April 27, 2008

Obama still pushing back on pins, patriotism, and politics

In my heart of hearts, I don’t really believe there are any Americans who would base their presidential vote on flag pins and the Star Spangled Banner. People can and do back (or oppose) candidates for some pretty superficial reasons, but no one’s that dumb. My hunch is that voters, when it comes to Barack Obama, may decide they don’t like him for other reasons, and then rationalize backwards, coming up with pins and patriotism to justify a more personal animosity.

Nevertheless, thanks to email chains and the national media, Obama keeps hearing about this. At a town-hall meeting in Indiana, a woman told Obama that her mother wasn’t going to vote for him because he didn’t “address the flag.” Obama responded, “This is a phony issue, so let me address it right now.”

On the pledge:

“You know, I’ve been saying the pledge of allegiance since I was what, four? Four years old. I lead, when I’m presiding in the Senate, I lead the pledge of allegiance, as the presiding officer of the Senate, when I open up the Senate, so it’s been on C-SPAN.

On the picture in Iowa during the National Anthem:

“There are two places where this rumor started,” Obama said. “All right? Number one, we were at an event in Iowa and the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ was being sung by a woman and the camera caught me, not, I didn’t have my hand over my heart while I was listening and singing along with her, not out of disrespect, just because I was listening to her song and thought, ‘Boy, I was getting into the song.’ Now, I acknowledge the mistake of not having put my hand over my heart during the singing of the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ although anybody who’s watching — I’m gonna look at all of you at a ball game one time and see if you always get it right, ’cause sometimes, we all, I just want to point that out, so that’s point number one.

On the flag pin:

“And the second thing, the way this has come up is the fact that I don’t always wear a flag pin. Now I don’t know if any of you who don’t have flag pins consider yourselves unpatriotic. I think you’re patriotic…. I was asked about this in Iowa. And somebody said ‘Why don’t you wear a flag pin?’ I said, well, sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. I said, although I will say that sometimes I notice that they’re people who wear flag pins but they don’t always act patriotic. And I was specifically referring to politicians, not individuals who wear flag pins, but politicians who you see wearing flag pins and then vote against funding for veterans, saying we can’t afford it.”

And on his critics:

Obama continued, saying “so I make this comment. suddenly a bunch of these, you know, TV commentators and bloggers (say) ‘Obama is disrespecting people who wear flag pins.’ Well, that’s just not true. Also, another way of saying it is, it’s a lie.”

Obama finished, telling the crowd, “anybody who tells you out there that I disrespect the flag, that I don’t salute the flag, that I don’t say the pledge of allegiance, that I don’t wear flag pins — don’t listen to ‘em. Look at what I do and look at what I say and my commitment to making this a stronger country. And, you know, I get pretty fed up with people questioning my patriotism, especially a bunch of these folks who do who have instituted policies that have made America weaker. I am happy to have that debate with them anyplace, anytime.”

It pains me to think this has actually become part of the political discourse. It points to a system and a process that is so spectacularly detached from reality that it’s amazing anyone would ever want to run for public office in the first place.

We’ve reached a point at which the display of symbols is as important, if not more so, than that the freedoms the symbols represent?

Maybe, or maybe some people are looking for an excuse to oppose Obama’s candidacy, and this nonsense is a cheap and easy way out.

I’d just like to ask these folks who purport to care whether they mind if Hillary Clinton’s or John McCain’s lapels are flagless. Whether they minded that Ronald Reagan, JFK, Eisenhower, and FDR didn’t wear pins. Whether they think George W. Bush was unpatriotic before 9/11, when his lapels were bare. I doubt it.

I doubt Obama would do this, but I can imagine a town-hall meeting in which this comes up and the senator asks everyone in the room wearing a flag lapel pin (probably made in China) to raise their hand. When a small fraction of the crowd does, Obama can ask them, “Do those of you who didn’t raise your hand love the country as much as those who did?”

 
Discussion

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49 Comments
1.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:33 am, Dale said:

And as I understand it, Obama chatted with Chris Wallace on this too. And he didn’t call out Fox. He simply appeared on the show. Despicable? Desperate?

2.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:36 am, Ten Bears said:

Section 8J of the Flag Code: No part of the flag should ever be used as costume.

3.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:39 am, mellowjohn said:

the despicable lee atwater (may he rot in hell) managed to make the flag and the pledge centerpieces in the bush-dukakis race in ‘88. along with the fact that dukakis was “a card-carrying member of the aclu.

some things just never go away.

4.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:42 am, Michael said:

I’d just like to state, not that it needs repeating or anything, but

5.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:43 am, Michael said:

Urgh. Stupid fingers.

What I was trying to say was:

LGF’s Charles Johnson is an idiot.

6.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:55 am, Tom Cleaver said:

In my heart of hearts, I don’t really believe there are any Americans who would base their presidential vote on flag pins and the Star Spangled Banner.

Steve: is your real name Pollyanna???

