This futilely futile attempt at refocusing the objective truth on those Democratic legislators who were to blame for the much longed for meltdown of the evil American capitalist system is irrelevant. Ignore Capt. McInsane in the membrane's allies' release of this obviously forged letter. This Dan Ratheresque fabricated letter showing his (Party Media denied) understanding of the impending Democratic birthed meltdown should be forgotten! You, as loyal comrade Great Leader Obama's followers are instructed to ignore and deny this obvious incorrect point of view and remember the awesome feelings of change Great Leader is bringing!

Because of the lies.  I'm so disgusted this morning I really can't even speak.  Just know that a vote for McCain is a better deal.  He isn't going to lie to the American Public about his back story.

First, given all the voter fraud going on, H/T to a place called Brad Blog for this -- you might want to see if you are registered and this is a perfect place to do that -- they have every State covered, and the how to's:

WWW.VOTERSUNITE.ORG

Second, yeah it matters about OBAMA and AYERS.  That he lied about their connection is the worst thing.  But now, all the puzzling things about what we have seen are starting to jell as everything connects.  And Biden?  What is he doing daring to threaten a guy like McCain -- same with Axelrod and his puny threats.  Most of America can't relate to all this Chicago Anti-American shit.  Here is the ad, and then I have some Ayers links.

Obama's Foul Weather Friends

You Don’t Need a Weatherman …

More on Obama-Ayers

No Liberation

You know what I want to say to the Democratic Party now after years of loyalty?

Have a read of this next one, and the next and take a guess:

Barack Obama, The Weather Underground and the Spirit of Revolution

Obama money from abroad could total $3.3 million

"...The FEC on Monday provided The Associated Press with a spread sheet of potential overseas donors that did not include contributors who left their state designation blank. As a result, the list was incomplete.

The $3.3 million total does not include donors who have given less than $200 and whose contributions do not have to be itemized. Some of that money could also have come from overseas. About half of Obama's $455 million in contributions so far are unitemized. The campaign does not identify those donors.

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, speaking to reporters en route to Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, noted that anyone can donate to the campaign through the Internet. "We monitor these things as best we can," he said..."

Barack Obama, The Front Man * Open Thread »

Out of New Zealand:

Obama-file 19 Obama '08 "All the Way With DSA"

"...The Marxists of Chicago Democratic Socialists of America helped launch Obama's political career and have supported him ever since.

DSA linked unions have endorsed Obama's campaign for the Democratic nomination and DSA linked figures such as Congresswomen Jan Schakowsky and Barbara Lee have come out strongly for the Senator.

While the iron disciplined Communist Party USA has committed itself totally to the Obama cause, the looser DSA is less obvious about its support..."

I could go on.

But, I'm really disgusted at this entire deal.

I have no problem voting for McCain, and, if the American Press won't be square with the back story who paid them off?

It does demand a certain audacity to try and fool the American People by dressing up ala Kennedy redux and doing fist bumps regarding your personal agenda, no?

We aren't interested in Communism here, are we?

I didn't think so.

This is the biggest frigging hoax the Democratic Party ever tried to pull on itself.

And the American People.

Tell the Democratic Party to go fuck itself in 2008.

Vote in McCain to reform Washington.  We need it.

Most of those contributors did identify themselves as living abroad in foreign cities. Under federal law, foreign citizens cannot make political contributions, but U.S. citizens living abroad can.

The Republican National Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission on Monday asking for an investigation of Obama's foreign contributions, among other things.

The FEC on Monday provided The Associated Press with a spread sheet of potential overseas donors that did not include contributors who left their state designation blank. As a result, the list was incomplete.

The $3.3 million total does not include donors who have given less than $200 and whose contributions do not have to be itemized. Some of that money could also have come from overseas. About half of Obama's $455 million in contributions so far are unitemized. The campaign does not identify those donors.

Obama senior adviser David Axelrod, speaking to reporters en route to Nashville, Tenn., on Tuesday, noted that anyone can donate to the campaign through the Internet. "We monitor these things as best we can," he said.

Billy I hardly knew ye . . .

By Allan Erickson   10.7.08

Obama hardly knew Ayers?

Not according to these detailed accounts. 

CNN actually reports truth, today: raising the issue of trust, just as Hillary Clinton did in the primary season.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2008/10/cnn_actually_reports_on_ayerso_1.asp

According to the following information, Obama and Ayers were not only associated, they worked together FOR YEARS, supported each other, funded one another's activities and promoted the same radical agenda: America is racist, homophobic, sexist, exploitive, jingoistic and greedy, and the only solution is socialist revolution IN EDUCATION AND POLITICS.

They even worked together to give an associate of Yassar Arafat $75,000.

In 1996, Media Coverage of Bill Ayers Was Too Extensive to Believe Obama Did Not Know Who Ayers Was

Posted by: Erick Erickson   October 6, 2008 at 09:29AM

Barack Obama's chief strategist, David Axelrod, claims Obama did not know that Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist. You can see the claim here.  I think that is fatuous nonsense. Why? Let me lay it out to you: Barack Obama, at Bill Ayers' behest, began work in 1995 at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.

http://www.redstate.com/diaries/redstate/2008/oct/06/in-1996-media-coverage-of-bill-ayers-was-too/

Obama's website tells us the L.A. Times (running an AP story), and the N.Y. Times assures us Obama and Ayers hardly knew each other, and certainly never worked together. 

Not according to these stories.

 "...Obama worked as CEO of the project that Ayers helped found, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, for several years.  Ayers served on the board at the same time. In an overlapping period, both men served for a few years on the Woods Fund, which notably granted $75,000 to Yasser Arafat's associate, Rashid Khalidi*, during that time."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2008/10/07/weather-underground-documentary-counters-msm-claim-ayers-merely-benign

Despite having authored two autobiographies, Barack Obama has never written about his most important executive experience. From 1995 to 1999, he led an education foundation called the Chicago Annenberg Challenge (CAC), and remained on the board until 2001. The group poured more than $100 million into the hands of community organizers and radical education activists.  The CAC was the brainchild of Bill Ayers, a founder of the Weather Underground in the 1960s."

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/rich-noyes/2008/09/23/barack-obama-bill-ayers-stanley-kurtz-makes-connection  (contains nifty pic of Ayers standing on the America flag)

Apparently Mr. Axelrod and Mr. Obama think most Americans are stupid, or disinterested, or easily deceived.   In any case, the simple fact Obama is lying about his association to Ayers disqualifies him for any public office, not to mention issues of judgment and character surrounding this controversy and the history of radical partnerships Obama is working desperately to hide.

*And guess what:  notice the connection between Rashid Kalidi, the Palestinians, anti-Israel vitriol, Said, and fundraising for Obama---this from a Leftist blogger.

"Khalidi, like Ayers, held a fundraiser for Obama at his home. The Ayers event was in 1995 as Obama was making his first bid for the Illinois state senate. Khalidi held his event for Obama in 2000 when Obama made his failed bid for the U.S. House."

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/4/17/151133/172

"I'd like to hear him (Obama) distance himself from the expressed beliefs of Rashid Khalidi, just as he has distanced himself from objectionable remarks of Louis Farrakhan and Rev. Wright."

