Cyrena:

Re the campaign finance “pledge” issue, I beg to differ.  An excerpt from the Washington Post article linked below:

“The Obama campaign is correct in arguing that there is nothing in the Feb. 1 letter to the FEC that can be fairly interpreted as committing the campaign to accepting public financing. Obama spokesman Bill Burton told Politico on Feb. 28, 2007 that the senator would not necessarily commit himself to participating in the public financing system if the commission approved his proposal. “It would be a situation where if the Republican agreed to opt-in to the public financing system, it would be something we would explore,” Burton told Politico.

“After the FEC issued its ruling, the rhetoric became less equivocal. On March 1, Burton challenged Republican candidates to follow McCain and agree to public financing. He said that Obama, if nominated, would “aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”

“Many newspapers, including the Washington Post and the New York Times, interpreted this Burton statement as a commitment to accept public financing in the event of an Obama-McCain race. As far as I can tell, the Obama campaign made no effort to dispel this impression. His enthusiasm for public financing was a way of distinguishing himself from his rival Hillary Clinton, who was raising much more private money at the time.”

Here is the link to the rest of this article.  Below that is the link to the Midwest Democracy Network form on which Obama made his pledge:

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/the_obama_pledge_1.html

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/content/Questionnaire_Midwest_Democracy_Network_Obama_02192008.pdf

Peace.

isn’t the MSM bring up the Weather Underground and Ayers, Cyrena with all due respect, you cant really believe that Barrack has not been given a pass by the MSM. Now Fox is a different story. What about Michelle Obama, and her staff requesting more white people so she looks like she is bringing in a more diverse crowd, none of MSM reported on that. and his Senate time , what Senate time ? , he has the gift of putting his blunders on his staff, that is well known. and remember he is running for president, so he will get slammed every day, just like you do to Clinton and McCain it will be done to him, he will win the nomination, bit it wont be pretty.

Thanks for your typical nothing response.  If this had been Hillary, Holy Shi*, the keyboards would have been clacking away so loud and fast that we couldn’t have heard ourselves think.  We wouldn’t have been able to understand it but cyrena, jps, Outrageous, aergus, leefeller would have been typing their little fingers off. As it is rock star Obama according to cyrena and a few others will turn this into a plus. woo whoo!!!!

Ok, this is a perfect example of what I’m talking about in the non-stop negative bashing of Barack Obama, by use of rhetorical slander..by bert. It’s less sophisticated than the Maani style, and only slightly more sophisticated than the lib style. And, it’s a simple one, so easier to point out.

Here we have a relatively short article that deals with a topic that has come up before, with much of the same ‘ta do’ about not much of anything. Whether or not Obama will do public financing for a general election, (though he still has not won the primary nomination yet). So, it’s a bit early for this, but then it was even more premature when McCain made an issue of it a couple or so months back.

Still, that’s my point. That’s what this is about. Simple enough. Obama had agreed to consider it a while back, and to talk with McCain on it, when things were more solidified on whether or not he was the nominee for the democratic party.

Now, the framing of this article has Obama ‘backtracking’ and a further read of the entire piece makes the point –immediately- that this is yet another issue that his rivals are trying to exploit. (And no doubt, they have jumped on it like white on rice…pretty desperate) However, this is one comment, from one poster on the referenced website, from which the TD article came..”Political Insider”

•  “I’ve read some version of this notion a lot in the blogosphere, but as yet the only thing I’ve ever read is a commitment by Obama to negotiate in good faith with the Republican nominee. The goal there would be to try and get them both into the public financing system, if they can find a way to reasonably do so. To my ears, that falls FAR short of a promise. So please back that up with a link or something. Thanks much.”
Ok, that comment was from a reader, to the author of the article.

Now, back to bert’s comment, from shortly after the article was posted here on TD..and she is apparently responding to an earlier post by cwhipps, who suggests that a staffer checked a box on a form, regarding this issue of public financing.

Here’s what bert responds:

•  “cwhipps writes:  “...some staffer checked a box on a form….”
•  If Obama can’t even keep his staff on course how the hell do you expect him to run and manage the United States of America? Whay a lame brained excuse!!!!!!!
Let’s just reflect on that for a second, (and the total pettiness). If Obama can’t keep his staff on course…

Again, if Obama can’t keep his staff on course, how (the hell) can he manage to run the US of A?

