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June 21, 2008
The Fine Line
Commenter 'e' from TRex's site:
At the risk of sparking my own controversy, I do think we ought to cut Obama some slack on this FISA mess, at least until it gets to the Senate. I don’t think there was really a damn thing he could have done to stop it passing the House.And let’s keep in mind that the first order of business is to win this election, or telecom immunity is gonna be the least of our worries. IMO Obama has shown more courage than any of these fuckers in choosing principle over political expediency, but can we be a little realistic here, please? The average moron whose vote we desperately need knows nothing about FISA, wiretap or telecom immunity issues, nor will s/he be troubled to learn.
If Obama walks right into a “compromising our security” bullshit attack ad, however, Joe Q. WhiteWorkingClass is gonna pay plenty of attention to THAT.
It’s a fine line he has to walk, and I for one am not gonna jump on the bleating blogger bandwagon to make it more difficult for him.
The context of Obama/FISA ought to be very separate from House Democrats/FISA. Which is why I objected to dragging Senator Obama into the epicenter of this. Attacking him from the left isn't such a great idea right now. Every attack on Senator Obama is a win for Senator McBush. Not good, regardless of what Senator Obama said.
Let's be clear... Senator Obama doesn't need to simply win in November. He needs to win with an overwhelming mandate. 300-plus electoral votes big. If he just barely wins, important allies on the Hill and elsewhere will wonder why he didn't defeat a severely weakened GOP by a larger margin and, thus, he won't have the political capital to roll back many of the Bush administration travesties.
He won't achieve an overwhelming November mandate while being attacked from the right, center and -- especially -- the liberal blogs. Once he has his mandate (I'm being hopeful now) then we can exercise our patriotic duty to hold him accountable for his mistakes.
So while the FISA Amendment Bill is an terrible thing, our anger about it ought to be aimed at the people who made it happen. The President, the Republicans and the weakling House Democrats. Meanwhile, I want to make sure the appropriate senators know that they have my support in stopping this bill from passing in its present form.
10:44 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Lesser Of Two Evils
On his show last night, Mike Malloy was already talking about voting for Nader in November, and a caller referred to Senator Obama as 'the lesser of two evils'. And we know how well this attitude worked out in 2000.
10:11 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
MST3K Saturday! "A Date With Your Family"
06:14 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
June 20, 2008
A Wanker? Really?
In a statement today, Senator Obama pledged to help remove the retroactive immunity section of this awful House bill.
It does, however, grant retroactive immunity, and I will work in the Senate to remove this provision so that we can seek full accountability for past offenses.
But he's a wanker? I don't -- huh?
UPDATE: Sargent and Greenwald think that Senator Obama is just being theatrical and isn't really serious about doing anything.
I disagree. Reason the first: the same could be said if he had outright opposed the whole bill. In other words, critics could lament, Oh, he's just saying that. He'll work to oppose it and when it passes anyway, he can still say that he opposed it. Reason the second: brushing it off as political theater and, as such, predicting doom is just being defeatist.
Look, I wish he had taken a stronger position on this bill. But I also think that certain liberal bloggers are unfairly, and at an inopportune time, dragging Senator Obama into the epicenter of this fight.
Sheesh. Let's get him elected first.
Attacking the Democratic presidential nominee and lumping him in with a pack of weakling House capitulators is a really, really bad idea, especially given the fact that he has -- in writing -- pledged to try to remove the retroactive immunity provision. So I'm taking him at his word on this pledge because, at this point, I don't think we're in any position to turn our noses up.
UPDATE THE SECOND: I think everyone needs to calm down a little re: Senator Obama's statement. By "everyone," I mean some of us in the liberal blogosphere who are wringing our hands in disgust over the fact that he didn't outright poo-poo the bill (though he still pledged to try to kill the immunity part).
