The Vindication of Howard Dean

Markos Moulitsas has a post today about the vindication of Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy. He’s right. When Dean launched the project, many thought it was foolhardy. As late as October 2006, top Dem strategists and elected officials were bemoaning the way Dean had spread the party’s money around instead of concentrating it on targets of immediate opportunity. The Obama campaign adopted the idea and hitched it to a candidate with the message and the appeal to capitalize on it in a national race. It helped that the Republican brand was in the process of imploding. But Dean and Obama put themselves and the Democratic Party in position to exploit their opponents’ failures and maximize their own returns. That took both vision and political guts. And it took the netroots activism of people like Markos, who takes a bow for the collective. We’ll know in a week just how well it worked.

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  • sgwhiteinfla

    Watch out, Jay is in the tank for the Daily Kos now!

  • http://www.ghostnote.com Cookie Puss

    Thumbs up to Dean. He got the rank-and-file off our butts and built a great system that Obama has made the most of and enhanced. Viva la Vote Builder.

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Where’s my effin’ hat tip?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Even more than the “50 state strategy” as an abstract idea, Markos argues that Dean and the netroots are, quite simply, right on the issues, and don’t need to sneak their positions past “Real America” in a fake apple pie. Don’t forget that. That is the core of Markos’ point, and we don’t need to wait a week to see he was right. The precise degree of electoral success it yields does not change the basic truth going forward. Democratic politicians are running on Democratic ideals. Everywhere.

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Oh, and I forgot:
    .
    YEARGH!!

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    jay – It never gets old, does it?

  • http://www.inworldstudios.com jayackroyd

    Hey Jay–
    .
    You do need an update. Markos’ point, pourmorecoffee’s reiteration, is that the reason, the overwhelmingly important reason, that this strategy worked is because it is profoundly centrist. Not Village centrist, but citizen centrist. Not Broder centrist, but voter centrist. That’s what this is about.
    .
    Also, you know, a hundred thousand people showing up at a campaign event is a big deal, worthy of some repeated, noisy coverage. A hundred thousand people showing up over and over again at a campaign event is a big deal. Even a bigger deal than Newt’s revolution.

  • Paul-no not that one

    …and the repudiation of Carville/DLC.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Nicole Wallace is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that FoxNews threw her under the bus!
    .

    From Ana Marie Cox’s interview with the McCain aide:
    .

    There’s obviously an organized campaign to lay blame for things at my feet and I’m not going to engage before the campaign ends. I have a very long relationship with Fox News and the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    I actually love Carville when it comes to being a pundit. He makes people feel about an inch high.

  • sgwhiteinfla
  • Paul-no not that one

    Carville called for Dean to be fired AFTER the Democrats took back the House and, incredibly, the Senate. Advocating for the one Democrat who managed to lose, Harold Ford, to be given the job.
    Ford didn’t get the job and went to work for Fox News. Great suggestion Jim.

  • Andy from MA

    JC — I guess it has to do with vision, strategy and excuting a plan. Haven’t seen that much from the Greedy Old Party or your boy McCain.

  • Jim, Foolish Literalist

    As late as October 2006, top Dem strategists and elected officials were bemoaning the way Dean had spread the party’s money around instead of concentrating it on targets of immediate opportunity.

    October ’06? Hell, Carville and Begala tried to push him out in favor of Harold Ford after the election.

    And what pourme and JayA said. The center of the country is not the Broder center, halfway between The New Republic and Free Republic (hat tip to Atrios, since I am aware of all internet traditions).

  • Cliff

    the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on
    .
    Well, when one associates with those who have carnal knowledge of rats, one should prepare for demonstration of said knowledge.

  • Cliff

    Oh come on, how is that getting moderated? I was using old timey Bible language!
    .
    Fine, let’s try it this way:
    the notion that someone would call me a coward on the air and accuse me of putting $150,000 on my credit card without a single person calling and checking with me suggests that something is going on
    .
    Well, when you hang around with rat f—ers you should expect to get rat f—ed.

  • Cliff

    All right, so “rat f—er” is all right, but an old school Biblical term for sex isn’t?

  • Cliff

    All right, so “rat f—er” is all right, but an old school Biblical term for “relations” isn’t?
    (I would love to spell it out, but apparently the moderator bot would prefer that I pretend that babies come from storks.)

  • Paul-no not that one

    Great link SG, thanks. Pretty good interview by Ana.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Obama knows it is wiser to co-opt the DLC than to defeat it.

  • kathy

    I’m glad about this for a host of reasons, including that Dean has been badly underrated. He’s an effective pragmatist. The right, of course, insisted he was far to the left because he opposed the war. But he was and is a champion of good governance.

  • Andy from MA

    Cliff: GOP the party of personal responsibility.

