A Spork in the Drawer

The End

Tony Norman:

So, tonight the polls will close and Mrs. Clinton will have easily collected 99 percent of the white vote in West Virginia. She will crow about her electability in a smug but meaningless victory speech on a stage featuring dozens of "hard-working Americans, white Americans" standing behind her waving flags.

Bill and Chelsea will grimace through it all, knowing that the jig is up and that the dream of the next phase of the Clinton dynasty has come to an ignoble end.

While no Confederate battle flags will be visible, they will feel it in the air. Mrs. Clinton's greatest victory will be a triumph of the kind of identity politics that makes a nation smaller.

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The Real Fault

Atrios has a terrific post up that concludes thusly:

I'm not sure why so many online Clinton supporters seem to be lashing out angrily at Obama supporters, instead of at the people who ran Clinton's campaign. If they'd just done things a little bit differently in February they'd have won this.

And therein lies the lesson. Whether because of arrogance or stupidity Hillary's people - Wolfson, Ickes, and especially Penn among others - thought winning a few big states would lead to Ultimate Victory on Super Tuesday. By all accounts when that didn't happen there was no Plan B so they were forced to improvise by largely "going negative" - the kitchen sink strategy.

One thing that I would add to what Atrios wrote is what does this tell us about Hillary? Specifically, could we have expected these same people to have held powerful positions in her administration? And does that give us a clue as to what sort of an administration Clinton's would have been?

While it's now all but moot, the answer, I'm afraid, is "yes."

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St. John Roundup

Because, y'know, he's the bad guy we should be focusing on.

first up, via The Shrill One, one reason why I hate economists:

Almost half of the economists in the latest Wall Street Journal forecasting survey decided against answering a question on which presidential candidate offers the most responsible fiscal policies. However, Sen. John McCain was the clear favorite of those who answered the question. Twenty-one economists of 75% of the respondents chose the Republican contender.

So much for higher education. Still, McSame shouldn't be too proud:

“His [policies] are the least horrible,” said James F. Smith of Western Carolina University and Parsec Financial Management.

All deride the McCain-Clinton gas tax "holiday." (The junior Senator from New York the least favorable to these financial dingbats.)

Next up, St. John's wealthy but addled wife Cindy says that she will never, ever, ever release her tax returns no matter what. Never, do you hear, NEVER! This despite the fact that the Man from Panama unethically uses her corporate jet and appears to be hiding his assets in the Beer Queen's name. How mavericky!

Finally, the senior Senator from Panama Arizona denies being old.

OK.

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Why Mark Penn Should Be Driven Out Of The Party

Unbelievable:

As aides looked over the campaign calendar, chief strategist Mark Penn confidently predicted that an early win in California would put her over the top because she would pick up all the state's 370 delegates. It sounded smart, but as every high school civics student now knows, Penn was wrong: Democrats, unlike the Republicans, apportion their delegates according to vote totals, rather than allowing any state to award them winner-take-all. Sitting nearby, veteran Democratic insider Harold M. Ickes, who had helped write those rules, was horrified — and let Penn know it. "How can it possibly be," Ickes asked, "that the much vaunted chief strategist doesn't understand proportional allocation?" And yet the strategy remained the same, with the campaign making its bet on big-state victories.

If this is true, that Penn doesn't understand how his own party's primary process works, then he has no business being in the business. (Well, I'd be OK with it if he jumped to the Republicans.) And if Bill and Hillary went along with him then they deserve to lose. This alone calls into question their grasp of facts and judgment.

Tumulty's article is worth a read - though, to be clear, I'm not vouching for her accuracy.

---

UPDATE: Penn denies he's a rank idiot.

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Solution: Stop The Voting!

Oliver Willis brings da snark:

I’ve crunched the numbers, looked them over again and again, then again with a sprinkling of eye of newt and found the weakness in Barack Obama’s candidacy:

He’s getting too many votes.

Read the whole thing.

