The Audacity to Hold Them Accountable

During this primary, Hillary supporters have been disrespected, made fun of, shamed, labeled as divisive, racist, called names that range from typical white people to a part of the electorate that the new Democratic coalition no longer needs.

Now we are being made to feel that if we don't fall in line and vote for the DNC insiders choice for President, we may lose the election for them. We'll lose the opportunity to appoint Democratic judges to the Supreme Court, lose our homes, our uteruses, schools will close, the Iran War will last for 100 years and we will be taken over by aliens. The sky will fall.

Who says so? The Main Stream Media, Donna Brazile, Howard Dean, the DNC, Kerry, Kennedy, Richardson Donald Duck, The Three Stooges, Betty Boop, Felix the Cat, John Wayne, Henny Penny and any other man, woman or child that doesn't fall in line with the Party.

It's time for us to hold these people accountable for their choices. The people who changed the rules for this primary. The people who decided to come out early for Obama and get a choice cabinet position. The people who decided to treat one of the Democratic primary contenders as if she were a Republican, with disrespect, misogyny, ridicule and an underlying hatred.

It's time to sit back and make these people accountable. It's easy to do with the MSM. Turn it off. There is a plethora of news available on the Internet and you don't have to listen to these so-called anchors posture and preen with innuendos and outright lies. As John points out, you can also boycott the advertisers of the most egregious news channels.

But, how do we hold the Democratic Party accountable? By doing what we are doing. Refusing to fall for the hype if we don't vote for The Chosen One. Refusing to believe that we'll be forever gnashing our teeth and clawing our eyes out if the Dems don't win this election. It will be our fault. Not their fault for screwing up by hand picking what they thought was the most electable candidate for the GE and trying to shove him down our throats. For picking an inexperienced, unvetted, arrogant candidate and telling us to get over it and vote for him or else.

How? By doing what we are doing. Refusing to vote by any other standard than our own. By reading, watching, talking, coming to our own conclusions and examining our own conscience. The tougher stance. As a life long Democrat, not voting for yet another empty suit is difficult, but if we don't stand our ground, there will be no change in the Democratic Party. By refusing to be told what to do, we are working for a better system. A system without fraudulent caucuses and with a level playing field of equality for all candidates.

Hang tough. Have the audacity to hold them accountable.

It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. Robert F. Kennedy

Cross posted at MyDD

Big Dawg

Rumor has it that Bill Clinton is pissed over this whole primary mess and the machinations of the DNC and prominent Democratic leaders. He, too, is angry over the way his wife was treated and the way his reputation was libeled and slandered over remarks that were twisted, turned and regurgitated as racist by MSM, and Obama&Co.

President Clinton, we feel your pain. We, too, are mad as hell over the coronation of Obama, the failure of the Party to allow this process to play out as the Constitution intended, the DNC's closed door deal awarding delegates to Obama that were either never cast by real voters or were delegates that belonged to your wife.

We know how you feel when you have to read comments like those set forth below.

Joe Klein, the author of Primary Colours, a fictionalized account of Mr Clinton's 1992 election, who has known the former president for 20 years, said he also heard that he was "very, very bitter", from people who have spoken with him.

"It's time for him to get over it or go off and do his charitable work. He knows the rules of the road. What's going on now is kind of strange. I think his behaviour is really, really shocking."

I invite you to take a look at a new Party - The Puma Party. The Just Say No Deal Party. The Party of the People who are not going to stand for the old way of getting things done. Our values are the same, but we are not voting blindly for another empty suit Democratic candidate. We've done that too many times and look where that got us.

So, Mr. President, I completely understand how you feel. However, I don't have to toe the Party line. If you think about, you don't, either.

Obama's Accepts Millions From "Subprime" Tied Contributors

In San Antonia this past February Obama stated in a campaign speech, “To give you a sense of what that kind of lobbying gets you… the CEO of the largest subprime lender was promised a hundred-million-dollar severance package at a time when more than 2 million Americans were facing foreclosure, including nearly 14,000 right here in San Antonio..." Obama was most likely referring to an Angelo R. Mozillo, one of three CEO’s that were scheduled to appear to testify in front of a senate committee concerning their compensation and firms roles in the ongoing mortgage crisis. Stanley O’Neal, who received more than $161 million when he was ousted as the Chairman of Merrill Lynch, was one of the three CEO’s coming under scrutiny. In 2003, O’Neil donated to Senator Obama’s Senatorial campaign, followed up by a maximum $4,600 campaign contribution by he and his wife, Nancy Garvey, to the Obama Campaign. Ironically, the O’Neals tried to originally contribute $6,900 to the campaign only to have $2,300 returned.

