Lieberwhore endorses John McCain

Hat Tip:  Jennifer Loven, Associated Press

Sen. John McCain, trying to keep momentum in this state’s critical Republican primary race, brought in something unusual on Monday — an endorsement from the other party’s former vice presidential nominee.

Sen. Joseph Lieberman, Democrat Al Gore’s running mate in 2000, said he had intended to wait until after the primaries to make a choice for the 2008 presidential race. But McCain asked for his support and no Democrat did.

Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, said he chose his longtime Senate colleague because he has the best shot of breaking partisan gridlock in Washington. Both men also support the war in Iraq.

“On all the issues, you’re never going to do anything about them unless you have a leader who can break through the partisan gridlock,” Lieberman said. “The status quo in Washington is not working.”

Independents can vote in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 8, and they are the people McCain is targeting, much as he did in winning the state’s Republican primary in 2000 over George W. Bush.

Traveling with Lieberman Monday morning to Hillsborough’s American Legion hall, McCain said the Connecticut senator is his answer to the people he hears in every town hall meeting who ask, “Why can’t you all work together?”

Lieberman said McCain’s approach to Iraq and his credentials on national security are the main reasons he is supporting a Republican for president.

But both men said the election seems increasingly about the economy and domestic issues rather than Iraq. On those issues, Lieberman acknowledged he does not always see eye-to-eye with his 2008 pick. But, said Lieberman, McCain is always straightforward about where he stands.

For McCain, behind in the polls here but gaining, the endorsement carries the risk of alienating conservatives who have been critical of his support for immigration and campaign finance reforms.

“If I get some criticism for aligning myself with a good friend I have worked with for many years, I will be more than happy to accept that criticism,” McCain said.

For Lieberman, it marks another turn away from the Democrats.

“Political party is important, but it’s not more important than what’s good for the country and it’s not more important than friendship,” Lieberman said.

Lieberman won re-election to the Senate in 2006 as an independent, after losing the Democratic primary largely because of his support for the war. High-profile Democrats abandoned him after the primary defeat.

This has to be the most epic betrayal of all time.  The Majority Leader, Harry Reid, mumbled something about having “the greatest respect for Joe.”   Greatest respect, Harry?  F*#@, Joe and F*#@ You. 

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Obama rips U.S. effort after Katrina

By Mike Dorning
Chicago Tribune national correspondent

January 30, 2007

NEW ORLEANS — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama blasted the Bush administration Monday for the slow pace of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts, saying reconstruction no longer seems to be a White House priority.

“There is not a sense of urgency in this administration to get this done,” said the senator from Illinois. “You get a sense that will has been lacking in the last several months.”

Obama, the Senate’s only African-American member, was in New Orleans for a field hearing on Gulf Coast rebuilding conducted by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

In the days after Katrina hit, the devastation of New Orleans and the botched federal response turned into a dramatic international emblem for charges of incompetence in the administration and of indifference to the plight of poor people, particularly blacks and other minorities. The flooding and tardy rescue efforts had the greatest impact on low-income black residents, many of whom did not have personal transportation or financial resources to evacuate easily on their own.

The broken homes and vacant streets of the city’s flood-damaged neighborhoods remain a potent political symbol. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards kicked off his campaign in December outside a damaged home in one hard-hit neighborhood.

After Monday’s field hearing, the Senate committee took a bus tour of the city’s Lower 9th Ward, a low-income black neighborhood where many ruined homes sit empty and bear the painted X-marks used in the chaotic weeks after the hurricane to show they had been searched for survivors.

Mayor compares city, Iraq

Testifying to the committee, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said he still doesn’t see “the will to really fix” his city and suggested that race was a factor.

“I think it’s more class than anything, but there’s racial issues associated with it also,” said Nagin, who is black.

Nagin complained that disputes with federal officials over the value of damaged buildings and cumbersome paperwork have slowed the money flow.

“And then I look at what we’re doing in Iraq and how we spend money at an unprecedented level there, how we can set up temporary hospitals and designate money to rebuild their economy, and we have this dance going on in New Orleans,” he said.

