This Too Shall Pass

The phrase “This too shall pass” is attributed to a story involving King Solomon:

King Solomon once searched for a cure against depression. He assembled his wise men together. They meditated for a long time and gave him the following advice: Make yourself a ring and have thereon engraved the words “This too shall pass”. The King carried out the advice. He had the ring made and wore it constantly. Every time he felt sad and depressed, he looked at the ring, whereon his mood would change and he would feel cheerful

Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote:

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Ozymandias was another name of Ramses II (aka Ramses the Great.)  I was first introduced to old Ozzy back in the 6th grade, but I really didn’t get what that poem meant until many years later.

Why, you may ask, is the Petulant Clown getting all philosophical and poetic instead of giving you his usual lame snarkiness?  Well, you can blame (or thank) the person who wrote this:

Squeezing the Republican Party into a marginalized position will, inevitably, mean that some “moderate” Conservative idiots will realign with the Democrats. The presence of those Conservatives creates both a challenge and an opportunity, where no opportunity previously existed. It is an emergent moment, a rebirth of the Political dialogue, and this is why people describe it in messianic terms – the secular world does not have the vocabulary to express what is being felt.

Marginalizing the Right will inevitably – inevitably – shift the center of the public policy discussion to the Left. The argument about what to do and when will no longer be centered between Conservatives and Reactionaries, as it has been for 40 years. The center will shift to a discussion between Conservatives and Progressives, the Overton Window will move leftward, and that is entirely a good thing.

That’s a combination of counting chickens before they are hatched and two fleas arguing over who owns the dog.  If history teaches us anything it is that nothing made by humans lasts forever.  Franklin Delano Roosevelt was one of our greatest Presidents, and was certainly the most influential President of the 20th Century.  His election in 1932 ended over a decade of GOP dominance.  He enacted the New Deal, which was the most sweeping change in our theory of government since the founding fathers set it up, and he saw our nation through the Great Depression and most of World War II. 

In 1952, a mere twenty years after FDR defeated Herbert Hoover, the voters put a Republican in the White House.  Ronald Reagan and movement conservatives have been trying to repeal the New Deal ever since it was first enacted.  Eight years ago G-Dub and Turdblossom thought they were going to create a permanent Republican majority, and two years ago the voters gave the legislative branch back to the Democrats.  So we must never forget that there is no finish line in politics.  At most, one side gets to lead for a while, but eventually the lead changes hands again.

No matter who wins on Tuesday, we will have a lot of work to do.  Oh, we can take a break to celebrate or drown our sorrows, but the work will be waiting for us when we return.  Even if the Electoral College fairy magically made Hillary our next President we would still have to work as hard or harder.  We fight and struggle to make gains, and then we fight and struggle to hold on to those gains.  Molly Ivins* said it best:

Those who think of freedom in this country as one long, broad path leading ever onward and upward are dead damned wrong. Many a time freedom has been rolled back–and always for the same sorry reason: fear.

 So one thing I have learned from Johnny Faulk, Texas, and life, is that since you don’t always win, you got to learn to enjoy just fightin’ the good fight.

[…]

So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.

Molly said it, I believe it, that settles it.

Mary Tyler "Molly" Ivins 1944-2007

*R.I.P. Molly

I had an Obama supporter for lunch today

And it was yummy too!  Like my my previous post when an SEIU Canvasser dropped by, I’ll write out the exchange in a MadamaB style playlet post except that it’s actually happened to me.  It’s a phone rant, so please bear with me:

[The Scene:  I am in my humble bungalow abode in Tampa, FL, coming back from picking up Abuela from a medical lab test appointment.   While making a “greca de café“, the phone rings.  On the Caller ID I see “Democratic Party” with a local number.   Suddenly, I maliciously smiled as my inner PUMA growled and I answer the phone.  A polite caller introduces himself en español.  For the sake of this post, I will write out the exchange in English.]

ME:  Hello?

DNC Phone Guy:  Hi, my name is Mauricio and I am calling on behalf of the Democratic Party.  We would like to remind you that you can early vote today at the West Tampa Library located on Howard and Union streets.

