Jeremiah Wright on The Huffington Post

Mitchell Bard: On Wednesday, the President Has to Move the Health Care Debate from a Marketplace of Lies to a Marketplace of Ideas

2009-09-07T11:41:45Z

- John Boehner has a fetish that only allows him to become aroused when he wears 1950s women's housecoats with curlers in his hair.

- Rush Limbaugh eats pudding made from the rats that infest his home.

- Charles Grassley calls in sick to the Senate once a week to stay home and watch a DVD of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants over and over again.

Are these statements true? Of course not. (Or, to give the Republicans a taste of their own medicine relative to how they generally answer questions about the president's place of birth, I should say, to the best of my knowledge, those statements are not true.) But why shouldn't I write them anyway? After all, the Republican opposition to health care reform has been built on lies nearly as egregious as the ones I set out above.

As President Obama gets ready to lay out his vision of health care reform on Wednesday, it is important to note that the debate on the issue to this point has been, in reality, nonexistent. Yes, there has been a lot of talk about health care, but there has not been an honest exchange of ideas. Rather, Republicans (and some Democrats) opposed to health care reform have flooded the marketplace of ideas with outright lies, and defenders of health care reform have been forced to rebut those lies, distracting them from the simple job of laying out the case for reform, which, given the financial numbers involved, is stark (you can click here to see some of the figures I cited in July).

I am all for a debate on any important issue facing the country. Even though I consider myself a progressive and generally support progressive proposals, I don't think the left has a monopoly on good ideas, and I certainly don't have full faith in the Democrats in Congress to lead on any issue. I think that reasonable conservatives can make completely fair arguments opposing health care reform (even if I don't personally agree with them), ranging from an idea that the nation can't afford the expenditure to an honest admission that under the conservative point of view, the people who have earned (or inherited) money shouldn't be forced to subsidize health care for those who have not has been as successful or fortunate. I would especially respect any Republican (or Democratic, for that matter, since many, unfortunately, fall into this category) lawmaker who would stand up and say, "Look, I get millions in donations from the insurance and pharmaceutical companies and hospitals, so I have to support their positions, or I won't have any money and won't get re-elected." It would be the most honest enunciation yet of the real reasons for members of Congress to oppose health care reform, and it would allow us to move past the lies and misdirections employed by these legislators. (Well, for the Republicans, it's also about the political gamesmanship, since they would rather see the country suffer under the current health care environment than give the president a "win" on the issue. Remember Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina proudly saying that health care will be "Obama's Waterloo.")

But the elected Republicans (and Democrats) opposing health care reform are not standing up for their principles. Rather, they are using fear and lies to try and kill progress on health care reform. (Back in June, I wrote about the specific lies and leaps in logic employed by the right to oppose health care reform.) And seizing on the inattentiveness and/or selfishness of the American people, the opposition has had some success.

Rather than arguing finances or moral obligations, or copping to being captured by the health and pharmaceutical companies, Republicans (and some Democrats) are lying. They are stoking loony right-wing charges that the president is a socialist and that health care reform is a method by which he is trying to initiate a government takeover of American business. They talk of death panels and mandatory abortions. They accuse Obama of trying to institute a Canadian-style single-payer system and point to (largely incorrect) figures on how damaging such a system is to the health of individuals under such a regime. Hell, they even had a breakdown when the president decided to address American school children.

(As an aside, what do you think these Republicans would have said if parents protested George W. Bush addressing kids? You can be sure there would have been charges that these parents lacked respect for the president and, of course, were not suitably patriotic. But when the president is a Democrat -- and African American, to boot -- suddenly words like "indoctrination" and "socialism" are thrown out by the right. Conservatives' treatment of Barack Obama in this instance has been insanely hypocritical, and yet that issue is never addressed in the media's coverage of the opposition to the president's planned address.)

But here's the thing: Whatever you believe about socialism, Obama is not in any way, shape or form a socialist. Even with the government's forays into the financial, auto and, now, hopefully, the health care industries, it is only touching a slight fraction of American business. Calling Obama a socialist is a lie, every bit as ridiculous as my opening statements about Boehner, Limbaugh and Grassley. Same goes for death panels, mandatory abortions and the attempt to move the U.S. to a single-payer health care system.

If the media refuses to present the opposition to health care for what it is, instead pretending that an honest debate is going on, and if the American people seem unwilling or unable to recognize what the Republicans (and some Democrats) are doing to manipulate them with lies, then what is the president to do? After running a pitch-perfect campaign, we have become accustomed to Obama finding a way to counter any problem in perception, like his Philadelphia speech on race in March 2008, after the surfacing of incendiary comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Things may be much harder for the president to control now. But one thing he can do is take over leadership on the issue from the Democrats in Congress, who have less credibility with the American people and who, to date, have not shown the strength and leadership necessary to shepherd health care reform through the legislative process.

Instead, it's time for Obama to take the lead on the issue. His attempts in his first year in office to enunciate key principles but leave the nuts-and-bolts drafting of legislation to Congress were understandable, but such an approach hasn't worked with health care. On Wednesday, Obama needs to cut through the lies and lay out for the American people exactly where the country stands with regard to health care. He needs to explain that we are on financially untenable ground, with health care costs for the country exploding at alarming rates, and with tens of millions of Americans without health insurance coverage. He has to say exactly, in painstaking detail, what he wants to do. And, as importantly, he has to enunciate clearly what he is not asking that the government be allowed to do. He should even use graphs and illustrations if they'll help. Whatever it takes.

(In an ideal world, I would be in favor of a single-payer, Canadian-style system, but if such an approach is not realistic in the current U.S. political climate, and if opponents of health care reform are lying and calling the current proposal an attempt to move the country to a single-payer system, then Obama has to delineate how these charges are lies, and what exactly he is proposing the government do under a reformed health care system, which is short of a single-payer approach.)

In short, Obama has to use Wednesday's speech to move the health care debate from a marketplace of lies to a marketplace of ideas. It's a huge task, and it may be too late, but it's the best chance the president has to save true health care reform this year. The stakes are high. If outright lies end up killing health care reform, the Republicans will have won, but, more importantly, the American people will have lost.

Beau Friedlander: Van Jones: The Partisan Politics of Mutually Assured Distraction

2009-09-06T10:08:56Z

In game theory, Nash equilibrium is a strategy that applies to two or more players, whereby each of the players knows the other's assets and deficits and no one can benefit by a unilateral change in strategy. Given the Republican strategy--destroy viable members of the opposition by any means necessary--Democrats return the favor, and the net result is stasis and political inertia.

Mutually assured destruction is an example of the theory at work, where a "poison pill" strategy obviates an unpleasant outcome for both sides: total devastation of both attacker and attacked. So Democrats take out one of their soldiers (we can't think of an example that wasn't in some way justified) and the GOP takes a public servant working for the Democratic Party -- the latest being Van Jones, special adviser for green jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality -- and the goals and aspirations of each party are waylaid.

Jones resigned shortly after midnight in the middle of Labor Day weekend. The move was designed, it would seem, to create the least amount of news. While we respect that desire, it's hard to sit idly by as the worst tendencies in American politics are allowed to destroy this country unchecked by at least a modicum of critical rebuke.

Here's what Jones said in his resignation:

On the eve of historic fights for health care and clean energy, opponents of reform have mounted a vicious smear campaign against me. They are using lies and distortions to distract and divide. I have been inundated with calls -- from across the political spectrum -- urging me to "stay and fight." But I came here to fight for others, not for myself. I cannot in good conscience ask my colleagues to expend precious time and energy defending or explaining my past. We need all hands on deck, fighting for the future.

That is the Van Jones we have come to know over the years. He is 100% committed to creating the conditions for an improvement in society. He is dedicated to progress, and solution-oriented activism. He is a team player. He knows how to follow the leader, and how to be the leader. So it makes perfect sense that he would bow out at this point.

What did he do to get in such a bind? He called Republicans names -- or one totally PG-rated name -- and he signed a petition asking for more information about the attacks of 9-11... The latter is not at all clear. There were a lot of petitions floating around during the years that followed 9-11, and many of those petitions included the title of an August 2001 CIA report titled" "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US." Who wouldn't want to know the whole story? There were questions regarding what the Bush administration knew, and when. And frankly, there still are. 9-11 was Katrina without the satellite imagery.

It could be Jones signed the wrong document. The point is this: It doesn't matter. His field of expertise had nothing to do with the questions raised by the opposition.

Last week I received an email from a colleague. He was passing along a comment from his boss, someone who has been fighting in the cold war-trench war of partisan politics since before my colleague was born. (To be fair, I was probably already in elementary school.) We had posted a satirical video about Glenn Beck with the title: "Fun Fact: Van Jones Is Not A Communist." It was clearly poking fun at the notion floated by WorldNetDaily folks that Van Jones, a pro-business, pro-jobs social enterpreneur, was a card-carrying communist. The note urged us to rethink our framing. A denial was as good as an affirmation in this media climate of factless amplification and dogmatic emotionalism. Our esteemed colleague was right.

The point was well made, and we ignored it. We didn't think Van would resign. Or most of us didn't. We didn't think the right wing natter amounted to anything. It was absurd. I knew this for a fact. My colleague's warning invoked the Nixon "I am not a crook" speech to illustrate why the satirical denial of Jones's political non-affiliation might be problematic. The more you deny, the more folks, it seems, rely on the opposite statement being true. The cynicism underlying the situation is nauseating, but a real part of daily life in American politics.

Van Jones was the best person for the job he just relinquished. He would have helped Republican lawmakers in their districts. He would have created jobs. He would have made a difference. It seems passably clear that the folks who launched the smear campaign against him knew this. They didn't care. Mutually assured distraction is the name of the game, and both sides are expert at it.

The winner? No one. The loser? First and foremost, America. Runner-up: Health care reform, a strong climate change bill, better education, and, for the GOP, the scariest thing on Earth: Obama's brighter tomorrow. Solution: stop playing games with the future of the nation?

Originally published by Air America.

Beau Friedlander: It's Time To Fire Glenn Beck

2009-09-01T18:48:21Z

Tuesday Glenn Beck crossed the Rubicon of human decency. He equated Reverend Jeremiah Wright with Van Jones and wondered if the FBI knowingly turned a blind eye to a black militant communist.

For a couple days now Beck has railed against the Obama administration for appointing Van Jones Special Advisor for Green Jobs at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

Van Jones is one of the brightest lights in activist circles. He is a Yale graduate whose pro-business, pro-green professionalism is planting the seeds for a new generation of entrepreneurs whose focus is to make the planet a better place through better stewardship of communities and the environment. Van Jones is American through and through, and about as communist as, well, Glenn Beck.

So why is Beck attacking Van Jones?

He is a racist, hatemongering goon for all that is vile on the right, and Fox News must take him off the air. There is no longer any justification for honoring his contract. He poses a danger to society. He is a mouthpiece for the worst tendencies in right wing politics.

Glenn Beck has now formed an argument based solely on the fear of a black planet. He has become a spokesperson for white nationalism. He has turned clownish political theater into perilous ideological cant that encourages the worst tendencies of knee-jerk reactionary politics and makes Rush Limbaugh look like Ralph Nader.

To date, Beck has lost 46 advertisers from his program. That's great. Let's take it a step further: Anyone caught buying any product advertised on Fox News, any service touted there, or patronizing anything at all in any way associated with Fox News, or in anyway benefiting that company or any of its holdings, is as un-American as the hate spewed by this contemptuous man.

It is time to remove this blight from the media landscape.

Originally published on Air America.com.

Stephen C. Rose: We're At The "Wright" Moment

2009-08-14T09:22:47Z

Most of us can remember when Sean Hannity and his FOX friends made Rev. Wright a household word. When they sowed a confusion and distraction of mammoth proportions. When they fought tooth and nail to stop the Obama march to victory. We thought the Hannity storm would prevail.

READ HOW SEAN HANNITY WON THE ELECTION FOR OBAMA

Well, we are at the same "Wright" moment now. Confusion is being sown. This time it is not FOX alone. It is all the folk who are paid to sow lies. They are connecting with deluded wingnuts who want to vent on camera. As with Wright, the MSM are in lockstep. It's a a gullibility parade.

The result is confusion and a sense of discouragement for the Obama forces. Why? Because it it appears all the distraction may just work.

But just as the "Wright" moment did not result in Obama's meltdown and defeat, this is not going to have that result either.

Here is why.

Recall that the Wright debacle necessitated a solution that only Obama could create. It is the same thing now. Those of us who understood what was happening, knew that Obama would come through.

These days even Obama's closest allies are having their doubts and still seem to believe this can be won with salient arguments, with reason, with information.

Sorry David and company. This will be won when the President is ready to administer the same death blow to silliness and drama that he delivered to the Wright drama in Philadelphia.

The President had not framed his speech when the Wright brouhaha was in full flower. When Hannity was doing his non-stop sound bites, with CNN not far behind. But the very events that seemed so against us were preparing the ground for him.

History and Obama have one thing in common. They happen to be on the same page. And what the American people will hear, at a time and place of his own choosing, is Obama's rationale for his agenda, at the center of which is health care reform.

This has not yet been stated. But just as during the Wright dust up, the ground is being prepared.

We will witness the drama for a while more. We will hear and see and even make ineffective surrogate efforts to win arguments about this point or that, to swat down the lies that circle like flies.

