Labour (UK) Facing Poll Meltdown After “Smeargate” Allegations–Brown’s Fmr. “Spin Chief” (Now Political Director of a Union) Involved

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

About a week ago we posted a story in the Past Week summary about a “smear campaign” coming from a Downing Street official against Conservative leader David Cameron (See: The Past Week: April 5-April 11, 2009 (”President Panytwaist”; A Split Among Progressives over War Spending Plan?; Smear Campaign in Britain; “Sageism”).

According to the piece quoted at the time:

Damian McBride, the PM’s ex-political press officer, quit after the messages were picked up by a Westminster blog.

In them, Mr McBride made obscene and unfounded claims about the personal lives of party leader David Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne.

Well, there are some new developments for Labour as a result of this episode.

Labour set to face polls backlash

4:59am Sunday 19th April 2009

© Press Association 2009

Labour is facing new allegations about the “Smeargate” affair as polls revealed how much the row has damaged Gordon Brown’s re-election hopes – with support for the party plummeting.

SNIP

At the same time, polls showed support for Labour slumping dramatically in the wake of the affair, allowing the Tories to extend their lead to up to 19 percentage points.

They showed that trust in the Government had been damaged by the smears disclosures, which have engulfed Labour since they appeared last weekend.

The latest claims were made in the News of the World, which said it had obtained an email proving that Mr Collins chaired a crucial meeting on December 1.

It was also attended by Charlie Whelan, Mr Brown’s former spin chief and the political director of the Unite trade union, whose Westminster offices were used for the meeting.

MORE

This saga going on in the UK brings a question to mind: with all the Chicago-machine hardball being played in Washington these days, not to mention during the primaries, the Presidential campaign and before that, during the Bush Administration…don’t you wonder why this sort of thing doesn’t get any rise out of the electorate here?

Nothing seems to offend people these days unless it’s taxes and bailouts…but in terms of the “politics of personal destruction,” apparently nobody bats an eye anymore here in the U.S.

I don’t know if all began during the Clinton era, but wouldn’t it be a real sea change if smear tactics used here could actually deflate politicians like Obama (who poked around sealed divorce records in Illinois, for example while running for Senate) with the same effectiveness that it seems to have in the UK?  And wouldn’t you like to see the “spin chiefs” like Karl Rove and David Axelrod get a good comeuppance?

The Past Week: January 4-January 10, 2009 (Donor Fatigue among Obamacrats; Wes Clark; Ms. Magazine–Total Sellout; Tess; Street Numbers Man; “Grounding” with Harvesting; Betta Fish Drama)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

It’s  just over a week before the Obama juggernaut is officially in office. I’m trying to put it out of my mind. Every morning my mother comes into the kitchen fresh from listening to the radio. She’s armed with the latest news.  I usually know about it, but the little report from my “mother-who-doesn’t-like-Bush-anymore-but-still-defends-him” always manages to get me bugged. And no matter how many times I tell her I don’t want to hear it, I wind up hearing it because she thinks it’s a delightful game to taunt me about the demise of the Democratic Party…the REAL Democratic Party.

***

Chicago Correspondent Leslie sent this along…the SHOCKING NEWS that Obama has actually sent out an email message WITHOUT asking for money!

The LA Times “Top of the Ticket” blog snarks:

Breaking: Obama sends national e-mail with NO plea for money!

This is no Friday joke.

Word has just been received at The Ticket that President-elect Barack Obama sent out an actual e-mail today without asking for more money from tired donors. No, really.

The N.Y. Times’ Katharine Seelye recently reported growing donor fatigue among eager and happy Obamaites to whom it has occurred that they’ve already given nearly $1 billion to buy all this change to believe in, even many long weeks after the ex-freshman senator won the White House already.

See the rest of the story on the $$ that Obama has raked in, including post-election,  as well as details on the email that was sent out in praise of “ideal leader” Tim Kaine after he was named part-time DNC head–without any begging for cash.  Bush also appointed a part-time party chair because he had Karl Rove hanging around in the White House.  Obama is following the same pattern, but we’ve got David Axelrod pulling the puppet strings now.  Big change, huh?

