Au so Corrente: the new left McCarthyism
By Steve Diamond on June 12, 2008 at 11:45 AM in Annenberg Chicago Challenge, Barack Obama, Bernardine Dohrn, Bill Ayers, Chicago, Chicago politics, Hugo Chavez, William Ayers
If they start to foam at the mouth about you I guess what you are saying is having some kind of impact, so the lumping of my work along with others under the title of a recent blog called “Lies, Damnable Lies, and Political Commentary,” should perhaps be viewed as a kind of praise.
But the fact that the site (something called Corrente - apparently run by Leah Appet, an affiliate at some recent date of an outfit known as MoveOn.org) refuses to register me in order to respond – after several attempts over a number of hours – is the sign of dirty pool. And this is combined with personal remarks about me on their blog by someone hiding behind a fictitious name. (Do the site’s web masters realize, or care, that I teach at a law school?)
So instead of continuing my frustrating attempts to respond on their site, let me point out a few things about the comments today of “Bringiton” on Corrente. What we will discover is, in fact, a new form of McCarthyism entering today’s political discourse, only this time from the authoritarian left.
First, an irony: it takes this person more than 5,000 words to tell his no doubt hungry readers that, well, of all the things we have to worry about in this world, that one of my posts was 4,500 words long! And, guess what? If you accept his view of it, I didn’t say anything! You would be wasting your life to spend a minute considering what I have written because it is nothing more than a lie or a damned lie and I am nothing more than a tool of what he charmingly calls the “VWRC” (the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy).
(Oh, by the way, Bringiton, conspiracies typically are crafted, well, conspiratorially, but everything I have said has been on the record. We are left to guess at who or what Corrente is much less whom or what Bringiton is. Is a conspiracy afoot, right wing or otherwise on Corrente? Inquiring minds would like to know.)
But let’s get to the heart of the matter:
Is there a political relationship between Obama and Ayers?
If so, should we care?
The answer to both question is Yes. Ayers and Obama have known each other for at least 14 years. They have worked very closely together on a number of projects, projects which have had political goals, primarily in education policy. Ayers is surely not just some guy Obama met at a kids’ soccer match.
Ayers advocates a narrow-minded and potentially divisive concept called “repayment of 400 years of the education debt to people of color” that is now also the number one priority of Obama’s senior education advisor, an individual who has long standing close professional ties to Bill Ayers.
Obama has also indicated a willingness to consider aspects of this idea.
These are facts, ladies and gentlemen. There is a clear public record of it.
In fact, although you would never know it, these facts are not denied by Mr. Bringiton.
Actually, far from it: although you would never know it unless you, too, had the professional and political obligation to wade through his 5,000 word screed, Bringiton SUPPORTS reparations through “repayment of the education debt to people of color.”
In fact, he brags, “Obama has suggested, as have many others including myself, that the issue of slavery “reparations” can be addressed through collective investment….”
I am sure the Senator welcomes Bringiton’s endorsement of his views.
If Obama, however, were to endorse this proposal, I think he would have to withdraw his nomination. Whether or not one thinks reparations for slavery is a good idea (I happen to think, like perhaps the Palestinian right of return, there are credible arguments for it and huge political and cultural obstacles in its way), it is politically untenable for a U.S. presidential candidate to campaign on that idea or on any approach, like “repayment of 400 years of education debt to people of color,” that is an attempt to sneak the same idea through another door.
There is, fortunately, now a progressive alternative available at least on the education front: the Bold Approach announced this week by the Economic Policy Institute. I presume, and hope, that debate about the candidate’s approach to education is underway inside the Party right now.
What clearly bothers Bringiton and no doubt many of his friends in the authoritarian left, then, is not that I have written about Ayers and Obama, it is that I disagree with his politics. But instead of a straightforward debate about the merits of the issue of reparations, he instead tries to dispense with my argument by lumping me in with what he thinks is a conspiracy.
And he tries to deny the actual politics that he and the others on the authoritarian left really defend. Fidelista Carl Davidson, webmaster for Progressives for Obama, only opposes the embargo against Cuba?
In response to an absurdly friendly interview of Cuban leader Ricardo Alarcon by fellow Obama backer Tom Hayden (who has the nerve to describe how “freely” Alarcon speaks about the “many forms of socialism” [sic!] without ever asking about dissidents languishing in Cuban prisons) Davidson reminisced as follows:
Very good, Tom.
It brought back memories of the night in 1968 when you, I and Dave Dellinger were hustled through the streets of Havana for our late-night, long, rambling talk with Fidel.
Alarcon is asking all the right questions, and I agree with him about
[Brazilian President] LuLa, too. There is a ‘High Road,’ market-inclusive, solidarity economy alternative to neoliberalism and hegemonism. It needs imagination, audacity, organizing and all the friends to[we?] can find.Cuba, by the way, is what transformed me, in my twenties, from an anarcho-syndicalist into someone who could read Che from Gr[a]msci’s eyes, or vice versa?
In any case, we need fresh thinking.
Keep On Keepin’ On…
So the same year the Russian tanks roll into Prague to crush the Czech uprising, these two Obama backers are kicking it with Fidel in Havana. Forgive me for thinking Davidson is, indeed, something more than a simple advocate of free trade with Cuba.
Today, of course, the hot spot for the left Obama supporters is Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, where Bill Ayers visits often and cheered the “revolutionary” nature of education in front of Chavez in November, 2006.
Here’s a shot of the “revolutionary” education conference that Ayers attended. The banner in the background reads “Bolivarian Education and the Defeat of Capitalist School.” And here are some fellow Obama supporters: maoist labor activist Bill Fletcher on the left and Danny Glover, on the right, on a recent revolutionary tour of the “new socialist man’s” paradise. They were on a visit to “see the results of the peaceful revolutionary process led by President Hugo Chavez.” (Picture thanks to the Progressives for Obama website.)
