Sunday Roundup

A lot of important things happened this week (Spitzer!). Bear Stearns needed a bailout from the Fed (Kristen!). Oil hit a record $111 a barrel (Emperor's Club VIP!). CentCom chief Adm. William Fallon resigned over differences with the White House on Iran and Iraq (Client #9!). Barack Obama won Mississippi ($5,500 an hour!). The Vatican released a list of "new sins," including cloning and pollution (he likes things "you might not think are safe"!). Provocative comments from Geraldine Ferraro and Rev. Jeremiah Wright roiled the Democratic race (She's got a MySpace page! With pictures!! And music!!!). Gen. Petraeus decried the Iraqi government's lack of "sufficient progress" (Poor Silda!). What, you missed all of that? I can't imagine why...

Comments

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

My ranking of what should rank.

1) CentCom chief Adm. William Fallon resigned over differences with the White House on Iran and Iraq. (Hold onto your hats.)

2) Gen. Petraeus decried the Iraqi government's lack of "sufficient progress". (No sh*t, Sherlock. Notable only for who said it.)

3) Oil hit a record $111 a barrel. (Let me know when it's topped out.)

4) Bear Stearns bailout. (So much for free-to-fail enterprise.)

5) Provocative comments from Geraldine Ferraro and Rev. Jeremiah Wright roiled the Democratic race. (One gets roasted for inconvenient truth, the other for inconvenience.)

6) Barack Obama won Mississippi. (Yawn.)

7) The Vatican released a list of "new sins," including cloning and pollution. (Yawn.)

Not mentioned by Arianna: Speaker Pelosi saying Superdels should mimic the popular vote. All of a sudden, Ms. "Impeachment is off the table" is about popular will. Riiiiight.

[MikeMidCity]

About number three, how much is that in euros?

Just wondering.

[WomanInOrangeSweater]

that would be approximately 172. in Euros. No, wait, 180. No, wait 185. 190...
hard to keep track of since the dollar is falling so rapidly.

[klondiker]

Arianna, we really need to devote more time in covering the Bear Stearns fall-out.

Why is the Fed bailing out a rogue firm that is partly responsible for the mess that it is in and the mess that the economy is in???

If the loan is made from taxpayer money, why have they refused to release the terms of the loan??

Why aren't conservatives rising up and calling this "socialized investment banking"??

Am I the only one sickened by the fact that the Bear Stearns "rescue" from the Fed was quicker and expedient than the rescue following Katrina?? I guess the priorities of this government are clear.

[TeddyRoosevelt]

Obama's going to have problems dealing with the Wright fallout for the rest of his life. It's not the comments of Wright that will sink him, it's his contention that he didn't know this was being preached, and that somehow excuses this matter. This was even stupider than his deal with Rezko and makes him look foolish or dishonest. His election in November is dependent on winning votes in white working class America. This is exactly what has been the weakest aspect of his campaign. Now, these votes will probably be impossible to win. How can this voting block be told Ferraro's comments were out of line but Wright's were just the typical Sunday sermon in Black America and nothing to worry about? Such reasoning is ludicrous. Someone is going to have to explain why coded racial comments are worse than blatant anti-white, anti-American hate bating. And explain it to an audience that is already extremely skeptical and apprehensive about the future.

[TeddyRoosevelt]

Which brings me to my suggestion that John Edwards re-enter the primaries as the real unifying candidate for the Democratic Party. I think many would be relieved to have an alternative now that the high negatives have really taken hold on Obama and Hillary. Also, knowing McCain is the Republican, the economy is tanking, Edwards looks pretty good to me. Gore/Edwards would be the Democratic Dream ticket.

[dhb4u]

A long and interesting week to put it lightl. It is suprising that most of the attention went to the news regarding the Pastor's hate speak. It will be interesting to see if the media starts airing a tape of Obama at a sermon with his family as he has contended has never happened. If this is the case, Obama would go against the message and high standard he has run on.

Why would his advisor's biggest concern be that this may exist?

[THORGODOFTHUNDER]

How do you un-register to vote?

[yaznaioutibia]

Its over. The Clintomn cancer is metastatizing in all its glory. Time togo back to sleep Rip. Evolution will handle this in the long run, but our time is not now.

[icemama]

(Alrighty, let's try to get this posted one more time.)

Why do you think that the Democratic Party chose Obama and Hillary as their probable nominees?----



------ to generate the vote of mature whites, women, and all minorities.



The Republicans are very afraid of this. Their religious backers don't stand a prayer.



