When Obama talks he's money:
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) - Democrat Barack Obama, the first black candidate with a shot at winning the White House, says John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
The AP plays dumb:
Obama didn't make clear what distinctions McCain was likely to raise regarding the presidents on U.S. currency, men who are white and, for the most part, much older than Obama when they were elected. McCain has not raised Obama's race as an issue in the campaign, though he has said that Obama lacks experience.
Well, let's see -the people on US currency are older, whiter, deader, and had a record of accomplishment, so there are a lot of differences here. Whatever - as Glenn points out, Obama's novelty appeal is on the table when The One is the one promoting it - in his Berlin speech Obama dissed Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and others with this bit of self-idolization:
I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable.
I know Obama's supporters will join me in expressing the hope that I never see Obama on a US bill. Or John McCain, for that matter. Why? I'm ready to tell you my secret.
All that said, there is a germ of truth in Obama's statement. I don't think McCain will be whispering "Hey, have you seen Obama? He's BLACK!" but McCain does have a fundamental problem at the heart of his campaign. When he runs on his record he wins the hearts of moderates and journalists but sets teeth on edge all over the right. Conservatives respect McCain's biography and can probably convince themselves they will prefer his judicial appointments, but after that the conversation segues to McCain-Feingold, McCain's early opposition to Bush's tax cuts, his carbon cap-and-trade scheme, and his push for immigration reform.
Conservative distrust of McCain would have been mitigated if his opponent had been Hillary; McCain-bashers would have stood in the rain for hours to vote against her, warming themselves with arguments as to whether she is the Anti-Christ or the Great Satan herself (I'm in the Anti-Christ camp). Obama does not inspire the same loathing that Hillary has been able to generate over many years.
However, a key rule of politics is this - if you can't energize, demonize. McCain can't energize his base with his own record, so he needs to demonize his opponent. Hard luck for everyone, because this will not show McCain in a good light and I think he could break the rules and win by running a positive campaign. That said, if authenticity counts there is a sliver of light in favor of McCain offering a negative campaign - I think his heart will be in it because he really does not like Obama.
Too bad. McCain ought to reflect that Obama's popularity despite an utter lack of accomplishment reflects badly on the American people, not Obama himself.
TM:
Man, Obama puts you in a bad mood. The next ten years are going to be rough on you, I see...
As for your point -- Obama's popularity reflecting badly on the American people -- I think you are blaming the wrong party. Because, in this case, I. blame. Bush. Why? Because Bush has conspired to make himself spectacularly unpopular. And, say what yu want about Obama, he is certainly the anti-Bush in presentation.
Posted by: Appalled | July 31, 2008 at 02:01 PM
If Dollar Barack is still playing the guilt card, his internal polls can't be much better than Rasmussen and Gallup tracking numbers. I actually think part of the reason for his playing the guilt card, and for acting as if he is already President, is related to the upcoming Denver convention. Superdelegates can switch, and Hillary is lurking. By playing on his inevitability and by playing the guilt card, he is sending a warning to the Supers that no matter what doubts they may have, taking the nomination away from him at this point is just not acceptable.
Posted by: Thomas Collins | July 31, 2008 at 02:03 PM
Like many others, I'm often frustrated with the superficiality of presidential politics: vague slogans, tiny gaffes, all the marketing and counter-marketing. I want more discussion of political and economic philosophies, and that's one place I think Obama is extremely vulnerable.
Since childhood the guy has often been in left-wing surroundings: lefty mom, communist dad, communist mentor in high school, seeking out the radicals in college, reading Fanon/Alinsky/etc., then Alinskyite community organizing, "education reform" with Bill Ayers (has anyone ever found out exactly how Ayers wanted to "reform" education?), the black liberation theology church, etc. etc.
All I want is perhaps 15 minutes of an on-camera interview with Obama about the roots of his beliefs: Tell us about black liberation theology. You say you read Fanon in college: what do you think of him? What about Saul Alinsky? How did your father influence your politics? How did Frank Marshall Davis? With any half-way prepared interviewer and some astute follow-up questions, and I'd be shocked if he got 40% of the vote in November.
Posted by: PapayaSF | July 31, 2008 at 02:09 PM
"McCain ought to reflect that Obama's popularity despite an utter lack of accomplishment reflects badly on the American people, not Obama himself." I think I see your point, but Obama's the demagogue making himself popular in tried and tired ways. Thus having chosen this particulaar road to the presidency, a road sans accomplishments, I must give Obama ultimate responsibility for the nature of his popularity. This reflects badly on him and the choices he's made. Continues to make.
