The Candidate Index

I’m sure they will feign innocence but how much time and space are our media sources devoting to all of the candidates running for president of the United States.

To refresh your memory, there are currently 3 major candidates still remaining. We aren’t counting Martin O’Malley.

The *three* major candidates are (in alphabetical order):

Hillary Clinton (D)

Bernie Sanders (D)

Donald Trump (R)

Sanders and Clinton? Who are they, you might ask? Indeed. What have they been doing in the last week? Judging by our nation’s sources of truth, we would have no idea. We wouldn’t know if they have any policy ideas, or struggles with campaign financing (seems inevitable with so much attention focused on the other guy), or anything really.

So, how are we going to show how much free publicity has been gifted to each candidate? I’m thinking I need a table of three rows for the candidates and multiple columns for media outlets’ front pages. Media outlets would be: NY Times, WaPo, CNN, MSNBC and Fox. I’ll count the number of times the candidate’s name shows up in a headline on the front page at 6am. Wait, does anyone have any insight on morning deadlines?

Also, what kind of metric should we be going for here?

Gotta go to work but I’ll be back later so if you have any ideas, put them in the comments.

For today, so far I see 3 headlines featuring Trump’s name, 0 featuring Clinton’s name, 0 featuring Sanders. 2 op/ed featuring Trump’s name (Krugman), 1 op/ed featuring Clinton’s name. Elsewhere on the front page of the NY Times, Trump’s name appears 6 times, Clinton’s appears 0, Sanders appears 0.

I can’t wait for Ezra Klein to tell me how surprised he was by this.

 

Commence the defensive whining about Clinton

Well, that didn’t take long:

Whether or not he deserves any credit – and he certainly deserves a lot of credit for some bad things – what I think has been lost is the fact that the latter half of the Clinton years were good times. Good times in a way that that hadn’t been experienced since the late 60s or so. I don’t just mean in terms of purely quantifiable things – though the numbers there are good – it was also the case that there was a real sense of optimism. America, we’re back, bitches! It wasn’t all a horror story in the previous couple decades, but “morning in America” ads aside, there was a feeling of stagnation.

Dems have plenty of reasons to be mad at Bill Clinton, but for those wondering why there’s fondness – it’s because the economy boomed and he ultimately kicked their asses.

I was a Democrat and ran for the Board of Ed on a Democratic ticket back when Clinton was president and I don’t have any reason to be angry.  Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard all the reasons why people in Atrios’ clique think I *should* be mad at him and it’s not like I’m politically naive and don’t know what they’re talking about. Perhaps they overestimate their own self-importance and authority.  Or it just might be the case that a good chunk of the Democratic base (more than half), analyzed the data with their own set of criteria and expectations, which are no less legitimate, and came to a different conclusion.  And you’re never going to be able to convince us otherwise no matter how hard you try.  We only end up resenting the people who seem determined to rewrite history to reflect their own cultural biases.  They just frustrate our will, leave the Democratic party in a permanently broken state and make it easier for Republicans to win. I’m pretty sure that’s not what they want but they keep undermining their party with their futile attempts to make us change our minds.  It’s like they can’t evolve until they’ve stamped out every bit of good feelings we have for the Clintons.  They seem to be on a mission to delegitimize our perceptions.  I don’t think this is a good use of their time or effort.  It’s like an evangelical fundy spending 40 years trying to convert a non-believer.  At some point, it becomes disrespectful and we have to disassociate ourselves from the zealots.

Except for the Gramm- Bliley bill, which passed thru Congress with a veto proof majority, I just don’t see Clinton’s terms as a string of bad things.  Atrios’ little ditty sounds a lot like Reg and the People’s Front of Judea complaining about the Romans.

Whatever you think of Clinton, Obama can’t hold a candle to him.  Not even close. I can’t see either Clinton compromising our civil liberties or turning their backs on the unemployed or soon to be homeless for even one year compared to Obama’s four.  Clinton is a true politician and did Obama a huge favor last night that he didn’t deserve.  Some  of us don’t even recognize the Obama that Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Bill Clinton talked about last night.  THAT Barack Obama is a fictional character and we all know it.

