Waiting for a PA decision is good!

Oops! First!

I like Senator Clinton. I really do. I think she is certainly qualified and has good centrist instincts. But I also feel as though she views, on some level, this election as being the justifying moment of her entire professional (and, perhaps, personal) life. Perhaps I am wrong, for who can truly know the mind of another, but I fear she is far, far more wrapped up in this than she should be.

I am a Clinton supporter who will gladly vote for Obama should he win the nomination. I don't blame either for fighting hard in their respective campaigns, and I expect the sparring to occasionally draw some blood. But what is upsetting is the snarkiness, the unbridled punk sexism, the Angry Left Maniacal Diatribes, and the conterfeit moral superiority of many (and I only said many, so don't get your undies in a bundle) Obama supporters. Sometimes what makes one's decision harder is the knowledge that some of your fellow-travelers are jerks.

RD, that's what would have been so good with Error in '08. More than competent (^TM), funny, and didn't care so much about being president. :-)

I do agree with you about this seeming like a justifying moment. I still like her.

I wish HRC would study with a voice coach. Part of a person's rhetorical power is the voice quality.

She is tired, she is female, she is not a natural alto, she is trying (needing) to sound powerful.....etc. All these knit together, making for a less-than-leadership-ey voice.

Why did I suddenly get a mental picture of Frank Burns on M*A*S*H, upon learning of Col. Potter's imminent arrival, having a tantrum: "It was MY command! Mine! Mine! Mine!"

Sen. Clinton does seem to feel, perhaps rightly, that the *should be* hers.

Joel, I have a serious question that I'd like you to take to the political desk editor and the group for somebody to do a story on; it is this: Has anyone but me noticed the total absence of sound coming from Cheney and his office? They've become like a black hole. Nothing in or out--and we're in the middle of a campaign; you'd think the incumbent veep might have a thing or two to say about it. (Of course, everyone realizes he is the very epitome of "Kiss of Death" for any Republican. But to me it's just amzing how silent that dept. is, and someone needs to comment on it in a story.

OK, now to the new kit: loved the notion of a "Clinton government-in-exile." Ifbama wins one or both big states tonight, it is all over for Hillary. But as Joel says, she still may do a :Huckabee" and strick around. And if she does, here's how Obama should handle it: refuse to recognize her or her campaign. Switch his gears over to focusing on McCain, and particularly the Bush Admin. Starting tomorrow morning, it's gotta be Bush-and-Cheney, 24/7 until November. And the best place to start would be this Bob Herbert column in The Other Newspaper Who Cannot Be Named: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/opinion/04herbert.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

Cassandra, to answer your question from the last kit, no, I don't think drawing and quartering is too harsh. We're talking about Matt Drudge here. He's amply earned it over the years. But heck, if you wanna skip the drawing part, I'm good with that. Just spatchcocking him will suit me fine.

I hope it's not over. I see no reason why this primary campaign should be decided in March.

Can we really handle 8 months of general-election campaigning?

SCC: that the nomination *should be* hers

Location of the Clinton Government in Exile?

Hollywood, of course.

The Gore Government in Exile was run out of Tenn., but Hollywood was his Camp David.

The Clintons would have NYC as their retreat.

But as stated previously, for me it's all about Error in '08.

bc

Mudge, I don't know the Drudge guy, so your assessment of him just might be on the mark. I'll try try to find out about this person.

Still looking nasty.

I hope HRC does well this day,but if Obama is my party's nomination choice I will surely vote for him. But I do fear for Obama if he is elected. This is still a very racist country and there are too many kooks out there.

Whatever happens the next administration should step up to the plate,apologize to the world for the past 8 years and say we are going to try and do better.

As for the mouse,mice or meise,I hate to be cruel,but the only good mouse is a dead mouse with a few exceptions like Mickey,Minnie,Mighty and Jerry.

CowTown, I too will vote for the Democratic nominee, whichever one it is. I'm leaning Obama, but I won't have a problem voting for Clinton if she's the one.

However, this show goes on way, waayy too long. Can we have a Constitutional amendment that requires the campaign not start before the first Tuesday in November in the year before the general election?

