In recognition of Earth Day, here’s a selection of totally unrelated material:
- A Canadian journalist acutely dissects the conservative subtext of Oprah Winfrey’s Big Give:
Its philosophy is simple, and American: Philanthropy and the private sector, it suggests, can best provide services and solve problems, with the added bonus – and this is important – that they cause no loss of personal liberty … philanthropy evokes religious fervour in the States where it is an accepted alternative to social spending … There was no revelation that decent education and health care are rights in a developed society, not privileges to be bestowed by charity or through Winfrey’s good graces .
- A Georgia sportswriter takes a (cockeyed, IMO) look at Hillary’s nuclear options:
… she wins enough electoral votes to guarantee that no one wins a majority of electoral votes. Then it goes to the House. … 15-20 representatives may say to the rest of the party, either we all vote for Clinton and guarantee a “Democratic” president, or else …
- The North Carolina debate is officially canceled in the interest of party unity! (Rumor was that Obama’s handlers had him practicing a plausibly deniable crotch-grab.)
You have shown tremendous passion and interest in being a part of history as Democrats are poised this year to elect the first female or African-American President. However, there were also growing concerns about what another debate would do to party unity.
- In other developments on Planet Earth as we know it, a teenager with a cellphone walks into the path of an oncoming train, an NFL defensive lineman punches his baby momma in the forehead with a closed fist causing her head to intersect a glass barroom divider, and magazine covers crudely disparage the Clintons in particular and women in general.
Filed under: General |
The Confluence 
NC dems weren’t worried about party unity, they were worried about the Unity Pony.
O.T., but can the blogosphere bring up the issue of Howard Dean disabling the “unsubscribe” feature? I think he’s doing that to hide the fact that he’s hemorrhaging DNC supporters. We should make a concerted effort to have Dean and Brazile replaced.
I went to the link about the cancellation of the NC debate, but I am still not convinced it isn’t a joke. Debate cancelled due to “growing concerns about what another debate would do to party unity” — they didn’t really say that, did they? It’s a joke, right? Please?
litigatormom, sadly that’s exactly how it was reported yesterday in the news. Here’s a quote from the North Carolina Democratic Party website:
It’s Bizarro World, I guess.
Ooops — it’s the same page. Sorry RonK & litigatormom….
“NC Debate canceled due to growing opinion that Obama may lose hardcore in the Fall.”
Howard Dean was on MSNBC this morning, fielding questions from Joe and Mika. after getting a few “does this race hurt the party?” questions, he made it clear that whoever wins the nomination will bring…I kid you not…”hope and change” in the fall.
Way to hide your biases, Howard.
Lanny Davis was just on Fox and said that the NC debate was canceled by Dean. Before you yell at me, I was not watching Fox I just read this at Taylor Marsh. Sometimes, I wonder if the Democratic party is worth saving.
Dean and Brazile must resign. This is unacceptable.
Why don’t they just come out with it and replace “party unity” with “protecting Obama from scrutiny?” Honestly, the man is an embarrassment. When you realize that he’s the likely nominee for president when our country is facing one of the worst crises in modern history, you can’t help but feel this is all some sick joke.
If I was cleverer, I’d put the link here.
MSNBC.com has a video where the obama campaign denies “playing the race card” but here’s the kicker – the advertisement you have to watch first is for Kool Aid!
The cancellation may wake up some voters in states that have yet to weigh in and also those superdelegates who still have a shred of integrity left. Dean and Brazile have to go. Not one more penny until that happens.
Hey, guys, we’ve been concentrating so hard on undecideds that we forgot about absentees. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were a higher than average number of absentees in PA as the population is older than in many states. And THEY probably voted when the spread was something like 15 points.
RD, Great point. And we know who those older folks probably voted for. Have you finished with your training session for the day? Only a couple more hours until the polls close.
Go Hillary!
I don’t want to get ahead of ourselves here but race is the big controversy right before a primary with a large African American audience… coincidence?
Yep, I’m FREEE! FREEE! Hallelujah!! If I never have to see another pharmacokinetics study in my life I will not be heartbroken.
WS: Actually, I was wondering when that would surface. I was going to take bets on it. It’s odd that if happened so late and that the big dawg is involved.
RD, Excellent! If I could stand it, I would turn on MSNBC and see how the misogynist crew look. If they are downcast, it means the exit polls look bad for The One.
