Lots of outrage on the left that Republicans would take shots last night at Barack Obama's community organizer past. Marc Ambinder has more:
The four mocking mentions last night of Barack Obama's service as a "community organizer" have ignited a metapshereic debate about whether the term has racial connotations.The McCain campaign says no: they insist that no one knows what a community organizer is, and whatever they think it is, it doesn't compare to being a mayor.
Bingo.
Talking with a Republican buddy on the East Coast who also has experience with politics in a major metropolitan area, today this topic came up. We pretty much agreed on a fair description: community organizers are those just-graduated from college youngsters who get paid about $25,000 a year to rabble rouse in the cities in between campaign jobs for the left.
That's a bit of a sarcastic oversimplification - though only slightly - but, it speaks to the fact "community organizers" are quite simply urban activists...and usually highly political ones at that. And yes, most people don't know what they are - thus the lack of resonance and opportunity for mockery as Rudy Giuliani did so well last night.
More importantly, how many people in the 'burbs, exurbs, small towns, and rural America identify with, or think much of, urban political activists once they might figure out what "community organizer" means?
Hint: not many.
Just another example of where the urban base of the Democratic party isn't in touch with much of the rest of the country.
Posted by Eric Earling at September 04, 2008 09:59 PM | Email ThisI hope the D's crap themselves.
Posted by: Handy Randy on September 4, 2008 10:10 PMI've always seen them as the sort of people who, in the college dorms, had endless chirpy enthusiasm for pointless 'pep rallies' and 'school spirit' meeting. I could never see the point of those meetings, so never attended. I wasn't much of a 'joiner'.
Perhaps I misconstrue based on my own experiences, and perhaps a 'community organizer' in an urban environment is different from out in the Burbs?
Posted by: Angela B. on September 4, 2008 10:13 PMOne has a duty and has sworn a oath. The other is an amateur, good-intentioned, but unaccountable for the outcome.
Grownups vs. youngsters.
Posted by: Steve on September 4, 2008 10:15 PMJesus Christ was a community organizer. Pontius Pilate was a governor.
And who was it here on SP that gave us the funny line "SOMEWHERE, A COMMUNITY IS MISSING ITS ORGANIZER."?
Posted by: Michele on September 4, 2008 11:12 PMYou forgot about the whining they get to do because they can't pay those horrible grad school loans on the CHOICES they made in hopes of improving their gravitas with vague qualifications of "job" no one understands!
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 4, 2008 11:30 PMI think this is yet another example where there is little disagreement over the concepts and the merits thereof. The only thing that makes them unpalatable to some is their source.
Had Dobson made the same point, many Republicans would find it unremarkable.
This is the real problem with Republican indignation today. It hardly ever comes across as sincere -- merely contrary for its own sake.
Unsurprisingly, again, the Golden Rule applies.
Posted by: Laszlo Toth, Jr on September 4, 2008 11:33 PMBut, BHO is a Lawyer!
I just don't understand....
Mayor, I understand.
Posted by: ljm on September 4, 2008 11:36 PMI sincerely doubt that even the author of that double-speak tripe can interpret it.
Good grief.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 4, 2008 11:36 PMBut rest assured, Community Organizer has the same biploar definition as everything else on the left. They think of it as a positive, party activist, union organizer, Jesse Jackson type, youthful political zealot who knocks on your door, etc.
But real Americans know exactly what Community Ogranizer means in the Obama sense. They know exactly the ladder climbing neophyte who would list such lame experience on a Presidential resume. And real Americans have sniffed Obama's insecurity out, just like they did Kerry and Gore before him.
Posted by: Jeff B. on September 4, 2008 11:43 PMSo, the question is: what did each accomplish? Capone ran soup kitchens during the depression in Chicago. Created jobs. Hey, look, he kept a lot of "machinists" working, a lot of "teamsters" working, so go easy ok? What did Obama accomplish? Well?
Posted by: barrackslawyer on September 5, 2008 12:59 AMHoward Jarvis.
Here's another: Tim Eyman.
Here's a third: Grover Norquist.
"...then define ithe label."
Someone who starts a (or joins an existing) group of like-minded individuals to advance that community, outside of government or business.
Yes, you'll probably find many holes to poke there, but there you go. But note that if Republicans gave an honest damn about the "no government" ideology, you'd think they'd love community organizers, since they're private sector.
Ragnar: "I sincerely doubt that even the author of that double-speak tripe can interpret it."
OK, I'm a lousy writer.
My point is, Republicans aren't objecting to the idea of "community organizer." If the idea had come to them from a Republican source, they'd accept it. But because it comes from a source other than a Republican, they're objecting for the sheer cussedness of objecting.
My longstanding joke: I almost always qualify my statements. That's mostly because, as I observe the universe God created, he hardly ever deals in absolutes.
That, and if I take out the hedges, I get, "Hey! That doesn't apply to me, so your whole damned argument is wrong!"
The older I get, the more I realize it's very hard for most people to give anyone else at all the benefit of the doubt.
If that's double-speak, take it up with the Creator who made the world this way. {shrug} I'm only trying to be as honest as I can in the world I see.
Posted by: Laslzo Toth, Jr on September 5, 2008 01:04 AMthis line seems to be the newest tack from the moonbeams.
Posted by: Ron K on September 5, 2008 01:24 AMThose efforts can range from church congregations helping neighbors whose house has burned down, to yes, Tim Eyman organizing signature gatherers for one of his petitions.
I bet you dollars to doughnuts Sarah Palin helped set up fundraisers for her son's hockey team before she became mayor of Wasilla. That is community organizing. So is your local PTA, or your local home schooling association. So is your local Friends of the Library, and your local block watch.
