I can't help it. I had to share this great "memo" from an undisclosed Democrat making the case for Biden. It's the best articulation I've seen for why, even with his flaws, it's gotta be him.
"Biden is deeply thoughtful, serious, passionate, experienced, highly knowledgeable, and incredibly sensible and clear when talking about major issues. He has a vast and creative understanding of politics and policy, a sharp mind, and a sincere heart.
..
Together, Obama and Biden would represent the best of the last 30 years of the Democratic Party, and the hope for the next 30."
"Biden may be a ridiculous, overbearing blowhard, and he’ll doubtless make foolish blunders and imprudent comments if he’s on the ticket, but he’d still be an excellent campaigner, surrogate, and debater. He’d be thrilled at the prospect of being vice president (his own aspirations aside), and grateful and proud to have been chosen–he’d work hard to make Obama look good, and not deliberately outshine him–plus the chemistry will be appealing, and they genuinely like and respect each other, which will be winningly apparent."
Well-connected Washington insider Steve Clemons has already reported that signs point to Joe Biden as Barack Obama's running mate. Now comes this tidbit, coutesy of the Washington Post's Shailagh Murray: Tony Blinken, the Biden foreign policy adviser who accompanied Obama on his overseas trip, left Washington to go on vacation late last week. Destination? Hawaii.
The timing of Blinken's trip isn't clear. Maybe he got there after Obama left. Or maybe he really was on vacation. (The article doesn't explore this possibility, although perhaps Murray was just being coy.) But keep in mind that Blinken is married to Evan Ryan, who was Biden's deputy campaign manager.
So, one of Biden's trusted advisors, someone who seems very close to his circle, accompanied Obama to Iraq last month. This same Biden insider happened to be in Hawaii last week when Obama was there.
If you haven't already seen it, please check out the absolutely incredible website Obamascrapbook, which was started by PeacePuppy. This incredible project, which must have taken her an extraordinary amount of time, can be an INVALUABLE tool, in the months to come.
I really hope everyone will check it out and send it to their family and friends!!
It's a biography of Barack's life, featuring all sorts of photos that most have never seen before. It is amazing. And it will inoculate him from the coming 527s with all sorts of "Obama is scary" themes. Your mother, your grandmother, your aunt or coworker--anyone who feels that Obama is an unfamiliar quantity, can be reached via this simple little site. Please take a second to check it out!
And on a truly heart-melting note...Check out Obama and his girls. They are soo sweet!
I just read this at Wonkette and I literally almost fell over.
In October, Obama’s former pastor, Wright, will publish a new book and hit the road to promote it, an occasion that might well place the topic of Obama’s blackness (along with his patriotism and his candor about what he heard in the pews in all those years at Trinity Church) squarely at the center of the national debate. How Obama handles that moment may determine whether he becomes the next occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Peace Puppy has written an absolutely amazing diary. She created a scrapbook of Barack Obama's life. She found a TON of pictures I had never seen before and placed it all together in a way that your mother or your aunt or anyone else can learn a little more about Obama's life. It's a great site to place in your bookmarks and send to anyone who feels uneasy about Obama.
I am so angry I can hardly even type this. Russ Feingold will never get another penny from me. What an idiot.
Washington - If Republican John McCain needs someone to vouch for his independence, he could easily do worse than Senate colleague Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, a liberal Democrat from a key battleground state.
"I think the guy calls 'em as he sees 'em, and as president would call 'em as he sees 'em, and would make people mad all over the place because it wouldn't fit anybody's playbook," said Feingold, who teamed up with McCain to rewrite federal campaign laws.
"He would be very original," Feingold said.
...
[He] continues to express (when asked) his affection and admiration for McCain, even in ways that deviate from his party's core strategy against the Arizona Republican, which is to paint him as a clone of President Bush, and a "maverick no more."
Feingold calls McCain "very original" and a "maverick by nature." McCain's own TV ads call him the "original maverick."
...
"But the notion that somehow (McCain) is going to get in there and be some kind of ideological Newt Gingrich right-winger is a joke. There's no way that he would do that," Feingold said.
Stranahan began writing about the Edwards affair about two weeks ago.
