I mean after all, every speaker of every state house is chosen the same way Nancy and Harry were, based on how much in campaign contributions they could garner, not on who has the biggest and best ideas.

Bruce Dixon
www.blackagendareport.com

McCain’s Appeal to the PUMA Subconcious Mind(?)
http://preview.tinyurl.com/5oveea

I’m not a psychologist, but I’ve learned enough to feel compelled to speculate on what is, perhaps, a less obvious reason why so many dissed Democrats are not just hanging back, but going full-throttle for McCain.

Includes the eerily prescient 2004 remarks by John McCain’s former campaign manager who discusses the use of race in South Carolina in the Republican Party in 2000…

It’s really a must read….

Yep, that’s the future for you, a boot, smashing down on a face, forever. At least it feels that way a good deal of the time. At this point I don’t want Hillary to associate herself with the so-called leadership of the Democratic party, let them pick Daschle for the VP spot, it would be best not to divert any sitting Dem. Senator or Governor for that essentially functionless role.
By the time November rolls around I’m thinking the race will be just about even. Obama should have a slight edge due to the D. next to his name. But I’m afraid his coattails,will be very short. It will be the taint of Bush (hmmm) that drags the Rs down.
More and better Democrats is probably the best we can hope for now, and if the Ds don’t measure up there may be Independents or Greens or Bull Moose party candidates out there that represent the best option, diversity is good.
One thing is clear, the conservative wing of the Democratic party is all about consolidating power and choking off the least breath of dissent within the ranks. If there’s any lesson to be gleaned from the reign of Bush it’s that the persuit of power for it’s own sake will inevitably lead to disaster.

I don’t like what happened to McKinney, but the Greens are a fruad. There is a reason all their petition drives are funded by Republicans.

I really don’t know what to do.

I try.

OK then, how about Regina Thomas?

Would have done a video, but there wasn’t time.

Bruce Dixon
www.blackagendareport.com

Thomas is one of the House challengers who opposes FISA abuse. The current incombent, is a Bush Dog Democrat Barrow, who has plenty of other bad votes. Obama endorsed Barrow, so a victory for Thomas would be a huge embarrassment for Obama, as well as putting another black female in the House.

in the Georgia primary, but she is PUMA approved

A Thomas victory at this time would be especially sweet.

That would not be a deal-breaker in my book —- I mean it doesn’t make them villains in and of itself any more than the fact that Democrats spent millions in legal fees in efforts to keep them off the ballot. Repubs do whatever they do for their own evil reasons, just like Dems.

If you’re gonna dismiss the Greens it should be based on what they do or fail to do. For instance, there are national Green party honchos who in 2004 told voters NOT to vote for the Green candidate for president, and others (like here in GA) who seem determined to stay marginal for whatever reason, and who never get any better at this organizing thing. This is a good part of why Nader is decided not to seek the Green Party nomination. He and quite a few others do not believe they are serious enough people, at least their national honchos.

And on the third hand there are some highly competent and serious people operating some of the local Green organizations, like the one in DC, the DC-Statehood-Greens. They have acknowledged the criticism of the national folks and decided to just take over the local Green party and do it like they think it ought to be done.

So the Greens are a good idea, and a mixed (no pun attempted) bag.

Bruce Dixon
www.blackagendareport.com

in a 40% or more black district, and it’s a Democratic primary. What do you expect her to do?

Bruce Dixon
www.blackagendareport.com

I am not against someone just because they support Obama, certainly not in a district that is 40% black. I just think it is comical that Thomas is now supported by PUMA people.

I hope she wins, it would be a stunning set back for the Village. It would be a wake up call. It really is a pity Lamont did not win his election, because that would have been a much bigger wake up call.

One of the things that really PO’d me during this primary was when Dick Gregory was getting a roaring standing ovation at the Black State of the Union for completely disrespecting and savaging President Clinton, all the while Donna Brazile was standing right next to him nodding in approval. Then she goes on CNN the next day as an “unbiased” and “uncommitted” pundit opining on the Dem Primary.
And Dean? He didn’t lift one finger or make one sound when Obama and his thugs were calling both Clintons a bunch of racists, an act in which Obama used anti-white racism as a way to monopolize the black vote, which is what I think was his final margin of victory.

With Obama’s endorsement it’s a chance to embarrass him. Also it seems to me that a lot of PUMA people aren’t just Hillary people, some aren’t really Hillary people at all having started out backing other candidates, but are people who are upset with the Democratic Party leadership more generally and the primary process was merely the last straw.

Barrow would appear to be the perfect embodiment of the corruption of the party leadership. If you are furious with Obama, Dean, Daschle, Reid, and Pelosi what better way to embarrass them than to start picking off Dems they’re backing in primaries? Particularly ones as odious as Barrow. And what’s more, Thomas is an opportunity to replace a white man with an African American woman. Given the number of women in the PUMA movement, I can’t help but think this is an added bonus.

I think it would be a good development if the anger the primary generated, much of which for better or worse seems to be harnassed under the PUMA banner, were directed at goals beyond simply the nomination process this cycle. Building a more permanent coalition to start inflicting pain on these assholes and try to take the Democratic Party in a better, more progressive direction would be a terrific legacy of the clusterfuck that was this nominating season. That it would come from the candidacy of Hillary Clinton would be, er, unanticipated. To say the least.

