How about:

The Republicans Cynical Alchemy

How the GOP makes winners out of losers and losers out of winners

Book Title Suggestion

How about:

The Republican's Cynical Alchemy

How the GOP makes winners out of losers and losers out of winners

-- pmorlan

I posted the above title yesterday but thought of some variations on the title.

A Cynical Alchemy

How the GOP Turns Losers into Political Gold.

Or

A Cynical Alchemy

How the GOP turns losers into winners and winners into losers.

Great article Glenn. I only wish it weren't true. If the Dems. should vote to provide retroactive immunity to the telecoms I will have no choice but to change my voter affiliation to Independent. I could not in good conscience remain a Democrat.

When Krugman wrote his recent piece about Obama & Edwards a funny thing happened. We began to see a whole slew of articles magically appear telling us how populism doesn't work in campaigns. Not only do these articles basically say the same thing they all link to each others pieces. I find that very interesting.

I too noticed how vague Obama is on the campaign trail. But one thing not vague is the way he's treated the union support for both Clinton & Obama. His attacks against the union support shows me that he is more than willing to turn on Democrats whenever it helps him. Unfortunately we've seen far too many politicians that have this trait. So when Obama talks about unity and his willingness to compromise with insurance & drug companies I see a candidate willing to sell us out in order to benefit himself. When your primary argument is that you will bring unity to the country one has to ask but at what cost?

When this campaign started I thought Obama was a better choice than Clinton but now I don't see much of a difference. Actually the more I see of Obama the less I like him. The only candidate of the top three that I see who is truly going to represent average voters is John Edwards. AThat becomes more and more clear the longer the campaign lasts.

I agree with Dave Sirota when he talked about the panic that is reverberating in the halls of Washington and in the corporate boardrooms. This "independent" threat that Glenn talks about and the hit pieces that Stu Rothenberg & Joe Klein put out about Edwards are just the beginning as the entrenched interests use everything in their arsenal to try to cling to power. What a shame that the primary has divided the netroots community. Because NOW is the time we need to join together to fight back. If there was any doubt that Edwards is the outsider in this campaign that is feared the most the vitriol directed at him by corporate hacks should leave no doubt in anyones mind. The question is will our fellow progressives recognize it in time to back the only candidate in the race willing to take on the entrenched interests? I hope so.

While Obama has the momentum coming out of Iowa and will probably win NH I think Edwards won the debate. He was really passionate last night and I think he got the better of both Clinton and Obama. Despite the national media trying to freeze Edwards out of the contest he keeps hanging in there with great performances in the debates and his workhorse campaigning. I wouldn't count out Mr. Edwards for a minute.

By the way, in case you haven't seen the recent Boston Globe article that details how Obama has been stealing and running on Edwards message you might want to check it out. This really needs to get much more coverage by the media because it matters when one campaign steals the message of another and tries to claim it as it's own. Does Obama really have any ideas of his own or are we going to nominate a guy whose only qualification is that he gives great speeches?

Obama borrows from Edwards

Email|Link|Comments (30) By Foon Rhee, deputy national political editor January 5, 2008 01:19 PM

By Sasha Issenberg, Globe Staff

NASHUA, N.H. -- After beating John Edwards in Iowa on Thursday, Barack Obama has decided to join him -- repeatedly poaching his opponent's themes, language, and even jokes.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/01/obama_borrows_f.html