Thank You

to Turkana for bringing the sane:

As Big Tent Democrat continues to try to get people to understand, demography is everything, in this race. After Clinton's disastrous, and politically incompetent, final few weeks of February, she has been doing very well. She has been winning large states by mostly solid margins. She has been chipping away at Barack Obama's popular vote lead. While Obama supporters continue to tout The Math, they continue to ignore the fact that Obama cannot win the nomination on pledged delegates. Once again, repeat after me: the superdelegates will decide the nomination. Obama cannot win without them. Clinton cannot win without them. The pledged delegate metric is only one, and because Clinton cannot catch Obama in that metric, her entire argument rests on the possibility of her ending up with the most popular votes. That's a reasonable argument, and one that the uncommitted superdelegates are clearly willing to listen to. Of course, for that argument to even become part of the discussion is dependent upon Clinton's prevailing in the popular vote, and that's still very much an uphill climb, for her; but it is by no means impossible. And Obama supporters need to understand that.

to Melissa, who welcomes the campaigns to Indiana via a letter to the bored (and boring) NYT:

You see, some of us, out here in flyover country, haven't had our chance to vote yet. And, funnily enough, we're not actually tired of the campaigning. In fact, we're pretty stoked that we've got a chance to participate in a primary that might actually matter for the first time in a generation.

to BDBlue for the reminder of another time the NYT wanted to keep the number of voting Americans down to a manageable level.

to Kevin Franks, via Sadly No!, who reminds us of why we need to pay attention:

If Barack Obama or anyone else really cares to know what I think, I will simplify it all down to this. The landmark political fact of our time is the replacement of our middle-class republic by a plutocracy. If some candidate has a scheme to reverse this trend, they’ve got my vote, whether they prefer Courvoisier or beer bongs spiked with cough syrup. I don’t care whether they enjoy my books, or would rather have every scrap of paper bearing my writing loaded into a C-47 and dumped into Lake Michigan. If it will help restore the land of relative equality I was born in, I’ll fly the plane myself.

In fact, the candidates are out there pushing that message. I'm giving Obama the benefit of the doubt here because I didn't see him in person.  I did see Hillary do it though.  And the more time they're out there forced to compete for the votes of the people who want to hear about the candidates' schemes to reverse the damage of the BushCo years, the better off the Democrats are for November. 

Comments

[mick arran]

And the more time they're out there forced to compete for the votes of the people who want to hear about the candidates' schemes to reverse the damage of the BushCo years, the better off the Democrats are for November.

Always providing, of course, that they actually mean what they say and at least some of it is more serious than mere vote-getting campaign rhetoric. Personally, I'm still waiting for that sign.

[Mark Gisleson]

As a native of Iowa, I certainly can't complain about the exposure I've had to the candidates, even though I live in Minnesota now.

I have no problems with candidates staying in the race until the bitter end, but I do have problems with the things some of them have been saying. To date, 90% of the nastiness coming from Obama supporters I've learned of only because they were repeated (ad nauseum) by Hillary supporters.

I wish I could say the reverse is true as well, but it hasn't been. Criticisms of Obama have become almost impossible to avoid. Worse, the bulk are not meaningful, just mean.

I'm an old skool Democrat: you do not speak evil of a fellow Democrat, unless you attack them from the left. Why? Because criticizing a candidate — any candidate — for being slow to oppose the war doesn't help John McCain. Not in the slightest.

But criticizing Obama from the right, as Clinton and her surrogates have been doing, is harmful.

It's a very easy test. Next time you hear an attack, imagine McCain or one of his surrogates saying it. If it still has impact, that's unfair criticism.

I'm not pointing this out because I want Obama shielded from criticism, but I think this needs to be said because an entire generation of Dems have apparently grown up thinking Reagan invented that "speak no evil" line. Not hardly: these have been the ground rules for every political party since the Republic was founded. You don't trash talk your primary opponent in a way that damages him/her in the fall if he/she wins the nomination.

As for Big Tent Democrat, after years of faithfully reading TalkLeft I can't even stand to visit that site anymore. Wherever you draw the line, BTD belongs on the wrong side of it.

[eRobin]

Hi Mark :)

I'm an old skool Democrat: you do not speak evil of a fellow Democrat, unless you attack them from the left.

I think those days are gone for now. When we attack a candidate from the Left, the candidate pats us on the head and says to move along, the grown ups are talking. Both Obama and Clinton are guilty of this.

eRiposte has catalogued Obama's attacks on Clinton.

Specifically on the security question: No matter what Clinton does now, Obama, if nominated, will have to face the exact same attacks from the GOP and much worse from their surrogates. I'm not sure why it's in the interest of the party to have Hillary cede her advantage on the experience front now so that Obama can be destroyed on the issue in the general.

Is BTD Armando from dKos? I didn't keep up with that soap opera.

[Mark Gisleson]

Is BTD Armando from dKos?

Yes he is. And I loved his postings there but since the very beginning of this race he has been as hyperpartisan as anyone I've ever seen.

I'm an Edwards guy and still have the bumper sticker on my car, but after New Hampshire I knew I'd have a lot of trouble supporting Clinton. The '90s were living hell for most of us, and we didn't even have the luxury of attacking Rubinomics since we were too busy defending Bill's indefensible conduct.

Hillary gives life to the right, whereas Obama reaches out to the old Republican coalition, the one that gave us cleaner air and water before Nixon adopted the orphan racists from the Old Confederacy. My Iowa roots are very Republican, and each time I go home I run into more old classmates who say they'll vote for Barack.

At worst, Obama is just another DLCer like Hillary, but I don't think so. I think he's the real deal, and I think he's got this locked up. The Republicans can't stop him, but I fear that Hillary's pandering to the Reagan Democrats will cause us problems.

And, here in Minnesota, the polls already show that Al Franken is dead meat with Hillary at the top of the ticket. With Obama, he could waltz to a win over Norm Coleman with no problem.

Anyhow, you see what kind of leftwing rabble Mick dragged in with him?

[mick arran]

Anyhow, you see what kind of leftwing rabble Mick dragged in with him?

Yeah. On that score alone she ought to be glad when I'm gone.

[eRobin]

I was an Edwards supporter too and he took me a long time to come around to given his strong DLC past.

Hillary gives life to the right, whereas Obama reaches out to the old Republican coalition,

I have to think about that b/c I don't see it yet.

I think Hillary and Obama are both old-fashioned Republicans, which is probably the very best we can hope for right now. My hope is that she really wants to be the modern Eleanor Roosevelt and that he is more open to those sorts of ideas than he lets on now. Whatever, I want a Dem in the White House and I want that Dem pressured to do the right things.

Anyhow, you see what kind of leftwing rabble Mick dragged in with him?

It's an outrage!

Yeah. On that score alone she ought to be glad when I'm gone.

Ha ha. Don't even joke.

[Mark Gisleson]

No joke, I got a gut hunch that this is the guy. He prickles in the right way, and -- like I thougt last cycle with Clark -- he'll get things done. No matter how this plays out, it's time for the guy with the sweep broom to start cleaning things up.

[eRobin]

From your lips ...

I hope you're right b/c if he's the nominee, I'll be working like crazy to get him elected. I won't enjoy being fooled again. And if the Left lets up on him, then we'll have nobody to blame but ourselves.