WHY THE DEMOCRATS DESPERATELY HOPE HILLARY WILL LOSE

For all their delight in soaring voter registration and strong poll numbers, some Democrats fear the contest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton might have a nightmarish end, which could wreck a promising election year.
The chief worry is that Clinton may carry her recent winning streak into Pennsylvania, Indiana, North Carolina and other states, leaving her with unquestioned momentum but fewer pledged delegates than Obama. Party leaders then would face a wrenching choice: Steer the nomination to a fading Obama, even as signs suggested Clinton could be the stronger candidate in November; or go with the surging Clinton and risk infuriating Obama's supporters, especially blacks, the Democratic Party's most loyal base.

Some anxious Democrats want party elders to step in now to generate more "superdelegate" support for Obama, effectively choking off Clinton's hopes before she can bolster them further. But many say that is unlikely, and they pray the final 10 contests will make the ultimate choice fairly obvious, not excruciating.
Barring a complete meltdown by Obama, Clinton has almost no chance of surpassing his number of pledged delegates, even if she scores upset wins in states such as Oregon, which votes May 20. But such victories would encourage her to keep criticizing Obama - her only hope for the nomination - and thus heighten doubts about Obama's ability to defeat Republican Sen. John McCain in the fall. That scenario troubles many Democrats, especially those who feel Obama's nomination is all but inevitable.

Many undeclared superdelegates express confidence that all will be well. Democratic voters will unite in the fall, they say, and the injuries that Obama and Clinton inflict on each other this spring will heal. Privately, however, some party insiders worry that these superdelegates may be blithely marching toward a treacherous crossroad, where they will have to choose between a deeply wounded Obama and a soaring Clinton whose success was built on tearing down the party's front-runner in terms of delegates. A tear-down that is becoming more and more easily achieved, as the Obama camp has been wounded in recent weeks, through the very transparency they once espoused.

Reports of his connections to the Trinity Church, and its leader Rev. Wright, his friendship and nefarious dealings with Tony Rezko who is currently on trial for corruption, his wife's quotes of feeling no pride of her country, his omissions and romantic recollection of a father that cannot be defended, his complete lack of a resume, his dismal voting record (missed votes, and votes of "present"), as well as admitted previous drug use, serve to make him less of the "fresh face" candidate the public once fell in love with.

There is no doubt of Hillary's tenacity towards achieving her goals, or her certain double digit win upcoming in the state of Pennsylvania. If the New York senator also tops Obama in Indiana and North Carolina on May 6, West Virginia a week later, and Kentucky and/or Oregon on May 20, her supporters will argue that the dynamic has sharply changed in ways party leaders cannot ignore. Obama is no longer the sure-footed campaigner who piled up wins and delegates in February, they will say, and the superdelegates' obligation to the party is to nominate the sprinting Clinton, even if it angers Obama backers.

Whatever her motives, many Democrats fear that Clinton's continued criticisms can only hurt the man they see as their all-but-certain nominee. They point to a recent Gallup poll, in which 28 percent of Clinton's Democratic supporters said they would vote for McCain if Obama is the party's nominee. Nineteen percent of Obama's supporters said they would vote for McCain if Clinton gets the nod.
Faced with such disturbing trends, some Democrats want party elders either to persuade Clinton to drop out, or to orchestrate enough superdelegate endorsements of Obama to make her defeat inevitable. But high-profile Democrats, including former president Jimmy Carter, former vice president Al Gore, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, have refrained from such moves so far.

O-BLAH-BLAH

A drunk and a bigot - what the US Presidential hopeful HASN'T said about his father... By the Daily Mail dated 01/27/2007 click here for the original article, excerpts to follow....

With thanks to "Religio-Political Talk"

It is a classic story of the American dream made real: an impoverished Kenyan goatherd rising to become a brilliant Harvard-educated economist. On the way he fights racial prejudice at home and corruption at work, survives the heartbreak of a broken relationship and, despite it all, leads the fight to rid Africa of its colonial legacy.
This extraordinary story is told by US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama as he recalls the life of the man who inspired him to political success - his father. Mr Obama's book, Dreams From My Father, is flying off the shelves of US book stores, exciting and astonishing readers in equal measure.
As the Daily Mail (London newspaper) concluded, "for all Mr. Obama's reputation for straight talking and the compelling narrative of his recollections, they are largely myth."
"We have discovered that his father was not just a flawed individual, but an abusive bigamist and an egomaniac, whose life was ruined not by racism or corruption, but by his own weakness,” the Daily Mail wrote. "And, devastatingly, the testimony has come from Mr. Obama's own relatives and family friends."
The Daily Mail suggests Obama chose to present his father in a favorable light as an electoral tactic. "Indeed, by offering up a conveniently plotted account of his personal history in this way," Churcher wrote, "he [Obama] might even have made a pre-emptive strike on those sure to pose the awkward questions that inevitably face a serious contender for the White House."
Regardless of the motives, in "Dreams from my Father" Obama never states precisely how many wives his father had, or how many half-brothers and -sisters he has from different mothers, whether married to his father or not. Obama blames racism for breaking up his parents' marriage, not his father's polygamist ways which began when he first left Africa, before he ever met Obama's mother in Hawaii.

