Busy, busy, busy

I'm very busy at work today. However, I can always find time to call Joe Lieberman an ass. Joe, you are such an ass.

Economists like ponies too

Paul Krugman--taking his longest jump over the shark tank yet--on what Senator Clinton's role should be in helping to unify the Democratic party:

Mrs. Clinton needs to do her part: she needs to be careful not to act as a spoiler during what’s left of the primary, she needs to bow out gracefully if, as seems almost certain, Mr. Obama receives the nod, and she needs to campaign strongly for the nominee once the convention is over. She has said she’ll do that, and there’s no reason to believe that she doesn’t mean it.

She has already acted the spoiler, she has already showed graceful exits are not her forte, and now, if we take her at her word (which at this point is utterly meaningless), we can be assured that after the convention is over she will campaign strongly for Senator Obama.

Did you catch that? "Once the convention is over" Senator Clinton will be on board. So what happens in the three months leading to the convention? Paul Krugman wants desperately to believe Senator Clinton will play nice. Paul Krugman, once a charter member of the reality-based community, now wants desperately to believe in ponies as well.

Rachel Maddow had it right this week when she said all signs point to a convention battle. Let's hope she has it wrong when she says three more months of fighting will hand John McCain the presidency.

Shame on you Hillary Clinton

Here's what faux outrage really looks like.

Inevitability Internalized

I've been reading and listening to Senator Clinton's supporters the last few days, weeks, months and I understand not liking Senator Obama's health care plan. I understand thinking he's full of it with his kumbaya change message. I understand the opinion that he's inexperienced. What I do not understand is this mantra that somehow he has disrespected Senator Clinton.

It feels like Senator Clinton's inevitability argument has been internalized.

It's not that Obama has actually done anything to disrespect Senator Clinton, it's the mere fact that this youngster didn't wait his turn and allow the senator's coronation to come to fruition. I seriously don't get it and I hope Senator Clinton's supporters can get over this personalization of the campaign and see that, in the end, we are talking about saving our country, and more importantly the Supreme court, from another four years of Republican rule.

Truth in Comics

If it's Sunday, it's Truth in Comics.

The Clintons in a nutshell

From Don Frederick at the LAT Blog:

Largely obscured in the understandable uproar over Hillary Clinton's Friday reference to the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy has been the fallacy of the basic point she sought to convey -- that there is nothing all that unusual about the trajectory of her battle with Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nod.

Before invoking the Kennedy killing in comments to a South Dakota newspaper that she quickly rued, Clinton said, "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary, somewhere in the middle of June, right?"

Actually, wrong in all but the most technical sense.

Being actually wrong in all but the most technical sense (like Senator Clinton's popular vote argument) is the political game the Clintons play that allows them to sleep at night. It's why we need to turn the page.

Hillary Clinton refers to RFK assassination

I'm not even touching this one. Nope. No way. Can't. Do. It. I very much need to believe that she's not going there and that Obama's assassination is not what she is waiting for. But I will say, she could have actually apologized to Obama and not only to the Kennedys for her unfortunate choice of words.

UPDATE: OK, I'm going in. I've watched the clip many times now and I have no benefit of doubt to give.

Here's the clip:



She's waiting around in case Obama is assassinated. That's it. I want to parse, but I can't. I'm kind of dumbfounded.

I've now watched the apology too a few times and it's equally baffling. She didn't apologize, if anything she reinforced.



And, if she intentially raised the specter of Obama's death--she had done it before, after all--then did she really think there would be no backlash? Is she trying to be outrageous just to stay in the news? Is she turning into Ann Coulter right before our eyes? Again, I'm dumbfounded.

UPDATE II: The real irony here is that Senator Clinton has been hanging around waiting for something to happen, politically speaking. Something that would signal the collapse of Obama's candidacy and give the superdelegates, or even the pledged delegates, an excuse to bolt. She was waiting for another Wright, another bitter. Well, I think she got her bitter, but not the bitter she had hoped for.

Quote of the Day

"I defend Hillary Clinton, because I am defending myself. And Mama Shakes. And my sister. And my girlfriends. And all the Shaker women. And women I will never know. And all the men, especially gay men and bi men and trans men and intersex men, who will be demeaned with misogynist slurs, too." -- the great Melissa McEwan explaining, once again, why she must--regardless of her politics--defend Hillary Clinton from the blatant sexism the permeates the 2008 primary campaign.

Clinton as VP rumors intensify

I understand and would accept Obama's judgment if he offered Senator Clinton the VP slot.

To be clear, I would not like it. Not one bit. I feel other people could balance out the ticket better. And, beyond Senator Clinton's politics and her hawkish polices, I believe she is far too polarizing a figure. Her inclusion on the ticket would motivate a depressed GOP base like no other Democrat could. However, Obama's team has run a smart campaign and know the electoral math far better than a neophyte like me. After all, in the end, it's about getting a Democrat in the White House and saving the Supreme Court.