But it will all be building up to a single moment.

When Obama speaks, it will be the game changer Philadelphia was. That is how it works. He will, I believe, make his best speech yet. Words can and do change history.

Should we relax? No. We were right to fear then and we are right to fear now. But we should have more confidence in the process. It is the way democracy works. It ferrets out the absurd and, when there is enough comprehension at the top, it results in the right moves. A Wilson will make mistakes and lose to a Lodge. An Obama will not make mistakes and he will not lose to a Coburn, a Kyl, a McCain, whoever.

http://stephencrose.wordpress.com

Earl Ofari Hutchinson: The Good Reverend Jeremiah Wright and "Them Jews"

2009-06-13T09:57:10Z

There were two things wrong with the good Reverend Jeremiah Wrights's grouse that "them Jews are keeping me from Obama." Oops, I mean the Zionists, not Jews. That was Wright's nimble effort to take some heat off him for the silly crack. One was that he said it. The other is that he meant it. Wright's "them Jews" quip was vintage Wright. That's his penchant to shoot from the lip, damn the audience and consequences, and knowing full well that it will get the tongues furiously wagging. The correction was a trifle which meant nothing.

It still confirmed what Wright loathers firmly belief and that's that he's a loose cannon, closet racist, and anti-Semite. The timing of his crack coming on the heels of the shoot up of the Holocaust Memorial Museum by neo-Nazi looney, James Wennaker von Brunn, couldn't have been worse. Wright is no von Brunn. He has not turned his life into a crusade against the mythical Jewish domination, and has never advocated violence against anyone. He's a down-home, plain spoken, Afrocentric preacher, who had enough charisma to attract throngs, and keep them coming back week after week to his one time Southside Chicago church. One of whom was a soon to be president.

That's a big reason Wright made the silly, intemperate knock. Wright still thinks that he's due a seat at Obama's table. Never mind that the universal consensus is that one of the smartest things that Obama did was to dump Wright, and dump him fast after he became a political embarrassment. But it's the seat at the table part that makes the Wright dig revealing. It's not just Wright's ego, although there's plenty of that at work in the notion that Obama won't see or have anything to do with him because of some plot by mythical Jewish gatekeepers to keep him away. It wouldn't have mattered if not one member of Team Obama's inner circle was Jewish. Wright would still be banned in Boston at the White House.

The Wright dig does hurt in another way though. There's still the widely prevalent belief among much of the public that more than a few blacks are closet anti-Semites, and even in the more bizarre circles, a rumor to that effect is occasionally heard about President Obama. That was heard after his pointed admonition to the Israeli government to crack down on the building of the settlements on the West Bank. The settlement expansion has been widely and repeatedly criticized by diplomats, political leaders, two former American presidents Clinton and Bush as well as a wide section of Israeli public opinion.

Wright, though, went one step further and poured oil on the flame by branding the Gaza battles, "ethnic cleansing." But it's still the suspicion that many blacks are anti-Semitic that rankles and resonates the most. Two decades later, Jesse Jackson still takes hits for his "Hymietown" crack, and Al Sharpton takes a hit on occasion for some alleged anti-Semitic act. Former Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhan, is still virtually interchangeable with anti-Semite.

Anti-Semitism is alive and well in America, and it didn't take the the murder at the Holocaust Memorial Museum by a deranged, delusional nut to prove that. The legion of neo Nazi websites, videos, and books, pamhplets, that rail against Jewish or Zionist conspiracies under every bedpost, even the bedposts in the Obama White House are ample proof of that. But African-American leaders, officials and organizations have always vigorously condemned and fought against anti-Semitism. The heroic sacrifice of Stephen Tyrone Johns, the African American security guard, who gave his life to save others at the Holocaust Memorial Museum was tragic and symbolic of the long history of blacks and Jews fighting against racial bigotry and anti-Semitism. The good Reverend Wright's pithy, loose tongued crack won't change that.

Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. His weekly radio show, "The Hutchinson Report" can be heard weekly in Los Angeles Fridays on KTYM Radio 1460 AM and live streamed nationally on ktym.com

Mancow: Obama 'Excited' About Holocaust Museum Shooting, Hates Jews

2009-06-12T16:11:29Z

Mancow went on to assert that, because of his connection to Wright, Obama is an "anti-Semite" who was "popping champagne" following the June 10 shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.

Jeremiah Wright On Jews And Obama: "I Misspoke," Meant "Zionists"

2009-06-11T16:19:54Z

Reverend Jeremiah Wright raised eyebrows yet again when he said he was no longer able to speak to President Obama because "them Jews aren't going to let him talk to me." On Sirius Radio's "Make it Plain with Mark Thompson" Thursday, he clarified.

"Let me just say, like Hillary, I misspoke. Let me just say Zionists," Wright said, before going on to delineate the difference between them and "responsible Jewish persons." He went on to discuss the Israeli government and the power of the Zionist lobby in the U.S. government, saying he was basing his words on the work of Jewish historian Marc Ellis.

Listen to the interview here.

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Carol Felsenthal: The Rev. Wright and James von Brunn -- Creepy Coincidence That Their Anti-Semitic Hatred Was Hurled on Same Day

2009-06-11T15:45:11Z

No one expects the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, a man of education, intellect, talent and professional and material success to commit an act of violence. I don't believe that Wright, now retired, is trying consciously to incite his admirers and former congregants to do much more than go to the polling place.

Still, it's worth noting that on Wednesday, June 10, 2009 the world heard an audio tape of Wright's diatribe against the Jews who, he seemed to be complaining, were pulling the levers in the Obama White House. In a taped interview at a ministers' conference, Wright told a reporter that he hasn't spoken to his former parishioner now President Obama because "Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me.....They will not let him talk to somebody who calls a spade what it is."

Later the same day, the world saw video of something incalculably worse: the aftermath of a murder of a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial and Museum in Washington, DC. Within minutes, bloggers had posted the shooter's hate language, easily accessible on his web site. Holocaust-denier James von Brunn double-parked his car, walked to the door of the museum with his .22-caliber rifle in full view and started to shoot. Before he could be stopped and wounded himself, he had his victim: Stephen T. Johns, an African American, which was, presumably, fine with von Brunn because he hated blacks almost as much as he hated Jews.

Brunn, who served six years in the 1980s for attempting to kidnap members of the Federal Reserve Board, believes, apparently, that the Jews control not only the media, but also the banking system. According to the AP, he "claimed to expose a Jewish conspiracy `to destroy the White gene-pool.'"

I don't mean to compare von Bunn, who ranted "It's time to kill all the Jews," to Jeremiah Wright, who has done some good things in his career and has supporters whom I consider to be reasonable people.

But the business about the "White gene-pool" quoted above does bring to mind one of Wright's more incendiary statements -- that American officials were somehow deliberately infecting children of color with the HIV virus

Rev. Wright On Obama: "Them Jews Aren't Going To Let Him Talk To Me"

2009-06-10T11:50:57Z

HAMPTON, Va. — President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, blamed "them Jews" in an interview this week for keeping him from speaking to the president, but later apologized.

Wright, the former pastor of Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, said he hasn't spoken to Obama since he became president.

Erik Ose: The Secret Superdelegate War Revealed

2009-06-04T16:24:30Z

Now that President Obama has settled into the job enough to give Brian Williams a backstage pass to the West Wing, the heat of last year's campaign has faded. Especially with Secretary of State Clinton at his side as they tour Egypt to help repair U.S.-Arab relations, the significance of June 4th to Obama's rise may have diminished.

But it was one year ago today that Hillary Clinton announced plans to suspend her campaign for the Democratic nomination, and urged her supporters to unite behind Barack Obama. It was an overdue end to a seemingly endless primary campaign. And a surprising one, considering that until actual primary voters weighed in, the nomination had appeared to be Clinton's for the taking.

Bill and Hillary at New York rally, June 3, 2008

She had money, momentum, and crucial to the Democratic nominating process, Clinton had a big lead in superdelegate support. The rules said these Democratic elected officials and other party leaders could choose to back whomever they wanted, regardless of how their states or districts voted.

One of the unanswered questions from the primary campaign was why more superdelegates didn't endorse Clinton over Obama, even though they were party insiders, and she was the insider candidate. Plus, the conventional wisdom was that Hillary might be a stronger general election pick.

After Obama battled Clinton to a standstill on Super Tuesday, parts of the Democratic establishment were open-mouthed in disbelief. For the next three months, the Clinton campaign did its best to fan doubts about Obama's electability. They were helped as controversies involving the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Obama's "bitter" comments swirled around his candidacy. Clinton won crucial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, largely by rebranding herself as a "fighter" and tailoring her message to older, white, working class Democrats.

(In hindsight of Obama's resounding victory over John McCain in the fall, the conventional wisdom was dead wrong. If Hillary had ended up as the nominee, many disillusioned Obama voters would have stayed home. McCain would never have picked Sarah Palin as his VP, instead going with his gut instinct to choose someone far less politically radioactive, like Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge.)

Yet Obama kept getting a steady trickle of superdelegate endorsements. In mid-February, Clinton was backed by 100 more supers than Obama, but her advantage gradually shrank. On May 9, various news organizations reported Obama had overtaken Clinton in the superdelegate chase. The final tally as of June 4 was 389 superdelegates for Obama versus 282 for Clinton.

Interviewed for the New York Times' official post-mortem on Hillary's campaign, Pennsylvania superdelegate Jason Altmire explained the "frustration" within Hillaryland, since "they kept winning state after state and they expected others [superdelegates] to start turning their way and it just didn't happen."

So what happened? Harold Ickes would surely like to know. In addition to being a divisive presence in Hillary's inner circle, the legendarily hot-tempered Democratic operative was in charge of the Clinton superdelegate operation.

Certainly, some superdelegates saw the writing on the wall. They recognized Barack Obama was both the Democratic Party's future and the strongest candidate against McCain, and endorsed accordingly. Some were reluctant to fight past battles and ready for the party to embrace new leadership. All had personal reasons for their choices.

As a blogger and activist who campaigned for superdelegates to support Obama over Clinton, I had a window on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering going on largely out of view of the press and the campaigns themselves. There was a secret war being waged by both Obama and Clinton supporters to convince individual superdelegates to endorse their preferred candidates.

The Clinton campaign, in an all-out struggle to prevent the nomination from slipping away, was very public about its strategy. They openly encouraged their supporters, particularly big money donors, to pester and cajole superdelegates on Clinton's behalf, unconcerned that heavy-handed lobbying might turn off the very superdelegates they were trying to influence.

But they were beaten to the punch by Obama supporters, who organized spontaneously, and used the power of the internet to shine light on who the superdelegates were and how ordinary citizens could contact them. None of this was encouraged by the Obama campaign, who had their own, internal strategy to woo the supers. Barack and Michelle began personally calling superdelegates as early as March 2007, something Hillary agreed to do only after the Texas and Ohio contests on March 4. Although Team Obama eventually decided a little citizen lobbying might not be such a bad thing. Yet throughout the primaries, lobbying was happening fast and furiously at the grassroots and netroots levels.

While careful to remain neutral, Democratic Convention Watch was essential for anyone tracking superdelegates. A no frills, Blogger-hosted site run by two Denver political junkies, DemConWatch became the most trusted source for news about superdelegate endorsements, more accurate and up-to-date than any brand name media outlet.

The Superdelegate Transparency Project was another independent, neutral resource. A joint project of LiteraryOutpost, OpenLeft, DemConWatch, and HuffPo's Off the Bus, organizer Jennifer Nix described the effort as a "collaborative project among all interested parties to bring transparency and accountability to the Democratic National Convention." They posted state-by-state breakdowns of which superdelegates had endorsed which candidates, what popular vote totals each had received, and whether the supers' endorsements lined up with the votes in their respective districts.

Obama supporters on MyBarackObama.com and sites like DailyKos and Democratic Underground were constantly circulating lists of uncommitted superdelegates. In mid-February, MoveOn.org jumped into the fray when it began an online petition drive that 400,000 signed, calling for superdelegates to "let the voters decide between Clinton and Obama, then support the people's choice." The San Francisco-based group Color Of Change delivered 25,000 e-mails urging Congressional Black Caucus members to follow their districts' votes.

In North Carolina, our congressional superdelegates originally backed former Sen. John Edwards. When Edwards exited the race in late January, most had yet to endorse another candidate.

So a few Obama supporters in N.C. decided to lobby them and organized Voters for Obama. Our website, votersforobama.org, launched on President's Day (Feb. 19). Using info gathered by DemConWatch and STP, we posted state-by-state lists of supers, their endorsements, and going a crucial step further, included contact info (work mailing addresses, e-mails, and phone numbers) for selected superdelegates. We provided simple instructions on how to make polite, respectful phone calls or send e-mails asking superdelegates to support Obama.

Over the next few months, 15,000 people visited our site, and we helped voters from around the country generate an estimated several thousand e-mails and phone calls to superdelegates. Volunteers gathered thousands more signatures on petitions in seven states including North Carolina.

And together with similar efforts by other Obama supporters, it made a difference. Most superdelegates are politicians, and they pay attention to the voters who elect them. Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory announced his support for Obama on Feb. 25 as a superdelegate from Ohio. Following a news story about his previous indecision, Mallory said he heard from many community members. "[I] got lots of calls and e-mails, mostly telling me to support Obama," he said. "I got three or four calls in support of Clinton, but it was very lopsided."

