The Inauguration Day How We Got Here Random Flickr-Blogging Retrospective Extravaganza

The long election cycle that brought us to this historic day was observed here -- in true IIRTZ fashion -- with irreverent and sometimes tasteless derision. While one is tempted to entertain lofty and nostalgic daydreams and memories today, resist and indulge yourself in a retrospective of the political year just past, as seen through the slightly-distorted lens of Random Flickr-Blogging.

Originally uploaded by fabcom.
Random Flickr-blogging explained

We're winning in Iraq. The economy is fine. Voluntary restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions will solve the global climate change problem. John McCain is an independent, straight-shooting campaign-finance reformer. You can have the bridge pictured here for your very own for $29.95, but only if you call in the next ten minutes...
See more...

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Originally uploaded by Robotkid.

The Green Party, having chosen its presidential candidate, examines its prospects for November success.

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Originally uploaded by faustastic.

Based on recent trends within the party, the site committee for the 2012 Republican National Convention decided to consider all options.

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Originally uploaded by rst90274.

Meanwhile, the Ron Paul Revolution rolls on...

Originally uploaded by chrisabad.

"This thing seems to be working -- all of Ron Paul's policy positions are starting to make sense to me."

Originally uploaded by bnidjer.

After visiting If I Ran The Zoo, a Democratic Ron Paul volunteer attempts suicide with a box of Krispy Kremes.

Originally uploaded by androoouk.

"Parachute? What parachute? We're Libertarians -- just relax and enjoy your freedom!"

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The Endless Primary Season

Originally uploaded by Curious_Cynic.

Texas has scrapped its primary election in favor of its own version of the Iowa Caucuses.

Originally uploaded by mkeblx.

The Clinton campaign was accused of employing an aggressive and unorthodox get-out-the-vote methodology last week in South Carolina.

Originally uploaded by urwis.

Bill O'Reilly's vehicle, after he got lost and ran off the road trying to crash another NH primary event.

Originally uploaded by ScottHernandez.

John McCain, the NSA, the TSA, and the Division of Homeland Security have all teamed up to bring the "Living In Fear For The Next Hundred Years" roadshow to your town between now and the November election.

Originally uploaded by Clément Guillaume.

Members of the press as they are marched at gunpoint to yet another Hillary Clinton rally.

Originally uploaded by linktoyou.

Meanwhile, right now, somewhere in this great land of ours, a Barack Obama rally is starting...

Originally uploaded by Mr. T.14.H.

All that was left for Giuliani's staff to do was to clear out the campaign offices.

Originally uploaded by rockfshr.

Poor Chet. One minute, he's having a civil conversation with his wife about Bosnia, Hillary, and "factcheck.org". Next thing he knows, he's camping in the back yard.

Originally uploaded by narrativeMAN.

John McCain released the results of his medical exams in order to defuse any criticisms based on his age, but it backfired when this close-up of his left earlobe and the carbon-dating results were leaked to the press.

Originally uploaded by hbp_pix.
Random Flickr-blogging explained.

These Democrats just found out how long it will be before the Pennsylvania primary.

Originally uploaded by photosbyscott.

Weeks after calling on supporters of both Democratic candidates to put aside their differences, Democratic National Committee chair Howard Dean appealed to the last holdouts.

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A decision, then on to the general...

Originally uploaded by David Boyle in DC.

"Yeah, dude, check it out -- there's a great antiques and collectibles yard sale going on down the block."

Originally uploaded by DjTweed.

"See, Cindy, now that we've sold off all those other houses, there's no reason anymore for Joe Six-Pack not to vote for me."

Originally uploaded by bigChill.
Random Flickr-blogging explained.

Another former Republican hears about McCain's beer veto.

Originally uploaded by Leo Cloma.

John McCain came under increasing pressure to disassociate himself with a radical religious leader who had been responsible for such inflammatory and anti-American statements as "Love your enemy", "The last shall be first, and the first last", "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone", and "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Originally uploaded by resistealeau.

The McCain campaign played second banana to the Obama campaign all last week. While Obama spoke to 200,000 enthralled spectators in Berlin, McCain visited a German restaurant in Ohio. While Obama and General Petraeus toured Iraq by helicopter...

Originally uploaded by btornado.

The vice presidential candidate of the future will not need a $150,000 wardrobe.

