America Jumps The Shark

I’m beginning to think that the art of politics (if there is such a thing) is the ability to get strangers to pretend to understand when you talk nonsense out of both sides of your mouth.  Unfortunately, that is also today’s definition of journalism.  That makes looking for turds of political wisdom among the media bullshit as much fun as a scavenger hunt in a sewer.  And just as obvious.

Politico is reporting that there are landmines ahead for ever-prepared policy wonk, Hillary Clinton, in her upcoming Senate confirmation hearings because she’s married to Bill and she ran against the man who appointed her, while at the same time (same article) reporting that her confirmation hearings are scheduled for only one day and everybody thinks she’ll be confirmed “speedily.”

Rasmussen Reports tells us that “lots” of people, 75% in fact, plan to watch at least “some” of the first black president-elect’s upcoming inauguration, with 28% planning to watch it “all,” while you couldn’t pay 21% to watch “any” of it.  They don’t tell us how many people plan to watch “for sure,” but 61% of black people will watch “all” the festivities, because he’s black, too, while only 22% of whites feel the same way, because they’re not.  Since the stupid networks show every indication of airing every aspect of the stupid inauguration festivities over and over until we “all” puke, I think it’s significant that 21% obviously won’t be turning on their televisions, reading a paper or surfing the net in the foreseeable near future.

California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s recent support of Rod Blagojevich’s appointee for Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat, Roland Burris, should score her some major points with black voters and colleagues who pretty much liked her anyway, according to CQ Politics.  Fienstein’s support registered well with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, though her reasoning had nothing to do with his skin color; rather, she cited a quaint little concept known as “the law.”

Feinstein’s bold stance on a no-brainer issue nonetheless puts her at odds with her Senate colleagues intent upon prolonging what amounts to a pissing contest during a circle jerk.  Those opposing Burris’ seating because he was appointed by a guy they consider to be a slimeball, (presumably not because he was involved in shady pay-to-play scams, but because he got caught; nobody’s calling for Bill Richardson‘s head or for his duties to be suspended; probably because he doesn’t have a Senate seat to sell like Blago and barely Governor Patterson) are suddenly trying to figure out how to zip up their wet pants and look presentable without washing their hands now that they realize that the curtain’s open and people are watching.

What do you do when you pick the guy you like to give the invocation at your inauguration, in order to make nice with the people who didn’t vote for you, if the people who did vote for you hate him?  Why, you find somebody the people who like you will like, too, and invite him to speak at another event, call it an “inauguration…something” and, sell it on EBay the internet.

But, all of that is just business as usual.  Sure, the outgoing Republican president turning over 350 billion taxpayer dollars to the incoming Democratic president is a little unprecedented (like being a little pregnant) but, not eyebrow-raising in today’s Obamacan political climate.  And, so what if people who read Politico think that MSNBC’s Chuck Todd is a latter-day Walter Cronkite?   Who cares if the FISA guy wants to digitalize medical records?  Multiple wars, impeachments, Gitmo flip-flops, unemployment, sucky economy, scandal, we’re used to all that stuff.

No, what has sent the country into a Happy Days-inspired leap from reality is the recent propensity of popular culture icons to embrace the ridiculous as it relates to Barack Obama.  You’d think they’d never seen a black president before, or something.  First Ms. Magazine, in a move that makes “The View” and “Playgirl” seem radical by comparison, boasted an improbable cover touting Obama’s non-existent feminist creds, going so far as to depict him as the women’s movement’s very own super hero, a giant leap up, in the wrong direction, from Prince Charming or Barbie’s Ken.

But the “fridge was nuked” waaaay over the rainbow shark when Marvel Comics equally (more) improbably paired Obama with a real-as-it-gets superhero, Spiderman, in it’s latest edition, because the future Geek-In-Chief was once a collector.  I shit kid you not.

The Barack Obama rage has now taken the comic world by storm. Reportedly the president will feature along with the superhero ‘Spiderman’. The fact that the US-president elect was a Spidey collector as a kid, has inspired the Marvel Comics to feature the ‘icon’ for the children’s book.