There's especially quite a bit of, "He's moving to the center! RUN AWAY!" Let's all take a deep breath here. The alternative is that we get more and more worked up until, come November, we're running off and voting for Nader or whoever the Nader-ish guy is this year. And we know what happened eight years ago when we all began to believe the bogus hype: "Gore and Bush are the same -- I'm voting for the other blah blah blah."
Remember why you embraced the Obama campaign in the first place. Hang with him -- he'll make us proud.
Meanwhile... This is a terrible bill and the House Democratic leadership ought to be ashamed. But I honestly believe the Senate will put up a more serious fight when it comes to telecom immunity.
05:10 PM | Comments (16) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Here Comes The Obama Boom!
A new NEWSWEEK Poll shows that [Senator Obama] has a substantial double-digit lead, 51 percent to 36 percent, over McCain among registered voters nationwide.
Hells yeah. That's more than just a bounce. It's a boom.
04:50 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
'Slavery By Another Name'
In the comments for the Attacking Obama... From the Left thread below, commenter 'natashacrk' brought up Sirius Left talk show host Mark Thompson, which reminded me of an interview he hosted with Douglas Blackmon back in April. I meant to post something about this at the time...
Blackmon is the author of the book, SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME, and it's truly an extraordinary work chiefly because it exposes something which not too many of us -- least of all me -- have ever heard about. Mainly, the continuation of Southern slavery... through the first half of the 20th Century... also known as "neoslavery."
As Blackmon documents through various individual accounts, Jim Crow laws and the like had basically made it illegal to be an African American in the South. As such, black Americans were either arrested on ridiculous charges like "vagrancy" or were outright abducted and sold into slavery until President Roosevelt's Justice Department shut down the practice at the outset of World War II.
I heard the interview with Blackmon at around the same time as the Reverend Wright fracas and couldn't help but to think that -- in this historical context -- "goddamn America" is rather appropriate.
More here.
04:14 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Cowards
UPDATE: And the rest.
UPDATE THE SECOND: Congressmen Patrick Murphy and Joe Sestak voted 'yea'. Same with Congressmen Clyburn and Murtha. Infuriating. Don't these capitulators read the polls?
01:51 PM | Comments (6) | Posted By Bob Cesca
I Can Haz Water Ice, N00B
"Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" the Mars Phoenix Lander tweeted at about 5:15 pm.
Yes, there is water ice on Mars. The only thing I don't get is... "W00t"? The Phoenix Lander talks like a MySpace hipster?
01:30 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
I'm Ashamed To Be A Democrat Today
Why?
This.
Shame on you, Congressman Hoyer.
08:40 AM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Georgia Is In Play
But he's not transforming politics. Not at all. Insider Advantage:
McCain (R) 44 (45)
Obama (D) 43 (35)
Barr (L) 6 (8)
More like this one, please.
08:34 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Transforming Politics
Arg. Tom Edsall is -- perhaps by accident -- confusing demographics and politics here.
Transforming politics is one thing; transforming demographics is something else entirely. Senator Obama, by all measures, has already transformed the way a presidential campaign is run (small donors, flawless branding, no PAC or lobbyist money, the Philadelphia Address, etc). He's already transformed the racial and ethnic qualifications for president and broken through insurmountable barriers (a black candidate defeated a white candidate in Nebraska, for instance). This is an entirely new, entirely "changed" political campaign from the top down.
In other words, he's already a transformative, historical political figure. Just because his demographics might be similar to Senator Kerry's -- and I can't imagine that they are -- doesn't mean he hasn't significantly changed the way the game is played.
08:14 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Not safe for work.
06:52 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
June 19, 2008
Senator Obama's First General Election Ad
UPDATE: This ad is running in the following states (via AmericaBlog):
Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Virginia.
Alaska? Georgia? I love it. Now the McBush people have to spend their thinning resources in red states. Senator Obama is going to make this a war of atrition. Good luck, McBushes.
01:21 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Attacking Obama... From The Left
There are some on "our" side who suddenly think it's a good idea to rip into Senator Obama.
