The political book "Game Change" and all the political gossip around it (Video)

First the Democrats....



Now the Republicans and the pick of the obviously DUMB, Sarah Palin...



Sounds like a great gossip read, to me. Especially about John and Elizabeth Edwards, oh my, read it here.

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This is why we are lucky Sarah Palin is not a heart beat away from the presidency (Video)

Former Campaign Manager, Steve Schmidt and authors of the new bomb shell book, "Game Change" on 60 Minutes



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Harry Reid, Democrats, arrogance, bigotry and race

Everyone is yapping about the new John Heileman and Mark Halperin book, Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime.

The remarks by Senate Leader Harry Reid is offensive but not shocking to me. Reid said the following remarks:

In a private conversation reported in the book, Reid described Obama as a "light-skinned" African-American "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

In fact the reference that Bill Clinton made to the late Teddy Kennedy about Barack Obama, "...a few years ago this guy would be getting us a cup of coffee..." Well, of course, the spin is Clinton is stating in reference to Obama being a junior senator, but ask anyone of color what that statement means to them. It sure is not about Barack Obama being a junior senator.

One thing about the Republicans, for people of color, they let us know how they feel. They let us know to our face, some of the Democrats? Not so much. They make references like this behind closed doors because they need people of color to win elections. It is arrogance, bigotry and thought like this that make them no different than any blatant Republican running. They are no different.

Harry Reid can lose his election in Nevada, I don't care. For me, there were other things of Reid that gives him a no in my book, but this disclosure is enough for me. Reid will not get one dime, no support from me. And don't tell me that we NEED HIM to hold the senate or keep a majority. Look at what we have in the senate now? A bunch of bought and paid for nothings who answer to corporations before citizens. They did nothing all of 2009 and losing Reid will not hurt this corporate bunch in my book.

Lastly, expect the apology tour. Reid already apologized to Obama, so expect more of that. But the thing for me is this, he said what he said and meant it, but now that he got caught say it all of a sudden he did not really mean it. What do I say to this, "BULLSHIT."

From morning joe:







Read it all at Daily Kos

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Sarah Palin is equivalent to two words, "A LIAR" (Video)

Truly, this woman lies like the running water out of your tap and just don't give a damn. When you write a book, folks do VETT IT, along with what you said, like, last year as a VP candidate, and it is on tape? Lord, she is one woman destroying machine and that is destroying herself. And why bring Tina Fey back in here? After she actually destroyed you on Saturday Night Live, by using the EXACT words that Sarah Palin said in the interview with Katie Couric!!! GOP, Republicans if this is who you want in 2012, GOOD LUCK!!!

....and Keith says, "...a stupid, uninformed cliff notes version gratuitous liar and that is what Sarah Palin is...."....OUCH!!!

And McCain Staffer, Nicole Wallace says, "Palin's book is based on fabrications..."

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John Edwards, two words, "A trip...."

From the forthcoming David Plouffe book:

Sometime after the South Carolina debate Plouffe got a call from a senior Edwards Advisor who said Edwards was willing to announce the end of his campaign and join forces with Obama to defeat Clinton. When Plouffe asked if he could raise this with Obama the Edwards advisor said, “Yes.…Just to be clear we’re going to talk to the Clinton people too. That’s not where John’s heart is, but he is at the point of maximum leverage now.”

“Obama’s answer,” Plouffe writes, “was quick and firm: he would cut no deals.”

Interesting stuff, I definitely have Plouffe's book in my amazon.com queue.

Source

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Former McCain Campaign Manager states, Palin in 2012 would be catastrophe for GOP

The way I am reading this is that Steve Schmidt, former McCain 2008 Campaign Manager is giving himself an inoculation shot, EARLY. Why? The book is not due until mid-November, but some of the complaints that Palin had about the management of the McCain Campaign was warranted and he was the top gun, so any criticism will be focused on him front and center.

As part of the Aspen Institute’s Washington Ideas Forum in Washington, DC this morning, Steve Schmidt was asked about Sarah Palin’s upcoming book, “Going Rogue,” and about her 2012 potential.

"I think that she has talent," Schmidt said, "but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican Party in 2012," according to the Huffington Post’s Sam Stein.

Schmidt added that it was not "inconceivable that she could be Republican nominee for president of the United States."

But, according to Stein, Schmidt said it would be "fairly inconceivable" that she could end up being president. "In fact, were she to be the nominee we could have a catastrophic election," said Schmidt.

