Sorry for repeat - first post didn't work properly

I would like to get your opinions on Barack Obama selecting U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill from Missouri as his running mate this fall.

I realize that her state is a neighboring state of Illinois where Obama is from; however, Missouri is a battleground state too.  It usually goes Republican.

Also keep in mind that she is a woman; a very well like woman.  I’ve seen her many times on the political pundit talk shows taking on the toughest of them all.  

She is a loyal supporter of Barack Obama.  She could bring back the women voters that support Hillary and help us win over Missouri voters.

Please take a look at her life story, visit her website and discuss her merits.  

Claire McCaskill is a 4th-generation Missourian who has spent her entire life in the Show-Me State. Born in Rolla and raised in Lebanon and Columbia, Claire has never forgotten her roots. Claire's first home was Houston, Missouri, where her father William worked at the McCaskill feed mill. Later, the family moved to Lebanon, hometown of Claire's mother, Betty Anne, where her mother's family ran the corner drugstore in town.

The day after graduation, Claire left town for a job bussing tables at Lodge of the Four Seasons at Lake of the Ozarks. Waitressing for six years helped Claire work her way through college and law school at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Claire clerked for the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City and then got a job as an assistant prosecutor in Kansas City, where she was a felony trial prosecutor handling sex crimes, homicides, and specializing in arson cases. In 1982, McCaskill won a seat in the State Legislature. She juggled the responsibilities of both mother and legislator and was the first woman to ever give birth while she was an active member of the Missouri Legislature.

Claire broke new ground again in 1993 when she became the first female Jackson County Prosecutor, which included Kansas City. She held this position until she was sworn in as Missouri Auditor in 1999.

As State Auditor, Claire has been credited for revolutionizing the office and making it into a true watchdog for taxpayers and citizens. In 2004, Claire took on her own party establishment and became the first person to ever defeat a sitting Missouri governor in a primary election.

In November of 2006, Claire became the first woman elected to the United States Senate from Missouri, Claire sits on five Senate Committees, including Armed Services, Commerce, Homeland Security and Government Affairs, Aging, and Indian Affairs. Additionally, Claire was named as one of the select Senators to sit on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, formerly known as the Truman Committee.

After a busy week in Washington, Claire returns home to St. Louis to a full house. After seven years as a single mom, Claire married Joseph Shepard, a St. Louis businessman, in April 2002. They each brought children to the marriage, which created a blended family of nine: Benjamin, 32, Carl, 30, Marilyn, 28, Michael, 25, Austin, 20, Maddie, 19 and Lily, 16. Claire's 79-year old mother Betty Anne lives with the family and continues to join her on trips around Missouri.

Claire is a member of St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church in St. Louis.

SHE IS THE AMERICAN DREAM - WILL DRAW WORKING CLASS VOTERS.

Claire McCaskill is a 4th-generation Missourian who has spent her entire life in the Show-Me State. Born in Rolla and raised in

The year is 2013.  U.S. troops killed so far 323, troops wounded 1576.  The Iraqi government is still negotiating with the Sunni and Shia leaders about sharing Iraq’s oil reserves.

12/14/12 AP: Suicide bomber kills 22 in attack west of Baghdad Iraqi police say a suicide bomber killed 22 people and wounded at least 35 at the funeral of a Sunni school principal west of Baghdad. The bomber blew himself up in a funeral tent in the village of Abu Minasir.

12/14/12 AFP: US troops search in Baghdad's Sadr City
US troops went from house to house on Wednesday in Baghdad's Shiite stronghold looking for bombs and arms ahead of an Iraqi army deployment in line with a new truce, witnesses and officials said.

12/15/12 AP: Iraqi PM visits Mosul to review anti-Qaida campaign Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has arrived in the northern city of Mosul to check on his army's campaign against al-Qaida in its last remaining major stronghold.

12/17/12 Reuters: Baghdad fighting kills 7, but city calmer Clashes broke out between security forces and Shi'ite gunmen in Baghdad overnight and on Wednesday, police said, killing seven people and putting more strain on a deal to end nearly two months of fighting.

12/21/12 BBC: MPs told of Iraq helicopter crash A helicopter crash which killed two servicemen in Iraq, was caused when one aircraft tried to land too close to another, MPs have been told.

12/22/12 Reuters: Roadside bomb kills guard, wounds 6 others A roadside bomb targeted the convoy of Baghdad's Governor Hussein al-Tahan, killing one of his guards and wounding six people near al-Nasser Square in central Baghdad, police said. Al-Tahan was not in the convoy.