  • http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

    What pourmecoffee said.
    -
    From Markos’s post:
    -
    Here’s what too many people still don’t understand — there’s nothing loony about the netroots. This isn’t fertile territory for the McKinneys and Kuciniches of our party. This is fertile territory for the Howard Deans of our party — sensible, pragmatic progressives who aren’t afraid to be Democrats. Why? Because we’re the nation. We’re not clustered in DC and NYC, we’re spread out over all 50 states, and we know better than anyone what it takes to win in our own backyards.
    We didn’t rally around Webb, Tester, Schweitzer, Trauner, Brown, Massa, Burner and so many other moderate Democrats because they were little Kucinich clones, but because they were perfectly suited for the states and districts they seek to represent. It’s that simple.
    -
    I’m quite embarrassed, now, that I took the MSM and TNR’s word for it, and regarded Daily Kos and Atrios, et al, as a bunch of out-there wackos until about 5 years ago. They’ve been proven right about everything.

  • gysgt213

    “Nicole Wallace is shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that FoxNews threw her under the bus!”

    Hey Nicole, you can always secretly vote for Obama and get back at them all!!!!!

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Welcome Paul,
    .
    I didn’t know about the Carville trying to get Dean fired thing. But he has had some classic moment PWNING the like of Michele Backman, Sean Hannity and Castellanos on cable news. I laughed my ar se off when he told Gov Richardson to his face that not only did he call him Judas, but that he meant it and that it had the effect he intended. He is CRAZY!

  • Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I’m glad about this for a host of reasons, including that Dean has been badly underrated. He’s an effective pragmatist. The right, of course, insisted he was far to the left because he opposed the war.

    Sounds like somebody else we know….
    (My other comment is STILL in moderation? Because I said H-E-double-hockey-sticks? Who’s moderating, Ned Flanders?)

  • Andy from MA

    Gunny if Nicolle can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen. There’s no loyalty among these thieves.

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    I enjoyed the article when I saw it until I got to the very last sentence.

    We are not the elites, we are America, and we’re situated squarely in its ideological center. We proved it in 2006, and we’ll prove it again next week.

    Even if it’s true, I’d still feel better if he waited until Tuesday night to declare victory.

  • Cliff

    Andy – apparently we have the moderator of personal responsibility as well, custom designed by Focus on the Family.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    gysgt,
    .
    Just watch for all the Weekly Standard guys to have all manner of unsubtatantiated rumors flying around about them after Nov 5th. I am telling you that McCain is going to bury EVERYBODY that had anything to do with him selecting Palin and that includes Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    By the way McCain said on CNBC that he is against raising the minimum wage. Not a smart move on that one. I think that rips his whole joe the plumber image to shreds

  • letaaronbeaaron

    It was a great long-term plan that paid off dividends in the short run when John McCain ran an issue-free campaign of fear and hatred. Fortunately, in 2008 it’s a lot harder for some to deny reality and cry false equivalence when there are people on the ground on every state stepping in and saying “Not so fast.”

  • gysgt213

    “Gunny if Nicolle can’t stand the heat get out of the kitchen.”
    .
    Andy,
    .
    I’m the last person to defend Ms. Wallace. I still remember her laughing in Jay’s face on Morning Joe when he had to the nerve to ask her when the campaign was going to let Palin be interview.
    .
    However, I do think she was literally putting lipstick on the pig here. She had nothing to work with and she had no say in the pick. For Barnes to call her out is wrong in my opinion. A total cheap shot. He should be calling out the 2 top dogs of the campaign.

  • kathy

    James LA – right you are.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Barnes had his facts wrong, Loud ignorance is apolitical.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    LOL how effective with THIS ad be?
    .

  • trifecta

    On his record, Dean was far from the left of the party. He shocked Washington by not being milquetoast about partisan differences. it gave Dean Broder the vapors.

  • gysgt213

    SG,

    That was a pretty effective ad for me. I need to go and try to vote again!

  • jarais

    That’s terrifying, sgwhiteinfla.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I want to change my name to Dana Bash and then gay-marry John King. Who is going to f— with the Bash-King! Who? You, Jay Carney? I think not.

  • gysgt213

    HOUSTON – More than 427,000 people have voted early so far in Harris County. This is a pace the County has never seen before.
    .

    In 1996, only 16 percent of Harris County voters voted early. But in 2000, 23 percent voted early, followed by 37 percent in 2004. However this year, the number of early voters has reached almost 40 percent and there are still three days of early voting remaining.
    .
    http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou081028_mp_early-voting-red-blue.15a4f4ccf.html

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Loud ignorance is the GOP base.

    Testing:
    Fellate
    Relations
    mierda

  • gysgt213

    Cincy,

    Tell the joke and see if makes it out of moderation.

