1 Trillion Price Tag for Bush's War on Terror

By Mark Thompson / Washington Friday, Dec. 26, 2008

U.S. soldiers arrive at the Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan in March

John Moore / Getty

The news that President Bush's war on terrorism soon will have cost the U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion — and counting — is unlikely to spread much Christmas cheer in these tough economic times. A trio of recent reports — none by the Bush Administration — suggests that sometime early in the Obama presidency, spending on the wars started since 9/11 will pass the trillion-dollar mark. Even after adjusting for inflation, that's four times more than America spent fighting World War I, and more than 10 times the cost of 1991's Persian Gulf War (90% of which was paid for by U.S. allies). The war on terrorism looks set to surpass the costs the Korean and Vietnam wars combined, topped only by World War II's price tag of $3.5 trillion.

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The cost of sending a single soldier to fight for a year in Afghanistan or Iraq is about $775,000 — three times more than in other recent wars, says a new report from the private but authoritative Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA). A large chunk of the increase is a result of the Administration's cramming new military hardware into the emergency budget bills it has been using to pay for the wars. (See pictures of U.S. troops in Iraq.)

These costs, of course, pale alongside the price paid by the nearly 5,000 U.S. troops who have lost their lives in the conflicts — not to mention the wounded — and the families of all the casualties. And President Bush insists that their sacrifice and the expenditure on the wars have helped prevent a repeat of 9/11. "We could not afford to wait for the terrorists to attack again," he said last week at the Army War College. "So we launched a global campaign to take the fight to the terrorists abroad, to dismantle their networks, to dry up their financing and find their leaders and bring them to justice."

But many Americans may suffer a moment of sticker shock from the conclusions of the CSBA report and similar assessments from the Government Accounting Office (GAO) and Congressional Research Service (CRS), which make clear that the nearly $1 trillion already spent is only a down payment on the war's long-term costs. The trillion-dollare figure does not, for example, include long-term health care for veterans, thousands of whom have suffered crippling wounds, or the interest payments on the money borrowed by the Federal Government to fund the war. The bottom lines of the three assessments vary: the CSBA study says $904 billion has been spent so far, while the GAO says the Pentagon alone has spent $808 billion through last September. The CRS study says the wars have cost $864 billion, but CRS didn't factor inflation into its calculations.

Sifting through Pentagon data, the CSBA study breaks down the total costs of the war on terrorism as $687 billion for Iraq, $184 billion for Afghanistan and $33 billion for homeland security. By 2018, depending on how many U.S. troops remain in Afghanistan and Iraq, the total cost is projected to likely be between $1.3 trillion and $1.7 trillion. On the safe assumption that the wars are being waged with borrowed money, interest payments raise the cost by an additional $600 billion through 2018.

Shortly before the Iraq war began, White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey earned a rebuke from within the Administration when he said the war could cost as much as $200 billion. "It's not knowable what a war or conflict like that would cost," Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld said. "You don't know if it's going to last two days or two weeks or two months. It certainly isn't going to last two years."

According to the CSBA study, the Administration has fudged the war's true costs in two ways. Borrowing money to fund the wars is one way of conducting them on the cheap, at least in the short term. But just as pernicious has been the Administration's novel way of budgeting for them. Previous wars were funded through the annual appropriations process, with emergency spending — which gets far less congressional scrutiny — used only for the initial stages of a conflict. But the Bush Administration relied on such supplemental appropriations to fund the wars until 2008, seven years after invading Afghanistan and five years after storming Iraq.

"For these wars, we have relied on supplemental appropriations for far longer than in the case of past conflicts," says Steven Kosiak of the CSBA, one of Washington's top defense-budget analysts. "Likewise, we have relied on borrowing to cover more of these costs than we have in earlier wars — which will likely increase the ultimate price we have to pay." That refusal to spell out the full cost can lead to unwise spending increases elsewhere in the federal budget or unwarranted tax cuts. "A sound budgeting process forces policymakers to recognize the true costs of their policy choices," Kosiak adds. "Not only did we not raise taxes, we cut taxes and significantly expanded spending."

The bottom line: Bush's projections of future defense spending "substantially understate" just how much money it will take to run Obama's Pentagon, the CSBA says in its report. Luckily, Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to hang around to try to iron out the problem.

The GOP Goes South

By David S. Broder

Sunday, December 28, 2008; Page B07

As a rule, a new president's choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former representative from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.

This one, however, is loaded with meaning because LaHood is no ordinary member of Congress. He has been, as Shields pointed out, one of the most widely respected members of the House; a leader in the uphill struggle for comity between the parties; and a throwback to the days of his old boss Bob Michel, the minority leader who resisted the scorched-earth tactics of Newt Gingrich. Such was LaHood's reputation for fairness that he was the natural choice to preside over the House during the explosive impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton.

The significance of his accepting Obama's offer goes beyond the signal it sends of the new president's seriousness about outreach to moderate Republicans. As transportation secretary, LaHood will be at the center of the road and bridge construction projects Obama plans to make the highlight of his almost trillion-dollar stimulus program.

All the signs are that the stimulus spending will be opposed by congressional Republicans, whose shrunken ranks are increasingly dominated by right-wing Southerners who care not what their stance does to harm the party's national image.

The spectacle of LaHood facing off in congressional testimony against those naysayers will dramatize a split that is crippling the GOP.

The danger became apparent as far back as 2007. With Bush weakened by the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and the midterm election losses of 2006, a Southern-led revolt killed his immigration reform bill. Junior senators such as Jim DeMint of South Carolina directed the rebellion, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, unable to stem the insurgency, joined it.

The price was paid in the 2008 presidential campaign. Despite his personal credentials as a sponsor of comprehensive immigration reform, John McCain was caught in the backlash of anti-GOP voting by Hispanics. It contributed to his loss of Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Florida and other states.

The same thing happened this year when Bush supported a bailout for the Big Three auto companies. Led by Republican senators from Southern states where there are many foreign-owned auto plants, the Senate refused to cut off a filibuster against the bill to provide bridge loans to General Motors and Chrysler. This time, the opposition was led by Bob Corker of Tennessee and Richard Shelby of Alabama. When the Senate failed by eight votes to cut off debate, Southern and border-state Republicans voted 16 to 2 against the measure. On a similar vote on the 2007 immigration bill, the Southerners split 17 to 3 against.

Even though Bush later used his authority to provide the loan, the defeat of this legislation at Republican hands will not be forgotten when GOP senators run for reelection in 2010 in states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania. It will also echo in industrial states such as Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, New York and New Jersey, when Republicans try to challenge for Senate and House seats.

The Southern domination of the congressional Republican Party has become more complete with each and every election. This year, Republicans suffered a net loss of two Senate and three House seats in the South, but they lost five Senate seats and 18 House seats in other sections. No Republican House members are left in New England, and they have become ever scarcer in New York and Pennsylvania and across the Midwest.

LaHood, who witnessed but did not welcome the Gingrich "revolution" in the House, has watched with growing alarm the decimation of the GOP in Illinois and surrounding states. As point man for Obama's stimulus spending, he now poses the dilemma for his own party in the sharpest possible terms: Will congressional Republicans again sacrifice their political interest to satisfy their Southern-baked ideological imperatives?

In tapes, LBJ accuses Nixon of treason

Johnson thought meddling derailed planned Vietnam peace talks on eve of 1968 election, according to final recordings made public.

By Mark Lisheron
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Friday, December 05, 2008

Just days before the pivotal 1968 presidential election featuring Vice President Hubert Humphrey's bid to succeed him, President Lyndon Baines Johnson suspected Humphrey's Republican opponent, Richard Nixon, of political sabotage that he called treason, according to the final recordings of Johnson's presidency to be publicly released.

