Words mean nothing to liberals. They say whatever will help advance their cause at the moment, switch talking points in a heartbeat, and then act indignant if anyone uses the exact same argument they were using five minutes ago.
When Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 election by half a percentage point, but lost the Electoral College -- or, for short, "the constitutionally prescribed method for choosing presidents" -- anyone who denied the sacred importance of the popular vote was either an idiot or a dangerous partisan.
But now Hillary has won the popular vote in a Democratic primary, while Obambi has won under the rules. In a spectacular turnabout, media commentators are heaping sarcasm on our plucky Hillary for imagining the "popular vote" has any relevance whatsoever.
It's the exact same situation as in 2000, with Hillary in the position of Gore and Obama in the position of Bush. The only difference is: Hillary has a much stronger argument than Gore ever did (and Hillary's more of a man than Gore ever was).
[...]
After nearly eight years of having to listen to liberals crow that Bush was "selected, not elected," this is a shocking about-face.
This set into motion a series of recounts (portions by machine, and portions by hand), questions about portions of the Florida vote, and finally lawsuits.
These ultimately resulted in a December 12 7-2 United States Supreme Court decision that the Florida Supreme Court's plan for recounting ballots was unconstitutional, as well as a 5-4 United States Supreme Court decision that ended the Florida recounts and allowed Florida to certify its vote. The vote was certified according to Florida state election law by Katherine Harris, the Republican Secretary of State who had been the Florida co-chair of Bush's campaign.[34] Because Bush's younger brother, Jeb Bush,was the governor of Florida, there were allegations that Harris and Jeb Bushhad manipulated the election to favor the governor's brother.[35][36]
In reality, if it had been left to the actual votes and the delegates in Florida Bush Junior would never have been SELECTED by the Supreme Court... And Gore would have been President in 2000. It would be nice if stupid republicans would stop trying to rewrite history and redefine words so liberally. Until the Supreme Court has to decide on the 2008 Democratic party candidate for President, Coulter's false comparison is just more dumpster diving from the fanatical right wing.
[update] Though it has little to do with Coulter trying to redefine what liberals mean by "Bush was selected", I should have pointed out the other obvious flaw in her false argument (since there has been a lot of discussion on this), but thanks to MLN's Jon Kantrowitz for pointing this out in comment:
Hillary DID NOT win the popular vote - her claims rest on uncontested states - FL and MI - where there was no real vote.
Not to mention that the people that claim Hillary won the popular vote completely ignore caucus states. Dubious claims at best.
Keep in mind that McCain says economics is his weak suit. To be fair, the present economic situation proves that all Republicans do not have a clue about economics. Do you really want a 3rd term of bush failures and incompetence?
Well, "movie" is stretching it, in that it's about 1.5 minutes. But if you knew all that went into the making of this, movie is the correct term.
As you will recall, Omir here posted a hilarious sketch about "Mrs. C". I loved it and couldn't get it out of my head.
I talked to two people I had met in a screenwriting class, one of whom just completed his first film, and another who was dying to get a project under her belt. Between the two of them, aided by some generous donations from several people, we managed to get this video, birthed right here on Booman, up and running!
April 1, 2008 Washington, D. C. Senator Clinton is set to suspend her campaign tomorrow morning, according to senior campaign advisers.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, two prominent campaign officials stated today that Senator Clinton, after consultations with officials at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and other party leaders, has agreed to suspend her campaign in exchange for an agreement to seat both the Michigan and Florida delegations, whose primaries were held in violation of party rules.
Senator Clinton has made it a point to state recently her strong desire to seat these delegations, both of which awarded her the lion's share of the delegates at stake. Senator Obama's campaign has consistently maintained that it agrees with the sanctions imposed by the DNC which stripped both Michigan and Florida of their delegates. It is believed that Clinton's proposal to suspend her campaign was accepted by Senator Obama's campaign late last night, according to a sources at the DNC, who spoke on condition that their identities not be disclosed, as they were not authorized to discuss the matter on the record. No one contacted within Senator Obama's campaign would comment with regard to whether he had agreed to such a proposal from the Clinton camp. [...]
"She really had no viable option at this point in light of her funding problems," said one her chief advisers. "This allows her to preserve her viability as a candidate and to claim that she won a victory by getting the Michigan and Florida delegations seated."
Although Senator Clinton will attend no further campaign events or fundraisers, and will shut down all campaign operations, including television advertising, in the remaining primary states, she will continue to remain on the ballot in each of those states. [...]
In addition, "The suspension of her campaign is not binding on any of her supporters not officially associated with the campaign, who may continue to speak on her behalf, or carry on other activities in support of her candidacy, should they wish to do so," said another Clinton advisor.
It is also not clear at this point whether her husband, former President Bill Clinton, or her daughter, Chelsea, has agreed to withdraw from making any further public appearances on her behalf.
If true, this is quite a significant development. Obviously Clinton's funding issues were more precarious than anyone had previously reported.
So when people have asked me whether I think Hillary should drop out I've said I don't think she's under any obligation to do so but that I do think, with her odds now this long, she should not be running a campaign that seems to go out of its way not simply to compete but to damage the likely nominee as a general election candidate and attempt to discredit the nomination process itself.
