Big Media and Dimocrats continue to protect sexist and misogynist Barack Obama. Not a one, and add Big Blog PINOs to the Obama protection goons, discussed the obvious - too obvious - reason that Obama “dissed” Senator Diane Feinstein on the Leon Panetta nomination to the Central Intelligence Agency.
The obvious reason Obama insulted Senator Diane Feinstein is that she - is - a - girl.
Gay-Americans who voted for Barack Obama continue to insult themselves by making excuses for the Obama gay-bashing (we will discuss this in full at a later date - possibly on Rick Warren Day - January 20).
Women who support Barack Obama, like Gay-Americans, continue to insult themselves by making excuses for the Obama sexism and misogyny. Obama’s fratboy speechwriter Jon Favreau (and other Obama staff) made a spectacular display of his contempt for Hillary Clinton in particular and women in general recently.
The Big Media reaction to the Jon Favreau display of sexism and misogyny? Blame Hillary.
Campbell Brown of CNN, a Hillary Hater and self-loathing woman, a sad sexist and misogynist of the female order, denounced Hillary for being too good natured and not getting trapped in a Big Media trap. If Hillary had responded with a serious denunciation of Obama’s fratboy Favreau no doubt Campbell Brown would have denounced Hillary as a shrill and humorless harridan out to torpedo the sexist and misogynist Barack Obama.
Campbell Brown introduced her attack on Hillary by saying:
Jon, I’m not even going to go after you for this, because it is just too easy. It is shooting fish in a barrel. My 1-month-old kid could look at this picture of you and say, if he could talk yet, “what a total idiot move.”
So, I’m not even going to bother. You know how incredibly stupid that was.
Campbell Brown never bothered to consider that Hillary too knew that Americans are smart enough to see the sexism and misogyny exhibited flagrantly by Favreau.
What Campbell Brown and Big Media, along with Dimocrats and PINO Big Blogs, should have noticed was the Barack Obama reaction. Obama did not fire Favreau. Obama will promote Favreau from campaign slime to polluter in the White House. Obama did not fire Favreau because they both harbor a full share of sexism and misogyny.
Which brings us to Senator Diane Feinstein.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who this week begins her tenure as the first female head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she was not consulted on the choice and indicated she might oppose it.
“I was not informed about the selection of Leon Panetta to be the CIA director,” Feinstein said. “My position has consistently been that I believe the agency is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”
Big Media has lavished praise on the Obama transition and its alleged flawlessness and perfection and heavenlyness and just gosh gosh gosh wonderfulness. But Big Media at the same time protected Obama with the “bone-headed” waiver. Big Media, directed to do so by Barack’s Bullies, declared the Obama insult to the first female head of the Senate Intelligence Committee as a mere ‘blunder” not yet another example of sexism and misogyny.
Big Media and the PINO Big Blogs and Dimocrats did not denounce the disrespect of the important woman Diane Feinstein. Contrast the insult to the powerful woman senator, Diane Feinstein, with the charges of “racism” employed in the Roland Burris Barack Obama soiled Senate seat circus.
Mainline (supposed) women’s organizations? Silence. Not one word of warning that the first female head of the Senate Intelligence Committee should be treated with respect equal to male leaders.
Senator Diane Feinstein, insulted and belittled by the fratboy Barack Bullies, struck back with authority and dignity and force.
As Obama was meeting with Hill leaders on Monday, Feinstein issued a strongly worded statement saying she was “not informed” that the president-elect was nominating Panetta for the CIA and that she believed that the agency “is best served by having an intelligence professional in charge at this time.”
Harry Reid responded with a favored tactic of sexists and misogynists - paint her as a shrill, emotional, girl with no sense of humor, a harridan (”harridan” defined: a scolding (even vicious) old woman; a sharp-tounged woman, especially one who is older; a fierce, ill-tempered woman who is always scolding and disapproving). Reid responded to Senator Feinstein “I think you need better reasons for coming out against somebody than somebody didn’t call you.”
Senator Diane Feinstein also spoke with authority on the rule of law and Roland Burris taking the Barack Obama soiled Senate seat:
On Tuesday, as Reid and other Democratic leaders were struggling to contain the spectacle of Burris’ arrival at the Capitol, Feinstein seemed to criticize the Illinois secretary of state for refusing to sign Burris’ appointment papers — and Senate Democrats for acting as if the lack of a signature actually mattered.
“I can’t imagine the secretary of state countermanding a gubernatorial appointment,” Feinstein said. “The question, really, is one, in my view, of law. And that is, does the governor have the power to make the appointment? And the answer is yes. Is the governor discredited? And the answer is yes.
“Does that affect his appointment power? And the answer is no, until certain things happen.”
Senator Diane Feinstein defends the rule of law with authority and dignity. Such is her authority and command of respect that it is now understood that Roland Burris will likely now be seated in the U.S. Senate.
Senator Diane Feinstein has a history of being too concilliatory for our taste. We are not shills for Senator Diane Feinstein in any way. But we embrace fully Senator Diane Feinstein’s demand to be treated with dignity and respect.
Gay-Americans and Women have an enemy in Obama. The sooner Gay-Americans and Women recognize the contempt in Obama’s eyes the better they will be.
Roland Burris will be in Washington, D.C. today to inherit the soiled Obama U.S. Senate seat. Roland Burris will provide the day’s entertainment.
Although entertaining, the Roland Burris Obama Drama is not foolishness, even if the players are mostly Chicago clowns.
There is a real world reason and purpose as to why Roland Burris is the target of Big Media and Dimocrat bile. It’s not racism as the race-baiters suggest. It’s not Blagojevich as the not-presumed-innocent crowd crow. It’s not corruption as prosecutors might wish. It’s not “taint”, not guilt-by-association, not innocence, not justice, not jurisprudential nor constitutional, not process, none of the above - it’s all to protect Barack Obama.
* * *
For those of us who have examined Barack Obama’s low accomplishments and history it is appropriate to see Roland Burris inherit the Obama seat. Roland Burris like Obama is a rather low level Chicago pol selected by a powerful corrupt Illinois pol who used the selection to further a survival scheme via race-baiting. That the powerful corrupt Illinois pol was himself elected on promises of change and reform is a bonus irony point.
Big Media and Dimocrats see the all too obvious similarities shared by Barack Obama and Roland Burris. Big Media and Dimocrats do not want the all too obvious similarities to be seen by bamboozled Americans who genuinely believed the Big Media and Dimocrat deceptions that Obama, like Blagojevich, represented change and reform.
Big Media and Dimocrats understand that the superficial skin color shared by Barack Obama and Roland Burris just might be the thread that leads Americans to understand the real shared nature of Obama and corrupt Chicago pols. Americans will see that the sole African-American in the U.S. Senate (Barack Obama) is followed by the sole African-American in the U.S. Senate (Roland Burris) and this superficial fact of skin color might lead Americans to reason that skin color is not the only shared trait.
Big Media and Dimocrats do not want Obama to be seen as the tawdry Chicago pol that he is. Big Media and Dimocrats will protect Barack Obama and to that end have tried to get rid of Roland Burris.
Imagine Roland Burris as the U.S. Senator from Illinois, replacing the very replaceable Barack Obama. With every vote, with every appearance, with every word uttered - Roland Burris will remind Americans of how he became U.S. Senator from Illinois and with every vote, with every appearance, with every word uttered the danger looms that Americans will realize that Obama too came from the cesspool of Chicago politics and perhaps Obama is not what they were bamboozled to hope he was.
* * *
Obama does not want Americans to see an African-American Chicago pol selected by a corrupt politician, who campaigned on change and reform, take his soiled Senate seat. Americans might begin to catch on, Obama reasons. Obama has supported Harry Reid and the vow never to seat Roland Burris.
Thus far, Harry Reid is not displaying much fortitude. The race-baiting by Representative Bobby Rush and his “lynch” remark appears to have had dramatic impact.
When scandal-tarred Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named Burris to Barack Obama’s Senate seat last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) issued a statement in which he said that Burris “will not be seated by the Democratic Caucus.”
But as Burris made his way from Chicago to Washington on Monday, Reid took a softer line. “Of course, Roland Burris has not been certified by the state of Illinois,” he said. “When that takes place, we of course will review it. At this stage, we’re waiting to see what’ll happen in Illinois.”
Asked whether there was any chance that Burris will be seated, Reid said, “Listen, let’s just deal with reality, not with hypotheticals.” Asked about his earlier, unequivocal threat not to seat Burris, Reid said: “I’ve made my statement.” [snip]
No one in the Democratic leadership suggested Monday that Burris would actually be seated when he arrives at the Capitol on Tuesday — or at any point thereafter — but the rhetoric was clearly softening as a potential showdown at the Capitol loomed, and Democrats were eager to get past the distraction.
Dimocrats who assisted Barack Obama to race-bait during the primaries are now race-baited themselves. Senate Dimocrats are responding with the old “some of my best friends are black” defense:
Durbin said race wasn’t an issue.
