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Jim's Word
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Author, radio host and itinerant muckraker Jim Hightower shares his thoughts on the presidential campaign, the role of grassroots organizing, and all things politics.
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Obama voting for FISA is deal braker.
what is the difference between Obama & McCain?
How many times must it be said that the _average_ donation to the Obama campaign is $90.
It could easily be argued that, from a standpoint of funding, NO candidate has EVER mounted so populist a campaign.
Thanks for "conundra"!
Obama has no ethical compass. He has abandoned public funding of elections, voted for Bush's illegal spying on Americans, and now come out in favor of the death penalty. What's left of any progressive agenda? Was there ever a more self-serving, disengenuous candidate?
Hmmm... Let's see...
Should Obama try to win or try to appeal to everyone on the left 100% of the time and lose?
I guess many people would be satisfied if he satisfied them now rather than become president and make a real difference.
The problem is that complainers are never satisfied and reject reality in order to sustain their complaining.
Walk America 2008: Bringing the voice of the people to our next president
http://www.walkamerica2008.com/
Ralph Nader on Barack Obama: “It is Quite Clear He is a Corporate Candidate from A to Z”
http://www.votenader.org/
NADER / GONZALEZ '08
#1 Michael
I agree,
Obama's behavior is Reminiscent of the Hubris Michael Dukakis presidential run. His vote for FISA shows that he believes that now that he has won the democratic primary he can just through off those he believes will vote for him no matter what position he takes.
BO went back on his word cause he has 25 million more than JM...
maybe one day the pronaderist will build a political movement to challenge the 2 party system in congress instead of supporting the nader cult of personality.
#1 & #8,
Yes! He's a neocon! He fooled everyone except for you! Hurry! Tell everyone before it's too late!
If Obama is elected after bypassing the public financing system, isn't that going to prove that any such voluntary system is fatally flawed? Will he have any crediblily on the issue?
JESSE CALIFANO- 'The unspoken word- written'!
---------------------------------------------
O-Ba-Ma: Nothing more than a political opportunist- appealing to the emotion-driven, far left wing of the Democrat National Party- so that he can be graduate from political opportunism to become a true political hack!
What a joke- not only on the DNP- but on the American electorate as well...
Obama has a real "pay no attention to the man behind the curatain" problem. Saying he is destroying campaign finance in order to save it just won't wash. He's sleazy--no way around it.
AW, gee. I hear an awful lot of buyers' remorse here. Please, he never looked different from any other politician to me.
McCain opted INTO public financing for the primaries and then promptly broke the rules about p.f. throughout the primary season. He is breaking the law presently, since the primary season does not end until the conventions.
#13,
What we need is 4 more years of GWB, right?
Wonder what he'll say about the Supreme Court decision that just came out overruling the DC handgun law.
Ralph Nader says that Israel and their lobby controls our president and Congress is responsible for the mess and violence in the Middle East.
Megan #7 - you anti-Semite, err, disingenuous troll supporting McCain. What a loser...
Obama being in bed with the know-nothings and corporate welfare greedheads behind corn-based ethanol should be a deal breaker.
Sadly he's the only alternative up against the Devil's own party.
#11 AWM,
Yes vote based on faith, vote for Obama!
the blind leading the blind.
oh come come people, obama-mccain are just american politicians. what were you expecting?
Hey! Complainers!
Please, for once, offer us realistic alternatives rather than grievances.
JH...people behind him Ron Pul has a HUGE following with commited people...and he HASN"T gone back on his word ever. So BO is the lesser of 2 evils u say, and with all the supporters behind him "change" will come. People support Obama cause they want him to do the job for them...they will NOT say boo once he gets elected, they don't wanna make their lifes work politics, they want toelect their guy and take what he gives them, like everyone else
Good grief. If you can't see the difference between Obama and McCain then I guess you bought the Nader line in 2000. Sure, no diff between Bush and Gore. Hang onto your adolescent black and white thinking. Aargh.
I really don't care if Obama is not pure. No pure person ever won the presidency and he's not a loser. I like a little ruthlessness. If Gore had had a little more of that we might have been spared the last 7 messy years.
If people want public financing, check off the box on your tax return! Tell your CPA or tax preparer to check it off!
I think the "problem" with the check off box is 1) people think it raises their taxes and 2) tax preparers don't check it off and don't think to ask if the filer wants it checked off.
mc
unity!
Mark #20, He's against importing Brazilian sugar ethanol as well. An alternative to oil that seems to have worked well for them.
Wake up guys! His economic policies were always more conservative than most people thought. If people would actually look at the positions of the candidates there would be fewer surprises.
We get the government we deserve.
[5] AWM, totally agree! It scares me to death that the left would throw this election over one issue. It's dire liberals like the two callers, that the right wing has relied upon to divide the democratic party and dominate politics and the supreme court for years. painful.
#21 John,
How about voting for the guy who ain't McCain. This isn't about ME! This isn't about me gettin' all worked up because a presidential candidate isn't acting like or saying everything I want him to all the time while he's runniing for president in a country full of whining babies who want everything their way!