In mid-Feburary, approximately 400 superdelegates remained uncommitted. We targeted half of them, mostly elected officials and state Democratic party leaders, who we thought would be the most responsive to their constituents and rank-and-file Democrats in each state. Of the 205 superdelegates we posted contact info for, 130 of them (63%) endorsed Obama during the three and a half months leading up to June 4, when Hillary announced her intention to suspend campaigning. 56 superdelegates that we lobbied (27%) remained neutral, while only 19 (or 9%) came out for Hillary. Our target superdelegates delivered an 111-delegate net gain for Obama.

Superdelegate endorsement graph courtesy of DemConWatch

Belatedly, the Clinton campaign set up their own online lobbying operation, including slick, interactive websites. But whoever was running the show was decidedly not slick enough to realize the dangers of providing contact info for all the supers, including those who had already endorsed Hillary. Ditto for posting personal cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.

NObama Democrats backing Hillary were late to the game, but they made up for it with frenzied enthusiasm once they got going. Taylor Marsh harangued her listeners to lobby superdelegates for Hillary, and sites like JustSayNoDeal.com and PUMAPAC.org (Party Unity My Ass) were hot on the bandwagon.

A project called LobbyDelegates.com also launched, and although officially neutral, became the go-to site for disgruntled Clintonistas. Three of the top five URLs directing traffic to LobbyDelegates.com were official Clinton websites, and a fourth was a site affiliated with PUMA PAC.

By late May, Obama's high profile supporters were anxious to get the nomination fight settled. Perhaps fed up with the efforts of Hillary dead-enders to keep dividing the party, on May 22 Arianna Huffington called for superdelegates to endorse Obama, and encouraged her readers to contact and lobby them.

In the end, enough superdelegates swung behind Obama to allow pledged delegates from the final primaries to put him over the top. Obama reached a majority of 2,118 delegates on the night of June 3, after voters in Montana cast their ballots in the 54th nominating contest of the season. The next day, Democratic members of Congress who had remained Clinton supporters up until that point urged her to withdraw, and she announced she would. Hillary delivered her concession speech three days later on June 7th, at a final event packed with her supporters.

A year later, I would like to thank all our Voters for Obama coalition members, volunteers, and supporters. Special thanks go out to co-organizers Mani Dexter, who did most of the superdelegate research necessary to first set up our site, and Dana Lumsden, for his enthusiasm and unwavering support; SuperVoters Susan Baylies and Scott Priz, for being willing to put on capes for Obama and help deliver 2,000 signed petitions to N.C. Gov. Mike Easley; and local organizer Cristobal Palmer, whose tireless efforts helped make our N.C. petition drive a success.

And a big thanks to everyone who visited votersforobama.org and used its tools to call, e-mail, or sign a petition to superdelegates for Obama. We let our party leaders know their constituents wanted Obama to be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2008, and they listened.

Erik Ose is a veteran of Democratic campaigns in North Carolina and blogs at The Latest Outrage.

Obama Held Secret Meeting With Wright Towards End Of Primary

2009-06-03T08:25:55Z

According to the new book, Renegade: The Making of a President, Barack Obama held a secret meeting with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright towards the end of the 2008 presidential primary season. The goal was to get Wright to end his public appearances which were believed to be hurting Obama in the battleground states of North Carolina and Indiana.

Jeremiah Wright: Obama 'Like Any Other President'

2009-03-06T09:00:41Z

SELMA, Ala. — President Barack Obama's longtime minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, gave an assessment Thursday of his former congregant's short time in the White House: Obama is just like any other president.

Speaking in a brief interview with The Associated Press before giving a speech at a civil rights landmark, Wright smiled at the mention of the name of the nation's first black president.

Paul Raushenbush: God Damn Wall Street!

2009-01-31T22:09:27Z

God Damn Wall Street!

Ok, I had to get a little Jeremiah Wright off my chest because the disgusting behavior of Wall Street while our economy crumbles has made it tough to maintain equanimity.

The rip off disgrace of Bernie Madoff, the spa adventures of government bailed-out AIG, the $100,000 office antics of Merrill Lynch's John Thain, - these have been enough to wish for some good old fashioned Divine judgment. But now the New York Times recently reported that hefty bonuses were awarded on Wall Street:

"Despite crippling losses, multibillion-dollar bailouts and the passing of some of the most prominent names in the business, employees at financial companies in New York, the now-diminished world capital of capital, collected an estimated $18.4 billion in bonuses for the year.

That was the sixth-largest haul on record, according to a report released Wednesday by the New York State comptroller."

The sixth largest haul in what people are called the next great depression! What exactly have the Wall Street employees accomplished for which they should be awarded bonuses? There is a complete disconnect between the bubble of downtown Manhattan and the rest of the country which faces foreclosures, rising poverty, and unemployment figures that will likely reach double digits in the coming year. It is time for some deep soul searching among those who just got these fat bonuses in this time of crisis.

I do not pretend to speak to people of any other faith, but as a pastor I encourage any Christians who got a bonus this year to give 100 percent of your bonus to the charity of your choice. Maybe a job center, a foodbank or a public health care facility. Like the rich young man, you are loving money too much and your greed is a stumbling block to your own salvation. This is your opportunity to respond to Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25 and help those who are hungry, sick, captive, and naked. Repent, before it is too late. Save your soul, and help your fellow citizens while you are at it.
Cross posted from Beliefnet's Progressive Revival Blog

McCain Blogger: We Almost Kicked NYT Off Our Plane

2009-01-27T12:39:28Z

Michael Goldfarb was the McCain campaign's deputy communications director-cum-media bodyguard, tasked by McCain's high command with bullying the press into covering things the "right" way. It's a role Goldfarb, a reporter and blogger himself, played with gusto--so much so that he generated controversy and became part of the storyline himself on occasion.

Now back at The Weekly Standard, he talked to Kate Klonick about the campaign's flirtation with punishing The New York Times, the decision to pick Sarah Palin, and that memorable interview on CNN.

Ray Hanania: Is the Gaza War intended by Israel to checkmate Barack Obama?

2009-01-10T09:47:01Z

On June 19, 2008, Israel and Hamas agreed to a "Lull" or Tahadiya in Arabic. Israel wanted it to last indefinitely and Hamas said it would last six months. As it neared the end, though, Hamas indicated it would extend the "lull" arrangement.

In today's war between Hamas and Israel, Israel's government, and allies like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice insist that Israel was forced to attack in order to prevent rocket attacks fired by Hamas in violation of the "Lull."

But Israel's own sources show that to be false. In fact, Israeli sources like the Tel Aviv-based "Terrorism Information Center" show that prior to the "Lull" there were intense rocket attacks -- and they acknowledge that many of the attacks were in response to Israeli military attacks targeting Palestinian militants and Hamas activists in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

On Dec. 19, 2008, Hamas kept its word and rocket attacks ceased. There WERE some incidents, but all of the Israeli sources agrew with Hamas claims that the few rocket incidents each month that took place were fired by militants not under Hamas's control. Hamas, in fact, cracked down on the "independents" and several occasions.

Although, again, for each "independent" firing of rockets, it was always preceded by Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the West Bank aligned with the independent groups. The point is that Hamas abided by the Lull of Tahadiya agreement during the agreement period.

Independents, seeking revenge against israel, did fire SOME rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip after Israel attacked their members in the West Bank.

Israel argues the Lull did not apply to the West Bank. Hamas argues it should have. If the Israeli attacks did not take place in the West Bank during the Lull Arrangement (Tahadiya), it is very likely that there would not have even been a few incidents of rockets being fired into israel.

CLICK HERE FOR A DETAILED REVIEW OF THIS and a CHART from the Terrorism Information Center in Tel Aviv that shows exactly when and how many rockets (and mortars) were fired from the Gaza Strip, backing up this important point that the mainstream media and the Bush administration seems to ignore.

On Nov. 4, 2008, without any provocation, Israel expanded its attacks against militants from the West Bank to the Gaza Strip IN CLEAR VIOLATION of the Lull Arrangement or cease-fire.

Israel alleged they attacked a tunnel that was to be used to kidnap Israeli soldiers. The assault by Israel ground forces took six (6) Palestinian lives. Their fellow militants responded with rocket fire. Israel then attacked with war planes thenext day and the conflict quickly escalated IN VIOLATION OF THE CEASE FIRE.

Many people ignore the importance of the date this "war" started. It was Nov. 4, 2008, while Americans were focused on the most important date of the year, the presidential election in the United States.

Did Israel attack Hamas in violation of the Lull Arrangement because Hamas fired rockets into Israeli cities?

Or, was it because Israel decided that it needed to act now, knowing that Barack Obama would be a different kind of president than George W. Bush whose administration has embraced Israeli government war mongering? Was this intended to change the dynamics to create a situation that would force Obama to act in Israel's interests when he finally assumes office Jan. 20?

Clearly, the Israeli government action is more about politics than truth. Sadly, few in America seem to care about truth or even the safety of civilians.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

Daniel Kurtzman: 2008's Most Laughable Political Antics

2008-12-27T20:39:35Z

In a year when everyone was looking for a bailout, politicians did more for political comedy than any other industry. We had governors gone rogue, reverends gone wild, shoe-throwers, imaginary snipers and, of course, everyone's favorite mavericky, Prada-wearing hockey mom. As a salute to those who made this the funniest year since, well, last year, here's a look back at 2008's most memorable feats and foibles, in words and glorious video:

Worst photo op: Sarah Palin's turkey pardoning fiasco -- a.k.a. "wattlegate" -- in which she pardoned a turkey at a farm in Wasilla, and then gave an interview while other turkeys were shoved into a cone of death and slaughtered in the background. As David Letterman joked, she can see Russia, but she can't see what's going on five feet behind her:

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Least likely to be invited for a sleepover in the Obama White House: Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was caught on an open mic talking about pitching Obama's voice an octave higher, in a manner of speaking. Jackson was taking offense at Obama's suggestion that African-Americans needed to take more responsibility for things like fatherhood and being responsible husbands. To which Jay Leno quipped, "Jesse thought it was insulting, not only to him, but to his former mistress and their love child."

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Best typo: In a story about potential vice presidential picks, the AP referred to Joe Lieberman as "the Democratic vice presidential prick in 2000."

Shortest fuse: John's McCain's brother, Joe McCain, who called 911 to complain about being stuck in traffic. When the dispatcher asked if that was seriously why he was calling an emergency hotline, Joe the Hothead cursed him out and hung up. We might have never known about the incident, except when the dispatcher called the cell phone back, he got this message: "Hi, this is Joe McCain. I can't take this message now because I am involved in a very important family political project." And to think, he came within 8.5 million votes of becoming the next Roger Clinton:

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Worst exit strategy: John Edwards, who, upon being confronted by a National Enquirer reporter at the Beverly Hills Hilton after paying a late-night visit to his former mistress and her child, did what any self-respecting ex-Senator and presidential aspirant with nothing to hide would do. He fled into a bathroom and tried to hold the door shut. Edwards later admitted to the affair, but denied fathering her child. Or, as the humor site Fark reported it: "John Edwards: Billie Jean IS my lover, but the kid is not my son."

Best moment of Palinfreude: The prank call Palin received from a Canadian comedy duo, who convinced her she was talking to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France. Palin didn't pick up on any of the hints that the conversation was a joke, even when the faux Frenchman said, "From my 'ouse, I can see Belgium," or when he complimented her on the documentary about her life, Hustler's "Nailin' Palin." "Ohh, good, thank you, yes," she replied:

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Worst attempt to woo the Fox News demographic: Barack Obama, who was heard at a San Francisco fund-raiser saying that small-town voters are "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion." The remark was so offensive to armed churchgoers, they didn't know whether to turn the other cheek or lock and load.

Most notorious member of the Hypocrites' V.I.P. Club: Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer of New York, who rose to power as a sanctimonious crusader against ethics violations and corruption, but didn't let that get in the way of his taste for high-priced hookers. As Attorney General, Spitzer had famously busted prostitution rings, apparently so he could keep them all for himself. Spitzer was forced to resign after being outed as Client No. 9 at the Emperor's V.I.P. Club. Jay Leno was confused: "He's the governor -- who were the eight guys in front of him? You'd think as governor, you'd at least get to go first."

Worst con artist: Joe the Plumber, who John McCain called his "role model," even though it turned out he didn't have a plumber's license, was unemployed, had cheated on his taxes, and his name wasn't even Joe. As Jimmy Kimmel put it, "He's the Sarah Palin of plumbing."

Best reflexes: President Bush, who dodged two shoes hurled at him by an Iraqi journalist with a dexterity that conjured comparisons to Keanu Reeves in The Matrix. Although, as David Letterman noted, "Too bad he didn't react that way with bin Laden or Katrina, bin Laden or the mortgage crisis, bin Laden or Afghanistan, bin Laden or the Lehman Brothers":

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Most courageous under imaginary fire: Hillary Clinton, whose account of dodging sniper fire after landing in Bosnia was debunked when video footage showed her being greeted on the tarmac not by gun shots, but by a young girl's poetry reading. "If only she had channeled that active fantasy world into her marriage," quipped Bill Maher.

Biggest wardrobe malfunction: Palin's $150,000 shopping spree, for which she was reimbursed with an endless barrage of jokes, like this one from Letterman: "The difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull: lipstick, Prada shoes, a Gucci handbag, and a few $3,000 suits."