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Revenge Of The Nuns

Remember those nuns who were prohibited from voting in Indiana on Tuesday? Well, their Sisters in Missouri are fighting back:

Nun of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary comments on Voter ID disenfranchisement

WHO: Missourians for Fair Elections

WHAT: Press Conference on the impact of legislation to
require government-issued photo ID to vote

WHEN: 1:00 PM, Thursday, May 8, 2008

WHERE: League of Women Voters, 8706 Manchester, Jefferson City, MO 63144

JEFFERSON CITY, MO – On Thursday, May 8, three Missouri voters who
lack government-issued photo IDs as well as Secretary of State Robin
Carnahan and community leaders will discuss the potential impacts of
legislation currently being pushed through the Missouri General
Assembly. The proposed legislation would make Missouri one of the
toughest states in the country for eligible citizens who want to vote
by requiring voters to present a government-issued photo ID at the
polls. If passed, these changes could be in place by the November
general election and could put the voting rights at risk for up to
240,000 registered Missouri voters.

"This may sound like a good idea at first," stated Sister Sandy
Schwartz of the Franciscan Sisters of Mary regarding voter ID
requirements, "but once you stop to think about who would really be
affected, this is going to keep a lot of our loved ones from being
able to vote." Yesterday in Indiana twelve nuns in their 80s and 90s
were turned away from the polls because they lacked the needed IDs to
vote. Sister Schwartz and others are concerned about the difficulties
the policy change would create for elderly Missouri nuns, as well as
other senior citizens, the poor, and minorities.

Sing it, Sisters!

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Mittens!

Willard:

Former presidential contender Mitt Romney increased his criticism of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama Wednesday taking direct aim at Obama’s experience, telling CNN’s John Roberts that “the presidency of the United States is not an internship.”

“He can read a prompter very well and energize a crowd,” said Romney. “But he has not accomplished anything during his life in terms of legislation, or leading an enterprise, or making a business work, or a city work, or a state work. He really has very little experience.”

And Willard's qualifications for being president are...? [crickets]

(And no, running a corporation isn't the same as running a government. As Republicans have proven time and time again.)

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Dreams Die

Indiana Republican/Nazi candidate (and possible friend of this blog) Tony Zirkle lost his bid to join Congress.

So it appears that there will be no Nazis in Congress come January.

We'll just have to settle for Republicans.

[Via Think Progress.]




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Not Dead Yet

On to West Virginia! But some doubt remains.

---

UPDATE: And she's loaned her campaign $6,400,000.

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Over?

Hillary has cancelled all her teevee appearances and won't be having any public appearances tomorrow.

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And So It Goes

No one could have predicted:

At least 10 retired nuns in South Bend, Ind., were barred from casting regular ballots in Tuesday's Indiana Democratic primary election because they lacked photo IDs required under a state law upheld last week by the U.S. Supreme Court.

[...]

Borkowski said that two of the nuns with whom he spoke ``were very frustrated'' and so upset that they refused to exercise their rights to cast provisional ballots. He said one of the nuns told him that many other elderly nuns living on four floors of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Cross decided not to vote upon learning that their sisters had been turned away at the poll in their building.

Lauren McCallick, an 18-year-old freshman at St. Mary's College, also in South Bend, said she was forced to cast a provisional ballot because she could produce only a California driver's license and a college identification card.

Voter disenfranchisement: It's the law!

Thanks, Supremes.

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What's At Stake In November

St. John makes a promise:

Republican John McCain castigated Democrat Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice in a speech about the kind of judges McCain would nominate.

McCain offered an olive branch to the Christian right in a speech planned for Tuesday at Wake Forest University. The far right has been deeply suspicious of McCain, the expected GOP presidential nominee, because he has clashed with its leaders and worked against them on issues like campaign finance reform.

McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.

Let's remember that the Roberts Court ruled that gender discrimination in pay is A-OK, that allowed non-scientific anti-choice boilerplate to determine a reproductive rights case, decided that certain classes of voters can be disenfranchised, and much, much more.

The next president will likely have the opportunity to appoint at least two justices. The country can't afford to have more Robertses, more Alitos, more Scalias, more Thomases.

