Really Nice, Hillary

Yet another reason why this Primary needs to come to a close..



This is a very disturbing trend that began with Hillary making the same comment in early March, but since it was in writing nobody paid a great deal of attention (remember, if it doesn't happen on TV - it didn't really happen). Next came Mike Huckleberry-bee at the NRA convention and now this again.

Endgame

When I play chess, I am generally quite proficient at drawing the game out to a point that would be considered the “end game”. It is almost without fail at this point when blunders start to occur and the game ultimately slips between my fingers, inevitably followed by an angry tirade. The Democratic Primary has reached the end game and Barack Obama has performed more or less masterfully up until this point. He and his campaign just don’t seem to be able to get that elusive checkmate, much less a resignation. Obama is correct when he says the nomination is within reach, which is why it would be so much more devastating if he were to let said nomination slip away. Hillary Clinton, who seems to lose a little more touch with reality every day (e.g. Florida & Michigan = Civil Rights & Suffrage), has made it clear that she will take this fight to the convention – essentially a Mutually Assured Destruction, making the issue all the more pressing for Obama. He absolutely must get his cache of super-delegates to reveal themselves before it’s too late, i.e. Denver in August. It has been said all along that the most important matter for the Democrats is to get themselves an opponent against John McCain and since Hillary has made it abundantly clear she is far more interested in her possible presidency than a potential Democratic one, this should be the cue for super-delegates to begin the painful process of ushering her out the door. Hillary knows all too well that Democrats are painfully civil and will avoid dropping the hammer at all costs, which is one of the primary (pun intended) reasons she has been permitted to make such a fool of herself. Another being that she is a Clinton, and Clintons hold way too much sway (and swagger) within the party to simply bow out gracefully. For this same reason, Obama must not let this content go to Denver, where any number of Clintonian strings can be pulled. No, the time is now; Obama says he wants change and this is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate his willingness to induce the changing of the guard. Make Florida and Michigan a moot point, brandish those super-delegates like a knife in the knife fight this primary has been.

Where It's At

I began writing this post on Tuesday and obviously much has changed since then... or has it?

"Frankly, I am flummoxed by this Clintonian argument that the Michigan and Florida primaries should be counted as is (Also Known As the so-called “Nuclear Option”). Hillary and her supporters have consistently made the argument that Obama is out to deliberately disenfranchise the voters in these two states, yet these voters were already disenfranchised to begin with when their respective state legislatures foolishly and flagrantly decided to move their primary dates earlier."

Earlier today, an open letter surfaced from Senator Clinton regarding this exact same matter.

The same blogger, M.S. Bellows, Jr., who cites this letter proceeded to write a dead-on analysis of exactly where this primary campaign is at this point titled Clinton's Hail Mary.

Clinton, McCain, Obama & John Adams

While watching the Pennsylvania Primary Pregame (how’s THAT for alliteration!) on MSNBC, I found it commendable that since the two Democratic candidates have shown little to no desire to attack McCain, the DNC (Democratic National Committee) chose to run a hard-hitting ad that nailed many of John McCain’s talking points (very effectively using his very own words & voice) as counter-intuitive and essentially ludicrous. On a side note, I also like that The Nation is now advertising on MSNBC, as well! After viewing the aforementioned ad, I very nearly made a beeline to the computer to donate money to the DNC; unfortunately I have not the funds to do so at this point in time. Anti-McCain ads are good, very good in fact. It would obviously be even better if the attacks came from either Dem candidate, but we take what we can get at this stage in the game.



According to Howard Dean, head of the DNC, the ever-elusive Florida and Michigan delegates will be seated somehow by the end of June. This being the case, a halt must be called to the continuing Obama-Clinton bloodbath, for there is nothing that can be said or done before then that will be ultimately determinative. As I, and many other more prominent pundits, have stated before – these candidates would be doing themselves a great service if the two tag-teamed McCain until this is all settled (after all, the three of them had spots before a WWF wrestling match). The DNC ad touched on so many valid points and there are certainly more where those came from, thus it is almost a little scary to think of how much damage the two of them could inflict on McCain if they just got their priorities straightened.

