Friday’s Mini-Report

May 16, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Tragic: “The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis has nearly doubled to almost 78,000 and another 56,000 people remain missing two weeks after the storm, Myanmar state television reported Friday. The United Nations, meanwhile, said that severe restrictions by Myanmar’s military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors’ suffering.”

* Aftershocks in China: “A strong aftershock sparked landslides Friday near the epicenter of this week’s powerful earthquake, while some survivors were pulled from rubble after being buried for four days. The first foreign rescue workers since Monday’s magnitude 7.9 temblor were allowed to the scene, and helicopters dropped leaflets urging people to ‘unite together’ and providing survival tips. Officials have said the quake’s final toll could reach 50,000.”

* This is unlikely to make a difference, but for what it’s worth: “Saudi Arabia announced Friday that it will boost oil production by about 300,000 barrels a day to meet increased demand from customers next month. The announcement came after President Bush met with Saudi King Abdullah to appeal for help in bringing down oil prices that are hitting record highs. The Saudi increase is a modest one and appeared unlikely to have much effect on crude oil prices. But with the president under pressure at home to show he is fighting to lower gas prices, the gesture gave Bush a face-saving benefit from a day-long meeting with Saudi leaders.”

* On a related note: “Oil prices shot to new highs again Friday as traders, unimpressed by U.S. and Saudi efforts to boost supply, kept buying on the belief that prices had more room to rise.
Light, sweet crude for June delivery jumped $2.17 to settle at record close of $126.29 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Earlier in the session, prices surged to $127.82 a barrel, also a new high.”

* I know he was kidding, and I try not to overreact to these things, but Mike Huckabee joking to the NRA convention today about pointing a gun at Barack Obama strikes me as wildly inappropriate.

* Gary Hart on John McCain: “If John McCain seriously believes we are at war with al Qaeda in Iraq, that alone is such a serious error in judgment as to rank him with George W. Bush at his worst and therefore disqualify him from any chance to govern this country.”

* Obama’s not backing down an inch: “Obama, at a Q-and-A with reporters after his speech, continued to keep the story of his standoff with McCain and Bush going at full throttle: ‘If John McCain wants to meet me anywhere, anytime to have a debate about our respective policies in Iraq, Iran, in the Middle East or around the world, that’s a conversation I’m happy to have.'”

* Florida and Michigan aren’t in a position to save the Clinton campaign.

* Speaking of Obama: “A Florida Democratic Party source says that, by their count, at least 8 of the state’s 13 Edwards delegates are switching to Obama, and none to Hillary. The delegates don’t, currently, count, but that could change…. This all-but guarantees that Obama will clinch the pledged delegate majority — including Michigan and Florida — on Tuesday.”

* And in still more Obama-related news, his Senate office is all over the revelations about under-diagnosing PTSD to save the VA money.

* Why doesn’t Minority Leader John Boehner respect the American flag?

* Michael Gerson is still talking about Jeremiah Wright. Can someone explain to me why the Post gave him a column?

* And here I thought Bush’s EPA couldn’t get any more embarrassing.

* Nice work from Joe Klein: “Do these brilliant strategic thinkers — starting with George W. Bush — worry that their over-the-top rhetoric only serves to empower the mullahs and assorted cave-dwelling extremists by making the Great Satan into a bellicose cartoon in the eyes of the Islamic world? Indeed, whom do we think Hamas and Hezbollah and Ahmadinejad are really supporting in the 2008 election–the candidate who increases their street cred by demonizing them, or the candidate who increases our street cred by proposing talks?”

* I’m a shameless and enthusiastic Joss Whedon devotee, so I was delighted to see a trailer for his new TV show.

* In the grand scheme of things, this doesn’t matter at all, but Bush really did lie about how and when he gave up golf.

* Jonah Goldberg argued, without a hint of humor, that he “really can’t think of any mainstream political figure more inappropriate for [the Attorney General] job than [John] Edwards.” I wonder if Goldberg has ever heard of Alberto Gonzales.

* And finally, in case I needed another reminder of why I don’t watch television news: “On MSNBC Live, Tamron Hall stated: ‘Well, remember when there were those reports out that Hillary Clinton would use the so-called ‘Tonya Harding strategy’ to perhaps take out Barack Obama? Well, we’re going to talk to the real Tonya Harding about her place in history and now her infamy within American politics. Yes, really, Mika.’ Mika Brzezinski said: ‘Oh, my God,’ later adding: ‘I can’t believe that. It’s great.'” Oddly enough, “great” isn’t the first adjective that came to mind.