Posted by: bob | July 31, 2008 at 02:12 PM
Note that George Washington didn't look much like the picture on the dollar bill, either. (It was painted by a political opponent famously attempting to make Washington look bad.)
Posted by: cathyf | July 31, 2008 at 02:22 PM
The Obama campaign plays the race card and is dealing from the bottom of the deck, says the McCain campaign spokesman. Its about time this shameless race baiting got called for what it is. McCain should pound the transcending race candidate for this. He is the only one bringing up race, and he is doing in about every speech he gives including the one in Berlin.
Posted by: GMax | July 31, 2008 at 02:25 PM
he is certainly the anti-Bush in presentation
Yeah, because Bush was an inexperienced arrogant neophyte who never served a day in the active duty military, spent too much time in the gym or (of all things) praying, and thought the fact that he had money thrown at him as a young man meant he was actually up to ordering troops into a war in Afghanistan that neither he nor his two daughters would ever have to really experience.
Whereas Obama is from Hawaii.
Posted by: bgates | July 31, 2008 at 02:28 PM
I think that come November Obama will go back to feathering his nest, polishing his resume further with more shallow good-on-paper junk, and figuring out whether he can beat Hillary for the right to challenge McCain in 2012. And I think that, having lost in the general this time, he'll lose in the primaries to Hillary.
And then, having never said one substantive thing that anyone can remember, he'll begin to fade...
Posted by: Danube of Thought | July 31, 2008 at 02:32 PM
The togs donned by the guys on the currency just can't match even off-the-rack Burberry suits.
Posted by: Elliott | July 31, 2008 at 02:43 PM
I think Barry is frustrated that McCain is not race-baiting, and trying to bait him into it, or to insinuate that he is even when he isn't. It's really disgusting. It reminds me of Woody Allen in "Annie Hall" with his "Did you?" = "Jew" paranoia. Except in this case it's not paranoia, it's a sleazy smear tactic.
Posted by: jimmyk | July 31, 2008 at 02:43 PM
Obama does not inspire the same loathing that Hillary has been able to generate over many years.
He inspires total loathing from me. Hillary was a typical feminazi lesbian, IMHO. Pathetic in so many ways, but not necessarily loathsome. Obama's elitism and arrogance, OTOH, make my skin crawl.
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 02:48 PM
"....As for your point -- Obama's popularity reflecting badly on the American people -- I think you are blaming the wrong party."
Appalled has BDS in a bad way...talk about convoluted logic...so Bush is to blame that the Democrats have selected the most unqualified candidate ever, in the history of both parties I doubt there was any candidate with less of a record, less experience, fewer accomplishments. Bush may have many faults but the fact that a large number of folks are drinking the Obamamessiah Kool-aid is not one of them.
Posted by: ben | July 31, 2008 at 02:51 PM
It must be hard for Obama to process that all those things his friends, like Ayers, were feeding him about Republicans, conservatives and the right, were not as true as he was led to believe. It leaves him floundering and trying to gin it up or per jimmyk, bait the McCain camp into following the stereotypes is head has been filled with by the likes Rev. Wright.
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 02:52 PM
*** his head ***
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 02:52 PM
A powdered wig would be just the thing for those protuberant ears, aina?
Posted by: Paul Zrimsek | July 31, 2008 at 02:55 PM
"McCain ought to reflect that Obama's popularity despite an utter lack of accomplishment reflects badly on the American people, not Obama himself."
Ah, TM, our master debater, now morphs into a Rovian strategist--win by telling the voters they are dunces.
*Slapping hand to forehead*
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 02:56 PM
Tom Collins, that's my brother's theory, too. Hillary lurking.
Posted by: anduril | July 31, 2008 at 02:58 PM
All that said, there is a germ of truth in Obama's statement
You know, no.
I can't give him that, considering he threw in the 'name' stuff and the 'looks' stuff.
If he's stuck to saying they called him 'risky', I could give you the germ.
Posted by: MayBee | July 31, 2008 at 02:59 PM
The strategy must be that if people can't vote for Obama on his merits, maybe they will vote for him in order not to appear racist. But that is preaching to the choir, I think only bleeding heart liberals are that guilt ridden, Personally I can pull the lever for McCain without a twinge of guilt, although I might pretend its Giuliani.
