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Barack “The Silencer” Obama’s Gangland Assault on Free Speech

By Michelle Malkin  •  August 29, 2008 08:57 AM


Photoshop credit: Bob Owens

My second syndicated column this week looks at the chilling trend of left-wing political speech-squelching and reports on the total apathy of the AWOL ACLU and fairweather free-speech crowd. Feel the chill yet?

***

Barack “The Silencer” Obama’s Gangland Assault on Free Speech
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

Where are all the free speech absolutists when you need them? Over the past month, left-wing partisans and Democratic lawyers have waged a brass-knuckled intimidation campaign against GOP donors, TV and radio stations, and even an investigative journalist because they have all dared to question the radical cult of Barack Obama. A chill wind blows, but where the valiant protectors of political dissent are, nobody knows.

On August 11, I called the American Civil Liberties Union national headquarters in New York for comment about the Chicago gangland tactics of one of these groups — a nonprofit called “Accountable America” that is spearheaded by a former operative of the Obama-endorsing MoveOn outfit.

“Accountable America” is trolling campaign finance databases and targeting conservative donors with “warning” letters in a thuggish attempt to depress Republican fundraising. (You’ll be interested to know that the official registered agent of Accountable America is Laurence Gold, a high-powered attorney for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) who has testified before the Senate complaining about the use of campaign finance laws to stifle the speech of union workers — a pet cause of the ACLU.)

The ACLU press office failed to respond to my initial call. On August 13, I followed up through e-mail:

“I called on Monday requesting a statement from the ACLU about Accountable America’s intimidation campaign against GOP donors. What is the ACLU’s position with regard to such efforts? Waiting for your statement…”

ACLU press officer Pamela Bradshaw e-mailed back:

“Michelle, My apologies that I cannot be of more assistance, but we don’t have anyone available. Thanks, Pam.”

My reply: “Pam — Does this mean you don’t have anyone available today, this week, or for the foreseeable future?”

On August 20, after a week of silence, I forwarded the message again to the ACLU press office. No response.

So, I won’t bother asking the ACLU’s opinion of the latest wave of speech-squelching moves by the Obama campaign:

On Monday, Obama demanded that the Justice Department stop TV stations from airing a documented, accurate independent ad spotlighting Obama’s longtime working relationship with unrepentant Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers. Obama summoned his followers to bombard stations, many of them owned by conservative-leaning Sinclair Communications, with 93,000 e-mails to squelch the commercial.

On Tuesday, the Obama campaign sent another letter to the Justice Department demanding investigation and prosecution of American Issues Project, the group that produced the Ayers ad, as well as Dallas billionaire Harold Simmons, who funded it.

And on Wednesday, Obama exhorted his followers to sabotage the WGN radio show of veteran Chicago host and University of Chicago Professor Milt Rosenberg. Why? Because he invited National Review writer Stanley Kurtz to discuss his investigative findings about Obama’s ties to Ayers and the underwhelming results of their collaboration on a left-wing educational project sponsored by the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. The “Obama Action Wire” supplied Rosenberg’s call-in line and talking points like this:

“Tell WGN that by providing Kurtz with airtime, they are legitimizing baseless attacks from a smear-merchant and lowering the standards of political discourse. … It is absolutely unacceptable that WGN would give a slimy character assassin like Kurtz time for his divisive, destructive ranting on our public airwaves.”

Behind the glowing, peaceful facade lies Barack “The Silencer” Obama and his silent enablers on the left. While mainstream journalists schmoozed with liberal celebrities in Denver, practiced yoga with left-wing bloggers and received massages at the Google convention tent near touchy-feely Barackopolis, Team Obama was on an ugly, aggressive warpath sanctioned by Mr. Civility. While compassionate Obama prepared to stand before thousands of worshipers at Invesco Field, purporting to give voice to the voiceless, his Chicago-schooled campaign machine was working overtime to muzzle conservative critics. “We want it to stop,” ordered one pro-Obama caller to WGN.

Welcome to the future: the politics of Hope and Change enforced by the missionaries of Search and Destroy.

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Comments

  1. #1
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:05 am, guitarplayer said:

    Very frightening that this man, if elected, will have the power of the presidency to silence his critics. With a liberal-controlled congress and left-wing activist judges, free-speech will only be free if you agree with them. I hope I’m wrong.

  2. #2
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:06 am, DocattheAutopsy said:

    Don’t forget the “Fairness Doctrine” wants to limit all the conservative talk-shows out there. And replace them with “fair and balanced” coverage, like what you see on MSNBC.

  3. #3
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:06 am, thegreatbeast said:

    WTF, Michelle? You don’t mention the Great Debater, Alex Jones? His histrionic shtick is a perfect example of the new paradigm of political discourse.
    That one was in your wheelhouse and you should have killed it.