So, about that debate. I’m thinking that Donna Brazile is counting on winding up the left wing hurdy gurdy for the post primary WWTSBQ? spiel. She won’t have more delegates, she won’t have the popular vote, yadayadayada. And they’re going to go ballistic on her if she doesn’t bow to their demands. When you’ve got the narrative on your side, why not milk it for all it’s worth? “She’ll do anything to win. She doesn’t care about the party. We need to be united and Hillary is being selfish.” You know the drill. So, the debate is cancelled because, damn it, they want party unity and if Hillary won’t quit, they are not giving Obama another chance to be humiliated. The more they can shield him from the press and the public, the better his chances of not screwing up before he gets the nomination. They just need to hold out a liitttle longer.
rd, when was the absentee phase in PA? Up to Election Day?
I have Tweety on with the sound off. He doesn’t look too happy. He looks subdued, not his usually projectile salivating self.
WS: I know we were handling them out while canvassing last week but I don’t know the actual date they had to be in. I’m guessing that most of them were sent in while she was still riding high.
Is Chris Matthews like a canary in a coal mine? If he’s not excited, does that mean its a good night for Hillary?
From the WSJ yesterday,
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120873961916530121.html
“…some party leaders are quietly planning to try to end the clash, said people familiar with the matter. After the primaries end in June, these influential Democrats — led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — plan to push the last uncommitted party leaders to endorse a candidate, in hopes of preventing a fight at the August presidential convention, party insiders say.”
And from Donna Brazile Nut:
“Do you think for one minute that Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid will allow this fight to go on and on and on?” says Donna Brazile, an uncommitted superdelegate as an official of the Democratic National Committee, and manager of the 2000 Gore campaign. “There’s a group around [Sen. Clinton] that really wants to take the fight to the convention. They don’t care about the party. It scares me, and that’s what scares a lot of superdelegates.”
As Katiebird would say, “Oh really?”
Thanks rd.
Also according to that WSJ article, Gore favors Obama and Jimmy Carter does too, but his endorsement is unwelcome, because of his controversial views on the Mideast.
If Gore really favors Obama, should I start thinking twice about his judgement on Global Warming?
Just partially kidding…
*PA Dem Voters
Women
Clinton 55%
Obama 44
Men
Clinton 47%
Obama 53
Couldn’t help it. Got it from Drudge because I’m dying over here.
If that’s true, it’s a win but less than 10%. A win is a win is a win.
Donna Brazile needs to stuff a sock in it and resign. She and the DNC just seem determined to not let out votes count. I’ve gotten several emails from Howard Dean and DFA and replied the same way, “Until you straighten out MI and FL and make them count before the primaries are over, you can’t count on any money from me. And if you sit on them until Obama gets the nomination, I’m out of the party.”
MABlue: 58% of the voters today are female. Put that into your calculations.
I don’t think the “race thing” is coming up for the PA race, I think it is in preparation for North Carolina. I think they have to be SURE the AA vote is solid for obama – kind of insurance that Hillary doesn’t manage to make any inroads there…
The DNC better be more scared of the Democratic base who supports Hillary!!!
Jeralyn has exit poll info up. Hillary carried the gun owners and regular church goers. CBS link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/04/22/politics/horserace/entry4036100.shtml
MABlue, those are first wave numbers from Drudge. They are highly volatile (first wave exit polls said Rhode Island was tied). Here’s the post from Talk Left:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/4/22/183017/218
jmtacoma: There were quite a few AA volunteers for Clinton in Harrisburg. I was pleasantly surprised.
I am chewing on the cover of my book right now I am so nervous. Pouring a glass of merlot and trying to stay focused until 8pm.
“Potential Voting Irregularity” say CNN’s Blitzer. Looks like Obama wants an extra hour of voting in Philly (just guessing from the Ohio experience).
Group in Philly filed lawsuit but thrown out by judge. They are planning an appeal.
Am I smelling somebody who just got his ass handed to him by a *gurl*?
From Talkleft:
Lou Dobbs praising Brazile for her “neutrality” and Brazile is coy about her vote. She says she knows how she will vote and will vote before the 4th of July.
Riverdaughter: Thanks for the sanity. I’m glad to see all people working together – It just seems to help obama to piss off the AA voters on behalf of the Clintons.
Blitzer: “Will we be able to project a winner based on the exit polls or will this be a long night” before the commercial break.
According to BTD, turnout was 81% White, 14% AA, and 5% other. That sounds good for Hillary. SUSA was predicting around 17-18% AA’s, I think.
[…] is disgusting. But I have always had a problem formulating it convincingly. Fortunately for me, Ronkseattle from the great blog, the Confluence, dug up a Canadian article from the Star that does that much […]
cnn just confirm the exit poling. I just ran a simple model with 3 mil voters and Hillary barely breaks 52.
I hope that exit poll is wrong.