Ken Hechler endorses Obama

as reported in the H-D:

Hechler, also a former professor at Marshall University, discussed Obama's ability to inspire Americans and bring lasting change to this country.

“I’ve taught courses on the presidency and great presidents are able to inspire and communicate. The last four great ones were Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and Ronald Regan. Obama has that same tremendous inspirational ability and he, among all the candidates, will be able to lead this country.

And from an Obama campaign press release, some more W.Va. endorsements were announced (via W.Va. Blue):

Obama received the endorsement of the following leaders from the Northern Panhandle

State Sen. Larry Edgell (D- Wetzel County)
Former State Senator John Chernenko, decorated World War II veteran and former Prisoner of War, former U.S. Marshall Northern District West Virginia (D- Brooke County)
Del. Tal Hutchins (D- Ohio County)
Sheriff Tom Burgoyne (D -Ohio County)
Commissioner David Sims (D- Ohio County)
John Saunders (Ohio County Democratic Party Co-Chair, leader steelworker community)
Frank Slider (Tyler County Democratic Party Co-Chair)

Bastress at Firedoglake

One of the most successful bloggers in the nation (and W.Va. resident), Christy Hardin Smith, talks with W.Va. Supreme Court candidate and her former constitutional law professor, Bob Bastress about the race.


You can find it here.

More Republicrat fun

Hillary Clinton proves to progressives that she's not on their side once again by doing a sit-down with the king of chauvinistic media, Bill O'Reilly of loofah fame.

A major focus of their discussion?

Rev. Wright. (Big surprise)

O'Reilly: "Can you believe this Rev. Wright guy? Can you believe this guy?"

Hillary: "Well, I'm going to leave it up to voters to decide."

O'Reilly: "Well, what do you think as an American?"

Hillary: "Well, what I said when I was asked directly is that I would not have stayed in the church.

Way to elevate the tone of the campaign, Mrs. Clinton.

Yeah, Bill can't stand people who make outrageous statements. I mean, can you believe this O'Reilly guy?

"[I]f Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead."

-- Bill O'Reilly, 2005

While I was away

Apparently nothing happened, other than Rev. Wright existing. At least that's what cable news tells me.

Can we finally bury this notion that the media is against Clinton? I think it's pretty clear who they want to see nominated. Or, at the least, they want the contest to continue to convention for ratings gold.

As I said, nothing else happened. It's not like the N.Y Times reported on a shady deal involving defense contractors, cable news and military talking heads designed to generate favorable coverage for the Bush administration.

Not surprisingly, TV news is avoiding this one like the plague.

Oh, and apparently, if Biily Ray Cyrus' daughter shows bare shoulders in a photoshoot, the death of the republic is at hand.

Away 'til Tuesday

Coming up: My interview with "Body of War" veteran Tomas Young.

In the meantime, here's some recommended reading from David Sirota.

If television is the nation's mirror, then no two TV characters reflect the intensifying "two Americas" gap better than Chris Matthews and Jimmy McNulty.

A recent New York Times profile of Matthews describes a name-dropping dilettante floating between television studios and cocktail parties. The article documents the MSNBC host's $5 million salary, three Mercedes and house in lavish Chevy Chase, Md. Yet Matthews said, "Am I part of the winner's circle in American life? I don't think so."

You can go read the rest here.

Papantonio on China

And how it's crippled the abilty of the U.S. to address China's support of atrocities. From GoLeft TV:



and for more from this guy, check out my interview.

Obama campaign opening headquarters in Huntington Saturday

On the corner of 8th Street and 4th Avenue at 2:30p.m.

Congressman Nick Rahall will be on hand.

Photo: Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., laughs while being introduced at a town hall-style meeting in Kokomo, Ind., Friday, April 25, 2008 / The Associated Press

Starcher refuses to recuse himself

From an upcoming Massey case. He's been very critical and outspoken on the issue of Don Blankenship.

He will step aside, he says. if The 3.5 Million Dollar Man does.

From the Gazette:

"I will step aside following the very moment that [Benjamin] does so, should he make that decision," Starcher wrote.

Starcher noted Massey CEO Don Blankenship spent or raised more than $3.5 million for Benjamin's 2004 election and Benjamin has since refused to recuse himself from hearing the company's litigation.

Starcher recused himself from an earlier case when Blankenship's vacation buddy, "Spike" Maynard did, but Benjamin refused to go.


