As the Florida/Michigan controversy gets worked out this weekend, another recent controversy has caused Barack Obama to resign from the Chicago church of which he’s been a part of for 20 years.

The resignation comes days after Rev. Michael Pfleger, a visiting Catholic priest, mocked Hillary Clinton for crying during the runup to the New Hampshire primary.

Through no fault of his own, Barack Obama is finding it difficult to unite people as priests affiliated with his (now former) church spout inflammatory rhetoric.

Previously, of course, Jeremiah Wright drew unwanted attention for the campaign when videos of his fiery sermons surfaced.

Obama has said he was not present for the controversial sermons by Wright or Pfleger; he also condemned both, saying he “deeply disappointed” by Pfleger’s “divisive, backward-looking rhetoric.”

The sermon has brought race, once again, to the forefront of the campaign, while also giving Clinton supporters another reason to believe their candidate is being treated unfairly as the primaries come to a close.

So, Hillary Clinton wants to seat every delegate from Florida and Michigan, huh?

As the leaders of the Democratic party meet to decide the fate of votes in those two states today, it’s worth remembering a certain pledge Clinton signed on September 1, 2007.

Before she defeated Barack Obama in each of the aforementioned states (narrowly edging a list of “Uncommitted” candidates 55% to 40% in Michigan) - and before she was mathematically eliminated from winning the delegate and popular vote count without them - Clinton was content to not seat these delegates.

Take a look:

In light of this pledge, voters must ask themselves: How would Clinton react if roles were reversed?

Can you imagine the uproar her campaign would cause if Obama was desperately seeing to count delegates that each side had agreed to disenfranchise last year?

Mock the Democrats all you’d like for the mess this has led to, but burn the video above into your brain. Hillary Clinton is falsely attempting to sound like the voice of democracy, when the reality is that she’s willing to go back on her own signed word just to remain relevant in this race.

The primary season has been full of battles on the campaign trail.

The DNC vs. Florida and Michigan; Ending the war vs. extending the war; Gas tax holidays vs. common sense.

But one issue that has seemingly flown under the radar, yet one issue we hope to see debated in the upcoming general election, may be more important to a majority of citizens than anything else: the Supreme Court.

When the presidential votes are counted on November 4, the most lasting imprint of the decision Americans arrive at will not be a matter of policy or personality; but of the third, often overlooked branch of government.

Forget Iraq, gas prices and foreclosures: The next President will leave a generation’s worth of impact when he selects new Supreme Court justices.

Barack Obama or John McCain almost certainly will nominate at least one justice to the Supreme Court, with the possibility of three not far from the realm of reality.

And remember: A Supreme Court justice’s tenure outlasts any administration. Federal judges are appointed for life.

The seats on the highest court in the country will likely be vacant in 2013. John Paul Stevens is 88, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75. As the Associated Press reports, should either or both be replaced by a Democratic president, policy will remain unchanged, as these are each liberal voices on the bench.

But consider a McCain presidency…

Continue reading this article …

Florida and Michigan. Michigan and Florida.

For weeks now, these two states - whose delegates have not been counted as a result of their decision to move up their Democratic primaries against the wishes/rules of the national committee - have been in the news almost as much as Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton themselves.

Today, though, a decision** will finally come down on how to seat the uncounted delegates in those regions. Democratic activists are holding a hearing on the issue as we write this.

Clinton’s campaign, of course, is calling for the results of the states’ primaries to be honored and the delegates awarded. Such an approach would help her chip away at Obama’s lead in pledged delegates because she handily won both states, although there are two problems with this argument:

1. Obama did not campaign in Florida in January, leading to a Clinton victory that was more a cause of name recognition than an actual democratic election process;
2. Obama’s name was not even on the ballot in Michigan; moreover, 40% of voters actually favored no candidate at all (aka “Uncommitted“) over Hillary. Seriously. Think about that for a moment.

Dozens of sign-toting, chanting protesters gathered outside the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, the site of Saturday’s events, to have their say on what the decision should be.

The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws panel met behind closed doors for five hours Friday night, emerging at 1:30 a.m. Saturday without an agreement.

Continue reading this article …

Within minutes of publishing the video of Michael Pfleger mocking Hillary Clinton for crying on the campaign trail earlier this year, we received endless comments.

The responses ranged from comparing Barack Obama to the devil (citing Satan’s deception in the Garden of Eden) to focusing on the role of religion in politics. We appreciate all points of view and encourage them across our site.

With that in mind, this writer would like to chime in:

It’s fair to consider those with whom Obama surrounds himself. But voters that are quick to judge the candidate based on words do not leave his mouth need to step back and ask themselves a vital question:

How will this affect Barack Obama as President of the United States?

Respond to Michael Pfleger’s remarks on Hillary Clinton however you please; then, ask yourself how they’d practically affect Barack Obama as president.

With a mocking tone that runs counter to the unity themes preached by Obama throughout this campaign, Pfleger acted irresponsibly.

It’s impossible to fathom what he thought he was accomplishing by even bringing up Hillary Clinton’s tears during a sermon.

So it’s fair to criticize the priest, but it’s equally irresponsible of voters to not consider follow-up questions such as:

• Does Barack Obama’s association with men such as Jeremiah Wright and Pfleger have any practical impact on his presidency?
• Do words - again, not even said by the candidate himself - affect the economy?
• What about the war in Iraq?

The point, I hope, is obvious:

As Obama himself admitted in his ground-breaking speech on race, it’s important to raise issues and to ask questions. Let’s keep a dialogue going.

