I noticed this yesterday. I've gone through the photostream. Now here is my question:
They are not there. They do not exist at this convention.
They briefly existed, but they're gone. Not there.
Where are the American flags?
Were Obama Elected, He'd Be The First Person To Actually Have Sought A Communist Party Endorsement
I've written before about Barack Obama's ties to the far, far left.
In 1996, he sought the New Party endorsement. The New Party has, by 1996, become the party of Communists and other radicals. It was, for all intents and purposes, an amalgamation of CCC, CPUSA, Green, and Social-Democrat parties.
As I noted then
By 1996, the New Party had solidified its ties with ACORN, unions, and the left so much so that even the New York Times referred to it as “leftist.” Manning Marable, writing in the left-wing New York Beacon, on October 23, 1996, wrote that “there are four key components in this strategy for progressive political change.” Among those components were civil disobedience and “support for independent movements like the New Party which are running candidates in local races. More importantly an innovative approach to electoralism is represented by ACORN’s ‘living wage’ referenda campaigns.” . . . .
In These Times reported on February 17, 1997, that “the [New] [P]arty, with 80 members in the [17th] ward, many of whom are also active in the Service Employees International Union and the advocacy group ACORN, has begun to build a parallel precinct organization.”
A New Party member, writing in the Chicago Democratic Socialists
of America newsletter in 1996, described the New Party as mostly
made up of ACORN members. The member, Bob Roman, wrote, "As the
single 800 pound gorilla in the Chicago New Party, it doesn't leave
a lot of room for newcomers to participate except on ACORN's
terms." Obama, if you will remember, worked for ACORN and in 1996,
ACORN was not organizing the community, they were getting people
out to vote for Barack Obama.
It should come as no surprise then, this morning, to read this:
The latest matter involves Mr. Obama's presidential campaign paying more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the scandal-ridden, leftist Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) for services the campaign now says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.
The ACORN subsidiary, Citizens Services Inc., did "get-out-the-vote" work instead of the polling, advance work and major event staging the Obama campaign had first stated in its Federal Election Commission finance report during the primary
Yet again, ACORN rallies for Obama.
The man is a leftist radical with a messiah complex. If you still want to vote for him, go right ahead, but just know who you are dealing with.
Standing safely off the road, abiding by all applicable rules and guidelines, suggesting in a safe and non-threatening manner that history should change lanes.
Several conservatives in the House tell me they are hacked off at National Review for a blurb that appears in the print edition of the magazine this week. Here is what National Review writes:
After the House adjourned for summer recess without voting on an energy bill, half a dozen Republicans stayed in the empty chamber, razzing the majority and calling for offshore drilling. Their number swelled to about 20 as word got out; tourists and aides were invited in; though the C-SPAN cameras were switched off, the Republicans sent reports of their doings via Twitter, and cellphone to Rush Limbaugh. Great fun was had by all, and scientists agree there may indeed be life in the House GOP caucus. But seriously, folks. Legislative bodies have rules for good reason: to maintain decorum, to see that business is done, to protect both majority and minority rights. The saving comedy of American politics allows us to write this off as a stunt — so long as everyone knows it was unseemly, and plans not to make a habit of it.
Congressman Tom Price has a post this morning about the protest on the House floor. Price, along with other conservative standard bearers in the House like Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, and Lynn Westmoreland organized, implemented, and led this effort.
Let's go through the whole paragraph:
Oh what a tangled web they weave
Well, it looks like the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records are going to be opened up after all. No doubt the University of Illinois and Barack Obama's campaign have sufficiently scrubbed the records to remove the most glaring of details about Barry's friendship with Bill Ayers.
But we know there has to be some panic there. As we have
theorized all along, Barry cannot take a punch.
Consider this: despite all the denials and assists from the media in downplaying the relationship, Barack Obama has resorted to a new ad making the case that he has no real relationship with Bill Ayers. This is full blown panic. He's trying to build up a media sponsored and reported narrative before the world starts digging anew.