As Johnson tried to arrange peace talks between North and South Vietnam on the eve of the election, he and his closest advisers received information indicating that Nixon allies had asked that South Vietnam avoid peace talks until after the election, the tapes show.

Johnson and his advisers, Humphrey included, kept their concerns secret at the time. But given that Nixon defeated Humphrey by just 500,000 votes out of 73 million cast and that Nixon's suspected perfidy involved the unpopular war in Vietnam, there is ample cause to wonder how history might have been changed had the concerns Johnson voiced 40 years ago been made public.

The LBJ Library made those conversations public Thursday with the release of 42 hours of recordings made from May 1968 until the Johnson family left the White House in January 1969. Johnson's daughters, Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb , were on hand to listen to and comment on the tapes and their father.

Harry Middleton, the first director of the LBJ Library and the original overseer of the LBJ tape project, said Thursday that he was satisfied that the body of material complied with Johnson's wish that the American people be given the opportunity to see the 36th president of the United States "with the bark off."

Betty Sue Flowers, the current director, praised Middleton's decision 15 years ago to countermand the wishes of his old boss that the tapes be kept private for 50 years after his death. Johnson died in 1973.

"He had the foresight to say no to President Johnson," Flowers said at a news conference Thursday.

"It was easier to do when he was dead," Johnson Robb shot back from her seat in the small audience.

The final recordings take their place alongside more than 600 hours that have been released as they were processed and archived by the library over the past decade. The conversations span the breadth of Johnson's ascendancy after the assassination of President John Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963 , until January 1969.

In these last months of 1968 alone, Johnson is heard offering to Sen. Edward Kennedy and his family condolences after the assassination of his brother, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Robert Kennedy; discussing his reasoning for the continued bombing of North Vietnam; and reacting to the Soviet Union's invasion of Czechoslovakia.

With an election hanging in the balance, however, there is added drama in the flurry of calls in late October and early November concerning Johnson's attempt to bring the North and South Vietnamese governments together for the first time to discuss peace.

On March 31, under heavy pressure from the anti-war wing of his Democratic Party, Johnson shocked the American people by saying he would not run for re-election or accept his party's nomination. Instead, Johnson endorsed Humphrey, who inherited the warmonger label critics had hung on Johnson.

Luci Baines Johnson recalled the agony of her father, who she said sincerely wanted a just end to the war. She said she and her sister were stung by the protesters who picketed outside the White House.

"The last thing you would hear before you went to bed at night were protesters chanting, 'Hey, hey LBJ, how many boys did you kill today?' " Johnson said as her sister dabbed at tears.

To test the good faith of the North Vietnamese, Johnson ordered that all bombing in the north cease on Oct. 31 , six days before voters were to go the polls. The cease-fire gave the Humphrey campaign an immediate jolt — polls showed Nixon's 8-percentage-point lead had shrunk to 2 points.

The precise nature of any communication between Nixon's allies and the South Vietnamese government isn't revealed in the tapes — nor is the way Johnson and his advisers learned of them.

In the tapes, Johnson tells Secretary of State Dean Rusk: "It's pretty obvious to me it's had its effect."

In a segment aired at the news conference, Johnson tells Sen. Everett Dirksen , the Republican minority leader, that it will be Nixon's responsibility if the South Vietnamese don't participate in the peace talks.

"This is treason," LBJ says to Dirksen.

"I know," Dirksen replies, very softly.

Confronting Nixon by telephone on Nov. 3, Johnson outlines what had been alleged and how important it was to the conduct of the war for Nixon's people not to meddle.

"My God," Nixon says to Johnson, "I would never do anything to encourage the South Vietnamese not to come to that conference table." Instead, Nixon pledged to help in any way Johnson or Rusk suggested, "To hell with the political credit, believe me."

For Johnson and his top advisers, it wasn't a matter of whether Nixon was telling the truth but whether accusing Nixon of meddling would give the appearance that Johnson — rather than Nixon — was using the war to influence the election.

In the end, the South Vietnamese stayed away from the proposed peace talks. And Johnson listened to his advisers and suggested to Humphrey that he not use what he had learned.

"For God's sake, you want everybody to know you don't play politics with human lives, that we did what's right," Johnson tells Rusk on one of the recordings.

In several of the recordings, Johnson wonders what will become of a Democratic Party so riven by the war that it would not unite behind Humphrey.

"I'm sorry I let you down a little," Humphrey tells Johnson.

"No, you didn't; no you didn't," Johnson replies. "A lot of other folks (did), not you. You fought well and hard."

Let the Conservative Whining Begin

During eight years of Republican rule, conservative talkers had to work hard to find people to blame for the nation's troubles. That won't be a problem anymore.

Paul Waldman | November 25, 2008 |

Over the last eight years, many conservatives, particularly the radio and television hosts who enjoy such loud and lucrative megaphones, have been forced to navigate some difficult rhetorical waters. When your side controls the White House, the Congress (as it did until two years ago), the judiciary, and the business world, how do you argue that you're part of an oppressed group being held down by The Man? It isn't easy, but they did it nonetheless. The "elite" they bellowed at day after day is not those who actually hold power. It's obscure college professors, Hollywood actors, the city council of a town you don't live in, and nonprofit organizations who advocate for things like poor people or the environment or civil liberties. That's the source of your problems, they would say, and that's who you should be mad at.

So the coming transfer of power must make them feel light as air. Now when they begin their daily pity party, they'll actually be able to complain about the people in charge.

And complain they will -- oh, will they ever. There was a time when conservatives saw themselves as the masters of the universe, remaking the world as they would have it. But by now, claims of victimization have woven themselves so tightly into their identity that they barely know how to engage the political world without claiming to be oppressed.

Take this head-scratcher: In the last couple of weeks, conservatives have become positively obsessed with a supposed Democratic plot to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine in order to silence right-wing talk radio (eliminated in 1987, the doctrine mandated ideological balance on radio and television).

The conservative magazine Human Events, for instance, sent out a solicitation last week from conservative radio talker Michael Reagan, with the following soft-sell message: "The radical liberals will do everything in their power to SHUT US DOWN, along with every other conservative voice in America. And they're already telling the world exactly how they're going to do it:THE "FAIRNESS DOCTRINE." We MUST take action to STOP them NOW, before they are able to mobilize support for this insidious attempt to SILENCE CONSERVATIVES!" Rest assured, the underlining, bolding, and all caps are in the original. The e-mail also featured a picture of Rush Limbaugh with a Soviet flag photoshopped over his mouth, with the caption, "Stalin Style Socialist Doctrine to Silence Rush Limbaugh and Conservatives."

So brave, this Limbaugh and his lieutenants. Warning of the impending crackdown from the brutal hand of the state makes you seem like a daring rebel, broadcasting your missives from an encampment deep in the forest while the terrified populace huddles around their forbidden radios to hear your message of truth. Si, Subcomandante Rush, don't give up your fight for freedom and justice! Across the land, lonely villagers sing folk songs of your courage!

The only problem is that the plot is completely imaginary -- Barack Obama has gone on record opposing a reinstatement of the doctrine, and the congressional leadership has zero interest in the idea. As Matthew Yglesias wrote last week, "Political movements mischaracterize the other side's general goals all the time. But I've never heard of anything like the current conservative mania for blocking a particular legislative provision that nobody is trying to enact."

