WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! BARACK IS WAY OVERRATED.. the only thing he is running on is his vote against the war.. THATS IT!!! I admit the guy has charisma and knows how to speak well but so do many people selling cars... he is not presidential material!! he lacks experience and if he is going to say that he has great judgement because he voted for the war.. what happened to his judgement on the "present" votes he cast..its either a yes answer or a no answer.. although it is true that some senators "SOMETIMES" do this as well.. Obama did this on issues that even his own party has said was not necessary.. he could have taken a stand on a yes or no answer.. Obama is weak has no backbone... Obama and Hillary are the same thing.. he will be using the old Clinton advisors!! what the hell is that.. what new direction or what new politics is he trying to bring to washington when he is gonna be using the same people Bill Clinotn used.. he says we need to forget about the 90's but the people fromthe 90's is who he will have as advisors..this guy is full of it.. i would rather have a someone for preseident that voted for the war admitting a mistake was made than a person who cant even vote on yes for harder crime bills in his state fearing that the african american community will trash him for it and he wont vote no because he will look weak on crime .. so what does the coward do he votes present.. this guy is a fake joke.. for all you Obama supporters yes Hillary has tried some slick things to put some heat on Obama but this is no scheme or no joke his record is going to come back and haunt him..a president nomatter how hard a decision is needs to take a position something that Obama has not done which shows in his record... again that is why the only thing he is running on is his NO vote on Iraq. since he knows it resonates with people... he is a liar and a trickster.. he is a Hillary clinton.. both are pro abortion..BOTH want illegals to have drivers licenses...Both say they will bring our troops home... yeah right..they will not bring the troops home .. they know dang well that it will make things worse over there and the last thing they want to do when elected president is make the choas in Iraq worse when they come into office..Obama himself said in an interview that he will base his decisions on iraq based on what the generals over ther tell him concerning the conditions on the ground.. well we all know that Petreous is not leaving Iraq because he believes we can win and the other generals are starting to see improvement so they will be like its not the right time because if we go there will be chaos again.. he is full of it .. im glad that finally REAL dirt is starting to come out ..and for those that say this is another cheap trick by Hillary.. remember ..hillary didnt hold a pen up for Mr Obama to vote.. he cast his present vote for political gaini so people wouldnt be able to come back years later and throw certain issues to his face.. what he did nto expect to happen is for thi sto come back to bite him for him being to skeptical or to spineless to take solid positions that can really define who a MAN is... in my book Hillary is bad but Obama is worse at least she votes ..right or wrong she votes yes or no.. I respect that more than a chicken that just puts dwon present... the heat he is getting is because he over did his present vote and evenpeople from his own party are starting to ask whay....

    If Obama is so persuasive and powerful, why have so many in senate opposed bills that the residents of U. S. want passed?  Also why hasn't he straightened out the political, lawyer mess in Illinois?   Just thinking!!!!!

If any senator voted on everything he would never get anything done.  Much of what Congress votes on are petty little insugnificant things like referendums on Christmas.

Then the Clinton camp throws in the vote on Iraq that Obama was going to vote against but was tricked into missing. Obama had returned to the campaign trail after Harry Reid stated that the vote would not be taken.  Then lo and behold Hillary arrives and they voted on it.  It was set up to be used against him by unscruplous Clinton supporter Reid.

Hillary has nothing to offer except for slings and arrows.  Who needs that?

It makes me sick to know that many will fall for the spin, half truths and lies of her campaign.  

At least he didn't vote badly.  

And the experience thing - we don't need an experienced politician in the White House there are advisors for that - we need a leader that we can trust.

130 "present" votes out of 4,000+ votes in the Senate.

big whoop.

Billary, who voted for:

1) Iraq War
2) Patriot Act
3) No Child Left Behind
4) 1st round of Bush tax cuts
5) Iraq Guard as terrorists.

Hmmm....guess what?  one-term Senator Hillary voted w/Bush on MAJOR bills that are relevant to the whole nation!  And they're all wrong!

What does her "experience" do for our country?  Nothing.

Back to the '90s?  Nafta?  China fair trading status?  Kicking poor mothers off of Welfare?  No health care?

What are you stupid Billary supporters so nostalgic about?

His "controversial" present votes were part of a strategy that was supported by the Democratic leadership in the Illinois state senate.  But the Clintons don't seem to be letting the truth get in the way of a good smear campaign.  My god!  When did the Clintons turn into Republicans?