Family members and acquaintances believe that the real cloud over Mr Obama's life has been the discovery that his father was far from the romantic figure that his mother tried to portray.
A family friend said: "He is haunted by his father's failures. He grew up thinking of his father as a brilliant intellectual and pioneer of African independence only to learn that in Western terms he was basically a drunken lecher."
This ugly truth, say friends, has made Mr Obama ruthlessly determined to use every weapon that he has to succeed, including the glossily edited version of his father's story. "At the end of the day Barack wants the story to help his political cause, so perhaps he couldn't afford to be too honest," said Ochieng.
In the final analysis, Obama embraces the myth, presenting his father as a victim who suffered because, as Zeituni explains in the autobiography, his "heart was too big" – not that he was a bureaucrat of modest achievement who could not overcome a fight with alcohol that ultimately cost him his life.

WE CRACKED THE 10 MILLION MARK

I am honored, and humbled by the recent rank given my blog

by the Web information company, Alexa, who scientifically has sampled the entire blogosphere, and accurately shown that this blog is the 9,913,865th most popular on the web.
And I want to thank both of my readers for getting us this far.

WHY A SLOWING ECONOMY (insert "R" word here) MAY ACTUALLY HELP OUR COUNTRY

IT WILL GIVE US SOME HUMILITY. For all our grandiose talk and proclamations about being number one...in everything, we aren't. Haven't been in quite some time now. Education, Infrastructure, Social Programs, Innovation, you name it, we aren't number one, in just about anything important, except for our own hubris.

IT WILL END OUR STIFLING SENSE OF DENIAL. We are hurting. We have blown the Clinton budgetary surplus, our students graduate functional illiterates with no drive or even a modicum of ability think critically, our bridges are falling down by their own weight, we have allowed ourselves to accept. Accept less than what we should be, and deny that we have lowered the bar so low that we can't keep our heads above water. We have allowed our puffed up chests to obscure our ability to see that we are standing in quicksand.

WE ARE A LAZY, OVER INDULGENT, SLOTHFUL NATION. When we speak of our crumbling family units, we always speak of single parent families and their effects on our children. The fact is, our dual parent families are in decay as well; we do not stand up for or represent any redeeming social values anymore. Honesty, virtue, character or the value of good old fashioned hard work. We are so mired in overindulgence that we cannot see the ridiculous habits we treasure, $4 mocha frappucinos, $60,000 behemoth automobiles, and the like. The waste of this nation alone would feed a starving nation. We need to see that for the majority of our people, what we do not have, we probably do not need after all.

WE MAY REGAIN THE ABILITY TO FOCUS ON WHAT WE TRULY NEED FOR OUR NEXT PRESIDENT. During the Bush administrations, we focused on fear. Fear of terrorism, fear of inaction, fear of everything that we almost certainly will never experience firsthand. But now, we can all face a reality check of fear. Fear of a crumbling economy is something we all will face. This is the overwhelming issue at hand. It is the engine that drives us where we are going, good or bad. And if the the engine is sputtering, it doesn't matter in which direction you may want to turn the steering wheel. If the next President is unable to turn this economy around, and that means job creation, we will be stuck in a virtual quagmire. Never mind all the other peripheral issues at hand, abortion, religion, individual rights, and the like. If we cannot face the facts, if we cannot pull our heads out of the sand and see our nations direction, we will be digging ourselves a hole it may generations to correct. We need to awaken the You tube generation as to the seriousness of the state of the nation today. A nation you will rapidly inherit.

THE RELIGION OF OBAMA

Hat tip to Religiopolitical Talk for this video (linked to the right)

YET ANOTHER CRAZY UNCLE IN OBAMA'S FAMILY

RICHARDSON ENDORSES....gulp.......OBAMA

Bill Richardson, the nation's only Hispanic governor, backed Barack Obama for president Friday, moved to deliver his much-coveted endorsement by the senator's speech about race. The New Mexico governor joined Obama at spirited rally Friday and said the Illinois senator demonstrated his leadership abilities this week with his speech on race. "You are a once-in-a-lifetime leader," the governor said from the stage. "Above all, you will be a president who brings this nation together."

The governor backed Obama despite his earlier statements that Democratic superdelegates, of which he's one, should pick sides based on the votes of their state or constituency. By that reasoning, he might have been expected to support Clinton because she won the New Mexico contest.

Courtesy of James Carville: 'An act of betrayal,' said James Carville, an adviser to the Clintons. '[Bill] Richardson's endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic,' Carville said. ... Under this analogy, Hillary is Jesus and Pennsylvania Easter morning. This may be a rhetorical overreach, James.