Well, well. Talks a good game, doesn't he? But, oh, looky here. Guess who has decided to join the dance? Obama. Liar, liar, liar. This and Rezko straw money will get you a ticket to the new Obamalamadingdong Democratic Unity Party. JUST SAY NO DEAL.

Keith Olbermann - Then and Now

Glenn Greenwald on Obama, Olbermann and FISA Here and the quote of the day:

The real danger is that those who defend Obama the Candidate no matter what he does are likely to defend Obama the President no matter what he does, too. If we learn in 2009 that Obama has invoked his claimed Article II powers to spy on Americans outside of even the new FISA law, are we going to hear from certain factions that he was justified in doing so to protect us; how it's a good, shrewd move to show he's a centrist and keep his approval ratings high so he can do all the Good things he wants to do for us; how it's different when Obama does it because we can trust him? It certainly looks that way. Those who spent the last five years mauling Bush for "shredding the Constitution" and approving of lawbreaking -- only to then praise Obama for supporting a bill that endorses and protects all of that -- are displaying exactly the type of blind reverence that is more dangerous than any one political leader could ever be.

Pelosi Cannot Think of One Obama Accomplishment

You must watch this video and see Pelosi squirm when asked by Greta what Obama has accomplished and then read what Halli Casser-Jayne wrote here

Here is a snipit: Despite her Armani suits and tony San Francisco address, Speaker Pelosi clearly lacks Hillary Clinton’s class. On Senator Clinton’s return to the Senate yesterday, Speaker Pelosi in her best Nurse Ratchet imitation couldn’t resist just one more swipe at Hillary Clinton, and at all women who struggle to break through that glass ceiling.

P Diddy - Obama or Die

diddy obama
by dollarsandsense123

Buffett on Obama

An Honest Look at Obama's Support for the FISA 'Compromise'

The excuse that Obama's support for the FISA bill is politically shrewd is neither a defense of what he did nor a reason to refrain from loudly criticizing him for it. Beyond that, this attitude that we should uncritically support Obama in everything he does and refrain from criticizing him is unhealthy in the extreme.

read more | digg story

Joe Bruno Retiring????

Let's hope so! Stay tuned!

HELP! The Democratic Party is Holding Us Hostage!!

Unfuckingbelievable. My husband and I changed our voter registration from Democrat to no party affiliation immediately after the DNC's closed door deal with the Obama campaign regarding seating Michigan and Florida delegates. On Friday, we both received this letter from our County Board of Elections:

Is this just the New York State Democratic Party or has anyone else experienced this?

NATIONAL WOMEN'S HISTORY MUSEUM SHUT OUT BY SMITHSONIAN

On January 7, 2008, the National Women's History Museum submitted a response to the Smithsonian's Request for Qualifications (RFQ) of November 1, 2007. Marshalling a team of experts, and expending great energy and resources, NWHM submitted a response to the RFQ.

On May 5, 2008 Smithsonian Institution issued a Memo that it was withdrawing the Arts and Industries Building from public bid and that it would not proceed on considering responses to its request for qualifications.

Smithsonian has been criticized for its inappropriate use of resources recently and this appears to be one more case. This abrupt and unexpected move in withdrawing their bid also demonstrates offensive indifference to the costs and energies of the many not-for-profit organizations that responded to their RFQ.

Please join with NWHM in contacting your Member of Congress to express your outrage at Smithsonian choosing to allow a magnificent historic building on the National Mall to deteriorate rather than honor women’s many contributions to our nation.
Here

Obama Supports Gov't Spying on You

From Glenn Greenwald
Barack Obama got around to issuing a statement and -- citing what he calls "the grave threats that we face" -- he just announced that he supports this warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty "compromise":

Given the grave threats that we face, our national security agencies must have the capability to gather intelligence and track down terrorists before they strike, while respecting the rule of law and the privacy and civil liberties of the American people. . . .