The Democrats are not bashing each other. That's what the Republicans want us all to believe, and they have the media to try to drill it into our heads -- hoping we will hate the bickering and decide to vote for McCain. Too bad for them -- we are way beyond the tactics of Karl Rove.



Hillary and Obama exchanging the "he said, you said" mode is all part of the plan. Contrary to what the media insinuate, Hillary and Obama are indeed an unstoppable force.



The Republicans eagerly want to know who the lone Democratic nominee is once and for all. To wait until August and the Democratic convention, just sets them back on the plan of destruction that they can hardly wait to implement. They never banked on the success of Hillary in Texas and Ohio.



Hillary is the one the Republicans fear the most. She is more electable than Obama. That's why the Republicans have the media portray Obama as the better candidate or the victim of Clinton's attacks.



The Republicans are behind all the negative comments leaked to the media such as the ones by Ferraro and Reverend Wright. They want to show discord and lack of unity within the Democrats. They are the ones who outed Spitzer and portrayed him as a corrupt Democrat. It wasn't so much the sex and prostitution, but rather the message of outing a bad Democrat.



If the Democratics choose Hillary for President and Obama for Vice Pres., then McCain will choose Condi Rice as his running mate, to try and attract some of Hillary's and Obama's supporters.



Why aren't the Republicans naming a running mate for McCain? Because they can't stategize without knowing who the Democrats will have on the ticket. This frustrates them. They will continue to portray the Democrats as bickering until late August. Once the Democratic nominee is chosen, then the total Republican slime machine will kick in. They are so predictable. So pathetic.

[frenchynyc]

and exaclty what was incorrect with what Reverend Wright has to say??? it's his point of view...and it's certainly worth listening to...and let's see....south africa...hmmm...apartheid state...israel/Palestine...apartheid state...with american supporting israel exclusively to the detriment of america and palestinians....america invades a country unprovoked...instilling "democracy" on another country...

start thinking folks!!! stop reacting and think about another person's view point and look into the topic. these knee jerk reactions are exactly what the "powers that be"...or in the case of clinton.."want to be again"...want you to react...while they go on pushing america down a path of destruction for their own gain!

[peaceper]

much of what Wright said is true. I think some of you don't want to admit that America was instrumental in many of the catastrophes abroad. YOu don't even have to look any further than IRAQ.

Many of you are reaching if you think this will not come out as really Wright's form of Truth. It's already been discussed on some of the news segments.

We may not like how Wright framed it but that doesn't mean much of it wasn't true.

Amerca has to learn to understand it's role in what goes on in many countries. Native Americans didn't just give their land away. It was taken away. Regime changes are a way of life for America. Slavery? Japanese internment camps. Installing and uninstalling dictators in other countries. Ignoring the real threat of terriorism. There's much more. And I know people don't want to hear this but it should be said. There is but one black man and one black woman who enabled a president who gave the order to go to war. That was Powell and Rice respectively. Much of these atrocities were at the hands of white men and now... one white woman. It's a bitter pill to swallow but we can't keep ignoring the history of our destructive ways.

[LaurenR1]

Too much Spitzer, Ferraro..not enough on the economy and gas prices..it was the Wright tapes that made me writhe..this man was Obama's mentor for 20 years..that is scary. Denouncing a staffer blunder is one thing, but trying to undermine that long of a relationship, coupled w/ the Rezko ties is a smoke screen. This man is not change, he is a phony. The few sermon clips of fire and brimstone are not likely isolated commentary. What judgement level is shown by being part of that extreme socio/political negativity in church? Bush is a born again, reformed alchohic..Obama's character was clearly called into question this week. We certainly don't need another happy face Bush.

[yaznaioutibia]

Let me reiterate, its all over. The Clintons will be nominated (as destiny says it shoud be), but they will not win. No chance in hell. It should not be and they are destined for nothing more than the man who got a BJ in the Whitehouse

[IAM4CLINTON]

Excuse me Arianna- you are equating Geraldine and this madman Wright in the same breadth and sentence ??? While Geraldine said that Obama is where is because he is black man, she also said (which the press conveniently missed) that had she been Gerard, instead of Geraldine, she would not have been the VP nominee. What this madman Jeramie Wright did was spew venom and hatred towards our country for years. Barack Obama attended this church for 20 years, most of his adult life, picked this pastor as his mentor, inspiration and to get him married and his kids baptized. For Obama to now claim ignorance of his mentor's anti-american venom- is totally ingenious.

Patriotism, love and pride of our land is a pre-requisite for even being being a citizen, let alone President. For folks who would spew venom and hatred at this land while enjoying its blessings- I simply say- get OUT.

