Sunday Roundup

It was quite a week. Barack Obama became the Democratic nominee -- rousingly endorsed by Hillary Clinton. Oil hit an all-time high; Bush's approval rating hit an all-time personal low. McCain hammered Obama for being willing to meet with our enemies on the same day a new poll showed 67 percent of the public agrees with Obama. A Senate report re-re-re-confirmed that the Bush administration led us into war under false pretenses. Tom DeLay proved he hasn't lost a step -- or gained an IQ point -- calling Obama "a Marxist." Bill Clinton erupted. Again. My good buddy Al Franken moved another step closer to the U.S. Senate. And the Hummer hit a dead-end. GM killed the electric car; soaring gas prices killed the Hummer. Karma all around.

Follow Arianna Huffington on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ariannahuff

Comments

[Raymondf]

Franken will lose in a landslide.

[JoeySoCal]

Beautiful post, Arianna- elegant, concise, and meaningful.
Said a lot in a little.

[orangepetal]

The final frontier, the right of an American to have a private life.

[KGinSanFrancisco]

Dianne Feinstein was again today on TV (GS show) pushing shamelessly for the "nightmare ticket". I can't stand it any longer. She said she has received many emails urging her to do this. We must stop her!I just sent an email asking her to stop. She's not helping Obama. If you are from California please write her too.

Dear Senator,
I've been watching on TV your constant push for putting Sen.Hillary Clinton on the Obama ticket and I find it inappropriate and uncalled for. Senator Obama has a platform for change that does not include having a Clinton on the ticket. It would invite all the baggage and drama from the Clintons and it would also make him look weak.
You are putting a lot of pressure on Senator Obama by constantly talking to the press about this issue. Please stop if you really want to help elect Barack Obama. Most Californians now favor him.
I'm a woman from your constituency and you are not representing me or millions of others. I've always been an Obama supporter and did not appreciate both you and Sen. Boxer being so pro Clinton.The polls in California today are clear that even the women who voted for Hillary have moved on to Obama.
I am deeply worried about your misrepresentation of millions of women like me that do not approve of what you are doing.
Let Obama decide who he wants to govern with, this is not a forced marriage.
Thank you,

[davenav]

I don't believe for a second that Barack will choose anyone he doesn't want. The thing is, if he chooses Hillary will his own people revolt or stand by him?

[pinkerman2]

A great blog Arianna! You couldn't possibly cover all of the problems of this week, but you capsulized
very nicely. I don't drink alcohol but if I did ; I would buy a case of champagne when bushie heads back to the boonies (where he belongs ) and drink the whole damned case to celebrate his departure. I just wish the Dems' had started impeachment in January '07 to express our contempt for the war-lord idiot! Thanks for giving us a place to vent.

[Strepsi]

Also this week:
THE US ADMINISTRATION ADMITTED IT MAY HAVE DELIBERATELY KIDNAPPED A CANADIAN CITIZEN IN NY AND RENDERED HIM TO SYRIA FOR TORTURE.
"Richard Skinner, whose role as inspector-general within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is akin to that of an auditor, said yesterday he cannot rule out that the U.S. sought to have Mr. Arar tortured in Syria. He said he had received new information that cast doubts on the findings of an earlier investigation done by his office.

It has been obvious for years that, in its handling of Mr. Arar, the U.S. acted as if anything goes in the war on terror. At the hearing in September, 2002, that sealed his fate, his lawyer was not present. He was flown out of the country in the middle of the night, as in some tinpot dictatorship. The U.S. never informed Canada of its intention to deport a Canadian citizen to Syria, his birthplace. (On that point, Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, said in October that the U.S. had been "by no means perfect" in its "communication" with Canada.)"

source: Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/Page/document/v5/templates/hub?searchText=maher&hub=Search&searchType=Quick&iaction.x=0&iaction.y=0&iaction=Go

[realiybased2]

PAGE 2.........­........TH­IS ridiculous claim that Obama got a free pass and Hilary was dogged out by media via sexism. Have you all forgotten about this Rev. Wright tape, which no knows who gave to the media, bashed, crucified over and over and over for 2months on a 24/7, 7day a week basis and the tape played over and over for the same period of time. Then they tried to crucify Obama when he was 8 years about the Ayres person who was never convicted of anything but, of course, you die hard attack dogs and racists believed everything the media says. Then trying to brand him an elitist. Just Hilary brainwashing her voters and incite hatred and contempt in them.