Meanwhile, gun stores can't keep enough arms on the shelves, as desperate Second Amendment heroes build their stockpiles in anticipation of the disarming of America. They are egged on by the likes of G. Gordon Liddy, who despite being a convicted felon and unrepentant terrorist (among his unconsummated plots were the murder of columnist Jack Anderson and the firebombing of the Brookings Institution) is blessed with a nationally syndicated radio show. Liddy, who during the Clinton years told his listeners, "If the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you, and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests," Today, he advises his faithful flock to break whatever laws on gun registration that might apply to them. "The first thing you do is, no matter what law they pass, do not -- repeat, not -- ever register any of your firearms," Liddy recently said. "Because that's where they get the list of where to go first to confiscate. So, you don't ever register a firearm, anywhere." Be vigilant, bunker-dwellers, and make sure you have an ample supply of canned goods and ammunition.

It's no coincidence that the uptick in bitching and moaning comes as Republicans have become isolated ideologically, demographically, and geographically. The last factor -- that the GOP is now largely a Southern party -- gives the complaints endless fuel. As the center of gravity within the Republican Party has moved south, it has embraced that variant of Southern culture built on nurturing your sense of grievance and perseverating on your defeats. This is an old story -- even before the Civil War, Southerners couldn't talk enough about how those elitist Northerners were looking down their noses at the South. And is there a group of people anywhere in the world so obsessed with glorifying and celebrating a war they lost? A century and a half ago, my people were suffering through the Czar's pogroms, but I don't spend my weekends re-enacting them. Not that it's just conservative Southerners who have a hefty chip stapled to their shoulders. Grievance and complaint has become the lingua franca of the right all over the country. Politicians' desire to nurture these feelings gives us such spectacles as the one we saw on the penultimate night of the Republican convention, where the cross-dressing, opera-loving New Yorker Rudy Giuliani berated Barack Obama for being "cosmopolitan," while the multimillionaire, Harvard-trained industrial scion Mitt Romney bawled about the snootiness of the "Eastern elite." By the time Sarah Palin (now the de facto leader of the party's resentment wing) took the stage, the assembled crowd was mad as hell, and they weren't going to take it anymore.

This kabuki of complaint is built on a running series of imaginary slights. Democrats said that being the mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, isn't really an adequate preparation for the presidency? They're attacking small towns, and the people who live in them! Democrats want to get out of Iraq? They're attacking our troops! Democrats point out that the immortal Joe the Plumber would actually fare better under Barack Obama's tax plan than John McCain's? They're attacking guys with blue collars everywhere!

Not that progressives haven't spent the better part of the last eight years complaining. But most of those complaints have been about things the Bush administration actually did, not some imagined offense to progressives' honor. When the left has complained about what "they" are doing, the word has usually referred to the Bush administration. When the right uses it, it refers to a more amorphous group, defined not by their actions but by their attitude. It's the brie-eaters, the bureaucrats, the secularists, the immigrants, and pretty much anyone that you think might be looking down on you. Now the right will actually have a government to rail against, but I'm guessing the nefarious group keeping them down will remain pretty expansive.

And we haven't even started the annual braying about the "war on Christmas."

source The American Prospect

Oops is that Mic still on?

You would think a brilliant women like Peggy Noonan (Reagan's speech writer) would know how modern technology works. That just because you are off the air does not mean someone's mic is not still transmitting.

Yes She and Mike Murphy got caught providing a rarity in political spin, some true thoughts and opinions. Something you just NEVER NEVER Do!

Honesty in Politics gets you NO WHERE FAST!





Republican insiders caught by hot mic: Race is over
By Jimmy Orr | 09.03.08

Don’t expect Republican strategist Michael Murphy and Wall Street Journalist column Peggy Noonan to receive Christmas cards from the John McCain and Sarah Palin campaign this year.

On the most critical night of the year so far for the McCain-Palin ticket, the two Republican insiders were talking with MSNBC’s Chuck Todd about the Palin VP selection. The segment wraps up. End of story.

Not so fast.

The problem? They kept talking. The mics were still on, and they didn’t know it.

So what do they think when not spouting the made-for-TV talking points?

“It’s not going to work,” Murphy said.

Noonan said the race was over, and that Palin was not the most qualified woman for the job.

What would be most interesting is to hear what they said before they thought they were off the air.

Watch the video here.

Here’s the transcript of the exchange - thanks to Talking Points Memo

Chuck Todd: Mike Murphy, lots of free advice, we’ll see if Steve Schmidt and the boys were watching. We’ll find out on your blackberry. Tonight voters will get their chance to hear from Sarah Palin and she will get the chance to show voters she’s the right woman for the job Up next, one man who’s already convinced and he’ll us why Gov. Jon Huntsman.

(cut away)

Peggy Noonan: Yeah.

Mike Murphy: You know, because I come out of the blue swing state governor world: Engler, Whitman, Tommy Thompson, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush. I mean, these guys — this is how you win a Texas race, just run it up. And it’s not gonna work. And –

PN: It’s over.

MM: Still McCain can give a version of the Lieberman speech to do himself some good.

CT: I also think the Palin pick is insulting to Kay Bailey Hutchinson, too.

PN: Saw Kay this morning.

CT: Yeah, she’s never looked comfortable about this –

MM: They’re all bummed out.

CT: Yeah, I mean is she really the most qualified woman they could have turned to?

PN: The most qualified? No! I think they went for this — excuse me– political bull**** about narratives –

CT: Yeah they went to a narrative.

MM: I totally agree.

PN: Every time the Republicans do that, because that’s not where they live and it’s not what they’re good at, they blow it.

MM: You know what’s really the worst thing about it? The greatness of McCain is no cynicism, and this is cynical.

CT: This is cynical, and as you called it, gimmicky.

MM: Yeah.

***Updated 8:43pm. Peggy Noonan has since provided an explanation for her statement “it’s over” on her column at the Wall Street Journal.

source The Christian Science Monitor

New FBI raid on Luzerne County Justice

The ever widening Federal investigation of corruption in the Luzerne County Justice System took a new turn with Fresh FBI raids and boxes of evidence seized form the Clerk of Courts and Court Treasurer. It is very apparent the focus of the Federal investigation has centered on two men Judge Michael T.Conahan and Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr.

Allegations of financial gain,perverted justice,association with common criminals for financial gain,steering public funds for private gain, the list is endless!

It is apparent the two judges should not be counting on retirement living in Florida, instead they will be spending their golden years at Club Fed!

Perverted Justice becomes Justice Served!


Luzerne County court probe widens


BY MICHAEL R. SISAK AND DAVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITERS
Published: Friday, August 22, 2008
Updated: Friday, August 22, 2008 4:30 AM EDT
WILKES-BARRE — Federal agents investigating the alleged theft of funds from the Luzerne County court administrator’s office served subpoenas this week on that office and two others within the county courthouse, Luzerne County District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll said Thursday.

Agents from the FBI served the subpoenas Tuesday on the county treasurer’s office and the clerk of courts office, as well as the court administrator’s office, Ms. Musto Carroll said.

“My office and myself are working closely with the FBI,” Ms. Musto Carroll said. “They’ve been here and they’ll continue to be here.”

Deputy Treasurer Dominick DePolo, who on Wednesday confirmed agents were in his office looking for “court-related stuff,” said Thursday he was unaware other county offices were also being investigated.

The treasurer’s office collects, invests and disburses county funds and issues various permits and licenses, such as for hunting and fishing.

“I’m presuming they will be back,” Mr. DePolo said of the agents. “That was sort of indicated.”

Court Administrator William T. Sharkey, whose office performs the managerial functions of the county court system, including scheduling and budgeting, is on a monthlong leave of absence and could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Sharkey’s deputy, John P. Mulroy, and Peter J. Adonizio, a special court administrator, did not return a message left for comment. President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who oversees the Office of Court of Administration, did not return a telephone message.