Posted by: ben | July 31, 2008 at 03:04 PM
"The strategy must be that if people can't vote for Obama on his merits, maybe they will vote for him in order not to appear racist."
That's an Axelrod trademark - he's used it successfully in Blue states since the mid '80's. His failure to move the electorate in the big statewide contests after he successfully tarred Bubba as a 'racist' for his intemperance in SC suggests that it just ain't gonna work nationally.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | July 31, 2008 at 03:12 PM
I wouldn't even give him risky. When he spoke in Berlin and used the same "I don't look like" formulation he was was contrasting himself with Reagan who hadn't spent much time in Washington and was supposed to lead us into World War III.
Posted by: Elliott | July 31, 2008 at 03:19 PM
...And you know, another thing -- Obama bears a strong family resemblance the the long chain of dead white guys that he is descended from.
Posted by: cathyf | July 31, 2008 at 03:27 PM
Obama on a dollar bill ? On Please, he isn't worth a plug nicket.
Posted by: Neo | July 31, 2008 at 03:27 PM
"Obama does not inspire the same loathing that Hillary has been able to generate over many years".
It's early days yet,give the boy some time.
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 03:27 PM
"Note that George Washington didn't look much like the picture on the dollar bill, either. (It was painted by a political opponent famously attempting to make Washington look bad.)"
Hi Cathy - Gilbert Stuart's house isn't far from me and I have taken the tour twice. Neither time did the curator mention political differences between the artist and the President. The famous spat between them was for Stuart's keeping the last portrait so he could live well off the income from selling the copies. BTW - there is still ancient snuff in his paddle wheel snuff mill, but you don't want to try a snort. WHOA
Posted by: rhodeymark | July 31, 2008 at 03:31 PM
As did the roughly 50% of the voters who pulled the lever four years ago for a guy clearly living a Hemingwayesque fantasy life.
At any rate, what else does Obama have, to respond to; 'He's famous for being famous.'?
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan | July 31, 2008 at 03:33 PM
I think Obama could replace Clinton on the $3 bill without anyone getting too excited. He's a natural for it.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | July 31, 2008 at 03:35 PM
...he doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills."
----
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the senator was not referring to race.
"What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn't get here after spending decades in Washington,"
How does one's physical appearance change after spending time in DC?
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 03:43 PM
Surely Obama is ideal for the two cent piece,since he has an opinion on everything?
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 03:48 PM
I don't know, Obama has always inspired loathing in me . . . , from the start, he was sooooo fake and conceited and totally inexperienced for the job of POTUS, that he made queasiness roil in my stomach.
Posted by: Joan | July 31, 2008 at 03:55 PM
It seems to me that none of the guys on any of the US banknotes looks very much like any of the other guys on the notes of other denominations. McCain doesn't look any more like, say, Franklin than The One does.
Of course, the guy on the penny looks eerily like the guy on the fiver. And the guy on the quarter bears a resemblance to the guy on the single. But how about that Indian guy on the nickel--who does he remind you of? Chief Dan George, maybe? And what about that alluring buffalo?
Posted by: Danube of Thought | July 31, 2008 at 03:59 PM
It is hilarious, isn't it, bad?
Posted by: MayBee | July 31, 2008 at 03:59 PM
I thought the $100 was Madeleine Albright.
Posted by: MayBee | July 31, 2008 at 04:03 PM
Re loathing Obama: I really wanted to say '...he made queasiness run up my leg,' but chickened out. Chris Matthews owns that.
Posted by: Joan | July 31, 2008 at 04:03 PM
LOL Maybee
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 04:05 PM
Joan
Queasiness usually tends to run down the leg...
He is definitly easy to loath. (And I mean that only the most non-racist way.)
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 04:12 PM
Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs may say Obama wasn't talking about race, but I'll bet that's how his audience heard it. This campaign is so inauthentic. That'll hurt it in the end with some of the young.
==================================
Posted by: kim | July 31, 2008 at 04:15 PM
TM, the following quote from the breitbart article is a doozy:
More gun references, and a challenge to debate when he has famously run from debating McCain. Axlerod must be drinking heavily.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 04:24 PM
Kim,
Isn't that precisely what was said after the response to Bubba's flare up in SC? First lay the racist charge a little loosely and then throw up your hands and declare "oh, no, that's not what I meant at all".
