This extremely important and busy topic goes into chapter two as "Super Tuesday" dawns. Ive bumped in the last ten posts or so from part 1 to get the thing rolling..
Catch up here on part 1
Carry On!
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Excuse me for putting this bee in our bonnets but have any of us considered that John McCaine might ask Rudy to run on his ticket as vice president?
I honestly find that hard to believe. Rudy bombed so badly I think McCaine knows he would be a liability. But then again, you never know....
You never know. I just saw an interview with McCaine and he was praising Rudy beyond measure. But I for one would like to see Rudy put on a rocket ship to Mars.
Ed Koch paraphrases Chi Chi on Giuliani's demise!!
Chi Chi said "The Witch is dead"
Ed Koch said the Florida results "put a stake though his heart. THE BEAST IS DEAD."
I'm no fan of Ed Koch, but this is good stuff.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/29/ed-koch-on-giulianis-flo_n_83953.html
Chi Chi said "The Witch is dead"
Ed Koch said the Florida results "put a stake though his heart. THE BEAST IS DEAD."
I'm no fan of Ed Koch, but this is good stuff.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/01/29/ed-koch-on-giulianis-flo_n_83953.html
Guiliani as Veep nominee ... nauseating, but interesting. She would join the second-tier cast of characters angling for their own piece of the pie. Wesley Clark angling for Secretary of State. John Edwards angling for Attorney General. And so on. We'll see what happens, but for now let's just enjoy that guttersnipe getting roasted over a bed of hot coals, shall we?
Koch is an unhinged queen to be sure. With Dems like her, who needs Republicans? Still, NYC could use another deranged queen running things. Miss Understood for Mayor.
Koch is an unhinged queen to be sure. With Dems like her, who needs Republicans? Still, NYC could use another deranged queen running things. Miss Understood for Mayor.
Rudiani for batboy.
Watching Obama and Hillary 'debate' last night was really inspiring, it seemed they even LIKED each other! He is a dream candidate, I'm just praying it all stays on the up and up and he gets the nomination, and gets elected fairly, etc. etc. etc. by the enormous popular vote he is already calling out!
I am so, so sick of the Old White Males dragging everything into shite!!!
I enjoy the BBC news on the radio when I drive home in the AM, and they were interviewing people in Chicago and how many people said exactly that, they were sick of the Establishment and wanted someone new and fresh and owing nothing to Big Oil or Big Shite.
A few minutes later they announced Exxon made $40 BILLION in profit last year and Shell $30 Billion. Can we fight, fight fight the powers that be?
I am running out to vote in the caucus which I never did before. Obama is in Santa Fe tonightand I am going to try to get in and hear him speak.
LOVE!
I am so crazy I was actually singing "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" in the car... it just popped into my head spontaneously... Alester Crowley did say it wuld take at least 200 years from the first dawn (late 1800s) to fulfill the Rule of the Pure Child.
I am so, so sick of the Old White Males dragging everything into shite!!!
I enjoy the BBC news on the radio when I drive home in the AM, and they were interviewing people in Chicago and how many people said exactly that, they were sick of the Establishment and wanted someone new and fresh and owing nothing to Big Oil or Big Shite.
A few minutes later they announced Exxon made $40 BILLION in profit last year and Shell $30 Billion. Can we fight, fight fight the powers that be?
I am running out to vote in the caucus which I never did before. Obama is in Santa Fe tonightand I am going to try to get in and hear him speak.
LOVE!
I am so crazy I was actually singing "This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius" in the car... it just popped into my head spontaneously... Alester Crowley did say it wuld take at least 200 years from the first dawn (late 1800s) to fulfill the Rule of the Pure Child.
I'm with you S'tan. I believe that Barack Obama is our only hope.
I enjoyed the debate as well ... as someone who watched most of the previous debates, it's so strange to see only 2 candidates remaining. Everyone is split on who "won". Many are saying Barack won because he one-upped her on her war vote and forced her into a corner where she actually tried to pretend she didn't know Bush was going to use military force in Iraq and that he misled her. BAH!
Others claim Hillary has better command of the issues. It was clear that both are comfortable with where they are in the race and didn't want to rock the boat too much. Nonetheless, I'm glad Barack reminded people that his candidacy is inspiring a whole new generation of voters. So true, though we can chalk much up to sheer disgust with the Bush administration. Now that people's homes and wallets are being hit hard, watch out Republicans! Kerry only had Iraq as a bargaining chip. But hell hath no fury like a Midwesterner defrauded.
My main concern at this point is that, with Super Tuesday just days away, it is too late for Barack to build enough momentum to topple the support Hillary already has nailed down. If he doesn't do strong on Tuesday he is essentially finished. I can hardly stand the excitement!
Others claim Hillary has better command of the issues. It was clear that both are comfortable with where they are in the race and didn't want to rock the boat too much. Nonetheless, I'm glad Barack reminded people that his candidacy is inspiring a whole new generation of voters. So true, though we can chalk much up to sheer disgust with the Bush administration. Now that people's homes and wallets are being hit hard, watch out Republicans! Kerry only had Iraq as a bargaining chip. But hell hath no fury like a Midwesterner defrauded.
