Ad To Air On Ayers And Obama

The AP reports that an independent group will be running an attack ad focused on the link between Obama and Ayers.  That should kick this story into the news and give the MSM an excuse to write ten thousand words deploring shadowy attack groups while devoting half a sentence to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge.  The AP also cleans up an Obama quote to make him appear a bit more candid.  Well, he is helpless without a teleprompter, so I am sure he welcomes the assistance.

Some stray points - the attack group does not specifically mention the time Ayers and Obama spent together working on education reform (with "limited impact", per the final assessment).  In fact, I am not so sure this group is up to speed on that topic - they might as well be referring to the Obama/Ayers overlap on the Woods Fund of Chicago:

A conservative nonprofit group with a past link to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign is spending $2.8 million on an ad questioning Democrat Barack Obama's relationship to a founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground.

The ad, which is expected to begin airing Thursday in Michigan and Friday in Ohio, focuses on William Ayers, whose Weatherman organization took credit for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol 40 years ago.

American Issues Project, the sponsor of the ad, is a nonprofit 501(c)4 organization. One of its board members, Ed Failor Jr., was a paid consultant for McCain's campaign in Iowa last year. The campaign paid his firm $50,000 until July 2007. American Issues Project spokesman Christian Pinkston said Failor has no connection to the McCain campaign now.

Ayers is now a university professor. He and Obama live in the same Chicago neighborhood and served together on the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a charity group. Ayers also held a meet-the-candidate event at his home for Obama when Obama first ran for office in the mid-1990s.

"Barack Obama is friends with Ayers, defending him as, quote, 'Respectable' and 'Mainstream,'" the ad states. "Obama's political career was launched in Ayers' home. And the two served together on a left-wing board. Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol and is proud of it? Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?"

Here are links to the ad and the supporting material (167 page .pdf).  A word search on "Annenberg" comes up blank.  The ad script is after the break.

The AP is coy and amusing with this:

Obama has distanced himself from the radical activity of the Weather Underground. In an interview with "Fox News Sunday" in April, Obama said he "deplored" Ayers action in the 1960s.

"Mr. Ayers is a 60-plus-year-old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was 6 or 7 years old," Obama said then. "By the time I met him, he is a professor of education at the University of Illinois. We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education."

I cite the Obama interview on Fox occasionally because it is so baffling.  The AP left out a key qualifier from the original (my emphasis):

Now, Mr. Ayres [Ayers] is a 60 plus year old individual who lives in my neighborhood, who did something that I deplore 40 years ago when I was six or seven years old. By the time I met him, he was a professor of education at the University of Illinois.

We served on a board together that had Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education, who worked for Mayor Daley. Mayor Daley, the same Mayor Daley probably who when he was a state attorney prosecuted Mr. Ayres’s wife for those activities, I (INAUDIBLE) the point is that to somehow suggest that in any way I endorse his deplorable acts 40 years ago, because I serve on a board with him.

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was a private charitable group that surely did not work for Mayor Daley, nor was Bill Ayers on its board.  Upon its dissolution the Challenge passed its remaining assets to the Chicago Public Education Fund, which was an advisory board to the mayor.  However, Bill Ayers was not a member; his father Thomas and his brother John were.

So Obama almost told something like the truth - he did work on education reform with Bill Ayers - but they were not both working for the Mayor and Bill Ayers, although deeply involved with the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, was not on the board there.

But the AP has cleaned it up so that it appears that Obama is telling the truth.  Almost!

And the point of their association is not that Obama endorses bombing.  The point is that Obama worked closely with a hard, unreconstructed leftist on education reform (Ayers to Hugo Chavez - "La  educacion es revolucion!"), a vital topic to every soccer mom, and accomplished nothing.

MORE:  The Boston Globe politics blog runs the AP report and an Obama blast-back.

Script:

Narrator:        

            "Beyond the speeches, how much do you know about Barack Obama?        

            What does he really believe?        

Consider this:        

            United 93 never hit the Capitol on 9/11.        

            But the Capitol was bombed thirty years before -        

            By an American terrorist group called Weather Underground that declared 'war' on the U.S. -        

            Targeting the Capitol, the Pentagon, police stations and more.        

