Wednesday’s Mini-Report

June 4, 2008

Today’s edition of quick hits.

* Howard Dean, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and Democratic Governors Association Chair Joe Manchin have told the remaining uncommitted superdelegates that they have until Friday of this week to “make their decisions known.” I’m not sure why anyone would need more time anyway.

* House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) has been one of Hillary Clinton’s most reliable backers, but his support is apparently fading fast.

* Speaker Pelosi said the Democratic race is over, and it’s time to rally around the nominee: “Barack Obama is the nominee of the Democratic party.” (Rumor has it Pelosi really doesn’t want Clinton to be VP.)

* On a related note, Jimmy Carter thinks adding Clinton to the ticket would be the “worst mistake” Obama could make when picking a running mate.

* Rahm Emanuel can finally crawl out from under his desk.

* They were literally afraid we were invading to take their oil: “U.S. Navy ships are leaving Myanmar after failing to get the junta’s permission to unload aid to ‘ease the suffering of hundreds of thousands’ of cyclone survivors, the top U.S. military commander in the Pacific said Tuesday. Word of the aborted mercy mission comes even as the United Nations warned that a month after the cyclone swept through Myanmar, more than 1 million people still don’t have adequate food, water or shelter and junta policies are hindering relief efforts.”

* Gay couples in California will be able to marry in less than two weeks. The state Supreme Court refused a request to delay the right until after the November ballot initiative.

* Mitch McConnell shut down the Senate this afternoon over Harry Reid’s reluctance to let more far-right judges onto the federal bench. No one seems to care.

* Tony Rezko was found guilty today on 16 of 24 counts.

* AP: “Federal prosecutors are no longer seeking stiffer prison sentences for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.”

* My friend Melissa McEwan has a very good post about sexism and presidential politics: “I’m not sad because Obama’s the nominee. I’m sad because there are women … across this nation, many of whom weren’t even Hillary Clinton supporters, many of whom voted for Obama in the primary, who have watched with horror the seething hatred directed at Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman.”

* On a slightly related note, Hilary Rosen talks about the election and gender issues, and doesn’t approve of what she’s seen of late from the Clinton camp: “[S]he left her supporters empty, Obama’s angry, and party leaders trashing her. She said she was stepping back to think about her options. She is waiting to figure out how she would “use” her 18 million voters. But not my vote. I will enthusiastically support Barack Obama’s campaign. Because I am not a bargaining chip. I am a Democrat.”

* And in still more perspective on this subject, Adele Stan has a very interesting item about why it would be bad for women if Clinton joined Obama’s ticket.

* Thankfully, it looks like the Hummer will soon be an endangered species.

* Violence was not quite as intense in Iraq in May, but it was the most violent month in Afghanistan in seven years.

* The U.S. may not be involved, but international interest in diplomacy is on the rise. (thanks to reader R.K. for the tip)

* Steve M. has a very amusing take on the still-elusive (read: probably non-existent) video of Michelle Obama talking about her hatred of white people.

* The tide in support of legally-recognized gay relationships continues to move in a progressive direction.

* And finally, the McCain campaign would have us believe McCain hosted a small, listless, unimpressed audience last night in Louisiana “by design.” Riiiiight, guys, sure you did.

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

Myanmar is afraid that we would invade them and take their oil? Where in the heck would they get an idea like that?

CB, thanks for the link about the alleged Michelle tape. The wingnuts have been wetting their pants over this for the past couple of days. Steve M. did a good job of pulling the “facts” together, in addition to his clever mockery of these people. It smells like desperation, but it’s only going to get worse between now and November.

The alleged Michelle tape is a reminder that the wingnuts are still campaigning against the 1960’s! I’m reading a lot of references to Weathermen, Black Panthers etc. Whitey? No one says that anymore except white racists scared of black people.

Don’t miss TPMTV’s compilation of network commentary on last night’s McCain speech, punctuated by snippets from the speech itself. It’s hilarious.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

  • …McCain ___ a small, listless, unimpressed audience…

    Steve, I think there’s a verb missing in that sentence. “Spoke to”?

  • Is it worth mentioning that Kenner is a town that was devastated by Katrina? (The storm — and its repulsive aftermath — didn’t just destroy NOLA, after all.) I bet plenty of locals were thinking of that birthday cake.