My main concern at this point is that, with Super Tuesday just days away, it is too late for Barack to build enough momentum to topple the support Hillary already has nailed down. If he doesn't do strong on Tuesday he is essentially finished. I can hardly stand the excitement!
The real challenge is that the repugnentcans love to hate Hilary. They can drag out even old news about the clintons and add a touch of sulfur and make it sound fresh. Hillary is hated by them and for no real reason. I don't think they even know why they hate her. As for Barack, he is a bigger challenge to them. They don't dare play the race card or try to slander him. I don't think he has any skeletons in his closet. I worry that if Hilary is elected they will be able to tear her apart enough to get the middle american voters to really come out against her. This is going to be a very ugly and important election.
I just read in the Daily News that Ann Coulter says that if John McCain gets the Republican nomination she will vote and campaign for Hilary.
I told you that bitch is crazy.
I told you that bitch is crazy.
I saw the video yesterday of Ann on Hannity & Colmes ranting about how awful McCain is. It made me momentarily rethink my pledged support of Hillary in a general election format, then I reminded myself that Ann is nothing but an insane, grenade-throwing plagerizer who must be taken with a grain of salt.
Also one must take into account that Ann - in theory at least - has a vagina between her legs. I suspect the actualization of a female president, even a far-less-than-ideal one like Hillary, is deeply intriguing to American women of all socio-economic classes, races, ages and political affiliations. It is deeply intriguing to me too, though I'm far from convinced that the country will be any better off with a woman running it (see Margaret Thatcher). Hillary's intelligence and perserverance against all odds is inspiring, and perhaps, on some level, Ann too has been seduced.
Also one must take into account that Ann - in theory at least - has a vagina between her legs. I suspect the actualization of a female president, even a far-less-than-ideal one like Hillary, is deeply intriguing to American women of all socio-economic classes, races, ages and political affiliations. It is deeply intriguing to me too, though I'm far from convinced that the country will be any better off with a woman running it (see Margaret Thatcher). Hillary's intelligence and perserverance against all odds is inspiring, and perhaps, on some level, Ann too has been seduced.
here is the email I sent out today....
Dear Friends,
I am writing to you as the Democratic primary approaches tomorrow when we will be choosing the Democratic nominee for President. Many of you have already made up your minds. If you haven't I'd just like to take a moment to express my feelings on the significance of this primary.
I have been undecided throughout most of the campaign. First I was for Kucinich, since I agree with him the most on the issues (he was the only candidate to oppose the death penalty and support a single payer health care system) Then I was for Edwards, because he has the most progressive economic plan of the 3 top candidates. John Edwards was the only candidate focusing on what needs to be done to create economic justice in this country.
However, with Edwards dropping out, the choice is between Clinton and Obama.
I will be voting for Obama, with some reservations.
On most issues there is not much of a difference between Clinton and Obama. There are some points I agree with her more and some with him more. But on a crucial test of judgement, whether to go to war in Iraq, he was right and she was wrong. She might say she was only voting to authorize the use of force, but we all know what that vote meant and many other Senators
had the foresight to vote no. Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer voted no. Barak Obama clearly spoke out against this disaster. If we face McCain in November we need to have a clear position on this issue.
I still have serious concerns about Obama's economic proposals (His health care plan falls short, I'm just hoping that a Democratic congress can push him to the left on this critical issue), but I think, on balance he is the more progressive and electable candidate.
I also think we need a nominee and president who can inspire people on a global scale. Obama can do that. His election would fundamentally alter how the world views America and how we view ourselves.
And, importantly, polls show him winning against McCain and Hillary Clinton losing to McCain.
This article in the Nation on is particularly good.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/hayes
Anyway. Polls are open in new York from 6am to 9pm tomorrow
to find your polling place, go here......
http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/pollingplaces.html
Whether Obama or Clinton is the nominee, I hope we can all join together to win back the white house in November.
I hope you are having an amazing day :-)
love,
Michael
Dear Friends,
I am writing to you as the Democratic primary approaches tomorrow when we will be choosing the Democratic nominee for President. Many of you have already made up your minds. If you haven't I'd just like to take a moment to express my feelings on the significance of this primary.
I have been undecided throughout most of the campaign. First I was for Kucinich, since I agree with him the most on the issues (he was the only candidate to oppose the death penalty and support a single payer health care system) Then I was for Edwards, because he has the most progressive economic plan of the 3 top candidates. John Edwards was the only candidate focusing on what needs to be done to create economic justice in this country.
However, with Edwards dropping out, the choice is between Clinton and Obama.
I will be voting for Obama, with some reservations.
