Wow. So Ellen and Portia are still A-okay, it seems, along with 18,000 other people. And how about the rest of the people there?

This is disconcerting, to be sure, though not unexpected, I have to say. I wish it was different, but it isn’t.

What I do find incredibly curious is that NO ONE talks about Amendment 2 in Florida, which is equally as bad, if not worse. Why is that? It passed during the 2008 election, too, yet it is completely ignored. This was the concern in FL (and note the state that also has a ban mentioned in the following):

But opponents say the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment isn’t a gay issue, but rather a measure that could negatively affect many heterosexual couples as well.

They point to particular wording in the amendment that they say could lead to unmarried couples — gay and straight — losing hospital visitation rights, the ability to make emergency medical decisions, and domestic partner health benefits provided by employers.

The proof, they say, is what has happened in other states where similar amendments have passed.

Since Michigan voters approved a ”marriage protection” amendment in 2004, the state Supreme Court has struck down domestic partner benefits, including health insurance and pensions. A battle is also under way in Kentucky to eliminate domestic partner benefits for employees of state universities because of similar legislation.

”This amendment says that because marriage is between a man and a woman, nothing else counts,” said Derek Newton, campaign manager for Florida Red & Blue, the bipartisan organization running the SayNo2 campaign to defeat the amendment. “It could take away existing rights and benefits of Floridians.”

Wow - Michigan, too. And Virgina. South Carolina. A total of forty-one (41) states have defined marriage between a man and a woman.

I know we are supposed to be all excited that a whopping FIVE states consider LGBT people to be equal, but it seems with every step forward, there’s at least one step back. I guess all we can do is keep fighting for equal rights for all people. One day at a time, I reckon…

Someone PLEASE tell me how, in just FOUR SHORT MONTHS, Obama has managed to take over the banks, kick out the CEO of a private company, hand over a private company, financed with OUR money, to a union? Oh, and let’s not forget his handing over CA to another union, SEIU? How?? How has this happened???

Oh, wait - and how about those of us who pay back our credit card bills regularly now being saddled with having to support the losers who act in bad faith? Why do we have to constantly bail out, and ENABLE, those people who go over their means, be it credit cards or mortgages or car loans? And the Senate can stop acting like they give a crap about this issue - Obama VOTED to enable the credit card companies while a senator, along with many other Democrats. So just stop the charade - and stop laying the burden of irresponsible behavior on those of us who have good credit, or else WE might not have that any longer, either.

If you have not already read it, I recommend to you the following post by my good friend, SusanUnPC, “A Personal Note Only For Those Who Voted For Obama.” And I would add, not only “ditto,” but in the most pastoral way possible to those who did vote for Obama, you can just bite me for what you have unleashed on this country. If only there was a way to make only those people support the UAW/GM, pay the ne’er-do-wells’ credit card bills, etc.

Hmm - that’s a thought - let’s figure out how to do just that - let them pay for Obama’s taking over private companies, banks, and kowtowing to the unions (again - I am not anti-union in general, just when they try to take over states or private companies). A pipe dream, I know, but for this moment, it helps to keep my head from exploding…

The crusty CNN newsman/commentator Lou Dobbs takes a depressing look at unemployment figures and how taxpayers are being HAMMERED:

California’s Burden: Workers Pay the Price
Workers in California are worrying about losing even more money. The unemployment rate is in the double-digits and climbing. Those who have jobs in the state are bearing an increasingly heavy burden and their tax rates are rising as well. Casey Wian has the report.

Even Maddow had a segment on unemployment, which some have noted does NOT include all of the people forced to work at part-time jobs or those who’ve given up entirely:

The President is doing “everything in his power”? Uh, like what? Well, the unemployment benefits are good — the infusion of cash into the economy also helps. Maddow, to her credit, asks some important questions of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, who supplies some solid answers but not any real solutions.

All this talk about the BIG SQUEEZE on the average working person — both from employment crises and increasing taxes — reminded me of a segment I watched earlier Tuesday evening on Hannity:

As I was preparing this story, I stopped by the YouTube channel of Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan — I’ve subscribed to his channel because I KNOW that the economy and jobs are foremost in his mind — mainly the 750,000 jobs that the state of Michigan expects to lose by the end of 2009. That’s a staggering number of lost jobs. Here’s Fox News’s Geraldo interviewing Rep. McCotter over the weekend:

750,000 jobs. That’s one and a half times the entire population of Lansing, Michigan.

“A cherished way of life is being lost,” says Rep. McCotter.

And future generations will have nothing to show for current slapdash solutions except a massive debt they’ll have to try to struggle to repay through exorbitant taxes that prohibit their achieving a decent standard of living.

It’s not such a rosy picture after all, is it.

Good news for Michigan and Florida Democrats. You might not get cut out of the party’s messy primary voting process again in 2012.

Of course, with an incumbent Barack Obama, the Democrats’ presidential-candidate-picking process may be moot:

Assuming the rookie Great Change Agent quickly fills five dozen empty slots at Treasury, fixes the nation’s economy, creates multiple millions of jobs, reforms the country’s entire education system, makes it affordable to ever Missouri Democratic Senator Claire McCaskilly American, creates a thriving green economy, reduces dependence on foreign oil, solves the housing crisis, keeps interest rates low, prevents inflation, avoids an Afghan quagmire, cuts taxes for 95% of Americans, screws over the other 5% and halves the national debt.

Oh, and cleanses the culture of greed and entitlement on every U.S. street including the one named Wall.

Last year’s Democratic primaries were hardfought even bitter affairs, not helped by the initial banning of the results of those important twin states, which denied Hillary Clinton two crucial albeit sneaky victories.

What the hell does THAT mean?? The only one who was SNEAKY in this process was OBAMA!! He’s the one who took his name taken off the ballot, and encouraged others to do so as well, to try and embarrass Clinton out of the win! He’s the ONLY one who campaigned in Florida, and Clinton still won in a landslide. And SHE’S the one who is sneaky? Okay - I see how they are revising history on this one. Because we can’t have anyone better than Precious, can we? Ah, yes, because EVERYONE wanted Obama, apparently - except for the majority who voted for Clinton, but let’s not allow facts to influence the storyline. Ahem.

Back to the article:

And all presided over by another former unsuccessful Democratic presidential candidate, Howard Dean.

Dean is gone now, unceremoniously dumped and denied a Cabinet job by the Obama camp, in favor of parttime chair, Gov. Tim Kaine of Virginia. He”ll take over fulltime next year to earn his D.C. chops and, come 2012, probably replace aging Joe Biden as Obama’s VP who, you may remember, was a senator way back when Obama was a sixth grader. (Although keep your eyes on Missouri’s most Twittering senator.)

But watch out. CNBC announced today that Dean has signed on there as a commentator. Now, all that cable channel needs is some viewers and Dean can be heard to get even on-air.

Oh, yippee. But this is where is gets good:

The 37-member Democratic Change Commission will be headed by Sen. Claire McCaskill (who likes to Twitter) and Rep. James Clyburn, both ardent Obama backers. And Obama’s ex-campaign manager David Plouffe is also on.

The goal, Kaine says, is “to put voters first and ensure that as many people as possible can participate.” A complete list of commission members is below; scroll down or click on the “Read more” line.

The commission, which grows from a convention resolution by Obama last August, will have three goals: chop the number of superdelegates, reform the caucus system and change “the window of time” for caucuses and primaries. Should Iowa and New Hampshire be worried?

The commission’s report is due by next New Years Day.

I’m sorry, but how are the same people who created the problems we had this past Primary going to REFORM it?? You have my back-stabbing, lying, conniving representative, James Clyburn in there, the one who pushed the meme that the Clinton’s were racist. And DAVID PLOUFFE!!!! The man who orchestrated Obama’s campaign, the one in which he engaged massive caucus fraud, and the above mentioned shenanigans.

This is just great. I wonder how they are going to reform it, exactly? Abolish it completely so Precious can forever on out be the Democratic Nominee?? Having these folks on this committee is a whole lot like having the foxes guard the chicken coop. I am not expecting a whole lot of protecting our votes here since this was the tack Plouffe took during the vote controversy: What we’re interested in is a fair resolution; we don’t think it’s fair to seat them fully,” Plouffe said.

“We’re not going to support something that gives her too many delegates. We all last year played by the rules. It was only after the fact when they needed the delegates that they tried to change the rules. I don’t think you can at the 11th hour change the rules that you try to live by because it benefits you.” But Obama’s stance on the issue, like his opponent’s, has just as much to do with politics as principle; the Obama campaign clearly doesn’t want Clinton to close the delegate gap enough that she can possibly convince enough superdelegates to throw their support her way, or give her a chance to claim a victory in the popular vote.

The One was the one who was trying to change things, but the key statement is the first one, “We’re not going to support something that gives her too many delegates.” Never mind that she WON those delegates with OUR votes. And taking lawfully cast and certified votes from one candidate to give to another is so far from any sense of fairness and decency, that I cannot imagine how someone like David Plouffe is going to “reform” the nominating process. All primaries will now be caucuses with ACORN running them? All voting precincts will be staffed with ACORN members, or Obama Army personnel? Only people whose last name beings with “O” and end in “a” can run? Whatever it it, I think they just may have to remove that pesky word from title - you know the one, “Democratic.”

