Silence Gives Consent

Our Presumptive Democratic nominee's recent powerful statement denouncing FISA, and denouncing those who would support this most recent hideous Bushist fascist attempt to get the telecoms off the hook for having rolled over, belly-up and played dead when Dirty Bush and Big snapped their Bushist fascist fingers:

(crickets )

"Feingold and Dodd on the FISA Cave-In," via Common Iowan.

Glenn Greenwald, here.






.

You Don't Own Me

You Don't Own Me - The most amazing bloopers are here

I had a dream.

A dream of the meaning of what being a PUMA Obamist is all about.

My dream was a song.

What is my dream telling the Democratic Party and the nominee-to-be?

Will they get it?



Update: Who's not coming out swinging against FISA?

Answer: you-know-who.


(And on this happy note, see VastLeft's "I don't know how to love him" at Vast Left-wing Conspiracy.)

McCainist Sexism: Classic Rape Joke Still A Real Knee-Slapper

Rape, anyone?

Hands up?

No, really, raise your hands? It's okay.

Anyone for rape?

No takers?

Gee, it's like that commenter here who, oddly enough, minded when I called him sweetie. Mind? Mind being called sweetie? Why would anyone mind, eh?

Now there's this one:

"Rape is like bad weather. As long as it's inevitable, why not lie back and enjoy it?"


Haha.

Classic joke! Classic!

One had forgotten this classic joke, really, one had! One had not recalled, however, its funniness! Which might have something to do with one's being a certified rape crisis counselor, or maybe it is that special time, and one is just feeling sensitive to the point of periodically wanting to attack. You know, suddenly the claws come out.

Anyhow, the classic fun-rape joke turns out to be a favorite of a McCain donor. And John McCain, who himself seems a little over-sensitive at times, is annoyed that some people are finding his donor's fondness for the classic fun-rape joke something objectionable.

And, the swine, they keep asking him about it!

McCain was asked why his staff had even scheduled a fundraiser with Williams, who in 1990 joked that rape was like bad weather: “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” McCain was visibly agitated. He furrowed his brow, fidgeted with his notes, blinked rapidly, scowled, squinted, scoffed and grimaced before answering.

Well, ok, then, so he's not giving back that donor's money, and he hasn't said it was a not so funny joke. Obama gave back all the money from the Ferraro/Clinton big fucking whore fundraiser oh wait wait no he didn't nor did he apologize. He did apologize for "sweetie" and then revealed he calls people sweetie all the time but its just a bad habit so nevermind. But hey its way better than calling them cunts so he sure wins my girlie vote by golly.

On the upside, at least some reporters are asking candidates about this kinda stuff. Is that progress?

"After canceling a fund-raiser to be held at the home of Texas Republican oilman Clayton Williams, Republican presidential candidate John McCain will not be returning $300,000 raised by the controversial oilman.

During an unsuccessful 1990 bid to unseat late Texas governor Ann Richards, Williams remarked that women should give in while being raped. “As long as it's inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.” Williams also said he would campaign against Richards like you would a cow on his ranch, “head her and hoof her and drag her through the dirt,” said Williams.

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman, Karen Finney, called Williams's comments, “not only outrageous and disgusting, they degrade our values as Americans.” Finney continued, “Senator McCain should know that you cannot expect the American people to trust you if you say one thing when you stand on the stump and turn a blind eye to this kind of language when you think no one will notice.”'

Pot calleth kettle black a bit there, sweetie.

Some of us noticed some blind-eye turning, yep. Not to mention some actual use of degrading and disgusting kinda stuff by those who ought to know better but so far don't.

PUMA Obamist = Zero Tolerance.

Anyone paying attention?






(Lie back and enjoy these sweets, sweeties: America's Favorite Progressive Candy: Keith Olbermann Gummi Penises!)

(Feel Free to Bludgeon Me With This One, However) ;)

Our dear John.

His Bush-brown-nosed nose sniffing up Bubble Boy's stinky armpit as if it it held the last line of coke.


Why does John McCain hate the Constitution so much?

"McCain: Guantanamo Decision One of the Worst Ever."

I think John just lost the election.



(Please note my official change in affiliation. All credit goes to John McCain, story above. I read what John said. I heard a roar of thunder. There was a magical flash, a puff of smoke, a soft rain of sparkles, and suddenly I found myself riding on Unity Pony!

But wait -- is Unity Pony beginning to look a lot like a Unity Puma? Yes, yes, I think she is. No DNC Kool-Aid for this PUMA Obamist. There are scores to be settled with the parties who have done us wrong, & attention must be paid.

I retain hold on my wallet and heart, and will use them as Archimedes' Lever, just as The Ghost of Dr. Violet Socks, at Reclusive Leftist, says. There's a price to be paid for your bad behaviors.)

Update: A very nervous George Will is begging Barack Obama NOT to choose Hillary Clinton as his running mate because choosing Hillary would make Barack SO look like a pussy in George Will's eyes.

