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Eric Free

Published Letters: 286
Editor's Choice: 7

Thursday, May 8, 2008 08:49 AM
Original article: Obama Veepstakes

I was worried until I got to the second page

Parts his hair? We've got real, electable people here.

Any of the first four choices would be outstanding, particularly Sebelius, or Napolitano or McCaskill. But no DLCers please, which includes Hillary. Clark is close enough a fellow traveller, but his military/security credentials and his integrity trump any concerns.

Whoever wins the presidency, John Edwards will be the economic Al Gore. All praise to him. And, yes, let Elizabeth write the healthcare policy. It's the least we can do to show our appreciation.

Chris Dodd is the most outstanding choice of all, but wasted in this role. He's needed as the new Senate Majority Leader.

This whole campaign has been a battle for the future, and the soul, of the party. Like Michelle, I'm starting to feel proud of the country again.

Unless, as Toles says today, Hillary keep tossing the plumbing. You expect it from the elephants.

Thursday, May 8, 2008 02:16 PM

OKay, it's official

With this posting, How the World Works takes over from the War Room, probably for good (unless Walsh brings Grieve or Benen back) the honor of Salon's Best Read. Unfortunately, the competition is shrinking every month.

Glenn Greenwald, please take note. Unless you count Conason and Keillor's weekly contributions, the competition is all yours.

If Anarchasis were a verb (or an object, as in "to commit..."), what would its meaning be? And would that be a good thing, or not?

I think we can all agree on the meaning of "to Cloot."

Friday, May 9, 2008 09:04 AM

Please don't bash Electrobot

It's cheaper than therapy.

He/she has a habit of answering questions nobody's asked.

I've lived on the other side of the river from both West Virginia and Kentucky, and there are a lot of great people and some great culture in each. They're socially conservative but economically populist, and, with exceptions (who are now Republicans), no more racist than the coasts. They may still go for Clinton in the primary, but if courted properly both states are in play for the election.

Friday, May 9, 2008 11:13 AM

Look at the other side

The Republican party has no dialogue on race; they ceased long ago to be about anything other than white fundamentalist Protestantism, Friedmanesque economics and neocon foreign policy. God, guns and exceptionalism is their Kuche, Kirche, Kinder. And why are they attractive? Because they're such individuals! Conservative Catholics may go along with their abortion stance and Jews their absolutist policy on Israel, but they know they're really not part of the club. Look at the maneuvering room that leaves.

The major problem with Clinton, Obama and the Democratic leadership is their willingness to embrace whatever issue they think will win a vote for the two seconds they're in the room, then on to something else at the next stop and never mind the contradictions. So we saw Obama last fall coopting the economic issue from Edwards, the real populist, and habeas corpus and rights of the individual from Chris Dodd, then apparently forgetting both after knocking them out of the race.

Clinton's sudden concern for blue collar problems is laughable concerning the country-club campaign she ran before the demise of Mark Penn; that, her ties to the DLC and the record of her husband's administration accounts for her less-than-trustworthy evaluation in the polls.

Brazile, though, hit it right: there is something new afoot. It was there in '04, too, before being coopted by Kerry, who was the candidate of the Clintons and the DLC. Without the DLC, it won handily in '06. This is the national test, and if the actions of those who would rather lose than lose control don't split the Party, we still have a chance to remake this country.

This from a working class, partially college, rest hard-knocks-educated white male from the Midwest.

Saturday, May 10, 2008 09:07 AM

Funniest thing on the web today

is the lead column in the Washington Post by the founder of Emily's List, who says Clinton should stay in it to the bloody end because she, the founder, was made to play six-on-a-side girls' basketball as a child. I can understand holding a grudge, but to involve the whole country....

From the beginning, Obama's strength has been that he comes into a state as a relative unknown with low poll figures; then, as people get to know him, he steadily improves. On election day, he's at or near the top. It's this performance, along with his disdain for going publicly negative on other Democrats (though private can be a different story) that makes him the most electable candidate. Both in polls and public statements, Hillary has gone the other way.

Sunday, May 11, 2008 07:21 PM

"Its dances are silly, its beats infantile, its rhymes lazy"

It was always like that. A disgrace to the genius of black culture. Compare its best to anything by Gil Scott Heron and the Last Poets, its chief inspirations. And that's the 70s, not a great decade for anybody's art. Go farther back, say to the second Miles Davis Quintet, John Coltrane or Ornette Coleman, and you'll really feel sad. Want decent rhymes? There are generations of great black writers and poets. For great songwriting, check out the R&B movement of the 40s.

You're just growing up. Go hang out with Rebecca Traister. She's having the same problems.

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