After months of negotiation, the House today passed a compromise that, while far from perfect, is a marked improvement over last year's Protect America Act. . . It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.

It is not all that I would want. But given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as President, I will carefully monitor the program, review the report by the Inspectors General, and work with the Congress to take any additional steps I deem necessary to protect the lives -– and the liberty –- of the American people.

Telling Americans that we have to give up basic constitutional rights -- and allow rampant lawbreaking -- if we want to save ourselves from "the grave threats we face" sounds awfully familiar. He says he will work to remove amnesty from the bill, but once that fails, will vote for the "compromise." Obama has obviously calculated that sacrificing the rule of law and the Fourth Amendment is a worthwhile price to pay to bolster his standing a tiny bit in a couple of swing states. The full Obama statement is here

Obama, FISA and John Barrow

Glenn Greenwald:

As noted yesterday, Blue Dog Rep. John Barrow of Georgia has been one of the most enthusiastic enablers of the radical and lawless policies of the Bush administration. When running for re-election, he ran ads accusing his own party of wanting to "cut and run in Iraq," and was one of the 21 Blue Dogs to send a letter to Nancy Pelosi demanding that they be allowed to vote for the Rockefeller/Cheney Senate bill to give warrantless eavesdropping powers to the President and amnesty to lawbreaking telecoms.

As a result of all of that, Barrow faces a serious primary challenge in July from State Senator Regina Thomas, who decided to run against Barrow due to -- as she told Howie Klein when she announced -- "Barrow's failure to support his constituents against the encroachments of powerful Big Business interests." As Klein noted yesterday, Thomas' positions on both foreign and domestic policy are firmly in line with Barack Obama's views and with the Democratic base in that district, while Barrow has continuously supported the most extremist Bush policies, as he himself proudly boasts.

In contrast to Barrow's demands for warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, here is the statement Regina Thomas issued yesterday (via email):

After reading the FISA bill -- Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act -- I thought "This can not be good for Americans. That the Bush Administration wants unlimited powers for spying on not only terrorists, but on any American citizen. This is against and violates the Constitutional Fourth Amendment [right of] privacy. This also allows warrant-less monitoring of any form of communication in the United States." I was disappointed and dismayed with my Congressman John Barrow supporting this Bush Republican initiative against Americans. Too often Congressman Barrow from the 12th district in Georgia has voted with Bush and the Republicans on key issues.

Despite all of this, The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reported yesterday that Barack Obama -- who has been claiming to be so emphatically opposed to warrantless eavesdropping and telecom amnesty, to say nothing of the Iraq War -- taped a radio endorsement this week for Rep. Barrow, with the specific intent to help him defeat Regina Thomas in the Democratic primary (h/t sysprog):

Obama cuts an ad to help John Barrow in his primary fight

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama has taped a radio commercial on behalf of U.S. Rep. John Barrow of Savannah, who faces a July 15 primary challenge.

It's the first case of Obama involving himself in a local race in Georgia. . . But the Obama campaign made clear to my colleague Aaron Sheinin that it sees Barrow, a two-term Democrat, as an important ally. . . .

"Senator Obama believes that Congressman Barrow has worked hard to bring change that families in his district deserve, and we'll work hard to help John Barrow win in November," Obama spokeswoman Amy Brundage said.

In the ad, Obama asks voters to join him in supporting Barrow. "We're going to need John Barrow back in Congress to help change Washington and get our country back on track," Obama says in the 60-second ad.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

Obama's PACs and Lobbyists Canard

In his self-serving, disingenuous video opting out of the public financing system today, Obama claimed that his decision to run the first corporate-funded general election campaign since Richard Nixon and CREEP represented "true" public financing and that it was necessary to fight back against a McCain campaign funded by PACs and lobbyists.

Obama has long raised the PACs and lobbyists canard to squeeze more money out of the pocketbooks of his small donors, even though he dramatically outraised and outspent Hillary Clinton in the primary campaign. Obama's campaign doesn't take lobbyist or PAC money, and since Obama became the nominee, neither will the DNC.

But just how big a factor are PACs and lobbyists in Presidential election fundraising?

Not much. Read on.