On most issues there is not much of a difference between Clinton and Obama. There are some points I agree with her more and some with him more. But on a crucial test of judgement, whether to go to war in Iraq, he was right and she was wrong. She might say she was only voting to authorize the use of force, but we all know what that vote meant and many other Senators
had the foresight to vote no. Ted Kennedy and Barbara Boxer voted no. Barak Obama clearly spoke out against this disaster. If we face McCain in November we need to have a clear position on this issue.
I still have serious concerns about Obama's economic proposals (His health care plan falls short, I'm just hoping that a Democratic congress can push him to the left on this critical issue), but I think, on balance he is the more progressive and electable candidate.
I also think we need a nominee and president who can inspire people on a global scale. Obama can do that. His election would fundamentally alter how the world views America and how we view ourselves.
And, importantly, polls show him winning against McCain and Hillary Clinton losing to McCain.
This article in the Nation on is particularly good.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080218/hayes
Anyway. Polls are open in new York from 6am to 9pm tomorrow
to find your polling place, go here......
http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/pollingplaces.html
Whether Obama or Clinton is the nominee, I hope we can all join together to win back the white house in November.
I hope you are having an amazing day :-)
love,
Michael
Thanks, Michael. I, too, have been really undecided and gone back and forth on who gets my vote. Just reading your post, I still think I'm not really going to know until I'm voting tomorrow, and just listen to what my instincts tell me.
Thought I'd share this post from Eric Leven's blog (one of our Rapture readers and one of New York's most inspiring young queer activists):
Monday, February 4, 2008
Obama-Clinton
I'm ecstatic to be alive during a time when the first woman and black man run for president and make American history. Tomorrow I will join my fellow citizens and vote toward the future of this nation. I am a fan of Clinton and I am a fan of Obama and I think either would make a great President. So, who will get my vote?
* I have been alive for 26 years- 19 of those years have been lived with a Bush or Clinton in office.
* This nation is divided. Republicans vs. Democrats. Many who oppose Clinton seem to simply hate her. I don't know why this is, but if she were elected, that hatred would remain, further keeping us, as a nation, divided. You're right. You're wrong. We're tired.
* Clinton has White House experience. Obama does not. I'm okay with the idea of someone fresh taking office. I like the idea of out with the old, in with the new.
* Clinton knows what to do on day one. Obama has a vision.
I don't need Clinton's experience to pave the way for Obama to take office in four years. I'm ready for him and change and a new energy, now.
Eric's blog can be read at:
http://knucklecrack.blogspot.com/
Thought I'd share this post from Eric Leven's blog (one of our Rapture readers and one of New York's most inspiring young queer activists):
Monday, February 4, 2008
Obama-Clinton
I'm ecstatic to be alive during a time when the first woman and black man run for president and make American history. Tomorrow I will join my fellow citizens and vote toward the future of this nation. I am a fan of Clinton and I am a fan of Obama and I think either would make a great President. So, who will get my vote?
* I have been alive for 26 years- 19 of those years have been lived with a Bush or Clinton in office.
* This nation is divided. Republicans vs. Democrats. Many who oppose Clinton seem to simply hate her. I don't know why this is, but if she were elected, that hatred would remain, further keeping us, as a nation, divided. You're right. You're wrong. We're tired.
* Clinton has White House experience. Obama does not. I'm okay with the idea of someone fresh taking office. I like the idea of out with the old, in with the new.
* Clinton knows what to do on day one. Obama has a vision.
I don't need Clinton's experience to pave the way for Obama to take office in four years. I'm ready for him and change and a new energy, now.
Eric's blog can be read at:
http://knucklecrack.blogspot.com/
From Margaret Cho:
I am in the closet.
Not sexually of course, because anyone who knows me knows I am up for anything with anybody. I take all comers. I am an equal opportunity destroyer. So, I am not in that kind of closet. I am in the Democratic Primary closet. I know a lot of people in this closet. We can't talk about it. We are "undecided" in the polls. We are the ones everyone is fighting over. But I don't want to be in this closet, not anymore. I am outing myself.
I am bi-candidate. I like Hillary and Obama. I like Obama and Hillary. I think it is wonderful that we have not just one, but two great candidates to choose from. It is an embarrassment of riches really. Not just one amazing politician. But two! We have the incredibly exciting Barack Obama, who represents hope and change and who can get a whole generation of disillusioned voters excited about politics again, which I think I is a miracle in itself. Then we have the amazing Hillary Clinton, who has already proved herself to be a great leader, who can and will clean up after the Bush administration just like she did the last time she was president.
I can't decide. And so I don't want to tell anyone who I voted for because almost exactly half my friends are into Hillary and the other half are all about Obama, so no matter who I vote for, half my ass will get kicked, which should be ok, because at least I will have the other half of my ass to use for campaigning for my favorite candidate (even though it might look half-assed).