Paul McGarry, the director of court administrative services, said he was unaware of the investigation until he watched a report about it Thursday on a local television news broadcast.

Clerk of Courts Robert F. Reilly, whose office maintains the records of criminal cases prosecuted within the county, was said to be on vacation this week and could not be reached for comment.

FBI spokeswoman Jerri Williams said Wednesday she could not confirm or deny that subpoenas had been served.

The same investigators who served the subpoenas on the three county offices Tuesday searched the offices of the Luzerne County juvenile probation department in June, seizing records, contracts and other documents related to the detention and treatment of juvenile offenders since 2002.

FBI agents inspected documents involving the placement of juveniles at the Pennsylvania Child Care facility in Pittston Twp. and the Western Pennsylvania Child Care facility in Butler County.

The facilities were co-owned until June by Robert J. Powell, a prominent attorney with financial ties to Judge Ciavarella and Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan.

Contact the writers: msisak@citizensvoice.com, djanoski@citizensvoice.com

source Citizens Voice

Who Will Obama Choose?

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is my Psychic guess!

We will see in the next day or so and Barack Obama will have to choose by Saturday since a campaign event with his new Vice-presidential choice is planed at the Illinois State Capitol.

This is more a hunch than a guess and let me explain why.

Hilliary Clinton polled 21 million votes in the Democratic Primaries and you do not snub the millions who voted for a WOMAN with a safe dull white male.

Not when you profess to be the candidate of change!

Joe Biden is not change!

So what about Hillary? Not a chance Bill put the kibosh on that with public contempt for Obama and its rumored Obamas wife absolutely detests Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And who needs Hillary anyway, she is divisive and polarizing and comes with considerable baggage otherwise known as no. 42!

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is popular in a GOP dominated Kansas and brings a Governors perspective and balance to the ticket.



A long shot in my opinion will be Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine.

One other prediction if Obama chooses Sebelius John McCain will be under considerable pressure to choose an "exciting" and "unconventional" vice-president.

After all If A Black man and White woman are running for President how will John McCain and Mitt Romney look to America?



Like last century's power couple!

If Obama goes with the SWG (Safe White Guy) he will squander his best chance for change and election.

McCain would then surely pick Mitt Romney for V.P, since Obama will have given him the political cover to play it safe. Sure a signifigant number of Christo-Fundys will refuse to vote for a Mormon but they wouldn't vote for a Goldwater-Non Social Con Maverick anyway!

Just my two cents!

Just call me Judge Dirty!

Officials: Conahan ordered deposits to his bank

Conahan

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BY DAVE JANOSKI
PROJECTS EDITOR

Published: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11:03 AM EDT

Former Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Conahan directed millions of government dollars to a bank of which he is a director by ordering the county’s magisterial district judges to deposit their fines there, county and state officials say.

First National Community Bank — where billionaire casino owner Louis A. DeNaples was chairman of the board until his recent indictment on perjury charges — handles about $7 million in deposits from those magisterial district courts each year, state and county audits show.

Conahan, whose financial holdings are a focus of an ongoing FBI investigation into the county courts, did not return phone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Conahan’s decision to direct district court deposits to the bank came shortly before or after he was named to the bank board in 2003, county Court Administrator William Sharkey said Tuesday. Before that decision, the county’s 17 magisterial district judges, who handle traffic tickets, small civil cases and preliminary hearings in criminal cases, used banks of their own choosing.

Sharkey said the change was made because First National Community Bank, headquartered in Dunmore, offered a countywide courier service with daily pickup.

“Some of the magistrates had some concerns for security reasons. They weren’t too thrilled about taking deposits to the bank every day,” Sharkey said.

Sharkey said he didn’t know if the bank approached the county or if Conahan sought proposals from other banks.

“I’m not quite sure how that happened,” Sharkey said. “I’m not sure if they contacted the county and they offered the courier services or vice versa.”

James Koval, communications manager for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, confirmed that First National Community Bank is the depository for all district courts in Luzerne County. He said decisions about where to deposit fines from district courts are left up to the president judge in each county. The fines are divided between the state and county, with more than two-thirds typically going to the state.

Koval said his office exercises no oversight over the selection of the banks and has no rules governing the selection.

“I’m not aware of any rule that addresses this head-on,” Koval said.

Joseph A. Massa Jr., chief counsel for the state Judicial Conduct Board, which enforces the state Code of Judicial Conduct, did not return phone messages Tuesday.

Conahan was paid $57,583 as a director at First National Community Bancorp Inc. in 2007, according to the bank’s U.S. Security and Exchange Commission filings. He owns 55,927 shares in the bank worth $755,014 at Tuesday’s closing price of $13.50 per share.

DeNaples, a Dunmore businessman with holdings in landfills, used auto parts and real estate, owns about 10 percent of the bank’s 15.8 million outstanding shares. His brother and son, who are also directors of the bank, own about 9 percent. The DeNaples’ shares are worth $40 million.

The bank reported having $945 million in deposits in 2007.

DeNaples took a leave of absence from the bank board on Feb. 6 after he was charged with lying to state gaming regulators about ties to organized crime figures when seeking a license for his Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County, which opened last year.

Federal banking regulators subsequently suspended him from the board and prohibited him from participating in the affairs of the bank while the charges are pending. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board barred DeNaples from Mount Airy and appointed a trustee to oversee the casino until the criminal case is concluded.

DeNaples, 67, and bank President and CEO J. David Lombardi, who is acting chairman of the board, did not return phone messages Tuesday.

Conahan, who retired last year at age 56 and is now a senior judge presiding over the county’s Drug Treatment Court, has declined comment on the ongoing federal probe.

Courthouse sources speaking on condition of anonymity say the FBI and IRS have questioned them about Conahan’s links to the former owner of a juvenile detention center. The center made millions from county contracts after Conahan decided to stop sending juveniles to an aging county-owned facility in 2003.

Conahan has described the former co-owner of the facility, Butler Township attorney Robert J. Powell, as a personal friend. The FBI seized county records detailing the county’s dealings with Powell’s center last month.

The Standard-Speaker first reported in May that Conahan and current President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., who presided over juvenile court for a dozen years, have a financial interest in a townhouse development firm headed by Powell’s law partner, county Prothonotary Jill A. Moran. Powell owned half of the townhouse firm until the second half of 2004.

The townhouse firm, W-Cat Inc., is building an 86-unit development in Wright Township called The Sanctuary with $4.5 million in funding through First National Community Bank. Another director of the bank, Michael G. Cestone, is president of the construction company building the townhouses, S.G. Mastriani Co. Inc.

Cestone did not return a phone message Tuesday.

djanoski@citizensvoice.com

source Standard Speaker

The Judge and the Drug Dealer

My longstanding antipathy to Judge Michael Conahan is well known, from insinuations of illegal and unethical behavior to a cavalier disregard for the law and concept of Justice. I also have an issue with the tidy little deal he gave Cobra Video's owner and gay Pornographer Bryan Kocis in 2002.

After Kocis was charged with rape,molestation of a 15 yo and filming of gay child pornography Conahan "reviewed" hundreds of hours of footage and declared all the boys in the video were of age. He refused to allow outside review of the video by Federal experts.
He allowed Kocis to accept a deal of one year probation, with no jail time and a refusal to require that Kocis register as a sex offender.

Perverted Justice if you ask me!

Luzerne County Judge in business with ex-con?

By
BY DAVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER

Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Updated: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:00 AM EDT

WILKES-BARRE — Fourteen years ago, Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan said allegations that he helped connect a Florida cocaine dealer with a Hazleton buyer were “bogus” stories told by “common criminals” hoping to curry favor with federal prosecutors.

