The Kumbaya Candidate continues to rack up Delegates. YES WE CAN!!!!!!
Illinois Senator sweeps Democratic Contests
WASHINGTON - Sen. Barack Obama swept the Louisiana primary and caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state Saturday, boosting his slim delegate lead over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in their historic race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The Illinois senator also won caucuses in the Virgin Islands, completing his best night of the campaign.
"Today, voters from the West Coast to the Gulf Coast to the heart of America stood up to say 'yes we can'" Obama told a cheering audience of Democrats at a party dinner in Richmond, Va He jabbed simultaneously at Clinton and Arizona Sen. John McCain, saying the election was a choice between debating the Republican nominee-in-waiting "about who has the most experience in Washington, or debating him about who's most likely to change Washington. Because that's a debate we can win."
Clinton preceded Obama to the podium. She did not refer to the night's voting, instead turning against McCain. "We have tried it President Bush's way," she said, "and now the Republicans have chosen more of the same."
She left quickly after her speech, departing before Obama's arrival. But his supporters made their presence known, sending up chants of "Obama" from the audience as she made her way offstage.
Obama's winning margins ranged from substantial to crushing.
He won roughly two-thirds of the vote in Washington state and Nebraska, and almost 90 percent in the Virgin Islands.
With returns counted from nearly two-thirds of the Louisiana precincts, he was gaining 53 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for the former first lady. As in his earlier Southern triumphs in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, Obama, a black man, rode a wave of African-American support to victory in Louisiana.
In all, the Democrats scrapped for 161 delegates in the night's contests. In initial allocations, Obama had won 31, Clinton nine.
Clinton Turns Tables, Calls Obama the "Establishment" Candidate
From CBS News' Fernando Suarez:
ORONO, MAINE -- For months, Hillary Clinton has battled the image that she is the "status quo" candidate - an image that has been strongly pushed by Barack Obama and former rival John Edwards.
But today, Clinton is trying to turn the tables on Obama saying that he has "increasingly run an establishment race and he has increasingly relied on big endorsements and celebrities to sort of attach himself to to get the kind of validation that comes from that sort of endorsement."
At a news conference at the University of Maine, Clinton added that Obama's positions have shifted with outside pressures.
"And he has increasingly, in my view, really tailored his positions so that they are more establishment-oriented like giving up on universal health care, so I think there is an argument to be made there. If we want a Democrat to be the Democratic standard bearer, who stands for the positive, progressive agenda of the Democratic party as opposed to more of the same or a little less than more of the same, then I think I’m the best candidate to carry that message."
In the past few days Clinton has sharpened her rhetoric toward Obama. Last night at a rally in Spokane, Washington, Clinton likened Obama to President Bush.
"Indeed, it is shocking to consider the uniformity of opinion among blacks in this country. Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5% of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty, and the end of welfare and affirmative action.... Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the "criminal justice system," I think we can safely assume that 95% of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.
If similar in-depth studies were conducted in other major cities, who doubts that similar results would be produced? We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, but it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings, and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers."
Excerpt from 1992 article in the "Ron Paul Political Report"
“Sometimes I suspect that even the Republican leaders who immediately followed Reagan weren’t entirely comfortable with the direction politics had taken. In the mouths of men like George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole, the polarizing rhetoric and the politics of resentment always seemed forced, a way of peeling off voters from the Democratic base and not necessarily a recipe of governing... ...But for a younger generation of conservative operatives who would soon rise to power, for Newt Gingrich and Karl Rove and Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed, the fiery rhetoric was more than a matter of campaign strategy. They were true believers who meant what they said, whether it was “No new taxes” or “We are a Christian nation.” In fact, with their rigid doctrines, slash-and-burn style, and exaggerated sense of having been aggrieved, this new conservative leadership was eerily reminiscent of some of the New Left’s leaders during the sixties. As with their left-wing counterparts, the new vanguard of the right viewed politics as a contest not just between competing policy visions, but between good and evil. Activists in both parties began developing litmus tests, checklists of orthodoxy, leaving a Democrat who questioned abortion increasingly lonely, any Republican who championed gun control effectively marooned. In this Manichean struggle, compromise came to look like weakness, to be punished or purged. You were with us or against us. You had to choose sides.”
