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Friday, May 30, 2008

Momentum

How many more tons of bricks must we drop on the Democratic Party's heads in order for them to realize that Barack Obama's momentum has stopped, and in fact, has reversed itself?

How about this?

Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign on Thursday was forced to again apologize for the remarks of a Chicago pastor and friend backing his candidacy who spoke from the pulpit of Obama's longtime South Side church.

In an Internet video recorded Sunday, Rev. Michael Pfleger, an outspoken activist Catholic priest, is seen mocking Sen. Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

"When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on," Pfleger said. "I really believe that she just always thought this is mine. I'm Bill's wife, I'm white and this is mine. I just gotta get up and step into the plate and then out of nowhere came, 'Hey, I'm Barack Obama,' and she said, 'Oh, damn. Where did you come from? I'm white. I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show.' "

"As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that unites us," Obama said in a statement. "That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric."

Speaking as a guest at Trinity on Sunday, Pfleger mocked the tears Clinton displayed shortly before the New Hampshire primary in January.

"She wasn't the only one crying," Pfleger said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."

Then, Pfleger, who is white, seemed to indicate that he might be going too far. "I'm sorry. I don't want to get you in any more trouble," he said, as the church's organ began to play to signal his exit from the pulpit.


While Pfleger did apologize for his racist comments about Senator Clinton, did you notice that Obama's statement (it certainly wasn't an explanation or an apology) didn't mention Hillary at all?

The Clinton campaign did.

"Divisive and hateful language like that is totally counter-productive in our efforts to bring our party together and have no place at the pulpit or in our politics," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement. "We are disappointed that Sen. Obama didn't specifically reject Father Pfleger's despicable comments about Sen. Clinton, and assume he will do so."


An underreported fact about the Wright scandal was that Wright also insulted Bill and Hillary Clinton during his inflammatory sermons. Yet Obama didn't apologize for that either.

The Clinton camp's statement reads like a "Shape up or fuck you" moment, doesn't it? I also sense that this, along with the Obama campaign's manufactured hysteria about Hillary's mention of RFK, is a very, very good excuse for the long-overdue death of the Unity Pony. No, the joint ticket is nagahapin, thank Jeebus. There is no way that Hillary should associate herself with Obama. I mean, the man practically accused her of wanting him dead. How can she go out and defend that in a General Election campaign? That stab wound in her back is getting a little too deep to be ignored.

The story goes on to mention the fact that Pfleger is/was (who knows any more) a member of the campaign's Catholic Advisory Council.

Think about that for a second.

This was a person that Obama thought would help him reach out to Catholics. What awesome "judgment!"

Oh, but we're not done yet. There are also financial ties between Obama and Pfleger. And earmarks, Chicago-style.

Earmarks to St. Sabina
In a Tribune story a year ago, Obama defended special budget earmarks for his district while he was a state legislator, including ones that went to programs associated with Pfleger's church.

Pfleger gave Obama's campaigns $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced at least $100,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs.

In that story, Pfleger said he made those donations personally, not on behalf of the church or to win grants.


When is it finally enough?

When do we stop making excuses and pretending this doesn't matter? When do we admit that yes, this is exactly how Obama thinks and feels? How many more people who are long-time friends and advisers have to stand up and say things like this before we admit that the duck is walking and quacking? When do we just give up and say that this guy Obama is simply not a viable candidate for the Presidency of the United States?

The voters - and many politicians who should have known better - have been hoodwinked and bamboozled, and many of them are feeling buyer's remorse. The latest primary results in West Virginia and Kentucky show Obama's glaring problems in Applachia, which he has consistently lost to Clinton during this election cycle. The Senator from Illinois' support has been going down dramatically - in fact, although this report barely mentions Clinton at all, it does show that his and her "favorable" ratings have become almost the same; she is at 47% favorable, whereas he is at 51% favorable. Hillary has picked up that support in the all-important "bitter white person" category - exactly where Obama does so poorly against McCain.

Of course, the number of HRC's voters who think the party will unify in November is now down to about 46%. Sure, he'll win the General Election with numbers like that. Would you like a cookie with that Kool-Aid?

I am sick, disgusted and ready to cry like Hillary. I cannot believe that the Party is putting Democrats in a position like this. Either vote for this man, who in my opinion has no commitment whatsoever to Democratic values, or suffer through four more years of Bush? What the fuck kind of choice is that? No wonder so many of us are opting out or voting for the dreaded McCaca. Personally, I would vote for John Kerry or Al Gore 400 times before considering voting for Obama. And Kerry and Gore both got tons of Democratic votes, but lost anyway - because they lost the working-class vote to Bush! Hellloooooooooooo!!!

I have no faith that the DNC will seat the delegates of MI and FL tomorrow, or count the popular vote. Of course they could surprise me (which I would welcome so happily!), but since they are bound and determined to pretend Obama is ahead and the choice of the people, they will most likely do whatever benefits Obama now. Never mind pissing off voters in states that should go blue in November - IAAO (It's All About Obama)!!!

My beloved Party is heading off a cliff and smugly congratulating itself as it falls to its destruction, all the while ignoring the parachutes that Hillary and Bill are trying to throw them.

I wish I had happier news, since it's Friday. But today, I'm in mourning for the Democratic Party I used to love so dearly.

As Scarlett O'Hara would say, "Tomorrow is another day." Let's all hope that the weekend brings better news.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Another Unaccountable President?!

Yesterday, I fumed over the fact that the BushCheney Fascist Regime has had zero accountability for its treason, war crimes, and attempted destruction of Truth, Justice and the American Way.

If Barack Obama is elected President, will we have four more years of an unaccountable Chief Executive?

Think about it. We've already had so much finger-pointing from this man and his campaign that it is simply nauseating. Everything is someone else's fault. His staff messed up. His pastor suddenly "changed." He barely knows Tony Rezko or William Ayers. But-but-but CLINTON! (aka IACF!). The ABC debate questions are mean. The voters are ignorant Bible-toting, gun-slinging racists. Come on, now, can't a man just eat his waffle?

The same construct that Obama is not accountable for his actions is making me fret about Florida and Michigan. As we know, this weekend the DNC will meet and try to see if they can fix the complete disaster they created in those two states. Over at my new fave hangout, TalkLeft, the debate rages unabated as to what the best thing to do with the "Uncommitted" votes from Michigan would be. A brief history of the Michigan situation is as follows:

1) The DNC, led by Obama supporter Donna Brazile, but representing itself only, decided to strip MI and FL of all their delegates and votes. This unusual measure essentially penalized the states for moving up their primaries in response to the early date moves of IA, NH, SC and NV - which received no penalties at all for their insurrection. For a comprehensive discussion of what would really happen if we followed "the DNC rules" strictly - a detailed response to the screams of "teh ROOLz! teh ROOlz!" from Obamans - read this excellent summation by Obama supporter Big Tent Democrat. Let's just say, the Obamans should be careful what they wish for. ;-)

2) After this decision, Hillary was leading Obama and Edwards quite decisively in Florida and Michigan polling. There was an option in MI to remove one's name from the ballot - in FL it was not as easy to do (it seems that it was against the law, although like so much of this mess, people disagree). Obama and Edwards decided to take the MI option to kill the momentum of HRC's campaign. They were extremely successful. Although HRC won 55% of the vote, 40% went to "Uncommitted" and 4% went to Dennis Kucinich.

Now we know that Hillary has been wanting to fully count all the votes and delegates since at least January of 2008. (This campaign statement was made on the day of the MI primary, prior to any results coming in, and two weeks before the FL primary.) Barack Obama, by contrast, has been fighting every effort to seat the delegates and count the votes, despite efforts by Senator Clinton's campaign to find any reasonable compromise, including gathering the money to pay for re-votes.

What does Obama want?

He wants all the "Uncommitted" votes - and delegates - to go to him.

Talk about unaccountable!

Here's how it works in the real world, Senator. When your name is on the ballot, you get votes. When your name is NOT on the ballot BY YOUR OWN CHOICE, you get none. Or perhaps you'd like to award Al Gore some of those votes? Or Bugs Bunny? How ridiculous is this argument? Hey, Hillary knew that she wouldn't do that well in Oregon. What if she removed her name from that state's ballot in order to invalidate that election? See how far this line of thinking could be taken?

But this is the crux of the matter to me. Some people argue that in order to be "fair" to Obama's supporters, you must award him some percentage of the "Uncommitted" vote.

I call total and utter bullshit on this.

