If I were a superdelegate...

My signif and I drove down to his parents' place for the weekend and - because we're huge political dorks - had a conversation about the Democratic primary along the way. He asked me, "If you were a superdelegate, what would you do?"

We narrowed it down to "Let's say I am a Congresswoman." I said I would probably back whomever the majority of my constituency preferred because I would take seriously my role as the representative of my community. My signif said he wouldn't make his opinion known until the nation made its opinion known and then vote in favor of the winner (in the current sitch - Obama). I then amended my stance (It's a long drive) and said that in the current scenario - if my state had been an early voting state - I would reserve the right to change my stance based on the change in tactics that have turned the race ugly. That if my district had voted for Clinton, I would have to back Obama on principle because I'm so adverse to negative campaigns.

We then revisited the convo over dinner, and my signif's father said he'd vote his gut and not worry about his constituency. If he's a one-term wonder, then so be it. (He's way cool). Anyway, this opens up the floor to y'all...

If you were a superdelegate...what would you do? Read More......

A speech delivered forty years ago tonight in Indianapolis

Last night, I posted Dr. King's speech from April 3, 1968.

Here's a speech delivered forty years ago tonight by Senator Robert Kennedy:

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Now, it's John McCain's turn. Where are his tax forms?

The DNC wants to know where McCain's tax returns are. So do we. Given McCain's utter contempt for campaign finance laws (he's breaking the law), we really need full disclosure.

Yesterday, CNN reported on McCain's access to lots of money from his second wife. Lots of money:

As heiress to her father's stake in Hensley & Co. of Phoenix, Cindy McCain is an executive whose worth may exceed $100 million. Her beer earnings have afforded the GOP presidential nominee a wealthy lifestyle with a private jet and vacation homes at his disposal, and her connections helped him launch his political career -- even if the millions remain in her name alone. Yet the arm's-length distance between McCain and his wife's assets also has helped shield him from conflict-of-interest problems.

Remember how the right wingers made Teresa Heinz Kerry (and her wealth) an issue in 2004? Remember that? Read More......

Clinton releases 2000-2007 tax forms.

The big news on a Friday afternoon:

Bill and Hillary Clinton earned a combined $109 million between 2000 and 2007, with the former president and first lady parlaying their White House years into hefty publishing paydays, and with his oratorical gifts bringing in more than $51 million from paid speaking engagements.

The figures came with the release this afternoon of the Clintons' joint tax returns, a move Sen. Clinton made after promising during a televised presidential debate to comply with requests from journalists and her Democratic rivals to share details of her family's financial dealings.

The returns reveal how the Clintons turned global fame into a successful commercial brand, particularly through the former president's speaking fees. The two also collected more than $30 million from book deals, the returns show.

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Labor group: "It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing"

Today, Mark Penn apologized for meeting with his client, the Colombian government, to discuss a trade pact that his client, Hillary Clinton, opposes. This story about Penn's controversial meeting broke last night -- and it has caused a firestorm.

Today, the labor group, Change to Win, told Clinton they've had it with Penn and his anti-labor ways. The group called on Clinton to fire Mark Penn:

“It’s time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted ‘chief strategist’ Mark Penn packing -- back to his job consulting for union busting corporations and anti-labor governments for good.

“We have questioned Penn’s role in the Clinton campaign in the past for his representation of union busting employers like Cintas. At that time, Penn said there was a wall between him and his firm’s representation of union busters. The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton’s presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role – advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.

For a full look at Penn's long and shady history of union busting, read the seminal article Ari Berman's wrote in The Nation last spring. Read More......

69% of Democrats think Obama will be the nominee. He rates higher than McCain and Clinton on "shares values of Americans"

Take a look at a couple more findings from the latest CBS/NY Times poll:


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Hillary Clinton thinks it's a major issue when a campaign adviser meets with a foreign government about a trade deal. Or she did last month anyway.

Last night, we learned from the Wall Street Journal that Mark Penn met with his client, the Colombian government, to strategize about a trade pact his client, Hillary Clinton, opposes.

Via Ben Smith, we learned that not too long ago, just last month actually, Clinton was pretty clear that a meeting between top campaign adviser and foreign governments should be a major issue:

Peering at the 50 or so reporters packed into a small hotel conference room here, she added: "I would ask you to look at this story and substitute my name for Sen. Obama’s name and see what you would do with this story ... Just ask yourself [what you would do] if some of my advisers had been having private meetings with foreign governments."

Jed thinks the Penn-Colombia meeting "is a pretty remarkable act of hypocrisy" from the Clinton campaign. Jed is right. His latest video shows just how adamant Clinton was that this should be a major controversy:



So, are we dealing with yet another double standard from Hillary Clinton? And, keep in mind, Penn isn't just any campaign adviser. Penn is the ultimate Clinton campaign strategist.

