Stewart savages Rove & O'Lielly over Palin

This Jon Stewart at his finest, bar none. Any time, and I do mean any time the jackasses on the right are exposed as the hypocrites they truly are, it's always a job well done.

The Karl Rove and Bill O'Lielly versions of reality outside of conservative circles is pretty well known, yet there are millions of sheeple out there (primarily Faux News Channel viewers) who just accuse people like Stewart of being part of the "lib-rul media" whenever they do the downright nasty deed of pointing out what's obvious to everyone except the most conservative hacks.

I LOVE it that Bill O'Lielly savaged Jamie Lynn Spears (and her parents) for her teenage pregnancy, but now since the GOP's reality is different, teenage pregnancy is a "family matter" and "not for scrutiny by the press." It's also more than a touch ironic that the right now has to acknowledge that premarital sex exists, even among its own teens, which flies in the face of the Bush administration's absurdly feckless and toothless abstinence program, which it has poured over $1 billion taxpayer money into over the last 7+ years.

I don't happen to believe that Bristol Palin's pregnancy should have any bearing on the campaign, but her daughter's pregnancy certainly contradicts many of the policy decisions that Sarah Palin has made as governor of Alaska. For instance, Palin, through a line-item veto, killed funding for a home that would have provided shelter for unwed mothers for 18 months. I also got a pretty good laugh out of reading that as governor she also killed funding for special needs children, before she had one. (Even more ironic since her youngest child, Trig, who suffers from Downs Syndrome, was passed around at the GOP Convention like a plate of cocaine at Studio 54.) Then again, those two examples of her denying funding didn't apply to HER, after all, since her daughter Bristol and her son Trig both enjoy a privileged upbringing (as did Sarah Palin herself when she became pregnant as a teen).

Other examples abound of the right's reversal on policies and decisions when reality demands it. I never cease to get a good laugh about the so-called geniuses on the right-wing talk show circuit when it comes to this stuff. Who among us can forget all of the BLATANT misogyny about Hillary Clinton earlier this year, when the right and its corporate media went after her with vengeful cowardice? Now these same people (Rove, Hannity, Limbaugh, etc.) are reduced to defending Sarah Palin with the same fervor, even though Palin is 1/32nd the candidate that Hillary would have made had she been Obama's running mate.

Another example is political experience - Obama's supposed biggest liabilitiy, as well as the fact that he was new to Washington. Now with the nomination of Palin to be McCain's number two (I'll resist a potty joke), those supposed liabilities (which she has to a much greater extent than Obama does) are now her greatest assets. I guess the right really does hold voters in pretty high contempt, because if it respected them, we wouldn't be getting these contradictions and double standards. I haven't whiffed hypocrisy this rancid since the Repube adulterers who were behind the Clinton witch hunt Impeachment.

The footage above of Rove attacking Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (who obviously didn't end up on the ticket, but who very well might get a plum position in a would-be Obama administration) is also high comedy. By the way, can someone mention to Rove that Wasilla, the town where Palin was mayor, is not the second largest city in Alaska, it's the fourth (or sixth, if you use the city's information). Another lie that Rove surely must have known to be false when he said it, but when it comes to pimping its candidates, the robots on the right really know no boundaries, truth be damned. A little exaggeration here, a stretch of the truth there - anything to make their candidates look better.

Well played, Jon Stewart.

It's little wonder that the right is trying so hard to take away the Internet and the idea of Net Neutrality - it really is our last bastion of having a truly free press. We must fight the right's attempt to destroy the Internet as we know it with everything we have.

Here's hoping that O'Lielly and Rove don't smarten up anytime soon (a safe bet) and that they keep on looking like the geniuses they aren't with their contradictions and lies.

I've got plenty more coming on Palin a bit later today, including why I firmly believe that her selection says a great deal about McCain, very little of it good.

It's official - Obama's the one

I sincerely apologize for the paucity of posts this week - school started, and I've been sick as a dog. Of all the weeks for it to happen - school starting, and the Democratic National Convention. Sigh. Oh well, I'll more than make up for it over the next few days, and definitely this weekend. I have so much to blog about, thoughts are spilling out my ears.

Anyway, I just finished watching the Democrats do it right - officially nominating Barack Obama at 6:48 p.m. Eastern Time. The Dems did it in fine fashion - timing it out so that Hillary spoke for New York State, and she quickly moved that Obama be nominated by acclamation, which was accepted.

It was a pretty historic, sweet moment. After watching Hillary last night give the speech of her political career, and watching her totally classy, appropriate show of unity for the party, Obama's the one. For the life of me, I cannot fathom why any of her supporters would possibly consider voting for McSame, and I certainly hope that after listening and seeing her sincerity, a vast majority of her supporters do the right thing.

After seeing the pageantry, pomp and circumstance, I had two thoughts - thank GOD Obama got the nomination without a floor fight, and I love how Repube predictions of party strife were about as credible as a Rush Limbaugh rehab center.

I'm off to a fantasy football draft tonight, but I'm TiVo-ing all of the festivities, so I promise to have a little bit more later tonight, and plenty more tomorrow.

