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March 08, 2008
Self-Sabotage
One Clinton aide yesterday derided Mr Obama’s victories in "boutique" caucus states rather than the hardscrabble terrain of the rustbelt, saying: "Obama has won the small caucus states with the latte-sipping crowd. They don’t need a president, they need a feeling."
Right, whatever. Senator Obama will easily win Clinton states like New York, New Jersey, California and Michigan this November. But will Senator Clinton win the Obama states which her campaign has insulted time after time? The Clinton campaign isn't very smart.
06:02 PM | Comments (8) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Wyoming Caucus Blockus
2:54PM
Obama 61
Clinton 38
11 out of 23 counties reporting
02:49 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Adopt A Mountain Gorilla
This made me smile. Attenborough recently announced his retirement and the natural world has lost an important ally. Meanwhile, if you have $50 to spare, adopt a mountain gorilla here.
(h/t AmericaBlog)
10:21 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
President Bush To Veto Torture Ban
The Gestapo. The Spanish Inquisition. The Communist North Vietnamese who tortured John McCain and countless others. Imperial Japan during World War II. And President George W. Bush.
Let's see to it that history remembers President Bush alongside these other torturing villains.
And if you really want to freak out, read the text of his radio address.
10:03 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Operation Ignore
Here are some titles of various memos sent to then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice from Richard Clarke prior to the 9/11 attacks. The dates are all 2001:
“Bin Ladin Public Profile May Presage Attack” (May 3)“Terrorist Groups Said Co-operating on US Hostage Plot” (May 23)
“Bin Ladin’s Networks’ Plans Advancing” (May 26)
“Bin Ladin Attacks May Be Imminent” (June 23)
“Bin Ladin and Associates Making Near-Term Threats” (June 25)
“Bin Ladin Planning High-Profile Attacks” (June 30)
“Planning for Bin Ladin Attacks Continues, Despite Delays” (July 2)
Why isn't this story being told in the traditional media? The Bush administration bungled 9/11. The notion that it was President Bush's shining moment is a lie.
(Headline from Al Franken's Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them)
09:52 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
09:26 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 07, 2008
Somebody's Dream Ticket
War is good! Iran is bad! Hope is wrong! Fear is right! McCain/Clinton 2008. America: We Can Make It Worse.
08:57 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By JumpyPants
Hillary crosses the bullshit threshold
Hillary and her good friend/pretend lover/prospective running mate Johnny Mac have one more thing in common: their straight talk is actually crooked as a Nixon official. The Chicago Tribune has a great piece that looks into Hillary's claims of her foreign policy experience. The take away: she's full of shit. She credits herself with making peace in Northern Ireland. And in case you need an expert to tell you how lame that is, the Trib has one:
But Tim Pat Coogan, an Irish historian who has written extensively on the conflict in Northern Ireland, said the first lady's visits were not decisive in the negotiating breakthroughs in Northern Ireland."It was a nice thing to see her there, with the women's groups. It helped, I suppose," Coogan said. "But it was ancillary to the main thing. It was part of the stage effects, the optics.
So she's definitely crossed the stage effects threshold. Maybe she can play The Joker in a musical version of Batman!
08:52 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By JumpyPants
The smell of desperation in the morning
Ed Rendell is a Hillary supporter who thinks white people from the state he governs won't vote for Barack Obama. But despite his confidence in the small-mindedness of his fellow Pennsylvanians, he seems pretty sure Hillary's not going to win the nomination. This must be because he can count, unlike everyone in the Clinton inner circle. Here's Ed's big idea (via Ambinder):
Brownstein: Do you think it would make sense for the winner to offer the Vice Presidency to the loser, either way?
Rendell: I do - and that doesn’t mean the loser has to accept. But I think it’s important that it be offered, and if the loser doesn’t accept, I think the loser can say why. But no, I think that would be very, very important. You know, obviously, I’d love to see a Clinton/Obama ticket. But if Senator Obama won, I think his offering it to Senator Clinton would be a great gesture. I’m not sure she would take it, I’m not sure he would take it. But either way, I think that it would be good if the offer were made.