Anything to add? Consider this an end-of-the-day open thread.

Doh! The Joss Whedon trailer has already been removed. What’s the show going to be called?

  • And this from C&L:

    Did someone declare this National Flaming Racist Idiot week, and I just didn’t notice until now? You have got to read Michael Medved’s latest foray into pseudoscience: he has declared American superiority to be genetic, encoded in our good old American DNA. Because our ancestors were immigrants, who were risk-takers, who were selected for their energy and aggressiveness. Oh, except for those who are descended from slaves.

    Are the neocons not even bothering to try to NOT sound like Nazis? Holy shit.

  • Dan, I am eagerly awaiting the next Bushlicker who will be nominated. You know there is no way Bush would allow anyone to be confirmed if they aren’t fully on board. They know this election will be lost by double digits if they don’t lie and steal.

    As per usual.

  • “Saudi Arabia announced Friday that it will boost oil production by about 300,000 barrels a day to meet increased demand from customers next month.

    The Saudis are currently pumping 11 million barrels per day, and world production is about 80 million bbl/day so that increase is only about .3% of world production. Probably not what their BFF Bush was hoping for.

    https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2173rank.html

    Peak oil is very real, and I advise you all to get ready.

  • The trailer has even been removed from the official site for the show, Dollverse.com. I’m guessing there is some sort of problem with it and that’s why they had it taken down from YouTube.

    Fortunately, someone still has a copy – after some searching, I found just one site with it: SlashFilm. As a bonus, they also have a second video clip from the show.

    Enjoy!

  • ‘If John McCain wants to meet me anywhere, anytime to have a debate about our respective policies in Iraq, Iran, in the Middle East or around the world, that’s a conversation I’m happy to have.’”

    Hillary destroyed Obama in debates, and McCain is as good or better than Hillary at debating. Think – Reagan vs. Carter.

    At the YouTube debate on July 23, 2007, when Obama was asked whether he would be willing to meet “without precondition … with the leaders of Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Cuba, and North Korea,” the right answer, conventionally speaking, was a qualified “no.” But Obama answered in the affirmative. Initially, even sympathetic observers like The Nation’s David Corn called this statement a “flub” at best…

    McCain needs to only bring up the term, “without precondition”, and Obama chokes on national tv, i.e. if Obama knows what it means by then.

  • MsJoanne (6). Amen to that. Now that Mason is resigning the only FEC member left is supposedly a Dem (Weintraub), but she was a recess Bush appointment. I’m guessing she changed her party affiliation just before the appointment. Even so, maybe McCain’s loan, his withdrawal from public financing, and the various violations from 527’s and 501C’s will ge addressed. If nothing else the confirmation hearings will be fun. And with all the scandals clearly on McCain’s side, I wouldn’t be terribly disappointed if the Dems decide to just kill most or all of the nominations and start anew in Jan 09.

  • Dan @ 11, if McCain has to pay for breaking his own law (which in itself should carry a stronger sentence…Christ on a crutch!), I will eat my hat.

    Bush will never do anything to endanger McCain.

    I can only hope that Obama, once elected, doesn’t let this shit go. I do not want nicey nice make up sessions. I want heads to roll…for the entire future of our country. No one, and I mean NO ONE, should be able to get away with what this admin has. If they allow them to walk away unscathed, our country will never be the same.

  • Hey Carmi, could you please explain to us what “without precondition” means and why it’s so important? Do you really think that America is so weak that we’re at some disadvantage just by talking to Iran or North Korea?

  • KarmiCommie, I really really hope the Republican position for this fall campaign is “we’re gonna stick our fingers in our ears and go nyah-nyah-nyah-I-can’t-hear-you.” That’ll guarantee a Democratic landslide.

  • Bush will never do anything to endanger McCain.

    MsJoanne – You really need to add “intentionally” to that sentence. Bush will never intentionally do anything to endanger McCain. And while I’m not exactly sure that’s true (Bush being a selfish bastard who might want to think he’s the only person worthy to be president), Bush definitely hurts McCain any time they’re seen together or Bush says anything nice about McCain. Hell, Bush’s very existence imperils McCain’s campaign.

    This is the biggest conundrum for McCain: He’s damned if he rejects Bush, as he’ll lose the 28% diehard Bushie vote; but he’ll lose most of everyone else if he doesn’t. Even now, McCain isn’t that popular, and it’s just going to go down once the general election heats up and McCain’s record for saying stupid, stupid things grows.