Here’s the rest of the gang:

Membership of the 2009 Democratic Party Commission on Change:

Co-Chairs: Sen. Claire McCaskill, Missouri, and Rep. James Clyburn, South Carolina.

Members: Jeremy Alters, Florida; Jeff Berman, Washington, D.C; Ashley Bliss, Georgia; State Rep. Dan Blue, North Carolina; Bill Carrick, Los Angeles; Mayor Michael Coleman, Columbus, Ohio; Jeff Forbes, Washington; Joan Garry, New Jersey; Kansas state chairman Larry Gates; Adelita Grijalva, Arizona; Rob Hampshire, Pennsylvania; Ned Helms, New Hampshire.

Also on the commission: Alexis Herman, Virginia; Tribal Chairman Ron His Horse Is Thunder, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe; Teamsters Pres. James Hoffa, Michigan; Roseanne Hope, Minnesota; Nevada state senator Steven Horsford; Suzie LeVine, Seattle; UAW CAP Director Dick Long, Michigan; Andres Lopez, Puerto Rico; Patricia Madrid, New Mexico; Debbie Marquez, Colorado; Illinois state senator Iris Martinez; Jennifer McClellan, Virginia; Montana secretary of State Linda McCulloch.

Also: Iowa attorney general Tim Miller; Minyon Moore, Washington; Sunah Park, Pennsylvania; Plouffe, Washington; Rebecca Prozan, California; James Roosevelt, Jr., Massachusetts; Rep. Linda Sanchez, California; Randi Weingarten, New York; Oregon state chair Meredith Wood Smith; Martin Yeung, South Dakota.

Whoopsie—The Democratic National Committee’s hood ornament got ..er..unscrewed and bounced into the street. Of course, it was loosened up a long while back when the DNC moved itself mostly to Chicago two months before the Democratic Convention. That right there tells you a lot about the DNC. (I think the “D” should be removed—it doesn’t belong there any more.)

Kirsten Powers concludes that DNC Chair, Howard Dean, was helpful to Obama for one reason—staying out of the way.

Dean had high level detractors. Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s new Chief of Staff, publicly feuded with Dean over how to spend funds for House races, asserting that Dean was wasting money by spreading it around to all 50 states.

James Carville described Dean’s leadership as “almost Rumsfeldian in its incompetence.”

Paul Begala charged that Dean was “apparently . . . just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their noses.” (More here.)

Then there was Dean’s decision to strip Florida and Michigan of their delegates for holding their primaries early, only to give both states a reprieve after it was too late for Hillary Clinton to have an honest shot at the nomination.

And Dean gets an “F” for remaining silent while sexism and misogyny ran rampant within the Democratic Party. (Sorry, Howie, the weak admission after it was all over didn’t cut it for anyone.).

But Obama and company should be very grateful to Howard Dean for pushing that 50 state strategy, one that probably helped account for Obama’s win in some previously red states. Whether Dean gets rewarded or stays flopping about in the street as the DNC limo speeds off remains yet to be seen.

Throughout this campaign season, any attempts to discern the “content of (Obama’s) character” have been thwarted by the Propaganda Machine, formerly known as the Fourth Estate, his handlers, the DNC, and his followers who claim, irrationally, I might add, the “Obama will heal us!” as Cher did on The Ellen Degeneres Show Nov. 3rd, as if he truly IS the Obamessiah, ignoring the tremendous splitting of the country, of the Democratic Party itself.

For the first time in memory, a candidate was NOT “known by the company he keeps,” “the birds of a feather which flocked together.” Rather, any mention of Bill Ayers was met, even by university professors with the illogical justification that Obama was only 8 when Bill Ayers and his compatriot, Bernadine Dorhn, were bombing the US Capitol, Pentagon, and other US buildings.

That may be so, but the ideology which drove Ayers and Dorhn is the ideology to which they still adhere. Obama has chosen to have them in his life, to live near them, work with them, and seek them out, as we recently learned for sure (as many of us suspected, and confirmed in this article by Steve Diamond at No Quarter, “Ayers and Obama In Regular Contact Says Source Close to Obama Candidacy“).

The list of his close associates in addition to Ayers and Dorhn are troubling: Rezko, Wright, Khalidi, Kilpatrick, Farakkhan, Blogajevich, et al, a list that contains convicted felons and one under investigation. I have said before, and will say again, any ONE of these people would have sunk any other candidacy, yet in the case of Obama, they were brushed aside as irrelevant. As was the glaring reality that Obama took the majority of his policy positions, often lock, stock, and barrel, from Hillary Clinton. But the Propaganda arm flipped it around, and his minions, again, many university professors, brushed aside his plagiarism as inconsequential. What a great lesson they are teaching their students, and their children.

Along those lines, I am in disbelief that adults, people who would not hire Obama at their own universities or businesses with his refusal to provide ANY documentation of his academic life, or allow friends, families, or fellow students to discuss him to ANYONE trying to get information on this first term senator running for the highest office in the land, would gladly give this man their votes.

I despair that adults, and their children, believe that the means justify the ends, that hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voter registrations, over 200,000 in Ohio, and 212,000 discovered in Georgia, in which voters were registered in GA, as well as OH or FL, are dismissed because as one neighbor, a retired university professor said, “ACORN does great work.” The level of voter registration fraud was through the ceiling, as the 16 investigations into ACORN indicate, yet the Propagandists say NOTHING about this as Obama “wins” contests in states where voter registration fraud was rampant. Even duplicate voting is brushed aside, as this video demonstrates (and h/t to a listener of Truthteller’s Election Night Radio Show mentioned):

Um, no - it is NOT okay for anyone to vote more than once in an election. It is FRAUD, and it is ILLEGAL!! But we already know there were instances of this in OH and FL. Heck, in VA, felons were allowed, no, RECRUITED, to vote for Obama, but absentee ballots to our military serving abroad went out late, sparking a lawsuit to make sure THEIR votes were counted. And on and on it goes.

As I said, I despair that adults are teaching our young people that you cheat, lie, and steal to get what you want. While you are at it, make sure you are a sore loser, hammering away at the vanquished in a juvenile, mean-spirited manner, never having learned the concept of gracious winning (especially when the “winning” is suspect). These are the same people who said NOTHING, or were SUPPORTIVE, of the Democratic Party forever smearing its very name by stealing votes from one candidate to give to another. The ends justify the means, and if that means we tarnish, tear down, belittle, smear, and steal from a candidate to win, so be it. Oh - and blame them for it, too, while we are at it as the NY Times did in an incredibly offensive editorial it had up last night celebrating Obama’s defeat of Clinton (I won’t link to it - go find it yourself if you want to read that dribble). We have now taught our young people that you can register as many times as you want, and vote as often as you want - just like on “American Idol”! - to make sure YOUR candidate wins. Fair and square is old school. Now it is win at all and any costs, and belittle your opponent while you are at it.

Then there are the issues of misogyny and race-baiting that sustained this campaign, with the willing participation of the Propaganda Arm, Obama, and the DNC. The treatment of women during this campaign was a low I have not seen in DECADES, yet many women were willing participants to this abuse, claiming even as Obama contradicted them, that he was going to be great for women. Ask Hillary. Ask Sarah. Ask those folks wearing, “Sarah Palin Is a C–t” t-shirts, or the organization that used the “C-word” as its acronym regarding Hillary. Women were treated as not just objects, but as sexual anatomy period, in a most vulgar and derogatory way. Still, since it was the DNC, too many women accepted this treatment from the very party of which they are the majority. How they can celebrate the future presidency of a man who treats women in such a hostile manner is beyond me. That goes for the GLBT community, too. But hey - they got their “Bro Before Ho,” so I know they are happy.

The race baiting that was used to tear down our only two term Democratic president in decades was horrendous to watch, especially as members serving in Congress, people whom President Clinton had helped personally, went out of their way to paint him with the stigma of being racist. Hillary, too. Two people who have worked TIRELESSLY to end discrimination in this people were called racists, and it stuck. Then anyone who would not, could not, imagine voting for the most inexperienced, unqualified candidate who was taking Chicago-style politics national, with his thugs attacking people around the country, were labeled, no, BRANDED racists if they did not support Obama. As women’s rights have been set back decades after this election season, so have been race relations. All in the service of getting this man elected because of the color of his skin, not the content of his character, which is still largely ignored or unexplored by the electorate and the Propagandists.

I do not think this is what Dr. King had in mind. I do not think this is what our founders had in mind, either. This election, with its win at all costs, even if it means cheating, lying, and stealing, is not democracy. It surely isn’t decent. And it is not the American Way. At the moment, I can’t see how this will change - how we will regain any semblance of justice, of knowing right from wrong, of being ethical, moral, good. Yes, we made history last night, but I ask you, at what cost to us, to our country? I weep for us today, at what we have become. I have to hope, and pray, that we will regain what we have lost, but for today, grief overwhelms me.