ME:  Hello Mauricio, I plan to vote in my district, 205, at the West Tampa Convention Center on Election Day.  I want to vote where I always vote.

DNC Phone Guy: Well, that’s good then, ok, well we’d also like to remind you to please vote for Barack Obama as well as other Democratic ticket runners…

ME:  Hold up, stop right there.  Mauricio, with due and proper respect that you deserve, I know that you are only doing your job.  Whatever I have to say, please don’t take offense.  Get this straight, write this down and tell anybody and everybody in the FL Democratic office there.   There is no way I’m not voting for Barack Obama after he and the DNC stole my vote in the primaries and did not allow my vote to be cast the way I intended it at the convention.  I will be voting for McCain because he co-wrote the bill for Comprehensive Immigration Reform together with Ted Kennedy and endorsed by Hillary Clinton.  I marched in the LULAC protest and McCain stood by us Latinos – but what has Obama done?  His own aunt in Boston is an illegal immigrant and he hasn’t even had the nerve to help her, not even to help her get an immigration attorney to help her out.  If he ignored his own aunt, what makes you think he’s going to help pass this Reform we so desperately need, especially in the Latino community?  I was going to vote for McKinney but with the race so close as it is in Florida and in other states, I want him and the Democratic Party to lose so they know not to steal votes like they did on May 31st at the RBC meeting in Washington.

DNC Phone Guy: I, I, I understand and I’m happy to know that you are an informed voter and…

ME: And another thing – the Democratic Party I knew, the one defended Democracy, one person=one vote,  Liberty, Freedom of Speech, Women’s rights, is DEAD thanks to Obama, Pelosi, Dean and Harry Reid.  They trashed everything that I identified with as a Democrat.  If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were alive today, he’d be hanging his head in shame at the fact that the first African-American presidential candidate stole votes in order to win.  This is a disgrace and a cancer to Democracy.   Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina’s votes counted, but not Florida and Michigan’s?  The only thing that makes everyone equal in this country is the right to vote.  And the Democratic Party did not count my vote because they felt like putting Obama as the leader and how are they going to do that when Hillary won the popular vote and she won the electoral map across the board?  He only won little pockets of the population but the DNC assigned more delegates to that particular population and ignored the rest.   Well guess what, my vote will count this November 4th and when Democracy comes back to the Democratic Party, so will, I.  Until then, I am a PUMA – have you heard of PUMAs before?

DNC Phone guy:  Well, I have heard yes, but I urge you to please at least vote downticket…

ME:  Oh I will, I don’t know about Kathy Castor though since she went against her district and endorsed Obama back in February, when Hillary Clinton clearly won our state, county & district hands down over Obama.  To me, Kathy Castor is part of the problem and I may vote against her.  She had the chance to speak up for us, to urge the DNC to count our votes but she did not.  I did like her foreclosure program she had for foreclosing families and was against the bailout since it did not protect homeowners.  I’m not sure yet.  Other than that, I will support every other Democrat on the ticket though.

DNC Phone Guy:  I hope that you have a good day and I understand that you feel this way, but I am happy to know that you are an informed voter and you’ll be voting this election.

ME:  Without a doubt I’ll be voting and yes, I do look forward to Hillary Clinton running for 2012 – but this time, let the process play out.  Tell them to send Obama back to Democracy School so he can learn what a Democracy is.  You can’t steal votes in the primary and expect the same people you stole from to support you in the general election. There is no Party Unity worth enough to trade the only thing that makes me a free person in this country, which is MY VOTE.  Remember that and have a good day.

DNC Phone Guy:  Thank (click)

And that was it – I leave you with Eddie Palmieri’s “Revolt/La Libertad Logico”  with the Fania All Stars sound that invokes the spirit of rebelión and demands freedom for all people.

UPDATE: WordPress automatically generates related posts around the net (see blue links below) and this very powerful quote by our lovely Katiebird came up from May 2008:

A vote for Obama is a vote against the poor. A vote for Obama is a vote against workers. A vote for Obama is a vote against good government. A vote for Obama is a vote against the future of the Democratic Party.