Grow up!
hjs,
Yeah, yeah. Unity schmunity. I'm voting for him. Doesn't mean I buy his line. I'm so sick of the double standards.
mc
Brazilian sugar ethanol = deforestation of the rainforests.
So sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeela,
Is it OK for everyone to be a little ruthless or just the ones you like?
All of the people that are being put on the air for the call-in are obviously McCain supporters or people that want Obama to live up to principles that will cause him to loose. #2 & #5 get it. I am not interested in another “…stay the course at all cost…” president. I want someone who will adapt to the situation at hand. What are people complaining about since it has been widely reported (even here) that most of Obama’s money comes from small contributions that average around $90. What self respecting Liberal would have a problem with that?
mc
just between you and me the liberals who voted for him seem a bit naive now
#31 AWM
Your nothing but an apolagist it is people like you that vote for any one on two legs, it does not matter what they say and what they do! just vote blindly sounds like a former Bush supporter!!
so dont come to our side and make judgment calls now.
No ethical compass, get a spine...
hjs #33,
That may be true if that is the only alternative we look at which it should not be. I'm betting that there is a way to raise sugar in the shade, the way they raise coffee in some places. Anyway, corn ethanol is a poor way to replace oil, the Brazilians have enought sugar ethanol to export it so I don't see why this can't be one of many solutions. Hodling out for "energy independance" is idiotic as long as we insist on consuming 20% of the world's resources.
hjs #36,
I know. It is totally cracking me up now.
If any of you saw the John Adams series on HBO you'd have heard Ben Franklin instructing Mr. Adams that politics is devising what is possible, not necessarily right (though the show could certainly have taken creative license with what was said). Anyway, there is no such thing as a purely great politician. They almost never get elected, and the ones that do are not in positions of power. Politics is always choosing between the lesser of two evils. If things aren't to your liking follow Lou Reed's advice, "I do believe, if you don't like things you leave, go some place you've never been before."
1)no politician has EVER been elected to the U.S presidency without compromising their own integrity, at least to some degree. period.
2)anyone who thought obama walked on water and would be the perfect angelic liberal were living in a self induced fantasy world.
3)we liberals are pretty funny....we only really like candidates who are too pure to actually win.
4)what are you really going to do? vote for mccain who has flipped and flopped like a landed fish?? how would that help?
5)not vote at all and allow mccain to win that way?
c'mon....let's just be grown ups about it. no need to pout and take your toys home.
obama wants to actually win. he has not sold his soul to do so. He has simply done what he felt he had to do. I am not that excited about it....but i would rather see a compromised progressive winner than a pure progressive loser. Also it must be restated that he made almost all of his campaign money from under $200 donations. It does not get much more populist than that.
#37,
Bush supporter? How dare you!
Who am I an "APOLOGIST" for? And what exactly should anyone apologize for?
I will never be on your side, I favor nuance and pragmatism over self indulgence and imagined betrayal.
You and people like you create this alternate reality where politicians are supposed to say and be everything you want them to be. Yet you have offered nothing close to a viable and applicable alternative to the "deceitful" Obama. If you did you'd have to stop complaining thus rendering yourself mute.
In my view, Obama is an intelligent and fair guy. I'm comfortable with him being the next president because I'm not holding him to some standard that borders on fantasy.
mc,
please name a president who met your ethical standards
hjs and mc
What a bunch bitter of Hillary loosers supporters,
this is not about Hillary!!!
move past that already, she lost and is not coming back!
so stop the childish relishment.
This a healthy discussion on the our primary winner Barack Obama.
Why is this Hightower character calling himself a populist? He's just another elitist politician. He seems to be against everything that the majority wants. He scolded the handgun decision, while the vast majority of Americans, as well as he Constitution, support private gun ownership. Power to the People, not the elitists! No wonder he loves the elitist Obama! Power to the People!
sheeeeeeela,
I cannot name a single one. My question still stands: Is it OK for any politician to be ruthless or just the ones you like?
Marry,
This is not about resentment. I do not think that Barack Obama has been inconsistant in the least. I expect to vote for him. I expected all of this from him because I actually looked at his record and did not listen to the rhetoric. If there is any bitterness it lies in being told that Obama was the ONLY progressive candidate, which he was not and also the presence of double standards all over the place. It seems that if a candidate looks good he can get away with almost anything. Healthy enough for you?
By the way, anyone like #1 asking what the difference is between McCain and Obama: Federal court appointments, tax policies that either favor the wealthy or not, a willingness to talk about an urban policy or not, there is more. It's all there folks, do the homework, forget the speeches, make your choice.
I agree with Mr. Hightower! Give Obama a pass on this. How more publicly financed is a campaign that has been funded mainly by small individual contibutions from 'the public', plain, ordinary Joe's like me? This is an important election. Let's not lose sight of that.
I totally agree with Albert above.
MCCAIN SUPPORTERS, STOP PRETENDING YOU ARE DISEFFECTED OBAMA SUPPORTS, it ain't working.
This is becoming an ugly part of the election. For any democrat to not vote for Obama because he is a "winner," and able to raise money on his own, just means they are not democrats. Please.