I voted last week, several days early, since I am a permanent absentee voter and have the luxury of voting in the privacy of my own home in my own time. I picked the candidate that I liked best, the one who I thought would do the best job. I filled in my bubble all the way, using blue ink to represent my blue state of mind and put my ballot in the mail. Then, I got worried I had made the wrong choice. I kept thinking about going back into the mailbox and fishing out my ballot and changing it. I really thought about doing this even though it is very illegal! I thought, hmm, maybe if I took a coathanger, stretched it out, secured a small flashlight with tape to the wire so I could find my ballot, put a piece of chewed gum on the end so I could somehow fish my ballot out, etc... I think I got all these ideas from an old episode of The Little Rascals. Then I realized that even if I broke the law and went to all this trouble to do this it probably wouldn't do me any good anyway because I had already filled in one bubble and I couldn't really erase it to fill in the other one. Then, what would happen if I changed my mind again? So I just left it.
The only way I could be happy is if Obama and Clinton were on the same ticket. Please God, let this happen.
I am in the closet.
Not sexually of course, because anyone who knows me knows I am up for anything with anybody. I take all comers. I am an equal opportunity destroyer. So, I am not in that kind of closet. I am in the Democratic Primary closet. I know a lot of people in this closet. We can't talk about it. We are "undecided" in the polls. We are the ones everyone is fighting over. But I don't want to be in this closet, not anymore. I am outing myself.
I am bi-candidate. I like Hillary and Obama. I like Obama and Hillary. I think it is wonderful that we have not just one, but two great candidates to choose from. It is an embarrassment of riches really. Not just one amazing politician. But two! We have the incredibly exciting Barack Obama, who represents hope and change and who can get a whole generation of disillusioned voters excited about politics again, which I think I is a miracle in itself. Then we have the amazing Hillary Clinton, who has already proved herself to be a great leader, who can and will clean up after the Bush administration just like she did the last time she was president.
I can't decide. And so I don't want to tell anyone who I voted for because almost exactly half my friends are into Hillary and the other half are all about Obama, so no matter who I vote for, half my ass will get kicked, which should be ok, because at least I will have the other half of my ass to use for campaigning for my favorite candidate (even though it might look half-assed).
I voted last week, several days early, since I am a permanent absentee voter and have the luxury of voting in the privacy of my own home in my own time. I picked the candidate that I liked best, the one who I thought would do the best job. I filled in my bubble all the way, using blue ink to represent my blue state of mind and put my ballot in the mail. Then, I got worried I had made the wrong choice. I kept thinking about going back into the mailbox and fishing out my ballot and changing it. I really thought about doing this even though it is very illegal! I thought, hmm, maybe if I took a coathanger, stretched it out, secured a small flashlight with tape to the wire so I could find my ballot, put a piece of chewed gum on the end so I could somehow fish my ballot out, etc... I think I got all these ideas from an old episode of The Little Rascals. Then I realized that even if I broke the law and went to all this trouble to do this it probably wouldn't do me any good anyway because I had already filled in one bubble and I couldn't really erase it to fill in the other one. Then, what would happen if I changed my mind again? So I just left it.
The only way I could be happy is if Obama and Clinton were on the same ticket. Please God, let this happen.
Hilary's tanking...
See article below... I liked Frank Rich's analysis of *why* ...
at the end he rates Bill Clinton's trash-talking and "the spectre of a dual-presidency" as partly responsible...
As well Hillary's camp is trying to characterize Obama as some kind of chic liberal candidate... meanwhile at my NM caucus poll a bunch of old Chicano famers were all voting for him... everyone was talking out loud about it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/opinion/24rich.html?e...4403c243c&ei=5087%0A
February 24, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
The Audacity of Hopelessness
By FRANK RICH
WHEN people one day look back at the remarkable implosion of the Hillary Clinton campaign, they may notice that it both began and ended in the long dark shadow of Iraq.
It's not just that her candidacy's central premise "” the priceless value of "experience" "” was fatally poisoned from the start by her still ill-explained vote to authorize the fiasco. Senator Clinton then compounded that 2002 misjudgment by pursuing a 2008 campaign strategy that uncannily mimicked the disastrous Bush Iraq war plan. After promising a cakewalk to the nomination "” "It will be me," Mrs. Clinton told Katie Couric in November "” she was routed by an insurgency.
...
And no matter how much bad stuff happened, she kept to the Bush playbook, stubbornly clinging to her own Rumsfeld, her chief strategist, Mark Penn. Like his prototype, Mr. Penn is bigger on loyalty and arrogance than strategic brilliance. But he's actually not even all that loyal. Mr. Penn, whose operation has billed several million dollars in fees to the Clinton campaign so far, has never given up his day job as chief executive of the public relations behemoth Burson-Marsteller....
Clinton fans don't see their standard-bearer's troubles this way. In their view, their highly substantive candidate was unfairly undone by a lightweight showboat who got a free ride from an often misogynist press and from naïve young people who lap up messianic language as if it were Jim Jones's Kool-Aid. Or as Mrs. Clinton frames it, Senator Obama is all about empty words while she is all about action and hard work.
But it's the Clinton strategists, not the Obama voters, who drank the Kool-Aid. The Obama campaign is not a vaporous cult; it's a lean and mean political machine that gets the job done. The Clinton camp has been the slacker in this race, more words than action, and its candidate's message, for all its purported high-mindedness, was and is self-immolating.
