Bill Clinton vs. $250 Million GOP Ad campaign

Maureen “Le Fey” Dowd has apparently taken up Obama’s cause to fight the Clinton tag team. This follows on the heels of the nauseating softball interview that Good Morning America did for Obama on Monday.

As the Big Dawg said recently, “Give me a break”. Did Obama think he was just going to skate to the nomination without a fight? Especially after he dogwhistled to the independents and moderate Republicans by whispering sweet nothings about Ronald Reagan?

Let’s get this clear: Obama is running to the right of all of the other Democratic candidates. But his supporters are throwing their own flavor onto what is essentially a Tofu Candidate and they are seeing things that are not there. Somehow, they’ve gotten into their heads that he is more progressive than Hillary, which is absurd for so many reasons, not least of which is her voting record. He disses Bill Clinton, the best Democratic president that we’ve had in decades because the Big Dawg couldn’t get the Gingrich’s Movement Conservatives to become liberals.

Is Clinton just supposed to sit back and let it happen? If she has a secret weapon who can make her seem like she’s in two places at once so she can challenge Obama on core Democratic principles, is she supposed to take a handicap and tell Bill to STFU?

Let’s put it this way, when the GOP rolls out its massive PR campaign on Obama, do you think that Maureen “Le Fey” Dowd is going to cut him a break because it seems like they’re coming at him from all sides?

In. Your. Dreams. She’s already weakening Obama with her nasty little spells, making it look like the Big Dawg is “roughing up Obama so much that Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina suggested that he might want to “chill.”” And quoting Obama as saying, ” “I can’t tell who I’m running against sometimes,” he snapped at Hillary, obviously entrapped and pysched-out by the Clinton duo.” Notice the use of the words “Psyched out” and “entrapped”. With friends like Maureen, who needs enemies?

She’s up to her usual incantations and this time she thinks she can take out two at once. But the two are Obama and Bill. Well, that just leaves Hillary by herself, doesn’t it, Maureen? Ok, if you must.

Report on Bush Iraq Lies Needs One More Data Set

I’m glad to see that Public Integrity has performed this retrospective analysis of the Bush Administration misinformation campaign to get us in over our heads in Iraq. Many of us in the left blogosphere couldn’t get the message out when it was happening that it *was* mostly lies. But some of us, myself included, knew that it was a lie because the frequency in the number of times that Iraq was mentioned in the media increased significantly between the Clinton administration and the Bush administration and this increase in frequency occured BEFORE 9/11. That was my first clue that the whole thing was bogus. It seemed to come from nowhere. My suspicions were raised and I was skeptical of everything that came after. Even before 9/11, I was wondering “Why now on Iraq?”

So, I would like to propose that Public Integrity also survey the number of instances where Iraq was mentioned as a threat, between 1996 after the reelection of President Clinton and September 2001. I’ll betcha dollars to donuts that the Iraq War was already being pushed on us before the 2000 election and the curve should get exponential from January to August 2001. I don’t have access to lexus-nexus so I hope someone does this on our behalf. Then we’ll know that we have to be extra vigilant and examine the trend lines in the future.

Random thots

• How many times has the Lieberman-Kyl resolution been discussed in debates? Does anyone remember if it has ever been discussed in a Democratic debate and if not, why do you think that is? Do we in the blogosphere give it more significance than it deserves?
• Zogby has Obama up by 10 points in South Carolina and Hillary has decided to move on to NJ tonight. (I don’t think I’ll be able to make her event. Getting there during rush hour is a logistical nightmare) But she was trailing in New Hampshire by something like 9 points and managed to win it. So, what will the eventual score be? And has Obama mastered the timing game? After all, South Carolina is still 4 days away.
• What is behind the underlying antipathy to Hillary Clinton in the left blogosphere and what did it expect from the first Clinton administration? In other words, why was it it “not progressive enough” and what could Clinton have done differently considering the Newt Gingrich Movement Conservatives took over Congress in 1994?
• Did anyone hear Rene Montagne interviewing Obama this morning on NPR? She was actually pretty good. The questions were definitely not softball. They were more along the lines of: “Bill Clinton is doing the work of a prospective VP and playing attack dog. You’re going to have to face this from the Republican side if you win. What are you going to do then?” Go Rene! Listen to the whole interview here.
• Controversial random thot of the day: How much of the current vicious divisiveness in the left blogosphere is being instigated by people not on our side?  That is, how many people running around shouting that they’re going to vote for McCain are Republican moles trying to stir up trouble?  By being so open, have we allowed ourselves to be studied and have manipulative messages been tailored for us?  How do we keep our “eyes on the prize” in such an environment?

You’ve got to REALLY hate the Romans

Some people say The Holy Grail was Monty Python’s greatest movie. Others, like myself, prefer Life of Brian. Still others totally do not get Monty Python at all and look at the other two groups with disdain and amusement.

But if there is a better parody of political movements than Life of Brian, and the ineffectiveness that results when people take themselves too seriously, I haven’t found it yet. Let’s go to the video:

We ARE the People’s Front of Judea and the Popular Front of Judea. But if we don’t start focusing on our real enemies, the Romans, we’re going to end up like the Judean People’s Front. Remember what happened to them? Ugly.

Wolf Nipple Chips! Get’em while they’re hot, they’re lovely.

Evening Cocktails

It appears that there is a real thirst (groaaann) for the comaraderie of the Clinton Cocktail Hour. I was going to host the Cocktail Hour on Friday or Saturday but what the heck! Rico says he’s available tonight. There’s no featured drink tonight but there is a nice Coffee and Cream Stout from the Triumph Brewery in Princeton that’s nice and chewy. Order what you like. We also have a nice assortment of non-alcoholic beverages as well.

I was able to get Billie Holiday back from the dead for this impromptu party. Well, what else are spirits good for? Anyway, let’s all get “Fine and Mellow”.

Everyone is welcome but if you’d like to hang up your trigger words, our lovely checkroom attendant, Florence, would be happy to assist you.

The wait staff will be circulating with some crabmeat stuffed mushrooms with bacon and cream and some smoked salmon with capers and onions and boiled new potatoes with baba ganouj. We’ve got your kosher covered and your vegans too. Please drink responsibly and tip your wait staff generously.

Topic for tonight: How much bounce will John Edwards get from his appearance last night and what *did* he and Hillary talk about in the greenroom afterwards?