Catastrophic? We knew if she was Vice-President in 2008 after her television performances and lack of knowledge that she would be catastrophic as "one heart beat" away from the presidency. So, dumping on her now is kind of hypocritical to me, because Schmidt knew who he got when he convinced McCain to pick her and that is not much politically or policy wise. And now, he wants to dump on her prior to her book coming out? Remember Schmidt, it was your campaign decision to pick her and put her in the spot she is in now, not the other way around.

And Palin's book? It will be a hot mess, she did not write jack, but gave a lot of hot button one-liners that the ghost writer jumped on to make a memoir. She will talk about everyone, it won't depend on which party you are in, if you made her an enemy she will call you out. In other words, nothing new from her.

Source

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Michelle Obama shot down Hillary Clinton as VP

Ah, it is book time.

Many books already have been written, with many more to come. New book, "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," by author Christopher Andersen.

To be honest, after Hillary Clinton dragged out the primary and it did fracture the party, I am not surprised that Michelle Obama just said, "NO".

Andersen reports Michelle Obama shot down Hillary Clinton as a potential vice president, opting for Joe Biden. Michelle's opposition was possibly the deciding voice in the debate, Andersen writes.

"Do you really want Bill and Hillary just down the hall from you in the White House?" she reportedly told her husband. "Could you live with that?"

Then it appears that Michelle Obama was the one who convinced her husband the slogan, "Yes, We Can" will work. He did not like it initially, thought it was corny.

The President initially blanched when his now-famous campaign slogan was first introduced by political guru David Axelrod during the 2004 Illinois Senate race, a new book reports.

"I don't like it. Come on," Obama was quoted as saying in "Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage," by author Christopher Andersen.

Obama felt the catch phrase was "childish" and "corny," and even asked his staff to find something else - until his wife, Michelle, convinced him otherwise, the book reports.

"It will work," she said, swaying the future President. "Trust me."

Order the book from Amazon, here

Source

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Senator Ted Kennedy's Introduction and Speech to the Democratic National Convention, August 2008 (Video)

Remembering Ted Kennedy.....

Introduction



Senator Ted Kennedy's Speech at the Democratic National Convention, August 2008



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Senator Ted Kennedy's Endorsement for Barack Obama as President of the United States, January 28, 2008 (Video)

This is the endorsements of Senator Ted Kennedy, Congressman Patrick Kennedy and Caroline Kennedy. Senator Ted Kennedy's endorsement was the single most important endorsement that turned the tide for Barack Obama. Memory lane, remembering Ted Kennedy.



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The Forces are not with them, that it is the Republicans

While the Republicans are running around congress, nit picking at anything possible, and the GOP around the country continuing their racist lock step, the numbers of how they lost is a fact. It was pretty bad.

For the past few months, political analysts and demographers have been poring over the results of the 2008 election and comparing them with presidential results from the past two decades. From whatever angle of their approach -- age, race, economic status, geography -- they have come to a remarkably similar conclusion. Almost all indicators are pressing the Republicans into minority status.

Republicans are still capable of winning individual elections, but until they find a way to reverse, or at least minimize, these broader changes in the country, their chances of returning to majority status will be severely reduced.

Broader changes, as in being inclusive, not exclusive. Broader as in the young vote, the African-American vote, the Hispanic vote, the Asian vote was lost in gigantic proportions on November 4, 2008.

Democrats have won the popular vote in four of the past five elections, though in one case (2000) they did not end up in the White House. In years in which they have also won the electoral vote, Democrats have racked up sizable margins. Obama bested John McCain by 365 to 173, and Bill Clinton's two victories were in the same range. George W. Bush's two electoral-college victories were narrow; he won 271 votes in the disputed election of 2000 and 286 in his 2004 reelection.

What has brought this about? It's not just one thing -- it's everything. Start with the Democrats' success in the suburbs. Lang's formula is that demography and density have combined to help Democrats: They dominate not just the cities but also the urbanized suburbs that contain the largest share of the suburban population in America.

Democratic strength in the counties around Philadelphia, around Detroit and in Northern Virginia have squeezed Republicans dramatically. Increasingly, Republican strength outside the urban areas counts for less. "There's just not enough rural folks and small-city people left in America in the key states that determine the electoral college to offset that difference," Lang said. "You're out of people."

They have held on to white middle class vote, but the vote size has shrunk. They have held onto the rural areas, but there are not enough people, and the suburbs? They have lost it.

