The Friday Political Thread: Completely Funded by Lobbyists

Quote of the Week
"I'd love to carry Texas, but it's usually not in the electoral calculation for the Democratic nominee. Florida and Michigan are." - Sen. Hillary Clinton, weaseling out of her previous pinky-swearing about the importance of the Texas primary with bonus waffling about the two primaries that don't get to send delegates to Denver.

The Week in Brief
- Barack Obama easily won the Wisconsin and Democrats Abroad primaries, as well as the Hawaii caucus.
- John McCain won, just as easily, the Wisconsin and Washington primaries.
- The New York Times unloaded a muckraking story on McCain's lobbyist ties.
- Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama locked horns in a middling Texas debate.
- Former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham—best remembered for revoking the state's MLK holiday, for saying he hired black people if they were "the best for the cotton-picking job," and for ending his career by being impeached—died at age 83.
- Ralph Nader sent out word that he'll be running for president again.

Larger Issues
Radical Chic and Mau-Mauing the Obamas. I ran down Ben Smith's Bill Ayers/Obama story earlier, but ABC News reports that the Clinton campaign is pushing this on reporters. Yes, the campaign of Hillary Clinton. The one whose husband pardoned Susan L. Rosenberg and Patty Hearst. "Wonder what the Republicans will do with this issue," Clinton flack Phil Singer wrote to reporters. The ridiculous Taylor Marsh (I direct you to the photo, on her website, which super-imposes her head on Supergirl's body), probably Clinton's biggest defender on the web, calls Ayers "Obama's Willie Horton." But Horton didn't give Michael Dukakis money. He was furloughed in a program Gov. Dukakis approved: That was the point of the scandal. If Clinton's campaign and its defenders are stupid enough to make hay out of this, all of Clinton's 11th hour pardons are going to crawl back up from their graves.

Below the Fold
- Jim Antle (who's written more about this than anyone) bids adieu to the anti-war Republicans.
- Gerard Baker asks if America's ready for a Euro-Socialist president. (Probably, as long as it isn't Hillary Clinton.)
- Image-savvy David Ehrenstein explains the mechanics of Obama's masquerade.
- J.P. Freire sees the McCain defense for what it is.

Oh, and for Politics n' Prog? How about a Japanese ballet troupe dancing to Pink Floyd?

Comments

[Paul]

I ran down Ben Smith's Bill Ayers/Obama story earlier, but ABC News reports that the Clinton campaign is pushing this on reporters. Yes, the campaign of Hillary Clinton. The one whose husband pardoned Susan L. Rosenberg and Patty Hearst.

I want to know about the connection between Obama and Hillary.

[Norwich U. Alum]

Paul wins the thread!

[Bingo]

Here's my neo-prog link:

Muse - Take a Bow - a message directed toward all the leaders of the world

[Andrew]

A little more prog: Amon Duul II performing Eye-Shaking King.

[Someone Who Doesn\'t Want to L]

Unfair - Paul has been coasting on this sense of inevitability ever since the last thread. Just because you are the first to publicly declare your entrance into a thread does not make you the winner of that thread.

Further, we must keep an eye to the future. There are other threads out there and we must be absolutely sure that our thread's winner is the best possible entrant into the super-meta-thread in November. For all of Paul's brave talk, current polls show that he does not do so well against the current leaders of these other threads.

[Lev Strauss]

Apparently Whitehouse.com is not a porn site anymore and is a political site. But surprisingly the only things on the site are polygraph challenges.

The one is for McCain's mistress to take and she gets ten thousand dollars just to take it. If she is telling the truth she gets a hundred thousand and reimbursed lodging and travel expenses.

The other one is apparently for a man that performed oral sex on Obama while Obama was smoking crack in '99. The man has agreed to take the polygraph and has donated his initial ten thousand to charity. He takes the polygraph test on Tuesday.

