(April 17, 2008)
Did anyone not see the "debate" last night? I didn't consider it much of a debate and it didn't help Clinton at all with Obamaholics though some of the content of that exchange of views may have hammered some issues into the minds of super-delegates - which will hurt Obama in the general election - if those super-delegates were listening - and I would bet they minds were hanging onto every word. (
Obamisms)
What hurt Hillary was her answer on Bosnia. There for a brief moment, when she said she discussed it with Wesley Clark, I thought she might actually be able to save herself from the trouble she is in with Democrats who lost faith in her after that slip, but it was not to be. I don't know if Wesley told her to just come clean or to qualify her misstep. Yes, she could admit to error without admitting to lying. But she was either too pressured to think to do it or her advice wasn't that good after-all. She should have emphasized her risks and played down her embellishing the moment. She could have said she felt as-if she might come under fire from snipers because she was told about snipers and was warned of the danger. That sense of dread was very much on her mind but 14 years ago was not like 4 years ago when the State's informant/witness said Obama met Auchi and even toasted the Saddam Hussein and Rezko financier and then Obama conveniently forgot about it. What is worse? Forgetting exactly what happened 14 years ago when she went into a REAL war zone where people were dying and there was sniper fire and misspoke about dodging bullets which never happened but her body guards took care of things like that anyway and she may have been mistaken about some of the details?
I really thought I coined that word, but it appears to be all over the net and conservatives have been throwing
the word around for some time -- even if I thought I got it from my own muse. And that is the problem with memories. You hear things and you forget but they are there in your mind waiting to come out. It is like the statement about sniper
fire in Bosnia. She heard it mentioned, probably more than once. It was there in her head so it came out. It just wasn't
exactly as she remembered it. Does it qualify as a misstatement? Sure, but it isn't a lie. It is 14 years later and how she remembered it. What is certain, because I remember them and if you paid attention you did to, was the terrible mass atrocities at that very time in Bosnia.
("banality of evil")
Though careful to say he is electable, even if she thinks otherwise (and you know she does) Hillary is right with her message to the superdelegates that he will have an extraordinary quantity of negative baggage (some of it is not refutable) in the general election; more than even the so far "untouchable" Obama can deflect. She says she has already confronted her own negatives, but we know, don't we, that no matter which one is the presumptive candidate, there will be plenty of flak coming at them from the right. His troubles, however, will be much worse. I'm quite frankly surprised the Democrats still don't see it coming.
Machines can do complex things. Even simple things, like measure stress
and tell if someone is lying. When I left the army since I had worked in
the White House and the War Room at the Pentagon (60s) and around and with all
kinds of security I was invited to a demonstration of the first voice
analysis stress device, so they have been around for a long time. Perhaps
we ought to be using them in the presidential election to determine who
lies the most, because it is a certainty they all lie to some degree.
Globes, a company in Israel is manufacturing a lie detector to be
an add-on for Skype. Their lie detector (KishKish) shows the stress levels
of the speaker. Nobody has asked the presidential candidates to take the
test for obvious reasons. - A Transformative Future
Obama studied Islam. He said he did. He admires those who practice the faith. He claims to be a Christian NOW but he doesn't differentiate so much that anyone has ever heard him criticize Islam for it's many excesses. It seems, it is too politically incorrect to ask him in a presidential debate how he feels about Muslim treatment of women. I'm not sure McCain will ask either. His (McCain) supporters will but they will be considered the fringe and there is the likelihood that Obama and his spokespeople will ignore those kinds of inquiries. It is not an inappropriate question considering what has been said by his friend, the former Weatherman English college professor friend of his, William Ayers, who he defended in the exchange of views (the so-called debate) last night. And why wasn't that question followed up as well? That is a topic which will be fully explored in the general election if Obama becomes the nominee and the polls are not favorable for Clinton at this point in the process.
