Bill Clinton Confronts 9/11 Conspiracy Theory Heckler

Luntz Focus Group: Obama Crushed Hillary in Debate

Arnold: Make Voting "Spicy" to Increase Turnout

Bubba's Dirty Mining Dealings

Boy if this New York Times article doesn't make your jaw drop, I don't know what will. It certainly feeds into Obama's campaign argument that Washington is broken and needs new blood. Team Hillary is no doubt questioning their strategy to have Bill play such a prominent role in the campaign....

Limbaugh: Republican Base is Fractured

November of this year could be ugly for the Republican party if McCain is the nominee. For some reason the far right simply loathe him, as reflected by Rush's comments. Make no mistake about it, Rush Limbaugh and his legion of 'dittoheads' are critically influential in America's modern conservative movement. At the moment, they have no leader and are in the wilderness.

Edwards to Drop Out of Race

This is just hitting the wires... It's unfortunate, but no other candidate ever had a real chance on the Democratic side because of the media's obsession with the Obama/Hillary horse race. The system that America uses to elect presidents needs to be fundamentally overhauled.

The Next Big Endorsement: Al Gore

Only one endorsement could approach the importance of Ted Kennedy's endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday, and that is the endorsement of Al Gore. As this story indicates, he's been remaining mum...however I wouldn't be shocked if he throws his weight behind Obama relatively soon....

At End of Brutal Florida Primary Fight, Romney Camp Questions McCain's Mental Stability

The Florida Republican primary fight between Mitt Romney and John McCain has been bloody. The Romney campaign seems to have saved it's best McCain bombs for last, though, releasing this 'best of' McCain eruptions on the eve of the voting. Political opponents have long questioned McCain's mental stability: he was a prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly six years and was tortured frequently by his captors.

Barack Obama Responds To Bush's Final State of The Union Address

WHAT DOES EVERYBODY THINK? PRESIDENTIAL???

Chelsea Tries to Quiet Down Ron Paul Supporters at Coffee House Event

Chelsea
by krs601

Bubba Tried in Vain to Derail Kennedy Endorsement of Obama

As this article says, Ted Kennedy is the gold standard as far as Democratic endorsements go. Combined with Caroline Kennedy's endorsement on Sunday, and Obama's landslide victory on Saturday, it was a very rough weekend for the Clinton's...

Bubba Compares Obama to Jesse Jackson

How low will the Clintons go??

Marijuana Vending Machine Makes Debut in California

What does everyone think about this??

The Mysterious Romney Debate Whisper

Anyone who watched the debate last night and was paying attention to this particular part heard a loud whisper saying "Raise Taxes" before Romney began answering the question, which consisted of whether he, too, like Ronald Reagan in the 80's would raise taxes to fund Social Security. Where did the whisper come from? Did Romney have some sort of a 'cheat sheet' going with a handler in or near the audience? Was NBC, the sponsor of the debate involved? Is this common practice with regards to all of the candidates in major debates? Answers, please....

Kerry Slams Bubba, Says ex-President is "Abusing The Truth"

The Obama/Hillary race for the nomination has become so acrimonious that it indeed threatens the party's prospects for the November general election. Did anyone notice how the Republicans played nice in last night's debate? The difference speaks volumes: The Democrats are used to finding a way to lose presidential elections, the Republicans are used to winning them.

Tony Romo Punts Jessica

This is pretty funny. Romo should have never, ever gone to Mexico with her the week before his game against the Giants.

Clinton, Inc. Using Rove Tactics

In a strategy that would make Karl Rove blush, the Clinton camp has skillfully made the Democratic race about race, ie a "black, white" thing--a contest they know Obama mathematically can't win. The best part of the article is this quote from Tim Russert:

"Bill Clinton's going to go door to door, church to church in South Africa.... I'm sorry, South Carolina."

Machiavellian, dirty, but ultimately successful. Karl "Swiftboat" Rove would be proud.

Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal Reviews the New Macbook Air

Edwards on The Move in South Carolina

He won't win, however if he comes in second it would breathe desperate life into his campaign and it would be a big embarrassment to Clinton, Inc. The guy is a tireless campaigner and must be given credit for not giving up, despite a near total media blackout of his candidacy. The media has been obsessed with a Hillary/Obama horse race for the past year.

