Archive for Cult of Obama

Clinton 2012

Posted by: Jason | August 27th, 2008 · 8:37 AM

James Carville called it “a bad night to be a Republican”. Candy Crowley checked down a long list of what Hillary Clinton needed to do, and did. David Gergen called it “a home run”. I call all that nonsense.

No one, the most hopeful Republicans included, expected Hillary Clinton to do anything short of go out on that stage last night, give a speech that was filled with Democrat themes, suggest her party needed unity, and charge that Barack Obama would be preferable to John McCain in the White House. But last night’s speech, in it’s minimal praise and maximum flaunting, was hardly a heartfelt endorsement of her old opponent’s candidacy.

Such mention of the name “Obama” was sparring. Clinton only mentioned the name Barack Obama 10 times throughout the speech, cushioned on either side by a laundry list of what she had accomplished and stood for in her life, making not a single reference to how Obama’s was equally as worthy. Make no mistake about this folks, this was a campaign speech for 2012.

Clinton relished in statements such as “this is why I ran for president”, over and over again, citing her character and reasoning for a life spent dedicated to certain principles. But never once, throughout the entire speech, did Clinton suggest the same of Obama’s resume.

Likewise, never once did she suggest his character was sound, or that his experience in life was relevant for the job he seeks. Never once did Clinton admit her recent opponent a better man than she had faced once, grown into a capable individual who would make a great president some day. Not… once.

No, Clinton rather stuck to generic themes of Democrat vs Republican, of how we can’t take another four years of Bush, and of mild criticism, at best, of her friend John McCain (the term, “friend”, was only extended to McCain of course).

Democrats will spin this, because they have to, because they have no other choice. Anything shy of a unified party would have been suicide for their party last night. So they’ll take the mere gesture of unity, the call for Democrats in the White House on the part of Clinton, without any real endorsement of Obama’s ability to lead as Commander In Chief. Virtually none of the worries of average American voters which are tied to Barack Obama were answered last night on the party of Hillary Clinton.

The Democrats know they have a problem with Clinton supporters who feel shafted from a scandalous, race-baiting Obama campaign, fueled by media bias at the expense of their golden girl. And that problem lives on in my opinion.

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CNN Poll: No Biden Bounce

Posted by: Jason | August 25th, 2008 · 11:53 AM

While I suspect Obama camp’s numbers will rise throughout the week of their convention coverage, the first national poll out since Obama-Biden became official presents bad news for the candidate if he expected any type of VP bounce.

DENVER, Colorado (CNN) — It’s a dead heat in the race for the White House. The first national poll conducted entirely after Barack Obama publicly named Joe Biden as his running mate suggests that battle for the presidency between the Illinois senator and Republican rival John McCain is all tied up.

In a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll out Sunday night, 47 percent of those questioned are backing Obama with an equal amount supporting the Arizona senator.

“This looks like a step backward for Obama, who had a 51 to 44 percent advantage last month,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland.

“Even last week, just before his choice of Joe Biden as his running mate became known, most polls tended to show Obama with a single-digit advantage over McCain,” adds Holland.

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Biden pick may not have helped Obama much.

Posted by: Jason | · 12:27 AM

New Gallop numbers out today on Obama’s VP pick. And unless you’re a “do no harm” only believer, the Joe Biden pick may not have resulted in much gain (or loss) for Barack Obama’s poll numbers.

Chalking it up to what may be a 7-point max gain, here’s what Gallop peeps are saying about it:

The initial evidence is that Biden won’t hurt Obama in the election, but with only 14% of voters saying they are more likely to vote for the ticket with Biden on it, and 7% less likely, he is not positioned at this point to help Obama much either.

Actually, the real question here isn’t “does Biden help you”, it’s “does Biden help you win either Virginia or Colorado eventually, since this election will ride down to those two states inevitably. I can’t see Biden making a difference there specifically, which couldn’t be said for men like Gov’s Kaine (Virginia) and Richardson (bordering Colorado).

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Celebgate, Seven Houses, and what the Dems don’t get.

Posted by: Jason | · 12:07 AM

There’s an emerging Democratic talking point which now aims to hit back against McCain’s celebrity charge of Barack Obama, which is to suggest such claims are ridiculous, considering John McCain is richer than Obama is (and has more houses).