  • If all these people are so impatient they cannot wait until the convention to pick the nominee, why don’t they move the convention to January 1 and be done with it? Then they can pick the nominee without any of that pesky voting. All this annoying input from the voters is clearly interfering with the kingmaking process. Everyone knows the guy with the most votes isn’t the person who wins — its about the delegates, even though they haven’t voted yet (we all know they will pick Obama eventually). Actually, Obama wins whenever he says he wins, and if people disagree, then he has Nancy Pelosi to straighten them out. I love living in a democracy.

    I see that Obama is planning to visit Appalachia. Has he figured out what he will say while there? He was in Appalachia before and it didn’t seem to help him any. If Obama is still laboring under the idea that all he has to do is let the voters “get to know him” and they’ll love him, he may have a shock coming. People in Appalachia are not easily impressed — they can detect BS and are not fooled by pretty speech. Similarly, it is not going to be enough for Obama supporters to simply stop insulting Clinton voters. They’ll have to find out what Clinton voters care about and address those issues. I don’t see any willingness to do that.

    I see Obama supporters trying to wrestle Clinton to the ground and make her cry “uncle”, symbolically of course. Their demand that she concede in a particular way, with sufficient humility or conciliatoriness or whatever they were looking for, is more “high maintenance” than anything Clinton supporters now expect from Obama. There cannot be any sincerity to Obama’s visit to Appalachia when he is still trying to humiliate Clinton as a final act of dominance in the campaign. If he has truly won, that should be unnecessary. Since he hasn’t won, it is all the more troubling that he should be doing this.

    I don’t care who Obama selects as VP. I won’t vote for him, even with Clinton on the ticket. He is wrong for America and the VP has too little influence to make any difference on that score. The same would be true of anyone Obama might select, so who cares?

    The more powerless Clinton voters are made to feel about the electoral process, the more they will try to exert power over their own votes, by resisting pressure to support Obama. Strongarm tactics have a way of backfiring. And we are talking about 18 million Clinton voters, more than 50% of the votes cast.

  • She is waiting to figure out how she would “use” her 18 million voters… Hillary Rosen

    I would have put the quotes around “her.” HRC does not own those votes, they were merely an expressed preference given the choices at the time. Given other choices, as now will happen in November, those votes will go to someone else. But in HRCs world, she owns them and they do her bidding. Hers is as twisted the irrational right-wing worldviews that have so exercised me these past 7 years.

    It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s a woman. It has to do with the kind of human being she’s proven to be.

  • Is there a gnat in here? I also thought I heard a trombone.

    It sure is fun to watch McCain’s humiliation today.

  • I don’t know who put a quarter in you, TR, but here’s a whole roll to continue the fun!

    Not that you weren’t funny before, but you are on fiah lately.

  • Re: 4:

    “I don’t care who Obama selects as VP. I won’t vote for him, even with Clinton on the ticket.”

    So who will you vote for President this year, and why?

  • RacerX, I must respectfully disagree. I’m reading it as McCain “being” a small, listless, unimpressed audience—as in he was speaking to himself, and no one else in particular.

    Last night, the audience was described as “between 20 and 40.” this morning, it was “around 200.” Now, it’s being promoted as “600 inside and another 600 outside.” Why, by week’s end we’ll be seeing images of his speaking before the participants a 1930s-era torchlight rally in Nuremberg!

    Never trust a monotonal muppetman who speaks in front of a lime green background-screen.

  • Oh, Matthew…must you go there? (sigh)

    Trombone is it, TR. Completely. Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah.

    Did you catch some of the comments on the CNN or WSJ articles? Amazing. Absolutely amazing. When did this election become Clinton or Obama and stop being about US? You. Me. Your kids. Your parents. Your life!

    Good lord. Amazing.

    What does McCain bring to the table?

    – reversal of Roe V. Wade.
    – continued tax breaks for the uber wealthy (which includes him with Cindy’s $100 mil)
    – no equal pay for women
    – no worker’s rights
    – war for decades
    – more lies in government
    – more secrecy (like those medical records; 2 pm Friday, one hour to review, no notes)
    – no forward movement on healthcare
    – privatized social security
    – Medicare?
    – prescription drugs?

    If that’s what the women who so desperately want Hilary want, hell, go for it. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.

  • So who will you vote for President this year, and why?

    We’ve been through this 100 times. To prove her feminist creds (and get a couple of scrips refilled), Mary’s voting for that scion of woman-love, John McCain, but variously pretending she’s a) voting for Nader b) joining powerful forces with some no-name California splinter party or c) writing in Al Gore. She solemnly informs us 20x a week, as though it’s a news flash, that she’s decided she can’t vote for Obama under any circumstances.