Neither Hillary nor Obama may be liberals in any real sense but either is a damn sight better than McCain.

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North Carolina And Indiana...

...will finally end our long national nightmare, right?

RIGHT?!

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Maybe This Will Settle It

Guam.

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The State Of Things

To once again quote digby:

This election is worse than being stuck in seventh grade for the rest of your life. Jesus H Christ.

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Throw The Dogs A Bone

James Fallows on the McCain-Clinton "gas tax holiday" scheme:

The pandering and ignorance-across-party-lines represented by the John McCain-Hillary Clinton united front for a temporary reduction in the gasoline tax should make Americans hold their heads in their hands and moan. No one who has thought about this issue thinks that it will actually reduce prices or -- more important -- help the the people disproportionately hurt by $100+/barrel oil and $4 gasoline. And to the extent it has any effect on America's long-term approach to energy policy, transportation, oil dependence, and climate change, the effect will be perverse.

I can imagine that John McCain, who boasts about his sketchy command of economics, might consider this a good idea. But the master of policy, Hillary Clinton??

Even Hillary supporter Paul Krugman is scratching his beard:

Is the supply of gasoline really fixed? For this coming summer, it is. Refineries normally run flat out in the summer, the season of peak driving. Any elasticity in the supply comes earlier in the year, when refiners decide how much to put in inventories. The McCain/Clinton gas tax proposal comes too late for that. So it’s Econ 101: the tax cut really goes to the oil companies.

The Clinton twist is that she proposes paying for the revenue loss with an excess profits tax on oil companies. In one pocket, out the other. So it’s pointless, not evil. But it is pointless, and disappointing.

I agree that Hillary is too intelligent and knowledgeable to believe that this is a good idea. St. John, of course, is neither. So the only conclusion is that Hillary is engaging in a standard pander, possibly a double-pander: Fool the rubes with a simplistic "fix" for economic woes and maybe throw a few more subsidized dollars to the oil companies.

And everybody knows they need it.

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And Speaking Mavericky McMaverick...

Kevin Drum makes the point:

Can we stop pretending to be children about this? There's only one reason for a politician to make sure that all his assets are in his wife's name: it's to make sure that no one knows anything about his assets. It's not as if McCain is the first pol to try this, after all.

(Kevin then goes on to ask the stunningly dense rhetorical question, "Is the press really going to let him get away with this?" Duh.)

Anyway, perhaps St. John can come up with an explanation for this whilst flying in luxury on his wife's jet. Perhaps the answer lies in the Beer Baroness' tax returns.

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They're Terrified

That's the only explanation for the massive freakout by the RNC and Barbecue McMaverick over this perfectly accurate ad by the DNC:

They know that the more people hear about McCain's "100 Years" the more people will turn away in horror. (Then again, Paul "Comblicker" Wolfowitz claimed yesterday yesterday that the US occupation of Iraq ended nearly four years ago so...)

Oh, and how can we miss the delicious richness of the Republican National Committee complaining about 'distortions." When they saw that ad they probably said "rats!".

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An Apology

Yesterday I called Indiana Republican Congressional candidate Tony Zirkle a "Nazi." As someone who attempts to be both fair and accurate I should have waited for his explanation:

When asked if he was a Nazi or sympathized with Nazis or white supremacists, Zirkle replied he didn’t know enough about the group to either favor it or oppose it.

Obviously, Mr. Zirkle believed he was addressing the B'Nai B'rith:

I hope that Mr. Zirkle accepts my heartfelt apology.

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St. John Has Problems

Will Jenna Bush vote for St. John? "I don't know."

Ungrateful whelp! After all McCain has done for her father!

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Pulling My Leg

And thus it begins:

The N.C. Republican Party says it will not back away from a planned TV ad that uses footage of Barack Obama's controversial former minister, despite objections from the expected GOP presidential nominee, John McCain.

The ad, released Wednesday on the Internet, tries to link the minister to two Democratic candidates for governor, both of whom have endorsed Obama.

Republican chairwoman Linda Daves said she would not bow to pressure from the Republican National Committee and others to pull the ad.

