Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Obama's in better shape than Bill Clinton was

About 16 years ago, Bill Clinton had trouble closing the deal with Democrats. People kept on voting for the weird Jerry Brown. Brown even won the March Connecticut primary and then came close in Wisconsin. Clinton's victory in New York pretty much sealed the nomination, but two months later, my home state of New Jersey, one of the last states to vote in the primaries, showed no enthusiasm for the presumptive nominee. I remember one family friend, a strong Democrat, describing her vote this way, "Well, I guess I should vote for Clinton (sigh)."

Things looked bleak. Clinton was not well-liked by Democrats. He was seen by independents as an elitist, draft-dodging, cheating, Slick Willie. Ross Perot was energizing people, but Clinton was flailing, hoping for coverage as he pandered, pandered, pandered and felt pain all across America.

In June 1992, the Clinton campaign finally showed signs of life, and the convention re-introduced America to the Clinton family. So I'm not worried about Obama's problems with Eastern whites right now. He's got time to make up the ground. He's still relative newcomer to politics, and I think the convention will successfully introduce him to the American public. Unless, of course, Hillary Clinton ruins it.

I am still shocked that Bill Clinton's wife, the candidate's wife who didn't want to stay home and bake cookies, has become a working-class hero. That's got to be a media creation. To some extent, especially in Appalachia, it's because she's the white candidate. Yes, folks, there's racism in Appalachia. A shocker, I know. If 21% of the voters of Kentucky say race was important to their vote, there's another 21% of voters who didn't admit it.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Pentagon Propaganda

A number of media commentators have noticed the deafening silence of the major broadcasters in response to the New York Times article concerning their use of military experts or correspondents who were tied to Rumsfeld's Pentagon. In some cases, these former military officers were literally repeating the Pentagon talking points. CNN, you should be ashamed of yourself!

I had a suspicion that many of them could not be totally candid for fear of alienating their peers, but it appears that there was a monetary incentive as well. Many of them had business with the Pentagon. There's little doubt that, given its track record, this Administration would have retaliated against them and their business interests if they didn't toe the party line about Iraq.

Glenn Greenwald here and here runs through the facts in great detail and links to a very strong legal analysis. This legal analysis, by prwatch.org, hints, but does not explicitly state, that there are really no consequences for an illegal propaganda program. There is no criminal or civil penalty. The restriction is an appropriation restriction, meaning the agency didn't have money for this purpose. At best, a report to the President identifying the Federal employees responsible will be sent. It's hard to see Bush doing anything against the employees.

In order to strengthen the law, I suggest that individuals who knowingly participate in illegal covert propaganda be "debarred" by the Federal government, meaning making them ineligible to receive government contracts, grants, and other Federal money. Since the generals in this case, and the PR flacks in previous cases under the Bush Administration were actively seeking government contracts, debarment may be an adequate deterrent.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

McCain stumbles

A bad few days for McCain:

1) Sugar Momma Cindy won't release her tax returns, ever! Let's see how long that lasts. His campaign receives free, unlimited use of her company's plane because of a loophole in a law that McCain had written, so her wealth is an issue.

2) Arianna says McCain said he didn't vote for George Bush in 2000. I finally gained a little respect for the man, but then he denied it. Let him brag about voting for Bush for the next several months. If I were Obama, I'd use this in a debate.

3) A former lobbyist for the Myanmar junta was tapped by McCain to run the GOP convention. McCain sure does like lobbyists. If lobbyists are the sort of people he chooses to run his campaign, think of the people he's pick for the government.

His campaign hasn't proven itself. McCain didn't really "win" the nomination so much as the other bozo candidates lost. McCain was the last man standing. If these are examples of the deftness of the McCain campaign, I can't wait for the fall season!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Just deplorable

I didn't want to start an anti-Hillary Clinton blog, but you blog about the candidates you have, not the candidate you want. Speaking of horrendous paraphrases, this is just the worst:

“They came for the steel companies and nobody said anything. They came for the auto companies and nobody said anything. They came for the office companies, people who did white-collar service jobs, and no one said anything. And they came for the professional jobs that could be outsourced, and nobody said anything.”


Hillary Clinton is now comparing the plight of industrial workers in the US to Holocaust victims. This society hypes up every small gaffe into a major frickin' deal, but this is the most deplorable thing I have ever heard a candidate say in the last 20 years. There is no comparison between the Holocaust and the economic struggles of Indiana. Not a literal connection. There is not even a touch of truth. Even Jeremiah Wright knows better.

Hillary apparently made this comment on April 28th. You know it would have been all over the place if the other candidate had made this remark.