1. Americans who believe in true liberty, must very very happy at this moment…

   The Dummycraps are tearing themselves to shreds, with glee, and meanwhile reminding everyone (“bittergate”) what jerks they actually are…

   A friendly Canadian

2. Obama should have been better at this. A Chicago politician naturally associates with some of the city’s “better class of citizen”. A skill at minimizing ones closeness or defending the other person is naturally acquired as is a thicker skin.

   But O’bama contested only for a safe “black” seat in the illinois statehouse and for US Senator in a walkover for any Democrat with a pulse. In between he kept a low profile and did what his party machine told him to.

   We do not often acknowledge it, but political skill is valuable for political leaders to be able to acomplish real goals. For president, this skill must be honed at a high level such as Governor of a large state, Mayor of a large city or leading a large army (Grant, Eisenhower).

3. There’s currently a great piece over at foxnews.com about the superdelegates. When a party is steeped in identity politics as the democrats are, the cannibalism has to start at some point. The article is about women and black superdelegates and the pressures they are facing if a woman does not support Hillary, or a black delegate does not support Obama. Pity the black woman delegate who is caught two ways. It apparently is getting quite nasty… and quite amusing to me.

4. That was mighty fine neo.

   Of course, these days, the “progressives” are trying to morph the Rev Wright into a patriotic ex-marine, where only “ex-marine” would be relevant.

   As for outrageous examples of moral relativity, Michael Taylor will be along any moment to provide you with plenty.

   Stand by

5. Back in the sixties analysts were lamenting the death of rational public discourse and its replacement by “body rhetoric,” demonstrations, sit-ins, lie-ins, what have you. Body rhetoric is irrational. There is no answer to it. It, rationally, is equivalent to someone hitting their thumb with a hammer and swearing. Abbie Hoffman understood the rhetoric quite well. He said, in effect, we’ll drive ’em crazy blocking traffic and so-on. We’ll shove our finger up their rear, they’ll ask us what we want and we won’t tell ’em. They’ll offer us everything to just quit. And “they,” the establishment, did. The “giveaways” were incredible, especially by the academies where academics went out the window and “relevance” studies oozed through every crack and cranny.

   Two more developments compounded the problem. The rhetoric of the irrational became operational with the rhetoric of consensus. Propositions don’t have to be true or make sense so long as we all act like they are and do. The politics of global warming is a case in point. Rather’s famous “false but accurate” even makes some sort of sense in the consensual never-never land. No such reality exists, but the words are an accurate depiction/expression of our feelings about it.

   Finally, there’s the massive cultural dumbing-down. “Ignoranace is wisdom” ought to be the double-think mantra of our education system. Kids today don’t analyze anything; they either participate in it like a movie or a game or it passes them by. Politics has become a participation game even a fourth grader can handle. It’s all about group identity and feelings.

   I wish I could believe in an electorate that demands rational discourse. I’m afraid what few there are were educated before the death of rational public discourse. Perhaps Obama has nothing to worry about

6. The radical from col B also didn’t take the law into his own hands and bomb anyone (say, abortion clinics).

   He’s just supports changing the law… and wants to apply it going forward…

   So yeah, you can disagree with B Obama (heck, I disagree) but again, [terrorist] A does not equal [non terrorist] B.

7. Neo,

   Why aren’t you writing about this?

8. Try again.

   Neo, why aren’t you writing about this instead?

   http://news.yahoo.com/s/mcclatchy/20080418/wl_mcclatchy/2913186

9. kungfu: Let me take a wild guess. Because she’s writing about Obama? Second wild guess: you were educated in the post-rational era.

10. http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2008/04/pentagon-study-current-events/

    Kungfu, read that. Try to get the whole picture before you judge people on unrelated news, alright?

11. 1. Obama faces tough questions in debate.

    2. Obama announces he really needs to campaign more in the limited time we have left, and really doesn’t see the need for another debate.

    3. gcotharn laughs and laughs.

12. Thanks for the link, Stark.

13. africans when i was a child had terms for the kind of things he was doing… “shucking and jiving” would be one… and putting on the “shine” would be another.

14. Ayers was also a sadistic rapist (for all intents and purposes):

    http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?GUID=9E8CD8A7-E90B-4311-8AA9-AEFD014A14B2

15. For those like Kungfu who really did not read Collin’s report, which by the way was NOT an NDU paper, the Miami Herald and now Yahoo have taken an individual report and distorted it. It is called picking and chosing only those sentences that will provide the desired agenda driven outcome.
    Nothing new here.

16. kungfu:

    it is always interesting to me how liberals like Obama bitch and moan when their remarks are taken out of context and yet they just love stories like the one you noted which are cherry picked hit pieces.