Biggest talking-point malfunction: Obama's run-in with Joe the Plumber, in which he gave a shout-out to Karl Marx by saying, "I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." Off in the distance, his Teleprompter wept.

Best use of expletives: Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois, who, while allegedly trying to sell Obama's Senate seat, was recorded saying, "I've got this thing and it's [bleeping] golden," "I'm just not giving it up for [bleeping] nothing," and "Give this [bleep] Obama his senator? [Bleep] him. For nothing. [Bleep] him.'" Better still, a day before his arrest, the Governor invited authorities to tape his phone calls, huffing, "I can tell you that whatever I say is always lawful." Not to mention bleeping insane.

Best use of a Viking Grill, a vibrating Shiatsu massage lounger, and $250,000 in other gifts: Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who became the nation's highest-ranking convicted felon after lying on Senate financial disclosure forms. Naturally, Stevens received a 56-second-long standing ovation after delivering his farewell speech to the Senate, which, as Rachel Maddow of MSNBC noted, worked out to "eight seconds of heartfelt standing applause for each of his felony convictions."

Most brutal Palin insult: It was humiliating enough when McCain aides called Palin a "diva" and a "whack job," while accusing her of "going rogue," throwing temper tantrums, and not knowing that Africa was a continent. But the most devastating sound bite came from a McCain aide who described her shopping spree as "Wasilla hillbillies looting Neiman Marcus from coast to coast."

Best attempt to win imaginary delegates: Barack Obama, who said at an Oregon campaign stop, "I've now been in 57 states -- I think one left to go."

Best train wreck: The Sarah Palin-Katie Couric interview, which featured one laughable gaffe after the next, including Palin's failure to think of any Supreme Court decisions other than Roe v. Wade ...

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... her failure to name a single newspaper or magazine she reads other than "all of 'em, any of 'em" ...

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... and her claim to foreign policy expertise because Vladimir Putin likes to rear his head and fly over Alaskan airspace. It teetered on such self-parody that all Tina Fey had to do on Saturday Night Live was repeat parts of Palin's answers verbatim, gosh darnit, and also there too, you betcha!

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Worst campaign surrogate: Bill Clinton, who had to be muzzled during the Democratic primaries after playing the race card and the patriot card against Obama, growling and snapping at reporters, and saying unfortunate things like, "The country is groaning and moaning and screaming for change." As Jay Leno joked, like a lot of women in Washington, Hillary soon realized she had slept with Bill Clinton for nothing.

Cheapest campaign stunt: John McCain, who "suspended" his campaign to go save the economy, said the presidential debate had to be canceled, flew to Washington, screwed up the bailout deal, then un-suspended his campaign and flew to the debate, even though there was no deal. "Usually when a 72-year-old man acts this way, this is when the kids start calling nursing homes," quipped Bill Maher.

Best smackdown following a cheap campaign stunt: When McCain told Letterman he was canceling his appearance on the show because he had to fly to Washington, and then showed up instead for an interview with Katie Couric, Letterman mocked him mercilessly. "Hey John!" Letterman shouted as he aired the live CBS feed of the interview for his audience. "I've got a question: You need a lift to the airport?" It got even uglier for McCain, with Letterman saying: "This is not the way a tested hero behaves. Somebody's putting something in his Metamucil":

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Least likely to prevail at a sanity hearing: Obama's former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who burned up YouTube with his fiery rants imploring God to damn America for perpetrating genocide against chickens that came home to roost on 9/11 (or something like that). Despite being widely disparaged as a crackpot, Wright said he received over a million emails and phone calls telling him to keep on speaking out -- "all of them from Hillary Clinton," joked Jay Leno.

Creepiest Palin crush: Rich Lowry, National Review editor, who reacted to Palin's performance in the vice presidential debate thusly: "I'm sure I'm not the only male in America who, when Palin dropped her first wink, sat up a little straighter on the couch and said, 'Hey, I think she just winked at me.' And her smile. By the end, when she clearly knew she was doing well, it was so sparkling it was almost mesmerizing. It sent little starbursts through the screen and ricocheting around the living rooms of America." Which left everyone wondering the same thing: When did National Review turn into Penthouse Forum?

Creepiest Obama crush: Chris Matthews of MSNBC, who said that while listening to Obama speak, "I felt this thrill going up my leg":

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Best evidence that the next four years may not be a total disaster for political comedy: While on the campaign trail, Joe Biden referred to his running mate as "Barack America"; implored a wheelchair-bound politician to "stand up"; recalled how Franklin Roosevelt addressed the nation on TV when the stock market crashed in 1929 (even though F.D.R. wasn't president and few had even heard of TV at the time); and said Hillary Clinton would have made a better V.P. pick because she was more qualified than him. Thanks to Biden, comedians appear to be getting a stimulus package, too.

Best epitaph on the Bush years: In his parting words at his final G-8 Summit, President Bush ended a private meeting with world leaders by saying, "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter." According to press reports, he then punched the air and grinned widely as the rest of those present looked on in shock. Who said he never had an exit strategy?

This piece originally appeared in the New York Times' Laugh Lines blog.

Daniel Kurtzman edits the Political Humor page of About.com, which is part of The New York Times Company. He is author of the books "How to Win a Fight With a Conservative" and "How to Win a Fight With a Liberal."
Read more: Election 2008 Coverage, Obama Gaffes, Mccain Gaffes, Humor, Mccain, Late Night Jokes, Obama, 2008 Election, Palin, Conan O'Brien, Politics, Barack Obama, Jay Leno, Political Humor, Sarah Palin, Jimmy Kimmel, Palin Gaffes, John McCain, Year in Review, Bill Maher, David Letterman, Government Bailout, Political Comedy, Bailout, Comedy, George Bush, George W. Bush, Eliot Spitzer, 2008, Viral Video, Tina Fey Sarah Palin, Katie Couric, John Edwards, Biden Gaffes, Bill Clinton, Bush, Sarah Palin Katie Couric, Jesse Jackson, Jeremiah Wright, Joe Biden, Bush Shoe Throw, Rod Blagojevich, Joe the Plumber, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin Turkey Pardon, Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey, Best of 2008, Politics News, Political Antics, Political Satire, Video, Most Laughable Political Antics, 2008 New Year, 2008 Political Scandals, Political Scandals, Lists, Oregon, Politics News

Chris Weigant: My 2008 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 2]

2008-12-26T20:10:18Z

Welcome (once again) to the second part of my annual tribute to the McLaughlin Awards. [Part 1 ran last week, in case you missed it.]

Now, the McLaughlin Group television show (on a PBS channel near you) last week did not do Part 1 of their awards, so it looks like they're running a week late. But my schedule is locked in, so we continue with our year-end awards here, and hopefully you'll be able to check my picks with theirs next week (and my picks last week with what they run this week). Got all that? Well, don't worry, there won't be a quiz at the end or anything.

Also, just for comparison's sake (to see how many things I got wrong, in other words), here are the previous two years' columns:

[2006, Part 1] [2006, Part 2] [2007, Part 1] [2007, Part 2]

   Destined For Political Stardom

Three names suggest themselves in this category. The first, sad to say, is Sarah Palin. While some dismiss her with the term (which she herself uttered on Saturday Night Live) "Caribou Barbie," my educated guess is that we have not seen the last of Alaska's governor on the national stage. Because while the list of things Palin lacks is long and daunting, she has one star quality which may prove to be strong enough to cancel all the rest out -- charisma. A politician can learn about such mundane things as world events and how to speak with political finesse, but charisma can't really be learned -- it's more of an innate quality. And Palin's got it. For those laughing at the prospect of Sarah Palin ever reappearing, I caution that when Ronald Reagan first ran for president, we all laughed at him, too. An actor becoming president? Pre-pos-terous! So don't underestimate charisma, or Palin's ambition.

The second name which suggested itself is Joe Biden's son Beau Biden. It seems Joe's Senate seat will go to a placeholder who will vacate the office in two years (thus allowing Beau to run), meaning that he is destined if not for stardom, at least to a place on the national stage. Keep an eye on Beau in the future, as he appears to be headed for big things.

But the winner in this category is Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. He is young, he is a minority, and he is Republican. That alone guarantees that he will be seriously considered by the party as a GOP antidote to Barack Obama. Jindal recently said that he wasn't even interested in running in 2012, unless Obama royally screws up, but I would keep an eye on how many times he visits Iowa in the next few years, myself. Republicans know they're getting killed demographically, as the party shrinks to a very white, very old base. They know they have to do something to reverse this trend. The only problem is they don't have a lot of minority officeholders to choose from. Which puts Bobby Jindal front and center. Barring a Louisiana-sized scandal, Jindal seems destined for political stardom in the near future.

   Destined For Political Oblivion

Democrats would absolutely love to put Sarah Palin in this column, but I disagree, as I stated above. Eliot Spitzer almost got this award, but I see he is reinventing himself as a journalist, so the jury's still out (so to speak) on his political future relevance. Ted Stevens was considered as well, but the people back in Alaska love him so much, and (more importantly) have named so many things after him, that his future in the history of the state is pretty much already written in stone. Sure, there'll be a more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger footnote, but Stevens will long be remembered in the state of Alaska -- meaning, by definition, he can't win this award. Illinois' governor also seems in a pretty bad spot, but Blaggy says he's going to fight back, and stranger political revivals have been known (Marion Barry, for instance).

Which pretty much leaves the Bush administration. It's hard to pick just one out of this den of rascals, but upon reflection I'm going to award Condoleezza Rice the "Destined for Political Oblivion" award. She should have resigned on September 12, 2001, she has done nothing of any real note since (except lie to Congress with a straight face), and she herself says she just wants to retreat into academia for the rest of her life (Stanford will find some job for her, I'm sure). Which pretty much guarantees her destined political oblivion.

   Best Political Theater

Who should get this award depends on how you define the term. Democrats would likely award "Most Amusing Political Theater" to President Bush getting two shoes thrown at him by an Iraqi journalist, for instance. Or if you define "best" as "most magnificent," you would have to award it to Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention. Republicans made fools of themselves complaining about Roman columns as backdrop (which is a pretty standard political backdrop, used by both parties throughout the years), and complaining that Obama was accommodating a throng of 80,000 people in a football stadium (since when has "being popular" been a bad thing for a politician?). When Obama strode up to the lectern, none of that mattered. What a speech! What a crowd! What a spectacle! What great political theater!

But I'm defining the term more towards the "theater" side than the "political" side this year, and am awarding this year's "Best Political Theater" to Tina Fey's brilliant and scathing portrayal of Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live. The first time I saw a photo of Sarah Palin, the first thing that popped into my mind (I swear) was: Tina Fey has got to play her! They look so much alike!

I was basing that solely upon looks, I should mention. All Fey needed to do to portray Palin was to put her hair up and don a red jacket. But that was before I saw her actually do it. Fey captured the accent and mannerisms of Palin so well, and the SNL writers did a great job by sticking so closely to Palin's actual words (Palin's own words needed no satirizing, they were ridiculous enough on their own, and they needed a very light comedic touch in order to make them even more hilarious). And Fey uttered the immortal line (which got quoted more than anything Palin actually said) -- "I can see Russia from my house!" Which all adds up to Tina Fey walking off with the Best Political Theater of 2008.

   Worst Political Theater

A strong case could be made for the auto executives arriving in Washington in hybrid vehicles, as a photo-op stunt after the public relations disaster of flying down previously -- each executive in his own private jet. Now this was just silly on so many levels. First, if you looked closely, those were chauffeured hybrids, since actually driving was apparently beneath such powerful executives. Secondly, we didn't hear a peep about Wall Street executives flying private planes to be grilled by Congress when they needed a bailout -- because there was no congressional grilling of these executives to begin with. But while the whole thing was just an exercise in ridiculousness, it still doesn't merit the Worst Political Theater award this year.

Because that is reserved for John Edwards. The heartbreaking press conference he gave to announce his wife's cancer had returned (and his use of his wife throughout his campaign), were seen in quite a different light when the "love child" story broke. Nothing was remotely as exploitatively bad as Edwards' political theater, at least seen in hindsight after the scandal broke. So Worst Political Theater of 2008 goes to John Edwards, hands down.

   Worst Political Scandal

With four big ones to choose from, selecting one was kind of tough this year. John Edwards' self-destruction, Eliot Spitzer's self-destruction, and the ongoing Blagojevich scandal all deserve a dis-honorable mention here.

But seen purely politically, Ted Stevens stands head-and-shoulders beneath the other three (so to speak). Because by hanging on and running again with a damn-the-torpedoes attitude, Stevens turned over what had been considered a safe Republican seat to the Democrats this year. Meaning his scandal affected more than just his own reputation. Again, I'm not saying that what Stevens did was any worse than what the rest of them did, what I am saying is that his had wider consequences politically. Also, he was convicted in a federal court for what he did, which none of the others can claim (yet).

   Most Underreported Story

As usual, there is a lot to choose from in this category. Darfur, for instance. Or, to be fair to the man, John Edwards' second-place finish in the Iowa caucus -- the mainstream news barely mentioned the fact that he beat Hillary Clinton, which only hastened his exit from the race. And the virtual media blackout on protests at both parties' national conventions this year was a disgrace.