Of course, the press is full recently of the accounts of Chavez’s attempts to turn neighbor against neighbor in an overhaul of his intelligence services. Fortunately, what vestige of democracy still exists there was used recently to defeat his attempt to solidify power through a rewriting of the Constitution.
Instead of a head on discussion of the actual politics at stake in this debate, Bringiton deals with our political disagreement by engaging in guilt by (vague and unsubstantiated) association, a tactic worthy of the McCarthy period. The fact that some on the right may agree with me on some aspects of the Ayers-Obama link (and, believe me, they disagree with far more) it is enough for this person to dispense with concrete discussion and, instead, simply toss everything in the trashbin.
Oh, but not until he has written his 5,000 words about, well, something.
I guess we can happily look forward to more of this as the facts about the Ayers-Obama relationship, those stubborn little things, upset the apple cart of so many on the authoritarian left.
Lies, Damnable Lies, and Political Commentary | Corrente
_____________________
From my blog, Global Labor and the Global Economy.
About me: I am a law professor and political scientist on the faculty of Santa Clara University School of Law in Santa Clara, California, which is in the heart of Silicon Valley. I teach courses on the global capital markets, the international economy, corporate governance and international labor and human rights. Prior to joining the faculty I was in private legal practice in New York and in Palo Alto. I also have an extensive background in the labor movement and advise a wide range of unions, workers and institutional investors on financial and legal issues. This website is an independent project and hence is my responsibility and it is not affiliated in any other way with the law school or Santa Clara University.
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I’ve tried twice to register at Corrente over the past few months and it’s never been approved. I’m nobody.
Steve Diamond, the law professor?
I enjoy reading your work posted on Rezkowatch, and by Pundita.
The takover of the bolshevik wing of the Democratic Party is nearing its completion. Check this out:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_moves_DNC_operations_to_Chicago.html
I’m sorry but I guess I must be looking at the LEFT differently. Authoritarian was never a word I’d associate with them.
Sanctimonious pontificators (my word)lol with little spine from which to throw that switch made of hemlock across our knees
HA! As WEAK as the candidates they apparently keep deluding themselves into believing have a snow ball’s chance in HELL of winning!
(breathe)
Authoritarian is the quintessential word to describe any successful communist regime – study the former Soviet Union, the current communist Chinese government, or Cuba for examples of what this means. As a friend of mine who is a Chinese scholar advised me, the Chinese government tightly controls the populace out of the genuine fear of losing control.
I believe Larry is right in using the terminology of “authoritarian” as the primary has been conducted and directed by one regime, obama and camp, fits perfectly and the divide and conquer tactics show obama knows the history of the rise of these types of regimes. Mussolini and Facism, Hitler and Facism and Nazism, etc. History shows a comparable pattern.
How true… Have you seen BO’s “Mussolini Face” when he is basking in the adulation? His head tilts back, his eyes half close and you can bet he’ll want a cigarette when he’s done.
“Communism” with a capital “C” yes. Successful communist revolutions do not automatically become Communist (this is where the authoritarianism comes in). If you look at the *early* events in Russia after the 1917 revolution, you see a lot of dissent within the revolutionaries that was still was accepted and welcomed; free discussion was an integral part of the soviets (with a small “s”). The leaders of the revolution (Lenin, Trotsky et al) displayed authoritarian tendencies in part (though not only because) they had to “unite” within against a counterrevolution from without. I’ve studied that myself in grad school.
About Cuba and China, and Soviet (with a capital S) areas of influence, generally speaking those were never small-c “communist,” though in name they were capital-C “Communist.” Is this splitting hairs? Not at all. There is a difference, and it has something to do with adhering too fast to the idea of the party.
But regarding O’Barky, it’s interesting to see his association with the capital-C type of Communists or leftists, who in their quest to acquire super-radical bona fides, go a little too much towards the authoritarian part of the left . I have encountered many of such types of left authoritarianists. The exchanges have not been pleasant (and I’m part of the left, though I have my own independent analysis as well); I guess in their minds, debate is a matter of agreeing with *their* ideas, rather than exchanging and understanding differing opinions. Barky’s whole campaign is a reflection of this attitude, in my analysis. Though I gotta say that I personally think that BO is a conservative wolf in leftist sheep clothing,
PS: In one other post a while back, I posted as “No Barks for Me.” Didn’t have the chance to respond to comments that followed my initial remarks, since NoQ servers were making my entrance to the blog impossible.
Obama site confronts rumors
By NEDRA PICKLER – 58 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign said Thursday that Michelle Obama never used the word “whitey” in a speech from the church pulpit as he launched a Web site to debunk rumors about himself and his wife.
The rumor that Michelle Obama railed against “whitey” in a diatribe at Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ has circulated on conservative Republican blogs for weeks and was repeated by radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh. The rumor included claims of a videotape of the speech that would be used to bring down Obama’s candidacy this fall.
“No such tape exists,” the campaign responds on the site, http://www.fightthesmears.com. “Michelle Obama has not spoken from the pulpit at Trinity and has not used that word.”
Your right it was not at the Pulpit it was at the Sheraton
The alleged comments were made by MO on a panel at the Sheraton Hotel, not at Trinity Church. Go to HillBuzz for the details.
No one said from the pulpit, it was from a conference.
Ah yes, once again he equivocates and chooses his words so as to misdirect attention. Michelle has not “spoken from the pulpit at Trinity”, he says. But no one has claimed she spoke her odious words from the pulpit at Trinity.
