First Door on the Left

Here is why Johnny McCain is suffering from a case of the sour grapes today (see previous post)…

Obama Speaks to Germany on European Ties

BERLIN — Senator Barack Obama stood before a sea of people here Thursday evening and issued a call for cooperation, imploring America and Europe to bridge differences and rekindle old alliances in an effort to restore global stability and better confront existing and unforeseen threats.

“If we’re honest with each other, we know that sometimes, on both sides of the Atlantic, we have drifted apart and forgotten our shared destiny,” Mr. Obama said. “In Europe, the view that America is part of what has gone wrong in our world, rather than a force to help make it right, has become all too common. In America, there are voices that deride and deny the importance of Europe’s role in our security and our future.”

Pausing for a moment, the Illinois Democrat added: “Both views miss the truth.”

Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, who is on a weeklong international tour, delivered his address at the base of the Victory Column in the Tiergarten, a sprawling park in the center of the city.

He looked out toward the Brandenburg Gate, where President Ronald Reagan implored the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down that wall” and end the Cold War, and spoke to crowd that the German News Agency DPA estimated at 200,000 people.

“I come to Berlin as so many of my countrymen have come before,” Mr. Obama said, confronting the delicate issue of campaigning abroad. “Tonight, I speak to you not as a candidate for President, but as a citizen — a proud citizen of the United States, and a fellow citizen of the world.”

The full text of his remarks, as prepared for delivery, may be read here. I will add video when it becomes available.

Video:

P.S. The absolutely blind hatred emanating from the rabid right is amazing (if not more than a little sickening).

Jed Lewison (The Jed Report) has put together another excellent video. If you are even thinking of voting for Johnny McCain, you need to watch this video. If you know anybody who is even thinking of voting for Johnny McCain, you need to share this video with them. John McCain’s Neverending War…

(I have closed the comments on this post. If you have a comment about this video, please leave it on Jed’s blog. It’s okay, however, if you tell him that I sent you.)

P.S. Videos such as the one posted above really do make stories such as this one appear all the more ludicrous. Besides, does anyone actually watch “World News with Charles Gibson?” (Do any of the major media outlets have anybody on staff who is not receiving a weekly check from the RNC?)

Our next president met with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai today. Johnny McCain and Rudy Giuliani went to a baseball game.

Obama Meets Afghan Leader and Discusses Terrorism

Karzai and Obama

KABUL, Afghanistan, July 20 — Senator Barack Obama met with President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan for nearly two hours on Sunday and “conveyed that he is committed to supporting Afghanistan and to continuing the war against terrorism with vigor,” an Afghan presidential spokesman said.

The meeting, which continued over a traditional Afghan lunch of chicken, mutton and rice, was conducted in a “very friendly environment,” the spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said.

Mr. Obama and the two other senators traveling with him — Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska; and Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island — reaffirmed the United States’ bipartisan support for Afghanistan. And Mr. Karzai asked that the senators pass on the “immense gratitude” of the Afghan people to their constituents and the American public, Mr. Hamidzada said at a news briefing after the lunch.

In an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Mr. Obama said: “We have to understand that the situation is precarious and urgent here in Afghanistan. And I believe this has to be our central focus, the central front on our battle against terrorism.”[..]

Mr. Obama’s visit to Afghanistan is part of a weeklong tour that will take him to Iraq, Israel and Western Europe in an effort to build impressions, and counter criticism, about his ability to serve as president in a time of war.

Mr. Obama arrived in eastern Afghanistan, near Pakistan, on Saturday to get a firsthand look at the region where American troops are feeling the brunt of increased attacks from militants infiltrating the border. In selecting Afghanistan as an early stop in his first overseas trip as the presumptive Democratic nominee, Mr. Obama was seeking to highlight what he says is the central front in the fight against terrorism.

“Losing is not an option when it comes to Al Qaeda, and it never has been,” Mr. Obama told CBS News. “And that’s why the fact that we engaged in a war of choice when we were not yet finished with that task was such a mistake.”

Kudos to His Honor the Mayor for getting Johnny McCain out of the house on a weekend. He usually spends the weekends at one of his wife’s houses recuperating.

To begin the weekend Johnny made a guest appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien where he feigned having a heart attack and keeling over. (The official line is that he was faking falling asleep because, you know, he’s so damned old.) Notice how the audience cheered. Nobody appeared to be awfully concerned that perhaps the old codger was not pretending…

One would think that at least one member of his Secret Service detail would have come running to his aid.