Anyway, doesn’t this pair inspire you??

Obama & Kaine, Perfect Together

Obama & Kaine, Perfect Together

As for Kaine, I recall how often he campaigned in Virginia to get Kaine elected governor of Virginia and how I already had misgivings about Kaine  (I was separating myself from Clark by then.)  By the way, what’s Clark up to now?

***

Well, after campaigning for Obama he made appearances on the Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz shows in late November. More recently, he wrote a column for the Washington Post entitled “Taking Command”  [12/21/2008] discussing how Democrats and the military can get along. His message concludes:

We have a president-elect who has set out a pragmatic, nonpartisan, visionary course. It’s time to lay to rest the old stereotypes about feckless, pacifist Democrats and authoritarian, war-mongering soldiers. If there were ever a time to get the relationship between Democrats and the military right, this is it.

Clark brownies up everyone in sight and now he’s following Obama and embracing “nonpartisanship” and Obama’s VISION.  Clark mentions “authoritarian soldiers”–I guess he doesn’t see that characteristic in his new “leader”?? To think I once actually worked for his campaign for President…

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Recently, we’ve posted quite a few entries about women and the treatment we receive, so Ms. Magazine’s cover on their “Inaugural Issue” really turned our stomachs.  Heidi Li broke the news on Friday.  Go over to her site read her story, but I’m posting  the cover art here just to give you an idea of why she (and we) are so aghast!  The hits just keep coming…Honest to Goddess, are these people NUTS???

Delusion or Dementia??

Delusion or Dementia??

***

Tonight (1/11) is the concluding segment of the BBC production of  Thomas Hardy’s “Tess of the D’ubervilles” (link takes you to the BBC site).  Part 1 was SO DEPRESSING, especially in light of what women have put up with this year.  I almost can’t bear to watch Part 2.  Let me tell you, we’re heading back to Tess’ world at the rate we’re going…

***

UPDATE on The Man Who Paints Street Numbers…(Final Installment in Our “Season of the Heart” Series) (1/1/09)

I emailed the story and link to the local “Life” reporter on Monday 1/5 as planned…but still, no response!!!  Fingers still crossed …

***

Enough news, it’s onto more important things like gardens and betta fish!  Seriously, without the plants and the dogs and fish, I think I’d go nuts myself.  There’s nothing more “grounding” than harvesting fresh broccoli, feeding the birds, and loving the family fauna.

The pak choi was eaten last week and I’ve got to plant something else one of these days. Today I had delicious collards and harvested a second batch of  broccoli. Tomorrow it will be steamed, then sauteed with garlic and olive oil and served with pasta.  Oh, that’s SUBLIME!   The mustard is still going strong after multiple cuttings…nothing better than steamed mustard drizzled with olive oil, topping a sweet potato pizza crust that’s been baked with olive oil and garlic.  Amazing!

Betta Drama

The betta looked sickly a few days ago and I did tons of research. Bought a Master Kit for testing the water and did a few partial water changes and he’s looking 100% better.  There’s a lot of conflicting info out there on bettas, tanks and how to keep them clean…the stumbling block for me was the issue of cycling the tank (mine is probably too small to do it correctly) versus just changing the water the old-fashioned way. I’ve mastered the vacuum so today the partial change I did took only about 15 minutes.   I’m doing several until the ammonia levels reach “O”  and then will clean the tank the old-fashioned way and forget about cycling.   The cam is back on betta (still haven’t named him!) since he is back to acting like a happy fish, so he’ll be featured during the evenings.  The camera angle catches the doorway and you might catch the dogs wandering in an out, too!

THE PAST WEEK

*By American Lassie

Obama “Media Advisory”: Groups Being Used to Build Public Pressure for “Recovery Plan”

Used Body Parts (Female)

Women in Power: The Example of Prime Ministers in Bangladesh, “A No-Casserole Zone”

Make Your Plans for Inauguration Day NOW!! Important Info on Alternate Events to Help Get Through the Day!!

