Last Monday, she set up what she couldn't deliver. The item in the the day's headlines was entitled "Sen. McCain Suggests Obama Might Be a Socialist."
Wow! Senator John McCain says Barack might be a Socialist!
Even we haven't suggested that and, as an e-mail noted last week, "You hate Barack Obama more than anyone in this whole world wide and you will say anything to keep him from being elected!"
Golly, had John McCain cut ahead of us in line?
Before we could worry too much over that, Goody was reading her 'news:'
In campaign news, Senator John McCain has accused Barack Obama of having the most extreme record in the Senate and suggested Obama might be a socialist. McCain was asked about his views in an interview with the Kansas City Star.
Wow! It must be true! She even gave a paper! John McCain suggested Barack Obama was a Socialist!
Then she played the exchange. Follow along (Goody couldn't):
Dave Helling: "You talked a little bit about Senator Obama today."
Sen. John McCain: "Mm-hmm."
Helling: "You said he was the most extreme member of the Senate, I think is the quote."
Sen. McCain: "Yeah, that's his voting record."
Helling: "Extreme?"
Sen. McCain: "Yeah."
Helling: "You mean, you really think he's an extremist? I mean, he's clearly liberal.
Sen. McCain: "Well, that's his voting record. All I said was his voting record, and that is more to the left than the announced socialist in the United States Senate, Bernie Sanders of Vermont. So" --
Helling: "Do you think he's a socialist, Barack Obama?"
Sen. McCain: "Oh, I don't know. All I know is his voting record, and that's what people usually judge their elected representatives by."
Huh?
Each day Pravda on the Hudson demonstrates that the lying never ends.
So you knew Amy would be back to it later in the program pushing the lie, "What do you make of Senator Obama's trip to Iraq and Afghanistan to talking about a timetable for pullout, Nouri al-Maliki saying he shares his view, though he was castigated, it looks like, by the President, and Senator McCain saying Barack Obama has the most extreme record in the Senate, suggesting perhaps he’s a socialist?"
As C.I. explained last Monday:
No, LIAR Amy Goodman, McCain didn't suggest Barack was a socialist. He was asked it by Helling (who brought the issue up) and McCain said he didn't know. "Most extreme voting record"? McCain's referring to the National Journal labeling "Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007" at the end of January based on their examination of his record.
February 8th on CounterSpin, Janine Jackson demolished the claim. However, that was the same February 8th that Goodman allowed Robert Kuttner to cite that same study as reason to support Barack: ""I think it was National Journal recently came out with a rating that showed that Obama has the most left-of-center record." So when Kuttner cites it, Goodman raises no objection. McCain cites it and she's ripping him apart with lies. Get your act together. What a disgrace. [Jackson's demolishing of the National Journal and Kuttner's idiocy on Democracy Now! were covered Feb. 10th at Third.] Repeating, McCain referred to the National Journal 'finding' that Goody accepted on her show from Kuttner. He was then asked if he thought Barack was a Socialist. He didn't raise that issue, he was asked. When asked, he stated he didn't know. This is exactly the garbage Ava and I were talking about Sunday: gossip -- uninformed gossip -- passed off as news intended to make you enraged. In headlines today, Goodman pimped the same gossip: "In campaign news, Senator John McCain has accused Barack Obama of having the most extreme record in the Senate and suggested Obama might be a socialist. McCain was asked about his views in an interview with the Kansas City Star." No, McCain didn't ACCUSE Barack of having the most exterme record, he was referring to the National Journal study -- one Goody allowed to be cited Feb. 8th on her show without objection or question. And McCain NEVER suggested Barack was a Socialist. Get your damn facts right, Pravda on the Hudson.
Goody can't help it, she can't stop lying. And that day was nothing but lies.
Monday morning, before her program finished airing, Jim had caught her in another lie and tacked on a note to C.I.'s morning entry. Goody declared, "The Green Party made history last week when it nominated the first all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history." LIE. (And she titled her segment "First All-Women-of-Color Presidential Ticket in US History: Green Party Nominee . . .") Jim referred everyone to the July 14th snapshot for this point: "Leave it to Aileen Alfandary to bring in 'uninformed' which, for the record, she did on the first news break of KPFA's The Morning Show where she declared of the Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente ticket, 'This year's Green ticket marks the first time a US has nominated women of color for both president and vice-president.' Uh, no, Alfandary, it's not. From Friday's snapshot: "What About Our Daughters? explains that, if McKinney is the nominee, this is the third time two women of color would be on the ticket with the first being Lenora Fulani and Maria Elizabeth Munoz in 1992 (New Alliance Party) and Monica Moorehead and Gloria La Riva (Workers World Party) in 1996." Dumb ass Amy Goodman (or maybe just liar) declared today that McKinney and Clemente (aka "Don't call me a Latina!") were 'the first all-women-of-color presidential ticket in US history.' And, dig it, New Alliance Party was on more state's ballots than the Green Party will be this year. H.B. Goody felt the need to LIE. Felt the need to strip the first women-of-color ticket (Fulani and Munoz) of their credit and to render the second (Moorehead and La Riva) invisible.
