November 13, 2007
Nov 13 03:24 We're Talking Serious Whoppers Here Nov 13 11:21 Maybe She's Part Of the VRWC? Nov 13 12:21 Land Isn't Endorsing Gov. Romney Nov 13 13:15 Feeding the Image Nov 13 14:03 Sen. Reid Delivers Empty Threat Nov 13 16:35 We Aren't Going Away
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct
Prior Years: 2006
We're Talking Serious Whoppers Here
When it comes to telling whoppers, few are as good at it as the people at InFocus Magazine when they're promoting one of their own. That skill set is on display in this puff piece about Rep. Keith Ellison. Here's the opening paragraph:
Keith Ellison, 43, is a father, husband, attorney, former Minnesota state legislator, community advocate, and now a United States Congressman. Ellison's roots as a community activist and his message of inclusivity through democratic participation resonated throughout the Fifth District. His long career of advocacy is focused on promoting peace, prosperity for working families, and civil and human rights. In 2006, Ellison made history as the first African American elected to Congress from Minnesota and the first member of the Muslim faith elected to Congress. Congressman Ellison took his ceremonial oath ceremony into Congress with the holy Qur'an that was owned by founding father Thomas Jefferson. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, he moved to Minnesota in 1987 to attend the University of Minnesota Law School, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 1990. Ellison and his wife, Kim, a high school mathematics teacher, have lived on the Minneapolis Northside for the past eighteen years. They are the proud parents of four children. Ellison will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming banquet for the Council on American-Islamic Relations' southern California chapter on Nov. 10.When InFocus says that "his long career of advocacy is focused on promoting peace", I wonder if they were refering to this :
Ellison praised Soliah for "fighting for freedom." At the time, she faced charges of planting pipe bombs under two Los Angeles police cars as a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army, a paramilitary organization whose slogan was "Death to the fascist insect that preys on the life of the people."Forgive me if that isn't my idea of advocacy "focused on promoting peace." Fighting for a terrorist's rights to kill police officers isn't my idea of promoting peace. Nor does it fit into my notion of civil and human rights.
Let's not forget this Ellison gem :
But Ellison's call to the crowd was broader than a plea to aid Soliah. "We need to come together and free,all the Saras," he proclaimed.It's obvious that InFocus isn't a serious magazine. Their view of Keith Ellison is selective at best. What kind of man would be happy that a murderer escaped to Cuba? What kind of magazine would say that a politician who was an activist "focused on promoting peace...and civil and human rights" would omit the fact that this same 'activist' applauds the escape of murderers?
Like who? Like Assata Shakur, Ellison told his audience. Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army, a "revolutionary activist organization," who killed a New Jersey state trooper "execution-style at point-blank range," according to the
FBI's Wanted Fugitives website.
Shakur escaped from prison in 1979, and eventually fled to Cuba. She "should be considered armed and extremely dangerous," says the FBI, which is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading to her apprehension.
Ellison, however, lauded Shakur. "I am praying that Castro does not get to the point where he has to really barter with these guys over here because they're going to get Assata Shakur, they're going to get a whole lot of other people," he told the crowd. "I hope the Cuba[n] people can stick to it, because the freedom of some good decent people depends on it."
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 3:24 AM
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Maybe She's Part Of the VRWC?
The world is quickly getting to know Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff after being Hillary Clinton's planted questioner about global warming. After being interviewed by CNN, I'm betting that Hillary wishes they'd never heard of her. Here's why I think that:
Gallo-Chasanoff, whose story was first reported in the campus newspaper, said what happened was really pretty simple: She says a senior Clinton staffer asked if she'd like to ask the senator a question after an energy speech the Democratic presidential hopeful gave in Newton, Iowa, on November 6.Talk about being manipulative. Hillary is being utterly controlling with her questions. This ties in perfectly with what I wrote yesterday :
"I sort of thought about it, and I said 'Yeah, can I ask how her energy plan compares to the other candidates' energy plans?'" Gallo-Chasanoff said. "'I don't think that's a good idea," the staffer said, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, "because I don't know how familiar she is with their plans."
