Day: March 11, 2008

Scary Rep Steve King Disparages Obama – Terrorists Will Dance in the Street If He’s Elected

Jon Ponder

There are few nastier rightwingers in the House than Rep. Steve King of Iowa. You may remember him as saying the torture at Abu Grahib was no worse than a fraternity hazing. Now the McCain supporter has let loose with a preview of the smear campaign against Barack Obama being readied by the GOP to unleash as soon as Obama becomes the Democratic nominee.

Tellingly, King — no relation to the horror novelist Stephen King — begins his screed with a passive-agressive tell: “I don’t want to disparage anyone because of their race, their ethnicity, their name, whatever the religion of their father might have been.” And then of course, he goes on to disparage Obama for exactly those reasons.

Here’s a rough, incomplete transcript:

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Poll: Obama Leads in North Carolina

Jon Ponder

The Tarheel state primary will be held on May 6, and for the first time in decades, the outcome in the nation’s 10th largest state may actually be meaningful.
Democrats have controlled the governor’s mansion for the past four terms and currently have majorities in both houses of the legislature.
Early numbers from Rasmussen show Barack Obama wth double digit lead over Hillary Clinton:

Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, is favored by 47 percent of likely Democratic primary voters, compared with 40 percent for Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York…

Obama leads by 14 points among men and 2 points among women, according to the poll. He has a 71 to 18 percent lead among African-American voters, while Clinton holds a 20-point lead among white voters.

While comparisons are not one-to-one by any means, North Carolina demographics are similar to those of Virginia, where Obama won handily. African-Americans make up 22 percent of the population, as opposed to 19 percent in Virginia. College-educated white collar workers dominate the \state’s two largest urban areas, Charlotte and Raleigh.

Both North Carolina senators are Republicans, and it has voted for the Republican presidential candidate in every election since 1976. However, seven of its 13 House members are Democrats, and Dems have controlled the governor’s mansion for the past four terms and currently have majorities in both houses of the legislature.

North Carolina will send 134 delegates to the Democratic Convention.

Team Obama Questions Mail-in Vote As Delegate Fix

Jon Ponder

The Barack Obama campaign is questioning the latest plan from the Democrats to resolve the delegate dilemmas in Florida and Michigan:
“The state of Oregon has mail-in voting, and it took them more than a decade to perfect it… And now we’re going to turn this process over to parties within the states to run on with a matter of weeks to prepare.”
– David Axelrod

Democratic leaders in the two states are considering a mail-in election to allocate delegates to the Democratic National Convention between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton. The Democratic National Committee will not seat delegates chosen by primaries held in January, earlier than allowed under party rules.

David Axelrod, Obama’s senior strategist, told reporters Tuesday that the campaign is reserving final judgment until a plan is offered.

“But obviously there are concerns about a mail-in vote. I mean, there are concerns about eligibility, ballot security,” he said during a conference call. “The state of Oregon has mail-in voting, and it took them more than a decade to perfect it to the point where they felt that they could run a statewide campaign through mail-in votes. And now we’re going to turn this process over to parties within the states to run on with a matter of weeks to prepare.”

Clinton won both primaries but Obama’s name was not on the ballot in Michigan. The plan has the support of Clinton’s top supporter in Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson.

The easiest resolution would be for Obama to trounce Clinton in the rest of the states’ votes the way he did in the Wyoming caucuses on Saturday and will undoubtedly do in the Mississippi primary today. As soon as he has the nomination in the bag, Obama will replace Howard Dean as the head of the party, and then it will be up to him to come up with a solution that makes Democrats in Florida and Michigan happy.

Assuming he has enough delegates to win without Florida and Michigan, he can rescind the DNC’s previous sanctions and allow them to be seated.

With delegates split proportionally in most states, this scenario will be difficult to achieve. But decisive wins for Obama in the rest of the states are becoming increasingly more likely than less. In the only two top-10 population states remaining, Obama is gaining on Clinton in Pennsylvania, where voting is scheduled for April 22, but he is leading by double digits in North Carolina, which votes on May 6.

CENTCOM Commander Who Questioned Bush’s Iran War Plans Resigns

Jon Ponder

One of Bush’s top military leaders has either been fired or resigned because of a dispute about the Cheney-Bush Iranian war policy:

Admiral William “Fox” Fallon, the U.S. Centcom commander who has spoken up several times at Congressional hearings and to the press the past year to suggest a military confrontation with Iran would be ill advised, has resigned, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has just announced.

Josh Marshall suggests Fallon was “too sane”for the Bush regime:

By all accounts, the points of contention between Fallon and Bush administration officials centered on three points: 1) his belief that the indefinite occupation of Iraq is a disaster for the US military, 2) that diplomacy has a central role in American foreign and national security policy, 3) that war is not a credible policy for the US to pursue in dealing with Iran. The last of these was believed to be the key issue.

Democrats believe Fallon — whose conflicts with administration were covered in an Esquire article in this month’s issue — may have been pushed out in order to silence his criticism. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “I am concerned that the resignation of Admiral William J. Fallon, commander of all U.S. forces in the Middle East and a military leader with more than three decades of command experience, is yet another example that independence and the frank, open airing of experts’ views are not welcomed in this Administration.”

