Rare Video: Barack Obama Circa 1995

Curious to see what Barack Obama was like before he got into politics?

via: http://www.oldmanmccain.com/...

Obama's VP Pick: Kathleen Sebelius; McCain's VP Pick: Mark Sanford. These people are not only on the short list of VP picks, but both were published Bilderberg attendees in 2008. Both also have unusual domain name registrations, and Kathleen Sebelius's name was leaked by a marketing company.

I read the official Bilderberg 2008 report put out by Jim Tucker and American Free Press, which provides analysis of leaked information and published information on the Bilberberg meetings.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/...

Never saw anything like this. I went to Real Clear Politics tonight, and here's the top three headlines they're featuring, all in a row:

Obama: In Need of a Game Changer - David Gergen, CNN
Conventions Need a Believable Script - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal
Obama Needs a Narrative - Steven Stark, Boston Phoenix

All of the sudden, everybody and his little dog is telling Obama what he needs, including Karl Rove.

Well, thank you all for your concern. But I already know what Obama needs, I already said so in a diary earlier this week--and thank God some people at the Obama campaign woke up and now agree. Look at this:
(continued)

I'm starting this diary with the assumption that magical ponies are not going to gallop out of Denver to rescue the Obama campaign.
Agreed, the Democratic party itself will be energized by the convention.  But the media coverage of Denver will invariably disappoint.
And the Vice-President choices are so controversial that the pick, when it is finally made, will generate bad press as well as good.
And then it will be September ...and no ponies to be found anywhere.
I know, I know, I can hear it already --"oh, don't worry! Mere bloggers don't understand it but of course Obama's campaign knows what they're doing!"  
But while his staff apparently are wonderful people, disciplined, loyal, knowledgeable, etc. etc, its becoming pretty clear they're in over their heads.  They've been distracted by style ("Look, Ma, no 527s!") and technique ("we have offices in 50 states!") and they've lost focus on substance.
It's time to stop with the wishful thinking.
(more after the jump)

Obama will not announce a VP in the morning.  Why?  Because his supporters in Hawaii will be sleeping.  Since Hawaii is six hours behind New York, the earliest Obama can announce on Thursday or Friday is 2:00 p.m. EST.  This would make it 8:00 a.m. in Hawaii, which is still bright and early for many.

I expect Obama to announce between the times of 2pm - 9pm EST.

You know I try and remain optimistic.
Everyone says not to speak ill of the Clintons for purposes of unity. Well I cant hold my tonuge any longer. HRC doesnt really want to unify.

You know its one thing to claim unity to a group of Obama supporters...but what is she doing to bring her supporters over?

Heres the latest:

Kevin Drum has the breaking news from the Wall Street Journal:

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators reached agreement on a security deal that calls for American military forces to leave Iraq's cities by next summer as a prelude to a full withdrawal from the country, according to senior American officials.

The draft agreement sets 2011 as the date by which all remaining U.S. troops will leave Iraq, according to Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Humood and other people familiar with the matter.

...."The talking is done," one U.S. official said late Wednesday night. "Now the decision makers choose whether to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down."

....U.S. President George W. Bush is almost certain to accept the agreement, according to U.S. officials. The administration believes that the deal doesn't require congressional approval and won't present it to U.S. lawmakers.

Has Dana Milbank been fired from the WaPo?

The last time Milbank appears on their website is 8/7/08, where he pointedly refused to apologize for the Obama quote:

My colleague Jonathan Weisman and I believe the quote was correct as written, and that this supposed "context" is a recreation, after-the-fact, by Democratic aides who were worried about how the quote looked. Perhaps Obama didn't mean for it to come out that way, but there's every reason to believe it did. The Post's ombudsman will be writing about it this weekend, I think, so we'll see what she has to say.

Here is why I am posting this journal, my father, who's to the left of even Ted Kennedy on most issues, gave a generous contribution to John McCain after seeing a CNN special on John McCain's term as a prisoner of war, how he reenlisted even after being shot down, on how he was tortured, and how he refused to be released early because of his father's status inspite of the torture.

