What the hell is going on!?

[ColbertWatcher]

Lieberman keeps his chairmanship, leaks are coming out from the Obama transition team, reports that dogs and cats are living together.

HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD!?!

LOL!

Calm down.

Let's try to stop speculating and think about what we know.

On Lieberman
We want Lieberman to pay for his betrayal. All of us do, probably not as much as the people of Connecticut do, but we're all pretty disappointed in him.

So, what's the best way to look at this? Have we seen how Obama has dealt with people who have betrayed his trust?

Have we really forgotten about Reverend Wright so soon?

Obama had been a member of his church for 20 years and when Wright began taking advantage of his most famous parishioner's success, Obama denounced Wright's divisive comments. When Wright continued with his rhetoric, Obama quit his church.

Think about it: Obama quit the church he had been going to for 20 years and where his children were baptized because the pastor thought Obama's rise to national prominence would be a good time for Wright to be in the spotlight too.

Looking back now, Obama would have had to change churches anyway, so really he could have just waited it out. But, that's not what happened. Wright used his relationship with Obama to boost his own stature, Obama denounced his negative comments, Wright ignored the warning.

Where is Wright now? He's retired and the only people who pay any attention to him are the GOP extremists.

Lieberman should pay attention. He too took advantage of the situation before him: his good friend McCain was their party's nominee for president, Lieberman gambled that this would improve his stature and with the glare of the media spotlight on him decided to use that opportunity to say some really stupid things. In reaction to this, Obama has stated that Lieberman must not be touched.

It's now up to Lieberman to keep his chair.

On the leaks
The Obama transition team has so far been very good about security. Except those few that have been speculated about endlessly.

In addition to the speculation surrounding possible cabinet positions, there's been quite a bit of talk in the tubes about how the Bush Administration will be held accountable for the crimes they've committed prior to the election and all the shit they're pulling now before their ship sinks.

Then we wonder who will be Treasury Secretary and ooh, look over there! Hillary Clinton might be picked for something. Oh, wait, now the news is she might be Secretary of State!

Oh. My. God!

What about Bill!?

Oh, but doesn't all this mean that the Clintons are slapping Bill Richardson in the face and where will John Kerry fit into all this, take another detour on the Lieberman train and Teddy comes back and now we're juggling so many rumors we can't think straight.

Well, speculation and rumor aside, let's consider what we actually know: Obama picked a notoriously ruthless partisan to be his Chief of Staff and the only other cabinet position announced so far has been his Attorney General.

Are we back on the right track yet?

On dogs and cats living together
Just remember everything's going to be alright ... starting in January 20, 2009.

And, it's not that far away.

We know the GOP will continue to break the law and play games like they always do, but Obama has already selected an AG who, while he can't do anything in any official capacity, may very well be watching what they're doing, and taking names.

As far as the dogs and cats thing, just click on this link and let the love calm you down.

[spanone]

1. k&r

:crazy:

[ColbertWatcher]

2. Thank you! n/t

[Stardust]

3. Sweet story about the cat and dogs - I love the comment

someone made: "Although it might not be too cute in a year or two when Shakira figures out her adopted mummy is made out of meat..."

There's always one smartass, isn't there?

[ColbertWatcher]

4. I'm surprised there was only one smartass comment! LOL! n/t

[TNOE]

5. So much negativity on DU

right after the election - and before Obama gets in office. Which on the one hand, gives me a quick look see - and leads me to tune out. I like my optimism and joy that our long national nightmare is nearly behind us. Hard to believe after all that we've been through, that there would be any hard core bitching yet.

[ColbertWatcher]

7. I don't know that there are so many people on DU who are "negative" so much as they are cautious.

We all know what the GOP is capable ofand we remember what they've done.

I don't blame anyone for not trusting them.

[annabanana]

13. That's kind of where I am, CW. .

I've been punched in the gut so often by this crowd in DC that I'm hypervigilant perhaps. I'm really dissappointed in droopy keeping his gavel on Homeland Sec & Gov Affairs and I don't trust him as far as I could throw him.. but I know that his perfidy hasn't gone unnoticed and there will be a pound of flesh eventually...