The ruling turned out in Massey's favor. (Surprise!)

It's pretty sad when one justice's lack of even minimal ethics leads other members of the court to have to employ these kinds of strategies with recusals.

Marc Maron

Comedian Marc Maron, who used to have a show on Air America Radio and currently does work on NovaM as well as Web casts with Sam Seder, is coming to Kentucky in a few weeks.

May 11, 2008
Southgate House
Newport, KY
7:00 PM

Should be worth checking out.

You can find more info over on 23/6.

Yeah, right

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the product of the fringe-right Federalist Society's judicial activism, reflects on the 2000 recount on 60 Minutes

Scalia repeated his earlier statement that people should "get over" the court's ruling in 2000 that halted Florida's vote recount, giving the presidential election to Republican Bush over Democrat Al Gore.

"I say nonsense," Scalia said, when asked about critics who say the 5-4 ruling was based on politics and not justice. "Get over it. It's so old by now."

Sure it wasn't politics. Maybe it was family.

From Salon in 2000:

Meanwhile, left-wing court watchers are apoplectic because Scalia's son Eugene is a partner in the same law firm as Theodore Olson, who is arguing Bush's case before Scalia's court. Olson has defended the Republican Party's most indefensible causes -- from Iran-Contra through impeachment. The observers demand that Scalia recuse himself from the case, almost unheard of on the court and not about to happen here.

Back to the 60 Minutes bit.

Interesting that Scalia says we should "get over" cases that are "old." Guess we'll have to bear that in mind the next time he votes to overturn 35-year-old case in the form of Roe v. Wade.

Follow-up

OK, some reporters actually did their jobs in New Orleans and asked John McCain about nutty televangelist John Hagee's claim that the city was struck down by god via Katrina due to a planned "homosexual rally."

Q: What is your reaction (to Hagee Katrina comments)?

McCain: It’s nonsense.

Q: Would you withdraw accepting his endorsement?

McCain: It’s nonsense, it’s nonsense, it’s nonsense. It’s nonsense. I don’t have anything additional to say about that. It’s nonsense.

Q: Do you regret accepting his endorsement?

A: It’s nonsense. I don’t have anything more to say about that. Of course–I apologize for that. It’s nonsense. I reject that categorically and I would point out there’s a lot of people who have endorsed me. They support my views. That does not mean that I support–would I consider repudiating his endorsement? I certainly condemn those parts of his remarks. I continue to appreciate his support for the state of Israel and for many of the good things that he and his church has done. But I repudiate as strongly as possible those remarks and those of the Catholic church as well.

So basically, he wants it both ways. Condemn the comments, but keep the nut.

Contrast this to Obama, who completely rejected an unwanted endorsement from Louis Farrakhan. Even then, the media still wouldn't let the matter drop.

Will they keep on McCain? Will he be grilled on whether he agrees with Hagee that the Catholic Church is a "great whore?"

But McCain has an excuse for it all:

I didn’t attend Pastor Hagee’s church for 20 years. There’s a great deal of difference in my view between someone who endorses you and other circumstances.

See! All is forgiven!


Oh, and bear in mind that Hagee didn't come to McCain unsolicited. The Straight-talkin' MaverickTM aggressively courted the TV preacher for months to get his backing.


Photo of Hagee from AP

Off topic Thursday

My favorite U2 video.

Tough question coming for McCain or another pass?

According to John McCain backer, nutty televangelist John Hagee, New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina because “there was to be a homosexual parade there on the Monday that the Katrina came.”

That's one of the many bizarre and offensive statements by a man whose endorsement was vigorously sought and proudly accepted by Senator McCain.

McCain is scheduled to visit New Orleans on Thursday.

Think Progress asks:

Will reporters ask whether he agrees with Hagee belief that the devastated city was cursed because of a gay pride parade? We’ll be watching.

And in case you think this was a one-time, out-of-context statement by a key figure of the religious right, this is a repeat offense on this claim by Hagee.

He was asked in 2006 by NPR's Terry Gross:

"You said after Hurricane Katrina that it was an act of God, and you said 'when you violate God's will long enough, the judgment of God comes to you. Katrina is an act of God for a society that is becoming Sodom and Gomorrah reborn.' " She then asked, "Do you still think that Katrina is punishment from God for a society that's becoming like Sodom and Gomorrah?"

To which he replied:

All hurricanes are acts of God, because God controls the heavens. I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God, and they are -- were recipients of the judgment of God for that.