Shocker: McCain's Hillary love is about two weeks old

There was a time not long ago when Hillary Clinton was persona non grata in the Republican Party. But, in recent days, American's Profiteer, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain have been making nice with Hillary. Why? Because McCain desperately needs her supporters if he even has a remote shot at becoming president. (And because 9iu1ian1 desperately wants to be McCain's running mate - the only way he'll ever have even an outside shot at gaining national elected office.)

And there was a time not too long ago where McCain thought it was funny when one of his ignorant, asinine supporters called Hillary a "bitch" during a Q&A session. Now that's classy.

It gets better. McCain also had to apologize once for making this unspeakable joke about Chelsea Clinton at a Washington dinner in 1998:

Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.

Hmm. He calls his wife a "cunt," laughs at a joke calling Hillary Clinton a "bitch," and calls Janet Reno a "man." And women are considering voting for this guy?

He later apologized for the joke, but how could Hillary, Bill or Chelsea take that apology seriously? How do you unring a bell like that?

I have to give the Clintons credit - they have much thicker skins than I could ever hope to have - reason 1,001 why I'll never go into politics. Me? After that crack about Chelsea (she was 18 at the time), if I were Bill Clinton, I would have sent him a gift certificate to Hollywood Tan so he can darken the scars from the two melanomas he's had removed. I know, I'm no better than him now, and I'm okay with that. I was brought up with manners, and 95 percent of the time I have them, but that five percent is saved for churlish rubes like John McCain. Then, I can get into the gutter with the worst of them. I'm not proud of it, but I absolutely detest misogyny, or picking on someone's kids - something that McCain finds amusing.

What sickens me even more is that many women, simply out of spite, are even considering voting for him just because their candidate didn't win. Well boo hoo - Howard Dean lost in '04 and I campaigned like hell for John Kerry in Bucks County, Pa. because his party (MY party) believes in things that are completely foreign to President Bush. Taking a look at McCain's history of hateful comments about women, much less his voting record, ought to disabuse Hillary supporters of the notion of voting for him, but we'll see soon enough.

And by the way, Chelsea Clinton is about 1,000 percent prettier than Cindy McCain, or the McCains' daughter, Megan. <-- She's 21, so I don't feel bad.

Hillary's speech lets the healing begin

Hillary Clinton's speech yesterday was just what the party ordered. There's not much more to say than that. It was sincere, heartfelt and genuine. Now here's hoping that most of her supporters will realize just how foolhardy it is to endorse or support John McCain in any way. So far, not everyone is getting the message. That's okay, but I just hope that a majority of her supporters don't do the unthinkable.

She was very emphatic of her support of Obama, too; she mentioned his name 14 times during her speech.

The healing has officially begun. Now, let's get on with the winning.

Pretty sweet: Stewart lays waste to punditry*

* - but the joke about Lincoln in a theater was infinitely less than funny. Especially on the eve of RFK's assassination anniversary, which I'll talk about in a bit. No one has ever accused me of not being able to take a joke, but I just never think it's funny to joke about a presidential assassination, ever. Anyway, on with the piece above...

I loved the round-up of so-called pundits predicting Hillary Clinton was going to run away with the nomination, and a few of them go all the way back to the spring of 2007. Unbelievable. I especially enjoyed hearing Joe Scarborough's dismissal of Barack Obama, too. What a clown. Stewart wraps the pundit round-up pretty nicely: "News pundits, they are like the doppler-less weathermen of our time." Pretty fitting, since the pundits who predicted her victory over a year ago might just as well have been predicting the daily weather, a year ahead of time.

By the way, I loved Stewart's "Baba Booey" reference. (If you don't listen to Howard Stern, never mind.)

One particular lowlight of the McCain speech: "[Obama] doesn't trust us to make decisions for ourselves, and wants to the government to make them for us." That kind of Reagan b.s., i.e. - "government IS the problem," isn't going to fly this year, McSame. But, you keep pounding that drum, and all of the Reagan fetishists will ride that plane right into the ground with you.

After watching it several times again, it really is apparent that McCain is going to get the stuffing kicked out of him this fall. This year, being the GOP nominee means being the best of the worst. It really is going to be Bob Dole '96 all over again. And if I pull a Scarborough and McCain somehow miraculously wins, I'll offer a full-blown mea culpa on these very pages.

McCain's co-opting Obama's slogan is about as original as Glenn Beck saying "Inconvenient (fill in the blank)" every two seconds. And it's as witty, too.

I also found it sort of sad watching the handful of people surrounding McCain while he made his speech. McCain should fire the aide who decided on a green background - it was about as unflattering as possible. He couldn't have possibly looked any more frail and old. Here's hoping his campaign's wonderful decision making continues.

Just like the Democratic Nomination was Hillary's to lose, the general election is Obama's to lose. Here's hoping he doesn't Pull a Hillary. Maybe that could even be a new electoral term, like Swiftboating entered our political lexicon following the '04 election.

Phew! Thanks, Hillary! We didn't know...

