'Til Death (or Politics) Do Us Part

Well, Obama is now in the midst of a messy divorce from the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. As tough as it must have been to do, he had to do it. Unfortunately, the issues this association has raised aren't just going to disappear... indeed, this is just the kind of thing Hillary's campaign has been hanging around for, after insinuations (including pictures) suggesting that Obama may or may not be Muslim and Geraldine Ferraro and Bill C. trying to marginalize him as a black candidate.

We can see how living through the hypocrisy of Jim Crow could make someone disillusioned to the point where they WOULD believe the US would spread AIDS in the black community, and how the combination of being highly educated (as Wright is... and seems anxious to demonstrate) with the above skepticism probably could lead said person to believe some of the out-of-the-mainstream things he has read, and being a pastor spreading the word of God could lead one to an over-important view of oneself and one's views of the world, and take the whole locomotive off a cliff.

Recall our "(Dis)Qualifying Question" for the presidency.

The sad thing is, the valid points Wright does have (on America's chickens, its racist history, and the Palestinians) are discredited when lumped together with his wackier views.

Windfall Profits Tax... Rebate?

Now Hillary has come out to support John McCain's idea of suspending the federal excise tax on gas over the summer, which would save consumers 18.4 cents per gallon, or, for the average consumer, about $30 all told. Obama has taken the proverbial high road, viewing this as a “short-term, quick-fix” proposal that would take away money needed for roads and bridges. While his position is supported by most environmentalists and energy analysts, which way do you think Joe Lunchpail is going to go on this one?

Th-th-th-that's politics, folks!

Hillary's Inner Republican

see above... and below. After all, she was a "Goldwater girl"!

Corn Palaces

These gas prices are having a ripple effect on food prices as well, due to our increasing reliance on ethanol. Once seen as a way to combat the "inconvenient truth" of global warming, a recent study in Science magazine concluded that greenhouse-gas emissions from corn and even cellulosic ethanol (whatever that is) "exceed or match those from fossil fuels and therefore produce no greenhouse benefits."

We wrote the above without knowing where the candidates stand. Read the next posting to see where they do.

original article: Siphoning Off Corn to Fuel Our Cars

Two Flip-Floppers and a Microphone

Hillary: "The fact is that when we first had an occasion to vote on ethanol back in the early part of my term, I voted on behalf of my constituents. There was very credible evidence, that it would, if all we did was subsidize ethanol in the middle of the country, raise gas prices on both coasts which would have directly driven up the cost in New York and I didn't think that would be a good idea for a senator from New York and what I have been pleased about and I had a role in this, was to create a much broader base for ethanol. We now have ethanol plants in New York and so the idea that you would have only one part of the country and the transportation cost would be quite expensive because of the way ethanol has to be transported, is no longer a factor. So, I happily support corn ethanol, all forms of ethanol, research for cellulosic ethanol, biodiesel."


Obama: "I've been a strong supporter of ethanol. Corn-based ethanol is a transitional technology."

McCain 2003: "Ethanol is a product that would not exist if Congress didn't create an artificial market for it. No one would be willing to buy it," McCain said in November 2003. "Yet thanks to agricultural subsidies and ethanol producer subsidies, it is now a very big business - tens of billions of dollars that have enriched a handful of corporate interests - primarily one big corporation, ADM. Ethanol does nothing to reduce fuel consumption, nothing to increase our energy independence, nothing to improve air quality."

McCain, 2006 edition: "I support ethanol and I think it is a vital, a vital alternative energy source not only because of our dependency on foreign oil but its greenhouse gas reduction effects."

Ah, politics...

Talking to (Y)our Enemies

Good move by Obama, in our eyes, in sitting down to talk with Fox News today. For one, we hear that some of their viewers still cling to religion and guns. For another, whatever you think of Fox, he'd already said he'd speak to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad....