7.
On April 27th, 2008 at 10:55 am, Micheline said:

The flag pin “issue” is really about race. Blacks have always been viewed as unpatriotic or not real Americans.

8.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:00 am, Tom Cleaver said:

LGF’s Charles Johnson is an idiot.

Just a failed heavy metal musician (of course, that’s just a long winded way of saying “idiot”).

9.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:05 am, hark said:

“My hunch is that voters, when it comes to Barack Obama, may decide they don’t like him for other reasons, and then rationalize backwards, coming up with pins and patriotism to justify a more personal animosity.”

I think as a general rule when people decide upon a candidate, they tend to find fault with everything the opposing candidate does, and to rationalize everything their candidate does. It’s like picking a favorite team in sports. Your team is always right, the refs are always calling plays for the other team, and the other team plays dirty.

But there’s more here than just that. Human beings place a great deal of importance on symbols (note how we pledge allegiance to the flag first, and then to the country for which it stands, almost as an after thought), and also on ceremony and ritual. Notice how much attention the media played to the Pope’s visit. What did he actually do? He held masses, made speeches and attended ceremonies in his honor. In othe words, nothing. But the media treated it like an earthshaking event.

Republicans, who are masters at campaigning, know this instinctively, and their constituents are especially sensitive to rituals and symbols involving nationalism and religion. Woe unto the Democratic candidate who doesn’t get this, who slips up, doesn’t where a lapel pin, doesn’t have a “Support the Troops” ribbon on his SUV, doesn’t attend church, doesn’t bow his head properly when praying, doesn’t handle the flag with appropriate respect, etc.

It’s the way people are. They’ll lynch you for burning a flag. And the Republicans will play this emotional card any chance they get. And it works.

10.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am, MissMudd said:

It points to a system and a process that is so spectacularly detached from reality that it’s amazing anyone would ever want to run for public office in the first place.

It’s the brutal honesty in all his responses. These things are meant to stifle the message and will keep coming back. But he just can’t lose with those answers.

On Tim Russert, he’s being characterized as “exotic”, and “urban” and even worse, “urbane”!

Exotic!

11.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:18 am, 2Manchu said:

So we should select a presidential candidate based on how many pieces of flair they are wearing?

Umm, yeeahh……..

12.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:20 am, Lee said:

watch the FOX interview with Barrack Obama…or read the transcript…can be found at their website.
Chris Wallace OF COURSE asks about the “made in China” flag pin.
FYI - he is the ONLY candidate being asked this question. Edwards NEVER wore one, yet always has a pin on…a OUTWARD BOUND pin, in honor of his dead son.
90% of Presidential candidates NEVER wear one…. does any find it wierd Obama gets asked over and over?

13.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am, Michael7843853 said:

Loving your country is instinctive, requiring no display. Doing what is best for your country does.

14.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am, locanicole said:

MissMudd said:

On Tim Russert, he’s being characterized as “exotic”, and “urban” and even worse, “urbane”!

Exotic!

exotic = black…cant have that ya know…

15.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:34 am, 2Manchu said:

Maybe Obama should just dress like this guy:

http://www.tatteredcoat.com/images/flag_man.jpg

16.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:37 am, flo said:

I have a flag pin on my baseball hat. I cannot find my baseball hat. I think my sheepdog ate it and my wife threw it away. Who is more unpatriotic? My wife? Me? Or Maxwell Smart the sheepdog?

17.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:37 am, little bear said:

Some seem to believe we should select presidents based on who the previous family was - as if somehow America was created to have a puppet monarchy that alternates between 2 politically connected families, bush-clinton-bush-clinton.

This is the most irrational of all - clearly not what this nation as meant to be.

18.
On April 27th, 2008 at 11:49 am, beep52 said:

None of these issues really matters in and of themselves. They only matter in that they can be used to paint the Democratic candidate as weak, untrustworthy, immoral, unconnected and otherwise unattractive.

This is the caricature the Repubs and the media have created for ALL Democratic presidential nominees and they will keep on pounding on Obama until the public no longer sees the man, only the caricature.

It’s what they did to Gore, and to Kerry and they’ll do it to the next 100 Democratic presidential candidates until someone stops them or the public wises up. The latter isn’t likely to happen, so the question is, who will stop this and when?

19.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:02 pm, MissMudd said:

Locanicole, I know!! What’s next? Noble elitist!?!

My eyes: permanently rolled backwards.

20.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:08 pm, kevo said:

Cloak the campaigns in irrelevancies, while taking the profits to the bank. Sounds like bread and circuses to me. Obama is the recipient of such canards because he is the candidate who truly threatens opportunistic profiteering. His candidacy is the only one relevant to tax equity, caring for our sick, and ending corporate dependency on government subsidies. His is the only campaign sanely addressing the madness in Iraq. And his is a candidacy that if left to clearly define itself, would no doubt appeal to a strategy of electability.

