"You lie!" + Kanye outburst

Seriously, watching this made me laugh for the first time today.

Lame duckitudeness

Via Slate:

Obama's latest fundraising records

According to the Obama campaign, they received contributions from 632,000 new donors in September. That puts the entire fundraising total to more than $605 million, with an average of $86 per person.  

Surprisingly, the two biggest groups that have given donations are the retirees and students. Students!? Young people!? Take that, John Stossel! 

Happy Filipino American History Month!

No, we don't get a day off, but at least Obama's aides are keeping up with all the obscure holidays, celebrations, memorials, etc. 

Obama on Filipino American History Month: 

Filipino Americans have participated in the triumphs and struggles along our road to a more perfect union, from farm workers who helped found the United Farmworkers Union, to the soldiers who fought bravely in World War II, to the thousands of nurses who have saved and improved countless lives, Filipino Americans are an integral part of our country. That’s why I support policies that will honor your sacrifices, like the Filipino Veterans Equity Act.

Read the entire letter. 

So what is Senator Obama's record on the issue of Filipino Veterans? 

He really is committed bringing equity to the Filipino Veterans issues: As a member of the Senate Veteran Affairs Commitee, he co-sponsored the Filipino Veterans Equity Act. It was approved by the Senate, 96-1. 

Although there is a lot of latent racism in the Filipino and Filipino-American community, especially among our own parents and grandparents, I really hope they will look past that and see his compassion for the Filipino community. Check out the Filipino Americans for Obama blog for more. 

Colin Powell on Meet the Press

For the next few days, cable news is going to be inundated with commentary, analysis, and rolling footage of Colin Powell announcing that he will vote for Barack Obama.  To catch the actualy interview, without the "liberal, media elite bias," watch Meet the Press today on MSNBC at 3pm Pacific time. 

I'm sure it's already on the internet, but make it a lazy Sunday, grab some chips, your dirty robe, and cozy up on the counch in front of the original tube. 

So is this latest high-profile endorsement any good? 

On the not-so-awesome side, his name is associated with the WMD debacle.  On the other hand, he is very decorated, a Republican, and considered a true American by many military families.  I doubt that many average Americans care that Kissinger endorses McCain, or even know who he is. Unlike Colin Powell, the former Secretary State, is a household name. 

This may impact the independent and undecided voters who just want to hear a valid point. Although I'm not well-read on the impact of endorsements on presidential campaigns, Powell's endorsement may go a little further than Ben Affleck's.  Powell has the credentials, he's cool, and an intellectual.  Everyone's tired of all the fluff, the mud-slinging, and lip-stick on pigs.  They just want to hear the gawshdarn truth.  

Obama-Biden Tax Calculator

According to Senator Obama, anyone making less than $250,000 will receive a tax cut.  On his website, you can actually calculate what kind of tax cut you'll be receiving. 

The "Obama-Biden Tax Calculator" calculates.... 

Apparently, I'll have $500 of "Obama tax savings," versus $0 of "McCain tax savings." There was also a note: "Plus, under Obama, you may be eligible for: $4,000 tax credit to pay for college expenses." 

Now it's your turn to play! 

Surprise, surprise

Shocking news: The LA Times endorses Barack Obama for president.

In related news, LC won't reignite her friendship with Heidi unless Spencer shaves his creepy, flesh-colored beard. Yowza!

More Obama

Obama Magazine compiled Obama's front covers. Here are some of my faves: 

Cover Boys and Girls

"He's the biggest celebrity in the world." - Opening line to McCain ad, "Celeb." 

Check out Barack Obama's latest magazine cover.  (Compliments to Obama Magazine.)

I wonder how he feels about "Sex Pistol: The Woman Who Whipped 007" near his face. 

Yeah sure, Obama has celeb status. He recently held a fundraiser in B-Hills with a ton of Hollywood folks.  A-list celebs have been unabashedly supportive of Obama: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson, Scarlett Johannson, George Clooney, and G-O-D herself--Oprah. 

He makes for a good celebrity because he's a photogenic guy. The McCain camp keeps mocking his celeb status but he can't help other people from being attracted to him. The McCain campaign had zero celeb status until they decided to bring on Sarah Palin 

Palin has a sketchy record (Troopergate, the Bridge to Nowhere money, her fundamentalist cred, etc.) but the media, the public that loves her, and even the people who hate her still can't get enough of her. And she's featured on the cover of US Weekely, featured on Vogue, mocked on SNL (touching on her lack of VP qualities and her milfness), the endless blog entries, and inane "news" stories, etc. If that isn't celeb status, then what is?  

