DeRosaWorld

Saturday Musings

- - Some political notes from the field and a DeRosaWorld poll: I was in Pennsylvania and New Jersey last week and talked a lot of politics with a lot of people. I think Senator Obama is going to take both states by a large margin. Most people I spoke with were Hillary supporters, but it is any Democrat against McCain for them. These are the 'Archie Buckers' the Obama campaign painted with racist colors during the primaries. They have forgiven him.

They are so sick of the Republican Party and President Bush, Jr. that they are supporting Obama. Race may or may not be an issue for them, but not a show-stopper. They are afraid of McCain and despise the policies of the Republicans that have brought about the housing foreclosures, the high price of gasoline, and the Iraq war and shame. Shame, a word I heard repeated.

They are also tired of all the right-wing media bleating on and on and on in defense of the Bush, Jr. Administration. They don't believe it anymore. They are afraid that their sons will be drafted. These are the things they are talking about.

The politics of fear worked too well and now the electorate is afraid of the Republicans.

There is a concern about Obama out here, but it is not the color of his skin. They are worried because they know nothing about him. They are afraid of his inexperience. They are afraid he will fail before he can turn things around. They are now pinning their hopes on an unknown. That is how desperate they are. So if the skinny kid with the funny name doesn’t have any more Larry Sinclairs out there with pictures of him snorting cocaine off his boner, then I think we are going to have ourselves a Democrat in the White House come November…and he is going to get a lot of white support, both male and female, rich and poor.

- - The progressive blogosphere was of a mixed mind this week. Some wanted to be mad at Senator Obama for caving into the FISA bill…and they are right to be mad. What was he thinking?

Others were begrudgingly clapping for Senator Clinton for supporting their man…and they are right to be happy. The Hillary supporters are going to come out strong for Obama in November. Could the same be said of the Obama supporters if the Democratic Party nominee were Senator Clinton?

- - The Stonewall Riots began on June 28, 1969 in New York City on Christopher Street at the Stonewall Inn. The NYC cops got as good as they gave that day. This day is still celebrated in the bars of the West Village. Before Stonewall is a great documentary about the gay community and the times leading up to the riots.

- - I couldn’t fit Don DeLillo’s Underworld into the carry-on, so I took two slim Gore Vidal novels with me, hoping the Office of Homeland Security didn’t open my bag. In A Yellow Wood and Dark Green, Bright Red are two very honest and unique novels. They have been reprinted in England; you cannot get them in America. I got them from Amazon UK. (Beware the weak dollar vs. the euro.)

Two post World War Two novels that the New York Times either didn’t care for or refused to review because of The City and the Pillar scandal. In A Yellow Wood (1947) is a rare look at life in New York City immediately after the war as veterans come home and take up the business of America. And in that glorious time between VJ Day and the Communist witch hunts when American artists thought they could be honest with us and themselves. This is the time of film noir in Hollywood. Something was wrong. The defeat of fascism didn’t bring peace, just prosperity. There was something new out there that was in charge now, and to be afraid of …and it turned out to be us.

Dark Green, Bright Red (1950) is a great example of the cliché “ahead of its time”. This book shows us what America was up to in Central America before most Americans could find Guatemala on a map; empire building, with a little sex in it. If there was ‘special rendition’ in 1950, Vidal would have been shipped off to the basement of the Pentagon for revealing state secrets.

- - Yes, I did have a soft pretzel and of course cheese steaks. Three cheese steaks in fact. I also had some decent Chinese Food, something California is in as short supply as water. How hard is it to make an egg roll with a little hot mustard on the side?

- - Get yourself some good sipping whiskey and buy Emmylou Harris’ All I Intended To Be. At first you’ll sit and feel sorry for yourself and feel the aches and pains of middle age, but by the end you will be refreshed and ready to get up and face the world. She captures that middle-aged need to put your feet up feeling. Fuck the young; let them suffer with the High School Musical soundtrack. This album was made for adults by adults.

- - One last word on flying in modern America. It sucks and the airline industry should be ashamed of itself. If they don't want to do the job anymore, give it up and let us have a lot of smaller, independent airlines with the American, small  business mentality. Let's make the FAA do its fucking job and in this new century let the major airlines go the way of TV news, movies, rock & roll, cheap gasoline and other 20th century Americana. Something needs to change because Americans need and want to travel around this great country of ours and the current major airlines do not deserve our business. Americans do not deserve being treated like this.

