The Tanya Harding Option? Unbelievable.

Tom at Corrente brought me to this at Political Punch:

What will she have to do to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in order to eke out her improbable victory?

She will have to “break his back,” the official said. She will have to destroy Obama, make Obama completely unacceptable.

“Her securing the nomination is certainly possible – but it will require exercising the ‘Tonya Harding option.'” the official said. “Is that really what we Democrats want?”

For heaven’s sake! This is an interesting twist on The Math. A candidate that is essentially tied going into the last 9 primaries is accused of kneecapping Obama just because she won’t concede?Oh, Really?

(shaking my head)

Arguing The Math is tedious, but this latest argument is something else again – something horrible. And I’d like to know who came up with this catchy phrase.

Chelsea Speaks UP! Go, Chelsea, Go!!

Remember Monica? How could you forget. It was every fourth word on the lips of breathless media reporters and pundits during 1998-2000. They would not let it die and won’t let us forget it.

And they’re still at it. Today, somebody stupidly asked Chelsea Clinton about it:

Campaigning at Butler College in Indianapolis, an audience member asked the 28 year-old whether the Monica Lewinsky scandal had damaged her mother’s reputation.

“Wow, you’re the first person actually that’s ever asked me that question in the, I don’t know maybe, 70 college campuses I’ve now been to, and I do not think that is any of your business,” Clinton responded, appearing a bit surprised by the question. The crowd immediately cheered loudly at the response.

Amazing! What a perfect response. I couldn’t have said it better myself. You tell’em, Chelsea!

Oh, Brother

*rolling eyes*

This is another Deep Thot from Matt Yglesias, he of the “If only voters would listen to those of us who know better, they would stop voting, volunteering for her and donating money to her campaign” schtick. Today’s Thot should be called, “How to piss off entire states so that you must travel incognito while in them”:

Chris Bowers sketches out a plausible and appealing scenario in which Barack Obama wraps up the nomination on May 6. Among other things that would be good about such a scenario, it’s worth noting that at this point the main obstacle to a satisfactory resolution of the Florida/Michigan situation is that Clinton continues to be in the race. If she drops out and endorses Obama on May 7 or shortly thereafter, it’ll be easy for Michigan and Florida to be “forgiven” in late May and allowed to fully participate in a rubber stamp convention in exchange for promising to never do it again.

This is what, I think, everyone believed would happen when the harsh sanctions were first announced. Only the fact that Hillary Clinton is trying to use the seating of the improperly selected delegates to actually overturn the results of the legitimate nominating process is creating a crisis situation that threatens Democratic prospects in the fall.

Forgiven, Matt? Florida has to be forgiven for exercising it’s right to vote? What were they supposed to do instead? Not go to the polls in January or only go to vote on the ballot resolution but refrain from the cardinal sin of voting for Hillary Clinton? I wonder, if the results had been reversed and Obama was leading Clinton by 17 points in the Florida primary, would Obama have “forgiven” them sooner? Three Hail Marys, two Our Fathers and a Rosary? If only they had known in advance they wouldn’t be facing eternal damnation and hellfire.

Jeez.

Put on your thinking caps

Lambert at Corrente found this article in the Review-Journal.com about Harry Reid’s prediction that the race would be decided before the convention. Some of it is really funny but I find this section very cryptic:

Reid also weighed in on the controversy over Michigan and Florida, states whose Democratic convention delegates were stripped when they scheduled primaries before Super Tuesday, Feb. 5, without permission from the DNC.

The DNC authorized only Nevada, Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to hold nominating contests before that date. Those four states teamed up to demand successfully that the Democratic candidates not campaign in the two renegade states.

The punishment was intended to be symbolic, on the assumption that a nominee would be decided early and delegate counts wouldn’t matter.

That has turned out to be a bad assumption. Now Hillary Clinton, who won both states and trails in the delegate count, says Michigan and Florida shouldn’t be left out, even though Barack Obama wasn’t on the ballot in Michigan.

Both states came to the conclusion last week they couldn’t hold new primaries.

“Michigan and Florida wouldn’t play by the rules,” Reid said. “They’re not my rules. They’re not the caucus’ rules. They’re DNC rules. They broke the rules.”

Adding delegates for those states, he noted, would alter the number of delegates needed to get the nomination, currently 2,025. It wasn’t crystal clear, but Reid seemed to suggest that delegations from those states should get to attend the convention, but not vote.

