Meet the Jackass

God, Tim Russert is such an insufferable boob. Here's the highlight reel of the self-important a-hole from last night's Democratic debate:






Is it any surprise this little-reported (yet utterly humiliating) tidbit emerged during testimony at the Scooter Libby trial:

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.




This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.




Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."




"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

Tim Russert, he's not really a tool, he just plays one on teevee.

"We Don't Torture"

Mother Jones has posted "The Torture Playlist," featuring the music the US military blasts 24/7 at Gitmo in an effort to break down the terr'ists.




[Double-click on any song...]


All I can say is, "Bring on the waterboarding, bro!"

We Should Invade Kenya

I'm fairly certain Barack Saddam Hussein Osama Obama is probably hiding weapons of mass destruction in there somewhere. Effing Muslim traitor. He'll probably take the oath of office by putting his hand on Thomas Jefferson's Koran.

The Last Refuge of a Scoundrel

When CNN cites Barack Obama's decision not to wear a flag pin, and then poses an online poll question like this:



Doesn't it make you wonder what's so doggone patriotic about wearing a flag pin anyway?





And why does George W. Bush (h)ate America?

Can You Say Surge!?!?

Good to know we're still winning the war in Iraq:

BAGHDAD -- A suicide bomber blew himself up among Shiite Muslim pilgrims at a crowded rest stop today, part of an eruption of sectarian violence that killed at least 43 people, injured 148 and tarnished one of Shiite Islam's holiest holidays.

Nader

I hate to say this [no I don't], because I even made the mistake of voting for him in 2000, but Ralph Nader is a fucking tool.




He needs to go away.

The Bass Drum Had a Note

This is a mash-up of epic proportions. Check it.

Keating Five Review

In case you forgot what the whole Keating Five thing was all about, well, let's just say that when John McCain tells you he's above reproach and has never dipped his hand in the cookie jar, he, like Joe Izusu, is lying. He may think our memories are short, but we know, he almost went to jail in the 1980s.

McCain's upward political trajectory was jolted when he became enmeshed in the Keating Five scandal of the 1980s. In the context of the Savings and Loan crisis of that decade, Charles Keating Jr.'s Lincoln Savings and Loan Association, a subsidiary of his American Continental Corporation, was insolvent as a result of some bad loans. In order to regain solvency, Lincoln sold investment in a real estate venture as an FDIC-insured savings account. This caught the eye of federal regulators who were looking to shut it down. It is alleged that Keating contacted five senators to whom he made contributions. McCain was one of those senators and he met at least twice in 1987 with Ed Gray, chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, seeking to prevent the government's seizure of Lincoln.


Between 1982 and 1987, McCain received approximately $112,000 in political contributions from Keating and his associates.[112] In addition, McCain's wife and her father had invested $359,100 in a Keating shopping center in April 1986, a year before McCain met with the regulators. McCain, his family and baby-sitter made at least nine trips at Keating's expense, sometimes aboard the American Continental jet. After learning Keating was in trouble over Lincoln, McCain paid for the air trips totaling $13,433.[113]


Eventually the real estate venture failed, leaving many broke. Federal regulators ultimately filed a $1.1 billion civil racketeering and fraud suit against Keating, accusing him of siphoning Lincoln's deposits to his family and into political campaigns. The five senators came under investigation for attempting to influence the regulators. In the end, none of the senators was convicted of any crime, although McCain was rebuked by the Senate Ethics Committee for exercising "poor judgment" in intervening with the federal regulators on Keating's behalf.

Tour of California

Stage winner Dominique Rollin of the Toyota-United Pro team.







(click pics for larger images)








The Tour of California came through San Luis Obispo today -- on possibly the coldest single day in the city's history. I'll bet the temperature didn't top 50 degrees all day long. It was a constant, cold, gray and dreary drizzle, and when the riders finally pushed into town (nearly 7 hours after they left NoCal), they looked nothing if not miserable. Two riders actually dropped out of the race altogether when they succumbed to the ill effects of hypothermia. And that's no lie.


Paul Sherwin said it best when, as he watched one drenched and desperate rider after another struggle home, he bouyed them with the notion that "the hot soup is waiting; and so are the warm towels."

Just Sayin'

Note to Hillary: In your last desperate debate appearance before you get punked out of the race altogether, it's best not to dress like Cruella de Ville...

What's a Baby Boomer?

