Crazy Guide to the Internet

MSNBC reports… 

 

At a time when Sen. Hillary Clinton is increasingly relying on superdelegates to vault her to the Democratic Party’s nomination, a handful of undecided and pledged superdelegates are coming forward to say her campaign’s tactics in recent weeks are doing more harm than good.
 
The Democratic Party insiders say they believe Clinton’s direct attacks against Sen. Barack Obama in recent days are hurting the party and its chances in November, and also say it is showing a calculated, desperate-to-win side of Clinton that they dislike.
 
“In looking at the manner in which the candidates are campaigning, I think it would be best they focused their attention on the presumptive nominee and showed our party which one is better in campaigning against McCain,” said Garry Shay, a California superdelegate, who announced his support for Clinton.
 
…
 
As activists committed to the party, they said, they have been impressed by Obama’s ability to bring new Democrats into the fold, and they worry that Clinton is threatening that.
 
“We like the fact that there is a candidate that has won so many states overwhelmingly,” the delegate said. “We’re feeling her advisors are leading her in a path that diminishes her as well as him.”
 
Several said they were angered by comments from James Carville, who called Bill Richardson “Judas” for backing Obama after serving in the Clinton White House. One delegate said Richardson’s rationale for supporting Obama, and his implicit frustration at the Clintons’ heavy-handed approach to garnering his support, was echoed among superdelegates.
 
Others said they were frustrated by recent reports that Clinton embellished her description of landing in Bosnia as First Lady, and said it suggested she would do anything to win. “I don’t remember what movie I saw two weeks ago; I don’t necessarily remember what I had for dinner last night,” one superdelegate said. “But I would remember having to duck and run from sniper fire.”
 
The final straw, though, were Clinton’s comments Tuesday, when she said the Rev. Jeremiah Wright “would not have been my pastor.” Several superdelegates saw it as a direct, personal attack on Obama.
 
“I think it’s very dangerous for any candidate to constantly thrum on what they perceive as sensational criticisms of their opponent,” said Debra Kozikowski, an uncommitted superdelegate from Massachusetts. “I would be more likely to respond positively to discussions of issues that effect Americans versus what might be perceived as character flaws.”

If you’re also tired of these negative tactics, please make a donation and help build the Obama movement.

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Yahoo’s “Unlimited” email, isn’t. [WSJ]

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MTV …. To be honest, we’ve never required any “customer service” from MTV, so we’re not really sure why they are nominated. It seems some people are still upset that video killed the radio star.

TransUnion is a credit rating service that holds in its hands your financial destiny.Hope that it doesn’t misplace it…

This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/

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From the Associated Press:

“John McCain has admitted he doesn’t understand the economy as well as he should, and yesterday he proved it in giving a speech on the housing crisis,” Obama told an auditorium of supporters.

… On Tuesday, McCain derided government intervention to save and reward banks or small borrowers who behave irresponsibly and offered few immediate alternatives for fixing the country’s growing housing crisis.

Obama pointed out that McCain “said the best way for us to address the fact that millions of Americans are losing their homes is to just sit back and watch it happen. In his entire speech yesterday, he offered not one policy, not one idea, not one bit of relief to the nearly 35,000 North Carolinians who are forced to foreclose on their dreams in the last three months.”

From ABC News:

Revving up for what his campaign is calling a “major” speech on the economy tomorrow, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., blasted the economic plan of presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

… Obama cast McCain as more of the same, arguing Americans don’t need a third terms of the Bush administration.

As president, Obama said he will address the situation by reworking existing subprime loans into affordable long-term fixed loans, creating a foreclosure prevention fund, and cracking down on mortgage fraud and predatory lenders.

And from Bloomberg:

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said the economy is “grinding to a halt,” millions of people are at risk of losing their homes and Arizona Senator John McCain’s solution is to “just sit back and watch it happen.”

… Surging mortgage defaults and a glut of unsold houses are depressing property prices, and mortgage-backed securities have spread losses across the global financial system. The world’s biggest financial companies have posted at least $195 billion in writedowns and credit losses tied to subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

… Obama today reiterated his call for reworking existing subprime loans into affordable, long-term fixed loans and creating a foreclosure prevention fund to help keep Americans in their homes. He has pledged that as president, he would seek a mortgage-tax credit for homeowners and crack down on mortgage fraud and predatory lenders.

Obama said that a McCain administration would continue President George W. Bush’s economic policies.

“We can’t afford another four years of Bush economics,” Obama said. “If there’s one thing this crisis has taught us, it’s that we can’t have a thriving Wall Street and a crumbling Main Street, because we’re all connected.”

Read Barack’s plan to strengthen the middle class and restore our economy.

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Want to reduce your Bank of America spam mail? Our commenter tinder posted a link to their opt-out page in our earlier post on Chase spam. [www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/]

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Obama campaign manager David Plouffe…

As we’ve said consistently, we think there should be a fair seating of the Michigan delegates.  The Clinton campaign has stubbornly said they see no need to negotiate, but we believe that their Washington, my-way-or-the-highway approach is something voters are tired of.

Here’s background from the Tampa Tribune: 

[The Clinton campaign] appeared to say no to what some see as a solution—negotiations between the two campaigns to reach a compromise.  Obama has hinted he’d be willing to negotiate.  “We don’t see any need for that,” Ickes said, saying the votes already cast should be counted or new votes should be held.

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Marketplace had a telling interview with Susan Smith of PricewaterhouseCoopers, the editor-in-chief of a new report about the commercial real estate market titled “Rough Road Ahead for Investors.”

She says that the commercial and residential real estate markets are different and there are still opportunities out there for investors… but she doesn’t invest in real estate much herself because she knows “what goes into it.”

Napoli: And that’s the upshot of this report, even though you’ve titled it “Rough Road Ahead for Investors”?

Smith: I believe so, because there’s more difficulty in going out and finding that property that you want to buy or even listing a property and trying to sell it, so in terms of what buyers and sellers were used to over the last ten years and what they’re encountering now, it’s definitely going to be a rough road, but it’s also important to realize that there are opportunities out there for investors. It’s just a matter of what your strategy is and I always like to think that real estate investors are optimistic.

Napoli: You also have to have a pretty strong stomach, I’d imagine.

Smith: I think you do, I think you do. People always say to me “well, you’re in real estate, I can’t believe you don’t own so much real estate” and I say I know what goes into it. I know how people react to all the things you have to watch in real estate: what’s going on with employment and what’s going on with the consumer and to me, there’s just too much to focus on that it does… you need a strong stomach and good optimism.

Mixed news for commercial real estate [Marketplace]
(Photo:AngrySicilian)

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Here’s Barack in Greensboro, NC on John McCain’s deeply flawed economic policy…

Click here for Barack’s plan to get our economy back on track. 

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