Glow Fading?

A month after emerging victorious from the bruising Democratic nominating contest, some of Barack Obama‘s glow may be fading. In the latest NEWSWEEK Poll, the Illinois senator leads Republican nominee John McCain by just 3 percentage points, 44 percent to 41 percent. The statistical dead heat is a marked change from last month’s NEWSWEEK Poll, where Obama led McCain by 15 points, 51 percent to 36 percent.

In a single month. Obama has lost 12 points to McCain.

To. John. McCain.

What’s that I hear PUMAs? I totally agree, but I told you so doesn’t translate well into cult-speak so I’m sure they wouldn’t understand.

This is something we all can understand easily. We aren’t limited to what Precious says is ok. We have the capability to experience truth individually. We don’t need anyone’s permission to think.

But for those that do there are other realities. Scary realities. Realities where “that woman” is a diversion from all things Barky. OMG!

More seriously, some Obama supporters worry that the spectacle of their candidate eagerly embracing his old rival, Hillary Clinton, and traveling the country courting big donors at lavish fund-raisers, may have done lasting damage to his image as an arbiter of a new kind of politics.

The spectacle of eagerly embracing. These supposed followers of the new politics have real issues reaching out. Which only defines how much hype this new politics bullshit really is.

What is most amusing amazing is that the Cultists attribute this to Hillary. Like it couldn’t have a thing to do with Obama’s flip flops. The guy is getting so good at flip flopping that he can actually flip flop and throw someone under the bus at the same time. And call you a racist.

I’m telling you this guy has talent.

Obama drops like a rock

Newsweek speculates that Obama’s embrace of Hillary has damaged his brand of New Politics. That did a lot less damage than Barack Obama’s series of policy reversals and gaffes over that three-week period. He has revealed himself as an empty suit and a pandering rookie, and he certainly didn’t need Hillary to point that out.

A casual reading of the polling data alone would have confirmed who is responsible for this shift away from Obama. And it isn’t Hillary.

But there is a definite momentum away from Obama, especially within the independents. June’s poll, taken only three weeks ago, had Obama ahead by 12 points, 48-36. Obama has lost a whopping 14 points among independents and now trails McCain, 34-41.

Obama now trails John McCain among Independents. It serves the misogynist friend with terrorists elitist flip flopper right.

Just Say No Deal

Democrats Are Distancing Themselves from Obama

Obama is shaping up to be the only Democrat without a chair when the music stops. His latest ad claims offshore drilling won’t be effective, putting him in a terrible bind. If he sticks to his guns, he’s at odds with his party and the vast majority of Americans. If he flip flops, there’s yet another reason for his countrymen to conclude he’s nothing but a milquetoast flip-flopper whose words mean nothing.

Sherrod Brown is joining with George Voinovich in supporting offshore drilling. This spontaneous bipartisanship may soon become common practice. Most Americans support drilling for more oil.

Do we lift the ban on offshore drilling?

Sen. George V. Voinovich said yesterday that the combination of $4-per-gallon gas prices and rising voter support for more drilling could pave the way for a compromise that would have been unthinkable a year ago.

The Ohio Republican predicted that Congress will pass a comprehensive bill this year to clear the way for drilling off U.S. coasts while providing more money to develop cleaner energy sources.

That’s quite a prediction. And I would lay odds he is right. It only emphasizes how completely out of touch Obama is.

Now I am not about to jump on a bandwagon that says drill with abandon. I believe we have a supply of oil available if we drill for it. And I am not without concern for environmental degradation should something go wrong. But I do think it wise to make available as many resources as we can. And keep every last drop of oil produced.

Obama is right. We won’t see a return on this for maybe a decade. But it will be a return. So it takes time. We won’t have it if we don’t start it. Obama prefers not starting it.

The federal government estimates that 89 billion barrels of oil could be off the East, West and Gulf coasts. The U.S. consumes 20 million barrels of oil every day.

Its not a large amount of oil. I’ll grant you that. But it is American oil that we could have at the ready should the rest of the world get all freaky.

I would rather we were protected, even if that protection is temporary. Even if that protection takes a while to achieve. It provides a buffer.

I sure wish we had one right now.

But seriously. It would do Obama some good to have a little shame.

Not Barky. He a Bushie.