The gap in hard work between the two campaigns was clear well before Feb. 5. Mrs. Clinton threw as much as $25 million at the Iowa caucuses without ever matching Mr. Obama's organizational strength. In South Carolina, where last fall she was up 20 percentage points in the polls, she relied on top-down endorsements and the patina of inevitability, while the Obama campaign built a landslide-winning organization from scratch at the grass roots. In Kansas, three paid Obama organizers had the field to themselves for three months; ultimately Obama staff members outnumbered Clinton staff members there 18 to 3.
In the last battleground, Wisconsin, the Clinton campaign was six days behind Mr. Obama in putting up ads and had only four campaign offices to his 11. Even as Mrs. Clinton clings to her latest firewall "” the March 4 contests "” she is still being outhustled. Last week she told reporters that she "had no idea" that the Texas primary system was "so bizarre" (it's a primary-caucus hybrid), adding that she had "people trying to understand it as we speak." ....
This is the candidate who keeps telling us she's so competent that she'll be ready to govern from Day 1. Mrs. Clinton may be right that Mr. Obama has a thin résumé, but her disheveled campaign keeps reminding us that the biggest item on her thicker résumé is the health care task force that was as botched as her presidential bid.
Given that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama offer marginally different policy prescriptions "” laid out in voluminous detail by both, by the way, on their Web sites "” it's not clear what her added-value message is. The "experience" mantra has been compromised not only by her failure on the signal issue of Iraq but also by the deadening lingua franca of her particular experience, Washingtonese. ...
As for countering what she sees as the empty Obama brand of hope, she offers only a chilly void: Abandon hope all ye who enter here. This must be the first presidential candidate in history to devote so much energy to preaching against optimism, against inspiring language and "” talk about bizarre "” against democracy itself. No sooner does Mrs. Clinton lose a state than her campaign belittles its voters as unrepresentative of the country.
Bill Clinton knocked states that hold caucuses instead of primaries because "they disproportionately favor upper-income voters" who "don't really need a president but feel like they need a change." After the Potomac primary wipeout, Mr. Penn declared that Mr. Obama hadn't won in "any of the significant states" outside of his home state of Illinois. This might come as news to Virginia, Maryland, Washington and Iowa, among the other insignificant sites of Obama victories. The blogger Markos Moulitsas Zúniga has hilariously labeled this Penn spin the "insult 40 states" strategy.
The insults continued on Tuesday night when a surrogate preceding Mrs. Clinton onstage at an Ohio rally, Tom Buffenbarger of the machinists' union, derided Obama supporters as "latte-drinking, Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust-fund babies." Even as he ranted, exit polls in Wisconsin were showing that Mr. Obama had in fact won that day among voters with the least education and the lowest incomes. Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Obama received the endorsement of the latte-drinking Teamsters.....
The single biggest factor in Hillary Clinton's collapse is less sexism in general than one man in particular "” the man who began the campaign as her biggest political asset. The moment Bill Clinton started trash-talking about Mr. Obama and raising the specter of a co-presidency, even to the point of giving his own televised speech ahead of his wife's on the night she lost South Carolina, her candidacy started spiraling downward.
See article below... I liked Frank Rich's analysis of *why* ...
at the end he rates Bill Clinton's trash-talking and "the spectre of a dual-presidency" as partly responsible...
As well Hillary's camp is trying to characterize Obama as some kind of chic liberal candidate... meanwhile at my NM caucus poll a bunch of old Chicano famers were all voting for him... everyone was talking out loud about it!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/opinion/24rich.html?e...4403c243c&ei=5087%0A
February 24, 2008
Op-Ed Columnist
The Audacity of Hopelessness
By FRANK RICH
WHEN people one day look back at the remarkable implosion of the Hillary Clinton campaign, they may notice that it both began and ended in the long dark shadow of Iraq.
It's not just that her candidacy's central premise "” the priceless value of "experience" "” was fatally poisoned from the start by her still ill-explained vote to authorize the fiasco. Senator Clinton then compounded that 2002 misjudgment by pursuing a 2008 campaign strategy that uncannily mimicked the disastrous Bush Iraq war plan. After promising a cakewalk to the nomination "” "It will be me," Mrs. Clinton told Katie Couric in November "” she was routed by an insurgency.
...
And no matter how much bad stuff happened, she kept to the Bush playbook, stubbornly clinging to her own Rumsfeld, her chief strategist, Mark Penn. Like his prototype, Mr. Penn is bigger on loyalty and arrogance than strategic brilliance. But he's actually not even all that loyal. Mr. Penn, whose operation has billed several million dollars in fees to the Clinton campaign so far, has never given up his day job as chief executive of the public relations behemoth Burson-Marsteller....