Right, nobody ever claimed that, did they Heather?
hereticdhammasangha
Town Hall
He can just claim to be confused, perhaps? I want to see this tape!
SHE DIDNT USE THE WORD
“FROM THE PULPIT”
I have no doubt she used the word…just not from the pulpit heh
non denial denial part deux
That must be the pre-emption to “why’d”.
THE OBAMA BIRTH CERT LOOKS FAKE!
Have a look and you can see the image, notice the 9’s are not the same.
http://bp1.blogger.com/_ksrGxLg_Gis/SFFY5YYF1CI/AAAAAAAAABA/jdVi5BZ3kbw/s1600-h/image_2.jpg
Large blow up
I dare the Obama camp to post the SAME birth cert on their official website, better yet have Obama hold up the SAME one at Kos and declare it as genuine, lol.
That is an Abstract of his birth certificate which any one can buy online. A certified copy has to applied for by his family members or him and they must bring proof to get it or fax a notarized application to the Hall of Records. The full birth certificate has much more information on it. Don’t fall for this gimmick. It won’t resolve the questions about his birth and whether he is even able to run for the office of president because of his birth status.
i have tried several times to register with no luck. i used to be member of moveon but dropped them when they became so radical. who in the world can you trust these days???
same thing happened to me. So cheer up.
I’ve never heard of that site, but I have been censored at the Huffington Post, and they attempted to put spyware on my computer.
Clearly the new leaders of the liberal left media take a Bush viewpoint towards freedom of speech.
I always thought it was a troll sight, never had anything of interest, just the usual blathering of obtuse, psychically obese, self impressed people.
isnt riverdaughter there?
I thought Corrente was pro-Hillary!
SteveS
What spyware are you using to detect that crap. I might need to update my stuff. I use Mac and Pc.
Let me know. thanks.
JUST SAY NO TO BLACK LIBERATION MARXIST THEOLOGY
NO OBAMA/MARXIST
MCCAIN 2008 OR UNTIL HILLARY RISES
Me, too. I have an ibook and always thought I could avoid that stuff. I use mac janitor but may need an even stronger clean-up.
AVG the one who has the free anti-virus also has a free tool called “Spyware Doctor”. I have it and I use it. It takes out trojans, loggers, etc etc. It is very good. I downloaded it because I got a virus from opening a video. The Trend Micro PC-cillan anti virus would not take it out but AVG’ FREE Spyware Docter did [take out the trojan].
I think what the primaries did this year was expose the true underpinnings of the Democrat party.
I find it very hard to support such a party that uses Stalinist tactics to secure a nomination at all costs. The Obama scorched earth approach has cost them support from everyone I know and cemented a fear of Marxism which I never had before.
The Clinton wing of the party has been and is being systematically purged.
The firewall against this hostile takeover lies with McCain.
If McCain loses then the America I’ve known will be gone
You are exactly right.
to seattle moss: your comment got me to the point of wanting to reply, which is something, as i am usually just a reader (is “lurker” a better term?). i too find it unacceptable to support a party that uses unfair,dishonest machinations to secure a nomination. and i savor your term “stalinistic tactics” mainly because my association with that is of stalin ordering a multitude of his own people killed when they complained of hunger (a horrifying image in my mind as a child, listening to my father rant about cruel dictators of the world). forgive me for being relatively unschooled about marxism. having to deal with med school and training wasn’t conducive to such pursuits. however,i understand enough that what was done to hillary and the clinton democrats was undemocratic and unconscionable. reading this article and what you said made my fears even more real.
The dilema of voting no for Obama…….which I share. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQJ9Xp0xxU
the problem with that little diddy of which I started to appreciate until it went into lala land of lies
You see you fail to say it was a REPUBLICAN SENATE AND HOUSE that did that! We don’t have that anymore and in NOV we’ll probably have a VETO proof majority!
If we have McKook he will not be able to oppose making MOST of that right again. And if he gets stupid with ROE type judges we have again a DEM CONGRESS to STOP the BAD appointment
Well, I have posted before. I think Ayers is just an academic now. I was married to one. They are a bit grandiose. They influence youth, yes, but then youth meets reality in jobs.
Ayers is an education professor, with big ideas.
In CA, we’re not so concerned with big ideas. We are facing massive education cutbacks for a state that is performing dismally nationally. We are trying to the keep the doors open.
So no, I don’t think Ayers is a big deal, other than it shows Obama’s roots. So? He’s not a clone.
I think it’s just another story about his judgment. He’s grossly ambitious. He’ll take any endorsement from any sector. Wright? OK. Ayers? OK. He’s fudge with the public.
Do I think he cares one bit about their agenda? I haven’t seen a single sign of that.
I think he’s only interested in Obama and being the first AA president. That’s it. That’s the extent of his passion.
I fail to see how that ambition benefits people.
But I don’t worry about his academic associates. As I say, I was married to one. Omigod….he couldn’t wait for the next “cause” to jump on. That’s how he progressed in his career. I ended up in the private sector, which explains why I’m moderate. That also explains my divorce. *haha
But don’t take academics so seriously. They are just head-trippers. That’s all. They are rarely really dangerous and usually quite surprised that anyone even really pays attention to them. They are ego-bloated, as I say, to make up for a deep sense of inadequacy that is borne out of a culture that, honestly, doesn’t value education.
You should read Rezkowatch, Professor Diamond, and Pundita, cover this issue, in depth.
Very enlightening.
I usually find when I disbelieve something as “way out there” it’s best to consider it as factual.
Then I whittle away, until I figure out the truth.