Why can we not simply say to Obama's supporters, "Look, we WANTED to count your votes, but your candidate didn't want us to." That is, in fact, the truth. Shouldn't Obama be accountable to his own supporters? Why should HRC and the DNC be expected to clean up his mess? And why shouldn't Obama's supporters know EXACTLY whose fault it is that they were unable to cast their votes for him in Michigan?

For Christ's sake, WHY DOES HE NEED SO MUCH FUCKING HELP IN THIS ELECTION?!!! Can't he do one DAMN THING by himself?

HRC has the help of her husband, of course, and we know that is a big asset. But think about it - she has been winning millions of voters despite every other force being arrayed against her. Former strong allies, like Bill Richardson and John Lewis, have switched their loyalty to Obama. The media started declaring her campaign dead in 2007 and has been screeching for her to quit ever since. The Party "Leaders" have lined up squarely behind Obama and have delighted in attempting to assassinate her character and judgment. The candidate himself has tried everything possible to make his nomination seem inevitable despite the fact that the closeness of this election means nothing will be decided until the Convention.

In terms of electability, Hillary cremates McCain - and guess what, it doesn't even matter who her VP candidate would be. She can do it all by herself.

And should she somehow lose, guess who she will blame? Herself - as well she should. But who will be to blame if Obama is nominated and loses to McCain?

IACF, baby. WAAAAAAAHHHHHH! Clinton told the Republicans what to do!!! She planned it all along!!!! We hates, her, precioussssssss!!111!!!!

Can we please, please nominate the person who is accountable and responsible for her own actions? Who admits her errors and apologizes for them?

Wouldn't that be a lovely change from eight horrible years of the Least Accountable President Evah?

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Irony is Deader than Dick Cheney's Soul.

I refuse to honor the hysteria regarding Senator Clinton's statement about extended primaries (which included a reference to RFK's tragic assassination). If RFK Jr. isn't offended, I don't know why anyone else would be.

However, I would like to take a look at the incredible behavior of the press corps during this brouhaha.

It's been, oh, at least 400 days now that MSNBC has been obsessing on what Hillary was thinking when she made this statement. I have marvelled many times at the amazing mind-reading abilities that the media appears to have when it comes to the Clintons (and most Democrats in general). Apparently Hillary was wishin' and hopin' that Senator Obama would be assassinated when she was...talking about a historical event that occurred in June during an extended primary season. And when she never even mentioned Obama's name.

Wow, I never knew that a presidential hopeful should be excoriated and convicted as Teh Evil because of thoughts she thunk!

Especially since our national press corps has COMPLETELY IGNORED THE ACTUAL MURDERERS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

I mean, we've got Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rice, haven't we? (Rumsfeld can't even go into certain countries for fear of being arrested for war crimes.) Through malevolence, incompetence or sheer unadulterated greed, these Asses of Evil are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.

Somehow, I don't see them being excoriated. Somehow I don't see their characters being constantly called into question and organizations like C.U.N.T. being formed to stop them. Somehow I don't see calls for impeachment or any accountability whatsoever for these monsters.

No, once again, IACF rules the day.

They can't talk about Bush and his cronies any more, after all. Remember that KKKarl works for Newsweek now.

The corruption of the corporate media is complete.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

May 31st Is Coming Up...

the day the Rules Committee of the DNC will decide what to do about the Michigan and Florida elections. Here's a clue, guys: COUNT THE DAMN VOTES.

I've gotten 215 signatures on the petition I created telling the DNC that we resent the process by which Barack Obama appears to have been pre-selected as the Democratic nominee, and that he will not beat McCain. I have Howard Dean's direct email address, and I will be sending it to him at the end of the day.

Here's a little anecdote from my weekend. A very good friend, a lifelong Democrat from Connecticut who voted for Lamont in the primary, says that if Obama is the nominee, he will have to vote Republican for the first time in his life.

"He just doesn't have the experience," said our friend.

He doesn't hate Obama. He doesn't follow the blogs. He's just a guy who can read a resume.

Food for thought, eh?

By the way, here are the latest state-to-state poll results from Hominid Views.

Barack Obama has a 37.3% chance of beating John McCain. Believe it or not, this is a slight improvement.

Hillary Clinton has a 100% chance of beating John McCain.

Yes, you heard me.

One. Hundred. Fucking. Percent.

I can haz two-term Democratic Preznit now?

Let's hope the Democratic Party superdelegates - and the DNC - know how to read polls, or it looks like the "party of the people" will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Memorial Day, Bush Style

As I returned from my mini-vacation and fired up my computer today, the first headline I saw was this:

Bush Calls on Americans to Remember War Dead

Once again, I am reminded how our Deciderer has stomped on irony like a gorilla trying to destroy a Samsonite.

Oh George, TRUST ME, we remember the war dead DESPITE the fact that your partner in war crimes, Donald Rumsfeld, decreed that we wouldn't see their coffins; that we wouldn't get an accurate count of the dead and wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq; that war coverage has mysteriously disappeared from the TeeVee just in time for the next election; and that due to a paucity of spine-infused Democrats in the Senate and House, our two new quagmires drag on and on, draining our Treasury, breaking our military, destroying our reputation overseas, and killing and wounding not only our young men and women, but also the luckless inhabitants of Iraq and Afghanistan. We must include the Iraqi and Afghani dead in our count as well, mustn't we, George W.? Or would that trouble your beautiful mind too much?

We Americans are sick in our souls with remembering the war dead. We need to do something other than remember them.

We need to bring our troops home and stop murdering people for oil, power and money.

Until then, every day will be Memorial Day.

Friday, May 23, 2008

The Word Heard Round the World.

"Sweetie."

Ah, how that word encapsulates the incredible amounts of misogyny and sexism that has been directed at Senator Clinton, sometimes by her opponents, but most often by the media, both corporate and "progressive!"

Don't believe me about this? Well, here are some sources for you.

Soon after Senator Obama inappropriately used the word "Sweetie" to dismissively refuse to answer a female reporter's question, Senator Hillary Clinton was interviewed by the Washington Post and asked about the roles of sexism and racism in the historic campaigns of both Democrats.

Here is the paragraph that stood out to me:

Oppression of women and discrimination against women is universal. You can go to places in the world where there are no racial distinctions except everyone is joined together in their oppression of women. The treatment of women is the single biggest problem we have politically and socially in the world. If you look at the extremism and the fundamentalism, it is all about controlling women, at it's base. The idea that we would have a presidential campaign in which so much of what has occurred that has been very sexist would be just shrugged off I think is a very unfortunate commentary about the lack of seriousness that should be applied to any kind of discrimination or prejudice. I have spent my entire life trying to stand up for civil rights and women's rights and human rights and I abhor wherever it is discrimination is present.
This, folks, is the awareness of a person who is ready to become president of the United States. She sees the bigger picture. She understands that all forms of social injustice are unacceptable, but that whenever the government fails to do its job, women are disproportionately the ones that suffer (yes, gasp! racism affects women too!). Where racism is not a factor, somehow, women manage to be oppressed as well. Look at China; racially homogenous, for the most part, yet determined to treat women as inferiors with very few civil rights.

Senator Clinton also states that the goal of fundamentalism, such as we find in every country and every religion, is predominantly the control of women. I could not agree with that statement more, and I've felt that way for a very long time. What is the real reason behind blaming "original sin" on Eve? Why must women remain virgins until marriage, but men have no such responsibility? Why are clitorectomies performed? Why are women sometimes unable to become priests? Why is birth control not acceptable by the Catholic Church? Why do women have to cover all but their eyes in fundamentalist Islam, and why are they restricted from any but the most basic freedoms of life? (Note: A great book on this subject is "The Chalice and the Blade," by Riane Eisler. Seriously, if you haven't read it, it's an amazing work about the struggle between the male and female principles throughout human history.)

The media, with its usual blithe lack of self-awareness, has attempted to discredit Senator Clinton's words. But it's too late for that. The mask has fallen off. We're as mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more.

Good luck getting our votes in November, Barack Obama. You - and the Democratic Party - have stood silently by while the most qualified and viable woman candidate ever has been treated with violent, despicable misogyny. You all can iron your own damn shirts.

Sweetie, my ass.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

We've Been Having Some Very Bad Weather

in New York. It's been more like March than May; windy, rainy and cold.

Every time I want to complain, however, I think about things like this, and count my lucky stars.

YINGXIU, China (Reuters) - More than 80,000 people are dead or missing from China's worst earthquake in decades, the government said on Thursday, as concerns rose that disease, the rainy season and aftershocks could bring yet more pain.

