Guilt by participation

Brian O'Connor

Today, Obama defends himself from his association with Ayers the same way he defends his 20+ year relationship with Wright and his relationship with Rezko: he "didn't know."

But I ask: which is worse? Knowing or not knowing?

Librul Latte Elite

Palin hate's the Media Elite unless of course they're are buying dinner

"You say she was unhappy with the eastern media, not the local scribes when she spoke to the convention. Well, during her recent visit to New York City she attended a dinner put together by Rupert Murdoch who, according to gossip columnist Cindy Adams, “piloted Sarah around” during the evening. Murdoch is one of the world’s most influential media barons. Also present was Cathy Black, president of Hearst Magazines. Other VIPS on hand at Tao on 58th Street, where a Kobe rib eye steak costs $88, included Sarah Ferguson, Martha Stewart, designer Vera Wang and the Queen of Jordan. Not the media elite — just the elite"

http://www.adn.com/opinion/sarah-palin/story/541124.html

I just get "starbursts" thinking about how much an Obama presidency will wind up you nasty little wingnuts.

Mel is losing the plot and I'm doggone lovin it wink wink , keep it up love I'm laughing all the way to the inauguration.

Fabio P.Barbieri

I notice that a blogger not a million miles from here who has become notorious for his uncritical hatred of Palin and equally uncritical support of Obama has closed his blog to comments. Boy, what a display of confidence.

Mark K

"Whichever way this American election ends, it will surely be remembered as the one in which big media threw aside all pretence of objectivity and flung itself into the campaign as committed partisans for Obama"

That is exactly right. This is the video Obama and his medial friends don't want you to see. It shows the connection between William Ayers (terrorist) and Barack Obama

David

"it will surely be remembered as the one in which big media threw aside all pretence of objectivity "

Print media. On TV, one has Fox News for Fair and Balanced Reporting (TM) in favour of the Republicans and of course the radio waves in the US are the roaming grounds of the right wing shock jocks.

Are you saying it would only be fair if all sections of the media were on the side of the Republicans?

PMQ

Hey, was the post by Librul Latte Elite in English? Incomprehensible to me anyways.

raymond joseph douglas

I continue to be astounded at the total love affair our media and liberal-left has with Obama!To even suggest at obama's dodgy past,brings upon you such condemnation it is'nt true!But to dig around aspects of Palin's past,well thats fair game!

John Birch

Well Melanie, at least you have a convenient scapegoat to blame when McCain loses on 4 November. It was all the media's fault. Perhaps you should consider whether American voters are more concerned about the growing financial crisis and which leader and party can better respond to it than they are about the conspiracy theories you repeatedly trot out. The only thing the McCain campaign has to offer is attacks on Obama.

David MacKinnon

I'm not going to waste my time jousting with Liberals in this comment thread or any other. There's nothing to be gained from it. I will though offer this as food for thought. If, as I suspect, a President Obama and his allies in Congress and the Media move to suppress opposition using their newly won political power, along with the thuggish methods of intimidation developed during this campaign, Liberals such as Librul Latte Elite will no doubt cheer him all the way. But if they were to think about the long term implications of such developments, they just might realize that we would have all lost something precious and profound in this country; that once lost cannot easily be restored.

For starters, watch for a move to re-institute the Fairness Doctrine in an attempt to silence Conservative Talk Radio. Watch for it.

John Birch

David: There's also the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Washington Times to name a few more conserviative media outlets that are no friends of Obama. The idea that "big media" has rolled over for Obama is just sour grapes on the part of Ms. Phillips.

John

It's the same here in the UK they all love Obama. It happens all the time people are seduced by a good talker and don't even think what he stands for. McCain warned senate 6 years ago (as did other Republicans about the finance industry but who voted against it? - Obama whilst at the same time taken money from "Fannie and Freddy" ! He has also been in Iraq undermining George Bush. If they vote for him America will wake up to find what we did when we elected Blair - only worse.

anon

Blows my mind: All the people who think BO's a good talker! It's all so false and studied - all such a copy of MLK!!! Nothing original or substantial!!!

They just had to wait for all the dumbed down ones to get enfranchised, I suppose...

ndm

We will always have the Keating Five.

Charlie

Is not part of the problem is that McCain and Obama are the best politicians the USA can produce. Is Putin a better head of state than any political leadeer in the West? After all stupid, naive, slow and unfit people do not become colonels in the overseas departments of the former KGB. Perhaps one of the many threats to western democracies is the appallingly low calibre of our politicians.

Charlie

Is not part of the problem is that McCain and Obama are the best politicians the USA can produce. Is Putin a better head of state than any political leadeer in the West? After all stupid, naive, slow and unfit people do not become colonels in the overseas departments of the former KGB. Perhaps one of the many threats to western democracies is the appallingly low calibre of our politicians.

ndm

Fabio P. Barbieri writes:

I notice that a blogger not a million miles from here who has become notorious for his uncritical hatred of Palin and equally uncritical support of Obama has closed his blog to comments. Boy, what a display of confidence.

I notice that the host of this blog has a long record of not posting critical comments and has recently taken to deleting posts critical of her.

David MacKinnon

Too many people are so impatient to have a black President, that they are willing to elect a closet Socialist. Yes, he is a Socialist. I offer as proof the fact that his voting record in the Senate is left of the only named Socialist in that body - Bernie Sanders of Vermont. When you hand over the reins of government to a Socialist, you commit yourself to the collective at the expense of the individual. As Alexis de Tocqueville said, "Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."

We are about to head down a very dangerous path.

Bill M

To support Melanie's point, here's a link to a short comment on how the press is handling Ayers and other Obama connections:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2I0ZjFjY2NjMjk5NTBlYTQ2MGQ5NjY3NzY5OWI4NzY=

field

So, Melanie, do you defend McCain refusing to call for the removal of the slave owners' flag from a public building in the USA?

And do you condemn Rev Ian Paisley and Tony Blair palling up with Gerry Adams?

James

Obama is simply not being judged as a political figure. All normal political assessment has suspended. What we have is a rock star - without the tunes.

Peter Hitchens visited America many months ago and could see America falling for all this. He could also see the level of disillusionment that would settle in soon after the Obamessiah came to office. You can't sit in the White House and poke your head out the door every morning and say 'hope' and 'change' every morning and get a cheer. What happens then to all the rock star fantasies that have been etched on to this man?

The most worrisome aspect of an Obama presidency is that it's at times of great economic upheaval that the tectonic plates of politics can shift, too. What happens if whole states wish to fracture themselves away from the country?

We know America is heading for a bump, no matter what. Is it heading for a smash, too?

Daibhidh MacAdhaimh

I'm sure most of us through personal experience, had past associations of various kinds, including, as in my case, radical, that we'd rather forget.
Although I support the presidential candidate that believes life starts at conception, and in the light of my opening remarks, pointing out Obama's ties with Ayers is one thing, but to stretch this to associating with a 'terrorist' is quite another. It's an unsustainable charge to make. Especially since Ayer's 'Weathermen' bombing attacks took place in the early 1970s and in connection with anti-Vietnam War protests. Moreover, treasonous, dangerous and life threatening as these bombings were, they were hardly attacks on innocent bystanders, the usual targets of terrorists.
Obama's sanctioning and funding of Ayer's anti-American education (indoctrinaire)reforms is another matter. It's a solid target for the McCain camp to expose Obama's support for the imputation of Ayer style radicalism beginning at schools level.

PS To JOHN BIRCH:
'SOUR GRAPES?'
The media has indeed gone overboard in its positive coverage of Obama. Check Project for Excellence in Journalism.
It reports amongst its findings that Obama attracted 80% of election stories compared to 52% for McCain since June. Overall coverage to September: 142 stories for Obama, 96 for McCain.
Obama stories also far exceeded those of Hillary Clinton's during the nomination campaign.
This media infatuation could have more to do with the fact that Obama represents something new and historic - a black standing for President. Although Clinton questionably lost the nomination and the feminists whined, it hasn't stopped NOW from ungrudgingly endorsing Obama - surprise, surprise. And here was me in my naivete thinking they'd roundly endorse sister Sarah. So much for sisterhood, eh?

Daibhidh MacAdhaimh

CHARLIE:
'appalling low calibre of our politicians...'
An astute observation, Charlie. This point has crossed my mind too, but I'd be interested to know why you believe the standard is indeed low.

Sean Smith

I've been watching MSNBC and it's fascinating how they report the Obama-Ayers connection. They NEVER mention that Ayers is happily unrepentent. Nor that his "education reform" bullshit is little more than advocacy of the radical brainwashing of children. Nor, incidentally, does MSNBC mention that McCain was exonerated in the Keating 5 nonsense.

Hayward Maberley

John,
Interesting that you rail against the former PM. Are you not forgetting that it was The Poodle, who dutifully trotted behind Dubya TFT into the Iraq Fiasco.

Augustus

I pity the gullible American public who have become mesmerised by the radical charms of Obama's rhetoric of 'economic justice'. They are playing Russian roulette with the country's future, and condemning the successful citizen to injustice in true socialist fashion.

There have been many demagogues in history who have acquired a great following by choosing clever but hollow words of social reform. As before, those same followers will end up no longer embracing him, but pretend that they were not for him at all. And too late, society will be the wiser.

elixelx

Rabbi Hillel was the greatest rabbi of his generation by night and on Saturdays and a water carrier, the very humblest of professions, the other six days.

That's the difference between being part of an elite, and being an elitist, something Obama supporters just WILL NOT credit.

Obama is a stuffed-shirt, retrousse-nosed, po' boy, the worst kind of elitist!

Verity

Daibhidh MacAdhaimh - I enjoyed your post up until the last sentence. No. Sisterhood was always a Marxist, divisive concept. It was always a tool of division and to hive women off from men. But other than that mistake your post was interesting.

One thing, Obama and Ayers are still associated. According to LFG, Bill Ayers was responsible for the elevation of Obama to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge board. They're still associated, although I'm sure both are furious that it has come out.

Brian O'Connor

ndm wrote:

I notice that the host of this blog has a long record of not posting critical comments and has recently taken to deleting posts critical of her.

In the past 48 hours or so, I've tried to post a fair number of entries, all supportive of Mel's position.

Three of those have disappeared into the ethers (two on this very thread). And some months ago, one of my posts that made it into a conversation disappeared too.

So if Mel or her webmaster is not posting some responses, it isn't strictly on the basis of whether or not a particular post supports her point of view.

In other words, you're not a victim of "viewpoint discrimination."