Barack W. Bush?

Take social issues. Obama is now a gun-rights advocate. Like Bush, he applauded the Supreme Court’s overturning of a Washington, D.C., ordinance banning the possession of handguns.

The senator, also like Bush, supports the death penalty. He recently objected to the court’s rejection of a state law that allowed for the execution of child rapists.

And although Obama is still pro-choice, he now, like the president, thinks “mental distress” should not justify late-term abortion.

In addition, the new Obama would like to continue — and even expand — Bush’s controversial faith-based initiative program of involving churches in government anti-poverty programs.

I kind of expect Obama to pull a Dave Chappelle number and go for that redneck vote.

Clayton Bigsby: The Black White Supremacist

Do any of you put it past him? This guy changes skin as easy as he throws people under the bus. And that Republican skin feels much more comfortable than it should.

During the primaries, Obama seemed to advocate the dismantling of the North American Free Trade Agreement. But now candidate Obama has little desire to overturn the present Bush trade policies.

On foreign policy and the war against terror, Obama once leaned left in his primary battles against Hillary Clinton. But his latest mutations move him once again closer to George Bush.

Does any of that bring you comfort? It scares the bejeebus out of me. And I ain’t got any bejeebus in me.

It really is beginning to seem as if Obama has no firm convictions. His support goes to the highest bidder. The one with the most influence. At the moment.

In fact, replace George Bush’s Texas twang, cowboy strut and evangelical Bible thumping with Barack Obama’s mellifluous “hope and change” rhetoric, easy grace and leftwing Christianity and we may discover a flashy new cover to an old book.

Nuff said.

You know how I was saying yesterday that Obama supporters weren’t exactly jumping at the chance to help Hillary pay down her debt? Well it seems I didn’t know the half of it. Sure, I ended my piece a little snarky but essentially what I said turned out to be absolute truth. Evidence the following.

Obama almost forgets Clinton

Wednesday night, he praised Clinton as “extraordinary” and “tough” — but nearly forgot about her need for funds.

I suppose this is is Obama’s version of:

Brotha can ya spare

“Senator Obama and his staff and his supporters are working very hard on debt relief for Senator Clinton, and will continue to in any way that works best,” said Bill Burton, a spokesman for the Obama campaign.

Or perhaps an imitation of it. A bad one.

I watched the FISA debate and the voting. I saw forgetful Barack on the Senate floor, arms patting other senator’s backs. Smiles all around. A real lovefest. So maybe he almost forgot because he was remembering how good he felt in the Senate. With all that adulation.

Yes, Barky Obama was smiling yesterday when he voted to allow spying on American citizens by an uncontrolled completely self policing executive branch of government. He and 68 of his colleagues voted to undo the heart of the Bill of Rights. The right of privacy.

They were smiling about it.

My leader Hillary emerged again yesterday. She did the right thing.

But that was covered over with praise for Barky who voted to take freedom away from the American people. And Jesse Jackson who said he was sorry he wanted to cut his nuts off.

The rest of us wondering when Obama got nuts to begin with.

But while Obama was looking in the mirror and Jesse Jackson was looking for a knife, Hillary Clinton voted FOR the American people.

Not many people were slapping her back for it. She isn’t in the spotlight any more. The guy that just voted to oppress democracy is.

Strange isn’t it? The one that champions the American people sits on the sidelines while a sacred stage of sycophancy is being built around this man that voted to kill liberty. Nope, not a cult at all.

So maybe I understand why Barky was so forgetful yesterday. He had just pulled off the biggest hoodwink of them all. He actually voted to give himself virtually unlimited power to spy on any American citizen should he become president. And people slapped his back.

A Bam Damn Boozle. Maybe even a Bam God Damn Boozle.

It would sure be easy enough to explain this little episode.

After wrapping up his speech to donors Wednesday evening with an emphatic, “We will change the world!”, Obama left the stage to loud music, only to re-appear minutes later to complete his duties.

“Hold on a second guys, I was getting all carried away. I’ve got one more thing that is important to do,” Obama said to a laughing audience. “Senator Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt if I hadn’t won so I know the drill.”

For someone that claims to need to reach out to Hillary and her supporters Senator Obama seems to go out of his way to diminish our importance with every coming day. With such less than enthusiastic pushes to help retire Hillary’s debt is it any wonder that they have raised LESS than $100,000 toward retiring that debt?

