IPOD
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Fuck Barack Obama
THURSDAY JANUARY 3 2008 6:00 AM
Submitted by FearTheReaper. Edited By erin_broadley.
TAGS: Barack Obama,
Volume 11 of the FTR series in which he puts the word "fuck" in front of a presidential candidate's name.
The Iowa primaries begin today and I have yet to give Barack Obama the lashing he deserves. Obama is a slick political operative who wants to desperately portray himself as anything but part of the Washington machine. But once you pull way the curtains, you see the same bullshit backing Obama that he supposedly fights against every day. He is, quite simply, full of shit.
The best place to start with Obama is his constant false battle against lobbyists. Obama would have you believe he does not take money from lobbyists but that is a complete lie. He does. What he is doing is splitting hairs. Turns out Barack only refuses to take money from those who are “registered as lobbyists of the federal government.” What an incredible load of shit – and a huge liability for the general election, when he will have to explain in a debate why state lobbyists, wealthy donors and wives of lobbyists are not lobbyists. Did I say wives? Fuck yes, I did.
Shomik Dutta, a fundraiser for Obama’s campaign, called to ask if the lobbyist’s wife would be interested in making a political contribution.
“I was quite taken aback,” he said. “He was very direct in saying that you’re a lobbyist and we don’t want contributions from lobbyists. But your wife can contribute and we like your network.”
Sounds like exactly the type of ethical government I’m looking for at this time. Obama is building a campaign on something that is going to destroy him in a general election. Right now he is the media golden boy, rarely having to experience the negative press of Clinton. When it comes his way, he will have given reporters a massive amount of spin and bullshit to throw back in his face. But, that is what happens when you lie.
Obama is also using the same tactics as Scientology. If you want to be part of that wonderful “religion,” you can give them money. But you can also work instead of giving money and that is exactly what the lobbyists are doing for Obama.
Mike Williams, the director of government relations at Credit Suisse Securities, said of the network of lobbyists supporting Obama: “I would imagine that it’s as large as the Clinton list.”
He said that while lobbyists cannot give money to Obama, they can give “policy” and “campaign support.” Indeed, K Street denizens have rare policy and national campaign expertise.
Clean as a whistle, that Barack. The K Street crowd knows Obama won’t take money, so they are doing other favors for him. I fail to see the difference. While telling supporters that he won’t take money from lobbyists, his campaign is contacting lobbyists to tap into their “networks of business clients and acquaintances.”
The gains Obama is making among Washington’s Democratic establishment are hard to see because Obama’s K Street supporters have kept a low profile. As a result, Obama’s K Street network is a stealthy operation.
Here are just a few of the heavy hitters working for Barack
Former Sen. Tom Daschle, a consultant for Alston & Bird
Broderick Johnson, president of Bryan Cave Strategies LLC
Mark Keam, the lead Democratic lobbyist at Verizon
Jimmy Williams, VP of government affairs for the Wine & Spirits Wholesalers of America
Thomas Walls, VP of federal public affairs at McGuireWoods Consulting
Francis Grab, senior manager at Washington Council Ernst & Young
Oh, yeah, but those are just guys helping him. They are not giving him money.
Tom Daschle, the former Senate Majority Leader, who endorsed Obama and contributed to his campaign, is a consultant -- not a registered lobbyist -- working with Alston & Bird, a business firm that earned nearly $7.1 million from lobbying in 2006. Obama has received tens of thousands of dollars from other partners in the same firm.
He’s not taking money from lobbyists; he’s just taking money from lobbyists.
A couple of weeks ago, Obama started attacking 527s. 527s are independent groups that can support candidates but are barred from coordinating with the campaign. They often run their own ads for candidates. Now Obama doesn’t like them either.
They are, Mr. Obama says, representative of the kind of “special interests” that “have too much influence in Washington.”
He was taking a swipe at John Edwards, who is getting help from two 527s that represent unions. I guess we can assume Barack now won’t take money from the unions when he is nominated. Or, if he does, the Republicans can use his own words against him. Another brilliant move from Mr. Clean. And someone should tell Obama that one of the two unions backing Edwards is the Service Employees International Union. It seems Obama got a little help from the SEIU when he was campaigning here in California. But he didn’t take money, so it’s cool.
