Here’s a little video montage I put together this morning.

It speaks for itself… Enjoy!

From Politico (DCOW):

In a humorous riff, Obama mentioned a debate in which Tim Russert had asked him, “What’s your biggest weakness?”

Obama went on: “Well, I’m always losing paper. And so I have to have somebody around me to help me file things and keep my desk clean.”

Obama then said Russert had asked Edwards the same question.

“And he says, ‘Well, I am just so passionate about helping poor people,’” Obama said dryly.

Just goes to show, if you want to know something, ask a (trusted, reality-based) blogger. This succinct explanation just in via email from Brian Leubitz of Calitics.com :

Here’s what I know. Edwards votes will count, but unless Edwards gets 15% in either the congressional district that you are in or the state as a whole, those votes won’t be counted for the delegate count. So, say in your congressional district Obama gets 47%, Clinton gets 45% and Edwards gets 8%, if you have a 3 delegate district (districts get between 3-6 delegates) 2 delegates will go to Obama, and one to Clinton, none to Edwards. Similarly at the state level, unless Edwards gets 15%, he won’t get any of the statewide delegate pool.

So, the votes will officially count, but they just won’t have a lot of meaning unless a lot of people vote for him.

For much more detail, see The Junkie’s Guide To The California Primary.  Read more 

[UPDATE: next installment in this series, specific to California]

Thank you alert reader Bringiton for finding an official source to explain at least part of the Edwards Primary Conundrum. You have won 5 free drink tickets redeemable at the Mighty Corrente Building’s Wet Bar.

Here’s the link to the relevant section of the Delegate Selection Rules For The 2008 Democratic National Convention:

13. FAIR REFLECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCES

A. Delegates shall be allocated in a fashion that fairly reflects the expressed presidential preference or uncommitted status of the primary voters or, if there is no binding primary, the convention and/or caucus participants.

B. States shall allocate district-level delegates and alternates in proportion to the percentage of the primary or caucus vote won in that district by each preference, except that preferences falling below a fifteen percent (15%) threshold shall not be awarded any delegates. Subject to section F. of this rule, no state shall have a threshold above or below fifteen percent (15%).  Read more 

[Welcome, Digby readers!]

Nothing became John Edward’s campaign for the Presidency more than the manner of his leaving it.

As noted by Lambert, that was some damn speech.

Let me note, in response to some of the comments in that thread, I don’t think his talk of “one America” was any kind of sop to Obama.

More likely it was meant to make clear that one of his central campaign themes, the fight for economic justice, is a unifying one for all liberal/progressives, (sorry, but I refuse to stop calling myself a liberal), the middle class, the working class, the working poor, and those too poor and marginalized to find employment, as well as being a reference to Michael Harrington’s formulation of “the other America,” which JFK made part of his campaign in 1960, especially in those visits to West Virginia, where grinding poverty was on such conspicuous display.

It wasn’t just the speech, though, the theatrics were perfect in their multiple meanings - NOLA, the Ninth Ward, Habitat For Humanity, Elizabeth at his side, surrounded by family and friends, new ones and old ones, and the meaningful symbolism of their commitment as a family, right after the speech, to join in with a community dedicated to raising up housing out of the watery ruins of New Orleans, a gesture that said, yes a candidacy was ending but not the movement whose values and ideas that candidacy was meant to embody.

All that said, and swallowing the lump in my throat, what are we to make of Edwards’ campaign and its failure to get sufficient traction to take him through Super Tuesday; what can we learn from its strengths and its weaknesses, what worked, what didn’t, and why?  Read more 

Here it is:

[EDWARDS] And we do this — we do this for each other in America. We don’t turn away from a neighbor in their time of need. Because every one of us knows that what — but for the grace of God, there goes us. The American people have never stopped doing this, even when their government walked away, and walked away it has from hardworking people, and, yes, from the poor, those who live in poverty in this country.

For decades, we stopped focusing on those struggles. They didn’t register in political polls, they didn’t get us votes and so we stopped talking about it. I don’t know how it started. I don’t know when our party began to turn away from the cause of working people, from the fathers who were working three jobs literally just to pay the rent, mothers sending their kids to bed wrapped up in their clothes and in coats because they couldn’t afford to pay for heat.

