"Unity is how we shall overcome"
[Phillip Carter,
Monday January 21, 2008 at 3:03pm ]
Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone.Amen.
In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone.
In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone
In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone.
So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.
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Think this would be a better horse to bet on, if you were of a religious persuasion ?
John McCina's racism in SC debates
Unfortunately it took segregationist Governor Wallace to reveal the truth that "there's not a dime's worth of difference between" Republicans and Democrats. The Democrats willingly went along with the War in Iraq, suspension of Habeas Corpus, detaining protesters, banning books like America Deceived (book) from Amazon, stealing private lands (Kelo decision), warrant-less wiretapping and refusing to investigate 9/11 properly. They are both guilty of treason.
Support Dr. Ron Paul and save this great nation.
Well spoken.
The claws came out early, but it is good practice for whatever the Republicans and the cockroaches in the woodwork will throw against the Democrat.
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But the one thing that has me...itching(?) is his posse of advisors...I'm not liking it, not one bit...makes me think, "Yes, he's sounding good now, at the beginning of his attempted ascendancy to the Presidency, but then again...so did Reagan."
I'm wishing, wishing that Edwards somehow, someway can pull it out...oh well.
Are there any in particular that worry you? And on what are they advising him?
For my money, I'll take Dennis McDonough over Dick Holbrooke 8 days a week.
And don't even get me started on Kenneth Pollack and Michael O'Hanlon.
I'm going to step in at this point and make a prediction about those sovereign investment funds. They are going to find, like the Japanese did in the 1980's that you can buy a lot of America and still not have anything to show for it. Many Japanese businessmen remember their American purchases as the single stupidest thing they've ever done. In the US, they encountered a way of doing business that was totally foreign to them that moved at very quickly. They made decisions that would have been good back home, lost their shirts when the rest of the economy didn't play nice, and had to sell most of the assets back at reduced prices. I don't see any reason the sovereign funds will do any better.
As for your other concerns, they are more of a threat but I still stand by healthcare costs, poor retirement planning, and the increasing economic gap between the haves and the have-nots as far bigger threats to this country.
Orson
Phil, I'm kind of with Orson on this one. I've also consumed the kool-aid and bought in on Obama but I'm still keeping both eyes open on the guy. I mostly like what I see but, at best, he's a diamond in the rough, not a finished product.
What will the finished Obama product be like? Will he be able to match his soaring rhetoric with results? Or will we see more of the same from Washington? Will he be able to soothe the savage beasts of both parties that scream for the blood of their political opponents or will he become their biggest victim?
That depends in large part on the people he has to work with in Congress. The sparring between his campaign and Hillary's over the last few days makes me wonder if we, his loyal supporters, might not be kindest to give him four more years to build his image and get better control over the more unruly elements of his own organization and party.
The South Carolina Democratic caucus is, in many important ways, going to be the defining moment of the Democratic primary. Hillary's building a big lead in a lot of the Super Tuesday states, if she scores a big victory over her opponents in South Carolina she will probably win the nomination in mid February.
Obama needs a convincing win in South Carolina in order to stay viable in the primary, otherwise he'll be looking at the VP position or going back to his old job as Senator from Illinois. That, at least still looks like a possibility. Edwards, unfortunately, is already cooked and he knows it.
Edward's crushing defeat in Nevada last Saturday (a heavily unionized state facing a lot of his favorite issues) combined with weak support in SC (adjacent to his home state) is sounding the death knell of his campaign unless something dramatic occurs in the next couple of weeks. At least he's talking honestly about this as opposed to the midget Republican candidates that are getting less than 5% in the polls but refuse to give up.
The Republican primary is still MUCH more fluid and it's anybody's guess as to who will win. The Florida primary will clear up the picture somewhat but I suspect that "none of the above" is still the candidate of choice for far too many Republicans.
We have become a nation that seems to not only accept inept government, but appears to expect it. So often in the past, we have bemoaned "war on the cheap" here. Well, boys and girls, we also are getting government on the cheap. Not only have our taxes been lowered, but the services we receive for these taxes have diminished in a measure significantly greater than the tax reductions. The housing/mortgage market is leading us into a depression, due to the failure of existing regulating bodies to regulate. A month or so before the discovery of scads of dangerous Chinese toys and foodstufs were made, the head of the Consumer Product Safety Commission said she saw no need for the level of inspectors on the payroll because the market would keep products safe. A couple of years back, tens of thousands of motor cycles and scooters came into the country lacking DOT and EPA certification simply because Customs wasn't paying attention to what was in the shipping containers. Did I mention Katrina, uparmored Humvees, etc?