He might as well be up there bitch slapping her.

Just Say No Deal

:::::::

Here’s another report:

UPDATE from a political observer:

ABC’s John Berman and Sunlen Miller report that Senator Obama “almost forgot” to ask for help with Senator Clinton’s debt during last night’s Manhattan fund-raiser: “He delivered a 32-minute speech to the crowd of 1,000 people at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Park Avenue in New York City, and began walking off the stage to Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, and Delivered.’ After 32 minutes he had still not asked for money. In the back of the ballroom, reporters rushed campaign aides, asking if there had been a change in plans. Why no pitch for Hillary?

“Obama … quickly rushed back on stage, saying, ‘Hold on a second guys, I was getting all carried away! … Sen. Clinton still has some debt. And I could have had some debt if I hadn’t won, so I know the drill. There are many supporters of mine here who have not yet given something to help her retire that debt.’ In fact, estimates are that the Obama camp has only raised about $100,000 to help Clinton so far. So, Obama asked people to look under their chairs for an envelope, ‘pick it up and put something in it.’ ”

That would mean that, at most, 19 other couples besides the Obamas have maxed out.

Obama Says His Critics Haven’t Been Listening

“Look, let me talk about the broader issue, this whole notion that I am shifting to the center,” he told a crowd gathered at a town hall-style meeting in this Atlanta suburb. “The people who say this apparently haven’t been listening to me.”

So inclined to consider himself a common man, Barky imagines that if he suffered from a hearing problem for those 20 long years he was in that racist church that he didn’t know about maybe, just maybe that is the same problem the rest of us have. He’s hoodwinking hoping so.

He might just as well have come right out and said: “Look deep into my eyes.” Because that is the routine he is laying on us. “I Barky the All Wise have made your mind up for you.”

And when you translate the Cult-speak the message is clear: “Hey, see that cliff over there. Wouldn’t it be great fun if we all ran over it?”

Lessee…

He agrees with Scalia on gun control. He wants to kill child rapists. But don’t we all? And he wants to spy on Americans. Except that he wants it to be legal spying. Institutionalized. Allowed.

And yet we are told that we aren’t listening.

I am someone who is no doubt progressive

In a world where freedom equals slavery that might be true. But I will never consider any government progressive that wants to take away my constitutional rights.

Barky Sweetie. May I call you Sweetie?

It ain’t progress when you start taking stuff away.

Oh, and Sweetie… PUMAs have fine hearing. Exceptional in fact. We hear you loud and clear. That is why we criticize you. Hear us roar.

Clearly you are the one with a hearing problem.

Barbara Boxer Speaks to the Senate on Immunity, Law and Truth

At this point in time to give retroactive immunity kind of makes a mockery of the fact that we’re supposed to be a government of laws, not people. We are a government of laws. Do we then come back and say, “Oh, by the way, there’s three laws over here that we don’t really like, so we’re just going to say to the people that broke them it’s OK? ‘Cause we’ve looked at it and we think it’s OK?” This is America. We are a country of laws.

~snip~

Last week we celebrated the day we adopted the Declaration of Independence, Independence Day, July 4th. In that historic document is the following phrase: “That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” The consent of the governed. That means the law has to be behind you when you undertake to do something like this administration did. They didn’t care about the consent of the governed. They didn’t care about the law that was in place.

Since it seems likely that this bill will pass the Senate I find it important to describe what this bill does so that everyone knows. Because the outrage I might expect isn’t coming from anywhere significant.

Below are a few primers. Instructive and entertaining.

FISA Amendments Act Basics

1. The law retroactively legalizes a massive electronic operation to spy on the personal communications of millions of Americans – within the United States

2. The law allows physical searches of Americans’ homes and places of work without a search warrant or any other proof that anyone being spied upon is suspected of any crime at all

3. The law allows the same kind of unaccountable spying online and by telephone

4. Under the FISA Amendments Act, the only person with the ability to stop the spying is the same person who actually orders the spying to take place: The Attorney General of the United States.

Please enjoy this excellent video that will clear everything up.

67 days

And while you are at it, take a look at this call to arms.

Please Vote NO on FISA!