He was asked about it Tuesday on conservative radio's The Dennis Prager Show. Prager repeated the statement and Hagee replied:

HAGEE: Yes. The topic of that day was cursing and blessing. Moses taught in the book of Deuteronomy that everything in life is either a blessing or a curse. There are days that things happen that at the time look like a curse. In the passing of time, they may become what appears to be a blessing. An illustration is Joseph, when he was sold into slavery it looked like a curse, it looked like the worse day of his life. When his brothers came into Egypt looking for food, what looked like a bad day 13 years before turned out to be a blessed day. What happened in New Orleans looked like the curse of God, in time if New Orleans recovers and becomes the pristine city it can become it may in time be called a blessing. But at this time it's called a curse.

Now how is this guy any better than Rev. Wright and why does Saint McCain get a pass from the media for eagerly seeking him out for support?

Companies agree to temporarily limit operations at MTR mines

From AP:

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - A trio of coal companies has agreed to temporarily limit operations at three mountaintop removal mines opposed by environmentalists.

The deal struck Wednesday settles the latest round in a long-running battle pitting the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition and several other groups against the Army Corps of Engineers and coal mine operators. OVEC won a court ruling in March 2007 that the corps violated federal law by issuing valley fill permits for mountaintop removal mines without conducting extensive environmental reviews.

Mountaintop removal on NPR

WVaBlue and Daily Kos regular "Faithfull" can be heard on NPR discussing mountaintop removal.

All Things Considered, April 21, 2008 · Lobbyists are everywhere on Capitol Hill. But it's not always high-priced professionals that get lawmakers' attention. A cadre of Appalachian residents has come to lobby for environmental protections from coal-mining waste. For many, it was their first trip to Washington, D.C.

Listen here.

File photo/The Herald-Dispatch

The bar gets higher for Hillary

From Dylan Lowe:

According to NBC Political Director Chuck Todd, Obama can no longer lose the pledged delegate count. "If you could call a contest based on the delegate count, it now appears as though it's going to be impossible for Obama to lose his lead." To do so, Clinton will need some 80% of the post-May 6th delegates.

Recommended reading: Kos looks at the state polls and blows her so-called "electability" argument out of the water here. In short, Obama picks up states like Coloradq and N.C that Clinton loses to McCain. He still carries the "big states" she claims only she can win and even bests her in Ca. against McCain.

Hannity's cluelessness

Sam Seder links to some hilarious audio of Sean Hannity having to face the news from pollsters that exit interviews revealed voter agreed with Obama's 'bitter' comments.

You can find it here.

Photo by me.

The belated Earth Day post

- A bill to an mountaintop removal has advanced in Tennessee.

The measure seeks to ban surface coal mining within 100 feet of rivers and streams, or if it alters ridgelines in elevations higher than 2,000 feet. The Senate panel voted 8-1 to advance the bill.

-The West Virginia Young Democrats have adopted a resolution opposing mountaintop removal:

From AP:

The Young Democrats -- with more than 30 active chapters for party members 36 and younger -- adopted a resolution at its state convention earlier this month calling for a moratorium on new mountaintop removal mining permits.

The move came after considerable debate and changes to the language, according to Rod Snyder, the group's president.

"We know this is very controversial,'' he said.

The group has a video of their visit to Kayford Mountain that I found over at WVaBlue.



Photo by NASA

Clinton wins Pa., status quo intact

But comes far short of thew massive blowout she needed.

Here are the numbers, as of 1 a.m.

99% precincts reporting.

Vote% Dels
Clinton 54.7 52
Obama 45.2 46

So this changes very little.

Let's resurrect that Kos quote from yesterday:

Note that after Super Tuesday, SUSA gave Clinton a 19-point lead, while Rasmussen gave her a 15-point lead. That was her baseline.

So despite the media flap over Wright and the "bitter" comments and a nationally televised wreck of a debate, Obama still cut into her numbers significantly.

But it is still a win, even if it was cut down to slightly under 10 percent.

Sam Seder's take:

"We are where we were six weeks ago except there are a lot less pledged delegates in play, Obama has gained nearly 50 superdelgates and Clinton has now vetted our Democratic Nominee."

---

From tomorrow's N.Y. Times, (who endorsed Clinton earlier this year):

Mrs. Clinton did not get the big win in Pennsylvania that she needed to challenge the calculus of the Democratic race. It is true that Senator Barack Obama outspent her 2-to-1. But Mrs. Clinton and her advisers should mainly blame themselves, because, as the political operatives say, they went heavily negative and ended up squandering a good part of what was once a 20-point lead.

