QC Examiner

One of the best articles I’ve ever read about Barack Obama was published today in The New York Times.

The article clearly explains how Obama went from a nobody to POTUS nominee is just a few years, and they make clear he has had his eye on the prize for a very long time.

The authors describe Obama’s politics as “the politics of maximum unity”, and this is how they describe it:

“He moved from his leftist Hyde Park base to more centrist circles; he forged early alliances with the good-government reform crowd only to be embraced later by the city’s all-powerful Democratic bosses; he railed against pork-barrel politics but engaged in it when needed; and he empathized with the views of his Palestinian friends before adroitly courting the city’s politically potent Jewish community.

To broaden his appeal to African-Americans, Mr. Obama had to assiduously court older black leaders entrenched in Chicago’s ward politics while selling himself as a young, multicultural bridge to the wider political world.”

This is a fascinating and fair study of a man who is able to win supporters, but discard them when it becomes politically inconvenient, as we have seen with his treatment of Rev. Wright.

Be sure to read the part about his famous anti-war speech in ‘02. The speech was given before a crowd of frothing anti-war activists, but rather than just throw them the red meat they craved, he threw in a little “all wars are not bad” so he could cover himself if the war turned out to be a good thing and popular. This sort of calculation is typical of his rise to prominence.

This is must read because it explains how Obama is about everything and nothing and why he is able to convince so many people that he shares their beliefs and concerns—-even beliefs and concerns that are mutually exclusive.

Bob Novak’s book The Prince of Darkness is a fascinating read for any political/press junkie. He tells all the political inside juicy stuff from the past 50 years, when most of us weren’t born, weren’t politically aware or were distracted with other things in life.

As I’ve mentioned here from time to time, in ‘00 I backed John McCain for POTUS but I was only vaguely aware of what was happening with his national campaign—-all I knew was that by the time the Illinois primary rolled around, he had already been knocked out of the race.

At the beginning, George Bush was the “anointed one” even though no one knew much about him, but McCain knocked out the four other candidates and was coming on like gangbusters winning a string of primaries and eroding Bush’s support and it looked like he might win the nomination.

But just as he was positioned to make the break through by winning the Virginia primary, he did something incredibly stupid. The night before the primary, he denounced the religious Right, particularly Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, calling them “agents of intolerance”. Unfortunately for him, both men were Virginians and religious conservatives were and are a major voting bloc for the GOP.

Needless to say, his campaign was over.

So now we come to ‘08 where once again McCain came back from behind and back from the dead to be the nominee. So what does he do? It seems he over-learned his lesson from his ‘00 “agents of intolerance” screed and is now embracing “agents of intolerance” like the Rev. Hagee.

Sheesh!

I just finished Bob Novak’s 638 page book The Prince of Darkness and there was lots of juicy information spanning the 50 years that Novak has been a reporter and pundit.

Around page 494, I had this strange sensation of deja vu. Novak was writing about the Clinton campaign in ‘92 when the “bimbo eruptions” began in the tabloid press—this time concerning Clinton’s long term affair with Gennifer Flowers.

In a style that is now far too familiar, Clinton denounced what turned out to be the truth as Republicans spreading “a pack of lies” and adding the kicker that “(t)he American people are sick and tired of that kind of politics”. The truth was until then, a politician’s sex life had mostly been off limits for the press and as Novak says, “I had not seen the press corps so excited by a presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy forty-two years earlier. They did not want Clinton brought down by the tabloid press.”

Kinda sounds familiar, doesn’t it? A POTUS candidate who is the darling of the national press, which will do everything in their power to protect their chosen one, including keeping information from the public.

But aside from that, what grabbed my attention was Novak’s account of what Clinton said at a rally to counter the truth that he had been bonking Flowers:

“Flanked by his wife, Hillary, and their 11 year-old daughter, Chelsea, Clinton declared: ‘We can be one country again’.”

Good plan! When confronted with inconvenient truths—-call the truth divisive. Obama has lately used this Horndog Bill spin when McCain told the truth about how Hamas wanted Obama to be POTUS.

