1. What do you think of the Pennsylvania primary results, and what does it mean to the Clinton-Obama race?
[A.G.]: It went pretty much as expected. In fact, Obama was not expected to do well. He narrowed the initial gap between himself and Clinton, in part by outspending Clinton 2-to-1. There is a very large senior-citizen population in Pennsylvania, which she won overwhelmingly. The African-American population of 13 percent mirrors that of the nation; he won that group overwhelmingly. Still, at the end of the day, Obama has solid leads in both the delegate count and popular vote. She only gained nine to 10 pledged delegates, which means superdelegates can decide the nomination.
[A.G.]: It went pretty much as expected. In fact, Obama was not expected to do well. He narrowed the initial gap between himself and Clinton, in part by outspending Clinton 2-to-1. There is a very large senior-citizen population in Pennsylvania, which she won overwhelmingly. The African-American population of 13 percent mirrors that of the nation; he won that group overwhelmingly. Still, at the end of the day, Obama has solid leads in both the delegate count and popular vote. She only gained nine to 10 pledged delegates, which means superdelegates can decide the nomination.
Oh look, it's the trashy Amy Goodman, from "Radio host blasts media for lack of anti-war coverage" (The Arizona Republic). It's trashy Amy Goodman ignoring Florida voters and Michigan voters. That would be trashy Amy Goodman who couldn't shut up about Florida being disenfranchised from 2000 through 2004. But now she thinks she can just ignore them. Of course, for one show, she tried to be interested in the million-plus citizens that voted in the primary. She wasn't. She's just a trashy little liar who published in Larry F**nt's H**tler skin-mag by choice because it was trash like she is. She's just the trashy woman who yesterday yet again interviewed "reliable source" Pig -- the man CNN reported was twice busted for seeking sex with underage females online. Goody can't help it, she's just pure trash.
She disgraced herself and demonstrated she has no journalistic ethics at as she's attempted to get Barack Obama into the White House. That's included bringing on her friend Melissa Harris-Lacewell to 'comment' on the Democratic candidates as an 'objective' and 'disinterested party.' Of course Amy Goodman knew Harris-Lacewell was campaigning for Barack Obama, she just didn't think she owed it to her audience to inform them of that fact. She did the same with just 'professor' Frances Fox Piven who was part of the roundtable with four Barack supporters (and one person who was neutral). Piven (and others) were just 'objective' (Bill Fletcher disclosed on air, with no prompting from Amy, that he was supporting Barack, all others played dumb including Amy -- especially Amy) had already signed the public petition of Reds & Radicals for Bambi (laughably called "Feminists For Obama"). Goody didn't feel the need to disclose that to her audience.
If anything of the above is news to you, refer to Ava and my "TV: Democracy Sometimes?" as well as "TV: Goodman and Rose 'honoring' bad TV past". Remember January 7th's broadcast of Goody's bad show? That's when "objective" Harris-Lacewell declared:
"I was in Nashua at Barack Obama's really packed speech. And we got there about two hours early and stood in line. I had my five-year-old daughter with me, and she stood in line that whole time. Along with me was lots of other older people who were using canes, young people, infants. And it was an incredibly moving and powerful experience. And also, again, just sort of--it was a cross between, you know, the 'I Have a Dream' speech and a high school football pep rally. It was a bizarre, but really kind of exciting mixture."
Ethically, Goodman was always required to disclose to the audience that Harris-Lacewell was campaigning for Barack Obama but that became especially important when Harris-Lacewell, part of the Obama campaign, rushed to weigh in on Obama. Viewers and listeners were lied to and Amy Goodman has no ethics. (January 14th's broadcast, where Harris-Lacewell was brought on to attack Gloria Steinem -- this is the agreement she and Goody had before the show began -- would find Harris-Lacewell bragging, on air, about all the work she'd done for the campaign. She started that in 2007. She also went to Wright's trashy church, has known the Obamas for years and visited/haunted the same workout spots he did. Harris-Lacewell was never 'objective' or 'uninvolved' and Goody knew all of that but was okay with lying to -- and tricking -- her audience.