But when I was writing out my take on her interview over the weekend with Post, I realized that I hadn't made clear enough in what I'd written, or even really in my own head, how much the two things are really combined.
As I said in that post, I don't think Hillary's claim that she's going to stay in the race through the convention in Denver is really about Denver, or staying through August or even till June. It's about keeping her troops motivated and confident so that she can keep in the game through April and May.
And here I think we see the pattern. Hillary doesn't want to run for president in 2nd or 3rd gear. It's beneath her dignity.
But it isn't beneath her dignity to continue to run the campaign she has when she has already clearly lost? Third gear?You are talking about retro girl here. Your opinion has just hit the skids on this one, Josh.
I am starting to think I need to start a "2012" elections (more likely "2016," since it will take her that long for her to reform her character after the shit that flew back in her face) to actually bother to list posts on Hillary Clinton "elections."
The fact that you say your are thinking (or rethinking) beyond this reality says a lot. You just can't justify stupid.Wish in one hand and shit in the other... Then come back and tell me which one fills up first... 'Kay?
Many Clinton supporters find the current attempts to muscle her out of the race despicable. Maybe now is the time for Obama to take one for the team and accept her offer of the VP slot. It is the position he is better qualified for, would end a situation that is supposedly hurting the party, and would put him in a better position to run next time. Clinton has no “next time,” so it makes more sense for Obama to be the one to step aside.
If the convention is held too late in the election cycle for the presidential nominee to campaign effectively, perhaps the date of the convention needs to be changed. The solution cannot be for viable candidates to set aside their ambitions long before a nominee has been clearly chosen.
Nobody "muscled her out" of anything. She simply lost to someone Dem voters think will be a better candidate and shamelessly refuses to acknowledge that fact. Clinton has no "next time," but only because of the fact that she has run her campaign into the ground effectively eliminating any chance of a "this time." I think reader DS needs to take a step back from the keyboard and take a good hard look around at was has already happened.
The Democratic primary is over - it has been for a while now - and Obama won.
And, IMHO, Clinton has shown clearly through her campaign actions and statements why she should not even be offered the slot as Obama's VP. The Democratic party already had one Lieberman as a VP candidate and that was one too many.
The conventional wisdom going in is that Barack Obama will get enough projected delegates today to more than beat Hillary's four-delegate advantage from the state primary, thus crowning him the overall winner of the "prima-caucus" system. A clearer picture should emerge tonight, and we'll be updating when that happens.
Late Update: The latest numbers, with 31% of total delegates counted by Burnt Orange Report, stand at Obama 55%, Clinton 45%.
Late Late Update: With just under 40% of the delegate numbers in, it's Obama 58% to Clinton 42%.
Sen. Clinton gave a pretty astonishing interview to the Washington Post in which she appears to say she will stay in the race till the convention in August, where she will take her fight to the credentials committee to have the delegates from the non-sanctioned Michigan and Florida primaries seated.
What about "Hell No!" does her campaign fail to understand?
Add to that the Al Jolson look of the character "Felix the Cat" to begin with. WTF are those people thinking? Is hillaryis44.org an "official" Clinton campaign site?
One big fact has largely been lost in the recent coverage of the Democratic presidential race: Hillary Rodham Clinton has virtually no chance of winning.
Her own campaign acknowledges there is no way that she will finish ahead in pledged delegates. That means the only way she wins is if Democratic superdelegates are ready to risk a backlash of historic proportions from the party’s most reliable constituency.
Unless Clinton is able to at least win the primary popular vote — which also would take nothing less than an electoral miracle — and use that achievement to pressure superdelegates, she has only one scenario for victory. An African-American opponent and his backers would be told that, even though he won the contest with voters, the prize is going to someone else.
People who think that scenario is even remotely likely are living on another planet.
Clinton's likely reaction to being told this truth... Well? A picture is worth a thousand words:
As Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen argue in this piece in The Politico, the press has been largely complicit in maintaining the fiction that the Democratic nomination race is not for all intents and purposes over. The obstacles in the way of Hillary Clinton are virtually insurmountable. And her now-sizable deficit among pledged voters is only one of them. Everyone in the press, probably including us, should be much more candid about that.
No doubt about it. I will give Marshall props for showing a more reasonable amount of reality than the media ever did over the last month as he has slowly moved closer to this truth, but never quite outright stated it. So when you hear one of the most incompetent Dem political campaign gurus ever say stuff like this concerning Bill Richardson's endorsement of Obama:
“The time that he could have been effective has long since passed,” he continued, “I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment.”
Jeremiah Wright and Bill Clinton at "The Family" sponsored National Prayer Breakfast:
Hillary Clinton, as a member of "the Family," attended as well. I fully expect a night long extravaganza of speechifying by Hillary Clinton denouncing the Clinton's relationship with Wright accompanied by weeks of incompetent media speculation of just how unAmerican she may be. Anything less would be hypocritical.
