Comments on: Obama played hardball in Chicago … so?

By: MarkTheGreat

MarkTheGreat — Fri, 30 May 2008 10:46:17 +0000

What happened to “let every vote count”?

By: Blog-o-Fascists

Blog-o-Fascists — Fri, 30 May 2008 02:30:37 +0000

With Friends Like These…

Riehl World View

Via Jim Geraghty at The Campaign Spot citing Oba-messiah’s voter suppression effort in his first primary:He said the Obama team challenged every single one of his petitions on what Askia called “technicalities.”

If names were pri…

By: Rational Thought

Rational Thought — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:27:24 +0000

It’s an issue because it tells us Barack Obama is a ruthless, power-hungry politician who would rather knock out his opposition than compete in the marketplace of ideas. It tells us that he’s pretty darn sure that if he has to share his genuine vision with the voters, they won’t vote for him unless there’s no one else running. That seems to run counter to the cuddly, change-y guy we’re being sold.

By: EJDolbow

EJDolbow — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:21:41 +0000

If Democrats claim you do not need an official ID to vote, how can they claim you must have signatures on a petition?

By: Steve Tsouloufis

Steve Tsouloufis — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:34:34 +0000

The problem isn’t that Obama played and plays hardball in politics; it’s that he is such a hypocrite in that he says he is for reforming politics, reaching across the aisle, “hope”, “change”, blah, blah, blah. He’s nothing more than a political hack who has been given a HUGE pass by most of the media. Glad to see CNN taking notice how ordinary Obama is, and how little involvement he has ever had in “bringing people together”.

By: Buy Danish

Buy Danish — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:28:51 +0000

Or if Kevin Spacey will make a movie about it: “Discount”

MayBee on May 29, 2008 at 3:10 PM

You mean “Recount”? :)

funky chicken on May 29, 2008 at 3:07 PM

Thanks – one more item for my Obama file!

By: Steve Z

Steve Z — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:26:31 +0000

Obama in 1996: Nyaa Nyaa, I win, you’re not on the ballot!

Obama in 2008: BWAHAHAHAAA! Don’t count Michigan, I wasn’t on the ballot!

Having it both ways–priceless.

By: Diogenes of Sinope

Diogenes of Sinope — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:24:50 +0000

Ed, you’re 100% correct… but ya gotta admit it does tarnish the halo he keeps trying to adorn himself with.

By: NeighborhoodCatLady

NeighborhoodCatLady — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:18:20 +0000

What’s one more instance of hypocrisy among friends?

I’ve seen so much Obama hypocrisy that I no longer believe anything he says. If he said, “Good morning,” I’d go outside and check where the sun is, and still get a second opinion.

By: Kafir

Kafir — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:06:37 +0000

Chicago’s Better Government Association.

The moment you think you’ve completed your list of completely ineffective things….

By: bikermailman

bikermailman — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:00:02 +0000

Like Ed, I have no problem with this, in and of itself. IIRC, however, Palmer had given Obama a leg up earlier on, and this is what he repaid her with. Again, hardball politics, no biggie. But, the agent of Hope! and Change!? Or, JAFP*?

/Just Another Frakkin’ Politician

By: John_Locke

John_Locke — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:57:30 +0000

It’s not the fact that he challenged them and took them off the ballot. It’s the fact that this means he’s ultimately even more inexperienced than we thought. This means what, that he’s had like one election?

We’re screwed.

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:56:56 +0000

Gilda on May 29, 2008 at 3:50 PM funky chicken on May 29, 2008 at 3:07 PM

Atlas Shrugs picked up the New Party story. 1996, Obama Ran on Marxist Party Line

By: rbj

rbj — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:13 +0000

How DO you get the signatures of dead people, anyway?

JimK on May 29, 2008 at 3:22 PM

Ghost Writers

right2bright on May 29, 2008 at 3:40 PM

LOL to both JimK and right2bright!

I guess as long as the living-challenged Chicagoans still have the right to vote it is ok to knock them off the petitions. The life-impaired have rights too!

By: Gilda

Gilda — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:50:14 +0000

funky chicken on May 29, 2008 at 3:07 PM

Stanley Kurtz has a very interesting article about Obama's association with the group Acorn, which also mentions the "New Party."

By: Big S

Big S — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:46:15 +0000

Well, I hate to break it to people, but the rules required signatures, not printed names.

I know plenty of people who have boring signatures, which bear an eerily close resemblance to their printed handwriting. I also know plenty of people with signatures that consist of a squiggle and a line, with no actual letters. Why should the latter be more valid than the former?

By: acat

acat — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:44:12 +0000

The only places this may have legs are:

1) Rural environments where everyone knows everyone else. (who needs signatures?)

2) Superdelegates who want someone just as much a “junkyard dog” as Hillary. (clearly Obama knows how to play hardball…)

Neither matter significantly overall.

Mew

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:43:37 +0000

By: cntrlfrk

cntrlfrk — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:43:36 +0000

manchurian candidate.

slick

By: Connie

Connie — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:43:21 +0000

funky chicken on May 29, 2008 at 3:07 PM

I caught that there yesterday. Has it been around the Net yet?
Obama has so many questionable acquaintances, one begins to lose track og them all.

By: Seixon

Seixon — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:42:27 +0000

As soon as Obama signs on to voter ID requirements, then maybe this will seem like something other than political opportunism.

By: wise_man

wise_man — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:40:49 +0000

… and I guaran-damn-tee you all that if McCain or any other republican would have played some kind of trick to get their rivals pushed out of the race so that they could run unopposed. You can bet your last dollar that the democrats would “see the issue.” The Huffington Post would make that story their front page lead.

(and it would get linked here so everyone would talk about it.)

By: right2bright

right2bright — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:40:29 +0000

How DO you get the signatures of dead people, anyway?

JimK on May 29, 2008 at 3:22 PM

Ghost Writers

By: Lehosh

Lehosh — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:34:35 +0000

Congratulations Obama. If only the rest of your party was as concerned about fraud as they are about “disenfranchised voters”… i.e. criminals, foreign nationals, and the living dead.

By: wise_man

wise_man — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:33:57 +0000

As a community organizer, he had helped register thousands of new voters. But when it came time to run for office, he employed Chicago rules to invalidate the voting petition signatures of three of his challengers The move denied each of them, including incumbent Alice Palmer, a longtime Chicago activist, a place on the ballot. It cleared the way for Obama to run unopposed on the Democratic ticket in a heavily Democrat district.

The founding fathers would be so proud of Barack Obama. He is an empty suit in many matters, but a very smart lawyer. Why run against political opponents when you can just knock them out and silence their supporters, and run unopposed.

Can Obama disenfranchise democrat voters?

Yes he can.