After seeing a few of his diaries, all of which quickly filled up with comments damning him to hell, I got curious enough to click on his links to the various deconstructions of the story. What I found convinced me that he was right. That there was enough evidence to conclude that more likely than not, Edwards had had an affair and was caught at the hotel of Rielle Hunter. (Edwards now admits that he WAS at the hotel and the National Enquirer story was correct.)
Meanwhile, Stranahan was hide-rated into oblivion, all without any kind of justification for it. And eventually, he was banned from the site.
I thought that was really wrong. Even if he HADN'T been vindicated, I would think it was wrong. And now that there is no more doubt that he was telling the truth, I think every effort should be made to re-instate his account.
This news is shitty. I keep feeling terrible for Elizabeth, grateful that Edwards didn't win Iowa or get named as the VP, incredulous that he would behave so dishonorably AND...sad that Stranahan lost his account over it.
You are Valerie Jarret holed up in a conference room with Barack and staff discussing strategy for the week. What do you say?
Here's mine:
--Get Hillary on the campaign trail. Give her WHATEVER she wants (but not VP) and ask her to go on offense. The people that voted for her will listen to her criticism of Mccain and take it seriously.
---Use his new line ("Great at attacking, not great at governing") in every speech, interview, and etc. until it saturates so that when low-info voters see a negative ad from Mccain, they think of it.
--Announce your VP. PICK... BIDEN!!!!! Use the platform of the Olympics to launch him nationally with a bio ad. And warn him not to say anything crazy but tell him to go on offense!! Check Biden out in action and prepare to be amazed:
Zenbowl has written this really extraordinary diary on "the race card" and Obama. It's really great and powerful and I don't want it to fall through the cracks.
Pretty please check it out and Recommend it if you agree that it's a really worthy diary.
At a press event held by Hillary Clinton about FEMA trailers out on Long Island today, I asked her about the campaigning she planned to do for Barack Obama between now and Election Day.
She said, "During the month of August, they've asked me to go to several states. But I'm going to leave it to them to announce. I don't want to in any way get ahead of them. But, you know, I'm doing whatever I'm asked and whatever I can."
I would imagine those states will be Ohio, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, the land of Hardworking Americans.
Our party is already consolidating quite nicely--but a big chunk of Hillary's voters are still undecided, or even planning to vote for Mccain. Indeed, with our party ID advantage, merely improving those numbers by a FEW percentages will have a major effect in the states where Barack is weakest.
Mccain's new ad uses footage of Barack Obama playing basketball with the troops, to argue that he has been ignoring them. I cannot imagine anything more disingenuous...or more stupid.
I have been posting sample scripts for a counterattack and I hope the Obama camp will seize on the basketball footage for their pushback.
This ad works with either Reed or Webb or any military person:
Hi, I'm Senator ____
You may have seen John Mccain's new ad that launches false attacks against Barack Obama for "ignoring our troops". It's an ad so misleading that it actually includes footage of Barack Obama playing basketball with our troops on his recent trip to Kuwait, in order to make its point.
If John Mccain wants to use the troops as a political football that's his choice. But he was one of only __ Senators, who stood with George Bush in opposing our new GI Bill, a bill that was supported overwhelmingly by Democrats and Republicans alike, and meant to give our returning men and women all the benefits they deserve. John Mccain said it was "too generous".
Barack Obama stood with our troops. John Mccain stood with George Bush.
I feel incredibly out-of-step with everyone in the Dkos community right now. Diary after diary about the speech in Berlin, and the comments are piling up in Al Roger's lovely picture-diary which shot to the top of the Rec List.
Meanwhile...
Did this speech earn Barack even a SINGLE vote? Did anyone who wasn't already voting for him decide to vote for him? Did the speech help shore up his areas of weakness--namely national security and the ability to be commander in chief? Did it continue the good work of his trips to Israel, Iraq and Afghanistan?
OR, did it provide Mccain with a chance to talk some more about which one is more American. He already did so in his interview with Brian Williams for tonight--expressing that he would rather give that sort of speech as President than as a candidate. Did it give Fox News and their ilk some sound bytes that they will just love--Barack Obama, son of a Kenyan, who grew up in Indonesia, possible secret Muslim...declaring himself " a citizen of the world"...in front of a crowd of adoring Germans?