Yesterday, though, the equally fringe, radical and hateful (at least) Rev. John Hagee -- a white evangelical who is the pastor of a sprawling "mega-church" in Texas -- enthusiastically endorsed John McCain. Did McCain have to jump through the same hoops which Russert and others set up for Obama and "denounce" Hagee's extremism and "reject" his support? No; quite the opposite. McCain said he was "very honored" to receive this endorsement and, when asked about some of Hagee's more twisted views, responded: "all I can tell you is that I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support."
McCain's sainted supporter, Joe Lieberman, last year spoke to Hagee's group and lavished him with such obsequious praise that Lieberman actually compared Hagee, favorably, to Moses. Why is Louis Farrakhan deemed by our political establishment to be so radioactive as to not be fit for good company -- black candidates are required to repudiate his support even when they haven't sought it and denounce his views even when they've never advocated anything close to those views -- but John Hagee is a perfectly acceptable figure whom mainstream GOP politicians are free to court without any consequences or media objections?
Here is just a small sampling of the belief system of this welcomed McCain supporter:
TG: If you use the Bible as the basis for policy, is there any room for compromise? And if you use the bible as the basis for policy, should Muslims use the Koran as the basis for their policy, and then again, what possible basis is there for compromise at that point?
JH: There is really no room for compromise between radical Islam --
TG: I'm not talking about radical Islam. I'm just talking about Islam in general.
JH: Well Islam in general -- those who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.
* God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin. From the same interview:
JH: All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they were recipients of the judgment of God for that.
The newspaper carried the story in our local area, that was not carried nationally, that there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came. And the promise of that parade was that it would was going to reach a level of sexuality never demonstrated before in any of the other gay pride parades.
So I believe that the judgment of God is a very real thing. I know there are people who demur from that, but I believe that the Bible teaches that when you violate the law of God, that God brings punishment sometimes before the Day of Judgment, and I believe that the Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.
* The End Times -- Rapture -- is imminent and the U.S. Government must do what it can to hasten it, which at minimum requires: (a) a war with Iran and (b) undying, absolute support for a unified Israel, including all Occupied Territories (hence, Joe Lieberman's love affair with them). From Christian Palestinian Daoud Kuttab in The New York Times (h/t PZ Meyers):
A small minority of evangelical Christians have entered the Middle East political arena with some of the most un-Christian statements I have ever heard. . . . [Rev.] Hagee, a popular televangelist who leads the 18,000-member Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, ratcheted up his rhetoric this year with the publication of his book, "Jerusalem Countdown," in which he argues that a confrontation with Iran is a necessary precondition for Armageddon (which will mean the death of most Jews, in his eyes) and the Second Coming of Christ. In the best-selling book, Hagee insists that the United States must join Israel in a preemptive military strike against Iran to fulfill God's plan for both Israel and the West.
Hagee believes that "the president's support for Israel fulfills a biblical injunction to protect the Jewish state," which "will play a pivotal role in the second coming." These views are not unrelated to Hagee's support for McCain. Quite the contrary; Hagee cited McCain's so-called "pro-Israel views," his belligerence towards Iran, and his social conservatism as reasons for the endorsement.
But that is not all... Not by a longshot. I may not be fan of some of the Catholic churches past stances, but the McCain loving wingnutty Hagee takes hatred, bigotry and religious zealotry to ridiculous ends of extremism when it comes to the Catholic church comparig them to "whores," "Adolf Hitler" and the anti-Christ. Hagee in his own words:
Although cavorting with the likes of Pat Robertson and John Hagee is perfectly acceptable in Russert World, Russert also demanded, back in January, 2006, that Obama opine on various controversial remarks from the highly influential political philosopher Harry Belafonte (h/t JKP1000):
MR. RUSSERT: I want to talk a little bit about the language people are using in the politics now of 2006, and I refer you to some comments that Harry Belafonte made yesterday. He said that Homeland Security had become the new Gestapo. What do you think of that?
MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Belafonte went to Venezuela, as you well know, some time ago and met with the Hugo Chavez, leader of that country, and said some things that obviously were noted in this country and around the world. Let’s listen, and come back and talk about it.
(Videotape, January 8, 2006) . . .
MR. RUSSERT: Is it appropriate to call the President of the United States "the greatest terrorist in the world"?
Obama is required to denounce certain people with whom he has no connection while the likes of Bush, McCain, Lieberman and Giuliani are free to associate themselves openly with the most extremist elements around.
This whole Wright issue is clearly a manufactured rightwing media hit job on Obama while ignoring the same from other more conservatively palatable candidates like Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
I am not an Obama supporter, nor am I even Dem... But even I can see through this charade.
Clinton wants you to ignore everything in her past experience as the world leading 'First Lady' role that won't portray her in a perfect light. She will stand aside and, sometimes, even encourage these ridiculous attacks on Obama... All for her own benefit. You won't see them owning up to Wright as this hit job plays out. The rightwing wants Obama out because they think he will be harder to beat (No Duh!) and the media wants their pre-ordained McCain - Clinton match up in the next elections. (Double No Duh!)