Saturday Musings

- Tim Russert didn’t want to learn the lesson all working class Irish, Italians and Jews learn the hard way. Never trust the WASPS.

- The Great Game in Afghanistan took a hit this week. About 870 prisoners escaped during a Taliban bomb and rocket attack on the main prison in southern Afghanistan that knocked down the front gate and demolished a prison floor, And in western Afghanistan today, a roadside bomb exploded near a U.S. military vehicle, killing four Americans.

- Bush, Jr. is still in Europe.

- The Cedar River was a force to be reckoned with this week in Iowa. And Des Moines’ levees were ruptured by the Des Moines River today. Let’s hope the government response matches the task.

- The Supreme Court decided that habeas corpus is an important part of the American Constitution. Bush, Jr. said he would nod his imperial head and abide by the Court’s ruling, although it was only a 5-4 decision….huh?

- The world continues to shake and quiver. Northern Japan took a hit yesterday. Is mother nature trying to tell us something, like “get off”.

- Speaking of getting off earth, NASA’s latest Mars lander, Phoenix has collected particles that offer a snapshot of millions of years of life on the Mars. NASA is hoping to find evidence of the existence of water and life-supporting organic minerals in the polar region. Now wouldn’t that be a kick in the head?

- I hope that lift off clip thing that fell off the Space Shuttle doesn’t fall and hit me in the head. Something else to worry about.

- I’ve been under the weather lately, knocked down by one hell of a cold, with a slight fever, heavy chest congestion and lots of runny nose. Yesterday I made a lunch out of a can of imported tuna in olive oil from Genoa, Italy, a clove of fresh garlic and some rigatoni. I felt a lot better. I try to hold off the American over the counter medicine if I can, but not this time. Mucinex and Afrin are my bff.

- Glen Campbell has an album coming late summer in which he covers his favorite rock songs. I am so excited. There will be some Green Day and some U2 and god knows what else. That old boy can sing and play the guitar.

- Emmylou Harris, the reigning queen of alt-country also has a new album. All I Intended To Be. I need to catch up with Emmylou. She’s keeps churning out records and changing partners and I just can’t get enough of her.

- Don DeLillo’s Underworld…okay, so the opening is Pafko At The Wall, a tour de force of sports writing that seems like he turned his manuscript over to Oliver Stone to edit. I don know. There is something so un-noble about this so noble a moment in baseball. The kid listening alone on the rooftop and the people spilling out in to the streets captures the uniqueness of the moment, but most of the characters are out of the film noir era, post WW2 America that scared the hell out of the Republican Party and J. Edgar Hoover (and enamored the French). It is a big book and I will blog about it here each week until finished. The opening is certainly crafty, but am I reading the great American novel? I’ll let you know.

Saturday Musings

- Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. (D-IL) age 46 is the presumptive Nominee of the Democratic Party for President in 2008.

- Arianna Huffington can finally relax. Hillary won’t be the nominee.

- The white, male talking heads exploded all at once across the networks when Hillary gave her campaign wrap-up speech after the South Dakota and Montana primaries earlier this week and did not concede the election. Russert, Matthews, Obermann, Toobin, Gergen. It was awesome. You could see they wanted to kill her. MSNB even split the screen like Hollywood Squares so they called all scream at once.

- One thing to be concerned about, Senator Obama lost eight out of the last ten contests to Senator Clinton.

- The Senate Intelligence Committee finally gets to release its 2004 report that proved Bush, Jr. lied to America about the need to go to war in Iraq. Who arrests the President?

- NASA tells us that Bush, Jr. lied to us about their findings on climate change and even changed the data in their reports. Does anybody in the Press want to ask him about this?

- How about those gasoline prices? Ready to throw garbage at Bush, Jr. public appearances yet? No, let’s wait to blame the new President.

- Was talking to a 9/11 conspiracy nut and she said, If everything Bush, Jr. ever told us was a lie, and then challenged me to prove her wrong and I couldn’t, then why would he tell the truth about 9/11? The argument gave me pause.

- Don DeLillo’s Falling Man may be the first really big book about 9/11. I’m preparing myself to sit down and revisit that day. I think this read requires I sit in my chair over a long weekend and don’t get up until the end.