Hot off the presses is this final report from Peniel Cronin, the author of an incredible study, “2008 Democratic Presidential Preference Election: Primary versus Caucus: How millions of voters were systematically disenfranchised and election results were skewed,” available at Dr. Lynette Long’s site, which contains a great deal of information on issues of caucus fraud.

Ms. Cronin’s final study, “2008 Democratic Presidential Preference Election: The People’s Vote: Delegate Allocation Per Original Votes Cast” is an eye-opener (and is available at the bottom of this post). No Quarter is quite fortunate that Ms. Cronin is allowing US to break this story! Thank you!!

The bottom line is this - had the RBC not interfered, the difference between the PLEDGED delegates would have been - wait for it - 4 (FOUR). Yes, I said 4. And, while caucuses accounted for only 2.9% of voters, they accounted for over 14% of pledged delegates. Never even mind all of the massive caucus irregularities that benefited one person - Obama. Still, the bottom line difference: 4 delegates, AND Clinton won the popular vote. Holy smokes.

Before I go further, allow me to introduce Ms. Cronin to you, and present her credentials:

Peniel Cronin has been President & CEO of Global Basics since 1993. Cronin holds a B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University and has over 16 years experience as an accountant and Director of Marketing for several SMEs.

Cronin directs product development and market research and developed the algorithms that power the eNameWiz multilingual domain creation and advanced Name Analytics technology.

Enterprise clients through Global Basics have included the Arizona Office of Tourism, the Nevada Commission on Tourism, the Arizona Shopping Consortium, Shop America Alliance, America West Airlines, Southwest Airlines, AeroMexico and numerous other travel and domain industry organizations. Cronin holds three US & German Patents, several trademarks and numerous copyrights.

Cronin has had a disability for 43 years since a car accident in 1965. She was the Director of Marketing for one of the largest Independent Living Centers in the US for over 5 years and is a disability rights activist, speaker, trainer, and peer mentor to both people with disabilities and minority/women business owners.

What an amazing woman she is!

And now to the results Ms. Cronin has compiled. It will knock your socks off to see the actual numbers, the graphs, and machinations involved to get Obama the nomination. Many of us are aware of the level of caucus fraud that occurred over the Democratic Primaries, but the Numbers Don’t Lie, and here they are, including a spreadsheet of the votes state-by-state (click on the page to enlarge it):

Wow, right? There is more in this excellent report, but I thought this was of particular interest regarding the whole caucus returns:

Perhaps most troubling of all the elements that impacted the final delegate count was the lack of reliable election results –i.e., the undisclosed voter attendance data and non-certified caucus vote counts from 4 of the 6 largest caucus states in terms of votes cast. Iowa, Nevada, Washington and Maine did not even report total voter turnout and votes.

Together, these states cast an estimated 558,000 of the 1,057,136 million total caucus votes for Obama and Clinton. Thus, 53% of the total votes reported from the 13 caucus states were a guesstimate based on state Democratic Party estimates of voter turnout or based on projections by various researchers and news organizations.

Notably, the reported vote totals varied depending on the projection made by different news organizations and election researchers. There was no certification of results (and probably no solid audit trail) that would provide an exact vote count
as required to be reported through a primary voting system.

In addition to these 4 states, there were no solid vote-count numbers presented for the Texas caucus. In fact, the election vote tally there stopped after approximately 41% of the precincts had reported results.

From a delegate standpoint, these 4 caucus states plus the Texas caucus accounted for 239 pledged delegates – 48% of the total 498 pledged allocated to all caucuses.

Holy moly. Who knew that these were “ESTIMATES” and not actual counts for these caucuses? So let me understand this - not only did Obama have these caucuses gamed, but in most of them, they didn’t even bother to COUNT them all?? Um, counting isn’t rocket science, after all - addition is something you learn early on in grammar school. But it didn’t happen in this election. That seems to be a theme for the Democratic Primaries - “let’s not bother to count all of the votes this year, okey dokie?” Uh, yeah.

There is more, and I highly recommend you read the rest of it (it is short, but powerful). In conclusion, Ms. Cronin offers these thoughts (with slight corrections to web addresses):

With the overall election results being so starkly different between the two voting systems used – primary versus caucus,and given all the reports (and actual signed affidavits) of irregularities and fraud, why didn’t the DNC call for an investigation into the caucus results?

With so many complaints of irregularities, why didn’t superdelegates stop and question the legitimacy of the delegate count reported? As representatives of the people, why didn’t they look back to the pledged delegate count as determined
by the People’s Vote – the original votes cast and take note of Clinton’s 175,000 vote-victory margin over Obama and consider the flawed nature of the caucus system along with the small number of total votes the caucus-goers represented – before casting their votes which in the end selected Obama as the presumptive Democratic nominee? *

Think about it: 239 delegates, nearly half of all caucus pledged delegates, were impacted! That is more than enough to skew or sway any competitive election. And with what justification: under-funded, Party-financed elections, inadequate
volunteers to staff and monitor the caucuses, sloppy audit and paper trail systems? The State Democratic parties that run and finance caucus elections should not follow a separate, less-compliant set of rules. The DNC should act quickly to reform caucus voting systems and State Parties must be mandated to comply or get out of the electioneering business.

How is Democracy or the American voter served by the flawed caucus voting system or the Party’s blindness to it? Caucuses, while exemplary as a forum of debate and discussion, must be reformed or abandoned as a voting system before the next election cycle. Never again should the will of the majority of voters be thwarted by the will of the minority.

To read my original research entitled “2008 Democratic Presidential Preference Election: Primary versus Caucus: How millions of voters were systemically disenfranchised and election results were skewed” and to investigate caucus fraud issues further, go to: http://www.lynettelong.com/caucusfraud/statistics/ and http://www.wewillnotbesilenced2008.com/. I also recommend “Has America Outgrown the Caucus?” by Tova Wang a Democracy Fellow at The Century Foundation.

Another point to be made in terms of why the superdelegates did (or did not) do as they did was money, hence the *. I recommend this video by HRCinO8 to you - it is one you may have seen before, but it emphasizes how much money Obama shelled out to superdelegates.

These are excellent questions, Ms. Cronin. Another question raised in our email exchanges prior to this article was: Did ACORN have any involvement in the rampant caucus fraud that occurred this year? As of yet, I have no proof one way or the other, and would certainly be interested in any certifiable, authentic connections. It does seem plausible to me, though, given the extent of their voter registration fraud. Why would they do one and not the other?

And given the extent of that voter registration fraud, Ms. Cronin also questioned voting Third Party this year since the potential fraud is so pervasive that every vote against corruption is critical. While we know Gore actually won FL, the votes siphoned off to Nader made it easier to ignore the actual recount tally (post-Supreme Court decision). I think Ms. Cronin makes a good point regarding third party voting and the query about any connection to ACORN. I would like to thank her for making sense of all of the caucus irregularities and for showing, clearly, what we all suspected and knew in our hearts - that the DNC appointed Obama its nominee, not the votes or will of the people. For that, they have some ’splaining to do…

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Hoping to shore up support in his suddenly undependable backyard, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama flew here Monday to talk about how he’d handle economic crises as president.

Recent polls have shown that Wisconsin — once pretty solidly in Obama’s column — is now a statistical dead heat between Obama and Republican John McCain.

“You all know that you hold this election in your hands,” Sen. Russ Feingold, a Democrat who said he worked on ethics legislation with Obama, told a crowd of about 6,000 cheering Obama fans in the arena next to Lambeau Field. “We just barely won this state for Al Gore in 2000 and we just barely won this state for John Kerry in 2004.”

While it’s true that Obama has had an uptick in national polls over the last week, he is also on the defensive in more blue states. John McCain is locking down states like Ohio and Florida, and is now expanding the map into Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Obama, it appears, has a small advantage in New Mexico and Colorado.

National Public Radio reports that the battleground states are becoming fewer:

The number of battleground states has shrunk — from 19 to 14 — as Alaska, Georgia, North Dakota and Montana returned to their Republican roots.

In August, Obama led in the 14 states by 3 points. Now McCain leads in those states by 2, and the underlying political landscape has shifted a bit as well.

If national polls swing back to McCain, and there’s no reason to think they won’t, then we should expect McCain to take a small lead in Minnesota, Wisconsin and, perhaps, Pennsylvania.

Kerry beat Bush in Wisconsin by a razor-thin .38% or 11,384 votes of nearly 3 million cast, while Ralph Nader received just over 16,000 votes. The Nader campaign recently announced that Nader will be on the ballot in Wisconsin this year, having collected 3,500 signatures.

Although not as close as Wisconsin, two other swing states are worth watching. In 2004, Kerry beat Bush by 98,319 votes in Minnesota of almost 3 million cast, and in Pennsylvania by 144,248 votes out of 6 million cast, a 2.5% margin.

What is causing Obama such problems in swing states? NPR says it’s The Clinton Factor:

something else is holding Obama back: He still hasn’t won over enough of Hillary Clinton’s voters.