And isn't Palin is the biggest celeb-reality star of all the candidates involved.  She's a small-town girl, she has interesting "quirks" (moose-whackin', fundamentalist, secessionist ties, her Tina Fey glasses, etc.), and she's gone from zero to "Hero" overnight. Doesn't that sound like the background of a typical Survivor contestant? 

By the way, didn't McCain appear SNL? Isn't SNL a stop for politicians, in order to yenno, like get regular ol'folk like them, to promote themselves, to look funny and approachable? Kinda like a celebrity? 

Watch John McCain sing Barbara Streisand: 

So why does John McCain choose to attack Obama for his celeb status? Why does being a celebrity have to be a bad thing? Doesn't everyone secretly yearn to become super famous? Is John McCain jealous that Obama is probably higher on the list in terms of celeb status?  

Save the Date(s)!

• September 26: Presidential debate in Oxford, Miss. 
• October 2: Vice Presidential debate in St. Louis, Mo. 
• October 7: Presidential debate in Nashville, Tenn. 
• October 15: Presidential debate in Hempstead, N.Y. 
• November 4: Election Day 
• January 20: Inaugaration Day  

From the preacher to my choir. 

Obama's moolah

One of the bastions of the Liberal Media Elite (TM)--the New York Times--is reporting that the Obama camp raised $66 million dollars in the month of August: 

But almost more important than Mr. Obama’s August total may be the fact that it came partly from a half-million first-time donors, most of them far from having contributed the full $2,300 per person allowed in any general election. 

I think there are two reasons this happened. 

1) Obama gave a hell of a speech at the Democratic National Convention. (And points to Sasha and Malia just for being cute after Michelle Obama's speech--yeah, you know that part won you over too.) 

2) John McCain, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Joe Lieberman, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, and the rest of the 'Country First' brigade pissed off hella people.  

Okay, they're my reasons. 

Yeah, I'm still on a college budget. 

Guess who's joining the bandwagon?

The world wants an Obama-nation. 

Free Cheeseburgers and Beer!

Do you know if you're registered to vote? 

If not, you can check online via the Obama website. 

While you're there, feel free to drop $5.00.  (Seriously, its like the equivalent of one $5 sub at Subway, or one venti latte at Starbucks, or five things from the dollar menu--but this one actually means something.) 

Who they didn't talk about at the RNC: You

Barack Obama makes a great point in the video I'm posting below. We heard a heck of a lot of trash talk about Barack Obama and his community organizing days but they didn't talk about US--US as in the people who are are taking the heat from the sub-prime mortage crisis, people who don't have health insurance, people who are paying hire gas prices, etc.

The speakers at the RNC merely reiterated the modern Republican platform, (which you can easily Wiki at your own leisure,) jeered at Obama's poor resume because apparently all since graduating from college was community organizing, strategically avoided talking about Bush Jr., praised Reagan and all he's done, and chanted "U-S-A" at every chance they could like they were watching Michael Phelps swim for gold.

Everyone is saying it and I'm going to echo it right here: John McCain and company aren't talking about the issues. They're trying to appeal to the person who doesn't really pay attention to politics and pays more attention to ads than anything else for their political information by playing on cultural clues and identities. How many times in the past week and half have we heard "hockey mom," "PTA mom," or "moose hunter"?

Now I'm not trying to poke fun at these kinds of credentials, I mean we all know Theodore Roosevelt was a wild one who enjoyed roughing it out in the wilderness and hunting, and we have him to thank for the Panama Canal.

But seriously, Sarah Palin? She doesn't even have an iota foreign policy experience which her supporters seem to believe. Honestly, her credentials as a hockey mom makes me feel like anyone can be vice president or even the president. Why would we want that? Don't we want someone who understands the common person's problems and aspirations and yet shows exceptional talent for balancing those with problems of the nation as a whole?

Did her time as a governor of Alaska and as a mayor of the town of Wasilla give her the kind of experience that will allow her to make decisions on domestic policy and understand the ramifications they may have on our foreign policy? You can't think about American jobs without thinking about NAFTA or Most Favored Nation Status, AND without thinking about human rights and then the United Nations, and so on and so on and so on.

