Arkansas Blog

I like and respect Richardson but apparently he is akin to Huck-the-Buck when it comes to PR -- goes with what brings him the most public exposure and hopefully positive press.

Talking about exposure -- he didn't get much positive and/or negative exposure for the MEDIA never considered him a threat to THEIR SELECTION of the next president.

I didn't think it was legal for a Hispanic to be a governor. Next thing you know, a black guy will try to be President. That's positively un-American.

God BLESS America, keep our ears safe from criticism, keep our poor in their place, and keep white people in charge of this country. And let our pastors talk about nice things, like banning gay marriage, invading other counties to spread the gospel, and why rich people are more favored by God.

The Levee -- Dittoooooo!

Bill Richardson is running for the VP slot if you haven't noticed. Several weeks before the Ohio and Texas primaries, he told Hillary to get out of the race.

Over on the NYT, the story about government employees illegally accessing Obama's passport files has about 10X as many comments as this story. It has overtones of Watergate, but it'll be hushed up like Plamegate.

If Obama has nothing to hide, he should release his passport information. If he were trying to obtain a Top Secret clearance, his foreign travel would be of interest. But then he doesnt need a Top Secret clearance, he is only trying to be the Commander-in-Chief.

Obama produced a picture of Bill Clinton shaking hands with the hate mongering preacher, wonder
if he has any pictures of Bill socializing with the racist Grandmother?

that's what i get for just reading the headline and assuming : )

i've spent the last hour laughing like hell that Nolan picked the worst time possible to make his presidential preference known.

"wonder if he has any pictures of Bill socializing with the racist Grandmother?"

OMG! That was hilarious!!!

Muleboy, who is Nolan's preference?

But it's not about Top Secret Clearance, suck.

"On three separate occasions in January, February and March, three employees looked through Mr. Obama's file in the department's consular affairs section, violating the department's privacy rules, the State Department spokesman, Sean D. McCormack, said. Mr. McCormack said the department's internal controls flagged the breach, which he attributed to "imprudent curiosity."

They were just simply curious about his records.

"This is the second time that such a breach has occurred at the State Department during a presidential campaign. In 1992, a similar breach took place when State Department officials looked up data on then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton, amid rumors that had tried to renounce his citizenship in order to dodge the draft while he was a Rhodes scholar at Oxford during the Vietnam War."

"Obama produced a picture of Bill Clinton shaking hands with the hate mongering preacher, wonder
if he has any pictures of Bill socializing with the racist Grandmother?"
by: succubus_demon
LOL ;-)
Typical 'white person' Oops "CRACKER" question...
Only if granny's a waitress at HOOTERS, y'all know it's 'whities' fault...
Tis the old time religion!

This IS NOT a comment on whether our nominee should be Obama or Hillary , it is a comment about backstabbing disloyal people/politicians. I respect Obama for not doing the politically smart thing and throwing his long-time friend overboard when it would have been easy and furthered his presidential aspirations. (And I can say this while disagreeing with much of what Wright said and realizing it undercut much of what Obama's stood for.) On the flip side...Richardson is a disloyal backstabber. My gosh, look what the Clintons have done for him; and by his own words he thinks the world of them and they've remained very close. Hell, and I can't believe I'm saying this...but Dubya has shown more loyalty to his friends than Richardson, and loyalty, despite our friends' sins/flaws, is something I highly value. (But one reason I COULDN'T get elected to more than PTA prez ha.)

The good news for Obama is that it 'might' get Wright's words off the TV for awhile; and 'might' get Obama's words about 'typical white people' off...for awhile. But I don't think so; and I'm surprised that someone who's been so politically astute would be so careless with his words. Can anyone imagine the reaction if Hillary or one of gang had said 'typical...' She'd be toast. If Obama is the nominee, Wright's stuff alone will sink him in November...and it doesn't matter whether that's right or deserved or whether Wright's getting unfairly misunderstood. We are living in a country that put Monkeyboy in office...twice. The frothing on Fox is, well, unwatchable.

I remember when they illegally accessed Bill's records in '92...no surprise that Republicans use government like their very own fiefdom. Can't wait for Valerie Plame's new movie...

How can Senator Obama accept Governor Richardson's endorsement? I understood his position to be rather clear that the Super delegates should follow the will of the people in their states, and Clinton carried New Mexico by a rather lopsided margin among elected delegates. Am I missing something? Has Senator Obama announced a change in his thinking and now contend that these Super Delegates should be guided by personal preference or considerations of electability?

lopsided margin? 48.8 % to 48% (14 to 12 delegates)

that took New Mexico over a week to determine?