Previously, authorities had said they expected the final death toll to exceed 50,000.

Ten days after the magnitude 7.9 quake rocked the mountainous southwest of the country, relief efforts focused on the 5 million homeless and the millions of others facing disease and possible "secondary disasters."

The government implored the international community to provide more relief aid, saying they needed more than 3 million tents and that just 400,000 had so far reached the disaster zone.

Hospitals in Sichuan were overwhelmed by the nearly 300,000 hurt, prompting the government to put on extra train services to ferry the injured to other parts of the country, state media reported.

Heavy rain, snow and aftershocks have exacerbated the dangers faced by more than 100,000 troops assisting in the relief effort.

"There have been constant aftershocks and the rainy season starts in June ... the earthquake has loosened the mountains," said Yun Xiaosu, Vice Minister of Land and Resources. "It is very likely to cause frequent geological disasters and to once again bring major losses to the quake area."


For a moment, we often need to take a breath and think about how other people in other countries are living (and dying). Life in the United States is very, very far from perfect - ask the prisoners at Gitmo, the 47 million in poverty, the inhabitants of the Gulf Coast, the folks in the South who suffer from drought, the flooded Midwesterners who are torn by tornadoes - but in general, we are gifted with plenty, and people of good hearts and intentions who are ready to wake up from our long national nightmare.

We will return to our regularly-scheduled obsession with the Democratic primary later. For now, if you have the time and the money, please give to the earthquake victims in China; and take a moment to count your blessings.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Another Big Primary Night....

and just three to go before the American people have all cast their votes (in VERY high numbers!) for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

It was a split decision: a giant victory in Kentucky for Hillary, and a large victory in Oregon for Obama. Let's do a little number crunching, shall we?

35 percentage points.

That's the number by which Obama lost to Hillary in Kentucky.

Now, we can do the simplistic thing and assume that Kentucky (and West Virginia, where she crushed Obama by 41) are both full of banjo-twanging, dentally-challenged racist rednecks; or, we can look a little deeper into the exit polling.

The Wright Factor: Still In Play.

78%.

That's the amount of respondents who felt that Obama shares the views of his pastor, mentor and friend of 20 years, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, to some degree.

22%.

That's the percentage of people who responded "Not at all" to the question of whether or not Obama shared Wright's values. NOT surprisingly, they voted overwhelmingly (65%) for Senator Obama.

What's the Matter with Bitter, Clinging Working-Class Voters?

67%.

That's the amount of respondents who stated that the economy was the most important issue. Hillary Clinton's voters made up 69% of that number.

So no, all you people who think Barack Obama made some kind of profound statement with his BitterCling remarks. Those voters are NOT voting because of religion, love of guns, fear of immigrants or racism. They are voting their pocketbooks, and they like the cut of Hillary's jib on that issue. Who wouldn't? The economy was her husband's strongest issue, after all.

Now, let's get to the numbers that should be giving the Democratic Party agita if they actually want to win in November.

33%.

That's the percentage of Hillary's voters that would be "satisfied" if Barack Obama was the nominee. Yowch.

28%.

That's the percentage of Kentucky voters who would be "satisfied" with either candidate. (A bit of decent news here: 48% of Hillary's voters said either candidate was fine...and 48% of Barack Obama's voters said the same thing.)

74%.

That's the total amount of Kentucky voters who would be satisfied with Hillary Clinton as the nominee. In contrast, 42% would be satisfied with Barack Obama as the nominee.

Look, we can be like the rabid Obamans at Daily Kos who moan about what ignorant fools they be in Appalachia, or we can take a good hard look at these numbers and figure out how to actually beat McCaca in November. (I just had a terrible thought - what if McCaca picks Colin Powell as his VP? Holy crap!)

I feel that Hillary Clinton must be the nominee, or we will lose our opportunity to expand the electoral map in a truly amazing way. (I even saw a head-to-head poll matchup against McCaca in North Carolina where McCaca beats Obama, but LOSES TO HILLARY. My Jeebus!)

Whether Obama is her VP or not is an open question - Kentucky voters say no, but only by 8% - but it seems to me that the voters we need are speaking in very loud tones.

We would be idiots to ignore them.

I know that John McCain will not.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Oh, no!

Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts has a malignant brain tumor.

My heart goes out to the Senator and his family.

Should anyone wish to send him a get-well card, you can do so very easily on his website. There's a box on the right-hand side where you can express your wishes for his speedy recovery.

Get well soon, Senator!

More Primaries Today...

and Barack Obama is still unelectable.

I don't think the voters of Oregon care much, though. It looks like he will win handily over Hillary Clinton in that state. And, arrogantly and falsely, he plans to claim he has won the nomination tonight.

Will that be before or after Hillary Clinton defeats him by 31 points in Kentucky, I wonder? After defeating him last week by 41 points in West Virginia?

Oh, but never mind. When Obama loses Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky and Florida to McCain, he'll have Oregon's massive 7 delegates to make up for it!!! What an awesome electoral strategy!

The only way that Obama is actually as far ahead as he claims to be is, of course, without counting Florida and Michigan. It's something he is desperately trying to avoid doing, and he has done everything in his power to stop those big Hillary victories from being counted.

Hillary is not buying this "Mission Accomplished" Bush-style declaration at all.

"You can declare yourself anything, but if you don't have the votes, it doesn't matter," Clinton said Monday in a satellite interview with an Oregon television station before a campaign appearance in Kentucky.


Exactly.

If you too think that Obama has been acting more like a king than a President, and feel that once the right-wing scream machine gets done with him he will not be electable in November, sign my petition. If I can get at least 1,000 signatures by May 30th, I will deliver it to the DNC.

Meanwhile, on the Dark Side, Mike Huckabee is angling to be McCaca's VP.

This is not a big shock. Honestly, I think he'd be the best pick for McCain. Pastor "I don't believe in evolution" Mike could help deliver the evangelical vote, and has a likeability factor that McCain can't fake (despite the media's constant massaging of his image, McCaca remains a cranky old man). And unlike the Democrats, who seem absolutely determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, the Republics know how to take a very bleak electoral landscape and turn it around.

Lately, The Good Ship Obama has had to deal with a few salvos across his bow from the Republic Party in Tennessee. They have picked up on Michelle Obama's ill-advised "really proud" comment and have been running ads impugning the Senator's patriotism.

Here was his response:

"Whoever is in charge of the Tennessee GOP needs to think long and hard about the kind of campaign they want to run, and I think that's true for everybody, Democrat or Republican," Obama said in the ABC interview, adding: "These folks should lay off my wife."

Obama said his wife "loves this country. For them to try to distort or to play snippets of her remarks in ways that are unflattering to her is, I think, just low class. I think that most of the American people would think that as well."


Shorter Obama: "WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! Hillary and the Republics are MEAN! Stupid low-class rednecks!"

Here's what you say, Senator:

"These attacks on my wife's patriotism are completely over the top. You might as well attack Cindy McCain for her substance abuse problems."

Hello?!

Oh sure. He's ready for the 527 tsunami if he's selected the nominee.

The Democratic Party is made up of fools and wimps. No wonder we lose national elections.

And the one electable candidate, Hillary Clinton, is being shoved under the bus so that the DNC and the Party leaders can benefit from the giant ATM that is the Obama machine.

I don't even know what to hope for anymore. Tune in again soon for...As the Democrats Turn!

Monday, May 19, 2008

Got Guests...Will Blog Tomorrow.

Sign the petition if you're so inclined.

Happy Monday!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Hillary or McCain Petition

Hi everyone -

I have created a petition that I hope people will sign and spread around.

It does NOT ask you to vote for McCain or even not to vote for Obama. Rather, it focuses on the fact that Hillary will most likely win the popular vote (counting Michigan and Florida) by the end of the primary season, and since Obama has gotten his delegates in an unfair and despicable manner, the SuperDelegates and the DNC should nominate Hillary on the basis of popular votes.

Here is the full text of the petition:

We, Democrats and Hillary Clinton supporters, refuse to accept the forthcoming nomination of Barack Obama.

We see an immense injustice being done in the way Barack Obama has been pre-selected as the nominee. The DNC has done everything in its power, including deliberately inventing rules to disenfranchise two of the biggest swing states in America, to make this happen.

It is a reprehensible misuse of power by the Party elites.

We the people understand that Barack Obama has a narrow base of support that will not allow him to win the Presidency in November. He gained that support in an unforgivable manner, by smearing Bill and Hillary Clinton as racists while you stood by and did nothing.

