oh, november 2008

there's another election post in the works that needs more hyperlinks...
in the meantime.... the last line here made me lol. the article itself is poorly written and otherwise makes me cringe on a number of levels.

Obama's remarks give Clinton an opening

By JIM KUHNHENN and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press WritersSat Apr 12, 9:08 PM ET

A political tempest over Barack Obama's comments about bitter voters in small towns has given rival Hillary Rodham Clinton a new opening to court working class Democrats 10 days before Pennsylvanians hold a primary that she must win to keep her presidential campaign alive.

Obama tried to quell the furor Saturday, explaining his remarks while also conceding he had chosen his words poorly.
( blah blah blah )

"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness — the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof.

( more blah blah blah )

Clinton hit all those themes in lengthy comments to manufacturing workers in Indianapolis.

"The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich," she said.

"I also disagree with Senator Obama's assertion that people in this country 'cling to guns' and have certain attitudes about immigration or trade simply out of frustration," Clinton added.

"People don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."
( still more blah blah blah )

Bill Clinton was the featured speaker of the rally but avoided commenting on Obama's remarks. When asked about it afterward, he said simply, "I agree with what Hillary said."

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=obama+remarks&fr=yfp-t-501&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8

oh, bush you just had to Just Say No To Literacy, didn't you?

So my attention span isn't my friend today (also, i lost the pending draft). my racialicious feed linked to this shakesville bit about how bush is ELIMINATING money to the Reading Is Fundamental program, a program that gives Free Books to kids.... and while i don't remember ever directly benefiting from the program, i had friends who did. and when done with the books, some were more than willing to share. right now, many of the youths on my caseload have gotten books, which they read, from this program.

The comments at shakesville say much of whatever commentary i'd add. money for bombs, not books? isn't laura a librarian? what an idiot. etc. i'll throw in the question of who is most likely to benefit from this program/suffer now that it is gone?
Although, reflecting, books *are* a lot like drugs for some people....reading, the gateway drug. Maybe that's the philosophy at play.


RIF has this letter generator for US folks to send a letter to their congresspeople.

(clinton's already auto-responded saying email makes things hard to respond quickly but thanks for emailing and she'll get back to me later in a way "that specifically addresses the subject raised in [my] message".)

eta: schumer's office (the other senator) has sent a similar response.