black…MYstory

As you are probably aware, television and the internet are buzzing from John McCain’s recent comments. On an interview on the Today Show, John McCain was asked if he could now, as a result of the surge, estimate when troops could come home. McCain offered the following:

“No, but that’s not too important. What’s important is casualties in Iraq. Americans are in South Korea. Americans are in Japan. American troops are in Germany. That’s all fine. American casualties, and the ability to withdraw. We will be able to withdraw. … But the key to it is we don’t want any more Americans in harm’s way.”

Not too important? You have people who may have been put on as much as their fifth tour in Iraq but, it’s “not too important” how long people have to be away from their families. Even if some day, many years from now, we get to a point where casualties are non-existent, we still have the fact that we will likely require a significant troop presence there to protect the huge embassy and military bases being built there, as well as protecting all the corporations that are looking to feed at the trough there.

This means that military people will continue to be asked to keep the burdens on their families to support a failed policy because George Bush and, now, John McCain tell us that some day this will all be worth it.

However, try telling people like the families of Marlin Rockhold or LaVena Johnson that when they were coming home was not too important. Both of them died after Bush declared “Mission Accomplished”. For their families, the date on which they came home decided whether or not they would ever see them alive again.

Of course, in John McCain’s world, war is an ideal state of being, allowing him some shining glory. However, for people serving and their families, it’s about sacrifice, hardship and a constant fear of that knock on the door from someone telling you your loved one is coming home in a casket.

So, no Senator McCain, it is imporatant. It’s important to a lot of people.

Also, here’s the interview in a fuller context to show that it’s still no less worse:

Popularity: 12% [?]

As you no doubt know by now, Hillary Clinton campaign has signaled that Senator Clinton will suspend her campaign and endorse Barack Obama this Saturday.

With this move, Clinton will end her 17-month bid for the Democratic nomination and clear a path for Obama to take on John McCain.

Honestly, I thought this day would not come but, I am glad it finally has.

Maybe now the Democrats can begin the healing process.

Popularity: 16% [?]

The Associated Press has a story out on some of the biggest mistakes made by the Clinton campaign that cost her the nomination.

Honestly, I had thought for the longest time that she was poorly-served by the people around her, not the least of which was her own husband, former President Bill Clinton.

She has said some things that caused me to raise an eyebrow but, for the most part, it was the management of her campaign and the surrogates that spoke for her that left me most taken aback.

One section of this article stood out for me. It was how the actions of Bill Clinton ended up costing Hillary Clinton the black vote when, at the time, she enjoyed a significant advantage with black voters. It sums ups what I saw quite nicely:

Until January of this year, former President Clinton had been viewed as an asset for his wife among her aides and supporters. Although reviled by conservatives for his affair with a White House intern, Bill Clinton remained a beloved figure among Democratic audiences, particularly blacks, who remembered the 1990s as relatively prosperous and his efforts on their behalf.

That changed in South Carolina, where the former president campaigned vigorously for his wife. Her advisers, aware of his tendency to go off message, had urged him to stay positive and talk up her accomplishments, not criticize Obama.

But Bill Clinton chafed at the campaign’s reluctance to take on the Illinois senator, particularly over what the former president viewed as conflicts between Obama’s rhetoric of opposition to the Iraq war and his voting record. So he took it on himself to speak out, with calamitous results.

Obama soundly won South Carolina, and Bill Clinton then made things worse. He seemed to diminish Obama’s triumph by noting that civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, never the presidential contender that Obama had already become, had also won the state’s primary years earlier.

Once so popular among blacks he was dubbed the first black president by author Toni Morrison, Bill Clinton had helped drive those voters away from his wife. Obama’s already strong black support would climb to as much as 90 percent of the black vote in subsequent contests.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Congratulations, Barack Obama!

Last night, you went on to become the first black presidential nominee in U.S. history. More importantly, you are now the candidate designated to lead us out of the darkness of the last 7+ years.

So, for a moment, savor your victory then…get back to work!

We have a country to change.

Popularity: 10% [?]

We might now know why the Clinton campaign adamantly denied today that their candidate will concede.

In a word — leverage.

It now appears that Hillary Clinton has signaled that she would be open to be Obama’s Vice-president.

Perhaps her delay on announcing her exit of the race would be for just that reason and put her in the position to bargain for the spot.

While it would not be the “dream ticket” I would envision, it could help unite the party (did I just say that?)

So, it seems the veepstakes is on and Hillary Clinton may have just thrown her name in the hat.

Popularity: 15% [?]

I don’t know what possessed me to turn it on but, I was watching Morning Joe on MSNBC as I was getting ready for work. I guess the show’s normal host, Joe Scarborough, was off and his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, was running the show.

They decided to read some emails from viewer complaining about how Obama’s now-former church, his former pastor and, most recently, a guest pastor there were receiving all this media attention but, there was no one looking into Hillary Clinton’s church or no real scrutiny of John McCain’s relationship with some of the most extreme right-wing ministers this country has to offer.

I was most floored when I heard Brzezinski say the following:

“Okay, umm…first of all, I think we covered the Hagee story as much, umm…the Reverend Wright situation injected itself into the news cycle for sure, but having said that, don’t you think that there is a difference or is there not, especially given the fact that he resigned from his church.”