That being said, I just can't get past the blackmail-like feeling coming from the Clinton camp about the Senator being offered the VP slot. Just like the presidency itself, the VP slot is not rightfully hers. It's the nominee's choice. I suspect this entire VP whisper campaign is designed to foment more anger and antipathy towards Obama if he chooses not to put Senator Clinton on the ticket. It would be just one more reason for Clinton's surrogates to undermine an Obama run (and his presidency when he wins).

Here's the video with the latest:



UPDATE: Well, that was quick. In a matter of hours we go from subtle blackmail to all out threats. Here's Senator Clinton's fattest of cats:

"But there's a risk that if she isn't invited on the ticket, Hillary's political and financial supporters may not feel compelled to be as integrated and involved in the Obama campaign in order to provide the maximum support that he'll need to prevail in November."

That's just ugly. These people are loyal to Clinton only. If McCain won, it's clear, that would be fine by them. Disgusting.

Mind you, Clinton's people could argue on the merits to get her on the ticket, but threats. Again, disgusting.

Cleaning House

With John McCain now officially rejecting the endorsements of Rev. Rod Parsley and pastor John Hagee, I wonder how soon it will be before he rejects the real ball and chain around his neck: George W. Bush.

The Real Bill O'Reilly

...is an angry, impatient, unreasonable man, and BraveNewFilms has a video clip showing him in all his uncharitable glory. Seeing this helps me better understand how he can espouse the narrow, unforgiving political views he does, and why he treats "guests" he disagrees with on his show with such contempt. The man is a hater, plain and simple. The embed video code isn't working, so you'll need to go their website to view it. It's worth the trip.

Just in case you haven't been paying attention

The winner of the Democratic primary will be decided by who has the most delegates. Everything else is just distraction and lies.

Because giving is fundamental

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Scorched Earth

The people on the TV keep telling me Hillary Clinton is playing nice, that she would never harm the party, that kumbaya is right around the corner. I'm not quite sure they are watching the same campaign as I am.

Update: Kvatch in the comments asks: "I admit that I'm not paying as much attention this issue as I should, but I have to ask: What about enfranchising voters--whose only sin was having voted in a state that decided to run afoul of DNC regs--equates to some kind of "scorched earth" policy?"


To which I reply: Because through no fault of Obama's, who played by the rules, he's being made to look like the bad guy and the electoral-well is being poisoned for him come November.

If she was so upset, if she was so concerned about disenfranchising the voters, she should have spoken up when the pledge was being signed before Iowa. No, now, now when she needs it, she pretends to care. She pretends it's some kind of epic, moral battle.

Also, the Hillary Campaign is equating Florida and Michigan with Al Gore in 2000 and, in turn, claiming that if Obama wins it's somehow illegitimate (and this is all based on her popular vote lead lie).

This doesn't even get to the fact that her surrogates are out there saying McCain is not a Bush third term (Blumenthal), and others say that they won't vote for Obama because of his sexism (Ferraro).

It's all bunk and it's all sour grapes. If she can't win, she's going to ensure Obama can't either. To me that's scorching the earth Obama runs on.

Hey, superdelegates, check this out

While it's still way too early to look at general election polls, today's Reuters/Zogby poll is good news for the Obama campaign.

First the big picture:

Obama, who was tied with McCain in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up last month, moved to a 48 percent to 40 percent lead over the Arizona senator in May as he took command of his grueling Democratic presidential duel with rival Hillary Clinton.

Now to specifically dispel Senator Clinton's electability argument:

Obama led McCain among independents, 47 percent to 35 percent, and led among some groups of voters who have backed Clinton during their Democratic primary battle, including Catholics, Jews, union households and voters making less than $35,000 a year.

There is no "Jewish problem." There is no "white working-class problem." And, if there was, some of these folks are natural Bush-McCain supporters anyway. Once this general election campaign gets rolling, and Senator Clinton is no longer trying to degrade the Democratic nominee with her fuzzy math, Obama's numbers will soar even higher.

If it's Tuesday, it's another Democratic primary

Senator Clinton takes Kentucky. Senator Obama takes Oregon. And, Clinton's people are on the TV are comparing this primary season to the 2000 election fiasco. Except it's not. In 2000 Al Gore didn't have to fudge the numbers to get his popular vote lead.

Hugs

A lady on the subway this morning was sporting an Obama pin. Just seeing it made me want to hug her and thank her. This is new for me.

I'm confused

John McCain called Barack Obama's judgment reckless today. Does that mean cheer-leading the invasion, and continued occupation, of a sovereign nation based on a lie was somehow prudent?

Parsing and pandering

The more Senator Clinton pushes her popular-vote parse, her popular-vote lie, the more I remember why I really didn't want a Clinton in the White House again.

Parsing, pandering, and assuming you're not paying attention, it's what they do best.

Obama: "What are George Bush and John McCain afraid of"?

Easy, they are terrified that they have no idea how to deal with a candidate like Obama. The page has already turned.

Here's the latest exchange between Obama the Iranian-enabler John McCain.