That stuff at least seems a lot more interesting then the other campaign news at least this week. Obama's hour long speech last Tuesday, got me pulling for Larry to pass his test this Tuesday. The odds are low but most people said that about McGreevey too. Only a gay wealthy crackwhore can save us from Socialism.

[Lefty]

I'm going to have to check out the politics and prog suggestions above. But I've been waiting sometime for some Keith Emerson. My head is going to explode after all of this week's presidential political B.S.

Meanwhile check out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3Olb0baa4&eurl=http://fconte.blogspot.com/2007/08/this-guitar-kid-can-play.html

Keith Emerson is GOD! And all you ELP critics holed up with your Residents albums will pay!!!!

[David E. Gallaher]

Is running for President the crack of crack?
Harold Stassen, the "boy governor" of Minnesota, made a fool of himself.
Lyndon LaRouche... no comment.
Dennis Kucinich... no comment.

Now Ralph Nader.

In view of the above, Al Gore deserves some credit for common sense. As does Ross Perot.
I have my fingers crossed Michael Bloomberg doesn't fall into this burning ring of fire. With his money, he could be the modern-day Harold Stassen.
How old is the dude anyway?
People are living longer these days, to which I can attest.
Ruthless

[edcoast]

The year was 1975. The Floyd vinyl disc was on the stereo in the dorm room. I vaguely remember there was tequila, OK dope, and hash oil involved. Emphasis on the vaguely . . . sorry, just reminiscing. . . it was such a simple time. . .

[David E. Gallaher]

Anybody judging the "thread" as to winners and losers is a loser.
(Unless I'm the winner, of course.)

"Alum," you are nothing more than a styptic pencil.

Ruthless

[Click \'n\' Learn]

1. Debates should never be "middling", considering all the lies and misleading and incomplete statements candidates make and all the huge gaps in their proposals. Reason Magazine has a chance to correct that by spending a very small amount of money putting on real debates featuring the candidates or their proxies, but chooses not to for some completely unknown reason.

2. Here's what CNN "forgot" to tell you about the debate. Shouldn't CNN have disclosed his affiliation?

3. Obama dog-whistles, in a cosmotarian-friendly way.

4. Funky Punky! Here's this week's prog antidote.

[David E. Gallaher]

This thread:
Completely Lunded by Fobbyists.

That's it for me. I'm out of here for the eve. That's right: Comoutly plete of here.

Unless I smell blood...

[highnumber]

Funk & punk could be a potent combination, but it almost never is. I'll assume that LonelyWhacker has linked to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and not click.

Punk & ska, on the other hand, usually hits.

OPIV

[Nephilium]

highnumber:

I'll see your Op Ivy, and raise you to this.

Nephilium

[highnumber]

Nice!

I bet they play "Skinhead Moonstomp" at shows.

[Daze]

Does this mean McKinney and Nader will compete for the Green nomination?

[Nephilium]

highnumber:

They used to... They were always a fun band to go see...

Probably their most bizarre song was "R'aggro", a slow melodious song with the chorus of:

Yeahh... My message to you is, I will smash your fucking head, two ticks and I am seeing red. I don't care what you have said, I will stomp until you dead.

It's one that gets a lot of strange looks when someone actually listens to the lyrics...

Nephilium... Missing the third wave now...

[SIV]

Funk & punk could be a potent combination, but it almost never is. I'll assume that LonelyWhacker has linked to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and not click.

LW linked to neither funk nor punk but...NATALIE MERCHANT!!! The horror...the horror.....

here is your punk funk James Chance and the Contortions

[The It Girl]

Damn, SIV, you remembered! No Wave lives!

[Jim Walsh]

LW linked to neither funk nor punk but...NATALIE MERCHANT!!! The horror...the horror....

Like we'd expect LW to have any taste in music to begin with. To paraphrase something someone once said about Ronald Reagan, LW seems like the kind of person who would request "Melancholy Baby" when he's sober...

