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Tag Archives: Barack Obama

Herman Cain: Clarence Thomas With Pizza Sauce.

02 Jul

"For my next song I would like to do 'Born This Way'. Hope you like it!"

Black conservative hate, hate, HATE playing the race card.   They really hate it something fierce.

Until they decide to pull it out and slap it on the table  Then they really love it something fierce.  In the New York Times, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain takes time out from sucking up to White conservatives to talk smack about what sort of Black man Barack Obama is.

Before you announced your campaign, you said that the liberal establishment is scared that “a real black man might run against Barack Obama.” Are you suggesting Obama isn’t really black?

A real black man is not timid about making the right decisions, that’s what I meant. Look, I’m not getting into this whole thing about President Obama. It is documented that his mother was white and his father was from Africa. If he wants to call himself black, fine. If he wants to call himself African-American, fine. I’m not going down this color road.

But you’re saying he’s not really a black man.

Not in terms of a strong black man that I’m identifying with. I identify with a strong black man like Martin Luther King Jr., or my dad, Luther Cain Jr., who didn’t have a lot of formal education, but he had a Ph.D. in common sense.

Who's the bigger nerd?

Common sense the son obviously didn’t inherit from the father.

Herman Cain questioning Barack Obama’s Blackness is like margarine questioning the flavor of butter.

This is just the right-wing flip side of the same line of garbage Cornel West was dishing out a few months after his hissy fit where he said the president had a problem with strong Black men.   It is a higher level way of playing the dozens.   All throughout Obama’s political life he’s been called out as not being
“authentically” Black enough.

I’ve grown a bit tired of this game.   Nobody has the right to question Obama’s Blackness.  He identifies himself as a Black man and that’s good enough for me.  Cain is simply repeating a riff already played by racial arsonists like Alan Keyes and Rush Limbaugh.  This is supposed to be the flaw in the president’s armor.  He’s not “Black” enough.   And who is the guy calling him out?  Herm Cain,  who runs around hugging up with White conservatives and proclaiming the Tea Party can’t be racist if they let him show up.

Cain makes a point of saying he’s not an African-American (but he is a “conservative” American) and he wants to call out Obama?  Negro, please!

This creep is a bad joke without a punchline. He is a vanity candidate with zero political experience who ran  pizza stores and is arrogant enough to claim that makes him suited to be the next president.

Cain is not running for president. He’s running for the publicity, the attention and the higher speaking fees he will be able to get from increasing his national profile. In a field of empty suits with experience but badly lacking charisma, Cain has plenty of the latter, if little of the former.  Now is a good time to be popular.  As we move closer to the election being experienced will matter more.  .

I’ll say it flat-out: Herman Cain has NO chance of winning the Republican nomination. NONE. He is a profoundly unserious man who enjoys throwing red meat to the right-wing base, but he’s covering territory Keyes marked long before Cain got there. There’s money to be made telling White conservatives what they want to hear. They will applaud and open up their wallets and even pay thousands of dollars to hear you run your rap.

But make him President? Please. Newt Gingrich isn’t going to be the Republican nominee. Neither is Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Gary Johnson or even Michelle Bachmann. In Cain we have a guy who has never held ANY political office and because he can whisper sweet nothings to the White Right that makes him a legitimate player?

"Where the White women at? Right here!"

Like his Georgia homeboy, Clarence Thomas, Cain is one of the Negro sell-outs who only mention race when it benefits them.   The rest of the time they could care less about the state of Black people in America.   They don’t even acknowledge their existence except when they want to point out how little in common they have with them.

The inference by Cain that he is a “real Black man” though this real Black man hates to be called an African-American. You can be a divider all through the primaries and then pivot in the general election and sell yourself as a unifying moderate. American voters like builders of consensus, not bullying extremists.

Cain will prove to be as appetizing to voters in the GOP primaries as a cold slice of pizza.

 
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Posted by on July 2, 2011 in News & Views, Rantology

 

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Herman Cain: Alan Keyes With Pizza Sauce

24 May

White guy congratulates the Herminator on his nice hat.

