Keepin' It Real

Please, Mr. Ickes...could you go on a vacation now?

Iraq wrap-up

countering Clinton's "Southern Strategy"

From Time Magazine:

“Barack Obama had not been in politics for long when he got his tail whipped by a veteran Chicago Congressman in his own backyard in the 2000 US Congressional race. Obama couldn't win any of the black vote. The only ward he won was the White, Working-class Irish Catholic ward: a conservative community of cops, firefighters and schoolteachers. He took three-quarters of this vote.”

In addition, over 14 million WHITE people have voted for Obama. Why are the media trying to make this into a racial fight when it is not? Because Hillary said so? He won Iowa, one of the whitest states in the union!

what counts on Planet Clinton

From a fellow member of the Obama Rapid Response group:

Today Sen. Clinton stated that Obama has a problem with hard-working white Americans who had not completed college (implying he'd therefore have a tough time winning the general election).

So to sum up...Here's who/what doesn't count, according to Sen. Clinton:

White Americans who have completed college;
Wall Street (they're money grubbers);
Economists (they're "elitists");
3.5 million party "activists" that provide a "gusher of money" and major voter mobilization capabilities;
African-American voters;
Young voters;
Educated voters;
Women who support Obama;
Over 1.5 million individual Obama donors;
Former Clinton superdelegates;
Former Clinton cabinet members;
Small states, red states, caucus states, total states won;
Popular vote;
Pledged delegates.

Here's a link to video of the Clinton campaign's Wolfson spinning on Hardball...more of the same.

Olbermann on perpetually shifting Clinton strategies

Olbermann on McClinton's pandering "Hail Mary pass" gas tax holiday plan

Here's a Newsweek article explaining why the gas tax "holiday" simply will not work...

UPDATE, 5/3/08:

Calitics.com estimates job losses of 20,000 or more in California alone if a gas tax holiday is implemented. Road workers are on payrolls, Sen. Clinton...and they can't just go out and make a few college speeches to make up the difference, like your hubby can.

Meanwhile, 200 economists have stood up against Sen. Clinton's gas plan. Not that she's listening.

UPDATE, 5/5/08:

Here's a new ad Obama is running on the gas tax issue:



FLIP the SCRIPT: The Bill Clinton Library is the beneficiary of a $10 million donation from the Saudis. Does that boost Sen. Clinton's credibility on energy policy?

Of course not. Which is why she's going on the attack against Obama instead. Here's her latest ad from Indiana:



Here's video of Barack on yesterday's Meet the Press. The differences between his policy and Sen. Clinton's couldn't be much clearer.



PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Even when she's trying to pander to gun owners...

...trying to be WorkingClassWoman(TM), Sen. Clinton shows she's nothing more than a poser.

In her most recent ad against Obama's gun policy, it seems that she utilized an imported German rifle that costs $2200.00 --- hardly the gun you'd find in most duck-hunters' hands.

Sen. Clinton is against the closing of an Indiana factory...

...which her husband's actions helped to close.

Gosh, it's complicated being Sen. Clinton!

ABC news goes into a little more detail here, and also in this video (below) from a recent episode of World News Tonight.



Please read and Digg this article! Please write letters to the editor on this topic, particularly in Indiana!

And now...

The moment (well, one of the moments) we've been waiting for...

SENATOR CLINTON's EARMARKS!

Yes, we all know she's "Queen of Pork", so there's probably not much that will be surprising here...other than "WOW, her EARMARKS ARE THREE TIMES MORE THAN ANY OTHER SENATOR'S" (yes, I'm shouting. Sorry.) The important thing is that she's finally done what Sen. Obama did months ago, and made her earmarks public.

Now...how about

The 2007 Clinton taxes?

The Clinton Library/Foundation donor list (the latter should be most interesting in these days of $3.50+/galon gasoline...plenty of Saudi money there)?

Returning the $800K in lobbying fees from the Colombians?

etc.

Fun facts for letters to the editor. The mainstream media is falling down on the job on covering these questions. Keep them on the front burner!

Please DIGG: Sen. Clinton required to testify in November

Sen. Clinton will have to testify in the Peter Paul (pictured) trial this fall involving possible fraud charges. Please Digg! This little item should break wide open!

Olbermann's debrief on PA

And remember...it's not 10%...it's 9.3%!

Hillary hopes...

