[US2008] Primaries #19 - To the streets of Philadelphia

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While McCain’s conservative credentials have been questioned during the campaign, there is no doubt his health plan reflects a strong conservative ideology.

Senator McCain's health plan clearly reflects a belief that we need to put as our first priority getting at the things that make health care so expensive and frustrating for consumers rather than, as he would put it, promising everyone a painless access to a system that isn't working.

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"For all the grandiose promises made in this campaign, has any candidate spoken honestly to the American people about the government's role and failings about individual responsibilities? Has any candidate told the truth about the future of Medicare? Its costs are growing astronomically faster than its financing, and leaving its structural flaws unaddressed will hasten its bankruptcy. Has any candidate warned that we have a personal responsibility to take better care of our children and ourselves? Yet that is the only way to prevent many chronic diseases. Has any candidate insisted that genuine and effective health care reform requires accountability from everyone: drug companies, insurance companies, doctors, hospitals, the government, and patients? Yet that is the truth upon which any so-called solution must be based.

“Democratic presidential candidates are not telling you these truths. They offer their usual default position: If the government would only pay for insurance everything would be fine. They promise universal coverage, whatever its cost, and the massive tax increases, mandates, and government regulation that it imposes. I offer a genuinely conservative vision for health care reform, which preserves the most essential value of American lives—freedom.”

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 11:08 schreef NLweltmeister het volgende:
CBS News Video Contradicts Clinton's Story
CBS' Sharyl Attkisson Was On Hillary's Bosnia Trip - And Got A Warm, Sniper-Free Welcome

http://www.cbsnews.com/st(...)ws/main3964921.shtml

Die kan je afschijven, tijd om de handdoek te gooien voor Hillary

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 11:08 schreef NLweltmeister het volgende:
CBS News Video Contradicts Clinton's Story
CBS' Sharyl Attkisson Was On Hillary's Bosnia Trip - And Got A Warm, Sniper-Free Welcome

http://www.cbsnews.com/st(...)ws/main3964921.shtml

Die kan je afschijven, tijd om de handdoek te gooien voor Hillary

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Why we should fear a McCain presidency

It may seem incredible to say this, given past experience, but a few years from now Europe and the world could be looking back at the Bush administration with nostalgia. This possibility will arise if the US elects Senator John McCain as president in November.

Over the years the US has inserted itself into potential flashpoints in different parts of the world. The Republican party is now about to put forward a natural incendiary as the man to deal with those flashpoints.

The problem that Mr McCain poses stems from his ideology, his policies and above all his personality. His ideology, like that of his chief advisers, is neo-conservative. In the past, Mr McCain was considered to be an old-style conservative realist. Today, the role of the realists on his team is merely decorative.

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It sometimes seems that you can't read a story about John McCain without seeing him referred to as a "maverick." But is it true?

Perhaps no word has been used to describe John McCain more often than "maverick." In January and February of 2008 alone, McCain was called a "maverick" more than 1,300 times in newspapers and on television. And those who use the label to describe McCain rarely explain just what he has done to earn it. But a closer examination of his record shows that McCain isn't quite the maverick that he is made out to be. The truth is that McCain's breaks from the Republican Party line are few and far between. According to Congressional Quarterly's "party unity" ratings, since he came to the Senate in 1989, there have been only three years in which McCain voted with his party less than 80 percent of the time. When he has gone against the party line -- such as on campaign finance reform, global warming, or tobacco regulations -- McCain has taken a position that was overwhelmingly popular with the public, meaning that when he takes a "maverick" stance, he's gaining support with the public -- and hardly taking a political risk.

Just as important, McCain's acts of independence aren't so much on high-profile issues as they are on issues that the press makes high-profile, precisely because of McCain's involvement. In all these cases, something important happens in the media when McCain opposes his party. When an ordinary senator crosses party lines, he or she will join members of the other party and perhaps have occasional opportunities to be quoted or interviewed on the issue in question. When McCain crosses party lines, on the other hand, the story the news media write undergoes a shift: It then becomes a story not about a conflict between Democrats and Republicans, but a story about John McCain and his rebellion. This is why McCain is perceived to be much more of a maverick than Republicans such as Olympia Snowe or Susan Collins, who actually break with the GOP far more often. Yet journalists continue over and over to call McCain a "maverick," seldom questioning whether there might be more to the story.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 17:30 schreef Shreyas het volgende:
Mondique, heb je misschien ook nog zelf een mening of enig commentaar op de dingen die je quote?

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Op maandag 24 maart 2008 23:40 schreef popolon het volgende:
Clinton under sniperfire.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 18:51 schreef Montov het volgende:
http://www.washingtonmont(...)l/2008_03/013394.php

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Op maandag 24 maart 2008 18:06 schreef Sloggi het volgende:
Deze verkiezingen zijn goed voor mijn topografische kennis .

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Clinton: verhaal Bosnië klopte niet

Hillary Clinton zegt dat zij een fout heeft gemaakt toen ze vertelde dat zij in 1996 in Bosnië moest vluchten voor scherpschutters. Uit filmbeelden blijkt dat ze helemaal geen gevaar liep.

Clinton zei dat ze op het vliegveld van Tuzla onder vuur lag en moest rennen voor haar leven. Op de video is te zien hoe ze hartelijk wordt onvangen en met allerlei mensen een praatje maakt.

Het campagneteam van Clintons rivaal Barack Obama probeert munt te slaan uit de blunder. Volgens dat team blijkt uit dit incident dat Clinton overdrijft als ze zegt dat ze veel ervaring heeft met buitenlandse politiek.

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Obama releases tax returns, challenges Clinton to follow suit

(CNN) -- Barack Obama and his wife released their tax returns from 2000 to 2006 on his campaign Web site Wednesday, and the Illinois senator challenged Sen. Hillary Clinton to release hers.

Later, Clinton said she expected to release her tax returns "shortly, I hope within the next week."

Sen. Barack Obama is challenging Sen. Hillary Clinton to release her 2006 tax returns.

The Obama campaign said Clinton should immediately release her 2006 return, pointing to her decision to lend her campaign $5 million earlier this year.

The Obama camp also cited former President Bill Clinton's $20 million payout from supermarket holding company Yucaipa as a reason why the couple should release the documents.

The Obama campaign said that company invests in tax shelters in the Cayman Islands.

Clinton has promised to release 2007 returns sometime after this year's April 15 income tax deadline, just a few days before Pennsylvania's April 22 primary.

"Senator Clinton recently claimed that she's 'the most transparent figure in public life,' yet she's dragging her feet in releasing something as basic as her annual tax returns," Obama's communications director, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement. "Senator Clinton can't claim to be vetted until she allows the public the opportunity to see her finances -- particularly with respect to any investment in tax shelters."

But Clinton made her own challenge to Obama during a press conference in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

"I am pleased that Senator Obama has released his tax returns. I think that's a good first step," she said. "Now he should release his records from being in the state Senate and any other information that the public and the press need to know from his prior experience."

According to the 2006 return, Obama and his wife, Michelle, earned over $991,000 in 2006 and paid $277,431 on the income.

More than half of the couple's income in 2006 -- nearly $507,000 -- came from royalties from his two books, "The Audacity of Hope" and "Dreams From My Father." In 2005, Obama earned over $1,210,000 from royalties, according to the couple's returns that year.

The Obamas earned nearly $431,000 in wages in 2006, according to the returns. The documents do not show what Obama or his wife individually earned, but the senator's salary was $165,000 that year.

They also earned more than $51,000 from Treehouse Foods, an Illinois-based food manufacturer. Michelle Obama served on Treehouse's board from June 2005 to May 2007.

Before 2005, the couple had more modest incomes. Between 2000 and 2004, they earned between $207,647 and $275,123 a year.

The returns were posted just minutes after the Clinton campaign attacked Obama for not releasing them.

"In the public record, there are 20 years of Hillary's tax returns, hundreds of thousands of pages of records from her time in the White House and countless other documents detailing her time in public life.

"Sen. Obama's record is far more opaque. Sen. Obama has not released his tax returns, except for 2006," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement sent to reporters just as the Obama camp posted the Illinois senator's returns online.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 18:27 schreef matthijst het volgende:

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Geniaal, net in het journaal die twee clipjes achter elkaar....
Sniperfire --> Schoolkinderen

Haar bijdrage aan de vrede in Noord-Ierland had ze ook al verzonnen

Hillary

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 22:48 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:
Het is toch iedere keer genieten als ik Hillary zo op haar bek zie gaan. Sorry, leedvermaak, maar ik kan het niet laten.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 22:48 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:
Het is toch iedere keer genieten als ik Hillary zo op haar bek zie gaan. Sorry, leedvermaak, maar ik kan het niet laten.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 23:13 schreef du_ke het volgende:

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Ach de Democraten denken vast net zo over Bush

(tvp)

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 22:43 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:

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Doet me toch een beetje denken aan Al - ManBearPig - Gore, die dacht dat hij de uitvinder van het internet was.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 23:47 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Alleen heeft Al Gore nooit beweerd de uitvinder van het internet te zijn, en ga jij toch meer op je bek.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 18:27 schreef matthijst het volgende:

Haar bijdrage aan de vrede in Noord-Ierland had ze ook al verzonnen

Hillary

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With Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton accused of exaggerating her role in the Northern Ireland peace process, Ireland Prime Minister Bertie Ahern offered his two cents.

Mr. Ahern called Mrs. Clinton “hugely helpful” in the process both as first lady and as a U.S. senator, and suggested some of the criticism of her are unfair.

Mr. Ahern said the Clintons were a force in the process, even if they were not directly involved.