(More here.)

Barack Obama delivered a major speech on Iraq and national security this morning. It was entitled “A New Strategy for a New World.” I’m not sure that it was his best oratorical effort. In fact, judging from the video, I’m not even sure the audience was awake. Having said that… there was a lot of meat to the speech and quite a bit of policy and information to digest. You can read the speech (as prepared for delivery) here.

Here is the video (all 36 minutes and 24 seconds):

Imagine, for a moment, what we could have done in those days, and months, and years after 9/11.

We could have deployed the full force of American power to hunt down and destroy Osama bin Laden, al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all of the terrorists responsible for 9/11, while supporting real security in Afghanistan.

We could have secured loose nuclear materials around the world, and updated a 20th century non-proliferation framework to meet the challenges of the 21st.

We could have invested hundreds of billions of dollars in alternative sources of energy to grow our economy, save our planet, and end the tyranny of oil.

We could have strengthened old alliances, formed new partnerships, and renewed international institutions to advance peace and prosperity.

We could have called on a new generation to step into the strong currents of history, and to serve their country as troops and teachers, Peace Corps volunteers and police officers.

We could have secured our homeland—investing in sophisticated new protection for our ports, our trains and our power plants.

We could have rebuilt our roads and bridges, laid down new rail and broadband and electricity systems, and made college affordable for every American to strengthen our ability to compete.

We could have done that.

Instead, we have lost thousands of American lives, spent nearly a trillion dollars, alienated allies and neglected emerging threats – all in the cause of fighting a war for well over five years in a country that had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.

Our men and women in uniform have accomplished every mission we have given them. What’s missing in our debate about Iraq – what has been missing since before the war began – is a discussion of the strategic consequences of Iraq and its dominance of our foreign policy. This war distracts us from every threat that we face and so many opportunities we could seize. This war diminishes our security, our standing in the world, our military, our economy, and the resources that we need to confront the challenges of the 21st century. By any measure, our single-minded and open-ended focus on Iraq is not a sound strategy for keeping America safe.

Meanwhile, Johnny McCain today claimed “I know how to win wars.” Really? What wars has Johnny McCain won? Why didn’t anybody in our so-called liberal media ask him? “Excuse me, Senator, what wars have you won?” It sure wasn’t Vietnam. He sat that one out in a POW camp. In what other wars has he participated? Where, and how, did he learn to win wars?

Inquisitive minds really would like to know. (Though, apparently, not our so-called liberal media.)

Senator Barack Obama in today’s New York Times:

My Plan for Iraq

The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.

In the 18 months since President Bush announced the surge, our troops have performed heroically in bringing down the level of violence. New tactics have protected the Iraqi population, and the Sunni tribes have rejected Al Qaeda — greatly weakening its effectiveness.

But the same factors that led me to oppose the surge still hold true. The strain on our military has grown, the situation in Afghanistan has deteriorated and we’ve spent nearly $200 billion more in Iraq than we had budgeted. Iraq’s leaders have failed to invest tens of billions of dollars in oil revenues in rebuilding their own country, and they have not reached the political accommodation that was the stated purpose of the surge.

The good news is that Iraq’s leaders want to take responsibility for their country by negotiating a timetable for the removal of American troops. Meanwhile, Lt. Gen. James Dubik, the American officer in charge of training Iraq’s security forces, estimates that the Iraqi Army and police will be ready to assume responsibility for security in 2009.

Only by redeploying our troops can we press the Iraqis to reach comprehensive political accommodation and achieve a successful transition to Iraqis’ taking responsibility for the security and stability of their country. Instead of seizing the moment and encouraging Iraqis to step up, the Bush administration and Senator McCain are refusing to embrace this transition — despite their previous commitments to respect the will of Iraq’s sovereign government. They call any timetable for the removal of American troops “surrender,” even though we would be turning Iraq over to a sovereign Iraqi government.

Click on the headline to read the entire column.

Senator McCain, your rebuttal please?

I don’t know… I found it rather amusing myself. But then I don’t live in Podunk, Kansas and I certainly don’t believe all the wild rumors the righties love to spread about.

Obama campaign calls New Yorker cover offensive

(CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign has sharply criticized The New Yorker magazine over the publication’s latest cover illustration, which appears to portray the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and his wife as terrorist enemies of the United States.

The cover, published Sunday, shows Obama in the Oval Office dressed in traditional Muslim attire. His wife, Michelle, wears an Afro hairstyle and has a machine gun slung over her back. An American flag can be seen burning in the fireplace, and a picture of Osama bin Laden hangs on the wall.

