‘I know Hawaii is a state, but…’
Stephen Hess, a presidential historian with the Brookings Institution, noted the other day, “Anybody who picks on [Barack Obama] for going to Hawaii is really looking for something to pick on.”
Dr. Hess, meet ABC News’ Cokie Roberts.
“I know Hawaii is a state, but …” Roberts said, before recommending Myrtle Beach, S.C., as a preferable vacation locale.
Lest anyone think Roberts accidentally shared a foolish, stray thought with a national television audience, she repeated the criticism on NPR this morning, saying Obama’s decision to vacation with his family is “a little rough,” and Hawaii is a “somewhat odd place.” She added that the locale “makes him seem a little bit more exotic than perhaps he would want to come across as at this stage in the presidential campaign.”
It’s hard to overstate how unusually dumb this is.
As Kevin noted over the weekend, “Just for the record, folks, Hawaii is about the least elitist vacation spot on the planet. It ranks right in between Disneyland and the Grand Canyon on the elitism meter, and probably a couple of notches below a visit to Yosemite. If you’re this hard up for column material, it’s time to find a different job.”
Following up on an item from yesterday
, this seems to matter because Obama’s vacation is drawing all kinds of criticism from the media. TNR’s Michael Crowley noted:
I know he grew up [in Hawaii] and all. But if Obama’s being smeared as a highfalutin celebrity who is somehow “other” and distant from the American heartland, is Hawaii really the ideal vacation destination? It sounds trivial but such things can resonate…. John Kerry’s staff asked him not to windsurf in the summer of 2004 and he didn’t listen. The results are famous.
I might have counseled a nice cottage beside some Illinois lake with a wholesome name….
Similarly, the Politico’s Carrie Budoff Brown had a 1,200-word piece yesterday on the perils of Obama spending eight days in the state of his birth.
After Kerry retreated to Nantucket during the Republican convention, footage of him windsurfing there later surfaced in an attack ad deeming him the candidate who votes “whichever way the wind blows.”
“For somebody who has been called ‘elitist,’ going to Hawaii is not exactly going against type,” [Douglas Schoen, a pollster for Clinton’s reelection campaign] said. “I would rather have him going to national parks.”
Look, Obama was born in Hawaii. He spent much of his childhood in the state, and graduated high school there. His grandmother, who helped raise Obama, still lives there and he’s anxious to spend some time with her.
It’s not “odd.” It’s not “exotic.” It’s entirely normal.
I think I’ll just let Oliver Willis drive the point home:
That same Hawaiian government – a government elected by the AMERICANS who live in THE STATE of Hawaii – has some statistics on the amount of people who travel to the state. So far this year Hawaii has had 2.596 million domestic visitors. I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that that number is far smaller than the amount of people who visited the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine (how many of you have a “family compound”?), or the amount of people who vacationed at the Bush family ranch in Crawford, Texas (I don’t know about you, but the Willis family does not have a ranch, not even in southern Maryland or in the rural areas of Jamaica), and 2.5 million is way way more than the amount of visitors to Camp McCain, where a professional staff saw to the needs of the assembled journalists (themselves often on the receiving end of an elite lifestyle far beyond the average middle class American).
Wrecktum
says:EAST COAST elitists know nothing of Hawaii. To them, it’s like taking a vacation to the Virgin Islands or Cancun. East coast a-holes, Hawaii is a state and one of the most popular vacation spots we west coasters go to throughout the year.
SpotWeld
says:“I would rather have him going to national parks.”
Which is utterly impossible to do when visiting Hawaii?
And if for some reason Obama did go to Yellowstone (for example) would he then have been decried for denying his family a visit and thereby “throwing them under the bus” for a opportunity to score political points?
Chad
says:Maybe Barry’s going there to get his Birth Certificate in order. We still haven’t seen the real one yet.
Racer X
says:Forking Cokie Roberts is a hack and really should hang it up. But what do you do when you’re an old washed up media asshat, who perennially plagues the populous for no particular reason other than you’ve been doing it for a long time?
Hang it up, Cokie. Go see the world with all that money you got paid by the elitists who are afraid of us elitists who have been to Hawaii.
Wrecktum
says:Think of what the media response would be if Obama decided to ignore his faded grandma on his vacation and instead decided to take a politically viable photo op respite? Crucified is what he’d be.
Racer X
says:Hey Chad, did you know McCain wasn’t even born in America? He was born in central America, maybe that’s why they call him “Juan McCain”.
Wrecktum
says:Perhaps Obama could have vacationed in one of McCain’s six scenic homes?
ml johnston
says:The media -ocracy should be on vacation to re-store their energies for the up coming Conventions. Hawaii is a lovely state and the Obama family needs time together before the next big complexities of campaigning start. The Obama’s are smart.
Lance
says:McCain is the elitist. He cares NOTHING for the American people.
That’s why Obama is going to be President.
And Cokie, you are an idiot.
AK Liberal
says:Labeling Obama elitist for vacationing in Hawaii doesn’t make sense, unless you are talking to people that can’t afford to travel there. There are probably a lot of folks that ought to be voting Democratic that fall into that category.
short fuse
says:Cokie Roberts calling anyone an elitist should be the example under the Webster’s definition of “chutzpah”. (or, as RacerX suggests, “asshat”). I cringe every time her voice disturbs my morning on NPR.
Glen
says:Cokie doesn’t get out of Washington much. And when she does, it’s to jet set to Switzerland or vacation in the Hamptons or foxhunt in Virginia.
I doubt if she’s heard of Disneyworld or Disneyland or the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone or Honolulu.
Elitists don’t vacation with the little people…
MsJoanne
says:Feel free to drop Cokie a pleasant email telling her what you think: stevecokie@gmail.com
That is a joint email with her husband.
Remember, honey goes farther then vinegar.
We need to hold these people accountable.
tp
says:Hawaii is elite? My grandma has been to Hawaii, and she’s a retired grocery store clerk.
joey (bjobotts)
says:Who names a kid “Cokie” or is that just her personality?
She would next be saying it would have been better if Obama would have graduated HS in Myrtle Beach or grew up in Florida…it’s just plain dumb. Who is she to be determining what is appropriate vacation spots for Obama. Is everything in her life so contrived and phony that everything is done for appearance in order to gain approval.
I will never understand how with all the good journalists out there and people with thoughtful and considered opinions that one of her stature should ever be on TV or radio. Just pathetic
McCain has always tried to live above the “rabble”, has never worked with the people, and always considered himself part of the ruling elite by birth right. A bigger phony is hard to find when he tries to act like one of the people. Just pathetic
Greg Worley
says:Cokie Roberts, Mar Liasson, Daniel Schorr. They’ve all become bland purveyors of conventional wisdom and dazed retailers of accepted narrative. Bush knew what he was doing when he apointed that really right-wing guy to head the NPR board. Looks like folks got the message.
JoeW
says:Cokie’s vacation obsession is actually a confession that the elite DC Broderites ran out of stuff that was ‘good news for McCain’.
Erik in Maine
says:Who names a kid “Cokie” or is that just her personality?
Her name is Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts.
Cokie is a WASP nickname
just bill
says:better trolls, please
neilt
says:‘kay, I understand that the Republicans have to try and make every single solitary thing Obama does into an issue. It’s what they do. (the odious little shits that they are)
BUT
The media? God, will somebody please explain to them that you don’t need to find an “angle” of every last tidbit of information?? There’s no need to opine on Obama’s vacation spot – ESPECIALLY one as boneheadedly obvious as going home to visit Grandma!!!
2Manchu
says:So Hawaii is considered an elitist getaway because,…….. the Howells vacationed there?
Prup (aka Jim Benton)
says:Chad: Less than a week ago, I defended you as someone who actually discussed issues, who refrained from personal attacks or total nonsense. And then you prove me wrong.
NOW I’ll join the chorus:
“Away, away,
Go find some other
Place to play.
With so few hours
In the day,
Why waste a minute hearing
What Chad has to say?”
NonyNony
says:Her name is Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts.
I thought this was a joke, so I googled it. Hilariously not a joke at all. Unlike her reporting career which is mostly an unfunny joke.
SadOldVet
says:“It’s hard to overstate how unusually dumb this is.” is incorrect. It should read “It’s hard to overstate how unusually dumb SHE is.”
Cokie Roberts, AKA Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborn Boggs, is the daughter of Hale Boggs – a politician who spent 30 years in Congress representing Louisiana. Her mother was the La. congressperson for 18 years, after her father died in an airplane crash.
Maybe being born to wealth and privilege gives her a perspective on what the common folk want! Or was it being raised by servants that provided her understanding of the common folk! Maybe it was being raised Catholic and marrying Jewish that provides her perspective on the common folk!
For clarification – an abbreviated republican-speak dictionary:
Arrogant = uppity n*gg*r
Elitist = someone who makes decisions based upon science & fact as opposed to religious dogma and beliefs
Low Information Voter = stupid white trash
English language usage – Republican know that a valid appeal to their base, the Low Information Voter, is to attack Obama as being an arrogant elitist.
tp
says:#18
Her name is Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts. Cokie is a WASP nickname
Holy shit, I can’t believe this is not a joke! LOL!