“She was the first lady of the United States, not a party leader in Northern Ireland,” Mr. Ahern said. “No one would expect her to get into the nitty-gritty of the process.”

He said the Clintons made three visits to the nation and that Mrs. Clinton continued to be engaged ever since.
“Any fair observation would find that both Hillary and Bill Clinton made peace in Ireland a priority while they were in the White House and after,” he said.

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"When Sen. Barack Obama exaggerated the death toll of the tornado in Greensburg, Kan, during his visit to Richmond yesterday, The Associated Press headline rapidly evolved from

'Obama visits former Confederate capital for fundraiser' to

'Obama rips Bush on Iraq war at Richmond fundraiser' to

'Weary Obama criticizes Bush on Iraq, drastically overstates Kansas tornado death toll' to

'Obama drastically overstates Kansas tornado deaths during campaign appearance.'

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 23:47 schreef Monidique het volgende:

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Alleen heeft Al Gore nooit beweerd de uitvinder van het internet te zijn, en ga jij toch meer op je bek.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 00:30 schreef Perico het volgende:
Dat is pertinent onjuist, iedereen die er aan mee heeft onderhandeld heeft haar rol hierin bevestigd.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 00:30 schreef Perico het volgende:

Dat is pertinent onjuist, iedereen die er aan mee heeft onderhandeld heeft haar rol hierin bevestigd.

Mr. Ahern called Mrs. Clinton “hugely helpful” in the process both as first lady and as a U.S. senator, and suggested some of the criticism of her are unfair.
Mr. Ahern said the Clintons were a force in the process, even if they were not directly involved.

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Obama drastically overstated Kansas tornado deaths during campaign appearance.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 02:59 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:

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Ik ben niet overtuigd.

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Obama's family tree expanded to include the Bushes and the Pitts

Barack Obama often jokes in his campaign speeches about a genealogical survey last year that found he is a distant cousin of Dick Cheney.

Now there is more bad news for Obama: a study published yesterday found he is related to George Bush as well.

Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, said Obama, the son of a white woman from Kansas and a black man from Kenya, can call six US presidents his cousins: both Bushes, Gerald Ford, Lyndon Johnson, Harry Truman and James Madison. The society, a non-profit organisation, found he is also related to Churchill.

It said it investigated the blood lines of the three presidential hopefuls. One of the oddest connections is that Obama is related to Brad Pitt and Hillary Clinton to Pitt's partner, Angelina Jolie.

Clinton, who is of French-Canadian descent on her mother's side, is a distant cousin of Madonna, Céline Dion and Alanis Morissette. Other distant cousins include writer Jack Kerouac and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

Obama and Bush are 10th cousins, once removed, linked by Samuel Hinkley of Cape Cod, who died in 1662. Pitt and Obama are ninth cousins, linked by Edwin Hickman, who died in Virginia in 1769. Clinton and Jolie are ninth cousins, twice removed, both related to Jean Cusson who died in Quebec in 1718.

While family trees such as these throw up interesting links, genetically they are meaningless. While children carry half the genes of their father, cousins as far removed as Obama and Bush would have no more genetic link than someone they bumped into at random in the street.

The Republican candidate, John McCain, had claimed to be related to the Scottish king Robert the Bruce but, as the Guardian disclosed last week, British genealogists debunked that. The New England genealogists found no royal strain either but established yet another Bush connection: McCain is a sixth cousin of the first lady, Laura Bush.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 12:21 schreef Klopkoek het volgende:

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In de VS heeft de ELITE het voor het zeggen.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 12:21 schreef Klopkoek het volgende:

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In de VS heeft de ELITE het voor het zeggen.

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THROW GRANDMA UNDER THE BUS
March 19, 2008


Obama gave a nice speech, except for everything he said about race. He apparently believes we're not talking enough about race. This is like hearing Britney Spears say we're not talking enough about pop-tarts with substance-abuse problems.

By now, the country has spent more time talking about race than John Kerry has talked about Vietnam, John McCain has talked about being a POW, John Edwards has talked about his dead son, and Al Franken has talked about his USO tours.

But the "post-racial candidate" thinks we need to talk yet more about race. How much more? I had had my fill by around 1974. How long must we all marinate in the angry resentment of black people?

As an authentic post-racial American, I will not patronize blacks by pretending Obama's pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is anything other than a raving racist loon. If a white pastor had said what Rev. Wright said -- not about black people, but literally, the exact same things -- I think we'd notice that he's crazier than Ward Churchill and David Duke's love child. (Indeed, both Churchill and the Rev. Wright referred to the attacks of 9/11 as the chickens coming "home to roost.")

Imagine a white pastor saying: "Racism is the American way. Racism is how this country was founded, and how this country is still run. ... We believe in white supremacy and black inferiority. And believe it more than we believe in God."

Imagine a white pastor calling Condoleezza Rice, "Condoskeezza Rice."

Imagine a white pastor saying: "No, no, no, God damn America -- that's in the Bible for killing innocent people! God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human! God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme!"

We treat blacks like children, constantly talking about their temper tantrums right in front of them with airy phrases about black anger. I will not pat blacks on the head and say, "Isn't that cute?" As a post-racial American, I do not believe "the legacy of slavery" gives black people the right to be permanently ill-mannered.

Obama tried to justify Wright's deranged rants by explaining that "legalized discrimination" is the "reality in which Rev. Wright and other African-Americans of his generation grew up." He said that a "lack of economic opportunity among black men, and the shame and frustration that came from not being able to provide for one's family, contributed to the erosion of black families."

That may accurately describe the libretto of "Porgy and Bess," but it has no connection to reality. By Rev. Wright's own account, he was 12 years old and was attending an integrated school in Philadelphia when Brown v. Board of Education was announced, ending "separate but equal" schooling.

Meanwhile, at least since the Supreme Court's decision in University of California v. Bakke in 1978 -- and obviously long before that, or there wouldn't have been a case or controversy for the court to consider -- it has been legal for the government to discriminate against whites on the basis of their race.

Consequently, any white person 30 years old or younger has lived, since the day he was born, in an America where it is legal to discriminate against white people. In many cases it's not just legal, but mandatory, for example, in education, in hiring and in Academy Award nominations.

So for half of Rev. Wright's 66 years, discrimination against blacks was legal -- though he never experienced it personally because it existed in a part of the country where he did not live. For the second half of Wright's life, discrimination against whites was legal throughout the land.

Discrimination has become so openly accepted that -- in a speech meant to tamp down his association with a black racist -- Obama felt perfectly comfortable throwing his white grandmother under the bus. He used her as the white racist counterpart to his black racist "old uncle," Rev. Wright.

First of all, Wright is not Obama's uncle. The only reason we indulge crazy uncles is that everyone understands that people don't choose their relatives the way they choose, for example, their pastors and mentors. No one quarrels with the idea that you can't be expected to publicly denounce your blood relatives.

But Wright is not a relative of Obama's at all. Yet Obama cravenly compared Wright's racist invective to his actual grandmother, who "once confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe."

Rev. Wright accuses white people of inventing AIDS to kill black men, but Obama's grandmother -- who raised him, cooked his food, tucked him in at night, and paid for his clothes and books and private school -- has expressed the same feelings about passing black men on the street that Jesse Jackson has.

Unlike his "old uncle" -- who is not his uncle -- Obama had no excuses for his grandmother. Obama's grandmother never felt the lash of discrimination! Crazy grandma doesn't get the same pass as the crazy uncle; she's white. Denounce the racist!

Fine. Can we move on now?

No, of course, not. It never ends. To be fair, Obama hinted that we might have one way out: If we elect him president, then maybe, just maybe, we can stop talking about race.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 22:53 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:
Van wie is dat (prima) stuk, PJO?

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 22:56 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

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Ann Coulter. Serieus.

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 23:19 schreef popolon het volgende:
Ann 'crazy ass bitch' Coulter.

"We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to christianity". Die Ann Coulter.

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(CNSNews.com) - Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., pastor emeritus of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago where Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has been a member for two decades, slurred Italians in a piece published in the most recent issue of Trumpet Newsmagazine.

"(Jesus') enemies had their opinion about Him," Wright wrote in a eulogy of the late scholar Asa Hilliard in the November/December 2007 issue. "The Italians for the most part looked down their garlic noses at the Galileans."

Wright continued, "From the circumstances surrounding Jesus' birth (in a barn in a township that was under the Apartheid Roman government that said his daddy had to be in), up to and including the circumstances surrounding Jesus' death on a cross, a Roman cross, public lynching Italian style. ...

"He refused to be defined by others and Dr. Asa Hilliard also refused to be defined by others. The government runs everything from the White House to the schoolhouse, from the Capitol to the Klan, white supremacy is clearly in charge, but Asa, like Jesus, refused to be defined by an oppressive government because Asa got his identity from an Omnipotent God."

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 03:35 schreef Charles.Darwin het volgende:
Elke mening is te koop, en een dreigement werkt ook altijd:
Clinton Donors Ask Pelosi to Back Off

Waar is de democratie?

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 13:13 schreef Evil_Jur het volgende:

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Wat is het probleem dan?

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Op woensdag 26 maart 2008 23:45 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:

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Ik zeg niet dat ik het altijd met haar eens ben, maar dit is gewoon een goed stuk.

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 13:36 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Ann Coulter is een van de vele Jeremiah Wrights van rechts-conservatief Amerika, alleen hoef je bij haar niet in een archief van dertig jaar te zoeken om vijf minuten extremistisch gebazel op Youtube te kunnen zetten...

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 13:36 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Ann Coulter is een van de vele Jeremiah Wrights van rechts-conservatief Amerika, alleen hoef je bij haar niet in een archief van dertig jaar te zoeken om vijf minuten extremistisch gebazel op Youtube te kunnen zetten...