  • vwcat

    I believed in the 50 state strategy from the start. I felt it made perfect sense and couldn’t figure out why not everyone would see this.
    How in the world can you fight, win or be competitive unless you are on the ground everywhere fighting? You will never win if you cede territory and don’t even try and just give up.
    I thought the 10 state strategy the democrats ran for years was stupid and did not make sense.
    One of the reasons I did not back Hillary was that she was a believer in the 10 state, give up and not fight thinking of the democrats ans why we kept losing.

  • heckslittlestangel

    Ai yi yi! I’ve been scratching my head wondering why all my posts were being moderated. Pretty inoffensive content…

    But my original screen name was apparently giving palpitations to the schoolmarm-bot that scans posts. What the, uh, heck, is this, Time magazine or Highlights?

  • vwcat

    Paul no: I agree that it also ended the control of the Cazville-DLC rule.
    thank goodness.
    I hate the DLC. They are just pretend democrats and lapdogs of the right.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    ADVICE! Always get an estimate before hiring a plumber, or you could get big surprises.

  • Andy from MA

    Gunny, that dog won’t hunt when it comes to Nicholle Wallace. She could have offered her resignation if she felt the job was too much for her. No one had a gun at her head, when they asked her to manage Caribou Barbie.
    .
    Nicholle was blinded by the lights, and the hype and the lust for power. This was not a United Way campaign.
    .
    She gets no sympathy from this quarter, the same way convicted felon (I love how that sounds)Ted Stevens gets no sympathy from me.
    .
    Ms. Wallace is over 21 in a high profile job and feels that character a$$asination and guilt by a$$ociation is appropriate. Now it’s her reputation that’s been besmirched. Cry me a freaking river.

  • Andy from MA

    SG: Peter Thomas gives good voiceover. Great ad.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    You know I just thought of something. I know I am probably late to this but I am thinking that the reason non of the other probably VP candidates are saying that Sarah Palin is ready. They see her as a threat and the writing is on the wall that McCain will lose so they want to cut her down so that she doesn’t leap frog them for 2012. I think this will intensify in the next few weeks

  • dfh3

    McCain is campaigning in North Carolina a week before the election. I think that is all the proof we need that the good doctor was right. When was the last time a Republican presidental candidate was on the stump in North Carolina at any time after the primary?

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Gunny, which joke? The McCain gorilla joke?
    .
    Hey Andy from MA….Massachusetts doesn’t get past the moderator does it?
    .
    Words that won’t pass the moderators:
    Assess
    Asset
    Basset hound
    Massachusetts
    Glass
    Mass
    Assist
    …it goes on and on and on.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Gunny, which joke? The McCain gorilla joke?
    .
    Hey Andy from MA….Massachusetts doesn’t get past the moderator does it?
    .
    Words that won’t pass the moderators:
    @sess
    2sset
    B@sset hound
    M@ssachusetts
    Gl@ss
    M@ss
    @ssist
    …it goes on and on and on.

  • gysgt213

    “Gunny, that dog won’t hunt when it comes to Nicholle Wallace. She could have offered her resignation”

    Andy,

    The only thing I would say is look at what happens to people in that party who think they can just resign.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Gunny, which joke? The McCain gorilla joke?
    .
    Hey Andy from MA….M@ssachusetts doesn’t get past the moderator does it?
    .
    Words that won’t pass the moderators:
    @sess
    2sset
    B@sset hound
    M@ssachusetts
    Gl@ss
    M@ss
    @ssist
    …it goes on and on and on.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Gunny, which joke? The McCain gorilla joke?

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Hey Andy from MA….M@ssachusetts doesn’t get past the moderator does it?

  • gysgt213

    Cincy,

    Yes that one.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Gunny, which joke? The McCain gorilla joke?
    .
    Hey Andy from MA….M@ssachusetts doesn’t get past the moderator does it?
    .
    Words that won’t p@ss the moderators:
    @sess
    2sset
    B@sset hound
    M@ssachusetts
    Gl@ss
    M@ss
    @ssist
    …it goes on and on and on.

    PS: another word that won’t p@ss the moderators is ‘p@ss’.

  • Andy from MA

    Cincy you are fxxxing a right!

  • gysgt213

    I bet there parents are really proud.
    .

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    ‘Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, raped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’
    -John Sidney McCain

  • Andy from MA

    It’s so a$$inine too.

