With Friends Like These

Via Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot citing Oba-messiah's voter suppression effort in his first primary:

He said the Obama team challenged every single one of his petitions on what Askia called "technicalities."

If names were printed instead of signed in cursive writing, they were declared invalid. If signatures were good but the person gathering the signatures wasn't properly registered, then those petitions also were thrown out.

And he links to Hot Air:

Also, Ed Morrissey, who I chat with Wednesdays on BlogTalkRadio, looks at the story and thinks it's a total non-issue. "Obama played hardball in Chicago … so?"

So?? Unfortunately, it is precisely that type of holier than thou attitude that makes mainstream Republicans such colossal losers. Imagine a contest in which a Republican did a similar thing to a Democrat. Everyone from the ACLU to CBS and in between would be screaming bloody murder, after they grew tired of yelling voter intimidation, suppression - take your pick.

And if Obama were a Republican, Time would do a cover on his previously exhibited ruthlessness. I realize Obama didn't do it to a Republican - the fact is, he did it and now wants to portray himself as the godhead of sweetness, light and healing.

His past political behavior is not only fair game; it's completely pertinent to the discussion of his candidacy. You really think he won't be using nasty tactics to beat conservatives and Republicans should he win the general election? Have you paid attention to Nancy Pelosi? Harry Reid?

Geesh! If you want to advance an agenda because you believe in it, you'd damn well better be ready to fight for it using every reasonable argument, or attack at your disposal. And that includes trying to win every skirmish in what is well-known as a contact sport - politics.

We already have a watered down GOP as regards conservatism. If we're going to water down our tactics and punditry (the Dems certainly won't), we might as well concede the election right now.

You want to be a "nice guy?" Fine. Then get used to finishing last. Because you will. What's at stake here is the direction of the nation. Nothing wrong with caring enough about it to fight for it, as far as I'm concerned.

Comments

[seekeronos]

I think that the swell of garbage ---- erm, trools, from DailyKos and other repositories of the Great Liberal Hive Mind have already called the election for Obama.

He may win, if only because of the spoiler effect of the Libertarians and the Constitutionalists, but I do believe that this next stage of the contest will bring the truly big guns to bear of parsing every grunt and twitch of the eyebrows and nuance that the Obamassiah utters.

May we repent and turn back to God, and may God save this Republic from marxist tyrants like Obama!

[jharp]

seeker,

You seem to be a nice enough guy. But.

"may God save this Republic from marxist tyrants like Obama"

Obama is neither a marxist nor is he a tyrant.

How does a Christian such as yourself justify bearing false witness against one's neighbor?

[Lala]

Obama seems to have extensive ties to ACORN

http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI=

This is a story we’ve largely missed. While Obama’s Acorn connection has not gone entirely unreported, its depth, extent, and significance have been poorly understood. Typically, media background pieces note that, on behalf of Acorn, Obama and a team of Chicago attorneys won a 1995 suit forcing the state of Illinois to implement the federal “motor-voter” bill. In fact, Obama’s Acorn connection is far more extensive. In the few stories where Obama’s role as an Acorn “leadership trainer” is noted, or his seats on the boards of foundations that may have supported Acorn are discussed, there is little follow-up. Even these more extensive reports miss many aspects of Obama’s ties to Acorn.

[jharp]

Lala,

I've had a few drinks and am in the mood to let you know what I really think.

You and your National Review article are fucked up beyond belief.

"In the few stories where Obama’s role as an Acorn “leadership trainer” is noted, or his seats on the boards of foundations that may have supported Acorn are discussed, there is little follow-up."

Why don't you just shut up until you have followed up.

I would think you would have learned after questioning Senator Obama's uncles military service.

[Lala]

Who cares what you really think? Not me.

[jharp]

"Who cares what you really think? Not me."

Good one. A third graders response.

Why don't you follow up on your accusation?

How did it turn out the last time you threw out baseless nonsense?

[SacTownMan]

Hey Harpo, your constant bashing of other posters is a real class act.

You add nothing to the discussion but you constantly attempt to get the goat of other posters. With the huge number of posts you make here you would think that you have something to say but you the only thing that comes out is a whiny little bitchy sound like a broken record!

Evil LaLa, how dare you use thoughtful dialogue and post a well crafted, properly linked post.

How could you visit a conservative web site and link a story that questions the "Annointed One".

