No Ordinary Joe

Dems choose Obama in thunderous acclamation
Yahoo News by David Espo, AP Special Correspondent Wed Aug 27, 7:18 PM ET

Clinton's call for Obama to be approved by acclamation ??? midway through the traditional roll call of the states ??? was the culmination of a painstaking agreement worked out between the two camps to present a unified front.


My commentary:

So, democrats, in order to portray a false unification, schemed to allow politics to trump the democratic process.

And they are insulted when people don???t refer to them as the democrat(ic) party!

Yes, the truth is offensive to the democrat party!

Clinton's call for Obama to be approved by acclamation ??? midway through the traditional roll call of the states ??? was the culmination of a painstaking agreement worked out between the two camps to present a unified front.

So, democrats, in order to portray a false unification, schemed to allow politics to trump the democratic process.

Obama, Clinton camps working on hotel roll-call vote
The Denver Post by Chuck Plunkett, Allison Sherry, and Kimberly Johnson
Article Last Updated: 08/25/2008 07:20:55 PM MDT

Supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton are furiously circulating petitions on the floor of the Democratic National Convention tonight, hoping to stave off a plan to hold the convention's roll call at breakfast Wednesday ??? out of the public eye ??? sources inside the delegations say.

The move being worked out between the Obama campaign and officials behind Clinton's suspended bid, would work in two parts: Delegates would cast votes at their hotels Wednesday morning; that night, at the Pepsi Center convention site, the roll-call process would rely on the votes cast that morning, the delegates said.

Colorado Rep. Diana DeGette, a former state co-chair for Clinton said she knows the camps are in negotiations about what to do.

"My view is we need to come together as a party," DeGette said. "I admire Hillary Clinton greatly, but I think it would be divisive to have a vote on the floor. We need to have a unanimous vote."

The evening event would call on the delegation from Illinois, which Obama serves as the junior senator, and then move to New York, which Clinton represents.

After New York delegates applaud Clinton's long-fought and historic candidacy, a motion would be made to accept the votes cast at breakfast.

The move is being resisted by some Clinton delegates, who are busy tonight circulating a petition among delegates as the opening night of the convention, titled "One Nation," gets underway.

"We just want a roll call like you're supposed to have," said one of the delegates collecting signatures for the petition, who asked not to be named because of concern about friction within the party.

Continued - Obama, Clinton camps working on hotel roll-call vote

The Obama campaign denied that there would be a change.

"This is not true," Jennifer Backus, a senior advisor, said in an email in response to a question about the negotiations for the roll call change.

David Harper of Macon County, Tenn., signed a petition to ensure a floor vote in the hall surrounding the Pepsi Center.

"I came out here by God to vote for her, and I'm going to do it," Harper said, visibly angry about the news.
Kelly Jacobs a die-hard Clinton supporter from Hernando, Miss., an area that went heavily for Clinton, stood in the hall collecting signatures. She said the Clinton backers need 800 to secure a floor vote.
Anything less than that, Jacobs said, would be an insult to her candidate.

"I could have voted from home," Jacobs said. "She is our captain. We don't want to see her disrespected."
She was furious, she said, when she learned this morning that the votes may be held at the delegate hotels instead of on the convention hall floor.

"That's not what we learned in civics class," Jacobs said.

Texas delegate Tory Lauterbach said she has heard about the petition, but is unsure if she will sign it.
"I think the votes should be cast and counted the way they have been historically," she said. "But I don't think every delegate needs to stand and say something. I want a good convention."

Continued - Many Clinton Supporters Say Speech Didn???t Heal Divisions

"I'm not going to vote for Obama. I'm not going to vote for McCain, either," said Blanche Darley, 65, a Texas delegate for Clinton. Darley wore a button saying "Obamination Scares the Hell Out of Me."

"We love her, but it's our vote if we don't trust him or don't like him," said Darley, who was a superdelegate for Bill Clinton in the 1990s.