Unless those Annenberg records have been sufficiently scrubbed, it is terribly poor timing for Obama. It is an act of desperation. Obama knows people are now paying attention and he knows people are questioning both his ties to the far left and his judgment (Obama calls it "questioning my patriotism").
The connections between Ayers and Obama, despite Obama's commercial, are too intertwined to be merely bumps into each other on the sidewalk walking back from New Party meetings.
Bill Ayers helped found and fund Annenberg Challenge and Barack Obama ran the program. In addition, they live just a few blocks from each other in Hyde Park. In 1995, if you will recall, Bill Ayers invited Barack Obama into his living room to raise money for Barack's Illinois Senate race. Remember, in 1995, Obama was aggressively seeking the communist New Party endorsement.
Ayers even gave Obama money in 2001 for his re-election. The same year, Ayers told the New York Times he didn't "regret setting bombs.… I feel we didn't do enough." Obama did not give the money back.
Here is the key detail. Bill Ayers, a
man who thinks he should have done more than try to blow up the
Capitol, the Pentagon, and kill a few cops, saw something in
Barry Obama that he liked. He liked Barry enough to hold a
fundraiser for him and give him money.
What does an unrepentant terrorist see in a politician and like? Whatever it is, I suspect most Americans would not like it if they'd seen it. Maybe that is why Obama is in full panic mode, working hard to change the story and deny the facts.
An advisor to Senator McCain's campaign tells me, “Senator Obama’s enduring friendship with bomber William Ayers brings serious questions about his judgment to the surface.”
I suspect, now that Obama has gone to great pains to deny the connection, thereby making it a story worth media coverage, we're gong to be exploring the depths of Obama's poor judgment.
When Joe Biden entered the United States Senate, John McCain was in his fifth year of captivity at the Hanoi Hilton.
Barry Obama was eight when Biden began his Senate career.
Nixon was starting his second term as President.
Barack Obama's campaign says Joe Biden is "not of Washington." Linda Douglass, formerly of ABC News and now an Obama hack (not that it'd be different were she still at ABC) told Wolf Blitzer, "you know, the thing is, he is not of washington. he is, as you well know, wolf, he doesn't own a home in washington. he goes home every single night to his family in delaware."
What spin. The man went to Washington while McCain was still being tortured and yet McCain is somehow more of Washington that Biden? Give me a freakin' break.
He
himself said Barack Obama was "not ready to lead."
He's right.
So we should stop them by sending some money to John McCain.
While we're at it, there is an opportunity ripe here for RedState readers.
I will truly be ashamed if we do not have creative enough talent to put together a 30 second ad spot on this announcement.
Your base material is this Hillary Clinton ad. The shift, however, is that the 3 a.m. call is not a crisis call, but Barry calling to tell us he's picked Biden.
And remember, 3 a.m. EDT is only midnight in Hollywood and morning in Europe.
It's Joe
Jake Tapper is reporting now that the secret service is sending personnel to begin protection of Joe Biden.
As I told you guys earlier, it is Joe.
No, we don't deserve this, but by God the Lord is smiling on us.
How exactly is Joe Biden hope and change?
From the NBC News transcript:
MITCHELL: all pointing to biden. at home and under wraps today surrounded by family who have been gathering all week, even on the eve of the announcement not yet given the official word, sources say, unlike the other top contenders, virginia governor tim kaine and indiana senator evan bayh.
SEN. EVAN BAYH: it's not mine to report.
MITCHELL: sources say they were told they're out of the running.
Comedy GOLD if it is Joe Biden.
There is your wildcard pick, ladies and gentlemen.
(A) Governor. Check.
(B) Federal experience. Check.
(C) Catholic voter appeal. Check.
(D) Mid-west appeal. Check.
(E) No chance his state goes blue if he drops out of his current race. Check.
(F) Close to a must win swing state (Colorado) and popular. Check.
Has anyone asked Johanns if McCain vetted him?
I'm sure the Nebraska GOP could find someone to fill his shoes in the Senate race.
The Obama team realizes it too.
