“OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS Tuesday April 29 2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO “OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS

Tuesday April 29 2008


Obama art at Gomama Goldent

Esteemed DUer's, please consider taking a moment (or more) to graciously participate
by posting news and announcements about the Obama campaign on this thread. You can:

1. Post stories and announcements you find on the web. :think:

2. Re-post stories and announcements you find on DU,
providing a link to the original thread :applause:

3. Please "Recommend" for the Greatest Page :thumbsup:

4. Clinton supporters or “anti Obama posters please start your own “Clinton Daily News Thread”.

Get your DU-o-matic codificator (to format your posts) here
Read the Daily News Archives here

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

1. Breaking: Clinton Supporter Invited Wright To Speak At National Press Club

Like I said, somethings very wrong, and why was Pastor Wright doing this now?

Obama's campaign has disavowed Wright's media tour, and a correspondent notes an interesting detail:Wright was invited to the National Press Club by a journalist and minister who supports Clinton.


malik flavors posts it here, please recommend and kick so that the truth will spread.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5728458&mesg_id=5728458

[grantcart]

2. With the recent Super Delegates pledging to Obama his 'magic' number for nomination has broken 300

and is now only 298.

For the Pelosi Trigger it is only 137. If he gets 137 more pledged delegates he will have the majority of pledged delegates.


Mr Super predicts almost 100 Super Delegates will break at that time http://www.mrsuper.org/2008/04/superdelegate-p.html

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

3. Pick your "poison"

Pick your "poison"

Mon Apr 28

Thought experiment. You're managing a presidential campaign and you have to rank the following three options in order from most harmful to least harmful, purely on the basis of electoral impact:

Weakness A: Your candidate has a pastor who has made remarks that many white voters will find offensive, and he also once went to the home of someone who was involved with low-grade domestic terrorism.

Weakness B: Your candidate supported the Iraq war from the very beginning, takes credit for the urge to surge American forces there, and also said he was fine with spending one hundred years in Iraq.

Weakness C: A majority of Americans don't believe anything your candidate says, and the $109 million your candidate has earned in the last eight years has just entered the vetting process.

...more at the link

[Labors of Hercules]

4. Obama kicked ASS in Chapel Hill tonight!

To a crowd of 20,000!!!!!!!!! :woohoo:

[jkshaw]

7. Thanks for that, Labors of Hercules.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. Great!. I tried to get tickets in Winston (town hall) but they were out

glad you got to go. 20K - pretty darn good.

[Coexist]

26. awesome!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. NC Gov Easley endores Hillary Clinton - and why it may hurt Clinton

Here's the thread about )Superdelegate) North Carolina Governor Mike Easley's plan to endorse Clinton.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5722199

Here's why I'm not surprised that someone like him would do that.(He's the outgoing DINO Gov)

Destroys public records on a regular basis

North Carolina Governor Sued By Media Over Emails

April 14, 2008 Stephanie Cruz - AHN

Raleigh, NC (AHN) - Several media organizations on Monday filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mike Easley, accusing his administration of routinely violating the state's public records law by deleting official e-mails.

The complaint was filed in Wake County Superior Court by 10 media groups seeking a court order against state employees to prevent them from deleting, destroying, or concealing government e-mails.

The lawsuit is asking the Court to compel North Carolina Cabinet officials to require all personnel to abide with state public records law.
...
The law states that all e-mails sent to and from government offices are "public records if they contain information related to the transaction of public business" and should be be kept for future reference.

The suit stemmed from a former Dept. of Health and Human Services official's statement that Easley's office follows an unwritten policy to delete e-mails daily. Two other public information officers affirmed the fired worker's claim.

...The media groups who sued Gov. Easley include: The Associated Press; The News & Observer, The Charlotte Observer; the North Carolina Press Association; The Fayetteville Observer; The Wilson Daily Times; The Alamance News; Freedom Communications and Freedom Eastern North Carolina Communications; Media General Operations Inc.; and The John Locke Foundation

...more at the link

Easley withheld millions of $ from health care to plug the budget holes

Governor's Candidates Focus on Woes of Mental Health System

WRAL News Apr. 25, 2008

Raleigh, N.C. — North Carolina's mental health system has never received so much attention from the public, let alone the major-party candidates for governor.

