then shouldn't we be working on better ways to leverage that, focus it and make it potent in relation to substantial interests and their pools of money?
I think so.
Thom Hartmann was going off this morning on FISA. He, along with everybody else who has a clue, was very displeased with the House Democrats behavior. Interestingly, he did mention those representatives who voted NO, and asked us to thank them, BECAUSE THEY ARE GOING TO NEED IT.
Sen. Barack Obama was roundly criticized by some in the black community for having the audacity to go before the Apostolic Church of God, in Chicago, Il, a black forum, on Father’s Day, and suggest that young black men should step up to the plate and become better fathers. He pointed out that the foundation of the entire nation is being shaken by too many young fathers of every race and ethnicity failing to embrace their responsibilities, but the problem is particularly pronounced in the black community, where one half of all children grow up without a father in the home, a number that has doubled since he was a child.
Happy Father's day to all the Daddy Kossacks out there!
Today Barack gave a speech about Fatherhood and what it means to him. It was--surprise, surprise-- a really wonderful speech. I thought that others, like myself, might also enjoy reading it. And maybe the video will be available soon?
I didn't see this video here so I decided to add it. He made this speech at his Chicago campaign headquarter after winning the nom. The message is quite clear and typical Obama. The man who will be the next president, himself being raised by single mom, talks about the single moms he met while campaigning. He said to his team, now that we have have the reponsibility of winning the GE for dems, " We can't screw this up". Very blunt I should say ;). Awesome team.
I just watched and listened to Hillary Clinton's speech of Saturday evening endorsing Barack Obama. It was a MUCH better speech than she gave last Tuesday; of course, the fact that she's recognized the reality (that she lost) made it a lot better.
I like that she threw in Obama's "Yes We Can" line. I like that she urged her audience to support Obama, and that she made a pretty compelling argument about WHY America needs to elect him as President:
I know that we all have written about and discussed John McCain's penchant for confusing events and names. But really, that's giving him credit for simply making honest mistakes or gaffes. Today, we have yet another example of what I think is simply McCain being plainly dishonest.
I will be brief (for once) because this is a call to action. I just noticed that Frank Rich's New York Times op-ed "One Historic Night, Two Americas" is near the top of the Digg front page. Digging it up will increase the number of eyeballs that see gems such as this:
Mr. McCain only reminded voters that he, like Mrs. Clinton, thinks that change is nothing more than a marketing gimmick. He has no idea what it means. "No matter who wins this election, the direction of this country is going to change dramatically," he said on Tuesday. He then grimly regurgitated Goldwater and Reagan government-bashing talking points from the 1960s and ’70s even as he presumed to accuse Mr. Obama of looking "to the 1960s and ’70s for answers."
For loyal supporters, Sen. Hillary Clinton's speech on Saturday was a sad ending to a long and trying campaign. Rivalry between followers of two very strong candidates led to intense animosity between hard-core Clintonista's and the legions of Obamabots, as evidenced by bitter arguments on DKos and elsewhere. Clinton's speech went a long way toward healing the rift for Sen. Obama's supporters. Now, we move on to the main event, the Fall campaign for POTUS; and, a critical issue is how many of Hillary's supporters will support and vote for their former mortal enemy, Barack Obama. While Clinton supporters are being welcomed onto DKos with graciousness and open arms, their support for Obama remains to be seen. This poll examines the initial effect of her strong endorsement of Obama in the speech. Disclaimer: This poll is unscientific and has no general validity. Also, as the poll isn't for Obama supporters, I am using the first comment to offer Obamabots a response option. But first, a salute to Hillary Clinton.
It was Saturday morning and Hillary Clinton was on the verge of finally conceding the Democratic nomination to Barack Obama. I was mindlessly tuned into CNN’s compelling video coverage of Hillary’s immovable Georgetown front door as an unstoppable spray of the word “BITTER” gushed from the mouths of learned journalists and ex-learned journalists - like that Watergate reporter from the Washington Post who played the role of Dustin Hoffman in the movie version of Bittergate.
If the word “BITTER” had an equivalent value in distance, one could have traveled to the far side of the Moon by Noon (but unfortunately missed the speech, which I gather was the real Money Shot even though Hillary’s stationary front door was featured longer than the actual speech).
The questions were endless – and so… thought-provoking.
For a moment I assumed that one of my dachshunds had sat on my remote and switched the channel to “E” Entertainment.
Yes, I think that my apology is in order. I used my blog, personal conversations and inuendos into your character to negatviely attack your campaign during the Democratic primaries.
I am an American first. I am a Democrat. I am black. I am proud. At time I was furious at you and your campaign, but I used my energy to become Anti-Hillary more than Pro-Obama. I realize there is a huge difference.
The key question is whether she will concede in a way that helps her most fervent followers make the transition to Barack Obama or in a way that impedes that transition. That is, she will either mitigate or exacerbate many of her followers’ outrage at the victor – their mingled anger, resentment, and disappointment, and their resulting inclination to deny him their support.
To that end, I've compiled a scorecard for the speech. Starting from a baseline of zero, the scorecard adds or subtracts points based on what she says. A negative number indicates a divisive speech and a high number would indicate a unifying speech. The same item can score multiple times by making multiple references to it. I've included a few of the samples from the Sandman article where useful.
Based on your comments, I'll adjust the assigned values and add additional items that are missing.
This is actually just a repost of a diary I wrote early Thursday morning. For some reason I posted it at 1:35 am which pretty much guaranteed it a slow death. :( I just wanted to give other people a chance to read it.
As did many of us, I watched McSame's speech on Tuesday night feeling like a rubber-necker trying to turn away from the horrible freeway accident but finding myself unable to. As he smiled/grimaced and turned/winced back and forth ackwardly in front of the oh-so-horribly green background, I remember thinking "God, he looks like one of the undead." Then I got to thinking...what if he IS one of the undead? Usually such a thought would be immediately dismissed as lunacy BUT...the soul clinching terror I felt evertime he "smiled" convinced me it was at least possible. Let's evaluate the various possibilities, shall we?
Obama's speech on Tuesday was (again) transcendent - nothing no one here knows, nothing we haven't seen before with him, and nothing we won't see again.
It's been parsed by better than me, but I'll hit it again anyway. My focus is on Obama's formulation of Americans vs. naming the Parties. Follow me over the fold...
As many of you are no doubt aware by now, Barack and Michelle Obama did a celebratory fist pound just before the victory speech in Minnesota on Tuesday. The moment struck me as funny, charming and strangely symbolic on an evening when the first African American secured the nomination from a major party.
But the fist pound has started to become a hot topic and was even brought up in last night's interview with Brian Williams. I've even seen a lot of straight up racist responses to the fist pound, in which many are responding with xenophobic paranoia and black stereotypes.
So what do you think of it? Was it a political gaffe? An affectionate moment between Barack and Michelle? I personally enjoyed it but I'm sure others will react differently.
Here is the video of the fist pound along with Brian Williams' question to Obama:
Hillary Clinton's speech at Baruch College was supposed to be a valedictory, an opportunity some thought for her to graciously step down and rally her supporters to unite around the party banner. Instead, she launched into the most patronizing and demagogic outing of her campaign. No stone was left unturned--pandering to the Catholic vote with references to rosary beads was my favorite riff. This year we celebrate the fortieth anniversary of the abandonment of the Democratic Party by millions of working class Catholics. In 1968, they ironically chose Richard Nixon as the "law and order" candidate. The foundation of the counter-revolution was then complete. Southern segregationists and working class Catholics had once been Democratic Party stalwarts; their disaffection gave us the ongoing nightmare that extends from Reagan to the younger Bush.