“One thing that Obama tried to do in his convention was unite the Democratic vote behind him, and it still hasn’t completely happened,” Bolger said. “Our survey found that of the voters who said they voted for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary, 20 percent of them are still voting for John McCain.”

One Clinton voter is Louis Brandenburg, a heavy-equipment operator from Avella, Pa. He said he has made up his mind for November.

“Yeah, I guess so: Mr. Obama, I guess. I have no choice,” he said.

Even with little enthusiasm, Brandenburg — a Democrat — is sticking with his party. But plenty of his friends in southwestern Pennsylvania are very enthusiastic about Sarah Palin.

“There’s a lot of them who are going to vote for her and McCain because of the hunting issue,” he said. “I can’t understand what happened to our party; it just seems like the Republican Party is always the ones who back hunters and sportsmen, and all we get from the other one is flack about hunting and guns.”

————————————————————
Photographs of empty seats at the Obama rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin:

According to Jake Tapper of ABC News, “Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin packed the house last week in Green Bay, Wis., at the Resch Center.”

A new poll in Michigan (link is to US Census demographic data) from WXYZ and the Detroit Free Press points to tight and tightening race with Senator Obama leading Senator McCain by three points. The previous poll from Rasmussen Reports had Obama leading by five points. This new poll seems consistent with the dynamic at play in Michigan.

Michigan voters are weighing in on the race for the White House. The latest results are in from an exclusive WXYZ-TV/Detroit News poll which shows that the presidential race is extremely tight. Experts say it could all come down to Michigan in this historic election.

The exclusive poll shows the race getting even closer, with Barack Obama leading John McCain 43% to 42% with a 4 point margin of error. When Michigan voters were asked to consider both tickets, now that both running mates have been chosen, Obama’s lead jumps slightly to 45% compared to McCain’s 42%.

For the first time, our exclusive poll is showing how Michigan voters feel about McCain’s Vice Presidential Pick, Sarah Palin. When asked if Sarah Palin should John McCain not be able to serve out his term, 43% of Michigan voters polled said yes compared to 47% who said no.

According to the poll, an overwhelming 73% of voters are convinced that the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction, while 80% believe Michigan is on the wrong track.
Three issues concern Michigan voters the most, according to latest poll results. The economy is at the top of the list, followed by protecting America from terrorism and health care.

THE ENTIRE POLL IS POSTED BELOW WITH THE ACTUAL QUESTIONS THAT VOTERS WERE ASKED. 602 PEOPLE WERE SURVEYED AND THERE IS A MARGIN OF ERROR OF ±4%.

Overall, would you say that things in the United States are generally headed in the right direction, or have things pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?

17% Right direction
73% Wrong track
10% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

How about in Michigan – are things in Michigan generally headed in the right direction, or are things pretty seriously off on the wrong track?

11% Right direction
80% Wrong track
9% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Now I am going to read a list of the top 10 national problems or issues people say they are most concerned about. After I read the whole list, please tell me which one problem or issue you are personally concerned about the most?

43% Improving the nation’s economy and providing jobs
13% Protecting America from terrorism
9% Making quality health care affordable and accessible
8% Promoting morality and family values
7% Fighting the ongoing war in Iraq
6% Reducing the price of gasoline
5% Improving education
4% Keeping federal taxes low
2% Protecting our air and water
1% Controlling crime and drugs
1% More than one
1% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Here is a list of several political figures. For each one, please tell me if you recognize the name, and if you do, whether you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of that person.

George W. Bush
Total Favorable - 25%
Total Unfavorable - 62%

Jennifer Granholm
Total Favorable - 50%
Total Unfavorable - 41%

John McCain
Total Favorable - 51%
Total Unfavorable - 42%

Barack Obama
Total Favorable - 54%
Total Unfavorable - 36%

Sarah Palin
Total Favorable - 48%
Total Unfavorable – 35%

Joe Biden
Total Favorable - 47%
Total Unfavorable – 30%

Carl Levin
Total Favorable - 55%
Total Unfavorable - 25%

Jack Hoogendyk
Total Favorable - 5%
Total Unfavorable – 6%

Do you think the U.S. economy is getting stronger, getting weaker, or staying about the same?

5% Getting stronger
68% Getting weaker
24% Staying about the same
3% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

In the election for President, if the election were held today, would you vote for John McCain the Republican, Barack Obama the Democrat, Ralph Nader the Independent, or Bob Barr the Libertarian? If you are undecided and the election were held today and you had to decide right now, which candidate would you lean toward, Obama, McCain, Nader or Barr?

43% Total Obama
42% Total McCain
2% Total Nader
2% Total Barr
10% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Have you ruled out voting for Barack Obama the Democrat and are pretty certain that you will vote for John McCain the Republican, or, are you still considering Barack Obama and might change your mind and vote for him?

81% Ruled out Obama and certain to be voting for McCain
17% Still considering Obama and may change mind
2% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

What is the main reason why you are voting for John McCain?

21% His Position on Issues – In General
18% He’s Conservative
17% Experience
13% Best Candidate
7% Abortion Position
6% Like Him – In General
6% Strong Leader
5% National Security Position
3% Taxes Position
3% War In Iraq Position
2% Running Mate - Palin
— Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

What would you say is the main reason why you are NOT voting for Barack Obama?

28% Lacks Experience
14% Too Liberal
12% Disagree with His Ideas
10% Abortion Position
8% Do Not Trust Him
7% Taxes Position
4% False Promises
4% Like McCain More - In General
4% Track Record
3% Would Ruin The Country
2% War In Iraq Position
1% Dislike Him – In General
1% Health Care Position
1% Religion
2% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Have you ruled out voting for John McCain the Republican and are pretty certain that you will vote for Barack Obama the Democrat, or, are you still considering John McCain and might change your mind and vote for him?

85% Ruled out McCain and certain to be voting for Obama
15% Still considering McCain and may change mind
— Undecided/ Don’t know/ Refused

What is the main reason why you are voting for Barack Obama?

41% Represents Change
19% Democrat
15% His Position on Issues – In General
13% Economy Position
6% Trust Him
3% Taxes Position
3% Abortion Position

What would you say is the main reason why you are NOT voting for John McCain?

42% More Bush Policy – Same
9% Age
9% Republican
6% Do Not Trust Him
6% Does Not Understand The Middle Class
5% Economy Position
5% False Promises
5% Running Mate – Palin
3% Health Care Position
3% Like Obama More – In General
2% War in Iraq Position
2% Abortion Position
2% Taxes Position

If you were not voting for (Bob Barr/Ralph Nader), which of the two major party candidates would you vote for – John McCain the Republican or Barack Obama the Democrat? If undecided, and the election were held today and you had to decide right now, which candidate would you lean toward, Obama or McCain?

11% - Total Obama
36% - Total McCain
53% - Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

If the November general election for U.S. Senate were held today, would you vote for Jack Hoogendyk the Republican or Carl Levin the Democrat?

56% Total Levin
28% Total Hoogendyk
16% Undecided / Don’t know/ Refused

For each word or phrase I read, please tell me whether you think it is a better description of John McCain the Republican or Barack Obama the Democrat?

Someone you can trust.
43% - McCain
39% - Obama

He shares my values.
44% - McCain
42% - Obama

Cares about someone like me.
33% - McCain
47% - Obama

Has the right kind of experience.
61% - McCain
26% - Obama

Will bring about needed change.
31% - McCain
51% - Obama

Will work for bipartisan solutions.
41% - McCain
41% - Obama

Will be able to inspire people.
25% - McCain
62% - Obama

Will be a strong leader.
45% - McCain
39% - Obama

Will protect American interests.
48% - McCain
36% - Obama

If John McCain is elected, how comfortable are you with the thought of having him as President – very comfortable, mostly comfortable, only somewhat comfortable, or not really comfortable at all?

42% Total Comfortable
25% Only somewhat comfortable
30% Not really comfortable at all
3% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

If Barack Obama is elected, how comfortable are you with the thought of having him as President – very comfortable, mostly comfortable, only somewhat comfortable, or not really comfortable at all?

48% Total Comfortable
21% Only somewhat comfortable
28% Not really comfortable at all
3% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Did the selection of Sarah Palin as the candidate for Vice President make you more likely to vote for John McCain, less likely to vote for him, or, would you say that the selection of Sarah Palin really didn’t influence you one way or the other?

26% More Likely
47% No influence one way or the other
25% Less Likely
2% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

Did the selection of Joe Biden as the candidate for Vice President make you more likely to vote for Barack Obama, less likely to vote for him, or, would you say that the selection of Joe Biden really didn’t influence you one way or the other?

23% More Likely
58% No influence one way or the other
16% Less Likely
3% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Thinking about the two tickets for President, if the election were held today, would you vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin the Republicans, Barack Obama and Joe Biden the Democrats, Ralph Nader the Independent, or Bob Barr the Libertarian?

45% Total Obama - Biden
42% Total McCain - Palin
2% Total Nader
2% Total Barr
9% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

If John McCain were elected President and he was not able to serve for his entire term of office, do you think that Sarah Palin is qualified enough to be able to step in as President, or not?