¡Que viva los PUMAs!

Saturday: The Battle for First Seven Year Old

Piper “Snow Princess” Palin redistributes her candy wealth:

Sasha Obama not quite so crowd friendly (H/T BreitBart):

AP: Democrat Barack Obama got annoyed with the media Friday as he tried to walk down a Chicago street with his 7-year-old daughter, Sasha, who was dressed up in a shiny costume for Halloween. A pool of national photographers, reporters and a video crew traveling with Obama quickly covered the spontaneous moment. “All right guys, that’s enough,” said Obama, wearing a casual outfit and sunglasses in the early evening. He and his daughter were walking right toward the media on a public street. “You got a shot,” he told the photographers. “Leave us alone. Come on, guys.”

Hmmm, this one is close.  They’re both cute as buttons.  But I’m going to give the edge to Piper.  The camera loves her.

I am waiting for the last kid to go home so I can get out of here and get on the road to Scranton, PA where I hope to meet up with Harriet Christian and her posse from Manhattan.  Someone needs to document the event.  Moi!

In the meantime, here is a wrap of interesting stuff from around the web:

• Anglachel (we need to forgive) has an ominous post about discrimination of women in the workplace based on pregnancy in Reproduction of Culture.  We really don’t want to go down this road but I don’t see Obama’s present slash and burn campaign tactics as being conducive to a more female friendly work environment.  The misogyny genie has been released.  Not good.  Not good at all.
• Zogby reports that in the latest 3-day tracking poll, McCain outpolled Obama by 48% to 47%.  It’s Zogby, so take it with a grain of salt.  Still, veddy interesting…
• Joseph Cannon explores Obama’s murky past, his friendships with wealthy Pakistanis and his possible ties with the CIA.  Where *did* all that money come from when he was in college?  Was he working for the CIA?  Of course, that is probably not what happened.  I mean, the only people I knew who hung around with Pakistanis back then were selling hash, not hanging with the spooks. (Spooks in this case meaning CIA operatives.  Jeez, you have to clarify *everything* these days.)  But when it comes to conspiracies about the CIA or conspiracies about selling hash, both are just entertaining thought experiments.  Probably neither of them true.  Probably.

“We’re not ones to go around spreading rumors.  No, really we’re just not the gossiping kind.  You’ll never hear one of us repeating gossip.  So, you’d better be sure to listen close the first time.”

One more thing: I lifted this from PUMAPac, but I don’t think murphy minds.  I love the shot of Toulouse, France.  I went there last year on business and it’s beautiful.  The buildings are made of rose colored brick so they call it the pink city.

The One Speaks To America: A Play in One Truthful Act.

Obama Goes A-Presidenting

H/T to my muse, Pat Johnson at The Confluence, for the inspiration for this one!

THE SCENE: A fake Oval Office in a television studio. BARACK OBAMA is on the set of his half-hour infomercial, which will shortly be broadcast on all the major networks (except ABC). He is in the midst of completing the final take.

OBAMA (to the crew): Are we ready?

DIRECTOR: Yes, Barack. We finally got the teleprompter back up. That new techie over there took care of it.

(A brown-haired figure in a denim jumpsuit, wearing a baseball cap, glasses and sporting a large mustache, waves from across the room.)

OBAMA (ignoring the techie, relieved): Thank God! Okay, let’s roll.

DIRECTOR: Five – four – three – two – one. Action!

OBAMA (calm and Presidential): My faithful Obamabots, I am sending you this personal message, because no one but you will be watching. You have done very well for me up until now. I especially appreciate all the violence and hatred you have spewed at people who do not want to “come to” me. Keep it up! But I have to ask that you please stop hanging Sarah Palin in effigy, since some folks are starting to do the same to me, those racist bastards!

