T. Boone Pickens can go to HELL! And take his crappy energy plan with him

Many people may have forgotten that T. Boone Pickens, the billionaire oilman who made his fortune as a robber baron ripping of the public with his oil industry profiteering, was in fact the sleazy financier of the even sleazier Swift Boat attack ads against John Kerry, who should have won the 2004 presidential election, saving this country from four more years of George W. Bush.

The Swift Boat campaign was based on lies, exaggerations and a terrible disrespect to Kerry, a Vietnam era hero who served frontline in the heart of the Vietnam War when he was called to duty, while Chicken Goegre Bush hid in the ranks among the reserves, a place where many clout-heavy silver-spoon fed children hid to avoid frontline military service.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, an odious insidious campaign of lies, broadcast TV advertisements funded by Pickens to muddy up Kerry. The ads were pernicious because they distorted and confused the issues involving Kerry's heroic service in order to undermine his campaign, while they ignored the FACT that Bush was a coward who avoided frontline military service during the heat of the Vietnam War.

Ironically, Pickens NEVER served in the military defending this country, as far as my research shows. And -- the billionaire sleazebag oil tycoon won't answer any of my telephone calls to his companies.

So who do you think was schmoozing his way along the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Denver? T. Boone Pickens. the loser! And he had the gall to go up to Kerry and introduce himself.

Pickens vowed to give $1 million to anyone who could prove one thing inaccurate in the ads, credited in part with destroying Kerry's presidential quest. But the truth is you can take the truth and twist it around so badly that it can look bad ... to say that Kerry did not fight on the frontlines while the coward Bush hid -- he didn't even show up for much of his reserve service because he was tapped by daddie to campaign for another congressional pal. LOSER!

Now Pickens wants us to believe that he cares about America. That he has a plan to help save this country from the energy debacle that his industry helped create and is destroying today with outrageous oil prices.

We don't need you Pickens. If you have anything to say, the American people don't need to hear it. Your conduct during the campaign was disgraceful, pathetic and shameful. You are a disgrace. And anything you have to say is not worth hearing.

Hillary Clinton: Americans not big on quitting. So why quit?

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Hillary Clinton's Democratic National Convention Speech
Ray Hanania's World Comic Strip
Tuesday, August 26, 2008

"And on that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of advice. If you hear the dogs, keep going. If you see the torches in the woods, keep going. If they're shouting after you, keep going. Don't ever stop. Keep going. If you want a taste of freedom, keep going. Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going. I've seen it in you. I've seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women of our military — you always keep going.

"We are Americans. We're not big on quitting."

http://www.themediaoasis.com/

Hillary Clinton's powerful convention speech: "Keep going ... we're not big on quitting."

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Hillary Clinton’s powerful convention speech, "keep going"

By Ray Hanania

All Barack Obama and Joe Biden could do Tuesday was sit back and envy the charisma and power displayed by Hillary Clinton, probably one of the best qualified candidates for president in America today.

Clinton’s speech was the most inspiring and moving I have heard. Imagine having someone like that leading this country? Someone who isn’t afraid to take on challenges and doesn’t waffle on issues or run from past associations?

Every politician has enemies and haters and Hillary Clinton is no different, but she has the strength and the determination and even more importantly the guts and courage to do what this country needs.

Obama missed his chance to make his ticket the most powerful this country has ever seen. So far, Obama has been full of talk and rhythmic cadence in his speeches but words are not enough.

Hillary Clinton’s words not only resonated with America, many people in the convention probably were sitting there thinking, "Oh my God. What have we lost?"

The dream of an Obama-Clinton ticket would have sealed the deal and raised the rest of America to a confidence level that would lead this country though a badly needed reorganization, reassessment and refocus.

Obama-Clinton could have reversed the economy, stopped the bleeding of building debt, restored world confidence in this great nation and motivated Americans to go back out and fight to create new jobs and restore this nation’s wealth.

Obama-Clinton could have overcome the difficult challenge of bringing the crooked health insurers into line to force them to cover the 47 million Americans who, thanks to the lying cheating and deceitful companies like Humana and Blue Cross, have no health insurance. More than 47 million Americans have been denied coverage not only because they can’t afford coverage but because these health robber barons refuse to acknowledge the public’s health needs and reject the "risky."

Obama-Clinton could have restored America’s sagging and weak image abroad. America is the leader of the free world that has not been leading under the incompetent and self-serving administration of President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. They would have ended the illegal war in Iraq and refocused this country’s defenses in the right direction in Afghanistan.

America is fighting a war in Iraq to protect oil company interests and contracts for Halliburton and KBR and other companies tied to Dick Cheney, and they are negligent of the need to fight the real war on terrorism in Afghanistan, where our troops need more support and assets and soldiers.

Osama Bin Laden remains on the loose not because of his cunning but because of the ignorance and the pathetic mishandling of this country by Bush-Cheney and his "Axis of Evil" cabinet.

Obama-Clinton could have swept the elections this November and guaranteed eight years of solid leadership. And a retiring President Obama in 2016 could have passed the batton of leadership to the vice president, Hillary Clinton, and insured that as we embarked into the middle of a new century, we would have another great president leading us until 2024.

Vice President and then President Hillary Clinton would have put the last nail in the coffin of the gender gap and the sexist bias that still exists in this country against women, Americans who often shoulder more of the burden for less than their male counterparts.

And while Hillary Clinton did the honorable thing to urge her supporters to through themselves on their swords to help the weak Barack Obama, whose speeches appeal with wishful talk but lacks the tactical and strategic solutions to achieve his carefully crafted speeches.