You have also allowed the media and Obama's campaign to promote rampant and disgraceful misogyny in his pursuit of the nomination.

These racial and sexual games will haunt the country for years to come, and do not represent the Democratic Party I thought I knew and loved.

We also feel that Hillary's broader base of female, Democratic and Independent voters are being taken for granted, since there is a determined and concerted push to tell us we should shut up and vote Obama in November.

You and the SuperDelegates must nominate Hillary Clinton after she wins the popular vote, since Barack Obama's delegate count lead was obtained in a fraudulent and despicable manner. Otherwise, a large portion of Hillary's voters will desert the Democratic Party, and John McCain will become the President in November.

Hillary or McCain - it's your choice.


If you agree, please sign and pass it along. If I get enough signatures before May 31st, I will deliver it to the DNC - perhaps printed out and at a local office, perhaps via email - I'm not sure yet which will make the most impact.

As always, thanks for your readership and support!

It's Friday...

and Obama supporters, this one's for you!

Please note: If you find yourself behaving this way online and you support Obama, seek professional help immediately.

I give you: The Obamaniac Bloggy Behavior Wheel!

This brilliant graphic comes to you courtesy of Lavender Liberal, whom I just discovered - and heart!

If you support Hillary - here are some things you can do to help her save the Democratic Party from itself. I'm working on a project of my own and will update you when it's ready. I hope you'll participate if you are so inclined.

Happy Friday! Take heart, all is not lost...and I hope the weather is not deadly in your part of the world.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Barack Obama Meets America: A Play In One Sad Act.

THE SCENE: Senator Barack Obama and America are seated in a large auditorium. Obama is sitting on the stage in a folding chair. A door in the back is marked "THIS WAY TO HILLARY CLINTON'S PLACE." Another door reads "VOTE FOR JOHN MCCAIN."]

AMERICA: Welcome, Senator Obama! We are soooooo ready to elect a Democrat this year, and we loved, loved, LOVED your speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004. You are such an eloquent and intelligent guy...and your charisma is amazing! We are looking so forward to getting to know you better!

OBAMA (smiling): That was a wonderful welcome! Thank you, America!

AMERICA: No, thank YOU. We have some great candidates this year, and you're one of them! So, tell us. Why should we elect you President of the United States?

OBAMA (standing up and pacing): Aren't you tired of the same old Washington politics? Well, so am I. I'm not really a politician - I'm something new and different! I will unify all Americans so that we can work together to make our country a better place. We will finally get out of this partisan gridlock that has been preventing us from moving forward. Just believe in me and we can make it happen together! Yes, we can!

AMERICA: Oooh! That was really inspirational! [Iowa faints and Obama throws her a water bottle he just happens to have with him.] Okay, so tell us: How are you going to accomplish this?

OBAMA (smiling): Hey, don't worry about that. All my policy proposals are on my website. You can tell I'm smart, right? I was the editor of the Harvard Law Review! Trust me, I know what I'm doing. I was right about Iraq, wasn't I? And remember that Hillary voted for the AUMF. The Iraq war wouldn't have happened without her!

[OBAMA'S CHAIR TURNS INTO A THRONE.]

[AMERICA mutters a bit. New Hampshire gets up and walks toward the CLINTON door.]

OBAMA: Hey, New Hampshire, where are you going?

NH: [at the door] Sorry, Senator - we like Hillary better. We prefer experience to soaring rhetoric. Plus, she seems like she really understands what we need and has a plan to make it happen.

OBAMA: I understand what you need! You need ME! I am a post-racial, post-partisan, unifying guy! How can you go for the same old politics? [NH IS GONE.] Uh, wait! Did you know that Bill and Hillary are racists?

AMERICA: [gasps] That's awful! [90% of AA America stands up, chanting "Yes we can!"]

OBAMA: Ah, that's better. [Florida, Michigan, New York, California and New Jersey get up and leave, shaking their heads.] Where are you guys going?

THE STATES [at the CLINTON door]: We like Hillary and we know her. You are new and inspiring, but you're not giving us any reason to vote for you instead. We blame the war on Bush, not Hillary, and it's not like you've done anything differently than she has since you've been in the Senate. Bye - good luck in the rest of the states!

OBAMA: [to the remaining states] Hey, folks, don't let them bother you. They get down, periodically, and their claws come out. I'll get her voters, but I'm not sure she'll get mine. They'll all vote for me in November. Yes, we can!

REVEREND WRIGHT COMES ON STAGE.

WRIGHT: Hi, America! I've been Barack Obama's pastor, mentor and friend for 20 years. I baptized his children, I married him and Michelle, and he named his bestselling book after one of my sermons!

OBAMA: Uh-oh. [GETS UP, CROSSES TO REV. WRIGHT, TRIES TO DRAG HIM OFF THE STAGE. WRIGHT IS IMMOBILE AND CONTINUES TO SPEAK.]

WRIGHT: Yes, we are close close close! By the way, did I tell you that my church preaches Black Liberation Theology? And that I made fun of and insulted Bill and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit? And that I said "God Damn America" just a few days after the attacks of September 11th? And that I think the government gave black people AIDS? And that I think Louis Farrakhan is a great guy? And that Italians are garlic noses? Believe it or not, there's even video of me saying these things!

OBAMA: Who is this man? I am shocked, shocked to hear him talk this way! Well, I admit I've heard some controversial stuff from him, but wow - this is really too much! I'm not disowning him but I'm disowning what he said. And by the way, my grandma was a racist! Oh, I mean...not a racist, but a typical white person! Come on, stop bothering me about this stuff. Can't I just eat my waffle?

OH, TX and PA: Oh, HELL NO. [they get up and start walking towards the CLINTON door]

OBAMA: But wait! I'm the one running for President, not my pastor! [WRIGHT BEGINS EDGING OFF THE STAGE.]

OH, TX and PA [at the door]: Come on, Senator. You've got to believe some of what he says, or else why would you be such a devoted follower of this man for 20 years? You don't share our values, and we know that Hillary does. We're voting for her.

OBAMA: Ahhhh, who needs you. You're just bitter, bible-thumping, gun-slinging, xenophobic racists. [TX, OH and PA gasp, then stomp out the door.]

[WRIGHT COMES BACK ONSTAGE AND STEPS IN FRONT OF OBAMA.]

WRIGHT: Hey now! Barack is just saying what he's saying because he's a politican. We know this, right, America? Of course he can't disown me. By the way, isn't it great when I say how white people have no rhythm, make fun of how they talk, and expound on my theories that they are left-brained and black people are right-brained?

[OBAMA PUSHES WRIGHT OFF STAGE.]

OBAMA: That does it! This man is not who I thought he was. I disown him completely! And by the way, I'm still NOT a politician!

[WEST VIRGINIA gets up, shakes its head, and walks towards the CLINTON door.]

OBAMA: Hey! Where are YOU going?

WV: You've gotta be kidding with this Wright guy. And by the way - we are not bitter, ignorant or racist; it's just obvious you have no idea who we are or what we want from a President. Buh-bye now!

OBAMA: [looking at the auditorium, which is a lot emptier than it was before] Uh, what about the rest of you? You're with me, right? Hey, Kentucky - look who's backing me! John Edwards! Did you know, he was the son of a mill worker?

KY: But why should we vote for YOU? John Edwards is not running for President any more.

OBAMA: Because you need change! You need hope! You need faith! See, look - my new flyer says it all!

KY: No, we need jobs. We need solutions. We get hope and faith from ourselves, not from our President. We want Hillary! [KY GETS UP AND WALKS OUT THE CLINTON DOOR.]

OBAMA: [to himself] Well, hell. This is a lot harder than I thought. Maybe I can't win this thing after all?

[HOWARD DEAN and DONNA BRAZILE step forward. As they do, all the states that left enter through the Clinton door and stand in the back of the auditorium.]

DEAN: Don't worry, Barack. We've got this thing all planned out. You WILL be the nominee no matter what happens. After all, we've got the convention scheduled on the same day as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech! Do you think that's a coincidence?

BRAZILE: Yeah, don't worry about a thing. I made sure that MI and FL didn't count so that you could look like a front-runner, instead of following the DNC rules that stated the penalty was a 50% cut in delegates. You've got it in the bag!

AMERICA [all together]: WHAT? Are you Democratic Party Leaders saying you don't care what the voters think - that Obama is your guy no matter what? That's not democracy at all! What the hell is wrong with you? [ALL THE STATES GET UP AND WALK OUT THE JOHN MCCAIN DOOR. THE AUDITORIUM IS EMPTY.]