Obama, Ayers, and “Community Organizing” –

http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=3136265&referralPlaylistId=949437d0db05ed5f5b9954dc049d70b0c12f2749

This is from John McCain’s speech today in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Several have said it is one of the best speeches they’ve heard him give recently.  It's Time McCain spoke out, many have called on him to do so from the beginning. You can't count on the Media to bring it out. They did not even listen to Hillary during the primaries.. The Media did not investigate her claims of voter fraud. Why in the world would the GOP think they would do anything now? It is up to us to get it out..email it, blog it, tell it. Then if they do not listen and want to believe the Liberal Left..well, that's what they will get and we will all suffer. We will know that we have done our best and that is all one can do.

 C-Span has the full speech

Hattip NoQuarterusa

FULL LINK Open Thread * It Matters How You Respond (or Don’t), Mr. Obama [Update]

Today, on CNN, Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod asserted that Obama didn't even know about Ayers' radical past as a founder of the Weathermen.

Didn't even know? What are you on people? We have been talking about this for a year. Tell me, Were you on something then or now?  All together now let's sing.. Memories... by Barbara Streisand and see if you can recall..

But bringing it up seems to be a tactical error. 

Excerpt:

It seems defensive. It opens up a factual issue that will merit more journalism, and more attention — can anyone contradict Axelrod? When did Obama find out who Ayers was? Already, paper is flying out of the McCain camp:

“Does Barack Obama truly expect the American people to believe that he had no idea about his friend’s past as the infamous founder of the domestic terror group ‘The Weather Underground’ or is he just lying? If Obama didn’t know in 1995 about the bombings Ayers was responsible for, when did he find out — because Obama was promoting Ayers’ book in 1997, serving on boards with him until 2002, and trading emails and phone calls with him as recently as 2005. If Obama really was unaware of Ayers’ radical past, learning the truth doesn’t seem to have had any effect on their friendship.” …

The Newsday blogger adds All the McCain camp wants is for people to talk about Obama-Ayers, and Axelrod has provided fuel for the discussion.

October 6, 2008 excerpt:

CNN's John Roberts: "I just want to try to get to the heart of it so that people at home can understand. Our Jim Acosta talked with your senior strategist David Axelrod about this. In 1995, William Ayers held kind of a get-to-know you event at his place where he was introducing Barack Obama to the political culture there in Chicago when he was running for the State Senate for the first time. David Axelrod said that at that meeting Senator Obama was not aware of Ayers' radical background. Is that true?"

Obama Senior Strategist Robert Gibbs: "Look, if that's what David said, that is true. Look, again, this is a relationship, excuse me, that Barack Obama has condemned the actions of Bill Ayers. This is somebody that The New York Times said Barack Obama's not close to, and, again, John, this is a way of distracting the American people from what's important." 

Watch The New Obama Campaign Defense

FACT CHECK: Axelrod Has Said Ayers And Obama Are "Certainly Friendly," And The Obama Campaign Has NEVER BEFORE SAID Obama Didn't Know Ayers' Radical And Violent History -- But Has Referred To Him As "Respected Advisor" To Chicago Mayor

When Politico First Reported On Obama's 1995 Meeting At William Ayers' Home Reportedly Launching His Campaign, The Obama Campaign Never Said He Didn't Know Ayers' Radical History. "In 1995, State Senator Alice Palmer introduced her chosen successor, Barack Obama, to a few of the district's influential liberals at the home of two well known figures on the local left: William Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. While Ayers and Dohrn may be thought of in Hyde Park as local activists, they're better known nationally as two of the most notorious -- and unrepentant -- figures from the violent fringe of the 1960s anti-war movement. ... I can remember being one of a small group of people who came to Bill Ayers' house to learn that Alice Palmer was stepping down from the senate and running for Congress,' said Dr. Quentin Young, a prominent Chicago physician and advocate for single-payer health care, of the informal gathering at the home of A yers and his wife, Dohrn. [Palmer] identified [Obama] as her successor.' Obama's campaign dismisses the notion that his relationship with Ayers should be seen through the lens of the latter's violent past, or his present lack of regret for the bombings. ... He described Ayers as a professor of education at the University of Illinois-Chicago and a former aide to Mayor Richard J. Daley,' referring to printed reports that he had "advised" Daley on school reform. Dr. Young and another guest, Maria Warren, described it similarly: as an introduction to Hyde Park liberals of the handpicked successor to Palmer, a well-regarded figure on the left. When I first met Barack Obama, he was giving a standard, innocuous little talk in the living room of those two legends-in-their-own-minds, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn,' Warren wrote on her blog in 2005. They were launching him -- introducing him to the Hyde Park community as the best thing since sliced bread.'" (Ben Smith, "Obama Once Visited 60s Radicals," The Politico, 1/22/08)

A lot of people have fallen for you, they have fainted too...Sliced Bread eh? All the time I thought it was the Kool-Aid. Bet Alice Palmer sure regrets knowing ya, since she wanted her seat back and you were up to your tricks...had her thrown out on technicalities..A very nice thank you to her being nice to you. What is that I am hearing about your Acorn connections? What is that about the Voter Fraud? Doggone it! It sure is easier to run unopposed!

When Senator Hillary Clinton Made Similar Attack, Obama Campaign NEVER Made Argument That He Didn't Know About Obama's Radical And Violent Past. (Obama For America, "Fact Check On Obama And Ayers, factcheck.barackobama.com, 4/17/08)

Obama Campaign Argued That Ayers Was "Respected Advisor" To Chicago Mayor Daley, And That "Charges Against Ayers Were Dropped And He Served No Time." (Obama For America, "Fact Check On Obama And Ayers, factcheck.barackobama.com, 4/17/08)

Axelrod Has Previously Said Obama And Ayers Are "Certainly Friendly." AXELROD: "They're certainly friendly, they know each other, as anyone whose kids go to school together." (Ben Smith, "Ax On Ayers," www.politico.com, 2/26/08)

Two Years After Meeting Ayers, Obama Published "Rave Review" Of Ayers' Book In The Chicago Tribune, And Jointly Appeared On Academic Panels Together. "The two men were involved in efforts to reform the city's education system. They appeared together on academic panels, including one organized by Michelle Obama to discuss the juvenile justice system, an area of mutual concern. Mr. Ayers's book on the subject won a rave review in The Chicago Tribune by Mr. Obama, who called it a searing and timely account.'" (Jo Becker and Christopher Drew, "Pragmatic Politics, Forged On The South Side," The New York Times, 5/11/08)  Were you just using your friends Obama or are they using you? Either way, it is dangerous for our country.

Who wants to bet that Sean Hannity may mention Bill Ayers tonight?

Obama, If you did not know anything about Ayers and Dohrns background, then you are certainly lacking judgment and want to win so badly that you would allow an unrepentant hater of America and his wanting to bring capitalism down wife, Dohrn to launch your career..Guess you thought your eventual 'truth squads' could intimidate enough people to keep it quiet. eh? Is that out of Alinski's playbook? Why did you promote his book and sit on boards with him later? How much do men of his calibre help you now?