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Frankly, I think this Nicole Wallace thing is one big head fake. I’ve seen her and her clothes don’t look like she bought them at Saks or Neiman’s. I think this shopping thing falls smack dab in the lap of Cindy McCain. And the folks she saved from the chopping block when his campaign went south during the primary are repaying the favor. If John McCain can call her a c@#t on the Senate floor, can you imagine what he’s going to do if he thinks his lost is cindy’s fault.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Andy,
    .
    I agree with you that Nicole Wallace is just getting what she deserves. Its funny how many wingnuts can dish it out but can’t take it. Its like Kathleen Parker who was just shocked and AMAZED about how the crazy right wingers were sending her h@te mail for criticizing Palin, H@TE MAIL for goodness sake! This after she practically commanded her readers from her perch at NRO to send hate mail to any and every liberal ever born. When you sow h@tred sometimes you reap it and Nicole Wallace was all too happy to have Barack Obama strung up on FoxNews on a daily basis over bull sht but now she is just crestfallen because somebody has lied on her. Well BOO FRIKKIN HOO. Good riddance.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    ‘Did you hear the one about the woman who is attacked on the street by a gorilla, beaten senseless, r@ped repeatedly and left to die? When she finally regains consciousness and tries to speak, her doctor leans over to hear her sigh contently and to feebly ask, ‘Where is that marvelous ape?’
    -John Sidney McCain

  • gysgt213

    Wow! Cincy that made it with no problem.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    gysgt,
    .
    Remember a couple weeks ago when all the right wingers were in a tizzy about the kids singing about Obama. Ill bet they applaud these kids though. Such is the state of our country and our world

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Fred Barnes called Nicole Wallace a coward on national television for not admitting she bought the clothes for Palin. He was wrong; she didn’t. He apologized today. Nobody “deserves” to be slandered, period.

  • Andy from MA

    Dee your self described (shop, baby, shop) expertise as a clothing maven is enough for me. Besides aren’t some of the named retailer deny any purchases were made.
    .
    I think the 150k was used for something more nefarious (prescription drugs). Or Norm Coleman wears women’s clothing.

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Gunny that ad for prop 8 is down right obscene — I think making those kids be involved in that crap should be grounds for child abuse charges.

  • gysgt213

    Oh well.
    .
    Palin didn’t have to run
    I’m going to agreeably disagree with Joan Walsh about who deserves the blame for the problems of Sarah Palin’s increasingly disastrous candidacy and whether, in general, the Alaska governor has been treated fairly or not by the McCain people and the media.
    .
    First, let’s stipulate that Palin is not the dummy people are portraying her to be. She’s clever in the way George W. Bush is: She likes to be underestimated; she chooses to play the Rick Perlstein underdog “Franklin” card to undermine you and your “Orthogonian” elite chums; she opts to employ charm to get her way and deflect criticisms. Whatever one thinks of these behaviors, they take skill to deploy as political weapons, either offensively or defensively.
    .
    But to continue the vernacular, they are mad skillz — and I mean that play on words in two ways. First, Palin has some mad-as-in-crazy ideas about evolution, God, the environment and so forth. She’s a true believer, again, just like George Bush and in the same, faith-based way that convinces her that believing something makes it true. So there’s almost no such thing as unfair treatment of her ideas when she tries to use cheekiness and anti-elitism to cover up for her crazy belief system. Second, there is a palpable, mad-as-in-angry aggression lurking somewhere beneath the bubbly, can-do, Nicole Kidman in “To Die For” personality Palin projects in public. Is she angry for being underestimated, for being disrespected, for just representing a small, remote and quirky state? I don’t know, but as somebody also born into a working-class family who went to public schools and state university, all I can say is you can use that chip on your shoulder as motivation without letting it turn into hostility toward those who drew a better lot in life.

    .
    http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2008/10/28/pobrecita_palin/

  • sgwhiteinfla

    I think we all just need to make judicial use of different symbols when we are posting any message with anything that can be seen even remotely as questionable. F#<k the Moderator!

  • Andy from MA

    Coffee: Nobody, absolutely no one? Ever? Ever? I am crestfallen.
    .
    You are right but I can think of a few. Ann Coulter comes to mind. What ever happened to Ann?

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Andy anything is possible. Afterall they do need to find away to fund all of those anonymous email attacks. Of course this doesn’t mean I feel sorry for Nicole — these folks can eat as many of their own as they want on their way out.

  • Andy from MA

    Dee, I agree.

    .

    I was think it was pure secksual exploitation of minors. What do they know about this subject?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    It’s not a question of Boy Scout goody two-shoe ethics. What matters is the words. If Ann Coulter is ever right, she’ll be right. Michelle Malkin was right in her early and aggressive doubts about the Ashley Todd hoax. Nicole Wallace is right here. Keep your compass.

  • Andy from MA

    Looks like the bot only focuses on correct spelling and not phonetics. Which goes to show that humans can defeat any system devised by humans.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Nicole Wallace, and anyone like her, can go engage in copulative activity with themselves.
    .
    I was reading something about Tucker Eskew and what a good guy he is, and I am so copulatingly tired of people claiming so-and-so Republican is such a nice person, blah, blah, blah. Why? Because the Republican in question didn’t kick the reporter in the groin when speaking to them? Most of these ‘nice people’ have royally screwed everyone I care about. I live in a red state and people go on about how nice these people are, they’re not. Most of these supposed ‘nice people’ would vote to have you shipped off to a concentration camp TOMMORROW. Sure they’d tell you to your face how bad they felt about it, and they’d bake you a nice pie for the trip to the concentration camp, that doesn’t make them ‘nice people’. They are in fact, rectums. Just had to get that off my back.