Originally uploaded by swetieduck.

Weeks too late, they finally found McCain's campaign strategy under a back seat in the Straight Talk Express.

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Finally...victory! From Grant Park, election night:

Originally uploaded by graemetallan.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible..."

Originally uploaded by orangeambrosia.

"...who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time..."

Originally uploaded by SnowInSummer.

"...who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer."

Originally uploaded by Kealor.

"This is your victory. And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead."

Originally uploaded by Pugnation.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there."

Originally uploaded by ChevyGuy454.

"And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too."

Originally uploaded by jo3c00l.

"And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand."

Originally uploaded by { вянoOoм ~.

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much..."

Originally uploaded by arnoldzafra.

"...But there is so much more to do...This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace..."

Originally uploaded by Ice Cream Bears.

"...to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one..."

Originally uploaded by Dustin Hall.

"...that while we breathe, we hope..."

Originally uploaded by SamoDiva Stefana.

"...And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't..."

Originally uploaded by ufdance.

"...we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes..."

Originally uploaded by thoa_hnmtc.

"...we..."

Originally uploaded by Martin & Julia.

"...can."

And More of This, Too

Looking for signs of hope after a bitter primary season? How about this story about Clinton supporters at the Obama rally Tuesday night:

Their presence at the event where Barack Obama declared victory shows that, at least in Minnesota, the political healing process already is beginning.

No one is making that healing easier than Obama. Last night, after he had finished the sort of speech that leaves his followers exhilarated and exhausted, Obama did not just leave the arena. Nor did he head to the nearest television camera or the nearest fat cat. More...

Instead, he went to a room where the Clinton supporters had been gathered and one by one, shook the hands of the 25 people, stopping to chat with each of them.

"Chris (Coleman) walked around the room with him,'' said Stevenson, "and introduced each one of us.''

It was really pretty extraordinary.

"He shook my hand and said, 'Thank you for being here; I'm sure it's not easy,' '' said Stevenson of her meeting with Obama. "I thanked him and said that everyone involved in his campaign had been so gracious. I didn't know what to say, so I mentioned that my daughter works for a federal health clinic. And he knew right away which program I was talking about. He said, 'Oh that's wonderful.' '

Still a lot of bitterness, not everybody's on board, not everybody will be, yadda yadda yadda. Still, it's encouraging to see Obama doing exactly what he should be doing. It's not all in his hands (or ours), but it's a start.

Time to Kiss and Make Up

Your assignment: name three things you like (or respect or admire) about the candidate you aren't supporting. This is something we'll all need a lot of practice with: folks who supported the losing candidate will have to get used to cheerleading for the nominee; folks who supported the winner are going to have to be gracious toward the losing candidate's supporters.

There's too much acrimony over this foolishness. Too many people have gone down one rabbit hole or another, become so invested in their candidate that they can't see any good in the opponent. The harder it is to think of the other candidate's virtues, and the less inclined you are to try, the more you need to do it.

I'll start: I admire Senator Clinton's dedication to policy details; her toughness in the face of 16 years of the most deranged wingnut viciousness; and her efforts on behalf of equality (for women in particular, but not exclusively).

Now it's your turn.

Not entertaining it

I listen to CBS all-news radio when I wake up. Weather every ten minutes and annoying voices is exactly what I need before coffee. And it also ends up being my toe-dip into the mainstream media (which I otherwise avoid).

So Hillary Clinton was apparently interviewed by Katie Couric last night, and they talk about Clinton maybe dropping out of the race, and said she said absolutely not. They then play a clip of Clinton saying, "Well, I'm not entertaining it. It's just not even anything I'm entertaining right now."

I get in the shower. I do my hair. I come out of the bathroom, and now the radio is talking about Edwards's endorsement of Barack Obama. Someone asks Obama if he would consider Edwards as a running mate, and they quote his answer (something like "He'd be on anyone's short list"). Then they get back to the Couric/Clinton interview, and say they asked Clinton if she was considering running mates, and they say it's not on the table yet, and play a clip of her saying, "Well, I'm not entertaining it. It's just not even anything I'm entertaining right now."

The same clip.

The same clip in response to two different questions. Which is...now we know for a fact they're just making shit up. It was the most trust-destroying thing I've ever heard on the news, worse than an outright lie, it was so transparently, lazily deceptive. I nearly choked.