“Michigan and Florida delegates are going to be seated. They’re going to be a part of the convention,” he said. “It’s a question of whether anything can be worked out to change this prior to the 2,025.

“They’re the ones causing all the problems. No one else did. And so they will be seated. They’re big states. They represent 29 million people. We want to make sure their delegates are part of the convention that takes place in Denver.”

Now, I find that people are too apt to jump to conclusions on the first pass when a skillful politician plays with words. On first pass, it looks like Harry is saying, “They broke the RULZ!” and sensitive bloggers tend to get upset. But what is Harry really saying here? Let us remember that Reid endorsed Hillary. In all likelihood, it is in his interest to get these delegations added to her total either through the delegate count or the popular vote.

This is what I am reading into his statements here. The rules that were broken weren’t *his* rules. They’re DNC rules. He is placing the blame with the DNC. He is also saying MI and FL caused all of the problems, not any other state. So, is he saying that they are at fault? No, he may be saying, “None of the other jump ahead states were penalized, just MI and FL and that is why they are problematic.” He’s also saying that they will be seated but doesn’t say in what capacity. So, my layman’s interpretation is: Reid is PO’d at Dean (there is an reference in the beginning of the article to this). Harry’s pissed off and probably many others as well. Dean has gotten the message and this will be settled before the convention. The delegates will be seated but may *not* be counted in the vote total unless there is a decision by the superdelegates that the popular vote winner, as counted by the number of voters that those delegates represent, takes priority when they break the tie. (Does Reid know that the SDs for Hillary will win the day? He must be counting the votes) And this is important because neither candidate will have enough delegates to reach the magic number, the SDs will break the tie and the popular votes will be the defining factor.

Ok, now it’s your turn. Go read the article and tell me where I’m wrong.

Innoculating the Undecideds in 50 Words or Less

So, the Big Boyz are telling lies. Well, they’ve been bought and paid for to do this so we aren’t surprised, are we? The blogosphere is now the incubator for the lies to go viral, spread from blog to blog, blogger to media, media to blogger, media to voter, blogger to voter, voter to voter. It’s ugly and contagious. And, just like my mother said last week about Wright, people tend to forget. They will remember the last thing they heard when they step into that voting booth. Well, the undecideds will anyway. Committed Clintonistas usually see past the lies. But what will we do about all the undecideds in PA?

Let’s brainstorm this. Here are the lies, as summarized by Tom Rinaldo at MyDD:

Current Attack Meme Lie Number One:

“Hillary has no chance of winning” feeds into…

Current Attack Meme Lie Number Two:

“Hillary must now only be in this to make Barack Obama lose the election” (so she can run in 2012) which feeds into…

Current Attack Meme Lie Number Three:

“Hillary really wants McCain to become President and hopes to be in his Administration”

These are the current talking points being used to take down Hillary Clinton. They have been seeded into the echo chamber. It doesn’t matter that they are lies, they are good ways of tearing Hillary Clinton down.

Please read all of Tom’s post as well as Turkana’s at TheLeftCoaster. (I have to resist thinking of the name as a place I put my highball glass)

Here’s the challenge: Using what is written in these two posts as examples, construct a refutation of the lies in 50 words or less. The goal is to be able to persuade an undecided voter to ignore the lie. If you can do it in 50, can you do it in 25?  Here are some of the things I would try to suggest:

• Why is Obama trying to make the voter feel like their vote won’t count?  Hillary values their vote.
• Why does Obama want to propagate the “Resistance is useless” meme?
• Why does Obama want you to think the only choice is between him and McCain?
• If Obama can’t trust the voters of Florida and Michigan to vote correctly, maybe he’s thinking that *you* aren’t capable of making up your mind either.

See where I’m going with this?  I know you do.
Go!