It wasn't exactly "The Shawshank Redemption" or even "Prison Break," but authorities said a serious escape attempt at the Stillwater prison was thwarted when a staff member discovered the beginnings of a "well-hidden sophisticated underground tunnel" in the basement of one of the prison's industry buildings.
There are no surveillance cameras in the area where the tunnel was found Wednesday morning, officials said Thursday. Four inmates work in that area under the supervision of one corrections officer. The area is used for inventory and storage of raw materials for other prison industries.
Warden Lynn Dingle said those four inmates are being questioned, but she would not say they were suspects in the escape attempt or identify them or the crimes that put them in prison.
The votes will be counted into the night and into tomorrow, but today we won states and we won delegates in every part of the country.
As of right now, we have won more states and delegates than Senator Clinton. It's a remarkable achievement we can all be proud of.
Tonight, we know one thing for sure -- our time has come, our movement is real, and change is coming to America.
At this moment in history, the stakes are too high and the challenges too great to play the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result.
This time must be different.
There will be those who say it cannot be done. But we know what we have seen and what we believe -- that when ordinary people come together we can still do extraordinary things.
Yes, we can.
Thank you so much,
Barack
About this Song:
The Yes We Can Song by will.i.am
I was sitting in my recording studio watching the debates... Torn between the candidates
I was never really big on politics... and actually I’m still not big on politics... but 4 years ago, me and the black eyed peas supported Kerry... And we supported Kerry with all our might... We performed and performed and performed for the DNC... doing all we could do to get the youth involved...
The outcome of the last 2 elections has saddened me... on how unfair, backwards, upside down, unbalanced, untruthful, corrupt, and just simply, how wrong the world and "politics" are...
So this year i wanted to get involved and do all i could early...
And i found myself torn... because this time it’s not that simple... our choices aren’t as clear as the last elections ... last time it was so obvious... Bush and war vs no Bush and no war...
But this time it’s not that simple... and there are a lot of people that are torn just like i am...
So for awhile I put it off and i was going to wait until it was decided for me...
And then came New Hampshire...
And i was captivated...
Inspired...
I reflected on my life... and the blessings I have... and the people who fought for me to have these rights and blessings...
and I’m not talking about a "black thing" I’m talking about a "human thing" me as a "person" an American...
That speech made me think of Martin Luther King... Kennedy... and Lincoln... and all the others that have fought for what we have today...
what America is "supposed" to be...
freedom... equality... and truth...
and thats not what we have today... we think we are free... but in reality terror and fear controls our decisions...
this is not the America that our pioneers and leaders fought and died for...
and then there was New Hampshire
it was that speech... like many great speeches... that one moved me... because words and ideas are powerful...
It made me think... and realize that today we have "very few" leaders... maybe none...
but that speech...
it inspired me... it inspired me to look inside myself and outwards towards the world... it inspired me to want to change myself to better the world... and take a "leap" towards change... and hope that others become inspired to do the same... change themselves.. change their greed... change their fears... and if we "change that" "then hey".. we got something right...???...
1 week later after the speech settled in me... I began making this song... I came up with the idea to turn his speech into a song... because that speech effected and touched my inner core like nothing in a very long time...
it spoke to me...
because words and ideas are powerful...
I just wanted to add a melody to those words... I wanted the inspiration that was bubbling inside me to take over...
so i let it..
I wasn't afraid to stand for something... to stand for "change"... I wasn't afraid of "fear"... it was pure inspiration...
so I called my friends... and they called their friends... in a matter of 2 days... We made the song and video...