“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Sen. Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create,” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. “But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”

Sen. John McCain’s campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said he agreed with Burton’s sentiment.

Obama refused to comment on the illustration Sunday.

The cover is linked to a feature article about the senator from Illinois’ formative political years in Chicago.

But not everyone finds the illustration over the top.

Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page told CNN’s “Reliable Sources” on Sunday that the cover “is just lampooning all the crazy ignorance out there.”

“I remember a few years ago, when The New Yorker had a cover at a time of great black-Jewish tension in New York. You had a cartoon of an obvious Orthodox Jewish male kissing a black woman, and this created a lot of buzz,” Page said. “That’s what it is, buzz. It’s discussion. It’s talk. And that’s what covers are supposed to do.”

Liberal radio talk-show host Laura Flanders told CNN’s “American Morning” on Monday, “I think the Obama campaign made a misstep here. They should have come out strongly endorsing this cover.

She said, “This isn’t a jab at them, terrorist or any other kind. This is a jab at the media. … It should be cause for our conversation to focus on the kind of fear mongering that the media and people on the right have engaged in.”

I’m kind of in the camp that says this is no big deal. Most people are going to recognize the cover for what it is - a jab at the conservative media and the right wing pundits and talking heads who spread this kind of garbage. The people who take the cover at face value were never going to vote for Senator Obama, anyway.

Then again, it is still early in the campaign. Many people are just now beginning to pay attention. (Most will likely not start paying attention until after the conventions.) Something like this may just serve to propagate the story line being put forth by the conservative media and the right wing pundits and talking heads.

I have no doubt that a lot of wingers will be buying lots of extra copies of the magazine just so they can rip off the covers and pass them around. “See? Even a liberal rag like The New Yorker thinks that Obama and his wife are terrorists.”

What do you think about the cover?

UPDATE: Barry Blitt, the cartoonist who drew the cover, explains his work:

I think the idea that the Obamas are branded as unpatriotic [let alone as terrorists] in certain sectors is preposterous. It seemed to me that depicting the concept would show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is.

UPDATE #2: The more I think about it and the more I look at this cover, the more I am convinced that it really is not all that funny. I understand its message, as will most everybody who is at all familiar with The New Yorker. The problem is that not everybody is familiar with the magazine. A lot of people are going to pass newsstands, see this cover and interpret it in just the way the rabid right wants them to interpret it. There is no text on the cover and there is no article in the magazine to explain its meaning. It is just left hanging. And it is not really all that funny.

A story in today’s New York Times reminded me of a cartoon from this week’s Friday Night Cartoons (it’s at the bottom, in the Saturday additions). First, the cartoon (click to make it bigger)…

Now, the story…

Obama Supporters on the Far Left Cry Foul

PORTLAND, Ore. — In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama.

Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty — all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience — Ms. Shade said she planned to switch back to the Green Party.

“I’m disgusted with him,” said Ms. Shade, an artist. “I can’t even listen to him anymore. He had such an opportunity, but all this ‘audacity of hope’ stuff, it’s blah, blah, blah. For all the independents he’s going to gain, he’s going to lose a lot of progressives.”

Click on the headline to read the full article.

It’s the 60s all over again!

Though there are some on the left who are “crying foul” and many on the right who are screaming “flip-flop” (have they looked at their own candidate lately?), Senator Obama has not really changed his positions all that much, if at all. It is as he says — those who accuse him of changing have not really been listening to him.

This quote from the NYT story literally had me in stitches…

“They believe their ideology is the only idealism and Obama’s is very mainstream. I’m not surprised they’re getting a little cranky. They’ve always been kind of cranky. A mainstream Democrat has always been too mainstream for them.”

And, yes, there is a link to Daily Kos in the column to your left.

In closing this post, let me just say that any Democrat who becomes so upset at what they perceive to be flip-flops on the part of Senator Obama or his campaign that they are considering voting for Johnny McCain or one of the third party candidates truly is (to use a term popular on the right wing blogs) a “Loony Lefty.”

Also see: “The Audacity of Listening.”

This is how you take on Johnny McCain and the Republicans. Good on you, Senator Obama!

New Obama ad ties McCain to Bush, Rove

Bush and McSame as Bush

(CNN) – Barack Obama is up with a new one-minute radio ad in Virginia and Dayton, Ohio that ties John McCain to George W. Bush and Karl Rove, and accuses McCain of “making stuff up” about Obama’s tax plan.