Clinton fans don't see their standard-bearer's troubles this way. In their view, their highly substantive candidate was unfairly undone by a lightweight showboat who got a free ride from an often misogynist press and from naïve young people who lap up messianic language as if it were Jim Jones's Kool-Aid. Or as Mrs. Clinton frames it, Senator Obama is all about empty words while she is all about action and hard work.
But it's the Clinton strategists, not the Obama voters, who drank the Kool-Aid. The Obama campaign is not a vaporous cult; it's a lean and mean political machine that gets the job done. The Clinton camp has been the slacker in this race, more words than action, and its candidate's message, for all its purported high-mindedness, was and is self-immolating.
The gap in hard work between the two campaigns was clear well before Feb. 5. Mrs. Clinton threw as much as $25 million at the Iowa caucuses without ever matching Mr. Obama's organizational strength. In South Carolina, where last fall she was up 20 percentage points in the polls, she relied on top-down endorsements and the patina of inevitability, while the Obama campaign built a landslide-winning organization from scratch at the grass roots. In Kansas, three paid Obama organizers had the field to themselves for three months; ultimately Obama staff members outnumbered Clinton staff members there 18 to 3.
In the last battleground, Wisconsin, the Clinton campaign was six days behind Mr. Obama in putting up ads and had only four campaign offices to his 11. Even as Mrs. Clinton clings to her latest firewall "” the March 4 contests "” she is still being outhustled. Last week she told reporters that she "had no idea" that the Texas primary system was "so bizarre" (it's a primary-caucus hybrid), adding that she had "people trying to understand it as we speak." ....
This is the candidate who keeps telling us she's so competent that she'll be ready to govern from Day 1. Mrs. Clinton may be right that Mr. Obama has a thin résumé, but her disheveled campaign keeps reminding us that the biggest item on her thicker résumé is the health care task force that was as botched as her presidential bid.
Given that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama offer marginally different policy prescriptions "” laid out in voluminous detail by both, by the way, on their Web sites "” it's not clear what her added-value message is. The "experience" mantra has been compromised not only by her failure on the signal issue of Iraq but also by the deadening lingua franca of her particular experience, Washingtonese. ...
As for countering what she sees as the empty Obama brand of hope, she offers only a chilly void: Abandon hope all ye who enter here. This must be the first presidential candidate in history to devote so much energy to preaching against optimism, against inspiring language and "” talk about bizarre "” against democracy itself. No sooner does Mrs. Clinton lose a state than her campaign belittles its voters as unrepresentative of the country.
Bill Clinton knocked states that hold caucuses instead of primaries because "they disproportionately favor upper-income voters" who "don't really need a president but feel like they need a change." After the Potomac primary wipeout, Mr. Penn declared that Mr. Obama hadn't won in "any of the significant states" outside of his home state of Illinois. This might come as news to Virginia, Maryland, Washington and Iowa, among the other insignificant sites of Obama victories. The blogger Markos Moulitsas Zúniga has hilariously labeled this Penn spin the "insult 40 states" strategy.
The insults continued on Tuesday night when a surrogate preceding Mrs. Clinton onstage at an Ohio rally, Tom Buffenbarger of the machinists' union, derided Obama supporters as "latte-drinking, Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust-fund babies." Even as he ranted, exit polls in Wisconsin were showing that Mr. Obama had in fact won that day among voters with the least education and the lowest incomes. Less than 24 hours later, Mr. Obama received the endorsement of the latte-drinking Teamsters.....
The single biggest factor in Hillary Clinton's collapse is less sexism in general than one man in particular "” the man who began the campaign as her biggest political asset. The moment Bill Clinton started trash-talking about Mr. Obama and raising the specter of a co-presidency, even to the point of giving his own televised speech ahead of his wife's on the night she lost South Carolina, her candidacy started spiraling downward.
Well, I have to say although I voted for Obama, I'm liking Hillary a bit more lately. Perhaps it's just the underdog thing. She was hilarious on Saturday Night Live and her health plan is much better than his. On balance I still lean a bit to him, but at this point I am fine with either of them. (I still wish John Edwards had done better and I had been able to vote for him)
I digress a bit here, but is anyone else RIVETED by McCain's wife? She reminds me of the animated doll enthusiasts and space goddess/hypnotic stare fetishists that I once interviewed for Penthouse.com, or perhaps is the first aspiring First Lady-bot..Wonder if the alt.sex.fetish.sexy.robot peeps have discovered her yet?
Is she scary or WHAT? And kind of ageless on camera but I have a feeling she has been pulled and lifted to that state of seamless face. But then she smiles and it all turns into fem-bot for sure.
The McCains' two decade age difference truly gives hope to aging conservatives everywhere.
I know an aging Conservative.
Just don't say her name aloud please.
So funny you guys caught that. Everytime McCain speaks all I can do is watch Cindy.
At least we finally have a Republican wife who has transcended the 1950s big hair archetype.
At least we finally have a Republican wife who has transcended the 1950s big hair archetype.
I'm not as concerned as the rest of the DNC about all this sparring between Hillary and Obama. In a way I think it's great. It's knocked Hillary off her high horse and gives us a chance to see exactly how tough Obama really is. Besides, I kind of admire how Hillary's slugging it out and not giving up.
