Doesn’t it seem pretty obvious the McCain folks have been caught cheating?
Of course, you know they didn’t just listen on the way to the Saddleback Forum.
It seems to me that someone (probably Warren himself) gave them the questions a few days early. That would explain why he kept talking about the “cone of silence” because all of that was a fraud — and he knew it.
That’s the only thing that explains how they got the rehearsed answers out of Mathusaleh the other night.
They weren’t that good anyway, just talking points — but they were far better than they would’ve been otherwise.
“Obama also allowed Hillary supporters to insert an absurd statement into the platform suggesting that media sexism spurred her loss and that “demeaning portrayals of women … dampen the dreams of our daughters.” This, even though postmortems, including the new raft of campaign memos leaked by Clintonistas to The Atlantic — another move that undercuts Obama — finger Hillary’s horrendous management skills.”. Read more
But those aren’t the lyrics that have displeased the Obama team. On the song, ’Cris expresses other thoughts on the political climate, calling Hillary Clinton “irrelevant” and insinuating that Jesse Jackson’s apology to Obama for some recent crude statements wasn’t genuine. Like many of his peers, he also complains about President George W. Bush’s “poor” job while in office. “McCain don’t belong in any chair unless he’s paralyzed/ Yeah I said it, ’cause Bush is mentally handicapped,” Luda raps. Read more
Jeebus, Jesse Jackson’s name was placed in nomination when the Dems nominated Dukasis, and he didn’t have near as many delegates as Hillary does, let alone a majority of the popular vote. So what if it’s symbolic? What could be wrong with the symbolism?
Aside from the standard arguments and moans —and he deploys plenty— Kinsley offers up a few “gems” that are worthy of both excerpt and comment. In the midst of a muddled plea that defies my best attempts at summarization, he informs democrats, particularly Hillary Democrats, of the steps that must be taken in order to guarantee a better America: Read more
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska will join Barack Obama on his upcoming trip to Iraq, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Hagel voted for the war crimes commission act in addition to all of his pro-war votes. The moral distinction between Hagel and Lyndie England is that she had her picture taken.
In the spirit of wishing openness and transparency for all our presidential candidates’ affairs:
Mc Cain has a bit of a gambling problem — he doesn’t acknowledge that he does gamble, at least to the one group that matters, the IRS. From the Time article: Read more
Just got off the phone with ANOTHER Democratic fundraiser and volunteer co-ordinator. Those people do keep callin’—and they seem terribly SHOCKED when I tell them, politely (can’t do it real calmly yet), that I am not going to be working or helping out or contributing to the Democratic Party this year because of the vote stealing. Read more
Now Mr. Obama and his campaign advisors are floating the idea of keeping Sec’y of Defense GATES on as Sec’y in the “anti-war,” Democratic Obama Administration?
Admittedly Mr. Gates’s no Rumsfeld.
But gee, this makes Obama’s idea of nominating Sen. Lugar for Sec’y of State (R., Chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, one of 8 congressional members briefed by Bush during this war, and famed Obama mentor) look merely conservative.
Our new war policies: same as our old war policies?
Former Governor Mark White spoke about the loss.
Texas authorities are looking for the perpetrator, and offering a $50K reward. (I know this is a FoxNews video; their Austin station just happened to do the best story on this, or at least so far.)
Read more
Now it all makes sense…. as long as the American consumer doesn’t get a bit of direct relief first:
“I’ll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills,” the Illinois senator said.
It’s a full-Democratic congressional push, so it just might have a chance…
“Senators were to vote Tuesday on whether to consider a windfall profits tax against the five largest U.S. oil companies and rescind $17 billion in tax breaks the companies expect to enjoy over the next decade.” Read more
Wow. Graves goes even lower. If you listen closely, the ad does refer to her as “Gay Barnes.” I bet they thought that was funny — and you know the folks in Graves’s office say that to each other several times per day.
Wow.
Of course, the mastermind behind all this is “media consultant” Jeff Roe, who is about as reprehensible a campaigner as I’m aware of at any level of politics — and I’m including Karl Rove. He’s one of the major reasons that Missouri politics is rapidly becoming a cesspool. Read more
The Democratic Party’s charter requires that the Party:
Establish standards and rules of procedure to afford all members of the Democratic Party full, timely and equal opportunities to participate in decisions concerning the selection of candidates, … and further, to promote fair campaign practices and the fair adjudication of disputes. (Charter, Article I, Section 4)
Yet both the Democratic National Committee and the Michigan Democratic Party appear to be violating that requirement in their selection of which challenges to the MI Clusterfuck to hear at the May 31 Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting.