  4. #4
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am, guitarplayer said:
  5. #5
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am, DocattheAutopsy said:

    Did you notice that bit in Obama’s speech, about a government that doesn’t infringe on basic rights? Helloooooo? Hypocrisy police at the door.

  6. #6
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:08 am, RedDog said:

    This is straight from the Marxist/Leninist playbook. Someone should dig up Olinsky and ask him.

  7. #7
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:09 am, DocattheAutopsy said:

    You don’t mention the Great Debater, Alex Jones?

    But you can get an attractive T-shirt to commemorate the event.

  8. #8
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am, ITookTheRedPill said:

    Those who can’t handle the truth
    try to silence those who speak it.

  9. #9
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am, ajmontana said:

    Free speech and inciting a Riot are two seperate issues.

  10. #10
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    I don’t recall Michelle Malkin or any other conservative criticizing Karl Rove for calling Valerie Plame “fair game” in order to silence her husband.

    I wonder why this article mentions nothing about the legal implications of the AIP ad.

  11. #11
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:13 am, Goldwater Knight said:

    Obama’s SA does it with a smile. :)

  12. #12
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:14 am, tre said:

    He’s the great LIGHTWORKER. Shouldn’t he be able to just wave his hand and silence all dissent?

    Now we know how he feels about the Unfairness Doctrine. I seem to remember in Communist Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, et.al. there wasn’t freedom to criticize the government either.

  13. #13
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:15 am, grumpy_old_soldier said:

    The gathering storm…

  14. #14
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:18 am, Gator70 said:

    Reason number two right behind guns that he doesn’t need to be in power. I’m sorry…I just can’t stop clinging to them.

    Red State, can you expound a bit please, my first instinct was to fire back but I wanna make sure I understand where you are coming from.

  15. #15
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:20 am, Goldwater Knight said:

    Red State Skeptic said:

    I wonder why this article mentions nothing about the legal implications of the AIP ad.

    Thanks for that fair and balanced article from the Huff Post. Damn granola eaters…

  16. #16
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:20 am, JHSII said:

    Free speech for the left means free speech only for the left. No others need apply.

    thegreatbeast #3 Are you trying to push the usual moral equivalence of the left? Sorry, it doesn’t work.

    and, I wonder how long it will take chapoutier to chime in and defend the Obama minions ????

  17. #17
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:21 am, ITookTheRedPill said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:08 am, RedDog said:

    This is straight from the Marxist/Leninist playbook. Someone should dig up Olinsky and ask him.

    The Alinsky Connection

  18. #18
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am, thetoysurgeon said:

    I guess Obama is speaking the truth about “change”, however, its not the “change” that can exist in America, maybe Russia then. I am really surprised that most Americans are so gullible. Don’t they know that talk is cheap. Six months from now all the promises from both canidates will become lies like they have been with every canidate in the past. I want to know when the most important country in the world is gonna give up on its present day political tactics and step up to the plate. I am sick of the mudslinging and the way politicians ( liars) get to be leaders of this country. What a profession! German citizens in the 1930s fell mystified to the “change” and it cost them their country and their lives. Where’s the Bull Moose Party? We gotta break this monopoly on government.

  19. #19
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am, JHSII said:

    red state skeptic #10

    I don’t recall Michelle Malkin or any other conservative criticizing Karl Rove for calling Valerie Plame “fair game” in order to silence her husband.

    Nobody tried to silence the perjurer Joe Wilson, or the nepotist Valerie Plame. For the record, Karl Rove wasn’t even involved. Why don’t you take your conspiracy theories back to the huffington post or dailykos where they belong?

  20. #20
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:28 am, navywife91 said:

    I don’t recall Michelle Malkin or any other conservative criticizing Karl Rove for calling Valerie Plame “fair game” in order to silence her husband.

    Plame and her husband Joe Wilson were both liars and so there’s no need to rehash that old issue.

  21. #21
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:29 am, walterc said:

    So, Red State, instead of disputing the allegations, the left’s response is “it may be illegal”?

    From what I’ve seen and read, AIP made painstaking efforts to insure complaince with all the election laws.

    Is it too much to ask that Obama just clear up the discrepancy between “he’s a guy in my neighborhood” and worked on the board of a charitable fund with him?

    At the very least a “that’s not the terrorist I knew” comment.

  22. #22
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am, Dimsdale said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    I don’t recall Michelle Malkin or any other conservative criticizing Karl Rove for calling Valerie Plame “fair game” in order to silence her husband.

    I wonder why this article mentions nothing about the legal implications of the AIP ad.

    I don’t remember liberals criticizing plame’s husband for misrepresenting his mission, the fact that his wife arranged it (for likely political purposes), or the fact that it wasn’t Rove that released her name.

    What are the legal implications for the Obama sanctioned suppression of free speech critical of him? What are the legal implications for “Accountable America?” Are they themselves accountable? How about the defamatory “General Betray Us” ad?