I’ve also learned that kooks with power do as they say they will…
I see an Obama that has been groomed (by the elitists)for a few years (2-3) to be in the very position that he is now in. What their goal is, I have no idea, except it smacks of socialism. At a time America is vulnerable for radical ideologies.
I see an Obama that has been groomed (by the elitists)for a few years (2-3) to be in the very position that he is now in. What their goal is, I have no idea, except it smacks of socialism. At a time America is vulnerable to radical ideologies.
Dear AnninCA,
I must respectfully disagree with you
Ayers might be a university professor at this point-in-time, however, reality is he is a domestic terrorits. I agree it does show Obama’s roots and I must add is lack of judgement.
On the judgment issue……you and I are on the same page.
I do agree. It’s another nail in his coffin about his so-called judgment.
I guess I’m coming from my own education. Nobody went to a more radical college in my area than me.
ANd then, I exited college and made a living, raised a kid, sent him to college, yadda.
I LOVED my college and masters experience. But luckily for me, I’m not an idiot. I didn’t honestly think I’d change the world.
I did introduce a communications program, however, based on open, honest communications within the S&L industry during our troubled days. It worked.
I used those core principles to do that. Trust employees. Don’t lie. Inform them.
My company was listed as a top communications program as a result. I think my program is still in the google list.
So one can take “radical” thoughts and do OK.
That’s probably why I don’t go with the flow on Ayers.
I got my best private sector ideas, which worked, from very odd-ball academics.
I just tailored the ideas.
“Radical” is different from creative, or innovative.
See the difference?
He’s a unrepentant ex-terrorist who found a home among a bunch of other leftist scum who wants to use the education system to indoctrinate our kids.
And so far its bearing fruit when you see the masses of college students and young professionals who support Obama and lap up his twaddle. People with no critical thinking skills at all despite having attended institutions of higher learning that are supposed teach them this among many other things, who get buffaloed by the first Elmer Gantry to come along.
Well, don’t just hit the nail on the head or anything!
“The greatest lie the Devil ever told was convincing the world he didn’t exist…” Kaiser Soze’ (sp)
Anyone that ever planted a bomb to kill innocent Americans, and draw attention to their “movement” is NOT “just an academic.”
See, the part that alot of people forget, is that Ayer’s father was a very wealthy guy, with strong ties to politics in Chicago.
THAT is the only reason this scumbag isn’t still rotting away in a federal prison.
I agree except that it was the F.B.I.’s illegal wiretap that probably kept him out of prison.
It was his father’s money, most likely.
Really, Scooter Libby is free, why?
The evidence could not be presented.
Deep Throat, the man who leaked info of Nixon’s dirty tricks and lawbreaking, was the FBI agent who took the charges and “was a scapegoat” who went to trial with the support of many FBI pros, current and former, in audience at the court, as a show of support.
Ronald Reagan pardoned Marc Felt, for that.
The FBI got charged with lawbreaking to listen in on the Weather Underground. This loophole is why Ayers brags of having bombed Americans.
right on Destardi
Seems the worst of the radicals are from wealthy or at least well off families. Osama Bin Laden is a good example.
Bill Ayers comes from a wealthy powerful family in Chicago politics. Read up about his dad and the two Mayor Daileys (father and son) when you have time. These connections run deep.
You have posted this verbatim before, and it is a damnable lie. I’m sorry, but blowing up federal buildings is not youthful indiscretion. He ran from the law. His father headed Commonwealth Electric, and I have heard this name linked to Iraqi electricity and arms deals in Africa. There is not much distance these days between terrorists and corrupt businessmen. The Ayers fruit didn’t fall far from the tree, and William Ayers is a dangerous man to be charged with shaping young minds. I have a feeling he just moonlights at being an academic. He is not typical of that profession.
You got that right . Whenever anyone like Ayers writes a book that becomes a part of the school systems text books there is a helluva lot of danger in that alone.
I get what you’re saying –and sorry you were married to one of them,
— but when we consider what will happen in an Obama administration, the picture will probably look scary. There are hundreds of appointments on the table for a new President. Any appointed office holder/job holder from the previous administration must resign and the new President gets to extend his/her influence into the bureaucracy with hundreds of new appointments that have the power to shift policy, implement new policies and carry on in any way they see fit until, at the outside chance, some reporter, congressperson or citizen screams bloody hell. And this is where all of Obama’s friends will go … funneling into the Federal bureaucracy to influence lives, tighten up Obama’s control of the government, etc. If you think these harmless academics are not going to get their cut, think again. Voters …. vote carefully this November. In order to keep Obama and his entourage out of the executive branch, we need to vote for someone else who has a chance of winning. (and who is also qualified)
He doesn’t just have big ideas. He has big ideas about socialism. Do a search for articles on him here at NQ and you will understand just how dangerous this man is. He is no different than he was when he was scaring the crap out of America and believe me I remember. The only difference now is he isn’t blowing up buildings.
Ayers is a Marxist. Marxism, in this case, is directed as a vengeance engine to punish those not subscribing to the stated mission. “Making things right,” or in this case “Change” is really another means of saying getting rid of or “Purging” the party of its more moderate leadership first, thus clearing the field for more necessary “revisions.”
Before you know it, the Donkey starts wearing a beret with a bright red star.
How the Hell did this Happen!
These people really scare me. Does Obama have any friends who are not on the edge or worse?
Not yet. He’s now accumulating them like crazy. LOL*
Believe me, he’s so dang eager to be mainstream, he’s wetting himself at the thought.
He is not a danger in this respect.
He’s a danger because he’s mediocre.
I keep saying this and will repeat until I’m defeated emotionally……
He’s mediocre. He’s just another male, but he has a tan.
He’s the same ole crap, packaged in a new suit.
He is not dangerous, other than he’s so inexperienced he’s stupid.