Patrick
says:Anybody that thinks Hawaii isn’t the perfect spot to decompress and and relax in short order is simply dishonest or has never been there. That place has some of the nicest people in the world and nobody lives extravagantly. From the moment you walk off the airplane, you know you are in a beautiful place that is a gift from God that it happens to be part of our country. You can go there in 5 hours from the west coast, and be right in the middle of enjoying your vacation an hour later. I feel sorry for anyone that doesn’t get a chance to go there at least once. By the way, you can get air/hotel packages for $500/person…not elitest prices by my estimate. FU republicans and Cokie Roberts.
Chad
says:Hey Racer X, Yes I did know McCain was born to two American parents in Panama, so what of it? He’s a full American citizen.
Erik in Maine
says:I wasn’t joking.
That’s her name.
Capt Kirk
says:Her name is Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne Boggs Roberts.
Oh yeah, Cokie, of course. She’s clearly the one to tell us who is and is not elitist.
Mark D
says:Your mommy dropped you on your head, didn’t she?
Sweet lord — Chad and the other CLINTON FOREVAH!! fuqtards are giving the nutcases at Free Republic a run for their money in the “Clinically Stupid Sweepstakes.”
neilt
says:#18
One minor correction – she’s Roman Catholic and therefore not a WASP.
(still, that’s a mouthful of a name – I thought only us French Canadian Catholics who saddled their offspring with such unweildy handles)
cheers!
😀
Patrick
says:I know Cokie is a reporter, but…
Couldn’t she have a little more integrity, considering how old she is.
Well, she isn’t McCain Old, but she is way the hell up there in years and long in the tooth.
DrToketee
says:Cokie Roberts is yet another public woman journalist who puts their gender to shame. Whomever first thought that women would be more impartial and unbiased than men in the profession of journalism was an idiot.
Capt Kirk
says:If you oppose the war, you’re un-American. If Obama visits you, you’re not really a state.
I hope all the news outlets in Hawaii are playing the Cokie clips, so the Hawaiians can aspire to be real Americans like her.
Franklin
says:Visiting one’s own grandmother is pretty stupid, true. A real leader would never do so.
MsJoanne
says:Hey, #33, women are no more or less impartial and unbiased or driven by their own agendas than men. I don’t think it has anything to do with gender (Ingraham, Coulter, need I go on?) and your point is lost on me.
People are people. Period.
Patrick
says:I thought she got her name by losing the Pepsi Challenge.
N.Wells
says:Even sadder than Cokie Roberts’ perception of voters’ perceptions is the fact that she may well be right. Whatever it is, INOKIYAD.
Perhaps Obama could get a nice picture of himself and his grandma on the beach, and use it for campaigning in Appalachia & the South under the slogan, “Don’t worry folks, it’s just a tan”.
Pundits and voters – some days it’s hard to tell which is worse.
David W.
says:NPR’s gone downhill since Bob Edwards was ousted, I suspect because he couldn’t be co-opted by management that was appointed by the Bush administration.
FYI, much was said back then about revamping NPR, but of course nothing of the sort has happened since then so it’s very clear that the stated rationale for removing Bob Edwards was political.
Bruno
says:Wouldn’t that be funny if they show Obama visit the Pearl Harbor national Park, and pay his respects at the Arizona memorial? Maybe they realize that there actually are National parks in Hawaii as well.
The Answer is Orange
says:So anyone who visits Pearl Harbor is some sort of elitist. Ditto people who visit their grannies. Got it.
Hawaii has two, maybe if Obama goes to one he’ll feel better.
Pathetic.
Rich
says:Cokie Roberts calling anyone elitist? Oh, come on. The idiot “Cokie” is as much a D.C. insider as you can be. The Boggs part of her name comes from her father, a powerful southern Senator, Hale Boggs, of yesteryear. As time goes on she spouts more and more conventional, and useless, inside-the-beltwayl drivel from her perch as a pundit. It’s to the point where I shut off my radio or TV if she’s on. She is a parody of herself, and the entire, lazy, corrupt, arrogant punditocracy.
Rob_in_Hawaii
says:I’m a haole boy living here in paradise, so let me say a few things about my adopted home. Hawaii is part of the United States. It was annexed in 1898 and made the fiftieth state in 1959. (Cue the theme song for “Hawaii Five-0” here to help everyone remember.) The US dollar is the currency; we have Starbucks, Wal-Mart, and Borders; and most of us live in houses and apartments not grass shacks.
If by “exotic” Cokie Roberts and others pushing this “elitist” meme mean the tiki bars and coconut-bra dances done by visitors at the tourist luaus, then let her have at it. Over two million visitors come here with their families every year from the Mainland just like the Brady Bunch did back in the 60s. The millions they spend here drive the local economy.
But if by “exotic” she means that the rich cultural heritage of the Native Hawaiian people is somehow foreign or bad, or that our diverse local culture is not “American” enough for her and her fellow talking heads, then that’s an entirely different thing. In this context “exotic” means “other,” “foreign,” or even “racially other.”
So, if this Hawaii-as-too-exotic” meme isn’t racist at its core, what is it? I wish Roberts and the others had the courage to say what they really mean.
timeoutofmind
says:God in hell ……. the abject stupidity of the msm never fails to astonish me.
so first of all, yeah: let’s pander to the ignoramuses who cast their vote based on superficial imagery; that’s how you got Hitler Junior for the past eight years, so right: let’s feed into that.
the bigger issue is ABC news; i’ve never been one to give boycott’s any credence, but let me tell you: when Jennings was alive, i was a regular viewer of ABC news, inasmuch as i got any ‘news’ from a 20 minute supperhour show.
however — ever since the ABC clowns demonstrated the maturity of maturity of Sterling Cooper’s Pete Campbell on that last Democrat Debate, i shut ABC news off air-tight.
I haven’t watched a second if it since, and i have no intention of ever doing so again. this Cokie Roberts incident will hopefully convince another half million people that ABC is a proud and prominent member of the elitest and doomed MSM; and they love to prove it.
it’s great that CB and others point this assinine shit out, but really: just ……. don’t …….. watch.
hopefully the dim mouth-breathers that still look to the teevee to help them form their short-sighted opinions may, someday, stop watching too. all that will be left will be the dc chattering classes, chattering to themselves. the blogs, the barack obamas, and hopefully the mainstream usa will have moved on and left them in their prehistoric dust.
but it sure must be said: she is an idiot.
MsJoanne
says:Franklin, the meme I have been seeing was Obama visited his grandmother for 25 minutes and didn’t invite her to dinner. How dare he! He is throwing her under the bus – again.
(Nevermind that she is 85 and might not want to go out to a restaurant. But reality is besides the point.) I wonder which RedState fly was on the wall for that discussion.
And I suppose had she joined them for an evening outing, he would have been railed on for taking her out! Gasp! At her age!
There is no concept that Obama might be trying to keep the leaches that call themselves media away from her. I got the impression that she wasn’t in the best of health.
So, what is he doing visiting her when she’s ill?!?! He has no concept of right and wrong that man. How dare he go to exotic and expensive HI to visit family? How dare he not go to some place wholesome like Myrtle Beach? Did I mention he’s EXOTIC (psst…that means black!)
Don’t these people ever get tired of looking so foolish? Apparently not.
Sue Ellen Clark
says:Well guys, you know….Cokie could just be a tad jealous that she’s not vacationing in Hawaii with an extra special, handsome man…don’tcha think? For what other reason would Cokie make such an unreasonable statement regarding the Obama family’s vacation in Hawaii? Cokie obviously doesn’t get around much, does she?
SEC
TuiMel
says:Could Cokie Roberts be any more snotty?
Could she be any more irrelevant?
And yet this crap continues to be shoveled at us by the punditry.
Frankly, I am growing ever more heartily tired of being told by Beltway Kool Kidz that anyone who chooses to vacation (or God forbid LIVE) away from the friggin’ “Heartland” or the South is somehow suspect and less than a full citizen.
These jerks obviously do not know what to make of Obama, so they choose to make fools of themselves by opining about his choice of a spot to take down time. Who cares that the spot chosen by Obama is essentially “going home” for him? He could not have won with them. They would have found some nit or another to pick. I can only hope that others found Cokie’s comments as laughable as I.
Bruno
says:Amen to David W @ 39 and Greg Worley @ 16
Another example of politicizing a department. It’s conservative ‘creep’ at its finest.
Chris
says:I know Cokie Robers is a “news analyst”, but…ABC and NPR should fire her ass.
zhak
says:Okay, folks. Listen. Cokie Roberts (& how how HOW I hope she actually comes across this comment …) is (really truly) elitist. She was pimping her book nearby recently and was way too important to actually say two words to any of the staff where she gave her little “buy my book suckas” chat. She made no friends and turned off everybody who actually had to have any contact with her. For her to say that Obama is doing something “off” to vacation is Hawaii tells me that Hawaii is the perfect vacation spot.
Cokie, if you happen to stumble across this comment, congratulations. I wouldn’t buy your book if it were remaindered for a penny.