  • “The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis has nearly doubled to almost 78,000 and another 56,000 people remain missing two weeks after the storm, Myanmar state television reported Friday. The United Nations, meanwhile, said that severe restrictions by Myanmar’s military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors’ suffering.”

    If there is a country in the world that should be invaded and its leaders taken out of the capitol and summarily hanged from the first available lamp post, “Myanmar” is it. These generals are the most cruel, vicious scum on the planet. I was just reading a piece by a Burmese exile, about the government not warning people because then it would have been responsible for them, and this government does absolutely nothing for its people. How thse scum have lasted for 45 years is beyond belief.

    “Saudi Arabia announced Friday that it will boost oil production by about 300,000 barrels a day to meet increased demand from customers next month. The announcement came after President Bush met with Saudi King Abdullah to appeal for help in bringing down oil prices that are hitting record highs. The Saudi increase is a modest one and appeared unlikely to have much effect on crude oil prices. But with the president under pressure at home to show he is fighting to lower gas prices, the gesture gave Bush a face-saving benefit from a day-long meeting with Saudi leaders.”

    Even the Saudis are thinking, “259 more days and this bozo is sooo gone.”

    I know he was kidding, and I try not to overreact to these things, but Mike Huckabee joking to the NRA convention today about pointing a gun at Barack Obama strikes me as wildly inappropriate.

    Wasn’t he doing the crowd warm-up for Ted Nugent? The NRA – putting the “sap” back in “homo sapiens”.

    As to Jonah, my favorite pear-shaped pro-war coward, the poor boy’s going to be living under a freeway overpass this time next year after he loses all his op-ed jobs, let him continue to demonstrate that “conservative intellectual” is an oxymoron.

  • Guess who KarmiCommunist hangs out with – and thinks of as an “intellectual” worthy of being quoted: failed Los Angeles heavy metal “musician” Charles Johnson, the looniest tooniest neverwas/neverwillbe among rightiedom’s droolingest droolers.

  • Austin Cline,

    thanks for the link. Dollhouse looks like a really interesting show. Fringe, not so much IMHO. YMMV.

  • You know, everyone points out the assassination angle of Huckabee’s joke, but why is this funny? There’s been this disturbing obsession with an assassination of Obama, like it’s just assumed he’s going to get shot. Left and right.

    Let’s consider the underlying assumption here, in order for this joke to work. A lot of people want to shoot Obama, so the guy must dive for the floor any time he hears a boom. Why? Because any black man running for President just painted a bullseye on his head. Har! Har! Har! It’s funny, cause it’s true!

  • It’s funny, cause it’s true!

    And you don’t even half half of it – engineering the theft of 2000 was no small feat and it wasn’t done to do the “will of hte people.”

    GREAT CRIMES DEMAND EVEN MORE CRIMINALITY

    The 3 buildings that pancaked at essentially free-fall speed into their footprints were not brought down by airplanes – ones wasn’t even hit!

    Architects and engineers have formed an organization for 9/11 truth:

    Part 1
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA2A20pskQg

    Part 2
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVuOEnnPztM

    Part 3
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7TwCgru4tM

    There have been more than one million innocent Iraqis killed – mostly women and children.

    Could go on, but I will keep this brief – DC Madam was murdered – she had the goods on cheney and mclame.

    Do you really think the criminal cabal behind all of this cares about 1 more life that might stand in their way?

  • Oil prices shot to new highs again Friday as traders, unimpressed by U.S. and Saudi efforts to boost supply, kept buying on the belief that prices had more room to rise.

    When will we be bailing them out?

    Mike Huckabee joking to the NRA convention today about pointing a gun at Barack Obama

    There’s a lot of ugly underneath that good old boy grin.

    I think Obama should start calling McCain, Sweetie.

    Hagee Perfects Lieberman.

  • Even the Saudis are thinking, “259 more days and this bozo is sooo gone.”

    so, tom. i have to ask you this. aren’t the saudi’s thrilled to have bush as their lackey? why do you think they’re going to be happy when obama is president? won’t things be different then?

  • Talking point for ever Democratic Party official who finds a microphone in front of his face this weekend: Mike Huckabee finds the idea of Obama as an assasin’s target very funny. I wonder if McCain will denounce him for his sick sense of humor or instead entertain the idea of putting him on his short list of VP candidates.

  • talking with the saudis and begging them to give us more oil. how pathetic.

    remember what he said when he was running for president?

