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Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, UFO

"U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill Mesta replaces an official picture of outgoing President George W. Bush with that of newly-sworn-in U.S. President Barack Obama, in the lobby of the headquarters of the U.S. Naval Base January 20, 2009 in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Brennan Linsley-Pool/Getty Images)" via boston.com

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

After reading several versions of the story, things just don't add up.

WTAE
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Breitbart.com
KDKA

The attacker had a knife, and he scratched the letter "B" into her face. Was it made of plastic? Most knives in the hands of muggers do not leave nice tidy scrapes. Bonus: she refused medical treatment, and police are re-interviewing her today.



I guess her story didn't add up to them either. She was held at knife point at an ATM, and the attacker accepted $60 she had in her pocket. That just doesn't even make sense.

Then, after she had managed to step away, the attacker noticed the bumper sticker on her car and became irate. Really? Was he checking to see if she honks for Jesus?

Also the - naturally - black assailant ran off in an "unknown direction". Sorry, but if you've ever been mugged, you damn well remember which way they ran off.

That's just my gut on this one, and I've been wrong before. If I am here, then I will offer my most sincere apology, but this just doesn't smell right.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, John McCain

Holy shit. What a week. Excellent speeches and few momentous surprises made for a great capstone to the 2008 primary season. It was History occurring before our very eyes. Ancient curses condemning us to live in interesting times aside, I am happy to have witnessed it.

I watched Hillary Clinton's speech with interest and an open mind. Still, she left me feeling as though her speech was less about her supporters and her party's candidate for the presidency than it was about her own aspirations. The only saving grace was that she did not insert an ounce of discernible invective or slight against her former opponent into the speech. In short, she went through the motions and did the bare minimum for the Democratic party and Barack Obama.

Bill Clinton's speech was good. Not great, but good. He went significantly further than Hillary in voicing his support for the Obama/Biden ticket, and after his comments and posturing on the primary campaign trail I think he needed to; if only to reposition himself as a valued former president and elder statesman instead of a feckless shill. One commentator summed up his speech by noting that President Clinton's speech went after the current administration, and by extension the McCain campaign, as only he could. Clinton attacked the status quo with a litany of contrasts between his own tenure as president and the present debacle of governance we now endure.

Joe Biden followed with a show stopping acceptance speech. Introduced by his son, Captain Beau Biden of the Delaware National Guard – soon to be deployed to Iraq - who also serves as Delaware's Attorney General, Senator Biden took the stage fully formed following one of the best character introduction pieces of the convention. I'm not thrilled with all of his policies as a Senator, but the man delivered for the party and for Barack Obama, and I believe he will make a dogged and tenacious Vice President.



As good as these speeches were, all of them paled in comparison to the oratorical masterpiece that was Barack Obama's acceptance speech. I've mentioned in previous posts that I've been a political junkie for a good portion of my life and have never, ever, seen anything like this speech. Not even in the history reels.

I watched the speech coverage on MSNBC. Chris Matthews and Kieth Olbermann are as explosive and unpredictable as they are intelligent and interesting in their analysis, and I was floored by their reactions to the speech. Matthews has suffered slings and arrows from media critics for his exuberant praise of Obama's rhetoric and style in the past. Too often, it would seem to some, Matthews allows himself to listen to the speeches of our would-be governors not as a newsman, but as an American. And the night of Obama's acceptance was no exception.

Following Obama's speech the entirety of MSNBC's analysis and commentary was conducted off camera as we were inexplicably treated to views of the crowd milling about during the inaudible closing benediction and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's adjournment. The reason for the odd camera work during what should have been the pièce de résistance of MSNBC's Democratic Convention coverage, the culmination of their long running primary season coverage, was that Matthews was emotionally unable to appear on camera. The man was stricken, as many who heard the speech were, with patriotic fervor. You can actually hear the tears in his voice as he chokingly delivers his summations of the key moments of the speech.

It was that good.



But how did it play at home? If the anecdotal evidence I've collected over the past few days is any indication, Barack's speech hit home in a big, big way. One friend confided that his father, an apolitical man in his 60's who has never voted in an election will be going to the polls in November for Obama. Another, an independent who is a daily listener of conservative talk radio, told me that Barack Obama was definitely growing on him. That might not sound like much, but believe me that sort of sentiment is nothing short of catastrophic for the GOP come November.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, bill clinton, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden

My first memory, that earliest cloudy moment in time that I can remember with only a passing clarity, is of Jimmy Carter's first State of the Union Address. I can remember ambling over to the television and being told what it was I was seeing by my parents who promptly burned the instant into my mind forever by warning that if I pressed my chubby little hands up against the shiny new TV tube one more time it would surely explode and kill me instantly. Heh, you should hear what my mother tells her grandchildren. Comedy gold.

