How many times can men say that Clinton needed to do what they wanted her to do?

Hillary Clinton didn’t need to do anything — she chose to get behind Barack Obama, which is what she was expected to do.

18 million people cast their primary ballot for Hillary Clinton — she didn’t need to do anything to remain a potent force in the Democratic Party. She could have, had she chosen to, told Barack Obama “it ain’t over ’til its over, I’m still the better choice, I’ve still got more experience, I’ve still got better ideas, and I’m still far more electable than you — and superdelegates have nearly three months to figure that out.”

But we are now going to be told …  Read more 

Meta, meta, meta. (rhubarb)

Amanda’s plight is so fascinating, and regardless of what happens, there is going to be ink spilled upon the matter for months to come. One angle I’ve not seen too much discussion on yet is what this battle tells us about Who Really Is In Charge. Short version: it’s may not be who you think.  Read more 

Pfft. I really hate it when I’ve been writing an essay in my head but just not yet had the chance to post it, and then I discover that someone else has beat me to the punch. Not only that, but hit all the important points as well. Well, jealousy isn’t a proper Liberal trait, so I’ll just cut and paste and say: “what he said.”SN at the Agonist:

In the 1950’s a counter-revolutionary movement became born in conservative circles. Crypto-racist, neo-confederate, anti-communist, anti-socialist, anti-liberal, anti-cosmopolitan strains were fused together into a pro-Christianist pro-Americanist pro-Plutocratic ideology which became “Conservatism”. It was largely self-funded. When, in the 1970’s it was able to secure both a stream of big donors and small donors to pay for itself, it turned on the Republican hierarchy as brutally as it attacked the liberal and Democratic movements which were then still in charge of the government. 1978 is famous as the “purge” of liberal Republicans. By 1990 the species was essentially extinct.

In the present the established orders of the Democratic Party and the old liberal movement are making the same blunder - and the word is blunder - that the liberal Republican establishment made. At a time when Chuck Schumer is nakedly admitting that the Democratic party doesn’t have its “Eight words” - the well oiled parts of the establishment are busy not funding the progressive space known as the blogosphere. A few people in it can make money from it, a few already have safe jobs. But most make less than mexican undocumented immigrants that line up in the barrios and on highways before dawn. Many of the most talented are at the end of their financial rope. A couple of them have died from overwork and underinsurance.  Read more