Merit-bound Alley

According to a memo released by the Clinton campaign to “Interested Parties”, Obama’s streak is a prmonition of his inevitable defeat. Huh? Well, just take a look:

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.

So, what it comes down to is that Obama campaigned so hard in these states, if he only wins by a small margin, it only shows how weak he is as a candidate. Unlike a gyroscope, fast and furious spinning will not lend stability to the Clinton clusterfuck.

(/t to Wonkette)

Looks like the press is finally evening out the tough coverage. Take a look at this sample:

 Do your daughters Sasha and Malia ever ask about Britney Spears?
Actually, yeah. But they’re very sensible. They’re pretty down on Britney and Paris and all of that. They think that’s very “yuck.” They’re way more into Hannah Montana and Beyonce. They got to go backstage and meet Beyonce and they just love her to death.

BANG! POW! Holy shit! Way to crush him! Look out for the rest to this election, Barack! The wall has been breached.

I think I’ve made it fairly plain that I don’t suport Hillary Clinton’s candidacy for President. I’ve pointed out a lot of her bad points, and alluded to certain unethical practices that the Clintons have been guilty of.

Do you know why I have the freedom to do that?

Because I’m not in a position to have to be fair or balanced. I have the choice to support whatever candidate I like and tell anyone who will listen exactly why.

Debate moderators do not have that luxury. Their job is to ask questions and keep time. That’s it. Not so for Tim Russert, apparently. The debate started with Hillary being completely grilled on every campaign foible, then Obama being asked, compassionately even, how he felt about that.

Hillary was visibly upset rather quickly, as this set the theme for the whole debate. Throughout the debate, Clinton was privy to answering questions about every shady campaign move she’s made while Obama got more fair questions about policy. A couple of times, Obama rose to Clinton’s defense against the constant stream of stones being thrown by the “moderator” Russert.

I have never been made so aware of the skew in the MSM. MSNBC showed zero adherence to the ethics of journalism or to the foundation of debate. For that, I have no respect for them or any journalist who doesn’t point out the blatant disregard for neutrality in this debate.

If this is the type of “news” that MSNBC shovels out, then you can count on me to not be watching. I don’t give a shit how smart and funny Olbermann is.

In related news, I’ve used “sanctimonious” in a sentence!

Bob Franken wrote a story for the Huffington Post where he details the relatively unbalanced political coverage in the campaign correspondents. I’ve talked about this before. He then, however, waxes righteous about the power of the press:

Sooner or later we realize that and try to get back into balance. That’s what we’re seeing now, or at least beginning to see.

That helps explain all the negative stories that popped up about McCain in the last few days. There is a collective consciousness in journalism that causes all of us at pretty much the same time, to try and knock our icons off the very pedestals we created for them.

So, according to Franken, the media makes them then capriciously rips them down. Interesting. I remember a time when the media was supposed to present a balanced view, reporting only the facts. I also remember a more recent time where they at least still pretended to do that.

What about Obama? So far he has been this campaign’s easy rider. But you can bet that all of my profession’s proud social misfits are looking very hard for chinks in this Lancelot’s armor… anything that might knock him off his horse. That explains why we swarmed when he was knocked off his stride by the charges of “plagiarism” Frankly, he recovered his balance fairly easily, but it was a reminder we are just looking for an excuse to pile on.

Oh yes, the few, the proud, the men and women who report with gleeful egocentricity according to the whim of their calling! Warrior-poets, they are!

Too much of this election race is manipulated by the marketers we call political consultants. They’re hired to try and control every facet of the candidates’ image. Unless the wretches in media are willing to withstand the election peer pressure and be true NON-believers, we might elect someone who has no business being our national leader.

Yes,  ye nobles of hearty constitution! Resist the pressure enacted upon you by the political consultants… unless it’s negative sotries or outright rumour, of course. Then, let the pressure wash over you and drown in it’s moist embrace!

That lesson is that journalism in the United States is supposed to be about skepticism. It’s time for us to help make sure we don’t neglect our obligation to try and make sure voters avoid placing a fraud at the highest level of government. The candidates for the most powerful job in the world need to withstand a tough challenge not just from their opponents, but from us.

Oh, and the voters.

Clinton campaign advisers are showing a very different side to the Hillary Clinton campaign than is forwarded by her recent optimism.

“One adviser, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely, said Obama’s 17-point Wisconsin victory on Tuesday had started to sink in as a decisive blow, given that the state had been viewed weeks earlier as a level playing field.”

“‘The mathematical reality at that point became impossible to ignore,’ the adviser said. ‘There’s not a lot of denial left at this point.’”

“Despite Clinton’s public pronouncements of optimism, this adviser said: ‘She knows where things are going. It’s pretty clear she has a big decision. But it’s daunting. It’s still hard to accept.’”

