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March 15, 2008
The Wright Stuff
Hoo-HOO! Get it?
It occurred to me last night that the Obama campaign might be responsible for recycling these Reverend Wright sermons. Is this crazy talk? Maybe. But hear me out.
It might bring some short term damage, but you know what else is happening through this news cycle? The words "Obama" and "Christian" and "Pastor" and "Sermon" and "Jesus" and "Spiritual Advisor" are being repeated over and over in the same context. The story itself shocks the yokels into paying attention, then they're forced to hear the truth about Senator Obama's Christianity.
Yeah, that's a long shot theory. But even if I'm totally wrong about who's responsible and why the videos were re-released yesterday (Friday 'take out the trash' day), the silver lining is plenty of discussions about Senator Obama's church and his religion. And maybe those ridiculous and dangerous rumors will be crushed a little.
UPDATE 10:10AM: Naturally, as soon as I wrote this, I noticed this post which makes the same point. This would be the second time this has happened to me this week. Oh, and this one, too.
08:36 AM | Comments (15) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Never Again
This:
“I must say, I’m a little envious,” Bush said. “If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.”“It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks,” Bush said.
We should start a nationwide television campaign urging Americans to never vote for a president who is this fucking crazy ever, ever again.
08:29 AM | Comments (7) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Type, type, type
Sorry for the sporadic blogging, everyone. I'm staring down a looming deadline on the book, One Nation Under Fear, on top of my usual animation stuffs. Thanks to JumpyPants for filling in the blanks.
08:10 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
TRex's band from 1994. GO!
08:04 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 14, 2008
Pastors Are Crazy. What Else Is New?
Why am I seeing Reverend Wright on MSNBC right now? None of this is new and all of it has been debated over and over. The very serious cable people appear to be deliberately hitting Senator Obama on this just because they hit Senator Clinton on Ferraro. But this isn't news, goddamn it. It's not new and Wright isn't a member of Senator Obama's campaign. Hey -- very serious cable news people: this is not balance, it's irresponsible.
UPDATE: And now I'm watching the great Naomi Wolf, author of The End of America, ripping into MSNBC and the traditional media -- while on MSNBC. I hope Crooks & Liars is recording MSNBC right now.
08:21 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Sunday night, fellow history geeks!
08:15 AM | Comments (7) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 13, 2008
Oh, those lucky, lucky black men
Extremely on the mark reader cscs over at TPM Cafe makes the connection between the lucky, lucky lives of Barack Obama and David Patterson, but points out that Patterson is probably even luckier than Obama, because not only is New York's new governor black, he's also blind! And we all know how lucky blind, black men are! They get everything basically handed to them on a silver platter. Or in Patterson's case, a silver platter inscribed with braille.
You know, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles know this deal well. They basically had their record contracts handed to them because record companies were caught up in the moment of liking black blind men. Unfortunately, we've had to suffer through umpteen recordings of songs like "What I Say" and "Sir Duke" for years and years all because some record company owners got caught up in a moment of liking black blind men. And that same moment caught up New York voters when they elected David Patterson to be Lt. Governor. Hell, I'd argue that Eliot Spitzer was so caught up in that moment - and in the moment of sighted black man Barack Obama - that it drove him into the arms of a 7-diamond prostitute. Many times. I'd even argue that it was the Republican Department of Justice who, caught up in all these blind/black/man moments that drove them to target Spitzer, not because he was a Democrat, but because he was standing in the way of...yes, that's right, a blind black man.
Can we officially stop saying "the luck o' the Irish!" and begin to say what we all know is true: "the luck o' the black men! Especially if they're blind!"
Maybe Geraldine Ferraro can raise money for a company that makes buttons and T-shirts that espouse that phrase.
10:24 AM | Comments (5) | Posted By JumpyPants
High Pitch Buchanan: Shut Up
Buchanan was especially high pitch and especially racist last night on Abrams. Hang in there for Maddow's reaction:
07:58 AM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
07:19 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 12, 2008
You've GOT to be kidding me
Via TPM, Geraldine Ferraro on how HARD it is for an African-American to be elected president:
Ms. Ferraro offered a similar sentiment. “I think it’s more realistic for a woman than it is for an African-American,” said Ms. Ferraro. “There is a certain amount of racism that exists in the United States — whether it’s conscious or not it’s true.”“Women are 51 percent of the population,” she added.