43% Yes, she is qualified to be President
47% No, she is not qualified to be President
10% decided/Don’t know/Refused

Based on what you know or have heard or read, what do you think John McCain’s religion is?

21% Protestant (Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Episcopalian)
6% Roman Catholic or Catholic
2% Other
2% Christian – Non Denominational (volunteered)
29% None (volunteered)
40% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

Based on what you know or have heard of read, what do you think Barack Obama’s religion is?

19% Protestant (Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, or Episcopalian)
1% Roman Catholic or Catholic
7% Muslim
2% Christian – Non Denominational (volunteered)
33% None (volunteered)
37% Undecided / Don’t know / Refused

Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? American voters are not ready yet to elect a candidate for president who is a black man?

14% Agree
78% Disagree
8% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

Do you think of yourself as pro-choice, meaning that you support allowing women to have the right to an abortion, or do you consider yourself pro-life, meaning that you oppose abortions except where it is necessary to save the life of the mother?

50% Pro-choice
46% Pro-life
4% Undecided/Don’t know/Refused

Takeaways
Michigan went both for Al Gore in 2000 and for John Kerry in 2004. Senator Kerry carried Michigan by 3.42%. Obama has to hold both Michigan and Pennsylvania and pry away one other state with at least five Electoral College votes into his column. So far, that seems doable if not likely with races in Virginia and Colorado running neck and neck. For McCain right now Pennsylvania, where the race is in a dead heat, seems the likelier bet to secure the White House.

Worrisome for McCain is the fact that 73% of Michigan voters think that country is headed in the wrong direction and that 42% tied McCain to the policies of the Bush Administration. The biggest negative for Obama was his perceived lack of experience but even then only 28% saw that as a problem. Michigan may well likely be one of the few states that decide the race and at this point reading the numbers underneath the overall number show Obama likely holding onto Michigan and thus probably winning the White House. The other state to watch is Pennsylvania.

Michigan has 17 Electoral College votes.

From my blog, By The Fault.

The McCain campaign released yet another ad this afternoon, its eighth in the past 24 hours. This ad is entitled Overseas and is tailored for the Michigan market. The ad is a 30 second spot. It hits Senator Obama and the Democratic party over the flight of Michigan jobs overseas.

Michigan has 17 Electoral College votes and it is shaping up to be one of the more contested battleground states and as of right now it is seeing some of the most heavy ad buys by both campaigns.

From my blog, By The Fault.

Barack Obama is not the “map changer” CNN and all the discredited Democratic blogs claimed he would be; he is a supercilious underachiever who promises to color the entire nation red, not blue. He is tied with McCain in Minnesota and Pennsylvania; he is trailing McCain in Ohio AND MICHIGAN; he is CLINGING to a lead in New Jersey; and women in New York state are abandoning the Democratic ticket, thereby catapulting McCain-Palin within striking distance of Obama-Biden in a state Gore and Kerry won by 25 and 17 points respectively: portentous numbers, these, but the Democratic Party refused to listen when we warned them about this during the primary season. Democrats, I guess, want to lose. Indeed, they seem to enjoy it.

So now Obama must invest precious and finite resources in states such as New Jersey and New York. And instead of campaigning in Arkansas, Nevada, Florida or Louisiana, he will hold events in Minnesota, a state that should be solidly Democratic in the current political climate. He may even have to campaign in New York now that McCain is within five points of the underperforming Obama. A Democratic strategist quoted in the New York Post article I cite above summarizes this state of affairs succinctly. I quote:

“If it winds up being tight in New York, that means McCain wins the election nationally,” said a prominent Democrat familiar with some of the polling data.

I hope Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Donna Brazile and all the venal bloggers and operatives who manufactured support for Obama online are satisfied. For once McCain wins, and he will win, it will be time for real Democrats who enjoy winning elections to reform OUR presently defunct Party apparatus from within and from without. We have worked too hard for this Party to allow them to squander opportunity after opportunity in order to satisfy the warped desires of a small band of elitist mediocrities who again and again take those of us who comprise the Democratic base for granted.

216 for McCain-Palin, 217 for Obama-Biden, 105 Toss Ups: Obama’s lead in the electoral college has officially eroded. Here is Survey USA’s report about the state of electoral affairs in Washington state:

Democrat Barack Obama’s once double-digit lead in Washington state is no more, according to this latest SurveyUSA poll conducted exclusively for KING-TV Seattle and KATU-TV Portland Oregon. In an election today, eight weeks till votes are counted, it’s Obama 49%, McCain 45%. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll 4 weeks ago (before both candidates had named their running mates), Obama is down 2 points; McCain is up 1. Compared to an identical SurveyUSA poll 8 weeks ago, Obama is down 6; McCain is up 6. Obama led by 17 points in June, led by 16 points in July, led 8 points in August, leads 4 points today.

Among voters with no college education, there is continuing movement to McCain. Obama led by 15 points in July, now trails by 8, a 23-point erosion. Among voters who earn less than $50K a year, there is continuing movement to McCain. Obama’s once 26-point lead among the lower-income group is now 5 points, a 21-point erosion. Among voters older than McCain, Obama had led by 24 points in July, now trails by 1, a 25-point erosion. McCain always has run well among Conservatives, but his advantage among Conservatives has grown from 4:1 in May to 11:1 today. In Eastern Washington state, Obama led 5:4 in June, but McCain leads 2:1 today.

The erosion of Obama’s once staggering lead is not limited to Washington state; it has also altered the landscape of Montana. I quote Rasmussen Reports:

John McCain has opened a double digit lead over Barack Obama in Montana. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Treasure State finds McCain leading by eleven, 53% to 42%.

That’s quite a change from late July when the race was a toss-up. Montana has voted for a Republican candidate in nine of the last ten presidential elections but Obama had made clear his intention to compete for the state’s three Electoral College votes. The candidate himself spent the Fourth of July in Butte, Montana and his campaign ran significant television advertising in the state. However, just before the Democratic National Convention, Obama stopped advertising in Montana and several other traditionally Republican states.

The erosion is also occuring in North Dakota. I quote Rasmussen Reports again:

Like neighboring Montana, North Dakota has become a lot friendlier to John McCain in the first polling conducted since Sarah Palin was nominated to be the Republican Vice Presidential nominee.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of North Dakota voters shows McCain with a 14-percentage point lead over Barack Obama, 55% to 41%. In early July, the candidates were tied in the state and Obama was looking to the Dakotas and Montana as a way to expand the electoral map for Democrats. Now, the Democratic nominee appears to be more focused on traditional battleground states.

But North Carolina really bore the brunt of this displacement of geological proportions. I quote ABC 11 News in Raleigh-Durham:

In 3 previous SurveyUSA NC tracking polls, McCain had led by 8, 5, and 4 points. Today: 20. McCain has gained ground in every demographic group. Among men, McCain led by 9 last month, 27 today. Among women, Obama led by 2 last month, trails by 12 today. McCain holds 9 of 10 Republican voters; Obama holds 3 of 4 Democratic voters; independents, who were split last month, break today crisply for McCain, where, in the blink of an eye, he is up by 25.

In a blink of an eye, a veritable avalanche followed in the wake of Sarah Palin’s emergence. States once competitive were swept into McCain’s columns, while others, particularly those “traditional battleground states,” are quickly sliding toward the precipice. McCain is hovering above the fifty percent threshold in Missouri; he leads Obama by 1 point in Nevada; he is inching ahead of Obama in Michigan; McCain-Palin trounces the Democratic ticket in Florida by a seemingly insurmountable 8 points; the gap separating Obama and McCain in New Jersey is closing; and Ohio is teetering on the brink: unless Obama can move mountains, the prospect of a Democratic victory will be nothing more than a pebble plummeting into a Republican abyss.

No wonder why Democrats on Capitol Hill are panicking. And no wonder why Obama is resorting to some of the most deplorable tactics imaginable. But Obama is desperate, and desperate candidates will do and say anything in a vain attempt to reverse a course that can only be described as inexorable.

Okay, I have to stop before I throw up. Here’s the thing. Obama “won” the Democratic nomination through theft, bullying, intimidation, coercion, and collusion. Personally, I have a problem with that. Not just because I am a minister-type who specialized in Ethics, but as a human being with a conscience, as a US Citizen, and especially as a (former) Democrat. TO say it offends my sensibilities is a massive understatement.

What is this teaching our young people? What does this say about Americans in general? Apparently, you can plagiarize with reckless abandon, and now university professors will simply shrug it off as no big deal, as long as you are their favorite, I suppose. When did it change that plagarizing would not result in expulsion from an institution? At the very LEAST, the student would be brought up on charges. But Obama does it? No problem - “his policies are pretty much the same as Clinton’s anyway - and he is more electable” would be the retort.

Well, hell to the yeah they were the same - he would take her policies, and often take them whole cloth as his own. Not even bothering to change a WORD. Then the media would report what HIS policy was, and say Clinton’s was similar. Ask each one to EXPLAIN them, and only one could - Clinton. But that’s okay, because he is the Hope and Change candidate!!