I've often felt that my generation has been wrongly tagged with the "Baby Boomer" label. The usual definintion of a "Baby Boomer" is someone born from 1946 to 1964, but my friends and I, most born in 1962 or 1963, always felt kind of cheated by that. For example, here we are getting blamed for busting Social Security and we ain't even gonna be eligible for another 17 years, minimum. What the hell's up with that?



When the kids coming up behind us in school started in with the whole Generation X thing, well, goddammit, we decided we needed our own "generation." And here it is: Anybody born in the 1960s, we decided, particularly the early '60s, is a member of Generation Why.



I've been giving this a bit more thought, and here is the ultimate definition of Generation Why:

If you were alive when JFK got shot, but you can't remember where you were when it happened, then congratulations, you are a proud member of Generation Why.

Eclipse!

Did you get to see the eclipse last night?
Me neither.

Al Qaeda Makes a Courtesy Call (Allegedly)

Believe it or not, this is a screen cap from the closed-captioning coverage on CNN last night. This is the coverage the deaf people got. Somebody over there -- somebody with a real funny-ha-ha sense of humor -- put it up.



Your elite media in action. We are doomed.

Give 'im Enough Rope

I believe others have been fired for less than this....



O'Reilly: "I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence, hard facts, that say this is how the woman really feels. If that's how she really feels -- that America is a bad country or a flawed nation, whatever --then that's legit. We'll track it down."




What was it Michelle Obama said that was so offensive?

Speaking in Milwaukee, Wisconsin today, would-be First Lady Michelle Obama said, "for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback."

I don't know, she's pretty much the same age as I am. We've had Vietnam, Watergate, the late '70s malaise, the Reagan Administration, Iran-Contra, Bush 41, Clintonian triangulation, and Bush 43. She may in fact be on to something.

Uh, oh....Bimbo Eruption!

And you thought the Keating Five thing was going to be McCain's biggest problem once the long knives came out in the general election?

WASHINGTON — Early in Senator John McCain’s first run for the White House eight years ago, waves of anxiety swept through his small circle of advisers.



A female lobbyist had been turning up with him at fund-raisers, visiting his offices and accompanying him on a client’s corporate jet. Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself — instructing staff members to block the woman’s access, privately warning her away and repeatedly confronting him, several people involved in the campaign said on the condition of anonymity. The rest here....

She was 32 at the time, he was 63. Rock on WALNUTS!
[But never forget, Cindy owns the beer distributorship.]

Worst. President. Ever.

Bush's job approval ratings have fallen to 19% among all Americans in this American Research Group poll. 18% among registered voters.




19%!! Truly a tank job of Nixonian proportions. Worse, even.

You Need to Ask Yourself Why?

At a [recent] public hearing, one Florida Panhandle resident held up two oranges and mockingly said that “after reading all the material” on evolution, he has a “conviction” that one of the oranges “is the first cousin of somebody’s pet cat” and the other, “the parent of somebody’s pet dog.”

They walk among us.

None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

h/t Atrios, Unbelievable....

Fox News's Special Report yesterday:


GOLER: The president says it's better that African nations deal with African problems. White soldiers in Darfur, he believes, would be targets for all sides.


BUSH: A clear lesson I learned in the museum was that outside forces tend to divide people up inside their country and are unbelievably counterproductive.

"unbelievably counterproductive"?!?!?

Red Devils -- She's Dangerous

"I gotta say that this live recording is by far the best live recording I have ever heard."

With the possible exception of the Butterfield Blues Band's East-West, this is the best white boy blues album I have ever heard. And Butterfield's band was racially mixed, so that's cheating. King King (named after the club where it was recorded) is the motherfucker of all white blues albums. Oh, there are louder blues albums - Zen Guerilla and Five Horse Johnson come to mind - but they were made/recorded by bands from other scenes that happened to dabble in the blues on the side. The Red Devils were a blues band in the purest sense of the word...

...Lester Butler, a masterful harmonica player who combined the soul of Little Walter with the imposing technicality of Charlie Musselwhite and Paul Butterfield...

...It's music that grooves, breathes, thrills, encourages and excites. Disliking this album sounds a lot like blasphemy to me. If you're into the blues and like some bad-ass Chicago-styled partyin' once in awhile, this is required listening. If you're looking for a perfect introduction to (modern) blues, this is an ideal pick. The downside of it all is that you'll have a hard time finding something that measures up to it, but hey, life is short (unfortunately - remember Butler) and I always try to get the best as well, so I suggest you do the same. As the name suggests, King King deserves to be treated like royalty. Get it.