When did Geraldine say this?
2006.
Hillary, Geraldine and the Clinton campaign have lost what a thinking person would call their souls.
11:05 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By JumpyPants
Pennsylvanians: Reject and Denounce Racism
If you live in PA, are white, and are voting next month in the primary, I strongly encourage you to reject in its entirety the attempted racist manipulation of the Clinton campaign in its desperate efforts to secure your vote.
Let us be frank: Hillary Clinton and her campaign unleashed the yapping hate-speech of Geraldine Ferraro with clear intent: to stoke the ire of any white person who has ever thought affirmative action deprived them of a job, to stoke the fear of any white person who ever felt threatened by crime statistics involving black people, to stoke, in short, the idea that anyone can be defined by the color of their skin and not the quality of their character.
Hillary Clinton and Geraldine Ferraro stand squarely with a long line of racist American politicians including Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott and George Wallace. They have all used ethnicity as a bludgeon to keep down not only African-Americans, but also to keep white people scared and ignorant and thoughtless.
Pennsylvania voters, I urge you to reject this manipulation of you. Because at its core, that is precisely what this shameless hate-speech is: a callous attempt to manipulate your vote.
But in a few weeks, you can tell Hillary Clinton that you don't view the world that way. That you're not driven by fear and devoid of thought. That you prefer facts and truth to distortion and lies. That you don't care what color a person's skin is, what gender they are, where they're from; you care about what they've done, what they're doing, and what they plan to do.
Just say no to racism.
09:23 PM | Comments (12) | Posted By JumpyPants
That way madness lies
Olbermann got it 100% right and then some tonight:
Olbermann chose to frame his comment in terms of bad choices on the part of Senator Clinton, stopping short of calling her inherently racist, instead casting the matter in terms of her receiving bad advice from the "tone deaf" and "arrogant" members of her campaign ("they are killing your chances of becoming president...[and] slowly killing the chances for any democrat to become president"). He characterized Ferraro's remarks as "a blind accusation of sexism and dismissing Senator Obama's campaign as some equal opportunity stunt," and decried her comments both in this instance and historically, pointing to the "cheap, ignorant vile racism that underlines them."
09:18 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By JumpyPants
Spitzer v. Bush
Glenn Greenwald nails it:
Governors who hire adult prostitutes must resign immediately lest the public trust be forever sullied. Presidents who break the law by spying on Americans with no warrants, who torture people in violation of multiple treaties and statutes, who start hideously destructive wars based on false pretenses, who repeatedly proclaim the power to ignore laws, and who imprison people -- including Americans -- with no charges of any kind, should remain in office for as long as they want. Anyone who suggests otherwise is an irresponsible, shrill, partisan radical.
09:00 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By JumpyPants
Afternoon Awesome
02:52 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
New Huffington Item
This is a long one, so fix yourself a lovely sandwich and hunker down for Senator Clinton Isn't A Republican, As Far As I Know.
01:58 PM | Comments (8) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Senator Obama with Chris Matthews
(h/t Paddy)
09:02 AM | Comments (7) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
08:40 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 11, 2008
When Sinbad knows you're full of crap...
It's time for Hillary to stop the endless parade of crap emanating from her mouth region. Because not only are high-profile international politicos calling bullshit on her threshold, Sinbad is telling it like it is, too:
In an interview with the Sleuth Monday, [Sinbad] said the "scariest" part of
the trip was wondering where he'd eat next. "I think the only 'red-phone' moment was: 'Do we eat here or at the next place.'"In her Iowa stump speech, Clinton also said, "We used to say in the White House that if a place is too dangerous, too small or too poor, send the First Lady."
Say what? As Sinbad put it: "What kind of president would say, 'Hey, man, I can't go 'cause I might get shot so I'm going to send my wife...oh, and take a guitar player and a comedian with you.'"
