Liberal Media Elite

CNN has a roundup of possible John McCain running mates. WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK.

Okay, so we all know about Gov. Timmy “Aw Shucks” Pawlenty and how he stomps his widdle foots whenever the big, bad DFL tries to save the budget from his super-duper veto pen. But look at who is competition is for prettiest girl in the class! Bobby Jindal. Tom Ridge. John Thune. Steve Forbes…

Haley Barbour.

That’s right. We could be staring down a McCain-Barbour ticket. Which would be the clearest way of the GOP saying, “We’re a bunch of sweaty, fat old men who have survived the glories of battle and we have nothing for contempt for you abnormal ingrates, AND YOU WILL FUCKING LIKE IT.”

Which certainly hasn’t not worked for the Grand Old Party as of late.

Dear Gavin,

Can’t resist the pie fight.

The Strib put side by side today two opinion pieces the placement of which, I assume, was not coincidental. If it was coincidental, I hope the paper is smart enough not to cop to it. It was a beautiful little piece of irony. One, by E.J. Dionne, rails against the excesses of capitalism. The other, by Margo Thorning, rails against the excesses of regulation. Probably worth reading. More important, it provides a wonderful side-by-side comparison of two very different political philosophies. In the interest of full disclosure up front I loathe Ms. Thorning’s organization (more below) and all it stands for. At the same time, E.J. Dionne’s apparently unlimited supply of blood – he bleeds for everyone, everywhere – and generally poor grasp of economics annoys the shit out of me (I think he gets it more or less right in the piece referred to here…which makes me take a long, hard look at my own belief system ‘cause, really, the guy blows).

With the fall of Bear, Stearns and the government bailout via the subsidized buyout of Bear by Morgan, we see the logical conclusion of the deregulation fever that started in the late 70’s. That is, the ever decreasing regulation of capital markets in particular (and everything in general) leading to an outcome that we’ve seen before…in the late 1920’s and 30’s, and the various and several recessions/depressions that preceded the big magilla. Capitalism, with too much freedom, will drive itself off a cliff. Does it every time. The great capitalist voice, Adam Smith (hell of a guy, hell of a philosophy, hellaciously misunderstood by his proponents today), knew that markets have to have rules. Rules are also known by a less popular name…regulations.

Read it all..

(Bill says: I hope that fixed it. If so disregard my comment.)

I really hope that this is not the video that they will play in 50 years or so when they talk about the big crash of 2008 in Economics 101:

Bush was joking about “interesting times” in his speech to the Economic Club of New York on March 14, while down the street Bear Stearns was drawing its last breaths, sending out worldwide financial shock waves. Some people were comparing him to Hoover today, who promised that prosperity was around the corner right as things turned pitch black during the Great Depression. But Hoover at least tried to change things for the better after he saw that laissez-faire the Invisible Hand didn’t quite cut it. Too little, too late, I know, but still.

We, however, are dealing with the same president who sat out Katrina, playing the guitar at a fundraiser.

No dam this time.

James McGreevey and his wife were having ménages-à-trois since at least 1999. With a boy.

So maybe Dina Matos McGreevey isn’t much a martyr after all.

The New Republic has a very useful take on the last few weeks. To sum, Barack Obama is winning because he’s cool.

I totally agree.

Also, this is about as funny and accurate as political pundicy gets:

[I]f Obama were white, the Democratic nomination would be over—and … if Hillary were black, she’d be Star Jones, and that if she were a black male, she’d be mayor of Detroit

First it was that no one would campaign in Florida and Michigan because their state parties ignored the national rules. Now their delegates should be seated. Then it was that—apparently—a white lady would have, one presumed, an easier time running for president than a black man. But now… that things aren’t going so well…

Well, Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo has the smartest readers on Earth, and they found this tidbit from a December ‘06 New York Times article:

“I think it’s more realistic for a woman [to become president] than it is for an African-American,” said Ms. [Geraldine] Ferraro. “There is a certain amount of racism that exists in the United States — whether it’s conscious or not it’s true.”

“Women are 51 percent of the population,” she added.

Heh.

Also, please (in the next few days) keep in mind that, despite protests to the contrary, Barack Obama and his campaign have never, ever called anyone “racist.” “Ridiculous,” yes. But they have yet to utter the word racist—nor do I think they ever will.

Me? Barack Obama is a much bigger man than I am—and much more temperate. And I’m not above saying that—despite the fact that many of Clinton’s supports are, in fact, Benevolent White Liberals Who Have Fought For Solutions—the Clintons and their supporters are also, in my view, either racist or are willing to benefit from underlying racism.

So, you know: To hell with them.

Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up.

White man’s—or, sorry, woman’s burden is such a (pardon my French) bitch, ain’t it, Geraldine?