Weeping, Dawn Yingling, a 44-year-old single mother from Indianapolis, said that the speech was "fabulous" but that she still isn't going to work for the Obama campaign. "She was fabulous, nothing less than I expected. It's hard to sit here and think about she would have accomplished. We're not stupid -- we're not going to vote for John McCain," she said. But she'll limit her campaigning to a House candidate. "It will take a Congress as well as a president. That's what I can do and be true to who I am."

Continued - Many Clinton Supporters Say Speech Didn???t Heal Divisions

For Clinton's supporters, it was difficult to accept her speech as the public finale of her campaign, because this moment once held such tremendous potential. Shelby Leary, a delegate from West Virginia, stood to watch a video tribute to Clinton's success as a trailblazer and then chanted "Hillary" for 30 seconds with the rest of the crowd. Anne Price, from Washington state, wore a dozen Clinton buttons and wiped tears from her eyes.

It seemed a particularly resonant moment Tuesday night, which marked both Women's Equality Day and the 88th anniversary of women's suffrage.

"There's no way this night couldn't be emotional," Leary said. "A lot of us loved campaigning for her, and it's hard to watch it end. But after something like this, you have to have an emotional end for people to come to terms with things."

Clinton said Tuesday night that it is Obama's convention. But many of her supporters came here exclusively to honor her. One group traveled from New York and built an impromptu museum commemorating Clinton's historic campaign. Another lighted thousands of candles in a park to symbolize her widespread support.

On Tuesday morning, hundreds of loyalists formed a 200-yard parade and marched through downtown. They shouted into loudspeakers and beat drums, creating a cacophony that echoed across the blocks. As they began marching, some of the supporters chanted, "We want a roll call." Many of them wore their opinions on T-shirts: Country Over Party. Damn, We Wish You Were President. Still Making History. Democrats Left Behind.

At the front of the parade route, one banner summarized their message: Hillary. Who Else?
"A lot of people came here just because they wanted to celebrate Hillary," said Elizabeth Fiechter, a New York City lawyer who helped organize the parade. "We get criticism because there's this idea that the election should move on and just leave her behind. We're not going down that quietly."

Continued - Many Clinton Supporters Say Speech Didn???t Heal Divisions

The week of festivities for Clinton delegates and supporters started Monday with a meet-and-greet, where some supporters learned that they differ from one another more than they originally thought. The most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that only 42 percent of Clinton voters classify themselves as "solidly behind" Obama, and that 20 percent plan to vote for McCain. But in Denver, Clinton supporters sometimes classified themselves as belonging to one of two categories: the sad and the angry.

"It just makes me upset because Hillary would have been the perfect woman to do this job," said Katherine Vincent, from Colorado. "I'm a Democrat first, but it's just difficult to get over."

"I hate Obama so much that I'm going to devote as much time to McCain as I did to Hillary," said Adita Blanco, a Democrat from Edward, Okla., who has never voted for a Republican. "Obama has nothing. He has no experience. The Democratic Party doesn't care about us. You couldn't treat [Clinton] any worse."

Perhaps the best example of the persistent divide in the Democratic Party came after Clinton's speech Tuesday night. The lights went down in the Pepsi Center, and some influential Democrats left downtown for good. They planned to head for the airport and fly home, long before Obama accepts the nomination in a speech at Invesco Field on Thursday night.

Clinton will hold a private meeting with her top financial advisers Wednesday, and many donors plan to leave immediately afterward. Terence R. McAuliffe, Clinton's campaign chairman and the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also plans to leave before Obama's speech. Many of the women from 18 Million Voices, Fiechter's pro-Clinton group, booked tickets for Wednesday and Thursday because "we really are taking a position of being indifferent to Obama," Fiechter said.

Clinton's delegates inside the Pepsi Center had no choice but to stick around, at least until the end of Wednesday's roll call.

"I wish I could leave," said Straughan, the professor from California. "To be honest, that would make this whole thing a lot easier."

Does experience count when it comes to job of being president?
Not really, because our government is made up of a system of checks and balances, which makes the power of the President very limited.