PUMAs won’t take this lying down. Just Say No Deal.

As Will Bower so brilliantly puts it.

If the parties won’t uphold democratic principles, who will?

If the voters don’t hold the parties accountable, who will?

Politicians that would ordinarily be vehemently opposed to this travesty are not only embracing this compromise, they are making excuses for their behavior as if this bill is the slickest thing since sliced bread. At least they got the slick part right. This is hoodwinking at the master level.

Compromising the Constitution

Lawmakers are already justifying their votes for making major changes to that proven regime by saying that the bill is a reasonable compromise that updates FISA technologically and will make it somewhat harder to spy on Americans abroad. But none of that mitigates the bill’s much larger damage. It would make it much easier to spy on Americans at home, reduce the courts’ powers and grant immunity to the companies that turned over Americans’ private communications without a warrant.

I never thought I would hear a single Democrat say that we need to overturn our constitutional freedoms because of national security. But that is exactly the message from the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party, Barack Hussein Obama. That is his leadership.

Like lambs before the slaughter his followers blindly fall in line. And they want to take the rest of us out to slaughter with them.

This PUMA roars No Deal!

If you overturn constitutional freedoms there is no nation to secure.

It would allow the government to bypass the FISA court and collect large amounts of Americans’ communications without a warrant simply by declaring that it is doing so for reasons of national security. It cuts the vital “foreign power” provision from FISA, never mentions counterterrorism and DEFINES NATIONAL SECURITY SO BROADLY THAT EXPERTS THINK THE TERM COULD MEAN ALMOST ANYTHING A PRESIDENT WANTS IT TO MEAN

(emphasis mine)

Isn’t that convenient?

It allows the president to dictate law simply by saying that it is so.

I roar No Deal!

We had one imperial presidency. I do not recommend that we allow another. In fact I insist that we don’t.

The real reason this bill exists is because Mr. Bush decided after 9/11 that he was above the law. When The Times disclosed his warrantless eavesdropping, Mr. Bush demanded that Congress legalize it after the fact. The White House scared Congress into doing that last year, with a one-year bill that shredded FISA’s protections. Democratic lawmakers promised to fix it this year.

And this compromise is their fix. The fix is in. Just like when they fixed that Michigan and Florida problem. Brought about all this unity. Doing what Barack says. Shredding the constitution in the name of post partisan absolution.

Restoring some of the protections taken away by an earlier law while creating new loopholes in the Constitution is not a compromise. It is a failure of leadership.

Time to roar

Obama To Accept Nomination At Invesco Field

On Thursday, August 28, Barack Obama plans to accept his nomination at Invesco Field in Denver, rather than at the Pepsi Center.

It’s going to cost the convention committee a lot of money to make the move, but Invesco Field can handle more than 75,000 spectators and will make a much better picture.

An unnamed source close to the campaign (and we all know how reliable they can be) said that Messiah Barack got all snitty because so many PUMAs were demanding that Hillary’s name be placed into nomination.

He demanded that if “she” had anything to do with the convention he wouldn’t even “do it” unless he could go somewhere else and be recognized. Something large enough for his massive ego.

And since the Great Wall of China wasn’t available, his snobness settled on Invesco Field.

As I inferred, you can’t exactly count on the reliability of unnamed sources. But in this case I just might.

Are you ready to take a stand?

The Just Say No Deal Coalition is putting together a commercial and they need fresh faces. Friendly faces. All they are asking from you is that you use your first name and give your city and state. They also ask that you provide a high quality photograph that focuses upon you. Personal or professional. Your confidentiality is assured.

1 in 18 million

Face it. You may only be one. But you are not alone.

Just Say No Deal represents a percentage of the 18 million + Americans who did not vote for Senator Barack Obama.

If you have not “fallen in line” – we want your face.

Your voice will continue to be heard as long as we stay vibrant during this election.

You are one single voice.

Or as pumas like to say, roar.

Don’t go it alone. Join the counter-movement today.

So please send your submissions to: faceme@justsaynodeal.com

Supporting their own demise. Like good little lemmings. And Cultists.

I tell you. Our prospects aren’t that promising.

If it is any consolation, a recent poll confirms that the electorate believes our country has veered away from the principles of it’s founding. And it’s founders.

