Thoughts From The Front Porch

There is an underground movement of people who want Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin to begin a process of running for President in 2012.  They cite that she is a breath of fresh air for the United States and particularly for the Republican Party.

I am not one of those people.

The Republican Party, especially frontliners like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, etc., doesn't get it. America is not embracing the Kool-Aid. We do not want government according to the far right extreme wing of the Republican Party. Americans proved in the November 4 election that they are not willing to hold their noses while swallowing the far right rogue agenda of Sarah Palin.

The diviseness and outright LYING that she produced during the campaign was shocking, sad, and unfortunately some of the same old, tired, negative campaigning that the Republicans have made into an art-form under the teaching of Yoda, a.k.a. Karl Rove. 

Ms. Palin lied through her teeth. She reminded me of a used tire salesman who once said to me, "these tires will last you for months," only to see them peel in the summer sun within two weeks.  She's divisive with a degree of racism that is strong enough to be suggestive and she plays the "white female politician" role well - verbalizing lies and innuendo and when called on it, shrugs her shoulders and never apologizes, never explains, and in fact, claims white priviledge.

If the Republicans dare try to put her up against President Obama in 2012, it will be a bloodbath that will make 2008 look like a kindergarten class. She will go as far as necessary, do what's necessary, say what's necessary (including uses of the n-word in private) in order to sharpen and strengthen her ties with the neo-cons of the Party. Look for her to stop having hands laid upon her by African evangelists. No, she seeks the laying on of hands by Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, James Dobson, and if she could get to the Reagan National Tomb, she would reach into the coffin and pull out Ronald Reagan's decomposed hand and lay it on her head for the "anointing."

She's cartoonish at best. And it's time children to turn the TV to another channel.

My heart is so full. As an African-American, whose parents were brought to this country in chains, worked the fields in Louisiana, migrated to the west coast, my eyes are swollen from the tears to learn of the election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. There has not been a groundswell of support from people of diverse races and social strata since the lifetimes of Bobby and Jack Kennedy. Barack Obama's election was not just because of a black turnout or a white turnout or a brown turnout - it was a true strata of this nation of all backgrounds, all regions that pulled the lever for Barack Obama. One of the best speeches I've heard from John McCain was given tonight in his defeat. He gave one of the best concession speeches in memory.

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES - Barack Obama, IL

VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES - Joe Biden, DE

WORST CAMPAIGN BY A REPUBLICAN IN THE PAST 50 YEARS - John McCain, AZ

WHO AM I, WHY AM I HERE? AWARD WINNER - Sarah Palin, AK

BEST COMMENTARY OF THE POLITICAL SEASON - Keith Oblermann, MSNBC

WORST USE OF FUNDS DURING A RECESSION - Republican National Committee for clothes purchased for Sarah Palin

MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED FROM THE UNION - Alaska

WORST ADVOCATE FOR JOHN McCAIN - Dr. James David Manning, Harlem, NY

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE SPOOFING WORST POLITICIANS FROM ALASKA - Tina Fey, Saturday Night Live

BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUME - The Political Committee directing John McCain's run at the presidency.

NOT READY FOR PRIME TIME PLAYERS - Sarah Palin and anyone else whose last name is Palin.

BEST CANDIDATE FOR A HEART ATTACK ON NOVEMBER 5 - Rush Limbaugh, EIB

WHO WE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE AS THE REPUBLICAN V.P. PICK - Tracey Morgan, NBC

WHO WE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE AS THE DEMOCRATIC V.P. PICK - Yosemite Sam, Looney Tunes

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER - Hair Club for Men

MOST VALUABLE LAND MASS - Russia (as seen from the front porch of Sarah Palin)

TELEVISION PROGRAM THAT WE WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE INTERRUPTED BY OBAMA SPEECH - Spongebob Squarepants

BEST IMITATOR OF PATRICK THE SPONGE FROM SPONGEBOB - Joe Leibermann, CT

BEST POLITICAL TEAM ON TELEVISION - The View, ABC

WINNER OF THE ELIZABETH HASSELBACK AWARD FOR STUPIDITY IN BROADCASTING - Elizabeth Hasselback, ABC

MOVED FROM THE RELEVANT TO THE WHO CARES COLUMN - Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr., IL

MAINTAINED HIS INTEGRITY AND RELEVANCE TO THE BLACK COMMUNITY - Al Sharpton, NY

WHO SHOULD RUN IN 2012 - Barack Obama (DEM), James Garner (REP - The real Maverick)

LOOKING FOR A NEW DAY JOB WINNER - Cynthia McKinney, Green Party Candidate for President

CHARLESTON HESTON AWARD FOR GUN TOTING UNDER STRESS - The Citizens of Small towns, clutching onto their guns for dear life

BEST WRITTEN COMMENTARY ON THE ELECTION BY THE PERSON TYPING THIS LIST - Robert Earl Houston, Sr., TN

Today, someone sent me a copy of a "prophecy" and "warning" to the nation regarding the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States of America. I have alot of problems with so-called "prophecies" about Obama. First off, the Republicans are really trying to throw up anything that will scare off the public from what has become obvious - Obama is going to win. I repeat - they have gone from questioning his citizenship (question: how could he have been a US Senator if he wasn't?) to this morning's "revelation" that a half-aunt is an illegal immigrant after they touted Tito the Builder without checking on his own citizenship status.