He’s not Marxist. He’s not Black Nationalist.
Frankly, this stuff is a compliment.
He’s worse. He’s superficial, nonthinking, and all about him.
He couldn’t care less about any principle.
He’s is pure ambition about him.
He is determined to be the first AA president. The reason? He’ll work that out later.
Bravo, Ann – you nailed it.
The way I see it is that Obama being so ignorant himself will be beholden to his handlers and the constituents that put him in power. Shades of the Manchurian candidate, puppet regime etc etc.
Conversion to communism in the West does seem to happen on University campuses (Kim Philby & co).
I agree that Obama is “all about Obama all the time”, too narcissistic to have any true convictions.
Bush was just dumb, boring and ambitious, too.
“He’s just another male…”????????????
So am I.
Here’s strike two, I’m also a typical white person.
Here’s strike three for you, I hate all bigots equally.
I hear he had to get a bigger bus because he ran out of places to throw people under the last one.
No, just bigger tires…LOL
I for one think the Ayers connection is overblown. He’s an old man now. I am more concerned with Obama’s connections with Rezko and the fact he is woefully unprepared to be president than whether he hung around with ex-sixties radicals.
There is a goldmine of bad stuff out there on Obama that has yet to be mined.
And yes, I am PLENTY old enough to remember Ayers and the Weather Underground.
Rezko is a clear example of Obama’s arrogance. He thinks…let me correct….he understands the press.
That story is too complex to really get legs.
So he could afford to use Rezko.
It’s just too complex for public consumption.
Funny, but I always thought a school of particular thought, is usually attributed to OLDER people (men in particular.)
I disagree whole-heartedly with your post; radical ideas do not age with the originator…they become more tempered with the person’s age, and more subtlely imbedded in that person’s communications.
See, Leo Strauss.
Or even Trotsky, or Mao.
Underlying vein is totalitarianism, and power.
And psychologically maladjusted people, behind it all.
A house imploding upon itself, the picture in the ink.
Americans should not be afriad of expressing their thought, if I do not like someone that does not look like me that does not make me racist, if I am not going to vote for someone because he does not share my value and does not look like me that does not make me a racist. I am not going to vote for unqualified candidate because I want to help make HISTORY, NO! NO! NO! GOD BLESS AMERICA!, I will be voting for a true American that love this country and is qualified to be my President. When I start being afriad and following others blindly and thinking for myself I have a problem, then we all have a problem.
I’ve seen lots of great posts at Corrente. They are rightfully skeptical of the Messiah and media bandwagon. Some strong Hillary supporters there, too.
Agreed.
Corrente remains a great blog. They allow many viewpoints, so the conversation is provoking.
(sorry if this a duplicate; didn’t seem to post the first time)
What a hoot!
A surreal respite from being reamed for being a notorious Obama skeptic.
Leah is but one of several Senior Fellows at Corrente, the supposed MoveOn affiliation is a mystery to me, and this hysteria over a free website getting a little backed up in approving new commenters is quite a larf.
Also, Claribel’s comment is a classic of its kind.
Well-played, y’all!
I didn’t like it, I thought it was pompous and boring, I’d never be friends with those people, in real life. They wear masks, if they even know who they are, russell audi, all.
Does that upset you?
What I really want to know is this: Some states have lemon laws when you are sold a bad car. Are we going to get our freaking back for all the crap we were sold AND bought since that fateful day when Eisenhower said beware of the military industrial complex?
Was Eisenhower the one who proposed the “lemon law”?
I am registered at Corrente and I enjoy that blog and the bloggers and posters there. I believe they have a moratorium on new commenters, so no one will be able to register there…no conspiracy to silence anyone going on.
I know you are upset Steve Diamond and I completely understand why. No one likes to get called out, without the ability to respond. But I would not lump the Corrente blog into one entity. The bloggers there each have their own opinions and are able to express them without too much rancor from the others.
Corrente is a good blog and many of the bloggers there are also having a hard time understanding who Obama is and what he stands for. They were staunch allies of Hillary CLinton.
Why the moratorium?
Crazy people started ruining the comments with some over the top crap and the blog didn’t want to go down that road.
Was this more First Amendment stuff?
Might I suggest that they post at the Register page that they are no longer taking new patients?
That way nobody will bother applying and waiting. I am not the least bit offended that they didn’t approve me. Hell, I’m a rebel and I have thrown out of some bigger and some very interesting places in my life, so not being able to post at a website doesn’t bother me all that much. I still read them now and then. It just would have been nice to know so I didn’t waste my time.
Called out? That blog comes out with a complaint that just because Obama stole a nomination, just because he lied, cheated, misrepresented himself and tried to steal the party from them, that white women should quit being so white, so bitchy or so steadfast in their righteous indignation.
You miss the point.
White women probably feel just the way they do when they find out their husbands cheated on them.
If that be true, then God help that poor bastard.
Cool, Steve! Is this the same Bringiton who said the following? Is he flip-flopping?
Unfortunately for the effectiveness of the Democratic primary process Obama’s greatest popularity was amongst Democrats in states where Republicans dominate; those states will not be of any help in the autumn. Obama’s current lead in primary delegates is an artifact of a flawed primary selection system rather than a true expression of general election viability. In states where Democrats can actually win enough electoral votes to clinch the White House it is Clinton who is by far the most popular.
Although the issue is clearly settled it is important that the rest of the primaries be conducted for the sake of party unity. It is also important that Barack Obama be afforded every opportunity to make his case to the superdelegates in early June even though there is no longer any possibility that he can catch Clinton in the only measure that matters. He must not be harassed into withdrawal. He has made a noble effort especially for someone with such a limited resume and should be given the opportunity to chose for himself the time and place of his inevitable concession. That is the decent thing to do.
