Um, Brilliant

By way of Jonathan Chait's recommendation, I read Michelle Goldberg's brilliant column for the Gaurdian deriding certain feminists for alleging (in so many words) that refusing to support Hillary Clinton is sexist. Finally! Look, this is just a great piece, and I agree with Chait, you need to take 10 minutes out of your life to read it, because you will emerge smarter. I consider myself a feminist. Yes, I'm a straight male that has no problem saying that I'm a feminist. I am really offended though that people like Gloria Steinem are accusing those of us that support Obama of forgetting about the victimization of woman. There is no doubt that the MSM's treatment of Clinton has been deplorable, but it's not fair to group Obama supporters in with the media. Many, if not most Obama supporters will enthusiastically support Clinton in the general election if she is the nominee. I very highly doubt that this will be the case, but it's true regardless. It's especially unfair for older women to accuse younger women (that overwhelmingly support Obama) of abandoning them. The cold hard truth is that Obama appeals across gender and racial lines, especially among young people. Clinton's base consists of older women, Latinos, and working-class whites. Clinton's lack of support among young women is more a result of demographics than anyone abandoning or shunning the feminist cause.

This is all the more frustrating because people like Steny "I really kind of suck as the Majority Leader" Hoyer are worrying that the ugly gender and racial attacks are hurting the party. What? Which gender attacks are you speaking about Steny!? The Obama campaign has not made gender an issue. As I stated above, the MSM certainly has, but it is patently unfair to accuse the Obama campaign of making gender-based attacks. That's simply not the case. Conversely, the Clinton campaign has made race a centerpiece of their attacks on Obama. The latest example is the public meltdown of the once great Geraldine Ferraro.

In conclusion, it's not fair, and frankly, it's wrong for Clinton supporters to accuse those that don't support their candidate of being sexist. I like Hillary too, and I think she'd be a great president, but please, she's not so great a candidate that the only reason that anyone wouldn't support her is because they are sexist. That's just an offensive and illogical argument. This race has been divisive enough already. Clinton's continued presence has become increasingly toxic. While I consider the fearmongering of Steny Hoyer and others that the campaign will fatally damage the party overblown, the continued racial attacks can only hurt. Hillary needs to accept a dose of reality and end her campaign.

20 in a row!

Over at the Plank, Isacc Chotiner has a great post up describing his elation at the Rockets' win last night, which marked their 2oth in a row. I have to admit I haven't been paying too much attention to the NBA this year, as the Bucks have been beyond lousy. However, it is not lost on me how amazing it is for a team to win 20 games in a row! Houston's 20 game streak has propelled them into a tie with San Antonio for first in the Western Conference's Southwest Division. This streak continued even after Yao Ming was lost for the remainder of the season a couple of weeks ago. Moreover, as Chotiner points out, Houston is doing all this with a very likable group of guys. Tracy McGrady is an extremely likable and talented player that is as socially conscious as he is gifted in the art of basketball. Chuck Hayes, Shane Battier, Steve Novak (yeah Milwaukee!) and the rest of the crew are the epitome of class and professionalism. I hope these guys beat out the arrogant and chronically boring Spurs for the Southwest title and roll over Kobe and the Lakers to the finals. Only time will tell!

The Love Affair: Bush and McCain

Juan Cole has got another great article over at Salon about John McCain. Cole compares Bush to McCain and it turns out that, at least in terms of policy, they are quite similar. McCain has bought into the neoconservative mantra hook, line, and sinker. McCain supports an ever toughening stance on Iran, staying in Iraq for hundreds if not thousands of years, and perpetual war in general. As I've said before St. McCain loves war. War, in his eyes, is not a means but an end in itself. He believes that the state of war is good for the country. All this is very disturbing to the sane mind.

While Cole is a foreign policy expert by trade, he also delves into holy John's support for tax cuts and radical conservative economic policy. McCain use to oppose Bush's tax cuts, but now he supports them, stating that his previous opposition was concentrated on the absence of offsetting spending cuts. However, at the time, McCain stated that his opposition was based on the fact that only the very wealthy stood to benefit much from the cuts. What this means is that St. John McCain, son of God, heir to the throne of the Lord, is the ultimate flip flopper. He is just as flip floppity as Mitt Romney. McCain has sold his soul in order to lock up the GOP nomination. Interesting that the meida's ongoing love affair with McCain allows them to continue labeling him a "maverick."

