LEMMINGS ON WHEELS

By Eugene Robinson Tuesday, December 16, 2008   Despite the popular belief, lemmings don't really hurl themselves off cliffs to reduce their numbers. That sort of behavior is seen only among Republicans in the Senate, who gave us a demonstration when they torpedoed legislation to bail out the auto industry. To state the obvious, no one is eager to use hard-earned taxpayer dollars to bail out the bozos of Detroit. Yes, I know that American cars are better than they used to be, and, yes, I know that the much-heralded Chevy Volt is on the way. But our domestic auto industry has been thoroughly out-thought and out-hustled by the foreign competition, and no infusion of public funds is likely to change this pattern. It may be that General Motors, Chrysler and Ford are lumbering, Jurassic beasts that deserve their looming extinction. But only a free-market fundamentalist, a lunatic or a Senate Republican -- perhaps that's redundant -- would conclude that now is the moment to hasten Detroit's demise.  Click here for full article.   My comment: Republicans do have a peculiar way of rebuffing Dubya, the titular leader of their party. They can always justify the reasons why they are against Bush, but the main reason is truly to get into the limelight when everything is going dim their way. Right or wrong, they must surface in the news/media or they will be buried by the Obama steamroller. It matters not whether the auto industry gets gobbled up by foreign competition, the republicans must come up with opposing ideas if only to show that they are still relevant as a party. This is a far cry from the McCain slogan of COUNTRY FIRST.

No Escape for Lieberman

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman took another step Tuesday toward mending his relationship with Democrats, saying that Barack Obama's actions since winning the presidency have been "just about perfect." "Everything that President-elect Obama has done since election night has been just about perfect, both in terms of a tone and also in terms of the strength of the names that have either been announced or are being discussed to fill his administration," Lieberman said during a visit to Hartford... Click here for full details.   My comment: In the kaleidoscopic lights of politics, I can spot a loser a mile away. When Lieberman chose to become bedfellows with John McCain, I knew right away that he made a loser of himself. He rolled over from Independent to a turncoat to infamy.    Lieberman's speeches and appearances for the republicans during the campaign will be on the record forever and there is no expunging or editing of history.  Lieberman's vitriol against Barack Obama will haunt Lieberman's future among his constituents but what is embarrassing now and in the forthcoming months is  that whenever he opens his mouth in praise of Obama, Lieberman is eating crow.

A Triumph for Hillary, Many Women Agree

Hillary Clinton, a first lady turned senator turned almost-president, is now transforming herself again, this time into the nation's top diplomat. But she is also back to a role she cannot seem to shake: a canvas for women's highest hopes and deepest fears about the workplace.    As she pondered this week whether to trade her hard-won independence and elected office for a job working for a more powerful man, mothers and schoolteachers and law partners mulled in tandem with her. After eight years of building her own constituency, how could Mrs. Clinton surrender it? they asked. Is secretary of state a promotion or an acknowledgment that her political prospects are now limited? And ultimately, how well will her male boss treat her? As news spread on Friday evening that Mrs. Clinton had decided to accept the job, so did a basic consensus: the assignment was probably a triumph for Mrs. Clinton, if a costly one.   Click http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/us/politics/22clinton.html?_r=1 for more details.   My comment: The foregoing is of course from women's point of view. From a detached point of view, Hillay is a virtual caterpillar on ever ongoing metamorphosis and never really becoming a butterfly. Women would like to think that Hillary has triumphed, albeit pyrrhic, oblivious to clever and subtle shuffle of the president-elect to put her out of the way and in her place..  As Secretary of State she will be implementing foreign policy that is unpalatable to her taste, based on her previous campaign. She will be implementing policy that she mocked and detested, using that as battlecry to rally women who form the cracks in her ceiling.  Barack Obama could have selected Diane Feinstein as a matter of course, but no ... it must be Hillary Clinton to rub it in... in the same manner that John McCain paid homage to the president-elct in Chicago to show the world that their claim of experience on Day One is nothing but hot air.