The Crime of “Committing Journalism”

Barry Bearak's fascinating account of his-- and the country's-- ordeal in Zimbabwe, ending with, "The presidential election results are still unannounced," in today's NYT. Makes folks like us think that there is still hope for the purveyors and the mediums of such crimes...

Hillary in a Nutshell

"At the end of the day, all she had to do was open her mouth for me not to believe her."

--William Louis-Dreyfus, billionaire New York financier, father of Julia, and convert to Obama

from Da Post

50 Shots

The NYC cops that fired 50 shots on an unarmed man hours before he was to be married have been found not guilty on all charges. The victim, Sean Bell, leaves behind a fiance, Nicole Paultre Bell (who took his name after his death) and their two daughters. After the decision, Ms. Bell ran from the courtroom, saying "I've got to get out of here."

It's enough to make someone say "Goddamn America"... at least theoretically.

story available on CNN (said in our best James Earl Jones impression)

New Math

Now it seems as though the Hillary campaign wants to use their definition of the "popular vote" as the yardstick for the nomination. Never mind that their figures wouldn't acknowledge the caucus states, where they got their a** whooped, and do include Florida, where none of the candidates were allowed to campaign, and Michigan, where Obama wasn't even on the ballot. We didn't buy the popular vote argument for Al Gore, so we sure as hell ain't buyin' it now. Will they stop at nothing?

(Editor's note-- that was a rhetorical question. The answer appears to be "no.")

Revisiting Reverend Wright

We think that this whole thing comes down to the old white fear of what blacks are saying "behind their backs" and a profound misunderstanding of the preaching style of the black church. Heard in context, the only thing delusional about Wright's words are their invocation of an almighty being controlling it all. To invoke a more recent controversy, if there's anyone who has a RIGHT to be bitter, it would be a black person who lived through the 1950s and 60s. We're glad he stuck to his proverbial guns-- after all, his words were good enough for Bill when he reached out to him and other pastors after Monicagate.

update on the NYT's Caucus Blog

Update 4/29/08: OK, he needs to shut up now....

America is Going to Hell

While we did feel a bit like that after Pennsylvania, this actually refers to the speech Martin Luther King was due to give a few days after he was shot. Sounds like he didn't think we needed God's help to get there.

Uneven-Handed Broker

Just another example of the US's hypocrisy on the (dead-end?) road to a two-state solution in the Middle East: the Washington Post writes today of a secret agreement with Israel that permitted the expansion of "settlements" in Palestinian territory, despite the fact that this went directly against the "road map" laid out by GWB himself.

The controversial (and not-so-secret) passage:

"In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949."

According to Colin Powell, "I consistently spoke against settlement growth, but as you know all I could do is talk against it. There would be no consequences and there still aren't." Therein lies the problem.

original Posting

Attack of the 50-Foot Woman

Maureen Dowd said it best...

Single Digits (Unless You Count the Decimal)

Candidate/ Vote/ %
Hillary Rodham Clinton/ 1,258,245/ 54.7%
Barack Obama/ 1,042,297/ 45.3%

Margin of victory: 9.4 %

9/11 (/98)

Pulling the Race Card on Himself

After amateurishly correlating Obama's South Carolina primary victory with Jesse Jackson's back in January, Bill Clinton actually had the nerve to say that the Obama campaign pulled the race card on him. Along with his office in Harlem, he touted in his defense that he has "1.4 million people around the world, mostly people of color... on the world's least expensive AIDS drugs..."

In the end, thinking he was off air, he added, "I don't think I should take any shit from anybody on that, do you?"

It's your call, Bill, but we're going to keep giving it. The alternative is to bring some seeds and saplings... they'll grow good in that stuff.

audio available on Huff Post

Bush Heavy

"If I'm the president, we will attack Iran... we would be able to totally obliterate them."