    What are the implications of the so called ACLU in ignoring complaints about this abuse? And on our dime?

  23. #23
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am, sonofdy said:

    Sorry citizen malkin, you have exceded your allowance of hopen and change. Please report to camp 1654 building 12 for re-education.

    Obamas national thought police

  24. #24
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am, torabora said:

    I enjoyed watching the ABC reporter getting his neck squeezed by the gestapo for reporting from a public sidewalk in Denver. I even emailed the Denver PD noting their illegal arrest (everyone should). This will be extra bad because it is my guess that ABC will prevent its reporter from suing the Denver PD. You see, ABC likes the suppression of free speech because in the end its gonna be their ilk that is left standing after the left wing fascists take over America.

  25. #25
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am, englishqueen01 said:

    Read the story about the Christian girls. Guess pro-lifers and conservative Christians are next on Obama’s hit-list.

    Great to know I’m a double threat to his campaign.

  26. #26
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:34 am, Savage24 said:

    I wouldn’t waste my time with the ACLU. Hell that organization was founded in the same building as the Communist Party of America. Obama fits right in with this group.

  27. #27
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:34 am, Dimsdale said:

    NO WAY, NO HOW, NOBAMA!!!!

  28. #28
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:34 am, guitarplayer said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am, englishqueen01 said:

    Read the story about the Christian girls. Guess pro-lifers and conservative Christians are next on Obama’s hit-list.

    Great to know I’m a double threat to his campaign.

    See link at #4.

  29. #29
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:35 am, radio relay said:

    That’s what democrats are all about!

    INTIMIDATION!

    Look how the democrats tried to intimidate Michelle Malkin, when she tried to exercise her free speech at anti-abortion political rally in Denver.

    Look at how the democrats attempted silence a Fox News reporter who trying to do a story in Denver.

    Look at how the democrats had an ABC reporter arrested for attempting to get the scoop on democrat fat cats in Denver.

    That’s all in just one week.

    Then look at how democrats, like George Wallace, tried to intimidate blacks during the civil rights movement.

    Democrats are the party of left wing intimidation!!

  30. #30
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:37 am, ArizonaNeanderthal said:

    A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a Free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

    When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

  31. #31
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:43 am, englishqueen01 said:

    See link at #4.

    That’s what I was referring to. Because some teenaged Christians are a big threat, right?

    The truth hurts, Obama. Abortion is evil and you support it. So I guess the solution is to arrest pro-lifers who remind you exactly what it is you support.

  32. #32
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am, NHMagenta said:

    Let’s face it, “free speech for me but not for thee” has become a standard tactic of both Left and Right and has been for many years in other parts of the world.

    Sadly, with globalization (the proto-One World Government) comes the thug-tactics commonly used elsewhere by one faction to suppress the other such as witnessed when an ABCnews producer was manhandled and arrested under color of law in Denver or in this case attempted barratry (abuse of the legal system) by the Obama campaign to suppress derogatory information about him.

  33. #33
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am, guitarplayer said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:43 am, englishqueen01 said:

    That’s what I was referring to. Because some teenaged Christians are a big threat, right?

    Yes they are. They have not been through the neccessary state indoctrination via the public school system. They represent a threat to the future progressive utopia.

    I think I reached my sarcasm quota for the day.

  34. #34
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:49 am, beenthere said:

    The problem is not so much Obama himself, but all the creatures (and there are a lot of them) who are hiding behind him, eager to cash in. The final act of the 60’s tragedy is about to be played.

    Will Bill Ayers be given a major cabinet post? That’s not the point. What matters is that wherever you look in the Obama Administration there will be people who either A) have no problem with Ayers (e.g. certain “life-long Republicans” perhaps?) or B) think he is pretty cool, or C) have never heard of him and couldn’t care less what the represents.

    What about Reverend Wright? Has he been banished for good? Hardly. So, will he be a part of the Obama Administration? No, again that’s the wrong way to look at it. What is certain is that he will be showing up January 21 with his race-obsessed friends demanding Reparations at the very least. And he will find a friendly reception. As Wright stated, accurately: “Obama is a politician. That’s what politicians do.”

    And so it will go. At root, Obama is a weak, ignorant man who danced with devils for 20 years, never dreaming how far it would take him, nor that there would be a huge cost to paid in the end.

    With rare exceptions, the Democrats own the media, the legislatures, the judiciary, the education system from grade school through grad school, and the entertainment industry. There’s not much else that matters in governing a nation. It’s the Democrat’s country. We just live here. For now.

  35. #35
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:49 am, bit_boy said:

    …total apathy of the AWOL ACLU

    It may be a shock but the ACLU has always been a DNA first group. That once again places a certain subculture before the facts.