Team of Rivals

CHICAGO – The bitter general election campaign behind them, President-elect Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain are seeking common ground on a range of issues in hopes of engendering greater bipartisan cooperation in Washington. The erstwhile rivals met for 40 minutes at Obama's transition headquarters Monday to discuss possible collaboration on climate change, immigration, Guantanamo Bay and more. It was their first meeting since Nov. 4, when Obama vanquished McCain in an electoral landslide. Last Thursday, Obama reached out to another former competitor, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he is considering as a possible secretary of state. My comment: Even before the ink dried up, Hillary R Clinton was airborne enroute to Chicago with high expectations to become Secretary of State. She was indeed dying to become one - with one minor problem: she still has to be confirmed by the Senate. At the rate the vetting is going, Bill Clinton could yet derail her chances. Considering how she mocked and criticized Barack Obama on foreign policy issues, Hillary will eat crow during the confimation hearings. And here comes John McCain, hat in hand, talking with Barack Obama in Chicago. There was no earth shaking event to discuss nor any anticipation of a job in the coming administration. It was neither a photo op event, as the Obama circle claimed it to be. It was an event showing the vanquished paying homage to the victor, not trumpeted as such but nevertheless a subtle way of making rabid critics of the campaign eat crow. And Senator John Lieberman almost fell on his face, profusely pledging his support and allegiance to the president-elect, as if his only redemption is eating crow.

Goodness Gracious!!

DENVER — Roaring toward the finish, Barack Obama presided Sunday over two Colorado rallies that together drew about 150,000 people, a startling turnout in a key swing state. In Denver, the city where he claimed his historic presidential nomination, Obama stepped on stage and seemed surprised at his own following. He saw an estimated crowd of more than 100,000 people _ the largest U.S. rally to date in an Obama campaign full of them. "Goodness gracious," Obama said as peered at the human mass in Civic Center Park. Smelling victory, supporters even lined the steps of the Capitol, which was so far away from the stage that the people there needed binoculars just to hope to see Obama. The setting, on a sparkling day in this battleground state, said perhaps more than Obama did in his actual speech. It rippled with the kind of enthusiasm found at victory rallies. The location of a later rally _ a Colorado State University lawn known as "The Oval" _ suggested Obama's possible future workplace. He spoke to an estimated 45,000-50,000 people at the Fort Collins event. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/26/obama-stirs-up-supporters_n_137949.html

St. Louis, Mo. Rally

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, waves as he arrives at a rally in St. Louis, Mo., Saturday, Oct. 18, 2008.

