Category: Republicans

Rezko a problem for the GOP also

Posted on by TL

Republicans are salivating with news of Rezko’s conviction. According to the Chicago Tribune, Illinois Republicans opened their state convention vowing to link Governor Blagojevich to all Democrats across the state, including the presumptive Democratic nominee, U.S. Senator Barack Obama. They’re pulling out all the stops, but saying nothing new.

For example, they’re going to run around screaming, “Hussein!” Obama’s middle name, very common in the Arabic world, simply means “good” or “handsome.” According to a wonderful analysis of the name at Salon.com:

Barack Obama’s middle name is in honor of his grandfather, Hussein, a secular resident of Nairobi, Kenya. Americans may think of Saddam Hussein when they hear the name, but that is like thinking of Stalin when you hear the name Joseph. There have been lots of Husseins in history, from the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, a hero who touched the historian Gibbon, to King Hussein of Jordan, one of America’s most steadfast allies in the 20th century. The author of the beloved American novel “The Kite Runner” is Khaled Hosseini.

But in Obama’s case, it is just a reference to his grandfather.

Yes, attacking Barack’s middle name sounds like a great game plan.

Republicans plan to play up Rezko’s conviction and attempt to link Rezko to every Democrat running for office in Illinois.  According to Rick Pearson at the Chicago Tribune, however, Rezko did business across party lines:

Still struggling to recover the relevance it lost amid the corruption investigation and conviction of former GOP Gov. George Ryan, the state GOP also finds itself beset by longtime internal strife. A cadre of conservatives trying to advance their agenda under a reform mantle has clashed repeatedly with old-guard moderates seeking to maintain their control.

Another convention panel recommended former prosecutor Patrick Brady of St. Charles to succeed the embattled Robert Kjellander as the state’s Republican national committeeman, a critical post for fundraising and to serve as an Illinois liaison with the national campaign of presumptive GOP presidential contender U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Kjellander, who is retiring at the end of his term this year, has been a source of controversy over his consulting activities with the state during the Blagojevich years and his own relationship with Rezko.

Illinois Republicans are a shrewd lot. Mess with them, and they’ll import Alan Keyes again to save the day.  Just pray Keyes wasn’t caught in a photo-op with Rezko during his brief stay in the Land of Lincoln a few years ago.

Oil prices: Neck high by the 4th of July?

Posted on by TL

Oil prices jumped $11 a barrel to a new high above $139 a barrel. An analyst from Morgan Stanley predicted prices could reach $150 by July 4. According to WTAE in Pittsburgh:

A falling dollar and growing tensions in the Middle East are also pushing prices higher.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery has traded as high as $136.62 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices hit a previous record of $135.09 a barrel on May 22.

There’s more bad news:

Congressional auditors said that if oil and natural gas prices stay as high as they’ve been in recent months, the government could lose as much as $53 billion over the next 25 years in energy royalties because of an adverse court ruling.

The Government Accountability Office said the soaring price of crude oil and natural gas also means the windfall that companies will enjoy from the court ruling also could increase by billions of dollars.

The impact on the American economy will be staggering. Prices in all areas will rise even more, while the value of the dollar continues to fall.

Currently, $1 American will buy €0.6342.

Thanks, George.

The Oberweis Reality Tour: Bush on Steroids

Posted on by TL

The way Jim Oberweis sees it, he just needs one more chance to explain himself to the voters. After a past unsuccessful bids for the United States Senate and Illinois governor, Jim simply feels he hasn’t had the chance to really tell the voters who he is. So, he’s going to try to explain himself again to the voters as he makes an attempt to unseat Congressman Bill Foster in the 14th Congressional District.

Before we take the “Oberweis Reality Tour” together, let’s first listen to Jim:

“The opportunity is there,” Oberweis said during a visit to The Courier News. “If we can explain to voters where we are on the issues … I believe I’ll win. I do believe my views represent the majority of views in the 14th District. But we didn’t do a very good job of communicating our views.”

Jim doesn’t want this fall’s campaign to turn ugly and negative. He wants to tell you who he really is.

“It became well-known that my opponent was going to portray me as a George Bush clone,” Oberweis said. “I didn’t think there was any way they could possibly do that. I was wrong.”

So, Oberweis was just misunderstood.

I don’t think so. The reality is, Jim Oberweis is George Bush on steroids, and the voters in the 14th Congressional District need to watch out.

Let’s start with Oberweis’ Final Solution on immigration: send back the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants immediately. Perhaps he’ll even throw in a carton of milk for the bus ride back. According to the ArchPundit:

Oberweis staked out the hardcore send back 12 million people immediately and no exceptions kind of policy and not only embraced the position, but embraced fairly radical anti-immigrant activist organizations.

Most amazing is that John McCain, long a reasonable voice on the immigration debate embraced Oberweis as McCain’s flip flop to the dark side of several issues continues.

Oberweis is a Board of Director for NumbersUSA which is one of the leading right wing anti-immigration groups.

He’s spoken at Illinois Minutemen meetings such as this one on May 6, 2006 mntmn017.wav

And despite railing on the businesses using undocumented workers, Oberweis Dairy never wondered why the company cleaning for them could afford to do the work they were doing. Turns out the contractor were paying below minimum wage for undocumented workers.