Barack Obama’s presidential campaign has put the brakes on ads that were running in seven states carried by the GOP in the 2004 presidential election, FOX News has learned.
Of the seven states — including Alaska, Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota — Florida and Virginia are considered key battlegrounds this year. Obama’s decision to stop advertising in those states is raising eyebrows.
They say it is related to the convention next week, but I really don't believe that.
Considering the spectacular burn rate and the lack of poll numbers going up in those states, it was time he aborted the effort anyway.
All for show and media buzz. To be sure, it got lots of media buzz and the media will never play up the take downs as much as they played up the fact Obama was targeting these states.
As I said way back when, he only was doing it to distract from how close things were for him in states he should be confidently ahead.
Now he's got to save his money for the hard slog. In the end, I think running these ads will be one of the strategic moves that should not have been made.
Or does it sound like Obama really does not want a VP?
Just, for example, is Adam Nagourney from the NewsHour on PBS:
What they're going to do is they're going to send out, so they say, a text message or e-mail to millions of supporters and reporters who have signed up to get it. That will be the first time it There's one thing interesting about this. I agree with susan about how they've dominated the news this week with the speculation about it. But what strikes me about this is the fact that he's going to announce it tomorrow at the earliest or saturday. It's in many ways evidence that they don't look at the vice presidential choice as that significant to his campaign. I mean, compare it to what john kerry did four years ago and there was, like, six days of traveling around the country. This will be a day. It has more of a feeling of checking the box.
Ann Compton, just a few minutes ago on ABC News, announced that Obama is not even on Veep stuff today. He's in Chicago practicing his speech for the convention. She added, breathlessly, "he's even wearing a coat and tie."
Seriously.
Maybe the reason this is taking so long is because they want to research whether The One needs more than One.
No doubt he's also hacked off about having to add another name to the Obama '08 stuff.
The One doesn't need anyone else. The empty suit does not think the suit needs filling out.
Whoever the Second is, I feel sorry for him. He's just going to be a prop as The One goes through the constitutional requirements He does not think He should have to follow.
It's pretty darn hard for The One to be the indispensable One when he has to have a second in command.
and get a free haircut
In honor of Senator Obama's devotion to his extended family and the DNC's efforts to remove the homeless from unsightliness if not from sight altogether, we've created this little item in commemoration:
In hell, Margaret Sanger prepares her absentee ballot. Whether she casts it in New Orleans or Chicago has not yet been determined.
It's great that members of the mainstream media are now getting in on the act and admitting that Obama did support infanticide in the Illinois State Senate.
What? Don't see the admission from Ben that Obama did support infanticide?
That Smith is slinging Obama's mud against Jill Stanek is proof positive and a total admission that Obama did support infanticide.
That Obama can no longer win by obfuscating the issue and instead must rely on the Politico to attack Jill Stanek, the lady who held the baby in her arms and got the Illinois BAIPA ball rolling, is 100% total proof that Ben Smith and Barack Obama concede the point.
Obama supported infanticide.
Now he and the media will attack the messenger since they can no longer refute the message.
P.S. - Ganging up on the messenger who isn't running for office with folks in the media isn't really the sort of shiny new politics you've professed to believe in, is it Barry?
It's like pregnancy. You either are or you are not. There is no middle ground.
Obama has previously said he would unconditionally meet with the presidents of Syria and Iran.
Now one of his advisors has gone to Syria to offer some advice to Syria's leaders.
Daniel Kurtzer, one of Obama's many, many foreign policy advisers, went to Syria and met with Syria's Foreign Minister, Walid al-Moallem.
Kurtzer and the Obama campaign say this was unrelated to the campaign. There seems to be a series of Obama advisers doing things on the national and international stage that all of a sudden do not represent the Obama camp once they are caught, despite clear benefits to the campaign.
You and I both know it'd be front page in the New York Times were this guy an adviser to John McCain. Look at how hard the Times and others pushed the "Randy Scheunemann used to be a lobbyist for Georgia" story.
