Hamas, Regulars With Obama Advisor

We know what Sen. Barack Obama thinks about talking to Hamas when he said Jimmy Carter should not have talked to Hamas on his freelance visit to the Middle East recently. So you might be surprised at this headline at Timesonline, ‘Barack Obama sacks adviser over talks with Hamas.’ Seems his Middle East policy adviser was no stranger to Hamas.

For Barack Obama, it’s just another straw for general election camel’s back.

related link: Timesonline story

DNC Pow-Wow, No Peace Pipe

Democrat Party officials met today and decided what to do about the Michigan and Florida delegates. It ended up in a compromise that nobody likes. Instead of giving them no delegates, like their rules had spelled out, the DNC decided to count the votes as half a vote, which ends up with the States getting half of their delegates represented at the convention. They also took 4 of Hillary’s delegates and gave them to Obama.

Harold Ickes, speaking to the Rules Committee for Sen. Clinton, said that she . . .

had instructed him to reserve her right to appeal the matter to the Democrats’ credentials committee, which could potentially drag the matter to the party’s convention in August.

and

“There’s been a lot of talk about party unity — let’s all come together, and put our arms around each other,” said Ickes, who is also a member of the Rules Committee that approved the deal. “I submit to you ladies and gentlemen, hijacking four delegates … is not a good way to start down the path of party unity.”

Doesn’t look like she intends on quitting any time soon.

Reactions from the peanut gallery that was permitted to witness the meeting . . .

“How can you call yourselves Democrats if you don’t count the vote?” one man in the audience shouted before being escorted out by security. “This is not the Democratic Party!”

Seeing this primary fight between the Clinton and Obama camps is bittersweet. On the one hand, this fight for the Democrat nomination is a treasure trove of ad material for republicans and conservatives in the general election campaign. John McCain excepted. Sen. Obama’s campaign may self-destruct as more people learn more about him and the kind of people he surrounds himself with and seeks counsel from. The bad part of this protracted primary fight is that McCain won’t use any of it. How could he? Much of the democrat candidates’ positions on key issues are the same as his so it wouldn’t work. Immigration, more business regulation, ‘windfall’ profits tax actions against BIG OIL, man-made global warming, just to name a few.

Conservatives have their work cut out for them. Forget the last 40 years of toil. We’ve got to start over. We have to find conservatives, real ones, and run them in our city, county, state elected positions. From the ground up again, Yes We Can. (sorry, it just happened)

related links: Officials say Fla., Mich. delegates will get half-votes | Should Republican Leadership Resign?