February 25, 2008
I'd be embarassed to talk about shame so much.
The Clinton campaign stooped so low circulating a picture of Barack Obama in African dress. The Obama camp responded with shaming: "On the very day that Sen. Clinton is giving a speech about restoring respect for America in the world, her campaign has engaged in the most shameful, offensive fear-mongering we've seen from either party in this election." And then the Clinton side shamed them back: "If Barack Obama's campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed." This is the classic rhetorical device that is technically termed "I'm rubber, you're glue."
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97 comments:
So instead of a Rovian moment, we are having a PeeWee Herman moment in politics? Seems about right.
At least she had the decency not to pass judgment on Tilda Swenton's fashion choices...
So were the originators of the photo really Clinton supporters, as Drudge claims, or were they someone else claiming to be Clinton supporters who wanted another meaningless dustup?
These people have forgotten that Americans have a guilt culture, not a shame culture. Americans do not know shame!
Hillary Clinton, of all people, should understand this.
So were the originators of the photo really Clinton supporters, as Drudge claims, or were they someone else claiming to be Clinton supporters who wanted another meaningless dustup?
I wouldn't be surprised if they were, especially if they were lower level associates of her campaign. More or less the way Obama was recently embarassed by the poor judgment of one of his local campaign offices hanging posters glorifying a murderous Communist thug, Clinton may be embarassed (again) by the poor judgment of her campaign supporters.
The Obama photo was going to come out eventually. Lets be glad it was Clinton.
Campaign tactics aside, Obama does look anti-american in the photo. Such an image can't be helpful for him considering he has a problem with this issue (i.e. the flag pins etc..) Therefore, it was smart of her campaign to put it out there.
These people have forgotten that Americans have a guilt culture, not a shame culture. Americans do not know shame!
Maybe, except Obama anc Clinton are fighting over Reagan Democrats in Ohio. He is nailing her on free-trade and populism, she is nailing him on culture. It is all fair game.
A dirty trick from the Clintons? Who would believe it.
Of course the despicable "Obama is a Muslim" smear campaign has a similar stink.
The Obama campaign can't very well claim that it is insulting to be called a Muslim. If his campaign goes further and explains that yes, it is a smear, because a lot of voters are ignorant bigots, well that doesn't work either.
They have to move even further into meta-analysis and argue that these incidents are smears, because their originators intended them to be smears.
The motive is the crime.
I can't wait for the 'neener, neener, I'm the stud and you're the weener' moment!
[i]Campaign tactics aside, Obama does look anti-american in the photo.[/i]
What?
dbq: LOL.
This is a very graceless exit from the race for HRC.
That picture was going to come out eventually though, and her campaign must've known that. An interesting question is whether she is helping or harming her party. By releasing it as a pathetically desperate dying squib, she gets it out early and in an easy-to-dismiss context. On the other hand, now that it's out there, the McCain people can make sure it gets lots of play that his campaign takes no blame.
Maybe, except Obama anc Clinton are fighting over Reagan Democrats in Ohio. He is nailing her on free-trade and populism, she is nailing him on culture. It is all fair game.
True -- Obama and Clinton are politicians, so almost definitionally, they feel neither guilt nor shame. But I was just being glib.
Campaign tactics aside, Obama does look anti-american in the photo.
Really? Are we looking at the same picture? Obama in what look like white bedsheets draped around his torso, with a cross of white cloth over his chest? He just looks silly, like a gawky college student playing dress-up for a class skit, not "anti-American."
Obama needs to grow up and take responsibility for his own actions. This blame everyone else for your own stupidity is getting old. Dressing in Muslim garb was stupid, it was even more stupid to allow a photo op, and it is downright childish to blame Hillary for a public photo being made more public. It is Obama's Dukakis tank moment, he needs to own up and live with the consequences of having everyone either laugh at him or repel in shock. Either way, he is to blame, not Hillary, not Drudge, not any other bloggers or media.
Really? Are we looking at the same picture? Obama in what look like white bedsheets draped around his torso, with a cross of white cloth over his chest? He just looks silly, like a gawky college student playing dress-up for a class skit, not "anti-American."
Most people we see in the media wearing such garb are usually raising their AK-47s and yelling death to America. Obama is a stupid idiot for getting his picture taken in it.
My friends here in Missouri think it's inevitable that the winner of the nomination will select the other one as the VP candidate. I always say I'm not so sure, because the #$&% may get so deep that the winner CAN'T reasonably pick the other as a running mate. Now, this story isn't that bad, but are we heading towards that point? And could it cost the Dems the general election or would people rally behind the nominee regardless?
Really? Are we looking at the same picture? Obama in what look like white bedsheets draped around his torso, with a cross of white cloth over his chest? He just looks silly, like a gawky college student playing dress-up for a class skit, not "anti-American."
Now that is what is called objective criticism. As someone said earlier, one in public life should not wear silly clothes.
As to the shame factor, the Hillary Clinton campaign has been shameless in their pursuit of Mr. Obama, painting him as an upstart to her vast experience.
Hillary is angry because she thought she would be the one, the strong one, the anointed one, the only one. She is running an angry campaign. She also has to right to throw Rove's name out there; her and her husband are not exactly innocent in the field of dirty politics and they have a longer history of it.
