Michelle says: “I want to rip (Bill Clinton’s) eyes out.”

Yep, she really said it.

Then she said she was kidding.  Sort of like Al Franken’s “Kidding on the square”  In other words, she really meant it but she thought she could make it sound funny.

Hahahahah!

Ok, let me try it:

“I want to kick (Michelle’s) ass to the curb”

It was a joke.  Lighten up.

or

“I want to make (Michelle’s) teeth fall out.”

Kidding, KIDDING.  Can’t anyone take a joke?

Ok, you try.

In the Shorts (as it were)

Clinton a 3-1 favorite versus McCain. Obama a 10-1 underdog.

Creative Class to Chris Bowers: Cease and Desist

Dear Mr. Bowers.
It has come to our attention that you are defaming the brand name of the “Creative Class”. We have checked our membership databases and can find no entry for Chrisopher J. Bowers. We, the members of the creative class, take our image very seriously and would ask you to please provide credentials to us immediately verifying your qualifications for membership. To qualify, please provide the following information:

Which division of the creative class are you applying to? Some examples of our authorized divisions include, biotech (subdivisions: chemistry, biology, pharmaceutical sciences, genomics, structural biology, fermentation engineering, electrophysiology) telecommunications, art, architecture and design, entertainment, (subdivisions: screenwriting, cinematography, editing, CGI special effects, sound engineering), computational sciences (subdivisions: hardware design, processor design, software, network design and implementation) (Blogging does not qualify), Green Sciences, alternative energy, low carbon footprint architecture (PhD not necessary but desirable.), library and information science, bearded Princeton professors of Economics

Which peer reviewed journals in the authorized divisions have your publications been accepted? Please provide citations.

Please list any patents or “records of invention” that you have achieved or are pending.

Divisions that do not qualify: writers of unintentional self-parody.

It should also be noted that geographical location near one of our creative class centers does not meet the criteria for automatic inclusion.

If your qualifications are acceptable, we will notify you by email. If you do not qualify, we must ask you to immediately cease and desist from referring to yourself as a member of our class. Your statements regarding our attitudes and political preferences are misleading and defamatory. In short, you are giving us a bad name.

One final note: apparently unbeknownst to you, we have now joined the ranks of the working class. This means that we frequently work with our hands as well as our heads. Should you still feel the desire to join our class, this is something you should keep in mind.

You attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
“Bubba” Riverdaughter “Bunker”

Are you telling me I’ve turned into a damned, dirty ape? *

We talked about the descent of Chris Bower last night in our open thread but, it’s a trend that goes beyond poor Chris (Donna Brazile kicked us all to the curb on election night on national TV). The Bower’s post defies parody — in fact to assure yourself that it isn’t self-parody — you might find yourself reading the whole thing. Excerpt follows:

So, unless Obama somewhat surprisingly does not become the next President of the United States, the Democratic Party will experience its first changing of the guard since the late 1980’s. What differences will be in store? Here are the three major changes I expect:

Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives: There should be a major cultural shift in the party, where the southern Dems and Liebercrat elite will be largely replaced by rising creative class types. Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism [sic], to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR. These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades. Given the demographics of the blogosphere, in all likelihood, this is a socioeconomic and cultural demographic into which you fit. Culturally, the Democratic Party will feel pretty normal to netroots types. It will consistently send out cultural signals designed to appeal primarily to the creative class instead of rich donors and the white working class.

I dreamt about this damn post all night; stewing and steaming and muttering. I want to be a lady but, I find myself thinking in streams of expletives. Thankfully Anglachel came to the rescue. Her post, Revolution of the Saints, puts The Movement into historical perspective. Then it moves on to compare the two candidates and their vision of the role of the Democratic Party:

Hillary, in stark contrast, is ministerial in her approach. This is a job, it is the most demanding job in the world, and here are her credentials and body of work to demonstrate that she is the most competent and capable to fulfill the needs of the position. Minister in this sense would be both political and religious – someone who tends to the needs and concerns of the beloved community. It’s hands on, sleeves rolled up, get dirty helping raise the barn or negotiate that treaty. Power is present and necessary, wielded for the sake of others, which requires her to explain in as much detail as you want to hear exactly how she will use the authority granted to her. It is straight up attention to material interests.

What I see rising from the other side is clearly of two kinds. Half of Obama’s support is simply racial identity voting. The other half is from the faction of the party that is significantly insulated from the stark world of need and want. There is a love of the other-worldly where the beauty of the idea and the ideal matters more than the base. The political “base” is seen as base – low, uncouth, adulterated, impure, unworthy. They are not among the saved and the saints. I honestly cannot remember a previous time when so many people in the party were reviled for doing nothing except vote for a conventional candidate. These are not Naderites or Wallace supporters. They are middle-of-the-road solid Democrats who voted Kerry, Gore, Clinton, Clinton, Dukakis, Mondale, Carter, Carter, and so on down the line. The contempt of the saints for the fallen has always been there, but is emerging without a filter or much in the way of self-consciousness this time. The code we learned to speak in our liberal arts colleges falls to the wayside, and I read claims of being rid of the old evil “white working class” (What of us who are not that thing? What of those of us who are?) in a final conflict to end all conflicts and there will be a purified party to which will flock millions of new, young, untainted followers, ready to be led into the land of Goshen.

Chris Bowers and Donna Brazile have made it clear: A vote for Obama is a vote against the poor. A vote for Obama is a vote against workers. A vote for Obama is a vote against good government. A vote for Obama is a vote against the future of the Democratic Party.
* Title stolen from a comment by Lori at Anglachel’s Journal

Friday: Fast

Today, I am dedicating this post to Hillary Clinton’s Defense Fund and to America’s Second Harvest.
Tomorrow, May 10th, is the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive of the National Association of Letter Carriers.

Yesterday, we found out that Hillary’s campaign needs money to finish out the primary season. She made a strategic decision early in the campaign to put money into both the primary and the general election funds. Right now, she can’t touch money dedicated to the general. Obama, on the other hand, is doing the grasshopper thing and spending all of his money on the primary. (What does this tell you about Obama?) She’s lent her campaign more money but Obama is so desperate to get her out of the race before he pisses off the creative class too that his campaign has offered to pay off her campaign debts if she would “take a dive”. Much to her credit, she refused. But that means she still needs money. This primary season has been incredibly expensive for both candidates. There are only a few states left. Let’s help her get there by getting her through West Virginia and Kentucky. Today, I am asking you to help Hillary refill her coffers by fasting and sending $10.00 to her campaign.

And while you are fasting, think about all of the working class families who she is fighting for who are one paycheck from insolvency, one tank of gas from a full stomach and who visit a local food pantry every month to help feed their children and make ends meet. If you’ve topped out in your donations to Hillary, send your money to feed a family in need. Send a matching contribution to the Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive at America’s Second Harvest.

Finally, this quote from Robert F. Kennedy seems particularly meaningful for Hillary, us and the fight to end hunger:

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal,” he said in a 1966 to South African students, “or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

RFK was a Conflucian.
Thanks.

WARNING!: The Obama campaign has taken their Haka up to 11. That’s what the TIME magazine cover was all about and the news that he has his own transition team forming and that he is going to declare victory on May 20. It’s all sound and fury signifying nothing and it’s intention is to discourage people from donating and volunteering for Hillary. You know how I know that? It’s because Obama hasn’t won anything yet. Don’t let them psych you out. Ignore all the shouting, grimacing and tongues sticking out. It means nothing.

Now, get out there and counter haka!