It's still 2006 but the 2008 national elections have already begun. It seems silly that we're already sizing up the Presidential candidates when we're still 2 years from the election. But here we are. Maybe it's a reflection of the revulsion we have for the Bush years that we just want to get them over, but time ticks at it's own pace and we're left with over 2 years until the inauguration.
The story I'm interested in is the sudden popularity of Sen. Obama, and at the same time the sliming that's coming from the vast right-wing conspiracy, as Hillary Clinton called them. While that phrase was laughed off it's clear there is a right wing who has an evil narrow minded agenda that would lock down the country into fundamentalist Christian ideals, and outlaw anything else. And of course the person who Sen. Obama is would be so far outside the scope of what those people want, that they're going to target this guy and wear him down.
Consider: Obama... Osama
Gimme a break. The worst they can come up with is similarity in names? And in any case The Hussein name is obviously widely used in the middle east. One thing this video clip does show is how much out of touch typical Americans are, if they cannot realize a non-issue when they see it.
Next: CNN Analyzes Barack Obama's Clothing
Because of his choice of clothes they're going to slander him with a connection to the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. So, uh...?
Next: The swiftboating of Obama begins considers itself with a rather minor land deal with a shady real estate dealer in the Chicago Area. The story is covered in a Washington Post article. The series of events is that a Syrian born businessman, Antoin "Tony" Rezko, whose primary business is running a chain of Panda Express restaurants and real estate developments, and who is politically active serving on some commissions, bought land adjoining a mansion that Sen. Obama bought in 2004. The only suspicious item in the story is that Obama's purchase price was $300,000 below the asking price, which one might consider to be a political favor, or one might consider Sen. Obama a good negotiator, or one might consider that the asking price was inflated.
In any case this story appears to be blown out of proportion with trying to overly connect Obama to Rezko's shady dealings.
Next: Revving Up For 2008, Carl Cameron Files Hit Piece on Barak Obama is a report from NewsHounds, a group founded by Director Greenwald as one of the research arms for his movie Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's war on Journalism. This is a group of bloggers who have continued scrutinizing Fox News reporting, documenting all the slanted stories which appear on that network. This posting details a profile by Carl Cameron on Barak Obama, which apparently tried to depict Sen. Obama as disconnected from the people and instead living in the circles of the Elites.
The profile also trotted out this supposedly shady land dealing, and in the same piece reminded the viewers of the Clinton's supposedly shady deal with the White Water group which we were all subjected to in the mid-90's.
Something to watch is their Barak Obama category, as no doubt they'll publish further stories on him.
Next: How Long Will The Right Let Us Love Obama? gives us the question.. how long before the vast right wing conspiracy really lets loose with the cannons and sinks Obama? What of the fate of John Kerry, for whom the Swift Boat campaign was named. John Kerry came to the campaign full of zeal as a Vietnam veteran, but the Swift Boaters unleashed a series of lies which Kerry was unable to counter. And the stench of that sliming operation still clings to Kerry when he should really be honored for almost beating a sitting wartime President.
The article contains an interesting point about psychological manipulation.
And then there's Al Gore. Al Gore is one of the most remarkable leaders our country has had over the past twenty-five years. A Vietnam veteran, Congressman and Senator, Al Gore was visionary on Global Warming and the environment, actually did lead the development of the Internet, was an active Vice President fully participating in the administration that gave this country its finest years of the last forty.
Next, look at the background of Gore's opponent in the 2000 Presidential Election. And imagine that, remarkably, when all was said and done character emerged as the dominant theme of the 2000 campaign and it was Vice President Gore's character that was being called into question!
Just think about that for a minute - consider what kind of psychological manipulation of the public had to happen before that could be the case.
What kind of Character does Al Gore have? Consider his performance following the 2000 election. Rather than lead the country into a constitutional crisis he followed the letter of the law. He has moral standing, moral will, and on and on, far more than Bush and his cronies demonstrate.
So, I agree with that claim, that for it to have been Gore's character quality that was called into question, massive psychological manipulation of the public had to have been perpetrated. Which just calls to my mind the faked scandals of the Clinton era, because it was those scandals which dogged Gore as well. But most of that scandalry was either fake, propped up by false claims, or else so completely minor in comparison to the highly impeachable acts by the Bush Administration. Which is worse, to lie about sex or to lie about the justifications for a war?
Another form of this psychological manipulation, the depiction of the Democratic party as weak on national defense:
Did you know that George McGovern was a World War II bomber pilot? And remember, in the debate on Iraq, we have John Kerry, Jack Murtha, Max Cleland, Joe Sestak, Chris Carney, Patrick Murphy, Richard Holbrooke, Wesley Clark, and more - all veterans. Our party collects war heroes as leaders. Their leaders collect deferments. And yet? They're perceived as the party of National Security. Why? Because they have spent billions telling us that it is so.
He didn't mention Pres. Kennedy and his experiences as a PT Boat captain and his survival of his boat being shot out from under him.
To be sure the Republican party has some honest war heros. Dwight Eisenhower for one, and Pres. G.H.W.Bush (#41) for another. But the current crop of Republican leaders including the whole of the current administration has not one iota of actual military experience.
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