This really does all come back to Hillary though, because she knows the only way she has a shot at pulling this out is if she continues tearing down Obama. After watching the conclusion of the HBO miniseries John Adams, it occurred to me that his example should be followed in that his ultimate concern was doing what is best for the country, not his party nor his own personal popularity. Clinton abiding by these guidelines would benefit both the party and in the long run, the country; yet I fear Hillary Rodham Clinton is no John Adams. The shining achievement of Mr. Adams’ presidency was his ability to prevent getting drawn in militarily to the ongoing struggle between France and England, despite the fact that military action would likely have bolstered his reelection campaign. We now live in an age where party politics most always trumps allegiance to country and we are at present on a fast track to yet another war that would seemingly benefit the Republican Party, particularly their candidate. The American people do not want another war. John McCain has explicitly said: “There’s gonna be more wars, sorry to tell ya this…” If the American people elect John McCain, or allow Republicans to get away with more electoral tomfoolery that would usher in the ‘President Bomb Bomb’ era, there will indeed be more wars – that is, if more wars have not already been started by President Dumb Dumb. The Democrats must convey this message and stop their petty bickering; in the long run it will most assuredly make up for not wearing a flag pin.

Bracing For The (Bomb Bomb) Worst

I am starting to wearily contemplate just what it might mean for this country if we are indeed forced to endure at least four years of a Senator John ‘Bomb Bomb’ McCain presidency, which regrettably seems more and more likely by the day. The first and most consoling matter would be that Democrats in November will likely make considerable gains in both the House and Senate, thus at least somewhat putting a check on his otherwise terrifying power potential (imagine ‘Bomb Bomb’ with a GOP majority in both houses like his predecessor!). McCain finally changed his tune yesterday (Brooklyn will do that to a person) by attempting to seem more empathic regarding the housing crisis this country faces. Nevertheless, he is of course more steadfast than ever when it comes to occupying Iraq essentially for however long it takes. It saddens me a great deal that this borderline lunatic has such a golden opportunity to become the next president and particularly that the ‘Democrat’ party is successfully managing to snatch defeat from the hands of victory. Bill Clinton’s caveat that it is far better to be strong and wrong than weak and right is once again playing itself out, just like it did four and eight years ago. McCain may be a jingo psychopath, but at least he stays firm on his positions, whereas Hillary Clinton and Obama seem to have a different answer for when to leave Iraq every single time they are asked.

The same way it is perceived, contrary to any substantive facts, that Obama is a Muslim and Hillary is a pinko-commie liberal, John McCain is falsely perceived to be a moderate, maverick, straight-shooting sonuva gun. Just like George W. once said, you gotta keep repeating yourself to let the propaganda sink in. McCain doesn’t even need to do this because the press corps already does it for him! There is the question: if Obama finally pulls out the nomination (whenever that might be), which media darling will prevail? I fear McCain and his generally disagreeable disposition is more in tune with the way a majority of Americans feel and that Obama will indeed be painted successfully as a phony harbinger of some unrealistic 21st century utopia. Simply put, I do not have a great deal of faith in the people this country is constituted of. Everybody and their typical white mother is so sure that the electorate will not make the same ‘sit down and have a beer with the president’ mistake three elections in a row – but I am not nearly as certain. When one takes into consideration that the average education level of Americans is currently something like 7th or 8th grade, I do not hold out a great deal of hope. Bush may have allowed September 11th to occur, but outside the affected areas most Americans did not feel the full impact of the events. I suspect however that when Senator McCain does indeed choose to bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran (or Syria, or North Korea for that matter), a military draft will most certainly be enacted and people across the country will finally feel a more direct effect of the disastrous neoconservative policies. I pray to the Beach Boys I am wrong.

Who Can't Win?

This most recent claim by Senator Hillary Clinton is most assuredly demonstrative of the increasing desperation she and her campaign face. The front page of the New York Post says it all: “Obama Can’t Win” [against John McCain] – however a slew of polls published yesterday all beg to differ. Not only do registered Democrats believe (by a two-to-one margin) Senator Obama has a better chance at beating McCain, Republicans (by a three-to-one margin) would rather McCain face off against Clinton than Obama. While it is not stated explicitly, these results suggest that Republicans are not just more, but most fearful of a potential Obama candidacy, which torpedoes the notion that “Obama Can’t Win”.