The spot features a man and a woman discussing McCain’s assertion –- also described in an RNC radio ad running in those markets — that Obama would raise taxes on people making $32,000 a year.

“John McCain, he’s got new ads attacking Barack Obama on taxes,” the man says.

“Well, that’s not new,” the woman responds. “Bush, McCain, Karl Rove. That’s how those guys work.”

“This is shameful,” the man says. “It’s just making stuff up.”

The ad says that Obama would only raise taxes on those making over $250,000, and cites FactCheck.org as describing McCain’s charges as “not true.”

“Sounds like George Bush all over again,” the woman says.

“Guess that’s why they say John McCain, McSame as Bush,” the man says, concluding the ad.

The ad also references this post on the Time blog.

Have a listen…

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(YouTube link)

“I think the time has come for Sen. McCain to not just repudiate Phil Gramm, but to cut him loose.”

Hey, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Right? Right?! You can’t really expect others to do as you say and not as you do. It’s time to belly up to the bar. Either crap or get off the crapper. (Okay, I’m done now. Thank me later.)

McCain breaks with adviser over ‘whiners’ remark

Phil Gramm and John McCain

BELLEVILLE, Mich. (AP) - John McCain sharply broke from an economic adviser who dubbed the United States “a nation of whiners” in a “mental recession” as the Republican presidential candidate sought to counter criticism that he’s weak on the economy.

Sensing an opening, Democrat Barack Obama turned the remarks against his rival.

“I strongly disagree” with Phil Gramm’s remarks, McCain told reporters in what amounted to nothing short of a smackdown against one of his top surrogates and longtime friends. “Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me.”

The Republican presidential hopeful said a person who just lost a job or a mother struggling to pay for a child’s education “isn’t suffering from a mental recession.”

“America is in great difficulty. And we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others,” McCain said, seeking to stem the fallout from Gramm’s comments.

Gramm, a former Texas senator who is a vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBS and has a doctorate in economics, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Times. Friends and colleagues for years, McCain served as a top surrogate when Gramm ran for president in 1996, and the Texan has returned the favor this year, campaigning frequently on McCain’s behalf.

Cut him loose, Johnny. Let’s see if you really practice what you preach!

Phil Gramm was an idiot when he was a senator from my state and he’s still an idiot. It’s good to know that some things just never change.

UPDATE: Video of Senator Obama’s response…

The talk all year has been about how much more money Barack Obama is going to have than Johnny McCain for this year’s presidential election. Know what? Most of that is just talk by the Republicans to make you feel complacent. They want you to believe that the Obama campaign is swimming in cash and there really is no need for you to donate any more than you have (if you have).

It is all a bunch of baloney. The truth is that the Republican National Committee is an extension of the McCain campaign and is free to spend as much as it wants on the McCain campaign. You really did not think for one minute that the Republican fat cats were going to let their candidate suffer for lack of funds, did you?

McCain, RNC: $95 million on hand

The McCain campaign and Republican Party have nearly $95 million cash on hand combined for use in the presidential race, campaign manager Rick Davis said Thursday. He said the McCain camp had more than $27 million, and the Republican National Committee has more than $67 million.

“I think it bodes well for how we will continue to prosecute the campaign this month forward,” Davis said on a conference call with reporters.

He said the campaign raised $22 million in June, $1 million better than its best fundraising month last month. The campaign’s cash on hand is lower than a month ago, when it had about $36 million available.[..]

Davis said he hopes the campaign and party will be able to raise an additional $95 million by the end of the summer. Including the matching funds, he estimated the campaign would have a total $400 million budget through Election Day.

“We will have significant resources to prosecute a campaign that is very robust,” Davis said, adding he believed it would be on par with the funds available to Obama.

Did you get that? Even with Johnny McCain supposedly accepting “public funding” which limits him to spending about $85 million for the general election, the McCain campaign estimates that they will have “a total $400 million budget through Election Day.”

It’s not quite yet time to begin pushing the panic button, folks, but it may be time to start reaching for the plastic (Just don’t spend more than you’ll be able to pay when your bill arrives next month. We surely do not want you adding any more to the national debt.)…

P.S. Still wondering why Sen. Obama chose to forgo the so-called public financing for the general election?

P.S. The button above will take you to a page where you will be able to contribute to the Democratic National Committee. If you would prefer to donate directly to the Obama campaign, please click here.