Tune Her Out

Over at the Plank, Jonathan Cohn has an interesting post suggesting that the Obama campaign should just ignore the musings of Geraldine Ferraro. I agree. Granted, it is frustrating that the brilliant Samantha Power had to resign after calling Hillary Clinton a monster (off the record!!!) and the Clinton campaign is making no such move in regards to Ferraro. Ferraro's comments were made on the record and have a clear racial connotation. "Monster" is not a gender or racial specific label, so calling Hillary a "monster" could not be implied as sexist. Moreover it should be noted that what Ferraro said is, for the most part, accurate. Barack Obama more than likely would not be were he is today if he weren't a black man. At the same time, if Hillary Clinton wasn't the wife of a two-term president she probably wouldn't be were she is today either. My boss pointed out to me that this was a great year for John Edwards to run for president, but the presence of strong African-American and female candidates did much to destroy the luster of his campaign. I think this is correct, and I would go so far as to say that if either Obama or Clinton had decided not to run, John Edwards would be the current Democratic nominee for president.

Anyways, I digress. Obama should ignore Ferraro because she's just destroying her own credibility and making herself look like a jerk. She now even is alleging that the only reason the Obama campaign is attacking her is because she is white. What? This is an odd thing for a liberal Democrat to say. Seriously, turn on your television and watch Ferraro destroy herself. Plus, in the end, this is just going to make Clinton look bad. As Cohn points out in his post, the exit polls in Mississippi showed that the vote broke down on racial lines and it makes sense (though it's dirty as hell) for the Clinton campaign to keep Ferraro around for Pennsylvania where similar working class racial divisions exist. My point is that Obama should just ignore this and turn all his guns in the direction of John McCain. Obama is the frontrunner. He has a substantial delegate lead that it is very unlikely that Clinton will ever be able to surmount. It is the role of the Democratic nominee to respond to attacks from the Republican nominee. Obama shouldn't bother himself with the nagging attacks of dying campaign.

When Facts Get in the Way

Warren Strobel has got an article about a Pentagon-sponsored report tomorrow that proclaims that Saddam Hussein had no link to al Qaida. This is, of course, fairly common knowledge these days but the report is based off of review of captured documents and interrogation of thousands of former Iraqi government officials.

I wish I had more to say on this, but it's just so unbelievably obvious that the war in Iraq has been a meaningless one from the get go. Thousands of American soldiers have died and tens of thousands have returned home permanently maimed. It should also be mentioned that hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians have died. This is all just too sad to put into words.

I hope George W. Bush, John McCain, and the Republican party are proud of all they've accomplished in the name of fighting terror.

Damn You Spitzer

I agree with Ezra Klein the fact that Wall Street is celebrating the discovery of Eliot Spitzer's involvement with a prostitution ring really makes me want him to weather this, however, I just don't think its gonna happen. As Matt Yglesias points out, they have recorded evidence that he solicited a prostitute. We can all say what we want about whether or not prostitution should or shouldn't be illegal, but the fact is, in most of the country, in this case New York and Washington, prostituion is illegal. Therefore, if Spitzer committed a crime, he will most likely be subject to prosecution, and in that case, he should resign.

It's very frustrating because Spitzer was waging a hard fought battle against corruption in a state capital that is infamously rife with it. Spitzer had made a promise to make capitalism fairer for the common man, therefore it is no surprise that the corporate execs on Wall Street are popping the champagne corks and celebrating the downfall of their great adversary. We expected more from Spitzer. Like Ezra says:

...what irks me about Spitzer's actions is similar to what I've always held against Bill Clinton in the Lewinsky scandal -- it's not the act, but the audacity and selfishness of committing it when so many powerful adversaries were watching so closely. To be sure, it's hard to live your life with the knowledge that the public good is more meaningful than your private pleasure. These are men, after all, and they slip. But at the end of the day, they chose this road, they asked for our votes, and our support and our defense. When they let these appetites get the better of them and destroy everything they've worked for, they betray their supporters, and then humiliate many of them by asking for their continued defense.

Well said. No one is infallible. In the end we are all human, and as a result, we screw up sometimes. However, the Spitzer episode is particularly disconcerting because of the blatant hypocrisy involved. Spitzer had busted up and prosecuted prostitution rings in the past and spoken out strongly against them. For him to be done in (which remains to be seen, as he has not yet resigned) by his involvement, as a client, with a prostitution ring for wealthy individuals reeks of hypocrisy. It turns out that Spitzer himself was partaking in the very excesses of corporate culture that he so publicly proclaimed to detest. The people of New York, and America for that matter, had a governor that stood against overt corporate influence in government. Now that governor has been done in by placing his own personal pleasures before the public good.

Regulating the Media

I should've linked to this column by Eric Alterman last week, but here it is, better late than never, right? Alterman details how the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has enacted a massive deregulation program during the Bush administration. Television and radio stations are now fewer in number than 10 years ago, and they are owned by fewer entities. According to Alterman, Clear Channel owns over 1200 stations! That's obscene. Clear Channel has also been known for its generous contributions to GOP candidates. This is a huge problem that very few people now about. The mainstream media is where most Americans receive their information regarding matters of state. Any idiot can tell you that the fewer ownership oppurtunities there are, the fewer viewpoints there will be available to the public. Scary stuff...