Rob-NY

All the Weathermen today are living comfortable lives, mostly as academics in the nation they did their best to destroy. Whilst underground during the 1970's they had the chance to escape to the Communist Eastern block or Cuba but they chose to take their chances with the American Justice system...and they persevered. Hearing them speak of their idealism and defeat is like hearing the testimony of former Confederates around 1900.
They are condemned to live free and comfortable lives in a nation they hate.
Should we be surprised to hear they support Obama and not McCain who they called a war criminal?

Brian O'Connor

McCain is now on the attack. In a speech today, he clearly outlines the roles of the Dems, including Obama, in the FM/FM meltdown. He also explicitly explains his efforts to reign in FM/FM, and contrasts that with Obama's silence.

Here's the video of it: http://tinyurl.com/3pl4bp (If you check this out, click on the link just above the video window, too.)

I'm struck by how refreshed he seems to be for having unleashed himself. He looks relieved and totally ready for combat.

I continue to believe that waiting this long before going on the attack was part of his strategy all along: he wisely awaited the passage of the bail-out before going for the throat. Had he acted before the legislation was signed, he would certainly have been accused of sabotaging it.

(I am not endorsing the bill — merely commenting on the tactics underlying McCain timing his move as he did.)

In an earlier speech, McCain went after Obama, his history and his record — with just as much verve. You can view it here: http://tinyurl.com/4r943a

The gloves have come off.

John Birch

Sean Smith: McCain was exonerated but the Senate committee found he had displayed "poor judgment." Also, do you think the "big media" should report that McCain is pals with G. Gordon Liddy, a convicted criminal? That's about as relevant as the Ayers baloney.

Hayward Maberley

Bill Ayers had all federal charges against him dropped due to prosecutorial misconduct. This misconduct was related to COINTELPRO a covert and often illegal operation conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at investigating & disrupting dissident political organizations within the United States. This was investigated by a Senate Select Committee which produced the Church Committee Report. May I suggest also reading The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI’s Secret War Against Domestic Dissent.
Now Ayers had all charges dropped against him, unlike Elliott Abrams, Duane R. Clarridge, Alan Fiers, Clair George, Robert McFarlane, and Caspar Weinberger. All found guilty in the Iran Contra Affair, the Contras being terr’ists.
For in the case of Nicaragua v the United States of America, the ICJ found for Nicaragua. Based on clear evidence showing support given by the US to the “Contras”,financially, materially, militarily and morally. It included the mining of harbours & the destruction of infrastructure including hospitals as well as indiscriminate slaughter of civilians. These were Ronald Reagan’s “brave freedom fighters"” the “Contras” , who were in fact a nasty bunch of narco crooks.
However all of those found guilty in the Iran Contra affair were pardoned by George H.W. Bush.
Now another from the fulsome Iran Contra gang is working on the McCain campaign. see this at CounterPoint.org
McCain, Culvahouse and the Iran/Contra Gang
The Man Who Vetted Palin
@http://www.counterpunch.org/martens09082008.html
The GOP knows all about terr’ists with these connections.
They should be careful about even carrying any stones!

Alcuin

In the long term, what is worrying about the infestation of the MSM with Liberals is that when their narrative is exposed by some horrific event, there will be a massive backlash - a credibility crunch every bit as damagimg as the current credit crunch - as people realise they have been lied to systematically by the Liberal elite.

Who will then be believed? Certainly not politicians, and not the "impartial" BBC. I fear it will take a catastrophe to puncture this bubble, but the backlash could lead to draconian measures that could even be worse, like the European dictatorships (and there were many) of the 1930s. The MSM do not seem to realise that their duty to the truth trumps any sentimental attachment to political correctness, or what is at stake here. Why must we learn such fundamental truths the hard way?

raymond joseph douglas

There is one way,and one way only McCain can win this election.That is to stand up for Israel against all the double talk and duplicity of those who would give up Eretz israel!Yes,Mccain would lose the approval of world leaders,but he would gain the blessing of God!The bible clearly states,that those who bless israel will be blessed,and those who curse her will be cursed!I do not think it is any accident that the world is going through it's present turmoil.It is because of our generally negative attitude to a people who remain the apple of Gods eye!

Dave

Remind me again, Mel. Did Sarah Palin and her husband support Alaska's separatist movement? So perhaps Obama met up with a reformed radical on a CHARITY board once or twice. And perhaps this other chap really was a terrorist when Obama was EIGHT YEARS OLD.
But Sarah P (winks) was "palling around" with a group that wanted to leave the US completely a little more recently than that. And could well have achieved their aims with violence. And all this last year!
Goshdarn it!
Well when you have an answer to this, Mel I'm sure you'll bring it right to me. (winks)

JohnW

John Birch,

We're talking BIG media here - the sheer volume of the left wing press and broadcast media, particularly the latter, is overwhelmingly pro-Obama. Throwing out a few titles that are not fully in the tank for The One (FOX is independent, not Republican) and which does not reach into mainstream American society, completely ignores the 80% or so of the MSM that supports Obama. Mel is absolutely correct - the cover-up of Obama's dirty past is part of the media establishment's strategy to crown Obama in January.

Frank P

Brian O Connor

Absolutely; in fact I would go much further and say that if this blog was censored in favour of Melanie's various opinions, then about a third of its current commentary would not have made it; pretty obvious, I would have thought, as we seem to be inundated with trolls such as ndm and various others I won't 'name' as I don't wish to refill their oxygen cylinders.

No, it seems our venue has a very incompetent techie and as I have said often enough, I fear he is a Guardian reader.

Frank Pulley

Rob-NY

Excellent post.

Verity

While in Chicago (I really cannot bear to research it again) Obama was introduced to Bill Ayers by state senator Alice Palmer. Ayers helped Obama get elected to the Illinois senate (a sinecure if ever there was one) with fundraisers - at least one held in his living room - and helped finance his campaign and subsequent elections.

The Weather Underground, all on the FBI's most wanted list, were/are self-glorifying revolutionaries - blowing up America and, in the process, killing Americans, to punish Allende in Chile, the Portuguese for being in Angola, etc. In other words, they saw themselves as powerful God figures who were going to change the face of America and the planet.

They haven't gone away.

Bill Ayers is still around, still busy. (Still crazy after all these years, but that doesn't mean to say he isn't effective and dangerous.)

Obama was the perfect puppet; the perfect agent of change. Black(ish), elegant, well-spoken ('cep wen he all is talkin' lak a homeboy fo' de folks) and very, very biddable.

Ayers also got him on to some other highly influential committee in Chicago that has initials only (that flies beneath the surface and doesn't seem to have much in the way of public perception) - can't remember it - but is committed to "the revolution".

Obama's good friend, who lent Obama, on a state senator's salary, one million dollars to buy a house, Tony Rektzo (sp), was a mortgage enforcer. In other words, he strong-armed mortgage companies and banks into giving property loans to people who didn't have a hope in hell of ever repaying them. These enforcers throughout the United States are what hauled us into the current banking crisis in the US. Billions of dollars in "loans" in unstable neighbourhoods, on junk properties to people who would never be able to make payments in a million years.

Seven years ago, Bill Ayers again had his picture taken standing on the American flag. So no changes there, then. He's still a murderous, dumbass rebellious adolescent and five years ago, in ’02, he had his photo taken stepping on the American flag for the second time, in a Chicago back alley.. . In fact, this was around the same time he and Barack Obama were serving on the board of the Woods Fund together. : PolitiFact | Obama served on board with Ayers. (This link from LGF.)

Sarah Palin has decided to address these issues directly.

Sarah Palin is a classic conservative. She believes in self-help and hard work. She does not believe that victims should be made to pay for the crimes committed against them - so, no, she has never said anything that could be vaguely misconstrued even by the most vicious among us, that rape victims should pay for their own treatment.

She believes that anyone has a right to nominate whomever he/she chooses as a partner to receive their benefits and to make decisions for them if they themselves are incapable in hospital. She draws the line at calling such arrangements marriage, but she has actually facilitated such arrangements - but not under the name "marriage" - in the Alaska Legislature. In other words, she is a classic conservative, believing in the freedom of the individual to take his own decisions..

This individual thinks on her feet. When rodent-faced Katy Couric tried to force her, during one of her toxic interviews, to say what magazines she read, she regarded it as insulting, both to her and to Alaska, which has the identical magazines and national news programmes they have in the lower 48, and that is why she wouldn't give Couric, dripping acidic metropolitan scorn for Alaska, the satisfaction of a straight answer. NOT BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T READ THOSE MAGAZINES, but because she refused to accept the insult by Couric, both on her own behalf and on behalf of the state of which she is the Governor.

She has principles, can think on her feet - and how! - and confidence.

And Bill Ayers is still busy with revolutionary activities (one of them, getting the hopeless Obama into the White House) never having grown out of the adolescent rebellious stage. He and Obama and the rest of that coterie have to be stopped.

Milton E

You seem worried, you don't still seem to understand it. Like most right wingers, the ones you give the time and space to exhibit their intellectual shallowness, Obama is as good as through. No amount of petty mud slinging or small minded racism will stop him now. Its too late...

David

It's an insult to be asked what you read?

Who knew?

Daibhaidh MacAdhaimh

VERITY
Thanks for that.
I was actually being sarcastic re-'sisterhood.' I am perfectly aware of its 'a woman needs a man like a fish needs a bike' origin. If you want to listen to a cringe inducing melodical ode to 'sisterhood,' try Yoko Ono's Sisters Oh Sisters (On Lennon/Ono's lyrically banal Sometime in New York protest album).
I am also aware of the continuing Obama/Ayers relationship, and suspect this to include a significant continuing mentor/protoge dimension.
Yes, they're angry about its exposure hence their reactionary response with the suppoosed Keating/McCain connection.

Hayward Maberley

Verityy,
The WS SHTF is the cumulative effect of a number of things. But what finally had the SHTF was what happened with a Republican Administration, in power for 8 years under one of you heroes George W. Bush. The SEC decision to allow a certain five firms to legally violate existing net capital rules that, in the past 30 years, had limited broker dealers debt-to-net capital ratio to 12-to-1. Instead, the 2004 exemption, only given to these five firms ,allowed them to leverage up to 30, even 40 to 1!
Who were the five that received this special exemption? Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. And the result? Three of the five broker dealers have gone to the wall!
An allegation being made by Lee Pickard, a former SEC official,, who says that rule change in 2004 led to the failure of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.
"The SEC allowed five firms,the three that have collapsed plus Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley , to more than double the leverage they were allowed to keep on their balance sheets, and remove discounts that had been applied to the assets they had been required to keep to protect them from defaults."
Making matters worse, according to Pickard, who helped write the original rule in 1975 as director of the SEC's trading and markets division, is a move by the SEC this month to further erode the restraints on surviving broker dealers by withdrawing requirements that they maintain a certain level of rating from the ratings agencies.
"They constructed a mechanism that simply didn't work," Pickard said. "The proof is in the pudding — three of the five broker dealers have blown up."
In your recent blog concerning Sarah Palin and that inteview with Katie Couric, who you have abused in several other blogs, I must say Sarah Palin did not seem at ease with the question concerning what she read. at all To express the concern that you do about Alaska and the Governor cannot cover up the fact that it was a straightforward question which could have been answered in a straightforward fashion. You are very protective of Alaska, do you live there , by any chance? Btw I am still interested in the name of Presidents Bush's ranch in Amarillo if you have it to hand.

