BuzzFlash Mailbag for March 26, 2008
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Subject: Gallup Poll, March 26Buzzers -
Following a link from Talking Points Memo today I found this report from Gallup about a difference between Obama and Clinton supporters on whom they would vote for in November depending on who the Democratic presidential candidate is.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/10...
28% of Clinton supporters would vote for McCain over Obama and 19% of Obama supporters would vote for McCain over Clinton.
What the ********!
How could supporters of either Democratic candidate be so pig-headed and narrow-minded that they'd vote for McCain???
McCain is called a "maverick," which may be just another way of saying he's all over the place. He was against torture, seems reasonable since he was himself tortured, but then voted recently not to label waterboarding as torture. Should we call this a principled stand? He doesn't seem to know the difference between the Shi'ites and the Sunnis, so he repeated several times last week that Iran (Shi'ite) was training al Qaeda (Sunni). What's up with that? Is this part of his much touted - by the media and by H Clinton - "foreign policy experience"?
What is his "foreign policy experience" anyway? I ask this question seriously because I don't know. I don't think having fought in Vietnam and being a prisoner of war counts.
McCain regularly admits he's clueless on economics. Is this a recommendation for a president when the national and international economies are in deep doo doo?
He has actively sought endorsements from some evangelical preachers who publicly rail against homosexuality, Catholics etc., etc.
Maybe most of the Buzzers who support Clinton have already signed off, but what about Obama supporters? How many of you would vote for McCain over Clinton? Please explain your reasoning.
We need a Democrat in the White House. Electing another Republican would let the right-wing crazies, the foreign policy "kill all the Muslims" hawks, and those committed to expanding executive power and the national security state to continue the disastrous Bush/Cheney policies of the last 8 years. No Ralph Nader votes either.
We don't need voters to think like petulant children.
Colleen Clark
Cambridge, MA
[BuzzFlash Note: In terms of the Mailbag, we reject any letters threatening to support McCain.]
Subject: Boycott the TV Coverage
I intend to boycott the tv coverage of the Olympics. I would boycott China
altogether and their products if I could find a product not made in China here in
the US.
Ruth Deel
Thousand Oaks, CA
Subject: Social Security & Medicare Are Headed For A Crash - Today's LA Times
"With more and more of us being told 'Sorry, but your Social Security and Medicare entitlements are being cut off because you're a net loss to society and a loser to boot.'"
"Fortunately for us such an outcome is entirely preventable."
"How?"
"By our electing a president who'll end the Iraq War, that there be no war no more, nowhere, never, not even one."
"And then what sort of world?"
"It'll be up to us."
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: BuzzFlash Website
I have loved BuzzFlash for the last few years and it has helped me keep up with the news until recently.
There used to be much more news on your website, and less commentary. Now there are political jokes & comics links, video links, there's the "buzz commentary" section, there's way too much commentary.
I've donated in the past, but I'm finding myself going to your website much less often because I want to read news from around the nation and the world and there's not much on the website.
Jokes and commentary and video are fine, but maybe put them at the bottom. I miss the news and the quality.
Annette Erickson
Anchorage, AK
[BuzzFlash Note: Those are helpful suggestions. We agree and are working to bring you more hard news reporting.]
Subject: Re "Fighting Words: How to Humiliate--and Convert Right-Wingers"
BuzzFlash:
BuzzFlash needs to publish this outstanding article from AlterNet:
Fighting Words: How to Humiliate--and Convert Right-Wingers (alternet)
Idea for Bumper sticker: Bill Clinton: First Gentleman???
Another idea for bumper sticker: (Not my idea)
3 Types of Republicans: Millionaires, Billionaires & Suckers
Kirk Muse
Subject: Biggest laugh of the day: "I'm not of the Washington world." - Carville, CNN 3/24
Biggest laugh of the day:
"I'm not of the Washington world." -- James Carville, "AC 360," CNN, 3/24.
via- http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008...
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com...
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: Is This The Moment?
"What would make it so?"
"Everyone's tuned-in and connected."
"To what?"
"One another."
"And then what sort of world?"
"It'll be up to us."
BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: Hillary and Obama
I am completely uncertain about where to send this email. I am a BuzzFlash supporter and have been for many years. I am also a bit perplexed at the vitriol that I see on BuzzFlash being directed against Senator Clinton. To be sure, this has been going on for months and months and I continue to have BuzzFlash be my home page. I support BuzzFlash buying premiums when I can. I haven't written angry letters or threatened to leave BuzzFlash - and I am not threatening to do so now.
I am wondering at the bitterness and the seeming double standard that I see. You have charged Hillary Clinton with lying about Bosnia. Fair enough. You have said little about Senator Obama saying "I didn't know" about Rezko. And "I never heard it" about what his pastor said. There are multiple examples of Obama "mis-speaking," but not on BuzzFlash. Whenever Hillary is quoted or written about in a negative way - you are all over it.
What is the difference between them? If they both "mis-remember" it seems it's okay if you're Obama and not okay if you are Clinton. I am pretty sick of the negativity. But I am also really sad that so much seeming hatred is coming from the BuzzFlash side of my computer.
I have read pretty harsh statements on the front page of BuzzFlash. I can only assume this is because you have received some pretty harsh criticism from readers. It is truly disappointing.
I support Hillary Clinton. She was not my first choice. But after listening to her in the debates - I watched them all until the last one, and after my first choice withdrew, Hillary became my first choice. I read something late last week that resonated with me. Someone else wrote it and when I read it, it rang true to me:
"Another way to describe Obama is manipulator. I always feel slightly angry after hearing him speak. I feel like he is trying to trick me and something is supposed to be wrong with me if I do not go along. Great leaders make people want to follow, manipulators try to shame them into doing it."
I realize you are staunch Obama supporters. I know I am not. I just wish there were a bit less anger on your side.
Leslie Walsh
Evanston, IL
Subject: Huckabee defense of Wright. It's pretty amazing, actually: defends Obama, while Hillary wallows in the mud
While Hillary is still wallowing in smearing and her gutter tactics, Republican Huckabee -- yes, that Huckabee -- comes to Obama's and Wright's defense.
Huckabee defense of Wright. It's pretty amazing, actually:
HUCKABEE: [...] And one other thing I think we’ve gotta remember. As easy as it is for those of us who are white, to look back and say “That’s a terrible statement!”… I grew up in a very segregated south. And I think that you have to cut some slack — and I’m gonna be probably the only Conservative in America who’s gonna say something like this, but I’m just tellin’ you — we’ve gotta cut some slack to people who grew up being called names, being told “you have to sit in the balcony when you go to the movie. You have to go to the back door to go into the restaurant. And you can’t sit out there with everyone else. There’s a separate waiting room in the doctor’s office. Here’s where you sit on the bus …” And you know what? Sometimes people do have a chip on their shoulder and resentment. And you have to just say, I probably would too. I probably would too. In fact, I may have had more of a chip on my shoulder had it been me.
More ... http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport...
More from Daily Kos ...
Clinton's surrogates are desperate to keep Wright in the debate. And not just her surrogates, but Hillary herself.
This may sound cynical, but my guess is that media interest in Clinton’s debunked Bosnia story had become too great a distraction. The controversy (and damaging videos) undermined Clinton on two fronts — credibility and national security experience — both of which are of critical significance.
So, how better to change the subject that to revive the Jeremiah Wright story with brand new criticism?
Clinton has been offered repeated chances to comment on the Wright controversy for three weeks. She’s not only declined, she’s avoided saying a single word. Today, all of a sudden, Clinton has all kinds of concerns she’s anxious to share. What a remarkable coincidence.
What’s more, we now have a situation in which John McCain defended Obama against Wright-related charges, and Mike Huckabee defended Obama, but Hillary Clinton sat down with editors of a conservative newspaper to reignite a fire that had already largely gone out.
Not surprising, since the recent polling out of PA and NC suggests that voters have moved on.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: The Presidential Bid
Buzz,
I'm not surprised in the very least. It's paradoxical that Republicans believe in small government, then run for office, and after they f*** it up they turn around and say: see, we told you so, it's not the govt's job to fix your problems cuz it sucks at it.