This is just a quick one, but I couldn't let it go without a mention. Today, Hillary Clinton, speaking to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy in Washington, had this to say about Obama's choice of a running mate: that the choice is "Senator Obama's, and his alone."

Wow, thanks Hillary. I'm glad we got that straight.

Obama's the one... bring on McSame

I was pretty blown away by Obama's speech last night - at the end of a no doubt long political career, this one will go down as one of his finest. I was particularly impressed with Obama's remarks about Hillary Clinton [Click Here for full speech transcript]:

That is particularly true for the candidate who has traveled further on this journey than anyone else. Senator Hillary Clinton has made history in this campaign not just because she's a woman who has done what no woman has done before, but because she's a leader who inspires millions of Americans with her strength, her courage, and her commitment to the causes that brought us here tonight.

We've certainly had our differences over the last sixteen months. But as someone who's shared a stage with her many times, I can tell you that what gets Hillary Clinton up in the morning – even in the face of tough odds – is exactly what sent her and Bill Clinton to sign up for their first campaign in Texas all those years ago; what sent her to work at the Children's Defense Fund and made her fight for health care as first lady; what led her to the United States Senate and fueled her barrier-breaking campaign for the presidency – an unyielding desire to improve the lives of ordinary Americans, no matter how difficult the fight may be. And you can rest assured that when we finally win the battle for universal health care in this country, she will be central to that victory. When we transform our energy policy and lift our children out of poverty, it will be because she worked to help make it happen. Our party and our country are better off because of her, and I am a better candidate for having had the honor to compete with Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Wow - pretty deferential and humble words by Obama about Hillary, who has gone to great lengths behind the scenes to paint Obama as "unelectable," "inexperienced," and much, much worse.

I guess I might be raining on the Feel-Good Parade, but what thanks did Obama get for his kind words about Hillary last night? Certainly not what he deserved - Hillary bowing out of the race gracefully. Last night, Hillary wouldn't even Obama his moment - she thanked her supporters and issued a few other vaguenesses (see video below). Her idiotic campaign chair, Terry McAuliffe, even introduced her as, "the next President of the United States." I'd love to know how the weather is on HIS planet.

Anyway, I totally agree with Obama's assessment of Hillary, but I was not pleased that she did not concede the nomination last night. In the absence of more information, I interpret it as thus: she's waiting for Obama to stumble, or for some dirt to be dug up about him this summer. Once our corporate media's Conventional Wisdom says that he's "unelectable," (cue drug addict Limbaugh, GOP shill Drudge and facist Michael Wiener) Hillary is fantasizing about swooping in and taking the nomination. Pretty undignified, in my book, and something that almost certainly won't happen.

In all sincerity, I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Hillary, but she's doing herself, her party and her country a disservice by keeping up with this charade. I very rarely wade into the cesspools that masquerade as comment sections on most blogs, but I found an excellent analogy about Hillary not conceding the nomination, and I just have to share it:

Can you imagine if the New England Patriots pulled this Hillary thing? It would have gone something like this in this year's Super Bowl in February: Yeah, we're down by three, and there's no time left on the clock, but that doesn't mean the game should stop! We had a better season! We won all of our games! Tom Brady is more likable than Eli Manning, and there are more Patriots fans than Giants fans...and...and... we'll take this to the NFL rules commission if we have to! We won! This season, we scored more points than the Giants! Our offense was ranked higher! So what if they beat us when it counted? We will not allow the Patriots fans to become invisible, blah... blah... blah...

Say what you want about sports, but that's the best damned analogy I've read yet about Hillary's refusal to face reality.

Here is Clinton's speech from last night, in two parts...

Part I:

Part II:

I don't even know where to begin with her speech. I'm quite certain that Obama will not be pleased when he sees it. Of course, she had a few nice things to say about Obama, but she didn't do what was expected of her, and what would have been the magnanimous thing to do - concede. Instead, she blubbered on about "winning the swing states," and complaining about the votes in Florida and Michigan not being counted (in so many words). I'm for counting all of the votes, too, but seriously, let's move on, senator. The Democratic Party (in my view) made a mistake, Hillary, but if you would have run a better campaign, you wouldn't be crying foul over these two states.

At this point, Obama cannot pick her to run with him - he just can't. I don't believe for one second that all of the Hillary supporters who are making noise about voting for McSame will actually go through with it. I just can't believe it. Hillary and Obama's politics and positions on policy issues are so close in so many ways, I refuse to believe that her supporters would go in the other direction and vote for McCain, merely out of spite.

By the way, from the bizzaro file, here's Terry McAuliffe, Hillary's campaign chairman, on The Daily Show last night...

I don't even know what to make of this - was it a skit? Was McAuliffe on something? Stewart (as Obama) asking McAuliffe, "WTF?" was only topped by McAuliffe saying, "Kiss my ass, Obama!" I think McAuliffe has seriously lost it. Perhaps it's his recent track record of not being able to put any of his backed candidates over the top - the two most notable being John Kerry in '04, when McAuliffe was the DNC Chair, and blowing it against Obama this year with Hillary - the nomination was hers to lose, and she lost it with McAuliffe serving as her campaign chair.