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Oh, and for Politics n' Prog? How about a Japanese ballet troupe dancing to Pink Floyd?

Well, if the chicks were naked............

[The Wine Commonsewer]

....Melancholy Baby...

Head like a melon, face like a baby.

[John in Nashville]

I thought that line went, head like a melon; face like a Collie.

[Fluffy]

Since this is an open thread, here is a contribution I call "The Future of Healthcare":

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2008/02/22/hostin.long.island.cnn

On Long Island, a group of nurses who quit their jobs due to unacceptable working conditions have been indicted by the local DA.

Funny, I always thought that the way the state would deal with the coming crash in provider numbers would be to militarize care to prevent "desertion". It didn't occur to me that an inventive DA could use criminal statutes to enslave providers instead.

[Nutter]

I'm not surprised the nurse case happened on Long Island. Even by New York standards Long Island has heavy-handed, intrusive, bullying government. There are several "first in the nation" nanny state innovations - cellphone driving, ephedra, DM cough syrups over 18 only, and more - that the idiots are actually proud of. Taxes are punishingly high. And there's endless handwringing over why people are moving away.

[Chuck]

That was one of the most boring ballet pieces I've ever seen. I'm not sure if even naked chicks could make it interesting.

[J sub D]

I'm not sure if even naked chicks could make it interesting.

With the exception of soccer, naked chicks make everything interesting.

Oops, now that I've done the obligatory research (googling "naked soccer"), even that would be intersting with au naturale female competitors.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

You know, I'm going to have to be more careful. I had just clicked on the J Sub D link when The House Blonde's friend, Kaylee, walks up behind me to tell me she's going with her dad today to get autographs from the Might Ducks. Pretty sure I got that shut down in time.

Actually I'm pretty sure Kaylee comes around more to see my boy Jake.....although neither of them are quite aware of exactly what's happening right there.

That's going to work well for both of them later, being just shy of two years apart.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

I thought that line went, head like a melon; face like a Collie.

I blame the wine.

I blame the wine for dating that woman as well. The one with the head like a melon and a face like a Collie.

[Cesar]

Is there anything that could make soccer interesting?

[prolefeed]

Is there anything that could make soccer interesting?

Soccer hooligan chavs brawling?

[Cesar]

Soccer hooligan chavs brawling?

Eh, I prefer my violence within the sport itself.

To hold my interest a sport either has to be high scoring (basketball), violent (ice hockey), or some combination of both (football).

Communist kickball pretty much fails at both of those.

[x,y]

Fluffy,

Excellent link. That's terrifying.

Note that the DA hides behind the phrase "insufficient notice" but at no point says the nurses were contractually obligated to give any notice whatsoever.

[P Brooks]

Cesar-

Lacrosse season is coming! Speed, skill, violence; it's all there.

[J sub D]

You know, I'm going to have to be more careful.

TWC, sorry about that, chief. If I had included a NSFTAGV (not safe for teenage girl visitors) warning on it, would you have heeded it?

[Cesar]

Lacrosse season is coming! Speed, skill, violence; it's all there.

I know next to nothing about lacrosse but now I'm intrigued.

[P Brooks]

Since this is an open thread, I'll drag this up the hill from the dead "Caesar-ian" post. This shit truly bothers me; Bush chalked up a kill in Hawaii a year or so ago.

P Brooks | February 22, 2008, 3:55pm | #

In other "imperious presidency" news, a motorcycle policeman in Dallas died after crashing his motorcycle while escorting Candidate Clinton's motorcade.

Why do these worthless fucks think they need a high-speed police escort everywhere they go? Could it be they fear those whom they would subjugate?

[prolefeed]

In J sub D's defense, when someone links you to "au naturale" pics, you've been given the equivalent of a NSFW warning -- unless you don't understand French. Plus, technically, those girls were clothed -- with a really thin layer of a one-use synthetic liquid fabric.