Checked your blog and your site. Interesting link to Hot Air where they catch Barry changing his ‘facts’ section again. For the record: you don’t get admitted to the Daley corruption club because you belong to some weird radical club. You get in because you make it obvious to those on the inside that you’re crooked.
Whoa.
Hey here’s a good one.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/joinourmovement
Same procedure as every year, James!
Sorry, I can’t bear to listen to that man’s voice or see his face. Especially when he spews disingenuous crap about how great he thinks Hillary is, after he and his goons spent months tearing down her character and bribing the MSM to do the same.
I have thought all along that the labeling of the Clintons, and other Clinton supporters, as racists was a McCarthy like smear tactic. After decades of being programed to react appropriately negatively to racism, that label is fairly toxic, similar to being labeled a communist in emotional response. The fact that a Democrat would be willing to use such gutter tactics against another Democrat, including a former two term Democratic president, speaks volumes about the character of Barack Obama.
I hope to never see Obama in the office of POTUS for that reason alone. Of course, there are many other reasons Obama is unfit for office of the POTUS.
You are correct. The youth are more on the net. They love to think their parents are racists.
It’s silly, of course. Where do they think they got their own open attitudes?
But I recall believing I was self-made,too, at least until my 30’s. I starte to get a clue then.
My own generation still has a large group who have clung to the idea that their parents were awful, yadda, yadda.
Just because you hit an age group doesn’t mean you hit maturity.
You see that is what I am talking about. I posted here before about being kicked off the DNC website 8 months ago for asking about Ayers. I got the same type of treatment when I asked about Obama/Marxist relationship with the PLO.
I know I rant on here about liberation theology. But, it is because I and many members of my parish have researched this theology. It is something our church has been fighting for over 40 years.
That being said, I do not know why people are not doing more to protect our free speech. Why are these dailyidiots and other Obama/Marxist people coming here trying to shut down this website? If they were so sure they were going to win this thing they would not be bothering.
When I called and called and called the DNC to ask about vetting this guy 8 months ago – they would not listen.
Now, this is a cluster f*ck for the democrats.
JUST SAY NOT TO BLACK LIBERATION MARXIST THEOLOGY
NO OBAMA/MARXIST
MCCAIN 2008 OR UNTIL HILLARY RISES
That’s ok…..you’re entitled to your concerns.
Obama is in the hot seat now that Hillary can not give hime cover. I hope she says out the public for a long time. The news is getting bored of showing an Obama speech. His days of not being vetted are coming to an end.
Steve,
re: registering at Corrente. I don’t imagine that anybody is refusing to register you. It took quite awhile before my registration went through — a couple of weeks, in fact. From one of Lambert’s posts around the time that I did get approved:
“Let me first of all apologize (again) for being slow (in some cases, really slow) to approve new contributors. I got behind the eight ball in real life, and posting takes precedence over administrative chores.”
http://www.correntewire.com/welcome_new_contributors
They didn’t know me from a hole in the wall, so the delay clearly was not personal and I don’t imagine that it is in your case either. If you poke around over there you will see examples of pretty spirited disagreements — I don’t believe you would be excluded because you take exception to a post.
The two comments made here that I think I should address are:
1) Why couldn’t I register on the Corrente site?
I don’t know.
An email from one of their bloggers says it was inadvertent.
But I am still not registered there and yet their slanderous post remains on the site with more than 100 others allowed to comment a new blog by Lambert (who contends in an email forwarded to me by this site (he is unwilling to address me directly apparently) that someday I will be registered when he gets around to it) reinforcing the initial attack on my work.
If Corrente were competently managed they should, first, never have allowed such a post up in the first place and at the very least offered me a chance to respond.
2) Are there individuals who comment and blog on the site who are sympathetic to me?
I think there are and so they have to decide themselves whether it is worth it to continue a dialogue with people like bringiton who are really just “bringingbacktolife” McCarthy-like tactics in a politically correct guise.
Since when did Obama OWN the party.
In a major shakeup at the Democratic National Committee — and a departure from tradition — large parts of the committee’s operations are relocating to Chicago to be fully integrated with the Obama campaign.
The DNC’s political department, housed in Washington, D.C., will be dramatically rebuilt, with staffers offered a choice of moving to Chicago, joining state operations, or staying in Washington, DNC spokeswoman Karen Finney said.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_moves_DNC_operations_to_Chicago.html
since Soros bought it for him?
the fact that they are RELOCATING KEY areas to Chicago makes it so much easier to protect themselves now that the Chicago PD carries machine guns and this way they are ever so much closer to the Blago Daley combine funds and hey their religious leaders are there too…
AND I GOT A LETTER FROM UHHBAMA ASKING FOR CONTRIBUTIONS TODAY..
BWWAAHAAAAAAAAAAAA
I suppose he will relocate the White House there also.
He refused to call for a moratorium on the games you know. He wants Chicago 2016 Games and didn’t want to make waves. What’s a few dead and abused people when you can get the Games, man!
I’m forwarding my unpaid bills to DNC, tomorrow I will send a hanky for them to bless
Obama owns everything. He’s from Chicago. He wants to own the country too.
“Radicals” do tend to grow more moderate with age. David Brookes wrote a great book, Bo-Bos In Paradise, partially deals with that very phenomenon.
A quick observation: It seems to me that ensuring Obama’s convincing triumph in the fall would better your ultimate cause which is to get Hillary Clinton in the White House. If McCain is as honorable and able as you all claim, what makes you think he’ll be ousted after four years? Makes more sense for Hillary to swooop in and contest Obama (if he’s not impeached first) after four years if he in fact turns out to be the disaster you all predict. Thoughts?? I’m speaking strategically only, from your perspective.
