Obama's Jewish Supporters

i felt obliged to track down obama's jewish supporters. i knew, of course, that not everyone thought like this. after i read that, i was truly disheartened. i guess every group has their knuckleheads.
can you believe that it was the hillary camp that spread these nasty rumors to start? read it here. i used to think that hillary's supporters were oblivious to her nastiness but they aren't. they went along for the ride, believing in hillary.
here's big support for obama, jews4obama, and a poll at the jerusalem post says jewish people prefer obama to mccain 61% to 32%. so don't believe everything you read (she tells herself).

politico: A group of Obama's Jewish supporters are raising money for a supportive ad in The New York Times, according to a copy of an email from an Obama backer, Chicago lawyer Jack Levin.

"A group of Jewish Americans all across the U.S. believe Barack Obama would make the best president and hence are in the process of preparing a full-page New York Times ad — to be signed by all of us who would like to be included — showing the U.S. Jewish community?s widespread support for Barack," Levin writes, adding that the ad's sponsors will be known as "American Jewish Patriots."

The need for such an ad is a mark of Obama's continuing struggle to secure the allegiance of Jewish voters — typically a solidly Democratic group — in the face of often inchoate concerns, urban legends and viral e-mails that he's worked hard to rebut.

Clinton Needs to Stop Soldiering On

apparently, she was jeered today. she started on her obama rant when the voters just wanted to hear about trade issues. is anyone else in awe as to how far this non-story has gone? unbelievable. hillary is bringing down the whole. obama is far from elitist and she knows it. she and mccain distorted what he was trying to say -- that working class voters don't vote on economic issues because they don't think the government can help. that's it. in a nutshell. that's all he was saying. see this 2004 video, where he says the same thing.

cnn: But the audience at a forum put on by the Alliance for American Manufacturing didn't appreciate her line of attack.

"I understand my opponent came this morning and spent a lot of his time attacking me," she said at the beginning of her remarks here.

Many in the crowd responded with audible groans, and a few shouted, "No!"


Obama spoke to the same forum earlier in the morning and ribbed Clinton for doing a shot of whiskey in front of TV cameras on Saturday in Indiana.

Clinton continued, "I know that many of you, like me, were disappointed by the recent remarks he made."

This time, a louder, sustained chorus of "No!" emanated from the audience. Clinton soldiered on.

Elitism in Perspective

who's the elitist? the candidate who assumed she'd be president just cause? the clintons will lose. they've been on course to lose since super tuesday. isn't it interesting that she is siding with mccain on this one? hillary needs to stop with the antics or get out of the race.
must see video

Superdelegate Altmire Being Strong Armed by Clintons

representative jason altmire of pennsylvania said on npr today that obama reached out for his support in june 2007, long before the desperate clintons, whom just before the texas primary and caucuses, found they might need altmire's support.

altmire also said that the clinton camp suggested they might not support altmire in his reelection bid if he didn't support them. they also said that it's clinton's time, not obama's.
it's time for the clintons to go.

npr: Altmire says even his constituents are ratcheting up the pressure. "Sen. Obama had a rally in my district on St. Patrick's Day, which I attended, because I make it a point to attend anything that's in my district, and the media reported it. We got a few dozen calls from people supporting Sen. Clinton, saying that you should think twice if you're going to support Sen. Obama."

The message was clear. If Altmire supported Obama, the Clintons' supporters might not back him come November. Altmire is likely to face a tough rematch in his southwestern district with the Republican he ousted from the seat in 2006.

When he returns the calls of the Clinton supporters, Altmire says they frequently tell him that this is Clinton's time and that she has earned this; Obama is young and can afford to wait.

Compilation of Clinton’s Dirty Tactics
Clinton’s Lie List
Hillary’s Gift Basket Politics
Hillary’s Loyalty Politics
Clinton’s Donor Bullies
Pushing Clinton Out Should Be a Group Effort

Hillary Clinton's Lie List

this list compiled by dick morris:
Hillary simply cannot tell the truth. Here's her scorecard:
Admitted Lies

• Chelsea was jogging around the Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. (She was in bed watching it on TV.)
• Hillary was named after Sir Edmund Hillary. (She admitted she was wrong. He climbed Mt. Everest five years after her birth.)
• She was under sniper fire in Bosnia. (A girl presented her with flowers at the foot of the ramp.)
• She learned in The Wall Street Journal how to make a killing in the futures market. (It didn't cover the market back then.)