He deflected the question about Ayers with a stab at Clinton because he
said her husband pardoned two members of the Weatherman. What Bill Clinton
did as president is not equivalent to what Barack Obama does now and who
his friends are. (In 1985, former Weather Underground members Susan
Rosenberg (who also was implicated in the Nyack robbery) and Linda Evans
were apprehended while transporting 740 pounds of explosives which they
both acknowledged were slated for use in additional bombings. Rosenberg
was sentenced to 58 years in prison, Evans 40; President Bill Clinton
pardoned both women in January 2001. - Sourced from the Internet) Obama's
political career in Chicago was launched with the help of William Ayres
and Bernardine Dohrn, WU leaders. (MyDD zebra01)
The William Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn relationship is personal with Obama and does merit a lot of scrutiny (also from the same weblog):
"Bill Ayers, along with his wife Bernadine Dohrn, was an active member of the Weather Underground, a radical left-wing group that advocated violence against the United State. - Both Ayers and Dohrn went "underground" in 1970 after others in the group accidentally detonated a bomb in a Greenwich Village (New York City) townhouse. The blast killed three of the group's members including Ayers' girlfriend at the time. - While Ayers and Dohrn were hiding from law enforcement, the Weather Underground participated in the bombings of the US Capital, the Pentagon and a State Department building. In 1981 Ayers and Dohrn turned themselves in to federal authorities, but all charges were dropped as a result of alleged "government legal misconduct." In his 2001 memoir, Ayers wrote, "I don't regret setting the bombs. I feel we didn't do enough." - Ayers and Dohrn are known to have held at least one fundraiser for Barack Obama in their Chicago home. - During Obama's last year on the board of The Woods Fund (2002), he participated in awarding grants, including a $70,000 grant to the Arab American Action Network, a Chicago-based group founded by Rashid and Mona Khalidi. - In another suspected quid pro quo arrangement similar to those with Ayers and Rezko, Rashid Khalidi also held a fundraising event in his home for Barack Obama. - In the Middle East, Rashid Khalidi was known as a man to be reckoned with. From 1972 through 1983, Khalidi was the director in Beirut of the official Palestinian press agency, FAFA. His wife worked there as well. - According to sources, when the Khalidi's left Chicago for Columbia University in New York, Rashid was honored with the Edward Said Chair in Arab Studies at that Ivy League university. Their goodbye party in Chicago included testimonials from Bill Ayers and Barack Obama."
It was also reported in The Common Voice:
"A top official at the Pentagon during former-President George H. W. Bush's Administration and a former CIA intelligence officer maintain that Barack Obama and former Weather Underground honcho William Ayers funneled money to Professor Rashid Khalidi, a known terrorist sympathizer. - Khalidi serves on the faculty of Columbia University in New York and is best known as the professor who invited Iranian President Ahmedinejad to visit Columbia University after he finished his speech at the United Nations. According to confidential sources, Khalidi has direct ties to the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), a group on the US State Department's list of known terrorist groups."
Obama falsely claimed Clinton's pastor defended the Rev Wright. This is from the Clinton campaign (3/31/2008):
"News reports falsely suggested that Rev. Snyder, a man who recently defended Jeremiah Wright’s statements, was Hillary’s pastor. - Hillary does not know Rev. Snyder. Yesterday she said: - "Let me set the record straight. Number one, I have not attended or even visited Foundry Church since 2001. I don’t know Reverend Snyder but I certainly respect his right to express his opinion." (Clinton Statement, 3/27/08) - Senator Clinton is a lifelong United Methodist, the second largest protestant denomination in the United States. Her church membership is at First United Methodist Church in Little Rock. Senator Clinton also attends church in the New York area and as she travels around the nation and world."
MSNBC News Chuck Todd – Obama "did not have a good night. Obama’s answer on Ayers and the flag were simply weak. He seemed unprepared, Kinda surprising because questions seemed to stump him each time..." - Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder – "Theres no way Obama could have fared worse." - Washington Post’ Chris Cillizza— "Obama struggled quite a bit when asked about Rev. Wright his pastor." - New York Times’ Katharine Seeyle: "Hillarys in her element as she goes into details. Shes becoming expansive, seemingly in her element as she goes into details; Mr. Obama does not look as thrilled to be still standing there." - Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall – "Hillary certainly seems more self-assured. She certainly seems more self-assured on the Iran question than Obama did we could clearly see he was on delicate territory." - Philadelphia Inquirer – "Obama is again less certain and rambles again." - NBC News’ Matthew Berger – "Obama tried to have it both ways with Israel. Obama's answer on an Iranian attack on Israel tried to seem to have it both ways: highlight his support for Israel but not lock him into treating an attack on Israel like an attack on the U.S. But it may have looked more like a no because it wasn't a firm yes. Clintons answers were direct."
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