Date

A day unlike any other

barbara — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 11:38:21 -0600

barbara says

This is the day when a creepy little rodent tells us what the future holds in store. No, it is not George W. Bush Day.

Once again, the Clothesline goes where others fear to tread. By the time the MSM get around to covering Punxsutawney Phil’s peek-a-boo deal, it will be so-yawwwwwwn-yesterday news.

Early word is that Phil was a little cranky when he came out of his burrow this morning. Muttered something about needing to crawl back in to plot with Shooter.

The bloggers who neither slumber nor sleep in order to bring you the most relevant information possible discovered the official Punxsutawney Phil web site, whereon we read, and now share with you, our devoted readers, Phil's fearless prognostication and more!

Yes We Can!

susan — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:50:17 -0600

20,000 cheer on Obama; overflow crowd greets Romney.
Headline, Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Just so you know, Romney held his "rally" in a suburban real estate magnate's office, where he delivered a 15-minute speech to "several hundred" supporters.

Obama held his rally at the Target Center, home of the MN Timberwolves basketball team, where he delivered a 54-minute speech to 20,000 wildly cheering supporters. Thousands more -- rumor is another 20,000 -- wanted the free on-line tickets but were too late to get them. Now that's an over-flow.

I was one of the lucky ones to get tickets.
More, of course.

Have you had enough?

barbara — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:46:21 -0600

barbara says

Burn this Coleman/Bush image into your brain and do not put it out. It says it all. (Click on headline for a closer look if you dare.)

Do you want to present Norm Coleman with a one-way ticket out of D.C.? Do you want to defang Tim “McCain’s Intended” Pawlenty with solid veto-proof majorities in both Minnesota House and Senate? Do you long for an exorcism of the White House as preamble to a long Democratic occupancy there?

Then get up out of that computer chair and march your behind to your caucus tonight! (I mean that lovingly, of course.) Because this is where the rubber really hits the road in Minnesota and 23 other states. Today. Tonight.

Not sure where your caucus meets? Check here.

Not sure what it’s all about? Read Eric Black’s excellent piece here.

Want to see what a caucus looks like if you haven’t been to one? Watch this video.

Now, get up and go. It’s time for us to get united and get to work.

The preceding message was brought to you by barbara, that "fed up and rising" woman.

Of Caucuses, Cardboard Barack, and Arthur Schlesinger

susan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:12:06 -0600

Yes, I was at my caucus, yes, it was classic DFL (Democratic Farm Labor, the title we Dems in MN go by) mayhem, yes, people voted on the backs of napkins and post-it notes, yes, for all I know there were members of the local madrasa slipping in and voting because controls were, ah, porous. This was, after all, a party-run caucus, not a state-run election. So the big grump who stomped in and informed me that I had to remove my balloons and Obama signs and -- the piece de resistance, my full-sized cardboard cut-out of Obama -- from the premises was wrong. Think mini-convention, think funny hats, think neighborhood gathering of dutiful citizens and a smattering of blowhards. (Don't ask.)
More blow below.

Republican Dream Ticket

susan — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:02:32 -0600

Peter comments:

Sitting here on the Straits of Mackinac (that's northern Michigan, folks) thinking about voting in a second primary in the same political season (is that a record of some sort?)

Well, not if you're from Chicago, har har har. Old joke, sorry.

I don't see any other way to resolve the Florida/Michigan mess than by holding another primary, closer to the time you were "supposed" to. (And I also don't quite get why some states were allowed to move theirs up and not others. A little enlightenment here please?)
I know Hillary has another idea, but if the MI/FL delegates are counted as hers, my annoyingly (to Barbara and I'm sure others) inconsistent defense of Hillary will boil down to a reduction of pure rage.
What a way to run a party, indeed. But the Repubs have their own version of same, and look what they have left when it's all over. At least we'll have -- Barack. Or yeah, Hillary.
Dream ticket ahead.