McCain Gives Rush Faint Praise

This is about as close as it gets to an olive branch from John McCain to Rush Limbaugh, who both can't stomach one another. The lunatic fringe of the Republican party, guys like Rush and Tom Delay, have gone as far as saying they would not vote for McCain under any circumstances--even if he were running against Hillary in the general election! This has become known in political circles as "McCain Derangement Syndrome."

Bubba Comes Unglued, Tells South Carolina Press: "Shame on You!"

McCain: Putin is The President of Germany?

Coming: Google Health

If you'd like a sneak peak at the home page for the soon to be released Google Health online health service, click here. For clean shots click here. Although some might be uncomfortable keeping such personal information online, others who like and trust Google will no doubt leap at the opportunity to centralize and streamline their personal health data. America's health care industry today is a decentralized, haphazard, unmitigated clusterfuck. Google's entry into this madness can only be a benefit to individuals eager to improve and centralize their personal health care information.

Iraq War Fraud Exposed in Devastating Study

As this article suggests, the new study done by Charles Lewis and The Center for Public Integrity will serve as the benchmark for generations of students looking into the question of why America went to war in Iraq.

John Edwards on The Late Show with David Letterman 1.22.08

Hillary Calls Obama a "Talented....Young African American Man"

Hillary Clinton's campaign has truly gone into the gutter with regards to taking down Obama. From having surrogates hint broadly at his teenage drug use--something with obvious racial overtones, to now using purposefully condescending, racially charged words to describe him, the Clintons have proven once again they have absolutely no shame. This is one registered Democrat so disgusted that he is leaning towards not voting for her under any circumstances. General election included.

Democratic Candidates Vie for Silicon Valley Donor Cash

It seems that Barack Obama has established a pretty sizable lead in fund raising over Hillary among the very wealth and influential Silicon Valley high tech crew. It's interesting that the majority of Google money is going to Obama and not Hillary. After all this election is all about change, right?

Jon Stewart on Nevada Caucuses, Bill Clinton

Nasty Exchange Highlights Dem Debate

Well the race between Obama and Hillary is officially on, and also is officially getting nastier. I'm not sure if Obama can win in a race to the bottom with Clinton, Inc. If he can, he deserves to be the nominee. We've already heard attacks over his teenage drug use, and I believe that's only the beginning. Let's see if the guy can play hardball.

Is Huckabee Angling for a McCain VP Slot?

This is an interesting article in today's The Politico. It's pretty clear now that Mike Huckabee stands little chance of being elected president after losing South Carolina, his appeal has failed to go beyond hard core Christian fundamentalist voters and his campaign has always had a 'wing and a prayer' quality about it. He has surprised nearly everyone, though, with how far he's come, including a win in the Iowa caucus, and he's a young man. Therefore it makes perfect sense for him to angle for a VP slot, which is what it appears he's doing by kissing up to McCain.

Gun Cup Hider Causes Controversy

The inventor of this device deserves a lot of credit, its simply a brilliant idea. You can see how the cops might have a problem with it, though.

Global Stock Markets Plunge as Fear of US Recession Grows

Today America is on holiday and it is pretty much assured that the US markets will open sharply lower on Tuesday morning January 22. Whether or not buyers come in later in the day and lift the market higher will be a critical sign, in my view, on whether this will be ugly or really, really ugly. It's important to keep perspective with regards to stock markets: the US market in particular has pretty much gone up unabated over the past 5 years or so, and generally has been sharply up over the last twenty years or so. There have been blocks of time in our nation's young history when the market has been stagnant or dropping for decades at a time. My point is that we very well may be in store for a prolonged, multi, multi-year bear market. Somewhere along the way our culture forgot the meaning of the word 'credit' and literally a generation of people have been spending like drunken sailors on borrowed--not earned, money. It appears that the bill, at long last, may be coming due.

Linkedin Prepares for IPO

Linkedin is a tremendously popular and successful professional networking website. As this article says, it differentiates itself from places like Facebook and MySpace by not showing naked videos of people funneling beer and playing the banjo--its aim is specifically to be a professional networking tool. In this sense it is a direct and growing rival to the established current job sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder.

Newsweek's Interview with Ross Perot

Well it seems like Ross Perot is no John McCain fan, and this interview is designed to have maximum possible negative effect for McCain in the ultra conservative state of South Carolina--a state that all agree that he desperately needs to win...