She brought on Hillary hater John Nichols to . . . offers smears. (He never did publish that article he announced at the start of March, did he? His 'big' expose? But that was never the point. The point was to claim he had proof of something, something big, and to claim it was going to be a big story and to plant the seeds of doubt of Hillary.) She brought on the nut job "journalist" (Hugh Jackson) -- who wrote "Hillary's hearing voices" among other 'objective' pieces -- and presented him as an 'objective' 'journalist' when it was time to discuss Nevada. In 2007, she started bringing on supporters of Barack and giving them thirty minutes, the full hour. Only she never told her audience they'd donated to Barack and were supporting him. She pretended that Barack just happened to come up in the conversation. And that it was surprising that this 'objective' person had so many wonderful things to say about Barack. This year, she dragged Grace Lee Boggs out of mothballs, for the hour, to push Barack.
If anything of the above is news to you, refer to Ava and my "TV: Democracy Sometimes?" as well as "TV: Goodman and Rose 'honoring' bad TV past". Remember January 7th's broadcast of Goody's bad show? That's when "objective" Harris-Lacewell declared:
"I was in Nashua at Barack Obama's really packed speech. And we got there about two hours early and stood in line. I had my five-year-old daughter with me, and she stood in line that whole time. Along with me was lots of other older people who were using canes, young people, infants. And it was an incredibly moving and powerful experience. And also, again, just sort of--it was a cross between, you know, the 'I Have a Dream' speech and a high school football pep rally. It was a bizarre, but really kind of exciting mixture."
Ethically, Goodman was always required to disclose to the audience that Harris-Lacewell was campaigning for Barack Obama but that became especially important when Harris-Lacewell, part of the Obama campaign, rushed to weigh in on Obama. Viewers and listeners were lied to and Amy Goodman has no ethics. (January 14th's broadcast, where Harris-Lacewell was brought on to attack Gloria Steinem -- this is the agreement she and Goody had before the show began -- would find Harris-Lacewell bragging, on air, about all the work she'd done for the campaign. She started that in 2007. She also went to Wright's trashy church, has known the Obamas for years and visited/haunted the same workout spots he did. Harris-Lacewell was never 'objective' or 'uninvolved' and Goody knew all of that but was okay with lying to -- and tricking -- her audience.
She brought on Hillary hater John Nichols to . . . offers smears. (He never did publish that article he announced at the start of March, did he? His 'big' expose? But that was never the point. The point was to claim he had proof of something, something big, and to claim it was going to be a big story and to plant the seeds of doubt of Hillary.) She brought on the nut job "journalist" (Hugh Jackson) -- who wrote "Hillary's hearing voices" among other 'objective' pieces -- and presented him as an 'objective' 'journalist' when it was time to discuss Nevada. In 2007, she started bringing on supporters of Barack and giving them thirty minutes, the full hour. Only she never told her audience they'd donated to Barack and were supporting him. She pretended that Barack just happened to come up in the conversation. And that it was surprising that this 'objective' person had so many wonderful things to say about Barack. This year, she dragged Grace Lee Boggs out of mothballs, for the hour, to push Barack.
She let Robert Parry come on and trash Hillary and she did the same with Ari Berman of The Nation. In neither case was a Hillary supporter brought on, in neither case did she attempt to obtain a statement from the Clinton campaign.
It's been a one-sided, propaganda effort and that's all Amy Goodman is, a cheap propagandist posing as a journalist.
Once upon time people like Paul Krugman, Joe Wilson and Larry Johnson could be found on her show repeatedly. But their crime is supporting Hillary and suddenly Goody had no time for them.
She's really disgraced herself in her 2008 election 'coverage' which began in 2007. Having on the co-author of "Obama's Big Gay and Black Problem" in January, the same month his article is in The Progressive, Amy never finds time to ask him about that article. She never, not in headlines, not in any segment, told her audience about Barack's use of homphobia in South Caroline, or about the protests. But she wants to pretend she's a 'journalist' and that she is, in fact, The Last Journalist Standing. All she is a cheap propagandist.
