Enough Already With the Hillary Veep Talk

As New York magazine writes its its post-mortem on the flatlining Clinton campaign, let's shoot another really retarded notion in the head as well: that Clinton will occupy the bottom of the Dem's Prez-Veep ticket. Ain't gonna happen, for two reasons. One, it doesn't help Obama. While there are those who will argue (falsely, in my opinion) that Obama's the one that Republicans want as their target, an Obama-Clinton ticket would be like positioning a paralyzed Willie Horton in front of Dick Cheney's rifle. The Grand Old Party could run a transsexual iguana as its nominee (and to diehard conservatives, McCain ain't much better), and the money would still pour in, given the opposition.

Two, given Hillary's relative age and megalomania, it doesn't make sense career-wise. While smart money's on Obama to topple McCain in the November general (it's the turnout, stupid), it's hardly a foregone conclusion — and Clinton would do herself no favors being on the losing end of that debacle. Conversely, if McCain eeks out a victory over Obama and whoever (Biden or Richardson are my best guesses), Clinton is the surefire nominee in '12 — really the last year she can run without being fitted for adult diapers. Then again, she was supposed to be the surefire nominee in '08, so we'll see what happens.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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Enough Already With the Working Class Pandering

Obama and Clinton: You're both filthy fucking rich. You were both educated at elite East Coast institutions. You were both corporate lawyers before you were politicians. You get from Point A to Point B in chauffeured luxury sport utility vehicles. You each have security details and staffers to wait on you, hand and foot. So stop trying to pretend you're "just folks" by buying gas station coffee and ordering Bud at VFW Halls. We get that you're trying to relate to "regular voters." But, ultimately, when you engage in fish-out-of-water behavior like this, it just comes off as condescending, intentionally or otherwise. Cut it out, order a pint of Stella, and go windsurfing or something.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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Obama Raises Twice As Much In March

Obama outraised Hillary Clinton $40 million to $20 million in March. Time to pull your starters, Hill; you're down 20 with three minutes to go.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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The Obama Speech

Barack Obama's remarks as written for delivery in Philadelphia this morning. Well worth the read:

“We the people, in order to form a more perfect union.”�

Two hundred and twenty one years ago, in a hall that still stands across the street, a group of men gathered and, with these simple words, launched America’s improbable experiment in democracy. Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution finally made real their declaration of independence at a Philadelphia convention that lasted through the spring of 1787.

The document they produced was eventually signed but ultimately unfinished. It was stained by this nation’s original sin of slavery, a question that divided the colonies and brought the convention to a stalemate until the founders chose to allow the slave trade to continue for at least twenty more years, and to leave any final resolution to future generations.

Continue reading "The Obama Speech"

Topics: Campaign 2008

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The Upside of Anger

Record fund-raising, record turnout, heated on-air debates, and a nation of formerly apathetic voters hanging on Hillary and Barack's every word — why would the Democrats want their version of top-rated reality TV to end anytime soon? No matter who the Democrats' nominee is — and no matter if that nominee is declared tomorrow or at the party's convention in August — that person will doubtless have a ton more loot on hand than Republican nominee John McCain. So why spoil the fun in the name of party unification?

Unify the party now, and you waste months of free front-page media — which means months of McCain sniping from the sidelines and frustratedly trying to tap uber-conservative wallets that would otherwise be hyper-energized if the right-wing's favorite whipping girl, Clinton, emerged victorious anytime soon. Those old Hagler-Leonard, Ali-Frazier fights were the greatest when they went the distance; stop the fight in the ninth round and nobody gives a shit. If you're a Dem, you'd best hope for a 15-round TKO in Denver that propels the nominee to a landslide victory in a truncated general election cycle mere months later.

The only thing that could sully this scenario is if the Clinton team's strategy turns toxic. She can assail Obama's record (or lack thereof) all she wants between now and Denver, but if she tries to strongarm delegates into defecting or, worse yet, takes to the courts to get Michigan's and Florida's delegates seated, it may turn off voters in the same manner that the Bush-Gore '00 bloodmatch did. If she wins fair and square, there'll still be an opportunity for her and Obama to kiss, make up, and install him at the bottom of the ticket. But if her team ultimately adopts a slash and burn strategy, forget about it — and Clinton will have a tough time winning in November without Obama as her veep.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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Clinton Won Texas? Really?