Everyone's Entitled to My Opinion

susan — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:07:48 -0600

Gotta get rid of that weasel.
So, no time to post today, but if you didn't see the NYTimes, (sorry, will add link later) do not miss the cover story about how the Army commissioned, then suppressed, a detailed study of the planning for postwar Iraq, prepared by the Rand Corporation in 2005.
"But the study's wide-ranging critique of the White House, the Defense Department and other govenment agencies was a concern for army generals, and the Army has sought to keep the report under lock and key."
More.

That Americans might safely graze

barbara — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:24:33 -0600

barbara says

Pop quiz:

Q: When is a Democrat not a Democrat?
A: When a Democrat is a United States Senator.

Yesterday, 18 Democratic senators slithered across the aisle (again) as the Senate voted 68 to 29 to bless and broaden the odious practice of spying on U.S. citizens. Making a list and checking it twice. Protecting America from the murderous infidels by illegally wiretapping communications. Illegal? Eh, pesky detail.

We all know it’s generally easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission. The problem is that BushCo never asks for either. They do what they damn well please, because Congress has repeatedly ceded its Constitutional role as a co-equal third of the United States government. That arcane checks and balances thingie.

But wait. There’s more.

What's it all about, eh?

barbara — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 09:05:19 -0600

barbara says

There’s an interesting discussion going on downstairs (comments in the last post). Cutting to the heart of it, the issue is Obama vs. Clinton and the relative merits of each choice. Experience or perceived lack thereof. Female or male. Clinton or unrelated to same. That kind of thing.

Commenter dk-nyc says:

…Legislating in Washington is a job, and like any other job, experience should be considered a good thing. Would you hire a "fresh new voice" for your lawyer, or a likeable face for your dentist? And if things are a mess in Washington, maybe, just maybe, it's because we the people insist on new faces, stars, and likeableness….And when these folks get to Washington, or into state houses, they discover, like our WH inhabitant, that, gosh, "it's hard work"....And p.s. That eight term incumbent (b-note: who just got voted out) would've been just dandy by me. Look what LBJ was able to accomplish, versus, say, JFK. Or Carter.

Well, now, wait just a little minute.

Truth or dare, fact or fiction

barbara — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 10:49:07 -0600

barbara writes

We already know ours is a deeply divided country. Turns out CLB is a divided blog, too. The blog part is a good thing. By and large, blogs have become the principal venue for thoughtful discussion (and no small amount of snarkery).

Check out comments from DK and LeftyMN in the past couple of threads here and here to see what thoughtful and emotional commentary looks like. And btw, thoughtful and emotional are not mutually exclusive. We love hearing what our readers are thinking, even when you take us to task. (Perhansa and Poet and Paul, where the heck are you?)

DK, you’re technically right about my “misrepresentation of fact” on the FISA voting. Turns out my take that “Hillary didn’t vote and Obama did” was based on early MSM stories that were live-covering the voting. You wrote: “I’d just read in the NYTimes that neither one of them (Clinton and Obama) had hauled their fannies back to Washington to vote! That’s a fact.”

Turns out that's not a fact. I checked the U.S. Senate site’s voting recap. Read on.

The depths of despair

barbara — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 08:01:37 -0600

barbara writes

Greetings from the cancer zone. This is a quickly written post because we're leaving shortly to get results from David's CT-scan, which basically shows whether the toxic chemo is doing its job. Then, probably, more toxic drip into David's besieged body. Likely all of that is part of what has put me in a mode of major funk and snark and impatience. More, even, than usual.

Perhansa, it's great to hear from you. Yeah, I really mean it. Seems you've waded deep into the slough of despond. Crowded there, isn't it? I wander in and out of it myself, constantly. More in than out. 'Out' is due largely to the fact that I don't watch television. With rare and carefully chosen exceptions, that's been going on for, oh, 15 years or so.

We desperately need relief from the "American Idol" crap that is being perpetrated by the increasingly shallow MSM on the increasingly shallow public. It is a throwback to the Coliseum (though I was very young in those days, so memory has faded). Gladiators and lions. Blood and guts. Violence and posturing and thrust home! sudden death. The crowd roars its approval! More here.