There are geographical communities and communities of interest. Community organizing is as American as apple pie, and it predates the Republic. You see it in our history in barnraisings, claim clubs, and countless other efforts on the frontier, when people had to band together for cooperation, and labor for big jobs was scarce.
I'm sorry the term "community organizer" doesn't fit into your preconceived notions. I'm sorry your unqualified VP candidate tried to deride what tens of millions of Americans, left and right, Democratic and Republican, do every day in their daily lives, just to score cheap "gotcha" points. FAIL!
And it doesn't make Obama Jesus, David you moron. Community organizing is bottom-up, not top-down. Most people get that, even if you lot don't. That's why this election is going to be a landslide, and NOT in your favor.
Meaning that you also believe - in your own words - that Sarah Palin has plenty of experience, and even Pudge has enough experience.
Good to know that you believe Sarah Palin has enough experience to be the CIC! Thanks for going on the record as a Slavery Party official and stating unequivocally that Sarah Palin is fit for the Presidency.
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 5, 2008 05:20 AMAnd it's proof if a wingnut puts it in caps.
"Jesus was a community organizer, Pilate was a governor" is the best quip of the week. I'm expecting to see bumper stickers soon.
@29: So Ivan, in your world Barack Obama being a community organizer means he's experienced enough to be the President.
Not necessarily, but it's amusing to watch Republicans contort and say with a straight face that mayor of Cicely, Alaska is "executive experience". Did McCain vet some Boy Scout leaders, too?
Posted by: demo kid on September 5, 2008 05:57 AMSheeple. Some of you trumpet the leftist talking point that "Jesus was a community organizer," and then seem surprised that Christian tell you you're full of shit... which, of course, by virtue of your leftist positions, tends to go without saying.
The problem with "community organizer" as "qualification" boils down to this: it's such a nebulous term that it could mean something, or it could mean nothing.
In OhDrama's case, it means nothing, because no one, as yet, has been able to point to anything he accomplished in that position.
In fact, it appears that no one can point to anything that OhDrama has accomplished in ANY position... and Palin is hardly constrained that way, is she?
No, ivan, the failure is on your part, and those of your twisted ilk. The buyer's remorse is setting in big time, as some part of you has begun to look at the empty-suited, anti-American leftist punk you've chosen to support.
Like so many others, you've asked yourself this critical question: This waste of skin known as OhDrama claims to be all about "change." So, in the entirety of his life, save enriching drug dealers... WHAT EXACTLY HAS HE CHANGED?
The answer is: nothing.
Next question: Since he's changed nothing in the entirety of his life, exactly how stupid do you need to be to believe he would change anything as President... before he sells this country out, I mean?
..but if he wins, it will be likely without my vote :)
Individual Christians can believe whatever they want to believe, but I will guarantee that hundreds of millions of Christians in this country and around the world regard Jesus Christ as one of the most successful community organizers in history.
The more you tards deny it, the more ridicule you'll earn. Keep it up, Hinton. Keep spewing the "twisted ilk," all the way to November 4.
Posted by: ivan on September 5, 2008 06:43 AMNo, he didn't. Boy Scout leaders would technically fit into the category of "community organizers".
"...a community organizer just as Barack Obama is and Jesus Christ was." ~ Ivan
Jesus organized a world community, while Barack has condensed his to the South side of Chicago slum district he migrated to.
Just a wee bit of difference wouldn't you say?
Keeping with my contrast theme from a few days ago, it was sure telling when we see and talk to McCain's friends. My word they are very loyal. You can go from the POW friends to his Senator friends.
And then fast forward to Sarah. Greta had a couple of her friends on the tube last night. Seemed normal peoples. They had an old guy on Prager or Monson last night who knew Sarah from Day One (yep, diapers).
Question: do Barry and Joe Biden have any friends? It seems all they have are politicians and they don't seem to be friends as much as sycophants waiting to cash in if they win.
Anyone else notice this?
Posted by: swatter on September 5, 2008 07:19 AM
My personal opinion on the community organizer issue is: (a) it was a good laugh line for the Republicans at the convention, but won't stick, and (b) the Democrats don't need to get stuck in the petty, they need to focus on two things: Iraq and the Economy.
Speaking of Iraq, I see, but I haven't viewed the segment yet, that Barack has grudgingly come around on the Surge issue (i.e., in his Bill O' interview). I am sure you guys are going to be all over this one.
Posted by: tc on September 5, 2008 07:37 AMhttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075109/posts
Link from previous post. I need to get a blog or something to be able to do the links.
Posted by: swatter on September 5, 2008 07:43 AMI look at McCain, the grouchy maverick, and I see a lot of good in the man. He is intelligent and sincere.
Now since the two appear to be comparable I look deeper. I look into their records and their associations.
This is where it becomes very clear that one of these men is worthy of the job and the other is not.
Posted by: deadwood on September 5, 2008 07:48 AMGeorge Bush was Governor of Texas which should mean he would have great executive experience. He ran a couple businesses as well. That should equal great business experience. He ran an oil business which should have meant he understood energy issues as well.
But even with all that, he still didn't do that great. Still hasn't. That's because he was a "C" average student, running previous businesses in a "F" average way.
Looking at the details of how George Bush ran his businesses should have given us a better a idea of how he would have run the country than just reading his resume alone.
Posted by: Just Asking on September 5, 2008 07:53 AMJimbo
Posted by: Jimbo on September 5, 2008 08:18 AMJust Asking: and Obama's experience just leads to comparisons with ... well, anyone who has a serious lack of experience.
The news paper even showed the pictures of these homes that many are so bad that people can no longer live in them. Yet Obama did nothing about it.