"(re: 9/11 attacks) "...throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools, the abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked and when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad...I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way, all of them who try to secularize America...I point the thing in their face and say you helped this happen.""
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals"
"Textbooks are Soviet propaganda"
"The ACLU is to Christians what the American Nazi party is to Jews"
"The whole (global warming) thing is created to destroy America's free enterprise system and our economic stability"
"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America."
Rod Parsley
I do not believe our country can truly fulfill its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore.
Pat Robertson
"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we are trying to assassinate him, we should go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot easier than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."
Ariel Sharon's stroke was God's punishment for giving up Gaza and the 9/11 attack was divine retribution against America -- America's fault -- for tolerating gays, feminists and the ACLU
"Just like what Nazi Germany did to the Jews, so liberal America is now doing to the evangelical Christians. It's no different. It is the same thing. It is happening all over again. It is the Democratic Congress, the liberal-based media and the homosexuals who want to destroy the Christians. Wholesale abuse and discrimination and the worst bigotry directed toward any group in America today. More terrible than anything suffered by any minority in history."
"I know this is painful for the ladies to hear, but if you get married, you have accepted the headship of a man, your husband. Christ is the head of the household and the husband is the head of the wife, and that's the way it is, period."
"Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off on Foggy Bottom to shake things up" –Pat Robertson, on nuking the State Department
Holy Crap! Those statements are pretty damning statements of America. And you can add the FRC's Peter Sprigg to right wingnut religions recent outrageous statement: "I would much prefer to export homosexuals from the United States than to import them into the United States because we believe homosexuality is destructive to society." And those are some of the mildly overt ones you will find from religious right wingnuts. I haven't even touched on the Phelps families of the world and groups like the FIC soft peddling bigoted views...
The audio clips you can hear in this video I have produced are taken from sermons given by the man Senator Hillary Clinton has described as her "spiritual mentor": Doug Coe.
Doug Coe is the head of a secretive Washington religious organization, which hosts the yearly National Prayer Breakfast : The Family
The Family is not a conspiracy.
The Family is a right-wing fundamentalist, elitist power cult.
The Family is a global influence peddling ring with links to some of the most savage, bloodthirsty regimes of the 20th Century.
The audio clips you can hear in this video production are taken from sermons given by the man Hillary Clinton has described as her "spiritual mentor", Doug Coe.
When is every single politician going to be held accountable for their longstanding connections to these tools of religious insanity? And YES! "The Family" is Hillary's group:
Ehrenreich writes:
The Family's most visible activity is its blandly innocuous National Prayer Breakfast, held every February in Washington. But almost all its real work goes on behind the scenes -- knitting together international networks of rightwing leaders, most of them ostensibly Christian. In the 1940s, The Family reached out to former and not-so-former Nazis, and its fascination with that exemplary leader, Adolph Hitler, has continued, along with ties to a whole bestiary of murderous thugs.
She then quotes from a report by Jeff Sharlet in Harper's in 2003:
During the 1960s the Family forged relationships between the U.S. government and some of the most anti-Communist (and dictatorial) elements within Africa's postcolonial leadership. The Brazilian dictator General Costa e Silva, with Family support, was overseeing regular fellowship groups for Latin American leaders, while, in Indonesia, General Suharto (whose tally of several hundred thousand "Communists" killed marks him as one of the century's most murderous dictators) was presiding over a group of fifty Indonesian legislators. During the Reagan Administration the Family helped build friendships between the U.S. government and men such as Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, convicted by a Florida jury of the torture of thousands, and Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, himself an evangelical minister, who was linked to both the CIA and death squads before his own demise.
Apparently, Clinton fell in with the group in 1993, when she joined a prayer group mainly composed of wives of conservative politicians like James Baker and Jack Kemp.
When she ascended to the senate, she was promoted to what Sharlet calls the Family's "most elite cell," the weekly Senate Prayer Breakfast, which included, until his downfall, Virginia's notoriously racist Senator George Allen. This has not been a casual connection for Clinton. She has written of Doug Coe, the Family's publicity-averse leader, that he is "a unique presence in Washington: a genuinely loving spiritual mentor and guide to anyone, regardless of party or faith, who wants to deepen his or her relationship with God."
Furthermore, the Family takes credit for some of Clinton's rightward legislative tendencies, including her support for a law guaranteeing "religious freedom" in the workplace, such as for pharmacists who refuse to fill birth control prescriptions and police officers who refuse to guard abortion clinics.
There's a new book coming about the group coming out in May by Jeff Sharlet, who wrote the Harper's piece and joined one of the sect's male only group homes to learn more about them.
A crowd of 4,000, including President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, lawmakers, judges, heads of state and others from more than 100 countries, came together for coffee, conversation and spiritual contemplation at the annual National Prayer Breakfast held this morning in Washington, D.C..
The biggest stir came when Republican presidential front-runner, Sen. John McCain, made a conspicuous entrance with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, the Democrat-turned-independent senator from Connecticut. While most of the audience quietly awaited opening remarks, the two senators made the long walk from the back of the ballroom to their table at the front. They sat side-by-side and seemed oblivious to the flock of photographers who had swooped in for a few close-ups. McCain played it coy last month when asked if he was considering a McCain-Lieberman ticket; Lieberman, he responded, would “be a great partner in any endeavor.”