According to OpenSecrets.org, just 1% of John McCain's contributions -- a whopping $960,990 -- came from PACs. Over $88 million came from individuals.
legend Individual contributions $88,221,824 91%
legend PAC contributions $960,990 1%

And lobbyists? $655,576.

$250 Million Barack is opting out of public financing because John McCain has raised $1.6 million -- less than 2% of his campaign -- from lobbyists and PACs.

Obama used the same Big Lie against Hillary, though she raised $1.25 million from PACs, or about 0.6% of her fundraising. Lobbyists were not in her top 20 industries, according to Open Secrets.

Now, I know that lobbyists are supposed to be the source of all our problems. But lobbyists are ultimately hired guns -- hired and paid for by big corporations. So, is Obama turning down money from executives at big corporations and other special interests? Not hardly. These are the top employers of Obama contributors:
Goldman Sachs $571,330
University of California $437,236
UBS AG $364,806
JPMorgan Chase & Co $362,207
Citigroup Inc $358,054
National Amusements Inc $320,750
Lehman Brothers $318,647
Google Inc $309,514
Harvard University $309,025
Sidley Austin LLP $294,245
Skadden, Arps et al $270,013
Time Warner $262,677
Morgan Stanley $259,876
Jones Day $250,725
Exelon Corp $236,211
University of Chicago $218,857
Wilmerhale LLP $218,680
Latham & Watkins $218,615
Microsoft Corp $209,242
Stanford University $195,262

Roughly 90% of funding for Presidential campaigns comes from individuals, and just 1% comes from PACs. Lobbyists and PACs are convenient scapegoats, but just the tip of the iceberg compared to the millions Obama has received from corporate executives who hire lobbyists to represent them before Congress and the executive branch.

If this is really about small donors, "true public financing" and fighting corporate interests, Obama should have no problem limiting the maximum an individual can give to his campaign to $100 and turning down contributions from employees of Fortune 500 companies in the general election.
Full article here

Change

Delegate this

Good grief, the Uniter/Delegator/Change salesman looks like he needs to be hand fed sugared grapes and fanned with a palm frond.

And in an effort to soften Michelle's image, the NY Times has included this sentence in This Article

The caricatures of Mrs. Obama as the Angry Black Woman confound her, friends say. Her own family crosses racial boundaries — her mother-in-law and a sister-in-law are white — and she has spent much of her adult life trying to address racial resentment.

Ahhh, wouldn't that be Obama's mother and his sister? That's how she has crossed racial boundaries? That's the best you got?

My Way

It's been a while since Obama declared himself the nominee. It's been a while since Hillary suspended her election. It's been a while for Hillary supporters to come to terms with what happened in this campaign. It's been a while to begin to heal the wounds. Not so fast.

I am more against Obama today than I was the day I signed on for John Edward's campaign. I came to support Hillary slowly, but surely. I never ruled her out, but it took a long time for me to rule her in. And the more I saw of her and of Obama, the more I ruled out he of the empty suit, little experience, missing background and so much money backing him it was obscene and suspicious.

I've read many articles, news reports, blogs, and whatever else I could find to make sense of this. I've formed my opinion based upon the information I dug up, not the information available to the mass public from the so-called progressive blogosphere. Not from Kos, not from The Nation, not from Naral, not from Move On or Michael Moore or George Soros or Josh Marshall or Andrew Sullivan. And I will, under no circumstances, vote for Obama in the GE. In fact, I will work against him. Sour grapes? Nope. He scares me to death.

So, when you ask me how can I consider myself a liberal and not vote for a Democrat, I say that I don't have to defend my position to you. I have to defend it to myself. When you ask me how could I not vote for a Democrat to end the reign of terror that Bush has imposed on America, I say to you that I didn't put him there and I fought against it the best way I know how.

I did not create or in any way contribute to the catastrophe that is Barack Obama and I flatly, strongly, intelligently refuse to clean up after the Democratic Party any longer. You want him, you vote for him. I will continue to fight for what I believe in, but I will not prostitute myself for the good of the party.

Leverage

Violet says we've got it.