Now some guy who is just as experienced as Hillary, but younger and more energetic comes along and bam; she is falling faster than a mudslide in California.
Shame on you Hillary for not backing out gracefully.
"Clinton campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee has told USA TODAY's Kathy Kiely that he doesn't know if anyone on the Clinton staff circulated the photo. He also says, Kathy reports, that "if the point someone on our staff is trying to make is that the press treats us differently; it does."
The press does treat Hillary differently. Hillary Clinton has been given a free ride by the press since she left the White House. They refuse to investigate her claims of service, they refuse to look into her campaign tactics, they refuse to criticize her relationships to big corporate donors, and they treat her like royalty. it is hands off Hillary.
"Obama is a stupid idiot for getting his picture taken in it."
Que sera, sera. I don't think he was going to carry the dumbfuck bigot vote anyway.
Is there any actual evidence that this came from the Clinton campaign (much less, as has been suggested repeatedly, from Hillary herself), besides the word of Matt Drudge?
Now, I realize that anything like this that comes out about Obama is self-evidently the work of Hillary Clinton and no standards of evidence are needed. I'm sure anyone who doubts this was released by Hillary will be called "delusional," mainly because calling someone delusional is easier than admitting that there isn't actually any evidence this came from the Clinton camp.
Personally, I would not be surprised if it came from the Clinton camp, but I usually wait until there is actual evidence before I make assertions.
As for the Clinton camp, would it be bad form for me to post up here what they have to say about it? I realize that etiquette may demand that the Hillary camp's side of the story never be presented so that no doubt is ever cast on anything said by Matt Drudge, who we all know is totally honest and above-board in everything he does.
But I'll defy convention and go ahead and post this statement from the Hillary campaign:
“We have over 700 people on staff. I don’t know if someone on our staff sent it out or not," Elleithee said. “If someone on our staff makes the point that we are treated differently by the press than Sen. Obama, we agree with that sentiment. We don’t think there’s anything wrong with this photo. Sen. Clinton has herself, while traveling abroad, dressed in traditional, local dress. And there’s nothing divisive about that."
The photo has been out there for a long time, and on the internet, and in a tabloid. Obama runs a huge risk here ofgoing nuclear if it turns out it wasn't sent from a Clinton campaign staffer. He should have laughed it off and embraced it.
It was a major scandal when Calvin Coolidge was photographed wearing an Indian War Chief’s headdress as President of the United States. The veterans of the Indian Wars were incensed and staged protests at many of his appearances. Retired Major Marcus Reno of the Little Big Horn Veterans for Truth led the protests. “I am amazed that the President of the United States would wear the clothing and honor the culture of an enemy that has massacred so many of his fellow citizens” said Major Reno of the 7th Calvary. “I am sure that General Custer is turning over in his grave.” President Coolidge only reply to these attacks: “Blow me.”
(President Harding Loved to Wear a Dress, A review of Mistakes in Presidential Attire,
by Doris Kearns Godwin)
Even our host states as fact and without qualification that "the Clinton campaign stooped so low circulating a picture of Barack Obama in African dress," despite the lack of evidence. She links to the USA Today article, but in her write-up omits the paper's qualification that this is merely "a claim in The Drudge Report."
So, we're just peddling rumors as fact, now. I've always thought that conservatives should resent Fox News and other conservative media for playing them for fools, lying to them or deceiving them and thinking that their readers/viewers aren't smart enough to see the dishonesty.
The smart conservatives know they are being lied to, but realize the usefulness of a good lie at the enemy's expense, so they knowingly embrace it and help to spread it.
And the rest: to them the Truth is Self-Evident and no evidence is actually needed. The insinuation is good enough, in fact in many cases, the insinuation is far better than the truth.
The truth will only take you so far; but lies and insinuations can go anywhere.
Verso said...
Is there any actual evidence that this came from the Clinton campaign
Yeah, it was just announced that a "low level" staffer was fired for releasing it. She sure has a lot of busses to throw people under doesn't she?
Hey Trooper,
They little big horned him?
Oh please, this simply adds to his vibrantness as a multi-culti man about planet. I'm betting the ladies thinks he looks rather fetching.
Then again if someone got him dressed like this it would be curtains for Obama.
a couple of random thoughts re the pic: The Clinton campaign certainly did not deny putting it out there.
As to whether it is "Muslim Garb" or not, you really cant tell without making a whole lot of assumptions. It is Somali traditional garb, and not all Somali's are Muslim; BTW what does Muslim garb look like? Dress suits, white shirts and bow ties? Robes? Gutras? Thobes? Traditional garb has little to do with Muslim dogma--esp for mmales.
Too bad Fred Thompson hadnt provided his "funny hat" guidance in political campaigns before Obama got suited up. Most politicians are going to end up wearing funny hats.
Finally: the fact tha Obama would wear the garb tells me he is at least sensitive to local customs and traditions. He did what most courteous people would do: he accepted a gift and recognized the contribution.
I am just surprised the Clinton machine didnt label the picture Barrack Hussein Obama. Its a crude attempt, IMO, to paint Obama as a Muslim. YMMV. (anyone recall all the liberal angst and interpretation about the Corker-Ford race and the picture the Corker campagaign put out?--I didnt think so.)