CNN poll: Most say Founding Fathers wouldn’t be impressed

According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, 69 percent of adult Americans who responded to a poll June 26-29 said the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed by the way the nation has turned out overall.

So realistically 31% of Americans believe we are on the right course.

Not even a third of us.

And this all took place in the short space of a few years.

“In 2001, 54 percent thought that the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be pleased with the state of the country today.”

A 23% shift of confidence in 7 years.

23% closer to tyranny.

Rather than spend time together with family celebrating the sense of what it means to be an American like the majority of us do, Obama chose to go out on the campaign trail. Demonstrating what he calls patriotism by campaigning for president. Some more of that new politics of hope in action.

I wonder if he had a flag pin on? It would be so like him. Telling us that the flag pin is a substitute for real patriotism while sporting one proudly on his lapel. That’s patriotism one can believe in. Obama style.

Do you think he gave Bill Ayers a call? Maybe they compared notes. Bill would recount all the American flags he and his spouse terrorist pal Bernadine stomped on. And Obama could enthusiastically counter with all the Constitutional freedoms he had stomped on just this past week. Oh these progressive patriot types. The fun they must have trying to outdo each other dismantling the foundations of our democracy. I betcha that was a fun conversation. Oh to have been a fly on that wall.

So just exactly what did Obama do on Independence Day? He spent the day giving a speech. One he hoped would make up for his total screw up the day before when he needed two news conferences to state clearly without any fear of confusion just exactly what his real position on Iraq is. And since the day before didn’t work out very well, what better way to prove his patriotism than refine his message once more so that we all know where he stands on Iraq. As of yesterday.

We are all fondly recounting what our country and our freedom mean to us. And Obama is out there trying to get us to think about him. How utterly frickin patriotic of the dude.

So there he was in Montana bitching about George Bush which always fires up the crowd. Then he lets loose with his standard applause getter:

In Montana, Obama Tries to Rally Support on Iraq

“It’s a war we need to bring to an end,” he added, speaking over applause from a crowd of about 1,000 at a picnic outside the World Museum of Mining.

But the funny thing was that all the people didn’t believe what he had to say. Of course it might have had something to do with that pesky little fact that he changed his position on Iraq twice just the day before. And wouldn’t you know it, the people finally payed attention to his shifts. Saw them in action. And some weren’t very pleased.

“I think he should be careful about what he says,” said Bob Evans, 67, a Butte native who now lives in Wisconsin. “I hope he doesn’t change his mind on the war. I think he’s a man of principle.”

I’m trying. I swear I am. Really doing my best to stop laughing over that man of principle line. You can bamboozle some of the people all of the time and all that.

And then I read something that almost did me in. The Governor of Montana is under the impression that Obama’s flips and flops, his Independence you might say, doesn’t really matter to the voters of Montana. Because they are just so totally fed up with the war that Pinocchio himself would be an acceptable Commander in Chief.

If they only knew.

“Most people in Montana have figured out it was the wrong war for the wrong reasons,” Mr. Schweitzer said in an interview at the Freedom Fest Independence Day celebration. “I think Americans have very little stomach for a permanent engagement in the Middle East.”

So according to Montanans, it doesn’t matter what Obama says. As long as he keeps replaying that speech he gave against the war so many years ago and then tells folks how much he is still against it all will be cool. In Montana.

For myself, I am not impressed with Obama. His continued history making, chameleon, quick change artist act makes him seem more like a snake than a reptile to me. Or maybe a worm.

Cross posted at Pagan Power

When, in the course of U. S. Presidential Elections, it becomes necessary for one portion of a political party to assume among the people of the nation a position different from that which they have previously occupied, but one to which the laws of nature and of their Constitution entitle them, a decent respect for the opinions of fellow citizens requires that they should declare the causes that impel them to such a course.

In agreement with generations who have gone before us, we hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men and women are created equal; that they are endowed at birth with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights governments are instituted, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of those who suffer from it to refuse allegiance to it, and to insist upon the institution of a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness.

