Barack Obama is holding a rally in Minneapolis.
Details via the Campaign Blog
Rally with Barack Obama in Minneapolis
Target Center
600 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MNSaturday, February 2
Doors open: 1:30 p.m.The event is free and open to the public but tickets are required, so sign up now:
http://mn.barackobama.com/minneapolis
I’m a little confused. Huh?:
And then, on The View, Whoopi Goldberg goes off about Hillary Clinton bravely walking into a “tough room” (with all the boys) on a day where she “had just been exposed, as if someone snatched off her clothes.”
Likening a presidential campaign to having HRC’s clothes snatched off? To say nothing of gang rape.
I’m probably simplifying it. And being misogynistic. Or something. I don’t even know anymore. Feminism (or whatever the fuck this is) as a political movement is coming so frickin’ close to jumping the shark among so many millions of people, it doesn’t really seem to matter right now.
Anyway, this isn’t the first time there have been wildly inappropriate metaphors bandied about in our politics. There are many out there who are equating ANY critique of Hillary Rodham Clinton as woman-hatred, misogyny, virtual rape and so on—much like, ahem, Evangelical Christians equate any critique against them as anti-Christian hatred. Much like saying “Happy holidays!” in lieu of “Merry Christmas” becomes a WAR ON CHRISTIANS, saying “Hillary shouldn’t distort Obama’s record” is in liberal-left circles quickly becoming LEGALIZE RAPE.
I think there are plenty of people—not just women—who are the victims of actual physical abuse and humiliation who would disagree with the notion that a very powerful, very rich woman—the presumptive front-runner of the Democratic Party’s presidential campaign even—walking into the United States Senate to take her rightful seat to hear the State of the Union… Yeah. That’s a lot of things, but that’s not a victim.
Unless of course the worst part of being forcibly stripped in public and/or raped is a vague feeling of social awkwardness. I suspect it’s not, but maybe I’m wrong.
Hillary is a very powerful, very power-hungry, very rich woman. And there’s nothing wrong with that, all you feminists, so stop acting like there is. Women don’t have to be victims. HRC’s not. And you seem embarrassed that she isn’t, as if it her election would be an unsatisfying finale to some weird, third-rate, narrative fantasy of a brave struggle on Lifetime: Television for Women. It’s like she has to be a victim in order to prove her worth. Witness:
“I don’t want to be pushed aside anymore,” [Massachusetts State Senate President Therese] Murray told the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus during an event this morning. “I don’t want to be patted on the head, saying, ‘You did a good job on that, but now we got this young person, we got this attractive man, because you can’t get elected because the media said you couldn’t, because the polls said you couldn’t. We’re going to put this guy out front.’”
The president of the Massachusetts senate feels “pushed aside”? The president? Of a big state’s senate? And why is she describing this campaign as if her husband has just left her for fresh young tail? Is this psychodrama the kind of thing feminism now stands for? “But, Ted, you promised you’d get a babysitter and take me to dinner. How! Dare! You!”
That seems like a really shitty way to view the world.
Do you know what’s fun? Politics.
And do you know what else is fun? Gambling.
And do you know what else is even more fun? Politics and gambling without the possibility of losing any money.
So, Rudy seems to be dropping out of the race… And he just said something about “Less lawsuits… PLEASE! Less lawsuits!”
And he got one hell of a round of applause. And people chanting for him. You know, when tort reform is your most inspiring issue, it’s hard to believe that he’s lost.
Also, he should’ve said “fewer lawsuits.” But that’s neither here nor there. The guy’s not going to win and, really, that should make all of us happy enough for one day.
Oh well, I’m going back to listen to the li’l guy give a repeat performance of last night’s SOTU speech (personalized government! freedom! school choice is equality!) and imagine what he’ll look like later, crying.