Richardson backed Obama despite his ties to Clinton and her husband, the former president. Richardson served as ambassador to the U.N. and as secretary of the Energy Department during the Clinton administration. Last month, Richardson and former President Clinton watched the Super Bowl together at the governor's residence in Santa Fe. Richardson was a roving diplomatic troubleshooter when he was a congressman from New Mexico, negotiating the release of U.S. hostages in several countries and meeting a rogue's gallery of U.S. adversaries, including Saddam Hussein and Fidel Castro.

And Richardson told of the time, during one of the many Democratic debates, when his attention wandered and he didn't hear the question that came at him. Obama, then his rival, bailed him out by whispering to him that it was about Hurricane Katrina. "He could have thrown me under the bus," Richardson cracked, "but he stood behind me."

Former President Bill Clinton (the man who single handedly positioned Richardson onto a national stage) left no doubt that he viewed Mr. Richardson’s support as important to his wife’s campaign: He even flew to New Mexico to watch the Super Bowl with Mr. Richardson as part of the Clintons’ high-profile courtship of him. But Mr. Richardson stopped returning Mr. Clinton’s calls days ago, Mr. Clinton’s aides said. Mr. Richardson said he called Mrs. Clinton late on Thursday to inform her that he would be appearing with Mr. Obama on Friday to lend his support. "It was cordial, but a little heated," Mr. Richardson said in an interview.

LIKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CAP GUN AND A SHOTGUN BLAST

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.
And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position.
He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.
And the country is caught up in the concept.”

Geraldine Ferraro

"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye." "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant. Because the stuff we have done overseas has now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

AND
(Of African-Americans): "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people." "God Damn America"

Reverend Wright

I do not, and cannot approve of any of the three quotes above.

But in his Philadelphia speech, Obama seems to treat all three as if they were basically on the same level., which is of course, absurd. Ferraro wonders if any white one year Senator could run for the Presidency and be taken seriously, and it is a good point, and a good starting point for an intellectual debate, much in the same way John Edwards could wonder aloud if he were black, would he have gotten as far as he had. This is not racist, it is racial, and there is a difference.

However, to preach from his pulpit just after 9/11 that that tragedy was somehow deserved ("our chickens are coming home to roost"), was mean spirited, hateful and anti-American. And then to back this little gem up with one claiming the American government is feeding drugs to Black people with the sole purpose of incarcerating them is sheer lunacy.

Never mind his "God Damn America" sentiment.

And this is from a man who he admits is a "part of me?"

OBAMA'S PHILADELPHIA SPEECH ON RACE RELATIONS..."A MORE PERFECT UNION"

A very interesting and thought provoking speech. If only he had given it before his back was against the wall. If only he had spoken to race with his words, instead of his constant finger pointing. If only he ran as a Black man, instead of trying to ignore the differences. If only he had decided to "represent" earlier on. Then I might have respected him more.

No doubt, Obama is / was part black and part white at birth. But for the past year, he has been mostly white. And that is a shame. I would have respected him if he used his position to express the Black experience, and be a lightening rod for healing. The kind of healing that comes when you shine a light on the issue, instead of trying to keep it on the back burner, as he has over the course of his campaign.

Did he define the liberal stance on race relations? I suppose somewhat. What he did do, although stopping short of approving, he did express his views that racism is at the very least understandable, at least for his "white grandmother" and his minister, who is a "part of me."

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO...HMMMMM

Obama finally "comes clean" in an interview with the Chicago Sun Times...

Obama deliberately misstated the facts on how much money Rezko raised for his five elections....
Obama acknowledged that Rezko had raised $250,000 for him — about $100,000 more than had previously been disclosed and about five times more than Obama conveyed during a November 2006 question-and-answer exchange with the Sun-Times.

Obama did do favors for Rezko, despite denials to this day.....
“He never asked me for anything,” Obama said. “He never did any favors for me, other than obviously supporting my campaigns. He never gave me any gifts, gave me no indication he was setting me up to ask for favors in the future.”
Obama also defended signing a 1998 letter urging the state to fund a low-income housing project developed by Rezko and Obama’s former boss, Allison Davis — both of whom were clients of Obama’s law firm as well as campaign contributors. Obama said he didn’t remember writing the “form letter” until the Sun-Times asked about it last June. This was not one of the Rezko developments that fell into disrepair.

Obama stated he was not close to Rezko....
Obama said he sometimes talked strategy with Rezko daily. Then, during political down-times, Rezko was his lunch or breakfast companion, more concerned about Obama, his wife and daughters than with posing for snapshots with the senator as he rose from political obscurity to Democratic presidential hopeful. On one occasion, Obama recalled, they wiled away time with their wives at Rezko’s Lake Geneva estate.

