Ralph "Dingbat" Nader says Obama will pick Hillary as his running mate

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Ralph "Dingbat" Nader called Politico.com today to tell them he didn't think Barack Obama would select Senators Joe Biden, Evan Bayh, or Virginia Governor Tim Kaine as his running mate. The political mastermind--who these days is perhaps best known as the spoiler in the 2000 election who allowed George Bush to become President--offered his bizarre theory that Hillary Clinton has the VP slot in the bag.

"I don’t think he’s that dumb,” said Nader, commenting on public "short list" of Obama’s choices.

"The smart pick, " Nader said, "is Hillary Rodham Clinton."

Nader phoned Politico Tuesday afternoon to prediction a surprise choice of Clinton is what Obama has had in mind all along. But what about their apparent distrust and distaste for each other after the bruising primary battled? “He just has to swallow hard and do what JFK did” when he chose rival LBJ as his running mate in 1960.

The liberal "activist" and maverick (renegade, rogue?) presidential candidate has spoken. Was my article about Joe Biden yesterday wrong? No way. . .and if you believe anything that comes out of his piehole, well then friendo, I have some land in Florida I'd like to sell you.
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Obama settles on Joe Biden for his Vice-President

By Pablo Fanque
All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Senator Barack Obama is ready to announce a running mate, according to an article by Adam Nagourney and Jeff Zeleny in the New York Times/International Herald Tribune.

Barack Obama has settled on his choice for a running mate and set the stage for a multi-pronged, multimedia rollout that begins with a crack of dawn alert to supporterss via a wide-spread text message to be transmitted to cell phones and Blackberries around the country.



The article said "Aides said perhaps a half-dozen advisers were involved in the final discussions in an effort to enforce a command that Obama issued to staff members: that his decision not leak out until supporters are notified."

The Senator has focused in recent days on two Senators and a Governor: Senator Evan Bayh (IN), Governor Tim Kaine (VA) and Senator Joseph Biden Jr. (DE). Falling off the list were Hillary Clinton (on the list because "She'd be on anyone's short list"), Governor Bill Richardson (I how Richardson ended up in the doghouse? and Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who has been a very strong contender, but in the end her selection would only have riled up the pro-Hillary faction of the party, in addition to being virtually unknown in the rest of the country (not unlike Governor Kaine).

The Obama machine may be virtually leak-proof, but I hold in my hands an email sent to us through a circuit of anonymous internet remailers. The email was originally sent from an Apple Macintosh at a Kinkos in McLean, Virginia and includes just enough detail to leave no doubt about its veracity. The email informs us that Barack Obama has selected fellow congressman, Senator Joe Biden as his running mate.

And if you doubt our veracity, you'll just have to wait until Wednesday morning, when Barack Obama unveils his choice. For our part, it's a great choice. It will be most interesting to watch Obama attempt to keep the ebullient, gregarious and oh-so-talkative Joe Biden in check. With Obama increasingly under fire from the Republicans on defense matters, and not making any headway in the national polls, he had no choice but to select Biden. Biden presided over two of the most fractious Supreme Court nominations ever (Clarence Thomas, and the Robert Bork fiasco), in addition to being a prominent, active, and thoughtful member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee

We know Senator Biden will accept the post. He said so in a June 22, 2008 interview on NBC's Meet the Press.
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Learn Barack's VP pick, straight from the horses's mouth

Barack Obama is about to choose a running mate, and he wants you to be the first to know. "You have helped build this movement from the bottom up, and Barack wants you to be part of this important moment."

Sign up with The Senator/44th President and he'll send you an email announcing his running mate. You can also text VP to 62262 to receive the text message on your mobile phone.
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A video anthology of Senator John McCain's recent brain meltdowns

This spooky compilation comes from TPMtv. While Senator McCain flings innuendo, Britney and Hilton ads, and even worse Senator Obama's way, his brain-freezes, confusion, and befuddlement stand out in stark juxtaposition to Obama's appearances and statements to the press.