12/23/12 Reuters: Five bodies found in Baghdad on Wednesday The bodies of five people were found in Baghdad on Wednesday, police said.

12/25/12 Reuters: U.S. kills 4 militants in clashes in northwestern Baghdad. The U.S. military said it killed four militants in clashes on Wednesday afternoon in the Kadhimiya district of northwestern Baghdad.

12/25/12 Reuters: Iraqi army arrest manager of the Nineveh governor's office The Iraqi army said it arrested the manager of the Nineveh governor's office in a raid in southern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad.

12/26/12 Reuters: Iraqi army arrest head of facilities protection force in Mosul The Iraqi army said it arrested the head of the facilities protection force in Mosul on Wednesday.

12/27/12 NYTimes: Despite Truce, War Over Wall Persists in Sadr City Supporters of Moktada al-Sadr, the anti-American cleric, denounced the wall as a nefarious effort to divide the city. Militia fighters with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and small arms have been trying to halt its construction.

12/30/12 Reuters: Seven die in clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City Clashes between Shi'ite militiamen and security forces in Baghdad's Sadr City slum killed seven people and wounded 19 overnight, Iraqi police and hospitals said on Thursday. 

January 20, 2013, during the State of the Union address, President John McCain announces a massive troop withdraw date, disregarding his own words back on February 17, 2008, “I still say setting a date for withdrawal is chaos, genocide, and we'll be back, because Al Qaeda will then succeed."
  
When question about this, “I made a promise to Americans in 2008”, said the President, “during my campaign, that I would have ‘most’ of our troops out of Iraq by 2013, and “I dam well do that -- genocide, chaos or not”

 

 

If John McCain truly wants to ‘energize’ or 'change' his Party and get some Democrats and Independents on his side in the fall – now would have been a good time. 

He should have immediately supported a Censure of the President after hearing what he said in Israel today.

President Bush made the following comment while speaking to the Knesset on the 60th anniversary of Israel's statehood.

"Some seem to believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along," the President said to the country's legislative body, "We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is –- the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

President Bush denies that his comments were in reference to, potential Democratic presidential nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, and his idea of talking to our allies as well as our enemies; but we all know this was attempt to make a politically motivated comment.

The President said these words in a foreign country.  He was telling them to ignore or not to trust Barack Obama if he should become President.  In my view, this is giving aid and comfort to our enemies - treason.

The articles made against Richard M. Nixon said that he has acted in a manner contrary to his trust as president and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice, and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States."  This was considered, "high crimes and misdemeanors,"

At the very least, McCain and members of Congress should begin an immediate Censuring of the President.

If John McCain truly wants the support of voters, he and other Republicans that have been following George W. Bush lock step for the past 7 years, need to ‘change’ their image --by standing up for a fellow American and possible President – Barack Obama.

John Edwards while endorsing Barack Obama on Wednesday night praised Sen. Hillary Clinton by calling her a “Woman of steel who has reached her heights, not because of her husband, but because of what she has done,"
.
What does that mean exactly?  Is she as hard like steel?  Is she cold like steel?  Is she hard hearted?  What do you think he meant when he described her this way?  I’m sure he meant that she could take the hits politically just as well as any man could; but is that how others took his words, is that a ‘good’ thing?

One definition of steel is, ‘a quality, as hardness of mind or spirit, or nerves of steel’.  That sounds like a person that is stubborn, unwilling to change, accept defeat, uncaring and heartless, or worse – no blood in their veins.

We all know that Hillary’s disapproval ratings are pretty darn high.  People just don’t seem to ‘like’ or ‘trust’ her.  Is this because she comes off as being heartless or just plain mean – a woman of steel?

While I’m sure that’s not what Edwards meant, it seems to be the impression that most voters have about her.  Why do you think she has been told to ‘show’ her emotions more throughout her campaign?  Why do you think that ‘moment’ of tearing up, before the New Hampshire primary, ended up helping her win there?  It showed her as being somewhat ‘human’ after all.

After thinking about the possible meaning of steel, do voters really want a woman of ‘steel’, or a man of steel for that matter, to lead our nation?  Aren’t’ we just about to celebrate the ‘leaving’ of this type of man in January?

Lastly, I have to disagree with John Edward’s claim that Hillary Clinton, “reached her heights, not because of her husband, but because of what she has done". 