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on September 5, 2008 08:23 AMThe definition of "community organizer" from Obama's own pen is very interesting. Thanks for the link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2075109/posts
Let’s look a Sarah’s Palin’s executive accomplishments:
Lobbied for and received $26 million in pork barrel earmarks for the city of Wasilla.
Was for the bridge to the Ketchikan Airport before she was against it.
After being against the bridge, she kept all of the pork barrel earmarked money, saving taxpayers exactly $0, but costing them well over $200 million in pork barrel spending (GOP = Grand Ole Porkers. No thanks to the bridge, but we will keep all of the taxpayer money, Thanks a lot!
Has never provided any direct operational orders to the Alaskan National Guard
Is for teaching creationism in science classes.
Is against comprehensive sex education in schools, stating that it should be the parent’s responsibility (that worked out well).
Sought to remove books from the Wasilla library and tried to fire the librarian who refused to do so until the people of Wasilla pressured Palin to withdraw her letter of termination (more of same Bush and Rove tactics).
Fired the head of Alaska Public Safety because he would not fire Palin’s ex-brother-in-law (and she is now under investigation for abuse of her office for this – yet more Rovian crap).
Wasilla had a balanced budget when Sarah Palin took office, when she left office Wasilla was $22 million is debt (typical borrow and spend Republic fiscal policy).
Sarah Palin is more of the same uber-conservative, borrow-and-spend, Reporklican, irresponsible, Bush government.
So DSHS failures in Washington are Gregoire's fault. DOC failures in Washington are Gregoire's fault. Transportation failures in Washington are Gregoire's fault. The buck stops with her. That's actual leadership, or failure thereof.
Posted by: Palouse on September 5, 2008 08:27 AMTruth where do you live? Do you want to compare earmarks? Regulations? Spending? I think I just saw the King County budget will be 90 Million in the hole this year alone. Of course that doesn't count a Billion Dollar over budget Brightwater either.
Posted by: Huh? on September 5, 2008 08:50 AMThe mayor of Wasilla, AK can be fired and recalled if she doesn't satisfy her constituents. Community organizers not so much...
And thanks for confirming that being a community organizer is NOT executive experience! Not only do we have Ivan the beached Fascist Whale on record as saying Sarah Palin has more experience than Obama, but now we have you admitting he has no executive experience!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 5, 2008 09:17 AMSo what exactly was Obama trying to change in Chicago? It must have been all those bad things the Republican were doing while controlling that city! Oh wait, it wasn't the Republicans, was it...
and "Obama asks us to get involved and take responsibility in our homes, our communities and our nation."
So why is he also asking for a lot of new, large, expensive government programs? Sounds like the opposite of taking personal responsibility.
You notice the dem's are not saying zip about the homes Obama & Rezco had built for the poor so Rezco could get rich, while the poor live in unsafe homes that Rezco & Obama has never fixed.
Yep he really cares alright
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on September 5, 2008 09:29 AMAhhh... the Chinese turncoat again.
I never said that community organizing was "executive experience". However, I'm amazed at how much Republicans can contort to try to play up what little experience she has. "Commander-in-Chief of the Alaskan National Guard"? Puleeze.
And McCain has no executive experience either. Does this mean that it should be a Palin/McCain ticket instead? Should McCain wait eight years to learn what he can from Palin, perhaps?
But in the end, I'm amazed at how selfish and cowardly Republicans are. I can agree that there should be a debate about what social services the government should provide, but to denigrate those folks that actually provide a safety net for people that aren't served by government programs? The world envisioned by Republicans is truly an awful and foul place.
Posted by: demo kid on September 5, 2008 09:56 AMA few other organizers using the same logic.
Charlie Manson
Jim Jones
Adolf Hitle
Lucifer
Now, admittedly these folks are very much on the opposite side of the coin from Obama. I really don't think the guy is evil - I actually respect a man that wants to help - I just don't think he's the right guy to be president when we could have John McCain.
(I especially think that now that Obama has selected Joe Biden as his running mate. I think history will record that selection as the turning point where Obama lost momentum. Biden is just so anti-everything that Obama pretends to stand for that it boggles the mind how he could have chosen the loser.)
Posted by: johnny on September 5, 2008 09:57 AMDarcy Burner's general was on the tube the other night and got stuck trying to answer why 'running for office' is qualifications for CIC. It can be found on Hot Air.
He used the same rational that Burner is using- I am alive and therefore qualified.
Needless to say, he didn't look good.
Posted by: swatter on September 5, 2008 10:01 AMBarack Obama was a founding member of the organization Public Allies. His wife became executive director of the Chicago chapter in 1993. According to Investers Business Daily, the Obamas plan to use the as the model for a national public service. Obama calls the program, "Universal Voluntary Public Service."
But as IBD says, Barack and Michelle plan to push American kids into these government-funded "reeducation camps where they'll be brainwashed into thinking America is a racist, oppressive place in need of social change."
Read the whole thing, and consider now what Obama is taking credit for when he uses his community organization experience as a positive, when in fact, it should scare the hell out of every American. Remember those "brown shirts" loyal to another up and coming leader 70 years ago?
It's a Must Read!
Michelle's Boot Camps For Radicals
Posted by: Reality on September 5, 2008 10:06 AMWhen classmates in college asked me just what it was that a community organizer did, I couldn't answer them directly. Instead, I'd pronounce on the need for change. Change in the White House, where Reagan and his minions were carrying on their dirty deeds. Change in the Congress, compliant and corrupt. Change in the mood of the country, manic and self-absorbed. Change won't come from the top, I would say. Change will come from a mobilized grass roots.
So, FLUFF couldn't define exactly what the hell he was doing and he's been draggin his change meme since COLLEGE. Way to change and grow, FLUFF!