I had heard something about this relationship before. Without posters like yourself sharing a little bit here and there the media bias that thinks it's more important to ask probing questions like "Diamonds or Pearls Hillary?" will never cover this kind of story

There's no possibility that Harpo and the other trolls here are going to read your link anyway. Keep up the good work. Anything that gets Harpo, Lame-O, Chris, Bob, Grit Eater and the other loons to piss themselves is well worth the effort.

[Lala]

Sac,
My purpose is help out people like seekeronos. Seek called Obama a Marxist and immediately someone denied that.

Once a poster put a long article on Dan's blog about the FDA not allowing a beef company to test ALL their cattle for BSE. Oh, the horror. With a minimum of searching I found that the beef company sold almost exclusively to Japan. But, if you had read that article, and believed it, you would have thought the FDA was out to kill us all.

Another time a poster called Bill Ayers an eco-terrorist. I guess that was because he belonged to the Weathermen Underground.

Lies and half-truths have to be exposed.

Obama called his uncle a crazy uncle in the attic. Who is denigrating veterans? Obama.

Obama said it was his grandfather in 2002 and it was Treblinka and Auschwitz

Obama said it was his uncle in 2008 and it was Auschwitz

Obama thought Memorial Day was veteran's day

This from a Harvard graduate. He doesn't know history and he doesn't know geography.

[Lala]

correction'

that's the Weather Underground.

[jharp]

Sac,

I thought I was quite clear and my suggestion would clearly enlighten everyone here.

National Review per Lala specifically stated there has "been little follow up".

So follow up. Let's hear what the story is instead of utter nonsense about what it "might" be.

Really, do you not see what fools you look like with your last lack of follow up?

[ET]

-- I've had a few drinks and am in the mood to let you know what I really think.--

hahahaha...

That explains everything. Only a drunk could take the consistent beating you take from SacMan and LaLa and keep coming back for more.

Time to find a new hobby, harpass.

[Lala]

Sac,

There is a reason I put the link in. The link will take one to the whole story. That's what links are for.

[Scrapiron]

He didn't supress the votes. He simply made sure only black democrats, alive or dead, that he personally knew could vote. Sounds like normal Chicago politics to me.

[jharp]

"Once a poster put a long article on Dan's blog about the FDA not allowing a beef company to test ALL their cattle for BSE. Oh, the horror. With a minimum of searching I found that the beef company sold almost exclusively to Japan. But, if you had read that article, and believed it, you would have thought the FDA was out to kill us all."

Lala,

Don't know if you're drunk or stupid but read what you've posted.

Do you really believe that if we are selling the beef to the Japanese instead of Americans that it doesn't need to be tested as thoroughly?

You had been do some real soul searching. And folks wonder why the rest of the world thinks Americans are so fucked up.

[seekeronos]

"--- Obama is neither a marxist nor is he a tyrant. ---"

Obama IS a Marxist, whether you agree with it or not. He represents the far left, socialist wing of the Democrats, along with Maxine "let's socialize (she meant to say "nationalize") the oil industry" Waters, "Reparations" ministers like Fr. Phleger and Rev. Wright of Obama's church, and Bill "bomb-tossing" Ayers of Weather Underground fame.

He calls for massive taxation and wealth re-distribution, and is almost certain to be on board with the "San Fransisco Values" of Mdme. Speaker Pelosi among other ultra-leftists who believe that good government is more government, and great government is even more intrusive paternalistic government.

Obama is certainly a tyrant, in that he will (as Bush has before him) reach as far as he can to restrict the rights of his ideological enemies, tossing bones to his supporters whilst not substantially increasing their relative freedoms.

Tyrants often like to clap each other on the back as well; Fidel Castro has offered his high praise for Obama's "progressive" doctrines ... if you are getting congratulated by a communist dictator, chances are good you are doing something that bodes ill.

And it goes the other way too: consider Obama's (distant?) cousin, Raila Odinga, a socialist trained in East Germany, whose campaign for the Kenyan presidency in 2007 lead to much bloodshed and violence.

While the rumour surrounding Obama's purported donation of a million dollars to Odinga's campaign appear to have been debunked, if indeed they are related, then one cannot overlook the prospect of the apple not falling far from the tree: Odinga's father was an avowed and open communist, as was Obama's father, Barrack Hussein Obama Sr. who supported him.

One has only to look at the state of Kenya's politics under the Obama-Odinga regime, and that of the later and current Raila Odinga, to see what our future holds should we err by electing this egomaniac to office.

One has only to see Obama's involvement with ACORN objectively and see that he will use any tool possible to cement his power.