“When we read that we thought, ‘Oh my God the future Commander-in-chief is actually the future nerd-in-chief,’ the New York Daily News quoted Joe Quesada, Marvel’s top editor, as saying. “With a geek in the White House , we just had to give him a shout back. It’s just the coolest thing ever,” Quesada added.

Unlike Ms., at least they didn’t give the Obamessiah undeserved super powers.  Maybe by this time next week, or more likely, the week after, since “lots” of us will be eating nachos and watching the Super Bowl of Politics on cable next week, (I wonder if they’ll have cool new commercials?) we’ll find out that the wheels on the Obabus are actually jet-propelled wings or something.  I’m sure a rocket fueled, Acme Co. E-ject-O driver’s seat is too much to ask for.

And, the wheels on the bus…

*X-posted over at my place, Cinie’s World, as you would expect.

Obacrats Can’t Be This Stupid

Whoever thought maneuvering Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich into a position that allowed U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald to officially criminalize machine politics-as-usual for political advantage has got to be the biggest neophyte yahoo rube to come down the pike since…Barack Obama.  Let’s review.  Barack Obama, the only African American in the Senate for two years, mysteriously generates enough money and clout to mount a successful run for the presidency out of a political environment so corrupt that “Lincoln would roll over in his grave,” how?  By being an all-around, all-American, above-board, swell, good guy, of course.  Sure.

Surrounded by his personal band of proselytizing disciples; Rahmbo the Emanuel, Valerie Magdalene, King David of the Astroturf, Antonin of Houses, and Jon, the Groper of Graven Images, to name a few, the Obamessiah scampered above the sewer waters of Illinois corruption as if they were a North Side private gymnasium treadmill.  As a fisher of men, He was often unfortunately touched, but not tainted by, the activities of the unworthy among those He assembled and attempted to make pure, as has been dutifully chronicled by the mainstream media Keepers of the Holy Book of the Obamessiah.  However, Barack remains the Reformer, bathed in the Light.

Clean, bright and articulate by resume, the recent machinations by the Combine Machine of the Obacrats are threatening to reveal enough cracks in the Obamirror of Righteousness to expose His Holy Stupid-as-a-Stumpness in a nationally broadcast Naivete Scene.  Did it never occur to the No Drama Obama crew that manipulating a fellow player not of their clique into a corner carried risks?

When one of their number, Antonin of Houses, stumbled and fell by the wayside, the Obasciples simply stepped gingerly, single-file around him, leaving him where he lay, disavowing him three times as they boarded the Obabus he rolled under when they continued confidently on their preordained journey to the Promised Land.  The Obamessiah did not lay hands upon him, nor did He absolve him of his sin; He simply denied knowledge of him as He brushed His Holy shoulders and allowed Himself to be driven on.  This was a Holy boo-boo.

For Antonin of Houses had special knowledge of Valerie Magdalene and the Obamessiah, and Antonin was pisseth.

Fast forward to the twenty-first century post-election ensconcement of the Obamessiah as President-In-Training Wheels.  Having written and disseminated his own Holy backstory to the Chroniclers, and having consumed their regurgitated praise to his overfill, the Obamesiah, drunk with his own Obamessiah-ness by proxy, allowed Himself to believe He, Jr. Father, Knew Best.  Thus began the chess match, whereby playing unopposed, the Obamessiah cleverly checkmated Himownself.

Seeing a way to eliminate his only real threat to absolute power in His own backyard, Barack of Hyde Park decided to continue to attempt to appear to levitate above the machinations of His betrayed Obasciple of the Houses,  and the locust-and-honey-eating way clearer, the crude Rod the Blagojevich, while shining His Holy Light upon their common evangelical activities, forgetting He too, was bathed in His Own Light.  Thus, He Screweth Himself.