DIRECTOR: Ummmm, Barack…

OBAMA (whispering): Shhhh, Fred, I’m nailing it! (clears throat) As for all those things my running mate, Joe Biden, said about how the international community will test me, they’re absolutely true. But don’t worry, when that red phone rings at three a.m., I’ll be forwarding the call to my team of 300 foreign policy advisors, who will tell me exactly what to do. So be prepared for another attack, kids – and oh by the way, I’ll have to draft you and your friends and family. No exceptions for girls, either. Sorry, sweeties – everyone must serve in Barack’s Army!

Friday: Happy Halloween!

Bwahahahhahaaaaaah!

Lot’s of scaaaary things happening in the news today.  Here’s a quick round up from some of our friends:

• edgeoforever posts that Obama’s informercial was dead on delivery.  The experts say it was too depressing.
• Heidi Li says her Obot friends are pondering weak and weary while she is sharpening her reasoning skills over why the prospect of an Obama presidency is frightening.
• Murphy is laughing maniacally over the protest at the LA Times over the Khalidi tape as well as the fact that after $600 million, a slavish media and the GOP 527’s that never showed up, Obama is still in a statistical tie with a guy who took public financing.  theremin music. OOooooooOOOOOOoooooo.
• Check out this page of extreme pumpkin carvings if you’re looking for ideas.  The 2008 winners feature a nerd, a mummy and “squash on a spit”.

I don’t know if I can top myiq’s post but it would be hard to go any lower.  He really reached the bottom.

See if you can spot us in this video:

Obama = Triangulator

Joe Lieberman ain’t got NUTTIN on Obama when it comes to DINO ism (Democrat In Name Only):

Obama says would include Republicans in cabinet

SUNRISE, Florida (Reuters) – U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Wednesday he would include Republicans in his Cabinet if he wins the election.

Obama, a Democratic senator from Illinois, also said he had “some pretty good ideas” about people he might tap for senior government jobs, though he emphasized he is focused for now on the final days of the campaign and takes nothing for granted.

“There is a transition process — that I’m not paying attention to on a day-to-day basis — but that has been set up,” Obama told ABC News in an interview.

Obama said he “absolutely” considered it important to have Republicans in the Cabinet but he sidestepped a question on whether he would ask Defense Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his job. There has been speculation that either Obama or his Republican rival, John McCain, might ask Gates to stay on.

“I’m not going to get into details,” Obama said, but he added that national security policy, in particular, should be nonpartisan.

Other people mentioned as possible defense secretary picks in an Obama administration include former Navy Secretary Richard Danzig and Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican senator from Nebraska.

Some analysts have speculated that during the transition period between November 4 and January 20, when a successor to President George W. Bush will take office, the new president-elect would move quickly to fill key jobs such as Treasury Secretary, Defense Secretary and Secretary of State.

Some public policy experts see a need for early announcements on such appointments in light of the global financial crisis and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“I am not going to jump the gun on this,” Obama said but he gave credit to the Bush administration for its offer to make government resources available to both candidates to begin the vetting process early.

I knew it!!  This is the main reason why I never liked Obama.  Since his proclamation of his Reagan worship, I knew that Obama was a Blue Dog Democrat.  As RD explains here, Liberalism is DEAD in the Obamacrat party.  They want to be Republicans sooooo bad, but they don’t like the “Republican” name brand and this is is why so many of our current 2008 DNC leadership love him so.   They are all DINOs each and every one of them.  No wonder Colin Powell and other Neo-Cons are salivating at an Obama presidency, they gets to war-monger and skim the books all they want!  McCain/Palin won’t let them do that, look what happened to Ted Stevens in Alaska!

Question for the Obots getting paid $7 as hour by Axelfraud to troll our site, I have a question for you and I challenge you to answer it in the comments section:  When the Obama campaign hired you guys out on your “I hate Hillary” mission, your main excuse was that “Hillary is a triangulator.”  Well, isn’t what Obama doing called “triangulating?”  To help in your homework assignment, here’s a Wikipedia definition:

Triangulation is the name given to the act of a political
candidate presenting his or her ideology as being “above” and “between”
the “left” and “right” sides (or “wings”) of a traditional (e.g. UK or
US) democratic “political spectrum”. It involves adopting for oneself
some of the ideas of one’s political opponent (or apparent opponent).
The logic behind it is that it both takes credit for the opponent’s
ideas, and insulates the triangulator from attacks on that particular
issue. Opponents of triangulation^[who?],
who believe in a fundamental “left” and “right”, consider the dynamic a
deviation from its “reality” and dismiss those that strive for it as
whimsical.

