Kurtz: I expected someone like you. What did you expect? Are you an assassin?
Willard: I’m a soldier.
Kurtz: You’re neither. You’re an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

Today’s errands boys are Thomas Friedman of the NY Times and the Washington Post’s David Broder. Both have turned out columns filled with praise for Senator Hillary Clinton. Both are sure she is more than up to the job of Secretary of State and both hope she stays in the Senate. It seems the Great Obama must not be sidetracked by the distractions of the Clintons! What they fail to mention is that most of the so-called distractions of the Clintons are created by the media in the first place. So in other words, the most qualified candidate for Secretary of State should not take the job because we (the MSM) will simply make it impossible for her to function since we will be spending inordinate amounts of time looking into every moment of private citizen and former President Clinton’s life, interpreting every utterance from him again and again and investigating every dime he makes. We will also dissect every facial expression from Hillary to figure out what she really must be thinking at every moment.

You can read Friedman here and Broder here.

Meanwhile, the man who will be President remains unvetted.

Friedman is concerned with the relationship between Senator Clinton and the President-elect. He argues that for the Secretary of State to be effective, the world must know she is speaking for the President.

Frankly, Obama could appoint his dear mother-in-law as secretary of state, and if he let the world know she was his envoy, she would be more effective than any ex-ambassador who had no relationship with the president.

Our current president never cared about this, so neither of his secretaries of state were particularly effective. Rather than having Colin Powell’s back, President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delighted in stabbing Powell in the back, particularly when he was on the road. But being close to the president is not enough. Condoleezza Rice had a close relationship with Bush, but Bush had no coherent worldview to animate her diplomacy, so all her travels added up to less than the sum of their miles. The two most impactful secretaries of state in the last 50 years were Baker and Henry Kissinger. Both were empowered by their presidents, and both could candidly talk back to their presidents.

Foreign leaders can spot daylight between a president and a secretary of state from 1,000 miles away. They know when they’re talking to the secretary of state alone and when they are talking through the secretary of state to the president.

It is a valid point. However, Senator Clinton’s performance on Obama’s behalf during this campaign more than proves she can be a team player. As a woman she has been forced to understand time and again how to succeed and forge ahead while playing a “subservient” role. As for their personal relationship, the MSM has been telling us about President-elect Obama’s great judgement for months. Shouldn’t they trust him on this one?

As for Broder, well he just wants Obama to think for himself.

What Obama needs in the person running the State Department is a diplomat who will carry out his foreign policy. He does not need someone who will tell him how to approach the world or be his mentor in international relations. One of the principal reasons he was elected was that, relying on his instincts, he came to the correct conclusion that war with Iraq was not in America’s interest. He was more right about that than most of us in Washington, including Hillary Clinton.

Uh, David, what if he doesn’t have a foreign policy? This could be a President-elect reaching out because he needs help shaping that policy. If you haven’t noticed, most of President-elect Obama’s foreign policy talks have been at Rashid Khalidi’s dinner table. Yes, there were some vanity trips abroad during the campaign, but the experience and knowledge is not there. I am surprised Broder is not praising that “superior judgement” for the President-elect actually recognizing this.

And of course, Broder reminds us she is married to Bill.

Even if Hillary Clinton were ready to play such a subordinate role, which she might be, in return for a promise that her voice would be heard in the most serious policy debates, the presence of Bill Clinton makes that a doubly difficult assignment. The former president has, through the Clinton Global Initiative and his own extensive foreign travels and worldwide contacts, made himself a force in international affairs. It would be unfair, and unlikely, for him to shut down his own private foreign policy actions because they might conflict with his wife’s responsibilities. But foreign leaders would inevitably see Bill Clinton as an alternative route toward influencing American policy. And he would be unlikely to remain silent.

Are you trying to say that Mrs. Clinton would not be able to act independently of her husband? You admit Bill is doing good work abroad, so he shouldn’t stop and she shouldn’t be Secretary of State because of that? If the President-elect wants her and she wants the job, this can be worked out. And my guess is that former President Clinton would do whatever it takes to see to it that she has what she wants.

There are reports out today, that Senator Clinton has reservations about the job. She may decide she is better off staying in the Senate. If nothing else, remaining in the Senate will make it easier for her to raise funds to retire the debt she incurred during the campaign. As Secretary of State those activities are severely restricted. As a Senator she is free to speak out on any matter whenever she feels it is necessary. As a cabinet member, you must carry the company line.

