It was awful, just absolutely disgusting. ABC News has managed to host the worst of the Democratic debates (and mind you there were 21 of them in contention). Almost 1 year after the first Democratic debate in South Carolina–a period long enough to designate this presidential season as a reality TV show–we have managed to move away from talking about serious issues and into the hands of a relentless media cycle.

Here’s the chronology of the first hour of questioning:
1. Any chance at a “Dream Ticket?”
2. “Bitter, much?”
3. “Do you think your opponent stands a chance against McCain?”
4. “What about Reverend Wright?”
5. “Wait. I have an even stupider question about Reverend Wright.”
6. “Seriously. Who were you fooling with that Bosnia shizz?”
7. “Hey, Hussein! Why no American flag lapel pin?”
9. “Hey, Sean Hannity wanted me to ask you something, Barack! I got a question on the Weather Underground! Maybe later we’ll talk about the Symbionese Liberation Army!”
–Huffington Post

Notice how 6 of the 8 are directed at Obama. Clinton only had to defend herself against the Bosnia craziness, while Obama had to answer questions on the Bittenerss remark, his realistic chances against McCain, Rev Wright, his patriotism, and the Ayre controversy (which only the right-wing media is bitching about but now will certainly be brought into the 24 hour news stream because it’s been baptized by the mainstream media as a legitimate story).

There is no doubt in my mind that Obama can, and rightfully should, defend himself against this criticism. He’s done an excellent job doing so. My issue is with ABC and how they felt compelled to bring up trivial political stories over issues. The reality is that Pennsylvania has lost a ton of manufacturing jobs because of NAFTA, health care in the state is in crisis and the housing market is in a shambles. Why did they only spend a half hour on these issues? Why did ABC decide to spend the duration of one hour criticizing Obama with trivial political stories over serious issue-oriented questions.

Never in the 21 debates has a network botched a debate this bad (and mind you I thought ABC was a respected news organization.)

————————–

Help Retire the Campaign’s Debt:

“To those of you that supported my campaign, thank you. We could not have waged the ideas based campaign and raised over $15M without you. Unfortunately, we do have a debt to retire and I am grateful for your support.” — Chris Dodd

I find it funny that the old Dodd campaign wants people to donate to their nonexistant campaign.

It’s right on their website’s homepage, “help retire the campaign’s debt.” Why would someone contribute money to a dead campaign, what motivation is there?

This also begs the question of how much the Dodd campaign was left in debt. It certainly reveals that they outspent their means. And honestly for what?– 0% in the Iowa caucus?

I don’t like picking on Sen. Chris Dodd, after all, he did endorse Obama, but when I see a plea on his main webpage for campaign donations long after his long-shot bid for the presidency has ended, it makes you wonder who is actually going to contribute, and how much they were in the hole towards the end of it.

It’s a dumb idea on behalf of Senator Clinton…

Two thoughts:

1. Lets not forget the influence of China (should she be elected)… she’ll be the new President of the United States, and she would have decided to have boycotted the Beijing Olympics. The Olympics are revered by the Chinese people, an incredibly significant moment in their nation’s history, and they’ve invested huge amounts of money in building the infrastructure in a timely manner. The planning for this Olympic ceremony is impeccable. It makes me nervous, given the justification of boycotting their Olympics for human rights abuses, simply because of the international implications involved. They’re buying our debt, they have our bonds, and the only way were ever going to have a stable relationship with North Korea is through the Chinese.
2. Simply, when you boycott the opening ceremony, it looks like you’re boycotting the athletes. Lets remember that all the athletes wear their nation’s flag with pride. Everything they do, all their training, all the preparation… the workout, the time, energy, and support–  everything these people invest in these games takes pride, hard work and endurance. And if the president, future or current, doesn’t stand with them in a demonstration of pride and confidence, it doesn’t need context, it just looks bad.

I would first like to apologize for taking a hiatus from posting. I had dental work done last week (still have more to do), and flew back to Philadelphia last Sunday. Spring Break is over : (

So here’s an interesting thing I’ve drudged up…

Terry McAuliffe, Hillary Clinton’s high profile campaign chairman, is posing for a picture with a gigantic Obama ‘08 sign, while he still wears his Clinton pin.