    To the person responsible for this comment moderation system: May you engage in coprophagy and expire post haste.

  • gysgt213

    “I think making those kids be involved in that crap should be grounds for child abuse charges.”
    .
    Dee,
    .
    I agree. I don’t know what the parents were thinking. Except hate.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I don’t agree at all about Coulter. Malkin was right about her early and aggressive doubts over the Ashley Todd incident. It matters that you calibrate your compass to the words not the people.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I disagree. You calibrate your compass to the words not the people. That’s how you resolve conflict and reach consensus.

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    I can only hope that the yuck factor will back fire big time. I hope the proposition will go down in flames because people just want to end the discussion so they never have to see kids exploited like this again.

  • Paul-no not that one
  • Ohg Rea Tone

    Yikes – someone called me a conservative – and I think they were being derogatory. Help, ……………….

    http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/28/tell-me-i-am-not-conservative/

  • Andy from MA

    cincy — The author Rex Stout would have been proud of your use of 50 dollar words. I haven’t seen such useage since I read some of Stout’s Nero Wolfe’s mysteries.
    .
    Stout also edited a book in the 1940s called The Magnificent Dunderheads. These were quotes from isolationist republicans leading up to and after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Fascinating read

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Im with cinci. I am not a turn the other cheek kinda guy. As much ignorant and potentially dangerous venom that Wallace has been spewing during the campaign and taking every opportunity to smear Obama is coming back to haunt her plain and simple. She has not apologized for ONE thing she has said about Obama so she can kick rocksWhen you lay down with dogs you come up with fleas and Fixed News has a flea circus! I wonder how cute she thinks it is to challenge Obama’s patriotism now. And I hope that there is MORE to come!

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Does anybody ever read Ohg Rea Tone’s blogs?

  • http://www.ghostnote.com Cookie Puss

    a _ s _ s _ h _ o _ l _ e the size of a mason jar.

    Just testing the mod bot.

  • Andy from MA

    SG: What’s your take on Gov Crist extending early voting hours? From here it seems statesmanlike? Or am I just being extremely naive?

  • Andy from MA

    PNNTO: Are you being sarcastic?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    It’s not that Wallace is good or bad. Judge individual behaviors. Barnes lied. Wallace was right. Malkin was right to flag the Ashley Tood incident early as a hoax, and wrong on 99% of everything else she says. It’s a slippery slope to dismiss entire people and groups.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Sorry Andy, yes I was laughing when I saw that and felt I had to share it. It was parochial of me, sorry all.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Andy,

    Look at my post upthread. I think Crist and others are positioning for 2012. He already came out against the GOP and their smearing of ACORN here in florida. This move is a practical one because the lines everywhere have been horrendous. He has no real stake in McCain winning as a governer but if voting goes wrong here again the people will have his head on a platter. So he fixes the problem, lets the chips fall where they may, and scores some points with the people of florida to vie for that “most popular governer” title in preparation for a presidential run, since the former title holder has shall we say taken a turn for the worse.

  • Paul-no not that one

    sg, this is hard to ask delicately but as far as Crist 2012 goes doesn’t he have a, um, problem. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

  • Andy from MA

    I thought it was, well, pretty lame. It seemed like Minnesotans would be turned off by it. Except for Pat Boone fans. Kinda interesting they had to put captions with everyone’s name on the screen.
    .
    Central casting calling all bit players.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Paul-no not that one, are you implying Crist is a friend of Dorothy?

  • Andy from MA

    To make this easier for simple people like me, would Crist vote Yes or No on Prop 8 in CA?

  • jarais

    Crist will be fine. He’s marrying a woman!

  • Andy from MA

    Cincy from last week: Mike Singeltary = Pat Buchanan

  • Slowhand Ted

    And if you want to know why Obama has been able to successfully prosecute a 50 state strategy, ask the Republicans who are currently running down the clock and filling the media with tales of internecine warfare.

    While it’s technically true that they can still win, McCain spitting on Palin, Palin spitting on McCain, Barnes spitting on Wallace and Wallace spitting on Barnes tends to suggest that they’ll finish the race covered in phlegm rather than glory. Who do they think they are? The Democrats?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    After Foley and Mahoney, people should be thankful for a Florida politician who can keep it in their pants – no matter where it wants to go once out.

  • Andy from MA

    jarais – That worked out great in NJ a few years ago.

  • nibblybits

    I wish I had Jay Carney’s hours. Two posts today, both late in the day, both links to other writers’ work.

    Mr. Carney, I salute you.

  • Andy from MA

    Ted, it’s like each of them wants to find another can of gasoline to pour on the fire.