  36. #36
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am, fgmorley said:

    In Michelle’s article that is posted here and in the NYPost:

    So, I won’t bother asking the ACLU’s opinion of the latest wave of speech-squelching moves by the Obama campaign

    I must implore you especially to broadcast your requests to them and to keep it up. Let’s face it. In this forum you are preaching to choir. On Fox News you are reaching a larger audience. And perhaps that will cause an awakening to what is being promulgated here.

    Your are a voice, albeit a small one, that can change people’s thinking if it reaches enough of them.

  37. #37
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:51 am, JHSII said:

    Sorry, NHMagneta, but “free speech for me but not for thee” has not been a standard tactic of the Right, nor is there any indications that it ever will. Now, the Left will say that it is; but the Left always projects on the Right the things that the Left is doing.

    Step away from the Kool-Aid…

  38. #38
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:53 am, b-cat said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:32 am, englishqueen01 said:
    Read the story about the Christian girls. Guess pro-lifers and conservative Christians are next on Obama’s hit-list.

    There is no need to guess. You have been an enemy of the state for far too long. Stop eluding the hope and change. Turn yourself in.

  39. #39
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:58 am, sonofdy said:

    You will embrace HOPE AND CHANGE. And you WILL like it.

    By order of the Obama national thought police.

  40. #40
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:01 am, William Teach said:

    Just like with the Duke lacrosse rape case, the ACLU choses to abandon their stated purpose. Maybe they are concerned the Obama campaign will send them a cease and desist order, too.

  41. #41
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:05 am, tiredofit08 said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:58 am, sonofdy said:

    You will embrace HOPE AND CHANGE. And you WILL like it.

    By order of the Obama national thought police.

    I guess they’ll be a lot of us in those camps around the country ready and waiting…

  42. #42
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:06 am, guitarplayer said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:01 am, William Teach said:

    Just like with the Duke lacrosse rape case, the ACLU choses to abandon their stated purpose.

    That’s because it interferes with their secondary purpose - communism. The founder of the group was a card-carrying member of the communist party and said his goal was to bring communism to the US.

  43. #43
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:08 am, thegreatbeast said:

    JHSII said:

    thegreatbeast #3 Are you trying to push the usual moral equivalence of the left? Sorry, it doesn’t work.

    I have no idea what you are talking about. Do you?

  44. #44
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:11 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    LMAO! I can’t believe what I’m reading!! Republicans shocked that a Democrat would dare employ the same tactics they do (although not one millionth as bad).

    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:24 am, JHSII said:
    For the record, Karl Rove wasn’t even involved.

    For the record, you should get better news. Rove was not the initial leak, but he called several reporters around Washington and told Chris Matthews just days after the Novak column that Valerie Plame was “fair game.” “Fair game” doesn’t mean let’s set the record straight; “fair game” means silence your critics at all costs, even if that means putting them at great danger and possibly ending their career.

    Let’s not forget Bush’s HHS director Thomas Scully threatening to fire Medicare actuary Richard Foster if he revealed his findings (since confirmed) that the White House was lying about the costs of Bush’s Medicare plan to win Congressional Republicans.

    Let’s not forget McCain’s PR blitz against Wesley Clark for daring to suggest that being tortured (well, not by the Republican definition of torture) doesn’t qualify him to lead the free world.

  45. #45
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:11 am, JHSII said:

    thegreatbeast #43

    I have no idea what you are talking about. Do you?

    You’re the one who posted:

    WTF, Michelle? You don’t mention the Great Debater, Alex Jones? His histrionic shtick is a perfect example of the new paradigm of political discourse.
    That one was in your wheelhouse and you should have killed it.

    That’s what I’m talking about. Moral equivalence.

    Don’t be a chapoutier.

  46. #46
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am, sonofdy said:

    LMAO! I can’t believe what I’m reading!! Republicans shocked that a Democrat would dare employ the same tactics they do (although not one millionth as bad).

    Huh? What are you talking about? I fyou think the republicains are supressing speach then you simply haven’t seen the news in the last 8 years at all.

  47. #47
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am, JHSII said:

    Red State Skeptic #44

    Ok, so Karl Rove was the one who went to Valerie Plame to see who theys hould send to Niger? Karl Rove was the one who approved her suggestion of her husband, Joe Wilson?

    I’m impressed. It sounds to me like you are the one who should get better news.

  48. #48
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:20 am, meatpieandtatters said:

    Oblabla’s change, of course, includes coercion and intimidation at whatever the cost. Liberalism uber alles.

  49. #49
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:21 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:14 am, JHSII said:
    Red State Skeptic #44

    Ok, so Karl Rove was the one who went to Valerie Plame to see who theys hould send to Niger? Karl Rove was the one who approved her suggestion of her husband, Joe Wilson?

    Karl Rove wasn’t involved in Joe Wilson going to Niger, but he was involved in the leak of Valerie Plame, in trying to silence Joe Wilson.