Frank Pulley

Verity

Great round up, gal. Bravo! It's a pity that McCain hasn't got someone on his team who could get that on to the Big Media agenda. Even the Beltway Boys on Fox don't seem to be able to grasp the complexity; they were waffling last night.

It seems the great US electorate are going to have to find out through experience what it's like to have the enemy in the Oval Office rather just skulking under the bed plotting and biding its time. It's a lesson we in the UK had to learn the hard way, if indeed we have - as reading some of the trollisms on this blog there are obviously many who still can't see the wood for the trees. What does it take? God alone knows!

Israel

God bless Hillary Clinton.

If she had not brought all these smear attempts up during the Democratic Primaries then McCain would have been able to use this to delfect from the facgt that he has nothing to say and no policies to put forward.

A simple question for you good folk though:

What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating
class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said "I
do" to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after
she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to
pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable
organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if
Obama were a member of the "Keating 5"? What if McCain was a
charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the
election numbers would have been as close as they were?

And god forbid if Obama had a pregnant, unmarried 17 year old daughter with a thug boyfriend who they brought on stage at the Democratic Convention. There would have been nothing else talked about til now!!

The thing that Melanie doesn't want to say (or more likely ignores) is that the media USED to be McCain's base. His actions in this election, with the way it's been run, the pick of Palin and the hiring of those who smeared him 8 years ago have been called into question by former supporters like Joe Klein. That is all that has changed.

McCain's decision to "go 100% negative" is a double edged sword. It now means that things like the Keating 5 affair, the dumping of his first wife and the dubious mob connections of his currents wife's father are now things that can be talked about. He wanted this because of desperation. He will have to live with that decision.

idov

Those of us who lived through the Cold War might remember that people had a pretty good grasp of what was information and what was propaganda, media harnessed to supplying the party line. In fact when I worked for a newspaper and someone submitted a slanted story, we'd say, do it again, this isn't Pravda.

Things have changed and have been aggravated by the Internet where there are no standards and someone can put out a smear that Sarah Palin did not carry her last child and reach millions of people. Those on the Internet can be excused to a certain extent because they are amateurs. But the entire MSM seems to be following suit this year down the path pioneered by Dan Rather who actually faked a story in order to influence an election.

It's not just the acts of commission but also of omission. Fifty investigative reporters are despatched to Alaska to determine that Todd Palin once had a DUI in 1984 but no one bothers with inquiring about Obama's two lost years in New Year, where he got the fabulous sums to attend university, and of course challenging his claim he really didn't really know Ayers while he wrote an introduction to one of the terrorist's books during the time in question.

This is the first presidential candidate ever for whom there is not a complete biography and this after two years of campaigning. That sort of thing used to happen only in the Soviet Union.

michael

"Only in the blogosphere that proper journalism has been doing its job"

Proper Journalism - Character Assasination more like.

Larry

Further evidence of the cult of Obama:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3150657/Obama-Youth-video-emerges-on-YouTube.html

This is yet another example of the most extreme form of political behaviour - in this case brainwashing children with chants - that would sink any white politician in two seconds flat.

Being black seems to have given Barack Obama a forcefield from all normal criticisms. It is simply breathtaking.

White politicians get songs ridiculing them, Barack Obama gets Hitler Youth-style devotional ditties.

The worst thing is that the tone of these chants reflects the brainwashed devotion of the mainstream media.

Fellow traveller

I've not had any of my posts deleted in spite of my complete disagreement with more or less everything that Melanie says, so I've got no complaint about that. But what I'd like Melanie to do is occasionally get involved in the arguments raised by commenters. That's blogging. This is pontificating, and it encourages wingnuts on both sides, not debate.

Ronnie

I'd like to thank Frank P for his eloquent defence of the principle of free speech at 10:10 am.

I think all the 'trolls' (those with whom he disagrees) should apologise for clogging up his 'venue' with opinions that he does not share.

I would personally like to thank him for making absolutely clear which version of western Judeo-Christian values he supports. Not the one that tolerates views other than his own.

I would also like to invite him to comment on the Iran-Contra scandal. However, I guess we might wait a while for that.

Graham Jones

I have just read a piece in The New Yorker which gives me the same sort of feeling about "the Media" that you have. It seems to me that many people in the USA are so anti Bush and all that he has stood for, particularly on home affairs, that they will do anything to get the Democrats into power.

Verity

Fellow Traveller writes: "But what I'd like Melanie to do is occasionally get involved in the arguments raised by commenters."

I'll tell you what, Fellow Traveller. Buy The Spectator, and then you will be in a position to give editorial direction to Melanie Phillips.

Re Obama, what many people have still failed to grasp is, he is not important except as a weapon. He was chosen by William Ayers and his murky Chicago group, notable for its longevity and hatred of the established order, as part of their deconstruction progrmame. One in the eye for the whitey Founding Fathers. One in the eye for the whitey Settlers. Ayers is, to use that old fashioned term, a revolutionary. He is working on bringing down the prevailing order.

Obama, with his shadowy history, handsome looks, elegant bearing, and confused background - and his apparent biddability - ideal. And in this individual, they had a perfect candidate because anyone criticising him, however legitimately, could be stigmatised with "racist" and dismissed. Obama's mixed race is critical. If he were white, with all his exact same qualities, he wouldn't have got the job. It has to be one in the eye for white America. Obama's part of The Weathermen's Revolution. He murdered many people, don't forget, in the name of "revolution". Revolution against what has never been addressed.

And because of sensitivity about race - an incredibly effective weapon - little children, as someone noted above, are training in singing Naziesque praises to him in school. This is beyond outrageous, but people - presumably parents, whose children come home singing the song - who complain, will be dismissed as "racist". "What is your problem? You don't think a black man is good enough?" The answer, of course, should be: "No. Not this particular black man. And if he were a white man with the same intellectual and moral wattage, I would say the same."

Finally, another key player in this is Michelle. A racist end of term piece she wrote at Princeton was considered to be so incendiary, it was sequestered for the duration of the campaign. Fortunately, the very fine faculty at Princeton felt uneasy about this suppression of freedom of information, and went ahead and released the document a couple of weeks ago, and you can read it online. If you really want to.

Every day now, there are new revelations being uncovered about William Ayers and his associates and his activities in Chicago.

And we shouldn't forget, along with William Ayers as a mentor, this biddable man was also dependent for 20 years on spiritual guidance from a black moonbat in the person of Jeremiah Wright.

Two very strong, motivated personalities. One biddable, uncertain, youngish man subject to their influence for quite some time. Twenty years in the case of Wright. That would put Obama at 27-ish when he fell under Wright's influence. I wonder when Ayers spotted him.

Verity

Israel - The rest of your rant is just political boilerplate, but this statement: "And god forbid if Obama had a pregnant, unmarried 17 year old daughter with a thug boyfriend" is probably actionable by the boy's parents. Or he could wait a few months until he is 18 and sue himself.

He doesn't look or sound like a "thug" to me. He sounds like a silly teenage boy who thinks he's a rebel.

David M

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the Web Reconnaissance for 10/07/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

http://thunderrun.blogspot.com/2008/10/web-reconnaissance-for-10072008.html

David

Some people are clearly going to be so disappointed when Obama is elected and he turns out to be nothing more than a Democrat party president like JFK, Clinton, FDR, Truman et al.

Nick Kaplan

Michael; If you consider the exposing of an individual’s character traits to be “character assassination” doesn’t that say more about faults with that individual rather than those exposing them?

Ronnie: where on earth did Frank P say anything that could be construed as advocating restrictions on free speech? Do you believe that calling someone a troll diminishes their right (or even their ability) to freely comment? Free Speech does not mean pussyfooting around with ignorant fools who post nonsense so as to avoid hurting their feelings. It means anyone can say what they like (so long as it does not incite violence) including calling someone a troll.

David Lindsay

So Obama had links to someone or other years ago? No one would seriously suggest that he is currently some sort of Marxist-cum-black-nationalist guerrilla, or indeed that he personally ever was.

By contrast, there is no evidence whatever that the personal friends and uncritical adorers of Trotsky who went on to become the neoconservative movement (and who include McCain's choice for Secretary of State, Robert Kagan) have changed their views one iota.

Like the old Communists (not least, Peter Mandelson), Trotsykists and fellow-travellers who make up New Labour, they deny outright that anything they have ever done has been wrong *at the time*, and it is perfectly clear that, while their means may have changed, their ends are still exactly the same.

Brian O'Connor

Things are getting interesting indeed . . . first off, CNN (!) has done a 6+ minute expose on the relationship between Ayers and Obama, essentially calling Obama out for having misrepresented the nature and closeness of their alliance. It's a somewhat flummoxed Anderson Cooper who presides over the piece. You can see it here. http://tinyurl.com/3fs5kz

Secondly, Stanley Kurtz — the guy who won access to the files of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and reported Obama's role in it — has written a devastating article on how ACORN lies at the bottom of the FM/FM meltdown, and links Obama to ACORN.

This is a must read: it highlights how congressional democrats, a radical leftist organization (ACORN) and bankers each saw it as being in their best interests to encourage and expand subprime lending, and worked together towards that end. http://tinyurl.com/4782zz

Frank P: I thought it was my deodorant . . .

Ronnie

Graham Jones, yes and the same will happen to Gordon Brown in the UK. That's what happens to bad governments and failed political parties in a democracy.

John Birch

JohnW: Fox News is independent? Do you know who Roger Ailes is? Here's what one William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard and columnist with (gasp) the New York Times, said about the liberal media:
I admit it," he told a reporter. "The liberal media were never that powerful, and the whole thing was often used as an excuse by conservatives for conservative failures." He said that in the 1990s. With the rise of the Internet and cable tv and the decline of newspapers, it's even more true now.

Micky Mantle II

I commend you to a report by CNN Special Investigation Unit's David Griffin shown on the program AC 360. The report runs down the strong relationship between Obama and Ayers.

Pete

US media refuses to report on the current lawsuit against Obama, the DNC, and the FEC.