    “the president ought to jawbone the saudis……..” well, i’ll just stop there.

    hopefully the video of him making that statement will be played over, and over, and over, and over

  • i think i’ve figured it out
    larry flynt pays off hrcs’
    debt via photo layout
    10 million
    and the
    fat lady sings

    excuse et moi

  • So, the FL delegates all of a sudden should count because some of the ones pledged to Edwards are shifting to Obama? You’ve been clamoring about how bad it is that Hillary wants to bend the rules to count FL, but now it is OK to do that because it would favor Obama. So much for principles.

    And then there’s Obama’s use of fight talk: “meet me anywhere, anytime”, calling out McCain with testosterone oozing from his every pore. Next thing he’ll be telling foreign enemies to “bring it on” and threatening to track them down “dead or alive”. I’m still waiting for something that tells me this guy is any different than any other power-seeker — sweeties. And like Bush, Obama gets off on the trappings. The last speech I heard, he was bragging about how he gets to ride with Secret Service while Michelle has to take the family car. Haven’t we had enough of that with Bush?

  • So, the FL delegates all of a sudden should count because some of the ones pledged to Edwards are shifting to Obama?

    What are you talking about, Mary? Who said that? Oh yeah, nobody did. You just made that up as a way to defend your own “principles” involving breaking the rules because it helps your candidate.

    And yeah, Obama saying he’ll debate McCain anytime is the equivalent of Bush daring terrorists to attack us. Right. Can you possibly embarrass yourself further? I’m just hoping that you stay on the anti-Obama side, as your comments serve as an excellent example of what not to say. Many of the Hillary people are already seeing the light, but poor Mary just hates Obama too much to allow that to happen. Haven’t we had enough of that with Bush?

  • The post above says it. Someone who is clearly an Obama supporter (gloating because none of the votes are shifting to Clinton) states that counting the FL votes will put Obama over the line. That was adamantly opposed by Obama people when the votes were aiding Clinton. Now that they will help Obama there is apparently no longer opposition. That has to be hypocrisy in anyone’s book. To repeat what was quoted above:

    “A Florida Democratic Party source says that, by their count, at least 8 of the state’s 13 Edwards delegates are switching to Obama, and none to Hillary. The delegates don’t, currently, count, but that could change…. This all-but guarantees that Obama will clinch the pledged delegate majority — including Michigan and Florida — on Tuesday.”

  • * Speaking of Obama: “A Florida Democratic Party source says that, by their count, at least 8 of the state’s 13 Edwards delegates are switching to Obama, and none to Hillary. The delegates don’t, currently, count, but that could change…. This all-but guarantees that Obama will clinch the pledged delegate majority — including Michigan and Florida — on Tuesday.”

    Wow. How things change. I guess hypocrisy is off the list of “changes” that Barack Obama believes in, no?

    Going from not counting FL/MI to counting FL/MI (because it favors him now) – and doing it so seamlessly – is stunning; just stunning.

    What a load of cr*p the “change” mantra is. As long as anything benefits him, it’s okay.

    I see how you are…

  • Obama is clearly calling McCain out. It is language that anyone who doesn’t hang around in a college library all the time will recognize. He is puffed up and swaggering. It is big, smelly posturing and the kind of spur jingling John Wayne strutting we don’t need in a president. It is obvious that someone on his campaign staff told him to “man up” to counteract the attempts to feminize him. What bothers me is not that someone thought he should do this, but that he agreed to it. He doesn’t wear it well.

  • “So, the FL delegates all of a sudden should count because some of the ones pledged to Edwards are shifting to Obama? You’ve been clamoring about how bad it is that Hillary wants to bend the rules to count FL, but now it is OK to do that because it would favor Obama. So much for principles.”

    So much for reading comprehension.

    The point was that the delegates switching to Obama means that Obama will clinch a majority of pledged delegates regardless of whether Michigan and Florida are counted or not. If they are not counted, he will clinch a majority of the 3200 or so pledged delegates from 48 states, and if they are, he will clinch a majority of the 3600 or so pledged delegates from 50 states.

    That doesn’t sound right to me though. That official must be counting the uncommitted delegates in Michigan for Obama. Or maybe that proposal Michigan floated is still being tossed around.

    I still say they shouldn’t count at all.

  • Splitting Image — it doesn’t say that. It says, including FL & MI, not without them.

    To return to a previous discussion, someone accused me of being a twit for refusing to support Obama in the Fall, and another person said:

    “If you really care about “the country’s future direction,” you’ll do what I do – vote Democratic.”