  50. #50
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:24 am, sonofdy said:

    Karl Rove wasn’t involved in Joe Wilson going to Niger, but he was involved in the leak of Valerie Plame, in trying to silence Joe Wilson.

    Even if this is true, this equates to trying to shut down and entire organization and having people arrested in the streets how exactly? Plame was never in danger, she was flying a freaking desk. Her “sercet identity” had been compromised for at least a decade.

  51. #51
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:27 am, JHSII said:

    #48 Red State Skeptic

    Wrong again. Richard Armitage gave Valerie Plame’s name, in an effort to damage the Administration. There was no effort to silence Joe Wilson.
    In fact, Valerie Plame wasn’t even covered under the law protecting the names of American agents. The statute of limitations had long expired.

    Do you really want to rehash this?

  52. #52
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:28 am, Boomer said:

    No shock here that the ACLU is too busy to defend the rights of free speech to a journalist actually going after the facts of the long association between the Obamination and a known unrepentant terrorist. Considering the ACLU was founded by an avowed Communist stooge they must be quietly cheering the Chicago gangland tactics to stifle free speech. It really scares us they don’t want the facts about this association to come to light until 5 November. Then the entire nation can suffer some serious buyer’s remorse.

    Between this chilling incident and the assault on the reporter on a public sidewalk I have no regrets about starting last year in diverting some of our shrinking disposable income to prepare for the coming storm. Many of us in the fly over country will not go gently into the good night should the Obamination pull this off and start to deploy his modern day Storm Troopers to savage the US Constitution and Bill of Rights.

  53. #53
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:34 am, desertdweller said:

    The insecurity of Hope trickles from the top down, in the fashion of any organizational leader, no matter how inept.

  54. #54
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:35 am, GraniteMan said:

    Remember the little girl picking the flower and boom goes the Atomic bomb that was an ad from LBJ?
    Cast a vote for LBJ. What did we get? Viet Nam. Cast a vote for the War on Poverty and the Great Society. What did we get? Single Moms, Absentee Dads, broken homes.
    Voted for Jimmy. What did we get? Hostages in Iran and a friendly leader over thrown. Thermosats set at shiver to keep warm.
    Clinton elected. What did we get? Monica Lewinsky, stained dress, terrorist attacks. New definition of what “is” is.
    But Barak? With all the hysteria of adulation, power plays and brown shirt tactics that are reminiscent of the ’30’s in Germany this makes the first time in my life I am scared to death for my country other than WWII.

  55. #55
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:39 am, iamsaved said:

    I’m pretty sick of the Dems telling me about the “failed” policies of the Bush Administration and that they intend to “wipe” the Bush/McCain legacy from history.

    It may be polically correct to say the Bush Administration was the worst ever and that we need a “change” from it but I, for one, didn’t mind the Bush Administration nor do I see what “change” we need. Do we change from unemployment rates of 4 to 6% to 8 and 10%? When I took economics courses, I believe 5% was considered “full” employment due to job transitions; people retiring; chosing not to enter the job market, etc.

    We’re not now nor have we been in a recession as the MSM touts. If they want to see recession, go to the Carter years. I personally don’t have any friends or acquaintances who have lost their jobs; None of my neighbors are out of work. I’m not wanting for anything nor having to scramble to make ends meet and I’m no where near as wealthy as the naysayers in the news. They must be doing ok since I have to listen to them drone on with nothing but negativity about the economy. That’s a group I wish a recession would hit.

    If these people want to see recession, they need to experience interest rates in the upper teens and lowers 20’s; scramble to find jobs; lose their homes (and not from flipping houses to make a quick buck or buying more house than they can afford). They need their siblings to move in with them because they’ve lost their homes and jobs.

    I also would hate to see their “change” when it comes to the defense of this country. We’ve been pretty safe since 9/11. I shudder to think of what it would have been like had Gore or Kerry been elected. I don’t want the change they have in store for us.

    I want to see Obama and his ilk itemize the failed policies of the Bush Administration backed up with facts and not rhetoric. And, I’d like for them to specify how they would change them.

  56. #56
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:45 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:27 am, JHSII said:
    #48 Red State Skeptic

    Wrong again. Richard Armitage gave Valerie Plame’s name, in an effort to damage the Administration. There was no effort to silence Joe Wilson.
    In fact, Valerie Plame wasn’t even covered under the law protecting the names of American agents. The statute of limitations had long expired.

    Do you really want to rehash this?

    Valerie Plame was an active CIA agent involved in covert operations to keep Iran from securing nuclear weapons. Therefore, the White House was more concerned in defending their willful ignorance of Iraqi intelligence than they were in pursuing legitimate goals of the CIA, like keeping Iran from getting nuclear (whoops).

    As I said, Karl Rove was not the initial leaker, but all that means is that his action wasn’t criminal: he pushed the story as hard as he could in the days after the leak to punish the Wilsons for daring to speak the obvious.