Yesterday she alluded to the possibility of a Clinton-Obama ticket. The fact is, she needs him much more than he needs her. He has attracted millions of new voters into the fold in droves, while she has not grown past her entrenched base. If he becomes the nominee, he'd be stupid to pick her. There are plenty of women governors he could choose as running mate who would bring all the advantages Hillary would bring but none of the baggage. If she becomes the nominee however, she risks disenfranchising all those youngins who worship Obama.
Yesterday she alluded to the possibility of a Clinton-Obama ticket. The fact is, she needs him much more than he needs her. He has attracted millions of new voters into the fold in droves, while she has not grown past her entrenched base. If he becomes the nominee, he'd be stupid to pick her. There are plenty of women governors he could choose as running mate who would bring all the advantages Hillary would bring but none of the baggage. If she becomes the nominee however, she risks disenfranchising all those youngins who worship Obama.
Hillary Clinton is helping John McCain
"The bigger the lie, the better the chance they think they've got. That's been their whole approach."
-- Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), quoted by the Times of London, on Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
By constantly saying Obama is not ready to be President while McCain is, she is doing her best to ruin his chances against McCain if Obama ends up being the nominee. She says all this while at the same time saying she would pick Obama to be her Vice President. Obama has never said anything this damaging that could be used by the Republicans against Clinton in the fall. She is willing to destroy the Democratic Party's chances if she doesn't get to be the nominee. It's disgusting. If the Republicans end up winning in November, much of the blame will have to go to Hillary Clinton.
"The bigger the lie, the better the chance they think they've got. That's been their whole approach."
-- Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), quoted by the Times of London, on Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
By constantly saying Obama is not ready to be President while McCain is, she is doing her best to ruin his chances against McCain if Obama ends up being the nominee. She says all this while at the same time saying she would pick Obama to be her Vice President. Obama has never said anything this damaging that could be used by the Republicans against Clinton in the fall. She is willing to destroy the Democratic Party's chances if she doesn't get to be the nominee. It's disgusting. If the Republicans end up winning in November, much of the blame will have to go to Hillary Clinton.
quote:By constantly saying Obama is not ready to be President while McCain is, she is doing her best to ruin his chances against McCain if Obama ends up being the nominee. She says all this while at the same time saying she would pick Obama to be her Vice President. Obama has never said anything this damaging that could be used by the Republicans against Clinton in the fall. She is willing to destroy the Democratic Party's chances if she doesn't get to be the nominee. It's disgusting. If the Republicans end up winning in November, much of the blame will have to go to Hillary Clinton.
I don't care for it either, although I think part of it is Clinton trying her best to be bipartisan. Obama is winning a handful of cross-over votes, and McCain has always appealed to moderates. She might be subtly attempting to crib some of his swing vote, although she's certainly doing it at a cost, and does she honestly agree that we should be in Iraq for another century?
Michigan re-vote dead. This is a train wreck and Obama should have let the primary go forward. I'm pissed at him now. Ugh.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/michigan-...r-dies/index.html?hp
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/20/michigan-...r-dies/index.html?hp
"WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday she has apologized to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for an incident in which State Department contractors unnecessarily reviewed his passport file."
The article then goes on to state...
"The disclosure of inappropriate passport inquiries recalled an incident in 1992, when a Republican political appointee at the State Department was demoted over a search of presidential candidate Bill Clinton's passport records. At the time he was challenging President George H.W. Bush."
I'm kind of at a loss for words.
Oh sorry, that piece was taken from msnbc.com.
The article then goes on to state...
"The disclosure of inappropriate passport inquiries recalled an incident in 1992, when a Republican political appointee at the State Department was demoted over a search of presidential candidate Bill Clinton's passport records. At the time he was challenging President George H.W. Bush."
I'm kind of at a loss for words.
Oh sorry, that piece was taken from msnbc.com.
Now they are saying all the candidate's passport files have been illegally accessed.
One more failure to add to the already lengthy list of Condi-Aunt Jemima's incompetencies.
Meanwhile I'm becoming increasingly depressed, bored even, by this entire primary. The Democrats are imploding -- again. It's such a bad cliche. If there's any party that can screw up a sure thing, it's the Democrats, a party that has never been unified and probably never will be. And McCain will walk away with the prize.
And if McCain wins...Argentina here we come!
I've become so accustomed to Hillary's current look that I get a little shock when seeing old footage of her - like the one circulating now of her in Bosnia - with some of those 90s hair styles. At one point she had an Anna Wintour bob. I completely forgot about that phase.
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Amazing article by Maureen Dowd. So right on it. Thx for posting that lily.