Brownstein: Would you encourage either one to take it, if it was offered, if you were asked?
Rendell: Sure, sure. I mean, I think you’ve got to do it.
Ed: let's do a little hypothetical. Imagine somebody's told lies about you repeatedly on TV; let's say somebody has called you a "kid" when you're 48 years old; let's say they've taken a photo of you and used computer technology to darken your skin and widen your nose. Would you call those things "great gestures"? Cause I'd call them textbook Rovian, Atwaterian, GOP-sleaze tactics.
But forget for a second how Barack Obama might feel about Hillary for her kitchen sink full of crapola. Do we really need another asshole in the Vice President's office? Another asshole who considers the Republican nominee a "great friend"?
Sorry, Ed. Senator Clinton will have to live in her "home" state of NY for a long time.
08:33 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By JumpyPants
Presidential Campaign? Feh. Whatever.
I love it when smart people accidentally accept a Republican talking point that the Democratic campaigns are cult-like.
All due respect to HTML Mencken, whose stuff I read every day, but to suggest that either Democratic candidate is "just another politician" is really a little too cynical and aloof. Yeah, they're politicians, but they're politicians who will represent America on the world stage; they will represent "our" era in history, and, to that point, they represent an opportunity for our generation to erase a massive skidmark on the American narrative.
The enthusiasm, I believe, comes from a desire to solve this mess -- it's a crucially important moment in an on-going process that has already included thousands of hours working for Ned Lamont; battling the Republicans on FISA; ending the war; watchdogging the Bush administration, and blogging our brains out during this interminably dark ride. No-one believes the sky will open and everything will change in one moment or with one speech. No-one believes this will happen with a one grand slam home run in November. But it's a really big step towards rolling out of this darkness.
12:10 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Awwwww
WASHINGTON - GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul is hinting to supporters that he is ending his long-shot campaign for the presidency.
Atlas just shrugged.
09:07 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
08:33 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Oh, and here's something to do
Do it now. You'll feel so much better.
12:20 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By JumpyPants
The voice in Hillary's head
Like her DLC soulmate, Joe Lieberman, Hillary Clinton really is about one person: Hillary Clinton. So she'll doctor photos to make a fellow Democrat look different, she'll praise her Republican "rival," she'll lie about NAFTA-gate and pretty much anything else - really, nothing matters except that she get elected to the office she's running for. Just like Joe Lieberman.
Which brings me to the realization that in some dark, reptilian part of what's left of the brain that's been stewing in Penn-juice for a year now, she's realizing that Florida's delegates won't get seated, that the supers are going to vote for the winner not the "winner", and that she won't be the nominee, let alone president, ever. Never. Ever. And this is NOT how it was supposed to be. Especially after all she put up with. Promises were made. Oaths sworn. And now, this. Loss. Defeat.
And that won't do. So there in the shadowy corners of her overcooked brain comes this voice that says, "Hey...Hillary...you and Johnny Mac have a lot in common...you and Johnny Mac crossed a threshold...together...that's what married couples do...and hey...maybe you could marry him...not literally, that would be too weird, but maybe...hey, here's a thought...maybe you could be his vice presidential nominee! Think about that Hill...the country would go for it...I mean, not the whole country, but who needs the whole country anyway...the significant states...they'd vote on that ticket. Especially if you scared the living shit out of them, you and Johnny Mac...have him show his scars on TV...let you run your fingers over them...this could happen to their children...Barack Obama could do it...or someone with a name that sounds like his name...plus...Johnny's old...he could...die. He could die in the first term...then...well...there you are...and you've been tested...you're ready...you crossed a threshold...you're always up at 3 AM anyway...worrying...think about this...think about the young, manly interns who would work for you...you could fire all the girls and get an all male intern staff...think about this...Hillary...think...McCain...Clinton...think..."
Of course McCain would pick Lieberman over her anyway.
12:08 AM | Comments (6) | Posted By JumpyPants
March 06, 2008
Hillary's Brain On Drugs
Red phone! McCain! Friend! NAFTA! Grain of salt! War! Thresholds! Fear! Fear! Ken Starr! McCain! McCain! Darkened image! 3 AM! 3 AM! 3 AM! McCain! Fear! Friend! McCain! 3 AM! Experience! Children! 3AM! McCain! Fear! FEAR! FEAR!!!!! MCCAIN!