- Bo Diddley has left the stage. My introduction to him actually comes from George Thorogood’s cover of Who Do You Love. As a youngster, I loved to track back music I liked to its roots. Artists like Janis Joplin led me back to Bessie Smith. Elvis Presley led me back to Big Mama Thornton. Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac led me back to Etta James. Fleetwood Mac started out as a blues band with Peter Green that led me back to many of the great blues artists and guitarists from the 1940s and 1950s.

- Netflix movie review: There Will Be Blood coming from my eyes if I have to watch this movie to the end.

- This Saturday is Chicken Parmigiana day. First I make the tomato sauce. I have two double chicken breasts. I pound them. A little salt and pepper. I mix egg, milk and a lot of various Italian spices, especially oregano into the mix, dip the chicken. Coat the chicken in Progresso Italian Style bread crumbs, fry it up. Then I put the water on, cook the spaghetti. And of course Chianti.

The Fat Lady Sings

Eileen Farrell sings the aria 'Un bel di' from Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly for Senator Hillary Clinton.

Thanks, Hillary! 

Dear Jim,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

Saturday Musings

If  I Can Make It There, I’d Make It Anywhere. It’s Up To You,  New York, New York.

-New Yorkers in the news:

-The Greatest President who never was, Mario Cuomo, has a solution for the Democratic Primary. Instead of CNN and MSNBC debates, make the candidates answer long, substantial questions on the issues facing America today. Sorry, Mario, Not in our life time. It is all about the sound-bite. Besides, would the average American understand the answers?

Ok, that’s being cynical, but come on, we just had two terms of a retard as President, and we really don’t seem to mind. We also pay $4.00 for gas and don’t seem to mind. We also went to war on an admitted lie, and don’t seem to mind. Jr. got in on a stolen election and we don’t seem to mind….on an on and on.

In a nation where the answer to Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? is 'No', substantive policy talk is not going to help people decide who should be the next President. It is not a standard we ever held to Republican Presidents. Jr. has yet to form a complete sentence while in office. We mocked Bill Clinton and Al Gore for being policy wonks.

All politics are local and it’s the economy stupid work pretty well as a voting guide.

-Eliot Spitzer…WTF? You have a wife and three daughters.

-Geraldine Ferraro is not a racist. Neither is Ed Rendell or Bill Clinton. Josh Marshall and The HuffObama Post need to take a look in the mirror. Americans are not evil because they don’t necessarily support Senator Obama in the Democratic Primary. Americans are evil when they shout and point and scream like brats when they don’t get their way, like Rush Limbaugh and FOX News and the Republican Congress…not very good company, I’d say.

-Congress went into a closed-door session to debate the unconstitutional acts of the Bush, Jr. Administration when it comes to warrantless wiretapping, meeting in secret so national security can be preserved. Republicans hide behind national security when they’ve really done something bad. Remember, it became the motto of the Reagan Administration where everything from his Alzheimer’s to supporting Iranian Hostages and Contra Founding Fathers became matters of national security and could not be investigated in public. And how did that work out for us?

-Bush, Jr. is trying to keep another critical report by the military out of the hands of the public. Another report on how misguided and mismanaged our war in Iraq actually is and how there is more proof that the neo-con fascists that infest Washington are playing the American people for fools. The report is already on the internet, but CNN, FOX News, MSNBC can’t seem to find it.

-Bearn Sterns needs money. The Federal Reserve is going to give it to them. Okay, but when the average American can’t make a car payment, who do we call?

-The EPA is complaining that Bush, Jr. overstepped his authority again and made the air less safe for Americans and the world. We should add up all the damage this administration has inflicted on the world and compare it to the damage terrorist evil-doers have inflicted on the world. I would like to see a grid of damage: Bush, Jr. vs. Terrorists.

-Pope Benedict XVI has created some more sins. Ecological damage and genetic manipulation. How awesome is that? Catholics all over the world can no longer pollute nor grow or eat genetically modified foods! No more bovine growth hormones. They can only eat hamburgers made from organically raised cows.  Am I misinterpreting the new rules? Genetic manipulation covers our food too, right, Father?

-I’m reading The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert Remini, not the three-volume set. I’m cheating and reading Remini’s one-volume version. I was watching television and The Wind and the Lion came on. One of those films that once I see a scene, I stay until the end. Mainly to watch Brian Keith’s performance as Theodore Roosevelt. In one scene he tells reporters that Andrew Jackson shot a man off the porch of the White House. When the movie was over I went on Amazon.com, looked up Andrew Jackson, read some reviews of his biographies, settled on Remini’s and ordered a nice used copy. Good reading.