So, stop worrying about those pesky little details already! He just has to read froma teleprompter, someone else’s words, and he is their hero. How shallow and superficial can people be that they will accept this kind of behvior from someone who wants to lead this nation? And where will he LEAD us, if this is how he acts?

And bullying. I could have SWORN schools(and hopefully, PARENTS) were trying to teach students that bullying is wrong. It diminishes the one being bullied not just in a physical manner, but in emotional and psychological ways as well. Yet bullying was all too evident in this Primary season, from DNC elites trying to get Hillary Clinton out of the race prematurely (and I contend, she SHOULD be the Nominee even now), to pushing around elderly women and others in caucus situations. The use of intimidation and threats of violence toward Hillary Clinton supporters was off the charts. And it was accepted (promoted?) by the media, the DNC, and the Obama camp. Not just accepted, it was seemingly encouraged, if not a flat out strategy of the Obama camp. Add to that the media’s constant refrain that is Obama DIDN’T get the nomination, there would be hell to pay in Denver. Riots would break out, and the young people would DEMAND he be made the nominee. It was an attempt to cower people, and to bully delegates and Superdelegates into selecting Obama.

Then there was the cheating. There were NUMEROUS documented incidents of cheating in the caucuses. Texas alone had over TWO THOUSAND documented complaints. TWO THOUSAND in one state. No doubt, there were more incidents that did not go reported out of fear, people leaving the polling place who had been strong-armed.

But by FAR, the worst offender was the DNC. They did everything in their power to manipulate this nomination from stripping FL and MI 100%, while allowing states more favorable to Obama to go unpunished, to the very worst thing I think a political party, a democratic COUNTRY, can do. They stole votes. They flat out stole votes from citizens in Michigan. THAT was the tipping point - for Obama, for the Democratic Party, and for me. That was when they fully and completely crossed any line of decency. That is when they betrayed not just the citizens of Michigan, but the citizens of the United States. That is when they blew to smithereens their moral compass, and it had already been pretty roughed up by that time.

And there was so much more, so much more that went on this Primary season that others have written about more eloquently, and in more detail, than I can here. We all know what happened, and how it happened.

So, everyone puts on their best frocks and suits, smiles big, and acts like this was all legit. Meanwhile, they expect the vanquished one, the one who should have won, who got the most votes, who did not lie, cheat, and steal, to act as a gracious loser, to step up and support The One whose ascendancy was aided and abetted by the most nefarious means, while The One could act as a petulant, arrogant, vindictive, petty punk. And the loser has to smile, and ask for everyone to get on board with the Selected One. Smiles all around, acting as if none of the immoral, unconscionable acts had not happened.

Well, I won’t forget. I DO have a moral compass, ethics by which I live my life. And I will NOT support a candidate or a Party that engages in such immoral acts, that ENCOURAGES such activities by its members. No way. I still have a soul, and won’t be selling it for the likes of Barack Obama. Hell to the no. And I know that I am not the first, and won’t be the last, to decry what has happened to our political party, to our country, to our young people. But I do know what I won’t be a party to it.

And so, my new course is to work as hard as I can to restore the integrity, the honor, the ethics, of the Democratic Party. Or any party that will act in a way that does not demonize and dismiss candidates and their millions of supporters, that acts with integrity and a sense of good will towards others. One that, yes, follows the Golden Rule of treating others as you would like to be treated. Bill and Hillary Clinton demonstrated just that this week. This wil be a long hard battle, the fight to return the Democratic Party to democratic ideals and principles. But fight we must. We cannot allow this travesty to become the standard. I cannot allow it. I hope you will join me. I hope we can make this right. I still have hope - not in Obama - but in human decency.

I also think on some sort of bizarre level that it actually does suggest that a potential Hillary V.P. pick might not be the worst idea in the world.

OK, for about the billionth time:

Why is it so difficult for party insiders to understand the bitterness and anger of Hillary voters? I’m not sure what planet Kamarck was vacationing on during the Michigan and Florida mess, but as a member of the Rules Committee - and as someone WHO WORKED FOR AL GORE’S CAMPAIGN IN 2000 - even she must (or should) comprehend the frustration of the rank and file with the party’s inability to arrive at a solution until the last minute. Unsubstantiated rumors? How about disenfranchisement as an issue, which is quite substantiated thank you very much? How about assigning delegates to a candidate who did not campaign for them or win them fair and square? Does she remember what happened in Florida in 2000? Maybe hanging around Hahvahd Yahd for all this time has clouded her memory. I, on the other hand, remember that travesty like it was yesterday. And you can bet that if Republicans tried to pull this stunt on the Democrats during the general the Dems would be screaming bloody murder, and justifiably so.

Then there’s this:

The worst thing that can happen at a convention is that it can be real.

Oh really? So respecting and listening to the points of view of ALL the party’s members, not just those with whom you agree, is the worst case scenario? Well, maybe for this crowd it is. Finally someone tells the truth.

And Michael Cohen was on a roll, until he blamed Hillary for everything and announced that it was her responsibility to put a lid on her supporters. Not a word about the sexism and calumnies the woman endured during the campaign. Not a peep about how the media, the blogosphere, “progressive” radio and Democratic mandarins dogpiled on her and tried to push her out of the race almost from the get-go.

There’s a lot more to talk about but I’ll leave that up to you.

After all the DNC and Obama have done to you, it just makes me ill. I know you’re between a rock and a hard place - one the DNC and Barry put you between. I know it, I see it, but holy cow, he should be stumping for YOU! But there you go with your most awesome self, talking to the people, showing them how wonderful you are, how brilliant, how thoughtful and possible your policies are, especially now, with Georgia and Russia fighting, with tensions mounting in the Middle East, with that 3:00 a.m. call coming for real…

Wait a second. Now, just hold on - this is freakin’ BRILLIANT!!!!!! Yes, by all means, Obama, you just go away for a respite, and let HILLARY go around the country talking to the people - BEFORE THE CONVENTION HAS HAPPENED!!!

Abso-freakin’-lutely, you just run along, and let the GROWN UP do the talking.

People will be reminded of what a far superior candidate SHE is, and what a slouch YOU are, especially in the answering questions department, or talking department, or policy department…By all means - take all the time you want! Aloha!!

Come to think of it, as Diamond Tiger wrote in an awesome post yesterday, if Obama now wants to have all of the delegates restored, that would make the difference between the two only 59 delegates (nod to Marc Rubin for writing about that! FIFTY-NINE!!! That is statistically insignificant. It is statically MEANINGLESS. So, if the delegates are restored, as they SHOULD be anyway in a DEMOCRATIC manner (both small and Big “D” way), Obama should not be the presumed candidate. It’s basically a TIE, people.

And by “People”, I mean YOU, Super Delegates! Stop this foolishness already. Stop pushing this guy who is more secretive than DUBYA!! A guy who refuses to even present his REAL birth certificate! Who will not allow ANY of his records, college or grad school, to be released! The guy who has the same attitude problems toward the media that Bush has? Who cannot come up with his own policies?? Are you KIDDING me?? When Hillary Clinton goes out on the road soon, LISTEN. WATCH. THAT is a real leader. And a real leader is just what we need in these times. So stop messing around, forget about who gave you more money - pay attention. And cast your SD vote for the BEST candidate, not the hand-picked candidate. Do it for your country.

Here’s another action for you, again, courtesy of the amazing GeekLove on Donna Brazile, Obama’s puppeteer:

(Adapted from a post at Rabble Rouser Ruminations.)

Part I - The Restoration

Senator Obama has announced with a magnanimous flourish that he would, in all his beneficence, call for the Credentials Committee to restore the votes of Florida and Michigan delegates to 100%. If you recall, when we left off at the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting on May 31st, Florida and Michigan had 100% of their delegates seated, but only with 1/2 vote each. Sounds like the Party is healed. Right?

Wrong. Remember that the fury that emerged at the end of the Rules and Bylaws Committee Meeting was not over the 1/2 vote penalty. People were outraged because the RBC threw out the results of the popular vote, which gave Obama no delegates, and replaced them with an amalgam of exit polls and other data, giving Obama all of the “uncommitted” delegates and hijacking four of Hillary’s, effectively handing the race to Obama.

Obama’s play for unity on Monday did nothing to change that absolute corruption of the democratic process.

Part II - Everybody Agrees On the Platform

The Irish Times coverage of the Platform Drafting Committee Meeting that took place this past weekend in Cleveland, reported, “Heather Higginbottom, an Obama policy aide and a member of the drafting committee, said that Clinton’s official representatives helping to shape the platform have asked neither for a healthcare mandate nor gender-bias language.” Kumbaya right? Of course not.

Do you really think that after all we’ve been through that nobody spoke up to influence the drafting committee to include language addressing gender bias and incorporation of mandates as part of any plank concerning universal healthcare?

I Own My Vote did. I Own My Vote assembled the results of theVirtual Platform Committee Meeting as of last Thursday with the names of 1351 participants and a copy of the I Own My Vote Pledge, and distributed it to every member of the drafting committee. Among the platform planks we submitted were ones calling for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, denunciation of gender bias, and inclusion of a mandate in any universal healthcare plan.