According to the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, two undocumented workers brought a complaint to the Illinois Department of Labor against Oberweis Dairies for violating Illinois and federal minimum wage laws and failing to fully pay its employees:

Meet Rosa Ramirez and Jorge Ibarra — two undocumented workers who live and work in northwest suburban Chicago. Rosa, who is 41, and Jorge, who is 34, were both hired on May 1, 2005 to clean three Oberweis Dairy stores. The stores are located at 9 East Dundee Road, Arlington Heights, 1405 Palatine Road, Hoffman Estates, and 30 South Roselle Road in Schaumburg.

In fact, according to the ICIRR, these workers were paid less than half of minimum wage to clean Oberweis’ Ice Cream Stores:

“Mr. Oberweis has exploited these workers twice,” says Joshua Hoyt, Executive Director of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. “First he exploited them for cheap labor, and then he exploited them by demagoging their illegal status for cheap votes. We have asked that the Illinois Department of Labor conduct a full investigation into Mr. Oberweis’ employment practices. No one likes a hypocrite,” Hoyt continued, “and Mr. Oberweis’ hypocrisy just shows how our economy is powered by the labor of undocumented immigrants like Rosa and Jorge.”

So, we need to deport 12 million people, but, in the meantime, it’s okay to hire them to do our dirty work?

Who’s cleaning your toilets, Mr. Oberweis?

Hillary Clinton will ‘strongly’ back Barack Obama

Posted on by TL

From HillaryClinton.com:

Dear Friend,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you — and everyone who supported me — a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I’m going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

Hillary

Hillary Rodham Clinton

Full-speed ahead to the White House.  Republicans are terribly overconfident, and Democrats have a ton of work to do.  Focus must remain on policy differences: McCain/Bush II, or a strong voice for diplomacy and common sense in Barack Obama.

The candidates couldn’t be more different.

History and Barack Obama

Posted on by TL

Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination for president, and Hillary Clinton is ready to call it quits on Friday or Saturday:

‘Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton’s supporters who want to attend,’’ her communications director Howard Wolfson said.

For months, the right wing has been calling on Republicans to vote for Clinton in open primaries. I have a long-time Republican friend who told me he took a Democratic ballot in Illinois to vote for Hillary Clinton, because Republicans thought she was the easy win.

Or was that just more Republican “Strategerey,” as “W” would say? Were they really hoping for Obama? Could it be that the last several months were just a ploy to set up Obama as the nominee, and usher in an easy win for John McCain?

I don’t think so. McCain has reason to worry. If Hillary and Barack do finally embrace sometime this weekend, it’s history.

History.

This entire primary season has been about history, and I’m extremely proud to be a Democrat. It was the Democrats who had a woman and a black man as the last “men” standing from an outstanding field of potential nominees.

A woman and a black man, front and center, as our potential nominees. Think about that when the Republicans roll out their closet minorities onto that Minneapolis stage in September. The Republicans play lip service to those who have been stepped on in history.

The Democrats nominate them to lead.

Hillary Clinton deserves our thanks. She and Barack have written a new history together.

I’m thinking of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present. It’s often said that history is written by the winners, but that doesn’t mean those who lost didn’t write history. Zinn tells the history of the United States through the eyes of those who did not fare as well as white men. This is a history that has gone unnoticed for too long in the schools, but is finally making its way into mainstream textbooks in the grade schools and high schools.

A more recent publication by Dahr Jamail, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq, tells the same sad story again. Thanks to the Internet, we don’t have to wait hundreds of years to hear the people speak. Jamail and those working with him give voice to Iraq, reporting different voices from the Iraqis than the mainstream press, the “embedded” journalists, would tell.

History, rewritten. And last night, rewritten again by Barack Obama.

As we finally enter the last months of this presidential campaign, we must remember first that John McCain is a good man who served this country well. His wife, Cindy, is a wonderful humanitarian. They are good Americans, but that is not enough.

John McCain is the wrong choice for president.

John McCain has closely allied himself with the philosophy of President George W. Bush. He didn’t have to embrace Bush, but he did. John McCain is running a campaign to continue the policies of George Bush. But more than seven years of history, and ages before that for anyone who has studied history, demonstrate the failures of those many policies that have left the United States with a dollar weaker than both the Euro and the Canadian dollar.

I recall my first meeting with Senator Obama at “the Barn” in Olympia Fields. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., had introduced Barack Obama to a relatively small group of elected officials who had gathered to learn more about the man, who was running for the U.S. Senate at the time. He was approachable, and he listened. No Secret Service. No huge, screaming crowds. Just Barack Obama making his case to a small gathering of elected officials. He listened to me. He spoke with me. I was satisfied that I had been heard.

He listens.

It’s time for change — a radical break from the imperialist policies of the past seven-plus years. It’s time for healing, to reestablish relationships and rebuild our squandered credibility with the rest of the world.

It’s time for history.

It’s time for Barack Obama.

Will Bush free George Ryan?