I hope Clinton got something out of it, but don’t hold your breath for Hillary in 2016.  We were cheated out of that possibility by the people in Atrios’ tribe of Democrats.  And he would have to be politically naive to believe that the powers that installed Obama over our objections will ever let someone like her run unless they are defeated and scrubbed from the party.  It is my mission to deprive those people of power and that’s why I am voting third party this year.

But in any case, the proof is in the data, which Atrios readily admits to, as much as he doesn’t like it.  People like Bill Clinton because he was a good president, a masterful politician and their lives improved while he was in office.

Alas, beautiful theories destroyed by ugly facts.  Or, in this case, ugly theories destroyed by beautiful facts.

Not much to say

Mentally sunning myself by my infinity edge pool on the terrace on Santorini. Wake me when it’s over.

According to Katiebird, there’s a bit of a circular firing squad going on in Twitter.  Democrats are realizing they’ve gotten themselves into another fine mess with Obama.  And you can always measure the discontent by the appearance of anti-Hillary posts popping up here and there.  Apparently, she is now a neo-con, carrying out their secret agenda as crafted back in the Bush years.  Bwahahahahahaaaaah!

Of course, that’s not what the people promoting the neocon agenda conspiracy theory are saying. Because that would be wrong without explicit proof. It’s the classic, “I didn’t say it was your fault, I said we’re going to blame you” strategy.  Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria.  Without the US and the most prominent Secretary of State leading them, the people of North Africa and the middle east would live contentedly, like dumb animals, having absolutely no idea that they are being politically and economically oppressed, satisfied with their lot in life.  They would never have a “Hey, we’re eating grass!” moment on their own.

I’m always amused by the Democrats who are dissatisfied with any kind of policy in the middle east.  No matter what it is, it’s *always* they wrong one.  Aggressive intervention against Iran is justifiably horrifying.  But so are sanctions to them.  What are we left with?  Sternly worded letters?  Maybe we should just ignore Iran and hope it goes away.  That’s fine with me except when kids are too quiet, I start to wonder what they’re up to.  Keeping an eye on them might be a good idea.  Is that OK with the Democrats?  Can we peer over our shoulders once in awhile and tell them to stop that and stay on their side of the car? Or is this too, none of our business?

But why not blame Hillary for all foreign policy problems that she most likely had an enigmatic part in?  Bay of Pigs?  Hillary.  Vietnam?  Hillary.  Bikini Atoll nuclear tests?  Hillary, Hillary, Hillary.  In fact, anyone who has gotten a radiation induced cancer since the Manhattan Project, that was probably Hillary’s doing.  Just call her Hiroshima Hillary.  She’s always secretly been a neocon.

And she’s married to the Big Dawg, who never gets tired of wheeling and dealing.  He’s interested in reforming Medicare because it’s going to start eating up our money at an accelerated pace soon.  Better get a grip on it before some Randy young Republican decides it would be easier on the wealthy to just abolish it altogether.  You know, rein in medical costs, maybe open it up to everyone and expand the pool with healthier individuals?  Stuff like that, stuff we haven’t tried yet.  I could see Bill Clinton doing a Mary Poppins, cheerfully conscripting some nitwit into doing something he wouldn’t do otherwise.  Or he could be entirely evil.

Hillary probably put him up to it.

Whatever.

People are going to believe what they want to believe.  Some Democrats have said that the result of the last four years wouldn’t have been different with Hillary in charge.  I beg to differ.  It’s surprising that the Obama fans can’t see the truth about Hillary.  It is this: The Bankers Didn’t Support Hillary.  No.  They supported Obama.  And Obama has been nothing if not attentive to their needs.

So, you know, you can blame the Clintons because they are convenient targets.  I have no doubt that the people who have taken over the Democratic party have analyzed what makes Democrats tick and can manipulate the message to make sure the Clintons look really, really bad.  And they’re not perfect, not by a long shot.  What humans are?   So, this is made somewhat easier.