I would go futher and state the first two callers to the show are probably rasicts, as only a racist would have the motivation to call a talk show and try to pull a fraud of party affliation. Please.
Finally, once again, the Brian Lehrer is an uncontrolled show hijacked by anyojne who wishes to state policitically and economically motivated statements without any critisem from the hosts. Where have all the Brian Lehrers gone?
Your guest misspoke when he said that 90% of the "funds" that Barack Obama has raised is in contributions of less than $200. It may be true that 90% of the contributions are for less than $200.00, but these constitute less than 47% of the funds he has raised, as reported in the NY Times.
It means nothing of course to say that 90% of the contributions are under $200-- what matters is how much of his funding comes from that source. Also, $200 is a large number. It would be interesting to see how much of his funding comes from contributions less than $100, or even $50, more commensurate with an amount people of modest means might afford.
Give Obama lots of passes....lol
He's been getting them since day 1.
Ralph Nader on Barack Obama: “It is Quite Clear He is a Corporate Candidate from A to Z”
http://www.votenader.org/
NADER / GONZALEZ '08
That's right. Just call anyone who disagrees with you names. Very democratic.
megan,
I know next to nothing about Gonzalez. What can you tell me about him? Just curious. I can also look it up, but I thought I'd ask.
mc #47
Thank you for your clarification,
however what I was referring to was the childish behavior you are displaying by posting your enjoyment at the perceived in fighting regarding issues surrounding Borack Obama!
I could almost here the "I told you so" chanting!
mc
I don't think it matters whether it's alright with me or not if people are ruthless. I can't control other people. All the people who've been elected president in my voting history were pretty ruthless: Nixon, Carter (maybe not Carter), Reagan - for sure, Bush Sr - for sure, Clinton - for sure, Bush Jr - totally.
I think there's a huge difference between the parties this year and it cheers me to see that Obama will make tough choices and disappoint people - he's dealing with the real world. He's not Mr Rogers.
The perfect is the enemy of the good.
See bio & watch a video about NADER VP - Matt
right here:
http://www.votenader.org/about/matt-gonzalez/
Matt Gonzalez was born in McAllen, Texas in 1965. He received a BA degree from Columbia College, Columbia University, 1987, and a JD from Stanford Law School in 1990. He worked as a deputy public defender in San Francisco from 1991-2000. In 2000 he was elected to the 11-member San Francisco Board of Supervisors, which supervises a city with a budget of $6 billion.
He is best known for having led the effort to implement Instant Run-off Voting, also known as Rank Choice Voting, in San Francisco, where it has been successfully implemented to obtain a majority outcome without the need for costly run-off elections. (It is often promoted as a solution to the “spoiler” claim.)
It doesn't matter who we elect as president if we keep having 545 people i.e, the House, the Senate and the Supreme court, running our country and bleeding us dry with more taxes.
Marry,
Oh, don't get me wrong. I am enjoying it. After all the "new" rhetoric we were expected to swallow during the primaries I find this hugely entertaining. I never bought the "new" thing for a moment. People need to look closer at the candidates if they don't want surprises.
That said, no surprises for me. The choice is clear now that it's down to the two of them (excluding the third party candidates, of course.)
It puzzles me how, after not receiving a tax increase during a war for the first time in US history, people complain about taxes. They are often the same people who have "Support The Troops" on their bumpers.
sheeeeeeeela,
Of course it doesn't really matter what you think, or me either. I just think that people tend to excuse ruthlessness from people that they find attractive and excoriate the people they don't like. The only way to win is to be ruthless. That is why people should have looked more closely at the records and positions of these candidates before now instead of buying the package. That goes for both sides. I also think that there are a lot of "progressives" running around right now acting like "conservatives," employing double standards and attacking the other guy for behaving exactly the way their guy does.
Sorry Mc,
I am really sorry, I percived your posting as a moment of enlightenment and maturity,
my mistake!
continue on with your diatribe.
megan,
Thanks for the info on Gonzalez. I'll be happy to take a look at the link. The rank voting is a fascinating idea. I always favored run-off, but maybe rank voting is better.
McAllen is also fascinating. Way down in the boot, walking distance to Mexico. It used to be the car theft capital, but is not now.
AWM #60
Agreed. More electorial immaturity.
58:
We're not being bled dry by taxes, we're being bled dry by corporate (rich man's) welfare.
Sorry, Marry, but I found the self-righteousness of many Obama supporters during the primaries insufferable. I can't help grinning at the discomfiture now. If that is diatribe, well, OK. I endured an awful lot of it as well.
Is maturity defined as agreeing with someone's position unequivically?
mc
Your admission, is a affirmation of my initial posting and perception of you!
Marry, that is your loss. I actually like to go back and forth with people who are not in lock-step. Too bad you seem to need to pigeon-hole me. It gives me no concern.
mc
Your delusional, to believe, that you matter at all, their is no loss!!! to me, or anyone in here.
"their" is no loss?
It's been lovely.
I am glad you get some satisfaction, for the trash you post!
and it has not been lovely. but very disappointing.
garbage in garbage out!
Who's bitter now.............?
I miss Brian and all these disingenuous commentators aren't helping.
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