That dreamy time so long ago marked the beginning of my conscious attention to politics. I made my first bet on an election in second grade. I lost. Coming from a blue collar union family, it's no surprise that Mondale was the household favorite even against the Reagan machine. I hoped again for a Democratic ticket when I taped the Presidential debates a few years later on VHS. Even at 13 I knew damn well that the revolving door ads, Willy Horton, and the infamous "geek in a tank" photo had done Dukakis in.

As a teen, I wanted nothing more than to escape the construction laborer/waitress tax bracket my parents struggled in, and I let my fantasies infect my political leanings. My last act as a fledgling Democrat was to stand in line for Bill Clinton. I was by far the youngest person at the polls that year at a musty V.F.W. post in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. I wasn't old enough to vote yet, but I wanted to see the polls for when I could. Dude, they had levers. Levers. WTF?

Then college happened. While everyone else was smoking up and finding their inner beret wearing leftist, I turned right. Hard right. I started out pretty far left with a mother whose paycheck depended on affirmative action, and a father who never missed a union meetting, so I never went off the Ayn Rand deep-end. Still I covered enough ground to sign up as a College Republican, and eventually joined the military
against my parents urgings.

I voted for George W. Bush.

Once.

I left the military a few months after September 11th, 2001. I saw first hand the utter chaos and dumbfuckery that got us into that mess in the first place. I also saw what we liked to call the "Great Leaders of Men" attempt to shove ten pounds of shit into a five-pound-bag and call it "intelligence." So, yeah. That was enough for me.

I've been a Democrat ever since, and I've never been prouder of my country in my adult life than I was when I saw throngs of Europeans waving American flags not in sympathy or protest, but in support of an idea and a hope of what could be.

As a student of politics and government for very nearly my entire life, I've seen a lot things and I've studied many more, but I've never, ever, seen, heard, nor read about anything like what we saw in Germany when Senator Barack Obama spoke. It was awesome.


This is what it takes to change the world. A person in the right time, in the right place, doing the right things.

We've all got to do our part.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama

Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, four-star General Wesley Clark envisioned a volunteer force of specially skilled Americans to be called upon to serve both domestic and international functions ranging from fighting forest fires to nation building in his 2004 platform for President of the United States. I wrote about a similar program dubbed the Civilian Reserve Corps proposed by President Bush in 2007.

This model for service fits nicely with Barack Obama's vision for America.

In the following video, General Clark critiques John McCain's positioning as the presumptive national security candidate in this year's election.


Who else is on your Obama VP short-list? Post a comment.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, General Wesley Clark, John McCain, national security

Big brass ones.

Yesterday, while speaking at the Israeli Knesset in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state, President Bush criticized those in the American government who would speak to our international adversaries as “appeasers,” a reference to the fatally flawed Munich negotiations of British statesman Neville Chamberlain in 1938. The reaction was instantaneous in Washington, and throughout the entire American mediascape – to include the Blogosphere – and it was almost universally accepted that Bush was indirectly poking Democratic Presidential contender, Barack Obama.

While Godwining the 2008 presidential race is ballsy enough, Bush took the Heisman of arrogant dumb-assery a day later when he traveled to meet with America’s staunchest friend and ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia. There he begged the king to increase oil production to ease the strain on the U.S. economy as we enter the annual, Summer-time months of peak consumption. The king, like any good friend and ally, served President Bush a nice steaming hot cup of STFU, and then negotiated U.S. aid and cooperation in Saudi Arabia’s fledgling nuclear program.

Appeaser? It takes one to know one.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, George W. Bush

Fellow Strimling supporters out there in the first district should head over to PolitickerME, and vote in their latest web poll.

We're less than a month from the June 10th Democratic Primary here in Maine and the race heating up with campaign signs sprouting faster than the crocuses. It's time to start reading-up on these candidates if you haven't already.

For those interested in watching web style democracy in action, click off a vote for Ethan Strimling in the PolitickerME poll. Go ahead. You know you want to.

Labels: 2008 Election, Ethan Strimling, maine

Transcript.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Race, Video

I'm all for political gamesmanship. Beyond rhetoric and ideology leaders must be ready and able to out manoeuvre there opponents. During the campaign season - and particularly now with just a week to go before the all important Texas and Ohio primaries - we can get a sense for how a prospective candidate's administration would get things done in Washington should we choose to elect them.