While they are there to give a lending hand to corporate America. And yet the Republicans still keep voting for the same schmucks who screw them over again and again. Remember the old saying that Dubya botched "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? These morons don't think beyond their party or what's good for the country, they claim Democrats are weak on national security, yet they conveniently ignore a major gaffe on the same by their own candidate while they pounce on Obama's pastor, a man who is not running for office.
I'd be inclined to say f*** 'em, they deserve it, but we're all in the same boat. At this point of time we need to come together as a country and heal, but now we find one in the Democrats' fold who is putting her personal ambition over the good of the party first, and ultimately the good of the country. All this while the media ignores the fact that the math does not work in her favor and she has been shifting goalposts not unlike Dubya. I digress.
Any reasonable person can now arrive to the conclusion that McCain knows (by his own admission) zip about the economy, confuses Shi'a and Sunni and will do anything to win. Ditto for Clinton regarding the latter and now she has come down to using pastorgate.
I'll leave you with a quote:
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world" -- Gandhi
I believe Obama is the change I wish to see in the world. He seems to have accomplished half of that. I think we should give him a chance to see if he can accomplish the latter
Akhil BhardwajJersey City, NJ
Subject: Hillary And Hilarity
I wish to make the boldest of projections ... Hillary Clinton will be on the Presidential ticket as a Vice President. The McCain Clinton ticket will be announced just as soon as Hillary loses the Democratic nomination and does her best to destroy the party of Roosevelt, and Truman, and Kennedy.
Both Hillary and Bill have nothing but praise for John McCan't. They seem to share that ability to selectively miscall or recall events in the past. They praise McCain and have employed a scorched earth policy towards Obama.
I used to support Bill Clinton, not now. I used to admire Hillary, but not now. I heard today on the Thom Hartmann show that President Bush has planes making practice bombing runs along the Iran border and an arsenal of 50 bombs armed with nuclear warheads to strike at the nuclear power plants of Iran. I heard that the number of innocent people murdered if this criminal act were to unfold could be in the millions. And I heard today that Hillary Clinton chose to attack Barack Obama for the words of his pastor and not the insanity of our President.
I don't know what Congress can do to ensure the American people that our President is not suffering from a mental disorder but when millions of lives are in the balance, when our President speaks of war as romantic, when our Vice President cares so little for life that his only remark when asked about the 4,000 soldiers that have lost their lives in Iraq is they "volunteered," and when a world leader and his entire cabinet have misled this nation into war, they (Congress) should be forced to take emergency action, to save this nation and to potentially save the lives of millions of innocent people.
And Hillary Clinton today decided to attack Barack Obama. Bill Clinton decided to praise John McCain. Hillary Clinton was forced to speak the truth about Bosnia because we have video. It sort of reminds me of "I did not have sex with that woman" ... who said that??? Oh, Yeah.
I watch Hillary with a certain Hilarity and then I wonder if in 2008 we will lose the White House again because of the actions of a Clinton.
Jim Ridout
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Subject: Check out The Nation: Hillary's Nasty Pastorate
Hillary challenged the media to examine her pastor and church. She belongs to a Dominionist cult according to this article.
This article can be found on the web at
http://www.thenation.com/doc...
[posted online on March 19, 2008]
There's a reason Hillary Clinton has remained relatively silent during the flap over intemperate remarks by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. When it comes to unsavory religious affiliations, she's a lot more vulnerable than Obama.
You can find all about it in a widely under-read article in the September 2007 issue of Mother Jones, in which Kathryn Joyce and Jeff Sharlet reported that "through all of her years in Washington, Clinton has been an active participant in conservative Bible study and prayer circles that are part of a secretive Capitol Hill group known as "The "Fellowship," also known as The Family. But it won't be a secret much longer. Jeff Sharlet's shocking exposé The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power will be published in May.
Sean Hannity has called Obama's church a "cult," but that term applies far more aptly to Clinton's "Family," which is organized into "cells" -- their term -- and operates sex-segregated group homes for young people in northern Virginia.
A BuzzFlash Reader
Subject: See Me! Hear Me! Pick Me!
