“OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS Sunday May 18 2008

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

WELCOME TO “OBAMA SUPPORTERS” DAILY NEWS

Sunday May 18 2008


Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., left, and his
wife Michelle order soda and popcorn at a concession stand at the Iris Festival
in Keizer, Ore., Saturday, May 17, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

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. The Prize Clinton Isn't Owed

The Prize Clinton Isn't Owed

By George F. Will Sunday, May 18, 2008; Page B07

Women, we are told by some people who say they know them, are not amused. Women, or at least those whose consciousnesses have been properly raised, supposedly think that the impatience being expressed about the protracted futility of Hillary Clinton's campaign is disrespectful. They say that if the roles were reversed -- if Barack Obama's delegate arithmetic were as hopeless as hers -- people would not be so insensitive as to try to hurry a man off the stage.

...Some of Clinton's supporters seem to be cultivating, for a purpose, a permutation of the entitlement mentality that many voters thought they discerned in her candidacy and found off-putting. She seemed to feel entitled to the Democrats' nomination, and having been denied it she may feel really entitled to be Obama's running mate. But for him, choosing her would be even more dangerous than Bosnian sniper fire. She would solve none of his problems and would create others.

Because Democrats are desperate to win in November, they will support Obama, so his most pressing priority should be to compete with John McCain for independent voters, or for people lightly attached to the Republican Party. Almost all the people who like Clinton are Democrats, and a recent poll revealed that only 39 percent of Americans regard her as "honest and trustworthy," down from 52 percent in May 2006. Furthermore, if Obama cannot win New York without her, he is going to lose almost everywhere else.

...
Clinton has been carrying categories of voters that Obama has had trouble attracting. But it is implausible that she is the only Democrat who would enhance Obama's appeal to white, blue-collar Democrats.

Finally, Clinton is not entitled to a consolation prize..... More than 300 million Americans living at this hour will never be president. They will never even be senator from New York. That office is not chopped liver. Neither is it a form of disregard.

more at the link

[AbbeyRoad]

2. The Decemberists are playing Obama's rally in Portland

They're one of my favorite bands, and I was pretty excited to get an email from them saying that they'll be supporting Barack by playing a rally tomorrow. Does anyone know if this will be streamed live? I'd like to catch the performance if possible.

Here's the announcement from the Obama site:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/portlandevent


Rally with Barack Obama
The Bowl
Waterfront Park
Corner of SW Columbia St. and SW Naito Pkwy.
South of the Hawthorne Bridge

Sunday, May 18th, 2008
Doors Open: 12:30 p.m.

Special Guest Performance by: Colin Meloy, Chris Funk, Jenny Conlee, Nate Query, and John Moen

[grantcart]

3. *****Super Delegate Update MiniThread****

[MadBadger]

5. SD from Wisconsin Endorses Obama

Obama was endorsed by SD hnmnf because he thinks he's smarter than at least 10,000 voters in Wisconsin. He thinks his voice should count 10,000 times of all 10,000 of those fuckers.

[grantcart]

6. hmmm well if maybe if you had a vowel we would agree - sorry

[grantcart]

7. These are Saturday's SDs for Obama magic number is 115 and 14.5 for pledged majority

5-17-08 - Added DNC Greg Pecoraro (MD) , new Kansas add-on Mark Parkinson (KS)# for Obama
- Colorado add-on Federico Pena (CO)# added for Obama

[grantcart]

14. **Sunday Delegate Update Thread ** Magic Number starts at 115 and 14.5 for Pelosi

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6014809

[grantcart]

16. Clinton loses another pledged delegate

DC Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans announced minutes ago he’s throwing his support behind Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. Evans had been a longtime Hillary Clinton supporter, co-chairing her campaign in the District. Earlier this month, he’d been elected by local Democrats to serve as an at-large delegate pledged to Clinton.
Asked to explain his move, Evans cited “just the momentum that was going behind it.” He says he left a message with the Clinton campaign about the decision but was not able to speak with the senator before making the announcement today. - Washington City Paper


Evans said he switched his support because Ward 2 overwhelmingly voted for Obama in the District primary in February. He said he is most concerned about having a Democratic White House. - Washington Post
Evans was elected as an at-large delegate earlier this month:

The slots filled last night were all “pledged” slots, which could only be filled by candidates who had filed papers pledging their support to a particular candidate. Three of the four slots were pledged to Barack Obama, based on the results of the District’s primary vote. Only the seat Evans won was pledged to Hillary Clinton. The Clinton seat was also the only one that drew a contested vote....