Commenter:Laissez-Faire

When Rev. Wright went on a tirade before the National Press Club, Barack Obama came out and said "This is not the man I knew."

When Tony Rezko was being exposed as a crook, Barack Obama came out and said "This is not the Tony Rezko I knew."

Is America dumb enough to believe that Barack Obama was clueless about THREE NOTORIOUS MEN IN A ROW? Three men closely associated with him, no less?

Does Barack Obama think that America will fall for his lies? Probably, as long as they don't read, and think for themselves.

Ayers terrorist activities and connection to Weather Underground was well known across America when Obama met him in his living room and kicked off his Illinois political career in his living room - when Obama was in his 30's - no less. I was only 8 years old when this happened..Get off of that 8 year old bit! You were a man when you met them and are you not a man now?

Now, I’m sure that most of the MSM will, like the New York Times, minimize the Ayers/Obama relationship. And the MSM will never mention the unusual “coincidences” in the men’s histories — such as their living about a block from each other in New York City, during Obama’s mysterious years at Columbia University. This is really interesting..tell us more.Inquiring minds want to know..only a block..mysterious...yeah, that sounds like you..mysterious..that is.

See former post with video of Dohrn: Obama-Ayers-Dohrn-Mama- and Qaddafi

So it will be up to us “citizen journalists” — readers and writers like you all here — to spread the word via e-mails and conversations with neighbors, relatives, and friends.

Another commenter

CENSORSHIP: NBC PULLS SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE C-SPAN SPOOF OF BAIL OUT. MAKING FUN/SPOOFING OF REPUBLICANS AND THE CLINTONS IS OK, BUT NOT THE POWER ELITE (SOROS TOO).  DEAD LINK:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/c-span-bailout/727521/

Wow. Looks like SNL got too close to the truth about soros owning the DNC…and this financial crisis timed so perfectly, eh?

Sure are a lot of dead links and dead video's these days...Wonder what squad is appointed for these jobs? With Soro's anything could happen.

Source: CNN,

NOQUARTER,

Newsday’s Spin Cycle

Couple of updates:

Obama spokesman: Yes, he continued to work with Ayers after he found out about his past

...includes a video clip of Obama spokesman, Robert Biggs, trying to avoid Obama/Ayers questions by Time's Mark Halperin. Also, a 2007 BBC radio interview with Ayers.

Learning about Ayers

The Obama campaign raised some eyebrows the other day by suggesting that Obama didn't know who Bill Ayers was, and David Axelrod clarified a bit today, Carrie Budoff Brown reports.

"It was sometime after their first meeting that he became aware of it. I don’t know the exact moment," Axelrod said.

Videos: The Ayers connection; Update: Obama doesn’t read newspapers?

Sarah Palin’s accusation that Barack Obama “palled around with terrorists” has Team Obama attempting to play defense on the morning talk shows. David Axelrod went first and tried to play the Ignorance Is Bliss card.

DAVID AXELROD: Well I mean, when he went, he certainly — he didn’t know the history.

ACOSTA: The Democratic nominee’s chief strategist David Axelrod maintains Obama at that time had no idea about Ayers’ violent past.

McCain camp dismisses claim Obama didn’t know Ayers’ past

McCain-Palin spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. “If Obama really was unaware of Ayers' radical past, learning the truth doesn't seem to have had any effect on their friendship, since the senator later endorsed a book by Ayers, and served on the same charitable board and exchanged e-mails and calls for several more years.”

Obama continued to work with Ayers when these remarks were made:

But Ayers published his memoir in 2001 after he and Obama had become friends. And it was in a Sept. 11, 2001 New York Times article about the book that Ayers said, "I don't regret setting bombs," adding, "I feel we didn't do enough." And when asked by the Times whether he would do it all again, Ayers said, "I don't want to discount the possibility."

...and when this photo was taken:

Poor judgment. Lacking in character. Anti-American. Not buying the clueless excuse. Next....

Zresztą to nie pierwszy raz kiedy pomagamy, już podczas Wielkiej Wojny (jak ją nazywacie) Marcin Rejewski ze swoimi przyjaciółmi rozszyfrował i przekazał Wam informacje o budowie Enigmy, bez których byście nie wygrali wojny.

Whoopi Goldberg jakby poszła do biblioteki z synem to by się dowiedziała że to Mikołaj Kopernik odkrył że Ziemia krąży wokół Słońca, a nie odwrotnie. Już w XV wieku mieliśmy swojego Marina Lutera Kinga czyli Piotra Skargę, którego działalność doprowadziła do powstania w Polsce, zaraz po USA, konstytucji 3 maja. Józef Piłsudski w 1920 zatrzymał bolszewików (czyli prawie jak rosjan) przed ekspansją na Europę, Kazimierz Pułaski walczył u boku Washingtona o niepodległość USA.

Energia atomowa nie istniałaby bez prac Marii Skłodowskiej - Curie, która to dostała nagrodę Nobla za swoją pracę naukową.

Mógłbym też wymienić naukowców polskiego pochodzenia: Juliusa Axelroda, Paula Barana, Józefa Gracjana Brojnowskiego, Nikodema Caro, Piotra Chomczyńskiego, Adama Dziewońskiego, Kazimierza Fajansa, Kazimierza Funka, Leopolda Infelda, Irène Joliot-Curie, Arthura Kornberga, Stefana Kudelski, Tadeusza Reichsteina, Kazimierza Roupperta, Piotra Słonimskego, Edmunda Urbańskiego i Franka Wilczaka.

Niestety nie mam tutaj miejsca żeby opisywać ich wkład po kolei, ale po co są linki nie? No ale mogę tutaj jeszcze napisać np. o Max Factor urodzonym w Polsce, a którego kosmetyki używacie, o Jacku Karpińskim od którego dowiedzieliście się jak zrobić pamięć komputera.

Możnaby też pisać o Zbigniewie Brzezińskim, który doradzał Waszem prezydentowi ws. bezpieczeństwa i współpracy z Chinami, Tadeuszu Mazowieckim, który walczył o pokój w Jugosławii z ramienia ONZ.

Toć to można pisać i pisać. Więc na razie skończę na tym i może komuś przydadzą się linki do poczytania. Jakby co to tutaj jest jeszcze dużo Polaków znanych.

Obama's decision to get muddy by preemptively tittering out Charles Keating as counter to McCain's supposed tattering out of Saul Alinsky, Franklin Marshall Davis, William Ayers, Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansourr, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezco, Penny Pritzker et al. is ill-conceived and tactically unwise. It will be historically recorded as the first and last blunder that ruined his Campaign. These are the five pillars of Obama's error:

1) Obama is surrendering the high ground and his repeated argument that to focus on such issues is a desperate attempt at smears and distraction from the 'real topics'; paramount being the economic health of the country. Negative is negative. Who threw the first punch will be lost in the spinning brawl. It will be pointed out that what Obama has so vocally and piously decried is exactly what he is doing. The party media might even mention the hypocrisy (though that would be a first)

2) These many nefarious criminal and radical allies that many say Obama is trying to duck and deny, are new and dramatic indictments to a broad portion of the undecided electorate. They are only now paying close attention. While the media has been able to shield Obama from serious scrutiny to date, they will be unable to protect him when his campaign is charging similarly against McCain and Keating. Unlike the unexplored Obama ties, the Charles Keating connections to McCain are historical, known, documented, reported, and resolved in the minds of the major portion of the electorate. The only voters who are unfamiliar with the Keating 5 scandal are the grossly uninformed and the incurious, unchallenging youth vote. This is demographic Obama already possesses heart, mind and soul.