Whoppers She Won't Confess To

• She didn't know about the FALN pardons.
• She didn't know that her brothers were being paid to get pardons that Clinton granted.
• Taking the White House gifts was a clerical error.
• She didn't know that her staff would fire the travel office staff after she told them to do so.
• She didn't know that the Peter Paul fundraiser in Hollywood in 2000 cost $700,000 more than she reported it had.
• She opposed NAFTA at the time.
• She was instrumental in the Irish peace process.
• She urged Bill to intervene in Rwanda.
• She played a role in the '90s economic recovery.
• The billing records showed up on their own.
• She thought Bill was innocent when the Monica scandal broke.
• She was always a Yankees fan.

there's more
another interesting point in this story is that americans equate leadership with the abilty to be a bully. it says that voters view obama as less than a leader than clinton and mccain. i think he's simply got them all outwitted. obama is widely understimated.

Obama's reluctance to trade punches with his opponents makes us wonder if he could trade them with bin Laden or Ahmadinejad. We have no doubt that McCain would gladly come to blows and would represent us well, but about Obama we are not so sure.

isn't that interesting? don't we teach our children that there are other ways to solve problems than brute force. granted, bin laden isn't the ordinary bully on the block but it appears that using military force only kills lots of people. it seems for this policy of military domination to work that we would have to build up our military and just assert ourselves at every given opportunity. short of that, we have to find other creative ways of dealing with nutballs.
more lies confronted by obama camp:

Senator Clinton’s claims about her visit to Tuzla, Bosnia—and the footage disproving her account—have created quite a stir. And with good reason. As the Associated Press wrote yesterday: “What makes Clinton's situation unique—and the Bosnia embellishments so damaging—is the fact that the New York senator has built her candidacy on the illusion of experience. Any attack on her credentials is a potential Achilles heel.”

Unfortunately, Clinton’s fantastic invention of a sniper-raked landing is only one in a growing list of instances in which she has exaggerated her role as First Lady, particularly with respect to domestic policy.

Clinton has credited herself with “creating” the State Children’s Health Insurance Program and “helping to pass” the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Like the Tuzla story, both of these claims turn out to false—raising serious questions not just about the rationale for Senator Clinton’s campaign, but about her willingness to adhere to the truth.

“Creating” the State Children’s Health Insurance Program?

Ø Question: Did Hillary Clinton “create” SCHIP as First Lady? That’s what her web site says. But it’s not what the program’s congressional sponsors say.

On her website, Senator Clinton goes so far as to laud what she calls “her successful effort to create the SCHIP Children’s Health Insurance program.”

“Create” SCHIP? Once again, Senator Clinton’s claim simply doesn’t hold up.

The Boston Globe recently conducted an investigation into Clinton’s purported role in the legislation, concluding that: “Hillary Clinton, who has frequently described herself on the campaign trail as playing a pivotal role in forging a children’s health insurance plan, had little to do with crafting the landmark legislation or ushering it through Congress, according to several lawmakers, staffers, and healthcare advocates involved in the issue.”

Not only is Senator Clinton’s claim of authorship false, but the White House actually opposed SCHIP during it’s creation: “But the Clinton White House, while supportive of the idea of expanding children’s health, fought the first SCHIP effort, spearheaded by Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah…”

Representative Henry Waxman, a leader on the bill who remains unaffiliated in the race, said he has no memory of any involvement by Clinton: “It was a bipartisan bill. I don’t remember the role of the White House,” said Representative Henry Waxman, a California Democrat who has not endorsed a candidate in the presidential race and who was the chief Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, which deals with health matters. “It did not originate at the White House.”

And Senator Kennedy, the Senate’s undisputed leader on universal health care and one of the actual creators of SCHIP, does not agree with Clinton’s assessment: “Asked whether Clinton was exaggerating her role in creating SCHIP, Kennedy, stopped in the hallway as he was entering the chamber to vote, half-shrugged. ‘Facts are stubborn things,’ he said, declining to criticize Clinton directly. ‘I think we ought to stay with the facts.’”

Leadership on the Family and Medical Leave Act?

Ø Question: Did Senator Clinton “help to pass” FMLA? Her White House schedules and the timeline of the bill’s passage call that claim into question.

