Presidential Race

Timmeh’s Ultimate Problem?

ArchPundit February 27, 2008 No Comments

I would normally say that it was that he got several facts wrong, but instead of asking questions that illuminate a position, he tried to ask gotcha question after gotcha question after gotcha question.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/3nCwv57H_2g" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

It wasn’t good questioning because it didn’t allow for clarification or nuance instead insisting on yes or no answers that had little to do with substance.

The Answer Man Addresses Timmeh

ArchPundit February 27, 2008 No Comments

Michael Berube (I can’t do the accents in any reasonable amount of time) answers the important questions from the important people:

Mister Answer Man, Greg Sargent seems awfully flip about this. He seems to think that Obama is now completely off the hook, and that the question itself was “inane.” I’m not so sure. Aren’t the American people entitled to know whether Barack Obama, as a Muslim, approves of another Muslim who thinks Judaism is a “gutter religion,” and shouldn’t Obama reject him even more strongly by rejecting and denouncing him and then repudiating and disdaining him as well? – D. Schlussel, Michigan

Read the whole thing….

The Truth Will Set You Free

ArchPundit February 26, 2008 No Comments

Can’t make it up–shortly after Iowa:

Last night Big Media was finally able to publish the story they wrote a year ago. The victor last night was Big Media. The victors last night were Chris Matthews and Tim Russert.

But let’s not excuse what happened last night by blaming others. Let’s not make excuses by cheering about the delegate count or the delegate distribution in Iowa (Obama gets 16 delegates, Hillary 15, Edwards 14). Let’s not cheer about Hank Aaron nor the continuing endorsements coming in for Hillary. Let’s not cheer about Hillary strength in nationwide polls.

We need to take responsibility for what happened in Iowa. Let’s survey the damage and the opportunity.

* * *

Dodd, Biden and the rest are now out of the race. Richardson gets to participate in Saturday’s debate but goes nowhere. Edwards gets to participate in Saturday’s debate but goes nowhere (conventional wisdom before Iowa was that for Edwards Iowa was a “must” win – Edwards lost. Conventional wisdom was right and Edwards will have a tough time raising money, organization, and support.)

Iowa was a problem for Hillary for several reasons. Obama was from a neighboring state and spent a lot of money there and Edwards practically lived there for years. A bigger problem was the unified field of opposition against Hillary (Big Media, Republicans, and the Democratic candidates). This unified field of opposition meant that “going negative” against an individual in Iowa could easily backfire and there were too many opponents (include Big Media, Big Blogs, and Republicans) to take everybody on in a fight. Another complication was the ability of independents to vote in Iowa; a complication which exists in New Hampshire as well.

The race is between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Big Media. Barack Obama is the Chris Matthews candidate and we need to treat him as such.

* * *

Our biggest failure in Iowa and beyond: we let down young people. Young people wanted change and excitement and truth and we gave them words and policy, and logic.

We effectively abandoned young people to a flim flam artist. We did not provide the truth to young voters. We were afraid they would get angry and disillusioned. We abandoned them. Young people thought the change and therefore the excitement was with the other side. We were excited by Hillary because we know she represents change worth having but we did not engage young voters by arming them with all the facts.

Flim flam artists target the young with excitement and hoopla, and hope. That is the way it always is. Hillary campaign strategists viewed Obama as a political adversary to be counteracted within normal political discourse involving policy. But Obama is a flim flam artist. You defeat flim flammery and flim flam artists by exposing them for what they are.

Again, you do not defeat a circus parade. You cannot persuade a bystander, using logic, not to be excited about the circus parade. You cannot cite statistics about how the parade is financed, how ugly the clowns are beneath the makeup, the amount of cheap glitter and paint employed to create the excitement.

Reading and viewing assignments for the Hillary media team this week: Elmer Gantry (book and movie), The Music Man (movie). Understand the opposition.

How do you defeat the Chicago circus of the ridiculous? Tell the truth fearlessly.