11:57 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By JumpyPants
Rolling Stone
11:38 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By JumpyPants
Yeah, let's talk about Ken Starr...
So Howard "I Get My Crack From Rush Limbaugh" Wolfson decided to invoke the name of Ken Starr today in what I think he thought was his candidate's defense.
Howard, buddy, probably a third of Democrats voting this year don't know who Ken Starr is. For the other two-thirds, though, do you really think it's a great idea to be reminding people of Whitewater, Travelgate, the Lincoln Bedroom, Paula Jones, Monica Lewinsky and the impeachment of your candidate's husband? What's next, Howard, comparing Obama's "lack of experience" to that of a White House intern?
I guess when you know the only way you can win is by cheating, you just start talking out your ass sideways.
11:30 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By JumpyPants
In All Fairness...
...this was really goddamn stupid. Obama foreign policy advisor Susan Rice today:
“Clinton hasn’t had to answer the phone at three o’clock in the morning and yet she attacked Barack Obama for not being ready,'’ Ms. Rice said. “They’re both not ready to have that 3 a.m. phone call.”
No, no, NO!
09:03 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Liebercratic Party
Just now, Newsweek's Richard Wolffe and Keith Olbermann both compared Senator Clinton to Joe Lieberman. For a while there, I thought I was the only one (here and here). Many in the blogotubes thought I was nuts for suggesting this campaign is not unlike the Lamont-Lieberman campaign. In fact, I'll take my line of reasoning one step further. I say that Senator Clinton will run as a third party candidate if she doesn't get the nomination. How's about them Liebercrat apples, eh? Eh?!
UPDATE: Transcribed without comment... Margaret Carlson on MSNBC just now:
[Senator Clinton] gave the opening speech at the women's conference in Beijing, and she's visited 80 countries. Well, she really did -- I was on some of those trips. She really did have tea and cock... uh... tea and cookies in those countries.
08:05 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Screwing Thyself
I'm wondering if this is such a smart thing to keep saying:
“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington."I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.
If Senator Clinton wants a general election with national security front and center, should she really be complimenting her potential Republican opponent? And don't national security voters in a general election usually side with the fear mongering Republicans?
06:25 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
DLC Lines You Can Xerox
Bruce Reed, president of the DLC, wrote the "change you can Xerox" line for Senator Clinton.
How meta-wrong is this? Let's start with the fact that someone else wrote the line for Senator Clinton -- a line which was intended to blast Senator Obama for doing the same thing.
Then we discover that it was written by Clinton surrogate Bruce Reed, president of the centrist, capitulating DLC, of which Senator Clinton is a leading member.
Then there's the DLC itself which used to be despised by the liberal blogotubes, but now, since Senator Clinton is running, has largely been ignored.
03:26 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Freedom From Fear
Picking up on Rachel Maddow's mention of freedom from fear:
And you don't attain freedom from fear, by conjuring more fear.
11:26 AM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Sekoff And Maddow on Dan Abrams
Abrams is hilarious when he's being deliberately oblivious.
11:16 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Arguing Politics
I like to argue and debate politics (doy!) and usually that means that I pick a side based on my worldview and fight in favor of that side until circumstances dictate some sort of result.
10:11 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Blogotube Quote Of The Week
TRex!
Well, gang, this primary is starting to remind me of when I was ten and my parents were getting divorced.
On a raw emotional level, that's about right.
08:13 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
07:47 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 05, 2008
Commander-in-Creepy
Excellent point raised by Olbermann tonight: If experience in the Senate is the litmus test for who can be commander-in-chief, doesn't Senator McCain have more experience in the Senate than Senator Clinton?
So why, then, is Senator Clinton raising such a ridiculous idea? If she were to somehow grab the nomination, wouldn't Senator McCain use her own words against her? Mark Penn is a goddamn genius. I think I'll start an e-mail whisper campaign in which I lay out a case that Senator Clinton is a Trojan Horse working for the Republicans. I mean, she's really helping McCain these days. She's at least helping McCain more than the goddamn president is right now, no?