Would this legally count as clothing if one went out in public "dressed" like that? Would be interesting if the various public indecency laws were sloppily written to not close that loophole.

[J sub D]

Would this legally count as clothing if one went out in public "dressed" like that?

Somewhere in the vast wasteland known by insideres as the intertubes, there is a video of a sizzling hot lady walking though a city (european?) dressed in nothing but body pait that mimics normal clothing. She does not get especially noticed. If I ever run across it again, I'll save the address for ya.

[prolefeed]

Why do these worthless fucks think they need a high-speed police escort everywhere they go? Could it be they fear those whom they would subjugate?

Given the rather high percentage of presidents that have been assassinated in office, yes, the security details charged with preventing such incidents do fear the subjects. I suspect that a president could try to order no such high-speed police escorts, but they'd run into a wall of opposition from the security detail, who'd point out exactly what type of ambushes these police escorts are trying to discourage.

If we were living in the sort of minarchist state that the Constitution envisions, we'd need way less of this sort of paranoid protection, because the president wouldn't have enough power to irritate many citizens -- don't have too many members of congress getting taken down, and they have roughly the amount of power a president under a constitutional minarchy would have.

[Cesar]

Speaking of security and candidates, there are some histrionics on the left about how the Secret Service (directed by BushCo, of course!) is somehow purposely not securing Obama events very well.

Its almost like they REALLY want to re-live the 60s, they never shut up about how Obama's life is in some kind of grave danger.

[Chris Potter]

Cesar,

To be fair, I wish I had even an Fed-inflated nickel for every time someone at my Meetup group said that the black ops were terrified of Ron Paul, and his life was in grave danger too. Turns out a lot of people paying attention to politics are two nuts short of a Snickers bar.

[Click \'n\' Learn]

This is for SIV. This is for everyone else.

[J sub D]

Turns out a lot of people paying attention to politics are two nuts short of a Snickers bar.

When you look at all of the different types of folks who have been targeted by assassins, it is difficult to spot a trend. Two Kennedy's, Martin Luther King, Gerald Ford (twice!), Ronald Reagan, George Wallace, John Lennon ...

Right, left and center, all appear to be at risk. If somebody claims the Secret Service is just going to standby and let it happen, they are on the far left side of the bell curve.

[soccerconsultant]

Is there anything that could make soccer interesting?

3 balls, 1 of them an intermittently electrified "power ball" worth 3 goals.

[Kolohe]

The accident that killed a motorcycle cop escorting Pres Bush's motorcade occurred in the rain on a military base. One of my old bosses also got seriously hurt recently when he wrecked his bike in about the same location.

And Fluffy helluva link. I think both Ayn Rand and Mary Harris Jones would be cheering for the Filipina/o nurses.

[Cesar]

But J Sub D! Its BUSHCO we're talking about!

I bet there was a shit ton of security at the Obama event, but it was mostly in the form of undercover officers dotted throughout the crowd.

They also made a big deal of OMG IT WAS IN DALLAS too!

[Cesar]

RE: soccer, I'd cut the size of the field in half and add a shot clock.

[alisa]

"Its almost like they REALLY want to re-live the 60s, they never shut up about how Obama's life is in some kind of grave danger."

I have a friend who went to New Hampshire to cover the primaries, and she told me the Obama events had more Secret Service protection than any of the other candidates'. That doesn't mean his life is in grave danger, of course, but it means his campaign is being more careful. It's one thing to say race doesn't matter, but it's another thing to bet your life on it, right?

[Cesar]

Alisa, I have no problem with him having extra secret security protection. Thats totally warranted.

What I have a problem with is when certain people on the left suggest the Secret Service is intentionally being lax with Obama's security on some secret order from Cheney.

I have no love for the folks in the White House but cut me a break. Thats like saying Hillary killed Vince Foster.

[alisa]

Well, sure, that's a loony conspiracy theory. I misunderstood.