Obama is doing nothing new or original—he has ripped a page from the Clinton playbook and is making it the cornerstone of his campaign.

Novak’s book ends after the ‘06 election, so he did not know that Obama would be the new American Idol for the national press in ‘08, just as the press idolized Clinton in ‘92. There is a lot we don’t know about Obama and history shows we cannot depend on the press to tell us the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about Obama—-it just ain’t in ‘em.

When I read pages 494-495 of Novak’s book, it just reinforced my opinion that the only thing Obama is capable of changing is his underwear.

The comedy stylings of Senator Mike Jacobs:

From the Dispatch concerning a proposed 12% pay raise for Illinois lawmakers:

“I don’t want to say I’m underpaid, but I’m not paid what I’m worth to my district…”

Or, as translated by the QCTimes:

“I think that we’re underpaid and I look at some other people do a lot less than what I think I do and make a heck of a lot more money…”

Either way, it’s comedy gold!

Bonus Shecky hilarity in the QCTimes:

“Frankly, if you don’t want politicians selling jobs and you don’t want politicians carrying plastic bags to the Governor’s Mansion full of cash, well then you’ve got to pay them.”

You can’t make this stuff up—I can’t stop laughing—-Shecky you’re killing me!

…taxpayers in my 2006 Buick Lucerne.

Your tax dollars at work.

Today the Dispatch reports that Dollar Bill Phil is one of only seven Illinois US Congressmen who lease cars and bill the taxpayers for the perk.

Dollar Bill Phil leases a 2006 Buick Lucerne for $847.49 a month, which is the most expensive lease of any in the Illinois delegation. By contrast, Chicago’s Bobby Rush leases a 2007 Lincoln Navigator for only $746.57 a month.

Hare’s shill tries to spin this the best he can by claiming Hare got the “best deal possible” and that the Buick is an American-made car.

But here’s the hoot-o-rama quote from the Dispatch:

Rep. Hare’s spokesman, Tim Schlittner, said the price includes maintenance and repair, and that the congressman felt (the leased car) was needed to travel across the large 17th Congressional District, which includes all or part of 23 counties from north of the Quad-Cities south along the Mississippi River to areas around Springfield and Decatur.

It’s a Win-Win for Hare! The district is gerrymandered for Democats, so Hare gets to be congressman and at the same time he can whine about needing a car because the district is so spread out—in order to keep Democrats in power!

We need to give a shout-out to Lane Evans, Johnny G and all the Democrat elites who selected this wonderful grifter for our congressman. I can’t help but think we are truly getting the government we deserve.

But at the very least, we should demand Big Labor pay half of Hare’s monthly lease—after all, Hare works for them more than he works for us—and the unions can better afford it.

I had my say about Jeremiah Wright last week and we’ll know today if Wright is just a distraction for Obama’s campaign or if their 20 year association says something important about Obama’s judgment and character.

All the talk over the past week has been about how Wright will effect the Obama campaign, but no one is talking about what effect Wright and his ilk are having on the community they claim to be serving.

Gary MacDougal, who was chairman of the Illinois governor’s Task Force On Human Services Reform has seen the damage done first hand and writes about his experience in The Washington Post and states outright that Wright, and those like him “rob thousand of listeners of the American dream: hope that through their hard work they can have better lives.”

Imagine how you would feel if your spiritual and political leaders told you:

**That white America sees black women useful only for their bodies

**That the job market is stacked against you and that the jobs that are available aren’t good enough—that you are entitled to more

**That prisons are the white man’s genocide used to keep blacks down

**That you should not work jobs that don’t pay overtime for Saturday work because that is racist and abusive behavior on the part of an employer
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taxpayers are doing their share to help the problem of poverty and unemployment—every year the federal government spends billions of dollars, amounting to more than $10,000 per poor person for welfare, Medicaid, earned-income tax credit, job training and food stamps. Spiritual and political leaders who discourage individual responsibility and instead preach victimization are hurting the very people they say they want to help.

