JUSIPER
Monday, March 31, 2008
Clinton campaign racism: a firsthand account
An amazing story from this weekend's Dallas convention:
My mom was a delegate in Dallas this past weekend. She arrived at 7AM and didn't get to leave until 8PM. She said that it appeared the Clinton delegates were trying to drag things out so long that people would have to leave. She thought they challenged about 3,000 delegates and each of them had to go through the credentialing committee.
One of the Clinton delegates from her group challenged the validity of entire precincts. One of the precincts she challenged was almost entirely African American. Towards the end, after this group was credentialed they came by and shook their fists at the Clinton delegate and chanted "we're still here" in her face. My mom said it was a little tense.
9:37 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Bad news for Hillary
Obama is doing better than she is against McCain in New Jersey and Michigan, according to Rasmussen. Which means that there few batteground states left where she outpolls Obama against the Republican.
3:46 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Who's the better candidate
Gallup polls Democrats, then Republicans
(To Democrats): Who would have a better chance of defeating John McCain?
A: 59% Obama, 30% Clinton
(To Republicans): Who would John McCain have a better chance of defeating?
A: 22% Obama, 64% Clinton
(To Democrats): What about the long primary season?
56%: Doing more harm than good, 35%: more good than harm
(Among Clinton voters): What about the long primary season?
48%: Doing more harm than good, 40%: more good than harm
3:44 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Barack Obama wins the Texas primary
With the weekend convention results in, Obama won 37-30, which means the grand total out of Texas will be 98 pledged delegates for him and 95 for Clinton.
3:38 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Yet another big NC poll
PPP showed Obama ahead by 21 a week or two ago, and more or less confirms it today with a poll showing an 18 point lead. It is beginning to look as if Hillary doesn't have a prayer in North Carolina. It's now Indiana or bust for the Clintons.
3:33 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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A detail I missed
Hillary is not paying her staff's health care bill. A fighter indeed.
Among the debts reported this month by Hillary Clinton’s struggling presidential campaign, the $292,000 in unpaid health insurance premiums for her campaign staff stands out.
Clinton, who is being pressured to end her campaign against Barack Obama for the Democratic nomination, has made her plan for universal health care a centerpiece of her agenda.
[Spokesman Jay Carson] said the campaign this month paid off all outstanding bills to Aetna Healthcare and CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield. [...] But the unpaid bills to Aetna were at least two months old, according to FEC filings.
They show the campaign ended last year owing Aetna more than $213,000 for "employee benefits."
During the first two months of the year, the campaign did not pay down any of that debt. In fact, it accrued another $16,000 in unpaid bills last month, and it finished the month owing Aetna $229,000.
3:27 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Huge news for Obama out of Puerto Rico
Three hours ago, the PNP's candidate for resident commissioner, Pedro Pierluisi, endorsed Obama.
What this means is that the primary will no longer be a fight between statehood and commonwealth forces. With the PDP more or less firmly backing Obama, it looked as if the PNP would automatically oppose him. What's happening instead may be a bandwagoning effect as local leaders begin to see the writing on the wall for Clinton.
Furthermore, since PNP gubernatorial candidate is a Republican, Obama now has the support of the highest ranking officials in both political parties.
To use a foreign policy analogy, we may be moving from balancing to bandwagoning. And that is simply terrible news for Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama could now win the Puerto Rico primary. And since the American media doesn't know the difference between a Puerto Rican and a Mexican, this will also feed a meme that "Hillary has lost the support of Latino voters."
3:22 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Sunday, March 30, 2008
Big endorsements
The Wall Street Journal reports that the entire North Carolina House delegation is set to endorse Obama tomorrow, along with Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar.
Helping to drive the endorsements is a fear that the Obama-Clinton contest has grown toxic and threatens the Democratic Party's chances against Republican John McCain in the fall.[...]
The expected move by Minnesota's Sen. Klobuchar follows Friday's endorsement of Sen. Obama by Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22.
Both senators had planned to remain neutral, according to party officials, but decided to weigh in as the Democrats' campaign became more negative and Sen. McCain was free to exploit the confusion looking to the November election.
One North Carolinian confirmed that at least several of the state's House members would go public in favor of Sen. Obama before long. Meanwhile, elected officials in other states with upcoming contests, including Indiana, Montana and Oregon, are weighing whether to endorse Sen. Obama.
What makes such endorsements significant is that they're from superdelegates. These delegates -- members of Congress, governors and other party officials -- can vote for whomever they want at the Democratic convention in August. Sen. Obama has a slight lead over Sen. Clinton in the pledged-delegate count -- the delegates won during primaries and caucuses -- but neither can amass enough pledged delegates for a majority. That makes the vote of the superdelegates decisive.
Since the "Super Tuesday" primaries on Feb. 5, Sen. Obama has won commitments from 64 superdelegates and Sen. Clinton has gotten nine. Sen. Obama has a total of 217 superdelegates in his camp while Sen. Clinton has 250, and her margin has been shrinking with each week. Sen. Clinton would have several more in her tally, but they're from Michigan, and delegates from Michigan and Florida won't be seated -- at least for now -- because both states defied party rules and held their primaries earlier than permitted.
"I think that says a lot about just where people are and what they're thinking," says former Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, an Obama supporter. "And I think the numbers are just going to keep getting better" for Sen. Obama. Counting Sen. Klobuchar, Sen. Obama leads 13-11 among their Democratic colleagues in the Senate.