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 14:08 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

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Maar ze steunt Billary...

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 13:29 schreef Charles.Darwin het volgende:

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Geldschieters van Hillary die dreigen hun donatie aan de democratische partij te stoppen als Pelosi haar standpunt betreffende delegates en superdelagates niet aanpast. Hillary maakt alleen nog maar een kans als delegates (mogen) switchen tijdens de democratische conventie in augustus.

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It's been more than a month since I began warning Sen. Barack Obama that he would become answerable for his revolting choice of a family priest. But never mind that; the astonishing thing is that it's at least 11 months since he himself has known precisely the same thing. "If Barack gets past the primary," said the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to the New York Times in April of last year, "he might have to publicly distance himself from me. I said it to Barack personally, and he said yeah, that might have to happen." Pause just for a moment, if only to admire the sheer calculating self-confidence of this. Sen. Obama has long known perfectly well, in other words, that he'd one day have to put some daylight between himself and a bigmouth Farrakhan fan. But he felt he needed his South Side Chicago "base" in the meantime. So he coldly decided to double-cross that bridge when he came to it. And now we are all supposed to marvel at the silky success of the maneuver.

You often hear it said, of some political or other opportunist, that he would sell his own grandmother if it would suit his interests. But you seldom, if ever, see this notorious transaction actually being performed, which is why I am slightly surprised that Obama got away with it so easily. (Yet why do I say I am surprised? He still gets away with absolutely everything.)

Looking for a moral equivalent to a professional demagogue who thinks that AIDS and drugs are the result of a conspiracy by the white man, Obama settled on an 85-year-old lady named Madelyn Dunham, who spent a good deal of her youth helping to raise him and who now lives alone and unwell in a condo in Honolulu. It would be interesting to know whether her charismatic grandson made her aware that he was about to touch her with his grace and make her famous in this way. By sheer good fortune, she, too, could be a part of it all and serve her turn in the great enhancement.

This flabbergasting process, made up of glibness and ruthlessness in equal proportions, rolls on unstoppably with a phalanx of reporters and men of the cloth as its accomplices. Look at the accepted choice of words for the ravings of Jeremiah Wright: controversial, incendiary, inflammatory. These are adjectives that might have been—and were—applied to many eloquent speakers of the early civil rights movement. (In the Washington Post, for Good Friday last, the liberal Catholic apologist E.J. Dionne lamely attempted to stretch this very comparison.) But is it "inflammatory" to say that AIDS and drugs are wrecking the black community because the white power structure wishes it? No. Nor is it "controversial." It is wicked and stupid and false to say such a thing. And it not unimportantly negates everything that Obama says he stands for by way of advocating dignity and responsibility over the sick cults of paranoia and victimhood.

That same supposed message of his is also contradicted in a different way by trying to put Geraldine Ferraro on all fours with a thug like Obama's family "pastor." Ferraro may have sounded sour when she asserted that there can be political advantages to being black in the United States—and she said the selfsame thing about Jesse Jackson in 1984—but it's perfectly arguable that what she said is, in fact, true, and even if it isn't true, it's absurd to try and classify it as a racist remark. No doubt Obama's slick people were looking for a revenge for Samantha Power (who, incidentally, ought never to have been let go for the useful and indeed audacious truths that she uttered in Britain), but their news-cycle solution was to cover their own queasy cowardice in that case by feigning outrage in the Ferraro matter. The consequence, which you can already feel, is an inchoate resentment among many white voters who are damned if they will be called bigots by a man who associates with Jeremiah Wright. So here we go with all that again. And this is the fresh, clean, new post-racial politics?

Now, by way of which vent or orifice is this venom creeping back into our national bloodstream? Where is hatred and tribalism and ignorance most commonly incubated, and from which platform is it most commonly yelled? If you answered "the churches" and "the pulpits," you got both answers right. The Ku Klux Klan (originally a Protestant identity movement, as many people prefer to forget) and the Nation of Islam (a black sectarian mutation of Quranic teaching) may be weak these days, but bigotry of all sorts is freely available, and openly inculcated into children, by any otherwise unemployable dirtbag who can perform the easy feat of putting Reverend in front of his name. And this clerical vileness has now reached the point of disfiguring the campaigns of both leading candidates for our presidency. If you think Jeremiah Wright is gruesome, wait until you get a load of the next Chicago "Reverend," one James Meeks, another South Side horror show with a special sideline in the baiting of homosexuals. He, too, has been an Obama supporter, and his church has been an occasional recipient of Obama's patronage. And perhaps he, too, can hope to be called "controversial" for his use of the term house nigger to describe those he doesn't like and for his view that it was "the Hollywood Jews" who brought us Brokeback Mountain. Meanwhile, the Republican nominee adorns himself with two further reverends: one named John Hagee, who thinks that the pope is the Antichrist, and another named Rod Parsley, who has declared that the United States has a mission to obliterate Islam. Is it conceivable that such repellent dolts would be allowed into public life if they were not in tax-free clerical garb? How true it is that religion poisons everything.

And what a shame. I assume you all have your copies of The Audacity of Hope in paperback breviary form. If you turn to the chapter entitled "Faith," beginning on Page 195, and read as far as Page 208, I think that even if you don't concur with my reading, you may suspect that I am onto something. In these pages, Sen. Obama is telling us that he doesn't really have any profound religious belief, but that in his early Chicago days he felt he needed to acquire some spiritual "street cred." The most excruciatingly embarrassing endorsement of this same viewpoint came last week from Abigail Thernstrom at National Review Online. Overcome by "the speech" that the divine one had given in Philadelphia, she urged us to be understanding. "Obama's description of the parishioners in his church gave white listeners a glimpse of a world of faith (with 'raucous laughter and sometimes bawdy humor … dancing, clapping, screaming, and shouting') that has been the primary means of black survival and uplift." A glimpse, huh? What the hell next? A tribute to the African-American sense of rhythm?

To have accepted Obama's smooth apologetics is to have lowered one's own pre-existing standards for what might constitute a post-racial or a post-racist future. It is to have put that quite sober and realistic hope, meanwhile, into untrustworthy and unscrupulous hands. And it is to have done this, furthermore, in the service of blind faith. Mark my words: This disappointment is only the first of many that are still to come.

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 15:02 schreef Perico het volgende:

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De superdelegates zijn in 1984 ingesteld als stok achter de deur om nog een keer een McGovern of Mondale te voorkomen, die nauwelijks 1 staat wonnen.

Het zou van de gekke zijn als die als klapvee met zijn 800-en alleen voor de degene met de meeste pledged delegates zouden moeten stemmen, als in de statuten staat dat ze vrij zijn te kiezen wie ze willen (zeker nu de race zo close is).

Pelosi moet in deze dus neutraal blijven, want haar huidige standpunt is een verkapte endorsement van Obama.

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 15:24 schreef Charles.Darwin het volgende:

De superdelegates zijn in alle gevallen vrij om te doen wat ze zelf willen, en zelfs met de superdelegates gaat Hillary het verliezen. Vandaar dat ze nu zo krampachtig probeert het democratische proces te ondermijnen.

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Why Hillary Supporters Might Abandon Obama
Jennifer Rubin - 03.27.2008 - 08:27

Many commentators are buzzing over a Gallup poll (and a similar NBC/Wall Street Journal one) showing that 28% of Hillary Clinton supporters would support John McCain if Barack Obama is the Democratic nominee and that 19% of Obama supporters would do the same if she is the nominee. Gallup explains:

It is unknown how many Democrats would actually carry through and vote for a Republican next fall if their preferred candidate does not become the Democratic nominee. The Democratic campaign is in the heat of battle at the moment, but by November, there will have been several months of attempts to build party unity around the eventual nominee — and a focus on reasons why the Republican nominee needs to be defeated. . . Still, when almost 3 out of 10 Clinton supporters say they would vote for McCain over Obama, it suggests that divisions are running deep within the Democratic Party. If the fight for the party’s nomination were to continue until the Denver convention in late August, the Democratic Party could suffer some damage as it tries to regroup for the November general election.

If you consider who a typical Clinton voter is the poll makes quite a bit of sense: older, white, and working-class voters who place a premium on experience and may have bought her “3 a.m.” argument. Sound like potential “gets” for McCain, right? (Then, of course, there are the voters offended and scared off by the Reverend Wright affiliation, but liberal bloggers say that’s all behind us so we won’t worry about them. For now.)

In most elections you see “Republicans for [fill in the name of the Democratic nominee]” groups spring up. They usually are not terribly Republican to begin with and profess that “never before” has the Republican party offered someone so extreme, so conservative, etc. This election there may be groups, real groups, of “Democrats for McCain,” who simply conclude that Obama is too liberal or too inexperienced to be president. Even if the final number isn’t 28%, a fifth or a tenth of that figure may spell trouble for the Democrats, if he’s the eventual nominee.

How long before Clinton’s team starts making this very argument to superdelegates?

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 17:23 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Bekijk deze YouTube-video

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 15:33 schreef Perico het volgende:
na alle primaries staat ze misschien minder dan 100 pledged delegates achter en dan weet je nu al dat ze het daarop zou verliezen?

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Op donderdag 27 maart 2008 17:56 schreef matthijst het volgende:
Heeft Lee Harvey Oswald niet ergens een kleinkind rondlopen

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Factory-Sized Deception
Obama, freely trading in dishonesty.

By Stephen Spruiell

In the days leading up to the March 4 Ohio primary, Barack Obama’s presidential campaign aired a TV ad that featured a man named Steven Schuyler standing in front of a Delphi Packard Electric plant in Warren, Ohio. In the ad, Schuyler says he worked for Delphi, an automotive supplier, for 13 years until NAFTA enabled the company to ship his job to Mexico. “Barack Obama was against NAFTA,” Schuyler says, adding, “We need a president that will bring work into this country.”