But it still doesn’t solve the problem of Obama.  He’s the one who’s been at the helm for 4 years.  Somehow, I can’t even in my wildest imagination come up with a scenario where Hillary is as indulgent towards the wealthy and well connected as Obama has been.  I’ve tried making her out to be out of touch, neglectful of the unemployed, callous towards the hapless homeowner, solicitous towards the health insurance industry, indifferent to the rights of women and permissive towards the banking industry. I’ve tried but I just can’t.

I’ve lost interest in this campaign.  Maybe that’s by design.  Maybe both parties would prefer that the some of us sit it out this year.  You know and I know and Paul Krugman knows that regardless of who gets the office in November, we’re screwed.

Of course, there is a better candidate available.  But the Democratic loyalists keep getting played into scurrying away from her like she’s Kryptonite.  There’s still time, you know.  If you want to change the dynamic, you have to go bold.

In the meantime, I’ve got better things to do than watch the Democratic loyalists get played like a bunch of low information Fox News viewers, continually going against their own best interests.

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Occupy wants to OccupytheDNC in Charlotte, NC.  Hmmm, if it’s anythng like Denver in 2008, expect for the city to be on lockdown with thousands and thousands of riot geared cops and the national guard ready to throw your ass into jail the minute you step off the curb.

I’m not saying it’s a bad idea.  In fact, if I were the DNC, I’d go easy on Occupy for PR purposes.  At this point, it needs all the good PR it can get.  But what I anticipate is a lot of bloody heads, brutality and marginalization of people who are determined to give the 99% a voice.

The bloody heads and brutality I’ve come to expect.  It’s the marginalization by the Obama administration that I find indefensible.

Thursday: Pete and RePete

I’m stealing this comment from reader tle.  This is for all of the people who are, once again, shoving Obama down our throats without asking him to make ANY adjustments to his method of governance (if it can even be called that):

I don’t really perceive the repug leadership as weaker than the Chitown dems. I see two possible scenarios:
1) Mitt Romney is going to be their candidate, but they are allowing the TP folks to blow off some steam and pretend they have a say in the eventual outcome. The leadership wins here because Romney has a shot at winning, and the TP will vote as they are told, just as their “revolutionary” congress critters have done.
2) The repug leadership is intent on keeping their lap dog in the WH for another four years, in which case they will allow one of the morons to run an under-funded campaign. The moron loses, the TP folks STFU and fall back in line, bowing once again to their “betters.” If their use for the Tea Party is done, this is the smarter option.

I don’t think Hillary Clinton is interested in running this time around (and probably never again). If she was, I’d support her in a heartbeat. Since she’s not, I’ll just be voting third party again — ANY third party that appears on our ballots. I don’t even care which one, since 99% of my fellow citizens will once again be choosing between two crappy candidates and telling themselves they are making an informed decision of great import. At least I know my vote won’t make any difference.

You know who you are.  We know you read us.  You’re either leading the narrative of “OMG! If Obama loses, the Republicans will ruin us all!”, or you’re fine tuned to respond to that message.  What you are asking us to accept is a repeat of the last four years where Obama will pretend to defend the middle class and then, just go along with the Republicans anyway.  You’re asking us to accept more long term unemployment, more erosion of our infrastructure, and the mentality that is becoming fixed that Americans should stop resisting globalization.  Just give into the corporate overlords, give up your pensions and get with the program of neofeudalism.  That’s what you’re asking.

If that’s NOT what you’re asking, then you have an obligation to the rest of us to demonstrate *now* how four more years of Obama is going to make our situation better.  Here are things you are no longer allowed to do to make your argument: 1.) you are no longer allowed to smear the Clintons.  Bill Clinton did not ruin the Democratic party.  I was a Democrat until 2008.  It was Obama that ruined the party.  Stop doing this.  You are making yourselves less credible every time you open your mouths to say it.  It is becoming ineffective and tiresome and those of us who were there in the 1990’s think you’re full of shit.  Every time you blame Clinton for the failure of the Democratic party to get its act together, you make another independent.  2.) Stop acting like this is a binary choice.  The 2012 election is between the Republican nominee and Obama only in the minds of the party operatives.  This shows a lack of imagination and a heavy dose of malevolence.  If you can’t think of a better Democrat than Obama, you’re not trying hard enough.  In fact, if you can’t even suggest an alternate Democrat, I consider you the enemy as much as any Republican.  3.) Stop using fear.  Just stop.