This year’s model of the token Negro conservative is Herman Cain, the 65-year-old former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza and supposed Tea Party “favorite.”  Meaning:   Another House Negro who tells White folks exactly what they want to hear; an echo of what they already believe.

“It’s time to get real, folks. Hope and change ain’t working,” Cain said during his announcement  he was making a run to replace President Obama. “Hope and change is not a solution. Hope and change is not a job.

The Associated Press summed up Cain’s positions as follows:

Cain supports a strong national defense, opposes abortion, backs replacing the federal income tax with a national sales tax and favors a return to the gold standard. He said President Barack Obama “threw Israel under the bus” because he sought to base Mideast border talks partly on the pre-1967 war lines, and criticized the Justice Department for challenging Arizona’s tough crackdown on illegal immigration.

The problem with rookies like Cain is they have their rhetoric down cold.  It’s their policies that don’t show any thought  put behind them at all.   It’s predictable a right-wing Republican would have nothing good to say about President Obama’s call for Israel to move back to the 1967 borders, but watch Cain’s stumbling response in a Fox News interview and his foreign policy toward Israel can be summed up as Israel gets anything they want and the Palestinians get “nothing.”

This year’s Alan Keyes is just like the previous year’s model.  A rank amateur who has never held any elected office (he ran for the U.S. Senate in Georgia and lost in a three-way race) and while he doesn’t have any solutions, could he interest you in some nice slogans?

But unlike Keyes there is much to admire about “the Herminator.”  He’s an entrepreneur from Atlanta who when he worked for Pillsbury turned around a number of Burger King franchises and took on the challenge as CEO of raising the status of Godfather Pizza to third behind the Pizza Hut and Domino’s chains.  He’s also a right-wing radio host who survived Stage 4 colon and liver cancer.   The Herminator ain’t no wimp.

Which isn’t to say he’s not above sinking to the most tired of right-wing themes like President Obama not being an American citizen (“I respect people that believe he should prove his citizenship … He should prove he was born in the United States of America”) or how liberals aren’t simply wrong, but evil (“The objective of the liberals is to destroy this country. The objective of the liberals is to make America mediocre. … That’s their objective. Well, let me tell you something about mediocrity. It’s not in an American’s DNA to be mediocre.”)

Cain will be an entertaining figure at the Republican presidential debates, but if he really thinks the Tea Party or the Republican establishment is really going to conclude, “the best way to beat a Black liberal is with a Black conservative” he’s slammed one pizza too many.   Obama painted the White House black and the GOP desperately wants it back.  If Cain is lucky, he’d be considered for Secretary of Commerce in a President Romney or Pawlenty’s Cabinet.  His more likely fate is to be just another afterthought in the lower strata of the Republican also-rans.

Can Cain turn his long-shot bid into a serious contender based upon his ability to send a tingle up the leg for the White right (as this love note from Michael Medved illustrates)?  Unlikely in 2012 because outside of that narrow base, he barely merits a “Who he?” nationally. But in what is a pretty dull group of White guys running against him, Cain adds diversity and possesses a booming baritone that can reach the back of the room sans microphone.  At the very least he will raise his national profile.  That’s probably as good as its going to get because with only $13 in his campaign’s war chest the pizza man doesn’t have the dough to be much more than the bused-in entertainment at Republican debates.

"And when I'm elected there will be coupons for Godfather's Pizza for everyone. Except Muslims."

The problems of this country and this world are too big, too complex and too much for Cain who is short of policy and long on rhetoric.  If talking tough fixed anything Donald Trump would still be the GOP front-runner instead of just another guy who quit even before he started.   There are some whom believe we need a businessman elected president since we’ve tried politicians and that hasn’t worked out.

The reality is we just had a president with a M.B.A. and spent the surplus, slashed taxes in a time of war, created a massive new entitlement program for the elderly without funding it, ran up huge deficits and led the nation into near economic ruin.   Now Cain wants to the latest non-professional politician to advance the absurd notion that America can be turned around like an underperforming pizza joint?