Prudence will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for transient causes; and accordingly experience has shown that citizens are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the political structures to which they are accustomed. But political parties are not governments, and when a long train of abuses and usurpations evinces a design to reduce them under authoritarianism, it is their duty to throw off such a political party, and to provide different representation for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of many in the Democratic Party, and it is this suffering which compels them to now demand the representation to which they are entitled. The recent history of both parties is a history of repeated injuries on the part of elected officials against the electors, having in direct object the establishment of authoritarian power over them, for the purpose of profit. This has rendered the Democratic Party unrecognizable to ordinary citizens. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

Objections

The members of the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and By-Laws Committee violated The DNC charter on May 31, 2008 by meeting in private, in direct violation of the Sunshine Rules Provision of said Charter.

On that same day, the Democratic Party grossly violated ethical standards when it awarded four delegates to candidate Barack Obama based on actual votes for candidate Hillary Clinton, and in addition, awarded him delegates based on votes for “Uncommitted.”

Earlier in the campaign season, the Democratic Party violated its own Delegate Selection Rules by applying penalties to only two states who broke Section 11 calendar rules, even though five states broke those rules. In addition, Florida and Michigan were originally stripped of 100% of their delegates, even though the rules stipulated a 50% penalty.

The decisions of the RBC meeting mentioned above are evidence of sexism and authoritarianism within the ranks of the Democratic Party.

Caucuses area violation of the one-person, one-vote and secret ballot principles that have been cornerstone Democratic values for more than a century. They produced a skewed and unfair result this primary season. Caucus states are also over-represented in the pledged delegate count, in violation of the one-person, one-vote principle.

Sexism was allowed to flourish as never before not only because of the behavior of the mainstream media, but also by the actions of many in the progressive online community, the stark silence of the Democratic Leadership and because ordinary Americans, male and female, engaged in it as long as it advanced their favored candidate.

Barack Obama and his campaign exploited racial issues in the primary campaign, which risks setting back the Civil Rights movement, and cynical Democratic leaders, as well as some ordinary Democrats, approved of this campaign tactic.

The voices of 18 million voters who supported Hillary Clinton have been illegitimately silenced, ridiculed, and subjected to outright fabrications on the part of the mainstream press and the Internet press.

The evidence is present, for anyone who wants to see it, that authoritarian tendencies fueled by greed are on the rise in the Democratic Party.

Now, in view of the dismissal of one-half the Democratic voters of this primary season, their social degradation, in view of the unjust actions above mentioned, and in view of the disenfranchisement of the voters in two states, and because we do feel ourselves aggrieved, oppressed, and fraudulently deprived of a free and fair primary election, we insist that the Democratic Party address our objections, or risk the loss of our votes come November.

In entering upon the work before us, we anticipate no small amount of misconception, misrepresentation, and ridicule; but we will use every instrumental within our power to affect our objectives. We will employ agents, circulate tracts and flyers, blog, advertise in all media, petition state and national Democratic leadership, and endeavor to enlist the press in our behalf.

Resolutions

Resolved, that the Democratic Party must seat the full Michigan and Florida delegation in adherence to the thoroughly Democratic principle of one-person, one-vote.

Resolved, that Michigan delegates must be awarded according to the actual votes cast, specifically that Hillary Clinton must be given 73 delegates and Barack Obama must be given 0 (zero).

Resolved, that Hillary Clinton’s name must be offered on the first roll call at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August of 2008, in accordance with tradition for 16 of the last 18 Democratic National Conventions.

Resolved, that caucuses should be abolished, and the Democratic Primary system in its entirety must be reformed to better reflect the one-person, one-vote principle, as well as the equal representation principle enshrined in the Constitution.

Resolved, that millions of women and men alike no longer think of the Democratic Party as the party for women’s issues, or for equality and fairness, or for the protection of abortion rights, and will no longer vote for them based on such criteria.

Resolved, that the cynical exploitation of cultural issues will not be rewarded with votes, and that it is part of the PUMA mission to educate the electorate about such abuses.

Resolved, that the PUMA movement is comprised of traditional and loyal Democrats who have carefully watched and recorded the events of the 2008 Primary campaign season.

Resolved, that 18 million Americans voted for Hillary Clinton, more than any other presidential primary candidate in history, and they have a right to help shape the agenda and processes of the Democratic Party.

~~

Call to Action

Like The Declaration of Independence and The Declaration of Sentiments, this document was originally authored by one author, and modified by others in agreement. The final document then is one of the community, and not the original author. When this document is posted tonight, it will be available for use without attribution. Claim it as your own, because it belongs to you, and you had a hand in shaping it.