BTW: I still think Obama is an empty suit but this picture means he is at least a cross cultural empty suit. I like the kerfluffle because I love to see Democrats eat their own and then cite Karl Rove.
Yeah, it was just announced that a "low level" staffer was fired for releasing it.
What's your source for this?
I think garage has the right take. The photo was out there. The Obama campaign should have laughed it off.
It is a tough spot. The Obama people know about the Muslim smear. They want to cut it off, quick, any time it touches the mainstream. But they can never be seen to overreact.
Which they did in this case, but not excessively so. I think they come out of this okay. It is to Obama's advantage in the general election to have this line of attack as played out as possible.
I am curious about one thing. Since her campaign brought it up proudly, are the photos of Hillary Clinton in traditional garb collected somethere?
Hopefully, Hillary won't visit a nudist colony, and dress as the natives.
On The Cross For America's Sins
I marinate in shame,
I fricassee in guilt,
I sadly bear the blame --
It's a liberal's gestalt.
The photo could be very devastating and can't be laughed off. It's a Michael Dukakis on a tank moment and several Kerry moments captured on film (like this) all rolled into one. But it's too late to save Hillary. McCain is the one who stands to mop up with the circulation of that image. I wouldn't be surprised if the source of the photo wasn't the Obama campaign itself. Get it out there now so that it's old news 7 or 8 months from now when people are really paying attention and critical votes can be influenced.
Obama's #1 problem is that most people don't know much about him and he risks having his identity defined by his opponents.
Example: About two weeks ago a friend said to me, "....yeah, that's like the joke about Obama's middle name being Hussein."
I said, "It's not a joke. That really is his middle name."
My friend thought I was kidding. And he asked another guy if that was a joke. The other guy said, "No. That's really his middle name."
My friend still thought it was a joke!
Anyway, have you seen the photo of McCain with seven naked men in the river? Or the one where he looks like Boo Radley? (scroll down) Hope those photos don't get out....
Drudge Report February 25, 2008……..
A low level staffer from Senator Barack Obama’s campaign was fired today for circulating a photograph of Senator Hillary Clinton in “traditional garb” in order to incite ridicule and prejudice against her. The photo depicts Senator Clinton wearing a nice dress with a pearl necklace and an apron while she was baking cookies. “The photo makes her look like Donna Freaking Reed,” said Mandy Grunwald a Clinton spokeswoman. “Hillary Clinton is not a cookie baking, warm and nurturing mother figure and the Obama campaign owes the nation an apology.” Developing……..
As to whether it is "Muslim Garb" or not, you really cant tell without making a whole lot of assumptions. It is Somali traditional garb, and not all Somali's are Muslim;
They're Muslim in roughly the same degree as, say, Arabs or Persians are. I.e. there are some small exceptions, but Somalis are kind of defined by their being Muslim, in the same way that the Amhara who historically ruled the Empire of Ethiopia are distinguished from their neighbour populations by their Christianity. Even modern Somalis apparently look back at Islamic figures like Ahmed Gran (who invaded Ethiopia and laid waste to her countryside) as heroes. Hence Somalia's repeated (failed) attempts to seize southern Ethiopia to create a Greater Somalia.
BTW what does Muslim garb look like? Dress suits, white shirts and bow ties? Robes? Gutras? Thobes?
I think most people think of the kaffiyeh and the dishdash, possibly the caftan. That said, though, if you look at common people from pretty much anywhere in the Muslim world, they almost all dress in Western dress.
Finally: the fact tha Obama would wear the garb tells me he is at least sensitive to local customs and traditions. He did what most courteous people would do: he accepted a gift and recognized the contribution.
Do we have that context here? Because I look at that photo and the (presumably) actual African gentleman Obama appears to be talking to is dressed perfectly normally. That's part of what makes Obama's getup look so goofy costume-party.
I wouldn't be surprised if the source of the photo wasn't the Obama campaign itself. Get it out there now so that it's old news 7 or 8 months from now when people are really paying attention and critical votes can be influenced.
Good call. Still just speculation, but at least you present it as speculation and not as fact.
Still waiting for Middle Class Guy to come up with a source for his claim that someone on the Hillary campaign was fired for distributing the picture.
Hey! Only pants on that broad. No cankles, thankle.
I think most people think of the kaffiyeh and the dishdash, possibly the caftan. That said, though, if you look at common people from pretty much anywhere in the Muslim world, they almost all dress in Western dress.
These are "Muslim clothes" in precisely the same way that Oxfords and Nikes are "Christian clothes." That is, they are worn by Muslims and Christians, respectively. But neither one of these should be called "Muslim" or "Christian" clothes, simply because of the religion practiced in the countries where those kinds of clothes are worn.
The dishdash is worn in a particular region (primarily Saudi Arabia and a few places in that vicinity), and is an expression of a certain culture, not a religion.
The kafiyeh is similar: It's a cultural adornment predominantly worn by Arabs. Of course, most people know that there are hundreds of millions of non-Arab Muslims.
"The elders of wajir" when you google that-the second thing that comes up after this flap is how the women of the "elders of wajir" affected a cease fire on the war in that area...
So are they the same as the radical Muslem - Al Qaeda.
Doesn't seem so.
Now Gateway Pundit is the same place that gets excited- at the embassy riots in Serbia. He ended a post about that with something ominous-"next Basque", and a link to a gross site that called Kosovars liars about what most of the world agrees on-the Serbs are ummm how shall we say it?