Barack Obama will be the punching bag of many economically and politically powerful people and their minions because he is exactly the only candidate who will actively work to change the same ol’ same ol’. -Kevo

21.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:15 pm, vwcat said:

I blame the traditional media. They have done an awful job this year. The worst ever. They take the most shallow things and focus and obsess over them for weeks or months while ignoring the important.
Take Newsweeks new cover. Again with the beer. They think the requirement for the US Presidency is damn beer.
Or flag pins.
And they wallow in the republican fringe issues of the past 20 years like false symbols and patriotism. They feel a flag pin is much more important then someone dying because of lack of health insurance or that corporations are getting welfare while families cannot afford to buy enough food.

22.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:20 pm, vwcat said:

#15: Funny pic. I thought immediately what if Obama did something like that once, at a press avail and made the point of their foolishness on this unending storyline of questioning is patriotism.
I mean, the man is a sitting United States Senator running for President and the gall of demeaning him by questioning his love of country???
Think about it.

23.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:38 pm, joepa said:

What BS! Obama specifically said he chose NOT to wear a flag pin - bow its sometimes he dos and sometime he doesn’t. when are you people going to realize that just like his own reverand said he is a politician who will say anything to help himself win. Except he is a politician with no real accomplishments and with no new idea just a bunch of hype and vague speeches.
The people of Pa. saw the empty suit and rejected it. Of course you guys will ignore it and keep labeling those who didn’t vote for him as stupid or racist.
The real truth is they went for substance and competence rather than a politician who is nothing but a cult of personality pushing false stereotypes about the white working class.
But hey you ignored me when I told you he was going to lose Pa. bad and I’m sure you will ignore me when I say he will lose bad in November if he gets the nomination.

24.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm, Davis X. Machina said:

Except he is a politician with no real accomplishments and with no new idea just a bunch of hype and vague speeches.

One-termer in the House.
Failed to win election to US Senate.
Famous for not much except speeches

Unqualified, unready, and doomed to lose.

And from Illinois.

25.
On April 27th, 2008 at 12:54 pm, Micheline said:

Joepa,

Three months ago internals had shown Obama losing to HRC by 30 points, so 9 point loss is damn good. Given the demographic advantages that she had, I was worried that Pennsylvania was going to be her South Carolina. Plese stop repeating the lie that Obama has no substance. That just isn’t true.

26.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:16 pm, zoe from pittsburgh said:

Joe–

The people of PA didn’t “reject” Obama– she won by a much smaller margin than projected. Obama closed the gap despite the fact that he is running a race against 2 ruthless opponents now, Hillary and the GOP. Notice how we have a pretty good idea about what crap the GOP will throw at him (Wright, flag pins) but we have no clue what they’re going to say about her– their strategy against her is COMPELTELY UNKNOWN because they WANT to run against her. They have been noticeably silent, even Pat Buchanan and Rush Limbaugh praise her, why do you think that is?

If you’re really more concerned about the flag pin issue than you are about Hillary’s BIG LIE now that she’s winning the popular vote then you’re wearing Hillary blinders. She’s using seriously fuzzy math to claim that she is ahead– remind you of anyone?

We’ve had 8 years of an administration that shamelessly lies and manipulates the facts to suit their own purposes– Hillary has shown and continues to show signs that she is the SAME WAY.

27.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:30 pm, Roddy McCorley said:

I don’t know why Obama hasn’t dealt with the flag pin this way:

“Democratic candidates routinely wear flag pins. And just as routinely their patriotism is questioned by conservatives and Republicans. So, clearly, a flag pin is not seen as a sign of patriotism by the very people who insist on making this an issue. Next question.”

28.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:34 pm, joepa said:

The delusion continues. Now you guys falsely claim that Hillary had some mythical 30 point lead based on some made up ‘internal’ polling. The truth is that if you look at Polling reports or Real Clear Politics averaging of the polls (which takes care of outliers) she had at most a 10 point lead in early february. Further according to the polls that lead narrowed (as the always do around elections) and some had him in the lead. Despite this it was a blowout for Hillary.
As for the comparison to Lincoln - you guys are a joke. Lincoln had ideas not just vague speeches.
Also there is a reason that people can still quote the Gettysburg address to this day and three weeks after the fact -no one but the kool aid deluded can remember anything about Obama’s falsely praised race speech except that he threw his grandmother under the bus.
If this man is like anyone its Gary Hart - another puffed up media creation that in the end accomplished nothing because all he was really interested in was promoting himself.

29.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm, Toast said:

We’ve reached a point at which the display of symbols is as important, if not more so, than that the freedoms the symbols represent?

Well, what do you expect? Most people in this country can’t even grasp what the symbols represent. They can’t grasp the fact that, hey, maybe the President shouldn’t be allowed to redefine the law at will. They can’t grasp the fact that a president who brags about violating the law and the constitution (FISA) should be impeached. Freedoms? What are freedoms when we allow a tyrant to live in the White House unchallenged. Of course people get hung up on flag pins. They’re small enough that you can wrap even the tiniest brain around them.