Four years ago, the convicted cocaine dealer and Judge Conahan’s wife, Barbara, formed a Pompano Beach used-car business, according to an official with the company who said Monday that he met with Judge Conahan, the judge’s wife and the former dealer in Florida to discuss setting up the business in 2004.

Barbara Conahan was president of the used-car business, RAB Auto Sales Inc., according to Florida corporate documents. The former drug dealer, Ronald Belletiere, operated RAB, according to the company’s former secretary/treasurer. Florida documents indicate the company has been inactive since September 2007.

Former RAB secretary/treasurer Charles Rebhan said in a phone interview Monday that Mr. Belletiere approached him in 2004 to help set up a business that would buy used cars at auctions for resale.

Mr. Rebhan, who spent more than four decades in car sales, had previously worked with Mr. Belletiere at a Florida dealership. In spring or summer 2004, Mr. Belletiere set up a lunch meeting with Judge Conahan, his wife and Mr. Rebhan in Florida, where they discussed how the business would be set up and operated, Mr. Rebhan said.

Judge Conahan, whose financial dealings are being examined by federal agents conducting a probe of the county court, and his wife did not return phone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Judge Conahan’s name surfaced during Mr. Belletiere’s 1991 federal trial in the “Empire” drug case involving cocaine trafficking in Hazleton in the 1980s, when Judge Conahan was a magisterial district judge in the city.

Government witness Neal DeAngelo testified Judge Conahan called him in 1986 and said he had heard Mr. DeAngelo’s brother, Paul, had been buying cocaine from a dealer who was under investigation. Judge Conahan offered to put the DeAngelos in contact with a Florida dealer, Mr. DeAngelo testified.

Mr. Belletiere, who is a former Hazleton resident, subsequently called Mr. DeAngelo at Judge Conahan’s request, according to testimony, and the DeAngelo brothers and another man traveled to Miami to buy $26,500 worth of cocaine from Mr. Belletiere.

Judge Conahan was on the prosecution’s list of witnesses for the Belletiere trial but was not called to testify. The federal prosecutor in the case, during a “sidebar” conversation with the judge out of the jury’s earshot, called Judge Conahan an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case, according to a transcript.

In August 1994, Judge Conahan held a press conference to deny he had referred Mr. Belletiere to the DeAngelos, but he acknowledged knowing all three men, having represented their families in legal matters.

In a 2003 interview, Judge Conahan said he was exonerated by the Judicial Conduct Board, which has never commented publicly on the case. The board’s chief counsel, Joseph Massa Jr., said the board does not comment on investigations that do not lead to public charges.

Paul DeAngelo and Mr. Belletiere received reduced prison sentences in the “Empire” case upon the recommendation of federal prosecutors. Both were released in 1995. Neal DeAngelo was never charged.

The DeAngelo brothers, who operate DBi Services, which provides commercial services, including vegetation and road management, to government and business clients nationwide from its headquarters in Hazleton, did not respond to an interview request Tuesday.

Mr. Belletiere, 53, who lives in south Florida, did not respond to an interview request made through his daughter, Briana. She acknowledged her father had operated RAB Auto Sales Inc., but believed the company is no longer active.

Judge Conahan listed RAB Auto Sales on his annual financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Judge Conahan, who was president judge from 2002 through 2006, announced his retirement last year at age 56 although he had six years left on his second 10-year term. He is now a senior judge primarily overseeing the county’s Drug Treatment Court.

source The Scranton Times Tribune

Conahan, wife connected to former drug dealer

This is a reference article about Judge Michael T.Conahan a repost from the Times Leader.

Times Leader
BY DAVE JANOSKI
PROJECTS EDITOR
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 1:49 PM EDT

Fourteen years ago, Luzerne County Judge Michael T. Conahan said allegations that he helped connect a Florida cocaine dealer with a Hazleton buyer were “bogus” stories told by “common criminals” hoping to curry favor with federal prosecutors.

Four years ago, the convicted cocaine dealer and Conahan’s wife, Barbara, formed a Pompano Beach used-car business, according to an official with the company who said Monday that he met with Conahan, Conahan’s wife and the former dealer in Florida to discuss setting up the business in 2004.

Barbara Conahan was president of the used-car business, RAB Auto Sales Inc., according to Florida corporate documents. The former drug dealer, Ronald Belletiere, operated RAB, according to the company’s former secretary/treasurer. Florida documents indicate the company has been inactive since September 2007.

Michael Conahan, whose financial dealings are being examined by federal agents conducting a probe of the county court, and his wife did not return phone messages seeking comment Tuesday.

Conahan’s name surfaced during Belletiere’s 1991 federal trial in the “Empire” drug case involving cocaine trafficking in Hazleton in the 1980s, when Conahan was a magisterial district judge in the city.

Government witness Neal DeAngelo testified Conahan called him in 1986 and said he had heard DeAngelo’s brother, Paul, had been buying cocaine from a dealer who was under investigation. Conahan offered to put the DeAngelos in contact with a Florida dealer, Neal DeAngelo testified.

Belletiere, who is a former Hazleton resident, subsequently called Neal DeAngelo at Conahan’s request, according to testimony, and the DeAngelo brothers and another man traveled to Miami to buy $26,500 worth of cocaine from Belletiere.

Conahan was on the prosecution’s list of witnesses for the Belletiere trial but was not called to testify. The federal prosecutor in the case, during a “sidebar” conversation with the judge out of the jury’s earshot, called Conahan an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case, according to a transcript.

The two DeAngelo brothers and Belletiere later gave information about an unnamed “public official” to the state Judicial Conduct Board, attorneys in the case said in 1994, just months after Conahan’s election to the Luzerne County bench.

In August 1994, Conahan held a press conference to deny he had referred Belletiere to the DeAngelos, but he acknowledged knowing all three men, having represented their families in legal matters.

In a 2003 interview, Conahan said he was exonerated by the Judicial Conduct Board, which has never commented publicly on the case. The board’s chief counsel, Joseph Massa Jr., said the board does not comment on investigations that do not lead to public charges.

Paul DeAngelo and Belletiere received reduced prison sentences in the “Empire” case upon the recommendation of federal prosecutors. Both were released in 1995. Neal DeAngelo was never charged.

The DeAngelo brothers, who operate DBi Services, which provides commercial services, including vegetation and road management, to government and business clients nationwide from its headquarters in Hazleton, did not respond to an interview request Tuesday.

Belletiere, 53, who lives in south Florida, did not respond to an interview request made through his daughter, Briana. Briana Belletiere acknowledged her father had operated RAB Auto Sales Inc., but said she believed the company is no longer active. The company’s phone number is no longer in service.

Former RAB secretary/treasurer Charles Rebhan said in a phone interview Monday that Belletiere approached him in 2004 to help set up a business that would buy used cars at auctions for resale.

Rebhan, who spent more than four decades in car sales, had previously worked with Belletiere at a Florida dealership. In spring or summer 2004, Belletiere set up a lunch meeting with Conahan, Conahan’s wife and Rebhan in Florida, where they discussed how the business would be set up and operated, Rebhan said. He said it was the only time he met the Conahans.

Rebhan said he developed heart trouble in 2005 and was never able to return to work, although the company continued to pay him until he retired in 2006.

Rebhan said he didn’t know if Belletiere had a financial stake in the company. Belletiere’s name does not appear on any of the public documents filed by RAB Auto Sales.

Conahan listed RAB Auto Sales on his annual financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court for 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The forms indicated his wife either earned income from the company, was an officer of the company or had a financial interest in it.