  57. #57
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:49 am, Lucifer Jones said:

    The ACLU is too busy defending illegals, terrorists and child molestors. This is small potatoes.

  58. #58
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:50 am, simcoe said:

    Exactly what are you people willing to give or do to stop the Tyrant’s juggernaut??

    Is it OK to vote for McCain now??

  59. #59
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:54 am, Glamchild said:

    This is a serious matter. There are many of us who don’t believe in guilt by association. But once you try to censor and suppress information……forced to take a second look at the initial charges.

    Anybody who would try to thwart the Freedom of Information Act…..I’m thinking that person may be guilty of even greater sins.

  60. #60
    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:55 am, JHSII said:

    Valerie Plame was a desk jockey at the time Richard Armitage gave out her name in an effort to damage the Bush Administration. She was not and had not been an active CIA agent in any capacity in over five years - which was the statute of limitations on the law covering the secrecy of the names of US agents.
    The White House didn’t know and didn’t care, until false accusations were made against them by Valerie Plame and her husband Joe Wilson.

    The only involvement Karl Rove had was to talk with a reporter and not lie and tell the reporter what you wanted him to say.

    Don’t dig your credibility chasm any deeper. If you want to continue to push this nonsense, go back to the huffingtonpost or dailykos where it belongs.

  61. #61
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    I want to see Obama and his ilk itemize the failed policies of the Bush Administration backed up with facts and not rhetoric. And, I’d like for them to specify how they would change them.

    * Bush people sided with lenders and fought hard against any standards whatsoever, and even had state laws requiring borrower verification preempted so they would not stem the tide of the housing industry, which of course led to the crash we are left with today.

    * Bush allowed the al Qaeda Taliban to flourish in Afghanistan and Pakistan by deciding that Iraq was more important, and in failing to hold those up the chain of command accountable for the brutal torture of Abu Ghraib detainees, insured that Pakistan will not in a hundred years cooperate with our search of bin Laden.

    * Bush’s No Child Left Behind insures that our education system is for the first time focused on our worst students instead of our best.

    * Bush and Rice completely ignored dozens of briefings on Al Qaeda’s readiness to strike US targets, and we lost 2,974 Americans as a result.

    Could go on, but don’t have all day.

  62. #62
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:01 am, warden said:

    This is feeling very Orwellian.

    Obama, big brutha.

  63. #63
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:06 am, MNUSMCDavid said:

    I am John Galt….. let’s have a friendly chat, Obama.

  64. #64
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:07 am, rooster said:

    You go girl!
    Michelle, please get on Fox and Friends and spread the word that we all know about the ACLU and their fake standing up for the rights of Americans.

  65. #65
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:09 am, JHSII said:

    More standard liberal lies and propaganda from red state skeptic.

    Why don’t you “go on” back to the dailykos?

  66. #66
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:13 am, rooster said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am, Red State Skeptic said: #60

    You are either lgm renamed, a college professor polluting our children, or just a plain old fashioned moron.

    BTW knucklehead, Bush signed NCLB, it was actually a disaster sponsored by Uncle Teddy “I killed a woman and got away with it” Kennedy. It was Bush’s first stupid attempt at reaching accross the aisle for morons like yourself.

  67. #67
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:17 am, eaglehaslanded said:

    Dems are learning from the lesson of Kerry. They’re not going be swiftboated. They’re going to go hard at anyone going negative against their candidate, even if it’s true.

  68. #68
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    Why don’t you “go on” back to the dailykos?

    I love the irony in the thread where Republicans are accusing Democrats of silencing opposition.

    You are either lgm renamed, a college professor polluting our children, or just a plain old fashioned moron.

    I thought you guys were supposed to be the civil ones.

    BTW knucklehead, Bush signed NCLB, it was actually a disaster sponsored by Uncle Teddy “I killed a woman and got away with it” Kennedy.

    Sorry guy, this was Bush’s baby, his attempt to inject “accountability” into our schools. Kennedy helped in the planning and was technically the “sponsor” because a President can’t technically sponsor a bill in Congress. (Not saying I don’t hold the Dems complicit in this piece of crap.)

  69. #69
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am, iamsaved said:

    RED STATE SKEPTIC #60: You did exactly what I said not to - state facts and not unproven rhetoric. Your statements contain nothing but incorrect comments with no basis in fact. Innuendos at best.

    The lending standards are not invoked by the President. The industry would set their own “standards” Laws should have been in place long before Bush. Lets’ see, 8 years of Clinton should have been long enough don’t you think?

    Allowed the Taliban and Al Qaeda to flourish in Pakistan and Afghanistan - don’t you mean Clinton allowed it. Bush is good but no one could affect that kind of change the first 8 months of their Presidency. They were already thriving.

    Abu Grahib prison? Give me a break. I’d think you’d be more indignant at the crimes these “prisoners” committed rather than them being embarassed. They probably should have been shot and not even sent to prison to begin with.