We know that our brothers and sisters have been bullied into believing that they can’t organize and can’t put a union in the workplace. Well, in this campaign, we didn’t turn our heads. We looked them square in the eye and we said, “We see you, we hear you, and we are with you. And we will never forget you.” And I have a feeling that if the leaders of our great Democratic Party continue to hear the voices of working people, a proud progressive will occupy the White House.

Now, I’ve spoken to both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama. They have both pledged to me and more importantly through me to America, that they will make ending poverty central to their campaign for the presidency.

So, at every opportunity, we get to ask Hilbama the question:  Read more 

Matt Stoller edition. Looking at the Florida exit polling:

Much younger voters love Obama, but ’older’ younger voters who remember a more partisan time went for Clinton. I first noticed this after New Hampshire, and it appears as if Obama’s South Carolina dynamic did not change the overall messaging frame. What’s with the affinity between Gen X and the millenials, and the older gap millenials and the boomers?

If you’re older, you’re more likely to be reality-based. Too harsh? Read on. Do the math:  Read more 

Go read Avedon immediately for the best post on our current electoral plight: Nuanced, reflective, elegiac, funny, analytical, empathetic, and accurate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Twelve more days until I vote for this guy.

1992: After twelve years of voodoo economics, the economy is officially stupid. So, Democrats win… with a triangulating strategy based on governing from the so-called “center.” Sister Souljah joins “welfare queens” among the Great Straw Women of American Discourse.

1994: Newt Gingrich’s Contract on America offers thinly veiled racism and power to the powerful. What’s not to like? The GOP wins Congress and spends the next six years staring at the Clenis.

2000: To atone for the cumshot heard round the world, Al Gore dons a hairshirt: sanctimonious scold Joe Lieberman. Based on the journalistic principle of “Clinton Fatigue,” the media decides that the country needs a backslapping dolt. Based on the Constitutional principle of “Who’s Your Daddy?” the Supreme Court concurs.

2001-2003: Despite VP Cheney’s anti-terrorism task force meeting a backbreaking zero times, terrorists still manage to destroy the World Trade Center. On the strength of this leadership, the media and most of the public embrace George W. Bush’s Operation Terrorist Recruitment Rapture Crusade.

2004: The media declares Bush’s second disputed one-state victory to be a mandate to ram his compassionate conservatism further up the world’s ass. (Maybe man date was just a Freudian slip).

2005: Hurricane Katrina hits, and Bush’s mama offers brown people all the Astroturf they can eat.

2006: Even though they’re not allowed to see the flagged-draped coffins (if more soldiers don’t die in vain, the previous ones died in vain), the public smartens the fuck up and votes out a ton of House and Senate Republicans. The new Democratic majority promptly rolls over and plays dead, thanks to a slew of Bush Dogs in donkey’s clothing.

2008: Triangulation Man gives way to Triangulation Woman… who’s duking it out with an even more acute triangulator of the Next Generation. Somewhere in the distance, John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich sound the call for progressive reform. Whatever.

* * *

When, I ask, is it time for a progressive agenda?  Read more 

**From a tip by alert reader bringiton: “The American People Deserve To Know Where We Stand, and What We Want to Do.” Tell ‘em, John.

Right now, these are the 15 highest-rated posts on Democratic Underground (over the last 24 hours):  Read more 

[Welcome, Crooks & Liars readers!]

Why is it that Barack Obama’s rhetoric sounds so strangely familiar?

Oh, I remember. There was this charming young fellow from Arkansas – what was the name of that town? Anyway, he had this awfully nice idea, about a “third way” alternative to right-left partisanship. I wonder what became of him and that darling wife of his….

Wait, yes, it’s all coming back to me. She’s pursued that third-way agenda herself, in the Senate and in a run for the presidency.

And so has the man from Honolulu/Indonesia/The South Side. (If this path doesn’t lead to the White House, it certainly qualifies him for one of those “New Sanfrankota” ads.)

So, which of our frontrunners do I prefer? To use the essential word of Obama’s generation: whatever.  Read more 

An unintentionally excellent argument from Dick Morris about why JRE should stay in the race:

John Edwards… helps Hillary Clinton if he stays in the race and boosts Barack Obama if he pulls out.

The more I look at Obama, the more my comfort that he’ll govern to the left of Hillary just keeps fading and fading. I’m not dissing him because he isn’t as angry and progressive as Edwards. I’m dissing him because he isn’t as angry and progressive as the Clintons.  Read more 

John Edwards:

“When you think about what Ronald Reagan did to the American people, to the middle class to the working people,” said Edwards.