Wall Street Journal Review of The Asus Eee PC

Bill Gets in Heated Exchange with Reporter Over Nevada Caucus Lawsuit

Bush Does Sword Dance in Saudi Arabia

A picture, or in this case a short video, is worth a thousand words....

Rush Limbaguh, Mitt Romney Fan

There is no more tangible evidence of the Republican 'establishment' beginning to embrace Mitt Romney than the effusive praise for him found on right-wing icon Rush Limbaugh's website. Legions of Limbaugh's 'dittoheads' would jump off a bridge if he told them too, so the importance of his favorable treatment of Romney can not be underestimated. Indeed, all signs are pointing to Romney ultimately being the Republican candidate.

Rove: Dems "Irresponsible", Obama Lacks "Courage"

Ahhh, Karl Rove, the man who won George W. Bush two elections. Well, one anyway in 2004. Still, that's a feat that earns him eternal respect among politicos. Rove's brand of politics is of the brass-knuckled variety...

Troubling Signs in Hillary Michigan 'Win'

The exit polling data shows that Hillary got her clock cleaned against the anonymous 'opposition' among African-American voters and also young voters as well as Independents. This all feeds the widely held contention among many that Hillary would have a tough time against the Republican nominee (especially if its Romney) in the general election.

Coming: The Supercarrot?

Well, this certainly is pretty weird, but the spectre of "Frankenfoods" like this is increasingly becoming a reality, and, if these foods are markedly healthier and indeed 'genetically improved', what's the problem?

Kerry Rips Hillary Over Obama Attacks

Seems like John Kerry is angling for a big appointment in a prospective Obama cabinet--either that or he can't stand the Clintons. In all probability, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of those two things. There were whispers back in 2004 that Hillary secretly wanted Kerry to lose to W to clear the way for her run this time around. Kerry's recent actions point to there being some truth to that theory.

Wine Study Finds Price Bias

I've always found wine snobbery to be both amusing and incredibly prevalent. And I've always suspected that it's mostly bullshit, this study seems to confirm that feeling, at least somewhat. Scores of people love to act line wine experts and connoisseurs, it's a convenient way to act superior to your fellow man--"I've got great taste, I'm very refined, I am successful.", etc.

Report: Sarkozy/Bruni Wed in Private

Geeze, this didn't take long, did it? With both of their track records, one must wonder how long this will last....

Citibank May Cut 20,000 Jobs

It's generally understood on Wall Street that 2008 will be a year of recession in the United States economy. Banks like Citibank and Bear Stearns are poised to be especially hard hit, but firing 20,000 people must be some sort of a record for one corporation.

Race Rears its Ugly Head in Democratic Nomination Battle

Clinton, Inc.'s (Bill, Hillary, their campaign) subtle yet increasingly frequent jabs at Obama using what some say is language tinged with racist overtones, have raised eyebrows in many circles and run the risk of inciting a backlash--especially among African American voters in the crucial state of South Carolina. This race is on the verge of getting very ugly.

Giuliani Staff to go Without Pay

If this isn't the surest sign yet that the Giuliani campaign for president is on life support, I don't know what is. The campaign finished dismally in both Iowa and New Hampshire despite having spent millions on advertising, and now appears to have adopted a 'go for broke' strategy based on winning Florida. Good luck.

New York Press to Bloomberg: Shit or Get Off The Pot

The New York Post had an editorial yesterday suggesting that Bloomberg stop flirting with running for president and concentrate more on his day job as mayor of the country's largest city. Now the New York Times has a splash on the growing frustration with Bloomberg as he struggles with this huge decision. My take is that he ultimately will decide not to run and make this decision public very soon. Obama provides the electorate with a true 'change/independent' choice in 2008, and Bloomberg will make the wise business decision not to waste a billion dollars of his own money.

Karl Rove: Why Hillary Won

Who knows what Rove really thinks or what he's trying to do with this Wall Street Journal Op-ed piece, but you know 'Bush's Brain' has something up his sleeve....

Sarkozy Love Triangle Grips France

Sex, diamonds, models, the president of France. No this isn't a steamy new romance novel but the current real life of recently elected French president Nicolas Sarkozy. With all this going on in his personal life, one must begin to question how well he's concentrating on his day job....

Suspect Arrested in Dual Decapitations

Unbelievably grizzly....