Hillary Clinton Just Lost Every Black Vote

Trish

At least I would hope so. Clinton’s refusal to cut Geraldine Ferraro loose from her campaign in the wake of racist comments is outrageous.

In an interview with ABC News affiliate WHTM, Clinton, D-N.Y. ignored calls from the Obama campaign to remove Ferraro from her campaign, saying, “Well, I don’t agree with that and I think it’s important that we try to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people.”

In a relatively mild response, Clinton continued, “And both of us have had supporters and staff members who’ve gone over the line and we have to reign them in and try to keep this on the issues. There are big differences between us on the issues — let’s stay focused on that.”

You wish. Let’s take a moment and recall what Geraldine said.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” Ferraro told a local California newspaper last week.

“And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept,” Ferraro said.

Maybe Ferraro has been talking to Peggy Noonan, who recently gave a back-handed compliment to Michelle Obama for successfully strategizing when to be black.

[Michelle Obama is] black at a time when America was trying to make up for its sins and be helpful…

Cut back to Clinton, who just last week was focused on more than “the issues” when an Obama aide called her a monster.

“Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor and purpose of the Obama campaign,” [said Obama’s senior foreign policy adviser Samantha Power]. “And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months.”

Power’s statement came scarcely an hour after congressional supporters of Clinton demanded that Obama fire Power for the remarks.

In a conference call organized by the Clinton campaign, Democratic Reps. Nita Lowey and Gregory Meeks of New York, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, decried the remarks made in The Scotsman by Power, 37, a Pulitzer-Prize winning professor at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University.

“This is an important test for Senator Obama, ” said Lowey. “It’s really a test of character … You really wonder how Sen. Obama can have a person like that, as bright as she might be, advising his campaign.”

Yeah, you wonder. You wonder how Hillary Clinton became such a driven asshole.

UPS Announces LGBT Partnership

Trish

Sometimes I’m really proud of my part-time employer. This is one of those times.

UPS today announced the expansion of its award-winning supplier diversity process to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-owned businesses through a partnership with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC).

“Partnering with the NGLCC not only helps LGBT businesses grow by conducting business with UPS, but we also gain access to excellent suppliers,” said Lisa Johnson, UPS’s procurement and supplier diversity manager. “Expanding our process to include LGBT-owned businesses reinforces our commitment to supplier diversity.”

…The NGLCC represents the interests of an estimated 1.4 million LGBT-owned businesses. Through its affiliated network of 45 state and local chambers and business organizations, the NGLCC is the largest LGBT business development and economic advocacy organization in the country.

“We are incredibly proud to be working with UPS, one of the world’s most recognized brands, to help our members grow their businesses,” said Aditi Dussault, manager of the NGLCC Supplier Diversity Initiative. “UPS is a strong advocate for the LGBT community and recognizes the incredible business opportunities LGBT companies have to offer.”

UPS acts as if the hatred and homophobia whipped up by so many disturbed people in this country doesn’t even exist. If more companies did the same, maybe it wouldn’t.

Mississippi Votes Today But Clinton’s Campaigning in Pennsylvania

Trish

“I was shocked when I learned Iowa and Mississippi have never elected a woman governor, senator or member of Congress. There has got to be something at work here…I think Iowa poses a special burden, or a special obstacle to me because when you look at the numbers, how can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That’s not what I see. That’s not the quality. That’s not the communitarianism, that’s not the openness I see in Iowa.”

— Hillary Clinton, last October, sharing her perception of the “quality” of Mississippians compared to Iowans

It’s Election Day in Florida

Trish

(No kittens were harmed in the making of this image)

Today — the second Tuesday in March — is the day in years past that Florida voters would have gone to the polls. And in years past, by today the die would already be cast for one candidate from each party to be the presumptive nominee, making Florida’s vote a non-issue. But the Florida legislature changed our primary date to Jan. 29, and the irony is that in doing so, Florida Democrats became not decision-makers but bystanders in the entire process.

Florida Republicans, on the other hand, did pretty well. John McCain became the frontrunner as a result of the Florida vote, and Rudy Guiliani dropped out of the race, giving the state true input. Florida Republicans will also be represented at the GOP convention this summer, by half of the delegates they would normally have, but it beats none, which is what as of now the Democrats will have at their convention.

Howard Dean has been part of the problem, showing anal-retentiveness few realized he possessed. His 48-State Strategy for Victory is a failure.

On rare occasions I find myself in agreement with the Florida Democratic Party, and whether to hold a re-vote is one of those times.

“It is important that we are clear about one issue. At this time, no suggested alternative process has been able to meet three specific and important requirements: the full participation from both candidates, a guaranteed commitment of the millions of dollars it will cost to conduct the event and a detailed election plan that would enfranchise all Florida Democrats, including our military service members serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

“The Florida Democratic Party cannot consider any alternative that does not meet these requirements. Indeed, it is very possible that no satisfactory alternative plan will emerge, in which case Florida Democrats will remain committed to seating the delegates allocated by the January 29th primary.

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