And like the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Sentiments, change doesn’t just happen in the presence of text. It’s what people do with that text, the life they give it, how it changes them, and the facts on the ground that creates lasting change. So take this document, copy and paste it to as many places online as you can find. Print it out and mail it to your local congressional critters. Mail or e-mail copies to the DNC and the Obama campaign. Somebody, for goodness sakes, please e-mail a copy to Hillary Clinton.

And late Sunday night, after the sun has gone down, take a page from Martin Luther’s play book and print it out, take it down to your local Democratic Party Headquarters or your local Obama Campaign Headquarters and TAPE IT TO THEIR DOOR. Make sure it is there for them as a wake up call when they arrive for work on Monday morning. Make your voices heard by getting out and getting involved. It’s your movement. How are you going to move it?

Just look at what his loyal followers on Firedoglake have to say.

Turning Obama Into A Punchline: How Democrats Can Lose

SkinnyMinnie July 2nd, 2008 at 3:42 pm

Obama wasn’t my first choice, but as the primary campaign progressed, he grew on me (mostly by treating the electorate as grown-ups instead of fearful children).

Now, I want a do-over. The FISA capitulation was bad enough, but now he’s walking back his commitment to get out of Iraq? What is wrong with him? Did someone kidnap David Plouffe and replace him with Mark Penn?

barbara July 2nd, 2008 at 3:47 pm

“And as Obama decides to be all things to all people, and nothing to anyone…”

And thereby hangs the tale. Because I expected integrity from Barack Obama. I expected at the very least that he would be a fierce defender of the Constitution. Remember the “taught constitutional law” meme? He had my loyalty (okay, trickle down loyalty from Gore and then Edwards) and he has some of my money. There will be no more money (he doesn’t need it — he can afford to cover Hillary’s losses) and the loyalty thing is in limbo. And I’m a staunch Dem.

This is not looking good.

I just love it. Those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling appear to be spreading to the Obama camp. Maybe PUMAs have gone viral and we are contagious. Wouldn’t that be sweet?

Here is my personal favorite:

Jo Fish July 2nd, 2008 at 3:54 pm
In response to selise @ 10

Selise, his (fucking stupid election-losing) consultants have no doubt told him he can’t win if he runs as a classic liberal, progressive, Democrat. He has to go for the “mommy vote” or the “NASCAR vote” or whatever group of swing voters that they have decided is most critical.

I am starting to wonder whether or not it might not be smarter at the Convention to flush an Obama candidacy down the shitter and pick HRC or John Edwards via some old-timey backroom dealing. It might not be easy, but it might keep us from letting Obama’s consultants put McCain into the White House.

What part of separation of Church and State does Professor Con Law not get? The Fourth Amendment?

Hey Jo Fish. You sound an awful lot like a PUMA to me. Because that is exactly our stance. If the frickin DNC can have illegal backroom deals to appoint Obama the nominee we sure as hell can insist that they have an upfront legal meeting to throw this say anything to get elected bum out on his petard. Then we can elect Hillary.

But if you thought a few comments on one pro-Obama blog represented the amount of discontent out there you would be sadly mistaken. Or is that jumping with joy?!?

A group of bloggers that typically hang out at the Orange Satan place decided to start up their own personal site at Obama’s official website. In a few days they have grown to be the largest group there.

These are folks that have gone beyond just complaining on the blogs. These folks are making a statement. And they are doing it in Barack Obama’s backyard.

I realize the writing below is a little difficult to read so here is the purpose of the group.

Senator Obama – Please Vote Against FISA

Senator Obama – we are a proud group of your supporters who believe in your call for hope and a new kind of politics. Please reject the politics of fear on national security, vote against this bill and lead other Democrats to do the same!

Isn’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve seen recently? Well, except for that picture you can’t get out of your head of Hillary kicking Obama between the legs.

But even this isn’t the worst of it. The Obama campaign is flat out lying about why His Majesty has decided to support FISA. Why doesn’t that me?

Obama advisor Greg Craig: Adding insult to injury

Greg Craig, a Washington lawyer who advises the Obama campaign, said Tuesday in an interview that Mr. Obama had decided to support the compromise FISA legislation only after concluding it was the best deal possible.