Oh, yeah - speaking of dropping out, Brett Favre after 17 years.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/04/AR2008030400904.html

It's good that he's leaving after having a really good season. The guy's still got it, even as he approaches 40.

bc

Reposting a bit, it looks like the Colombia-Venezuela cold war is rapidly escalating. Colombia wants the International Criminal Court to charge Chavez with supporting genocide, based on documents on a seized FARC computer indicating that the Venezuelan government had provided financial support. In turn, Venezuela has closed the border to trade, which will severely hurt Colombian food suppliers.

All this just after Colombians were cautiously wondering whether FARC was finally being defeated after 40 years.

I can't help but think that a loss by Senator Clinton would put serious strain on her relationship with Bill.

I really like this story, and reporter Kevin Merida did a nice job with it. And I really like the lady in question, the mayor of Dayton. This is a politician I'd love to work for. Enjoy: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/03/AR2008030303276.html?hpid=artslot

This is cool.

Want to Save a Coral Reef? Bring Along Your Crochet Needles

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/arts/design/04crochet.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=patricia+cohen&st=nyt&oref=slogin

Curmudgeon, in answer to your question. Someone probably spilled some coffee on Cheney's positronic brain during routine maintenance. They're just waiting for spare parts. I'll do a story on it if I can get some time.

TBG, asks: "Can we really handle 8 months of general-election campaigning?:

Of *course* we can.

People watch cricket matches that last for days and daytime soap operas that have been on for decades.

Besides, a season of "American Idyll" takes roughly six months, correct?

Wait, I think I'm beginning to see your point, TBG.

I wonder how many folks are going to ask in November, "Didn't we vote for President last winter?"

Oy.

bc

Maggie, thanks for that:

ALERT.ALERT: Crocheted coral reef. Get your green on at the same time as you get your needles on.

Make that hooks: crochet takes a hook, but knitting takes needles.

Birds rioting on the street, as they are giddy with the warm and soft air. They keep looking skyward, though. Rain in the air.

Huge and scrappy blue jays
assorted sparrow-types
thumbkin-sized wrens

the biggest baddest robins I have every seen.

Come to think on it, robins have been here all winter. That is weird.

The big, plump robins have been around my back deck for about a month now, CP. The crows are having some sort of chorus concert today. Something's rustling about in the leaves out there. Lots of scurrying going on.

Desktop thermometer just ticked over to 70 degrees, second day in a row. Radar shows a wicked line of storms out over West By God and heading this way; we've got flood warnings in effect.

Hey TBG -- I just also noticed a very plump robin the other day and it took a second or so to wonder about that. It was a bit nippy out, so I suspect that particular robin was all fluffed up so he could remain warm and toasty (and to all the, um, *stranger* (or not) boodlers out there, I am *not* recommending toasting a robin).

The buds on the trees are becoming plumper, too.

Here's to the plumpness of Spring!

As for the political stuff, I'm still on the fence. I voted for Hillary in the primary, I would vote for Obama if he gets the nomination, but I'm really p i $$ e d off about the way the media in general and in particular have been savaging Clinton -- and I can't figure out any reason other than she's a woman. As for her expecting the nomination, or believing that it's "her turn", men have been playing that game forever (witness Poppy Bush, among others). What's wrong with having ambition? Her child is a grown adult woman, so she doesn't have to combine running the country with diapers. Geez. The double standard is alive and well, isn't it?

Alas, in my lifetime, I don't think it's gonna happen. And I'm p i $$ e d.

Loved the story about the Dayton mayor, Mudge. A classy lady.

For the past few days we've had a flock of birds. Pretty big birds, orange breasts, yellow bills. We figured they were robins but I don't know. They are noisy.

CowTown, if Cheney has a positronic brain, then he's subject to the The Three Laws, correct?

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

And then there's the Zeroth Law:

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

None of this sounds like Cheney to me.

Having said all that, Mudge, I'm sure that the White House has gauged that not saying *anything* is their best course of action to this point. Clearly, the Chewy Moderate Center (TM) is important to whoever is going to win the Presidential election, and the President's current pole (ahem) numbers make me think that the best thing the WH can do for the GOP in the upcoming campaign is to endorse the Democratic candidate.

bc

CowTown, if Cheney has a positronic brain, then he's subject to the The Three Laws, correct?