3) Any attempt to inflict damage on McCain by remembering Charles Keating is impossible without the context of the savings and loan crisis of the late 70's, 80's and early 90's. This will inform many on the intricate details best left undisclosed. For example, that S&Ls were tightly regulated until the late 1970s. That, Federally chartered S&Ls were only allowed to make a narrowly limited range of loan types until late in the administration of President Jimmy Carter (a President Obama has been none to flatteringly compared to), when caps were lifted on rates and the amounts insured per account grew to $100,000. And, that by the time Carter left office in Jan 1981, this initial deregulation saw 3,300 out of 3,800 S&Ls lose money. This slow unstoppable decline was exacerbated by a number of variables legislative (Tax Reform Act of 86 and further deregulation all over sighted by a Democratically controlled House and Senate) and economic (over loaning and an Oil bust in energy states) The crisis lasted into the early nineties which leads to..

4) Penny Pritzker, an early Obama supporter and current economic advisor, Pritzker is the national finance chair of Obama's presidential campaign. It is estimated she is the 135th richest person in America with an estimated net worth of $2.8 billion. In 1991, Penny Pritzker was named as Chair of Superior Bank of Chicago and remained there until forced to step down in 1994. Still, she remained on the board until the thrift's collapse in July of 2001. In December of 2001, the Pritzker family agreed to 'bailout' Comrade Penny and pay a record $460 million to the federal government to avoid being punished for the failure of Superior Bank of Chicago. Obama will be forced to answer questions regarding Penny Pritzker's association with the failed thrift. Obama will be forced to answer questions concerning the political favors he returned for Pritzker's early support of his political career. According to a press release from the Office of Thrift Supervision, "Superior Bank suffered as a result of its former high-risk business strategy, which was focused on the generation of significant volumes of sub prime mortgage and automobile loans for securitization and sale in the secondary market. OTS found that the bank also suffered from poor lending practices, improper record keeping and accounting, and ineffective board and management supervision" George Kaufman, a finance professor at Loyola University Chicago called Superior's failure "a tale of gross mismanagement," adding that "[Superior] was engaged in relatively unethical practices, fancy-footwork accounting, playing it very close to the edge." This will remind of Obama's many monetary ties to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and his close relationships with Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson. This exposing of the facts is inopportune, as the national finance chair of Obama's presidential campaign is now coming under FEC scrutiny and being investigated for accepting millions and millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions in excess of limits, without documentation, and from foreign nationals as far away as Nigeria and Gaza. It will also remind too many that Obama broke his word on accepting Federal matching funds.

5) The most damaging aspect of the Obama Keating Economics gamble is that any attempt to inflict damage on McCain by remembering Charles Keating is impossible without the full context of the Keating 5. This requires also slinging mud and impugning four legendary Democratic senators. Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ), Alan Cranston (D-CA), Donald W. Riegle (D-MI), and John Glenn (D-OH). While three of those senators, Alan Cranston , Don Riegle, and Dennis DeConcini found their political careers cut short as a result of Charles Keating, John Glenn and John McCain were overwhelmingly re-elected. They were only rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising "poor judgment" for intervening with the federal regulators on behalf of Keating. They were found innocent of any illegality or wrongdoing. By throwing dirt, smearing, and questioning the character of these legendary Democratic Senators, Obama is running the risk of political payback from friends and allies of the Riegles in Michigan and the former Marine aviator and Astronaut Hero John Glenn in Ohio. In these two very very key battleground states, both men are beloved. John Glenn, who has previously helped Obama in Ohio, might rethink and end that aid with Obama challenging his honor. This could cause 3-5% points of support to cut and run.

There is simply no good reason for Obama to engage in this inexperienced, petty gamble, unless, there truly is some traction to be had in his missing Columbia and Harvard transcripts and the many connections with Franklin Marshall Davis, William Ayers, Khalid Abdullah Tariq al-Mansourr, Jeremiah Wright, Tony Rezco, Penny Pritzker et al. Let us all hope this Keating Economics Gamble (KEG) this David Axelrod KEGel exercise is not a desperate attempt to smear and distract, rather just another brilliant bit of brutal management.

May, the Shining Path of the Obama Army Faction provide the Revolutionary Nuclei that gives us all an ETA on the Social Justice of Economic Equality! And let us FARC all those who would run like dogs counter to this; His great common vision.

It's problematic -- the associations. Dems don't like this guy anymore than Republicans do -- because of the scams and the cast of characters. It was all for money too. That's the worst thing. I got these videos from NQ -- they unpacked all the stories months ago. You see, truth is the most important thing to journalists. These are TRUTHS that came out. The Democratic Party should have known what was going to happen -- they did this to themselves, and screwed all of us over. Their own Party! How could they?

See this? It's how most of us feel... I saw it at the Confluence, and Uppity's place. This election HAS TO BOIL DOWN TO ETHICS, PRINCIPLES, and TRUST this year -- because of the last EIGHT. You blew it with this candidate Democratic Party. You blew it.

You see, FAUXBAMAGATE O'Shamster style is my gen's WATERGATE. I was a little kid, and the adults all around me were laughing their heads off as it all got unpacked. That's happening now. Again -- to every tail end Baby Boomer! Need I add, there are MILLIONS of US? No. Our gen HATES CORRUPTION. HATES IT.

AND WE ARE NOT GOING TO VOTE IT IN!

I like McCain because he is quiet and dignified. He fights CORRUPTION. He wants to be BIPARTISAN.

See this? It's unacceptable to Democratic Women. Why? ETHICS!

House Speaker Pelosi Used Political Donations to Pay Husband's Firm

"...WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi paid her husband's real estate and investment firm nearly $100,000 from her political action committee over the past decade, a practice that she voted to ban last year and that her party condemned as part of the "culture of corruption" when Republicans did it.

The Washington Times is reporting that the California Democrat's husband, Paul F. Pelosi, owns Financial Leasing Services Inc., which has received $99,000 in rent, utilities and accounting fees from the speaker's "PAC to the Future" over the PAC's nine-year history.

Last year, Pelosi supported a bill that would have banned members of Congress from putting spouses on their campaign staffs. The bill banned not only direct payments by congressional campaign committees and PACs to spouses for services including consulting and furndraising, but also "indirect compensation," such as payments to companies that employ spouses..."

See this? It's unacceptable to Democratic Women. Why? ETHICS!

