In bed with Republicans: Hillary Clinton cheats on the Democratic party UPDATED

Filed under: Primary

It was widely believed that if Hillary Clinton lost Indiana as well as North Carolina, she would be forced to exit the race. Now comes word in the new issue of Time that the only reason Hillary won Indiana was because of Republican shenanigans:

Clinton's slim margin of victory in Indiana was provided, appropriately enough, by Republicans, who were 10% of the Democratic-primary electorate and whose votes she carried 54% to 46% — some, perhaps, at the behest of the merry prankster Rush Limbaugh, who had counseled his ditto heads to bring "chaos" to the Democratic electoral process by voting for their favorite whipping girl. Clinton's new glow, her newfound stump proficiency, her symbiosis with Limbaugh, seemed an eerily Faustian narrative. But, as we know, those sorts of bargains tend to end badly.

Continue reading "In bed with Republicans: Hillary Clinton cheats on the Democratic party UPDATED"

Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 11, 2008 6:12 PM | Comments (2)

 

Hillary Clinton and Eminem both love White America

Filed under: Hillary Clinton

I suggest the following soundtrack while reading this post:

Once again, the Clintons play the race card:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

Yeah, the pattern emerging is that Hillary will do whatever it takes to win, including falling back on the kind of Southern race-baiting that builds a bridge back to last century.

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 8, 2008 1:13 PM | Comments (5)

 

It's official: Barack Obama is the Democratic Nominee for President

Filed under: Celebrity Endorsements

When both Tim Russert and Matt Drudge agree, the fat lady truly has sung.

CONGRESSIONAL SOURCE: Hillary having trouble finding superdelegates who will meet with her... 'No one wants to see her today'... Developing...

Stephanopoulos: 'This nomination fight is over'...

Obama maps out general election strategy...

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 7, 2008 8:57 PM | Comments (0)

 

Operation Chaos: Rush Limbaugh dreams of riots at Denver convention

Filed under: Media

The round mound of rightwing scorn delights in the idea of human suffering being visited on the people of Denver, simply because they had the temerity to host a Democratic political convention.

Don't miss our sister paper Denver Westword's article on Rush Limbaugh's recent publicly-expressed glee over the idea of people rioting at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Money quote:

Within minutes of these words, however, Clear Channel Denver put out a press release claiming precisely the opposite. "A review of the full transcript... shows that Limbaugh

was not advocating violence in Denver at the Democratic National Convention," the document stated — and indeed, Limbaugh did say that "I am not inspiring or inciting riots" at one point. But this comment represented the briefest of asides amid a rambling, discursive take filled with observations like "Riots in Denver at the Democrat convention would see to it we don't elect Democrats — and that's the best damn thing that could happen for this country."

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 6, 2008 3:05 PM | Comments (2)

 

McCain's preacher problem makes Obama's pale in comparison

Filed under: John McCain

In watching the ever-widening flap about Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama, I've been stunned that the mainstream media has effectively ignored John McCain's relationship with John Hagee -- a pastor who is at least as inflammatory, and whose endorsement McCain actively sought.

A full litany of Hagee's offenses against sanity would fill the blog with non-Strib content, and nobody wants that. So I'll summarize: thinks Catholic church is whore of Babylon, metaphorically "drinking the blood of the Jewish people,"; thinks Hurricane Katrina was the fault of gay Americans; thinks the pope is like Hitler.

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Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 6, 2008 5:56 AM | Comments (0)

 

GOP vs. YouTube: The Uptake gets booted by crabby Republicans

Filed under: Media

The Uptake -- the winners of City Pages' "Best Citizen-based Media Outlet" -- have just posted a video of themselves getting kicked out of many Elephant gatherings.

Take the jump for the play by play ...

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at May 1, 2008 7:13 PM | Comments (3)

 

Pigs for Obama: YouTube clip of Roger Waters at Coachella

Filed under: Barack Obama

Via Drudge Report comes word that during Roger Waters' performance at Coachella, he launched an inflatable pig that endorsed Obama:

The pig, which was led above the crowd from lines held on the ground, displayed the words "Don't be led to the slaughter" and a cartoon of Uncle Sam wielding two bloody cleavers. The other side read "Fear builds walls."

The underside of the pig simply read "Obama" with a checked ballot box alongside.

Here's a YouTube clip of the pig launch. Obama is written on the sow's underbelly and comes into focus at 1:54 of this clip:

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 28, 2008 11:39 AM | Comments (1)

 

CGI Ron Paul can survive a flood and keep talking

Filed under: Ron Paul

Just when you thought it was safe, Pennsylvania. Just when you thought we had narrowed the field to three major-party candidates. Ron Paul is back! With a vengeance.

Well, not "Ron Paul," exactly. The Paulbots that stalk the Internet seeking heretic blood have created a golem in the man's image, a cybernetic libertarian warrior, a bizarre animatronic orator. A Paulbot that is almost literal.

Don't take my word for it. Watch this "High Tide" promo, which features a computer generated animation of Paul speaking while hilarity ensues all around him.