We're talking about a one trick pony here - and the race card isn't the trump it once was.
Posted by: Rick Ballard | July 31, 2008 at 04:33 PM
"in the history of both parties I doubt there was any candidate with less of a record, less experience, fewer accomplishments."
Not a big Lincoln fan, eh? I could have sworn you were a Republican.
Posted by: sym | July 31, 2008 at 04:38 PM
Axelrod has run races in deep indigo enclaves. Massachusetts for example. I dont think this race card nonsense is going to work, as McCain has done none of that. Plus the bitter clinger are going to be watching and see a guy who cant seem to even tell the truth, which near as I can tell, honesty in a politician ranks pretty high with the white blue collar and small towns demographic.
Posted by: GMax | July 31, 2008 at 04:40 PM
Clarice
I see your boy, Boob Wexler ( not a typo) was shamed into signing an apt lease in his district. I wish there was some way to impose a bigger sanction on this turd, but as his Republican opponent says "thats tantamount to admitting guilt of not being a Florida resident."
Posted by: GMax | July 31, 2008 at 04:46 PM
A couple of points on Gibbs lame response. Washington did not become the capitol until after 1800. Jackson and Grant were military men, not Washington insiders. I agree Obama doesn't look a whole lot like Sacagawea, Helen Keller, or the Wright Brothers all on our currency. And I think John Muir spent most of his time around Yosemite, not Washington.
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 04:49 PM
The mew Obama campaign song,
"Half of me
Why not take half of me
Can't you see
you're no good without me
Take my tips
you'll want to use them
Lose those arms
you'll never shoot them
My hello left you with eyes that cry
How can you go on dear without me
I took the part that once was your heart
So why not take half of me?"
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 04:50 PM
Mark Jaquith sums up:
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 04:52 PM
sym
I agree with you completely!!! Obama should start comparing himself with Lincoln immediately, loudly and often.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 04:53 PM
What is it with buses in politics today?
The Obama campaign is really hitting hard (LOL) with a new website:
"The Straight Talk Express Has Taken a Nasty Turn into the Gutter-McCain's Low Road Express" (It has a picture of a bus with a wheel that has fallen off. :))
LowRoadExpress
Posted by: Ann | July 31, 2008 at 04:58 PM
John McCain and his Republican allies will try to scare them by saying Obama "doesn't look like all those other presidents on the dollar bills.
Ludacris Obama Song
Paint the White House black and I'm sure that's got 'em terrified
McCain don't belong in ANY chair unless he's paralyzed
Yeah I said it cause Bush is mentally handicapped
Who's scaring who?
Posted by: Rocco | July 31, 2008 at 05:00 PM
OT McClatchy pursuing Edwards/Hunter story.
LUN
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:01 PM
bad,
Obama made that remark in reference to family legend claiming he is related to Wild Bill Hickok.
Posted by: Sue | July 31, 2008 at 05:02 PM
I like that 'the only thing that is apparently less tolerable than racism is the conspicuous lack of it'.
I've thought for awhile that one of the reasons Obama has trouble with blue collar whites is that they have been working with black people intimately for 40 years now, and the appeal to white liberal guilt just looks absurd and condescending to them. I really think there is something to that. To appeal to the guilt of someone who hasn't any makes them angry. Many, many, many such people have long ago absorbed the lesson that it is the content of character not the color of skin that matters, and what they see over there in Obama is someone who has poorly developed character.
==================================
Posted by: kim | July 31, 2008 at 05:02 PM
Bad:
hehe I think he already has. still, Obama's spent slightly more time in office than Lincoln did before he became President.
Posted by: sym | July 31, 2008 at 05:02 PM
PUK, You stole the part that once was my heart...
GMax--the Fla courts seem terribly corrupt to me but I think Wexler should be ousted from Congress now as having been ineligible when he ran for this seat and that he should be (a) subject to Md income tax for all those years he had no residence in Fla AND (b)criminal prosecution for election fraud.
But don't hold your breath.
At a minimum, one would think irate duped voters would kick his ass out of Congress, but--again--don't count on it.
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 05:03 PM
How the hell did they get a copy of that child's birth certificate?
Posted by: Sue | July 31, 2008 at 05:04 PM
"Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said the senator was not referring to race."
If Obama is so smart, why can't he just tell us what he means? Instead we hear what he says, and then some spokesman says it means something else- Why? How does the spokesman know what he really means, but no one else does?