I'm kidding about the whisper campaign. But the point holds.
09:18 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Comment Problems
I've heard that TypeKey is causing some browsers to crash. Is anyone experiencing this? I'm using fairly standard Windows technology here (Firefox and Explorer 7 running on Windows XP at home and at the studio) and it's working fine for me.
Doesn't hurt to run a check and make sure everyone's happy with the tech performance of the site.
09:12 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Senator Obama Wins Texas
According to the current delegate math, Senator Obama could win Texas by around 3 delegates.
More from Markos here.
09:04 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Thuggery
Harold Ickes apparently floated the idea that the pledged delegates can legally switch candidates. Nice. Oliver warns the Clinton campaign not to try to steal the pledged delegates:
Here's the deal: if they try to pull this and any delegates actually follow along, they've destroyed the party and given the fall election to John McCain. Diehard loyal Democrats like myself will not accept this brand of thuggery and as a result - no matter our heartfelt desire to see a Democrat in the White House - will tell the party to go take a flying leap off a pier. If she wants to be the nominee, she needs to win the delegates. If she wins the delegates legitimately, then she's the nominee and she will be supported. But if the Clinton campaign becomes an echo of the 2000 Bush campaign she'll join John Kerry, Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale.
I've done a lot of yelling recently about the fear mongering and how, because of it, I couldn't bring myself to support Senator Clinton if she somehow weaseled her way to the nomination. I might still vote for her, but I certainly wouldn't make the effort to campaign for her on the blogs, on the ground or elsewhere. But should the Clintons attempt to steal away pledged delegates... well, then... I would be much more inclined to agree with Oliver about the flying leap thing.
05:30 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
When Did She Become a Republican?
Aravosis documents Senator Clinton's continued and repeated endorsements of Senator McCain over Senator Obama. Someone from the party needs to step in on this. Seriously.
She's batshit nuts.
Senator McCain is not only a Republican who was endorsed by President Bush today, but he's also an alleged womanizer. Why the goddamn hell would Senator Clinton be endorsing his experience like this?
05:15 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Senator Clinton And Staying In
I don't particularly care whether Senator Clinton stays in the race or bows out on a high note. The high note thing would be the classy move, but after a week of tasteless attacks, I don't think she's capable of such a move.
However, if she stays in this thing as a de facto Huckabee spoiler, she needs to keep her fear mongering and negative attacks holstered. She will not win with pledged delegates. This is impossible. Let me repeat, she will not defeat Senator Obama on pledged delegates.
Plus, more superdelegates are apparently ready to endorse Senator Obama. For her own dignity's sake, continuing to campaign with a Mark Penn kitchen sink "Hussein" strategy will only force more superdelegates to Senator Obama's more dignified ranks, AND it will further help Senator McCain.
Dignity, Senator Clinton. You are a top shelf party leader. Act like it.
11:10 AM | Comments (7) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Texas And Ohio
Congratulations to Senator Clinton. The fear mongering appears to have worked and she netted four delegates from the day, and Senator Obama will likely erase those gains on Saturday and next Tuesday, but it worked for some temporary gains.
The real winner of the night is Senator McCain who will simply replicate Senator Clinton's ads and talking points in the general election.
More later...
09:49 AM | Comments (6) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
08:42 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 04, 2008
Liveblogging The Texinnati Primary
I'm liveblogging tonight for the Huffington Post.
And I just made up "Texinnati".
07:35 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Now It's Propaganda
Senator Clinton is getting into the Bush White House "fake news story" business:
Her new radio ad in Ohio begins, "This is an election news update with a major news story reported by the AP."
The Clinton campaign keeps getting more and more awesome.
11:16 AM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Senator Clinton Endorses Senator McCain
"I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. Senator John McCain has a lifetime of experience thathe’dhe will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002."
Posted without comment, because you don't want to hear what I have to say about Senator Clinton for this one.
09:03 AM | Comments (9) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
I'm not giving in to security under pressure
I'm not missing out on the promise of adventure
I'm not giving up on implausible dreams
Experience to extremes
Experience to extremes...