Obama started his career with people with far left leanings only because that was the way to get ahead in the Chicago Machine.  Personally, I don’t buy that Obama is a socialist, otherwise this wouldn’t be happening in his neighborhood.  Neo-Cons cook the books and make money off of war, while Obama’ and his cronies cook the books and make money off of low-income housing.  Different means but same intent.  Exploit the poor and bamboozle them into voting for you.

Voting for Obama is truly a vote for the Neo-Con Borg Collective.  So don’t feel bad when you vote against the DINO-crat, my loud and hellacious liberal principled PUMAs.  Remember this?

¡Que viva los PUMAs!

Thursday: A Tale of Two Endorsements

Many of us have wondered what is really going on in this election.  Why was Hillary Clinton dumped overboard by her own party in favor of a less than one term senator with no experience, no qualifications and apparently no scruples? And where the heck is he getting all of that money? We have some clues.  Donna Brazile keeps making reference to the “old coalition” vs the “new coalition”.  The old coalition consists of the old, uneducated, working class sino-peruvian lesbians and the new coalition consists of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit models with PhDs in Architecture.  The latter group is very anxious to chip the last bit of ice from the floe they have put the old coalition on.  We simply ask too much of government. We’re a burden.  We tie them down.  They want to be free to fulfill their destiny, FREE, I say!

But there’s something more unsettling lurking in the background.  Lambert identified it back in January.  It’s name is High Broderism.  It’s the belief that David Broder and his ilk in the Village are the ones who REALLY understand Main Street America.  And what you main streeters want is a kinder, gentler, more passive Democratic party.  Howard Fineman’s latest column in Newsweek is a warning to Obamaphiles who thought they were going to get real change in Washington.  It’s not going to happen, guys.  That’s not really what you want, say the Villagers.  You want a party that is less partisan and doesn’t upset the Republicans.  You want a party that is less confrontational, less wedded to its committment to the old, uneducated, working class sino-peruvian lesbians.  You want a president who is going to meet post-partisanly with Republicans in a civilized fashion, without raising his voice and put everything on the table to be negotiated away for the calm, reasoned, non-confrontational benefit of all. That is, to the benefit of all of the villagers.

Barack Obama is their man.  The media love him for many reasons.  He’s african-american.  He’s young.  Ok, he’s my age, but since I belong to the old coalition, I’m old; he’s young and full of possibilities.  He went to the right schools.  Ok, so did Hillary Clinton, but she married a Bubba.  And she doesn’t have a penis.  But mostly, Barack Obama is going to let the Broderites have their way.

How do we know this?  It’s been there all along but the recent non-endorsement of Linda Stender in the New York Times shows us exactly what the unholy Obama-Broderite alliance is really up to.  In 2006, the New York Times endorsed Stender over her opponent, Republican Mike Ferguson:

His Democratic opponent, Linda Stender, says she got into the race because she opposed the war in Iraq and says the United States looks like a “big bully” in world affairs. She says she would work to prevent further infringements on a woman’s right to get an abortion, to obtain federal funding for stem cell research, to force the administration to negotiate lower prices for the Medicare drug program with pharmaceutical companies and to get out of Iraq by the end of next year.

As to the tax cuts, she says she would support restoring the estate tax as long as some protection remained for family owners of small businesses, and would consider rolling back the reductions on the capital gains tax. On Social Security, she says the income ceiling on payroll taxes will probably have to be increased and the age of eligibility raised.

Mr. Ferguson, who is regarded as a backbencher in the House, has in the past opposed some of the administration’s efforts to backtrack on environmental protection, but he has shifted recently to a more compliant position. To his credit, he continues to support gun controls.

