Arthur Cramer

David, I really hope that you are monitoring this blog today.

Last night I found a video on you tube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NK2sFJebGc, wherein the Chariman of the AIP, Dexter Clark asserts in part;

"she (Sarah Palin) was a member of the AIP but had to resign and joined the Republicans in order to advance her political career".

I know the NY Times has looked into this but I do not know if they have seen this clip. I emailed Clark Hoyt, an Editor at the NY Times, asking he consider investigating this video should it be new. Could you please look into this and see if it is significant?

I thank you in advance for your kind consderation. I enjoy your show and rarely miss it.

All the best to you.

Respectfully.

David,

I have heard the constant dismay at the absolute lies and the attack on the media by the Republicans. What we on the left need to understand is this simple fact; these people play on the willful ignorance of their supporters. To them it is not lying, it is winning. Remember the mantra they live by; the end always justify the means.

We think differently about the issues and the intelligence of the American people. They understand one important thing, they will fool more people, because there are more people who are unintelligent and ignorant on the issues than there are people who are. Unfortunately they are right. They have no intention of trying to overtake Obama, they simply want to keep it close enough to steal it again.

Obama is playing right into their hands. By not fighting back, he looks weak. Now to us it looks admirable, but to the kinds of folks they fool and take advantage of each election cycle, Obama looks weak and impotent. You don't have to go into the gutter, but you must fight back quickly and firmly. If Obama continues with this high road, high minded campaign, we will, once again, wake up on November 5 wondering what the hell happened, again. Trying to appeal to the goodness of the American people and outlining his plans and policies is not enough to win. Obama has to fight back and fight back hard.

I listened to some callers saying Obama is doing what he needs to do by laying his policies and plans. I have this one question, if this is what he needs to do, why are the polls so close. The Republicans have not addressed one issue yet, but McCain is running strong against Obama. It is not just simply a case of race affecting the polls, though that is a factor. Kerry and Gore suffered from the same problem and poll numbers. I am waiting for a Democratic candidate to finally stand up and punch these lying bastards in the mouth. This is the only thing they understand. Until that happens, we will continue to lose presidential elections. I can think of so many ads Obama can run, and have sent some of those suggestions to his campaign, but I have yet to see any of them done. Obama must fight back!

Donald Strong
Augusta, GA

I sometimes wonder if HRC supporters are just giving excuses to vote for McCain so that he will win so HRC can run in 2012 and beat him then....I have thought all along that this is what would happen. JM and SP are so far off from what HRC stands for that it is ludicrous that anyone that LOVES and supported her would think twice about voting for them.
I also think that if BO was white and SP was male, there would be absolutely NO QUESTION that BO would be wayyyyy ahead in this race. Sad state that this country is more interested in getting a woman (any woman) into office than who will help this country.

David,

Please recognize a phony call when it comes in.

Real Hillary supporters don't say things like that -- repeating that she was mistreated at the convention.

Eileen Cherry Chandler

There isn't a day that goes by when we don't hear a lie about Obama or some word to discredit his patriotism from the mouth of some Repubican. Where are all the heavy hitters from the Democratic Party? Obama cannot do it alone. Biden is out there, but I haven't seen anyone but John Kerry defending him on the grassroot level. Where are the Clintons, the Dodds, all those former candidates. It has got to be a group effort for all the reasons you talked about earlier. I'm an African-American and I know why Obama is constrained - and I love him because he has conducted himself with such class. That's why the most powerful and articulate Dems from the House and Senate have got to speak up and I don't see it. They have got to hold McCain's @$$ to the fire and really raise doubts about his judgement. They have got to paint the picture of what America will be like if he gets into that White House. They've got to insist that Palin come out of hiding and meet the press.

Eileen

David,

What's the differece between George W Bush and Sarah Palin? Lipstick!!!!!!!!

I have spent much of this weekend researching everything that I can find on Sarah Palin and the more I read the more I discover how much she is like "W' and I think that we need to get that message out.

As Mayor of little Wasilla she ran it so poorly that a recall movement started and she ended up having to hire a City Manager to take care of the real issues. She went into office with the town having no debt and left with 21.5 million in debt. She did nothing to address the infrustructure needs of the town but instead spent the money building a Sports Complex that has never brought in the revenue that she claimed it would and was built on land that the town did not have a clear title to and spent the next seven years in a legal battle over.