If you can’t think of a way that Obama is going to make our lives substantially better by, oh, I don’t know, proposing policies that actually work or using his veto pen or talking in sentences without a dozen propositional phrases, then drop him.  If you can’t drop him, I am tuning you out.  I’ve noticed that the “Clinton was an evil president who triangulated” crap is cropping up everywhere with increasing desperation.  And what does triangulated mean?  It means whatever the speaker wants it to mean.  It is a catchall word that has nefarious undertones when the original meaning was just a fancy word for political jujitsu against your opponents.  That’s all it means.  It doesn’t mean you agree with your enemies and are planning to roll out soft fascism and a road to perdition.  THAT is an Obama specialty.

So, to recap: if you are proposing to ram Obama into the White House against our objections again, you are actually asking for 4 more years of ineffectual leadership from a guy who is nothing better than a moderate Republican disguising himself as a Democrat and you condemn the rest of the country to four years of a moderate Republican negotiating with what might be a Republican Congress.

I’m not sure who is making the Hillary in 2012 robocalls but the fact that so many party operatives are freaked out by them says a lot about the mood of the electorate right now.  We don’t want Pete OR RePete.  We’re sick of it, we’re sick of you and we’re sick of the unity pony you road to town on.

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Other things:

Joe Cannon thinks I don’t like him.  This is not true.

I don’t know what’s going on in Myiq’s head but I don’t like what I see.  Is he a Republican troll?  Don’t know.  Is he catering to the Tea Party crowd for a bigger audience?  Sure looks like it.  You can draw your own conclusions from that.

I do happen to agree with Joe Cannon that the Tea Party people need to be taken down a notch.  They’re very misguided and confused.  I don’t want to say they’re stupid because I don’t believe that.  But I will say that they are more prone than geeky types to respond to emotional  manipulation and appeals to the worms that lurk in their mental mud.  It especially pisses me off that many Tea Party folks have no idea what it’s like to work a full time job and yet have the audacity to cast aspersions on those of us who are unemployed for the first time in our lives after decades of hard work in challenging professions.  The first one that pops off that shit in my presence is going to be choking back teeth.  I’m generally in favor of non-violence but I won’t put up with that crap from anyone.

Fortunately, myiq has taken most of those clueless and insensitive assholes with him to the Crawdad Hole.  For that, I will be forever grateful.

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Newt Gingrich sees mortal threat in Sharia law??  What about crazy American fundamentalists?  Didja ever think of that?  American Christians fundamentalists are notoriously unhinged.  Take this paragraph from Gingrich’s “Oooo!  Muslim Boogeymen Speech” and rewrite it:

“Stealth jihadis use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent jihadis use violence,” Mr. Gingrich said in the speech. “But in fact they’re both engaged in jihad, and they’re both seeking to impose the same end state, which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of Shariah.”

to read:

“Stealth fundamentalist Christians use political, cultural, societal, religious, intellectual tools; violent fundamentalist Christians use violence,” Mr. Gingrich said in the speech. “But in fact they’re both engaged in fundamentalist religious warfare, and they’re both seeking to impose the same end state, which is to replace Western civilization with a radical imposition of fundamentalist interpretation of Old Testament law.”

Yeah, that sounds about right.  The whole world knows our country is at the mercy of these nutjobs that Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann cater to.  Why doesn’t anyone ask them why they are pandering to a bunch of people whose vision is so firmly fixed on the next life they are certain they are going to and you’re not?  They’re so convinced that the next world is better than this one and that it is imminent, that they are willing to do absolutely nothing about addressing the evils of the world and everything they can to make those evils worse.  The logic, if you can call it that, is that if the world goes completely haywire and dangerous, Jesus is *certain* to come.  How is that substantially different from an Al Qaeda suicide bomber?  In fact, in some respects, it’s worse.  The suicide bomber can only take out people within his or her immediate radius.  Suicide bombers kill dozens of people but American Christian fundamentalists are willing to subject millions, even billions of people to lives of abject misery, poverty and pain all for the love of Jesus.