Republicans are not on the Good Ship H.M.S. John McCain, they are on the Titanic and the song "Nearer My God To Thee" is being played by the quintet on the deck. They've circulated prophecies from unknown quantities (who in the hell is Steve Foss?????) as if Jesus were talking himself. These same right-wing, ignorants never said a word about President Bush.

Where were the prophets of doom and gloom when 9/11 occurred - and wasn't that George W. Bush's "test" of his leadership when he became President? Where were these spiritualists when the country entered into the Bush Doctrine (attack them before we get attacked)? Where were these sanctified liars when Bush authorized torture and waterboarding and other things that we'll probably not live long enough to learn about?

The religious right is, in a term of my hood, "two faced." They will storm the gates of hell against abortion but they don't care about the born, the elderly, the poor, the naked, the suffering and oppressed. The right wing crowd has been silent on Rwanda, crime in the cities, the black prison population issue, the inequal sentencing that sends black men to prison more likely than white, anti-immigration policies against people of color entering this country but it's ok for Europeans to walk across the border.

Further, Focus on the (white) Family's (led by James Dobson) letter from 2012 is an insult to our collective intelligence. James Dobson was dead against John McCain until the little white princess, Sarah Palin, showed up. Now, it's all about McCain and Dobson cloaks his racial hatred of Obama and people of color in general (by the way - how many people of color sit on the Board of Focus on the Family?) with this prophetical diatribe of horse manure. James Dobson's disconsiderations of black people even go back to when one of his on-air personalities criticized E.V. Hill for "raising his voice" at his wife's funeral. Dobson, in my view, is a bigot in a preacher robe - who doesn't pastor a congregation, but sits in a Colorado ivory tower to dispense "white evangelical" mantras.

When this election is over, sadly, it will not be over. I expect the Republicans and the stupid right wing will start immediately to work on 2012 with Sarah Palin as one of the key players, and that process will begin November 5, 2008. They will nit-pick everything that President Obama is going to do and they will even suggest his assassination as "the will of God." One of their black mouthpieces, James David Manning, said on a recent broadcast that Obama will be assassinated shortly after the November 4 election.

This election has been the ugliest in the history of our nation. But when it's all said and done, no matter if it's four years or 14 seconds, Barack Obama will be our President.