Everyone around them-is not too happy with them-not just the Albanian *gasp* Muslim Kosovars.
Gateway- and the ones he links to need to learn some history it gets a little complicated-especially in the Balkans.
Same with this absolutist stuff.
This is the same group of Republicans that get boiling mad when he says that radicals have attempted to hijack the religion of peace".
They've got this all Muslims are evil mentality.
Ironically one of the pilots that died just last week near Tyndall AFB flying for the 33rd-stationed out of Eglin-was *gasp* a Muslim.
Getting upset with this photo is for the Insta-judgement world that has plagued the internet.
It's a little like getting upset if Bush wore a kilt, and labeling it-"Protestant Warmongering Garb".
In the end I don't think the Obama campaign needs the Clinton campaign releasing photos for them.
if that's what happened.
Polk Award-winning journalist and blogger Josh Marshall has this update on Talking Points Memo:
"Late Update: The Clinton campaign has now put out a second statement that goes further but I think still basically amounts to the same thing. You be the judge. In any case, I know you come to TPM to find out what's happening in politics not to get insights into our editorial process. But a number of readers have asked so, a little more detail. When we first heard about this brouhaha this morning, we didn't want to do anything with it before we heard what the Clinton camp had to say, for the reasons I described in the initial post. We know that without doing some sort of exhausted internal investigation, there's no way a national campaign can say that no one in their campaign had anything to do with it. There's high-level stafff, mid-level, hundreds of volunteers, etc. That's not what we were looking for. In most cases, in a situation like this a campaign or in this case, say, perhaps Howard Wolfson or some other top level staff would say: "We don't condone this. We didn't authorize this. As far as we know no one in our organization had anything to do with this. Our campaign is made up of hundreds of people. So we can't say definitively that someone somewhere didn't make a stupid decision. But this isn't something the campaign has anything to do with." We pushed and pushed. But we didn't get anything like that. The new statement goes further. But not that much. The Clinton campaign is either terribly inept at dealing with the story or they know or suspect that it's accurate. In any case, what we try to do is give you the background to the blaring headlines you see and the benefit of what we find out through our own reporting. That's just what we did in this case.
--Josh Marshall"
Still waiting for Middle Class Guy to substantiate what is now looking more and more like a lie: His claim that the Hillary campaign fired one of their staffers.
Also, I don't think the outfit is necessarily Somali. Looking back at the article, there's an update explaining that Obama was in Kenya at the time. That makes a bit more sense, since his ancestors are Kenyan (Kikuyu), not Somali.
The kafiyeh is similar: It's a cultural adornment predominantly worn by Arabs. Of course, most people know that there are hundreds of millions of non-Arab Muslims.
But I'm talking about what Americans think of when they think of Muslim garb -- what the ordinary meaning of the term in conversation would be. People across the world wear Western business suits (and nikes and khakis and jeans usw). But when people think of "Muslim dress," they don't necessarily think of what most Muslim people actually wear (i.e. Western clothes). They tend to think of the national costume of the most prominent Muslim countries -- i.e. the Arab countries, possibly shading over as far East as Persia.
In other countries, like the UK, that might be different, since the UK historical experience of Islam has a much deeper history, centred on countries like India, Pakistan, and Malaysia, built out of the ruins of the British Raj. Russians might think more about Chechnyan or Turkic national dress, because of the history of the Russian Empire, and the role that Mongols, Tatars, and Turks have played in Russian national history. This stands is contrast with the US experience, which is much more visibly focussed on the Arab countries of the Middle East.
Still waiting for Middle Class Guy to substantiate what is now looking more and more like a lie
Hey how about you substantiate your claim that in the 1990s, the GOP splintered and ran to the hills forming terrorist militias.
The whole controversy is so silly I can't believe it's even being talked about. Obama looked like a silly tourist, why would they get unhinged on their response?
Anyone remember the Kerry Condom Suit?
Now THAT was funny.
Why would Obama find it "shameful" to be called Muslim?
Dredge Report 25 February 2008:
An Obama staffer was commended today for finding this picture of Hillary and sending it to the Dredge Report. Hillary Clinton responded:
Shame on you Barak Obama! Shame on you! This is not the tone you claim to set for your campaign. This is nothing more than a smear attempt. That picture was taken when I was thinner and does not represent the true Hillary Clinton of today. I am calling, no demanding of you to meet me in Ohio for a swimsuit debate. We’ll see who looks better.
http:// http://pierceshow.blogspot.com/2007/01/hillary-clinton-bathing-suit-photo.html
I wonder if this is Hillary's 1960 Nixon election moment? Will she lose saying, effectively, "You won't have Bill and I to kick around anymore?"
Will she come back later? yikes!
Drudge report February 25, 2008
The Van Winkle family of Catskill, New York has contacted the media to demand an apology from the Hillary Clinton Campaign. It seems that a low level staffer had leaked a photo of their ancestor Rip Van Winkle on various sites on the Internet. “They make poor Rip look like doddering old fool, drooling on himself with out any awareness of his surroundings. It’s worse than an Alzheimer’s patient. He looks like an incontinent buffoon and we demand a retraction and an apology” said Emily Van Winkle a great-great granddaughter of Rip. When informed that the photo was actually that of John McCain at a political rally, Ms.Van Winkle replied “Nevermind.” Developing………
"They make poor Rip look like doddering old fool, drooling on himself with out any awareness of his surroundings. It’s worse than an Alzheimer’s patient. He looks like an incontinent buffoon and we demand a retraction and an apology” said Emily Van Winkle"
Like great-great grandmother, like great-great granddaughter. Rip wants to just get away from the media attention and find a nice place to take a nap.