The National Prayer Breakfast is an outgrowth of a separate private weekly prayer breakfasts that various members of Congress have attended since the 1940s.
snip
In his comments, Bush said he was pleased to carrying on a practice observed by every president since Dwight Eisenhower. “It’s an important tradition and I’m sure presidents who come after me will do the same,” Bush said as he tipped his head in the direction of McCain.
The National Prayer Breakfasts, sponsored by "The Family," are the biggest story never talked about by the media concerning its connections to religious fanatics, their truly scary beliefs and behind the scenes political power around the globe.
Screw them all if they - the Clintons, the media and the GOP wingtards - haven't figured out what a political joke they are all becoming.And all because they can't accept the possibility of an outside candidate out working them all on his way into the White House.
I can understand the Clinton and McCain campaigns throwing "the kitchen sink" at Obama... But when the media uses their partisan ammunition and ignores the hypocrisy of it all, then they are throwing Obama under the bus for their own obviusly partisan reasons.
The media needs to start taking a hard look at the Clintons, McCains and the right wing GOP's religious stupidity and demanding (in days of unending relentlessness) apologies and repudiations and the media needs to continue to speculate on the "genuineness of" of their repudiations for weeks afterwards... It would be the only way they could claim any genuine semblance of balance on these issues.
If you got this far reading, you might want to Buzz this!
[update] To fix link, video and info on HRC's ties to "The Family".
Iowa Democratic Party officials said that with more than 86 percent of the delegates picked, Obama claimed 52 percent of the delegates elected at county conventions on Saturday, compared to 32 percent for Clinton. About 16 percent of the delegates picked at Saturday's conventions were sticking with Edwards, even though he's dropped from the race since Iowa held its caucuses in January.
Democratic Party projections said the results mean Obama increased by seven the number of delegates he collects from the state, getting a total of 23 compared to 14 for Clinton and seven for Edwards, with one to be decided.
Twelve automatic delegates bring the state's total to 57. Obama has been endorsed by four of those and Clinton three, with the remainder uncommitted.
A while back we noted that top Clinton advisor Harold Ickes had admonished the press not to use the phrase "super delegates" but instead to employ what he claims is the more accurate "automatic delegates." The Clinton campaign has pushed for this change of phrase on the thinking that calling them "super delegates" carries a negative connotation that somehow they're more powerful or privileges than other delegates. And that's important because their path to the nomination will almost certainly have to rely on super delegates going overwhelmingly for Clinton despite Obama's having the majority of pledged delegates.
On Countdown last night, Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow sum up just how stupid this bush stunt was:
Radio talk show host Rachel Maddow discusses President Bush’s speech at his final Gridiron Dinner in which he made light of his own failures which have damaged America.
KO mentions at the end of the clip that there will be a special comment coming up tonight on the Ferarro/Clinton insanity. ctblogger has a lot up on that:
Ferraro said, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."
It gets worse as Geraldine Ferraro goes batshit crazy against Senator Chris Dodd saying the senior senator supports Obama because "the guys stick together" while throwing the race card in Congressman Rosa DeLauro saying the reason for DeLauro supporting Obama is because of her black constituents.
Some of Kathy's post is confusing, so she has provided some clarification:
I used a figure of speech that might be confusing for readers and I want to clarify: By December 18 I got all of my donations back.
I happily donated $2,000. They had my VISA card on file. Unauthorized donations were made.
In addition, I was actually double charged for an event that I did attend.
Smoking gun: $5,800 is $1,200 over the legal limit.
I would say this in a court of law. I am an honest person...the following statement is true down to the letter:
Matt McQuenney who works in the compliance department at HRC headquarters told me verbatim -"What happened to you with credit card errors is happening to others,. You are not alone. Kathy, I'm trying hard to find out where and who it's coming from. What's going on!"
I voluntarily left the Hillary Finance Committee after I discovered more than $3,000 in unauthorized charges from HRC campaign on my own VISA card! And that set off a wave of overdrafts and $400 in bank charges that I was stuck with. And the compliance officer Allison Wright at Hillary VA headquarters refused to reimburse me for the charges. And the senior finance reps who I notified about more than $3,000 in unauthorized Visa Charges never once aplogized or empathized with my plight, much less sent me a "sorry for all the trouble" note and a check!
Unbelievably, it took me more than a month of pleading and begging via email to get the money back. I was told verbatim:
"Kathy Callahan, you are going to be with us all the way to the White House...So let's leave the money where it is and we'll save time on inevitable future donations and transactions!"
I went into a state of abject shock, disbelief and later anger! Heartbroken. I didn't want to report this entirely correctable problem to anyone outside the Hillary campaign! One long month later, and at the behest of a bank executive who said to me a few days before Christmas Eve, "You are way way way over the legal donor limit, Kathy! What are they thinking? Are they thinking at all?"
So I followed his direction and filed a police report in Ridgefield.