And given Obama's experience (and Biden's), my confidence will lie with him.

Anyway, here's the video I promised:

Fuming

Sarah Palin, last night at the RNC: 

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

Before throwing away any credibility I have by calling her a quack, I would like to recommend some light reading. 

Go to Amazon or your local library and read Lisa McGirr's Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right.  It is about conservative movement in the 1960s started by community organizers or grassroots activists to get people like Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, oh and Ronald Reagan (who has practically become a god to the RNC zealots) elected into office.

Look, community organizing happens become real, common people are pissed off at the government which keeps screwing them over or is not paying real attention to them.  It is about initiating change from the bottom-up, you know, kind of like the community organizers of the Civil Rights Movement. 

But in Sarah Palin's world, she has more experience than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. because he didn't have real responsibilities.  He only helped organize the community to get them to stand up to racial discrimination and thereby initiating a strong movement against decades and decades of injustice in America towards African Americans.  

I don't even want to get started on the kinds of responsibilities Governor Palin has which makes her so much more qualified than the other candidates.  

 

"Obama doesn't speak good"

The little girl is right. Again.

Obama blog from Oakland International Airport

(Disclaimer: The following is a little random rant about Obama. I should have edited it for more fluidity and comprehensiveness, but I'm too tired. Airports do that to you...)

Did Obama finally get people talking about politics?

The facts are obvious. He’s the first half-Kenyan person to run for president. Unlike the other presumptive Republican candidate, Obama is young, fresh-faced, new, relatively unknown, energetic, and let’s just throw in “in good shape.”

Sitting at Oakland airport waiting for my flight back to L.A., I overheard a mother talking to her young girl, who looks to be about 7 years old. (She still had the cute, high-pitched, inquisitive tone to her voice.)

I began eavesdropping when I heard the little girl saying: “I like Obama even though he doesn’t speak good.” It was altogether cute and profound. Despite her understandably faulty grammar, (I’m sure she meant well) I thought it was just a profound comment, especially from a little girl.

But it is true that children are frighteningly honest and extremely perceptive. They often see things that us adults can no longer see.

Her comment about Obama’s speaking skills is often talked about—but I’ve noticed, not so much by the media. I usually hear it from us laypeople, bloggers, and of course, McCainers. I think the one media exception would be Fox News.

But should quality speaking skills be a major prerequisite for the president?

So back to the story about the mom and the daughter. The mom replied, in such a motherly-love way I should add: “But that’s not what you look for in a president. You look to see what they can do when they’re president, and if they’ll do it.”

And I think the mom is right. What it really comes down to is whether Obama will live up to all his promises. Will the rest of the Democratic party be on board with his proposed plan for change in the White House? He did reform his state legislature—when he was able to get perks cut down, like nice lunches at work (see Saddleback Church interview). It is small, but it is still something. For example, a $50.00 lunch for a senator can also mean a week of groceries for a family of five.

Obama has been doing a lot of talk, but he’s running for president! That’s just what they do. But I think many Obama supporters are putting too much faith in Obama’s words. He says he wants to and that he can change politics as usual in Washington. And he seems serious about doing it. But is it really feasible? Before we all buy an Obama bust for the fireplace mantle, we supporters should understand that its just not that easy. Obama will not be perfect. There never really was and there will probably never be a “perfect president.”

I know the obvious retort to this would be, “got hope?”

I am hopeful he’ll do a good job. But that is the key word: hope.

Only 149 days left!

Drumroll please......

Finally! Fighting Words!

We've been waiting for some real fighting words from the Obama camp. Their new ad, "Seven" isn't on par with the McCain/Britney/Paris ad, but it does send a strong attack against McCain.

Right now, the economy is not just an issue. Its THE issue for many Americans.

Saddleback Church

Saddleback Church is this ginormous church in Orange County. This popular mega-church invited Barack Obama and John McCain for a civil forum.

Both candidates were asked the same questions and both candidates had an hour. I haven't seen the McCain interview yet, but I just started watching the Obama one:




Is it just me, but does his stuttering remind you of a grandpa? Its generally pretty tolerable, but sometimes, you just want to shake the words out of him.