This was the most likely outcome.
It’s not exactly half the delegates. Each delegate gets a half vote, and the uncommitted delegates in Michigan will be awarded to Obama.
We’ll see in the next few days how this plays out.
Category: Presidential Campaign
McCain Staffers Questioned in Rick Renzi Corrupt Land Deal
They have beeninterviewed in connection with the corrupt land swap deal. It appears that the prosecutors have requested documents from McCain, but that he has not yet turned them over.
Two Snaps Up for Barack Obama
Barack Obama has stated that if elected, in his first 100 days he will hold a comprehensive review of all Bush executive orders, and overturn those that he feels are unconstitutional.
DNC Lawyers Rule That Only Half of FL and MI Delegates Can Be Seated
Honestly, I think that awarding them half their delegates is probably the best way to go.
It still leaves the question as to how the Michigan undeclared delegates are selected though.
Saturday’s DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee meeting should be rather interesting.
McCain’s Economic Guru Lobbying for Swiss Bank
Olbermann broke the story of Phil Gramm was a lobbyist and vice-chairman for UBS, the Swiss bank embroiled in the problems of the subprime market.
Straight talk express, my ass!
Obama on Auschwitz and Buchenwald
This should not be a big deal, but when Barack Obama recalled his uncle liberating Auschwitz a few days back, he actually meant Buchenwald.
Needless to say, the ‘Phants are all over this.
Welcome to the bigs, Mr. Obama.
Schadenfreude of the Day: Bush/McCain Fundraiser Moved to Smaller Venue Because of Weak Ticket Sales
You have to love it when in John McCain’s home state, a fund raiser with George W. Bush does not generate enough ticket sales to fill the Phoenix Convention Center:
Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.
Another source said there were concerns about the media covering the event.
Bush’s Arizona fundraising effort for McCain is being moved to private residences in the Phoenix area……
Hey, my dad has a barn, let’s put on a musical!!!!
Not!!!! Heh!!!
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Warns Troops to Stay out of Politics
I’m not clear if what Admiral Mike Mullen’s, “open letter to all those in uniform”, means, but it is a highly unusual step.
It could be exactly what it says, a statement that, “The U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times and in all ways….It is and must always be a neutral instrument of the state, no matter which party holds sway.”
It could be a slap at those Generals **cough** Petraeus **cough**, who have pimped themselves out to Bush and His Evil Minions™ war, or it could be an attempt to de-legitimize the protests of retired military officers, or it could mean exactly what it says.
My guess is that it’s an attempt at damage control. I see it as a recognition that the politicization of the military in the past 7 years will have dire consequences if not kept in check during the presidential election.
Bob Barr Gets Libertarian Nomination
As the article dryly notes, the last two Libertarian candidates each drew less than 400,000 votes.
Still it should be mildly amusing.
Biden Cuts Lieberman a New One
His OP/ED in the Wall Street Journal, is in response to Lieberman’s OP/ED saying that Democrats hate America.
It’s very nicely done, and I think that it is an indicator that he is throwing his hat in the ring for VP.
On Hillary Clinton’s Bats$#@ Insane Comments
I read Clinton’s comments, and thought that they were really, REALLY, stupid.
Yesterday, I saw Olbermann’s comments, and while I agree with his basic take on the comments, that they were a very, very bad thing, I think that he was plainly overwrought.
With the possible exception of an editorial board meeting of the National Review, Olbermann’s MSNBC is perhaps the most intense pool of Hillary hatred in the media, though it is not an isolated phenomenon, you hear complaints about this everywhere from the local paper to NPR.*
So I’ve been thinking about it for the past 24 hours, and I’ve finally got a bit of a take on what she said, and the reaction to it among the traditional and internet political commentariat.
First and formost, this something that we are ALL thinking about. Every one of us, and we are unwilling to say it aloud, because it terrifies us.
Simply put, there are thousands of people who are looking at their guns, and wondering if they should, “Stop that uppity n***er“, and we all know that.
I don’t think that Hillary should have said this…I don’t think that anyone should have said this.
What’s more, I don’t think that any Democrat should have even made an Eagleton reference.
Her explanation, that, People have been trying to push her out of the race since Iowa, is factually true, and may explain but does not justify her comments.
As strange as it seems, I think that she is not talking about Bill Clinton in 1992, nor was she really talking about the assassination of JFK. She was talking about Eugene McCarthy†, who by most objective measures “won” the 1968 nomination process, after RFK was killed, at least the primaries, only to have it pried from him by the party bosses.
So this is where I think that statement came from, but that don’t make it right.