Oh yes, I'm sure St. John and the RNC really, really want this ad removed from the airwaves. I'm sure they really, really believe that this sort of guilt-by-association has no place in political campaigns.

Yes, we can expect this all the way to November:

Independent Group: Look at our new smear ad!

McCain: I object! Take the ad down!

Independent Group: No.

McCain: Darn. I tried.

Politics is fun!

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Things The World Doesn't Need II

Campaign songs.

Written by Orrin Hatch:

Not content to sit on the sidelines, longtime senator and one-time presidential hopeful Orrin Hatch has penned a song for his Senate buddy John McCain in hopes of helping his White House bid.

Really, he did.

Hatch - a Utah Republican who won a platinum award for helping co-write lyrics for a song that sold more than a million records - crafted a tune called "Together Forever" for the presumptive Republican nominee.

"Forever together / America is the land we're fighting for / There's a time in history / for a hero's destiny / together forever more," says Hatch's song, co-written with composer Philip Springer, famous for the Christmas song, "Santa Baby."

This is the part that made me fall over laughing:

"We'll see Barack Obama's Bruce Springsteen endorsement and raise them an Orrin Hatch," a spokesman said.

The Boss has nothing on the mad songwriting skillz of MC Orrin! Check out the reviews:

And, according to Hardball, while Hatch's office says he was aiming for an upbeat song that would appeal to the youth vote, the song doesn't mimic anything found on the Top 40 - or even the next 40.

Jason Mattera, spokesman for the conservative Young America's Foundation, says the lyrics are fine but the beats and tempo are "not appealing to young people.

"Hatch's heart is in the right place, but he has the wrong decade," Mattera says, noting that the message to attract young people is that liberalism oppresses people, stifles freedom and causes "pervasive destitution. I give him credit for trying, though," Mattera adds.

Still, a guy's gotta dream:

Nonetheless, Hatch says the song should get good reviews.

"It has been very enjoyable to write this song, and I think most people will like it."

I'd be interested to hear Hatch's definition of "most people."

The question yet to be answered: Will Hatch displace John Ashcroft at the top of the charts?

[Via DHinMI at the Great Orange Satan.]

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Guam Is The New Pennsylvania

The Silly Season rolls on.

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Our Long Statewide Nightmare Is Over

To the candidates: You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately ... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!*

*With apologies to Oliver Cromwell.

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Fair's Fair

Since this morning's This Week will feature only one guest - St. John (what a shock!) - Cliff Schecter, author of The Real McCain, offers up 12 questions that Snuffleupagus should ask but won't. An example:

3. Doesn’t your confusion regarding basic facts about the war in Iraq, including repeatedly citing a nonexistent Al Qaeda-Iran alliance, make you unfit for command?

On four occasions in one month, you confused friend and foe in Iraq by describing Sunni Al Qaeda as being backed by Shiite Iran. Then you showed a misunderstanding of the U.S. chain of command when you claimed you would not back shifting forces from Iraq to Afghanistan “unless Gen. [David] Petraeus said that he felt that the situation called for that,” a decision which Petraeus himself told you and your Senate colleagues only the week before rests not with him but with his superiors. Doesn’t your lack of understanding and judgment when it comes to basic facts of America’s national security disqualify you as commander-in-chief?

If video is more your thing Robert Greenwald offers up a fantasy version of the interview.

---

ADDED: Now St. John is whinging about being quoted accurately.

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Stupider And Stupider

Fingergate.

I'm not usually a fan of Meghan Daum but I think she gets it right today:

What's more, a lot of people who harbor an intolerance for complexity see it not as a character flaw but a cognitive virtue. That's because they've fallen into the trap of believing that complicated ideas ("complicated" now constituting anything that requires reading, watching or listening to in its entirety) are the purview of the "elite."

I've run across people who not only openly admit that they don't know jack about whatever but are proud of their ignorance. It never ceases to boggle.

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Alternative History

1858:

DOUGLAS: When I was 11, my grandpappy and I chopped wood and shot bears.