Just as there are those that claim Barack Obama would not be where he is today were he not black, Hillary Clinton too, would not be where she’s at today, if not for the simple fact of her husband being a well liked former President of United States. 

While both had to work hard before running for this office, Barack’s blackness didn’t start out as a plus.  He had to fight and prove his worthiness to both black and white voters by winning several states, before being accepted by the black community as even a viable candidate.  Hillary on the other hand was handed the candidacy on a silver platter because of her husband’s success as President.  Along with that benefit, she’s been able to get the women voters – just because she is a woman.

I assume some of you were watching Hardball with Chris Matthews tonight when Pat Buchanan basically said the same thing the Jeraldine Ferrow said awhile back that got her into big trouble with Democrats.

He was talking about John Edward's endorsement of Barack Obama.  He said something to the effect that if Obama had been a white man on the stage with Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, it would most likely be Edwards running against Hillary right now.  That Obama's race has been a benefit for him.

In other words, the reason Obama is where he is today is because he is black.

What I really thought was funny was, Andrea Mitchell caught Buchanan's gaff real quick.  She said something like, "Pat, we need to ReBoot our systems and switch our circuits, with respects to these kind of thoughts."

I had to laugh.  She was saying, we old folks need to get over our racism.

As far as the comment goes -- Barack Obama in the beginning, was not even excepted by the black community during this campaign.  He had to 'earn' their trust by winning 'white' states like Iowa, Idaho, Virginia, etc..

So, no Pat, Barack Obama is not where he is today because he is black.

Being black 'now', during this time in the campain, 'is' helping him however.  He's getting the black voters, while Hillary is getting the women voters.  They are splitting the rest.

Now that John Edwards has endorsed Barack Obama, will Elizabeth come out and endorse Hillary Clinton?

Seems like something these two would do -- giving themselves cover in any future campaigns.  We endorsed BOTH candidates.

Is this another Bosnia story in the making again?  Dana Milbank writes about Hillary Clinton's campaign as an Ex-candidate:

2:57 p.m., Yeager Airport, Charleston, W.Va.: A steep descent brings Clinton's plane to Charleston's hilltop airport. After an appropriate wait, she steps from the plane and pretends to wave to a crowd of supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the airplane's wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points and gives another wave; in fact, she is waving at an aide she had been talking with on the plane minutes earlier.

Be expecting Hillary to tell the story about her landing in W. Virginia and having to wait for hours on the plane, only to be bombarded by hundreds of thousands of supporters, "I had to shift, push and dodge my way to the airport hanger..."

And people are worried about Obama's pastor?  This pastor is really a nutcase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejTmistHFw0

He is apparently endorsing Hillary Clinton suggesting voters vote for her.

I worry that Barack Obama might be alienating voters by ignoring (not campaigning) them and acting as though he’s won the Democratic nomination already by campaigning in states that have already voted.

I realize that most candidates start their general election after getting to the point that seems like an impossible reach by any other candidate; but everyone knows that Hillary Clinton is still claiming she can win this nomination.  They know she’s close, but not close enough, according to the experts.  So to a lot of her supporters and any undecided, they feel Hillary still has a chance; because she’s told them so.

As Obama points out, his campaign is very close to winning the 2025 amount of delegates required by the DNC rules.  He lacks about 135 delegates.  

All the experts say that Hillary would have to win 80% of the rest of the delegates in the next 5 states to win this thing.  She just won by almost 70% in West Virginia last night; mainly because Obama didn’t campaign there.   He visited once.

The question is; will she do as well in the next 5 primaries?  Will voters be so angry at Obama for assuming he’s got their votes without ‘working’ for them?  Or will they understand that he must start his campaign against John McCain now because McCain’s already had two months advance opportunity to work his general election?

Here’s another question; did Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Congressional leaders and the DNC meet awhile back to discuss the finishing process?  Was Barack Obama told to go ahead and start his general election campaign?  Forget about campaigning in these last states.  You’ve won this thing.  (Note the somewhat nicer tone by Hillary)

Was he told by Hillary’s camp and some in the leadership, that while he starts his general campaign, Hillary will just finish out the primaries to ‘help’ draw more newly registered voters?  She’ll help the Party, sort of speak.

If so, could this be a trap by the Hillary Clinton camp?  Are they thinking along the longs I mentioned earlier (will voters get angry at Obama for assuming their votes?)?

I’d be curious to hear your opinions on this.

I'm repeating this post because I think it needs to be heard by ALL.

