If you liked Reagan, the odds are you don’t think McCain is too old to be president. And if you liked Reagan, the reason he gave for opposing a bill that would ensure women equal pay for equal work might even make sense to you. Here’s McCain, ‘reasoning’: “I am all in favor of pay equity for women, but this kind of legislation, as is typical of what’s being proposed by my friends on the other side of the aisle, opens us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems,”...

Even before her win tonight, Hillary was pointing out that a Hillary win in Pennsylvania demonstrates the fallacy underlying the ‘Obama is inevitable’ argument.  Hillary Clinton said if Barack Obama does not win Pennsylvania despite his huge campaign war chest, people ought to ask the question, “Why can’t he close the deal?”… Clinton went to say that if she wins Pennsylvania, she will have accumulated wins in key states that Democrats need in order to retake the White...

Since the ads are still going nonstop in Pennsylvania, I thought I’d provide an 11th-hour summary of 10 Hillary positives. The media — and the Obama campaign — have attempted to paint their policies and experience as virtually indistinguishable in order to justify its ongoing emphasis on petty bickering and gossip over their secret thoughts and beliefs. Here, then, are 10 reasons for a Democrat to prefer Hillary to any other candidate.

Critics in the media — quite a few of whom unabashedly favor Obama — have been out in force this week, pointing fingers and getting red-faced over ABC’s treatment of their favorite in the most debate. Yes, that shoe always pinches when it’s on the other foot, I’ve noticed. At The Politico, John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei wrote: The shower of indignation on Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos over the last few days is the clearest evidence yet that the Clintonites...

Obama’s had a little trouble getting into blue collar mode in Pennsylvania.  I admit that some perverse part of me—staunch Hillary supporter that I am—finds all this rather endearing.  Weary, evidently, of bashing only Hillary, Maureen Dowd writes: His strenuous and inadvertently hilarious efforts to woo working-class folk in Pennsylvania have only made him seem more effete. Keeping his tie firmly in place, he genteelly sipped his pint of Yuengling beer at Sharky’s...

This is an astonishing—and moving—thing to witness. Watch it till the end: you’ll see this formerly abused (now rescued) animal carefully and delicately use his trunk to paint an absolutely recognizable picture of an elephant holding a red flower in his trunk. I’ve posted more footage of elephants painting (and some background about the painting ‘Starving Elephant Artisans’ ) here. Cross-Posted at Buck Naked Politics

You know, an Obama campaign co-chair recently compared Bill Clinton to Joe McCarthy—-a truly dire insult from the point of view of anyone old enough to remember what McCarthy was and did.  And the insult was generated not because of anything Clinton said or did but because of something McPeak assumed he meant or might have meant or could be construed to have meant, despite the fact that he didn’t in fact say what McPeak said he said.  The reaction of the Hillary-demonizing media...

You can watch the video for yourself. Since virtually no story favorable to Hillary gets any real attention in the mainstream media, this one may sink like a stone as well. But here’s the truth. Other issues are addressed as well. Bush’s endorsement of McCain is very funny. If only he’d pursued a career in stand-up…. Zenful6219 at MyDD has a summary of some of Hillary’s other foreign policy experience.

Those of us who support Hillary—and make no mistake, the numbers are substantial, or there wouldn’t be all this squabbling over delegates and the disenfranchisement of Florida—have noticed a certain imbalance not only in the media’s coverage of Hillary, but also within attitudes currently prevalent among many of our fellow Dems. This perceptive blogger has looked carefully at current trends to articulate the following prevailing principles.

I have excerpted some of her key points and arguments, many of which are already in the process of being twisted and taken out of context by her opponents. Here’s what she actually said in what I thought was an eloquent and crucial speech.  Hillary began by expressing what many Democrats believe:  the surge can’t be said to be working unless its purpose is being realized: political reconciliation within the Iraqi government.  Otherwise, we are simply polic[ing Iraq’s...

I am bemused by the suggestions of bloggers such as Matt Yglesias and various and sundry media pundits that Hillary should just admit that Obama is the better candidate and lie right down in the coffin the media, the right wing, and Obama’s supporters have recently—and gleefully— been knocking together for her. Obama’s supporters in particular need to look beyond their own corner of the party at the still substantial number of Democrats who prefer Hillary. If you believe...

Yesterday, during a campaign speech, Barack Obama criticized Hillary Clinton’s 2002 Iraq war vote (The Swamp, via Memeorandum).  This is not the first time that Obama has brought up the issue, so it’s fair game. Yesterday,  Joseph Wilson — retired Ambassador to African nations and Iraq who worked under Presidents Bush-I and Clinton (and the husband of Valerie Plame Wilson) — defended Hillary and questioned Obama’s reliability on foreign policy issues and affairs. ...

In Ohio on Tuesday, Barack Obama told a debate-audience that he favors opting out of NAFTA if the agreement isn’t re-negotiated so as to help more Americans keep their jobs.  Wednesday, CTV reported: "Within the last month, a top staff member for Obama’s campaign telephoned Michael Wilson, Canada’s ambassador to the United States, and warned him that Obama would speak out against NAFTA…. "The staff member reassured Wilson that the criticisms would only be...