(name/link)

to The Levee I say Amen!!!

Succubus Demon you are a clown, so Obama is to blame for the State Department illegally cracking his passport info?

God Hillary people sound more like right wing bullshit artists every day. Sean Hannity ain't got nothing on Cassandra, succubus or pippy

Go Bill Richardson & Go Hogs!

How do we know that the passport-peepers were Republicans?

Every article I have read identified the peepers as "contractors," meaning they are not political appointees.

For all we know, they could be Hillbots. After all, she "worked" in a White House that compiled FBI records on Republican operatives.

I think accessing those passport records begins to reinforce what Wright was saying. It's the powers-that-be in America working to keep a black man down. A black man who, surprise!, is being loudly accused of being anti-American. And it also happened to the Clintons when they were challenging the machine. You couldn't invent a better example

I know if they were digging around in my files, I'd say God Damn America and several versions of it.

Cassandra, even if superdelegates should go along with the vote...that means some will go for the loser in every state (proportionally).
So, if more than half went for Obama, they'd be wrong...
If NONE went for Obama, they'd be neglecting a very significant percentage of their state's vote.

Also, no revotes for FL or MI...

Think Hillary can manage to get their delegations seated? It's about the only chance she has left to win.

Well, Levee...I guess that makes Bill Clinton a black man, or, perhaps there are other forces at work here. In fact, I'd argue that the 'powers-that-be' are more about rich people/corporations keeping the poor/middle class us down 'cause they're greedy and don't want to share any of limited pie. Believe me they'll throw us non-country club, non-rich white folks under their bus just as quickly. That doesn't mean that the black man/woman hasn't historically been kept down (more and longer than us poor white folks) through institutional/cultural barriers...it just means they're keeping us down too and that today it's more about wealth than race. Besides, I think our 'illegals' have replaced blacks/women, in general, as the ones at the bottom of the wealth/abuse chain.

Eugene...though I know we all see things through our life lens (and my own careless words usually keep me busy), I don't get your comments about Cassandra, succubus or pippy. If anything I thought the words about Clinton/Obama's grandma were a slam to Clinton's notorious womanizing. And, 'racist' grandma is a valid comment given Obama's own words and the ongoing presidential race. Plus I don't have a remote clue how you took offense to Cassandra's words. Disagree politically, sure, but we have enough real racial demons/right wingers without inserting racial innuendo into every comment about Obama. Same thing with Succubus' words...asking if Obama has anything to hide or whether someone running for prez should be vetted, security wise, may be off base given the specifics, but...oh well, just my two cents.

If the Super delegates were simply to follow their states' vote then they would serve no real purpose...now what their real purpose is valid is an entirely different kettle of fish. And, Cassandra is correct that the Richardson endorsement contradicts Obama's words.

Arkansas Red...glad we can always count on you/Billary for nonsensical crap about the Clintons. You are, if nothing else, entertaining in a Limpball kind of way. At least us Dems are trying to work through our racial demons...painful as that may be...unlike you Repubs who haven't changed one wit since, well, before Jesus walked the earth.

Well...once again, I should always preview. Sorry for the missing/extra words. Hope it's understandable...even if you disagree with the content.

At one time a few years ago in a low point I worked as tech support for a company that put state laws on CD rom. Some days were frantic and some days no one called. I don't think chat had been invented yet and there was no Google or YouTube, so all I had for fun were the laws of about 28 states to play with. After looking up people with my name, then the wife's maiden name, then Fort Baptist cases, then spreading out to other cases across Arkansas, one sunny day...oh wait, the room had no windows.....anyway, one day I thought SEX...man I bet there are lots of cases about sex. And sure enough...there were hundreds of barn-burners.

I'd feed the nastiest shit into the crude DOS search system and then spend the rest of my time reading the hits. It was lots and lots of fun. But after I left the company, one night when I couldn't find anything else to ruin my sleep, I thought.....damn....what if the boss had retrieved all my searches?!?! Stormtroopers would have drug me off in chains! In these times of simple minds, to search is to lust after, to search is to advocate, to search makes you guilty as hell.

So that's the first thing I thought about when I heard the news last night that 3 "contractors" had been digging in Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.'s stuff. I can just see me sitting there in a windowless room in DC bored to death and suddenly I find out I can access Sammy Davis Jr.'s stuff. Oh man....I'd be all over it! I might have been able to get to the files on Eve Arden and finally figure out why she never wrote a reply to my fan letter I sent back in 1963! Nude pictures of Juliet Prowse!!!!