    I used to think that until I had a lengthy discussion with a colleague at work who pointed out the inadequacies of two parties and the coalitions (representing a multiplicity of diverse factions) that typically form governments in other countries. In such countries, factions have power because coalitions are needed and no single party can dominate without support from others. There is no reason we couldn’t have coalitions representing the interests of minority groups, instead of dominant interests representing large corporations and those with money. There are legitimate concerns about two major parties both funded by the same donors. I used to think that a vote for Nader was a vote for the Republicans, but now I think that a vote for Nader is a vote for one’s beliefs and that expressing one’s beliefs is the only way anyone will ever develop a system that is responsive to them. I can wait for such a system to develop or I can vote in a manner that will encourage its development. I prefer to be the change I want to see happen around me.

    My interests and concerns are not well represented by Obama. I would be a fool to vote for someone who does not want or care about the things I care about. Obama thumbs his nose at me and people like me. It would undermine any integrity I have to give my vote to someone who does not care about me. I do not believe Obama can or will change the country in the ways we need to happen. Al Gore would. Clinton would. Obama cannot and will not. So, because I care about this country, I cannot vote for him and there is no lie he can tell me that will change that, including the lie that voting for someone else will be a vote for McCain. My first vote ever was for Eugene McCarthy, a man without a chance in hell of winning. I am glad I voted for him and I would do it again. None of us can know the outcome of an election before casting our votes. We vote as we choose because to do otherwise is fundamentally dishonest and incompatible with our self-interest. THAT is why Clinton is still running and why people are still voting for her. People are expressing their views with the hope that doing so will make the system responsive to them. I intend to do that in the Fall, just as I have done in the primary.

    Reducing my concerns to voting for “someone with breasts” after I took the time to enumerate the issues I care about illustrates perfectly why I will NEVER become part of Obama’s cult. You people are a club I would not want to join. A man who calls everyone “sweetie” will not understand the importance of having breasts or the value of a different perspective on life and different ideas about how to accomplish change. He’s too busy meeting McCain anywhere, anytime.

  • Mary, you’re completely crazy. You’re backing the wrong candidate. Hillary Clinton is the one who represents everything that you think you despise about Obama. She’s the one with the corporate backers. She’s the conservative. Obama is the one with the millions of little people supporting him; having rejected lobbyist and PAC money. Obama is the one who is thinking outside the system. Hillary was the Democratic Establishment’s candidate and still lost. Why? Because Obama had the people.

    The problem here is that you’ve been so busy inventing rationalizations for why you support Hillary that you’ve failed to realize how she’s totally tricked you. Bushies are still doing the same thing. They’re so busy shouting about how Democrats are tricking them that they fail to understand how Republicans continue to trick them. That’s you. That’s what Hillary’s done. And the better Obama did, the more upset you got with him. But this has nothing to do with Obama. This has to do with Hillary not winning and you getting all weird about it. I have no idea how you convinced yourself that Hillary was some saint compared with Obama, but all signs point in the opposite direction. She’s the Big Money candidate. She’s the one representing the status quo. She’s the neo-con who supported the Iraq war and supports war with Iran. She’s the conservative here. And she’s the one you should be upset with. She lied to you, Mary. And all you can do is blame Obama and the rest of us.

    And while I’d rather not alienate any Hillary supporters and have tried to make an effort to not burn any bridges over this, in your case I make an exception. Good fucking riddance. We don’t need you. If you’re this brainwashed, go for it. Please, shout about how horrible Obama is. You’ll just be doing him and us a BIG BIG favor. The only thing you will ever convince anyone of is why they should vote for Obama. You drove over the cliff a long time ago and I’m not sure if you’ll ever be redeemable. While I’d prefer that all Democrats play nice, in your case, all your anti-Obama ranting is far better than your one vote in November, and I’d rather you stay on the other side.

    And btw, the “gloating” person was an anonymous Democrat from Florida, and they never suggested that we should now start counting their votes. The point was that Obama would win in pledged delegates, even if Florida was counted. But it was never even implied that they thought Florida SHOULD count; merely that it wouldn’t make a difference. And based upon the comments of one anonymous Democrat, you smear us all as hypocrites. Great. Or what exactly DID you mean when you said “you’ve”? Did you assume this anonymous Democrat would read your comment?

  • Obama is clearly calling McCain out.