But it’s her decision to make. As for Friedman and Broder, another line from Apocalypse now comes to mind.

Civilian: “Terminate with extreme prejudice”

Terminate their columns, that is.

The Washington Post isn’t the only daily D.C. newspaper to rave about Sandra Bernhard’s anti-Palin ranting. Wednesday’s Washington Examiner joined in, with the headline “Comedienne delivers enraged optimism.” Barbara Mackay claimed “in the end, oddly and subtly, Bernhard’s message is positive.”

That’s not the impression you’d get from the blog of Theater J, where Bernhard is appearing. It has video of Bernhard calling Palin “Uncle Women,” a “turncoat b—h” and a “whore.” One complaint on the blog that Bernhard crosses a line of political incorrectness draws a defense from Ari Roth of Theater J that really drops the curtain on how coarse this show is:

“In fact, the play wears its politically VERY correct heart on its sleeve with its indictment of America as “A Man’s World, It’s a White Man’s World, It’s a F–ked Up White Man’s Racist World” and can only be suggested to be racist in its content if one is hell-bent on protecting White Folk for Sandra’s blistering indictment.When Sandra warns Sarah Palin not to come into Manhattan lest she get gang-raped by some of Sandra’s big black brothers, she’s being provocative, combative, humorous, and yes, let’s allow, disgusting.

The fact that the show has a few riffs like this does not — to my mind — make it a “disgusting show.” there’s too much beauty, variety, vitality, and intelligence to label the entire show as “disgusting.” I’ll agree with you that we produced this show because we did find it to be edgy — because we wanted to give right wing conservative Jews a good run for their money by being on the receiving end of some blistering indictments from Sandra. Does it go over the edge sometimes? On the gang-rape joke, yes. Sure. Not much else. It goes over the edge and then comes right back to the cutting edge.” [Profanity editing is Graham's.]

Forgive me if gang-rape jokes don’t greet my ears as oddly and subtly positive, as the Examiner suggests, and forgive me if gang-rape jokes aren’t “a rotating sprinkler that a spectator washes in most happily,” like the Washington Post insists.

(If you feel compelled to see the video of Bernhard, you can go to the blog link above and it is in there. Have at it.)

I gotta agree with Tim here. As a lifelong feminist, I don’t see one damn thing funny about suggesting ANY woman be gang raped. Nothing. Not anywhere close to funny. And when it comes from a WOMAN about another woman, well, that just screams internalized misogyny to me. Oh - and I don’t see how that can end up being “positive” at all.

Add on top of that the RACISM of this statement (no matter what Roth says - that is racist), and it just boggles the mind that THIS is the kind of person with whom anyone would want to associate their cause, or campaign, or beliefs. But that’s just me.

And there’s still more from Roth of the Theater J:

Roth insisted to the complainer that the D.C. Jewish Community Center is loving their Bernhard show, and partied with Bernhard on opening night. They’re in tune with her right-bashing rage:

“We’re proud of our producing — proud of Sandra’s sense of timing — taking the fight out to the house and to the street beyond, channeling so much of our rage and frustration at the bizarre recent twists of fortune since Karl Rove trotted out Sarah Palin for John McCain to briefly meet and then get in bed with. Sandra’s face is hanging 10 feet tall in a banner over the DCJCC steps and we’re proud that she’s a new emblem and ambassador for our theater and our center. She’s not the only one who represents us. But her large heart, her generous talent, and her big mouth are all a big part of who we are.”

“Who we are” at this theater clearly isn’t someone who’s interest(ed) in presenting anything other than rage. The video itself, presented like a commercial for the show, explains who the show is intended to please. The average person probably wouldn’t find it the least bit funny. But if you really, really hate Sarah Palin or Christian conservatives, this show is for you. Here’s some of what she says in the promo:

“Now you got Uncle Women, like Sarah Palin, who jumps on the s–t and points her fingers at other women. Turncoat b—h! Don’t you f–kin’ reference Old Testament, bitch! You stay with your new Goyish crappy shiksa funky bulls–t! Don’t you touch my Old Testament, you b—h! Because we have left it open for interpre-ta-tion! It is no longer taken literally! You whore in your f–kin’ cheap New Vision cheap-ass plastic glasses and your [sneering voice] hair up. A Tina Fey-Megan Mullally brokedown bulls–t moment.”