LINCOLN: Ahem, I do not expect the Union to be dissolved -- I do not expect the house to fall -- but I do expect slavery will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other...

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you love America this much (extending fingers), this much (extending hands slightly), or thiiiiiis much (extending hands broadly)?

LINCOLN: I think we covered this…

GIBSON: If I may interrupt…

LINCOLN: Please.

GIBSON: I noticed, Mr. Lincoln, that your American flag pin was upside down…

LINCOLN: Yes, the wind caught it. Now, as I was saying...

[Via C&L.]

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Yet More

Tony Norman on ABC/Disney and the media in general:

Barack Obama's problem is that he still has a lingering belief in an orderly universe where rational first principles have more sway over the news cycle than the primitive, reptile-brained instincts of the media establishment.

Alas, very few within that elite circle of hell believe in the rationality of the voters. If they did, they wouldn't harp on questions about flag pins, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, patriotism, Louis Farrakhan, "guns and God" or even Mrs. Clinton's sniper debacle at the expense of more substantive issues mere days before a crucial primary.

It was an infuriating spectacle executed with an unconscionable air of smugness by two media professionals who should have known better.

And ABC/Disney's take? Guess:

For its part, ABC News was proud of its effort.

"We thought the debate was excellent, substantive, probing and interesting and I have no doubt that there are people who have strong opinions on both sides," said Jeffrey Schneider, senior vice president of ABC News. "We see our job to ask probing, tough questions and that's exactly what we did."

The comments thread over at ABCNews.com now has 19764 mostly negative responses.

.

Ringer

Any doubt that ABC/Disney has a political agenda is now erased. Josh:

Remember that woman from the debate last night who the moderators showed videotape of asking whether Barack Obama "believes in the flag"? Her name is Nash McCabe.

[...]

Now, it does seem like McCabe is not a fan of Sen. Obama's. And I think we can assume that it's not a coincidence that McCabe managed to show up featured in the Times and also as the sole outside questioner in the ABC debate. Presumably, a researcher for ABC or Gibson saw the piece in the Times, figured, hey, this lady hates Obama and is seriously ginned up about the lapel issue. Let's send a camera crew Obama and film her slamming Obama to his face. It'll be great in the debate.

So this was hardly the voice of a random citizen; ABC/Disney sought out someone with full knowledge that she'd go after Obama. Ethical? Does it matter anymore? (Josh also wonders about another "citizen" questioner who was a "former" supporter of Hillary.)

Turning to the NYT story Josh mentions we find this:

Ask whom she might vote for in the coming presidential primary election and Nash McCabe, 52, seems almost relieved to be able to unpack the dossier she has been collecting in her head.

It is not about whom she likes, but more a bill of particulars about why she cannot vote for Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

“How can I vote for a president who won’t wear a flag pin?” Mrs. McCabe, a recently unemployed clerk typist, said in a booth at the Valley Dairy luncheonette in this quiet, small city in western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Obama has said patriotism is about ideas, not flag pins.

“I watch him on TV,” Mrs. McCabe said. “I keep looking for that lapel pin.”

This illustrates quite nicely our descent into collective madness. The election could hinge on a flag pin.

A flag pin.

Let's face it: Too many Americans are as dumb as dirt.

McClatchy has background on McCabe here.

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Unmitigated Trainwreck

The reviews are in:

Worst. Debate. Ever.

-Richard Adams, Guardian

My God. It gets worse and worse. Just move the whole thing to Fox.

-Atrios.

Lee Atwater Lives!!!

-DHinMI, Daily Kos.

A shameful debate

-Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher

In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC

-Tom Shales, Washington Post

America just had a horrible night.

-Will Bunch, Philadelphia Daily News

And the debate thread at ABCNews.com has, as of this writing, 11032 - you read that right - comments and it's hard to find one that isn't attacking ABC. Sample comment:

I am an owner of Disney stock and I have never been more horrified of anything I have ever seen on a network news station than that piece of garbage you called a debate last night. You made Fox news look refined.If I were running your station I would be ashamed to show my face in public today.The performance last night was an embarrassment.Your station should never be allowed to sponsor a debate again.I will never watch ABC again.

