Logic is probably wasted on many of you, but I'll try it once again. Hillary Clinton had nothing to gain by playing the race card or race baiting and everything to lose. So, why in the world would she or Bill Clinton do so? The idea of the Clinton campaign race baiting was initiated by MSM and too many Democrats bit.

Good grief, haven't we learned anything from the last two elections? We let the MSM make Gore out to be some kind of intellectual, long-winded nerd and Kerry out to be a wind-surfing elitist who practically stole his medals. So, now we're going to let them tell us the Clinton's are using race baiting and Obama is an unpatriotic elitist?

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are both so much worthier of our support than any nominee that the Republican party can put forth. I, for one, am not going to bite on the crap put out by the MSM or the Republicans. I'm not going to let them make me hate the Democratic candidate I don't support through the primary season so I can't vote with enthusiasm for the Democratic nominee.

Posted at May 6, 2008 8:32 PM in response to Why Democrats Must Unite Against Divide-and-Conquer Race Tactics

Well, I did say I was going to regret it. I'm not putting you off, but I have a call I have to return before bedtime and a response will take more than a few minutes. In the meantime, mull over the fact that it is possible to be totally behind a candidate without making the opponent into some kind of demon. Especially when we all need to be united come November.

Until tomorrow.

Posted at May 1, 2008 9:45 PM in response to Detailing Hillary's Crucial Failing--Her Self-Defeating Furiousness

I know I'm going to regret this, but I just have to ask you to clarify your remarks with facts. If you choose not to list evidence of the negative attributes you ascribe to someone, then your posts have little to offer in the way of productive discussion on the candidates.

In addition, I work daily with those who have psychological problems. In my profession, I have become well aware of the symptoms manifested by those with borderline personality disorders and I have seen nothing in Hillary Clinton that would make me believe she would receive that diagnosis. In fact, I find it rather distasteful that you would use a condition that is serious and painful to those suffering from it in this manner.

Posted at May 1, 2008 8:30 PM in response to Detailing Hillary's Crucial Failing--Her Self-Defeating Furiousness

Thanks for your reasoned response. To answer your first question, I was speaking to Hillary's position on Cooper's proposal. Sorry to be less than clear on that. However, while it's quite possible that Bill came to some agreement with Cooper, he did qualify it by saying it was up to Hillary. In addition, Hillary has said several times in the past year that she learned a lot from that experience and implied she would use a different method to work towards her goal of universal healthcare. Lastly, on that subject, we have to remember that we are going, for the most part, on Cooper's word on the agreement.

As to what Hillary did after that defeat, she worked tirelessly to help push for SCHIP. As a former worker in the front lines trying to help low income families get medical coverage, I can tell you that the program has been a lifesaver, literally, for so many children.

Posted at May 1, 2008 8:03 PM in response to Detailing Hillary's Crucial Failing--Her Self-Defeating Furiousness

Back to the subject:

The proposal by Cooper would have given us nowhere near universal healthcare. His plan was based on market forces as the way to control healthcare costs. Not to mention his proposal did away with employer payments. Maybe it might have been a foot in the door, but then it might have resulted in a failed program that would have also set back the push for true universal coverage.

Notice that Cooper is a big Obama supporter. He goes well with Austan Goolsbee, one of Obama's economic advisors who is a great fan of free trade. Cooper probably gets on well with another Obama economic advisor, Jeffery Liebman. Remember him? He's the guy who wrote the paper on privatizing Social Security back when he worked in the Clinton administration. He still talks about being open to partial privatization. Let's not leave out David Cutler who thinks of high medical costs as a good thing for the economy.

Posted at May 1, 2008 7:31 PM in response to Detailing Hillary's Crucial Failing--Her Self-Defeating Furiousness

If you want me to speak to theories, I do have one. I thinks it's quite probable that when Obama was introduced to Rev. Wright's church he found a feeling of community with the congregation and developed a deep relationship with Rev. Wright, who became that "uncle" or perhaps more of a father figure to him.

I think, based on his writings and speeches, that Obama didn't share many of the opinions held by Wright but was able to overlook them because of what the community and the reverend gave him. It's also possible that he found the church gave him a strong political base in Chicago. But, when it became apparent that Wright and his relationship with him would be a political liability, Obama tried to distance himself without severing the ties that had become so important to him. It became extremely difficult with the videos that surfaced and his subsequent statements about Wright probably hurt and offended the good reverend who then took every opportunity to put himself out front with little thought as to how much damage it would do to Obama's political hopes.

I'm sure it was very painful to Obama to say what he did today because he knew it would quite likely sever the last threads holding together his relationship with Rev. Wright. Still, I believe Rev. Wright's actions were due to anger and hurt and Obama's were due to political expediency.

Posted at April 29, 2008 8:07 PM in response to Revelations on the Sacrifice of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

Your post makes me so very sad. Not sad at what you see as a sacrifice on the part of Rev. Wright, but sad that you need so much to believe that.

No matter how much good Rev. Wright has done for his community, he is just a man who is quite capable of letting such things as ego, undue pride and error in thought control him for a moment, a week or a lifetime. The same is true of Barack Obama. He is capable, as we all are, of being wrong, being ruthless and acting for political gain. If we don't accept the fallibility of those we admire, we will be constantly disappointed.

Posted at April 29, 2008 7:18 PM in response to Revelations on the Sacrifice of Jeremiah A. Wright, Jr.

Way to go Oregon! I just read your comment on the Clinton supporter post and felt you said exactly what I have been feeling for a very long time about TPM. Now you've nailed it on this conspiracy crap and on those who are so eager to jump on it. All it took for me to find the above link to the post by Reynolds that was defending Wright was about 20 seconds with Google.

A large majority of those commenting on this site need to remember what is so great about the blogs and the internet-the ability to hear different opinions, read about different items in the news and follow links in the search of the truth. Remember when we used to be so proud of taking part in the Reality Based Community?

Posted at April 29, 2008 6:59 PM in response to Is Hillary Behind Arranging Rev. Wright's Press Conference yesterday?

Add me to the count as one of the millions of voices calling for change that Alex39 refers to. Only I'm one of the millions who are supporting Clinton.

Posted at April 29, 2008 6:36 PM in response to Who are the Clinton supporters on TPM?

Hope more than a few of you are still checking out the comments to this post because you might be interested to know that Barbara Reynolds posted a defense of Wright on March 2nd. Seems her desire to have him at the event was based more on her feelings for him than her support of Clinton.

http://reynoldsworldnews.blogspot.com/2008/03/pastor-jeremiah-wright.html

Posted at April 29, 2008 6:29 PM in response to Is Hillary Behind Arranging Rev. Wright's Press Conference yesterday?