Calling the Nuge!

Looks like the GOP candidates are going to have to dig a little deeper into the old back catalog....

Last weekend we examined the campaign soundtracks of each of the Presidential hopefuls and noted that Republicans often use songs from liberal artists with liberal themes. John Mellencamp is a favorite, used by Reagan, GWB, and most recently John McCain. That is, until he asked McCain to stop using his song, Our Country. Tom Petty also asked McCain to stop using his song, I Won't Back Down.


And now, it's Huckabee's turn. Tom Scholz of the band Boston has demanded that Mike Huckabee stop using More Than a Feeling on the campaign trail.

Here's the capper to Boston founder Tom Scholz's classic Huckabee smackdown:

BOSTON has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything BOSTON stands for. In fact, although I'm impressed you learned my bass guitar part on More Than a Feeling, I am an Obama supporter.

Sad Nation

Gunman's Rampage Baffles Friends....

Six dead, 18 wounded. We are doomed.


Update: Turns out the fool bought the gun from the same guy as the VA Tech shooter. Ain't it about time for some gun control, people?
Can I get a witness?

"Fate leads the willing and drags the rest."

--Arthur Schopenhauer

Don't They Know I'm on a Watch List?

This could present a problem:

MARIA SURIYA

CARLTON HOTELS

LONDON.

Tel;+ 44 7024030288



Dear friend,


Nice writing you today, I am Mrs. Maria Suriya in charges of stock keeping Carlton Hotels London.



I am writing you this proposal in good faith. I have a financial transaction that will benefit you and I, as the STOCKER of Carlton Hotels London, it is my duty to check in the hotel and know what is in the stork rooms.



On the course of the year 2006 31st December to be precise some group of business tycoons, i suspected were Alqaiada members held a conference in our hotel but the same meeting ended up with a grand dispute and some police men came in and disperse every member, some where arrested based on the unlawful plans,in it we discovered in our Hotel branch in which I am incharge of an amount of Eleven million and five hundred thousand United States dollars ($11,500,000US Dollars) which my head office is not aware of and will never be aware of.


It is on a Diplomatic luggage, The diplomatic luggage is a special parcel that is meant to be transferred to a different country. As an official in this Hotel, I cannot be directly involved in this financial luggage, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me in receiving this parcel in your name and We can share this funds equally of the total amount involved. Presently I have deposited this consignment/case containing into a financial security firm nationwide bank united kingdom) from where it will be transported to your in your country.



There are practically no risks involved, the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law, Hence the authority will assign there Diplomatic company to transport to your country. it is simply a diplomatic courier transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as the owner depositor of these fund from carlton hotel to the Bank with my Hotel to enable me transfer to your designated address in a few working days, while I will fly in soonest for my percentage and investment in your country. If you accept my proposal I will appreciate it very much as you are the first and the only person I am contacting for this transaction. I enclose my photo. Please reply back to me on this email with the following information.name, Address,sex,age, nationality, occupation, telephone number.



Thanks and Best Regards,



MARIA SURIYA

As near as I can tell, a bunch of Al Qaeda terrorists had a New Year's Eve party at this woman's hotel in London, got drunk and disorderly and mistakenly left a "diplomatic suitcase" behind with $11.5-million inside. Now she needs me to receive the money here and then she'll come over and split the take. Sorry, I saw No Country for Old Men. Bailing with somebody else's millions never works out for the best. Besides that, there's no photo.



No photo, no deal.

Do You Believe in Miracles?

America the Well-Armed

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

CNN) -- A gunman killed four people at Northern Illinois University's DeKalb campus outside Chicago Thursday, and then fatally shot himself. Seventeen people were injured, authorities said, at least three gravely.



The shooter, dressed in black, walked out from behind a screen in a geology ocean sciences class in a 600-seat lecture hall and opened fire a little after 3 p.m. (4 p.m. ET), NIU president John Peters said. [More details....]

The Second Amendment to the US Constitution, Exhibit A for the perils of poor comma placement.

WDJD? (What Did Jesus Do?)

For those who believe in an Angry God, boy is He pissed.



The Kid musta wrecked the Old Man's car.

Never Forget

It can't happen again.
Can it?

Deepest Fear

In quiet moments of thoughtful contemplation, I sometimes envision the Democrats screwing this whole thing up and losing the presidency in November.

