Letters to the Editor
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Only one campaign has gone negative in Wisconsin
We're registered Dems in Madison so we've been courted pretty heavily by both campaigns.
Only one candidate has gone negative, and that's Hillary. We got a hit piece on Obama's Illinois voting record that was incredibly misleading.
Obama has the kids fired up. I predict a pretty solid win for him today.
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Speaking of myths
Myth One: Most of Obama's supporters are all young idealistic voters. Just review the crowds of thousands at his rallies. Young old, black white, Asian, it's not just youth. I am a female over 60 long time Democrat. When I went to the volunteer centers in CA. there were hundreds of people my age signing up to be precinct captains and we are still making calls across the country.
Myth Two: Obama supporters are just caught up in his rhetoric. I am supporting Obama because I like his pragmatic approach to issues: His health care proposal is more realistic. His Foreign Policy more thought out, not just a re hash of th 90s. He has actually helped pass on legislation that supported working and middle class.
Myth three. He is young and inexperienced. Obama is older than Bill Clinton was in 1992, and has more expereicne than bill did. Older that JFK when he became president. Obama has MORE actual grass roots and years in elected office than Hillary. Age does not necessarily mean you are wiser.
Myth Three: Hillary is Liberal. Obama is a true liberal. Hillary is a centrist pretending to be liberal. Just look at her 7 year voting record, compared to Obama's 11 year voting record.
Myth Four: Hillary is a feminist. Only when convenient. Look at Obama's record in IL. He helped pass legislation that helped women economically,in health care, on domestic violence issues,and on pro-choice issues.
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"I'm kind of a drooling fanboy." Me, too.
I've never had a man-crush before. I am not ashamed to say I do now. Every time I hear him speak, I think "That dude's the sh** and I can't wait to vote for him."
The Republicans wish they had somebody with one-fifth of Obama's charisma and stage presence.
Come to think of it, just about all of the current crop of Democratic nominees and leaders (Edwards, Gore, Howard Dean, even Hilary at her best) have a dynamism and energy about them that makes the Republicans look pale and dusty by comparison.
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the empty platitude meme
From the article, this bit from a Republican supporter:
"I would like to think that Republicans are more grounded, practical, pragmatic," Moore said. "Democrats, especially those followers of Obama, are fanciful, non-realistic swallowers of vague, vacuous platitudes. They're just trite statements that mean absolutely nothing."
Funny thing about that: Barack "Empty Platitudes" Obama's website spells out a staggeringly large array of issues, with reasonably well laid out positions on each issue, along with proposed solutions.
John "Practical, Pragmatic" McCain? Not so much. His website is remarkable in its lightness on ideas and solutions. Not that I'd expect the GOP faithful to bother to research the candidates. As the woman at the Holler House said -- and I'm paraphrasing here -- they'd vote for Hitler if he was a Republican. ;-)
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Exaggerating about FIBs
I didn't bother to read much of this article. It is too long with too little information worth reading. If you have time to read the entire piece, then you have too much free time.
What little I read calls for some comment. The opening bit about "FIBs" is an exxageration. It's a funny term that someone made up - most likely a nineteen year-old male. The term is not used much - mostly by adolescent males - because so many people in Wisconsin moved here from somehere else. Indeed, the area was wrested from a number of "Indian" tribes by settlers from the eastern "United States" and "Europe."
That's not to say there is no reason to resent visitors from "Illinois." The real problem is from the suburbs of Chicago. It's Chicago-style aggression with money. Mostly it manifests on the Interstate highways - driving way too fast, tailgating, causing accidents. Recently there was a 100 car pileup on Interstate 90 near Madison. It was a foggy day, and with bumper-to bumper-traffic at high speed, and all it took was one mishap to cause a chain reaction. Traffic backed up almost to the "Illinois" state line.
It's also a tad more civilized in "Wisconsin," but writing about that would require too much free time.
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What?
"I didn't bother to read much of this article. It is too long with too little information worth reading."
How do you know that if you didn't read the whole article?
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Uncle Tom Night at the Clinton's
It seems as though Black superdelegates are willing to ignore the wishes of their constituents and vote for Hillary Clinton at the convention. Shame on them. I can just imagine what it's like when the Clinton's have them over to discuss their vote....."Yessuh, massah Bill, we's don't care if our districts vote ninety percent for Obama and only ten percent for Miss Hillary. We's gonna vote at the convention for Miss HIllary. Halleluah."
Is it any wonder that Clinton's Black supporters are over the hill Tom's who would have probably told Martin Luther King to "hush up" and "don't rock the boat."
If Barack Obama has won more delegates in the caucuses and primaries and the Clinton's try to deny him the nomination with their superdelegates this will be far worse than what happened in the 2000 election.
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conspiracy theorists, unite!
So I've been noticing a LOT of unhinged Hillary supporters/Obama haters, generally (although not exclusively) posting as Anonymous. Crazy perceptive of me, I know. ;-)
Initially, I thought to myself: "Well, god bless 'em, they're passionate, although I'd venture a bit misinformed." But then they all started to sound similiar. And increasingly illogical at times. And I began to wonder.
Then I heard some callers on the Sam Seder Show (Air America on Sundays. I download the podcasts, and highly recommend it). And lo and behold, a few shrill callers irrationally complaining about how all this support for Obama is making them hate hate hate hate him and as a result they're thinking of sitting out this election or voting for McCain out of spite.
Then I started poking around the web at other blogs/news sites. And by golly, same stuff.
So I started to wonder: Is this part of a concerted campaign to sow discord amongst us Democrats and discourage Independents from voting Democratic? Is this more right wing dirty tricks stuff?
I have my suspicions, but no answers. And of course, I often end up beating up on myself for being so cynical as to assume that such dirty tricks stuff is everywhere. People have every right to be passionate, after all. But there's such a widespread and consistent craziness to it, that it seems almost scripted.
So please consider my plea to you, kind reader of page 15 or so: The vitriol that you feel compelled to respond to, that seems to so greatly raise your ire, my very well be designed solely to do that very thing. To dampen your inclination to support either Democratic candidate.
On the other hand, it could be 100% for real. If so, I shudder to think of what it would mean if this were a true and genuine social phenomenon.
A caveat: I do NOT think that every single empassioned Hillary supporter is some sort of GOP dirty trickster. There are a bunch of well-informed (and not so well-informed) supporters of her candidacy, just as there are on the Obama side. It's not my goal to paint with such a wide brush, but it gets harder to avoid when so many are posting such stuff anonymously. Food for thought for the Salon editors out there, perhaps.