But to me, the biggest underreported story of 2008 was the way President Bush got absolutely strong-armed during the negotiations for a Status Of Forces Agreement by Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki of Iraq. Bush started negotiations in typical "my way or the highway" style, but Maliki proved to be adept at getting virtually everything he wanted, while leaving Bush virtually nothing in the process. In the end, Bush had to sign on to a hard and fast timetable for the withdrawal of American forces, contradicting everything he had been saying about such a timetable, pretty much since the war began. This should have been big news, but somehow wasn't. Maybe it was a combination of Bush fatigue and Iraq fatigue, but the media really dropped the ball on this one.

   Most Overreported Story

As always, I shy away from all the celebrity news here (because it's just so obvious, mostly). A strong case could be made for "the Olympics," but that was mostly NBC trying to recoup the exorbitant amount of money it keeps paying for exclusive television rights to the games.

Because I am going to have to say the Most Overreported Story was the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, with Bill Ayers in a close second. Partly it was because the story broke in the middle of a long six-week break in the primary schedule, and partly because Hillary Clinton did her part to push the story, but for something like a solid month you couldn't turn on a television without seeing a five-second clip of one of Wright's sermons. Why are lefty preachers held to higher standards than righty preachers? Who knows... but the hyperventilating over Wright was just too much, in my humble opinion.

   Biggest Government Waste

And we have a tie in the Biggest Government Waste category!

First up is our reconstruction of Iraq. The Inspector General just leaked a draft report (the full report is due in February) that details exactly how much money was wasted, in so many different ways. Billions and billions, just flat-out wasted.

Larger in scale, but closer to home, we have the Wall Street bailout. Giving the Bush folks seven hundred billion dollars and not requiring them to even say how the money was or will be spent will likely go down as one of the stupidest things Congress has ever done in the entire history of the United States of America. Now, maybe the money was necessary, I'm not saying it wasn't here. But writing such a gargantuan blank check, and not requiring any accountability over the money -- and passing it faster than a speeding bullet -- is just stunning in its stupidity.

So reconstructing Iraq and the no-questions-asked Wall Street bailout are going to have to share this year's Biggest Government Waste award.

   Best Government Dollar Spent

Because it's the holidays and I'm in a mellow mood, I'd like to toss a bone (and not my shoes) to President Bush. Because he has done one thing with my tax dollars that I approve of, and he's pushed the issue more than anyone else ever has. The scourge of AIDS in Africa is something that doesn't get a lot of press here, but it has been a human catastrophe of almost unimaginable scope. And Bush sent a lot more money to Africa than ever before. Now, some of his foreign policies are still idiocy -- such as balking at distributing condoms, or the global gag rule on abortion -- but at least Bush did some things that were helpful, and he spent a lot of money on it.

But I have to actually give the Best Government Dollar Spent this year, sadly, to the extension of unemployment benefits by Congress. Economists will tell you that you get more "bang for the buck" in terms of stimulating the economy by alleviating unemployment in this fashion than by almost anything else you can do. Democrats got it passed, and they got Bush to sign it, and for that they deserve credit, and this year's award.

   Boldest Political Tactic

This is one of those "nothing else comes close" categories.

Because -- love her or hate her -- you have to admit that John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket this year was without any doubt the boldest political tactic of the year. McCain gambled, and he lost. But he threw those dice in a big way, and elevated Palin out of obscurity to being (potentially) a heartbeat away from running the country.

We'll never know his real reasoning for doing so. He may have been courting women (former Hillary supporters), he may have been courting conservatives (who had never really been happy with McCain), and he may have just picked her for her crowd appeal. But to even suggest that she was "the best and most qualified person for the job" was so laughable, that it was obvious that McCain was doubling down on his chances with an enormous political gamble. It didn't pay off, but if the economy had tanked two weeks after the election rather than just before, election night would have likely been a lot closer. Palin's pick elevated McCain's numbers to where he was beating Obama by a few points -- the only time in the entire general election campaign he managed to do so.

Of course, then Palin talked with a few reporters, and it all fell apart. But for sheer boldness, nothing else was even in the same league last year as Sarah Palin's pick.

   Best Idea

Again, I have to award a tie in this category.

First is the idea that going green and getting America off its dependence on foreign oil is a valid thing for the country to do. Before Al Gore made this idea respectable, it was in the "tin foil hat" category for a lot of Americans (including much of the mainstream media). It was considered the wacky ravings of some hippie in California, and most decidedly not to be taken seriously. Post-Gore it has become mainstream. Everybody recycles now, not just hippies. Our new president has shown a strong commitment to changing the way we all think about energy and what the future is going to look like. Some have likened it to Kennedy calling for a moon landing within a decade. But the idea that if we don't have to buy foreign oil anymore -- and therefore don't have to give billions to people who hate us -- is now well on its way to becoming conventional wisdom that nobody even questions. For this achievement, going green gets Best Idea of 2008.

But it has to share the award with Howard Dean. Because Dean changed the way Democrats looked at the political map with his "50-state strategy." And you can see how successful this has been by comparing a map of congressional districts before Dean took the helm of the DNC, and how it looked after the 2008 election. Likewise, comparing the electoral map from 2004 to the 2008 map also shows how Dean's strategy paid off. Democrats took Virginia. And North Carolina. And those are just the two most obvious examples. So although Dean thought this strategy up before 2008 even dawned, the idea was brought to wonderful fruition in the 2008 election cycle, and Dean deserves credit for that. Also, he deserves a new job, now that he's stepping down from DNC chair.

   Worst Idea

If this were "worst idea since Ronald Reagan took office" then "deregulation" would win hands down. Allowing the financial markets to police themselves was a monumentally stupid idea that we are all now paying for. But it took place over decades, not really within the scope of last year.

Florida and Michigan both deserve runner-up prizes in this category, for moving their primaries too early -- even though they were warned they'd lose their delegates as a result -- and then having the gall to complain about it when their delegates were stripped. You'd think such a monumental screwup would bring about primary calendar reform, but I'm not exactly holding my breath waiting for it.

But the truly worst idea of 2008 was the reappearance -- at both conventions -- of the "free speech zone." Will we have to tell our grandchildren, "I remember when the whole country was a free speech zone," or will we ever get rid of this abomination on our own? American citizens are guaranteed the right to protest in the Bill of Rights. But the concept of "security" is making it less and less likely that political protests will ever reach the ears of the people who matter, since the "free speech zones" are always conveniently out of ear-shot and eye-shot of the actual event. This is an outrage against the freedoms we are promised as citizens, and it needs to end.

   Sorry To See You Go

Sorry to see you go: Arthur C. Clarke, George Carlin, (very soon now) First Cat Socks Clinton, Bernie Mac, Isaac Hayes, Michael Crichton, Bo Diddley, Harvey Korman.

Sorry to see you die, but not sorry to see you leave your job: Tony Snow.

Not sorry at all to see you go: Jesse Helms.

   15 Minutes Of Fame

Truly, there can only be one. In anticipation of him becoming a trivia answer in the very near future, the 15 Minutes Of Fame award goes to Joe The Plumber.

See, you've already forgotten his last name, haven't you?

It's Wurzelbacher.

Joe The Plumber was thrust into the spotlight by John McCain during a debate, and his life will never be the same again. He showed a nimbleness in his attitudes on taxes that deserves the Orwellian "doublethink" award as well -- when he was talking about owning his own business and making over a quarter-million dollars a year, raising his taxes outraged him. High taxes for Joe are bad, in other words. Then when called on the carpet and informed that by his own income, he was going to save money by paying less taxes under Obama's plan, instead of the standard Republican talking point ("the government needs to give me back more of MY MONEY that they are taking"), he came up with a mind-blowing reversal: since he would be paying less taxes, that meant that someone richer was paying more taxes, and therefore it was nothing but (gasp!) socialism. In other words, low taxes for Joe are bad. This head-snapping mental U-turn was never given the ridicule it deserved at the time, which is why I bring it up now.

Wurzelbacher. Remember it. Wurzelbacher. When playing "Trivial Pursuit" in the year 2015, you will earn a wedge for knowing his last name.

   Best Spin

While "Hillary Clinton is the inevitable Democratic nominee" was certainly a strong contender, this year's Best Spin award goes to Sarah Palin.

She actually gets it for two pieces of choice, Grade-A quality spin. The first was she was the only candidate in the race with "executive experience." Whoooo, doggie! That's a pretty whopping amount of spin right there, you betcha! Being mayor of Wasilla was somehow supposed to be more impressive than a few decades in the Senate (Biden, McCain), or time spent in the state legislature and the Senate (Obama). My old Cub Scout den mother could be said to have "executive experience" as well... I guess... but it doesn't mean she qualifies to be vice president, if you know what I mean.

The second world-class spin that came from Palin was that Barack Obama was some sort of secret socialist. Um... excuse me? Now, I can fully understand why any true red-blooded conservative thinks pretty much anything government does for anybody is "socialism." It's part of their creed, and therefore I expect that sort of thing. But from the governor of Alaska, it is ludicrous. Absolutely insane. Alaska is pretty much our only state government which runs on strict socialist theory. They take from the rich (the oil companies) through taxes and fees, and then they pay for their entire government from this money, and what is left over is redistributed to the people in cash payments each and every year. This is about as close to the dictionary definition of socialism as you can find in America. And yet, this didn't faze Palin one tiny little bit. She gambled that the mainstream media would never notice this massively hypocritical discrepancy, and instead attacked Obama mercilessly for being a socialist and wanting to redistribute wealth.

Like I said, for any Republican outside the state of Alaska, this wouldn't even merit a mention. But Sarah Palin is the governor of the state. Her spin job on this to the media was complete, and utterly effective.

So while either one of these would win Palin the Best Spin award, taken together they show that nobody else was even in the same league.

   Most Honest Person

While Dennis Kucinich, Matt Gravel, and Ron Paul all qualified for the finals, none made it to the top. Stuart Bowen Jr. is also worth mentioning here (he's the
Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction mentioned in the Biggest Government Waste award category, earlier). The runner-up in this category is going to surprise a few, though, since I have to mention Karl Rove's honesty here.

[They fainted! Get some water... give 'em some air here... wait, they're coming around...]

OK, sitting down? I should have warned you, I'm sorry.

Shocking as it sounds, Karl Rove was hired by Fox News as a political analyst for the election this year. And Karl surprised me by actually telling the truth. Every week he'd show his little electoral map, and each time it reflected reality. Or, at the very least, the reality of what the polls were actually saying. While other stations seemingly wanted "a close race" right up to the end (to improve news ratings, no doubt), Rove showed that it was going to be an Obama landslide. Week after week, he stood up and told a heavily right-wing audience what it did not want to hear -- that Barack Obama was going to be our next president. So I have to give Karl Rove at least an honorable mention here.

But the real Most Honest Person of 2008 is Thomas M. Tamm, who blew the whistle on the illegal wiretapping the Bush administration was doing. We may never have heard about it if Tamm hadn't picked up a pay phone and called the New York Times. OK, technically he did it last year, but his life has been hell ever since, and he is now publicly telling his story -- against the advice of his lawyers. Tamm saw something he thought was wrong and illegal, and he told the media so we could all have the discussion about whether we should be doing it or not. He paid a heavy price, and may some day serve a prison sentence for doing so. And for that, he gets Most Honest Person of 2008.

   Most Overrated

Hoo boy, lots to choose from here. Hillary Clinton's inevitability. Sarah Palin. Fred Thompson, for that matter. Or how about the entire media, for their pathetic issue-free coverage of the presidential election?

While all of those are worth mentioning, I'm going to give the award to Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson. They came and sang their Chicken-Little-esque song to Congress about how the planet was going to stop revolving unless we got rid of the toxic mortgages by Tuesday at 4:00 P.M., and then when Congress gave them a pile of dollar bills that would reach the moon, they turned around and used the money for other purposes. The big secret that they don't want anyone to know is that they, too, have no clue whatsoever about how to fix the economy. And for that, they both get the Most Overrated award.

   Most Underrated

This award goes, in a tie, to two Davids.

The first is David Plouffe, who was Barack Obama's campaign manager. Plouffe ran as near a perfect political campaign as I have ever seen. And this was his first national campaign.

Obama himself said of Plouffe in his victory speech: "the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the ... best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America." It's hard to argue with that.

But Plouffe will have to share his Most Underrated award with David Letterman. Laugh if you will, but almost the entire political chattering class missed this one in a big way, which is the very definition of the award.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, you don't stay up late to watch television. Because the day McCain rushed back to Washington in a vain gimmick to save the economy, he also blew off an appearance on Letterman's show. Later, Letterman learned that McCain had not, in fact, returned to Washington, but was instead giving Katie Couric an interview while Letterman's show was taping. And Letterman let McCain have it with both barrels. Night after night after night. This went on for weeks, in the closing days of the campaign. Now, you can "tut tut" at the fact that a lot of Americans get their political news solely from late-night comedians, but to do so is to underestimate their influence in the zeitgeist.

McCain did underestimate this, and it cost him. How much we'll never know, but I would bet the farm on the fact that the effect was underestimated by the media at large. Which earns him the Most Underrated award.

   Honorable Mention

Well, I just didn't know where else to put these two, so I'm sticking them in honorable mention. Maybe it should be dis-honorable mention, you decide. I don't know that they deserve any award, but they're worth mentioning because they were part of the fabric (pun intended) of political life in 2008.