Remember those famous 'Bitter' comments about guns that Barack Obama made that made the media and some voters get into a tiffy about awhile back in Pennsylvania?  Well it seems Obama had said something much more acceptable just prior to that fundraiser:

In the private event just prior to his infamous San Francisco fundraiser, Obama offered an interpretation of Second Amendment rights likely to go over smoother with rural America.

"We need sensible gun laws," said the Senator. "I just got back from Montana where just about everyone has guns. In that culture, fathers and sons bond over hunting. You can't take that away from rural America. But the inner city is different, and we should tighten the laws on gun purchases and close the loopholes in gun show sales to unscrupulous buyers. The gun control people and the right to bear arms people are talking past each other about disconnected topics."

The remarks, delivered at an event in Silicon Valley and shared with The Huffington Post by an attendee, suggest that even in private, Obama's view of gun ownership is far from the condescending anti-Second Amendment characterization that his critics have painted. Rather, they imply that Obama actually does view the right to bear arms as a personal tradition passed through generations, but one that does not necessarily comport to every geographic region...

It's too bad the man that handed this to HuffingtonPost.com couldn't have done so during the time it was being widely discussed.

 

What happen in West Virginia?  Hillary only won by about 35pts. 

She campaign in West Virginia along with her husband, President Bill Clinton and their daughter Chelsea every day for more than a week. 

Barack Obama made one appearance in West Virginia and is winning about 30% of the vote. 

John Edwards made no appearances and is getting something like 7%.  They both got almost 40% of the vote there – without or with very little, campaigning.

Hillary and her crew made 2-4 stops a day in West Virginia over the past week – yet she only won by about 30pts.  The question is – why did she lose by such a wide margin?

Can you imagine what would have happen if Obama and Edwards had actually campaigned in that state?  Perhaps Hillary would have ended up losing or only winning by 1pt like she did in Indiana.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the states that Barack Obama has won by a wide margin that the media made little note of.  So here goes…

Idaho  4 Electoral Votes
Obama 79%
Clinton 17%
 Obama +62%

Hawaii 4 Electoral Votes
Obama 76%
Clinton 24%
 Obama +52%

Alaska  3 Electoral Votes
Obama 75%
Clinton 25%
 Obama +50%

Washington 11 Electoral Votes
Obama 68%
Clinton 31%
Obama +37%

Georgia 15 Electoral Votes (Competitive with Bob Barr)
Obama 67%
Clinton 31%
 Obama +36%

Colorado 9 Electoral Votes
Obama 67%
Clinton 32%
 Obama +35%

Minnesota 10 Electoral Votes
Obama 66%
Clinton 32%
 Obama +34%

While West Virginia voters are very important to the Party, they could not come up with the amount of delegates Hillary needs to win this nomination. 

Even if she were to win two thirds of the next 5 state contests, she still needs 80% of those elected delegates.  There are 189 left.  She would need 179 of them to win the 2025 DNC rules count.

It appears that Senator Clinton is going to end up blaming the Democratic voters if she loses in June.  More than once she stated during her acceptance speech tonight that, “I will stand with you as long as you stand with me.”

I would like to also note that during Hillary’s speech tonight, she spoke about an 88 year old woman that wanted to vote for Hillary because she is a woman.  Immediately after saying that, Hillary told the crowd, that Florence has passed on.  Hillary said this-- while SMILING.  I’m sorry, but Hillary needs to THINK before she says something like that.   This isn’t the first time I’ve caught her doing this. 

Hillary’s face seems to be ‘stuck’ on smile; As though someone said, “Say Cheese”.

One last point.  John McCain lost West Virginia to Huckabee.  He ended up with less than 16% of the vote there.  McCain will be the one having trouble winning over those voters.

Remember those famous 'Bitter' comments about guns that Barack Obama made that made the media and some voters get into a tiffy about awhile back in Pennsylvania?  Well it seems Obama had said something much more acceptable just prior to that fundraiser:

In the private event just prior to his infamous San Francisco fundraiser, Obama offered an interpretation of Second Amendment rights likely to go over smoother with rural America.

"We need sensible gun laws," said the Senator. "I just got back from Montana where just about everyone has guns. In that culture, fathers and sons bond over hunting. You can't take that away from rural America. But the inner city is different, and we should tighten the laws on gun purchases and close the loopholes in gun show sales to unscrupulous buyers. The gun control people and the right to bear arms people are talking past each other about disconnected topics."