The man IS a patriot. And liberals respect them more than conservatives. ANY attempt to smear John McCain about his time as a prisoner of war WILL backfire in a big way. Don't even think about going that route. The man deserves to be respected for his service.

The strategy to win must be based on what a John McCain presidency would look like. Highlight the policies that John McCain openly supports, the ones he openly opposes, and make the campaign about that.

There's a lot of people saying that Obama should go full force personally negative on John McCain, attacking the man's character.

That's a risky, and almost foolhardy path to take.

There is nothing you can say to dimune McCain's character after his refusal to be released from prison early.

First of all, let me say that my best wishes are with Congresswoman's Jones's family.  She was a true Democrat and her leadership will be missed.

Before I get into VP talk, I must say I am disgusted by the lack of class on dailykos.  I thought higher of the people here, and I suppose it is fair to say any victories Democrats achieve is in spite of and not because of your so called support.  Aside from the admin and the rare member, this site is made up of juvenile amateurs.  Sad, truly.

As far as VP news goes I was 100 percent wrong, Evan Bayh was not rolled out today, but he is still the favorite, and I am not the only one to say so.  The page run by Time Magazine also reports similar conventional wisdom.  

Sorry everyone - all signs point to a Clinton announcement on Saturday in Illinois.  Everyone else is writing VP diaries, so I had to write mine.  Today Obama was heard saying "he" when referring to his vice president.  Howard Fineman said if he had to bet his life on it, "it's Joe Biden."  But who else would you need to wait to announce until the last minute like this?  Who else could dominate a week of coverage and overshadow anybody that McCain picks?  Who else has already been given two nights of the convention?  I'm sorry, but I smell unity at the convention...

No not THAT Gore, silly.

Lesley Gore, of the sixties "girl group" era.

Barack Obama is a neighborhood organizer at heart. He knows the importance of getting boots on the ground and talking to people. He wants volunteers to contact every voter in America and personally deliver his message of hope and change. dday wrote a diary about how Obama’s strategy is not about top down messaging through national ads. He is not trying to change minds en masse but one voter at a time, one contact at a time. Obama is counting on winning through registering new voters and getting them to the polls. Now we have to ask the question, "Will these new voters show up to vote for Obama?"

Fuck the polls.

That’s my new slogan.

Warning: This is a rant. More Strong language below the fold

I waited till midnight to push the button to publish this.  I'm up past my bedtime - and I'm still angry enough to take the plunge.  I'll go back to writing saner diaries another day, or maybe writing no diaries at all, but I would be dishonest if I just sat on my hands and didn't share how I'm feelin' right about now.  So here it goes.

Rumblings are that Team Obama is heading to Indiana.  Let’s hope Barack isn’t so stupid as to pick Evan Bayh.

This "fortunate son" has been living on his old man Birch Bayh’s name and reputation since he climbed into daddy’s Senate seat.  And in those ten years, his accomplishments?

Nothing.

Pollster is not only a fine site for poll data, but also has top-notch people writing about polls and poll methodology.

As to today's Zogby poll, which has McCain +5 and which has generated a certain amount of Chicken Littleism, Moore at Pollster says it's a very strange poll.

All pollsters, it seems, eventually find themselves with what Andy Kohut once referred to as "loopy" results.

This time, it's Zogby's turn to confuse the masses. His latest Reuters/Zogby poll, based on a sample of 1,089 "likely voters" drawn from listed telephone numbers, conducted Aug. 14-16, 2008, shows McCain over Obama by 46% to 41%.

What makes the poll especially strange, even after taking into consideration that it has screened out whoever they consider to be unlikely to vote, is that it only includes people with listed telephone numbers.

I think this kinda goes into the stranger than fiction files:

In an unusual move, Hillary Clinton's staff is creating a 40-member "whip team" at the Denver Democratic convention to ensure that her supporters don't engage in embarrassing anti-Obama demonstrations during the floor vote on her nomination, according to people familiar with the planning.

Politico

This is significant, and certainly underscores why more Americans are turning toward pro-choice values as they see just how far outside the mainstream social conservatives really are.

Originally written by Scott Swenson at RH Reality Check - News, Commentary and Information on Reproductive Health.