Point of Clarification

Useless though they may be, the word is "pundit," not "pundint." Why is it I see pundits on my teevee who can't say this word correctly?

Trickle-down Economics

"Make the pie higher"

The Bush administration's announcement Tuesday that it would put the foreclosure process on hold for 30 days to rescue struggling homeowners came several weeks too late for Mike Salgado.



And he's not even a homeowner.



Salgado, 40, is one of many renters who have found themselves homeless after their cash-strapped landlords stopped making mortgage payments and their houses or apartment buildings were foreclosed upon.



The California Apartment Assn., the state's largest organization of rental property owners, estimates that as much as a quarter of all foreclosed single-family residences are occupied by renters. The number of renters ensnared in the foreclosure fiasco is even larger when duplexes and other multi-unit buildings are factored in.



And the evictions show no sign of abating. Total foreclosures of single-family homes statewide rose more than 400% to a record 31,676 in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, according to DataQuick Information Systems.

George W. Bush: The Death of Satire

Remember this? January 17, 2001.

WASHINGTON, DC – Mere days from assuming the presidency and closing the door on eight years of Bill Clinton, president-elect George W. Bush assured the nation in a televised address Tuesday that "our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over."



"My fellow Americans," Bush said, "at long last, we have reached the end of the dark period in American history that will come to be known as the Clinton Era, eight long years characterized by unprecedented economic expansion, a sharp decrease in crime, and sustained peace overseas. The time has come to put all of that behind us."

Saturday Morning Nugget

"Well I used to be disgusted

Now I try to be amused."

FOX News: They Distort, You Decide

The conservatives really, really have it in for John McCain, (D-Arizona)

Mitt We Hardly Knew Ye

Chickenshit asshole who knew he was going to lose:

If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror.

Mitt, who let the dogs out?



And who can ever forget this heartwarming tail tale?:

The incident: dog excrement found on the roof and windows of the Romney station wagon. How it got there: Romney strapped a dog carrier — with the family dog Seamus, an Irish Setter, in it — to the roof of the family station wagon for a twelve hour drive from Boston to Ontario, which the family apparently completed, despite Seamus's rather visceral protest.

The future may not be so bright for Willard's five (count 'em!) enlistment age sons either, since he's now going to get called out on this bit of polticized BS:

Since Romney's justification for his sons' seeming lack of enthusiasm for military service was the fact that they were "serving their country" by helping him get elected, and since him getting elected just isn't in the cards, will the Romney boys be on their way to the recruiting office?

Winning Hearts and Minds in the Western World

Disobedience is futile...

Muslim medical students are refusing to obey hygiene rules brought in to stop the spread of deadly superbugs, because they say it is against their religion.



Women training in several hospitals in England have raised objections to removing their arm coverings in theatre and to rolling up their sleeves when washing their hands, because it is regarded as immodest in Islam.

We're never gonna win the war on terror while there are still people in the world who think this way. How does one get so far with so little?




I'm left with one question.... What would Gary Sillett, pressman at The Ottawa Herald in Princeton, Kansas, think?

The Trouble with for Barack

In case you were wondering what sort of empty-headed idiocy Barack [Hussein] Obama will be facing down in the Heartland come November, behold this treatise of foggy, half-witted ignorance:


"One Man's Opinion", The Ottawa Herald:

Some Web sites suggest Barack Hussein Obama will not recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He refuses to wear an American flag lapel pin. He will not face the flag during the playing of the National Anthem nor will he sing it or even mouth the words.



To elect Barack Obama to the highest office in the land would be nothing less than spitting on the graves of the victims of 9/11, as well as the memory of the countless thousands of American loyalists who have pledged and given their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor in defense of those tired old symbols and icons of the greatest nation on earth.



Beware of wolves in sheep s clothing, it’s been said. Don t betray your heritage simply for the sake of change. Heed the voices of your fellow Americans, past, present and future who call upon you to uphold the principles of the United States and protect them from pretenders like Barack Hussein Obama.

Gary Sillett is a Princeton, Kansas, resident and a pressman at The Ottawa Herald.

More on the Maverick

For those checking resumes, John McCain finished 894th out of 899 in his graduating class at the US Naval Academy. He did drink beer and date strippers though, so he's got that going for him. And did I mention that his wife Cindy is the heiress to a beer distributorship?

Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?

Morgan Spurlock's new movie looks like it could be fun:



Doctor: "What are you going to be doing?"