It's not ``I'm rubber, you're glue'' at all. That's aimed at the taunter, not the audience.
It's rather trying to hook into a media narrative with legs.
Which in turn is aimed at holding the attention of a moron audience.
The criticism ought to be that they're underestimating the audience, which may not be true.
Remember who's watching.
I'm not a big fan of Obama in general. I liked him better after this picture.
The Shrub often shows up in goofy garb. In Saudi Arabia he put on some odd garment.
I think it's part of what a president should do. If a candidate can keep a straight face while doing it, then that's part of being presidential.
This picture makes me more willing to believe that Obama is presidential material. He's a very good-looking man, like W., and both of them look good even in ridiculous garments.
Hillary Spokesperson Wolfson Strongly Denies Campaign Officially Pushed Obama Turban Pic
By Greg Sargent - February 25, 2008, 2:36PM
On a conference call with reporters just now, Hillary spokesperson Howard Wolfson strongly denied any official campaign role in pushing the photo of Obama in a turban and Somali garb.
Drudge reported this morning that Clinton staffers had "circulated" the photo. He didn't say who circulated it, what level of Clinton staffer had circulated it, or to whom it had been circulated. Drudge is the sole source for this email's existence. Nonetheless, the media has been all over the story today.
Asked if the campaign had any role, Wolfson said, "No, not to my knowledge...I've never seen that picture before. I'm not aware that anyone else here has. I'm not aware that anyone here has circulated this e-mail."
Wolfson did say, however, that the campaign agreed with part of the message in the email -- that if the same photo had appeared of Hillary, it would have been a big story: "It is a common view among this campaign and our supporters that there is a difference in how the media covers our campaign and how it covers Senator Obama."
Wolfson also grew exasperated with a reporter who pressed the issue, saying: "If you have any original reporting to suggest that this campaign was circulating this e-mail, please let me know."
"We've been very clear that we're not aware of it," he added. "Obviously the campaign didn't sanction it, and don't know anything about it."
Though I am not surprised, this is the proof that Middle Class Guy was lying when he said that the Hillary campaign had fired a low-level staffer for circulating the photo. The story above was published just minutes after MCG posted his fabrication.
Why is it shameful to publish a picture of Barack Obama in MUSLIM garb? Wasn't BHO a Muslim? Isn't he likely to be still a Muslim given that his church does not require Baptism? MUSLIM garb is not equivalent to African garb. That cloth wrapped around BHO's head points to the Arab influence, and may even be a nod to Obama's father's Arab-African ancestry.
More significant, IMO, why is Obama depicting a legitimate shot of himself (excluded from his bio-film, btw) as a smear? Does that mean he is running from his Islamic heritage? I think BHO's response to the picture is more telling than who ran the film. I think Obama wants us to forget his Arab-African Muslim heritage. Why is that, I wonder? Why does he want our eyes shielded from his full personal history? Is it because, given his anti-Israel and pro-"Palestinian" stance (see Nader's comments) we might discover that Obama is a man whose beliefs are fully aligned with his heritage?
The image of President Harry Truman was of a trim well dressed man in a well tailored suit that was a legacy of his career as a haberdasher. However what was not revealed at the time was the fact that Harry enjoyed wearing woman’s undergarments under his suit. He would often steal Bess Truman’s panties out of the wash and wear them for important and historic occasions. This had come to the attention of Japanese intelligence and they contacted the newly sworn in President to try to use the information to obtain favorable surrender terms. Most observers agree that this directly lead to the dropping of the atomic bomb on Japan. In fact the only reason he stopped dropping the bomb was because they ran out of them.
(President Harding Loved to Wear a Dress, A review of Mistakes in Presidential Attire, by Doris Kearns Godwin)
Verso,
I heard it on the news while doing other things.
Do you honestly beleive everything some campaign puke spews from their pie hole? I thought you were just immature. Now i question your intelligence.
Helen wrote, Isn't he likely to be still a Muslim...
Yes, the very lack of evidence suggests it must be true.
Helen, it is possible to itemize and criticize a candidate's policies -- i.e. policy toward israel -- without recourse to fact-free suppositions and amateur psychoanalysis.
Many figures of American history have been associated with particular items of clothing that became their trademark. Everyone knows of Davy Crockett’s coon skin cap and how could we forget Abe Lincoln’s stove pipe hat. Douglas McArthur was much renowned for his trademark corncob pipe. But one item of clothing was much remarked upon at the time and which we now know little about was President James Buchanan’s corn hole plug. What this exactly was is lost in the mists of time, but we can of course speculate. But that would be a fact-free suppository.
(President Harding Loved to Wear a Dress, A review of Mistakes in Presidential Attire, by Doris Kearns Godwin)
Hillary Spokesperson Wolfson Strongly Denies Campaign Officially Pushed Obama Turban Pic
That's cuz they unofficially pushed it.