The hearing is one of the first that the Homeland Security Committee has scheduled since the Senate passed to Democratic control. No Republican members attended.

The session follows criticism of Bush for not including any mention of the New Orleans recovery effort in last week’s State of the Union address. Obama echoed that criticism, noting that Bush had traveled to the city shortly after the disaster and promised to do “what it takes . . . as long as it takes” to rebuild New Orleans.

But “17 months later, we heard not a single word, not one word in President Bush’s State of the Union address,” Obama said. “Those of us who are concerned all across the country wonder if we’re in danger of forgetting about New Orleans, and that’s shameful.”

Federal officials involved with rebuilding efforts defended their work in testimony before the committee. Donald Powell, federal coordinator for Gulf Coast reconstruction for the Department of Homeland Security, said that when the history of the recovery effort is written “it will also be a story of modern renaissance.”

“President Bush is committed to rebuilding the Gulf Coast and rebuilding it better and stronger,” Powell said.

Mama got runover by Barack Obama, a christmas carol

 

Mama got runover by Barack Obama, a christmas carol

Sung to the tune of Grandma got runover by a reindeer

Mama done got run’d over by Barack Obama. On the road to the White House Christmas Eve.  You can say there’s no such thing as Santa, but as for me and Bubba we believe.  She’d been drinking Rummy’s Kool-Aid and voted for the War, as we begged her to do no more. But she forgot her triangulation, and she staggered out the door. When we found her Christmas morning, at the scene of the attack, she had book-prints on her forehead, and an incriminating book, the Audacity of Hope on her back.

Now we’re all so proud of Bubba,  He’s been taking this all so well. See him in there carousing the females, drinking root beer and playing cards with James Carville. It’s not Christmas without Mama, and Chelsea’s dressed in black and we just can’t help but wonder: Should we open up her gifts, or send them back? Send them back!!

Now the Ham is on the table and so is the sweet potato pie and the gold and platinum candles that would just have matched the Miss Clairol in Mama’s head. I’ve warned all my friends and neighbors better watch out for yourselves, they should never vote for a man who cavorts with neo-cons like Condi and endorses devilish elves (like Joe Lieberman).

Democrats retake both houses of Congress, Hallelujah!!!!!!!!!!!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
praise him, all creatures here below;
praise him above, ye heavenly host;
praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Let’s check our predictions, shall we?

RHODE ISLAND SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Sheldon Whitehouse defeated GOP Senator Linc Chafee 53%-47%.  Skeptical Brotha called this race 54%-46% for Whitehouse.  Skeptical Brotha’s Prediction: Correct.

TENNESSEE SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Bob Corker screwed the Whore, 51%-48% .  I predicted a Whore win 50.5%-49.5%. Skeptical Brotha’s wildly optimistic prediction: WRONG.

MISSOURI SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Auditor McCaskill defeated Richard Nixon clone, Senator Jim Talent, 49%-47%, a two-point spread.  I predicted a McCaskill win by two points, 51%-49%. Skeptical Brotha’s Prediction: Correct.

NEW JERSEY SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Appointed Senator Bob Menendez, was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Jersey over Tom Kean, Jr. 53%-45%. I predicted a 53%-47% win for Menendez.  Tom Kean, Jr. didn’t hold up his end of the deal.  Damn him.   Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

PENNSYLVANIA SENATE RACE

According to MSNBC, Auditor Casey beat Rick Santorum’s ass somethin’ awful, 59%-41.  Praise the Lord, everybody. I didn’t know how high this was going to go;predicting he would get nothing under 55%.  I truly revel in this one because Santorum was such a sanctimonious and contemptable wingnut.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction:  Correct.