It may take a while to get the adrenaline out of my system... (the cats 'n dogs helped.)

[sray2007]

6. So much negativity on DU

[TrogL]

8. I can't get five cats to live together

...and you cannot have three cats who all hate each other all on the same lap at the same time.

[lunatica]

9. Good reminder. Thanks!

:fistbump:

[ColbertWatcher]

11. You're welcome! n/t

[Doodler71]

10. Dogs & Cats living together!!! It's an outrage! It's against nature

It threatens all *normal* dog families.

Don't do it or the bunnies get it.
http://www.duke.edu/~vci/Bunnies.bmp


I swear to ceiling cat...



:crazy:

[ColbertWatcher]

12. LOL! n/t

[JackRiddler]

14. Your attack on Wright is totally skewed.

"Obama had been a member of his church for 20 years and when Wright began taking advantage of his most famous parishioner's success, Obama denounced Wright's divisive comments. When Wright continued with his rhetoric, Obama quit his church."

Oh, for please! This is completely reversed.

Wright did nothing like what you are saying. In fact, Obama attackers dug up Wright's sermons from the last 20 years, found "objectionable" quotes, took them out of context and demonized Wright loudly for weeks as a way of striking at Obama...

Then, finally, Obama came out with the Philadelphia speech in which he rejected the comments but kept the association with Wright. As a defensive move, but it was also a brilliant speech.

Only a month later, finally, Wright spoke to the media and again they made a huge stink about it. At which point Obama saw himself compelled to disassociate from Wright.

One thing we can say about Wright: he wasn't the senatorial handmaiden to genocide.

Oh, I'm sorry, was that not polite?


"Think about it: Obama quit the church he had been going to for 20 years and where his children were baptized because the pastor thought Obama's rise to national prominence would be a good time for Wright to be in the spotlight too."

Again, bullshit. See above.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Okay. How would you characterize Obama's relationship with Wright? n/t

[tjwash]

17. Threw him under the bus?

Nice guy but he had to go because he was costing him percentage points during the primaries?

Obama's a good politician...I'll give him that.

People make it sound like Wright was a black panther or funding middle eastern militias, or bombing abortion clinics. The dude was a U.S. Marine for christ-sake.

He was also one of the very few stand up people that actually came to the aid of Bill Clinton in his moment of need, and decided to choose friendship over politics. Obama could stand to learn a lesson or two about that.

This is why CONTEXT should matter to journalists, if any real ones actually still existed. Wright had 2 statements cherry picked from 31 years worth of sermons, and taken way out of context by a horribly biased media, while nasty, backstabbing primaries were rolling at full speed.

Media without accuracy or context is only a social manipulation tool.

[ColbertWatcher]

18. Fair enough.

I can't change my OP, but maybe if I may clarify what I meant.

Obama simply asked Wright to stop speaking for a while and when Wright couldn't resist the attention, Obama was forced to cut him loose.

Obama's success must have seemed to Wright a way for him to get a bigger audience or maybe even to explain himself after the lies that were spread about his 31-year career.

Either way, if there was less drama from Wright (in the way Ayers was able to do) Obama would never have had anything to respond to.

You are correct, the GOP-controlled media twisted Wright's words and did so without any context, but, like Ayers, he could have laid low and not given them any ammunition.

I believe it was Wright's appearance at the National Press Club that forced Obama's hands, and not anything he had said at the church.

[Tallison]

20. I don't see Wright as an opportunist at all

The balance of his sermons show him to be a pretty sophisticated and progressive thinker. Publicly defending himself was his prerogative.

[ColbertWatcher]

21. "pretty sophisticated and progressive thinker"

I agree. But, I think people underestimate the allure of having a national audience.

[malaise]

16. LOL

Still I'm pissed about LIEberman but I'm giving PE Obama a break for six months after his inauguration.
:fistbump:

[ColbertWatcher]

19. I'm still curious about the chairmanship he lost.

The Subcommittee on Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection.

I'm hoping Obama makes that a more important committee than it was under the GOP science- and nature-hating Senate.

I wrote a bit about it (http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4483019&mesg_id=4483019)