That's largely due to the widespread failure of a reform effort initiated by the Legislature in 2001 and carried out by Gov. Mike Easley's administration, which tried to create a community-centered method for treating the mentally ill, substance abusers and the mentally disabled.

...The idea behind the 2001 reform was to shift the state's mental health programs away from institutional care to community-based treatment offered by private providers. The General Assembly set aside money to help local agencies that manage patient services to build up their treatment capacity by adding short-term hospital beds and crisis services.

The intention was to keep patients from ending up in jails or emergency rooms following a breakdown.

Instead, the state's institutions are used more than ever. Replacing government-run psychiatric services at the county level led to no care in some rural areas because private or nonprofit providers either couldn't survive financially or simply left the area.
Easley also intercepted tens of millions of dollars earmarked for mental health to plug a budget shortfall.

...more at the link

Here's why we in NC unaffectionately call him "Crash Easley"

Easley Won't Be Thrown Off Track

Dan Kane & Rupen Fofaria, News & Observer May 10th, 2003

Gov. Mike Easley walked away from a high-speed crash Friday at Lowe's Motor

Speedway, got into a second race car and raced some more at speeds up to 160 mph.

No big deal, said NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace. "I don't think it's dangerous," he said.

But Rep. Mickey Michaux, after hearing of the wreck, said a governor should be more careful.

"I think if I was governor, I'd be a little more circumspect," said Michaux, a Durham Democrat.
"I don't think I'd be in a race car. But hey, you take a chance crossing the street."



...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

6. Oh, Yes Indeed, Hillary's Campaign has been Exposed for it's Racism and Hypocrisy

berni_mccoy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5709012&mesg_id=5709012

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

8. Gossip: "North Carolina Primary Looms, Eyes on Edwards"

There’s no news here, no direct quotes, "The rumor on the street..." or "Edwards has hinted"...and "One former aide said..."

As North Carolina Primary Looms, Eyes on Edwards

By JULIE BOSMAN April 29, 2008

WILMINGTON, N.C. — What will the Edwardses do?

...Theories abound: They’ll endorse before the primary. Or after there is a nominee. Or Mr. Edwards will endorse Mr. Obama and Mrs. Edwards will endorse Mrs. Clinton. Or none of the above.

“People talk about it all the time,” said Alina Szmant, a professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, a little bit conspiratorially. “The rumor on the street is that he’s holding out for a V.P. position.”

...But except for an opinion article by Mrs. Edwards in The New York Times on Sunday, which criticized the news media’s coverage of the primary campaigns (and gave no hint of where she is leaning), the Edwardses have been staying out of the race. And this week,
the family planned to decamp for Disney World, away from the campaign events grabbing headlines throughout the state.

Mr. Edwards has hinted to friends that he will not offer an endorsement before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries on May 6.

One former aide said that Mr. Edwards is angling for a role in a Democratic administration, and with the contest still undecided, he is hesitant to commit to a candidate.

“He doesn’t want to pick the loser,” the aide said.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. Monday' primary TOON Roundup:

we all need some humor. sheesh.
N2doc
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5722709

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

10. TURN OFF the Television! Especially if you are watching CABLE News!

Save your sanity!

FrenchieCat

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5722094&mesg_id=5722094

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. Oliver Willis: Who Are We?

Who Are We?

Published April 28, 2008 Oliver Willis

A few months ago I wrote about how I really really want the president of the United States to be someone who is the national leader of the country and not just a party chairman. I feel the need to point this out again in the middle of some of the typical blogosphere whining over Sen. Obama’s appearance Sunday on Fox News.

There are certain things I demand out of a Democratic candidate, but I don’t labor under the pretense that the person is going to check, check, check down the line for the progressive movement. Do I want them to sound like a Republican and echo conservative phrasing? No. But to act as if a deviation from the line will cause the universe to collapse on itself? Come on.

In the case of Sen. Obama I say again: I don’t want a cheerleader for the Democratic party. I want an adult to set this country back on the path of righteousness.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. darn dupe

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. Andrew Sullivan: "Wright's Poison"

This is an outright attack on the stated beliefs and policies and values of Barack Obama in a secular setting.

