Democratic and Liberal political analysis and commentary

I took this picture of me and Mac the last time I was on the radio with him. Bradshaw refused to get his photo taken, but I managed to get one fuzzy image of his hand giving me "the hand."

Thanks for stopping by my blog. As you can see, I haven't posted in more than a month. I've taken a little summer break...and things are changing with my host Know More Media. They've disbanded the company as I knew it, but are allowing me to blog here until I decide what I want to do. I have a new blog in the works, but the design is not ready yet. I'll leave a post on this blog when I'm ready to launch.

Anyhow, fasten your seatbelts...today should be a lot of fun. Mac doesn't allow me to take email questions on the air when he is gone, but you can leave a comment here. Be sure to leave me your email if you would like a response.

For those of you who live outside of Des Moines, the show will be streaming live from 1:30 to 3:40 p.m. CST. Just click here and click on the "Listen Live" button on the upper right hand side of the page.

Claire, "The Demo Diva"

P.S. Go Obama!

Any woman who is thinking about voting for McCain after the last two weeks of gaffes and outrageous bumbling by John McCain's campaign and ESPECIALLY McCain himself, has got to be just crazy.

While being interviewed during a campaign stop, a female reporter asked McCain about his lack of support for women's reproductive health, specifically his vote in the Senate on a bill that would have required insurance companies to cover birth control pills. Note that insurance companies already cover Viagra. Here is the embarrassing video:

McCain used his hand as an invisible shield and tried to wipe off all the dirty cooties he got by talking about ishy-gishy girl guts.

Just for the record, McCain has been consistent throughout his career. He also voted against family planning funds for teenagers and young poor women, supports overturning Roe v. Wade, and supports abstinence-only education.

This cover appears on this month's New Yorker magazine. How disappointing for a thinking-man's periodical to stoop to the lowest possible level to explain its position. I am embarrassed to even look at the image.

On so many levels, this is wrong. Just wrong. The image of the militant woman (ostensibly Mrs. Obama) disturbs me more than the parody of Obama in the traditional African garb. The images tell two different stories about how the Obamas are being perceived, even by the most liberal people in American.

Barack Obama's image is almost so literal that it doesn't meet the parody standard. It's simply a cartoon image of something that already came out. Michelle Obama's image is so far off base, so outrageous, it defies explanation. What, just because she has a voice and an opinion, and chooses to use her voice, she all of a sudden becomes a gun-toting Black Panther? It takes a small mind, indeed, to portray her in this way. Parodies are supposed to remind us of some sort of truth, however stereotypical, of the individual portrayed. The recognition of the irony unconsciously makes us laugh, even if it's inappropriate. I don't recognize this image as Michelle Obama. There is nothing in it that even slightly resembles her persona, even though the drawing itself is a remarkable likeness of her face.

I'm glad that most members of the media have come out denouncing the cover. I used to enjoy the New Yorker, but will purposely avoid it now. I don't want to read the prognostications of such juvenille writers and editors. Shame on the editor of the New Yorker for not knowing the difference between satire and racism.

As Ronald Reagan would've said, Tony Snow has broken the "surly bonds of Earth." I don't know about the touching the face of God part, but Tony certainly has touched many people during his journey on Earth, me included. Rarely do I ever pay attention to  someone who had such different views than myself, but there was just something so cool and easy about Tony Snow. As I've said before, he was too cool to be a republican.

Tony Snow was only 53, way too young to die in anyone's book. But he managed to fill those years with meaningful work and lifelong friends.

He was also not a shrinking violet, which of course, I admire the most.

In a November 11, 2005, column, Snow wrote that Bush's "wavering conservatism has become an active concern among Republicans, who wish he would stop cowering under the bed and start fighting back against the likes of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Joe Wilson."

"The newly passive George Bush has become something of an embarrassment," Snow's column said.

"I asked him about those comments," joked the president at the time of Snow's appointment. "And he said, 'You should have heard what I said about the other guy.'"

Bush said Snow's long career as a journalist helped him understand "the importance of the relationship between government and those whose job it is to cover the government."

What was he thinking??? While still miked up after an interview on FOX News, Jesse Jackson remarked that he didn't appreciate Obama talking down to black people, and that he'd like to cut off his nuts.

Even if his microphone had been shut off, did he think he was going to find sympathy from anyone at FOX News? Has this man gone off the deep end?