Monday, 06 October 2008 19:51 administrator
BERG IS “OUTRAGED” THAT OBAMA & DNC HIDE AGAIN BEHIND LEGAL ISSUES AS THEIR ATTORNEY FILES A MOTION FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER TO “NOT” ANSWER ADMISSIONS & PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS WHILE BETRAYING PUBLIC IN NOT PRODUCING DOCUMENTS PROVING OBAMA IS “QUALIFIED” TO BE A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT.

IT IS BELIEVED OBAMA IS AN “ILLEGAL ALIEN”

For Immediate Release: - 10/06/08

(Contact info and pdf of press release below)

Country is Headed to a Constitutional Crisis

(Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania – 10/06/08) - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States, announced today that Obama and Democratic National Committee [DNC] filed a Joint Motion for Protective Order to Stay Discovery Pending a Decision on the Motion to Dismiss (which was) filed on 09/24/08.

While legal, Berg stated he is “outraged as this is another attempt to hide the truth from the public; it is obvious that documents do not exist to prove that Obama is qualified to be President.” The case is Berg v. Obama, No. 08-cv-04083.

Their joint motion indicates a concerted effort to avoid the truth by attempting to delay the judicial process, although legal, by not resolving the issue presented: that is, whether Barack Obama meets the qualifications to be President.

It is obvious that Obama was born in Kenya and does not meet the “qualifications” to be President of the United States pursuant to our United States Constitution. Obama cannot produce a certified copy of his “Vault” [original long version] Birth Certificate from Hawaii because it does not exist.

http://obamacrimes.com/

Pete

Part 2 -
NAIROBI, Kenya – The government of Kenya is holding WND senior staff reporter Jerome Corsi in custody at immigration headquarters after police picked him up at his hotel just prior to a scheduled news conference in which he planned to announce the findings of his investigation into Barack Obama's connections in the country.
Corsi, the author of the No. 1 best-selling book "The Obama Nation," was picked up by authorities at his hotel at 9:45 a.m. and is being detained at Nyayo House, the provincial headquarters for Nairobi.

http://www.americasright.com/

Outrageous .. Obama is not qualified to be President!

Amused - if not a little scared

Verity writes "blowing up America and, in the process, killing Americans, to punish Allende in Chile".

Why would the Weathermen want to punish Allende? He was, after all, a socialist...

Oh wait, Verity presumably meant "to punish Pinochet" (which would have been nicely alliterative).

Sadly, like most of Verity's comments, that one was ignorant. Typical.

Verity

I'd always felt that Michelle Obama was a major player in this. She's angry and has a grudge (although God knows why, given that she went to two Ivy Leagues on full scholarships). Now we find out that 20 years ago, she worked in the same law firm as ... Bernadine Dorhn. She and Obama and Bernadine and her husband WILLIAM AYERS, all of Chicago, appear to have been friendly for 20 years. Not casual neighbourhood acquaintances who say "'Morning!" when out jogging ...

Watch this video. I guarantee that once you start watching, you will stick with it to the end. It ties together a lot of loose ends.

Give yourself five or six minutes to watch it. In the catch phrase of the time, it will blow your mind.

(Hat tip: LGF.)

Augustus

Barack Obama is a huge questionmark. Who is he really? nobody really knows. Perhaps he doesn't even know himself. If you look at any other candidate in the race you know who they are. John McCain is a strong national security guy. He may not be perfect, but you know, when he gets to the White House what road he's going to go down. Hilary Clinton also. She's a post-sixties liberal. A feminist who favours big government, and has a penchant for the word 'universal'. But Barack Obama, what would he fight and die for? One day he's for the 2nd Amendment gun control, the next day he's against it; one day he's for fate-based initiatives, the next day he's against it; one day he's for withdrawal by a time schedule, the next day he's got to pay attention to the situation on the ground. No white American politician in the history of American politics could get that far and get away with that. And why are so many whites afraid of him, and even feel guilty towards him? It was race that brought him this far, and now he's just a screen, and everyone can look into that screen and see what they want. In essence, people are voting for a product, but they don't know what it is.

Conservative Cabbie

Israel - You're "what if?" arguements are rather selective don't you think?

How's about these?

What if Barack Obama, having been imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton, was given the opportunity for release but declined because he knew it wasn't fair that longer serving prisoners weren't being released?
What if John McCain on a visit to Germany changed his mind about visiting wounded American soldiers because there weren't going to be any cameras present?
What if John McCain's VP candidate stated that he wasn't experienced enough to run the country?
What if Cindy McCain stated on her husband receiving his party's nomination that that "was the first time she had been proud of America"?
What if John McCain had refused to fund American soldiers in harms way?
What if John McCain's voting record was so liberal, he would be further left than a socialist senator?
What if John McCain was responsible for training in an organisation that is systematically involved in voter fraud?
What if John McCain's campaign used intimidation to try and shut down opposition? (witness Kurtz, freddoso and Missouri).
What if john McCain voted four times to not provide medical care to babies born through failed abortions causing their deaths?

What if America had a mainstream media that wasn't in the tank for Obama?

Then we would probably seeing a very different election. Note, not a mention of Ayers, Wright or Rezko.

Librul Elite

There is, quite honestly, nothing Obama could say that would make me not vote for him. His opening statement could be “My name is Barack Hussein Obama, and I am a muslim, and winning this election is all part of a plot to turn the United States into my own personal caliphate,” and I would shrug and vote for him anyway because at least he would go about it in a competent manner. Compared to the last eight years with C+ Augustus and Darth Cheney and the possibility of four more with Johnny Drama and Bible Spice, that would be preferable.

Nick Kaplan

Amused if not a little scared; nicely alterative it may be, but any better it certainly is not. Planting bombs and killing innocent people to make a political point is wrong full stop. It matters not who that political point is directed against.

Verity; you don’t appear to have added a link to the video you describe. It would be appreciated if you could do so.

Verity

Nick Kaplan, yes, apologies! I've been trying to add it for the past 20 minutes but it hasn't gone through. I have also sent it to Pete personally. I think he's working at home today.

Conservative Cabbie

Librul Elite

You don't happen to be the editor of:

CNN
Time
Newsweek
Washington Post
New York Times
ABC
CBS
NBC
MSNBC
BBC

do you? I think they share your sentiment about supporting the Messiah regardless.

Conservative Cabbie

1.In June, in response to Tony Rezko's conviction, Obama said "This isn't the Tony Rezko I knew".
2. Despite having attended Rev Wright's church for 20 years, Obama claimed he didn't know his beloved Rev. was preaching such anti-american bile.
3. Obama's campaign claim that Obama didn't know that William Ayers was a terrorist.

My question to you Obamaphiles is this. Is Obama a) Naive, b) Stupid or c) a liar?

I can just imagine his response as President when Ahmadinejad supplies a dirty bomb to one of his chosen terrorist organisations; "Aw shucks, I didn't know he was going to do that. He seemed like such a nice man."

shaun

Re Melanies point about mainstream medias true colours coming out in the wash. Did anyone catch on BBC 5Live Nov 4 Mark Kermodes "interview" with the Fat Cat Luvvie actor and producer Kevin Spacey? Discussing("Recount")
A programme in which Kermode allowed all sorts of blatent distortions of what ppl said and did, - and added some himself. If the power is with the "Establishment", "they" never allow an "alternative" perspective. "THEY" have exposed themselves. "THEY" my former employers BBC don't even acknowledge complaints. "There is not even the pretense of nuetrality in these times"

American Voter

Penny Pritzker is the chairman of the Chicago Education Fund which is the successor to the Annenberg Challenge which is the organization of which Barack Obama was chairman and William Ayers a board member (Ayers got Obama the board position) and which dispensed millions of dollars to favored left-wing, racist, 'diversity' causes rather than to the educational groups the Annenberg Foundation intended to benefit from this donation. Penny Pritzker is one of the richest people in America according to Forbes Magazine (135th, clocking in at $2.8 billion as an heir to the Pritzker family fortune, based in Chicago where Obama got his start). Pritzker was chairman of a family bank that went bust in the early 90s and she was the instigator of the sub-prime mortgage concept, a key cause of the bank's failure. Penny Pritzker is Obama's campaign finance chairman. Amazing how many points of contact all the dubious people surrounding Obama seem to have and the central factor is always the redistribution of wealth or monetary largesse, at somebody else's expense.

Bob Latchford

Beautiful!! The sound of impending defeat from lickspittle neo-cons is a quite wonderful sound. Oh what a glorious day it will be when the collossus that is Barack Hussein Obama strides into the Whitehouse as leader of the free world!

John Birch

Conservative Cabbie: That's right. Obama's lead is all about the liberal media. Nothing to do with the current economic meltdown or the last 8 years of Republican government. Or McCain's own record, such as being one of the first to advocate attacking Iraq after 9-11. There are over 4,000 dead U.S. soldiers as a result of that decision. How's that compare with your phony allegation about Obama not visiting troops because cameras not being there?

Ronnie

OK Nick, you hysterical wingnut.

Pip

Spot on as usual Melanie

Amused - if not a little scared

Nick, no of course it doesn't. I agree that the Weathermen were terrible.

I was just picking on that small point to highlight the intellectual vacuum that is Verity. I think Melanie has lost the plot - and taken quite a few commenters with her.

Israel

(Sigh) Conservative Cabbie:

Here are some answers for you:

Q.What if Barack Obama, having been imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton, was given the opportunity for release but declined because he knew it wasn't fair that longer serving prisoners weren't being released?

A. The USMC code states that serving captured military cannot take early release even when offered. If they do they are given a dishonourable discharge. Some fellow inmates of the Hanoi Hilton have questioned Mccains version of events. I will not as l don't believe at that time the son of the Commander in charge of US forces in South East Asia would have given them any true propaganda wins.

What if John McCain's VP candidate stated that he wasn't experienced enough to run the country?

A.Well even with McCain's history of short tempered actions he obviously would have picked Romney or Huckerbee who both questioned him. Oh wait, he didn't.

Q.What if Cindy McCain stated on her husband receiving his party's nomination that that "was the first time she had been proud of America"?

A. She would have been critisized for it in the US media. I'm sorry, was that supposed to be one of theose "gotcha" questions?

Q.What if John McCain had refused to fund American soldiers in harms way?

A.Then someone would have brought it up in a debate, like Joe Biden did. If you missed it live More4 repeated it the next day and he pointed out that McCain had voted against funding the troops because HE DIDN'T LIKE THE FACT THAT THE BILL HAD A TIMETABLE IN IT. The fact the troops needed it passed didn't concern this supposed honourable veteran that much then, eh?

Q.What if John McCain's voting record was so liberal, he would be further left than a socialist senator?