William
says:Myrtle Beach…. (Screams Ohio vacationers) Hey Chad, are you from Ohio or San Diego (Inbred Transylvania)? I can’t remember any more. How anyone could align themselves with the Republican theatrics of the last 20 years is completely beyond rational explanation.. The “Conservative” ideals of small government, non-intrusiveness and fiscal responsibility are where again, exactly? Who knows, may “neo-conservative” is the exact opposite? Did I say 9/11/Fatherland Security/TSA/Bomb Iran/Iraq/massive new and unnecessary “bureaucracy/infrastructure” designed to intimidate, encourage fear and ultimately squash any personal liberty one might have taken for granted in the US? Your so called conservative family value xenophobic BULLSHIT nightmare is lumbering toward a much needed end. Good luck with that!
William
says:I forgot, Cokie is a has-been. These people (Cokie and friends) talk to hear themselves talk and apparently some people actually listen to them/her and believe what they’re saying. What a tragedy!
MsMuddled
says:Saying it’s an elitist’s vacation spot also totally ignores the Native Hawaiians and other ethnic groups there who just eek by, and think of an elite vacation as going to a different island for a change (or a different side of the island).
All these digs are signs that the McCampaign is faltering and panicked. I’m waiting for some serious backlash whoop-ass.
(LOL @ Chatty Chaddy)
Helena Montana
says:Coke Roberts is a superbly lame ass.
Allan
says:Every Monday morning Roberts is introduced on Morning Edition as “NPR news analyst Cokie Roberts”. But of course like every NPR news analyst, with the exception of the venerable Daniel Schorr, she doesn’t analyze the news at all but rather just spouts her own remarkably poorly informed opinion.
burro
says:Cokienut goes for the gold in the individual Shark Jump and sets new record. Her endowment of ancient volcanic chain of islands visited by millions with fantastic properties of exoticness and foreignness gave her the edge she needed to claim that top spot on the podium.
My sis, her husband and their two kids are there right now. I don’t believe they took any anti malaria pills or language translation books with them.
Has Ms. Roberts ever been west of Baton Rouge?
Texas Aggie
says:I don’t know what’s got into Cokie Roberts. Years ago when she worked with NPR, she was a reasonable individual, but since going to ABC, she’s turned into a real dork. There are so many times that she has made a complete idiot of herself with her comments that I can’t count them on a calculator. Is she or has she been abusing drugs, legal or otherwise? Is it some sort of degenerative neurological condition? What’s with her?
james k. sayre
says:What a stupid right-wing smearing old punt…
Jen
says:I know, I know, I shouldn’t feed…but, really:
Hey Racer X, Yes I did know McCain was born to two American parents in Panama, so what of it? He’s a full American citizen.
Obama is a full natural born American citizen, as am I and every other person BORN HERE. You know, in a state of the United States. Of course, his mom was also a citizen, but you know what? Totally unnecessary.
The McCain thing is stupid — in fact, his status as a citizen isn’t in question though his “natural-born” status is, solely due to oddities with the Canal Zone. (see http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_citi.html or you know, snopes.com!)
Do you realize how ridiculous you sound suggesting that someone born in this country isn’t an natural-born citizen? Let alone somehow implying he’s not even a citizen? Sorry, I try to avoid thoughts like that, but this concept is just so incredibly ignorant that I’ve made an exception.
Ajaye
says:A stupifyingly stupid and ignorant comment that illustrates how trivialized political discourse has become in the msm. It’s truly beyond belief.
Here’s how this thing works Cokie, okay? Rove et all. come up with a demonization theme to counteract the best qualities of the opponent in question. Thus: Highly educated, accomplished, cultured and intelligent becomes: Elite, snobbish, out of touch with the common man. They send surrogates out to tout these messages and those themes infiltrate the msm through hacks such as yourself. Once political hacks, with no integrity or intelligence of their own, seize onto a theme, ie. Obama is elitist, everything that candidate says and does is filtered through that world view. The Republicans should have you on the payroll, but the beauty part for them is that they don’t even have to pay you to spread their propoganda, because once you took the bait and went out there with that message, you’ve got to maintain your own credibility by being right about it. Thus, going on a family vacation to Hawaii shows Obama is elitist and foreign. If McCain went to Hawaii, it would show that he’s trying to stretch himself somehow. Going to Hawaii is not inherently wrong or elitist. It is only Obama going there that is wrong and elitist.
Pathetic.
SickofBushMcCainLiebermann
says:#3
You been smokin da ‘lolo, cholo. It’s been published, but unless an INS agent hand delivers it to your door you won’t believe it I guess. Can’t help willful stupidity.
Why Hawaii? Maybe because he grew up there? Has family there? Who the hell gave the media authority to be his travel agent? Why not lambast George W for blasting around Kennebunkport in his gas guzzling speedboat?
Cokie( aptly named -stop sniffing the powder!), next stupid question/talking point.
JS
says:What a silly woman, Obama travels to see his grandmother and sister, and she wants him to go to Myrtle Beach, she really is full of it. I can only think that the rethugs are running out of things to whine about.
libra
says:Look, Obama was born in Hawaii. — CB
Elitist from day one.
Rabi
says:Hawaii is just about the epitome of a middle-class vacation locale. If Obama was an “elitist,” he’d be on a private island somewhere.
This is ridiculous. Do any normal people actually look at his vacation in a negative light, or has the media completely fabricated this story? I would guess the latter.
stormskies
says:Chad said:
Maybe Barry’s going there to get his Birth Certificate in order. We still haven’t seen the real one yet.
************************************
according to who ? something like you ? at least he was born ……… you: nothing more than a ‘secretion’ out of the asshole of lucifer himself .. you was simply ‘discovered’ ..not born … discovered as a secretion ..nothing more than slime ..
Steve
says:Obviously, Chad cannot visit Hawaii. Hawaii does have standards, you know—like not allowing a life-threatening, communicable-disease-infested parasite through customs. After all, with all the Republicans that are going to the slaughter this year, how would we ever manage to have the world’s biggest luau? All that dead pig flesh, and not a bit of pineapple or poi to go with it.
Or perhaps it’s just that Chad can’t manage to get past airport security. There’s just something about the initials for Weasel of Mouth-based Diarrhea.
Or since he’s so ingenuously copped on Obama’s birth certificate, it might actually be that Chad himself doesn’t have one. I suppose that one ought to contact INS to see if Chad even deserves to be thought of as “an American”—but would he be worth the price of a deportation, or an extraordinary rendition?
Maybe we can deduct him on our taxes next year to offset the monthly ISP fees, or as depreciable wear-and-tear on keyboards, mousepads, and monitors.
Wow. I actually commented about Chad without referring to his blatant f*ckwittedness. Prup’s gonna be so-ooo proud….
SadOldVet
says:Jen said:
“Do you realize how ridiculous you sound suggesting that someone born in this country isn’t an natural-born citizen? Let alone somehow implying he’s not even a citizen?”
Just because it is specifically written in the Constitution doesn’t mean that rethugs believe it. You do understand that the rethugs have been trying to stop ‘illegals’ born in the U.S. from becoming Amerikan citizens. After all, the right of habeas corpus is written into the Constitution (it was not an amendment). That didn’t stop the Bush, the rethugs, and their many dimocrat enablers from passing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which attempted to remove that right.
ej
says:Just another in a long list of reasons why one should just stop listening to the idiot “pundits” in the MSM.
If all the knowledgeable, sophisticated, thinking people just tuned out this so “unhip”(read – unaware) part of the media (MSM) their ratings may drop and we might rid the world of the ignorant blathering airheads that populate TV, radio and newspapers.
If only Rachel Maddow or Katrina Vanden Heuvel or Amy Goodman were sitting on that panel (that will be the day) – I would have paid to see their response, hopefully putting Cokie in her place for good.
ABC should be embarrassed to have that kind of blather on their airwaves (they are actually no worse than any of the other MSM – CBS, NPR, PBS, NBC NYT, WashPO, etc.).
As bad as Cokie’s comments were, the worst parts of it are no one on that panel even raised a murmur of outrage over her inanities, she will be back on the program, she will continue to be paid, she will continue to garner respect from her fellow numbnuts, and she will continue to say such idiotic things.
I guess idiots just aren’t able to recognize the stupidity of what they think and can’t help themselves and proceed to insult the thinking population by actually saying what they think and are never held accountable for any of it.
SF
says:A. Cokie Roberts has been sublimely inane for a long time, perhaps her whole life: this may be the most terse, neatest proof, and therefore handy, but she really is the definitive airhead.
B. Obama is visiting his grandmother, for Pete’s sake, and from what I read during the primaries, it is not easy for her to travel; this may be his last visit in a long time.
C. Hawaii is beautiful and tropical, but hardly exotic — we are not talking about the Amazon here, or the wilds of Tanzania — and certainly not foreign. These commentators are social/political idiots. We have to call them out, because otherwise they seem to set the tone, but sheeesh.
D. At a time when Russia is going after Georgia, people are dying, Bush is ogling beach volleyball fannies because he’s such a dedicated public servant, and a dozen other SERIOUS SERIOUS problems loom — climate warming, assault on the Constitution, unjustified war badly managed, looming depression/recession — THIS is what these idiots think matters?
I’ll say this for Cokie: she sums up the utility and commitment to public service of broadcast new and the traditional press, these days certainly. Sheer embarrassment ought to send her packing. All of them, in fact.
Chad
says:Um Steve (#66), I’ve been to Hawaii twice while I was serving my country in the United States Navy. I never claimed to say that Hawaii wasn’t one of the 50, um 57 states, nor did I call it elitist. Sorry to make you feel guilty.