As my friends over at Jack and Jill Politics have said before, this is one of the reasons why black folks are so sick of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton. They're just out of step with the rest of the world. Their shenanigans more than erase any good they accomplish on behalf of the black community. The stark cold truth is, perception is reality. The perception is that Jesse Jackson is past his prime representing the black community. So it is reality.

Barack Obama has completely changed his mind on the FISA bill just passed by Congress. The sticking point for many democrats was the fact that telecoms like Verizon and AT&T would be shielded from lawsuits that most certainly would result by innocent Americans who may have been spied on by the government after 911.

Obama has come out many times and said that he was against giving immunity to the phone companies, who violated their own privacy laws and subverted procedure due to pressure by the U.S. government in the national paranoia that followed 911.

I think Obama did the right thing. The Bush Administration was whipping everyone into a frenzy after 911. People were scared of terrorist attacks happening in America. Remember the rush on duct tape at Home Depot tha resulted in a family taping up their air ducts to the point that they suffocated to death? Remember the color-coded terror alerts that could affect the stock market one way or the other?

Some of Obama's fair weather supporters are angry with him, but Obama knows that these companies were all operating under the assumption that those being wiretapped were suspected terrorists. It's law enforcement that are using the Patriot Act improperly to go after two-bit thugs that should be chased down and arrested. The telecoms, while not lily white during this episode, I'm sure, have a process to follow and I'm sure hoardes of their lawyers are all over it.

Obama is NOT the second coming of Christ. He will probably make a lot of decisions that his uppity white supporters will not like. That's the part of compromise that always sucks. Get over it.

The evangelicals in America are no longer the monolithic block of moral conservatives that they once were. There's a new "Jesus for President " movement afoot that will further erode John McCain's tepid support among Christian conservatives. The old conservative flash point of gay marriage is now just one issue that conservatives care about and see as the domain of the religious.

Poverty, the environment and stopping the war in Iraq are all now issues that animate this group. None of those issues are John McCain territory.

The new movement even has a leader. No, it's not Jesus. He's a dreadlocked, veggie-oil bus driving hippie named Shane Claiborne.

The day I've been waiting for ever since the local smoking bans in Ames and Iowa City were overturned by the Iowa Supreme Court is finally here!!!

Tuesday July 1st is the first day that smoking is illegal in Iowa in all but a few workplaces. That includes restaurants and bars. I have a long mental list of places that I stopped going to years ago (because of the clouds of smoke) that I can't wait to visit again.

To all the "government is controlling my life" wackos out there...I'd rather have the government come in and legislate this issue because smokers are addicted to a drug and they can't control themselves. When people do not consider the rights of others before engaging in a harmful behavior, then government has the right and the responsibility to come in a take care of the problem. That's exactly what they've done. I thank the Iowa legislators who passed this law from the bottom of my grateful lungs.

Bill Clinton finally picked up the phone and called Obama.

It seems that he was angered by media reports that said Clinton did not support Obama and would not campaign for him. On the contrary, say sources for both the former president and Obama's campaign. Clinton is "excited" to campaign with and for Obama.

Bill has a hot temper, everyone knows that. He just needed some time to cool down after the intensely personal primary battle. One thing that is still missing...the sign on Bill Clinton's office door that said, "America's first black president." The sign will turn up at the White House in January 2009 when Obama takes the oath of office.

Barack Obama is pictured here at the Harkin Steak Fry in Iowa in October of 2007. This particular shot is now the entire basis of a conservative whisper campaign insinuating that Obama is not patriotic. Coupled with the fact that he chose not to wear a flag pin for a time, and remarks taken out of context by his wife, a few right wing nut jobs are doing their level best to paint him into an "unpatriotic" corner.

Today, Obama came out of that corner swinging like a champ.

He expressed what so many Americans feel. Patriotism is NOT blind loyalty to political leaders. Patriotism is loyalty and defense of the ideals that once made this country great. Shame on those leaders, both democrat and republican, who did not stand up for our constitution when its prinicples were under attack.

He also addressed the flag pin issue. Well. Let me tell you, I can relate. Before the U.S. invaded Iraq, I proudly flew the flag outside my home every day. Now, the dusty flag is folded in my closet. I refuse to fly it until we get out.

Good for Obama! I hope people listen to his words and hang this unpatriotic talk. Patriotism is intensely personal.