And it turns out that the quote was in response to neither question. What Clinton was actually responding to was whether she would consider being Obama's running mate should he win the nomination.

There's really...there's no excuse of any kind for that kind of crap.


(I'm not entertaining this cross-post.)

Not Helpful

Really, really not.

I want this primary season to be over. Calling either of the candidates 'horrible' is not the way to get there.

And God Won't Take the Time to Sort Your Ashes from Mine

A note to the more unhinged partisans of one candidate or another (yes, I'm talking to you and you and you): if President McCain starts a nuclear conflagration that incinerates us all, it isn't going to matter who supported whom in the primaries.

Now grow the fuck up and start mending fences, before I get cranky.

Also: what Dean says.

The Unity Platform

Whatever our political differences are, whatever our disagreements over policy or strategy or which candidate we're supporting, can we all set them aside and unite around the proposition that Maureen Dowd is an idiot?

I thought we could.

Rule of Thumb

If your ad would be just as useful to the Republican opponent as it is to you in the primaries, you shouldn't be running it.

Just a thought.

And if I ran the Democratic party, I would find some way to require all candidates to devote at least 30% of their advertising time to attacking Republicans.

McCain Is the Enemy

Josh Marshall:

Whoever wins the Democratic nomination, it seems clear that that victory won't be celebrated any time soon. The writing could be on the wall on March 5th. But even if that's the case, the race seems unlikely to be settled for some time after that. And there's of course the possibility, though I think it's not likely, that the fight could go all the way to the convention.

And during that time, who takes on John McCain? McCain is already making a number of position changes that are getting little or no media attention. He's caught up in some very questionable campaign finance gambits. And he's launching daily and fairly harsh attacks on Barack Obama, as he's wise to do as long as the Democrats are distracted by their own primary fight.

Someone at the DNC, or other party organization should be putting together a campaign apparatus in waiting that will take on the Republican nominee until a clear Democratic winner can take over. But at the moment I'm not seeing any sign of it.

In the absence of any official DNC effort, the answer to "who takes on John McCain?" has to be us. This is what the blogosphere is for, folks. If we're a laboratory for memes, the memes we really need to be testing are the ones that could keep McCain out of the White House.

So far, we--well, a lot of us--have been falling down on the job.

Many of the bigger, more politically obsessive blogs and blog communities have been focused almost exclusively on the primaries. TalkLeft is the worst I've seen--13 of the 15 most recent posts were about the primaries, as of my last visit--but a lot of others are not much better. All over the lefty blogosphere, people seem to be more concerned about the minor difference between Obama and Clinton than about the vast catastrophe it'll be if we let McCain win. As Susie Madrak says: "If you put 100 Republicans who only agree on one thing in a room, they’ll come out of that room working together to win and focused on that one thing. If you put 100 Democrats in a room who agree on 99 things and not on one, they'll come out of that room fighting about the one thing they disagree on."

Not that there aren't people doing good work on the McCain front. As I've noted, Matt Stoller has done great work on McCain's flip-flopping; Paul Kiel and Mark Schmitt are all over McCain's sleazy campaign financing scheme; and of course we've done some posts here (Aimai here, myself here and here, plus assorted other pieces going back a ways). It's just that there isn't enough of it. We need to hammer the shit out of John Motherfucking McCain, and we need to do it now.

The primaries? They don't matter. One candidate may be a little better than the other from some perspective, but the differences aren't huge. One might do better than the other in the general, but CDS doesn't make Clinton 'unelectable' and losing California in the primary doesn't mean Obama won't win it in the fall. It's just not that big a deal.

What does matter is keeping Captain McQueeg¹ from taking us all for a ride on the Straitjacket Express². How about we focus on that for the next 8 months or so?

Update: Spackerman's blistering attack on McCain's foreign policy is another good one. More like this, please.

Other Update: Melissa, who has been doing great work tracking McCain all along, has a helpful round-up of every McCain post...plus an hilarious video.



¹Thank you, maxbaer(not the original).
²Thank you, Generik.

Now This Is Just Embarrassing

Okay, we all know by now that the Washington GOP caucus is a catastrophic clusterfuck in which (it turns out) we have no reliable way of figuring out who supports whom. We also know about the guy who stopped the counting that his political patron is McCain's Washington state chairman, and that he has previously extolled the virtues of voter suppression.