Obama picked Rezko for the campaign finance committee for his 2004 U.S. Senate run. Around that same time, Rezko had begun walking away from affordable-housing projects he was building with government funds, leaving some in squalor — including some buildings in Obama’s own Illinois Senate district. Obama said he knew nothing of those problems. Had Obama known, he said he would have talked to Rezko about the problems. “I think it is deeply troubling he did not keep these properties up, and I am very disappointed in that,” Obama said.

After Rezko helped Obama win the U.S. Senate seat, Obama approached Rezko about the house Obama now owns in Kenwood. Rezko’s wife bought the vacant lot next door, with Obama and Rita Rezko closing on their transactions on the same day in June 2005. Later, in January 2006, Obama bought a 10-foot-wide strip of Rita Rezko’s lot at a time when Rezko was widely known to be under federal investigation — a move Obama called “absolutely a mistake.” Why didn’t alarm bells sound when it was known Rezko was under investigation?

OBAMA NATION

My name is Barack Obama

I am for change, and coming together, and hope

I detest the status quo

I want to bridge the divide between races, and sexes, and poor and rich

And Democrats and Republicans

We are the ones we have been waiting for

I am a church goer

Been a member for over twenty years

I believe in Jesus and everything that is good

I look to my pastor for spiritual guidance

The one who baptised my children and married me to my beloved

What I never realized

For over twenty years

Is my pastor ever spewed hate filled diatribes against whites

I only heard sermons about family, and love and God

I never heard the anti-American rants

About how we deserved the torment of 9/11

Or how Israel should be hated for their treatment of Palestinians

Or how gays are sentenced to fiery deaths in the gates of hell

Never saw in twenty years

The potential for wrong

Never saw the congregation standing and cheering

Along with the poison my Pastor was peddling

Never saw that

Never spoke to any of my fellow church members

In over twenty years

About how this church was built by my race and only my race

Never noticed that

Never heard how they felt

As they raised their arms in the air

And cheered and smiled and said Amen

At the racist diatribes spewed forth from our pulpit

Never noticed

Never looked into the basement

To see what my church was built upon

A foundation comprised of hate rage and fear mongering

Never noticed

Not in my twenty years

Never saw the hate from my church's man of the year Louis F.

And the anti-white and Jew and anti-American messages he spits forth

Never put two and two together

They tell me they equal four

Guess that is something important

For someone running for President

Adding up to four

Never saw that coming

My Bad

My name is Barack Obama

Please make me the most powerful man in the free world

I know how to add now

And to disavow twenty years of my life with a wave of the arms

And throw my Pastor under the bus

Labeling him as my crazy, innocent old Uncle

My name is Barack Obama

I am either a fool, or a liar

Or both

Either way, elect me

And everything will be all right

And remember, the Clinton's want to make this election about race

Dirty, nasty Clinton's

I guess my crazy Uncle was right about them

My name is Barack Obama

And my world is unraveling before my own eyes

How can I blame Hillary for this?

My name is Barack Obama

My spiritual advisor is fired

But I still want to be a member of my church

My million dollar mansion was bought wholesale

From a man under an FBI investigation

He's on trial now for corruption

I guess I have another "crazy uncle" after all

I guess I am another Spitzer

Only I have been sleeping with a far worse whore

And lying about it all the time

I have been sleeping with her for twenty years

But don't worry, I can give you hope

Hope that another "crazy Uncle" doesn't appear between now and November

My name is Barack Obama

And if I wasn't Black

I'd be just another Senator right now

Instead of being in the spotlight

Damn the luck

My name is Barack Obama

God bless you

And God damn America

ISN'T IT ROMANTIC?

Speaking by videoconference with U.S. military and civilian personnel in Afghanistan about the challenges posed by war, corruption, and the poppy trade, the president (King George II)unleashed this comment:

"I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks. "

According to a Reuters reporter who was permitted to observe the exchange between Washington and Kabul, Bush sat at the head of a conference table in the White House, where he was flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and others. Neither of them had ever experienced combat (romance), either.

As of September of last year, according to Human Rights Watch, NATO was causing alarmingly high numbers of civilian deaths — 350 by the coalition, compared with 438 by the insurgents. The sheer tonnage of metal raining down on Afghanistan was mind-boggling: a million pounds between January and September of 2007, compared with half a million in all of 2006. How's that for romance?

AND NOW FOR SOME WORDS FROM HIS SPIRITUAL ADVISOR

HE IS..........ANTI-WHITE, ANTI-ISRAEL, ANTI-GAY AND ANTI-AMERICAN (just after 9/11). Who is he? He is the good Reverend Wright from the Trinity church. Also the self admitted "spiritual advisor" to Barach Obama, and the man who married the Obama's and baptised the Obama children.

He is also someone who said this....in a sermon delivered last December. Wright argued that Hillary Clinton's road to the White House is considerably easier than Barack Obama's because of his skin color.
"Hillary was not a black boy raised in a single parent home. Barack was," Wright says in a video of the sermon posted on YouTube. "Barack knows what it means to be a black man living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary! Hillary ain't never been called a 'n—–!' Hillary has never had her people defined as a non-person."