T-Rex
says:This from a New Orleans girl, from the French Quarter, no less?!?!
Bill
says:How about Obama visiting a “wholesome” place with the name French Lick, Indiana.
That’ll set off the chattering classless…
low-tech cyclist
says:Even if one wasn’t born there, Hawaii is hardly an exotic vacation destination. My wife and I have been there twice – and chose it the first time because a number of our (rather middlebrow, middle-income) friends had already been there and could recommend specific places to go and things to do.
tiredofgreed
says:Chad
Are you capable of an original thought or posting anything that resembles the truth?
JJR
says:“From the moment you walk off the airplane, you know you are in a beautiful place that is a gift from God that it happens to be part of our country.”
It was a tad uglier than that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Hawaii#Overthrow_and_annexation
But anyway, as to the main story, Obama was born there and is visiting relatives. ‘Nuff said. What a ridiculous thing for the GOP to make political hay from.
Jesseaw
says:Re: MsJoanne’s #13 posting above, advising us of Cokie’s e-mail address and suggesting we e-mail her an appropriate response to her “elitist” remark concerning Obama’s visit to his grandmother who lives in Hawaii. The following is what I wrote her: “Dear Cokie, Please advise how you determined that it was ‘elitist’ for Barack Obama to visit his beloved grandmother who lives in Hawaii, his birth-state, a bona fide state of the United States?
“Perhaps, average Americans would appreciate grandmother-loving Barack Obama as their next president of the United States, who would address–not belittle and ignore–the real concerns of average Americans?”
toowearyforoutrage
says:Hawaii IS out of reach for most Americans. Airfare is horribly expensive and hotels are pretty dear.
That said, he’s visiting FAMILY, for Pete’s sake. He didn’t CHOOSE to be raised there.
What does he do? Make his grandma MOVE????
Sorry, ma-maw. for the sake of my political career you’ll just have to say goodbye to your familiar surroundings and any roots you’ve put down over the decades…
Crissa
says:Also, there are National Parks in Hawaii.
…there are National Parks in many states, most of them blue.
BlueLou
says:Wow! Myrtle Beach! I hear the Vanna White homestead is totally awesome!
Steve
says:I’ve been to Hawaii twice while I was serving my country in the United States Navy. I never claimed to say that Hawaii wasn’t one of the 50, um 57 states, nor did I call it elitist.
Ah—so it’s now hypocrisy within hypocrisy. You not only question the citizenship of an individual born in Hawaii, but you also question it and defend your hypocrisy by hiding behind the uniform?
The last time I checked, using one’s position as a member of the United States Armed Forces—with specificity to the authority of the uniform—to threaten or intimidate a Citizen of the United States—was a violation of the numerous military regulations, and is referred to under the Uniform Code as a criminal offense. As a veteran (if, indeed, you truly are one), those regulations still apply to you.
And “claiming” to be a veteran as justification for your singular-witted witlessness is, in more ways than one, nothing less than cowardice—and the only uniform I can imagine you wearing is a little red button that reads, “I’m a Cheap-Trick-Turning Tubes-Whoring Troll for John McCain.”
I don’t ever remember seeing “that” classification on a DD-214 form. And since I’ve never seen your “birth certificate,” I would be equally justified in calling into question “your” citizenship—just as never seeing you in uniform justifies me to question your “veteran” status.
I imagine there are all sorts of things about you that could be called into question, chaddie—interspecies sexual preferences, criminal behavior, social inhibitions and habits, unusual religious and political affiliations, — that list could go on into next week without so much as a coffee break. Why, one might even come up with several pages of reasons as to why the McCain people would throw you under the bus. There’s an old adage about “atta-boys” and “aw-shits.” A thousand atta-boys makes you a leader of men, but it only takes one aw-shit to erase everything and put you right back at the end of the line.
How many aw-shits are you interested in earning, chaddie? No one’s going to view you as “king of the mountain” if you’re always at “the bottom of a slit latrine….”
Polaris
says:“This week” was my introduction to american politics years ago. I even bought a copy of “All too Human”. Since then the program and the station have grown increasingly dumb, boring, right wing and in the tank for McCain.
The roundtable is starting to look like the judges from the Kris Kristofferson movie “Millenium”
Gregory
says:For pity’s sake, I took my lovely wife on vacation to Hawaii before Memorial Day. Just another elitist liberal, I guess…
Lance
says:libra said: “‘Look, Obama was born in Hawaii.’ — CB
Elitist from day one.”
Damn, you’d think being married to a Hawaiian girl myself (English-Irish really, but born there) I’d have gotten something more that $5000 down on our first house and a piano. Being Elitist is clearly not all it’s been cracked up to be.
timeoutofmind
says:Can i cap this off with a reasonable suggestion ? ABC news and David Westin are too far in the tank, and too far gone, to understand or even care about wasting salaries and airtime on
irrelevant, half-wit journalists — would he have countenanced that bullshit by the ABC stooges at the Dem Debate otherwise ?
but PBS might care — they’re spending our tax dollars, and i think it’s an issue when an out-of-touch inflammatory hack wastes our money and their airtime peddling inane bullshit, and doing her best to dumb-down one of the most important presidential elections in history.
i contribute annually to pbs, and fairly substantially (for my means) at that. i’ve just written to PBS telling them that they’ve lost my contribution —- i’m not going to subsidize a bone-head like
Cokie Roberts.
The issues and the stakes need to be clarified, for everyone, while this country hangs on the precipice — PBS can keep her moronic ramblings on the air and subvert democracy: but not on my dime. If you feel the same way:
write to the ombudsman.
http://www.npr.org/templates/contact/index.php?columnId=2781901
McCain Blog Outreach Coordinator
says:Now Chad, must you always come here just to poke the natives with a sharp stick?
This may be personally gratifying for you, but is largely unhelpful in the Larger battle to Elect John McCain as the next president.
Here’s a hint: Try posting something positive about John McCain, or J-Mac, as the youngsters are calling him. You can post about J-Mac’s many beneficial qualities such as his experience.
Chad, John McCain knows war. He knows how to win wars. But do you? It sure looks like you cannot follow simple orders. Please clean up your act.
slappy magoo
says:step 1: find out what Obama’s doing, where he’s going.
step 2: determine if it’s the sort of thing average Americans can afford to do -and would choose to do – on a regular basis.
step 3: if the answer to step 2 is “no” call Obama an elitist.
step 4: if the answer to step 2 is “yes” accuse Obama of pandering
that’ll be 800,000 dollars.
-Karl Rove
Bruno
says:That’s too funny:… An ‘intellectual’ troll McCain Blog Outreach Coordinator putting a dimwitted troll chad in his place.
Like any good republican: Chad! follow the orders. Or else…. 🙂
Steve
says:Oh, and then there’s this glorious bit from McBOC’s site:
Create several you’s. You can blog under several diferrent ‘Handles’ at the same time! By doing this you can ”Surround the opposition with Sockpuppets” and create an Army of One.
Well, other than that such a legion of sockpuppets would all have the same IP address, the same writing style, and the same penchant for the same stupid typos, grammatical errors, and drunken, masturbating prairie-dog habits—which pretty much gives the legion of sockpuppets away at a typical, misanthropic McCainiac suffering from schizophrenia, multiple-personality disorder, numerous types of Herpes, and a penchant for hiding out in men’s room stalls while fondling the latest copy of the NAMBLA newsletter—I suppose that might work for them, McBOC.
If they were in an alternative reality, on a distant planet, sucking down helium-methadone cocktails through an intravenous firehose while watching reruns of Ozzie and Harriet played backwards.
BUT————they’re not….
McCain Blog Outreach Coordinator
says:Steve
Since it appears that you are interested in John McCain, please consider these facts about John McCain who believes in Victory in Iraq.
Thank you for considering John McCain.
J-Mac 44
says:Steven
I also agree that John McCain believes in Victory and that Victory is crucial if we are ever to be Victorious.
John McCain will lead us to Victory. This is why I support John McCain. This is why you should support John McCain too.
Thank you for your interest in John McCain
Mac is Back
says:Steve @ 88
J-Mac rox da house. U know what I say. Every day more peeps signin up to soldja for J-Mac. U 2 kan sign up to Bak-Mac.
Keori
says:I live on the island of Oahu. My parents came out here and visited me two years ago. Does that make them elitist? No, they barely get by on middle-class salary and saved up money for two years to be able to stay in a one-bedroom apartment for a week.
Elitist this place ain’t. Nor is it exotic. It’s got good and bad points just like every other metropolitan area all over the United States. You have your nice parts, your slums, too much traffic on terribly maintained roads, fantastic air quality, ridiculously high cost of living ($8 gallon of milk yesterday), mouthwatering mom and pop Korean bbqs, Wal-Mart, a homeless problem courtesy of the mayor of Atlanta circa 1996, a consistently bad educational system, gorgeous beaches, really friendly salt-of-the-earth people, a meth problem, lots of feral cats, Asian cuisine of every stripe that you just can’t get anywhere else, flocks of wild chickens, and hula school performances at the malls on weekends.