    The really sad thing is the eagerness we see on the left for failure in Iraq. You would think that when one considers the suffering of the Iraqi people, the sacrifices of our soldiers and the honor of our country all Americans would hope for success. But that is not so, there are people like you who jump on a report like that a vulture on road kill, positively eager and happy for a gotcha moment. So I guess Obama and his friends like gotcha moments, when they are not the ones they are directed at. Typical cry baby hypocritical crap.

17. There people are so full of themselves. David Horowitz after interviewing Bill Ayers for 10 hours said, “What I saw was a shallowness beyond conception”.

    Bernadine Dohrn at the Flint Michigan Weatherman “war council” famously stated regarding the Manson slayings,

    “Dig It. First they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, they even shoved a fork into a victim’s stomach! Wild!”

    These people worship Lenin, Stalin, Mao and according to one of Bill’s blog entries; “Capitalism is exhausted as a force for progress: built on exploitation, theft, conquest, war, and racism”

18. You also have to wonder whether it is self-centeredness, lack of clarity, or both that Obama points out that he was only 8 at the time. How old you were is irrelevant, Barack. Try this for similar reasoning: if a person was only 8 during the Ukraine Famine of the 1930’s, then it would be okay to confer pleasantly with Khrushchev (the famine’s architect) in the 1960’s? Huh? Wouldn’t it matter more how old Khrushchev was in the 30’s?

19. For a great example of Obama’s cherry picking, check out the little video of Obama and McCain posted by David Freddoso (4/18, 6:35) at NRO’s The Corner. Obama is disgusting.

20. I should have used the word linked, not posted.

21. If no one can be held responsible for acts committed 40 years ago by themselves, then we can end affirmative action (Jim Crow was abolished more than 40 years ago), end discussion of ‘reparations’ (slavery was abolished more than 40 years ago), end ‘minority set-asides’ (ditto), etc., etc.

    Let me hear that from Obama.

22. Maybe Obama meant to compare Granny from The Beverly Hillbillies to Rev. Wright, but was too confused at the time and misspoke.

23. Terrye,

    First of all, I’m not a crybaby and I’m not a liberal. I also don’t support Obama. I’m an independent.

    Second, I hope for success in Iraq, but I worry that we will be defeated from both the left and the right. I’m very bothered by liberals who hope for defeat in Iraq because it will mean a defeat for Bush/ Cheney/ Republicans, etc. But I’m also concerned that conservatives will contribute to a defeat by not addressing honestly the real problems with our mission in Iraq. I think the article I mentioned addresses this issue.

    I’m frustrated that Neo is wasting her time on this Omama/Wright/Ayers nonsense when I want to hear about more important matters.

    Of course, it’s totally up to her to write about what she wants. But as a fan, I can make a request, can’t I?

24. “I’m frustrated that Neo is wasting her time on this Omama/Wright/Ayers nonsense when I want to hear about more important matters.”

    Frustrated? Start your own blog, or find another…

    So, Neo is wasting her time on “nonsense”, are you really a fan? Neo has her agenda, apparently you have failed to understand the implications of the name she has given this blog, it’s not Progressive’s Pablum… She’s not wasting my time, that’s why I’m here, and I can’t thing of topics more important; This is editorial journalism exploring the significant associations of a fraud who is aspiring to the White House…

25. Kungfu:

    Maybe neo isn’t writing about it because…

    “So we asked the author, Joseph Collins, to provide some context. His reply:

    The Miami Herald story (“Pentagon Study: War is a ‘Debacle’ “) distorts the nature of and intent of my personal research project. It was not an NDU study, nor was it a Pentagon study. Indeed, the implication of the Herald story was that this study was mostly about current events. Such is not the case. It was mainly about the period 2002-04. The story also hypes a number of paragraphs, many of which are quoted out of context. The study does not “lay much of the blame” on Secretary Rumsfeld for problems in the conduct of the war, nor does it say that he “bypassed the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” It does not single out “Condoleeza Rice and Stephen Hadley” for criticism.”

    …maybe because, you know, it isn’t true.

26. Stumbly,

    I read the Collins comment too, after I saw it linked here. I have to say it is links like that that keep me visiting blogs like this one.

    I agree that after reading that it’s looks a lot like the Herald misconstrued the intention of Collins.

    However, when you read Collins full response from that link, you can’t escape his critical assertions about how we’ve conducted the war.

    My point still stands and I’d still prefer to read about hard issues like the war itself. Just my preference. Neo can write about what she wants, but I may not want to read it. The fan’s prerogative.

