Month: March 2008

Clinton’s Numbers Dive After Bosnia Tale

Trish

This is what happens when Obama goes on vacation and leaves Hillary to her own devices. She implodes.

Clinton’s personal approval rating has dipped significantly according to the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC poll, with 48 percent of Americans holding a negative view of her compared to the 37 percent who hold a positive view. For Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., the ratings are better: 49 percent positive, 32 percent negative.

The Bosnia snipers/8-year-old girl poet confusion took a toll on Clinton’s ratings, even as the Obamas sunned in the Virgin Islands. It’s probably not all Hillary’s fault though. She getting some pretty bad advice on how to campaign.

“The only thing that matters is, what happens to you?” [Bill Clinton] said. “That’s all that matters. If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office. If a football player doesn’t want to get tackled or want the risk of an occasional clip he shouldn’t put the pads on.”

The problem is the beating up is self-inflicted and the tackles are just fumbles.

Rep. DeFazio Asks Dem Candidates To Turn Fire on McCain

Jon Ponder

An open letter to the Democratic candidates from Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.:
You both claim to be better suited than the other to take on the so-called Straight-Talk Express, so prove it. Run the next six weeks of your campaign against McCain, not against the other Democrat. Go after McCain for his policy positions, not the other Democrat for theirs.

Dear Senator Clinton and Senator Obama:

I write today as a concerned member of the Democratic Party and an uncommitted super delegate. I appreciated the manner in which you both conducted your campaigns during the early primary process. It was a manner that respected the other and tried to highlight policy differences without resorting to destructive smear campaigns. In the lead up to the March 4th primaries, the tone of both campaigns shifted and the civility that I had appreciated disappeared. The long term goal of beating the Republican nominee took a back seat to the short term goal of proving one’s viability by tearing down the other Democratic candidate. We lost sight of the general election, we lost sight of the true opponent and if we continue to be shortsighted, I fear we will lose in November.

The heated rhetoric between both campaigns has continued to intensify as we head into the Pennsylvania primary. While you trade barbs, McCain is uniting the Republican Party around his thinly disguised rightwing agenda. In the next six weeks, McCain can sit back, amass his war chest, concentrate his base and delight as you deconstruct each other.

I propose that you not allow him that luxury. You both claim to be better suited than the other to take on the so-called Straight-Talk Express, so prove it. Run the next six weeks of your campaign against McCain, not against the other Democrat. Go after McCain for his policy positions, not the other Democrat for theirs. Allow the Democratic voters to believe in a campaign that can provide a new direction for this country and stop McCain from continuing the failed policies of the Bush Administration. In the end, it is the candidate who can take the fight to McCain and win that deserves my support and, most importantly, the support of the Democratic Party.

Both of your campaigns have been built on the fundamental idea that if elected, you will bring about change. Let’s change the way we are doing business in this primary election. In the last few months, you have been running for the Democratic nomination. In the next six weeks, I urge you start running for President.

Sincerely,

PETER A. DEFAZIO

Rachel Maddow on AirAmerica has been beating this drum for a while now.

Who Signed That Letter to Pelosi?

Trish

Wondering who signed that letter to Nancy Pelosi, telling her they expect her to zip it and let Hillary Clinton drag this race all the way into the August convention? They are mostly long-time Clinton cronies, some going clear back to the (Bill) Clinton White House. There are CEO types who run media companies as well as corporate lawyers. One thing they all have in common though: Big Bucks.

March 26, 2008

The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the US House of Representatives
Office of the Speaker
H-232, US Capitol
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Madame Speaker,

As Democrats, we have been heartened by the overwhelming response that our fellow Democrats have shown for our party’s candidates during this primary season. Each caucus and each primary has seen a record turnout of voters. But this dynamic primary season is not at an end. Several states and millions of Democratic voters have not yet had a chance to cast their votes.

We respect those voters and believe that they, like the voters in the states that have already participated, have a right to be heard. None of us should make declarative statements that diminish the importance of their voices and their votes. We are writing to say we believe your remarks on ABC News This Week on March 16th did just that.

During your appearance, you suggested super-delegates have an obligation to support the candidate who leads in the pledged delegate count as of June 3rd , whether that lead be by 500 delegates or 2. This is an untenable position that runs counter to the party’s intent in establishing super-delegates in 1984 as well as your own comments recorded in The Hill ten days earlier:

“I believe super-delegates have to use their own judgment and there will be many equities that they have to weigh when they make the decision. Their own belief and who they think will be the best president, who they think can win, how their own region voted, and their own responsibility.’”

Super-delegates, like all delegates, have an obligation to make an informed, individual decision about whom to support and who would be the party’s strongest nominee. Both campaigns agree that at the end of the primary contests neither will have enough pledged delegates to secure the nomination. In that situation, super-delegates must look to not one criterion but to the full panoply of factors that will help them assess who will be the party’s strongest nominee in the general election.