--Hillary Clinton, going for that Main Line Jewish vote, on how she would react to an Iranian nuclear attack on Israel

from the BBC

Hillary Finds bin Laden

Yep, there he is, in Hillary's last-minute fear-mongering ad. It ends with a Harry Truman quote: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Unfortunately for Hillary, we already know she doesn't spend much time there.

video available on Hillary TV

Bush vs. the World (a.k.a. the "Dictatorship of Relativism")

In welcoming Pope Benedict, a.k.a. "Eggs," our president invoked His Royal Popeness's oft-used phrase the "dictatorship of relativism." Here's the original quote:

"In a world where some no longer believe that we can distinguish between simple right and wrong, we need your message to reject this "dictatorship of relativism."

Now, coming from a man who gets ferried around in a Popemobile is one thing: he's a salesman, after all. But what do these words mean coming from our president? After some autocratic reflection, we realized that they go right to the heart of his political vision (think: "Clydesdale sunglasses"); indeed, taken a step further, to his very soul. This is his world, a world of moral clarity, right and wrong, good guys and "evildoers."

Just so he doesn't wear the phrase out, we offer the following synonyms:

"tyranny of complexity"

"oppression of open-mindedness"

"totalitarianism of anything that requires me to think really hard"

"You're either with us or-- what was the question again?"


original speech available at whitehouse.gov(not .com!)

Are You There, God? It's Me, George.

In a related note, after reminding him of the time he looked into Putin's eyes and “saw his soul,” Raymond Arroyo asked President Bush what he saw when he looked into the eyes of Pope Benedict XVI.

“God,” the president answered.

this straight from the Pope's blog

(Editor's note-- Yes, the Pope has a blog)

Dear Undecided Voter,

AKA Hillary supporter:

Our suspicion is, if you haven't figured it out by now, you must really be looking for a reason to support her. To break it down into more micro concepts, maybe:

it just doesn't sound quite as hip to tell the pollster that she's your man.

or...

as a fellow post-middle-aged white woman who has experienced a lifetime of sexism and oppression, you feel obliged to support her.

or...

as a small-town white man, you're not racist, but are tired of everything being interpreted on racial terms.

or...

Hillary's repeated references to her father and grandfather and her inherited religion have invoked both Obama's Muslim father and his "Goddamn America" Christian one.

Whatever the reason, it does seem, from our analysis, that you, the traditional "undecided voter," have "supported" Hillary to this point. To lure you to Obama, his campaign will have to take a page from Hillary's playbook: make it about who can win in November (and, before that, in June!). Make it in HILLARY'S interest to bow out gracefully. Talk to her surrogates about prospective VP candidates. And leave the toilet seat down.

"Weathering" the Storm

We… we don’t get it. Maybe we have sipped some of the Kool-Aid, but how did so many folks, including David Brooks, see Hillary as the winner in last night's debate? Obama did what he had to do: He faced a barrage of questions and kept his head above water. With his rebuttal on the Weather Underground question,

(Pardon?)

um, as we were saying, with his rebuttal on the Weather Underground question, his raising (and dismissing) the time Hillary tossed her cookies, and his acknowledgment of his own rhetorical fumblings, all the while maintaining the high ground, he effectively negated the whole "misspeak" (at least he meets the definition!) and "surrogate speak" issues, at least as far as Democrats are concerned.

(Editor's interjection: Does anyone really see small-town gun-toters lining up to vote for Hillary? Hint-- their necks ain't blue)

Damned if he speaks well, damned if he doesn't. And you know how we feel about flag pins!

The only weakness we saw from Obama's part were his "read my lips" answers to questions on taxes and timelines, responses which, in his defense, he probably didn't have much choice besides mirroring Hillary. These could come back to bite him in the a**, though.

We also don't understand why ABC has come under so much heat for its "political" questions. For better or worse, it is these very "sound byte" issues that are going to make the difference for those still on the fence. Policy-wise, there really ain't that much difference. Who really wants to hear another rehash of health care proposals, anyway?

But what the hell do we know? We thought the last debate was a TKO.

the (this time, at least) out-of-touch David Brooks

Where's the Broach?