A.Well if it was from the debunked National Journal poll, which cherry picks 99 senate votes chosen by the conservative editors and writer of the magazine then rates the senators results of the votes cast, l would say you were an idiot to actually try to use it to pin down someone as liberal.

Q.What if John McCain was responsible for training in an organisation that is systematically involved in voter fraud?

A.I would say that it was as poor a judgement as hiring Tucker Eskew the man responsible for smearing him in South Carolina in 2000 or being associated with retired Army Maj. Gen. John Singlaub's U.S. Council for World Freedom which was part of an international organization linked to former Nazi collaborators and ultra-right-wing death squads in Central America.

What if john McCain voted four times to not provide medical care to babies born through failed abortions causing their deaths?

Q.This is a debate which has gone on long and loud and ugly. The simple answer is that the Illinois Dept. of Public Health, under the orders of the Illinois Atty. General's office led by abortion foe Jim Ryan, took the claims into aborted fetus (sorry l have no idea of the plural) left to die seriously and had an investigation, which lead to the conclusion "That infants were allowed to expire in a utility room could not be substantiated (and) all staff interviewed denied that any infant was ever left alone."

The 2003 bill you are talking about was different to the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002 (BAIPA), which Obama has said he would have supported. Even though both bills included language providing that the bills would not impinge on Roe v. Wade (the only US Supreme Court decision that Sarah Palin, US Goveror of Alaska, knows about), Obama and abortion-rights advocates noted that Illinois law, unlike federal law at the time, includes statutory provisions specifically regulating abortion. Abortion-rights advocates said that in order for the Illinois bill to avoid restricting abortion rights in any way, it would also have to make explicit reference to Illinois law and make clear that it would not affect access to abortion under Illinois law.

I could go on but judging by the question l don't think l will change your mind, and as l said the arguement gets long, loud and very, very ugly on both sides. What it comes down to is weather or not you think that life begins at conception or birth. If it is conception then we are all around 9 months older than it shows on our BIRTH CERTIFICATES for nothing, and should be giving conception day cards to everybody (although l must say that does seem rather intrusive as well as tacky).

Frank P

Nick K

Nick, it has been posted on Melanie's various threads before; you must have missed it:

http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2008/09/obama-file-30-former-terrorists-bill.html

It is also worth ploughing through the other stuff that Trevor Loudon has garnered on the same blog during the past few weeks.

None of his data can be rebutted; even though he gets rubbished by the Big Media they never disproved his evidence, whatever they may think of his motives.

He also features on You Tube a one hour special by Sean Hannitty of Fox News Channel (in four parts on the blog), of a one hour special that lays out the connections very well.

These people have never gone away since the 60s. They are the resilient remnants of the fellow-travelling anti-American culture warriors. They have nobbled Obama, he and his wife are their front. The only question that remains is will he do their bidding if he gets into the White House. As he travelled this far with them, he should never be given the opportunity or the benefit of the doubt. Ayers and his wife and associates are a pox on the body politic of America. If they get into even advisory influence via this gangling smooth-talking lawyer shill and Trojan Horse, then America deserves what it gets. Just as the UK electorate deserve the upshot of 11 years of 'soft Marxism' in our corridors of power.

Trouble is, do those among us who steadfastly refused to vote for them deserve it? No way, Jose!

For those who refuse to see what's under their very noses, served up by Melanie, Stan Kurtz, Trevor Loudon, Brian O'Connor, Verity and too many more to credit; there are none so blind ...!

The constant drip, drip, drip of Bush hatred that has emanated from the Big Media for 7 years has worked on the credulous. The mantras are parroted like nursery rhymes for grown-ups who are still children. Whatever may be levelled at the GOP and Bush in particular, there is no doubt whatsoever that they put America first, the Western alliance next and are full frontal against those parts of the East, Middle East and South America that are inimical to Western hegemony, culture, and democracy. I don't know how the Democratic Party have the gall to use that name to encompass such a cadre of Leftist elements, hell bent on International Socialism by any means. I haven't heard or read such virulent crypto-Marxist propaganda since I knobbed Radio Tass et al. and the Eastern block military and diplomatic communications, at the start of the cold war in the early 1950s. The language is still the same - Utopia on their terms! Except on their terms there is no Utopia, just Dystopia and totalitarianism - such as we saw and are still seeing in the USSR, China, N. Korea, Cuba and so on. Hell on Earth, every damn one of the shit-heaps.

My problem with McCain is that he has not used what was available before, which Brian O'Connor seems to think indicates that, like the good bomb aimer he is, is waiting until he gets dead centre over the target. Hmmmnn.
Perhaps he should have started with some strafing by the cannons of fighters before the big bomber arrived. Our strafing hereupon doesn't seem to have had much effect. I just hope it's not too late or that his real motive for delaying was skeletons jangling in the back of his own aircraft.

Now McCain will have to trade methodology for escape from the cash flow crisis rather than concentrating on the sinister side of Obama which has now become "dirty pool" in the Obama lexicon of evasion rather than revelation of his Commie connections.

We shall see; not long to denouement!

yolo

BHO is the least qualified person to ever run for higher office in US history. He has read the books of Cone's. The founder of black liberation theology. They state that the only way to help the world is to kill the white man. People are called racist if they use his middle name. BHO is nat an African American. He is a kenyan arab American who started using his real name after many trips to Pakistan. He is a danger to democracy the world over. He is a corrupt liar. This is all documented but the press will not report it. BHO's ancestors sold the black man to the Americas and Europe and all of the Arab nations. I have no guilt. Never will I vote for this disgracful divisive false prophet.

The Truth Hurts

Smearing is the name of the Republican gameplan at this late phase of the election boxing match and I suppose it's to be expected.
However the real matter at hand is the financial disaster caused by the irresponsable and avaricious Wall Street bankers and which looks almost certain to plunge the world into a deep and prolonged depression.
Undoubtedly many savers will lose much of their savings as a result, and certainly many will be be thrown out of work worldwide.
This happened after 8 years of Republican leadership and however much the Bush administration squirms and writhes, we cannot help but place most of the responsability for this disaster at their doorstep.
They were supposedly in control, and this escaped their notice, or if not, then they are guilty of mismanagement.
Either way, the Bush administration is clearly responsable, and McCain is just another Republican candidate.
Obama will no doubt make mistakes during his forthcoming period as President, but it will be difficult to do a worse job than the Republicans have done.

Conservative Cabbie

John Birch - Wow! What a tirade.

There's nothing phony about the accusation.
Sow getting rid of one of the most evil dictators since Hitler is a bad thing? How does your irrational liberalism square with standing idly by whils Saddam Hussein invades neighbours, commits genocide and uses chemical weapons? You're comfortable watching from the sidelines are you? If thats liberalism, I'm glad I'm a conservative.
As for your comments about the economy. If it wasn't for the democrats, the world wouldn't be in this mess. Why do you think Freddie and Fanny pay all that money to Democrats, especially you're chosen one.

Conservative Cabbie

Bob Latchford - You're right, things are looking good for your man right now. But if things do change, in light of your post, I'm sure you won't mind a bit of taunting about Sarah Palin being in the Whitehouse.

Verity

There seems to be an eerie resistance on this site to running the video about William Ayers and Obamarama and his lovely wife Michelle, and Ayers' lovely wife, bomber Bernadine. I have sent it in to The Speccie three times right off the site of Little Green Footballs over the course now of nine hours. Three attempts to post a perfect link.

Pete has written and said he was out and his home computer is broken. And I should send the link again.

No.

Without commenters, there is no blog.

Frank P, thank you for your heroic post. I will respond in the morning, my time. But that was just aces.

Pete Hoskin

Verity: there's no resistance at all, and I'm happy to post the link. Problem is, I'm working from my phone at the moment rather than a computer, meaning that some of the behind-the-scenes components of the website are shut off from me. When I asked you to resend the link I meant via the comments system rather than by e-mail - that way I can post it immediately via my phone. Otherwise it will have to wait until I get to a computer in about 6 hours time.

John Birch

Conservative Cabbie: Stand by when Saddam invaded other countries? Do you mean like when he invaded Iran in the 1980s and then received the support of the Reagan administration, including its special envoy Donald Rumsfeld? Was he less of a thug then?

Verity

Pete - thank you for your mild mannered response, as always, but I have tried to post this same link for around 28 hours now. Not just since your last email.

There is a resistance to posting a link that is very damaging to Obama and Michelle.

Long and short.

The Truth Hurts

I just watched the McCain/Obama debate live on TV.
Quite interesting as the station that I watched had a rolling graph at the bottom of the screen showing the realtime reactions of a selected group of undecided US citizens--neither Republicans nor Democrats.
Overall, much time was spent on foreign affairs (which is McCains strong point) rather than economic matters, and he received very positive reactions on this topic as seen on the graph, more so than Obama.
Obama made in clear that he considers that the Iraq war diverts effort away from the US's real enemy which is the Taliban/Al Queida, and that a programmed withdrawal from Iraq is required whilst building up an Afghanistan/Pakistan presence and this was very favourably received on the graph.
Neither North Korea nor Iran seemed to be matters of great reactions, but McCain's worry and intentions regarding a renewed Russian threat went over well for him.
Health care is clearly something that worries many Americans and Obama came over very well on that subject, much better than McCain.
Overall I think Obama came out modestly better than McCain.
If my appreciation is generalised, it is of course bad news for the Republicans who desperately needed to come out of this debate with an overwhelming victory.

Conservative Cabbie

John

You're just regurgitating Liberal talking points and reciting ancient history. That was five Presidencies ago and you don't answer my points.
As a liberal, were you happy to maintain the status quo where Saddam Hussein gassed kurds, attempted genocide on the marsh arabs, invaded two of his neighbours and encouraged terrorist acts against Israel? What would you have done?

d1carter

This year will be remembered for the financial crisis of our lifetime. It will also be remembered for the death of an objective mainstream media in the USA. Had there been no blogosphere many would not have known that the financial crisis was the result of Democrat Congressmen blocking regulations of government backed agencies funding subprime loans nor would many know that the USA will most probably elect its first socialist president.

Pete Hoskin

Verity: just to assure you that I didn't see the link until you emailed it to me yesterday afternoon (that is, it didn't come through our comments system) - probably a technical error at our end, but certainly not resistance. Unfortunately, the fact that I was restricted to using a phone meant that I couldn't post it manually myself by copying and pasting from the email you sent. I will happily do so when I get to a computer in about two hours - so expect to see it then.

fellow traveller

yolo: "BHO's ancestors sold the black man to the Americas and Europe and all of the Arab nations."

Got any evidence on that one? That, specifically, his personal ancestors were slave traders?

If not, your attempt to pin blame for the slave trade on Obama might just have raised the bar for comedy smears. Best laugh all week.

