Monday’s campaign round-up

I, Hillary Huckabee, did not major in math, I majored in miracles!!!

My brother in Alaska says so many Alaskans are embarrassed by their legislators, when they should be embarrassed about their fellow Alaskans. Look at those numbers, Stevens almost neck and neck with his challenger after the FBI all but dragged him away in irons. I’ve heard of giving a guy the benefit of the doubt, but even his son and his staff are knee-deep in corruption. I guess Stevens will have to kill a puppy on stage (a Malemute, of course) before the other half of the Alaskan electorate will wake up and smell the roses.

That Oregon poll just seems off from what I’ve heard. I’d say Obama wins by more like 9-10%.

For me the big political news over the weekend was Rep. Tom Davis’ statement on “Political Capital with Al Hunt.” I’ll quote just the opening — the whole thing is at
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=apnLbCHEm.tw

Hunt asks him what the Republicans can do to turn things around.

Davis: Well, two things — number one, they’ve got to get some separation from the president. The president is the face of the party. He is absolutely radioactive at this point. And they’re seen as just in lock-step with him on everything. They’ve got to go back and establish — I’m talking about congressional Republicans at this point and McCain, to a certain extent.

Hunt asks about Rove’s statement that they should align themselves with the President.

Davis: They’ve done that. I mean, they’ve done that on SCHIP and they’ve done it on stem cell and they’ve done it on the war. And, in every case, they’ve walked down an alley where they’re 30 percent of the electorate. And that makes you a permanent minority.

Even during Watergate, I never recall a politician — as contrasted to a columnist or commentator — making a similar statement. Then add the (very un-Bush like) new American Families Agenda.

The Republican ship has sunk, and people are trying desperately to make rafts from the debris. Unfortunately, they are still stuck with the weight of the Republican Party Platform that will be locked around their ankles.

I’m a little worried about those polls coming out of Oregon. I hope the Obama campaign hasn’t been taking the state for granted. I just hope tomorrow doesn’t bring another New Hampshire-style surprise.

“If they think that they’re going to try to make Michelle an issue in this campaign, they should be careful, because that I find unacceptable — the notion that you start attacking my wife or my family,” he said.

What attack on his wife? They’re attacking Obama himself for his choice in spouses. How many mornings did he sit at the breakfast table and listen to his wife’s America-hating rants??? If it had been me, I would’ve divorced her in a microsecond — because I love America that much!

BTW, I’m thinking that Al Franken is feeling the effects of Jesse Ventura Fatigue.

Re Al Franken: per my cousin who lives in MN, he may be hurt by some sloppy business practices (unpaid workers comp ins. and other) and that some people don’t feel he’s “paid his dues” by first serving in state office. But I hope he’ll pull it out.

How many mornings did he sit at the breakfast table and listen to his wife’s America-hating rants??? If it had been me, I would’ve divorced her in a microsecond — because I love America that much!

Coffee all over the monitor. Thanks for the guffaw.

KatyHill said In 1971 Clinton interned for a law firm that defended Black Panthers and other radicals.

Actually, Katy, this is one of those e-mail tales that’s as accurate as the one about Obama being a secret Muslim.

Go check http://www.snopes.com and search “Hillary Clinton and the Black Panthers”

I really like your spirit Katy, we need it, but since you are retired and have the time, you really need to learn how to do research – on the internet, it’s easy. Sadly, a strong spirit without accurate information just comes off as a shrill idiot. Put that strong spirit with accurate information, and you’re a mover and a shaker.

Tom Cleaver, how many times are you going to fall for a joke or a parody?

Oh, and for those who don’t know it – Carl Bernstein is even less believable than Woodward is nowadays – fir different reasons but a similar result. It’s why he’s mostly retired.

Maria:

Katy Hill, from her other posts, isn’t satire.

I live in Portland and was at the rally yesterday. It was crazy. Just wall to wall people that stretched for half a mile not counting people on boats in the water, lined up on the bridge, and people listening across the river. Obama does have a lot of support here in Oregon. I have a friend who volunteers for the campaign in a small town about an hour and a half outside Portland that is known for being a bit of a “good ol’ boy” city. The Hillary Clinton campaign did not even have their campaign office up and running until a couple of weeks ago while the Obama office has been going for well over a month.

Re: #2

The 75K crowd will seem small by the time this is over. I think people are getting the sense that they are participating in something historic. This sense will grow as it becomes apparent that Obama will win the election. We’ll see crowds of 500,000+ in places like New York and Chicago.

That would be awesome, but for the time being I’m proud I got to be part of that crowd, even though I couldn’t see Obama at all, trees were in the way, and even though I missed the Decemberists. That little pixel way in the back, that’s me 🙂

I could easily be wrong about Franken, but he’s struck me as arrogant and a little disingenuous about his convictions.

I don’t trust him.
I can’t say way and I hope he wins anyway.

It’s possible the Suffolk poll is an outlier.
Could be, but there’s an American Research Group poll reported at RealClearPolitics that has Obama up by only 5. Still, the Survey USA result is reassuring.

Here’s another just in: Obama 52, Clinton 39.

* The DNC launched a very worthwhile project today: “McCainpedia.org is a wiki run by the DNC’s Research, Communications, and Internet teams. The goal is to centralize research material, allowing the general public to use it as they see fit. Unlike some wikis, McCainpedia is read-only and can’t be edited by the public. This allows us to fully validate all of the information that appears, ensuring accuracy and reliability.”

wi·ki – The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 19 May. 2008.
n. pl. wi·kis
A collaborative website whose content can be edited by anyone [emphasis added] who has access to it.

A “read-only” wiki also allows someone to publish non-validated information, or exclude information that would detract from the overall message, which is clearly to attack John McCain. Now that’s a perfectly reasonable thing for the DNC to do, but calling it a “wiki” is ridiculous.

Hannah, thanks for posting the Chuck blog. His report gave me that Chris Matthews chill-up-da-leg, especially the part when Obama admitted straight up he didn’t know the particulars of a local issue.

SadOldVet: I really hope we can rise above that sort of slinging. Same shit different flies. I mean, Cindy McCain could easily take the Betty Ford road rising above it all and we’d look like idiots. On the other hand, she could, without provocation, get caught smack in the midst of the campaign, all doped up and slurring and we’d come out smelling like the White House Rose Garden.

Stranger things have happened.