In Texas, Many Obama voters were far more likely to have left the rest of the primary ballot blank.
Don’t expect Obama voters to vote down ticket if he’s the nominee in 2008.
Year: 2008
The Air Force Bought 300 What?????
They bought 300 Sony PlayStation 3 for “technological assessment”.
Yeah, sure. Next they will by 450 Nintendo WII for “Human Interface Research”.
Your tax dollars at work.
I Don’t Think that I’m a Real Blogger
I just discovered that both Matthew Yglesias and Duncan “Atrios” Black really hate making phone calls.
Personally, I’ve never done a whole bunch of phone calling for social purposes, except for when I was away from various girl friends, but I have used the phone to communicate information effectively.
I ran a bloody Science Fiction Convention with most of my staff on the other side of Massachusetts in 1990 and 1991, before meaningful email was common.
I would make phone calls, communicate my information, and get off. I wasn’t elegant of sparkling, but I worked the phone well.
I don’t understand “hating the phone”, any more than I understand hating postal mail, or email.
I do hate junk mail of all forms, that is content, rather than medium based.
Does Gary Hart Want Cheese with His Whine?
Well, Gary Hart is saying that by suggesting that Obama is not fit to be president, Hillary Clinton broke the rules of Democratic politics.
As dhutchinson notes, what Hart said in 1984 was far worse, and he rolls the 1984 NY Times:
Senator Gary Hart said today that Walter F. Mondale, as Vice President, was part of an Administration that was “weak,” “inept,” “uncertain” and marked by “days of shame” in Iran…
“Walter Mondale now promises an America that can and will stand up for its vital interests,” the Colorado Senator told an ebullient crowd of hundreds of students at Texas A&M University here. “But Carter-Mondale actually gave us an America held hostage to the ayatollahs of the world.”
“In national security as in domestic policy,” he said, “we must not leave the American people with a bleak choice in 1984 between two failed pasts – that of Ronald Reagan and that of the Carter-Mondale Administration.”
‘Reagan’s Favorite Opponent’
“After reviewing the record of the Carter-Mondale Administration, I can understand why Walter Mondale is Ronald Reagan’s favorite opponent,” Mr. Hart added.
If Obama and his supporters want to win in November, they need to assume that they have the right where no such right previously existed, to be immune from certain types of criticism.
I was watching Olbermann today (and man does he hate on Hillary Clinton), and he puts up a clip of Obama complaining about how unfair the “red phone ad” was.
Compare that to Gary Hart, or, for that matter, what was done to Howard Dean in 2004 (where they were flat out calling insane), or Al Gore’s use of Willie Horton in 1988.
Clinton is attacking, but she has little interest in making a charge stick. She does not have to.
She is interested in the response, which is always, “It’s not fair.” She is repeatedly bitch slapping Barack Obama, and the response of he and his campaign is, “but it’s not fair.”
It is a message of entitlement, weakness, and passivity, and it will be nothing compared to what McCain and His Evil Minions&trade have in store for him in the general.
Get over yourself and get to work. If you want to beat Hillary Clinton, and John McCain after that, you have to show that you can stand up for yourself before you will convince anyone that you will stand up for them.
Economics Update
I’m not sure if it even qualifies as news any more, but
oil hit a new record today, topping $107/bbl. Gasoline prices are following this trend, with prices rising $0.09/gallon over the past two weeks.
When this is combined with the fact that houshold wealth fell by $533 billion, (3.6% apr), in q4 of 2007. That’s without considering inflation.
When inflation is taken into account, all of 2007 is down.
In the ever entertaining world of the monoliner insurance, MBIA, is asking Fitch to stop rating its insurance units. They think that Fitch’s model is inaccurate, because Fitch is still considering a downgrade.
MBIA is insolvent, Fitch gets it, and S&P and Moody’s don’t.
As a result of this, we are seeing more of the non-profit and state run college lenders unable to secure financing, and hence unable to make loans.
Remember, these loans cannot be discharged by bankruptcy, and they are federally guaranteed, and no one will buy the paper.
This might explain why Lehman Bros. is cutting 5% of its workforce, about 1400 jobs.
One bit of good news is that China’s trade surplus dropped 63% in February, though one wonders how much of that is currencies readjusting, how much is a slowdown in the world economy, and how much is the winter storm that shut down the country for about a week.
BTW, its official, Malaysia is a Kleptocracy. That’s the only way to explain why, following a defeat that kept the National Front in the majority, but at less than 2/3, that the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index fell so sharply that they had to shut down trading.
This wasn’t even a change in party rule, just a drop below 2/3, and everyone was scrambling to get out because their business positions were predicated on corruption.