Needless to say, this is a flat-out lie. The John Hagee story lasted a few days, at best, and was summarily dismissed. MSNBC had weeks on end of coverage of Jeremiah Wright, from sun up to sun down.

So, to say that this was the same shows just how disingenuous some in the media really are.

(thanks to Crooks And Liars for the video)

 

 Morning Joe (Mika) on Rev. Wright Coverage: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Popularity: 15% [?]

Well, we already know that tonight marks the end of the primary season. For a while now, we have heard rumblings that indicated that we could see a delegate fight at the Democratic National Convention in August, which would pose a huge risk to the chances of a Democratic candidate in November.

However, there are signals that this won’t happen.

Today, the breaking news is that Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight will be a concession speech. According to senior officials on her campaign, if Obama has the 40 remaining delegates (pledged and super) that he needs to reach the magic number of 2,118, Senator Clinton will acknowledge Obama as the Democratic nominee.

However, it appears that she will not say that she is formally ending her run.

At any rate, I’ll be up late tonight awaiting this. If this is the case, it will not be the Obama victory speech that everyone will be awaiting. Instead, it will be the concession speech that will own tonight’s coverage.

Update: Now, some in the Clinton campaign say she will not concede. So, we will see which of these stories prove to be true tonight.

Popularity: 14% [?]

I had to laugh at how hard some right-wingers are willing to push against reality or, at least, credibility, to prove a point.  For example, you KFYI’s (Phoeniz, AZ) right-wingnut Bruce Jacobs who decides to read, on air, a Wall Street Journal “article” attributed to Bill Cosby.  You might have seen it before, it starts off with the following:

“Rev. Wright epitomizes the thoughts and actions that have prevented and continue to prevent black America from moving ahead and achieving their potential as a people. He suggests that this United States of America made up of sons and daughters of immigrants (I’m talking of the millions of 1st, 2nd, 3rd generation immigrants in this country) of every race, creed, color and religion each and everyone of them who had nothing to do with slavery, some how owe something to a group of people who have never been slaves?”

Now, if you click on the link above, you might be confused.  You might say, “hey, that’s not the article!  This article is about Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s recent speeches on reconciliation, not Bill Cosby’s article!”

Well, that’s because you didn’t scroll down to the comments section.  My quote above was from comments posted by a reader calling himself “Bill Cosby”.  So, because this person posted under the name of “Bill Cosby”, the internet has been lit up with message board posts and blog posts about what “Bill Cosby” said about Rev. Wright.  Funny enough, in all the posts I’ve seen, I had not seen one link to this supposed article.  So, I went to Snopes.com, which is an internet myth-busting site, and saw that they  had the real deal on the story.

The funny part about it is that Jacobs was reading the story like it was in an actual newspaper and not a printout of comments from a post on the Wall Street Journal blogs.  So, Jacobs deceived his listeners and, no doubt, many of these suckers went on to repeat this nonsense.

However, it doesn’t appear to be the first time he’s done this.  In 2003, Jacobs reported an urban legend about Bill Clinton as fact.  In that urban legend, Bill Clinton dodged the draft and became a fugitive from justice.  However, as a “fugitive from justice”, Bill Clinton ran for Congress in 1974 and for Attorney General of Arkansas in 1976 (okay, has this gotten ridiculous enough yet?)   They way this urban legend goes, he was pardoned by President Jimmy Carter right after Carter was inaugurated in 1977 (never mind that Presidents usually issue pardons when leaving office, not right after they’re sworn in).

In other words, Jacobs is not big on the truth.

Now, of course, he was not content with just making himself sound stupid so, yes, he put up a YouTube video.

Popularity: 17% [?]

As I shared with you yesterday, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta made a very tasteless joke about “knocking off” Presidential candidate Barack Obama when she said the following:

…”and now we have what … uh…some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama …uh..um..Obama ….well both if we could “…

There must have been some heat on her because, on Fox News, she apologized both yesterday and today.  However, at least in the “apology” I heard, she did not specifically apologize to Senator Obama, the person she actually spoke of knocking off.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Apparently, references to shooting and assassinations in regards to Senator Obama seem to be okay, whether they be in a joking (and unfunny) manner like Mike Huckabee did or in the veiled manner of Hillary Clinton.  Political assassination is not the stuff to talk about in a flip way, much less a joking way.

Enter Liz Trotta.

According to her bio on Foxnews.com, Liz Trotta is…“the former New York bureau chief of The Washington Times and is a contributor for FOX News Channel.

…

Trotta has worked for Hillman Periodicals; Inter-Catholic Press Agency; Long Island Press; Chicago Tribune; Newsday; NBC and CBS. She has taught Journalism at Stern College of Yeshiva University.

The winner of three Emmy awards and two Overseas Press Club awards, Trotta is a graduate of Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.”

Apparently, she is also just another right-wing tool.

In referencing the flap over Hillary Clinton’s evoking the RFK assassination as her rationale for staying in the race, Trotta brings to us this gem:

…”and now we have what … uh…some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama …uh..um..Obama ….well both if we could “…

Yes, she joked about knocking off Obama while a guest on a national “news” network.  I guess this is par for the course in Republican World.  If you can’t win on the issues, appeal to the hate in people.

The video is below:

Popularity: 19% [?]