It’s here because of Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the shameful way she was treated — by the media, by the Obama camp, and, most damning of all, by the Democratic National Party. Even women who didn’t personally support the Clinton candidacy were nonetheless appalled by the Trashing of Hillary. It’s not that she lost; after all, losing is part of the game. It’s that she wasn’t beaten in a fair fight. She was treated like garbage, and she’s still being treated like garbage. (As of this writing, Howard Dean is refusing to let Hillary’s name be on the ballot for the first vote at the convention, a startling departure from the norm. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in this campaign and she earned more primary votes for President than any Democratic candidate in the history of this country. And the DNC won’t even let her name be on the ballot.) The huge swell of anger in the land is the righteous rage of millions of women — women who are armed and more than ready to punish the DNC. Over and over the message is being beamed straight to the powers-that-be on a laser light of pure anger: You don’t get to take our votes for granted anymore. No more.

It’s a glorious situation. It’s what we’ve needed for years. Finally, the Democrats have to work for our votes! Finally, we have leverage!

Trade - Does Obama Really Care?

...Ultimately, however, what may speak loudest about Obama’s real trade policy views is the stubbornly elitist tone that has marked the candidate and his campaign. Take the (admittedly brief) schoolmaster-ish recitation of textbook-style open trade’s virtues and allegedly iron globalization-related economic realities that comes in virtually every major Obama statement on the subject.

“Now if we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll acknowledge that we can’t stop globalization in its tracks....” “I believe in trade. I think all countries can prosper.” “To win, we have to understand some hard realities. Not every job that’s left is coming back, and if somebody tell you they are, they’re not telling you the truth.”

Obviously, Obama relishes the role of McCain-like straight shooter and apostle of a fundamentally New Politics, and uses it when discussing many issues. And truth-telling is clearly something politics can usually use more of. But this iteration is fatally flawed. Not only does it fearlessly slay red herrings that are completely irrelevant to real-world globalization challenges, and that long ago went stale. Not only are many of the unspoken assumptions at work here demonstrably false – e.g., that many jobs that have gone overseas won’t be coming back because they are low-skill jobs that by definition have no business coming back.

But Obama’s chosen rhetorical posture is also completely oblivious to the pervasive blame-the-victim message determinedly sent through the mainstream media for decades by America’s power structure to middle and working class audiences. Read any major national newspaper or business-oriented magazine, tune into the network news or to CNBC, and what else do you see and hear about other than the glorification of globalization’s winners (and the bigger, the more glorious) and bemused tut-tutting at the losers (especially if they are Americans) for their unforgivable failures to seize the splendid opportunities before them?

Does Obama really believe that former steelworkers and machinists and computer programmers now toiling at dead-end, no-benefits jobs are so consumed with scapegoting and so dangerously combustible that their greatest need is another serving of tough love from on-high (along with enough new welfare spending to keep public employees unions happy)?

Apparently yes, meaning that despite months of campaigning across the country, Obama has become so remote from Middle America that its melancholy, its ever-so-gradually falling expectations, and its somber acceptance of globalized capitalism’s Darwinian outcomes are genuinely unknown to him.

More evidence for this dispiriting proposition comes from Obama’s now-infamous “bitter” remarks to a group of San Francisco Bay area funders. Obama has denied accusing “small town” Americans of irrationally (though understandably) blaming “people who aren’t like them” or “immigrants” or “trade” for their “frustrations,” and tried to dismiss the ensuing controversy as classic, mindless “gotcha” journalism and mudslinging politics.

But that’s exactly what he said, and the substance – which is utterly erroneous – deserves extensive debate. Further, Obama’s argument was sure to be lapped up by his audience - entrpreneurial and economically conservative but socially liberal dot.comers surely grateful to hear that the outsourcing and open borders policies they have lobbied for so successfully and use so extensively have nothing to do with the distress they read about in Flyover America.

Moreover, this brazen Obama pander to the Silicon Valley crowd’s fears about raging Middle American primitives not only expiated whatever nascent (justified) guilt they may have felt, but once again completely misjudged the mood of the country he seeks to lead. That’s hardly a formula for a successful fall campaign – much less a successful presidency.

Read it all

The Truth About Senator Clinton's Speech

I received this email from a Hillary Supporter that I know well. Not exactly what the MSM would have you believe.

Hello to all HRC Supporters,

Don't believe the hype...Catherine G. and I (Elaine K.), were present at the sobering speech delivered by Presidential Candidate and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC), on Saturday, June 7 in Washington D.C. By now I'm sure you have watched, read, and have seen some photos/video from the event.

