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February 21 Foreclosure AvevueI guess CBS had their news crew at the ready down in Lehigh Acres Florida after that Oprah-style love-in featuring two-time home-owner Henrietta Hughes, in the role of victim in a vicious attack of those killer lenders. So they rounded up a group of seven more lending victims to show America how bad it really is for them as the real estate market continues to crater after a spectacular rise in prices. Check out the lady in the white coat complaining that she's can't get anyone to bid on her "other home" ("an investment house", she says). And then there's also the guy who walked away from his home because as he says "I had no choice". Huh? While the media often profiles those facing foreclosure as the victims of out of control lenders, it appears that more often than not they are just plain stupid folks who thought they could make a quick buck by buying a house with a low interest rate loan and selling at a profit before the adjustable rate kicked in. In other words, they're no more deserving of a bail out than I am after losing big time in the stock market. October 31 _________________________________________________ Rasmussen Spins For Obama On O'Reilly Is Scott Rasmussen spinning big time for Obama or losing his marbles? Maybe both. Last night he told Bill O'Reilly that Pennsylvania is the only state that Kerry took in 2004 where McCain has any chance of winning. He really should do less TV and more reading. His own poll shows McCain within the margin of error in New Hampshire, a state that Kerry won. And that poll was done over a week ago. September 01 _____________________________Daschle In 2000 Race: 17 Months in Senate Adequate Preparation For VP Slot Yesterday Tom Daschle told Wolf Blitzer that McCain's decision to choose Palin was "inexplicable". But back in 2000 Daschle had no problem giving the VP nod to John Edwards, who at that time had been a U.S Senator for only 17 months with no other government experience: MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, Ronald Reagan was governor for eight years, Bill Clinton governor for eight years, George W. Bush governor for five years. Mr. Edwards was a trial lawyer, a personal injury lawyer before 17 months in the Senate. Is that adequate preparation? SEN. DASCHLE: Well, Tim, I think it's the life experiences you bring to the job. I don't know of anybody that has a broader array of life experiences than John Edwards. He has been a success story. He has gone through his own personal trials. He has come to the Senate and, right from the start, taken on leadership roles. He has demonstrated his capacity for leadership in ways that I haven't seen before. It's really remarkable what he's been able to do in a very short period of time. He's demonstrated to me his capacity to take on responsibility. He'll do that again should he be the nominee. I have no doubt about that. Daschle: Palin Choice Is Inexplicable August 31, 2008, CNN, Wolf Blitzer: BLITZER: We heard from John Boehner, the minority leader in the House of Representatives just moments ago, and Nancy Pfotenhauer, a senior adviser to John McCain's campaign, that Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, McCain's running mate, has more experience actually in running government than Barack Obama. DASCHLE: Well, it's actually -- the choice is somewhat mystifying to me, Wolf. It's inexplicable. John McCain, for the last year, has basically said one thing. The next president of the United States is going to have to have the ability to focus the experience and all of the resources it's going to take to be a strong person in foreign policy and make the decisions necessary to get us through this very, very difficult challenges we face. So who does he pick? Somebody who has absolutely no experience in that regard. The only explanation to me is that he buckled, he knuckled under to the extreme right-wing pressures that he was feeling these last several weeks. That's the only real explanation I can think of. August 6, 2000: Meet The Press, NBC: MR. RUSSERT: North Carolina does have a Democratic governor. The Senator from there is John Edwards. He has only been in the Senate for 17 months. Al Gore has said repeatedly that he will pick someone who could become president on a moment's notice. Is 17 months, just a year and a half in the U.S. Senate, adequate preparation for someone to be vice president? SEN. DASCHLE: Well, you look at the people who have become president with what limited experience they've had in Washington, whether it was Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton or any one of a number of people--now George Bush wants to be president with absolutely no Washington experience, so I think I look at that and I'm not troubled at all. If you know John Edwards like I do, you know what an incredible leader he is, what a remarkable opportunity he has provided all the caucus with his leadership in the caucus and the Senate. I have no doubt that he could take the reins of responsibility. I have no doubt that he could articulate for the nation the kind of passion, the kind of conviction, the kind of real direction that we want to take this country and the party. So I have no doubts about his candidacy and his eligibility, should he be the person to be selected. MR. RUSSERT: But, Senator, Ronald Reagan was governor for eight years, Bill Clinton governor for eight years, George W. Bush governor for five years. Mr. Edwards was a trial lawyer, a personal injury lawyer before 17 months in the Senate. Is that adequate preparation? SEN. DASCHLE: Well, Tim, I think it's the life experiences you bring to the job. I don't know of anybody that has a broader array of life experiences than John Edwards. He has been a success story. He has gone through his own personal trials. He has come to the Senate and, right from the start, taken on leadership roles. He has demonstrated his capacity for leadership in ways that I haven't seen before. It's really remarkable what he's been able to do in a very short period of time. He's demonstrated to me his capacity to take on responsibility. He'll do that again should he be the nominee. I have no doubt about that. April 05 DON JONES IS NOW HILLARY'S WRIGHT REVERENDYesterday was the first time that Hillary actually said she met Martin Luther King.
When she was 14!
That would have been in April of 1962, when King spoke at Orchestra Hall in Chicago.