Okay, enough of the Obamessiah allegory; it’s not only making me nauseous, I’m not nearly as good at it as John, South of Melrose over on Liberal Rapture or Gerald Baker; plus I need to be free to call bullshit without all this pseudo-Christian baggage.  So, let’s get back to brass tacks, shall we?

The fact remains that Obama screwed the pooch when he tried to play innocent while pointing the finger at Blagojevich.  Everybody in Illinois knew Blags was under investigation, he even hinted at the worst kept secret in politics the day before he was arrested.  Everybody also knew that even with Rezko’s making like a canary, Fitzgerald didn’t have enough to indict.  He still doesn’t.  But when the president-elect bats his exaggeratedly wide-open eyes and tilts his head in your direction when somebody else calls you a crook, people sit up and take notice.

Obama and company knew that if they dangled the vacant Senate seat plum just right while they dropped unsubtle hints that Fitzgerald was sure to pick up, the investigation against Blags was sure to intensify.  However, methinks they underestimated the existing intensity of the ongoing investigation.  Thinking that the tentacles would subsequently stretch out in all directions, they never considered that they already did, that it wasn’t just one Blagojevich phone that was tapped, and that more of their pre-cleanup involvement was already caught on tape.

Now, the smartest president in the room and his gang have been interviewed in a pay-to-play scam and have proclaimed their innocence, just like Blagojevich, just like Bill Richardson.  Though Blago has been arrested, before his alleged crime could criminally implicate anybody else, he hasn’t been indicted, he was released on a paltry bond, and he remains free to exercise his duties as governor.  And, now that he has done just that, the Obacrats, who for their own nefarious reasons, swept Obama to power, are desperate to get Blags to nullify himself, since they know they have no legal, or moral, authority to do so.  They also know now that Blagojevich knows it, too; by making the appointment, the Obacrats are not only rendered impotent, they’ve handcuffed  and prevented themselves from exercising any power they might once have wielded.  For, even if they impeach Blago, or he now resigns, there’s nothing that would make Roland Burris’ appointment to the Senate retroactively invalid.  From Politico:

The Democrats’ preferred solution to the Burris problem is for the Illinois Legislature to impeach Blagojevich, paving the way for Democratic Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn to take his place and appoint someone other than Burris to Obama’s vacant seat. But even that could create a legal headache, legal observers say, since the Burris appointment would still be pending.

“Even if Blagojevich is impeached, that doesn’t undo all the actions he has taken as governor,” said Andrew Raucci, a former chief justice for the Illinois Court of Claims and now a Chicago-based attorney.

Democrats say that if Burris hasn’t been seated by the time Quinn takes over, he could name someone else to the seat by rescinding Burris’ certification papers.

Burris was having none of it. At a news conference at Chicago’s Midway Airport, the former Illinois attorney general testily said to reporters, “Why don’t you all understand that what has been done here is legal? I am the junior senator from Illinois, and I wish my colleagues in the press would recognize that. All the drama — I guess it keeps you all in a job.”

And, to make bad matters worse, not only is Burris adamant that he is the junior senator from Illinois no matter what ticky-tack maneuvers the Obacrats try to pull, the potential criminalization of day to day political manipulation makes every satellite in the Oba-universe vulnerable.  Just ask Bill Richardson.

The best laid plans of mice and men, gang aft aglae.

The Lions Share Returns

And the Lions are not sleeping tonight.  We’ll be discussing Obama reneging on his oil company windfall profits tax idea (I know you are all shocked by that), Ed Rendell apologizing for a sexist remark, and Bill Richardson’s lack of a beard.  Can lack of facial hair improve the looks of a back stabbing, weasling traitor?

Join us tonight at 8PM EST on the Lions Share on PUMA United Radio (PURrrr)

Wednesday- PSAs

Good morning, everybody! Are you ready to do battle again today? Hokay, gird your loins ‘cos here we go.

