Juan McCain
There is so much idiotic and asinine commentary out there, it’s always nice to find other people to laugh at it with.
1 comment February 29th, 2008
Archive for February, 2008
True (Primary) Colors
The first also-ran on the Democratic side finally made an endorsement today. Honorable and gutsy John Edwards Chris Dodd came out in support of Barack Obama. Edwards, it seems, is still smarting over the merely semi-reverential tone Obama used when referring to Johnny’s contributions to America, and also perhaps upset that he wasn’t promised the Attorney General position or sainthood, for his dedicated work fighting corporations and vigorous (rheorical) efforts on behalf of the common man while in the Senate… while running for president the first time… while running for president over the last few months.
1 comment February 26th, 2008
Lynx
If you are a fan of HBO’s The Wire, and would like to hear season 5 overanalyzed, go here. And then here.
To learn about the inner workings of the Clinton campaign, especially in regards to the events surrounding Patti Solis Doyle’s ouster, go here. And then here.
To read an interview about the past, present and future of progressive politics between the best of our generation, Ezra Klein, and the best of the Boomers, Paul Krugman, go here. Absolutely fascinating.
Here’s a link for anyone questioning Obama’s grasp of the issues. Here’s another. Ridiculous.
This show is funny.
2 comments February 17th, 2008
It’s a bird, it’s a plane… No, it’s a bird.
There has been quite a lot of concerned talk about the idea of Clinton, as the establishment candidate, convincing enough superdelegates to vote for her to override Obama’s eventual margin of victory among pledged delegates. I’m not too worried. Aside from having quite a bit of establishment support himself, an overwhelming plurality of superdelegates in red or purple states feel Obama would have longer coattails in November. I think people vastly overestimate Clinton’s sway with superdelegates. Her edge there was mostly the result of early endorsements when she seemed to be the presumptive nominee. Recent endorsements tilt in Obama’s favor, and there’s just no way a huge chunk of supers are going to vote against the will of the people, against their own political survival (most of them are elected officials seeking reelection) and against a guy that a good deal of them would rather see in the White House, anyway.
No doubt the Clintons will arm twist and threaten retribution, but those threats don’t carry the same weight when they aren’t coming from the future president. The only threat to Obama now is if he clams up in the general election and loses to the ornery Senator from Arizona. Already, Hillaryland is asking reporters to call these delegates “automatic” delegates instead of superdelegates, because one wouldn’t want to imply that they have super human powers, or more influence than, you know, the fucking voters in each state. That would be patently false. This new strategy has all the logic of their claim that the February contests don’t count because Clinton is not going to win them. It’s like Republicans saying the surge is working because they’ve set the bar so low it’s easier to reach than the “You must be this tall to ride” signs at Disneyland.
There comes a point where putting all this spin on election results and events in general strays too far from any plausible reality and starts to enter Bushian territory.
1 comment February 13th, 2008
Promise Punishes Past in Potomac Primary
Barack Bests Billary in Beltway Battles
Clinton Can’t Compete in Chesapeake Contests
Markos Moulitsas over at Daily Kos reports that we may have shored up the youth vote for a long time to come, as he just overheard his four year-old son talking about that “Rock Obama” guy.
Obama is cleaning up in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia. No matter how you slice the delegates now, count the supers, don’t count them, Obama is ahead. He’s going to lead by over a hundred pledged delegates after tonight, so even counting unseated Michigan and Florida delegates, he’s got the lead. Clinton’s only real path to victory involves winning Ohio and Pennsylvania with 65+ percent of the vote (for various reasons this is just not possible in Texas) and/or convincing superdelegates to vote against the will of the people. Best of luck with that.
Also, in a bellwether primary in the fourth district of Maryland, progressive Donna Edwards looks to unseat establishment hack Al Wynn in a heated contest. Progressives are hoping this is an indicator that DLC Dems who don’t listen to their constituencies can’t just cruise to victories against real liberals. Nancy Pelosi and other bigwigs campaigned for Wynn, so this is a pretty big deal. Equally important to achieving big majorities in both houses of congress is ensuring that strong progressives dictate the agenda within the Democratic Party in the House and Senate.
1 comment February 13th, 2008
This Just In
Hot off the presses:
-Obama wins Maine, bats 1.000 for the weekend.
-John McCain older than dirt; dirt has higher favorability rating.
-Potomac Primary on Tuesday: Maryland, Virginia and D.C. to vote. Experts predict another Obama sweep.
-Surge in Iraq wildly successful. Baghdad runner-up for Top Ten Tourist Locations of 2008.
-Mitt Romney to endorse Dirt for president.
2 comments February 11th, 2008
The Clinton Swan Song
I might have mentioned how I won’t be attending Maureen Dowd’s birthday party any time soon, or offering up the antidote if she were to accidentally swallow her own libelous venom, but her column today has a great quote from Senator McCaskill: “You know, we’ve had some dark days in this democracy over the last seven years, and today the sun is out. It is shining brightly. I watch these kids, these old and young, these black and white, 20,000 of them, pour into our dome in St. Louis Saturday night, and they feel good about being an American right now. And I think that’s something that we have to capture.â€
In the caucuses, where activism and grassroots organization reign supreme, Obama is cleaning up. He’s bringing in hordes of young, excited voters, he’s inspiring the cynics. To the extent that Hillary has been able to stave off Obama’s momentum, she has done it through emulating his candor and empathy, and co-opting Edwards’ populism. Her negative attacks on Obama have backfired, and it is only by attempting to become a better candidate that she is still competitive in this race. I’m oversimplifying the dynamics of this election, but I would say that this prolonged primary is helping both candidates, and more importantly, helping voters to get excited about politics. I think people are excited to vote for a woman and to vote for “Not Bush”, but there should be no confusion about who the truly inspirational candidate is. Obama is going to win this thing, and holy hope in a hand basket, if that doesn’t surprise me a little bit.
3 comments February 6th, 2008
Obama In Illinois
Obama is giving his speech now. Sends his condolences to the families who had to deal with the storms in the Tennessee and the South. Class act. Looks like he at least won half the delegates tonight, I just hope losing Cali doesn’t hurt him too much. I didn’t think he would do this well and for the first time in a while I’m liking his chances. It’s a shame my two favorite states didn’t vote for him.
3 comments February 6th, 2008
Not too shabby
In terms of pure strategy, Obama has made up a lot of ground compared to what he was polling in most of these places just a week ago. He’s picking up enough states to sound good, and wracking up more delegates than expected in Illinois and Georgia. I think he’ll end up with slightly more than half of the delegates up for grabs tonight, and he had to overcome unfavorable early voting and the Clinton machine to do it. Just hope the press gives him the proper recognition for it. Now it’s up to the West to keep giving him good results later tonight. Like someone on another blog said, it feels like halftime.
1 comment February 5th, 2008