08:35 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 03, 2008
That Ringing Phone?
Hardball just counted the number of rings in the 3AM commercial.
6 rings.
My voicemail usually picks up after four rings.
07:31 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Fear Mongering Gambit
So let's say Senator Clinton wins both Texas and Ohio tomorrow. And let's say she pulls off a miracle and gets the necessary yet impossible 70 percent of the vote in both states she'll need to advance in the delegate tally. She will have done so based on a week's worth of fear mongering. I know many in the blogosphere who would simply be unable to support or praise such a victory.
But let's also say that Senator Clinton doesn't get anywhere near the delegates she needs to stay in this race and Senator Obama advances to the nomination. Senator McCain and the GOP would be able to basically replicate her entire kitchen sink strategy and use it against Senator Obama for the balance of the year. "Senator Clinton not only implied Obama isn't a Christian, but she also implied he's unqualified to be commander-in-chief."
Their dignity is gone. Their nobility is gone. And they're carpet bombing the party in the process.
Good job, Senator Clinton and Mark Penn.
06:15 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Shame On You, Senator Clinton
Fear mongering appears to be working for Senator Clinton. And why wouldn't it?
Mark Penn says that the 3AM spot is swaying "millions" of voters.
And Senator Clinton has opened up a 10 point lead in Ohio according to the final SUSA poll.
Shameful and disgraceful. And as I wrote in my December endorsement of Senator Obama, it's all too Cheney-ish of her.
01:49 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Why Pilots Aren't Paid Enough
Holy frijoles!
A first year pilot earns as little as $26,000 per year. And yet they can handle this kind of pressure. Unbelievable.
11:06 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
"As Far As I Know"
I'm presently writing the chapter titled "Glenn Beck Has An Unfortunate Name" (preorder the book here) about these dangerous and sinister rumors about the senator, so you can imagine that I pretty much flew into a rage upon watching 60 Minutes last night. In case you missed it, Senator Clinton basically said that there could be some truth to the rumors:
“You don't believe that Senator Obama's a Muslim?” Kroft asked Sen. Clinton.“Of course not. I mean, that, you know, there is no basis for that. I take him on the basis of what he says. And, you know, there isn't any reason to doubt that,” she replied.
“You said you'd take Senator Obama at his word that he's not…a Muslim. You don't believe that he's…,” Kroft said.
“No. No, there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know,” she said.
And then there's this video:
It's a shameful day in America.
09:34 AM | Comments (12) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
09:10 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 02, 2008
With Experience Like This...
...who needs fuck ups?
Hope08 over at DailyKos has a crackerjack diary where she points out how Obama is now hitting back hard at the Clinton "experience" meme. Here's the great quote from Senator Obama in an Ohio town hall setting:
Now, I have to say when it came to making the most important foreign policy decision of our generation – the decision to invade Iraq – Senator Clinton got it wrong. She didn’t read the National Intelligence Estimate, Jay Rockefeller read it, but she didn’t read it. I don’t know what all that experience got her because in my experience if you have a National Intelligence Estimate and the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee says, 'You should read this, this is why I’m voting against the war,' then you should probably read it. I don’t know how much experience you need for that.She didn’t first give diplomacy a chance. And to this day, she won’t even admit that her vote was a mistake or even that it was a vote for war. And so besides that decision to invade Iraq, we’re still waiting to hear Senator Clinton tell us what precise foreign policy experience that she is claiming that makes her prepared to answer that phone call at three in the morning.
Read Hope08's whole diary, especially the hilarious part where Penn and Wolfson are asked to define Hillary's seminal "foreign policy moment" and the there is a long moment filled with chirping crickets and the dropping of pins.
08:38 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By JumpyPants
Today's Meet the Press
Would it kill them to have some "campaign advisors" under the age of 120 every once in a while? There are some very talented people out there who actually have worked on a winning campaign since 1992. Oy.
And Matalin's face was barely mobile. I'm still not sure how she managed "Barack Obama" without use of her lips.
12:42 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Damn.
10:03 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