That's one geographical reality. The other, which became acute in 2008, is that outside the South, Republicans are in trouble. McCain won the South in November, but Obama swept the rest of the country by an even bigger margin. The same pattern holds now for House and Senate seats. Republicans may continue to win governorships in Democratic-leaning states, but in congressional and presidential elections the geographic divides are sizable.

Brownstein reeled off a list of statistics that all arrived at the same place: The South now accounts for a greater share of Republican strength than at virtually any time since the party's founding. That base is too narrow, as even Republicans know.

Well, again, the Republican Party is the Party of the South. Period. While McCain won the South, he lost everywhere else in huge numbers. The Republican Party can not be a serious contender when their base has whittled down to just the South. And the rhetoric coming from there is enough to make you turn your back on the Republican Party for good.

The days of how it use to be are over. Really, it is. We saw this in how the Obama Campaign ran in 2008. The Republican Party will continue to be male, pale and stale, if they do not change their rhetoric, forget these divisive wedge issues, show some leadership, and show they they want someone who looks like me, part of their party. Until then, they will continue to lose support and remain in the wilderness.

Washington Post

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Obama Movie....inspired by students....(Video)

This is why the Obama Campaign will go down in history as not only the most well run or funded, but the one campaign that people got INVOLVED and they went to VOTE, especially the young folk. Inspired by teacherken's students for a final project, originally posted over @ Daily Kos.



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Yes, Obama did win the election.

In winning a presidential election comes CHOICES, the honor of picking his cabinet, placing people in key governmental positions and placing persons on the Supreme Court.

Yes, that is what winning an election means. It means that the other side can kick themselves in the "you know what" but have to deal with the president's choices because, well, the other side did not win the election. And the Republicans did not even come CLOSE in 2008, in fact they lost more seats in the house and senate, in fact lost Senator Arlen Specter to the Democrats, in fact Governor Jon Huntsman (a moderate governor from Utah and a mormom) is now Obama's official envoy or Ambassador to China, in fact have been losing the perception game to President Obama.

Yes, folks elections have repercussions if you win or lose. If you win, you set the agenda. If you lose, you are in the weeds for a long time.

President Obama has not yet named his choice to succeed Justice David H. Souter, but several Republicans acknowledge that it is unlikely they will be able to derail the nomination absent some startling revelation about the candidate.

Those Republicans, including senior staff aides and some senators, suggested in interviews that they believed Mr. Obama’s first nominee for the court would be confirmed without great difficulty no matter how they framed the issues during the confirmation process.

[snip]

A senior Republican Senate official not connected to Mr. Sessions said, “Everyone up here can see the political pieces on the board.” The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the situation candidly, added, “No one is talking about the possibility of defeating any nominee, barring something coming out of left field.”

The official said that not only did Democrats have command of the committee and a strong majority in the Senate, but that any nomination would also come at a time when the president’s public standing was high.

A second top Republican Senate aide, also not connected to Mr. Sessions, said, referring to Mr. Obama, “Elections have consequences; he won.”

Indeed, Mr. Obama did win.

Source

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John Edwards facing federal probe (Video)

I don't know if this is a witch hunt or not, but this is all about Edwards using campaign money to pay off his mistress, Rielle Hunter. Yes, that is what this is about.

Again, glad we dodged this bullet.

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It is official, Obama is the Next President of the United States

As Dick Cheney arose from his undisclosed location, this was his last act as President of the Senate.

Congress has officially declared Barack Obama the next President of the United States after tallying electoral college votes in a centuries old tradition.

The House and Senate met in joint session to hear their colleagues read off the electoral votes from the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The outcome, never in doubt, was 365 votes for Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden, and 173 votes for John McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin.

Both Democrats and Republicans gave a standing ovation as Vice President Dick Cheney, in his role as president of the Senate, announced the vote count for Obama.

And this stuff that the country is "right to center", please, not with the thumpin' the Republicans took.

Source

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Was 2008 an extraordinary year?

Looking forward, I think history will say "it was".....

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The Independent, Middle Shifted Away from the Republicans in 2008 (Video)

Interesting, but we knew this, especially after the Palin pick.

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Obama Evening Wrap Up. GOP in the Wilderness.

Barack with Illinois State Director of Veterans Affairs, Tammy Duckworth after placing a wreath at The Bronze Soldiers Memorial in honor of Veteran's Day (Duckworth is on the short list to replace Obama's Senate Seat in Illinois)

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GOP in the Wilderness

The Republican Party is continuing to lick their wounds from the November 4th thrashing. As they are emerging on camera, the only thing they can acknowledge is that "the country is center right."

Really?