First of all, the president can make very few decisions pertaining to the country without the support of the house and senate. Secondly, the president has a multitude of very experienced advisors who provide information and opinions on each situation presented. No President operates without the counsel of the most knowledgeable advisors in the country.

In addition, the job of President is more one of appearance, representation, and leadership than it is decision maker. The President must be someone who is respectable, and pragmatic. The President must also be someone who represents the ideas and beliefs of the country, and above all else the President must be viewed as a strong and vibrant leader by the world.

America needs someone who can come up with a new idea and then set the wheels in motion to develop that idea. We need someone who has the intelligence and vitality to look toward the future and see change. Not someone so old and outdated that they believe in that "if it ain't broke don't fix it" ideology.

America needs someone who can relate to the working class citizen, and is willing to stand up to the wealth mongers and say give up one or two of your houses, so that the backbone of America can afford to have at least one. We need someone who will put down their fist and say the rich are rich enough, now let's help the little guy. We need someone who will stop allowing businesses to find it more profitable to sell our jobs to overseas markets. America needs someone who will support change and not resist it.

McCain may have more so called experience, but his ways are what has put this country in the rich getting richer while the poor get poorer state that it is in. Not to mention that he is of the age that would rather leave things as they are because it is easier for them to understand.

Obama has displayed the courage to stand up for his belief in a country where any person can succeed if they are willing to work at it. This is the kind of leadership we need in our President.

Television stations and Newspaper owners are wealthy people. They control most of what we see and hear about the politics in this country. While they may pretend to be impartial when they report on the candidates, do you really believe they would be fair to someone who might take a few dollars out of their pockets? TV and Newspaper Ads are not to be believed. Commentators are not credible either as they report what they are told to report. Listen to the candidates, and make your decision on what you hear from them.

If you are not happy with the way things are in this country, you must vote for Obama! McCain will not support change, because old people always resist change. That is not meant to be mean, it is the simple truth.

Bill Clinton in Denver Again Undercuts Obama
The Hill by Sam Youngman Aug. 26, 2008

DENVER ??? Bill Clinton appeared to undermine Sen. Barack Obama again Tuesday.
The former president, speaking in Denver, posed a hypothetical question in which he seemed to suggest that that the Democratic Party was making a mistake in choosing Obama as its presidential nominee.
He said: "Suppose you're a voter, and you've got candidate X and candidate Y. Candidate X agrees with you on everything, but you don't think that candidate can deliver on anything at all. Candidate Y you agree with on about half the issues, but he can deliver. Which candidate are you going to vote for?"

Then, perhaps mindful of how his off-the-cuff remarks might be taken, Clinton added after a pause: "This has nothing to do with what's going on now."

The comments are unlikely to be taken as an innocent mistake by those Democrats who continue to be angry with the former president for, they say, not supporting the Illinois senator wholeheartedly, if not implicitly undercutting him.

The controversial comments came just hours before Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), the former first lady and principal rival to Obama, was due to speak from the convention podium.

Democrats concerned about what the former president might say when he addresses the Democratic convention Wednesday night would likely have cringed at his remarks Tuesday to a group of foreign dignitaries.

The former president talked about the importance of a politician being able to deliver on his promises following an electoral victory and how voters factor in that ability to deliver when picking their candidate.

Convention 'Greening' Goes Awry
The Sun On the Hustings by Staff Reporter Aug. 25, 2008

The Democrats have embarked on a highly visible effort to make their convention the "greenest" ever, focusing on everything from expanded recycling to more creative programs like encouraging Denver restaurants to offer "lean 'n' green" meals made with healthful, organic, and locally sourced ingredients.

But not all of their environmentally friendly initiatives have gone as planned. Take the hotel card keys, for example.

Instead of the traditional plastic cards, the Sheraton in downtown handed guests Visa-sponsored swipe cards "made from sustainably-harvested wood." The plan lasted all of a few hours.

By Saturday night, enough guests had reported problems getting into their rooms with the wooden cards that the front desk clerks had abandoned them and switched back to the plastic cards.

A clerk said they were now handing out one of each and suggested that the wooden one could kept as a souvenir.