There are some serious take away points from the article and we, yet again, must question who these people are with whom Obama has chosen to surround himself.
First, the trip was paid for by an oil company. Yes, an Obama adviser went to visit the junior partner of the Axis of Evil using petro-dollars. Again, imagine the outcry if he worked for McCain.
Second, the guy may have been used by the Syrians. Don't believe me? Look at what Kurtzer himself says.
Today is Fred Thompson's birthday.
John McCain should give Fred a slot at the convention as a birthday present.
I think, given Fred's role in the McCain Kitchen Cabinet, he'd be worth having as a speaker.
Jonlester pees in the pool and flees the scene.
EPU bails because the whole VRWC thing (or, as a local guy on the radio called it, the "VRWC Conspiracy") gave him the creeps (yeah, yeah, I know he's joking).
But I can't quit you people. This is the most fun I've ever had as both a hobby and a job. Day in and day out, site performance frustrations not withstanding, I am truly blessed to be with you guys on a daily basis.
And I don't tell you guys enough.
Now if you'd just write more on your local/state politics. ;)
Oh, and I can quit Moe. In fact, I'm banning Moe. Jerk goes to Hawaii, leaves us all behind, and has the nerve to rub it in?
BLAM him.
Following up on Moe's post. And yes, I do question Obama's commitment to his faith.
what they're putting out privately is that McCain may not have been in the cone of silence and may have had some ability to overhear what the questions were to Obama.She added that McCain "seemed so well prepared." Well, duh. When you answer the question "when does life begin" with "at conception" as opposed to "that's above my pay grade," you will seem a bit more prepared. For it's part, the McCain camp is now protesting Mitchell's coverage as lacking objectivity. Mitchell did pass on the claim without anything more than amazement at how well prepared McCain seemed. Let's not forget that Mitchell also, uncritically, passed on the Obama rumor that McCain sabotaged Obama's trip to see the troops in Germany. It's not just Andrea Mithcell though.
Never underestimate the power of a determined people
We can help out Olson, Barlatta, and Parnell. We need to help them out.
The Texas Chamber of Commerce will
endorse Pete Olson against Nick Lampson.
Give and we can win.
Barletta is cleaning Paul Kanjorski's clock up in Pennsylvania. He just started put ads up on the air and could use some cash to keep it up. This has become a pick up opportunity for the GOP. Let's keep the ads on the air.
Sean Parnell is tied
with Don Young in Alaska. We can pull him ahead, but we've got
to pony up.
We've got to give Parnell what we can and crush Don Young in the primary.
See our whole Slatecard here.
Also further proof that Kaine will whore himself in all possible ways for a Veep nod.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Obamessiah has indeed brought forth peace into the world.
Check out Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's statement from this morning:
“It was a bad crisis for the world. It required tough words but also a smart approach to call on the international community to step in. And I’m very, very happy that the Senator's request for a ceasefire has been complied with by President Medvedev.”
Dude even said it with a straight face. Like Michael Goldfarb notes, no doubt the Russians are now inflating their tires and getting regular check ups.
But here is what is interesting. Moscow and
Obama, at the same time, were attacking John McCain's chief foreign
policy advisor for lobbying on Georgia's behalf in a former
job.
Could it be that the Russians and Obama are coordinating this whole thing to show what a genius Obama is? Obviously not, but considering their attacks on McCain's statement came at the same time in the same way and now the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia is crediting The One with stopping the war, the rest of us can scratch our heads at the audacity of the bull.
There is an inconvenient fact in all of this. The attacks have not stopped. Only in Obama's fantasy parallel universe where he is already President of the United States has Secretary of State George Clooney been able to negotiate a peace settlement.
Ladies and Gentlement, keep this in mind: Obama takes credit for the Russian ceasefire that Russia's President claims has taken place when it has not, in fact, taken place.
This man and his acolytes are too freakin' naive to let anywhere near the White House.
Buy yourself a present today and get The Case Against Barack Obama
Just in time for Barack Obama's birthday, our friends at Regnery Publishing (also owned by Eagle Publishing, Inc.) have released David Freddoso's new book, The Case Against Barack Obama.
While there are other books out there on Obama, I have to say, and not just because Regnery and RedState have a relationship, David has the best, in that his book is built around Obama's record, not around chain letters in your email box. And yes, I've checked out the others and feel comfortable saying that.
It actually is a good read and a great effort by Dave.Freddoso opts largely for a fact-based critique, and writes that the viral and overt smears have allowed Obama to evade substantive criticism.
“Too many of those criticizing Obama have been content merely to slander him,” he writes. False rumors about Obama's religion and ancestry have produced, Freddoso writes, “an intellectual laziness among the very people who should be carefully scrutinizing Obama.”
His book comes with Republican popularity at a historic low, amid widespread disenchantment with Republican ideals of limited government and hawkish foreign policy. Many – including, apparently, McCain’s strategists – doubt a Republican can win a policy face-off. But as the real campaign hones in on the character of the candidates, Freddoso’s book attempts to build an alternate case against Obama.
The left has framed the debate as KKKonservatives vs. Traditional Republicans in the Eisenhower model
When you hear "Kansas Traditional Republican Majority" you probably see the word "tradition" and connote that this must be the conservative GOP organization in Kansas.
Not only would you be wrong, but if you are in Kansas, you may be totally misled. This organization, the state equivalent of the Republican Main Street Partnership, the far left organization dedicated to making the GOP platform a mirror of the Democrat platform, is tarring and feathering conservative Republicans in Kansas. Notice that their website features Dwight Eisenhower, not Ronald Reagan.
The group calling itself "Kansas Traditional Republican Majority" is a small but well-funded group of Republicans who support judicial activism, oppose school choice, support tax increases, and are generally liberal on social issues (when not liberal, then indifferent). KTRM has strong ties to elected officials in Johnson County, the county's business community, the National Education Association, and the current Kansas Senate Republican leadership. . . . [N]ow-Democrat Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson (a previous GOP state party chairman) is a former supporter of KTRM.
With a primary tomorrow, if you live in Kansas you need to spread the word on this.
Please do read on below the fold.
Obama, yesterday, told people to just inflate their tires and get a regular car tune up. Rush Limbaugh posted this on his site earlier. You can find a full size image here at Rush's site.
Sadly, sadly, this challenge should not happen.
The Savannah Paper has a story on the challenge to Senator Johnson.
A state senator from Sharpsburg wants Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson's job, but Johnson isn't saying whether he wants to keep it.Senate Republican Whip Mitch Seabaugh has told follow GOP senators he'll seek the post the Savannah Republican has held since 2005.
I'm a big fan of Eric Johnson. He has, more than any other person or group, championed school choice in Georgia. He has worked to expand charter schools, give parents of special needs children the right to go to the school of their choice, etc.
I'd hate to see him removed from the President Pro Tempore spot. Mitch Seabaugh is a good guy, but he should not make this challenge.
We're moving slow. We know. I've read the diaries.
There are things we (read: Neil) are working on as fast as we
can to get the server response time improved. Right now, the way
the front page is set up, a lot of repeated inquiries are being
made to the server that can be consolidated. When we were in beta,
we had such low traffic, it wasn't really detectable.
It is abundantly clear now.
We . . . er . . . Neil . . . are/is working as fast as possible. And lay off Neil. I'm the guy who pushed us to this new platform. The third party developer highly recommended it. And while user function, readibility, etc. have been improved, the responsiveness is a pain in the ass.
We're working on it. Thanks for your patience.
I'm willing to say that it absolutely is not true, but it is still beside the point.
The following is circulating rapidly around the internets. In fact, it is circulating faster than the "Barack Hussein Obama is a closet jihadist" chain emails of yore.
Hello everyone,
As you know I am not a very political person. I just wanted to pass along that Senator Obama came to Bagram Afghanistan for about an hour on his visit to "The War Zone". I wanted to share with you what happened.