Humm… has he managed to run his Senatorial Office and Staff? It sure seems like it. Has he managed to run his campaign?

Well, let’s think about that as well. He’s got a large staff for it, eh? Yep. Well, how well have they done.

Relatively simple answer here…PRETTY DAMN WELL! At least that’s what someone with even a tiny shred of objectivity might observe. In other words…he’s WAY ahead of his opponent in the delegates so far, like by 133. He’s collected nearlytwice as much money. He’s utilized his staff and organizational skills in conjunction with every technology available for communicating with the population, and done it better than every other person in the race. And bert wants to know how he can manage to run the US of A, if he CAN’T KEEP HIS STAFF ON COURSE?

His opponent can’t keep her chief strategist from cutting trade deals with foreign countries that she allegedly DOESN’T APPROVE OF, and bert wants to claim that Obama can’t keep his staff on course!

THAT’S the kind of stuff I’m talking about. Stupid stuff, that defies the on-going reality of life as it is. It’s all just negative rhetoric about obvious stuff. And when somebody does this about OBVIOUS stuff, (like Hillary lying about the Bosnia thing..what was the point?) they lose all credibility when they might actually come up with some LEGITIMATE CRITICISM!

But, they don’t get it.

End of example.

No, an Obama staffer did not “just” “check off a box.”  Here is the statement Obama ADDED to that same form:

“In February 2007, I proposed a novel way to preserve the strength of the public financing system in the 2008 election. My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors, and stay within the public financing system for the general election. My proposal followed announcements by some presidential candidates that they would forgo public financing so they could raise unlimited funds in the general election. The Federal Election Commission ruled the proposal legal, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has already pledged to accept this fundraising pledge. If I am the Democratic nominee, I will aggressively pursue an agreement with the Republican nominee to preserve a publicly financed general election.”

Sadly, now that Obama has dollar signs in his eyes, he is dissembling and spinning with regard to his pledge.

Peace.

Agreed! Obama has Teflon skin. It’s serious folly to believe Barack is not going to walk away with the presidency giving how his campaign has been a full-throttle machine as it has.

I think you’re right cwhipps, about another of the many false flag ops by Ken Mehlman.

At the end of the day, I’m thinking this would be a good move for him, (and all) as described by this suggestion in the article..

“....For instance, Obama could easily turn a flip-flop story to his advantage by pledging to cap all campaign contributions at $250. Harnessing new voters, his popular brand and the Internet, he could promise to really build a people-based campaign. A million individuals could literally “max out” and feel like they have just as much influence as anyone else…”

I don’t know if that’s what he’ll do, but it’s another damn good idea, for turning this into an advantage.

I love it. It seems like every piece of the kitchen sink they try to throw at him just turns into an advantage.

And, this WOULD be, particularly in keeping with the whole ideology of his platform since the beginning. It brings that many more of ‘we the people’ into the process, and prevents him from being ‘owned’ by any one small group of the corporate elite and/or corrupt.

I think it’s a great flip-flop. (if in fact it ever was).

Shall we go through all the ways that the Clinton campaign has bungled this, that, and the other thing (especially its finances) in order to apply your own argument against your candidate?

cwhipps writes:    “...some staffer checked a box on a form….”

If Obama can’t even keep his staff on course how the hell do you expect him to run and manage the United States of America? Whay a lame brained excuse!!!!!!!

After all the Jack Abramov’s, and the Swift Boat Veterans, it’s only common sense to keep the dollars pouring in. Democrat’s know what’s coming with Rev. Write, and all the other empty, lizard brain, Frank Luntz focus group propaganda the GOP is getting together. It would be foolish to stand on priciple when it gives such a huge advantage to the party of BIG BUSINESS. Remember the Clear Channel media blitz of 911 lies in 2004?

And, I’m not sure he agreed to use public financing, some staffer checked a box on a form and the form only says that he’ll “discuss” public financing.

I think this might be another of many recent false flag ops by Ken Mehlman.