Off to the political scrap heap, Terry.

I found this on a political site last night (I think it was Crooks & Liars, under the comments section on one of the posts), and I loved it - it's about what was going on at Obama's campaign headquarters last night. I don't know if it's true, but I like the idea of it, and the very last sentence in this short little political chestnut is true, even if the rest isn't:

Every time a new endorsement was announced at the Obama headquarters in Chicago, campaign workers interrupted with a booming round of applause, followed by popping Champagne corks later in the evening. The aides are members of Mr. Obama's team — a political start-up — that is responsible for defeating one of the most tried and tested teams in Democratic politics.

That's right on - an effective, victorious political campaign really can still be waged by determined, activist citizens in this country, amazingly enough. It isn't easy, but it can be done. Now all we have to worry about is Obama beating a well-funded Republican machine that will resort to just about anything to get elected.

Despite what some people may believe, this fall will be no cake walk for Obama. The right is going to come after him with everything they've got.

In '04, I used to hear this refrain all the time from Repubes: You're not so much for Kerry, you're just against Bush. There was more than a kernel of truth in that. I don't apologize for being so anti-Bush back then (or now), but that's not really a good reason to have backed Kerry, I suppose. (I originally wanted Dean in '04, but I campaigned very, very hard for Kerry in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.) However, I can't wait to push this back in Republicans' faces this year - "It's not that you're so much for McCain, it's that you're against Obama." It's been well documented that McCain is still having a very hard time wooing the Republican base, but now, the base will simply attack Obama anyway.

It's going to be one bumpy ride, but it's a ride I'm looking forward to.

I urge you all to go to Obama's Website and make at least a small contribution, even if it's just $5 or $10. Every little bit will help in his campaign this fall.

One other quick note - and I only got to see a few tidbits of coverage as I was jumping around from all of the coverage I TiVo'd last night (I was at a concert), but I found some clips of ABC's coverage on the 'Net this morning and it was an abomination - a stark example about what I detest about our corporate media.

Right as Obama was giving his acceptance speech, evidently ABC cut into regular programming to bring viewers about five minutes of his speech, before cutting away to Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos talking about his historic speech. Hey guys, shut up and let it happen. Thank God these two aren't sportscasters - imagine them doing commentary for the Super Bowl... Tom Brady [Smirk] Eli Manning fades back to throw the winning touchdown pass, and the network cuts to Gibson and Stephanopoulos talking about the winning touchdown pass. Morons.

Then again, I shouldn't expect much more from Gibson, who feels the media asked all of the tough questions and raised all of the issues with the Bush administration during the run-up to the war in Iraq. Brilliant! (See Below)

AP: Clinton calling it a day

AP is reporting that Hillary Clinton is set to give up her quest for the presidency, and will likely do so during her gathering in New York City tonight:

Hillary Rodham Clinton will concede Tuesday night that Barack Obama has the delegates to secure the Democratic nomination, campaign officials said, effectively ending her bid to be the nation's first female president.

Obama is 40 delegates shy of clinching the nomination, but he is widely expected to make up the difference Tuesday with superdelegate support and votes in South Dakota and Montana. Once he reaches the magic number of 2,118, Clinton will acknowledge that he has secured the necessary delegates to be the nominee.

The former first lady will stop short of formally suspending or ending her race in her speech in New York City.

It's encouraging news. Hillary gave it a good fight and is to be (mostly) commended for her efforts. Now here's hoping that the party wounds heal (that her and former President Clinton have done a good deal to inflict in the first place) and that the party can get on with business of winning the presidential & congressional elections in the fall.

There are only two big questions left regarding Hillary & Obama, pre-election: 1. Will both Clintons get behind Obama this summer and fall? and 2. Who will Obama's running mate be? (I've already said that picking Hillary would be a bad idea for a number of reasons.)

As Howard Dean reiterated over the weekend, the most important person in the Democratic Party this summer and fall is the candidate who "receives 49% of the delegates," and that's Hillary. She must do all she can to unite the party and back Obama. It's no longer about her - it's about the country.

Only time will tell how she responds.

Hill backer loses it over Fla/Mich decision

This is some pretty amazing footage of a Clinton supporter losing it over the weekend, after coming to the idiotic conclusion about what to do with the Michigan and Florida delegations. I will go to my grave believing that the Democratic Party and Howard Dean made a colossal mis-step in penalizing Michigan and Florida, even if Obama wins the election. Specifically in the case of Florida, a Republican-controlled state legislature forced the hand of the Democrats (I wonder if that was a political calculation by said Republicans). Either way, Dean should have vowed to fix the primary system AFTER this year's primaries.

Howard Dean has done a lot of things right, but effectively disenfranchising two critical swing states counts as a a pretty big blunder. Of course, winning in November will be a pretty big deodorant, but it was insanely stupid on the part of the Democrats to even take the chance.