One must always consider George Will's eyes, must one not? I'm sure he's not actually worried about some dumb old Unity Ticket Democratic Party landslide that might roll the Republican party back into the Middle Ages 4-everrr.


McCain

Bludgeon Me Not With Roe v. Wade

I know that John McCain is a sexist pig. He's a Bushist Fascist Republican, after all. I expect him to be a cunt-calling, dumpy-wife-dumping, Chancellor-Merkel-petting, pubic-hair-on-the-coke can, government-forced maternity kinda guy.

Liberal/progressive Democrats I expect not to be cunt-calling sexist pigs.

Or even regular old garden-variety sexist pigs.

Litmus test: IF sexist, THEN non-progressive. Q.E.D.

I mean, how hard is that?

So when those on the left side of the aisle begin shrieking like those on the right, I get a little worried.

I'm worried.

And not just about poor little cotton-candy pink Unity Pony with her big round sad eyes, puking and retching in the ER, waiting for 2 days to be seen because the hospital found out her health insurance was bogus and tossed her out of the ICU.

What worries me is all this stuff about Hillaryists being responsible to save Party Unity Pony.

Uh -- not.

It's the malign acceptance of sexism (in Big Tent Democrat's term) among so-called progressives that is driving large sections of its base into the arms of -- someone.

Someone else. To McCain/The Greens/sitting out this election/none of the above/not sure yet call me later.

This breach was caused by the behavior of deeply gender-biased otherwise adult boyz who just don't get it, and needs to be healed by actual progressive men who do 'get it'. Like sending Nixon to China. Those boyz -- and you know who they are -- aren't going to listen to girlz in the first place, and they haven't. If they'd listened when we first spoke up -- and speak up we girlz did -- they wouldn't still be in the mess that they're certainly in.

And it is their mess, not ours. It is the bilious stench of classic neanderthal testosterone-deficient sexist sniggering fratboy crap, coming from, of all people, "progressives," that has contaminated our Democratic political environment and spread through the body politic like Ebola.

It's got to stop.

Real progressive men can save Unity Pony, so
this is a call to arms.

Arise, cool dudes, and join the Sweetie Rebellion.

Ball's in your court. ;)

(Note to self: did one just indulge oneself in a rescue fantasy? Hm.

Let's reframe: Marine on point discovers dangerous enemy target, calls in airstrike, transmits relevant coordinates.

Yes, it's just a metaphor, people. But it works.)

Unity Pony DeathWatch?/Unity Pony ResuscitationWatch?

I think I'm evolving. That's a little scary. I woke up this morning and found my mind had, of its own accord, changed.

Again. Well, you know how broads are.

A couple of days ago I decided, having teetered on the brink for some time, and with consultation with people I respect and shutting out my experiences with vitriolic persons who behave like Bushist fascists in Liberal Democrats' clothing, NOT to follow the Way of the Puma (and those of you who know what I'm talking about know what I'm talking about).

This morning I discovered that I want Hillary Clinton to be on this ticket any old way at all, even as VP.

Framing it thus: Hillary consents to be VP, and her role as VP changes by specific agreement with her running-mate, from the role of all previous Vice-Presidents: she assertss power as VP, with her own portfolio of issues, such as universal health care. The Democratic party and Barack Obama throw their support behind the ERA. The Democratic party, all of it, figures out that to be sexist equals not being a Democrat. The party re-defines itself in a civil manner, rejecting this odd virus of demonizing that it has somehow caught from Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove.

Demonize the demons of the anti-habeas corpus, moral/fiscal bankruptcy-of-America, pro-torture crowd for a change, why don't we?

Thoughts?


Update:

Remember Bushist George Will, who really really wanted Hillary Clinton to drop out of the race for the good of his party?

Well, now he really really wants Hillary Clinton NOT to be Obama's VEEP. Then George says that Obama would look pussywhipped if he chose her. Hm. Someone's got his panties in a twist. Maybe Unity ticket = Democratic Party landslide?

Paul Krugman, one of the few who really gets it, "Who, us? Sexist?"

HOWARD Dean tells it like it is. At least he knows how to use the S word. A beginning. On the other hand, the article is accompanied by a headless shot of Hillary's cleavage. New York Times. Feh.

This is a great clip, by Sarah Haskins via Shakesville, of Obama and McCain both targeting Hillary Clinton voters: TARGET WOMEN: SUFFRAGE.

Obama & the Equal Rights Amendment

Section 1. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

Section 2. The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Section 3. This amendment shall take effect two years after the date of ratification.



I had almost forgotten about the ERA, first proposed in 1923. I knew it hadn't been added as an Amendment to the Constitution, but somehow it had slipped out of sight.

Turns out that 38 states need to approve the Equal Rights Amendment.

35 States have already done so.

That means there are only 3 states to go, from among these 15: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Utah, and Virginia.

Surely Florida is ready to ratify. And Illinois. Arkansas is close.

Maybe it's time for Obama to put his money where his mouth is -- and pledge to get the ERA ratified.

