WASHINGTON -- No one seems to be listening to Democratic National Chairman Howard Dean's pleas to the camps of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton to cool the rhetoric.
Dean told CNN Friday he has had "extensive discussions" with the Obama and Clinton campaigns to lower the volume. But almost at the same hour, Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont told interviewers that Clinton should drop out of the race because she can't win.
Leahy said this despite polls showing Clinton still leading Obama in the Pennsylvania primary, the next big prize on the Democrats' presidential circuit. The advice from Leahy, an Obama supporter, follows close on the heels of comments from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, telling Clinton to get out as he endorsed Obama.
Clinton pal James Carville called Richardson a "Judas" for not endorsing Clinton. Her husband had promoted Richardson from congressman to secretary of energy, then United Nations ambassador, giving Richardson a platform to run for governor.
Later on Friday, Sen. Robert Casey Jr., D-Pa., endorsed Obama. In 1992, Casey's father, then governor of Pennsylvania, was blocked by the Clinton forces from addressing the Democratic National Convention in Manhattan because of his strong pro-life stance. Casey Jr. did not urge Clinton to quit the race in his remarks Friday.
The day before, Clinton's campaign policy director Neera Tanden accused Obama of copying the New York senator's proposal for a $30 billion second stimulus package a week after Clinton first proposed it.
For good measure Tanden accused Obama of hypocricy for suggesting Clinton was in the grip of Wall Street banking interests. Tanden said "the Obama campaign responded to Hillary unveiling a comprehensive plan to deal with the housing crisis by attacking her for taking contributions connected to subprime lenders."
Tanden quoted Obama Campaign manager David Plouffe as saying "If we're really going to crack down on the practices that caused the credit and housing crises, we're going to need a leader who doesn't owe those industries any favors."
"As it turns out," Tanden said, "those were just words… Sen. Obama (gave) an economics speech followed by a fundraiser at - you guessed it - one of the top 10 issuers of subprime loans in America, Credit Suisse. In fact, Senator Obama has taken more money from the top 10 issuers of subprime loans than both Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate.
In all, Tanden said, Obama has taken $1,180,103 from the top issuers of subprime loans.The contributions include $266,907 from Lehman Brothers, $5,395 from GMAC, 50,850 from Credit Suisse First Boston, $11,250 from Countrywide, $9,052 from Washington Mutual, $161,850 from Citigroup, $4,600 from CBASS, $170,050 from Morgan Stanley, $1,150 from Centex, and $351,900 from Goldman Sachs.
At week's end Obama was struggling to deal with continuing fallout from remarks made by the pastor of his Chicago church, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., who retired at the end of last year, and the discovery that Trinity United Church of Christ had published an article praising the Middle East terrorist group, Hamas.
Obama's Chicago church reprinted a manifesto by Hamas that defended terrorism as legitimate resistance, refused to recognize the right of Israel to exist and compared the terror group's official charter - which calls for the elimination of Jews - to America's Declaration of Independence.
It was was published on the "Pastor's Page" of the newsletter reserved for Rev.Wright .
Hamas is listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department.
ABC News reported that on "The View" this morning, Barbara Walters asked Obama what he would have done had he learned about the incendiary remarks made by his since-retired pastor if Wright had not been on his way out the door?
"Had the reverend not retired and had he not acknowledged that what he had said had deeply offended people and were inappropriate and mischaracterized what I think is the great character of this country - for all its flaws - then I wouldn't have felt comfortable staying there at the church," Obama said.
ABC News said this seemed to imply that Wright had acknowledged that he'd deeply offended people with inappropriate remarks. Right?
Wrong, says the Obama campaign.
"Sen. Obama was clearly saying that were Rev. Wright not retiring, he would need to be assured that the reverend understood why what he had said had deeply offended people and mischaracterized the greatness of this country," says Obama spokesman Bill Burton, formerly of Buffalo.
Huh?
---Douglas Turner
Campaign aides for Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois said Wednesday that Sen. Hillary Clinton has been "cagey" about when she will release her and her husband's income tax returns and exactly what she will release. The Clinton campaign has said the couple will release their returns by April 15, the federal tax filing deadline.
Almost simultaneously Clinton's deputy press secretary Phil Singer said Obama's claims of openness were "just words" and said Obama could be more forthcoming about data dealing with his early career in the Illinois State Senate.
Singer's criticisms came just as a conservative think-tank, Judicial Watch, charged Obama with side-stepping promises he made about disclosing his records when he was a state senator, 1996-2003.
When questioned on "Meet the Press" Nov. 11, 2007, by host Tim Russert, Obama said, "well, let's be clear; in the state Senate every single piece of information, every document related to state government was kept by the State of Illinois and has been disclosed and is available and has been gone through with a fine-toothed comb by news outlets in Illinois ... every document related to my interactions with government is available right now."