Young people and gay people did not know about Obama’s cynical gay bashing tour in South Carolina. Why not? Why did the gay newspaper The Washington Blade endorse Hillary but not mention the gay bashing tour of South Carolina? The campaign did not get the message out. Advertise in gay periodicals – tell the truth – fearlessly. We did, but as our commenting student in Iowa informed us, the campaign did not get the message out in Iowa. This is what we wrote:

What’s great about this is after all of the claims about the Obama cult, I have to say this and a few select bloggers out there have an uncanny ability to channel Wolfson and the whining that everyone is out to get them

Or from a cult checklist:

The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.

Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar-or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity).

The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.

? The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary. This may result in members’ participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting money for bogus charities).

Most Hillary supporters are good people and many are friends. The people running Hillaryis44 might get some deprogramming…

Some More Hillaryis44 Fun

ArchPundit February 26, 2008 No Comments

I’m waiting for the site to explode in a blast of spontaneous

They have been entertaining me for a while now and I thought I’d share some of the better bits:

Winter Solstice:

For nonbelievers the Winter solstice brings the scientific fact of spaceship earth returning to the Sun’s ascent and the promise of longer hours of lifegiving light. The alignment of bright stars in Orion’s belt with the massive dogstar Sirius in northern skies brings the promise of rebirth with the eventual Spring embrace.

For believers, various celebrations are observed and encapsulated in the circular wreaths of evergreen.

Let me suggest that a site putting this out there, ought to be careful about calling people incense burners and birkenstock wearers….

On Obama and Clinton 

Obama:
Obama, like any flim-flam confidence man, is running against the clock. Flim-flam artists have to keep moving and changing stories and charming and spinning and talking that sweet talk – all the while keeping an eye out for the law. The trick is to pocket the money you got from the rubes who believe that snake-oil you sell but get out just in time to avoid the pokey.

Obama’s problem: The clock is ticking faster than Obama is dancing.
After getting away with complete acceptance of his totally manufactured story Obama began to face scrutiny from the more discerning members of the Democratic left. The more intelligent members of the Democratic left began to dismantle Obama’s bull and take notice of why Republicans were acting as Obama cheerleaders. Their judgment was “No there there – an empty Republican suit.

Hillary:
Hillary’s numbers began to soften when the Big Media Party, especially Tim Russert, decided to throw everything they had at her. Immediately the Republican candidates started to run ads against Hillary in places like New Hampshire. The Democratic candidates too continued the attack on Hillary. It was Hillary against them all. Her poll numbers softened. Now the opposite dynamic is in effect.

With the death of Benazir Bhutto candidates like John McCain, respected and loved by Big Media, began echoing the Hillary message. Experience matters. McCain and Big Media started to talk about the value of experience at the same time Obama started to get some little examination. John Edwards too finally realized his problem was Obama the concilliator, not Hillary the fighter. Edwards also realized that he needs to replace Obama as the non-Hillary. As we noted above Edwards adopted a hypocritical but intelligent stance regarding the financing of his campaign. Obama, whose numbers had earlier risen with the collapse of Edwards’ soft supporters is now losing those soft supporters to Edwards.

The Hillary campaign had already adjusted to the all out assault on Hillary initiated by Tim Russert. The endorsement of Hillary by the Des Moines Register and the rollout of that endorsement and the Hillary surrogates and the Hill-o-copter, the return of reality to the campaign trail because of the killing of Bhutto, and the last minute realizations of John Edwards all have contributed to the Hillary rise. But the big factor helping Hillary is that Iowans know they are being tested. Iowans are the ones who have to help select the next president – not a drinking buddy, not a popular college professor, – the president.
As Iowans get closer to decision day this Thursday, Iowans get serious. Pick a president Iowa – and Hillary will do just fine in the caucuses

That was three days before teh Iowa Caucus.

Mark Penn’s and Howard Wolfson’s stupidity is catching

One quote: “Let’s stay positive and not get away from the long-term game plan.”

Two quotes later: “of course we’ll fight… Make no mistake it’s now a fight between a true competent woman leader and a puppet propped up by Karl Rove.”

Night is day, white is black, that state matters, that same state doesn’t matter….