The remarks, delivered at an event in Silicon Valley and shared with The Huffington Post by an attendee, suggest that even in private, Obama's view of gun ownership is far from the condescending anti-Second Amendment characterization that his critics have painted. Rather, they imply that Obama actually does view the right to bear arms as a personal tradition passed through generations, but one that does not necessarily comport to every geographic region...

It's too bad the man that handed this to HuffingtonPost.com couldn't have done so during the time it was being widely discussed.

When you hear the attacks made tomorrow about Barack Obama losing in West Virginia by a wide margin, please take a moment to remember that John McCain lost during the West Virginia caucus on Feb 5, 2008.

Mike Huckabee scored the first Super Tuesday victory, winning all 18 delegates at stake in West Virginia.

The former Arkansas governor won with the support of 52 percent of the state’s GOP convention delegates on the second round of balloting. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney came in second with 47 percent of the vote, and Sen. John McCain was backed by 1 percent of the delegates.

While I know caucuses are a bit different, the 1 percent of voters supporting McCain is so outrageous that nobody can question the fact that West Virginians -- do NOT LIKE John McCain.

So when you hear Hillary Clinton's camp claiming that no President has been elected without winning West Virginia, just remember McCain's in a lot worse shape then Barack Obama is there.

The Fall campaign won't be about gas prices.  By the time Sept rolls around those $3.75-4.20 gas prices will have dropped by $.50 at least.

This rise in gas prices over the past 7 years was to play CATCH UP. 

The oil companies, taking advantage of having two oil men and a GOP Congress, have slowly but surely raised the price of gas a few cents each year.  During the summers they would raise them to an extreme amount, then in the fall, drop them by half the SUMMER INCREASE -- Americans end up thinking, "WOW, a big discount". 

They get us USE to the high prices so that when they drop by a few pennies, we're all thrilled.

Now that Bush and the GOP are LEAVING, the oil companies are making one last pitch.  We'll end up with prices ranging between $3-3.35 per gallon by Nov. election day.

Keep in mind that in 2000 when Bush took office, prices ranged around $1.24 --- YUP a 200% increase in 8 yrs. 

It took 45 years to get prices up to $1.24.

All PRE-planned.

By the way...the economy will be improving by then too.

Guess what ISSUE will be in the limelight?  SECURITY -- again.  Don't forget our UPDATE from the General in Sept on Iraq -- he'll announce troops will be coming home - we'll end up at the level we had in Jan 2007 before the Surge.

Course Bush will announce that THOUSANDS will be coming home by Christmas -- just before election day.

Pre-Planned.

BILL O'REILLY - THE REAL BILL

Please go see the video of Bill O'Reilly when he was on the Inside Edition Show.

Warning - Foul Language is used


Now each time you see him smile at the end of his show, you'll know what he's REALLY thinking.

If you are from West Virginia or Kentucky I am asking that you get behind the movement, Barack Obama's charge to the White House. 

Voters across America have chosen him to take on John McCain this fall in the race for the White House.

Obama has won 32 or 47 States, he needs 33 elected delegates to get the majority of them, he has the popular vote by over 700,000 votes, and he is in the lead of Super Delegates. 

As of today, he only needs 155 delegates to get (by the DNC rules) the total of 2025 to win the Dem's nomination.

He needs your support, not only during this primary season but beyond into the General Election.

Barack Obama will be in Charleston, WV this morning.  Go see him and learn what he stands for.

Here is the list of West Virginia leaders who endorsed Barack Obama today:

Sen. Dan Foster (Kanawha County)

Sen. Jon Blair Hunter (Mon County)

Sen. Jeff Kessler (Marshall)

Del. John Doyle (Jefferson County)

Del. Ron Fragale (Harrison County)

Del. Charlene Marshall (Mon County)

Del. Clif Moore (McDowell County)

Del. Alex Shook (Mon County)

Sheriff John Gruzinskas (Marshall)

Jerry Brookover (Chair, Wirt County Exec Committee)

The following West Virginia leaders have previously announced their endorsements of Barack Obama:

Ken Hechler, former Congressman and West Virginia Secretary of State

Glen B. Gainer III Auditor

Del. Tal Hutchins (Ohio County)

Sen. Larry Edgell (Wetzel County) 

Mayor Emmett Pugh (Beckley)

Sheriff Tom Burgoyne (Ohio County)

Commissioner David Sims (Ohio County)

John Saunders (former USW local president, Ohio County Dem co-chair)

Frank Slider (Tyler County Chair)