Wake up America

Barack Obama Criticized For Ignoring Democratic Senators And Governors Advice Posted: 14 Sep 2008 12:49 PM CDT Barack Obama and his campaign officials are coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers and strategists saying he has ignored advice and is in denial, saying "These guys are on the verge of blowing the greatest gimme in the history of American politics." Real Clear Politics (RCP) polling averages of all recent polls show John McCain ahead by 2.3 percentage points among all latest polls from different organizations, these figures change as new polling organizations release their results. The RCP electoral map, which changes daily showed John McCain ahead yesterday with 227, with Obama showing 217 and toss ups being listed as 94. Within 24 hours, due to state polls changing, the RCP electoral map shows John McCain still at 227, but Barack Obama has dropped 10 more digits bringing him down to 207, with toss up states now listed at 104. The Telegraph reports that Democrats, Senators, Governors and strategists believe Barack Obama is not only ignoring these polls but is in "denial" about what they call the "Bradley effect" which is the belief that Obama is actually lower than the polls show due to respondents of the polls not acknowledging racism. Democratic "party elders" believe the Obama's true polling numbers are four to six points lower than the published polls show because of hidden racism from voters. Party leaders and commentators say that the Democrat candidate spent too much of the summer enjoying his own popularity and not enough defining his positions on the economy - the number one issue for voters - or reaching out to those blue collar workers whose votes he needs if he is to beat Mr McCain. Senators and Governors have been trying to reach the Obama campaign to give them advice and according to a Democratic strategist that spoke to The Sunday Telegraph, the campaign has ignored the calls as the strategist goes on to say, "They think they know best. They don't return calls. There are governors and senators calling them up with ideas. They don't get back to them. "These are senior people from the border states and the South who know how to beat Republicans, and they're being ignored. They ignored everyone during the primaries and they came through it, so they think they can do the same again." It is reported that Obama's inner circle has a "bunker mentality" and outside advice is not welcome, even from highly experienced politicians. Other Democrats are openly mocking of Mr Obama's much vaunted "50-state strategy", in which he spends money campaigning throughout the US in the hope that it will force Mr McCain to divert funds to previously safe states. Critics say a utopian belief in bringing the nation together has trumped the cold electoral calculus that is necessary to triumph in November. Doug Schoen, a former pollster for Bill Clinton, last week declared it insanity not to concentrate resources on the swing states. A prominent Democratic strategist that has played roles in two presidential campaigns asserts, "These guys are on the verge of blowing the greatest gimme in the history of American politics. They're the most arrogant bunch Ive ever seen. They won't accept that they are losing and they won't listen." Criticism doesn't stop at Obama's campaign ignoring advice from Democratic lawmakers, as evidenced by a Democratic National Committee official telling The Telegraph they find it "offensive when Democrats ask the Republicans not to be nasty to us, which is effectively what Obama keeps doing. They know thats how the game is played." According to the article it is also believed that Barack Obama and his campaign advisers are ignoring the "broad appeal" that Sarah Palin has brought into the campaign race where some polling organizations are showing the enthusiasm gap which Obama enjoyed until Palin came onto the scene, all but gone now. The latest Rasmussen report has gone as far as to claim the McCain/Palin ticket now has more excited voters than the Obama/Biden ticket does with 52.4 percent to Obama's 46.4 percent. .