Even raising the prospect of a convention fight could backfire for Sen. Clinton by antagonizing the superdelegates she needs. Many superdelegates are on the ballot themselves this year, and the last thing they want is a chaotic convention that plays into the hands of Republicans.
In interviews, some House Democrats said Sen. Obama has the edge in the chamber. They noted that he has proved himself the stronger fund-raiser and has attracted more new voters to the party than anyone in recent memory -- both advantages that could benefit other Democrats. They worry that Sen. Clinton's high negative ratings in polls would incite more Republicans to mobilize against her and the Democratic ticket.
10:25 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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The real sniper victims
Devastating op-ed by Michael Daly:
Every time I see the video of Hillary Clinton talking about landing in Bosnia under sniper fire, I also see the shamrock scarf she wore to the podium in honor of St. Patrick's Day.
And then I think once again of the courageous 30-year-old Marine Capt. John McKenna of Brooklyn, born on St. Patrick's Day in 1976 and killed two years ago by a sniper in Iraq.
The same sniper had just shot another New York Marine, 28-year-old Lance Cpl. Michael Glover of Queens. Glover had been the point man in a patrol down a street in Fallujah. He had just reached an intersection when he was hit.
I kept a holy card from McKenna's wake. The photo showed a red-haired, clear-eyed young man in the state trooper's uniform he wore before he returned to active duty with the Marines. The birth date jumped up at me: March 17, 1976.
And I thought right away of this Irish Marine born on St. Patrick's Day when I saw the news clips of Hillary Clinton at a podium bearing a sign reading, "Ready To Bring The Troops Home" and wearing a shamrock scarf as she spoke about being under sniper fire in Bosnia.
When I looked at the whole speech she delivered at George Washington University, I saw that she went directly from the Bosnia fantasy to the current situation in Iraq. She actually said, "The American people don't have to guess whether I'm ready to lead or whether I understand the realities on the ground."
In Bosnia, the reality was Clinton was greeted in total safety by an 8-year-old Muslim girl who read her a poem. The reality is the self-styled champion of children erased that moment in favor of a self-glorifying tale of being under fire.
In Iraq, the sniper fire is all too real, as the families of McKenna and Glover can attest. I note that the citation for McKenna's Silver Star begins in the way of all such citations, "The President of the United States takes pride in presenting ..."
Which means that when you vote for President you will, among other things, be voting for the next person in whose name we honor our bravest and best.
Our recent commanders in chief too seldom demonstrated the courage of a John McKenna or the selfless devotion of a Michael Glover. The last two Presidents assumed office having gone to great lengths to avoid being sent into combat.
But even George W. Bush and Bill Clinton never lied about being under fire.
9:53 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Hillary's campaign has something else in common with its voters
Now it's racist and poor.
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s cash-strapped presidential campaign has been putting off paying hundreds of bills for months — freeing up cash for critical media buys but also earning the campaign a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles.
A pair of Ohio companies owed more than $25,000 by Clinton for staging events for her campaign are warning others in the tight-knit event production community — and anyone else who will listen — to get their cash upfront when doing business with her. Her campaign, say representatives of the two companies, has stopped returning phone calls and e-mails seeking payment of outstanding invoices. One even got no response from a certified letter. [...]
The New York senator’s presidential campaign ended February with $38 million in the bank, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission, but only $16 million of that can be spent on her battle with Obama.
The rest can be spent only in the general election, if she makes it that far, and must be returned if she doesn’t. If she had paid off the $8.7 million in unpaid bills she reported as debt and had not loaned her campaign $5 million, the cash she would have had available at the end of last month to spend on television ads and other upfront expenses would have been less than $2 million. [...]
It’s not just the size of Clinton’s debts that’s noteworthy. It’s also that her unpaid bills extend beyond the realm of high-priced consultants who typically let bills slide as part of the cost of doing business with powerful clientele whose success is linked to their own.
Some of Clinton’s biggest debts are to pollster and chief strategist Mark Penn, who’s owed $2.5 million; direct mail company MSHC Partners, which is owed $807,000; phone-banking firm Spoken Hub, which is waiting for $771,000; and ad maker Mandy Grunwald, who’s owed $467,000.
Clinton also reported debts more than one month old to a slew of apolitical businesses and organizations, large and small, in the states through which this historically expensive Democratic primary campaign has raged.
In fact, about a third of the nearly 700 individual debts Clinton reported at the end of February were for various types of “event expenses,” including $319,000 for catering and venue costs, $420,000 for equipment, $11,000 for photography and $9,000 for security.
And word is getting around that Clinton’s campaign does not promptly pay those who labor to make her events look good, said an employee of the event production company Forty Two of Youngstown, Ohio.
“I feel insulted by the way that the campaign treated this company and treated us personally,” said the employee, who did not want to be named talking about a client.
The Clinton campaign paid the company $16,500 to set up a stage, press riser, sound system and backdrops at a Youngstown high school last month for a raucous union rally, where an aggressive Clinton stump speech drew thunderous applause. But the Clinton campaign has yet to pay Forty Two for two other February events, and the employee said the campaign has stopped returning phone calls, e-mails and didn’t respond to a certified letter.
“We worked very hard to put together these events on a moment’s notice and do absolutely everything to a ‘t’ to make it look perfect on television for her and for her campaign,” said the employee. “Sen. Clinton talks about helping working families, people in unions and small businesses. But when it comes down to actually doing something that shows that she can back up her words with action, she fails.”