Case in point: The Clinton campaign has taken to circulating a photo of their opponent Barack Obama dressed as a Somali Elder during a five nation tour of Africa. The image depicts Senator Obama in traditional garb as is a common practice for foreign dignitaries. For their part, I imagine the Clinton campaign is attempting to seize upon the CNN and MSNBC stories that question Senator Obama's patriotism. Stories which repeat rumors and falsehoods as fact in their headlines and leading paragraphs, only to set the record straight deeper - far more so than most readers care to venture - in their articles.

"Last summer, [Senator] Obama was photographed by Time magazine at an event in Iowa standing with his hands folded during the national anthem. His primary rivals Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson appear beside him, with their hands on their hearts...It has been repeatedly reported that the moment came during the Pledge of Allegiance, but that's not the case."

It's well played, but nasty, and ultimately reaffirms my belief that Senator Clinton knows no bounds. She will stoop to any level, and do anything necessary to win. Our nation has dabbled with a Lord of the Flies president. We have made our deals with shady characters to "get the job done." We have learned that expediency at the cost of virtue is a loosing proposition.

Plus, who can fault the guy for wearing ceremonial dress? It's polite. It's diplomatic. And everyone does it.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton, Patriotism

Immunity for telecommunications companies who illegally assisted the Bush Administration in collecting data on US citizens has passed the US Senate.

Senator Obama voted to uphold the law and deny immunity for unscrupulous corporations.

Senator Clinton did not believe that our civil rights, or the standing law of the land was worth the trouble of voting.

In a previous post I described my attempt to share my concerns with a fellow Maine Democratic Party member about Hillary Clinton's stance - or lack thereof - on the issue of warrantless wiretaps.

We know telecommunications companies have been illegally forwarding records of our phone calls, emails, and web traffic to government agencies without judicial oversight. We do not know where this information is stored, how long it will be stored for, or who has access to it. Unfortunately, our government has a very poor record of safeguarding our personal data. Ask a veteran. Won't someone please get me off the AARP mailing list?

So, I'd like to say I told you so to the little old lady in the red hat. We have Senator Clinton to thank - at least in part - for what may happen should our identities and personal information be stolen, sold, leaked, or lost from this corporate-government information sharing database. I wish you the best of luck reclaiming your identity, repairing your credit, getting off a no-fly list, or re-entering the country after a holiday abroad unmolested by over-zealous border security agents.

Cheers!

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, tia, warrantless wiretaps

I arrived at Portland High School at 1:30 in the afternoon today. As the snow began to fall and the chanters began, I took my place in the swelling crowd. I was cold and soaked through when I actually got into the school at 2:30, but I had it good. Others were still in line outside as late as 6:30.

I knew what to expect: Long lines, overworked volunteers, and crazy people who were apparently my neighbors. Good times. What I didn't expect was the hate.

I found myself in line with a small gang of grandmothers. They were complaining about the crowd, and tsking the fact that the party hadn't held the caucus in the Civic Center. Typical gripes really, and nothing I hadn't heard from others in the crush of would-be voters, but then it got nasty. It started with a sneering jibe at the folks – mostly young Obama supporters – waiting in an opposing line to register to vote. "If you were so enthusiastic to vote, why didn't you register before today," one of them muttered to her coven. This was meet with general approval before she turned to me and noticed my "Obama for ME" sign.

She was a grandmother in a red hat complete with tell tale purple accessories. "You're on the wrong side," she said, her Hillary sticker proudly displayed. I welcomed the recognition, and readied myself for her pitch, it was a caucus after all, but I wasn't expecting the curve. "He's a Muslim you know."

I'm not sure if my eyes actually popped or not, but she backtracked quickly with a: "That's what I hear." Even after six years, I'm still not used to the racism/xenophobia I encounter here in Maine. It's a quiet racism. Insidious. But I dropped into posture quickly and shot back. "Actually he's a Christian. Not that it would matter to me even if he was a Muslim." Now it was her turn to be shocked...and she was...for about a nanosecond. Then she asked what I knew about this guy anyway, and exactly where did he get his money from?

I in turn asked about Hillary's stock trading record with Tyson Foods and Walmart, but this only pushed her Bill Oreilly buttons and caused her to breathlessly demand that I answer her question. Who is this Obama guy? Where did he come from? Was he a Republicans plant?