Forget it.  Herman Cain can’t deliver.

 
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Posted by on May 24, 2011 in News & Views

 

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Cornel “the Crab” West Pulls Barack Back in the Barrel.

19 May

Hey, Barack, where's my invitation?

There is a tug-of-war between the Black Elites and the rest of Black America for the soul of Barack Obama. The issue is most Black folks believe Obama has one. The Elitists like Cornel West don’t think he does. I’ve talked about Princeton professor Cornel West going one from an admirer of the president to one of his most embittered critics.

In an interview West called Obama, “a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs and a black puppet of corporate plutocrats. And now he has become head of the American killing machine and is proud of it.”

Sympathy for Osama bin Laden?  That’s bad, but West made it worse.

“I think my dear brother Barack Obama has a certain fear of free black men. It’s understandable. As a young brother who grows up in a white context, brilliant African father, he’s always had to fear being a white man with black skin. All he has known culturally is white. He is just as human as I am, but that is his cultural formation. When he meets an independent black brother, it is frightening. And that’s true for a white brother. When you get a white brother who meets a free, independent black man, they got to be mature to really embrace fully what the brother is saying to them. It’s a tension, given the history. It can be overcome. Obama, coming out of Kansas influence, white, loving grandparents, coming out of Hawaii and Indonesia, when he meets these independent black folk who have a history of slavery, Jim Crow, Jane Crow and so on, he is very apprehensive. He has a certain rootlessness, a deracination. It is understandable.”

“He feels most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they want,” he says. “He’s got two homes. He has got his family and whatever challenges go on there, and this other home. Larry Summers blows his mind because he’s so smart. He’s got Establishment connections. He’s embracing me. It is this smartness, this truncated brilliance, that titillates and stimulates brother Barack and makes him feel at home. That is very sad for me,”

West’s amateur psychoanalysis provoked sharp responses from Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart denouncing West as part of the “Blacker than thou” crowd and his slam of Obama making him “no better than a Birther.” 

But the epic smack down came from a Princeton colleague,  Melissa Harris-Perry, who wrote of West’s remarks,  “This comment is utter hilarity coming from Cornel West who has spent the bulk of his adulthood living in those deeply rooted, culturally rich, historically important black communities of Cambridge, MA and Princeton, NJ. And it is hard to see his claim that Obama is “most comfortable with upper middle-class white and Jewish men who consider themselves very smart, very savvy and very effective in getting what they” as anything other than a classic projection of his own comfortably ensconced life at Harvard and Princeton Universities. Harvard and Princeton are not places that are particularly noted for their liberating history for black men.

Princeton vs. Princeton: Let's get ready to rumble!


West is setting himself up as the arbiter of another man’s Blackness and some folks are just as full of spite applauding it like trained seals.

West is rapidly transitioning from being petty to being stupid.   Perhaps the most annoying thing about him is how he calls everyone a “dear brother” just before he tries to rip them a new asshole.   And West isn’t above being petty.  He’s still raw over not getting an invitation to the inauguration.

His questioning of the president’s Blackness got the most attention.  But it is his reaction to how he perceives Obama snubbed him during his inauguration that tells you best what playground West is on.

“I used to call my dear brother [Obama] every two weeks. I said a prayer on the phone for him, especially before a debate. And I never got a call back. And when I ran into him in the state Capitol in South Carolina when I was down there campaigning for him he was very kind. The first thing he told me was, ‘Brother West, I feel so bad. I haven’t called you back. You been calling me so much. You been giving me so much love, so much support and what have you.’ And I said, ‘I know you’re busy.’ But then a month and half later I would run into other people on the campaign and he’s calling them all the time. I said, wow, this is kind of strange. He doesn’t have time, even two seconds, to say thank you or I’m glad you’re pulling for me and praying for me, but he’s calling these other people. I said, this is very interesting. And then as it turns out with the inauguration I couldn’t get a ticket with my mother and my brother. I said this is very strange. We drive into the hotel and the guy who picks up my bags from the hotel has a ticket to the inauguration. My mom says, ‘That’s something that this dear brother can get a ticket and you can’t get one, honey, all the work you did for him from Iowa.’ Beginning in Iowa to Ohio. We had to watch the thing in the hotel.