But then I remembered this is BushWorld and nothing ever ever ever happens by accident. Then I remembered old creepy Bush #41 had gone digging in Bill Clinton's records. Then I had a head rush of memories of Nixon and his dirty tricks team. What we have here are Republicans acting like Republicans. They attempt the same dirty tricks over and over. They try criminal acts over and over until they perfect them and it works. In their core they have the same DNA as Hitler, Stalin, and anyone who was ever a KGB agent. This ain't no Hillary....this is pure Republican all the way.

Nothing much will come of it. People like me will just add it as sin #259514 on the Cheney-Bush List of Sins. The Hillary Haters will add it to Hillary's shit list. And the Republicans will believe some nice person spilled their coffee on their keyboard and somehow while shorting out their workstation accidentally called up Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.'s record. Totally innocent! It could happen to anyone! Go back home folks, there's nothing here to see.....

Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.'s preacher won't sink him. Hillary's cackle won't sink her. It will be the Republican Dirty Tricks Team that puts Honest John McCain in the White House next year. We've seen for the last 7 years there is no such thing as justice in BushWorld...unless your a Democrat in the cross-hairs of a crooked US Attorney. Scooter gettin a little scare is the worst thing that's happened to a Republican. We've got 3992 great reasons to give Bush & Cheney a good ole Saddam neck-tie party, but we don't. Cheney, when told last week that the vast majority of Americans were against the war, simply said....SO?

First thing we gots to do is make sure every good American learns that anything the Cheney administration does is evil. Secondly, anything they say is a lie. Thirdly, we need to do more than just elect them out of office this November and finally, ANY Democrat will seem like a fantastic President after 8 years of the Bush Crime Family.

I hope like hell that Richardson is right and Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. IS the candidate of a lifetime! If Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. survives the summer and actually makes it to the White House I'll be thrilled. I just continually worry that next they'll be digging in his brain with a bullet. We ain't seen nothing yet. The bad stuff is yet to come. So buck up! Expect the worst! But never waver from your support of ANY Democrat running for the White House. It's our last chance, they'll be no do-over this time.

UGLY is just starting...we have to be smart and strong and understand who are enemies are here at home. And they're not Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. supporters or Hillary Rodham Clinton supporters. Look at Mark W. Pryor's voting record. Our enemies don't always have an R behind their names either. If we hope to survive long enough to see China take us over, we're gonna have to rid our government of neo-con Republicans and fake Democrats like Mark and Blanche. Gird gird gird your loins and start sharpening your sticks.....it's going to be a long hot summer!

How does the Richardson endorsement contradict Obama's words? Did he say he wasn't taking endorsements? An endorsement isn't the same thing as a pledge of a super delegate vote.

MSNBC reporting Barry, Hilldog, and Mac all had their passports looked into.

"God Hillary people sound more like right wing bullshit artists every day. Sean Hannity ain't got nothing on Cassandra, succubus or pippy" - Orval Eugene

I'd like to suggest that you visit some of the far left wing internet websites, such as Huffington Post and BuzzFlash and see what Obama supporters sound like. I've objected to the Obama bashing wherever I've seen it as well as the Hillary bashing, because I want a win in November and don't like seeing Democrats pulling each other down and apart. I thought Bill Clinton's comments about Jesse Jackson/Barak Obama were unwise, but I didn't find them to be the race baiting the media described. I thought Obama's use of the word "typical" to describe his white grandmother was unwise, but I don't think it points to any hidden racism on his part. We have two excellent candidates trying to become the nominee, and what they do to and say about each other is to be expected, and I don't think squealing foul on the part of either campaign appears mature unless the 'foul' was legitimately untrue. But, I think the so-called liberal media, and the tiny progressive internet media, is turning this campaign into a massacre of the entire Democratic Party. We now have Democrats showing the world they are no better than Rove and the Republicans and that they will stoop to anything to paint their choice as perfect and the other guy as dirtier than dirt. I opposed Hillary saying that McCain would be better than Obama - (what a stooooopid thing to say) - but I also oppose the progressive internet sites opposing a revote in Mi and Fl because it might help Hillary (I guess it's to hell with the citizens of those states), and accusing Hillary of every crime known to man - even being a fascist (don't think even Limbaugh tried that one).

Democrats had better start walking the walk and supporting the ideals they have always supported regardless which candidate that "might" help, and stop tearing apart the candidate they don't particularly like, or we can all settle back for 4 more years of McSame and watch as he descends into senility with our country in his war loving hands.

Sorry about the rant - and it wasn't directed at you Orval - just furious with some of the junk in my email box and wondering where this all ends......