U. of C. shunning poor patients?

HOSPITAL DISPUTE | Obama's wife, 3 aides tied to plan to free up space

"...Sen. Barack Obama's wife and three close advisers have been involved with a program at the University of Chicago Medical Center that steers patients who don't have private insurance -- primarily poor, black people -- to other health care facilities.

Michelle Obama -- currently on unpaid leave from her $317,000-a-year job as a vice president of the prestigious hospital -- helped create the program, which aims to find neighborhood doctors for low-income people who were flooding the emergency room for basic treatment. Hospital officials say such patients hinder their ability to focus on more critically ill patients in need of specialized care, such as cancer treatment and organ transplants.

Obama's top political strategist, David Axelrod, co-owns the firm, ASK Public Strategies, that was hired by the hospital last year to sell the program -- called the Urban Health Initiative -- to the community as a better alternative for poor patients..."

We are tired of BREACHES OF ETHICS. BY DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ALIKE!

Ethics are one of McCain's main creedos. He learned his lesson early on about corruption around Washington -- and his honor as a man is what he cares about most. He has spent his life on that. Lots of us understand that value system, and we live by our ethics. Core human ethics. Humans aren't perfect, but, they can have a decent moral code and try and live with it. What Pelosi and Obama did above are ETHICAL breaches. This means what they have done is WRONG.

Here is the follow up on yesterday's news. You tell me if a guy like this should be dictating what to do after what he has done? I think John McCain would have a little to say about that. About ETHICS.

Soros floats alternative bailout plan with Dems

Democrats this year aren't falling in line. Nope. We want all the crooks dealt with, after the last eight years. We're sick of it, aren't we? We had Hillary and now we have McCain. I'm glad he has a record of reforming and ethics. Washington must be trembling. Good. You see, many of us don't like tainted candy. We remember when you didn't have to worry about things like patient dumping or melamine introduced into the food chain. McCain is our man in Washington to go after things like that.

Also, given the tanked economy here Obama has proven imbecilic on this, alone.

$920 Billion More to Bail Out the World

Really imbecilic. Put America First. After the cost of this war we can't afford this.

"...With one socialist “bailout” bill apparently on the way to passage by Congress, two more are pending―both of them sponsored by Senator Barack Obama. One is the Jubilee Act, which would cancel as much as $75 billion worth of Third World debt, and the other is the Global Poverty Act, which would cost an estimated $845 billion. Total potential cost: $920 billion.

Meanwhile, in an appearance on the Fox News Channel on Sunday, Republican Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan called the $700 billion plan now before Congress “Fleece in our time,” a reference to Neville Chamberlain’s “Peace in our time” appeasement deal with Hitler that eventually plunged the world into a World War. The House is scheduled to vote on the measure on Monday.

Calling the deal “Wall Street socialism,” McCotter added, “Now the Wall-Street crony capitalists have put a 700-pound billion dollar bag of dung on taxpayers’ doorsteps, rung the bell, and expect you to thank them when you answer it. I think the American people will believe otherwise...”

and then there was also this, yesterday...

Bombshell: Obama Neck Deep in Breaking Campaign Finance Scandal

» by Bill Dupray in: Barack Obama, Crime & Punishment, Election, Law

"...This is a bona fide bombshell. Obama loves to say that 90% (or whatever the phony made-up figure is) of his donors contributed less than $200? Sounds good, right? Real, honest to goodness grass-roots support there. The little people, the poor people, really want this guy to be their president. Well it turns out that 35 or 40 of those “people” turn out to be one person contributing nearly $9,000 to Obama; a clear violation of campaign finance laws restricting donations to a maximum of $4600 per election cycle. And the kicker? The guy is named Good Will. Mr. Will is from Texas.

And we are just getting warmed up.

From Newsmax. Read the whole thing..."

The Original Astroturfing: Change we can Fake

Thanks to Brian.

UPDATE ON GRASSROOTS SMEAR CAMPAIGN:

I wanted to follow this story and where do you go to follow something that could be sizzling with slander lies and corruption other than to the one that did the tough work of true journalism, investigating. So I offer you Dr. Rusty Shackleford from JawaReport. Thank you so much for digging for the truth!

Of course, the naysayers are out..Obama's campaign denies it..Michelle Malkin was on FoxNews this morning and of course, all the reporters do today is call a campaign and ask if they had anything to do with it..no real investigation. Too much work, I suppose. Then we have as you will see, when you follow the links below..there are now 2 video's. HARDEEHARR! Thank you Rusty for keeping the original that was emailed and blogged all over the web. Now of course, Fox had the one that said 'member' but go on, read the rest of the story. If you need to catch up from the beginning..The links are here.

Circle the Wagons!

Too bad that lunatic Olberman is muzzled. I'd love to hear some ranting from him. In the meantime, this is pretty funny: JayTea at Wizbang fisks a Media Matters report called "The Jawa Report Shoots and Misses" ("Just another day at the office for the can't-shoot-straight gang on the far side of the blogosphere."). bwahahaha. JayTea makes oh, a few good points, take a look.

A few more good points can be found at The Examiner. Its a complete analysis, and this is from the conclusion:

If like me, you suspect that this video was an Axelrod production, it leaves you with two reasonable theories. First, the ad was possibly produced by Axelrod before The New York Times retracted the claim carried in the video. Then Axelrod shelved it. At that point, Winner probably had the ad from Axelrod and was either told to sit on it and he disobeyed or told to release it as a viral video.Take note of the Obama spokespeson's denial. He said we had nothing to do with this "YouTube video". Let's parse that statement. By characterzing the video as a "YouTube video" he can disassociate the general act of making the video from the act of uploading it to YouTube. In fact, this does not expliciately deny that Axelrod's company or another contractor produced the video for the Obama campaign. Too fine a point? Does what the meaning of "is" is ring any bells? (emphasis added-j)

Or, perhaps, as Ethan Winner claims, he was completely responsible from top to bottom for the ad. Of course, a sleazy ad like this would harm any professional PR firm's reputation. What would his motivation be to damage his own reputation?

That's a good question, especially when there is no disputing the claim that the lovely Sarah was not a member of AIP. Ethan admitted he knew the smear was already de-bunked in the comments at the Youtube vid he posted spreading the smear. And we could see that if he didn't yank the vid and close his account within minutes of Jawa's post.

SCROLL DOWN ON PAGE FOR NEWER POSTS ON THIS***

Since we just got a mention on Fox News, I guess I'll come out of my hole and direct new readers to the report we did on how employees of a mega-PR firm are behind the smear and how there may be a connection to the Obama campaign.

Click here for the original report ---> Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them

Related:
Ethan Winner Responds: Claims He Produced Video
Obama Denies Behind Anti-Palin Video; Bloggers Solely Behind Accusations
Winner Worked with Axelrod in Past
How Much Money did Axelrod's PR Firm Get from Obama
How they Astroturfed Hillary Remembered
Second Winner Produced Palin Smear Video Appears

Let's keep the heat on the Media. It is time for them to step up.