Since Goody was lying, Don't Call Me a Latina! thought she could as well. Here's Rosa Clemente hoping she can woo back Latinos, " I mean, thank you for having me, Amy. It’s a humbling experience, first and foremost. But, I mean, I’m a South Bronx Puerto Rican-born girl, 1972." Uh, no, you're not. Not by your own definition. You were born in the Bronx. As for Puerto Rico? Here's what you wrote in May of 2007, Clemente (there are many other examples that can be provided -- as the Latino community damn well knows):
I am often asked what I am usually by Blacks who are lighter than me, and by Latinos as dark or darker than me. To answer the ,000 question, I am a Black Boricua, Black Rican, PuertoriqueÒa! Almost always I am questioned about why I choose to call myself Black over Latina, Spanish or Hispanic. Let me break it down.
I am not Spanish. Spanish is just another language I speak. I am not a Hispanic. My ancestors are not descendants of Spain, but descendants of Africa. I define my existence by race and land. (Borinken is the indigenous name of the island of Puerto Rico.)
Being Latino is not a cultural identity but rather a political one. Being Puerto Rican is not a racial identity, but rather a cultural and national one. Being Black is my racial identity. Why do I have to consistently explain this to those who are so-called conscious? Is it because they have a problem with their own identity? Why is it so bad to assert who I am, for me to big-up my Africanness?
My Blackness is one of the greatest powers I have. We live in a society that devalues Blackness all the time. I will not be devalued as a human being, as a child of the Supreme Creator.
It's exactly those type of comments that have long offended the Latino community. Clemente self-identified Black and made comments about Latinos and Hispanics. Then you went on KPFA and tried to speak for (lie) the Latino community. No one wants to hear anything about Latinos from you. In the view of many, you spat on the Latino community.
Clemente can tank any hopes of 5% of the vote as far as we're concerned. Not only is she persona non grata to the Latino community (and her lying about their support for Hillary only solidified her status), she's also not very bright. Doubt that? Notice the first thing she responds with from this question of Goody's:
AMY GOODMAN: And what do you think, Rosa Clemente, are the most important issues right now? What are you going to be campaigning on around the country?
ROSA CLEMENTE: For young people right now, the most important issues is a dismantling of the prison-industrial complex;
Oh Big Red, you spent too damn much time in the Bronx. Jim called out that b.s. online Monday and was worried after because Jess' father is a prison reform activist. He called Jess' father immediately but got no disagreement.
Jess' father told us Saturday night, "Jim's exactly right. It is not a driving issue. If it were all of us working on the issue would not have to work so hard. She [Clemente] doesn't know the first thing she's talking to. She sounds like someone who only interacts in radical circles and has this mistaken view that what her circle cares about is the driving force in America. It's not true. I wish it were. I'd love to see it hit an upswing but I honestly think there was more energy and focus on it in the sixties and early seventies. If you gathered twenty 'young people' at random into a room today and said 'prison-industrial complex' many would not what you were talking about. And if you asked them to rank it, it wouldn't show up as number one for the group. She's going to be a lousy running mate for Cynthia because she's so out of touch. As a Green, I find that very sad."
She is going to be a lousy running mate. If you doubt that, let's continue with Rosa Clemente's laundry list ranking of the most important issues to "young people" -- and read along closely:
a livable wage; dealing with the AIDS pandemic that is affecting disproportionately African American and Latina young women; a real gender equity movement; a real movement where women, particularly women of color, are not marginalized in the media or at work; and really dealing with no healthcare and a lack of good public education, but also a lack of now higher education. No young person in America who can go to college should be in $100,000 debt. We are supposed to be competing with the best of the best, and we have over a 60 percent, in some cities, dropout rate of African American and Latina/Latino youth. So those are, I think, the most important pressing issues. And, of course, an immediate withdrawal from Iran. And we must not be duped that a troop withdrawal in Iran could also mean a troop transfer in Afghanistan and more young people, particularly white working-class youth, being used as cannon fodder.
We love Rosa's "gender equity movement." This is the woman who, in mid-July, felt the need to rip apart Hillary Clinton (who suspended her campaign in June). Go for that gender equity, Rosa! "Particularly women of color." Rosa, know the demographics. (And Ava says, "Quit using my community to prop up your pathetic ass you Latino hater.") Check our her bill for college: "$100,000 debt."