Evans’ competition was Franklin Garcia, a committee member and technology consultant. His speech to his fellow members before the vote—which, according to witnesses, focused an awful lot on what a great candidate Obama is—failed to win him the Clinton slot: He lost 52-6. - Washington City Paper

http://demconwatch.blogspot.com/

Note: This is the second pledged delegate that Clinton has lost - at this point Obama's camapaign does not add them on to their numbers.

[grantcart]

34. CA add ons split Clinton 3 Obama 2

California Democrats on Sunday selected their final delegates to the party's national convention this summer, including five additional superdelegates.
The selections came during the state party's final meeting before the August convention in Denver. They did not change the dynamics of the presidential tally in the nation's most delegate-rich state.

Under party rules, five so-called "add-on" delegates were named by party Chairman Art Torres, bringing the total number of California superdelegates to 71. Three were pledged to Hillary Rodham Clinton and two to Barack Obama.

The additional superdelegates pledged for Clinton are: Carolyn Doggett, executive director of the California Teachers Association; former state Assemblyman Dario Frommer; and Dora Rubio, wife of Kern County Supervisor Michael Rubio, a former aide to state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter.
The two pledged to Obama are William Quay Hays, an entrepreneur and developer from Pacific Palisades, and Lou Paulson, president of the California Professional Firefighters. - Mercury News



Given this was a state won by Hillary and in the projections we gave no delegates to Obama so these 2 add ons are a big pick up

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

4. Nevada Statewide Convention: Obama 14 Delegates, Clinton 11

Nevada Statewide Convention: Obama 14 Delegates, Clinton 11

By Al Giordano at the Field May 17

Today’s news from Nevada confirms that there’s been “many a slip twixt the cup and the lip” when it comes to last January 19th’s declarations that Clinton had “won” the Nevada caucuses.

First came the reality-check that Obama’s greater support in the state’s rural counties provided him with one more delegate - thirteen in total - to Clinton’s twelve.

...Some Clinton supporters have begun to give up and, despite being elected delegates, stayed home, while the Obama grassroots organization proved tireless, taking no prisoners, and grabbing another Democratic National Convention delegate away from the tired Clinton camp, for a net gain of +2.

...more at the link

[slinkerwink]

8. I thought Obama couldn't get the Latina vote? Just look at those women!

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

9. Don't Talk About the War (Its the War Stupid -but Clinton supporters miss the point)

Don't Talk About the War

Matthew Yglesias 17 May 2008

Lots of interesting material in Michelle Cottle's notebook dump on what various Clintonistas think the campaign did wrong. Two small points before I get to my big point. One:

"Devastating vulnerabilities such as Obama's associations with Wright and Ayers were not unearthed by the campaign's vaunted research team in time to be fully taken advantage of--despite being readily available in the public domain."

I'd heard about Wright and Ayers from Clinton supporters long before the Clinton campaign started officially pushing these issues. I simply don't believe that the "vaunted research team" hadn't "unearthed" this information. Rather, I think the campaign thought it would be sleazy and counterproductive to start campaigning on this stuff until they got truly desperate. And I think they were right.

...Big point -- it's fascinating to me that nobody mentioned the war. Clinton supported the war. In retrospect, the war was a terrible idea. Her support for it was a mistake. What's more, it's inconceivable to me that Obama's campaign could have gotten off the ground had Clinton spent 2002 and 2003 as a lonely liberal voice speaking out against the war, then spent 2005 and 2006 being completely vindicated in her judgment. It's not just that Obama wouldn't have beaten her, he wouldn't have run at all -- it would have been preposterous. She would have faced a from-the-right challenge in the primary that would have gotten some attention but never posed any real threat.