The guitar player is Sheryl Crow. I think we can safely say that Sinbad and Sheryl Crow have crossed the "where do we eat" threshold along with Senator Clinton. Senator McCain has probably also crossed that threshold. Not so sure about Senator Obama, though, right Hillary? I mean, he's probably too busy making speeches to talk about where to eat.
10:47 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By JumpyPants
Hillary Finally Makes the Cheer Squad!
Hillary Clinton is, not surprisingly, once again, lying, this is the lie about her foreign policy experience:
On the stump, Clinton takes credit for helping to bring peace between warring Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. George Mitchell, the former Maine senator who helped negotiate the peace agreements, has said that Clinton's visits to the region and meetings with female activists there were "very helpful" in the peace efforts.But one of the key Irish negotiators last week called Clinton's description of her role in the process a "wee bit silly."
"I don't know there was much she did apart from accompanying Bill (Clinton) going around," David Trimble told Belfast's Daily Telegraph.
Trimble, the former leader of the Ulster Unionist Party, and John Hume, leader of the nationalist Social Democratic Labour Party, shared the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in the peace process. "I don't want to rain on the thing for her, but being a cheerleader for something is slightly different from being a principal player," Trimble said.
Cheerleaders may not be important over in war-torn Belfast, sir, but here in America, when phone calls come at 3 in the morning, cheerleaders answer them! With a cheer!
09:43 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By JumpyPants
Geraldine Ferraro: Hillary's Racist Friend
Via Kos, going back to NINETEEN-EIGHTY-EIGHT, Hillary Backer and closet Grand Dragon, Geraldine Ferraro:
And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, "Millions of Americans have a point of view different from" Ferraro's.
Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, "We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I'm making history."
So not only is she a racist, she uses really REALLY old material.
UPDATE:
Some readers have suggested that Geraldine isn't racist, she's just stating "the truth." This is such a staggering absurdity that even gigantic-toothed John Gibson wouldn't believe it. The truth is that the black population of the USA is 13%. The truth is that Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton couldn't get anywhere near a nomination. The truth is that Obama's success is based on him being smart, inspiring, and not a Washington regular for two decades. To suggest that being black is somehow an advantage for anyone in this country is to be so myopically blind that you need more than just a refill on your glasses, you need new eyes.
From the ever-brilliant They Might Be Giants, a song released on 1990's Flood, two years after Grand Imperial Dragon Ferraro unleashed her screed:
This is where the party ends I can't stand here listening to you And your racist friend I know politics bore you But I feel like a hypocrite talking to you And your racist friend
09:15 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By JumpyPants
Oh Shit on a Stick!
I just spotted this headline on Drudge:
Bush hopes Cheney visit to Mideast will rein in prices...
Bush also hopes sending a fox to guard a chicken coop will result in more chickens. But the outrageous part is the notion that President Bush is interested in lower oil prices.
01:03 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
You Suck. But Whatever.
From the Oregonian.
12:15 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
When He's Right, He's Right
Chris Matthews hammers Joe Scarborough on the patriotism issue:
10:08 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
WTF? Creepy Gnome In South America
This is the craziest video I've seen in a while. It has to be a hoax, but it's a good one.
09:54 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
About that phone call...
So let's give Hillary the benefit of the doubt, and assume she, unlike many top NY Dems, didn't get the phone call about Spitzer on Friday. Let's assume she got the phone call when the NY Times reported Spitzer's mess yesterday afternoon. Monday. Let's say around 3 PM.
It's now Tuesday, at 11 AM. Twenty hours later.
And Hillary has yet to make a judgment. She's still waiting and seeing.
I wonder what the little girl in the stock footage of the "3 AM" ad, you know, the one who grew up to be an Obama supporter, I wonder what she thinks of this twenty-hour plus delayed reaction from Senator Clinton? I wonder what any woman who thinks seriously about the connection between patriarchy and prostitution thinks about Senator Clinton's "wait and see" response. I wonder if Geraldine Ferraro thinks that Hillary is just unlucky that she has to weigh in on this. I wonder if Gerry thinks Hillary is as unlucky as the women employed by the Emperor's Club. Or the 13 year old girls who worked for Wal-Mart in that Bangladeshi factory when Hillary was on the Wal-Mart board.