Not to choose anyone side I find it interesting that their is so much credit given to Biden as a expert on Foreign Affairs, That instead of supporting a Regime change on a country such as Iran who's goal is to kill all Americans he (Biden) would rather open a dialog with them knowing full well we could never trust in anything they say. Instead the would lie to your face then when your not looking and you turn around they stab you in the back. If he is such an expert then why does he not see this?

Not to choose anyone side I find it interesting that their is so much credit given to Biden as a expert on Foreign Affairs, That instead of supporting a Regime change on a country such as Iran who's goal is to kill all Americans he (Biden) would rather open a dialog with them knowing full well we could never trust in anything they say. Instead the would lie to your face then when your not looking and you turn around they stab you in the back. If he is such an expert then why does he not see this?

Not to choose anyone side I find it interesting that their is so much credit given to Biden as a expert on Foreign Affairs, That instead of supporting a Regime change on a country such as Iran who's goal is to kill all Americans he (Biden) would rather open a dialog with them knowing full well we could never trust in anything they say. Instead the would lie to your face then when your not looking and you turn around they stab you in the back. If he is such an expert then why does he not see this?

Not to choose anyone side I find it interesting that their is so much credit given to Biden as a expert on Foreign Affairs, That instead of supporting a Regime change on a country such as Iran who's goal is to kill all Americans he (Biden) would rather open a dialog with them knowing full well we could never trust in anything they say. Instead the would lie to your face then when your not looking and you turn around they stab you in the back. If he is such an expert then why does he not see this?

Tensions Boil Between Obama-Clinton Camps
Politico by John F. Harris & Mike Allen Aug. 25, 2008

DENVER ??? As Democrats arrived here Sunday for a convention intended to promote party unity, mistrust and resentments continued to boil among top associates of presumptive nominee Barack Obama and his defeated rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

One flashpoint is the assigned speech topic for former president Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to speak Wednesday night, when the convention theme is ???Securing America???s Future.??? The night???s speakers will argue that Obama would be a more effective commander in chief than his Republican rival, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.).

The former president is disappointed, associates said, because he is eager to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas ??? emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own record in the 1990s.

This is an especially sore point for Bill Clinton, people close to him say, because among many grievances he has about the campaign Obama waged against his wife is a belief that the candidate poor-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms.

Some senior Democrats close to Obama, meanwhile, made clear in not-for-attribution comments that they were equally irked at the Clinton operation. Nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, her team continues to act like she and Bill Clinton hold leverage.

After a period earlier this month when the two sides were working collegially over strategy, scheduling, and other convention logistics, things turned scratchy again in recent days.

Continued - Tensions Boil Between Obama-Clinton Camps

Some senior Obama supporters are irritated at how they perceive the Clintons fanned ??? or at a minimum failed to douse ??? stories that she was not even vetted as a possible vice presidential nominee. This is because she told Obama she preferred not to go through the rigorous process of document production unless she was really a serious contender, an Obama associate noted.

One senior Obama supporter said the Clinton associates negotiating on her behalf act like ???Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific still fighting after the war is over.???

A prominent Obama backer said some of Clinton???s lieutentants negotiating with the Obama team are ???bitter enders??? who presume that, rather than the Clintons reconciling themselves to Obama???s victory, it is up to Obama to accommodate them.

In fact, some senior veterans of Clinton???s presidential campaign do believe this.
???He has not fully reconciled,??? said one political operative close to the Clintons, ???and he has not demonstrated that he accepts the Clintons and the Clinton wing of the party.???

While the Clintons have a relatively easy job in Denver ??? to deliver gracious speeches and accept what are likely to be loud cheers from their supporters ??? it is ???Obama who has the heavy lifting??? this week, this aide said.

This is because large numbers of Clinton backers ??? 30 percent in a recent ABC/Washington Post poll ??? are still not backing Obama over McCain.