Tuesday- Turmoil

Good Morning. Everyone ready for another day in the trenches? Here’s what the rest of the world has been up to while you wasted your time sleeping:

• Phil Bredesen, Governor of Tennessee, has a plan to settle the superdelegate count by early June. This plan is to have a pre-convention just for the Supers so they can pick a candidate before the actual convention in August. His reasoning is that it would be sooo much better for the party if we got this out of the way before August so we could get on with the business of crushing McCain. He can’t help it that he’s been duped to stupidity by Obamamania, bless his heart. Much to our surprise, this is a plan that Obama thinks is “interesting” and “would probably be the best way to insure that at least there’s a couple of months before the convention” for the party to unite. I call it a complete non-starter and just another variation on the “Why Won’t That Stupid Bitch Quit?” (WWTSBQ) idea that’s been floated for some time now. (This one may be donation worthy. We must consult Lambert) A Superdelegate convention would just lock in the SDs for whoever is the delegate leader, I suspect, because it would be haunted by zombie Obamaphiles who would threaten to eat the SD’s if they don’t comply with their noisy demands. And that would be risky because if Obama flames before August, it would be very difficult to reverse locked in pledges and nominate Hillary instead. Nice try guys but we’re not stupid.
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz is giving the Big Boyz fits in Florida because she apparently isn’t lifting a finger to help Democratic challengers to 3 Republican congressional districts. Yep, she’s on some kind of Red to Blue leadership team but she’s like, not leading. And it looks like the Democrats could lose some pick-up opportunities in Florida. In FLORIDA! Hmmm, Florida, Florida, where have I heard that word before? Oh yeah! That’s the state whose 1.7 MILLION voters were dissed by Howard Dean and Barack Obama. Those 1.7 MILLION voters votes will not count at DNC convention unless they don’t put Hillary ahead. Who could have predicted that Debbie Wasserman Schultz would be capable of some passive-aggressive Hardball? That is not allowed from a Hillary supporter. Only Obama supporters are allowed to do that. Still, it’s entertaining to see the Big Boyz get their knickers in a twist of rage because Debbie isn’t doing their bidding and saving the Congress for the Democrats. The NERVE of some women. Can’t she see there is a higher purpose at stake here??? (You guys really have *no* idea why Debbie Wasserman-Schultz from FLORIDA is behaving irrationally? It makes no sense whatsoever? Holy smokes!, Even Matt Stoller and KOS have taken note. How unusual it is for them to even acknowledge Floridians. Well, I guess she got your attention, didn’t she?
  Mission accomplished.)
• Jeralyn at TalkLeft had some interesting things to say about Rush Limbaugh getting Republicans in PA to switch parties to vote for Hillary Clinton in the PA primary. Look, I don’t know what Rush is up to. All I know is that there are a lot of people in PA who are fed up with the Republican party and don’t want to vote for McCain. Many of them don’t need a whole lot of pushing to switch parties. And there’s nothing that says that a person can’t change their party affiliation if they get a virtual dope slap after eight years of an idiot in the White House, endless war, higher prices for everything, the country on the verge of an economic collapse and a missing or absent social safety net which they once railed against but suddenly discovered they needed after all. Rush is encouraging voters to switch, Obama is encouraging voters to register as Democrats, *Hillary* is encouraging voters to register as Democrats. Let’s give Pennsylvanians the benefit of a doubt here. They are willing to travel outside of their comfort zones for a variety of reasons. In a few weeks, they will stand before that panel and see two names there and will vote for the candidate of their choice for the same reasons that lifelong Democrats have for years. They want a better candidate, a better president. And if that person just happens to belong to the screwed up party who can’t get its $@#% together, then it’s GOT to be bad on the Republican side.
• Following up on the race-baiting chase, Sean Wilentz has a second article in The New Republic on how the Obama campaign is screaming “racist!” at every chance they get. It’s a couple weeks old, this article, but lucky for us, Ronkseattle is putting together a compilation (beta release) of Obama’s greatest racist! accusations. Dayum!, Ron, you’ve been busy. You’ve chronicled 88 instances? Well, what do you expect from a “typical white person”? Er, you are white, aren’t you Ron? It’s so hard to tell these days. Everyone looks like little black pixels to me anymore.
• One more thing: My site cafeteria had a stack something called Edible New Jersey that it was giving away for free. So, I picked it up and was pleasantly surprised. It’s a quarterly magazine that features the food grown locally by season and recipes to go with them. It’s well written and timely and goes together well with Michael Chiarello’s Seasons in the Wine Country cookbook. But, wait! There’s more. There is a whole Edible Community with similar periodicals for different regions and even Canada. So you too can find locally grown foods and boost your local economy while cutting back on energy costs. (If you feel so inclined. I notice they are no fans of Hillary Clinton but that’s OK. The idea is a very good one and we can’t afford to be purists this year.)

Have at it, guys!