Wright's Poison

Andrew Sullivan 28 Apr 2008

I guess I am late to the party, am I not? I didn't watch Jeremiah Wright's National Press Club performance live this morning, as every other blogger seemed to. Wright is not on the ticket of any major party, he is not Barack Obama, and I'm not going to be baited into making this campaign about him, or the boomer cultural racial obsessions that so many want this vital election to be about.

But then I actually read what he said.

.....

I knew he was an exhibitionist; many of his sermons at Trinity, read in their entirety, do fall within the tradition of some prophetic teaching;
I can forgive occasional outbursts from fiery preachers; he has done much good in his own neighborhood and his interview with Bill Moyers struck me as defensible; parts of his address at the Press Club were completely uncontroversial and even contained some important truths.

But what he said today extemporaneously, the way in which he said it, the unrepentant manner in which he reiterated some of his most absurd and offensive views, his attempt to equate everything he believes with the black church as a whole, and his open public embrace of Farrakhan and hostility to the existence of Israel Zionism, make any further defense of him impossible. This was a calculated, ugly, repulsive, vile display of arrogance, egotism, and self-regard:

…Obama needs not just to distance himself from Wright's views; he needs to disown him at this point. Wright himself, it seems to me, has become part of what Obama is fighting against: the boomer, Vietnam era's obsession with its red-blue, white-black, pro and anti-America fixations. That is not what this election needs to be about; and Wright's massive, racially divisive and, yes, bitter provocation requires a proportionate response.


... more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. The Racial Divide and Wright

The Racial Divide and Wright

Andrew Sullivan Monday, April 28, 2008

A reader offers an interesting point:

I am a late 40's "white guy" from the Philadelphia area. Starting in the early 70's I began listening to the black preachers on the high UHF channels at odd hours of the night. There was something about the way they ALL spoke that I found intriguing - even before I knew the meaning of the word. There was always a high level of defiant bravado with outlandish accusations thrown in for good measure. This was expected by the followers -- as if by getting away with "the talk" was synonymous with some kind of mystic power. For me it was like chewing aluminum foil when you have a tooth ache - you kind of liked it ... But why?

As I got older other hobbies took over from my late night listening -- but I would always pause for a few minutes when I clicked past a station carrying some preacher.
Continue reading "The Racial Divide and Wright" »

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. Pastor Wright, are you trying to Damn Obama and America?

Pastor Wright, are you trying to Damn Obama and America?

By LauraRoslin - April 28, 2008

Why are you doing this?
Why now?

Is it the millions of $ worth of publicity?
Is it because you are promoting a new book?
Is it anger that Obama had to denounce your inflammatory words?
Is it your ego?
Are you utterly selfish?
Are you jealous of Senator Obama who could do more to heal race relations than any single man since Martin Luther King?

Have you gone stark raving mad?

I know that you are a very intelligent man and that you cannot possibly believe that Obama will get elected if you continue to spread your poisonous cloud around him.

Why now, when Clinton is losing badly,McCain is polling low - tons of bad news going out against either one, Clinton fund raisers and delegates defecting, all of a sudden this guy goes on a media blitz?

Why couldn't you wait until we had a Democratic President in the White House?

...more at the link

[MadBadger]

16. I have news regarding Superdelegates, so If there are any College kids, respond to this.

[grantcart]

23. I picked up my kid at college today does that count?

[MadBadger]

24. You can pass this info along to your kid.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. Superdelegates to blame for enabling destructive campaign

Superdelegates to blame for enabling destructive campaign

Mon Apr 28, 6:01 PM |Jed Report

For most of this campaign, the Democratic Party has been unified by optimism that our eventual nominee would trounce the Republican candidate in November, 2008. That began to change towards the end of February, when the contest between Senators Clinton and Obama began to turn sharply negative.

The media and the Clinton campaign deserve their share of blame for this. And Obama is not perfect, either. But the people who deserve the most blame are the superdelegates, for it is their indecision that has made this mess possible in the first place.

Since late February, it has been clear that the Clinton campaign's only hope for victory rested in their hands. Over the past two months, the sole uncertainty about the campaign has been whether or not superdelegates will stage a coup against the voters.