After she filed the police report the Clinton campaign finally returned her money. She is an Obama supporter now. You can read the entire diary here.I am certain you are thinking to yourself this is a made up story. I know I did when I first read it! Well? So did Blue Jersey admins. (worried about libel suits). Then in comments came this information:
Obama's message had already resonated with Kathy Callahan of Ridgefield months ago, when she said she defected from Clinton's finance committee to support Obama.
"Hillary speaks to my mind," Callahan said. "He talks to my mind and heart and soul as a Democratic activist. There is a difference. It's inspiration into action."
The FEC report for Kathy is available online and corroborates the numbers Kathy gave.
As a side note:This diary is for my wife! ;) She always complains that I go too easy on Hillary Clinton. I just don't have anything personal against Clinton, nor do I share the right wings irrational hatred of her. I just don't like her policies, votes, and I especially do not like the team of conservative-lite beltway insiders she will bring with her in that one in a million chance she wins the nomination, never mind the presidency.
Hey! It's not like Hillary Clinton is a monster or anything but... Well? You get the picture.
There has been quite a bit of news on the statement by Hillary Clinton that she and McCain had experience, and Obama simply has a speech.
"I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002," Clinton says.
This has gotten a lot of criticism on the web. And Keith has just weighed in. I don't have a link yet, but we've got what was just discussed on Countdown. He and Rachel Maddow were incredulous at her 3AM video, as well as her statements.
Rachel Maddow:
"That's what you say when you want to be John McCain's Vice Presidential choice. That's not what you say when you are trying to become the democratic nominee for president."
Keith:
"Unbelievable."
Absolutely on point. Hillary's statement is outrageous, essentially cutting an ad for McCain in the general if Obama is the nominee. Olbermann openly wondered why she was playing this card, and also cited the inability of Hillary advisers to point to where she has been tested on foreign policy.
And some Democratic supporters wonder why many independents look at her campaign and say they will never vote for her? She and her campaign are the epitome of the reasoning behind some in the left voting for 3rd party candidates.
By now, you've probably heard of the new attack line from the Hillary campaign, accusing Obama of plagiarism because an ad-libbed portion of his stump speech mimicked the language and rhythm of a two-year-old speech by his friend and supporter, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
Patrick told the New York Times that he and Obama freely exchange speech ideas and that he didn't feel like a citation was needed.
The Clinton campaign held a conference call this morning to continue pushing this line of attack. TPM Election Central asked campaign adviser Howard Wolfson about Patrick's remarks:
Wolfson said the plagiarism charge still holds because listeners go in with the assumption that Obama's speeches are original, unless credit is given. "So I think it's fine that Deval Patrick said that," Wolfson said. "But what I'm concerned about is that the public has an expectation that Sen. Obama's words are his own."
Wolfson's concern for the public's fragile expectations would be quaint if it wasn't so transparently self-serving. Obviously, this isn't plagiarism.
But like the flip-flop line of attack Hillary is pressing on Obama's public financing pledge, the attack speaks to her campaign's effort to undermine the very thing that has been the centerpiece of Obama's candidacy: his authenticity.
Sure he gives better speeches than I do, the Hillary line goes, but the words aren't even his own.
McCain's rise is a dramatic turn in a state where former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the favorite last fall before fading in the early decision states of Iowa, New Hampshire and Michigan.
After being widely written off last year, McCain now is preferred by 39 percent of Republicans, compared with 16 percent for Giuliani and 11 percent for former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, according to the poll by the Center for Survey Research and Analysis at the University of Connecticut.
In the Democratic race, Clinton is favored by 41 percent of Democrats, compared with 27 percent for Barack Obama and 9 percent for John Edwards. One in five Democrats is undecided, an audience Obama is trying to reach with television ads that began Saturday.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, capturing strong support from women voters and adding a fresh boost of momentum to her campaign as the Democratic presidential race heads to South Carolina, where she is engaged in a fierce battle with her rival, Senator Barack Obama.
snip
The New York senator had 51 percent of the vote to Mr. Obama’s 45 percent, with just over 90 percent of the state’s caucuses reporting. John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, faded to a distant third place with 4 percent of the vote.
Barack Obama released an official statement celebrating a delegate victory. "We came from over twenty-five points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled," he said.
A current estimate of the national convention delegate count is below, though not all precincts have fully reported.
As Plouffe cast doubt on the accuracy of the caucus results, he also claimed electoral victory. Senator Obama, he argued, actually wound up winning more delegates (13) than Clinton (12).
"On one very important measure, we had a slight lead," said Plouffe. "Just as important as the number is why that is: we showed real strength statewide."
The Associated Press was reporting the numbers flipped, but an AP official on the conference call suggested that Obama's campaign could be right. [Update: The AP has changed its count to reflect a delegate win for Obama, 13-12.]
As mentioned earlier today, NH SoS Bill Gardner told WMUR in NH that "We did nine of the 12 wards in Manchester, and a lot of the votes were exactly the same...Some went up by a vote or two." He didn't, of course, note that a lot of the vote counts (most of them) were off by 5 or more.