He was methodical. He was careful. He was measured. He showed no emotion. No, I'm not referring to the calm demeanor of Barack Obama in the last debate with John McCain - I'm speaking of the endorsement of Senator Obama by General Colin Powell on Sunday's NBC Meet The Press. Few people ahve been able to articulate the reasonings for voting for Senator Obama with such style and grace. Below is a transcript of that endorsement. MR. BROKAW: General Powell, actually you gave a campaign contribution to Senator McCain. You have met twice at least with Barack Obama. Are you prepared to make a public declaration of which of these two candidates that you're prepared to support? GEN. POWELL: Yes, but let me lead into it this way. I know both of these individuals very well now. I've known John for 25 years as your setup said. And I've gotten to know Mr. Obama quite well over the past two years. Both of them are distinguished Americans who are patriotic, who are dedicated to the welfare of our country. Either one of them, I think, would be a good president. I have said to Mr. McCain that I admire all he has done. I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it, but that's a choice the party makes. And I've said to Mr. Obama, "You have to pass a test of do you have enough experience, and do you bring the judgment to the table that would give us confidence that you would be a good president." And I've watched him over the past two years, frankly, and I've had this conversation with him. I have especially watched over the last six of seven weeks as both of them have really taken a final exam with respect to this economic crisis that we are in and coming out of the conventions. And I must say that I've gotten a good measure of both. In the case of Mr. McCain, I found that he was a little unsure as to deal with the economic problems that we were having and almost every day there was a different approach to the problem. And that concerned me, sensing that he didn't have a complete grasp of the economic problems that we had. And I was also concerned at the selection of Governor Palin. She's a very distinguished woman, and she's to be admired; but at the same time, now that we have had a chance to watch her for some seven weeks, I don't believe she's ready to be president of the United States, which is the job of the vice president. And so that raised some question in my mind as to the judgment that Senator McCain made. On the Obama side, I watched Mr. Obama and I watched him during this seven-week period. And he displayed a steadiness, an intellectual curiosity, a depth of knowledge and an approach to looking at problems like this and picking a vice president that, I think, is ready to be president on day one. And also, in not just jumping in and changing every day, but showing intellectual vigor. I think that he has a, a definitive way of doing business that would serve us well. I also believe that on the Republican side over the last seven weeks, the approach of the Republican Party and Mr. McCain has become narrower and narrower. Mr. Obama, at the same time, has given us a more inclusive, broader reach into the needs and aspirations of our people. He's crossing lines--ethnic lines, racial lines, generational lines. He's thinking about all villages have values, all towns have values, not just small towns have values. And I've also been disappointed, frankly, by some of the approaches that Senator McCain has taken recently, or his campaign ads, on issues that are not really central to the problems that the American people are worried about. This Bill Ayers situation that's been going on for weeks became something of a central point of the campaign. But Mr. McCain says that he's a washed-out terrorist. Well, then, why do we keep talking about him? And why do we have these robocalls going on around the country trying to suggest that, because of this very, very limited relationship that Senator Obama has had with Mr. Ayers, somehow, Mr. Obama is tainted. What they're trying to connect him to is some kind of terrorist feelings. And I think that's inappropriate. Now, I understand what politics is all about. I know how you can go after one another, and that's good. But I think this goes too far. And I think it has made the McCain campaign look a little narrow. It's not what the American people are looking for. And I look at these kinds of approaches to the campaign and they trouble me. And the party has moved even further to the right, and Governor Palin has indicated a further rightward shift. I would have difficulty with two more conservative appointments to the Supreme Court, but that's what we'd be looking at in a McCain administration. I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. He's always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, "He's a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists." This is not the way we should be doing it in America. I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards--Purple Heart, Bronze Star--showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I'm troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions. So, when I look at all of this and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now? Which is the individual that serves the needs of the nation for the next period of time? And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities--and we have to take that into account--as well as his substance--he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama. MR. BROKAW: Will you be campaigning for him as well? GEN. POWELL: I don't plan to. Two weeks left, let them go at each other in the finest tradition. But I will be voting for him. MR. BROKAW: I can already anticipate some of the reaction to this. Let's begin with the charge that John McCain has continued to make against Barack Obama. You sit there, as a man who served in Vietnam, you commanded a battalion of 101st, you were chairman of the Joint Chiefs, you were a national security adviser and secretary of state. There is nothing in Barack Obama's history that nearly paralyze any--parallels any of the experiences that you've had. And while he has performed impressively in the context of the campaign, there's a vast difference between sitting in the Oval Office and making tough decisions and doing well in a campaign. GEN. POWELL: And he knows that. And I have watched him over the last two years as he has educated himself, as he has become very familiar with these issues. He speaks authoritatively. He speaks with great insight into the challenges we're facing of a military and political and economic nature. And he is surrounding himself, I'm confident, with people who'll be able to give him the expertise that he, at the moment, does not have. And so I have watched an individual who has intellectual vigor and who dives deeply into issues and approaches issues with a very, very steady hand. And so I'm confident that he will be ready to take on these challenges on January 21st.

On Wednesday, October 8, 2008 at 1:00 p.m., I did something that my parents couldn't do. I did something that my parents' parents couldn't do. I did something that my foreparents, who were brought to this land in chains, settled in Louisiana and Tennessee (coincidentally, "Old Hickory" Andrew Jackson owned members of my maternal family and assumed the last name of Jackson). I was able to step into a voting booth and select "BARACK OBAMA" for President of the United States of America.

I left the polling booth with a tear in my eye.

No, I didn't vote for Obama because he was black. If that was the case, Shirley Chisholm would have gotten my vote. If that were the case, Cynthia McKinney would have gotten my vote. Barack Obama received my vote because this nation needs a smart, intelligent, measured, confident, mobile, agile leader after the eight years of George W. Bush. The old Ronald Reagan line is appropriate here: "Are you better off that you were four years ago?" Can I amplify this? We I walked into the voter booth the question I asked myself, "Am I better off than I was eight years ago?" And then I pressed the button for Barack Obama.

I took seven questions into that voting booth -

Who can improve this wretched economy?  BARACK OBAMA.
Who can inspire my son and my future grandchildren to pursue the American Dream? BARACK OBAMA
Who can repair the image of the "Ugly American" around the world? BARACK OBAMA
Who can be trusted to pay attention to the average American and not just the rich? BARACK OBAMA
Who can make an impact on the nation if, God forbid, the President dies in office and the nation is left into the hands of their vice president? BARACK OBAMA
Who has campaigned like a President, looks like a President, talks like a President, and has demonstrated intelligence? BARACK OBAMA
Who has taken hits within his own party and in the general election and still has not allowed the process to deter this destiny? BARACK OBAMA

I am sure that there are people who feel as passionately about the McCain-Palin ticket. But today, Ms. Palin opened her mouth and said that anyone who opposes McCain-Palin are "un-American." And that's why I believe my choice was correct - BARACK OBAMA.