Atlantic Monthly Used Photographer Who Admits To Manipulating McCain Photos Posted: 14 Sep 2008 11:23 AM CDT Liberal photographer Jill Greenberg was hired by The Atlantic to photograph John McCain for their cover and she now admits to deliberately manipulating photos according to an exposé done by PDN. Jill Greenberg is a self-admitted hard core Democrat and while she didn't hesitate to take the job of photographing John McCain, she does say that it was "somewhat irresponsible" of The Atlantic to hire her given her previous work, according to her exposé in PDN. The Atlantic did not use the deliberately manipulated photo of McCain and instead chose a different one, but Greenberg speaks about how she manipulated photos to make McCain intentionally diabolical looking. Greenberg also kept out-takes of the photo session to manipulate and use on her site and to sell to other publications. After getting that shot, Greenberg asked McCain to "please come over here" for one more set-up before the 15-minute shoot was over. There, she had a beauty dish with a modeling light set up. "That's what he thought he was being lit by," Greenberg says. "But that wasn't firing." What was firing was a strobe positioned below him, which cast the horror movie shadows across his face and on the wall right behind him. "He had no idea he was being lit from below," Greenberg says. And his handlers didn't seem to notice it either. "I guess they're not very sophisticated," she adds. Photographs not used in the October edition of The Atlantic, taken during the same photo shoot and called "outtakes" are shown by American Digest, including manipulated photos showing blood around John McCain's mouth with shark's teeth inserted, one with lipstick around his lips, and the one she admitted to for the PDN piece with the lighting from the bottom giving him the diabolical look. American Digest explains a bit about "outtakes." It's a question, you see, of the disposition of all the McCain "out-takes" from this shoot. Out-takes are images taken of a subject at a photo shoot that are not used for publication by the client commissioning them. Typically, when you hire a photographer for a shoot -- and I have hired dozens over the years -- the photographer delivers all the film or digital images taken to the editor and art director for their review and selection. In a professional shoot these can easily be dozens if not hundreds of images. But there seems to have been a "leakage" of some images between Jill Greenberg and her clients at the Atlantic. How intentional this is, how much the staff of The Atlantic colluded or did not collude with Ms Greenberg I have no way of knowing just yet. But at this moment Ms. Greenberg is displaying on her website (Hit refresh to cause the page to cycle) the following images which can only be based on out takes from the Senator McCain / Atlantic Monthly photo session: You can also see a full spectrum of Greenberg's manipulated photos at ImageBam. Whether The Atlantic was irresponsible for hiring Greenberg, as she stated she believed they might be, is a matter of opinion, but reading the full American digest article about this topic shows the owner of The Atlantic's wife, Katherine Brittain Bradley, is "on record in one instance for $28,500.00 to committees supporting Barack Obama," which has many questioning if The Atlantic deliberately chose Greenberg, not despite her bias but because of it. Readers can decide for themselves. .

Tina Fey Plays Sarah Palin On Saturday Night Live Posted: 14 Sep 2008 09:38 AM CDT Olympic Gold medalist and record breaker Michael Phelps hosted the SNL show on Saturday night and Tina Fey and Amy Poehler stated the show with a five minute skit with Fey playing Sarah Palin and Poehler playing a bitter angry Hillary Clinton. Political Radar reports that Palin watched the show aboard her plane. Previous: Saturday Night Live 'Likely' To Cast Tina Fey As Sarah Palin .