All those orders for donuts and the stays at the Bellagio for her campaign staff took their toll, evidently.
As Politico reader Robot Cats notes:
They say you can tell how a candidate will run the country by how they run their campaign. Hillary's camp breaks promises, stiffs people on money, makes up stories about sniper fire, and refuses to back down from a pointless cause even when it could destroy the party. Yeah, that sounds like the type of leadership we need.
3:41 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Saturday, March 29, 2008
McCain on a roll
This is great news for McCain. Rasmussen's new Wisconsin poll has him just 1 point behind Obama in Wisconsin, a must-win state for Democrats, and a stunning 12 points ahead of Hillary Clinton.
Still more disturbing news out of Virginia, where McCain is now 9 points ahead of Obama and, get this, 22 points ahead of Clinton.
McCain, viewed favorably by 64% and unfavorably by 34%, is the most popular candidate among the state’s voters. Fifty-three percent (53%) give Obama a favorable rating while 47% give him an unfavorable rating. Clinton’s ratings are 37% favorable and 61% unfavorable. For Clinton, those figures reflect a sharp decline over the past month. In February, 48% of Likely Voters in Virginia had a favorable opinion of the former First Lady.
The bottom line right now is that McCain looks like the white knight, the essentially unknown, independent, moderate candidate. That will change when the Democratic nomination ends. The Clintons would like to see happen in September; in this way, the division among Democrats will result in defeat in Obama so they can run against McCain in 2012. As we can see from the post below, that is unlikely to happen. And what's equally unlikely to happen, possibly ever, is for Hillary to win Virginia or Wisconsin. Which means she may never get to be president, no matter what.
2:43 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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No comeback for the Clintons
From Bob Novak's mouth to God's ears:
Al Gore, despite the lowest political profile, is talked about among prominent Democrats as their leading candidate for 2012 if they fail this year.
The Democratic consensus is that there will be no second chance for Sen. Hillary Clinton. She is blamed for wounding Sen. Barack Obama so severely that he might fail in November.
2:37 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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The Afrosphere speaks
And makes its petition. Via Jack and Jill Politics.
2:22 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Alice Walker endorses
And she has a lot to say:
I made my first white women friends in college; they were women who loved me and were loyal to our friendship, but I understood, as they did, that they were white women and that whiteness mattered. That, for instance, at Sarah Lawrence, where I was speedily inducted into the Board of Trustees practically as soon as I graduated, I made my way to the campus for meetings by train, subway and foot, while the other trustees, women and men, all white, made their way by limo. Because, in our country, with its painful history of unspeakable inequality, this is part of what whiteness means. I loved my school for trying to make me feel I mattered to it, but because of my relative poverty I knew I could not.
I am a supporter of Obama because I believe he is the right person to lead the country at this time. He offers a rare opportunity for the country and the world to start over, and to do better. It is a deep sadness to me that many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. Cannot see what he carries in his being. Cannot hear the fresh choices toward Movement he offers. That they can believe that millions of Americans –black, white, yellow, red and brown - choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a man, and black, feels tragic to me.
When I have supported white people, men and women, it was because I thought them the best possible people to do whatever the job required. Nothing else would have occurred to me. If Obama were in any sense mediocre, he would be forgotten by now. He is, in fact, a remarkable human being, not perfect but humanly stunning, like King was and like Mandela is. We look at him, as we looked at them, and are glad to be of our species. He is the change America has been trying desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change America must have if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other than our (white) selves. [...]
It is hard to relate what it feels like to see Mrs. Clinton (I wish she felt self-assured enough to use her own name) referred to as "a woman" while Barack Obama is always referred to as "a black man." One would think she is just any woman, colorless, race-less, past-less, but she is not. She carries all the history of white womanhood in America in her person; it would be a miracle if we, and the world, did not react to this fact. How dishonest it is, to attempt to make her innocent of her racial inheritance.
I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking, person to person, with any leader, woman, man, child or common person, in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks. I cannot see the same scenario with Mrs. Clinton who would drag into Twenty-First Century American leadership the same image of white privilege and distance from the reality of others' lives that has so marred our country's contacts with the rest of the world. [...]
When I offered the word "Womanism" many years ago, it was to give us a tool to use, as feminist women of color, in times like these. These are the moments we can see clearly, and must honor devotedly, our singular path as women of color in the United States. We are not white women and this truth has been ground into us for centuries, often in brutal ways. But neither are we inclined to follow a black person, man or woman, unless they demonstrate considerable courage, intelligence, compassion and substance. I am delighted that so many women of color support Barack Obama -and genuinely proud of the many young and old white women and men who do.
We have come a long way, Sisters, and we are up to the challenges of our time. One of which is to build alliances based not on race, ethnicity, color, nationality, sexual preference or gender, but on Truth. Celebrate our journey. Enjoy the miracle we are witnessing. Do not stress over its outcome. Even if Obama becomes president, our country is in such ruin it may well be beyond his power to lead us toward rehabilitation. If he is elected however, we must, individually and collectively, as citizens of the planet, insist on helping him do the best job that can be done; more, we must insist that he demand this of us. It is a blessing that our mothers taught us not to fear hard work. Know, as the Hopi elders declare: The river has its destination. And remember, as poet June Jordan and Sweet Honey in the Rock never tired of telling us: We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Walker has called the Clintons on their little race problem and also their poor record on international human rights. This excerpt comes from a letter to Bill Clinton regarding his Cuba policy, written in 1996.