    Think of a small child uttering four-letter words to get attention, or a maladjusted teenage girl throwing hysterics, and you’ve pretty much got Mary’s emotional number.

  • Oh, Mary, you are so tiresome. If I promise to join you and vote for McCain will you please STFU?

  • Nobody cares to hear that a Clinton supporter is voting for McCain.

    This comes as no surprise to me. Hillary Clinton was the candidate who backed going to war in Iraq, who supports greater power for the executive branch, and is closer to the religious right (except on abortion) than John McCain.

    On many issues Hillary Clinton is far closer to John McCain than she is to Barack Obama. If these issues are more important to someone than preserving Row v. Wade, then I would certainly expect such a person to vote for McCain as the candidate who comes closer their beliefs.

    There’s nothing at all shocking or surprising to hear Clinton supporters will vote for McCain so they might as well shut up about it. Sure, Obama will lose some votes from conservative Clinton supporters. That’s unfortunate, but its a fact of life in politics. I’m sure the new, more socially liberal, voters he is bringing in will more than offset the conservative Clinton supporters he is losing.

  • Thanks for the referral to Mellissa McEwan and Shakesville. Think I found a new favorite blog. I like their virtual pub. Most of the people in there last night were Hillary supporters and they were just so sad. I love that there was a comfortable place for them to go and virtually drown their real sorrows. Even though I was doing my own virtual jig for Obama.

    I’ve been reading lots of news and blogs today, coming down from the high of the primary. The vitriole–the hatred, the vehemence is extremely disturbing–and it’s coming from both sides. Clyburn getting bombarded with hateful racial calls after his comments–how can this happen? People upset with Hillary’s speech are saying the most classless ungraceful things about her supposed lack of class and grace. And the Hillary supporters who are so very unhappy and swearing that there’s nothing Obama can do to get their vote??? Very depressing. .

    #9: Kudos for asking the question and for being nice about it. #4 I’d like to hear the answer. I’ll try active listening and respectful disagreement in an attempt to understand. .

  • Gay couples in California will be able to marry in less than two weeks. The state Supreme Court refused a request to delay the right until after the November ballot initiative.

    In a somewhat related vein:

    House Members Form Gay Equality Caucus

    (Washington) Fifty-two members of the House of Representatives have formed a bipartisan LGBT Equality Caucus to lobby for civil rights. All but two of the members are Democrats.

    The caucus was announced Wednesday at a Capitol Hill news conference by the House’s only two openly gay members, Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Barney Frank (D-MA).

    The two republicans are Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) and Chris Shays (R-CT). Good for them.

  • perhaps mary is waiting for the mother ship that’s going to return with the hale-bopp comet.

  • Good, Mary!! You are finally dropping the false veneer of calm and rationality and getting in touch with your anger and disappointment. You are one step closer to facing that you are pissed that things didn’t work out, and therefore one more step closer to getting over it.

    Let’s face it, it has sucked for you to watch the struggle of your preferred candidate over many weeks. I am looking forward to your getting past it and using your powers for good. Go Mary!!

  • Both ABC and CNN are now announcing that Hillary will concede Friday. At least 40 minutes have passed without a denial. I’m guessing Hillary is just tired after a long last couple of days. We’ll hear from her when she wakes up.

  • People in Appalachia are not easily impressed — they can detect BS and are not fooled by pretty speech.

    Wow, I’ve decided to leave Hillary alone from now on, but Mary is just too much. It’s like she’s given up on the primary and is now just trying to outdo conservatives in the Self Parody department. I mean, it’s bad enough when we’re told by the media that liberals aren’t real Americans, but now we’re down to hillbillies. Hillbillies are the new elite who we should listen to if we want to find out what’s really going on. Racist hillbillies. That’s a great sales pitch Mary, except for one thing: The only people dumb enough to agree with you on that aren’t literate, don’t have internet access, and certainly don’t read this blog. Hell, these are the people Dick Cheney feels comfortable insulting, and he usually only saves that kind of thing for Democrats.

    At this point Mary, it’s obvious that Obama can never win you over and your arguments only make Hillary look worse. So why are you here? I suspect you’re stuck in the same spot as Hillary: You refuse to give up but you’ve got nowhere to go. Give it up, Mary. I know you want to destroy Obama so you can rub it in our faces that you were right, but you weren’t. Obama will be president, he will do an excellent job, and he’s certainly better than the alternative. Deal with it. Not for us, but for Hillary. You’re only making her look worse with everything you write.