Not sure that one's going to win it for McCain.

Verity: I'm pointing out that if Melanie got involved in the debate it would help it, and might cut down on the bizarro stuff from both sides (see above).

Can't see how that's negative or offensive for anyone on any side.

John Birch

Conservative Cabbie: Sure, I'll answer directly. I opposed the invasion of Iraq because in the context of the war against terrorism it was mistake. It weakened the campaign in Afghanistan (an invasion I favored) when al-Qaeda was on the ropes by moving resources and troops away. It provided al-Qaeda with breathing space to rebuild its infrastructure. It also badly damaged the image of the United States around the world and was the best terrorist recruiter that bin Laden has ever had. The points about the Iraq invasion, by the way, are shared by Richard Clarke (counter-terrorism director for Clinton and Bush), Paul Pillar (former head of the CIA Near Eastern Division), Michael Scheuer (former head of the CIA's bin Laden team) and other experts in counter-terrorism. How can you argue that previous support by an American presidential administration for Saddam (4 administrations ago, not 5), including when he was extensively using chemical weapons, is irrelevant? Do you think people in the Middle East aren't aware of this history?

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie.
John Birch made the succinct point which is, in the words of GF Hegel "All that we learn from history is that we do not learn from history" echoed later by a citizen of the USA, George Santayana, "Those that do not learn from their history are doomed to repeat their mistakes” "Our SOBs" as the USA was wont to describe them started with RafaekTrujillo, went through to Saddam Hussein and now whoever happens to be running what are known as the 'Stans.
You may class all this as "Liberal talking points" but the facts are that in Iraq 1959, there was a failed assassination of Qasim, a secular ruler, because he was about to take control of oil production for the Iraqi people. One of the failed assassins was young Saddam Hussein. He went into exile in Egypt, supported and trained by the CIA. In 1963, a CIA-organised coup assassinated Qasim, the Ba'ath Party assumed power, Saddam returned from exile and eventually became head of Iraq's secret service. The CIA provided the Ba’athist regime with lists of communists, other opponents and union organisers. Thousands of supporters of Qasim were soon dead, courtesy of the CIA's close friend in Iraq. Saddam went on his not so merry way to the the top
In 1979 Saddam met with the CIA to discuss war against Iran. In I980 there was the start of war as Iraq invades Iran. Following Iranian success against Iraq, in 1983 President Reagan, not quite senile yet? issues a directive that the US should ensure that Iraq does not lose the war. This leads to that infamous hand shake of Donny Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein. So the USA supplies “dual use materiel”. chemical precursors, satellite imagery etc. Much of the materiel from out of third countries including Germany. The Iraq-Iran war ended in 1988. Strange days, for at the beginning of this conflict the US was also helping the Iranian war effort. When Iraq invades Kuwait. Saddam Hussein, believes rightfully or mistakenly that April Glaspie, the US Ambassador to Iraq, had given the nod to the invasion. Hussein believed it was his due as the US had used Iraq as its stalking horse in the war against Iran. However the main reason being that Kuwait was slant-drilling across the border into Iraq's Rumaila oil field.
These are facts not just talking points.

Frank P

Verity et al.

My post at 12.43am in fact carries the link that you are anxious to reveal here - again.
It includes both Ayers and his wife spouting their Marxist ideology, but much more.

Thanks for your comment Verity. But I fear that Mc Cain made a serious mistake last night by failing to highlight these connections, both ideological and financial. Perhaps this was because he could not assimilate and regurgitate the complexities and therefore bottled out and only flitted briefly on Fanny and Freddie without going into detail - which enabled Obama to brush it off. I don't know whether or not you saw Sean Hannity's one hour special; obviously McCain didn't!

I'd be interested to hear what Brian O'Connor (whose opinions I have consistently valued) thinks now about his theory that 'the old bomber pilot' was waiting for the right moment. Seems to me Brian, that McCain has let you down; that he flew over the target and failed to push the button. He just dropped a smattering of damp squibs to alert the enemy. He may not get another chance, we'll see.

A very depressing debate for me. It revealed that neither the Democratic Party, nor the Republican Party chose the right candidate. If Slick Barry was meant to be a substitute for Slick Willy it is a failure. Egregious though I consider Slick Willy to have been, he had the low cunning of political infighting in spades. This guy is just an empty barrel making a lot of sound; an empty barrel that will be filled with influences inimical not only to America, but to the West and the wider world.

McCain's seniority could be considered advantageous in terms of hindsight and experience, but it is sadly offset by the ravages of time and those same experiences on the memory and judgement that sadly afflicts us all in the end, but him in particularl because of what was inflicted upon him during his internment.

Obama may therefore win by default and a period of America lurching to the left will ensue. What that will mean is anybody's guess. Nobody knows how to solve thsi current breakdown in finance and commerce, it will have to sort itself out I fear, as people pick themselves up and start again. The devil will take the hindmost as ever. No governmental intervention will obviate that.

We must keep plugging away at the true facts of Obama's connection, if only to curtail those connections by pressure and shing light into the dark corners, should he succeed in conning his way into the White House.

I am sad that the American people have been given such a poor choice of candidates. A country with so much invention, energy, generosity and enterprise deserves better. Weep for America, all of you, right left or centre. There are dark days ahead.

Frank P

A very succinct and sad summation, from someone I admire, Gerard Vanderleun.

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/5minute_arguments/lets_face_it_th.php

Dan

Great read. thanks.

Verity

Truth Hurts - "Health care is clearly something that worries many Americans and Obama came over very well on that subject, much better than McCain."

Promising to give away money earned by others is always a popular move for politicians.

Promising something for nothing, with the expenditure of absolutely no effort has a strange appeal to many voters.

I can see that you're not American, otherwise you would know that free healthcare is readily available in county hospitals which are plentifully located in convenient places. They are on about the level of the British NHS.

As in private hospitals owned and run by capitalists, you will be asked for proof of income. If you have absolutely no income, you will be treated FREE. If you have a low-paying job, you will be treated, and AFTER TREATMENT and before you leave, you will be required to sign a legally enforcible payment schedule - a schedule the hospital has worked out and that you have agreed to, even if it is $2 a week for five years. If you fail to pay this modest amount, your this will render your credit rating Bad Risk.

What many people who want universal health care want is, private healthcare, but for free. Especially if they're not even taxpayers.

"Overall I think Obama came out modestly better than McCain." Yes. Politicians promising to give away other people's money often do.

"Verity: I'm pointing out that if Melanie got involved in the debate it would help it, and might cut down on the bizarro stuff from both sides."

Melanie Phillips is an international opinion writer, an author and a broadcaster. I daresay she uses her time to her best advantage.

Verity

Pete Hoskin
October 8th, 2008 6:59am
Verity: just to assure you that I didn't see the link until you emailed it to me yesterday afternoon (that is, it didn't come through our comments system) - probably a technical error at our end, but certainly not resistance. Unfortunately, the fact that I was restricted to using a phone meant that I couldn't post it manually myself by copying and pasting from the email you sent. I will happily do so when I get to a computer in about two hours - so expect to see it then.

OKaaaaaaay .... it is now 1:59 p.m. your time --- seven hours after you wrote this post.

Where's the link? Disappeared for the fourth time? Isn't that a little careless of your techies?

I am going to send another post, the fourth, embedding it, and we will see.

Verity

Just to keep you in the picture, Pete, I'm having an interesting new experience. Every time I try to post the Ayers-Obama link, the screen goes blank and freezes.

Isn't that interesting?

Pete Hoskin

As requested, here's the video link referred to by Verity in her post made on 7 October, at 1743:

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?swf=http%3A//s.ytimg.com/yt/swf/cps-vfl57293.swf&video_id=79fC0jAi2gc&rel=1&eurl=http%3A//littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/&iurl=http%3A//i4.ytimg.com/vi/79fC0jAi2gc/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskLrqPTxJcwTmEPWJAaifZtW&use_get_video_info=1&load_modules=1

Apologies for the delay since my last comment - things have been going nuts this end over the bailout of the banks.

Pete Hoskin

Verity - I've actually posted the video link now, but have only just seen your latest comments. As I say above, apologies for the delay since I commented this morning - the bailout kept me from sorting it out.

Actually, I was having the same problem when initially trying to post the link. I've contacted the techies - but assume it might be because it's a long url. Anyway, I went the manual route in the end - which worked fine, hence it's showing.

And just to stress that there was no resistance to posting it - just a bizzare concatention which prevented me from doing so. Again, apologies.

Verity

Thank you, Pete.

Frank P - Thank you, too, for a concise and readable wrap-up. We all thought McCain was holding his fire, and - although this is probably naively over-hopeful - I still think he may have a surprise in his quiver. I say this because he sprang Sarah Palin on the world. Clearly, he has imagination, daring and foresight.

There is currently a lawyer bringing a case of false representation against Obama, claiming he was born in Kenya, not the United States. Fingers crossed. Certainly, he has been curiously reluctant to produce his birth certificate and there seems to have been some legerdemain in the eventual production of "a copy". Also, he hasn't released his medical records, as the other three candidates have done, and as is standard in the US. Instead he sent a not from his doctor saying he is fine.

For all the reasons I have frequently referred to, I have always doubted that Obama was American. There is too much that doesn't hang right.

Did Obama's mother and father really take it into their heads to move to Hawaii - in those days before Obama's birth, a territory not a state and around 2,500 miles from the American mainland. Why? What was the attraction.

Then the father apparently took off back to Kenya, and the mother and the small child took off for Jakarta. This is pretty far flung stuff for the 1940s, with no jet planes and very little international travel for people who weren't wealthy. A very arduous journey, especially with a small child, probably taking days, given the short distances prop planes could fly without stops for refuelling. And she went to "marry" (I guess providing he didn't already have a wife; or she may have become accustomed to this condition) this Indonesian who already had a family. How on earth did they meet? He can't even have been a pineapple importer, because Indonesia grows its own pineapples. How did they meet in Hawaii?

None of this story hangs together, and, she being a committed Marxist, I think there was a plan.

I also think that Obama was a biddable boy and, by the time he had been dragged away from his new family and dragged back to Hawaii - to no family - and thrown into life there, a timid, biddable child.

He has always struck me as biddable and uncertain. He does as he's told. He didn't think of going to give a ridiculous public address in Germany himself. Others thought it up for him and went. He didn't have the idea of having a fake presidential seal designed and affixed to his lecterm. Others did and he didn't demur.

He didn't decide to cancel a visit to wounded US troops recuperating in a US Military Hospital in Germany because a media circus wouldn't be allowed, others did. If he didn't have the cameras and reporters accompanying him, it would be a waste of their boy's time.