            
One of the group's leaders, William Ayers, admits to the bombings, proudly saying later:        

            'We didn't do enough.'        

            
Some members of the group Ayers founded even went on to kill police.        

            But Barack Obama is friends with Ayers, defending him as, quote,        

            'Respectable' and 'Mainstream.'        

            
Obama's political career was launched in Ayers' home.        

            And the two served together on a left-wing board.        

            
Why would Barack Obama be friends with someone who bombed the Capitol...and is proud of it?        

            
Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?        

            American Issues Project is responsible for the content of this ad."        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

Comments

[BumperStickerist]

I play Friday night/low-stakes poker with some friends - They're all Democrat/Bush-bashers, but good people otherwise.

Politics is a side conversation up until the cards start being dealt at which point we're all just cardplayers.

But I've noticed that not a-one of them can give reasons to vote *for* Obama. More importantly, they can't think of reasons to vote *against* McCain.

It's a mystery, wrapped inside an enigma, with a dusting of ineffableness.

-

[clarice]

I think it's time to wrap up The One and put him in the wax museum with Dukakis.

[pagar]

Ben Smith has it up at Politico.

LUN === Link under Name

I read the first ten comments after his article and quit. Do those posters live in the same country we do?

one comment reads:
"
a new low has been reached. bill ayers is obama's neighbor. they have no other connection than that he lives in chicago. completely baseless.

Posted By: jgeeting | August 21, 2008 at 03:19 PM

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Screaming of the word "Swiftboating" starts in 3, 2, 1...

[Gabriel]

Among the names on the CAC board, I cannot tell which ones are Republicans. I can't even tell which ones are the bankers.

The Senator must be referring to serving together on the Chicago Public Education Fund.

[Gabriel]

Do those posters live in the same country we do?

Those posters don't know that Barack Obama was chairman of the board of the organization Bill Ayers was directing.

They're not stuck on stupid. They're just stuck on reading the same sources that haven't yet reported on the growing working links between Barack Obama and Bill Ayers.

[Ranger]

I read a couple of other places there is an official McCain campaign Rezko ad to be relesed tonight also... and Rev. Write is now "fair game" since Barry ran that guilt by indirect association ad in Georgia.

[PeterUK]

Such a wonderful word CACk.

[RichatUF]

Pager-

Went to look at the Politico thread. My favorite so far:

I think that the Obama camp could push back harder on this anti Ayers thing, especially the quotes that are always used...

I support that too. So why doesn't Sen. Obama call on whomever donated the Chicago Annenberg Challenge records to the UIC to release them for inspection. You know if Ayers is just some guy that Obama doesn't really exchange ideas with...

[Lurking Observer]

This is the power of the media.

If a tree falls in the forest, and the media chooses to resolutely, absolutely, stick its fingers in its ears and announce "Naahhhh! Naaahhh! Nothing to see here!" then clearly it does not make a sound.

For most Americans who are not political junkies, their news comes, not from the Intertubes, but the evening news. And if they're not reporting it, it ain't happenin'.

That's slowly breaking down, but we're not at the point, yet, where the MSM's panicking about their incompetence.

[Ranger]

McCain's Rezko ad is out. http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/21/mccain-ad-housing-problem/>Hot Air has a YouTube link to it, and some discussion.

[Danube of Thought]

"Republicans, bankers, lawyers, focused on education, who worked for Mayor Daley..."

I hate to cut this guy any slack at all, but that reads to me as though "who worked for Mayor Daley" is intended to modify one or more of the bankers or lawyers (I doubt it applies to any Republicans). But I certainly don't understand him to be suggesting that the board worked for Daley.

[Gabriel]

But I certainly don't understand him to be suggesting that the board worked for Daley.

As a local guide to the Machine in Chicago, allow Barack Obama's quote to speak for itself.

Obama's role as chairman of the board of the CAC does not support the statement that he worked for Mayor Daley. It's a false statement.