Duh
Verso, if you're some low-level Clinton campaign staffer trying to fool people into thinking the dirty tricks from the Clinton campaign are really dirty tricks by the VRWC, you can give it up. Matt Drudge says he obtained an email from the Clinton staff, the Clinton campaign doesn't deny it.
Hillary has had nothing to offer but B.S. about plagiarism and crack dealing, plus some playing of the race and Muslim cards. The sooner the Clintons are kicked to the curb, the better.
Loafing Oaf...
Matt Drudge says...
LOL.
What cracks me up is the lefties here who are shocked...shocked! about the notion of dirty campaigning from the Clintons, who are masters of the art of the politics of personal destruction.
Just ask Paula "hundred dollar bill thru a trailer park" Jones and Linda "how'd my confidential FBI employment file wind up at the NY Times?" Tripp about that.
I remember them trying to paint Monica Lewinski as an unbalanced stalker. Until she produced the semen stained blue dress. That shut them up good, for once.
Good Lord, are you really that naive? Or do you just like the flavor of the koolaid?
President James Garfield had a very strange and unexplainable fetish. He enjoyed dressing like a clown. The President was obsessed by the circus and often spent time in the company of circus folk. The strange and bizarre world of the geek show was his favorite amusement. The traveling circus was an entertainment staple after the civil war; before the development of radio or television. Many Americans shared President Garfield’s obsession but few took it the level of the twentieth President of the United States. It was reported that President Garfield enjoyed dressing up with a bulbous nose and whiteface with long stringy orange hair, and then he would indulge in long and noisy sexual bouts with his equally infamous wife, Lucretia Rudolph Garfield who was reputed to have two vaginas. The rumors of outré sexual practices at the White House began to spread, but the matter was dropped after the assassination of President Garfield by a disappointed orifice seeker on July 2, 1881.
(President Harding Loved to Wear a Dress, A Review of Mistakes in Presidential Attire, by Doris Kearns Godwin)
...waiting for J. Edgar in drag....waiting....waiting..
Too easy hd, too easy.
There is no positive evidence whatsoever that Barack Obama is a Muslim. There is no evidence that he was raised as a Muslim. There is no evidence that he secretly harbors Muslim feelings.
It's possible, of course--lots of things are possible--but there just isn't any evidence.
Being an Israel-hating hard-left progressive is entirely consistent with being a left-wing Christian (it's not a prerequisite, but it's not at all incompatible). There is no inconsistency there. There is nothing that Barack Obama has done--not one single thing--that is inconsistent with who he says he is: a liberal Christian.
Just take a look at Jimmy Carter. Is he a secret Muslim? Jima al-Qartar? How is Obama so different?
This is like the red scare, except there were actual secret commies back then. I don't think there are very many secret Muslims now. Why bother, when liberal infidels will push their agenda for them?
The legendary power of J. Edgar Hoover was been ascribed to many different things. Some say it was the files that the FBI had on various political figures. Others thought that it was due to wiretaps of private conversations that led to an ability to “blackmail” many public figures. In addition, it has often be rumored that Hoover did not prosecute the Mafia due to certain pictures of the director involved in certain acts that was considered illicit ranging from prancing about in drag to performing various homosexual acts on his companion Clyde Tolson. But that was not in fact the case. The truth is much more intriguing.
(President Harding Loved to Wear a Dress, A Review of Mistakes in Presidential Attire, by Doris Kearns Godwin)
Sgt Ted
Here's a typical Drudge reader
[Safe for work, you'll like it]
politics is silly. Ann wants to be an artist anyway.
rubber..glue
boo....hoo
use tape
http://www.tapeart.com/
Signed,
Nancy Marie _______________
Hey Garage Mahal, where did you get the rhhardin sex tape?
Ann, I just realized that the following speech will be given in one hour and fifteen minutes at the UW Law School by the noted anarchist Wendy McElroy, one of my favorite bloggers. Are you in Madison? Are you attending? Everybody drop what you're doing and go.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
It’s More Responsible Not to Vote Says Feminist Author
Madison, Wisconsin – February 21, 2008 - Act Responsibly: Don’t Vote! That’s not a bumper sticker you’re likely to see in coming weeks. But what if the ballot is just one more government form to fill out? What if the most politically powerful act is to say "no" by tearing the form in half?
Wendy McElroy, well-respected feminist and author of XXX: A Woman's Right to Pornography, as well as many other books and articles on a wide range of topics, has taken the apparently unpopular position that it is actually better – practically, strategically, and morally – not to vote. Most people believe this is an outrageous idea but McElroy has serious arguments against voting.
"Don’t vote, it only encourages them” is an old joke that McElroy points out connects on some level with the idea of making a statement through consciously not voting. McElroy says, “Maybe non-voters are right. After all, if most people refuse to buy a product with which they’re acquainted, do you blame them or the product? Politicians have only themselves to blame if people are not buying what they sell.”
McElroy explains that “Non-voting is a gauge of how deeply alienated the average person is from the political establishment. Sometimes political disgust converts non-voting from an act of indifference to one of protest through which people express a word that all politicians fear: ‘no.’ Not just ‘no’ to them but to the entire process.”
Arguing against McElroy, Professor Harry Brighouse from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says that it is not morally wrong to vote. However, he does caution that people have “a moral obligation to think hard about how they vote, if they do vote.”