Fed up and rising

barbara — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 05:22:16 -0600

barbara writes

I don't really have time for this today, but I am so sick and tired of Hillary Clinton that I must make time.

UPDATE: Check out the woman who claims her experience and professional demeanor qualify her for the presidency. Can you say junior high trash-talk? Sure you can!

Do I want a president of the United States who waggles her finger and scolds, "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" while the Ohio governor is stationed behind her, looking like some kind of bobble-head with an anxiety disorder? Actually, I don't. One mommy per person is sufficient, thank you very much. We rediscover that each time the pearl-bedecked Barbara Bush shoots off her big mouth.

Do I want a president who, as Frank Rich points out in today's NYTimes, slams "what she sees as the empty Obama brand of hope, (to which) she offers only a chilly void: Abandon hope all ye who enter here. This must be the first presidential candidate in history to devote so much energy to preaching against optimism, against inspiring language and — talk about bizarre — against democracy itself. No sooner does Mrs. Clinton lose a state than her campaign belittles its voters as unrepresentative of the country." Read his whole commentary here.

Do I want a Democratic candidate who, incredibly, likens her opponent to George W. Bush, the most dangerous, incapable, self-serving, inadequate, bone-headed president since time out of mind? What an appalling, disgusting, divisive, blatantly untrue thing to say.

Mrs. Clinton seems to believe that little Obama should cave in terror (a Republican goal) at her tirades and those of her surrogates. That it's perfectly all right for the Clintonistas to snark and attack, and that it is not all right for Obama to defend himself. The woman is coming unglued.

I have tried very hard to ignore the "Hillary is perpetually angry" meme, but it's simply not possible. Hillary Clinton is perpetually angry. Particularly when she sees her campaign tanking, which it is. And with good reason. She picks her own scabs and blames everyone else because she's bleeding.

She has morphed into (reverted to form?) a snarking harridan and I'm fed up and rising with her, her campaign "team," and the man who is arguably her soulmate. Enough already. Respect must be earned, and I have given all the unearned respect I'm going to give to Hillary Clinton.

I just sent my first donation to Obama.

I wasn't going to post the following piece from Paul Loeb because I didn't have time to format it for this site. Changed my mind. With his permission, here it is.

How Much Damage Will Clinton Do Before She Folds?

by Paul Rogat Loeb

In the wake of ten straight losses, Clinton's going to need some miracles to win, and Mike Huckabee's already ahead of her in line for divine intervention. But the question is how much damage she'll do to Obama and the Democratic chances before she quits. Plenty more. Click here.

The name of the game

barbara — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:22:14 -0600

barbara writes

I keep saying I don’t watch television. Then I follow up with the revelation that I just did. Busted. Yes, I’m now up to about six hours a year. Way too much, as it turns out. Last night, after we hunted down the remote, we tuned in to the Obama/Clinton “debate." Judas priest! Such a deal.

Two candidates from the same party, vying to restore the severely damaged “leader of the free world” reputation of the presidency, sat side by side, facing the Ohio audience. The tension was palpable. Obama and Clinton have been exchanging increasingly testy snipes over the past few days.

Tim Russert and Brian Williams fed Obama and Clinton (no, wait, Clinton and Obama) vapid questions, with forays into irrelevant weirdness. Each time Clinton muscled her way into the spotlight (and there were many instances of that), talking over Obama and the Nincompoops (hey! great name for a rock band!), Williams seemed largely unwilling or unable to rein her in. Alpha female was desperately determined to be heard. I think Williams was afraid of her. Russert, maybe not so much.

Clinton calls herself strong. Last night, she was aggressive. She was pushy and extremely rude. More here.

Diebold Leaks Results of 2008 Election

susan — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:10:52 -0600

Weren't some of us looking for a laugh? Or was that just me wallowing in the slough of despond? Well, here's a change-up, from The Onion.
Check it out!