Is it too broad an interpretation to suggest that when Bernhard attacks Palin’s “new Goyish crappy shiksa funky bulls–t,” she means the New Testament? It sounds like she’s telling the Christian(s) to stay away from “her” Old Testament, as if Christians don’t have an Old Testament in their Bible. It’s quite clear that the D.C. Jewish Community Center is not attempting an interfaith dialogue with this rantfest.

Oh, boy. I have to admit - I just do not see how anyone justifies that type of ranting against anyone anyway. But I guess I do not understand the need to vilify anything and everything even remotely connected to Sarah Palin. As I said above, until May 31st, I was a diehard, yellow-dog Democrat, but I cannot see why there is such a high level of animosity directed toward Palin, ESPECIALLY by women! What the hell with that already? Is it that these women resent SO much how Palin, a conservative Republican, seems to have done EVERYTHING feminists claimed we wanted for ourselves, including labeling herself a feminist?? Are they resentful? Envious? Angry that she has done it her way? Are they that intimidated by her that they feel compelled to diminish her in any way they can, including calling for her to be “gang raped by black-brothers in Manhattan”? I’m sorry - there is just no excuse for that. It is not positive, it is misogynistic as all get out, and it undermines the speaker, not the subject. It is offensive, and it is shameful. Women do not need to jump on this bandwagon - as this campaign season has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt, there are plenty of men willing to do it for us. If you are interested, there is a site dedicated to documenting the sexist attacks on Palin, including the implication above that Palin had not been properly vetted first - she had (H/T to Medusa for this link).

And I have a dream, too. I dream that one day, and oh, how I wish I would see this in my lifetime, that women will stand with women, without undercutting them, maligning them, attacking them, demeaning them, diminishing their accomplishments, and spreading hate about them. I have a dream that one day, one day, and oh, please let it happen in my lifetime, women will celebrate and affirm one another, no matter their religious affiliation, or political party, or class, or color, or orientation, but will celebrate them for who they are, for succeeding against a stacked deck, for standing strong when the winds are gusting against them, for being themselves, fully, and completely, for loving who they are and what they bring to the world. One day, oh one day…

Just what is the “error”?

A voting system used in 34 states contains a critical programming error that can cause votes to be dropped while being electronically transferred from memory cards to a central tallying point, the manufacturer acknowledges.

It gets better, though:

The problem was identified after complaints from Ohio elections officials following the March primary there, but the logic error that is the root of the problem has been part of the software for 10 years, said Chris Riggall, a spokesman for Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold.

The flawed software is on both touch screen and optical scan voting machines made by Premier and the problem with vote counts is most likely to affect larger jurisdictions that feed many memory cards to a central counting database rapidly.

Whee!!! Ten years of potentially screwed up vote counts! Wowie zowie! That instills SO much confidence in our elections, doesn’t it?

Oh, you can just SEE the ad for the GOTV campaign, can’t you - “Register to vote! It’s your right as a citizen of the United States! Aren’t we so lucky??? There is no guarantee whatsoever that your actual vote will be COUNTED, but don’t let that dissuade you from tromping down to wherever the hell your polling place is, come rain or shine, or snow, and cast that vote! Isn’t it great to be an AMERICAN?!?!”

Oh, and make sure there are all these hip looking young people in it who don’t have to worry with transportation, or ability issues, with their iPods on, swinging into their funky polling places to get out their vote. It will be sunny, of course, and some great artist will be playing in the background. The ad can be provided by Premier Election Solutions, too, just for giggles.

Ahem. Oh, but get this from their spokesman:

Riggall said he was “confident” that elections officials through the years would have realized votes had been dropped when they crosschecked their tallies to certify final elections results and would have reloaded cards so as not to lose votes. Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has said no Ohio votes were lost because the nine Ohio counties that found the problem caught it before primary results were finalized.

Boy, talk about passing the buck!

As recently as May, Premier said the problem was not of its making but stemmed from anti-virus software that Ohio had installed on its machines. It also briefly said the mistakes could have come from human mistakes. Further testing by Ohio elections officials and then high volume tests by Premier uncovered the programming error.

“We are indeed distressed that our previous analysis of this issue was in error,” Premier President Dave Byrd wrote Tuesday in a letter that was hand-delivered to Brunner. Premier and Brunner are in an ongoing court battle over the voting machines and whether Premier violated its contract with the state and warranties. Half of the Ohio’s 88 counties use the GEMS system. Brunner has been a vocal critic of electronic voting machines.