The truth is her quote of Harriet Tubman only motivates her supporters to stand more firm and demand that this country be respected. That we are not to be ignored an disrespected and that we Americans have a right to insist not on good but to demand the best.

Hillary Clinton said:

By following the example of a brave New Yorker, a woman who risked her life
to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriet Tubman had one piece of
advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to
keep going.

I've seen it in you. I've seen it in our teachers and firefighters, nurses
and police officers, small business owners and union workers, the men and women
of our military — you always keep going.

We are Americans. We're not big on quitting.

And those Americans who believe that this country, this day and this year and this century deserves and needs the best leadership, will not quit either.

If you want a great president, don't give up. Keep going.

The opportunity now faces John McCain. Can he fill the gap? Or, will he be a last resort placeholder for four years to allow Hillary Clinton to return to the stage in one last and final chance for America in 2012, putting the crown on the head of a commander-in-chief in waiting?

END

McCain has chance to grab the presidency -- Ray Hanania

McCain has a chance to grab the presidency

By Ray Hanania

John McCain is not my choice for president. But he sure has a chance to win the presidency this November. He just has to make the right choice.

Will he?

My perspective on McCain is tugged between him being the silent accomplice watching and witnessing as President Bush and his "Cabinet of Evil" orchestrated one of the world’s greatest frauds and war crimes lying to send our soldiers to Iraq to avenge the lost honor of his father, George H.W. Bush, the former president.

On the other hand, McCain the Republican is the only other choice left as Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate runs out of steam and his Democratic Convention putters along, boringly and with no real inspiration.

That’s the problem with "phenoms," a cute word contrived by his spin-masters to describe Obama as a "phenomena." They start out strong and run out of steam.

The first night of the Democratic Convention should have opened like the Beijing Olympics. Dazzling inspiration and awe-inspiring choreography that took our minds away from China’s history of tyranny and oppressive civil rights abuses.

Instead, the ObamaFest in Denver looked more like a boring remake of a popular movie that just isn’t better than the original.

I’m tired of the Kennedys, the Irish political mafia clan that has exploited the inspiration of two sons murdered by American hate. Sure, the Kennedys are great people, but is that what we need in today’s day and age to inspire us?

Michelle Obama was a poor choice to keynote the Denver Convention. She is wonderful, don’t get me wrong. But the issue isn’t whether or not we need to know how loving of a husband Barack has been. She didn’t speak to the "Democratic Street."

In fact, what is happening on the "Democratic Street" on the floor of the convention, on the news talk programs and even right here in Chicago, Obama’s own back yard, is that Obama hasn’t delivered on his "phenom" promises.

Hillary Clinton remains a formidable force and even if she tells her supporters to support Barack, we know she doesn’t mean it. The fact is Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have been disrespected by the Obama’s and his expensive and over-funded campaign machine.

When it comes to our economy, Bill Clinton was the best president we ever had. Better than Ronald Reagan.

Despite his personal flaw with Monica Lewinsky which was little more than gristle for the hate-mongering Republican and Conservative news media, and his fumbling of his last minute Middle East peace efforts, Clinton was the real "phenom."

And instead of starting the convention with Sen. Ted Kennedy – the least loved of all the Kennedy clan, or even with Michelle Obama, a nice lady, the convention should have started with a bang. A Powerful speech from Bill Clinton, followed tonight by a powerful speech by Hillary Clinton.

That’s what’s lacking in the Obama candidacy. He is too insecure about the Clintons and it shows. He is too afraid that they can steal the show. Obama might become a great president, if he had someone at his side who many Americans can trust.

Senator Joe Biden? Give me a break. He’s a selfish political animal who has pandered to his constituency and has ruled the Senate Foreign Relations Committee only since Democrats took control of the Senate and has done what? Nothing. A cowardly lion on a committee of power.
The Democratic Covention is over before it even started.

I don’t care how much Hillary Clinton urges her supporters to support Barack Obama.
The bottom line is many Americans are wondering whether a gamble on Barack for four years will be any worse than a gamble on a "mini-me" George Bush in the form of John McCain.

McCain may represent a third-term Bush – the only difference is that while Bush hid from his patriotic military service during the height of the Vietnam War, McCain showed courage.

By the way, what war did Obama serve in? The South Side political wars?

McCain may be a Republican clinging to a party that has driven this country into an economic tailspin and caused the world to hate us even more.

But McCain might only be in office for four years. And that means that Hillary Clinton could easily and would most certainly become the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in 2012.

And so far, there is little convincing evidence that that is a bad thing.

McCain has a chance to win. He needs to do something inspirational if he hopes to win the support of the disgruntled Clinton voters, who represent MORE than half of the voting Democrats, even counting the "independents" who swing back and forth at elections and supported Obama this time.

His choice of a vice presidential candidate is his last shot at securing the election this November.
If it is Rudy Giuliani, he might as well say goodnight. Giuliani is a George Bush who knows how to lie better. If it is disgruntled Sen. Joseph Lieberman, McCain can say goodbye to an opportunity. Lieberman is a disloyal Democrat who disrespected the wishes of the Democratic voters in his state.

It’s up to you John McCain.

This is your election to win or lose.

You will decide whether Obama’s so far uninspiring convention will lead to a victory or whether you can steal the thunder.

Do you care about American Democrats?

Or, are you so wedded to Republican ideology that you can’t see what’s best for America as a whole?

END