James Taranto of The Wall Street Journal notes that while Democrats are complaining about putting "the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency," Obama, the community organizer, will be "no heartbeats away." And Taranto still isn't sure what a "community organizer" does. He asks, "Are we supposed to cast our eyes on the slums of Chicago, behold how well organized they are, and exclaim in wonder, 'Wow, Barack Obama did that!'?"After receiving an email from David Plouffe of the Obama campaign explaining, "Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies," Taranto thinks he's finally got the answer. "[C]ommunity organizing consists of helping elect Barack Obama president!" He concludes, "The community Barack Obama has organized is, in Plouffe's own telling, the community of those who admire Barack Obama. He is mayor of Obamaville and aspires to be president of Barackistan."
I suspect that, like his associations with terrorists, known & avowed communists and child abusers, FLUFF's resume is now going to be scrubbed of the community organizing thing. The question then becomes, what's left?
Oh wait! I know! He's black! Well, half!
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 5, 2008 10:09 AMWhile the above link leads credence to the theory that "community organizer" is a profession, I still don't know what they do on a day-to-day basis. I mean, do you get up the morning and decide to organize Joe at 8, Tim at 9, Sarah at 10? I still don't get it.
Posted by: swatter on September 5, 2008 10:13 AM'Work for next to nothing', horse puckey. Leftist organizations like ACORN (Obama's old alma mater) have got a deathgrip on the taxpayers tit and are sucking like Superman for funding - which goes to their 'community organizers'. They're the modern equivalent of Lenin's professional revolutionaries, doing their best to overturn capitalism by concerted mob actions on one hand and stealth takeovers of local organizations for their own benefit. And unlike Lenin, whose organizing was funded by bank robberies and duped millionaires, they do it largely on the taxpayer's dime. Saul Alinsky is beaming in his grave, and the rest of us who work for a living need to adopt a greater measure of concern than currently exists.
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on September 5, 2008 10:24 AMLet me clarify something. Nobody is mocking community organizers in church basements and community centers across the country working to improve their neighbors' lives. What deserves ridicule is the notion that Obama's brief stint as a South Side rabble-rouser for tax-subsidized, partisan nonprofits qualifies as executive experience you can believe in.What deserves derision is "community organizing" that relies on a community of homeless people and ex-cons to organize for the purpose of registering dead people to vote, shaking down corporations and using the race card as a bludgeon.
...Obama's community organizing days involved training grievance-mongers from the far-left ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). The ACORN mob is infamous for its bully tactics (which they dub "direct actions"); Obama supporters have recounted his role in organizing an ambush on a government planning meeting about a landfill project opposed by Chicago's minority lobbies.
With benefactors like Obama in office, ACORN has milked nearly four decades of government subsidies to prop up chapters that promote the welfare state and undermine the free market, as well as some that have been implicated in perpetuating illegal immigration and voter fraud.
Last week, Milwaukee's top election official announced plans to seek criminal investigations of 37 ACORN employees accused of offering gifts to sign up voters (including prepaid gas cards and restaurant cards) or falsifying driver's license numbers, Social Security numbers or other information on voter registration cards.
Last month, a New Mexico TV station reported on the child rapists, drug offenders and forgery convicts on ACORN's payroll. In July, Pennsylvania investigators asked the public for help in locating a fugitive named Luis R. Torres-Serrano, who is accused "of submitting more than 100 fraudulent voter registration forms he collected on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now to county election officials." Also in July, a massive, nearly $1 million embezzlement scheme by top ACORN officials was exposed.
ACORN's political arm endorsed Obama in February and has ramped up efforts to register voters across the country. In the meantime, completely ignored by the mainstream commentariat and clean-election crusaders, the Obama campaign admitted failing to report $800,000 in campaign payments to ACORN. They were disguised as payments to a front group called "Citizen Services, Inc." for "advance work."
Jim Terry, an official from the Consumer Rights League, a watchdog group that monitors ACORN, noted: "ACORN has a long and sordid history of employing convoluted Enron-style accounting to illegally use taxpayer funds for their own political gain. Now it looks like ACORN is using the same type of convoluted accounting scheme for Obama's political gain." With a wave of his magic wand, Obama amended his FEC forms to change the "advance work" to "get-out-the-vote" work.
Now, don't you dare challenge his commitment to following tax and election laws. And don't you even think of entertaining the possibility that The One exploited a nonprofit supposedly focused on helping low-income people for political gain.
He was just "organizing" his "community." Guffaw.
No wonder they hate Michelle Malkin.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 5, 2008 10:25 AMhttp://www.google.com/gwt/n?source=pagecreator&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.busfederation.com-a.googlepages.com%2Funderconstruction
It's where young "progressives" get onto buses to enlighten the yokels in the hinterlands about the merits of high taxes, oppressive land use regulations, same-sex marriage, and a single-payer health care system.
I don't think it has worked out very well.
One of the most annoying characteristics about many leftists is their arrogance. As Thomas Sowell said, they think you must be ignorant or evil if you disagree with them. We see it all the time on DailyKos, the Huffington Post and the trolls who appear on this blog. (How about it , "All Facts Support My Position"?
Doesn't your blogging name strike you as a triffle arrogant?
Obama is an arrogant man. You see it in his condescending speeches, his guns and religion remark, and his Greek columns in Denver. I didn't think enough voters would figure this out in time for the election because it is well-concealed: the MSM and the campaign have been on guard to keep it hidden. I knew they eventually would and that his election will ultimately prove a disaster for the Left because it couldn't be hidden if he sat in the Oval Office. When it is understood, the Left will discover that arrogance is toxic with most voters. Barely enough figured out with Kerry.