He had breakfast at the modest home of Pauline Beck, a union home-care worker, and followed her on early morning rounds helping an elderly amputee, John Thornton, in Oakland. Times photographer Francine Orr was there as the Illinois Democrat swept, mopped, dusted, made coffee, did some laundry and dishes for Thornton, and listened to details of their lives.
Presumably, he did not ask them for donations. But the home visit was sponsored by the Service Employees International Union, which just may have a political interest in the presidential campaign.
Just another day of work for our favorite non-special interests politician. After he was done accepting the help of the SEIU, he took a trip up to Sacramento, where we Californians keep our State Capitol. While he was there, state Democrat heavy hitter Steve Westley threw him a federal lobbyist free lunch for state lobbyists.
Hosts for today's Obama fundraiser included former controller and failed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly, who sent letters to the capital lobby corps inviting them to “an intimate fundraiser for Sen. Barack Obama.”
The cost: $1,000 for the lunch, $2,300 for lunch and reception.
Sweet. And don’t forget that Obama does not take money from lobbyists . Or the "stranglehold that lobbyists and special interests have on our democracy.” Because Obama only takes money from state lobbyists. And there is no way Obama will get the shit kicked out of him in a general election for being a lying scumbag.
And please ignore the fact that Obama has three political aides working on his campaign while they received payments for being…lobbyists.
Three political aides on Sen. Barack Obama’s payroll were registered lobbyists for dozens of corporations, including Wal-Mart, British Petroleum and Lockheed Martin, while they received payments from his campaign, according to public documents.
And he has even more ways around his bullshit lobbyist rule.
Obama accepted $55,019 from employees who work at lobbying firms but are not registered federal lobbyists. And the campaign accepts money from companies that are not classified as lobbying firms but have lobbying divisions.
And let’s not forget about his little wifey rule, which seems to not be an isolated incident.
Spouses of lobbyists also can give donations. One example: Ben Barnes, a federally registered lobbyist, has given contributions to Hillary Clinton, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, but not to Obama or John Edwards.
However, Barnes' wife, Melanie Barnes, has given to Obama and Edwards on the same dates and in the same amounts as her husband's contributions to the other candidates. She lists her occupation as homemaker.
So, next time an Obama supporter tells you he doesn’t take money from lobbyists, tell them to fuck off because they are full of shit. Obama is no different than any other politician out there, or is he worse? Just three years ago he let a corrupt businessman buy him a backyard. Yes, I said a backyard.
Apparently there's nothing illegal about the deal, made while Rezko was widely know to be the target of a federal corruption investigation, According to Chicago Tribune reports, Obama bought his house in June 2005 for some $300,000 less than the asking price. The same day, Rezko's wife bought the adjoining lot, paying the full $625,000 asking price. One question raised was whether Rezko's wife subsidized Obama's purchase of the $1-milllion-plus home, while providing a next door private preserve that can't be reached from a public street.
Obama later issued an apology for allowing a businessman who was being investigated for corruption to buy him a backyard. I mean, it’s a mistake any of us clean, non-corrupt guys could make, right?
It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor. For that reason, I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it.
"To believe.” Nice non-apology apology, asshole.
Obama also likes to whip out his Iraq card whenever possible. Turns out he was the only one out of the three major Democratic candidates who did not vote for the war, mostly because he was not in the Senate at the time. But that does not stop Barack from proudly spelling out that he would have made the correct decision on Iraq and Clinton always makes the wrong ones. Just don’t pay attention to the fact that Obama has always voted exactly the same way as Hillary. Someone actually made a nice comparison for us on their Iraq votes.
Of the total of 69 votes we compiled -- some significant, some not -- it turns out that the two differed on only one.
Clinton and Obama have voted the opposite way on only one vote on our list: The confirmation of General George Casey to be Chief of Staff for the Army, held just this past February. Hillary voted against confirmation, while Obama voted to confirm.
So, that is how Barack made himself stand out from the pack on Iraq during his time in the Senate, by voting exactly the same. Except that one time, when he voted the way Bush wanted him to and Hillary didn’t. If Barack had been in the Senate, one could actually make the claim that he wouldn’t have even shown up for the vote. Because that is what he did for the very important Lieberman-Kyl amendment.
The bill was extremely fucked up because it classified the Iranian Republican Guard as a terrorist organization. That leaves a pretty big loophole for Bush to attack Iran. Hillary voted for the bill and Obama continues to bring it up, even though he did not show up to vote. His position cowardly and pathetic. You know the guy who never votes but complains about Bush? His name is Obama.