And now, the rest of the numbers from the rest of the Manchester wards are coming on. And get a load of Ward 5:
Diebold Result
Hand Count
CLINTON
683
619
EDWARDS
255
217
OBAMA
404
365
All of the other candidates seem to have lost votes as well. No clue who received them instead...
But many more vote counts were not at all the same, ranging anywhere from 5 to 8 votes off in regular cases, across almost all candidates.
And before you say that's no big deal, we'll remind you that in 2004, had just 6 votes per precinct been registered in Ohio for John Kerry instead of George W. Bush, we'd have a different person sitting in the White House right now.
So far, this is not looking very pretty. Not in retrospect, nor in looking forward...
On the bright side for the left? His candidacy will likely only hurt them if Hillary is the candidate. There are too many on the left that would refuse to vote for her if she is the nominee for the Dems, IMHO.
But regardless of the candidate for the GOP, given their especially weak crop of candidates this election cycle, a "Mike Bloomberg for President" third party run will siphon off a lot of their usual voters.
[update deux] I just wanted to put Bloomberg's support in perspective compared to a snapshot of the reality of how America really feels. Representative Wexler was seeking 50,000 signatures for his Impeachment efforts last month. In a matter of hours he had surpassed that number.
As of 10:43 AM today (Sunday, December 15th) Wexler has amassed more than the 50,000 signatures he was looking for:
After about 24 hours Wexler had reached 67000 signatures. As of today (January 16th - a month later) here are the numbers for Wexler's Impeachment petition:
"You've probably never heard of Jim Goodnow, but Jim is a veteran who owns a bus, The Yellow Rose, that he uses to haul Iraq Veterans Against the War around the country. Friday night he pulled into a New Jersey truck stop to get some sleep and someone torched The Yellow Rose. Jim is OK.
Let this be a lesson for all of us. We are not dealing with rational, sane people, when we're dealing with the Right. Let's face it, these people consider the draft dodging, drug addicted, liar Rush Limbaugh a great American patriot."
I am sorry to hear about this. Just glad to hear that nobody was hurt. And I hope his insurance covers "GOP extremists' acts of terrorism," if that is the case?
A Louisiana State University student told another student that he was planning a violent attack against Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the police said. The student, Richard R. Wargo, 19, of Shreveport, was held on $1 million bail.
snip
Mr. Wargo had asked another student whether he wanted to commit arson, a “terrorist act” that he described as a “national event.” “He reportedly went on to say it was political and it involved Hillary Clinton,” Chief Adams said.
I went to do a little poking around to see if maybe, JUST MAYBE, this crackpot terrorist wannabe was an LSU College Republican... But for some reason the site is temporarily down?
I am the newly elected and former President of the LSU College Republicans.
The "be right back" page on the LSUCR.com website was purely coincidence. Warga has nothing to do with me or my decision to have our website redesigned with a Web 2.0 look and feel. Our website was last updated in May of 2005, so it was time for a face lift.
I have personally never met the guy and I have been in the leadership of the College Republicans for the past 3 years. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Thanks,
Paul Dietzel 2 President College Republicans at LSU
"I know nothing, I hear nothing, I see nothing..." I'll give Dietzel the benefit of the doubt barring proof otherwise.
The classmate later learned Clinton had scheduled a Baton Rouge appearance. Police said the student reported Wargo to the university after a second conversation in which Wargo made another remark indicating he planned violence against Clinton.
That remark "was something along the lines of, 'Have you ever heard of a dead president?'" Adams said.
Police arrested Wargo in a traffic stop Thursday night. Officers searched his dormitory room and found documents that made the classmate's accusations appear credible, Adams said. He declined to give details, but said officers also seized Wargo's computer and marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
Making threats toward presidential candidate U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton was a “stupid thing to do,” but in time it will be clear the LSU student behind the threats had no intention of carrying them out, his attorney said Monday.
Richard Ryan Wargo, 19, 10301 Evangeline, Shreveport, was released Monday from Parish Prison to the custody of his parents, attorney Frank Holthaus said.
The release is subject to conditions, including one that requires Wargo to undergo a mental health evaluation and get treatment if recommended by the therapist.
What kind of penalties could he face for his threats?
Under Louisiana law, a terrorizing conviction carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a fine up to $15,000, while communicating false information of a planned arson carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Usually we are talking about the right-wingnut-crack that freepers are smoking. Crooks & Liars reports on the white powder that one freeper was desperate to share with anyone that held opposing viewpoints to the failed Republican agenda.
C&L reported earlier on the guy who sent the fake anthrax around. Who would have thought that a right wing conservative would be involved in terrorist activities?
HMMM?? Who would have thought that the wingnutty Free Republic was guilty of supporting terrorists other than Mr. Bush?
Can you believe how many of those terrorists are over here? Can't be more, can there?
Terrorism charges brought Friday against the administrator of a loan investment program claimed that he secretly tried to send $152,000 to the Middle East to buy equipment such as night vision goggles for a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, 53, of Ardsley, N.Y., pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Manhattan to an indictment accusing him of terrorism financing, material support of terrorism and other charges. The charges carried a potential penalty of 95 years in prison.