After 11 straight wins for Sen. Obama, the Clinton campaign faces an uncertain future. There doesn’t seem to be much support at this point for the continuation of her campaign, unless she scores decisive victories on March 4th. Also narrowing is he gap in superdelegate support, with Obama adding 25 superdelegates in the last two weeks and Clinton losing 2.

Clinton’s pledge to take the race all the way to the convention is not provoking the support that she expected either, with some in the party viewing her perseverance with a jaundiced eye.

“Some Democratic political sources said discussion has begun about encouraging Clinton to transition into a different party leadership role, one that could carry her on a path to becoming Senate majority leader. That course had been discussed even before Clinton announced her presidential campaign. ‘People who care about her are worried about her long-term future,’ the adviser said.”

In other words, it’s looking fairly grim for the Clinton campaign. The current feeling seems to be that a continuation of the Clinton campaign will be so divisive as to damage the party. I giess being a Clinton is less important than being a Democrat after all.

Read the full story via the Washington Post here.

At Clinton’s Ohio rally, Machinist Union president Thomas Buffenbarger* had some unkind words for Obama and his supporters. Indeed, the screed was so long and vitriolic, that it earned boos and jeers from the audience. This just blows my mind:

“The Barack show is playing to rave reviews sold out at college campuses after college campus. Standing room only crowds to hear his silver-tounged orations. Hope, change, yes we can? Give me a break! I’ve got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust fund babies crowding in to hear him speak. This guy won’t last a round against the Republican attack machine. He’s a poet, not a fighter.”

Well, that’s a great way to alienate half of the Deomcratic public, you braying jackass!

Also, it bears telling that yet again, Hillary Clinton neglected to mention her losses in WI and HI or to congratulate Barack Obama on the wins.

* “Buffenbarger” sounds like “Barfenburger”. I love that!

Last night, the call fo change was heard and embraced yet again as Sen. Obama widened his delegate lead over Sen. Clinton by decisive victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

Wisconsin:

Obama: 58% of the popular vote and 38 delegates

Clinton: 41% of the popular vote and 27 delegates

Hawaii:

Obama: 76% of the popular vote, no delegate count yet

Clinton: 24% of the popular vote, no delegate count

The speeches have started to use stronger wording, with Obama taking a shot at the  quagmire (giggity) in Washington, D.C:

It is going to require more than rousing speeches. … It is going to require something more, because the problem that we face in America today is not the lack of good ideas. It’s that Washington has become a place where good ideas go to die

And McCain taking a shot at Obama:

I will fight every moment of every day in this campaign to make sure Americans are not deceived by an eloquent but empty call for change

Absent from McCain’s speech was any mention of Senator Clinton. It seems he knows who will be his opponent when the conventions are said and done.

Onr thing I just thought of: where was Huckabee last night?

Woot!

Politico has received information from a top Clinton official that the Clinton campaign will go after pledged delegates in order to win the nomination. This was something as a shock to me, as I was under the impression that the pledged delegates, those who have pledged their vote accrding to the popular primary vote, were locked into voting for the candidate that won the popular vote in their district.

 Apparently, this is not so and Sen. Clinton is more than willing to defy the popular vote to gain the nomination. Every day, my disgust for this candidate increases.

John Heilemann of New York Magazine wrote a great article entitled “The Meme Prisoner” which explores the media bias that slants favorably towards Barack Obama. I will say that I have noticed this myself on the Feb 12th primaries, where every speech was clipped except Se. Obama’s. On MSNBC, coverage for Senator Clintons speech ended early for results stats, coverage of McCain’s didn’t begin until well into the second half of his speech, but only a brief 10 seconds was clipped out of the thanks portion of Senator Obama’s speech..

 Now, I support Obama and will vote for him when he wins the nomination. On the other hand, media bias is what has me reading news almost constantly, trying to find a kernel of truth in a mountain of excrement. Media bias is unfair and manipulative and their favor of Barack Obama will have no bearing whatsoever on my support of his candidacy. It is merely a mundane roadblock that makes me work a little harder to educate myself.

My guess is that the MSM favors Obama because he is new and inspirational. He is piles of unwritten pages of something positive that they can write about, even if they have to filigree it a little bit. On the other hand, you have the Clintons, who have been in the news for almost two decades, with little of that being positive or motivational towards respect for politics.

The MSM has heard the call for inspiration, and have followed their wallets to Barack Obama and high paper and magazine sales. It’s telling that in all the media’s coverage of Sen. Obama, little attention has been given to his stands on important issues. Anyone who is serious about investigating a candidate will have to find his voting records and stances on Obama’s website. This also allows the slacker voters imply that he’s all talk, no substance. This is a double-edged sword.

The important thing is that the media’s treatment of Barack has no bearing on where the man stands on the issues or his ability to get the job done right. Sen. Clinton was able to overcome her unethical, hardass, etc. reputation to win a Senate seat. She’s just having more difficulty in this election because of the comparison to Barack Obama, whose reputation as “untouched by the Washington grime” has held remarkably well.