But mostly I wonder why Hillary is so incapable of having anything other than a calculated, tactical response to the Spitzer mess or, really, to anything else.
I wonder how long I'll have to wait to get an answer to any of this.
Meanwhile, we're still waiting for Hillary's response to that ringing phone of twenty-plus hours ago.
09:51 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By JumpyPants
Okay, so when is Gerry quitting then?
So the Clinton campaign - not Hillary herself, of course - has weighed in on Geraldine Ferraro's ugly racism:
Earlier: Former VP candidate Ferarro says, “If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position… He happens to be very lucky to be who he is.”Response from Clinton spokesman Wolfson: “We disagree with her.”
Wow! Hold the phone! Disagreement?! Those are strong words, Howie.
Of course they're not as strong as "reject" or "denounce."
From the Obama campaign:
Foreign policy adviser Susan Rice on MSNBC says the Clinton supporter’s recent comments about Obama’s race are “outrageous and offensive.”“I think if Sen. Clinton is serious about putting an end to statements that have racial implications… Then she ought to repudiate this comment.”
Will Ms. Ferraro be quitting the campaign? Or maybe, like with Clinton booster/superdelegate/Emperor Club member Eliot Spitzer, we should just "wait and see" what happens. Who knows, maybe Ms. Ferraro will become less racist in the next "few days." On the other hand, maybe her racism will have an effect on white voters in PA. Which I guess would work pretty well for Hillary, huh?
09:35 AM | Comments (10) | Posted By JumpyPants
Go, John Amato, Go!
And while I'm disappointed that my home planet didn't win, I'd like to congratulate Crooks & Liars for winning Best Political Blog in the 2008 Webbie Awards!
Go John, Steve, Nicole, bluegal, Mike, Logan and Howie!
(h/t TRex)
08:00 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
07:12 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 10, 2008
Hillary: the Uber-Politician Part Deux
An anonymous reader at the TPM Cafe breaks down the dilemma of the ethically rudderless Senator Clinton much better than I did:
She is in a box. If she calls for [Spitzer] to resign -- and denounces and rejects him -- she's down one superdelegate, but far worse, underscores that Bill Clinton should have resigned on August 17, 1998, when his infidelity and lying under oath was exposed.If she does not call for him to resign, she's putting political expediency over the dignity of women and what's right -- for Spitzer to stand aside.
Both choices are bad for her. People with moral compasses in such a situation choose. Her initial nonresponse suggests that for her, the choice will be purely tactical. Tactical people confronted with moral choices often embarrass themselves; look for that here.
Yeah, she's still awful.
10:19 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By JumpyPants
Hillary: the Uber-Politician
Hillary Clinton today:
When asked whether Gov. Spitzer could survive politically she said "let's wait and see what comes out of the next few days. Right now I don't have any comment. I think it's appropriate to wish his family well and see how things develop."
Maybe if she'd gotten the call at 3 AM, she would've made a quicker judgment.
The hypocrisy here is amazing. An Obama staff member calls HRC a "monster", and HRC's campaign calls for her to be immediately fired. But Elliot Spitzer breaks at least a few laws and we should "wait and see what comes out of the next few days." Like what? Is she thinking that Elliot Spitzer is setting up an elaborate sting of the justice department and the New York Times?! What else is going to come out except more wrongdoing from the governor of Hillary's home state who has been a huge booster of Mrs. Clinton's candidacy?! Oh, wait, I got it - when Hillary said "next few days," she meant like 200 something days, when she becomes president and then pardons Elliot Spitzer, after, of course, he contributes something to the Official Other Clinton Presidential Library fund.
It's all the more poetically painful that Hillary has to comment on the lawbreaking and infidelity of yet another of her most ardent fans.
09:52 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By JumpyPants
Geraldine Ferraro: Schmuckhead
If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.
Those are the words of Hillary Clinton surrogate/VP losing candidate/unmitigated idiot Geraldine Ferraro.
I could say a lot more about how remarkably idiotic those comments are, especially the one about how lucky it is to be born with dark skin in the USA. I could quote current prison statistics. Or death before the age of 30 statistics. But, you know what? I really don't need to.