*KING HARRY SAYS “HE’S NOT WELCOME” (UPDATE 1X) Burris Stopped by “Paperwork”

The Past Week: December 28, 2008-January 3, 2009 (Court Dates; Barnicle on Bloggers; Burris-Delmarie Cobb Connection [Clinton Supporter]; Economic Collapse; The Feeding Machine)

THE SCANNER-Politics, 11/06/08: NM Elections; PUMA Integrity; LA Times Crapola on Post-Racial Promise; Class; Movie–“Rope”

Note: We are on moderation for awhile so that we may have a hassle-free community.

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Here in NM-CD2 Bill Richardson worked his magic and Harry Teague, the oil guy was elected. The seat usually goes Republican, but Teague is chummy with Republicans like Steve Pearce, who lost the Senate race. Teague and Pearce are in the same line of business and from the same locale. Teague headed a board of some sort in Lea County and was beloved by Republican members. Enough said.  Money came into this race this time, whereas last time, the ex-pastor Al Kissling was not part of the club and he got nothing…except well over 30% of the vote against Pearce.  This time around, he was shut out of the primary.

I wrote extensively about Teague earlier so do a Search of the blog for the gory details…

Tom Udall never set foot down here in Southern NM, except for a closed fundraiser with the money people.  Thank you, Tom Udall!

I did not vote for either of these people because of, in the case of Teague, his past history and close money connections to Richardson and because, in the case of Udall, his slighting of this part of the state.

Locally, the Democrats pretty much took it all except a couple of offices.  My local incumbent state rep returns to Santa Fe and will be joined by a another newly elected Democrat.

I haven’t check the NM political blogs, so I don’t know what the scuttlebutt is on Richardson as a potential Secretary of State. Let him go.  He pulled a few “Obama” tricks down here and I won’t miss him if he goes. Maybe he’ll get lost somewhere in the Middle East and will never be heard from again…

By the way, the problems with absentee ballots not arriving has been forgotten. The local rag reported that voting went smoothly, no problems…Down the memory hole…

***

I have to say I really enjoyed Edge of Forever’s (Not Your Sweetie) take on the election and the indications that she hasn’t dropped the mantle of the PUMA.  The little graphic which says “Don’t Follow the Crowd, Stay True to Yourself” at the link captures my feeling completely. I believe in keeping my INTEGRITY, which means we’re going to keep eyeing everything hurled at us from DC with great suspicion.  Edge is one my FAVORITES–maybe because I’m a Jersey girl who grew up about 10 minutes from Midtown Manhattan.  I think we share a common attitude…

***

Question of the day: How far down do the expectations get “dialed down,” Pelosi??  As far down as when you “took impeachment off the table” when you took the House in 2006? When you didn’t lift a finger to change Medicare Part D as Kennedy had vowed from the Senate side?  When you let Karl Rove get off without answering the subpoenas the Judiciary Committee had voted to issue? Reality is going to bite a lot of Obamacrats in the butt…

***

Continue reading

Post Election Thoughts…The Last Salvo or REALITY BITES

~~By Grail Guardian

There will never be a female President of the United States. There. I said it. Ladies, go home and grab your burkas and start cooking dinner for your man and popping out babies. You will never have equal pay for equal work, you will never be considered competent or capable at anything you ever do, and you stand no chance of ever getting anywhere unless it’s to a soccer or hockey game to cheer your (male) children on. Of course the laws will be wide open to allow you to abort female children so you don’t have to sully the landscape with them at all anymore.

How do I know? Because before even half the nation’s votes were tallied tonight, not only were all the major networks calling the race for Barack Obama, but the pundits are already discussing how Sarah Palin was John McCain’s downfall. Pundits attempting to defend her popularity with statistics were shot down on Fox News. That’s it – it’s over. You will not see another female Presidential candidate taken seriously in this country in our lifetimes. We’ll be lucky if we continue to see women continue to hold seats in the Senate and House after tonight. Female Governors? Forget about it. Palin won’t be re-elected there, because in spite of the fact that Alaska loved her (90% approval rating) just 4 months ago, she has been trashed and is now persona non grata in her own state courtesy of the Chosen One.