“Let’s be very clear about this,” he said. “For many of us involved in this very complicated and frustrating issue — many of us actively supported Barack Obama for president of the United States. And raising some question of whether or not we have prejudice involved in this — there is no prejudice involved whatsoever.”
Republicans, in full hypocrite mode, are for once race-baiting on behalf of seating an African-American and to discomfort race-baiting hypocrite Dimocrats:
“If a candidate presents himself with the appropriate credentials, what, then, would be the basis of the Senate to deny his being seated?” Kyl asked. “I don’t know.”
Republicans — relishing the thought of sticking Democrats with the Blagojevich taint — suggest that it would be hypocritical if Democrats were to welcome Al Franken, whose victory in Minnesota remains subject to legal challenges from Republican Sen. Norm Coleman, while denying a seat to Burris.
In contrast to his wait-and-see approach with Burris, Reid said Monday that “Norm Coleman will never, ever serve [again] in the Senate.”
Dimwit Dimocrats are dreaming up schemes faster than Bernard Madoff in order to ignore the rule of law and protect Barack Obama:
The Democrats’ preferred solution to the Burris problem is for the Illinois Legislature to impeach Blagojevich, paving the way for Democratic Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to take his place and appoint someone other than Burris to Obama’s vacant seat. But even that could create a legal headache, legal observers say, since the Burris appointment would still be pending.
“Even if Blagojevich is impeached, that doesn’t undo all the actions he has taken as governor,” said Andrew Raucci, a former chief justice for the Illinois Court of Claims and now a Chicago-based attorney.
* * *
Today will be an entertaining day. It is the first day of the new incoming Congress. Roland Burris will be the star in today’s Obama Drama.
Today is also yet another ‘protect Barack Obama from being discovered for what he really is day’.
There will be many more ‘protect Barack Obama’ days ahead. January 20 will be the ultimate ‘protect Barack Obama’ day.
Every day after January 20 however will get us closer and closer to “Obama Drama Reality Day”.
As children we enjoyed the medieval poem Chanson De Roland. The Song of Roland, is a tale of Saracen princes from Spain, Charlemagne, knights, swords, betrayal, revenge and slaughter. Song of Roland was one of many epic French poems called Songs of Deeds.
A modern day Song of Roland will soon be heard. It too will be a tale of betrayal, revenge and slaughter. The singer will be Roland Burris.
Roland Burris will sing The Executioner’s Song.
We’ve debated and discussed the return to a regular post-holidays world. What to write about? What to discuss?
With the end of the winter holiday season the world now returns to what passes for normal. Today is the first day of the first full work week and we are back to the insanity.
So we debated, and discussed, how to welcome ourselves and the world back to a normal work schedule, with an appropriate article.
* * *
Should we discuss Middle East developments, the war, etc. Nah, too gloomy and too much like a television drama series in reruns. No Middle East discussions for us, today.
Perhaps a series of good belly laughs at the expense of Bill Richardson? Well, we sort of had that celebration yesterday in the comments section.
The unexpected hilarity began during the early afternoon when “S” informed us of the news that “Judas” Bill Richardson had yanked his name and will no longer be the Commerce Secretary nominee.
Soon the “under the bus” jokes began. Calls for resignation and/or impeachment were made. Wbboei, got the call that Mr. Otis Regrets. NewMexicoFan joined in the fun happening in the home state. The laughs were many.
We all joined in the fun at “Judas” Richardson’s and Obama’s expense. Resign or be impeached! we cheered. We explained the Richardson scandal in some detail and posted video of Richardson running away from questions.
So, we did the Richardson story in the comments yesterday, therefore it would be sort of beating a dead horse to post an article on Richardson today. Of course we could have put up a picture of Richardson, dressed as Ralph Kramen of The Honeymooners under his own bus. We could write of the imaginary celebrations at the Clinton household as good Bill, laughed and laughed. But it seemed a little too much. Imaginary Clinton conversations would be too Maureen Dowd. So no Richardson laughs today.
We did consider chortling about tomorrow’s events when Roland Burris tries to sit in the soiled Obama U.S. Senate seat. We started rubbing our hands together in Fitzmas-like anticipation of the circus ready to unfold tomorrow with Dimocrats in starring roles all. But that seemed to us to be licking the dessert. Why anticipate the fun when we can sit back tomorrow and enjoy the sit-com in real time? So, no Illinois Senate Seat corruption article today.
Caroline Kennedy? After yesterday’s New York Times article on how Mrs. Schlossberg has avoided financial disclosure we did not want to appear to be piling on. We’ll have more on Schumer and Scholssberg and Paterson soon enough. No, Caroline did not seem to be the right way to go.
Perhaps a timely reminder to all, at the beginning of the year, that
Obama simply cannot be trusted. Obama cannot be trusted on any issue. Obama cannot be trusted by his friends. Obama cannot be trusted by his enemies. Obama cannot be trusted.
would be appropriate? Well, no, we wanted to give that a rest for one day - it annoys the Hopium addicts so.
We do have several articles almost ready for publication about the economy and the spending spree and bailouts. Maybe an economic article would be the right touch? Nah, the issue is not ripe yet. We’ll have plenty to write about the economic mess soon enough.
What about pointing out that neither Obama - nor the Dimocrats - are ready on Day 1? Would it be too churlish of us to point out that the plans for a Day 1 signing of an economic package fell apart already? Should we quote Steny Hoyer in the House and Harry Reid in the Senate saying “ain’t gonna happen”? Nah, it would be too close to gloating.
What about a fashion item nothing how Michelle Obama’s election night dress reminded us of Mark Rothko paintings? Obama’s flabby pecs and schoolboy caps? Nah, the death of fashion “critic” Mr. Blackwell was not a death we would exploit by stepping onto the fashion turf.
Sidwell friends? Nah.
Fun pictures of dogs or cats? Too cute and not our style.
A catalog of Obama scandals? New Year best wishes and kisses for our “Tony” Rezko? Tim Kaine at DNC? John Kerry not getting an Obama appointment?
Race? Misogyny? Too glum.
Carville’s predictions of more Dimocrat scandals to come? Nah.
The hypocrisy of Al Franken -who was the main internal roadblock to Air America Radio fighting potential election fraud and electronic voting machines after the 2004 election - transforming himself into a big “count every vote” guy now that counting every vote has to do with getting himself a Senate seat? Nah. Maybe at a later date.
Well, what about the lack of vetting or lack of concern about no vetting of Richardson? (We were getting desperate.)
Hillary’s debt reduction events? The Bon-Jovi event or the Biden Pennsylvania event? Nah. Maybe later.
A big tribute and big thanks to our readers and supporters and those who comment? Well, that sounded good. But our readers and supporters and those who comment already know how much we appreciate them. Of course the word “thanks” is always appropriate but then we would have to thank our supporters and readers and those who comment on a daily basis with a huge article every single day telling them how wonderful they are and that might become too redundant.
Then, of course, there are our detractors. Everyday they spend countless hours scouring our website and racking their brains looking for ways to distract us from our tasks. Perhaps we need to explain to them that the new age of Youtube political campaigns means the dirty deeds of campaigns now no longer disappear after election day.
As the burdens of Hopium addition grow our detractors wish with increasing fervor that we would go away and stop reminding them of their historic mistake in supporting uncritically the Chicago Mess-iah.
Like regretful purchasers of a car that is in fact a “lemon” our detractors just want us to go away. They fear the mess Obama is about to create and they dread the day when we say “We told you so” and finally, finally, they agree with us.
And so we finally decided to be jolly this first full working week of the New Year. We decided to celebrate in song. We decided to sing our love.
We realized that the Hopium addicted will someday be wracked with pain and torments. We want to be there for them. As the Ink Spots (back in 1940) sang in “Maybe”
Maybe you’ll think of me when you are all alone
Maybe the one who is waiting for you
Will prove untrue, then what will you do?
So,
while during this year others might be gloomy, while during this week Dimocrats live in dread and anxiety at being exposed, while others either by circumstance or outlook will be depressed or sad, we choose to smile and laugh and enjoy our few moments on this earth.
For us, no drab colors. We’re Ticked Pink.
Who is to blame for the Illinois Senate Seat mess? Barack Obama is to blame.
Other than here, at this Pink website, few, if any, took notice when Barack Obama resigned his senate seat in early November. At the time we made several points regarding the Obama resignation: (1) Obama accomplished nothing in the U.S. Senate other than advance himself; (2) Obama demonstrated once again that he will “flick off the burden of responsibility” when responsibility, as it usually does, counters self-advancement; (3) Obama knew he was not qualified to run for president from the very beginning (see video below); (4) there was much work to do in the U.S. Senate post-election and every Democratic vote was needed; (5) dumping his responsibilities Obama resigned the day before the current U.S. Senate reconvened; (6) Obama’s is the earliest resignation ever after a presidential election win; (7) Joe Biden won’t resign from the Senate until after the new Senate convenes.