Posted by: Pagar | July 31, 2008 at 05:05 PM
Abraham Lincoln was a community organizer ( whatever that is )? WHO KNEW?
Posted by: GMax | July 31, 2008 at 05:07 PM
Sym
Did Obama vote "present" more or less often than Lincoln? I'm rusty on some history...
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:07 PM
Sue
Do you get the feeling that someone thinks Edwards needs to just get to the business of being a dad? (friends of Rielle)
If this were my husband, I wouldn't want him to compound the error of an extramarital affair by denying the child who is born as a result. There is a very real baby girl involved who had no choice in any of this and she deserves better. I'd bet that Elizabeth Edwards agrees with me.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:13 PM
But don't hold your breath.
At a minimum, one would think irate duped voters would kick his ass out of Congress, but--again--don't count on it.
I won't. I've already seen the intelligence level of the chad counting and butterfly ballot-challenged crowd.
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 05:14 PM
bad,
I don't know. I know someone personally who was in a similar situation, without the press breathing down their neck, and the wife was not really thinking about the product of her husband's illicit affair. At least not for several years. I can't imagine what Elizabeth Edwards thinks or feels. I can't even imagine what he has told her.
Posted by: Sue | July 31, 2008 at 05:25 PM
Wow, Obama opens a new website. I guess fight the smears didn't work out for him? This one is called http://www.time-blog.com/real_clear_politics/>Low Road Express.
Posted by: Sue | July 31, 2008 at 05:28 PM
ht for awhile that one of the reasons Obama has trouble with blue collar whites is that they have been working with black people intimately for 40 years now, and the appeal to white liberal guilt just looks absurd and condescending to them. I really think there is something to that. To appeal to the guilt of someone who hasn't any makes them angry.
Bingo.
Posted by: MayBee | July 31, 2008 at 05:28 PM
Obama made that remark in reference to family legend claiming he is related to Wild Bill Hickok.
Go ahead and ruin all the fun of taking things out of context...
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:30 PM
bad,
Oh, no, that wasn't what I was trying to do. I was adding to the stupidity of his statement.
Posted by: Sue | July 31, 2008 at 05:32 PM
Obama can deny it all he wants. But how then does he explain his remark in Germany about not looking like all the others who have spoken there?? It was an egregious, racial comment, pretty much ignored until now. It won't be any more. Amy Holmes (lovely African-American republican strategist) just posted about it at NRO. He is the race-baiter in this campaign because he thinks it will work for him against the eeeeeevilll Republicans. Fortunately, the country seems to be smarter than I feared. And it is harder to call McCain a racist and have anyone believe that than other opponents Axelrod has been up against. All this is really sad. Race relations are going to be set back 50 years after this is all over no matter what the result.
Posted by: bio mom | July 31, 2008 at 05:33 PM
My cousin's husband, who traveled extensively internationally because of his job, came home one April and announced that he wanted a divorce. AND, he wanted it before Oct. 1st. so that his son would not be born illegitimate. There had been no previous warning that anything was wrong. My cousin's reaction was that she "had been hit in the gut by an 18 wheeler." Their 5 year old daughter didn't understand at all and as she got older, she refused to go for the court-ordered visitations with her Dad because she was sick of "just being a built-in babysitter."
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 05:33 PM
BioMom: It was also a slam against Martin Luther King, Jesse Jackson and Condi Rice, all who have spoken in Germany.
Posted by: Sara | July 31, 2008 at 05:36 PM
Sue
I'm just trying to be funny and blew it again.
I wasn't going to vote for Obama but now I will because of his connection to Hickok. Yeah baby
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:36 PM
bad, what a lovely person you are. Still, were I the wife, I'd believe that four hours alone with the child's mother in a hotel room (9:45 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.) was not evidence of him playing a fatherly role.
Surely, the friend paying the tab knows of some private gated estate they could have met at in the afternoon or morning ..But then that's me.
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 05:39 PM
Still, were I the wife, I'd believe that four hours alone with the child's mother in a hotel room (9:45 p.m. to 2:30 a.m.) was not evidence of him playing a fatherly role.
I'm sure he was re-learning how to change diapers, scrutinizing immunization records, discussing pre-schools, prep schools, colleges etc....
Yeah that part is a whole other story and Jesse Jackson has some good ideas on what to do to a cheating husband. The adults involved have to sort that out without forgetting about the best interests of the child and the half siblings involved.