However, if you know the Machine as Obama does, then you know that if you do any business at all that's subjecting any portion of the machine(Education anyone) to any kind of review at all - and you're not the with the Feds - then you are indirectly working for the Mayor whether you want to or not.

Obama's quote tells you about the way he thinks. He's telling you about the rules he's lived by as a community organizer, an associate with a machine connected lawfirm, as chairman of the board of CAC, as a State Senator, and as a United States Senator.

Those rules in Chicago and Illinois are very different from those in Washington and the rest of the United States.

[JM Hanes]

PUK:

I've newly dubbed Plamanics as CAClers, but, per your bon mot, it really reads better as CACklers, doesn't it?

[PeterUK]

JMH
Even better,here cack means carp.

[JM Hanes]

Brilliant!

[Jane]

Cack is now carp? How did that happen?

Do you know enough to elect Barack Obama?

This closing question should be in a lot more ads.

[centralcal]

Has anyone here paid much attention to the Time magazine cover with Obama (for the 7th time)? There is a lot of creepiness about it. His eyes are particularly creepy. I am wondering about Time, with its well known love affair with the One, choosing this photo. Are they starting to have some doubts?

Creepy, creepy, creepy.

[SlimGuy]

Some are questioning the legality of the ad

"This negative campaign ad is clearly express advocacy, and under a federal law passed in 2003, the Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act (known colloquially as McCain-Feingold), it cannot legally be paid for with corporate money, including those of a non-profit," said Laura MacCleery, deputy director of the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice. "The ad indisputably concerns an election, takes a position on the character and fitness for office of a candidate, and raises no legislative issue. Even this highly skeptical Supreme Court would turn up its noses at the foul odor emitted by this clear abuse of federal election law."

[The Ace]

Those comments at the Politico are hysterical!

[JM Hanes]

Hey TM! You should see the perfect Ayers Ad, not that McCain would ever run it. Have to admit that I'd change the final quote to something more like "Obama wants to put this man in jail," though. Others may have more inspired suggestions.

[narciso]

I didn't, I did catch the New Cold War cover, with Zbig arguing we should slap the Russians down; and Samantha Power, saying we
should understand the Russian's actions as a reaction to shame, kind of like Bin Laden, bombing us because of thehumiliation of us, bombing the crap out of his secular enemy, S. Hussein. She even brings up the videotaped will of the one of the September 11th hijackers, Ahmed al Hawsnawi, who was motivated to attack us, because of Abu Ghraib and Gitmo; Sam's been messing with the time machines again. There was a similar cognitive dissonance in a letter to the Atlantic, datelined Cairo; you know where they have been under a state of emergency for 27 years;where they hang you on meathooks at the local polices station: complaining about Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.

That intro to Ayer's bio is lame' How about
"having escaped prosecution for his involvement in the bombing of the NYPD headquarters, the Pentagon and Ft. Dix, he used his family connections, due to 'technicalities' by illegal surveillance by Mark Felt, the future "Deep Throat of Watergate. He went on to become a leader in he radicalization of American education; through what some consider a fraudulent reform of the Chicago school system. He along with another former SDS member Mike Klonsky, were recipients of funds from
the Chicago Annenberg Challenge; whose records have made unavailable to media
sources"

[Neo]

Even if Sen. Obama can prove his U.S. citizenship, Berg stated, citing the senator's use of a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii verified as a forgery by three independent document forensic experts, the issue of "multi-citizenship with responsibilities owed to and allegiance to other countries" remains on the table.

[Barney Frank]

"This negative campaign ad is clearly express advocacy, and under a federal law passed in 2003, the Bi-Partisan Campaign Reform Act (known colloquially as McCain-Feingold), it cannot legally be paid for with corporate money, including those of a non-profit," said Laura MacCleery, deputy director of the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

While the SCOTUS has already ruled once on McCain-Feingold it always seems to revisit these things. It would be ironic in a sublime sort of way if MF's (an appropriate acronym) restrictions on political speech were overturned by an ad on behalf of its principal sponsor.

[Semanticleo]

"Hey TM! You should see the perfect Ayers Ad"

Please don't encourage/enable him. I beg you.

