Letters to the Editor
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dave s., getting warmer
Yes, I think -- I also suspect jacksmith might be a hit-and-run copy-paster; we likely won't hear from it again -- and yes, and Obama trolls come out more on sites whose readership skews strongly for Hillary, which this one doesn't especially. But in my experience Obama supporters, though we can occasionally get stroppy and intemperate, are too earnest and wet behind the ears to go in for that sort of thing much. And again, most of the really bad "Hillary" trolls are actually Republicans. (She's who they want their guy to run against, after all.)
Yes to your last query as well. Some trolls troll to foment discord because they think their political agenda is served by it; some trolls troll because they have no agenda beyond reinforcing their belief that they are a lot smarter than the people they mess with. (Elitists!) Some trolls, indeed, just like to be annoying. Usually it's a blend of all of the above.
Oh, I forgot the cardinal rule of trollery: do not feed them.
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Let's hear about this Salon...
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/30/205510/629/795/506698
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/north_carolina_ag_opens_invest.php
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2008/04/facing-south-exclusive-dc-nonprofit.asp
Clinton operatives involved in vote suppression scandal. This one is going to be big. Felonies galore...
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hey, here's an idea: let's think ahead
The realization that the superdelegates need to come to is that they have 2 great candidates who even though one has a technical lead, are basically tied. So the older one should be chosen first and then when she is done you still have the younger one as another great candidate and still only 54 years old at most. The possibility then is 16 years of Dem presidency. That is if they can start having foresight longer than their noses. (If you think good candidates are a dime a dozen, then why did we have Humphrey, McGovern, Kerry...)
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It does not matter
In order for Obama to lose the elected delegate count he has to average less than 35% in the remaining primaries. This is virtually impossible. Clinton can only win by convincing super-delegates to elect her over the candidate who won the primaries according to the rules of the campaign. Obama will get a prime time speech at the convention. Unless, he chooses to endorse Clinton and concedes to her, that speech will be a hell of an event that will make Kennedy's '80 convention speech seem like nothing. Clinton can only be the Democratic nominee if Obama decides he wants her to be; because, unless he agrees to concede, there is no chance a majority of the remaining undecided super-delegates will endorse Clinton and accept the consequences of such a decision without a concession by Obama. The press loves prolonging this thing, but it has been over mathematically for a long time. As a Democrat, I just hope that the immense focus on negativity of the last month will defuse the effectiveness of the right wing attack machine in the fall. Meanwhile, I will vote for Clinton or Obama in the fall no matter what happens because the country cannot possibly afford to elect McCain.
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Black American politics has a different center of gravity
Any chance of obscuring this fact has been destroyed by Rev. Wright, for reasons that might seem "ultra-Left" and "unrealistic" to those who have not been forced to take the difference seriously. The only commentator I have seen who has really expressed this accurately is Glen Ford in Black Agenda Report, whose article "Pop goes the race-neutral campaign," is also online at CounterPunch.
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It unravels now
Rev. Wright has become part of Barrack Obama's political DNA. For 20 years Rev. Wright was woven into Obama's life and character formation. The Reverend inspired Baracks second book "The Audacity Of Hope" and he helped form the way Barrack processes information to make his judgements. His wife Michelle was also part of Wright's influence, evidence of which was manifest in her statement that she first experienced pride in America when her husband started his campaign for President. Barrack and Michelle have grown a whole lot in the last 7 days but voters in Indianna and North Carolina do not have time to wait for their Candidate to mature, the Country can not waste precious time in "on the job training" such as we had the last 8 years. The Democratic Party on the other hand is facinated with public agony, especially the question of disappointing the young voters.The young people will get over it, it's part of growing up just as it is for Barrack and Michelle.
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Patrick
I don't know about Obama's DNA but I'm almost positive that you might be missing a few chromosomes. Have you learned to walk erect yet?
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The time has past
Obama's ability to capture blue collar voters has past him by...Wisconsin (like Iowa or say Minnesota), is a deeply atypical state, with a long tradition of maverick and progressive politics, which means it was tailor made for Obama's early message, before it became clear that the real Obama isn't the one he has packaged himself as...
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Bullshit, Mr. Madden
Barack Hussein Obama sat quietly in a pew at the Rev. Wright's church for twenty-plus years and uttered nary a word of outrage at any of the vile, despicable, unpatriotic and white-bashing spewed from the Reverend's lips. Senator Obama did not quit the church in protest. That can mean only one thing: Barack Obama agrees with what the Reverend Wright said.
Only when Senator Obama realized that the majority of "working-class voters" were outraged did HE become "outraged" and "denounce" the Rev and his words. Plus, he only denounced him strongly after Reverend Wright continued his monologue this week. What took Senator Obama so damned long to "denounce" those remarks?
That wasn't backbone exhibited by Senator Obama; that was political expediency. He only became "outraged" when thousands of us voters started re-considering voting for him.
I think Senator Obama is sinking in the polls every day with the Reverend Wright helping pull him under.
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sugarman
I don't know which ones are technically trolls, but I skip almost all the posts of cythera, KateTex, Rose Hann, sajwan, ShwanWM and several others who showed up claiming to be from close states immediately before those states' primaries (a lot of these people included their state in their name for effect) and never offer any interesting commentary. Some of them are downright insulting. And jacksmith is a troll, even if he doesn't know it; he has been pasting that same stupidity into every letters section. I can name most of these people's tunes without even reading the whole headline. I also don't read the ejaculations of W.E.S. or manos99, because, even though I think they're sincere, I'm afraid they are just sincere attention hogs. Which is a special kind of troll. But most of those people I listed are pretty transparently caricatures, and probably Republicans. And if they're not? Well, that is so sad I can't even bear to think about it.