"I freed thousands of slaves; I could have freed more if they knew they were slaves."~Harriet Tubman

• This reminds me of one of my favorite American heroines, Harriet Tubman. For when she made it to freedom after having been a slave and she got to New York and she could have been so happy to just stay at home and just breathe a big sigh of relief but she kept going back down South to bring other freed slaves to freedom. And she used to say, 'No matter what happens, keep going.'
  • Hillary Clinton.[1]

Disputed

• Children, if you are tired, keep going; if you are hungry, keep going; if you want to taste freedom, keep going.
  • "Harriet Tubman never said this — it comes from one of the scores of juvenile Harriet Tubman fictionalized biographies." — Kate Larson, Harriet Tubman biographer.
  
  

  • Minnesota State Motto L'Etoile du Nord Language:French Translation:Star of the North Adoption:1861 State mottoes may be said to reflect the character and beliefs of the citizens of the state, or more accurately, the citizens of the state when they were adopted. State mottoes can help us gain insight into the history of a state

Dear Delegates to the RNC:

As you come to our state on the 150th anniversary of our joining the union don't expect an unconditional welcome. We Minnesotans have an attitude toward strangers that is called: Minnesota Nice. Don't mistake courtesy for support (Barack Obama currently leads this state by double digits to your candidate, Mr. McCain). And, yeah, it can get really, really cold here.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Shame on You John McCain & Steve Schmidt (who even looks like Dr. Evil)

This is Steve Schmidt, the veteran campaign strategist and public relations expert, who is heading up day to day operations of the McCain campaign. In his career to date he has been:

* Communications director for Senate campaign of Matt Fong. (1998)
* Chief strategist in charge of Supreme Court nominations of Samuel A. Alito. and Chief Justice John Roberts
* Counselor and spokesman for Vice President Dick Cheney.
* Member of the exclusive "breakfast club" led by top White House adviser Karl Rove that ran President Bush's re-election campaign. (2004)
* Campaign Manager for re-election campaign of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. (2006)

He was a chief player in the George W. Bush re-election campaign in 2004 and is seen as a Karl Rove protege.

This is Dr. Evil, (born Douglas Powers) is a fictional character, played by Mike Myers, in the Austin Powers film series.

Schmidt has been a driver of the rapid move to the gutter by the McCain campaign over the last 3 weeks. This has been exemplified by the disgusting ad, about which Steve Waldman writes:

Saying that Republicans are taking Obama's comments out of context doesn't come close to capturing this. What Obama probably meant is pretty much the opposite of what they're implying he meant.

The line used in the McCain ad, a campaign memo, and on just about every conservative blog in America is Obama's quote: "I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions."

Witnesses who attended the closed-door talk at which Obama suposedly said this have claimed that Obama's actual words were:

"It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign -- that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It's about America. I have just become a symbol. I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions" [my emphasis]

There apparently was no transcript but this version fits what Obama has said in the past.

After getting a rousing welcome from students in Virginia,

he said::

"This crowd is not about me. it's about you. I've been a receptacle for your hopes and dreams."...

Early in his campaign, he commented on how so many people had flocked to his campaign. "I do think that I've become a receptacle for a lot of other people's issues that they need to work out."

He's repeatedly described himself as a "flawed vessel" and said that the race "wasn't about me."

Another line often cited to show Obama's arrogance is the idea his quote that "we are the ones we've been waiting for" -- the implication being that the world has been waiting for the Obamas.

Again, read the full quote:

"Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

His point was that change will not come by waiting for someone else but that "we" have to do it ourselves. This is classic community-organizer-speak. Take control of your own destiny, etc, etc.

There are plenty of things to mock or criticize Obama about, both stylistically and substantively. And I have no doubt that he has a very healthy ego. But in the debate about whether these McCain ads were funny or appropriate, let's not lose sight of this basic fact: the quotes cited by Republicans to illustrate Obama's Messianic complex were taken grotesquely out of context. That ought to matter.

As the Rove/Cheney/Dobson grip on power is challenged, I fear we will see more & more of this over the next 3 months. When you retain power by fear, then people expressing hope is worthy of disdain. Dr. Evil's drive for world domination was fictional - people like Schmidt & Rove & Cheeny & McCain - well their drive is well documented.

So much for McCain as a person who wanted a different kind of campaign.