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.

Sincerely,

Marc Aronchick
Clarence Avant
Susie Tompkins Buell
Sim Farar
Robert L. Johnson
Chris Korge
Marc and Cathy Lasry
Hassan Nemazee
Alan and Susan Patricof
JB Pritzker
Amy Rao
Lynn Forester de Rothschild
Haim Saban
Bernard Schwartz
Stanley S. Shuman
Jay and Tracy Snyder
Maureen White and Steven Rattner

If you have a better link to any of these folks, please pass it along.

Chelsea’s Best Answer on Monica: “None of Your Business”

Trish

I guess Chelsea is no better than her mom at handling tough questions. The person was asking if her mother’s credibility was in doubt because at the time, Hillary was adamant that Bill was not fooling around with Monica. She was only taking her husband’s word for it, and I think it’s a pretty dumb question myself but I also think it’s astounding that, “None of your business” was Chelsea’s best answer.

Like she never thought this might come up? After more than a year on the campaign trail she didn’t already have a statement ready that would defuse the question instead of elevating it to most-watched status on YouTube?

Update: While Chelsea was ducking, her dad was talking tough. Just not about his family.

“You know, I don’t give a rip about all this name calling that’s going on,” [Clinton] said.

“If a politician doesn’t wanna get beat up, he shouldn’t run for office,” the former president said. “Let’s just saddle up and have an argument. What’s the matter with that?”

Giddy up.

The Peanut Butter Plan to Save the World

Trish

If you’re like me, you’re tired of looking for ways to help global warming and only finding instructions to use compact florescent light bulbs. Like I haven’t been doing that for 10 years?

But here’s a new one that I can totally get behind: eat more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Besides the obvious reasons (they’re so gooood), you can help the planet. Look what you save when you choose a PB&J:

  • 2.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions over an average animal-based lunch like a hamburger, a tuna sandwich, grilled cheese, or chicken nuggets
  • Almost 3.5 pounds of greenhouse gas compared to a ham sandwich or a hamburger
  • 280 gallons of water over the hamburger
  • 12 to 50 square feet of land from deforestation, over-grazing, and pesticide and fertilizer pollution
  • A whole bunch of fuel compared to wild-caught seafood
  • A whole bunch of fuel, pollution, antibiotics, hormones, and other really bad stuff over factory-farmed fish

The people at the PB&J Campaign are starting PB&J clubs. Email them at pbj@pbjcampaign.org if you want to start one of your own in your workplace or school.

Buck and I like our peanut butter extra crunchy and our bread whole-grain. Like Elvis, we enjoy a PB & Banana, but hold the mayo and don’t fry it.

The Consequences if Hillary Doesn’t Stuff a Sock in It

Trish

Photo from CBS News

The New Republic’s Norm Scheiber sums up the current state of the election.

The problem is that each day Clinton and Obama spend consumed with the other is a day that moves John McCain closer to the White House. McCain’s biggest asset is his political brand, which evokes a straight-talking, party-bucking reformer. Among his biggest liabilities is the suspicion he inspires among conservatives thanks to these same attributes. McCain apparently plans to spend the next few months making nice with his base. But anything he accomplishes on this front clearly diminishes his swing-voter appeal and, therefore, his chances in November.

Ideally, the Democrats would be exploiting this tension like mad…

Instead, something close to the opposite is happening. McCain’s courtship of the lunatic right and his ties to K Street have largely been hidden from view, while the Democrats’ dirty laundry has been aired for swing voters.

Schreiber all but says it: Hillary Clinton needs to get out.

…On March 12, Ferraro and the racially polarized Mississippi primary were A-1 news in The Washington Post. It wasn’t until page A-6 that you stumbled across a story about McCain’s ties to the parent company of Airbus, the Boeing rival to whom the Pentagon recently handed a lucrative contract. The second story could have muddied McCain’s reformist credentials, but it barely caused a ripple on cable or the blogosphere.

Schreiber all but says it: Hillary Clinton needs to get out.

If McCain winds up facing Obama, he’ll enjoy yet another advantage: a nominee weakened by attacks from a fellow Democrat…

Hillary’s only path to the nomination, barring a meltdown by Obama, is to destroy his electability. But harsh attacks on Obama will inevitably discourage African Americans from voting in the fall, and Hillary can’t beat McCain without strong black turnout in places like Cleveland, Detroit, and Philadelphia. Conversely, any attack on Hillary that alienated moderate Republican women could cripple Obama’s chances.

The chances of Hillary Clinton doing the right thing and stepping aside are about equal to the chance that Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will someday put impeachment on the table. That they aren’t going to happen doesn’t change the fact that both decisions would be good for America.