“What it said to me on a personal level,” he goes on, “was that brother Barack Obama had no sense of gratitude, no sense of loyalty, no sense of even courtesy, [no] sense of decency, just to say thank you. Is this the kind of manipulative, Machiavellian orientation we ought to get used to? That was on a personal level.”

What that says to ME is Cornel West has a sense of entitlement a mile wide, an over-sized (and easily bruised) ego a mountain high and a personal shallowness that is a mud puddle deep.

There’s nothing remotely “intellectual” about such petulant, infantile whining.    West is acting like a spurned lover mad because Obama hasn’t called him on Friday night, not like a critically thinking intellectual..

Somehow the professional crybabies like West and his booty boy, Tavis “Subprime” Smiley and their amen corner think Obama can propose a jobs program or an education program or a free bucket of chicken program that benefits ONLY Black folks.   Yeah, let’s see how long it takes Faux News to lose their minds over that.   Then let’s see how fast John Boehner and the rest of the Republican controlled House (where ever dime of the federal budget comes from) bust their humps to help Obama galvanize the Black vote for 2012.

Anybody see Cornel West's Afro in this barrel?

You can climb up to the top of the Empire State Building, jump off singing “I Believe I Can Fly” and the last thought that goes through your brain before its turned into mushy street pizza along with the rest of your dumb ass will be, “Damn, I Believe I CAN’T Fly.”

Gravity doesn’t care what lie you tell yourself.  Gravity always wins.   Well, the same principle applies to politics.  Politics doesn’t care what West or Smiley and their amen corner wants.  Politics only cares what is possible and it is IMPOSSIBLE for this president or any of his 43 predecessors to push through legislation for a job program that ONLY benefits 12 percent of the population.

West and Smiley can jump off the Empire State Building if they want to.  I hope there’s enough of their amen corner looking up to break their fall when they come crashing down.

This is not a conversation most people enjoy having and conversations people don’t enjoy having are precisely the kind true intellectuals should compel us to hold. But not the way West did running from one White man (Chris Hedges) to another (Ed Schultz) to denounce Obama as not being authentically Black enough. That’s NOT his call to make and he damn sure doesn’t need to be pandering to White liberals who enjoy watching the Negroes play “crabs in a barrel.”

I’m sorry, Dear Brother West, but you’re thinking emotionally, not strategically. Starting this kind of drama does nothing but get people irate. It sure won’t nudge them around to the perspective you’d like them to get to.

Maybe it’s time for Dear Brother West to bust out the Afro.  It seems to be cutting off the fresh air circulating to his brain.

"How come you don't call me anymore, Barack?"

 
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Posted by on May 19, 2011 in Rantology

 

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Obama in 2007: When the Game Changed.

15 Mar

As part of my resolution to work out my body and exercise my mind (so far, so good) I’m reading Game Change:  Obama and The Clintons, McCain and Palin and the Race of A Lifetime. It’s an insider’s view of the 2008 presidential campaign written by two veteran political journalists,  John Heilemann and Mark Helperin.

It’s far from a scholarly read.  If People Magazine were to write a book about the 2008 campaign, it would probably be something like Game Change.   I’m enjoying it as a guilty pleasure even as I recognize its  gossipy and superficial.  There are better books about how Barack Obama won the election, but few are as easy to read through.

It took me back to a column I wrote in 2007 when Obama announced he was running for the presidency.

Let’s consider this for a moment. Let’s say you are running a business and you recruit a young, handsome, articulate (and ambitious) young man to join your organization. He’s green as grass regarding how the business works, but he’s eager, a hard-charger, a real go-getter. You see in him the kind of talent and drive one would only hope others to exhibit and emulate.