Please try to convince him to answer the
attacks on McCain, if he thinks they're answerable.

E.G. the corresponding photo-op of GWB with that look of astonishment at the gains in grocery technology (Scanners! The Movie) paired with McCains clueless response to how many houses he owns (7-9 worth $13 mil)

Out of touch, much? The traction begins.

[hit and run]

McCain isn't running for W's 3rd term...He's running for H.W.'s 2nd!!!!!!!!!

[Danube of Thought]

Might as well get the facts right: John McCain owns no houses at all. His wife owns several, and some others are held in trust.

James Taranto quotes a bereft leftist from something called DissentingVoice (or whatever), imagining November 5 news accounts as follows:

"The final results are in on this historic November day. Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars he raised, Barack Obama has lost the 2008 presidential election. American voters have boldly spoken truth to arrogance. Turned out that all those pre-election opinion polls that showed Obama's inability to get over 50 percent support were prescient. Much of the public was never comfortable with Obama, though he clearly was so comfortable acting like he already was president. . . .

"Jon Stewart and other late-night comics will feast on these election results, as they should. I can't wait to hear jokes about Obama's wife becoming a more vocal and militant critic of the good old USA, now that she has proof positive that so many Americans are stupid white racists."

Speaking truth to arrogance--by cracky, I kinda like that one! And the American electorate is going to do precisely that to this insufferable popinjay on November 4, and I am going to dance the Eagle Rock in joy.

They can feel it slipping away...

[Danube of Thought]

So far as is known, none of the McCain residences was obtained with the aid of a convicted felon now awaiting sentence.

[Semanticleo]

"Might as well get the facts right: John McCain owns no houses at all. His wife owns several, and some others are held in trust."

Hoo Boy!

Your facts! My arse!

How do you think that plays with John Q?

"He doesn't really have his own wealth, he just married it and has no interest in preserving it"

That dog don't hunt, my friend.

How about SHOWING how he is, in fact,
IN TOUCH with Americans who are having
financial hard times.

Wait! Maybe Phil Gramm can close the credibility gap..............

""You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," Gramm said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," Gramm said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy."

Well, maybe not.

[Danube of Thought]

"How do you think that plays with John Q?"

We'll find out for certain on November 4, won't we?

[Jane]

This is great:

McCain's Knife-Wielding Captor Leads Vietnam in Rooting for Him

Aug. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Le Van Lua, the first North Vietnamese that Lieutenant Commander John McCain encountered in 1967, says he greeted the American aviator with the biggest kitchen knife he could find. He'd like to welcome McCain back as president of the United States.

Read the whole thing: LUN

For some reason I can't recall the Vietnamese rooting for Kerry. Someone refresh my memory.

[Danube of Thought]

"He doesn't really have his own wealth, he just married it and has no interest in preserving it"

Is that supposed to make sense? Have you been drinking?

[Danube of Thought]

Jane, Kerry wasn't there long enough to meet any of them. And remember, he married his own wealth twice.

[Ann]

How do you think this will play with John Q?

Obama Asserts Beijing Infrastructure "Vastly Superior" To Ours

Obama, earlier today:
"Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics , Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."

h/t Hugh Hewitt

[cathyf]

Even this highly skeptical Supreme Court would turn up its noses at the foul odor emitted by this clear abuse of federal election law.

Ok, so imagine I use a euro bank account to set up a website on a server in India while protecting my identity. Where I post whatever ads I want. So, what do you think the supremes will be able to come up with in order to enforce MF?

[Tom Maguire]

Even if Sen. Obama can prove his U.S. citizenship, Berg stated, citing the senator's use of a birth certificate from the state of Hawaii verified as a forgery by three independent document forensic experts...

Well, if all else fails the Chinese government will provide him with papers to assure his eligibility as a gymnast.

Please don't encourage/enable him. I beg you.

Please try to convince him to answer the
attacks on McCain, if he thinks they're answerable.

Why do I bother? I liked my answer on the cross-in-dirt and loved the Mother Teresa rebuttal. Waddya expect for nothing'? But feel free to put an egg in your comments and beat it at any time.