To learn more about being a responsible voter or nonvoter, you can attend a forum on voting featuring Ms. McElroy and Professor Brighouse Monday, February 25 at 7:00 p.m. at the University of Wisconsin School of Law, Room 5229. The event is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy.
Trooper York said...
The truth is much more intriguing.
J. Edgar Hoover was really a woman named Jayne Edagar Hoover. Her mother was from the famous Edgar who fought on both sides of the Revolutionary war. His father was from the Hoover family. They are responsible for the slogan suck it up.
Does this prove that Hillary and Chelsea are closet Moslems?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/world/middle_east/519043.stm
No comment from Titus about the way his "skirt" sticks out in the front?
So, let me understand. Somebody, maybe the Clinton campaign, circulated a photo op shot that Obama voluntarily participated in. I don't see any guns to his head to make him dress in a tablecloth with a diaper on his head. I assume he though this was a good idea at the time.
Suddenly, because he is now the anointed St. Obama, showing this photo constitutes dirty tricks?? He posed for it then, gee whiz, what has changed?? And he whines to the sky about it.
Now, I don't like Hillary, but I must say I haven't heard the same sniveling from her campaign over the hippy dippy uni-brow photos that she had taken of herself in a much much earlier time.
Come on Obama... if you can't take the heat...at least use the dishtowel on your head for cleaning up something ... be useful.
Can we really trust B. Hussain Obama?
-His middle name is Hussain;
-He Attended a Muslim school;
-He Was against the Iraq war;
-He Has wife who isn't proud of American;
-He plagarizes;
-He wears a turban; and
-He's a mulatto.
Vote for Hillary - she's 100 percent American and a Yankee fan.
"There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 percent. Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else" - Hillary Clinton, San Francisco Times.
rcocean said...
"There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100 percent. Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else" - Hillary Clinton, San Francisco Times.
So, she is plagiarizing Teddy Roosevelt?
I don't see any guns to his head to make him dress in a tablecloth with a diaper on his head. I assume he though this was a good idea at the time.
The turban actually looks fine. It's the rest of his costume that looks like cheap tourist-trap crap.
What a relief. I thought the picture would show Obama with a bone in his nose, carrying a spear. Most of the world's turban wearers are Sikhs by the way.
I liked seeing Hillary and her daughter in traditional Islamic dress. Since Hill never talks about her religion, it's possible she's a closet Muslim.
Henry, I regret to announce that the only way one becomes a Christian is via Baptism. There is no other way. Sorry. In BHO's church, Baptism is not requisite; Muslims can join without it. His pastor welcomes that sort of involvement. If BHO joined his church simply by walking the aisle or by some other means besides Baptism, it does not matter a whit what he calls himself, he is not a Christian. If he is not a Christian, what remains is the religion of his fathers in which he participated as a child. If he has not renounced Islam and was not baptized, then BHO is a Muslim. If you object to Baptism as the means for making Christians, take it up with Jesus. It was His idea. If my logic escapes you, take it up with your past teachers.
In tribal societies, especially Islamic ones, the children belong to the father. That his father was a Muslim of necessity meant that he had to be, unless his mother demanded that BHO be raised Christian (which she, being an evil Westerner, could have). She did not; thus, BHO went to mosque as a kid the same way I had to trot down to the RC church cuz I am a product of an RC family. He even went to mosque in Indonesia cuz his step-father was Muslim. Furthermore, the BH of BHO is indicative of the faith in which the young BHO was raised. The name sends a signal to the world that this is a Muslim child; were he Christian, that would have also been apparent from his name. Any Kenyan hearing his name understands his religious allegiance.
Now, I have not heard that BHO was baptized. Until such time as I'm confronted with evidence (in his own narrative or elsewhere) that BHO was baptized, then I understand him to be a Muslim. Apart from his lip service that he's a Christian, there's nothing to support his claim there.
Henry, I regret to announce that the only way one becomes a Christian is via Baptism.
Jesus thought otherwise.
Most people we see in the media wearing such garb are usually raising their AK-47s and yelling death to America. Obama is a stupid idiot for getting his picture taken in it.
We ARE at war with radical Islam, and the Somalis are 99.9% militant Sunni. Obama wore a white turban limited to only members of the Muslim Faith, head dressing done in the Muslim style (as opposed to the Christian or animist headgear which is in a different style and color to signal from a distance that an infidel approaches.....
Let's admit that German-Americans in WWII did not follow Obama's fashion faux pas of dressing up like a Muslim War Lord indistinguishable from Sudan Janjaweed, AQ in Afghanistan, Somalis killing US troops in the Blackhawk Down! incident. Dwight Eisenhower, Chuck Yaeger, and Chester Nimitz were pretty circumspect about appearing in Lederhosen and asking for favorite childhood menus like brats and sauerkraut.
Obama has gotten a blatant pass from the media. While America has no "religious test", that does not mean that voters are prohibited on "bigotry grounds" from treating a person's religion like any other belief system they may have - like political, believer in alien conspiracies, a personal belief in Hispanic or Yamoto racial supremacy. His Muslim ties are a proper avenue of inquiry for those who believe Islam and the US Constitution are as incompatable as with Mormon polygamy, Japanese Shintoism, Aztec human sacrifice. Or how American voters should perhaps not vote for or put in a position of high trust a Jew like Jonathan Pollard, who claimed 1st loyalty to his Jewish religion and the Jewish politico-religious State of Israel.