Today’s New York Times confirms that Joe Biden will be sworn in as a U.S. Senator in the new U.S. Senate. Like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton has also retained her Senate seat. Both Joe Biden and Hillary do not flick responsibility off as if they were in a Jay-Z video.
The Obama Chicago senate seat is soiled by Obama’s irresponsibility. There was no need for Obama to resign from the U.S. Senate so early due to transition needs. Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate and immediately started his presidential run. The duties of a U.S. Senator never came to Obama’s mind while he was campaigning. For two years Obama ran for president while still a U.S. Senator so it is clear that transition pressures were not the reason for Obama to resign.
Obama knew that Governor Blagojevich was likely to be impeached. Obama knew that Blagojevich would name the Obama successor to the U.S. Senate. But Obama did not care. Obama had reasons to get out of the Senate and fast. An ethics complaint citing the Stevens conviction had recently been filed in the Senate against Obama and might have been a reason for Obama to scurry along. Obama had to stay one step ahead of the law.
Antoin “Tony” Rezko is without doubt cooperating with federal prosecutors. Rezko’s testimony against Blagojevich is not particularly needed now with so many witnesses, according to Prosecutor Fitzgerald coming forward to testify against Blagojevich. If Rezko wants a big sentence reduction Rezko is going to have to turn over something or someone big - someone much bigger than Blagojevich. As we asked in an earlier article “What does Tony Rezko know and when will he say it?”
A Special Prosecutor is needed to stop the Obama crime lords from setting up shop in Washington and nationwide.
John Kass knows the deep-set corruption at the heart of Obama. John Kass gets it, and gives it right back to Big Media outlets that continue to protect the irresponsible, corrupt, and unqualified Barack Obama:
Because, finally, despite all the willful cheerleading of national media types who prattled cherubically about the new Camelot, Americans are finally realizing that Chicago politics is no fairy tale.
President-elect Barack Obama was not found as an infant, floating in a reed basket along the banks of the Chicago River. He is not the gentle faun, the Mr. Tumnus, of the Daley machine. Obama could have forcefully and publicly demanded that Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and fellow Illinois Democrats support legislation for a special election to fill his vacated Senate seat. Obama had a responsibility to the people of Illinois to do so. But he kept his mouth shut. As always, he avoided conflict with machine political bosses, a consistent character trait stubbornly ignored by his media cheerleaders.
His top White House strategist and his chief of staff are creatures of the Daley machine, and Democrats didn’t want to risk the Senate seat. What happened to the promise of transcending the old politics?
So when the freak show comes to Washington next week and political hack Roland “I’m a tool of the people” Burris is denied entry to the Senate, and the national political class shrieks in fake outrage and Blagojevich surrounds himself with African-American ministers and he sings “Let my people go!” remember who could have stopped all this: Obama, Madigan, Daley and the Illinois Democrats.
Kass does not forget Antoin “Tony” Rezko and the Obama mansion when he discusses Blagojevich’s wife Patti:
One guy who would know how she’s doing is the mysterious Amrish Mahajan, a big-time political fundraiser and boss of the Mutual Bank of Harvey. It was Amrish’s bank that financed the questionable purchase by Tony Rezko’s wife of the Obama side lot, in the kinky deal allowing the Obamas to get their dream house. Patti also received oodles of real estate commissions on deals with Amrish’s bank. Amrish’s wife is also under investigation, charged with running a drug-testing company that allegedly bilked state government out of millions of dollars by administering phony drug tests to state employees.
I met Amrish years ago. We were introduced by Roland Burris.
Kass, the Chicago corruption expert, leaves out for the most part the national Dimocrats. The U.S. Senate Dimocrats’ leadership is complicit in the Obama irresponsibility now, just as they were during the primaries.
It was the national Dimocrats who blocked legislation to have an election to fill the Senate seat. Let’s not forget that it was national Dimocrats who blocked elections in Florida and Michigan from being respected and who then refused to allow new primary elections because they knew Hillary would win those elections. The national Dimocrats have become anti-Democracy.
National Dimocrats also cheered when the rule of law was mocked by Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois, as she abused a law regarding physical incapacity of a governor to try to have the courts of Illinois declare the governor politically incapacitated. The court laughed at her suit.
It is also national Dimocrats who aid and abet the Obama corruption by trying Lisa Madigan style tricks to prevent Roland Burris from replacing Obama in the U.S. Senate. National Dimocrats have threatened to have Burris physically blocked from entering the Senate or trying parlimentary ruses involving the Rules Committee. Hillary supporters well remember the respect for Rules and Bylaws demonstrated by the Dimocratic leadership.
And long ago we predicted that the Obama race-baiting woud become a common staple. Roland Burris will play the Obama race card now and national Dimocrats will not be cheering along. The now discovered and confirmed Harry Reid calls to Governor Blagojevich opposing certain Obama replacements - all of them African-Americans - will assist Governor Blagojevich and Roland Burris in their shouts of “racism”. The race-baiting chickens are coming home to roost in the U.S. Senate:
Days before Gov. Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, top Senate Democrat Harry Reid made it clear who he didn’t want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones.
Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, sources told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Duckworth was an Axelrod client. Lisa Madiigan, the Caroline Kennedy of Illinois, has a dad who is the Illinois Speaker of the House. In Chicago and Massachusetts, blood is thicker than mud.
According to reports Rahm Emanuel earlier advised Blagojevich that Reid would be a-calling. It Reid made any offers to Blagojevich we might have a series of overt acts useful to Prosecutor Fitzgerald.
We and real Democrats have for years excoriated the Bush crime family due to their contempt for the rule of law. Now it is national Dimocrats who display contempt for the rule of law. National Dimocrats and assorted Hopium addicts are estatic that the Illinois Secretary of State is refusing to sign a certificate to be sent to the U.S. Senate which acknowledges that corrupt Blagojevich has legally appointed Roland Burris. But the Illinois Secretary of State has a ministerial duty to sign the certificate. There is no discretion allowed. In future any official who does not like something can simply refuse to do their job - screw the rule of law.
There was a time when Democrats cared about the rule of law. But now Dimocrats see it is their time to wet their beaks. The Republican crime lords from Texas are simply replaced with Dimocratic crime lords from Illinois.
Barack Obama is to blame for the disenfranchisement of Illinois voters just as Obama was responsible for disenfranchising Florida and Michigan voters during the primary. Dogs repeat their old tricks rather than learn new ones.
Obama is responsible and must be held to account for how he has dirtied his Senate seat. But many, almost all Dimocrats, share in the blame and have aided and abetted Obama. Big Media is complicit too in protecting Obama from his irresponsibilities and corruptions.
There are no good guys to cheer for in the Drama of Barack Obama’s Dirty Chicago Senate Seat.
Updated: Video added - New Year’s Eve, New York 2008-2009.
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This last day of the year is the whole political year condensed.
Let’s review the past 24 hours as it relates to the past year:
Race-baiting Obama-style (meaning charges of racism as a political ploy which insults the real civil rights movement as the charges are devoid of any substance, indeed those yelling “racism” are the race-baiters) is back in the headlines; Obama is on a cushy Bushy vacation, again; national Dimocrats are stumbling and bumbling and full of corrupt intentions; Illinois has a scam African-American senator (to replace a scam African-American senator who never did anything for the citizens of Illinois but rather used the office only for his own personal advancement); Obama engaged in guilt by association after bogus years long complaints protesting guilt by association (meaning Obama does not like those who remember his 20 years plus associations with people like bomber Bill Ayres, Jeremiah Wright, Reverend Meeks, and our favorite Antoin “Tony” Rezko); a Big Pink serial is interrupted by breaking corruption news from Chicago (the New York Story Part II will continue with the Chuck Schumer portion in the New Year); Hillary and Bill Clinton are proving once again they are a class act loved by New Yorkers; Caroline Kennedy is invisible and nowhere to be found, again; and more and more of the Hopium addled are realizing that … Obama can’t be trusted… Obama simply can’t be trusted.
* * *
In the past 24 hours Governor Blagojevich, pal to the wheeler-dealer corrupt of Illinois, proved again how corrupt Illinois politicians and Dimocrats nationally are. Blagojevich appointed a replacement for Obama’s senate seat and the hypocrite Dimocrats yelped.
But it is the Dimocrats who authored this ugly comedy. It was Illinois Dimocrats who called a special session of the legislature to strip Blagojevich of the appointment power but then, once they realized the Republicans could possibly win the senate seat in Obama Culture Of Corruption Illinois, the Dimocrats abandoned the purpose of the special session.
It was Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid who wrote and sent a letter -which the ENTIRE Senate Democratic caucus signed as well - which torpedoed the scheduling of a special election to allow the citizens of Illinois to elect the Senator who would replace do-nothing Obama.
Blagojevich acted after he saw the Dimocrats would do nothing in order to maintain their own power to dictate appointments.
Blagojevich is annoying the Dimocrats and Obama because he is stealing headlines which ordinarily be used to praise Obama - the selected.