America The Beautiful: Our Hallowed Common Ground Posted: 13 Sep 2008 10:26 PM CDT I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." ------------------------------------------------------- A note from Radarsite: This is an article which, up until a few days ago, I would have thought it impossible to write. But, even at my age, life is - or should be -- a continuing learning experience. That is what these last few days have been for me. This election cycle has been one of the most contentious in my long memory. Never have the two sides, the Republicans and the Democrats, the conservatives and the liberals, been separated by such an unbridgeable gulf. Exasperated by the controversial and divisive war in Iraq, our conflicting visions for the future of this country of ours have grown seemingly irreconcilable. That is, almost irreconcilable. Two unhappy events occurred over these last several days which, by exhibiting a blatant disregard for the inherent patriotism of the American people, or an utter contempt for human decency, seemed to have had a major impact on a lot of Americans, Democratic Americans and Republican Americans, conservative Americans and liberal Americans. This is not going to be a rehashing of those inglorious events, but rather a commentary on the lessons learned from observing the reactions of those affected by them. The first concerns the disgraceful treatment of those 12,000 American flags at the Democratic National Convention in Denver "After the Hoopla, Contempt of Country". The immediate reactions to this huge political blunder from the folks at the Hillary Clinton Forum, and from the Obama people at the Democratic underground, marked the beginning of my reassessment of my unqualified Us versus Them mentality. I followed up that original article with two more just to treat these disparities. Here is an excerpt from one of them: Democratic Trash: The Story That Just Won't Go Away > Till now, I must confess, I hadn't really appreciated the differences between these two Democratic factions. But I certainly do now. As much as I disagree with their candidate's vision of America and where they would want to bring this country, the Hillary Dems seem to have exhibited a strong sense of sincerity and humanity. They have stepped up to the plate and accepted responsibility for what has turned out to be a major strategic blunder -- even though it was more the responsibility of the Obama Camp to control the images that came out of that Obama Celebration. And how do the Obama people react to their own revealing anti-patriotic blunders? They react with viciousness and anger. They call on their attack dogs to do their work. Cynical, manipulative, their only concern is in discrediting the source. No responsibility. No embarrassment. No concern for how their obvious disregard for patriotism may look to the average American. To me, this whole episode has been an education. This is what an Obama Presidency would offer. A Democratic redux of the Nixon years, with all of that petty hatred and viciousness, and with a whole new Enemies' List. This, my friends, is a clear and unadulterated view of the Obama Camp, and it is both enlightening and disgusting. The second, and much greater outrage came from the 9/11 cartoon printed in the Daily Kos. In response to this article, once again the comments came pouring into Radarsite. Democrats writing in to condemn this outrage and the traitorous website that published it. One after another clearly and unequivocally distanced themselves from The Daily Kos and all that this despicable entity represents. Not surprisingly, many of these angry Democrats came to us from HCF. Here are a few of their comments: Please, do not think that this sickeningly offensive site or the deplorable content truly represent the Democratic party, because they do not; at least not the Democratic party to which I have been a life-long member. Every group, every party contains extremists who do not represent the views of the majority of that group, and such is the Daily Kos. They speak only for themselves and not for all Democrats. Most of us deplore this as much as those on the right. Perhaps if we could manage to get rid of the extremists in both parties, we could finally find common ground in our love of this country. Because whether you believe it or not, we love America as much as you do.. And: I am a member of HCF and I am grateful for your article exposing the "obama supporters" and seeing that not all of us are like that.There are many of us democrats who do not support obama and are disgusted with the vile things some obama supporters say. I place country over party. This *new democratic party*, nor their "selected candidate" represent me, and I am fully in support of Senator McCain and Gov. Palin. McCain/Palin brought integrity back and many of us democrats do support them. Country first And on and on -- And from the Obama camp? From the Democrat Underground? Not a word. So what, then, are the lessons learned from all that has happened in these last few days? All in all, I believe this is a strong transendent and most welcome message of hope, hope for our country, for our beautiful America. And hope for those of us who have been all but consumed by the powerful partisan politics of this important election. And also, perhaps this is a message for our enemies; one that they would be wise to heed. Despite the visible rancor and the name-calling, despite the major ideological differences between our two parties, we are first and foremost Americans. Quite simply, we love our country. And God help those who seek to bring this great nation down. We are, after all is said and done, like a family, a family who has been disrupted by our differences and who have said things about each other that we may have regretted. But down deep, despite all the bitterness and anger, we know that we are still a family. And if you threaten this family, this fine family of ours, if you make the mistake of assuming that our differences have weakened our resolve to defend ourselves, then you have made a fateful blunder. In short, I want to thank all of you out there who have contributed your comments in support of our shared values. You have made me proud of all America. - rg