And I am STILL waiting for a rational explanation of how stating liberal views on a questionaire is a bad thing when you're running for the DEMOCRATIC nomination...

Sounds from a Hillary Campaign meeting:

Adviser1: Our Platform will be Experience!
Adviser2: But polls show people prefer Change...
Adviser1: Our Platfrom has always been Change! Change, Change, Change

Adviser1: Our Message will be Inevitability and Electability!
Adviser2: But polls show people aren't responding to this, Obama is surging...
Adviser1: Our Message will be Obama's a cokehead Muslim who is afraid to vote!

Adviser2: But, sir, won't people want to know what our candidate has to offer?
Adviser1: Not after we get through with those other guys.

obama  edwards all the way hillary  dirty  tick  an    evil lowe drown  ways  will not  win

Whoops!  I meant:

5) Iran Guard as terrorists.


The press and the pundits support Hillary so much, it's sickening.  They want her to be the nominee b/c they know whe'll lose the General Election to Romney.

The same way they did their hatchet job on Dean in '04.

Again, the Clinton campaign brings out the "real dirt." LMAO - Is this all they have on Obama??!?! Much ado about nothing is more like it! The Clintons are getting desperate. Oh, how about fighting your own battles, Hillary, instead of sending your henchmen?

OBAMA/EDWARDS '08

She lost me with her politics of personal destruction campaign. She is the only Dem I will NOT support. I will work actively to defeat her should she be nominated and I am a former Hillary supporter.

What is really depressing me is the realization that she could unite so much opposition that she could jeopordize the House and Senate. In close states, she does not have the ability to aide candidates down the ticket. Bill Clinton never got to 50% of the vote in either of his elections.

In the end, a candidate's position on the issues will be secondary to whether or not you like and trust them enough to listen to them for 4 years..This is her weakness. She projects an aura not of inevitability but of entitlement. We are suppose to bestow the presidency to her and her reaction to anyone that challenges Evita is to use any means necessary to destroy them.

The Clinton Kingdom has many surfs and they have been dispatched across the land to attack the opposition while Evita conducts yet another "I really am likeable" tour. But let's face it her disapproval numbers (44%) are now HIGHER than those who approve (42%).

And to think I was trying to convince my wife to support her...yikes.

If Hillary Clinton is the candidate she wants all of us to think she is, why does she not stand up more to tell us her real story instead of all of the surrogates including  Bill Clinton going into overdrive trying to smear Sen. Obama.   Edwards has way less experience in Government than Obama, but it never comes up.  

They must be really worried out there about Obama.  Obama must be making a lot a headway with the voters.   They even have other African Americans leaders as well as  Congress people willing to slime their own brother to curry favor with a Clinton Presidency if she is elected.  

I am wondering how long African Americans are going to withstand the insults they are hurling so strongly at one of their own, since the Clintons are going out of their way to gain all of the African American support.   I have never seen such an attack campaign mounted against the other candidates as they are going at this one.   The Clintons want to say that Hillary is the only one who can withstand a Republican Attack Machine.   Well they are acting like Republican attack machine against Senator Obama.  Bill Clinton is the first one to say that others practice the politics of personal destruction, then what is he and are  Hillary doing.  Bob Kerry was the worst, praise you and than remind you  and finally shoot you down.  If Obama comes through these attacks, I think he will be able to handle any attacks.  The Clintons are the first ones to say he has not been tested.  Maybe with their smear tactics and the Republican future attacks, he will be able to show them something about withstanding attacks.   I personally think anyone growing up the way Sen Obama grew up as a child would have quite a few arsenals to withstand any type of an attack, even better than those who generally say they know how to handle it (Hillary).   Bill has shown that he needs to come out and protect her against any slights, even when they are showing a difference in policy.

I truly hope the voters see through this garbage.  Hillary might as well say it out of her mouth.   It is coming from people who represent her.  So her hands are all over it also.   I hope Senator Obama stays above it and shows his intelligence and integrity.  

You know you're doing something right when COWARDLY congressmen/women are talking bad about you. Pathetic stuff from the Clinton campaign. I'm a democrat but I will sit out the 08 elections rather than vote for Hillary, and there are millions more just like me. She cannot win.