“This was a deliberative process, and not something that was shooting from the hip,” Mr. Craig said. “Obviously, there was an element of what’s possible here. But he concluded that with FISA expiring, that it was better to get a compromise than letting the law expire.”

It sounds reasonable. But apparently Obama has been giving bamboozling lessons to his advisors. Cause it’s a big load of donkey poop. And Glenn Greenwald proves it.

Craig’s statement is flat-out false. FISA — enacted in 1978 and amended many times to accommodate modern communications technology — has no expiration date. The Protect America Act, which Congress enacted last August to legalize warrantless eavesdropping on Americans, had a 6-month sunset provision and thus already expired back in February, restoring FISA as the governing law. Thus, if Congress does nothing now, FISA will continue indefinitely to govern the Government’s power to spy on the communications of Americans. It doesn’t expire. What Craig said in defense of Obama is just wrong.

The ever persistent Greenwald took this a few steps further. He e-mailed Craig and received no response. So he called and left a message. Craig finally returned the call and did what Obama surrogates do all the time. They claim to speak for what Obama really meant. But what else do we expect from a WORM?

After I read him his quote, explained that FISA won’t expire, and pointed out that his comment in the NYT therefore made no sense, Craig paused for awhile and then said that he meant that the “warrants under FISA would expire in August,” and Obama supported the FISA “compromise” to prevent that from happening. When I asked Craig if he was referring to the surveillance orders authorized by the Protect America Act that allow the Government to spy with no individual warrants (which have a one-year duration and do expire in August), Craig said that this is what he meant, and that Obama wanted to avoid having those surveillance orders expire.

As Greenwald acknowledges, this does not explain Obama’s sudden reversal on FISA. The facts tell another story entirely. So he keeps at Craig.

How can he be eager to avoid the expiration of surveillance orders which he opposed authorizing in the first place?

Craig, apparently doing his very best stammering Obama impersonation does not impress Greenwald. So he does the smart thing when faced with someone determined to offer only Cult-speak loop, he walks away. But not without laying the whole thing out there for us to understand in very easy to understand terms.

In the past, Obama has opposed the type of warrantless eavesdropping which those PAA orders authorize. He’s repeatedly said that the FISA court works and there’s no need to authorize eavesdropping without individual warrants. None of that can be reconciled with his current claim that he supports this FISA “compromise” because National Security requires that those PAA orders not expire and that there be massive changes to FISA. It’s just as simple as that.

So you see, it’s very easy to comprehend. Obama was against warrantless wiretaps before he was for them. And his reasoning is that our national security requires us to ignore the Constitution.

I “hope” he and his followers keep that in mind tomorrow when we celebrate the birth pangs of independence that led to our great nation. It should be educational for them. If not painful. As it should be.

Just Say No Deal!

[UPDATE] Below is Barky’s response to the furor created by his FISA decision. As you can see, Obama thinks that as long as he is allowed to spy on Americans the rest of us should give him a pass. Because according to him he is on our side. Except for the 1st, 2nd and 4th Amendments. If you don’t mind a little Iraq withdrawal bamboozling that is. And a dash or two of hoodwinking for good measure.

Democracy cannot exist without strong differences. And going forward, some of you may decide that my FISA position is a deal breaker. That’s ok. But I think it is worth pointing out that our agreement on the vast majority of issues that matter outweighs the differences we may have.

We don’t need her to go to Obama and his donors to help repay this debt. This is wrong on so many levels that I won’t pretend to go into them all. Suffice it to say that she shouldn’t have to ask this dude for a single thing. She has too much dignity for that. And we all still love her.

So please join us here at No Quarter in combining our forces with the rest of the Just Say No Deal Mega-Coalition to help retire Hillary’s debt by July 4th. She gave us all so very much. It isn’t too much to ask that we return the favor.

And help her regain her independence.

Get out that credit card. Pull out the check book. And make the sum payable $20.08. Because this is the year Hillary brought us together. A year none of us will ever forget.

Please click the poster below to contribute — or just go to HillaryClinton.com.

If the parties won’t uphold democratic principles, who will?
If the voters don’t hold the parties accountable, who will?