He got spotted, probably after graduation from Harvard, a beneficiary, I suspect, of the new "reverse discrimination" laws.

I think he got spotted by a real Marxist who was already mixing around with radical people, and that is Michelle. Such a strong and angry and determined personality could direct him easily.

Then we see in the link I finally got posted, that Michelle, 20 years ago, was working in the same law firm as Bernadine Dohrn and doubtless mixing around with her and Ayers. I have long thought that Obama got "spotted".

There has always been something very hinky about this fellow.

Verity

Further, what on earth was he doing in the Illinois Senate? He spent 12 years there, yet was the author of no legislation. No ideas put forward. No drafts. Nada. And he didn't even use his vote to vote for legislation proposed by other senators. When it came to the vote, he voted "Present".

So what was he doing in the Illinois Senate? Well, he made some nice friends, like fixer Tony Retzko who "lent" him one million dollars to build a swankienda. A very trusting guy.

And once in the US Congress, Obama began at once, with absolutely no experience of major-player politics, to run for President of the United States. Does anyone else sense choreography here?

With absolutely no national experience whatsover, and after having apparently spent an entire lifetime being indifferent to international events, he's suddenly running for president.

And almost immediately, he became - out of over 300 Congresspeople - the second largest beneficiary of Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae. He was getting bigger whacks than real DC operators, like Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.

And new at the game!

Does anyone else sense a guiding hand through all this?

Verity

Well, Pete - it's true: a soft answer turneth away wrath and I do thank you for your courtesy in explaining what appeared to be inexplicable.

For the record, I did not for one minute suspect you of any malign intent. I believed from the start that you were being held in a dark dungeon without food or water by a malign webmaster.

Thank you again, Pete, and kind regards.

Ronnie

Verity, every time one of your turgid posts appear our minds go blank and freeze.

Ronnie

Yes Verity, I sense it
the guiding hand,
gently on my shoulder.

Urging me to the doorway,
out into the light.
Away from pitch darkness
from where only the clicking
of your keyboard can be heard.

Solitary, your fingers swollen, bleeding yet tirelessly they tear at the veil of conspiracy.

And we who laugh now
will one day hang our heads
in lasting shame.

ndm

Pete Hoskin and others -

The site tinyurl.com generates short URLs equivalent to the original URL. It is useful for blog comments where the underlying software may not be able to handle long URLs.

The tinyurl for this page, for example, is http://tinyurl.com/3z2l3a

The Truth Hurts

Hilarious posting Ronnie (your 5:23 posting).
Sometimes when I read this blog I get flashbacks of that wonderful film from 1978 Midnight Cowboy. Do you remember that scarey scene when Billy Hayes (Brad Davis) was thrown into a Turkish maniac asylum and was walking round and round in a dungeon like public room with babbling, shrieking, gurgling loons dribbling and tearing at their hair?
I don't know why I get these flashbacks.
Am I the only one who is sane?Or are all the others the sane ones?

Sceptical

Verity, even if Obama was born in Kenya that would not make him ineligible for the presidency. He would still be an American.

The Consitution says nothing about being born in the US. It merely says you need to be a natural-born American citizen. I.e. a citizen from birth. Which Obama would be.

In fact McCain wasn't born in the US, he was born in the Panama Canal Zone.

So even if he was born in Kenya - which I very much doubt - why would it matter?

Ronnie

The Truth Hurts, I have to say that I don't know which way is up anymore. I just love it here because you never know what they will say next.

The conspiracies are the best but the incredible hypocracy is top notch too; and the bile... to die for.

Verity

It would matter that he had lied assiduously and constantly. It would matter that he had presented a false birth certificate.

Like everything else about this most peculiar individual, it is suspicious and shaky.

Personally, I have a feeling there is no record of the birth - if it took place in Kenya - and they cobbled up this weird "certified copy" of an American birth certificate in Hawaii later.

Why was he travelling on an Indonesian passport if an American passport would have been so easy to come by with a birth certificate? As it's the most valuable passport in the world, would not his mother have gone to the American Embassy in Jakarta and applied for a passport for him?

There's something wrong with this fellow's record every step of the way. I want to see a copy of his high school album. What did the other students say about him? Did he play basketball? Did he play in a band? Was he in a drama society? If not, was he a cheerleader? Obama is a shadow, insubstantial ... seldom there ... he always has the air, to me, of faking it.

In his 12 years in Chicago, he didn't evince any interest whatsoever in international affairs, except he went and interfered in an election in Kenya. Other than that, he knew, and knows, nothing.

And in his first year as a Congressman, he is suddenly standing for the presidency - with no foreign experience, no executive experience, no national experience.

Sorry, the whole thing doesn't add up.

field

I think Team McCain seem to have
a problem with the truth.

And the truth is that McCain has delivered a lacklustre campaign, which has handed the lead to Obama, despite all his vacuuity and dodgy antecedents. Of course, events - the oncoming recession - is doing them no favours. But it hasn't been a good campaign. McCain looks and sounds old and tired - more so than the ancient Reagan. Impressions count. Obama carries a suit well and has confident body language. Palin has been a rollercoast ride. She could have injected the energy his campaign needed but she crashed badly in that Couric interview. No politicians should crumble like that.

Lilaccruiser

As usual, uncritical acceptance of what she wants to believe, no balance, off the end of the pier.

The other commentator in the news at the moment who expresses similar views of course is Andy Martin - the virulent anti semite ("slimy jew" "I understand the holocaust") featured prominently and uncritically last weekend by Fox News. Strange bedfellows......

The Truth Hurts

Re my 7:08 posting, I'm SURE I put Midnight Express but see it appeared as Midnight Cowboy.
I KNOW I did, in fact I'm so sure about it, I think my posting was tampered with.....deliberately changed.
It was a conspiracy by the wingnuts. The Wingnut Conspiracy. Sure it was.
The proof is there for everyone to see, now who was it?
Maybe Pete Hoskin....maybe Frank Pulley? Could well be.
Or perhaps Ronnie is a wingnut stooge planted to egg me on.
Or, perish the thought, Me....No! She wouldn't, or would she? She's supposed to be atoning not fiddling around with my postings.
I know! It was Sarah Palin! Definitely. After all my criticisms she must have hacked into the Spectator website and changed my posting out of pure spite. The Bitch!
But there again, I don't think she knows how to switch on a PC.
But, then again it wouldn't have been the Old Man himself would it? He seemed such a gentleman last night and I DID laugh when he cracked the joke about having a hair transplant.
There's no doubt that the whole American right wing, the Creationists, the Wasilla Pentecostals (together with The Mossad) and their UK running dogs are after me.
It's a grand conspiracy and I just don't understand why Obama isn't using this against McCain; he must be biding his time.
A conspiracy. Yeah. Damn.

With apologies to Verity

Conservative Cabbie

John

Thanks for your cogent arguements. Obviously I don't agree but it is nice for a change to see someone lay out their reasons for being against the war and not just trot out the refrain "War bad, Bush bad".
If the war ended in 1988 doesn't that make it 5 Presidencies? Bush Snr, 2x Clintons, 2x Bush Jnr.

Hayward

You're a very polite man calling me Mr Cabbie, thankyou. That was a genuinly interesting post but I disagree with you on the relevance of John Birch's reply about American involvement in the Iran-Iraq war. What happened in the 80's is not relevant to whether we should have invaded Iraq to force regime change. In the world of realpolitik, allegiances change all the time. I don't deny your facts, but the lines about how Rumsfeld helped Saddam were constantly used by liberals against the war in the run up to said event. I think that qualifies them as talking points. What I was after was an opinion from John Birch about what he would have done about Saddam, he's given that explanation and I am content with the world.

Conservative Cabbie

Sceptical

I'm not disputing your points, you may well be right. I'm not a lawyer but I did find some rulings on wiki that may have a bearing.

Dred Scott v Sandford (1857):"In regard to the "natural born citizen" clause, the dissent states that it is acquired by place of birth (jus soli), not through blood or lineage (jus sanguinis): "The first section of the second article of the Constitution uses the language, 'a natural-born citizen.' It thus assumes that citizenship may be acquired by birth. Undoubtedly, this language of the Constitution was used in reference to that principle of public law, well understood in this country at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, which referred citizenship to the place of birth." (Much of the majority opinion in this case was overturned by the 14th Amendment in 1868.)"

Montana v Kennedy (1961): "A person born in 1906, whose mother was a native-born citizen of the United States and whose father was a foreign citizen, who was born overseas and then moved to the United States, was not a citizen of the United States by birth. (Note that the relevant laws have changed considerably since 1906, so this decision does not necessarily apply to later cases.)"

It seems that these rulings on their own would suggest Obama, if in fact he was born outside US, would not be eligible for President. However, Wiki does state that parts of both legislation have been superseded although not whether the relevant bits have. McCain I think would be if born on an American base as they are counted as American soil.

FWIW.

fellow traveller

Frankly I'm disappointed that no one on the Republican side has yet bought up the eerie parallels between Obama and Joe Stalin yet. There is doubt whether either of them was born in the US. Both rose to power quickly. Both opposed Trotsky. Both inspired a cult of personality. Neither could bowl.

Could it be that they are related?

And yet no one is saying this! This is devastating! Is it because the world's media are all Bolsheviks? Or is it because everyone, including McCain, the US Supreme Court, Wall Street *and even some of the commenters to this blog* are secretly working to get Obama elected?

When the majority of the voting population of the US are so obviously revolutionary communists, there's only one thing for it: we need to stop them voting in order to preserve our democratic rights. By force if necessary.

Or failing that, we could just keep recycling the same smears and urban myths until we bore the communists into submission!