Time for me to perhaps get on with the State of the Union..ain't looking too good folks, but then I am an optimist..truly. I believe in the American people to get through it and come out fine. It just ticks me off that I did not buy a house I could not afford..On second thought, I should have bought a cool Yacht! Want to buy some swampland in Florida? ]]> http://sooshisoo.wordpress.com/?p=997 Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:38:53 +0000 sooshisoo http://sooshisoo.de.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/obama-campaign-linked-to-palin-smear-campaign/ The Jawa Report has a carefully investigated, finely detailed report about a smear campaign against Palin and who may be behind it. Worth the read, very interesting:

Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them [Updated]

"Our research suggests that a subdivision of one of the largest public relations firms in the world most likely started and promulgated rumors about Sarah Palin that were known to be false. These rumors were spread in a surreptitious manner to avoid exposure.

It is also likely that the PR firm was paid by outside sources to run the smear campaign. While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign."

Interesting enough that it's caught the attention of the media. From Michelle Malkin's site:

"I’m scheduled to appear on Fox at around 10:15am-ish Eastern. They want me to recap the anti-Palin astroturfing investigation by the Jawas."

You can watch Malkin and Megyn Kelly on Fox here.

Interesting enough that it has placed the Obama campaign on defense:

Obama Denies Behind Anti-Palin Video; Bloggers Solely Behind Accusations

More on the topic:

PR firm behind Palin smears has history with Obama media chief Axelrod

Obama camp denies link to Palin smear; smears McCain

Bloggers sniff out anti-Palin astroturf campaign– and the cover-up begins

Some Enquiring Minds Don't Want To Know

Obama is secluded at this time in an undisclosed location and isn't available for response.

This message is approved by  Barack Obama indirectly through his call to "get in their faces".

**satire as true as 90% of what Obama says in his campaigning, interviews and commercials"

"Astroturfing," according to Wikipedia is...

formal public relations campaigns in politics and advertising which seek to create the impression of being spontaneous "grassroots" behavior, hence the reference to the artificial grass, AstroTurf.

A team led by By Dr. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report has busted wide open an "astroturf" campaign that generated and distributed false smears about Sarah Palin. Their investigation sniffed out the source of a series of anti-Palin YouTubes designed to look like home-made videos launched as part of a "grassroots" campaign. Read the entire report, Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them here.

The bottom line:

While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod’s firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as “astroturfing.”

* David Axelrod is Barack Obama’s chief media strategist.

* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing fringe.

This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing fringe.

Michelle Malkin has a great summary report here that includes screenshots.

Once the story broke late Sunday night/early Monday morning on The Jawa Report, a swift cover-up attempt ensued, including the sudden deletion of all references to "astroturfing" in David Axelrod's Wikipedia page.

Excellent work by Shackleford's team at Jawa.  Let's help them force this story into the Mainstream, using  REAL grassroots muscle.  Here are the links again:

The Jawa Report, Hope, Change, & Lies: Orchestrated "Grassroots" Smear Campaigns & the People that Run Them

Michelle Malkin, Bloggers sniff out anti-Palin astroturf campaign– and the cover up begins

Here is the offending video that all of this is about...

Now first I want to say that if you want to see why the above video is coming up blank you have to read the update below. The account holder, the offender in this story, has suddenly and inexplicably deleted his account. Fortunately a quick thinker out there has posted it him or herself... to bad bitches! The saved video is below the quote.

From Michelle Malkin

“If ‘eswinner’ isn’t Ethan Winner of the Publicis Groupe, then why did “eswinner” yank the video so quickly? Or if this was just an innocent homemade ad, then what does he have to hide? You’d think he’d want more attention for it.”

For the best coverage of this story and constant updates please go to the JawaReport...

All of the credit for this goes to the Jawa Report who have done a PHENOMINAL job busting this story wide open. I don't expect to get up in the morning and see this running on any of the "Networks" so I'm going to put it up here and let the bloggers get it out there. Basically the story goes like this...

All of those wild and wacky stories about Sarah Palin that keep being used for talking points, my blog has been innundated by them here and here. Several examples are the book banning (lie), and Sarah Palin was a member of an Anti-American separatist organization (Lie). Basically it comes down to this:

Obama Connected PR Firm Produces, Uploads Lying Anti-Palin Ad on YouTube, Then Pushes it Virally as "Grassroots" Effort; PR Exec Sockpuppets Praise Video for "Getting the Truth Out;" Company Employee Uploads it On Democratic Underground and Urges Readers to Send it Out to Ten People Each

What the hell does that mean? Well it means the the Obama campaign is SERIOUSLY breaking FCC regulations by:

If, as seems to be the case, David Axelrod hired Winner and Associates to do this, then there had better be a disclosure somewhere in Obama's FEC filings that he's hired this company through Axelrod. If he's deliberately hiding firms he knows to be working for him, that has got to be a violation of the law.

Or as Jawa Report puts it and the the reason they've worked OVERTIME to get this out here:

It would appear that the ad, while professionally produced, was put on YouTube and then spread in such a way as to make it seem like amateurs had made it and spread it. We can't help but wonder if the missing disclaimer on the video was an intentional exploitation of a loophole meant to distance the people behind the ad from its outright lies?

We also can't help but wonder if maybe those who produced the ad believed that the lack of disclaimer constituted an FEC violation? Which would be an alternative explanation for why they did not wish to be connected to it.

Beyond the disclaimer, though, our reading of FEC regulations suggests that political campaign and 527 groups, such as Moveon.org, are required to report money spent on advertising opposing a candidate for public office. We can find no exception for advertising intended for web only campaigns.

We assume that if some group paid for the production of the video, that it would be reported to the FEC. Not doing so, we believe, would constitute a breach of federal campaign law.

Are we going to see the media jumping on this one? We'll see but I doubt it. Astroturfing... the Democrat Swiftboat... Here are the basics of this story in concise Liberal-like bullet points to make it EASY for the media to write a story:

While not conclusive, evidence suggests a link to the Barack Obama campaign. Namely:

* Evidence suggests that a YouTube video with false claims about Palin was uploaded and promoted by members of a professional PR firm.

* The family that runs the PR firm has extensive ties to the Democratic Party, the netroots, and are staunch Obama supporters.

* Evidence suggests that the firm engaged in a concerted effort to distribute the video in such a way that it would appear to have gone viral on its own. Yet this effort took place on company time.

* Evidence suggests that these distribution efforts included actions by at least one employee of the firm who is unconnected with the family running the company.

* The voice-over artist used in this supposedly amateur video is a professional.

* This same voice-over artist has worked extensively with David Axelrod’s firm, which has a history of engaging in phony grassroots efforts, otherwise known as “astroturfing.”

* David Axelrod is Barack Obama’s chief media strategist.

* The same voice-over artist has worked directly for the Barack Obama campaign.

This suggests that false rumors and outright lies about Sarah Palin and John McCain being spread on the internet are being orchestrated by political partisans and are not an organic grassroots phenomenon led by the left wing fringe.

UPDATE 9/22/08 @ 6:49 a.m.

Offenders YouTube account has been taken down. Within an hour of the story being posted, the videos began coming down. Within 90 minutes they were all down. Damage Control Team Alpha has been awakened at 3:00 a.m. I guess they CAN answer the phone.

