Matthews gets a cookie for this one

I'm not really a fan of Chris Matthews. Every so often, he's good. But most of the time he comes off as an out-of-touch beltway hack.

But this was great.

The biggest problem with cable shoutfests is that it seems the only qualification to be a guest is to be obnoxious. Knowing what you're talking about is not required.

I guess after years of having to put up with this sort of lazy commentary from guests, Matthews finally had enough yesterday when it came to conservative radio host Kevin James (where did they find this guy?)

It happens around the four-minute mark.

Off topic Thursday

Your post-election recovery video.



I've been thinking of starting a Slim Whitman-based religion.

W.Va.'s' DNC blogger announced

West Virginia Blue has been named as our state's credentialed blogger at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

They'll be sending two correspondents and will be seated with the W.Va. delegation.

They've put together an impressive site over there, so it's well deserved.

More about it here.

He's so sorry

John Hagee, the nutjob televangelist whose endorsement was aggressively sought out by McCain, has released an apology to Catholics for his past remarks.

These weren't some mere slip of the tongue by Hagee. His views on Catholicism were a major focus of his "ministry." Look him up on YouTube. There's plenty of footage from his bizarre lectures - the one calling the Catholic Church "the great whore" is a classic.

But he's sorry now.

Translation: McCain desperately needs Catholic voters.

Will there be an apology from Hagee to homosexuals or to the city of New Orleans for the numerous times he's claimed God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish the city for a planned gay pride event?

Don't hold your breath.

Edwards finally making an endorsement

AP has reported tonight it will be Obama.

Sad

From Dana Milbank:

2:57 p.m., Yeager Airport, Charleston, W.Va.:/ A steep descent brings
Clinton's plane to Charleston's hilltop airport. After an appropriate
wait, she steps from the plane and *pretends to wave to a crowd of
supporters; in fact, she is waving to 10 photographers underneath the
airplane's wing. She pretends to spot an old friend in the crowd, points
and gives another wave; in fact, she is waving at an aide she had been
talking with on the plane minutes earlier*.

From Eli Saslow:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginians may have voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton yesterday, but they needed significant help throwing a victory party. About 300 supporters gathered inside the Charleston Civic Center, and they only cheered when cameramen announced upcoming live shots. Campaign aides distributed faux hand-made signs, because few people brought their own. Clinton entered the room a few minutes after 9 p.m. and found it only about three-quarters full.

Maynard gets spiked

Oh well, at least they’ll always have Monaco…

With most of the votes in, W.Va. Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliot “Spike” Maynard has been soundly defeated in his bid for reelection.

All the pro-Maynard ads from the Chamber of Commerce couldn’t save him from the photos with Blankenship. Neither could hiring Blankenship's chief political consultant.

The result pretty much writes off Don Blankenship as an electoral force in W.Va.

The Massey CEO’s venture into politics began in 2004 when he targeted Supreme Court Justice Warren McGraw for defeat.

Under the front of a supposed children’s advocacy group “For the Sake of the Kids,” Blankenship hit McGraw with a barrage of negative and misleading ads. It worked. The $3.5 million the he put into the race elected Republican Brent Benjamin to the court.

However, Blankenship would soon become a victim of his own success.

As a result of the Benjamin victory, Political observers took notice and immediately began to profile him as a bold new force to be reckoned with in West Virginia politics.

The deceptive nature of For the Sake of the Kids, combined with Blankenship’s anonymity in the group’s message was the real reason for his success.

Blankenship was able to remain behind the scenes for the most part in the McGraw campaign, but now he was in the spotlight and his agenda was fully on display.

And voters didn’t like what they saw.

His next effort, in 2006, to deliver both houses of the legislature to the GOP failed miserably.

All of the Democratic candidates Blankenship targeted for defeat were reelected, except Margarette Leach, whose defeat was due to her ill health and not Blankenship’s ads.

Candidates who accepted donations from Blankenship were the subject of controversy and the Democrats gained seats.

Shortly after 2006, Air America’s Mike Papantonio shared his thoughts with me on why voters rejected Blankenship’s legislative campaign.

“[It was] because of his credibility. It was a character-based revolt. They said, "This guy is revolting to me," Papantonio said.


And that brings us to today.

For the Sake of the Kids is nearly defunct (the organization's Web site hasn’t been update since 2006). The W.Va. GOP has, at least publicly, rejected support from Blankenship in 2008.

In four short years, Blankenship has gone from being perceived as a powerhouse, to being viewed as an ineffective advocate to being electoral poison.

The photos of Maynard and Blankenship, coupled with Blankenship’s bizarre, thuggish behavior in an ABC News segment sealed the deal and sent Maynard packing.

At this point, not only are Blankenship’s efforts politically worthless, but the view by voters that a candidate is friendly to the Massey CEO is a surefire recipe for defeat on election day.

Photo: This 2006 file photo that has been entered into evidence as part of a court motion by lawyers seeking to remove West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Elliott "Spike" Maynard, left, from hearing a case involving Massey Energy Inc., show the justice and Massey CEO Don Blankenship together in Monaco.

Another pickup for Dems in Congress

With another special election in another deeply conservative district. This time in Mississippi.