In response to Judicial Watch's open records request, the Illinois Secretary of State said it does not maintain Sen. Obama's papers, or maintain records generated by his office. The secretary said it had not received any request from Obama to receive anything Obama generated.
Obama's successor, Sen. Kwame Raoul, told Judicial Watch that any document he would have inherited from Sen. Obama "would have been constituent work files, and those were reviewed and discarded upon me taking office."
Obama has posted online his tax returns dating to 2000, something that the Clintons have yet to do.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Sen. Clinton has pledged to appoint an attorney general with a solid record of public accountability while Obama has promised to use technology to make the federal government more transparent even broadcasting cabinet meetings over the Internet.
-- Douglas Turner
Republicans are not supposed to be subjected to wild and wooly congressional races.
That's for Democrats, for heaven's sake.
But that's just what's happening locally following last week's decision by Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, to retire from Congress after five terms. At least five people are now vying for the GOP nod, with businessman Anthony J. Baynes and Assemblyman Stephen Hawley of Batavia the latest names on the congressional list.
They join Assemblyman James P. Hayes, attorney Michael B. Powers, and Iraq war veteran David Bellavia as other Republican hopefuls.
Now the GOP must weigh what each contender brings to the fray, a process that is expected to get under way soon.
On the Democratic side, County Clerk Kathleen C. Hochul brings a new presence to what had seemed an established field of contenders. She is now actively discussing a candidacy, and could bring major name recognition and considerable fund raising prowess to the effort.
But three Democrats have been ahead of her for months. They include Jonathan Powers, another Iraq war veteran and Clarence substitute teacher; attorney Alice J. Kryzan, and businessman Jack Davis. All have significant organizations in place, and all have been raising money. Indeed, Davis has promised to spend $3 million of his own money on his third try for the seat.
This one started out as one of the major congressional races of New York State even with Reynolds remaining. With the veteran congressman out of it, it now ranks as a huge contest already gaining national interest.
--- Robert J. McCarthy
The end of a political era comes today when Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds, R-Clarence, announces his retirement from Congress.
Since his emergence on the political scene as a Concord councilman in the early 1970s, through his stints in the County Legislature, as Erie County Republican chairman, as minority leader of the Assembly, and finally as a 10-year member of Congress, Reynolds stood at the center of local, state and national politics.
Now the changing of the guard begins, and as in all political transitions, the focus on his successor sharpens. The Democrats are already offering Akron industrialist Jack Davis, Iraq War veteran Jonathan Powers and Amherst attorney Alice J. Kryzan -- with possibly more now that Reynolds is leaving the scene.
The Republican name most heard is State Sen. George Maziarz of Newfane, a major GOP figure in Albany. But Assemblyman James Hayes of Amherst could also emerge, and is known to have expressed interest.
The Reynolds departure was anticipated by some after two hard-fought elections against Davis. Nevertheless, it is a blockbuster political development with reverberations not only in his suburban Buffalo and Rochester district, but in Albany and Washington as well.
-- Robert J. McCarthy
WASHINGTON - A Columbia University economist has testified that the Iraq war will cost upwards of $3 trillion, perhaps as much as $5 trillion in direct and indirect costs.
Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz told the Joint Economic Committee, chaired by Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., that the war's expenses are putting almost unsustainable pressures on the American economy.
"To offset that depressing effect, the (Federal Reserve Bank) has flooded the economy with liquidity and the regulators looked the other way when very imprudent lending was going up.We were living on borrowed money and borrowed time and eventually a day of reckoning had to come, and it has now come."
"Flooding the economy with liquidity" is a polite way of saying that the Federal Reserve is going to the printing press and shipping out money that is worth less and less.
Every time the Fed lowers the overnight price of cash, it lowers the worth of the dollar and adds to pressures for inflation. It also has a direct effect on what American consumers pay for imported gasoline. The less the dollar is worth, the more dollars one pays for a gallon of gas.
The "very imprudent lending" that Stiglitz mentioned to Sen. Schumer includes the prices that investment houses and banking combines paid for virtually worthless home mortgages up to a year ago.
The Federal Reserve Bank just stepped in with a $30 billion guarantee to back up the purchase of Bear Stearns by Morgan Chase -- further depleting the Fed's own reserves.
Peter Morici, the University of Maryland economist, called the Fed's actions "the desperate acts of failing men. Morici said "the threat of contagion and wholesale (economic) breakdown on a scale of 1929 is real." Morici referred to the onset of the Great Depression that paralyzed the American economy for nearly a decade.
Other analysts agree that the American economy is living on the edge of a knife.
The soaring price of oil and Chinese currency manipulation accounts for 80 percent of the nation's growing trade deficit ... and continues to position China as this country's leading creditor.
