twirling fartknocker's Blog

If US Senate Were More Democratic, Democrats Would Hold Fillibuster-Proof Majority in 2009

2009-02-04T00:27:57Z

Doing a little sorting of data readily found online*, one can see that, by percentage of population, Democrats clearly represent over 60% of the U.S. in the Senate today, and yet they fall a few seats short of holding an actual fillibuster-proof majority. Hence, Republicans are over-represented -- and with the simple threat of a fillibuster they are able to thwart the will of a clear majority of the populace.

While one might appreciate the thinking of the founders in assuring that smaller states have stronger representation in the Senate than they do in the House of Representatives -- thereby preventing outright large-state bullying -- perhaps a more fair system might allot more than two Senators to a state such as California with 36 million residents and just one to a state like Alaska with not even 3/4 of a million people. Solid red Texas with 23 million would have more than the currently blue Montana with less than one million.

Of course, it would take a Constitutional amendment to modify this arrangement, and given the undemocratic nature of the Senate, and inertia and apathy across the nation regarding any structural changes to our government whatsoever, improvements seem unlikely on even a limited scale such as tinkering with the U.S. Senate.

In the meantime, Republicans, without much effort, can foil or water down any Democratic attempts at passing meaningful legislation in the Obama age, legislation that might socialize healthcare or massively invest in infrastructure such as schools and public transit, or significantly push our economy toward green technologies without it getting mucked up by Republican priorities like tax cuts, big business hand-outs, and warmongering. Of course, that assumes that Democrats would be interested or brave enough to make such radical moves in the first place if they were free of Republican constriction.

[*Data Worksheet]

When it comes to defending Israel, even the mainstream Left is right wing

2009-01-03T22:26:22Z

To see so many otherwise seemingly reasonable people here at a mainstream Left site supporting what Israel is doing now, squabbling over tactics at most, is sickening. Josh himself, has no comment other than to note, "Israeli troops enter Gaza." Ho-hum.

Really, folks, what do you think the solution is for those pesky Palestinians Israel long ago decided to lord over?

A one-state solution will never fly, as that would upset the carefully constructed Jewish demographic majority and give lie to the "only democracy in the middle east" bullshit. It would be the end of the "Jewish state" established by force many decades ago, although if Israelis ceded their dominant power gracefully they might still have a place in a truly democratic Israel (or whatever that country might be called). At any rate, to even write such things is heresy, so the likelihood of that happening in the foreseeable future is next to nil.

Keeping the Palestinians in the stone ages ain't doin' it, although that seems to be the preferred method, whereby Palestinian hostility, no matter how asymmetric to Israeli power, is used as justification for perpetuating Palestinian suffering and squalor. "It's all the Palestinians fault and the Israelis are only doing what they have to," blah, blah, blah. It's like blaming the victim for being angry about the things the clearly dominant party has unjustly done to them. It's contrary to everything the Left, as I understand it, is supposed to believe in. Really. When a slave burns down the master's barnhouse, who carries the largest responsibility, the slave or the slavemaster? When it comes to Israel, and only Israel, I think many supposed Leftists have lost their minds and their bearings. Suddenly, in contravention of every Left value I know the oppressed are blamed for their situation. Suddenly, we, the Left, are all Afrikaners and we blindly accept that the proper response is to try to whip the barn-burning out of the slave.

Call me a pessimist, but I believe that most Israelis, and many if not most of its supporters here and abroad, do not really want a one-state, or even a two-state, solution, if they really look within themselves and be honest -- or they would toe a tougher line with Israel and stop acting as apologists for its offensive actions. Maintaining the status quo of Palestinian apartheid indefinitely seems to be the preferred third way. If it's not, then prove me wrong and clearly stand up to this gross power imbalance. Or just keep rationalizing the situation and effectively do nothing to change it.

Until I see so-called Leftists taking a harder stance against such asymmetric horrors, all I hear is so much yapping, and things like we are seeing now will continue for generations more. Cynically, I would have to assume that's okay with you.

McCain Camp Attacks Now Foreshadow Those to Come for Obama Administration

2008-10-08T20:02:19Z

The recent attacks on the media and those against Obama are not just signs of an increasingly desperate McCain campaign. I believe they are a foreshadowing of things to come when the Obama administration settles in this January. And he will win, handily.