LA Times for Barack Obama

Endorsement Barack Obama for president He is the competent, confident leader who represents the aspirations of the United States. 11:01 AM PDT, October 17, 2008 » Discuss Article    (289 Comments) It is inherent in the American character to aspire to greatness, so it can be disorienting when the nation stumbles or loses confidence in bedrock principles or institutions. That's where the United States is as it prepares to select a new president: We have seen the government take a stake in venerable private financial houses; we have witnessed eight years of executive branch power grabs and erosion of civil liberties; we are still recovering from a murderous attack by terrorists on our own soil and still struggling with how best to prevent a recurrence. We need a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and grace under pressure, one not prone to volatile gesture or capricious pronouncement. We need a leader well-grounded in the intellectual and legal foundations of American freedom. Yet we ask that the same person also possess the spark and passion to inspire the best within us: creativity, generosity and a fierce defense of justice and liberty. Ads by Google Times: Palin Dead Wrong Read the most talked-about editorials and opinions at Newser. www.Newser.com Housing Crisis Solved A Plan That Works Simple Solution. A Must Read. www.choosethinking.com The Times without hesitation endorses Barack Obama for president. Our nation has never before had a candidate like Obama, a man born in the 1960s, of black African and white heritage, raised and educated abroad as well as in the United States, and bringing with him a personal narrative that encompasses much of the American story but that, until now, has been reflected in little of its elected leadership. The excitement of Obama's early campaign was amplified by that newness. But as the presidential race draws to its conclusion, it is Obama's character and temperament that come to the fore. It is his steadiness. His maturity. These are qualities American leadership has sorely lacked for close to a decade. The U.S. Constitution, more than two centuries old, now offers the world one of its more mature and certainly most stable governments, but our political culture is still struggling to shake off a brash and unseemly adolescence. In George W. Bush, the executive branch turned its back on an adult role in the nation and the world and retreated into self-absorbed unilateralism. John McCain distinguished himself through much of the Bush presidency by speaking out against reckless and self-defeating policies. He earned The Times' respect, and our endorsement in the California Republican primary, for his denunciation of torture, his readiness to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his willingness to buck his party on issues such as immigration reform. But the man known for his sense of honor and consistency has since announced that he wouldn't vote for his own immigration bill, and he redefined "torture" in such a disingenuous way as to nearly embrace what he once abhorred. Indeed, the presidential campaign has rendered McCain nearly unrecognizable. His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, as a short-term political tactic, brilliant. It was also irresponsible, as Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory. The decision calls into question just what kind of thinking -- if that's the appropriate word -- would drive the White House in a McCain presidency. Fortunately, the public has shown more discernment, and the early enthusiasm for Palin has given way to national ridicule of her candidacy and McCain's judgment. Obama's selection also was telling. He might have scored a steeper bump in the polls by making a more dramatic choice than the capable and experienced Joe Biden. But for all the excitement of his own candidacy, Obama has offered more competence than drama. He is no lone rider. He is a consensus builder, a leader. As a constitutional scholar, he has articulated a respect for the rule of law and the limited power of the executive that make him the best hope of restoring balance and process to the Justice Department. He is a Democrat, leaning further left than right, and that should be reflected in his nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a good thing; the court operates best when it is ideologically balanced. With its present alignment at seven justices named by Republicans and two by Democrats, it is due for a tug from the left. We are not sanguine about Obama's economic policies. He speaks with populist sweep about taxing oil companies to give middle-class families rebates that of course they would welcome, but would be far too small to stimulate the economy. His ideas on taxation do not stray far from those put forward by Democrats over the last several decades. His response to the most recent, and drastic, fallout of the sub- prime mortgage meltdown has been appropriately cautious; this is uncharted territory, and Obama is not a master of economic theory or practice. And that's fine. Obama inspires confidence not so much in his grasp of Wall Street finance, but in his acknowledgment of and comfort with his lack of expertise. He will not be one to forge far-reaching economic policy without sounding out the best thinkers and practitioners, and he has many at his disposal. He has won the backing of some on Wall Street not because he's one of them, but because they recognize his talent for extracting from a broad range of proposals a coherent and workable program. On paper, McCain presents the type of economic program The Times has repeatedly backed: One that would ease the tax burden on business and other high earners most likely to invest in the economy and hire new workers. But he has been disturbingly unfocused in his response to the current financial situation, rushing to "suspend" his campaign and take action (although just what action never became clear). Having little to contribute, he instead chose to exploit the crisis. We may one day look back on this presidential campaign in wonder. We may marvel that Obama's critics called him an elitist, as if an Ivy League education were a source of embarrassment, and belittled his eloquence, as if a gift with words were suddenly a defect. In fact, Obama is educated and eloquent, sober and exciting, steady and mature. He represents the nation as it is, and as it aspires to be.