I watched a GOPer produced oppo video/youtube yesterday which provided more context of rev wright's speech than 99.9 percent of what I have seen or heard on major networks. They actually allowed twelve words for context.. 9 more words than the MSM idiots. "It's not god bless, it's god damn America for killing innocent people!" Imagine.. a preacher being outraged over the killing of innocent people... no matter who or what the murderers are, or where they came from! How dare him be upset about needless mass murder! Instead, people react defensively and end up siding with and for needless murder of innocents in the process.. what a screwed up world this is! People wont even consider the number of words (12) that would fit on two bumper stickers before they are willing to cast away friends of the person who spoke them.. talk about bizzaro world.

I do hope Richardson answers questions about his switch in old allegiances and why he is planning to vote against to the popular vote in his home state.. Though the margins were tiny and he certainly is not bound to stick with the majority vote under any established rules.. I think it's a personal and a political position.. I think he likes Obama and he sees Obama as the nominee apparent.. The very fact he waited so long makes this a bit obvious...and it wasn't an easy decision made lightly.

It's to early to draw many conclusions on the whole passport ordeal, but a confidential file with everything from home addresses of you and your family members and social security numbers should be safe and private in your governments hands.. period. By all appearances this went on several times for 70 days before State told Obama..folks have his personal information.. where was the secret service..why weren't they doing their job..and considering the myriad of security concerns regarding knowing where Obama may be traveling and when.. this is much more dangerous, imo, than an average invasion of private records.

We don't know who the contractors are, but we know Bushco lends such contracts to the worst most corrupt incompetents at any given opportunity.. We know it also fits the Bushco pattern of greed and corruption on so many levels.. Employees of contractors do not enjoy the working benefits (basic dignity) earned by government employees ..rate of pay, health care on so on.
We know the contractors make huge profits and generally are willing to commit corrupt acts in return for such favoritism.

SO buy a bunch of designer nose plugs.. the stench of smelly rats is going to get a lot worse before it gets better!

Amen, DBI . . . well, except for Juliet Prowse and a few other minor details.
For the record, I don't think Hillary can pull it out, as much as I would like it to be otherwise. It seems Barack Obama can do no wrong. I hope those same adoring folks get out the vote in November, although I have my doubts. I fear we will have at least another four years under Rethuglicans and the thought has me about to up upchuck.
In any case, if we are lucky enough to get a democrat as president, I would be happy to have Bill Richardson as veep. He would round out the ticket a bit in terms of experience, particularly foreign policy experience.
But he has to get his Mexican heritage and background past the troglodytes first. Although a citizen by dint his father's U.S. citizenship, Richardson's father was born outside the United States of a Mexican/American union. His mother was sent to Los Angeles so she could have Bill Richardson on American soil. He has three Mexican grandparents, spent his childhood in Mexico City . . .
Sounds a lot like Obama's background without the Hussein, doesn't it? I can already hear the ruckus rising.
Sigh. President McCain?

everything DBI said about how the GOP operates is true, and more than that, is but a fraction of the whole uglier truth.

as the GOP slime tactics were perfected over the past 40-50-60 years (depending on whether you start with Nixon's POTUS runs or his first Senate campaign) a large portion of the Democratic Party concluded that the only way to "fight" against the slime was to adopt similar tactics (fight Fire with Fire, so to speak)

along comes a younger candidate, imbued with the sensibility of a new generation whose whole lives have been conducted during the escalating slime wars and are rightly (pardon the pun) revolted by it, who argues that perhaps it would be better for all concerned if "Fire" were fought with "Water".

so far it seems, that somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the american electorate are already on board with such a "new kind of politics" with perhaps an equal amount only waiting to be convinced that it can work before they too jump on.

Richardson may be correct in his "once in a lifetime" assertion. and after what i've seen in my life, my conclusion is to "give it a try" (as it is damn near impossible to imagine that it could fail so badly as to be worse than what we've already known)

If Obama has nothing to hide, he should release his passport information.<<
Suckus

That's a great idea. I have another great idea: How about John McCain releasing his tax returns.

.

Wonderful reflection on our current political choices today--Good Friday--by that "far left-wing" writer Frank Schaeffer at that "far left-wing" rag, the Huffington Post. You know Frank Schaeffer--the son of that revered guru of the religious right, Rev. Francis Schaeffer. Frank Schaeffer--who spoke last month at that "far left-wing" educational institution, Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School.

That Frank Schaeffer.

For those who can stand linking to the far left-wing rag, the full article is at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/frank-schaeffer/this-good-friday-let-us-_b_92645.html.

Some choice sentences:

"As I see it our choice is between a good and heroic old man whose time has past and who will perpetuate failed policy, a jaded woman of the establishment, who will do anything to perpetuate her family's dynastic 'claim' to power, and a brilliant, openhearted new founding father the likes of which America has not seen.