That would be a good place to start, if we're still trying to save poor lil' Unity Pony with her big round sad eyes and two broken ankles, lying in ICU on a respirator, struggling, wheezing with COPD. She might have a bit of Ebola, too, I'm thinking that's blood there, not glitter, on her cute cotton-candy pink mane.

(Here, up and out of the ashes, is the phoenix-like, spontaneously-arisen Sweetie Rebellion section of blogtopia, via Reclusive Leftist.)

The Real McCoy McCain

O-kay.

As part of my bittersweet bittersweetie healing ritual, I'm going to concentrate for a while on the Real McCain, he who cunt-called his (second) wife, he who remained silent when asked how he was going to beat "the bitch," he who told in public the following joke: "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."

Here, John tells us how he wants to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Here, John tells us that he will "reduce the pain of high gas prices." What's he going to use? Morphine?

Here, John tells us how he wants to stay in Iraq until Al Qaeda in Iraq is defeated. No, honestly, he really said that. About Al Qaeda in Iraq. Which wasn't there, prior to, you know, the invasion that John fully supported. And John is a little bit fuzzy still about telling Shi'a from Shinola. But hey. This guy was tortured. And he's pro-torture! Pro-torture torturees make great Presidents, I'm told.

To illustrate his character, here's John's classic-Republican-ugly-fat-poor-old-first-wife-dumping kinda guy . This isn't the wife he called a cunt, mind you, that's Cindy, the blonde rich one who's young enough to be his daughter, not that there's anything wrong with that. A good catch for John, she bankrolled his run for Congress -- John McCain who also called second wife Cindy a trollop. Because Cindy had too much makeup on and remarked on John's thinning hair. In particular, I like that John left his first wife because she was in a car accident and came out limping. After the war, he came home limping, but that was ok.

Our John seems like quite the sweetie, does he not?



Just to keep the poor traumatized Unity Pony on life support at least, keeping the conversation going, here's The Village is a Sack of Pus Waiting to Burst, from lambert at Corrente.

Here is one of my two favorite Obama-supporting bloggers, Big Tent Democrat, a person who actually gets it, "A New Version of the Malign Acceptance of Sexism.". When I read his short but sweet post, I can almost feel Unity Pony's long curly eyelashes begin to flutter, in a subtle sign of life, perhaps?

Here is the other of my two favorite Obama-supporting bloggers, Jesus' General, featuring John McCain in "I'm So Sexy for the Pundits."

They Shoot Unity Ponies, Don't They?

So, I'm having a moral quandary.

I'm good with being anti-McCain.

But -- every time I think about getting on the Obama bus, I find I want to throw myself under it instead.


Here's Anglachel, on "Bittersweet Acceptance." Yup. What she said.

And a little something from big tent democrat, one of my two favorite Obama-supporting bloggers. What I like best about BTD is that he gets it. May his getting-it-ness increase and pervade the universe.

And more about women and the media whore media's sexist sniggering fratboys (and their fratgirl enablers.)

And here is Bob Somerby, toward whom I, like, totally bow down with folded hands, w00t!ing.

It's All Our Fault If Obama Loses, BTW, Sweeties

Yuh, in case you were wondering.

They're so cute, the Obamists, are they not, when they're trying to shove Party Unity Pony, spandex spangles and all, down your throat?

How about this lil' lady's piece, right , here, from The New Republic.
Watch out. It's proudly sexist and ageist, which seem to be hallmarks of the New Faux Liberalism.

She calls it "Clinton Dead-Enders and the Crisis in the Women's Movement."

"Clinton Dead-Enders"?

What a charmer!

Why would I not support your boundless contempt, eh?


Oh, and here's CNN covering up Obama going golfing while the stupid bitch finally calls it quits. CNN tried to cover it up, because, you know, maybe it makes him look, well, you know, insensitive or Bush-like or something?

Over & Out: Every Man For Himself, Edition

Wednesday night

Dear No Blood for Hubris:

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign.

Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama.

The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I
will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have
shown me in the past 16 months.

And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,
Hillary Rodham Clinton

The Chosen One is Chosen Albeit Before the Polls Close & Results Are In But Who Cares 4 Chosen Is As Chosen Does & Evermore Shall Be So

Yes, boys and girls, it's true. I swear it.

The Chosen One at last has been Chosen.

I have no TV access at present, off as I am, hinting in the hinterlands, so I went to ABCnews.com, and they told me in that He has been Chosen-ed.

I am on EST in these hinterlands, and well do I yet know the polls in SD and MT could not possibly have closed, yet I was told that He Has Been Chosen.

Well, well, well.


A lot of persons must be really happy!

Good for them.

Me, I'm just here in the hinterlands, where it's hard to post at all, and I can't provide any links. I feel like invisi-blogger.