    Bush’s No Child Left Behind? You mean Kennedy’s don’t you. Anytime a liberal like him touches anything it becomes tarnished. Bush was actually trying to reach across the aisle and work with the Dems. They would have none of it.

    Red State Skeptic? I think you might want to change your moniker to Blue State Propagandist.

  70. #70
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am, iamsaved said:

    RED STATE SKEPTIC #60: You did exactly what I said not to - state facts and not unproven rhetoric. Your statements contain nothing but incorrect comments with no basis in fact. Innuendos at best.

    The lending standards are not invoked by the President. The industry would set their own “standards” Laws should have been in place long before Bush. Lets’ see, 8 years of Clinton should have been long enough don’t you think?

    Allowed the Taliban and Al Qaeda to flourish in Pakistan and Afghanistan - don’t you mean Clinton allowed it. Bush is good but no one could affect that kind of change the first 8 months of their Presidency. They were already thriving.

    Abu Grahib prison? Give me a break. I’d think you’d be more indignant at the crimes these “prisoners” committed rather than them being embarassed. They probably should have been shot and not even sent to prison to begin with.

    Bush’s No Child Left Behind? You mean Kennedy’s don’t you. Anytime a liberal like him touches anything it becomes tarnished. Bush was actually trying to reach across the aisle and work with the Dems. They would have none of it.

    Red State Skeptic? I think you might want to change your moniker to Blue State Propagandist.

  71. #71
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am, JHSII said:

    red state skeptic #67

    Why don’t you “go on” back to the dailykos?

    I love the irony in the thread where Republicans are accusing Democrats of silencing opposition.

    What irony? I’m not trying to silence you in any way, shape, or form. Least of all, I’m not threatening you to silence you.

  72. #72
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:43 am, InCali said:

    Wow. That clip from #3 was unbelievable. Usually, I give cops the benefit of the doubt, but in this case, just wow. She was participating in a protest for which they had permission!!! I’m incredulous.

    With all this going on, I’m getting myself in a gun club and learning how to shoot. I’m going to need those skills apparently.

  73. #73
    On August 29th, 2008 at 12:21 pm, corkie said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 10:45 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    Valerie Plame was an active CIA agent involved in covert operations to keep Iran from securing nuclear weapons. Therefore, the White House was more concerned in defending their willful ignorance of Iraqi intelligence than they were in pursuing legitimate goals of the CIA, like keeping Iran from getting nuclear (whoops).

    You are flat wrong about this.

    1. Plame was not a “covert agent.” She was a CIA officer with a “light cover.” A cover which may or may not have been maintained - a big question considering her neighbors all told the press, “Sure. We all knew that she worked for the CIA.”

    2. Her job was not mentioned in order to “silence” anyone. In fact, such a concept is laughable.

    3. Her status in the CIA was mentioned as an explanation for Wilson being selected for the trip. There was no deliberate attempt to “out” anyone.

    4. Wilson and Plame have deliberately allowed this story to be twisted for their own advantage.

    5. If it was illegal to disclose her status, then why was nobody prosecuted for doing so - despite a very aggressive prosecution team?

  74. #74
    On August 29th, 2008 at 12:41 pm, historian said:

    Can anybody say Mussolini

  75. #75
    On August 29th, 2008 at 12:44 pm, thegreatbeast said:

    JHSII said:
    That’s what I’m talking about. Moral equivalence.

    Don’t be a chapoutier.

    You quote me to me. This is the second time that I’ll ask you what you meant by your comments.

    C’mon, explaining yourself should not be that hard.

  76. #76
    On August 29th, 2008 at 12:56 pm, JHSII said:

    thegreatbeast #75

    You quote me to me. This is the second time that I’ll ask you what you meant by your comments.

    C’mon, explaining yourself should not be that hard.

    I did explain myself. Are you chapoutier under another name?

  77. #77
    On August 29th, 2008 at 2:11 pm, iamgman said:

    * Bush people sided with lenders and fought hard against any standards whatsoever, and even had state laws requiring borrower verification preempted so they would not stem the tide of the housing industry, which of course led to the crash we are left with today.

    The whole mortgage snafu started in the Clinton years when Congress went after the practice of “redlining”. The practice was bad when it was used against people solely based on their skin color. They went beyond that though. They encouraged banks to make loans to high risk borrowers (low income mainly) and the whole thing just snowballed.

    It was even one of Clinton’s talking points during his campaign if I recall.

    * Bush allowed the al Qaeda Taliban to flourish in Afghanistan and Pakistan by deciding that Iraq was more important, and in failing to hold those up the chain of command accountable for the brutal torture of Abu Ghraib detainees, insured that Pakistan will not in a hundred years cooperate with our search of bin Laden.