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

And then there's the Zeroth Law:

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

None of this sounds like Cheney to me.

Having said all that, Mudge, I'm sure that the White House has gauged that not saying *anything* is their best course of action to this point. Clearly, the Chewy Moderate Center (TM) is important to whoever is going to win the Presidential election, and the President's current pole (ahem) numbers make me think that the best thing the WH can do for the GOP in the upcoming campaign is to endorse the Democratic candidate.

bc

SCC: The Double Post.
Browser problems at my end.

Apologies.

bc

"the best thing the WH can do for the GOP in the upcoming campaign is to endorse the Democratic candidate"

LOL. True, too true.

Scary, bc, such an endorsement would be scary. I'm glad to think that it won't happen.

At this point, I'm inclined to think that even if Sen. Clinton were to win the nomination, she would be "damaged goods" and could not win the general election. Though I have never understood it, there is a huge contingent of people out there who absolutely despise her. She needs their votes, too, in order to win the general, but the only way she could win over those nitwits would be if she took the Democratic nomination free and clear and unambiguously. That is not going to happen. She needs to carry on a clean fight to the reasonable end, accept loss in a civil fashion and support Obama, then settle back to constructing an historic role as a powerful woman in the Senate. She's only 60. She probably will never have another credible shot at the Presidency, but she can wield power in Congress as President Obama's counterpart (or McCain's gadfly), and get things done for another 16-20 years.

Zeroth Law - R. Daneel Olivaw

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R_Daneel_Olivaw

cassandra check out these links on Drudge:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drudge_Report
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matt_Drudge

Mudge, my thermo only hit 68°.

My radar shows those West By God storms moving north-by-north-east. Doesn't look to me like we'll be getting wet in DC any time soon.

If I were running in this election, I could think of nothing scarier than a WH endorsement.

bc

No, no, no, no, and NO! Cheney's brain is the product of engineers engaged by Carl Rove, the Evil Mastermind of the Bush Regime. As you may have ascertained from the conduct of the Bush Administration, no laws are followed when ANYTHING is done.

Dave Bowman: Open the pod bay doors, HAL.
HAL: I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.
Dave Bowman: What's the problem?
HAL: I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do.
Dave Bowman: What are you talking about, HAL?
HAL: This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it.

Um, could you give me those three laws again?

Yeah, yeah, I know. Cheney's not a HAL, he's a Dick. But he could be a HAL and a Dick both.

Maybe it's just me (in fact it's almost certainly just me) but the AP photo on the home page of voters in Columbus looks like "Coneheads voting in mass quantities."

Cassandra - Girl, you are and never were a "nobody". You are equal to any prince, king, or queen. And, you are Boodler.

For another thing, you came closer to understanding the point that Robinson was making, that he was concerned about newspeople colluding to suppress news.

Robinson got at least two things wrong here. First is this is not news, just as the prince's partying is not news. It's gossip. Second, Drudge did not break the story. A gossip magazine, New Idea, in Australia broke it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/28/wdrudge328.xml

I like most of what I've read from Mr. Robinson, but I have one small question for him:

ARE YOU (*&^%(*# CRAZY!

DLD

SCC : ...you are NOT and....

This is a fun thing-

http://www.slate.com/features/delegatecounter

unless you are a Clinton supporter. I set the counter for HRC to win all remaining contests 55%-45%. She still trails. Give her 60% in Ohio and Texas. She still trails. Give her 60% in Penna. She trails by 6 delegates. It's up to the superdelegates if she is to have any hope. Can the Democrats snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? A brokered convention, while good for TV ratings, is a terrible idea for party unity.

Omni, mine dropped from 70 to 68, and then went back up to 71, which it is right now. I don't know what's goin' on out there.

k-guy, HAL's not positronic, IIRC.
And neither is Cheney, I would think.

Both are clearly electronic, as they are negatively charged.

I am *such* a dork.

bc

I too am suffering from Campaign Fatigue. Presidential campaigns should be like figure skating or gymnastics. Something you only give serious consideration to for a brief period every four years.