Speaking of invisible, I kept trying to find out the actual results from, you know, the primaries from last night, as this paragraph is being written the Morning After. Actual votes? Took about an hour to find that Hillary had beaten Barack in SD to the tune of 12% in a state he was supposed to win. But who cares. Tried to find out what happened in Montana, but at cnn and nytimes there was zero mention of any actual votes in any actual primaries. Oh well. It's so historic, winning this thing. It has previously been interesting to me that, in the last several primaries, whenever Hillary is beating Barack her win was pretty much ignored by the mwm and the Faux-Left Manichean Naderites. They're like that. Particularly the sniggering sexist fratboys (and their fratgirl enablers) are like that. Congrats to Johhny A and Kos and Soto, et al. They have beaten back the scary feminine archetype at last. Whew.


Here's the current probability of winning of The Not Chosen One versus McCain: 100.0%

The Chosen One came in at 56%.


Them what has made their bed get to lie in it, so bludgeon me not with Roe v. Wade, obamists. Not to worry, though. You can beat me and mine up again, all you want. It was all our fault, was it not?

Who cares? The hills are alive with -- the sound of --

Hope! Hope! Shiny! New! Shiny! Shiny! Change change change!

On to the GE!


And may the best man win!


.

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Hillary Electability Tsunami?

Via Hominid Views.

Hillary Trounces McCain Who Beats Obama.


Hillary Clinton v. McCain
100.0% Probability of Winning of Clinton winning against 0.0% Probability for McCain


Obama v. McCain

51.8% Probability of McCain winning against 47.4% Probability for Obama


Yes, yes, yes. I know. "Winning isn't everything!"

WWTSBQ?

Department of And Now For Something Completely Different, No Blood for Hubris Official Mental Health Interlude

This is George Orwell's grave. Look closely.
Is he spinning in it?

Fine article on inspiring experiential transcendentalist Harvard neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, here.

Click through to her absolutely fabulous speech, Stroke of Insight, at TED, and watch it all the way to the end. Or just click here.

-------------------------------
The No Blood for Hubris Official Mental Health Interlude endeth here. I'm off to the hinterlands, unlikely to post. Talk amongst yourselves.

In the meantime, something really disturbing from Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft. The point is to click through to the actual videoclip from YouTube, & watch and listen to the very end.

(I thought about writing about it, but it was really too disturbing. So I'm not. But I'm linking. That's what I do when there's something that is so disturbing that I don't actually want it on my blog, and how disturbing might that be? Very. Really. Sexist, racist, don't want to go there right now, but you should see it. Primary sources, gotta love 'em. )

"Thanks -- for the Vitriol!" scroll down.
Taking the FITH -- the divine series "Are You Fucked In the Head?"from vastleft at Corrente, here.

Thanks -- For The Vitriol

Let's talk a bit about what really makes us angry, boys and girls.

And WHO makes us really really angry.

And guess what --it's NOT the person(s) who are responsible for a war based on lies that killed 700+ sentient beings, for morally and fiscally bankrupting the country, for shredding the constitution, for deliberately drowning competent government so that more actual people actually die, and for making torture socially acceptable, among other things.

No, we're actually not hot under the collar about any of those things. Sadly enough.

No, someone ELSE makes us really really angry.

Let's talk a bit about Faux-Liberal Manichean Hysterical Vitriol Syndrome, ok?

It's the Faux-Liberal version of Ebola.

See, while the Ebola virus just makes you bleed out through every pore of your skin while you puke out your guts, sh*t yourself, and die in agony, the Faux-Liberal Manichaean Hysterical Vitriol Syndrome makes every thought you ever had SUDDENLY COME OUT AS IF YOU WERE TYPING IN ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME.

as in -- WWTSBQ HILLARY RACIST BILL RACIST WORSE THAN BUSH RFK RFK PLOTTING ON OBAMA B*TCH TEMPER TANTRUMS RUINING THE PARTY BOO HOO NOT VP BAD BAD PERSON B*TCH WHY WON'T SHE SHUT UP ROLL OVER AND DIE THAT B*TCH BIG F*CKING WHORE HILLARY

HILLARY STEALS OUR DEFENSELESS YOUNG AT NIGHT AND GOES TO HER LAIR AND PEPPERS THEIR INNOCENT BODIES WITH SALT AND PEPPER AND OLIVE OIL AND AND FANCY FRENCH SPICES OH GOD AND SHE ROASTS THEM AND TOASTS THEM OVER AN OPEN FIRE ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT TILL THEY'RE DONE JUST RIGHT AND THEN THE B*TCH STARTS EATING THEM FOR BREAKFAST ESPECIALLY ENJOYING THEIR CHUBBY LITTLE FINGERS WHICH TO HORRID FIENDS LIKE HER SEEM SO EXCEPTIONALLY SUCCULENT.


I have to agree.

The True Believers have every right to be furiously angry.

Obama's tanking, and it's all her fault.

Why can't she stop being so reasonable and so competent, out-classing her weak centrist opponent at every turn?

Why can't everyone see what they see through their viral Maenad filters, she's a racist classist tantruming hormonal periodicallydisturbed unlikeable ambitious thick-ankled hard-nosed-c*nt-assassinationist!

It isn't fair!

Why aren't all these irrational vile swiftboat smears working?

[insert foot-stomping here]

Why won't the stupid bitch quit?