On June 1, The New York Times published a front-page article titled, ONE PLACE WHERE OBAMA GOES ELBOW TO ELBOW. The feature detailed Barack Obama's love for pickup basketball, his jersey-tugging style, even the time he hit a long game-winning shot after getting fouled.In other words, Hillary's campaign is all about maintaining a controlled environment at the events. The last thing Hillary's campaign wants is for her to be asked questions that'll take her off script. The bad news for Hillary's campaign is that this is just the beginning of this story:
The Obama camp clearly welcomed the humanizing glimpse at Obama's life; his rivals, probably not so much. In an ordinary campaign, that might have been it. But this is no ordinary campaign, not when Hillary Clinton is a candidate. And so, the Clinton team let Times reporter Patrick Healy, who covers the Hillary beat, know about their "annoyance" with the story, as Healy later put it.
If grumbling about a basketball story seems excessive, it's also typical of the Clinton media machine. Reporters who have covered the hyper-vigilant campaign say that no detail or editorial spin is too minor to draw a rebuke. Even seasoned political journalists describe reporting on Hillary as a torturous experience. Though few dare offer specifics for the record, "They're too smart," one furtively confides. "They'll figure out who I am", privately, they recount excruciating battles to secure basic facts. Innocent queries are met with deep suspicion. Only surgically precise questioning yields relevant answers. Hillary's aides don't hesitate to use access as a blunt instrument, as when they killed off a negative GQ story on the campaign by threatening to stop cooperating with a separate Bill Clinton story the magazine had in the works. Reporters' jabs and errors are long remembered, and no hour is too odd for an angry phone call.
In a statement, the campaign also added, "On this occasion a member of our staff did discuss a possible question about Senator Clinton's energy plan at a forum.... This is not standard policy and will not be repeated again."You'd better believe that Hillary is seething about this episode. I'd doubt that she's upset that they're scripting her answers. I'm positive, though, that she's upset that her little manipulation got exposed. What's worse is this revelation:
Gallo-Chasanoff may have some doubts about that one as well. "After the event," she said, "I heard another man...talking about the question he asked, and he said that the campaign had asked him to ask that question."
The man she references prefaced his question by saying that it probably didn't have anything to do with energy, and then posed the following: "I wonder what you propose to do to create jobs for the middle-class person, such as here in Newton where we lost Maytag." A Maytag factory in Newton recently closed, forcing hundreds of people out of their jobs.
He then opened a binder to a page that, according to Gallo-Chasanoff, had about eight questions on it. " The top one was planned specifically for a college student ," she added. " It said 'college student' in brackets and then the question."It sounds like Hillary's staff has a binder with specific questions for the specific events. Hillary must know about it because her campaign staff must know what Hillary will be talking about at each stop. This type of information fits Hillary's character because she wants things as controlled as possible.
What's worst about this situation is that Hillary can't really go after Ms. Gallo-Chasanoff because it's the type of thing that might blow up in their face. It wouldn't look good tearing into a college student who doesn't have an axe to grind. Unleashing the attack dogs might trigger a negative reaction with Iowa voters. If she lost Iowa by a significant margin, her aura of invincibility would be demolished. She'd be able to recover but she'd be in a bad position.
Talk about not having any good options.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 11:26 AM
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Land Isn't Endorsing Gov. Romney
Much was made last week about the endorsements Mitt Romney got from Christian conservative leaders. It now appears one of those 'endorsements' was a misunderstanding:
Dr. Richard Land, President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said Monday that he supports Republican Mitt Romney's right to seek the presidency as a Mormon, but has not, and will not endorse any candidate running for president.I don't think that Mitt Romney did anything improper in saying what he said but I think it's a good thing that Land clarified things. Though there are some Christian conservatives that say they can't vote for a Mormon, most Christian conservatives can separate theology and politics.
