Hi guys – didja miss me yesterday? Yeah, yeah I know... I post here daily but I was a little busy yesterday. Our primary’s coming up and a bunch of us were out at the Democratic brunch, passing out a lot of lapel stickers and talking up Hillary’s historic run for the White House with the folks coming in for the event.
Sen. Obama’s supporters were there too and after folks upstairs asked us to keep it down (we were all down in the lobby cheering our candidate’s name as new folks came in) I started mentioning one line points of Hillary’s agenda... rebuilding the middle class, creating green collar jobs, getting our economy back on track, and UNIVERSAL health care. I noticed whenever I mentioned that last one BO’s supporters cringed – I think because they know that what their guy’s proposing is not universal. However one woman actually tried to claim it was universal, but I said Paul Krugman and most all of the top economists would disagree.
Speaking of Paul Krugman, you might have caught his column in the New York Times today. Make the jump to check it out....
Some of you might have seen some of Krugman’s columns taking BO to task for coming up short when it comes to pushing for universal health care coverage. A lot of this came to a head in early December when he spoke up on all this, and BO’s camp did some opposition research on this progressive icon and economist in retaliation. Well Krugman has a few things to say about the tenor of this campaign now in Hate Springs Eternal Take a look...
In 1956 Adlai Stevenson, running against Dwight Eisenhower, tried to make the political style of his opponent's vice president, a man by the name of Richard Nixon, an issue. The nation, he warned, was in danger of becoming "a land of slander and scare; the land of sly innuendo, the poison pen, the anonymous phone call and hustling, pushing, shoving; the land of smash and grab and anything to win. This is Nixonland."
Stevenson turned out to be right. We all know what Nixon went on to do to this country.
Krugman goes on to warn that our dear Democratic Party is turning into a modern day Nixonland even though we have two great and progressive candidates. Glad to see he notes that Hillary’s record is a bit more progressive in that she’s got a health care reform plan that will lead us to universal health care coverage (that means we all get covered).
Now I think it’s safe to say that most of us would vote for the other candidate – no problem. Supporters of each candidate should have no trouble getting behind the other if he or she gets the nod. Krugman then asks a question that’s been puzzling me for months now...
Why, then, is there so much venom out there?
I won't try for fake evenhandedness here: most of the venom I see is coming from supporters of Mr. Obama, who want their hero or nobody. I'm not the first to point out that the Obama campaign seems dangerously close to becoming a cult of personality. We've already had that from the Bush administration — remember Operation Flight Suit? We really don't want to go there again.
What's particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of "Clinton rules" — the term a number of observers use for the way pundits and some news organizations treat any action or statement by the Clintons, no matter how innocuous, as proof of evil intent.
Ahem... Whitewater anyone? Ken Starr spent years and millions of our tax dollars investigating a land deal – an investigation that went absolutely nowhere and yet that very investigation is used as proof of President Clinton’s (and Hillary’s) alleged corruption.
And the latest prominent example came when David Shuster of MSNBC, after pointing out that Chelsea Clinton was working for her mother's campaign — as adult children of presidential aspirants often do — asked, "doesn't it seem like Chelsea's sort of being pimped out in some weird sort of way?" Mr. Shuster has been suspended, but as the Clinton campaign rightly points out, his remark was part of a broader pattern at the network.
I’m guessing some of you caught my take on Shuster’s hateful comment. I just found out today that Shuster’s punishment by the top brass at MSNBC amounts to a two-week suspension. Wow... he calls Hillary a pimp and her daughter a brainless twit – or worse... a whore(!!!!) and this asshole gets a 2-week vacation as his punishment????
Meanwhile I seriously doubt he’s called Hillary or Chelsea to apologize for that hateful comment.
Kurgman goes on to say this...
For now, Clinton rules are working in Mr. Obama's favor. But his supporters should not take comfort in that fact.
For another, if history is any guide, if Mr. Obama wins the nomination, he will quickly find himself being subjected to Clinton rules. Democrats always do.
Hillary noted this in her appearance on WJLA here in the DC market (you know... that debate that BO first rejected, then accepted, and then backed out of again?). If he thinks he’ll be immune to the attacks that have been aimed at every Democrat over the past 20 years he’s sadly mistaken. They’ll turn their sites on him as soon as it’s clear he’s the nominee. The field’s been reduced to two candidates and if he manages to knock Hillary out with this Nixonland like approach – if they feed this feeling of hate and divisiveness - who’ll be left to stand up for him?
