The Truffle

This suspense is killing, ain't it. Gorebama is running somewhat late up in Detroit. Jennifer Granholm (Michigan's governor) is giving the required rousing intro to Gorebama while Olbermann and Dana Milbank are indulging in the required news analysis. Milbank claims that Gore is practically "above politics" at this point. He does not, however, believe Gore wants to return to politics. Granholm just took off her shoe. Interesting. Now, Dan Abrams is up, with the usual slate of professional blabbermouths. And heeeeeeeeere's Gorebama! Al Gore congratulated Detroit on the Redwings. He's giving a really rousing speech. Best quote: "After the last eight years, even our dogs and cats have learned that elections matter!" Boy, is he ripping the current idiots regime. And nobody can dispute what he's saying because...well...it's true. Who said Al Gore was a block of wood, again? I'm going to call/e-mail my friend Sheryl, who lives in A...

Supposedly, Obama is now doing what he's supposed to be doing: focusing on John McCain and not La Hill. Alas, McCain is taking all this personally, saying that Obama's making fun of his age. Lieberman, meanwhile, follows McCain like the neocon puppy dog he is. I'm sure he's jockeying for a VP slot. I also suspect that he won't get it. Just an instinctive thing. Both seem to be in serious denial--and I'm not talking about a goodwill trip to Egypt, either. Anyhow, Obama's pointed out McCain's disconnect from The World as It Truly Is: Speaking to a few dozen employees of a software company, Obama said McCain was "dead wrong when he said recently that he thinks our economy has made 'great progress' under George Bush. Is there anyone outside of Washington D.C., who could truly believe that?" Meanwhile, McCain keeps insisting he did in fact vote for Bush in 2000. Next up: the wingnuts will be asking why they should vote for a guy who...

Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich has joined Bill Richardson in endorsing Barack Obama. Reich not only likes Obama's policies better, but he also was turned off by La Hill's attack ads. Reich, now an economics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, told New York Magazine he saw new ads the Clinton campaign aired in Pennsylvania "and I was appalled, frankly. I thought it represented the nadir of mean-spirited, negative politics. And also of the politics of distraction, of gotcha politics. It's the worst of all worlds." "I've come to the point, after seeing those ads, where I can't, in good conscience, not say out loud what I believe about who should be president," he told the magazine. "Those ads are nothing but Republicanism. They're lending legitimacy to a Republican message that's wrong to begin with, and they harken back to the past twenty years of demagoguery on guns and religion. It's old politics...

Here is a list of other things voters don't care about: Reverend Wright and whether or not he loves America Flag pins (or lack thereof) Which senator is more patriotic (They're all serving in elected office. You think they'd bother to run of they really hate America?) Whether or not Obama knows a former '60s radical and/or served with him on a charitable board Whether or not Obama's dad is/was a Muslim Whether or not Obama himself is/was a Muslim Whether or not Obama's neighbor's co-worker's friend was a Black Panther Whether or not Obama has ever bumped into a member of the Nation of Islam Whether or not Obama ever shook hands with Suge Knight or any other gangsta rap impresario Really, voters don't care about those '60s radicals, mouthy preachers, and scary black people you like to talk about. They really are nowhere near as scary as the current administration or the batshit crazy neocon/theofascist cabal that's mishandled this country fo...

Dan Rooney , owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has endorsed Obama. In addition to offering vocal support for the candidate, Rooney also penned a letter to his fellow Pennsylvanians making a case for Obama. "True sports fans know that you support your team even when they are the underdogs," Rooney wrote. "Barack Obama is an underdog here but it is with great pride that I join his team." Meanwhile, voters in western PA don't care about Obama's remarks. Yes, some Democrats in Pennsylvania's Rust Belt communities were upset by Barack Obama's suggestion that voters there "cling to guns or religion" because of bitterness about their economic lot. But many more seem to think it was no big deal — and if there's a problem, it's with the political slapfest that has followed.... "It's so difficult to watch every word," said Mary Ellen Matunis, a Clinton backer from Shenandoah. "I was not offended," she said. "Poor...