But set aside the controversy for a moment and look at the numbers (such as they are): McCain 'wins' with just under 26%. (For the arithmetically challenged, that means just over 74% voted against him.) McCain is the presumptive nominee. He beat Huckabee by under 2%, and Ron Paul by less than 5%. Romney, who's out of the race, got a respectable 16%. Any two named candidates, or any named candidate plus 'uncommitted' (12.3%, just under half McCain's total), wipe the floor with McCain's total.

On the same day that he lost two other primaries.

The GOP race is over. The nominee is McCain. This is the point in a primary race at which a presumptive nominee racks up 60, 70, 80% of the vote. McCain won just under 26%.

I try not to feel irrational exuberance about the state of the race. I view with skepticism reports of a Republican crackup. And yet...when I see something like this, it brings home just how much how many Republicans really don't like McCain.

If I were advising McCain, I would tell him that the only thing that can help him now is more sleazy shenanigans to make sure Huckabee doesn't win any more states. In fact, I would recommend doing everything possible to piss off Huckabee's voters. They wouldn't dare stay home in November.

Yeah, that's the ticket.

When Your Own Side Is Too Painful to Watch, Point and Laugh at the Other Side

In the Wall Street Journal, Republican hyper-hack Ted Olson has a Schadenfreude-fueled commentary speculating about lawsuits that might be filed on the Democratic side, if the circumstances line up just so.

Curiously, he does not mention the lawsuit that has actually been threatened on the Republican side.

Go figure.

Dobson Endorses Huckabee

Focus on the Family head James Dobson endorsed Mike Huckabee today. Well, really, what other option did he have?

In a statement first obtained by The Associated Press, Dobson reiterated his declaration on Super Tuesday that he could not in good conscience vote for John McCain, the front-runner, because of concerns over the Arizona senator's conservative credentials.

Dobson had previously ruled out backing Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson, threatening to vote for a third party candidate if he couldn't find someone sufficiently wingnutty to support. Now that he's anointed endorsed Huckabee, will other fundies get in line?

Dobson is easily the biggest-name evangelical endorsement Huckabee has earned. Other movement leaders have shied from Huckabee either because of his lack of money, support for expanding the evangelical agenda to include the environment and poverty, as well economic and tax positions that fiscal conservatives have attacked.

Yeah, we wouldn't want Christians to actually concern themselves with the poor, and who needs to worry about clean air or water when Armageddon is just around the corner?

It is telling that Dobson has chosen to endorse Huckabee now even though the Huckster has almost no chance of winning the nomination (the evil McCain has over 707 of the 1,191 delegates needed to win; Huck has 195). I'm guessing Daddy D sees the writing on the wall and doesn't want to be completely shut out of the halls of power. He'll be pushing hard for Huckabee in the VP slot.

Of course, we're all supposed to smile and nod along with the assertion that Dobson's endorsement is purely a private matter and not at all intended to influence the followers who support his tax-exempt non-profit organization. Yeah, that's why it makes national news.

Dobson emphasizes that when he endorses candidates, he is doing so as a private citizen and not as a representative of Focus on the Family, a tax-exempt organization he founded. His endorsement of Huckabee was to be e-mailed to 110,000 people through Focus on the Family Action, a separate entity that is allowed to be more politically active, [Dobson spokesperson Gary] Schneeberger said.

Right. Because every private citizen in this country has access to a mailing list 110,000 strong through which to disseminate his or her endorsement. Come to think of it, maybe Dobson's endorsing the Huck because of his "fair" tax proposal that would do away with the IRS. I'm sure Huckabee's rewrite of the Constitution could be tweaked to include a no-strings-attached exemption for religious right propaganda organizations.

Romney's Out

Mitt Romney suspended his campaign today,virtually guaranteeing John McCain the Republican nomination. Mitt, whose military age sons have served their country the past year by working on his campaign, couldn't resist a cheap shot at the Democrats.

"If I fight on in my campaign, all the way to the convention, I would forestall the launch of a national campaign and make it more likely that Senator Clinton or Obama would win. And in this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign, be a part of aiding a surrender to terror," Romney told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

Given the venue, I guess that was mild. Last year, Romney supporter Ann Coulter used her platform there to call John Edwards a faggot. That was too much even for CPAC; the conference organizers didn't invite her back this year.