God bless America.

This is hilarious. A friend sent this to me after reading a story on YouTube that Dr. James David Manning, controversial pastor of the Atlah Church in Harlem, NY is in negotiations to meet with Presidential Candidate John McCain in secret. Apparently McCain is considering meeting with Manning in an official capacity and bringing Manning in as a Presidential Advisor. God help us . . .

No comment necessary - this video says it all!!

Well, "Miss Winky" - I guess people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. While Ms. Palin was on a tear of trying to associate 8 year old Barry Obama to the Weather Underground, she forgot a little financial scandal of John McCain's:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Monday will launch a multimedia campaign to draw attention to the involvement of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the “Keating Five” savings-and-loan scandal of 1989-91, which blemished McCain’s public image and set him on his course as a self-styled reformer.

Retaliating for what it calls McCain's “guilt-by-association” tactics, the Obama campaign is e-mailing millions of supporters a link to a website, KeatingEconomics.com, which will have a 13-minute documentary on the scandal beginning at noon Eastern time on Monday. The overnight e-mails urge recipients to pass the link on to friends.

The Obama campaign, including its surrogates appearing on radio and television, will argue that the deregulatory fervor that caused massive, cascading savings-and-loan collapses in the late ‘80s was pursued by McCain throughout his career, and helped cause the current credit crisis.

Obama-Biden communications director Dan Pfeiffer said: “While John McCain may want to turn the page on his erratic response to the current economic crisis, we think voters will find his involvement in a similar crisis to be particularly interesting. His involvement with Keating is a window into McCain’s economic past, present, and future.”

Obama’s offensive comes after McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, spent two days telling voters, donors and reporters that Obama showed poor judgment in his relationship with the former radical William Ayers.

McCain’s campaign has vowed to make a major issue of Obama’s Chicago relationships in coming days, with a senior McCain official telling Politico that they are “the vehicle that allows us to question Obama’s truthfulness about his past and his plans for the future.”

The McCain campaign also plans to invoke money launderer Tony Rezko. Officials say they will not bring up Obama's former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, because McCain has forbade his campaign from using that as an attack. But the officials said outside groups supporting McCain might highlight Wright.

Responding to the Keating blast from the past, a Republican official said the Obama team seemed "frantic" at "the mere mention of the word 'Ayers.'"

“The fact that the Obama team is recycling this old garbage 24 hours after Bill Ayers entered the race is a testament to how worried the Obama camp is of an unfettered airing of his associations," the official said. "Obama is a clever enough politician to know that his unexplored relationships with terrorists and felons are a serious liability in a race this close.”

The Obama website says: “The current economic crisis demands that we understand John McCain's attitudes about economic oversight and corporate influence in federal regulation. ... The Keating scandal is eerily similar to today's credit crisis, where a lack of regulation and cozy relationships between the financial industry and Congress has allowed banks to make risky loans and profit by bending the rules.”

In 1991, the Senate Ethics Committee cleared McCain of corruption charges but cited him for “poor judgment” in meeting with federal regulators on behalf of Charles H. Keating Jr., a political patron who went to prison for fraud in connection with the collapse of the California-based Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, which at the time was one of the biggest financial failures in the nation’s history.

A trailer for the campaign-produced documentary features William K. Black, a former bank regulator who McCain met with in the Keating case, saying: “The Keating Five involved all the things that have brought the modern crisis. Senator McCain has not learned the lesson, and has continued to follow policies that are going to produce a disaster.”

The Obama website has news clips and a narrative explaining the scandal and McCain’s involvement for voters and reporters.

The Keating episode took a searing toll on the senator and his wife, Cindy. Robert Timberg, in his 1999 biography “John McCain: An American Odyssey,” wrote that the trouble began with the senator “carelessly choosing his friends.”

“McCain had stumbled into a scandal of immense proportions,” Timberg wrote. “Charles Keating, it turned out, had built his financial empire on the life savings of elderly retirees, men and women who watched helplessly as their dreams were snuffed out along with the assets of Keating’s Lincoln Savings and Loan Association.

“The story was complicated, but the press found a tag line that simplified it. McCain and four other senators with ties to Keating were dubbed ‘the Keating Five.’ The label stuck, imputing to all the same degree of guilt even though it soon became evident that at least two, McCain and former astronaut John Glenn of Ohio, were far less culpable, if they were culpable at all.”

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), a close Obama adviser who is the fourth-ranking House Democratic leader, brought up McCain’s association with Keating on CNN’s “Late Edition” on Sunday. “John McCain got admonished by the Senate Ethics Committee for that,” Emanuel said.