  • Okay Mary jumped the shark for me today. She goes in John’s filter program.

    Clinton is demanding so much respect yet she showed little to Obama during the campaign and acted atrociously at times.

    Clinton doesn’t own 17 millions votes. She just borrowed them and it’s time to give them back to the Party

  • No kidding, Dale.

    Total gooper behavior. My way or NO way. Period. I’m gonna hold my breath til I turn blue. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah.

    It’s proof of what I have been saying all along: Mary is a gooper troll. She’s trying to turn Clinton supporters against Obama and Obama supporters against Clinton. For goopers, it’s a win-win.

    Thankfully, dems are vastly smarter than the current crop of goopers.

    To quote Cheney, Mary, Mary quite contrary; GFY.

  • Get a grip. There is more tact and diplomacy going on to prevent disenfranchising voters and it involves Clinton “and” Obama. It’s less than 24hrs. since Obama clinched the nomination and you assume they are all stupid with vicious ulterior motives. Clinton wasn’t speaking literally about her supporter’s votes she was speaking about their support and not wanting to let them down for what they hoped to accomplish causing them to reject Obama off hand, but you twist the meaning of her words to suit your justification of vile motivations. She is being cautious and not for selfish reasons but to prevent disenfranchising her supporters and Obama’s niceities are trying to accomplish the same outcome.
    Diplomacy is needed here and not automatic condemnation so get a grip over your mis-perceptions, because you are jumping to assumptive conclusions.

  • “On a related note, Jimmy Carter thinks adding Clinton to the ticket would be the “worst mistake” Obama could make when picking a running mate.”

    Right, let’s listen to the advice of a one term DLC President who trashed the economy rather than that of a two term DLC President who left us with a surplus.

    To decode dear Jimmy, he’s saying that the Dream Ticket will get both the misognyists and racists together to vote against the Democrats.

    Aren’t they really mostly the same people already?

  • Oops–I didn’t read all of Mary #4. I only saw #9’s question–which seemed like a good one –if you could really have a tempered, at least somewhat reasonable conversation about it. But it’s clearly best not to engage this particular person. Sorry.

  • Oh, here’s a little troll snack. Wouldn’t want her to starve.

    “They’ll have to find out what Clinton voters care about and address those issues.”

    Care to elaborate which of those Obama is not addressing? Aside, of course, from electing Hillary Clinton to be president.

  • nicole,

    I assume since this is your first ‘Mary’ experience that you are new. Welcome!

    Mary has been quite unhinged for a while. Best to read her comments for entertainment purposes only.

  • * Speaker Pelosi said the Democratic race is over, and it’s time to rally around the nominee: “Barack Obama is the nominee of the Democratic party.”

    Well, according to NYT, Hillary’s listened and it’ll all be over by Friday (or, rather, on Friday); she’s ready to pack up her own campaign and endorse Obama:

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/04/clinton-is-moving-toward-suspending-campaign-and-endorsing-obama/index.html?hp

    I just hope it doesn’t mean that Obama has agreed to accept her as his VP (she’d have had to close her own campaign before being able to change to that position, I think). I happen to agree with Carter, that it would be a nightmare ticket (though not, necessarily, for the reasons he states)

  • “…who have watched with horror the seething hatred directed at Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman.”

    I’ve gotta say, we’ve seen a lot of talk about how awfully Hillary Clinton has been treated because of her gender, but I’ve gotta say that I don’t see it. Now maybe that’s because I haven’t been looking in the right places, but the level to which race was made an issue during this campaign seems to be exponentially more than the level gender was.

    I think a lot of people are projecting in terms of the injustices they believe were visited upon Hillary Clinton.

  • Whew okay now its definite. The Times is reporting Hillary will concede on Friday for sure, probably in the morning, could be noonish, maybe a little later, for sure by that night, and if it does stretch into Saturday it’ll be before the weekend is over definitely. Although Monday morning is not out of the question or at least early in the week. Definitely before another week is passed she’ll be conceding, or soon anyway.

  • I don’t think Hillary will shut down her campaign. She’ll just scotch-tape a sign that says “Vice” in front of Presidential Campaign Headquarters.

  • LOL Dale. Bill may have to do the honors for her because she is indisposed, or disinclined.

    FWIW, wasn’t that long ago I thought Hillary would’ve made a better president than Bill.