Is there a Hillary sign on the other side of the Obama sign? Were the Obama supporters being deceptive? Or is this some form of self-deprecating humor?

Interesting story in Politico today on how Pennsylvania voters resent James Carville’s ‘Alabama’ comparison:

“People think it meant that basically there are two areas of the state where people can read and write and treat people with a certain amount of respect and the rest of the state is redneck trailer trash,” said Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia public affairs consultant with ties to the Democratic Party. “It ended up being a slander on people who are living in those places. I would like to see the line retired.”

A quick observation: what are they saying about the state of Alabama?

Carville is a Clinton loyalist, but in his defense, he was referring to the strong socially conservative, churchgoing tradition in the sparsely dense center of the state. It’s not his fault that his analogy is so apt, nor that the people of Pennsylvania can’t control their narrow minded anti-Southern bias.

Seriously–the South isn’t incest-ridden, backwoods, redneck hillbilly trailor trash. If people are seriously taking offense to this comparison, then they should look at themselves and their own biases.

Also noteworthy, a Public Policy Institute poll has Obama taking the lead over Clinton in Pennsylvania, 45-43. I haven’t been able to look at the specifics of the poll, but based on precident, PPI has been better than most polls.

My nerves are a little shocked, I’m getting a root canal in about an hour so wish me luck!

As a young Democrat, when I learned that the Chelsea would be coming to my school to promote her mom, I cringed. It wasn’t because I dislike Chelsea, nor because I believed my college campus was untouchable to the Clinton campaign.I didn’t want her to come because of the utter fakeness her presence brings: my college, like all institutions of higher education in America today, is an Obama stronghold. And as expected, with Chelsea’s visit came an arry of Clinton banners, signs and staff members.

I was walking through our student center when I first saw Chelsea. Following her was an entourage of men in black suits and campaign staffers. I was walking in one direction, she was walking in the opposite. As she approached I stopped to greet her. She reached out her hand and I reached out mine and said, “Chelsea, thanks so much for coming, we really do appreciate your visit. Your father was a great president.” She smiled, and responded, “why thank you, I hope you’re voting Tuesday.”

My jacket was partially covering my Obama ‘08 button. I looked down, uncovered it, and pointed to it. She still smiled, and I said politely, “but we really do appreciate your visit.” She walked away.

Honestly, I feel like a dick. But in my defense, I was as cordial and honest as I could be.

Admittedly, I wasn’t happy with the Clinton campaign at that point. I had just got back from spending two weeks in South Carolina for the campaign, and I had grown angry with the Clinton campaign for the race baiting remarks of President Clinton. I suppose that played a role in my interaction with the former first daughter.

Chelsea continued on and went to a podium to deliver a speech to a crowd of about 150. I had just came from that direction, and I can say with certainty that most of the people there were not students. They were locals–townies as we call them–local residents who had heard about the Clinton visit through the local papers and decided to come out to listen to her talk to college kids. Problem was, the audience had ’salt and pepper’ color tones from far away–if you know what I mean.

Her visit was actually pretty pathetic. Like most college campuses, we have a local chapter of Students for Barack Obama, of which I’m a part of. The campaign gave our group roughly 36 hours to get ready for a visit by actor Kal Penn, and in the end, we managed to get about 240 students during a time when less than one fourth of the campus was actually at school (it was winter break/session). We actually had students–no adults.

Perfect grassroots youth outreach. Only student media, no old people, a young actor, prominently known in my age group, talking about issues involving us. It was low key, yet with maximum impact.

That is how Obama is winning college campuses: college youth organizers putting on events that are far more low key that “OMG, CHELSEA CLINTON IS COMING!!!” No one in my age group remembers Chelsea Clinton–how stupid to think she is actually reaching out to youth.
And what about that Chelsea Clinton event? Well she talked about her mom to a media-covered event with that ’salt and pepper’ audience. I know because one of my friends was there with a tape recorder.