Unfit for the White House

The day before Bush address at the White House plugging for a bailout, McCain was asked on what is his stand on the memo of Treasury Secretary about the economy. McCain's bland answer was, he has not read the three page memo which has been discussed in Washington circles for over a week. This prompted a wiseacre that the Straight Talk Express has no reading room. Fact is, McCain has no interest on  economy matters.    After Bush's suggestion for an economic bailout, Obama suggested to McCain that a joint statement be drawn to spur  bipartisan support of the Bush initiative. A bulb suddenly lit in  McCain's head and saw a grand opportunity to act presidential. He issued a statement on his own (never mind Obama) calling for a bipartisan support of Bush bailout, thus effectively pirating Obama's idea. He  pushed  his grandstanding to the hilt - McCain announced suspending his campaign so he could rally "bipartisan support" (his hackneyed phrase on the campaign trail) and also announced that he will not attend the scheduled debate "unless a deal is reached " in Washington. The succeeding events showed McCain stumbling at every step and eventually eating crow, but for now this writer would like to point out  the consensus at the capitol that it is the president's job together with congress to bail out the economy. In other words, McCain is trying to usurp the duties of the president after his intellectual dishonesty of pirating the idea of Obama.  McCain's rightful place is a rocking chair in front of his ranch at Sedona - definitely not the White House.

Will They Ever Learn??

Republican noise makers declared McCain winner of the debate even before it started. It means McCain need not  show up for the debate because it is already won. Talk about being scared. In the course of the debate familiar cliches were tossed  around in abundance: 1. I have plenty of experience and ready to be president. 2. He is naive and does not understand Iraq. 3.  He is naive and doest not understand Russia. 4. He is naive and does not  understand the surge. 5. He is naive and does not understand foreign policy by  talking to adversaries without preconditions.  These are pronouncements, worn out and passe were it not re-hashed  by the nominee of GOP. These were the same pronouncements of someone who is now in the dustbin of history. The electorate is not that stupid.  Will they ever learn?

Moral Fibber??

On Larry King Live hour at CNN, Susan Molinari, a republican hatchetwoman revealed that the republicans cannot attack Obama because there is no record to attack. That explains why the McCain brigade  fabricate lies to paint Obama on. Obama is  impregnable on his moral fiber, so the McCain  camp have to invent their  moral fibber. What kind of president will that make of McCain?

Pinocchio for President?

Senator John McCain has nothing to say to the electorate, so he cooks up a broth of lies and calls it medicine for the ills of the american people. There's no telling how intelligent is the american electorate - a pinocchio may yet become president.

Capricious McCain

 

   Soldier McCain flaunts his military service, in addition to love of country, as making him fit to guard the ramparts of liberty when he occupies the White House. Recent revelations of candidate McCain point otherwise. Granting his claim as expert on security, he is well qualified as security guard of the bank of america  - were he younger.

 

   Candidate McCain is at least a decade  away from senility but he is quick to fake senior moments when cornered with leading questions: he can not exactly remember how many houses he owns.  In the face of mass foreclosures and people all over the country at the brink of losing their homes, McCain's multiple homes is in stark contrast and sticks out like a sore thumb in an ailing economy. In a vain effort to mollify  ruffled feathers, McCain surrogates pictured McCain laid up as a POW in a house with bare floors purportedly to evoke sympathy.

 

   When Russian troops invaded Georgia, McCain was quick on the draw shooting from the hip. He blustered that Russia ought to be expelled from G8 nations and in unabashed demagoguery  McCain declared that all Americans are Georgians!

 

   And now comes the snake oil! McCain picks Sara Palin as running mate. This is very obvious pandering to Hillary Clinton women voters. These histrionics makes McCain very well qualified to be president of Barnum Bailley Circus.

 

 

Border of Iraq and Pakistan??!!

H e e e r r ee ‘ s Senator John McCain

It must be one of those senior moments of Ole John … border of Iraq andPakistan?? They are about 650 miles apart!

John McCain apparently hasn’t learned from the democratic primary race. Hilary Clinton did not make it because she was too arrogant with empty cliches, i.e. “I am ready to be CIC on day one”, etc.. McCain is making the same pronouncements, and more: “I am ready to protect you from terrorist, I am stronger on foreign policy, I am more patriotic, ..” , etc. Such declarations are not only arrogant and puerile but also silly and condescending. Silly, because there is no White House 101 in any university in the universe. It is like proclaiming that one can swim simply because there is water out there. Only when one gets wet in the water and not sink can one truly assert that he/she can swim.