She's still behind in the popular vote by 800,000, behind in states won, behind in pledged delgates and her superdelegate lead has nearly evaporated. The Obama campaign is planning to announce a new batch of superdelgte endorsements leading up to the N.C. primary that may well erase that lead.

Before, Pa. Clinton had to win all of the remaining contests by at least 62% to break even with Obama in delgates. That was nearly impossible then and now without having reached that mark in Pa., the last large state considered a likely win for her, the bar is raised even higher.

The Times editorial called for Clinton to end her negative tactics.

Highly unlikely.

With the math against her, she has two options:
1. Drive up Obama's negatives until she can convince the superdelegates that he's unelectable (though she overlooks the fact that she's lost a large majority of primaries to him).

2. Stay in the race and damage his fall chances to set herself up for another run in 2012 (as many including myself, suspect is the ultimate plan).

Either way, it's going to get ugly at the convention.

---

The only option out is if Democratic leaders exercise the plan they've hinted at earlier and pressure enough superdelegates to announce their support now to to end this mess.

---

Coming up: N.C. and Indiana in two weeks. Obama leads in N.C. by a large amount and the most recent poll had him up slightly in Indiana.

Some commentators expect victories in both would end the battle. But I doubt it.

The Clintons aren't going quietly and if it means destroying the Dems' chances for a historic, transformative election a la 1932, they're fine with that.

Somewhere, John McCain is a very happy man right now.

Photo: AP

Dubya's hard work pays off!

Most unpopular president ever in the history of polling.

After 7 years of hard work, he's finally surpassed the previous record of 67% disapproval set by Harry Truman in 1952.

In a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken Friday through Sunday, 28% of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing; 69% disapprove. The approval rating matches the low point of his presidency, and the disapproval sets a new high for any president since Franklin Roosevelt.

Bush's new mark of 69% tops Carter in the malaise years and Nixon at Watergate's height. He even managed to top his dad's recession era numbers.

Quite a turnaround, especially considering that, post 9-11, he enjoyed the highest approval in Gallup's history.

Rightwing radio like to label those who oppose the White House as having "Bush Derangement Syndrome." That's a hard argument to make, considering that nearly 70% of the country feels that way.

Photo: AP

A local boy

Beckley native and Oscar nominee Morgan Spurlock (the guy who ate all that McDonalds food) has a new film out, titled “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden.”

The film focuses on the hunt for the terrorist mastermind and follows Spurlock as he goes around the world and examines attitudes in both the U.S. and the Middle East.

Although he doesn't find Osama, at one point during the making the film, a wild rumor that the filmmaker encountered him was spreading rapidly across the Internet.

A lengthy interview was just added on Counterpunch and is worth a read. Find it here.

The film's trailer:

Good stuff

Via HuffPo:

Barack Obama taped an interview on The Daily Show on Monday.

At one point, Jon Stewart said to Obama, "The Rev. Wright controversy, the flag pin controversy... Will you pull a bait-and-switch, sir, and enslave the white race. Is that your plan?"

Obama responded, laughing, "That is not our plan, Jon, but I think your paranoia might make you suitable as a debate moderator."

Last polls for Pa.

Via Kos

SurveyUSA.

Clinton 50 (54)
Obama 44 (40)

Rasmussen

Clinton 49 (47)
Obama 44 (44)

In addition, there's one out with Obama in the lead by 3 points (most likely a fluke) and several with Hillary leading by double digits.

As much as I'd love to see Obama pull an upset and win (and finally end this thing), it's unlikely. Clinton has always led in Pa.

The question now is how much does she win by.

As Kos points out:

Note that after Super Tuesday, SUSA gave Clinton a 19-point lead, while Rasmussen gave her a 15-point lead. That was her baseline.

So anything less than that shows a loss of support. And vice versa.

Next stops are North Carolina and Indiana in two weeks (May 6). (We're up in W.Va., along with North Dakota the following week).

Obama is, and has long been, leading in N.C.

Hillary led in Indiana until recently, but the last polls have had Obama up by about 5.

If she wins Pa. by enough of a margin to be viewed as having momentum, then Indiana is her next must-win to even remotely be considered viable for a superdelegate ploy at the convention (though it's still highly unlikely to work out for her).