[DEAN, BRAZILE and OBAMA look at each other in shocked disbelief.]

OBAMA: What the hell happened? Why didn't those idiots vote for me? John McCain is just the same as Bush! We Democrats were favored by a huge margin nationally! What is wrong with them - are they racists or something?

[HILLARY CLINTON enters through her door, shaking her head in disgust. BILL CLINTON is with her. They hold hands.]

HRC: Perhaps we can explain it to you.

BILL: You see, the American people don't like to be talked down to. They like to be asked for their votes, not taken for granted.

HRC: Women didn't appreciate all the sexism you and your surrogates directed at me. And to call the "first Black President" racist was unforgivable to many.

BILL AND HRC TOGETHER: You never asked them what they wanted or needed. You never listened to them.

BILL: We thought you'd learned the lessons of my Presidency by now. But you're just as elitist as the Republicans. You threw me and Hillary under the bus, and now you're paying the electoral price.

[THEY WALK OUT THE CLINTON DOOR.]

DEAN: Well, there's always 2012, Barack. Hey, how about you and John Kerry?

[LIGHTS OUT.]

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Now That I've Calmed Down a Bit...

let's do West Virginia by the numbers. Here we go!

67% to 26%.

41 points was the final margin of Hillary Clinton's blowout victory in West Virginia. John Edwards got 7% despite no longer being in the race...so if we split those voters equally between Obama and Clinton (for lack of a more informed way of doing it), Clinton gets 70.5% to Obama's 29.5%.

At this point in the campaign, for the "underdog" to beat the "presumptive nominee" by 41 points is absolutely unheard of. I hope this puts an end to Obama's insulting and outrageous plan to proclaim himself the nominee on May 20th. (I doubt it will, though; Obama will proceed, in his usual tone-deaf manner, to ignore and dismiss that portion of the electorate which did not vote for him.) No one is the nominee until August. Even John McCain hasn't declared HIMSELF the nominee, and he's more than 1100 delegates ahead of Mike Huckabee!

2,209.

That's the real "magic number" of delegates each candidate must win to be declared the nominee. This number includes the delegates of Michigan and Florida, which should be seated at the convention as is, at this point.

Let's be very clear on this issue. The DNC changed the rules to strip all of Florida and Michigan's delegates AND ignore the popular vote. (The original rule was simply to strip 50% of the delegates.) This was purely on the insistence of Donna Brazile, an Obama superdelegate who holds a prominent position on the DNC Rules Committee. There was absolutely no reason to do this except to game the system to promote Senator Obama. There was also no reason for anyone to remove his or her name from the MI ballot except to make the inevitable winner, Senator Clinton, appear illegitimate. Edwards and Obama removed their names for exactly that reason.

After months of Obama blocking every effort to count the delegates or allocate them in any sort of fair way, it's time to just give up and seat them as they are. As Howard Wolfson stated last night, it's the right thing to do to count the votes of 2.5 million Democrats. And, it's the smart thing to do. You don't tell two key swing states that you don't need their votes. They might just take you at their word in November.

75% of HRC supporters won't vote for Obama, 62% of Obama supporters won't vote for Clinton in West Virginia.

The response from the Obama campaign? An attempt to steal her spotlight with an Obama stump speech from Missouri. (Translation: I AM teh Nominee! Pay no attention to those low-information, bitter, clinging folks in West Virginia! I am campaigning for teh General Election! Bow before teh great Obama!) A claim from Bob Casey, Obama superdelegate, last night on CNN: "They'll get over it." A congratulatory message from Obama on Hillary's cell phone.

La la la la la, I can't HEAR YOU!

The response from the Clinton campaign? A great victory speech that complimented Obama, credited him with values he has not demonstrated, and focused on their united goals for the Democratic Party.

Need we really say who is focusing on dividing the Party and winning at any cost? Who is determined to ignore the voters and cheat his way to the nomination? Who is truly unable to reach out to people he does not agree with and find common cause with them?

Zero.

That's the amount of influence the corporate media has on the American voters at this point. I keep saying this, but people don't believe me. No one watches cable news. No one trusts the TeeVee to tell them what's going on any more. People look at the candidates and read the papers and make their own decisions.

It's a good thing in my opinion. Maybe, seeing the results from West Virginia, we can somehow get the new President and Congress to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine and revive the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up media ownership into smaller pieces again. (Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler must be typing his brains out today trying to document the media atrocities from last night.)

75%.

That's the amount of West Virginians who believe that Obama shares the views
of Reverend Wright to some degree. I told you that Wright makes Obama unelectable..and I believe the Wright factor accounts for the most frightening number of all:

100%.

That's the number of West Virginia counties Obama lost last night.

One.

Hundred.

Percent.

May I remind you that it's been 92 years since a Democrat won the White House without winning West Virginia in the General Election? What would you say the odds are of Obama winning West Virginia in November are at this point?

I may like to play the slots, but even I know that's a sucker bet.

The Democratic Party ignores these numbers at their peril. Do we really love the beautiful loser so much that we will select him as the nominee? Or do we love our country enough to choose the one person who can lift us out of the Bush Reign of Error, despite the fact that she has a scary, scary vagina, and is named Clinton?

Tune in again soon for...As the Democrats Turn!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Do The Words "Holy Crap" Mean Anything To You?

Beginning rant:

At 11:19 PM, EDT, with 73% of precincts reporting, Hillary Clinton is winning in West Virginia by 39 percentage points.

66% to 27%.

The numbers speak for themselves. But this rant is for the blind, deaf and dumb superdelegates and the DNC, who can't seem to understand them.

After a week of declaring HRC dead in the water, this is what the pundits must face: No one gives a shit about them. This is what Obama must face: We want Hillary and not him. This is what the Party must face: Obama gamed the caucuses and bought his way into this race with a huge war chest. The voters do not care.

Can we please fucking admit the fucking elephant in the room is fucking real? Obama cannot get the votes we need to fucking beat John McCaca McMaverick McCain. Oh my fucking God.

Oh, and 75% of West Virginian HRC voters would be "dissatisfied" if HRC is not the nominee.

DO YOU GET IT SUPERDELEGATES?! As Hillary said tonight, THIS IS NOT SOME ACADEMIC EXERCISE! It fucking matters who's fucking President. It's either Hillary or McCain. There is NO OTHER CHOICE!

Now do your fucking job and save the Party from this electoral disaster named Barack Obama.

End of rant.

Why Democrats Vote

We Democrats don't seem to understand ourselves very well, in my never-humble opinion. Certainly our elected representatives, for the most part, appear to believe that Democrats will vote straight party-line no matter which candidate they nominate for the presidency.

Ah, such dangerous naivete.

You see, John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean et al., party unity doesn't just HAPPEN for Democrats. We are truly a big tent. We've got super-lefties, disaffected conservatives, social and economic libertarians, die-hard Party loyalists, left- and right-leaning Independents, and everything in between. The Republic Party, by contrast, has narrowed itself into a very specific right-wing mentality. You're either with them or against them, in the immortal authoritarian words of their Dear Leader, George W. Bush. They vote for the R, even when they hate the nominee.

We Democrats vote for the person whom we trust, and whom we think represents our values. Why else is Barack Obama getting up to 93% of the AA vote, whereas Hillary Clinton is connecting with about 60% of the white vote in every state?

No, it's not Democratic racism on Senator Clinton's side (although if it were, that would still represent a rather large problem for Obama, wouldn't it?). It's that we Hillary voters don't think that Obama would be a good President for many reasons. We don't trust his judgment after the revelations that he sat in Wright's church for 20 years and listened to that ignorant, hate-filled ranting week after week. We don't think he understands our needs, and the BitterCling remarks (and so much more) seem to legitimize that feeling. We don't like his policy proposals on the environment (let's focus on renewables, not nuclear power, coal and ethanol), the economy (too many punitive taxes on the middle class) and health care (don't start from a weak point when you know you will have to compromise). Finally, we do not trust him to carry out his promises, ever since his foreign policy adviser, Samantha Power, said that his Iraq withdrawal plan was just a "best-case scenario."

So, as Hillary Clinton rides to a humongous victory today in West Virginia, O Democratic leaders, please don't call it racism; and please understand that we are voting for her, not against Obama. And please understand that many of us simply will not vote for Obama in the GE, for all the reasons given above. Why should we? The stronger candidate in the GE is clearly Senator Clinton. There is no reasonable electoral map that shows otherwise. Why should we settle for second best? Because she is a woman and should take one for the team?