[hit and run]

DoT:
Might as well get the facts right: John McCain owns no houses at all. His wife owns several, and some others are held in trust.

Now how can that be true? Obama has assured us that wives are completely off limits in this campaign.

[hit and run]

TM:
Well, if all else fails the Chinese government will provide him with papers to assure his eligibility as a gymnast.

I've heard that He Kexin is being vetted as a possible VP candidate. For her comparative foreign policy bonafides.

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

John McCain had a much closer and much longer association with Vietnamese communists than did Kerry. In fact, Kerry's associations were actually brief collaborations and meetings with communist leaders, primarily in Paris if I recall correctly. While Kerry did, in fact, share a common vision with the Vietnamese leadership, McCain's repeated contacts with the Vietnamese communists (repeated on an almost daily basis) were at a much simpler level. He hanged around with the lower level cadre and was shaped by that level of contact, never actually achieving the deep level of bonding with the hierarchy enjoyed by Kerry. It's just not the same type of thing at all.

[clarice]

You are so bad, Rick. Did I ever tell you You're my favorite?

[Jane]

DOt, Rick, the Kerry comment was a joke. Sorry I didn't make that clearer.

if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."

Business with Beijing has been going full tilt for a while now. I have a friend in the insurance industry who has been commuting there for years.

[Ann]

"Has anyone here paid much attention to the Time magazine cover with Obama (for the 7th time)? There is a lot of creepiness about it. His eyes are particularly creepy. I am wondering about Time, with its well known love affair with the One, choosing this photo. Are they starting to have some doubts?"

Centralcal,

Naw, they even enhanced his ears. They look very small and
I think they were going for the steely eyed look. :) (Well trying anyways)

[Barney Frank]

How about SHOWING how he is, in fact,
IN TOUCH with Americans who are having
financial hard times.

What the hell do you want? The poor sap's homeless and his suits look like Charlie McCarthy's.

[Barney Frank]

You are so bad, Rick. Did I ever tell you You're my favorite?

Clarice you heartbreaker; after what you told PUK earlier.

[JM Hanes]

Ann:

Good Lord! Apparently the opening ceremonies in Bejing had the desired effect on somebody. Is there any country that Obama actually knows something about? We'll get the walk back from Obama HQ in 10, 9, 8... Oh wait, they're probably still scratching their heads over what to do about this:

Democrat Barack Obama scolded Russia again on Wednesday for invading another country’s sovereign territory while adding a new twist: the United States, he said, should set a better example on that front, too.

The Illinois senator’s opposition to the Iraq war, which his comment clearly referenced, is well known. But this was the first time the Democratic presidential candidate has made a comparison between the U.S. invasion of Iraq and Russia’s recent military activity in Georgia.

“We’ve got to send a clear message to Russia and unify our allies,” Obama told a crowd of supporters in Virginia. “They can’t charge into other countries. Of course it helps if we are leading by example on that point.

If Obama weren't black, this is where I'd be asking if the guy had a death wish.

[clarice]

Did I tell you you're my favorite, Barney?

[clarice]

JMH, Do you suppose he's some sort of bionic man whose wiring got soaked in the rain?

[Jim Miller]

Sematicleo: That scanner story was debunked long ago. (A little bit of thought would have shown Andrew Rosenthal, who originated the story, just how implausible it was.)

So you have chosen an excellent example for your argument.

[Ann]

Jane,

I should of posted Hugh's reply which was:

"I suppose so. Provided you don't mind de minimus pollution controls, employing people under Chinese labor conditions, and you don't mind construction standards in the countryside that allow the collapse of thousands of buildings including schools when the earthquake hits, killing tens of thousands."

"Obama has said a lot of stupid things recently, but the idea that totalitarian eye-candy engineering proves Beijing is the better than America is near the top of the list."

[JM Hanes]

Clarice:

Well harking back to an earlier thread, he was probably an early prototype that a bunch of Chicago guys decided was good enough for government work.

[Ann]

JMH,

Yes, according to THE ONE, every country is better than our country. (Notice how I didn't say his country..::wink::)

[Barney Frank]

Did I tell you you're my favorite, Barney?