I clearly remember that Bill Clinton was not in the White House more than a few months before I began to see "Impeach Hillary" bumper stickers. Note that that was before Hillary even took on the health care issue. The Year of the Woman turned into the Year of the Angry White Male in 1994. We had House Speaker Newt Gingrich foaming at the mouth about the evils of Bill. Jerry Falwell released an insane video that supposedly documented the cocaine ring Clinton was running out of Arkansas while he was President. We had the OK City bombing. We had Elias Gonzolas. Richard Mellon Scaife was up to no good whereever he could find some anti-Clinton to fund. And, before we knew it, Clinton was being impeached in the House of Representatives. It was attack, attack, attack against his administration for 8 long years. There were no limits to the histrionic reactions of right-wing nutters.

McCain and Palin are now the vanguards in a histrionic and bitter reaction we are sure to see to the first African American in the White House. The people they now represent are a hostile and sometimes violent bunch. This makes me fear for the future, even in one as hopeful as Obama lays out. I pray that the voices of the 60% or so who support Obama will speak louder, metaphorically and literally, in the next decade than those 30% of dead-enders who would continue to support Bush even if it were found that he ate babies for breakfast.

McCain Campaign: Early Taste of Wingnut Reaction to the Obama Administration

2008-10-07T20:05:49Z

I fear something bigger than attacks on the media or campaign attacks on Obama are going on here.

I think part of this bile is that Camp Grandpa knows it is losing, will lose, and hence is setting up a very hostile "welcome" to the Obama administration.

I can remember seeing "impeach hillary" bumper stickers within months of Bill stepping into office in early '93. A year later, the Year of the Woman became the Year of the Angry White Male. We had the OK City bombing, Falwell putting out conspiratorial documentaries on Clinton secretly dealing cocaine from Arkansas, and then Bill himself facing impeachment a few years later.

McCain and Palin are now the vanguards of a new hyberbolic and perhaps dangerous reaction to America's first African American president. While I am not religious in the standard sense, I pray for our nation now.

The Great Schlep -- Get Your Ass to Florida Now!

2008-09-26T20:21:17Z

Just ran into this very funny site encouraging Jewish grandkids traveling to Florida to convince their conservative grandparents to vote Obama...

You gotta see the Sarah Silverman video now on their homepage:

If they vote for Barack Obama, they're going to get another visit this year. If not... let's just hope they stay healthy until next year.

As the site tells it: The Great Schlep aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor.

Barack Obama is the goodest person we've ever had as a presidential choice.

Resistance in the Streets of St. Paul Despite Police Violence

2008-09-08T22:18:54Z

[OK, I had promised live daily blogging for TPM during the RNC, but frankly things were just too hectic to cover events in the streets, process photos and video, upload/post to Indybay, organize the daily update that follows, and then blog at TPM on top of that. I was already getting just 2-4 hours sleep per day with so much going on there. At any rate, here's the story that was built from the combined coverage of mine and numerous other independent (read non-corporate) media folks on the ground in St. Paul. It's definitely a different perspective than what the corporate media dished out -- at least from the glimmers I caught here and there. Conversely, I have almost no idea of what actually happened inside the Xcel Center in St. Paul.]

See video, audio, pictures and reports with the text below at http://www.indybay.org/conventions2008.

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Resistance in the Streets of St. Paul Despite Police Violence: RNC 2008 Included Pre-Emptive Raids, Confiscations, Arrests

The 2008 Republican National Convention was held in St. Paul, Minnesota, September 1st through September 4th. In the Twin Cities, the RNC Welcoming Committee and a number of ad hoc regional activist groups made plans to demonstrate on the first day of the convention, September 1st. Twin Cities and Federal authorities moved hard against the activists by pre-emptively raiding a convergence space and numerous houses, confiscating equipment, and making arrests. After the convention began, police used tear gas, pepper spray, beanbag projectiles, and other weapons against demonstrators throughout St. Paul. Despite that, many groups did hold actions in the streets of St. Paul.