Morgan Spurlock: "We're going to go look for Osama bin Laden."

Doctor: "Okay."

So Funny I Forgot to Laugh

During election coverage on NBC last night, Pat Buchanan opined that if John McCain gets elected

"he will make Cheney look like Ghandi."

Now as disconcerting as that notion is, what I find perhaps more disturbing is the way Paul Begala and Rachel Maddow get a real belly-laugh out of it.



Watch the comedy gold right here.

Obama is No JFK

To steal a famous line from Lloyd Bentsen (and turn it on its head), Barack Obama is no Jack Kennedy.




From George Packer in the New Yorker:

Whatever happens today, can we stop limiting Obama’s future by comparing him to Jack Kennedy? (I’m an early offender.) J.F.K. was a mediocre President. For two and a half years his position on civil rights was legalistic—he stood up for enforcing court orders—until the dramatic images from Birmingham in May 1963 forced him to describe the issue as a moral one. The civil-rights bill he then introduced into Congress stood little chance of passing partly because Kennedy was unwilling to spend the huge amount of necessary political capital. For those who believe he was on his way out of Vietnam when he was assassinated, how to explain the dramatic coup three weeks before his death that overthrew the government of Ngo Dinh Diem and pulled the U.S. ever deeper into the quagmire? Kennedy’s main domestic accomplishment was a tax cut; his main foreign accomplishment was avoiding nuclear war over Soviet missiles in Cuba (his finest hour).

[...]

Kennedy was a supremely cool calculator of interest. Ironic detachment was his strength, and his weakness. It made him less likely than L.B.J. to have invested his ego and half a million troops in a hopeless war. It also meant that he wouldn’t have staked his political future on passing civil-rights and voting rights—victories that Johnson correctly predicted would cost the Democrats the South for a generation.

[...]

Kennedy’s inspirational value lay entirely in his rhetoric and style. And because he caught the spirit of his times, he helped set loose social forces that far exceeded any concrete achievements of his Presidency. The question for anyone weighing whether to vote for Obama is not if he would be as good a President as Kennedy. I’d like to think he would be better. The question is whether these are again times when an inspirational figure can change the country simply by being in the White House.

Democratic Race Remains a Toss-up

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama dueled to a Super Tuesday draw, capturing states big and small and padding their delegate counts in a Democratic contest that remains highly competitive after the biggest day of balloting in presidential primary history.



Obama won 12 of 22 states -- but not California, the day's most coveted prize. Clinton's victory there was powered by overwhelming support from Latinos, who made up nearly 30% of California voters.

Back in 2004, it was my county's shame that we were the only one of California's 15 coastal counties (including usually red Orange County) to vote for George W. Bush. We lumped ourselves in there with all the redneck yahoos from Fresno, Kern and Kings.



This time around, in the Democratic primary, San Luis Obispo was one of only 5 of the state's 58 counties to vote in favor of Barack Obama. Bottom line in the Sunshine State: Hillary won big almost everywhere. The papers are saying it was due to the Hispanic vote. Lou Dobbs is wondering how many of them voted absentee from Tijuana.

Loser

I guess if there's one big loser from last night it's Mitt Romney. He got punked by Huckabee all over the South (with an assist from McCain, allegedly) and he's gotta be getting tired of giving the "We came in second (or third) so we're gonna stay in this thing" speech.

This Should Come as No Surprise

Confusion reigned in Bexar (that’s pronounced “bear,” Yankees) County yesterday, as thousands of dullards swamped the elections department with phone calls asking where they could vote on Tuesday. The answer: Nowhere! The Texas primary isn’t till March.



Jacque Callanen, the Bexar County elections commissioner, offered up this explanation: “It’s all over the national media and the local media that there’s a big election.”



The rampant plague of idiocy extends northward all the way to Washington State, where glassy-eyed Walla Walla voters are staggering around wondering when they, too, will be able to tick the ticky. The answer: February 19.

Rhetoric (Not)

McCain just now, talking about his rough and tumble campaign against Mitt Romney:


"Him and I been going at it."


Nice going Walnuts! Speak in public much?

Scattershot Calls California for Hillary, McCain

With 14.3% of precincts reporting, Clinton 55.0%, Obama 31.6%, Edwards 10.9%. I'm no statistician (and Dewey did "defeat" Truman one time long ago) but that lead looks pretty insurmountable.