McCain uses Vietnam ordeal against jibes over wealth
REUTERS by Andrew Gray Aug. 25, 2008

BURBANK, California (Reuters) - John McCain, who often invokes his ordeal as a Vietnam war prisoner to show his devotion to his country as he runs for U.S. president, drew on the experience again on Monday -- this time to deflect sniping over the number of houses he owns.

McCain's Democratic rival Barack Obama last week accused the Republican senator of being out of touch with ordinary people after he was unable to say in an interview how many houses were owned by him and his wife Cindy, a wealthy heiress to a beer distributorship.

In an appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, McCain, 71, said his priority was to keep Americans in their homes in tough economic times.

Then he recalled his Vietnam experience.
"I spent 5 1/2 years in a prison cell without -- I didn't have a house. I didn't have a kitchen table. I didn't have a table. I didn't have a chair," he said.
"I spent those 5 1/2 years ... not because I wanted to get a house when I got out."

U.S. HOUSING WOES
Rising energy prices and the faltering economy have become central issues in the race for the White House. The next president will inherit problems including a mortgage crisis that has cost many Americans their homes.

McCain said he was prepared to deal with that and sought to play down the controversy over his family's assets.

"I'm proud of my record of service to this country and it has nothing to do with houses. What it has to do with (is) putting Americans in houses and keeping them in their homes. And that's what I know how to do," he said to loud cheers from the studio audience.

On the show the Arizona senator listed four homes he and his wife have -- one in the Washington area, two in Arizona and one in California. Media reports and Democrats have said the couple have at least seven properties when investments are included.

McCain said he was proud of the way his wife's father had built up a large business after fighting in World War Two.

With the Democrats engaged in their convention in Denver this week that will formally nominate Obama and the Republicans due to meet next week, polls show the two candidates locked in a dead heat in the popular vote. McCain predicted a tight finish in the November 4 election

Obama's house in the affluent Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park is worth more than $1.5 million, and he has made millions from the publication of two autobiographical books.

Republicans Spread Message of Democrats??? Disunity
The Hill by Sam Youngman Aug. 25, 2008

DENVER ??? Republicans have infiltrated the Democratic National Convention as they seek to exploit and widen the divisions between supporters of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama and his former primary rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has set up shop in downtown Denver, and a number of high-profile Republican surrogates are making the media rounds at the Democrats' convention. They???re pushing the idea ??? disputed by Obama (Ill.) and Clinton (N.Y.) aides ??? that the Democratic Party is badly divided and Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is poised to peel off Clinton supporters.

The Republicans are breaking somewhat with tradition, launching a much larger presence at their opponents' weeklong party than in the past. While rapid-response teams from both parties are generally dispatched to the opposing party's conventions, this year Republicans are being much more aggressive.
Alex Conant, the RNC press secretary, said Monday that he doesn't think this year's effort is more aggressive than the one in 2004, but he said that the accommodations this year are more convenient and more "media ready."

The RNC has two-dozen staffers on the ground in Denver, Conant said, and they will have at least one high-profile McCain surrogate in town every day of the convention. Victory 2008 Chairwoman Carly Fiorina was in town Monday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be in town Tuesday, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty on Thursday. Pawlenty and Romney are considered finalists to be McCain's running mate, and Giuliani is the keynote speaker at next week's Republican convention.

At the heart of the GOP's efforts is a Democratic convention that still has an 800-pound gorilla of a question ??? party unity. Republicans continue to point to a poll last week that showed only 52 percent of Clinton supporters lining up behind Obama, with 21 percent saying they will support McCain.

And CNN released a poll Monday that showed 66 percent of Clinton supporters are now backing Obama. That's down from 75 percent in the end of June. And 27 percent of her supporters now say they'll support McCain, up from 16 percent in late June.

"We didn't create all the disunity in the Democratic Party," Conant said. "I think Barack Obama did. We'll do all we can to shed light on it with the goal of reaching out to Hillary Clinton supporters."

Conant added that all the Clinton supporters in the convention hall "are not the product of the RNC."

Because of the Republican offensive, senior advisers to Obama and Clinton were furiously trying to extinguish constant reports of party unrest Monday morning before the convention had even officially begun.