Black magic woman.

[clarice]

Heh,jmh!

[Danube of Thought]

Jane, I knew you were joking--I was attempting to reply in the same vein.

God forbid that the Community Organizer now believes he is an expert on the thinking of international businessmen--as well as an expert on Chinese infrastructure, as gleaned from coverage of the Olympics in a single Chinese city. I believe the man is quite dumb, in the final analysis.

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Jeez, you're gonna have everybody meeting out behind the gym after 8th period to settle this...

Do me a favor? Get Tic involved. I think we can all work this out together if he's there.

[hit and run]

JMH:
Apparently the opening ceremonies in Bejing had the desired effect on somebody.

The opening ceremonies just confirmed what he had learned from Klonsky (who was NOT a weatherman).

[MayBee]

"Everybody's watching what's going on in Beijing right now with the Olympics , Think about the amount of money that China has spent on infrastructure. Their ports, their train systems, their airports are vastly the superior to us now, which means if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."

Ok, he knows that all the elementary schools collapsed in Sichuan provence, right? Because they were shoddily built due to government corruption.

He knows that people in Beijing were unwillingly moved out of their Hutongs so the State could build an Olympic Village that the local citizens had to get permission to enter?

He knows they have hundreds of millions of rural citizens the State can bring in to work in Beijing, but they will never be allowed to live there. They will have to return to their rural homes and marvel at their contribution to the Cities first policies of China. Right?

Beijing is a good place for Business, and it is a good place to visit. It is no model for the US, even if they built 6 new ring roads for the World to marvel at.

[hit and run]

JMH:
God forbid that the Community Organizer now believes

Huh. I first read that as Communisty Organizer.

[JM Hanes]

Ann:

Saw a McCain ad a little while ago, and thought it had a deft little take away from THE ONE, when it ended with a voice saying: ONE is ready to lead.

[MayBee]

Oh, I see Hugh covered a lot of that.

Do you think Obama knows that in Beijing you can't legally turn on your heat until a certain date in the fall? I bet he'd like that policy.

[bgates]

I've heard that He Kexin is being vetted as a possible VP candidate. For her comparative foreign policy bonafides.
And gravitas. They can share birth certificate stories.

if you are a coporation deciding where to do business you're starting to think, "Beijing looks like a pretty good option."
China's corporate tax rate is 25%. America's is 35%. I wonder what we could do to make sure biotech, nanotech, software, and financial services companies stay in the country. I know! Giant container ship facilities!

[JM Hanes]

h&r:

Huh. I think you meant DoT -- but I'm pleased as punch to know you're thinking about me.

[clarice]

Sure enough. Soylent had dinner here tonight..He's every bit as nice in person. I think he's my favorite.

[hit and run]

I think you meant DoT

I blame Clarice, what with her "heh,JMH!" immediately above the post to which I was replying.

Distraction.

[Jane]

Jane, I knew you were joking--I was attempting to reply in the same vein.

Ugh Sorry. I think I'm overtired.

[JM Hanes]

You're just so selfish, Clarice. I want to know what you're going to do for the least of us.

I can't believe someone's actually gotten to see Soylent in the flesh person. I was sure he's divine -- and is, of course.

[Paul]

Cleo:

"
Wait! Maybe Phil Gramm can close the credibility gap..............

""You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," Gramm said, noting that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite all the publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and record oil prices. "We may have a recession; we haven't had one yet."
"

What's your point? That Gramm is wrong? He was right. Growth of 1 percent is still growth. A recession requires the economy to recess, not grow.

[Jane]

Oh I'm not to tired to hear about the Clarice/Soylent meeting (or did I miss it)? That Clarice, she gets all the great men!

[clarice]

He's very cute and , as you surely guessed, very charming. He heads home this weekend and awaits orders which apparently won't come for some months.

[Ann]

Heck with the election.

Come on Clarice, your travel posts have more information. We want the full story from what you made for Soylent to eat to what he was wearing to ...everything.