  • Mary’s voting for that scion of woman-love, John McCain

    Well, after repeatedly cheating on and finally divorcing his first wife, the one who stood by him while he was in the POW camp, and marrying richer, younger Cindy the Beer Heiress, John McCain clearly has experience with women.

    Embrace him, Mary. He’s the embodiment of feminist values.

  • Okay I’m through with the Clinton jokes. I suspect there will be an influx of refugees from Clinton supporter blogs who will be looking for a good place to discuss the General Election and this should be that place. Blogs, bloggers and commenters should re-organize for the General Election now.

  • Dale, true enough.

    And remember, there will be more Mary’s (gooper trolls) who are trying to keep the dems from truly unifying.

  • Timing and circumstance have kept many worthies from the ultimate office. Hubert Humphrey and Al Smith come to mind. I’m sure there are many more.

  • Leslie Sanchez, Republican strategist and CNN yakker said of McCain’s speech last night:

    “It was like a speech during a bingo game at the AARP”.

  • Leslie nailed it. There was a memorable scene in a movie that fits it perfectly.
    One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest? Born on the 4th of July? Dangit!

  • The Deer Hunter!

    Great. Now I’ve got an image of Terry McAuliffe screaming “MAU! MAU! DIDI MAU!”

  • So Mary, you’re going to vote (or not vote, contributing to the same thing) for elimination of your reproductive rights, further erosion of your human rights, more war, more corporate raiding of your pocket book, greater destruction of our education system all because you’re bitter that your candidate came up just short? You’re really a piece of work, aren’t you.

  • Talk about being caught between the devil and whatever. Melissa McEwan’s whine about all the misogyny directed at Clinton is really tiresome. The same charge would be made, only called racism, if Obama were in Clinton’s shoes, and is the predictable result of having any non-traditional candidates (read white-men) running for POTUS. Unfortunately I know a number of women who have decided that anyone not voting for Clinton is a misogynist. And if you don’t vote for Obama that makes you a racist? That reminds me of the joke about a Jewish mother who gives her son two ties for his birthday. He wears one because mother is coming to visit. When he greets her at the door she says, “What’s the matter, you didn’t like the other one.”

  • Personally, I wouldn’t have a problem with Obama choosing Clinton as his VP. I really don’t buy all the doom-and-gloom people have been putting out over the possibility. But I don’t think it is very likely. Such a contentious primary like this one is a bad foundation for building a joint ticket. Not that it couldn’t be done, but it would be pretty awkward, I’d think.

    Besides, we’re already losing one solid Democrat from the Senate. We don’t want to deplete the democratic caucus too much. We need to get as close to an obstruction-proof Congress as possible, and that definitely means a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

  • I’m betting Obama wouldn’t let them get away with this quasi-filibuster shit either.
    No more painless charades; if you want to filibuster, actually do it.

  • I mean, it’s bad enough when we’re told by the media that liberals aren’t real Americans, but now we’re down to hillbillies. Hillbillies are the new elite who we should listen to if we want to find out what’s really going on. Racist hillbillies.

    Well, yesterday it was red state bigots who hear Obama’s theme song, “The Rising,” and–according to Mary–think of Negro uprisings blowing up inner cities in the 60s or some damn thing.

    So, um, we know who Mary is really, really, really in tune with, mentally and emotionally speaking. Which is the mindset she commends to us all. But Mary? That’s not who we are. We’re Democrats. Remember them? We’re supposed to NOT be the people who refuse to vote for a candidate because he’s an uppity n——. Could you try to get clear about that? Or just do that whole Southern Strategy, Reagan Democrat thing and go spread your loving message on Little Green Footballs? Because if that’s who you really are, you’ll be much more comfortable over there.

  • Dale: Clinton is demanding so much respect yet she showed little to Obama during the campaign and acted atrociously at times.

    Remember David Corn’s comments back in early Dec:

    “They really, really hate Obama,” one Democratic operative unaffiliated with any campaign, tells me. “They can’t stand him. They talk about him as if he’s worse than Bush.” What do they hate about him? After all, there aren’t a lot of deep policy differences between the two, and he hasn’t gone for the jugular during the campaign. “It’s his presumptuousness,” this operative says. “That he thinks he can deny her the nomination. Who is he to try to do that?” You mean, he’s, uh, uppity? “Yes.” A senior House Democratic aide notes, “The Clinton people are going nuts in how much they hate him. But the problem is their narrative has gone beyond the plausible.”