30.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:45 pm, Grumpy said:

“I’m gonna look at all of you at a ball game one time and see if you always get it right, ’cause sometimes, we all, I just want to point that out, so that’s point number one.”

Forget about flag pins. I want a president who can speak in complete sentences, and Obama isn’t, you know, I’m looking for someone else.

But seriously. If the Obama campaign hasn’t addressed this issue with a TV ad yet, they might as well just run the 30-second version of this speech. If they’re afraid of validating the issue by speaking about it in an ad, forget it.

Tom Cleaver #6: “Steve: is your real name Pollyanna???”

More like Anne Frank. And look what happened to her.

31.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:46 pm, Davis X. Machina said:

Obama’s ‘vague ideas’.

If they’re still vague to you, it’s because you wish them to be so.

Keep whistling, joepa. A graveyard’ll turn up eventually.

32.
On April 27th, 2008 at 1:55 pm, TuiMel said:

CB, if you think substance is going to triumph over the ridiculous in this primary campaign the continuation of which the corporate media has a financial interest, you truly are a “glass half full” kind of guy. Substance cannot triumph in the media because the media has disdain for an electorate that often deserves it. What kind of voter actually makes up his/her mind on issues such as those you describe? Stupid ones. I do not care if I insult them. You get one shot to ask the man who may be the next president of your country a question and the best you can come up with is why don’t you “address” the flag? Idiot. I do not care if you live in Seattle (my home) or Peoria or Lubbock or Allentown or Boston. You are an idiot if this is how you spend that unique opportunity. What kind of media harps on this sort of stupidity? Lazy, greedy, cynical, clubby people who destest the people they should be trying to let in on the joke. But, that would diminish their exclusivity, their bankability.

Sorry for the rant. I think PA was the high-water mark for the Democratic primary contest for me. I cannot bring myself to watch or listen to this foolishness. First of all, Hillary Clinton gets air time on CNN with a clip showing her asking “Why can’t [Obama] close the deal?” No one steps back from her “question” and asks, “Well, Senator, with all you inevitability, your name recognition, etc? did not you put away this guy on Super Tuesday like you thought you would?” Before that, I watched Wolf Blitzer argue with Obama’s foreign policy advisor so that the Clinton advisor, Jamie I-Forget-His-Last-Name, did not have to lift a finger to do it himself. I hear the incomparable Mara Liason declare Obama’s debate response regarding Bill Ayers as “tepid,” and listen to the chattering class endlessing wringing their hands about Obama’s lack of connection with “regular” people. Not much said about Hillary’s chances if African Americans decide not to battle for the “priviledge” of casting their votes come November.

Finally, the following are exhibits A and B of the punditocracy’s depth of thought on recent developments. These columns say so much about my country. MoDo thinks Obama has to buy his suits from JC Penney to have “street cred,” and La Femme Noonan wonders “who taught” Obama to love his country while declaring that John McCain feels his love of country “in his bones.” Good gawd. This is the level of discouse promoted in two of the most influential newspapers this country has to offer. I do not think there is water in the glass at all.

Exhibit A - MoDo
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/opinion/27dowd.html

At Joe’s Junction gas station in Indianapolis, Obama did his best to shoo away the pesky elitist label. Accused by an Indianapolis reporter of looking like a GQ cover, he said he has only four pairs of shoes and buys “five of the same suit and then I patch them up and wear them repeatedly.” But his campaign refused to reveal the brand, presumably because it’s not J. C. Penney.

He dutifully enthused about carbs, assuring reporters that when he had dinner as a child with his Kansas grandparents, the food “would have been very familiar to anybody here in Indiana. A lot of pot roast, potatoes and Jell-O molds.”

But then he resumed wry whingeing about his 37 bowling score, explaining that he finished only seven frames, including two that “were bowled by a 10-year-old” and another by a 3-year-old.

“I don’t want to go out of my way to sort of prove my street cred as a down-to-earth guy,” he said, after going out of his way. “People know me.”

Not yet, but we will, one of these years.

Exibit B: La Femme Noonan
http://online.wsj.com/article/741679842493.html
Main thought. Hillary Clinton is not Barack Obama’s problem. America is Mr. Obama’s problem. He has been tagged as a snooty lefty, as the glamorous, ambivalent candidate from Men’s Vogue, the candidate who loves America because of the great progress it has made in terms of racial fairness. Fine, good. But has he ever gotten misty-eyed over . . . the Wright Brothers and what kind of country allowed them to go off on their own and change everything? How about D-Day, or George Washington, or Henry Ford, or the losers and brigands who flocked to Sutter’s Mill, who pushed their way west because there was gold in them thar hills? There’s gold in that history.

John McCain carries it in his bones. Mr. McCain learned it in school, in the Naval Academy, and, literally, at grandpa’s knee. Mrs. Clinton learned at least its importance in her long slog through Arkansas, circa 1977-92.