But even worse than that, Obama actually co-sponsored a similar bill earlier in the year, which would have also labeled the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization.
(14) the United States should designate the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, which purveys terrorism throughout the Middle East and plays an important role in the Iranian economy, as a foreign terrorist organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, place the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of specially designated global terrorists, and place the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps on the list of weapons of mass destruction proliferators and their supporters;
But now Hillary’s vote is bad and his co-sponsorship of the same bill is forgotten. Somebody smells like a political opportunist and an asshole. Actions speak louder than words, Barack. But then again, what else would one expect from a slick politician?
The more you look into Obama, the more you will see a slick political operative who condemns the game that he uses to his benefit.
During his 2004 U.S. Senate primary bid, Obama sent a newsletter to constituents at taxpayer expense that touted his accomplishments. It went out just days before the effective date of a ban on such practices close to election time -- part of a reform package he had championed.
Nice work, Mr. Clean. You are truly bringing the “politics of hope.”
Obama would also like us to believe he is some great liberal hope, while he takes positions and campaigns further to the right than Hillary. And it is a track he has been laying for years. One only needs to look at his days back in the Illinois State Legislature.
This is how Obama voted in 1997 when he was new to the Illinois legislature and got a chance to take a stand against bills to impose a similar statewide ban on what critics call partial-birth abortion:
"Present," the political equivalent of taking a pass.
The state Senate voted 14 times on various abortion restrictions during his tenure. Half the time, Obama voted "present."
I’m sure that is what his constituents in the incredibly liberal Hyde Park district were hoping he would do. But Obama will say or do anything to get ahead. That is probably why he has been using Right wing talking points to attack Edwards and Clinton. If either of those two win, expect a shitload of “Even Barack Obama said...” questions for the Democrats. He is undermining his own party in a fantastic way.
Obama adopts and repeats ugly right-wing framing of liberal positions so often that I am amazed he is a Democrat. Many liberals were horrified to hear the political opportunist pick up the issue of Social Security during the past couple of months. That is straight out of the Republican handbook and an issue that is far from pressing. Or at least that is what a guy named Barack Obama said in his book, The Audacity of Hope.
(Page 183): As vital as it may be to raise the wages of American workers and improve their retirement security, perhaps our most pressing task is to fix our broken health-care system. Unlike Social Security, the two main government-funded health-care programs—Medicare and Medicaid—really are broken; without any changes by 2050, these two entitlements, along with Social Security, could grow to consume as large a share of our national economy as the entire federal budget does today.
But when the opportunist needs something to use against Clinton, why not pick up one of the right wing’s favorite straw men? The reason we do not hear about Social Security being a problem anymore is because privatization of Social Security is a dead issue. It will not happen, so Republicans have moved on. It was never really in peril as they claimed; they just wanted to turn it over to the stock market.
Social Security does not face an urgent crisis. It will be solvent through 2041 even under the dismal 1.8 percent economic growth rate assumed by the Social Security actuaries under the most-cited "intermediate" projection for the program. According to that scenario, Social Security will have a deficit equal to 2 percent of payroll (or .7 percent of gross national product) over the full 75-year period that the actuaries attempt to forecast.
Thank God an idiot Democrat named Obama is around to pick it back up. The right wing, of course immediately started to use it as an issue again.
But that is Obama. Whatever it takes to get ahead, even if it does your supposed side harm. In the past couple of months he has claimed John Kerry was divisive (Really? Ever heard of Karl Rove?), that Al Gore alienated half the country, started attacking Edwards for being a trial lawyer, began using religion as a political tool,
Not every mention of God in public is a breach to the wall of separation. Context matters," the Illinois Democrat said in remarks prepared for delivery to a conference of Call to Renewal, a faith-based movement to overcome poverty...
Secularists are wrong when they ask believers to leave their religion at the door before entering the public square."
and attacking Hillary’s health care mandates. Please let me know which one of these is not a right wing talking point. What Obama is doing is attempting to run a cautious centrist campaign and in doing so pushing away his base. It’s idiotic and it feels really, really familiar.
And it is a strange way to demonstrate the Politics of Hope. I’m no fan of Hillary’s mandates, but not because of the insane position Obama has taken in ads.
Flooding the radio with ads claiming "Clinton would force people to buy insurance even if they can't afford it.”