Post-RNC Updates at Twin Cities IMC

Friday, 9/5/08: As the convention itself ended, and street protests and police violence subsided, the on-going struggle for release of prisoners still in captivity continues. In all, over 800 people were arrested at this year's RNC in St. Paul, including journalists, camera people, videographers, street medics, and legal observers. As arrestees have been released, first-hand and second-hand stories of torture and rape in the Ramsey County Sheriff's Jail continue to trickle out. The deadline for the Dakota people to vacate land they are attempting to reclaim at Coldwater Spring in S. Minneapolis came and went without police showing up. The Dakota scheduled and held a press conference at 2pm, an hour before police said the permit they did not ask for expired.

Thursday, 9/4/08: This morning the RNC Welcoming Committee held a joint press conference with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign regarding the charges announced the day before against eight Welcoming Committee members, the violent tactics of the police, and the media's role in focusing more on a broken Macy's window than the hundreds or thousands of people gassed and otherwise attacked by police this week. One person who had been arrested testified about having been tortured in the Ramsey County Sheriff's Jail. More people who had been arrested this week were released from jail throughout the day, but the sheriff's department continued to drop many of them off in remote locations around the Twin Cities area. In the afternoon, area students organized as Youth Against War and Racism walked out of class to march to the Capital in St. Paul. In the late afternoon, more people gathered at the Capital grounds for the Anti-War Committee's unpermitted "No Peace for the Warmakers" march on the last day of the RNC. Not long after people began marching to area bridges, police issued a dispersal order, then launched chemical weapons and concussion grenades throughout downtown as the large group split into two and various other smaller groups. On one bridge, 100 people were arrested. Total arrests count up to 400 for the evening. An urgent call went out for supporters and the media to show up at the Dakota people's Camp Coldwater to help them hold it at 3pm Friday when their permit is set to expire.

Wednesday, 9/3/08: Eight RNC Welcoming Committee members are charged with "Conspiracy to Riot in Furtherance of Terrorism" and potentially face years of jail time. Four of them are released, as well as dozens of others who begin to filter out of the Ramsey County Sheriff's Jail. Charges were dropped against many, but the Sheriff's Dept. is retaining much of their personal property for the time being and intends to permanently keep cameras and similar items as "evidence." A vigil continues at the jail. I-Witness Video collective was harrassed by the police leading to them being evicted from their office space in St. Paul. The Dakota people continued their reclamation at Coldwater Springs, although police agencies seem eager for Saturday's eviction when the permit expires. After a Rage Against the Machine concert in Minneapolis, concert-goers discovered hundred of riot police outside the venue awaiting their exit. Demonstrators marched into the streets and police tear-gassed the protestors and arrested at least 31 people, although most were quickly released.

Tuesday, 9/2/08: An on-going jail vigil supported by Coldsnap continued at the Ramsey County Jail for those arrested in the last few days. The Dakota people reclaimed their sacred space at Coldwater in South Minneapolis, and after a stand-off with police the Dakota were granted a 4-day permit for ceremonies. An outdoor concert at the Capital Building in St. Paul called the Ripple Effect was held, with a second stage on the same grounds hosted by the Sustainable Living Roadshow — concert performers included Dead Prez, Michael Franti, Anti-Flag, and others. A heavily guarded Poor People's March through St. Paul ended with an organizer placing an order for a citizens arrest for George Bush for crimes against humanity under the barricades surrounding the Xcel Center. Following the march, a massive riot police presence at the end of the march attacked those who did not disperse fast enough with tear gas, pepper spray, and concussion grenades.

Monday, 9/1/08: Activists are in the streets doing their best to disrupt today's first day of the RNC, largely by blocking RNC delegate's transportation routes to the Xcel Center. Police of all kinds are out in force trying to disrupt the activists by making swift arrests and moving to the next hot spot. Early reports of police use of both pepper spray and tear gas have been called in to local dispatch lines. Macalester students marched from their College to the State Capital to join the large, permitted anti-RNC march which began at noon, from which at least one black bloc breakaway has taken to the streets. By 9pm, local authorities had arrested 284 protesters, of whom 130 were charged with felonies, and the National Guard was reported to be marching through downtown St. Paul. A number of journalists were arrested or detained, including Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, who was arrested for alleged "rioting" and later released.