Mr. Obama? What does he think about all that history? Which is another way of saying: What does he think of America? That’s why people talk about the flag pin absent from the lapel. They wonder if it means something. Not that the presence of the pin proves love of country – any cynic can wear a pin, and many cynics do. But what about Obama and America? Who would have taught him to love it, and what did he learn was loveable, and what does he think about it all?

Another challenge. Snooty lefties get angry when you ask them to talk about these things. They get resentful. Who are you to question my patriotism? But no one is questioning his patriotism, they’re questioning its content, its fullness. Gate 14 has a right to hear this. They’d lean forward to hear.

How about you? I’m leaning forward to learn who taught you to love your country?

33.
On April 27th, 2008 at 2:02 pm, MsJoanne said:

A list of Obama’s accomplishments in the US Senate.

Most of his legislative effort has been in the area of:

- Energy Efficiency and Climate Change (25 bills),
- Health care (21 bills) and public health (20 bills),
- Consumer protection/labor (14 bills),
- The needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces (13 bills),
- Congressional Ethics and Accountability (12 bills),
- Foreign Policy (10 bills),
- Voting and Elections (9 bills),
- Education (7 bills),
- Hurricane Katrina Relief (6),
- Environment (5 bills),
- Homeland Security (4 bills),
- Discrimination (4 bills).

Of the 15 bills Senator Obama sponsored or co-sponsored in 2005 - SEVEN became law:

Two (2) addressed foreign policy:
Promote relief, security and democracy in the Congo (2125)
Develop democratic institutions in areas under Palestinian control (2370).

Three (3) addressed public health:
Improve mine safety (2803)
Increased breast cancer funding (597)
Reduce preterm delivery and complications, reduce infant mortality (707).

Two (2) addressed openness and accountability in government:
Strengthening the Freedom of Information Act (2488)
Full disclosure of all entities receiving federal funds (2590)

Two (2) addressed national security:
Extend Terrorist Risk Insurance (467)
Amend the Patriot Act (2167)

One (1) addressed the needs of the Armed Forces:
Wave passport fees to visit graves, attend memorials/funerals of veterans abroad (1184).

Of the 570 bills Senator Obama introduced into the Senate during the 109th and 110th Congress (Senate Bill numbers are in parentheses), they can be summarized as follows:

Twenty-Five (25) addressed Energy Efficiency and Climate Change
Suspend royalty relief for oil and gas (115)
Reduce dependence on oil; use of alternative energy sources (133)
Increase fuel economy standards for cars (767, 768)
Auto industry incentives for fuel efficient vehicles (1151)
Reduce green house gas emissions (1324)
Establish at NSF a climate change education program (1389)
Increase renewable content of gasoline (2202)
Energy emergency relief for small businesses and farms (269)
Strategic gasoline and fuel reserves (1794)
Alternative diesel standards (3554)
Coal to liquid fuel promotion (3623)
Renewable diesel standards (1920)
Reducing global warming pollution from vehicles (2555)
Fuel security and consumer choice (1994, 2025)
Alternative energy refueling system (2614)
Climate change education (1389)
Low income energy assistance (2405)
Oil savings targets (339)
Fuel economy reform (3694)
Plug-in electric drive vehicles (1617)
Nuclear release notice (2348)
Passenger rail investment (294)
Energy relief for low income families (2405)

Twenty-One (21) addressed Health Care
Drug re-importation (334)
Health information technology (1262, 1418)
Discount drug prices (2347)
Health care associated infections (2278)
Hospital quality report cards (692, 1824)
Medical error disclosure and compensation (1784)
Emergency medical care and response (1873)
Stem cell research (5)
Medical Malpractice insurance (1525)
Health centers renewal (901, 3771)
Children’s health insurance (401)
Home health care (2061)
Medicare independent living (2103)
Microbicides for HIV/AIDS (823)
Ovarian cancer biomarker research (2569)
Gynological cancers (1172)
Access to personalized medicine through use of human genome (976)
Paralysis research and care (1183)

Twenty (20) addressed Public Health:
Violence against women (1197)
Biodefense and pandemic preparedness and response (1821, 1880)
Viral influenza control (969)
End homelessness (1518)
Reduce STDs/unintended pregnancy (1790)
Smoking prevention and tobacco control (625)
Minority health improvement and disparity elimination (4024)
Nutrition and physical education in schools (2066)
Health impact assessments (1067, 2506)
Healthy communities (1068)
Combat methamphetamines (2071)
Paid sick leave (910)
Prohibit mercury sales (833, 1818)
Prohibit sale of lead products (1306, 2132)
Lead exposure in children (1811, 2132)

Fourteen (14) address Consumer Protection/Labor
Stop unfair labor practices (842)
Fair minimum wage (2, 1062, 2725, 3829)
Internet freedom (2917)
Credit card safety (2411)
Media ownership (2332)
Protecting taxpayer privacy (2484)
Working family child assistance (218)
Habeus Corpus Restoration (185)
Bankruptcy protection for employees and retirees (2092)
FAA fair labor management dispute resolution (2201)
Working families flexibility (2419).