Smell that anyone? That is fear. That is the Politics of Hope using the Karl Rove playbook, instead of pointing out why his plan kicks ass. Unfortunately, his health care plan does not kick ass because it defines centrist caution. It is just enough to the right of the other candidates to be completely useless. And when the most important liberal columnist in the country called Obama on his weak plan, Obama distorted Krugman’s own words , in another example of bullshit right wing tactics.
...But then Obama started attacking his rivals from the right, denouncing their proposals using exactly the same false claims that conservatives will use to try to derail reform in the future.
And now, having been caught out on the facts, the Obama people respond with a personal attack, lifting quotes out of context to pretend that I never had problems with the plan. Something is very wrong here.
Yeah, something is very wrong. The guy liberals believe is their champion is looking like a prick. Obama recently hired Robert Gibbs as his communications director. You are probably saying, “Who gives a shit?” Well, Howard Dean probably does. See, Gibbs was one of three people who created this ad.
Mmmm, yummy, Politics of Hope. Even Karl Rove would blush at that one. As this campaign heats up expect some pretty amazingly awful shit from Obama’s communications director.
But, hey, at least Gibbs is not as bad as Obama’s spokesman, David Axelrod, who tried to lay some blame for Bhutto’s assassination at Hillary Clinton’s feet in a bizarre statement.
David Axelrod said Ms. Clinton "was a strong supporter of the war in Iraq, which we would submit was one of the reasons why we were diverted from Afghanistan, Pakistan and al-Qaeda, who may have been players in the event today."
Really? Obama, of course, defended the comments.
This is one of those situations where Washington is putting a spin on it. … He in no way was suggesting Hillary Clinton was somehow directly to blame for this situation.
Got that? Not directly, just indirectly, which is totally cool. But, it’s not like Obama has ever had his shit together when it comes to Pakistan.
Obama said if elected in November 2008 he would be willing to attack inside Pakistan with or without approval from the Pakistani government, a move that would likely cause anxiety in the already troubled region.
"If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf won't act, we will," Obama said.
Right on, George Bush. Oh, wait, I don’t even think George Bush would do that – because it is fucking crazy. (That is not actually a good reason, Bush just hasn’t done it) Either way, this is one of those liberal positions I just find perplexing. But maybe I just don’t understand the progressive movement like I thought I did. For instance, I didn’t know they were against gays.
A couple of months ago Obama sponsored a three date Gospel tour in South Carolina. He invited a popular gospel singer who believes gays can be changed by religious intervention.Oddly, that did not go over well with the majority of gay members of the Democratic Party. Maybe it didn’t go over well because it was something a Republican would do. Wait, it was something the Republicans did do.
Gospel singer Donnie McClurkin, who has detailed his struggle with gay tendencies and vowed to battle "the curse of homosexuality," said yesterday he'll perform as scheduled at the Republican National Convention on Thursday, despite controversy over his view that sexuality can be changed by religious intervention.
Sweet. Obama dismissed the controversy and calls for McClurkin to be removed from the concert. Turns out everybody has the right to speak.
I strongly believe that African Americans and the LGBT community must stand together in the fight for equal rights. And so I strongly disagree with Reverend McClurkin's views and will continue to fight for these rights as President of the United States to ensure that America is a country that spreads tolerance instead of division.
But he can totally sing at the concert I sponsored. I suppose if Edwards sponsored a spoken word concert and had David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the KKK and Prussian Blue sing, it would be cool. No harm, right? Just some people he disagreed with saying some stuff at a concert he put on.
Before the concert, Obama made sure to appear in a video to tell the audience that these were some of his favorite artists. Nice touch. This was a pretty despicable move for a “progressive” running for president. Actually, I would say it is quite simply not something a liberal would do. It is something a Republican would do, however. It is a clear attempt to appeal to southern Black voters, many of whom are supporting Clinton. It is no different than Reagan’s famous wink to Southern racists in 1980.
I believe in states’ rights. I believe in people doing as much as they can at the community level and the private level.
Obama says he supports gay rights but in the south, he gives an entirely different message with his actions. But what else would one expect from the Politics of Hope?
Barack Obama is a political opportunist who will do whatever it takes to get elected. His entire campaign is built on lies and distortions to such an extent that they will be used brutally against him if he wins the Democratic nomination. Hopefully that does not happen.
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