What she is not and never has been is a Democrat so Americans might be wondering why she's vested so much of herself in promoting a candidate in a Democratic primary? And the next time she pretends to give a damn about East Timor, Americans might wonder why she's refused to cover Obama's adviser who pushed the policies that led to the slaughters in East Timor. That's right she even sold out East Timor to promote Barack. That's just how trashy she is. Since she loves exploring others' money connections, she might try explaining her own because she didn't get into Radcliffe on pennies and coupons. Nor is she struggling for money today. But she can't beg so effectively during pledge drives if it's known how much her show brings in for her each year. And it is her show, she's seen to it. Not only in terms of her owning it (and not Pacifica) but also in terms of running everyone else off.
Now she's promoting her latest clip-job (which isn't selling). Someone might want to ask her why she's carried water for Barack? (Yes, she did a brief minute with him -- where she asked the questions that were answered long ago. Michael Gordon, in the New York Times, was raising those issues nearly a year ago but apparently literacy isn't a skill required for admission to Radcliffe?) They might also ask her how Hillary, a Democrat, could ever be judged "good" when Goody grades on the radical political meter? (When she turned her program over to Obama, she lost the ability to say "I criticize everyone!" She doesn't. So tough questions might be asked of her about how she grades Bambi as well.)
ADDED: April 17th, she interviewed Matt Gonzalez (Ralph Nader's 2008 running mate) and declared, " If you had won in 2003 against Gavin Newsom for mayor of San Francisco, you would have been the first Green mayor, the first Green Party mayor in the country." Interviewing Lou Dobbs last December, she claimed when she made a mistake, she corrected it when it was pointed out. She has refused to correct the above. Gonzalez' first election was November 4, 2003. A run-off was held December 9th. (He lost to Newsom.) As noted in The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Campaign Politics:"
Meet Jason West who is a Green and was elected mayor. His term began on June 1, 2003 and, if his name seems familiar, you may remember that he allowed the marriage of same-sex couples in New Paltz, New York. Since West took office in June of 2003, pay attention Amy Goodman, had Matt Gonzalez been elected in November of 2003, Gonzales would not "have been the first Green mayor, the first Green Party mayor in the country."
ADDED: April 17th, she interviewed Matt Gonzalez (Ralph Nader's 2008 running mate) and declared, " If you had won in 2003 against Gavin Newsom for mayor of San Francisco, you would have been the first Green mayor, the first Green Party mayor in the country." Interviewing Lou Dobbs last December, she claimed when she made a mistake, she corrected it when it was pointed out. She has refused to correct the above. Gonzalez' first election was November 4, 2003. A run-off was held December 9th. (He lost to Newsom.) As noted in The Third Estate Sunday Review's "Campaign Politics:"
Meet Jason West who is a Green and was elected mayor. His term began on June 1, 2003 and, if his name seems familiar, you may remember that he allowed the marriage of same-sex couples in New Paltz, New York. Since West took office in June of 2003, pay attention Amy Goodman, had Matt Gonzalez been elected in November of 2003, Gonzales would not "have been the first Green mayor, the first Green Party mayor in the country."
Correct the error.
Staying with the 'arts,' Jeremiah Wright can't seem to stay out of the news cycle.
Illustration is Isaiah's The World Today Just Nuts "Just Words" from March. On the front page of the New York Times is Alessandra Stanley's "Not Speaking for Obama, Pastor Speaks for Himself, at Length:"
Mr. Wright's demystification process began on PBS on Friday. Bill Moyers, the host who knows and obviously admires Mr. Wright, gave the pastor every chance to elaborate on his bona fides, including two years in the Marine Corps and four as a Navy cardiopulmonary technician. Mr. Moyers showed old footage of Mr. Wright in surgical scrubs monitoring President Lyndon B. Johnson's heart after his gall bladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1965. (Mr. Moyers, who was then the White House press secretary, stood behind Mr. Wright.)
He showed Mr. Wright's service to his community throughout the years -- tutoring programs, women's groups, H.I.V. ministries. And he also gave Mr. Wright a chance to deconstruct the fiery sermon that seemed to blame America for the Sept. 11 attacks and clarify that he was quoting a former ambassador and intended to condemn the American government, not the nation itself. Mostly, he gave his guest a chance to show his softer side: in a dark suit and gray tie, Mr. Wright was courtly, genial, and something of an egghead, tossing out academic citations, literary references and words like "hermeneutics."