And, just after 9/11, he said this..................."We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," he said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant. Because the stuff we have done overseas has now brought right back into our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."

And he said this.......And in a 2003 sermon, Wright said of America's treatment of African-Americans: "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, G– d— America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people."

And in response, Obama said this.....Obama said he had not personally heard the controversial sermons. "When these statements first came to my attention, it was at the beginning of my presidential campaign. I made it clear at the time that I strongly condemned his comments," Obama wrote. "But because Rev. Wright was on the verge of retirement, and because of my strong links to the Trinity faith community, where I married my wife and where my daughters were baptized, I did not think it appropriate to leave the church."

"I categorically denounce any statement that disparages our great country or serves to divide us from our allies," he added. "I also believe that words that degrade individuals have no place in our public dialogue, whether it's on the campaign stump or in the pulpit. In sum, I reject outright the statements by Rev. Wright that are at issue."
But Obama defended his 20-year relationship with Wright, writing, "He has never been my political advisor; he's been my pastor. And the sermons I heard him preach always related to our obligation to love God and one another, to work on behalf of the poor, and to seek justice at every turn."

Obama and Wright have been close for years. Obama has been a member of Wright's church since his days in law school, and Obama's best-selling book, "The Audacity of Hope," takes its title from one of Wright's sermons.

NOW TELL ME YOU STILL SUPPORT ONE OF REVEREND WRIGHT'S FLOCK?

FERRARO FALLOUT FROM KEITH

QUOTE, UNQUOTE

"If Barack Obama were white, he would be Dick Durbin without the experience"

Ann Coulter

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.

And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position.

He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.

And the country is caught up in the concept.”

Gerardine Ferraro

“Every time that campaign is upset about something, they call it racist,” she said.

“I will not be discriminated against because I’m white.

If they think they’re going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff,

they don’t know me.”

More Gerardine Ferraro

Last fall, Ms. Ferraro also indicated that she thought Mr. Obama was getting preferential treatment from the press.

“It’s O.K. in this country to be sexist,” she said then. “

’It’s certainly not O.K. to be racist.

I think if Barack Obama had been attacked for two hours — well, I don’t think Barack Obama would have been attacked for two hours,” she said, referring to a Democratic debate.

In Obama’s book THE AUDACITY Of HOPE
* He wrote “I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
In Obama’s book, DREAMS OF MY FATHER..
* “I FOUND A SOLACE IN NURSING A PERVASIVE SENSE OF GRIEVANCE AND ANIMOSITY AGAINST MY MOTHER’S RACE”
* “I ceased to advertise my mother’s race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites”
* “That hate hadn’t gone away,” he wrote, blaming “white people — some cruel, some ignorant, sometimes a single face, sometimes just a faceless image of a system

claiming power over our lives.”

However, while campaigning in Kansas, Obama frequently emphasized that his mother was white, and that he had grown up in a predominantly white world.
* (Obama) vowed that he would “never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn’t speak to my own. It was into my father’s image, the black man, son of Africa, that I’d packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.”

ONE SUPREME COURT....UNDER OBAMA

From the widely respected Weekly Standard

Justice John Paul Stevens turns 88 in April, and by January 2009 five other justices will be from 69 to 75 years old. If Barack Obama is elected president, he will probably--with the benefit of resignations by liberal justices eager for him to be the president who chooses their successors--have the opportunity to appoint two or three Supreme Court justices in his first term, with another two or three in a potential second term. That prospect ought to focus the attention of all Americans who want a Supreme Court that practices judicial restraint and respects the proper realm of representative government. For Obama, if elected, would certainly aim to fill the Supreme Court--and the lower federal courts--with liberal judicial activists.
Although Obama has served in the Senate for barely three years, he has already established a record on judicial nominations and constitutional law that comports with his 2007 ranking by the National Journal as the most liberal of all 100 senators. Obama voted against the confirmations of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, and he even joined in the effort to filibuster the Alito nomination.

In his short time in the Senate, Obama has voted against a half-dozen federal appellate-court nominees. Most tellingly, he was the first senator to join in the left's mendacious attack in 2007 on Fifth Circuit nominee Leslie Southwick--an attack that managed to drag the judicial-confirmation process to a new low. Southwick had been widely regarded as a consensus pick. The ABA's judicial-evaluations committee, after an investigation that included the usual inquiry into whether the nominee has "freedom from bias and commitment to equal justice under the law," unanimously gave him its highest "well qualified" rating. The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee had, just months before, unanimously approved his nomination to a federal district judgeship.
Nevertheless, when left-wing activist groups launched their attack on Southwick, Obama jumped right in. Relying on gross misrepresentations of Southwick's record, Obama recklessly alleged that Southwick "has shown hostility towards civil rights and a disregard for equal rights for minorities, women, gays and lesbians" and that his nomination even "threaten[ed] the very basis of our freedom and democracy." Fortunately, some Democratic senators--most prominently, Judiciary Committee member Dianne Feinstein--had the courage to stand up against these lies from Obama and others, and Southwick was ultimately confirmed.