Bad always asks for a bed time story. We want one!!! ;) LOL

[clarice]

To be honest I had a dental emergency today and was kind of doped up on painkillers and antibiotics.
We had spinach and feta nibbles; tomatoes with basil and mozzarella; grilled rib veal chops with lemon and rosemary; rosemary potatoes; mache salad; and meringues with passion fruit sorbet and currents and mixed berries and espresso.

(I couldn't drink any wine because all the meds had made me dizzy enough but we had a nice Italian red.)

[Sue]

Well if that don't beat all. First Rush loves Clarice now Soylent gets to eat her cooking.

[MayBee]

grrrrr.

I'm jealous, all around.

[JM Hanes]

You know all that buzz about an Obama VP rollout this week? I think he's really waiting as long as he credibly can to announce his pick, perhaps in order to keep an anticipated PUMA brouhaha as short as possible before the Convention gears up. Friday night would be an amusing choice, but does anybody know if he's scheduled for a Sunday morning chat show anywhere?

[JM Hanes]

"To be honest I had a dental emergency today and was kind of doped up on painkillers and antibiotics."

And oddly enough, everybody's your favorite tonight!

Did you get to eat any of your own fab cooking? Hope the pain is receding quickly and doesn't keep you up again involuntarily.

[Rick Ballard]

JMH,

It would really be a kick if the last vetting on his VP pick has turned up a Rielley big problem at the penultimate moment. His campaign appears to be stuck on stupid right now - maybe the bus is high centered?

[Topsecretk9]

He's very cute and , as you surely guessed, very charming. He heads home this weekend and awaits orders which apparently won't come for some months.

STOP! Your killing me. I asked him to preserve his fruithood don't you know!

[JM Hanes]

I think maybe they're trying to fix a flat at the moment, Rick! Maybe more than one.

Accidentally posted on another thread, but it's just too perfect. Looks like Obama must be taking advice from Kristof now: China’s Rise Goes Beyond Gold Medals. Give Kristof Badge #301. Not that I'd be surprised to find out that 290 of Obama's advisors are busy clipping his foreign policy from the papers.

[Ann]

Fox News is getting as bad as the new WSJ. I couldn't even watch Hannity tonight because it was another shouting match. Now this: (What Sup?)

Fox News refuses to air Ayers ad?

[Topsecretk9]

Posted by: clarice | August 21, 2008 at 11:24 PM

Oh Claaaariiiiice...I'll be in DC next summer [wink, wink nudge, nudge]

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Please try to convince him to answer the
attacks on McCain, if he thinks they're answerable.

Which attacks, Leo? That he adopted a Bengali baby with a cleft palate, sight unseen, and then his wife may once have misstated it to suggest she saw Mother Teresa directly at the time? That he was right in suggesting the surge, and worse convinced Bush to adopt the strategy that ended up winning the war? That he doesn't know how many houses he owns when in fact he doesn't own any houses at all, they all being in his wife's name? That he seems not to be completely invulnerable to being quoted out of context, so idiots can use clips like "100 years" and "five million dollars" in ads that turn out to bite the Democrats in the ass anyway?

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Re China, someone might want to point out to Obama that the 800+ million Chinese who don't live in the cities are living on a couple dollars a day and send their girl children to the cities in hopes they'll "somehow" be able to send some money home.

[Ann]

JMH,
From your link:

"Now the world is reverting to its normal state — a powerful Asia — and we will have to adjust. Just as many Americans know their red wines and easily distinguish a Manet from a Monet, our children will become connoisseurs of pu-er tea and will know the difference between guanxi and Guangxi, the Qin and the Qing. When angry, they may even insult each other as “turtle’s eggs.”

Wouldn't you love to send him an apple pie and a flag and tell him where to put em! :)

As for the your red wine, Tops, I hope it wasn't a Chianti wine, too! (kidding, I am just as jealous as Maybee and Jane)

[Sara]

Just so you all know, Pal2Pal has all the latest ads and always has all the latest ads.

[Soylent Red]

"Dear Mom:

Met a nice Jewish girl tonight, who can cook..."

Thanks Clarice. It was swell. I messed up and didn't get a picture. Maybe next time.

For the rest of you...

I highly recommend Chez Clarice if ever you are in DC. I give it four stars.