Conahan, who was president judge from 2002 through 2006, announced his retirement last year at age 56 although he had six years left on his second 10-year term. He is now a senior judge primarily overseeing the county’s Drug Treatment Court.

djanoski@citizensvoice.com,

FBI, IRS investigating Luzerne County judges, attorney

Originally posted to the Times Tribune Scranton PA

BY DAVE JANOSKI
STAFF WRITER
Published: Friday, June 06, 2008
Updated: Friday, June 6, 2008 1:00 AM EDT
WILKES-BARRE — The FBI and IRS are investigating possible financial ties between two Luzerne County judges and a local attorney whose firm has made millions leasing a juvenile detention center to the county, according to two courthouse sources who say they’ve been interviewed by the federal agents.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said the agents asked about the relationship between President Judge Mark A. Ciavarella Jr., Senior Judge Michael T. Conahan and Robert J. Powell, part-owner of the Luzerne County Juvenile Center in Pittston Township.

The two sources said they have been interviewed within the past several months.

Judge Conahan and Judge Ciavarella played key roles in closing a county-owned juvenile facility in 2002, arguing it was decrepit and unsafe. Neither judge returned phone messages Thursday. Mr. Powell did not respond to requests for comment made by e-mail, phone and through a spokesman.

Mr. Powell’s company, Pennsylvania Child Care LLC, has a 20-year, $58 million lease agreement with the county that has been criticized as too expensive by state officials. Faced with a threatened cut in state subsidies for juvenile detention that would cost $2 million per year, the county commissioners are trying to negotiate an end to the lease.

Last week, The Citizens’ Voice revealed financial ties between the two judges and W-Cat Inc., a townhouse development firm owned by Mr. Powell’s law partner, Jill A. Moran, who is the county prothonotary. The judges reported their interest on annual financial disclosure forms filed with the state Supreme Court.

Mr. Powell owned half of W-Cat in June 2004, according to documents filed with Wright Township and Luzerne County planning commissions. He transferred his interest in the firm to Ms. Moran for no compensation later that year, his spokesman said.

Ms. Moran did not respond to requests for comment Thursday.

Judge Ciavarella said last week that he was guarantor for some of W-Cat’s $4.5 million debt and could benefit financially if the firm is successful in developing the Sanctuary, an 86-townhouse project in Wright Township. The firm has three mortgages from First National Community Bank, where Judge Conahan is a director.

Mr. Powell’s investment in Pennsylvania Child Care is through a company called Vision Holdings LLC. Mortgage documents filed in connection with the Pittston Township facility in 2002 identified Vision Holdings as a company registered in the Cayman Islands. It was later registered in Pennsylvania in 2003.

The other investor in Pennsylvania Child Care is Consulting Innovations and Services Inc., a corporation owned by Gregory Zappala, a western Pennsylvania investment banker and son of a former Pennsylvania chief justice. Mr. Powell and Mr. Zappala are also investors in Western PA Child Care, which owns a juvenile detention center in Butler County and Gladstone Partners LP, a company proposing a cargo airport to be built south of Hazleton.

Reached by phone Thursday, Mr. Zappala said he knew nothing of an investigation and said the judges have no interest in Pennsylvania Child Care. He declined further comment.

Contact the writer: djanoski@citizensvoice.com

We Have a Nominee

At least according to Matt Drudge on the right and Tim Russert & George Stephanopoulos on the left. Former Clinton Communication director Stephanopoulos calling for Hilliary to step aside must have stung.

The political reality is Sen Clinton needed a knock out win in both Indiana and North Carolina, she did not get one. She lost N.C. by a landslide and eked out a 1.5 point victory in Indiana. She will finish the night farther behind Obama in the delegate count. As Russert said above "it aint going to happen"

Late word tonight Hilliary and Bill have once again reached into their personal fortune to pay overdue campaign bills and more important...

All media appearances have been canceled for the rest of the week.



Sometimes a Perfect Storm arises and you find it impossible to prepare for, truly a sad end for the "presumptive nominee" You have to give Sen.Clinton credit she ran a great campaign unfortunately the candidate was not that popular.

And she had the bad luck to be running against a "media superstar".

What about Indiana where Clinton won a squeaker, do you know how she won?

Votes form Rush DITTO heads the drones who do what ever Limbaugh orders,,

Limbaugh has been urging right-wingers to vote against Obama

1. There really has never been any question that Senator Clinton would win Indiana, where she has the support of Senator Evan Bayh’s political operation and the demographics heavily favor her. But we saw today that perhaps her strongest asset was that Republicans believe she’ll be an easier opponent to beat in November.

2. Right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh has been urging his listeners to cross over and vote in the Democratic primary in Indiana to help Clinton’s chances at becoming the nominee.

3. Reports from Indiana polling places confirmed that record numbers of Republicans were taking Democratic ballots to vote against Obama. And Limbaugh himself bragged about the success of his effort on his radio show today.

Republicans are desperate to face Clinton, because they know Obama will be harder to beat

4. Let’s be very clear: the Republicans want to face Senator Clinton in November, because they know that Senator Obama will be a stronger nominee for the Democrats, and will help Democratic candidates down the ballot. Republicans are so scared of Obama that they’re actually skipping their own primary to vote against him.

5. That’s a stunning testament to the threat that Obama will pose to Republicans come fall.

6. If I were the Clinton campaign, I don’t think I’d be celebrating too hard tonight. Winning a state on the strength of voters who want to see you defeated isn’t exactly the kind of win you want—or the message you want to send to superdelegates.

7. This afternoon, top Clinton advisor Harolk Ickes said that if Barack Obama were the nominee, there might be a so-called “October surprise” that would hand the election the Republicans. Using this kind of fear tactic is simply beyond the pale—and a total distortion.

8. To suggest that Clinton would somehow offer less risk of an October surprise—at the same time as Republicans are actively working to see her nominated—is certainly curious.

Not the tactics Democrats want to see for sure but...

9. leaving that aside, this simply isn’t the kind of tactic that Democratic voters and superdelegates want to say. As President Bill Clinton himself said a couple of years ago, “if one candidate's appealing to your fears and the other one's appealing to your hopes, you better vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.”

Right Bill which is why Barack Obama will be the nightmare candidate for Republicans this fall. (DH)

UPDATE: from the America Blog

BREAKING: Wesley Clark reportedly called Hillary tonight, urging her to drop out
by · 5/07/2008 02:13:00 AM ET · Link

We've just been told that General Wesley Clark, a strong Clinton supporter and fellow Arkansan, called Hillary tonight to tell her it's over.

In addition to our source, the king of the pundits, Mark Halperin, drops a tantalizing hint that something might be up with Clark:

"The biggest question: Will any of her supporters (including Wes Clark) say publicly or privately she should quit?"

We like General Clark here at AMERICAblog, and have a bit of a history with him. So we hope what we're hearing is true. But the general better watch it - this could be his most dangerous mission to date. When you take on the Clintons, the sniper fire is real.

My observation Gen Clark want to be Obamas V.P. good counter punch to McCain get a respected General on Obamas ticket.

Obama The Undisputed Frontrunner

The battle for the Potomac States is over and Barack Obama swept the field, winning Maryland,the District of Columbia and Virginia. With his wins over the weekend Obama has an 8 state winning streak. In one week since he tied on Super Tuesday he has become the Tsunami of 2008 sweeping against and over the immovable object that is Hilary Clinton!

The poll results in Virginia and Maryland must we deeply worrying to Clinton, Obama in Maryland carried the White Male,Black,Latino,Catholic and Women's vote! In Virginia a state that a week ago was considered favorable to Clinton, Obama won with a 2 to 1 landslide.