Displayed behind her–a ‘Hillblazers: Young Leaders for Hillary in 2008‘ sign. In reality, there is no such youth group on campus. The Clinton campaign wanted to make it seem like there was, a distortion.

Amazin.g. Two new polls out today:

In a PPIC poll, in the general election, Obama beats McCain handily in California, while Clinton narrowly edges him out.

Obama   49
McCain  40

Clinton 46
McCain  43

Could Clinton lose California?

Meanwhile, his numbers in Conneticut have jumped as well

Obama   52
McCain  35

Clinton 45
McCain  42

Says the Q-poll:

New York Sen. Hillary Clinton initially was the favorite among Democrats before the Feb. 5 primary, but lost to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, 50-47 percent. In a hypothetical matchup, Obama is now in a stronger position than Clinton against Arizona Sen. John McCain in the state’s general election. Independent voters support Obama, 45-38 percent and voters younger than 45 back him, 63-30 percent.

There is also an NBC poll out today that show Obama weathering the Wright storm. Watch Tim Russert break down the poll numbers.

A reader rightly made a correction to an earlier post.

In regards to the Hillary Clinton pastor problem post on AdvanceAmerica, reports WKTV-Utica, NY:

Procanick was pastor at Resurrection Assembly of God Church in Clinton before stepping down in Spring of 2007.

As it turns out, the ‘Clinton’ lead in the story had nothing to do with “the Clintons” but was a reference to the town of ‘Clinton’, NY.

To be fair, I would like to mention two points:

1. The initial WKTV article was not specific enough in its elaboration that this was in fact, a city.
2. My point in bringing up the issue has been one I’ve consistently ranted against and addressed: media sensationalization of the ‘horse-race’ aspect of this presidential contest. The post also included an excerpt from the Nation that discussed the shady “Clinton family.” While I am not a Hillary supporter, I’m still willing to defend her against ridiculous claims.

Hillary Clinton’s account of her trip to Bosnia is coming under fire.

Drudge today posted CBS’ account of the Clinton trip to Bosnia, and compared their records to her account last week.

Watch:

Can’t escape anything in politics today. Especially, if you’re traveling with a press corps who are taking constant footage.

The question raised here: can Hillary count experiences as these as “experience?”

It’s not a myth. Hollywood is clearly in bed with Barack Obama. Check out this list of celeb endorsements:

Jessica Alba^, Ben Affleck, Halle Berry, Zach Braff, Kristin Chenoweth, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Larry David, Robert De Niro, Megalyn Echikunwoke, Tracee Ellis Ross, Kate Flannery, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Jasmine Guy, Luis Guzmán, Tom Hanks, Hill Harper, Dule Hill, Kelly Hu, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Dae Kim, Regina King, Ken Leung, Benjamin McKenzie, Nia Long, George Lopez, Eddie Murphy, Leonard Nimoy, Edward Norton, Kal Penn, Ryan Phillippe, Brad Pitt, Jeremy Piven, Sidney Poitier, Zachary Quinto, Chris Rock, Adam Rodriguez, Brandon Routh, Paul Rudd, Susan Sarandon, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Chris Tucker, Kathleen Turner, Blair Underwood, Amber Valletta, Kate Walsh, Denzel Washington, Kerry Washington, Wil Wheaton, James Whitmore, Forest Whitaker, Olivia Wilde, Alfre Woodard

And to be fair, here are the Hillary supporters, a large minority, in Hollywood:

Eva Longoria Parker, Melanie Griffith, Sean Astin, Chevy Chase, Ellen DeGeneres, Michael Douglas, Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Lynda Carter, America Ferrera, Tina Fey, Sally Field, Whoopi Goldberg, Christine Lahti, Caroline Rhea, Victoria Rowell, Amber Tamblyn, Elizabeth Taylor, Reese Witherspoon, Jerry Springer

Editorial note: This week is going to be busy for me. I don’t know how much or how often I’ll be posting  but check in.

Note about the picture: It’s me and actor Kal Penn. Penn played Kumar in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and is now starring on the popular medical drama House, M.D. I organized an Obama for America event for Kal. We ended up filling a room full of about 200 students.

And yes, I know, I look sooo dorky in that pic.