GET THIS STORY OUT. TELL EVERYONE. If you are on the ground in Texas or Ohio, and notice any irregularities, you can report them to the Clinton campaign via this form: "Polling Problems." (And report irregularities in the comments below.)
I'm receiving reports that contrary to Texas Democratic party caucus rules that preclude registration forms from being submitted before either 7:15 pm or the last vote at a precinct has been cast, Obama volunteers are handing out the forms at precincts today and asking people to fill them in and then collecting them. For Obama to submit the forms on the voters' behalf without the voter physically being present at the caucus would violate the rules.
From CTV News, "[T]he Obama camp did not respond to repeated questions from CTV on reports that a conversation on this matter was held between Obama's senior economic adviser -- Austan Goolsbee -- and the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago."
Earlier Thursday, the Obama campaign insisted that no conversations have taken place with any of its senior ranks and representatives of the Canadian government on the NAFTA issue. On Thursday night, CTV spoke with Goolsbee, but he refused to say whether he had such a conversation with the Canadian government office in Chicago. He also said he has been told to direct any questions to the campaign headquarters. [That exchange speaks volumes.]
That is tonight's top CTV TV story, watched by millions of Canadians and U.S. citizens near the Canadian border. ...
A prominent Canadian medical professional reports to me, after he "leaped out of bed" to e-mail me: "This story made headlines tonight in Canada in all major Canadian news networks. Barack Obama has been caught lying. Spread this as much as you can because it is true and factually supported. I think the people of Ohio as well as the rest of America, deserve to know this."
Via CTA.ca News:
... Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama's campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA, according to Canadian sources.
The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be campaign rhetoric, and should not be taken at face value.
"If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him [BELOW THE FOLD] wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.
"This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry.
"We will not be distracted."
Right on, Maggie. Do you remember this photo in the New York Times following Bhutto's tragic assassination? And remember the reprehensible attack from Obama/Deval Patrick media/messager provider David Axelrod following Bhutto's murder?
This must be "Barack Obama rebutting Hillary Clinton circa 2008?" At Saturday's night's Wisconsin Democratic party dinner?
The charismatic, brilliant, inspiring black politician came to the stage to address the latest attack from his white female opponent.
"Her dismissive point, and I hear it a lot from her staff, is all I have to offer is words," he said. "Just words.
"'We holds these truths to be self-evident,'" he continued as the crowd began to cheer and applaud, "'that all men are created equal' -- just words. Just words."
The applause increased.
"'We have nothing to fear but fear itself,'" the pol said. "Just words. 'Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.' Just words,'" he said. ...
And then, the piece de resistance: "'I have a dream' -- just words," he said. (Report by ABC News' Jake Tapper)
This quote will air tonight at 9:36 pm est. on BLOOMBERG TELEVISION’s "Money & Politics." The quote is from the "Dollars and Sense" segment with Gene Sperling and Kevin Hassett:
The fact is that Obama's [economic] plan today is the most shameless piece of potential plagiarism that I have ever seen. He basically took Clinton's words and Clinton's policies and called them his own. If I were a professor I'd give him an F and try to get him kicked out of school for something this terrible...If I were on the Clinton team, I'd be prepping memos.
- Kevin A. Hassett, Senior Fellow and Director of Economic Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute, John McCain adviser (H/t AndreWalker08 at MyDD.com)
Before the Saturday caucus -- from which my hospital nurses and I were disenfranchised (I had a ruptured appendix, abscess and peritonitis) -- I was furious to see Obama TV ads promising health care for all. Only Hillary's plan brings universal care that requires all sign up or retain a plan, to make it economically viable (ex: preventive care dramatically lowers costs for undetected chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure).
At Shakespeare's Sister, certainly one of our most erudite, and refreshingly pithy blogs, Mustang Bobby joins the brilliant blogger Digby in pondering the question that simply isn't asked enough either by the media or by most Americans who unthinkingly buy into the fashionably negative patter about the Clintons:
We Democrats have waited SINCE PRESIDENT HARRY TRUMAN (the late 1940s!) for a chance at universal health care. It's within reach. Let's not blow it on a candidate whose plan is weaker and who's already making ill-considered policy shifts (see below for a sad description of Obama's illogical backpedaling on mandates by considering the imposition of penalties on those who don't sign up).