Hillary Clinton seems stunned she shed another campaign staffer even as the departure of Manager Solis on Sunday damaged her standing with Latino voters in Virginia and Maryland. Senator Clinton has declared Texas and Ohio with nearly 444 delegates on March 4th a Firewall she must stop Obama there! She said it folks!

In her CBS interview Saturday night Hillary seemed to rule out a VP slot to Obama, saying she can live with defeat and a return to New York state.
What a letdown I am sure from just 7 days ago.

I guess it aint over till the former First Lady sings,,,
But Obama is warming up that New Orleans Jazz band to play,,,
The New Second Line!


Democrats

Barack Obama
22 states, 1,223 delegates

Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia, Washington state

Hillary Clinton
12 states, 1,198 delegatesArizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee

2,025 delegates needed for nomination. Source AP (includes all kinds of delegates)

On the Republican side John McCain continues to win states while many Conservatives continue to vote for Huckabee, but he has almost no numerical chance of catching McCain. Huckabee will stay in the race long enough to ensure a vice-presidential slot.

Republicans

Mike Huckabee
8 states, 241 delegates

Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Iowa, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kansas, Louisiana

John McCain
16 states, 821 delegates

Arizona, California, Connecticut, DC, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington state

Mitt Romney
11 states, 288 delegates

Campaign suspended
Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah
1,191 delegates needed for nomination. Source: AP (includes all kinds of delegates)

This video was posted a while ago but it sums up the "friction" that would later erupt in South Carolina between the Clinton and Obama camps. A Hilarious video argument between 2 "partisans" One a young white female and a young black man. Enjoy and watch to the end!

written by: Ben Donovan & Lisa Donovan
Jordan Peele as the Obama supporter
Lisa as Hillary supporter



UPDATE;Just added Hillary and Obama 2, it is a riot!



Hands down the Best political ad so far this year! The Ad illustrates if Obama can play up Clintons divisive personality what will the Republicans make of her in a general election?

Hillary Is losing the race and The Obama Factor

UPDATE; Sunday Feb 10,2008.
Obama adds Maine to his Saturday wins in Washington, Louisiana and Nebraska, Clinton campaign manager out!
Story at the bottom of this post.

I said I would follow up on Super Tuesday with a post on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, here it is and I am making a prediction right now,,I think Hillary has lost this race for the Presidency.

It has taken a few days from Super Tuesday to make sense of just what Barack Obama has accomplished. After nearly a year of spirited battle in the biggest contest so far, 24 states voting nearly 10 and a half million Democratic votes cast and Hillary Clinton managed a tie!

That is a crushing defeat, she should have been able to seal her triumph Tuesday, instead the young upstart from Chicago matched Clinton nearly vote for vote (less than a 100,000 votes difference) and Obama in the end beat her in the Delegate count by 796 to 794. Sen. Obama won the popular vote in 13 states Tuesday, while Clinton won in eight states and American Samoa. In the overall race for the nomination, Clinton has 1,055 delegates, including separately chosen party and elected officials known as super delegates. Obama has 998. More about the super delegates in a moment, they are going to decide this race.

No mistake folks this is a defeat for Clinton by Wednesday Hillary had to loan her campaign 5 million( and her staff is unpaid) while Obama raised 7.1 million on Tuesday in addition to 30 million in January!

Bill Clinton's polarizing presence in South Carolina (a state she was fated to lose) caused untold damage to the Clinton's reputation among Black voters.
Her attitude has not helped either, she has practically called Blacks disloyal for supporting the first serious black Presidential challenger! Implying after all we have done for you people you Owe me!

How sickeningly condescending can you be!

Black voters are not buying it and neither are the under age 40 voters of all races flocking to the Obama campaign.

Hilliary is even losing the white male vote while retaining women of her generation. More important even some of her Tuesday victory's are suspect. She won in California based on absentee votes (they started sending in ballots Jan 6) but at the polls in California on election day she lost, indicating a late surge for Obama.

Bill Clinton has been muzzled and now sounds apologetic about South Carolina and one thing we know about Bill is he NEVER apologizes! The dust up by the Hillary camp over David Shuster at MSNBC and his comments about Chelsea Clinton (out of line but the Clintons have been too protective the "girl" is now 27) show a campaign staff on the razors edge, grasping at straws, anything that might deflect the press from the real story from the Clinton Camp.
And what is that story?

Fear

Fear that she will lose this race.

Once inevitability flows to a candidate a wave builds, Obama has stalemated Clinton and the next two states are swinging rapidly in Barack Obamas favor!

Super delegates 20% of delegates to the convention are given to Democratic politicos,Governors,Senators,Congressmen,Legislators Mayors people who have won elected office. Most years they vote for the clear winner or the inevitable canidate. Well into January most were leaning as you would expect Clinton's way. Here is the problem for Hillary since Tuesday they are starting to hedge and they are being courted by Obama's people with the line.

Obama is the inevitable candidate.

Is it working?

Obama and Clinton, are competing for 161 delegates Saturday in Washington state, Louisiana, Nebraska and the Virgin Islands, followed by Maine caucuses with 24 delegates on Sunday.
Obama won the last-minute endorsement Friday of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, the female governor of the state. Both candidates had courted her, Obama speaking with her four times.

"He is leading us toward a positive feeling of hope in our country and I love seeing that happen," she said. Washington's senators, both women, back Clinton.

In strongly Republican and sparsely populated Nebraska, Obama spoke to the huge crowd at an Omaha arena Thursday, exhorting: "You're here because you don't want to just be against something. You want to be for something.

Chris Slaughter, 20, heard the speech and said: "He's a once-in-a-generation candidate."

Obama was the only candidate campaigning in all four states.

Clinton told a spirited rally of 5,000 supporters at a Seattle cruise ship terminal Thursday night that she's "a fighter and a doer and a champion for the American people." She also planned to campaign in Maine.

Clinton and Obama both have an eye on the round that follows - the trio of races Tuesday in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia - and the New York senator in particular was gearing her campaign toward the high stakes primaries in Ohio and Texas on March 4.

Obama is expected to win in Louisiana and Maryland and D.C. and fight Clinton to parity in Washington state. That leaves Ohio and Texas, Hillary may not do well in Texas except among Latinos who don't particularly care for Obama. The Clinton's have high negatives in Texas among white democrats. Ohio like 2000 & 04 will be a battleground, racially polarized it may be again at best a draw for Clinton.

My Conclusion, there is no way the party establishment wants a brokered backroom convention, not in the 21st century! The super delegates will be under extreme pressure to end this race now and award their votes to Senator Obama.

The next few primary's are very critical, pulling even again will surly finish Hillary Clinton's presidential race.

Can she lose gracefully, a women who has been thinking of this run since Bill was in the White House?

That is the question the always perceptive Peggy Noonan (former Reagan speech writer)
asks. If you are a Clinton supporter you won't like the answer.

I firmly believe Senator Barack Obama will be the Democratic candidate for President.

And the Next President of the United States.

It is Inevitable!

Would Hilliary accept a Vice Presidential slot?
Hillary swallow her pride and accept second place? Obama would likely accept her so it will be her call.
If not John Edwards will be the likely V.P.

DeWayne H

Can Mrs. Clinton Lose?
By PEGGY NOONAN
February 8, 2008;

If Hillary Clinton loses, does she know how to lose? What will that be, if she loses? Will she just say, "I concede" and go on vacation at a friend's house on an island, and then go back to the Senate and wait?

Is it possible she could be so normal? Politicians lose battles, it's part of what they do, win and lose. But she does not know how to lose. Can she lose with grace? But she does grace the way George W. Bush does nuance.

