Damned good points

Harold Ford: A brief, important point appeared on The Confluence:

Question For The Day: If Appalachia’s inbred racist hicks...

...explain BO08’s 30-65 loss in Kentucky’s closed Democratic PRIMARY Election — how did Harold Ford possibly rack up 48% of the statewide popular vote for Senator in Tennessee’s 2006 GENERAL Election?

Of course, mention of Harold Ford's name will automatically trigger the progs to scream about the ghastly DLC. But that reaction misses the point.

I would add: Why did Obama's campaign manager say that all the white racists were now hard-core Republicans?

Colin Powell: In earlier posts, I've asked: If racism is the sole factor motivating opposition to Obi, then why was the presidency once Powell's for the taking? The Real Spiel took note of this point, and added

In fact, the press went all a-twitter when a Time/CNN poll in 1995 showed that Powell could potentially beat Bill Clinton by 10 points if he decided to run as a Republican. The article opened with this telling statement, "To be born poor and black and into an inner city neighborhood does not mean you can't achieve your highest ambitions."

"One must be careful about what one writes." That's my favorite line from The Four Musketeers -- and it should be pasted above every blogger's monitor. Consider Kos, for example. His words from January -- not so very long ago -- seem to come from another, saner universe:

Clinton was the only top-tier candidate to refuse the ultimate Iowa and New Hampshire pander by removing her name from the Michigan ballot. That makes her essentially the de facto winner since Edwards and Obama, caving to the cry babies in Iowa and New Hampshire, took their name off Michigan's ballot. Sure, the DNC has stripped Michigan of its delegates, but that won't last through the convention. The last thing Democrats can afford is to alienate swing states like Michigan and Florida by refusing to seat their delegates.

So while Obama and Edwards kneecap their chances of winning, Clinton is single-mindedly focused on the goal.

Who is tested against the Right Wing smear machine?

Clinton, by far. No one has taken more shit from the VRWC, not by a long shot... Obama has never had a competitive race against a Republican. His best experiences comes from winning primaries. But he's never been in the crossfires of the GOP. Maybe that's why he can pretend that he can move beyond partisanship. Because he's never had to run a partisan race.

He goes on to dis Bill Clinton as an anti-progressive triangulator -- at least that part is consistent -- but he then goes on to say that Hillary is an improvement. Moreover:

Obama has made a cottage industry out of attacking the dirty fucking hippies on the left, from labor unions, to Paul Krugman, to Gore and Kerry, to social security, and so on. People think I was being ticky tack with the Gore thing, and in isolation it would've been but a minor non-event. But it was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back for me, yet another in a pattern of attacks against Democrats and their constituencies. He is the return of Bill Clinton-style triangulating personified.

(Emphases added) What the hell happened to Kos? It would be cynical to suggest that money exchanged hands. So I won't suggest that.

By the way, if Bill Clinton's (successful) presidency was the epitome of triangular evil, then I say "Screw Moulitsas and Stassinopoulos. If we must take political advice from a Greek, take it from Euclid."

Gene Lyons: Although I've been disappointed by Joe Conason, his one-time co-author Gene Lyons now offers a terrific piece in which he interviews anti-Obama Democrats. The following excerpts feature words from these interviewees, not Lyons:

I‘ve voted for every Democrat from President to dog-catcher since 1952. That will end with Obama...

Just four years out of the state senate. If he were white or female, his candidacy would be a joke... The Democratic left’s need to swoon after eight years of a moron, coupled with unbridled Clinton-hatred, will produce a disaster for the party and country.

He is making his way to Denver by dividing our party over race, which is maybe the most idiotic campaign tactic ever... This time the witch hunt is coming from our side. It’s heartbreaking. Obama supporters want you to think Bill and Hillary Clinton are lifelong members of the KKK. The audacity of hope campaign has had to audacity to go there... This fall, they’ll try to make nice and talk unity, but the people they alienated in the most hateful way won’t be there. They deserve to lose for being so callous and childish.

Are you listening, Moulitsas?

He has no perceptible position on the economy other than: ‘We can do better. Yes we can. Say it with me.’ I foresee broken campaign promises followed by belt-tightening austerity measures in a one-term Presidency. In short, Jimmy Carter in a better-tailored sweater.

I partially disagree. If you look at his aides and associates (ignore his vacuous words), Obama does have an economic position: Libertarianism/Friedmanism. That phrase may lack euphony, but you know what it means. And you should also know that at the intersection of Ayn Avenue and Milton Boulevard, you'll find a massive monument to corruption, patronage, and bribery.