Vote for President Obama 2008

In case you missed this. From Media Matters:

As the cable news channels began filling up valuable airtime Monday with discussions of the appropriateness of a New Yorker cover depicting Barack Obama burning an American flag in the Oval Office, under a portrait of Osama bin Laden, another important story was largely ignored by the mainstream media - that of a veteran media personality injecting racially divisive stereotypes into a discussion of Sen. Obama.

This weekend on The McLaughlin Group, the program's host, John McLaughlin, asserted that Obama "fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo -- a black on the outside, a white on the inside."

McLaughlin: "Question: Does it frost Jackson, Jesse Jackson, that someone like Obama, who fits the stereotype blacks once labeled as an Oreo -- a black on the outside, a white on the inside -- that an Oreo should be the beneficiary of the long civil rights struggle which Jesse Jackson spent his lifetime fighting for?"

Call John McLaughlin and demand he apologize on-air during next week's broadcast.

McLaughlin's statement was so obviously out of touch and inappropriate that two members of the McLaughlin panel refuted the basic premise. Panelist and Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow Peter Beinart said: "Who knows what Jesse Jackson is thinking? But that's a completely unfair depiction of Barack Obama."

Later in the discussion, Michelle Bernard, president of the Independent Women's Forum, said: "I want to go back to the point you made about whether or not Obama is an Oreo, because if Barack Obama is an Oreo, then every member of this generation of African-Americans is an Oreo, because we stand on the shoulders of the people who fought for our rights."

Call John McLaughlin and demand he apologize on-air during next week's broadcast.

The all-important weekend political talk shows set the agenda for our nation's newsrooms and the acceptable terms of our public discourse -- McLaughlin's comments weren't just offensive, they were a relic of politics past.

I hope you will take a moment and make your voice heard on this important issue.

This from the Assoicated Press:

Another tactic Obama employs is to use McCain's words against him. He reads them aloud, pauses dramatically and chuckles with the crowd before making his point.

"Sen. McCain said, 'Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been 30 years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country,'" Obama said Friday in Dayton, Ohio.

"I couldn't agree more," Obama said. Then, smiling and in an incredulous tone, he added: "The only problem is that out of those 30 years, Sen. McCain was in Washington for 26 of them!" The crowd whooped and hollered.

Obama also is taking full advantage of the openings McCain presents.

Shortly after a McCain economic adviser dubbed the United States "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession," Obama took to the stage in Fairfax, Va., on Thursday and used Phil Gramm's comments to portray McCain as out of touch.

"Let's be clear. This economic downturn is not in your head. It isn't whining to ask government to step in and give families some relief!" Obama said. Mixing humor with an attack, Obama added: "America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy!"

This audience ate up Obama's criticism of McCain — just like his crowds do every day.

In an interview with the Washington Times, McCain's top economic adviser Phil Gramm tells America to suck it up and stop complaining about the economy:

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," he said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

Are all of you whinning when you buy groceries and gas for your family? Well, stop it. McCain doesn't like it.

• In 2004 41.4% of Georgia voters voted for Obama John Kerry. Those voters will go Obama.

• Most of the newly registered will vote Obama. The state Democrats are working hard to register new voters and get them to the polls.
  

• Most independents will vote Obama.

• At least 5% of the GOP will vote for Georgian (Libertarian Party Candidate) Bob Barr or stay home.

• Then there are the Obamacans...Republicans for Obama.
  

It’ll be close. We have our right wingnuts here who want you to believe it can't happen. Who are they trying to fool? Themselves maybe.

There Bush and those Republicans go again. Go after seniors on fixed incomes. Smart move guys. Say goodbye soon.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, accused Republicans of putting seniors and military families at risk by siding with President Bush against a measure to prevent Medicare cuts.

Durbin, D-Ill., used a Saturday national radio address to call on Republicans to back the bill to stave off a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors.

It passed the House overwhelmingly last week in defiance of Bush's threat to veto it, but it fell just one vote short of the 60 it needed to advance in the Senate, with most Republicans voting "no."

"It's time for the Republican senators who are filibustering this measure to put our seniors and our military families ahead of private insurance companies and let the Senate pass this bill as soon as possible," Durbin said.

Bush and Senate Republicans don't like the bill because it includes offsetting cuts to insurance companies that use Medicare money to offer private health care coverage to about 20 percent of seniors. [AP]

My friend Michele and I went to see Melissa in concert at Chastain Park in Atlanta Friday night. Outstanding concert. If she is coming to a city near you, make plans to see her. Great music and inspiration.

This from the NY Times:

BOCA RATON, Fla. – Injecting himself directly into the presidential campaign and speaking before one of its most crucial constituencies, Jewish voters, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on Friday morning forcefully rejected what he called a “whisper campaign” in the Jewish community linking Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to Islam.

Mr. Bloomberg, who has been occasionally mentioned as a potential running mate for both Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain, the likely Republican nominee, told an audience of Jewish residents here that rumors that Mr. Obama is a Muslim represent “wedge politics at its worst, and we have to reject it loudly, clearly and unequivocally.”

He added: “Let’s call those rumors what they are: lies.”

When you get those emails full of lies and distortions about Obama, forward them to watchdog@barackobama.com to help them track down the people who send them out originally.

Roger Stone boasts about being the sleaziest man in politics and that his rules are “Attack, attack, attack—never defend” and “Admit nothing, deny everything, launch counterattack.” As a young operative, Stone was involved in Watergate, causing him to be fired by Bob Dole. Stone was also forced to cut ties with New York Senate Republicans after he left a harassing message on the voicemail of Eliot Spitzer’s father. Even Republican Ed Rollins says Stone “always had this reputation of being a guy who exaggerated things, who pretended he did things. Roger was never on Nixon’s staff, was never on the White House staff. I don’t think you’ll find anyone in the business who trusts him. Roger was always a little rat.” Stone recently said “McCain himself should not run a slash-and-burn campaign, but a slash-and-burn campaign will have to be run by others.”

Floyd Brown, the leader of the National Campaign Fund, the Legacy Committee, Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America and the Policy Issues Institute, once bragged he was part of the “the heart and soul of the right-wing conspiracy.” has a history of surfacing every four years to make right-wing attacks against Democrats in presidential elections. Most infamously, Brown was responsible for the racist 1988 “Willie Horton” ad against Michael Dukakis. Brown harassed the Clintons throughout Bill Clinton’s administration, with even George H.W. Bush calling his behavior in the 1992 presidential election—which included harassing the family of a recent suicide victim—“filthy campaign tactics.” After writing a 2000 book about Al Gore that went little-noticed, in 2004, Brown and David Bossie, working as the group Citizens United, make a movie called Celsius 41.11 and ran television ads attacking John Kerry.

David Bossie, who runs Citizens United, has paired with Floyd Brown for years. Bossie and Brown harassed the Clintons throughout Bill Clinton’s administration, with even George H.W. Bush calling his behavior in the 1992 presidential election—which included harassing the family of a recent suicide victim—“filthy campaign tactics.” After writing a 2000 book about Al Gore that went little-noticed, in 2004, Brown and Floyd Bossie, working as the group Citizens United, made a movie called Celsius 41.11 and ran television ads attacking John Kerry. In 1998, Bossie was fired from his job with the House Committee investigating Bill Clinton. When Bossie selectively released tapes, removing information that exonerated the Clintons, and improperly obtained phone records, even Newt Gingrich said he was “embarrassed for the conference at the circus that went on.”

Source: http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/factcheckactioncenter/