I often disagree with you - your treatment of black women, of Lani Guinier and the wonderful Joclyn Elders in particular, has caused me to feel a regrettable distance - still, I care about you, Hillary and Chelsea, and wish you only good. I certainly would not deprive you of food in protest of anything you have done!
Similarly, I will always love and respect the Cuban people, and help them whenever I can. Their way of caring for all humanity has made them my family. Whenever you hurt them, or help them, please think of me.
1:57 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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And playing the race card for a second time is...
Ed Rendell. Fool me once...
“Just flip it for a second,” Mr. Rendell said. “Let’s say Senator Clinton was ahead by about 110 delegates and ahead by less than 1 percent of the vote cast, and she and her supporters started to call on Senator Obama to get out. Just picture what the media would be saying. They’d be saying you’re being racist, you’re being everything in the world. It’s nuts! It’s nuts!”
As Omar Little points out:
It's racist because it's race baiting and it's being done for political gain in a racially divided Pennsylvania, and it's being done on purpose.
This is a politician and he knows what he's doing.
Racebaiting for one's own gain is racism. Pure and simple.
If a person hinted to a racist boss that their coworker was part black in order to get their promotion, they'd be a racist.
It's incredible that this stuff is allowed to go on amongst Democrats, but I think it's just because white people don't see this for what it is as clearly as black people do, because they don't really understand racism.
1:48 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Former Clinton New York pastor's sex-abuse trial
It's true!
12:37 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Nader to Hillary: "You're like me"
The company the Clintons are reduced to keeping.
Senator Clinton:
Just read where Senator Patrick Leahy is calling on you to drop out of the Presidential race.
Believe me.
I know something about this.
Here’s my advice:
Don’t listen to people when they tell you not to run anymore.
That’s just political bigotry.
Listen to your own inner citizen First Amendment voice.
This is America.
Just like every other citizen, you have a right to run.
Whenever you like.
For as long as you like.
It’s up to you, Hillary.
Just tell them –
It’s democracy.
Get used to it.
Yours truly,
Ralph Nader
12:22 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Friday, March 28, 2008
Hillary for governor of New York?
It's hard to know for sure who's floating this. From Newsweek's Jonathan Alter:
In the event that Paterson had to resign, the New York State Constitution calls for a gubernatorial election this November. Clinton would be the favorite in that contest if she were interested. Were a politically wounded Paterson to serve out Spitzer's term, which ends in 2010, Clinton would no doubt be a strong potential candidate to succeed him.
Under the scenario sketched out by the insiders, serving two years as governor would give Clinton the executive experience to become the prohibitive favorite for the 2012 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton believes that Barack Obama may well lose this year to John McCain, who would be 75 in 2012 and a possible one-term president. Clinton would arguably be better positioned to replace McCain in the White House as a governor than as a senator.
The Senate might not be as attractive a job for Clinton as it once was, given that she would be surrounded by Democratic colleagues she believed betrayed her by supporting Obama (among them: Sens. Edward Kennedy, John Kerry, Jay Rockefeller, Claire McCaskill, Ben Nelson, Chris Dodd and Bob Casey). If Obama is elected president, she would have to carry water for him in the Senate. If McCain wins, it would be more of the same for Clinton in opposition to a Republican president. Being governor of New York might be preferable even to being Senate majority leader—another scenario being floated about Clinton's future. [...]
The best exit strategy for her, say some Democratic superdelegates who aren't talking for the record, would be to suspend her campaign after winning Pennsylvania. (George H.W. Bush ended his 1980 campaign against Ronald Reagan after defeating him in the Michigan primary). That way, Hillary would go out on a high note—higher still if it was accompanied by reports that she could be headed for Albany. For now, Clinton has rebuffed that advice and said publicly that she will stay in the race even if she wins Pennsylvania only narrowly. (If she loses Pennsylvania, by all accounts she's out).
The only part that makes me think it might actually come from the Clinton camp is the slam on Obama.
Then there's this:
Becoming governor of New York might not be a cakewalk. "Oh, great, so she's going to get in the way of two African-American politicians now?" said one Washington, D.C., Democratic operative. "I don't think so." Former New York mayor Ed Koch, a strong Clinton supporter who believes she can still win the presidency, said he thought it was a bad idea: "I'd advise her to stay in the Senate."
The race card should work well among voters in Long Island and upstate. And she's certainly proven her ability to use it.
11:18 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Obama campaign: "Aníbal who?"
Acevedo Vilá's decision not to resign over his 19 count federal indictment is a minor to major disaster for the Obama campaign. Bill Clinton is set to arrive in Puerto Rico on April 6th. Obama, a new face here, desperately needs the exposure of a political campaign. But he will have trouble showing his face when his best known supporter is under indictment.
The minute he steps foot on the island, he will become part of a massive struggle between two political parties. Clinton has the support of much of the statehood movement, while Obama has the support of most of the commonwealth establishment. The local Obama campaign has been reduced to saying that "Although he's a supporter, he has no title or formal function with the campaign." True enough.
