Mfume Leads — with links
My thanks to Dan for posting about the poll but I added this with links.
Having worked for Kweisi Mfume over the past year on a volunteer basis it was great to see the new Washington Post poll showing Mfume taking the lead over Ben Cardin in the Maryland US Senate race.
The more important point of Mfume’s candidacy is made in the Metro Section of today’s Wash Post by Marc Fisher
“Mfume persuades audiences that he is not in this simply to represent his race. His message is universal, and people of all hues nod and murmur affirmations as the candidate emphasizes issues his opponents barely mention”
The rarified air of the US Senate might be disturbed by someone who “doesn’t belong” in their millionaire’s club — but the nation would be served by a Senator with a different perspective — someone who actually grew up in poverty, gangs and violence — and overcame it — flaws and all.
This is a primary in a strongly Democratic state. Progressives and in particular the progressive blogging community could make all the difference in this race.
You should also note that about 1/3 of the respondents were undecided, that the poll was intentionally biased toward black voters, and that Cardin disputes the results. His internal polls have him ahead by double digits.
I forgot to include this link to the detailed breakdown of the poll responses.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/postpoll_mdpolitics_062706.htm
Sorry to crash your Mfume party, but I just had to share this nugget with the resident progressives:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/7/2/183934/7776
How sad that progressives hate America so much that they would leave their church because the congregation stood and sang “God Bless America.” More fodder for the fall follies.
Just for the record, JHC, the song was “God Bless the USA,” not “God Bless America” by Irving Berlin. The former is the type of treacle they use to make commercials for Dodge Rams and such.
I would have walked out too.
I would not have walked out on God Bless America.
jhc Says:
Lots of good Christians being run out of church by idolatry. Moses encounter the same thing. AIR got the Israelites in so much trouble they spent 40 years in the wilderness.
Dan, you are right. I stand corrected.
Personally, I would have stood and sung along. I cannot in my wildest dreams begin to fathom how an “American” can hate this great country to the point they would hate the thought of singing its praises, in church, at a ballpark or in the middle of Baghdad. That’s the difference between someone like me who loves their country in spite of its problems and a cut and runner like you and Eddie. When JFK escalated Viet Nam, I loved this country. When Nixon cut and run, I loved this country. When Nixon resigned, I loved this country. When Carter whimped-out for 444 days our Tehran embassy was held hostage, I loved this country. When Bush I failed to take out Saddam, I loved this country. When Bill took us into Kosovo based on bad intelligence, I loved this country. When Bill perjured himself, I loved this country. When W took us into Iraq based on bad intelligence, I loved this country.
Thomas Paine said it best:
These are the times that try men’s souls. The summertime soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.
Don’t tell me you have the right to “dissent.” This is not about dissent. This is all about hate. When I mentioned the troops at Camp Pendelton, the first thought that came to Eddie’s mind was “torturers and rapists.” How pathetic. When I think of Pendelton, I think of the men and women who deserve the love and thanks of every one of us.
According to your brethren at the Kos, 35% of “Americans” hate America. “Hate.” A strong word: “Hate or hatred is an emotion of intense revulsion, distaste, enmity, or antipathy for a person, thing, or phenomenon…”
Who do you think is going to vote for a candidate who is supported by these 35% America haters? You now have being weak on national security AND your hate for America working against you in November. How are you going to defend yourselves against an ad that broadcasts a handful of anti-American DailyKos comments? You can’t. You are going to get your butts kicked unless you jettison the haters from your party.
It’s another great day in America. It’s another great day to be an American. Come on in, the water’s just fine.
Dear jhc…
I could not disagree more with the characterizations above. While I concede that no small number of Americans may tend to agree with what you write… it scares me, frankly.
You seem consumed with such vitriolic fervor that you clearly are self-defining as the true “hater”. Why is that jhc?
Huh?
First, an apology for my lousy use of italics – it should have stopped at the end of the Thomas Paine quote.
So, Max, what scares you?
That I love my country in spite of its occasional misfires and blunders?
The Thomas Paine quote?
That Kos says 35% of Americans hate America?
That liberals won’t win an election with a strategy that crosses the line between dissent and hate?
Yes?
Then be afraid, be very afraid.
If you should fear anything, fear this:
“We, the United States of America, are culpable in committing so many acts of terror and bloodshed that we had better get a clue about the culture of violence in which we have been active participants.” – Michael Moore
“The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not ‘insurgents’ or ‘terrorists’ or ‘The Enemy.’ They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow – and they will win.” – Michael Moore
“America has been killing people on this continent since it was started. This country is not worth dying for…” – Cindy Sheehan
“The biggest terrorist is George W. Bush.” – Cindy Sheehan
“Then we have this lying bastard, George Bush, taking a five week vacation in a time of war.” – Cindy Sheehan
“Vitriolic fervor” indeed.