Thirteen (13) addressed the Needs of Veterans and the Armed Forces:
Improve Benefits (117)
Suicide prevention (479)
Needs of homeless veterans (1180)
Homes for veterans (1084)
GI Bill enhancement (43)
Military job protection
Dignity in care for wounded vets (713)
Housing assistance for low income veterans (1084)
Military children in public schools (2151)
Military eye injury research and care (1999)
Research physical/mental health needs from Iraq War (1271)
Proper administration of discharge for personality disorder (1817, 1885)
Security of personal data of veterans (3592)

Twelve (12) addressed Congressional Ethics and Accountability
Lobbying and ethics reform (230)
Stop fraud (2280)
Legislative transparency and accountability (525)
Open government (2180, 2488)
Restoring fiscal discipline (10)
Transparency and integrity in earmarks (2261)
Accountability of conference committee deliberations and reports (2179)
Federal funding accountability and transparency (2590)
Accountability and oversight for private security functions under Federal
contract (674)
Accountability for contractors and personnel under federal contracts
(2147) Restrictions awarding government contracts (2519)

Ten (10) addressed Foreign Policy:
Iraq war de-escalation (313)
US policy for Iraq (433),
Divestiture from Iran (1430)
Sudan divestment authorization (831)
Millennium Development Goals (2433)
Multilateral debt relief (1320)
Development bank reform (1129)
Nuclear nonproliferation (3131,977,2224).

Nine (9) address Voting/Elections
Prohibit deceptive practices in Federal elections (453)
Voter access to polls and services in Federal elections (737)
Voter intimidation and deceptive practices (1975)
Senate campaign disclosure parity (185)
Require reporting for bundled campaign contributions (2030)
Election jamming prevention (4102)
Campaign disclosure parity (223)
Presidential funding (2412)
Integrity of electronic voting systems (1487)

Eleven (11) addressed Education
Increase access of low income African Americans to higher education (1513)
Establish teaching residency programs (1574)
Increase early intervention services (2111)
Middle school curriculum improvements (2227)
Public database of scholarships, fellowships and financial aid (2428)
Summer learning programs (116)
TANF financial education promotion (924)
Higher education (1642)
Build capacity at community colleges (379)
Campus law enforcement in emergencies (1228)
Support for teachers (2060).

Six (6) addressed Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina recovery (2319)
Emergency relief (1637)
Bankruptcy relief and community protection (1647)
Working family tax relief (2257)
Fair wages for recovery workers (1749)
Gulf coast infrastructure redevelopment (1836)

Five (5) addressed the Environment
Drinking water security (218, 1426)
Water resources development (728)
Waste water treatment (1995)
Combat illegal logging (1930)
Spent nuclear fuel tracking and Acountability (1194)
Asian Carp Prevention and Control Act (Introduced in Senate)[S.726.IS ]

Four (4) addressed Discrimination
Claims for civil class action based on discrimination (1989)
Domestic partnership benefits (2521)
Unresolved civil rights crimes (535)
Equality or two parent families (2286)

Four (4) addressed Homeland Security
Judicial review of FISA orders (2369)
National emergency family locator (1630)
Amend US Patriot Act (2167)
Chemical security and safety (2486)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/21/164117/783?new=true

34.
On April 27th, 2008 at 2:10 pm, tomj said:

I do wish that Obama would make one small change when addressing these questions: ask the person who asked the question to explain their reasoning. Maybe it is a reporter. Why can’t Obama ask the reporter to explain if the reporter had ever heard a previous response from Obama on the question. If so, what was the response and why was it not sufficient to answer the question. What would be a better answer? What could he say that would be sufficient?

I think the questions would stop pretty fast from reporters if Obama did this.

Personally I think Obama has a right to ask, and we have a right to know what the reporters thoughts are, they should explain why his dozens of responses were not quite enough.

35.
On April 27th, 2008 at 2:35 pm, joepa said:

ms joanne
Your post is exactly what I would expect from the niave internet supporters of Obama. Obviously you don’t know that these bills you listed have DOZENS of co- sponsers and Obama had basically no substantive involvement in the vast majority of them and most of them didn’t pass. That is not an accomplishment. Indeed the liberal co- sponsering by Obama was nothing but something he did to pad his resume so idiots like you could cut and paste from his website and falsely pretend he had actual accomplishments.
But hey I’m sure you never actually read a senate bill. You just read the echo blogs and think you know what you are talking about. So for you the Empty suit is perfect.

36.
On April 27th, 2008 at 2:41 pm, MsJoanne said:

Joepa, and you don’t want to believe that he has a clue about anything.

Of course all bills have multiple sponsors. But apparently, his being one of them is meaningless to you.

Whatever. Your choice.