[GG]

- Former Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham-best remembered for revoking the state's MLK holiday, for saying he hired black people if they were "the best for the cotton-picking job," and for ending his career by being impeached-died at age 83.

Colorful guy, that one. Some around these parts still say he was railroaded.

In other Arizona news, the ethically-challenged, super sperminator (12 kids!) Rick Renzi was indicted this week over his land deal shenanigans. Boehner asked him to relinquish his House seat already. I wonder if McCain will ask him to step down from his post as a McCain campaign co-chair.

Lone Wacko, for no other reason than to reward you for your tenacity, I offer you this:

Guajillo Sauce

16 large dried Guajillo chilies
4 cups broth (chicken, beef, fish or vegetable, depending on the dish)
7 cloves garlic
1 t ground cumin
1 t Mexican oregano
1/4 t black pepper
2 T olive oil
sugar to taste

Roast unpeeled garlic on a hot skillet until soft. Remove skins and chop.

Prepare your chilies by splitting them open and removing the stems and seeds. Lay them flat on the hot skillet skin side up, and pressing them with a spatula, cook for 10 seconds or so, then flip and do the same. Transfer chilies to a bowl of hot water for 1/2 hour. Drain.

Put 1 c broth, softened chilies, garlic, pepper, oregano and cumin in a standard blender and puree.

Heat a large sauce pan on medium-high and add the oil. When the oil is hot, pour the puree into the pan. Stir constantly for 8 minutes or so, until the puree reduces and turns dark.

Add the remaining broth and stir well. Partially cover the sauce and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes. When it's done, it should have the consistency of a light cream soup. (If it's too thick, add more broth.) Add sugar to taste.

This sauce can be used in any number of Mexican dishes (enchiladas, burritos, over roasted meats, etc.). I like it best poured over Chicken Burrito Sonora.

Mmmm. I, for one, welcome my saucy Mexican overlords.

[joe]

The campaigns don't determine how much, or what kind of, Secret Service protection they get. The Secret Service does.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

Would this legally count as clothing if one went out in public "dressed" like that?

It certainly counts at Mardi Gras and Key West

not work or kid safe

[The Wine Commonsewer]

......when someone links you to "au naturale" pics......

If I had included a NSFTAGV (not safe for teenage girl visitors) warning on it, would you have heeded it?

It's worse, they're fifth graders. 🙂 Thank god I don't have a house full of teen age girls. Yet. Don't even go there. 🙂

Prole and J Sub, No Harm, No Foul.

I wasn't whining about not getting warned. Thought it was kind of amusing. BTW, I actually expected worse than what was there. I just didn't expect Kaylee to come prancing in here all excited about going to get the Ducks autographs. They all left to do just that a couple of minutes ago.

[VM]

cool looking recipe!

[sixstring]

As for high speed security details, God bless them. I can't count how many times the POTUS has shut down the entire route from JFK to NYC. Please go as fast as you can so I can get on with my day. Better would be to don a disguise and take public transportation like the rest of us shmucks, but failing that, get 'er done quickly.

[The Wine Commonsewer]

GG, the sauce sounds delicious.

[poetryman69]

Energy Independence Now!

No more Oil Wars!

Stop funding the terrorists!

Drill in Anwar.

Build more nuclear power plants

Use More coal.

Use more natural gas

Turn trash into energy

Double the efficiency of windmills and solar cells.

If France can do nuclear power so can we.

If Brazil can do biomass/ethanol power so can we.

If Australia can do LNG power so can we.

Domestically produced energy will end recession and spur the economy.

[Chris Potter]

But then the Mexicans will come to our Temple!

😉

[Cesar]

Chris, thanks for the memories in the above H&R reference.

[midbrowcrisis]

I'd like to recommend to everyone "Legacy of Ashes - the History of the CIA" by Tim Weiner. The U.S. government, especially the secret one, has been even much worse than I thought.