What we need is men who are committed to this nation and its Constitution to lead us faithfully, binding themselves by the limitations of that document, not amoral and unaccountable powermongers - regardless of whether they are from the "left" or "right".

[jharp]

seeker,

You writing is eloquent but also is utter nonsense and I am sure that even you don't believe what you post.

It's nite nite time for me. Serious 36 hole golf match tomorrow and I'm feeling at the top of my game. Need to be rested for my 11:00 AM tee time.

[seekeronos]

Very well, then.

I must get some shuteye m'self.

But I shall leave you with this little nut to chew on later: that Obama's Marxism is evidenced by his involvement with ACORN...

"---
The little ACORN that Wiley planted in the Arkansas soil flourished. As Rathke expanded it into a national organization, the “A” in its name—Arkansas Community Organizations for Reform Now—came to stand for “Association of” instead of “Arkansas.” And as it grew, it retained the core assumptions of the old New Left but radically transformed the New Left’s methods to produce something truly original.

ACORN’s bedrock assumption remains the ultra-Left’s familiar anti-capitalist redistributionism. “We are the majority, forged from all the minorities,” reads the group’s “People’s Platform,” whose prose Orwell would have derided as pure commissar-speak. “We will continue our fight . . . until we have shared the wealth, until we have won our freedom . . . . We have nothing to show for the work of our hand, the tax of our labor”—claptrap that not only falsifies the relative comfort of the poor in America but that also is a classic example of chutzpah, given ACORN’s origins in a movement that undermined the work ethic of the poor. But never mind—ACORN claims that it “stands virtually alone in its dedication to organizing the poor and powerless.” It organizes them to push for ever more government control of the economy, as if it had learned no lessons about the free-market magic that made American cities unexampled engines of job creation for more than a century, proliferating opportunity and catapulting millions out of misery.
---"

Source: Sol Stern,
http://www.city-journal.org/html/13_2_acorns_nutty_regime.html

[Yoda]

"Do you really believe that if we are selling the beef to the Japanese instead of Americans that it doesn't need to be tested as thoroughly?"

If the Japanese will accept lesser standards, that's their business. A Toyota made in Japan, for domestic sale, would not meet US safety standards in several areas.

[Southern Values]

I take great comfort from the content of the postings here. I don’t spend a lot of time on the wacky wingnut sites due to being allergic to stupid. I like this site because of the personalities that come through the writing. Also, assuming this is as micro-cosmism of the right – You guys as so hosed. Concerning your party and the conservative movement, you’re not arraigning deck chairs on the Titanic, you’re discussing where to hold the meeting to determine where you’re going to put the chairs.

The average American has not been highly motivated by politics. Note the reaction of Bush winning in 2000. I assumed, and was quite wrong, that the country would see the error of the decision in ’02 or ’04. Wrong again. But since then, the corruption and incompetence has been so egregious that virtually everybody is now paying attention. What are you going to do when the country is seeking answers to some of the most pressing issues in our nation’s history and the Right’s dialog is about flag pins. Do you honestly believe your narrow minded focus on Rovian tactics will win this time? There is a reason over 80% of the people of this great nation feel we are heading in the wrong direction. We are. The Right’s 40 year ascension has culminated in hobbling this great country. The American public is waking up to the necessity of being politically involved. This will not bode well for your myopic world view. The times they are a changing. About time.

[seekeronos]

"--- If the Japanese will accept lesser standards, that's their business. ---"

What we are actually facing here is a misunderstanding -- we should (for heads of beef bound for Japan) test it to an even higher standard. And this is exactly what the Japanese beef import market was looking for. This butted up against the US producers who believe that their procedures were cutting of BSE at the source, and that the Japan-bound beef needed no more intensive testing.

FWIW, the Japanese are rather extremely fussy about foreign food imports... and they have high standards for their import beef.

On the surface, the Japanese want to avoid the risk of BSE from somehow getting into their prized Wagyū herds, much less the BSE prions affect the Japanese consumers themselves.

There are a lot of odd factors at work -- including the following:

(1) Protectionism -- Wagyū is extraordinarily expensive, and of generally a far higher quality than the best USDA Prime (much more densely packed marbling). When on the shelf next to a similar sized hunk of American beef for a third or a quarter the cost, typically the thrift-conscious Japanese will reach for the cheaper item. Aussie, Brazilian, and Argentine beef is about in the middle between US and Japanese beef (due in part to a greater food-miles cost for the South American brands, somewhat higher quality beef and a much smaller market output from the Aussies).

