The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. and President Bill Clinton at a prayer breakfast at the White House in September 1998.
During one of the most difficult periods in the presidency of Bill Clinton, he addressed a group of clerics at an annual prayer breakfast in September 1998 just as the Starr report outlining his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was about to be published.
Among those in attendance, was the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., who is seen shaking hands with Mr. Clinton in a photograph provided today by the Obama campaign. Mr. Wright’s relationship with Senator Barack Obama, as his longtime pastor, has been the subject of considerable controversy in recent days because of incendiary excerpts of sermons Mr. Wright gave at their church, Trinity United Church of Christ, in Chicago. Read the rest of this entry »
The activist wing of the film making community is producing some incredible on point videos and Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films organization has one that is both on time and on point. See it in the context of the flap being generated by the NY Times article alleging improprieties by John McCain on a personal level with a female lobbyist. While the MSM focuses on innuendos about possible sexual “misconduct” it ignores the larger question of thelobbyist McCain is ACTUALLY “SLEEPING” WITH!
There are 59 current or former lobbyists on McCain’s payroll...
As an equal opportunity Presidential campaign cynic I’ve come across lots of fodder to feed my devil’s advocate appetite. Here the focus is on the current rising tide of Obamamaia that seems poised to crest on primary day in Ohio. Once again the Buckeye state is going to play a very pivotal role in the selection of our next President, another choice made between ok and ho hum, between “hope” and “triangulation”, clothespins optional.
Yes, I do prefer the politics of hope over more of the same ole same-o. That does not in turn lead to necessarily being fooled by and, ultimately, possibly, betrayed by the smooth delivery of the hope merchant.
In considering who it is that we vote for, it is imperative that maximum truthful information is available about the person into whose hands a large part of the fate of our nation is to be entrusted.
Either Hillary Clinton or Barak Obama would be a vast improvement over Bush or his would be clone, John McCain, who I don’t wish to demonize…I simply don’t agree with his militaristic bent or his pandering to acquire “conservative” credentials…among many other issues, but more on McCain later. This is about Barak Obama, likely Democratic nominee.
It’s about voting with a full deck. As David Esrati so succinctly puts it “there are no perfect candidates.”
The article is a bit long but well worth the slog for the insight gained …
The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has become a media parade on its way to a coronation. Journalists and leading Democrats have done shockingly little to pin Obama down, to hold him specifically responsible for anything beyond his slogans of “yes we can” and “change we can believe in”. Prominent Black Democrats, many ministers and the traditional Black leadership class are doing less than anybody to hold Obama accountable, peddling instead a supposed racial obligation among African Americans to support this second coming of Joshua and his campaign as “the movement” itself. What would holding Barack Obama accountable on war and peace, on social security, health care and other issues look like, and is it possible to hold a political “rock star” accountable at all?
Whether it is truly possible to hold elected officials accountable in a political system where big money, big media, big corporations and the very rich call all the shots is uncertain. But we have tried and will keep trying. So will others. The stakes are too high not to.
Apparently my “trust” in ABC-News is/was misplaced. The information contained in their story that said Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown is involved with a new Ohio 527 political lobby that is pro Hillary Clinton is not accurate.
Connie Schulz, the Senators wife, said in an email:
Sherrod has nothing to do with this. Mattis Goldman was one of the consultants during Sherrod’s 2006 race, but anyone saying Sherrod is involved in these ads is wrong. By law, he can have nothing to do with the 527.
Great, I’ve called the guy out for a transgression he didn’t commit. Mea Culpa for that. While I’m glad to learn that Mr Brown didn’t cross his own line on endorsing, the rest of the post stands, cynicism and all.
John McCain must hope that Americans won’t read the entire New York Times story about his friendship with a female lobbyist, because if they do, they’ll realize that his statement – that he “has never violated the public trust, never done favors for special interests or lobbyists” – simply isn’t true.
Though the article focuses on the friendship between the 71-year-old Arizona senator and Vicky Iseman, an attractive 40-year-old lobbyist for telecommunications companies, it also recounts McCain’s complicated history as both a violator of congressional ethics and a champion for ethics reform. Read the rest of this entry »
We hope this finds you all warm and well!It has been awhile since our last message, so we’d like to take this opportunity to update you on some of the recent news pertinent to what is happening surrounding issues involving the Piketon, Ohio Department of Energy site.There have been several recent publications of interest which are included at the end of this message.(Unfortunately, our website is not currently updated, but hopefully it soon will be and we can direct you to links to these sorts of things instead of sending such lengthy messages.) Read the rest of this entry »
In 2006, Sherrod Brown ran on an anti-war populist economic message and won in towns across Ohio long written-off by Democrats. On March 4, the Democratic primary will be held in the state, with Obama possibly looking to continue a streak of victories, while Clinton faces as close to a must-win situation as we are likely to see in the fight for the nomination.
