And it really is very simple...

My question has to do with the way that this primary race has been fought, and the way that the campaigning has been done to date.

Most particularly, my question is addressed to the Clinton campaign, but it applies to all the Democrats and all the consultants in races up and down the ticket...

...then please answer me the following (rhetorical) questions...

First, a disclaimer: I support Obama in the primaries. I find his stances more apt, his political judgement more reliable and more in line with my own (to be honest neither Obama nor Clinton come even close to meeting my standards, but the lesser of two weevils, as they say), and his record more appealing than Clinton's.

Second, a promise: Regardless of which candidate wins the primary, that candidate will have my vote. Both are FAR, FAR more appealing than any candidate the GOP could possibly offer.

OR Senator Clinton, whichever candidate gets the nomination.

(Please note I support Senator Obama, but I also have respect for Senator Clinton, and will vote for her should she win the primaries...even though she is not my favorite choice for many reasons).

Anyway... Here is my take on "Public Financing"...

There have been and continue to be some really nasty, divisive, and all-too-familiar refrains circulating around the popular press, the corporate media, and the online commentariat.

Some of these have been floated by campaigns either struggling to get back into the race, others floated by the usual suspects in the corporate media looking (as ever) to gin up a conflict, play king/queen maker, and generally deride and denigrate any candidate they so choose, just because they like to and it makes them feel important.

Some have been floated by independent commentators both in the corporate media and in the online independent media for a number of reasons – genuine feelings, genuine discomfort with one phenomenon or another, or genuine desire to contribute to the ongoing national conversation we call the Democratic Primary.

It is time to withdraw...the contractors and mercenaries.

There are hundreds of thousands of them. They have cost the US government, meaning the US taxpayers, tens of billions of dollars. They have exacerbated the cultural and political conflict through improper behavior and improper training. They have participated in massive fraud - losing billions of dollars in government allotted contract money, extorting and cheating on critical deliveries of necessary items and supplies.

by Hubris Sonic and RedDan. Crossposted at The News Blog (Gilliard).

So, are we to believe that impeachment is the cure for all that ails us?

Are we to believe that the rest of the world thinks that nothing except a 2 year long circus with NOTHING done except daily, breathless, inane, insane, and idiotic commentaries by the designated big-hair talking head and his or her picked pet poodle guests? That the bromides and platitudes mouthed by the various "experts," commentators, pundits, and historians will somehow show the rest of the world, the population of this nation, the victims of the Bushies at home and abroad that "now we're really getting down to business?

Bullshit.

The diary that sparked the fight was a decent diary that relied on reporting that was not that stellar. Further, the diary either misrepresented, overstated, or mistakenly reported some things about this issue that were factually incorrect . However, the diarist (and the articles cited) pointed out that Robert Rubin was being invited to speak to the incoming Representatives, and pointed out that Labor leaders were not being invited. Those leaders reportedly asked to attend, but were told there would be a specific forum for them at a later date. There may have been a bit of hyperbole regarding the nature of that non-invitation...but whatever.

More importantly, at least in my opinion, were the various responses, some of which were, to say the least, interesting and instructive.

Here's mine....

As many of you know, Danny Glover wrote a NYtimes piece about blogs, politics and the intersection between campaigns, money, and internet political speech.

It's a pretty short, piece, with a little graphic aid that speaks volumes of nothing.

It's also a pretty stupid piece, and has little or no depth or interesting new pieces of information or opinion... But it's insulting, it's a contiunuation of the same old tired attacks against the progressive/libera/lefty and democratic blogging community, so I thought I would respond....below.

The Guardian has an interesting story up, showing where and how the Administration is "thinking" about Iraq.

Those "thoughts" (although not much more than the galvanic response of a dead frog's musculature to an applied electric current at this point) show the clear path to cementing and growing the Democratic Majority, the clear path to smashing the Theofascist war-mongering Rightists, and the clear path to crystallizing the picture of the GOP as bloody, incompetent, woodenheaded, blundering fools led by idiots.

Last week was truly a wonderful moment in modern American politics. But there are some flies in the ointment...

The spin coming out of the so-called Moderate camps inside the Democratic establishment. The DLC, Blue Dogs, "liberal hawks" and "socally conservative" Democrats are doing and saying everything they can, working as hard as they can to put out a coordinated message that, somehow, these elections were a victory for "moderates" who are empowered to "govern from the center." Time to smash that meme. Time to lay waste to that ill-considered, false, and self-serving garbage NOW, before our victory is watered down and replaced with more of the same old triangulating, guaranteed-to-lose milquetoast BULLSHIT.