Sunday, 8/31/08: Veterans for Peace held a rally at the St. Paul Capital Building before their permitted march. They also led an unpermitted civil disobedience break-away from their own march that ended with several people breaching a police barricade near the Xcel Center, site of the 2008 RNC, and getting arrested. Separately, the IWW attempted to escort a fired then re-instated Starbucks worker to his job at the Mall of America and they were turned back by riot police. Anti-RNC activists continued to meet and plan throughout the day for actions at the now-truncated RNC (ostensibly due to Hurricane Gustav being forecast to hit New Orleans on September 1st).

Saturday, 8/30/08: Following the convergence center raid the night before, Ramsey County Sheriffs began raiding a half dozen houses across the Twin Cities in the morning and confiscated more items. Several Welcoming Committee members have been arrested and are being held without bail on various "conspiracy" charges. Undeterred, activists continued to hold meetings on August 30th in public parks and later at the convergence center again to plan actions for September 1st .

Friday, 8/29/08: Police with guns drawn raided the Welcoming Committee's convergence center south of downtown St. Paul. Approximately 50 people were detained inside while police searched the building and photographed them before they were allowed to leave. Police confiscated laptops, cameras, maps, and other items. The entrance to the convergence center was boarded up, but then re-opened for further activity on Saturday afternoon after intervention by a member of the St. Paul City Council on behalf on the activists.

Thursday, 8/28/08: Poor People's Campaign's "Bushville" in St. Paul Raided by Riot Police

Tuesday, 8/26/08: Minneapolis PD Detains Three Indy Journalists; Confiscates Equipment

Read the Latest News at Twin Cities IMC

RNC Welcoming Committee · Unconventional Action · Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign · Coldsnap Legal Collective

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See video, audio, pictures and reports with the text above.

Area you ready to rumble? Blogging the protests at both the DNC and the RNC

2008-08-19T23:38:54Z

While there are officially sanctioned protest marches and "free speech" zones, anarchists and other radicals unwilling to play by the rules have been planning major unauthorized protests at both the upcoming DNC in Denver and the RNC in St. Paul. Federal, state, and local authorities in both cities have been doing some planning of their own. Both cities were given $50 million each to prepare for the conventions. Tensions are high in Denver with radical activists set to demonstrate against the party of Barack Obama and a highly militarized police force set to keep them in check. Anti-convention activists in St. Paul are promising to shut down the RNC with hard blockades. Events outside of the convention centers could definitely get hairy.

See for yourself the types of things these activists are planning: Unconventional Action, DNC Disruption 08, Unconventional Denver, Recreate 68, and the RNC Welcoming Committee. Activists from all over the country plan to descend upon and disrupt one or both conventions. The group from the Bay Area has announced a Barricade Building Contest for St. Paul. Local non-profit Independent Media Centers will be covering events, with many first-hand reports, photos, and videos coming in from activists themselves: Colorado IMC and Twin Cities IMC.

Corporate coverage of the demonstrations, however limited, is guaranteed to favor authorities and the conventions themselves no matter what happens. I intend to blog both protests right here at TPM in order to bring you another perspective. What is the thinking behind the protesters' actions? What sorts of things are they doing to get across their message and/or take direct action? What are the police actually doing in the streets that they won't mention in their press releases? I'll bring you the best of independent media coverage during the DNC and I'll be in the streets in St. Paul with my own reports. Stay tuned...

Area you ready to rumble? Blogging the protests at both DNC and RNC

2008-08-19T23:32:31Z

While there are officially sanctioned protest marches and "free speech" zones, anarchists and other radicals unwilling to play by the rules have been planning major unauthorized protests at both the upcoming DNC in Denver and the RNC in St. Paul. Federal, state, and local authorities in both cities have been doing some planning of their own. Both cities were given $50 million each to prepare for the conventions. Tensions are high in Denver with radical activists set to demonstrate against the party of Barack Obama and a highly militarized police force set to keep them in check. Anti-convention activists in St. Paul are promising to shut down the RNC with hard blockades. Things could definitely get hairy in either city.