O happy day.
For what it’s worth, things are not much better in the US, where hedge funds are seeing margin calls on US treasuries. If treasuries go bad, forget the Honda full of silver, you need ammunition and canned goods.
Cheney on Peace Mission? That’s Like a Prostitute On a Chastity Mission
I swear, Bush and His Evil Minions™ exceed my wildest dreams of satire.
No oiffense to the good folks at The Onion, but this exceeds everyone’s capacity for satire.
Gaaahhh!!
Arrrrgggghhhh!!!!! Tucker is being Replaced by Dick F*%$ing Gregrory
Photoshop courtesy of Group News Blog.
Yes, this inside the beltway puke is smiling at Karl Rove doing rap.
Oh well, I guess that the old boyz club at MSNBC could not handle someone anchoring a prime time show with a pair of t***.
Chris “Tweety” Matthews’ man t*** excepted, of course.
There are some other schedule changes at MSNBC, primarily that as opposed to rerunning at midnight, Countdown will rerun at 10:00pm and 2:00am.
Another Bitch Slap
So Hillary has an interview with Newsweek.com, and she says:
It doesn’t look bleak at all. I have a very close race with Senator Obama. There are elected delegates, caucus delegates and superdelegates, all for different reasons, and they’re all equal in their ability to cast their vote for whomever they choose. Even elected and caucus delegates are not required to stay with whomever they are pledged to. This is a very carefully constructed process that goes back years, and we’re going to follow the process.
And the Obama campaign goes into full whine mode.
Hello, clue here….She is not trying to get delegates to change their votes. She’s trying to make you whine about it so you look weak.
Seriously, if the Obama campaign cannot stand up to Clinton, they have no chance at all against McCain and the Republithug attack machine.
This is embarrassing, seriously. There are any number of responses that are strong, whining about playing hardball when specifically allowed by the rules does not make one look strong, or transformational.
It makes you look like a bunch of punks.
Barack Obama’s campaign sounds more and more like has a glass jaw. Does they shave, or use Windex?
You are being punk’d.
Finally, the House Files Contempt Suit
The House Judiciary committee has finally filed suit to compel Bolton and Miers to testify.
Should have happened 6 months ago. If I were Speaker of the House, I would have already sent out the sergeant at arms to take them into custody, and locked them in that jail cell in the House basement.
Monsanto Wants to Ban “rBST Free” Labels
Monsanto has created an astroturf group that is lobbying to prohibit rBST and BGH free labels. They argue that it is “too confusing to consumers”.
I understand that Monsanto wants to market its industrial waste as widely as possible, but I object to their attempt to keep me, and the rest of the general public in the dark about it.
This is not confusing at all. I don’t their crap in my kid’s milk. Period, full stop.
Democrats Looking at Mail in Primaries in FL and MI
I’ve always been a fan of mail in voting, so I like the idea.
My guess will be that it will be the Obama campaign that expresses problems, because people have already voted, and in the event of a revote like this, they stand to lose, a lot.
Additionally, as shown by the results in Alabama on Super Tuesday, where a large win resulted in a nearly break even number in delegates for him, the revotes in MI and FL would be stacked against him delegate-wise.
Let me note that this is not evil. This is politics, and Obama is likely to favor something like a caucus instead, because it benefits his campaign.
That’s how political campaigns are supposed to work, to structure the process toward their candidate’s advantage, and absent stuff like Republican style vote suppression, it is neither good nor evil, it simply is, as Mount Everest is, and Alma Cogan isn’t.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot??? Elliot Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring?
OK, this is not the sort of thing that I was expecting from Elliot Spitzer. He has, “been caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a high-priced prostitute at a Washington hotel last month.”
I’ve noticed that he has some problems with overreach and arrogance, but this is a shock to me.
I’m not sure where it goes from here, though I am sure that any sympathy one feels should be reserved for his wife, Silda and his three children.
Yes, any Republicans reading this, Schadenfreude is normal, and probably justified at this point, though obviously I’m not feeling this at this point.
And yes, the phrase, “Shanda before the Goyim” does dome to mind here.
Did Lack Of Regulation Cause This Mess?
Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis: Did Lack Of Regulation Cause This Mess?
Yes.
This has been another episode of stupid answers to stupid questions.
But Mike “Mish” Shedlock seems to think that it’s the FDIC which has caused all thi, because no one would have put a dime into countrywide in 2004 if not for the FDIC insurance, which created a moral hazard allowing people to place their money at risk, despite the fact that in 2004, Countrywide was golden with soaring stock.