  • formerlyrainbow68

    Good grief! I’m gone for a few days and Swampland completely changes. Little bitty posts, I had to get a new name. I don’t like it! I sound like a disagreeable old lady! Kids are entertained with Charlie Brown, so I have a few minutes. Howard Dean has been made fun of as kook for years. I always thought it was weird that one scream sank his ship. I guess that was the excuse to throw him overboard. He doesn’t seem so crazy now! And poor McCain saying he’s going to “take Pennsylvania!” Obama’s campaign will be studied and emulated for years. We’re in the home stretch, guys!!!

  • Andy from MA

    bits – I’d settle for Carney’s salary; even if it meant I’d have to pay more in taxes soon.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Not saying anything Cincy. I do know he, like Senator Graham, is a -how is it put in the South?-”confirmed bachelor”
    Crist told the NYT Magazine’s What’s Her Face Solomon on the questions page that he would have a “Big announcement” about meeting the right girl a while back.
    Did he?

  • gysgt213

    Dancing Children: Voters Allowed To Choose Either Of Two Candidates
    .
    http://wonkette.com/403899/dancing-children-voters-allowed-to-choose-either-of-two-candidates

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Who do they think they are? The Democrats?

    Well Slowhand –

    It wouldn’t be the first time the GOP copied Democratic strategy and did it better. You know we invented the ground game and when they got tired of being beat they stole it and perfected it. Now if they want to take on our propensity to shoot ourselves in the foot I say have at it.

  • Paul-no not that one

    nibblybits, Carney has to be up early to repeat the same vapid point over and over on Morning Joe. The goal for all respectable print journos is air time on cable news.

  • Cliff

    sg, this is hard to ask delicately but as far as Crist 2012 goes doesn’t he have a, um, problem. Not that there is anything wrong with that.
    .
    Are you referring to an obsession with, and enjoyment of roosters that is particular to approximately 10% of the male population?

  • sgwhiteinfla

    PNNTO,

    He is “covering” his problem, he got engaged when he thought he might be the VP pick and word is he will really follow through! lol Not that theres anything wrong with that.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Wow Andy, you really hate Singeltary huh? Because he’s overly optimistic about his teams chances?

    You know who else married a woman? Rock Hudson, Elton Johna and that McGreevy guy. Paul-no not that one, haven’t heard any whispers about Crist, I know someone who worked in politics and knows people, I’ll have to ask her. On a related note, when I voiced my suspicions about Lindsey Graham, her head was nodding in the affirmative even before I finished asking.

  • Paul-no not that one

    sg thanks for the local knowledge. See what “on the spot” reportage we have here!
    I should add, from afar, Crist does look sane. And whatever his motivations he has done the right thing wrt the voting in Florida.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Yes Cliff, supposedly Crist LOVES him some rooster. Not that htere is anything wrong with that. But he is trying to make it seem like he likes kittens so he can get the nomination. He is now engaged but it might be one of those four year engagements.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Get used to robot moderators (click here).

  • formerlyrainbow68

    Crist is gay? Wasn’t he married before? I’m not worried at all about 2012. The Republicans got nothin’. BTW, I think Rock Hudson was the most handsome man who ever lived (particulary in the 40s and 50s). Btt what do I know? I also think Orson Wells was a hunk during that time.

  • Paul-no not that one

    cincy you are usually so locked in, that you’ve never heard anything about Crist is interesting.

  • jarais

    That’s awful news. About Time, Inc, not the rooster aficionado.

  • Slowhand Ted

    Thing is Dee, we’ve been to believe that Steve Schmidt brought a much-needed iron discipline to the McCain campaign. And so he did. Everyone on-message, the problem being that Schmidt came up with a different message every week.
    .
    The fact that Schmidt has lost control of the team suggests to me that McCain has lost faith with Schmidt. McCain obviously blames Schmidt (and others) for the disaster that was the Palin pick, so with Schmidt probably having been publicly side-lined or berated, everyone else now knows that they can run riot and Schmidthead is powerless to stop them.

    McCain will skewer Schmidt and his cohorts after this is all over. Which is rather unfair, because they did make him appear rather less useless (it’s all relative) than he was previously.

  • trifecta

    Crist announced his engagement right before McCain started deciding on his running mate. The marriage is to “take place” after the election. Sorta like the Bristol/Levi nuptuals.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    PNNTO,

    I am ok with Crist actually. He is a very practical guy. Its just unfortunate because if the GOP wont accept a VP candidate that is pro choice I am going to go out on a limb and say they will reject a presidential candidate that supposedly loves rooster.

  • Andy from MA

    Cincy – I was equating Mike’s “I can’t be wrong” tin ear attitude with Mr. Buchanan’s aural orifice. Buchanan is never wrong, ever, ever ever. He’s also very stuck in the mid-20th century

    The current 49ers coach will be following in the footsteps of his predecessor if he doesn’t realize that he’s not George Halas and this is the 1940s Bears.