The Moyers' interview was appalling. Ava and I wrote about it in "TV: Mission Impossible" and maybe at some point someone can tackle the fact that 'educated' 'religious historian' Wright (and Moyers) fails to grasp that the New Testament is not a part of the Jewish faith?
Howard Kurtz' "The Wright Comeback Tour" (Washington Post) covers the questions asked and the questions unasked by Moyers:
As for context, Bill Moyers played a long clip from the post-9/11 "America's chickens are coming home to roost" sermon. Wright said that America had taken its land by terror from the Indians; had enslaved Africans; had bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki (weren't we in a death struggle with Japan, which had attacked Pearl Harbor?); had bombed Iraq, Sudan and Panama; and had backed state-supported terrorism against the Palestinians.
Moyers's question after this diatribe: "When people saw the sound bites from it this year, they thought you were blaming America. Did you somehow fail to communicate?"
Thought he was blaming America? Where did anyone get that idea?
"You cannot do terrorism on other people and not expect it to come back on you," Wright said yesterday. For good measure, he also defended Louis Farrakhan.
I sure wish Moyers had found time during his hour to ask Wright why he's pushing the lie that the government created the AIDS virus to kill blacks.
And Rebecca asked that Dana Milbank's "Still More Lamentations From Jeremiah" (Washington Post) be noted here:
From the moment he entered the room, Wright seemed to be looking to stir controversy; he was escorted by Jamil Muhammad, a leader of the Nation of Islam, which contributed to the minister's prominent security detail. Speaking before an audience that included Marion Barry, Cornel West, the New Black Panther Party's Malik Zulu Shabazz and Nation of Islam protocol director Claudette Muhammad, Wright praised Louis Farrakhan, defended the view that Zionism is racism, accused the United States of terrorism, repeated his belief that the government created AIDS to extinguish racial minorities, and stood by his suggestion that "G[**] damn America."
Far from softening his provocative words, he held himself out as a spokesman for millions of churchgoing African Americans. "This is not an attack on Jeremiah Wright," he argued. "It is an attack on the black church launched by people who know nothing about the African American religious tradition." He added: "If you think I'm going to let you talk about my mama and her religious tradition . . . you got another thing coming."
Most problematic for the Democratic presidential front-runner was Wright's suggestion that Obama was insincere in distancing himself from his former pastor. "He didn't distance himself," Wright announced. "He had to distance himself, because he's a politician, from what the media was saying I had said, which was anti-American." Wright spoke of friends who told him that "we both know that if Senator Obama did not say what he said, he would never get elected," and he said of his past parishioner: "Politicians say what they say and do what they do based on electability, based on sound bites, based on polls."
And that apparent decision by Obama to exclude Wright from his presidential kickoff announcement? Didn't happen. "I started it off downstairs with him, his wife and children, in prayer."
I've edited the above. God becomes "G**" in that sentence because it is the use of God in the damning of America that offended religious community members. We always censor it that way here. (Worth pointing out because a number of e-mails from visitors have asked "'God' is a dirty word?" In Wright's infamous statement, using God has offended many so that's what we edit in that phrase. Betty's father was the first to ask for that but he wasn't the only one.)
This is Carly Lindauer's "North Carolina Governor Mike Easley Endorses Hillary for President" (HillaryClinton.com):
North Carolina Governor Mike Easley today announced his endorsement of Hillary for President.
"I am supporting Hillary Clinton because she has a passion for improving the lives of all Americans. She will be a president who stands up for people across North Carolina -- and this country -- every day in the White House," said Governor Easley. "I know she will get to work immediately making education and the economy her top priorities for our nation. She is ready to lead our country and has the ability to deliver."
Easley was elected governor in November 2000 and re-elected in 2004. He has restored fiscal discipline to North Carolina's finances while also increasing investments in education and infrastructure, key components to recruiting and retaining high quality jobs and industry for the state.
"I am honored to have the support of Governor Easley, whose vision and persistence have made higher education affordable and accessible for North Carolinians,” said Senator Clinton. "I look forward to working with him in our efforts to turn around the economy and rebuild the middle class."
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