Elite means a small poweful group, that sounds like HIlary with the main players in congress that she has in her pocket. Obama may have gone to Harvard but he doesn't have the power that Hilary has.

[dac253]

"Elite means a small poweful (sic) group, ..."

Random House's 1st definition says elite means "the choice or best of anything considered collectively, as of a group or class of persons."

I don't know why elite is a bad word when we consider the highest office. Haven't we had enough of Joe Shmoes running the country? Don't we want the best and brightest?

[mergina]

Karma all around indeed. Karma all around. Now if we can just find a way to punish bush and cheney for their crimes after they make their getaway.

[dac253]

Great thing about Karma is that it isn't always instant.

Don't worry. Those criminals will get their's sooner or later.

At least they serve future generations as a lesson of how to keep the power of the presidency from running roughshod through fear-mongering.

[mcfried]

To add to the list so international flavor
From BBC " Iraqi PM assures Iran on security Mr Maliki (R) is also looking for Iran's economic help. Iraq will not allow its territory to be used to attack Iran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said during a visit to Tehran."

Also in other news: Journalists arrested in Vietnam, Two killed by large Greek quake, suspected bombing by Basque separatist, Musharraf says he will not resign and a reporter was Killed in Afganistan

I'm currently watching the German Poland soccer match on ESPN 2 that threatens to break out in a repeat of WWII ( there were issues early this week) Germany is up by 2.

But please let's H R C

[TheCritic]

Well said Arianna, well said. WHAT A WEEK!

[pookiepunkin57]

There is one very obvious step Congress could take to relieve the cost of fuel AND help gas emissions . It is a solution that could actually be done, legislated & put into effect very quickly & would have an almost instant effect on the prices of everything- bread, milk, gas- everything! We are being painted into a smaller & smaller corner, we HAVE to do something. The solution of which I speak?
Pass legislation that requires all big corporations (Wal-mart, Kmart, Sears, JC Penney, etc.) to transport via train instead of semi-trucks. This is more than a band-aide that would help for a while & fall off & be back where we were. It is a permanent help. It could be done quickly & it would help immediately & long term.
Such legislation would help every family in this country & global warming. The drop in emissions of these semis would be incredible & immediate. It would crash the demand for crude oil in the USA. Which would crash the price of gas & diesel, greatly lowering the price of everything you & I buy. Part of the cost of everything we buy is affected by gas/diesel because it has to be transported to our given areas.
It's time to make them do whatever has to be done to stop this insanity. There is no shortage of oil, gas or diesel. There are rich oil/energy tycoons who want to be richer oil/energy tycoons. Then there is the rest of

[dr4Will]

smirk while you can left wingers--we will watch in Nov as you go down to defeat because of your poor judgement in picking your candidate!!

[indypete]

Au contraire, mon frere. I'm getting the impression that your side is throwing the fight and plans to go down in the fourth round... long enough to make it look good but quick enough to seal the bets. Whoever occupies the White House next will have to do a lot of very unpopular things te clean up the mess left by Mssrs. C and B so the right-wing don't want any part of it. Let the dems take the blame for everything then the repubs can sweep back in in 4 or 8 years to continue the rape-and-pillage rouotine.

[bikerdude]

This is exactly why we should go through the impeachment process before the failed president and vice get out of office. We must establish accountability. Then the historians will have no recourse but to tell the truth about them.

[Rotwang]

Funny, I was just going to say the same thing to you.

[pugzbarbq]

Picking G.W. Bush as a candidate was poor judgement, and you guys did it twice. Now you've picked McCain, will you ever learn? Obviously not.

[PFHarlock]

I'm confident the smirking will continue far beyond November. : )

Hopefully you'll get a grip on your fear much sooner than that..

[radiojunkie]

smirk? there's been too much damage to smirk.