There is nothing more condescending than to aver that your opponent is inexperienced. Flaunting one’s experience as the longevity in public office is like a barnacle proclaiming that it has stayed long enough underwater in a pier column. Barnacles yield no pearls.

And here comes McCain gloating over the success of the surge in Iraq. What price Iraq? Over 4000 american casualties and countless maimed and injured as well as countless Iraqis dead – too many for counting.. Whether it is success or not by any standards, Iraq is not something to gloat over. The price is too much for McCain to get ecstatic and too ghoulish to gloat over.

Here’s another McCain gaffe: he faults his opponent for making policies in Iraq and Afghanistan even before he visisted the site. It can merit a laugh or two were it not so juvenile of the senator from Arizona.. JFK formulated policies and goals for man to land on the moon. JFK never went to the moon.

Posturings of McCain

   McCain Campaign Video - Study of mindset and body english

 

   The campaign video of Senator John McCain is a giveaway of how hollow a candidate can be. He talks of his grandfather and his father before him. Then he talks of Vietnam tour, becoming prisoner of war for more than five years - and about some of his buddies never coming back.

 

   McCain has low esteem of his military experience, that is why he deems it necessary to drag his ancestors before him - to prop up the seemingly inconsequential chapter of his own military experience. His surrogates claim that McCain is a hero, in effect translating his military experience into acts of heroism. Nothing can be more preposterous. There are no heroic exploits that can compare to MacArthur or Eisenhower and much less, to the valiant efforts like the Charge of the Light Brigade.

 

   McCain himself, unabashedly claims he is good at making the people secure, altho his body english says otherwise.  His eyelids flutter faster than the wings of a hummingbird, betraying his non-belief or insincerity in what he is saying. What he actually means is that he is applying for the job of a security guard.

 

   Military experience is no trivia in one's life, but invoking self-pity at the expense of 'buddies who never came back'  is rather lilliputian.

The Spurious Claim of Hillary Clinton

There is no school for presidents and commander-in-chiefs. All the presidents, since George Washington got to the White House without any claim of being experienced. The ability to wield the power of the greatest nation on earth is something that is not bragged about, and much less claimed. Either one has got it or not.

And now comes Hillary Clinton trumpeting on rooftops that she is experienced and ready to assume the duties of commander-in-chief on day one. Nothing can be more presumptuous. The fact that she claims experience is hollow and inauthentic, and even shameless. It means that George Bush and all the way back to George Washington are nothing but nincompoops and inexperienced. If there is any experience that matters with Hillary, it is the experience of standing by her man during the heyday of Monica Lewinsky. She could not possibly stomped away from her cheating husband because she had already hatched the plan of running for president herself, using the ex-president as her backbone. Too bad, the ex-president has the backbone of a jellyfish, too scared of responding to the bombing of USS Cole.

In the face of strident claims of experience and ready for commander in chief day one, Senator Clinton is becoming more and more like a charlatan, foisting snake oil on the electorate. The USA will not only be the object of scorn among international allies, but also the laughning stock as well.

The Myrtle Beach Rumble

Words that remain Unspoken

The debate of Democrat presidential contenders on the day commemorating Martin Luther King (MLK) was partly circus histrionics on who is more MiLKy WAY among the three contenders left standing after the original crop of ten. Pundits say that it was actually a rumble between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, with John Edwards standing as the referee, making calls against Obama more than against Hillary... which boils down to white vis a vis black, unfortunately. Very interesting democrats ...

Although a wide range of issues were tackled during the deliberations, the stellar highlights focused on personal calls. Early in the campaign, Hillary posed rhetorical questions about the electability of Obama. The unspoken word is BLACK,therefore Obama is not electable. The unspoken word did not resonate with Iowa voters and Hillary was unceremoniously trounced. In New Hampshire, Hillary did a number on manipulating voters with body english which unmistakably relayed the unspoken words: "I am woman, pity me, vote for me". Surprisingly it worked with New Hamshirites. Hillary was ecstatic, and blurted "I have finally found my voice!" , meaning the unspoken words.