And the Obama Drama with Blagojevich will not end anytime soon. Patrick Fitzgerald is seeking a 90 day extension of time to indict Blagojevich.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has filed a motion seeking a 90-day extension to return of an indictment against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Federal prosecutors normally have 30 days to file an indictment against a defendant. That deadline would have been Jan. 7, and the extension would give prosecutors until April 7 instead.
Authorities arrested Blagojevich on Dec. 9 on corruption charges that accuse him of trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.
Blagojevich has denied any wrongdoing.
In the motion filed Wednesday, prosecutors ask for more time because ”multiple witnesses” have come forward in recent weeks and investigators have to review ”thousands of intercepted phone calls.”
And every day finds Obama running away from his past.
While Obama vacationed, some of the main characters from his political past took turns starring in a bizarre Chicago news conference. First to the lectern was embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was arrested this month on federal corruption charges, and from whom Obama has worked to distance himself. Blagojevich then introduced Roland Burris, his appointment to fill Obama’s seat in the U.S. Senate. Burris once held a fundraiser at his house for Obama and calls the president-elect “somebody whose career I really helped launch.”
Then, near the end of the news conference, Rep. Bobby L. Rush was beckoned to the front of the room, where he asked the public not to “lynch” Burris because of the charges against Blagojevich. Rush defeated Obama in a 2000 House race and chided him as an “educated fool” before eventually endorsing him for president and asserting that “I helped teach him.”
* * *
Those who Caroline Kennedy stabbed in the back this past year - New Yorkers and especially Hillary and Bill Clinton - will be celebrating tonight. For New Yorkers, especially Hillary and Bill Clinton, this will be a special night as Hillary and Bill Clinton will be bringing in the New Year at Times Square. Hillary has also been named by the Daily News as the New Yorker Of The Year.
For carrying the banner of a history-making candidacy with a resolve and class worthy of this city — in victory and defeat — we today salute Hillary Clinton as the Daily News New Yorker of the Year for 2008.
We salute Hillary Clinton too. Whatever optimism we have for what looks to be a bleak next year is due primarily to Hillary Clinton. So thank you once again to Hillary.
To all our readers, with resolve, joy, and determination, not blind hope:
Happy New Year!
Caroline Kennedy’s ride with Uncle Ted to the U.S. Senate is not going very well. In fact, you could say it’s jumped the bridge.
We’ve privately heard two major, behind the scenes reasons, why the Caroline campaign is losing air and sinking fast.
Reason 1: Governor David Paterson has a potential Blagojevich problem.
Reason 2: Senator Chuck Schumer is A, if not THE, secret hand against the Caroline power grab.
* * *
Governor David Paterson’s potential Blagojevich problem:
In Caroline Goes Plouffe we stated that the “Caroline Kennedy power grab is running out of air due to the resistance from Hillary supporters and because of the stench fouling out from Chicago.” Since that writing Caroline Kennedy has made repeated ridiculous public appearances which have severely damaged her.
More ridiculous however have been the denials by the Kennedy machine that Uncle Ted is the main force pushing the Caroline Kennedy selection - the man behind the wheel.
The denials are so obviously false the question becomes “Why bother?” The answer might lie with Governor David Paterson’s former chief of staff.
Upstate New York journalists have not been fooled as to who is behind the wheel. They know Ted Kennedy is once again in the driver’s seat:
There is much that is off-putting about this trial balloon. It’s being pushed exclusively in Washington, in Hyannis by her uncle, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and in New York City. There is no indication from any upstate political voices that Caroline Kennedy has a grasp of the problems afflicting our 62 counties, or up to now, done much to find out. She hasn’t spoken out on issues, or policy, or even personalities except for Obama’s. [snip]
So whose agenda is satisfied by appointing Caroline Kennedy the improbable junior senator from New York? Obama’s and Ted Kennedy’s, certainly. Senator Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama came at a critical time in the war with Hillary, and may have tipped the balance. Another Senator Kennedy would be a nice payback. Except, of course, it was our senator who got burned by the Kennedy maneuver. I can’t imagine if Hillary has anything to say in the matter that she would go along, because it would be a kick in the teeth for Caroline to follow her in office.
Before Caroline Kennedy made her power grab overt, reports had Uncle Ted on December 8 making moves for her selection. The Kennedy machine has been active in denying Uncle Ted is behind the wheel:
Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s office on Tuesday denied a report in The Times that said he had been working behind the scenes to have his niece Caroline Kennedy appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson to fill the seat that will be vacated by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton when she is confirmed as secretary of state.
Citing Democratic aides, the report on Tuesday said that Mr. Kennedy, 76, a Democrat from Massachusetts, had made calls to the governor and two fellow Democratic senators, Charles E. Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey, to talk up Ms. Kennedy for the post. [snip]
Democratic aides told The Times on Monday that Mr. Kennedy had spoken with the three men and talked up Ms. Kennedy’s capacity to mount consecutive costly statewide Senate races in 2010 and 2012 by tapping into her family’s extensive fund-raising network.
Uncle Ted promised Governor Paterson and Senator Schumer that Caroline Kennedy would not financially “seek help from Mr. Paterson or Mr. Schumer”.
The New York Times noted that “The ability to raise significant money is a key concern for Mr. Paterson” in part because the Governor will also be running for re-election in 2010 along with whomever he appoints to the U.S. Senate.
Governor David Paterson inherited the Governorship when Governor Spitzer was forced to resign following the discovery of his relationship with a high priced sex worker. This means that Governor Paterson was not elected on his own as Governor due to a statewide network of relationships and fundraising but rather because he won election in a strong Democratic year (2006) while on the ticket with a very popular candidate Eliot Spitzer.
Once he became Governor, Paterson wisely exposed the skeletons in his own life. Since then Governor Paterson has been a good Governor. Governor Paterson is no fool. He realizes that a governor forced to balance budgets, cut services and raise taxes due to a recession is a governor in peril of losing.
The Governor, who is legally blind, can also be said to have lost his right hand this past year. That right hand is called Charles J. O’Byrne.
Gov. David A. Paterson’s top aide resigned on Friday, stripping the governor of his right-hand man just as he prepares to tackle a worsening fiscal crisis that could make or break his first term.
For the sake of brevity we will forego, at this time, a full exploration of Charles J. O’Byrne. Suffice to say O’Byrne was extremely close to Governor Paterson and O’Byrne wielded a great deal of power in New York State.
“He’s the secretary, the counsel and the spokesman,” said one administration official in an interview earlier this week. “He kind of holds all three of the top jobs in the Paterson administration.”
Some allies of Mr. Paterson saw Mr. O’Byrne as the glue that held the administration together.
O’Byrne was forced to resign because he did not pay his taxes:
The news of Mr. O’Byrne’s departure came just five days after The New York Post reported that he had failed to file federal and state tax returns for the years 2001 to 2005. [snip]
As Mr. Paterson’s top assistant, Mr. O’Byrne has been central to the administration’s decision-making and has been an important Albany gatekeeper. The governor, who took office in March after his fellow Democrat, Eliot Spitzer, resigned in disgrace, defended Mr. O’Byrne after The Post reported on Mr. O’Byrne’s tax problems over the weekend.
Mr. Paterson said that he first learned of Mr. O’Byrne’s tax problems in 2004, when Mr. Paterson, then the leader of the Democratic minority in the State Senate, was in the process of hiring Mr. O’Byrne, a former Jesuit priest whose career has included corporate law and speechwriting for Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.
The story of Charles J. O’Byrne took a comic turn when his lawyer claimed he failed to pay his taxes from 2001 to 2005 because he suffered from “late-filing syndrome” a hitherto unknown condition in the medical and/or legal community.
Unfortunately, the novel and dubious “late-filing syndrome” defense by O’Byrne’s lawyer, Richard Kestenbaum, drew attention to the odd story.
According to documents released by Mr. Kestenbaum, Mr. O’Byrne did not finish paying off his roughly $300,000 tax debt until Tuesday, three days after his tax delinquency was revealed by The New York Post.
That payment timetable contradicts statements by Mr. Paterson and Mr. O’Byrne that the debt had been settled.
The powerful Charles O’Byrne, right hand to Governor Paterson up to very late October, is a very interesting man - “late-filing syndrome” or not. O’Byrne is also a close friend to the Kennedys.
Mr. O’Byrne officiated at the wedding of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette and, three years later, said Mass at Mr. Kennedy’s funeral, after the couple died in a plane crash. He has been close to the family of Jean Kennedy Smith, Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s sister, having befriended Ms. Smith’s son Stephen Smith Jr. when they attended Columbia Law School. He also counseled the family during the 1991 rape trial of another son, William Kennedy Smith, who was acquitted.
The former right hand to Governor Paterson found himself in need of money. The former right hand reached out to Kennedy pockets.