Theodore Rex is coming soon, too.

- "I'm puttin’ on my top hat, Tyin’ up my white tie, Brushin’ off my tails." Tonight I’m getting out of the house and rubbing elbows at a concert of Respighi’s Roman Trilogy. Then off to a late dinner at a nice, local Italian restaurant. It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a classical music concert. Too, long. In fact I haven’t been to one since I’ve moved to the West Coast. I’m excited.

Geraldine Ferraro Can Be Seen Holding A Fire Hose!

Mavis Staples sings Eyes On The Prize. (Warning: some graphic violence from the the civil rights wars of the 1950s and 1960s.)

Calling Geraldine Ferraro a racist and a clown is a little unfair. She's not exactly been an enemy to the Democratic Party cause over the years.

Saturday Musings

-What else needs to be said about the Democratic Party. After the stunning political comeback of Senator Clinton in the Ohio, Texas and Rhode Island primaries, the progressive blogs and Obama-brats declared the historic night a nightmare. Accusing the three states of racism and reducing their attacks to name calling like ‘Monster’ and ‘vermin’ and ‘Archie Bunker’ to describe the Senator from New York, her staff and supporters. That does not exactly fill me with hope nor does it bring anyone together.

I think, like most of the popular press and TV news media, the progressive bloggers have been outed as elitists and maybe closeted liberal Republicans. They are not neo-cons, Dick Cheney makes them puke, and they have opposed Bush, Jr. gallantly, but from a safe distance, …the pen is mightier than the sword… and all that. But Bloomberg makes them smile, so does Chuck Hagel.

There is no room at their party for the Clintons from Arkansas or the white working class guy, not middle class, working class, who did not go to college, but goes to work everyday and pays his taxes and buys a house and raises a family. (Remember, Archie Bunker supported Meathead and his daughter in that small house.)

These guys aren’t buying what Senator Obama is selling therefore they are dumb, or lie in polling, or worse…they come out to vote, but vote for Hillary Clinton.

‘Archie Bunker’ has not voted for the Democratic Party since 1980. A generation ago… Now they seem to be heading to the polls and voting for Clinton and it is assumed that they are not voting for Clinton but against Obama because they are racist.

I’m not buying it, either. But you just gave them a reason not to vote for Obama in November if he is the Democratic nominee. You made it clear they are not welcome at the party.

-Tom Daschle, the poster boy for the Democratic Party’s salad days, doesn’t like someone in Hillary’s camp comparing Obama’s tactics to Ken Starr’s. Tom Daschle, are you fucking kidding me? I guess knee pads know no Party lines.

-Josh Marshall news flash: Hillary doesn’t have foreign policy street-cred. (TPM readers please see above)

“Probably the strongest experience I have in foreign relations is the fact I spent four years overseas when I was a child in Southeast Asia.” -Senator Barack Hussein Obama

Alrighty then.

-The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was described by Bill Maher, to Governor Ed Rendell’s face, as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between. Ed Rendell endorsed Senator Clinton, of course.

Pennsylvania went for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004. Alabama voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004.

-And just for all you people who plain don’t trust Hillary Clinton, I'll let you up for air:
(a gift from Skippy with multiple links (thanks to Fallenmonk for keeping it real)

"connect the multitudinous dots.....
united technologies (helicopters, aircraft engines) wants to buy diebold. (yeah...that diebold...voting machines, atm's)
a major lobbyist for united technologies is charles r. black, jr.
charles r. black, jr. is mccain's chief political advisor
the company that charles r. black, jr. heads is bksh & associates.
some of bksh's other clients...at&t, blackwater and the lincoln group.
a joint venture with stonebridge international (helmed by "sandy berger" former national security advisor to the clinton administration) is the civitas group (homeland security experts), on whose board, joseph allbaugh (former fema head and college roommate of "way to go brownie") sits.
bksh is also a subsidiary of burson-marsteller.
the c.e.o. of burson-marsteller? mark penn, hillary clinton's presidential strategist.

doesn't this seem a little too politically incestuous for our country's good?"

Yes is does.

-Speaking of the country’s good:

The price of gasoline at the pump is going up. /The price of oil is reaching new highs every week. /The dollar is at record lows, again. /Job loss is up. /Folks are losing their homes.

