Permanent link to MTA daily media news

OVERKILL (by Taylor Marsh)

Sense the glee. It reveals the desperation. This is it. Now she’s done it! This may be our last chance! Let’s take her down. Now. What this obvious over-reaction to Hillary’s RFK statement, for which she immediately apologized, has revealed is politically unseemly. It also shows how desperate the Obama camp is to stop Hillary’s nomination hopes, given the onslaught of polls showing Hillary Clinton beats John McCain in November, while the “presumptive nominee” cannot…

Overkill, meet backlash. Because all these feckless wonders are doing is further hardening Hillary supporters against any desire to support Obama if he actually does become the nominee. John McCain couldn’t have asked for a bigger gift. Because note to the Obama team: You can’t win without us… Superdelegates are going to have to deal with that now or end up being responsible for making the general election battle much more difficult than it needs to be, with the other reality obviously being picking the weaker candidate to go up against John McCain in the fall.

Gallup Daily: Clinton Maintains Lead Over McCain
Obama has 5-point lead over Clinton among Democrats – May 25, 2008  – Hillary Clinton maintains a significant 49% to 44% general election lead over John McCain among national registered voters, while Barack Obama loses to McCain, 45% to 47% respectively.
Can anyone explain the anomaly here?  How can Obama lead Clinton but lose to McCain, while Clinton beats McCain?

What Bartcop said (by lambert at Corrente)
Here: “Can we get a list of words that Hillary can say without the whore media throwing a hissy and cranking up the echo chamber for a 56-hour hate rush on MSGOP?”

No.

And: “Barack also said there was ‘no place for that in this campaign,’ but, of course, he couldn’t say what ‘that’ was, because the Clintons’ crimes are always undefinable.”

Bingo. Double bingo. Triple fucking bingo. Special Bazillion-Dollar Jackpot Happy Hour Triple-Bonus Pony bingo. No offense to whores, of course, comparing them to the press. At least they don’t try to pick our President for us, eh?
How is this paroxysm of hate any different from the right-wing crazies’ spasms over stuff they just make up out of thin air?  See below.

Dunkin’ Dumbasses (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)

A new Dunkin Donuts ad featuring Rachel Ray sporting a tattered white scarf has the wingnuts in a tizzy, with Michelle Malkin leading the charge. You have to be deranged to see this ad and come to the conclusion that Rachel Ray is a secret Yasser Arafat-loving, terrorist-sympathizing threat who must be stopped for the sake of civilization.

Six Degrees of Obama (by myiq2xu at Corrente)
So the new rule is Hillary (and Bill, her surrogates, etc.) cannot mention anything that someone might possibly, in some bizarre fashion, connect in some offensive way to Barack Obama within six degrees of separation? We have a new game for the media and OFB to play!

She says “We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California.”
Assassinated – black leaders have been assassinated – Obama is a black leader – she was talking about assassinating Obama
The first player takes quote out of any statement by Hillary, Bill, or any Hillary staff member or prominent supporter, and the second player has to link a word from it to Barack Obama in an offensive way within six links.

Hillary says “This is all a big kabuki dance”
Dance – racial sterotype of black people being good dancers – Obama is black – Obama danced with Ellen Degeneres on her show – Hillary is saying Obama is a good dancer because he’s black.
That was too easy. Let’s try something harder:

Bill says “The media is trying to gin up a controversy”
gin – cotton gin – picking cotton – black slaves picked cotton – Obama is black – Bill is making a derogatory reference to Obama
See how fun and easy it is?

Congratulations Are In Order (by Turkana at the Left Coaster)
[T]he people using this incident to further promote their own despicable agenda by their own despicable means are every bit as despicable as their lies and distortions would make Clinton out to be. They are shameful. Their behavior is inexcusable. They like to accuse Clinton of being Rovian- and worse- but it is they who have most closely come to emulate the worst behavior of the worst Republicans… They have become that which they were supposed to have been trying to change.

Media hype: How small stories become big news (by John F. Harris at Politico)
This weekend’s uproar over Hillary Rodham Clinton invoking the assassination of Robert Kennedy as rationale for continuing her presidential campaign is an especially vivid example of modern journalism as hyperkinetic child — overstimulated by speed and hunger for a head-turning angle that will draw an audience. The truth about what Clinton said — and any fair-minded appraisal of what she meant — was entirely beside the point. Her comment was news by any standard. But it was only big news when wrested from context and set aflame by a news media more concerned with being interesting and provocative than with being relevant or serious. Thus, the story made the front page of The New York Times, was the lead story of The Washington Post and got prominent treatment on the evening news on ABC, CBS and NBC.
It’s all OUR fault, you see.  We WANT this tripe.