LOL!!!!
no I wont be voting Uhhbama to somehow help Hillary
BWAAHAAAAAAAA
TM tried this one too though…
I won’t vote Obama because voting for me endangers my rights as a woman. I don’t care who else it helps.
Larry now that Obama has a fight back page and quoated you right off the bat on the tape issue are you going to fire one back at him.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/
OT: Where is SusanPc, I haven’t seen her post since the “RANT” disappeared. I hope one DOESN’T have anything to do with the OTHER!!!!! The “RANT” the were a GREAT idea. I noticed that some are back up, but MOST are NOT!!!!!! I’m NOT a computer guy, but she would have them because were being sent to her via EMAIL. I truly HOPE, we(NQ) NOT about to LOSE our(NQ) like the rest of the SITE(TM etc.) PLEASE DON’T!!!!!!! We(HRC supporter& NObama protester) need to a place “VENT”!!!!!! Just a THOUGHT!!!!!!!
Yes, we need NQ. FYI, you also have confluence, savagepolitics..
AHHH mym mistake Riverdaughter is at CONFLUENCE NOT corrente
grazi!!
Thanks pm317 for the suggestions!!!! What happen to SusanPc though???
SHe is working behind the scenes on restoration from the last Obama attack. She’s here. Trust me.
They can take this site down but it will always be back.
Thanks UPPITY!!!!!! You have some GREAT comment TOO!!!!! I thought it was a PROBLEM because she had started to posting the “RANTS”!!!!!!!! Good to OTHERWISE!!!!
Dubya is to the GOP as Hussein Obama is to the DEMs…another empty suit who is essentially an idiot but will bring in all of their corrupt buddies from their home state to rape and pillage the government at the taxpayers expense.
If we all live long enough we will see one radical or another grow old and extinguish – what is an outrage to me is the Democratic Party’s determination not to allow the success of Hillary’s campaign. In deed, its determined efforts to cause its failure before the watchful eyes of millions of its members. It is as if I am watching the Chinese gov’t put down the student’s at Tiananmen Square. It is truly frightened. As a liberal in the deep south I have spent the last 8 years keeping my mouth shut but there is no excuse to allow our own party to do this to us.
Larry,
Are you the guy Rush was talking about today on the radio – who not only started the whitey tape story, but also spread the story around last year that Karl Rove was being idicted?
Rush says you are not credible.
Actually, that story was promoted by a reporter at Truthout.org. He stood by his story and was proven wrong. I, for one, was skeptical because Rove has gotten away with law breaking before and nothing happened.
I’ve cautioned repeatedly that until someone can produce the tape the subject should be dropped. Because unless you dot all i’s and cross all t’s when it comes to Obama you will be called a liar.
Heck, even the conviction of Rezko, a close friend and supporter of Obama is being ignored. Rezko did a real estate deal with Obama. How much of the money in involved in that was dirty or clean? The media aren’t touching the story and many other people don’t seem to care.
But why is Limbaugh defending Obama? I think that’s a more interesting question.
He’s defending Obama because August isn’t here yet and they can’t wait to make sure.
The Rove indictment guru was actually one of the other left bloggers who has actually gone to lengths to go after Larry now…
As for the argument itself, it isn’t that Rove wouldn’t be called again if the case could go forward. Technically Rove had no security clearance so the law didn’t apply in letter to him, though he was party to someone who did leak and broke the law’s deed and spirit.
Libby took some of the rap for that so it couldn’t move forward…
I’m frankly tired of the whole thing. When the nomination process started out we Democrats were confident and united. Now look at us.
People got tired of being called racists, closet Republicans, and worse.
Then when we get upset about it we’re accused of having “sour grapes” or “not being able to just get over it”.
This is the same language Bush supporters have been using for his entire “tenure” in the WH. But we’re the ones that are part of the VRWC?
Irony is now on life-support. Medic!
I wonder if the party leaders — Dean, Pelosi, Kerry, Kennedy — did not bring this backlash on themselves with:
a) unrelenting pressure to get Clinton to end her run instead of waiting until all primaries/caucuses were over
b) giving superdelegates a “deadline” to make decision months before the convention
c) announcing that “this will end before the convention” thereby ending any notion of an open convention
d) making false statements that Clinton had released her delegates and pressuring her to do so in order to keep her name from being placed in nomination at the convention
e) making statements that Hillary was not fit to be v.p. in an Obama world (see Ted Kennedy’s remarks about Hillary as a possible vice president which were so abrasive he had to apologize the day after he made them)
So what’s all this nonsense about Hillary supporters preventing party unity? The party itself made it very clear that they would make any statement, put up any roadblock, start any rumor to discredit Hillary and her supporters. I’m a lifelong Democrat and I don’t “feel the love” — do you?
Thank you for a very insightful post. I wish that this phenomenon were limited to one website. Unfortunately it has infected many. And anyone that does not agree with the collective is ridiculed and forced out. What these folks have done in the name of democracy is heinous. THEY are the new Bush. On steroids cross spliced with alien genes. Sigourny Weaver style. Some seriously scary folks. And they want unity. Isn’t that special.
The whole reparations issue or reparations through education is not inherently wrong. If there are indications that a candidate harbors those thinkings or leanings they should be fully explored. Ideally this should be done by the press (i know ha, ha).If a majority of voters agree with that candidate that candidate wins and has a manadate to do that thing–back in the day that was called DEMOCRACY..today not so much.
Inform the people then let them vote-simple!
