By now, everyone has heard the comparisons being used to depict the Democratic presidential nomination race. There seem to be thousands of them.

• Hillary Clinton is Dunkin’ Donuts. Barack Obama is Starbucks.
• Hillary is a PC. Obama is a Mac.
• Hillary is prose. Obama is poetry.
• Hillary is analog, Obama is digital. (Which doesn’t work because analog records still definitely sound good and have their place)

Those comparisons only tell part of the story.

A more effective comparison is that Hillary Clinton is VHS, while Barack Obama is DVD.

VHS definitely had it’s day. It beat out all its competitors (like Betamax), and stayed on top of the game for some time. It got the job done during its day. Not too long after its inception, however, we knew that bigger and better things would eventually come along. We knew someday we would outgrow the format. Someday relatively soon… at least many of us hoped.

Then DVD comes along. After a couple failed attempts (ahem, Laser Disc), people thought that the format was too good to be true. It sounded better. It looked better. Everything about it seemed to make it a vastly superior product. Despite the legitimacy of DVD, people remained skeptical. While some consumers took the DVD plunge and reaped the benefits, others stuck by the tried and true dinosaur format of VHS.

The skeptics haters said things like:

• “I’ve invested so much in tapes, and they’ve always been dependable. I think I’ll just stick with these tapes for a few more years. No need to change yet.”
• “Why should I go for change? Could VHS be better? Sure, but it’s always worked for me. I think I’ll play it safe for now.”
• “DVD looks and sounds pretty, but does it actually work? How can one little disc accomplish all that stuff? There’s no way it can do all that.”

It took some time, but after a while the entire nation realized that we had outgrown VHS and its limited abilities. We moved on to DVD and never looked back.

Continue Reading »

Many of you won’t know about this, but the Senate just thwarted an amendment that protected our Constitutional rights — 67-31. Sen. Chris Dodd said about it, “We’ve just sanctioned the single largest invasion of privacy in American history.” Ouch.

Here’s the gist of the proposed/defeated Dodd Amendment to the FISA bill:

To strike the provisions providing immunity from civil liability to electronic communication service providers for certain assistance provided to the Government.

Basically, the Dodd Ammendment would have stripped the new FISA Bill of immunity for telecoms, preventing them from being able to wiretap without a warrant. This is a huge win for the have-to-give-up-civil-liberties-to-be-safe crowd, and a crushing blow to the rest of us. Bush has won again. For now.

The other news here is that Barack Obama voted for the Dodd Ammendment, standing up for all of us in the process. John McCain, of course, voted against it. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was one of only two Senators who just decided not to even show up and vote. Is that the kind of President we want? One who decides she doesn’t have to show up because what is going on with her personally is more important than the plight of the American people? I vote nay to that!

For more on the FISA Bill and Dodd Amendment, head over to this thread on Daily Kos.

I’ll be on and off all day blogging on Significant Saturday — the Louisiana primary and Nebraska and Washington caucuses.

Things are looking pretty good for Obama for the most part. He’s won the delegate count in all eight caucuses, and Louisiana is very similar to both Alabama and Georgia when it comes to Democratic voters. Do keep in mind, however, that Hillary Clinton has advantages as well. Washington is heavily populated with females and Asians, and Nebraska is almost entirely White. This should be a good day, but by no means an easy one.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee just was declared the projected winner in Kansas by CNN. Which leads me to this question: How big of a threat can John McCain actually be when half of the GOP is fighting rallying around him?

Anyone else see that CNN Louisiana Democratic exit poll? This is the first time I have ever seen Clinton supporters more dissatisfied with Obama hypothetically winning the ticket than vice versa. I’m not going to be shy here — I chalk that up to racist Southern Whites. That’s all it can be, because what I’ve seen up until now has been the exact opposite. I know I won’t vote for HRC without BHO on the ticket, and even then I’d be conflicted because of her vote to authorize the Iraq war.

Barack Obama is up in Washington 66-33 percent with 27 percent of the vote in. The fat lady might not be singing, but she’s warming up her vocal chords…

More good news: Obama is up huge — almost 40 points — in Nebraska with over 70 percent of the vote in! They could call these any minute…

CNN has just called Nebraska for Barack Obama, and it looks like it will be a landslide victory. Huge win, because BHO will get the majority of the delegates!

It’s just bewildering that BHO continues to win these caucuses in states with lily-white populations by such wide margins. I mean, if he wins by 40 percent and was once down by 20, then that’s a 20-point swing. Simply amazing.

Washington has been called by the Wolfman. Now we’re just waiting to see the delegate counts and Louisiana. I’m thinking hat trick!