Dr. Rachel Maddow has a segment on her radio program titled “The Underbelly,” which exposes right-wing political tactics, or as she puts it: “Poking a sharp stick at the soft, white underbelly of the rrright wing scheme machine; giving you a look at their political playbook.” This is not the first time Senator Clinton has employed such tactics and most likely will not be the last. The tactic I speak of is throwing something out there and hoping it sticks. When an individual or party makes a claim based entirely NOT in reality, they are simply hoping that by throwing said claim out to the media, some publication (often the qualitative likes of the New York Post) will go to print with it.

The reported blowup by Bill Clinton last week regarding his anger towards Governor Bill Richardson’s endorsement of Obama likewise illustrates just how dire the straits are for that campaign. Ironically, after his blowup, Clinton went out and told a crowd at the Democratic convention in California that the dueling campaigns’ rhetoric must cool down.

Oh yeah - I wonder what Senator McCain thinks about the divulged Yoo Two Torture Memos..

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040303345.html

It would not be an entirely unfair comparison to liken the ongoing Iraq occupation to Hillary Clinton’s ongoing campaign. In both situations, contrary to what many in the party have already convinced themselves, the Democrats can actually put an end to the respective debacle. Instead of simply ignoring William Kristol’s weekly Monday NYTimes op-ed like I usually do, I’m going to pretend he is David Brooks and go the hell after him. He writes today about St. John McCain and how he is telling Americans “the hard and unpopular truths that we’ll be [in Iraq] for a while…” An American occupation of Iraq will only continue if lunatics like Kristol & McCain remain in power, which is not what I would call an unpopular truth – just unpopular. Likewise, those who say that Hillary staying in the race is simply an unpopular truth are almost equally deluded. This constant stance of: “Oohh, we’re Democrats, we can’t possibly upset the status quo or people will get mad at us!” is doing nobody no kind of good.

The Wheels on the Bus Go...

Well the political wheels are definitely in motion… Obama and Clinton begin to throw the fiscal kitchen sink at McCain and Clinton pleads with supporters, presumably of both candidates, not to jump Democratic ship if the other is not the nominee. I think the commotion made over these recent polls is much ado about something that is not as important as it is made out to be. The polls are supposed to represent how potential voters feel NOW, in late March – so in the long run, how voters felt in March will be of little consequence when November rolls around. When so much is being made of the here and now, the long view seems too long to pay attention to and Democrats musn’t fall into this trap. Said polls should serve as a weathervane, if not a wake-up call to the Dems that if they don’t get this mess straightened out, voters will continue to jump ship instead of getting accustomed to and accepting the chosen one. John McCain got all that out of the way a long time ago, although that race was about whom the GOP hated least as opposed to whom the Dems like best. The generally positive attitude towards the candidate should return once the nominee is thoroughly measured up against Senator “Bomb-Bomb [Iran]” McSame [as Bush] (thanks be to Air America Radio loon, Rachel Maddow).

Next on the McCain hit list must be the Iraq occupation and how really and truly wonderful it REALLY is there. Amid the raging resurgence of violence all across that country, the true story must be exposed along with McCain, Bush and the other apologists’ consistent insistence that progress is being made, the surge worked/is working, etc., etc.

Give It Up, Hill

http://www.slate.com/id/2187558/

If I were Senator Hillary Clinton at this juncture in the marathon, I would strongly consider the manner in which it would take to win the nomination and whether winning in such a fashion is truly worth it. The term ‘Pyrrhic Victory’ is constantly being bandied about in the so-called punditocracy, but I am alluding to the moral argument at hand. It is futile to ask the question if Mrs. Clinton has a problem winning at any cost, for her actions and harsh words speak considerably louder than, um, words.

