progressive involvement

Oregon is probably Obama country, which is another reason to be for Hillary

Through 1968, the only election ever lost by any member of the Kennedy family was when RFK lost the Oregon primary to Eugene McCarthy.  The diffident and cerebral Eugene McCarthy, coming from the Adlai Stevenson wing of the party, seemed to fit the Oregonian electorate more closely than the hot and confrontational Kennedy.  Oregon has few minorities, and is relatively affluent.  As RFK remarked after his loss, "I do better with people who have problems."

Other than African-Americans, the RFK constituency--people with problems--is mainly behind Hillary.  The McCarthy constituency mainly supports Obama.  In Oregon, there are more of the latter than there are those of the former, which is why Oregon will likely go Obama.  (Demographics has truly been destiny in this campaign.)

This is one of the main reasons I'm for Hillary.  Poor people support her, the working class supports her, people with problems support her.  If the Democratic Party is not about helping the poor and the working class, what good is it?    

Oh, they always say that

CNN:  "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."

People saw this as an attack on Obama, which it may be, but it seemed to me to be more directed to all Democrats, and especially Jimmy Carter.  Ho-hum.  The man hasn't been terribly relevant for about a year or so.

Donations to NARAL soon to take a pretty big nose-dive, would be my guess

NARAL follows their endorsement of Joe Lieberman for Senate in 2006 by endorsing Sen. Obama for President this year, which is roiling the organization, may actually prove helpful to Hillary.  The more the Democratic establishment--Kennedy, Pelosi, Brazile, Dean, other muckety-mucks--supports Obama, the more the people themselves are likely to push back.

Bob Schaffer poses in front of a pic of Mt. McKinley--which is in ALASKA!--and calls it "Pike's Peak"

Jesus joins John Edwards on the Obama campaign trail

The Obama campaign seems a tad spooked by their narrow 41-point loss in West Virginia.  The cry went out:  Who can save us from the pestilence of working class voters?  They brought John Edwards on board to endorse Obama--something about poverty, he said--the day after the primary in the poorest state in the union.  (Add in his 7% and Obama's loss in West Virginia is now only 2-1!)

Edwards, however, was clearly not enough.  Something more was needed.  Flyer making the rounds in KY:

Somebody put Tabasco Sauce in his oatmeal

John Aravosis at americablog.com:

IT'S NOT CLOSE. YOU FREAKING LOST THE NOMINATION, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?

Good God. What is wrong with her? The Clintons and their campaign staff don't give a damn that they are now hurting our electoral chances in the fall against McCain and against the Republicans in Congress.

Yeah, like the McCain campaign would have never thought about experience, or national security, or working class voters unless Hillary told him.  He's old, sure, but he's not stupid.

The other quote of the day

Edwards just sent me an email (I'm on the Obama email list) asking for a donation to what sounds like a very worthy college scholarship program he is behind. Seems his endorsement might have been to get access to the Obama email list? I think the cause is wonderful, and I'm glad he sent it, but it does suggest there was some bargaining for this endorsement.

Anonymous poster at politico.com

Quote of the Day

"For Barack Obama, I think he ought to kiss Johnny Edwards on the lips to kill this 41-point loss."

David "Mudcat" Saunders

classless

NY Times:  "Mr. Edwards spent several minutes praising Mrs. Clinton, which was met by loud boos..."

Still not cheap

Find the cheapest gas in your neighborhood here.

"That part about calling you a bunch of sleazoids and scumbuckets, Jew-haters and whores? I'm real sorry if you took offense."

John Hagee apologizes to Catholics.

GOP in a world of hurt

Democrat Wins House Seat in Mississippi

Quote of the Day

The narrative of the racist southern and/or working class white voter serves disappointed liberals by giving them a way to cope with rejection, and it serves Republicans by reassuring them that people can still be easily manipulated by racial bias.

A. Serwer, The American Prospect

Winning ugly

No, not Hillary.  Her win in West Virginia was pretty impressive.  It's supposed to be over, you'll remember, yet she beat the "presumptive" nominee by 2-1.  For all I know, Hillary might want to get out of the race, but that's hard to do when you keep winning.

No, it's the Obama campaign that needs to take a step back--if indeed he is the "presumptive" nominee--and take a good look at what not only is the right thing to do, but also the smart thing politically:  doing everything it can to unify the Democratic Party.

Senator Obama himself seems to be aware of this--also the higher levels of his campaign, most of the time--but the word hasn't filtered down to the blogosphere, the grass roots, or the Obama network, NBC.  Chris Matthews called Hillary "the Al Sharpton of white people" tonight.  It hasn't even filtered down to leading members of Congress.  Ted Kennedy dissed Hillary yesterday by saying she wasn't enough of a leader to be Vice President.