    Wake up Mike it’s the 21sr Century.

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Slowhand it couldn’t happen to a nicer thug.

  • Andy from MA

    trifecta, the use of the shotgun in the FL nuptials is optional. It’s required in the 49th state.

  • formerlyrainbow68

    Drudge is reporting that Obama is up be 2. Why not report that Obama is up in every swing state but one? (Mo.?) Desperate for good news, I guess.

  • jarais

    Is Sarah Palin the innovator of the aerial shotgun wedding?

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    we’ll have a more centralized management structure that will group together titles that share similar audiences, advertisers and the talents and skills of their staffs.”

    Ahhh, the fine art of managing by spreadsheet. It’s never good news.

  • Andy from MA

    Coffee: Why do I really think KT could be hurt by this, but JC, MS, and MM are immune? I’ve seen this before in the corporate world. The chaff gets separated from the wheat, and the wheat are RIFFED. Nothing but the chaff remains.

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    we’ll have a more centralized management structure that will group together titles that share similar audiences, advertisers and the talents and skills of their staffs.”

    Ah, the fine art of managing by spreadsheet. It’s never good news.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    KO just PWNED Sarah Palin for saying “spread the wealth” about the oil checks they give out in Alaska. Classic

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    test
    titles

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Dang on it! Let me try again.

    KO just P W N E D Sarah Palin for saying that they share the wealth in Alaska and they collectively own all the resources ala communism

  • Andy from MA

    Paul D I am lol at your test word.

  • wvng

    Speaking of 50 states being in play.
    .
    I went to Harrisonburg Virginia for the 5:30 Obama rally today. To be held in the James Madison U. convocation center. Got there at noon, there were already a few thousand people, some had been there since very very early. Was directed to the soccer field, and more and more and more people came. It was bloody windy and cold, but people were patient and hopeful.
    .
    The whole thing was pretty organized, with effectively rope lined (with no ropes) walking paths. At about 2 pm, a campaign guy wandered through and described the path people would be taking to the convocation center. People stood up, and scrunched around the course a bit until about 3:15 when the center doors were to open. People scrunched around some more for another hour, but it is my impression that no one from the soccer field made it to the 7,200 person capacity convocation center before the center closed and they had to close the doors. There were more entrances than the one, and I have to assume that one was given great preference.
    .
    Our candidate did make an appearance at the field for maybe 5-10 minutes, gave a brief talk, apologized that the center was too small for everyone, shook a few hands, and was off.
    .
    It was disappointing not to get in to see the main speech, but his coming out made, literally, all the difference for the crowd. People so wanted to see him, and they did.
    .
    Heckofa thing to see so many people hanging around in unpleasant conditions for sooooo long with little complaint.
    .
    I’ve got pictures if anyone has someplace to send them.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Andy from MA, I can see that, but definitely Mike Ditka = Pat Buchanan.
    .
    Andy from MA, hadn’t heard anything about Crist strangely. My friend was busy when I called, she’ll call back soon though and she’s from S Carolina. He is neat…maybe he’s just a Nazi? That puts him right back in it!

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    Time Inc., the world’s largest magazine company, is set to announce a revamping that will result in job cuts of 6 percent — more than 600 positions…

    Of course, its too much to expect that the reorganization will result in the hiring of 3 full time webamasters but the article did indicate that they’re continuing to migrate toward the web!

  • http://thefiresidepost.com/2008/10/28/the-vindication-of-howard-dean/ The Vindication of Howard Dean – The Fireside Post

    [...] Read Full Post Here Book Mark it-> del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Window Live | Tailrank | Furl | Netscape | Yahoo | BlinkList Tags: dean, Moulitsas, swampland, Time, vindication [...]

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    It’s going to be a rough transition period for publications like TIME, but the participation of writers in forums like this, no matter how erratic, is a positive sign of awareness. There is a surplus of good writing out there, but a deficit of good reporting. That’s one big reason why I am rooting for TIME.

  • Andy from MA

    Singletary is a logical extension of Ditka.

  • http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

    Time Inc., the world’s largest magazine company, is set to announce a revamping that will result in job cuts of 6 percent — more than 600 positions…

    It also fleshes out KT’s concern over the cost of Obama’s press tent and news-gathering budgets in general.

  • Andy from MA

    Paul, however they will hire 3 so to be unemployed republican strategists.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    For those who saw the dailyshow clip I posted the other day with the segment “Who the fudg is that guy” Why is it that Ed Rogers seems like a Neo Nazi to me? He is on MSNBC like every other day and he always prounounces Obama’s name really weird and he always makes a statement that has something to do with race. And he always finds a way to say “Barack Obama has never done even one tough thing in his life” Anybody else ever notice this guy?