Both Brunner and Premier said that remedies to the problem will be in place for the November presidential election. A nationwide customer alert with recommended actions was issued Tuesday by Premier. Approximately 1,750 jurisdictions use the flawed system, Riggall said. Both Maryland and Virginia use it, he said, although Virginia does not relay its votes to a central counting point, which is where the problem surfaces, Riggall said. Maryland does use a central count, he said. The District of Columbia does not use the GEMS system.

Well, sure it will! And why in the world would we have reason to doubt them? Because they claimed it wasn’t their fault in the FIRST PLACE? Nah - that couldn’t be it. I am CERTAIN everything will be A-Okay by November. Cough, choke.

Here’s the thing:

The problem is most likely to affect larger jurisdictions that upload multiple memory cards during counts, Riggall said. The GEMS system is supposed to save information from one card at a time to be counted in order as the cards are read by a database that Riggall described as the “mother ship.” But a logic error in the program can cause incoming votes to essentially shove aside other votes that are waiting in the electronic line before they are counted. The mistake occurs in milliseconds, Premier’s customer notice says.

The mistake is not immediately apparent, Riggall said, and would have to be caught when elections officials went to match how many memory cards they fed into a central database against how many show as being read by that database. Each card carries a unique marker.

Officials in Butler County, Ohio — north of Cincinnati — were the first to raise the issue when 150 votes from a card dropped in March. Brunner’s office originally said that 11 counties had the same problem but has since revised that to nine. Her office was not able to say how many dropped votes were discovered in those jurisdictions.

Hmmm. Well, I reckon if they cannot tell how many votes were dropped, chances are probably GOOD that they don’t know for WHOM those votes were CAST!!! Funny thing about voting. The THEORY is that it helps us to ELECT our public servants. At least that’s how it USED to work. Not so much any more, apparently. It sure answers a lot of questions for me about the past few elections, though.

But wait - it gets better:

“I can’t provide odds on whether dropped votes were not recognized” during the decade GEMS has been used, Rigall said, “but based on what we know about how our customers run their elections and reconcile counts we believe any results not uploaded on election night would have been caught when elections were being certified.”

In his letter to Ohio’s Brunner, Premier’s president said, “Voters in jurisdictions Premier serves, both in Ohio and throughout the country, can be assured that election officials employing standard canvass and crosscheck procedures will count their votes completely and accurately.”

Gee - don’t YOU feel reassured?? I know I do…NOT. These people really do think we are freakin’ morons, don’t they?? Apparently, our concerns about the sanctity of our vote were well placed. With this kind of information coming out now, in between a close Primary season and a presidential election, it raises all kinds of questions in MY mind. I must be some kind of conspiracy nut or something to think this might just have been an issue in this close race. Oh, no - surely not, not when things like the CAUCUSES ran so smoothly…I am sure it was just fine…

And just one more issue:

Unlike other software, the problem acknowledged by Premier cannot be fixed by sending out a coding fix to its customers because of federal rules for certifying election systems, Rigall said. Changes to systems must go through the Election Assistance Commission, he said, and take two years on average for certification and approval — and that is apart from whatever approvals and reviews would be needed by each elections board throughout the country.

Brunner said she appreciated “the forthrightness” of Byrd in his letter to her and commended Butler County officials “who went above and beyond the call of duty” to pursue the problem.

“FORTHRIGHTNESS”??? Are you KIDDING me??? “Beyond the call of duty?” Seriously?? Oh, wow. Maybe I have been too narrow in my thinking about our elections. I thought they were supposed to be FAIR, that every vote was supposed to be RECORDED, and that the number of VOTES determined the WINNER. Silly me. I can be so black and white in my thinking sometimes…

Well, there seems to be one little piece of “good news” in this whole matter, if you live in Maryland, that is:

“As far as I know, we have not seen that problem,” with dropped votes, said Ross Goldstein, deputy administrator for Maryland’s State Board of Elections. Maryland counties do upload results to a central system — which is what generates county vote totals on election night — but state procedures call for counties to reload every memory card the day after the election to doublecheck results, Goldstein said.

The safeguards that Premier calls for its in customer alert, he said, already are in place in Maryland.

Is now when I mention that Kenneth Blackwell, the former Secretary of State in Ohio, the one who PUSHED for these machines against the requests of REPUBLICANS in Ohio, “accidentally” invested in Diebold? Uh, yeah. Pure accident. How could he POSSIBLY have known. Not like he had any kind of information about ELECTIONS and VOTING MACHINES. Ahem.