The woman in the video above was pretty angry, and I feel her anger. I don't feel that all of the Michigan delegates should go to Hillary, because Obama wasn't on the ballot, but Florida should have (provided it's a "winner take all" state, & I'm not sure off of the top of my head if it is).

Speaking of Winner Take All contests, I've little idea why the Democrats don't do it like the Republicans do - you win the state, you win the delegates. It really would be much simpler. After the election, however it turns out, the Democrats need to fix this before 2012. And while they're at it, the entire idea of Superdelegates should go the way of the Betamax, too.

Oh, and no matter how angry she is, I still say she's an idiot if she votes for McCain, but that's just my opinion.

Prediction: it'll be Obama/Richardson '08

Speculation has been brewing for months and months now, but with recent developments, it will definitely begin bubbling to the surface, especially after tomorrow... Who will be Obama's running mate?

It won't be Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). He's too valuable to put in the veep spot. I like him for secretary of defense in a theoretical Obama administration.

It definitely won't be Hillary Clinton. I can't see her accepting anything in an Obama administration, and adding Hillary to the ticket really would be a departure from his message - Change. Like Hillary or dislike her (and I certainly love her - I just love Obama a whole lot more), she represents anything but change.

My pick, and it's not really a wild card pick, is New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. He has impeccable credentials - a former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., he's Hispanic (and fluent in Spanish), he's a former secretary of energy under President Clinton, and he's been by most accounts a very successful governor of New Mexico.

Picking Richardson would help Obama in a variety of ways. First and foremost, he would be a tremendous help with the Hispanic vote. Can anyone imagine how appealing it would be to see Richardson go into Hispanic neighborhoods and give speeches in Spanish? This would contrast sharply to then-candidate Bush's Spanish II-level press conferences in 1999. (I still can't believe he didn't take more heat for that - he doesn't even speak proper English, yet he was going to try and tackle another? Wow, bad advice.)

And, the other issue that has surfaced from time to time in this campaign - immigration - is an area where Richardson will undoubtedly have a whole lot more expertise than Obama, McCain and whomever the latter picks as his running mate. Richardson has been dealing with immigration issues for a long time in his state, and he is a whole lot more knowledgeable on this issue than McCain. Don't be fooled by McCain's immigration credentials because he's a senator from Arizona, either; big deal - that just means that he delivers immigration sound bites with a nanometer of more credibility than a senator from Kansas would.

Obama would be crazy to not pick Richardson. Hopefully we'll know soon enough. As far as I'm concerned, the fall campaign begins on Wednesday, after Obama has all but sewn up the nomination (if he actually hasn't done so).

Obama would be very wise to choose a running mate early and not wait until the convention. A summer barnstorming tour of the country by Obama and his running mate would be a very good thing, indeed.

For now, we can only watch, wait, wonder and speculate ;o) I just hope it isn't Hillary - it would be the wrong running mate for all the wrong reasons.

Olbermann doesn't always get it right

Lots to get to this morning, but before I do, it's worth taking a minute to mention one of Keith Olbermann's Special Comments last week. It's no secret that I feel Olbermann is one of the best liberal commentators on television, but that doesn't mean I always agree with him. For instance, last week, in light of Hillary Clinton's RFK gaffe, Olbermann took some pretty harsh liberties with Clinton, and by saying that, I'm being kind. My personal lowlight from his 10-minute tirade (transcript Here):

And certainly to invoke [RFK's assassination], three days after the awful diagnosis, and heart-breaking prognosis, for Senator Ted Kennedy, is just as insensitive, and just as heartless. And both actions, open a door wide into the soul of somebody who seeks the highest office in this country, and through that door shows something not merely troubling, but frightening. And politically inexplicable.

Sweet Jesus. I've vehemently and sometimes obnoxiously defended Olbermann countless times over the last 3-4 years against the charge that he's becoming the left's Bill O'Reilly. While I'm certainly not on that train yet, a few more Special Comments like these, and I may just get in line for a ticket. Olbermann has done so much good, and has been such a powerful, refreshing voice in the wilderness during Bush's second term, he does himself and his listeners a tremendous disservice by slamming Clinton over her RFK gaffe. To say that her comment "opened the door wide into her soul..." is simply absurd.

Evidently, I'm not alone. In this week's Time, James Poniewozik gives KO a gangsta slap for his Hillary Special Comment. A lengthy excerpt (and trust me, it's worth the read):

...Olbermann is edging ever-closer to self-parody, or, worse, predictability. (As soon as the Clinton gaffe broke, blog commenters were wondering how ballistic he would go, and he obliged, and how.) Even if we concede his argument—that Clinton was at best callously and at worst intentionally suggesting she should stay in the race because Obama might be killed—every time he turns up the volume to 11 like this lately, he sounds like just another of the cable gasbags he used to be a corrective to.

But mostly his outburst reminds me of how the long Democratic primary has divided the left-of-center media (or at least, the media outlets with a left-of-center audience) into camps, like a bad divorce. Personalities and institutions that were once universally beloved by people who were sick of the Bush administration have either taken sides, or have been perceived to, splintering what used to be a unified and largely uncritical amen chorus.