I tried to take the wheel of this train to crazy-town and explained that I support Barack Obama because of his platform. Specifically his pledge to open government, and his science and technology policies as endorsed by the EFF. Attempting to explain the EFF to a red-hat wearing racist crone is a good time. I highly recommend it if you have the means. At any rate, she promised me that the good folks up in Aroostook County would never vote for a black man, and that Obama didn't have a chance in Maine. That's where the line ended and we parted ways.

By 8:30 tonight, our votes where cast and counted. In my precinct I'm happy to report that the final tally was 374 for Obama and 104 for Clinton.

Barack Obama carried the great state of Maine.

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, maine

The Internet phenomena that is Ron Paul's base considers it's next best option...Barack Obama. Cheers to that. I am biased of course, but given Obama's open government and technology platforms(64k pdf) as endorsed by Lawrence Lessig, I'd say Obama stands alone as the next best choice for Paul supporters concerned about matters of privacy, government transparency, and issues such as net neutrality.

Via DMIESSLER.COM: "Question: When Do We, As Paul Supporters, Switch to Obama?

Ron Paul just took 3% in Florida, and most states have been going similarly. I'm thinking what everyone else is thinking, but now I'm thinking it out loud.

When do we call gg and switch our energies to keeping Romney or McCain out of office? In other words, when do we give up and start supporting Obama?

Perhaps there are those among you that don't like Obama, but here's something to consider: you should vote for him for the same reason you'll vote for Paul even though he doesn't believe in evolution. He's an honest man with common sense."

Will we see a Ron Paul bump in Obama's February 5th poll numbers?

Labels: 2008 Election, Barack Obama, EFF, Lawrence Lessig, Ron Paul, technology

After nearly a solid week of dropping hints, Stephen Colbert threw his hat in the ring in the race for president tonight.

First, he made a surprise appearance at his old home, Comedy Central's "The Daily Show," Tuesday night to make an official announcement: He was officially considering a run for president and would announce his decision "some time soon."

Soon arrived about 20 minutes later on his own show, The Colbert Report, when, with balloons falling, he said, 'Yes, I'm doing it!" Then he welcomed CBS political analyst Jeff Greenfield to analyze his impact on the race "in the past three minutes."

Greenfield said it was "astounding."

He announced that he will be running in his home state of South Carolina. Here are links for the South Carolina Democratic Party and South Carolina GOP for those interested in keeping an eye on what is likely to be one hell of a spectacle.

Labels: 2008 Election, media, Stephen Colbert

Join and get involved in the discussion.

Labels: 2008 Election, Al Gore, operation lockbox

Labels: 2008 Election, Al Gore, George W. Bush, operation lockbox

Last week ten (TEN!) candidates for the Republican 2008 presidential nomination gathered to introduce themselves to the American people. It was damn ugly.

A lot of attention has been paid to the who does not believe in evolution question, and rightfully so (it's not a litmus test of faith, it's a litmus test of the capacity for rational thought), but the questions I most wanted answered were never asked.

As a former New England Republican myself I view GOP debates through a lens of fiscal conservatism mixed with a tinge of libertarian sensibility. I would have liked to have heard the candidates views on the difficult questions which threaten the very fabric of our nation today. Specifically their stances on habeas corpus, posse comitatus, and the Cheneyite School of the Unitary Executive. While the candidates did comment on abortion, tax policy, stem cell research, and the possibility of a national identity card - for immigrants and guest workers - they were not asked for their thoughts on signing statements, warrantless wiretaps, extraordinary rendition, or the use of private contractors to perform military duties.

The answers to these questions are vitally important for candidates from both parties to answer, but particularly so for Republicans. Since 2000 the Bush Administration has consistently reinterpreted the Constitution of the United States in such a way that diminishes individual liberties and circumvents traditional checks on tyranny while maximizing its own authority. These are not soundbite issues. These are fundamental questions that will define American character for generations to come.

Labels: 2008 Election, Extraordinary Rendition, GOP, Unitary Executive, warrantless wiretaps

Last week in South Carolina the eight announced hopefuls (I'm still pullin' for you Ali G!) for the 2008 Democratic nomination met to "debate." This fat honkin' slice o'political theater has been re-run on MSNBC several times since, and has been edited and condensed in Daily Show soundbite-montage-style in various forms online (If history were written using only tidbits of viral marketing one might think former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel dominated the event).