JHC:
“Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it.”
Douglas MacArthur
So this time let’s ignore terrorism and genocide and it will go away?
Then what about this:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2167220
You libs can stick your head in the sand, the rest of us will rally and let you know when its safe to come out.
thanks jhc.. for the reply..
What scares me is that you seem to be in lock-step with the neo-con pied-piper on this. Most anything neo-con ought to terrify most rational people, in my opinion.
What you say comes-over to me as ‘blindly patriotic’. By that I mean, “America” and its “real Americans”.. like you.. and as you define such.. is both the alpha and omega on the subject. Seems a stark, black vs. white, totally miopic and self-serving perspective.
To my mind.. my “country”, the United States of America, is separate from any temporary administration’s political agenda while in The White House.
At times, I may agree with and support White House policies.. or not. To dissent is not to, as you put it, “hate”.
But jhc, why stop with hate… why not have the balls to come-out and say that those who dissent (with your “American” views) are just plain traitors?
Folks who wrote like you during the mis-begotten Vietnam War were quick to call dissenters “pinkos” or Communists.
The rest of you are going to rally? Can you name one member of the Bush Administration – or any Republican in Congress for that matter – who actually served in the Military?
aside from John McCain…
Bush, Mineta, Gonzalez, Nicholson, Rumsfeld all served in the military and the administration. (Bush went AWOL, right? LOL)
25% of the members of congress served – 15% repub, 10% dem.
If you look at most of the congressional committees with military charters, you will see that republicans with military service outnumber their dem counterparts by 2:1.
I’m sure the repubs will rally to win the war on terror. Can’t count on the dems,though. Either way, we’ll let you know when it’s OK to come out.
You’ve made me rethink my hopes for November. My hope was that dems would cut-and-run from the far left progressive neo-comms and shift to the middle. From the middle, the dems had a chance to be competitive for once and the repubs would run scared, sending them back to their conservative roots. Now, I think a solid trouncing of the dems is in order. This will send a message to our enemies that we as a nation still have a backbone and the dems will finally see that the far left, anti-war cut-and-runners will keep them out of office for decades to come. Maybe then we’ll see a more competitive dem party in our future.
Max,
So many self-serving false premises and strawmen I hardly know where to begin.
By the tenor of your rhetoric, I sense you have wandered off the DailyKos hateblog plantation? In the least, you’re a member of the southern California neo-comm progressive coven, yes? (Sorry about the use of all these labels but you libs seem to thrive on them.)
In any event, from what I’ve seen of your opinions around the WWW, I can see how your “progressive” filter would pigeon-hole me as a “neo-con” blah, blah, blah. Anyone to the right of Lenin would be a “neo-con” in your book. What should scare you is that I am not in lock-step with W but with the majority of Americans who believe that cutting-and-running now versus winning in Iraq is the worst option given the dire long-term consequences of leaving in a liberal lurch. Be afraid that I hold no allegiance to any party or any ideology but my own and it’s based on my life’s experience of working for the government, with the government, in for-profit and not-for-profit commercial ventures. I come with a portfolio of success and failure in business and in government service. (It was far easier to be successful in government civil service because the standard of excellence is so low – military service is another story where standards are very high.) So, I like to think of myself as informed when I offer an opinion. And in my opinion, the far left is a great threat to our great nation.
You seem to have a problem with dissent without hate and how to distinguish between the two. I have given you several examples of hateful “dissent.” If you want more, just dial in the DailyKos, it’s loaded with hate. I demonstrate dissent by offering an opposing point of view and while I have succumbed to ad hominems in the past, I tend to avoid them now. It’s easy to go there when someone accuses you of beign a vitriolic hater just because they disagree with you. It’s a reaction that only brings me down to their immature, intellectually dishonest level. I don’t understand why libs, and some conservatives, can’t voice their position without calling their target a “bastard,” “terrorist,” “liar,” “witches,” etc. Didn’t all this incivility start with Dean calling W a “liar?” Or was it Moore-on? Dissent with me at the ballot box.
Just because you say I “hate,” doesn’t make it so. I may dislike liberals for all the damage they have done to our country but I don’t hate you. Hate tends to fog the decision process and waste energy. I don’t think enough of you libs to waste energy on hating you. Besides when you have 60 years of local and state liberal leadership and the highest per capita federal spending in New Orleans to point to as an example of what liberal policies get you, you don’t need to hate, just point to the results.
Some dissenters are traitors? Those that give aid and comfort to the enemy are traitors. Those that reveal national security secrets are traitors. Jane Fonda was a traitor. Bill Keller is a traitor. The NYT is a traitor. Cindy Sheehan is a traitor but she’s the only one with mitigating circumstances. I feel more sorry for her than mad at her.