You may consider me naive, something I am not. But, you, sir, are full of shit.

37.
On April 27th, 2008 at 2:45 pm, Screamin' Demon said:

he is running a race against 2 ruthless opponents now, Hillary and the GOP

Three ruthless opponents: Clinton, McCain, and the corporate media.

Why can’t Obama ask the reporter to explain if the reporter had ever heard a previous response from Obama on the question. If so, what was the response and why was it not sufficient to answer the question. What would be a better answer? What could he say that would be sufficient?

I think the questions would stop pretty fast from reporters if Obama did this

Uh-huh. Right.

Indianapolis (AP) - Sen. Barack Obama became testy and combative today while answering reporters’ questions at a press conference, refusing to address their substance while accusing the media of incompetence blah blah blah blah blah…..

Cue the Fainting Couch Brigade, Pearlclutching Division:

Collective Tweety, Pumpkinhead, Joke Scar, etc.: Does Obama have the even temperament required of a Commander-in-Chief? Is he a rash, impulsive hothead who doesn’t have the judgment of McCain or Hillary?

Blah, blah, blah, blah, ad nauseam.

38.
On April 27th, 2008 at 2:53 pm, Screamin' Demon said:

ms joanne:

With all due respect, please stop wasting your precious time on this planet arguing with someone who can’t spell simple words like “naive” or “sponsor.”

“Joepa” is an idiot troll who’s not worth your time.

39.
On April 27th, 2008 at 3:00 pm, MsJoanne said:

Demon, I let the obvious slide as I was railed the other day for calling out a guy who repeatedly misspelled your (instead of you’re) as he was bitching, basically, that education is overrated. I found that enormously ironic - if you’re going to state that we don’t need a president who is educated, please indicate that you have more than a fourth grade education! We don’t need another Bush moron for four years.

And your wish is my command. I’m done with the moron from PA.

40.
On April 27th, 2008 at 3:19 pm, joepa said:

Ms. Joanne
Attack all you want on spelling. Your posts show however that you fail on reading comprehension. But let me spell it out clearly for you. I said Obama had NO ACCOMPLISHMENTS. I didn’t say he didn’t have a clue. He certainly knows how to hype himself so as to fool those who pay as little attention to actual substance as you.
It was you not me who tried to pretend that Obama being one among dozens of cosponsers was an accomplishment quoting from the biased Dailykos. So of course when I point out your mistakes you attack the messenger. By attacking you hope to hide that you can’t defend your own pitiful claims. Again you fail.
Instead of admitting you were made a fool by your own mistaken arguments you just made a fool of youself again.
Again its clear that Obama and you are perfect for each other. You are both smug elitists with little to back your smugness except your own deluded view of yourself loudly cheered on by the echochamber of those just like you.

41.
On April 27th, 2008 at 6:50 pm, Dances with trolls said:

jokepa: Again its clear that Obama and you are perfect for each other. You are both smug elitists with little to back your smugness except your own deluded view of yourself loudly cheered on by the echochamber of those just like you.

Whereas your loud cheerful delusion rest entirely on calling others smug and elite. How very smug and elite of you.

Lame. Clinton dead-ender dog perhaps? Or pure Cheney pooch?
Either way: Where’s your flag-pin prick?

42.
On April 27th, 2008 at 7:30 pm, alice springs said:

anyone notice no one asks hillary clinton about the whereabouts of her flag pin?

personally, i think this is a completely stupid elementary-school issue but i guess the tv boys have decided that flag pins are only for boys.

i think this is a perfect example of how women are invisible even when they’re running for president of the united states — all the screaming about who’s not wearing a flag pin and who’s not being appropriately patriotic and hillary clinton gets left completely out of it, like for those minutes when the tv boys are going on and on about obama’s lack of a flag pin clinton literally does not exist. when they’re doing their testicular swaggering, it fogs their mind and all they can see in their own minds is the size of their own and obama’s testicles.

i am really glad i am not male. how you guys manage to function with that equipment is sometimes beyond me. i’ll take pms — it sure beats a permanent brain disability.

43.
On April 27th, 2008 at 7:42 pm, David Drissel said:

The last debate illustrates that McCarthyism has made an unexpected comeback in the guise of repeated questions ad nauseum about Barrack Obama’s “patriotism” and related “guilt by association” with various figures such as his ex-pastor Reverend Jeremiah Wright and former Weather Underground member, William Ayers.

For weeks, we’ve heard this kind of paranoid chauvinistic drivel especially from the conservative media – Sean Hannity of Fox News in particular. But at the last debate, sponsored by ABC News, such neo-McCarthy-style tactics reached a new low in the guise of moderators Charley Gibson and George Stephanopoulos.

The entire first half of the debate revolved around whether or not Obama was sufficiently patriotic and “loved America” as much or more than other people such as his former pastor. Nothing Obama said seemed to be enough to satisfy the inquisitorial moderators.