Theory: New Hampshire Democratic Vote was Rigged

Article here. All I will say is this: considering the polls up until the event occurred, the actual result was the most shocking, inexplicable political outcome I have ever seen or heard about....

Kerry to Endorse Obama

This would be a very big endorsement, if it proves to be true. Although ultimately a loser, John Kerry got more votes than any other Democratic candidate in the history of the country in 2004. An endorsement by him to Obama and not Hillary would be embarrassing to the Clinton effort and could trigger more 'establishment' Democrats to follow suit. It's nothing more than another nail in the coffin in the campaign of his former 2004 running mate John Edwards.

Bill Gates' Last Day at Microsoft

The Obama Plan

OBAMA CAMPAIGN PLAN: THE NEXT 4 WEEKS
Wed Jan 09 2008 11:25:44 ET

FROM: David Plouffe, Obama Campaign Manager
DATE: January 9, 2008
RE: The Next Four Weeks

Coming off an impressive win in Iowa and taking the once inevitable frontrunner down to the wire in her firewall state, it is clear that Obama is well-positioned to become the next President of the United States. As the people of Iowa and New Hampshire demonstrated, the American people desperately want change they can believe in. Barack Obama is the candidate to deliver that change by bringing people together, standing up to the special interests, and telling people what they need to know.

Our campaign now turns its focus squarely to Nevada and South Carolina, and February 5th. Today, we kick off the next phase of our campaign in New Jersey, an important February 5th state.

Fundraising

In the 4th Quarter of 2007, our campaign raised $23.5 million – over $22.5 million of which is for the primary election. In that quarter, we added 111,000 new donors for a total of 475,000 donors in 2007.

In the first 8 days of 2008, we raised over $8 million and gained 35,000 new donors. Since midnight last night, we have raised another $500,000 online. We continue to build a grassroots movement that makes us best-positioned to compete financially in the primaries and caucuses coming up.

Nevada

We have built the same caucus operation in Nevada as we did in Iowa, with focused and effective precinct captains in over 95 percent of the precincts in the state, and multiple captains in many precincts. We have also been reaching deep into the electorate, securing commitments to caucus from habitual Democratic voters, general election voting Democrats and Independents.

In a significant boost to our efforts, we received the endorsement of the SEIU local in Nevada late last night.

This is the first time Nevada has had a precinct caucus so organization is paramount, both in terms of shaping the overall electorate as well as the added challenge of getting voters to locations that are unfamiliar to them.

South Carolina

We have seen dramatic movement in South Carolina since Iowa, resulting in healthy double-digit leads for Senator Obama in recent public polling. We have by far the strongest organization in the state according to neutral observers and believe that, as the gateway to February 5th, South Carolina will provide our campaign enormous momentum heading into those twenty-two states.

Obama also has the support of several key political figures in South Carolina, including former Governor Jim Hodges, Charleston Mayor Joe Riley, and former party chairs Joe Erwin and Dick Harpootlian.

February 5th

We now have staff in nineteen of the twenty-two February 5th states and will be adding to the remaining three – Delaware, Arkansas and Connecticut – by the end of the week.

In the six caucus states – Colorado, Minnesota, Kansas, Idaho, Alaska and North Dakota - we have been engaged in heavy organizing and voter contact. In many of these states, our opponents are not engaged in any organizing. We firmly believe you cannot build a caucus operation in a matter of four weeks, so we are at a decided advantage in these states where we have already identified tens of thousands of Obama supporters and where, in the last five days, the number of new volunteers and supporters has exploded. We are in the process of mailing past caucus-goers and our ID-ed supporters in those states. We are also preparing aggressively for vote-by-mail in states like California and Arizona, where we have mail pieces hitting this week and an exhaustive phone program in place to identify supporters and make sure those ballots are returned.

In all of the February 5th states, we have active chapters at most colleges and universities and are pursuing support from independent voters aggressively where they are permitted to participate, which is in most of the states. California and New Jersey, two states the Clintons have pointed to as firewalls, both will have healthy independent turnout in the Democratic primary.

We expect to see a great deal of movement to Obama from superdelegates in the coming days, seriously eroding the Clintons’ existing advantage in this universe.

To fully execute a robust February 5th strategy, it will take tens of millions of dollars. Our financial picture is strong and growing stronger by the day, which will allow us to have a significant paid media presence to go alongside our grassroots operations in our target February 5th states.