Additionally, most of the money that Countrywide to bury itself was not the sub $100k investments of ordinary account holders. It was many times that from Wall Street investors, who had no guarantee at all, even for the first $100K.
This is mindless Randroid Objectivist claptrap, and it is actually the purveyors of this mindless Randroid Objectivist claptrap, most notably Alan Greenspan, who has never passed up an opportunity to deregulate a market, or to bail out a major capitalist bigwig, who created this mess.
Mr. Shedlock is therefore wanker of the day.
Krugman Has a Good Point, So Nu?*
Krugman notes that while the capital infusions of the Fed are in the $200 billion range, outstanding mortgages are in excess of $ 11 trillion, so the Fed bailout is about 1.8% of the mortgage market, and the number rapidly dwindles when examined in the context of other markets also in trouble.
The idea is not that the Fed will save these markets, but rather that the it will “slap the market in the face” to calm it down from hysteria, much like those old film noire detective movies.
Thing is, the Fed has done this twice, and it’s not working. What’s more, the interest rates that really matter to the economy, “The rates that matter most directly to the economy, including rates on mortgages and corporate bonds, have been rising”, because people are having to price an unknown level of uncertainty into their lending.
This is what is meant when it is said that the Fed is, “Pushing on a string”. It can lower rates all it wants, but the rates paid by businesses and individuals are now rising.
One of the things that I harp on, but that Krugman does not have the space to deal with in the constraints of a New York Times editorial, is the effect of the strength of the dollar on the Fed, and the effect of the Fed on the strength of the dollar.
Specifically, when the Fed cuts rates, it reduces the returns on the US dollar, which makes the currency less attractive, which drives the currency price down.
While this does help exports and reduces the advantages of imports, it also raises prices, because foreign dollars compete more for US products, like groceries (I posted about this in yesterday’s economics update).
So we are in a situation where we cannot win, and we cannot get out of the game.
*It’s one of the few Yiddish idioms that I grasp as a 3rd generation America Jew. Nu literally means yes, but, “so nu” means, “So tell me something I don’t already know”?
And This is The Damage of the US Attorney Scandal
Scott Horton details the political machinations of Alice Martin in Alabama.
They just banned state legislators from teaching at community colleges, where the legislator/instructors are almost all black Democrats, but it’s OK at 4 year colleges, where they are whiter and more Republican.
Surprise, the Bush Justice Department, after having purged its civil rights division, thinks that it’s all okey dokey to do this.
Tucker Carlson Canceled
It’s about bloody time, it’s been a ratings millstone to MSNBC for a long time.
Here is hoping that Rachael Maddow gets the nod as his replacement.
I’d like to see them get rid of Chris “Tweety” Matthews too, but his ratings are actually supportable. How about getting rid of Glenn Beck on CNN? As Atrios puts it, “No one watches his sh%$$y little show”.
McCain Embraces Hagee, Which is OK, Because He’s White
Obama is expected to denounce Farrakhan, who made his endorsement without consulting the campaign, and has never shared a stage with him, but it’s OK for McCain to stand next to an anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic bigot and smile during the endorsement, I guess because he’s white.
Let’s be fair though, McCain does say that he disagrees with Hagee on Catholics.
It’s like that old Eddie Murphy sketch on Saturday Night Live, White Like Me.
McCain can embrace a radical fundamentalist bigot because he is white, and because said bigot is white.
James Wolcott Is A Bloody Genius, and a Delight to Read
I only hope that I am never on the receiving end of his wonderfully savage sharp pen. It would scar me for life.
He writes on the Democratic primaries, and I won’t quote, because it has to be appreciated in its entirety, but the nickel version is, “stop whining and get to work.”
Political Scriptures: Hillary 43:21
This is going to be an infrequent feature of my blog, basically, whenever the muse grabs me:
Hillary 43:21
Yes, and she will be like an avenging angel unto the Republicans, and she shall smite them, and yea verily, they shall cry out, and retreateth to the bathroom stalls, where they shall tappeth their feet.
Yea though they get down upon their knees, the Republicans shallst not be offering homage to God, but shall be doing geometric things to each other, and they shall proclaimeth that they not beith gay, but rather that a great misunderstanding hath overtaken them.
Yea verily, they shall declare, we have turned over a new leaf, just as soon as we shall get to the bottom of the page.
Have I mentioned that I’m going to hell for this?
Jeebus
The Home Secretary in the UK intends to deport a Lesbian back to native Iran, where her partner has already been sentenced to death.
It appears that the home office thinks that everything is “just hunky dory”, because so long as, “Iranians are discreet about their homosexuality, they will not be persecuted”.
That the hell happened to the Labor party?