Clinton claims on the trail and on her website that she played a significant role in “helping to pass the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to enable new parents to take time off without losing their jobs…” But there is no evidence that this is the case.

For starters, the bill was signed into law only 16 days after Bill Clinton took office—not much time for the new First Lady to play much of a role. On top of that, the Associated Press reported that an existing version of the bill that had already been passed “by majorities in the last Congress” was altered only slightly and “recycled for enactment” [AP, 2/9/93].

In addition, Senator Clinton’s recently released White House schedules show that she didn’t have a single meeting on the bill she now touts. And in her own autobiography she discusses FMLA without making any mention of having a role in its passage.

Now that she’s running for President, however, the facts seem to have changed. Or at least her allegiance to them has.

Experience: Foundation of the Clinton Candidacy

The refrain that Senator Clinton “has the experience to lead on Day One” has been repeated endlessly since she entered the race. On closer inspection, the claims Senator Clinton makes turn out to be little more than stories.

With the next primary less than a month away, it’s time for Senator Clinton to finally face the “vetting” she’s so fond of discussing. Badly trailing in delegates, votes, and states won, she’s going to need more than a new script to win the nomination. But if she wants to regain the trust of the American people, it would be a good place to start.

Obama: Strategy Needed in Iraq
Stupid Patriotism

Clinton Exploiting Delegate Loophole: More Dirty Tactics

what's this? unseating pledged delegates? i didn't know is could happen but apparently, clinton is working on a way.
from newsweek:

.....After the 1980 battle between Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy, her chief strategist Harold Ickes noted, the party changed a rule that required pledged delegates to stick with their candidates no matter what. The current rule, adopted in 1982, states that pledged delegates "shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." A "good conscience" reason for a delegate to switch, Ickes told NEWSWEEK, would be if one candidate—such as, say, Clinton—was deemed more "electable." If delegates believe she has a better chance in November than Obama, Ickes said, "you bet" that would be a reason to change their vote. (He added, however, that the campaign is "focused" on winning over uncommitted superdelegates "at this point.")

Ickes's comments prompted a fierce comeback from Obama spokesman Bill Burton. "Despite repeated denials," he said, "the Clinton campaign finally admitted that they will go to any length to win." One party official, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive matters, said the strategy behind Clinton's invocation of the 1982 rule was clear: "They're trying to open up a window for some of the Obama people to change their minds."

okay, here's what we have so far from clinton:
1) Her latest trick, before the above mentioned, is to repeat over and over that Obama is unelectable. In a conference call with reporters, Clinton’s strategist Mark Penn said that Obama is unelectable and even if he is electable, wink, wink, they will nonetheless hammer the idea that he’s not into the psyche of the American people. Clinton’s Pennsylvania mouthpiece Gov. Ed Rendell admitted that Obama is indeed electable.

2) Clinton went around floating the idea that Obama would make a great vice president. As if. That’s another ploy to appeal to those who don’t have a strong preference but think that if they vote for Clinton, they might get a two-fer.

3) She’s tried to seat the Florida and Michigan delegates, claiming that she won. Those states made a greedy power play by moving up their primaries, breaking the Democratic National Convention rules. Both Clinton and Obama and the parties agreed not to campaign in those states after the Democratic National Convention stripped those states of delegates.

Furthermore, Obama’s name wasn’t on the Michigan ballot. As Obama said, even his six-year old daughter could figure out that awarding the delegates to Clinton wasn’t fair.

In an interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, Obama said: “Our position consistently has been that the Michigan and Florida delegations should be seated [at the Democratic National Convention] and that we should come up with a system that is fair to all the parties involved.”

But Clinton isn’t about fairness or what’s right. She’s about winning no matter what the cost. And that’s bad. I don’t care where she stands on policy. She’s lost on character. All I see is someone who will do and say anything to get what she wants.

4) She’s actually going to lose Texas when the final count comes in. She’s been trying to delay that.

5)she hosted uncommitted superdelegate soiree at her house. perhaps she promised some superdelegates a few favors in exchange for their votes.

6)There is evidence that it was Clinton (including her operatives) who instigated the ideas that are now fuel for the ignorant-- that Obama hates Jewish people, that he secretly hates white people and that he might be a related to terrorists because his middle name is Hussein and he once wore a turban.