Hillary is going to finish up essentially tied with Sen. Obama in the popular vote.  Half the Democratic Party supports her.  Treating her like the enemy--read a few of the comments at dailykos or TPM or Huffington Post--and the Obama campaign invites disaster upon itself.  Calling her supporters "racists" and "Archie Bunkers" isn't exactly the most brilliant move either.

Just for the record, it isn't just the "white working class" that supports Hillary.  With the exception of African-Americans, it's the entire working class--whites yes, and also hispanics and asians.  At least some of the Obama supporters--the triumphalists--seem to enjoy the thought of purging the Democratic Party of these lesser beings and replacing them with "all the new people we're bringing in." 

That would be the path of electoral catastrophe.  It wouldn't even be "winning ugly."  It would be "losing ugly."      

Lectionary blogging: The Holy Trinity, Matthew 28: 16-20

This is Holy Trinity Sunday, the only day of the church year dedicated specifically to a doctrinal position.  In reality, of course, all church holidays are about some aspect of doctrine.  Christmas, for example, is not at all the "birthday of Jesus," but a holy day of the church dedicated to the incarnation, a doctrinal teaching which counters the heresies of gnosticism and docetism.

The lection is likely chosen because of its reference to "the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  The saying is anachronistic for the time of Jesus, who, bereft of seminary education, would likely have been thoroughly mystified by something called "trinitarian theology."

   

Administration thinks food safety no big deal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration on Friday urged a federal appeals court to stop meatpackers from testing all their animals for mad cow disease, but a skeptical judge questioned whether the government has that authority.

The government seeks to reverse a lower court ruling that allowed Kansas-based Creekstone Farms Premium Beef to conduct more comprehensive testing to satisfy demand from overseas customers in Japan and elsewhere.

But Creekstone attorney Russell Frye contended the Agriculture Department's regulations covering the treatment of domestic animals contain no prohibition against an individual company testing for mad cow disease, since the test is conducted only after a cow is slaughtered. He said the agency has no authority to prevent companies from using the test to reassure customers.

"This is the government telling the consumers, `You're not entitled to this information,"' Frye said.

Chief Judge David B. Sentelle seemed to agree with Creekstone's contention that the additional testing would not interfere with agency regulations governing the treatment of animals.

Let's try to get this straight.  A private company tries to go above-and-beyond-the-call in making sure its products are safe, and the government doesn't want them to do it?

Wadhams channeling Doug Bruce

Dennis Herzog at the Grand Junction Sentinel:

Reporter Mike Saccone, as any good reporter would do, called Udall’s opponent to get a response. Republican Bob Schaffer is very seldom available. He called Dick Wadhams, Schaffer’s campaign manager. I don’t think he ever even got to tell Wadhams why he was calling. The minute Wadhams got on the phone he launched into Mike, telling him he was a biased reporter, that he’s taken cheap shots at Schaffer and asking when we were going to do the same thing to Udall. I listened to the tape of the conversation. Mike seldom got to complete a question. Every time he tried Wadhams interrupted with yet another complaint about Mike and/or our coverage. He did manage to ask Wadhams for specific instances of biased reporting or cheap shots and Wadhams provided none.

Media narrative continues

Obama picked up eleven delegates last Tuesday from his win in North Carolina and loss in Indiana.  That must be some kind of tipping point, because now the media claim his lead is "commanding," his nomination "inevitable."

Quote of the Day

"You really can’t run a middle-class democracy with a multimillionaire press corps."

Daily Howler

Electoral vote, preliminary run-through, Clinton edition

Take the Kerry map.  (Helpful visual aide here, by the way.)  Hillary would likely win two southern states--Arkansas and Florida--and lose all the rest.  It's close, but she leads McCain in most Florida polls, which is apparently based on Latino support and favorable memories of the Clinton administration.

In the west, Hillary would win California and Hawaii, but Oregon and Washington would be in play.  Democrats have historically won these two states, but it's been close each time.  In the southwest, Hillary would have a shot in Nevada and New Mexico, again based on strong performance among Latinos.

Hillary would likely win the entire northeast.  In the industrial midwest and Ohio valley, Hillary would likely win the big three--Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.  She would contest West Virginia, and may even be favored there.  In the upper midwest, she would likely win Illinois--a lot would depend on Obama--but would probably lose Iowa.  True battlegrounds would be Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In summary, these seem like safe Clinton states:  CA, AR, NY, NJ, DE, MD, MA, ME, VT, NH, CT, RI, AR--161 electoral votes.  Likely Clinton states:  MI, PA, OH, IL, FL--106 electoral votes.  These states total 267 votes.  Among the remaining states--WV, NV, NM, MN, WI, OR, WA--Hillary would need win only one.  She'd likely be favored in WV.  If the Latino votes turns out strong, NM and NV would be toss-ups.  The true battlegrounds would be Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Minnesota--all of them historically Democratic.  If she won all of them, as she well could, that would be 320 electoral votes.