"Drill baby, drill!" Wasn't this annoying? Well, yes, but the chant heard at the Republican National Convention (and elsewhere in Republican crowds) just goes to show -- once again -- that Republicans are just better at this "framing" stuff than Democrats. To reduce our energy choices for the future to three powerful words was so intimidating that Democrats in Congress immediately caved in to the pressure, and threw away offshore drilling bans that had been in place for years. That's power, boiled down into three words, and for that alone it's worth a mention.

And lastly, no roundup of the past year would be complete without mentioning Sarah Palin's wardrobe. I still say the Republican National Committee missed a huge fundraising opportunity here, and could have auctioned off anything bought for Palin (whether she actually wore it or not) at a healthy profit. Instead, reportedly, they donated the whole $150,000 worth to charity. So that homeless women have designer gowns to wear to their alley, I guess. The whole thing was just so mis-handled from the beginning that it deserves some sort of special mention here.

   Predictions

First, let's see how I did last year. Here were my predictions for 2008:

Oil will start trading in Euros and move away from the U.S. dollar.

Hong Kong or Taiwan (or possibly both) will use the fact that the world's media will be focused on Beijing for the Olympics to do something provocative right before they begin. The temptation to do so will be enormous, since they'll see it as the best possible time for some movement towards independence. Beijing's hands will be tied, at least until after the ceremonies are over and everyone goes home.

Oh, that brings up a corollary -- NBC's coverage of the Olympics will suck badly. [OK, this one's a no-brainer, I realize, but I just had to throw it in there to up my statistics next year.]

The Republicans will not know who their presidential nominee will be until March (at the earliest) and possibly even later. There's even a slight chance they'll make it all the way to their convention without a clear candidate.

Democrats take the White House. Democrats gain 25 seats in the House, and 7 seats in the Senate.

OK, one at a time. Oil is still trading in dollars, so I got that wrong. Russia was the one to bust out a military move at the beginning of the Olympics, but I called the timing right, so I'm awarding myself a half-point for that one. NBC's coverage did indeed suck. That bit about March works if you use the word "Democrats" instead of "Republicans," but I can't really call that one a win. Democrats took the White House, gained 21 seats in the House and seven (possibly eight) seats in the Senate. All around, not too shabby in the guesswork department.

Which sets the stage for predictions for 2009. Here we go...

Al Franken will (eventually) be seated as Minnesota's new senator.

Jesse Jackson Junior will win Illinois' Senate seat in a special election.

Andrew Cuomo will be New York's next senator, and Caroline Kennedy will not.

Guantanamo will cease to exist as a prison, as Barack closes the doors on this sad chapter in American law.

Some sort of Truth Commission will be appointed to look into the conduct (wiretapping, torturing, rendering prisoners) of the Bush administration during the past eight years. Many facts will emerge, but nobody will ever be convicted of any crimes as a result.

Obama will have to wait until 2010 to get his health care legislation passed, but will manage next year to get some sort of framework in place to move us off imported oil in a decade. Whether it will ultimately succeed or not is beyond my crystal ball's view, but Obama will get the process started next year.

Fidel Castro will die, and American/Cuban relations will begin to thaw.

   New Year's Resolution

Come snow, sleet, driving rain, or black of night, I will be at Barack Obama's Inauguration. You don't get a chance to see history like this very often, and I'm making the effort to be there in person.

And now, true to the McLaughlin style, I bid you:

"Bye-bye!"

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground

Read more: Stuart Bowden, Ted Stevens, Jesse Jackson Jr, Ron Paul, Guantanamo, Al Franken, Best Government Dollar Spent, 50 State Strategy, Mccain, Primary Schedule, Awards, China, Worst Political Theater, Drill Baby Drill, Sarah Palin, Most Overreported Story, Andrew Cuomo, First Cat, Howard Dean, Socks the Cat, 2008, Bailout, Sofa, Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, Worst Political Scandal, John Edwards, Status of Forces, Sorry to See You Go, Health Care, Aids, Global Warming, Gravel, Election 2008 Coverage, Alaska, Bobby Jindal, Thomas Tamm, Reconstruction, Joe the Plumber, Tony Snow, Bernanke, Democrat, Letterman, Socks Clinton, Most Underrated, Democrats, Barack Obama, Best Idea, Predictions, George Carlin, 15 Minutes of Fame, Honorable Mention, Michigan, Hybrid, Wiretapping, Fred Thompson, Hillary Clinton, Executive Experience, Maliki, Caribou Barbie, Best Spin, Stuart Bowen, Destined for Political Oblivion, Kucinich, Jesse Helms, Private Jet, Beijing, Truth Commission, Going Green, Iraq, Most Overrated, Isaac Hayes, Spitzer, Caroline Kennedy, Bush, Wright, Blagojevich, Paulson, Bo Diddley, Mclaughlin, Unemployment, Inauguration, Destined for Political Stardom, Biggest Government Waste, Snl, Florida, Socks, Primary, Africa, Whistleblower, Best Political Theater, Most Underreported Story, Boldest Political Tactic, Castro, David Plouffe, Jeremiah Wright, Olympics, Harvey Korman, Beau Biden, Bernie Mac, Free Speech Zone, Wall Street, Chris Weigant, Oil, Most Honest Person, Socialism, Michael Crichton, Arthur C. Clarke, Saturday Night Live, Tina Fey, Worst Idea, David Letterman, Tamm, Wurzelbacher, Politics News

Paul Raushenbush: The Ten Worst Religious Stories of 2008

2008-12-26T17:21:01Z

10. Jews feel the financial and image pain of Wall Streeter Bernie Madoff as his money lies damage Yeshiva University and Elie Weisel as well as smaller stakeholders.

9. Sarah Palin's witchcraft video.

8. Rev. Jeremiah Wright appears at the National Press Club. By playing the fool Wright makes his defenders, including Barack Obama, look foolish.

7. Prosperity Gospelers add to the foreclosure crisis by preaching that Jesus had provided poor congregants with a house they could not afford.

6. Elizabeth Dole runs the "There is No God" campaign ad accusing opponent Kay Hagen (who teaches Sunday School) of atheism.

5. The Catholic Church, Mormons and Rick Warren join in a theologically unlikely alliance to pass Proposition 8 and revoke the right of Gays and Lesbians to marry. Rick Warren is tapped by Obama to offer the invocation at his inauguration.

4. The anti-Muslim rhetoric in the presidential election, coupled with a persistent belief that Barack Obama was a Muslim was bad enough. But it was topped off by the Obama campaign's insistience on the candidate's Christian faith rather than condemning the religion-baitng.

3. Buddhist Monks and nuns are slaughtered in Tibet as China cracks down in anticipation of the Olympics and similar violence in Burma by the dictatorship.

2. Islamist terrorists take the city of Mumbai hostage killing people of all faith and especially targeting Jews.

1. With all of the power of the world religions in 2008 we did not muster the political will to stop the daily starvation of thousands of our fellow human beings.

Cross-posted from Beliefnet's Progressive Revival blog

Read more: Prosperity Gospel, Religion, Hunger, Buddhist Monks Mynamar, Barack Obama, Terrorism, Sarah Palin, Mumbai Attacks, Religion and Politics, Jeremiah Wright, China Tibet, Bernie Madoff, Buddhist Monks, National Press Club, Islamists, Politics News

Renita Weems: Rick Warren and the Power of Prayer

2008-12-20T22:17:53Z
Sure, Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren for the inaugural prayer proves nothing more probably than that Obama is a consummate politician. Obama will do what he has to do to win over voters. And he's probably figured out that letting Warren pray at the inauguration is a safe gesture and a symbolic way to extend an olive branch to a block of voters he has yet to win over en masse.

And so Obama begins his presidency like presidents before him, placating religious conservatives, in this case the New Right. Leaving the rest of us to be content with symbols from the Old Left (no disrespect to Rev. Joe Lowry and Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin).

I know progressive Christians are supposed to be won over by the fact that Rick Warren is allegedly the face of a kinder, gentler generation of Evangelicals. But we're not. Warren is as against women's equality, against gay rights, anti-choice, and anti-stem cell research as the old Right he fancies himself to replace. He has admitted that the main difference between himself and old style religious conservative James Dobson is a matter of tone.

So, it's been decided. Rick Warren's smiling, right wing, socially conservative, anti-gay, anti-women's rights biblical preaching has been deemed to be not as divisive as the blistering prophetic denunciations of American imperalism by his former pastor Jeremiah Wright. Reaching out to Warren reaps more political capital for Obama than does reaching out to Wright. The pro-gay rights man whose fiery preaching nurtured Obama into becoming the community organizer he is at heart remains a pariah, banished from the inaugural platform and the American public. The man whose anti-gay message is overshadowed by the fact that he represents the face of millions of conservative voters gets to pray for the country.

So what? It's only a prayer. It's not like Warren's been invited to help set policy. Those who say this obviously know nothing about the importance of symbols, and even less about the power of prayer Cross-posted from Beliefnet's Progressive Revival blog
Read more: Abortion, Bible, Proposition 8, Rick Warren Invocation, Obama Inauguration, Progressives, Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, Joe Lowery, Evangelical, Religion, Rick Warren, James Dobson, Stem Cell Research, Aretha Franklin, Gay Marriage, Politics News

Chris Weigant: My 2008 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 1]

2008-12-19T19:43:13Z

Welcome to our annual awards! For the past three years, this column has paid homage (translation: "ripped off their gimmick") to the McLaughlin Group television show by handing out our own year-end awards (while using the same categories). This will be a two-part column, with the second installment appearing one week from today. And feel free to watch the McLaughlin Group on your local PBS station this weekend, to compare my picks with theirs.

Also, just for comparison's sake (to see how many things I got wrong, in other words), here are the previous two years' columns:

[2006, Part 1] [2006, Part 2] [2007, Part 1] [2007, Part 2]

Without further ado, let's move on to the awards!

   Biggest Winner of 2008

While the knee-jerk response to this question is undoubtedly "Barack Obama," there are plenty of other categories where Obama will likely take home an award this year. And I do have a tradition of awarding this one quite literally.

Which means we must look outside the political world for "biggest winner" this year. Because Olympian Michael Phelps wins this award, which he can put next to his eight gold medals from the Beijing Olympics -- more than anyone has ever won before. Sure, the Olympics were oversold commercially. Sure, they were put on by a repressive regime. Sure, by the time Phelps actually started swimming we were already sick of him (due to NBC proclaiming him some sort of godlike being in the massive buildup to the event). And sure, there was some trash talking in the pool.

But you know what? None of that matters. Phelps won more than any other human being has ever won. Meaning he must be acknowledged as "Biggest Winner of 2008." Because nobody else came close to such an achievement last year.

   Biggest Loser of 2008

The left wing lobbied heavily for either George W. Bush or John McCain as the Biggest Loser of 2008, and the right wing (out of spite) lobbied hard for Cindy Sheehan (who ran as an independent against Nancy Pelosi and lost by 55 points), but neither one of these gets it.

Because this year, The American Taxpayer was the Biggest Loser of 2008. Adding to the insult of having to pay $12 billion a month on George Bush's wars, and after being told over and over again "there simply isn't the money" for ANY good idea progressives might have (single-payer health care, for instance) -- when Wall Street came begging (or extorting, depending on how you view it), Congress snapped their fingers inside of two weeks and made seven hundred billion dollars appear out of thin air. "Thin air" in this case means "China and other countries who hold our debt." Which Henry Paulson then proceeded to hand out like Hallowe'en candy to anyone he felt like, for any reason he felt like.

Meaning, on a purely fiscal scale, The American Taxpayer got screwed the worst this year. Personally, I would have been happy if we had made each and every company who got one thin dime from the Treasury agree to cease all lobbying for all reasons for five years. Then we wouldn't have to hear them whine about legislation geared towards the average guy and gal, and not the fat cats (for once).

   Best Politician

Again, while Barack Obama's name springs to mind, be patient. We've got plenty of other awards to hand out here, and I have a sneaking suspicion Obama's name is on more than one of them.

Because truly the Best Politician of 2008 was Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. In the year-long talks over the Status Of Forces Agreement (SOFA) with America, Maliki played George Bush like a fiddle. His masterful use of leaks to the press, and playing to his own domestic audience, got him just about everything he demanded in the final document. And Bush had to give up pretty much everything he wanted, in increasing desperation to get any deal signed.

Which is pretty amazing, when you think about it. Iraq is an occupied country, and many call Maliki an "American puppet." But by turning around and yanking back on the puppet strings, Maliki made Bush dance to his tune. And for such a masterful political stroke, Maliki wins the Best Politician award (interesting note -- I gave Maliki the "Worst Politician" award last year).

   Worst Politician

Joe Lieberman was considered for this ignominious award, as was Rod Blagojevich. From the other side of the aisle, Sarah Palin, for her entire performance on the national stage, almost won as well. But by a nose, Ted Stevens takes the award for Worst Politician.

Stevens is an old, old man, and was going to have to retire (or die in office) soon anyway. Instead of standing aside when he was indicted on federal charges, he thought he could beat the rap, and win re-election. He did neither. He made a purely political decision, and he blew it. Because if he had resigned, Governor Palin could have appointed some staunch Republican as a temporary replacement, and he or she could have then run as an "incumbent" in the 2008 election. Instead, the seat went to Democrat Mark Begich (who won an extraordinary victory). Meaning Stevens didn't just lose his own seat, he also lost the seat to the other party. Not even Blagojevich's shenanigans is likely to have that result.