Over all, however, we consider Ms. Stender, a member of the New Jersey Assembly since 2002, as someone who would better stand up to the Bush administration for the district’s best interests. She wins our endorsement.

She lost NJ-07 by less than 4000 votes in 2006.  So, you’d think that with Ferguson retiring from the House that Stender should be a shoe in for 2008, right?  She’s in one of those coveted “Red to Blue” races.  But this year, she’s up against State Senator and Republican Lennard Lance and the race is uncomfortably tight.  Not to worry, you say.  The New York Times liked her in 2006.  Surely they will endorse her in 2008, right?  She’s a progressive Democrat and they liked her positions in 2006.  Not. So. Fast.:

7th District: In the race for the open seat in this central state region, Republican Leonard Lance and Democrat Linda Stender are both excellent candidates.

Mr. Lance has a fine record in the State Senate, where as Republican leader he won praise from both parties for his fiscal conservatism and his thoughtful views on social issues. Ms. Stender is a progressive Democrat who would make a worthy member of Congress. But Mr. Lance’s leadership qualities and his voice of moderation are needed now in Congress and in the Republican Party. We endorse Leonard Lance.

So, let me get this straight.  She’s an excellent candidate and you endorsed her in 2006 but now she’s not endorseable?  Well, now that Bush is gone, we don’t need anyone to stand up to him, do we?  There you have it, folks.  This, I suspect, is the real agenda behind the powerful elite support of Obama in the media.  The rank and file liberal journalists like Obama because his african-american, hopey-changeyness is kinda neat!  But the establishment want Obama because he will not rock the boat.  And to make sure he has a compliant Congress, the elite are not going to endorse a progressive candidate who is a little too strong in her convictions.  Or maybe they will if the candidate has a penis:

5th District: Residents in this stretch from northeast Bergen County to rural northwestern New Jersey are represented by Scott Garrett, one of the most conservative members of Congress. Mr. Garrett supports constitutional amendments to ban abortion, even in cases of rape and incest. He backs President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy and limited aid for the poor.

We endorse Dennis Shulman, a Democrat who is a rabbi and psychologist. Mr. Shulman says he would work to mitigate global warming. He would also take an interest in psychological counseling and educational opportunities for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Personally, I like Dennis Schulman.  He is socially progressive.  But his health care positions are closer to Obama’s than Clinton’s.  The Broderites will tell you that this is exactly what YOU want.  They just know that you don’t want any more messy food fights in Congress where one side accuses the other of being obstacles to progress.  No, no, no.  What YOU want is for the Democrats you send to Congress to be passive, high school student government types who will work in peace and harmony to undermine everything you believe in because there will still be a sufficient number of Republicans and Blue Dogs to prevent any real meaningful change.

Of course, if this is the goal, one wonders what the Broderites in the Village will have to report on since nothing of interest will happen in the next two years.  But Congress will move along, working in sweet harmony, untroubled by the shrill, unpleasant voices of the liberals and progressives.  The old farty Broderites in Washington can finally have some low key, high class cocktail parties and the Village can finally have some peace and quiet.  And after all, isn’t that what you on Main Street want for them?  They know you do.

One more thing: Check out Heidi Li’s Potpourri for her latest post.  She is calling on both candidates to get their supporters in line.  The hung effigies are going too far, although, I think Obama’s got more to answer for, since he has benefitted mightily from the misogynism and race baiting.  If you have $5.44 to spare, help Heidi and The Denver Group run ads in Michigan and Miami to tell voters that Obama isn’t what he seems.

And if you have *another* $5.44, consider making a donation to PUMA Pac to help Darragh and her crew in their activities in these final days leading up to the election.

Here’s Heidi’s latest ad:

PUMA – A Brief History (Part I)

Didja know that PUMA will be five months old this Saturday?  Hard to believe isn’t it?  It seems like a lot longer than that, but this deathmarch campaign seems to have been going on forever and it’s only been about 18 months since the first debates were held in Iowa.

Yesterday I suggested that we all think about the future of PUMA.  I majored in history in college because it was my favorite subject.  I think understanding where we came from is very helpful in figuring out where we are going, as well as who we are.  So let’s do a quick review.