In February, Newsweek said it had access to some of these Clinton camp emails:

As the race between Clinton and Obama has sharpened in recent months, other Clinton campaign operatives have sent around negative material about Obama's relations with Israel, according to e-mails obtained by NEWSWEEK. In addition to Brzezinski, the e-mails attack Obama advisers such as Rob Malley, a former Clinton negotiator at the 2000 Camp David talks who has since written articles sympathetic to the Palestinian point of view, and they raise questions about Obama's relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the former pastor at Obama's Trinity Church in Chicago.

Early on in the race, she tried this underhanded trick of pitting black people against hispanics.

let's see, have i missed anything? can anyone see a pattern here?

In short, Clinton’s actions are despicable. She’s exploiting the people in this country who don’t know any better. She’s playing on their fears, and she’s doing it at the detriment of several groups of people, Muslims, Jewish and black people. she's going to "kitchen sink" us.

Clinton has proven herself to be of poor character. Is this conniving kind of person really who we want to lead the nation?
Obama: the Un-Beholden President
Who Can Beat McCain?
Obama’s Pennsylvania Strategy

The Amen Chorus

on 'meet the press' this morning one of the topics: obama's former pastor, jerimiah wright, who scared lots of white people in recent days.

npr reporter michelle norris pointed out something interesting about those videos: "the amen chorus."

as wright spoke in the videos that we've all seen, there were a lot of amens from the audience. in other words, in this country black people still feel plenty oppressed because we still have great problems with race. we saw it especially in ohio where "lunchbox workers" said they wouldn't vote for "a black." i understand that they probably see a lot of black crime in ohio, but what is the root cause? ohioans are in need of empathy. as obama has said, we have an empathy deficit. we also could use some education.

if children got a dose of america's slavery history in school today and how it effects the present, that might go a long way toward getting past racism in this country. many white people find it difficult to believe that the past is tied to the present. they don't see that racism has been rolled along throughout history like a snowball.

anyway, michelle also pointed out that some black churches are much more spirited. black churches are also dealing with more severe economic, racial and social problems. i'd like to see a story about black churches in the new york times or another newspaper.

if one keeps an open mind about pastor wright's remarks, there is room for forgiveness.

but as far as the pastor goes, people who hate obama will use the videos to fuel their own hate. you only need to look at how clinton's campaign has tried to exploit people's fear of black people, jewish people, muslim people, at the detriment of those people. and to the detriment of the democratic party, i might add.

see the 'meet the press' video at msnbc.com

Context to Pastor Wright’s Sermon
Truth About Trinity
FoxAttacks.com Fights Fox
On the Minds of Superdelegates 1
On the Minds of Superdelegates 2
On the Minds of Superdelegates 3
On the Minds of Superdelegates 4
On the Minds of Superdelegates 5

Pelosi Warns Superdelegates Not to Meddle

house speaker has tried to remain neutral but alas she's speaking out.
she says superdelegates should NOT overturn the pledged delegates, so the candidate with the lead in pledged delegates should be the nominee. we know that obama leads by 142 and that it's mathematically impossible for clinton to catch up, unless she cheats and that's what's she's doing at every turn. she tried to get michigan and florida delegates seated as is. her new dirty tactic is to repeat over and over that obama is unelectable. she's even having a soiree at her house for the uncommitted supers. perhaps there, she can get them in private and promise a favor or two in return for votes.

WASHINGTON (AP) – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says it would be damaging to the Democratic party for its leaders to buck the will of national convention delegates picked in primaries and caucuses, a declaration that gives a boost to Sen. Barack Obama.
"If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what's happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic party," Pelosi said in an interview taped Friday for broadcast Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

The California Democrat did not mention either Obama or his rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, by name. But her remarks seemed to suggest she was prepared to cast her ballot at the convention in favor of the candidate who emerges from the primary season with the most pledged delegates.

Obama leads Clinton by 142 pledged delegates — those delegates picked in nomination contests to date, in The Associated Press' count.

Barring an unlikely string of landslide victories by the former first lady in the remaining states, he will end the primary season with a delegate lead, but short of the 2025 needed to win the nomination.

That gives the balance of power to the so-called superdelegates, prominent Democrats who are automatically entitled to attend the convention because of their status as members of Congress or other leaders. Clinton leads Obama for their support in the AP count, 249-213.

Pelosi's comments could influence other House Democrats who are neutral in the presidential race and will attend the convention as superdelegates.