Note that I am not calling all Christians fundamentalists because that would be inaccurate and unfair.  But there’s nothing unfair about treating Christian fundamentalists as a much bigger threat to civilization than someone who presumably wants to institute Sharia law in this country.

What really irritates me about Gingrich’s screed against Sharia law is that his target audience doesn’t seem to be able to estimate the likelihood that a bunch of Muslims would have the numbers and wherewithal to actually impose it on the United States.  They’re launching a pre-emptive strike against Muslims in a war that doesn’t need to be fought.  American Muslims have better things to do with their time than go all Jihad on the rest of us.  They’ve got work in the morning, kids they have to chauffeur to soccer games, they have to go grocery shopping on weekends.  Who has time for co-erced religious conversions anymore?

Am I worried about Sharia law from Muslim Americans?  Nah, I’m more worried about the gullibility and fanaticism of the homegrown Christian fundamentalist nuts.  The people most likely to listen to Gingrich don’t know any Muslims, have never had to live near them or work for or with them.  They’re clueless.  But they do know plenty of fundamentalist Christians who think exactly like they do, which is that they are in siege mode against a world full of evil unbelievers.  Since I’ve known both varieties, I’d feel MUCH safer around a bunch of American Muslims any day.  American fundamentalist Christians are dangerous.

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And now for something completely different.  Chriselle Lim is a stylist based in California.  Just last year, she started making styling videos for youtube.  I *love* her.  She has a wicked gift for taking one clothing item and styling it different ways so that you don’t even recognize it as the same thing.  You can literally wear the same item seven days in a row and no one will notice.  For those of us on teensy clothing budgets, her styling tips are a very welcome.  I’ll never look at my wardrobe the same way again.

Here’s one of her most current videos on how to wear a cowl neck sweater:

Got a Caucus Story? Know Someone Who Does?

Many of you have related horrible caucus stories in the comment sections of this blog.  If you have a story, please share it with someone who will do something with it.  I believe this has to get out.  It has to get out that Obama’s pledged Delegate lead can, by no modern standards of elections, be calling legitimate.

Here is one person who is compiling a lot of the stories.

 

Caucus Stories? Please reply now! Any first hand stories about IOWA, Colorado, Nevada, or anywhere. Hello everyone, I was a volunteer with the Hillary Clinton campaign from January to June. I went to Texas and had a great time. I am standing with Hillary until the end of the convention in August through www.justsaynodeal.com and other groups. I have decided to work with several Hillary supporters who are doing an investigation of the caucuses. The Clinton campaign collected all the testimony and information but the media wasn’t interested at the time.  I feel strongly that the superdelegates and the American public should know about the rampant and flagrant cheating that was perpetrated by the Obama camp throughout the caucus process. Since he only won by 130 delegates, mostly won in caucuses I think this is an important area to investigate. We have to finish it way before the convention, hopefully as soon as possible. With your permission, we will be providing some of the information we collect to a Congressional investigator and will also use it to make a video. Anything you can email to me would be helpful! Thank you , Larry  larry.music@att.net

 

Monday: Things that make you go, “Huh?”

Did someone declare Opposite Day and forget to tell me? Up is down, white is black, Fox is “fair and balanced”? This new reality may not last as long as it will take to wrap my brain around it. So, let’s study the entrails carefully to see what they portend:

• In Faltering Economy Plays to a Clinton Strength, NYTimes reporter Jody Kantor describes Hillary Clinton’s stump speech on the economy in Indiana as being delivered with “sensuous detail”. Large throngs of voters are showing up for her appearances. Some are staring longingly into her eyes and mouthing secret messages? Where is the NYTimes reporter and what have you done with her, Jodi? Someone’s been up staying up late and reading too many policy papers. Either that or Hillary is really letting her hair down. Like, someone in the campaign took a look at the latest polls and said, “You know, your numbers go up when you’re flirtatious. Try doing something erotic on the globalization front.” Jeez and I thought it was only us geeks who got off on that stuff. But seriously, it’s a good read about Hillary’s thoughts on outsourcing and her vision of the green economy. She’s tapping into something. Very encouraging.
• Sugar ‘n Spice ventured to the dark side to catch Obama on Fox News Sunday and found- that she liked it? Bill Kristol said nice things about Hillary? Wha’?:
  

