The Clinton Stretch

Get yourself something cool and powerful to drink, grab your guitar and let’s play a little tune with Valerie June. Her mother, Maybelle Carter, was one of the pioneers of country music, known for a neat little guitar trick called the Carter Scratch. Don’t ask me to describe it. It sounds like it’s a little bit like plucking and chording at the same time, but I’m a singer not a guitarist. Valerie, later known simply as June Carter, then June Carter Cash, always claimed that her sisters were the better singers but she was quite a proficient with the autoharp. Her voice is hard to categorize. it’s not unpleasant. it just sounds like it came straight out of the mountains, slightly off key and wobbly vibrato but full of strength and courage.

How fitting for Hillary in the heart of Appalachia.

Keep on the Sunny Side

Forecast for tomorrow in WV: Sunny, high of 72°.

Bob Barr announces run- Who does he hurt?

JerseyGirl5555 mentioned to me during lunch that Bob Barr is seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party:

Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr announced today in Washington that he would seek the Libertarian Party’s nomination for president.

At the National Press Club, he said he decided to jump into the campaign, despite efforts to dissuade him by some Republicans, because he believed voters needed a choice. He had formed an exploratory committee last month, and his Web site already features prominent fund-raising appeals.

Mr. Barr, who was a Congressman from Georgia’s 7th District from 1995 to 2003, switched his enrollment to Libertarian two years ago, citing his disillusionment with his longtime party. He has expressed opposition to the Iraq war, and today reiterated his wish to bring American troops home.

More fun and merriment in this already topsy-turvy primary season. So, my question is, who does his entry hurt? I don’t think Hillary suffers at all in this scenario. But both John McCain and Barack Obama could take a hit. Obama is running as a Libertarian Democrat (Oh, he won’t say it out loud but Donna Brazile pretty much admitted as much). There goes the mountain west that Obama was hoping for. Colorado? Nahgahappen. John McCain will sweep up the Republicans in the fall. They’re mad at him now but whisper sweet tax cuts in their ears and they’ll follow him anywhere. Barr will probably get all of the poor deluded Ron Paul voters. There seemed to be plenty of them in PA but who knows if they’ll get pulled into the Republican fold. But Obama can’t afford to lose his formerly Democratic base of stupid, old working class, sino-peruvian lesbians AND those tasty Libertarians from the Big Sky country that he was counting on to pull this off. To get them, he’d have to overtly declare his intentions to go libertarian and I’m not sure how the latte sippers are going to like that.
That leaves Hillary to sweep up the people who just want a functioning government again. Party on, Bob!

Questions for Obama

What full time jobs have you held since graduating from Law School?

What sort of organizations were they and how long did you hold the positions?

What were the 2 primary responsibilities for each?

What was your proudest accomplishment from each?

And if you manage to become President of the United States with the flimsiest resume possible (even with embellishments) who’s going to be your “Dick Cheney”?

Monday: Roe, Roe, Roe your own damn boat

I’ve heard rumors that the Obama campaign plans to roll out a new offensive (in more ways than one) on the rest of us threatening doom on Roe if we don’t all get into line with Barry, as if the battle is between just him and McCain now.

Yeah, like that’s going to work. Call me a skeptic. I mean, aren’t we the Grandma half? Forget about the fact that most of Hillary’s supporters aren’t grandma’s but we’ve been called old women for so long and everyone knows that old women don’t worry about unplanned pregnancies that much. It’s funny that Barry actually thinks we care about Roe.

How stoopid does Barry think we are? If the SCOTUS wanted to overturn Roe right now, what’s to stop it? Kennedy was only a marginal force for Roe anyway and without Sandra Day-O’Connor flattering his ego on the subject, he’s just as likely to pat the women on the country on the head and tell them it’s for their own good. After 12 kids, they’ll thank him for encouraging them to fulfill themselves as mothers. Roe is already in danger. All it needs is some lunatic state legislature to pass some batshit crazy bill intended to test it and the whole thing is over. We don’t need no stinkin’ second Alito.

The REAL problem on the SCOTUS is not the anti-Roe forces. It’s the Federalist Society members. And there were *two* of these charming individuals appointed under Bush. Roe isn’t the focus of the Federalist Society crew. No, they are more interested in returning the constitution to its original intent, whatever that means. As I interpret it, the federal government has been getting way too interested in protecting people. Not really its business. Oh, and business? We should let it flourish without so many federal regulations. We should just trust it. For example, here is a description on an upcoming Federalist Society event concerning the credit industry:

The recent consumer credit issues have generated a great deal of media coverage and spurred calls for additional government regulation. Please join us at the National Press Club on May 20 for a conference that will examine the subprime lending industry and credit card regulation. The two panels will address questions such as: What will be the likely impact of proposed new regulations if adopted? Can the issues in the credit industries resolve themselves without government intervention? Will proposed regulations benefit consumers?

You know, they may have a point there. Credit issues *should* resolve themselves. So all of the banks and brokers who used sub-prime mortgage speculative “instruments” to make and put at risk billions of dollars, should maybe just suck it up instead of running to the Fed for a taxpayer bailout. I’m sure the “issues” will “resolve themselves” even if the banks fail and the whole financial industry is put at risk. It’s not like anyone on Wall Street is going to lose their house. I’m pretty sure the last Bankruptcy bill protected rich people’s houses. Yes, I think I read about this somewhere. Ah, yes, here it is:

the bill would preserve loopholes that enable wealthy individuals who file for bankruptcy to shield unlimited amounts of money in complex trusts and in multimillion-dollar homes in states including Texas and Florida.

But we can depend on Barry to never put people like Federalist Society members on the Supreme Court, right? Who knows. With all of the promises of squishy goo-goos and post-partisan wonderfulishisness, it’s very hard to tell exactly where Barry will draw the line.

There is one thing for sure though. If the twenty somethings are truly concerned that McCain would nail the lid on the coffin of their abortion rights, they still have a choice. They could encourage the superdelegates to vote for Hillary Clinton. I’m pretty certain that she’s not going to tut-tut them on their morality. It’s a matter of responsibility.

And anyway, the way Barry has taken advantage of sexism to get ahead this primary season does not guarantee that he wouldn’t throw women under a bus- again- if the pressure were great enough. Voting present or being conspicuously absent for controversial votes is an Obama specialty. He has strategically covered his ass on many occasions instead of taking a stand.

The Senate is still not filibuster proof from the Republicans. They are always going to be a thorn in our sides. But we still don’t know enough about Obama’s political philosophy. He’s keeping a lot of it under wraps. We just know he is on record as saying he’s willing to toss his partisanship aside to work with Republicans to an unprecedented level. And when it comes to Roe, if it is really that important, it will be too late to choose the sure thing in Hillary after Barry is nominated. Why take a chance?

Note to Barry:  You havent’ won yet.  It ain’t over until the balloons drop in Denver.  There’s plenty of time for superdelegates to figure out you can’t possibly win it.

One more thing: Commenter Chevalier was in WV over the weekend and filed this report. It sounds like Obamaphiles are getting a bit testy. They don’t sound at all like Kid Oakland’s “casual poetics”

One more thing, the sequel: Anglachel starts to gel all of the pieces together in the puzzling power struggle in the Democratic party in Democratic Blind Spots. Hint: Jim Webb has the key.