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I don’t think this layoff will hurt TIME’s “name players” very much. They are already on the productive side of the curve. Sadly, my guess is people with titles like “Manager of Human Resources” and “Director, Midwest Circulation” will be taking the biggest hits. KT may not fully realize how her participation represents a way out for TIME when she’s messing around with liberating comments for little or no pay, but it does.

  • Andy from MA

    Here’s a suggestion for the McCain campaign that they can borrow from the folks at Microsoft

    http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/10/28/microsoft.windows.ap/index.html

  • formerlyrainbow68

    Are our Swampland writers safe?

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    They’re gonna lay off 600 people at TIme? I don’t know what they pay Carney but he ain’t earning it.
    .
    I’ve seen no evidence here that Time will survive. The era has passed. This is a time of great change in many, many areas. What Time is offering here is a dime a dozen and gettin’ cheaper by the day. I don’t know in what guise people will get their news exactly, from the web surely, but this MSM paradigm is all used up.

  • Andy from MA

    sg: Is this the guy? Long clip buy Shrum tags him for what he is:

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27424912#27424912

  • Andy from MA

    test

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Yeah SG — I think he was an extra in a world war II movie and he was defintely one of those awful SS officers.

    And he uses his southern accent to imply the lazy shiftless black guy meme.

  • carsick1

    I’m watching the MSNBC show with Rachel Maddow right now and she started with a football analogy and graphic (great idea) and showed all the McCain game is on his side of the field…and some even deep toward his goal line (Montana? which Bush won by 20 points). Obama is only defending Pennsylvania which Kerry won by only 2 points.
    Great analogy.
    I’ll watch again.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    WTF???

    Obama is holding ANOTHER rally RIGHT NOW!

  • Andy from MA

    SG: If you go to MSNBC and watch the “closing arguments” clip on hardball. Is this the guy? Bob Shrum does an honorable job of calling him out on what he is r@cist.

    the link sends me into “m” land. Sorry.

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Andy — yes that’s the guy

  • Andy from MA

    If they gave the nobel price for R@cism, Ed would win the prize

  • Dee in Columbia MD

    Ed definitely represents the mainstreaming of whack jobs.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Yep Andy, thats the guy. I was a little mad at Tweety because he came back later and tried to call out Shrum because Shrum said someone from the south shouldn’t be saying a black man never did a tough thing in his life. In my opinion Shrum was telling the truth. I however was hoping that Shrum would shut up and let Tweety do his passive aggresive thing with Rodgers and get him to admit he is a racist. Unfortunately he still hasnt gone that far just yet. But everytime I see him on MSNBC it seems he is getting closer. And you couldnt TRY to look more like a neo nazi.

  • sgwhiteinfla

    Andy the long version got stuck in moderation but yes thats him

  • Andy from MA

    Kudos to Shrum for saying Liar and Tweety for not letting him get away with it.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Hate to be a nerd but the Wyoming at large House race debate on span duo is pretty good. A very safe republican seat that is open and competitive.
    The Democratic candidate is pretty impressive and the republican is tripping over herself.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    Funniest thing about Ed Rogers, hands down: his wife’s name is Edwina. Ed and Edwina Rogers. I just soiled myself.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Ed and Edwina? Aren’t they one of the set of parents from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

  • carotexas1

    Gunny I was pleased to see your link on Houston early voting.
    Do you have any sense on the rest of the state?
    I have only seen Rasmussen poll but I remember losing the Reagan Democrats and hoping they might return.
    My 82yr old mother in law shocked me the other day and said she was going to vote early and for Obama! She said we need a young man to get us out of this mess!

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I submit he made her change her name to Edwina in addition to taking Rogers as her last name. Doesn’t he seem like the kind of guy who would do that?

  • Andy from MA

    coffee unless it’s the other way ’round…bottoms up.

  • http://pourmecoffee.blogspot.com pourmecoffee

    I love this idea: Roberta Dole, Josephine Lieberman, Gerald Ferraro … powerful people should wield absolute power!

  • Paul-no not that one

    Well to be fair it was Jack and Jackie Kennedy.

  • cincinnatus est exterminata!

    Listen to Joe the R@cist Mor0n in his own words, getting his @ss handed to him by Shepard Smith:
    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Joe_The_Plumber_attacks_Obama_would_1028.html

  • Casey Morris

    Wow. Jay must have needed a shot and a beer to get that post out. And by shot, I mean shot of heroin.

    Well. Double snap in a Z formation right back atcha Jay-Car.

  • http://unconquerablegladness.wordpress.com/2008/10/29/work/ work « unconquerable gladness

    [...] work Jump to Comments one of the great byproducts of this election that ive been meaning to mention will be the recognition of democrats busting their ass. an appreciation of an appreciation of howard dean here. [...]

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