Date

Hillary's Nixon-esque Final Days

susan — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:44:49 -0500

Yesterday I flew home from Michigan, spending time in two airports. In each one, the ubiquitous TV's were tuned to Fox "news" and Hillay's jubilant victory speech in Puerto Rico. There was no sound, but from the captioning you'd think that Hillary was Fox's kind of gal, and that Barack Hussein Obama (yes, they really do call him that on Fox) was the anti-christ. "In every category, every demographic, even those concerned about the war, people overwhelmingly favored Hillary Clinton to Barack Hussein Obama, proving her point that she is indeed the more populist and likable candidate to take on front-runner John McCain . . . "
And, from Hillary's demeanor and words, you'd think she'd just won the presidency, if not supreme commander of the universe. (I've won more votes than anyone in history . . .) What she won was a love-fest in Puerto Rico, where they still adore Bill. And it's a perfect fantasy island sort of victory, because Puerto Rico may be Hillary's state of denial, but it's not a state.
Nixon parallel coming up.

He did it!!

susan — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:01:19 -0500

Okay, I wasn't as prescient as I thought when, late last night, I declared that Obama would clinch the nomination today and that the rally in St. Paul (yep, Barb and I will be there) would be his victory celebration -- his first appearance as the official presumptive nominee. I hadn't been watching TV or reading blogs, and I didn't know that everyone else was saying the same thing. Thought it was just my viscera picking up the movement below the surface.
It was more.

Yes, we did!

barbara — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 11:59:04 -0500

barbara writes

UPDATE: A wonderful Doug grow piece at MinnPost

I got in to the Obama event in St. Paul the hard way. Stood outside in intermittent rain for more than four hours before being allowed to enter the building. Close to door-opening time, we saw helicopters circling around the Xcel Center, presumably part of security for Obama. Rumors were flying, too. Jimmy Carter was coming to endorse Obama. Hillary was going to graciously withdraw her candidacy. As is the way with rumors sometimes, these were false.

Once inside Xcel, we went through an airport-type security check, laying our dangerous Obama pins and lipsticks on the conveyer belt and then being motioned through the security scanner, waved forward like an endless string of 757s lumbering toward the gate. Actually, it heartened me to see some security in place.

My friend Louise and I scored fourth row seats—a perfect vantage point for an up-close if not personal viewing of the next president of the United States, Barack Obama.

Louise and I had hooked up in line with an African American group of youngish folks. They’d all taken time off work to be part of this historic event. A good thing, because only half of the 35,000 or so folks who showed up made it inside.

A 26-year-old woman who was part of that group was lamenting her failure to remember to bring tissues. She suspected she was going to weep profusely when Obama spoke. I gave her some of mine. She said she’d never dreamed she’d really see a black man in the Oval Office. But her comments ran more than skin deep.

She spoke knowledgeably about Obama’s positions on major issues. She didn’t portray him as a saint—simply as an immensely talented and capable leader. And one who has cast off the stale old techniques and blah-blah rhetoric that have resulted in two presidential defeats for Democrats. Read on.

Live, from Rochester, Minnesota, it's Al Franken! (and susan and barbara)

susan — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:44:48 -0500

Social activist Randi Reitan writes:

"I keep going to the Clothesline to see a post on Al Franken ..... what are you thinking today on the whole sad mess? If ever there was a day to hang out the linens today is the day."

Well, yes it is. It's Friday, June 6. Tomorrow we, delegates to the DFL convention in Rochester, MN (yes, home of Mayo clinic) will endorse a candidate to take on Republican and Bush sycophant, Norm Coleman in the general election.

For those of you not immersed in MN politics, playboy Norm won Paul Wellstone's seat after Paul and Sheila Wellstone and their daughter and colleagues died in a fiery plane crash just weeks before the election in 2002.
Much more.

And the winner is . . .

susan — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 14:16:20 -0500

Al Franken! Rumor on the floor is that Al won on the first ballot. Needed 60% to win, I'm hearing he got about 61%.
It's not confirmed, but Jack's floor team can be seen hang-dogged and crying, and Al's floor team is looking jubilant and slapping high fives. More to come.

Al Franken's road to Rochester

barbara — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 21:39:13 -0500

barbara writes

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the state Democratic convention. I found myself all blithery over the kerfuffle about Al Franken’s professional past. Yeah, me. A confirmed Franken delegate. And I don’t even watch television! So how did I get sucked into the vortex? Internet, mostly. News posted there. Blogs that I tend to trust. Even at that, some of the din was damning.

So who made all the noise? The image of The Music Man looms large, albeit benign in contrast with the poo-flingers of current time. Remember Harold “Trouble Right Here in River City” Hill?

Remember how Hill (not unlike the Bushlicans) breezed into town and stirred up a flap about the moral decay of River City’s young people in order to feather his own nest? He was so slick and practiced that he succeeded in manufacturing a crisis that no one save Marian the Librarian even thought to challenge. Everyone else was all a-tremble at the nearly apocalyptic scenario Hill painted for them.