Hillary Clinton will lose her Senate seat in 2012. Barack Obama had determined that before she surrendered her fight for the Democratic nomination, and all the pundits are hammering how he “beat the Clinton machine”. She is toast. But frankly, that’s OK with me tonight. As far as I am concerned, Hillary is one of the top reasons that Barack Obama was able to destroy the United States Constitution and insinuate himself into the Presidency. She has lost my respect and she has lost my vote. She bears a huge responsibility for Obama’s victory. She gave up on America to save her career. She sold out her constituents and supporters for the proverbial 30 pieces of silver, and she will have to live with that for the rest of her life.

So here are my top reasons for the desecration and destruction of the Constitution of the United States of America:

Karl Rove: The Republican strategist was neck deep in foisting Obama on an unaware America. After his manipulations to get and keep George W. Bush in the White House, he pulled off the ultimate hoodwink by clandestinely switching sides and getting the most unelectable man in politics elected on literally no platform. His uncontrollable glee while watching the returns confirmed for me that he had more than just a casual involvement in the victory. I’m sure he is now convinced that he is the most powerful man in the world.

Hillary Clinton: She spent the primary convincing us how unqualified Obama was to be POTUS and how she would never quit fighting for the American people. After all is said and done, I believe history will prove her correct on the former point. After “suspending” her campaign and humiliating herself and her 18 million supporters at the Democratic convention, she fulfilled her promise to “work my heart out” and campaigned at full tilt for Obama till the very end and convinced a painful number of her supporters that Obama was a suitable replacement for her. Rather than stand on principle and speak out against Obama’s Constitutional ineligibility to serve as POTUS, she knowingly and willingly aided and abetted the criminal activities of Obama and the DNC.

Main Stream Media: Of course one of the biggest reasons for the destruction of the United States of America and life as we know it is the Main Stream Obamedia. I cannot adequately convey my disgust with them, but let’s face it; they created a President. We have allowed them to decide a Presidential election for the third time in a row, and there is no stopping them now. Plan on spending the rest of your lives (and money) on whatever crap they decide to sell you, whether it be political candidates, lousy programming, toothpaste, or male enhancement products. They bought the soul of America with infomercials and “reality” shows that don’t vaguely resemble reality. It was the Bargain of the Century.

Fox News: “Fair and Balanced” reporting was next to impossible to find this election season as MSNBC, CNN, NBC, CBS, and ABC immediately suited up for Team Obama during the primaries. Before the GE race started in earnest, Fox appeared to be the only source of coverage that wasn’t totally biased in favor of Obama. It turned out that was a sham. The first to start fawning over Obama was the shameless Bill O’Reilly. His disgust with John McCain overruled his whatever journalistic instincts he had, and he threw the race in order to feebly protest the people having chosen McCain as the Republican nominee. The rest of the network quickly followed suit with only a few exceptions (Megan Kelly stands out), and by election night they were quicker to call the race for Obama than nearly anyone and spent all their post-coital analysis slamming McCain for having has the cajones to even consider running in the first place, nonetheless with a woman on the ticket. In the end, it’s tough to decide if they were influenced by owner Rupert Murdoch’s endorsement of Obama or were just trying desperately to keep a luke-warm candidate from embarrassing the party. Either way, they garnered millions of cable viewers based on their supposed impartiality, then proceeded to join in the mass brainwashing, with unparalleled gusto by the last week of the campaign.

The Republican Party: In a year when the Republicans had virtually no chance in hell of taking the White House, true conservatives “allowed” the public to nominate John McCain in what they though was a throwaway election. Imagine their surprise when McCain actually started to show some signs of life (and without them)! After the base was reinvigorated by the brilliant announcement of Sarah Palin as McCain’s Vice Presidential nominee, the party had 2 choices: support the centrist McCain and try with gusto to steal the White House from the Democrats in a year that it was all but guaranteed to be theirs, or sit back and do nothing in quiet protest of the likelihood of a McCain victory. The party decided as an entity to do the latter, and the sheeple of the right within the party followed suit, complaining that he wasn’t really their man and they’d rather give the White House to the Dems than suffer losing their control of the party from the radical right. The party that a few short weeks before had looked like heroes for putting a woman on the ticket after the brutal ravaging of Hillary Clinton wound up looking like misogynists; campaign leaks called Palin a “rogue” and “out of control” in efforts to prevent her from seeking further national office in the future. In the end, it was not the leadership of the party or McCain, but the spineless conservative members who tanked an election and gave up control of Congress rather than let a woman near the White House.