If the country was center right, why did the McCain Campaign and the Republicans continue to lose seats in the house and senate?

No answer.

Barack Obama won an electoral landslide, 365-173. He won by at least 7 points, as of now 52.6-46.1, the first Democrat since Jimmy Carter who won over 50 percent. That is a popular vote landslide.

Chris Matthews of Hardball had two strategists on his program yesterday, Todd Harris and Steve McMahon, to talk about Barack Obama making bold, important moves on the economy, Iraq, Education, etc. All the things that the public voted him into office to do. Why? Obama won a mandate, that is why.

During this segment Matthews assails Harris and his Republican talking point of this country is "center right". George W. Bush was elected twice under the closest margins, in other words less than 50% and no mandate election. The country was evenly divided under both of Bush's wins. Still, Bush rammed through his mandate, did not tip-toe through the tulips, and all his decisions for this country was wrong.



The Barack Obama Landslide was notice to the Republican Party and to the current government that the voters do not want your ideology, we don't want you in charge anymore, you were rejected. Period.



The map above is what the Republican Party is reduced to, a regional party. They have a lot of work to do with African-Americans, Hispanics, Gays, Asian-Americans, Independents, Moderates and Democrats. Their party is one of "great old white guys." That does not win elections, ask Congressman Chris Shays who was defeated in Connecticut, the last Republican standing in the Northeast.

Ask Senator Mel Martinez of Florida who chastised his party about not being inclusive on Meet the Press.

Governor Jeb Bush--former Governor Jeb Bush last week made a comment that if Republicans don't figure it out and do the math that we're going to be relegated to minority status. I've been preaching this for a long time to my colleagues within my party. I think that the very divisive rhetoric of the immigration debate set a very bad tone for our brand as Republicans. The fact of the matter is I think in Florida there was not a great ideological shift, but I think there was plenty of room for improvement in how that state was looked upon.

The fact of the matter is that Hispanics are going to be a more and more vibrant part of the electorate, and the Republican Party had better figure out how to talk to them. We had a very dramatic shift between what President Bush was able to do with Hispanic voters, where he won 44 percent of them, and what happened to Senator McCain. Senator McCain did not deserve what he got. He was one of those that valiantly fought, fought for immigration reform, but there were voices within our party, frankly, which if they continue with that kind of rhetoric, anti-Hispanic rhetoric, that so much of it was heard, we're going to be relegated to minority status.

So, while the Republicans are running around here talking about this country is "center-right", they need to wake up and sniff the reality in the air, they are just dead wrong.



••

Obama Transition

At a briefing before well over 100 reporters, John Podesta, the co-chair of Barack Obama's White House transition, announced three priorities for the interim period and laid out just how comprehensive the effort would be.

The transition team will operate off a budget of $12 million ($5.2 million has been appropriated by Congress, the rest will be raised separately through individual donations of under $5,000), employ 450 people and operate out of offices in Washington D.C. and Chicago. Already, Podesta reiterated, the team has granted 100 interim security clearances.

As for the priorities - they resembled the same major interests Obama announced repeatedly on the campaign trail.

• The team, Podesta said, would be "laying the groundwork in stabilizing the economy and putting Americans back to work."
• They "also will be engaged as is required and necessary in national security issues that remain constant throughout the transition."
• And, of course, there is "the task of building a government."

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Memory Lane: January, 2008 in New Hampshire on a bus tour

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and...............

Sparring Starts as Republicans Ponder Future

Michelle visited DC schools for Malia and Sasha

President-Elect and First Lady To Be Welcomed at the White House

White House Says Obama Leaks Not Accurate

Designers: First lady's ball gown should be bold

Finding Fame With a Prescient Call for Obama (for our guy, Nate @ 538 to your right)

Portrait of an epic victory

A GOP Bridge to Nowhere

It is time for Joe Lieberman to GO....

••

I am done talking about Sarah Palin. She is doing her media tour to clean up her "Tina Fey" image, which will be hard to do, since she is totally in lack of knowledge pertaining to the issues and the public saw that. So, Sarah can continue her media tour and hopefully FOX or somebody will give her a TV show, because that is the image that she is reduced to. Hey, not bad, ask billionaire-ess Oprah. But as far as politics, if the Republicans want her for 2012, good luck.

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A Night to Remember: Video Highlights of Tuesday's Election Night

h/t jedreport

and behind the scene photos of election night

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2008 Presidential Campaign Recap (Video)

h/t jedreport

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John McCain Concession Speech to Barack Obama (Video)

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