I know, I feel the same way. I voted for Obama at the primaries but I was thinking of Hillary for Pres. Even though I don*t really like her all that much. I am at a loss cause NONE of them are liberal enough for me!!! So again I guess it is the *least of the EVILS!* Patti Smith is supporting Ralph Nader!!! Here we go again! He dosn*t stand a chance in HELL. Although I agree with him on just about everything, he will not get in! And I hate to think I wasted a vote that could have been used to keep the RepubliKKKans out!!! I think I will just move to a cave in the Amazon! As long as I can get Direct Tv and and listen to my IPod I would be happy! Mayby I would meet a Tarzan and go back to the trees!!! And I always wanted a pet Chimp!!! Jayne County
quote:Originally posted by mr.joe:
Thanks, Michael. I, too, have been really undecided and gone back and forth on who gets my vote. Just reading your post, I still think I'm not really going to know until I'm voting tomorrow, and just listen to what my instincts tell me.
Thought I'd share this post from Eric Leven's blog (one of our Rapture readers and one of New York's most inspiring young queer activists):
Monday, February 4, 2008
Obama-Clinton
I'm ecstatic to be alive during a time when the first woman and black man run for president and make American history. Tomorrow I will join my fellow citizens and vote toward the future of this nation. I am a fan of Clinton and I am a fan of Obama and I think either would make a great President. So, who will get my vote?
* I have been alive for 26 years- 19 of those years have been lived with a Bush or Clinton in office.
* This nation is divided. Republicans vs. Democrats. Many who oppose Clinton seem to simply hate her. I don't know why this is, but if she were elected, that hatred would remain, further keeping us, as a nation, divided. You're right. You're wrong. We're tired.
* Clinton has White House experience. Obama does not. I'm okay with the idea of someone fresh taking office. I like the idea of out with the old, in with the new.
* Clinton knows what to do on day one. Obama has a vision.
I don't need Clinton's experience to pave the way for Obama to take office in four years. I'm ready for him and change and a new energy, now.
Eric's blog can be read at:
http://knucklecrack.blogspot.com/
I don*t like Rice at all. I kind of feel sorry for her. She is trapped and brainwashed by neo con right wing crap. The fact that she is a woman and or black makes no difference. She is wrong on all accounts. The RepubliKKKan Party is full of racists, fascists homo and transphobes and women haters! Sorry, Uncle Tom*s Cabin has been BURNT DOWN and Master King George Bush is a disgrace to the entire human race, both white, black, purple and pink! And anyone who supports them is EQUALLY to blame for all their bullcrap as they are! If anyone supports a party that seeks to do me wrong then they are my enemy and I will fight them tooth and nail no matter who they are or how cool they think they are. They support murder, war and discrimination and should be ashamed!!! I have no pity for fools! Especially fools who support fascists who want to deny me my rights or send me off to some concentration camp! AmeriKan Nazis are no better than the German ones or the Russian Stalinists! In order to survive in the future YOU are going to have to be able to know who your enemies are, and WHO IS SUPPORTING THEM!!! We knew who the enemy was when we were rioting at STONEWALL. We knew in 1967 and we knew in 1977! As the divisions in this country grow even wider everyone is going to be forced to make a choice. Just like the follow up to the first American Civil War, we now stand at the point where we may have to once again fight for our rights. And if you don*t know who your enemies are then I am afraid you won*t make it!!! I suggest a new act of succession. All the progressive states form an alliance to protect themselves from people who want to bring in repressive measures against certain factions of the American People. A sort of UNITED PROGRESSIVE STATES OF AMERICA. Then we could align ourselves with Canada and Western Europe while the rest of the country can be JESUS LAND, or simple remain the United States of AmeriKKKa. I really don*t see much recourse! I don*t think Obama or anyone else for that matter will be able to bring the American People together! How can they when so many Amerikans remain in the Dark Ages and seek to turn America in to AmeriKa, a backward, Right Wing Theocracy! (Go on and Google that and be HORRIFIED) Cause that is exactly where a large number of ultlra conservatives want to take this country. Imigine an America, as a huge right wing FASCIST STATE that seeks to controll the entire world*s economy and resourses. There you have the Neo Cons. Neo Conservatives. And like New Nazis they could bring this country and the world to the brink of total DESTRUCTION!!!!!!!!!! And don*t think it can*t happen. Just study your history from Ancient Sumer (First civilization), Babylon (Modern day Iraq), the Greeks (Under Alexander) and Persians (Iran) the Romans, Holy Roman Empire (A vicious Theocracy that murdered millions!), The Crusades (Where Muslems and Christians tried to anilate each other!) Nepoleon*s quest to conquer the world, various Civil Wars, World wars 1. and 2. (Where Germany tried to bring back the Holy Roman Empire!) untill now and be amazed!!! And remember one fact. History ALWAYS repeats itself. And if we don*t or can*t, learn from history and our past mistakes, then we are fucked!!! Motto. KNOW YOUR ENEMIES!!! by Jayne County
quote:Originally posted by daddy:
I used to think Condoleezza was a really cool robot.
(Sorry pretty, I know you like her)
She never seemed real to me.
But this one!
The Republicans have perfected it!
She is riviting.
They have taken Stepford wives into the 21st century.
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