We expect, as we begin to see significant national poll movement, that there will also be positive poll movement in the February 5th states. Obama saw substantial gains in the individual February 5th state polls in December opening up a lead in Georgia and seeing a seriously tightening race in California.

We will be releasing later today our final fourth quarter 2007 estimates, as well as some numbers for the first eight days of January for both dollars raised, as well as number of total donors and new donors acquired in these periods.

The coming weeks will be challenging and no doubt filled with more haphazard and relentless attacks, but we believe we could not be better positioned for the next twenty four states. Our goal is simple – to win as many states as we can in the next twenty-eight days.

Hillary Shocks with New Hampshire Victory

After two states, conventional wisdom for the Democratic race has been turned on its head. No one thought Obama would win in a landslide in Iowa, and fewer people thought Hillary would win in New Hampshire after reputable polls showed Obama with a 10pt lead the day of the election. What will happen next?

Bill Clinton Rips Press Coverage of Obama

Keith Olbermann Sticks Up for John Edwards

Bob Shrum on The Death of Hillary for President

Bob Shrum is probably foremost among Democratic political strategists, even though his track record consists of managing the losing campaigns of Ted Kennedy in 1980, Al Gore in 2000, and John Kerry in 2004. Still, his opinion and strategy is very much sought after in Democratic circles...

Desperate Hillary to Mount "Trench Warfare" Strategy

Hillary will lose on Tuesday in New Hampshire to Obama, again probably by a wide margin. She then stands to lose in heavily African-American South Carolina, and risks getting drowned in an Obama tidal wave. She risks losing her dignity if she tries tearing down Obama using Republican type smear tactics.

Secret Service Constrains Out of Control O'Reilly at Obama Event

The Democrats' studious ignoring of Fox News and Bill O'Reilly during the current election seems to really be working and getting under Mr. O'Reilly's skin. No question about it, Mr. O'Reilly is the quintessential "AWM"--angry white male.

Mike Huckabee and the Splintering of the Republican Party

It's hard to believe that only four years ago a completely united Republican party swept George W. Bush to a second victory in the 2004 presidential election. The victory yesterday in Iowa by former Arkansas governor and ordained Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee proves that for the Republican party, 2004 is a long, long time ago.

Since Ronald Reagan's victory in 1980 the Republicans' winning presidential formula consisted of a broad combination of Southern, white, religious social conservative voters and wealthy Northeastern and Midwestern fiscal conservatives who were also overwhelmingly white. Always tenuous, this strange combination worked under the larger, ambiguous banner of the Republicans being the party of "family values". In other words, church going folks who paid their taxes, played by the rules, and liked to be left alone by a small government.

Democrats, on the other hand, were the abortion loving party of gays, 'welfare queens', and big, fat, wasteful government. They provided plenty of bogeymen for both the Religious and fiscal Republicans to rally against and were often an easy target, evidenced by the fact that they have lost 5 out of the last 7 presidential elections.

Yesterday's Iowa caucus provided Republican voters with a stark choice between a classic Southern social conservative in Huckabee, and a classic old school Northeastern fiscal conservative in Mitt Romney. The result--a huge win for Huckabee, indicates that the winning Republican presidential coalition has become fractured, perhaps fatally.

The reasons for this are varied, but mainly have to do with religion and the economy. Social Southern conservatives aren't necessarily wealthy, and like Democrats have become fed up with higher gas prices, unaffordable healthcare, and their jobs being outsourced to foreign countries like China. They also have become increasingly appalled by the pro-gay, pro-choice policies of many national Republicans like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani.

Alienated, feeling taken for granted, and even looked down upon by the Republican establishment, these social conservatives voted in droves for Huckabee and his populist, pro middle-class message. In elections past, the party could be relied upon to come together in the clutch, but this year seems different. Indeed, 2008 could mark the end of the grand Republican presidential voting coalition.

Huckabee, Obama Sweep to Iowa Victories

If this winds up being the general election matchup in November, the Democrats will sweep to the presidency in November 2008.

On Eve of Iowa Caucuses, It's Anyone's Guess Who Will Win

On the Democratic side, Clinton, Edwards, and Obama are locked in a complete dead heat. For the Republicans it's down to Huckabee and Romney. The weather forecast for tomorrow in Iowa calls for bone-chilling sub zero conditions....this should be interesting.