Hell, my own mother called me twenty minutes into this travesty and screamed up a storm over Gibson and Snuffleupagus.

There's no reason whatsoever to think that ABC or the rest of the "news" media will get any better over the next 6+ months.

But no worries, it's only the future of the country at stake.

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Born On The Fourth Of July

I honestly couldn't care less who the Post-Gazette endorses. On the other hand...

Bruuuuuce!

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133t

CNN's Roland Martin gets it:

Can we all just stop the silly nonsense over who is an elitist and whether an "average American" will occupy the White House?

Listening to the punditry today, you would think folks who revel in the comedy of Larry the Cable Guy or Katt Williams really would have a shot at the White House.

It's totally absurd.

[...]

One more thing: Don't buy fully into the nonsense tossed out by some of the loudest voices on television, radio and in print who decry these "elitists" and trumpet that they are for the blue collar, middle-class worker in middle America.

Many of them pull down multimillion-dollar salaries and run into these same candidates on Martha's Vineyard and in the Hamptons when they all vacation. They, too, will pull every favor they have to get their children in the posh private schools and Ivy League institutions.

Yes, we even have elitists in the media.

I think that of all the nonsense that surrounds our elections the "regular guy" obsession is the most annoying if not most damaging to the polity. Remember, more than a few people voted for George because he's a guy you can have a beer with (notwithstanding the fact that he's a recovering(?) alcoholic).

Paul Waldman of the American Prospect has a terrific piece on those salts-of-the-earth political pundits. That blue collar roughneck Chris Matthews' annual salary exceeds $5,000,000 per year and he owns a vacation house on Nantucket Island valued at $4,530,000. Just the sort of guy who hangs out in bowling alleys and quaffs Pabst Blue Ribbon. Perhaps Matthews is a neighbor of that Working Class Hero from Buffalo Tim Russert who, too, retires to his home on Nantucket for some rest and relaxation. No Motel 6's near Yellowstone Park for him. And the list goes on.

Does wealth mean that these politicians and pundits are unable to relate to the majority of Americans? Not necessarily; think FDR or even maybe JFK. Hell, while we're at it let's toss in the Elitest of the Elites: The Founding Fathers. Just think, under the current "rules" Washington, Jefferson, Adams, and Madison would be simply dismissed as "out of touch".

Now, maybe I'm "out of touch" because I've never voted for a drinking buddy. My hope whenever election day rolls around is that I can cast a ballot for someone who has more knowledge than me and who has better judgment than me.

Perhaps that makes me an Elitist. If so, I'm fine with that.

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A Tale Of Two Candidates

On Monday Barack Obama and John McCain appeared before a gathering of the nation's newspaper editors. The WaPo's Dana Milbank reports:

At a luncheon for the editors hosted by the Associated Press, AP Chairman Dean Singleton quizzed Obama about whether he would send more troops to Afghanistan, where "Obama bin Laden is still at large?"

"I think that was Osama bin Laden," the candidate answered.

"If I did that, I'm so sorry!" Singleton said.

"This," Obama told the editors, is "part of the exercise that I've been going through over the last 15 months."

Compare and contrast:

McCain's moderators, the AP's Ron Fournier and Liz Sidoti, greeted McCain with a box of Dunkin' Donuts. "We spend quite a bit of time with you on the back of the Straight Talk Express asking you questions, and what we've decided to do today was invite everyone else along on the ride," Sidoti explained. "We even brought you your favorite treat."

McCain opened the offering. "Oh, yes, with sprinkles!" he said.

Sidoti passed him a cup. "A little coffee with a little cream and a little sugar," she said.

Not to put too fine a point on it but Milbank notes, "McCain got a standing ovation -- an honor Obama did not receive when his turn came two hours later."

This, "my friends", is going to be the pattern all the way to November so get used to it. More importantly, I hope that Obama is ready to fight against it.

The irony, of course, is that we'll also be treated to more than six months of Republican whinging about the Librul Media hating on Republicans in general and St. John in particular. They have even less shame than the reporters and editors and producers of our esteemed Fourth Estate.