Love and kisses to Kos, Johnny A, Soto, Arianna, KeithO, JoshMM, and all the rest whose outrage is endless against one of their own while letting the actual Bushist fascist pro-torture crowd totally off the frickin' rage hook, eh?

Clinton Trounces McCain Who Trounces Obama; Aravosis, Kos Suffer From Acute & Chronic PMS

Hi there, boys and girls! You enjoying the socio-political atmosphere these days?

I sure am.

Oh, and while we're having fun, let's check out the electability tsunami for today at Hominid Views.

Hillary.

CLINTON BEATS MCCAIN WITH NEAR CERTAINTY

99.9% probability of winning in a Clinton/McCain match-up?

w00t! Let's make sure the superdelegates don't know about that!

Obama.

MCCAIN GAINS ON OBAMA.

80.7% probability of McCain winning against Obama. But who really cares about winning, eh?


O-kay.

Let's make SURE we nominate the guy who's going to lose to McCain, because that really demonstrates party unity!

Now let's check on Aravosis/Kos, bloggerboyz who are SO dedicated to Democrats losing the election in November so that Dem Party Unity Pony stays alive? (Or do I mean so Dem Party Unity Pony dies a horrible death? Um, whateverrr.)

God, they just can't frickin' help themselves, can they?

The Democratic Party is imploding, women are leaving it in droves, men who support Hillary are leaving in droves, and these loudmouth sexist sniggering rabid fratboys just can't shut down their Pieholes of Misogyny Syndrome.

You can get the gist via Corrente, "Well, women are childish. We know this." I'm not linking to them. They just SO suck. AND -- they're destroying the Democratic party and making Karl "Miss Piggy" Rove smile.



[And here's The Great Purge, "Daily Kos Is a Nappy-Headed 'Ho'"]
[Here's my prescient post from April 2007, before The Great Purge "Markos Moulitsas Is A Nappy-Headed 'Ho'"]
[And here's Aravosis's own memorable horrible person terrible twos temper tantrum.}

It's the Sexism, Stupid! (Part 2 -- or is it 3?)

.Great article by Andrew Stephen at the New Statesman (via Corrente/Talk Left).

I can't really comment now, but it's worth a careful and complete reading. Someone quick send this to Keith Olbermann and Markos and all the rest of them.

HATING HILLARY

by Andrew Stephen

"Gloating, unshackled sexism of the ugliest kind has been shamelessly peddled by the US media, which - sooner rather than later, I fear - will have to account for their sins

History, I suspect, will look back on the past six months as an example of America going through one of its collectively deranged episodes - rather like Prohibition from 1920-33, or McCarthyism some 30 years later. This time it is gloating, unshackled sexism of the ugliest kind. It has been shamelessly peddled by the US media, which - sooner rather than later, I fear - will have to account for their sins. The chief victim has been Senator Hillary Clinton, but the ramifications could be hugely harmful for America and the world.

I am no particular fan of Clinton. Nor, I think, would friends and colleagues accuse me of being racist. But it is quite inconceivable that any leading male presidential candidate would be treated with such hatred and scorn as Clinton has been. What other senator and serious White House contender would be likened by National Public Radio's political editor, Ken Rudin, to the demoniac, knife-wielding stalker played by Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction? Or described as "a fucking whore" by Randi Rhodes, one of the foremost personalities of the supposedly liberal Air America? Would Carl Bernstein (of Woodward and Bernstein fame) ever publicly declare his disgust about a male candidate's "thick ankles"? Could anybody have envisaged that a website set up specifically to oppose any other candidate would be called Citizens United Not Timid? (We do not need an acronym for that.)

I will come to the reasons why I fear such unabashed misogyny in the US media could lead, ironically, to dreadful racial unrest. "All men are created equal," Thomas Jefferson famously proclaimed in 1776. That equality, though, was not extended to women, who did not even get the vote until 1920, two years after (some) British women. The US still has less gender equality in politics than Britain, too. Just 16 of America's 100 US senators are women and the ratio in the House (71 out of 435) is much the same. It is nonetheless pointless to argue whether sexism or racism is the greater evil: America has a peculiarly wicked record of racist subjugation, which has resulted in its racism being driven deep underground. It festers there, ready to explode again in some unpredictable way.

To compensate meantime, I suspect, sexism has been allowed to take its place as a form of discrimination that is now openly acceptable. "How do we beat the bitch?" a woman asked Senator John McCain, this year's Republican presidential nominee, at a Republican rally last November. To his shame, McCain did not rebuke the questioner but joined in the laughter. Had his supporter asked "How do we beat the nigger?" and McCain reacted in the same way, however, his presidential hopes would deservedly have gone up in smoke. "Iron my shirt," is considered amusing heckling of Clinton. "Shine my shoes," rightly, would be hideously unacceptable if yelled at Obama."

Evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, American men like to delude themselves that they are the most macho in the world. It is simply unthinkable, therefore, for most of them to face the prospect of having a woman as their leader. The massed ranks of male pundits gleefully pronounced that Clinton had lost the battle with Obama immediately after the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, despite past precedents that strong second-place candidates (like Ronald Reagan in his first, ultimately unsuccessful campaign in 1976; like Ted Kennedy, Gary Hart, Jesse Jackson and Jerry Brown) continue their campaigns until the end of the primary season and, in most cases, all the way to the party convention.

None of these male candidates had a premature political obituary written in the way that Hillary Clinton's has been, or was subjected to such righteous outrage over refusing to quiesce and withdraw obediently from what, in this case, has always been a knife-edge race. Nor was any of them anything like as close to his rivals as Clinton now is to Obama.

The media, of course, are just reflecting America's would-be macho culture. I cannot think of any television network or major newspaper that is not guilty of blatant sexism - the British media, naturally, reflexively follow their American counterparts - but probably the worst offender is the NBC/MSNBC network, which has what one prominent Clinton activist describes as "its nightly horror shows". Tim Russert, the network's chief political sage, was dancing on Clinton's political grave before the votes in North Carolina and Indiana had even been fully counted - let alone those of the six contests to come, the undeclared super-delegates, or the disputed states of Florida and Michigan.

The unashamed sexism of this giant network alone is stupendous. Its superstar commentator Chris Matthews referred to Clinton as a "she-devil". His colleague Tucker Carlson casually observed that Clinton "feels castrating, overbearing and scary . . . When she comes on television, I involuntarily cross my legs." This and similar abuse, I need hardly point out, says far more about the men involved than their target . . .

Read on gentle readers, read on. Up to the part where we wind up with a weak candidate against McCain, who gets elected.

Yeah. What he said.

Obama: A Tale of Too Tepid Momentum

There's rustling in them thar hills.

Yep. There's rumblings.

Buyer's remorse? (Note pic from Obama mailer pushing Republican talking point anti-universal health care frame. Ooh, we don't want to be forced, do we? Universal health care = assault?)

Post-slick-salespitch need for cooling-off period?

And what's with the tepid finish?

"Momentum has disappeared," said Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire. "Except for that one stretch between February and March where Obama won 11 in a row, momentum has really taken a backseat to the demographics . . .

"I think there's concern . . . that his coalition has big holes in it. He hasn't consolidated the Democratic Party and he isn't any closer than he was after, say, Super Tuesday. That voter bloc, the white working-class voters, they are in places that Democrats need to win. Without Pennsylvania, without Ohio, the electoral-college map gets difficult for Obama . . .There are general election concerns there."

Yuh, I'd be worried, too.

McCain Takes the Lead Back From Obama, at Hominid Views.

Clinton Holds Her Lead Over McCain, at Hominid Views.

A great post by Anglachel on "Legitimacy, Not Unity."

The increasing rejection of Obama by voters is a measure of his declining legitimacy. People who once thought they would gladly vote for him, like me, are now implacably opposed to him. He is no longer legitimate in our eyes. He has not sought legitimacy, which would mean facing up to oposition and allowing himself to be challenged, questioned, and probably be found wanting by some people, but has opted to pursue power at any price.

Participating in and profiting from the media hatred of the Clintons, throwing out accusations of racism to try to forestall criticism and inflate AA vote counts, encouraging people to be "Obamacans" not Democrats, the "Democrat for a Day" strategy, engaging in intimidation and threats to extract caucus votes, aggressively trying to monopolize money specifically to silence alternative voices, and treating voters who do not choose him first with contempt.

Lack of legitimacy means relying on force to win. If you have to bully people to make them be quiet, you have lost legitimacy. If you have to remove votes from the contest in order to win, you have lost legitimacy.

From Corrente, "Gene Lyons Finds Uncreative Racists Who Spurn Obama Surprisingly Articulate and Informed."

And the most recent Quinnipiac Swing State poll.

Not happy news for Obama. Are the superdelegates listening?

May 22, 2008 - McCain Leads Obama In Two Of Three Key Swing States, Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll Finds;
Clinton Has Big Leads In Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania ---

FLORIDA: Clinton 48 - McCain 41; McCain 45 - Obama 41;
OHIO: Clinton 48 - McCain 41; McCain 44 - Obama 40:
PENNSYLVANIA: Clinton 50 - McCain 37; Obama 46 - McCain 40

Don't say I didn't warn you.

Don't Worry Your Pretty Little Heads About It, Sweeties

From Jeralyn at TalkLeft, "I Won't Back Down."

Obama Slips Against McCain, at Hominid Views. Obama 55.1% probability of winning vs. 41.9% probability of winning for McCain.

Clinton 89.7% probability of winning vs. McCain 10.2% probability of winning at Hominid Views.

Obama's "Sweetie" Challenge.

From Jeralyn at TalkLeft, "Who Had The Bigger Win Tonight?"

"Stages of Death -- The Obama Campaign" from garychapelhill at The Confluence.

Department of And Now For Something Completely Different

THE RADIANCE

I talk to my inner lover, and I say, why such rush?

We sense that there is some sort of spirit that loves birds and animals and the ants.

