Obama Steps In It, Hillary Jumps On It

…and the Dems now look like fools.

Speaking about the people of rural Pennsylvania – site of the next primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Obama said on Friday…

“…it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Aside from the fact that this statement is 100% true of small town and rural people as a general demographic – as one sociological reason that rural dwellers so often vote against their own best interests after being swayed by propaganda fluff from so many GOP “values candidates” who don’t practice what they preach – Clinton’s smear team was poised and ready to make as much hay as possible about how “elitist” Obama has revealed himself to be.

Continue reading »

Mark Penn’s Conflicted Interests

…finally catch up to him.

Clinton loyalist and Hillary’s chief political strategist Mark Penn stepped down from his position on Sunday night due to conflicting interests through his PR firm Burson-Marsteller. Clinton campaign loyalists are breathing a sigh of relief, though there is some doubt that the damage Penn did by crafting Clinton’s weak campaign strategies can be rectified in time to allow Mrs. Clinton a realistic shot at the Democratic nomination over her rival Barack Obama.

The conflict came to a head last week when Penn met with the Columbian ambassador the the U.S. in his role as Burson-Marsteller chief executive overseeing a PR campaign to help secure passage of a “fast-track” bilateral trade treaty with the US. In her role as Senator from New York, Clinton is officially opposed to the treaty along with other members of the Democratic Party leadership. Penn’s PR firm also represents clients such as the country’s largest mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, and the Blackwater Worldwide mercenary outfit blamed for many civilian deaths in Iraq.

Continue reading »

Hillary Makes It Hard to Like Her

Hillary Clinton Claiming “Experience” She Doesn’t Own

I have a framed, surprisingly personal letter of thanks on the office wall signed – not stamped – by President Bill Clinton. It came in reply to a short email we sent one Christmas when he was being perpetually impeached for lying and obfuscating about his large “bimbo problem.” We sent holiday greetings from our family to his, along with a post script asking him please not to resign. Hillary didn’t respond or add her signature to the letter, even though the email was to them both and all four of us attached our names. Just not all that involved in White House life or her own personal life, I supposed at the time.

I personally wondered during those times what the deal was with her. Protecting the privacy of your dysfunctional marriage is one thing, but private is not something Bill’s amorous adventures were. Had she no pride? No ambitions for herself? No common sense?

This last year has informed me that she’s turned Bill’s bad behavior into a debt “owed” to her, and she’s projected that onto America in general too. News flash to Hillary Clinton: I don’t owe you a darned thing.

Continue reading »

Texas, Ohio, Vermont, Rhode Island…

AAARRRRRGGGGH!!!!!

Well, John McCain locked up the Republican primary last night, and his only remaining rival Mike Huckabee good-naturedly dropped out as expected.

But alas, neither Barack Obama nor Hillary Clinton managed to lock up anything – though God knows they should probably think about locking up their most rabid supporters, who aren’t the least bit shy of ravaging the Party while lobbing nasty epithets at each other.

I’d say it’s a problem with our primary system, which does have many problems, but I don’t really think it’s that. I think people are just too emotionally involved with personalities, and not very well-versed on how politics actually work in this country. Where “Machines” generally run the show and the best any candidate can do is hope to contribute to the policy platform come convention time.

Continue reading »

Hate: When is Enough Enough?

On the last day of November, 2007, a tense standoff in Rochester, New Hampshire occurred when a man walked into Hillary Clinton’s local campaign headquarters, claimed he had a bomb strapped to himself with duct tape, and took two campaign volunteers hostage. It lasted for hours before he finally allowed the hostages to leave and walked out to unstrap the “bomb” to turn himself in.

There has been quite a lot of talk in the political blogosphere about how hate speech in the ‘normal’ course of politics as usual can incite unstable people to commit terrible crimes. And as people living near the economic edge begin to fall off, we aren’t seeing any slowdown of bizarre acts and mass murders. But in politics, the hate is just getting warmed up.