    In the end I kind of see the war this way: Liberals are far too pessimistic and conservative are far too optimistic, which puts a skeptic like myself in a dilemma. Who do I trust? I’ll choose a liberal who sees some success in Iraq or a conservative who’s willing to admit error over intransigence.

27. here’s some thought for you brainless neocons:

    obama’s relationship with ayers is scant. obama was introduced to ayers by an outgoing state rep, for political reasons that have nothing to do with what WU did when Obama was 8 years old.

    Ayers is a now changed man & is now politically and educationally respected in Chicago for his dedication to education, children and the poor. That clearly means he has just as a of scant connection with ALOT of Chicago politicians, not just Obama.

    So, if Obama (as well as hundreds of other Chicago politicans) & Ayers have any connections, it was for political reasons in the name of good – education, children and the poor. Were you listening – they both served on the same board at Woods Foundation? Care to explain to me what Woods Foundation does/

    You pathetic neocons want so bad to play it up as if Obama & Ayers are involved in some kind of clandestine operation to overthrow the govermnent.

    By your pathetic ‘guilty by association’ logic I’m sure hundredss of Democrats and Republicans alike in the state of Illinois are just as guilty, having spent as just much time working with Ayers on good causes as Obama has.

    Grow a brain.

28. another thing – by your logic every university student that has sat in the classes that Ayers taught can forget running for president – they are terrorists now!

29. markus: Wait.. so your claiming that politics in Chicago / Illinois are not corrupt?

    hahahahahahahahahahhahah

    By your pathetic ‘guilty by association’ logic I’m sure hundredss of Democrats and Republicans alike in the state of Illinois are just as guilty, having spent as just much time working with Ayers on good causes as Obama has.

    They are guilty!!

    I live in Chicago.. this is the funniest thing I have read all day.

    Some idiot Lefty comes in here and claims that Obama CAN NOT be corrupt because of that is the case, then the other politicians in Chicago would have be corrupt too. DUH, You think?

    I am laughing out loud at this.

    And am also having a good laugh at the image I have in my head of how this guy was typing his little comment, probably all full of fury! at “neocons”

    Who here is a neocon, sport?

30. Markus,

    It’s not just ONE thing, its literally dozens. The saying goes “you can know a man by the company he keeps”. If you attended NAMBLA meetings, we would know you by the company you decided to keep. Whether you like it or not, birds of a feather flock together. You don’t see sinners and saints at the same parties.

    When a man is 8, he is forming his life’s opinions. Admiral Farragut had his first MILITARY captains commission at the age of 12.

    However, how can you say it means nothing, when the communists of whose system they are promoting had this to say;

    Give us the child for the first 8 years and it will be a Bolshevik forever. — Lenin

    And

    “Corrupt the young, get them away from religion. Get them interested in
    sex. Make them superficial, destroy their ruggedness.Get control of all
    means of publicity and thereby: Get the peoples’ mind off their
    government by focusing their attention on athletics, sexy books and
    plays, and other trivialities. Divide the people into hostile groups by
    constantly harping on controversial matters of no importance. Destroy
    the peoples faith in their natural leaders by holding up the latter to
    ridicule, contempt and obloquy. Always preach true democracy but seize
    power as fast and as ruthlessly as possible. Encourage government
    extravagance, destroy its credit, produce fear with rising prices,
    inflation and general discontent. Foment unnecessary strikes in vital
    industries, encourage civil disorders and foster a soft and lenient
    attitude on the part of government towards such disorders. By specious
    argument cause the breakdown of the old moral virtues: honesty,
    sobriety, continence, faith in the pledged word, ruggedness. Cause the
    registration of all firearms on some pretext, with the view of
    confiscating them and leaving the population defenseless.” Vladimir
    Ilich Lenin
    

    Sounds like our culture, no?

    “The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge
    to rule.” H. L.Mencken

    so maybe you might understand that whats going on that is hurting so many people is INTENTIONAL.

    Ayers is a person with the kinds of belief that is found on the extreme left.

    Ayers is NOT a changed man, he has NEVER renounces his past actions, he has never renounced the weather underground… etc.