Let's revisit what Obama said, shall we? You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. The recent flapadoodle over Obama's statement echoes manufactured outrages of years past. Like when Howard Dean said the GOP was "pretty much a white Christian party." Or when Barbara Boxer pointed out to Condi that neither had a personal stake in the Iraq war as neither had relatives serving in Iraq. In neither case did the brief flare of controversy translate ...

MSNBC is reporting a security breach: namely contract employees at the State Department who peeked at Barack Obama's passport records. Olbermann and Howard Fineman are discussing this right now. Two employees have been fired; a third was disciplined. The security breach, by the way, took place two months ago. And no action was taken until now. Team Obama calls this "an outrageous breach of security and privacy." Go ahead, tell me I'm paranoid. Tell me I need to remove the tinfoil hat. I doubt these were just a few flunkies browsing records sans authorization. In fact, I think "contractor" is a euphemism for "fall guy."

The full text of Obama's speech on race. Now can we get on with the campaign?

Speaking as a white person of the pale, red-haired, freckled variety, I get really, really embarrassed when other white people say things like "I don't understand why black people have to go ahead and do/say/behave in ways I don't like." Today's culprit is Saul Friedman , wondering why "all" black columnists support Barack Obama. Of course, Friedman undercuts his own argument early on: I don’t know every black columnist working these days on papers through the country. And I’m not counting the right-wing black writers like Thomas Sowell, or Armstrong Williams. But I have read many of the mainstream columnists, who are among the finest writers in journalism. And they are almost as one in their praise of Obama and their ridicule of Clinton. If black journalists really are wowed by candidates who share their skin color, then where were they when, say, Alan Keyes was running for president? Maybe there are other factors involved. Could it be that Obama is ...

Gone from the GOP, everyone. Looks like they finally learned. Looks like they finally learned. Anyhow, former GOP senator and current independent Lincoln Chafee has endorsed Barack Obama. He joins another sadly marginalized moderate, Susan Eisenhower (granddaughter of Ike) in supporting a Democratic candidate for president. Meanwhile, Chafee has a book coming out in a couple of months, titled Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President . Chafee was the only GOP senator to oppose the Iraq war and while his votes often left a lot to be desired, he is a decent guy. The book could be interesting. He's certainly a cut above Colin Powell and Christine Todd Whitman, in my opinion.

This is the first time I've ever voted in a primary. (I was an independent before switching to the Democratic Party in 2005.) All in all, it went very smoothly. Yes, I voted for Obama. Yes, I do think La Hill is a smart, pragmatic, hard-working politician. But I like Obama just a little bit better, mainly because I think we're ready to enter the post-Clinton/Bush political era. I would be perfectly happy with a President Hillary Clinton; I'm just ready for a change. Others' mileage may vary. Hillary won New York, as expected. So far, she has won six states and Obama has won eight. Among those eight states are...Kansas and North Dakota. Not exactly racially diverse. Not exactly liberal strongholds, either. That should tell you something. If La Hill gets the nomination, she should really make Obama her running mate. Just a thought. Another thought: there are a lot of wingnuts crying in their martinis today. Yosemite Mitt won exactly two states: Massachusetts...

Now, the discussion turns to healthcare. La Hill explains her healthcare plan would cover everyone--"It is a universal system." But it's not government-run. I have my doubts about this. Insurance companies would be required to cover everyone at "affordable rates." Again, I'm suspicious. Folks? Free markets and healthcare don't mix. But I guess it's socialist to say that, eh? Obamarama is up next. The universal healthcare plan wouldn't cover illegals. There are not enough resources, he says. "The only way we're going to be able to overcome the insurance companies, the drug companies, and the HMOs is if we are having all the negotiations in a public setting," he said. No drawing up plans behind closed doors. Inform the American people. At least there aren't any wires under anyone's jackets. Edwards claims that his rivals took money from drug/insurance companies. Obamarama denies this. "The problem is not that...

Ya know, La Hill's sniping at Obamarama really makes me dislike her. Yo, Hill. Shaddap already. He never said he was a fan of Reagan. He said Reagan was a "transformative figure" in American politics. Just a statement of fact, and what he's doing is no doubt trying to attract Republicans and independents. You yourself said you admired Reagan's communication skills. Enough already. She got booed, too. Yikes! Anyway, it's MLK Day and the Congressional Black Caucus is hosting a debate. Edwards is talking about subprime mortgages and proposing new laws to crack down on predatory lenders. "We need a national predatory lending law." He also wants to teach financial literacy. La Hill's moratorium on foreclosures sounds way weak. Now for Barack, who says that America has "a history of preying on low-income people." He also supports laws against predatory lending and "access to financings." Since I am not a homeowner, I ...