[littleblackcat]

Obama will make his own choice of vice president after careful vetting and evaluation. It should not and probably will not be HRC. Bill is too much of a problem, too many people do not like her, her penchant for lying and spinning the truth shows her to be far too much of old Washington and the only fully truthful thing I've heard out of mcinsane's mouth in YEARS is his statement that the repus "Came to Washington to change Washington and Washington changed us." 'Nuff said. Hillary's been in Washington too long and has become part of the Old Guard. Also, Sen. Obama should wear his flag pin only occasionally. Any fool who squalks "Failure to wear a flag pin on his lapel PROVES he's UNPATRIOTIC!! is the same sort of jackass who believes a bunch of wet leaves in the bottom of a teacup can predict the future. Those who will vote for mcinsane out of spite that HRC lost are cut from that same bolt of cloth as well.
My personal idea of a "dream ticket" would be Bill Richardson (1st) or Mark Warner (2nd) for VP; John Edwards for Attorney General; Joe Biden, Secretary of State; Jim Webb, Secretary of Defense; Chris Dodd, Secretary of the Treasury; Hillary Clinton, Secretary of Health & human services; whichever of my choices didn't get the VP spot for Secretary of the Interior.

[earbrain]

Before we start counting our chickens about an Obama victory, I suggest going over to Hillary's blog. There are some very angry, irrational folds over there: http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/blog/main/2008/06/07/162034#view_comments

And they even started a new bitter organization of sore losers:

http://blog.pumapac.org/

[mcfried]

Please ignore these people it just encourages them, if they want to vote for McCrazy so be it. Seriously if you are still pissed go pick a fight on a conservative blog - I just did, it was extremely gratifying and easy to kick their a$$'s. They're not very bright.

[TheEmptinessOfTruthiness]

I've been thinking of doing just that.

If its not breaking any rules, can you say what would be their top 3 sites, in terms on intellectual quality (as opposed to sheer quantity)?

[macbabe]

Those women ARE NOT HRC supporters, nice try Rush!!!

[in4success]

heh heh heh -- BUSTED!

gotta love it. even their handles look like inventions of the college republican (trolly inc) arm

see them here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0DdSzVaU5c

and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww

[earbrain]

If these anti-Obama­/pro-McCai­n posts were made by Republican spoilers and trolls, then don't you think the moderators would have taken some of them down by now? They remain up as of this moment:

http://blog.hillaryclinton.com/blog/main/2008/06/07/162034#view_comments

[esperanza01]

As long as they don't bring any children with them. Lord knows, the DNC fiasco was damaging enough.

Concerned mother.

[PFHarlock]

Perspective.

After her speech began, I counted only about a dozen posters who stated they wouldn't vote for Barack Obama or they would vote for John McCain at that blog at Hillary Clinton's site.

It was an extraordinarily emotional moment for many Hillary Clinton supporters, but again, only about a dozen individuals threatened to not vote for Barack Obama.

I think it's also of note how few comments (of any kind at all) were posted on that blog after the speech.

Yes, there will be a fringe who remain too angry and/or disappointed to vote for Barack Obama in November, but considering history and the stark differences between the candidates, I'm confident it's going to be a pretty small fringe.

I do feel it's safe to assume that some Republicans are trying to exaggerate the extent of that fringe. Just move on and don't play the the game.

And if you see a media outlet playing along (the sensationalism of such a division is right up their ally) email them, call them. Tell them politely that you don't appreciate it and you avoid them because of it.

[davenav]

Yes, I agree. There are a few disgruntled people saying they will never vote for Obama, and they will of course be taken by many Obama supporters to be far more than they are. The reality is that most people will come around by November if not a lot sooner. I just hope that Barack's ultra-reactionary supporters can see that this is a process that will take time and stop all the vile hate-speech that has been so prominent this weekend.

Republican vultures are laughing themselves sick over our squabbles and lack of unity. We have to turn that around. Name-calling and grand foolish pronouncements about how evil one candidate is will take us in the exact opposite direction we need to get Barack into the WH. And assuming we can do it without the voters from Hillary's camp is the greatest foolishness of all. So stop alienating the people Barack needs to win!

[grammology]

I still don't understand why something can't be done with the oil we have in the Dakota's. Why isn't there some kind of push to lessen the environmental issues so we can produce our own oil and tell everyone else to get lost. Is it still a secret that we have enough oil in those two states alone for over 40 years? And regarding jobs, what do you think, with airlines, auto manufacturing and housing going down the tubes. What president can fix any of these things...what congress...what anything...even the dirty little lobbyist will be having issues this year....and the beat goes on....

What can we do? What should we do?

Dorothy from grammology
remember to call gram
grammology.com

[SlinkyTWF]

That's because the owners are sitting on it until it hits $8.00 a barrel.

[bikerdude]

$8.00 a barrel would be paradise found....

[graffen48]

What??