Bill Clinton Meets With 'Vast Right Wing Conspiracy' Financier Posted: 13 Sep 2008 03:24 PM CDT On Thursday of last week Bill Clinton met with Barack Obama and made a public statement that Obama would "win and win handily," referring to the November elections. On Wednesday Bill Clinton was meeting with a man called "the vast right wing conspiracy." Barack Obama and Bill Clinton made a public appearance together after sitting down in Harlem for a takeout lunch and a two hour conversation. Then Clinton smiled at the cameras and said, "I predict that Sen. Obama will win and win handily," as the LA Times reports. All forgiven or on the way to being forgiven for the tough talk during the hard fought primaries between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Or so it seems. The day before that publicized meeting between Clinton and Obama, a Clinton associate tells Fox News, that Richard Mellon Scaife, was meeting with Bill Clinton at the former president's Harlem Global Initiative office. Scaife is the principal heir to the Mellon banking, oil, and aluminum fortune and known for his financial support to conservative organizations and owns the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Scaife, once called the "Funding Father Of the Right, by Washington Post in 1999, spent millions of dollars to "unearth damaging information" regarding Bill Clinton during his presidential term. Scaife, 76, gave at least $1.8 million to various conservative outlets, principally The American Spectator magazine, to "unearth damaging information about" Clinton. The Spectator published original stories on then-Gov. Bill Clinton's alleged use of Arkansas state troopers to obtain women for consensual sexual encounters with Clinton. Scaife bankrolled other efforts that led to investigations of the 1993 suicide of former deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster and the Clintons' real estate investment known as Whitewater. These stories led to congressional inquiries and set in motion the creation of an independent counsel. According to an associate of Bill Clinton there was shock at seeing "the vast right wing conspiracy walk right past you and into Clinton's office." The Fox report says the meeting between Scaife and Clinton was requested by Scaife to " discuss Clinton's global initiative work" and discuss possible joint efforts on projects. This is not the first time the Clinton's seemed to be getting cozy with Scaife as NewsWeek shows us back in 2007 where surprise was expressed about the Clinton's meeting with what was called their "archenemy,", with NewsWeek stating it was "unusual, if not plain weird," and speculated that the Clinton's were embracing Scaife because he could help Hillary Clinton in her quest to win the Democratic Presidential candidate spot where Scaife actually ended up endorsing Hillary Clinton as World Net Daily reported in January of 2008. Politics does, indeed, make strange bedfellows. One has to wonder if all is truly forgiven between Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and if not, Obama should be a tad worried right about now. H/T Moderate Voice. .

John McCain Takes The Lead On RCP Electoral Map Posted: 13 Sep 2008 01:23 PM CDT The numbers change as the different state polls are conducted and the results come in, but today the Real Clear Politics Electoral Map shows that John McCain has taken the lead. John McCain- 227 Barack Obama- 217 Toss Ups- 94 The numbers have changed in part because of states like Florida which now has been moved from the toss up category to the leaning McCain category as McCain takes the lead in three out of four Florida polls this week with the fourth showing a tie. Obama can still win Florida despite the polling gains McCain has made since naming Sarah Palin his running mate, and there is no sign Obama is pulling back in Florida yet. Far from it. Obama allies say he has about 350 paid staffers in the state and about 50 field offices, including in places not known as fertile ground for Democrats, such as Sun City Center, Lake City and Sebring. But for all the attention to Florida from the Obama campaign, there's little tangible evidence it's paying off. He is farther behind in the state than John Kerry was at this point in 2004, even though McCain began buying Florida TV ads only last week. By this time in 2004, the Bush-Cheney campaign had spent $13-million on Florida TV. In the rolling average of Florida polls compiled by the Web site RealClearPolitics.com, Obama has never taken the lead over McCain in Florida, and the latest average shows him behind by 5 percentage points. They were tied in early August. Four Florida polls came out this week, with one showing a tied race, the others showing McCain leading by 5 to 8 percentage points. Barack Obama seems to be in a freefall while John Mccain is rising higher. This in no way suggests the race is over, in politics things can change on a dime, so getting cocky would be making the same mistake the Obama campaign made when they thought they couldn't lose. With that said, Democrats are reported to be in a panic with no idea how to turn things around. Many Democratic bloggers and pundits are trying to convince members of the far left extreme fringe to stop attacking Sarah Palin personally, but just as they ignored Barack Obama when he told them to "back off" they are ignoring the advice of the moderate Democrats as Stop The ACLU show, as well. The latest gaffe from Team Obama with their ad criticizing John McCain for his not being computer savvy has once again shown that just like the extreme fringe of the left, team Obama is also flailing blindly and making rookie mistakes that are backfiring against Obama, as Top of the Ticket shows. (Video ad from Obama campaign discussed in yesterday's piece, found here) If Obama loses in November, it will not only be his team or his inability to run effectively against McCain/Palin, in large part he will have no one to blame except his extreme left supporters. For that, conservatives everywhere may be able to say thanks to sites like Daily Kos and other far left liberals and the media, after November, for all their help in rallying the American pubic, women and men as well as Independents and moderates, squarely behind McCain/Palin. .

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