You’re wrong about the pinko-communist labeling during Vietnam. Most “dissenters” who weren’t traitors like Fonda were considered “enemy sympathizers.” Be sure that your type of dissent – Fonda, Sheehan, Moore, Jeeni, etc. – has a demoralizing impact on our troops who are already dealing with the issues of combat. How about running into a picture of Fonda hanging on the wall of VC command post? It would make even you sick. Maybe not.
I have a question for you libs listening in:
Where the hell were you when Bill jumped into Kosovo? Where were you all when we finally realized there were no death camps as our intelligence led us to believe? I was behind Bill, where were you dissenters? Why didn’t you call Bill a “liar,” me a “hater?” Over 200,000 have died in Bill’s expedition. We were supposed to be in and out in a year. We’re still there!! Where’s the anti-war crowd dissent over Kosovo? I guess it’s kinda like NOW giving Bill a pass on Lewinsky & Company. Incredible liberal hypocrisy.
While I’ve got your attention, one more question: why “progressive” and not “liberal?” I can only conclude it is because you liken yourselves to the 1948 Progressive Party. Are you really ressurecting the old party of Wallace? And you think you can win?
Good luck with Issa, he’s going to clean Jeeni’s clock.
jhc.. Your “war on terror” that the “repubs will rally to win..”, seems a delusional statement. Like you, many Americans just love “war”. For you folks it seems to elicit a blind, visceral reaction that appears devoid of any rational forethought or practical reasoning whatsoever.
While many of us do take this (“mindless”) easy way out, we do our country and its future generations
grave harm, as I see it. Why? Because such values serve only to perpetuate bloodshed, endlessly. This approach has never solved anything.
The single exception (at least through the 20th century) to this is, of course World War II (oops, how did a real war slip-in here?).
The resultant self-righteousness carried by many of us enhances such views as yours. You mention a nation with “..backbone..”. All we’ll get with your approach is a re-worked version of Nixon’s “Peace With Honor” withhdrawal from Vietnam. Gimme a break.. that’s not backbone.. it’s plain foolhardiness.
Bloody and violent religion-based upheaval and revolution is the middle east.. plain and simple. This will remain unchanged long into the future.
The decision to invade Iraq was flat wrong. We’ve got a tiger-by-the-tale now and it’s “our” fault. Throwing more lives away (ours and innocent Iraqis) is just stupid.
It’s all about the oil jhc. Terrorism is just the cover story to fire-up folks who feel as you do. Follow the money/power flow. Just track Haliburton & subsidiaries stock values. Look at gasoline prices.
Sadly, we no longer have a mandatory military draft. If that draft had continued, I believe we would not be at war in Iraq today.
Another baseless strawman to make your point? Why is this ploy so popular with liberals or progressives or whatever you call yourselves?
Now it’s jhc “love['s] war.” I take it that you’ve never been to war. And I’m don’t think you’re old enough to be drafted if there was one. I suggest you try another approach. Something you may have an experential basis for.
I see that you refuse to address Bill and Kosovo. How convenient.
So, we see the essence of your problem with the war: it’s all about oil and corporate greed? Right. Now is this the corporate greed oil angle or the US coveting Iraqi oil angle? So, how much oil have we trans-shipped from Iraq? And, yes, look at out oil prices and you would understand that it was NOT about getting our hands on Iraqi oil.
You are forgetting the UN resolutions. The last one in particular. The one about consequences. Remember that one. Probably not. Bone-up on the issues leading-up to the war and you will find your answer…and it wasn’t oil.
9/11 fired me up. What did it do for you?
OK… Of the gang who pushed for the invasion of Iraq:
Rummy served.
Bush – May or may not have deserted, but he certainly didn’t volunteer for combat duty.
Cheney- 6 deferments.
Wolfowitz – not
Pearle – not
Feith – not
Rove – not
Rice – not
Eliot Abrams – not
William Kristol – not
O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hannity et al … fat chance
At the time? Then add Powell. I see that you’ve expanded the subject to include pundits. Don’t forget the pundits North, McEnerney, et al who served and support the war. On your side you’ve Wesley, the appeaser. Carlson and O’Reilly think the war was a mistake. Even Zinni was for the war…just wanted more troops. Did Moore serve? Franken? Olbermann? Kos?
How about Clinton? Berger? Albright? Did they serve? They all pushed for the military invasion of the Balkans based on bad intelligence. Yes? Said we’d be out in a year. We’re still there. We bombed innocents. Found no death camps. Yet, no “dissent.”
Dan, you picked a bad point to make. To say that you must have served to make a decision to go to war or criticize a war, flies in the face of a civilian controlled military.
Hey jhc.. I enlisted for four years (Regular Army) from 1966-70, followed by two years voluntary Active Reserve.