And now, I retire off to bed, for I am potted.

[JM Hanes]

Well, I think you messed up when you two didn't do a joint post to all your fans! What were you thinking? Sweet dreams.

[Elliott]

I am pleased to learn that the historic summit went so swimmingly.

Good morning, JMH. You are even more capital today than yesterday.

[JM Hanes]

I call it living large. And a very good morning to you too!

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

Thomas Lifson has a great article crisply making the points we discussed earlier today, JMH.

LUN

[pst314]

If the Democratic Party regards Ayers as "Respectable" and "Mainstream", that doesn't make Ayers legitimate, it makes the Democratic Party illegitimate.

[The Ace]

Clown said:

How about SHOWING how he is, in fact,
IN TOUCH with Americans who are having
financial hard times.

Isn't it funny you don't ask that of Obama?
Why do you think that is?

[The Ace]

How about SHOWING how he is, in fact,
IN TOUCH with Americans who are having
financial hard times.

Do you mean like this?

We left corporate America, which is a lot of what we're asking young people to do," she told a group of women at a day-care center. "Don't go into corporate America. You know, become teachers. Work for the community. Be social workers. Be a nurse. Those are the careers that we need, and we're encouraging our young people to do that.

Or like when his wife received a 160% raise after his election to the Senate?

Or like when Michelle Obama do this complained about the amount of money she has to spend on piano, dance and other lessons for her two children in while talking to voters in Zanesville, OH where 22.4 % of people live below the poverty line?

Don't worry, cleown, you don't have answer.

[The Ace]

How about SHOWING how he is, in fact,
IN TOUCH with Americans who are having
financial hard times.

This never gets old.

Michelle Obama, Director of community affairs coordinator at a hospital (whatever the hell that is), salary: $316,962.

Michelle Obama, salary $316,962, said to a crowd in Zanesville, Ohio where the median income for female workers is $20,142:

"The salaries don't keep up with the cost of paying off the debt," she said, referring to the student loans, "so you're in your 40s, still paying off your debt at a time when you have to save for your kids."

Cleown, your posts are parody.

In related news:

Telling a federal judge they need more time to prepare for what promises to be a contentious sentencing hearing, lawyers for convicted political fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko have won a delay until Oct. 28

That is going to work out real well for Barry.

[Ranger]

And the back scratching http://hotair.com/archives/2008/08/22/a-nexus-of-cronyism-at-uic-medical-center/>continues...

(Though I wish people could tell the difference between the University of Illinois, Chicago, and the Universtiy of Chicago).

[Gabriel]

Ranger: Typically in Chicago, the University of Chicago will get most of the national funding(Feds, national foundations like Ford, Gates, etc) and retain responsibilities to oversee or review most of the projects performed at lesser schools like UIC or Northeastern University.

The smarty pants just get higher chairs at the table.

The way the Obamas moved over to the University of Chicago is a great story that's never been reported.

[clarice]

Glorious leader has a piece in Pajamas Media today:
http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/obama-ayers-and-the-annenberg-challenge-cover-up/>Keeping the story alive

[Porchlight]

Excellent work, TM. I hope a lot of people will read this.

Thanks for the link, Clarice. And I am envious of Soylent that he got to spend the evening chez Clarice!

[Caro]

Clearest summary to date. Thanks, TM. And Clarice for the link. I love the excitement of a gathering storm.

[clarice]

I should have something on the story in Sat or Sunday's PM..nothing half as good as TM's, however. (I find it very hard to write this story well in the space constraints. I'm glad Lifson also did a two-part lengthier piece because some people need to see all the details and haven't time to scootch around from one blog to another to do so.) But given the space constraints TM did a masterful job, I think.

[Jim Rhoads aka vnjagvet]

Once again, the JOMers are on top of a top story.

Even if the stuff the Chicago gang is sitting on doesn't come out, the evidence of BHO's incompetance and close and long-standing working relationship with Ayers and his radical leftist "community organizations" is in the docs Diamond and Kurtz have available online.

It is enough to keep the vast anti-Obama conspiracy gleefully busy until election day.