UPDATE @ 8:40 p.m.: I’m watching Mitt now. Wow. These Republicans are sure taking a lot of cues from Bush’s SOTU, what with all the “individual freedom.” No wonder the rank-and-file conservatives are so upset with their candidates. I mean, individual freedom? Clearly these guys haven’t read the GOP platform in some time…
UPDATE @ 8:43 p.m.: The Romney clan is being introduced. It’s all smiles and muscles, square-jawed family values waiting to be corrupted with those special underwear… made out of leather, maybe… Is it warm in here?
UPDATE @ 8:45 p.m.: Jesus Christ or whoever it is you worship, Mitt! It’s John McCain’s win. You can shut up now.
More than 80 lawyers who are providing free-of-charge legal services to detainees in Guantánamo Bay endorsed Barack Obama in a public statement yesterday:
We are at a critical point in the Presidential campaign, and as lawyers who have been deeply involved in the Guantanamo litigation to preserve the important right to habeas corpus, we are writing to urge you to support Senator Obama.
[...]
Some politicians are all talk and no action. But we know from first-hand experience that Senator Obama has demonstrated extraordinary leadership on this critical and controversial issue. When others stood back, Senator Obama helped lead the fight in the Senate against the Administration’s efforts in the Fall of 2006 to strip the courts of jurisdiction, and when we were walking the halls of the Capitol trying to win over enough Senators to beat back the Administration’s bill, Senator Obama made his key staffers and even his offices available to help us.
According to the Boston Globe, one of the co-authors, Chicago lawyer Gary Isaac, didn’t intend the “all talk and no action” comment to be a jab at Clinton, but was “really intended to respond to the contention that Senator Obama is all talk and no action. We wanted to share our experience where he was a leader on an issue of great importance to us.”
Did he just pull a I-did-not-inhale on a Clinton?
Wow. That was a boring State of the Union.
The lies aren’t even shocking anymore. The double speak is just trite instead of insulting. The world truly will end with a whimper. I’m just glad I don’t live in Iran. And I thought for a second he was going to declare war on Colombia or something. He shouldn’t just mention countries like that. It scares us all.
At 9:08 on CNN’s live feed on the interwebs. Prez just said, “This is for Michele Bachmann.” And he passed something to some other elected officials to hand back to her. She didn’t get an aisle seat? Oh, sad! And she probably spent all day at Forever 21 and High Tech Nails. Worst. Prom. Ever.
UPDATE: At 9:11, child screams, “Mr. President, you know my sister, Sarah Tucker!” POTUS responds, “Yes I do. How she doin’?” THIS IS FASCINATING.
UPDATE: 9:25: I like this Gov. Sebelius. She’s like Helen Mirren. I would like her to be my mom, except that would mean I’d have to live in Kansas, and, you know, mmmmeh.
This latest move by Kennedy is so telling about the status of and respect for women’s rights, women’s voices, women’s equality, women’s authority and our ability – indeed, our obligation — to promote and earn and deserve and elect, unabashedly, a president that is the first woman after centuries of men who “know what’s best for us.”
—Marcia Pappas, president of New York NOW
Our obligation is to elect Hillary Rodham Clinton because she is a woman? That’s not unabashed, my dear. That’s shameless.
So… If Roy Cohn was alive and ran for president, I would be under obligation to vote for him because he’s gay, I’m gay, and no matter how incompetent, evil and disagreeable the man was, that’s as far as my little mind could carry me? What? I wouldn’t WANT Roy Cohn to be the first gay president. Yuck. Just… Yuck. Or maybe I should insist right now that Lance Bass run for Congress? Ew. No thank you, madam! No thank you at all!
So, Marcia, Marcia, Marcia… Stop trying to tell women what they “should” do. I know you’re a Clintonista, so you can only see that women “should” vote for Hillary and South Carolina doesn’t count because of all the darkies and the “betrayal” of one woman is the betrayal of all women because, as we all know, women are more comfortable acting in lockstep solidarity from all those years cheerleading and synchronized swimming and, you know, all those other things they do before they spank each other and have pillow fights*. But, still, it’s just so tacky and sort of uninspiring when you say it out loud.