• First, I would like to draw your attention to something that needs your attention. Did you know that March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness month? Betcha ya didn’t even have time to shop or anything. It seems to come earlier and earlier each year, doesn’t it? But seriously, folks, colorectal cancer is no laughing matter but it is treatable if detected early. The problem is that frequently the signs of colorectal cancer are no signs at all. Fortunately, there is something you can do about it. You can eat your veggies AND you can get screened. To find out more about how to fight this disease, check out The ColoRectal Cancer Coalition or the Screen For Life page at the CDC. And remember, you won’t always be young and beautiful. Even Clintonistas age gracefully.

• For those of you who want to see the *whole* segment of Chelsea Clinton gracefully but firmly telling the Obamaphile in the audience to “Mind your own business”, complete with applause, you can find it at Breitbart.TV.

• Boston Boomer pointed me to this post on Noquarter about Greg Craig, a former lawyer for the Clintons. I don’t know if we could legitimately accuse him of violating attorney-client privilege but who knows if he’s been playing 20 Questions with the Obama strategists? I know that careers in Washington can veer into the incestuous and all that but really, perception is reality in this game and unless he can prove there is a firewall between his work for the Clintons and his current work for Obama, he probably should just stick to mailing envelopes and assembling yard signs.

• Peeps, I received an email from the DFA last night asking me to take action over James Carville’s provocative remarks about Rill Richardson. It seems to me that Bill Richardson is a big boy and can take care of himself and Carville hasn’t retracted his remarks. In fact, he seems rather insistent about sticking to them and going one step further. I applaud him for that. I don’t want him to break down. It’s time for Carville and other friends of Clinton to stop capitulating to the aggressive intimidation of groups like DFA, Move-on and the Obama campaign itself. But what really frosted my crockies about this email is that it was sent from the DFA itself which is run by Jim Dean, Howard’s brother. And the email was specifically directed against Carville, but not the anonymous DNC official who described Hillary as a Tonya Harding kneecapper. That $#@!’s gotta stop. Yesterday, March 25, 2008, was a turning point for me. If the DNC doesn’t rein these people in and stop tilting the scales for Obama, I don’t know how I will muster up the initiative to vote for him in the fall. I know that Hillary will want me to support the party nominee but this is not about my advocacy for Clinton or my respect for her or her husband. This is about the destructiveness of the Obama campaign and the way the DNC has treated its loyal base of support. We’ve been called everything from stupid old bitches to “typical white people”, which is a code term for racists. Our votes have been deliberately disenfranchised, not only in Florida and Michigan, but by extension, everywhere a state has gone decisively for Clinton. And Senator Obama has allowed this, perhaps even encouraged this, on his behalf. Guys, as bad as John McCain may be, I am seriously concerned that an Obama presidency may be worse. Due to the overt negativity of his campaign and the brutality of his campaign’s tactics in crushing dissent, I have no expectation that he will be a more ethical or Democratic president than George Bush was. I plan to write a letter to the superdelegates expressing my concerns. Had Obama conducted his campaign in a less destructive manner, I might feel differently about him. In fact, as recently as Super Tuesday, I was willing to vote for him had he become my nominee. But I simply can’t at this point and this is as much a reflection on the Democratic party as Obama himself. I feel alienated from the party that I have considered my own since I was old enough to vote. At this point, I do not feel that Obama is a viable candidate in the general election. He is going to have to spend just as much time wooing the Democrats back as the Republicans and Independents. I won’t forget the way I was treated this year. You guys can take your own steps. But as Anglachel describes quite forcefully, this has been an assault on my self-respect and dignity and this is where I have to draw the line. (Note to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi: Expect this to have severe downticket consequences)

Ok, that’s all I have to say for awhile. I need to work for awhile. Later…

We need a bigger Haka

I left Harrisburg at 4:00pm. Got a parking ticket. 😦 The office was humming along. All the way home in the car I heard reports of municipal boards of elections swamped with lines to register before the doors even opened this morning. It would be wrong to assume that this was just Obama’s work. It was not. The Clinton campaign mailed out registration forms to many households and they did canvassing and many other things this weekend. My phone banking only turned up 2 Obamaphiles. The rest were either firmly in Hillary’s corner or undecideds. I LOVE undecideds. They want to be seduced. They want to be told that their vote is the most important thing in the world to you. And it is. They are very important people. I try to direct them to Hillary’s site to read the issues online. It is very nice to hear that there are so many people in PA who are sick and tired of Republicans and are willing to step outside their comfort zone and vote for a Democrat, especially Hillary, who has withstood so much negativity. Which brings me to the second thing that happened today.

