Fight the Smears

Today, the Obama campaign launched a new website called “Fight the Smears“, which is meant to debunk some of the malicious rumors that have been circulating against Senator Obama, such as the Muslim smear and the Pledge of allegiance smear.

Now, if you don’t want to remember:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/fightthesmearshome/

You reach the site by typing in:

http://www.fightthesmears.com

It’s good to see the campaign actively working against this sort of disinformation.

Keeping this update brief

Because I’m not quite done working on the latest map update, I’m just going to post two versions and their color swaps, one weighted and one ratio:

Unacceptable

Image from The New York Times, taken by Doug Mills

Last night, before heading to work, I watched Hillary Clinton’s speech. From Terry McAuliffe’s introduction of “the next President of the United States, the speech struck me as willfully ignorant of the reality, and a let down from what I expected from Hillary Clinton.

While I have not seen eye to eye with her during this nomination process, I have always thought that she would be graceful when the end came, if for no other reason than to survive politically. However, last night was anything but graceful.

We saw the Clinton supporters loudly protest the proceedings of the Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting, chanting such things as “Denver, Denver, Denver” and “McCain, McCain, McCain”.  I was hoping that in the interest of unity, Hillary would quell those voices by, if not conceding, acknowledging the  reality.

But she didn’t.  Last night, se sat by idly as her supporters in the background echoed the “Denver, Denver Denver line and even offered up a passive-aggressive “I will be making no decisions tonight,” which drew a huge roar from the crowd.

I finished watching that speech feeling angry.  Angry that she had given what could be described as a petulant, self-absorbed, reality-denying speech, and that I had watched it and that it had made be late for work (this is the last time Hillary Clinton will make me late for work).

Puerto Rico primary results map

Cross-posted at Daily Kos

Today, Puerto Rico voted and Hillary Clinton won by a wide margin. However, this was not an ordinary contest. For one thing, Puerto Rico is not a state. For another, the traditional Republican and Democratic Parties of the mainland are very secondary presences. And finally, unlike the states, Puerto Rico is a completely Spanish-speaking territory.

These factors an others made for an interesting set of results. Here’s a map of Puerto Rico using the scale below with Clinton as Red and Obama as blue:

 

 

If you’re wondering what the dark region is, that’s Naguabo, where there were an abnormally high number of blank ballots. The only municipality won by Obama was Culebra, which is the small archipelego to the east of the main island.

Obama’s letter to Trinity

Here is the letter that the Obamas sent to Reverend Moss at Trinity yesterday. It reads just like his statement at the press conference yesterday and was obviously written an a manner that would allow for it to be released to the press:

May 30, 2008

Dear Rev. Moss:

     We are writing to make official our decision to end our membership at Trinity.

     We make this decision with sadness. Trinity was where I found Christ, where we were married and where our children were baptized. We have many friends among the 8,000 congregants who attend there and we are pround of the extraordinary good works the church continues to perform throughout the community to help the hungry, the homeless and people in need of medical care. We also have come to appreciate your outstanding ministry and both think you have been, and will be, a wonderful pastor for years to come.

     But as you know, our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Reverend Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views. Our larger concern is that because of my candidacy and membership at Trinity, these controversies have served as an unfortunate distraction for other Trinity member who seek to worship in peace, and ahve placed you in an untenable position as you establish your own ministry under very difficult circumstances

     Our faith remains strong and we will find another church home for our family. But we also know that faith and prayer are not merely exercises to be discharged for two hours on Sunday. They are and always will be a bulwark for us in our daily lives.

     We are grateful for our years as part of the Trinity community, and wish you all the best as you lead the congregation into the future. You, your family and the entire Trinity family will be in our thoughts and prayers

Sincerely,

Michelle Obama                            Barack Obama