The choice for American voters is between two Democrats, Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois, who are saying very little about the effect of China and the war on the economy, and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who believes the U.S. should maintain a military presence in Iraq for 100 years, if necessary.
The new question posed by this fifth anniversary of President Bush's decision to invade, occupy and govern Iraq is not just whether it is worth it in terms of blood and treasure, but whether it is worth breaking the American economy, closing more factories, and sending the nation into a new round of inflation.
Here's what else Sen. Schumer says we could be doing with the $430 million a day in direct Iraq war costs:
According to budget and Iraq spending figures, for the amount the Bush administration wants to spend PER DAY in Iraq, over $430 million, we could:
-- Enroll an additional 58,000 children in Head Start per year.
-- Put an additional 8,900 police officers on the streets per year;
-- Provide health insurance for 329,200 low-income children through CHIP per year;
-- Hire another 10,700 Border patrol agents per year;
-- Make college more affordable for 163,700 students through Pell Grants per year; and
-- Help nearly 260,000 American families to keep their homes with foreclosure prevention counseling this year.
-- Douglas Turner
WASHINGTON - Illinois Sen. Barack Obama sought to quell a firestorm about remarks his former pastor made by giving an address in Philadelphia on Tuesday about race and his quest to bring America together.
The speech was prompted by disclosures of remarks made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright in recent years at Chicago's United Church of Christ, which Obama attended for two decades.
Wright's quotes, broadcast by cable news organizations, particularly Fox News, and circulated on the Internet in recent days, blamed the 9/11 attacks on repressive white Americans, accused whites of deliberately infecting African Americans with HIV/AIDS, and supporting apartheid in Africa.
Obama has made several attempts to deal with the information, including statements that he did not know Wright was saying such things, and that he had not been in church when the remarks were made.
On Tuesday however, Obama said: "Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes. Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely."
Obama said he condemns Wright's statements, but said he would not repudiate him as a man.
"As imperfect as he may be, he has been like family to me. He strengthened my faith, officiated my wedding, and baptized my children. Not once in my conversations with him have I heard him talk about any ethnic group in derogatory terms, or treat whites with whom he interacted with anything but courtesy and respect."
As prepared by The Associated Press, here are excerpts of some of Rev. Wright's comments.
-- In a sermon after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001:
"We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye," Wright said. "We have supported state terrorism against the Palestinians and black South Africans, and now we are indignant because the stuff we have done overseas is now brought right back to our own front yards. America's chickens are coming home to roost."
--In a 2003 sermon, he said blacks should condemn the United States:
"The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America.' No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."
-- Promoting Obama's candidacy in a sermon last December:
"Barack knows what it means to be a black man to be living in a country and a culture that is controlled by rich white people. Hillary can never know that. Hillary ain't never been called a n-----."
Some have defended Wright's comments as typical of some sermons in some African-American churches. Others criticize Obama for waiting so long to denounce Wright's views, saying that it is an indication that Obama lacks the judgement to be commander in chief.
What do you think?
--Douglas Turner
WASHINGTION - A federally chartered commission has urged President Bush to use his trip to the Beijing Olympics to signal his personal concern for freedom of religion and other human rights in the People's Republic of China.
The group, whose chairman is named by Bush, is the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Chairman Michael Cromartie praised Bush for promising to raise issues of liberty in his planned meeting with PRC President Hu Jintao.
But the Commission urged Bush to go one step further and request to meet with people detained by the state for practicing their religion or for advocating freedom of religion and human rights.
Despite enjoying most favored trade relations with the U.S. for a decade, China's human rights record has only become more repressive, according to independent monitoring organizations.
The commission said more than 600 "house church" Protestants have been detained and arrested by police in the last year. Furthermore, over the last two years China has also targeted for arrest and harassment dozens of human rights activists, lawyers, and others who attempted to use the Chinese legal system to defend the rights of Chinese citizens.
A few weeks ago Chinese police launched a midnight attack on a Bible training session in a remote province, according to China Aid Association, a private Evangelical Christian organization. The police, CAA said, have detained 70 persons arrested for "making use of a cult to violate law enforcement."
Columnist Nat Hentoff suggests Bush should boycott the games because of China's association with the on-going genocide in Darfur, in Sudan. Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has set the example by backing out as the artistic director for the games' opening ceremonies on Aug. 8.
Internationally, moves to punish China gained momentum Tuesday.
The PRC, Hentoff notes, buys two-thirds of Sudan's oil and provides much of the armament Sudan uses to kill black Africans. Like Spielberg, Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, has decided to skip the games. Despite the record, Bush intends to go. His father, President George H.W. Bush, was a strong proponent of normalized relations with the Communist regime, claiming that increasing business with the PRC would only lead them to democracy. That was almost two decades ago, and all that this accomplished are swelling trade decifits, and our helping to finance their fleet of nuclear submarines.
How much more can we do for the PRC?
-- Douglas Turner