See ya, Mitt. I hope your heirs aren't too angry that you spent $40 million of their inheritance. Whoever will Coulter and Rush Limbaugh support now?

No Losers

L.A. Times headline today: With no losers, the fight goes on. It's about the primary results, but I think the 'no losers' part really applies to the candidates. An embarrassment of riches, as Kathy puts it, and of course that's why it isn't over yet.

I was hoping last night would end it, one way or another, because I'm sick to death of the primaries--sick of the acrimony, sick of heated arguments over minor differences, sick of the the media's focus on their failings instead of their strengths. As contentious as things may get between now and the convention, though, this is what we need to keep reminding ourselves of: one will win and the other will lose, but there are no losers.

Update: What D-Day says.

Vote Today (or Next Week or Next Month...)

I posted this at my place yesterday, with the title "Vote Tomorrow!" because Alabama is holding its primary today. Of course, there are quite a few still to come, and the conventional wisdom says that the Democratic nomination won't be decided today. So when Tom asked me to cross-post, I decided to do it. The historic nature of today's vote is just beginning to sink in. For the first time ever, a major party's nominee will -- not might -- be a woman or a person of color. That's chill bump territory.

Tomorrow Today is Super Tuesday, or maybe Super Duper Tuesday, or perhaps even Tsunami Tuesday, depending on which cable news network hype you hear. Whatever you call it, if you're registered to vote, go out and vote!

I'll be casting I cast my vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton. Democrats have had an embarrassment of riches when it comes to excellent Presidential candidates, and tomorrow I'm voting today I voted for the one I believe to be the better of two really good choices.

I'm supporting Hillary Clinton because I think she has the experience we need to get this country back on track after eight years of the Bush maladministration, which has broken down our government to the point that it's nearly beyond repair (think giving no-bid contracts to private businesses and then farming out the oversight to other private businesses). Someone has to pull what's left of it out of the bathtub and resuscitate it so it can function properly. We need a President with a substantial understanding of governance, and I believe Sen. Clinton has it. She's serving her second term in the Senate, and that's valuable, but I also consider her years as First Lady of Arkansas and then the US relevant. To my mind, those years count as meaningful experience when they were lived by a person who is as intelligent and interested in the process as she is and always has been.

Sen. Clinton has faced down attacks from right-wingers for years, all of them ugly and some of them outright deranged. (If any of you had the dubious pleasure of receiving a slew of email from the professional Hillary-hater who's been blanketing Alabama for the past few weeks, you know what I mean.) She doesn't back down, and she's still standing. I admire her strength and her courage, and I think they'll serve her well as the Democratic candidate and as President.

Cross-posted from Birmingham Blues. Well, mostly. I left off the part about the local County Commission race.

The Words And The Music

Earlier today, Tom nailed it when he talked about getting the music right, and not just the words. I really like that as a way to articulate a difference that's hard to put your finger on. Here's that theme, explored in an interesting way:

Deval Patrick won the '06 Massachusetts governor's race after coming from third place in a three-way primary, against a party-machine candidate and a wealthy moderate. The way he won was significant -- speaking plainly about subjects others would triangulate, framing progressive ideas as common-sense, mainstream pragmatism, punching back at dirty politics without taking the low road, and encouraging a sense of shared duty and sacrifice, as JFK once did. His success -- across all demographic and party lines -- made me hope that someone would take notice and try it out at the national level.

When Gov. Patrick endorsed Barack Obama early in the process (before there was a bandwagon, and probably against the wishes of the state Democratic establishment), I hoped it was because he recognized something in Obama that would allow him to capture something at the national level that Patrick had tapped into in MA.

Or maybe because they both know it's important to get the music right.

Endorsing Obama

It's not about hating Clinton; I have a tremendous amount of respect for her, and I think she'd make a fine president. I think they're both smart, capable candidates who are about as progressive as you can be and still have a shot at being elected president in this deeply reactionary country.

I'm not assuming Obama is automatically more 'electable' than Clinton. I think they're both strong candidates with different electoral strengths: Obama is an incredible campaigner but remains untested against a non-Keyes Republican; Clinton has taken fifteen years of vitriol and is still standing, but starts out with maybe 40%+ implacably opposed to her. The bottom line is that Obama has a higher ceiling but a lower floor, could do better than Clinton but could also do worse.