Photos: AP

A few

Thank God for cable news for giving us the real issues.

In their defense, it's not like there's a war or an economic crisis going on or anything.

Speaking of which, Glenn Greenwald reports that the beltway is merrily making excuses for McCain's confusion (or deliberate dishonesty - take your pick) on Iraq.

He also talks to Amy Goodman about this week's shameful events (and his new book, which is quite timely) here.

Neverending story coming to an end?

The national media is finally catching on to the fact that winning the nomination is an nearly impossible task for Clinton.

AP says:

Time is running out on Hillary Rodham Clinton, the long-ago front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination who now trails Barack Obama in delegates, states won and popular votes.

If current trends continue Obama will have enough delegates to be only 80-100 superdelegates away from the nomination, meaning that he will have to sway very few.

In order to catch up to him, Clinton has to score 65% of the vote in remaining primaries to catch up to him.


She's managed a total that high in only one state so far: Arkansas. She didn't even reach that level in her home state of New York.

In other words, the only way she wins is taking it to convention and convincing nearly all the superdelegates to vote her way. A highly unlikely outcome.

---

Meanwhile in another example of public vs. private statements, Clinton today attacked the activist base of the Democratic Party, focusing specifically on Moveon.org.

Her comments caught at the private event, via HuffPo:

I don't agree with them. They know I don't agree with them. So they flood into these caucuses and dominate them and really intimidate people who actually show up to support me."

Her sentiment is odd, considering she courted the group back in the days of supposed inevitability.

Her words then:

"You've been refusing to back down when any of us who are in political leadership are not living up to the standards that we should set for ourselves... I think you have helped to change the face of American politics for the better... both online, and in the corridors of power."

And now she's making things up about the group's positions.

"MoveOn didn't even want us to go into Afghanistan. I mean, that's what we're dealing with."

Moveon's Eli Pariser:

"Senator Clinton has her facts wrong again. MoveOn never opposed the war in Afghanistan, and we set the record straight years ago when Karl Rove made the same claim.

Clinton could have gracefully bowed out of this race on a high note, but at this point one has to wonder if she'll have a shred of dignity left. Between this and the Colombian trade flap, she has zero credibility.

And by echoing false claims Karl Rove has made, she's showing her true colors and blatantly trying to kill Democratic chances for the fall to set herself up for 2012.

It's no surprise. The Clintons have always been the candidates of the right-leaning DLC.

Her overnight adoption of liberal positions was a bit hard to believe, given her vote for the Iraq war and years of backing corporate trade deals.

It's only expected that as her campaign crumbles, she's going to lash out at the activist base that rejected the DLC way and ended her coronation.

Double standards to come

The always astute Joe Conason says Charlie Gibson and Geoege Snuffleupagus' performance Wednesday is just the start.

Playing gotcha with Democrats and patty-cake with Republicans will remain basic operating procedure for the mainstream media this year, no different from the past half-dozen presidential campaigns -- except that the additional bias in favor of John McCain may make a bad situation worse

And as Barack Obama should have learned during the debate’s first 45 minutes, if not before, the same fuzzy but obsessive focus on "character" that plagues Bill and Hillary Clinton will be turned on him with equal or greater ferocity by those who once claimed to admire him. He is now subject to the "Clinton rules," which have long permitted pundits, editorialists and reporters to indict the former president and first lady for sins that other politicians, mostly Republican, may commit with impunity (see Gingrich, Newt, first, second and especially third marriage).

The rest is here:

There you have it. That's why Saint McCain will never face hard questions over his association with radical televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley or be grilled over his gaming the system regarding public financing rules ... while retaining his image as a Maverick ReformerTM.

And forget about a little scandal called the Keating Five. That's down the memory hole.

Off topic Thursday

Yo La Tengo + Mr. Show = Music video goodness.

Remember The Foghat Rule.

TV news is still dead

ABC is bragging that the debate was the most watched of the campaign season.

Which means that they blew an even bigger opportunity.

A few more:

The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan:

The loser was ABC News: one of the worst media performances I can remember - petty, shallow, process-obsessed, trivial where substantive, and utterly divorced from the actual issues that Americans want to talk about.

The Washington Post's Tom Shales:

It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

"For the first 52 minutes of the two-hour, commercial-crammed show, Gibson and Stephanopoulos dwelled entirely on specious and gossipy trivia that already has been hashed and rehashed, in the hope of getting the candidates to claw at one another over disputes that are no longer news. Some were barely news to begin with.