Despite what our opponents claim, the original PUMAs were mostly long-time Democratic bloggers and blog denizens.  Some, like Riverdaughter (aka Goldberry) and Alegre were prominent kossacks back when dkos was a progressive site, while others like myself frequented other sites in Left Blogistan.

Some PUMAs were supporters of Hillary Clinton from the beginning, while others supported John Edwards or other candidates.  I kept hoping in vain that Al Gore would declare his candidacy, and I had Edwards tentatively as my second choice.  I had Barack Obama near the bottom of my list, but it was my intention to support whatever Democrat won the nomination.

Around the time the actual voting began in primaries and caucuses, something very ugly happened in Left Blogistan.  Obama cultists took over dkos, TPM and other sites and began trying to silence or drive out anyone who didn’t support Obama.  I was a regular at Balloon Juice at that time, and the change took place virtually overnight.

I was not yet supporting Hillary but I noticed that many of the attacks on her were simply recycled right-wing memes from the nineties, long ago debunked.  Having defended and supported the Big Dawg since 1992 I objected to these attacks and defended Hillary.  Now I have been expressing my opinions about politics since before I could vote, but I never saw what happened next.

When I defended Hillary, the response I got was personal attacks and insults.  I’m not talking about someone calling me stupid, I’m talking about really putrid stuff like “you’re a goat-fucking piece of shit” coming from total strangers.  And it wasn’t just one or two people doing it, nor was I the only target.  Eventually I was the only target, as everyone at that site either converted to Kool-aidism or left.  Then I left too.

The leaving for me was a gradual process, as I spent less and less time at Balloon Juice and more time at sites that didn’t worship The Lightbringer.  Eventually I wound up here, where Riverdaughter had created a Kool-aid free zone for Hillary supporters.  Alegre and other refugees from Cheetoville formed their own new blogs as the best and brightest writers went on strike.

By Spring of this year Left Blogistan was divided into two camps, with a few sites trying to maintain a pretense of neutrality in between.  The MSM was completely in the tank for Teleprompter Jesus, so those of us supporting Hillary were lonely voices crying in the wilderness.  We watched as misogyny and false accusations of racism went unchecked while Obama went unexamined.

Hillary was inspiring to watch.  Having been declared dead on several occasions, she kept coming back and winning primaries anyway.  They told us over and over that she couldn’t catch Teh Precious, that she was mathmatically eliminated, but she relentlessly closed the gap.  The biggest obstacle in her way was the DNC/RBC decision to strip Michigan and Florida of their delegates.  We knew that if that undemocratic ruling was reversed, Hillary would take the lead because she handily won both primaries.

The Rules and Bylaws Committee met on May 31st, and our own garychapelhill and Mawm were in attendance.  The outcome was summed up best by Mawm when he yelled “LIPSTICK ON A PIG!” The RBC violated their own rules to contrive a decision that guaranteed Hillary could not catch Obama.

On June 1, 2008 outraged Hillary supporters met at The Confluence to express their feelings about what had taken place.  No one told us how we should think or feel about it, we already knew.  The media and the sippy-kup kidz were proclaiming that we would now have to support Obama in the name of “party unity.”  The general consensus was “I don’t care what they say, I ain’t voting for him cuz he cheated.”

Then SM (aka sm77) posted this comment:

SM, on June 1st, 2008 at 3:39 pm Said:

[…]

I am making an announcement. I am now a member of the PUMA party.

P arty
U nity
M y
A ss

And with that, PUMA was born!

(End Part I)

*********************************************

RD here.  Just a quick reminder that if you don’t want to watch the Unity Pony tonight, you do have options.

• You can set your DVR for Pushing Daisies on ABC or
• You can join Sheri, Darragh and me on The Lions Share at 8:00PM EST on NO WE WON’T/PUMA United Radio (PURrrrr).
• At 9:00pm EST, Will Bower is scheduled to make an appearance on Larry King Live on CNN to tell the country that we’re not dead yet and there are a lot more of us than the media is reporting (PUMA Power has more than 100,000 hits since June 1,2008.)  Also, Johnny Mac is scheduled to make an appearance on Hannity and Colmes tonight on Fox News.