But perhaps some good can come of this. It certainly has raised awareness of the political process and invigorated as many as it as stultified.

HAL 9000: Heuristically programmed Algorithmic Computer, so no, not a positronic anything.

The book explains far more explicitlythan the movie the causes of HAL's behavior; it is implied that HAL's programmed objective to ensure the mission's success -- at any cost -- vaguely resembled the human drive for a purposeful existence, while the prospect of being shut down resembled the fear of death. When these factors began to contradict his primary objective of preserving the ship's crew, his malfunction was the result.

Did you all know that HAL had an earthbound sister: SAL 9000. Voiced by Candice Bergen.

i'm tired of super tuesday to. at least we have bill to entertain us, he's funny, look what he said this morning

http://johnnydoom.blogspot.com/2008/03/2nd-super-tuesday-shocker-bill-clinton.html

SAL appears in the 1984 movie 2010.

John Q, your taste in humor blogs...well...sucks. I'd invite you to stick around here and see how it's supposed to be done, but I don't think that's such a good idea, either.

Omni,thanks for the links.

I did laugh in reading Olberman's assessment of Drudge. He calls him, "an idiot with a modem". His bio makes him sound a little sneaky. And some say he is a danger to real journalism. I was wondering how does he get his news. Does he have spies? Perhaps he's the news?

I don't really keep up with the election as much as I probably should. It does wear on one. And maybe it is the presentation. Sometimes for me it falls in the category as that story the media got hung up some time back, "The War in Iraq", and now we don't hear a peep.

You know, I've never understood the claims that Sen. Clinton is disliked because she's a woman. Yes, she's a woman, and yes, lots of folks seem to have a distate for her that strikes me as somewhat (or completely) irrational. But I don't see the causal link between those two facts.

Lots of folks despise lots of folks (George Bush, Ted Kennedy, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, Louis Farrakhan, ad infinitum) who are not, to the best of my knowledge, women. I despise Nancy Grace, and heartily dislike Geraldo Rivera, each for approximately the same reasons, and gender got nothin' to do with it.

Omni, I would also posit the idea that HAL was given instructions to hide the true reasons for Discovery's mission from Bowman and Poole - which included lying to them - as reasons for HAL's Breakdown.

Helluva thing, to have to fix your ride a billion miles from home.

bc

Agreed bc. I sometimes forget more than I know.

Over on the Celebritology blog there is a full scale CotillardStorm raging. HaHa.

" newspeople colluding to suppress news."

DLD, but who decides what is news, who feeds it to us? Wait this isn't MSM disscussion day. My bad.

k-guy,
I'm assuming that Slate's delegate counter is ignoring the Florida and Michigan delegates. It's becoming pretty clear that for Hillary to win, she needs to run the table on the remaining primaries AND bend the rules enough to re-enfranchise the Florida voters. Not that they deserve it.

Hey, now.

Now THIS is shocking news!! Food Network is booting one of its host chefs!

http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=303741>1=7703

:-O

Yup we did have an election here yesterday, and I was not surpirsed at all, though all the pundits are mystified.

All the media, the Liberal Party and the NDP have been predicting and forecasting and saying it was going to be a huge turnover of seats, that Albertans were ready for change. BUT

the pundits forgot something. They forgot to really understand the people. the vote last night was far more than simply choosing the new premier, and legislators.

The reason the Liberals gained seats in the last election had little to do with any positive thing the Liberals did. The last election was a vote against Mr. Klein, who still carried the day and was premier, but it was people saying 'you told us you are not staying your whole term, so why are you staying at all' The assumption that the Liberals could build on what they did not do is WHY they lost seats last night.

The conservative pundit on the channel I watched last night needs to heed this. He claimed yesterday was a vote for the current priemier, Mr. Stelmach, but no, it was a vote for business as usual, prosperity and stability.

The other thing I think the vote last night said quite clearly was Albertans might be ready for the change, but honey you aren't it. Mr. Mason of the NDP and Mr. Taft of the Liberals did not touch the heart of any Albertans, further even alienated some.