In her interview, Pelosi also said that even if one candidate winds up with a larger share of the popular vote than the delegate leader, the candidate who has more delegates should prevail.

"It's a delegate race," she said. "The way the system works is that the delegates choose the nominee."

More than 500 delegates remain to be picked in primaries beginning on April 22 in Pennsylvania, which has 158 at stake on April 22. more

Obama’s Superdelegate Momentum
Clinton Must Win Pennsylvania
It’s Still Over for Clinton
Who Can Beat McCain?

Clinton's New Dirty Tactic: Obama Unelectable

clinton is once again lying to mislead. her campaign thinks if they say obama is unelectable over and over it will become true:

NPR: "Some people have treated this as an unfortunate byproduct of Clinton's decision to continue her campaign. It's actually a central element of the strategy. Penn is already saying he's unelectable. It's not true, but by the time the convention rolls around, it may well be."
But that doesn't mean the strategy won't work. Chait says Clinton needs the superdelegates to break 2-1 in her favor and the only way she can do that is by repeating 'he can't be elected.'

even clinton's own pennsylvania mouthpiece governor ed rendell contradicts clinton's cheating ways in this video. he says obama or clinton can beat mccain in the fall:

first off, obama leads clinton. second, i'll say it again and again, clinton NEEDS and MUST WIN pennslyvania because if she doesn't, that's it for her. end of the line. but in a recent polls, a matchup of obama and mccain in pennsylvania have them neck and neck. same for clinton. obama, on the other hand, is in indiana today and is focusing on indiana and north carolina that make up 187 delegates, more than pennslyvania's 158 delegates.

NPR: Yesterday during a conference call with reporters, Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief strategist Mark Penn said that Sen. Barack Obama was unelectable.

The Pennsylvania vote, he said, will be a "very significant test of who could really win the general election."

"We believe this will show Hillary is ready to win, and that Senator Obama really can't win the general election," Penn said.

The Obama camp was quick to reply, sending out an e-mail late last night debunking the comments made by Penn.

"It can't inspire too much confidence in the Clinton campaign when their pollster ignores both polls and math by making comments as divorced from reality as this one. Senator Obama is leading in delegates, states won, the popular vote, and fares better than Senator Clinton against John McCain in poll after poll, including critical swing states like Iowa, Colorado, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Wisconsin."

Jonathan Chait at The New Republic says in "The Plank" blog that Penn's comments are part of the Clinton campaign's strategy to convince superdelegates that they need to support Clinton if they want to win in the fall. Chait says in one way it's a silly argument.

"There's not even good evidence to suggest that Obama is less likely than Clinton to win the general, he writes. "Currently, the [Real Clear Politics] poll average has both defeating John McCain by an average of 1.5%. Before the last couple weeks, when McCain and Clinton have both been making mutually-reinforcing attacks on Obama nearly every day, Obama was running well ahead of Clinton in those head-to-head matchups."

clinton's only hope is to prove to the supers that she has sway. it's the supers that will decide and clinton's campaign manager failed to mention that since march 3, obama has gained 15 supers; clinton 7.
Bogus Big States Argument
Obama’s Pennsylvania Strategy
Clinton Must Win Pennsylvania
It’s Still Over for Clinton
Obama’s Superdelegate Momentum

Are Clinton's People Intentionally Race Baiting?

could it be? are we being bamboozled again? geraldine ferraro, steven king. here's ferraro caught in a flashback.
is this all part of clinton's "kitchen sink" strategy, to draw the ugliness out of people and pit them against each other, to divide people before the general election just so she can win?
i wouldn't put it past her. i will not vote for clinton if she cheats her way to the nomination. i will crawl into my apathetic hole.
the media has bitten and has been reeled in.
i have been drawn into the mud too and it doesn't feel good. the contest for the most important postition in the nation is being been reduced to the issue of race, and as one person put it, obama's campaign is being turned into a "black thing." that's not what obama is about.
well, i recognize it now and i'm no longer falling for it.
this blog will refocus on the positive. if someone says something stupid, i will ignore it. after all, if we ignored people who spew hate instead of giving them attention for their negativity, then they'd go away.
update: someone who agrees that this is just another clinton tactic. can we all call her a monster now and get on with it?
Obama: the Un-Beholden President
Bogus Big States Argument
Obama’s Pennsylvania Strategy
It’s Still Over for Clinton