And I can’t believe that I’m even considering it, but given that Obama and McCain are just degrees of bad and both of them are going to bend over backwards for corporate interests, I feel that I should be supporting the person who is screaming the loudest about restoring our civil liberties.

He’s proposing a new White House office dedicated to reviewing actions by the government that impact civil and privacy rights.

A new president, with “a commitment to privacy and civil liberties not evident in either John McCain or Barack Obama, is essential, but not enough,” Barr explains. Threats to our freedom bubble up from the federal bureaucracy every day, while “congressmen slip dangerous provisions into even innocent-sounding legislation.”

Thus, as president I would establish in the Executive Office of the President “a new office tasked with tracking and reviewing legislative and regulatory threats to privacy and civil liberties. Just as the Office of Management and Budget oversees federal spending and regulation, this new Office of Privacy and Civil Liberties would monitor executive branch activities and legislative proposals for their impact on the freedom of Americans,” Barr says.

It’s slim pickings for the least bad choice — I might as well make a statement about the dissolution of my rights.

given his history as one of the House manglers, I can’t take Barr seriously on civil liberties. I would vote for McKinney before Barr. But if I am going to throw my vote away on a protest vote I think I would prefer to write in Gore.

It just goes to show you how far this country has moved towards authoritarianism that Barr can be considered some great defender of civil liberties. The only thing he has going from him is that being a crazy right-wing white man from Georgia the press might actually put him on their shows. McKinney is never going to get any national exposure because she’s considered “crazy” in a bad way by the Village, which is to say she wanted to impeach Bush and not Clinton. But I don’t care what Barr does now, I could never support a guy who helped lead the charge against Clinton in the 1990s.

If I don’t vote for Obama, it will probably be McKinney or write in.

But I won’t be voting for Obama or McCain, so I’m left figuring out if I should vote for anyone or leave the presidential field empty and just vote for the downticket races. I consider both Barr and Cynthia McKinney to be fairly odious (for different reasons) and not candidates that I would normally even consider.

The difference between the two is that McKinney isn’t offering me anything that helps to counter-balance my problems with her, but Barr is. Given that I consider both McCain and Obama to be terrible choices, and don’t believe that either of them will do much about any of my biggest concerns (e.g., universal healthcare), I just want to get through the next four years without even greater erosion of our basic rights.

Bob Barr is never getting anywhere near the WH, but if he manages to get a healthy percentage of the vote, I think it sends a strong message about the one issue that he is raising and that is getting him the most attention. I also think that if he gets enough support to continue banging his drum through November that is also good — neither Obama nor McCain are going to bring up FISA on their own, but if Barr keeps showing up on the chat shows it’s going to make it harder for the Villagers and the candidates to ignore it.

This one issue is a flashpoint, and Barr happens to be the one who grabbed the civil liberties flag and is running with it. Right now, that’s pretty strong incentive for me.

I was deeply saddened to hear of Sen. Helms’ passing and want his family to know they are in my heart and prayers at this time. Sen. Helms was one of the finest, most courageous and deeply principled men to ever serve in the United States Congress. As President’s Reagan’s right hand and ally, he helped bring down Communism so that nations might grow and flourish in freedom. He was a stalwart ally of freedom fighters around the globe, knowing that we are all diminished if we allow fascism to flourish. He was also the consummate gentleman, revered by colleagues, staff and friends for his unfailing kindness, good humor, generosity and patriotism.

Today, as we celebrate our freedom and independence, we should stop and give thanks to God for the life and work of Jesse Helms. As a nation we are stronger and the world is freer for his commitment to liberty. May God bless his family.

Ah-henh.

As PHN of Making Light put it: “Thank you, Bob Barr, for reminding us that “libertarianism,” as espoused in America today, is fundamentally about hating black people, homosexuals, liberals, and the poor.”

I know libertarians can be better than that, but Barr had the burden of proof, after the impeachment proceedings — and he just failed.

Would silence have killed him?

Via Alegre’s Corner, the WSJ is reporting:

Hillary Clinton won a hefty 1,600 convention delegates in six months of primaries. A big question now is whether to let them vote at the Democratic convention. High on the list of matters that Sen. Clinton and likely Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama are negotiating as her campaign closes down is whether and how her name is put into nomination at the August convention in Denver, said party activists in both camps. A full roll-call vote that reminds everyone how close she came to being the nominee could reveal party rifts going into the fall campaign, they said. But keeping her name off the roll call could anger her supporters.

It is a “bone of contention” in the negotiations between the Clinton and Obama camps, said Democratic consultant Donna Brazile.

Nice to see Donna working her usual magic for the Democratic Party.

But let me get this right, the first viable woman candidate EVER might not get what Teddy Kennedy and Jesse Jackson and every other man who has run for president got. Hmmm, that’s probably just a coincidence, right?

But, hey, forget what the men got, be a good girl Hillary and STFU and send Obama money:

Under party rules, Sen. Clinton’s huge delegate count gives her the right to put her name into nomination. “But do you do it?” asked Ms. Brazile. “Politically, does it heighten tensions?”

The Democrats seem determined to destroy the party in the name of unity.

It would be a lot easier to hold my nose and vote for these wankers if they weren’t such political incompetents. The longer this election has gone on, the more amazed I am that the Democrats ever win any election.

Since you want Hillary’s supporters out of the party, you put another thumb in their eye.

What’s wrong with you?

[x] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.