The Delphi ad might qualify as the most deceptive of the 2008 race. First, Delphi did not exist as an independent company when Congress passed NAFTA in 1993. It was part of General Motors until it was spun off as an independent supplier in 1999. Second, foreign competition did not drive the company to eliminate American jobs. It declared bankruptcy in 2005 because the legacy labor costs it inherited from GM made it impossible to compete against other U.S.-based suppliers. Third, workers at the Warren, Ohio plant were offered generous buyouts and early-retirement packages. Its employees were not just kicked to the street.

When Delphi became an independent company in 1999, it inherited GM’s high-wage, high-benefit autoworkers’ union contracts. Addressing reporters after Delphi declared bankruptcy in 2005, then-CEO Robert S. “Steve” Miller explained, “other U.S.-based suppliers, many of which were organized by the same unions . . . were paying less than half the automaker wages and benefits [that Delphi was paying].” Contrary to Obama’s ad, domestic competition played a bigger role in Delphi’s downfall than did competition from Mexico.

Even with its legacy costs, Delphi might have managed. But its relationship with GM harmed it in other ways. When Delphi declared bankruptcy, GM was still its biggest customer, responsible for about 50 percent of its sales. When GM’s market share tanked in 2003, so did Delphi’s profits. Delphi’s fate and the fates of its U.S. employees are tied to the fate of GM, which for multiple reasons has struggled, along with Ford and Chrysler, to stay afloat in recent years.

In his 2005 remarks to reporters, Miller argued that the U.S. auto industry’s problems have little to do with import competition. “Toyota, Nissan, and Honda are competing from assembly plants in our back yard,” he said, “but without the crippling work rules and social costs embedded in [GM, Ford, and Chrysler’s] labor contracts.”

The example of Honda is particularly relevant to any examination of Ohio’s economy. The Japanese automaker opened its first plant in Ohio in 1979, and since then it has opened three more and become one of the state’s top employers. Workers in Honda’s Ohio plants don’t belong to a union, but the company pays competitive wages and benefits and has never laid off any of its Ohio employees.

As for Delphi Packard Electric in Warren, Ohio, it was downsized as part of the corporate restructuring that followed the bankruptcy, but — unlike other Delphi plants in the U.S. — it wasn’t shuttered or sold. All but 700 of the plant’s 3,800 employees took buyout offers or early-retirement packages. Those who stayed on accepted a new labor contract that brought wages and benefits closer to the prevailing rates in the supply business.

In April 2007, the Youngstown Vindicator ran a story about a former Delphi employee named Karole Kowalski who took a $140,000 buyout and invested it in an associate’s degree at Youngstown State University. “She’s excited about her plan,” according to the report, “and is hopeful the cutbacks at Packard were the best thing that could have happened to her. She couldn’t work as a laborer any more because of her back, and the buyout has given her the chance to retrain.”

If all ex–Delphi Packard workers were offered buyouts or early-retirement packages, it stands to reason that Steven Schuyler, the man in the Obama TV ad, took a similar deal. The Obama campaign ignored National Review Online’s repeated requests for more information about Schuyler, but a Delphi retiree told the Vindicator, “Schuyler took the buyout and got a good cash sum to quit his job.” When I spoke to Vindicator editor Todd Franko, he said he still hadn’t been able to contact Schuyler to confirm this.

Kowalski and Schuyler offer dramatic contrasts for participants in the debate over free trade in this country. Kowalski’s approach speaks of a willingness to embrace the changes that are occurring in the U.S. economy and view them as opportunities. Schuyler’s approach — the one Obama has apparently embraced — is characterized by bitterness that things had to change, and rank dishonesty about why they did.

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HILLARY: SWIFTBOATED!
March 26, 2008


Hillary is being "swiftboated"!

She claimed that she came under sniper fire when she visited in Bosnia in 1996, but was contradicted by videotape showing her sauntering off the plane and stopping on the tarmac to listen to a little girl read her a poem.

Similarly, John Kerry's claim to heroism in Vietnam was contradicted by 264 Swift Boat Veterans who served with him. His claim to having been on a secret mission to Cambodia for President Nixon on Christmas 1968 was contradicted not only by all of his commanders -- who said he would have been court-martialed if he had gone anywhere near Cambodia -- but also the simple fact that Nixon wasn't president on Christmas 1968.

In Hillary's defense, she probably deserves a Purple Heart about as much as Kerry did for his service in Vietnam.

Also, unlike Kerry, Hillary acknowledged her error, telling the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: "I was sleep-deprived, and I misspoke." (What if she's sleep-deprived when she gets that call on the red phone at 3 a.m., imagines a Russian nuclear attack and responds with mutual assured destruction? Oops. "It proves I'm human.")

The reason no one claims Hillary is being "swiftboated" is that the definition of "swiftboating" is: "producing irrefutable evidence that a Democrat is lying." And for purposes of her race against matinee idol B. Hussein Obama, Hillary has become the media's honorary Republican.

In liberal-speak, only a Democrat can be swiftboated. Democrats are "swiftboated"; Republicans are "guilty." So as an honorary Republican, Hillary isn't being swiftboated; she's just lying.

Indeed, instead of attacking the people who produced a video of Hillary's uneventful landing in Bosnia, the mainstream media are the people who discovered that video.

I've always wondered how a Democrat would fare being treated like a Republican by the media. Now we know.

It's such fun watching liberals turn on the Clintons! The bitter infighting among Democrats is especially enjoyable after having to listen to Democrats hyperventilate for months about how delighted they were to have so many wonderful choices for president.

Now liberals just want to be rid of the Clintons -- which is as close to actual mainstream thinking as they've been in years. So the media suddenly notice when Hillary "misspeaks," while rushing to make absurd excuses for much greater outrages by her opponent.

Liberals are even using the Slick Willy defense when Obama is caught fraternizing with a racist loon. When Bill Clinton was exposed as a philandering, adulterous, pathological liar, his defenders said that everybody is a philandering, adulterous, pathological liar.

And now, when B. Hussein Obama is caught in a 20-year relationship with a raving racist, his defenders scream that everybody is a racist wack-job.

In the Obama speech on race that Chris Matthews deemed "worthy of Abraham Lincoln," B. Hussein Obama defended Wright's anti-American statements, saying:

"For the men and women of Rev. Wright's generation, the memories of humiliation and doubt and fear have not gone away; nor has the anger and the bitterness of those years. That anger may not get expressed in public, in front of white co-workers or white friends. But it does find voice in the barbershop or around the kitchen table."

So in the speech the media are telling us is on a par with the Gettysburg Address, B. Hussein Obama casually informed us that even blacks who seem to like white people actually hate our guts.

First of all: Watch out the next time you get your hair cut by a black barber over the age of 50.

Second, Rev. Wright's world wasn't segregated.

And third, what about Wright's wanton anti-Semitism? All the liberals (including essence-besplattered Chris Matthews) have accepted Obama's defense of Wright and want us to understand Wright's "legitimate" rage over his painful youth in segregated America.

But the anti-Semitic tone of Wright's sermons is as clear as his rage against the United States. Rev. Wright calls Israel a "dirty word" and a "racist country." He denounces Zionism and calls for divestment from Israel.

In addition to videos of Rev. Wright's sermons, Obama's church also offers for sale sermons by Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, whom Rev. Wright joined on a visit to Moammar Gadhafi in Libya in 1984. Just last year, Obama's church awarded Farrakhan the Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. Trumpeter Award, saying Farrakhan "truly epitomized greatness."

What, pray tell, is the legitimate source of Wright's anti-Semitism? I believe Brother Obama passed over that issue entirely in his "conversation," even as he made the obligatory bow to Israel's status as one of our "stalwart allies." Why does crazy "uncle" Wright dislike Jews?

Will liberals contend that these remarks were "taken out of context"? Maybe Wright's church was trying to say that Farrakhan isn't great when it said he "epitomized greatness." Who knows? We weren't there.

Can liberals please educate us on the "legitimate" impulses behind Rev. Wright's Jew-baiting?

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Will liberals contend that these remarks were "taken out of context"? Maybe Wright's church was trying to say that Farrakhan isn't great when it said he "epitomized greatness." Who knows? We weren't there.
Can liberals please educate us on the "legitimate" impulses behind Rev. Wright's Jew-baiting?:
[..]

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 01:41 schreef Diebold het volgende:
De Democraten weten altijd heel goed hun kansen te verspelen. De Clintons zijn allang niet meer bezig met 2008, maar met het voorkomen dat Obama hun in 2012 in de weg staat, met de hulp van CNN, MSNBC, FOX, ABC ea.

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De aanvallen van het Clinton kamp op Richardson en nu Clinton's Wright-aanval op Obama in een interview aan de Tribune-Review

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 02:49 schreef Perico het volgende:

[..]Kijk jij wel eens CNN en MSNBC? Die zijn echt zwaar op de hand van Obama...
[..]

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[b]Beetje gezeur, Bill Clinton zei het gisteren nog op campagne: hij vond dat er NIEMAND ontslagen hoefde te worden van de campagne, niet Samantha Powers die Hillary een monster noemde, niet Geraldine Ferraro (wat wel meteen gebeurd was)..

Je moet kunnen uitdelen en incasseren, dat hoort er bij en iedereen is het erover eens dat het qua advertenties een hele milde campagne is. Obama pakt niet uit met video's over Tuzla en het vermeende sniper fire, Clinton heeft geen enkel Wright commercial gemaakt.