A liberal radio talk show host who is well-known for being a little unhinged was ripping the Senator last night for the Muslim scarf thing (it's a non-issue!). Today, a liberal blogger who I very much admire has decided to drag the Senator into the telecom immunity debacle. Another prominent liberal blogger had a field day with the recent Naomi Klein piece and used it to suggest that Senator Obama wasn't the transformative figure he claims to be.
Two of the Sirius Left (the "liberal" talk channel) hosts have decided that they hate Senator Obama and will oppose him at every turn. One of them, Lynn Samuels, says that the Senator is "our Bush." Alex Bennett is grateful for his dissatisfaction with Senator Obama because it'll give him something to bitch about for the next four years. He seriously said that. Yeah, Alex. The far-right talk show hosts haven't had anything to talk about for the last eight years. Real smart, Alex.
And we wonder sometimes why -- despite all of the current economic and political conditions -- Senator Obama is only running a few points ahead of Senator McCain. These cranks aren't the only reason, but they're not helping matters either. I understand that we liberals are supposed to be compassionate, but helping Senator McCain by damning our candidate with faint praise -- or, in some cases, sheer outrage -- is going a little too far, no?
11:58 AM | Comments (10) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Map
Obama 344
McCain 194
09:22 AM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Enron Loophole
Watch this... and then send it to everyone you know.
09:04 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Cancer Cure
A cancer patient has made a full recovery after being injected with billions of his own immune cells in the first case of its kind, doctors have disclosed.The 52-year-old, who was suffering from advanced skin cancer, was free from tumours within eight weeks of undergoing the procedure.
After two years he is still free from the disease which had spread to his lymph nodes and one of his lungs.
Doctors took cells from the man's own defence system that were found to attack the cancer cells best, cloned them and injected back into his body, in a process known as "immunotherapy". After two years he is still free from the disease which had spread to his lymph nodes and one of his lungs.
They ought to be trying this on every cancer patient. Right now.
08:58 AM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
08:52 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
June 18, 2008
New Huffington Post Entry
Vlad Rudy is back from the fear mongering netherworld. Read all about it here.
04:08 PM | Comments (5) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Off-shore Drilling
I support off-shore drilling in just one place: the coastline of Kennebunkport. Years of messy exploration followed by dozens of giant platforms. In Kennebunkport only.
01:11 PM | Comments (6) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Chuck Todd's Outrage
I'm not really freaked out by Chuck Todd's emotional reaction to that MoveOn ad with the baby. Honestly, I think Chuck Todd is still shaken by the loss of Russert and consequently overreacted to the content of the ad (it was the day after Father's Day, too).
I'm giving all of the NBC people a lot of latitude this week. Except for Buchanan and this "exotic" horsecrap. There's no excuse for race-baiting.
09:06 AM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Our Next President
This is a must-watch video. Especially if you're struggling with debt.
09:01 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
President Bush: As Petulant as Ever
08:51 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
The Mandelbaum Vote
Quinnipiac has Senator Obama ahead in Florida -- outside the margin.
Obama 47
McCain 43
Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum! Mandelbaum!
08:46 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
06:00 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
June 17, 2008
Pinkish-Hued John
This is for real:
Judging by his baby's-bottom, pinkish-hued complexion, do you really believe Senator Cornyn has spent more than three seconds in the sunlight -- much less corralling horses in the blazing Texas heat? Hell, Cornyn makes McBush look like George Hamilton.
Meanwhile, "BIG JOHN" would have been eligible for the draft in 1970. He didn't serve. Big Cowwwwaaard! Big Chickenhaaaawwwk!
(h/t brownsox)
12:28 PM | Comments (7) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Ohio, Ohio, Ohio
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds Sen. Barack Obama begins the general election in Ohio with a double digit lead over John McCain, 50% to 39%.
So... what's Senator Obama's problem with white working class voters in Ohio? Why isn't he leading by TRIPLE digits? Hmm?