But let’s also not lose sight of the bigger issues facing the country, issues that are responsible for thousands of troops dying and millions of people losing their homes. No matter what you think of Michael Pfleger’s remarks, I challenge anyone to tell me how they affect those who cannot pay their mortgage.

Isn’t that what this election should be about? What it has to be about?

There’s one more point to be made, regarding the practical implications of what priests say…

Continue reading this article …

The California Supreme Court overturned the state’s ban on gay marriage last week.

But the biggest news on this issue appeared to be its resulting in talk show host Ellen DeGeneres announcing that her and Portia de Rossi were engaged.

Congratulations to the couple, by the way.

But does the lack of mainstream attention to such a seemingly landmark ruling suggest that same-sex marriage has run its course as a political wedge issue.

Pollsters are cautioning that this ridiculous issue may still return to center stage in the general election this fall.

“There is no reason to think [gay marriage] should be less potent of an issue in 2008 than in 2004,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, told Politico.

“It is an issue that could cause further problems with those voters [with] whom Barack Obama is already having trouble — white working-class voters.”

Previously, the November 2003 Massachusetts high court ruling legalizing gay marriage crystallized that issue as a divisive focal point for Republicans.

By February, 2004 - after San Francisco began issuing marriage licenses to homosexual couples - President Bush announced his support for a constitutional amendment to ban it. Thankfully, that proposal didn’t gain much momentum.

Continue reading this article …

Priests continue to give Barack Obama problems.

First, of course, there was Jeremiah Wright.

Now, Michael Pfleger - a Catholic priest at St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago’s southwest side - has been forced to apologize for his mockery of Hillary Clinton crying before the New Hampshire primary in January.

During the sermon Sunday at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, Pfleger wipes his eyes with a handkerchief and suggests Clinton grew teary-eyed not for political gain - but because she was dismayed as a white person and former First Lady; she figured she was entitled to the presidency.

“And then, out of nowhere, came ‘Hey, I’m Barack Obama,’” Pfleger mocked, to laughs and cheers from the congregation. “And [Clinton] said, ‘Oh damn, where did you come from? I’m white! I’m entitled! There’s a black man stealing my show!’”

Senator Obama condemned this divisive act, Clinton’s campaign challenged Obama to do so more specifically and forcefully - and then Pfleger apologized for his comments last night.

“I regret the words I chose on Sunday,” he said in a statement. “These words are inconsistent with Sen. Obama’s life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Sen. Clinton or anyone else who saw them.”

A Donkey Dish staff writer has written a commentary on this issue. See if you agree with his stance NOW.

In his new, controversial book, former White House press secretary Scott McClellan asks “What Happened?”

While McClellan is referring to the lies and deceptions within the George W. Bush administration, many of his past colleagues are asking the same question about the man they used to know.

“Scott, we now know, is disgruntled about his experience at the White House,” said the woman who currently holds his former job, Dana Perino: “For those of us who fully supported him, before, during and after he was press secretary, we are puzzled. It is sad. This is not the Scott we knew.”

Dan Bartlett, Bush’s former counselor who worked with McClellan for nearly a decade, added that McClellan gave voice to “an outrageous accusation that mostly was coming from the left wing of the Democratic Party.”

Former friends and co-workers of Scott McClellan wanna know what happened with him. Is his book a result of a guilty conscience, or a dried up bank account?

Meanwhile, Karl Rove certainly could not keep his mouth shut on the issue. The Republican strategist was accused in the book of misleading McClellan on the legal problems of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby.

Continue reading this article …

Probably not enough to enable Sen. Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic party’s nomination for president, but any action by the party on the two rule-breaking states should benefit her more than Sen. Barack Obama.

The Democratic Party is likely to meet Florida and Michigan halfway when it comes to seating the delegates at the Democratic national convention.

Such a move may help Clinton close the delegate gap with Obama. However, it is still unlikely it would enable her to overtake him.

The Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee meets on Saturday in Washington to consider what to do with Florida and Michigan.

Both state parties were told that they would not be represented at all when the Democrats officially nominate a presidential candidate in Denver.

Not shockingly, Hillary Clinton and her supporters have been pressing for a compromise that seats as many delegates from the two states as possible.

About 600,000 people voted in Michigan and 1.7 million in Florida. Clinton won decisively in both states, though Obama and other candidates had their names taken off the Michigan ballot. He did appear on Florida’s ballot.

In addition to deciding how many (or any) Florida and Michigan delegates to seat, the rules committee must determine how the delegates allocated.

Various formulas have been suggested, most of which would give Clinton more delegates than Obama, who currently leads 1,978-1,780.

If Florida and Michigan weren’t counted in the race, 2,026 would clinch the nomination for Obama. The number rises if those states are seated.

Continue reading this article …

As strong supporters of democracy, we believe every vote should count. Yes, even those in the caucus states, Hillary Clinton.

After getting a first hand look at why many voters in the West Virginia primary did not vote for Barack Obama, however, we may have to consider the concept of an aristocracy.**

There were many great/nauseating/astounding quotes from citizens in the video below, but here are our two favorite:

• “I don’t feel like putting a black man in [office]…. I ain’t prejudice or nothing.”
• “Hillary can probably sing the Star Spangled Banner as well as anybody…. I just don’t sense that from Obama.”

Seriously, watch the interviews:

** We’re kidding. Mostly. Did you see the video?!?