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Told Ya

Now Karl Rove implies that Obama is a Marxist. Add "Squeaky Wheels" Krauthammer and Brit "I Love My Dead Gay Son" Hume so this will be pretty standard for FauxNews as well. And maybe CNN.

Another 6+ months of this...

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Destroying The Democratic Party

Hillary attacks Al Gore and John Kerry.

Remember this when McCain is sworn in as president.

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Just Shoot Me

If the ducks shot back it would be a whole different election:

“You know, my dad took me out behind the cottage that my grandfather built on a little lake called Lake Winola outside of Scranton and taught me how to shoot when I was a little girl,” she said.

“You know, some people now continue to teach their children and their grandchildren. It’s part of culture. It’s part of a way of life. People enjoy hunting and shooting because it’s an important part of who they are. Not because they are bitter.”

[...]

"As I told you, my dad taught me how to shoot behind our cottage,” she said. “I have gone hunting. I am not a hunter. But I have gone hunting."

Clinton said she has hunted ducks.

At least she didn't claim to have fired back when she was in Tuzla.

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Your Liberal Media

Please make it stop:

But last night's exchange between Matthews and Shuster was far worse. Offered coffee, Barack Obama asked for orange juice instead. And Chris Matthews and David Shuster pounced, aghast that he would dare do such a thing as ask for orange juice. A preference for orange juice was supposed to demonstrate that Obama is out of touch with "regular" people. (For what it's worth, neither Matthews nor Shuster so much as hinted that a single, actual voter who was in that diner was put off by Obama's interest in orange juice. But Matthews and Shuster were upset enough for everyone.)

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Trainwreck

This morning I opened my e-mail box and found this:

Standard rightwing attack on Soros. Except that...oops.

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Clarity Of Vision

Rightwing hack Stephen Colbert, broadcasting from Philly next week, comments on the never-ending Democratic primaries:

DP: What's your take on the primary so far?

SC: We're just delighted that the Democratic campaign is ongoing. We've got a continuing segment on the show called, "Democralypse Now," which is a delightful dismemberment of the Democratic Party. It's like the Democratic primary has now become like an art installation, like somebody built a machine that destroys itself.

As good a description of the Democratic Party as I've ever heard.

[Via Early Returns.]

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St. Johm?

Caught by Instaputz:

[Via Greg Sargent.]

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Puffery

The WaPo paints a pretty portrait of Pittsburgh's boy mayor.

Spare me.

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A Terrified Nation Begs For Them To Stop

The McCain Girls are back. This time I made it 47 seconds into the video before I plucked my eyes out and injected bleach directly into my cerebrum.

God have mercy on our souls.

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Scenes From An Obama Fundraiser

Sunday I was dragged to an Obama fundraiser in heavily Republican Sewickley Heights (and I mean heavily - in 2004 the borough voted 71.1% Bush/Cheney, 28.7% Kerry/Edwards in a county that went 57.2% for Kerry). Many of the attendees were traditional Republicans who have switched - and not in a Limbaughesque way. Hosted by Candace, Emily and John Craig (the latter being the former editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) and Nick, Mary and Ted Smyth. Somehow, I became the "official" photographer:

Emily Craig and Nick Smyth



Former Steelers great & Hall of Famer Franco Harris



A gaggle of Obama supporters


(As always, click to enlarge.)

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Classy

McCain: Democrats' stance on Iraq flawed

Speaking of flawed:

Three reporters from Arizona, on the condition of anonymity, also let me in on another incident involving McCain's intemperateness. In his 1992 Senate bid, McCain was joined on the campaign trail by his wife, Cindy, as well as campaign aide Doug Cole and consultant Wes Gullett. At one point, Cindy playfully twirled McCain's hair and said, "You're getting a little thin up there." McCain's face reddened, and he responded, "At least I don't plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you cunt." McCain's excuse was that it had been a long day. If elected president of the United States, McCain would have many long days.

Hey, Cindy, classy husband you got there.