OHIO SENATE RACE

Again, according to MSNBC, Congressman Sherrod Brown defeated GOP Senator Mike DeWine, 56%-44%.   My prediction was dead on.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

VIRGINIA SENATE RACE

In what has to be the sweetest victory of all, the would be President-in-waiting, got his damn ass handed to him by a man who endorsed him six years ago.  He warned him a few years back that Iraq was a mistake.  He didn’t listen.  Then he proceeded to show his pure ass, as revelations of his poorly concealed racism were revealed for all to see.  Even though the Ignorant Confederate has refused to conceed this race until the Board of Elections certifies it, the party is ovah.  According to him, he was bored with the job anyway.  I predicted a comfortable 52%-48% win.  I underestimated the comfort level some Virginians had with bigtory.  I won’t make the same mistake twice.  The important thing is that the Ignorant Confederate lost his seat. The razor thin margin will hold. Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

MONTANA SENATE RACE

MSNBC just called this race for Jon Tester, the Montana state senator over GOP U.S. Senator Conrad Burns. Burns has refused to conceed the race.  It does not matter because his time is up.  Tester won a squeeker 49%-48%.  I predicted a more comfortable win with 52%-48%.  However, the state is extremely Red and Bush is still somewhat popular there. Skeptical Brotha’s prediction: Correct.

CONNECTICUT SENATE RACE

One of the most interesting of the year, this race ended where it started: For Joe Lieberman.  Now that the Senate majority depends on Lieberman’s vote, I shall refrain from calling him out as the Lieberwhore.  MSNBC reports a 10 point spread ,which I also predicted.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction : Correct.

MARYLAND SENATE RACE

MSNBC is reporting that Congressman Ben Cardin was elected to the Senate over Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, 55%44% which is right in line with my prediction of 55%-45%. As I postulated earlier, the general public was not impressed with Steele’s ex-con and crackhead parade of black endorsements.  His content free campaign was deceptive and the electorate peeped it in time to avert disaster.  Good Riddance. 

THE HOUSE

The House of Representatives is what had me shouting, dancing, and speaking in tongues for the majority of the evening.  Praise the Lord, Everybody.  Hallelujah!!!!  Thank you, Jesus!!! I predicted a win of  35 seats and the Democrats are sitting pretty with a projected 32 seat gain.  Skeptical Brotha’s prediction : Correct.

 

Skeptical Brotha’s House and Senate Predictions

RHODE ISLAND

Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, a New England Republican patrician in the George Herbert Walker Bush tradition, will lose to former RI Atty Gen, Sheldon Whitehouse.  In effect, switching out one patrician for another.  Appointed to this seat after the death of his predecessor, his father John Chafee,  the Senator has been suffering from a considerable stature gap.  He is not revered by the electorate like his daddy and seems like a lightweight.  Pollster.com’s average of the last 5 polls has Chafee at 41%.  6 points down from his challenger.  The party is over.  Whitehouse wins 54%-46%

TENNESSEE

Harold Whore,  Jr has run the race of the year.  He has left his hard-right opponents with hard-ons because they cannot defeat him.  There is no issue on which he is out of the mainstream with Tennessee voters, the race boils down to just that: race.   Does the electorate of Tennessee want to exorcise the ghost of Jim Crow?  My gut feeling is that they do and will chose as their representative in the patrician chamber, a young brotha on the make.  Bob Corker is a hapless redneck out of his league who shoulda had this seat in the bag and has struggled since the primary.  I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he concedes to a Negro. I can’t stand Harold, but I will not let that stand in the way of praising his political skills.  He’s almost as smooth as Bill Clinton, a complement I don’t give out lightly.  This race will go down to the wire and will be a nail biter.  The last 10 polls on this race have Harold down four which is in the margin of error and well within the margin of  hope.  The Whore wins 50.5% to 49.5%

