Obama Draws Record Crowd In Philadelphia

[Benny B]

PHILADELPHIA — Senator Barack Obama drew what may be his biggest crowd yet here Friday. His campaign, quoting Frank Friel, director of security at the Independence Visitor Center, pegged the number at 35,000.

That would top the 29,000 who showed up in South Carolina in December to see Oprah with Mr. Obama. It would be the biggest campaign event in this long campaign season and one of the largest even for a general election — although still no match for the estimated crowd of between 80,000 and 100,000 who greeted Bill Clinton in October 2004, when he appeared at this city’s Love Park with Senator John Kerry, the Democratic nominee. (That was Mr. Clinton’s first big outing after his heart surgery seven weeks earlier.)

Anyway, Independence Mall certainly was packed tonight.

And Mr. Obama took the opportunity to declare his “independence” from the politics of the past — and from “the say-anything, do-anything politics that’s all about how to win and not about why we should.”

He took aim at both Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his Democratic opponent, and Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.
Here are some excerpts from his speech, as prepared for delivery:

This is a defining moment in our history. Our nation is at war. Our planet is in peril. Our economy is in recession…. [M]ost of all, we’ve lost faith that our leaders can or will do anything about this; we don’t believe that anyone in Washington is listening to us, or standing up for us, or fighting for us.
That’s why this election is our chance to declare our independence from the broken politics of Washington, the cynical politics that puts spin ahead of solutions and the special interests ahead of our interests; the politics that’s all about tearing each other down when what we need is to lift this country up

[240 is Back]

35,000 people showing up to hear a guy speak for a few mintues.

mind boggling.  you'd have to park and wait half your day just to hear obama give a speech you've heard on CNN, in a packed STADIUM.

Shit.  I wonder how many people mccain is getting to show up at rallies at the moment.

[Bindare_Dundat]

And Mr. Obama took the opportunity to declare his “independence” from the politics of the past — and from “the say-anything, do-anything politics that’s all about how to win and not about why we should.”

Sen. Barack Obama's denials and his campaigns denials that there was any contact between themselves and the Canadian government were clearly in error.
Today it was discovered that there was contact between the Canadian consulate in Chicago and the Obama campaign's senior economic advisor Austan Goolsbee. But Goolsbee now claims that he didn't say that Mr. Obama's NAFTA comments were "political posturing."


...trying to rush Obama’s “Global Poverty Act” (S.2433) through his committee. The legislation would commit the U.S. to spending 0.7 percent of gross national product on foreign aid, which amounts to a phenomenal 13-year total of $845 billion over and above what the U.S. already spends.   

He wants to spend $150 billion on a green-energy plan

infrastructure investment bank to the tune of $60 billion

to expand health insurance by roughly $65 billion

regulate the profits for drug companies, health insurers, and energy firms

wants to double the number of workers receiving the earned-income tax credit and triple this benefit for minimum-wage workers.


David Walker, comptroller general of the U.S., totaled up our government's income, liabilities and future obligations. He concluded the numbers don't add up.

America's total debt of $53 Trillion
That's $175,154 per man, woman and child - - or $700,616 per family of 4,
$33,781 more debt per family than last year

We don't have the money.

[Bindare_Dundat]

Empty promises.

[Benny B]

Empty promises.

How many show up for Ron Paul's rallies?

[Bindare_Dundat]

How many show up for Ron Paul's rallies?

How many showed up at Hitlers?  By your logic the popularity takes precedence over facts and common sense.

By the way, your silence on the issue at hand speaks volumes.

[Benny B]

How many showed up at Hitlers?  By your logic the popularity takes presidence over facts and common sense.

By the way, your silence on the issue at hand speaks volumes.

your analogy is ridiculous 

what silence? unlike you I have a life, you loser

[Bindare_Dundat]

your analogy is ridiculous 

what silence? unlike you I have a life, you loser

hahahahahahaha

That's a laugh, you post nonsense in Ron PAul threads every chance you get, "busy man".

[Bindare_Dundat]

Obama won't accept money from lobbyists . . . or will he?

 Barack Obama says he is "refusing contributions from PACs and Washington lobbyists" but that is only true in the very strictest sense of the word. He takes money from a range of special interests.


Obama acknowledges that his pledge has loopholes.

He told the Associated Press recently that he swims "in the same muddy water" that corrupts the political system. "My argument is not that we're perfect," he says. "I suffer from the same original sin of all politicians, which is we've got to raise money. But my argument has been and will continue to be that the disproportionate influence of lobbyists and special interests is a problem in Washington (and) in state capitals."

"Right now," says Public Citizens' campaign finance lobbyist, Craig Holman, "all of these presidential candidates are in an impossible situation. We are going to see a billion dollar campaign for the first time in American history. And in that kind of spending race, the idea that you can run a clean campaign by turning down dirty money is at best a fantasy hope."

Holman says Obama is "stuck in a very difficult situation of trying to campaign on cleaning up Washington and at the same time having to raise half a billion dollars from special interest groups that want favors out of him. He's doing the best he can."


He's just like all the rest of them. Say one thing and do another then when you get caught, change what it is you said before you got busted slightly so it takes the heat off you.

[24KT]

[shootfighter1]

There is no way we can afford all the increases in government spending Obama proposes, even with tax hikes on businesses, capital gains, middle & upper income people.  People need to look at his policies, not just be impressed by his speaking and charisma (which he definitely has).
At this point, why we would want more government control and more government spending is absolutely beyond logic.  Any republican or democrat which increases gov control & spending should be voted out IMO.  Thats a trend we have to break.