Let us share with you the things the media didn't/ won't convey and some interesting observations of it all:

- The Obama (BHO), camp flooded the room with his supporters.

-The BHO supporters were in full throttle and exuberantly applauded at every chance for him. This was not only a disrespect to steal her momentum, but also down play any angst her supporters were feeling during this most sombering of occasions.

- None of the DNC leadership members were present, most notably, Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi (how's that for respect and party unity)?

-Obviously overtaken with emotions of the occasion, Dorothy Rodham (Senator Clinton's mother) and Bill Clinton wept.

- BHO not only did not watch the event, a true show of disregard...and would later "claimed" to have watched it on the Internet.

- HRC Supporters reactions varied from bewilderment, sadness, resolve, disappointment and anger. All in all it was a most sombering of events. The mood afterwards was most a feeling of the aftermath of a funeral. (An excruciating murder by the DNC and BHO).

Draw your own conclusions.

Open Message to ObamaObots

Look.

I'm getting a ton of derogatory emails about Obama. Horrible, terrible emails.

Ordinarily, I would take the time to email these people back and set them straight. However, as I am no longer a Democrat, I don't feel the need to.

So, rather than to invade the space of Hillary supporters, I suggest that you ObamaObots get on the stick and try to control the hysteria.

I've Unsubscribed from the DNC - AGAIN!

I unsubscribed from DNC emails quite a while ago. A few weeks later, I received an email from the DNC and unsubscribed yet again. Today, I received an email called "Unity". I have now unsubscribed for a 3rd time. However, this time, I had to wait for a second email from the DNC containing a "Confirmation Code", follow back to the unsubscribe page and enter it in a box. Thank goodness I kept that unsubscribe page with the little box for the confirmation code open in my browser, as the email containing the code did not include a link back to the original page. Additionally, the email did not immediately hit my inbox.

Why is the DNC making this so complicated? Where was Dean when I sent several messages to him on topics ranging from seating Michigan and Florida, sexism in the campaign and the anti-Hillary posts on the DNC official blog? I never received one answer or even a lousy canned confirmation that he had received them.

So, DNC, hopefully this will be good-by for good.

Name That Committee

From Mark Halperin comes this story about the new Obama/DNC joint fundraising agreement. Under the law, such a committee can accept up to $28,500 from individuals, most of which would go to the DNC.

Alas, dear readers, they have not yet come up with a name for such a committee. Your mission, if you choose to accept it. . .

Obama Steals Cuomo's Speech

H/T to Liberal Rapture

Bud White's World: A Spreading Stain by katiebird [A Stolen Nomination]

Bud White's World: A Spreading Stain by katiebird [A Stolen Nomination]

Laughing!

Crazy Laugh - Watch the top videos of the week here
Two headlines from Yahoo news!
Obama bans lobbyist money; Dean remains as Chair How does a Chicago politician operate without money? And Dean's fix allowed him to keep his job! Surprise, surprise. UPDATE: SEE BUD'S POST ABOVE FOR CLARIFICATION ON THE FIX
Clinton backers begin move to Obama Good golly Miss Molly, I'll just get right down on my hands and knees and start crawling right on over to the party of unity, hope and brotherhood. When pigs fly.

On a high note, it's great to see the media is not getting any smarter.

The 100% Sexism Free Democraic Party

Defending Her Honor

Senator Clinton

is suspending her campaign, not conceding the nomination. My reading of the tea leaves tell me that anything can happen between now and August.

Read more from Texas Darlin

William Ayres, Bernardine Dohrn, Louis Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, Michael Pfleger, Nadhmi Auchi, Robert Blackwell, Jr…..

If Obama can declare himself the nominee,

I'm declaring myself Mata Hari.

I was going to declare myself Queen of Sheba, but an exotic dancing, femme fatal spy is more my style.

What are you declaring today?

Which Whitey Failed Obama

Barack Obama's political advisors, the majority of whom are white, apparently failed to inform their candidate that he was supposed to hide the fact that he hates white voters until after the general election and not just through the primaries.

read more | digg story

White Women Take the Gloves Off

Read it all at Real Clear Politics

The woman who shouted "McCain in '08" at the Democratic rules committee was speaking for a multitude. After mounting for months, female anger over the choreographed dumping on Hillary Clinton and her supporters has exploded -- and party loyalty be damned. That the women are beginning to have a good time is an especially bad sign for Barack Obama's campaign.