Feit is, dat Obama vrij slecht is in het terugslaan. Waar denk je dat de Republikeinen mee gaan komen?
Die compileren gewoon een video met de vraag, of iemand die niet opstaat tegen zijn dominee die God Damn America zegt, wel kan opstaan in de wereld tegen vijanden van Amerika.

En da's dan nog een beschaafde. Ze kunnen ook op de proppen komen met de frauderende Tony Rezko, de terrorist Ayers bij wie Obama in de jaren 90 op bezoek was, Michelle Obama met vrij kortzichtige uitspraken... Echt, als Obama hier al niet tegen kan, dan houdt het op...

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What do - Code Pink, Move On, The Nation, The Progressive, In These Times, and the liberal intelligentsia have in common?

They all see clearly that the Democrats will not get us out of Iraq. They all see clearly that the Democrats will not crack down on corporate crime. They all see clearly that the Democrats will not support a single payer national health insurance system. They all see clearly that the Democrats will not cut the bloated, wasteful military budget. And yet, they refuse to stand up to the Democrats and say - out!

Get out! Get out now! We are going to start new.

You are a corrupt party. And your time has passed.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 03:46 schreef Qomolangma het volgende:
Om ook Nader aandacht te geven:
[..]

Hele artikel: http://www.votenader.org/blog/2008/03/24/corrupt-democrats-blog/

Een Democratische opvolger van George W. Bush is lang niet meer zo vanzelfsprekend als een jaar geleden door vrijwel iedereen werd gedacht. Beide partijen hebben geen ijzersterke kandidaten, en de voortslepende strijd tussen Obama en Clinton helpt de Democraten ook niet. Hoewel het waar is dat nare incidenten uit iemands verleden niet meer als verassing komen in oktober hebben ze nu wel een half jaar de tijd om uit te groeien tot een onomkeerbare beeldvorming. Bovendien raakt de achterban van de Democraten steeds dieper verdeeld.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 10:10 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Clinton doet in ieder goed haar best het te verpesten voor Obama in november, ja.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 10:10 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Clinton doet in ieder goed haar best het te verpesten voor Obama in november, ja.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 14:58 schreef Monolith het volgende:
Daar had o.a. Max Westerman het laatst nog over in P&W. Hij opperde volgens mij dat Hillary liever zag dat McCain won, want dan had ze bij de volgende verkiezingen tenminste weer kans.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 15:01 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

[..]

Vraag ik me af. Dan moeten een heleboel mensen vergeven en vergeten. Dit wordt haar nog lang nagedragen.

Ik denk eerder dat ze denkt: als ik het niet krijg, dan hij ook niet.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 15:10 schreef Monolith het volgende:
Ach ja, vier jaar is een lange tijd. In Nederland zijn er ook genoeg kabinetten die aan het begin van hun regeerperiode dramatisch stonden in de peilingen en uiteindelijk gewoon weer de verkiezingen wonnen.
Ik ben in ieder geval allang blij dat Huckabee of Romney niet de Republiekeinse kandidaat is geworden.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 15:02 schreef popolon het volgende:
Wat mij nog het meest weet te verbazen is dat de DNC er als een stelletje hulpeloze slachtkippen dom voor zich uit zit te staren en er niet opgetreden wordt.

Typisch voorbeeld van politieke zelfmoord.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 15:29 schreef matthijst het volgende:
Tsja, dat niemand Hillary aan d'r verstand kan peuteren dat ze beter kan stoppen, ik vat t ook niet

Laat die superdelegates alvast gedwongen kiezen, dan is in ieder geval eerder duidelijk wat de uitkomst zal zijn...

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 15:23 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

[..]

Romney is een lul met vingers, maar geen extremist of incompetente idioot. Een betere president dan kandidaat, vermoed ik.

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"It seems that Europe leads Americans in this way of thinking," Romney told the crowd of more than 5,000. "In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past."

the whole seven-year-contract with option to renew is, in fact, a plot point in a novel by fellow Mormon Orson Scott Card.

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He Should Just Stop. Please, Please Stop.
Jennifer Rubin - 03.28.2008 - 08:04

With each new utterance on the topic of Reverend Wright, Barack Obama seems to confirm his own moral obliviousness. Worse yet, he seems to have disdain for those who are troubled by his own unwillingness, even now, to break with Wright. (Contrary to his liberal apologists who insist “leaving a church is never a simple transaction,” it is exceedingly easy–you just stand up and go.)

The latest: “I never heard him say some of the things that have people upset.” Let’s leave aside for a moment the Clintonian slipperiness of the word “some.” Let’s not dwell on the quite obvious possibility that he might have heard or read comments of Wright’s approximating those on the dozens of tapes that have now come to light. Here’s the meat of it: just “people” are upset–not him mind you, since he is operating on a higher moral plane. I suppose he would have defended Trent Lott’s single remark about Strom Thurmond with every fiber of his being.

But it gets worse. Obama insists Wright is “a brilliant man who was still stuck in a time warp.” So brilliant, apparently, that he has uncovered the plot by white America to kill African Americans and so insightful as to perceive the 9/11 attacks as caused by America’s own terrorism. Then there was his discerning observation that Israel is a “dirty” word. (In what time period would these type of views have been acceptable?) And after all this, Wright, in Obama’s eyes, is brilliant. This, we are told by the legions of Obamaphiles, is not supposed to affect voters’ view of Obama’s judgment.

Perhaps Democratic primary voters are immune to the implications of all this. Perhaps they still fancy Obama as a great ethical leader who is going to lead us out of our history of divisiveness and small-mindedness. Or perhaps they are just embarrassed to tell pollsters they are privately offended. But in a general election contest this is not going to go unnoticed. We will have to see if he can get any Republican votes and just how many independents will be irked by this moral obtuseness. (And that loud thud you just heard? The entire RNC oppo research team falling down in a faint. They are never going to top this.)

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 15:37 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

Kans is niet onaardig dat Obama een keer volledig door de mand valt: Wright, Khaladi, Weather Underground, Rezko, Chicago fixers, zijn oma slachtofferen, zijn gestoorde, bezeten vrouw.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 16:53 schreef popolon het volgende:
Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered... !

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 16:53 schreef popolon het volgende:
Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered... !

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 16:49 schreef popolon het volgende:
Dat valt mee voor Barack:

Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey endorsed Democrat Barack Obama Friday, a move that could help the presidential candidate make inroads with white working-class voters dubbed "Casey Democrats" in the Keystone State.

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Obama: It's All a Distraction

Obama on Jeremiah Wright:

Part of what I hope to do in this campaign and as president is to get us beyond these divisions that distract us from our common challenges and our common opportunities and move the country forward.

On going to war in Iraq:

What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.

Obama on attacks by Hillary:

We knew that the closer we got to the change we seek, the more we'd see of the politics we're trying to end -- the attacks and distortions that try to distract us from the issues that matter to people's lives, the stunts and the tactics that ask us to fear instead of hope.

On gay marriage:

The heightened focus on marriage is a distraction from other, attainable measures to prevent discrimination and gays and lesbians.

Obama on race, gay marriage, abortion, and illegal immigration:

We get distracted from solving problems such as health care, employment or the environment because of these divisions. It happens in every election, and it's not just race. It's immigration, gay people or abortion. There's always one of these issues that crops up and prevents us from focusing on vital issues that this country's long-term well-being depends on us solving.

It's not all that original to note that much of Obama's rhetoric is pretty vague -- often vapid. But I've begun to notice how many things Obama regards as distractions. When he labels a given issue a 'distraction,' he's saying that someone is whipping up a an issue from whole cloth simply for political gain.

So who does he think is being insincere: gays who want to marry, or people of faith who think marriage is for a man and a woman? How about in the competition between border enforcement advocates and those who want amnesty for illegal aliens? Or between those who favor abortion on demand, and those who believe life begins at conception?

All of these are important public policy questions, with divisions among Americans that prevent easy solutions. Obama shouldn't denigrate broad swaths of the population just because it would be difficult to address their concerns.

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 19:53 schreef NLweltmeister het volgende:
Bloomberg running-mate Obama?

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,544051,00.html

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 21:42 schreef Charles.Darwin het volgende:
Of Bloomberg gaat solo ...

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 19:55 schreef popolon het volgende:
Die geruchten gaan hier en daar. Zou natuurlijk een prachtduo zijn.

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Op zaterdag 29 maart 2008 03:04 schreef Perico het volgende:
Bloomberg had de kans om samen met Gore te gaan, er was een lange flirt in het voorjaar van 2007...
Een goed ticket!

Over Gore 2000 gesproken, andere flip-flopper is Joe Lieberman (die McCain ter plekke gelukkig influisterde dat Al Qaeda niet in Iran zit)...

Denken jullie dat het McCain / Romney wordt ?

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 22:29 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:

[..]

Hij schijnt het charisma van een natte krant te hebben.

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He has about as much chance as Ron Paul. Not that I dislike the man - he's proven himself a capable executive as mayor of New York. But no matter how much money he throws at the problem, he doesn't have a significant national organization or broad name recognition. It would take more money then I think he wants to spend to correct those issues. I would take him over any nationally known Republican, but then again I'm a Democrat. For that, he's too New York to be electable

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Op zaterdag 29 maart 2008 19:49 schreef PJORourke het volgende:
[ afbeelding ]

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 16:44 schreef PJORourke het volgende:
Als ze er tegen augustus niet uitkomen, kunenn ze nog altijd voor Hillarack gaan:

[ afbeelding ]

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Op vrijdag 28 maart 2008 19:08 schreef PJORourke het volgende:
Bovendien veel joden in PA - die zullen niet snel meer op Obama stemmen.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 11:33 schreef Apache4U het volgende:
Haar reactie is wel grappig:

"I went to 80 countries, you know. I gave contemporaneous accounts, I wrote about a lot of this in my book. You know, I think that, a minor blip, you know, if I said something that, you know, I say a lot of things - millions of words a day - so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement," she said.



miljoenen woorden per dag? wow.. een dag heeft 86400 seconden. Dus als we het op 1 miljoen houden zegt Clinton bijna 12 woorden per seconde, continue! Ik heb medelijden met Bill

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Earlier, Mrs. Clinton said on a radio station in Pittsburgh that people might cut her some slack, saying, “Occasionally, I am a human being like everybody else.”