Well… such charges are kind of ridiculous, and so is this recent “7 houses” thing too. But, that’s politics. Anything to seize a soundbite.

But as a reminder to the Democrats, before they go talking about McCain’s personal wealth as a response, they could at least get the charge right before counterpunching us back. Celebgate isn’t about making fun of Barack Obama’s financial means, it’s about making fun of the cult movement surrounding him.

Here’s the real charge: Barack Obama, while speaking to thousands of screaming fans at his rallies, is riding a wave of sheer likability and speech-giving capability. Not any serious credentials, not some great accomplishment in life, not any personal experience that’s given us a glimpse into his soul, not any deep thought-out views which have been published in great books he’s written, just pure pop culture status, and looks.

It’s not that we care if Barack Obama is rich or poor, for remember, we’re the party that wants everyone to get rich, it’s about our belief that Barack Obama is an extremely shallow man, hiding behind his marketing team, without an ounce of ability to perform five feet beyond his scripted podiums and advisors. He sucks in any ad lib interview forum, gets beaten at every debate, and hasn’t a single major accomplishment in his short time in the US Senate in Washington.

We ask, quite simply, what makes this man qualified to be president exactly? And that’s the point of celebgate. In a fun way, we compare Senator Obama to the Paris Hiltons of the world, or folks who trounce around with their chic friends, never having accomplished much in life, but soaking up all the limelight all the same because people like their look.

Sure, Obama should be admired for his ability to make people like him. But beyond that… let’s get real here folks… this guy hasn’t proven a wit that he’s up to presidential par. And in times of serious consequence thus far, he’s done just the opposite.

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Ed Rendell Is Cool

Posted by: Jason | August 24th, 2008 · 11:47 PM

Clinton supporters just can’t let it go. But, for the sake of supporting anything that hurts Barack Obama’s chances, I’m completely in favor of Gov. Ed Rendell’s recent outburst at the media:

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell was supposed to give “closing remarks” during this afternoon’s Shorenstein Center-sponsored panel discussion with all three Sunday show moderators — NBC’s Tom Brokaw, ABC’s George Stephanopoulous and CBS’s Bob Schieffer — but instead, he opened up a can of worms about bias in 2008 election coverage

“Ladies and gentleman, the coverage of Barack Obama was embarrassing,” said Rendell, in the ballroom at Denver’s Brown Palace Hotel. “It was embarrassing.”

Rendell, an ardent Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter during the primaries, now backs Obama in the general election. Brokaw and Rendell began debating campaign coverage, including the on-air comments by Lee Cowan, and when MSNBC came up, Rendell went after the cable network.

“MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign,” Rendell said, who called their coverage “absolutely embarrassing.”

Chris Matthews, Rendell said, “loses his impartiality when he talks about the Clintons.”

Full Piece

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Joe Biden, (D) Scranton, PA

Posted by: Jason | · 12:16 PM

Republicans certainly have their talking points, but no one works a tagline like the Democrats work a tagline. And frankly, this new one’s exhausting me.

In watching the Sunday shows this morning, and mind you it’s only 10:30am right now, I’ve already heard the words “Scranton, PA”, or… “scrappy Irish kid from Scranton, PA”, about two dozen times in regard to the life of Senator Joe Biden. He’s apparently not from Delaware anymore.

This is confusing you see, because for as long as I’ve known my US Senator Joe Biden, and I’ve been alive for 32 years (all of which he’s been in office), I’ve known a guy who lived in the ultra-posh section of northern Delaware known as Greenville, just miles outside of Wilmington (and incredibly more upscale than my hometown of Hockessin just miles away).

Greenville’s the kind of place where your average vehicle is a Land Rover or a Jaguar, where your neighbor is more likely to have the last name duPont, not McMillan, and where the average house size is likely 20-times that of your average Scranton, PA home. In fact, couple all of John and Cindy McCain’s various condos together and… well, you get my point.

My dad was a long time representative with the Steelworkers Union, largely dealing with guys from Scranton, PA and the surrounding area. I’ve met many a man from this region, and I can tell you for sure, Joe Biden isn’t one of those guys. So I looked it up, and turns out, Joe Biden did live in Scranton, PA for some time. The trouble is, he hasn’t lived there since 1952. That’s when Dwight Eisenhower was running for president by the way.