But Clinton's error on the war opened up serious doubts about her substantive and political judgment about one of the highest-profile issues of the moment. In many ways it's a testament to how brilliant her campaign was all throughout 2007 and 2008 that they never allowed the war issue to bury her, considering that an overwhelming majority of Democratic primary voters think she made a mistake.

...more at the link

Hillary Clinton still says that the resolution she voted for did not empower Bush to go to war even though its name is "Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002". She continues to repeate her 2002 AUMF vote, doesn't she? Kyl-Lieberman last September?
Her "Obliterate Iran" comments last month? I believe she knew what she was voting for but did it because she thought it would poll well. I cannot trust her because she does the wrong thing when she
knows better.

[slinkerwink]

10. thanks for adding this in

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

11. PLEASE take this 60 second action to contact the DNC

***Pass this on to fellow Obama supporters***

Today Hillary is sending out an email urging her supporters to tell the DNC to "count every vote." The real political decision is Clinton's appeal for a do-over, something she would never do if the candidates' delegate counts were reversed.

Contact the DNC today at this link Also choose "Election 2008" when you get to the "issue" box.

You can use the same message that I sent:

JUST SAY NO TO HILLARY's APPEAL.

From the September 2, 2007 NY Times:

“We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process,” Patti Solis Doyle, the Clinton campaign manager, said in a statement.

The pledge sought to preserve the status of traditional early-voting states and bring order to an unwieldy series of primaries that threatened to accelerate the selection process. It was devised to keep candidates from campaigning in Florida, where the primary is set for Jan. 29, and Michigan, which is trying to move its contest to Jan. 15.


Be fair to all states who are members of the Democratic Party and ensure that other states don't try to pull a Florida or Michigan on the party again.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. Let me see now, where is that Obama fella?

Let me see now, where is that Obama fella?



Seriously though, Mike your little crack about the "O" man getting shot at wasn't funny.
Oh well, there goes your VP spot.

http://field-negro.blogspot.com/

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

13. WHOOPS!

http://field-negro.blogspot.com/

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

15. I'm a Feminist, and That's Why I Don't Support Hillary

I'm a Feminist, and That's Why I Don't Support Hillary

by Queen Alice, Daily Kos May 17, 2008

After reading the latest in a series of condescending editorials by women accusing others of their gender of betrayal or ignorance because we aren't all supporting Hillary Clinton, I finally feel like I have to speak out.

...I said nothing when Madeleine Albright made the comment, "I also think it is important for women to help one another. I have a saying: There is a special place in hell for women who don't." I understand that she is a much older woman, with a very different experience of life as a woman, and what it means to be marginalized because of your sex. As a younger woman, I was furious that a woman would suggest, even indirectly, that because I was not voting for Hillary there was a special place in hell for me--but I held my tongue anyway.

Then Gloria Steinhem wrote her editorial piece for the New York Times, and said:

What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age.

And still I didn't speak up. I felt sorry for Steinhem, that she couldn't or wouldn't see the progress that women have made, and wouldn't be able to understand that younger women no longer blame a "sexual caste system" or let such an idea hold them back from achieving whatever they want to. I even felt sorry for her though she stuck up for Bill Clinton at a time when I, as a feminist, was furious at him and at his wife for staying by his side.

...See, I don't believe that feminism is about being better than men. I don't believe it's about exclusivity, or about helping only women to advance. I believe that feminism is about making sure that women have the same opportunities and doors open to them that men do. And I believe that Hillary has had, as the wife of a former president and an Ivy League grad, more doors open to her than most women OR men in this country ever will.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

17. Hillary Did Not Lose Because of Sexism

Hillary Did Not Lose Because of Sexism

by davidkc, Daily Kos Sat May 17, 2008

The post-mortems of Hillary Clinton's failed quest for the presidency have just started to be written, and I'm already noticing a troubling trend.
Within the space of a few days, the Washington Post has published two opinion pieces that cite sexism and misogyny as key reasons for Hillary's problems. We need to nip this false conclusion in the bud, both for the sake of the truth and the sake of party unity in November.