Most of the perceived side-takers have been on the Obama side, as we've seen—it's not just Olbermann, Daily Kos and the Huffington Post, but even some viewers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (as sanctified as any center of anti-Bush comedy can be) have gotten alienated by the shows' attacks on Hillary Clinton. (I haven't sat down with a stopwatch to see if they mock her more than Obama, but they certainly mock her better.) There are fewer pro-Clinton equivalents, but Saturday Night Live, New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and my old employer Salon.com have all taken criticism for carrying water for Hillary, from the same sorts of people who loved them when they were knocking Bush and Cheney.

[...]

It's probably asking too much, but maybe the experience of being annoyed by someone you used to constantly agree with could teach political audiences something about how they have appeared all along to their adversaries. Think about it: if you've found yourself suddenly irritated by any of the people or outlets I mentioned above this election, is it really they who've changed? Or are they simply less charming when they're not confirming your comfortable beliefs?

Sometimes, maybe, the only way to really understand how your idols sound from the other side is to actually find yourself on the other side of them.

I'm not ashamed to say that Poniewozik's piece this week is as poignant and spot on as any of Olbermann's Special Comments I'd heard in 2008.

Olbermann really does need to ratchet down the rhetoric and save those "volume 11" rants, as Poniewozik calls them, for the true outrages of the Bush administration.

Countdown is still a can't-miss show, and most nights (or the next morning) I watch it, but the last thing the left needs is a blowhard like Bill O'Reilly, making every little indiscretion or gaffe sound like it's the worst political miscalculation ever. What's more, there are plenty of outrages out there being committed by this administration he should be focusing his attention on.

CNN's Castellanos: some women are bitches

I'm still pretty angry this morning over the absurd and asinine coverage that Hillary's gaffe about RFK is getting. (More on that in a minute.)

In the meantime, speaking of the media's coverage of Hillary Clinton, here's an outrageous piece of footage, where last week CNN's Alex Castellanos asserted that it's acceptable to call some women bitches. I'm not joking. Watch the footage above...

CASTELLANOS: "Her problem is she's Hillary Clinton. And some women, by the way, are named that [bitches] and it's accurate."

What is this, a cable news network or a rap video? And no, his quotation is not being taken out of context. (Again, watch the footage for the full context.) This is the kind of crap that our corporate media is focusing on in this campaign.

I can't even tell you how many times I've heard references to Clinton's appearance, her voice (how many times have we heard the word "shrill" when describing how she talks?), and her tears in New Hampshire, which received nationwide media coverage for days, and an overwhelming majority of it was not friendly or favorable. In fact, just about every instance where her New Hampshire tears were covered, the question was asked, "Were they genuine?" The list goes on and on. And yet, whenever someone raises the possibility that she's getting this coverage because she's a woman, the hackles of every political talking head get raised, insisting that the coverage of her is fair. Bullshit.

As for Castellanos, he's a political disgrace of the lowest human order - he's made a living delivering hate speech and attack ads during political campaigns. His track record speaks for itself, and his comments above prove what little regard he has for women. What a pig. It's people like Castellanos who give men who respect women a bad name.

I'm not defending Hillary at all costs - in fact, far from it. Her now infamous Bosnia distortions lies are well documented, and her explanation for her comments was laughable. As I've written many times, some of her bad coverage has been self inflicted, but nowhere near all of it.

The fact that her last name is Clinton has really done her no favors in this race, either. I don't think that makes her a victim of any kind - I'm not shedding tears for her - but it should at least offer up a partial explanation as to why she's receiving the coverage she does. But, she knew it was going to be ugly before she got into the race, so again, no tears for her.

However, anyone but the most rabid, partisan Republican would probably have to agree that the media has done anything but treat the Clintons fairly since they hit the national spotlight in the late 1980s-early-1990s.

And it's also true that our corporate media has virtually turned a deaf ear for the last eight years on the criminal wrongdoing on the part of the Bush administration (especially his first term). I can only hope and pray that the facts eventually come out over what Bush and Cheney have done to subvert the Constitution and damage this country; damage that will take years if not decades to repair.

But, instead, we get...

"LOOK! LOOK! OVER HERE! Hillary made a gaffe! Obama's not wearing his flag pin!"

Hillary's "smear" about RFK a total crock

So the right-wing blogosphere is all aflutter of a comment that Hillary Clinton made earlier today about staying in the race. During a conversation with newspaper editors, she mentioned that her husband, President Clinton, locked up the nomination in June 1992. She then mentioned that Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated in June 1968. Certainly it was a misstep and a gaffe, but only a moron (see Matt Drudge's screen capture from earlier today, above) would try to distort what she meant. It's obvious that if you take her remark in CONTEXT (a word that most of the press, and virtually all political pundits [esp. on the right] seem to have forgotten during this election), she was talking about her reasons for not withdrawing from the race.

Anyway, her comments are below - take a look and you be the judge.