See for yourself the types of things these activists are planning: Unconventional Action, DNC Disruption 08, Unconventional Denver, Recreate 68, and the RNC Welcoming Committee. Activists from all over the country plan to descend and disrupt one or both conventions. The group from the Bay Area has announced a Barricade Building Contest for St. Paul. Local non-profit Independent Media Centers will be covering events, with many first-hand reports, photos, and videos coming in from activists themselves: Colorado IMC and Twin Cities IMC.

Corporate coverage of the demonstrations, however limited, is guaranteed to favor authorities and the conventions themselves no matter what happens. I intend to blog both protests right here at TPM in order to bring you another perspective. What is the thinking behind the protesters' actions? What sorts of things are they doing to get across their message and/or take direct action? What are the police actually doing in the streets that they don't mention in their press releases? I'll bring you the best of independent media coverage during the DNC and I'll be in the streets in St. Paul with my own reports on protest activities. Stay tuned...

McCain Will Go Down in November Like Dole Did in 1996

2008-05-10T06:58:45Z

McCain is going down this November like Bob Dole did in 1996, stumbling off the stage a campaign event. Sounds cruel, but the country is better without either of them running it. Maybe McCain can retain some millionaire self-sufficiency from his wife after losing the election by hawking ED pills on TV.

Think about it. This is 1996 all over again, except this time with ginormous historic significance for the winner. I further predict it will be a win well beyond 50+1 and the closest thing this country has had to a mandate in quite some time. too big to steal or overrule. some actual good shall come to pass to the benefit of the US and the world.

I dream

time will tell

Anyone following Lebanon? Open discussion invitation...

2008-05-10T05:35:25Z

I was just searching for a spot to chat on TPM about the current situation in Lebanon and it's all AP posts you can't comment on or offsite links, so I thought I'd try a little post here and see who else is interested and takes the discussion bait. Perhaps this post will hit the TPM dustbin in no time, or perhaps it may live another day...

Anywho, I'm no expert on what's happening but I do have a news life outside of the daily political chatter and figured I might throw out some inflamatory stream of consciousness thoughts and see what others have to say.

-------------------

No big fan of Hezbollah (not so progressive on women's or gay issues, rather fundamentalist, to say the least) but I still feel like "good for them" in the sense that they are trying to stand up for themselves as a people in a land hostile to them. People have a right to self-determine, even if you don't like them, and there should be a certain softening of demands made to historically oppressed groups.

Hamas was democratically elected, and yeah, they are hostile to Israel, but Israel has the ovewhelming upper hand, and imprisoning Hamas' elected leaders and cutting off gas and otherwise negatively controlling the Palestinian economy doesn't help. Inevitably it's gonna piss people off. Hamas took Gaza, demonstrating their popular support. Only Abbas really remains on the other side and I'm not sure how long the West Bank will tolerate his ineffectiveness in making strides towards true Palestinian self-determination.

I'm anti-US imperialism. We've completely taken the torch from the British when they dominated the area and I think it's time we stopped trying to force our will. Our motivations over there tend to be rather craven and we usually get it wrong (arming Bin Laden and the pre-Taliban, empowering and later arming Saddam, installing the Shah, cuddling with the House of Saud to this day, unconditional support of Israel, ad nauseum). One of my favorite all-time books on the subject of US foreign meddling since WWII is Rise to Globalism. First read it in high school in the mid-80s. Changed my life -- it, along with other contemporaneous rebellious movements, opened my America-Is-Disneyland eyes. The true patriot works to make the country better, internally and externally, and has little use for flag pins.

Speaking of which, you know Hamas loves Obama, right?

Recently, there was the debacle known as the 2006 Lebanon war. Sure enough, that's boomeranged into some new upheaval.

There's simply current day-to-day news in Lebanon where the Shiites (Hezbollah) take a Sunni TV station and then the Lebanese government declares Shiite media illegal.

I really just hope we don't fuck it up worse. But, then again, I'm not holding my breath.