But most of all, progressives should realize that Nixonland is not the country we want to be. Racism, misogyny and character assassination are all ways of distracting voters from the issues, and people who care about the issues have a shared interest in making the politics of hatred unacceptable.
He closes by calling on all of us to declare here and now that we’ll come together and support the candidate we now oppose in these primary contests.
Sadly, it looks like this progressive icon took a lot of grief for his efforts because he added the following to his blog later. Seems some folks took issue with what he had to say, and he posted a quote by an Obama supporter (Clive Cook) about Bill’s comments re the fairy tale, and Hillary’s comments regarding LBJ and Dr. King. Pretty much shot down the accusations of racism. Krugman then went on to note something I’ve been thinking for a while. This whole racism card was played, fueled and fed by the MSM and the press...
It really makes me sad to see so many people get played by the media on this. If you prefer Obama, fine — but the evil, race-card-playing Clinton campaign is no more real than Al Gore's claim that he invented the Internet.
And to Obama supporters, just remember: these people are not your friends. After they take down Hillary Clinton, if they can, your man will be next.
I’m reminded of something I had on the quotes page of an old website of mine...
I DID NOT SPEAK....
"First they came for the Communists;
I did not speak because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews;
I did not speak because I was not a Jew.
Then they came to fetch the workers,
members of the trade unions;
I did not speak because I was not a trade unionist.
Afterwards, they came for the Catholics;
I did not say anything because I was a Protestant.
Eventually they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak...."
Martin Niemoller, pastor
Dachau, 1942
Food for thought (shrugs).
Krugman’s right you guys – the MSM and the press are not our friends in all this.
Getting back to that whole question of universal health care for a moment...I want to help set the record straight on some ads that have been airing in our market over the past week or two.
Hillary’s the only candidate left in this contest who’s proposing a universal health care plan. Problem is, BO continues to claim his is universal too but one economist after another has shown that without mandates, it simply won’t happen.
BO’s gone on the attack against Hillary because she (wisely) wants to make sure all of us are covered in her plan by including mandates while at the same time offering a sliding scale of tax breaks, increased funding for public programs and loads of other things that will help make this affordable for all of us. So he can’t claim he doesn’t know the difference between the two plans.
Here in the DC market, we’re hearing ads of his in which he expressly claims his plan is a universal plan. Take a look...
Sen. Obama is blanketing the airwaves in the Maryland/Virginia/ DC area
with a radio ad falsely claiming that his health care plan provides "universal coverage":
NARRATOR: Barack Obama. An economic plan that jumpstarts the economy, with tax cuts for middle class families and seniors. A health plan that lowers costs by $2500 for a typical family and provides universal coverage.
Top independent health care experts have concluded that Sen. Obama's plan is not universal and would leave at least 15 million people without coverage. Leaving so many people out will drive up costs for everyone.
Listen to the ad HERE.
UPDATE: Sen. Obama repeated his false claim at a rally in Baltimore today:
"That's why I put forward a plan that says everybody will get health care that's as good as I have as a member of Congress." [Sen. Obama rally in Baltimore, MD, 2/11/08]
Source
Yeah... like I said to that woman at the brunch yesterday – Paul Krugman and just about every economist of note out there would call bullshit on that claim.
Lastly, I thought folks might like to take a look at a debate that wasn't earlier this evening. I was a metro after work urging everyone to vote for Hillary tomorrow, and asking them to tune into this broadcast. Take a look at the debate that turned into an interview... here’s part of it.
I'll wrap this up just as I have with most of my other recent diaries... with an appeal to you to contribute to Hillary's campaign via my HillRaisers link. We've raised thousands of dollars for her historic run for the White House among this community of progressive activists - but we can do better!
DONATE NOW!
Thanks ;o)
U P D A T E
Wow. It sure didn't take long for someone to call Paul Krugman - economist and progressive icon - a troll.
Unreal! I linked an earlier diary of mine in which I reference shark-jumping as it relates to Paul Krugman. I never thought it was possible for someone to jump the shark more than once but I think the commenter below has just accomplished that feat.