CE, Kenosha, WI, you're not alone on that point.If this country of our's is'nt tired of the Bushes & Clinton's by now, then WHEN I ask? We are a Republic, not a Dictatorship that is to be controlled by few.If the Voter's don't unite against this in the upcoming election, we are DOOMED.


" DELUSIONAL THINKING BY COMMON SENSE AMERICAN'S IS OVER "

Reminding senior Democrats of a time when they stood up to Republican administrations is hardly a "savage personal attack."

Kennedy's response, through a spokesperson (according to the same article): He's glad Obama "tells people to give him a call when it’s time to fight."

For "savage" personal attacks, see the Hillary campaign's desperate smear attempts against Obama to paint him as a Muslim cocaine dealer ...

Here is why Clinton supporters like her:

-She is ready to lead from day one (no explanation as to how but it sure is a good line, isn't it!)

-Obama is a talker, but Hillary is a doer (if by doing, they mean voting for the war, then I guess their right)

-She has 35 years of experience (what that experience is, they are not at liberty to share with the rest of, but just believe them, they obviously know what they're talking about)

-She is a change agent (yet she couldn't get a health care plan passed with a Democratic President and Democratic Congress)

-There are no surprises (it's the same divisive Hillary you've always known)

-You get change through "hard work" (Gee, that kind of reminds one of a certain Republican candidate from the 2004 election)

-Barack's health care plan leaves out 15 million people (don't worry that there is no proof to back that number up, and don't you dare ask Hillary how she plans on mandating health insurance in her plan)

-Hillary will lift up the middle class (by middle class, she obviously means anybody making $100k a year like firefighters)


How are some of my fellow Democrats so clueless?  And, as a Democrat, do I hate Hillary?  Well, yes I do.  She represents everything that is wrong with the Democratic Party.

Good point CE.

We'll lose the House and Senate if Hillary b/c the nominee b/c the Dems in reddish states up for election will lose if they associate (campaign with) w/Hillary in 2008.

lets do the math - 130 present votes out 4000 = 3.2%

so obama voted yes or no 97 percent of the time and NYT story is making a big deal out of this????????????????

a good article on Obama's state senate record
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/20/152430/02/252/424872

Obama voted "present" on 3.2% of all his votes in the Illinois Senate...so remind me again...WHY this is a story?

Clinton is nasty.
Obama is nastier.

Mark, don't go there.

Ace P makes a good point. The Clinton camp's tactics are potentially pushing people, even Democrats away from the party. If she were a true leader with experience then she would have a little foresight and realize the consequences of running this type of campaign. I for one always said, despite being an Obama supporter, that I would vote for Hillary if she were the candidate. After the last few weeks, this is no longer true. I will write in Obama or Gore. I have to think I am not the only voter going in this direction. No wonder the republicans want her to run against.

Sorry Rob, I should have typed what grounds do they have commenting on Obama's time as an Illinois Senator, not him as a presidential candidate. You are correct, they are free to comment on his candidacy, but it rings a bit hollow when three non-Illinois reps come out to say his voting present in the Illinois legislature is shady. Were they there? Do they know the exact mechanisms of the Illinois legislature? What's their own record? Now if they can had some substance to their argument besides what the Clinton camp handed them prior to their ruining their res as reps, than I wouldn't have a problem. I doubt they will though. Just doing the fearful "leaders" dirty work.

  Obama is not someone I would vote for.  I am from Illinois and it is well known downstate that he is not a man to be trusted  He certainly is for the illegals.  Our state is FULL of them.  He does not want businesses punished for hiring illegals.  Doesn't seem to care that this state is crime ridden, corrupt.  In other words he hasn't done anything for our state and I don't think he will do anything for the country.   Please don't vote for him just because he is black.  

Foreign policy? SSSssssnake Clinton got booted out of China.