Obama's constitutional activism is particularly evident on the touchstone issue of Roe v. Wade. Obama calls abortion "one of the most fundamental rights we possess" and promises to "make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as president."

In the end, an examination of Obama's record and rhetoric discloses the stuff he is made of--his own constitution. Beneath the congeniality and charisma lies a leftist partisan who will readily resort to sly deceptions to advance his agenda of liberal judicial activism. Given the likelihood of so many changes in the membership of the Supreme Court over the next eight years, it is particularly important that voters this November recognize the real Obama.

CAN THESE TWO BECOME A PRESIDENTIAL "DREAM TEAM?"

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama running together in November would be "an unstoppable force," Bill Clinton said yesterday - the third time in a week that a Clinton had floated the possibility of a "dream team" combo ticket.
"I know that she has always been open to it," he said at a rally in Mississippi, responding to a voter who asked whether his wife would consider Obama as vice president. "I think she answered explicitly yes yesterday," Bill Clinton said, according to ABC News. The former president added that he knew she felt the two of them together would be "hard to beat."
He said Obama would carry urban and upscale voters while Hillary polls well with traditional blue-collar Democrats. "If you put those two things together, you'd have an almost unstoppable force," he said.

While the Clinton's would certainly welcome Obama on their ticket, it is very unclear if Obama feels the same way. A growing chasm is developing between the two candidates as each goes at the other candidate harder, and yes, dirtier. Much speculation as to any hopes of Clinton scoring with the super-delegates is in her ability to render Obama unelectable. And, she is doing a good job of it. Last week she noted that she, and John McCain have amassed lifetimes of experience while Obama had not (SHE ACTUALLY SAID SHE AND MC CAIN HAD LIFETIMES OF EXPERIENCE, AND OBAMA HAD A SPEECH IN 2002). This seemingly pointed to the fact that if she did not get the top spot for the DNC, you might as well vote for McCain. And it gets worse....
Clinton went on the offensive over Power's (Samantha, former Obama advisor, of "monster" fame) comment that Obama might not make good on his campaign promise to withdraw troops from Iraq by 2009 - a remark the Obama camp immediately disowned.
"If you can't trust Senator Obama's words, what's left?" Clinton asked in a campaign memo. "It looks like Senator Obama is telling voters one thing while his campaign says those words should not be mistaken for serious action." Obama's camp accused Clinton of trying to win by "tearing Barack Obama down."

But even amid the growing rancor, it seems a majority of voters agree with Bill Clinton about who should be the Democratic running mates.

Sixty-nine percent told Newsweek that they'd love to see a "dream ticket" of Obama and Clinton come November - and that it didn't matter who got the top slot.

FLORIDA BALLOTS HANGING CHAD AGAIN

A special election by June 10 to make Florida delegates count in the Democratic nomination "would be a train wreck for Florida," said Sarasota County Supervisor of Elections Kathy Dent, also president of the statewide elections supervisors association.

As Sen. Hillary Clinton took big wins this week over Sen. Barack Obama in Texas and Ohio, talk intensified about letting Florida and Michigan back into the race for the nomination. They were penalized with losing delegates for moving their primaries to Jan. 29.
The difficulties of a "do-over" lie not only with equipment but in finding and training poll workers, making sure precincts are available, deciding who would pay for it and whether the state should establish a precedent by allowing third parties to underwrite elections.

At least four counties, including Palm Beach, may not have proper equipment to hold an election by June 10, the last date allowed by the Democratic National Committee. State law prohibits supervisors from holding a mail-only election if candidates' names are on the ballots. Lawmakers would have to include that change in a bill creating the special election.

Five Florida counties - Collier, Hardee, Hendry, Hillsborough and Monroe - require clearance from the U.S. Department of Justice before being able to hold elections because of past voting irregularities.

Then there's the bottom line. Florida Supervisors question who will pay for the election, estimated to cost up to $18 million, given the state's economic dire straits. Under the state constitution, lawmakers could order the election and force counties to pay for it.

THE ANSWER?

The DNC must count the original (and near record) primary voting results and let them stand. No, the candidates did not campaign there, but little "change" (if you will excuse the expression) would have occured if they did cover the state in stump speeches. $18 million to hold a primary is bad enough. $18 million to re-vote, and ultimately cancel out a certified primary election is an outrage in a state facing severe economic problems in the short term.

The delegate counts will not change much despite Clinton's convincing win there (not a Republican style "winner take all" state). The ultimate decision will mathematically go to the super-delegates, and a brokered convention, however repugnant is in the offing. Count their votes as is. You cannot hold the Democratic voters of Florida hostage over the voting (and whims) of the Republican majority state officials. Haven't the Floridian voters had enough?