According to yesterday's ABC News/Washington Post poll, 64% of Democrats want Hillary to finish out her run. Another interesting finding: A whopping 59% of AA's think HRC should be on a ticket with Obama. Guess a lot of AA's don't think she's so racist after all.

I would also sincerely ask that folks should stop trying to sell us on a Unity Ticket with Obama at the top. You think you can just apply Clinton as a coverup of all Obama's flaws, and they will magically disappear? Do you think the Republics will not start pounding on Wright, Ayers and Rezko as soon as Obama is chosen at the convention? Perhaps Jesus could help Obama stand against that tsunami, but I don't think HRC's supernatural powers are quite that strong. Obama is simply NOT ELECTABLE. I would prefer him not to be anywhere near the Presidency, but if we must have him, the VP spot is the only acceptable one for him now. For Jeebus' sake, he's 46 years old and has two years in the Senate. Further, he has leveraged his 93% AA vote and gamed the system (trying to get FL and MI counted out) in order to gain his front-runner status. It's disgusting the way he has cheated and slimed Hillary and Bill Clinton in the process. VP is an amazing gift for him, and guess what? He gets to be President in 2016. Sorry, Michelle Obama, this is the only possible combined ticket scenario. Grow up and get over yourself.

Let me just add one more thing. The next few months are key. Should the Deciderer bomb Iran, or should another terrorist attack happen on American soil, who do you think Americans will vote for? A guy who has no national security credentials whatsoever, who never held one meeting of the subcommittee on European Affairs he chaired in the Senate, and who was against the war before he was for it? Or a Moderate Maverick War Hero?

Duh.

And yes, I believe HRC would do much better against McCain in this arena, mainly because she actually has experience and did vote for the AUMF. Believe it or not, that makes her more electable against McCaca, not less.

Should the Democratic Party be blind and stupid enough to nominate Barack Obama despite all of this, I hope they are not surprised when many of HRC's supporters in the Big Tent either switch to McCain, stay home entirely or vote down-ticket only. (Some are vowing to write in Hillary's name.) After all, exit polls in state after state have been showing that more than 50% of us are saying "NO!" to Obama.

Sadly, I think our Democratic leaders will be absolutely shocked, shocked, when McCain wipes the floor with Obama in November.

They just don't know why Democrats vote.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Meanwhile...

this has got to be the worst May ever for extreme weather.

In the past ten days, a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar (Burma); tornadoes and floods raged across the United States; and a devastating earthquake hit China.

I can't help thinking how lucky I am to be living the life I do. I have a job and so does my husband; I have electricity, food and water; and usually, I don't have to be afraid of the weather.

Still, my relatively blessed state - and that of millions of Americans - will soon evaporate if we don't do something about the environment, and fast. Should a large enough ice shelf melt and collapse, New York and many other coastal cities could be drowned under water. Should the temperature of the earth rise just a few degrees, heat and thirst could kill millions. And if we continue with our short-sighted ethanol production, a massive food shortage could show us all the true meaning of hunger.

This year, all of us activists are very passionate about who is elected President. I agree that it is of paramount importance that the right person leads our country away from the path of reckless consumption and down the path of conservation, sanity and responsibility. But we must never forget that the true issues we are dealing with are not just American, but global.

We can solve it.

We are all citizens of the world now. It's time to start acting like it.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy Mothers' Day!

Today is a good day to appreciate not just mothers, but all women who have made you who you are today. Your friends, your sisters, your daughters, your aunts, cousins and nieces, your stepmothers, your grandmothers, your heroines - they are brave, exceptional, kind, loving, intelligent, and they deserve your attention and respect, this day and every day. Ladies, you rock!

If you are fortunate enough to still have your mother around, make sure you send her some extra love and hugs today.

And for you sentimental types, here is a beautiful video made by Chelsea Clinton for her mother. If you don't have a tear in your eye after you watch, well...you're just hard-hearted, that's all! :-)

Have a great day, women of the world. You deserve it!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Chris Bowers and The Plutocrats, Part Deux: In Which Barack Obama = VIP!

Believe it or not, I've actually got more to say about the Bowers Manifesto. Golly, there's just SO MUCH to appreciate about the New Plutocratic Party!

Here's something that's bothered me about Barack Obama from Day One: the way he has been selling himself as a product, an amalgam of desirable characteristics, rather than a person who could be the President of the United States.

Note the reasons Chris Bowers gives for considering Obama suitable to lead the New Plutocrats.
Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR.

It's a laundry list of ingredients, as if Senator Obama were a pair of designer sunglasses or a particularly luxurious car. Notice that nowhere are his views or his qualifications discussed - and what exactly he would do as President does not seem to be important.

Now, consider the way Obama first built excitement for his campaign by getting Oprah Winfrey to come on the trail with him. Now, what is Oprah good at? Getting people to love her, and selling products. Does she know anything about politics? No, she does not - she freely admits that she is apolitical.

2+2=4, my friends. Or, in this case, Obama Bloggers + Oprah = VIP!

No, not "Very Important Person". I mean the product called VIP!, referred to in the Doris Day/Rock Hudson flick, Lover Come Back.

The plot of the movie is quite interesting. You see, Doris Day and Rock Hudson are two advertising executives with very different styles. Doris Day is a smart, hard-working woman who relies on quality to get clients, whereas Rock Hudson is a lazy but charismatic man who uses his charm and slightly underhanded methods (like plying clients with booze and hookers) to sell his services.

Soon, Day and Hudson find themselves vying for the same accounts. Day discovers that Hudson is less than ethical in his business practices, and starts making trouble with the Advertising Board. In order to stop her, make the girl involved lie to the authorities and placate his boss, Tony Randall, Hudson makes up a product called VIP!. He hires the girl to be the face of VIP!, and shoots several commercials in which VIP! is given credit for everything good about her. He never plans to air the commercials, of course, but somehow they get put on the TeeVee, and everyone starts getting very excited about VIP!

The campaign has worked too well. Eventually, VIP! has to be invented, and when it finally is, it turns out to be candy that gets you very, very drunk. Useless, but delicious and fun - and quite a threat to the liquor industry, it turns out! They pay off Hudson to get VIP! away from stores, and people go back to the old ways of getting plowed.

In conclusion, Barack Obama IS VIP! We thought he was new and thrilling, but once we got to know him, we realized that he was nothing we hadn't seen before. And in fact, what we thought was old and boring - the true blue Democratic values of the party of FDR and Bill Clinton - is just as necessary as it always was.

Don't fall for VIP! It's a product you just don't need.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Plutocracy: It's Not Just for Republics Any More!

Apparently some Obama bloggers think it's just fine and dandy too.

Just check out a bit of the New Democratic Manifesto written (and I use the term loosely) by Obama blogger Chris Bowers at Open Left yesterday:

Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives: There should be a major cultural shift in the party, where the southern Dems and Liebercrat elite will be largely replaced by rising creative class types. Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR. These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades. Given the demographics of the blogosphere, in all likelihood, this is a socioeconomic and cultural demographic into which you fit. Culturally, the Democratic Party will feel pretty normal to netroots types. It will consistently send out cultural signals designed to appeal primarily to the creative class instead of rich donors and the white working class.

Oh, Chris, Chris, Chris.

I'm finding it hard to get by the first words of that paragraph, "Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives." Personally, as a middle-class, Jewish woman with a Master's Degree, I was unaware that I was a Bubba. And as a professional singer and web designer, I was also unaware of how uncreative I was compared to self-important, penilely-endowed Obama FanBoiz who practice illiterate and ahistorical mutual masturbation in their tiny echo chambers all day.

But I digress. On to Plutocracy. Sieg heil!

There should be a major cultural shift in the party, where the southern Dems and Liebercrat elite will be largely replaced by rising creative class types.

As for the Southern Dems part, the author is referring to Bill Clinton and his coalition, as other portions of his post make clear. Mr. Bowers is too busy being creative with history to realize that the South was only a part of President Clinton's coalition, of course. Pennsylvania? Ohio? Anyone? Bueller?

But my favorite part is the "Liebercrat elite" phrase. Didn't you know, my dear deluded soul, that the Liebercrat elite is supporting Obama? Or have you missed that the Party bigwigs have all bypassed the more progressive candidate and are lined up solidly behind the one with the most Wall Street backing? Didn't you know that Obama's mentor in the Senate was Joe Lieberman?