    Now consider Hillary and Bill’s behavior of late. They denied Barack the chance to have a “unifying” night… Then there was this today:

    [Robert] Johnson revealed to WaPo that Hillary had privately told him that he’d take the veep slot if asked, and also let it be known that Hillary had authorized him to launch the campaign.

    Is there a more sinister choice to sell your veep bid to Barack Obama than Black Exploitation Television founder Bob Johnson? The guy who insinuated Barack was a drug dealer? The guy who made jokes about Barack imitating Sydney Poitier? That isn’t a serious quest for the veep. That is a serious quest for the lowest low-blow insult.

    Here is what is going on:

    Queen and King Lear have been denied. Barack is the usurper, and rancor is all they have left. They are going out on all fours like a couple of stained junk yard dogs, raising their old legs to make up for their lack of bite. Truly classless behavior. It doesn’t get any uglier.

    History is going to record her graceless exit just so…

  • DrBB, I think you are mixing apples and oranges. Or trolls and parodists.

    Your last paragraph is clearly about “Mary” – she of “I’ll take my toys and vote for McCain” fame.

    But yesterday’s post about “The Rising” and “negro uprisings” was by “Mary, Mother of Odd,” who does a parody of “Mary.” Filling the role left behind by the “retirement” of Insane Fake Professor.

  • It’s proof of what I have been saying all along: Mary is a gooper troll. She’s trying to turn Clinton supporters against Obama and Obama supporters against Clinton. For goopers, it’s a win-win.

    And at the risk of being repetitive, the primary evidence of this is that she keeps citing the attitudes of the most revanchist, right wing “red state” wingnuts as the reason why only Hills can win cuz–so I must infer–Obama has no chance of winning without the white supremacist vote. Kind of a weird argument to make as to whom the Democratic candidate should be, if you’re, y’know, actually a Democrat ‘n’ stuff. Sounds more like an argument for nominating a Republican, actually.

  • The vitriole–the hatred, the vehemence is extremely disturbing–and it’s coming from both sides.

    No, No, and NO!!

    From the Clinton side: Obama’s unqualified; Obama’s a usurper; Obama ‘s out of touch; Obama hates white people; Obama’s an elitist; we were disenfranchised; we had more popular votes; the media hates us.

    From the other side (not necessarily Obama supporters): For God’s sake, Hillary, please stop whining; be gracious; accept your loss; do the right thing; stop manipulating your supporters.

    There’s a HUGE difference.

  • Also:

    the seething hatred directed at Hillary Clinton just because she is a woman.

    I call BS.

  • DrBB, I think you are mixing apples and oranges. Or trolls and parodists.

    If so, my apologies–or compliments–to the parodist. Usually pretty good at picking up the distinction but I guess I missed the implicit /satire tag in there. Self-parody being such a hard thing to avoid for zealots. Sure seemed self-consistent with the rest of Mary’s blather.

  • Sure seemed self-consistent with the rest of Mary’s blather. -DrBB

    I imagine the masked parodist (?) has a hard time out-crazying Mary.

  • Only the Mother of Odd tag kept me from falling for it. A true parady of the absurd is by first defintion impossible. You can only parody the serious. Which raises the question, ‘ When Bush says something absurd, is it serious?’. Of course, outside of the world of linguistics it is at best sad, at worst catastrophic,

  • On a different subject . . . for all of you who, like me, are fans of Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer and are hoping he’s on Obama’s shortlist for VP, I just wanted to mention the fact that last night, Chris Matthews interviewed Sen. Jon Tester, who stated at the end of the interview that Schweitzer would be a good choice for the #2 spot on the ticket. Tester’s comment has made some waves today, as the folks at OpenLeft and FiveThirtyEight.com have devoted some discussion to the idea. It could happen! That’d be the most kickass ticket our party could’ve had since . . . since . . . I don’t know when! It’d be like having both of the presidents named Roosevelt on one ticket (and, yes, nowadays, Teddy Roosevelt would be a Democrat– the GOP would kick him out of the caucus for his fervent commitment to environmental conservation, if nothing else!) OBAMA/SCHWEITZER ’08!!!!!

  • I don’t know much about Schweitzer, but there are a lot of good people out there. I still will argue that Sebelius is the best — because her philosophy is the closest to Obama’s — but I’ll be glad to hear more about any candidate but Nunn or Hegel.

  • I’m sure he is a fine, capable man, but Schweitzer, imho, doesnt have the name recognition or the big state following necessary for a VP. That position is usually chosen for votes. Dan Quayle is certainly an exception, but he was chosen not to over shadow GHWB, how pathetic can you get?