Again, as Jess' father pointed out, Big Red can't relate to anyone who's not like her. $60,000 and $70,000 was the figure we heard when we polled (using C.I.'s rolodex) twenty college students enrolled today. And all noted that would be the max for state universities (no community college -- community college for the first two years would drive the cost down). More importantly, Pell Grants and other scholarships are available so they felt their peers on financial assistance would most likely rake up $40,000 at most. An outrageous sum, to be sure, but not $100,000.
Where did Rosa get the figure? Who knows? But, though it's hard to tell listening to her talk, she went to Cornell. (Talk about money wasted.) Did you catch what Jim caught? "Withdrawal from Iran." Said twice. Withdrawal's way down at the bottom of her list and possibly that's due to the fact that there are no US troops in Iran at present. Like far too many useless 'lefties,' Clemente's so consumed with a maybe-war (predicted to be coming any day now since 2004!) that she can't even focus on the illegal war in Iraq.
We've pointed out that by defining "victory" in the presidential race as 5%, McKinney's made it questionable as to whether or not she should even be included in the race (the other candidates are running for the presidency, not 5% of the vote). But we're starting to think maybe Clemente should be allowed into the vice presidential debates if only for the humor factor. We'd love to see a candidate ask her, "What troops do you want to withdraw from Iran?"
What is Pravda on the Hudson without lies and compliments for coverage that never took place?
Rosa Clemente offered Amy Goodman air kisses, "And again, in the progressive press, we've been whited out, whether it's the Huffington Post or Air America. It's only been Pacifica and Democracy Now! and a couple other--I don’t even call you 'alternative' anymore. I think we are the mainstream. But why are we not being allowed to even voice our opinions?"
Like Clemente, we've called out 'progressive' media. In fact, C.I. tore into Arianna's Aging Socialite's Cat Litter Box the morning of Cynthia's nomination. That was because a columnist there wrote a lengthy column reducing McKinney's presumed nomination (she was nominated that afternoon) to "what does this mean for Barack!" As though Cynthia weren't a worthy topic on her own and a candidate in and of herself.
The Green Party held their convention -- four day convention -- this month. Cynthia McKinney won the presidential nomination contest on July 12th. Prior to last Monday's interview, this was Goody's entire coverage of the Green Party convention and McKinney and Clemente:
And the Green Party has nominated former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney to be the party's presidential nominee. The Greens also nominated hip-hop activist and organizer Rosa Clemente to be McKinney's running mate. McKinney spoke on Saturday at the Green Party convention in Chicago.
Cynthia McKinney: "And when I got to Washington, I saw that public policy is really made in a room at a table. There were real seats at the table. Well, imagine what has happened to public policymaking now. There is a real room with a window and a door, and there's two seats at the table. The window is for us to look through, while our representatives make policy for us, so we can see what they're doing. At the table, one seat is for the Democrats, one seat is for the Republicans. Now, we don't know who did it, but one of them put a lock on the door and slipped a key to the corporate lobbyists who can come and go at will and whisper what they want to Democrats and Republicans, and the result is that we the people, who pay for those seats and determine who sits in them, want one thing, but because the corporate lobbyists can come and go at will, our values get overridden and our representatives give us something else. That’s how we end up with everyone saying they're against the war and occupation, but war and occupation still gets funding. That's how we end up with everyone saying they're against illegal spying on innocent people, yet end up with a telecom immunity bill being signed into law. That's how we end up with everyone saying they're in favor of universal access to healthcare and no one supporting what the physicians, nurses and healthcare really want, and that's a single-payer healthcare system in this country."
That's not even McKinney's speech in full. The entire four day convention, McKinney's nomination, et al was reduced to a brief headline on July 14. That was it for Democracy Now! until last week. We call out Huffington's site all the time. But, truth is, The Huffington Post's one article already mentioned provided more coverage than the above. Truth is, John Nichols wrote about McKinney's win for The Nation online. We're no fans of The Nation. (Ask 'em, they'll tell you. Or just read the angry e-mails they send us.) But it takes a lot of suck-up power to sit there and praise Goody for her non-existent coverage. (The interview with McKinney and Clemente only came about because Goody got a lot of complaints over her refusal to include them -- the woman who finds a way to introduce Barack into every conversation and note him in almost every day's headlines.) We thought the suck-up to Pacifica was cute too since Rosa Clemente is part of Pacifica. Or was, before the campaign.
Democracy Now! -- where the lies never end and the truth rarely begins.