Lots of interesting tidbits in there. "Wild Bill" Donovan, one of the founding fathers, had a plan to ship bats from western caves over to Japan and attach incendiary bombs onto to their backs; from their they'd be sent into the cities.

[midbrowcrisis]

Doh! Not 'their' but 'there.'

[imp]

Can I please have a Japanese ballerina to keep, please, please, please?

I promise, I'll feed her and take her for walks and bathe her every day.

[truthier]

imp,
No. You will stay with your 55 year old toothless Albanian and you will like it.

[No Comment]

Wild Bill" Donovan, one of the founding fathers, had a plan to ship bats from western caves over to Japan and attach incendiary bombs onto to their backs

In one incident the Auxiliary Army Air Base in Carlsbad, New Mexico, was set on fire when armed bats were accidentally released. The bats incinerated the test range and made roost under a fuel tank...it was estimated that $2 million had been spent on the project.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat_bomb

[Chris Potter]

On ThisWeek with Snuffalupagus, I liked how "Presidential Historian" (in actuality, LBJ Lackey) Doris Kearns Goodwin defended Obama from charges of plagiarism by claiming that everyone does it. An appropriate response, considering is a shameless plagiarist herself.

This was moments after she claimed that the Teddy Roosevelt - Taft dustup at the 1912 GOP convention "destroyed the Republican Party for a generation". Henry Cabot Lodge, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover might beg to differ, all having been part of the Republican Decade of the 1920s.

I'm wondering, what kind of credentials does one have to have to be a "Presidential Historian"? I don't have friends in high places in Washington, otherwise I might think I was qualified.

[Cesar]

Chris, I noticed that stupid claim too. She probably went to some big shot Ivy League school as well and still couldn't get it right.

[Chris Potter]

According to this Slate piece, she used to teach at Harvard, and sat on its board of research overseers until the plagiarism scandal blew up in her face.

[Cesar]

Well, it looks like Nader will run for the Green Party nomination.

I'm I not the only one looking forward to a Nader-Cynthia McKinney debate?

[Eddy]

"Thats like saying Hillary killed Vince Foster."

Well, he did probably have to listen to her every day. I know that would drive me to suicide. If it weren't for the hummers drowning her voice out, I'm sure Bill would have done himself a long time ago.

[J sub D]

I'm I not the only one looking forward to a Nader-Cynthia McKinney debate?

If it happens and is televised, I'll watch it. Nader strikes me as a dottering old man slowly going senile in the public eye. It's humorous in a melancholy sort of way.

[Cesar]

Nader strikes me as a dottering old man slowly going senile in the public eye.

I guess he has more in common with John McCain than I realized.

[J sub D]

Conservatives say Obama lacks patriotism

Will enough people fall for this kind of crap to make a difference? IMRO, this is dirty politics and should be punished by the electorate. The swift boater shit pissed me off, but it probably got GWB re-elected. So the right wingers are trying it again. I hope it blows uo in their face.

[Mac Daddy (R-AZ)]

There will be many more swiftboatings, my friends.

[Cesar]

I don't know why right wingers love the Pledge of Allegiance so much. It was written by an outright Socialist, for God's sake.

[J sub D]

I don't know why right wingers love the Pledge of Allegiance so much. It was written by an outright Socialist, for God's sake.

In the '50s they added "under God" (for God's sake?)to the pledge, so that made it A-OK i guess. 😉

[joe]

I saw that, too, Chris Potter.

Doris Kearns Goodwin, Timmeh? Really?

You're going to invite Doris Kearns Goodwin and ask her if something is plagerism? Non-ironically?

How did THAT happen?

[Chris Potter]

It was Georgeh, not Timmeh. But I hadn't thought about the irony angle. If he was deliberately setting her up, he's got even bigger "cudjonies" than I thought when he bet his entire bank account that Ron Paul he wouldn't win the nomination.

[rawdawgbuffalo]

well whatever happens, they need to deal with FLA & MICH if they want a unified party in the end

[joe]

Timmeh!