Talk show host Randi Rhodes:

"We don't have the luxury of spending 1994 covering the O.J trial or spending 1998 talking about a stained dress."

Commondreams.org's Jerry Lanson:

Granted. Reporters get paid to ask tough questions. No complaint there. But they should be tough questions of substance, not rehashed spam. Surely, if ABC’s producers had done some hard reporting, they could have found something fresh — inconsistencies of policy statements over the campaign’s long march, perhaps; contradictions between the candidate’s current stands and past votes; or subtle differences between them on issues that really matter to the American public. Relooping an already weary newsreel, trotting out the tired and really terribly limited fudges and guilt-by-association embarrassments of this campaign, make for neither good debates nor good journalism.

And finally, Obama's reaction from today, which is great:

"Debate round-up" or "Peter Jenning rolls in his grave"

Leave it to ABC News to ask the candidates about flag lapel pins, The Weather Underground and other such nonsense. Legitimate issues weren't addressed until well into the second half, by which any sane voter was probably gone.

As Daily Kos' MissLaura put it:

It took 52 minutes to get to a question about Iraq. Took 64 minutes to the economy, and then in John McCain's terms.

These are the top two issues cited in poll after poll, but ABC doesn't think they're important enough to ask the presidential candidates on, or will let a Republican frame the debate. It's flat shameful.

Another Kos regular, DHinMI complied a list of issues the moderators didn't bother to bring up, including health care, trade, torture, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Editor and Publisher's Greg Mitchell:

In perhaps the most embarrassing performance by the media in a major presidential debate in years, ABC News hosts Charles Gibson and George Stephanopolous focused mainly on trivial issues as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama faced off in Philadelphia.

Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the health care and mortgage crises, the overall state of the economy and dozens of other pressing issues had to wait for their few moments in the sun as Obama was pressed to explain his recent "bitter" gaffe and relationship with Rev. Wright (seemingly a dead issue) and not wearing a flag pin while Clinton had to answer again for her Bosnia trip exaggerations.

Talking Points Memo's Josh Marshall:

There are issues like health care, and whose proposal will achieve universal coverage; some question about the credit crisis; perhaps some question about Iraq that presupposed that getting out is a necessary objective -- like, noting ways that each has hedged on their promises to leave Iraq, rather than a question, the subtext of which was 'what will you do when the serious people tell you we shouldn't leave'; something executive power -- a legitimate questions since presidents are seldom willing to renounce powers grasped by predecessors; the environment; perhaps, what will these candidates actually do -- concretely -- to crack down on executive branch corruption since Democrats have made such political hay of the issue at President's Bush's expense; perhaps a single question on the environment?

Don't have a link yet, but Keith Olbermann called it "a travesty."

Cartoonist and blogger Dan Perkins a.k.a. Tom Tomorrow:

I don’t think that debate could have been any more stupid. Shame on ABC for taking all their cues from Sean Hannity, and shame on Hillary Clinton for eagerly playing along, particularly with the Ayers smear.

He's not far off. Stephanopolous was a guest on Hannity's show this week. I didn't hear the segment, but I did catch the promo to it, in which Hannity (who probably was the chief advocate for the Swift Boat Vets in '04) said he was going to suggest questions for Stephanopolous during the following interview. Apparently, George took his suggestions to heart.

If they were going to focus on campaign flaps, they could have thrown a question to Hillary on the Columbian trade deal. God forbid they should ask something that actually has any effect on people's lives.

The entire thing was an embarrassment and makes Nader's piece yesterday even more timely. The Republican equivalent would have been for McCain and Giuliani to have been questioned for 45+ minutes about their affairs (real in Rudy's case and alleged in McCain's).

It's no wonder Charlie Gibson got heckled afterwards.

It's gotten so bad that ABC had to take down their feedback page after the comments went overwhelmingly negative. Crooks and Liars captured them and has video excerpts of the whole sad affair here.

Photo: Members of the audience watch a Democratic presidential debate between Democratic presidential hopefuls, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., at the National Constitution Center, Wednesday, April 16, 2008, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Nader

has a new column:

In this year’s presidential campaign, the major media want you to focus on the candidates’ gaffes, their tactics toward one another’s gaffes, the flows of political gossip and four second sound bytes.