12:14 PM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Going Through The Motions
Do you ever get the feeling that Senator McCain is just going through the motions?
McBush fever. Catch it. Or whatever.
(h/t Nicole Belle)
12:07 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
U.S. Soldiers Used As Lab Rats
This is beyond shocking. I mean, haven't there been horror movies like this?
Mentally distressed veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being recruited for government tests on pharmaceutical drugs linked to suicide and other violent side effects, an investigation by ABC News and The Washington Times has found.
God Bless America. And I bet the story will go on to say that doctors didn't tell the soldiers about the harmful side effects of the medication.
In one of the human experiments, involving the anti-smoking drug Chantix, Veterans Administration doctors waited more than three months before warning veterans about the possible serious side effects, including suicide and neuropsychiatric behavior."Lab rat, guinea pig, disposable hero," said former US Army sniper James Elliott in describing how he felt he was betrayed by the Veterans Administration.
"Betrayed" is being kind. This is criminal. The government conspiring with the drug companies to endanger our soldiers. Is this decade's dark ride ever going to end?
Statement from Senator Obama:
"It is outrageous and unacceptable that our government would irresponsibly endanger veterans who have already sacrificed so much for our country. Our veterans - particularly those suffering from mental health injuries - should have the very best health care and support in the world, they should never be needlessly exposed to drugs without proper notification of the dangers involved or effective monitoring of the side effects. I will immediately be asking for a full and thorough investigation of how our government could yet again let down our veterans and their families who have given so much to their country, and who have paid so much for the failures of civilian leadership in Washington. It is time to demand accountability and to ensure that this kind of breach of trust never takes place again,"
11:18 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Associated Press Bad
So, give or take a word or two, we're not allowed to quote AP stories any more.
Yet another old-school corporate media company that refuses to accept that the world has changed, and that this new media age -- if played correctly -- can be far more beneficial in the long run than any sort of loyalty to old rules and outdated business models.
(h/t Atrios)
10:40 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
YouTube version. Finally.
08:14 AM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
June 16, 2008
Afternoon Awesome
DEFINITELY NOT SAFE FOR WORK! (But funny as hell.)
Holy crap that's funny. Oh... oh man... I can't stop laughing. My friend Marc Evan Jackson (plays the reporter) and his troupe are also responsible for these, too.
05:25 PM | Comments (2) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Gore To Endorse Senator Obama Tonight
Al Gore is making with the big endorsement tonight at 8:30PM EDT.
GO(re)!
03:06 PM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Boot Up the Clinton VP Rumor Machine
The Obama campaign just released a roster of newly hired staff... And this caught my attention:
Chief of Staff to the Vice Presidential Nominee: Patti Solis Doyle
Former Clinton campaign manager hired to basically run the eventual VP nominee's office/campaign/life? Hmmm. I think the evening pundit shows just found their big topic for tonight.
Meanwhile, this made me smile:
Obama has also hired a major Minnesota player to be his state director: Jeff Blodgett, the former campaign manager of Senator Paul Wellstone.
UPDATE: Sam Stein reports that the hiring of Solis-Doyle is a signal that Senator Clinton is definitely NOT going to be the VP nominee. An insider says it's a huge "fuck you" to Senator Clinton.
01:29 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
I Want One!
TAKANEZAWA, Japan — Honda's new zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell car rolled off a Japanese production line Monday and is headed to southern California, where Hollywood is already abuzz over the latest splash in green motoring.The FCX Clarity, which runs on hydrogen and electricity, emits only water and none of the gases believed to induce global warming. It is also two times more energy efficient than a gas-electric hybrid and three times that of a standard gasoline-powered car, the company says.
01:08 PM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Buried Alive
I just had an MRI for my back, and you know... that's what it must feel like to be buried alive. In a word: torture. I'm a large man (6'4", 230lbs) and so the experience was not unlike being shoved head-first into a toilet paper tube. Not the cardboard thing -- but the smaller cylindrical roller that actually goes inside the cardboard tube and holds the toilet paper. And then the whole deal is dropped inside of a jackhammer.