Count the votes, seat the delegates and leave the "do-over" negotiations for Michigan, where the Democratic candidates (Obama, et al.) ignorantly took their names off the ballot; all that is, except for one Hillary Rodham Clinton, who carried the state in much the same results she took Ohio, Michigan's voting identical twin.

MONSTER

CAN HE GO FROM LAP DOG TO TOP DOG?

JOHN McCAIN: AMERICAN HERO, AMERICAN HOTHEAD

"Can I ask you why you are so angry?" Good question. His temper has been well chronicled. But to go off on on such a benign question. A question asked and answered in the past. So why so angry? The answer: he is a hothead who is frequently prone to fits of rage and anger.

This is going to be fun watching John McCain self-implode.

OBAMA AIDE CALLS CLINTON "A MONSTER," RESIGNS

Samantha Power has resigned her position from Barack Obama's campaign after calling Hillary Clinton a 'monster,' the Illinois senator's campaign announced. "Last Monday, I made inexcusable remarks that are at marked variance from my oft-stated admiration for Senator Clinton and from the spirit, tenor, and purpose of the Obama campaign," she said. "And I extend my deepest apologies to Senator Clinton, Senator Obama and the remarkable team I have worked with over these long 14 months."

HILLARY KICKS ASS IN TEXAS, OHIO AND RHODE ISLAND

NEW BALLGAME !!!

Is the Obama-moon finally over in the Obamasphere?

CLINTON WILL FIGHT ON

Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton suggested Monday she'll press on with the campaign after Tuesday's crucial primaries, arguing that momentum is on her side despite 11 straight losses.

"I'm just getting warmed up" asserted Hillary Clinton today, as the spector of losing two of the four states tomorrow seems to loom larger. Despite calls for a last ditch, doomsday-you better win Ohio and Texas or suspend your campaign, Clinton seems resolute to continue her campaign, seemingly despite what may unfold in tomorrows four state delegate extravaganza.

"I think I know what's happening and I believe I'm going to do very well tomorrow "stated Ms. Clinton. "I think that (tomorrows election) is going to be a very significant message to the country, and then we move on to Pennsylvania and the states coming up." Ohio is the key to winning the Presidency and I'm excited about tomorrow and looking forward to it."

Of course, with the Tony Rezko trial beginning today and the mirky waters of the Obama - Canada NAFTA situation getting traction, Hillary could feel the tide is turning. Should she win in three of the four states tomorrow, then win Pennsylvania, Clinton could put up a strong case with the Superdelegates, who secretly are a buzz as the once angelic Obama cruise ship seems to be taking on a little water....

OBAMANSION A HOUSE OF CARDS

Research started here, and here and here

Tony Rezko was obviously in trouble. He was a defendant in at least a dozen lawsuits, federal investigators in Chicago were poking around, and his name was in newspaper articles about corruption and fraud. None of that stopped Mr. Rezko, a politically connected developer, and Senator Barack Obama from completing real estate deals a few years ago that resulted in the Obamas obtaining their dream house and the Rezkos buying an empty lot next door.
Nearly three years later, fallout from Mr. Obama’s relationship with Mr. Rezko, who raised more than $150,000 for Mr. Obama’s campaigns, continue to dog Mr. Obama on the presidential campaign trail. That distraction promises to linger as Mr. Rezko goes on trial on corruption charges starting Monday. Rezko is accused of shaking down companies seeking business with the State of Illinois.

But a review of court records, including new details of Mr. Rezko’s finances that emerged recently, show that the lot purchase occurred as he was being pursued by creditors seeking more than $10 million, deepening the mystery of why he would plunge into a real estate investment whose biggest beneficiary appears to have been Mr. Obama.
As Mr. Obama and Mr. Rezko were completing the property purchases in June 2005, Mr. Rezko was fighting to keep lenders and investors at bay over defaulted loans and failing business ventures. But he side-stepped that financial dragnet by arranging for the land to be bought in his wife’s name, making it the only property she owned by herself, according to land records.
When the property deals first surfaced in late 2006, Mr. Obama said he had done nothing wrong. In a statement at the time, he also said: “It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor.”

Mr. Obama has said he did not know why Mr. Rezko decided to buy the lot. Business associates of Mr. Rezko said he gave various explanations, among them that he wanted to help the Obamas expand their backyard and that he thought it would be a good investment to own a lot next to a prominent politician. But Mr. Rezko’s involvement was important because the owners of the house and the lot had stipulated that neither could be sold unless a deal for the other closed on the same day.

What is Rezko's connection to Obama? The two men met after Obama graduated from Harvard Law School. The developer offered the young lawyer a job at his real estate company. Obama turned him down. But as it happened, the law firm Obama went to work for represented a nonprofit group that participated in some of Rezko's low-income housing developments. Obama himself did a small amount of legal work on Rezko-related matters—about six billable hours over a two-year period, according to Obama's campaign. When Obama embarked on a political career, Rezko and his associates contributed generously to his campaigns.

