd
Founder of Nth Power – an energy technology investment firm in Portland, Oregon

The Honorable Robert Casey, Jr.
US Senator, Pennsylvania

Lily Ledbetter
Her actions against Goodyear Tire led to the passage of the Fair Pay Restoration Act

Keynote Speech
The Honorable Mark Warner
Governor of Virginia

Remarks
Ret. Rear Admiral John Hutson
President, Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, New Hampshire
Lifelong Republican

The Honorable Deval Patrick
Governor of Massachusetts

Hour # 6 8:02 PM – 9:04 PM (LOCAL)
Remarks
Gloria Craven
Laid-off North Carolina textile worker with huge medical bills

The Honorable Brian Schweitzer
Governor of Montana

Hillary Clinton Segment - Video/Remarks
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
US Senator, New York

Benediction
Revs. Jin Ho Kang, Yoougsook Kang
Methodists - Aurora, Colorado

Recess
The Honorable Shirley Franklin
Mayor of Atlanta, Georgia

Bob Casey to Speak at Democratic Convention

MSNBC: WASHINGTON - Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who opposes abortion rights, will be a featured speaker at the party's national convention, officials said Wednesday.

Casey was set to speak during the convention's session Tuesday night, his office said. He is the son of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert P. Casey, who was not given a marquee speaking spot at the 1992 convention because of his anti-abortion views.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama supports abortion rights. Casey endorsed Obama over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, also an abortion-rights supporter, and campaigned with Obama throughout Pennsylvania. Clinton trounced Obama in the primary but not by a big enough margin to thwart his bid for the nomination.

Casey, Caroline and Obama Sunday Rally

update: see the video and the story here
i'm going to make some calls to pennsylvania today. you?

this will be live streamed at cnn.com -- town hall event in reading streaming now!
On Track for Change Rally with Barack Obama in Scranton
Join Barack Obama, Senator Bob Casey, and Caroline Kennedy at an On Track for Change Rally in Scranton this Sunday, April 20th. Below are the details for this event:

On Track for Change Rally in Scranton
with Barack Obama, Senator Bob Casey, and Caroline Kennedy

Riverfront Sports Complex
5 West Olive Plaza
Scranton, PA 18508

Sunday, April 20, 2008
Gates Open: 5:00 p.m.
Program Begins: 7:00 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public; tickets are not required but an RSVP is encouraged. Space is available on a first come, first served basis. Please RSVP using the form to the right.

For security reasons, do not bring bags and please limit personal items. No signs or banners permitted.

Join Barack Obama at an Town Hall in Reading on Sunday, April 20thth.

On Track for Change Town Hall with Barack Obama
Reading High School
801 N. 13th St
Reading, PA 19604

Sunday, April 20th
Doors Open: 10:30 a.m.
Program Begins: 12:20 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public; however, seating is limited and tickets are required. Admission is first-come, first-served.

For security reasons, do not bring bags. Please limit personal belongings. No signs or banners permitted.

Abortion Foes Back Obama

to those who would write obama's views on abortion as "liberal," they might be surprised to learn that he's not pro-abortion. contrary to what the extreme voices say, supporting women's rights doesn't mean you have to be pro-abortion.

but extremists -- the talk show hosts and the like-- put everything in simpleton terms. the issue is complex.


at the compassion forum, obama argued for abstinence education and at the same time, sex education and anything else (he has mentioned adoption awareness on other occasions) that would help teens avoid getting pregnant and lower the number of abortions.

and it is obama's sensible approach that abortion foes, such as sen. bob casey former congressman timothy roemer support obama. with a middle ground, efforts can actually be made to lower the number of teen pregnancies and abortions, instead of opposing sides digging deeper in their trenches.

it confounds me that pro-lifers don't understand that they're failing their own cause because they aren't willing to acknowledge realities and work with the other side. they invoke religion and self-righteousness. no one wants an abortion.

the pro-choice people don't budge because they fear the right for a woman to decide is fragile.

wash post: As firmly as Casey (Pa.) and Roemer (Ind.) have adhered to their opposition, Obama has never supported a single measure that would curtail access to abortion -- even under controversial circumstances. But Casey and Roemer have chosen to ignore Obama's legislative record, and are promoting the Democratic presidential candidate to their antiabortion allies as someone who could achieve a new consensus on the issue. "He has the unique skills to try to lower the temperature and foster a sense of common ground, and try to figure out ways that people can agree," Casey said, although the freshman senator added, "On this issue, it's particularly hard."

Clinton Superdelegates Leave Door Open to Obama

abc: For the lay of the land, ask former President Jimmy Carter, or Sen. Bob Casey, or Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver, or Gov. Jon Corzine, or Rep. John Murtha -- all of whom have, in their own way, delivered a different blow to Clinton's chances in recent days. "Superdelegates are jumping to Barack Obama's camp or signaling that's where they are headed, including such prominent figures as former President Jimmy Carter," Peter Nicholas writes in the Los Angeles Times. "Some superdelegates who back Clinton have begun laying out scenarios under which they would abandon her for Obama."

clinton is failing superdelegate math.

jimmy carter leaning toward obama

Sen. Bob Casey Endorses Obama Video

and the crowd goes wild. casey's heartfelt endorsement.


obama camp making a run for pennsylvania.

cnn: Obama accepted the endorsement, saying, "Bob is such gracious person. I did not press him on this endorsement. There are others I press."

He said Casey's backing "meant more to me as any endorsement I've received on the trail because I knew it was coming from the heart." Watch as Casey backs Obama »

Casey is a first-term senator and son of a popular former Gov. Bob Casey Sr. A Catholic, the lawmaker could help Obama make inroads in Pennsylvania among Catholic voters, a bloc that has favored Clinton in most other contests.

"I know that it wasn't based on political calculation, and that's the kind of person I want standing alongside me, that's the kind of leadership that Bob will bring alongside me when I am president of the United States of America," Obama said, later hugging the senator.

Obama also lashed out at the presumptive Republican nominee's policy on Iraq, saying Sen. John McCain "wants to continue George Bush's economic policies. He wants to keep troops in Iraq potentially for 100 years."