Frankly, I don't even want to waste any more time on this, because it's such a non-story, but of course it will bounce around newscasts all weekend, with the implication that Hillary Clinton was somehow making light of RFK's assassination. Of course, right away she issued an apology to the Kennedy family, but few rational people, including I'm guessing anyone in the Kennedy family, probably thought that it was even necessary. But, Hillary is in the non-offending business right now, because she so desperately needs any support she can get in her fading campaign for the presidency.

What a difference a few days makes - just days ago, some on the far right were revisiting the Chappaquiddick incident and other misdeeds by Sen. Ted Kennedy in light of his brain cancer diagnosis. Now, all of a sudden, right-wing blowhards like Drudge are raking Hillary over the coals for allegedly making light of RFK's assassination. What a joke.

It's just another example of the scathingly critical, unspeakably moronic press that this woman has had to endure since she declared her candidacy about 18 months ago. There's no doubt that a portion of it has been self inflicted, but it certainly is a small percentage compared to the mindlessly stupid stories, name calling and slanders that have been run against her. I didn't vote for her in the Pennsylvania Primary, but someday I just might get the chance to proudly cast my vote for her in a national election, press coverage be damned.

This Modern World - superdelegates & race

[Click strip to go to the full cartoon]

As usual, Tom Tomorrow deals head on with issues that people don't want to talk about, and this week it's race in this presidential election. Race in this election is the white elephant in the room ~ you pick that scab, you uncover a lot of pus.

I do not buy into the notion that race is the only thing that people are considering in the voting booth, however. For instance, when people are filling up their gas tanks, seeing their subprime mortgage rates rise, or watching all of the death and destruction in Iraq on TV (oops, I forgot - our corporate media doesn't permit that), they probably aren't thinking about race.

I'm happily voting outside my race in this election ~ I can't think of anything more repugnant than casting my vote for McSame.

Stewart's Matthews-McAuliffe Douche Off

Jon Stewart made good sport of the exchanges between MSNBC's Chris Matthews and Terry McAuliffe, Hillary's campaign manager, during the evening of the West Virginia primary last week. If you haven't seen it, take a look - it really is pretty funny. Stewart dubs the exchange a douche off, and that about sums it up.

Chris Matthews was, well, being Chris Matthews, and I have little use for Terry McAuliffe, considering his track record against Republicans. This is the DNC Chairman who couldn't even beat George Bush in 2004, for Christ sakes. Why Hillary picked him to chair her campaign, I will never know - it certainly wasn't for his recent track record of success against Republicans.

Anyway, thank God for people like Stewart. What makes his show even better is that you just know there are execs over at Faux News who would kill to have a show half this funny. Maybe it's why the network's ill-fated answer to The Daily Show was dubbed The Half Hour News Hour. Too bad it lasted about as long as President Bush's oil company.

Bill Clinton & heckler spar over health care

This is some pretty interesting footage of former President Bill Clinton taking on a heckler during a speech this past week in Fayetteville, West Virginia over Hillary's role in health care. I have to confess, I've always liked the president's combative style, especially when it comes to hecklers.

I'm an Obama supporter, but to be fair, the president is right in this instance. As for Ruth Callibra, the woman who remembers so clearly Hillary's role with regard to health care...

My first thought after hearing this was it's no wonder eye-witness testimony is so unreliable in criminal cases - it's because the mind can play tricks on many people's imaginations, and memories.

I distinctly remember Hillary Clinton as first lady taking center stage in the health care debate, and getting downright crucified for it, too. I also remember Republicans busing people in to disrupt Hillary's speeches around the country, and also the absurd Harry and Louise ads that were run on major networks by insurance companies. These commercials were conceived to scare the living daylights out of everyone, and to a certain extent, they worked. Here's two of the ads:

I get angry all over again watching these, and I get into full partisan mode, circa the 1990s "smear the Clintons at all costs" political atmosphere.

For the record, I like Hillary's health care plan a little bit better than Obama's - by most accounts that I've read, it covers more people. One of her big mistakes in this campaign has been not talking about her health care plan enough; she is more experienced than Obama in this area, and certainly has more experience in waging the health care wars with Repubes.

If Obama wins the presidency, Hillary will have a critical role to play in trying to get universal health care passed, because like the 1990s, the GOP won't just roll over and die, thereby letting the Democrats pass "socialized health care."

Out with the old, in with the new...

Tuesday night marked a seismic shift in the Democratic Party, and in U.S. politics. It finally looks like Obama is going to prevail in the battle to be the party's nominee, and I'm happy about that on so many levels, and I'd by lying if I didn't say that a big part of that happiness is that Obama is going to face McCain, and not Hillary, despite what some of the vapid personalities on the right, such as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, are trying to accomplish - to propel Clinton the nomination (more on Limbaugh's Operation Chaos in a separate post). I like Clinton in many ways, and of course I would vote for her, but I just think that Obama is the best candidate right now for the Democrats.

I heard Clinton campaign chair Terry McAuliffe on NBC's Today this morning, and I was actually encouraged by what I heard. I'm paraphrasing, but he insinuated that after the last primary on June 3, that the party would have a nominee.

Good.