"Obama will NOT get my vote, and one step more," Ellen Thorp, a 59-year-old flight attendant from Houston told me. "I have been a Democrat for 38 years. As of today, I am registering as an independent. Yee Haw!"

A new Pew Research Center poll points to a surging tide of fury, especially among white women. As recently as April, this group preferred Obama over the presumptive Republican John McCain by three percentage points. By May, McCain enjoyed an eight-point lead among white women.

You Can Call Me UPPITY.: 17 S. Dakota County Leaders Do Not Endorse the "Presumptive Winner"

You Can Call Me UPPITY.: 17 S. Dakota County Leaders Do Not Endorse the "Presumptive Winner"

Democracy

It's Official

As Uppity says Barack Obama is the first first candidate to ever, in the history of America, be handed
1) votes that never occurred,
2) votes that were cast for someone else, and
3) delegates won by another candidate.

Due to the above, I am now a member of the Independence Party of New York State. As a committed Democrat, I feel bad that the party has veered so far from the party I joined at age 18. I have held both political and elected offices as a Democrat. I've been on the County committee, working for our local politicans. I've even distributed Hillary's material door to door in her last Senate election.

Here's another reason:

We must STAND FOR SOMETHING or we STAND FOR NOTHING!
I will not compromise my PRINCIPLES! I will not unify behind a party of cheaters and liars who have shown us what the true definition of MORAL AND ETHICAL BANKRUPTCY is. I find it completely offensive and in full contradiction of AUTHENTIC Democratic principles and values.

No...I will not line up at the edge of the cliff so that I can simply be pushed off because the "party leaders" have instructed its sheeple to do the deed. How in the hell can anyone with sound mind consider such an act a promotion of "Unity"???

This weekend, the ENTIRE world saw that the Democratic Party is NO DIFFERENT than the Republican Party. Nice work, Dean and Brazille. You have done a spectacular job of LEVELING the "moral" playing field. I, for one, will not blindly follow "leaders" that clearly lack any semblance of a moral compass. I WILL NOT SELL MY SOUL. The expectation that any of us would do so is REPULSIVE on its face.

Everyday I walk into my high school classroom and I encourage my students to honor their values and beliefs. I will not become a hypocrite in order to appease the crooked and corrupt elements within my own party. I may be the last woman standing but I REFUSE to model behavior that will compromise my integrity. The youth of America deserve better than this.

Don't tell me it's a pile of rose petals when it's a pile of horse shit.

"...the power of believing in a PRINCIPLE."- S. Corbett

Onward and upward: Mission of Independence Party

* To elevate the voters of New York State to their rightful place as the sovereign rulers of the state, reducing the office holders to the servants of the people they were intended to be;

* To create a statewide political party committed to the elimination of the electoral advantages of incumbency and the creation of a level playing field for the candidates of all political parties;

* To restore fiscally responsible government, where the state budgets to spend only what the voters are willing to pay in taxes;

* To create a political party committed to the highest standards of quality in every aspect of the party -- representation, organization, campaigning, elections, fund raising, and participation;

* To encourage voter participation and involvement, both in the party itself and in the political process as a whole.

The quality of a democracy is measured by the quality of participation by ordinary citizens. Democratic values and attitudes are learned through participation, and the highest calling of a citizen is to serve his or her fellow citizens in office as a position of trust, enjoying the bonds of affection with the voters for their willingness to sacrifice through public service. Our political party is committed to every aspect of this participation, whether in our party or in other political parties and organizations. We are thereby committed to choice in elections, volunteerism within the parties, and citizens who are willing to serve us as elected officials. We are equally committed to honest debate, the forthright presentation of our values, and respect for the rights of everyone.

Tom In Paine: SUPER DELEGATE WATCH: BILL RICHARDSON'S ADVICE AND REMEMBERING WHO DID WHAT

Tom In Paine: SUPER DELEGATE WATCH: BILL RICHARDSON'S ADVICE AND REMEMBERING WHO DID WHAT

Subliminal Cult of Obama, a/k/a Trinity, I Never Knew Ye

The photo above is a Reuters photo from a Yahoo news story about Obama quitting his church. In fact, the full text is

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama waits to speak in Aberdeen, South Dakota May 31, 2008. Obama said on Saturday he quit his Chicago church in the aftermath of inflammatory sermons that could become a lightning rod in the November election.