What must always be remembered is that the mainstream media amplifies her campaign's errors and diminishes her strengths in ways that are misleading. Foaming expressions of hostility to Sen. Clinton are considered normal among the Beltway pundits, especially on cable television and talk radio. Such constant emotional outbursts tend to distort political news and analysis. In that environment, her opponents are not held accountable by the same standard that is applied to Clinton. For many months, both Sen. Barack Obama and former Sen. John Edwards have been tossing out attack lines that they hoped would bring down her formidable numbers. Obama has not hesitated to use harsh language to question her character, her sincerity, her fitness to serve and her capacity to govern if elected. He has reserved his toughest rhetoric for the Democratic front-runner, while suggesting that he will find common ground with the Republicans. That may explain why Obama has won endorsements from a panoply of Republican operatives and spokespersons, including former White House political boss Karl Rove and David Brooks, the neo-conservative voice on the New York Times Op-Ed page. It is hard to imagine that the Clinton campaign conspired with Bill Shaheen to introduce the subject of Obama's youthful drug use, or urged Bob Kerrey to blather on about the Sen.'s middle name and Muslim heritage. It is much more likely that both men were simply opening their mouths without thinking too hard about the consequences, which is to say, simply being themselves. Expecting Clinton to control every blurted stupidity of her supporters is unfair.  These  disputes that have lately monopolized so much news coverage and commentary have not dented her national appeal significantly. Although Clinton faces difficulties in Iowa and New Hampshire, the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll shows that she has started to recover the commanding lead that began to diminish in late November, after her poor debate performance. Conducted over the weekend of Dec. 14-16, the Gallup survey shows Clinton gaining six points and moving up from 39 percent two weeks earlier to 45 percent among registered Democratic voters.

Mark really summed it up. Hillary Clinton is one dirty politician. Good quote by MK too: "Voting present 130 times out of 4000 votes cast is a story?  By my calculation that means Senator Obama voted "present" .0325 percent of the time.  Get a grip Senator Clinton."

I really hope Clinton doesn't win this primary.

America is a Democracy.
America is not a Monarchy.

As we've learned for the past 7 years - Nepotism has no place in the White House.

Barack Obama for President.
It's time for America to Rise and Shine again.

People write Obama only voted present 130 out of  4000 but how many of those votes were to name a street or park bench after someone.Most of the votes in state Leg. are meaningless. He voted present on many important ones.

Some people who have run for President are probably nice folks who would be fun to have a beer with, like George Bush.
I have learned my lesson. I don't care how nice they are. I want a calculating, intelligent, visionary person to be President.
Voting "present" just doesn't get it. I want to know their positions on jobs/economy, homeland security, foreign policy, medicare/social security, taking care of America's infrastructure and having smaller government in the future. I may have higher taxes, to keep my grandkids from inheriting the taxes caused by the current leaders bad decisions, but, I will vote for the candidate that makes the most common sense on the most issues.
I do not yet know who gets my vote.
 

Some people who have run for President are probably nice folks who would be fun to have a beer with, like George Bush.
I have learned my lesson. I don't care how nice they are. I want a calculating, intelligent, visionary person to be President.

Voting "present" just doesn't get it. I want to know their positions on jobs/economy, homeland security, foreign policy, Medicare/social security, taking care of America's infrastructure and having smaller government in the future. I may have to pay higher taxes, to keep my grand-kids from inheriting the taxes caused by the current leaders bad decisions, but, I will vote for the candidate that makes the most common sense on the most issues.

I do not yet know who gets my vote.
 
Ron Paul could get my vote due to his belief in a balanced budget and smaller government and the fact that not everybody is for the Iraq war.  We can do without the Departments of Energy, Education and Transportation. The Energy Department has not increased production of oil, gas, coal or nuclear energy. The local school boards should keep all the money locally for use in education, rather than have any go to Washington. The States would be better off having the 18.4 cents per gallon of Federal excise tax on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel stay in their own state, rather than send it to Washington and only get part of it back. We sure do not need the Transportation Department giving a 50-cent per gallon subsidy to ethanol producers and taxing foreign producers by the same amount. We can make cane ethanol as easily and efficiently as the Brazilians. He has my position on Iraq. Just get the hell out. If they want to kill each other, fine. I like his position on foreign policy as well. Just mind your own business and stay out of everybody else's business.

Hillary has shown a “keep your guard up” position on National security that is more to my liking, and if anybody messes with her, she will make them regret it a hundred times over.  She also has a determination to get out of Iraq, but wants to have access to all the facts before she commits to any plan. She has the common sense approach on Medicare/social security. She would appoint a bi-partisan committee and come up with a plan that would be acceptable to most of us. Hillary has talked about fiscal responsibility, but has not committed to a balanced budget.

If Obama really thinks the politics of Washington need a change. Why is Obama part of the established Democratic party. You think someone who really wanted changed would not be owned by a large party. Also no working Union supports Obama. The Unions did their research rather than listen to Obama's big plans for change that he can never do.

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