Anyway… As a faggot who wore a PAT SCHROEDER ‘88 button in junior high, I can assure you I would welcome a woman in power. But I do not feel obliged to pluck out my eyes and vote blindly.
*If you’re going to insult women by insisting that their vaginas are stronger than their brains, you might as well just go all the way. Go hard or go home, as Diablo Cody says.
Oh, that meme.
You know, Matthew, I would claim that you are some kind of political sage, with skills of precognition, except that Bill said this hours before the polls closed, and even before you posted.
So, as South Carolina votes today, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around the last week of Democratic campaigning. It got bitter fast, I got disgusted fast, and it sent up a warning flag to me on Tuesday night. My friend Wendy and I were having dinner and we got to talking about the campaign. Wendy’s not as addicted to politics as I am, though she does keep up a reasonable amount.
And we had both come to the same point with Billary. Namely, we can’t abide by the damage of having two families in power for 32 years (from Bush I’s vice presidency in 1981 to the end of Hillary’s [first] term in 2012). Our republic is too fragile already. This is to say nothing of the idea of having two people who have shown no shame in using their power in the post-Bush White House, a White House that has much, much more power than it did eight years ago. The sheer dishonesty of Bill and Hillary Clinton makes me queasy. Their easy manipulation of the electorate is nauseating… If the last eight years have shown anything, it’s that the American Experiment (as it were) is hanging by a thread. We need to shore up our defenses against nepotism and cults of personality. This family cannot do that. In a Clinton White House, Bill will take no oath of office and be accountable to no one except his wife (just as Hillary took no oath and was not accountable during her “term” as First Lady).
After Bush II, have we learned fucking NOTHING about how dangerous this is? Not just because it’s the Clintons, but because it’s a fucking lousy-ass way to run a republic?
So neither of Wendy or I will vote for Hillary if she’s the Democratic nominee. We may vote for the Republican (if that Republican is, say, John McCain, because at least McCain respects habeas corpus and at this point I’m unconvinced the Clintons would—just because it means more power for them, and they find lots of power for them incredibly delicious). We may not vote at all. I’ll leave the party formally. I feel that this country has seen ultimately the true face of Bill and Hillary Clinton this last week, and it is revolting. They may be Democrats, but they are not democrats.
So, yeah… The fact that two lifelong Democrats—social liberal, economic moderate, urban-dwelling, gay-friendly, passport-holding, middle-class, creative-class Gen-X Democrats—will not vote for Hillary and may vote for the Republican should send chills down the spine of anyone who cares at all about the Democratic Party.
I don’t think the Clintons understand this: The rules are changing at the speed of light. America is on the verge of an incredible change within and without; anyone who has eyes unclouded by cynicism’s myopia can see that to at least some degree. And this is not a country that should be governed as it has been governed. For the last eight years, we have had to endure a divisive, fear-mongering man who has ruled us like a king. No more. I will not accept one day more. Not from the Bush family, not from the Clinton family, not any longer.
If my fellow Democrats are so stupid or so out-for-revenge against Republicans or so taken in by base identity politics to nominate Hillary because she’s comfortable or she’s “a fighter” or she’s a woman… well, then, they can have the Democratic Party once and for all.
And the final test will be tonight. Obama will win South Carolina. And if the Clintons’ meme coming out of the loss is that Obama won “because of the black vote” or that Obama can’t “win the mainstream” or whatever other cute, coded, subtle euphemism they might come up with to say that Obama does well with the darkies and Hillary does well with real Americans… Well, that idea crosses their lips, and the Clintons will be just as horrible as I could have imagined. If their campaign promotes that meme, they are playing to the racist sludge that still exists in the subconscious of our society, the racism that doesn’t really believe blacks are Americans, that doesn’t really think that blacks should vote, that doesn’t think that black folks are smart enough to give their consent to government.
So watch for it tonight. Watch what Billary and their surrogates say… We’ll have an answer.