He’s been on the job for a few years. He’s congenial and everyone likes working with him, but he hasn’t really done anything yet.

A key vacancy at the top of management opens up. There is no shortage of qualified individuals vying for the job. They have decades worth of experience. They are battle-tested, seasoned and know their way around the block.

But they’re a pretty dull group of gray-suit guys. Competent as hell to be sure, but with the collective sex appeal of a cold bowl of chicken noodle soup. They’re VHS in a DVD world.

So do you give the job to the new kid on the block?

Do you risk putting a fresh young face up against some of the roughest and toughest competitors on the planet? Are you willing to risk the future of the business on a relative rookie who has more star power than street smarts?

Is this job one that can be trusted to someone with more enthusiasm than experience.

This is the question Barack Obama will have to answer.

The question of Senator Obama’s experience is the one both he and those that doubt he has the necessary skills to be President of the United States would prefer to focus upon. That debate distracts from the more uncomfortable one of whether or not the nation is ready to choose a Black man as Chief Executive.

But the experience question is a legitimate one. Unlike Senators McCain, Biden, Brownback and Dodd whom have decades of experience between them, Obama is a newbie. Even John Edwards waited until he finished his six years as a Senator before making a run for The Big Chair.

However, as someone who has met the man, shook his hand and watched the way he works a room, I can say with 100 percent certainty that whatever the elusive star quality is some people have in abundance and most people don’t have at all, Barack Obama has “it.” To quote that great philosopher Tupac Shakur, when Obama is onstage it’s All Eyes On Him.

Obama doesn’t need another 20 years watching his hair become a distinguished grey and giving increasingly boring and irrelevant speeches on the floor of the Senate. He is never going to be more popular than he is right now. He has tapped into the desire of the American public for fresh faces appealing to our higher nature and not our base instincts. Obama seeks to unite with rhetoric of common goals and shared sacrifice, not the politics of division and character assassination.

Not yet anyway.

I concede the criticism that the media has designated Obama as The Chosen One is a valid one. In the search for the Anti-Hillary, Obama has been cast in the role of the charismatic newbie who can inspire the masses and lead the Democrats back into the White House in 2008.

Yeah, well…

This may be surprising coming from me, but I don’t think being Black will be Barack Obama’s main obstacle. There’s a certain hardcore group of voters that will not under any circumstances vote for a Black candidate no matter how qualified they might be. Their vote isn’t up for grabs so there’s no point in wasting time and money going after them.

But the experience issue is one that nags at even those who admire Obama. They see a world full of potential enemies and real ones challenging the U.S. and a myriad of issues that can’t be solved with high-sounding accolades and vague generalizations.

The fallacy is that you have to possess a vast wealth of experience to become the President of the United States. Correct me, but I don’t think George W. Bush or Bill Clinton had an immense amount of exposure to draw upon in their stints as state governors in dealing with China, Iran, Russia or North Korea. Every president is heavily dependent upon the staff he hires to provide him with good intel and advice. Even the most rock solid Republican would probably admit that Bush was poorly served by the pre-war intelligence on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction, though Bush didn’t seem to hold anyone accountable for it. I doubt Obama would have a problem putting together a solid staff to help him.

Nobody seems to be scoffing at Tom Tancredo, Duncan Hunter, Dennis Kucinich, Tom Vilsack or Sam Brownback for thinking about making a run at the White House and politically speaking these guys are nobodies. Most of them would have to walk around with a “Hi, My name is _____” sticker on their suits before anyone realized who they were. None of these guys have a snowball’s chance at winning so why are they running? Nobody thinks there’s anything weird about a White guy wanting to be president no matter how off the wall their candidacy is.

Barack Obama has the name recognition and high-profile most of the potential candidates would cut off their pinky finger for. The deconstruction of Barack Obama has already started in ways both trivial (his middle name being Osama) and slightly disquieting (that he has admitted to using drugs in his youth will disqualify him with those who imagine a every president should be made of a higher moral fiber than the rest of us).