Obama Kabuki (by myiq2xu at Corrente)
From CBS: “[Saturday] afternoon, Barack Obama responded to Hillary Clinton’s comments yesterday when she referenced th assassination of Robert F. Kennedy… ‘Senator Clinton says that she did not intend any offense by it and I will take her at her word on that.’” Once again, we see a ginned up fauxrage by Obama supporters, that, having run it’s course or, as in this case, become counter-productive, now being tepidly denounced by Obama himself. His campaign covertly fans the flames, then he claims credit for displaying class in attempting to put out the fire. In South Carolina, he sat quietly while his staff pushed the race card meme, but when the internal talking point memo surfaced, suddenly he gave a wishy-washy statement that the Clintons weren’t running a racist campaign and wanted to “move on.” Sorry, I’m not buying it.

Divided They Stand (by Paul Krugman)
It is, in a way, almost appropriate that the final days of the struggle for the Democratic nomination have been marked by yet another fake Clinton scandal — the latest in a long line that goes all the way back to Whitewater… Why does all this matter? Not for the nomination: Mr. Obama will be the Democratic nominee. But he has a problem: many grass-roots Clinton supporters feel that she has received unfair, even grotesque treatment. And the lingering bitterness from the primary campaign could cost Mr. Obama the White House. [T]he nightmare Mr. Obama and his supporters should fear is that in an election year in which everything favors the Democrats, he will nonetheless manage to lose. He needs to do everything he can to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I disagree that Obama is certain to be the nominee.  But, as always, he wants someone else to do the hard work for him.  See below.

Mike Lester (thanks to Taylor Marsh)

Barack Obama wants Bill to heal Hillary Clinton wounds (London Times)
Senior officials on Obama’s campaign believe Bill Clinton has the unique status and political gifts to reunite the party after such gaffes. They expressed confidence that the former president would rise above the perceived slights and grudges of a hard-fought campaign and work flat out for an Obama victory in November’s presidential election… “Bill Clinton will give permission to Hillary supporters to come into our camp and become one party. He is critical to this effort.”
Gee, they felt it necessary to diss the guy repeatedly during the campaign, and turn him into a racist.  He’s dirt until they need him.  Bill Clinton can do what he thinks he needs to do, but no way will I ever support an arrogant, empty-suit, Rovian like Obama.

Obama to Bill Clinton: You’ve got the Unity Pony. Give it to me. (by lambert at Corrente)
Readers, I am not kidding. Get a load of this trial balloon from the UK. Times Online.. “If anybody can put their arms around the party and say we need to be together, it is Bill Clinton,” a senior Obama aide said… And Bill gets? You’re going to love this: … “William Galston, a former White House official and Hillary Clinton supporter, said: ‘[Bill Clinton] deeply regrets the schism that has opened up with the black community and he would welcome the opportunity to redeem himself.’ Campaigning for Obama would go a long way to restoring good relations.“ Lovely. So Obama smears Bill Clinton as a racist in the black community, and then graciously offers the opportunity for Bill Clinton “to redeem himself” — as if he needed redemption — by campaigning in the very same community where Obama smeared him.
That was the offer.  Now, for the threat, see below.

Trouble brewing in N.Y. for Clinton (Los Angeles Times)
Even as she continues her longshot presidential bid, Hillary Rodham Clinton faces a political rift in New York, where black leaders say her standing has dropped due to racially charged comments by her and her husband during the campaign. African American elected officials and clerics based in New York City say Clinton will need to defuse resentment over the campaign’s racial overtones if she returns to New York as U.S. senator.
Don’t you love Chicago Smackdown when it’s used against fellow Democrats?

Today in WWTSBQ [Why Won’t That Stupid Bitch Quit] v 2.0 (by gqmartinez at Corrente)
The media cowed us and manipulated us into Iraq. They cowed us and manipulated us into accepting George W. Bush’s 2000 election “win”. They cowed us and manipulated us into rejecting health care reform. And so on. We are tired of the media telling us what to think and determining the course of our country—because it has really left the place FUBAR. Here’s the problem with Obama is the nominee absurdity. Since March 4th, Hillary’s gotten over 500,000 more votes than Obama. She will likely increase that number in the last three contests and will almost certainly be the candidate who will have received the most votes in this primary. Shouldn’t the de facto nominee be increasing his vote lead rather than getting his ass kicked at the polls?

Buyers’ Remorse: How Rank & File Democrats Rejected Obama Once He Was Declared The “Inevitable” Nominee (by Paul Lukasiak at Corrente)
Ever since the media declared that Barack Obama was “inevitable” after February 19th, based on a two week period when an unprepared Hillary Clinton campaign suffered “10 straight losses”, rank and file Democratic voters have been sending a message. Rather than rally ‘round the “inevitable nominee” that message has been a consistent, loud, and clear message to the Democratic Party – DO NOT WANT… Democratic voters refused to accept the pronouncements of the pundits and “analysts”, and have voted in overwhelming numbers in support of Hillary Clinton. Not only did Clinton pick up the support that Obama lost, Clinton has picked up a lot of the support that, in February, had gone to other candidates. Moreover, the electorate in the Democratic primaries looked a lot more like the “general electorate” in the 2004 Presidential election.
Click through for Paul’s analysis, which includes charts.