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Mrs. Clinton’s campaign responded with an e-mail catalog of Mr. Obama’s “exaggerations and misstatements.” The campaign cited his saying that he was a law professor — he was a senior lecturer — and that his parents fell in love because of the historic 1965 civil rights march in Selma, Ala., even though he was born in 1961. He later said he was referring broadly to the civil rights movement.

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Op dinsdag 25 maart 2008 11:08 schreef NLweltmeister het volgende:
CBS News Video Contradicts Clinton's Story
CBS' Sharyl Attkisson Was On Hillary's Bosnia Trip - And Got A Warm, Sniper-Free Welcome

http://www.cbsnews.com/st(...)ws/main3964921.shtml

Die kan je afschijven, tijd om de handdoek te gooien voor Hillary

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Op zondag 30 maart 2008 19:37 schreef Nautilus het volgende:
Waarmee ik maar wil zeggen dat ik de focus op versprekingen onzinnig vind. En dit soort reacties dus ook.

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Clinton geeft niet op ondanks oproep Democraten



zondag 30 maart 2008 13:18

De Democratische presidentskandidaat Hillary Clinton is niet van plan de strijd met haar rivaal Barack Obama op te geven, ook al kan ze haar achterstand op hem niet meer goedmaken.

Clinton hoopt nog steeds op stemmen uit Florida en Michigan
'Sommige mensen zeggen: "We kunnen de strijd beter opgeven." Maar ik geloof niet dat wij in Amerika daar in geloven,' aldus een strijdbare Clinton vandaag in de Amerikaanse krant The Washington Post.

De Democratische senator Patrick Leahy, een invloedrijk Democraat en een van de belangrijkste supporters van Obama, zei zaterdag dat Clinton alleen de Republikeinen in de kaart speelt door haar strijd voort te zetten.

Ongeldig
'Ik ben niet van plan te stoppen totdat we afgemaakt hebben waaraan we zijn begonnen,' aldus Clinton doe ook aankondigde naar een oplossing te zoeken voor de ongeldig verklaarde voorverkiezingen in de staten Florida en Michigan.

Clinton won in beide staten, maar de verkiezingen daar bleken in strijd met de regels omdat ze te vroeg waren gehouden. Obama heeft inmiddels de steun van 1.623 gedelegeerden, tegen 1.499 voor Clinton.

Zwakke punten
Om de nominatie voor de Democratische conventie in augustus te halen, moet een van beide kandidaten 2.024 gedelegeerden achter zich krijgen. Maar die mogelijkheid is vrijwel uitgesloten. Clinton en Obama hopen daarom op de steun van de supergedelegeerden op de partijconventie.

Tot die tijd zal de onderlinge strijd doorgaan, wat volgens analisten vooral gunstig is voor de Republikeinse kandidaat John McCain. Hij kan rustig afwachten terwijl Clinton en Obama elkaars zwakke punten breed uitmeten in de Amerikaanse media.

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Hillary's kansen slinken zienderogen

vrijdag 28 maart 2008 14:59

Voor Barack Obama is de 64.000 dollarvraag in hoeverre de virulente, tegen Amerika gerichte uitspraken van de dominee bij wie hij twintig jaar ter kerke ging, hem schade hebben berokkend in de ogen van de kiezer.

Aanrichten
Voorlopig lijkt de averij erg mee te vallen, naar een nieuwe peiling te oordelen. We weten overigens niet wat de tot in den treure herhaalde beelden van Jeremiah Wright die de Verenigde Staten vervloekt, tussen nu en de verkiezingsdag op 4 november in de ziel van de kiezer zullen aanrichten. Maar het heeft er alles van dat de indrukwekkende rede over ras die Obama op 18 maart in Philadelphia hield, althans bij de Democraten de schade ongedaan heeft gemaakt.

Landelijk gezien hielden Hillary Clinton en Barack Obama elkaar op 24 maart met ieder 45 procent in evenwicht. Twee weken eerder (voor het bekend worden van het vuurspuwen door Wright) had Clinton onder het Democratische electoraat zelfs nog vier punten voor gelegen. Wel ondervond Obama enige schade van Wright’s boosaardig geraaskal bij zijn aanhang onder de Republikeinen en Onafhankelijken.

Dramatisch moeilijk
De positie van Hillary Clinton is zo langzamerhand dramatisch moeilijk. De afgelopen week moest ze de ernstige tegenslag incasseren dat de stemmen in Florida en Michigan niet alsnog geteld worden. In die staten hadden de lokale partijorganisaties, tegen de regels in, de voorverkiezingen in de tijd naar voren geschoven. Het landelijke partijbestuur verklaarde die verkiezingen vervolgens ongeldig.

Dit alles betekent dat het voor Clinton vrijwel onmogelijk is geworden om bij de tien voorverkiezingen die nog resten het aantal gedelegeerden dat Obama achter zich heeft te passeren. Daarvoor zou ze namelijk door de bank genomen 65 procent van de stemmen moeten halen. Dat nu is knap onwaarschijnlijk.

Dat Hillary, die zich graag op de borst slaat als het gaat om haar internationale ervaring, zich nog al eens van jagerslatijn bedient, is haar geloofwaardigheid de laatste tijd niet ten goede gekomen. Zo vertelde ze onlangs in 1996 onder het vuur van scherpschutters in Bosnië geland te zijn, terwijl ze in werkelijkheid door meisjes met bloemen en gedichtjes werd welkom geheten. Wil je Clinton geloven, dan heeft ze een wezenlijke bijdrage aan de vrede in Noord-Ierland geleverd. In werkelijkheid dronk ze thee met de vrouw van de premier.

Schaamteloos
David Brooks, een conservatieve columnist van The New York Times, geeft Clinton nog maar vijf procent kans. Hij vraagt zich af hoe hoog de prijs zal zijn om dat kansje levend te houden. Hij voorziet drie maanden van spervuur binnen de Democratische partij. De Carvilles, belangrijke adviseurs van het echtpaar Clinton, zullen Obama schaamteloos met Judas vergelijken, terwijl generaals buiten dienst op de gelijkenis tussen Clinton en Joe McCarthy zullen wijzen.

‘Nog eens drie maanden Verdun onder het voortdurende geweervuur van karaktermoord door ondergeschikten. Zo nu en dan een barrage van artillerievuur als de strijd raakt aan gevoelige onderwerpen zoals ras, geslacht en vaderlandsliefde’.

Je moet er niet aan denken. Maar als je twintig jaar gewend bent een politieke beroemdheid te zijn, dan vind je al gauw dat die kandidatuur je toekomt. Dat Clinton spoedig opgeeft, is daarom onwaarschijnlijk. Met een verwijzing naar de titel van Obama’s boek, schrijft Brooks: Clinton possesses the audacity of hopelessness.

quote:

Op zondag 30 maart 2008 21:58 schreef Monidique het volgende:
John McCain, 2004: "I'm sick and tired of re-fighting the Vietnam War. And most importantly, I'm sick and tired of opening the wounds of the Vietnam War, which I've spent the last 30 years trying to heal," the Arizona Republican said at a lunch with USA TODAY and Gannett News Service. "It's offensive to me, and it's angering to me that we're doing this. It's time to move on."

John McCain. Flip-flopper.

quote:

Democrat Pelosi urges end to race

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, has urged a swift end to the Democrats' contest to nominate a presidential candidate.

Mrs Pelosi, a senior Democrat, told ABC News it was important to get behind one candidate if the party expected to win the White House in November.

A number of supporters of Barack Obama have been calling for his rival Hillary Clinton to concede the race.

Mrs Pelosi did not say which candidate she preferred.

quote:

Op dinsdag 1 april 2008 09:55 schreef Qomolangma het volgende:
Het lijkt nu snel tot een einde te komen; te laatste dagen neemt de roep om een kandidaat steeds sterker toe.

quote:

Op dinsdag 1 april 2008 19:01 schreef Perico het volgende:
Men kan zich overigens beter zorgen maken over het goed afhandelen van Florida en Michigan, voordat het dalijk niet eens meer uit maakt wie de kandidaat wordt, omdat de cruciale swing state Florida bij voorbaat al naar McCain gaat...

quote:

Hillary Clinton platzak?



02-04-2008 | Gepubliceerd 14:35

Hillary Clinton's politieke campagne tegen Barack Obama is in financiële problemen geraakt. Ze verbrandt veel geld en haalt niet genoeg geld binnen ter compensatie. Haar supporters beginnen te morren.

Diverse media sprongen de afgelopen week als sprinkhanen op de financiële verslagen die de campagneteams van Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama en John McCain inleverden bij de Federal Election Committee, de Amerikaanse equivalent van de kiesraad.

Wat bleek: Clinton verbrast per dag ongeveer 1,1 miljoen dollar. Dat is bijna net zoveel als Obama en meer dan McCain, maar er is één groot probleem. Obama en McCain halen genoeg geld binnen om de uitgaven te dekken; Clinton niet.

Dat resulteert in het uitstellen van betalingen. Daarbij worden zowel de groten als de kleintjes niet gespaard. Voor veel van die kleintjes is de lakse betalingsmoraal van Clinton wel erg zuur. Veel van hen zijn supporters van Clinton, maar voelen zich nu behoorlijk belazerd.

