Arkansas Blog

It's good to see Hillary chilling out while Obama takes aim at McCain. Priority number one for all patriotic Americans is removing the current incompetent, criminal, constitution-shredding, party from office.

There's some controversy over this statement made by Hillary today:
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"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," [Hillary] said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."
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Here's what Jack and Jill Politics, an African American blog had to say about the comment:
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Hard-working Americans = white Americans. Right. The rest of us sit on our porches eating watermelon and plucking banjos....

This kind of comment is less a description than an agitator, it's meant to give white voters the impression that they would be "disenfranchised" by an Obama win. It's a not so subtle effort to evoke racial resentment over Obama's success....

Clinton is deliberately hurting his chances... by saying, essentially, "Obama doesn't care about white people."

That's what the "elitist" charge has always been about, appealing to the sentiment that "this black guy thinks he's better than you." It will be the same against the Republicans. The difference is that they now have Democrat saying the same things to further legitimize this line of "argument"....

Clinton has hopelessly alienated the most loyal base of the Democratic Party: black folks....

How bad, blatant and obvious is the continued race-baiting of the Clinton Campaign?
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Link to John Stewart's interview with John McCain in my name.

If that link doesn't work, here's the link to the entry on Crooks and Liars: http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/08/jon-stewart-puts-mccain-on-the-hot-seat/

Description of the video:
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Jon Stewart proved again last night that he is one of the best, if not the best, interviewer on television. Although the first part of the interview (not included here) was very cordial and weak, the second part heated up quickly. Stewart quizzed McCain on the Hagee endorsement, his seemingly detrimental connection to George Bush, his campaign's disgusting implication that Hamas endorses Obama, and a few other things.

That's what the "elitist" charge has always been about, appealing to the sentiment that "this black guy thinks he's better than you."<<

And likely he is, though that's not the sort of thing that warms Americans' hearts. He has a "elitist" education, is worth over a million dollars, lives in an "elitist" home that's likely worth about 150% more than the average home, and so on. And McBush is elitist, so are Bill/HRC, Monkey Boy, Mormon Mitt. It's only once every four years that they must seem like "one of us." The rest of the time it's back to elitism.

Andrew Jackson had the commoner's personna and so did Harry Truman. Neither were very popular nor well-liked. We like our elitists we just don't want them to act like elitists once every four years, esp if they happen to be black.

John Cusack's new film, WAR, Inc, interview on blue name

Hopefully you can still catch Thom Hartman's interview with one of
the Kool-Aid gulpers, Horowitz, in the top R corner of the page.

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I'm fully aware that the charges that the Clintons use racism will never go away and will haunt them to the grave along with Monica and the other bimbos, but I will never be able to listen to that charge without pointing out again and again, that pointing out the FACT that whites are not as gung ho for Obama as Blacks is not racist. It is a FACT. It is also a fact that those white voters - racist as they may be - mostly are working poor, so calling them workers does NOT imply that Blacks don't work. I will never understand the desire to hang racism around Bill and Hillary's necks. Sad.....

No one wishes to call Clinton racists. Clinton was the best president for the black and minority community in history, largely because that he grew up in Hot Springs as a poor white kid around minorities and empathized with their plight. He appointed more minorities to high level positions than any other President, and he defended affirmative action when most of the white population was strongly against ("mend it, don't end it"), shifting public opinion towards the issue.

That said, I think Hillary's motives are questionable in the statement I quoted above. Add in her comments on Wright, her appearances on right wing media, her charges of elitism, and I think it's fairly clear she's using race to garner some support.

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On a completely different note, the link in my name goes to a parody of Chris Matthews and Tim Russert's coverage of the election. Here's a taste:

Say, Isn't This Election Just Like A Great FOOTBALL GAME?!

Chris Matthews: Wow, what an amazing day. We've got TWO enormous primaries going on. Indiana and North Carolina. Lots of big, big delegates up for grabs. The impact of what happens today is gonna reverberate ALL across the country. You know. this is amazing! This is REALLY amazing! Ya gotta love it! Howard Fineman of Newsweek joins us now. Hey Howard.

Howard Fineman: Yes?

Chris: Isn't this election just like a great FOOTBALL GAME? I mean, like a great knockdown, drag-out football game, where people are hitting each other really hard and really going at it? Don't you think it's just like a football game?