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Paris Hilton's video response to John McCain's Obama attack ad featuring her...

Say what you will about Paris Hilton (who am I to care if she wears no underwear?), she hits a zinger with this little ad.

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

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Barack Obama in McCain desperation ad: "We are the ones we've been waiting for..."

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Obama's VP-stakes--> Come on Barack! Go with Smilin' Joe

While the campaign and Barack himself have been very circumspect about his choice for running mate, they have floated at least the following names:

• Virginia Governor Tim Kaine
• Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius
• Indiana Senator Evan Bayh (an olive branch to Hillary supporters)
• Senator Joe Biden (my personal favorite)
• Georgia Ex-Senator Sam Nunn

Pick Smilin' Joe, Barack! He's got the foreign policy experience you need, and he's great on the campaign trail. He never gets tired of talking!
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John McCain may just want to hang up his rock and roll shoes after Obama's Berlin speech

By Pablo Fanque,
All This Is That National Affairs Editor




Obama speaks to an adoring throng of Berliners


I listened to Obama's speech in Berlin this morning, on the anniversary of the American-British Berlin airlift, in answer to the blockade of West Berlin by the reds. It was a nuanced, well-modulated speech than had the crowd roaring and on its feet as much as any speech he has given to partisan Obamanites in America.

Senator John McCain, already running scared this week, with Obama scoring all the praise and headlines and sound bytes, should probably just stick his head in the oven and crank up the gas.

Maybe McCain can get some mileage out of whatever hacks he selects for Vice-President. Maybe he can continue to hammer away at Obama as an appeaser of terrorists. Maybe he can somehow seem young and vigorous. But I don't think so. This morning, hearing Barack Obama speak in Germany, I knew McCain was in deep, deep trouble.
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Does Hillary End it tomorrow?

Interesting, after earlier in the week when Obama seemed to leak that we would absolutely not offer the VP-ship to Senator Clinton (but was considering a cabinet post). . .now she is willing to talk about it! Let's see what tomorrow brings.

For all the talk of the overpowering Obama juggernaut, it took him until the last vote in the last state to finally clinch enough delegates to actually win. OK. Now we begin the dismantling of John McCain.
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Clinton crosses the final line?: "[RFK] was assassinated in June in California."

A statement by Hillary Clinton to an editorial board sent the press (rightfully) into a feeding frenzy on Friday. The South Dakota newspaper the Argus Leader asked The Senator why she didn’t believe the party was fracturing due to the protracted contest. Clinton said “my husband didn’t wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June.”



“We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California,” she continued. If you've been a reader of All This Is That for any time at all, you probably know that she is treading on sacred ground here. She has fiddled with, and shamelessly exploited, our worst fears by invoking the name of a great Democratic hero who was struck down as he was on the very precipice of greatness. Correction: he had finally achieved greatness, we were just slow to catch up to it. To me, at least, the death of RFK was far more tragic than even the assassination of his brother because it was not just a President, but hope itself that was extinguished that bleak June day in 1968. Not just because it paved the way to the Nixon Presidency, but because the end of the Vietnam War, the granting of true Civil Rights, and the escalation of the war on poverty ended that night. How dare Senator Clinton even obliquely bring this up in reference to Senator Obama! Her feeble and disingenuous "apology" cuts no ice with anyone. As far as I am concerned, she doesn't deserve to be elected the dogcatcher of Camden, New Jersey. She shouldn't be allowed to even attend the Democratic Convention in Denver.



After the New York Post story made the rounds of the press corps on blogs, text messages, and the Drudge Report, reporters here at Clinton’s town hall meeting abandoned any pretense of listening to the event, searching out the first Clinton flak-catcher they could find for a response.





Campaign spokesman Mo Elleithee gave reporters what they were looking for. “She was simply referencing her husband in 1992 and Bobby Kennedy in 1968 as historical examples of the nominating process going well into the summer,” he said. This is a steaming cauldron of ca-ca, and Hillary Clinton has once again crossed the line. I wouldn't be at all surprised if this isn't the final deal-breaker on the burgeoning "Draft Hill for Veep" movement. It probably should be...


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Obama has a Holy S**t! Moment in Oregon

click to enlarge the Obama rally


Even Senator Barack Obama has to be stunned by the turnout for his speech in Portland, Oregon. 65,000-75,000 people showed up to hear his stump speech. Meanwhile, his opponent, Senator Clinton is speaking in churches, meeting halls, and schools to crowds numbering in the dozens to several hundred. Read an NYC Daily News article here on the flabbergasting crowd that gathered in Portland to hear our man...
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That Not So Fresh Feeling

Click the opponents to enlarge

Here we are, looking forward to another round of Democratic primaries--in Kentucky, and in Oregon. And it will be another split: Oregon for Obama, and Kentucky for Portland.

It's no wonder we have that "not so fresh feeling." It's frustrating on both ends: that Obama can't close the deal in the last two weeks, and that Hillary, the energizer bunny, keeps on keeping on despite running on empty, the odds, and the excoriations and pleas of Dems and the pundits.
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Obama's new (and secret) plan to end the war in Iraq: The SuperSurge [tm]

By Pablo Fanque,

All This Is That National Affairs Editor

Washington, D.C. May 15, 2008 - A disgruntled former Obama staffer (e.g., fired staff member) recently disclosed to All This Is That Senator Barack Obama's secret plan to end the war. The plan? To increase troop levels in Iraq to 1.5 million troops, followed by a staged, and complete, withdrawal 60 days later. Some staffers believe that this will require reinstatement of The Draft. The SuperSurge [tm] plan was also confirmed by a former Obama fundraiser.

While Senator Obama frequently says he intends to immediately end the war in Iraq, he has not disclosed his exact plan of sending one million additional troops to Iraq. The blitzkrieg clean-up operation would be immediately followed by a staged withdrawal of 100,000 troops per month, ending the war during his first year in office. While the Obama camp is fully behind the Obama Surge, they are understandably reluctant to roll out details of the plan to a base that was strongly energized by his anti-war messaging.

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Obama issues clarification on his "bitter" remarks

by Pablo Fanque,
National Affairs Editor, All this is that

(Seattle, Wash. - All this is that wire) — Senator Barack Obama on Sunday attempted to clarify (and mitigate!) what he meant when he said some small-town Pennsylvanians are "bitter" people who "cling to guns and religion."

Sen. Barack Obama told All This Is That's Pablo Fanque that his statement was misunderstood and misrepresented. "I didn't say it as well as I should have," Obama admitted to Fanque in Muncie, Indiana, on Sunday, the day after he first defended his comments,

"Many of these traditions are passed on from generation to generation -- but that doesn't mean they're right. These people in the flyover states are shooting innocent animals, are inveterate racists, homophobes, and I understand many still have sexual relations with cousins, in-laws, siblings, and even barnyard animals. Just because these are traditions with these backwoods folk, Pablo, doesn't mean they're right, or that they shouldn't be changed."

"But will the peckerwoods and crackers ever make these changes?," he asked Fanque on Sunday. "No freakin' way! And that, friendos, is why we need to make the changes for them."

"That's why my first act as President will be to round up every single gun in this country. And the second will be to enroll every citizen in this land in mandatory sensitivity training. And in case you're interested, I also plan to raise taxes. Through the roof. And in case you're interested, I have not ruled out mass involuntary sterilization."
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Senator Barack Obama: These people are a bunch of gun nuts, tariff freaks, racists, and cross wavers, or, an Obama Nation Abomination

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's campaign began taking on water yesterday after he thumbed his nose at the middle class of Pennsylvania.

Obama's rival, Hillary Clinton, and Republican presidential nominee John McCain both pounced on the comments Obama made last weekend at a fundraiser in San Francisco.

"And 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," he said.

Video of the speech, which was closed to the press, surfaced as Obama was campaigning in Indiana on the working-class issues like job losses and rising mortgage foreclosures.

"And 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," he said.



His opponent, Senator Hillary Clinton responded at a rally in Pennsylvania: "Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," she told the crowd. "They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families."

The McCain campaign, of course, also lambasted Obama: "It shows an elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the Arizona senator. "It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."
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Throw in the towel, Senator

It isn't her fanciful imagination about sniper fire, or any of the other piddling mistakes and misstatements she and her henchmen have made. It isn't her gender; in fact I'd prefer a female President. But it is her supporters, it is the large number of backhanded racial slurs that have emanated from her camp (although usually not directly), and whipping her potential supporters, but most of all the right wing, into an Anti-Obama frenzy. I think Obama is indeed pretty special. Do I think he walks on water like most of the Obamanites? Not so much. But he is the real deal.

In recent polls, John McCain taking on either Obama or Clinton gives them a serious ass-whuppin'. I am even sick of seeing Bill Clinton, a person I have *mostly* always admired. And even Chelsea was disgusting last night.

Give it up Hillary. The people may not have spoken with the deafening roar we'd hoped, but they have spoken. Do you want to be VP? Great. Otherwise, as they say, lead, follow, or get out of the way (preferably the latter). Sure you could hope for a great procedural dogfight at the convention, and maybe you could win the nomination. In the end, that will only leave us with a McCan presidency.

It's me and Barack from here on in. It's time. "Hurry up please, it's time."


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Barack Obama's version of gutter politics/Senior adviser invoked Monica Lewinsky's blue dress

Only hours after Governor Richardson ripped into the Clinton campaign and James Carville, for practising gutter politics, one of Obama's advisors took it into the gutter just about as deep as you can go. Gordon Fischer a former director of the Iowa Democrats and an adviser on Indiana, wrote in his blog:

"When Joe McCarthy questioned others' patriotism, McCarthy actually believed, at least aparently (sic), the questions were genuine, and he did so in order to build up, not tear down, his own party, the GOP. Bill Clinton cannot possibly seriously believe Obama is not a patriot, and cannot possibly be said to be helping -- instead he is hurting -- his own party. B. Clinton should never be forgiven. Period. This is a stain on his legacy, much worse, much deeper, than the one on Monica's blue dress."

Uh, is this what Senator Obama meant when he promised to focus on policy differences instead of personal attacks? Those remarks have since been removed from the blog, and Obama's camp has gone to some trouble to distance themselves from both the remarks and the author of those remarks. . .acknowledging by implication that the Clinton camp has no control over James Carville either. Or did they just reverse positions and decide to fight fire with fire?

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The Tally as it stands today: 105 delegates separate Hillary and Barack

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Let's talk about Barack Obama's accomplishments as a US Senator (YouTube video from Hardball)

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Obama camp: Hillary Clinton is a monster!

In what can only be a moment of madness during an interview with The Scotsman, Samantha Power, Obama's normally extremely bright key foreign policy aide, let slip the camp's true feelings about the former First Lady.

Her comments came as Sen. Obama, whose ass-whuppin' in Texas and Ohio were being blamed on the negative attacks on him, vowed to turn up the heat on Sen. Clinton over her claims to be the more experienced candidate, e.g., the person you want answering The Red Phone At 3:00 A.M.

Ms Power told The Scotsman Clinton would stop at nothing to seize the lead from Obama.

"We f***** up in Ohio," she admitted. "In Ohio, they are obsessed and Hillary is going to town on it, because she knows Ohio's the only place they can win. "

"She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything," Ms Power said, hastily trying to withdraw her remark.

The bogtrotter Powers has really stepped in it this time. Click here to read the entire article in The Scotsman.
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