On the other hand, the Acevedo Vilá affair will suck all political oxygen out of Puerto Rican politics until he resigns and a successor is picked. Neither of which may happen before June 1st. If Bill Clinton comes here next week, the first question he will be asked is whether Acevedo Vilá should resign. If he says yes, Hillary will receive strong support from statehooders, but it will kill her among supporters of the commonwealth party. If he stays out of it, I am not sure if anyone will pay attention to him. Right now there is only one political story in Puerto Rico, and this is it.
In other news, Acevedo Vilá was simply stellar at his "I am not a crook" press conference today. His mental clarity is stunning, and his political skills are far greater than anyone could have imagined four years ago. Flanked by the vigorous, sassy, royal mother figure Victoria "Melo" Muñoz, he gave one hell of a fight--in Spanish and English. His biggest success was in making statehood gubernatorial candidate Luis Fortuño seem like just another dirty politician when Acevedo Vilá had just come from the courthouse.
To be sure, the Siegelman and U.S. attorneys affairs should make anyone skeptical of the workings of the Bush Justice Department. The big winner today was without question Acevedo Vilá, who acquitted himself extraordinarily well. But it's still hard to see how he lasts too much longer as his party's nominee for governor. The sooner there's a new nominee, the better for Barack Obama.
4:31 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Chickens come home to roost
Sixteen years ago, the Clintons refused to let Gov. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania speak at the Democratic National Convention. Today his son, U.S. Senator Bob Casey, endorses Barack Obama.
12:18 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Disneyboy or the plagiarist?
A-ME-rica has spoken. And they like the plagiarist.
12:40 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Thursday, March 27, 2008
Pew: Obama leads Clinton by 10
Even more interesting:
1. 13% of Democratic voters believe "hard to like" describes Obama. 43% believe it describes Clinton.
2. 16% believe "phony" describes Obama. 30% believe it describes Clinton.
3. "The Wright controversy has not heightened the public's impression that Obama's race will undermine his chance in the general election if he is the nominee. Only 21% say Obama's race will hurt his chances, compared with 25% who held that view in January."
4. One-in-ten voters believe that Barack Obama is Muslim; 14% of Republicans, 10% of Democrats and 8% of independents think he is Muslim."
Meanwhile, we get our first portrait of Hillary voters: Democratic voters with an unfavorable view of Obama.
In particular, white Democrats who hold unfavorable views of Obama are much more likely than those who have favorable opinions of him to say that equal rights for minorities have been pushed too far; they also are more likely to disapprove of interracial dating, and are more concerned about the threat that immigrants may pose to American values. In addition, nearly a quarter of white Democrats (23%) who hold a negative view of Obama believe he is a Muslim.
Less educated and older white Democrats, who have not backed Obama in most primary elections, hold these values more commonly than do other Democrats.
Take a look at those attributes, and take a look at Hillary's messaging between the Ohio campaign and now. Those are the votes she is depending on, and her campaign is catering to them.
Disgusting.
But the good news: Obama leads Clinton, 49-39. And he leads McCain 49-43.
6:07 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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5:30 pm
No one knows for certain what Acevedo Vilá will say in his speech, but if he resigns, the day's other big story will come from the two followup meetings the the PPD's Puerta de Tierra offices. And it's pretty clear that other gubernatorial candidacies are already being floated.
UPDATE: Bad news for Obama: the governor is not resigning. And how is Obama supposed to campaign in Puerto Rico when his supporter-in-chief faces 19 counts?
2:17 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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This is ridiculous
Isn't there any actual crime in Long Island?
Two Queens women were arrested on charges of prostitution after performing illegal massages on Nassau detectives in Baldwin, officials reported.
According to the detectives, a 52 year-old and a 49-year-old, agreed on a price and performed an illegal massage. During the course of the massage, the accused offered sexual acts for an additional fee, according to the police.
The two were not licensed to perform massage therapy.
The two women will be arranged at First District Court in Hempstead Thursday on charges of prostitution.
11:00 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Governor of Puerto Rico indicted
Developing...
Update #1: From Reuters:
Puerto Rican Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila and 12 associates in Washington and Pennsylvania were charged with election fraud in an indictment unsealed Thursday.
The federal charges are related to campaign financing for the U.S. Caribbean territory's 1999-2000 gubernatorial election, its 2001-2 campaign for resident commissioner of the commonwealth, and its 2004 gubernatorial campaign.
Charges in the 27-count indictment include conspiracy, making false statements, wire fraud, federal program fraud and tax crimes, U.S. prosecutors said in a news release.
Early political fallout: Obama has lost his primary institutional support. On the other hand, as I have written earlier, Acevedo Vilá is the least popular governor in modern memory. If he resigns and is replaced with someone even halfway popular (who is also an Obama supporter, not a given), Obama could actually benefit. Indeed, the worst possible outcome right now would be for Acevedo Vilá to remain in office until the June 1st primary.
Acevedo Vilá's removal office is also a disaster for the PNP. Fortuño's only real campaign theme was change. A new governor, especially one with few ties to Acevedo Vilá, would represent change as well.
UPDATE#2: Section 7 of the Puerto Rican constitution:
Cuando ocurra una vacante en el cargo de Gobernador producida por muerte, renuncia, destitución, incapacidad total y permanente, o por cualquier otra falta absoluta, dicho cargo pasará al Secretario de Estado, quien lo desempeñará por el resto del término y hasta que un nuevo Gobernador sea electo y tome posesión. La ley dispondrá cuál de los Secretarios de Gobierno ocupará el cargo de Gobernador en caso de que simultáneamente quedaren vacantes los cargos de Gobernador y de Secretario de Estado.