But the Palin nomination was a catalyst and the MSM and mainstream media couldn't control themselves. The pregnant daughter, the husband who gets his hands dirty, and the Assembly of God Church membership was just too much for them.
So the public got a display of the Left's and the MSM's arrogance and it may prove to be too much for the majority.
We caught a break and we may not have to endure an Obama presidency before the public gets sick of them. It already is.
Posted by: b2 on September 5, 2008 10:33 AM
http://www.google.com/gwt/n?source=pagecreator&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.busfederation.com-a.googlepages.com%2Funderconstruction
It's where young "progressives" get onto buses to enlighten the yokels in the hinterlands about the merits of high taxes, oppressive land use regulations, same-sex marriage, and a single-payer health care system.
I don't think it has worked out very well.
One of the most annoying characteristics about many leftists is their arrogance. As Thomas Sowell said, they think you must be ignorant or evil if you disagree with them. We see it all the time on DailyKos, the Huffington Post and the trolls who appear on this blog. (How about it , "All Facts Support My Position"?
Doesn't your blogging name strike you as a triffle arrogant?
Obama is an arrogant man. You see it in his condescending speeches, his guns and religion remark, and his Greek columns in Denver. I didn't think enough voters would figure this out in time for the election because it is well-concealed: the MSM and the campaign have been on guard to keep it hidden. I knew they eventually would and that his election will ultimately prove a disaster for the Left because it couldn't be hidden if he sat in the Oval Office. When it is understood, the Left will discover that arrogance is toxic with most voters. Barely enough figured out with Kerry.
But the Palin nomination was a catalyst and the MSM and mainstream media couldn't control themselves. The pregnant daughter, the husband who gets his hands dirty, and the Assembly of God Church membership was just too much for them.
So the public got a display of the Left's and the MSM's arrogance and it may prove to be too much for the majority.
We caught a break and we may not have to endure an Obama presidency before the public gets sick of them. It already is.
Posted by: b2 on September 5, 2008 10:35 AM
Obama spent three years in housing projects in Chicago and -- according to his book, Dreams of My Father -- even he couldn't explain what he was doing. "When classmates in college asked me just what it was that a community organizer did, I couldn't answer them directly," Obama wrote. Indeed, who could say what a community organizer does?
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on September 5, 2008 11:26 AMNo, really. This is not a rhetorical question. Who was he "community organizing" *for*?
Posted by: Bryan Lovely on September 5, 2008 11:33 AMhttp://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=305420655186700
Posted by: scott on September 5, 2008 12:07 PM
Instapundit (http://www.pajamasmedia.com/instapundit/archives2/023883.php) covers this:
September 05, 2008
JIM TREACHER SPOTS SOME ASTROTURFING. Plus this: "Hey, you know who else was a community organizer? Don Corleone." Ouch.
UPDATE: Reader Thomas Prewitt emails that the astroturf is biblically inaccurate: "Jesus was actually not a community organizer. He was the Messiah, and he left the organizational stuff to the apostles who started the early church. The true organizer of the New Testament was actually Paul. His letters to the different churches mentored those communities. And, he lived a life much more like that of John McCain. Many of his letters were written from prison where he was beaten." Well, that last comparison may be a stretch . . .
NOTE TO PUDGE
I found you a lyric writer
Chains We Can Believe In
Russ Vaughn
Okommissars dour crave total power,Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 5, 2008 01:20 PM
An iron hand to rule this nation,
Not to debate but incarcerate
Those guilty of deviation.
You'll have no role in thought control,
No matter whom you do know.
They'll ship your butt to an icy hut,
In a camp far north of Juneau.We heard it well from stern Michelle,
What The Great One will require:
Without reserve we will all serve,
Or face the Okommissars' ire.
You will submit, you'll take the bit;
The Okommissariat guides your brains.
You'll volunteer, by force or fear;
You will accept these chains.We hear Dem czars, the Okommissars,
Are planning state prosecutions;
For all of those, they now oppose,
They're preparing stern solutions.
Vice-Okommissar Joe has said it's so
There'll be charges for those leavin';
So those ending reigns will go in chains
Those are chains you can believe in.
We organized submitted petitions and did our thing. We stood up against "THE MAN" (ain't that so 60s) or the establishment (the new 8s) and effected change. Now, that is CHANGE I CAN BELIEVE IN.
Barry, what have you ever done to differentiate yourself from other "community organizers"?
Posted by: swatter on September 5, 2008 01:26 PMAnd you call conservatives dumb.
Posted by: iconoclast on September 5, 2008 01:43 PMPosted by Duffman at September
_______________________________________
Yep Duffie. All from Gov monies.
It's a lib thing, you show know. (-:
Posted by: Army Medic/Vet on September 5, 2008 01:58 PMAhhh... the Chinese turncoat again.
Shi. Wo shi Mei Guo Ren shu huo Shang Hai Zhong Guo. Xie xie wo de hen hao peng you. Bing ni hao ma.
Sorry, Mandarin sometimes comes out, being a chinese master spy and all...
If you ever want to see a real cosmopolitan city (Seattle isn't even as diverse as a small suburb like Jiashan), a city of light (Paris is a distant second), let me know. I'll gladly show you the sights of Shanghai. Or Hong Kong. Xi'an. Nanjing. You name it.
I never said that community organizing was "executive experience". However, I'm amazed at how much Republicans can contort to try to play up what little experience she has. "Commander-in-Chief of the Alaskan National Guard"? Puleeze.
So you admit she has some executive experience. And Barack has what?
And McCain has no executive experience either. Does this mean that it should be a Palin/McCain ticket instead? Should McCain wait eight years to learn what he can from Palin, perhaps?