Obama comes to us from outside the system that has produced our present multiple crises of wars of choice and a failing economy. He does what all truly great leaders do: he speaks to the soul in plain self-revealing words of hope.

If we squander this undeserved reprieve and choose business-as-usual, if we don't elevate ourselves out of our self-made mire, we will step into a future of steep and steady decline and war without end. It won't matter if you are right or left. It won't matter if the Republicans or the Democratic Party wins. We will all lose."

"...a brilliant, openhearted new founding father the likes of which America has not seen."

Assuming the piece above isn't a tongue-in-cheek parody (it's not from The Onion?), it's precisely the most self-indulgent drivel of the 2008 campaign. As if Barack Obama is a Messiah come to consecrate American politics and voters best sign up as acolytes or be sinners forever. The arrogance and ignorance and hubris and presumption are mind-boggling.

Give. Me. A. F-ing. Break.

I don't share your viewpoint, Muckraker.

First of all, are you implying that Obama is engaging in self-indulgent rhetoric? It's Frank Schaeffer writing.

Second, I think one can recognize Barack Obama as an extraordinary leader, and one surpassing other candidates in the leadership promise, without resorting to messianic analysis.

In fact, Frank Schaeffer's article does precisely that. Since you didn't choose to read it before spouting off, permit me to quote another excerpt from it:

"Obama is not Jesus. Obama makes mistakes. He is rightly self-deprecating. Nevertheless, imperfect as he is, Obama is offering America a fresh start. There is more decent intelligent authenticity in his little finger than the Clintons will ever know. There is more kind wisdom in Obama than in all our sneering bloodsucking moronic media combined. But we have imbibed detritus for so long that when clean food is offered we can't taste it.

This isn't about politics. I'm a fifty-five year old white man who has been a conservative all my life. I've been a right wing Republican activist. I'm a big fan of the military. If Obama can reach out to me he can reach out to anyone. He can win in November."

Can you please explain how saying this makes Frank Schaeffer self-indulgent?

And you know, as I think about it, one of the things I most like about Obama, and about his recent speech, is his attempt to move political discourse in the U.S. beyond the level of "discourse" generated by the "sneering bloodsucking moronic media" where a statement like "Give. Me. A. F-ing. Break" counts as political "argumentation."

tyvm muddling, for the Schaeffer (and the link)

the "system" as it has evolved over my lifetime, produces choices of candidates that are "Ones" or "Zeros" on a 1-10 scale. (and all too often it is damned difficult to determine which of them is the 'one' and which is the 'zero')

thus when an Obama comes along, he can look altogether "messianic" just by simply being a "Two"

(and just imagine how grand it would be if he turned out to be a "Five"?)

Good point, muleboy. We've been dealing with such a low intelligence level in our public discourse and political life, that anything beyond slinging slurs sounds like right intelligent speech nowadays.

And when someone comes along and hits the ball out of the ballpark with a speech that can move our minds, hearts, and souls with words like the following, our classification systems just falter:

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

That is one option. Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, 'Not this time.' "

And it's because of words like this, that I believe folks of the ilk of Frank Schaeffer are also moved--so much that he can say that if we don't move out of our self-made mire in the coming elections, we will not have a future. For those baffled by Richardson's choice to endorse Obama, I would submit that his own words explain the choice better than all the political analysts can do. He said, "It is now time for a new generation of leadership to lead America forward."

This is an election, seems to me, in which we all ought to be looking to the future--to the needs of the next generation, and not our own. That consideration should be enough, it seems to me, for us to relinquish some of our own choices and opinions if it begins to appear that one leader stands out among the others, because of the promise he/she holds for a better future.

It's not about us--though listening to some bloggers here, I haven't heard that articulated clearly--but about the next generation. I'd like to see us leave something worth leaving to them.

the times have changed
or maybe they've not
only more time will tell

to exit the dark
and move to the light
or stay on this road to hell

a new generation is coming to pass
and the one after that is in view
the choices today are more about them
but the decision is all up to you

stephenhsmith 22Mar2008

Great poem, Muleboy.

It parallels a little bit of text I've been pondering today for my Easter meditation: something Maya Angelou once wrote:

"When we cast our bread upon the waters, we can presume that someone downstream whose face we will never know will benefit from our action, as we who are downstream from another will profit from that grantor's gift."

Great significance there, both for the religious traditions of the world, all of which teach that selfless love lived out practically is the goal of human life, and for us, as we ponder our choices in this election year.

tyvm MT, and thanks again for the inspiration.