On Countdown, Keith Olbermann did a 6 or 7 minute segment, with an extended interview with Jonathan Alter.

The topic?

An explicit, detailed and really hard-hitting exposé of the Robo-Call scam, with an added bonus discussing the out-and-out voter suppression tactics in Virginia and elsewhere. The segment is truly an amazing piece of work, and you have GOT to see it!

In a virtuoso disgusting performance, The First Lady, Laura Bush has not-so-subtly accused Michael J Fox of "manipulating peoples' emotions" in his appeal for support for stem cell research.

In this interview on CSPAN Laura Bush states clearly that "It's always easy to manipulate people's feelings, especially when you are talking about diseases that are so difficult."

The election is nearly upon us, and there is a lot of excitement, controversy, and anticipation in the air. What do we do about it? What are the practical actions that Leftists, Liberals, and Progressives can take to push the Democratic Party over the top, to capture the House and if possible, the Senate? And why is it important?

The second question first: It is crucial, critically important that the Republicans are defeated, resoundingly, this election season. The Republican leadership in Congress, their masters in the Whitehouse, and their bankrollers on K Street and in the corporate boardrooms are single-handedly responsible for some of the worst actions, stupidest blunders and most blatant corruption and foul demagoguery in the history of the United States.

The recent Foley story, coupled with the rather large number of similar cases of GOP stalwarts caught doing at best rather strange, and at worst quite horrific things with young people brings to mind a really interesting little bit of history.

Wilhelm Reich was a very far left psychoanalyst, a student of Freud's, and a figure both hated and revered among a wide circle. His main body of "respectable" literature was quite well-received, and some of it became standard texts in the psychoanalytic canon. His later works were seen to be (with a lot of good reason) kooky to the point of being pretty much insane. Just google "Orgone Box" and see what you get!

The cusp, the transition between those early works and later works seems to have been a piece of work he published in 1934 or so, called "The Mass Psychology of Fascism." As a result of this work, he was hounded out of Europe, hounded out of a number of political parties, and eventually settled in the US. His analysis seems rather cogent today.

The Politics of Mockery and Scorn -- The recent series of disgusting events in Congress and in the political realm has crystallized some of my musings and thinking surrounding political struggles related to American Politics in this decade, and perhaps beyond.

So, too, have the various responses to the Torture Kabuki caused a minor overturn in my political thinking - responses from Democrats on the Left, in the Middle and on the Right, responses from various GOP types on the Far Right, Middle Right, and Weak Right, and, most importantly, responses from the various ends of the political activist community Left, Right and Center.

Short version: It has become my opinion that the ONLY way to effectively combat the political scheming, meming, gaming, and framing vomiting out of the minds of the Machiavellian, Straussian Theofascist wing of American politics is NOT through outrage, NOT through earnest rhetoric, NOT through high-flown, heartfelt speech or action. Rather, the way to win is through scorn, sarcasm, mockery, and contemptuous denigration. Read on, and you'll see....

Hi everyone! It's been a long time, but hey! I been busy...In any case, this will be short and sweet, and I hope that commenters can fill in the gaps in terms of information and historical linky goodness.

Executive Abstract: This 9-11 "muckudrama" is a farce and a disgrace. We need to hammer it, hammer the producers, and hammer the network/corporate conglomerate that is promoting it. Remember Sinclair Media and the Swift Boat "docudrama"?

Read on for more...

There has been a spate of blind following, cheerleading, name-calling, and pernicious lies and blatantly revisionist historicalizing going on here on this site, in the general mainstream press, and in the overarching discussion of current events, both globally and specifically with respect to Israel/Lebanon/Palestine.

How about a quick visit to the historical record to put some perspective on the modern history of Israel, and its founding fathers, in the last century (give or take a few years)?

Marc Danziger has written a defense of Joe Lieberman and a rather querulous plaint regarding the online organizing, tactics and outlook of the so-called "netroots"...

I aim to respond to that query, respond to the critiques of the online organizing that is going on, present a progressive perspective, and generally pick apart this particular skein of (somewhat whiny) attacks on the actions of grassroots, blogroots, netroots, and sundry organizers and organizational efforts that have been taking place of late.