So, as we go forward into another presidential election season, with 34 of our states using these machines, which we have been ASSURED will be fixed by then - presuming they get through the respective certifications required, we can rest easy that our votes are going to count this time. No, really! They said! So, make sure you get out there and vote - it might actually count - this time.

On The Big Orange, Commissar Keith Olbermann decided to whet the appetites of his rabid, but dwindling, fan base by offering “a little preview of an item on tonight’s Countdown” by ordering an EXECUTION:

The headline: Dana Milbank won’t be on the news hour any more.

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post, who notified us today that after four years appearing with us, he had accepted another television offer. This saved your crack Countdown staff an increasingly difficult decision.

Your “crack Countdown staff?”

And what decision was that, Keith? Dana must be brought to heel?

It seems the brouhaha stemmed from Dana Milbank’s article, President Obama Continues Hectic Victory Tour where Dana had the audacity to refer to Barack Obama as “the presumptuous nominee.” In other words, Dana finally woke up from his koolaid-induced stupor and called it like he saw it. And for this, the punishment was to be swift and sure from Herr Olbermann.

Since I covered Dana’s article last week, I thought it only fitting that I share the “reasons” for Keithie’s faux outrage. According to the pompous Olbermann:

For nearly a week we’d been waiting for [Dana] to offer a correction or an explanation for his column from last week in which he apparently reported an Obama quote without a full context turned the meaning of the quote inside-out.

Then he called criticisms of his column “whines” even though the dispute was over whether Obama said the self-deprecating: “It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign — that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have just become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions” — or only the part about “I have just become a symbol…”

All current evidence indicates that Senator Obama is about as capable of being self-deprecating as Olbermann is of having humility. Secondly, the article covers more of the quote than just the ‘symbol‘ part. Lastly, Keith is whining. That is something he has in common with most Obama surrogates on the receiving end of any criticism for their messiah: to whine.

We had decided not to have Dana on this news-hour again until this was cleared up, and, sadly after some very happy years, he’s apparently chosen to make that cloud permanent. Good luck, Dana.

…he took any further decision-making out of our hands. It was quite a surprise conclusion, obviously, and I’ll take it (before anybody tries to take it back).

So, Keith, what you are really telling us is that Dana Milbank basically told you to go stuff it before you had to make the “difficult decision” of telling him to go stuff it.

As you can see from reading Dana’s article linked above, he had the absolute audacity to criticize ‘the One’ and report honestly that some of the press corps started referring to Obama as a “prom queen.”

Considering Obama’s new supersized logo on his plane, his chair stitched with the word President on it, the usurping of the Presidential Seal, telling the press corps how to dress, not answering any real questions, negotiating with and giving his two cents to foreign leaders, overstepping the bounds of his overseas trip, the list goes on and on…why wouldn’t the press call Senator Obama a prom queen? Or perhaps we can use my favorite new name for him: Il Duce.

To summarize, Olbermann, who has been sipping his own koolaid for some time now and puffing out his chest higher and higher with every stinking broadcast, forbade Dana to come back on the show until Milbank basically bowed down and scraped his knees on the carpet begging Olbermann’s forgiveness.

You can manipulate Obama’s quote any way you want – there are several versions of it from different news sources. But in every single one, he refers to himself as ‘a symbol of returning to America best traditions.’ Obama and Puffy the Clown belong together. They have the same exaggerated sense of their own importance.

Why don’t they just go do a sweat lodge and sing songs around the campfire and smoke a doobie and get it over with.

Olbermann accusing Milbank of taking something out of context is a tad disingenuous considering he is the one who would go on nightly unjustified, self-righteous and outrageous diatribes against Hillary Clinton, mentioning the Clintons in the same sentence with the racist David Duke, and other disgusting rants. This is the man who said:

“A Super Delegate needs to take Hillary Clinton into a room and only he comes out. That kind of scenario.”

When viewers exploded with outrage, his big apology was that he “used the wrong pronoun.” That’s it.

MSNBC took the cake in terms of the worst misogynist slurs against Senator Clinton – the unforgivable remarks were compounded daily.

In addition to every other outrage from MSNBC, it appears they are practicing censorship. Because Dana Milbank finally decided to tell the truth about Senator Obama’s arrogant and unseemly behavior, Milbank was to be denied the opportunity to appear on the show and possibly express such dissent.

Olbermann was not worried about Dana offering an “explanation.” The threat was clear – either fall in line or you’re out of a job over here. Dana refused and took another offer instead.