*Hey, someone’s bound to call it that of they haven’t already:  I am just getting the jump on the bandwagon. I am genuinely bemused by the "outrage" (or display of it) in the media and elsewhere over the dressed-Obama photo and the current dearth of denials.  How on earth can the Clinton campaign deny it?  It’s certainly conceivable that some Hillary supporter, somewhere, circulated it.  How could Hillary validly deny it unless she checked with every...

The National Religious Campaign Against Torture is an interfaith effort “committed to ending U.S.-sponsored torture, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.” Its motto: ‘Torture is a moral issue.’ Today I received the following email calling for support in protesting Bush’s intended veto of the intelligence bill. If you wish to make your voice heard—and they’ve made it quite easy—please read the following: Earlier this month Congress passed...

Larry C. Johnson of No Quarter has been arguing for quite some time that Obama is insufficiently vetted to withstand attacks from the right. In a recent piece in The Huffington Post, he discusses the basis of his concerns. And while I don’t agree by any means with all Johnson’s conclusions about Obama’s candidacy or Obama himself, the warnings he has sounded and the red flags he has indicated have most certainly given me pause. In fact, it would be fair to say that Johnson’s...

In fact, Barack Obama is your new bicycle. According to this site, he: Skated all the way from the beach just to see you Saved his dessert for you Saved you from drowning Set your voice as his ringtone Built you a robot Best of all: Barack Obama folded you an origami crane I’d definitely catch the ‘Obamamania’ if he folded me an origami crane. There are many more Obamaffirmations if you just click this link and refresh. Spread the word!!

BBC journalist Matt Frei interviewed George W. Bush, who defends US policy in Darfur and his own ’seminal decision’ (sic) not to commit troops to Darfur (BBC transcript). I can’t upload the 15 minute video here, but you can watch it here or read a summary here. Grim as most of the subjects the two of them canvassed were, and are, several of the things he said evoked mocking laughter or incredulous giggling. But other parts just made me shake my head in disbelief. Still others...

That’s about it, then, isn’t it—-all the talk about McCain as the new type of Republican moderate destined to lead the party back to its roots? I’m guessing that this latest news will put an end to talk among disenchanted Democrats of voting for him in November.  Today, McCain voted legislation that intended to do exactly what he himself has advocated: adopted the Army Field Manual interrogation standards for the US government. Anti-torture advocates, such as the National...

First the Obama campaign successfully shut down any resistance from the Clintons by succeeding in getting them tagged in the Clinton-loathing media as ‘racist’ or, at least, ‘racist-like‘.  (i.e., racist if you ignore the actual meaning of the word ‘racist,’ plus all known facts about Clinton and ignore common sense and the plain meaning of her remark.) Once the obstreperous pit bull Bill Clinton was muzzled (as I concede he needed to be), Obama’s campaign...

While you were busy with Super Tuesday, CIA Director Michael Hayden was acknowledging to Congress that the CIA actually has used waterboarding on three “high value” detainees. Until Hayden’s comments before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence today, no senior U.S. intelligence official had publicly acknowledged the technique. Hayden, who prohibited the practice of waterboarding by CIA agents in 2006, confirmed that his agency waterboarded Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah...

Romney is proving an expert at reinventing himself and reframing his positions as his campaign rolls along. I imagine if he gets the nomination he’ll be an expert in reinventing himself again. Judging by the number of voters who seem drawn to John McCain, it seems as if he’ll have to moderate his message, however much this might distress the party hardliners who are currently clinging to him as their last best hope against “liberal” John McCain. I don’t fault him for...

I like Hillary Clinton. Although my heart belongs to John Edwards, I voted for her as the candidate most likely to succeed, and even succeed superbly, at the thankless damn task that cleaning up after George W. Bush is likely to prove. After all, it’s not a job for someone who can’t deal with being hated. But what a lot of people are saying now is that Hillary is too hated generally to make it to the White House; therefore Dems should get behind Obama. I say that Obama would be...

That’s what Howard Kurtz at WaPo calls it. First we got Coulter promising with a straight face to campaign for Hillary if McCain wins.  Now Rush Limbaugh is saying that he’d rather see Clinton or Obama win the presidency than John McCain, despite Bob Dole’s plea for sanity on the party’s far right.  Too bad, Bob Dole.  That ship sailed a long time ago. When it comes to the McCain mutiny, Limbaugh has plenty of company on the right side of the dial. Laura Ingraham...

It is ON.  The race between Obama and Clinton is tightening (Gallup currently describes it as a "statistical dead heat," 46-44%) and McCain may—or may not— be on the verge of solidifying his hold.  Or not.  As Gandelman says, "Polls have been hideously wrong this year."  Shut up, polls.  Meanwhile, I’m gearing myself up to cope with a result that might not be to my liking (Romney) or  not quite to my liking (Obama or Hillary? I...