What it is about is three things, in descending order of importance: the substance of their policies, the people around them, and the campaign style.

On balance, Obama's policies are more progressive than Clinton's. The difference isn't huge and it isn't across the board (her health plan may be a little better), but the biggest difference is in foreign policy in general and Iraq in particular. Clinton voted for the AUMF, and Obama opposed it. There are all kinds of ways to spin that, mitigating factors for the former and skepticism about the latter, but the difference is still there. Obama has proposed a detailed, carefully considered foreign policy that rejects the logic of the liberal hawks. Clinton has some of the most prominent liberal hawks (Michael O'Hanlon, for example) as foreign policy advisors. I think a President Obama would get foreign policy mostly right--and if a Democratic president gets foreign policy wrong, we're screwed for a long time to come.

To the people-around-the-candidates issue, add one more: Mark Penn. Union-busting consultant, flak for Blackwater, anti-populist, advocate of substantive triangulation--in short, a living caricature of every lefty criticism of the Clintons.

Both candidates are excellent campaigners. My preference for Obama on meta-issues comes down to words vs. music. We've always had candidates who said the right words but didn't know the music (Gore, Kerry, Dukakis, Mondale); the last candidate we had who did know the music was Clinton's husband. Progressives complain that Obama's speeches aren't 'specific' enough, but that's missing the point; read his position papers if you want the specifics. Speeches are about the music more than the words, and Obama knows the music. That's what people are talking about when they rave about what an amazing politician he is.

That is, as I said, the least important of the factors in my endorsement--but it's not a trivial factor. A candidate who is solid on the issues and can move people who aren't as issue-obsessed as we are--that is, the other 95% of the country--that's a candidate with the potential for greatness.

My Personal Guess? Obama

My personal guess is that its going to be Obama in a landslide. Why? Because two friends at brunch yesterday retailed every bit of silly anti Clinton "wisdom" that has ever tittle tattled off the screen quite uncritically and are voting for him and both my parents are voting for him too (staunch liberals, shrewd voters). Hell, even I'm voting for him. What that means is that lots of people are treating this primary as an "all things being equal" Obama has fewer negatives than Clinton so why *not* vote for him. The Obama people are out in force here--Cambridge, MA--and no sign of HRC and her supporters.

I don't think that this landslide, which I hope happens, bodes any good for the party or the general election. Because its based on the same weak calculations as the obama/mccain matchup for independents is. Because the people I'm talking to are making the same (stupid) calculation I'm making which is that every other voter is just as dumb as I am. So they attribute to every other voter the same vague unease about Clinton--"its just terrible the way she let Bill...do X" and "she's so divisive" is about the level of analysis. At the same time they are trying to align themselves with other voters to beat the hypothetical Republican nominee without realizing how very fragile their own analysis is. So they choose to vote for Obama because the Republicans have so shaped their view of Clinton that she's unelectable. And they don't really grasp how the media and the Republicans are going to shape their view of Obama and turn him into "unelectable" in a few months, too. Just look at what is happening to Bill Clinton's "statement" about "slowing down the economy." By the end of the primary season and the general Obama's uniter will have become "divisive" the fact that he "doesn't make republicans feel guilty" will have become "he's a raging LIEBERAL and he wants to impeach bush and cheney" and that wonderful racial healing that causes Republicans to say, starry eyed "he doesn't attack white people?" Why, we'll find out that he's nothing but the Black Panthers redux. And some not insignificant portion of the democrats will fall for it. Because if they haven't learned to distrust everything they hear on major news and read in major newspapers, they haven't learned anything in the last eight years.

Still, I'm incredibly excited. I took the "oath of office" yesterday to be a Clerk at our local primary and I have my 150 page booklet to read and I'll be at the Polls tomorrow from 6:30-9:00 or 10:00 trying to make sure that everyone gets to vote (Democrats, Republicans, Working Families, Green Rainbow and our own version of "declined to state" which is "Unenrolled" can all vote. But if those sneaky socialist party wannabes ask for ballots its no go). Its a historic primary and I can't wait to see how it turns out. We aren't allowed to say who has voted, or how they have voted, or do anything than other than point to the vote tallys on the machine all day. No talking politics--certainly no talking trash!--so pray for me.

aimai