I hope Keith Olbermann can enjoy his ever-lower ratings; currently around the rank of “the Butterfly Channel,” as I believe Bill O’Reilly so eloquently put it.

I see that freedom of speech and freedom of expression are not welcome on Countdown. I have long since written off this program, but more worrisome is the dread I have that dissent and honest expression are also being crushed in other parts of the news media. While Olbermann is arguably the worst offender, he is not alone.

I remember reading that Greta Van Susteren noted a reporter colleague of hers on another network could not file a report critical of Obama without it being watered down, whereas stories critical of Senators McCain and Clinton were left untouched. Highly disturbing to say the least.

There is no love lost for Dana Milbank, given most of his reporting this season. Like many in the media who complain about Obama now, they did so only after they spent many months unfairly kicking the far more qualified Senator Clinton in the teeth.

That stated, I am glad Dana had the good sense not to bow and scrape before Olbermann – a man whose character would be best served in a profession having nothing to do with disseminating ‘news’ to a public desperate for the truth.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

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Barack Obama has long been his party’s presumptive nominee. Now he’s becoming its presumptuous nominee.

Obama campaign’s arrogance has begun to anger reporters.

Yah think? Begun to anger? Welcome to the club, Dana – it’s been angering us for quite a while. Ironic this is bothering you now, though. I thought you thought the sun rose and set on Obama’s inexperienced behind.

Fresh from his presidential-style world tour, during which foreign leaders and American generals lined up to show him affection, Obama settled down to some presidential-style business in Washington yesterday.
…
Along the way, he traveled in a bubble more insulating than the actual president’s.
…
Capitol Police cleared the halls – just as they do for the actual president. The Secret Service hustled him in through a side door – just as they do for the actual president.

This is my favorite:

Inside, according to a witness, he told the House members, “This is the moment . . . that the world is waiting for,” adding: “I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”

He said it himself! He has become a symbol!! Do symbols know how to govern anything or do they just prance around acting symbolic.

Remember when Wes Clark talked about George Bush “prancing around on the deck of that aircraft carrier” declaring Mission Accomplished!

So all that prancing apparently doesn’t work out so ‘good.’

As he marches toward Inauguration Day (Election Day is but a milestone on that path), Obama’s biggest challenger may not be Republican John McCain but rather his own hubris.
…
He has already amassed the trappings of the office, without those pesky decisions.
…
Obama was even feeling confident enough to give British Prime Minister Gordon Brown some management advice over the weekend. “If what you’re trying to do is micromanage and solve everything, then you end up being a dilettante,” he advised the prime minister, portraying his relative inexperience much as President Bush did in 2000.

So let me get this straight, he’s actually taking PM Gordon Brown aside and telling him how one ought to govern? Oy, somebody get the hook, please. When he figures out how many states we actually have in our union and that his uncle didn’t actually liberate Auschwitz and that they don’t speak Arabic in Afghanistan, and the small details of coming up with a health care policy that actually works, and learns what a capital gains tax is, among many other things, well that might be a start…

Unless Il Duce is too busy getting fitted for his crown. Whoever is assigned the awful task of designing that crown is going to have a heckuva time – Obama’s head is growing larger every day.

On his presidential-style visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem last week, Obama left a written prayer, intercepted by an Israeli newspaper, asking God to “help me guard against pride and despair.” He seems to have the despair part under control, but the pride could be a problem.

The problem is Americans like an underdog. They don’t respond well to hubris. Certainly not at the voting booth.

The Obama mass marketing strategy seems to be to act as if you already have the thing, brainwashing the public into believing you do.

As Captain Picard used to decree on Star Trek: “Make It So.”

Obama acts like McCain is but a fly in the ointment. Obama treated Hillary the same way. But considering Obama and McCain are basically tied at the polls while Kerry was waaaaaayyyy ahead of Bush at this time in 2004, this does not bode well for the anointed one.

Dana, your fellow reporters note he is: “acting like the Prom Queen” and one also said, “I’ve never had an experience like this, with this campaign or others.”

And as for your colleague, Eugene Robinson, who keeps spreading the memo that calling Barack “arrogant” is like saying he’s “uppity,” Eugene should be ashamed of himself for using such a horrible manipulation. Arrogance is arrogance, no matter the race, gender or age of the person displaying it. Anyone else but Barack would be excoriated for this behavior.

Maybe Obama shouldn’t measure the White House for new drapes just yet. The Republicans have not yet begun to fight because they are waiting to see who the REAL nominee is going to be at the Convention. Trust me, they have more than enough ammunition. And they will not be intimidated by Barack’s interior designers.

