Archive for January, 2008
McCain’s win in Florida makes it pretty likely he will be the party’s nominee.
In Democratic news, Edwards is dropping out, and despite his populist rhetoric, it seems the majority of folks he appealed to were Clinton-leaning low-info and white voters. So this is not especially good news for Obama. Or Democrats, really. Of all the likely match-ups, I think a McCain-Clinton contest is the one that gives Democrats the most trouble.
Edwards is refraining from making an endorsement for today, at least. After all he’s said this campaign, I don’t see how he can endorse Clinton in good conscience. But I wouldn’t underestimate his ambition or opportunism, so I’m not holding my breath for him to do the right thing.
Matt Stoller sums up my thoughts on Edwards quite nicely. I’ll just add that I’d like to see Edwards attach himself to the Obama ticket either as VP or Attorney General, although he seems to have trouble playing second fiddle.
January 30th, 2008
It was not till the 2000 presidential election that I began following politics seriously. I got most of my news from the New York Times and then began watching all the cable shows in the weeks building up to the election. During the recount and the court debacle I watched hours and hours of CNN and MSNBC every day. After a while of this, I started wondering where all the sane analysis had gone. The pundits on cable news were entirely void of substance, and even the op-ed pieces in good papers like the Times didn’t seem incredibly relevant or insightful.
Then came Paul Krugman, who forcefully and consistently pointed out the idiocy of the Bush Administration, and the harm it was doing to the nation; first with the tax cuts for the rich, and then with the disastrous war. The rest of the Times staff and the mainstream media were notably uncritical of the war until late 2004, when things had gone so poorly for so long, there was really no other way to cover it. As Courage and Journalism are still nursing the wounds of a decades-old divorce, Krugman deserves tremendous respect and admiration for getting the two to reconcile, if only for the couple days out of the week that his column runs in the paper.
But the story does not end there, my friends. Oh no, it does not. Krugman also tossed in a plug for talkingpointsmemo.com in a late 2002 op-ed. This turned me on to a whole world of online bloggers, the best of whom took the idea of ethics and accuracy much more seriously than the “professionals†in the mainstream media. These guys have since gained a good deal of well-deserved credibility, and many of them now write their blogs out of the offices of quality periodicals, like the American Prospect and the Atlantic Monthly.
January 29th, 2008
I don’t have a great affinity for Daily Kos, but I was immensely entertained to see that someone there had posted suggested drinking games for the State of the Union, last night.
January 29th, 2008
I have written six or seven iterations of a post on Obama good, Hillary bad, but I think I’m gonna hold off on posting one for now, given that it may be a moot point, and I’ve certainly covered that terrain in the past.
Let me just say that I find it deeply disturbing that the Clintons are willing to let racism and voter suppression tactics contribute to their victory in the primaries. And it couldn’t come at a worse time. Many of the dumber conservative ideas — from Reaganomics to the Neo-Con projects — have been hoisted with their own petard. Put bad ideas into practice and you are bound to get bad results. Do it long enough, and people start to notice. There is fertile ground for new ideas and new leadership. Unfortunately, Clinton does not promise any of that. She only offers a willingness to out-shiv Republicans and a refusal to seek meaningful institutional change.
When we should be talking about carbon sinks, rising sea levels and solar power, we’re talking about cocaine use and middle names and imaginary taxes on the middle class. When it comes to that mindless discussion, and this new mindless Democratic Party, don’t you know that you can count me out.
January 19th, 2008
There is a real chance that Obama could win and Hillary could even come in third. Gotta love those Iowans. History in the making, right here.
January 3rd, 2008