Obama is nobody’s fool. He knows nobody has gone from the Senate to the White House since John Kennedy. But he also knows Kennedy had a skimpy job performance in the Senate and only viewed it as a stepping stone to the presidency.

Obama has drawn enough White support to make him a viable candidate for the presidency. That does not mean he can count on that translating into actual votes and victory because the same good people who say they’re open to voting for a Black man to be President, may go in a very different direction in the privacy of the voting booth.
Frankly, I don’t understand all the drama over Obama. He’s certainly not the first African-American to run for the top job. Maybe what it is if he can put together a credible campaign, he might be the first that could actually win?

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2011 in News & Views

 

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Obama Bum Rushes the Country Club.

07 Jan
Barack Obama meets four of the 43 White guys who screwed things up so bad.

Barack Obama meets four of the 43 White guys who screwed things up so bad.

The five living presidents of the United States got together for lunch at the White House.

Wonder what was on the menu.  Since George W. Bush Jr. is such a dick,  I’m betting fried chicken and watermelon.

The Washington Post reported:   The meeting originated with a suggestion from Obama during his first private meeting with Bush in December, and it marks the first such White House meeting since October 1981, when then-President Reagan had cocktails with former presidents Carter, Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon prior to a state funeral for slain Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Today’s gathering brings together a disparate group of strong political rivals, with the Republican Bushes outnumbered by their three Democratic opponents. During a brief photo opportunity, the men stood, from right to left: Carter, Clinton, Bush, Obama and Bush’s father. Carter and Clinton wore red ties, while the rest wore blue. All dressed in dark suits.

Obama met one-on-one with Bush for about half an hour prior to joining the ex-presidents for lunch, officials said.

Obama probably asked Dubya to refrain from passing gas at the dining room table,  try not chewing with his mouth open or start any new wars over the next few weeks.

 
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Posted by on January 7, 2009 in Rantology

 

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This Is This.

01 Nov
It all comes down to this...

It all comes down to this...

We’re down to the last 72 hours of the 2008 Presidential Election and coin a cliche, what a long, strange trip it’s been.

In about five hours I’ll be waking up my son who’s home from college for the weekend and he’ll shovel down two bowls of Cheerios and then I’ll drive him downtown so he can vote for the first time in his life.

And if he doesn’t use that first vote for the first Black man with a serious chance of winning,  he can walk his ass back to Cincinnati.

I’m experencing internet connectivity problems on my home computer (as in I can’t get logged on) so this is going to be the last entry prior to Election Day.   Which is just as well as I’ve said just about everything I have to say about the election.

I wrote an column for The Daily Voice with my final thoughts on the election.  I feel positive about Barack Obama’s chances of winning, but I’m no ways confident.    Previous experience with how the Republicans love to fuck around with the vote gives me reason to doubt things are good as they appear to be.

Obama is coming to Columbus this Sunday.   As I had already had the day off, I just might drag  my butt away from pro football to take a look at the man who could make history.

I’ve never been as wired into or invested into the fortunes of one man.   I am certain should this moment pass without an Obama victory I will never see the day come when another African-American is in a similar situation.

This is this.  Now all I can do is wait for a return to the normal.

 
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Posted by on November 1, 2008 in News & Views

 

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The Powell Endorsement of Obama: Bigger than Oprah?

20 Oct
C.P. gets his funky on for the O-Man.

C.P. gets his funky on for the O-Man.

I worked twelve hours on Saturday, got home at 7:00 am Sunday, grabbed a very quick few hours of sleep and staggered downstairs to see General Colin Powell make his endorsement of Barack Obama.

There are only a few people whom I can honestly say I would be intimidated to interview, but Gen. Powell is first on that list. He is a Republican and I’m a Democrat, but I can hardly think of anyone who is more respected across party lines than Powell.

