Who can blame Hillary Oakley and St. John of Arizona for pulling every trick in the playbook to divert attention from their own campaign nightmares? The problem is that their whole argument is completely devoid of merit, let alone sincerity. (Obama is the elitist in the race? Please! Tell it to somebody who lives in Bangladesh or Iceland!)

This is an interesting conundrum for the Clintons, because they are going to have a terrible time convincing anybody who pays attention that they, themselves, do not hobnob with the microscopic fraction of humanity who actually runs the world. In fact, one would almost have to put the Clintons in the Super-elite category.  All ex-Presidents inherit that distinction to some extent, whether they deserve it or not. That's why companies and countries pay Prez Bill anywhere from $125,000 to $250,000 to give a speech. It ain't for the speech. It's for the influence.

Now that the specter of Street money has raised its ugly head again, I thought I would reprint what I wrote about it after the South Carolina Primary. Obama is doing something very courageous here. Spread the word.

The article is reposted after the jump in its entirety.

Faced with impending defeat of the Clinton 16-year plan, Prez Bill is out there beating the drum as loudly as he can for St. John of Arizona. By doing this, he is positioning himself as the only one who can put Humpty Dumpty back together again. I think they want, at a minimum, to get Hillary on the ticket, even in the #2 slot. If Obama doesn’t go along with the program, they'll make sure the party splits and McCain wins. Then, after the fact, the Clintons can say that they offered a perfectly good plan for reconciliation at the convention and Barack wouldn’t sign on to it, so it’s his fault. Of course, Hillary will be waiting in the wings for 2012.

It took me a long time to come up with a good moniker for James Carville. I mean, when you think about it, the possibilities are just so vast. To start with, there’s everything in the Lizard category, then there’s the Neanderthal category and the greater Ape category (which are pretty closely related.) Of course, a case could be made for the Rodent category, which has lots interesting possibilities, too. But his disgusting behavior over the Bill Richardson endorsement of Barack Obama has sealed the deal in favor of the Snake category. In any event, "Snake Eyes"-- as he will henceforth be called on my blog-- has really crawled out from under a low rock to sun himself in this smelly snakepit of a nominating process. For him, OF ALL PEOPLE, to talk about loyalty and betrayal.... don’t get me started.

Joe Palermo's hilarious take after the jump:

It was almost one year ago that John McCain and Huckleberry Graham strolled through a Baghdad marketplace, interacting with the peaceful, happy Iraqis, who were overjoyed at the prospect of selling some of their wares to some rich American tourists. Senator Huckleberry was proud to say he had bought "5 rugs fer 5 bucks." A Republican Congressman along for the ride compared their shopping spree to an autumn afternoon at a county fair in his home state of Indiana.  The Senators and their party were attired in matching bulletproof vests for their leisurely expedition outside of the heavily fortified Green Zone. Just for good measure, they invited a hundred or so Army Rangers to tag along, presumably to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of cotton candy and popcorn in the Iraqi air. A half a dozen helicopter gunships hovered overhead just in case the Senators had to adjourn to another area for a cocktail or another photo-op.*

I get knots in my gut when I hear an arch-wingnut like Pat Buchanan spewing the insidious idea that social justice preaching (which goes on in many predominantly Black churches all over America every Sunday) is somehow unacceptable in American political discourse. Well, what about your side, Pat? How about your buddy, Catholic hatemonger, Bill Donohue? Talk about incendiary remarks. How about Michael Bray and the Army of God? How about the thousands of priests and preachers all over America railing against the "crime" of abortion and the "mortal sin" of birth control, who are the inspiration for murderers like Paul Hill and James Charles Kopp? By the way, who do those folks support politically do you s’pose? Not Barack Obama, I assure you. Did any of them support you when you ran for President, Pat? Just curious.

Update: I have changed the title of this diary to more accurately reflect the point I am trying to make. Maybe it's still murky, but I am trying. Thanks.

If one believes that there is an invisible, supernatural higher being, called God, who is constantly interacting with humanity, dispensing wrath and vengeance for all manner of wicked behavior, by way of the odd deadly Hurricane, Tsunami, Earthquake, Aids Epidemic or War, then one must acknowledge that the language used by Pastor Jeremiah Wright (God Damn America!) is perfectly acceptable for the purpose of calling down God’s condemnation on America for the crime of institutionalized slavery and its surviving, ugly, great-grandchild, institutionalized racism in present-day America.