How about you…?
Hey you guys check this out: Frontline: The Dark Side
Thanks Dan,
Watched this a couple of weeks-back on PBS. I wonder what jhc’s response will be..?
It would be to dismiss anything done by PBS as “liberal” therefore not credible.
I’ve got my DD214s.
Saw the documentary on Cheney, the liberal’s boogeyman. The problem you’ve got with this documentary on backchannel intrigue is that Tenet, Cheney’s nemesis in this piece, told everyone that WMD’s in Iraq were a, and I quote, “slam dunk” and that the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence found no undue arm-twisting on the part of Cheney to shape intelligence analyses. Further, recent revelations from Iraqi intelligence files indicate ties to terrorism.
In the end, the 17th and final UN resolution called for consequences in the event of Iraq’s non-compliance. This was all the justification Bush needed. When Congress funded the expedition, the deal was done.
This sounds all too familiar. Remember the conspiracy theories about how FDR new about the Japs plans to attack Pearl Harbor? He was supposed to have looked the other way in order to engage us in the Pacific war.
The other problem, and more pressing one, is that it is history, not present reality. We can talk about the past but we have to deal with the present and plan for the future. The question for you liberals is: are you going to fight to win or cut and run?
PBS is no more liberal than the NYT.
Max, what was your unit(s)?
Fight to win what – exactly?
Sustained security, self-determination, rule of law, freedom and democracy in Iraq. What did you think?
Whew.. jhc.. I mean, talk about self-serving platitudes.
So far, just about the only thing you and I are able to agree-on is that each of us have had successes and failures in life.
Hey.. that’s a start
re: “..Max, what wht your unit(s)..”
DLIEC, Washington, DC
Ft. Meade, MD
Pentagon
How about yours jhc..?
Max,
Platitudes? Well, you ask a stupid question, you get a….
DLIEC?
After boot, MOS training and other schools, I spent most of my time far from home as a grunt with a small group of the finest men I have ever known.
Defense Language Institute, East Coast
What branch of service… what MOS…?.. when?… how many months/years on active duty..?.. on active reserve..?
jhc.. in #17 above, you ask: “9/11 fired me up. What did it do for you?”
It made me want to (personally) kill every member of Al Queda. Even as I write this, I would gleefully pop-a-cap in Osama’s ass…further, I hope we find him soon and I’m given that chance.
I went along fully with our “publicly stated goals” when we invaded Afghanistan.
All too soon however, GWB and his neo-cons changed the focus to Iraq… lying their way into an invasion. Sorry, I watched the key players (live & soborners-all) along the way… I could never support Cheney’s “1% solution”.
Let’s just leave it that I did 4 and 2 starting in the late ’60’s and did a lot of humping.
You had credibility until your last paragraph – the “neo-con” and “lying” stuff is leftist lemming talking point crapola. This isn’t the Kos.
..thanks jhc..
Seems I ought just accept where you’re coming-from and not trust my lying eyes and ears. I was a witness.. as were millions who closely followed events leading to the invasion of Iraq.
jhc, you characterize my comments as “leftist lemming talking point crapola”… and if that were true… then, clearly.. your perceptions were stated much more eloquently in the original German, circa 1933.
Could both extremes be accurate? Such hyperbole seldom is.
We are two patriotic Americans whose perspectives differ. Under other circumstances we would be sharing the same foxhole.
JHC: “Sustained security, self-determination, rule of law, freedom and democracy in Iraq” Do you really think we can do that?
Seems to me we walked right in to Al Queda’s trap. We’re pinned down in a quagmire, making news enemies everyday – and they’re slowlr retaking Afganistan. We should have – and could have – stayed there to finish that job and let the UN inspectors finish theirs in Iraq.
Don’t you think we’d be better off right now?
Max,
I didn’t characterize all of your comments as crapola, just the “lying” and “neo-con” phrases. Liberals have redefined what a lie is in order to harden their shrill rhetoric. When a liberal now uses the term “lying,” more often than not it means the lib has no rational, factual rejoinder to their targets political position. It is the ultimate liberal thought-terminating cliche’. Labels like “neo-con” are meaningless when used broadly. FYI I am not a “neo-con” any more than you are a “neo-communist.” I am an old school conservative and raving capitalist.
I have no delusions about where we are and how we got here. The fact is, we are where we are and to not complete the job has a greater downside than upside. My hope is that unlike, Palestinians killing Jews, muslims will tire of killing fellow muslims and Iraqi security forces will eventually reach critical mass to tip the conflict in their favor. I can’t believe that ALL mid-eastern muslims value life so little. (Maybe that’s a delusional thought.)
“It is no use saying, ‘We are doing our best.’ [We] have got to succeed in doing what is necessary.”
Churchill