Gov. David A. Paterson’s top aide turned to the Kennedy family, as well as his own family, a college friend and a number of banks, to raise money to pay off delinquent state and federal taxes and penalties of more than $200,000, according to state records. [snip]
Senator George H. Winner Jr., Republican of Elmira and the chairman of the Senate’s investigations panel, said: “There are now serious financial and ethical questions being raised, and these questions warrant a closer examination by appropriate, independent government authorities.”
“The best course of action in Mr. O’Byrne’s case, for everyone involved, must be a full public airing and disclosure of the facts,” he added. [snip]
Ms. Smith has lent Mr. O’Byrne at least $5,000, according to state financial disclosure forms. Mr. O’Byrne also received gifts worth at least $1,000 last year from Ms. Smith and her daughter, Kym M. Smith, according to Mr. O’Byrne’s form. Mr. O’Byrne has also served as a trustee of three Smith/Kennedy family trusts, receiving at least $1,000 annually in income.
The above report of Ted Kennedy’s sister lending $5,000 to Governor Paterson’s former right hand man was published on October 20, 2008. By October 22, 2008 that $5,000 figure rose:
Two family members loaned him $5,000 to $20,000 each, while Jean Kennedy Smith, the sister of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, and Brian Krisberg, a college classmate, loaned Mr. O’Byrne $60,000 to $100,000 each, according to his lawyers.
Governor Paterson will run for election/re-election in 2010. Governor Paterson should not burden himself with associations that will hurt his 2010 campaign. Governor Paterson is thus far not implicated in any way in any dealings or business relationships between O’Byrne and the Kennedy machine. Already O’Byrne will prove to be a burden however:
Gov. David A. Paterson was aware for years that a top aide had a continuing tax problem, his communications director said on Sunday night, though a key unanswered question is whether Mr. Paterson knew that the aide failed to file and pay taxes even after assuring him that he would resolve the problem. [snip]
Mr. Paterson became aware of the matter again during a background check in early 2007, when Mr. O’Byrne was following him to the lieutenant governor’s office. Mr. Paterson has said he kept Mr. O’Byrne on even after he offered to step aside.
The revelations will almost certainly complicate the administration’s efforts to close a $1.2 billion budget gap in a special legislative session next month. Mr. O’Byrne is the governor’s chief negotiator and has functioned as the administration’s enforcer — a role that will be needed in contentious budget negotiations.
Republicans have largely held their fire, though Liz Feld, the Republican candidate for the 37th Senate district in Westchester County, called on Sunday for Mr. O’Byrne to resign.
“Voters are exasperated with the double standards coming out of Albany,” she said. “They further undermine our confidence in government at the very time when confidence is most needed. Mr. O’Byrne’s resignation would be appropriate for the good of the state.”
Governor Paterson of New York needs to rid himself of any Blagojevich type conflicts. Thus far Governor Paterson is completely clear of any even slight impropriety. However in an election questions will be raised about how and why he selected the next U.S. Senator from New York. Any question that “financial assistance” to his “right hand” came from the Kennedy machine in exchange for an appointment to the U.S. Senate must be drowned now.
Caroline Kennedy refuses to disclose any financial information to the public.
Governor Paterson for his own good must reject the Kennedy machine’s myriad attempts, however subtle or distant, to be gifted a Senate seat.
The Obama crime lords are already moving to Washington, D.C. They must not be allowed to open a field office in Albany, New York via Hyannis.
[Next: Schumer's secret opposition to Caroline.]
For Hillary Supporters this has been a disappointing year. We lost something very valuable. Because of that loss we have also gained something very valuable.
The loss is not what the Hopium addled chortle about. The loss is not about a candidate nor an election. The loss is of those we thought were like-minded, those we thought friends, those we lost respect for.
In short, we lost yet another bit of innocence. In short, we gained a firmer grasp of reality.
In an earlier generation, when a President was slaughtered in Dallas, a writer of the time said “We’ll never laugh again.” The writer was wrong of course. But after that Mannilicher-Carcano fired its deadly shots Americans never viewed their government in the same way again.
Americans later learned of Operation Mongoose, C.I.A. wet jobs, coups, Vietnam, Watergate, and their not-so-virginally-clean government.
For Hillary Supporters, election 2008 taught us about how ugly our Party, the Democratic Party, could be. The blinders came off, eyes opened wide - sometimes in disbelief - at the similarities between the ugliest Republicans and the “best” Democrats. Democrats we had supported through thick and thin, like Ted Kennedy and Nancy Pelosi, proved to be as adept at double dealing and vileness as the most rancid Republicans.
We also saw how some of our fellow Democrats could be led by the nose in the same way we used to laugh at “mindless” Republicans. There are a lot of lessons learned.
* * *
For Hillary Supporters, the stink of a B.O. administration will not be a surprise.
We will not wake up having to apologize for the latest Obama blunder or the latest Obama flim-flam. We will nod our heads and acknowledge the reality of the great American blunder of 2008. We lost another bit of our innocence in 2008 but we are armed with reality in 2009.
The Hopium addled Obama supporters have a world of hurt coming to them.
Today pro-Obama hack Frank Rich glimpses into the future and sees the reality we began to write about in April 2007.
Frank Rich is one of those writers we used to admired Like many of our former brethren Frank Rich was someone we shared a great deal with. We laughed along with Frank as he skewered the Republicans and Bush.
In 2008 Frank Rich, and many of the writers we used to admire, became like those they hated - like those they once attacked. They were either silent as a great woman was attacked in the most sexist of ways or were complicit in those sexist and misogynistic assasinations.
As 2008 ends, Frank Rich begins to confront the ugly reality he has helped to create - just as much as Republican shills are responsible for the horror that is George W. Remember our warnings of Obama the flim-flam man who is the third Bush term as well as an anti-gay bigot? Today’s Frank Rich Bushwah:
But for the first time a faint tinge of Bush crept into my Obama reveries this month.
As we saw during primary season, our president-elect is not free of his own brand of hubris and arrogance, and sometimes it comes before a fall: “You’re likable enough, Hillary” was the prelude to his defeat in New Hampshire. He has hit this same note again by assigning the invocation at his inauguration to the Rev. Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch preacher who has likened committed gay relationships to incest, polygamy and “an older guy marrying a child.” Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious — and glib — decision by Obama to spend political capital. It was made with the certitude that a leader with a mandate can do no wrong. [snip]
Warren, whose ego is no less than Obama’s, likes to advertise his “commitment to model civility in America.” But as Rachel Maddow of MSNBC reminded her audience, “comparing gay relationships to child abuse” is a “strange model of civility.” Less strange but equally hard to take is Warren’s defensive insistence that some of his best friends are the gays: His boasts of having “eaten dinner in gay homes” and loving Melissa Etheridge records will not protect any gay families’ civil rights.
Equally lame is the argument mounted by an Obama spokeswoman, Linda Douglass, who talks of how Warren has fought for “people who have H.I.V./AIDS.” Shouldn’t that be the default position of any religious leader? Fighting AIDS is not a get-out-of-homophobia-free card. That Bush finally joined Bono in doing the right thing about AIDS in Africa does not mitigate the gay-baiting of his 2004 campaign, let alone his silence and utter inaction when the epidemic was killing Texans by the thousands, many of them gay men, during his term as governor.
Rich’s particular interests in gay issues forced him to speak out about the Warren invitation even as he still deludes himself about Obama the anti-gay bigot. Frank Rich for all his intelligence does not want to admit he has bamboozled and flim-flammed for Obama. Obama’s words do “not mitigate the gay bashing of his 20048 campaign”. Rich retreats to swips about the Obama ego instead of acknowledging that Obama’s pro-gay rights words are meant only in the service of flim-flamming white liberal ears. Rich (and Maddow and Etheridge) continues to bamboozle Americans by defending Obama and pretending Obama is anything but an anti-gay bigot.
Unlike Bush, Obama has been the vocal advocate of gay civil rights he claims to be. It is over the top to assert, as a gay writer at Time did, that the president-elect is “a very tolerant, very rational-sounding sort of bigot.” Much more to the point is the astute criticism leveled by the gay Democratic congressman Barney Frank, who, in dissenting from the Warren choice, said of Obama, “I think he overestimates his ability to get people to put aside fundamental differences.” That’s a polite way of describing the Obama cockiness. It will take more than the force of the new president’s personality and eloquence to turn our nation into the United States of America he and we all want it to be.
Again and again the Hopium addled live outside reality when they think that the great issues are a matter of personality. Americans are divided and many around the world hate America because of our interests and beliefs, not our personalities nor the personalities of our leaders.
Obama may not only overestimate his ability to bridge some of our fundamental differences but also underestimate how persistent some of those differences are. The exhilaration of his decisive election victory and the deserved applause that has greeted his mostly glitch-free transition can’t entirely mask the tensions underneath. Before there is profound social change, there is always high anxiety.