Damn

Send in the Clowns: Phase II of Hillary's "Ignore the Obvious" Strategy

2008-03-06T02:03:53Z

Yesterday, I wrote that Hillary Is Really Working the Refs to Ignore the Obvious -- that is that her real goal in targeting the media was not simply to get good press for herself or bad press for Obama but rather to chide them into ignoring the mathematical impossibility of Hillary winning a majority of pledged delegates in the remaining primaries and caucuses. If the press are even slightly cowed by Camp Hillary, then they certainly are not going to suggest it's time for her to acknowledge reality and bow out of the race.

Today, the day after Texas and Ohio voted, the next phase has become apparent: Send in the Clowns, as in "ignore the trapese artist who just fell from the tight-rope and look at those clowns running around."

And who are these "clowns" that would distract us from acknowledging the painful truth that the once high-flying front-runner for the Democratic nomination is no longer viable?

Well, today Evan Bayh, a Hillary supporter, suggested that earlier primaries were merely "job interviews" and the decision on who to hire remains to be seen. He must have missed this piece on Hillary's Math Problem.

Nancy Pelosi, supposedly neutral in the Democratic race, took her turn running around with oversized shoes and a big red nose by urging super delegates to hold off on making their decisions, just as the party insiders begin to grow nervous at the negative campaigning and clamor for a resolution to the race before the Deomocratic convention. Despite the obvious pledged delegate math at this point, Pelosi was "never among those who believed this would be resolved by now" (even though it virtually already is).

Finally today, at least as has been reported here at TPMElection Central, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Hillary supporter, joined hands with Florida's Republican Governor to demand that Michigan's and Florida's delegates be seated at the convention as is (no re-vote), even though Obama wasn't even on the Michigan ballot. Again, another attempt to distract from the reality that it is already too late for Hillary, hoping they can just keep nudging it her way, as if wishing it can make it happen.

Even at its most powerful, this concerted distraction strategy is temporary and only so effective. Eventually people tire of the clowns and look back to the center ring to see what's happening there. Eventually the press gets back to actually counting delegates. Eventually the spin no longer matters and Hillary just comes up short.

Obama Will Handily Win the "Experience" Chess Match

2008-03-05T20:38:19Z

Obama has been letting Hillary control the primary chess board for the last several weeks while he simply played defense. She threw the "kitchen sink" at him, even working the refs to join in. Now, after Texas and Ohio, Obama promises to strike back on her foreign policy experience claim as well as along other lines.

While he has apparently been trying to remain above the fray up until this point, it should be especially easy for him to come after her on her general experience claim. Looking at it like a chess match, with moves mapped out several in advance, Hillary has painted herself into a corner on this one. It will be easy for Obama to make sure she stays boxed in and comes off either looking foolish or deceptive with her experience claim.

He can effortlessly hit her experience on peripheral technical points such as why she claims the time she was finishing law school as the beginning of her 35 years of experience. Why wouldn't his time in law school count as well?

But, as soon as he starts to really push on what her 35 years of experience actually means -- for instance, what exactly was her vaunted "experience" when Bill was President, which appears to be the crux of her experience argument -- she will be forced to choose one of two options. Either she must own up to the good, and bad, of that administration, owning the full "experience" she claims from the 90s, possibly even forcing her (er, Bill) to reveal Presidential records that document her involvment; OR she'll have to distance herself from Bill's record and thereby lessen her claim to near-Presidential experience.

She'll try to ignore Obama's new challenge and hem and haw, of course. She'll try to have it both ways as she already has up until now. She'll try to claim the experience in a vague way whereby she is not accountable for anything from that period that doesn't poll well today. She'll work the press to keep on giving her a pass on this and to continue to take her claim for granted. But now, if Obama pushes on this thoroughly and relentlessly, she'll have to make a new move. She'll have to choose as Obama turns up the heat and the chess clock ticks on.

Hillary will either end up having to carry the negative baggage of the Clinton I administration -- the poor choices made during, the partisan cacophony, etc -- and thereby look foolish for claiming all of that as her own; OR she'll have to admit she's not quite as experienced as she has been pretending to be.

It's a win for Obama no matter how Hillary chooses to respond to his latest move challenging her experience.