Here's the "money quote" from Paul Krugman's column in tomorrow's New York Times (February 4, 2008):
If you combine the economic analysis with these political realities, here's what I think it says: If Mrs. Clinton gets the Democratic nomination, there is some chance - nobody knows how big - that we'll get universal health care in the next administration. If Mr. Obama gets the nomination, it just won't happen.
John Edwards' loyal, astute supporters are rightfully proud of his focus on economic inequities and the decline of the middle- and lower-classes in this country. Therefore, these two important news revelations will certainly interest both Edwards and his supporters:
Hillary Clinton's opposition to NAFTA as "Republican economics," and
Stephen Schlesinger's report on the conservative economists who advise Barack Obama (which helps explain why Paul Krugman is critical of both Obama's economic stimulus and health care plans).
Barack Obama has enjoyed hands-off, near-reverential coverage by the media and pundits. Only a few gutsy journalists as well as a few bloggers, like me, are investigating the skeletons in Obama's closet and questioning Obama's preparedness to be president. If Sen. Obama is to be the nominee, he must not only be thoroughly vetted beforehand, but he must also show that he can take the vicious GOP attacks sure to come his way. I read two important pieces today that buttress my points above:
Digby, the extraordinary blogger at Hullabaloo, in "Pecksniffian Twit": "The punditocracy's 'protectiveness' toward Obama is patronizing and insulting. And this silly case of the vapors among the villagers over the 'nastiness' of the race and how it's going to tear the party apart is nearly guaranteed to make him look like a weak sister, which he isn't, and his elite supporters are falling right into the trap. ...
Brian Ross has done it again. This is a KEY line: News organizations have found "Rezko-linked contributions that are more than double what the campaign has publicly acknowledged..." Be sure to watch Nightline tonight:
[editor's note, by SusanHu] I've changed the title. Sen. Obama is not named in the indictment and is not facing charges, but he does have longtime ties to Tony Rezko. What bothers me most -- because it so harmed the poorest of Chicago's residents -- is that Obama and his law firm represented Rezko's lucrative public housing deals that used public funding. But, when Rezko was exposed as a "slumlord" who mistreated his poor tenants, Obama denied any knowledge of Rezko's slumlord practices.
Do you recall "Obama, His Lobbyists and His Cronies," my January 11th piece on ABC News's reports on Barack Obama's long associations with -- and innumerable financial, legal and real estate ties -- to Tony Rezko, "who goes on trial February 25th for 'extortion and fraud charges, which include shakedown allegations involving an Illinois pension fund'"?
ABC News's Brian Ross said, at the time, that Obama was not named in the 73-page indictment. Today, however, the Chicago Sun-Times -- "Sun-Times Exclusive: Obama surfaces in Rekzo's federal corruption case" -- reveals that:
Subtitle: It's Not the "Kumbayah" That Gets Things Done, Mr. Obama. It's Hard-Fought Legislation Enacted Over the Protests of "Movement Conservatives," Especially the Legislative Achievements of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s.
Update [2008-1-17 20:53:1 by SusanHu]: Just below the fold.
Obama said what? That the GOP has been the party of ideas for the last ten to fifteen years? Are you kidding me?
Two more videos, including the above, have emerged from Sen. Barack Obama's interview with the rightwing editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal which later endorsed him (small wonder). [editor's note, by SusanHu] (It is the Las Vegas Gazette-Journal that is conservative, according to MyDD. But it's a small point in that Obama's words stand, as do John Edwards' words.)
Obama is trying to divert attention 1) from his stinging loss in New Hampshire, and 2) from his inadequacies as a presidential candidate, mostly his cluelessness about what he'd actually do if he were president -- most recently, about what he'd do to stimulate the economy.
"He speaks with so much passion, but I'm not sure what his views are on a lot of things," says [Maurice] Frye. [Frye] worries about a poor economy and sagging U.S. dollar. He wants more substance. "I think he speaks too generally. Not being specific hurts him because no one knows him that well yet."
Meekaaeel [DeBradley] agrees. "It's good that he keeps saying what the problems are over and over again, but I need to hear the solutions, too," he says. -- From the Reno Gazette-Journal, January 13, 2008
Much as I personally enjoy Sen. Obama's rhetoric, like Meekaaeel DeBradley, "I need to hear the solutions, too."
People can see that substantive plans are missing from Obama's rhetoric. People can see that how he'll make "change" happen isn't spelled out. Well, at least those people who haven't drunk the Kool-Aid.