Hillary Clinton, however, does need to tell the world that she thinks Gerry is full of crap. But of course, Hillary won't do anything of the kind. Because she likes this kind of talk.
09:40 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By JumpyPants
A Prostitution Ring! Awesome!
Thanks, Governor Spitzer. You just added your name to a short list that includes the congressman who was hiding cash in his minibar. So now, everytime we talk about the Culture of Corruption, the GOP can get all, "But... but... wah-abah Spizter and the hookers! Gotcha!"
In case you're not aware, Governor Spitzer has been caught up in a prostitution ring. Whenever I hear that phrase, I inexplicably add "tone" to the end of it. As in "prostitution ring-tone." When Governor Spitzer's cellphone rings, it goes, "Hey baby, wanna spend some mon-ayyy!"
This is pretty awful and bad:
Mr. Spitzer, a first-term Democrat who pledged to bring ethics reform and end the often seamy ways of Albany, is married with three children.
01:41 PM | Comments (15) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Republican Strategist Mark Penn
“Independent and Republican support is diminishing as they find out he’s the most liberal Democratic senator… As they get more of a sense that he’s not ready to be Commander-in-Chief, a lot of Independents who were supporting him are disappearing.”
Alright, blogotubes. The time is now. Stand up against the Clintons. Enough is enough!
H/T to AmericaBlog who agrees that Senator Clinton is lying about the dream-ticket thing.
10:19 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
A Coup Is A Coup Is A Coup
Anyone with 3rd grade math skills can figure it out: Obama has won the nomination. But wait! Someone with kindergarten level bullshit skills can figure out how to steal that victory away from him: superdelegates with maybe Florida/Michigan thrown in (but only if the current "delegates" get seated. No new caucuses or primaries with fair play involved!).
After watching the last two presidential elections in our allegedly first-world nation result in coups, I am loathe to see that kind of skulduggery play out again, not to mention for the nomination of the allegedly more law-abiding, fair-playing party. Are we going to get railroaded once more by sleaze and muscle? Are we again going to ignore the voices of millions of Americans? Are we going to let a coup take place once more under color of the stars and stripes?
Hell no.
09:45 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By JumpyPants
The Clintons Lost The Week
Markos adds up the delegates and superdelegates and discovers that Senator Clinton lost the week, despite winning Ohio (she didn't win Texas).
08:32 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Nooooo!
Tucker Carlson's show has been canceled. Now what are idiots and weirdos going to do every afternoon?
08:04 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Requested by TRex!
07:55 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
March 09, 2008
The 2002 Speech
Tell me this is just another speech, and I'll take my bike and go home. This was delivered in October of 2002 when opposing the president was a mortal sin against patriotism. That month, President Bush's job approval was in the upper 60s.
If this speech isn't indicative of a politician capable of "fighting" tough battles, I don't know what is.
--
October 2, 2002
Illinois State Senator Barack Obama
Good afternoon. Let me begin by saying that although this has been billed as an anti-war rally, I stand before you as someone who is not opposed to war in all circumstances. The Civil War was one of the bloodiest in history, and yet it was only through the crucible of the sword, the sacrifice of multitudes, that we could begin to perfect this union, and drive the scourge of slavery from our soil. I don't oppose all wars.
My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.
After September 11th, after witnessing the carnage and destruction, the dust and the tears, I supported this administration's pledge to hunt down and root out those who would slaughter innocents in the name of intolerance, and I would willingly take up arms myself to prevent such tragedy from happening again. I don't oppose all wars. And I know that in this crowd today, there is no shortage of patriots, or of patriotism.
What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.
What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income - to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That's what I'm opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Now let me be clear - I suffer no illusions about Saddam Hussein. He is a brutal man. A ruthless man. A man who butchers his own people to secure his own power. He has repeatedly defied UN resolutions, thwarted UN inspection teams, developed chemical and biological weapons, and coveted nuclear capacity. He's a bad guy. The world, and the Iraqi people, would be better off without him.
But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history. I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of Al Qaeda. I am not opposed to all wars. I'm opposed to dumb wars.