MISSOURI

Senator Jim Talent of Missouri defeated the widow of former Gov. Mel Carnahan, to win this seat 4 years ago.  Governor Carnahan was running for this seat in 2000, held by John Ashcroft, Dubya’s first Attorney General when he was killed in a dramatic plane crash that also claimed the life of one of his sons.  The acting governor told the people that if the Governor was posthumously elected, he would appoint Missouri’s first lady to the Senate.  The people rose up and elected a dead man and his widow was appointed.  Never comfortable with the spotlight, or with the role of a senator, Mrs. Carnahan suffered when compared to her opponent, a Richard Nixon clone if there ever was one.  Anyway, Claire McCaskill, our nominee this time, is the sitting state Auditor and a lawyer and former DA of Jackson County.  Miss Girl knows how to kick ass without coming off like a bitch and messing up her hair.  She defeated the sitting Democratic Governor two years ago to claim the nomination for herself.  She almost became the first female democratic governor.  The last ten polls have the two separated by a single point.   McCaskill wins 51%-49%.

 

NEW JERSEY

The only democratic held seat that is competitive, New Jersey looked like a GOP upset in the beginning.   The wave dynamics of a backlash election have taken hold now and having the sterling GOP political name of Tom Kean, Jr. son of 9/11 commissioner Tom Kean, Sr. ain’t helping.  Appointed Senator Bob Menendez, the senate’s third Hispanic and second Cuban will win his first statewide race 53%-47%

PENNSYLVANIA

Two term GOP Senator Rick Santorum’s career is ovah, Baby.   Stick a fork it, honey.  It”s done.     Bob Casey takes this seat with nothing under 55%.

OHIO

The GOP collapsed in Ohio faster than Dick Cheney’s approval rating after he shot a man in the face on a duck hunting trip.  There is probably no statewide race winnable for them here.  Senator Mike Dewine’s career is ovahand his successor Sherrod Brown, a congressman, gets the promotion.  Brown wins 56%-44%.

Virginia

The Ignorant Confederate’s career is ovah as well.  Remember this summer when the likelihood of a George Allen Presidential campaign was a sure thing?  It all seems so sad.  Forgive me while I wipe away a bitter crocodile tear.  I will treasure the look on the face of this insincere bastard as he concedes defeat to a man he isn’t fit to hold a jockstrap for.  His racism and unbelievable denials make the confederate bandwagon of confused colored folks that endorsed him look like the fools that they are.  With the power invested in me by this blog, I hereby revoke their membership in the race.  Webb wins 52% -48%.

MONTANA 

It seems like the people will be pruning the U.S. Senate of some of it’s racist deadwood this year.  Another unnecessary Bigot will be removed when the Senator from Big Sky country is removed by the State Senate President Jon Tester.  In one fell swoop, he will become the most famous crew cut on Capitol Hill.  The last 10 polls separate these two by four points.  Tester wins 52%-48% in this deep red state.

CONNECTICUT

Unfortunately for the blogosphere, and the people of Connecticut, Joe Lieberwhore will be re-elected to the Senate as an Independent against his democratic challenger.  The last ten polls have Lamont and Lieberwhore separated by ten points.  It just ain’t gonna happen.  Lieberwhore 52%-42%-6%.

Maryland

This democratic open seat will be held by Congressman Ben Cardin.  Michael Steele’s ridiculous and empty campaign is about the same thing Seinfeld was about: nothing.  I don’t really care how many discontented Negroes he gets to jump off a moving train for him, Black folk will not be persuaded and white folk will be put off by his endorsements from Don King and Mike Tyson.  Cardin will pull this out 55%-45%.

THE HOUSE

The GOP will lose the House before the count ever leaves the Northeast.  New York, Connecticut,  Ohio, and Pennsylvania will lose it for the GOP.  The GOP will lose every single toss up in the aforementioned states.  The Democrats could come out of this thing with a 46 seat gain.  I will go more conservative and predict a 35 seat gain. 

Before we celebrate we must do our duty and vote and remind others to do so as well.  Don’t forget y’all’s kinfolk and your play sistah’s cousins and them.  Y’all hear me? Vote.

Democrats will control both houses before the night is done.  I will be miserably drunk, and hopefully, I can get laid.