Managing a billion dollar's worth of assets, thousands of troops, and tens of millions of dollars in annual budgets doesn't qualify for executive experience, I see. So Barack has what?
But in the end, I'm amazed at how selfish and cowardly Republicans are. I can agree that there should be a debate about what social services the government should provide, but to denigrate those folks that actually provide a safety net for people that aren't served by government programs? The world envisioned by Republicans is truly an awful and foul place.
And Barack provided what safety net? Barack has what kind of experience?
Simple question. Sorry if it offends your Slaver soul, but really it's very simple - what experience does Barack have to actually show he's capable of sitting in the Oval Office? When has he been the person where the buck stops?
Other than taking untold dollars from convicted felons, or getting his wife hundreds of thousands extra per year because of the kickbacks to the hospital she "represented", of course.
So what does a Slaver consider relevant experience? What experience does Obama have in terms of executive management that McCain or Palin do not already have?
Obama's got hope and change, and some platitudes, and ideas about massive wealth redistribution (as any good Tovarishch should desire) but nothing about actually improving America. Only his selected ruling class of Slavers and shacklers.
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 5, 2008 02:17 PMWhen Obama can part the red sea and walk on water, then you can compare him to Jesus.
Posted by: pbj on September 5, 2008 03:03 PMNope... not accusing you of being a spy! Merely a traitor and Communist collaborator that can justify his own hypocrisy in truly fascinating ways. For as much as people on here like to bleat about Marxists and socialists, *you're* the guy that's actually selling out to Communists.
But hey, as long as you're making money, right?
If you ever want to see a real cosmopolitan city (Seattle isn't even as diverse as a small suburb like Jiashan), a city of light (Paris is a distant second), let me know. I'll gladly show you the sights of Shanghai. Or Hong Kong. Xi'an. Nanjing. You name it.
I have no interest. But thanks for the offer.
So you admit she has some executive experience. And Barack has what?
Even the fact that he's spent time outside of Alaska would put him over the top. I really hope that sane Republicans realize that Palin would get eaten alive if she were given power at the national level.
But hey... maybe Alaska is a microcosm of the US! Maybe? Perhaps? Is that the next big one you want to try to pass off on people?
Managing a billion dollar's worth of assets, thousands of troops, and tens of millions of dollars in annual budgets doesn't qualify for executive experience, I see. So Barack has what?
It absolutely does not qualify. If you're counting (again) an unremarkable stint in the Navy after his return from being a POW, I'm afraid that's just not going to fly, so to speak. Face it... McCain's pretty much been in politics without a "real job" for almost three decades. Heck, he's never opened a business, he's never needed to find a job, and he's never really been poor. So tell me, who is detached from regular people?
And Barack provided what safety net? Barack has what kind of experience?
Simple question. Sorry if it offends your Slaver soul, but really it's very simple - what experience does Barack have to actually show he's capable of sitting in the Oval Office? When has he been the person where the buck stops?
Handing the presidency over to any Republican in this election is beyond stupid. It's akin to having a CEO run his company into the ground, providing him with a bonus, and promoting his protege to the same position.
And again, I find it very amusing that the organizations that a Republican government would expect people to rely on in hard times are being slagged here. Obama was a community organizer when he left school, dedicating himself to positive goals, and this is something that's part of a Republican punchline? Again, it's proof that Republicans don't care about anyone but themselves, but are quite willing to lie about that fact to get elected.
Other than taking untold dollars from convicted felons, or getting his wife hundreds of thousands extra per year because of the kickbacks to the hospital she "represented", of course.
Aha. So let's see... we should take your word for this? Apparently your biased partisan opinion is worth more than... say... any finding in any objective venue?
So what does a Slaver consider relevant experience? What experience does Obama have in terms of executive management that McCain or Palin do not already have?
Again, McCain has no executive experience either. Apparently the bar is set pretty low if people are voting for him based on the fact that he was tortured.
Eight years ago, this country elected a fellow with little practical experience whatsoever, with a rambling, incoherent perspective on the way that US policy should be run. Obama's presented clear goals, he's had experience in the Illinois state senate and the US Senate, and he's signaled a willingness to work in a bipartisan fashion. He's worked as a constitutional lawyer, too... so he actually knows the meaning of the documents that the Republicans have seen fit to shred over these past few years.
Palin adds nothing to the equation, except as evangelical bait. Thinking otherwise is foolish.
Obama's got hope and change, and some platitudes, and ideas about massive wealth redistribution (as any good Tovarishch should desire) but nothing about actually improving America. Only his selected ruling class of Slavers and shacklers.
Brilliant. A fellow that is actually profiting from communism is lecturing people about "wealth redistribution"? Bravo, sir. Bravo. You're living the dream.
Again... proof positive that Republicans are hypocrites.
Posted by: demo kid on September 5, 2008 03:20 PMInstead of encouraging young people to create and sell products that people can use, provide a useful service that people will pay for--in other words, contribute to the great economic engine of America-- basically, you teach youth that America is racist, sexist, and homophobic. Some of all those three does exist, but they really aren't the overriding issues of America. America probably goes more out of its way than just about any other country to avoid them, even if those things show up from time to time, as we saw against Sarah Palin with sexism (she isn't crying in the corner, about it, however--in case you haven't noticed).
Anyhow, then you teach these same youths to go out and agitate & whine as victims about the same three issues. Michelle O. was telling them not to work to corporate jobs (even though she does. Does she not see the irony of her "do as I say, not as I do" (at $300K a year?), but get government jobs, or low-paying jobs. It was really strange. But that's what Obama wants to turn your kids into---whining victims, instead of achievers and well-adjusted, productive citizens.
No thanks.