Ellen Malcolm, president of the pro-Hillary Emily's List, inflamed the cries of campaign sexism in a Post opinion piece last Saturday. According to Malcolm, any claims that Hillary has lost the race, and any calls for Hillary to quit the race, are not due to facts or reality, but due to pure sexism:

So here we are in the fourth quarter of the nominating process and the game is too close to call. Once again, the opponents and the media are calling for Hillary to quit. The first woman ever to win a presidential primary is supposed to stop competing, to curtsy and exit stage right.

I really hate sports analogies, but since Malcolm brought it up first, we're not just in the "fourth quarter of the nominating process" but in the final 30 seconds of the fourth quarter. And the game is not "too close to call"; rather the losing team is down by 30 points. Yes, perhaps you could develop some type of computer-driven scenario in which the losing team could somehow come back to win the game, but you wouldn't take any betters.

Calls for Clinton to quit are not being motivated by sexism, of course, but by an honest, if painful, look at the numbers and the facts. And if the situation of the candidates were reversed, is there anyone who doubts that Hillary would have kicked Obama to the curb by now? Malcolm seems to be calling for Hillary to be treated differently because she is a woman, and isn't that what feminism is fighting against? For Malcolm, it seems as if the only way for Obama and his supporters to NOT be sexist would be to just give up and concede the contest to Hillary.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

18. McCain a "regular guy" who likes to fish - except for this:

When you fish in your own private, artificial lake on your 10-acre estate in Sedona, you're not a regular guy, John McCain.

by Joe Sudbay (DC) · 5/17/2008

Yesterday, McCain made a big deal out of stopping at a gun shop in West Virginia to show that he's just a regular guy --
a man of the people. He even bought some fishing gear. But, his press secretary exposed the reality that McCain is really
a very wealthy elitist:

After the stop at the gun shop, Mr. McCain’s traveling press secretary, Brooke Buchanan, said that Mr. McCain would use his new fishing rod on the artificial lake at his 10-acre Arizona spread in Sedona.

...McCain and Cindy are very, very, very rich people. Very rich. When you own nine homes (or is it ten?), you're among the elite, no matter how you cut it. Really makes you wonder what is Cindy McCain hiding in her tax returns.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

19. LOL Flowbee

LOL Flowbee

Posted by Kevin K. on 05/17/08 at Rump Roast

I’ve been suffering through a bit of blogging burnout lately and its root cause is that I’ve been exposing (and getting exposed to) utterly repugnant wingnut-like crap like this from rabid anti-Obama Hillshills longer than just about anyone out there in the blogosneer. There’s a point when you realize that slowing down to stare at Clinton clown car crashes is, at its core, a slightly grotesque and depressing hobby to engage in. I’ve got a longer, lay-waste-to-everything post left in me that I’ll probably be rolling out in the near future, but for now I’m just going to leave you with this:



Because today, that’s how I’m gonna roll. Go with the flowbee.

SOMEWHAT RELATED: Maha rocks.

FINALLY: Now that the “Flowbee” nickname has stuck to you-know-who (I’m seeing it everywhere),
I’d like to point out that I came up with it back in March. Never forget.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

20. DEMOCRATS TAKE OWN SIDE IN ARGUMENT; REPUBLICANS CRY, "NO FAIR!"

DEMOCRATS TAKE OWN SIDE IN ARGUMENT; REPUBLICANS CRY, "NO FAIR!"

By Steve M at No More Mister Nice Blog Saturday, May 17, 2008

You know that old saying: A liberal (or a Democrat) is someone who's too polite to take his own side in an argument. Well, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president clearly isn't following that script, and he's getting backup from fellow party members.

The right-wing response? "Hey, that's against the rules!"

Here's the extremely self-important right-wing pundit Mark Steyn discussing the response by Barack Obama (and other Democrats) to President Bush's decision to use a speech at the Knesset to score cheap domestic political points:

"That's enough. That -- that's a show of disrespect to me."