  KRISTOL: He’s ahead. Primary voters usually like to finish the deal and sort of go with the winner. He outspend her 2.5 to one in Pennsylvania, and she beat him by 10 points. She is a better candidate than he is. That is the fact.

  He has run a better campaign than she has. He has won the caucus states. She has gotten more votes in primaries than he has. When voters actually go to the polls, for all the talk about Obama’s bringing out unprecedented new voters, blah, blah, blah, she beats him. She’s better than he is.

  Just go read it. Bill Kristol becomes a Sensitive New Age Guy. It’s not real. It’s almost like… journalism. Weird. Update: MABlue pointed me to this new column by Bill Kristol in the NYTimes Op section today called “Hillary Gets No Respect”. I’m feeling vertigo. Kristol is a sadist for upsetting my equilibrium like this. It’s either that or Republicans really hate McCain.

• Barack Obama says that race is not a factor in US elections. Whew! That’s a relief. I guess I can put away my white sheets and hood. Did Obama tell the 90% of the African-American population that they can stop getting incensed over every little thing that a Clinton person says, ‘cos I’m not sure they got that message last week in PA or this week in NC. But anyway, it’s great to see that we can move past race for the rest of the year. I thought I was over it since, oh, I don’t know, kindergarten? (Wait, I didn’t go to Kindergarten. That probably explains my initial confusion) What a shock it was for me to find out that I an a latent racist because I didn’t think Obama was ready to be president. Learn something new everyday. Well, thank God I have been rehabilitated in time for November.
• Oh, wait, Donna Brazile says “There will be blood” if the African-American population doesn’t get Obama as its nominee. As if all of the regular, hard working, professional and working stiff African-Americans have time to start a revolution and torch the place if a neophyte, pandering, first term senator from Illinois who plans to sell them out if he wins doesn’t get to be the BMOC in August and some more deserving, harder working, concerned for their well being, more qualified female senator does. Like they don’t have better things to do with their time like most average Americans and are all just chomping at the bit to throw away decades of progress because Donna Brazile thinks they should be enraged. Yep, Donna is still an idiot. All’s right with the world.

One more thing: The “Possibly Related” links below are automatically generated by WordPress and may contain offensive material or titles. I don’t have anything to do with their appearance and I can’t figure out how to edit them out, yet. Proceed with caution and please be patient while I figure out how to get rid of them

An opportunity for PA and surrounding state Clintonistas

I got a message from Tucsonlynn, our intrepid Clinton volunteer in Arizona.  She passes along the following:

Thanks for the email.  We were thrilled to have your help in Texas, and we would love your help in Pennsylvania! Right now, we are still in the process of developing our program as more and more offices are opening up in Pennsylvania.

 

Generally, however, we are recruiting volunteers to join our efforts in Pennsylvania every weekend now until the April 22nd primary.  And we are having an especially big push for volunteers to help with GOTV from April 19-23. Those volunteers dates/weekends include:

 

Volunteer Dates:

March 14-16

March 21-23

March 28-30

April 4-6

April 11-13

April 19-22

 

Our Pennsylvania Hillstars program–with greater detail and travel information–should be up on our website either today or tomorrow.  You can visit it at www.hillaryclinton.com/pahillstars to sign up and learn more. Until then, please stay in close contact with me, and let me know if you have any questions.

 

Yours,

Mary

Mary McKenna

Hillary Clinton for President

Office: 703.875.1232 

mmckenna@HillaryClinton.com

www.HillaryClinton.com

There are a lot of dates on that list that I’m going to be attending.  My kinfolk live in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.  I’m thinking about a live cocktail party as well.  Maybe we can commandeer a bar for the volunteers.  More details on this as the idea solidifies…