I’m prepared to say No.
Ok, let’s play a game. Word Association. (Ok more like phrase association, but humor me)
“testy exchange”
“shot back”
“fired back angrily”
“confronted”
Still with me?
Ok now watch a short video.
Now, do any of the phrases above describe what occurred in the video?
Of course not.
Unfortunately, our valiant press corps, and most notably in this instance, ABC news’ Sunlan Miller, spent too much time in the creative writing department, instead of, well, journalism classes.
Here’s some snippets of that yellow press that is just hacktastic. For starters the question asked was something to the effect of “Is Bill Clinton getting into your head?”
“I am trying to make sure that his statements by him are answered. Don’t you think that’s important?” Obama shot back, while walking away.
When Zeleny yelled a follow up question suggesting the Illinois senator had not answered the question, Obama fired back angrily, “Don’t try cheap stunts like that.”
Obama then walked away and shook hands with the mass of voters that surrounded him.
A few minutes later, Obama came back and confronted Zeleny again.
“I will answer your question though off the record, would you like to talk off the record?” Obama asked. Zeleny refused to go off the record and then motioned toward the gaggle of TV cameras gathered around him. (emphasis added)
Really guys? I mean, are you so desperate to start the Obama Can’t Handle Clinton meme that you have to basically make it up? Or are you just angry that he called you guys on trying a cheap stunt. Either way, please, cut it out.
If this man’s hands contained any more ham, my grandmother would glaze them in honey and serve them for Easter dinner. I mean I’ve heard of hatchet jobs but this is just laughable.
I guess Senator Obama was just too busy working for the poor and homeless in Chicago to take time to watch the Tom Cruise movie, The Firm. Because if he had the Tony Rezko case would not be biting him in the ass. In case you forgot, Cruise played a white version of Barack Obama–a charming, up-and-comer fresh out of law school idealist who fell in with a crowd of scalawags who were tied to the mob.
This isn’t even a hatchet job. It’s a herring job. Just let the boys from Monty Python elaborate:
Do you like how I tied together the concept of a nonsense hatchet job, with a (red) herring around a scene from a movie that is that is itself sheer nonsense? See how I did that? It’s because I’m smart.
mmmm. ham.
I don’t think I’ve awarded one on LME yet. It was a little thing I used to do back at my old place (which I either need to start updating again or just make go bye-bye). I read something just now that deserves one.
This guy, Kid Oakland is his internet handle. Kid’s an effing rock star. He is probably the most positive blogger at Daily Kos, period. This guy is committed to electing Democrats, and GOOD Democrats wherever and whenever possible. This is his latest. This dude is committed. During the 2006 campaign, on top of working his ass off to elect Jerry McNerny in his district (CA-11)(Who won by the way, one of the many Democratic pick-ups), he organized a national network of local blogs, including Minnesota’s own Bluestem Prairie Seriously, read this diary from his time campaigning for McNerney. This diary spent almost at least a full 24 hours on the Recommended list at Daily Kos, and rightly so, for it is an inspiring story.
While I knew I supported Barack Obama long before I learned K/O did, his mutual support is a better endorsement than any elected official or celebrity can give.
K/O is one of the hardest working and most committed Democratic activists I can name. I hereby bestow upon him the highest honors I am capable of: Gold Star.
Bill, Bill. BILL, Wake up!
That looks like me when I sat in the back row of Roman Civ in college.
zzzzzzzzz……zzzzzzzzzz…..zzzzzzzzz…..
Read This. Read this and tell me how this man will not be the greatest president since JFK.
It’s a long one, but it’s worth it.
I am now an official operative of the Obama campaign. I have been phone-banking. I will be phone banking an canvassing (as soon as the temperature goes above zero) until caucus day. I am also the W6 P2 Precinct Captain. I have minimal work lined up between now and Feb. 5th. This will be my life until then.
Just so y’all know where I’m coming from.
Bill: This is for you. But I don’t get the Treaty of Ghent reference.