Meaning Stevens was the Worst Politician last year. I'm still trying to figure out which federal prison to send the award to, but I promise it'll be in the mail soon, Ted.

   Most Defining Political Moment

While it is indeed tempting to give the award for Most Defining Political Moment to the guy who chucked his shoes at George Bush on worldwide television, and while a good case can be made that in the future we will indeed look back at this as symbolic of his entire Iraq adventure, it wasn't quite defining enough to win this category.

My wife suggested the so-called (at least by me) "Super Duper Tsunami Tuesday" in the primary season. But while SDTT did indeed wind up defining the nominee for the Republicans, the only thing it "defined" for Democrats was the long primary slog ahead for the nomination between two almost-equally balanced candidates. So if there was a "most chaotic moment" award, I might consider it for that, but (not to get too Clintonian here) as I define "define," I didn't think it made the cut.

No, the Most Defining Political Moment this year can be exactly pinned down, almost to the second. Shortly after the clock struck 8:00 P.M. on the West Coast, every single news announcer on television announced that we could all now start calling him "President Elect Barack Obama." Obama had other great moments during the year, including his acceptance speech in front of a throng of 80,000 cheering supporters, but I know I speak for many Democrats and other Obama supporters when I say that until it was "officially announced" it wasn't quite real somehow. It was hard to believe that he had actually won until the talking heads made it official.

   Turncoat Of The Year

For the third straight year there is just no competition for Turncoat Of The Year. Joe Lieberman can put his 2008 award right next to his 2007 and 2006 awards in this category.

It's such an obvious and unanimous decision that there is little else to say here. All the sniping between the Hillary camp and the Obama camp were small potatoes indeed when held up to the standard of Joe Lieberman's lips being permanently attached to John McCain's nether regions during the entire campaign season.

Thanks for nothing, Joe.

   Most Boring

While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is a perennial favorite in this category, and while Bill Richardson gave "Most Boring" a run for the money, this year the award just has to go to Fred Thompson. Thompson's un-spectacular campaign had even seasoned political reporters falling asleep in their chairs. Thompson's support was actually at its highest peak the day before he officially threw his hat in the Republican ring for president. It was all downhill from there. It didn't really have to be this way (Republicans, after all, elected our only movie actor president previously, and they seem pretty happy with the way that turned out). But Thompson's lackluster phone-it-in campaign style bought him nothing but a quick road to obscurity in the nomination race.

So, for boring to tears people who might have voted for him, Fred Thompson walks away with the Most Boring award this year. Better luck next year, Harry.

   Most Charismatic

For the third year in a row, Most Charismatic goes to Mr. Charisma himself... (drumroll)... Barack Obama!

Seriously, there is just nobody else in Obama's class. The only other person who even was considered for this award was Sarah Palin. Like her or not, Palin's only redeeming quality was her charisma. It certainly wasn't her eloquence or her deep knowledge of foreign affairs (or, for that matter, her deep knowledge of just about anything). Palin's best virtue was the fact that she drew big crowds on the campaign trail. Fawning crowds. At one point, even rabid crowds. Palin had so much charisma that McCain was even scared to campaign without her -- because the press would then see how obvious it was that most people were turning out to see her, and not him.

But Obama's shine is the power of the sun next to a dimly sputtering candle in comparison. Meaning it really wasn't even close.

   Bummest Rap

I kind of struggled with this one, so if you've got a better suggestion, let me hear it. A case could be made for Eliot Spitzer (did the punishment fit the crime, in other words). Or for Hillary and Bill Clinton being painted as racists (if you believe they were just repeatedly misunderstood on the campaign trail).

But, even though the "rap" was twelve years ago, John and Patsy Ramsey earned the award this year for being exonerated by the police in the murder of their daughter Jon Benet. Patsy did not live to see this exoneration, but for twelve years of living under a shadow I think the Ramseys deserve this year's Bummest Rap award.

   Fairest Rap

This category, unlike the previous one, was jam-packed this year. Ted Stevens. Rod Blagojevich. Iraqis hucking shoes at President Bush. A decent case for Fairest Rap can be made for any of them. Or, for that matter, Hillary and Bill Clinton being painted as racists (if you believe they really did know what they were doing and saying during the campaign).

But I have to say, the fairest rap this year was "Sarah Palin is not ready to be Vice President." Her supporters say she was just over-handled. They also say she's a lot smarter than she appeared in those interviews. And they told us all ad nauseum during the campaign that she had "executive experience."

But all of that wasn't worth a fart in a windstorm, to put it bluntly. The woman was so obviously out of her depth that she became a laughingstock as quickly as she deserved. Now, I am not saying she's not going to get better, or that we've seen the last of her. Not by a long shot. But for spectacularly proving a bit of inside-the-Beltway wisdom wrong this year, Sarah Palin deserves Fairest Rap. Because before now, and throughout the campaign, we were told over and over again by the punditocracy that "nobody makes their mind up who to vote for based on the veep selection." Polls showed this to be utterly false when it came to Palin. McCain shored up the hardcore Republican base by picking Palin, and enthused the heck out of them -- but he lost millions of votes in the center by doing so, after America got a good look at her. She may have singlehandedly cost him the election. Meaning "Palin is a drag on the ticket" was the Fairest Rap of all in 2008.

As I was putting this column together, I heard a song on the radio which deserves (except for the bland choruses) to be quoted here in its entirety, as it was seemingly written for Sarah Palin. The song is called "Miss America" by the 70s band Styx, and was written about a beauty queen. Now, Styx isn't exactly known for deep thinking, but it is truly eerie how close this comes to the Palin reality we all saw:

You were the apple of the public's eye
As you cut the ribbon at the local mall
A mirage for both you and us
How can it be real?

We loved your body in that photograph
Your home state sure must be proud
The Queen of the United States
Have you lost your crown?

Are you really who we think you are
Or does your smile seem to wear your down
Is the girl who you once were
Screaming to jump out?

Is the dream that you must live
A disease for which there is no cure
This rollercoaster ride you're on
Won't stop to let you off

Well it's true just take a look
The cover sometimes makes the book
And the judges did they ever ask
To read between your lines?

In your cage at the Human Zoo
They all stop to look at you
Next year what will you do
When you have been forgotten?

   Best Comeback

Another patently obvious category. A case could be made for "the Taliban," due to the situation in Afghanistan. An even better case could be made for General Shinseki, who spoke truth to power at the beginning of the Iraq war (which he essentially got fired for), and who will now be elevated to a cabinet post -- an impressive comeback indeed. But there is really only one contender for the prize this year.

For the journey from being "inevitable" to losing caucus after caucus, for hanging in long past when she should have quit, for refusing to concede her loss for almost a week... and then for being a true Democrat out on the campaign trail, and for her speech at the convention, and for being named to the most prestigious cabinet position there is -- nobody can touch Hillary Clinton's comeback this year.

Hillary Clinton's fall and rise in 2008 was just miles ahead of anyone else's comeback. So Best Comeback of the year is hers without question.

   Most Original Thinker

I think I'm going to award this one as a tie. From the right, Ron Paul shook the Republican Party to its foundations during his eclectic run for the nomination. He actually outraised every other Republican candidate for campaign cash one quarter during the election season. He also stood up for the truly Libertarian wing of the party, which astonished Washington by its size and fervor. If Republicans manage to turn their party around in the coming years, and tap into the internet for fundraising, they may do it on the Ron Paul model. Stranger things have happened.

And from the Democratic side of the aisle, we have Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich was not afraid to say what he felt on the campaign trail -- often speaking without notes and without a prepared speech -- and he stood up for what he believed was right, not for what he thought would get him votes. He pushed the other candidates further left, and became a moral voice for change within the party. The media ridiculed him mercilessly for doing so. But Dennis Kucinich stood up for what he thought was right, instead of following conventional wisdom. And for that, he has earned the award.

So Most Original Thinker of 2008 goes to both Ron Paul and Dennis Kucinich.

   Most Stagnant Thinker

Rush Limbaugh and the entire world of right-wing talk radio certainly comes to mind here. Their way of thinking is so stagnant that the swamp has turned into a marsh, which has baked in the sun until it is a hard crust of cracked and broken solid slime. Rush and his ilk have gotten so bad that even some Republicans are starting to warn that following their way of thinking any further is just going to head the entire party over a cliff.

From the left, I would have to consider the Reverends Jeremiah Wright and Jesse Jackson. Their civil-rights-era way of looking at race relations in this country was overwhelmed by the generational change Obama brought this year, and exposed it for the stagnant thinking it truly is in the twenty-first century.

But the worst example of stagnant thinking wasn't even George W. Bush this year (although his "thinking" was as stagnant as it's ever been) -- but rather John McCain, for running his entire campaign as an extension of all the disastrous Bush policies. McCain didn't break with Bush on anything of real note, meaning that he was running on the concept "Bush's thinking is great -- we just need four more years of it!" Which is about as stagnant as you can get. Call it "stagnant squared."

For his entire campaign's kowtowing to Bush's way of seeing the world, John McCain gets the Most Stagnant Thinker of 2008.

   Best Photo Op

This one was tough, so I just punted the decision and am awarding a three-way tie.

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics is the first to get the nod. Say what you will about totalitarian systems, one thing they know how to do well is put on a spectacle. And the opening ceremony (and much of the rest of the games) qualifies as one of the most spectacular Olympic events ever. Now, nobody will ever top the archer lighting the cauldron in Barcelona, but for overall photo-op-ness, Beijing has to be acknowledged here.

Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention was one of the most stirring political speeches of my lifetime. For all the petty and small-minded taunting about the columns behind him and the crowd size and his celebrity appeal; when Barack Obama took the stage, none of it mattered. The whole Obama family at the end of the speech was unquestionably the best photo op of the entire campaign (although I still think Michelle's dress was kind of strange-looking, but what do I know about fashion?).

But I just had to also sneak in here the image of shoes hurtling towards President Bush. Now, to give the man credit, he did an amazing job of ducking the incoming footwear. The man is 62 years old, and I would not bet against him in a dodgeball game after seeing him get out of the way of the flying shoes. And even though in these year-end awards I try to resist whatever is fresh and recent in order to take a longer view, I truly think this image will be one of the defining ones of Bush's presidency. Much like the image of his father barfing on the Japanese Prime Minister at a state banquet, at almost the same point in his lame duck period. Two images will bookend the history of George W. Bush and Iraq: the "Mission Accomplished" banner, and an Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at Bush's head.

   Enough Already!

As usual, there's a bunch of things which easily qualify for the "Enough Already!" award.

O.J. Simpson? Enough already!

"America doesn't torture" -- enough already!

The View -- enough already!

Hillary and Obama hardcore supporters sniping at each other? Enough already!

The endless, endless election campaign season? Enough already!

Sarah Palin? Enough already!

But the true winner of this award was not some fleeting moment during 2008, and didn't even last just the entire year, but has been bedeviling this country for the past eight years. So everyone join in with a gigantic ENOUGH ALREADY!! for President George W. Bush.

   Worst Lie

John Edwards certainly deserves a mention in this category. He lied to his wife, he lied to his campaign staff, he lied to the cameras, and he lied to the American public. But, seriously, it was just about sex. It wasn't earth-shattering, mostly because he didn't get the nomination.

Sarah Palin and John McCain's last-ditch attack on Obama ("pallin' around with terrorists") certainly also deserves a mention here. McCain's "the fundamentals of the economy are strong" doesn't really qualify, though, because he may have actually believed that to be true (in which case, to him, it wasn't a lie, it was just being spectacularly out of touch with reality).

But the Worst Lie of the year was contained in chain-letter emails that found their way into millions of inboxes during the campaign. They had all kinds of lies about all kinds of subjects, but only one target -- Barack Obama. Just for convenience's sake, I will summarize this mountain of lies into the most memorable one: "Barack Obama is a secret Muslim."

I hate to say it, but such email mudslinging is going to become routine and pervasive in every single future campaign. History will show that Obama was the first to be attacked in such a widespread fashion by email spam -- but he certainly won't be the last. Which wins the whole tactic "Worst Lie" of 2008.

   Capitalist Of The Year

2008 was not a good year for capitalism in general.

So it's kind of hard to pick the best capitalist this year. A strong case could be made for the oil companies, who treated us all to gasoline for over four dollars a gallon this summer. Or for Madoff, for playing the capitalism game to enrich himself (on a previously-unheard-of scale). Or for Paulson and Bernanke, because they got to hand out all the capital (our capital, by the way) they felt like, with virtually no oversight whatsoever.

But for return-on-investment alone, I have to award the Capitalist Of The Year to the Somali pirates. For putting up a few guys, a small boat, and some machine guns, they have reaped rewards of millions of dollars. And isn't that what capitalism is all about? Increasing revenue for your shareholders, and the consequences be damned? Defined that way, the Somali pirates have shown even the Wall Street bandits how to play in the big leagues.

   Person Of The Year

I have to agree with Time magazine this year. 2008 will forever be known in America as Barack Obama's year. Barack absolutely defined this year in American politics, and in most other phases of American life. His reach went beyond our shores, as well (the biggest campaign rally he gave was actually in Berlin, Germany).

I forget who said it, but the quote has stuck with me -- Barack Obama has done more to improve America's standing in the world just by his existence than George Bush did in eight years.

