Presidential hopeful John McCain had been pretty secretive about his medical records, no wonder, his cancer has returned in a really horrible form:
The tumor now talks, though unintelligibly, about not playing golf instead of letting men and women in uniform get time off from the war at home; it whispers things like, "Soldiers don't deserve to get help with their education through Sen. Webb's GI bill because they're not members of Blackwater or Halliburton subsidiaries."
We wish Sen. McCain well in the safe removal of this malignant and monstrous tumor. Doctors say surgery to start removal will begin Nov. 2008, and they're confident the diseased skin will be gone by January 2009.
When you have cancer and can laugh about it, do it and save your worry if it offends others.
This is an updated diary to respond to the negative attacks already begun as part of the McCain/Rove general election strategy:
The negative attacks on Obama have begun. They've attacked his patriotism, his lack of military experience, his willingness to deal directly with friends and foes alike, etc. Here are possible Obama answers to these attacks:
It's 3 a.m. in the morning and I'm shooting my mouth off. Bill and Chelsea are fast asleep but I can't. So I get up, walk out of the bedroom and look out the living room window.
I've just lost the Presidency. All that I've worked for for so many months, and probably thought of, for so many years. And what did me in? No Obama, that guy who just came out of nowhere and pulled the rug out from under me. Not the press and the swiftboaters. No. I did it all by myself. It's 3 a.m. in the morning and I just shot myself...in the foot.
At the NRA convention in Kentucky this afternoon, Karl Rove portrayed Barack Obama as an effete, South Side liberal who claims he's immune to criticism and and who would confiscate guns by the barrel. The gun stuff is much less important than Rove's general line of argument; Rove has a direct line to McCain advisers Steve Schmidt and Charlie Black and has been pushing the campaign to make these sorts of contrasts.
So NRA members, please answer these questions:
Are you true patriots or do you love your guns more than your country?
Are you loving fathers/mothers or do you love your guns more than your children?
Are you for peace and order, or do you love your guns more than getting them in the hands of gangs and terrorists?
If you love your country more than your guns, then you won't let Karl Rove fool you into staying in Iraq and bringing the country down under a mountain of debt, a mountain of dead soldiers and innocent Iraqi women and children, a mountain of crippled veterans.
I visited www.hillaryis44.org and I'm just amazed at how much vitrol they feel toward Sen. Obama and his supporters. They're all saying they'd rather vote for McCain than Obama. I tried to post a couple of times there but have never succeeded in getting one accepted. The last one I did, I said that if they vote for McCain, at least should do so with eyes WIDE OPEN because they'll be voting for probably a war with Iran, more people dying and getting their limbs cut off in Iraq, the US going into depression under the weight of all the debt & tax cuts for the rich and money-bleeding in Iraq; no health care; and women going to jail for abortions. Of course they didn't post my message.
That doesn't mean I can't post theirs though. Here's a 'greatest hits' collection of what they're saying. It kinda reveals their mind-set and guess what, Kossacks are very much in their heads:
(by the way, I wouldn't be surprised if www.hillaryis44.org has been infiltrated by Rove operatives to create a divide between Democrats to allow another Bush term in McCain.)
If you're in the mood to celebrate and to shed some tears of joy and pride, then here's a collection of Obama Greatest Hits, starting with the speech for John Kerry and John Edwards at the Democratic National Convention that brought the house down and surprised me that it still was able to move me to tears when I saw it again in composing this diary. Next we read the Time magazine cover story "Why Barack Obama Could be the Next President" where we see the beginning of what we now know and love about the man.
Next, 'The Dance' where it dawned on everyone that this dude will be the first super-cool guy to be President.
Then the beautiful surprise speech of Maria Shriver for Obama which was spur of the moment--she actually wasn't even 'made up' to appear.
Next is Obama's moving and then witty answer to the question of whether Bill Clinton was the 'first black president.'
Then 'the Race speech'--where he turned what everyone thought would be his swiftboat moment into the Gettysburg address.
For a glimpse of how we'll finally replace the ignoramus in the WH with a smart, wise person, check out his questioning of Gen. Petraeus.
Finally, lets end with Tracy Morgan's beautiful quip which is even more powerful because it looks like it's actually going to come true!
Hi all. I'm wondering if we can compile a list of all well-known Obama endorses/supporters or those who have said they will vote for Obama. Here's what I have so far (please add more or correct if I have incorrectly added some):
Well-known endorses of obama:
Tom Hanks
George Clooney
Brad Pitt
Leonardo DiCaprio
Michael Moore
Harrison Ford
Mark Hamill
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Oprah Winfrey
The Grateful Dead
Ben & Jerry (ice cream fame)
Bill Maher
Scarlett Johanssen
Angelina Jolie
Denzel Washington
Lawrence Fishburne
Bill Bradley
Caroline Kennedy
Maria Shriver
Edward Kennedy
Steve Jobs
Halle Berry
(more after the fold)...
Add yours in your comments! Go Obama!
"It was her, and she's deceased," said Frank Ruggiero, a public information officer with the Tarpon Springs Police Department. "There's no question that it was a suicide."