And as for calling yourself and your fellow Obama bloggers "creative class types," my friend, we who are actually creative don't consider ourselves any kind of class at all. We are laughing AT you, not WITH you.

On to the next atrocity.

Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR.

In other words:

"Ooooooh! Obama shops at the same store I do! He's a Unitarian! (Not true, of course, as 99.9% of the world knows. He belongs to TUCC, which is about as far from Unitarianism as is humanly possible in the Christian faith.) He was a community organizer and I sit in front of my computer all day! We are teh same! The Cool Kid likes me, he really does! OOOoooooooOOOOOoh [thunk]!" (Here's where Bowers faints from sheer adoration.)

You know, I thought that when Hillary's campaign said, "If you have a social need, you're with Hillary. If you want Obama to be your imaginary hip black friend and you're young and you have no social needs, then he's cool," that it was quite unnecessarily unPC and somewhat offensive. Turns out, she was right. All it took was a wink and a nod from a Kewl Kid (added to a healthy dose of Hillary Hate) to turn the Obama bloggers into sycophants, ready to love and justify anything Obama says and does. Oh, yes, the Dear Leader is always, always right! Sieg heil!

All right, I admit haven't gotten to the Sieg Heil part yet. I'm just so offended by the parts before it that I keep getting distracted. But finally, here it is as Bowers concludes his Beloved - and his bloggy followers, of course - will be the ones to lead the Plutocratic - I mean, New Democratic - Party.

These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades.

Oh.

My.

G.

The Democratic Party never focused on the white working class. They focused on the WORKING CLASS, PERIOD.

Democrats passed the Clean Air Act. The Clean Water Act. Jimmy Carter tried to get us off of foreign oil and on to solar energy. Democrats passed the Civil Rights Act. They got women and AA's the right to vote. They got us the 40-hour work week. In more recent history, Bill Clinton created tens of millions of jobs. He kept us from fighting unnecessary wars and forced the Democrats to balance the budget. He tried to give us universal health care. Is Bowers so monumentally stupid that he thinks these laws and rights benefited WHITE PEOPLE ONLY?????!!!!

If Democrats lose their focus on the working class, they are not New Democrats. They are Plutocrats, or in more modern terms, Republicans. Wow. Am I excited to be a part of this Bowers Movement yet?

But wait. Maybe I'm being too harsh with this paragon of creativity. Let's just see what he thinks the New Democratic Party will accomplish for its adherents.

I know this is all pretty vague, but it does sum up my basic sense about the coming Obama administration and Democratic Party. Overall, instead feeling like Blue Dogs, Joe Lieberman and media pundits are running the party, it should feel kind of like PIRG, but a bit more right-wing, academic and well-to-do. In other words, PIRG without seeming like DFHs run the show. That should be an upgrade from the 1990's, but expect quite a few times where progressives will need to take oppositional stances.

So, taking our focus off the working class and allowing the right-wing, academic and wealthy few to take control, will be an upgrade from the 90's and the Clintons' accomplishments?

I told you I'd get to the plutocratic part. You see, the "creative class" types should take over the Party because they are so much better than the DLC elites who are currently running the Party. (I'm sure this opinion has nothing to do with the fact that Bowers and his ilk see themselves as future powerbrokers in an Obama administration. Nope, no self-interest there.)

Unfortunately, these more right-wing, academic, wealthy types are still elites. And the REAL change that has been happening since 2006 has been that more and more progressives are being elected to Congress. In the blogosphere, we've been chanting "More and better Dems, please!" and putting our money where our mouths are. This year, Democrats are poised to gain a larger majority in the House and a possible filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

I thought the progressive movement was towards less elitism, not more. That would be the change I'm looking for.

Fuck you, Chris Bowers. You and your cohorts, not Hillary Clinton, are the ones trying to destroy the Democratic Party.

This so-called Bubba despises you for it.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Why Is My World Upside-Down?

Why are conservatives the only ones telling the truth about this primary?

It breaks my heart to agree so strongly with Ed Koch. But truth is truth, dammit, no matter who speaks it.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Koch warned that despite Obama's lead in every single primary election metric [if you don't count Florida and Michigan, of course!], the Illinois Democrat simply would not be able to best John McCain come November. As such, he urged Clinton to stay in the race even as some in the party call for her drop out now, even before Obama has officially secured the nomination.

Were the majority of states and voters who had gone to Obama - and the superdelegates who could very well affirm their decisions - making a grievous political mistake?

"Mistake is not exactly the word," replied Koch. "It is the wrong judgment. The reason that the superdelegates are there is to select that person who is most likely to prevail. And...even though he does not win on his own merits in terms of racking up sufficient delegates, in all probability the superdelegates will be afraid to exercise their own judgment. And we will simply go along with the count of the delegates that were chosen in the polls."

Koch's argued that Obama showed a complete lack of conviction and leadership in handling the controversy surrounding his former pastor. The theme is a constant feature in the former mayor's syndicated columns, several of which have directly questioned the credibility of Obama's attempts to distance himself from Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

"...If you are running for president, you can't be like some other poor guy in the pews who is afraid to stand up or even say something privately to the minister. You're the guy who wants to lead the country and you have to have courage to stand up and lead your own pastor. He did not exhibit that. But the fact that the Democratic constituency doesn't seem to care is a shock to me, but I'm certain that the overall constituency voting in November will care and that it will make the difference in the adverse way to his candidacy."

Um.

YEAH.

Here's the real kicker:

Saying he would support Clinton and "hope she ultimately prevails," Koch wasn't worried that Democratic infighting could hurt the party's chances in the fall. It was Obama's candidacy, he repeated, that would be the death knell.

"I believe that when the voting is over that the vast majority, not all, on both sides, will vote for the [Democratic] candidate," said Koch. "But that applies only to the Democrats who have been participating. I believe that the vast majority of voters will look at all of these allegations, which nobody disputes, as related to Wright and his comments, and that they will have an enormous impact on the vote and on those Independents and others who will make a decision in the general election. I just think he is a loser because of that." [emphasis added]

Don't you Obamans get it?

You can call for unity all you want, after you have smeared, defamed and dismissed Hillary and Bill Clinton. Many of us - in fact, the majority - will listen, because we really, really do not want McCaca as president.

But it won't matter.

In order to win the General Election, the Democrat or Republic has to get Independents to vote for him or her. It's a numbers game. On average, we've got about 30% unaffiliated (or Independent) voters in America. We have about an equal number of Democrats and Republics - around 34% Republics and 36% Democrats in January 2008. Democrats also traditionally have lower voter turnout than Republics (although if we follow the primary numbers, this could change in November.) So, we need those issues-based voters very badly.

I absolutely know that Obama will not get those voters in November. And so does Ed Koch. Wright is not the only reason; there's also experience and national security credentials, which Obama lacks but McCaca has (and so does HRC, which makes her the stronger candidate against McCaca).

I'm so sorry to say this, but we are looking at President McCaca if the superdelegates don't make the right decision, and there's nothing we can do about it.

And THAT is why many of us HRC supporters have resolved that, should HRC not be the nominee, we will not vote for Obama no matter what, and that we will change our party affiliation to Independent.

Any political party that would promote a sure loser over a sure winner doesn't deserve my money, time or support.

The Democratic Party still has time to save itself. Will it? Or will it go down in flames just when it should be most triumphant?

Tune in next time for another episode of..."As the Democrats Turn!"

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Su-Su-SUSA, GoodBye!

Wow! What a nailbiter in Indiana last night, but a sweet ending nonetheless for Senator Clinton! And a big victory, although not as big as previously projected, for Senator Obama in NC.

I still maintain that demographics are destiny. But apparently SUSA, my former fave, underestimated the AA turnout in both states by about 15%. Also, I believe they parallelled Indiana's demographics to Pennsylvania, when in fact, they are closer to Missouri. Hence, the incredibly inaccurate predictions for both states.

What's amazing, despite the fact that the corporate media and Obama's supporters will certainly resume their cries for Hillary to drop out, is that nothing much has changed. Senator Clinton held her constituency, and Senator Obama held his - but not as strongly. In fact, Obama's showed signs of weakness. Demographically speaking, a 20-25 point Obama blowout was expected in North Carolina, and not so long ago, Senator Obama himself was referring to Indiana as a potential tiebreaker between Clinton's victory in PA and his in NC. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of early voters (40% African American) cast their ballots in North Carolina, many before Wright did his damage.