Dana, it looks like your chickens have come home to roost.

We have been screaming from the highest hills for six months now that this guy is an arrogant, disrespectful empty suit who changes his policies like he changes his socks.

You treated us, and Hillary, like garbage.

Now Obama is treating you the same way.

Pride goeth before a fall.

Let’s hope he falls before the Fall.

We’d still like to win in November.

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Obama “gave a hell of a speech, but it was just a speech.” There is little else to back it up.

He wouldn’t want to underestimate Obama, but his paper thin record is troubling.

Obama can flip flop with the best of them, just like any other politician.

Cohen states that Obama is a ‘near perfect political package although he’s just not sure what’s in it,’ but in a mystifying moment of pandering rivaling that of his subject, he’s still willing to compare BHO to JFK and FDR.

WTF?

Richie, if you’ve been watching this man campaign and perusing what there is of his record for a year and a half and you’re still not sure what’s in the package – maybe the package is empty. Whadaya think?

If this passes for mainstream commentary, I’ll take the net. However, Cohen still finds a lot more in Senator McCain’s record, conduct and proven courage over time to admire and trust. It ain’t a smoking gun, but frankly, given the media’s love-fest with Obama, I’ll take what I can get.

Yes, Richard, we know. One speech, or even two, does not a President make. Lofty generalities and lefty platitudes designed to seduce latté liberals and young minds for the primary, only to throw those ‘principles’ away lock, stock and suitcase for the general election does not FDR make.

Obama wishes he had the resolve of FDR. As for Kennedy, this is a romantic notion, nothing more. Neither packaging nor symbols lead people: women do, men do.

Far more interesting, and entertaining, than the piece itself, however, are the blogger comments that follow. Senator Obama’s fans, or should I say, believers, are absolutely apoplectic over this article, as if Richard Cohen has just told Obama to bow out of the race. Some of the insults are really quite comical, like telling Cohen what to do with his typewriter…I’ll leave out the more vitriolic references. You have heard them before, too.

Now as a huge Hillary supporter, of course I’m going to defend my gal, so I can understand their inclination. Then again, her record of 35 years of work on behalf of children, education, veterans’ benefits, first responders, Medicare and women’s rights (both in evidence again just last week), and her correct vote on FISA, give me a lot to crow about.

Given Obama’s 130 present votes, 6 ‘oops-I-pushed-the-wrong-button’ votes in the state legislature; missing over 40% of his votes in the Senate; reneging on FISA, voting for Bush/Cheney’s energy bill; his penchant for throwing everyone under the bus as soon as the heat is on him, I guess Cohen could not find anything in Obama’s record worth advertising.

One incensed commenter suggested that Cohen:

1. Read one of Barack’s books…
Would that be one of the books where he takes creative license with his own life story?

2. Go to the web site and look at his policy stances.
Does she mean the policies he sort of lifted from Hillary or the ones he has now completely done an about face on?

Even Cohen chimes in on this one:

Obama is not noted for sticking to a position or a person once that position or person becomes a political liability. (Names available upon request.)
…
He has been for and against gun control, against and for the recent domestic surveillance legislation and, in almost a single day, for a united Jerusalem under Israeli control and then, when apprised of U.S. policy and Palestinian chagrin, against it. He is an accomplished pol — a statement of both admiration and a bit of regret.

3. Interview Obama.
But Barack is too busy to answer real questions from the press corps. Isn’t that their main complaint about him now? Read his interviews. When you are done, I defy you to figure out where he really stands on anything.

His fans also wrote that: Judgment trumps experience. Obama has no scandals. Obama is an honest man.

Oh, where do I begin? The judgment that put him in a racist church for twenty years, canoodling with Wright, Pfleger, Auchi, Ayers, and buying a home with the aid of the convicted criminal Rezko? Or running to the right as fast as feet will carry him? How about now vetting Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine for VP – who has a faith-based opposition to abortion? Ladies? Ladies? Are you sure Barack’s got your back?

No scandals? Let’s just say a few too many people are riding shotgun for him to make me comfortable with that statement. The man won’t even show his birth certificate, his college records, state senate records and more…

An honest man? Painting everyone who does not vote for him as racist and outright lying on national television about his relationships and knowledge of certain associates is not what I would call pure as the driven snow.

Here was one of the few reasoned responses to Cohen’s article:

For god’s sake stop freaking out any time someone makes a legitimate point that you perceive as anything other than a glowing recommendation about your guy. It’s getting old.