(2) Poor labeling procedures in Japan (vis-a-vis point of origin of food) prior to the beef ban -- linked to an extreme aversion to genetically modified (GM) food products.

On this, I am in full agreement with Japanese protocol. The US food supply is chock-a-block crammed with Monsanto-owned genetically modified (GM) foodstuffs which may be having devastating effects on the health of US consumers. The EU has practically banned all GM agriculture coming out of the US, and many other nations are not far behind.

While US beef is not necessarily GM, the feedstock used to grow these critters up typically is, to say nothing of the bGH and other steroids pumped into these animals.

(3) Weak Dollar -- the cratering value of the $USD makes American beef seem even more favourable when compared to its nearest competition from Australia or Argentina or Brazil. And it isn't just beef: the Osaka-Kansai markets for California grown rice was about half the price (at about 2000 JPY per 10kg vs. 4500 JPY for a 10kg bag of domestic Japanese rice) when I was in Japan this past March. The recent commodities spike may have changed that ballgame since then, but all other things being equal, the weak dollar = cheaper US food.

(4) A chance for some more payola from US Beef producers. The picking process (State-side) is overseen by Japanese inspectors embedded with the US beef packing companies (one such company in particular was solely in existence for the purpose of managing Japan-bound beef. IF some "gentlemen's agreement" between the packers, pickers, and export officials somehow fell apart...

(5) Xenophobic, sensationalist media in Japan can make a few yen screaming about how everything grown in the USA is so horribly tainted (second only to the Red Chinese, of course). In a distorted but popular way, it plays up to the far right in Japan who relish the opportunity to give the finger to the US who it has an on-again/off-again relationship with about Japan's self-perceived role as being subservient to US foreign policy interests.

And it sells papers, which of course for slimy journalist types of any nationality, is always a good thing.

(6) US beef producers get a stiff spine over the matter, and assume a posture of "why should we test ALL of our heads of cattle when they have not been exposed to BSE??" The ranchers may assert that they have not had any untested, new cattle to their existing numbers -- at least within the herds intended for market, but this is hardly any consolation to the Japanese who do not trust the workings of our systems when bits of spine and other nerve tissue turn up on the packing line for Japan-bound beef despite an agreement between all parties concerned not to include such tissue.

The failure on our part is not abiding by the agreement we made; however, a lack of accommodation on the part of the Japanese is their unwillingness to accept that many (if not most) large cattle ranchers tend to separate their herds by calving season/age and mark them carefully and keep them isolated from other calves from different seasons, to make them easy to round up when their numbers (pun intended) are up.

Small scale ranchers are even more particular about their herds, as they can ill-afford to have their herds wiped out by a single case of BSE.

Although the ranchers themselves see no need to test EVERY head of cattle in their herd (because they realize that letting BSE in would risk decimating their herds) their resistance to the rather expensive cost of testing each individual animal is perceived in Tokyo as another case of "American arrogance".

Protectionism might be rearing its head there to, as the cost of testing would certainly get passed on to the Japanese end consumer, helping to unfavourably increase the price of an otherwise lower quality product against its pricier domestic competition.

To be fair, "low quality" Japanese beef is of a far superior texture, fat marbling, and overall taste when used in sukiyaki, yakiniku, and gyūdon dishes than the best grades of US beef: Japanese beef is bred for high quality fat content whereas US beef is typically bred for lower overall fat content and for bulk [hormones] which tend to take away from the total taste experience.

However, if the average Japanese who is reaching into the refrigerated hopper at the supermarket for beef, and finds that US beef (or any foreign beef for that matter) is starting to close in on domestic prices, why pay (close to) the same price for a crappier product?

[seekeronos]

For Southern Values (hereinafter, "SV") :

Admittedly, the brouhaha over flag pins and non-saluting the flag whilst the national anthem is playing (at least as how that particular photo of Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton, and Gov. Richardson was shown) much less any quibbling over minor gaffes is but the product of election year hardball tactics.

In and of themselves, these items really do not mean much. In an election year however, it is like a mine field.

As you observed, the average American is not really that attuned to politics, at least not as much as the politics junkies who for some sad, sorrow reason choose to spend sizable chunks of time blabbering on sites like these about what this or that nuance or this or that word meant, or the associations of our respective candidates with people of questionable alliances and activities.

Most Americans are hardly policy wonks, much less informed of the day-to-day dealings of government; so they get to hear Rush blabbing on about how unpatriotic someone is for failing to wear a flag lapel pin (notably, most recent pics of Obama show him with the approved pin), or they get to hear Ed Schultz carping about McCain's "Bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-bomb-Iran" rendition of a Beach Boys song.

