'Family Ties'

The Good Kind Of Gutter Politics

[First Read, MSNBC.com - 03/30/08]

When Obama walked in with Sen. Bob Casey, who recently endorsed him, locals stopped munching mid-fry to stare. The presidential hopeful shook hands, posed for pictures and then joined local Roxanne Hart to bowl a few frames.

"I haven't bowled in 30 years," Obama declared before putting on size 13 1/2 shoes. Casey joined in, and the two rolled. Casey's ball went into the left gutter; Obama's rolled into the right. And so it went, though the locals didn't seem to mind the poor performance. Little kids offered advice and joined in the game. Casey managed to improved steadily, though the last time he bowled was in high school. Obama's balls on the on the other hand meandered their way into the gutter time and time again.

"My economic plan is better than my bowling!" Obama declared at one point to the crowd that had gathered around the lane, growing with each frame as patrons texted and called friends and family to see the political spectacle.

Eventually, in the seventh frame, Obama made a spare, cleaning up one pin left standing with his second ball. He started chanting, "Yes I can!" and a few in the crowd joined in. He quit while he was ahead, signing two bowling pins for the owners before leaving.

No. 1 All Around!

Not only has the No. 1 seed team of each NCAA region made it to the Final Four, a first time occurrence in the NCAA, but......I predicted it! And, after correctly picking all four teams of the Final Four (and picking relatively well in the previous rounds), I am currently the leader of both of my NCAA Facebook groups...that's right, #1! Somebody remind me why I didn't enter one of those $20 online pools?

Moving forward, I have UNC beating Kansas (which I'm pretty confident about), and UCLA beating Memphis (which I'm less confident about, but still believe will end up being the right call). Then, in a UNC vs. UCLA National Championship match-up, I have UNC winning it all.

Stay Tuned...

"No, Mr. President, They're Saying Boo-ush."

Too bad McCain didn't join him.

PA Senator Bob Casey Endorses Obama

"I believe in my heart that there is one person who's uniquely qualified to lead us in that new direction and that is Barack Obama."

Top Of The Rink

Prior to my riveting Wednesday 'Campaigns and Elections' class, my fiance and I decided to take a trip up to Rockefeller Center and put in some quality ice skating time (the first such occasion for both of us at the famous rink in NYC). Needless to say, it was a total blast, some of the most fun I've had in a long while (minus the extreme foot pain that resulted from my irregularly wide feet being crammed into unnecessarily thin, plastic skates). I'm proud to say I never fell as a result of my own skating abilities...twice, however, I did take a fall as a result of sacrificing myself for the safety of ill-placed children within my skating path (hey insane parents, your kid is scared to death out there and you putting them in a helmet isn't making the situation any better). And, as if the day wasn't already a great success, we got to take a picture with an old man wearing wiper-equipped glasses, a large clock necklace, and a red, white, and blue-themed outfit...sorry Naked Cowboy, but this guy really knows how to bring the crazy.

Finally Getting Sirius About Satellite Radio

'Sirius-XM Merger Gets Federal Approval'

Happy Easter To All My Peeps

As I believe I mentioned during last year's Easter holiday...I love Peeps.

Richardson Endorses Obama

Has YOUR Passport Information Been Breached? If So, You've Been Given...The Bush Treatment!

[UPDATE II: And the plot thickens! Now State Department officials are reporting that both Hillary Clinton and John McCain's passport files were breached as well! The Clinton breach seems to be a completely separate incident, according to the spokesman of the State Department, as a trainee that was instructed to "search for a family members passport file" while training instead searched for Hillary Clinton and was reprimanded (not fired) for doing so. The McCain breach, however, is related to the three Obama breaches of the past three months: the guy that breached the Obama file on March 14th is also the person responsible for the McCain breach at the same time (and this is the worker that has only been disciplined, while the other two workers of the Obama breaches were already fired). Thus, it seems political motivation has yet to be ruled out, but what can already be confirmed is that the passport division of the State Department is staffed by a whole array of incompetent people...and therefore functions much like any other department of the Bush administration.]

[UPDATE: Apparently MSNBC reported that "Maura Harty, the State Department official in charge of the Bureau of Consular Affairs during the first two breaches of Obama's passport, had served as an ambassador under Bill Clinton." This sounds more like coincidence than conspiracy (it seems possible that various current government bureaucrats could have carried over from their service under the Clinton administration), but this could end up being another angle of the story that will be interesting to watch as more details become available.]