If Hillary Clinton can state, we don't have a choice when it comes to family but we do have a choice when it comes to choosing a pastor (clearly re-injecting racial discrimination in order to win the nomination) THEN she should take her own criticism and choose to tell the truth and choose NOT TO TELL BLATANT LIES TO THE VOTERS, about her extensive EXPERIENCE.
And speaking of EXPERIENCE - Hillary Clinton stated that she was the first person Bill Clinton always talked to about everything during their years in the White House however we know one thing he did not go to her with FIRST, two words, Monica Lewinski (I did have relations with that woman).
I truly believe that if the Clintons are for the American people then they should stick to the issues and act like they are representing the people and stop worrying about Barack Obama. How can anyone make a clear decision on a candidate if Hillary Clinton is completely off message and ALWAYS in attack mode? Is this a primary Presidential race or is this a RACE about who can suggest the most hateful, racial and discriminative slurs about some of America's Immigrants?
Barack Obama for President.
Mr. 1214
Dallas Texas
Subject: MSM
As long as the Rev. Wright story refuses to die, being kept alive by the ill informed commentariat and most especially by the uber hater Pat Buchanan, it's up to the truth seekers to separate fact from fiction. To that end I refer the readers of this site to an excellent article in today's Counterpunch by Ishmael Reed concerning Rev. Wright, and which I am sure none of the race baiters on MSNBC would ever deign to read.
If you do in fact visit Counterpunch read a great endorsement of Obama by the Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery. I'd be willing to bet that HRC's supporters in AIPAC and the right-wing Jewish community must be screaming from the roof tops over that one and will never, ever address it other than to say he's insane, which is the word du jour whenever an Israeli does something that may be deemed an embarrassment to the gov't.
MSNBC is just another network comprised of losers, bigots and assorted fools passing themselves as credible journalists, with the exception of Keith Olbermann who includes guests with some knowledge of the law and the Constitution. I know Hillary supporters are outraged over his alleged bias, but maybe he knows something that they don't.
Ruth Gottlieb
Laguna Woods, CA
Subject: PETITION TO REQUEST CLINTON'S WITHDRAWAL
At this point in the election, I think it is time to take serious action to get Clinton to withdraw from the race. Her lack of integrity and ethics make her unsuitable to be president. She is tearing apart the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party needs to unite; her tenaciousness is no indication of her ability to lead the country. My terrier is tenacious. The only way she can become the Democratic candidate is if she rigs the next ten primaries. (BlackBoxVoting.org)
I want to suggest that we create a petition asking Hillary Clinton to please withdraw from the race so that the Democratic Party can unite behind Barack Obama. If there is anyone out there who is capable of creating such a petition, I would be more than delighted to support it in any way I can.
Jody
Los Angeles
Subject: War On Hillary Clinton
After having donated to BuzzFlash, bought many of the recommended books for myself and as gifts for others, and used it as my homepage for four years, I am unsubscribing. Your constant persecution and smearing of Hillary Clinton is so inappropriate and dysfunctional! I understand that progressive cred comes (and has come for the past 17 years or so) at the expense of the Clintons. But the maligning and whining come at the expense of the country.
The final straw was the headline linking to the article about Clinton's Bosnia misstatements. Really! Last night all three networks led their broadcasts with this story, then, around 8 minutes into the broadcast, got to the second most important issue facing the country: sending weapons to Taiwan and the mortgage meltdown. This is right back to Whitewater.
The mainstream media has become a cesspool of partisan misrepresentation and disinformation. With this Democratic primary, BuzzFlash has as well.
A BuzzFlash Reader
[BuzzFlash Note: We hate to lose you as a reader. BuzzFlash has always been opinionated, as every reader can attest. We have felt for about a month that Obama had won fair and square, yet Clinton chose to fight on, to the detriment of the party and the country. Campaign tactics got dirtier ("the fun part"?), there were inexcusable avowals of McCain's superiority, and the established measure of who's winning has been portrayed as irrelevant. (It's the delegates.) Justifications for staying in have kept changing. Today, at CNN: Pledged delegates are up for grabs, Clinton says and Ticker: Dems would defect to McCain, poll finds. Such is the basis for our recent one-sidedness. Thanks for reading, Your BuzzFlash Mailbag Editor.]
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