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The State Of Things

By Ward Sutton from The Nation:

.

In The Tank

And so it continues. The Pittsburgh City Paper's Chris Potter:

While Barack Obama visited Oakland's Soldiers & Sailors Hall on March 28, Clinton was bewitching Pittsburgh Tribune-Review publisher Richard Mellon Scaife. Yes, that's right: The architect and arch-fiend behind what Clinton herself called a "vast right-wing conspiracy" is apparently quite taken with his onetime adversary. And the proof is a March 30 column Scaife wrote for his paper.

Titled "Hillary, Reassessed," the column notes that "Clinton has been criticized regularly, often harshly, by the Trib. We disagreed with many of her policies and her actions." That actually whitewashes the antagonism: Scaife doesn't mention the Trib's role in spreading scurrilous rumors about the death of President Bill Clinton's aide Vince Foster, for example.

But Scaife and Clinton have a lot in common by now. For one thing, Scaife's marriage is a public joke too, thanks to an ugly divorce profiled in a recent jaw-dropping Vanity Fair story.* Among the story's more delicious highlights: Scaife's estranged wife "once kicked Dick in the crotch ... and his testicles swelled to such a size that he had to be taken to the emergency room." [Link added - ed.]

From Dicky's love letter:

Does all this mean I'm ready to come out and recommend that our Democrat readers choose Sen. Clinton in Pennsylvania's April 22 primary?

No -- not yet, anyway. In fairness, we at the Trib want to hear Sen. Barack Obama's answers to some of the same questions and to others before we make that decision.

But it does mean that I have a very different impression of Hillary Clinton today than before last Tuesday's meeting -- and it's a very favorable one indeed.

A couple of points:

"'Democrat' readers" - 'nuff said.

Richard Mellon Scaife has all but endorsed Hillary. Think about that. This would be the same Richard Mellon Scaife who spent millions to destroy her husband (and her) and is such a classy, classy guy:

A few minutes later [Scaife] appeared at the top of the Club steps. At the bottom of the stairs, the following exchange occurred:

"Mr. Scaife, could you explain why you give so much money to the New Right?"

"You fucking Communist cunt, get out of here."

This is Hillary's new BFF.

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I Never Thought Of It This Way

Beer executive could be next first lady

The Ice Queen may be worth as much as $100,000,000. That'll buy a lot of elections.

No wonder St. John dumped his loyal first wife for Cindy.

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The Mind Of The American Voter

Welcome to Hazleton, Pennsylvania:

Of Obama, Duser said: "I'm not crazy about voting for a colored guy, but that's not why I don't support Obama. I'm not prejudiced. I just like Hillary."

He's not prejudiced!

She scoffs at the idea of voting for Obama: "I don't want to be a Muslim!" She looks dubious when told Obama is Christian. "Then why did he go see what's-his-name over in Iraq, that Lama?"

Well at least she didn't think Obama visited a llama.

Now, I'm not saying these Hazletonites (?) are typical of all Pennsylvanians. But they're not atypical, either.

Another three weeks of this. As digby said, "This election is worse than being stuck in seventh grade for the rest of your life. Jesus H Christ."

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Pissy

Remember that uh, interesting McCain fan video? Well, the lead "McCain Girl" is none too happy with the ridicule heaped upon it:

You have to be a special kind of person to be so proud of something so astoundingly, mind-bogglingly, stunningly awful.

(As a side note, I've still not made it past the 57-seconds mark of the video.)

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The Annals Of Dumb Ideas

Obama/Bloomberg '08

Oy.

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Extortion

Hillary's big money donors write Nancy Pelosi:

We have been strong supporters of the DCCC. We therefore urge you to clarify your position on super-delegates and reflect in your comments a more open view to the optional independent actions of each of the delegates at the National Convention in August. We appreciate your activities in support of the Democratic Party and your leadership role in the Party and hope you will be responsive to some of your major enthusiastic supporters.

In other words: Nice political party you have here. Be a shame if something happened to it.

Senator Obama responds:

This letter is inappropriate and we hope the Clinton campaign will reject the insinuation contained