With the incredible breaking news of Senator Obama's passport information being breached by individuals within the State Department, we find yet another parallel between presidential candidate Barack Obama and former-presidential candidate Bill Clinton. Back during the 1992 presidential campaign contest between incumbent George H.W. Bush and challenger Bill Clinton, President Bush Sr.'s administration was behind a similar breach of Clinton's passport information (as well as other devious government searches into Clinton's past, including his time spent at Oxford, etc.). Obviously, Bush Sr.'s motivations for such actions were directly linked to his running for reelection against Clinton, while this new breach by those within the current Bush administration is more likely some combination of similar opposition research motivation and a general consequence of an administration hell-bent on destroying every last vestige of privacy within government (as well as some amount of general idiocy by those individuals involved who actually thought they could access a high-profile government official's records without flags being raised).

More importantly, as more and more information comes out over the next few days, it will be particularly interesting to see how far up the chain of command news of the breaches, and the corresponding investigation regarding the breaches, traveled over the past couple of months. As if the Republican Party didn't have enough of a stink going into this election season, an incident that potentially hearkens back to the days of Watergate could just about finish them off completely!

"That's McCain!" - Entry #1 and #2

Time to kick off a new blog post series, one that will certainly continue into the fall general election season, called "That's McCain!" The basic idea is to highlight the guaranteed litany of political gaffes committed by Republican presidential nominee John McCain. And to get things started, we already have the first and second installment in the series. Enjoy!

Entry #1 - McCain Falsely States Multiple Times that 'Iranian Operatives Are Taking Al Qaeda Into Iran'

Entry #2 - McCain Incorrectly Refers to Purim As 'Their Version of Halloween' In Israel

Sure, McCain conflates all those "bad guys" in the Middle East. And sure, McCain thinks Purim is about dressing up as Spider-Man and collecting Snickers bars. However, we can't fault John McCain for his mistakes because......all together now......"That's McCain!"

Five Years Of...

I know there is something that has been going on for the past five years, but based on today's media coverage (or lack thereof), I just can't seem to remember...anyway, back to more important matters in America.

Race In A 21st Century America

Shock And Awe

" If you look back on those five years it has been a difficult, challenging but nonetheless successful endeavor...and it has been well worth the effort. "

-- Vice President Dick Cheney, at a news conference today in Baghdad. Later in the day, a female suicide bomber killed 25 and wounded 50 Iraqis in Southern Iraq, while bombings in Baghdad killed 4 and wounded 13 others.

[UPDATE: Ditto President Bush.]

Mr. Cooper, You May Not Have Enjoyed 'Juno', But How About...

Jewno.
(Adam, how jealous are you that I found this video first?
Haha...you definitely need to post this, too.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

TV Cast Members Stuck Between A '30 Rock' And A Hard Place

It's Tracy Morgan in typical Tracy Morgan style...hilarious.

Your New York Yankees

Billy Crystal is awesome. Sure, he struck out at his one at bat, but he did foul off an 80+ mile-an-hour pitch...not bad for a 60 year old!

Spitzer To New Yorkers: 'I Am A Straight American...That Enjoys Prostitutes'

A 'Deeply Sorry' Spitzer Resigns

Obama Wins Mississippi Primary

Mississippi...........Obama 61%, Clinton 37% (99% reporting)

Oh boy...

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world, you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up. Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

--Geraldine Ferraro, fundraiser for the Hillary Clinton campaign and a Democratic politician best known for being the first and only female candidate for the Vice Presidency.
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UPDATE: Ut oh, there appears to be more, from almost exactly twenty years ago during the 1988 Democratic presidential primary campaign of Jessie Jackson...

"And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race." Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, "Millions of Americans have a point of view different from" Ferraro's." [Washington Post - April 15, 1988]
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Breaking: NY Governor Eliot Spitzer Linked to Prostitution Ring

Huhhhhh!?!? At first, I thought this was an Onion News article...it's not!

FINALLY!

'MSNBC Cancels Tucker Carlson's Show'

Plan On Seeing More Of This In November

"Democrat Bill Foster has snatched former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's congressional seat in a closely watched special election that gave the longtime Republican district to the Democrats.

Foster has won 52 percent of the vote compared to 48 percent for Republican Jim Oberweis with 556 of 568 precincts reporting.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama made a TV ad praising Foster; Oberweis had fundraising help from the apparent Republican nominee, John McCain, and Hastert's backing.