We are a few months out from November, the IJN Hillary Clinton is listing hard to port and is finally on its way down to the bottom of the sea.

Leaving behind the "Chosen One" and the Geriatric Warrior.

Of course, the stupid rhetoric factor only has room to get ratcheted up several more notches... yes, people on both sides of this contest will continue to eat their "bowls of crazy flakes", and by the time November gets here (notwithstanding any "October Surprises" from either side) and set their outrage meters to levels heretofore not discovered, way past "11".

On the merits of what Obama has to offer, I see only Marxism and even further restrictions of rights (especially of conservatives and Christians -- the likely victims if the Liberals are left holding the whip in hand in January 2009).

McCain really isn't a lot better either, for that matter. I do not foresee him restricting individual rights much more than Bush has, but he will continue this wasteful war and his statements on his ability to handle the economy are easily as frightening as are certain Demcorats who hint at nationalizing entire sectors of industry.

In the increasingly unlikely vent he does win, the CW is that he will face an extremely hostile if not veto-proof Congress which will get nothing done (if not at least revoke their shoddily granted "authorization" for the Iraq invasion).

The only thing I think those of us who are Constitutionalists may take a sliver of solace in is ... assuming the Republic can last through four years of either McCain or Obama ... is that we may have a shot at replacing the broken GOP with a bona fide non-interventionist, freedom-loving, liberty-enjoying, small and restrained federal government minded party that will have the means to truly set this nation aright.

And no, I am not talking about a century of single-party rule by the Democrats as some hope for.

That would be just as disastrous as the past couple of years have been, and no less good than the GOP majority has been before it.

[SV]

Seek – I know from your writings you are a Christian and at times have shown great compassion in your beliefs ( e.g your post on the actions of the WWII vets ) . I am not a Christian, more agnostic if I had to give it a one word definition. I am, however, a keen observer of human nature. I can not fathom a situation when the D’s, if in charge, would further restrict the rights of conservatives and Christians. We liberals believe in the separation of Church and State and are inclined to live and let live. Not having a Christian State is not restricting your rights. Allowing consenting adults to live how they want does not limit or restrict your rights.

[chris]

My, my. Such LONG, long nutty posts during working hours. What a lazy gubment worker. You can't get outsourced fast enough.

[SV]

How did you know Chris ? I’m a Government auditor in the GAO. You’re absolutely correct; I sure haven’t had much to do these last 7 or so years. Every time I bring up the next scandal, I get slapped down by the Administration. Can’t have too much truth out there you know.

[seekeronos]

Don't mind "chris". He is another alias for BobInStamford, our resident head troll and monitor of what people do on their breaks.

[seekeronos]

As for a "Christian State", I do not think that an outright "theocracy" would work well. History is filled with city-states that tried to govern by Biblical (or perceived Biblical) mandates, and they seldom ever convinced the bulk of unsaved men to follow along.

People would really need to be saved in very large numbers for that to even have a shot at working, and in most cases, it would be less a government by God than a government by men who happened to be more God-fearing than the average.

The only time where there will be a truly Christian government will be during the Millennial Reign of Christ, where Jesus rules as King from Jerusalem over the entire earth.

For now, I'll be happy with securing my freedom own as many firearms as I please, to share the gospel of salvation with others without fear of being packed off to a "re-education work camp", or to homeschool or privately school my kids, and of course, to speak out against sin without fear of being imprisoned for "hate speech" or "hate thought".

Or for that matter, without having to worry that my kids are being taught in public schools in the earliest grades that certain deviant sexual practices are "normal" because of state or federal mandates as is currently the case in California.

[me]

"Imagine a contest in which a Republican did a similar thing to a Democrat. Everyone from the ACLU to CBS and in between would be screaming bloody murder, after they grew tired of yelling voter intimidation, suppression - take your pick."

Except that it's already happened, and no one screamed bloody murder:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7422-2004Oct28.html

You mind is a partisan clusterf**k. Learn to think and evaluate people and events without the insano-filter turned on high and you might get more respect.

[chris]

"without having to worry that my kids are being taught in public schools in the earliest grades that certain deviant sexual practices are "normal" because of state or federal mandates as is currently the case in California."

See, if you actually did some work and got ahead in your career instead of posting silly jesusbabble all day you might be able to send your kids to private school.

[Yoda]

"Except that it's already happened..."

Isn't Ohio where Snow White was registered by the dems...and they were paying off a canvaser with crack cocaine?