Monday: Last day to register in PA

Yes, ladies and gents, if you are a resident of PA and you want to register or switch parties *hint, hint*, today is your last day. Run, don’t walk to your local Board of Elections office or Clinton campaign office.

In other news:

• Lambert at Corrente has started the “Why Won’t That Stupid Bitch Quit ? Watch” (WWTSBQW) Every time one of the Big Boyz puts up a post asking why Hillary won’t just get out now for the good of the party because The Math isn’t in her favor (and spreading an untrue meme because Obama can’t win *either* without superdelegates), some Corrente readers are donating $10 to Hillary’s campaign. If we all pledge an affordable dollar amount, she should be rich by the end of the week!
• What if you were planning to throw a party and nobody paid? That is dilemma laid out in Money Troubles in Denver at the NYTimes. Howard Dean is having trouble coming up with half of the money for a downpayment. (LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!) Ahem, excuse me for that. Where was I? Oh, yeah, no one could have predicted that anyone would take a large swing state, slam a harsh penalty on it, take another large swing state, slam *it* with another harsh penalty and manage to piss off the voters enough that they want their money back for the convention. It was completely unforseen. The comments, although peppered by the occasional cluelessly juvenile Obamaphile, seem to be uncharitable towards poor Howard. I know, I know, you’re heartbroken.
• Hillary’s mother had a hard life when she was young. If you haven’t read this article, The LA ‘village that raised Hillary’s mother, in the LATimes from yesterday, you can see why Hillary might not want to go back to days like that.
• Bill Richardson says he still feels loyal to the Clintons. Hmmm, “loyalty”. I don’t think that word means what you think it means. I understand. What’s a politician to do when he can’t get to the WH on his own merits? Oh, well, he probably is just thinking in terms that even Kos would understand. We’ll all just kiss and make up after the primaries. Right? I said, RIGHT?!

Ok, I’m going to hop across the river and see if I can make trouble at the Clinton HQ in Harrisburg. Later taters…

Friday: Just the two of us

We can make it if we try…

Ok, who out there thinks that Richardson is doing this out of purely altruistic reasons and it has nothing at all to do with snagging that priceless VP slot he’s been looking for? Anyone? Don’t be shy, raise your hands.

Ok, here’s a little challenge. Katharine Hepburn once said of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire: “She gives him sex and he gives her class.” So, the challenge is, what does Richardson give Obama and vice versa, I mean, besides the hispanic vote in the fall and a VP slot? Actually, isn’t it too late to capture the hispanic vote for the primaries except in Puerto Rico? Is Obama worried about Puerto Rico and what does that say about The Math? *OR* is Obama saying, “My plan is to completely diss FL and by extension, CA, NJ, NY, MA, AZ, MI, OH and TX, but don’t worry, I’m going to give you a hispanic leader for VP and we’ll all be friends again. Isn’t that cool? Now, make me the nominee, damnit!” (Am I reading too much into this?)

In other news…

Paul Krugman channels Prince (the artist formerly known as a symbol) in Partying Like it’s 1929. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Er, Robert Rubin on NPR this morning said something along these same lines when he was talking about leverage and liquidity. I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout investment markets but I got the shivvers when he said something to the effect, “Nooo, we don’t need no stupid regulation on what they’re doooing. We need regulation on how much we’re able to lose without suffering tremendous loses.”, or something to that effect. In other words, playing the market and creating new “instruments” is all ticketyboo but that whole risk thing? Yeah, government has to be better about letting people get caught holding the bag. Hmmmm….