She often talks about how tough she is. She has fought "the Republican attack machine" that has tried to "stop" her, "end" her, and she knows "how to fight them." She is preoccupied to an unusual degree with toughness. A man so preoccupied would seem weak. But a woman obsessed with how tough she is just may be lethal.

Does her sense of toughness mean that every battle in which she engages must be fought tooth and claw, door to door? Can she recognize the line between burly combat and destructive, never-say-die warfare? I wonder if she is thinking: What will it mean if I win ugly? What if I lose ugly? What will be the implications for my future, the party's future? What will black America, having seen what we did in South Carolina, think forever of me and the party if I do low things to stop this guy on the way to victory? Can I stop, see the lay of the land, imitate grace, withdraw, wait, come back with a roar down the road? Life is long. I am not old.
Or is that a reverie she could never have? What does it mean if she could never have it?

We know she is smart. Is she wise? If it comes to it, down the road, can she give a nice speech, thank her supporters, wish Barack Obama well, and vow to campaign for him?

It either gets very ugly now, or we will see unanticipated--and I suspect professionally saving--grace.

I ruminate in this way because something is happening. Mrs. Clinton is losing this thing. It's not one big primary, it's a rolling loss, a daily one, an inch-by-inch deflation. The trends and indices are not in her favor. She is having trouble raising big money, she's funding her campaign with her own wealth, her moral standing within her own party and among her own followers has been dragged down, and the legacy of Clintonism tarnished by what Bill Clinton did in South Carolina. Unfavorable primaries lie ahead. She doesn't have the excitement, the great whoosh of feeling that accompanies a winning campaign. The guy from Chicago who was unknown a year ago continues to gain purchase, to move forward. For a soft little innocent, he's played a tough and knowing inside/outside game.

The day she admitted she'd written herself a check for $5 million, Obama's people crowed they'd just raised $3 million. But then his staff is happy. They're all getting paid.

Political professionals are leery of saying, publicly, that she is losing, because they said it before New Hampshire and turned out to be wrong. Some of them signaled their personal weariness with Clintonism at that time, and fear now, as they report, to look as if they are carrying an agenda. One part of the Clinton mystique maintains: Deep down journalists think she's a political Rasputin who will not be dispatched. Prince Yusupov served him cupcakes laced with cyanide, emptied a revolver, clubbed him, tied him up and threw him in a frozen river. When he floated to the surface they found he'd tried to claw his way from under the ice. That is how reporters see Hillary.

And that is a grim and over-the-top analogy, which I must withdraw. What I really mean is they see her as the Glenn Close character in "Fatal Attraction": "I won't be ignored, Dan!"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Obama's achievement on Super Tuesday was solid and reinforced trend lines. The popular vote was a draw, the delegate count a rough draw, but he won 13 states, and when you look at the map he captured the middle of the country from Illinois straight across to Idaho, with a second band, in the northern Midwest, of Minnesota and North Dakota. He won Missouri and Connecticut, in Mrs. Clinton's backyard. He won the Democrats of the red states.

On the wires Wednesday her staff was all but conceding she is not going to win the next primaries. Her superdelegates are coming under pressure that is about to become unrelenting. It was easy for party hacks to cleave to Mrs Clinton when she was inevitable. Now Mr. Obama's people are reportedly calling them saying, Your state voted for me and so did your congressional district. Are you going to jeopardize your career and buck the wishes of the people back home?

Mrs. Clinton is stoking the idea that Mr. Obama is too soft to withstand the dread Republican attack machine. (I nod in tribute to all Democrats who have succeeded in removing the phrase "Republican and Democratic attack machines" from the political lexicon. Both parties have them.)

But Mr. Obama will not be easy for Republicans to attack. He will be hard to get at, hard to address. There are many reasons, but a primary one is that the fact of his race will freeze them. No one, no candidate, no party, no heavy-breathing consultant, will want to cross any line--lines that have never been drawn, that are sure to be shifting and not always visible--in approaching the first major-party African-American nominee for president of the United States.

He is the brilliant young black man as American dream. No consultant, no matter how opportunistic and hungry, will think it easy--or professionally desirable--to take him down in a low manner. If anything, they've learned from the Clintons in South Carolina what that gets you. (I add that yes, there are always freelance mental cases, who exist on both sides and are empowered by modern technology. They'll make their YouTubes. But the mad are ever with us, and this year their work will likely stay subterranean.)

With Mr. Obama the campaign will be about issues. "He'll raise your taxes." He will, and I suspect Americans may vote for him anyway. But the race won't go low.

Mrs. Clinton would be easier for Republicans. With her cavalcade of scandals, they'd be delighted to go at her. They'd get medals for it. Consultants would get rich on it.

The Democrats have it exactly wrong. Hillary is the easier candidate, Mr. Obama the tougher. Hillary brings negative; it's fair to hit her back with negative. Mr. Obama brings hope, and speaks of a better way. He's not Bambi, he's bulletproof.

The biggest problem for the Republicans will be that no matter what they say that is not issue oriented--"He's too young, he's never run anything, he's not fully baked"--the mainstream media will tag them as dealing in racial overtones, or undertones. You can bet on this. Go to the bank on it.

The Democrats continue not to recognize what they have in this guy. Believe me, Republican professionals know. They can tell.

DeWayne here above I was talking about Fear and Inevitability, look below and tell me what you think. The Republicans have a lot to worry about this November and Karl Roves dirty tricks bag will prove useless against Obama. McCain can beat Hillary Clinton but he cannot win against Barack Obama!

We have met the next Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy and he is Black and a Democrat!

The New Kennedy

The Noble Patriot

After Losing New Hampshire(he had won Iowa) Barack Obama gave a concession speech.
Only this was not a "concession" but a call to arms! A Masterful performance and any Republican that says this is all flash and no substance, nothing to worry about, well the voters will not care anymore than the last time we had such a stark choice!



Remember the last time Flash,Youth and Inexperience won out over the Establishment guy? 1960 48 years ago.



Update; Sunday February 10

Maine caps Obama Weekend Sweep
Obama Takes Delegate Lead With Wins In 4 States; Clinton Manager Steps Down

(AP/CBS) Illinois senator Barack Obama finished a series of weekend primary and caucus contests undefeated as he bested Hillary Clinton in Maine today, according to CBS News estimates.

Obama’s victory in the Maine caucuses follow on the heels of his Saturday sweep in which he won Louisiana’s primary contest as well as caucuses in the states of Washington and Nebraska.

His winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing. In Maine, he led 59 percent to 41 percent with 87 percent of the precints reporting. In Louisiana, Obama defeated Clinton, 57 percent to 36 percent. He won in Nebraska by a 68 percent to 32 percent margin and in Washington 68 percent to 31 percent.

Obama's victory in Maine -- and the ease with which it came -- actually exceeded expectations, even though he swept the caucuses held on Super Tuesday. Clinton had the backing of the state's governor, John Baldacci, and its proximity to New Hamsphire and Massachusetts, both of which Clinton has already won this year, led some analysts to expect a close race.

Even Obama's own campaign said they didn't expect to win Maine, according to a document the campaign said was accidentally leaked earlier in the week.

In the delegate chase, Obama has pulled ahead of Clinton, even when the support of uncommitted super delegates is figured in. According to CBS News estimates, Obama holds a razor-thin lead with 1,134 delegates overall to 1,131 for Clinton.

The results in Maine came in the wake of a shake-up on the Clinton campaign. Sunday afternoon, Clinton campaign manager Patti Patti Solis announced she was stepping down from that post. She will be replaced by senior advisor and longtime Clinton confidant Maggie Williams.

Campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee said Solis Doyle was "not asked to step down," reports CBS News' Fernando Suarez. Elleithee said the change in leadership was not due to this weekend's losses.