The campaign left him $60,000 in debt and unsure of his future. At 38, he was a state legislator in a party out of power, a black politician trounced in the black heartland, an outsider in the tribal world of Chicago politics. His long absences from home had angered his wife. "He was very dejected when it was over," said Mikva, "and thinking of how else he could use his talents." When a nonprofit group dangled a high-paying job, as director, Obama was so nervous--for fear that he might get it--that his hands were shaking on the way to the interview, a former aide reported.
Like many Obama supporters, I have a great deal of personal affection for my candidate. In other words, I like him a lot as a human being, in ways that more resemble your relationship with friends than with politicians. I guess that means I have drunk the Kool Aid, which is alright with me.
I've been biting my nails over Barack's plans to give a speech in Germany. I know everyone is really excited about this but I'm convinced it's a mistake.
First, there was much speculation that they would be doing it at the Brandenburg Gate, something that I found to be quite inappropriate. The fact that they STILL pursued it, even after various German politicians including Angela Merkel criticized the idea, was something I found stunningly arrogant.
Now he will be speaking before the Victory Column, which is a relief. And I am still biting my nails. After all...as much as we want him to be...
Barack Obama isn't President yet.
What business does he really have giving a speech overseas like this?? What is the rationale behind it? To quote Tuffie's comment from the diary on the rec list:
This has backlash stamped all over it. It fits every single GOP and media these: arrogance, President of Eurotrash or America?, etc., etc. It makes me uneasy.
This feels like it's all about Obama, Obama, Obama. It isn't going to gain him a SINGLE vote that he doesn't already have. It may, instead alienate those folks who already think he's too foreign and too different from them.
This is a diary repost: I wrote it earlier but I thought the night-time crew might like to meet Obama's awesome sister.
Barack's sister, Maya, is pretty amazing as a surrogate. She's funny and charming a great speaker and really inspirational (Hmmn...she reminds me of someone....)
I think the campaign is planning on using her more on the campaign trail and she's doing a great job. She was in Florida holding events including a fundraiser and even a meeting with teachers (she has a PhD in Education and is a teacher herself).
Here is her appearance at a Women for Obama yesterday. She had lots of personal stories to share including talking about their mother and grandmother, and how Barack's daughters make him cry. I think she's just as effective as Michelle in terms of reaching out to women, especially Hillary's voters, and showing a different side of Barack.
I basically love her already. (More below the fold.)
Michelle has a really novel new approach to her campaigning and one that I find brilliant.
Starting in New Hampshire a few weeks ago, she now does these "roundtable discussions" with groups of women where she zeroes in on issues like getting adequate child care and the Family Leave Act. She still has a stump speech (and it's a great speech), one that wraps around relevant policies, but a lot of what she does is listen to other women and their concerns and then responding with her own thoughts.
Like The View basically.
Anyway, this framework really plays to her strengths. When she was in New Hampshire right before the Unity event, she got GLOWING press, not only in newspapers but on the local news. She came across as incredibly warm and intelligent (and beautiful! She wore this very striking white and gray dress that I am still looking for).
It's basically the PERFECT format for her.
Today she appeared in Pontiac Michigan with Jennifer Granholm and has gotten more really great local press.
When Obama arrived and stepped out of an enormous bus, he was greeted with a rowdy "O-BAM-A" chant from the crowd, which quickly provided a hearty rendition of "Happy Birthday" for Malia.
Yesterday we learned that the NRA will be putting some major bucks (a $40 million dollar effort) towards slamming Obama on gun control in battleground states.
Well we are returning fire. Elizabeth Edwards, already such an effective surrogate for Obama when it comes to Health Care, is headlining the group Health Care for America Now to advocate for Universal Health Care and criticize Mccain's ridiculous plan. Via Politico:
Next week, the group Health Care for America Now will unveil a $40 million effort, with the first ad buy being a $1.5 million in national print, online and broadcast advertising.
...
The group's goal is to provide "quality, affordable health care for every American," and it obviously dovetails with the Obama campaign's promise of providing universal health care. The group will spend $25 million in paid media, while also funding 100 organizers involved in events around the country.
