How to Solve the Michiorida Mess...

Shepard Fairey's Obama Posters

"Hillary's campaign is 21.5 million dollars in debt, making hers the most expensive Fantasy Camp ever."
David Letterman, The Late Show, May 15, 2008

Rachel Maddow's word of the Day - "vituperative" - Using, containing, or marked by harshly abusive censure.

This is a comment from the SMS live blog, left by a rabid Hillary supporter, written on Friday, May 16, 2008:

Good morning SWEETIES
Any of you know how Obama and Dean are going to address the ugly, festering sore that will be Florida and Michigan at the convention?
Or do you all just want to work hard to win 48 states?
No Obamaniac here has SATISFACTORILY answered that question except to yell in the most child-like way, “Hey, it’s the rules!!”
Hillary will bring this question up, I hope, just before the official nomination voting. Someone should.

I'll bring it up because it doesn't freakin' matter anymore - go ahead and count all of the delegates even those earned by Hillary Clinton in Michigan where Barack Obama's NAME WAS NOT EVEN ON THE BALLOT, and Florida where neither candidate campaigned, honoring an agreed-upon plan made before the primary vote. Go ahead and count all the freakin' votes of those who you all are so eager to enfranchise. What about the disenfranchisement of all of the voters who didn't bother to go to the polls because they were paying attention and understood the votes that they cast on Tuesday, January 15th (Michigan) or January 29th (Florida) would not be (should not have been, promised not to be) counted?

Also how can you ignore the caucuses? All of those people who turned out on a cold winter night in Iowa should just be dismissed? Likewise the folks who stood in school cafeterias in Nevada, Alaska, Colorado, Nebraska, Washington, Maine, and Wyoming - think about it. It comes down to basic fairness, simple justice, doing what is right/correct. By any measure, except those concocted by the Clinton camp (like ignoring the caucuses, or counting Michigan and Florida as if they were normal primaries) Obama has the lead - in popular vote, in elected delegates, in superdelegates, in states won - by any measure, he is the winner. Congratulations Barack!

If you'd like to pass a few wasted hours and you are a total political geek then visit the following site where you can change the electoral college map in any configuration and try to figure out how the Democrats can lose the election in November (I spent hours a few Sunday afternoons ago and had a hard time seeing how the Dems could possibly lose this one).

Election Guide 2008: What the Democratic Candidates Need to Win

Edwards Endorses Obama!!!

Last night John Edwards endorsed Barack Obama for president of the United States. Here's the transcript of Edwards endorsement: Edwards’s Endorsement of Obama. It was, needless to say, a coveted endorsement and coming as it did on the heals of Obama significant defeat by Hillary Clinton in West Virginia (see post below), it carried even more weight than it might have otherwise. Timing is everything, and the timing of Edwards endorsement couldn't have been better - with the Kentucky primary looming around the corner (next Tuesday, May 20th), I can't help but believe that Edwards will help Obama with those "Hard-working White Americans," Hillary Clinton as quoted in an oft cited AP article that came out after her triumphant victory in West Virginia. Good on ya, John Edwards, good on ya. Even though Edwards himself has downplayed the importance of endorsements in general, his endorsement is most welcome in an Obama camp that must have given at least pause at the trouncing that Barack took in the Mountaineer state. On to the White House for Obama!!!

For information on how Edwards' delegates will help the Obama Campaign, please see 2008 Democratic Convention Watch.

As West Virginia Goes, So Goes the Confederacy...

White voters shun Obama as Clinton wins West Virginia

"As West Virginia goes, so goes the nation." I substituted "Confederacy" for "nation," anyway, I didn't say it. I am merely echoing a phrase uttered by Hillary Clinton last night during her victory speech which I must confess, even though it was billed by Terry McAuliffe as the greatest speech ever, I dozed off during her riveting delivery of what sounded to me like rehashed campaign cliches and recycled slogans. I say shame on West Virginians and their racist selves - forgive my bluntness, but I've heard too many reports from W.V. that say that it was out-and-out racism that kept Mountaineers from even considering voting for Obama. So I say screw WV - I am much more impressed that a Democrat won Trent Lott's seat in Mississippi - way to go Dems. Ain't nothin' gonna stop us now. Apologies to the handful of good folks who live in West Virginia who did step outside their comfort zone and cast a vote for the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama. We don't need no stinkin' racists helping us get to the White House, so just stay home or vote for Ron Paul or Bob Barr or even David Duke (not sure that he's running, but I bet a little cold coin could change his mind).

Where are the Union Coal Miners of old? Where are the folks who empathized with the downtrodden? (because they were them). Where are the mothers who understood that pride is not too hard to dismiss when your kids are hungry?

"Even though racial lines were not so stringently enforced in West Virginia as they were in the Deep South, or even in neighboring central Appalachia, social life in the Mountain State was segregated by custom and management design. Nevertheless, race relations were unique. Perhaps the key to understanding the distinctive qualities of race relations in southern West Virginia was the freedom of expression enjoyed by blacks. Only in education and intermarriage was integration specifically barred by statute."

The aforementioned excerpt is from the Mine Safety and Health Administration web site as is the above featured photo.