Better late than never. More interesting...

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2008/05/14/obamas_amazing_money_machine.html

I asked Roos, the personification of a buttoned-down corporate attorney, if there had been concerns about Obama's limited CV, and for a moment he looked as if he might burst out laughing. "No one in Silicon Valley sits here and thinks, 'You need massive inside-the-Beltway experience,'" he explained, after a diplomatic pause. "Sergey and Larry were in their early 20s when they started Google. The YouTube guys were also in their 20s. So were the guys who started Facebook. And I'll tell you, we recognize what great companies have been built on, and that's ideas, talent, and inspirational leadership."

Too late.

Sen.Clinton will end up putting Sen.Webb on the ticket and challenge McCain on his turf.

Obama already threw momma from the train, and Edwards is going to side with him?

You never should have let Kerry decide not to campaign hard or spend money in the Carolinas, John. It put major sell ratings on your stock.
That's the way the Kennedy camp operates, they win or nobody does, and nobody gets a platform to stand on or future votes from the effort, see also 1980. It's all about them, nobody else.

You've let to learn that lesson.

Very shrewd timing. The Edwards endorsement dominated the evening news cycle, and prevented Clinton from developing any momentum from her West Virginia win. Obama picked up more superdelegate endorsements today, which makes it something like 50 to 1 in the past couple of weeks. Tomorrow he will probably receive the endorsement of a sizable number of Edwards's 18 pledged delegates, along with other supers who take this cue from Edwards that it is time to declare and get behind the nominee. In the end, Obama is picking up a lot more delegates than Clinton picked up last night. By tomorrow, it will be if West Virginia never happened.

The NARAL endorsement of Obama might have been an even more important signal that this race has been wrapped up and we are now in the general election season.

Gotta think Clinton's race baiting tilted Edwards over the edge, too. As with many others.

Steve brings up a good point about Elizabeth Edwards ... I was struck by John's phrasing --- again and again he said "there is one man" who understands the working class, etc. This phrase excludes McCain but is curiously nonexclusive towards Hillary. Tomorrow will Elizabeth talk about how there is "one woman" who understands the working class, etc.?

This is where this comment belongs.

Two cardinal sins: race-baiting and saying McCain was more qualified to be C in C than Obama. Those are unpardonables, although it is still preferable to have Hillary on board to help get Obama elected, so I guess there are no unpardonables, only deplorables. Hillary had best bring her Clintonites, especially the women, back into the Democratic fold (and I personally think she will).

The third egregious sin was working the wedge between college-educated and blue collar Democrats, an inexcusable endorsement of blue-collar snobbery toward the educated, which especially galls me because I come from a blue-collar community that prided itself on sending as many of its sons and daughters to college as possible. Fuck anyone and everyone who promotes division of this sort. And what's this shit about Volvo-driving elitits? The majority of Volvos were owned by teachers when I paid any attention to that sort of thing. I would love do drive a Volvo right up one of those division-meister's ass, preferably while sipping a latte and listening to Bruce Springsteen at about 80 decibels.

posted by David "...preferably...listening to Bruce Springsteen at about 80 decibels."

David, 80 Decibels is the sound level of a soft rain storm through an open window in early June.Your great grandmother's cranked up Victrola was louder than that! grin.

David,
If you find race-baiting offensive, why do you support Obama? I am mystified. The decision to go all out in the attempt to portray the Clinton's as racist is the most divisive, stupid thing I have seen in 20 years.
Again, the snobbery of the elites Obama supporters toward the working class has been appalling.

Finally, Obama's not qualified to lead the military. You know it, I know it, and the public knows it.

Did you have a point?

Hillary Looking For A Soft Place To Fall

(allison moorer/gwil owen)

Daylight has found me here again
You can ask me anything, but where Ive been
Things that used to matter seem so small
When you're looking for a soft place to fall

Don't misunderstand me, baby, please
I didn't mean to bring back memories
You should know the reason why I called
I was looking for a soft place to fall

Looking for a soft place
Nothing more than a small taste
Of a love that ended long ago
Looking for a place to hide
A warm bed on a cold night
I didn't mean to hurt you
No, no, no

Looking out your window at the dawn
Baby, when you wake up, I'll be gone
You're the one who taught me after all
How to find a soft place to fall

You're the one who taught me after all
How to find a soft place to fall

MarkL, you conveniently dissociate the "hard-working" and "white" aspects of Hillary's comment for maximum rhetorical advantage; to somehow support the idea that the only point being made was solidarity with the working class. They just all happen to be white? Just an unfortunate construction? Misinterpreted by "eliteists". There's another conclusory presumption for you.