Posted on by TL

Former Illinois Governor George Ryan received bleak news today as the United States Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. According to the Sun-Times:

Ryan was convicted in April 2006 of steering contracts to lobbyists and other friends, tax fraud, misuse of tax dollars and state workers and squelching an investigation of links between bribery and fundraising.

He was sentenced to 6 1/2 years in prison.

Earlier today, former Illinois Governor Jim Thompson announced that he would ask President George W. Bush to commute Ryan’s sentence, thereby releasing Ryan, who has been in prison since last fall.

Ryan is 74-years-old. He would be eligible for a 15 percent reduction in his sentence for good behavior.

I don’t know what the president is going to do. Bush has nothing to gain from this, and he has nothing left to lose. He already commuted the sentence of I. Lewis ”Scooter” Libby, Vice President Cheney’s former chief of staff. Would he do a solid for another convicted member of the GOP?

I suspect he might.

Bush may decide to wait until the 11th hour and commute Ryan’s sentence on January 19, 2009. There are justice issues to contend with, but Bush doesn’t seem to have much of a passion for justice, nor does he demonstrate any deep understanding of or respect for Constitutional law.

Of course, Ryan could be out by Saturday and working as a consultant for Halliburton by Monday.

It’s gotta be Obama

Posted on by TL

Barack Obama

The stage is set for tomorrow’s primary elections in Indiana and North Carolina. 218 delegates are up for grabs: 84 in Indiana and 134 in North Carolina.

If any Democrats are undecided, listen: It’s gotta be Obama. Here’s why.

First, let me be clear. If Hillary Clinton somehow wins the nomination, I will fight for her as if the future of the world depended on it. But if anyone in North Carolina or the Hoosier state has any doubts, go with Obama.

Don’t worry about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. We all have a crazy uncle in our families. I had the highest respect for Rev. Wright until last week. The National Press Club appearance was unnecessary and narcissistic. He says he’s not a politician but a pastor. I don’t buy it. He’s sounding more and more like a politician attempting late night comedy — and that’s never a good thing.

Forget the Reverend. No matter who wins the nomination for the Democrats, we’re going to find a lot more people they know or knew who occasionally went off the deep end. And we’ll find the same for John McCain. Remember, John McCain’s wife Cindy has already been outed for drug addiction, and steeling the drugs from her own nonprofit medical organization.

Oh, my.

Look, we need Barack Obama. Hillary is wonderful, but she’s running on a 90s redux platform, and that’s not good enough for the primaries. Yes, Bill was wonderful back then, but his time has passed.

I’m not endorsing change for the sake of change. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to Barack Obama on a few occasions, and I am convinced he’s the best candidate for President of the United States. Lock it up now, and we can spend the next six months convincing rest of America that Barack Obama will help us rediscover what it means to be an American after 8 years of the Bush Administration throwing America in the mud.

It’s gotta be Obama. It’s time for change. It’s time for Barack.

(Photo: Barack Obama at the Rialto Theater in Joliet, IL, courtesy eNews Park Forest)

Pennsylvania racism alive and well

Posted on by TL

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has a heartwarming story about an 85-year-old woman who came to vote on a stretcher, right after a dialysis treatment.  Perhaps we should somehow be more understanding because of her age, but this is what Mary Hilferty told reporters:

“I’m here for Hillary, and I hope everyone else is, too.  There are some black people who are ready to be president, but [Illinois Sen. Barack Obama] is not one of them. [New York Sen. Hillary Clinton] has made some goofy mistakes, but she’s a woman and she thinks like a lady.”

Evidently thinking like a lady entails making a decision as to whether one of those “black people” is ready to be president.

Take a trip to Pittsburgh, sometime.  It is still very, very segregated.  Century III Mall in West Mifflin is a haven for white people.  Eat’nPark on Clairton Blvd. just up the street from the mall is whiter than white.

How much was race a factor in Pennsylvania?

It was huge.

Republicans help Clinton tip the scale in Pennsylvania

Posted on by TL

The alerts are already arriving. Hillary Clinton has won Pennsylvania. The victory is not an overwhelming, but it is sound.  Unofficial AP numbers at 9:51 p.m. ET show Clinton leading 55 to 45 percent. This trend among Republicans was reported by the Boston Globe last month:

Spurred by conservative talk radio, GOP voters who say they would never back Clinton in a general election are voting for her now for strategic reasons: Some want to prolong her bitter nomination battle with Barack Obama, others believe she would be easier to beat than Obama in the fall, or they simply want to register objections to Obama.

There are numerous reports of Republicans crossing party lines in Pennsylvania, a process which is a bit more involved in the Keystone state. Republicans must officially changing registration to the Democratic Party to take a Democratic ballot in the primary.

Democratic superdelegates need to keep this in mind as we get closer to the convention. These numbers are significant and warrant consideration. According to the Boston Globe, “About 100,000 GOP loyalists voted for her in Ohio, 119,000 in Texas, and about 38,000 in Mississippi, exit polls show.”

Sources in Pittsburgh report watching media interviews with PA Republicans letting everyone in on the game plan.

How many Republicans changed parties in Pennsylvania for the primary? We’ll learn that soon. But I would certainly not award Senator Clinton the nomination based on the wishes of Republicans.