“He was openly – openly – intolerant of unions and the right to organize. He openly fought against the union and the organized labor movement in this country. He openly did extraordinary damage to the middle class and working people, created a tax structure that favored the very wealthiest Americans and caused the middle class and working people to struggle every single day. The destruction of the environment, you know, eliminating regulation of companies that were polluting and doing extraordinary damage to the environment.”

“I can promise you this: this president will never use Ronald Reagan as an example for change.”  Read more 

Why I do bother blogging when I can just fair-use Avedon’s stuff?

The Polls You Won’t Hear Much About tell us that the Democratic candidate who stands the best chance of beating any Republican presidential contender is John Edwards. “The upshot of all this: If Hillary’s the Democratic nominee, we could very easily lose to any likely GOP nominee. If Obama’s the nominee, he does OK so long as he doesn’t face McCain. But if Edwards is the nominee, we’re sitting pretty.” And the more voters see of Edwards, the more they like him, so the media has to work hard to keep him out of the spotlight.

Bingo.  Read more 

Here’s why: If you do the delegate count math, there’s a very plausible scenario where Edwards could be the kingmaker at the Convention. Via the extremely supportive Avedon, this from American Street:

But, and here’s where Edwards stakes out the kingmaker status, if Edwards waits until the convention, drawing the same mediocre support he got in New Hampshire, his 613 delegates added to Obama winning his presumed 1413 delegates based on his current 30.7% support equals exactly 2026 — a cushion of one delegate over what is needed to win.

Yeah, I was surprised it worked out that way too.  Read more 

Go on over and read her firsthand.

See, this is what assholes like John Edwards get for all that partisan bickering:

Alarmed at the increasingly populist tone of the 2008 political campaign, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is set to issue a fiery promise to spend millions of dollars to defeat candidates deemed to be anti-business.

“We plan to build a grass-roots business organization so strong that when it bites you in the butt, you bleed,” chamber President Tom Donohue said.  Read more 

[Welcome clammyc readers. This is a pretty old post, in blog years. Now I’d be less concerned about which candidate is more in the pocket of big business than which candidate will be more resistant to Shock Doctrine-style measures as the economy goes down. In the financial sector, it’s already happened. I’m not sure we can afford the rich any more, though. Too many entitlements.]

You know, YouTubes are good. But transcripts are better. At least if you care about substance, as opposed to oratory (poor, poor Ezra):

Our new American majority can end the outrage of unaffordable, unavailable health care in our time. We can bring doctors and patients, workers and businesses, Democrats and Republicans together, and we can tell the drug and insurance industry that, while they get a seat at the table, they don‘t get to buy every chair, not this time, not now.

So, how many chairs will they be able to buy?

Sure, I know what Obama “really means” (and how often have you heard that one from the OFB?)

But that’s not what he said.

And compare that quote from Obama, above, with the Edwards quote, which is the real thing:  Read more 

I will send money to John Edwards again the next time I hear him speak and the word “millworker” does not pass his lips.

Nor the story of the girl who died because the insurance company denied her liver transplant, UNLESS he adds (1) the profit margin of Cigna Insurance, which I saw quoted as $21 billion last year but would have to look up to confirm or (2) the words “Death By Spreadsheet,” which frankly I am astonished Elizabeth has not made him do already.

Oh, and the veterans sleeping under bridges? God bless ya John you’re the only one talking about them…but there are people in this little thing called “foreclosure” and more every day fearing that they’re gonna be next, howzabout you add a few lines about that ol’ Shitpile (tm Atrios)?  Read more 

 Read more 

Over at Big Orange:

This is the conclusion my wife and I came up with.

Clinton = “Me”

Obama = “You”

Edwards = “Us”

Bingo.  Read more 

Leah directs me to post this speech by John Edwards:

Plus, Edwards has great musical taste. Here’s the song that was playing in the background:  Read more 

This message is why the press hates him, and has been covered the race as Obama vs. Hillary, freezin Edwards out. And this message is not exactly what you would hear from campaigns driven by the usual crowd of consultants, is it?

AP:

[EDWARDS: These are] powerful, well-entrenched, well-financed interests that are distorting the democracy in their favor and against the interests of most Americans.”

“The specific examples are oil companies, drug companies, insurance companies, power companies, there are lots more examples. They’ve used money and power to spread their influence and have kept the democracy from working for most people.”

Seems obvious, right?  Read more