Barack Obama won the REAL DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY in Mississippi yesterday with 69 % of the vote, including 90% of the black vote and 42.8% of the white vote. Not the numbers you read in the funny papers yesterday morning? Please let me explain:

There was a huge hole in Wednesday’s coverage of the Mississippi Primary. My hometown newspaper’s coverage on page 4A (The State -a McClatchy rag) is typical:

"African-American Vote Carries Obama to Win"

The article (from the AP wire) goes on to say that Obama got 90% of the Black vote and ONLY 25% of the White vote. Of course, this line is reiterated throughout the news cycle with all the talking heads saying how bad this is for Obama, that he’s getting ONLY 25% of the White vote.

I have been watching the Rush Limbaugh site the last few days to see if he is calling on his Stosstruppen to storm the polls for Hillary again in Mississippi today. Now, of course, Rush has his thumbs in his suspenders big time, bragging about how they turned the tide for Hillary in Texas last week (which they certainly did.) Reading some of the transcripts from yesterday’s show, I couldn’t help but notice that a substantial number of callers are worried sick that their cynical meddling may have given new life to the vampire and that they might live to regret it.

My, oh my, what a tangled web we weave...

This weekend in normal human calendar parlance would be known as the second weekend in March. In the Obamanian course of events, however, it is called the Pre-Mississippian, Moon over Wyoming Weekend. So our household, which operates on a little bit of both these days, is delighted to host a couple of brilliant/silly/serious/giggling wonderkids, on loan from my generous and loving baby brother and his wife. I can’t wait.... until Sunday (totally kidding--va-da boom-chink.) But seriously folks... I am going to blog these crazy kids this weekend. We’re going to do a little math, a little science, a little his’try and (if they’re lucky) read a little Mark Twain. The rest of the time, we’re going to watch films and caucuses and cook whatever we feel like eating. More to come.

Joe Scarborough is a despicable, bloviating gamer. That’s all there is to it. I had to turn him off this morning—it was that or the bathroom. This guy has such an ugly agenda and it’s always showing. Joe knows that Hillary Clinton is the Republican Party’s last, best hope of avoiding a disaster of biblical proportions in November.

I have always had a certain kind of blind admiration for Senator John McCain--the aviator, the war hero, the torture survivor, the political maverick.  Like him, I am a Naval avionics man. Of course, his wartime service was distinctly notable, while mine was decidedly not. He’s a Goldwater Republican and I am a Yellow Dog Democrat. We disagree on many (maybe most) things political, but there is nevertheless, some kind of weird identity thing among Navy "Airdales" that has always made me want to give the guy the benefit of the doubt.  I have watched John McCain torment the Republican right over the years. I have even enjoyed his two presidential campaigns, because he has always represented a break from the elitist, moralist, corporatist, racist underbelly of the modern Republican Party. So Glenn Greenwald’s column this morning made me more than a little sad.

Chris Matthews is a poor excuse for a journalist. He is a hack-- a smug, self-aggrandizing, egomaniacal bully, except when he’s kissing somebody’s butt (in which case he is an insufferable suck up.) I have seen his cruel, post-primary interview with Texas State Senator Kirk Watson half a dozen times. Every time I see it, I want to throw up. This was gotcha journalism at its worst and it did not prove a thing. So the guy couldn’t answer the question. So what? Does that mean there is no answer to the question? No, certainly not.  When given an opportunity to answer the same question the following night (prompted by producer pressure on Matthews, no doubt,) Obama’s well-prepared Senate colleague, Claire McCaskill reeled off an impressive list of his legislative accomplishments (which, Matthews should have been well aware of in any case.)

These guys are despicable human beings. They deserve to be removed from society and imprisoned for life. And they have been. They won’t be hacking off any more arms and legs. They won’t be raping and sodomizing helpless women. And they won’t be recruiting children to fight their battles for them. But they will not be executed. For their crimes, they will sit in tiny rectangular cages for the rest of their lives, contemplating and (hopefully) regretting their savage brutality toward their fellow human beings.

Us against them, them against us, Shia against Sunni, Kurds against Turks, Baathists against Kurds, militia against police, security forces against insurgents, insurgents against terrorists. And our troops...

...caught in the middle of it all.

When I read this frightening piece, I was reminded of the climax of Louis de Bernières brilliant anti-war novel, (Captain) Corelli’s Mandolin, which portrays the tragic confusion and wholesale slaughter in the aftermath of the Italian-German occupation of Greece during World War 2.

Pope Benedict XVI , the ancient relic poseur who is the chief apologist for the ancient medieval relic that is the Catholic Church is on a whirlwind tour of the Americas, which began here in Brazil with a canonization of an 18th century snake-oil salesman and a rousing call to action by the faithful on the most important issues of our time.

In a poll conducted by D3 Systems for the BBC, ABC News, ARD German TV and USA Today, more than 2,000 people were questioned in more than 450 neighbourhoods and villages across all 18 provinces of Iraq between 25 February and 5 March 2007:

Wow. That is not insurgency talking. That is revolt against an armed occupying force.