    But Mary, this is exactly what we want. This is a GOOD thing. We WANT a candidate who will be strong. And besides, we’re just talking about a debate. Nobody imagines that Obama is physically threatening McCain. He’s just making it clear that he won’t back down, and I’m damn glad of that. This is exactly what people need to hear. But again, this isn’t the equivalent of Bush’s “Bring it on” remark, which was a direct taunt of terrorists, asking them to physically attack our soldiers with bombs. Can you really not see the difference here?

    Obama is standing up for himself and showing us that he won’t be knocked around by McCain’s rhetoric. It was a rhetoric on rhetoric battle and Obama is directly taking on the risks. Bush was using macho rhetoric to literally ask for terrorists to attack, and not attack him, but our troops. This is totally different. Strong Democrats are good. This is to be encouraged.

    And let’s face it, you’re just looking to criticize Obama on everything. Here you’re attacking him for using direct language that everyone would understand as being a taunt; while on another post you were attacking him for being too intellectual and not speaking directly. Contradiction? Of course. You just hate Obama because he beat your candidate, and you’re still desperate to show us how wrong we were for choosing him.

    As a sidenote: Does anyone remember when the Hillary people were telling us how Obama was planning to hug Republicans to win them over. Pretty quaint now, isn’t it? And he’s just getting started. You wanted a fighter, and now you’ve got it.

  • Mary, you’ve got to be kidding.

    Mary, how about this…you vote for McCain and go away. Nobody wants to read your ridiculous, nonsensical, obnoxious, and usually circular rants. You are our own gooper concern troll. Your posts are often racist – but out and out sexism is okie dokie?

    Take your gooper vote and toddle off like a good little girl. I don’t think anyone cares if you go away mad, just go the fuck away already.

    BTW, *I* call a lot of people sweetie. I wonder what kind of woman that make me. Oh, right…friendly, likable – something I am pretty certain you’re not. What I can say is that what I see in you is very unattractive – inside. Downright ugly.

  • Well said, MsJoanne. I sincerely hope we never get a thoughtful person here named Mary because I’ve conditioned myself to never read anything Mary posts.

  • For Huckabee, a man of God, so-called, to Joke about a possible assisnation attempt on Barack Obama, is diabolical! Yet, they call themselves the party of Family Values…. I guess the Family is the GOP family and not the American Family, as the only thing they are conservative about is the wealth they Conserve for the GOP family, and the rest of American families can suffer it out. We will not be fooled Again!

  • Biden: Foreign policy is going to be the crux of the general election. Some change.
    When 60 % of bankruptcies in this country are a direct result of inability to pay medical bills? When the economic situation for most Americans is worsening rapidly? When people are having to choose between getting to work and putting food on the table?
    When insurance costs are sky high and people are forced to go without? When decent paying jobs for ordinary people are scarce and becoming scarcer? When credit offerers are ripping people off in unprecedented and uncontrolled ways? When interest charged on credit is usurious and we are “limiting” it to 30%??

    You deserve to lose.

    The sad part is the rest of us will lose along with you.

  • You really are an ugly, ugly person, Mary. The impotent rage and self-hatred fairly shoots off the screen with each of your make-up-your-beliefs-du-jour-as-you-go-along posts. And how many times do we have to gently suggest that you not post after drinking?

    Do something about the anger issues, toots. You really, really need to take care of this. If it’s this bad here, it’s affecting the rest of your life, too.

  • Yes, why don’t you just throw out everyone in the party who disagrees with you — and then see who you have left. That is Mark Pencil’s point — being entirely ignored here.

    Dr. Biobrain — they both have corporate backers. This media-intensive campaign cannot be run without the big money (with Obama outspending Clinton now 2-1 and 3-1, where do you think his money comes from?). Maybe with a return to equal time laws or with free media that might change.

    You can dish it out but you can’t take it. The venom against Clinton here turns my stomach but it is no different than the venom against me and anyone else here who vocally supports Clinton and is called names for it. This isn’t your personal website — it is a site for progressives. I belong here and in the Democratic party.

    Clinton is tied with Obama — if there were not proportional representation and votes were counted winner take all as in the past, she would already be the nominee. Without the huge number of votes from the Chicago area, Obama would be way behind in the popular vote. Without the crossovers and independent voters in red states, who should not be participating in Democratic primaries, he would not be leading in pledged delegates. If you think he represents the heart and soul of our Party, you are wrong. He can only try to magnify his conservatism into some sort of “new” politics because it isn’t traditional Democratic politics or even progressive politics. And you have the nerve to tell me, and people like me, to go away! Obama is trying to hijack this nomination and more than half of registered Democrats oppose him.