How very un PC of you! The Commissar banned Dodgeball because it's not fair... boo hoo
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on September 5, 2008 08:34 PMIn Matthew 16:18, he says of Peter, "...upon this rock I will build my church..."
Note that he's not delegating to anyone.
As to Saul of Tarsus... Well, Jesus saw him coming, too. See Matthew 24:24.
One of the things you notice when you live nearly half your life in East Asia is that 3 BILLION people are rushing to capitalism, privatization, and open media. Once Communist states are now heavily socialist, and working on how to manage the transition to a more democratic system.
Yet here in the US, the Fascists and Marxists of the Slavery Party insist that we need to turn to where all those people are coming from. We need Government to run every industry, we need to have restriction of the press, we need to have State control of our daily lives, we need a Fascist takeover of all businesses, and that we cannot succeed without the full weight of Government behind us.
Somehow, it just doesn't add up. I'll take emerging Democracies and greatly expanding freedoms over the steady clamping on of shackle after shackle any day!
Now, about my question:
What executive experience does Barack Obama have?
For all your long-winded ramblings, you never ONCE answered that question. You said why you don't think the experience that Palin has is good enough, and that you don't think McCains two years running an air wing doesn't qualify.
But you completely dodged the question! What executive experience does Barack Obama have?
I fear you cannot answer that in any other way than "none".
Meaning that you choose ZERO experience over some experience.
Is that how you choose your doctor? Your barber? Your mechanic? Your lawyer? Your accountant? Anyone you have to hire? Do you immediately round-file anyone with any experience and go for the candidate who's on the job for the very first hour ever?
Your tap-dance and silence on the issue is damning!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 6, 2008 01:03 AMAfter all, we all will be anyway, sooner or later.
Posted by: Laszlo Toth, Jr on September 6, 2008 01:03 AMFirst of all, interesting about your tap dance about the whole communist issue. Justify it in whatever way you want. Hell... people that buy pretty much anything now are reaping the benefits of what amounts to Chinese slave labor.
But don't assume that trying to take action as a nation to address problems is "sliding backwards". You're either a damn fool or you're looking to make a lot of money off of damn fools if you're professing that the market will be able to solve many of these problems by itself.
In terms of your question, Obama has exactly the same amount of executive experience as McCain, which is none. But comparing Obama-Biden to McCain-Palin is crazy. I mean, a second-rate mayor and governor? The state government of Alaska (population less than King County) pretty much just exists to hand out welfare royalty checks to its people and glean money from the federal government for pork barrel projects.
Now, you can either declare that I'm sexist, or that Palin is the best thing since sliced bread. But let's be honest here... if she were a Democrat, or if she were a non-evangelical man running for the same position, she wouldn't have a place on either ticket. This should be viewed for what it is... an unmitigated failure on McCain's part.
And heck, if I'm going into surgery to choose a doctor, I'm not going to pick the fellow that graduated last in his class from the University of Grenada. So stop trying... no one is buying that Palin is anything but evangelical bait.
Of course, don't look at me... why don't you look at the polls? It seems like McCain's desperate ploy isn't working. And unless he can rely on an October Surprise (which is party *definitely* will not give him), he's toast.
Posted by: demo kid on September 6, 2008 09:09 AMThe Cold War over the USSR was won by economics - capitalism. Which is how China, Vietnam, Cambodia, India, and the rest of SE Asia is changing.
It wasn't won by wringing our hands and hoping for "change".
I'll gladly be an agent of actual real economic reform and resulting democratization of societies, rather than sitting back and just talking and hoping!
Obama has exactly the same amount of executive experience as McCain, which is none
OK, so the executive experience running the largest naval air squadron doesn't count. Fine.
Still means the Slavery Party ticket comes up way behind the GOP in terms of executive experience. Palin trumps all. And it seems that the judgment of McCain is INFINITELY better than Obama in that he selected someone with executive experience, rather than a three+ decade entrenched member of the Senate.
About graduating order? Robert Jarvik didn't graduate at the top half of his engineering class, and he never completed his internship - a medical dropout. Of course, a decade of experience and training allowed him to invent the artificial heart.
How many first-hour surgeon's came up with something equal?
See, for anyone who actually has to EARN a living, and not just suck on the public teat (like you Slavers want), experience counts. Immensely. Not only to create a record of accomplishments (what has Obama done?), but to also show the character and judgment of the person.
Obama's got nothing. No experience - by your own word.
But let's be honest here... if she were a Democrat, or if she were a non-evangelical man running for the same position, she wouldn't have a place on either ticket.
Sexist. Pure and simple. She has more experience - you even admitted it - than Obama. Yet you still refuse to consider her qualified. I guess you Slavers like to hold your women to much higher standards than your men. Best to keep them looking pretty and shut up in the kitchen, right Slavery Party Kid?
Of course, don't look at me... why don't you look at the polls?
Yes, let's look at those polls! They have the race within the margin of error, and that's BEFORE the impact of the GOP convention.
Oh, and that GOP convention. You do know it had more viewers than the Slavery Party rally, and even Sarah Palin's speech drew more viewers than Obama. And that's with 3 FEWER networks carrying it.
Seems the public eyes - and the public polls - are radically different than what you Slavers believe!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 6, 2008 03:55 PMSorry, I was mistaken in my post in 87...
I posted: Yes, let's look at those polls! They have the race within the margin of error, and that's BEFORE the impact of the GOP convention.
Actually, according to the latest Zogby poll the McCain-Palin ticket is up 3.8% ver Obama-Biden, and McCain is personally up 3.1% over Obama.
Oh, and both of those are ABOVE the margin of error (2.1%). Meaning that the poll is DEFINITIVE that McCain-Palin LEADS Obama-Biden.