You want elitist? Go visit John and Cindy at one of their six homes. Don’t bother coming here.
skippy
says:for the record, mrs. skippy and i spent three wonderful days and nights at volcanoes national park, on the big island. we stayed at the volcano inn, and it was a wonderful, beautiful, exciting experience, and it was a national park.
i suppose cokie would rather that obama stand in front of a green screen and have a pic of myrtle beach projected up behind him.
Pug
says:My grandma has been to Hawaii, and she’s a retired grocery store clerk.
My Dad went to Hawaii and he was a truck driver. Personally, I’m an elitist and I’ve never been. Damn!
Cokie Roberts does nothing but repeat the tripe she hears from David Broder at Georgetown dinner parties. Neither of them has the slightest clue about “the American people”, even though they both constantly presume to speak for them. They are the two leading fonts of conventional wisdom. Neither has had an original thought in decades.
Broder seems to be purposely obtuse. He’ll watch McCain drag the campaign into the gutter, then blame both candidates because Obama refused to appear at McCain lame town hall debates.
They are the reasons my wife thinks I’m so odd when I yell at them on television. It’s not me, it’s them.
RB-Chicago
says:It’s scary to think that these pundits are so small minded that they can think of nothing better to say…Ooops… feeble attempt to maintain their self-importance…morons..
Alex
says:Cokie Roberts comment that Obama is currently vacationing “in some sort of foreign, exocitic place.” (born there + visting his Grand Mother) seems so small when issues of substance are everywhere. This is a GOP “talking point of not one of us” not political discussion. I expect better from NPR if not ABC. I wrote a letter of complaint to both NPR & ABC NEWS (a small effort but I feel better).
Meah Bottoms
says:Cokie Roberts, George Will, and Sam Donaldson are just such anachronisms! And I am old! Cokie Roberts spouts off like she knows it all, always. Gosh, it is not as if Obama was raised in Hawaii. Gosh, it is not as if Obama needs a vacation. Gosh, it is not as if his elderly grandmother needs a visit. Gosh, it is not as if when you think of wanting to go to the ocean, your childhood shore in Oahu might come to mind. Gosh, it is not as if he is in Maui! This is like sooo incredibly smarmy of her and I just wish this woman would retire like her husband did. I do not watch this program because of the above three, and George the Whippit Stephanolopolous. The only people on there that are worth listening to are Donna Brazile and David Gergen. They are honest and forthright. The rest are arrogant and haughty. Cokie Roberts does not analyze. She expounds.
pittforpres
says:Is Hawaii the 57th state? It’s so hard to keep track these days.
Hannah
says:Hawaiian US Senator Daniel Akaka fights back against Cokie-dearest per John at Americablog, who received the following email from Akaka:
“Saying our 50th state is somehow ‘foreign,’ does a great disservice to the hard working, patriotic Americans who call Hawaii home. For months people have been asking me, ‘when is Sen. Obama going to come home?’ I’m so glad he found time to visit his sister and his grandmother, show his daughters more of his home state, and relax a little. Hawaii is a great U.S. destination, just ask the 5.5 million Americans who visited last year for business and pleasure.”
Steve
says:McBOC,
From June of 2007 to March of 2008, the majority of “incident descriptions” that were traditionally identified as being the result of “sectarian violence” have been deleted from consideration as such. “Getting shot in the head with your hands tied behind your back” no longer qualifies as “sectarian violence”—even though it’s almost exclusively Sunni-v-Shia or Shia-v-Sunni. Shiites being blown up by Sunnis and Sunnis being blown up by Shiites isn’t counted as “sectarian violence.” Iraqi policemen and soldiers being blown up by suicide bombers is no longer counted as “insurgent-related violence.”
In short, “cooking the books” doesn’t mean less violence—just as “not counting the unemployed who no longer qualify for benefits” doesn’t mean that there are less Americans unemployed.
No thanks—your gutted-fish geezer is unworthy of my consideration.
Now, as to J-Mac 44—what is that, anyway? A low-calorie, junior version of a Big Mac? You really want to be a pre-pubescent version of the world’s worst hamburger ever created in the history of the Universe?
And MiB at 91—typing differently from your three-faces-of-eve alter egos doesn’t change the electronic signature of the network you’re typing from. It doesn’t change the “Point A” of your message, and it doesn’t change your being a fool—except that the “fool-ness” becomes exponentially divided. That would make you out to be equal to one-third of a fool. Kinda like “The Three Stooges” minus two stooges.
And how funny would that comedy trio have been, if it was just called “The One Stooge?”
Mark
says:“we haven’t seen barry’s real birth certificate”
How do you know?
Are you an expert?
Can you prove that the one that is on record is fake? I mean you personally, can YOU prove it.
Or if, when presented with evidence of authenticity will you claim it was someone else said it was fake and not you and then change the subject to some other untruth, like say, Obama dissed the troops in Afghanistan.
Truth is something that would bite you on the ass and you still wouldn’t believe it
Mark
says:Hey J-MAC44,
Did you hear, John McCain isn’t allowed to use the cell phone anymore. Seems he can’t be trusted to stay focused.
This is the man who will lead us to victory?
MaBelle
says:Here’s the problem:
The majority of Americans don’t sit around 8-12 hours a day reading newspapers, watching political news shows, and blogging about the “news.”
The average person works, takes care of kids and family issues, turns on the tube to relax after a long day, probably skims the newspaper for headlines, worries about how the hell they’re going to get through the month (or, even if they make a “comfortable” living, probably cut back on some luxuries and maybe even reduce usage of necessities).
My point is that it doesn’t matter what the educated classes think about this meme, especially not when average voters are already concerned about his lack of experience to be POTUS.
I know it’s so much easier to demonize Roberts for her commentary and observation. But there happens to be some truth in what she says. Seems to me the blogosphere could do a greater service to try and understand that you/we are NOT average American voters.
Mark
says:Washington Heights would be too exotic for Cokie
Steve
says:Someone really needs to remind mob-elle that there is no such thing as “an average American voter.”
The average American voter is an urban legend; a mythological creature brought into being by accumulating all of the preferences, dislikes, ideals, and hopes of every single American voter, and then dividing by the number of voters. So far, the mob-elle tribe has refused to do such a thing; they provide, instead, a small group of voters with a preconceived list of choices based on a hypothetical this-or-that scenario.
Example: “What’s your favorite food—pizza or cheeseburgers?”
They ask 200 people that one question, and then promote the outcome as representative of the average American diet. They skew the data to exclude everyone who doesn’t eat pizza, everyone who doesn’t eat cheeseburgers, and everyone whose favorite food is something other than pizza and/or cheeseburgers—which is probably the majority of people who eat food, but who are now culinarily misrepresented by the fraud of 200 really fat people with more health problems than Putin has tanks in Georgia right now.
Lyrebird
says:MaBelle,
I think you’ve contradicted yourself, or at least I’d argue that it’s precisely because lots of people out there are not political-blog junkies that seemingly idle remarks by TV personalities need to be answered and critiqued when they are this off-base.
Average voters have grandmothers. Actually, I don’t know if the average 47-yr-old-or-older voter is still blessed with living grandparents. Bunches of these voters have sisters, have kids, want their kids to have cousin time. What truth is there in saying visiting your family is exotic?
…and now, begging pardon if I’ve misunderstood your intent, it seems that in addition to being too black and not black enough, Obama can be both too presidential and not yet experienced enough. Benefits of exotic foreign travel, I guess.
mishanti
says:Even Hawaii has poor people, etc etc. It is a part of the United States and like every other state with some good points and some bad points. I wish these “talking heads” would think before they spout off and sound so ignorant. She should be intelligant enough to remember that Senator Obama was born in Hawaii and has family still living there so it isn’t all that elitist for him to vacation there.
SickofBushMcCainLiebermann
says:#1 EAST COAST elitists know nothing of Hawaii. To them, it’s like taking a vacation to the Virgin Islands or Cancun. East coast a-holes, Hawaii is a state and one of the most popular vacation spots we west coasters go to throughout the year.
I take offense at that, as this” East Coast a-hole” has ohana ( family) in Oahu. Want some salt for that foot?
SickofBushMcCainLiebermann
says:#1 EAST COAST elitists know nothing of Hawaii. To them, it’s like taking a vacation to the Virgin Islands or Cancun. East coast a-holes, Hawaii is a state and one of the most popular vacation spots we west coasters go to throughout the year.
I take offense at that, as this” East Coast a-hole” has ohana ( family) in Oahu. Want some salt for that foot?
#89- you getting special “points” for trolling?
reported.
ej
says:One does not have to spend 8 hours a day reading to be knowledgeable. It certainly does take more than tuning into a corrupted 30 minutes of news (?) on NBC, or viewing an hour on Sunday morning listening to co-opted people give their inane opinions.
Education is a life long pursuit that happens while one lives their life. It’s as simple as knowing something as basic as whole grains are nutritionally better than processed grains, orgainic is better than chemically induced food, or reading Harpers or The Nation is more informative than reading Time, or listening to Democracy Now will give one a more informed picture of things than listening to Cokie Roberts.
Being informed does take time and effort, but it’s not the length of time that is as important as knowing one’s sources and understanding the perspective one is listening to.
It doesn’t take much longer to prepare a nutritious meal as opposed to something out of a box or can. Accordingly, it doesn’t take too much more effort to get information that has sustenance rather than just empty calories such as people like Cokie Roberts offers or cultures like the MSM offers.