Now on the just concluded debate in South Carolina, she declared straightfacedly, although laced with bluster and braggadocio:
a... I can tackle foreign affairs effectively
b ... I can be commander in chief effectively
c. ... I am the agent of change, effectively for thirty six years
d ... etc, etc. etc.
and in all those pronouncements she did not utter the unspoken words: "because my husband Bill is behind me!!"
which prompted Barack Obama to wail ... "I am fighting two Clintons!" wherein he could have echoed Bill Clinton in New Hampashire "Give me a break!" but his body english spoke flawlessly with unspoken words echoing Dubya: "Bring 'em on!"

The Mark of a Demagogue

 

  John Edwards, former senator of North Carolina, and now candidate running for the White House, is beginning to show his true colors as the ultimate demagogue. He goes to great lengths to convince voters that he is the best candidate to run the White House, even if he has to drag his sick wife ailing from cancer to campaign for him. The purpose is to manipulate compassionate voters to commiserate with his wife's malaise. There are lots of compassionate voters who can relate to mrs. Edwards cancer but it is beginning to show that mrs. Edwards is nothing but a tool to sway voters and has nothing to do whether or not he is a capable commander in chief.

   Edwards is also pitching for the poor and downtrodden, trying to identify with their plight and promising all kinds of goodies to ameliorate their sorry condition.  This guy is a glib tallker and a liar, as manifest by the  two blinks per second of his eyes, and most importantly by his $400 haircut.

   The crowning laurels of Edwards's demagoguery is his strident pitch for veterans of Iraq war. He claims that 200,000 veterans are  forsaken by the current administration. After serving their country selflessly, all the get for their services is to be treated like rubbish and left out to sleep under the bridges and viaducts of highways. The veterans are left out in the cold, abandoned, says Edwards, by the current administration. This is the most blatant lie ever foisted by a candidate running for president.  It can evoke anger at Bush and elicit votes from the unsuspecting electorate, but such claim is dishonest and a showcase of demagoguery at it's worst.  The homeless veteran is not poor. They are homeless because of drug addictions, mental illness, and many other reasons, but certainly not because of poverty. Edwards know these facts, but it is convenient and earth-shattering to trumpet these woes of veterans for his own selfish reasons - to sway the voters to propel him to the White House.  If one cannot be honest to oneself, the White House is the wrong place to go. Edwards should be in a mental institution.

My Daemon

Courtesy of Goldencompassmovie.com

The Mark of a Chameleon

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer

It wasn't long ago that Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign scoffed at the notion that young voters would deliver an election. How quickly things can change.

Just seconds into her speech Friday morning, Clinton was declaring herself the candidate for America's youth , stealing a page from the new Democratic presidential front-runner, Barack Obama. The night before, the under-30 crowd came out in larger numbers than ever in Iowa caucuses normally dominated by the AARP-card set, delivering victory for the Illinois senator who promised to bring change to Washington.

That's why after her third-place finish in Iowa, Clinton got off her plane in New Hampshire and declared: "This is especially about all of the young people in New Hampshire who need a president who won't just call for change, or a president who won't just demand change, but a president who will produce change, just like I've been doing for 35 years."

"I'm running for president to reclaim the future , the future for all of us, of all ages, but particularly for young Americans," she said a few seconds later...

------

   It is incidental that chameleon rhymes with clinton, but surely  Hillary is rhyming up steadily as the campaign goes full throttle.  She is really dust in the wind, going whichever way the wind blows, such that when you open your eyes, it (dust in the wind) hurts. She is patently inauthentic, especially when listening to her, sounding so hollow without any semblance of sincerity in what she blurts out.   She is virtually a robot mouthing platitudes that are meaningless or at best, presumptuous.  It is not all that bleak really if and when she gets to the White House, it will become Gray House of Blue House, etc. and eventually be known as Chameleon House.