Is there a difference between "race baiting" and being a full blown "racist"? I dunno, but I think so. Which is worse? I dunno. So what should one do when Clinton(s) show themselves race baiting? Ignore it? I don't think so.

As for you comment that Obama "is Obama's not qualified to lead the military" that is a string of words so devoid of significant meaning that I'm embarrassed to even say so.

\

Anytime someone says Obama or so-and-so is "not qualified" to be C-in-C, the appropriate comeback is to point to the Current Occupant of said White House.

Perhaps even accompanied by the word "So?".....

Re: race-baiting

What incentive would the Clintons have to turn blacks against them? None, of course. What incentive would the Obamas have to turn blacks against the Clintons? Every, of course.

Michelle Obama: "Black America will wake up"

Maybe We Can't: The black case for Obama-skepticism
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=331c77bb-9591-422c-aa2b-11a741c6ebb9

Moyers on Clinton, Obama, King & Johnson
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/01182008/watch4.html

Race Man: How Barack Obama played the race card and blamed Hillary Clinton
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=aa0cd21b-0ff2-4329-88a1-69c6c268b304

Now we will go into Kentucky to test whether working-class whites find any credibility in a man who is trying to end poverty in 10 years from his 28,000-square-foot hedge-fund office to help every American realize the dream of a $400 haircut.

Obama introduced Edwards as "one of the greatest leaders we have in the Democratic Party."

A 1-term senator & '04 VP loser who finished in last place this year in his own back yard of South Carolina because everyone knows his 28,000-sq-ft hedge fund trial lawyer livin' undercuts his "ending poverty" sham -- this is one of the greatest leaders in the Democratic Party? I'm no Democrat, but that's certainly more fodder for Obama's questionable-judgment pile in my book.

Tahoe editor,

Perhaps you've missed it: Clinton is desperate, and has been saying and doing desperate things to shake up the equation. She needed a big honking win in West Virginia to punctuate her themes BTW, I would guess she takes the black vote for granted (isn't Bill "the first black president"), so why wouldn't she appeal to whites, racist or not, for every vote she can muster, and assume she can do so with impunity because blacks have no where else to go?

The Obamas turn blacks against the Clintons and somehow it's a wonderful thing. Nothing wrong with whipping up 90% of the black vote. But when Hillary notes, albeit clumsily, the base she has built, she's a desperate race baiter. Whatever. You can hang with that double standard, but I bet you'll remain in the minority.

"Bill and Hillary Clinton are not playing a race card. Rather, the liberal media and some black journalists with sentimental, emotional or ideological investments in Obama are playing the intimidation card.

"They are setting limits around what may and may not be said about Obama. They are seeking to censor robust adversarial speech where Barack is concerned, by branding as racists 'playing the race card' any who make Barack run the same paces as anyone else."

--P.Buchanan

Let me guess the response: "Pat Buchanan is a racist and that shuts down the conversation."

Good luck with that.

Why talk about "whipping up"? It seems that blacks are Obama's natural constituency, much as white women of a certain age are Hillary's natural constituency. They are the first of they "kind" to be in the running for president. So we don't need to postulate where a simple answer suffices.

Address the double standard. You see nothing wrong with Michelle saying, "Black America will wake up" (because if you're black you should vote for us) but Hillary can't acknowledge her support?

Did you read this?
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=331c77bb-9591-422c-aa2b-11a741c6ebb9

Edwards has always been disengenuous and weak ...
What a hypocrite ... does he actually expect us to believe his
commitment to poverty, when in reality he flaunts his huge multi-
kazillion dollar compound (house) directly across the street from
poor people ... not to mention his $400 hair cuts, which could feed
a family of four for four weeks! Then he waits till Obama is way in
the lead, before endorsing him. What weak character ... or, rather
lack of character. I doubt his endorsement has any value ... and,
anybody who values his endorsement, doesn't have any values.

Tahoe Editor,

Of Edwards, Clinton, McCain, and Obama, the Obamas are, by far, the least wealthy. All Edwards' wealth was earned representing poor plaintiffs on contingency against large corporations. We don't know what the Clintons pay for haircuts, and I don't really care. As for the "hedge-fund" references to Edwards, Chelsea Clinton had choices about what to do with all her great education, and she works for a hedge fund making more than most of the readers of TWN. Jenna Bush seems much more caring in her work and career choices.