#1 The Congressional Black Caucus is falling down on the job

 “Where there is no vision, the people perish”-Proverbs 29:18

The Politics of Division

The Congressional Black Caucus, according to the CBC monitor, has transformed into the  “Corporate Black Caucus” , due in large part to the nefarious tentacles of the “racist and rightwing Democratic Leadership Council (DLC). The DLC was created after the Reagan years to move the Democratic Party more to the right and to do this they have unleashed the corporate hounds to payoff Black faces  to perform for them what whites cannot. ” 

We can see ample evidence of this nefarious corporate influence and lack of black unity in the glaring disparity of support for two members of the CBC attempting to move up to the U.S. Senate, an elected body called, “the greatest deliberative body in the world” that has only elected five African Americans in 216 years. The U.S. Senate is the most stunning example of the power of white privilege and social connections.   The top three richest Senators are Democrats with a combined net worth of at least $1.193 billion dollars.

Given the millionaires club atmosphere of Congress, 123 members of the House of Representatives are also millionaires, you’d think that Black members of Congress would do their part to show some love to their contemporaries tryin’ to move up the rough side of the political mountain.  Not so.

Former NAACP President and former Congressman Kwesi Mfume ran for the U.S. Senate this year as did a younger, brasher contemporary, Harold Whore, Jr.  Who do y’all think the CBC showed more love to, the one who used to lead them as Chairman, or the Corporate Whore?

You guessed it, the Whore.  Most members of the CBC vote differently than Ford on the vast range of issues, yet they still support the Charlatan in their midst. CBC members gave $36,268 to Harold Whore, Jr. Barack Obama and Charlie Rangel gave nearly $19,000 alone. 

Hall of Shame

If they were trying to treat both men equally, which Ford doesn’t deserve, the following contributors would have given to both him and Mfume.  The following gave only to Ford: Dianne Watson, Kendrick Meek, Gregory Meeks, Sanford Bishop, Emmanuel Cleaver, Alcee Hastings,  Barbara Lee, Barack Obama, Charlie Rangel and former Congressman Bill Clay whose successor, his son, told the Hill newspaper that he and his father would both support Mfume, but neither came through with enough money to show up on a disclosure report.

There are 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Barack Obama in the Senate and 42 members in the House. Nine members of the CBC gave contributions to Kweisi Mfume.  Yes, that’s right, I said Nine.  Of the $1.3 million raised by Mfume, $16,500 came from Black members of congress.  That’s about 1%. 

Mfume’s heroes

Mfume’s contributors represent a heroes and sheroes roster: Elijah Cummings, Carolyn Kilpatrick, Juanita Millender-McDonald, Chaka Fattah, Danny Davis, Corrine Brown, Mel Watt, Don Payne and Bobby Scott.  I find this list fascinating because it says so much about us as a people. 

Prominent black and white celebrities stepped up. The white creator of Good Times and the Jeffersons, Norman Lear, gave $2,100,  Black Billionaire Bob Johnson and Debra Lee, the corporate chieftains of BET, gave over $17,000 between the two of them, more than the entire CBC.  Black Publishing executives, Susan Taylor of Essence, Linda Johnson Rice of Ebony and Jet, and Earl Graves, Sr of Black Enterprise gave $19,300 between them.  Friend of Bill Clinton, Atty Vernon Jordan and Michael Jordan’s wife Juanita gave as well.

Mfume came within 3.2% of winning that primary against five white opponents who raised nearly $12.5 million against him.  He was outspent by nearly 12 to 1 and almost won. 

The Washington beltway crowd and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee led the charge against Mfume.  Mfume’s two leading white opponents Ben Cardin and Josh Rales spent over $11 million to defeat him.  Rales spent millions of his own money. Cardin raised over $373,000 from Members of Congress alone, including two Uncle Tom’s in the CBC, Alcee Hastings and Kendrick Meek.  A single white Senator, Blanche Lambert Lincoln, gave Mfume a contribution so it wouldn’t look so obvious that Senate Democrats were attempting to prevent a qualified and respected former Black Congressman from being elected. The white power structure conspired through negative press coverage and aggressive arm twisting of potential donors to damage Mfume’s candidacy. With all of that going for him, Cardin barely won the primary.