Fade to Minnesota, where a gaggle of Republicans plus redoubtable Democrat Rep. Betty McCollum launched a full-frontal assault on the "secret" life of Al Franken. Just one problem with that, of course. Franken’s life is pretty much an open book. Several of them, in fact. Read more.

Over-stimulated

barbara — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:54:40 -0500

barbara writes

Yesterday, David received a first-class letter from the IRS. On the front of the envelope was a boxed notice that said, among other things: Do not throw away! Thank God for that! Because, you know, we erudite progressives are so accustomed to living on the edge, we habitually toss communications from the IRS into the trash.

Understanding Your Economic Stimulus Payment, the letter begins. Then, fading to black, it continues: Please keep a copy of this notice for your records. It informs David that he will definitely receive his stimulus payment within four days (P.S., if he does not receive it within six weeks, he should be in touch). See update at end of post for a fab way to make Republicans go ballistic!

Coffee-fueled thoughts on Russert and the MSM

susan — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 14:13:00 -0500

Not just another pretty face.

I'm probably the only one around the Clothesline who's going to shed a tear for Tim Russert. And it seems to be my besmirched little pew here at the CLB to defend the MSM. (See comments on the previous post.)
So, first Tim, then the MSM.
On Sundays, my husband goes to church and I go to the morning talkies. I generally surf between Stephanopoulos and Russert, depending on what guest is appearing where, or which host has pissed me off more. For awhile I abandoned Russert due to his steady stream of Republicans -- a girl can only take so much of Lindsey Graham and John McCain -- and the insufferable Mary Matalin and James Carville punditing afterwards. Then Steph lost me, probably for good, thanks to his inane questions during the final so-called Clinton-Obama debate. When that's over, I read the NYTimes, but more on that later.

Sleep-deprived noodling on MSM (hold the Russert)

barbara — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:52:26 -0500

barbara writes

So I just went to Susan’s link and read the Neil Justin piece from the Strib, wherein he reflects on the National Conference for Media Reform early this month in Minneapolis.

Justin is bummed because of the scarcity of mainstream media reps at the Conference. And it does appear there weren’t a lot of them. What he doesn’t say (and perhaps doesn’t know) is whether they were invited and declined. I don’t know either. And because I was doing my duty as a delegate to the DFL convention in Rochester that same weekend, I am now dependent on the MSM (and others) to fill in the blanks for me. Who you gonna believe?

Justin spotlights Arianna Huffington and Phil Donohue as the conference’s “luminaries” with a later, albeit negative, nod to Bill Moyers. I admit that frosted my cake. Moyers as second fiddle to . . . anyone? Okay, Moyers did take a hit when the wackadoodle Jeremiah Wright appeared on his show to proclaim that he’s not a wackadoodle. But Bill Moyers remains for me a touchstone for journalistic integrity. Was it ever thus with him? I don’t remember. Like much of this nation now, I didn’t much care back in the day.

Anyway, re Justin’s complaint that the MSM were not greatly represented, I see there were a couple of Strib “alumni” at the conference – notably Jeremy Iggers and Joel Kramer. Hardly lightweights. Also there were reps from CBS, MPR and KSTP, along with FCC commissioners Jonathan Adelstein and Michael Copps plus representatives from assorted institutions of higher learning, churches and a boatload of grassroots organizations. A pretty good smorgasbord, all in all. Oh, did I mention bloggers? There were bloggers. And there is more to this post.

It's the Oil, Stupid

susan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:44:45 -0500

As the resident apologist for the mushy middle and the MSM, I remember saying in the nascent days of the invasion of Iraq that it wasn't entirely about oil.

I was unwavering in my opposition to the invasion, and knew that BushCo was purposely misleading the country, but I thought it was too simplistic to think that our leaders would send young Americans to Iraq to die for oil. "They may have no conscience," I'd say, "and they're liars, but they're not stupid."

Well, I was wrong. It was about oil. And they are stupid. But I was right about the other stuff like the lies. And the lack of conscience. Toss in corrupt and greedy while you're at it. And where's Don Rumsfeld these days anyway?
(I dunno, but read on anyway.)

Bless 'em all and thanks!

barbara — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 08:38:13 -0500

barbara writes

(Please see UPDATE following this post.)

Keith Kennedy is alive!!!

I was schlogging through the net’s miasma of bad, badder, baddest news when I stumbled onto the story, here and here. Instant tears. You, too? More as I write this. It’s an amazing thing, really.

Keith Kennedy is a 25-year-old man who has autism. And this summer, like summers before, Keith was attending an overnight camp in Wisconsin that is geared to people with special needs. One week ago, for whatever reason, he wandered away from camp. May even have been running. His father says Keith loves to run. Not away from, but rather running for joy. A beautiful but nearly deadly thing this time.

Keith’s parents said he speaks only four words. They also said he would be unlikely to respond to the voices of the searchers, even if they called his name. Add to that the fact that he needed daily anti-rejection medication for a decade-old kidney transplant and the odds were stacked heavily against him. Please read on.