....What's really bugging the right is that hit jobs like this on Democrats are always supposed to work -- Democrats are supposed to say, "Yessir! Hit me again, sir! I'm a miserable worm, sir!" Obama seems calm and non-combative, but he fooled these guys. He gets his back up. He defends himself. And that last word needs to be stressed -- he defends himself.

It's not narcissism. It's not arrogance (Karl Rove's favorite charge; talk about pots and kettles). It's just something internal that makes him believe that, even on hot-button issues, he can mount a defense of his own position. It's self-respect.

...more at the link

[DerekJ]

22. Interesting read.. thanks.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

21. Obama urges unusual step for House to push back at increased Media Consolidation

Obama Urges Colleagues Push back at increased Media Consolidation

Obama, Bush at Odds Over Media-Ownership Vote
Democratic Presidential Candidate Urges House of Representatives to Follow Senate's Lead,
Scrap FCC's Media-Ownership-Rule Change By John Eggerton 5/16/2008

The fight over the Federal Communications Commission's Dec. 18 media-ownership vote set up a potential battle between the current president and a senator who wants to be the next one.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) Thursday urged the House to follow the Senate's lead and pass a resolution of disapproval, an unusual legislative maneuver that would invalidate the FCC's decision to allow TV and radio stations and newspapers to be co-owned in the top 20 markets, subject to some conditions.

After the Senate approved the measure, Obama, a co-sponsor of the bill, released a statement saying, "I urge my colleagues in the House of Representatives to expeditiously pass the legislation."

He framed the vote, as he has before, as standing up to "Washington special interests," a campaign theme. "Our nation’s media market must reflect the diverse voices of our population, and it is essential that the FCC promotes the public interest and diversity in ownership," he said.
...

Matt Stoler at Alternet writes:

The FCC decision to consolidate yet more media was opposed by 99% of public comments. As Paul Rosenberg noted in this comments, this might be the single least popular decision by the Bush administration ever. But Obama, as he did with his media and tech plan, took this further, and called for diversity and representation for the public interest in media ownership.

With ownership levels for minorities and women in media in the low single digits, Obama is really saying that it's time to reshape our media system.

With the Pentagon Pundit scandal coming on the wave of a number of serious breakdowns of the public legitimacy of the press, the public desire for a new media system is strong. The technological capacity to create such a system exists, in fact, media has been dramatically reshaped already through the internet. Broadcast media, though, is still somewhat untouched, but this kind of serious structural argument about the media from the likely President is something that cable and broadcast executives, as well as progressives, should take very seriously.

I've heard quite frequently from political operatives that this race is not Obama versus McCain, but Obama versus the media. And it's clear that without breaking down the structure of the media conglomerates, public discourse will remain as polluted and dishonest as it is now. And so President Obama is telegraphing his intentions to be a media reformer. Now it's up to us to help him get there.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

23. The Belittled Woman

The Belittled Woman

May 16, 2008 The Maha Blog

Rick Klein writes that some Clinton supporters are organizing a “boycott” of the November election and the Dem party if Senator Clinton is not the party’s nominee.

There’s no question Senator Clinton has been the target of some hideous sexism, as Libby Copeland documents in today’s Washington Post and Marie Cocco in yesterday’s WaPo. I also think we’ve seen that sexist expression is more socially acceptable in our national political discourse than racist expression, which so far has been heard mostly “on the ground” and not on MSNBC. Sexism has a lot to do with Clinton’s “negatives,” the people who just plain don’t like her and won’t budge from that position no matter what she says or does.

However, there are a few points I think some Clinton supporters are overlooking.

First, just because someone is the victim of sexism doesn’t mean she would make a good President of the United States. Hell, I’ve been a victim of sexism plenty of times, and I think I’d make a terrible POTUS. (Better than the current one, of course, but I’ve seen refrigerator mold that would do better than the current one.)

I get the impression that some older women (disclosure: I am female and 56) are die-hard Clinton supporters because electing her would be glorious payback for the countless indignities they’ve suffered through the years. I can understand how this would be emotionally gratifying, but emotional gratification is not exactly the point of electing a POTUS.