But wait. Wasn't it that "cold January night" in 1963, as she said in her Selma Speech, when her youth minister took "a few of us" down to hear King speak?
Or maybe it was in 1961 like it says on her website.
Could it have been in 1965, when a 17 year-old Hillary saw King speak, according to Don Van Natta Jr's book "Her Way".
Either way, this will be a major story.
But will it turn FactChecker into FactChucker?
She didn't even mention meeting King in her book.
Yesterday Hillary recounted meeting King when she was 14, as reported on the WashingtonPost.com:
Reverend Don Jones made it all happen.
Or maybe not.
Jones was the minister who supposedly took Hillary's youth group to see Dr. King speak in 1961 or was it 1962 or 1963 or whenever.
Here is how he told it to The Washington Post (“Hillary Clinton, Trying to Have it All”, by Lloyd Grove) in 1992:
The whole youth group? He introduced her? I guess after waiting in line for a very long time?
Oh, and by the way, King never spoke at Orchestra Hall in Chicago when Hillary was 16.
A year later, Jones couldn't remember the meeting. This is from the January 11, 1993 the Washington Post (“The Education of Hillary Clinton”, by Martha Sherrill):
Jones seems to be the only human being on the planet besides Hillary to witness the event, even though by Hillary's own telling, there were others in her group present.
Here is how I think it all went down:
Makes more sense to me. See the special exhibit on MLK at the Drew University website.
January 28 Now It Was 1961. (She Was 13)The Clinton campaign website now has two different dates that Hillary saw Dr. King.
The campaign has scheduled an event with Don Jones who they say "was Hillary's youth minister and first took Hillary to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak in 1961". (Hillary would have been 13 at the time).
Jones 'first took' Hillary to hear King in 1961?
Two weeks ago on "Meet the Press" she told Tim Russert "I was 14 years old when I heard Dr. King speak in person".
That would have been in 1962.
I guess that was the second take. And the campaign website still links to the speech she gave in Selma, when she said she saw King "on a cold January night" in 1963, when Mrs. Clinton was 15.
Was that the third take?
January 27 something is happening hereYears and years ago, following a speech at Drew University in New Jersey, I was taken backstage to meet Dr. King. As is often the case with such eminences he actually stood alone as people were in such awe they could not bring themselves to approach, but this has never been a problem for me.
As a journalist, we are expected to engage such folks and Dr. King was delighted when my companion introduced me. When he learned I was there freelancing for a Black newspaper, his face broke into a broad smile. Why is that, he asked? I told him that black or white, all money is green. That tickled him further. Some small talk ensued and that was my brief moment with him.
January 20 Why Hillary Changed Her MLK Story
I think I may have figured out why Hillary changed the date of her MLK story on last week's “Meet the Press”.
She’s getting ready to throw Don Jones under the bus.
Jones was Hillary’s youth group minister who in 1961 or 1962 or 1963 or 1965 supposedly took the group to Chicago to hear King speak.
He’s the only one, other than Hillary, who has ever been quoted about the night.
Jones has given varying details, but the whopper is that he also introduced the group to King that night, and it appears in many of the biographies. Sheehy’s version is the most dramatic:
And the money quote, also from Sheehy:
As Jones told the WaPo in 1993:
So if Jones is credible, you’ve got to believe that Hillary also said she met King.
If and when Hillary gets the nomination, she’ll eventually have to answer the question of whether or not she actually met King., as Jones has said many times.
Her likely answer will be that Jones is getting on in years, and has a tendency to embellish.
January 18 Checking Facts on Hillary's Website
She said on Sunday's "Meet the Press" that she was only 14 when she went to hear Martin Luther King speak in Chicago in April of 1962, but Hillary’s campaign website still features a.major speech she made less than a year ago stating it happened in 1963.
“The year was 1963”, Clinton said on March 4, 2007, at the 42nd Anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama. "My youth minister from our church took a few of us down on a cold January night to hear this phenomenon known as Dr. King”.
Hillary isn’t the only one having trouble with the year. Carl Bernstein's book "A Woman In Charge"" says it happened in the fall of 1961. Don Van Natta Jr.'s "Her Way" gave the year as 1965. Gail Sheehy, in "Hillary's Choice", says this important event in Mrs. Clinton's life happened in 1963.
January 17 A Younger Hillary on “Meet the Press”?
Did anyone notice a younger Hillary on "Meet the Press"? Tim Russert sure didn’t.
Neither has the rest of the mainstream press.
Maybe it's too soon in the presidential campaign for them to start nitpicking when a candidate publicly changes a simple detail about an event that’s been seared into their biography.
Up until last Sunday, Mrs. Clinton had let the record show that a salient moment of her teenage past occurred on a “cold January night” when she was 15 years old.
“The year was 1963”, Hillary recalled in a major civil rights speech she gave last March in Selma, Alabama. “As a young girl, I had the great privilege of hearing Dr. King speak in Chicago”, she said.
But on Mr. Russert’s Sunday show, Mrs. Clinton slightly altered her earlier public statement to have the record show that she had seen King in 1962.
”You know, Tim, I was 14 years old when I heard Dr. King speak in person..”, she told Russert.
Maybe it's just her way of appearing younger.
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