If Acevedo Vilá resigns--and no one seems to know for sure yet if he will--the new governor will be a relative political unknown, Secretary of State Fernando Bonilla. Since he is unlikely to be the party's standard bearer, the real question now is who will lead the party in November elections. The PPD's candidate for resident commissioner, Alfredo Salazar, is one possibility. He is fresh off a primary victory and has already endorsed Obama. His economic credentials make him a nightmare for the PNP.
10:14 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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What is it about WA, OR, IA, MN and WI?
These four states, with 45 electoral votes, have voted Democratic since 1988 with only one exception: Iowa in 2004.
Kerry's margin in Wisconsin was the smallest of all 50 states: just 0.38%. Bush's margin in Iowa was the second smallest, 0.67%. Minnesota was #9 on the list, and Oregon, #10.
Now, here's the interesting thing. For some reason, Hillary is absolutely hated in all these states. SurveyUSA has just released midmonth polling from several states. The question was whether voters supported each presidential candidate no matter who the VP was, whether it depended, or whether they were opposed no matter what.
These are the results for Hillary Clinton in those states (for her no matter what vs. against her no matter what), followed by those for Obama.
Wisconsin: 30-50 Clinton, 37-40 Obama (Obama +17)
Washington: 29-47 Clinton, 38-38 Obama (Obama +18)
Minnesota: 34-47 Clinton, 33-44 Obama (Obama +4)
Oregon: 29-47 Clinton, 33-40 Obama (Obama +11)
Iowa: 29-49 Clinton, 34-42 Obama (Obama +12)
There are, to be sure, states where the margin is in her favor: Confederate and border states that are certain to vote for McCain, like Alabama and Kentucky. And, in her favor, Missouri and Ohio. The problem is that McCain is far more popular in all these states than Clinton is. She appears to be more popular than Obama in states either Democrat seems likely to lose in a close election, whereas Obama is competitive in the states any Democrat has to hold.
2:52 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Still more evidence
That kids today dream of a much cooler world than ours.
A new nationwide survey of girls and boys found that a majority of children and youths in the United States have little or no interest with achieving leadership roles when they become adults, ranking "being a leader" behind other goals such as "fitting in," "making a lot of money" and "helping animals or the environment."
The study commissioned by the Girl Scouts of the USA and released today determined that three-quarters of African American girls and boys and Hispanic girls surveyed already identify themselves as leaders, a much larger group than white youths, about half of whom think of themselves this way.
The youths defined leaders as people who prize collaboration, stand up for their beliefs and values, and try to improve society. Girls in particular endorsed these approaches, although a majority of boys did, as well. Yet when asked in focus groups about leadership styles among adults, what they described was traditional top-down management.
Judy Schoenberg, research director for the Girl Scouts, said the youths in the survey "see a disconnect between what they aspire to and what is."
The survey comes amid a presidential campaign that has expanded the role models for leadership by providing, for the first time, the distinct possibility that a woman or an African American may become the country's leader. Still, that has not seemed to motivate many young people to aspire to leadership roles.
"The millennial generation has ambivalent, even negative, feelings about formal leadership," said Peter Levine, director of a nonpartisan research center at the University of Maryland that studies young people and civic involvement. "They prefer horizontal leadership in which everyone's a leader." [...]
Youths in the Girl Scouts study rated parents as very influential in helping them aspire to become and to become leaders -- more so than friends, coaches and celebrities, who captured about 10 percent of the vote. Mothers topped the role-model list with 81 percent of girls and 75 percent of boys.
This may help explain youths' reluctance to endorse traditional styles of leadership, Schoenberg said. Mothers, who were also surveyed in the poll, said that they want their daughters and sons to develop their talents. Leadership skills, if they happened, were a byproduct.
2:16 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Emerging TX scandal
The Hillary campaign is robocalling Obama delegates in Texas, telling them that the caucus date has been changed. They will stop at nothing.
2:06 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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"Experience you can Xerox"
Did Hillary plagiarize her Bosnia memories from Olympia Snowe?!
2:01 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Condy interested in the Vice Presidency?
Interesting. But I don't see McCain picking her: it would tie him even more closely to the Bush war. It remains to be seen, however, if it would help among women voters, particularly if Obama's running mate is not a woman.
Of course, there is another identity issue involved, one that's a dealbreaker for your average Republican. If McCain doesn't care and goes for Rice or Crist, he will deserve all the credit in the world for a gutsy choice. But my guess is that he needs to please the Wall Street wing of the party more than the nonexistent gay wing. Which makes even Willard Mitt Romney more of a possibility than either.
1:08 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Bill Clinton, liberal
A fantastic clip from an MTV interview with Bill Clinton. He makes it seem that providing no legal protections for gays is the most beneficial outcome for them. In fairness, it's an honest reflection of his position, and nobody can make doing nothing sound as progressive as Bill Clinton.
For the rest of his years, Bill Clinton will be remembered for impeachment and slurring the first black president. As the video suggests, today's teens will also remember him for gratuitously passing DOMA. These perceptions will prove to be a special kind of hell for a man who only wanted to be loved and paid attention to. What an exceedingly just dessert.
12:23 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Yet another WA Clinton superdelegate wavers
Today it's Ron Sims.
Steve Scher: Are you still committed to Hillary Clinton as a superdelegate?
Ron Sims: Oh yeah, I am.