Neem een internist in de staat New Hampshire, die met het Duitse blad Der Spiegel sprak. Hij verhuurde een zaaltje aan Clinton, voor de vriendenprijs van 100 dollar per dag. Het zaaltje fungeerde als één van Clinton's campagnekantoren.

Maar toen Clinton's team na vijf dagen vertrok om naar de volgende staat te gaan, liet het niet alleen een grote puinhoop achter, maar ook een schuld van 500 dollar. Hij stuurde 20 emails naar de campagne en belde zich suf, maar uiteindelijk was het een bozig interview met een regionale krant dat de Clinton-campagne ertoe bewoog de 500 dollar over te maken.

De internist schonk het geld diezelfde dag nog aan de campagne van Clinton's rivaal Barack Obama.

Een andere supporter in Ohio verhuurde voor een vriendenprijs een spreekgestoelte aan Clinton.

De prijs: 950 dollar. De tijd die de campagne nam voor de betaling: zes weken. En dat terwijl campagnewoordvoerders met droge ogen beweren dat ze alle rekeningen binnen de betalingstermijn van 30 dagen voldoen.

"Clinton belijdt in toespraken en bij campagnebijeenkomsten steeds haar steun aan de Amerikaanse middenstanders. Die geloven haar dan, verlenen haar een vriendendienst - en dan krijg je dit", briest de (inmiddels voormalige) supporter.

Het gaat sowieso bergafwaarts met Clinton's campagne. Ze moest eind februari uit eigen zak 5 miljoen dollar lenen aan haar eigen campagne vanwege grote geldtekorten. Dat negatieve nieuws verdrong dagenlang de positieve berichten die Clinton liever over haar in de media zag.

En nu gaat het al bijna een week lang wéér alleen over haar geldproblemen. Dat zorgt er inmiddels voor dat lokale en nationale media, die qua advertentiekanalen zo belangrijk zijn, willen dat alle rekeningen nu vooruit betaald worden.

De advertenties vormen voor iedere campagne de grootste kostenpost. Als die machine begint te haperen, kan Clinton net zo goed opgeven.

quote:

Op woensdag 2 april 2008 16:20 schreef pberends het volgende:

[..]

Bron: Z24

.

quote:

Obama wil Gore als minister

Uitgegeven: 2 april 2008 22:08
Laatst gewijzigd: 2 april 2008 22:09

AMSTERDAM - Als Barack Obama het tot het Witte Huis schopt; wil hij dat voormalig vice-president Al Gore een van zijn ministers wordt.

Dat heeft de Democratische presidentskandidaat en senator voor Illinois woensdag gezegd. Gore zou zich als minister gaan bezighouden met het bestrijden van de opwarming van de aarde.

Overleg

In antwoord op een vraag van een kiezer in Pennsylvania zei Obama dat hij al met Gore overlegt over deze kwesties.

De klimaatverandering moet nu en niet over tien jaar of later worden aangepakt, zei hij. Ook zinspeelde hij erop dat Gore mogelijk zijn vicepresident wordt.

Nobelprijs

Gore kreeg een Nobelprijs omdat hij mensen bewust poogt te maken van de gevaren van de klimaatverandering. Hij was vicepresident onder Bill Clinton in de jaren '90 en verloor de verkiezingen van George Bush in 2000.

De relatie tussen Gore en de Clintons verslechterde toen Gore Bill Clinton een kleine rol in zijn presidentscampagne in 2000 gaf. Obama's rivaal voor de Democratische nominatie is Hillary Clinton.

quote:

Op donderdag 3 april 2008 05:15 schreef wart het volgende:
Klopt, maar hetzelfde geldt ook voor Hillary. De DNC heeft er bij alle kandidaten op aangedrongen geen campagne te voeren.

quote:

If we did what Sen. Obama wanted us to do last year, Al-Qaeda in Iran would be in control of Iraq today. The whole Middle East would be in turmoil and American security and credibility would be jeopardized.

quote:

Op donderdag 3 april 2008 12:17 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Om nog maar eens te onderstrepen hoe gevaarlijk de McCain-kliek is:
[..]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344988,00.html

Gevaarlijke gekken...

quote:

Op donderdag 3 april 2008 12:17 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Om nog maar eens te onderstrepen hoe gevaarlijk de McCain-kliek is:
[..]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344988,00.html

Gevaarlijke gekken...

quote:

Op donderdag 3 april 2008 12:17 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Om nog maar eens te onderstrepen hoe gevaarlijk de McCain-kliek is:
[..]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,344988,00.html

Gevaarlijke gekken...

quote:

Op donderdag 3 april 2008 15:42 schreef pberends het volgende:

[..]

Als Obama de troepen terugtrekt, vallen de Republikeinen in 2012 gewoon weer Irak binnen .

quote:

Op donderdag 3 april 2008 23:53 schreef ItaloDancer het volgende:

[..]

Je bedoelt 2016?

quote:

Op vrijdag 4 april 2008 00:42 schreef wart het volgende:
Zij die van mening zijn dat Hillary uit de race moet stappen "omdat ze toch niet meer kan winnen" raad ik aan dit artikel te lezen.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/post_28.html

quote:

'Clinton haalt helft minder op dan Obama'

Uitgegeven: 4 april 2008 11:11
Laatst gewijzigd: 4 april 2008 12:20

WASHINGTON - De Amerikaanse presidentskandidate Hillary Clinton heeft in maart voor haar verkiezingscampagne circa 20 miljoen dollar opgehaald. Dat meldde donderdagavond (lokale tijd) een bron rond haar campagne.

Het bedrag komt neer op slechts de helft van wat haar Democratische rivaal Barack Obama inzamelde. Zijn team haalde 40 miljoen dollar binnen, zo werd eerder bekend.

Obama bouwt op deze manier zijn toch al riante financieringsvoorsprong verder uit. In februari zamelde de Democratische senator uit Illinois een recordbedrag van 55 miljoen dollar in. Clinton bleef toen steken op ruim 34 miljoen.

Officieel moet de voormalige first lady pas op 20 april bekend maken wat haar financieringsoogst in maart was.

Donaties

Obama heeft tot nu toe in totaal circa 233 miljoen dollar aan campagnegeld opgehaald. Voor Clinton ligt dit cijfer, inclusief de waarschijnlijke donaties in maart, op 189 miljoen.

Nominatie

De twee Democratische kandidaten zijn in een felle strijd verwikkeld om de nominatie als presidentskandidaat voor de Democratische partij. Een van hen zal het moet opnemen tegen de Republikein John McCain, die zijn nominatie al binnenheeft.

McCain heeft tot en met februari in totaal ruim 64 miljoen dollar aan donaties voor zijn verkiezingscampagne opgehaald.

quote:

Op vrijdag 4 april 2008 14:09 schreef pberends het volgende:

[..]

http://www.nu.nl/news/151(...)op_dan_Obama%27.html

64 versus 233 miljoen... wie zegt dat Obama kansloos is tegen McCain ?

quote:

Op vrijdag 4 april 2008 17:39 schreef Montov het volgende:

[..]

Nee hoor, die publieke financiering zegt niet hoeveel mensen mogen doneren, maar hoeveel geld McCain mag uitgeven. McCain heeft gewoon veel minder donoren.

Ten tweede, McCain heeft niet gekozen voor publieke financiering, hij had geen andere optie toen hij platzak was vorig jaar.

En uiteraard, toen het geld binnen kwam stromen wilde hij uit die financiering: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17417007/

En nu zit hij al boven de bestedingslimiet, met als verdediging dat hij er allang uit is:
http://the-reaction.blogs(...)nancing-and-law.html



_{Overigens ben je hier al een keer eerder op gewezen in deze reeks}

quote:

Op vrijdag 4 april 2008 17:52 schreef Charles.Darwin het volgende:
Maar de VS bestaat niet enkel uit presidentskandidaten

Fox zou een field day hebben, als ze dezelfde bewijzen hadden tegen Hillary of Obama

quote:

Op vrijdag 4 april 2008 09:38 schreef matthijst het volgende:
Pennsylvania polls lopen trouwens al aardig terug voor Hillary. Maandje terug steeds nog boven de +15, ondertussen nog rond 5:

quote:

Topstrateeg Clinton treedt af

Gepubliceerd: 7 april 2008 13:28 | Gewijzigd: 7 april 2008 13:28
AP

Albuquerque, 7 april. De topstrateeg van de Democratische presidentskandidaat Hillary Clinton is gisteren afgetreden. Mark Penn werkte sinds 1996 voor de Clintons, toen hij president Bill Clinton op basis van opiniepeilingen van advies begon te voorzien. Als reden voor Penns terugtreden noemde campagneleidster Maggie Williams de ophef die is ontstaan over zijn lobbywerk voor anderen, maar zijn vele botsingen met andere campagnemedewerkers worden algemeen als dieperliggende oorzaak gezien.

Vorige week kwam Penn in opspraak toen bekend werd dat hij als topman van pr-bedrijf Burson-Marsteller een opdracht van de Colombiaanse regering binnenhaalde om te pleiten voor een vrijhandelsverdrag met de Verenigde Staten – iets waar Clinton in haar campagne juist tegen is. Zowel Clinton als haar rivaal Obama is kritisch over zulke verdragen, omdat ze tot banenverlies in de VS zouden leiden. Pennsylvania, waar over twee weken de eerstvolgende voorverkiezingen zijn, is een van de staten waar veel banen zijn verdwenen.

Vrijdag bood Penn al z’n excuses aan voor zijn werk voor Colombia; gisteren was hij niet beschikbaar voor commentaar. Volgens Clintons team besloot Penn zelf terug te treden, andere campagnemedewerkers zeiden anoniem dat hij ontslagen is door een woedende Clinton.