"Defending Governor Romney's right to run is very different than endorsing Governor Romney, which I have not done," Land said in a statement.
Land was responding to comments Romney made in South Carolina last week to an audience of Bob Jones University students, faculty and alumni, in which he sought to reconcile his Mormon faith with the evangelical Christian community he is courting in South Carolina.
Romney justified his faith to the invitation-only audience by invoking previous comments made by Land on the subject.
"I think it was Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, who said we're not electing a pastor-in-chief, and so I appreciate that support and just you remember that when you go to vote," Romney said.
I suspect that more Christians have problems with Romney's shifting beliefs than there are Christians opposed to Romney because he's Mormon.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 12:23 PM
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Feeding the Image
Drudge is reporting that Wolf Blitzer has been warned by the Clintonistas:
CNN's Wolf Blitzer has been warned not to focus Thursday's Dem debate on Hillary. 'This campaign is about issues, not on who we can bring down and destroy,' top Clinton insider explains. 'Blitzer should not go down to the levels of character attack and pull 'a Russert." Blitzer is set to moderate debate from Vegas, with questions also being posed by Suzanne Malveaux...I wouldn't be surprised if this is the Clintonista's way of repaying CNN for running the story about Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, which I wrote about here . It's been documented in several articles that Mrs. Clinton's campaign isn't opposed to targetting 'uncooperative' reporters. This warning is actually a two-fer: They warn Blitzer while slamming Tim Russert again.
Hillary's trying to plant the image that Russert's question was a gotcha question. I don't think it's working. Hillary exposed herself as a panderer by being totally evasive. That's why I think it's laughable for her campaign to say that "'This campaign is about issues." As I said yesterday , "[Hillary]'s tried avoiding taking firm positions the way Superman tried avoiding Kryptonite."
Though they'd never admit it, a Hillary White House would be so secretive in their dealing with the press that it'd make the Bush administration look like the most open, unsecretive White House in history. Hillary couldn't survive politically if she didn't manipulate the media.
The questions I'd like answering is this: Will voters reject Hillary's heavy-handed media manipulations? Will they tell Hillary that they demand that she answer their questions in a straightforward manner?
It's time that Hillary got hit for setting the rules for the media's coverage.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 1:16 PM
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Sen. Reid Delivers Empty Threat
Harry Reid told Capitol Hill reporters that President Bush wouldn't get his %50 billion Iraq supplemental if President Bush didn't agree to start bringing troops home:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday that Democrats won't approve more money for the Iraq war this year unless President Bush agrees to begin bringing troops home.Sen. Reid's statements should be viewed as him talking tough to enhance his image. Sen. Reid knows that soldiers from the 4th ID are starting to return home, with more soldiers scheduled to return by mid-July:
By the end of the week, the House and Senate planned to vote on a $50 billion measure for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill would require Bush to initiate troop withdrawals immediately with the goal of ending combat by December 2008.
If Bush vetoes the bill, "then the president won't get his $50 billion," Reid, D-Nev., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference.
One hundred members of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, which has been deployed in Iraq since last year, will return to El Paso today. The group arriving at Biggs Army Airfield today are the first wave in the return of about 4,000 cavalry soldiers from northwest Iraq.Sen. Reid's tough talk is meant to change public opinion about him by portraying him as having an impact on President Bush's Iraq policy. Most people, though, see right through Sen. Reid's PR ploy.
Soldiers of the advance party will make preparations for the return of the rest of the unit in December, Fort Bliss officials said. For the past 15 months, soldiers have mostly been serving in Nineveh Province, in northwest Iraq. However, some of the unit's members are stationed in Baghdad.
The soldiers have been doing everything from tracking down and killing insurgents to rebuilding libraries and providing food and water to the Iraqi people, Fort Bliss officials said. Officials said the return marks the completion the cavalry's tour of duty in Iraq.
