2008 Primaries Thread 2: THE QUICKENING

I'm not really much of a Noonan fan, but this a good point:

To top it all off, Mrs. Clinton has, for 30 years, held deep respect for her husband's political acumen, for his natural, instinctive sense of how to campaign. And he's never let her down. Now he's flat-footed, an oaf lurching from local radio interview to finger-pointing lecture. Where did the golden gut go? How did his gifts abandon him?

What has happened to Bill? People can say what they like about his politics, but he did seem to have a good ear for what the public wanted to hear and he seems to have lost that now.

9/11 changed everything?

(Slightly more seriously -- seems like any pro in any field who, having gotten used to coasting by while at the top of the totem pole, gets lazy/befuddled/frustrated when things don't work anymore and starts to flail.)

^^^otm

its cause hes not campaigning for himself - that remove is fucking w/his instincts

Bill Clinton is like the Michael Jackson of American politics (sans plastic surgery)

and sans fucking kids

IT IS BECAUSE HE IS CURRENTLY NOT GETTING ANY ON THE SIDE.

its cause hes not campaigning for himself - that remove is fucking w/his instincts

-- jhøshea

Who knows, but this feels true. He's a creature of ego, and the role he's currently playing doesn't serve that (& isn't served by that).

whats the difference between michael jackson and bill clinton...?

Founder of Boston tells Huckabee to quit playing his song
By HOLLY RAMER
Associated Press Writer

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ The chief songwriter and founder of the band Boston has more than a feeling that he's being ripped off by Mike Huckabee.

In a letter to the Republican presidential hopeful, Tom Scholz complains that Huckabee is using his 1970s smash hit song "More Than a Feeling" without his permission. A former member of the band, Barry Goudreau, has appeared with Huckabee at campaign events, and they have played the song with Huckabee's band, Capitol Offense.

Scholz, who said Goudreau left the band more than 25 years ago after a three-year stint, objects to the implication that the band and one of its members has endorsed Huckabee's candidacy.

"Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for," wrote Scholz, adding that he is supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. "By using my song, and my band's name Boston, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I've been ripped off, dude!"

Fred Bramante, who was chairman of Huckabee's New Hampshire campaign, called the allegations ridiculous. He said he attended dozens of Huckabee rallies in New Hampshire and other states and never heard Huckabee play "More Than a Feeling," other than when Goudreau campaigned with him in Iowa in October.

"Governor Huckabee plays 'Sweet Home Alabama.' Does that mean Lynyrd Skynyrd is endorsing him? He plays 'Louie Louie.' Does that mean The Kingsmen are endorsing him? To me, it's ridiculous," he said. "Never once has he said, 'The band Boston endorses me.'

Tensions between Scholz and some of the early band members date from the early 1980s, when CBS Inc. sued the band over delays in recording new albums. The company's Epic Records label recorded the band's first two releases: "Boston," in 1976, and "Don't Look Back," in 1978.

Scholz — who wrote, engineered, and laid down nearly all the instrumental tracks on the first album — countersued for the rights to the band's name and music. Three members of the original band, including Goudreau, testified for the record company, which lost.

In his letter, Scholz referred to Huckabee as the "straight talk candidate," but that label more often is applied to Sen. John McCain, who has had his own troubles when it comes to his musical playlist. Last week, McCain's campaign agreed to stop playing John Mellencamp's songs "Our Country" and "Pink Houses" at his rallies after the liberal rocker complained.

Mellencamp had supported Democrat John Edwards, who recently dropped out of the race.

Other candidates have had better luck selecting songs. Celine Dion said she was "thrilled" that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton used her song, "You and I" as her official campaign anthem. Obama frequently blares U2's "City of Blinding Lights" at his events.

and sans fucking kids

banging underaged poontang, sleeping with 8 yo boys = eh, minor differences!

obviously I'm kidding (mostly) but there are some similarities regarding overweening hubris/colossal ego + sex scandals + bizarre self-destructive behavior and a general "disastrous love affair with America public" narrative

"Obama '08 - Together, we can redeem the English language."

Note to Huckabee: Stop using BOSTON songs. Instead, use KANSAS songs.

or Head East. That dude's all et up with Jesus.

Never been any reason to vote for John McCain.