MacDougal has the last word:

“Life isn’t fair for people of any skin color. And sadly, in America today, many blacks face barriers such as economic insecurity, scarece jobs and poor schools, which create even higher hurdles for them to overcome. There is no cure-all for this inequity. But the effect that Jeremiah Wright has on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign is far less important than the effect of the terrible message that Wright and others like him send to their congregations.”

Sen. Barack Obama won the endorsement of the Teamsters earlier this year after privately telling the union he supported ending the strict federal oversight imposed to root out corruption, according to officials from the union and Obama campaign.

The independent review board monitoring Teamster activity has been in place since 1992 in order to eliminate mob influence in the union.

Looks like the Democrats are FOR massive Executive power—as long as it a Democrat with the power!

Such a sweet deal for Barry— in exchange for the union endorsement and those sweet, sweet union $$$$$$, all he has to do, if elected, is call off the Justice Department going after all the mobsters and union goons.

How sweet it is!

Barack Obama: The Pander Bear salutes you!

The next time your boss asks why you didn’t complete the Smith report on time, or why you are always late for work; or when your significant other wants to know why you won’t diaper the baby, take out the trash, empty the dishwasher or put the seat down; when the officer wants to know why you were doing 40 over the speed limit, just give ‘em the Michelle Obama ploy:

You know, this conversation doesn’t help my kids.

If it works for her, it can work for you!

Maybe—if you are the wife of The Golden Child—otherwise, all bets are off.

I have no idea what Obama expects to accomplish by saying drivel like this:

“The fact is our lives more approximate the lives of average voters than any of the other candidates.”

Well do tell. How many people do you know who were raised in Hawaii by doting grandparents, who attended exclusive prep schools, who went to Princeton, Columbia and Harvard Law School? How many “average voters” made 4.2 million dollars last year, or $991.296 the year before? How many addressed the Democrat National Convention? How many live in a Chicago mansion? How many spend $10,000 a year on their children’s activities?

Why is he doing this? I’m not a political consultant, but the truth is that Obama will never appeal to working class Democrats because he has no idea what being “working class” means.

As for being more average than the other candidates, in one respect I suppose that is true. When Obama was living his idyllic life in Hawaii, John McCain was being tortured every day at the Hanoi Hilton because he followed his family’s tradition of service to his country.

Yeah Barry, I’m cryin’ for ya.

Or maybe not. It appears the good Rev. Jeremiah (God DAMN America) Wright is only the tip of the “awesome” unhinged leftwing preacher iceberg.

Exhibit A: At a town hall event in Des Moines on Thursday, John McCain was asked this question by Marty Parrish:

PARRISH: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally busive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a c**t?

MCCAIN: Now, now, You don’t want to…Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back.

The DMR reports that the audience gasped at the question and applauded McCain’s handling of it. Well, yeah, those “when did you stop beating your wife” questions belong to the press.

As it turns out, Parrish isn’t just a man of the cloth, he’s a Democrat plant/operative (surprise! surprise!). He is Baptist minister who worked for the Joe Biden campaign but is now an Obama supporter, who also—-writes for the leftwing Huffington Post.

Hey Reverend Parrish—do you preach the love of God with that mouth?

I guess Parrish wanted his 15 minutes of fame like Mayhill Fowler who broke Obama’s “bitterly clinging” remarks on HuffPo.

Where do they get these people? Sheesh!

Exhibit B: George Bush is giving the high school commencement address today at Greensburg, Kansas, a community that was ravaged last spring by a tornado. So what do the leftwing moonbats associated with Westboro Baptist Church do—-they picket!

Many think the Fred Phelps crew are Republicans, but if you look at his Wikipedia page, he has been a Democrat operative for years.

But why would the Phelps crew picket the hapless Greensburg senior class? Two reasons:

1. Bush is a target because “of his leadership betraying biblical principles and pretending he’s righteous when he’s given this country over to fags”.

2. Greensburg is the “face of the wrath of God upon this state (Kansas) and on this nation.”

Sheesh!

Katha Pollitt was right when she said the Democrat Party got what it deserved when it abandoned the secular and embraced the “awesome” blue state God.