Jamie Rubin should learn to shut up. He stated Kerry's position on AUMF that Kerry would have voted the way he did 'knowing what we know now" in 2004. Now he is providing truncated quotes about McCain's position on Hamas. the only problem is that he got Obama to repeat that and now the whole story turns up. A good way to discredit the presumptive nominee!
There appears to be a strange disconnect between the democratic voters and the leadership of the party. Clearly more REGISTERED democrats have voted for Hillary as their standard bearer while more and more of the leaders are opting for Obama.
More than ever the rank and file want to continue the process- the leadership wants to shut it down.
One day after Edward's core constituency rejects Obama he endorses Obama.
Voters of WV reject the guidance of their long time senator Rockefeller by trouncing his choice as did the voters of Massachusetts. David wilhelm strongly endorses Obama and his state of Ohio rejects his choice.
Rank and file overwhelmingly demands a unity ticket - the entire leadership is dead set against it!
How is the rank and file going to react to this ignoring of their will by the leadership? I guess if Obama wins it would be OK otherwise watch out!
Anticipating a wipe out of their favorite candidate the Obama acolytes in the press have tried to create a narrative of ignorant, prejudiced WV who just cant see the greatness of the chosen one.They have done this by selectively doing on the record interviews with the voters they hope would confirm that narrative. I started the season supporting Obama before the romance of an inspiring candidate wore off. During that time i promoted Obama candidacy and met more resistance to the idea of a woman president in WV. Hillary worked her heart out to convince these reluctant voters of her toughness and her ability to run the country. I think the fact of the matter is that WV is a poor state and the residents depend upon federal programs to improve their day to day life. They are not going to vote for a "pig in the poke" when they have a tried and tested alternative candidate.
Furthermore I dont see how Obama wins the general.This has nothing to do with his associations or who endorsed him. During this long primary he has made several demonstrably false claims which have gone unchallenged, something that will change soon.
Obama is reputed to have a very tough upbringing "raised by a single mom on food stamps" This is demonstrably false. He had the best education money could buy and was raised in prosperous circumstances. The problem is not the story but that he has come to believe his own fantasy and has touted it at every turn.
He transcends race- How exactly? all his life story is about reclaiming his "African roots". The community he organized was not a multi racial community but African American community. All his legislative battles in Illinois were over issues affecting the AA community. He writes eloquently about breaking up with a "White" girlfriend because his reluctance to enter the white world. His first campaign missive took aim at Indian Americans.
The campaign so far has not demonstrated any healing powers. Obama's campaign has taken every opportunity to take shots at Clinton's veracity and character which the media has so far turned against Hillary, a situation unlikely to prevail once the battle is joined by the republican press machine. A fawning press has not challenged the narrative so far.He is going to be easily characterized as a "fabulist". So I dont see how he wins even without the issues of flag pin Wright or Ayers or "muslim"
So much has been said about the gas tax but there are of couple of questions still not dealt with. The reader can answer those for himself and decide whether the gas tax holiday made sense
What is the purpose of the federal gas tax? is it meant to lower the usage of gas or for road construction? Is it important whether the buyer(us) or the seller(gas companies) pay the tax? Would holding the gas price at this price or twenty cents lower lead to increased usage?
If it is ok for richardson , Deval ,susan rice, robert reich to disregard their loyalty to the clintons in campaigning against Hillary in the name of the country then why would it not be ok for the clintons or their supporters not to actively support Obama if they felt it was in the larger interest of the country? In other words loyalty for the country good for some but not good enough for Clinton supporters?
Looks like the party is poised to nominate someone who has very little chance of winning.People seldom vote for the VP so I dont think HRC can help Obama get elected. I think the problem with Obama is not his past associations but that the entire underpinning of his candidacy is weak. There is no real record of bringing people together in private or public life. The vitriol he has inspired in his supporters is hardly reassuring. In order to run any enterprise one needs loyal people around,unfortunately the disloyalty exhibited by some people jumping on his band wagon does not augur well for the future. From Susan Rice and Patrick Deval to robert reich the disloyalty is breath taking.The only understandable reason for their stance would have been a conviction that HRC would have been bad for the country.
The bottom line is that there is no state that Bush won that McCain will lose. He will win NH over obama in the fall. Although HRC would win the GE there is no conceivable way she can carry Obama over the finish line especially if McCain does an "Ike" that i will go to Iraq (again) and stop the war. A run for VP in an unsuccessful bid in an atmosphere where Obama is the media darling would only result in HRC getting blamed for the loss. She should decline the VP spot and do her best to help the down ticket candidates.
It seems to me that MSM is pre spinning Hillary's win by giving credit to Obama. If she pulls a win the only factor would be her doggedness. I am under the impression that exit polling shows that cross voting has only benefited Obama but cannot find data. Does any one have the data one way or the other?
I see all this hand wringing about the gas tax holiday with amusement. Let me start with the assertion that all the economists think it is a bad idea. These are the same economists who had calculated oil prices to average around 50-60 dollars a barrel, who just predicted a consensus job loss of 75k (actual number 20K) . I think in general economists in general have a poorer track record than the neocons did regarding Iraq.
Their argument is that if you keep the price high the demand will go down. great- every one who has to drive to work will stop driving. How are they going to get to work in Hobart Indiana or Beckley WV? How are they going to shop for food? In other word a large part of distance driven is inelastic.
Well they can get more fuel efficient cars or why dont they eat cake? How is anyone going to buy a brand new fuel efficient car ( with an extra premium being demanded for high mileage or even diesel vehicles?
18 cents is not much of a big deal! Maybe not but it helps at the margin. The important message is that one person is willing to do all that is possible to provide immediate relief. It is better that someone like Lee Raymond(formerly CEO EXXON) be the face of the group picking up the tab for the highway repair for a short while at least The important political question is still the same who has the best long term plan?
One thing I would like to see happen immediately is an increase in margin requirement for futures trading of oil and gas contracts on the NYMEX. I think if the futures speculation is taken out to a certain extent, the price of oil MAY go down 30 dollars a barrel.
McClatchey, after doing a yeoman's job on Iraq has decided to trade its reputation for the approval of the rest of the MSM by joining in on dumb Hillary bashing. The headline on Huffington post links to an article by McClatchey where supposedly Bill allowed the shipping of a factory to China. Only when you read the whole article you find that Pres. Clinton allowed the sale from one US entity to another with the express condition of keeping the factory in the US. The factory gets shipped out on Bush's watch and McCLATCHEY runs the misleading headline so HUFF post and Drudge can link to it. Shame on McClatchey and on other liberals for joining in