    Although Obama has the tremendous advantages of McCain and Bush, his run is historic, which in real time means he is running against history and we all know what that history is. He can’t assume much of anything or forego any non-demeaning or non-corrupting leverage.

  • From Associated Press at 2230 Pacific Time Wednesday June 4:

    Hours after Barack Obama sealed the nomination, Democrats coalesced around his candidacy, sending a strong signal to Clinton that it was time to bow out. The former first lady told House Democrats during a private conference call Wednesday that she will express support for Obama’s candidacy and congratulate him for gathering the necessary delegates to be the party’s nominee.

    “Senator Clinton will be hosting an event in Washington, D.C., to thank her supporters and express her support for Senator Obama and party unity. This event will be held on Saturday to accommodate more of Senator Clinton’s supporters who want to attend,” her communications director Howard Wolfson said.

    Also in the speech, Clinton will urge once-warring Democrats to focus on the general election and defeating Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

    Nice to see the 5 stages of grief are now completed.

  • Hagel. — Pup, @60

    Yeah, Hegel probably wouldn’t disinter well 🙂

    But I agree; let’s not carry all that bipartisanship too far. A position in the cabinet is one thing, a VP quite another. Agree on Nunn too; way too far to the right, even if he did express a slight doubt about the previous support of DADT. And wasn’t he also open to the harebrained idea of Unity ’08, where *the only* “platform” was “let’s be nice to one another”?

  • Inter-ruptions aside, I still think HEGEL/SCHWEITZER would be the awesomest ticket,
    if you could only get them to agree on terms.

    If they asked nicely, perhaps Sibelius could orchestrate something…

  • Ha! Elsewhere, I’m on your wavelength– very clever! (I went to the University of Chicago, and got my degree in Music Theory. The music department at U of C is within the larger Department of Humanities, so I did the requisite coursework in the foundations of Western philosophy. So, that’s why I get all the references!)

  • It is common knowledge that there are standard conventions to choose running mates. So it is in election 2008. The alleged friction between the Clinton and Obama camp could have reached vitriolic levels that could have endangered the Democratic Party,but it did not. Guess what,it attracted and invigorated uncommitted voters in the history to stand up and be counted and make history. Where to now with all this talk about the Clinton camp not supporting the Obama camp? It’s all talk. It’s all politics.To be more accurate it’s politricks. The truth is the Clinton camp like the Obama camp are both democrats and like all good families have a little squabble then make up and go on , so what else is new.
    Most people know that what is most likely to happen is that there will be a shifting of primary voting position by the majority of voters that were in the Clinton camp moving to the next level of commitment, to Presidential voting position , that is from individual level to party level, from a primary election 2008 polling statement to a declaration of party loyalty rallying around the Democratic Party Presidential Nominee for November 2008.
    The polls made it appear that there was going to be a Clinton Administration in Election 2008.It never happened. It would appear that most of the polls polled a small section of a carefully chosen community to present a carefully cardiographed miniscule representation of so called voting trends
    in Election 2008 to what would appear to be to scientifically engineer and manipulate poll figures to bolster previous statements of support for one candidate against the other.
    True or false? You tell me, did the polls get it right 80% of the time or 65% of the time or maybe 43% of the time? Ask the pollsters, no one is really sure what the self ordained priests posing as self appointed political analysts sitting on their tripods in their temples of media spin were spouting when they made wild predictions of this and that and were wrong most of the time. Why?They relied on cooked up figures that were souped up to make one candidate look better than the other candidate in election 2008.
    When things went contrary to the cited polling figures, then media spin kicked and kitchen sink strategy and mudslinging politics. But that is history now. It will be swept under the carpet or placed in a hired skip to dump all the vitriolic garbage in the dumping site graveyard of failed election campaigns.
    The Democratic party is on the road to November 2008. One camp lost another camp won. So what? Both camps are democrats and everyone knows the party interests take precedence over individual interest.
    The Obama camp has earned the right to choose their own VP. Convention rules in American politics have always been that way. Their choice must be respected because it will be the choice of Obama camp and Barak Obama.Errol Smythe.

  • You know…I have voted dem for quite some time now… I voted for Gore when the election was stolen from him. I voted for Kerry. I voted for both Webb and Kaine here in VA. I also thought that the dem. party was democratic. What I witness this primary season was a “republic” system and not a democratic one. I now don’t see much difference btw the dems and the republicans. McCain has always been a moderate. I am also interested in learning who which independent will be running. I don’t think that I will be voting dem anything in the near future. Not for the House..Not for the Senate..Not for Gov…Not for the white house.

