Month: February 2008

You know, I don’t read Marc Ambinder’s Blog much, but this one was one of his best.

Unless Obama Wins, He Loses (via Marc Ambinder)

Like Marc said… "huh?"

To: Interested Parties

From: The Clinton Campaign

Date: Friday, February 29, 2008

RE: Obama Must-Wins

The media has anointed Barack Obama the presumptive nominee and he’s playing the part.

With an eleven state winning streak coming out of February, Senator Obama is riding a surge of momentum that has enabled him to pour unprecedented resources into Texas, Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

The Obama campaign and its allies are outspending us two to one in paid media and have sent more staff into the March 4 states. In fact, when all is totaled, Senator Obama and his allies have outspent Senator Clinton by a margin of $18.4 million to $9.2 million on advertising in the four states that are voting next Tuesday.

Senator Obama has campaigned hard in these states. He has spent time meeting editorial boards, courting endorsers, holding rallies, and – of course – making speeches.

If he cannot win all of these states with all this effort, there’s a problem.

Should Senator Obama fail to score decisive victories with all of the resources and effort he is bringing to bear, the message will be clear:

Democrats, the majority of whom have favored Hillary in the primary contests held to date, have their doubts about Senator Obama and are having second thoughts about him as a prospective standard-bearer.

Scratch that title, in this case, She’s moving the whole damn BALL FIELD! Spin? More like a tornado.

She’s in free fall, someone get a better get her a parachute!

Others: The New Republic, TalkLeft, Newsweek Blogs, Ben Smith’s Blogs, The Carpetbagger Report, Trailhead and others via memeorandum

Okay, I watched the Debates.

Here’s the official "Political Byline" Blog reaction to the Democrat Debates.

I went in, expecting a cat fight.  What I saw was basically another civil debate.

Hillary did come out in the beginning, a bit punchy, She did NOT lose her temper, as one of MSNBC’s talking heads suggested. She simply defended herself legitimately. Plain and Simple, I didn’t detect anger at all. Anyone who suggests otherwise, is simply either biased against her, or the democrats in general.

Other than that, I detected a very calming, civil tone to the debate.

Yes, there were quite a few zingers, The Pillow Fluff crack, Hillary Musing because she’s the first to get the question.  There were a few others, but the pillow fluff crack was about the only one that I remember and yes, I howled with Laugher.

I believe, however, because I am a realist, I believe that Hillary and Obama are quite ambitious about their crusade to get National Healthcare.  If they think that the Republicans are going to just lay down and let them steam roll a National Healthcare plan through, they both have a screw loose.  Quite frankly, Conservatives will fight that tooth and nail, until the second coming of Christ. Plain and Simple. In reality, it will be a hard, strong, bloody fight. Would it be worth it? I’m not going to comment on that. Because I’m not in their shoes. I will however, continue to comment on it, even after the election, because, quite frankly, it will be an interesting topic to follow.

On Obama, about the Louis Farrakhan issue, I think the Media’s bringing that up, is playing right into the race baiting of the Conservative Media. I’m quite shocked that the MSM Media, especially MSNBC would even bother going there.

I think Obama held his own, very well. He didn’t have a knee jerk moment, at all and I think that says quite a bit about him. He’s proven to me, that he is not anywhere near the caliber of Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, and believe me, that’s a very good thing,  

Now as far as Body language, I didn’t really pay attention to that, I listen to words, Not body language. (Unlike some people!)

So, who won? I think it was pretty much even. They both did fine, I think.

Question is, what did you think? Comments?

Yeah, I watched them. You can read the transcripts here.

It seemed the debates were quite civil. At least until Keith Olbermann’s show was over. It also tended to heat up, after Keith’s show went off. Which really struck me as odd.

Yes, I did think that. "I wonder if they knew?".

A couple good lines by Hillary:

BROWN: Senator Clinton, is it the silly season?

CLINTON: Well, I think that if your candidacy is going to be about words, then they should be your own words. That’s, I think, a very simple proposition.

(APPLAUSE)

And, you know, lifting whole passages from someone else’s speeches is not change you can believe in, it’s change you can Xerox. And I just don’t think…

OBAMA: Come on.

(CROSSTALK)

CLINTON: No, but, you know, but, Barack, it is.

Because, you know, if you look — if you look — if you look at the YouTube of these videos, it does raise questions.

Now, there is no doubt that you are a passionate, eloquent speaker, and I applaud you for that. But when you look at what we face in this country, we do need to unite the country, but we have to unite it for a purpose around very specific goals.

On the outset, this may sound like she was being snarky and cute. But this most likely will hurt her run for White House. Not recorded in this official transcript was the resounding chorus of Boo’s that went up, when the comment of the Xeroxing of comments was made. It really wasn’t Clinton’s smartest move.

Other than this here, I didn’t notice any outlandish sparring by the candidates at all.  Other than the long winding sparring over heath care. Which was supposed to be about Iraq. 

There was one good moment in this debate, however, here’s the Video:

And, you know, no matter what happens in this contest — and I am honored, I am honored to be here with Barack Obama. I am absolutely honored.

(APPLAUSE)

CLINTON: Whatever happens, we’re going to be fine. You know, we have strong support from our families and our friends. I just hope that we’ll be able to say the same thing about the American people, and that’s what this election should be about.

I think the Democrats, like JFK, RFK, LBJ and FDR, would be proud of that moment. That Democrats, despite their differences, can come together, when the smoke clears and work together.

I just hope it works in November. Because, we do need some change, and I’m afraid that McCain just doesn’t offer it.  He is a great man, But his foreign policy and stance on the war in Iraq, is more of the same of Bush.

Others: protein wisdom, Lawyers, Guns and Money, culturekitchen, michellemalkin.com, michael linn jones, Megan McArdle, Redstate, Lonewacko, Reproductive Health, The Democratic Daily and Fraters Libertas and More via Memeorandum