Note the halo and uplifted face. Oh, yeah, I'm feeling it. He is the Race Martyr.

DNC Decision Roundup

Ickes was enraged. "I am stunned that we have the gall and the chutzpah to substitute our judgment for 600,000 voters," he told his peers. "Was the process flawed? You bet your ass that it was flawed. . . . You bet your ass a lot of people didn't vote." Ickes accused the committee of "hijacking" delegates -- "not a good way to start down the path of party unity."

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Ok, they are clearly not paying any attention. They are going to shove Obama down our throat for our own good, sort of cod liver oil without a spoonful of sugar.

I will say this for sure though. If we keep hearing “unity” without any effort to really, like, you know, “unify”, McCain’s redecoration of the Oval Office will be all but assured.

We know why the RBC did what they did. They have completely disgraced themselves. The DNC lost. They are in a hole for November. If they don’t want it to be a total blowout for McCain, it would behoove them to stop digging.

River Daughter
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I am leaving the Democratic Party on Monday. I will go to the post office when it opens and re- register. I will send my new registration as an independent to the DNC. I encourage everyone who cares about democracy to do the same.

Even slaves got 3/5th "counted" in 1789. Florida and Michigan voters - do you see what the vipers at the DNC did today? Your votes, your power, your voices - were sliced in half.

The DNC debased the entire notion of democracy. All non Clinton votes in Michigan were unilaterally awarded to Obama. The rules committee also awarded Obama 4 of Clinton's delegates.

John at Liberal Rapture
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My man’s parents are in town this weekend, and I just got online about an hour ago to catch up on the RBC fiasco today. I’m assuming you’re all up to date already, so I’m going to leave you overnight with some links about “unity” and, and the slow unraveling of the party. I like to excerpt, so hopefully you’ll ready through and “enjoy” the theme of democracy
inaction.

Lat e Night H1K: Choking on unity
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* The tin ear showing underlying misogyny and sexism reveals itself again, via the adviser's remarks. Every high school girl in America and everybody who ever was one or respected one should be disgusted by this comment. Why? Because it is disgusting. And no less disgusting because made by a woman. (Based on her name, I'm guessing that the adviser is female. But women, like men can be misogynist and sexist toward women. Sadly, sometimes the most bigoted people are those who have internalized a larger cultural attitude often applied to them.)
* Then there's the fresh display of contempt not only for women, and not only for Senator Clinton, but also for voters' rights. This time it is the superdelegates Senator Obama wants to tamper with. Note that even if right this minute he succeeded in getting every superdelegate to say he or she would be or is supporting him, a superdelegate is in no way way pledged before the actual Party Convention: they are committed by their ballots at that time and they can change their votes in between balloting if it takes more than one round to select a nominee.
* Senator Obama is either not as smart as I would assume him to be or he is as arrogant as many others think he is. But either way, his plan to claim this nomination prior to the only event this year at which a candidate can become the official candidate of the Democratic Party further demonstrates a peculiar approach to internal Party rules. Senator Obama insists on them when it suits him; and disregards them when they do not. Let us hope he does not take take a similar approach to laws.
Heidi Li
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So, I'm going to keep this simple and straightforward: those of you who have been screaming about the rules, please show me where the rules provide for the DNC to simply allocate pledged delegates to a candidate who was not by any of the absurd allocation rules voted those pledged delegates. I don't care about what you think was fair, or what you want people to believe someone once said about the two states and their alleged rules violations, or who you think has won or is more electable or is nicer or more honest or whatever some of you love to rant about, no matter whether or not it relates to the actual posted topic. I want you to show me the rule that says a candidate who was not voted pledged delegates from a state can simply be awarded pledged delegates by the DNC. Because the rules were changed, today, in the middle of the game, but not by Hillary Clinton or her supporters.

turkana at The Left Coaster
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I am incredulous. I am changing my registration from Democrat to Independent on Monday. I cannot support a party that treats women like second class citizens and makes back room deals. No way, no how.