That is all. I now return you to your regular snark.

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Life vs. Life: Why The Abortion Issue Rules Us All

A Potential Life at Two Days Old

In this charged election year, no matter who claims the White House in 2009, we will be electing at least one person with restrictive views on abortion to the White House.

John McCain proclaims that he is “proudly pro-life” (although in the 2000 election, he stated just the opposite). His running mate, Sarah Palin, is far more credible and consistent in her stance against abortion, and even belongs to a group called “Feminists for Life.” As for Barack Obama, he has veered away from the traditional Democratic framing of “safe, legal and rare,” and has been talking about how women shouldn’t get third-trimester abortions just because we’re feeling blue; indeed, we gals are such frivolous creatures that we, as a matter of course, must consult a committee before making such a momentous decision. At least Joe Biden, Barack Obama’s running mate, is unwavering in his pro-choice stance, and drafted the Violence Against Women Act in 1994; however, many of us will never forget his role in casting doubt upon Anita Hill’s story, which helped confirm the arch-conservative Clarence Thomas – another anti-choice Justice – to the Supreme Court.

35 years after Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in America, why is that decision such a controversial and emotional one in our political and personal lives? I believe it is because the choice to terminate a pregnancy is perceived as a choice of one life over another. And how can one make such a choice without agony and conflict? How can a just and lawful nation allow the murder of a child by its mother?

Except that’s not really what happens, is it? What happens in an abortion is that a mother trades a potential life for an actual life. But that simple idea has become lost in a fog of pseudo-science, emotional manipulation by both parties, religious interference and deep-seated societal misogyny.

If Obama can’t even take care of his own neighborhood, how can he take care of our country?

‘If you can’t run your own house, then you can’t run the White House.’

-Michelle Obama

Michelle Obama, I wondered the same thing too especially when your neighborhood, not too far from your million dollar Rezko mansion, looks like this:

American Girl in Italy at No Quarter posted a compelling argument into Barack Obama’s character by showing his paternal grandmother and Barack’s half brother – it’s heartbreaking – in her post “if you are not caring for your family…” It inspired me to do the same here at the Confluence.  American Girl in Italy reminded us of when Obama was a state senator for Illinois, Obama pushed for privately owned and managed low-income housing that is subsidized with state and federal funds.  In other words, the government gives the property owner money if they promise to provide housing for needy families and to maintain it under US housing code. And this tragic incident is the result of Obama’s corruption:

The great PUMA videomaker, Flineo, had this to say about Obama’s district in Chicago:

And this is how the Obama campaign & 2008 DNC sell him as:

Uhhhh, I don’t see rainbows and unity ponies floating in the sky over Grove Park or Cabrini Housing Projects. I don’t see Curtis Cooper’s family “getting over” his death due to Obama & Chicago Thug Crew’s quest for power & cash.  We’re supposed to let this guy waltz into the Oval Office just because it’s a “historical candidacy” when he treats the very people he represented like animals to benefit his rich friends?   The 2008 Chicago Machine  DNC stole votes to put a corrupt slumlord appeaser into office?   Voter fraud is little compared to what Obama let happen under his watch in the only piece of land Obama represented before his US seante run.

Right now, people are living in dangerous inhabitable buildings because of Obama and his Chicago cronies.   And cold weather is already here and I wonder about the people in Grove Park, whether they are stuffing plastic bags between the door cracks just to keep warm.  I wonder if Curtis Cooper’s family has filed a lawsuit against Obama’s friends who manage Cabrini, who opted to solve the problem by putting a chain around a fence so iron fences won’t kill another child.

The people of Chicago voted for Barack Obama and this is what they got. What will we get if he becomes president?  More than ever, we have to really think about our voting strategy this November 4th.  We’ve got to keep this criminal out of the Oval Office.  Think out your voting strategy wisely.

¡Que viva los PUMAs!