Obama's victory is already seen by the rest of the world as a complete repudiation of Bush's policies. And they are breathing an enormous sigh of relief as a result.

For this and so much more, Barack Obama is clearly Person Of The Year.

As usual, for anything or anyone I've forgotten (or otherwise inadvertently omitted), please feel free to let me know your choices in the comments. Until next week...

Chris Weigant blogs at: ChrisWeigant.com

Cross-posted at: Democratic Underground

Read more: Ted Stevens, Gold Medals, Begich, Ron Paul, Ramsey, Mccain, Awards, China, Sarah Palin, Cindy Sheehan, Turncoat of the Year, Miss America, Enough Already, Mark Begich, 2008, Sofa, Dennis Kucinich, American Taxpayer, Turncoat, Status of Forces, Shinseki, Prime Minister, America Does Not Torture, Obama Wins, Edwards, Obama Is a Muslim, Barack Obama, Fred Thompson, Best Comeback, Taliban, Harry Reid, Hillary Clinton, Maliki, Worst Politician, Styx, George Bush, President, Jon Benet, Beijing, President Elect Barack Obama, Iraq, Obama, President-Elect, Most Original Thinker, Spitzer, Bush, Lieberman, Michael Phelps, Blagojevich, Paulson, Mclaughlin, Stevens, Clinton, Bummest Rap, Pirates, Most Stagnant Thinker, Most Defining Political Moment, Shoes, Bill Clinton, John McCain, Rush Limbaugh, Biggest Loser, Somali Pirates, McLaughlin Group, Most Boring, Person of the Year, Jesse Jackson, Throwing Shoes, Worst Lie, Capitalist of the Year, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Richardson, Olympics, Best Photo Op, Biggest Winner, Chris Weigant, Palin, Best Politician, Fairest Rap, Ramseys, Politics News

Paul Jenkins: Mr. Obama Disagrees

2008-12-19T12:37:18Z
You can disagree about the propriety of the auto industry bailout. You can disagree about free trade. You can disagree about a lot of things. But when you say gay people are pedophiles and rapists, that is not a simple disagreement: it is a stupid, hateful position that, say, a President-elect should stay miles away from.

Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration is dreadful. His explanation is, if possible, even worse. He shrinks Warren's grotesque comparisons down to a "disagreement," as if we were talking about ethanol subsidies. But we are not. In fact, we are not even talking about marriage rights, we are talking about demonizing an entire group of Americans for the purpose of religious indoctrination, political gain and financial profit. Or doing so out of sheer hatred and idiocy. Or both.

During this year's primary, Obama suddenly realized after 20 years that his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, said things that were so beyond the pale that it was worth throwing him under the political bus, and shunning him forever. What those things were, besides loud snippets taken out of context, is not clear, but I am pretty sure Wright has never falsely accused anyone of pedophilia, rape, incest and bestiality, no matter how over-the-top his style may occasionally be. But Wright was scary to lots of people, most of them white, whose fear of a black planet overrode any rational analysis (starting with the fact that if the bourgeois Obamas attended Trinity, that in itself was a pretty sure bet that the church was not fomenting an Afro-centric revolution.) But Obama did what he had to do not to lose too badly in Pennsylvania and Ohio, kicking Wright to the curb, ostensibly because he was "outraged" by the pastor's comments.

That Wright appears to have been replaced by Warren in Obama's heart says a lot about the president-elect's rootlessness and shifting identity. Within a year, he has gone from relying on the advice of a virulently progressive African-American pastor in a Chicago church, to being "friends" with an arch-conservative, bigoted, white pastor from Orange County, and handing the latter the most visible platform a religious leader in America can behold, the presidential inauguration.

Obama's inclusiveness was always conditional, as evidenced by the Wright affair. Obama says we have to "create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable;" but is there anything more disagreeable than being called an incestuous rapist pedophile? There are plenty of people who are not invited to the inauguration, are not part of Obama's circle, and are certainly not asked to give the invocation. If not, we would all be howling at the presence of the good people from the Aryan Nation, the Nation of Islam and sundry other groups. But these groups make the mistake of not only being deeply homophobic, but also of spewing hatred towards a whole slew of other segments (women, Jews, African-Americans, Catholics, Christians, white people, etc). Were they to stick to vilifying gay people, as Warren does, they would be golden, and may even find a place at the all-inclusive Obama table. There is clearly no group in America, perhaps besides Muslims, who could be vilified so openly and officially, and be told to get over it in the name of agreeing to disagree.

Obama's clinical interpretation of his "disagreement" with Warren's hate-speech makes it sound as if he and the pastor are Ron Kirk and Hilda Solis, respectively the nominated US Trade Representative and Labor Secretary, jauntily sparring over free trade with Colombia. That shows a horrible misunderstanding of the state of gay America, or perhaps a case of political cynicism gone way, way too far, even by Washington's loose standards. Two weeks ago a man was killed in New York for being gay, "a lynching in Brooklyn," the New York Times called it. Gay people and those perceived to be gay make up one in six of all reported hate crimes in the United States (and far more go unreported.) Do we really think that there is not a cause and effect between demonizing gay people and the beatings and maimings and murders they suffer disproportionately for being hated? And does Obama really want to be complicit in this persecution? And does he really want to be known as a chief contributor to the well-oiled campaign to deprive gay people of some of the most basic of rights?

We are told that Joseph Lowery, the prominent African-American minister and civil rights leader, will also be involved in the inauguration, and he is a strong supporter of gay rights, including marriage. That's good, but what is this inauguration, some kind of daytime talk show (or CNN at any time for that matter) where every time a gay (or gay friendly) person is featured, there has to be a counterpoint, usually someone who thinks gay people should all die because it says so in the bible? By the way, we are also told that FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME there will be a gay marching band at the inauguration. Now that really makes up for being called a pedophile.

Obama, smooth talker that he is, stumbled in his response to questions about Warren's involvement, finally mumbling something about his "consistent" support of "equality for gay and lesbian Americans." Even that meek pronouncement was a bit of an overstatement: if he opposes same-sex marriage, he is by definition not in favor of equality. Perhaps more importantly, you definitely lose all right to call yourself a supporter of gay rights when you associate yourself so closely with a man who hates gay people. There is nothing more for Obama to say on the subject, except to apologize, explain that he was misguided and/or misinformed, withdraw his invitation to Warren, and never be seen with him again.

In one fell swoop, even before his inauguration, Obama has succeeded in matching Bill Clinton's single worst moment of cynicism, his gratuitous attack on Sister Souljah. And that is exactly what is most painful about Obama's elevation of Warren to "America's pastor:" the gratuitousness of it all. If all goes well, he is four years away from his next election. He received far more backing in time and money from gay people and their supporters than he ever could from Warren's congregation, as Jane Smiley aptly put it. At least Clinton was in some trouble (wasn't he always?) when he lashed out at Sister Souljah. This of course does not make it better, but one could at least pretend that his desperate need to cling to power blinded him to the racism of the occasion.

Obama, by contrast, is on top of the world. What does he need Warren for at this very moment? The small, short-term advantage he gets from associating so closely with a hate-mongerer gives us a pretty good idea of where gay people stand in the president-elect's moral and political calculations. It wasn't always so of course, as I recall at least one fundraising event at the home of a gay couple where Obama raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars at one of the roughest moments of his campaign. There were also the millions of hours of volunteer work put in by gay people all over the country, and endless donations and endorsements.

And we did all this despite sometimes profound misgivings about Obama's position on same-sex marriage, with which he "disagrees." He never could really tell us why, or wouldn't tell us why, hiding behind the circular argument that marriage is between "a man and a woman." It is high time that instead of simply swallowing our pride, we put our money and votes where our mouth is, and that is simply not with those whose opposition to our rights is based in political calculation, cynicism, or a highly misplaced injection of religion into public policy. When we have misgivings, let's listen to them and act on them. Let's not take a wink-wink nod-nod approach to securing our rights: it makes us look weak and does not work. Let those who "disagree" with our very being do so at their own expense. And let those who disagree with hate do so loudly, clearly and consistently, or fail to do so at their own expense. And let us start by walking away from an inauguration at which we will have to sit (or stand a mile away) and watch the man we put so much hope into betray us so deeply in the first seconds of his presidency. For those who insist on going, a hotel room and two train tickets from New York to Washington are newly available.

Read more: Barack Obama, Hate Crimes, Chicago, Incest, Brooklyn, Washington, Ron Kirk, White Supremacy, Same-Sex Marriage, California, Jewish Issues, Bailout, Inauguration, Rick Warren, Ohio, Nation of Islam, African-American Issues, Bill Clinton, Islam, Rape, Campaign Finance, Colombia, Pennsylvania, Pedophilia, Jeremiah Wright, Catholicism, New York, Sister Souljah, Religion, Labor, Cnn, Hilda Solis, Orange County, Aryan Nation, Ethanol, Bestiality, Gay Issues, Rick Warren Invocation, Rick Warren Saddleback Church, Obama Invocation, Barack Obama Rick Warren, Obama Inauguration, Rick Warren Obama Invocation, Invocation, Politics News

McCain's Top Pollster: Wright Attacks Wouldn't Have Worked

2008-12-11T23:24:47Z
John McCain's top pollster, Bill McInturff, said this evening that attacking Barack Obama over his relationship with Rev. Jeremiah Wright would not have helped McCain's campaign and could have destroyed his presidency, had he been elected.

Some Republicans were angry during the campaign that McCain had -- reportedly for reasons of principle, and out of concern that he'd be viewed as racist -- refused to air ads with Wright's inflammatory sermons, and believed they were fair game and a silver bullet against Obama. An outside group did air one such ad in the closing days of the race.
Read more: McCain Attack Ads, John McCain, Wright Attack Ads, Jeremiah Wright, Bill Mcinturff, Wright Ads, Politics News

McCain Unaired Wright Attack Ad Released (VIDEO)

2008-12-08T12:29:02Z
Recently, Time published an interview with John McCain's ad man, detailing the nasty campaign that never was:

What if the McCain campaign had run ads using footage of Barack Obama dancing with Ellen DeGeneres to show his coziness with celebrity? Or followed up on its Paris Hilton ad with others featuring Donald Trump and Jessica Simpson? All of that was on the drawing board of Fred Davis III, the advertising whiz that John McCain has used for almost all of his campaign media and one of the most talented conservative political operatives in America. Oh yes, he also had an Internet ad up his sleeve that would attack Obama's celebrity by associating him with Oprah. But in the end, he scotched that one. "We decided you don't really fight Santa Claus or Oprah," he says, "so we removed her."

In an extended interview with TIME, Davis detailed what might have been in the campaign ad war -- and what self-censorship the McCain staff imposed on themselves regarding the issue of race. ...

"My favorite ad of the campaign was as simple as it could be," Davis said. "And it started out something like, 'Long before the world knew of John McCain or Barack Obama, one of them spent five years in a hellhole because he refused early release to honor his fellow prisoners, while the other one wouldn't walk out of a church after 20 years of the guy spewing hatred towards America.' And the last line was, 'Character matters, especially when no one is listening.' " The ad never ran, however, because McCain ruled the topic of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the preacher of Obama's Chicago church, out of bounds shortly after he locked up the Republican nomination.

Now ABC has gotten hold of this ad, which went through the final editing and production process before being nixed. A former campaign staffer gave the spot to the network. Watch:

Read more: Video, John McCain, Unaired Mccain Ad on Obama, Abc Wright Ads, Wright Ad, Mccain Unaired Ads, Wright Ads, Unaired Mccain Ad, Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, Mccain Unaired Wright Ads, McCain Wright Ad, Politics News

Rev. Jeremiah Wright: Obama "Still My Child"

2008-12-08T09:56:34Z
President-elect Barack Obama made a "bad decision" by distancing himself from the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his church, Wright said Sunday -- but that's OK.

"He's still my child," Wright said in a sermon in which he expressed pride in Obama's longtime association with Trinity United Church of Christ.

His talk was spiced with his trademark blend of history lesson, mimicry, singing, and -- depending on your point of view -- insults, or telling it like it is. One object of contempt seemed to be Elisabeth Hasselbeck of ABC's "The View," whom -- while not saying her name -- Wright twice referred to as a "broad," including once as "that dumb broad." Hasselbeck has criticized Wright on "The View."

Wright, speaking at Trinity on its 47th anniversary, said he was proud of "the only church that produced the first and only African-American president in the 211-year history of the United States. No other church can say that."

"The hatred of the media and the haters in politics may have caused him to distance himself from us, but the love of Christ will never allow me to distance myself from him,'' Wright said of Obama. "I can no more disown him than I can disown any other child of mine who makes [a] bad decision. He made a bad decision, but he's still my child."
Read more: Trinity United Church of Christ, Jeremiah Wright Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Barack Obama Jeremiah Wright, Jeremiah Wright Trinity, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Jeremiah Wright Sermon, Rev. Wright, Obama Jeremiah Wright, Jeremiah Wright, Barack Obama, Chicago News

Rev. Wright Returns To Trinity Pulpit

2008-12-07T17:01:48Z
For the first time since his retirement last spring, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. returned to the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ this morning with two goals: glorifying God and vilifying the media.

In honor of Trinity's 47th anniversary, Wright preached Sunday worship services in place of Rev. Otis Moss III, who was attending his father's farewell from the pulpit of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland.
Read more: Reverend Wright, Trinity Church, Jeremiah Wright, Chicago News