The success of Proposition 8 in California was a serious shock to gay Americans and to all the rest of us who believe that all marriages should be equal under the law. The roles played by African-Americans (who voted 70 percent in favor of Proposition 8 ) and by white Mormons (who were accused of bankrolling the anti-same-sex-marriage campaign) only added to the morning-after recriminations. And that was in blue California. In Arkansas, voters went so far as to approve a measure forbidding gay couples to adopt.
Frank Rich will eventually be forced to express the reality of Obama as we have so accurately described it. Andrew Sullivan and John Kerry sold Obama’s “black face” as the great hope. Opposition governments and terrorists HOPING for our demise will not be disuaded by a black face in the White House. Obama knows exactly what he is doing. Obama is anti-gay and his Warren invitation is not “too cute by half” it is purposeful policy-making.
Warren’s defamation of gay people illustrates why, as does our president-elect’s rationalization of it. When Obama defends Warren’s words by calling them an example of the “wide range of viewpoints” in a “diverse and noisy and opinionated” America, he is being too cute by half. He knows full well that a “viewpoint” defaming any minority group by linking it to sexual crimes like pedophilia is unacceptable.
It is even more toxic in a year when that group has been marginalized and stripped of its rights by ballot initiatives fomenting precisely such fears. “You’ve got to give them hope” was the refrain of the pioneering 1970s gay politician Harvey Milk, so stunningly brought back to life by Sean Penn on screen this winter. Milk reminds us that hope has to mean action, not just words.
By the historical standards of presidential hubris, Obama’s disingenuous defense of his tone-deaf invitation to Warren is nonetheless a relatively tiny infraction. It’s no Bay of Pigs. But it does add an asterisk to the joyous inaugural of our first black president. It’s bizarre that Obama, of all people, would allow himself to be on the wrong side of this history.
Rich proceeds to then attack the courageous Bill Clinton. Obama is a “sweet talking swindler”. Bill Clinton showed leadership on the issue of gay rights at a time when Americans were not so tolerant. As in his column today Frank Rich will use any opportunity to insult the Clintons and felate Obama.
It was not always thus.
Frank Rich is an astute observer. We cannot excuse him as a stupid man for the columns he writes. In the same way Obama’s actions cannot be excused as “bone-headed”. Obama’s actions too are purposeful, if dangerous and deceptive.
Before he was an Obama shill writing deceptive propaganda, before he wrote political columns, Frank Rich was the Drama Critic for the New York Times. He reviewed movies too. One film Frank Rich reviewed back in December 1999 was The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Frank Rich’s review, American Pseudo, demonstrates his intelligence as it is warped by his Clinton hate. Frank Rich really hates the Clintons and anyone he associates with them. Frank Rich will aid and abet any scam designed to attack the Clintons. In 1999 Frank Rich was reviewing a film and expressing his Bill Clinton hate. But we can now read that 1999 review as the American future. American Pseudo is soon to be the American President:
In this age of rampant reinvention when political candidates, entrepreneurs and criminals change selves like quicksilver ‘The Talented Mr. Ripley’ may be Hollywood’s most chilling and up-to-date portrait of our national character.
At this late date in the century — the century defined by the American success story — the two men considered most likely to succeed to the presidency are both running away from their pasts. One, brought up in a ritzy hotel by a Washington political family, has reinvented himself as a down-home Tennessean; the other, a political prince educated at Andover, Yale and Harvard, is now a man of the people in cowboy boots. The man whose job they covet, of course, is the former Bill Blythe, son of a traveling salesman and product of the disreputable gambling town of Hot Springs, Ark., who, via Georgetown, Oxford and Yale, long ago remade himself (for a while anyway) into the Man From Hope. [snip]
Our youth culture is dominated by hip-hop, which has become a means for white kids to reconfigure themselves as black. The god of adult commerce is Martha Stewart, who, like Ralph Lauren before her, instructs us all on how to be old-school white.
Frank Rich was reviewing a film but is there a better discription of Obama than 1999’s “outlaws come in the cameleon guises“? The Talented Mr. Obama:
It’s into this fluid turn-of-the-century America — when even outlaws come in the chameleon guises of Andrew Cunanan and Martin Frankel — that a new, nightmarish and highly apt movie called “The Talented Mr. Ripley” is being released just in time for the holidays. [snip]
With appropriate fin de siecle melancholy and the relentlessness of a thriller, “Ripley” nails both the wonder that has attended our century’s celebratory version of the American dream and the anxiety that is stirred up by that dream’s stealthy doppelganger, the American tragedy that befalls the Gatsbyesque dreamer who goes too far.
“Ripley” asks us to identify with an American man who, like so many before him, believes in the democratic ethos that says anyone can jettison the past, wipe the slate clean and with pluck and luck be whoever he or she wants to be. The earnest, upwardly mobile Tom Ripley, played by Damon, isn’t particularly greedy or ambitious, but he does want to rise above his drab circumstances to grab the right, socially acceptable lifestyle, along with love and money. By the time he takes a wrong turn in pursuit of his fantasy, we’re already along for the ride, rooting for his success and happiness as we might for our own, even if that means we become locked with our outlaw hero in a very dark and solitary place — even if, to our extreme discomfort, we find ourselves, in our secret heart of hearts, rooting for him to get away with murder.
Frank Rich rooted for Obama to get away with a political murder. The hero of the 1999 film bears an eerie resemblance to Rezko’s pal.
When we first meet its title character, he’s a pallid, immaculate young man, with Clark Kent glasses and the fastidious manners of a manservant or corporate accountant. [snip]
“I always thought, Better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody,” Tom says, and no matter what the human cost, including the annihilation of his own self, he will not be denied. Clark Kent wills himself into Superman, but a Superman as ruthless as Macbeth. [snip]
Tom is the intelligent, poor and shy nerd who craves only to be part of the “in” crowd, and what American, from junior high school on, does not know that desperate feeling of wanting to mortgage one’s soul in order to fit in?
“Everybody’s not been invited to the dance at one time or another,” says Damon, who took on the gutsy and demanding assignment — for which he lost weight, studied piano and modulated his vocal pitch and posture — in part because of his identification with the character’s “total discomfort in his identity” and his compassion for the character’s “deep, intense loneliness.” [snip]
When Tom is mocked for his square corduroy sport jacket or his “bourgeois” taste in furnishings or his inability to ski — or is literally left to stand on the outside looking in through a window as Dickie and a condescending society pal or Dickie and Marge exchange intimacies he can never share — it’s hard not to feel the character’s panicked sense of exclusion and isolation, of envy and rejection, his aching hunger to be chosen, to be part of the club, to be wanted, to be loved.
The first time we had an extended look at Barack Obama was as he stood alone in the elegant side lobby, by the stairs, in the Four Seasons Hotel during the Boston 2004 Democratic convention. He stood, nerdishly alone, well apart from the Hollywood stars like Rob Reiner and the fabulously wealthy Democratic elite. He appeared desperate for a cigarette and attention.
The writer of Ripley, according to Rich, said about her character “He could be called psychotic,” “But I would not call him insane because his actions are rational. . . . I consider him a rather civilized person who kills when he absolutely has to.” If there’s “not much to be admired” about him, she added, he was also “not entirely to be censured.”
Obama has come a long way from that afternoon at the Four Seasons. He has displayed a remarkable talent for deceit.
Americans suffered much for their willful delusions in this and the last half of the past century. Our scam artists and scam writers turn American Pseudo into American Psycho.
It appears we Americans will suffer even more in the coming years. Hillary supporters will not be surprised however. We spotted Mr. Obama’s talent long ago.
Still groggy from the celebrations, Whoville began to stir.
All that consumed Hopium, in its myriad varieties, had its effect. At dawn, heads throbbed, bodies ached. Reality’s beams broke through the blinds. Whoville had a hangover.
The Grinch, busy as ever, during the night had taken the under-the-tree presents and drained the oil lamps dry.
Not much was left for Whoville to enjoy, save for the sweet sickly resin smell of the Frankincense and Myrrh which the Grinch dabbed behind his ears, like an annointing cologne. Whoville’s Hopes were dashed. It would be a long year a-coming.
Poor Whoville. The Grinch had suckered them all save for a very few.
And this Grinch was not coming back with returned gifts.
This Grinch was Hawaii bound.
* * *
More news from Whoville:
Who knew? Hillary sent back Caroline’s check:
This decade, other than a $1,000 donation to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Camelot heiress has not financially supported any Democrat seeking city or state office in New York, records reveal.
Some say Kennedy, who is worth at least $100 million, missed an opportunity to curry favor among Democratic pols to establish herself as a serious political player as she lobbies Gov. Paterson for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat.
She has already been asked to explain a spotty Election Day voting record over the past 20 years. [snip]
Kennedy gave to Clinton’s Senate and presidential campaigns. The former First Lady returned $2,300 of Kennedy’s cash after she endorsed Barack Obama. [snip]
In 2005, Kennedy did not publicly back Mayor Bloomberg’s Democratic challenger, Fernando Ferrer. An aide contended she voted for Ferrer, though she had worked for Bloomberg.