Scher: Nothing’s going to change that?
Sims: I didn’t say that. You asked me, ‘Was I committed to Hillary Clinton…’
Scher: As a superdelegate.
Sims: As a superdelegate. There’s a lot of superdelegate discussion going on right now. The emails are hot and heavy over what we should do and when we should do it. And, again, it goes back to the fact that we’re Democrats and we want to make sure that we come out of the convention with the strongest candidate or combinations of candidates. So, I don’t think anybody’s made a decision to bolt in large numbers now. But, obviously, everyday I have about seven or eight emails because people across the country are on the same list. So they are comparing notes. So, it’s going to be fascinating…
I’ve watched this campaign. I’ve seen two people who I really like. And it just seems, if you look at the polls now, [they] are inflicting great damage on each other and that’s really gotta stop. To have people who support Senator Obama say, ‘I’m not going to support Senator Clinton,’ and to have people who support Senator Clinton say, ‘I’m not going to support Senator Obama’—my issue is, that should not be the national debate. I think we have an opportunity to head in a different direction, and we need to do that, but obviously this campaign is not doing that. And I think more of the superdelegates are beginning to say, “Stop it.” And that’s being heard by the campaigns and the candidates, because they’ve got to stop this madness.
Scher: It seems like I’m just going to have to take 30 seconds to read between the lines there—that you are wavering and considering that your candidate maybe should withdraw in the interest of unity in the party.
Sims: Oh, I didn’t say that.
Scher: I know you didn’t, that’s why I’m reading between the lines and putting words in your mouth to get you to be a little more specific. You’re not changing your vote yet, is what you said.
Sims: Yeah, I’m not changing it yet.
12:00 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Hillary voters discover their American Idol
And it's about time:
NOT RANKED: Kristy Lee Cook. Congratulations, longtime Confederacy fan Kristy Lee Cook. By singing "God Bless The USA," you managed to make the most cynical competitive choice in the entire history of televised singing programs ever. And by not muffing it like you did to every song you chose every week prior to this one, you really did give people the opportunity to say "what, do you hate America?" to anyone who dared raise the fact that you suck out loud. Well done. I can't wait until next week--country week!--because you're so going to come out in a red white and blue sequined bikini. And cowboy boots, since you'll probably sing that Toby Keith song about sticking boots in all comers' asses.
6:55 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Echoes of 1968
Hillary is doing well in Pennsylvania. But remember that George Wallace's best scores in the entire Northeast were in Pennsylvania (8%) and New Jersey (13%).
4:51 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Haaretz picks up Gallup poll
The paper's chief Washington correspondent, Shmuel Rosner, picks it apart:
As I wrote more than once, some aspects of the debates related to Obama's background and advisors and true beliefs, originated and culminated in the American Jewish community. For example, the role former Clinton advisor Rob Malley is playing in Obama's campaign, on which I wrote: "This specific showdown over Obama's candidacy is a dispute between Jews".
So, the people of Gallup have decided to dedicate a poll to this small, influential, and unique group of voters. They show a slight preference for Clinton over Obama, 48% to 43%. This should not come as a huge surprise to readers of this column: "Many Jews would vote for Obama, especially the younger generation. With all the brouhaha about him and Israel, and Farrakhan, and the smear campaign, and the emails and all the rest, Obama has many Jewish followers, and will have even more if he wins the nomination". [...]
You will keep hearing many stories and analysts questioning the standings of Obama among Jews. Here are some examples from the last couple of days:
Obama Walks a Difficult Path as He Courts Jewish Voters reported the New York Times. And this commentator wrote that "If I were advising Barack Obama, I would make a concerted effort to woo Jewish America back into his camp". And finally, this piece from UPI is quoting the not-exactly bi-partisan American Thinker which states that "Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama is having a difficult time connecting with Jewish voters".
A great story, full of drama, with this one tiny problem: is it even true? [...]
However, I think that most of those believing that Obama has a real problem with the Jewish vote are those who want him to have such a problem. They have no way of proving it, and tend to ignore the great promise that's inherent to the Obama candidacy from the narrow Jewish point of view. "A promise no Jewish liberal can ignore."
From another recent Rosen column:
What [Hlllary] she trying to say [during the Ohio debate]- that Obama is somewhat anti-Semitic? Let's assume she was just thinking that Obama was playing politics and is trying not to offend Farrakhan's supporters while he denounces his views.
In any case, in this exchange Obama got the upper hand: "If the word 'reject' Senator Clinton feels is stronger than the word 'denounce', then I'm happy to concede the point and I would reject and denounce [Farrakhan]" he said.
Obama spoke about this same issue a few days ago as he was meeting a group of Jewish activists in Cleveland. Some who attended the event and do not belong to his camp said he was very convincing. "At his best," one of them said. But in the debate he was even better and was able to score again on the same topic, elaborating on something of great importance to Jewish liberals.
Just recently we were all watching The Jewish Americans series on PBS, in which the story of Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement was front and center - and the part describing how the bond between black Americans and Jewish Americans was breaking was almost puzzling.
Obama, talking about Farrakhan - and about anti-Semitism among African-Americans, which he also denounced in his speech on Martin Luther King Day - touched a sensitive nerve when he was talking about one possibility that's inherent to his candidacy: he has the chance to restore the alliance between blacks and Jews.
This will not necessarily get Obama the votes of every Jewish liberal in this country. But it is also one promise that no American liberal Jew can simply ignore.