Jesse Jackson, Sr, whose son also sits in the Congressional Black Caucus gave so little to Mfume that it didn’t show up on a disclosure report, or gave him nothing at all.   I find that astounding.  I have always had great respect for Jesse.  It wasn’t too long ago that Mfume and Jackson were leading marches together.   He found time for Ned Lamont, a white Connecticut Millionaire running against Senator Joe Lieberman. So did Maxine Watersand Al Sharpton.  Lamont is not going to ultimately defeat Lieberman, so these people wasted their time and effort on a white candidate that cannot win and didn’t help a black candidate that could. 

It makes no sense that Kweisi Mfume was struggling for cash while Harold Whore, Jr is buoyed by a river of special interest cash $7.3 millon dollars greater. Similarly, I hope Barack Obama doesn’t think these Negroes are gonna help him get elected President.  Left to their own devices, they will do for him what they did for Mfume: next to nothing.

Our Black leadership is hopelessly fractured and leading in opposite directions that usually lead to the same right-wing corporate cul de sac.  They can’t even support each other based on general principle, is it any wonder that they don’t support or represent us?

Where in God’s name is the vision?   The distorted and confused amalgamation of leaders and positions is disheartening.  We are marinating in the aftermath of two Presidential Elections in which significant questions of black and brown voter suppression exist and these Black politicians can’t even get it together enough to fight that and support each other at the same time for election to the Senate, where the community has never had adequate representation.

Manning Marable teaches us that, ” Oppressed people learn strategies for survival: if they do not learn, they perish.”  If these highly educated people cannot navigate these shallow waters, how can they fight poverty, unemployment, HIV/AIDS, Globalization and the rest of the ailments to the black diaspora? 

Harold Ford endorses Lieberman

The feminist Kate Millet once described prostitution not necessitated by poverty as a “psychological addiction.”  In that same vein, I believe that political prostitution, when motivated by ambition, might also be defined as a species of psychological addiction, built on expediency through repetitions of the act of sale by which a whore is defined.

In yet another shameless attempt to pander to Tennessee’s “moderate” white electorate, Congressman Harold Whore, Jr. endorsed Senator Joe Lieberwhore’s Independent candidacy for the U.S. Senate over that of Democratic nominee Ned Lamont.  The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee officially supports the Democratic nominee in every state, including Ford and Ned Lamont. 

Harold’s shameless arrogance and expediency in supporting a GOP backed, right-wing enabler is the purest expression of contempt that he could show the African American community and the Democratic Party in Tennessee. The GOP is in collusion with the Lieberwhore to give their corporate congressional flacks a popular anchor from the gale force winds of electoral discontent.

To put it simply, the Republican agenda is not a black agenda and any black politician who gives aid and comfort to a corporate shill that supports that agenda is a traitor to the black community and to his party. I had high hopes for this brotha years ago.  He has turned out to be nothing more than an Ivy League educated coon willing to sell out the community that made sacrifices so that he could realize his republicrat aspirations.

Corporate Whore Clings to Power

Senator Joe Lieberman, the ultimate corporate whore and GOP war flak, is in the contest of a lifetime with anti-war businessman-turned politician Ned Lamont.  Lamont pulled off a stunning win last month when he won 30% of delegates at the Connecticut Democratic State Convention cementing his right to challenge Lieberman in the primary.  Lieberman, in response, chartered a new political party or cult of personality, whichever you prefer, if he doesn’t win the democratic party nomination which looks increasingly likely with Lamont now outpolling Joe in the last most recent surveys of the race.  This is the race of the year in my estimation and who would have ever thunk that the Vice Presidential nominee on the 2000 Ticket who only two years ago was running for the Democratic presidnential nomination would abandon his party in a craven attempt to cling to power. It is truly amazing. His besotted preening for the Bush war machine is even more amazing and revolting. I look forward to the day when he is removed from the stage.