Like the Cole Porter song, Mrs. Otis Regrets Caroline Kennedy regrets.
On reports that she has missed votes in several elections: “I was dismayed by my voting record.”
Krugman hopes for a clean government (from Chicago?) and is checking his list:
So what are the lessons for the Obama team?
First, the administration of the economic recovery plan has to be squeaky clean. Purely economic considerations might suggest cutting a few corners in the interest of getting stimulus moving quickly, but the politics of the situation dictates great care in how money is spent. And enforcement is crucial: inspectors general have to be strong and independent, and whistle-blowers have to be rewarded, not punished as they were in the Bush years.
Second, the plan has to be really, truly pork-free. Vice President-elect Joseph Biden recently promised that the plan “will not become a Christmas tree”; the new administration needs to deliver on that promise.
Finally, the Obama administration and Democrats in general need to do everything they can to build an F.D.R.-like bond with the public. Never mind Mr. Obama’s current high standing in the polls based on public hopes that he’ll succeed. He needs a solid base of support that will remain even when things aren’t going well.
And I have to say that Democrats are off to a bad start on that front. The attempted coronation of Caroline Kennedy as senator plays right into 40 years of conservative propaganda denouncing “liberal elites.” And surely I wasn’t the only person who winced at reports about the luxurious beach house the Obamas have rented, not because there’s anything wrong with the first family-elect having a nice vacation, but because symbolism matters, and these weren’t the images we should be seeing when millions of Americans are terrified about their finances.
Krugman winced at the luxurious beach house? What about the luxurious Rezko financed house? And “clean government” from Chicago???
Prosecutor Fitzgerald has already questioned Obama. Ordinarily a federal prosecutor questioning a political figure is a huge story. But Obama kept it quiet until just before Christmas. Big Media doesn’t want to disturb the wafting scent of Frankincense and Myrrh.
But the stench of Chicago corruption is not going away.
An attorney for Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has asked a panel of Illinois state lawmakers who are considering impeaching the embattled governor to subpoena two of President-elect Barack Obama’s top aides.
The attorney, Ed Genson, requested that incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett testify before the 21-member panel. [snip]
Obama, Emanuel and Jarrett were each interviewed by FBI agents and federal prosecutors last week about their dealings with the Illinois governor, a fact first made public in the transition’s report, issued the days before Christmas Eve as Obama vacationed in Hawaii and Emanuel visited Africa. None of the three have spoken to the press about the interviews or Blagojevich since the report’s release.
No amount of Frankincense, Hopium, or Myrrh will replace or remove the stench of Chicago corruption.
It’s not Camelot. It’s not even Camelittle. It’s full of rot… CamelRot.
We’ve called for a Special Prosecutor to investigate Barack Obama and the entanglements/potential crimes of his government funded transition team. Today, the Obama transition team’s lawyer exonerated the Obama transition team. The honesty of the Obama team can be measured by its level of transparency. Until today the team said not a word about the fact that Obama was interviewed, or was it deposed, by Patrick Fitzgerald last week. Zero transparency = zero trust.
It also appears another Special Prosecutor is needed to investigate what exactly George W. is responsible for doing and what congressional Democrats are responsible for doing. It appears that Dimocrats have some ’splaining to do.
Our political system is in a state of severe rot. Republicans can’t be trusted. The Naderites are irresponsible and have taken over the Democratic Party. And what used to be the Democratic Party is, after primary season, more like a bad nursery rhyme :
There was a crooked man,
And he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence
Upon a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat,
Which* caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a crooked little house.
* * *
First up, Caroline Kennedy:
The embarrassment called Hendrik Hertzberg misses the point on Caroline Kennedy. Hertzberg dismisses the “dynasty” argument (during the primaries this was a main argument in the Hillary Haters catechism), there is contempt for the “experience” argument, there is zero curiosity about her positions - Hertzberg assumes Caroline is to the right of Uncle Teddy and to the left of Barack Obama.
Hertzberg’ and other “appoint Caroline” cadres appear to be concerned about Caroline. We’re concerned about the people of New York State. Caroline is and will be a shill for Obama. The people of New York need someone who will represent them and fight the untrustworthy Obama if need be. Has Caroline ever “fought” for anything? Has Caroline every “fought” for anyone outside of her family interests?
We do know that Caroline has raised money for her pet projects as they enter her mind. But has she ever had to butt heads with anyone to get something done? Would Caroline call out Obama or her own party if their actions would harm New Yorkers?
It’s the people of New York that matter not the fate of Caroline Kennedy.
A Kennedy. Camelot. Ah! The greatness of it all? Not.[snip]
Paterson has taken a tack much unexpected by challenging all to tighten belts, cut spending, pay more fees to the state and get rid of waste after Wall Street’s collapse and the subsequent free fall in tax collections from the financial services business.
Paterson could have a tough time. Voters don’t like losing money, they hate losing services, and all the earnest explanations about fighting the good fight together won’t put better food on the table or pay the bills.
He needs someone who can help him win, and he needs someone who can win. He and the senator he chooses will both face the voters together. With that in mind, is Caroline Kennedy the correct choice?
On the issues of the day, Kennedy has been mighty silent. Financial cretins stealing for fun, profit and because they can? Not a word.
The wars? Syllable-less. Millions of humans evaporated in Africa’s inner madness? Quiet and silent.
The auto bailout? Nada. The printing of a trillion soon-to-be inflated dollars that will further sap our savings? On such matters, Kennedy remains absolutely silent.
What about the destruction of the economy of western New York?
Does she know that there is a deeply pained world beyond the Westchester County border just a bit north of New York City that benefited little from some fairy-tale place called Camelot and less from well-orchestrated and timed public relations campaigns afforded only by the rich?
Why should Caroline Kennedy be named a U.S. senator? Is it because merit no longer matters?
Hillary Clinton campaigned for months with Chuck Schumer in upstate New York, then spent at least a year in her “listening tour” of upstate New York before asking voters for a vote. When Hillary Clinton runs for office the yells start for “disclosure”. After the data is disclosed, the Hillary Haters grimace and wait for the next opportunity to yell “disclosure”. Of course for the Dimocrats and the Republicans “disclosure” is restricted to the Clintons.
If she were applying to be, say, an undersecretary of education in Barack Obama’s new administration, Caroline Kennedy would have to fill out a 63-item confidential questionnaire disclosing potentially embarrassing text messages and diary entries, the immigration status of her household staff, even copies of every résumé she used in the last 10 years.
If she were running for election to the Senate, Kennedy would have to file a 10-part, publicly available report disclosing her financial assets, credit card debts, mortgages, book deals and the sources of any payments greater than $5,000 in the last three years.
But Kennedy, who has asked Governor David Paterson to appoint her to succeed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton — and who helped oversee the vetting process for Obama’s possible running mates — is declining to provide a variety of basic data, including companies she has a stake in and whether she has ever been charged with a crime.
Disclosure? Let them eat cake. Caroline Kennedy sends her regrets:
Kennedy declined on Monday to reply to those and other questions posed by The New York Times about any potential ethical, legal and financial entanglements. Through a spokesman, she said she would not disclose that kind of information unless and until she becomes a senator. [snip]
“Precisely because there is no campaign or election, she should be more willing to disclose and subject herself to a greater level of public scrutiny than is required,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, a nonpartisan watchdog group. He noted that other major contenders for the Senate seat — officeholders like the attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, and Representative Kirsten Gillibrand — have mounted runs for office and filed public disclosures before. [snip]
Kennedy also avoided disclosing any information about her finances while working as chief fund-raiser for the New York City Department of Education. She took the three-day-a-week job — director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships — in October 2002 at $1 a year, intending at the time to step up to a $90,000-a-year salary, but she later decided to forgo the salary. Taking it would have required her to file disclosures with the city’s Conflicts of Interests Board, officials said.
Since then, Kennedy has been a vice chairwoman of the Fund for Public Schools, the nonprofit arm of the strategic partnerships office. A 2006 state law required that the board members of all nonprofits “affiliated, sponsored by or created by” a city government submit detailed disclosure forms. But on Dec. 10, the city told an Assembly committee that the Fund for Public Schools would be exempt from the law, reasoning that the Department of Education is, legally speaking, a school district, not a city agency — even though the mayor has control over the schools.
The upshot: Kennedy, for now, is not subject to those disclosure rules, either.
The financial world is getting special favors from congress but Caroline Kennedy has been successful in keeping her financial transactions secret from the public she proclaims she wants to represent.
Not much is known about what she would fight for. Not much is known about what she has done.
During the two years Caroline Kennedy worked as a fundraiser and goodwill ambassador for New York City’s schools chancellor, Joel Klein, co-workers would frequently drift by her workspace for a glimpse of the department’s most famous $1-a-year employee.
As often as not, they were greeted by an empty chair. [snip]
A passionate commitment to public education is one of Kennedy’s three main selling points in her bid to win appointment to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat, along with her platinum pedigree and a reputation for above-the-fray rectitude.