Ignorance is usually a choice.
Kapuni
says:People, normal every-day people, are born, go to school, work, live and die in Hawaii – just like any other state. Not everyone in Hawaii is on ‘vacation’ or an ‘elitist’. Hawaii is a state and is my home. My children were born there, just like Obama – and they come back to visit, just like Obama. He is simply visiting his family – and taking a break.
McCain was born in Panama – which is not even a state.
Gotta be more important things to get into a tizzy about, Cokie. By the way – you just lost a viewer – and from the sound of the comments above – you lost more than just me.
Terry Turner
says:During the 2006 election Ms. Roberts said Ned Lamont’s victory in a Democratic primary in CT would be the “end” of the Democratic Party. Democrats went on to win control of both the Senate and the House. So much for Cokie’s ability to review the news.
munchkinpup
says:Rob_in_Hawaii , I hope you send your excellent comment to Ms. Roberts.
That Obama’s trip to Hawaii is even being discussed as somehow politically relevant is obscene. I knew the pres. election would become sublimely ridiculous, but even cynical ‘ole me would like to smash the computer, (again). There is no dialogue, no intelligent discussion, and certainly no evidence that we are still living in a democracy. The Repugs have killed all that.
Steve,
Have enjoyed your rebuttals to the various Troll(s). Keep up the great work!
VERNON BALMER JR.
says:WHY DIDN’T BARACK OBAMA RETURN TO HAWAII TO BEGIN HIS CAREER?
January 2008: Unlike the DCCA of Hawaii, who I supplied documentation to, the Department of Health and Human Services “Region 10”, without documentation, finds that Dr. Au did violate the privacy act by charging me too much for copies of my records.
But, Region 10 tells me they cannot proceed on the 6 other allegations
1. Along with saying I did not see as well with the new glasses, I said
that the prescription that I was given was weaker than the one I had the
previous 7, count them, seven years. Your office nor the DCCA responded
to this charge.
2.The reason I asked Dr. Au to change the prescription was because the
NEW one, I repeat, was weaker in one eye. This was the only alternative
Dr. Au gave me other than accepting the weaker prescription.
3. The “Vision Certificate” Dr. Au provide, had no licsense number
where it should have been and she did not sign it where it should have
been signed.
4. Dr Au refused to give me photocopies of my records and did not give
me a reason, per her offices policy, when I asked for them in her
office.
5.Dr charged me 2.00 dollars per page, totaling 20.00 dollars, which I
believe is exorbitant.
6.There are conflicting numbers on my records, that I would like
explained. This, no one has addressed. And I doubt that my records were
reviewed by an impartial optometrist, as any reasonable person would
assume to be a part on what your office calls an investigation.
7. I was trespassed from Dr. Au’s office for no other reason than
asking for copies of my files, and in her response to the DCCA she says
I was escorted out of her offices by mall security, which is a lie by a
optometrist that pracitces deceit.
Nov, 2007 . My complaint about Central Pacific Bank is not sent to the FDIC regional offices in California. Instead it is sent to Kansas City. Missouri. The response I get from FDIC says my concerns are contractual, although I point out two misrepresentations by the bank’s compliance counsel, Judith A. Villarreal.
Ms. Villarreal says I did not contact Mr. Clint Arnoldus, Mr. Dennis K. Isono.
I have Certified Receipts and electronic verification from USPS that says I did.
Coincidentally, there are officials at the Kansas City offices with the name Villarreal: Jesse O. Villarreal Jr., Lisa M. Villarreal and Victor Villarreal.
It is my opinion, that a person trained as a lawyer would verify facts before submitting them in official documentation. Therefore, I can only assume that Ms. Villarreal had a serious lapse in judgement, or she was lied to by those she spoke with.
March 2007: My complaint to the Dept. Of Ed is refused on the grounds that they do not fund any programs or activities at the Hawaii State Public Library System, and therefore do not have jurisdiction.
If the situation is threatening enough to cause a change in levels moment to moment, it stands to my reason, it would remain at a certain level until there is a sufficient enough change or stabilization to bring it to a lesser level. But that’s just me.
On the 17th of Oct. 2006, I submit a complaint to the Police Commission relaying concerns about the treatment I experienced at the security checkpoint at HPD District 1 the previous day. An investigator tells me it is the policiman’s job to “interpret the law”.
Returning to the station to locate a article I left, I am told by Officer Kahele, in the presence of one officer Hung, and another, that it is mandatory that I produce ID, and that I remove everything from my pockets, and take off my belt before passing through the metal detector.
I point out this information is not on the signs, and officer Kahele says there will be no furthering of my purpose if I do not comply. After complying, I am told by officer Kahele that I must sit down, or she will not take my report. Previous to this occasion , when at the HPD headquarters, I was never asked to remove everything from my pockets and, or to remove my belt, or that I had to produce ID to enter. Officer Lau, the sergeant for this post, tells me the same.
I am told by a detective that it is not mandatory to produce ID, “We don’t care who you are. Anyone has the right to come in here”. Sergeant Lau, who I am told is the officer in charge of the post says depending on the threat level, procedures may change day to day. He says one may be required to remove everything from ones pockets etc., or be required to submit to different procedures. I inform him that on the same day, when I was there previously, I was not required to do so. He inform me that the security level may change from moment to moment.
On Oct. 16, 2006 I submit a complaint to HPD Internal Affairs relaying concerns about not being asked to identify the driver of the vehicle that hit me on the 8th of Sept., and the fact that the person who stood as Chris Pa at the arraignment was not the driver of the car.
Oct. 6, 2006, I go to the arraignment of A Mr. Chris Pa. I am surprised to see that this Mr. Pa is not the driver I saw, while laying on the hood of the car and peering through the windshield, and definitely not the man I looked in the face and spoke to through an opened window. This may be due to the fact that I was not asked to identify the person located, arrested, or cited, on the night of the incident or at any subsequent time, until I see him at the arraignment. I am directed by the presiding judge to inform the prosecutors office, which I do.
Oct. 2, 2006: I am told at traffic court there is no court date set, but have found online there is one on Oct. 6, in room 4B, and I am not included as the victim. I still get correspondence from the insurer’s agents telling me of medical coverage available, although I told the driver, the responding officer, and previously the insurer’s agent, I am OK.
Sept.21, 2006: I go to City Hall to get a voters registration card and am told it will cost .50 cents.
I am surprised to get a “Certificate”, ala Lens Crafters, and ask is this it? I am told yes by the clerk. Today, on “The Bus” I see a man who says he works at the polls, who tells me there is still a little yellow card that comes in the mail and is surprised to see the “Certificate”.
Sept. 8, 2006: I am hit by a car bearing license plate JST 203, that was stopped at a crosswalk. The driver is looking at me when he accelerates. The driver doesn’t wait for police to arrive. They find him at his home. The police report reads Crime Code 550, which I am told means, a collision with damage of more than 3000 dollars. I am told the responding police officer decides if there will be an investigation. More Honolulu HOKUM.
This is the place where, those who would complain about wrongdoing are persecuted, harassed, smeared and railroaded. Where the perpetrators are bribed to keep quiet, or go along with the cover-up, promoted, and transferred.
Sept. 7, 2006: A security guard, Solomona Savea, badge number – 90187, at the Hawaii State Library, calls me a “nigger” twice” in the library foyer, in a loud voice.
Aug. 10, 2006: I have been told by Sen. Barack Obama’s office, where I sent this same correspondence, that someone from Sen. Akaka’s office would contact me, because Sen. Obama’s office forwarded the correspondence to them. I have yet to hear from Sen. Akaka’s office. Is there some assistance your office can give me?
July 23, 2006: An Optometrist, Kim Agena at a Lens Crafters gives me a prescription that is weaker than the one I had for the previous 7 years. Doctor Au, a co-owner corrects this, but when I ask for photocopies of my records the doctor refuses and gives me a hand written ” Vision Certificate” instead, that is not signed and does not contain a license number where applicable. I have made a formal request in writing. They have told me it will be at a cost of 20 dollars for 10 pages, which seems exorbitant and requested that I not seek services at any Optometrists in Lens Crafters. The doctor, Au, is the co – owner along with Dr. Lau, of all the Optometrist offices in Lens Crafters, in Honolulu. In other words, I cannot get an eye exam at Lens Crafters. Is it considered rude or threatening, to ask for one’s records?
The advice I get here is nothing but a pack of lies.
The local ACLU has written me 3 differing and separate excuses why they cannot or will not get involved, but never the conflict I found below.
April 2006: I have had two librarians and a circulation clerk tell me there is no report possible for stolen books. They must be lost. This would have caused fees to be incurred by me. I had to take the police report to the State Librarian’s Office to settle the matter and have the fines removed from my account. This all could have been done at the State Library.
Jan. 2006: I have had two bank accounts effected. One because a deposit I made to cover my use of overdraft protection was not credited, they rescinded the “overdraft” and CLOSED my account. The bank says it had to be held in the account for a day, to be credited. Nowhere in the terms and conditions is this stated. The depletion of the other account, I have been given no reason for. July 2006, I have written to the Clint Arnoldus Denis Isono and Susan Tachino asking them to explain, and have received no response.