The Democratic Party: Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Donna Brazile, Jimmy Carter, Zbigniew Brezinski and other Democratic leaders colluded, long before the start of the 2008 Presidential campaign, to use radical tactics to steer the party to the far left and overthrow the legitimate government of the United States. They selected a young, unknown freshman Senator from Illinois with literally no history and molded him into their dream candidate. Their plan to use race as a means to energize the African American voter base and intimidate whites into voting out of guilt and fear dripped of cynicism and hatred for America. The one obstacle that stood in their way was popular front-runner Hillary Clinton. With unprecedented viciousness, the DNC and Obama campaign launched an all out misogynistic attack on Clinton, accompanied by charges of racism against her, husband Bill Clinton, and literally all of her 18 million supporters. Suddenly empowered by the report-nothing media, they started to publicly break their own rules, change rules midstream, change and assign votes cast to their chosen candidate, and lie about virtually everything. Once their ravaging of Clinton brought her to her knees, they thought they were golden, until John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Unequipped to handle the public’s adoration of the Alaska Governor, they trashed Palin with lies, innuendo, and false charges which were all lustily covered by the media. Their destruction of everything female in this country now stands complete, and sadly I know many women that voted Democratic yesterday, probably a straight party ticket. When all is said and done, it will be shown that the Democratic brand is nothing more than the flip side of the people that brought us the corrupt Republican brand of George W. Bush.

The Socialists: I won’t spend time right now going into repeated detail about the likes of William Ayers, Bernadette Dohrn, Khalid al Mansour, et al. Let it be enough to say that an organized Socialist movement that started smoldering in the 1960s burst into full flames this year and will soon sweep this nation like wildfire. Their efforts were deliberate, domestic terrorism and I’m quite sure that Timothy McVeigh is smiling like mad from his platform in hell.

Mob Rule: You can include the illegal activities of ACORN in this category or the one above – take your pick. Angry blacks, agitated to the brink of race war by the Obama machine, and young white college types determined to put a black man (any black man – with man being the operative word) in the highest office in the land to assuage their white guilt, threatened to riot, bullied opponents mercilessly online, and even intimidated other voters while standing in line to vote by discussing the riots that would ensue if Obama lost. Never underestimate the bullying of thugs both physical and psychological. I also include trolls in this category, because without their relentless assault on literally every website that ever posted even 1 word in opposition to Obama, this victorious annihilation of all common sense and decency would not have been possible. Pat yourselves on the backs, Psy Ops Warriors! Job well done. There will be posts for all of you in the new Civilian Police Force, dragging PUMAs off to re-education camps, so the fun isn’t nearly over yet.

“4th Wave” Feminists: Never underestimate the power of women defiling other women in this coup d’etat. Names like Nancy Pelosi, Donna Brazile, Claire McCaskill, Arianna Huffington, Erica Jong, Alice Germond, Peggy Noonan, Maureen Dowd, Oprah Winfrey, and literally every woman in Hollywood leap to mind in this category at first blush, but let’s not take the credit away from the invisible everyday “feminist”. I’m talking the ones that cried “It’s not that I don’t want a woman President, I do. Just not that woman!” and “I just can’t believe they picked Sarah Palin. That woman isn’t qualified to be President!” They did more to demoralize and frustrate the efforts of every woman in this nation than we have seen in decades. As I stated at the outset, these women (the type who live merely to find men and have no sense of self outside their relationships) have ensured that I shall not live to see a female President of the United States of America. Perhaps it makes them feel more powerful in their own meaningless lives, but they are traitors to us, to themselves, and to this Republic. They have played a vital role in pushing back the clock to roughly the 1920s as far as Women’s Rights are concerned. And I will not be able to laugh or say I told you so when they realize the aftereffects of what they have done.