Howard: Not really, no.

Whoops. Here.

Do any of you remember, oh, say a year ago, when the issue was would Obama be "black enough" for the black community? When you investigate racism and its history, you can go back and see all the racial codes that defined what percentage of one's heritage determined what label was attached. It reached its highest absurdity with the Nazi's. All that to say we all seem to forget that Obama is genetically as much a white man as he is a black man. I know, I know, some will say that it's a cultural issue, too, but I would say look at him. If you want to make culture the issue, he's still white. He's just the wine-and-cheese white guy instead of the beer and bowling white guy.

I look forward to the point where we can ALL realize that it's all a bunch of crap. It's just another way for the media to keep conflict in play and juice up their ratings and for Republicans to scare people to death. I know I'll be long dead before the racial divide is no longer in play, but I still look forward to it.

Click on my blue name to see another version of Rev. Wright's "attack on Obama."

I think we should take a breather and let the Obama and Clinton camps work it out. You know they're talking, deal making and making a plan. They've got a choice to make. Obama holds the upper hand, and should, cause he's got more chits on his side of the board. We've seen what happens when you let the loser win 2 times in a row and it's been a FK'ing disaster for this country and the world.

But back to that big choice that has to be made. Does Obama take his chance and go it alone? Or does he take the sure deal by putting Hillary on the ticket? Does Hillary swallow her pride and settle with being the 1st woman ever elected to the Vice Presidency? Which is no small potatoes, especially since Cheney has made the Office of VP the magic spot where all things are possible? We'll never see the day again where the VP is just a stick figure sent off to visit hot brown countries just for something to do. And maybe in the end, that will be a good thing.

In 1776 there were approximately 2.5 million people living in America. Gov. Frank White proved anyone can govern 2.5 million people by himself. Today there are 300 million of us little doogies running around. Ain't no way one man or woman can run this country by themselves. If their brain was the size of a Dodge Dart and they stayed up 24 hours a day they couldn't even think of all the things that has to be thought of to keep the US train on the tracks.

Right now every aspect of American life is FK'ed up! So making the VP a vital part of the recovery team makes a whole lot of sense. No, not the way that FK'ing Cheney does it, but a real working team......it's what we need. Actually we need the next administration to be a working team down to the state and local level.......just like Cheney-Bush-Rove set it up, only they need to work for all of America and not just the Republican Party.

Back to Obama's choice. By himself he might be able to pull out a squeaker this November 4th. But I think if you want to see the first black President of the United States this January 20th, it will take Hillary Clinton on the ticket. Here's why:

Obama Clinton
Popular Vote Total 15,926,550 49.6% 15,216,764 47.3%

Most of the Hillary voters will gladly vote for Obama in November. But why not play it safe and get em all? Why not make everyone happy and bury the sorry-ass Republicans once and for all? Why not assemble the most kick-ass governmental team in modern US history? Obama wants change. By god so do I! To get that change we're going to have to build a steamroller of a recovery team.....a Dream Team. Suck it in....and let's do it!

he grew up in Hot Springs as a poor white kid around minorities and empathized with their plight. <<<

In Hot Springs B. Clinton did not grow up a poor white kid. He was as middle class as perfectly possible.
His mother was an anesthesiologist, and his step dad had managers job in the Buick dealership which allowed Bill to sport around in a nice Buick convertible in high school. He always had a soft spot for minorities, esp those who were treated poorly even though his step-father was a typical Southern racist. He did not grow up around minorities. He was an exceptional student. Myself and a few others on here including Max grew up or matured during the 'politics of race.' So did Bill. It was what separated the generations. Just about everyone I knew during the mid to late 60s embraced the pro-liberal position of opposing discrimination and racism. Clinton began actively organizing black minorities then.

Another issue being overlooked in this race-baiting debate of Obama vs. Clinton is the Hispanic/Latino
vote. They're a larger minority of people, likely 50% larger.

Hopefully, this great divide between the candidates will be over by the end of May. I have few doubts that Demos cannot come together to support their nominee.