For all the hubbub about Obama's lack of a flag pin, Hillary's green lapels looked fairly barren as well.

Yes, Yes, Yes!

When listening to Hillary's response to the question about Obama's electability, did anyone picture her and Billy-boy doing the proverbial nasty?

We didn't either (thank god).

Surrogate Shout-Out

With our previous post in mind (see below), it was hard to miss Hillary setting up such an option in the debate, when she called out Clark by name (and the cameras followed). You heard it here second!

Could Wesley Clark Be the One? Er, the Two?

Lawrence O'Donnell in the Huffington Post put forward an option we hadn't thought of: Wesley Clark for VP. Sure, he ran a horrible campaign in 2004, when he got in late and never really had the chance to get his bearings. Now that Bill Richardson is out of the picture, however, he might just well be the answer for 2008.

1. He's a strong Hillary supporter and FOB, allowing for a pseudo-unity ticket.

2. He's a military guy-- he headed operations in Kosovo, which is an example of the right way to do a military intervention.

3. He's a southerner.

4. He has nice teeth.

original article here

Obama Bit by Sound Byte

Obama seems to have walked into it with his assertion that when small-town Pennsylvanians get bitter over their economic circumstances, they "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

While he has made some progress by shifting this into a discussion of how the Repubs use these issues to take advantage of disgruntled hillbillies, it remains a problem as it plays into perceptions of elitism, aloofness, and disconnect from the average (white) Joe. And this on top of his bowling debacle! In the process of appearing to question others' religious beliefs, it also re-raises the Reverend Wright question.

The worst part of it, though, is that he said it in San Francisco.

Here's what the man has to do:

1. Explain that, like anyone else, sometimes he does not speak so well.

2. Define his "observations" on political terms, explaining that disillusionment in government and economic policy often leads people to vote on fringe issues, a fact the Republican have exploited.

3. Explain how, by exploiting those very issues, Hillary is merely mirroring the strategies of the Republicans, which plays right into their (and McCain's) hands.

4. Articulate concrete positions on how to address these economic woes.

5. Reassert his belief in the right for people to bear legal arms for hunting, clarifying that while he personally does not hunt (unlike Hillary and Mitt Romney), he defends others' rights to do so.

6. Reassert his belief in freedom of religion, (very) briefly invoking his own recent struggles, and the unseemliness of using religion to make political points.

7. Reassert what a responsible immigration policy looks like, at least as related to the economy.

8. Do this all while spot-welding in a Pittsburgh steel plant.

Well, maybe not the last one... that might look like Dukakis in the tank.

The Right Doctor Reverend

Saw Dr. Rev. Michael Dyson speak last night: the man tore the place up. Relevant points:

1. MLK was actually more of a rebel than Malcolm X... he actually went into the "belly of the beast."

2. He lived the latter stages of his life in depression and constant fears of death, and was losing faith in the promise of America.

3. Many Americans were starting to consider him irrelevant -- he was in danger of becoming a "slow-talking" oldhead (consider, on lesser terms, Jesse Jackson now as compared to 1992 or '96).

4. His legacy was subsequently shaped by the need for a "clawless" image in White America and a "flawless" one in Black America.

5. While most think Al Sharpton is emulating his mentor, James Brown, with his hair, comparison pictures reveal that he is going all the way back to... George Washington's.

(Editor's note-- by the way, he endorses Obama, who he sees as reflecting the pre-1965 King... but reminds us that he is running for president, not prophet)

Colin Powerbroker

A recent interview of Colin Powell on ABC reminded us that this man could play a major role in deciding the next president. Think about it: if McCain could get this "Republican" onto his ticket, it might tip the balance. Fortunately for the Democrats, he spoke more of admiration of-- and agreement with-- Obama.