Perhaps the same one who gave a radiance to you in your mother's womb.

Is it logical you would be walking around entirely orphaned now?

The truth is, you turned away yourself,

and decided to go into the dark alone.

Now you are tangled up in others, and have forgotten what you once knew

and that's why everything you do has some weird failure in it.


By Kabir, version by Robert Bly

Say, Is That Groundswell a Rising Electability Tsunami, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

Now, remember, boys and girls -- it's all about beating the Bushist fascists to a pulp in November, is it not?


From Corrente, "Clinton Election Juggernaut Accelerates."

From Hominid Views, stats suggest an 89.1% Probability of Clinton Winning Against McCain' 10.9%.

Update: From Hominid Views, Clinton continues strength against McCain: now 89.3%.

And yet more from Hominid Views, here.

From Anglachel, "Fear and Loathing."

From Big Tent Democrat, "Is a Funny Thing Happening On the Way To Obama's Coronation?"

My current personal favorite -- from TPM, an actual Obama supporter reports on Weekend Electability Simulations.

"This week I ran 100,000 trials for both Obama/McCain and Clinton/McCain matchups.

The results:
Obama wins 37.1%, averages 264.7 EV
McCain wins 61.3%, averages 273.3 EV
Electoral tie 1.6%

Clinton wins 99.0%, averages 290.7 EV
McCain wins 0.8%, averages 247.3 EV
Electoral tie 0.2%

This week is both the strongest Clinton has been, and the weakest Obama has been, since I've started running this simulation."

These numbers were run this weekend, May 17, 2008.

Tide? Turned?

In Oregon, Clinton Blasts McCain at Portland Town Hall Meeting That Obama Turned Down


Then, there's WomenCount PAC.

And let's never ever forget, "Go Away, You Horrible Human Being," by fellow Democrat John Aravosis, because that's what intra-party amity is all about, is it not?
.

It's the Sweetie Rebellion, Sweetie!

Uh-oh.

Hell hath no fury like -- damn!

Why won't those uppity bitches just shut up, roll over, and die?

Why?

Why?

Why?

"Women Threaten Obama Boycott," More here.

Obama sends out paid schmooze-trolls to hypnotize them bitches and bring 'em back into line, here.

HillBuzz on the 400 bloggers, here.

Red Queen on "It's Too Late for Flowers and Candy, Blogger Boyz," here.

Sweeties Against Obama, here.

A Pre-Nup for Obama, via" The Confluence.

"We have something the Obama boyz want reaaaal bad. And it’s going to take more than sweet talk to get it. Oh, yeah, baby, baby, baby, we can keep this going for a long time but you’re not getting our votes until we get a weddin’ ring.

You have to marry the old, uneducated, working class, sino-peruvian lesbians or you can just go home with Rosie. And here’s what we want in a pre-nuptual agreement (courtesy of FrenchDoc):

Seat Mi/FL

Now, on to the policy questions, because, as racist, bitter, old, low-info, etc., . . . as we are, we actually care about substance:

- take privatization of SS off the table
- prosecution of the Bush crime clan
- promotion of women’s and LGBT’s rights
- progressive economic policies
- universal health care
- repeal of no child left behind, no merit pay plan
- out of Iraq / no bombing of Pakistan
- reinstate habeas corpus
- commitment to appointing progressive judges on SCOTUS, no waffling
- commitment to repeal the partial birth abortion law, no waffling
- no telco immunity

Have I forgotten anything?

Oh yeah, stop abusing / insulting us . . . incredibly, it does not endear BO to us.

Yeah. What she said.

---------------------------------------

Get well soon, Teddy Kennedy. He's a good and responsive Senator, and imho his heart has always been in the right place.

The Chosen One Fearmongering on Social Security: What's Up With That, Sweetie?

Remember when Senator Obama attacked Senator Clinton about Social Security? Using a Republican frame?

I do.

I'm not the only one who does.

A while back, Matt Stoller pointed out:

One, there is no crisis with Social Security, which is something progressives understand. There are many crises around the world, including fiscal ones in this country. But Social Security is fine.

Two, politically speaking, Social Security was the issue upon which Bush's momentum in 2005 crumbled because of a large progressive organizing effort.

That Obama is using the need to shore up Social Security as an attack on Clinton, well, this makes me want to say that I'm disappointed that Obama is abandoning the politics of hope.

On another level, I just feel bad for progressive Obama supporters. It's simply awful to watch a person that you thought was great and progressive betray and embarrass you for political gain, and move into a more authoritarian direction.

A lot of Obama supporters at this point will become much quieter since there's little that is positive to say, which will allow the more ardent types to occupy more of the conversation. That's really unfortunate, but it's just a reality that Obama has given up his role as a participant in the progressive conversation.

He'll be back as he's too giant a figure to leave permanently. But his campaign at this point is leaving him not just scarred as a Presidential figure, but as a political figure in general. He has just shrunk dramatically in stature.

Okay, that was last fall.

Josh Marshall, before his transformation, thought that Obama was wrong about Social Security.