That's a pretty fast response time. I didn't mention Winner & Associates in my hints. So why would they be on notice?

I only mentioned Axelrod and Obama.

No, I do not believe that a random Winner & Associates employee just happened to be reading the Ace of Spades website and suddenly came across a link to a story about them and then decided to wake the bosses over it.

I believe the Obama campaign and the DNC have been watching since this afternoon. And they put the call into "eswinner" to get those videos down and bury the evidence.

And now "eswinner" has decided to end his short career on YouTube, despite the fact that this was his Best. Day. Eveehhhhh.

UPDATE 9/22/08 @ 9:08 p.m.

Fresh from the Jawas:

Statement of Ethan WinnerThe following is in response to questions I have received regarding the post on the Jawa Report website.

I produced and posted on the Internet the video entitled "Sarah Palin: A Heartbeat Away."

The idea for the video was mine. No one paid me to produce it. The only out-of-pocket cost will be the fee for the voice-over narrator, which I will pay personally when I receive an invoice. Contrary to the allegation in the Jawa Report, the voice-over artist has never done any work for the Obama campaign. I retained her through a talent agency based solely on the quality of her voice.

Neither the Obama campaign nor any independent political action committee has had a connection with the making and/or posting of this video. Just like the thousands of Americans who have posted videos on the Internet regarding the current Presidential campaign, I produced this video as an expression of my right to free speech, which is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

I believe the American people have a right and a need to know information about candidates for political office and their views. I made this video because I think it is important for the public to be aware of the association between Sarah and Todd Palin and the Alaskan Independence Party. The New York Times has reported that the Alaskan Independence Party website describes the party as seeking, in the words of the party, "a range of solutions to the conflicts between federal and local authority," including "advocacy for state's rights, through a return to territorial status, all the way to complete independence and nationhood status for Alaska."

While a number of media outlets have said that reports that Sarah Palin was a member of the Alaskan Independence Party may have been erroneous, her attendance at the party's 1994 convention, her video speech to the 2008 convention and her husband's membership in the Alaskan Independence Party have not been called into question.

Some people have asked why I have pulled the video from the Internet. The reason is simple. Following the posting of personal information about me by the Jawa Report, my family began to receive threatening and abusive phone calls and emails.

Sincerely,

David Axelrod

PS, I mean Ethan Winner. Whoops. I always do that.

The timing  is just about perfect for the Keating 5 story to re-emerge. It speaks directly to McCain's maverick status and his honest to god ideas about reform and regulation. It also explains WHY he got so cozy with the press and decided to dish some Straight Talk.

If the Obama campaign believes that bringing up the Keating 5 incident and the SNL scandal that McCain was so intimately connected with may cause them more damage than that which is dispersed than they must have a very good reason. I mean, I've come to trust Axelrod's strategies and Plouffe's management. But, Obama says he intends to "respond directly and forcefully with the truth" and I think this qualifies.

Anyway, just my thoughts on the silence regarding the Keating 5, as well as Rachel Maddow's...(see below)

"We will respond with speed and ferocity to John McCain's attacks and we will take the fight to him, but we will do it on the big issues that matter to the American people."

Apparently, among the "big issues that matter to the American people" are things like the size of the glasses John McCain wore in the 1980s and the fact that he doesn't know how to use a computer or send an email. Because that's the focus of Barack Obama's new ad. Really.

Click the image to watch.

Even more counterintuitive thinking on the part of Team Barry was being aired today in various media outlets. Obama's senior strategist David Axelrod had a couple comments that seemed more than a little off.

"Everyone was astonished that [Sarah Palin] drew 9,000 people to Lancaster the other night," said Obama's senior strategist, David Axelrod. "But we drew 10,000 people there last week."

"They got a transient boost from the sort of imagery surrounding her selection," Axelrod said. "But I think things will settle in. She will be a candidate and not just a symbol."

Axelrod seems to forget two things. First, Obama is running for President, not Vice President. I think most strategists would usually be worried if the opposing presidential candidate's running mate is drawing crowds similar in size to the ones the guy at the top of your ticket gets.

Secondly, Axelrod predicts that Palin will lose her luster as she loses her status as a symbol. But what is she a symbol of? Axelrod fails to see that the fervor surrounding her pick is excitement on behalf of the Republican base not because she is a symbol of something, but because she's exactly the kind of candidate we've wanted all along. I could care less that she's a woman, although it certainly makes for a great storyline. I'm excited about Palin because of her conservative beliefs and her accomplishments as a reformer. I don't doubt for one second that things in Washington won't change with Palin around to take on the status quo, as she has done over and over before. She reinforces McCain's promise to cut spending and end earmarks. It's easy to envision her in the role of combatting corruption, both because she is a regular American who is as tired of the system as we are and because she's done it plenty before.

Not only is Palin not just a symbol, that's exactly what Obama is. From his fake presidential seal to his "O" brand to his Greek temple to his empty rhetoric to his messiah imagery to his very own quote.

Obama was waxing lyrical about last week's trip to Europe, when he concluded, according to the meeting attendee, "this is the moment, as Nancy [Pelosi] noted, that the world is waiting for."

The 200,000 souls who thronged to his speech in Berlin came not just for him, he told the enthralled audience of congressional representatives. "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions," he said, according to the source.

Axelrod sees a mirage when it comes to Palin fever dissipating before November, barring any huge mistakes on her part. What's funny is that he is predicting for Sarah what has already happened for his own empty suit of a candidate. And the vacuum being left by Obama's fall is quickly being filled by a capable team ready to truly drain the swamp.

UPDATE: AP has a couple of important points regarding Obama's new ad, among them the fact that 20% of the American people, mostly senior citizens no doubt, aren't computer savvy but do have a high voter turnout percentage. They surely won't like being insulted.

I told you so

If there's one thing that I've found

It's what goes around comes around

~ as performed by Regina Belle

With the Clintons deposed, it is astonishingly clear that there is now an intelligence vacuum at the top of the Democratic party.

Yesterday while complaining about McCain-Palin, Obama told a cheering crowd "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig":

This comes just as voters have spent days watching as Sarah Palin's acceptance speech joke "What's the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick!" enter pop culture and public consciousness. That collective groan you hear is Democrats wondering 'How could Obama be so stupid,' although given that the Junior Bush is also an Ivy League grad, it should make sense.

Maybe the groan should be 'How could we have been so stupid to pick this guy?'

Even if this was just a clumsy statement, and not an outright smear, it's generally not a good idea to even leave open the possibility that you are calling your opponent's running mate a pig when public perception is that your campaign is faltering, when your appeal is supposed to be based on moving beyond divisive politics, and when that running mate is a woman and you are trying to win over Hillary Rodham Clinton's disgruntled constituency.

Whether sinister or not, this a bonehead mistake that has been predictably exploited by the McCain campaign and conservative commentators to make Obama look like a sexist...well, like a sexist pig. McCain wasted no time splicing together an ad essentially calling Obama a misogynist:

Obama, clearly off his game and cognizant of how badly this could play with working women and swing voters, has responded by decrying this dustup as "phony outrage":

"They seize on an innocent remark, try to take it out of context, throw up an outrageous ad, because they know that it’s catnip for the media."