Ballot measures (all look like done deals):

91: Y-44.4% N-55.6%

92: Y-35.0% N-65.0%

93: Y-47.2% N-52.8%

94: Y-57.6% N-42.6%

95: Y-57.7% N-42.3%

96: Y-57.4% N-42.6%

97: Y-57.6% N-42.4%



On the GOP side, McCain leads Romney 43.1% to 26.0% with 13.8% reporting.

Rhetoric

Barack Obama, just now:



"We are the ones we've been waiting for."


Isn't that a Talking Heads lyric?

California Update

With 5.8% of precincts reporting, Clinton 53.8%, Obama 32.6%, Edwards 11.1%




Ballot measures:

91: Y-44.4% N-55.6%

92: Y-35.0% N-65.0%

93: Y-47.2% N-52.8%

94: Y-57.6% N-42.6%

95: Y-57.7% N-42.3%

96: Y-57.4% N-42.6%

97: Y-57.6% N-42.4%



On the GOP side, McCain leads Romney 43.1% to 26.5% with 5.3% reporting.

California Results Link

Official California results here. The networks are apparently reluctant to make an early call, so they're holding back on releasing any numbers, but here they are:


With 3.8% of precincts reporting, Clinton 53.2%, Obama 33.3%, Edwards 11%




Ballot measures:

91: Y-43.9% N-56.1%

92: Y-34.4% N-65.6%

93: Y-47.3% N-52.7%

94: Y-57.4% N-42.6%

95: Y-57.4% N-42.6%

96: Y-57.1% N-42.9%

97: Y-57.4% N-42.6%



On the GOP side, McCain leads Romney 43.1% to 26.5% with 4.1% reporting.

Results Page

Click the link and click refresh for up-to-the-minute Super Tuesday results...

The Contrast

Here's the way I see: Hillary Clinton is meat and potatoes; Barack Obama is hot fudge sundaes and piña coladas. Both are very good. Vote for your favorite.

Super Tuesday

The toughest choice I ever had to make in a voting booth and it came in a Democratic primary.

Rovian Calculus

"If I believe the country will suffer with either Hillary, Obama or McCain, I would just as soon the Democrats take the hit . . . rather than a Republican causing the debacle." --Rush Limbaugh




In the world of Rovian politics, this is exactly the calculus they are working on. It's pretty clear that things are going to be FUCKED UP for some time to come, and the wingnuts' best option is to blame EVERYTHING on the next occupant of the White House. Better that it be someone from outside their circle than from within. Look at how smoothly they shifted the debate and turned the tables on the "do-nothing" Demcoratic Congress. The media is complicit in the game, because the real reason the congress has "done nothing" (though not entirely true) is that the Republicans have blocked them at every opportunity, but that's not how it gets portrayed in the
newspapers or on the nighthly news.



Ask yourself, why is it when Democrats even threaten to use a filibuster they are derided as obstructionists, but when Republicans dicker around by forcing cloture votes and siphoning away the one or two Democrats they need to overturn a bipartisan consensus, they are portrayed as, as, well "advancing their agenda from the minority position."



It's because "Democrats are weak" and "Republicans are strong".



Whichever candidate becomes president in November, it's going to be a miserable four years. In order of misery, from most to least, it goes like this: Hillary, most miserable; John McCain, 2nd most miserable; Barack Obama, least miserable. [I know I left Romney out.]



I was talking to one of my co-workers about my inability to decide between Hillary and Obama and he said he voted for Obama in order to "put Fox News out of business." Unfortunately, thanks to Karl Rove, that kind of thinking actually makes sense.

Somebody's Gonna Win

[With only a few minutes remaining] until the polls open, two of the biggest polling operations have turned in their final verdict on today's vote in California. And the verdict is: someone is really, really, really wrong.

Careful with that (Anthr)Ax, Eugene.

February 5, 2003. Watch a man commit career suicide.

The Maverick

El_Hornito Straw Poll

Okay, so even though I still can't decide, I've been asking people who they like in tomorrow's contest. For what it's worth, the groundswell is undeniably going toward Obama. My survey did not include Republicans, but my friend Sam, a dyed-in-the-wool conservative, told me she voted for Obama. Thanks to that call from Brad Whitford I now know Independents can vote in the Democratic primary. Whew! Lucky thing for Sam, or she'd hafta support one of those Republican crazies.




The results of the unscientific El_Hornito Straw Poll suggest a landslide big victory for Obama.