Well said, Linda. But then they're not out there peddling their cleft-palate stories day in and day out and then going back to their 28,000 sq foot luxury and saying, "This is the American dream."

Edwards is a sham.

Thanks, Lee. You rock.

Dennis Miller on John Edwards:

"You know what they say about John Edwards. 'Inch wide, inch deep.' This guy is beyond lightweight. He's diaphanous. It's like getting an endorsement from Ryan Seacrest."

Don S,
Why is it appropriate to talk about some demographics, but not others?
You have no problem saying that Obama's strength is with black voters. Well, he does terribly with white working class voters---as have many of the other losing Democratic nominees in the past.
You're a hypocrite who wants to pretend political correctness rather than win.

Markl,
Its perfectly appropriate to talk about demographics but let's not pretend that's what happening. Its sending raced-based messages.

And TahoeEditor, re your "double standard" observation. Tou-friggin-che. You've got your debating points down pat.

Part of my own frame of reference:

1)most politicians are scum and, at any given time, some just appear more scummy than others

2) I work on the Virginia-West Virginia border, with the so-called white working (or lower) demographic. There aren't enough blacks around here to be a majority on a chain gang. But many of the whites hate blacks none the less. Not competing for jobs. Not trying to take their women (or men). Didn't suffer centuries of slavery. Just hate 'em because that's just what you do around here. It was good enough for their daddies and is good enough for them.

Edwards' Obama endorsement: another Democrat divider?
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/usa/2008/05/edwards_obama_endorsement_anot.html

John Edwards, Anti-Poverty Crusader
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2AE847UXu3Q

i guess that is why the clinton folks were trying hard to get his endorsement, lol!

changer yer name to 'broken record'...

and what is this about??? whatever is running steves blog seems out of it..

>>Comment Submission Error

Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:

Too many comments have been submitted from you in a short period of time. Please try again in a short while.<< sure, lol..

Thank you John!!
Hillary step away from the Rules and Bylaws committee members and come out with your hands up.

So you can shoot half the delegates and send McCain to the White House? Brilliant.

Ok, here's the kind of gossip which is just up Steve's alley.
According to Larry Johnson,
http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2008/05/15/will-barack-throw-mama-from-the-train/#comments

Republicans have videotapes of Michele Obama railing at "Whitey", and are holding onto these for the fall.
Maybe Steve could ask his good buddy Grover to look into this.

I have pretty sensitive hearing, arthurdecco, but for the sake of the moment, I'm willing to go 100 db. When I started out as a teacher, I was notorious for being able to hear the slightest whisper at the farthest reaches of a class of 35 students (and stopping everything until it stopped).

Actually, I'm willing to wear hearing protectors and go in at whatever level a good sound system can generate.

MarkL, Huh? The racebaiting I'm referring to is what emerged post-Super Tuesday from Hillary's comments. And Bill Clinton cast aside the idea South Carolina mattered, because Jesse Jackson carried South Carolina in '88. He also dismissed the young people supporting Obama as gullible. And Hillary has been pushing the white working class versus the educated, which I find just as galling as the racebaiting. Hillary won in Appalachia. My roots are in Appalachia. Sadly, Appalachia still harbors considerable racism and animosity toward "educated fools." Hillary went after a constituency that would not support Obama, and she did it on that constituency's least admirable terms. Those same people can rise to higher terms, if those are offered by people they respect. Hillary fouled the Democratic nest with her particular brand of pandering. That is what I'm angry about.

First Obama's not black enough, then he's too black. Then he's too "uppity," too "elitist." And Hillary wasn't "man enough," a problem any woman faces who aspires to lead this nation. The problems are ugly cultural residues. Hillary should never have stirred any of that muck, much less exploited it. I did not see Obama exploiting those kinds of things. Hell, what is there for a black to exploit who aspires to the presidency, besides the issues common to all of us, regardless of race, gender, political preferences, or national origin?

But then, as Alexdra Pelosi observed, presidential elections get turned into freak shows, mostly because that's what the media likes, and political operatives deliver, for the 24/7 tabloid news maw.

Obama actually set out to campaign on a higher plane, but then that would mean he would be a weak, ineffective president. Right?

The Edwards bashing in some of these comments is pretty comical - pathetically comical.

David,
Um, the racism charges from the Obama camp started BEFORE SC---they were key to Obama's big victory there. Why don't you go learn some facts.
BTW, Bill Clinton didn't say anything racist

"What is there for a black to exploit who aspires to the presidency?"