Sure, she eeked out a narrow primary win, and that's what every headline on every major newspaper says today, but the latest Texas caucus tallies have Obama up 52-48 with 36% in. This is significant because an Obama caucus win means he could still score a draw in the Lone Star State. If those results are coming from the same urban precincts that gave Obama a lead in early primary tallies, this could very well tilt Clinton's way, but even last night's race wasn't called by the media outlets until about 70% of the vote was in. So hold on a second; the fat lady has yet to sing.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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Buzz Word Breakdown: Green-Collar

Destined to the become a candidate for somebody's word-of-the-year in 2008, the term "green-collar" job has been around since the 90s (but possibly as early as the 70s) and has been favorite of John Edwards, and more notably, Hillary Clinton, on their campaigns.
"...I want to put money into clean energy, green-collar jobs", Clinton said in January. And she also said it last night during her Ohio victory speech.

Consider it the new "sustainable"...an imperfect term that sounds awesome but has a flexible definition. I mean, at this point who wouldn't wanna hang up their blue-collar for a fresh, crispy green one? Well, maybe the people who have been perfectly happy driving recycling trucks for decades now? Most green-collar gigs are blue-collar gigs in disguise (think: solar panel installation, or wind turbine maintenance). But even being the developer of places like "Street of Dreams" could be considered a "green-collar" job by the right people. So could being the CEO of Weyerhaeuser, or Ford (go to both companies websites to be bludgeoned by their commitment to "green").

I suspect that some environmentalists will ((and already do) find fault with it, simply because a term so pliable is bound to be used for all the wrong reasons.

But one way of looking at it is it's certainly not as polarizing. Our country has struggled with class differences between white-collars and blue-collars for many years. A term like this could break down some barriers, at least psychologically.

But if I were one of the marijuana farmers in Humboldt County, man, I'd be a little pissed off.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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Needed: New Catchphrases To Describe Close Races

Vineta Sayer

Both MSNBC and Yahoo are carrying headlines calling the Democratic totals in Ohio "Too Close to Call." It's a phrase that shows up repeatedly but doesn't have any kind of mathematical rigor determining when the words go into effect. It's really just a proactive sounding way of saying, "we have no idea." Seeing as how those of us in the news reporting industry, whether talking heads or printed paper, are fundamentally word smiths, doesn't it seem odd we haven't managed to come with a couple more cute, alliterative turns of phrase to let the viewers at home know that things are tight and we're not going to guess because it is possible (read likely) we'll get it wrong.

Here are a few to get you started:

* Too Tight to Tell

* Too Narrow to Note

* Too Slim to Squeal

* Too Deadlocked to Declare

* Too Parallel to Postulate

And finally:

* We're Reporters, Why Are the Hell are You Looking to Us for Statistical Insight?

Topics: Campaign 2008

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The Problem With (Running Against) McCain

Joel Connelly takes the Sierra Club to task for trying to smear John McCain, who Connelly argues has been as much a friend to the environmental org. as just about any modern politician, regardless of party. McCain has some serious money challenges to contend with when the general rolls around, but his record, while rock-rib conservative at times, still has more than enough of that maverick paprica in it to make marginalizing him hypocritical at times, as Connelly adroitly points out in his column.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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From the Dept. of Odd Couples

Greenpeace and Rep. Dave Reichert. The environmental organization is out this afternoon with another 'Yay Reichert!' press release. Here's an excerpt:

(SEATTLE, February 27, 2008) — Greenpeace applauds Rep. Reichert for voting in favor of the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act of 2008 (HR 5351). This bill continues significant benefits to clean, renewable energy, energy conservation, and it cuts tax breaks that benefit the oil companies at a time when they are making record profits and gas prices are spiking. This is a critical step forward to continue promoting clean, domestic sources of energy.

It ends with a challenge:

The next move for Rep. Reichert is to support the strongest global warming bill in the House of Representatives, the Safe Climate Act. Rep. Reichert owes it to his constituents to support science-based, comprehensive solutions to global warming.

A local Greenpeace rep told me last spring that Reichert was on their "project hot seat" list for his race this year against two-time challenger Darcy Burner. Reichert is clearly feeling the heat. He was one of only 17 House Republicans to vote for the bill.

Topics: Campaign 2008

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