At any point during the last two months, superdelegates could have made it clear that they would support the will of voters. Instead, by declaring their indecision, they provided Clinton with a new rationale for her campaign. Effectively, they encouraged her coup attempt. It was if they said to her: if you can prove to us that Barack Obama is unelectable, we will overturn the judgment of voters.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. "Hogwash" Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech...Garbage fed to hogs (McCain)

Hogwash!

April 28th, 2008 by Tracy Russo at The Field

Hogwash: n.

Worthless, false, or ridiculous speech or writing; nonsense.
Garbage fed to hogs; swill.

John McCain toured a children’s hospital in Florida today. I know, because the press told me. They also told me how awesome it is that John McCain can understand the pain of children with cleft palates because his adopted daughter had one and his wife works for a charity that helps children who have the problem get the operations they need.

However, while they were eating up the McCain campaign’s perfectly staged photo op, they left some things out. Like for instance, that while John McCain was pretending to care about sick children, they never mentioned he voted against funding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) because it covered too many uninsured children.

They also forgot to mention that his vote against SCHIP wasn’t the first time he voted against providing children with health care. He did that repeatedly in the 90s. Oh, and while he was working to keep children from getting the coverage and care they need, he also thought it’d be a good idea to eliminate vaccines from children’s health care coverage.

All in all, the complete lack of reporting on McCain’s actual record when it comes to children’s health insurance and the wholesale swallowing of the campaign’s spin when it comes to John McCain’s health care plans, are a little hard to take, especially this early in the week.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. Clinton's shameless hypocrisy on the fuel tax

Clinton's shameless hypocrisy on the fuel tax

by kos Mon Apr 28, 2008 at 11:56:50 AM PDT

Clinton today:

Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday criticized Barack Obama for opposing the concept of suspending the gas tax during the peak summer driving months, a plan both she and Republican John McCain have endorsed.

The idea to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day was first proposed by McCain, the likely Republican presidential nominee, as a way to ease the economic burden for consumers during the summer....

Clinton in June 2000

Campaigning in the Hudson Valley, Lazio continued a two-day assault on Clinton's support of maintaining the 18-cent federal gas tax and then used tough rhetoric to declare that "trust" and "character" were campaign issues during an evening fundraiser in Manhattan that raised more that $1 million.

Clinton, meanwhile, lashed out at Lazio's plan to repeal 4.3 cents of the gas tax, calling it "a bad deal for New York and a potential bonanza for the oil companies...."
...
Honestly, why take the 18 cents out of the federal budget? Why not take it out of the oil company profits? The $10 billion in revenue the federal government would lose, at a time when our roads are crumbling and bridges literally collapsing, is only a quarter of Exxon Mobil's annual profits:

... more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. please please post your links news photos etc

I've got to turn in early, kind of burnt out.

links to Du posts are good too, that way we can
make sure to recommend them.

besides, your posts pep up the news....



:yourock:

[grantcart]

22. In the two week period before IN/NC Obama likely to pick up 20 delegates

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5729394&mesg_id=5729394

[JimGinPA]

25. Obama Heads for Superdelegate Edge

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5730773

[hokies4ever]

27. Psychological momentum against Hillary?

One has to think that the media will turn on a psychological momentum in favor of Obama whenever he passes Hillary in the superdelegate count.

[catgirl]

28. West Virginia Secretary of State Disenfranchising Thousands of Obama Voters?

Babylonsister post: Please read, complain to the SOS and recommend to the moon!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=108x129926

[catgirl]

29. Worst Person in the World (racist mayor's tactics in Hammond, IN))

Another great Babylonsister post: Please read, recommend and email Mayor McDermott!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=108x129892

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

30. Neut Gingrich endorsing Hillary Clinton on NC radio show right now 9:26 AM

sorry they don't have streaming audio.
http://www.fmtalk1011.com/showdj.asp?DJID=22542

You should have listened to the Brad and Britt Show this morning, FM 101 WZTK (its on right now) and heard Brad say he believed that "most black people agreed with what he is saying...." when talking about how "crazy" some of the things Obama's former pastor were saying.

Brad and Britt have a megaphone that extends across the state and that is running from 6AM to 10AM every Monday through Friday.