Sure, Powell became a dupe for the Bush administration with his UN speech, which was the tipping point for many people-- including us-- to assume that there were some form of chemical weapons in Iraq. We never found the "Good Soldier" routine, when applied to politics, particularly noble anyway. We say, however, that the man has served his penance and should be listened to. It comes down to a factor called trust, something that we have in Obama-- and McCain, for that matter, although we don't agree with his stances on conservative issues that even he can barely feign support for.

Hillary? What? Sorry, can't hear you over the sniper fire.

original article here

Snuff Film

We have just learned that the Olympic torch has been extinguished 3 times amidst protests in Paris.

Footage of the protests here

Penn Ponged

Mark Penn is out as Hillary's chief campaign strategist... after getting fired by the Columbian government on Saturday. Seems he was pushing for the very free-trade policies Hillary supposedly opposes. According to the NYT, he also represents Countrywide Financial, and his firm has also represented our old buddies Blackwater.

(Editor's Note-- Seems like tit for Obama's economic advisor's tat, when he was saying Obama's anti-NAFTA stance was "political." Ain't it all?)

Dirty Water

It seems Blackwater's contract has been renewed, despite being declared guilty of "premeditated murder" for the deaths of 17 Iraqis, including women and children, in September of last year.

Yeah, that should let 'em know this ain't no occupation!

Read our previous post here.

first learned from CNN.com

Gutter Balls

In a pathetic effort to connect with the (white) common man, Obama took to the lanes and rolled a... 37. In his defense, he had 3 more frames to go to make it an official game, meaning he might have gone on to bowl a... 50. Wow, that's... not... good.

Meanwhile, about five lanes over, a young man in a T-shirt that said "Beer Hunter" fell on his backside while bowling and still recorded a strike.

quoted from the Huffington Post

The Agony of Effete

(alternate title for the above story)

Secretary of Poverty?

Hillary just released her and Bill's tax returns. 2000-2007 totals? OVER 109 MILLION.

Wow. And here we thought she'd proposed that new cabinet post so she could fill it when she loses.

(Editor's note-- we must give credit to "Fred" on the NYT Caucus Blog for this notion)

Details on Hillary's web site.

He May Not Win, but She Cannot Win.

According to ABC News, this was Hillary's last-ditch effort to sway Bill Richardson:

"He cannot win, Bill. He cannot win."

We say-- Do the math. Divvy up the diehard Republicans on one side, and the diehard Democrats on the other. Everyone else is up for grabs-- and, obviously, Obama is the one who has been getting that vote so far. In our opinion, this is a subtle appeal to racism, the "a black man can't win" argument forwarded by Clinton surrogates (and Billy-Boy himself, with overt attempts to link Obama with Jesse Jackson). If you don't vote for somebody for this reason, some of this is on you.

Ironically, we feel that "a divisive woman can't win," with the (unfortunate) understanding that this makes us a misogynist by extension.

original article at abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

Straight From the Lips of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs himself:

"There are force requirements there [in Afghanistan] that we can't currently meet. Having forces in Iraq at the level they're at doesn't allow us to fill the need that we have in Afghanistan."

-- Adm. Mike Mullen

from CNN (said in our best James Earl Jones impression)

Judas Speaks

Bill Richardson's best response to James Carville when accused of disloyalty:

"Would someone who worked for Carville then owe his wife, Mary Matalin, similar loyalty in her professional pursuits?"

Touché, Gouvernor, touché.

Full article available here.

Waiting on Mugabe

Well, it's been 3 days, and we're still waiting for official election results from Zimbabwe. All accounts point to the 84-year-old Robert Mugabe's defeat, but we'll believe it when we see it. If it could happen in Kenya, it could happen here. The time for international pressure is NOW.

According to Condi, his "regime is a disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe, and a disgrace to southern Africa and to the continent of Africa as a whole." While we don't generally agree with the Bush administration on matters of regime change, we're with 'em on this one. Hell, with a devastated economy featuring 100,000% inflation, he even makes Dubya appear, well, not quite competent, but...

Culled from today's Post.