We don't need a president with a dream. We need a president who can put together an administration that will meet the standards they and the Congress set. I am so embarrassed and tired of the failure to meet any mark, however low, during the past seven years, that any competent president, John Birch or Marxist, would be a refreshing change.
If the past seven years is the best our country can do, then perhaps we should surrender our sovereignty and return to being a British Colony. Of course, I doubt if they would take us back. Our debt would drown them. Perhaps the Chinese will buy us out and put us out of our misery.
Al
I have never been a Hillary fan as I do not believe in family dynasties. They are a relic of the 16th century. And look at the disaster that the Bush family got us in to give you an idea of why I dislike dynasties so much. What did Junior have going for him other than name recognition? Zero, zilch, zip!!!! We scraped the bottom of the barrel when we sent that boy to Washington. Who is to say that Hillary will be any better? Just because she is married to a policy wonk does not make her capable.
On the other hand I am not overly impressed with any of the candidates regardless of party. I hanker for a candidate like FDChief or Al and wish they would get into politics.
However, I will vote for the Dem regardless of who it is. I would vote for my local dogcatcher to be a better president than any of the Bush clones.
mike
I think we need a president who is not just competant, but an insprational leader. The reason is that I expect we are entering a period of exceptional national challenges, economics, energy, loss of hyperpower status, financial meltdown if we don't tackle healthcare etc, etc. Only a president who can carry the people with weekly fireside talks would seem to fit the bill. Only one candidate has any possibility of fitting that bill -though I admit it is a tall order unlikely to be met.
I watched TDS last night when Stewart had Jon Meachum of Newsweek on. Meachum admitted up front that the media want the conflict, the drama, the show, and secondarily the discussion of the issues.
It's what sells.
My take on Obama is that he is intelligent, charismatic, but with that endearing quality of rambling when he talks. He hasn't quite gotten it that there are hordes of folk out there parsing every single word, poring over every single facial expression, ready to twist and distort for various purposes.
I don't think he has yet grasped what it is to be an effective leader. He's inspirational, but when his tires do hit the road, there will be times when he will need to do some serious ass kicking, and I'm not confident he'll do that. As I wrote elsewhere, I want a fighter, someone who can find allies and blow shit up.
The Bad Hillary has shown me an intent to do anything right up to the edge of legal and decent to get elected. Any means to get to her good ends, which I do believe are good. She may be at the other end of Obama's leadership deficiency, in that she may do some serious ass kicking when the licking method may be more effective. IOW, she's got a mean streak.
There's a balance to be found in the Fine Art of Kicking Ass.
I believe the Good Hillary came out in that emotional moment in New Hampshire. I do believe she's a decent moral soul, but she's been burnt in the 8 years of Bill's terms. Which brings up another point, with her in office, which president will we have? Bill or Hillary or some weird combination of the 2? Billy-Boy may very well turn out to be the 800 lb. creature in the corner of the room.
Edward's problem? Maybe he's too damn honest, doesn't tell the little lies we all want to hear.
Then again, he's ancient history too. I kinda think that's why Gore won't try it again.
It's all a Wing ( or Vote if you prefer ) and a Prayer.
We used to hear every politician end their talks with "God Bless America". We don't hear that much anymore, and I wonder why sometimes.
I think we need it once in a while.
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I've also been keeping an eye on him since Newsweek ran a sympathetic article on him a few weeks back. So far I like what I see and he's a potential backup candidate if Obama goes down in flames but I've got to see a lot more before I make any sort of a decision.
basilbeast makes a number of very good points about the need for balance in a candidate. I'm not quite so fond of ass-kicking, we've done it so much lately that I've lost my taste for it, but he's right that a President needs to be able to push back hard in order to survive.
The Republican candidates do not measure up well on basilbeast's balance index. They mostly tend to be either hard-core ass-kickers or refuse to come to the bargaining table, which amounts to the same thing.
I believe Biggie Smalls and Tupac were successfully ventilated by peer competitors; or as Chris Rock might put it "Them Niggahhzz was shot!" So I guess they would be eligible for Obama's administration in the sky, should bad luck befall him; or alternately, you don't follow the comings and goings of Gangstas that closely.
If they are so much for change in how DC runs things, they need to jet back to DC and support Feigold and Dodd in their opposition to the TeleCom Immunity provisions in the FISA extension.
Reid and the other Quisling Democrats are on the point of selling us out.
This is a good occasion for some serious "kick ass" politics. Show us by action that you, Obama and Clinton, will really change how things are done in DC.
This is your chance to show us NOW how you plan to operate as POTUS.
What an extraordinary opportunity, don't blow it now!
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Neither of them deserve to sit in the White House.
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