Over and over again this is the humdrum pattern. Is Obama an elitist because of what he said about small towns in Pennsylvania? Why do Hillary and Bill exaggerate? Will Bill’s mouth drag Hillary down? Will Barack’s pastor drag him down? What about the gender factor? The race factor? Will they figure?

[...]

On the Sunday talk shows, it is the same couple dozen members of the opinion oligopoly. There is Bill Kristol bringing home the neocon bacon with dreary frequency. There is the James Carville/Mary Matalin spouse show featuring their squabbling over ideology.

Meanwhile the daily struggle of the American people, absorbing the results of the power abuses by the rich, powerful and corporate, continues outside this inbred force field of insipid coverage and commentary.

Read the full thing here.

Photo: AP file

Now and then

From 2008 (via AP):

SCRIPT: Clinton: "I'm Hillary Clinton and I approve this message."

Announcer: "Barack Obama said that people in small towns 'cling to guns or religion ... as a way to explain their frustrations ...'

Woman 1: "I was very insulted by Barack Obama."

Man 1: "It just shows how out of touch Barack Obama is."

Woman 2: "I'm not clinging to my faith out of frustration and bitterness. I find that my faith is very uplifting."

And so on — you get the idea.

From 1995, courtesy of Benjamin Barber's book, who wrote of witnessing the following comment when asked her opinion of whether the Clinton White House should reach out to southern whites.

"Screw 'em," she told her husband. "You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They're doing nothing for you; you don't have to do anything for them."

This, combined with the public vs. private positions on the Columbian trade deal, leaves one wondering if you can take anything the Clintons say seriously.

Harry Reid

Politico reports the Democratic majority leader's thoughts on the Democratic race:

It was one of those typical questions from a reporter gaggle on Capitol Hill: Does Harry Reid think the protracted nomination fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will harm the party?

Reid didn't miss a beat.

"It makes me bitter," he deadpanned.

Photo: AP

Air America in flux

Randi Rhodes is gone (though our local AAR affiliate, WCMI, picked up her Nova M show this week). Belzer is a temporary replacement for the slot.

Sam Seder, whose daily show axed by the network in favor of the unlistenable Lionel program, is trying to land the slot. His Sunday only contract is up and he's trying to land a new on-air deal.

From his latest:

Meanwhile, not sure of what lays ahead as far as on air opportunities.

[...]

Long time listeners know that my Seder On Sunday contract ends on May 14th (or whenever that sunday is). April 14th marked the last day of the 9-noon SamSederShow... I remember because Jessica (our show booker) had her daughter Anabelle that night. So, the next couple of weeks will reveal much.

One stockholder is not pleased

And wants greater disclosure in Blankenship's electoral shenanigans.

From AP:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- With the political activities of its chief executive again in the spotlight, a Massey Energy Co. shareholder is pushing for greater disclosure of the coal producer's spending in that arena.

[...]

The stockholder is not identified in the statement, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The resolution request cites a November 2006 news report on political spending that year by Massey President, Chairman and Chief Executive Don Blankenship.

Blankenship had sought to sweep Democrats from the majority in the West Virginia House of Delegates that year, through a statewide independent advertising campaign. The Democrats ended up gaining seats in that election, with at least some Republicans blaming Blankenship for their losses.

Blankenship had plowed $2.1 million into his legislative campaign, the proposed resolution said, citing the news report. Disclosures in a federal lawsuit later revealed that Blankenship's spending topped $3.8 million during that election cycle.

This image made from video and provided by ABCNews.com shows Massey Energy Co. CEO Don Blankenship before a confrontation with an ABC News producer, when the newsman made an unannounced attempt to interview him in a parking lot at one of the coal company's offices in eastern Belfry, Ky. Blankenship threatened to shoot the producer and tore his shirt collar, a network spokesman said Thursday, April 3, 2008. (AP Photo/ABCNews.com)

The Bitter Effect

If these polls are accurate, it looks to be nothing. Compare to last week's.

Quinnipiac 4/9-13.
Clinton 50
Obama 44

SurveyUSA 4/12-14.
Clinton 54
Obama 40

Rasmussen 4/14.
Clinton 50
Obama 41

Susquehanna(pdf) 4/6-10.
Clinton 40
Obama 37

Meanwhile, Gallup gives Obama his largest lead over Clinton yet.

Why do they put people like this on TV?

Never mind which side you're backing, this is just stupid.