The winner Saturday will fill the remainder of Hastert's term, which ends in January. The 66-year-old Hastert, who lost his powerful post as speaker when Democrats took control of Congress, resigned late last year."

Obama Wins Wyoming

Wyoming...........Obama 61%, Clinton 38% (100% reporting)

This Week's Edition Of...' Those Pesky Facts ' !

With the Wyoming Democratic caucus on the horizon, I think it's time we take a look at one of the media's favorite, and frequent, assertions regarding how "Obama does well with winning caucuses, while Clinton does well with winning primaries". Now, we can hardly hold the media completely responsible, as campaign hacks deserve a large share of the credit for this assertion. As always, there remains one simple problem with assertions such as these...those pesky facts!

Here is the breakdown, to date, of the Democratic primary and caucus wins for each candidate:

• CAUCUSES Won by Obama: Iowa, Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, Hawaii.
• TOTAL Obama Caucus Wins - 11

• CAUCUSES Won by Clinton: Nevada.
• TOTAL Clinton Caucus Wins - 1

• PRIMARIES Won by Obama: South Carolina, Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Utah, Louisiana, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, Wisconsin, Vermont.
• TOTAL Obama Primary Wins - 14

• PRIMARIES Won by Clinton: New Hampshire, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas.
• TOTAL Clinton Primary Wins - 13

And there you have it...once again, those pesky facts getting in the way of baseless assertions! Instead of it being true that "Obama does well with winning caucuses, while Clinton does well with winning primaries", the fact-based reality shows that Obama does well with BOTH caucuses and primaries, while Clinton does well with winning primaries and very poorly with winning caucuses. But, you know, who has time to actually check the election results of the past couple of months when formulating their "take on things".

And, in the interest of exploring ALL of those pesky facts (yet another difficult step in the pursuit of that elusive 'truth' everyone is always whispering about), we can consider throwing the somewhat illegitimate primary contests of Michigan and Florida into the mix. This would boost Clinton's primary wins by two, thus making the primary wins Obama-14/Clinton-15 (in other words, the same basic standing). Of course, I haven't included the U.S. Virgin Islands caucus win for Obama, as well as what is now more certainly expected to be a Texas caucus win for Obama), mostly because boosting Obama's caucus wins from 11 to 13 over Clinton's 1 caucus win really doesn't add much to an already lopsided equation.

So there you have it, all of those pesky facts laying out there for you. Enjoy them while they last...and by "while they last" I mean until the next dimwit dressed in a suit asserts some kind of fact-deprived assessment pertaining to either Obama or Clinton (or to the greater Democratic Party, for that matter), and to the detriment of intelligent political discourse.

Rolling Stone Endorses Obama

"Rolling Stone is backing Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for president, the first time the music magazine has endorsed a contender for the White House during the primary."

Bush Passes Torch, McCain Likely Burned

'Bush Endorses John McCain for President'

The Day Formerly Known As Super Tuesday

Vermont...........Obama 59%, Clinton 39% (99% reporting)

Rhode Island.....Clinton 58%, Obama 40% (100% reporting)
Ohio...............Clinton 54%, Obama 44% (100% reporting)
Texas (P)..........Clinton 51%, Obama 48% (99% reporting)
Texas (C)..........Obama 56%, Clinton 44% (40% reporting)

*John McCain crosses delegate threshold for Republican nomination.

The Closer

Prediction: Hillary Clinton Will Be On SNL Tonight

Just read this on HuffPost...

Clinton Skips Flight; Campaign Won't Say Why

By Anne E. Kornblut
DALLAS -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has disappeared from the campaign trail, and her campaign plane, with no explanation.

Clinton did not show up for this afternoon's flight from Dallas to Columbus, Ohio, and campaign spokesman Doug Hattaway would not elaborate on the reason or her whereabouts.

"It's nothing bad," Hattaway said on board the plane. He added that the press corps would see Clinton on Sunday.

She disappeared in similar fashion Feb. 7, when, it was later revealed, she had flown to North Carolina to meet with former rival John Edwards.

...I guarantee that Clinton will be on Saturday Night Live tonight in a sketch about herself and Barack Obama (much like Obama was in a sketch last Halloween). Knowing that Clinton will be on the Monday night edition of The Daily Show, and assuming this SNL prediction is correct (not to mention the Jack Nicholson movie-themed campaign ad that the Clinton campaign just put out, which I can't believe was approved to release as a real advertisement), it looks like the Clinton campaign is on a last minute entertainment tour before the Tuesday primaries.

UPDATE (11:41PM): Prediction confirmed!