On the right (RedState and FreeRepublic) the denizens were hoarding popcorn and speculating that Clinton had arranged for this attention-grab herself, liberally (ha!) salted with the usual right-wingnut hate speech we’re so used to from that corner. Fox’s Bill O’Reilly has of course embraced “The Politics of Hate” as his theme for the election season.

Continue reading »

Hillary’s Crew Jumping Ship Again

I know, I know. We’ve heard it all before. The news of Hillary Clinton’s political death may be slightly exaggerated, so take it with a large chunk of salt. But campaign manager Patti Solis has indeed stepped down after complete Obama sweeps in last weekend’s caucuses. Where it sort of looked like Hillary wasn’t even running (for all the action on the ground coming from her camp). Can she challenge him with something better than just the same old same old DLC-type machinery? If not, Obama’s highly motivated youth movement might make her a relic.

Seems Solis was hiding the campaign’s lack of cash on hand from Mrs. Clinton, who apparently figured it out for herself clearly enough to donate $5 million of her own money to the cause. What the heck have they been buying with all the millions raised? Answer: expensive dinosaurs – campaign advisors, chairs and managers. They cost a whole heck of a lot, but they know nothing about current reality and why Obama’s eating their lunch. Check out campaign chair Terry McAuliffe on Tweety’s show last week…

The Health Care Plans: Worthless

Now that I’m over my disappointment in the sudden withdrawal of John Edwards from the nomination race, I’m back to officially “undecided.” I’ve reservations about both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, beginning on the policy side with health care.

Since both Clinton and Obama developed their plans while taking large campaign contributions from insurers, it’s not surprising that their plans are “insurer-friendly.” Both involve mandates requiring citizens to purchase health insurance from an insurance company. Both avoid highlighting problems with the way insurance works as the reason our system is in such outrageous disarray.

Continue reading »

Corporate Media versus John Edwards

We in the political blogosphere who have a low opinion of the various celebrity puppets, talking heads and pompous clowns of the major news organizations used to call it “Mainstream Media” – MSM for short. Not really wondering why they always echoed right-wing talking points, or make bad attempts to pass off blatant propaganda, disinformation and Britney’s latest pantyless booze-binge as real news.

Now the buzzword is “Corporate Owned Media” – COM – for short. COM is actually more accurate, given the major media’s heavy-handed attempts to control the 2008 primaries (as well as which Democrat we’ll get for President in November, since Republicans don’t have a prayer). But these last couple of weeks definitely take the cake.

I am complaining about the decision of the COM to pointedly ignore John Edwards as a viable candidate for the Democratic nomination and pretend that the only ones running are Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Despite the FACT that after 1 primary and 1 caucus (of 49, Michigan doesn’t count), John Edwards BEAT Hillary Clinton in Iowa and the delegate count is very close. The split works out thusly:

Obama: 25
Clinton: 24
Edwards: 18

Continue reading »

The Iowa Surprise Package: Analysis

Obama! …and Huck?!?

The Dems

For those of us who weren’t thrilled with the idea of revolving political dynasties – the Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton mantra – Iowa’s caucuses came as a refreshing surprise. Given Hillary’s “brass balls” approach to belligerent foreign policy, obvious ties to Big Business and business as usual, and her penchant for dirty politics, I think she got what she deserved – a sound slap-down.

It’s not that I like Barack Obama that much either, or that the mostly rural, stoically rustic population of Iowa is a particularly good representative of America in general (or the political leanings of the nation). But when Hillary Clinton set her staffers on Obama with repeats of already established lies and smears, it’s gratifying that Iowans turned against her in droves. The *last* thing this country needs is just another dirty politician in a bad suit.

Continue reading »

John Grisham Steps On Iowa Republicans’ Toes

In an interview this past Thursday with the Des Moines Register newspaper, best-selling author John Grisham made more news with his entrance onto the political stage than with his new book, scheduled for release Monday [September 24].

Grisham slams war, tells book’s Iowa ties appeared in Friday’s Register, featuring scant information about the book and lots of quotes about his political opinions.

Continue reading »