Little Scotty McClellan always struck me as the perfect representative of BushCo: A pasty patsy frat boy in over his head. A second-rate ad-man who believed he was part of a revolution and a generational change. (I only hated McClellan half as much as I hated Ari Fleisher.) Now, Scotty admits, he was just part of the problem, like a child on the corner watching for cops while the drug deal goes down. There is no news in BushCo’s deception or the perpetual campaign waged by Rove. The news is that a insider loyalist finally noticed the emperor has no clothes. Better watch your back, Scotty. Elephants never forget (and they carry ice picks). Don’t get on any swiftboats. peace, mjh
Now What?
There may be no more aptly named politician than Harold Icky (sic). Icky’s role in the Rules and Bylaws Committee reminds me of James Baker in 2000: There is nothing by winning at any cost. Both give lawyers a bad name. Review: Both Michigan and Florida violated rules they previously agreed to. All the candidates agreed not to campaign in either state; Clinton’s was the only name on the Michigan ballot (and she won!). To insist it is undemocratic to hold candidates and states to the rules is unworthy of a candidate.
While Obama has studied both Raygun and the early Bill Clinton (when he was cool), Clinton’s playbook appears written by BushCo.
I have deep sympathy for Hillary Clinton and for her supporters. I agree that Clinton has been mistreated by the press and the public. One ironic effect is that people are once again talking about sexism. It wasn’t long ago that many people said feminism had become irrelevant. Not true. (One of the many things that cost McDuhbya my respect was his easy, laughing acceptance of his supporters calling Hillary a bitch. He should have repudiated that immediately.) Every -ism flourishes in a society as fragmented as ours has become, where divisions are fostered and exploited by those who need to maintain power.
A good aspect to this long campaign is that Obama has been tested and survived. Some of the dirt that the Swiftboat Republicans are going to sling is already out. Obama has remained cool and smart about many things, though I wish he had tried harder in some of the places Clinton was sure to win — especially West Virginia — rather than run out the clock.
I think we are all tired of close contests. I hope tomorrow the citizens of Montana and South Dakota vote overwhelmingly for Obama to help seal the deal. However, I have the uneasy feeling nothing will seal this deal and that Hillary the Warrior will never surrender and, when she’s finally forced to, her supporters will never forgive nor forget. Just how angry and vengeful does a Democrat have to be to vote for McDuhbya? Would you burn down your house because your brother got your dessert?
Honestly, I’m not sure Clinton could beat McCain. She galvanizes the very Republicans who are lukewarm about McBush. Both represent the Washington establishment; neither really stands for Change (gender not withstanding). peace, mjh
Transcript of Obama’s Speech in Des Moines, Iowa
The Page – by Mark Halperin – TIME
Forging a New Future for America – Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
We face an opponent, John McCain, who arrived in Washington nearly three decades ago as a Vietnam War hero, and earned an admirable reputation for straight talk and occasional independence from his party.
But this year’s Republican primary was a contest to see which candidate could out-Bush the other, and that is the contest John McCain won. The Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans that once bothered Senator McCain’s conscience are now his only economic policy. The Bush health care plan that only helps those who are already healthy and wealthy is now John McCain’s answer to the 47 million Americans without insurance and the millions more who can’t pay their medical bills. The Bush Iraq policy that asks everything of our troops and nothing of Iraqi politicians is John McCain’s policy too, and so is the fear of tough and aggressive diplomacy that has left this country more isolated and less secure than at any time in recent history. The lobbyists who ruled George Bush’s Washington are now running John McCain’s campaign, and they actually had the nerve to say that the American people won’t care about this. Talk about out of touch!
I will leave it up to Senator McCain to explain to the American people whether his policies and positions represent long-held convictions or Washington calculations, but the one thing they don’t represent is change.
The REAL John McCain: Less Jobs, More Wars.
This 3+ minute video montage is well worth your time. It’s shocking, even though I was aware of many of these contradictions. As for the blame placed on corporate media, I note that many of those seeming to challenge McCain are in corporate media, whose real failing may be in letting things drop from our attention. peace, mjh
The REAL John McCain: Less Jobs, More Wars.
Turn John McCain’s YouTube Problem into a Nightmare!
Who Says Elephants Never Forget?
ABQjournal NM: 1st Congressional District Candidates Give Opinions on Iraq War
Joe Carraro, Republican
“We’re in a quagmire, and I really think we needed to have somebody ask the questions before we got in.”
You mean like the millions of Americans who said “NO WAR!” and were willing to take to the streets to make their point? The same people Republicans called traitors and cowards?
ABQjournal NM: 1st Congressional District Candidates Give Opinions on Iraq War
Darren White, Republican
“This is something that I think about every day because of my son (who just completed basic training in the Air National Guard). This thing is a mess. Mistakes have been made, big mistakes, in the execution of the war.”
Darren thinks about the war every day because of his son, not because he wanted to beat-in the heads of protesters before the war began. Yeah, mistakes were made by war-hungry Republicans. Your chance is over, bub.
peace,
mjh
Wars Hard on State Dept., Defense Chief Says : NPR
Let’s just give all the money we have to “Defense” (formerly, the War Department) and let them decide what programs, domestic and foreign, “keep us safe.” It would be efficient.
Duhbya and company have so decimated the system that Defense has to beg for money for State. You can also thank Donni “Big Dick” Rumsfeld and Condi Rice. peace, mjh
Wars Hard on State Dept., Defense Chief Says : NPR
Wars Hard on State Dept., Defense Chief Says
All Things Considered, May 19, 2008 · Defense Secretary Robert Gates is expressing concern that the State Department has become stretched too thin by the diplomatic demands of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Gates is arguing for more resources for Foggy Bottom.
Which One is the Lesser of Two Evils?
ABQjournal NM: Candidates Clash Over Health Care
By Jeff Jones, Journal Politics Writer
“I’m supportive of our rural health (care)— I’m a product of that. I don’t have any desire to hurt them,” Pearce said. “But what I do desire is to start reining in the people who are literally stealing from the American public.”
That’s quite an accusation from Steve Pearce — literal public theft. Who are these thieves? Blackwater, KBR? Are they the doctors Republicans wish to protect from rapacious lawyers? Are they the small business people Republicans claim to revere (while they actually revere only the very biggest corporations)?
This is the fundamental Republican view that infuriates me the most: All taxation is theft. There is no Commonwealth and no common good — every man for himself, every property is private. This extremely destructive view angers me far more than the utter hypocrisy of seeing all public expenditures as theft *except* for the limitless war machine. Pearce would have us look closely at expenditures on public health — I don’t recall him suggesting the same for the billion an hour we piss away in Iraq.
“Here’s one of the differences between Steve and I: I will not vote against the interests of the state of New Mexico to satisfy a narrow ideological agenda,” Wilson said. “He will always vote to supposedly save money, even if it makes no sense— and that’s what he did here.”
She means “me,” not “I.” But, OMG, she really is a liberal! How can any Republican vote for someone with such shifting standards. Flexibility is weakness! Compromise is failure!
peace, mjh