...that we've forgotten (from an email I recently received from an old friend and mentor of mine):

~~~~~

Hillary Clinton has been telling America that she is the most qualified candidate for President based on her "record," which she says includes her eight years in the White House as First Lady or "Co-President ?" and her seven years in the Senate.

Here is a reminder of what that "record" includes:

As First Lady:

Hillary assumed authority over Health Care Reform, a process that cost the taxpayers over $13 million. She told both Bill Bradley and Patrick Moynihan, key votes needed to pass her legislation, that she would "demonize "anyone who opposed it. But it was opposed; she couldn't get her incomplete, poorly written Health Care Reform Bill to the house floor of the House for a vote by a Congress which, at the time, was controlled by her own party. And in the next election, her party lost control of both the House and Senate.

Hillary assumed authority over selecting an Attorney General. Her first two recommendations, Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood, were forced to withdraw their names from consideration; then she chose Janet Reno. Janet Reno was later described by Bill Clinton himself as "My Worst Mistake."

Hillary recommended Lani Guinier for head of the Civil Rights Commission. When Guinier's radical views became known, her name had to be withdrawn.

Hillary recommended her former law partners, Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy, for positions in the Justice Department, White House staff, and the Treasury, respectively. Hubbell was later imprisoned, Foster committed suicide, and Kennedy was forced to resign.

Hillary also recommended a close friend of the Clintons, former bartender Craig Livingstone, for the position of director of White House security. When Livingstone was investigated for the improper access of up to 900 FBI files of Clinton enemies, called "Filegate", and the widespread use of drugs by White House staff, both Hillary and her husband denied knowing him. FBI Agent Dennis Sculimbrene confirmed in a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in 1996 both the drug use and Hillary's involvement in hiring Livingstone. After that, the FBI closed its White House Liaison Office, after having served seven Presidents for over three decades.

In order to open "slots" in the White House for her friends "The Harry Thomasons", to whom millions of dollars in travel contracts would later be awarded, Hillary had the entire staff of the White House Travel Office....Fired. She then reported them to the FBI for "gross mismanagement", and their reputations ruined. Following a thirty-month F.B.I. investigation, only one, Billy Dale, was charged with a crime, allegedly mixing personal money with White House funds (not theft) when he cashed personal checks and drew White House funds for his checks. The jury took less than two hours to acquit him.

Another of Hillary's assumed duties was directing the "Bimbo Eruption Squad" and Scandal Defense: She urged her husband not to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit. This was a monumental strategic error. She then refused to release the Whitewater documents, which led to the appointment of Ken Starr as Special Prosecutor. After $80 million of taxpayer money was spent, Starr's investigation led to Monica Lewinsky, which led to Bill lying about it and later admitting his affairs. Then they had to settle with Paula Jones after all; Bill lost his law license for lying to the grand jury....and Bill was impeached by the House. Hillary almost got herself indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice . She avoided it mostly because she repeated, "I do not recall," "I have no recollection," and "I don't know" 56 times under oath.

During Vince Foster's "suicide" aftermath, investigators were not provided requested records.

During their final months in the Whitehouse, Hillary decided to seek election to the Senate in a state in which she had never resided: New York.

Hillary had Bill pardon her brother's clients, for a small fee, to get financial support.

In the campaign for the Senate, Hillary played the "Woman Card" often, portraying her opponent Mr. Lazio as a bully picking on her.

Hillary's husband further protected her by asking the National Archives to withhold from the public, until 2012, many records of their time in the White House, including much of Hillary's correspondence and her calendars. There are ongoing lawsuits to force the release of those records.

As the Junior Senator from New York, Hillary has passed no major legislation. She has deferred to the Senior Senator (Schumer) to tend to the needs of New Yorkers, even on the hot issue of medical problems of workers involved in the cleanup
of Ground Zero after 9/11.

Hillary's one notable vote, supporting the plan to invade Iraq, is one she has since disavowed.

Quite a resume, isn't it? No wonder she likes to keep her opponents on the defensive.

Help America Remember Sen. Clinton's real record.

Bill C. urges *more* negativity!

Wow, Bill!

We hadn't realized it was possible! More?

Excerpt from the Talking Points Memo article:

Mr. Clinton has placed several of his own aides at headquarters, including his former lawyer and a bevy of strategists. Known as a bad loser, Mr. Clinton privately buttresses his wife's drive to push on, telling her, according to aides: "We're not quitters."
On his own daily message calls, advisers say, he implores: "We've got to take him on every time." At the Clintons' Washington, D.C., home recently, these people say, he reviewed possible TV spots and told ad makers to be more hard-hitting, faster and harsher.

If anyone is an "elitist", it must be Hillary

This Indiana columnist calls it as he sees it.

Excerpt:

I hope a beer at Bronko's doesn't fool anyone.

When Hillary Clinton stopped for a shot and a beer Saturday night, she was doing little more than pandering to the working class. Anyone wearing a blue collar should have been offended.

Hillary was trying to lay it on thick, just a few hours after calling Barack Obama "an elitist."

Hillary hasn't wanted for anything in her life. She went to Wellesley College, a private school in Massachusetts. From there it was on to Yale Law School and then into big-money law firms. She spent a stint as first lady of Arkansas and then first lady of the United States.

When Obama graduated from law school, he moved to the south side of Chicago to become a community organizer to help those who had lost jobs in steel and other manufacturing industries.

He saw first-hand what it was like to lose a job and a home and one's pride. He tried to get people trained for other jobs. And he did it all making peanuts -- not the kind of money he could have made as a Harvard law grad.

So last week when Obama said people were "bitter" about being out of work after watching their manufacturing jobs shipped abroad, he knew what he was talking about.

Plus: fun video!

Bosnia and Back Again

The Jed Report strikes again...

wrapping it up...

...here's a great overview of the entire "First Lady in Bosnia" thing...

Yes, he means it...

...Barack Obama will not take money from lobbyists!

Check the update at the bottom of the article about the Clinton campaign, in contrast...

Hillary's lies...in convenient list form

Real Clear Politics has done the heavy lifting and compiled a convenient list...

Sen. Clinton is "for the little guy"...

...but doesn't pay her bills to small vendors. It's a lot better for her to let the small vendors carry the financial strain instead of her campaign's books.

This is video from early on in the race, back in Iowa. But it's continued!



3/31/08 UPDATE:

Looks like Sen. Clinton's campaign neglected to make payments on her staffers' health insurance, too...

Hillary in Bosnia: The Movie

Much more here at Rural Votes.

UPDATE, 3/26/08:

The New York Post has this to say:

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton's lies about risking her life under sniper fire during a visit to Bosnia as first lady have infuriated the US military brass and troops.

"She has no sense of what a statement like that does to soldiers," fumed retired Maj. Gen. Walter Stewart, the former head of the Pennsylvania National Guard.

"She is insulting the command in its entirety," he said yesterday.

UPDATE #2, 3/26/08:

Sen. Clinton is now saying that she "misspoke".

OK, that's plausible.

But four times?

Here's video of one of those occasions (2/28/08):



Read what an actual veteran of the US's involvement in Bosnia has to say about this "theft of valor".