I expect a full range of dirty tricks from Rove, esp the conquer by dividing tactics and racism will be exploited as it never has before. Any ploy or depiction which can be manipulated to play upon American fears whether it's Muslim-Islamic fears or just two centuries of imbued racial fears will be tapped and exploited. You ain't seen nothing yet.

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JD says, "Clinton was the best president for the black and minority community in history," and I beg to differ. Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Baines Johnson are the obvious contenders for that title. Bill Clinton is a distant third at best.

Come to think of it, Bill Clinton comes in a distant fourth--there's also the much maligned Ulysses S. Grant. He's been lied about in history books for years. (The corruption that riddled his administration was endemic to the system and not specific to him or his presidence. He's taken the rap on a personal level as part of the systematic campaign of lying that degraded the Reconstruction era.)

Another arch-conservative Bushevik caught having an affair.....and a baby.... click on Cato

Virginia Kelley was not an anesthesiologist - she was a nurse anesthetist - quite a difference. Also, Hot Springs schools were integrated by the time Clinton was in High School, and he lived within the city, so he would have attended a fully integrated school. I think the claim of growing up among minorities is more likely true.

I know school friends of his very well, and they all consider themselves to have been, at the best, lower middle class during high school, and a neighbor of his says they "all were poor". A mother as a nurse was probably better than some but not as well off as others.

Well said, DBI, if Obama really wants to secure a win, he will swallow pride and work out some deal with Hillary, and if Hillary really cares about the people, she will swallow the same pride and deal. All anyone has to do to know how much anti-Obama-racist-crap is bubbling among voters is to get outside and listen to what people are saying (not just my goofy relatives). Obama is going to need some help and as your figures point out so well - he is not the runaway favorite - there is almost a 50/50 split among Democrats and Hillary remains very popular. Her baggage may be heavy, but his is growing daily....

DId you guys see this?

"Individuals with conservative ideologies are happier than liberal-leaners, and new research pinpoints the reason: Conservatives rationalize social and economic inequalities."

(LiveScience.com via Yahoo! News)

The most consistent D' baggage I know of is the high negatives Hillary has polled with for years. Nobody this side of Bush has consistently polled with such high negatives for so long.. And why oh why would we want Hillary in the #2 slot when the last time she walked in with a mandate to do something about health care a she quit trying after little more than a year... I know the pressure will be very high on Obama to pick a Neo-liberal (Cheneyesque pro-WAR Dem).. Heck, if Dems are going to support more NEO nuts in the VP office, well then lets put Pryor and Lieberman on the short VP list too.

Bill Moyers talked about this issue during an hour on Charlie Rose last night.. He said the most effective / powerful thing Hillary could do if she loses the presidential nomination would be to turn around and aim for Harry Reid's job in the Senate. Moyers is right and if Hillary really wants to "do something" she will aim for that position. I hope i never happens, but it would be the correct goal for a politician in Hillarys shoes (who wants to actually govern) to take right now.

I personally think a decent Dem could take her out in her next Senate primary race now that the NY Dems outside of Wall street have had a peek at the real Hillary. And she should face a challenger due to her AUMF vote alone.

70 percent of Americans want out of Iraq... Dems need to nominate two people who never made the mistake of failing to do their homework and never promoted sending our troops to die or commit needless Iraqi Holocaust.

An interesting piece of Moyers trivia I heard for the first time.. He was actually considered by one administration for the Head of the CIA position.

L, I was repeating what I've heard and what Paul Begala said when he spoke at my campus. (And actually, I lived for a year in the same neighborhood he did, and it was definitely poor--at least when I was living there.)

Sawyer, I was speaking specifically in terms of the actual involvement and participation of minorities in his administration. My bad.

The link in my name shows Bill Clinton's record with blacks written by Salon: "Why blacks love Bill Clinton."

From the Salon article:
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Morrison wrote in the 1998 New Yorker essay, "[Bill Clinton] displays almost every trope of blackness: single-parent household, born poor, working-class, saxophone-playing, McDonald's-and-junk-food-loving boy from Arkansas."

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Do you think that his background, being from the South and from a working-class family, made him different in the eyes of African-Americans?

Very much so. He had great opportunity to be in close proximity to black folk. And he hung out with black folk, he understood our music, he understood our culture and he understood how to connect. So by the time he entered the political world, here was a white man who could say, not just "I have some black friends," but say it and mean it.
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