He got off the plane and got into a bullet proof vehicle, got to the area to meet with the Major General (2 Star) who is the commander here at Bagram.
As the Soldiers where lined up to shake his hand he blew them off and didn't say a word as he went into the conference room to meet the General. As he finished, the vehicles took him to the ClamShell (pretty much a big top tent that military personnel can play basketball or work out in with weights) so he could take his publicity pictures playing basketball. He again shunned the opportunity to talk to Soldiers to thank them for their service.
So really he was just here to make a showing for the American's back home that he is their candidate for President. I think that if you are going to make an effort to come all the way over here you would thank those that are providing the freedom that they are providing for you.
I swear we got more thanks from the NBA Basketball Players or the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders than from one of the Senators, who wants to be the President of the United States. I just don't understand how anyone would want him to be our Commander-and-Chief. It was almost that he was scared to be around those that provide the freedom for him and our great country.
If this is blunt and to the point I am sorry but I wanted you all to know what kind of caliber of person he really is. What you see in the news is all fake.
In service,
CPT Jeffrey S. Porter
Battle Captain
TF Wasatch
American Soldier
This is probably not true. The other anti-Obama chain emails
were Snoped to oblivion.
But . . . but . . . that people who really aren't paying all that much attention would accept this email at face value is Obama's problem. He may or may not have blown off the troops. We can only guess.
A large number of not-very-involved-in-politics people in fly over country in areas Obama must win have a propensity to accept, at face value, these emails about Obama. (Most Americans, after all, hear about stuff like this and rapidly deduce a nutshell image of the type of person they are dealing with. That person tends to blow off American troops and have friends who tend to try to blow up troops.)
I dare say more people more quickly came to the conclusion that this email was, if not true in an of itself, based on a factual event, than did people come to the conclusion that the John Edwards scandal is true.
100 days of fun left, folks.
Nancy Schaefer in Georgia Senate District 50 sent out a mail piece claiming Governor Sonny Perdue endorsed her.
Sonny told Martha Zoller this morning he did not endorse Senator Schaefer.
From a Jim Butterworth press release:
Concerning Schaefer's mailer, the Governor Perdue said, "It was unfortunate. I have not had any conversation with either of the three candidates regarding any kind of endorsements. Some people felt like I had chosen sides. It was not the case. It is not the case today."
When pressed further by Martha Zoller if he had inserted himself in the race or endorsed anyone in the 50th Senate District race, the Governor responded emphatically, "Absolutely not."
A few weeks ago, this post received a lot of attention in the diaries.
John in Carolina has now blogged that the information was not true.
I appreciate him contacting us so we too can clear that up.
Having nearly expended his annual office budget by midyear, sources said on Tuesday that Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) may be forced to seek assistance to manage the office’s day-to-day functions. At the same time, Broun’s office said it was unaware of any problems.According to Roll Call, the Congressman has spent nearly half of his $1.38 million office budget on letters, phone messages, and other communications to constituents (franking).
He was, I maintain, smart to do so in order to build up his name identification against Barry Fleming while low in the coffers at the campaign office.
Nonetheless, it could put him in a bind.
HIs office, for what it's worth, says there is no problem. John Boehner's office says it is aware of a potential problem and will help out as needed.
An activist group hoping to pressure the Roman Catholic church into dropping its long-standing prohibition barring women from the priesthood says it ordained three women on Sunday.
Church officials did not recognize the ordination, and the Vatican has previously warned that women taking part in ordination ceremonies will be excommunicated. The group known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests held the ceremony at the Church of the Covenant, a Protestant Church in Boston.
The group said the three women - Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore, Judy Lee of Fort Myers, Fla., and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York City - are responding to a heartfelt call to serve the church as priests.
A fourth woman, Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly of Newton, N.J., was ordained as a deacon, the group said.
So, let's ignore what the Bible has to say and just do what our heart leads us to do. Generally the whole heart/head combo leads you to sin. In this case it certainly has led to a bad case of arrogance.
I always find it humorous how purported Christians want God to change for them instead of themselves changing for God.
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