Right now, they have Neut Gingrich on (9:25) endorsing Hillary Clinton, more or less. He's talking about how efficient and brilliant she is. Neut is saying "its like Obama is being deliberately two faced... bla blah blah. Neut is tarring Obama along with Wright.

By the way, did you know who was behind Wright's appearance at the National Press Club?

Clinton supporter invited Wright


<snip>Obama's campaign has disavowed Wright's media tour, and a correspondent notes an interesting detail:

Wright was invited to the National Press Club by a journalist and minister who supports Clinton. The Tribune reports that Wright was invited by Barbara Reynolds, a former USA Today editorial board member who has written on personal blog of her support for Clinton....

<snip>

Brad was (incorrectly I believe) trying to explain what he thought was this pastor's ministry, another example of mis understanding that happens when some of us try to be overly brilliant and step out of our realm of expertise.

So, the lazy media, instead of talking about the war, about how McCain has sheltered his income within his wifes trust so we have no idea what he's invested in, what he owns, where he got it - that isn't being talked about. Instead of torture and blackwater, the lazy media is putting gasoline on the Pastor Wright fire.

Anyone who has worked with media knows that Wright's appearance on Bill Moyer's show is a win win for both Pastor Wright and Obama, but Wright's appearance at the National Press Club and the national coverage of the NAACP were a lose lose for Obama and probably ultimately for Pastor Wright. Wright has insulted and tarred Obama as insincere and saying things just to be politically expedient. The bad part of this is the theme of Obama's campaign is his "authenticity".

There's an old saying - the media is not your friend. Some of us on this list have had to learn how to measure what we say to the media. The media looks for 10 second sound bites.

[catgirl]

31. Kentucky congressman to endorse Obama

LOUISVILLE (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama's campaign director in Kentucky says Congressman Ben Chandler will endorse Obama for their party's presidential nomination.

Carolyn Tandy told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Chandler will announce his support for Obama at a midday news conference in downtown Louisville. Chandler represents a central Kentucky district and carries one of the most famous names in Kentucky politics.

The endorsement means Obama will have the backing of both of Kentucky's Democratic congressmen leading into the state's May 20 presidential primary.

http://www.wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=8242385&nav=0RZF

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. Crabs In A Barrel

Crabs In A Barrel

Andrew Sullivan 29 Apr 2008 10:17 am

One African-American supporter of Obama has had it with Jeremiah Wright:

To break it down, here's what Wright is doing: he's spitting in the face of the man who defended him, who said he was "like family" and did so without any undertones of private anger or resentment. He did so unconditionally. Now Wright is using his newfound notoriety to become the next racial demagogue, and who cares if it's at the expense of Obama? If CNN, MSNBC and Fox News are booking me as the Black Pat Buchanan in a few years, then it's all worth it!

Obama extended his hand to help Wright above the fray. Instead, Wright has pulled him back down into the barrel, making it even more difficult for the most talented politician we've seen in years to escape the politics of race, resentment and self-victimization that continue to condemn us all.

One response to all this is to despair. We're seeing many of the worst aspects of America's culture war come back to target the one politician who had the chance to get us beyond it. It is no accident to me that Wright is of the Vietnam generation that bequeathed us these divides; and it is no accident that the Clintons will eagerly pivot off it; or that the far right will exploit it; or that Obama's tolerance for a man like this for so many years will hurt him. And yet I refuse to believe that we have to remain captive to this syndrome; I refuse to believe that racial discourse has to be framed by Pat Buchanan and Jeremiah Wright; I refuse to abandon the hope I felt only a few months ago.

This moment is far too important to surrender to the forces that want to return us to the divisions and obsessions of the past. The only way past this, perhaps, is through it. Obama needs to repudiate Wright's grandstanding and reiterate in clear terms the rationale of his candidacy: that the past is over, and we have to move forward in ending this war in Iraq, restoring America's standing in the world, repairing the massive and mounting debt, bringing America back to the forefront of human rights, and bringing the best aspects of America to the foreground again.

The world is watching. And we still can.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

33. Congressman Ben Chandler (KY) to Endorse Obama!! And yes, he's a Super Delegate!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5731313&mesg_id=5731313

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

34. Clinton debt larger than originally reported to FEC

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5732214

[grantcart]

35. So far 2 Super Delegates have endorsed Obama

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=132