4:39 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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From Bulgarian Idol
A contestant sings Mariah Carey's cover of the Nilsson classic, "Ken Lee (Tulibu Dibu Douchoo)."
2:45 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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The Clintons will do anything
And this takes the cake: making nice with Richard Mellon Scaife, who spent millions of dollars of his own cash to bring down the Clinton presidency. He's more interested in going after the next Democratic nominee. And since that won't be Hillary Clinton, he's happy to cooperate in the sliming of Barack Obama. The Clintons win either way, since if Obama fails to win this time, they can get the nod in 2012. Scaife might not be their friend then.
2:40 AM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Hit and run grannies
The Clinton campaign may have an opening for these two. Assuming, you know, that the homeless guys were black.
Two elderly women accused of killing two transient men with a car so they could collect nearly $3 million in insurance money were videotaped talking about the scheme while in FBI custody, the prosecutor said in opening statements Tuesday.
Helen Golay, 77, is accused of befriending homeless men, taking out insurance policies, and killing them.
1 of 2
"It's your fault," Olga Rutterschmidt, 75, told co-defendant Helen Golay, 77, in the tape played for the jury. "You can't have that many insurers. ... You were greedy. That's the problem."
Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Truc Do said the women befriended the two men and took out insurance policies on their lives, then drugged them and ran them over to make it look as if the two homeless men had been killed in hit-and-run accidents. [...]
The prosecutor told the jury the women found the men in a homeless shelter at a Hollywood church, set them up in apartments and supported them for two years, all the while taking out multiple life insurance policies on them.
Do said the women ultimately profited off the deaths with $2.8 million and were still trying to collect on policies when they were arrested. [...]
Do said each man was kept by the women for two years, the length of time that would make their insurance policies uncontestable, then killed them. She said they were confident of getting away with the McDavid murder because they had killed Vados five years earlier.
11:46 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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ABC's Jake Tapper
And a phrase we will be hearing a lot more of:
l just spoke with a Democratic Party official, who asked for anonymity so as to speak candidly, who said we in the media are all missing the point of this Democratic fight.
The delegate math is difficult for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, the official said. But it's not a question of CAN she achieve it. Of course she can, the official said.
The question is -- what will Clinton have to do in order to achieve it?
What will she have to do to Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, in order to eke out her improbable victory?
She will have to "break his back," the official said. She will have to destroy Obama, make Obama completely unacceptable.
"Her securing the nomination is certainly possible - but it will require exercising the 'Tonya Harding option.'" the official said. "Is that really what we Democrats want?"
Which inspired this response from maxnyc:
imagine if bill and hillary had been this relentless, this take no prisoners in opposing bush and cheney in 2002 and the march to war...imagine
In other news, Sen. Cantwell of Washington has switched her superdelegate vote to Obama, although she's saying it much more diplomatically:
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, one of Washington’s 17 Democratic superdelegates, isn’t ready to shift her allegiance from Sen. Hillary Clinton to Sen. Barack Obama — yet.
But in an interview with The Columbian’s editorial board Monday, she said the candidate with the most pledged delegates at the end of the primary season in late June will have the strongest claim to the party’s presidential nomination.
“I definitely don’t want the superdelegates to be the deciding factor,” she said.
“If we have a candidate who has the most delegates and the most states,” the Democratic party should come together around that candidate, Cantwell said. The pledged delegate count will be the most important factor, she said, because that is the basis of the nominating process.
Obama leads Clinton in pledged delegates, in the popular vote and in the number of state primaries and caucuses he has won. Most political observers say the party’s rules of proportionality mean Clinton has virtually no chance of overtaking Obama in the pledged delegate count in the 10 primaries that remain.
6:46 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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"Her experience is largely in her imagination"
CBS News on Hillary's lies about her Bosnian vacation.
NBC News' report here.
CNN's Jack Cafferty's pithier take here.
6:07 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Obama opens up big lead in NC
Finally, a bit of good news. Public Policy Polling had the race nearly tied last time it polled. Today he's up by 21, which is probably a bit too high.
After a week in which Barack Obama made several appearances in North Carolina and confronted the controversy with his pastor by making a major speech on race, he has expanded his lead in North Carolina to 21 points.
Obama leads Clinton 55-34 in the state. His gains were particularly strong in the Triangle, the media market where his major speech on the war last week in Fayetteville got the greatest amount of attention.
Obama also pulled within a 47-40 margin of Clinton with white voters after trailing Clinton 56-30 last week, an indication that his speech on race in Philadelphia last week may have earned him some points.
Finally, an entertaining morsel, which is probably more reflective of the disgust a good third of NC voters feel for Clinton than any real dislike for Edwards: "If John Edwards endorsed Hillary Clinton, would it make you more likely or less likely to vote for Clinton, or would it not make a difference?" Result: 12% said "more likely," 31% said "less likely."'
It will be a huge deal for the Obama campaign to even the gap among white voters in strong GOP states like Indiana and North Carolina, particularly since it looks as if he will do very poorly among them in Pennsylvania.
1:32 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Most pro-Obama white religious group?
Jews. Overall, they split almost evenly Clinton against Obama. White Catholics and Protestants go for Hillary by over 20 points.
Worth remembering the next time a Republican or Hillary-supporter in the media tries pushing the "Jews won't vote for Obama" meme.
11:19 PM | Post or Read Comments (0)
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