Sorry about that mistake... ;)
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 6, 2008 06:21 PMNo, there's certainly nothing ridiculous about that.
I'll give you that there's a bounce from the convention... but I wouldn't be counting your chickens yet, fella.
Posted by: demo kid on September 7, 2008 05:06 PMCommunist Traitor Dan:
I'll gladly be an agent of actual real economic reform and resulting democratization of societies, rather than sitting back and just talking and hoping!
And working with the Chinese Communists to do it. Brilliant. Just keep on twisting about the fact that you've sold out your country. I really enjoy all the excuses you're using.
OK, so the executive experience running the largest naval air squadron doesn't count. Fine.
Nope. Counting an unremarkable stint back in the '70s is beyond a twist.
Still means the Slavery Party ticket comes up way behind the GOP in terms of executive experience. Palin trumps all. And it seems that the judgment of McCain is INFINITELY better than Obama in that he selected someone with executive experience, rather than a three+ decade entrenched member of the Senate.
I'm amazed that you're so quick to trumpet what looks to be a pretty pathetic record of executive experience, in fact. Heck, her whole "reformer" schtick is nothing but a scam. She's just evangelical bait. Admit it.
About graduating order? Robert Jarvik didn't graduate at the top half of his engineering class, and he never completed his internship - a medical dropout. Of course, a decade of experience and training allowed him to invent the artificial heart.
What the hell does Jarvik have anything to do with it? McCain is NOT famous because he was a good soldier. In fact, I'd argue that crashing five planes makes one a risk to his unit and a liability to his country. Heck, they pretty much told the guy up front that he wouldn't make Admiral after he got back, which is why he decided to leave the service.
Face it... the only thing that McCain ever did right in his military career was to get tortured and stick to POW protocol.
See, for anyone who actually has to EARN a living, and not just suck on the public teat (like you Slavers want), experience counts. Immensely. Not only to create a record of accomplishments (what has Obama done?), but to also show the character and judgment of the person.
Experience counts, as does character. But Palin has little to none of either. I'm enjoying how Republicans are justifying this choice, as I don't think that many of them are really believing it at all and are actually scared of what a McCain-Palin victory would mean. I mean, seriously.
Obama's got nothing. No experience - by your own word.
No EXECUTIVE experience. And neither does McCain.
Sexist. Pure and simple. She has more experience - you even admitted it - than Obama. Yet you still refuse to consider her qualified. I guess you Slavers like to hold your women to much higher standards than your men. Best to keep them looking pretty and shut up in the kitchen, right Slavery Party Kid?
Amusing. And false. After hearing all of the vile sexist remarks about Hillary Clinton over the years from conservatives, and racist remarks about Obama in this election cycle, you all are in NO position to make a statement like that about someone merely questioning her fitness for the role. Heck, if Schweitzer or Kaine were running as Obama's VP, you would make the SAME statements.
Yes, let's look at those polls! They have the race within the margin of error, and that's BEFORE the impact of the GOP convention.
Oh, and that GOP convention. You do know it had more viewers than the Slavery Party rally, and even Sarah Palin's speech drew more viewers than Obama. And that's with 3 FEWER networks carrying it.
Seems the public eyes - and the public polls - are radically different than what you Slavers believe!
A convention bounce that barely clears the margin for error is *no* cause for celebration. And with the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the American people will be getting a front seat for the true impacts of Republican mismanagement of government. And I doubt that they're going to reward the Republicans for a "job well done" with another four years in the Oval Office, do you?
Posted by: demo kid on September 7, 2008 05:28 PMYes, call me traitor - call me an oppressor sell-out too! You see, I did my stint for my Country for 6 years. I built companies, and paid more in taxes than you will probably ever earn.
I can be honest about what I do - apparently, as a Slaver, you cannot!
I'm amazed that you're so quick to trumpet what looks to be a pretty pathetic record of executive experience, in fact.
Yet even you must admit that a "pathetic" record is better than NO record! Which is EXACTLY what Obama and Biden have.
A convention bounce that barely clears the margin for error is *no* cause for celebration.
I'm sorry, it's a 10 POINT margin now as the polls finally come out to cover the ENTIRE GOP convention. That's a 14 point swing from the Slavers to the Republicans. Not a bounce, I'd say but a rejection of the policies of personal destruction so exhibited by you and the rest of you shackle-wielding slavery comrades!
And I think it's great how you Slavers refuse to admit your candidates are empty. And you will attack Palin and McCain on issues that you KNOW you'll lose - experience in executive roles, Government reform, and personal accountability.
Why? Well of course to avoid the REAL issues! Those strong Marxist, fascist issues of you Slavers. Oppression of the poor by economic repression. Forced wealth redistribution. Racism via forced classification and "quotas" for all. Tax policies they admit are harmful to the economy all in a goal to redistribute the wealth of society.
Slaver Tovarishch Kid, you have done Lenin and Stalin and Marx proud!
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 7, 2008 08:00 PMAny genuine conservative should see the irony in that outcome.
How much does the DNC pay you for your imitation of a conservative? Less than Sharkansky, presumably, but enquiring minds want to know.
Posted by: Laszlo Toth, Jr on September 8, 2008 01:31 PMI think you're missing the point - the Slavery Party is attacking Sarah Palin because she's "inexperienced". Yet their own candidates have even LESS experience.
If you're going to attack another politician at least do it on a basis where you may be able to claim a better position.
Unless of course the Slavery Party prefers to have weak positions?
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on September 8, 2008 02:49 PMIt's a stupid talking point, regardless of party. Especially for people who believe themselves to be conservatives, for the reasons already mentioned.
Posted by: Laszlo Toth, Jr on September 9, 2008 01:08 AM