Slowly, the Muslim stuff in Obama's past and present is coming out.
1. He was given a 100% Muslim name.
Which other Muslims believe made him an acknowledged Muslim at birth.
2. When at Columbia, he asked for a Muslim roomate (got a Pakistani).
3. His powerful cousin in Kenya, who Obama writes he is very sympatico with and got valuable advice from, is campaigning for imposition of Sharia Law in areas of Kenya.
4. Obama's "community organizing" put him working alongside Chicago's powerful Black Muslim community on several projects and iniiatives.
5. His church has long ties to Black Muslims and their separatist agenda.
6. His claim that ties to his Muslim Indonesian foster family continue and give him great insight into how to conduct foreign affairs.
More stuff will emerge, and Obama, not his "bigoted" critics, will be having to defend those Islamic multi-culti ties, and assure voters they are compatable with USA values and the US Constitution.
TY & MCG
Priceless stuff from both of you.
Have sent some of it around to my mailing list (with attribution, of course; no plagiarist moi).
"So, she is plagiarizing Teddy Roosevelt?"
= Not plagiarizing, channeling. Eleanor only visits 1st Ladies, and besides, both Hilliary and TR are "progressives".
Helen, I regret to inform you that Barack Obama lives in the Western World, where adults get to choose their own destiny.
As with Cedarford, you've got to come up with a better hook on which to hang your frame than Obama's name.
Had Obama been born Lew Alcinder, Cassius Clay, or Bobby Moore, and then changed his name to Barack Obama you might have a point. But he didn't. And you don't.
I don't like to see the Clintons stealing Republican material to be used against Obama in the general election.
But the Clintons are gangters and that's the only thing I love about them.
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb184/
endclintonismnow/Bonnie_Clyde_Clinton.jpg
How do I post a link so that it's in blue and you click on it to get the link?
Re: Cedarford:
Let's admit that German-Americans in WWII did not follow Obama's fashion faux pas of dressing up like a Muslim War Lord indistinguishable from Sudan Janjaweed, AQ in Afghanistan, Somalis killing US troops in the Blackhawk Down! incident.
Obama does not look like any of those. See, e.g. Janjaweed, Pashtuns (as a proxy for how Al Qaeda dress in Afghanistan), and armed Somalis in Mogadishu. I'm just not seeing the resemblance. What he does look is silly.
re: jackdripper:
How do I post a link so that it's in blue and you click on it to get the link?
Use the code [a href="http://whatever"]YOUR DESCRIPTION [/a], but with angle brackets, not square.
A Spry Farrakhan Sings Obama's Praises
"This young man is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better," he said. "This young man is capturing audiences of black and brown and red and yellow. If you look at Barack Obama's audiences and look at the effect of his words, those people are being transformed."
Farrakhan compared Obama to the religion's founder, Fard Muhammad, who also had a white mother and black father.
"A black man with a white mother became a savior to us," he told the crowd of mostly followers. "A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."
Thanks Balfegor.
I luuuuv this photo
Henry
It's "Alcindor" He's from Inwood.
IF Obama WAS born as a Muslim, then doesn't that make him guilty of apostacy? In Iran as in the Sudan and Somalia, the punishment for that is death.
But I still think that Cedarford is guilty of reification of speculation?
Also, Black Muslims are not accepted by regular Muslims.
I saw a special on this once but can't remember any details.
Maybe it just means that he can work with a wide variety of people while keeping a straight face. A presdient has to do that.
One interesting thing perhaps is to think about how macho Islamic cultures are, and yet they have at least what we would consider to be a fairly feminine dress code for males.
Shucks. I deleted my post twice because I spelled Barack wrong in two places. I least I got Lew right.
I doubt this will make much a difference to the likes of Helen, but here is Obama on his baptism.
Obama Was Baptized And Attends Church Once a Week When He is Able. In the Audacity of Hope, Obama wrote, "I was finally able to walk down the aisle of Trinity United Church of Christ one day and be baptized." In 2004, he "attend[ed] the 11 a.m. Sunday service at Trinity in the Brainerd neighborhood every week -- or at least as many weeks as he is able. His pastor, Wright, has become a close confidant." When asked about his decision to be baptized, Obama said "Kneeling beneath that cross on the South Side of Chicago, I felt I heard God's spirit beckoning me," he said of his walk down the aisle of the Trinity United Church of Christ. "I submitted myself to his will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth." [Audacity of Hope, p.208, Chicago Sun Times, 4/5/04; AP 6/28/06]
It took all of ten seconds to find that via Google at barackobama.com.
Though I'm sure Helen will say that's all a lie and she won't believe it until she sees videotapes of the ceremony which have been authenticated by the RNC.
Black Muslims are like real Muslims about as much as Christian Scientists are like real scientists.
"I submitted myself to his will and dedicated myself to discovering his truth."
But since he didn't capitalize the divine "h"s, we know he isn't a real Christian.
What denomination (I first spelt demoniation) is his mother, if any, and if not a Baptist, why wasn't he baptized earlier? Is she still living? I suppose, marrying two Muslims, she was a nominal Christian, if that much.
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