Reuters Jon Decker on an MSNBC appearance:

And let's not forget Barack Obama bowling. You know, this cuts to "is this person real? Do they connect with me as a voter?"

Gotta love having the out-of-touch punditocracy to tell us what us "regular" folk what we're thinking.

Jon Stewart showed us the real reason to be concerned, conjuring up the scenario in which a terrorist tells a President Obama "I will tell you where I've hidden the nuclear device if you can pick up this 7-10 split!"

Out for a while

Mini-vacation = no working = no blogging.

Be back Tuesday.

Until then, enjoy the latest Pa. polls, lifted from DailyKos.

Insider Advantage
Clinton 48
Obama 38

Public Policy Polling
Clinton 46
Obama 43

Rasmussen
Clinton 48
Obama 43

SurveyUSA
Clinton 56
Obama 38

Strategic Vision
Clinton 47
Obama 42

Quinnipiac
Clinton 50
Obama 44

Clinton most likely wins the state, but will it be a large enough margin to justify her already mathematically pointless campaign?

If Obama closes the gap enough, it might lead to party leaders pressuring the Clintons to wrap things up as the race moves into more Obama-friendly states like North Carolina, rather than taking the fight to the Denver convention.

Obama reponds

OVEC in NY Times bestseller

From a press release:

The #1 New York Times bestseller, "50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth," is back! And this time, the authors have joined forces with 50 leading environmental groups... including The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition.

We're proud to be one of the 50 groups chosen as partners in this exciting project... and we'd love to give you an exclusive look at the pages we helped create.

The OVEC pages are available for viewing here.

Rhodes is out

Looks like drive time host (and former Portsmouth, Ohio resident) Randi Rhodes has left Air America Radio. According to reports, she was given the option of apologizing for her off-air comments regarding Hillary Clinton or leaving. She chose the latter.

I never was a big fan and I thought her remarks were pretty stupid, but disagree with the decision by management.

But bonehead decisions are what AAR execs are known for. Losing the networks's flagship program and the nation's highest-rated liberal talker to another network (She's going to Nova M) isn't really that shocking.

Word is comedian Richard Belzer is getting her slot for the next week as a fill-ib. He's a definite improvement (if he can keep the UFO talk in check), but it's too bad it comes under such screwy circumstances.

Though Sam Seder would be the obvious pick for the long-term. A long-time employee of the network and the guy they usually go to when they need a fill-in. He's been holding Rhodes' show while she was on suspension. He's campaigning for the slot.

Off-topic Thursday

Buster Keaton, from his comeback period, for Alka Seltzer

Maybe she has a spine after all

From AP:

WASHINGTON — Defying the White House, Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday the House will change its rules to avoid a required vote this year on a hotly disputed free-trade agreement with Colombia.

Pelosi said she will bring a procedural change to the House floor on Thursday that would remove the timetable under which Congress would have had to take up trade bills within 90 legislative days after they are received from the White House.

"The president took action" in submitting the Colombia free trade agreement to Congress on Tuesday, she said. "I will take mine tomorrow." Pelosi said that Bush called her Monday to tell her he was sending the agreement to Congress.

The White House has aggressively pushed Congress to approve the trade deal with Colombia, arguing that helping a key ally in South America is in the political and security interests of the United States

.

Hillary's trade mask falling off

If her former senior strategist Mark Penn's advocacy for a Colombian trade deal she claimed to oppose isn't bad enough, it looks like Bill Clinton has been cozy with a group wanting to promote the same deal.

From HuffPo:

Former President Bill Clinton has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars speaking on behalf of a Colombia-based group pushing the trade pact, and representatives of that organization tell The Huffington Post that the former president shared their sentiment.

In June 2005, Clinton was paid $800,000 by the Colombia-based Gold Service International to give four speeches throughout Latin America. The organization is, ostensibly, a development group tasked with bringing investment to the country and educating world leaders about the Colombia's business opportunities.

Penn's been demoted, but still takes part in conference calls, contrary to the campaign's initial claim that he had resigned.

The Obama campaign has called on Hillary to outright fire the guy.

No surprise that the Clintons would be planning a 180 flip on a trade deal upon taking office. Remember, Bill Clinton originally campaigned in 1992 on a platform of reforming the Regan-Bush I trade policies with China, but upon taking office, gave away the store in a way the GOP never dreamed they could pull off.

In a related note, despite Hillary calling on Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics, Bill tried to talk Steven Spielberg out of a boycott.