And in response, Hillary Democrats everywhere are rolling on the floor laughing.

Is Obama talking about how he 'seized on' Bill Clinton's 'innocent remark' asserting that Obama's ever-fluctuating Iraq war position was a 'fairy tale' in order to paint Bill as a racist?

Or how he 'seized on' Hillary's matter-of-fact declaration that without LBJ the Civil Rights Act would never have been passed to paint her as a racist?

Or how he 'seized on' Bill's inelegant but correct comparison of Jesse Jackson's South Carolina primary win with Obama's or how he 'seized on' Hillary's mention of RFK as a lesson of unpredictability to insinuate falsely that she called for his assasination?

No, back then, when constantly playing the race card, Obama had no problem with his own "phony outrage" or with taking things out of context in order to destroy two icons of his party.

Voters are waking up to what Hillary Dems have long known: Obama is a major hypocrite...and not nearly as gifted as advertised.

Word on the street is that Obama ran a smarter primary campaign than Hillary. But the sheer ineptitude of campaign and candidate as of late leaves open the possibility that perhaps Obama was not so much smart as Hillary was careless. Obama, enabled by Dean and Axelrod and Brazille, are running what is shaping up to be the worst general election campaign in recent memory -- worse, even, than the Mary Beth Cahill led John Kerry debacle of 2004. I know Democrats who still have nightmares about Cahill...they'll be having them about Axelrod soon.

Maybe the Clintons were mistakenly saving their best efforts for what has become their forte -- battling (and usually beating) the GOP. Or maybe Hillaryland, falling into the front runner trap, believed it could never face a real test from within the Democratic Party, and consequently they got too lazy too early. Sure, the old Clinton machine tightening up, smartened up, and began to resemble its old self sometime in March -- steamrolling through the final primary sprint. But by then the damage was done.

Whatever happened, the absence of Hillary from the ticket -- top or bottom -- is a fumble on the part of the DNC and the Obama camp. The conventional wisdom said Obama had to pass over Hillary to avoid power struggles with the Clintons. Hillary and Bill's speeches at the Democratic Conention made clear that the conventional wisdom was wrong again in what's shaping up to be a pretty bad election year for conventional wisdom. Obama would have benefited immensely from having these two out on the campaign trail on his behalf day after day.

And you would have never heard of the pitbull with lipstick.

Maybe if Obama had not riled up his fans, the media, and those around him with trumped up charges of racism at the Clintons, then he wouldn't have been so blinded by 'phony outrage' to see how much he needs Bill and Hillary Democrats.

This is from the McCain campaign today:

On Fox News Sunday this week, host Chris Wallace interviewed Barack Obama's chief political strategist David Axelrod. At one point, Chris Wallace asked Axelrod to list Barack Obama's biparistan achievements during his time in the Senate. Axelrod, providing his standard response, told Chris Wallace that Obama had been a leader in crafting Senate ethics legislation and passing a nuclear non-proliferation deal.

Wallace astutely pointed out, however, both of those "achievements" were passed by unananimous consent in the Senate. The truth is that Barack Obama has never challenged his own party or worked across the aisle on a contentious issue. His lack of bipartisan credentials is reflected by his 2007 voting record, in which he voted with his fellow Democrats 97% of the time.

John McCain has a 25 year record of reaching across the aisle in the United States Senate. John McCain has worked with Demcorats to hold tobacco companies accountable and to reform the campaign finance system. John McCain is also not afraid to buck his own party when necessary. In 2005, John McCain voted against the Bush/Cheney Energy Bill because it did not do enough to confront America's energy crisis. In 2006, he challenged Republican leaders to adopt a new strategy for Iraq, even while his advocacy for the Surge was not popular among Republicans or the public at large. Today, it is clear that the troop surge has been an enormous success

Speaking of the media, I found an article on Yahoo! this morning titled: "Attacks, praise stretch truth at GOP convention " written by Jim Kuhnhenn.  The entire "story" is about what was said at the RNC compared to the truth.  Odd, I don't remember a similar article after the DNC.  And I know most of them were lying through their teeth.

But to say that embellishing is unbecoming of a politician like Palin is ludicrous.  Has anyone seen Obama's resume?  No?  That's right, he is making the University of Chicago keep it locked up.  That fact is all politicians embellish.  It's part of the job.  It's what they are embellishing that peaks our interest.

The other thing I heard last night, though it may not be working since it seemed to disappear this morning, is that Palin didn't write her own speech.  So?  Read this slowly:  NO POLITICIAN WRITE THEIR OWN SPEECHES AT A NATIONAL LEVEL!  Obama's oratories are written by David Axelrod.  Are you telling me that the only thing we can vote for on Obama is the wonderful speeches he gave but didn't write?

Prepare for the attacks to continue.  Prepare for the media to continue to press that Palin is nothing more than white-trash from a small town.  Prepare for the media to continue to attack her executive experience.  Also, prepare for the media to continue to attack her family.  The more they do, they more they help her.

One of the biggest responses she got last night was when she blasted the media.  And I've talked to several independent women myself and they are irritated by the coverage of Palin's daughter.  At some point this will all back-fire on the media.  A lot can happen in 60 days.

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) on Friday sent the center a letter saying he was "troubled" by recent news reports about the hospital's efforts to steer patients with non-urgent complaints away from the center' emergency room to local clinics. Michelle Obama was a key figure behind the initiative.

SNIP

The letter also asked the center for details on its payments to PR firms and documentation on how they were selected. In 2006, the center retained ASK Public Strategies to help build support for the Urban Health Initiative. ASK is co-owned by Obama's chief campaign strategist, David Axelrod.

Without naming a specific company, Grassley also asked for documentation showing how the center selected a contractor to upgrade its internal computer network. A center annual report shows computer contracts went to Blackwell Consulting, a company run by Obama contributor Robert Blackwell Sr.

SNIP

In a prepared statement, Grassley referred to a letter he sent earlier to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and said, "I keep hearing that tax-exempt hospitals are changing their ways...It's troubling then to hear about two world-renowned hospitals engaging in questionable practices..."

Ok, so....

1.  Michelle got a promotion at the hospital she worked and a 250% raise 2 months after Obama became a Senator, and was also named to the board of trustees at Treehouse foods with a big raise too. (here)

2.  Obama tried to get the hospital $1,000,000 in Federal Funds not long after that.... (here)

3.  Michelle starts a program that keeps low income people from coming to her hospital...

4.  She hires Axelrod to help her with the public relations side of such a move

5.  Gets Blackwell, who is a campaign contributor, a huge contract to re-do the computer systems at the hospital....

I am not saying there was any wrong doing...  at all.  This is all above board.  But the question is, is it right?  Is that change?  Is that different than "Washington politics as usual"?

Doesn't sound like change to me?

And so, on the other hand, I have a guy named McCain and a woman named Palin that are well known for being anti-pork, anti-corruption, anti-fraud, and are even willing to stand strong against their own Party to do what is right....

Ok, wait...  so who is the one that represents change?