President Clinton has a great deal of gall preaching in Kentucky that Senator Obama is intentionally disenfranchising voters in Florida and Michigan for his own self-serving purposes. This is obviously a case of the Bubba calling the kettle black, if you will, as Hillary would certainly not aim to serve anyone other than the voters. The delegates, both pledged and super, are apparently an entirely different story. The Clinton campaign is apparently operating under the assessment that the term “pledged delegates“ is something of a misnomer and in classical Clintonian philosophy, no delegate is truly committed until s/he has actually voted at the convention. This point will likely prove to be moot as the Democratic Party Bosses (e.g. Harry “It Will Be Done” Reid) are starting to pull out the stops in order to get the super delegates to perhaps have a straw poll of sorts to determine the presumptive nominee. A point made by Rachel Maddow is that while this presumptive nominee will go forward as such, there is always the safety net of the Democratic Convention in August if the nominee proves toxic.

Goddamnit Dems!

As I stated previously, my desire to see Hillary as either nominee OR president decreases every waking moment I hear more about her detestable tactics. It’s one thing for me to state that I’ve gone from not minding her being the nominee, to not at all wanting her to be the nominee; but for her to go on this John McCain love fest, singing his praises at any chance she gets is simply remarkable. One of her aides has compared Obama to KEN STARR (?!?) for his desire to have Clinton reveal her tax returns and the list of donors for her husband’s presidential library. While I do not necessarily approve of Obama’s hang-ups regarding such matters, valid as they may be, for anyone to make such a ridiculous claim – much less from Clinton’s camp, all the more head scratching. Correct me if I’m mistaken, but does this not hearken back to one of the more tumultuous episodes in recent presidential history? Perhaps the strategy is to do just that, thereby reminding people of just how humiliating it was to be Hillary Clinton in the last few years of the twentieth century and how she has persevered? I don’t like these dirty political campaign tricks one little bit, but when the opposing candidate refuses to go on the attack and has maintained a lead in the race, few alternatives remain. This obviously proves Obama’s point that he desires a future where such political chicanery will be viewed with the disdain it should be, yet many voters have gotten so caught up in the here and now nature of this über marathon of a primary that it is nearly impossible to look past this immediate process. Other issues that should be mentioned are that while Obama was grilled by Tim Russert in the most recent debate regarding his Louis Farakkan endorsement (which he rejected, denounced, etc. If you remember), flying WAY under the radar is John McCain strongly embracing the endorsement of hate-mongering, rapture-evangelical pastor from Texas, John Hagee. John McCain MUST have more pressure placed upon him by the Democrats, for the corporate media obviously will do no such thing. For God’s sake, the man has fully embraced the last seven plus years of disastrous Bush-Cheney republicanism! Only the Democrats could manage to screw this one up.

Speaking of everyone’s favorite Bush administration, it has been overlooked that there is likely a direct connection between the Colombian incursion into Ecuadorian territory and the neocons‘ desire to stir up more trouble way south of the border. The Colombians by no means had the military ways and means to detect the FARC rebels and coincidentally, Presidents Correa and Bush are just about BFF. Oh yeah, and we bombed Somalia again.

Election '08 Update

http://themoderatevoice.com/category/politics/political-cartoons/

Despite their own rather evident corporate ties (we’ll get to Senator McCain in a moment), it was not long ago that I felt the Democrat [sic] party would be very well represented in the November elections regardless of which candidate inevitably came out of the primary process. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, however, has thrown a big bubba-wrench into that ideal. She has continually shown her true colors as the prototypical politician who does not go down without slinging a considerable amount of mud on the way. Her methodical mocking and trashing Obama’s seemingly sincere messages of hope and optimism is truly deplorable and arguably downright republican, which I suppose is not a stretch when you have someone like Mark Penn driving your campaign [into a ditch]. I presume in this day and age of gutter politics, Clinton and her camp were simply not prepared to face candidates like Edwards and Obama, who are not entirely pessimistic regarding America’s future and who generally refuse to employ fear tactics.