El_Hornito remains undecided.

Brad Whitford?

Brad Whitford just hit me with a robo-call alerting me that registered Independents can vote tomorrow in the Democratic primary.
Draw the Line.

Checkmate honey, beat you at your own damn game.

Perhaps I'll Decide the Irish Way....

...by heading down to McCarthy's for a couple Guinness.

Democratic Primary: California Votes Tomorrow!

Received this email from me Ma this afternoon:

"[A] thought for consideration: if you and I vote for Obama, and Dad and Doriana vote for Hillary, (Dad did already) we will cancel each other out!"

T asks in the comments:

I'm just wondering if the Republicans or people on the fence will vote for a Clinton. It seems like Obama might have a better chance against the Republican candidate because a lot of people might hate the Clintons. what do you think?

Well, Democracy is messy that way, isn't it?




This is truly the most amazing presidential primary season in my voting life. I've often told people that they should read Hunter S. Thompson's "Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail" if they want to get a good feel for the horse race (and horse trading) aspects of presidential politics, but there will surely be some great books coming out of Campaign 2008.




Now, that's a pretty a good point up there about the vote cancellation angle (better known as "the Nader effect"), but T's on to something as well and here's my real fear about tomorrow, and the near future of Democratic politics: If Hillary gets the nomination, it's certain to put a strong wind in the sails of right-wing gasbags like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity. It'll be non-stop rancor for months and months! A new lease on life for Fox News and Bill O'Reilly. And it'll probably draw every Clinton-hater from Bakersfield to Birmingham, Alabama, to the polls, just to vote against her. There are people who would likely stay home if the choice is between Obama and McCain, but if Hillary's on the ballot, they'd part the Red Sea and crawl through broken glass to pull the lever against her.




Additionally, should Hillary actually win the election in November, just imagine how totally miserable the next four years will be with the nutcases attacking her -- and Bill -- for EVERY SINGLE THING they do. Do we really want to go through all that again? It would be relentless, ugly and completely mind-numbing.




That said, it is totally unfair to Hillary to make an electoral decision based on those possibilities. If she's the best candidate, if she's the person you want to win, if she represents your views, if she's proven to you that she's the most qualified, best prepared candidate, then she deserves your vote, regardless of what that means to the other side. I'm telling you, right here, as a loyal C-SPAN viewer who's watched several Hillary speeches from beginning to end, who's watched more debates than most, she knows her stuff. She is totally on top of it. And I even -- gasp! -- believe in her sincerety.




Obama is great on the stump. He can really lift your spirits and set your heart to soaring. He can make you stomp your feet and he can bring a tear to your eye. But he rarely talks about anything concrete. He doesn't break down the numbers. He doesn't, that I've seen, ever really give you anything to sink your teeth into. He's inspirational, absolutely, but he's treading the same ground John Edwards did, without half the substance Edwards offered. I'm afraid you can't run the United States of America on HOPE and a DREAM. That ain't the way it is. [Holy cow, did I just talk myself out of voting for Obama?!? But I love that guy!]




So I go back and forth. Either one of these contenders would be great, and when's the last time we had the luxury of not being able to decide between two such excellent candidates? This is a really hard choice.




Alas, 14 hours to go and I'm still on the fence.

Hillary's Got Game

Fret not Hillary lovers, I know the Obama surge has been a bit disheartening, but here's a dose of sugar from Markos:

Here's the bottom line: Hillary has the lead in most February 5th states. Despite the frothings of the anti-Hillary crowd, most Democrats like her and are comfortable with her. Therefore, Obama has to give them a reason NOT to vote for her, but for him instead.




Did he do that last night? Not that I saw.

What Have the Unions Ever Done for Us?

I've got a couple/few friends who think labor unions are one of the great socialist evils on Earth. To them I offer this video (produced in Australia but relevant everywhere people work for a living... which is everywhere):



Organized labor also gave us the 8-hour workday, the 40-hour work week, and rid us of this crime against humanity:


So, thank you Joe Hill.

The Rascals

Big Mo?

Granted it's been a pretty crazy primary season so far, and next Tuesday's voting will speak volumes, but I've been getting the feeling over the past few days that the big momentum is really shifting Obama's way.

I still can't decide who I'm going to vote for (now that Edwards is out), and I'm not casting any aspersions on Hillary -- I still believe she's a fine candidate and would make an excellent president -- I just think something's happening for Obama.