TDiB: Defining Asinine, One Flip-Flop at a Time

As the battle for the Democratic nomination winds to a protracted end, the level of asininity erupting from Clintonista talking heads continues suck oxygen from the planet, making the world a dumber place.

Today, Harold Ickes, Clinton talking head, said their campaign would push for full seatings of the MI and FL delegations, including Uncommitted in MI. Uncommitted, in this scenario, might have more earned delegates than Edwards, but that's only funny, not important.

Two things you should know about Ickes:

1. He was instrumental in the creation of the proportional allocation system the Democratic primary is waged under; and

2. As a voting member of the DNC, he voted last fall to strip the MI and FL primaries of pledged delegate due to their violation of the calendar rules.

At that time, of course, Team Clinton saw itself cruising to the nomination on Super Duper Tuesday, so they didn't flinch. But now, with the nomination out of reach without going back on their previous stance, they've employed a level of dishonesty visible by all who don't carry a Clinton Voters Count Too membership card.

So the Clintonistas, and Hillary herself, have flip-flopped on the seating issue. It's expediency and her desire to win, and nothing more, that drives Hillary's heart about seating these folks in Denver. No matter how often she says it, she only cares about these voters b/c it's her last best hope. Anyone really believe that if the roles were reversed, if Obama was in her position having "won" MI and FL, that she'd adamantly want to seat those delegations?

So when she tries to draw parallels to the 2000 recount, to women and African Americans earning the franchise, she's using incorrect analogies to drum up sympathy. Seriously large hole in her theory: no one was denied the right to vote in MI or FL, and certainly not by their government. They voted, but the DNC, a decidedly non-governmental entity, decided to nullify the results - but only as they relate to seating delegates. In advance of the elections. With warning of the consequences. For blatant party rules violations.

The campaign's actions and words are cynical beyond the pale.

Sidebar: while Ickes is getting hysterical, Bill has come to reality and is mulling a method to get Hillary on the ticket as veep.

Of course, one method to accomplish Bill's new goal is the nightmare scenario: a bloody ass convention.

Sigh. I'm getting tired of expending my hope on a smooth process that would launch Obama into the general election season. Republicans everywhere must be gleeful.

About Those Dreaded Clinton Defectors

Ok, take a breath punditocracy. If X percent of Clinton primary voters in West Virginia and Kentucky would defect to McCain, why exactly is this a problem?

It's not if you localize the phenomena to only those two states: WV and KY. Notice something about them? Deep red, not going blue this fall.

Extrapolating from those two outward to other states is foolish. Look at Wisconsin and Oregon for counterpoints.

Remainders: Bleeping Hill, Rahm's Brothers, and When Does Hagee Become a Liability?

Many a thought through our head today, but unfortunately, only a few stuck around til the end:

* Listen, Hillary. You are loved, by someone, I'm sure of it. So courting the entire states of Michigan and Florida at once is a bit grandiose. Comparing the delegates not being seated at the DNC convention to disenfranchisement is, well, so blatantly misguided I can't belief you allowed yourself to say it.

There's no comparison. Delegations from those states won't be seated because they violated DNC rules, not because the government is denying the franchise. People voted, made their preferences known for you, Obama, or Uncommitted. They were not disenfranchised.

This is so intellectually bereft its breathtaking.

I've argued you should be allowed the space to finish the race with dignity. I still believe that, but each time you delve in this slop, I'm disinclined to heed my own advice.

* The Brothers Emanuel. Fantastic reporting.

* Hagee, the pastor who's endorsement John McCain sought for up to a year, has stated Hitler was sent by God to annihilate Jews. This, apparently, was b/c only after genocide could European Jews see the light and move to Israel.

Any calls for repudiation? Hello, MSM? When will McCain reject and denounce Hagee?

Can we just make a rule that from now on no politician is allowed to seek or accept the endorsement of any religious leader, regardless of how obscure and benign that person appears? It just leads to absolute mayhem and stupidity.

Can we do that then? K? Thanks.

Hello, Portland

Ultimately, it means nothing, so there's nothing to say but to note that the crowd size is staggering. 75,000? Wow. [from NYT]

McCain, Godhead

Why? B/c it's easier than typing "the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost"

But John McCain wants you to know he is the Godhead, or else he wouldn't have stepped up this past week and promised, without a statement of how, that he would stabilize the Middle East, restore economic confidence, advance alternative energy, and deliver healthcare choice [note the subtle distinction]. Not mentioned, the end of dental cavities, a roast in every oven, an appearance by Jack Black at every 9 year-old's birthday party, and a network late night show that's actually entertaining.