Considering the DC Madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey, could reveal her embarrassing client list of the rich and powerful (they say mostly Republicans--and some hint of a Cheney connection), for the police to immediately say "no question that it was a suicide" is kinda suspicious. A lot of powerful and well-placed men would want her silenced to prevent her from revealing their names. At the very least, a full autopsy and a thorough CSI investigation of every fiber and evidence in the crime scene is a requirement. Also, her body was found at a shed...curious.
There's a severe disconnect between attending an Obama rally or hearing him in an interview on TV or YouTube, versus what what you read in papers, what you see/hear from the talking heads/pundits, what you read in the media blogs. Ordinary folks who don't have a press badge see an inspiring candidate with a fresh take on how to solve the problems of the country. They see a friendly guy, smart, witty, yet down to earth. They see a guy who's at home in his own skin and seems sincerely motivated to help people and make a difference in people's lives. Now contrast this view to the media's take:
Whether we admit it or not, at the back of our minds, whether we're religious, athiestic or agnostic, some of us think there's such a thing as 'fate', as in, if you're meant to experience something in the future, whether a tragedy or success, there's nothing you can do to stop it. It's going to happen.
Well, let me tell you right now that it's NOT TRUE!
We can change our future. It's not set in stone. And here are the actual facts to prove it.
I just watched C-Span's coverage of the Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing where Obama got to question Gen. Petraus and Amb. Crocker. Verdict? Impressive! As I listened to him, I could almost feel Gen. Petraus and Amb. Crocker acknowledge that this guy asking the questions might be their next commander in chief. You could see the respect, the deference in their tone and answers. You could almost imagine them standing up and saluting. As for the substance, it was like Obama was sincerely trying to find out a solution to the Iraq mess. His main point was, given the status quo, if the Iraq government could keep things basically as they are now, would that be considered enough of a 'success' for the US and mark the end of the occupation? As compared to the current pie-in-the-sky scenario of the Bush administration which seems to consider 'success' a moving target: depending on the circumstances, namely, what Bush and Cheney feel like doing when they wake up in the morning, what will let the Republicans retain the White House and prevent their people from getting indicted for war crimes. More...
A campaign tactic that Obama can employ is to let Pennsylvanians realize the power they have to unite the party and thus enable it to win the White House. Hillary, pundits and the DNC all have said or hinted that if Hillary loses Pennsylvania (grr, it's so hard to spell) she will realize that her campaign has ended and there's just no realistic way for her to win the primary. She will thus gracefully exit, giving a concession speech that will unite the party and repair her legacy.
So Pennsylvanians, and campaigners in Pennsylvania, do the right thing! Unite the party! It's in your power! Yes you can! make this dream come true: "Obama wins Pennsylvania. Clinton concedes. Democrats unite!"
Sen. Barack Obama was just on "The View" which is hosted by Barbara Walters, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Sherri Shepherd. The View women had been pretty negative about Obama for a few episodes--they seemed very pro-Hillary. But on this show, you could see that Obama melted some hearts. By the end of the broadcast, the three (with the exception of Whoopi who seemed to be already a supporter and didn't want to behave too gaga) seemed to be in love.
I recently saw on TV some mainland Chinese speaking about the Tibet protestors as if they were pests, cockroaches to just be stomped on and swept away. These Chinese citizens and officials talked with such pride in their voice, as if their cruel acts show that they are in some way superior. It in fact reveals their low-intelligence, their lack of wisdom.
In her NY piece, "Monster Mash," M.Dowd criticizes Obama, saying, "You can’t be elected president unless you prove you’re tough." And for M.Dowd, this means dishing the dirt, going as negative as Hillary, putting aside Hope for Dope.
M.Dowd just doesn't get it. Americans are tired of this 'more-of-the-same.' It's the reason why for the past presidential and congressional contests, turnout has been poor, people's interest nonexistent, people's energies' extinguished. And can you blame them? What was available then? Men and women who have their souls stripped and replaced with cue cards, polls, focus groups, political strategizing, half-truths, and outright lies. The only ones who voted were those who hoped for the best but only got the worse.
So here comes Obama with a new way of doing things: why not let the people be the guide for once. Why not let the people run the campaign, manage the door to door, fill up the caucuses? Why not let the people have a hand in the policies, a hand in deciding how they want the next president affect their lives.
In goldmj's diary Bill Bradley attacks on NewsHour w/Jim Lehrer, she mentions Bill Bradley attacking Hillary on PBS's Newshour by saying the only reason he can see for Hillary to refuse to show her tax return and Bill to not reveal his presidential library funders is they're afraid it'll reveal people who've made the Clintons rich and who've profited from Bill's presidency, Hillary's senatorship, and might again profit from a Hillary presidency.
Now if there's one thing that needs vetting, this is it.
Democrats should know during the primaries if their candidate has such huge skeletons in the closet it's going to wallop them on the head in the general. So far, with Obama, the only thing people can dish out are non sequiturs, innuendos, prejudices and spin. With Hillary, on the other hand, there's real beef.