Obama was (and is) wrong about using Republican frames to attack Hillary Clinton.

How did The Chosen One get away with it? With passing himself off as a progressive, without actually being progressive?

Why is he still getting away with it?

Oh, right. Because that's what being The Chosen One is all about?

Way too Kwisatz Haderach for me, sweetie.

(Or should I say, "cutie"?)




PS: Interesting stats via Hominid Views, here.


.

Wonderings About The Chosen One: Clean Up Your Act, Sweetie?

Isn't it ironic.

This ironic picture of Barack Obama mystically rising from the Willamette River appeared in Willamette Week, accompanying an article which endorsed him for President of the United States, in a non-ironic (I am led to believe) endorsing kinda way.

And yet -- somehow -- there seems to me to be a certain aura of, well, unicorns, sparkles, and strewn roses that pervades (perhaps perfumes?) the non-ironic portion of the socio-political air.

But anyway, last night I (or rather my Pariah Clintonista av) listened to WA-08 Congressional candidate Darcy Burner at SL's Virtually Speaking; she impressed me with her intelligence, insight, and her energy for --well, change. Non-ironically speaking.

She also impressed me with her enthusiasm for Barack Obama. Which was almost infectious.

So this morning, I read my morning newspaper.

In it was an article about Bush's appeasement slam of Obama. I read about Hillary Clinton defending him against Bush, saying, "President Bush's comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers if offensive and outrageous, especially in the light of his failures in foreign policy. This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address."

So far, so good.

But at the article's end was this:

Mr. Obama has likened his foreign policy approach to that of the so-called pragmatists in the administration of the first President George Bush, which carried out the first American invasion of Iraq, in 1991, and he has shared those sentiments recently as he has sought to woo independent voters in swing states. “I have enormous sympathy for the foreign policy of George H. W. Bush,” he said. “I don’t have a lot of complaints about their handling of Desert Storm. I don’t have a lot of complaints with their handling of the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Oh good.

Obama's down with a Ronald Reagan who singlehandedly huffed and puffed and blew down the Berlin wall?

Obama has enormous sympathy for the foreign policy of Bubble Boy's father?

A rose by any other name, would smell as sweet as a Republican foreign policy can smell.

How sweet is that, really, sweetie?

On Wearing The Scarlet 'Hillary' [from 5.2008]

So much anti-Hillary hysteria.  Intra-party rancor. It makes me want to throw up. (Not to mention that I don't deal well with rancor in general, which I won't mention.)

All this name-calling and intra-party partisan hysteria, in addition to making me want to throw up, makes me want to call up Tony Benn, my social democrat hero, and ask if I may please, please throw myself onto his lap, sobbing, while he pats my hair paternally and reassures me that, sooner or later, everything's going to be alright.

Which may or may not be the case. And may or may not be what he would say. It's, you know, a fantasy.

Meanwhile, besides work, I try to amuse myself making green curry of duck, endless steaming pots of chicken soup, and digging in the garden, and indulge in aimless streams of thought: "Windy today, by the way. I like that poem by Czeslaw Milosz. I don't think anybody read it. People don't like poetry. Well, Americans don't like poetry much, certainly. South Americans do. In my experience, everrrybody in South America can quote Neruda. Here it's such an egghead thing. Why do Americans hate eggheads? Why do they hate intelligence? Why did they elect Bush? Why do they hate Hillary?"

My political head hurts.

Using Cheney's adjective: "Big-time."

Ok, then, why do they hate Hillary Clinton so? In particular, why does the so-called left wing of the Democratic party hate Hillary Clinton? Why are they aligned with Karl Rove? Beats the crap out of me.

Not in RL, but in blogtopia and SL, I belong to a shockingly despised minority because of this.

It's been very unsettling. I am one of the many commenters at Kos who fled after the Great Anti-Hillaryist First Purge.

Seeing my dendrobium send out a pre-bloom shoot this morning, I was reminded of John Aravosis, fellow orchid-fancier, whose blog I regularly visited, commented at, and really enjoyed until his Great Anti-Hillaryist First Purge. (Now John's written a charming post entitled "Go Away You Horrible Human Being," and he's NOT talking about Dick Cheney.)

Ditto Democratic Underground and BuzzFlash and HuffPo and on and on. Oh, and now we have John Edwards and NARAL throwing Hillary under the bus. Way to offend people you really don't want to keep on offending, people. (Or should I say, "sweetie"?)

In SL, though friend avs remain friendly (I think), once I'm in a larger political social grouping, the slightest show of Hillarysupport from me results in an automatic "INCOMING!"

I've toyed with the notion of making a little sign above my avatar saying "Pariah Clintonista," just to get it over with.

I think it's important to be supportive of whoever one's supporting, but there's an edge of virulent hysteria here with which I'm both suspicious and uncomfortable. Now it's starting to spread over into virulent anti-Obamania, and I just can't go there, either. Not at all.

So, Tony, dear -- you once called yourself a "biological Buddhist."

Where is the Middle Way?



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