It was a class move on his part to say both McCain and Obama would be good if elected president. But I got the definite impression that the Palin pick was the decision that pushed Powell out of the McCain camp.

MR. BROKAW: General Powell, actually you gave a campaign contribution to Senator McCain. You have met twice at least with Barack Obama. Are you prepared to make a public declaration of which of these two candidates that you’re prepared to support?

GEN. POWELL: Yes, but let me lead into it this way. I know both of these individuals very well now. I’ve known John for 25 years as your setup said. And I’ve gotten to know Mr. Obama quite well over the past two years. Both of them are distinguished Americans who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. Either one of them, I think, would be a good president. I have said to Mr. McCain that I admire all he has done. I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that’s a choice the party makes. And I’ve said to Mr. Obama, “You have to pass a test of do you have enough experience, and do you bring the judgment to the table that would give us confidence that you would be a good president.”

And I’ve watched him over the past two years, frankly, and I’ve had this conversation with him. I have especially watched over the last six of seven weeks as both of them have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are in and coming out of the conventions. And I must say that I’ve gotten a good measure of both. In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to deal with the economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. And that concerned me, sensing that he didn’t have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had. And I was also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin. She’s a very distinguished woman, and she’s to be admired; but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don’t believe she’s ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made.

Ooh. Dissed!

Not only is Powell’s endorsement significant, it was the only endorsement remaining that could possibly have an impact on the race

A Republican consultant on CNN said Powell’s endorsement of Obama is like “warm milk and cookies” to independents who might be uncertain about voting for the Democratic nominee. Nobody can make a credible
case that Powell would knowingly endorse someone who “pals around withterrorists,” is “anti-American” or a “socialist.”

Additionally, Powell made clear that he wasn’t cool with some of the tactics of the McCain campaign or how one certain group of Americans have been getting slammed pretty hard lately:

And I’ve also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about. This Bill Ayers situation that’s been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign. But Mr. McCain says that he’s a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. What they’re trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that’s inappropriate.

Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that’s good. But I think this goes too far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It’s not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that’s what we’d be looking at in a McCain administration. I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.

Republican. Conservative. Obama supporter. Got a problem with that?

Republican. Conservative. Obama supporter. Got a problem with that?

Can I get a witness?   Preach on, Colin.

As predictably as a dog with a weak bladder whizzing on a oak tree, some of the leading lights of the Right didn’t dig what Powell had to say:

“Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race, OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed. I’ll let you know what I come up with.” ~ Rush “Viva Viagra” Limbaugh

“Alright, we gotta ask a question, look would Colin Powell be endorsing Obama if he were a white liberal democrat…”

~ Pat “Hitler was misunderstood” Buchanan

The orgy of Obamedia attention Powell will receive the next 24 hours is disproportionate to its importance. The press only loves maverick Republicans when they jump in bed with Democrats.

~ Michelle “Not an Illegal” Malkin

So Powell is backing Barack Obama just because they’re both Black, but it doesn’t matter since it’s not important?  Is that going to be The Official Spin of the Day sung by the loud and long from the righties in the media and blogosphere?

I’m of the mind that Gen. Powell was the guy who sold the world on the war that has cost both this country and the Iraqis so much in blood and money. I remember the day he gave that speech at the U.N., I was driving around and it was being broadcast live on the radio. There’s no doubt that when blame is passed out over who got us into this the wrong war for the wrong reasons, Colin Powell’s name will be prominently mentioned.

I don’t know if non-military types can fully understand how a guy like Powell could grit his teeth, set his shoulders and say, “Yes sir” when the President of the United States tells him he needs to go sell the war. When they say, “if you can’t respect the man, respect the office the man holds” this is what they mean. Powell allowed himself to be used and his loss of standing and respect to millions of people in America and the world is something he may never completely get back.

However, if Powell was on the wrong side of history then, by endorsing Barack Obama now, he is taking a step in getting back on the right side. As an act of contrition it falls far short. However, Colin Powell is still a formidable figure in America and by backing Barack he remains a relevant one.