The President thinks the economy is ‘doin’ ok’ and who knew he could tap dance?

-The President thinks we need torture to fight the war on terrorism.

“Do unto other as you would have them do unto you.” – Jesus

-I have been listening to Michael Nesmith's Live at the Palais. As a kid he was a Monkee, but really wanted to invent a country-rock fusion. He did pretty well, but never had a lot of commercial success. This live concert is a good sampling of his work. Crippled Lion and Propinquity are my favorite tracks right now.

-I’m debating starting down the long road of either Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or Babylon 5. Either is a major commitment and I don’t have the time or energy to watch both series. Any advice on this would be appreciated.

-Thomas Pynchon is failing me. I think I prefer Gore Vidal’s fantasies: Live From Golgotha, The Smithsonian Institution, Duluth.

-We are out of coffee here at DeRosaWorld, so I am off to buy some expensive Italian import brand. (I haven't drank Maxwell House since 1992 when they left Hoboken after forcing their workers at their plants in Jacksonville, Florida and Hoboken, New Jersey to compete for who would take the biggest pay and benefits cuts. Jacksonville won...or lost depending on how you look at it...and Maxwell House, the largest taxpayer and employer in Hoboken, New Jersey left town. Starbucks was god's revenge.

The Comeback Kid II

"Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) cemented her case for continuing the fight for the Democratic nomination against Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) by winning Texas and Ohio Tuesday night."

Rhodes Island, Texas and Ohio! Wow. Hillary has beaten Obama in every big-state primary in the union so far, and Pennsylvania is waiting for her train to arrive. She does not give up.

Most progressive blogs and the media organizations said this race was over. They couldn't post polling data fast enough that declared the end of the Clinton candidacy, some even wanted her to quit before March 4th. Some are not too happy this morning.

I sense the tide has turned in our party's blind acceptance of Senator Obama's campaign. Some questions were finally asked. His stand on Iraq is confusing, his stand on use of Blackwater and mercenaries is confusing, his stand on Europe and NATO is confusing. His healthcare plan is confusing, his leadership skills and decision making skills are not passing the test.

He let the phone ring at 3am.

Hillary is going to take Pennsylvania.

Delegate count, super-delegates, pledged delegates are going to get more confused and wonder why they have been led down this path...and by whom.

So, let me congratulate the first woman to win the Rhode Island, Ohio and Texas primaries.

Come on Huffington Post, come on progressive blogs, come on FOX News, let's give three cheers for a Democratic candidate that does not give up! That fights for us and for what she believes in.

It will be interesting to watch Senator Obama over the next few weeks. The race is still on. We have never seen him really have to fight. We've never seen his reaction to being told "No". I have a sense that like the Millennial generation he speaks for, he may start acting like a brat.

Saturday Musings

- The President doesn’t see a problem with the economy right now. Always the optimist, he thinks his policies are working just fine and no immediate action is needed, as he crosses off the days on the calendar until he can retire. Presidenting is hard work.

- Oil is at another all-time high this week. The price of gasoline at the pump heading straight for $4 per gallon as summer 2008 approaches. The President doesn’t know this, doesn’t understand this, but we still love him.

- The price of wheat is also breaking records. No one seems worried here in America though.

- Maybe we should start gathering around our firesides (or giant plasma screens) and recall tales from our Grandparents about the Great Depression and FDR. Here are some movie suggestions: Little Caesar, King Kong, My Man Godfrey, Man’s Castle, John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath,  Frank Capra’s American Madness, Meet John Doe and Mister Deeds Goes To Town, Preston Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels and of course there was Shirley Temple.

- The Democratic Primary may be coming to a dramatic conclusion this Tuesday. The Party faithful may finally put an end to the campaign of Senator Clinton. If not and she disappoints us all by winning in Texas and Ohio, the fight goes to Pennsylvania, where Ed Rendell and the quiet giant of Pennsylvania politics awaits to save Hillary Clinton.

- I seem lost in this year’s tide-turning Presidential election. I’m being told that the Millennial Generation is taking over from the Baby Boomers and by supporting Senator Clinton; I’m on the wrong side of American history’s latest generation gap, etc.

Well, kids I hope you know what you’re doing. I hope this century’s doers can achieve wonderful things like the Internet. You seem to like that.