Haw. (by lambert at Corrente)

Barack Obama and the Unmaking of the Democratic Party (by Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, writing at the Huffington Post)
Obama’s supporters now fiercely claim that Clinton’s white working class following is also essentially racist… In fact, all of the evidence demonstrates that white racism has not been a principal or even secondary motivation in any of this year’s Democratic primaries. Every poll shows that economics, health care, and national security are the leading issues for white working class voters – and for Latino working class voters as well. These constituencies have cast positive ballots for Hillary Clinton not because she is white, but because they regard her as better on these issues. Obama’s campaign and its passionate supporters refuse to acknowledge that these voters consider him weaker — and that Clinton’s positions, different from his, as well as her experience actually attract support. Instead they impute racism to working class Democrats who, the polls also show, happen to be liberal on every leading issue.

Obama: Florida, Michigan are Clinton’s ‘last slender hope’
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) — Sen. Barack Obama accused Sen. Hillary Clinton of stoking anger in Florida and Michigan over the Democratic Party’s decision not to recognize the states’ primary votes. “They weren’t stirring it up when they didn’t need the delegates,” he said. “Let’s not sort of pretend that we don’t know what’s going on. This is, from their perspective, their last slender hope to make arguments about how they can win.”
There was no point in making it an issue until we started getting close to the May 31 DNC Rules Committee meeting.

Clinton Supporters Count Too: DNC 5/31/08 PROTEST UPDATE
There are buses being coordinated for NJ & NY areas and from Florida.

Bill Clinton: Once Fla. and Mich. Are Counted, Neither Candidate Able to Get Majority From Pledged Delegates (Political Radar, ABC News)
Former President Bill Clinton [Saturday] continued to reiterate the importance of counting the votes in Florida and Michigan, saying that once they do “neither candidate can get a majority just from pledged delegates.” Speaking to a crowd of more than 1,000 at Montana State University, Clinton enthusiastically took to the stage and began by asking the crowd, “Aren’t you glad Montana matters?” 

What Would Make a Clinton Popular Vote Lead Legitimate? (by Michael Barone, U.S. News & World Report)
Hillary Clinton’s 249,000-popular-vote plurality in Kentucky, offset only partially by Barack Obama’s 108,000-vote plurality in Oregon, gives her a popular-vote lead in two of realclearpolitics.com’s six metrics, i.e., counting Florida and Michigan, and including those two states and the imputed popular-vote margin in the Iowa, Nevada, Washington, and Maine caucuses. And it puts her within reach, depending on the result in unpredictable Puerto Rico, of a popular-vote lead in two more metrics—the two that don’t include Michigan, where Obama removed himself from the ballot and Clinton didn’t. All of which seems to me to make a solid case that Clinton is the choice of the people.

Bill Clinton Has ‘Never Seen a Candidate Treated So Disrespectfully Just for Running’ (Political Radar, ABC News)
ABC News’ Sarah Amos reports: Former President Bill Clinton in South Dakota [Sunday] delivered a harsh critique of how his wife has been treated during her presidential bid, telling the crowd that he has “never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running,” and that, “she will win the general election if you nominate her. They’re just trying to make sure you don’t.” Clinton spent more than six minutes calmly discussing what he called a “frantic effort to push her out” of this race, saying that no one asked Ted Kennedy, Jesse Jackson or Gary Hart to end their presidential campaigns early. Clinton also spoke against bullying superdelegates to make up their minds, saying, “I cant believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out.”

Sexism Might Sell, But I’m Not Buying It!
On May 23, The Women’s Media Center, along with our partners at Media Matters, launched, “Sexism Sells, But We’re Not Buying It,” a new video and online petition campaign illustrating the pervasive nature of sexism in the media’s coverage. While Hillary Clinton’s campaign has cast a spotlight on the issue of sexism, this isn’t a partisan issue: it’s about making sure that women’s voices are present and powerful in our national dialogue.
Click through to watch a video and to sign the petition to the media to STOP THE SEXISM.

Carter sees superdelegates prompting Clinton to quit
LONDON (Reuters) – Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Sunday he expects Democratic superdelegates to reveal their choice for presidential nominee soon after the final primary in June and that Hillary Clinton will then have to quit the race.
She doesn’t HAVE to do anything, President Carter, and I wish you’d just shut up about this race.  I thought you said you were neutral.  Did you tell Ted Kennedy to drop out of the race in 1980?

Michael Ramirez

Dead Enders (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
Maybe there is so[me] new Coalition of the Willing who are going to unite to put Senator Obama in the White House. I can’t see it because it seems that as more comes out about Senator Obama it will be a Coalition of the Wilting. Wright has not gone away. Just because Senator Clinton isn’t using God Damn America don’t think for a moment that Republicans won’t. The disparity between a man who spent five years in a POW camp and wouldn’t leave until his men could leave to[o] with a man who spent twenty years in a pew listening to a preacher rail against white America and wouldn’t condemn him until it was politically expedient is stark. And it makes for an easy choice in November.