Still no word on Louisiana, but the exit polls look extremely good…

HAT TRICK! MSNBC has called Louisiana for Obama. It also looks like he will take the Virgin Islands…

Summing tonight up, it couldn’t have gone much better for Obama. According to MSNBC’s Chuck Todd — who I consider the Yoda of delegate math and projections — Obama wound up with 40 more delegates than Hillary tonight. The Obama camp says 45. Either way, he is up by 50-plus now in the pledged delegate count, and only trails HRC by 20-40 when super delegates are added in. Also keep in mind that there are still like 500 supers left out there who remain uncommitted. To quote Batman Begins, it’s all a bit technical, but the important thing is our country looks like it will end up in good hands. You lost tonight, Hillary. Big. Didn’t ya get the memo?

Let’s enjoy tonight and hope that we can get at least three of the next four (Maine and the Beltway/Chesapeake/Crabcake/Potomac Primary — how many names does that thing have?).

Something I read today has really drawn my ire.

In Jake Trapper’s “And Obama Wept,” he offers the viewpoint that “Obama supporters’ exuberance seems to be getting a little out of hand.” He points out others — like Felix Gillette, James Wolcott, Joe Klein and Kathleen Geier — who share the same POV. Some even go as far as to blast Obama supporters for worshiping him like he’s Jesus.

Excuse me, but fuck anyone who shares that opinion and the horses they rode in on. There’s a big difference between being part of a cult and being a part of a movement. It’s not our problem that you’re a bunch of jaded political hacks.

Why does this piss me off so bad? Because every election cycle I hear older people bitch and moan about how young people aren’t active enough in politics, and suddenly we are too active. WTF? I’m still pretty young, so that deeply offends me. Do a somewhat see their point? Sure, I guess, but there actually is something messianic about him to us. Especially after we’ve faced seven-going-on-eight years of George W. Bush.

Is he God? No, of course not. He’s not going to actually break bread or walk on water. So, no, we don’t believe he’s Jesus. What we do believe, however, is that he is our future. He isn’t the redelivery of God’s only begotten son — he’s the re-delivery of hope for my generation.

What’s my generation? I was born a week before Christmas, 1979. That makes me 29, and basically in between Generation X and Y. I guess I’m both the death rattle of Gen X and a Gen Y elder statesmen. It’s with both of those generations in mind that I respond to this “cult” bullshit.

No offense to the Baby Boomers and their parents, but their days of dominating the political landscape are over. They aren’t the ones who will have to face the next half century and the challenges it brings. The under-40 crowd will; That’s why I’m so irked at getting blasted for fervently rallying around the one candidate who can boldly lead us against the challenges like no other could. We might indeed be the ones we’ve been waiting for, but we’ve also been waiting to rally around someone like Barack Obama.

Continue Reading »

Bling, bling! Seriously, this is phenomenal. In the 24 hours since the polls closed in California, the Obama campaign will have raised about $6 million and counting. Bill and Hill, that’s us saying that we’re not gonna let you steal or even take this nomination from us. The Obama site was going so crazy that the servers went down temporarily. Remember, nobody can donate more than $2,300 per election, so these numbers are truly amazing. Check out this screenshot…

Remember, we still have about 90 minutes (10:30 CST) left before the polls have been closed for 24 hours. Who knows what this number could end up being.

From where I’m sitting, it’s looking increasingly likely that Barack Obama will soon overtake Hillary Clinton in total delegates and stay up. He has the momentum, the movement, the money and the rest of the schedule favors him as well. That being said, the Clintons will not surrender this nomination without a helluva fight. I can all but guarantee that they will try to get the disqualified delegates of Florida and Michigan to count before the nomination is decided. We cannot allow that bullshit to happen.

Personally, I feel like I’ve had two presidential elections stolen from me, and I will not suffer that fate a third time. That’s why we are writing the Democratic National Committee imploring them to keep the rules it imposed on Florida and Michigan, and not seat delegates until after a nominee has been selected. To join us in this cause and write the DNC, click here.

Yesterday we ran a campaign urging Republicans who disliked Hillary Clinton to vote against her in nine eight states (there was no Democratic Montana primary… yet… our bad). We figured that since John McCain was looking inevitable that, hey, it might work.  That being said, here’s how Barack Obama fared in those states:

• Alabama - Win

• Arkansas - Loss

• Georgia - Win

• Idaho - Win

• Illinois - Win

• Missouri - Win

• North Dakota - Win

• Tennessee - Loss

He won six of those eight states. Throw out essential homebase states — Arkansas and Illinois — and he won five of six. After taking a look at how he did in open primary Super Tuesday states, it’s hard to say that Republicans aren’t helping Obama at this point. I would be shocked if the numbers don’t support this apparent trend.