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie,
Thank you, I am a polite person by inclination. One of the things that pains me about blogs is the abuse that is often present. In fact as a latecomer to The Spectator blogs I am somewhat astounded by the level of abuse.
As for the Iraq Fiasco here is what you might also consider another "liberal talking point" concerning Oil, and US$.
There were the excuses/lies about WMD, then al Q'aida links to Iraq then finally the "Regime Change" that was never to occur, as the last excuse/lie. But the real truth was and is oil, and the fact that Iraq was starting to trade oil in .
Extract from an article entitled “ Weaponized Money”
“...There were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, in the form of a threat to use the The petrodollar depends upon Iraq's oil reserves to defend the US$ against the and other currencies. In 2001, well before Iraq's invasion, the US$ faced uncertainty as an overpriced, debt heavy currency against a new and robust . The US$ was losing ground. Had the United States and its coalition not intervened militarily in Iraq, the strategy so overwhelmingly embraced by Hussein and his advisers would have ultimately been Iraq's weapon of mass destruction, with its principal target being the US economy...”
@ http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2005/0821b.html
And further to this is the fact that when Gen. Jay Garner was initially running the US occupation in March 2003 he only lasted until May before being sacked by Rumsfeld. This was despite Garner being able to obtain agreement from Iraqi leaders for elections in 90 days. The carrot being that Iraqis would own and manage their own oil. This did not fit the plan the the Neocons had for Iraq’s only real source of wealth. For remember the PNAC plan for hegemony rests on unlimited oil supplies for the US military. An interesting quote from Garner "I don't think [Iraqis] need to go by the U.S. plan, I think that what we need to do is set an Iraqi government that represents the freely elected will of the people. It's their country… their oil."
Rumsfeld then despatched, as Gauleiter for Iraq, Paul Bremer, who had the right credentials having worked for the war criminal Kissinger. Gauleiter Bremer deferred the elections for a year in order to implement a 101 page plan that called for a sell off of all of Iraq’s national assets. The new Iraq oil laws were drafted (in English) by the Bush administration, Big Oil and the IMF. And now? The 7 Sisters, I use this term with some poetic license as in fact there are now only 4, and their various cousins around the world will have access to Iraqi national treasure. Of course they will conduct their oil trade in US$.
Oil trade in by Iran is also one of the reasons for all the heavy breathing being done by the US.
Btw here is a wonderful slip of the lip from Ari Fleischer, then White House press secretary
@ http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030324-4.html
MR. FLEISCHER: “Good afternoon. Let me give you a report on the President's day. The President this morning has spoken with three foreign leaders. He began with Prime Minister Blair, where the two discussed the ongoing aspects of Operation Iraqi Liberation.....” !!!

Frank P

Three terrific posts this morning on Gerard Vanderleun's American Digest blog:

The first is a thought provoking
musical clip:

(1)

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/zenecdotes/great_googamoog.php

(If we have survived all that, I suppose we can survive the Second Coming - Obamessiah - the myth of this one definitely won't last for two millennia; two months maybe as the Alinsku disciples emerge from the woodpile and cash in the markers).

(2)

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/pinhead_punditry/cbs_news_dean_r.php

(that one gave me the best laugh of the week - even better than Obama telling us his commie connections are irrelevant).

and (3)

http://americandigest.org/mt-archives/bad_americans/iowahawk_return.php

(that should stop any hysterical laughter - suffer the little children to come unto me ... ugghhh!).

Verity

Conservative Cabbie - Thanks for a fascinating post. I have always understood "natural born American" means born on American soil. (Yes, a US base is American soil. Same thing if you happened to be born in a US embassy.)

This is why there is so much confusion around his birth, and his birth certificate. Has any other candidate ever presented a "certified copy" - especially one that doesn't look like a birth certificate, as proof of citizenship?

In any event, what occasioned a certified copy, given that a genuine copy would have been copied off the original, meaning the original would have been to hand. Unless the original had an inconvient place of birth.

Obama's involvement in Kenya is more than we know of. He did go over and help some half-brother in an election, so he is closer to these people than he would have us believe. I believe that brother was standing for the communists.

(BTW, it looks as though George Obama, living in a shack on a dollar a day, has been persuaded to pipe down.)

The drive is not Obama's. The planning is not his. The cunning is not his. I am baffled that people have given credence to this unlikeliest of unlikely stories. The left will believe anything if the Big Lie advances their one-worlder cause.

Obama, handsome and suggestible, was spotted 20 years ago by Bill Ayers as a good weapon of destruction, and he spent the ensuing 20 years being nudged forward by his wife. She's a raving racist.

What an unsavoury little clutch of people!

Verity

Frank - Thank you. I love IowaHawk! That little girl singing frightened my cat so badly she jumped off the chair and ran and hid. I'd have done the same, but I couldn't get under the bookshelf.

Eeeeeeeerie! How is it only the far left attracts the truly weird? Their level of neediness is, as we finding out, most alarming.

Frank P

Hayward Maberley

The liberation of Iraq is still not quite complete, it may take a little time yet: - patience!

If Obama and his baleful backers get invited to occupy the White House by a majority of the US electorate gulled by a media predominately brainwashed in Gramscian - Foucaultian counter-culture propaganda, it may take much longer to liberate America and its 'allies' from its reckless choice. I'm sure if Foucault had not died of AIDS in 1984 (an ironic chronological allusion even in a self-inflicted demise) he would have been rooting, so to speak, for the new Marxist Messiah.

The damage inflicted by 8 years of Slick Willie is still being suffered, but just blame it on Bushitler if it helps to deflect the pain; wait until you experience the effects of the poison of the Oleaginous Obama, when the sugar coating on the bitter pill dissolves...

Frank P

Verity

Yersss ... and speaking of IowaHawk, I think the distinguished trolls on this blog would enjoy seeing Obamessiah in full flood: great stuff! It almost coverted me to the Gramscian creed ... impressive or what??

http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2008/09/hey-barack.html

James

Thanks for the Idaho Hawk link!

I had to re-read The Tale of the Asse-Hatte while I was there and it's still as funny.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie.
Apologies, The Spectator must be unable or has been disabled from showing the Euro currency sign. For every single instance of the Euro currency sign appears to be missing from my last post.
As an aside the Euro sometimes called Wallaroo here in Australia is a species of marsupial. Between a wallaby and the large Grey and Red Kangaroo in size.
Adapted tp living in rocky terrain with a short, compact body.

Sandra

"My government is my worst enemy. I'm going to fight them with any means at hand."

This was former revolutionary terrorist Bill Ayers back in his old Weather Underground days, right?

Imagine what Sarah Palin is going to do with this incendiary quote as she tears into Barack Obama.

Only one problem. The quote is from Joe Vogler, the raging anti-American who founded the Alaska Independence Party.

Inconveniently for Palin, that's the same secessionist party her husband, Todd, belonged to for seven years and to which she sent a shout-out as Alaska governor earlier this year. "Keep up the good work," Palin told AIP members. "And God bless you."

http://www.thestar.com/News/USElection/article/514503

Verity

Sandra - any chance you could hook up with Howard Mayberly. I just intuit that you are made for each other, and you could learn such a lot about marsupials.

Hayward Maberley

Mr Pulley
“The damage inflicted by 8 years of Slick Willie is still being suffered, but just blame it on Bushitler if it helps…..” Interesting you, of all people, should use such a term about POTUS.
Well as far as the deficit goes Slick Willie manage to turn around that caused by the Reagan and Bush Republican Administrations, returning the budget to a surplus of some US$280 billion. Now thanks to the Dubya and Friends the deficit will be $482 billion in the 2009 budget moving from black to red ink in the order of US$750 billion.
Now they intend to add another US$700 billion! That to bail out their friends on Wall Street.
National debt from 1980-1990 under Reagan and Bush Republican Administrations climbed as a % of GDP from 26% to 42%. Under Clinton it fell to 35%.
Now under Dubya and Friends it is heading north of 38%.
Not to forget the US$3 trillion and climbing cost of the Iraq Fiasco and the Afghan Imbroglio. The first conflict since The War of Independence to be fought on credit.
Now as if you regard what Slick Willie as damage, what would you call the scenario unleashed by Dubya and Friends?
Does disaster come to mind?
Marx, Gramsci and now Foucault used adjectively. You seem to be very keen on the terms. But tell me have you read much, or any of them.
I will believe in the “liberation” of Iraq when the I read that the Coalition of the Wilting and all those loathsome mercenaries such as Blackwater have been shipped out, when the Iraqi people control ALL of their own resources and can dispose of them to the benefit of themselves, when that Disney land of a US Embassy has been reduced from something like a high tech Fort Apache to a reasonable sized Embassy establishment.
Mr Pulley, do you know the longest war the USA ever fought?
Hint, it lasted 40+ years.

Conservative Cabbie

Sandra

I'll tell yo what, show me evidence that Joe Vogler and sarah palin worked together, that Joe Vogler organised a fundraiser for Palin , that Palin wrote a review for one of Voglers books. Those are the links Obama has to Ayers, I see no such link connecting Palin to Vogler. In other words, what a load of .......
If you're trying to say that a person is guilty because of who is in their party, perhaps you'd be interested to know that former senate majority leader robert Byrd, a democrat who was once an "exalted cyclops" in the Ku Klux Klan. How can Barack Obama associate with such a person. That last bit was not meant seriously, just a tool to demonstrate how stupid this AIP thing is.

Ronnie

Conservative Cabbie, could you please tell me what an Exalted Cyclops is?

EC

Frank,
Haywards trying to put you in a pickle. You know your onions but don't be tempted to bite back! Remember that you came to Bury St. Edmunds not to apprise Haywards - or was that the other way round? I dunno just be sure that to beetroot to yourself .... whatever ...

Hayward Maberley

Mr Cabbie.
an extract from that article on Mr Vogler founder of AIP
"...Vogler's greatest moment of glory was to be his 1993 appearance before the United Nations to denounce U.S. "tyranny" and demand Alaska's freedom. He'd persuaded the government of Iran to sponsor his anti-American harangue..."
So does that place Vogler and the AIP as part of the Axis of Evil?

onethree

Good grief! now even that nice Iain Dale is supporting Obama. What is the world coming to??

Verity

OneThree - Iain's been to DC a couple of times and feels he has absorbed the entire history of the United States and its ethos. It's a common problem among the British.

BTW, of course Senator Byrd was a Democrat! The KKK was a Democrat organisation. It was formed to harass, belittle and murder black people.

The people who outlawed slavery were the Republicans.

JohnAnt

What concerns me is that each time Obama is faced with such a confrontation with his past (Wright, Ayers) he evades the issue with a pained hint that mud is being flung at him because he's black.
But of course, it's not, and he isn't - though he seems strangely eager to insist that he is.

laura

Right on Melanie! Thank you for keeping the FREE press honest - even if we (in the U.S.) have to read UK sources to find "truth" in media. Keep it up!

Verity

Laura and all the Americans expressing gratitude for getting truth here that is suppressed in the American media - certainly Melanie Phillips has been a lucid national and internatinal voice for sanity in politics and civil life for several years. One of the very few. British media is as leftwing or, as they prefer to style it, liberal as the American MSM. "Liberal" in this context, of course, means "illiberal", like closing down freedom of speech in case it offends someone.

I think we all appreciate reading blog commentary here from our American cousins. But over on your side, you know, you have the great Mark Steyn, who is a right-wing genuine freedom-of-the-individual type and terribly funny with it. Like Melanie, he is published in several countries. He reruns his printed pieces at steynonline.com So with Melanie and Mark, you have a daily brace of bracers wherever you live!

MS S

Thank you such an honest appraisal of this unreal election. I wish more Americans and definitely American journalists had an open mind like you do.