You know, this has got to be the most disgusting display of “political” discourse I’ve ever seen in my life. These New McCarthyites on TV news talk and radio can’t seem to get enough of such non-issues. Since when does whether or not one wears a flag-pin matter? Patriotism is in the heart, not on the sleeve (or lapel).

Since when does a person’s ex-pastor become newsworthy? So what if Obama went to this church for twenty years? All of the objectionable comments (five minutes worth at most) made by Wright which played endlessly on cable TV news, were videotaped within the past six or seven years. That was the period in which Obama was not even around Chicago all that much. Besides, Obama clearly stated that he disagreed with Wright’s objectionable comments and was not in the church at the time when those comments were made. That should have been the end of the story, but Fox’s Hannity and now ABC News’ resident neo-McCarthyites just wanted to keep the story alive for as long as possible.

This whole line of “debate” about William Ayers was even worse and really brought politics to a new chauvinistic low. So what if Obama served on the same board with this guy? You know, I’ve served on boards with all kinds of people in my life. Am I supposed to run a background check on everyone in which I come into contact? This guy Ayers was never even convicted of anything, for crying out loud. This is the worst kind of McCarthy-style tactics: To insinuate or even say flatly that a person who has met an “undesirable” (fill in the blank) is somehow “corrupted” or “infected” by that association.

It’s instructive to remember that the critics of Dr. Martin Luther King attempted the use very similar McCarthy-style tactics to destroy him. They accused of him of being a “communist” (or “pinko”) simply because he had associated with a few communists in the civil rights movement. Of course, that was a ridiculous charge. King was never a communist or communist sympathizer. But just because he had brief associations with a few communists, the reactionary far-right race-baiting crowd automatically deemed him suspect of “anti-Americanism.”

It’s time to return to the issues that really matter to average Americans. Let’s hope that the media and assorted right wing crazies end this neo-McCarthyite “un-American” rhetoric soon. But we need to speak up and condemn this sort of thing and not have these self-righteous zealots set the tone of this election.

44.
On April 27th, 2008 at 8:19 pm, joepa said:

dances with trolls
You can’t respond to the substantive criticism of Obama- so you are reduced to childish name calling. Its not a effective argument for your candidate.
Liike Obama your deficiencies only shine through when challenged.

45.
On April 27th, 2008 at 8:25 pm, ROTFLMLiberalAO said:

Well written @ David Drissel

46.
On April 27th, 2008 at 8:38 pm, MsJoanne said:

Ditto #45. Bravo David D.

47.
On April 28th, 2008 at 7:11 am, Tom Joad said:

You have to stop listening to why people SAY they do things, and see what they do. People that have decided to dislike Obama, not to vote for him, without ever going into his plaform, people that cannor articulate what they honestly feel (dislike of him because of race, because of being a democrat, etc.) will just resort to this moronic argument.

People that confuse the map with the territory almost always tend to be republican anyway. Not least in the rigid, unthinking thinking. Given ANY thought more than 20 seconds, a person not clinically mentally challenged ought to come up with the idea that it is of no consequnce, all the way to the idea that a conman would wear SEVERAL flag decals…and so what? It is like picking the winner of a football team by the color of their jerseys, or logo (A bear would anhialate a Dolphin!) .

Seriously, they know better, people that bring this crap up just love wacthing locigal people turn purple with rage when they keep harping on it as if it were something real.

48.
On April 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm, toowearyforoutrage said:

Did EVERYONE else miss this????

Now, I acknowledge the mistake of not having put my hand over my heart during the singing of the ‘Star Spangled Banner,’ although anybody who’s watching — I’m gonna look at all of you at a ball game one time and see if you always get it right, ’cause sometimes, we all, I just want to point that out, so that’s point number one.

Sweet Jesus.

It wasn’t a mistake, Barak.
You and I learned to stand for the national anthem and that was all I ever learned was needed for proper respect.
Singing along wasn’t even required so you got me “beat”. (Though I deny being less patriotic if I don’t sing along and drown out the performer who was hired to sing and is capable of hitting every note where virtually every sports fan can NOT.)

Great… just great. Now every dumb cluck thinks the star-bellied sneeches that merely stand at attention are traitors.

Somebody stop this fucking train. I’m getting off.

49.
On August 12th, 2008 at 8:23 pm, Sam Dobermann said:

Joepa –– You don’t know what you are talking about. The listed bills are just the onesthat Obama sponsored; that is just the ones he drafted (with is staff). It is not a list of those he cosponsored.. Go to the

Go to http://thomas.loc.gov/ and look for youself. But much of Obama’s accomplishments were achieved by working with a Republican who had a common interest (like controlling earmarks otherwise known as pork) such as with Tom Coburn. So letting the repub put his name on and being the from man the front man was the smart thing to do to get legislation through a repub Senate and signed by a Repub President. So you get the Coburn-Obama Transparency Act for all government spending and the Lugar - Obama act on preventing and detecting nuclear proliferation and major weapons.

There are quite few more.