Party rules state that the platform is open to public comment until the platform committee votes. The Obama campaign’s effort to pretend there is no dissent is offensive. When the campaign calls for input and 1,351 people speak as one, it doesn’t matter whether Clinton’s official representatives ask for particular language or not.

We will work to amend the platform if no such language is included.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::

NoQuarterUSA Action Of The Day: We ask that you take part in the I Own My Vote Virtual Platform Committee Meeting now! It takes five minutes. Click here to start. If you have not yet signed the pledge, click here to do so.

What have we here? Obama has asked the Credentials Committee to seat Florida and Michigan at full strength? (Read the comments to see how the average reader interprets Obama’s letter.)

I can’t decide what I loathe more: that Obama all but acknowledges he stole the primary or that he assumes that the average Hillary supporter will be in any way assuaged by this obscene gesture of asking the credentials committee to restore full voting rights to Florida and Michigan now that he’s taken his victory lap and then poked us in the eye with his Grand European/Mid-East Tour.

Back when his “magnanimity” would have counted, he would have suffered small hit in his delegate lead and everyone would have been happy and impressed by his sense of fairness to the voters. But back then, no amount of pleading could convince him to ask for such fairness. He couldn’t even be moved to join in a revote effort.

The reason is very clear. Without Florida and Michigan, Hillary’s other states lacked the critical mass of delegates that would have put her on an even footing with him. In fact, if FL and MI had been counted fully from the beginning, it would have been all over by February 5th. Her substantial and decisive wins in FL, MI, CA, NJ, NY, MA, and AZ would have dwarfed his insignificant wins in the western caucuses.

The weightiness of all of those big D and swing states would have had him barely hanging in the race. OH and TX would have finished him off. We all know this. That’s why it was so important for him to screw FL and MI back in February. It doesn’t make them any less screwed now that he’s sent a letter.

No, instead, Hillary was forced to pole vault a 435ft bar all primary season while Obama was allowed to gently ease his way over a knee wall, assisted by a boost up from his friends in the media and the RBC committee. Obama successfully kept these two states out of the tallies until he could get the Rules and Bylaws committee to grudgingly give them half of their voting strength, while at the same time awarding Obama uncommitted Michigan delegates that should have remained uncommitted. And he stole 4 of Clinton’s delegates.

He must think we are really stupid if he thinks we can’t see through this meaningless gesture:

• He still selfishly retains 4 of Hillary’s Michigan delegates. He doesn’t give up a single Michigan delegate that should have remained uncommitted.
• The number of delegates needed for nomination has now changed. It’s a higher threshold number now but there is no acknowledgment that this is the case. Does he even qualify as the “presumptive nominee”?
• Unless there is a nomination for Clinton at the convention, the restoration of Florida and Michigan to full voting strength doesn’t count. They can only vote for one person, Obama, or their votes will count as “present”.
• If the delegates can’t vote for Clinton for nomination, even if she doesn’t win it, there is no way for MY vote in NJ to count. I am officially a non-voting voter as far as the DNC is concerned. My delegate has about as much of a voting right as a Berliner.
• It does nothing to achieve party unity. In fact, there won’t be party unity until every delegate has the right to vote for the person he pledged to and have that vote count. Otherwise, the convention is nothing but a sham, a Potemkin election where everything is scripted and a facade is erected to make it look like we are all onboard when nothing could be further from the truth. But the degree of the disunity will be felt in November when Obama goes down to defeat behind the unpopular party’s nominee.

Why bother, Barack? Are the numbers starting to frighten you? Did you decide you needed Florida and Michigan after all, as if any voter from these two states can’t see through this? How about you give back your ill-gotten booty in Michigan and take off the sash that says “presumptive nominee”? Why not leave it up to the voters in Denver to decide if you deserve that title? It would be the sincere thing to do, the honest thing to do, the courageous and unselfish thing to do.

Yeah, right. Why don’t you just brush those inconvenient Hillary voters off of your shoulder?

Just as so many of us predicted, now that it can’t hurt him and he has successfully gamed the system and insulted everything this country’s democracy stands for, Leland Gaunt Barack Obama wants every Florida and Michigan delegate counted.

If this isn’t a sign of just what a crooked, morally bankrupt Chicago Thug he is, I don’t know what is. He and Donna and Howard blocked these delegates and these voters from being counted because he knew he would lose. Then he blocked their re-votes because he knew he would lose. No sense of denying that he blocked these re-votes, it’s a matter of record now.

And now………….that it benefits (as in “Cannot Hurt”) The One, he will let his peons be counted. The man is the most despicable excuse for a human being I have seen forced upon an American election in my not so short life. And that includes George W. Bush.

This is just another sign of who and what Barack Obama really is, folks.

While we railed against the GOP in the 2000 and 2004 elections for their dishonesty, these guys look like Disney characters when you consider the slime trail left behind by Barack Obama, Donna Brazile, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi et al.

And of Course, Obama’s Hood Ornament, Howard Dean and his complicit band of bullshitters have “decided” that the unbreakable ROOLZ that they used to tank Hillary Clinton can now officially be waived, suddenly “democracy” and fairness are of interest to him.

Today we received a letter from Senator Obama requesting that the Convention’s Credentials Committee grant each delegate from Florida and Michigan a full vote. We deeply appreciate and value Senator Obama’s perspective on this important issue. This matter will be the top priority for the Credentials Committee when we meet on August 24th. As always our goal is to ensure a fair process and a unified Democratic Party so that we can win in November.”

These people shouldn’t even die before they go to hell. They should all just be sucked down into the abyss bodily while still alive. I’m not even saying what’s REALLY on my mind, that’s how odious these people truly are. The Real Barack Obama says it best about this lying, cheating thief.

Nice words. But where was Sen. Obama when Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-Ill.) had her Michigan and Florida delegates stripped from her? Worse than that, where was Sen. Obama’s spirit of “party unity” when he stood by and accepted 4 of Sen. Clinton’s Michigan delegates when his name had, through his own actions, not even been on the ballot?

You know what we PUMAs are going to say to your “unity” schtick Sen. Obama? Just in case you don’t know by now, that you’ve not figured it out, RBO would almost bet the house that all those “bitter” “deadender” Clinton supporters are going to let you twist in the wind. You just kicked your former Democratic opponent and all her supporters square in the teeth.

Not only that. You are a cheater and you gamed the system and cheated in small state-after-small-state caucuses. You are a liar and have told lie after lie—call it a flip flop or adjusting your position as much as you’d like—but a lie is still a lie. You are a thief and you have stolen the Democratic nomination.

You should be ashamed of yourself. It is doubtful that you see anything but that the end justifies the means, as that is how you have climbed the political ladder in your crawl to the top thus far.

Words cannot express what you have done. Let’s just “hope” that you get everything you deserve.

You have no soul, Barack Obama, do you?

What does he do today? He releases a letter about an hour or so ago asking that FL and MI delegates be seated in full. The coup is complete.

He has kneecapped Hillary for good!. As for Harold Ickes, Obama literally took the wind out of his sails…. he is the one who said “we reserve the right to take this to the credentials committee”. Nope not going to allow even a chance for Hillary to take it to the credentials committee, can’t do that, that would be fair.

And I am the anointed one, Obama, and I don’t play fair!

Yeah, well here is commentary on Obama’s selfish and self centered, game ending letter to the DNC’s crudentials committee:

The Democratic presidential nomination all but officially his, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, today asked the Democratic National Convention’s credentials committee to urge the full seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations, which had been penalized for holding their contests early against party rules.

I don’t know why he asked them. According to Obama he owns the DNC lock, stock and barrel. Obama and the Democratic Party must be desperate! The number of registered Democrats dropped by 2% in July. Political expediency anyone?

“Party unity calls for the delegates from Florida and Michigan to be able to participate fully alongside the delegates from the other states and territories,’ Obama wrote in a letter to credentials committee chairs Alexis Herman, James Roosevelt, Jr., and Eliseo Roques-Arroyo. “Accordingly, I ask that the Credentials Committee, when it meets on August 24 to approve the delegates for the National Convention, pass a resolution that would entitle each delegate from Florida and Michigan to cast a full vote.”

The chairs responded in a statement saying they ‘deeply appreciate and value Senator Obama’s perspective on this important issue. This matter will be the top priority for the Credentials Committee when we meet on August 24th. As always our goal is to ensure a fair process and a unified Democratic Party so that we can win in November.”

In May, before Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, withdrew from the race, Obama was urging a very different outcome for the two states’ delegates, urging the Democratic National Committee’s rules and bylaws committee to penalize both states.

What did you do Obama payoff the RBC too like you paid off super delegates? We know what Obama did at that meeting along with the crooked, rule breaking RBC and DNC.