Travis W. Childers (D): 53% (54029)
Greg Davis (R): 47% (47361)

That's three in a row, following Illinois and Louisiana.

This does not bode well for Congressional Republicans in the fall.

And it's another victory for Howard Dean's 50 State Strategy.

Hillary Clinton wins W.Va.

AP called it minutes after polls closed.

As expected, it was a big margin.

But don't write W.Va. off entirely for Obama in the fall.

Carnacki of WVaBlue and DailyKos offers the following numbers:

Barack Obama with just 26 percent of the Democratic votes 87,466.
John McCain with just 76 percent of all Republican votes 83,791.

Sure, Dems dwarf the GOP in registration here, but something to think about.

Primary day

Kos has put together a good rundown on the W.Va. primary here.

Word is Clinton will give a victory speech from Charleston around 9 p.m. tonight.

We all have a pretty good idea who's going to take the state, though it will have little impact on the national results (today longtime Clinton guru James Carville said it's over).

Other races to watch tonight:

-The Supreme Court will give us an indication of whether or not Don Blankenship has any value left as a political force

-Secretary of State could be close

- And in Mississippi, a special election is being held for a Republican Congressional vacancy. If the Dems pick up this one, it could signal a national trend, as they've recently won special elections in Illinois and Louisiana.

Operation Blowhard

Rush Limbaugh said yesterday that his so-called Operation Chaos forces will deliver a landslide to Hillary tomight.

Someone needs to break it to the Dittoheads that the polls have showed a Clinton landslide here for months - long before Limbaugh began his silly little DJ stunt.

The guy is desperately trying to save face and look relevant after his all-out efforts to stop McCain and get Romney nominated blew up in his face. He can't influence his own party, so he's trying to take credit for the existing primary mess in the Democratic party.

Clinton will win big here, but Rush will have nothing to do with it.

In an unrelated note, I've decided to appeal to my readers (yes, all 3 of you) to join me in a campaign to get the sun to rise in the east tomorrow. I know it's going to be hard work, but if we're persistent, we can demonstrate the awesome power of this blog. Operation Helio Ascension will be our ultimate triumph!

McJunta!

John McCain has chosen a real class act to run the GOP convention in St. Paul.

Meet Doug Goodyear, the CEO of consulting firm DCI Group. Last year, the firm earned $3 million lobbying for clients including General Motors and everyone's favorite company as we approach 4 bucks a gallon, ExxonMobil.

But it gets better.

Six years ago, DCI was paid $348,000 to represent the totalitarian miltary junta ruling Burma/Myanmar.

As Newsweek puts it:

Justice Department lobbying records show DCI pushed to "begin a dialogue of political reconciliation" with the regime. It also led a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing "falsehoods" by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.

And as usual, we have to wonder if McCain will get questioned on this one or will he get his bazillionth pass from his beltway fan club.

I know this isn't quite as important as whether or not a candidate attaches flag-themed costume jewelry to their lapels, but you'd think the media might want to look into the fact that McCain has hired a known opponent of democracy to run the show when he gets nominated.

UPDATE: Looks like Goodyear has now resigned. Now we can all praise the maverickish departure and not question the judgment of the man who hired him in the first place.

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Meanwhile, the junta has went on with its fake election. The rigged referendum is designed to solidify military rule. Despite the fact that the nation is reeling from a cyclone that has killed 100,000, the vote was not called off.

From AP:

Human rights organizations and anti-government groups have bitterly accused the government of neglecting cyclone victims to advance its political agenda, and have criticized its proposed constitution as designed to perpetuate military rule.

Local journalists said they saw cases of intimidation of voters at various polling stations around the country.

Photos by AP: Top: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., laughs during a campaign stop at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J. on Friday. Bottom: A Myanmar protester holds a placard showing a caricature, during a demonstration outside the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday. Some 500 activists demanded that Yangon call off its constitutional referendum even as voting began in the military-ruled nation despite a devastating cyclone.

Obama in Charleston Monday

More info here.

MONDAY, MAY 12
Charleston Civic Center
Doors Open: 10:30 AM
Program Begins: 12:15 PM

The event open to the public, however, seating is limited and tickets are required.

McMaverick's mavericky maverickness questioned

From his home state, The Arizona Republic finds that when his vote is key, McCain most always falls in line for the GOP.

The presumptive Republican nominee arguably cast the decisive vote 14 times since 1999 to ensure Republicans got their way, and he had five other close cases where his vote may have made a difference, Senate records show. By comparison, McCain effectively handed Democrats a win on roll-call votes four times in the same period. On one of those occasions, Republicans could still have won if Vice President Dick Cheney had cast a tie-breaking vote.

Photo:AP

Campaign stuff

Obama's coming back to W.Va.

Confirmed by the Gazette.

WVaBlue has heard rumors it will be Huntington.

Until then, the campaign has announced a ton of events for the weekend.

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Following her Charleston appearance, the Clinton campaign kicked off a 15 city Veterans for Hillary tour today.

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As expected, poll shows Clinton maintaining her big lead in W.Va. Other than Arkansas, this may be the most receptive state to her campaign (or the one most opposed to Obama, depending on your way of looking at it.)

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And for your handy reference:

Barack Obama's W.Va. page:

Hillary Clinton's W.Va. page

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