SEIU has made its formal endorsement for Obama.

hillary's new wisconsin tv ads coming hard, fast, negative, and probably expensive

i'm 100% sure the onion has, um, skewered the "rock star takes back his song from republican", but i wouldn't know how to find this.

when they do meet in debate again, she's ensuring that there's no way it'll be the same smiling, best-friends discussion of differences -- she could afford that when she was still considered the marginal favorite, but now she needs to come out swinging.

what i mean is, i don't know if the "hillary is better at debates" conventional wisdom is going to hold up once she starts using them to launch attacks. "soft voice" hillary is gone forever.

the next debate should be interesting. i see obama having a "there you go again hillary" type moment.

Don't know if this has been posted, so I'll post it :D

http://politicalmarket.cnn.com/

yeah, all of the prediction markets (intrade, rasmussen, & cnn) have obama as the heavy favorite for the nomination

Last night I watched tv for about 45 min and saw an Obama ad for every Clinton ad (in Wisconsin). Kinda nice that the Obama ads are purely positive.

what i mean is, i don't know if the "hillary is better at debates" conventional wisdom is going to hold up once she starts using them to launch attacks. "soft voice" hillary is gone forever.

She'll be fine at the next debate, even if she swings harder at Obama. Her debating success comes from her policy wonkery, not her "soft voice."

Republican Gerrymandering Favors Obama in Texas

kind of bummed he's not making an appearance here.

His (half) sister is a prof. at the university and is appearing at events every day until Tuesday.

Chelsea is whoring here and on Maui till tuesday as well.

(Tho, if she gets shrill, it could obv. hurt her. But by contrast, if Obama has another "You're likeable enough" moment, it will hurt him.)

For a candidate who prides herself on laying out nuances and details, I think Hillary's deliberate misreading and distortion of voting records and policies should be pointed out as disingenuous and in horribly bad faith, even insulting. I'm just hoping she gets called on it.

Clinton surrogate Bob Kerrey, shooting his mouth off again:

“You don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. Period... No new vote and no new caucuses, either. Just stick to the rules that they agreed to,” Kerrey said firmly.

Clinton campaign needs muzzle their dude, lol

^^ the remark was re: MI & FL btw

uh i wouldnt fuck w/him he is a war criminal after all

um so apparently Lewis did not actually switch???

http://www.ajc.com/master/content/news/stories/2008/02/15/lewis_0215.html

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/demo/featuredtask.html

^^ "implicit association" test of political candidates, supposed to measure unconscious reactions to images of the political candidates -- interesting

the times reporter has stuck by his story fwiw

deej, when pressed to clarify, he said if it came down to a convention vote of delegates, he said he would side with obama:

"When I talked to Congressman Lewis last night, he said, "look, the voters in his district on Super Tuesday in Georgia overwhelmingly supported the candidacy of Senator Barack Obama. And he said he would quote, "never ever do anything to go against the action of them." So he says, if this comes down to be a super-delegate vote — which he hopes and believes it will not — that he will support Senator Obama. But even more than that, he says he's concerned about this campaign going into a long fight to the convention. He said it would be damaging to Senator Obama and to Senator Clinton. And he said unequivocally that he would cast his vote for Senator Obama."

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/times_reporter_reiterates_lewi.php

http://www.pollster.com/USTopzDems600.png

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9897/demsfortelecomimmunityag4.jpg

wow @ Obama's Juggernaut of Hope.

StanM's jpg OTM OTM OTM that is some messed up shit

http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9872969-38.html

Olbermann 4 president

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/77138/

Hillary may win popular vote in Texas but lose in the delegate count.

lol at olbermann so pissed off he's ACTUALLY STUTTERING AND SPITTING.

btw -- No one should be surprised that Hillary thinks it's a dandy idea to prevent any legal action against the telecoms that illegally, irresponsibly, and damn near gleefully agreed to let the government monitor all of your phone calls and internet activity. Yeah, what frivolous lawsuits those would be. :(

Olbermann's been getting more and more muckrake-y over the last year. It's been fun to watch.

Yeah. He funny.

What does the suspiciously weasel-sounding phrase "failed to oppose" mean? Did they vote against it or not vote or what?

clinton didnt vote