 
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Posted by on October 20, 2008 in News & Views

 

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George Voinovich plays the “Socialist” card.

19 Oct

In a long presidential campaign it’s no surprise when surrogates and spokespersons wander off and make some remark that forces some next day backpedaling and clarifications of what they really meant to say.

Another Bozo on the No Straight-Talk Bus?

Sen. Voinovich: Another Bozo on the "No Straight-Talk" Bus?

So when Senator George Voinovich (R-OH) called one of his own colleagues Senator Barack Obama a “socialist” it was one of those “Where the hell is this coming from?” moments.

It prompted me to write my home state Senator a letter:

October 19, 2008

Dear Senator Voinovich,

When I read that a member of the U.S. Senate called his colleague, Senator Barack Obama, a “socialist,” I had a mental list of possible suspects who I believed would be as intemperate and impolitic to make such a craven remark.

The name of George Voinovich was not among those I had in mind.

“He is left of Teddy Kennedy. With all due respect, the man is a socialist.”

Well, at least you’re polite Senator when you’re slamming someone who you work with.

It is a source of extreme disappointment to see a lawmaker whom I had considered a voice of moderation and bipartisanship turn into just another yapping attack dog of the GOP kennel.

If Senator Obama should fall short in his bid for the presidency do you believe you will never again need his support for legislation of importance to Ohio?

If your worst nightmare comes true Senator Voinovich and Senator Obama becomes the next President of the United States how will you be able to work with a man you have just demonized as a “socialist?”

As you well know sir, there is only one actual, bona fide socialist in the Senate and that’s Bernie Sanders from Vermont. Perhaps you’ve noticed there isn’t the slightest resemblance between Senator Sanders and Senator Obama?

One of your spokespersons “clarified” your remarks saying, “Sen. Voinovich has been a mayor and governor, and believes the 10th Amendment is sacred. And he does not believe that Sen. Obama has an understanding or respect of the 10th Amendment.”

Of course, you do know that Sen. Obama did teach a class in Constitutional Law? From most reports he was pretty good at it too.

As the weeks to Election Day dwindle away we have witnessed attack after attack by the McCain campaign and the Republican Party against Sen. Obama’s judgment, character and personal affiliations.

Governor Palin says Obama “pals around with terrorists” and “is not a man who sees America as you see it and how I see America.”

Representative Michelle Bachman (R-MN) charges Obama is “very anti-American” and suggests there should be an investigation of Congress to find out which members are “anti-American” as well.

Not less than 24 hours later, the senior Senator from Ohio calls another member a “socialist.”

I do not want to read or hear one more word from Senator McCain about how he has responded to any below-the-belt attacks on Senator Obama’s character while your own slanderous remarks against him stand without apology.

Calling Sen. Obama a socialist does not help the over 40 million Americans without health care coverage. Calling Sen. Obama a socialist does not bring our soldiers in Iran and Afghanistan any closer to a resolution or a way home. Calling Sen. Obama does not address the challenges of global warming, the alarm bells going off about the dangerously distressed economy, the fear people have of losing their jobs and home while their investments dwindle away and the standing threat from Osama bin Laden and terrorists that wish to kill us all.

As you are not scheduled to face the voters until 2010, Senator Voinovich, is your contribution to Election 2008 anything more substantial than a baseless attack on Sen. Obama directly and indirectly anyone that supports him?

If you are sir, then allow me to call your comments what indeed they are: McCarthyism.

It is vulgar and disgusting when some anonymous creep at a rally shouts out Sen. Obama is a “terrorist” or a “traitor.”

It is no less vulgar and disgusting when a heretofore civil and distinguished member of Congress smears another by calling him a “socialist.”

Political rhetoric is one thing.  Name-calling and hate speech a Senator Voinovich, you have crossed a line that should not be crossed.

You owe both Senator Obama and his supporters an apology.

Sincerely,

Jeff Winbush

 
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Posted by on October 19, 2008 in Rantology

 

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