    I completely disagree with you flourishing comment, butI will throw you a bone on the Pakistan issue. Pakistan should not get away with their blind eye to the Taliban and Al Qaeda hiding out in their country. But what do you propose we do? Invade them? We had a broken cease fire agreement to justify Iraq and active open harboring of Al Qaeda by the Taliban to justify Afghanistan. Pakistan is alot less clear. Plus a nuke makes one hell of a suicide bomb.

    The whole Abu Ghraib issue is laughable. Abu Ghraib was amateurish hazing compared to what I went through as a pledge in my fraternity. Torture is beheading a journalist for a propaganda tape. Torture is being gang raped.

    * Bush’s No Child Left Behind insures that our education system is for the first time focused on our worst students instead of our best.

    Completely right there. He made the mistake of agreeing with Kennedy.

    * Bush and Rice completely ignored dozens of briefings on Al Qaeda’s readiness to strike US targets, and we lost 2,974 Americans as a result.

    Everyone ignored the threat Al Qaeda posed. The blood is on both sides hands there. Sadly, I don’t think it would have mattered pre 9/11 how much attention was payed to those briefings. We just couldn’t begin to understand the lengths these terrorists were willing to go to for their jihad. Unfortuately, now we know.

    What matters though is how the threat is treated now. I will let you figure out who is taking the threat seriously now. I can provide hints if needed though.

  78. #78
    On August 29th, 2008 at 4:54 pm, thegreatbeast said:

    JHSII, you choose to remain unintelligible. Your inside baseball stuff (chapoutier?) might play to your fans but the rest of us wonder what the heck you are talking about.
    If you don’t simply suffer from palsy of the keyboard, you will explain the moral equivalence thing or is it simply the phrase of the day that you just must work into a comment?

  79. #79
    On August 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm, GaMidnightRider said:

    Yep the hope is: I hope they don’t find out what we got planned…

    The change is: I is gonna change the laws to make it easier for me to be kind and lord over these ignorant peasents.

  80. #80
    On August 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm, JHSII said:

    thegreatbeast #78

    I don’t know why you have such difficulty with basic reading comprehension, but nobody else here seems to.

    Are you trying to be a jerk? A troll?

    Whatever your problem is, you can stop trying to project it off onto me anytime. It doesn’t work.

  81. #81
    On August 29th, 2008 at 5:06 pm, GaMidnightRider said:

    Sorry
    King and Lord over these ignorant peasents.

  82. #82
    On August 29th, 2008 at 6:15 pm, thegreatbeast said:

    What a boor.

  83. #83
    On August 29th, 2008 at 9:52 pm, Dimsdale said:

    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:29 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    Why don’t you “go on” back to the dailykos?

    I love the irony in the thread where Republicans are accusing Democrats of silencing opposition.

    That is ironic, because to do what you do on those sites simply gets you banned.

  84. #84
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:22 pm, Republicanvet said:

    (You’ll be interested to know that the official registered agent of Accountable America is Laurence Gold, a high-powered attorney for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) who has testified before the Senate complaining about the use of campaign finance laws to stifle the speech of union workers — a pet cause of the ACLU.)

    Thank you Michelle. I kept hoping this would be pointed out to show this “grass roots” group wasn’t so grass roots.

  85. #85
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:57 pm, Republicanvet said:
    On August 29th, 2008 at 11:00 am, Red State Skeptic said:

    * Bush people sided with lenders and fought hard against any standards whatsoever, and even had state laws requiring borrower verification preempted so they would not stem the tide of the housing industry, which of course led to the crash we are left with today.

    You should change your tag to Raving Moonbat. All Bush’s fault huh? How about Congress? and changing lending laws?

    Any word on all the surrendercrats who received sweetheart mortgages from their buddies? How about any word about that Deadbeat Dem in California walking away from her house, then getting special treatment to get her house back after being foreclosed on?

    * Bush allowed the al Qaeda Taliban to flourish in Afghanistan and Pakistan by deciding that Iraq was more important, and in failing to hold those up the chain of command accountable for the brutal torture of Abu Ghraib detainees, insured that Pakistan will not in a hundred years cooperate with our search of bin Laden.

    Bush letting Al Qaeda flourish? Geez, how about letting them flourish throughout the ’90’s while someone was more focused on interns? Brutal torture? Can you name one act that could be considered brutal?

    * Bush’s No Child Left Behind insures that our education system is for the first time focused on our worst students instead of our best.

    So students that might be struggling should just be ignored since it’s easier and takes less effort to help those better students? Seems that tactic has failed for years.

    * Bush and Rice completely ignored dozens of briefings on Al Qaeda’s readiness to strike US targets, and we lost 2,974 Americans as a result.

    Dozens? Were you there? How do you know this?

    Surrendercrats refuse to support any action against terrorists, even though 2,974 lives were lost. Can you convince anyone that surrendercrats would have supported action again Al Qaeda BEFORE the attacks?

    Could go on, but don’t have all day.

    Good.

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