Penn stond al langer onder druk wegens zijn lobbywerk. Burson-Marsteller is vertegenwoordiger van onder meer het particuliere beveiligingsbedrijf Blackwater, dat onderwerp is van FBI-onderzoek wegens het doodschieten van burgers in Irak. Een andere klant is Countrywide Financial, dat de subprime-hypotheken verkocht die nu ten grondslag liggen aan de huidige kredietcrisis.

Penn zal wel opiniepeilingen voor Clinton blijven houden.

quote:

Op maandag 7 april 2008 20:29 schreef Evil_Jur het volgende:
Clinton calls on Bush to boycott Olympics _(CNN)

Stevige uitspraak van Hillary, maar ik betwijfel of ze net zo'n harde toon zal zetten als ze zelf in het Witte Huis terecht zou komen.

quote:

Op maandag 7 april 2008 20:29 schreef Evil_Jur het volgende:
Clinton calls on Bush to boycott Olympics _(CNN)

Stevige uitspraak van Hillary, maar ik betwijfel of ze net zo'n harde toon zal zetten als ze zelf in het Witte Huis terecht zou komen.

quote:

Op dinsdag 8 april 2008 01:59 schreef Da_Ripper het volgende:

[..]

alsof Bush dat zo erg zou vinden.

quote:

Op donderdag 10 april 2008 13:24 schreef Apache4U het volgende:
Goh, zag net op de drudgereport iets interessants..de kijkcijfers van news shows in Amerika.
Ik schrok er nog al van, en snap opeens ook waarom bijvoorbeeld Bush herkozen is:

CABLE NEWS RACE TUES, APRIL 8, 2008
VIEWERS

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,676,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 2,084,000
FNC SHEP 1,577,000
FNC GRETA 1,418,000
FNC HUME 1,376,000
CNN KING 1,136,000
CNN DOBBS 1,000,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 994,000
CNN COOPER 849,000
MSNBC HARDBALL 756,000
MSNBC ABRAMS 735,000
CNN BLITZER 719,000

quote:

Op donderdag 10 april 2008 14:16 schreef Sloggi het volgende:

[..]

1. Oké.
2. In Nederland zijn er ook heeeel veel nieuwsprogramma's.
3. Goedemiddag .

quote:

Op zaterdag 12 april 2008 05:26 schreef Perico het volgende:
... en Clinton niet

quote:

Op zaterdag 12 april 2008 05:26 schreef Perico het volgende:
Hij maakt geen nieuwe vrienden in Pennsylvania nou hij zegt dat de katholieken waar hij maar geen vat op kan krijgen (30% van de staat) "bitter zijn en vasthouden aan hun geweren", omdat ze niet op hem en masse willen stemmen.

quote:

OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.


Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).

(...)

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

quote:

Okay, this McCain-Soros story just keeps on giving.

McCain sent out a fundraising letter yesterday attacking a planned third-party Dem effort because it's being funded by George Soros, a reliable villain for many on the right. But as I reported below, a group that McCain co-chaired also was perfectly happy to benefit from Soros' generosity.

(...)

So by my count, Soros has contributed a total of $450,000 either to a group co-chaired by McCain or to defending McCain's pet legislation.

quote:

The McGovernization of Obama [Victor Davis Hanson]

I still believe that by August, Obama, the half-term rookie Senator, will have become the second George McGovern. Cf. his latest declaration to the Marin County faithful (coming on the heels of the crazy anti-Semitic rant of Rev. Eric Lee, a prominent LA Obama supporter):

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Let us count the ways that this is a disastrous declaration:

1. “Nothing’s replaced them”? As someone who lives in a small rural town that saw a lot of closed plants and farm depression in the 1980s, a lot has “replaced them”—explaining why for much of the last decade the national unemployment rate has been below 5%.

2. “They”. This evokes Michelle’s similar “they” (as in the “they” who raised the proverbial bar on the Obamas), and likewise suggests both hostility and a certain us/they contempt for a slice of America that the Obamas apparently know very little about—but for the first time in their lives are rapidly discovering.

3. “They cling to guns or religion”. This is revealing for two reasons: one, Obama has been trying to finesse his position on guns to appeal precisely to gun owners and thus we start to see that his repositioning is cynical to the core; two, “cling to religion?” No rural Pennsylvanian clings to religion more than Obama himself, who for 20 years sat silent in the pews, while a hate-spewing minister damned his country and most everyone else. The question is not why Pennsylvanians “cling to their religion”, but why do the Obamas still cling to the Trinity Church that seems far more extreme than anything I’ve seen in rural America.

4. “antipathy to people who aren't like them”—as in the case of Rev. Wright’s views of Jews, whites, Italians, or Americans in general? In short, Obama accuses rural Pennsylvanians of a racism that they haven’t expressed while contextualizing the racism that his own Rev. Wright has.

5. “Anti-immigrant sentiment”? As in wishing that drivers’ licenses are not issued to those here illegally, or that we insist that those who immigrate to the U.S. do so legally?

6. The worst hypocrisy, of course, is Obama’s charge that these small towns in Pennsylvania express “anti-trade sentiment.” It was not George Bush or John McCain, but Barack Obama himself who tried to salvage Ohio by demagoguing NAFTA and opposing a free-trade agreement with Columbia. His entire campaign is predicated on showing more anti-trade sentiment that the Clintons.

7. Let me get this straight: Obama goes to the Bay Area to an affluent liberal enclave to give a condescending take on the supposed poor fools that he is currently trying to court. This is not just hypocritical, but abjectly stupid. All of Pennsylvania surely is asking today what is so hip and sophisticated about the Trinity Church and Rev. Wright?

So here we have the essential Obama, a walking paradox between the postmodern hip-Ivy-Leaguer who sneers at middle-class America’s supposed prejudices and parochialism, while at the same time courting an anti-Enlightenment, prejudicial demagogue like Jeremiah Wright. For free trade or anti-free trade? For 2nd-amendment rights or not? Post-religious or pious and fundamentalist? For public campaign financing or not? A uniter of various groups or someone who sees America in terms of “they”? Straight-talking or someone who evokes "context" to explain away the inexplicable?

Again, we will see more and more of these condescending statements of the Michelle Obama strain, more and more of Revs. Wright, Meeks, Lee and others peddlers of division like them, and more and more clues to a long hostility to Israel—in what will eventually become the most disastrous chapter in recent Democratic history.

And pundits keep wondering why Hillary won't give up?

quote:

Op zaterdag 12 april 2008 23:19 schreef PJORourke het volgende:
Obama blundert, onderweg naar de afgang:
[..]

Wat is die vent toch een pisvlek.

quote:

Op zaterdag 12 april 2008 23:59 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:
Je begint je echt af te vragen waar de Democraten deze minkukels (Obama, Clinton) vandaan halen. Nou is McCain natuurlijk een top loser, maar tegen Hillary of Barry geef ik hem echt wel een kans.

quote:

Op zaterdag 12 april 2008 23:59 schreef Lyrebird het volgende:

[..]

Je begint je echt af te vragen waar de Democraten deze minkukels (Obama, Clinton) vandaan halen. Nou is McCain natuurlijk een top loser, maar tegen Hillary of Barry geef ik hem echt wel een kans.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:14 schreef popolon het volgende:
Bush 3 zit echt niemand op te wachten toch? Of ben ik nou zo raar?

McCain is een oude lul, een clown met z'n warmonger ideeen. Totaal ongeschikt als president. Dan nog liever Chelsea Clinton of de hond van de overburen dan deze verlopen ouwe graftak.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:16 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

[..]

Hij is toch wel wat anders dan Bush 3. En de "fuq Iraq, let's surrender"-taktiek overtuigt mij nou ook niet bepaald.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:19 schreef popolon het volgende:
Mijn belastinggeld gaat naar die bodemloze put, die van jouw niet.

Ik heb liever dat ze het in de VS zelf besteden, er is genoeg mis in dit land.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:24 schreef wart het volgende:
12 reasons 'bitter' is bad for Obama

Nog tien dagen voor de primary in PA en Obama verspreekt zich op zo'n pijnlijke manier... De 'rural voters' weet-ie zo natuurlijk nooit voor zich te winnen.

Misschien moet Obama nog maar eens een speech geven over 'klassenverhoudingen'.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:24 schreef PJORourke het volgende:

[..]

Ik wed dat je hoe dan ook minder betaalt dan ik... ruilen?

Bovendien is het helaas allemaal op de pof.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:26 schreef popolon het volgende:
Als je in een rijtjeshuis zit dan pas ik.

quote:

Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:24 schreef wart het volgende:
12 reasons 'bitter' is bad for Obama

Nog tien dagen voor de primary in PA en Obama verspreekt zich op zo'n pijnlijke manier... De 'rural voters' weet-ie zo natuurlijk nooit voor zich te winnen.

Misschien moet Obama nog maar eens een speech geven over 'klassenverhoudingen'.

quote:

OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.


Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).

But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.

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Op zondag 13 april 2008 00:57 schreef PJORourke het volgende:
Het gaat er niet om of het waar is

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het is gewoon oliedom om de kiezers waarvan je het moet hebben te beledigen. En dat deed Obama.

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Op zondag 13 april 2008 01:01 schreef Monidique het volgende:
Deels klopt dat, maar dat is dus de media te verwijten. Oproep aan media: kom uit je witte toren en ga het eens over feiten hebben, in plaats van wat een rechts-extremistische weblog nu weer tevoorschijn tovert, bij voorbeeld.

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Wel, dat is dus dat hele niet waar-gebeuren, hè.