For the past week, it's been All-Iowa, All the Time on the cable news channels. Mornings, I'd flip on the TV to hear more punditry on Iowa. Le Sweetie would then ask, "When is this all going to be over?" Iowa has come. Iowa has gone. The netroots denizens are pleased as punch about 2008's new state of Obamarama. La Hill, meanwhile, is scrambling to regain her footing , because--soo-priiiiiize!--her current tactics aren't working. Some advisers say that the campaign miscalculated in having Mr. Clinton play such a public role, that Mrs. Clinton could not effectively position herself as a change agent, the profile du jour for Democrats, so long as he stood as a reminder that her presidency would be much like his. Other advisers say that Mr. Obama now owns the “change” mantra and that Mrs. Clinton needs a Plan B. “Hillary says she’ll change things, but then voters see Bill and hear them talk about the 1990s, and it’s clear that the Clintons are not offering c...

You know, debate fatigue is setting in--especially on the Democratic side. They're just not as pander-prone as their GOP counterparts. Anyhow, tonight, the Dems are debating at Drexel. Like Ted Koppel, Brian Williams seems unable to change his facial expression as he speaks. Barack is asked about his pledge to be more aggressive against La Hill. It's kinda weird that Barack would accuse her of sounding Republican, given his current chumminess with "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin. Barack is not sounding too inspiring or eloquent. What are these "sharp contrasts" he speaks of? C'mon, dude, what's going on here? I've liked what he's said in the past--definitely. And he's got points about La Hill. La Hill rebuts: "I don't think the Republicans got the message that I'm voting with them." She noted the last GOP debate, which was all "Hillary Hillary Hillary" instead of "Reagan Reagan Reagan." Truth ...

Of course, they just HAD to pre-empt Countdown with Keith Olbermann for the great Dem Q&A session last night. Before then, I had completely forgotten that so many people were running for president! And everyone came out a winner. Yes, each candidate, whether first- or second- or third-tier, deserves some sort form of recognition for his or her performance that night. Most calculating candidate: La Hill. Man, she knows how to say all the right things in front of the cameras. Except one. Nobody's heard her say, "My vote for the war was a mistake." And nobody's heard her say, "Here's how we can exit Iraq." Most atypical performance by a blabbermouth: Joe Biden. Yes, the politician who has single-handedly contributed the most to global warming with his hot air managed to keep his bloviating in check that night...more or less. Most disappointing: John Edwards. C'mon, where's that inner fire? He could've been more forceful when ta...

Normally, Ann Coulter is so predictable and utterly nonsensical that she isn't worth a blog entry. Blathering in that weird upper-class hoity-toit voice of hers, she spouts the same variations on "LiBRulz R teh SUX0r!!1!1!" at the same lectures and on the same installments of "Hannity & Colmes." She's becoming quite boring, if you ask me...but not so boring that she can't be of some use to Democratic candidates. She unwittingly volunteered for the job of DNC fundraiser when she called John Edwards a "faggot." Team Edwards didn't need No-Doz to stay awake during her ramblings. They decided to use her little outburst to raise campaign money. While Mitt Romney (who introduced her) is trying to distance himself from the twit, John Edwards' campaign crew is hoping to raise $100,000 in "Coulter Cash." If the other candidates are smart, they'll follow Edwards' lead and use Coulter's outbursts to motivate future...

Note to La Hill: If you want to win voters, like the two thirds or so who think the Iraq war is a bad idea, you could try responding like this when Cheney tries to put a positive spin on Situation FUBAR. "Now, keep in mind, this is the same guy that said we'd be greeted as liberators, the same guy that said that we're in the last throes. I'm sure he forecast sun today," Obama said to laughter from supporters holding campaign signs over their heads to keep dry. "When Dick Cheney says it's a good thing, you know that you've probably got some big problems." I'm liking Obama more and more by the minute.