I am slightly haunted by the repeated caveat that one can never count out a Clinton, as we are seeing exactly why that is – she utilizes the very Rovean tactics she has so adamantly accused Mr. Osama, er, I mean Obama of employing. Frank Rich wrote a wonderful op-ed in the Sunday New York Times (queue collective conservative hiss) that called out Mrs. Clinton’s numerous “pot calling the kettle black” moments (no racial pun intended) as well as brutally accurately likening her campaign to the Bush admin’s tragic fiasco in Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/24/opinion/24rich.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

(The first and original) Super Tuesday was to be the ‘Shock and Awe’ of the primary season – but what to do if the electorate is not sufficiently shocked and/or awed? Why, find pictures of Barack Hussein Obama dressed like Ali Baba in traditional African garb, of course! The connect-Obama-to-the-Black-Panther-Party game didn’t work out quite as well as planned, so I suppose they figured: might as well go a step further and connect him directly to Africa!

I forget if it was Jonathan Alterman or Dana Milbank who commented on Friday that the Poppy Bush campaign against Bill Clinton way back when in ’92 showed its signs of last gasp desperation when H.W. started likening Clinton to a pot smoking, draft dodging hippie… Déjà vu, all over again, man?

Downshifting gears to the Grand Old Party and their Grand Old likely nominee, John McCain; reliable GOP patsy, David Brooks, tries desperately to dispel the outrageous notion his native publication (among others) has substantiated that Senator McCain is literally and figuratively in K Street’s pants. Reeling off all the “Maverick” votes and pieces of legislation the good Senator has accumulated over the years is all well and good – actually makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, but in the end this information just makes the new ‘revelations’ surrounding McCain all the more puzzling as to why he acts so seemingly honorably in the public forum yet so very corrupt in the back rooms, corporate jets, yachts and the sort.

Serenity Now?!? Endorsement...

Upon viewing The New York Times’ roll call of notable primary endorsements, I am struck by the difference between the Dems who back Clinton and those who back Obama. Those stumping for Mr. Obama generally seem to represent individuals not so heavily tied to the Democratic Party establishment, while the opposite is true for Mrs. Clinton. For example, we have: Sen. Feinstein (CA), former NYC Mayor Dinkins and current LA Mayor Villaraigosa, Former Rep. Geraldine Ferraro (NY), Gov. Spitzer (NY), Sen. Schumer (NY), Sen. Menendez (NJ) Gov. Corzine (NJ), even Former Ambassador, Joseph C. Wilson IV (husband of Valerie Plame-Wilson), all pulling for Clinton. Obama on the other hand has raked in the seemingly more progressive of celebrity supporters: Scarlett Johansson, Larry David, Toni Morrison, Oprah, Maria Shriver(-Schwarzenegger), Caroline Kennedy, among others. The last two segue nicely into his politician endorsements: Sen. Durbin (Ill), Sens. Kennedy and Kerry (MA), Sen. McCaskill (MO), Sen. Leahy (VT), Sen. Conrad (ND), Former Sen. Gary Hart (CO), Govs. Sebelius (KS) and Napolitano (AZ). So upon going through this list, one might get the general sense of the new Democratic guard versus the old one and their candidate race horses.

I was very disheartened when John Edwards dropped out of the race last week, but as stated earlier; he ended up being more below the fray than above it. It is debatable to what degree this was his fault or that of the corporate media machine, but alas – he is out. Now while the policies of Clinton and Obama are not terribly substantively different, Obama simply feels more representative of that new guard of inevitability. The tired old politicians and the politics they represent will eventually go the way of the Giuliani and a new generation will emerge that has considerably fewer hang-ups regarding traditional wedge issues. Tomorrow, I will cast a primary ballot for Senator Barack Obama and hope his message of change continues to flow throughout the nation, yet I fear in the end it will be the Billary Clinton machine that will win out in the end. I will most certainly support Hillary Clinton if she is indeed the Democratic nominee, yet I fear her candidacy will unite an otherwise deeply divided Republican Party, as many have already speculated. Either way, I remain confident that whoever the nominee may be, the American people WILL be reminded of just how horrendous a toll republican, namely Bush-Cheney rule has taken on this country. The status quo works against the GOP candidate to a nearly insurmountable degree and none of their potential candidates has anywhere near enough clout to overcome such a disadvantage.

Hillary might not be in so much trouble if she had only chosen this dude's song as her campaign theme...