Disqus - Friends of Indigo

Re: Taking a minute - literally - to raise money for Obama

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:38:33 -0000

that would be 10,000 people donating $100.

proving once again that NCLB doesn't work for adults.

Re: My interview with a big French magazine about American blogs and the elections

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 16:28:07 -0000

bravo, ca va attirer pas mal de nouveaux lecteurs francais. je me demande quelle est la preference en France entre nos candidats presidentiels. je ne trouve aucun sondage.

Re: Flippity-floppity

Steve_in_CNJ — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:43:46 -0000

"I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002." -Hillary Clinton 4/10

"I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country." -Bill Clinton 3/21

And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold. I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy" -Hillary Clinton 3/7

Re: PA Polls: SurveyUSA margin down to 6 from 14 last week; Quinnipiac has Clinton up 7; PPP has Obama up 3

Steve_in_CNJ — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:03:52 -0000

Pennsylvania has 29 unpledged delegates to go along with the 151 pledged delegates who will be selected as a result of the presidential primary on April 22. Because the superdelegates are unpledged, they can change allegiances at any time.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton leads with 15 endorsements to Sen Barack Obama's 5. Six superdelegates remain neutral.

Three more superdelegates will be chosen at the Democratic State Committee meeting in June.

http://www.post-gazette.com...

Re: Hillary: "A win is a win." Yes it is, Hillary. And you lost.

Steve_in_CNJ — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 15:16:31 -0000

let's pretend the press is embargoing the news of Obama's overall victory in the same way it embargoes poll results from the east coast while california is still voting. i know it's a fantasy, but it lets you be more sanguine about the great exercise in democracy currently underway in the keystone state.

Re: PA Exit Polls emerging

Steve_in_CNJ — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 18:40:59 -0000

"why is it that the so-called front-runner, Obama, is still having to fight it out with Clinton?"

because Obama is not the front-runner in PA. I don't mind that he is putting up a fight there. would you want him to say that PA voters don't matter? all these new and re-energized PA voters will help him defeat McCain in november.

Re: About those supposd Clinton & Obama voters going for McCain

Steve_in_CNJ — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:06:35 -0000

let's also face the fact that clinton supporters will support obama more enthusiastically if she is allowed to play this out until May 6. most obama supporters wouldn't mind this so much if she would just get a clue that the enemy is mcCain.

Re: NYT editorial board, which previously endorsed Hillary, now blasts her

Steve_in_CNJ — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:25:51 -0000

the editorial doesn't care for Obama's Annie Oakley comment, but i thought it was pretty good-natured. Agreed, his 'cling to guns' comment was a youthful mistake, but then he hit the right tone with Annie Oakley thing.

Re: NYT editorial board, which previously endorsed Hillary, now blasts her

Steve_in_CNJ — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 00:28:27 -0000

"reverse the situations ...would you be cheering for him to quit"

absolutely. the goal is to depose the neocons. nothing should get in the way.

Re: About those supposd Clinton & Obama voters going for McCain

Steve_in_CNJ — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 01:32:57 -0000

agree that there is a tone of schadenfreude in this site's support for obama. it IS possible to criticize effectively without being destructive (i wish hillary understood this). for example, talkleft is a pro-clinton leftie blog that tries pretty hard not to take pleasure in obama's weaknesses and goofs. they are clearly pledged to obama should their candidate lose. that's one way to influence the other side (obama himself is a proponent of this, no?). but what i've realized is not everybody is interested in influencing the other side. it's a personal choice.

having said that, talkleft posts some really dumb analysis. the posts on this site are just ... smarter.

Re: And he used to work for Bill

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:25:46 -0000

a famous old bumper sticker said "if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention" regarding pastor wright, i'd wanna say "it you're the least bit shocked, you haven't been paying attention". most of what he said could have been one of my rants except he has has more clarity and credibility.

the pundits and teevee brainiacs instruct us to be shocked that some of our older black leaders are pissed the fuck off. sorry, i'd like to help, but i'm running very low on shock after the horror of the last 8 years.

Re: And he used to work for Bill

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:57:55 -0000

villainous is not such a stretch to describe HRCs antics of late. the challenge is to make hillary democrats (about 50%) see this. if sarcasm and condescension can make this happen, i'd say go for it. but a better model is the obama campaign, which has been more good-natured about her, only occasionally stooping to ridicule and zingers. i'm relieved to see it because the tone on this blog, if that's the alternative, would lose him the general election lickety-split (he can't win without that other 50%). come here (or to DKos) to relieve your frustrations but tone it down when you're out in the real world. <forced grin="">

Re: Blacks think Hillary trying to destroy Obama in 2008 so she can run in 2012

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:16:12 -0000

here's why the SDs will put an end to this after 5/6: Kennedy-Carter 1980 only worse.

http://www.tnr.com/politics...

if HRC says any more negative crap before that, it might be even quicker.

Re: Blacks think Hillary trying to destroy Obama in 2008 so she can run in 2012

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 09:37:36 -0000

The "Clintons" have the support of 50% of the party. I'm not sure you're fully appreciating the problem here. The Obamas seem to have a better grip on reality. Thankfully.

Re: Why can't Hillary close the deal?