The results from last night, frankly, are not encouraging for either candidate. I believe that Hillary Clinton is by far the strongest in the General Election against McCain, but I do not trust the Democratic Party at this point to realize that Obama cannot get enough Clinton Dems, Independents and Republicans to win in November. (He only got 40% of the white vote in Indiana, for example.) I feel that they are doing everything in their power to hand the nomination to him on a silver platter, including pretending that Florida and Michigan do not exist in order to give Obama a larger lead.

In addition, I resent in the strongest manner the way Obama has gamed the system. His strategy of race-baiting was a two-fer: He smeared the Clintons as racists not only to weaken Hillary's reputation, but to take his AA support to impossible levels. He knew that the corporate media, always and forever suffering from Clinton Derangement Syndrome, would enable his efforts.

Obama used that firewall of 90% AA support to create those 11 victories in a row, and to make it seem like he is the inevitable winner. It was a disgusting tactic, and it worked in the primaries.

But it will not work in the General Election, because Obama's coalition will not hold against McCain. What will Obama do then, once he can no longer blame absolutely everything on Hillary Clinton (IACF)?

This fight should go to the convention, as so many close races have done before, and Hillary should be allowed to show her strength in must-win Democratic states. Then, the superdelegates will decide.

I hope they make the right choice, but I must say, I'm not optimistic. (Maybe it's the allergy medicine talking.)

Tune in May 20th (the Oregon and West Virgina primarie) for another episode of..."As the Democrats Turn!"

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Two Big Primaries Today...

and the polls are all over the place. Who knows what will happen in the latest installation of "How the Democrats Turn?" [cue soupy music]

Well, possibly Survey USA, the only pollster that has gotten consistently close in this crazy season. (Remember how Obama was going to win California and Pennsylvania?) Here are SUSA's predictions for Indiana and North Carolina:

Indiana - Clinton by 12 points, 54-42, 4% undecided
North Carolina - Obama by 5 points, 50-45, 5% undecided

As Big Tent Democrat always says over at TalkLeft, demographics have been destiny in this primary season. Obviously, I'm quite happy about the Indiana prediction, but considering the demographics are very similar to Pennsylvania, it would not be shocking if she won by this margin. But North Carolina? WOW. Considering that undecideds have tended to break for Hillary about 60%-40%, Obama could win North Carolina by only 2%; or, perhaps, even lose the state.

That is absolutely stunning.

In North Carolina, there is an unusually high percentage of African-American voters and other voters that have favored Obama in the past (such as younger voters, urban voters, wealthier voters and college-educated voters). Early estimates showed that Senator Obama was expected to win comfortably by 20-25 points.

Now, as we've seen in Pennsylvania, where Hillary was initially favored by 20 points, these very large leads do tend to tighten as the campaigns come to each state. However, the only way that Senator Obama was able to come within 10 points of Senator Clinton in Pennsylvania was to outspend her by 3-1, to register more than 200,000 new voters, and to get an outstandingly high turnout in Philadelphia and other urban areas.

Hillary Clinton has done none of those things in North Carolina. And according to Survey USA, she is still in a position to come much closer to Barack Obama than he did to her in Pennsylvania. Clearly, thanks to a combination of Reverend Wright and PennsylMentum, she is making inroads into his coalition of voters that he cannot match with inroads into hers. (Perhaps their tolerance for being called racist, ignorant, old, bitter, Republican bible-thumpers has been reached.)

Is Obama's candidacy, inflated, in my opinion, by nefarious DNC tactics in Florida and Michigan and small caucus wins in red states, finally showing its weakness?

I believe the answer is yes. But the voters will have the final say tonight.

I'll be having a shot and a beer in honor of Hillary.

Monday, May 5, 2008

Elitism: I Do Not Think It Means What We Think It Means.

Why is it seemingly so easy for Democrats to be branded "elitist" by the corporate media? I mean, after all, George W. Bush famously said that the elite were his base while cameras were on. And it's very well-known, after almost eight years of the Worst President Ever, that Republican policies benefit no one but the rich and the very rich.

So why is KKKarl Rove laughing at us as the Democratic Party bigwigs seem to be on the verge of nominating Senator Barack Obama, a man who is already fitting into the elitist suit as if it's been personally tailored?

Well, here's one big problem. We Democrats don't seem to understand that elitism is not about money; it's about class and, to some extent, geographic location.

Every time one of our guys gets sucker-punched with this line of attack, we all whine about how the Republics are rich, too. Of course they are - they're usually far, far richer than the Democrat they're running against. (George W. Bush is from one of the wealthiest families in the country, for example. Al Gore was not even in the same universe in 2000.)

But here's what we don't get (and Bill and Hillary Clinton do). Republics know how to fake it. Why else do we think that George W. Bush, a Connecticut native, put on a Texas drawl and bought a ranch before running for President? He is afraid of horses, you know. Why else did Fred Thompson cruise around in a red pickup truck when running for Senate? Why did John McCain call his bus the "Straight Talk Express"?

Well, as a result of 30 years of right-wing propaganda, northeastern intellectual types are not wanted for President any more. They are elitist. They don't care about ordinary Americans. And it's not whether you are a northeastern intellectual type that matters (George W. Bush went to Yale and Harvard Business School). It's whether you can pretend that you're not. Republics do it by pretending they're dumb hicks. Bill Clinton does it by framing his ideas clearly, concisely and without unnecessary syllabification. And in my opinion, Hillary does it even better than Bill. That's why she is so deadly in a debate against Obama, who uses a lot of high-flown words to say...not a heck of a lot.

Like it or not, our Democratic Presidential nominees have not been good at ditching the elitist label since Bill Clinton was elected. Look at poor Al Gore. He was from Tennessee and far from monetarily endowed, yet he was successfully branded an elitist because couldn't make his arguments in a simple and concise manner. He didn't even win his home state! (Yes, believe me, I know he won the popular vote, but Big Al should have been able to beat the brain-damaged chimp with one frontal lobe tied behind his back. It should not have been close enough for a few thousand votes to matter.)

Unfortunately, Barack Obama is being branded an elitist, too. And it's working. Why else do you think Hillary is getting all those white working-class voters? No, it's not ignorance or racism. It's that he doesn't seem to care about the ordinary American. He has actually stated that Democrats in Ohio and Pennsylvania aren't voting for him because they're bitter and clinging to guns, religion, xenophobia and racism. He can't bowl. He belongs to the church of God D**n America. Are you kidding me with this guy?

Even worse, his campaign seems to be completely and utterly unprepared for any setbacks against them. They seem to expect a coronation (yes, that's elitist) rather than a tough primary fight. (Is this how they'll handle themselves in the GE? How incredibly unimpressive.) The explosive Reverend Wright issue has hurt Obama significantly, and the campaign hasn't defused it despite multiple attempts to do so. Meanwhile, Obama's enablers in Blogistan and the media world were screaming and whining for Hillary to quit before Pennsylvania, rather than trying to fix what was wrong with THEIR approach. (IACF, you know.) It didn't work, and now they're back on their heels, scrambling to make their case.

Meanwhile, Hillary looks tough, smart and approachable. As my hairdresser said to me, "I think it would be good to have a woman President. Hillary is a mother. A mother knows how to take care of her children." We will see how things go in Indiana and North Carolina tomorrow, but it appears that Obama's days of easy victories are gone.

Yes, the elitist label is deadly for Democrats. If Obama doesn't understand this soon (and his latest gaffe appears to show that he still doesn't), and the superdelegates pick him for the nomination, then we are looking at John McCain the Straight Talker versus the elitist Northeastern intellectual.

I'm not optimistic about that matchup. Are you?

Friday, May 2, 2008

Campaign 2008 Bumper Sticker Slogans!

Time for the lighter side of the campaign trail! Here are some fun slogans for all the candidates to use. Yes, some may be a bit...snarky.

For Senator John McCain:

McCain '08. What's 100 years of war between friends?

McCain '08. Less drunk than Bush, angrier than Cheney!

McCain '08. Islamofascists better stay off his lawn!

McCain '08. Bombing Iran with a song in is heart!

For Senator Barack Obama:

Obama '08. You have the change I'm looking for!

Obama '08. Black when I wanna be!***


***(I know, I know, ouch. But I think it's valid, from my own observations about how he has run his campaign. Also, take a look at this story from the liberal Black Agenda Report.)

Obama '08. Clinton made me do it!

(h/t TalkLeft)

For Senator Hillary Clinton:

Clinton '08. I'm not dead yet!

Clinton '08. It takes a woman to clean up the White House!

Clinton '08. Clintons wobble, but they don't fall down!


Waddaya think?