At least one group of ordinary Michigan citizens submitted a complaint that appears to fulfill all requirements. Yet the MDP has failed to follow its own rules on how to assist with and respond to that complaint—and it also did not comply with the requirement that it publish the names of those selected in the April 19 district conventions (which triggers a deadline for the submission of complaints). And the DNC will only hear the two state party-led complaints at the May 31 Rules and Bylaw Committee, thereby violating the requirement that “all members” of the party be able “to participate in decisions concerning the selection of candidates.” Read more
Someone is taking the Village pundits seriously. Politico:
Obama plans to declare victory May 20
Not long after the polls close in the May 20 Kentucky and Oregon primaries, Barack Obama plans to declare victory in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
And, until at least May 31 and perhaps longer, Hillary Clinton’s campaign plans to dispute it.
It’s a train wreck waiting to happen, with one candidate claiming to be the nominee while the other vigorously denies it, all predicated on an argument over what exactly constitutes the finish line of the primary race. Read more
As you may have read, earlier today the FBI executed search warrants at the Office of the Special Counsel (OSC). The OSC is “an independent federal investigative and prosecutorial agency. Our basic authorities come from three federal statutes, the Civil Service Reform Act, the Whistleblower Protection Act, and the Hatch Act.” You can see why the OSC could be a problem for this Administration.
Fortunately, the Bush Administration came up with a solution, putting Scott Bloch in charge of the office. Putting a Bush appointee in charge of the office that’s designed to protect the career civil service against being politicized is like putting a lion in charge of protecting baby gazelles. Read more
And surely, what is helping to make this primary season so hellish are all the attempts to close it down.
In case you haven’t heard, and assuming I get this up before anyone else posts on it, a superdelegate Bill Clinton once chose to head the DNC and was up-to-now a declared Hillary-supporter, has just announced today that he is switching his support to Obama, and urging all Hoosier voters to do likewise in order to end the primary process in its tracks after next Tuesday. As part of this strategy, he is also urging his fellow superdelegates to wait no longer to declare their preferences, so we can all unite behind Barack and begin to do battle with McSame.
I don’t like Steny Hoyer. There’s just no way around it. Now he’s conspiring with Jay Rockefeller to force retroactive telecom immunity through Congress, so George Bush and his criminal conspiracy won’t have to answer any questions about violating the Constitution by spying on American citizens without warrants.
[Hello. I’m new here. Been reading the legacy. Something I’ve posted elsewhere still in an emacs buffer — so, I’ll just jump in.]
I, a progressive voter since 1963, am incensed with Dean, Pelosi, Reid, et al., and find them to be contemptible a55h0l35.
Nancy Pelosi’s most notable achievement was to take impeachment off the table. Two years later, and Bush has been allowed to continue virtually unobstructed. The Bushit clock will have run out soon, and we can start marking Democratic Friedman units (at least, 180 coalition and 10 thousand Iraqi deaths per F-unit). Read more
Shi’a Iraq militias are threatening women for things like driving cars, not wearing veils, and going to school or work. US “advisers” think this is just fine:
But at present, U.S. forces are too pleased by the sharp drop in jihadist attacks to lose sleep over things like gender issues. “They’re going to find their own level about what is acceptable,” says Col. Martin Stanton, one of the Sahwa program’s U.S. coordinators. “In terms of what they’re doing within their own culture, I don’t think we’d intervene in that.” The Coalition has let Shiite groups impose their values across much of the south for years for the sake of stability; women there mostly go veiled now, and some have quit their jobs under pressure from Shiite militia members.
Hell of a good job you’re doing, George W. Bush. You and your cronies won’t be satisfied until there’s nothing left but fat cats and angry kids, but at least you won’t have to be afraid of smart, savvy, well-educated women anymore, will you?
Losers. Read more
Bobo Brooks goes to Memphis, takes a trip down memory lane and laments how well-behaved black people used to be:
Martin Luther King Jr. at least left behind a model of how to repair the social fabric. He was scholarly, formal, assertive and meticulously self-controlled in public.
The life’s work of a great man and 40 years of historical facts, economics, sociology, politics and policy are washed away with a facile narrative about proper behavior and civility. That is the gist of Brooks’ article. It’s the The Santa-Clausification of Martin Luther King Jr.
The reason for everything that’s happened in the intervening 40 years? Read more
Segregation and poverty have created in the racial ghetto a destructive environment totally unknown to most white Americans. What white Americans have never fully understood but what the Negro can never forget—is that white society is deeply implicated in the ghetto. White institutions created it, white institutions maintain it, and white society condones it. Read more
ABC News’ Sunlen Miller reports: Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., told a crowd in Vinton, Iowa Thursday that he’s not going to pull a Tonya Harding on his rival candidates. Read more