While Senator Brown has said he won’t endorse either candidate before the Ohio primary, he’s in close contact with both candidates, and in an interview with me he spoke candidly about trade, globalization, and lessons on how to win in his state. To paraphrase, it’s about economic populism, stupid. And as Obama battles to make inroads with the white and Latino working-class, and Clinton distances herself from the trade policies of her husband’s administration, Ohio is there for the taking.
Here then is the transcript of my conversation with Senator Brown:
Q: How are you approaching any endorsement decision?
I will not endorse before the Ohio primary. I’m weighing what my state does, that’s certainly part of it. Also, my conversations with both Barack and Hillary, and with Governor Sebelius calling for Barack, and with Bill Clinton calling for Hillary, and Dick Durbin – all the people who have called for them, in addition to talking directly with the candidates… [we] talk about trade, talk about a populist, progressive message in Ohio, talk about privatization and anti-privatization, and all the things they need to do around tax and trade policy.
Both of them are obviously significantly better than Bush Republicans, McCain. They’re close. I’ve talked to Barack a lot about his Patriot Corporation Act, which is not trade per se, but it’s certainly part of the economic package around globalization. The Patriot Corporation Act has not gotten the attention that I would hope it would. But, basically it says that if you play by the rules, if you pay decent wages, health benefits, pension; do your production here; don’t resist unionization on neutral card check, then you will be designated a “Patriot Corporation” and you will get tax advantages and some [preference] on government contracts. Jan Schakowsky first came to me… I co-sponsored and worked on it with her in 2005 or 2006. And Barack has been a sponsor of it in the Senate. Hillary is not on it as of now, but those are the kinds of things I want to see them talk about and do and I am hopeful – and pretty much expect – that they will talk about those issues in Ohio.
A lazy, hazy myth has arisen out of the mists of New
Hampshire and South Carolina. Across the pan-Atlantic press,
the grizzled 71-year-old Vietnam vet, John McCain, is being
billed as the Republican liberals can live with. He is ‘a
bipartisan progressive’”, ‘a principled hard liberal’, ‘a
decent man’ - in the words of liberal newspapers. His fragile
new frontrunner status as we go into Super Tuesday is being
seen as something to cautiously welcome, a kick to the rotten
Republican establishment.
But the truth is that McCain is the candidate we should most
fear. Not only is he to the right of Bush on a whole range of
subjects, he is also the Republican candidate most likely to
dispense with Hillary or Barack. Read the rest of this entry »
By Jim Hightower, Hightower Lowdown
Posted on January 14, 2008, Printed on January 14, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/story/72875/
What I am hearing from across the country is a surge of angst and discouragement. In conversations, calls, emails, and letters, people in general (and progressives in particular) are expressing profound dismay at the deterioration of America’s democracy, not only because of the BushCheney regime, but also, and especially, because of the fecklessness of the Democratic Congress.
“For crying out loud! Why do we even bother to have elections?” Mark wailed in an email.
I am afraid of what this country has become and that at any minute the people in charge may bomb Iran, and I have lost all hope that there will be any checks and balances,” Marshaleigh wrote, adding bluntly, “Congress doesn’t work.”
Jay bemoaned the dismal performance of Congress in this letter to the editor: “Despite the 2006 congressional elections and the overwhelming antiwar sentiment among our citizens…[Democrats] have become enablers of the White House’s misbegotten Iraq venture.”
Susan wrote, “What little optimism I had is vanishing. I am much more overwhelmed by the Democratic party’s lack of gumption than I was by Bush’s wickedness. And the small ideas offered by the presidential candidates make me cringe. I need help.”
The damage now being done to America’s political psyche by the Democrats’ fizzle is way out of the ordinary. These writers are smart, engaged, committed people who are not easily surprised or discouraged by negative political developments. They constitute the grassroots base of progressive activism in our country, and it is truly worrisome that even they are becoming dispirited — especially as we head into a watershed election year. Read the rest of this entry »
The Nation — After waging an all-out battle against the Bush administration and leaders of his own party, Senator Chris Dodd achieved a legislative victory on Monday, halting President Bush’s attempt to rush a Senate vote on a bill granting retroative amnesty to companies accused of illegally spying on American citizens.
“Today we have scored a victory for American civil liberties and sent a message to President Bush that we will not tolerate his abuse of power and veil of secrecy,” Dodd said in a statement distributed by his presidential campaign. “The President should not be above the rule of law, nor should the telecom companies who supported his quest to spy on American citizens,” he added. Read the rest of this entry »