I'm an election geek, so I was looking for the basics: Tie color, lighting, stage position, camera angles. Throughout the campaign process, top candidates from both parties are trained, poked, and prodded to take full advantage these near subliminal elements which in aggregate add to the publics estimation of that indefinable yet all important quality of appearing "Presidential." Take stage position for instance (supposedly random, by the way):

The Right Wing
Richardson (Gov-NM)
Dobbs (Sen-CT)

The Center/Mainstream
Edwards (Sen-NC)
Biden (Sen-DE)
Obama (Sen-IL)
Clinton (Sen-NY)

The Left Wing
Kucinich (Rep-OH)
Gravel (Sen-AK)

The mainstream media is once again attempting to short circuit our electoral process by choosing our front runners for us by emphasizing Obama and Clinton. Personally I didn't see anything in the debate that excited me about any of the candidates beyond the fact that none of them are the current Administration. In that light, my pick for the top two clear winners of the first debate are: John Kerry (Sen-MA) and Al Gore (former USVP)!

Both are smart enough to realize that it's ridiculously early to even announce candidacy, never mind hold a staged and manipulated debate. Both have also won Presidential elections in the past. These two facts alone put them head and shoulders above the rest of the field.

Labels: 2008 Election, Al Gore, Barack Obama, Democrats, Hillary Clinton, Mike Gravel, operation lockbox

It's February, and in a normal year before a presidential election the campaign cycle would be just a gleam in a political science junkie's eye, but this is no normal year. Our incumbent president is so unpopular candidates from both sides of the aisle are clamoring to announce their intentions to run for the highest office of the land, and the cycle is already revving up to full speed.

There are a lot of great candidates out there - all of whom could likely do a far better job than our current Commander-in-Chief - but none of them has captured my imagination as much as a man who's already proven he can win the White House: Former next President of the United States, Al Gore.

While Mr. Gore has yet to officially announce his candidacy, and indeed may choose not to run at all, I am officially kicking off Operation Lockbox in support of his campaign. Rapid dissent will hence forth feature news and resources related to the Gore campaign - whether real or imagined - for the duration of Operation Lockbox. I encourage you to learn more about the man who was elected in 2000 to be America's 43rd President, and who - with your help - I hope to see elected again as our 44th in 2008.

Labels: 2008 Election, Al Gore, operation lockbox

America is at a crossroads. Expect this trite but true little bit of rhetoric to be a central theme in 2006. The message will be pounded in the brains of the American voter by every Democrat worth their salt from now straight through until November 2008.

Some have already started preaching the word, but not everyone appreciates the strategy. After all, if the DNC makes the case that the upcoming elections are not between the right and the left, but rather between the past and the future, what will become of all those Dems who have gone along for the ride this far? Aren't they part of the past? I'm looking at you Hillary. Sorry, but 2008 isn't your year.

Aside from the sour grapes, I think this is a winning strategy. Using the future as a launching pad for the elections is brilliant. Don't polarize the nation with a debate on abortion. Shit the neo-cons and their fundy pals are trying to roll us back to arguing evolution. Responsible science initiatives (i.e. breaking that "oil addiction"), and a firm stance on consumer rights with regard to digital media are issue that the average American can understand. Gas tanks and iPods.

Lets get this one right. We may not have another chance.

Labels: 2006 mid-term election, 2008 Election, Hillary Clinton, neocon

I'm not a sports fan. Never have been, really. So I'm not as accustomed as some to the experience of loosing. Oh, I've lost before - games, races, contests, etc. - but watching a team you supported loose is something different altogether. Especially in politics.

The feeling is worse than loss. It's closer to rejection. Dealing with that has been difficult for most of us who don't support the current Administration. I still havn't seen a major catharsis in the any-one-but Bush community. It's January, and I think we're still floating free. There is no singular voice of leadership in opposition to the Bush Administration to rally behind. Howard Dean was the closest we came until the pep-rally scream incident was played by the media, the right, and the entrenched left for all it was worth. But Dean might yet have his say.

Here's hoping.

At any rate, analysis is not acceptance. Nor is it particularly constructive at this point. The NeoCons are shaping our future today. That's a fact. Waiting until 2008 for another cheap compromise ticket is not an option I'm particularly looking forward to. And to be honest, ranting and raving at every injustice, inaptitude, and outright deception perpetrated by BushCo just doesn't sit well with me either. To do so would be repeating the mistakes of the past. They are framing the argument everyday, and we are left with nothing but our own tails to chase in the echochamber of our blogs. Hence my prolonged silence here.

Fortunately, things change.

Labels: 2004 election, 2008 Election, bloggers, blogging, neocon