ATTN: David Brooks
Applebee’s does not have a salad bar.
Now that Obama is the nominee, expect five months of this nonsense.
This post is in: Election 2008, Media, General Stupidity
ATTN: David Brooks
Applebee’s does not have a salad bar.
Now that Obama is the nominee, expect five months of this nonsense.
by Tim F| 68 Comments
This post is in: Politics, General Stupidity
Dear Big Tent Democrat and Larry Johnson’s fringe commentariat,
From my heart to yours.
I’m sick to death of people acting like the election is a validation of their own ego. A Democrat is going to win this year one way or the other. If that isn’t enough then fine, take your ball and go home.
Open thread.
***Update***
By the way, Hillary will concede the race tonight, or if not tonight then very soon. She doesn’t want to blow up the party by throwing a massive fit at the convention. At the same time she can’t telegraph that she’s giving up or nobody will give her any more money or show up to vote for her today. The campaign has gone leaky (internal divisions that date to the Penn era must be through the roof right now) so the press already knows the game plan, but due to point 2 the campaign has to go through the motions of denying them. It’s all over but the noise.
This post is in: Election 2008
Adding to Michael’s post from just a moment ago about the Clinton concession/non-concession for tonight, there are some remarks in the comments:
It seems clear to me that Team Clinton is having message control issues this AM.
and:
What we are seeing here is Clinton camp infighting, I do believe.
Some days, it is almost like many of you have completely and totally forgotten the Clinton modus operandi, and never lived through the 90’s or this campaign. What we are seeing is what the Clinton family does best- create confusion while they figure out what the best deal is for them. Trust me- as a Republican during the 90’s, it was maddening (particularly when you factor in the fact that the GOP was not exactly chock full of honest brokers).
There are several things at play here. First, the reality that Clinton is not going to win the nomination. Second, the reality that this signals the end of Clinton dominance of the Democratic party (though anyone who thinks they are now irrelevant is both wrong and stupid). Third, the notion that the Clintons do not want to cede control. Fourth, the fact that the only real political power the Clinton family has left (Bill remains a popular ex-President, Hillary is a junior senator from New York) is the support of their voting bloc, who have remained quite loyal to them. Finally, the desire to do as well as they can in the elections today to shore up their last bargaining chip.
The Clintons know they will not win the nomination, so they are now not so quietly sending a clear message- we still matter.
They know they do not have the nomination for now, but you need them more than they need you, and, well, things can happen. And, quite frankly, it would be stupid to push the Clintons. Although I get tired of the notion that Hillary is a bomb that needs to be defused (something Hilzoy discussed a few days ago), the Clintons are going to be a major asset to the Obama election efforts, and there really is no need to push them. Don’t be fooled by what is going on today, but there is no need to antagonize them.
While morons in the blogosphere will claim it is up to Obama to unite the party, the person who is really going to have to do much of the leg work uniting the party is Hillary- they know that, and they are letting us know it. Once again, Rahm Emanuel:
“The way the loser loses,” said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, who is close to both candidates but has made no endorsement, “will determine whether the winner wins in November.”
Don’t get too worked up about what Clinton does the next few days, just give them and their voters some space and time.
*** Update ***
Chuck Todd just made an interesting point- notice how team Clinton is managing to make tonight about her, when really, tonight should be about Obama, the nominee.
by John Cole| 24 Comments
This post is in: Sports
According to Don Cherry, Fleury’s goaltending performance last night was the best he has ever seen (watch the video).
Also, according to my mother, all 17,000 Penguins tickets were sold out in 17 minutes.
This post is in: Election 2008
by John Cole| 56 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, General Stupidity
This time from Mitt Romney’s biggest fan:
If, as Bob Beckel asserted this AM on Fox & Friends, there is a political bombshell about to be dropped on the Obama campaign, it wouldn’t be coming from the McCain campaign as there is no upside for him to be hitting Obama now.
Team Hillary by contrast has every reason to throw everything into the fray before the superdelegates declare en masse for Obama.
I am not worried about any “bombshell,” but I am tired of hearing about one. Right now, we have been subjected to days of hype, and I don’t think that is an accident. It is as if folks are simply spending weeks prepping the ground preparing people to expect a bombshell, they can release some weak nonsense, and then pretend it is a big deal. While the “bombshell” will fizzle, the psyops will have been successful enough to make people think it is a big deal even when it isn’t. Right now, their goal is mainstreaming this and trying to get the chattering classes in the press and on the cable networks to talk about it. If they can get Chris matthews to speculate about the “bombshell,” they will have succeeded.
Additionally, were something legitimately troubling released before the convention that was damaging to Obama, it would be quite easy for the majority of the Democratic party to quickly rally around Hillary Clinton as the nominee, who, despite losing to Obama, will have earned about 49% of the delegates and 50% of the popular vote. It is not like all of the Democratic eggs are in the Obama basket- there is a quite popular fallback candidate, and as Obama voters, unlike some Clinton supporters, have repeatedly expressed a willingness to vote for Hillary in the fall (some of us less than others after the odious campaign she has run, but really- John McCain is four more years of Bush and no chance to clean out the bureaucracy and uncover all the rest of the crap the Bush clan has done), it is hard to get too worked up about this alleged “shoe drop.” Yes- Democrats will lose the Andrew Sullivan vote, but if there is something out there that is devastating to Obama, the party will continue on, and John McCain is STILL a horribly flawed candidate.
Sure, I will be upset if Obama is not the nominee, but I will get over it if there is something out there that legitimately disqualifies him from office. Not to mention, I think Obama cares enough about the country that if it became clear he could not win, he would drop out himself.
So bring it on NoQuarter. Bring it on Hugh. Bring it on Bob Beckel. No one cares.
by John Cole| 52 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, I Can No Longer Rationally Discuss The Clinton Campaign
Thank goodness for Eugene Robinson, who appears to be the only one to call this nonsense out:
Recall that the Michigan primary, like the Florida contest, was not legitimate. Period. As far as the party was concerned — and as far as Clinton herself was concerned, before she fell behind Barack Obama — the primary never happened. None of the candidates campaigned in Michigan. Obama’s name wasn’t even on the ballot.
Yet, in the interest of party unity, the rules committee came up with a formula that gave Clinton credit for 69 delegates that she “won” running virtually unopposed in a vote that technically never took place. Ickes and the angry Clinton supporters who protested the committee meeting objected to the fact that Obama was awarded Michigan delegates that he didn’t win. But Clinton, too, was awarded delegates she didn’t win, because — remember? — there was no legitimate Michigan primary.
One of the things that is so maddening about the Clinton campaign is their ability to reshape the media narrative, and then have everyone act and react to their alternate reality, rather than to the simple facts. This is yet another example of that- people running around having to react to the hysterical notion that delegates were “stolen” or “hijacked.”