But would you really believe me if I told you he was a Republican?
CBS News has confirmed that Alishtari is a donor to the Republican Party, as he claims on his curriculum vitae. Alishtari gave $15,500 to the National Republican Campaign Committee between 2002 and 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records. That amount includes $13,000 in 2003, a year when he claims to have been named NRCC New York State Businessman of the Year.
Alishtari also claims to be a lifetime member of the National Republican Senate Committee's Inner Circle, which the NRCC describes as "an impressive cross-section of American society – community leaders, business executives, entrepreneurs, retirees, and sports and entertainment celebrities – all of whom hold a deep interest in our nation's prosperity and security."
The Republican party needs to be placed on "The List" of terrorist related organizations and watched very carefully.
It is pretty apparent that the FBI and Homeland Security are wasting their time watching us liberal/peacenik/Quaker/progressive/etc. types. Just ask Ken Krayeske...
[updates] Thank you to those that got this story moving. Raw Story, Crooks and Liars, and Josh Marshall, whose his readers have been dig, dig, digging:
Choice artifacts they have dug up?
This:
Never too Late for this Story Update: Oh that's interesting. Cunning Realist found this CV purportedly posted by Mr. Alishtari. In addition to other GOP donor awards, Alishtari says that he was appointed to something called the "White House Business Advisory Committee" in 2003. And CR ends with this point, referencing Alishtari's CV: "Note the entrepreneurial business background with a focus on technology/security. Have any of those businesses ever received government contracts or funds? Any direct or indirect contact in the past with anyone from the Bush administration or Congress?"
That:
It tuns out Mr. Alishtari, the GOP campaign contributor indicted for sending funds for terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, had a fairly lively life online. TPM Reader TDP points to what purports to be Alishtari blog. And in a rather rambling post there's a reference to an alleged meeting with VP Dick Cheney. "When I went to DC in the Fall of 2003 and met with VP Cheney, I was first in a room full of advisers where I asked how to resolve this and they advised me to talk to counsels which led to this solution."
Now, we can't be certain that this is actually Alishtari's blog, though I think the weight of evidence suggests that it is.
And the other thing:
He contributed a decent amount of money to GOP congressional campaign committees in the 2002 and 2004 cycles and managed get named to a number of 'committees' and 'councils' set up as perks for GOP campaign contributors, including something called the "White House Business Advisory Committee."
Now a reader of the Cunning Realist blog has dug up the archived version of the website of Mr. Alishtari's company, GlobalProtector, which shows that at the same time Alishtari was giving money to the GOP he was bidding on multiple government contracts -- including ones with the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
Westchester businessman and purported peace activist was nabbed by the feds for allegedly plotting to funnel more than $150,000 to terrorists at training camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Peace activist my ass! This guy is so up to his eyeballs in the GOP and full of it.As it turned out Alishtari actually donated more than the originally reported $15,500 to the Republican party coffers... About $35,000 in total.
Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari, indicted two weeks ago for financing terrorists in Afghanistan among other charges, gave more than $35,000 to Republican campaign committees, not $15,000 as was reported earlier.
A $20,000 contribution from Alishtari to the National Republican Senatorial Committee on August 29th, 2003, was not previously reported because his name was misspelled ("Allshtari") on the NRSC's disclosure form to the Federal Election Commission (unfortunately, such misspellings are fairly frequent). Alishtari's online CV stated that he was named an "Inner Circle Member for Life" of the NRSC.
"Oops! Building on my last post on the NRCC's bogus Business Advisory Council and 'Businessman of the Year' program, it turns out that Abdul Tawala Ibn Ali Alishtari isn't the first member of the council to be indicted on charges of supporting terrorism.
Yasith Chhun, the head of the Cambodian Freedom Fighters, a group designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, was indicted in May of 2005 for charges of plotting to overthrow the Cambodian government. He was also, The Los Angeles Times reported, a member of the NRCC's Business Advisory Council:"
Chhun is set to go to trial next month and has been indicted for "attempting to kill the prime minister, attack government buildings and launch small-scale attacks on karaoke bars and fuel depots in an effort to galvanize opposition to the Phnom Penh government," according to the La Times.
Attacking Karaoke bars? Some might argue that he was doing a public service there. (JK)
When will the United States government outlaw the GOP for their ties to global terrorism? heh
No matter how you look at it... We will always be fighting them OVER HERE, regardless of the political party in charge. The one other thing that is becoming increasingly clear is that while we are fighting them over here already, many of them clearly are REPUBLICAN TERRORISTS.
Figure the odds, eh?
So the Republican party can shut their gaping pieholes when they try and label liberals, progressives and Dems as "emboldening", "giving comfort to," "etc. ad nauseum," the enemy in any way related to terrorism.
You lying and incompetent fuckwads in the Republican party have done more to further terrorists' causes "OVER HERE" than most of the other terrorist leaders in your "Global War on Terror" combined.
The one and only thing that has kept us safe "OVER HERE," so far, is the fact that the FBI and the CIA don't buy the GOP's ridiculous talking points. And nobody else is buying your propaganda either.