I checked his background. Mr. Steve Diamond is a graduate of Yale Law school and Ph.D., Political Science, University of London. And he is very humble not to advertise his exceptional background!! Very unlike Obama. Of course, he disagrees with Obama’s politics. He has commonsense and he is smart!
I read corrente — there are quite a lot of loyal Hillary front-page posters there. Probably they outnumber the unity-pony posters. So don’t judge the whole blog by that one post, is what I’d say.
I think Hillary is waiting for the balloon to pop, and rightfully so.
There is too much out there that the GOP is holding. The preachers, Rezko, Ayers, Iraqis, PLO, the “whitey” DVD, his hidden birth certificate – is he really eligible to be prez, is he really Muslim, was he born in Kenya, who is really his father, etc.
Obama & DNC are trying to shut out Hillary and her voters from the convention. There was talk of them trying to shut down the convention “to save money” and just have a one-day coronation in Chicago w/o Hillary & Co.
There was talk of them taking Hillary’s name off the convention ballots. Why? Why are they so afraid of Hillary? Are they afraid Hillary could win the nomination at the convention? Are they afraid some of these balloons will start popping at the wrong time?
It seems they would rather have Obama lose to McCain when it all starts flying than lose to Hillary and get a Democrat in the White House.
There is just too much corruption going on in back rooms and all around.
NOW THIS:
Obama moves DNC operations to Chicago
In a major shakeup at the Democratic National Committee — and a departure from tradition — large parts of the committee’s operations are relocating to Chicago to be fully integrated with the Obama campaign.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_moves_DNC_operations_to_Chicago.html
Oh, really. He hasn’t even been nominated yet!
Why not? The DNC is now just another family in the gangland phone books and Howard Dean is the God Father
I visited:
http://www.fightthesmears.com.
I didn’t see the “truth” about Larry Sinclair’s allegations (sex,drugs and a Limo…)
Could the “Barry-is-a-Ferry-gate” be true?????!!!!!
Not a guy whose story has legs. Just being honest.
I don’t think the Obama people are ‘Socialists’. I think they are authoritarian, neo-fascists who have bought into neo-lib economics with the idea that they’ll be at the top of the heap instead of the previous bunch. It’s just the same old, same old.
Socio-democracies have the highest standards of living for the citizenry and still have very wealthy people enjoying life. It’s just that the prosperity gap is smaller and all people have opportunities. Don’t believe the lies about universal healthcare. Our health care system has been sabotaged mercilessly by the Corporate bought pols during the last decade and still works, albeit, not as well as it used to do so because of that sabotage. All the other 1st world countries are Socio-democracies that have policies some would call Socialist. Nothing to be afraid of unless you are an unbridled Capitalist. And, even then you would still thrive and prosper in a Socio-democracy. However, the neo-libs (University of CHICAGO)economists have infiltrated these countries and are destroying our societies and cultures.
I don’t see any concern about their fellow man from the Obama Nation. Just my 2cents.
Yep. All due respect, I don’t know why some people insist on calling BO a far left, radical left, or Marxist. He is in fact a pure corporatist, as much as the rightwingiest Republican. I believe his “progressive” followers are in for a very, very, rude awakening should the unthinkable happen and he wins the GE.
Most of them have NO idea how closely tied he is to big-corporate interests and the religious right. He resembles Dubya more and more every day.
Actually I think they are starting to get the wake-up call now–Jim Johnson; Jason Furman; floating DOUG KMIEC as a SCOTUS choice–the guy makes Alito look like a raving socialist who hands out abortions to underage illegal immigrants); three meetings with right-wing christian wackjobs but no time to campaign among poor and working-class folks–but they just keep hitting the snooze button and drifting back into dreamland.
Now anyone political knows the answer to that. Of Course Rush and all of Talk radio stands to do better with the opposition in the White House.
Disagree. Rush wants to make sure that nothing changes between now and August. They want Obama to run. They already have the swiftboat ads ready.
Sorry, Larry, but when you talk about the existence of something that you can’t prove, it hurts your credibility–unless you’re a preacher or something.
You’re going to have to take these kinds of hits until the tape emerges. If it never does, then your credibility will be permanently harmed. If those people who told you about this tape haven’t played you, then you’ll be eventually vindicated. If they have played you, then you’ve just taken part in a whispering campaign. At this point, only time will tell.
The less said, the better because without that tape, the word is going to be that you are knowingly participating in a smear operation–only as long as you keep talking about it. My advice: come up with a one-sentence response like: we’ll see after the convention. Then leave it at that. At this point, the less said the better.
Mr. Diamond, thanks posting you article and the concerns you have regarding the straight jacket Ayers and Obama are seeking to peddle.
I am concerned that John Dean got it wrong just looking at Republican versions of authority models, especially as it relates to the educational systems in the US.
The goal of indoctrinating the young people of this country with the viewpoint of “guilty if not black or socialist” is a sad attempt at justifying their own existence and past.
I noticed you are interested having a chance to respond to a “screed” and have not been given the chance to do so.
Most of the argurments advanced by BO supporters will not withstand a debate on the merits. Labor orginizations are co-opted with an ever increasing frequency. The global economy will require global labor relations to address the Jack Walsh economic model of shifting investments to “cheap” labor markets.
CSEA state President Bob Feckner started a memo I recieved in May with the following sentence;
“Politics is the life blood of our orginization”…
I would have thought that he might have said,
“The welfare of our members are the life blood of our organization”…
Kind of tells you where unions are headed as the gap between rank and file and leadership widens in this global economy.
Thanks again for your informative insights. Keep at it!
My posts have been removed from this site, only because i’m not a rabid Clinton-supporter.
Fair and balanced
[...] Diamond, Au so Corrente: the new left McCarthyism, NoQuarterUSA, June 12, [...]