By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I found this passage from Jon Chait amusing:

The spin now is that Obama's delegate lead is "small but almost insurmountable" (USA Today) and that, since neither can clinch the nomination with pledged delegates alone, "the nomination is expected to be in the superdelegates' hands" (Los Angeles Times). These beliefs reflect the mathematical illiteracy that has allowed the press corps to be routinely duped by economic flim-flammery. A lead that's insurmountable is, by definition, not small. . . .

(Emphasis supplied.) Um, noooo. A lead can be large but surmountable and it can be small but insurmountable. An insurmountable lead is not, by definition, large, in my understanding of the English language (admittedly my second language.) And when a contest is to reach a certain number of delegates, the only MATHEMATICALLY insurmountable advantage is when one of the candidates reaches the magic number (2025 or 2214 total delegates being the one ones that matter here, not the majority of the pledged delegates) More . . .

Hillary Clinton today on the Olympics:

The violent clashes in Tibet and the failure of the Chinese government to use its full leverage with Sudan to stop the genocide in Darfur are opportunities for Presidential leadership. These events underscore why I believe the Bush administration has been wrong to downplay human rights in its policy towards China. At this time, and in light of recent events, I believe President Bush should not plan on attending the opening ceremonies in Beijing, absent major changes by the Chinese government.

I encourage the Chinese to take advantage of this moment as an opportunity to live up to universal human aspirations of respect for human rights and unity, ideals that the Olympic games have come to represent. Americans will stand strong in support of freedom of religious and political expression and human rights. Americans will also stand strong and root for the success of American athletes who have worked hard and earned the right to compete in the Olympic Games of 2008.

What's Obama's position? He's conflicted.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I gotta say I disagree with Matt Yglesias on this:

In a History News Network poll, 61 percent of historians say that George W. Bush has been the worst president ever. . . . I . . . take the view that Bush is probably correct to think that history will remember him kindly.

Um, I don't. I think history will NOT be kind to the worst President in history, George W. Bush.

By Shut the Freud Up Productions, hat tip to KatieBird at The Confluence.

For Hillary supporters watching this, you know what to do.

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Chris Bowers joins the Obama supporter chorus - the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee is a certainty. (I also believe this to be so, but I have a bit more humility than to assume my believing something makes it so.)

But like Meteor Blades and Markos before him, Bowers does not make the logical leap - that since Obama will be the nominee, he must and should start thinking about November and move to unify the Party and to secure his being viewed as the legitimate nominee by the near half of the Democratic Party that supports Hillary Clinton.

As I wrote yesterday, the most important thing Obama must do is accept a valid result, preferably through revotes, in Florida and Michigan. Until I read anything from these "not in doubt" Obama supporters, like Bowers, Kos and MB, urging Obama to act on Florida and Michigan, and to act to unify the Party, it seems to me they are acting as if the contest is actually in doubt.

On the Ellen DeGeneres show today, Hillary Clinton unveiled her $300 million breat cancer plan.

Hillary's plan would provide $300 million a year in increased funding for breast cancer research at the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Institute, and the Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.

In addition to funding research for new treatments, these investments will also go to investigate the cause of breast cancer, including the role that environmental pollutants may have, as well as, potential genetic and hereditary links. The plan would also improve access to screenings and treatment by making mammograms more affordable and providing funding for treatment for low-income women. Under Hillary's American Health Choices Plan, all women will have affordable, quality health insurance regardless of employment, marital status, or pre-existing conditions so they get the care and treatment they need.

Hillary's goal: To find a cure for breast cancer in our lifetimes.

Hillary has had a long record of being involved in the fight against breast cancer. [More...]

The Senate Armed Services Committee and the Foreign Relations Committee are holding hearings on Iraq Tuesday. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain will all be in attendance.

All will be hoping to establish their bona fides through questioning of key witesses, Army Gen. David H. Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan C. Crocke.

Someone suggested that Obama be moved up past his seniority level in the order of questioning. Joe Biden, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, put the kabosh on that idea.

"The biggest mistake we could make is politicizing this, looking at this in terms of political advantage," he said. "The American people are sick of this."

McCain has the advantage, as ranking Republican on the Armed Services Committee: (More...)

The first view of Barack Obama's handling of the Jeremiah Wright issue was rosy....he had survived.

Not so quick, reports the Wall. St. Journal:

It has not been defused," says David Parker, a North Carolina Democratic Party official and unpledged superdelegate. He says his worries about Republicans questioning Sen. Obama's patriotism prompted him to raise the issue of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.'s remarks in conversations with both the Obama and Clinton campaigns.

I'm concerned about seeing Willie Horton ads during the general election," Mr. Parker says, referring to campaign ads that Republicans widely credited for helping defeat Michael Dukakis in 1988. Mr. Parker said the Wright controversy didn't hurt his opinion of Mr. Obama.

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

mcjoan has a live blog going with NY Times reporter Eric Lichtblau who broke the warrantless surveillance story. He is discussing his new book on the subject:

As political bombshells go, the headline that popped up on New York Times Web site on December 15, 2005, "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts," was a pretty big one, the biggest in the chronicling of the Bush administration's "war on terror." The story had been well over a year in the making, the process of it coming to light filled with nearly as much intrigue as the story itself.

More...

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

I was struck by this post, by the invaluable Meteor Blades. It is wonderfully written, as we expect from him. The tone was just right. But I was not struck by that - I expect that from him. Nor was I struck by the conclusions on the state of the race, they largely mirror my own (that Obama will be the Democratic nominee.) Instead, I was struck by the idea that it is incumbent on the loser in the Presidential nomination race to move to unify the Party and think about winning in November. My view is that it is the responsibility of the likely nominee to move towards unifying the Party. Since, like Meteor Blades, and one presumes, Barack Obama, I expect Obama to be the nominee - I believe it is incumbent upon Obama to move towards unifying the Party. More.

No human being is illegal. Kudos to San Francisco:

The city of San Francisco has started an advertising push with a very specific target market: illegal immigrants. And while the advertisements will come in a bundle of languages — English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese — they all carry the same message: you are safe here.

In what may be the first such campaign of its kind, the city plans to publish multilanguage brochures and fill the airwaves with advertisements relaying assurance that San Francisco will not report them to federal immigration authorities.

Mayor Gavin Newsom said the campaign was simply an amplification of a longstanding position of not cooperating with immigration raids or other enforcement. The city passed a so-called sanctuary ordinance in 1989.

The rationale behind it: (More...)