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

24. Sure-footed and gutsy

Knesset Kerfuffle Shows Obama Not Afraid to Engage

Chris Cillizza May 16 WaPo Blog

Obama, to our mind, took the smarter course by not simply answering the inherent critique offered by the president but also pivoting to try and make McCain answerable for the foreign policy pursued by the United States over the last eight years.

...In elections past, Democrats have sought to avoid an extended fight with Republicans over foreign policy, preferring to instead fight on the more familiar — and friendly — ground of domestic issues like health care and the economy.

The 2004 election may well have signaled a sea change in that strategy, as Bush effectively turned the election into a referendum on the threat of terrorism and the importance of national security as Democrats were unable to mount an effective response. …

… It marks a remarkable change in tactics that speaks to just how much the political landscape has shifted since 2004. McCain and Republicans are certain to work to frame the national security/foreign policy debate in their favor, but Obama’s initial response is a sign that they may have to adjust their tactics in the runup to the November election.

...more at the link

Here's the perfect graphic to match this story:

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

25. Must Read: Rival Camps Plan Inevitable Merger

DU rules only allow copying 4 paragraphs, so I recommend reading the entire article because
it is about HOW the party is put back together in time to campaign against McCain. Major donors have been meeting and will meet again to strategize healing the divisions and winning the GE.

Rival Camps Plan Inevitable Merger

Clinton, Obama Supporters Discuss Combined Effort to Win in NovemberBy Matthew Mosk and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 18, 2008; Page A01

Top fundraisers for Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama have begun private talks aimed at merging the two candidates' teams, not waiting for the Democratic nominating process to end before they start preparations for a hard-fought fall campaign.

Despite Obama's apparently insurmountable lead in delegates needed to claim the nomination, aides to both candidates are resigned to the idea that the Democratic contest will continue at least through June 3, when Montana and South Dakota will cast the final votes of the primary season.

But in small gatherings around Washington and in planning sessions for party unity events in New York and Boston in coming weeks, fundraisers and surrogates from both camps are discussing how they can put aside the vitriol of the past 18 months and move forward to ensure that the eventual nominee has the resources to defeat Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in November.

..."There's gale-force pressure for Obama to choose a Clinton loyalist as a running mate to heal the party but avoid putting her and her formidable baggage on the ticket," said one Obama ally in Washington. "You hear the names Strickland, Bayh, and Wes Clark almost constantly, and it's no secret that Jim Johnson and Tom Daschle are purveyors of that wisdom."

...more at the link

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

26. McCainicide

McCainicide
By LauraRoslin - May 18, 2008

Some of us may be suffering from temporary insanity caused by prolonged electile disruption.
A group of democratic voters are threatening to vote for 4 more years of Bush if their preferred Dem does not get the nomination. One wonders how much the right wing managed to engineer this effort for Dems to self destruct. (Its so easy to do).

What does it say about your candidate?
IF a disgruntled Democrat would prefer to vote for John McCain (R) rather than for the democratic nominee, then that Dem's preferred candidate can't be too good.

To those threatening McCainicide: Splash cold water on your face and ask yourself this question:

Does candidate A (your preferred Democratic candidate for President) = John McCain(R)?

Does candidate A (your preferred Democratic candidate for President) want you to support John McCain if your preferred candidate does not win the Democratic Nomination?

...more at the link
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/05/mccainicide.php

(please visit the link and recommend the blog so it won't sink)

Thanks

[FrenchieCat]

27. My article published in Opednews--

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_frenchie_080517_how_in_the_general_e.htm

[Aloha Spirit]

30. Saw it yesterday... nice!

By the way, I found it from searching google news for "Obama."

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

31. thats a benefit of putting articles at OEN, they hit google news searches

thats why I urge people at DU to post their OP's over at www.opednews.com as well
as here.