Okay, so in Hillary Clinton, we have a woman who is trying to pass off being married as an accomplishment (there, I said it…) sending her surrogates out into the world, accusing her opponent of not addressing reality? You mean, like the reality of the Defense of Marriage Act? The reality of Hillarycare delaying universal health care for 15 years? The reality of passing off having tea as bringing peace to Northern Ireland? Like the reality of saying your “leadership” matters, when all your leadership has been is “raising awareness” at best and being consumed by a white-hot ball of failure at worst?

Hillary Clinton is serious. And Johnny Knoxville is worthy of a Palme d’Or.

So I looked at their YouTube profile page, and apparently they did do the Mitt video, but they did to two others. Which, of course I’m going to post.

This one is less funny haha, more funny-’cause-it’s-true.

And this one is just plain funny.

Enjoy.

Damn these folks are funny.

First they brought us “Mitt for Michigan” and then the John McCain “Yes We Can” Parody, both of which we posted for your viewing pleasure.

They have a new one.

And funny, too!

Also, he won more delegates in Texas than she did. So, you know, he won her firewall.

So, Our Man Barack just cleaned the floor with Hillary—again. But this time, it was in Wyoming. (Of course, Hillary will point out that Wyoming doesn’t count because it’s too small and caucuses and conservative. Thank God black people don’t live there or they’d really be meaningless.)

With only Montana, South Dakota and Oregon to go, could Sen. Obama sweep the entire Northwest? And not just the Pacific bits, but the whole thing? From Illinois to Minnesota, west to Washington state with Colorado and the rest of the Rockies?

Why, yes. Yes, it does look like the non-Rust Belt Midwest and high-tech Mormons and Microsoft employees are lining up behind one candidate.

It’s been my position that the Greater Northwest (for lack of a better term) is where the future of the Democratic Party will be, because much of it is the future of the United States. So, you know, maybe Wyoming doesn’t not count.

Update: This is not to say I think any Democrat in 2008 will win, say, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah in the general election. Kansas, North Dakota, Colorado, Montana and South Dakota, on the other hand… And any in-roads built now are a road in later. Pity Clinton doesn’t think any of these places count. Alas, the Clintonian ability to win in bits of the South sure as hell isn’t a long-term strategy… Colorado and Virginia and places like that—places where Sen. Obama wins—are a much better long-term investment with some serious short-term potential.

For some time, I’ve held that it’s not Hillary that I object to, it’s the people around her. And A #1 slimebag on that list is Terry McAuliffe. I hold him personally responsible for the curb-stompings of the Democratic Party throughout the late 90’s and early parts of this century. (He was DNC chair, you know, the guy running the damn party). I am so glad he got the boot and Howard Dean is not filling his old post. And amazingly, Democrats are winning.

In recent weeks and months (since about South Carolina) Hillary has done much to erode whatever favorable picture of her I had. But it was the likes of Terry McAlbatross that initially turned me off to her. And I love it when my skepticism is validated.

Oh, and just as I was about to post, it is shit like this following video that fucking kills me.

A democrat should NEVER fellate a republican to slam a democrat. NEVER. PERIOD.

psssst. Hill, darling, remember what we learned in 2004? Voters won’t buy the imitation Republican, when they can get the real thing for free.

I woke up today at 7:45 a.m. This is shockingly early for me. But I had to turn the radio off. I couldn’t stand the sound of Hillary Clinton’s smug, self-satisfied voice for more than about 20 seconds.

What is going on with this “experience” claim? Until 2001, she had never taken an oath of office. She had never stood for election until 2000. Until usurping a lot of other people and carpetbagging it to New York to take her—apparently—rightful place in the United States Senate, her primary accomplishment was killing any hopes for universal health care in the 1990s by holding a colossally disastrous “listening tour” whose secrecy rivals even that of Dick Cheney’s energy commission.

How on Earth does holding a title like “First Lady” qualify you to be commander-in-chief on day one? Flatly: It doesn’t. Listen, I have a lot of sympathy with women who have been discriminated against and had their dreams dashed their entire lives because of misogyny. But this is not the solution to those ills. This is not justice. This is a disaster.

She may lay claim to having been co-president. Except our constitution doesn’t recognize such an office. Two for the price of one doesn’t go very far when the executive branch goes kablooey and congressional oversight needs to kick into overdrive. Just ask the current administration; 2-for-1 has treated them very well, but the rest of us have suffered. (In this respect, Hillary Clinton is not a refutation of the Bush years. She is a continuation of them. She will only continue the embarrassing, shameless abuse of executive power, not curb it.)

I mean, for God’s sake, Eleanor Roosevelt would have made a fantastic president. But, if she had run, at least she had the courtesy of helping found the United Nations. Hillary Clinton—what?—beat Rick Lazio? In a state that has a couple million more registered Democrats than Republicans? How the hell is that experience? I COULD HAVE BEAT RICK LAZIO.