Gay Roosters Up for Adoption

Trish


Great PhotoShop on the birds, Jason!


If you haven’t clicked around the Pensito Review blog roll, you’re probably missing out on special blogs like the one my friend Joe contributes to, Jacksonville Confidential. And that means you’re missing stories like this one.

Two roosters, whose owners say are gay, are up for adoption on PetFinder.

Deciding that they were not going to adhere to normative chicken social conventions Julius and Big Daddy have chosen one another as companions. Thus, against the odds, we are seeking a rooster-savvy home where they can stay together for the rest of their days. Big Daddy is julius’ protector, and at night he roosts over Julius like a mama hen sitting on a brood of chicks! Obviously the idea of separating these guys is just too heartbreaking to even consider!

Yes, as Deepak Chopra points out, homosexuality has existed in every human society through the ages, and in most animal species as well. Kind of shoots that whole “God doesn’t want anyone to be gay” theory all to hell.

Cheney Says Bush is Biggest Victim in Iraq — Service Members Volunteered to Be There

Trish

Somebody needs to slap this guy.

Dick Cheney will tell ABC’s Martha Raddatz — who wrote The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family about the sacrifice of service members after her assignment covering Iraq — that Pres. Bush carries the greatest strain for the ongoing occupation. He will also point out that the 4,000 Americans killed so far chose to be there.

On the 4,000 dead Americans: “The president carries the biggest burden, obviously,” Cheney said.

Noting the burden placed on military families, the vice president said the biggest burden is carried by President George W. Bush, who made the decision to commit US troops to war, and reminded the public that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.

“It obviously brings home I think for a lot of people the cost that’s involved in the global war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Cheney said in the interview, conducted in Turkey…

“The president carries the biggest burden, obviously,” Cheney said. “He’s the one who has to make the decision to commit young Americans, but we are fortunate to have a group of men and women, the all-volunteer force, who voluntarily put on the uniform and go in harm’s way for the rest of us.”

Well isn’t that a convenient way to get out of taking responsibility. No doubt Cheney is still patting himself on the back all these years later for his cleverness in requesting and receiving five deferments from duty in Vietnam.

One problem with his logic, though, which Raddatz points out.

Raddatz noted that some soldiers, Air Force members, and Marines have been on multiple deployments and have been sent back to Iraq because of the stop-loss policy — an involuntary extension of a service member’s enlistment contract. The Army alone says 58,000 US soldiers have been redeployed to war because of the stop-loss policy.

“When you talk about an all-volunteer force, some of these soldiers, airmen, Marines have been on two, three, four, some of them more than that, deployments,” Raddatz said. “Do you think when they volunteered they had any idea that there would be so many deployments or stop-loss? Some of those who want to get out can’t because of stop-loss?”

“A lot of men and women sign up because sometimes they will see developments,” Cheney said. “For example, 9/11 stimulated a lot of folks to volunteer for the military because they wanted to be involved in defending the country.”

Unlike you, Dick Cheney, who just wants to run it. Into the ground.

You can watch the shocking and depressing exchange tonight on ABC’s World News.

Dean Comes Under Fire for 48-State Strategy

Trish

Dr. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named, as Jon has come to call Howard Dean around me and Buck, since just a mention of his name to Florida folks Gets Us Started, is taking well-deserved criticism. Time’s Tim Padgett asks all the good questions: Does Dean really plan to pursue a 48-State Strategy for victory, and if so, where is his leadership? More importantly, will Dean cost the Democratic candidate the votes of Florida and Michigan? We’ve been wondering the same things.

Dean and the DNC now look all but AWOL when it comes to resolving a mess they did so much to create, leaving it to the states to figure it out.

Florida’s famously feckless electoral system usually deserves the ridicule it gets. But not this time. Instead of the typical jokes about Flori-duh, the Sunshine State debacle currently gripping the Democratic Party has evoked reminders of the Dean Scream — the notorious petulance of Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Howard Dean. He, along with the other sage bosses of the DNC, has left Democratic voters in what is arguably the nation’s most crucial swing state feeling dissed, disenfranchised and, it now seems, disinclined to back whomever the Democratic candidate is in November. And that could harm the party’s White House bid as severely as any butterfly ballot or hanging chad ever did.

According to a poll conducted this week for various Florida media, almost a quarter of Florida Democrats say they’ll be “less likely to support” the party’s nominee if their state’s delegates aren’t seated at the Democratic National Convention in Denver in August — and by seated they mean counted in the final tally to choose the presidential nominee.

I don’t agree with those who would withhold their votes from the Democratic candidate over this. But I do understand where they’re coming from. Dean claimed it was of vital importance that states like Iowa and New Hampshire, with tiny homogeneous populations, get to go one-on-one with the candidates because this intimate voter contact is what makes democracy work. He then forbade any candidate to be heard or seen by Florida voters.

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