    You had your fun while all the miscellaneous non-Democrats distorted the nomination process. I will have my fun in the general election, when those of us ignored by Obama in the primaries will vote as we please and Obama will go down in flames. Your fantasy that we will all come flocking back to Obama because we have nowhere else to go is clearly wrong. We always have choices — and we still have voices. Shout me down with your fingers in your ears but it doesn’t change reality. According to polls 25-30% of Clinton supporters feel the way I do. That is way more than the margin of most general elections. Keep pissing me off, and the lurkers who agree with me. Everyone who calls me crazy is working for McCain.

  • Everyone who calls me drunk or much too angry is helping McCain get elected too.

    As for changing my views — that is sort of like calling a wrestler slippery because he breaks an opponent’s holds. People here seem to think that a complaint against Obama can be answered by pointing out the same flaw in Clinton. So, you argue, if Clinton does it too, I must logically switch and support Obama instead or else I am being inconsistent. Not so. Clinton may be as flawed as Obama, but she also has strengths Obama does not have — strengths that I prefer to Obama’s strengths. Because I value what she brings that Obama does not, that makes her a better choice for me (and people who care about the things I do). It doesn’t make me inconsistent to prefer Clinton’s flaws over Obama’s — there are no perfect candidates in this or any other election.

  • We’re not remotely interested in “throw[ing] out everyone in the party who disagrees with [us],” Mary (how’s your hangover today?). We’re simply pushing you aside, as your posts amply demonstrate that your emotional illness prevents you from making reasoned decisions. There really is no point in trying to convince a mind welded shut by rage, deceit, denial and hatred, so why waste time on you?

    Other Clinton supporters know this. After all, no one else has ever defended your point of view here.* Why do you think that is, Mary? Is it now you against not only every Obama supporter but also every Clinton supporter? Why are you so sadly misunderstood, d’you think?

    *Careful what you try to say here–IPs can be checked, you know.

  • I will have my fun in the general election, when those of us ignored by Obama in the primaries will vote as we please and Obama will go down in flames

    The naked, crazed rage of a non-progressive who actively wants–not just doesn’t care whether–the nation and world to suffer mightily under another Republican administration because her girl didn’t get the nomination.

    Nothing else to say, Mary. Everyone knows exactly who you are and what you don’t stand for.

  • Mary, I appreciate the shout out, and it is true that I have repeatedly called for some of the more, um, intense Obama-ites to be more gracious if they really want the Clinton support I think Obama will need to get elected.

    That does not in any way mean I am arguing that Clinton supporters have some right to be delusional or support them being stand-offish. Indeed, while I am often disappointed with some of the Obama supporters who cant get over their juvenile fascination with the pet name “Shillery,” probably the second most frequent point I make here is that no Clinton supporter should even contemplate a general election vote for anyone but Obama.

    Yes, it is hard, on a selfish personal level, to not hold against Obama some of what I have been called here because I support Clinton, what I have seen Hillary called here , etc. But it is not Obama doing those things, and Hillary herself has made clear that her foremost interest is working hard to ensure that whoever the Democratic nominee is, that they win in November.

    There is no candidate whose name will be on the ballot whose policy agenda is closer to Clinton’s than Obama. There is no candidate whose name will be on the ballot who has a better chance of stopping McCain from giving the world a three-peat of Bush-league policies than Obama. There is no logical, mathematically valid way to look at this fall’s general election than to say that an alleged Democrat, progressive, or Democratic-leaning voter who votes for a third party or stays home is helping elect McCain.

    I understand you don’t believe Obama can be successful, that you don’t believe he is the right person to carry the agenda forward. But better an unsure implementation of the correct agenda than a certain implementation of a very, very wrong agenda.

    The reality is (and even Hillary gives every sign of understanding this) the race is over. There are no metrics left to argue for, no sudden rush of support on the horizon. MI and FL are now irrelevant — Obama can (and should) be magnanimous about seating them to help sooth wounds for the general, but that wont save Hillary now. Her only real hope was the Superdelegates, and they are strongly breaking against, not for, her.

    Our role now as progressives is to help Democrats from the top of the ticket to the bottom to drive out the remnants of the Rove-Delay-Bush axis of evil. It would be easier if Obama supporters had, and would, handle many things differently, and I will continue to encourage that they do so. But whether they do or do not, it is in the enlightened self-interest of every bona fide Clinton supporter to put the primary behind and focus on electing a Democrat in the general.