Did Rezko help Obama buy a house? In June 2005, Obama and his wife, Michelle, purchased a large home on Chicago's South Side. The owners of the property wanted to sell both the house and the adjacent lot as a package deal, but the Obamas didn't want to buy the extra land. Obama consulted his friend Rezko, who had once lived in the same neighborhood. In transactions that closed at the same meeting on the same day, Obama bought the house for $1.65 million—$300,000 less than the sellers had originally asked— and Rezko's wife, Rita, bought the lot next door for $625,000. Several months later Rita Rezko sold the Obamas a strip of the vacant lot for $104,500. Several months after that, Tony Rezko was indicted by the Feds on the unrelated charges.

Is there an Obama connection to Rezko's trial? Federal prosecutors have accused Rezko and an associate (who turned state's evidence) of operating a "pay to play" scheme: investment firms allegedly had to pay kickbacks or make political contributions to get money from the Illinois teachers' pension fund. In a court filing, prosecutors described how $10,000 of alleged finder's fee money was subsequently contributed to the campaign of an unnamed "political candidate" for whom Rezko was a fund-raiser. Chicago media have reported that the money went to Obama's 2004 Senate campaign.

How troublesome is Rezko for Obama's campaign? The candidate's supporters say that nobody has demonstrated anything illegal about his dealings with Rezko. No one has shown that Obama did favors for Rezko in exchange for contributions. Obama has acknowledged that, as an Illinois state senator, he once wrote a letter to a state agency urging financial support for a senior-citizens project in which Rezko was an investor. But Obama says he wrote the letter based on the project's merits. Even so, by Obama's own account his real-estate entanglement with Rezko was a "boneheaded" mistake.

SO MUCH FOR THE OBAMA CLAIM THAT HE USES "GOOD JUDGEMENT"

Mr. Rezko had troubles, deep troubles paying his debts, leaving many to wonder where he got the money to purchase the adjacent lot. Now we know, Rezko had come into money two months earlier, when he obtained a $3.5 million loan from a Panamanian company controlled by his friend and business partner, Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi billionaire who was convicted several years ago in France on fraud charges.

For at least two years before the property purchases, news articles had raised questions about Mr. Rezko’s influence over state appointments and contracts. There had also been reports that the F.B.I. was investigating accusations of a shakedown scheme involving a state hospital board to which Mr. Rezko had suggested appointments. Also, Chicago officials had announced that they were investigating whether a company partly owned by Mr. Rezko had won public contracts by posing as a minority business. As a result, said Jay Stewart, executive director of the Better Government Association in Chicago, Mr. Obama “should have been on high alert.”

THE TRUTH? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH !!

PILLOW TALK

Obama's Catch-22: Either He's Lying Or He Has An Insane, Out of Control Advisor

Per the online National Review:

While I suppose it's possible for Barack Obama to have not known that his senior economic adviser Austan Goolsbee was telling the Canadian government, it is rather disconcerting to see him denying that any conversation took place so emphatically, now that both the Canadian consulate and Goolsbee are no longer denying the conversation.
Obama, to an Ohio NBC affiliate, asked about the report on Canadian television that his adviser had assured the Canadian government that his comments were just campaign rhetoric:
Obama: I don't have to clarify it, the Canadian Embassy already clarified it by saying that the story is not true. Our office has said the story is not true. It's important for viewers to understand that it was not true.

Anchor: So, completely inaccurate, did not happen, end of discussion.

Obama: It did not happen.
If Goolsbee called up the Canadians without letting Obama or anyone else on the campaign know he was doing this, it doesn't speak well of him — or for Obama to surround himself with advisers who feel comfortable assuring other countries that the candidate doesn't mean what he says. (Clearly, Goolsbee got the idea that Obama didn't mean what he was saying from somewhere; doesn't it seem likely he came to this conclusion after discussions with Obama about trade policy?) If Obama did know that he was speaking to the Canadians, he just let out a blatant lie on par with, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman."

MARCH 4TH; WHAT WILL THIS BLOG DO WITHOUT HILLARY? answer: I won't have to for a while....

Latest CNN poll for March 4th

Texas:

Obama 46% Clinton 45% Unsure 9%

Ohio:

Clinton 49% Obama 39% Unsure 8%

Vermont:

Obama 53% Clinton 39% Unsure: 8%

Pennsylvania:

Clinton 49% Obama 43% Unsure 8%

PREDICTION:

Clinton wins Ohio by 6 points, loses in Texas by 2 points (a virtual tie and stays in)

Pennsylvania goes completely for Clinton

OBSERVATION:

How can anyone not living in a cave have not formed a conclusion as to who they will vote for? Obviously, 8% are impaired....

At the convention, the Superdelegates take over and elect Obama handily.

Tuesday, November 4th prediction: A virtual deadlock between Obama and Mc Cain.

Both endure major negative disclosures along the way (money / influence / quid pro quo).

The winner and next President?

Barack Obama / Jim Webb by 2 points.