I always relish it when the so-called "expert" talking heads get it wrong, or when they don't get their way. The only reason I wish the Democratic race would have been decided long ago is so yaps like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh could stop flattering themselves, thinking that they are somehow influencing the Democratic race. My theory - their candidate is so boring, the the Republican Party is in such tatters, they really don't have anything better to talk about, so they offer up slander, witticisms and hate speech about the Democrats. Hannity, Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and their ilk remind me of dorks who aren't allowed in to a high school or college party, so they sit out on the sidewalk, hurling insults in a pathetic display of ignorance.

Anyway, based McAuliffe's appearance on Today, the party will have a nominee soon enough. There will be plenty of time to raise money, and to highlight to American would should already be stunningly obvious - that McCain is the wrong man, the wrong personality and the wrong ideology to get us out of the disgraceful state of affairs that Bush has dragged us all into.

Picture from HuffPo

Hill-adelphia helps Clinton carry PA

Hillary has done it - she has pulled off another victory here in Pennsylvania, but will it be enough? I don't think it will. Lost in all the hoopla of her victory, which by the latest count has her winning the state by 10 percent, is that it won't be significant enough to propel her to the nomination; she won 67 delegates tonight, but Obama won 51.

Of course, all day today, the press engaged in wild speculation about what Hillary should do if her victory wasn't big enough, if she won by x%, etc. I think all of that speculation was for naught, because Hillary isn't going anywhere, for now. There will be calls on both sides for the other to step aside, but that's easy for all of us to say, when they are both (but yet so far) from the Democratic nomination.

In state news, I was delighted to see that Johnny Dougherty lost his bid be the Democratic nominee to replace the outgoing State Senator Vince Fumo in Philadelphia's First District. Unfortunately, Larry Farnese was the winner, and not the candidate we supported - Anne Dicker. The district won with Dougherty's defeat, however.

Dicker distinguished herself in this campaign, and she certainly has a future in politics. I will support and vote for Farnese in the fall election.

The jury is still out, of course, for the Democratic nomination, but I just don't buy into the opinion that the dogfight between Clinton and Obama somehow will hurt the Democratic Nominee's chances against John McCain. Sure, I'd like to see a nominee raising money now, but I still believe the Democrats will win and win big this fall.

And I plan on spending lots of time and energy to help make that happen.

My ballot is cast...

I just cast my ballot at my polling place. It was quick and easy - absolutely no line. When the day comes when we move from our condo in Philly, I sure will miss how easy of a time I have to vote - it's literally one block away at an elementary school.

Anyway, it's official - I cast my vote for Obama. Despite my recent indecision about possibly voting for Hillary, I didn't waiver from my original pronouncement of supporting Obama. I believe Hillary is quite a strong candidate, but I simply think Obama can give politics in our poisoned nation's capital the swift kick in the butt that it needs.

I also cast my vote for Progressive Anne Dicker today for Pennsylvania's First District's State Senate race. She's in a dogfight with Johnny Dougherty and Larry Farnese. I'd like to say I'm confident she can pull it off, but in the last few weeks, I'm not so sure. But, I never considered voting for either of the other two.

Voter turnout here in Pennsylvania appears to be quite heavy indeed. I'll be back later with much more. If you live in Pa. and you're reading this - get out there and vote today - the earlier, the better. There have already been some reported problems with voting machines in South Philly. If you go early, you have a chance to get the problem fixed before the end of the day so your vote counts.

Today... we decide! Don't forget to vote!

I've been looking forward to this day for quite a while, but I have to admit I'll be much, much happier when it's all over, at least for a little while. Pennsylvania won't take a backseat for long, though, since just like 2004, it promises to be a hotly contested state for both party's nominees.

All of the campaign ads, the commercials, the junk mail (of which I've received probably at least 50 pieces of campaign fliers in the past 2 weeks) and all the rest, it will be good to get a break from it for a little while. And I'm a political junkie! That should tell you something about how crazy it's been, especially here in Philadelphia. We'll find out soon enough of the city can be dubbed Hill-adelphia; if she carries Philly, she almost undoubtedly will carry the state.

As tired as I am of it, I have to confess that I think the debate has been very good for voters, and the state. I just don't buy into the media's crybaby complaining that "it's not good for the Democratic Party" because Hillary and Obama are still slugging it out. The media simply wanted it wrapped up by now, so it can get on to delivering us Hillary/Obama vs. McCain polls for the next seven or eight months. Funny how, as usual, the facts get very little traction, too; Bill Clinton didn't wrap up the nomination in 1992 until June. But, back then we didn't have the Internet, (ahem) blogs, and YouTube, and also umpteen 24-hour news channels to incessantly obsess over what Obama's drinking for breakfast, or Hillary's laugh or haircut like we do now.

Part of me thinks this slugfest between Obama and Clinton is good, and part of me wants the party to get a nominee already, so the electorate's ire and restlessness can be directed precisely where it belongs - at McCain and the war-mongering Republicans. Soon enough.

I'm off to cast my ballot. I'll be back in a bit. ...