Cohen is correct that ‘the next president will have to be something of a political Superman.’ The qualities crucial to wading through these dangerous waters are experience, character and moral courage. So far, Obama is batting zero.

We also require humility rather than hubris. No President is anointed by anyone. No President is going to get everything right. But someone who is addicted to, and insists upon total adulation from, his supporters, and who has had the DNC all but hand the nomination to him tells me he has no clue how deep in over his head he is.

Obama is supposed to be the ‘new politics,’ so unlike the Chicago political machine from whence he matriculated. Yet, even his mentor Rev. Wright admits that “he says what he has to say as a politician.” Obama’s behavior to this point shows that he is the old politics, head to toe.

How ironic is this July 3, 2008 Obama statement:

“Let me be as clear as I can be. I intend to end this war. My first day in office I will bring the joint chiefs of staff in and I will give them a new mission and that is to end this war.”

Well, after his overseas trip, I think that’s, uuhh, changed. Uh oh.

So if he is not the change we have been waiting for, if his judgment is suspect, if his resolve and moral courage are not in evidence, all he has left is character. And how can his supporters still be so hooked when his character is to abandon when the going gets tough? Why is he their chosen one, again?

Ironically, Jim Kramer of CNBC’s Mad Money , and many others have made it clear to the American people that the best choice on the economy is Hillary. 34 flag officers also endorsed her. Somebody surely trusts this lady’s judgment.

Oops, sorry. We don’t have her to choose from right now.

I recently heard the phrase, ‘faith is restful, hope is stressful.’ I have complete faith in Hillary Clinton because I see evidence of her work ethic. But hoping he ‘won’t be too bad’ is not enough reason for me to go with Obama the unknown.

Obama at Florida fund-raiser says GOP will go after him because he is black.

We know what kind of campaign they’re going to run. They’re going to try to make you afraid. They’re going to try to make you afraid of me. He’s young and inexperienced and he’s got a funny name. And did I mention he’s black?”

This patently offensive claim demonstrates exactly what we should expect from the Obama campaign and the Democratic party for the next several months. Tragically, it wasn’t always like this. Obama began his quest for the presidency wearing the mantle of the post racial candidate. He was supposed to be someone whose candidacy transcended the hate of the past.

But that was before Obama and his minions discovered how beneficial it was for him to become the racial candidate. After all, if Obama can make it seem as if people aren’t supporting him because of his race then “white guilt” will take over and people will vote for him out of common decency. Talk about your hoodwinking.

And the Washington Post aka The Obama Shiller weighed in supporting their candidate’s position.

3 in 10 Americans Admit to Race Bias

As Sen. Barack Obama opens his campaign as the first African American on a major party presidential ticket, nearly half of all Americans say race relations in the country are in bad shape and three in 10 acknowledge feelings of racial prejudice, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

And wouldn’t ya know it, the poll informs us that blacks feel that racial relations in the country are worse than before, now that Obama is the presumed candidate.

More than six in 10 African Americans now rate race relations as “not so good” or “poor,” while 53 percent of whites hold more positive views. Opinions are also divided along racial lines, though less so, on whether blacks face discrimination. There is more similarity on feelings of personal racial prejudice: Thirty percent of whites and 34 percent of blacks admit such sentiments.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I smell bullshit. Or is that donkeyshit? I agree that racial relations in this country have worsened. What they leave out is the fact that they have only begun getting worse since Obama began his campaign of race baiting. And the statistics, while troubling, really matter very little when it comes to explaining why Obama isn’t gaining traction.

The Demonization Begins

Most people couldn’t care less about your name and your color, Senator Obama. They fear being lead by you because you have no substantive legislative record, you’re a chronic liar and, after explicitly stating that you choose your friends carefully, you have repeatedly and systematically made friends with people who hate this country.

This is the real reason so many people are opposed to Obama. But that doesn’t get attention in the press. It isn’t sensational and it doesn’t divide us. So that isn’t the message Obama tries to sell.

Way back in 2000, George W. Bush used racist claims about McCain to smear him. It’s more than a little ironic that the supposed agent of the new politics of hope resorts to these same tired, divisive politics to smear McCain too. But that is what we have come to expect from Obama. Words, just words.

The problem with those words is that Obama’s constant claims of racism only make the word itself meaningless. And thus when real racism occurs it is ignored or overlooked. Damn tragic if you ask me.

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