Usually this process would take months... a bunch of record company people figuring out strategies and release dates... interviews... all that stuff... but this time i took it in my own hands... so i called my friends sarah pantera, mike jurkovac, fred goldring, and jesse dylan to help make it happen... and they called their friends.. and we did it together in 48 hours... and instead of putting it in the hands of profit we put it in the hands of inspiration...
then we put it on the net for the world to feel...
When you are truly inspired.. magic happens... incredible things happen... love happens.. (and with that combination)
"love, and inspiration"
change happens...
"change for the better" Inspiration breeds change...
"Positive change"...
no one on this planet is truly experienced to handle the obstacles we face today... Terror, fear, lies, agendas, politics, money, all the above... It’s all scary...
Martin Luther King didn't have experience to lead... Kennedy didn't have experience to lead... Susan B. Anthony... Nelson Mandella... Rosa Parks... Gandhi... Anne Frank... and everyone else who has had a hand in molding the freedoms we have and take for granted today...
no one truly has experience to deal with the world today...
they just need "desire, strength, courage ability, and passion" to change... and to stand for something even when people say it's not possible...
America would not be here "today" if we didn’t stand and fight for change "yesterday"... Everything we have as a "people" is because of the "people" who fought for change... and whoever is the President has to realize we have a lot of changing to do
I'm not trying to convince people to see things how i do... I produced this song to share my new found inspiration and how I've been moved... I hope this song will make you feel... love... and think... and be inspired just like the speech inspired me...
that’s all...
Let's all come together like America is supposed to... Like Japan did after Hiroshima...
that was less than 65 years ago... and look at Japan now...
they did it together... they did it...
"We can't?...
Are you serious..?..
WE CAN!!!
Yes we can... A United "America" Democrats, Republicans and Independents together... Building a new America
Our favorite nut job at ontheborderline.net CARNAC has another one of his "enlightened" post asking the following question about John McCain:
Q: How should the communist John McCain feel about using a picture of Ronald Reagan in his T.V. commercial?
A: He should be ABSOLUTELY ASHAMED OF HIMSELF.
--- Just when you though the OTBL'ers had reached the bottom of their septic system of slander, they find a vein of invective that allows them to go even deeper. Below is my impression of how the right wing idiots see John McCain:
The chickens are coming home to roost in the Republican Party. The coalition of lazy-unfair business men, hyper-selfish libertarians, the Christian Right hatemongers, the one-issue rednecks and the My-Country-Right-Or-Wrong sheeple is coming apart at the seams. The cowboy conservatism of Barry Goldwater that was tarred and feathered in 1964 but eventually escaped its straight jack with Reagan’s ride to victory in 1980 is running its course. The "free market" has been broken and the paternal, East Cost conservatism of George Bush Sr. is going to be working its way back into the mainstream of our political arena.
Look who’s still in the Republican race -- McCain, Huckabee and Romney. Huckabee beat Romney in Iowa because Romney is an Eastern conservative who is to the left of a moderate Iowan liberal. McCain’s a moderate who will win the Republican nomination and will give the Democrats a very hard race. It’s going to be hard for Democrats to hate McCain in 2008 the same way they hated W in 2004. In 2000, the Democrats were once again asleep at the wheel and let the Bush debacle escaped from the straight jacket.
Why do you think Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Glen Beck and the rest of right wing idiocracy are trashing McCain so badly? It will put him into retirement, once common sense conservatism returns. Ditto for those wacko far Lefties. Despite what Hannity, Beck and the rest of the right-stream-media mouths spew, Clinton is more towards the corporate center and Obama is hanging towards the center of the blue-collar voters.
It looks like the wackos on the left and the right end of the political spectrum a driving the common sense majority into the middle. What a breath of fresh air it would be to have moderates and pragmatists back in charge. Who knows, there’s a chance that democracy in the United States might start working again and our nation might regain some respect in the world community.
Below is how Americans with common sense and respect see John McCain:
There'll be war, there'll be peace.But everything one day will cease.All the iron turned to rust;All the proud men turned to dust.And so all things, time will mend.So this song will end.
--Pink Floyd