Recently, I have made another complaint, in addition to the previous five, to the USPS – OIG, about mail I am to receive or have sent. I sent a certified letter to Richard E. Fairfax, Directorate of Enforcement Programs – OSHA, in Washington D.C., on the 2nd of December. The certification number is 7005 2570 0000 6898 2586. I look at the track and confirm feature at USPS.COM and there is no record of it having been delivered yet.
My case was dismissed May 24, 2006. How often does this occur? A case is dismissed with two days difference between the dismissal date and the termination date, (May 26, 2004) of the individual filing suit. I will never understand how the three judges that made decisions in this case could not see that it is too complex for anyone who would consider themselves a pro se litigant, which I do not.
This has been an uphill battle against an opponent whose underwriters include a Fortune 500 company, FNF.
john.goemans@gmail.com wrote :
Dear Vernon—- Your letter is alarming. I have over time,recieved calls
from persons very distressed by the Hawaii you know.In fact I’ve been out of
Hawaii for many months one reason being the hostile and dysfunctional
nature of things.I’ve even been jailed on a charge it took the Judge when I
finally got before one 2 minutes to throw out.That all being said have no
ability to be of help to you other than to give you encouragement from this
distance.
Sincerely John Goemans
—–Original Message—–
From: Eric Grant grant@eric-grant.com
To: yinsay@aol.com
Sent: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 01:06:41 -0500
Subject: RE: Still attempting to contact Mr. Goemans
Mr. Balmer, Mr. Goemans’ address is john.goemans@gmail.com
Cordially,
EricGrant
Attorney at Law
8001 Folsom Boulevard, Suite 100
Sacramento, California 95826
Telephone: (916) 388-0833
Facsimile: (916) 691-3261
http://www.eric-grant.com
From: yinsay@aol.com [mailto: yinsay@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 7:47 PM
To: grant@eric-grant.com
Subject: Still attempting to contact Mr. Goemans. If he has one, and you know Mr. Goeman’s e-mail address kindly forward this to it, please.
Dear Sir or Madam,
I have resided here in Honolulu , Hawaii for almost 4 years now. I had intended to stay here when I made the decision to come, and was happy to have found employment relatively soon. I found a job working with a temporary agency for 4 months. I was hired by the client as a regular employee, Sept. 2002. On my first day of regular hire, I was shocked to hear, “you know why they hired him, don’t you”, from one of my co-workers. But, needing to work for a living and being in a strange place, I thought it best to ignore this, after all, I was hired.
At the beginning of my time with the client, Title Guaranty, I was told by the on site supervisor, that if I was to take a particular bus and call her first, “there would be more work”. The day after this I handed her my time card, ready to seek another assignment, when she acted as though she didn’t know why I would be doing this. When I explained, she countered with some nebulous words and said I could work as long as the company needed me.
Subsequently, the same supervisor would tell me that I had to give her a key or the combination to the lock on my locker, “in case of an emergency”. I thought this to be a strange request, as I could not imagine an emergency in my locker that would require her or anyone else to open it without me. I didn’t respond to her request, and not hearing anything further, I gathered that it was not company policy at all.
Having a co-worker refer to me as “boy” and another ask me 3 times – after giving an answer twice – “why do black people use the N word?”, did not make me feel very gregarious among them. I was also told by a co-worker, “all Hawaii is a gang brah.”, and by another, “it’s all connected”, the supervisor speaking about a former supervisor said, “we made him quit because he thought he was smarter than us, cause he was from the east coast”.
We were housed in a basement of what is now a former Costco building, with an air-conditioner as the only ventilation. When I noticed mold growing in a hole, in the wall beneath the air-conditioner, adjacent to the room where I sometimes, but mostly my co-workers would eat lunch, I asked them about it and was told that management was made aware of it and did nothing. I decided to inform management myself, considering the untruths I had previously heard from some. I was thanked by the assistant to the woman in accounting who handled the repairs for the building.
I did not think it was a major undertaking by a very successful company to fix this problem, and was surprised at the length of time it was taking to address the situation, so I informed OSHA, Aug. 2003. This is when things started to go further south. Coincidentally, the day after going to the OSHA offices, the next day at work, my supervisor stated to a co-worker, “Vernon went to OSHA.” This information was not given to her or any co-worker, by me.
When I went to OSHA, the employee did not give me any type of reference number, or write one in the space provided on the complaint form, nor did she inform me at that time that mold is not OSHA’S jurisdiction, which is what I was told when I went to check on the status of the complaint. Neither, did the employee inform me of laws governing discrimination. I was also told – it not being OSHA’S jurisdiction – the complaint was referred to the Department of Health. It was like pulling teeth to get an answer as to what office at the DOH it was referred to. Needless to say I could not inquire about the possible disposition of the complaint, not knowing where to inquire.
I made a complaint to the EEOC, Jan. 2004, and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, Apr 2004, both of which were dismissed without any investigation, each agency sat back and waited for the submission of the company’s response. Incidentally, I was contacted by the director of the EEOC, asking me if I wanted to proceed, after I was shown a copy of the company’s response, which I don’t believe is proper. I now see in the EEOC’s and the HCRC’s own publications, matters such as mine that were investigated and even adjudicated. During the HCRC’s lack of investigation, I only heard from them at the intake and when I received their letter of dismissal.
I furnished the EEOC and the HCRC with names of co-workers who said they would speak for me. They were not interviewed. I was informed by an investigator at the EEOC that no one visited the site. There was a similar situation here with UPS, where an employee was fired for doing less egregious acts than his co-workers, which I believe is the case here. I saw co-workers break company equipment, cuss freely, ask for sexual favors, and bring children and friends to the work site. Throughout this experience I have been told by these agencies’ staff and lawyers, literally or in effect, “there is no smoking gun here”. This is only due to there being no investigation. In the least, there is a pattern that should compel any thinking person to ask questions.
Subsequent to this, my work was sabotaged on more than one occasion, and reports to management only resulted in them twisting the situation in attempts to placate me and set me up for these spurious accusations by my co-workers. Each complaint of mine was a matter of my erroneous “interpretation”, as stated by management, while my co-workers complaints were valid descriptions of my “misconduct”. As a result of the accusations, I was suspended, without pay, pending an investigation for, I kid you not, a co-worker accusing me of harassing her by clapping my hands and signing “Pink Cadillac”, and another saying, I was teasing her when I asked her to say my name and that of the manager, to see if I could distinguish the two.
I was terminated in May 2004, two weeks after the dismissal of the EEOC complaint that was not investigated, and a day after informing management that I overheard a co-worker saying to the one that accused me of harassing her by singing, “we’re going to show him the power of p—-. I was denied unemployment insurance, June 2004, with a fact-finding interview done over the telephone that was not reviewed or signed by me, as it should have been before it was made part of the official record and used at my future appeal. The subsequent appeal Aug. 2004 was biased, prejudiced, and contained perjured statements by the witnesses for my former employer. I am now told that the recording of the hearing does not exist because it was transcribed.
I have initiated a suit in federal court, Jan. 2005 that I can not pursue, due to the lack of time and funds necessary for an undertaking such as this, and the skill I do not have in these matters. I have all but given up searching for representation, believing word has gotten to many legal ears on the island and no one wants to go against the state that has all but coddled and cuddled business here.
I have contacted the ACLU, and given them much information, but they seem more interested in writing briefs for exotic entertainers, arrested for doing lap dances. First they tell me they cannot help unless the matter involves a government agency, then they tell me they can if a decision is against me, then they tell me they do not have the manpower and time. Each of the criteria, I met at the time I contacted them.
Coincidentally, I find a lawyer, Roger Fonseca, at the firm representing my former employer, is the national representative for the Hawaii chapter of the ACLU, and their staff also have a few names that are the same as those associated with Hawaii real estate. They cannot help, but they can accept my information.
I have tried to interest many, many lawyers and firms by email, letters and personal visits, to no avail. I have had a lawyer in San Francisco who participated in a well known case here try to find someone without success. This situation has been surrounded by complicity, cronyism, and bias.
I have written to the DOJ, only to have my information shuffled from one agency to another, including the Department of the Interior, and finally coming full circle to the Hawaii Department of Labor. I do not think this was coincidence. At the HCRC, there is a commission member with the same name as the owners of my former employer’s business, one Coral Wong Pietsch.
Mrs. Pietsch is a general in the U.S. Army Reserve, and an attorney, a very powerful position with ties to D.C., I’m sure. It has long been my suspicion that this may have played a roll in the lack of effort on the part of officials that has attended this matter. Each party’s history I research has some relation to another, be it professional, academic, and even familial.
I now look at web sites for all the organizations I sought help at – e-mail to the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, all representative’s and senator’s offices, Legal Aid Society, Hawaii Dept. of Labor and the DOL – national, EEOC – Hawaii, district, and national offices, NAACP Hawaii, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, ACLU of Hawaii, Hawaii – Department of Health, HIOSH and OSHA ( regional and national ), Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii, the Hawaii Office of Information Practices, the Ombudsman’s Office where my letter explaining the situation and their reply stating they could do nothing, are the only correspondence I had during it’s investigation, and the Hawaii State Bar Association, where the lawyers who are members of the Real Property and Financial Services Section, are also affiliated with these other organizations, or directly associated with my former employer, or the firm that represents them – Torkildson, Katz. Fonseca, Heatherington, and Moore.