Yeah, I'm snarky b/c the Beacon's Douglas already did the sober piece.

The Godhead put together an advertisement for your pleasure; it's the condensed version of his speech, and it rocks:

The End

On Tuesday, Barack Obama will get his butt kicked in Kentucky. Hillary Clinton will get hers handed back in Oregon.

The only interesting item is whether Obama will win enough pledged delegates to claim a majority of that category. That, combined with his increasing lead in supers (even the conservative NBC estimate has him up 15+ now), should be enough to focus the media narrative on the "end of the race" rather than his thumping in KY.

Like most everyone, I've been reading the tea leaves, fueled by desire to win in November, and wishing she'd get the hell out. Later, when it appeared she wouldn't abide my timetable, I hoped she'd at least play nice.

I'd argued Clinton would drop out between May 6 and May 20. I was wrong. I then thought she would drop out around May 22/23/24. Considering her recently verbiage, that's unlikely too.

But after the DNC Rules Committee doesn't go her way on May 30, and after the last of the primary contests on June 3, Hillary Clinton will drop out within a week. She knows, like we do, that it's over, and she won't risk party damage by taking a losing cause to Denver.

Everyone has been looking for her exit strategy, both graceful and dignified, while all the time, Hillary has told us what it is: to finish. We ought to give her the space to seek that end.

Marc Dann, Fool

Hell, he admitted as much 2 weeks ago when he said he didn't expect to win [again, so why did you run?], so I'm not breaking anything here. But the staggering stupidity of digging in his heels is in full evidence in the past few days, and only an fool didn't see it coming.

See, after Ted & Co. insisted Dann resign or face impeachment, they had to be ready to impeach. No questions, they had laid their integrity on the table and could not, would not, back off.

Dann called their bluff, insisting he had made all the admissions he needed to and that he had not acted in any manner necessitating resignation. So TedCo filed articles of impeachment yesterday.

Also yesterday, the GOP led General Assembly passed a bill authorizing the Inspector General to investigate Dann's office. Democrats joined the fray, a majority voting to empower the IG's investigative authority. Gov. Strickland obliged them all and signed it into law.

But before that, Dann wanted the bill killed. He specifically wanted the emergency clause, making the bill a law immediately after the Gov's signature, changed to the typical 90 days 'til effective. While negotiating his resignation, Dann noted an IG investigation would cause all kinds of problems for him. Well, let's all worry about Marc Dann now!

The problem is none of this would have occurred if Dann had just resigned last week. Or the week before. The sharks wouldn't smell blood if he hadn't continued to lie to them. And so, Marc, when you fall on the IG sword, and you will, remember you encased that sword in concrete, the easier to fall on.

Why would a guy who'd come clean fear an wide-ranging investigation? Odd, no? Think he's got something to hide?

And the collateral damage is just beginning. Good people, people that worked hard for Dann and kept their business above board, are out of work tonight. They won't be the last. Dann's resignation last week might not have saved them, but he sure as hell sealed their fate with his obstinacy in the face of all logic.

Hope that was worth it, hope your last few days in office was worth people losing their paychecks and healthcare, Marc. How does that feel, or do you even notice, too wrapped up in your pity party tonight?

Always been about you, though, right Marc? Look at me, I'm Coingate King! Look at me, I'm running for AG? Look at me, I won and am turning the office over to unqualified friends more interested in harassing women than work! Just look at me!

Right, we'll watch your ass all the way back to the Valley. Fool.

Remainders: Non-Dann Edition

More thoughts:

* Last week the DC Madam offed herself. This week, David Vitter's ethics case before the Senate Ethics Committee was dismissed. Truly, his use of the service occurred by his time in the Senate and he did not abuse his power to obtain favors, so the committee did not have cause to pursue the matter. Still, the timing couldn't be worse.

* I realize it's time to make nice with each other, but the idea of assigning any delegates to either candidate based on the Michigan vote is bizarre. I could feel better about this if it were Florida, but it's not.

Clinton won by beating Uncommitted, who astute readers [and I know all 19 of you are] will quickly realize is not Barack Obama. See, Obama took his name off the ballot when the DNC said to Michigan, "no go". Hillary, of course, couldn't see why that mattered.