She turned her back on her Stepmother when she ran for office and instead supported her opponent much like W turned his back on his Father.

She viciously goes after everyone who opposes her including trying to get the town librarian fired when she wouldn't ban books from the library and trying to get an official fired because he wouldn't fire her former brother-in-law. She went into office and fired everyone from the previous administrations including people who supported her when she ran for office and replaced them with inexperienced friends and loyalists. Can we say "Brownie, your doing a heck of job."?

As a tax reformer she has the same MO, cut taxes to Big Business and stick the little guy with the cost.

She uses her polital office to advance her religious beliefs and sounds as stupid as "W" when she has to speak unscripted. This is her speech to a group of graduating students at her former church in Wasilla as reported by McClatchy News.

"What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys as you go out through-out Alaska - I can do my part in doing things like to work really, really hard to get a natural gas pipeline." Palin said. "Pray about that also. I think God's will has to be done, in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built. So pray for that. But I can do my job there, in developing our natural resources, and doing things like getting the roads paved, making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded."

"But really all that stuff doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's hearts isn't right with God. And that's going to be your job." she said. "As I'm doing my job, let's strike this deal. Your job is going to be: to be out there, reaching the people, hurting people throughout Alaska, and we can work together to make sure that God's will be done here."

Palin's talk was recorded and posted on the churches website. It has since been removed, but the video has been copied to multiple websites on the internet as American's attempt to learn more about her since her surprise pick by John McCain as his running mate August 29th.

I could go on and on but I'm sure you can see the pattern.

Sue

Lou R

The Obama campaign needs to consider bringing the Supreme Court nominations issue before the voters. There is no way the majority of American women want to see the Court tied to the right wing ideology (non Constitutional Law, activist Justices). The coming Administration will likely appoint up to 3 Justices and this will change the Court, to the left or right, for the coming 25 years. All the other issues aside, this is a very real concern for everyone: Roe v Wade is the tip of the iceberg and workers overall, men included, have a real concern if the Court was to continue favoring business over workers, consumers have real concerns as liability claims will be even more so watered down or eliminated---everyone has a stake in the Supreme Court nominations.

Re: the discussion on Sarah Palin and the circumstances around her delivery of her son. I am a mother, and the whole story about her not rushing to the hospital when she started leaking amniotic fluid is something I just cannot fathom. I know a lot of other mothers, and I was not quite Palin's age when my daughter was born, I was 36. But even at that age I was considered a high-risk pregnancy, and she had also to have been considered the same, especially with a known special needs fetus.

No other mother I know of can even imagine not rushing to the hospital at the very first inking of anything going amiss with the pregnancy. If I had started leaking fluid, I and my friends, all in my age group, by the way, would have been at a hospital faster than the speed of light. She not only jeopardized her fetus, she jeopardized herself - who can even fathom anything more important than the safety and health of her baby? To then fly back to Alaska for 10 or however many hours it took, and THEN to drive again to get to a small hospital rather than one with a top line neonatal unit? The whole story just defies comprehension or reason.

What could have possibly been more important than making sure her delivery was going to be ok? My friends and I just can't even wrap our heads around the idea of it. And then, I understand, she was back at work a few days later! What mother even WANTS to do that? We all went back to work, but we all hated to leave our babies - she seems not to have been able to wait to get back to work. Pul-lease.

And this is what her supporters think of as family values? I am almost 60 years old and a feminist since the beginning of the second wave in the early 1970's. How can it possibly be sexist to criticize Sarah Palin? Why should she get special treatment? I have no doubt that she has the ability to keep working while raising her special needs child, not to mention giving support to her 17-year old pregnant daughter but the question isn't about ability - it's about that word again - JUDGEMENT. Great for her, but about the children? Does she think about them at all? Can her mind really be on running for VP while her daughter is in such a stressful situation, under a microscope with a "fiance" who is doubtful at best.

I, in fact, was no fan of Hillary's, but I do tremendously admire what a great job she and Bill did with Chelsea, who is clearly a very together, smart and accomplished young woman. Interesting - the woman whose "family values" gets no end of criticism has raised a daughter far more impressive and healthy than the "God-fearing" "Christian" woman whose daughter is clearly acting out on some level. Abstinence only, indeed.