Well I remember May 31st like it was yesterday. There I was driving around Montana on the Veteran’s for Hillary Tour, in an SUV, a disabled Navy veteran and three passengers pushing Hillary’s agenda. It was our last day of the tour. We had just returned to East Helena, we were planning a leisurely dinner at a pizza joint, when my phone rang, the voice on the other end was mad as hell when they gave me the news, 1/2 vote for FL and MI and the RBC stole 4 of Hillary’s delegates, netting her 24 delegates for the day.

Well I won’t repeat what I said, let’s just say they were words only a sailor would be proud of, but someone read my lips, and then told me to “put a happy face on” before I entered the pizza joint!

Talk about condescending, but then what did I expect, this person had just sent out an e-mail which I received too, that said, Obama and the Muslim thing is going to be a problem for the Democratic Party. This was in response to conversations at an America Legion Hall. And this from a volunteer for Hillary!

Now with pure unadulterated dislike for all things Hillary Clinton, even after she did fundraising with him, Obama, sends this letter out. Yeah! I did it. I won! Nananana! Match Set Game! Obama is now telling Hillary and her supporters “to eat his shorts”.

Well Obama, you with the arrogant, narcissistic personality can kiss my grits!

Florida and Michigan will not forget!

And Obama don’t be so sure you win, November is right around the corner! PUMA is watching you!

The Anti-PUMA groups are comprised of Obama supporters, old and new. Some are ex-Hillary supporters, while others started out supporting another candidate, but moved to Obama at some point. One thing they all seem to have in common though, is that they have picked up and carried on the abusive, thuggish language and behavior of Obama supporters from the get go.

I read an unflattering piece today about one of the lead PUMA people. They took one comment she made, in reaction to an Anti-PUMA blogger who attacked one of Hillary’s most ardent supporters, and tried to make her seem like a terrible person.

What these anti-PUMA people don’t understand is that we are not all *turn the other cheek* kind of people. Push and insult long enough, and we push and insult back. (Those that were former Hillary supporters should know that). SO, yes, PUMA’s might lash out, might say rude things, might post a harsh comment about someone. But, we are pissed off, and sick and tired of being called *irrational* *unhinged anti Obama zealots* *an unhinged mob* *racists* *bitter,dried up vaginas* *hysterical* *Republicans*.

Yes, many, many attacks are that PUMA’s are secret Republicans, and we are given all kinds of reasons why McCain cannot be elected, and if he is, it is the equivalent to voting for the Devil. I have heard so many awful charges coming from Democrats about Republicans. Yes, I am anti-Bush, along with his administration, and I do not support some Republican policies, but I have learned that the Right is not the Evil Empire that the Democratic Party has always made them out to be. They have tried to discredit PUMA’s, saying that we all secretly donate to Republicans. Sure, there might be a few, but I have been blogging with many of these PUMA’s this year, and I assure you, they are Hillary supporters.

This was from one anti-PUMA: “PUMA has a large number of people who claim to be supporters of Sen. Clinton. The problem is they have such a blind, unreasoning hatred of Sen. Obama that they would rather destroy the Democratic party, the political future of the woman they claim to support, AND the country, if it means denying Sen. Obama the nomination - or the White House.”

So, according to this, we will be destroying the country, by electing McCain. Or we will be ruining the career of Hillary Clinton, by demanding that her name is in nomination at the Convention - something that has been afforded to many other Presidential Candidates, including Teddy Kennedy. And, who is Obama, that he is *owed* the White House. He is applying for a job, and in my opinion, he does not deserve the White House. And Obama (and his supporters) have brought this negativity on himself.

What they really don’t seem to grasp is that by saying *Party Unity My Ass* we are expressing the fact we are MAD at the party. We are mad at the tactics used by the party leaders, we are mad at what they did during the primaries, and what they didn’t do, like speak out to stop the constant attacks on the Clinton’s. The character and sexist attacks on the Former First Lady and Senator from New York were beyond the pale. Obama started off the attacks on Hillary, from the very beginning, attacking her character and truthfulness. If you recall, Hillary’s posters used to all read *Ready for Change, Ready to Lead* but Obama came out with *Change you can believe in*. He called her unbelievable from the very beginning. All the while, trying to play the underdog victim.

Calling President Clinton a racist was appalling. (Hell, Obama threw the race card so many times, I feel sorry for people who are actually victims of racism. No one cares anymore, the term is thrown around so much. In fact, Obama played the race card in Germany yesterday.)

Handing Obama delegates from MI, even ones that Hillary won was beyond words. Punishing MI & FL, two states that Hillary would/did won, while allowing other states to move their primaries with no punishment was beyond words. Counting the voters as half a person in FL., Awarding more delegates to African American communities, weighting caucuses heavier in delegates is not democracy.

Sending emails to Democrats stating; *message to base: stay home* was not only rude, but obnoxious. Telling the American people that if the Super Delegates select our nominee, you will leave the party, and then NOT leaving when they select the candidate *you* wanted, is not right. Pressuring Delegates, especially African American ones that supported Hillary to switch, calling them Uncle Toms and making death threats is also beyond words. Not speaking out to the media bias in support of Obama, and against Hillary was downright enraging.

Being attacked from members of your own party, who supported Obama, was for many, the beginning of the end. As I have written before, I used to like Obama. I became weary after so many attacks from posters on sites like HuffPo, just because I supported Hillary over Obama. I became more and more convinced I didn’t like him after I started researching him, and reading into his *lack of* history and experience. But the worst part about it has been the hatred coming from members of the Democratic Party.

Speaking only for me, I can say that the hatred and ugliness coming from Obama supporters from the very beginning have turned me into a very bitter PUMA. In the primaries when a Republican voted for Hillary, it was for nefarious reasons - to keep Obama from winning. But if a Republican voted for Obama, well THEN it was because he was a *uniter*.

In a year when the Democrats should have swept into the White House, the DNC selected a candidate, who many believe is unelectable, and unqualified. The DNC is responsible for the Republicans keeping the White House, should Hillary not get the nomination. I must confess, I would have preferred a Democrat this year, obviously Hillary, but I no longer consider the Right wrong, and the Left right. And I also prefer a candidate I can look to, and understand where he stands, and where he has been, and that has experience.

So, again, what the anti-PUMA people do not understand, is that PUMA members are fighting for democracy. Fighting for fair primaries in the future, no more caucuses, no more handpicked candidates, no more Chicago style politics, no more fraudulent practices, no more intimidation tactics at polling places, and illegal advertising inside polling places, no more voter suppression, no more sexism, no more unelectable candidates, no more party loyalty to a party that left the Democratic principles. No more party loyalty to a party that tells members to stay home, that wants to change the base of the democratic party, that wants to redraw the US map. No more blind party loyalty to a party that doesn’t respect it’s members. No more party loyalty to a party that tries to force out a female candidate, who has more votes, won the majority of the last primaries, and has earned a place on the roll call. No more party loyalty to a party that is trying to keep Clinton’s name out of nomination. A party that tells us, “I must confess a bit of fatigue and irritation with people who continue to carp, complain, and criticize the results of the primary and lay down conditions for their support.”

Many PUMAS are voting for McCain, many are planning to write Hillary in, many are staying home, many are voting for an independent candidate, and some will vote for Obama. What ever PUMA does with their vote is their right. Their American Right. And yes, it is very difficult for many PUMA’s to not vote Democrat this year. Many have been Dems for 20, 30, 40 years.

But, PUMA’s have seen fairness from Republicans. They have seen truth from FOX. They have heard reason from the right. All the while, the left has attacked, covered up, shown bias, made sexist attacks, and worse towards their *fellow* left. PUMA’s have seen the benefit of crossing the aisle, you might say. Most have become independents. Many have seen the faults in blindly supporting a party. You must see the truth, and support those who you feel are best able to lead the country. It is about the best person for job. Not just about a ( D ) or an ( R ). Many are very saddened and feel abandoned by a party they truly believed in. And many feel awakened, having seen their party, and the party on the right, by the light of day.

So, PUMA’s are mad at their party. They will not unify within their party behind a candidate that they do not support. And for that, they are being attacked. But, what anti-PUMA people do not realize, is that they are dividing the country, not just a party. Obama, their candidate, has said many, many times, that he wants to reach across the aisle. Work with the right. Staff his cabinet with members of the right. He has since moved to the right, and voted on initiatives supported by the right. But, anti-PUMAs/Obama supporters continue to spew hatred towards the right and the left. They hate anyone who does not support Obama.

PUMAs are mad at the leaders of the DNC and they do not support Obama as a candidate. (and some just do not support him now, because of his inexperience.) And it should be the right of every American to support the candidate of their choice. And for PUMA’s that candidate is Hillary Rodham Clinton. And until the convention, we do not have an official nominee.

Anti-PUMA/Obama supporters spew hatred towards anyone that does not support Obama. They crucify the right. They crucify the left. Those who have always supported Obama, have crucified from day one. Those who supported other candidates, but now support Obama have joined forces, and now attack those who still support Hillary.

They have claimed that anyone who votes Republican is responsible for destroying the country. They have labeled anyone who does not support Obama a racist.

Obama and his supporters have done more to divide this country than anything a PUMA has done.

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

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

Just say no deal.