Some day baby Hunter will google everything.
And thank you for the compliment.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:52 PM
Sym, Lincoln was Captain of a company of the Illinois militia during the Black Hawk War. He was elected to the Illinois State legislature in 1834, and to the US House of Representatives in 1846. He was for decades an outspoken and eloquent opponent of the instituion of slavery, and was perhaps the most talented and respected lawyer in the state.
Why don't you tell us about Obama's most important case? Or about his experience leading men under arms? Or about his most courageous and principled position on an issue of public importance?
(Certainly no one's going to mistake you for a Republican.)
Posted by: Danube of Thought | July 31, 2008 at 05:54 PM
Did Fox News juat show a Rasmussen poll with Edwards as the preferred VP candidate with the lowest negatives? I only caught the tail end.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 05:58 PM
It is so awesome that Obama is complaining about the Paris/Brittainy ad. The news channels are giving it a bunch of free air.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 06:03 PM
"Abraham Lincoln was a community organizer "
All da home boys in da hood nos dat.
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 06:05 PM
More trickling out:
[quote]The birth certificate of a child who a tabloid newspaper claims is linked to former Sen. John Edwards doesn't identify a father. The certificate, obtained by The Charlotte Observer today, shows Frances Quinn Hunter was born Feb. 27, more than two months after an Edwards aide claimed to be the father. .... Hunter, 44, was a videographer on Edwards' presidential campaign last year. [/quote]
http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1160737.html
AWhat? Not Andrew Young?
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 06:08 PM
If this were my husband, I wouldn't want him to compound the error of an extramarital affair by denying the child who is born as a result. There is a very real baby girl involved who had no choice in any of this and she deserves better. I'd bet that Elizabeth Edwards agrees with me.
That is a beautiful thought. But considering how people fight over their own children during divorce, I don't think beautiful thoughts often survive when smacked in the face with pain and betrayal.
Posted by: MayBee | July 31, 2008 at 06:08 PM
The Edwards family has an advantage in the financial part of the equation that the typical family doesn't have. Child support, private school and college for baby Hunter aren't going to change the lifestyle or reduce advantages currently enjoyed by the Edwards children. ( Assuming of course, that Edwards is the father.)
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 06:17 PM
Sara, your cousin's husband was too late, if I understand the story correctly. I assume that his unmarried girlfriend was already pregnant with his son at the time he asked for the divorce. At least for us old-timers, that makes the poor kid illegitimate--although the concept has all but died now.
Posted by: Danube of Thought | July 31, 2008 at 06:20 PM
Well, I stand with bad on that..I just don't think that's what Edwards was doing in L.A.
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 06:21 PM
The alleged $15,000 per months raises nice tax issues, unless Edwards has been disclosing the gifts and paying taxes on them. But hell, why not put him on the Obama ticket?
Posted by: Danube of Thought | July 31, 2008 at 06:21 PM
Gallup is providing racial splits of their presidential polling. (See bottom right - Key Indicators)
White blue collar (high school or less) voters are rejecting The One, giving him only 36% support. Of course, white college graduates are also rejecting The One, giving him a whopping 38% support.
It's gonna take a ton of ACORN/SEIU thugs to do a big enough knock and drag to overcome those numbers.
Do you suppose he ain't The One, after all?
Posted by: Rick Ballard | July 31, 2008 at 06:23 PM
"But hell, why not put him on the Obama ticket?"
Yes they could share a hairstylist.
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 06:24 PM
Yes, it does Dot. Would it be different if there were an agreement in which he admits he is the father's child and that the funds are in lieu of court ordered child support? I don't know or remember the answer to that one.
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 06:28 PM
It does appear to be a much deeper attachment than just an affair. But perhaps I'm giving Edwards too much credit.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 06:29 PM
"Do you suppose he ain't The One, after all?"
Afraid not,none of the signs,no star,no wise men traveling to Hawaii,no trip up the mountain,no prophet in rags and tatters coming out of the desert,no miracles,no healing the sick,no disciples except Andy Sullivan.Bit of a damp squib really.
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 06:30 PM
Supposedly these payments started with the pregnancy which would put some of them in the previous year.
Posted by: bad | July 31, 2008 at 06:37 PM
pagar
"If Obama is so smart, why can't he just tell us what he means? Instead we hear what he says, and then some spokesman says it means something else"
Hillary supporters have a term for that, it's called WORM, What Obama Really Meant.