[FrenchieCat]

28. Obama's On-the-Wall Endorsement

Obama's On-the-Wall Endorsement

Sunday, May 18, 2008

LOS ANGELES -- When the street artist and guerrilla marketer Shepard Fairey got word from the Obama people that they would welcome his contribution to the campaign, he knew what he wanted to create: a phenomenon.


Shepard Fairey put his street-art sensibility to work for his candidate of choice,
in hopes of "appealing to a younger, apathetic audience."


All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper, like Fred Thompson on an off day. Fairey wanted something more iconic -- aspirational, inspirational -- and cool. In other words, he wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want.
<>
"I wanted strong. I wanted wise, but not intimidating," Fairey says of the look for his Obamas. The agitprop pop art has become a must-have accessory among a certain subset of the candidate's supporters, who have gobbled up more than 80,000 of Fairey's posters and 150,000 postcard-size stickers since Super Tuesday.

Who is this Shepard Fairey? He is a skate punk -- with a secretary. A CEO in Puma sneakers. The rebel who did Pepsi ads. If you live in a big city, including Washington, you have probably seen his handiwork.
<>
Fairey has done his share of political art in the past. He did posters for Ralph Nader in 2000. In 2004, he did George W. Bush, depicting the president as a grinning vampire. In the weeks before Super Tuesday 2008, "I put out the word I wanted to do something for Obama," explains Fairey, through Yosi Sergant, a plugged-in "early adopter" publicist in Los Angeles who knew prominent Democrats in the Obama circle. "I didn't want to be an unwelcome distraction," Fairey explains. "I've been arrested," he says, referring to his graffiti work in public places. "I really want him to win, so I didn't want to do anything that would cause him problems." The Obama people, somewhat to his surprise, said go ahead. Who said, exactly? "You can assume this came from the highest levels," Fairey says. Indeed, the Obama campaign liked the posters so much it now sells them via the official campaign Web site store (for $70, and the supply is currently all sold out -- again).

more.... http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601017.html?nav=rss_politics

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

29. Some Reasons Why a Shotgun Wedding Won’t Be Necessary

It's the vetting!

Some Reasons Why a Shotgun Wedding Won’t Be Necessary
By Al Giordano at The Field

I would not enjoy being an advocate of the (con)fusion ticket being peddled in some quarters where it’s argued that Obama “must” choose Senator Clinton as his running mate.

I’ve already outlined two reasons that scenario can’t survive even on life support:

First, the advocates of an Obama-Clinton ticket haven’t been able to get the “I won’t vote for Obama in November” grouposcule within the Clinton camp to sign up for it. As we demonstrated here the other day, in their own words, so many of the folks in that camp continue to say that they would consider an offer of the vice presidency for Clinton insulting and condescending to her supporters. I agree with those people. It would be condescending to try and mix oil and water (the combination of which has corroded many a gas tank), including if the primaries had gone differently and Clinton were the nominee-apparent leading to speculation that she might tap Obama as vice presidential nominee.

The second reason is more subtle: The louder that certain factions try to exert pressure on Obama into picking any individual as his running mate, the more his acquiescence to such a demand would make him look weak, buckling under pressure, and captive to outside interests. In a word: unpresidential, and lacking in the leadership qualities and independence that Americans look for in a commander-in-chief.

There’s a third reason why this dog ain’t gonna hunt. Marc Ambinder hinted at it the other day when mentioning his guesses as to how Obama’s VP search will be conducted. It’s called the vetting process:

Obama will wind up vetting more candidates than one might suspect; that the vetting will be extremely thorough and private; that several women will be vetted NOT as tokens but as actual potential choices; that Hillary Clinton WILL be asked to submit the vetting documents IF she signals that she wants to be considered…

...more at the link

http://ruralvotes.com/thefield/?p=1220

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

32. ****I posted above "shot gun wedding" in GDP- please kick link below:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6017637#6017637

[DU GrovelBot]

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35. OMG for real, 75,000 ATTEND OBAMA RALLY IN PORTLAND

for real. I thought it was a hoax, but mainstream media is reporting it.

Its here in GDP:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=6020774&mesg_id=6020774

and

Its over at breaking news:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3314968