Continue reading "CGI Ron Paul can survive a flood and keep talking"

Posted by Jeff Shaw at April 22, 2008 5:27 AM | Comments (38)

 

Hillary Clinton on YouTube: I'm F*cking Obama

Filed under: Sex

Inspired by Sarah Silverman, here's the Hillary Clinton mash-up:

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 21, 2008 8:55 AM | Comments (0)

 

Obama: Our first hip hop presidential candidate

Filed under: Barack Obama

Several months back, I happened across an interview with Obama on BET entitled, "What’s In It For Us? Barack Obama And the Black Vote." What really stunned me was when Barack started talking about being a fan of hip hop, including Jay-Z's new album, American Gangster:

I love the art of hip hop. I don't always love the message of hip hop. There are times when even ... with the artists I named -- the artists I love, you know -- there's a message that is not only sometimes degrading to women; not only uses the n-word a little too frequently; but also something I'm really concerned about, it's always talking about material things. Always talking about how I can get something. How I've got more money...

This was in stark contrast to most politicians, who can't denounce hip hop fast enough. I thought this was truly a revolutionary moment--our first hip hop presidential candidate. To me, it represented Generation X penetrating the political establishment, much like JFK was for the baby boomers.

I was reminded of that yesterday when I was watching TV and saw Obama mime Jay-Z and brush the dirt off his shoulder in reference to ABC's embarrassingly shallow debate.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one who picked up on the reference, because there's now this amazing YouTube mashup that features Jay-Z's Black Album banger as a soundtrack:

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 18, 2008 4:13 PM | Comments (1)

 

ABC roundly panned for Philly debate questions UPDATED WITH VIDEO

Filed under: Media

I don't know if Obama or Hillary won the debate, but I know who lost: ABC.

The network is being booed all over the Internet for ignoring serious issues like Iraq and the recession in favor of asking "gotcha" questions about flag pins on lapels, imaginary sniper fire, and ... the Weather Underground?

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 17, 2008 5:52 PM | Comments (8)

 

Anonymous sources run amuck

Filed under: Media

As a journalist, I recognize that it's sometimes necessary to use anonymous quotes, but they should be used rarely, and carefully. Which is why I was stunned to read this paragraph in a piece on Obama's foreign policy experience in the new issue of Newsweek:

Even some Dems who'd favor him in any contest against McCain also worry that Obama is overplaying his experience. "I don't know whether he's drinking his own Kool-Aid," says a former senior member of the Clinton administration who is not backing either Democratic candidate but would talk only on condition of anonymity because of his private-sector job. "I'm all for talking to the Cubans, or to the Iranians. I'm just not sure he's the guy to do it. The biggest administrative job he ever had was collecting articles for the Harvard Law Review."

Emphasis added. The idea that this source is "not backing either candidate" even though he worked for Hillary's husband stretches credulity--especially in light of the harshness of the quote. ("I don't know whether he's drinking his own Kool-Aid ... The biggest administrative job he ever had was collecting articles for the Harvard Law Review.").

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 16, 2008 10:59 PM | Comments (0)

 

The hawk's hawk gives McCain two talons up.

Filed under: John McCain

Remember John McCain tacitly receiving the endorsement of George W. Bush on the White House lawn several weeks back? Good gravy that was awkward. It looked like this:

As McCain works tirelessly to win over skeptical and often hostile conservatives, discomfiting alliances are starting to look like the norm. Lately, John Bolton (the patently hawkish and admirably mustached former U.N. ambassador) is shouting McCain's hard line foreign policy credentials from the mountaintop (I'm picturing one of those mountains with the apocalypse bunkers built into it).

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Posted by Jeff Severns Guntzel at April 15, 2008 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

 

Don't trust this poll: 20-point Obama swing is proof it was an outlier

Filed under: Barack Obama

Remember a week ago when I linked to a poll showing Obama pulling dead-even with Hillary in Pennsylvania and argued that it must be an outlier? Well, new numbers released today by the same polling company, American Research Group, now show Obama down by 20 points, 57-37.

Steve Perry at MinMon claims that the swing was caused by Obama's comment that small-town voters cling to God and guns because they're bitter. I disagree. Even if that comment did damage him, there's no way it would be enough to cause a 20-point swing in just one week. Rather, I think this is proof positive that the April 5-6 poll showing the candidates locked at 45 percent was indeed an outlier and not an accurate poll.

The lesson: All polls are not created equal, and it's important to be skeptical and study the fine print before jumping to conclusions about what a poll "means."

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Posted by Kevin Hoffman at April 14, 2008 11:17 AM | Comments (6)

 

GOP sex scandal of the day: Bruce Barclay

Filed under: Sex

Republican county commissioner Bruce Barclay of Cumberland, Penn., steadfastly denied allegations that he'd raped a 20-year-old man. "This accusation of rape is ludicrous," he said in a statement. "It will be defended forever and is wrong."

Barclay was in the right. He had an iron-clad alibi. The young man was one of the prostitutes with whom Barclay had shared hundreds of sexual encounters over the years -- and he'd videotaped all of them, using high-tech surveillance cameras without their consent.

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Posted by Jeff Shaw at April 14, 2008 7:46 AM | Comments (0)