So, shrill Ma Clinton managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of the Messiah and, despite the fact she was 20 points ahead a week or so ago and only won by a few percentage points and blah blah blah, she’s the Comeback Kid 3.0 (the first being Pa Clinton and John McCain or possibly Britney Spears for five minutes last October).
And now the Messiah is going to lose, apparently, and Ma Clinton really does have a heart after all, and women are angry because Chris Matthews was being mean, so it’s time to circle the vagina wagons and give Ma Clinton what she’s due because, really, if you’ve worked real, real hard for a real, real long time, you should be president of the whole country, absolutely. And maybe especially if you’re a woman, because that would sure show them! Thanks, Baby Boomers, for putting up a fight—another useless and highly reactionary one, certainly, but you’re just going with what you know.
The press response to any move is trite and predictable. Several bloggers were actually able to predict headlines down to the letter. So why do we all believe it? Why do we get swayed by these invented story lines created nearly out of whole cloth by lazy but pretty men and women who are more supermodel than journalist? Why does our entire national press corps start barking when one starts barking?
How can we make it stop?
I mean, legally.
I’m reading various articles and headlines regarding New Hampshire that are making me nuts. Here’s a sentence from the AP with a pretty common theme (I’m seeing similar phrasings in the NYTimes, WaPo, etc)…
Arizona Sen. John McCain won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, completing a remarkable comeback and climbing back into contention for the Republican presidential nomination.
There is nothing remarkable, nor is there a comeback, nor has McCain climbed back into contention for anything. Social conservatives hate him and fiscal conservatives would rather have Romney. McCain never had a prayer in Iowa. No one ever thought he had a prayer in Iowa. Dude doesn’t play well in Iowa. McCain was always betting heavily on New Hampshire…geared his entire early strategy toward New Hampshire. So…he won fuckin’ New Hampshire. That would be the New Hampshire that accounts for 0.44% of our national population. That’s just over four-tenths of one percent. That would be the same state that has a population roughly half the size of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. A state with a population that is smaller than the San Fernando Valley. He won a vote of…nice white people. And not very many of ‘em.
I mean…who gives a shit what New Hampshire thinks? Have you ever met anyone from New Hampshire? Probably not. There ain’t many of ‘em. Can you find it on a map? Probably not. It’s a pretty place. Lots of room. Not hardly anyone there.
But I digress.
McCain losing New Hampshire would have been big news. McCain winning is not the least bit surprising.
This New Hampshire-Iowa bullshit is driving me crazy and the manufactured drama being put out by the press doesn’t help. I’m not a fan of Rudy Giuliani. But him smoking the other Republicans in California or New York or Illinois or any of the other big states on Tsunami Tuesday (Feb. 5th) would be the best thing that could happen to the way we choose our presidential nominees. Rudy has bet his entire campaign on populous states with bunches of delegates. If he wins a few of those states in early February maybe we will all finally come to our collective senses and realize that New Hampshire and Iowa are little bitty places that should be no more or less important than, say, Maine or Arkansas in terms of determining who gets their respective party nominations.
Just to put it in perspective, on the Democratic side of things, there are 441 delegates at stake in California. New Hampshire has a total of 30. Iowa has a robust 57. Really, now…who gives a damn about either of those little nothin’ delegate counts. And, yet, to read the papers or watch the news you’d think that New Hampshire and Iowa are the most important states in this primary season. ‘Cause they are. but only because we let ‘em.
There are other whacked out headlines that Hillary has a lead on Obama and it would reinvigorate her campaign if she wins. She lost one little bitty hardly even state but now that she might win a little bittier hardly evener state she’s on fire?
Please…anyone out there with money…please, do not base your funding choices on the unimportant outcomes in Iowa and New Hampshire. Please, base your funding choices on who you most believe in and, if you must wait to follow the crowd, at least wait until a state with more than 1% of the country’s population votes (Iowa has 0.9%…so its disqualified).