People know better because they're getting most of their information from the internet instead of from smooth-talking politicians. People are figuring it out that they can filter these politicians' statements against other related stories.
When everything is said and done, President Bush will get every penny of funding that he requested because people have read of the improvement in Iraqi security. They've even read that electrical output has significantly increased :
Qudas electric generation facility in north Baghdad is getting two new gas turbines which will add 200 megawatts of power to the national grid.They know that casualties in Iraq are dropping, too, which gives President Bush alot of latitude to prosecute the war while attempting to bring about national reconciliation.
A crew of more than 150 Iraqis are involved with the $160 million project and this month are placing 1,000 cubic meters of concrete to create the two pedestals where those new turbines will be located. The contractor expects to have the new turbines on line and providing electrical power to Iraq sometime next spring.
Col. Robert Vasta with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says, "This is important for Baghdad and the entire country. We're working directly with the Ministry of Electricity at each step to ensure we're meeting their quality standards and expectations."
Currently there are four large turbines and four smaller ones at Qudas with a total generating capability of 492 MW. The $160 million expansion project will increase that power output 40 percent. (One megawatt of electricity is enough to power more than 900 Iraqi homes, so those additional 200 megawatts will impact an additional 180,000 households.)
About all that Sen. Reid can do is throw an occasional hissy fit. This morning's outburst should be seen as his latest hissy fit on Iraq and as an attempt to keep the campaign contributions coming in.
UPDATE: This AP article offers a better perspective on how Democrats initially talk tough about stopping the war, then folding like a lawn chair when pressured:
Despite the administration's opposition, the Democratic legislation is not a dramatic departure from Bush's current plans for Iraq. The Pentagon has already begun to reverse its buildup of 30,000 troops-an act that would more than satisfy the bill's requirement that Bush withdraw an unspecified number of troops.For all their tough talk, Sen. Reid and Ms. Pelosi don't have a strong record in the Nutroots' eyes. In the Nutroots' eyes, Sen. Reid and Ms. Pelosi have failed miserably in stopping the war.
But the administration says troop levels should be based on conditions on the ground and not predetermined by Congress.
The bill to be voted on this week is similar to one Bush rejected in May. Unable to muster the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto, Democrats stripped the timetable from the $95 billion bill and approved the war money without restrictions.
I see no reason to think this time won't follow the same pattern of Democrats talking tough...until they cave.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 2:47 PM
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We Aren't Going Away
That's the message from Gene Stilp to Public Radio Capitol News' Jen Rehill . Here's part of their conversation:
"You have the PHEAA scandal going on, you have the Bonusgate scandal going on, you have, trying to push [Attorney General] Tom Corbett to keep on going after the legislators in regard to the Bonusgate scandal. So we're not going away; we're going to be here and keep on fighting for Pennsylvanians," Stilp said.I wouldn't get too comfortable if I was a Pennsylvania legislator because I don't think that people are done taking out their anger on politicians yet. There's a "We're mad as hell & we're not going to take it anymore" attitude boiling up across the nation. Pennsylvania isn't excempt from that attitude by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, It's quite possible that it's more intense there than in other states.
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"We'll keep on going after open records," he said, "and we'll keep on after everything else that makes this place the closed system that it is. And we're going to not stop until we get reform here, no matter what anybody says. If you will, we have lost the battle, but the reform wars still wage in Harrisburg."
Things will start intensifying if & when politicians are indicted by Tom Corbett's grand jury investigating Bonusgate. Things will also intensify when the Open Records Act is voted on.
People know that they're being given the mushroom treatment. They know that they're being kept in the dark & being fed a pile of manure. The other dynamic at work here is that politicians haven't figured out that they can't get away with that tactic anymore because of the amounts of information available through the internet. I pity the politicians that don't figure that out before next November.
Posted Tuesday, November 13, 2007 4:35 PM
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