I hope you all have plans for global competition for jobs and oil and resources and water and food and peace. I hope you have educational plans for your children and grand children. The last half of the 20th Century saw some amazing and powerful changes in America and the world. The Millennials have inherited a great treasure. Watch your back, though, The Republican Party doesn’t give up that easily.

Take a lesson from two generations ago. Who ever thought the Party that gave us the Great Depression in the 1920s would rule the second half of the 20th century. The Republicans are like the Terminator: They never stop coming and all they do is kill.

- On the East Coast, States like New York and New Jersey are banning hand-held cell phone use and text-messaging while driving. From what I see in Los Angeles, California’s economy would collapse if similar laws were passed out here.

- The little red-headed, spare Prince of England took up the Crusade in Afghanistan. Doesn’t seem like such a good international PR idea, British royalty shooting up the Muslim countryside and all that. None of my business I guess. Just saw it on the news.

- Hey, why is American royalty not fighting? The sons of the rich and powerful? …and the famous? …why are our Football heroes, those monsters of strength and over-muscled toughness not kicking ass on the front lines? What about our Basketball stars, giant athletes like Kobe, on the front lines? What about other young people like Justin Timberlake and Usher taking up the fight to protect America? What about all those Country Music Stars, they seem pretty tough…whiskey for my horses and all that stuff. Why aren’t the American Idols fighting?

- Sacre Blue! The French are winning US military contracts. I guess that is what happens when they finally elect a real man as their leader. A wedding gift from Uncle Sam.

- The person who wins the Best Original Screenplay Oscar is considered the best American writer for a year (face it, novelists don’t count anymore). This year Ratatouille was up for BOS, it didn’t win, but I think the nomination says a lot about Hollywood.

Louise Schumacher: Get out, go anywhere you want, go to a hotel, go live with her, and don't come back. Because, after 25 years of building a home and raising a family and all the senseless pain that we have inflicted on each other, I'm damned if I'm going to stand here and have you tell me you're in love with somebody else. Because this isn't a convention weekend with your secretary, is it? Or - or some broad that you picked up after three belts of booze. This is your great winter romance, isn't it? Your last roar of passion before you settle into your emeritus years. Is that what's left for me? Is that my share? She gets the winter passion, and I get the dotage? What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to sit at home knitting and purling while you slink back like some penitent drunk? I'm your wife, damn it. And, if you can't work up a winter passion for me, the least I require is respect and allegiance. I hurt. Don't you understand that? I hurt badly.  - Paddy Chayefsky, Network

Does TPM Think It Stands Above The Fray?

Talking Points Memo makes a confession...accidentally...sort of...

"In recent days, the Hillary campaign has audibly turned up the volume of its attacks not just on Barack Obama, but on the news media, too.

The sight of Hillary advisers attacking the press is suddenly everywhere -- and there's been a shift in the tone of the attacks that is striking. The suggestion is no longer merely that the coverage of Hillary is unfair and that the treatment of Obama is glowing, something that Hillaryland insiders have complained of for a long time.

Rather, the new suggestion is that the press is reveling in Hillary's downfall, and that this lust to see Hillary lose is driving coverage.

Yesterday, for instance, top Hillary adviser Howard Wolfson opined that "every time" the Obama campaign has leveled personal attacks against HIllary, "the press has largely applauded him." Another key Hillary surrogate, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, echoed this line, saying that the media has "relished" Hillary's "fall" with "glee."...

In other words, even if Camp Hillary's gripes about the press have some validity, it's unclear whether this counter-attack will do anything to allay the situation. Will the criticism result in more scrutiny of Obama by the press? Anything's possible, and today the Washington Post's Dan Balz did argue that perhaps it was time the press got tougher on her rival.

But it's also possible that, given the unfortunate reality of how our political press and the freak show function, the new, even more aggrieved tone the Hillary camp is striking might only exacerbate matters for her. And paradoxically, if this happens, this will further confirm that Hillaryland's critique of the media is right -- while also serving as yet another measure of just how bleak things are looking for Hillary right now.

I wish the smart people behind the A-list progressive blogs would explain to progressives like me why I should support Senator Obama...not why I should not support Senator Clinton, which is all I can find, but why I should support Obama.

I'm not there. I do not support Senator Obama's candidacy, so will someone help me out? Spend less time mocking Senator Clinton and more time explaining Obama.

Don't make me vote for Ralph Nader.