She is inexperienced. Not experienced. Untested. Unvetted. She refuses to release her tax returns and she’s asking judges to block call records from her First Lady office.

I just get so sad about this. After eight years of being shamelessly manipulated, it seems the American electorate is none the wiser for it. Ohio and Texas bought it—like they always do—hook, line and sinker. (The people in Ohio seem to be particularly not-bright about these things.)

George Bush was experienced. Hillary Clinton is experienced. It’s true. They said.

The most viable liberal candidate for the presidency in generations who has the most progressive, detailed policy portfolio is all speechifying and no action. It’s true. They said.

And I can’t wait for Hillary Clinton’s experience and commander-in-chiefiness to get into the ring with John McCain in the fall. She’s setting the tone. But, as Natascha said last night, it’s dangerous. People won’t buy the pale Clintonian imitation when they can get a buy the genuine military-man-war-hero-POW article.

UPDATE: I’m just looking at Sen. Clinton’s bio… She was on the board of directors of Wal-Mart while her husband was governor of Arkansas? Wow. I’m sure you totally earned it. Absolutely. Evita.

UPDATE 2: The more I think about this, the angrier I get. Especially the whole Wal-Mart board-while-Bill-was-governor thing. I cannot vote for the Clintons because it is clear that they perpetuate the corrupt culture of the Bush administration. Hillary Clinton has earned nothing just as George Bush earned nothing. The only probable reason the Clintons hate Karl Rove is because he wouldn’t work for them. They will initiate their own K Street Project. They will embrace the bloated executive. And the longer you look at her résumé—if you look at her résumé honestly—the more and more clear it becomes: She emrbaces nothing we should tolerate. She has sabotaged progress and made her wallet fat on the backs of other Democrats. Haven’t we had enough of this?

People say that Barack Obama is inexperienced and deride his stint as a community organizer. Well, at least he got dirt under his fingernails (as my New Deal grandfather would have said) once in a while.

Now, with any luck, the guy will fight. And do what the right wing—who so desperately need the Clintons to stay angry, because anger is the only coherence they have remaining—has been unable to do: Obama needs to send the Clintons’ campaign to the fucking morgue for once and all.

Big ol’ banner in Texas by McCain. Was that the year he was born?

N., B. and I are at my place eating meatloaf and green bean casserole, watching the returns. I should have also bought fixin’s for breakfast. This night isn’t gonna be over soon.

Sigh.

Andrew Sullivan posted this, but it’s awesome, so I’m posting it, too:

It is shocking—truly—at just how polarizing Hillary Clinton is. If she keeps going, she and her husband are going to tear the Democratic Party to shreds. All so that she can “empower” and “listen” to us. Feh. This woman is no refutation to the Bush years. She’s a continuation of them.

As probably does not surprise anybody reading this, I’m a Ron Paul supporter. As may surprise some reading this, I am enough so that I actually sucked it up and attended my local Republican precinct caucus on Super Tuesday. That’s right — I shaved, buttoned up my shirt, and plunged into enemy territory. I haven’t really been widely advertising this fact.

So my intention was to go in, lay low, cast my votes for sympathetic delegates, and slink back into irrelevance. But then the convention started, and people started talking, and I started getting irritated with everyone, and then *I* started talking, and I talked for a while, and then people started arguing, and then somebody raised his hand and nominated me as a delegate, and a bunch of people voted for me.

The three primary slots went to the McCain supporters, but I somehow got elected as one of the alternates; which is how I found myself at the Republican Convention for Senate District 44 in Hopkins tonight.

So, I’m a playwright. In Minneapolis. Which means that I find myself operating in a pretty lefty crowd, most of the time. And most of my energy goes towards arguing with that. So tonight, I was startled to be reminded of a fact that I’d pretty much forgotten: I really fucking can’t stand Republicans.

I’ve spent the past five years performing in front of a variety of crowds, in a variety of different contexts, and if I’ve picked up one new ability in that time, it’s a sensitivity to audience response. And the “playful” back-and-forth between the speakers and the crowd was riddled with so much understated racism, homophobia, and xenophobia, I still feel a little slimy thinking about it.

I walked out early, unbuttoning my shirt on the way. My brief, experimental return to the two-party system has fizzled out rather abruptly. For better or worse, I’m officially back in my role as a political outsider. Which, in retrospect, is probably the place I belong.

Um… I have a lot of mixed feelings about all the will.i.am Obama YouTube videos. I do.

But then I see something like what Jack Nicholson just did to support Hillary Clinton’s campaign, and I can’t help but think that—even when the support is at its most hamfisted, simplistic, twee and cloying—an Obama campaign at least does something Democrats haven’t been able to do for a long time: Actually harness the power of the creative class for political good.

In the meantime… Yuck. Just yuck: