Week in review - round up of articles and video of note

The New Yorker endorsed Barack Obama in a beautifully written piece.

American Prayer - ode to unity, not to be missed.

Six Degrees of Desperation - Sarah Palin reads in the New York Times that Barack Obama is palling around with terrorists - analysis by Jon Stewart. (if link breaks, google title - "6 degrees of desperation"/Daily Show links are short-lived.)

For more serious analysis, consider this letter to the editor of the NY Times from the prosecutor in the 1970's case against Ayres. Or, the original article in the NYTimes.

The San Francisco Chronicle covered thinly veiled racism in the attacks on Obama and critics' concern that hostile McCain/Palin rallies could incite violence.

The real expose of the week came from the Obama campaign - If you missed it, watch KeatingEconomics. The Miami Herald covered the Keating 5 story and McCain's connection to Iran Contra. Mike Lux wrapped up a host of McCain "guilt by association" in his Huffington Post article - one stop shopping for a character indictment.

And a group called Velvet Revolution is airing their interview of Stephen Spoonamore, a Republican cyber security expert/whistle-blower who is convinced that the 2004 elections was stolen by a MIM, man in the middle. Further, they cover the little exposed subpoena of Michael Connell, the GOP’s top computer expert, to testify under oath in an Ohio federal lawsuit looking into allegations that Karl Rove has directed illegal manipulation of elections through the use of computer technology. Rather than cooperate in the investigation, Connell hired attorneys close to the Bush/Cheney Administration and refused to appear for the deposition arguing client (GOP) confidentiality.

McCain on War in Iraq - quote of note from Pat Buchanan - "He will make Cheney look like Gandhi".

McCain on War in Iraq 2 - if you can stand to punish yourself with two of these. Quote of note comes at the end of this one. "I disagree with what the majority of the American people want." John McCain.

Holding on to Our American Dream

Like nearly all Obama supporters, I watched the debate Tuesday night reveling in the knowledge that Obama won the night and that the pundits barely stopped short of declaring him the next president.

Considering the tremendous gathering of human energy in support of Obama, which no doubt will go down as a defining historical moment, why do I feel so worried? The economy? No - this worry is rooted in my ever deepening awareness of the countervailing trend, the rise of extreme reaction demonstrated by the McCain campaign, with Sarah Palin leading the charge.

Palin’s charges that Obama consorted with a terrorist were too flimsy to last, blasted out of the water by every fact checking organization of any worth. Already, there are multiple reports that she has dropped that bit from her repertoire.

But there was more to it than that. Douglass Daniel of the AP pointed to the racist subtext of her charges, how in post 9-11 America, “terrorist” conjures up the image of dark-skinned radical Muslims attacking America even while Palin's word choice skirts overt racism.

“Whether intended or not by the McCain campaign, portraying Obama as "not like us" is another potential appeal to racism. It suggests that the Hawaiian-born Christian is, at heart, un-American,” said Daniel.

Palin relishes her use of the anti-American branding of Obama – “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America,” she said this week. Obama “is someone who sees America, it seems, as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he’s palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.” At the McCain/Palin rallies, speakers routinely refer to Obama as Barack Hussein Obama, emphasizing his middle name as if it’s an epithet.

Palin panders to the mob, exhorting them to rise up in anger, smiling all the while, the sweet smile of sadism perhaps. At Florida rallies this week, Palin supporters responded with yells of “terrorist” and one called out “kill him”.

While Obama supporters are no doubt encouraged by the polls, our enthusiasm is tempered by this palpable reactionary threat.

As far as the GOP ticket is concerned, truth doesn’t really matter – they know that the negative imagery will stick in people’s minds, fact-checking notwithstanding. A new Mason Dixon poll, reported by the Miami Herald, indicates that the “smut sticking effect” does work, with Florida voters who have been subjected to free media coverage of Palin in Florida this past week, looking more favorably at McCain and more negatively at Obama than previously.

Among Obama supporters, no one considers this a done deal. Let’s say we do win – as national polls indicate we should. We then have to contend with the vote counting mechanism and the very real threat of another stolen election. Another conspiracy theory you say. Well, I hope so. But this lengthy interview of Stephen Spoonamore, a lifelong Republican and cyber security expert may give you pause. Have patience – the interview is long, but it raises a serious call for alarm.

This all too reasonable fear is matched by the tremendous promise of the movement that is taking place. How amazing to see a candidate simultaneously supported by disaffected youth, Israeli generals, Deepak Chopra and Warren Buffet, to name a few. Even the reactionary elements of the GOP who might enjoin the idea of rigging the election may have to pause in the face of the sheer power of the support base gathering together for Obama.

In celebration of this motion, here’s the new internet favorite, An American Prayer.

Breathe deeply and get ready to fight another day.

On Character Assassination

This from Daily Kos Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 10:11:20 AM PDT

Uh-oh...Ayers won't work anymore (There goes the kitchen sink, I guess here comes the table)...Some republicans from Chicago are saying what most of us knew all along. Bill Ayers was a commonly acceptable figure in Chicago by everyone--Democrats, Independents, and even Republicans. Are they all America hating, terrorist loving traitors to America?!

Yesterday, NPR did a short piece on Obama and Ayers. In fact, this NPR piece speaks to the Republican funded cause that Obama and Ayers worked on together. And that:

"It was never a concern by any of us in the Chicago school reform movement that he had led a fugitive life years earlier," said former Illinois state Republican Rep. Diana Nelson, who worked with both Obama and Ayers over the years. "It's ridiculous. There is no reason at all to smear Barack Obama with this association."

First, Obama began working with Ayers and others (Republicans, Independents, and Democrats) at the Chicago Annenberg Challenge. Well, what is the Annenberg Challenge? Who is Annenberg? Well according to NPR,

"The Obama campaign says he first met Ayers in 1995, when Obama became chair of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a $50 million fund that awarded grants to groups trying to implement new programs to improve inner city education in Chicago.

Walter Annenberg, a lifelong Republican and former ambassador who was appointed by Presidents Nixon and Reagan, funded an ambitious program to reform urban education in many cities in the mid 1990s. Ayers was an important member of the group that developed and wrote the grant proposal to the Annenberg Foundation."

Second, there were people of all political persuasions working on this effort with this "terrorist" Ayers and who saw him as acceptable and Obama was no closer than any of the others.

"...no one on the board or on the Annenberg Challenge staff remembers Obama being any closer to Ayers than to any other member of the board. The Annenberg board also included several civic, business and education leaders, many of them Republicans..."

In fact one person close to the issue states:

"I don't remember ever hearing anyone raise concerns or questions or concerns about [Ayers'] background," says Anne Hallett, who has worked closely with Ayers on the Annenberg Challenge grant and with Obama on education and other community and legislative matters. "And that included everybody I was engaged with," including prominent Republicans, and corporate and civic leaders in Chicago, Hallett adds.

Oh, really?!

And finally, the author notes:

Hallett calls this attack on Obama's association with Ayers and the Annenberg Challenge by further association, "a smear campaign. It's a political diatribe that has no basis in fact. The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was an extremely positive initiative. It was well-vetted, thorough, and the fact that it is now is being used for political purposes is, in my opinion, outrageous."