The NDP supporters (not the party IIRC) was behind a series of attack ads and did not say who the ads were from. the ads ran long enough before the election was callled that you pretty much lost repsect for whoever was responsible for them.

The Liberals, whatever Mr. Taft's background may be (and no I don't need to waste my time to find out), managed to alienate every person who was not born and raised strictly city only. They kept trying to give the cities more of a 'seat at the table', probably the sigularly most divisive thing said in the campaign.

The pundits, the leaders, the journalists, everyone who forgot that the only count that matters is where individuals janes and joes, mark their little black x. The lot of them ought to be more like the Mayor of Dayton. Get out and be with people.

Walk among them before you presume to talk for them.

And that is what the Alberta election said.

Nice Map here. Funny in a way.

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/posted/archive/2008/03/03/liveblog-alberta-election-2008.aspx

kb,
Not you in particular. Just Floridians in general. I used to be one, fortunately not in 2000. Butterfly ballots, senile Buchanan supporters, Naderites voting their conscience in a swing state. Pick one.

I agree, Bob S. I looked up Hillary's record pre-White House and a lot of the inital dislike before she even became First Lady had to do with her advocacy for children's rights (involving various concepts that animal right movements are borrowing from). Some good things come out of it, such as giving children legal voice in custody settlements, of course.

Whether you agree with this or not, this POV must be weighed, and weighed deeply, and why this UN resolution is considered to be invasive to parents' rights.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/ISSUES/CHILDRIT.TXT

There also has been animal rights resolutions ratified in Europe, leading to cultural changes that would not be welcome here (despite animal rights, breed specific bans are rampant in Europe. Also, much of its meat is imported from other countries).

I suspect this changing legal view of children also has led to a lot more children being charged as adults for serious crimes as well, which opens them up to serious abuse issues as well (just look at the recent story about abuse in juvie centers).

The reality of her reign as first lady meant she advocated a bill for welfare-to-work, which hurt poor children.

She also proposed an anti-flag burning amendment (jeez, G.H.W. Bush was also for that).

In 1996 she was pro v-chips, school uniforms, etc. Today she wants v-chips in ipods, etc.

http://blog.pff.org/archives/2005/03/hillary_clinton.html

So she's for government censorship? What's to guarantee those v-chips won't be programmed to filter out perfectly innocous content that just isn't what some people like to hear? And of course... as this article points out, very few parents actually use it anyway.

So, yes, anybody who reads and believes in the Constitution would be uneasy with her ideas of goverment.

In fact, this site goes so far that she'd have to be impeached right after taking the oath because she couldn't honestly swear to uphold the Constitution.
http://www.snubnose.info/wordpress/rkba/hillary-clinton-on-gun-control/

Hope this helps. It's not the woman issue, it's very much a matter of how she addresses the whole concept of governmental authority and "management" of lives, and I don't see enough about oversight and accountability to the people in her record, either.

Cough, cough... new kit. I'm feeling lonely over there.

Sorry about that Wilbrod. New kit came out of the blue... But please re-post!

http://www.mysanantonio.com/columnists/stories/MYSA030408.01B.guerra.3806587.html

As our Metro columnist Carlos Guerra points out, the real results of tonight's Texas caucus won't be known until June 6:

"But the Texas Democratic Party State Convention won't convene until June 6 and 7, and only then will we have the exact numbers of national delegates that Obama and Clinton won.

"But hey, who said electoral democracy was easy -- or quick?"

LL: That first graf of your Kit, Joel, sure reminds me of something I read at the NYT this morning:

March 4, 2008, 9:17 am
Tough Questions, Hard Numbers
By Tobin Harshaw

So, with "Super Tuesday" already taken, what do we call today? Elimination Tuesday? Resurrection Tuesday? Oh-no-get-ready-for-three-more-months-of-primaries Tuesday?

Has either Clinton ever dropped out of anything? I don't think they know how to. The usual factors in dropping out are (1) lack of money, and/or (2) shame. We know both Clintons are genetically incapable of feeling shame, so the only variable is lack of money. As long as her enablers continue to cruelly resupply her expense account, Hillary will run all the way to the convention, and when she loses there, begin running for 2012.