*This is why Clinton’s 3am ad was called racist, as was the statement that the nomination is for President (aka LBJ), and not leader of a civil rights movement (MLK), because I think that a lot of people inside and outside of the media, including Tweety, Pumpkin Head, and Olberman were looking for a reason to hate her.
†Truth be told, after losing McCarthy’s behavior showed him to be an embarrassment to the party and the nation **cough** World Series **cough**, and I don’t think that Hillary Clinton will do that.
John McCain, Not So Cancer Free
Though the title of the story, McCain appears cancer-free, healthy, would imply otherwise.
McCain’s most recent exams show a range of health issues common in aging: He frequently has precancerous skin lesions removed, and in February had an early stage squamous cell carcinoma, an easily cured skin cancer, removed. He had benign colon growths called polyps taken out during a routine colonoscopy in March.
There’s a campaign slogan: John McCain: Cancer Free Since February.
McCain Going to Extreme Lengths to Conceal Medical History
The campaign just made McCain’s medical records available:
- To a limited number of reporter.
- Does not include earlier records, which might detail the physical and psychological consequences of his captivity in Vietnam.
- It is being done on a Friday, and not just any Friday, but one before a 3 day weekend.
- The reporters get 3 hours to review 400+ pages.
- They are not allowed to make copies.
If I had something to conceal, and knew that I had to release something, this is how I would do it. If you have a problem, even seemingly innocuous records can show a red flag, but if you have non-medical political reporters who have about 90 seconds to review a page, those flags get missed.
I Just Threw Up in My Mouth, That’s What I Think
I keep hearing chatter about a rockin’ post-partisan general election campaign with Obama-Hagel and McCain-Lieberman duking it out in the fall.
What do you think?”
I’m tasting bile right now.
Sick Old Man Now Pandering to Cuban Wackjob Community
Ever since the Elian Gonzalez debacle, which revealed the right wing of the Cuban to be something akin to terrorists, US sentiment has increasingly turned against our cuba policy.
John McCain just slammed Obama for “being soft on Cuba”.
The problem is that “being soft on Cuba” this is exactly what most Americans want, it’s what dissident Cubans actually living in Cuba want, and it’s the best policy for both countries.
Our mindless anti-Castro foreign policy has harmed the US, the people of Cuba, and butressed the Castros hold on power in Cuba.
Obama should confront McCain on this. It’s old thinking from an old man.
What’s more, the old anti-Castro whack jobs won’t vote for him anyway. They would never vote for a negro.
Obama Takes Oregon, Clinton Takes Kentucky
Pretty much as expected.
McCain is Short on Cash
So it looks like he will be relying heavily on party money to make up the difference.
Of course, that means less for Republicans at every level down the chain.
I’m so not crushed by this.
Here’s hoping that Obama does not opt into public financing in the general. He should not, McCain has already shown that he will break the campaign finance law that he wrote without a 2nd thought, so he simply can’t be trusted.
Von Spakovsky Out
Bush’s voter suppression guru withdraws his nomination to FEC.
This means that the FEC board nominations will likely proceed, and that there will be a quorum for actions to be taken once again.
My guess is that they are increasingly worried that the (completely accurate) accusation that John McCain is in felony violation of the law that defines his “Maverick” status will hit the main stream, so they finally decided to cut him loose, so they can sign off on McCain’s “bungee move” that he used early in the primaries to get a loan for his campaign.
Additionally, it would mean that McCain could not sign up for public financing in the general, and the board would need to sign off that too.
FWIW, the story is starting to bubble up, and he’s not doing well in fund raising anyway, so I think that the Dems should “stand on politics principal” and insist on separate votes for the FEC board members anyway…or at least drag their feet a little bit.
When You Are Owned By Chris Matthews…
Completely owned….
Wingnut radio talk show host talks about appeasement, but he does not know what Neville Chamberlain actually did.
In fact, I don’t think he knows who Neville Chamberlain was.
When Chris Matthews owns you, you have to be completely ownable…..I’ve never been that owned so completely by my cats, and as any cat owner knows, cats pwn their human. completely and routinely.
Repulsive, But This Time I’m Not Surprised
Yep, speaking in Israel, George W. Bush made Nazi references with regard to Barack Obama’s suggestion that we might want to talk to potential adversaries:
“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said in remarks to Israel’s parliament, the Knesset. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if only I could have talked to Hitler, all of this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”
This is repulsive. You have this sort of accusation made in a public forum by the President of the United States. What’s more, this misuse of WWII and the Holocaust was made before the Knesset in Israel.
This is unbelievably, and unspeakably low, and speaks to the mind of a man who has no moral compass whatsoever.
What surprises me the most is that I’m not stunned by this. This is exactly what I have been expecting from him, and so I’m not surprised.
That being said, had he been drowned at birth, the world would be a far better place.