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS

In a political environment where it's fatal to say "Jesse Jackson," you know the PC police are winning the day.

"Bill and Hillary Clinton are not playing a race card. Rather, the liberal media and some black journalists with sentimental, emotional or ideological investments in Obama are playing the intimidation card.

"They are setting limits around what may and may not be said about Obama. They are seeking to censor robust adversarial speech where Barack is concerned, by branding as racists 'playing the race card' any who make Barack run the same paces as anyone else."

Political correctness? Are you serious? And what in the hell is political correctness, anyway, except for acquiesence to a political norm that you find to be contrary to fact or good sense? Political correctness was the media supporting the Bush administration's rush to war. Political correctness is immigrant-phobia. Political correctness is accepting whatever Israel does to the Palestinians. Political correctness has yet coincide with genuine justice for women (misogyny is alive and well in the press) or for blacks (if you think racism isn't alive and well in America, you aren't paying attention).

Women have more rights, and blacks no longer live under apartheid in the South, but political correctness as a beneficiary of either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama? I just don't see it. I do see women who fervently want the glass ceiling at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue shattered, and I do see blacks who fervently want to see one of the last racist barricades, the one in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, hauled away, never to return.

I think Bill Clinton was angry that blacks abandoned Hillary for Barack Obama. I think he felt betrayed after all he has done and been his whole life, and I think his remarks did take on a racist tenor. I don't think Obama exploited black racism, and I don't think Hillary exploited women's anger at misogyny. I think the press wronged Hillary, and I think Hillary's campaign made some ill-advised comments which had racial overtones. I missed the racism on Obama's part. All I've been able to pick up from him is a desire to see a united America, a la his speech at the '04 Democratic convention.

We have vastly different definitions of political correctness.

The Glitter Twins: Obama and Edwards look and talk pretty, but their message of unity won't work.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051603275.html

From "bitter" to "sweetie"..how profound our political anaylsis is these days...

Political Correctness??? Like saying "elitist" instead of "uppity"? And I suppose if one isn't a hard-working white person, one is a lazy black welfare recipient, wink, wink?

Denny Miller? Who cares what an unfunny has-been "thinks"?

I was not an Edwards supporter but I do think it's possible to accrue great wealth and still remember what it felt like to be dirt poor and want to help the less fortunate.. it's not common, but it's not impossible either.

POA... once again, you're correct, priorities, pleeeeeze.

Item No. 1 from this week's SNL Weekend Update:

Amy Poehler: On Wednesday John Edwards officially endorsed himself for vice president. It is believed that Edwards' endorsement of Senator Obama will help Obama nail down the critical handsome millionaire vote.

Funny - silly, but funny, Tahoe Editor. Edwards doesn't want to be the vp nominee again. I think he's made that clear. He is interested in the AG, which I think is where he belongs, especially since his hero is RFK.

Obama is on track to be the 44th president of the United States, and he's picked up some interesting endorsements from the business sector, including high praise from Paul Volcker.

And I want Hillary either as vp, if that is what is needed to bring angry women Democrats back, or else as secretary of defense to smash that glass ceiling, or on the Supreme Court, where she could help bring the Court back to a rational center. One other choice: senate majority whip, to shepherd through legislation. She has some healing to foster, but she can and will when she must. The Democratic primary was the battle for the White House. That is why Hillary did things that for me were really wrongheaded. She knew what she was fighting for, and for her all was fair in this war. I wish she hadn't, but the only way is forward under Democratic leadership and full-fledged grassroots political engagement after the election, not just before.

Yeah, I don't think he wants VP either. Or rather he probably wants it but he's smart enough to know the general electorate just isn't buying his phony "Two Americas" class-warfare shtick. (see "The Glitter Twins").

Inconvenient truth/reality check: Obama is on track to be the Democratic nominee with a questionable primary win thanks in large part to the caucus activists -- not No. 44.

As for the money men, we know BO has been beholden to them for quite some time now.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=613&Itemid=1

POA.. is your troll radar on these days? Something tells me Swiftboater Jonathan Moseley has been replaced by one of those pretend caring Demz.

Whats comical, Kathleen, is that they don't even try to disguise the identical semantics and rhetoric when they change screen names.

What else is comical, in the sick joke genre, is the grandson of a Nazi financier talking about appeasement to the people who sufered the most from his family "investments"... you should pardon the expression.