I am sickened by Sarah Palin, and furious beyond belief at the mockery she makes of the struggle for women's rights, the cynicism and hypocrisy that has driven her nomination as VP, and the mass insanity of the people who twist themselves into pretzels to justify her lies, her incompetence, and her own hypocrisy. Nauseating, as you said, is exactly what her pretense at being a feminist is and the reality of what a liar and manipulator she is. But I'm more afraid of the people who will vote for her, like some of these women who have called in today, than I am of her. What has this country come to?

David,

I know the republicans are lying like crazy, but WE ARE LYING JUST AS MUCH! We are pissed off as hell are we are pretending that we are not, trying not to ruffle feathers. It is disingenuine of us and totally uncool. When hillary ran the republicans were not afraid of saying that if she can't take the critcism then how will she take it from the likes of Putin when she is president.
It is totally uncool to look like a wimp! We have the truth on our side but that is not enough because we give in to the neocons. It is embarassing. It is not natural for a human being to just give in like that when challenged. This makes it difficult for people to want to identify with us.

Educate! We need to educate the people as to the neocon strategies. Everybody is baffled as to what is happening. People in europe could not understand how Bush could be re-elected. Tell the people that when we ask about Palin's record, they accuse us of picking on her. Explain their deceitful tactics. If people understood what they were doing, it wouldn't work anymore. Period. The truth will set people free. Maybe people aren't as stupid as we think they are, it is just that the tricks were very clever, but once brought to light, we will see people's intelligence again.

Why are we so afraid to call this woman out!!!!! Have we all become so politically sensitive that no one can tell the truth? I am a middle aged woman, had a husband and 3 children, always worked (still do). Mrs. Palin is no substitute for Hilary Clinton, not even close. I don't see one thing that this pitbull does or supposedly stands for that furthers the cause of women. She's against a women's right to choose, even in cases of rape or incest. She believes that abstinance instead of sex education and birth control should be taught in our schools. She tries to show herself as this multitasking super mom, governor of Alaska, mother of 5, and now running for Vice President! Apparently, she chose to bring a Down Syndrome baby into this world and then when this infant is 4 months old, she drags the little guy all over the country or deflects his care to other family members. Her 17 year old daughter, still in high school, has turned up pregnant, (so much for abstinance), so instead of trying to keep her out of the spotlight and give her the privacy she needs to get through this and the rest of high school, she drags her and the self proclaimed red neck boyfriend out on the national stage with her. Where is her judgement? Where is her so-called family values? I don't care that she decided to have the DS baby, I find it admirable, but that kind of decision is life changing and should of meant that she put her national political ambitions on at least a 5 year hold while this special needs child is put front and center in her life. Also, she knew that her teenage daughter was pregnant, of course, that could happen to anyone's daughter, but doesn't she think that this young girl needs her attention right now instead of running all over these United States in a heated presidential campaign for 2 months and then possibly becoming the VP and being even more pre-occupied? I know, alot of women are out there reading this and are screaming that I am a sexist idiot. Never mind, every women whether in the midst of raising their family and working a nine to five job or past that age and looking back on what it was to be there for their family and their career knows that it's the toughest but most important thing in their lives, even if they have the greatest husband or partner by their side. This woman is short changing her family and will be short changing this country also for accepting this nomination. She also knows that she has no experience to handle the vice presidency or to (God Forbid!) step in to be the president should she have to but she is letting her ambition blind her. This is not a person who women can identify with or who we should identify with, let alone be influenced to vote for. All of us are trying to bust open that severely cracked glass ceiling but Sara Palin is not the hammer and not at the expense of our country either.

I want to thank the very last caller on David's show last Sunday. She said that "we ignore Palin at our peril."

David has it so wrong by insisting that we put all of the Democratic focus on McCain, and he sounds like a typical Democrat who still doesn't get the Republican attack machine mentality.

Palin is the celebrity, and a pretty darn fabulous one at that, and at this point in the campaign cycle, it's flash and dazzle that matters now, whether it comes from a smarmy, sarcastic remark said with a winning smile, or a swift kick in the pants (like the latest ad portraying the b-l-a-c-k Obama and... you guessed it: SEX).

You want lipstick on a pig? I'll give you lipstick on a pig: she's called $ara Palin... the Queen of Pork.

Now, stop focusing on what's important, and focus on humiliating the opposing party and their candidates as cleverly as you can. That's what wins elections when it gets down towards the end...and the Republicans know it.