UPDATE: Wow. I fractured my T11 vertebra. My first serious cycling injury.
01:00 PM | Comments (8) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Meet the Press with Stretch
I think it's going to be Stretch.
09:04 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
08:23 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
June 15, 2008
The New Yorker Profiles Olbermann
This is a good read. Not very flattering of Olbermann in places, but still good. The following passage hit home for me personally:
At MSNBC, Phil Griffin was worried, and with good reason. The average “Countdown” viewer is fifty-nine years old, and forty-five per cent of the viewers are women, presumably Democratic—a fair description of a Hillary Clinton supporter. Griffin believed that Olbermann was beginning to alienate his core audience, and asked him to ease up a bit on Clinton, and possibly even make some conciliatory gesture to the Clinton camp. Olbermann was offended by the suggestion. “I can’t do that!” he says, recalling that conversation. “Me doing a commentary against my own opinion is pandering. Black and white. And I’m not going to do it. Would I pull back a little bit, or think long and hard about whether or not I want to knowingly alienate part of the audience? Yeah. And I did. I mean, I held fire on Senator Clinton for quite a while after she began to really scare me, with some of these tactics.”
On a couple of occasions, I was asked to back off of the Clintons for fear of offending half of whoever reads my stuff (I hasten to note that no-one at Huffington ever asked me to ease off). My reaction was similar. This past Democratic primary season, regardless of what some of my peers might think, was not a decision between two equals.
This primary season was entirely about A New Way Forward vs. More Of The Same. Did we want a nominee who panders to the Republicans, mimicks their tactics, voted to invade Iraq, and carries along the same old players who have lost elections year after year? Or did we want a fresh, inspirational voice who refuses to play by the old rules? I chose the latter and I will always stand by that decision.
02:58 PM | Comments (4) | Posted By Bob Cesca
It's All About Politics and Legacy
If there was any doubt about President Bush's motives, this story clarifies what's truly important to him:
President George W Bush has enlisted British special forces in a final attempt to capture Osama Bin Laden before he leaves the White House.Defence and intelligence sources in Washington and London confirmed that a renewed hunt was on for the leader of the September 11 attacks. “If he [Bush] can say he has killed Saddam Hussein and captured Bin Laden, he can claim to have left the world a safer place,” said a US intelligence source.
It's all about legacy and politics. Make no mistake -- he invaded Iraq so he could be re-elected. And now, after seven years, he's finally getting serious about Bin Laden... when his legacy is on the line. Shameful.
10:06 AM | Comments (0) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Bring It
Senator Obama in Phildelphia last night:
"If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun."
And the McBush reaction:
"Barack Obama's call for 'new politics' is officially over."
This IS new politics. A Democratic presidential candidate pledging to fight back against Republican race-baiting and smears? That's new.
09:49 AM | Comments (1) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Wingnut Mailbag
I get lots of wingnut e-mail. But this one, in response to my Huffington Post essay this week, is a delusional peach:
George W. Bush's legacy: After 9-11, there has not been a single terroirist attack in the United States. As of today, that's more than 2,400 days and counting.Oh, yeah, and crushing the Taliban in a matter of weeks, despite the whining defeatism of people like you.
Oh, yeah, and winning the war in Iraq when Leftist douches like you were advising surrender, and accepting defeat, and ridiculing his success even after it was acknowledged by the enemy.
Bob Cesca's legacy: Preaching to the converted: the Leftist relics at the Huffington Post. And Kung Fu Jimmy Chow. And you call that a life?
Awesome.
By the way, there's a whole chapter in my forthcoming book about this "no attacks for eight years" line.
09:42 AM | Comments (8) | Posted By Bob Cesca
Morning Awesome
Happy Father's Day, Dad.
09:03 AM | Comments (3) | Posted By Bob Cesca