    This is who Ayers refuses to renounce. (I am only putting up the stuff that either did kill or could have killed people)

    October 6, 1969 & October 1970 — Weathermen blow up statue commemorating police victims of Haymarket bombings

    October 8, 1969 — Weathermen/Weather Underground violent “Days of Rage“demos, Chicago — 3 shot, 300 arrested

    December 1969 — Bombing of Chicago police cars

    March 6, 1970 — three Weathermen (Diana Oughton, Cathlyn Wilkerson, Kathy Boudin) blow themselves up in Greenwich Village (house of Cathy Wilkerson’s father)

    June 1970 — Bombing of New York City Police Headquarters

    August 1970 — Bombing of Marin County Courthouse

    October 1970 — Bombing of Long Island City Courthouse

    August 1971 — Bombing of Department of Corrections

    September 1971 — Bombing of Department of Corrections

    May 1973 — Bombing of Police Precinct Office (New York City, NY)

    October 1970 — bombing – Harvard “war research” — Center for Internation Affairs [action carried out by “Proud Eagle Tribe (women’s brigade) feminist bombing]

    August 1970 — Truck bomb detonated at Army mathematics research center at the University of Wisconsin

    March 1, 1971 — US Capitol “men’s room” — After the invasion of Laos.

    October 1971 — MIT Research Center, William Bundy’s office [action carried out by “Proud Eagle Tribe” (women’s brigade) feminist bombing]
    May 1972 — bombing The Pentagon

    January 28, 1975 — bombing U.S. State Department

    And too many bombings of draft and recruiting offices, like the recent one in times square.

    Thre were also bombings of national guard headquarters, and federal health offices of education and welfare.

    More than 250 bombings

    Maybe this is why HAMMAS likes obama?

    Heck… but this is only one person…

    How about his uncle that started a seditious school, and helped overthrow a free country and turn it into a communist state?

    Then there is the other uncle… then there is his dad and step father.

    The list goes on.

    The left loves terrorists, because the left is a bunch of them… with a long pedigree back to the French revolution.

    However, bombing the pentagon during war time is what kind of act?

    How about the capital and the state department

    We are not talking about people who sat on the lawn, toked joints, and sang we will overcome.

    There are similar links through the black national socialists, otherwise known as African nazi’s who want race war… and you can study your history and find friends of theirs who did such nice things as buy houses in white neigborhoods, move blacks into them, and then blow them up blaming the rednecks… many of the events of the south were the good old work of communists “making history” rather than “reacting to history”.

    And on your claim he is a changed man

    http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E1DE1438F932A2575AC0A9679C8B63
    Although never convicted of any crime, he told the New York Times in September 2001, “I don’t regret setting bombs…I feel we didn’t do enough.”

    He writes that he participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, the Pentagon in 1972.

    Mr. Ayers, who in 1970 was said to have summed up the Weatherman philosophy as: ”Kill all the rich people. Break up their cars and apartments. Bring the revolution home, kill your parents, that’s where it’s really at,”

    He went underground in 1970, after his girlfriend, Diana Oughton, and two other people were killed when bombs they were making exploded in a Greenwich Village town house. With him in the Weather Underground was Bernardine Dohrn, who was put on the F.B.I.’s 10 Most Wanted List. J. Edgar Hoover called her ”the most dangerous woman in America” and ”la Pasionara of the Lunatic Left.” Mr. Ayers and Ms. Dohrn later married.

    ”Everything was absolutely ideal on the day I bombed the Pentagon,” he writes.

    So, would Mr. Ayers do it all again, he is asked? ”I don’t want to discount the possibility,” he said.

    Sounds real repentant… no?

    And as far as the 8 years old thing

    Both Obama and Ayers were members of the board of an anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 1999 and 2002. In addition, Ayers contributed $200 to Obama’s re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate in April 2001, as reported here. They lived within a few blocks of each other in the trendy Hyde Park section of Chicago, and moved in the same liberal-progressive circles.

    If ayers is donating, then I don’t think obama was running for office when he was eight, now was he?

    http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1590

    In bringing professor Khalidi to Morningside Heights from the University of Chicago, Columbia also got itself a twofer of Palestinian activism and advocacy. Mr. Khalidi’s wife, Mona, who also served in Beirut as chief editor of the English section of the WAFA press agency, was hired as dean of foreign students at Columbia’s SIPA, working under Dean Anderson. In Chicago, the Khalidis founded the Arab American Action Network, and Mona Khalidi served as its president. A big farewell dinner was held in their honor by AAAN with a commemorative book filled with testimonials from their friends and political allies. These included the left wing anti-war group Not In My Name, the Electronic Intifada, and the ex-Weatherman domestic terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. (There were also testimonials from then-state Senator Barack Obama and the mayor of Chicago.) The message sent by Columbia University officials by this choice was that they were determined to honor the memory of Edward Said by continuing to have radical Palestinian activism on campus. That’s what they now have in spades. The question is whether it’s now possible within the university’s public space to even make an argument for the only democratic country in the Middle East.

    Was he eight years old at this gathering?

    Markus, follow your own advice “Grow a brain”

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