The American People: Ultimately, the blame must lie with those who did nothing or not enough to stop this decline during this and the previous 5 administrations. I count myself in the latter category. I apparently awoke too late to stop the juggernaut of the New World Order. I fought like mad at the end (during the last year), but like most of America I was asleep at the wheel when people like both George Bush 41 & 43, Reagan, Carter, and even Bill Clinton steered this nation towards the slippery slope that it is on today. I watched and either complained or ignored as our liberties were slowly eroded. I bristled at the overt actions, but was easily assuaged back to my complacency when adjustments were made to allow my comfort level to return. I sold my country out for the ability to buy PCs, cell phones, SUVs, bigger houses, designer clothing, “organic” foods, and other such frivolities. I got angry and excited at an unseen enemy when my handlers in the media told me it was time to do so. I ranted about Global Warming and going Green, signed up for an HMO that had nothing whatsoever to do with Health Maintenance or even getting better when I was sick or injured, and dug deep into my pockets to help others less fortunate than I around the world when disasters struck and even remained silent when I had to do it for my own countrymen in the Hurricane ravaged south after Katrina and other storms showed that our government was unwilling and incapable of helping our own in time of need, regardless of how many tax dollars they had paid into the system. I kept silent. I averted my eyes. I deafened myself to the sure sounds of corruption and moral decay. And I turned off my feelings for my fellow Americans long enough for them to become so very angry that they would lash out at me in fury to destroy America as payment for my complacency. And for that, I am truly sorry America. I have failed you.

Saturday Smatterings…(10/25/08)

~~Posted by InsightAnalytical–GRL

A few items that are too small to do a full post on, but of interest…

1) I stopped by Greta on Thursday night and bumped into Karl Rove.  He was pushing his site, of course, and his electoral map, but Greta asked him about what effect Obama’s half-hour October 29th TV message to the masses might have.  Rove said that if he bombed, it could hurt him…but, if he did a good job, then it could very well give him a bump late in the game.

Here at IA, there were a lot of comments in response to a section of last Sunday’s roundup:

I watched The History Channel program called “Secrets of Body Language.” The commentators “swooned” over Obama’s voice…a commentor saying he’s so “powerful” a speaker that “the words become irrelevant.” They followed Obama with a segment on McCain, who, they said, speaks in a manner “exactly opposite” — more like a “technician” and with sincerity.  Remember just before the NH primary when Hillary showed emotion? Well, guess what? The experts were split on whether it was real or coached…

And here’s something else to ponder…Obama’s use of hypnosis techniques. I became certified in hypnosis and what’s in this piece sounds entirely plausible to me…

I don’t think I can stomach watching Obama’s half-hour verbal orgy, but I am curious about whether he’ll be using some of the various techniques that were discussed in the link above, as well as in the comment section of the post.  Grail Guardian and I have both had some experience with Tony Robbins (GG), hypnosis and NLP (me) and we think Obama HAS to be doing SOMETHING that is reeling in easily-suggestible people. Emotion and suggestibility…the combo that is at work.

NOTE: Grail Guardian will be posting a piece on this topic early next week!

***

2) Regular visitor Leslie sent me the following via email:

The following quote is my response to the buzzflash current “wing of justice award”.

I haven’t gone to B—f—h in a long time and thought, I’d take a look today.

O.M.G.

They said:

Colin Powell Receives The BuzzFlash Wings of Justice Award for October 22. “Normally, a political endorsement, even if it is a post-partisan nod for the most powerful elected position in the country, does not merit a Wings of Justice Award. But in his endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president, former Secretary of State Gen. Colin Powell went beyond just telling us who he’ll be voting for.”

Leslie had the same reaction I did….the guy who LIED to us all at the U.N. is now beloved by the Obama crowd?? He now “merits” the Wings of Justice Award? Frankly, with Obama lapping up the Powell endorsement and possible advice from him in the future…that sort of negates the entire Iraq war “superior judgment” claim, doesn’t it?? McCain should pick up on that angle!!

And you wonder why I had to leave Buzzflash after 7 years?

3)Today, McCain and Clinton hit southern NM.  I’ll be in Mesilla at a square-foot gardening workshop while McCain is a few blocks away at the rally.  I’ll observe what I can observe and check out the local news reports and try to get them into The Past Week post for this Sunday.