So for those of us who seek a more just and secure world for our children, let us send a clear message to the President today. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's finish the fight with Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, through effective, coordinated intelligence, and a shutting down of the financial networks that support terrorism, and a homeland security program that involves more than color-coded warnings. You want a fight, President Bush?
Let's fight to make sure that the UN inspectors can do their work, and that we vigorously enforce a non-proliferation treaty, and that former enemies and current allies like Russia safeguard and ultimately eliminate their stores of nuclear material, and that nations like Pakistan and India never use the terrible weapons already in their possession, and that the arms merchants in our own country stop feeding the countless wars that rage across the globe. You want a fight, President Bush?
Let's fight to make sure our so-called allies in the Middle East, the Saudis and the Egyptians, stop oppressing their own people, and suppressing dissent, and tolerating corruption and inequality, and mismanaging their economies so that their youth grow up without education, without prospects, without hope, the ready recruits of terrorist cells. You want a fight, President Bush? Let's fight to wean ourselves off Middle East oil, through an energy policy that doesn't simply serve the interests of Exxon and Mobil. Those are the battles that we need to fight. Those are the battles that we willingly join. The battles against ignorance and intolerance. Corruption and greed. Poverty and despair.
The consequences of war are dire, the sacrifices immeasurable. We may have occasion in our lifetime to once again rise up in defense of our freedom, and pay the wages of war. But we ought not -- we will not -- travel down that hellish path blindly. Nor should we allow those who would march off and pay the ultimate sacrifice, who would prove the full measure of devotion with their blood, to make such an awful sacrifice in vain.
--
And now, read Senator Clinton's speech from October 10, 2002. But don't read it over lunch. You'll yack up your salad.
12:17 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Suggestive Sales
When I was in high school, I worked at a Sam Goody record store and learned about something called "suggestive sales." At the register, we were instructed to suggest to people that they should purchase blank Maxell cassettes (this was the late-1980s). The idea was that the suggestion of the purchase actually convinced people that they needed that item. It worked. People bought those goddamn tapes just because we'd tell them they were on sale or whatever.
That's what Senator Clinton is going with this "dream ticket" thing. She knows she's lost this thing, but she's suggesting to Democrats that they need this ticket and that she'd be at the top of that ticket. This keeps her in the running on a psychological level. She's using George Costanza's jingle: "Co...STAN-ZAHH!" The more she says it, the more it will stick and begin to make sense with voters.
The problem is... I seriously doubt she would ever allow a ticket with Senator Obama because he would entirely overshadow her and make people wish the names were reversed. So this isn't an off-hand spitball from Senator Clinton. This is a calculated psyop that should not be taken as a serious idea.
09:16 AM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Don't Listen To Them
The talking drones on the morning shows today are repeating their most recent mantra which is that Senator Obama ought to get nasty and "fight." I wish I had a word count on the number of times they've said "fight" on the Chris Matthews Show alone.
This is such a bad idea. The more Senator Obama remains cool and collected and disciplined, the more crazy and desperate Senator Clinton looks. Stooping to the level of the fuckwit punditocracy is a very, very bad idea.
The only reason the pundits are suggesting this is so they can shape the narrative. When and if Senator Obama "fights" on Senator Clinton's terms, the pundits can kill another couple of days talking about how Senator Obama has "taken the gloves off." That's when I shoot my television -- Elvis style.
09:04 AM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Today's Meet the Press...
...as described by Paddy at Cliff Schecter's place:
Meet The Press: Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA) & former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD). Very Serious discourse with a roundtable of journalists that sounds suspiciously like a porn casting session: Dan Balz, Gwen Ifill, Ron Brownstein & John Harwood.
Awesome! Though a porn star named "Ron Brownstein" makes me a little nauseous.
08:45 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Math
Delegates won in Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island, Vermont:
Clinton 177
Obama 171
Net gain for Clinton: 6 delegates.
Delegates won in Wyoming:
Obama 7
Clinton 5
Net gain for Obama: 2 delegates
Net gain for Senator Clinton for the week: 4. Momentum fever! Catch it!
08:37 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Description: "An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict." Cheat sheet here.
08:21 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