    You needn’t feel bad – no one can say you haven’t put up a fight, that you haven’t stood your ground, that you haven’t defended your candidate. But every fight has an ending. This one is over. Energy against Obama now is wasted: it will not change the outcome. The next chapter awaits — save and use your energy against the real threat to the country, John McCain.

  • Everyone who calls me drunk or much too angry is helping McCain get elected too.

    Mary, we don’t want you. We are now purposefully insulting you. This has nothing to do with Clinton and everything to do with your irrational hatred of Obama. Every stupid anti-Obama rant you make helps get him elected and makes Hillary look bad. As I said before, I have no problem with most Hillary people, and believe that most of them will join the team before too long. But you’re clearly just nuts when it comes to Obama, so we don’t want you. Please, stay away. We don’t want your support.

    As for your dumb question of where Obama gets his money from, try looking it up. You’ll see that he has over a million donors, and that he rejects lobbyist and PAC money; unlike Hillary. And his average donation is much smaller than Hillary’s.

    Again, I’m not sure where you got the idea that Obama ignores the little people, but it was always Hillary and her Big Money supporters who thought little people didn’t matter. Obama created a grassroots movement, while Hillary thought she was too invincible to bother. But again, if you’ve got these basic facts confused, you’re hopeless. We don’t want you and you’re an embarrassment to any side you’re on.

  • “The next chapter awaits — save and use your energy against the real threat to the country, John McCain.”

    I agree with most of what Mark says in his post here, but I’d just like to highlight this part.

    I can’t speak for everyone else who supports Obama, but I didn’t turn against Clinton until she started praising McCain in the leadup to the Ohio and Texas primaries in March. I used to like McCain myself, but his campaign has proven him to be one of the most disappointing political figures I’ve ever laid eyes on.

    At the exact point that I started to realize this, Clinton began her talking points about how St. John had “passed the threshold” to be Commander in Chief and Bill began talking about how great it would be “if two people who loved their country” faced each other in the general election. Honestly, they couldn’t have picked a worse time.

    I have a feeling that both Clintons are going to regret their support of McCain in the next few months as more people see him for what he is and the blinders come off. McCain is not only a bad candidate for a discredited party, but he is a serious threat to the country in his own right.

  • A man who calls everyone “sweetie”

    “Everyone,” huh? And yesterday you said he was “in the habit” of calling people sweetie. Yet you don’t seem to be able to produce any evidence that he’s called more than one person this. I fear that in your mind, this inflamed accusation has grown into truth like a sniper warning grows into an actual hail of bullets.

    will not understand the importance of having breasts or the value of a different perspective on life and different ideas about how to accomplish change.

    The entirety of your stated support for Clinton seems to have been based on the non-differentness of Clinton’s ideas: she’s the one, you say, with the experience to know how to get along, i.e., constantly compromise and triangulate with the right, in Washington, and every time she does something disappointing, like lying about the gas tax, you excuse it as being simply pragmatic rather than morally corrupt. You defend her heavy corporate support, her vote for the war, everything else about her. Not once…not once, Mary…have you criticized anything she’s done, which speaks to your fundamental dishonesty and your deeply unhealthy total identification with a political figure to the exclusion of reality. In your mind, her failure to win has become your failure, symbolic of everything you’ve ever been unable to achieve, and, judging from your posts, every loss for which you’ve blamed someone else rather than taking an honest look in the mirror to see what you could do differently next time.

    So where’s this big difference? Where’s the newness, the fresh perspective, the divergence from the status quo? What is Hillary doing, what has she done, that is uniquely feminine and hasn’t ever been or isn’t being done by any male candidate and that takes us into a new way of thinking about things?

    It’s really obvious that you’re projecting your own desires and beliefs, particularly your belief that women automatically bring a different and usually superior perspective, onto Hillary. She doesn’t and can’t live out those beliefs of yours, and that makes you really frustrated. So instead of questioning the reason for the sole static criterion for your support for her (her gender), the legitimacy of your belief that a woman is inherently more virtuous or at least more desirable than a man in the White House, the reality that Obama more closely fits your alleged policy priorities than Clinton does, or Hillary’s repeated failures to live up to the paper doll you’ve made of her, you constantly shift your rationalizations in a dismal attempt to get the facts to fit your desperate desires.

    God damn, it’s sad. You’re sad, Mary. Angry and irrational and untruthful and sad.

    We’ll take it as given that you won’t understand a word of this and will fire back some whine about “everyone who supports Clinton” being persecuted. Save yourself the time and the elevated heart rate. The rest of Clinton’s supporters know very well that this isn’t aimed at them.

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