Obama didn't earn 59 delegates any more than Clinton earned 69. The fact that her campaign has changed course and insisted an seating Michigan, and Florida, after agreeing that neither should be sat at the convention, is still more evidence of the hopeless campaign's intransigence.

And their addiction to hope [ironic, no?]. They hope that they can get within 100 pledged delegates by fighting for MI and FL, and that by doing so, they hope they can convince undecided supers to back Hillary, essentially forcing a tie and pushing toward a nasty convention. I don't think the supers will like have their hand forced by hardball politicking, and I don't think they're sitting around waiting for her to pull this off.

Remainders: The Too Bad JMZ Calls Hers the Daily Dann Edition

B/c I would have so used that. Anyway, mine's not a daily read. Some random Dann thoughts that could use a full-fleshing [sue me, I had 15 hour day]:

* Why is it so important to "set a precedent" with the potential impeachment of Marc Dann? Newspapers are spilling ink on their notepads about how we shouldn't rush to judgment, that this could well set the precedent for a long time to come.

Two problems:
1. As a legislative body, the House hasn't been called to impeachment hearing in nearly 200 years. Supposing we go half that time until the next instance, what's to say society and life won't have changed so much that Dann's precedent will be moot? The papers are essentially arguing that those proceedings in the 1800s mean nothing now. Why are we so important that our precedent in 2008 will stand for eternity? I think we should think a little less of our importance.

2. Even if we are facing impeachment again in a few years, impeachment is a political question, not necessarily a legal one, which is why the proceedings are heard by a legislative body and not a judge. As such, every impeachment will be different, called for different political reasons, and that doesn't lend itself to precedence setting. Again, this is not a legal case, we are not asking for the establishment of "bad AG behavior" case law.

The only test, as I see it, is this: does a majority of the House feel Dann's actions rise to the level of impeachable acts. If yes, then it's on to the Senate. Are they getting cold feet?

Batchelder, truly a brilliant public servant, is seeking to define the process of impeachment, not to set the height of the bar for malfeasance.

* This pro-Dann post is so spurious I wonder if it's satire.

First, I have no clue what the Patriot Act has to do with Marc Dann's actions. Does the Patriot Act protect hiring cronies? Of encouraging their harassment of young women?

The author provides a list of good works Dann has undertaken. Agreed, most of Dann's legal work has been pro-consumer, and by default, pro-Ohioan. However, asking for Ohioans to forgive his actions just so he can keep fighting assumes no one else in the state is capable of being a pro-consumer, pro-Ohioan Attorney General. That's patently false. Subodh, for one, would fit the bill just fine.

David Brennan sits at the public trough under the guise of "school choice", which was at least be palatable if his product were worthy of seeking and he participated in a real free market.

But to hold Dann up as an exemplar b/c he took on Brennan means, again, nothing related to Dann's current situation. Pointing out that Brennan was a Bush Ranger and dancing in counter-clockwise circles might make it rain, but doesn't mean Dann should stay in office.

Simply stated, just because Dann has racked up some positive points by taking on your causes does not give him pass to perform poorly overall. It's like saying, well, LeBron did make 2 baskets on Tuesday night, and those were pretty good, so we'll forget about the 15 clunkers he launched and that if he'd made just two more the Cavs would have won. No big, those two makes were brilliant.

* I read this, but can only guess it means "since the ODP endorsed Dann in 2006 against my preferred guy, they and their reps do not have the moral authority to request his ouster in 2008". By extension, I guess neither do the 51% of people who endorsed Dann by voting for him. By that measure, he can continue to roll up his sleeves and meet with ed boards.

Lake County Math Fun

It's late, yes, so run the numbers yourselves, but if the 44% outstanding in Lake County continues to come in at 65-35, Obama will win Indiana by about 3146 votes, or .003 percent.

UPDATE: with 98% in, Lake is 55/45. Ballgame.

It's hilarious to hear the Clinton surrogates talk about how tough a win IN was b/c, you know, they were supposed to get KILLED there. Don't they ever tire of moving the goalposts?

Regardless, tonight's winner was Obama with his huge vote margin in NC and the squeaker in IN. There's no possible, rational path to the Clinton nomination now. Of course, there hasn't been for several weeks. Proportional allocation saw to that.

I still say she'll drop out by the end of the month, probably after KY, her last best state, and after the coming torrent of supers to Obama.