Yet because she has taken so few public positions, her education record – or what passes for it – has become just about the only public policy issue on which the 51-year-old political rookie can be judged.
The problem is, she hardly left a vapor trail.
Caroline Kennedy “sat out the epic legal battle to secure billions in state funding for low-income students” and hardly left a vapor trail. How can she be expected to fight for New Yorkers? If Obama and the Dimocrats want to hurt New York with their policies the Caroline history is that she would be their shill - not a fighter for the people of New York State.
After spending a few hours a day for two years Caroline Kennedy had a book to sell so she went on a book tour.
When she left, The New York Times wrote: “For months after she started, even some high-level education officials said they were not quite sure what she did. In an interview about eight months into her tenure, she would not say how often she worked at the department headquarters or how many hours she spent on the job, saying only, ‘I put in as much time as I can.’”
Like Obama’s “community organizing”, Caroline Kennedy was given credit for the work of others.
When Klein, speaking to the Times, credited Kennedy with securing $51 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for small schools, Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice tracked down officials who claimed the grant was actually set up by Klein deputy Michele Cahill.
Tom Vander Ark, former education director for the Gates Foundation, told Barrett that Kennedy “didn’t have anything to do” with obtaining the $51 million.
If opinions differ on Kennedy’s role as an administrator, her positions on several major education issues have proven even harder to nail down.
Maybe if Caroline Kennedy voted more often she would be up to date on the issues when it mattered to the people of New York. The gaps in voting (1989, 1993, 1994, 1997, 2002, 2005) remind us of “present” Obama and his excuses and chicanery (not to mention the “mistaken” votes).
Governor David Paterson must make a serious Senate, not social calendar, appointment. There are other, actually qualified and vetted, candidates.
* * *
What did the Dimocrats know and when did they know it? We’ve spent months berating George W. while the Dimocrats hid their own rot and complicity.
CHRIS WALLACE: Let’s drill down into some of the specific measures that you pushed — first of all, the warrantless surveillance on a massive scale, without telling the appropriate court, without seeking legislation from Congress. Why not, in the aftermath of 9/11 and the spirit of national unity, get approval, support, bring in the other branches of government?
CHENEY: Well, let me tell you a story about the terror surveillance program. We did brief the Congress. . . . We brought in the chairman and the ranking member, House and Senate, and briefed them a number of times up until — this was — be from late ‘01 up until ‘04 when there was additional controversy concerning the program.
At that point, we brought in what I describe as the big nine — not only the intel people but also the speaker, the majority and minority leaders of the House and Senate, and brought them into the situation room in the basement of the White House.
I presided over the meeting. We briefed them on the program, and what we’d achieved, and how it worked, and asked them, “Should we continue the program?” They were unanimous, Republican and Democrat alike. All agreed — absolutely essential to continue the program.
I then said, “Do we need to come to the Congress and get additional legislative authorization to continue what we’re doing?” They said, “Absolutely not. Don’t do it, because it will reveal to the enemy how it is we’re reading their mail.”
That happened. We did consult. We did keep them involved. We ultimately ended up having to go to the Congress after the New York Times decided they were going to make the judge to review all of — or make all of this available, obviously, when they reacted to a specific leak.
But it was a program that we briefed on repeatedly. We did these briefings in my office. I presided over them. We went to the key people in the House and Senate intel committees and ultimately the entirely leadership and sought their advice and counsel, and they agreed we should not come back to the Congress.
If Cheney is telling the truth, a big if, then the Dimocrats are complicit in the Bush rot.
Maybe that is why Obama is keeping the George W. Bush war team.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who has been named to the same Cabinet post in the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama, is asking experienced members of the Bush war team to stick around to smooth the transition in the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has asked most Bush administration political appointees except those targeted for dismissal to stay on in the Pentagon until replaced by the Obama administration in the coming months.
“I have received authorization from the president-elect’s transition team to extend a number of Department of Defense political appointees an invitation to voluntarily remain in their current positions until replaced,” Mr. Gates said in an Dec. 19 e-mail to political appointees.
If the George W. hold-overs are not troubling enough, the Dimocratic rot is.
The Dimocrat rot includes Nancy Pelosi, Jane Harman, Jay Rockefeller and Tom Daschle. Obama, Pelosi, Harman and Rockefeller all voted for the FISA bill Obama had promised to filibuster.
The passage of the FISA bill with its telecom immunity provision means Pelosi, Harman, and Rockefeller will not undergo investigation. We need a Special Prosecutor to get rid of the Republican and Dimocratic rot.
Special Prosecutors need to investigate the fact that there is a crooked man who is about bring his crooked friends to Washington. Chicago and Washington are about to be renamed CamelRot.
Barack Obama repeatedly hosts homophobes at his events and has decades long friendships and business relationships and actual personal business transactions with slumlords and now convicted felons - but the Hopium addled denounce our reciting these facts as “guilt by association”. “Facts” are now denounced in Bush/Obama world as “guilt by association”.
Hypocrite Democrats meanwhile tie this Saturday’s coming birth of Governor Sarah Palin’s daughter’s baby to the recent arrest of Governor Sarah Palin’s daughter’s in-the-future mother-in-law. Lesson for Hypocrite Democrats: that is “guilt by association”.
We suppose the Hopium addled will take out their “guilt by association” trumpets and be unhappy with the latest reporting from Chicago corruption watchers:
President-elect Barack Obama’s incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had a deeper involvement in pressing for a U.S. Senate seat appointment than previously reported, the Sun-Times has learned. Emanuel had direct discussions about the seat with Gov. Blagojevich, who is is accused of trying to auction it to the highest bidder.
Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, sources with knowledge of the conversations told the Sun-Times. There was no indication from sources that Emanuel brokered a deal, however. [snip]
But sources with knowledge of the investigation said Blagojevich told his aides about the calls with Emanuel and sometimes gave them directions afterward. Sources said that early on, Emanuel pushed for the appointment of Jarrett to the governor and his staff and asked that it be done by a certain date.
As Sherlock Holmes would say “The game is afoot!” The investigations will continue. Any “overt acts” will be uncovered.
Meanwhile the Illinois legislature, controlled by Democrats, is in session. Earlier, they had said they would legislate a special election to replace the very replaceable Barack Obama. Now, aware that the Democrats might lose the election due to the Obama Chicago Culture Of Corruption, the Democrats have decided not to risk asking voters to decide who the next Illinois Senator will be.
The problem is that Blagojevich is not going away. Blagojevich will fight. Blagojevich might even talk - or is it “Sing”.
The “reform” and “change” Governor of Illinois will fight.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich said Friday that he was not guilty, that he is not stepping down as governor and that he will “fight until I take my last breath.” [snip]
He said he will not step down or resign from office and intends to address the allegations against him in court.
He said he expects to be vindicated.
“I’m here to tell you right off the bat that I am not guilty of any criminal wrongdoing, that I intend to stay on the job, and I will fight this thing every step of the way. I will fight, I will fight, I will fight until I take my last breath,” Blagojevich said. “I have done nothing wrong.”
He cast himself as a victim in the case, and said he will not let a “political lynch mob” force him from office. [snip]
Prosecutors say FBI wiretaps caught Blagojevich scheming to deal President-elect Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat for campaign cash or a plum job. He is also accused of attempting to withhold funding to the facilitate the Tribune Company sale of Wrigley Field if editorial writers for the Tribune paper weren’t fired, and attempting to shake down Children’s Memorial Hospital. [snip]
The document indicated that the impeachment committee plans to accuse Blagojevich not of the charges in the criminal complaint, but of abuse of power charges. Among them are entering the Family Care Program into law with no legislative approval, illegal spending on flu vaccines, hiring of consultants and contractors, and giving $1 million to the Loop Lab School that later vanished.
Blagojevich will not be impeached for the charges in the criminal complaint. The charges in the criminal complaint are just really the Chicago Way.
Yup, it’s the Chicago Way. John Kass discusses Jesse Jackson, Jr.:
The Junior G-Man thing began after the governor was charged with trying to sell the Senate seat of President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder, including emissaries of an unidentified Candidate 5, who later was identified as Jackson.
The Tribune then reported that a group of Indian businessmen held a fundraiser for Blagojevich—with Jackson’s brother Jonathan in attendance—and quoted several businessmen that they raised the money hoping Blagojevich would make Jackson the next senator.
“I never sent a message or an emissary to the governor to make an offer, plead my case or propose a deal about a U.S. Senate seat, period,” Jackson said.
Jackson was in a bind. He wasn’t being accused of a crime, but people who wanted him in the Senate were willing to pony up, and things were getting sticky. You could imagine the Jackson brain trust pacing the floor in fear, stroking their chins, muttering, “What to do? What to do?”
Just sweat it out Jesse. That’s what Obama’s doing. Just sweating it out and hoping the Governor does not decide to become the Singing Governor.
In Obama’s Chicago - “Change” and “Reform” are just words.