I know… the point is politics. It’s not cool to say that Senator Joe Biden is a rich guy with a small compound of land in Greenville, DE (with multiple houses on it). It’s not cool, as Chris Matthews emphasized this morning on his partisan hack show, to suggest that Joe Biden is a “Washington insider”. Nah. After all guys… he commutes back home every night for crying out loud! Give him a break! He’s always been an agent of change. Yeah…

The real point here is that Barack Obama, the guy at the top of the ticket, knows your average Scranton, PA voter wouldn’t pull the lever for a Chicago street organizer if he put a gun to their heads (whether or not they’d be clinging to them at the time is debatable), and thus, needs some mythical Scranton, PA hometown hero to come and save the day.

Well, guys like Obama may think those folks are dumb enough yet, but he’ll soon find out you have to do more than hire some Washington career politician to go in and speak their language. They don’t relate to Harvard law review types, don’t eat spinach or arugala salads, don’t like when folks make fun of their religion and gun culture, and certainly don’t relate to the issues of inner-city Chicago politics.

Barack Obama, and his Democratic friends, will need more than a running mate who spent 10 years as a child there to understand that, and we’ll be here every step of the way to remind them of that.

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McCain Ad: Biden

Posted by: Jason | August 23rd, 2008 · 10:58 AM

McCain camp released a new television ad quoting Biden’s own words on his new running mate, hours after the selection was official:

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John McCain’s “Evil” Houses

Posted by: Jason | August 21st, 2008 · 11:53 PM

Politico has a nice piece up which catalogs the occupancy and purposes for each of the eight homes owned by John and Cindy McCain. For reasons of defense against Obama’s “John McCain has so many homes he can’t even keep track of them” charge today, it’s a fun exercise to know what they’re actually used for.

Evil Condo 1: A Phoenix, AZ property which serves as the McCain’s primary residence.

Evil Condo 2: Another Phoenix property which Cindy and John’s daughter, Meghan, resides in.

Evil Condo 3: A condo in the same building as Meghan’s, which is currently for sale (I guess the buying and selling of real estate is illegal?).

Evil Ranch: The McCain’s Sedona ranch which they use to entertain out-of-state guests.

Evil California Property 1: A condo used to house Cindy McCain’s elderly Aunt.

Evil California Property 2: A beach property the McCain’s use for family get-togethers.

Evil California Property 3: Another apparent real estate opportunity in the same area.

Evil Arlington, VA Lair: John McCain’s Washington residence for time spent working in the US Senate.

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What’s worse? Owning houses… or bribing slumlords for them?

Posted by: Jason | · 11:27 PM

Today’s squabble over how many houses John and Cindy McCain own was the first example of Obama on offense we’ve seen in weeks. With their sagging polls numbers of late, Obama-camp finally believed they could stick to an attack on John McCain that could gain some traction with voters. Only… this line of attack (right back at Obama on housing) may have awoken a sleeping giant.

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The Politics of Missile Defense

Posted by: Jason | August 20th, 2008 · 3:47 PM

Beyond its national security implications, today’s security agreement with Poland on missile defense presents a political opening for John McCain.

WARSAW, Poland (AP)—Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Polish counterpart signed a deal Wednesday to build a U.S. missile defense base in Poland, an agreement that prompted an infuriated Russia to warn of a possible attack against the former Soviet satellite.

Rice dismissed blustery comments from Russian leaders who say Warsaw’s hosting of 10 U.S. interceptor missiles just 115 miles from Russia’s westernmost frontier opens the country up to attack.

Such comments “border on the bizarre frankly,” Rice said, speaking to reporters traveling with her in Warsaw.

“When you threaten Poland, you perhaps forget that it is not 1988,” Rice said. “It’s 2008 and the United States has a … firm treaty guarantee to defend Poland’s territory as if it was the territory of the United States. So it’s probably not wise to throw these threats around.”

Things are heating up in Eastern Europe, an area of expertise for the long-term Arizona senator, and McCain has profited handsomely from his performance last Saturday night