By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Here is a fine example of how stupid the political Media can be. Walter Shapiro writes:

There is a danger in political reporting in placing too much stock in street-corner and restaurant-booth interviews. (The risks of worshipping at the shrine of polls are perhaps even greater.) But still, there are hints that Obama, who is narrowing the gap against Clinton in recent statewide polls, may be tapping into something even here in Altoona, where the 19th century offered more promise than the current one.

Shapiro has no clue whatsoever if Obama is tapping into anything. In fact, he ignores his own warning and is worshipping at the shrine of polls. The funny thing is he seems to have no understanding of polls at all. Consider this question, is it true that Obama has been "narrowing the gap?" Recently, it is not true. In the last few days, in every poll showing a result that can be compared to a previous poll by the same POLLING OUTFIT, Obama has lost ground. He has lost 6 points in the SUSA poll, 8 points in the Insider Advantage poll and 5 points in the PPP poll. Instead of narrowing the gap in the polls, Obama is actually losing ground in the polls.

Shapiro not only fetishizes polls, he fetishes them without understanding them. Bottom line? Political reporting is almost always incompetent.

ABC News and the Associated Press report Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, George Tenet, John Ashcroft, Colin Powell and others held high level meetings about harsh interrogation techniques and ultimately approved them.

The meetings were held in the White House Situation Room in the years immediately following the Sept. 11 attacks. Attending the sessions were Cheney, then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

[A] former intelligence official described Cheney and the top national security officials as deeply immersed in developing the CIA's interrogation program during months of discussions over which methods should be used and when.

More...

Philadelphia apparently has a custom of paying local ward leaders and locals to get out the vote. Obama organizers say he won't do it.

Obama's posture confounds neighborhood political leaders sympathetic to his cause. They caution that if the senator from Illinois withholds money that gubernatorial, mayoral and presidential candidates have willingly paid out for decades, there could be defections to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. And the Clinton campaign, in contrast, will oblige in forking over the money, these ward leaders predict.

"We've heard directly from the Obama organizer who organizes our ward, and he told us it's an entirely volunteer organization and that I should not expect to see anything from the Obama campaign other than ads on TV and the support that volunteers are giving us," said Greg Paulmier, a ward leader in the northwest part of the city.

The Clinton campaign hasn't said whether it will follow the custom, which again, is legal.[More...]

Where's Obama on Israel and the Palestinians? On both sides.

Since running for President, he's become an outspoken supporter of Israel. While in the Illinois legislature, he was a friend, supporter and beneficiary of Palestinians whose organizations trashed Israel.

Yesterday, when asked on the campaign trail about why he didn't denounce Louis Farakahn before he became an issue in the campaign, Obama said:

Obama reminded the crowd that he'd denounced his church’s praise of Farrakhan, saying, "I’ve been very clear about saying that was wrong. And nobody has spoken out more fiercely on the issue of anti- Semitism than I have."

Jake Tapper of ABC News responds:

Really? No one? Elie Wiesel? Simon Wiesenthal? Alan Dershowitz? No one? Wow.

More...

Update: Initial AP report here. The AP now reports that after complaints, Obama is reinstating hundreds of them.

Susie Madrak has the story and quotes Marcy Winograd at Daily Kos who says the anti-war activist and other liberal delegates have been replaced mainly with bundlers and their girlfriends.

Who was left standing, still in the running for the Sunday delegate caucuses? The bundlers and their girlfriends, the men and women who skirt campaign finance laws by bundling cash, a bundle of $2,000 here and a bundle of $2,000 there -- and some, though certainly not all, of the Obama precinct captains, loyalists from day one.

If CA is any example, progressive leaders in Penn better watch their back.

Wingrad ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Jane Harman in 2006. She had a lot of progressive support.

More on the purging at Huffington Post: "Obama's 'Big Tent' Campaign Cuts Out The Little People In California"

Yesterday I wrote about the wealthy donor fundraisers Obama attended in San Francisco last week.

Here's the Washington Post:

[T]hose with wealth and power also have played a critical role in creating Obama's record-breaking fundraising machine, and their generosity has earned them a prominent voice in shaping his campaign. Seventy-nine "bundlers," five of them billionaires, have tapped their personal networks to raise at least $200,000 each. They have helped the campaign recruit more than 27,000 donors to write checks for $2,300, the maximum allowed. Donors who have given more than $200 account for about half of Obama's total haul, which stands at nearly $240 million.

What's it mean?

[T]he work of bundlers... will be crucial as he heads into the final Democratic primaries with a lead against Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

The bundler list also sheds light on those who might seek to influence an Obama White House. It includes traditional Democratic givers -- Hollywood, trial lawyers and Wall Street -- and newcomers such as young hedge fund executives, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, Chicago-based developers and members of the black business elite....The list includes partners from 18 top law firms, 21 Wall Street executives and power brokers from Fortune 500 companies. California is the top source, with 19 bundlers.

Several of these top bundlers previously supported Republicans. Some have agendas markedly different from Obama's platform. Take Ken Griffith: [More...]

The LA Times says the good news for Barack Obama is the speech will take place five days after the PA primary. Via the AP:

The Detroit branch of the NAACP said Thursday it has selected the embattled former minister of Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama as the keynote speaker at its 53rd Annual Fight for Freedom Fund dinner.

"Reverend Wright has challenged the nation, challenged our comfort zone and stimulated nationwide discussion on the issue of how we should move forward together as both a nation and a people," the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People branch said in a statement Thursday.

The dinner has been attended in years past by 10,000 people. Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton have also been keynote speakers at the dinner.

The Senate today extended U.S. Immigration laws to the Northern Mariana Islands:

Legislation vehemently opposed by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff finally passed the Senate today, extending U.S. immigration laws to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI).

The CNMI's porous borders had allowed for sex trafficking, exploitation of guest workers and illegal businesses to flourish on the islands, according to the bill's supporters.

Along with Abramoff, there was Tom DeLay: [More...]

By Big Tent Democrat

Now you have a place where you can post your unrelated thoughts. Frankly, I am fed up with all the off topic commenting in my posts at least. J may not mind. I know I do. Stop it.

This is an Open thread.

Update (TL): I'll be posting new items later this evening. Big Tent says he'll be back tomorrow.

Update: Thread now closed.

By Big Tent Democrat

Previous installment here. The new Time PA poll says Clinton by 8. But let's put it through our poll analysis system. More . . .

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Brad Delong writes:

The best -- what I think is actually the only -- "electability" argument for Hillary Clinton was made by Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo . . .

Well, Prof DeLong, I am sure it was inadvertent of Marshall to do this. Bob Somerby points out that in fact what Marshall was doing was forwarding David Sirota's "Hillary Is Evil And Deliberately Appealing To Racists" meme. But it is worth examining what DeLong makes of the theory. More . . .

It's not necessary to end the primary race in order to look past it. Democratic groups are forming to launch critiques of John McCain in the general election.

Wealthy Democrats are preparing a four-month, $40 million media campaign centered on attacks on Sen. John McCain. And it will be led by David Brock, the former investigative reporter who first gained fame in the 1990s as a right-wing, anti-Clinton journalist.

The planned campaign is the product of a shakeup in the top ranks of the struggling independent Democratic groups. Brock, now best known as the ex-conservative founder of the liberal group Media Matters, last month quietly assumed the chairmanship of what's expected to be the main vehicle for independent Democratic attacks on McCain, now called Progressive Media USA.

The group aims to fill the gap left by the press corp's failure to accurately report on McCain. [More...]