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:34:25 -0000

one way to make ABlog more influential and credible, in addition to getting AJ to play good cop to John's bad cop once in a while, is to honestly report Obama's flaws when they come up. i'm not talking about bullshit like wright-gate or bittergate or even mcclurkin-gate. i mean policy. paul krugman is a great economist and NYT editorialist. he brings up a couple of things today. 1) the obama campaign is missing an opportunity to contrast the bush economy with the clinton economy instead of saying they are the same and 2) obama is off-base when he says hillary would force people to bankrupt themselves buying mandated health insurance. these are economic issues that should be the purview of chris in paris, but they don't come up.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008...

Re: Why can't Hillary close the deal?

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:00:05 -0000

First, I don't think saying someone is of the Hillary persuasion is substantive criticism. It's actually a polarizing, empty insult.

Second, the Hillary plan is to subsidize insurance for people who can't afford it. The potential benefits, especially to people who are "hand to mouth" (hence uninsured) are immense. I don't see the downside for poor folks. There are smart economists and health care experts who see a problem with optional insurance, which is what we have now.

Finally, Obama's plan would mandate insurance for children. How do you see that affecting the "hand to mouth" demographic?

Re: Why can't Hillary close the deal?

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:12:19 -0000

"it will hurt those who are in between, no longer middle class and not poor enough to be considered for government programs"

countries with universal health insurance save gazillions by keeping people healthy, restricting insurance company profits, and eliminating red tape. we currently spend 16% of our GDP on health, more than 2 times the next most unfortunate country. It also makes our businesses more competitive internationally. if you think the middle class will suffer from universal coverage, you should be attacking obama's policy on child coverage with the same vigor. it sounds like you might have a fundamental problem with reform of any kind.

Re: Why can't Hillary close the deal?

Steve_in_CNJ — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:19:51 -0000

"but when you have a huge piece of the community who can't afford those facilities..."

that is precisely what we have now with optional coverage. let's hear your solution.

Re: Finance Director of Democratic congressional campaign: Hillary is destroying us

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:51:27 -0000

There's too much hysteria on both sides of this. Take a deep breath.

Hillary will try to energize her white blue-collar base while continuing to say she will "support the nominee". There's no serious harm in this. Half of the staunchest Dems out there are for Hillary and the other half are for Obama. The losing side needs to be let down as gently and as graciously as possible. I think that is Obama's strategy, actually.

Now that the traditional media have recognized they can't continue to trash the next US president with impunity, there will be more scrutiny of McCain. Hillary will win the Appalachian states (which DO matter) quite handily but with a suppressed turnout. Obama will win in Oregon with a bigger turnout. SD's will be able to point to this difference. Those who can afford to take sides without pissing off their home districts will do so.

Relax, there's tons of money out there for Dem candidates. It's only halfway thru the 2nd quarter. Take a deep breath.

Re: Finance Director of Democratic congressional campaign: Hillary is destroying us

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:26:32 -0000

i didn't say let down the candidate. i said let down the millions of HRC supprters. the money now going to obama will come back to the dem candidates via the coat tails. a lot of it is cash on hand for the general.

Re: Finance Director of Democratic congressional campaign: Hillary is destroying us

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 08 May 2008 15:38:53 -0000

It's phenomenal how many americans are watching the dem primary. and obama is using it to define himself. that's positive campaigning, not necessarily time wasted. how many months do you need to allocate for negative campaigning against mccain? there's going to be oodles of time for that.

Re: Hillary top aides still threatening to take race to the convention in August

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:20:39 -0000

"This is why Hillary is the republican version of bush."

the implication is that half the democrats in the country are actually republicans, a sobering thought. when Obama reaches out to "republicans", does he really mean Clinton democrats?

Re: Here comes Whitewater, again

Steve_in_CNJ — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:47:33 -0000

is it possible to slide so far to the left that you re-enter on the right and become a republican? god forfend, as bill buckley liked to say. but this is the most ridiculous anit-hillary post i've ever seen in the left blogosphere. MoveOn would be ashamed.

meanwhile i recommend this amazing post on the FISA fiasco over at DKos:
http://www.dailykos.com/sto...

Re: Gee, now they're pulling the woman card

Steve_in_CNJ — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:23:22 -0000

I've preferred Obama since about March, and just like a lot of other voters, prefer him more and more every week because of the character contrast. But...

Hillary has not been racist, she's been racial. Saying that she can't win a southern primary because 50% are black is not racist -- it's racial (and factually true, btw). Piling on with the Wright attacks is neither racist nor racial, it's dirty politics. Siding with the republicans on that issue is analagous to John randomly bringing up Whitewater yesterday. Saying she is the candidate for the whtie working class is unnecessarily racial but not racist, since she never said whites are better than blacks. Jeremiah Wright points out this difference whenever people say he is a racist.

This matters because of something called affirmativce action. To systematically choose the black candidate between equals (which contributes to Obama's 90% support from black and egghead voters) is not a bad thing, given that blacks have never had proportional or high-level political represenation. Affirmative action is not racist, it's racial, and I for one am okay with it. I just don't think you need to keep articulating it in every circumstance.

Obama has been neither racist NOR racial (unless responding to attacks, as in the Philadelphia Wright speech). That is one way of several ways in which he is a better candidate.

Re: Gee, now they're pulling the woman card

Steve_in_CNJ — Sat, 10 May 2008 09:48:26 -0000

i suppose you're right. but then you have to have an argument for why affirmative action is not damaging to white children.