[gfm975]

How safe has the Bush administration/Department of Homeland Security and TSA made us over the last seven (7) years of their watch? Not at all. Better yet, here is how the Hillary or Obama campaigns blow holes in the Republican's "SECURITY" Blanket

I have been told by two different airlines that there is NO TSA/DHS database kept on Known Shippers.

If true, that the airlines have to create and maintain there own database of thousand of shippers and there is no centralized database, then the American people have been lied to and the creation of DHS has made us no safer and in fact added yet another layer of bureaucracy.

How do I know this? I am a known shipper at one airline and was trying to become a known shipper with another. I stumbled onto this fact in the application process with the second airline.

I was also told there is no single list kept not just the two airlines, but Senator Domenici's office and Congresswoman Heather Wilson's office... as well as Senator Bingaman's LA on transportation. The 2 Airlines in question are Delta and Continental.

Naturally, this fact could blow a huge hole in Saint McCain's "Commander in Chief" credentials... as he plans to continue the policies that created this BS to begin with. Oddly, or sadly, we have the technology and expertise to spy on non suspecting Americans, but we can't compile a database for existing "shippers of cargo."
This fraud vetoed the ban on waterboarding.... maybe HE ought to find out what its like to be waterboarded, or have to listen to an entire George W Bush speech... then he'd understand what is wrong with torture!

[Bedingo]

Too bad there is not a way that both Clinton and Obama can lose the nomination. The continued campaign is destroying the Democratic Party for sure. And it now seems that both have some baggage that will be of help to McCain. Oh! To go back to those smoke-filled rooms.

[outnow]

The international banking system is collapsing, we are attacking Iran and Syria, everyone is at each others throat's, there are more sex scandals - heterosexual this time, and race and gender issues predominate. That sounds like a horoscope reading. To bad that the world is in such bad shape. Things are really starting to heat up now - a few inconvenient truths.

[rabrophy]

Quite a week!
Here's a neat juxtaposition I noticed;
Spitzer paid $5000 an hour to a 5 diamond whore.
The University of Iowa Paid $40,000 to Karl Rove for an hour of boviating.
Dose this make Karl a 40 diamond ?????

[Anciano]

Spitzer spend his own money on prostitutes, Bernanke spent 200,000,000,000 of our money on his whores. What's worse?

[balance]

The latest polls have both Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama down against McCain.

I posted about this possibility months ago, when the right-wing inspired, 1990's vintage mud-slinging started to fly, ostensibily from "progressive democrats," against Sen. Clinton.

[Obama Camp's Memo on Clintons' Politicizing Race

I can imagine the post-2008 epilogue interview:
Interviewer:"So Mr. Rover, how did you pull it off this time?"
Rover: "Well, I knew that blogs are very influential among Democratic activists. Junior let me out of the White House, to protect the piles of money his buddies were making."
Interviewer:"Was it difficult?"
Rover: "No, not really. Just a few paid full time bloggers posing as 'Billary' and 'Osama' supporters. A few rabble rousers sparked the flames so they turned on each other. They sure don't have much discipline."
Interviewer:"Yes it was surprising that the Democratic turn out turned out to be unexpectedly lower than the polls predicted."
Rover:"It wasn't surprising at all. These candidates' supporters did all the work for us. In the end, Obama supporters wouldn't come out to vote for Hillary, and Hillary's supporters wouldn't vote for Obama. And our candidate was the solid dependable choice who promised safety in a climate of fear and uncertainty."

Say it won't be so. posted 01/12/2008 at 16:00:44 ]

The many democrats who favored shrill character attacks (eg: upon Ms. Clinton) and the lack of discipline, maturity, loyalty, and even-handed circumspection would get the better of us, and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

When democrats start tearing down the character of icons within their own party, like both Clintons, Obama, Ferraro, etc... it is bad for every democrat -- and it does come across as "win at any cost".

While the Clinton camp has been blamed for this, let's not be stupid, hypocritical, naive, or feign false ignorance: Axelrod & other Obama supporters have been masterful at orchestrating a progressive movement that has been nastily tearing down the character if the Clintons also. -- Promoting "Hillary Hatred". It's the same strategy that Bush Jr. used against Kerry. Rove used surrogates to swiftboat Kerry without getting Bush Jr's "golden boy" fingerprints on those swift-rogues, while maintaining the image that Junior was above the fray.

It isn't rocket science. It's not too late to salvage victory for America by electing a Democrat President, whether it be Obama or Ms. Clinton.

All it takes is respectful and polite discourse when fellow democrats disagree.

But is that possible?
Ugh.

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

Sex sells. And sex scandals sell best.