  • RE: JOINT TICKET vis a vis the EVERYONE HATES HILLARY argument.

    According to realclearpoltics.com, a site to which many of you have pointed me, Obama and Clinton have polled virtually the same vs. McCain.

    As of this morning, the site posted a poll in the last week as

    Obama v. McCain = Obama +2.2
    Clinton v. McCain = Clinton +3

    The latest poll puts Obama +6 (New nominees usually get a bump.)

    It has been posited on these threads that Clinton will hurt Obama in a joint ticket. And I have read a heap of anecdotal evidence to support that. But I think you’re blowing out of it’s proper proportion. Enough with the vitriol, let’s crunch numbers.

    Imagine – 36 million Democrats instantly galvanized.
    Imagine – Obama’s inspiration and Clinton’s spirit.
    Imagine – All that energy pointed directly at McCain.

    Now that’s something I could believe in!

  • [#67]: I don’t think that I will be voting dem anything in the near future. Not for the House..Not for the Senate..Not for Gov…Not for the white house.

    How can you call yourself an Independent Voter if you’ve already made your mind up against one particular party in the next election? That sounds more like a Vindictive Voter [feel free to use it].

  • But yesterday’s post about “The Rising” and “negro uprisings” was by “Mary, Mother of Odd,” who does a parody of “Mary.” Filling the role left behind by the “retirement” of Insane Fake Professor.

    I see those quotation marks five words from the end and I hang my head in shame, son. I really did intend to retire. I really did.

    But every time I tried to get out, teh crazy kept pulling me back in…and I have such a strong work ethic and such a dislike of golf and daytime TV…

  • Sad but true! here in Pa. there are a lot of Hillary voters who won’t vote for Obama because he’s black! I’m not one of them.

  • #1 OkieFromMuskogee said Myanmar is afraid that we would invade them and take their oil? Where in the heck would they get an idea like that?

    What I’m wondering is where Steve got an idea like that. I didnt see anything about oil in the MSNBC story. Did I just miss it?

  • This is exactly the flaw of the U.S. system. We elect persons, and not party. Is it an Obama White House or is it a Democrat White House? We already saw Bush led the nation into the dump, and there is nothing we can do about it other than waiting for his 8 years to expire. That is just stupid. If a CEO is leading a company into the dump, we dump the CEO, but we are willing to sit in misery because of our stupid political system. The Brits are a lot smarter. With a vote of no confidence and there goes the Prime Minister. A nation should be able to move like that, especially with 300 million people’s well-being at stake.
    That being said, can Obama (or the Democrat) say no to Clinton? If they say no, they are playing with fire, and they are not looking at the party’s interest, but their own prejudice.
    This is the election math. Now Obama and McCain are running neck and neck. Clinton has 45% of Democrats support. Say Obama and McCain now have 100 votes each. When 10 Democrats jump the fence to vote for McCain because Clinton is not picked, the numbers are McCain 110 and Obama 90. That 10 votes turns into 20, that is 110-90=20. If Obama picks Clinton, people that don’t like Clinton but like Obama will vote for Obama, and people that don’t like Obama but like Clinton will also vote for Obama. It’s that simple. When Clinton is not picked, Obama risks alienating that 45% of Democrats and risk the Democrat’s chance of winning the White House. That would be the biggest mistake of the century, because Republicons will have picked the entire Supreme Court justices during the next 8 years.

  • #4-Mary wrtes:

    I don’t care who Obama selects as VP. I won’t vote for him, even with Clinton on the ticket. He is wrong for America and the VP has too little influence to make any difference on that score. The same would be true of anyone Obama might select, so who cares?
    – —
    Heard of Dick Cheney?

    Fair enough but just remember knee-jerk voting for McCain is basically going against everything Hillary was campaigning for( look at the platforms of Obama and Hillary- they share a lot of similarities). Do you really want a 1950’s Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade?

  • With the HATRED spewed by Rev Wright (Mr. and MRS. Obama’s spiritual leader) why is it so hard for liberals to understand why many americans might believe without seeing this ominous “Whitey” video by Mrs. Obama?

    The fruit does not fall very far from the tree. 20 years in that church and they never agreed wiht the hatred of “whitey” spewed by the church leader?

    That is hard to swallow and I find it unsettling that liberals would try and make us believe it just to win the white house back…..

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