The Real Property and Financial Services Section includes a lawyer I was assisted by, one Andre Wooten, who at the time told me nothing of his involvement with this organization. He was suggested to me by church members and NAACP officer Alfonso Braggs. I pull up the staff or the particular board of directors of these organizations and there are last names that are the same and have some relationship, mostly with real estate, and more than a few with ties to California.
Two names in particular are quite suspicious. A Kouchi, at Volunteer Legal Services, which was the last name of the HR assistant at Title Guaranty, Pang which is the name of a front desk worker at the YMCA, who I complained about signing for my mail. and that of a Appeals Officer at Department of Labor – Security Appeals Referees Office. Hirayama the appeal referee, and the owner of the restaurant at the YMCA. And on and on.
There are too many relationships here to be mere coincidence, and are questionable, at least. My information was passed by one Elain Chao – Department Of Labor, in D.C. to Tin Shing Chao Department of Labor here in Hawaii, who used an erroneous date to nullify my complaint. This was after a layover in California with Ms. Alison Pauly at the regional offices. Whose CASPA investigation stated that I should have made this a written complaint, when Hawaii law states it does not matter, whether written or verbal. Could she be related to the Pauly’s who have donated to the University of Hawaii, and have owned land here?
The complex in Hawaii that houses the Department of Labor, is also where the HIOSH offices and the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission offices are located. This name, Pang, pops up in various places dealing with state government and real estate. I now know these agencies to be straw dogs that do everything but contend with the status quo.
For the most part, the agencies that pretend to help, most notably the NAACP and ACLU, only collect information and then say they can do nothing; I wonder what happens to the information in a state that treats confidential information as a comodity. Incidentally my former employer’s representation is one of the largest contributors to Legal Aid Society. Concerning Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii, I have recently discovered that one of two lawyers they referred is an attorney at the law firm representing my former employer, and the other is a realtor in Honolulu, and also liscensed to practice in California. And another is the member of a firm with old ties to the Pietsch family. Who were these lawyers going to “help”?
I mention the YMCA because in 2002, I had complained about what I believed to be prostitution, facilitated by staff there. And when I informed the supervisor at Title Guaranty, her response was to leave well enough alone, after I informed her that I had, in my opinion, angered some people there. My subsequent report to the police department was investigated by. the police calling the YMCA and asking them if my suspicions were true. I think you can see what position this left me in. In my lay opinion, this was a sloppy and dangerous way to initiate and conclude an investigation.
I have applied for many positions since my termination, and have only worked sporadically in spite of my efforts. I have registered with many staffing agencies – Olympia , Hawaii Staffing, Snelling, and Hawaii Temp, CTA Staffing which is now Bishop & Company, Manpower, Kelly, and POI. I have not worked a complete week and have not been contacted at all by some. I registered at Altres in 2004, and was not called in a years time before I returned. There, I was terminated for ” not being pro active”. There is no confidentiality law here, and I believe this also has worked against me. It – confidentiality – has been frequently cited by my former employer’s agents and state officials, only to protect themselves and facilitate their deceptive practices.
I mostly use the public library to use the Internet, i.e. write letters and do research. Needless to say, this is not the most secure environment to do this type of activity. And I have had problems at this library with the computers and the staff. At the library, I have seen the text change when I am typing, without commands initiated by me. The printer is connected to the computer at the librarians’ desk. On one occasion, I was told by a security guard that a librarian had complained about me harassing her because I asked for her name to report her behavior.
After contacting the librarian’s office, there is no record or remembrance of this aspect of the report. This tactic of “bait and switch” has been used on more than one occasion, by different entities. After not being online for 3 days I saw where someone had requested an Army Knowledge Online account in my name, or I should say my screen name. I saw an attorney – John L. Knorek – from the firm representing my former employer enter the philosophy department and ask for a librarian, Kathy, by name.
Yee is the name of the head librarian at the State Library and the name of a former employee of the United States Attorney’s Office and HCRC, did training for the Department of Justice, and worked for the Massachusetts Attorney General. I sent most of this same information to Sen. Ted Kennedy’s offices in Massachusetts and was told during a telephone conversation with the office that, being on the Judiciary Committee, Sen. Kennedy could not get involved in judicial matters.
Since this is the only avenue I have been given, I have asked the district offices of the DOL to investigate by CASPA, Sept. 2005, and have asked for an investigation for discrimination due to the whistle blower aspect of the matter. I believe this will be my only chance at a modicum of justice. But I will always believe that more realistically this situation can be defined by, 18 USC 241, 242 and 245.
Hawaii, I now entertain, is a state where the dollar is God, and workers are only a necessary evil to facilitate that gain. Where the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, Nelson Befitel, has unashamedly professed his desire, and that of the state to relieve the department of any obligation to penalize businesses for infractions and, I can see where the natural sequence would be to alleviate any scrutiny that would expose abuse of power by the states employees. It is no wonder; I have experienced what I have. All too often, in the news here, the term “outsider” is given to any entity that would look at what is practiced here. But there is a GOD that sees all and will affect justice for the oppressed.
Sincerely,
Vernon Balmer Jr.
Honolulu, HI
yinsay@aol.com
November 7, 2005
Richard E. Fairfax, Director
Directorate of Enforcement Programs(DEP)
U.S . Department of Labor
200 Constitution Avenue N.W.
Washington , D.C. 20210
Dear Sir,
For the past two years at every step in this long railroad, from my initial complaint filed at the EEOC, and subsequent to that, the HCRC; the United States Commission on Civil Rights; the Department of Justice; and finally through no effort of my own, having it wind up at the Regional OSHA offices in San Francisco, I have steadily maintained that I submitted a written complaint at the state HIOSH offices, here in Honolulu.
I was told that much of what I sent to the DOJ had been sent to the San Francisco OSHA offices. Evidently this written HIOSH complaint was not among the papers.
Imagine my surprise when I got this letter from Mr. Traenkner, informing me that I should not have made this a verbal complaint. I retrieved the copy of the written complaint, made for me while at the HIOSH offices, just to convince myself that those in power are the ones mistaken, and now I believe with my whole being, they are in actuality, deceitful and dishonest, practiced at covering up embarrassing incidents, and downright criminal.
I am making a request to you for a review by your national offices, where hopefully someone unbiased, with integrity, will do the right thing. There was a Ms.Hirai in San Francisco that said she could see the discrimination in this matter. Too bad it was not she that conducted the investigation. I only hope it is coincidence that there is a Hirai here in Honolulu that is a lawyer and involved in the real estate business, and a lawyer formerly in the firm representing my former employer.
Throughout this situation there have been relationships, I have noticed in my opposition, which include professional, academic and familial. It has long been my suspicion that those ensconced in the cronyism here in Hawaii have at each step facilitated the lack of effort in this matter. I am now sure of what I have long suspected. This cover-up goes much further than what happens here in Hawaii.
Sincerely,
Vernon Balmer Jr.
yinsay@aol.com
Honolulu, HI
Maureen P.
says:Obama was BORN in Hawai’i. When will people realize that he graduated from high school here and this is HOME to him? Would people criticize me for taking my children, who were born in Hawai’i, to Florida? That’s where I grew up, and my parents are buried there.
Please, folks. We love Obama here, for the simple fact that he understands the Aloha State and what we stand for. Just for those who think we’re too ‘exotic,” Hawaii’s people have served with distinction during many of America’s wartime exploits. Did I mention that Japan didn’t think Hawai’i was too exotic to BOMB in 1941? Please read a little about our state before thinking we’re totally detached from what it means to be patriotic Americans.
ej
says:To all those people who keep wanting to nail home the facts and history of Hawaii as if somehow Cokie Roberts isn’t aware of any of this – she is and even stated some of them as a precursor to her statement.
She still went ahead and disparaged Obama and his campaign with her inanities.
What does that say about her and her agenda.
Facts be dammed, insults aside, she was determined to say her talking points (agenda exposed) regardless of how it may appear. After that, if people still want to turn a blind eye to this process then their ignorance is their choice.
People need to understand who they are listening to and why things are being said. The double standard we see in the MSM and the bias in opinion and the unbalanced viewpoints are all directly attributable to money and power and how the elites are trying to maintain it.
Cokie Roberts is not stupid and she is not ignorant to facts. She is ignorant to the damage she is doing in the name of maintaining her own power and wealth.
Individuals can sell their soul for money and their own personal power with hardly ever connect the dots of how this plays out in the “big picture.” Moving up the food chain the motivations are similar but the consequencies and impact are greater.
It matters very little to any of us whether the various talking heads lead an afluent life until one takes into consideration the ramifications of their agendas and how the whole world is affected.
If we choose to continue to particpate by listening to the shills then shame on us, if the shills continue to be cynical then shame on them.
Unfortunately, shame aside, it’s the people worldwide who keep paying the price.
slim
says:Dearest Cokie,
My husband and I just took our son to Hawai’i, only the second vacation we have taken not strictly to visit family since our son was born, and our first vacation to cost more than $1,000 since we were married 17 years ago. Our honeymoon cost $200 – camping on the coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina (but not Myrtle Beach – we couldn’t afford it).
Please compare that to your family vacations over the last 10 years, and then tell me which of us is the elitist.