Hillary Is Really Working the Refs to Ignore the Obvious

2008-03-04T22:26:44Z

Camp Hillary has been complaining about unfair press coverage. Of course, it's hard to write nice things about someone who has lost the last 11 primaries and caucuses, often by very large margins, and who has not had a delegate lead at any point in the democratic nomination race thus far. It's been a long race this time 'round, and she enjoyed automatic front runner status for about a year based on nothing more than name recognition. Now that the facts tell a different story, well...

The press has basically been carrying Hillary since Super Tuesday -- any other candidate losing so many events in a row would have been laughed off the stage by now -- and Camp Hillary is going to complain about coverage?

Camp Hillary is obviously working the refs -- whilst they concurrently sow a 1000 seeds of doubt in 100 different directions. "Obama is definitely not a Muslim, as far as I know," with a wink Hillary sayeth.

If Hillary wins anything today in mini-Super Tuesday (even +5 delegates, still leaving her way behind), the press will carry her futile campaign another 7 painful weeks until PA. That's gonna hurt... me, Dems in November, and the nation itself in the end. She'll get uglier and uglier as her campaign just runs on the free ride the media gives her and her negative campaign.

The press will continue to give her a free ride as if she is owed something that no other candidate in either party has been. Bill might owe her. Many party insiders might. But we don't, democrats don't, and neither does the press.

She deserves decency, as any candidate does, as well as the supporters of any campaign do, but if she does not stomp Obama tonight in Texas and Ohio and seriously pull dozens of new delegates to her camp, the press needs to call a spade a spade and say she's done, not enable another 7 weeks of ugly campaigning from a guaranteed nomination loser (not to mention her GE weaknesses such as half the country insisting they would never vote for her).

Perhaps, though, that is the real key to understanding her working the refs strategy. It is not as much intended to puff up friendly coverage for herself, or negative stories on Obama per se, as it is to allow her to carry on as if the nomination is somehow actually achievable for her, to have the press ignore the obvious reality -- to not write that the emperor has no clothes -- all in the slim hopes that Obama somehow steps on own his dick in a big way before the convention.

McCain - Afraid of Obama's Donor Army - Calls for Obama to Use Public Financing

2008-02-15T23:02:30Z

It's abundantly clear, as McCain can't even lock up his own base, and Obama is raising cash hand over fist from hundreds of thousands of regular folk, that McCain is afraid he'll come up short in dollars this fall.

OSHKOSH, Wis. — Hammering Senator Barack Obama for a fourth straight day, Senator John McCain said here on Friday that he expects Senator Obama to abide by his pledge use public financing for his general election if Mr. McCain does so as well.

There was no pledge, but Obama may yet agree to this.

The entire question of how 527s etc fit into this equation remains wide open.

Obama affirms his "commitment to the rule of law"; McCain says, "bring it on"

2008-02-14T19:46:37Z

The Pentagon's plans for death-penalty prosecutions of six men accused of plotting the 2001 terrorist attacks were criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who said capital punishment is appropriate for such crimes but that military tribunals are the wrong forum for the case.

The Defense Department announced murder, terrorism and conspiracy charges Monday against alleged attack mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and five other inmates of the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It gave the leading presidential candidates a chance to show how they would balance anti-terrorism zeal and civil liberties concerns in a heated political climate.

Obama said the desire to punish the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, shouldn't blind people to the flaws of the military tribunals that the Bush administration established to try Guantanamo inmates.

"These trials will need to be above reproach," the Illinois senator said in a statement Monday. "These trials are too important to be held in a flawed military commission system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks and that has been embroiled in legal challenges."

Obama said the men should be tried either in a U.S. criminal court or by military court-martial, either of which would "demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law." Both those systems are more protective of defendants' rights than military tribunals, which allow evidence obtained through coercion and hearsay.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, expressed no such reservations. "I'm sorry that it has taken so long," McCain said.

SF Chronicle, February 13, 2008

McCain, on the other hand, has almost no principles (even if I disagree with him). He's running as the hero who was tortured, who used to be against torture, but now to kow-tow to the wackadoodle right votes to support torture. Hillary took a pass on voting.

It's a very clear choice voters will face this fall should Obama win the nomination. If Hillary gets the party poo-bahs to appoint her, the choice will be less clear in November. It'll be torture vs. torture light.