I see no reason not to adopt that acronym too.
Posted by: Syl | July 31, 2008 at 06:38 PM
Love WORM--We ought to use it a lot.
PUK--this is one of your best:
"Do you suppose he ain't The One, after all?"
Afraid not,none of the signs,no star,no wise men traveling to Hawaii,no trip up the mountain,no prophet in rags and tatters coming out of the desert,no miracles,no healing the sick,no disciples except Andy Sullivan.Bit of a damp squib really. "
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Good article explaining what community organizers do:
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan | July 31, 2008 at 06:41 PM
Great - NYT reporting Barak/Britney/Paris ad is racist. And seemingly using some of the same talking points as bless his heart, Josh Marshall.
Back in February, Josh Marshall pre-set the Racist Road Map button for the Obama campaign - and true to form - the DNC has followed his talking points implicitly:
"But that’s not the core. The core is to drill a handful of key adjectives into the public mind about Barack Obama: Muslim, anti-American, BLACK, terrorist, Arab. Maybe a little hustler and shifty thrown in, but we’ll have to see." http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/180471.php
Josh Marshall is a slavering tool of the DNC and an Obama disciple.
But I ask you - which Republican candidate is spewing these talking points?
Posted by: Enlightened | July 31, 2008 at 06:44 PM
Wherever might McCain gotten the idea:
Posted by: Patrick R. Sullivan | July 31, 2008 at 06:48 PM
bad
"It is so awesome that Obama is complaining about the Paris/Brittainy ad. "
yes! That ad hurt. I know it did. obama folks had been giddy with their european trip because they hit mccain in his strength--fo po.
Well, mccain has hit back against o's strength--his popularity. And may have poisoned the well against O's use of the german speech images in his campaign ads.
A win win for mccain.
Posted by: Syl | July 31, 2008 at 06:51 PM
Anyone who thinks mcCain is too gentlemanly hasn't paid attention to him--He knows when to hold them--and when to let it rip.
Posted by: clarice | July 31, 2008 at 06:58 PM
Holy Crap Patrick! What a stunning article - I wish someone here with big moxie (Clarice or Soylent Red) could get McCain's team on this article and just swing it around to shove it down Obama's throat.
Some nuggets:
"I got elected to the U.S. Senate. I haven't done anything yet."
David Katz, had never been to the White House, so he took him back into the reception. This is one of those small gestures that aren't so small when you're a celebrity.
"I told him it cost me 15 more pictures," Obama says. Even in jest, this is a rare instance where Obama lets slip with something that could be construed as immodest: volunteering a description of his celebrity force field, so big it breaches the White House.
"the Hillary model," named for the former first lady whose transition into the Senate is considered a prototype of how celebrity senators should proceed.
"The idea is to capitalize on your celebrity while downplaying it at the same time " Mann says.
Posted by: Enlightened | July 31, 2008 at 06:59 PM
From Bob:
Thus having chosen this particulaar road to the presidency, a road sans accomplishments, I must give Obama ultimate responsibility for the nature of his popularity. This reflects badly on him and the choices he's made. Continues to make.
Good point. I was lauding Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, for having gone after jobs for which he was arguably qualified and attempting to build a real resume.
Posted by: Tom Maguire | July 31, 2008 at 07:07 PM
bad-
What Barack Obama was talking about was that he didn't get here after spending decades in Washington...
Benjamin Franklin didn't either, and Obama ain't no Ben Franklin.
Posted by: RichatUF | July 31, 2008 at 07:07 PM
Appalled has BDS in a bad way...talk about convoluted logic...so Bush is to blame that the Democrats have selected the most unqualified candidate ever, in the history of both parties I doubt there was any candidate with less of a record, less experience, fewer accomplishments.
I'm pretty sure he was kidding. Well, kinda sure...
Posted by: Tom Maguire | July 31, 2008 at 07:08 PM
Thank you Clarice.
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 07:15 PM
The last time I saw a dopey smile like Obama's, the mouth it was attached to was saying "Cool man,this is really good shit".
Posted by: PeterUK | July 31, 2008 at 07:20 PM
It is so awesome that Obama is complaining about the Paris/Brittainy ad.
Scarlett must be furious...
Posted by: Tom Maguire | July 31, 2008 at 07:21 PM