(I'm sure the Colombian government would never assume that hiring Mark Penn would get them access to Hillary Clinton. Perish the thought.) Read More......

Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry mocked soldier serving the Green Zone as "two-bit security guard"

It's phenomenal the disdain that Republicans actually have for the men and women who serve in the Armed Services. But to openly mock soldiers serving in the Green Zone in Iraq would seem beyond the pale.

Not for Republican Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC). He dismissed a soldier as a "two-bit security guard" because the soldier wanted the proper credentials before letting McHenry in the building with the gym. Then, the idiot Congressman from North Carolina went on to explain that while he was in the Green Zone, it was under a rocket attack -- and the gym was hit. Major hat tip to Think Progress:

"Two-bit security guard" just sums up the contempt McHenry and his colleagues have for U.S. soldiers. Read More......

Neocon delusions

Just for fun, check out what Michael Ledeen, hugely influential (close ties to the White House, resident scholar at AEI, contributing editor to National Review, etc etc) neoconservative foreign policy expert (er, "expert") had to say exactly a week ago about the situation in Iraq:

A lot of the coverage revolves around the colorful figure of Moqtada al Sadr, as if he were calling some of the shots in Baghdad and Basra, but those stories are anachronistic. Mookie is no longer a major player in these events. . . . Today, on the most reliable accounts, most Iraqi Shi’ites (and Sunnis, for that matter) despise the Iranian regime, blame it for most of the violence, and are fighting Iranians and their proxies throughout the land. . . . Democracy works its magic, even in the Middle East, and Maliki wants to keep his job. Right now, that requires him to fight the Iranian-sponsored militias.

This is all -- all! -- absolutely and thoroughly ridiculous, and reflects such a contradictory, dumbass understanding of the realities in Iraq that I wondered if it was an early April Fools joke. Any sentient observer of Iraq would know all those statements are wrong, but the piece is particularly notable because it was disproved virtually in its entirety just days after being posted last week.

First of all, and most importantly, the militia that keeps Maliki in power, the Badr Corps, is the single most Iran-connected organization in Iraq. Iran trained and funded Badr, an Iranian-based expat group, for years while Saddam was in power; by contrast, Sadr has a relatively tenuous relationship with Iran because he and his family stuck around in Iraq throughout Saddam's reign and because he's more of an Iraqi nationalist than Iran would like. The idea that Maliki is going around fighting Iranian influence is simply ludicrous.

Further, despite Ledeen's confident predictions of a Sadrist wipeout, Maliki and the Iraqi Army (if that's what we want to call essentially a bunch of deputized and uniformed Badr members) basically lost the battles in Basra and Baghdad, both from tactical and PR perspectives. And who brokered the truce that ended the fighting? Iran! The same nation Ledeen claimed was fomenting the violence. This is a guy with huge influence and a significant readership/following, and his position in the world would be hilarious if the effects weren't, y'know, the deaths of thousands and thousands and thousands of people. Read More......

Unemployment Rate Now 5.1%

Just out this morning (emphasis mine):

Employers nervous about diminishing business prospects slashed 80,000 jobs in March, the most in five years and the third straight month of losses.
(...)
The unemployment rate was the highest since September 2005, when significant job losses followed the devastating blows of Gulf Coast hurricanes.

Quite the legacy this administration is leaving for the next.

UPDATE: As you might suspect, big losses in construction and manufacturing. Employment in healthcare and food services are up, but the losses far outweigh the gains. Read More......

Common Cause calls out McCain on his campaign finance shenanigans

Jane Hamsher has a copy of the full letter from Common Cause to McCain, here's a key paragraph:

Similarly, we are concerned that your recent actions in regard to public funding in the presidential primaries may undermine respect for the federal campaign finance laws, especially the presidential public financing system. Having opted into the system last summer – and having signed a binding certification agreement with the FEC – it is clear to us that you need an FEC vote to allow you to withdraw.

Yes, McCain does needs a vote to withdraw - he alone can't make that call. McCain can't get a vote. Because of Mitch McConnell's games in the Senate, there aren't enough FEC Commissioners. So, McCain is stuck in the public finance sytem -- and McCain is breaking the law with every dollar he spends.

You know things are bad when Common Cause has to tell McCain that "it is vital that you respect the role of the FEC." The so-called "champion" of campaign finance reform shouldn't have to be told that.

Maybe this letter from Common Cause will perk the interest of the McCain traveling press corps -- or anyone in the traditional media. Don't count on it. Read More......

Open Thread

I haven't listened to this song for awhile. Seems appropriate on the day we find out that 81% of Americans think we're on the wrong track:
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