Our health care rally got picked up on the evening news, in the Seattle PI, in the Stranger, and on local blogs including one of the most prominent, HorsesAss.org.
And here are some links to more coverage:
Seattle PI Stranger Horse's Ass (Goldy)Â
Please let me know if [...]
[T]he real craziness -- in a country where 46 million citizens lack health insurance -- is that so many have remained on the sidelines.
The most powerful lobbies in American society sure are involved.
[...]"I think it's fair to say that July is going to be the most historic and consequential period for health care reform --perhaps in all of history. Â Never at any time that I can recall has so much come down to just a few weeks."
--Former Senate Majority Leader and Health' [...]I just love April Fools day. My April Fools Day blog posts usually make me laugh all day long, though no one else seems to enjoy them as much as I do. That’s probably because they usually mix an impenetrable reference to French culture with a wonky allusion to American [...]
Paul Krugman wrote a compelling column in December called 50 Herbert Hoovers, about how state governments are cutting back on spending even though they're making the economy worse by doing so.  He wrote,
No modern American president would repeat the fiscal mistake of 1932, in which the federal government tried' [...]
Later this week, the CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrysler will return to Washington to make what will hopefully be a much better case for why the government should give their companies $25 billion in support. Leading up to that appearance, technology commentators in Silicon Valley (like this one and this [...]
"Obama Win Causes Obsessive Supporters To Realize How Empty Their Lives Are:"
Hmmm...
And then there's this article: "Nation Finally Shitty Enough To Make Social Progress."Â
Genius.
' [...]So much to be proud of. Â One thing that stood out for me this morning, listening to the cacophony of commentary about "history in the making," is that we won a fair fight. Â Obama had a better, more consistent message, incredible fund-raising, better debating skills (eventually), and perhaps above all, [...]
Why the French never took John McCain that seriously:
McCain Foods Limited, fondée en 1957, est une entreprise canadienne spécialisée dans la transformation et la distribution de produits alimentaires. Elle est surtout connue en tant que productrice [...]
In trying to guess what will happen tomorrow, I'm turning to Nate Silver, the poll analyst at fivethirtyeight.com. Silver takes every reputable poll and feeds them into a giant statistical model which compensates for each pollster's lean, historical reliability, and other factors. He then runs a number of simulations [...]
[For those of you who don't know me, I work with Will. I sent this out as email to many of my friends last night and Will invited me to cross-post it here. A slightly earlier version can be found at my own blog.]
I'm voting for Obama, [...]
I've published a table summarizing a variety of progressive voters' guides for the Seattle area, including The Stranger, The Fuse Progressive Voters' guide, the 46th District Democrats, and of course the Latte Voters' Guide, which is detailed in the previous post.
You can find the table [...]
(Late update: See also this table comparing progressive voters' guides.)
A few friends have asked my opinion about some of the more obscure races on Seattle ballots. I wish I could point you to one voter's guide that I fully agree with, but none exist. I look at The Stranger, [...]
It's worth watching the video; Powell's endorsement is incredibly powerful:
If you can't watch the video, here's the most powerful bit:
[Republicans have permitted it to be said,] "Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim." Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he's a Christian. [...]
It looks like Sarah Palin wasn't the only one that John McCain didn't vet before making famous:
As it turns out, Joe the Plumber, as he became nationally known when Senator John McCain made him a theme at Wednesday’s final presidential debate, may work in the plumbing business, but he [...]
Obama is a fast learner. After having been consistently out-debated by Hillary Clinton in the primaries, he's at last become comfortable with the format. Tonight he was clear, compelling, and compassionate.
Given his commanding lead, there were higher expectations of Obama, but he had the easier task: to reassure any remaining undecided voters [...]
Since Obama started his run for the presidency, I've heard many times that he'll never win because he's black. People who say this think that either, 1) the country is too racist, or 2) the polls are wrong because voters won't vote for a black person, even though they tell pollsters they will (this [...]
Perhaps you are familiar with the concept of Rickrolling: it's when you create a Web link that pretends to go to a legitimate site, but instead links to the ridiculous video of Rick Astley singing his 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up." For example, check out this [...]
Tonight's debate between Obama, McCain and my (French) wife had some unexpected moments.
I'll give you some unedited quotes of the French perspective in just a minute.
My general impressions of the debaters: McCain; tired (slightly out of breath?), stiff. Obama: dynamic, sometimes frustrated but usually smiling and relaxed.
Key moments: Obama seizing the initiative [...]
The Web documentary explaining the Keating 5 scandal is now available at keatingeconomics.com. The narration by William Black, a federal banking regulator at the time of the scandal, is devastating.
Recent polls should have the McCain campaign scared, and when campaigns are scared they go negative. This weekend, Palin went on the attack by bringing up Obama's association with the long-since-reformed 60's radical, William Ayers. Hillary Clinton unsuccessfully tried to make an issue of the same thing during her campaign, and yesterday [...]
Having just watched the debate, I'm holding off on watching or reading any commentary or even talking to anyone about it until I get these thoughts down; it will be interesting to see if my opinion changes once I'm exposed to the consensus that develops.
In my view, both candidates exceed [...]
Josh Marshall on last night's debate:
I know that many Obama supporters are disappointed that he passed on various opportunities to deliver a smackdown that McCain couldn't recover from. But having watched the guy for 18 months now, for better and worse, that's not who he is. What he did [...]
The two candidates were pretty even tonight, though McCain was on the offensive more often. McCain was better at scoring zingers, while Obama was more likely to acknowledge agreement when it existed. While I would have liked Obama to be on the attack more consistently, his outreach may be appealing to independents.
It was odd [...]
The Washington Post reports on McCain's sudden intervention in the talks to solve the financial crisis:
For much of yesterday, McCain shuttled between meetings and his Senate office, but rarely came close to the Capitol suites and committee rooms where the talks were taking place. He had returned [...]
Sarah Palin has her own nutty preacher, who was captured on video making some stereotypical assertions about "the Israelites." And Sarah Palin is not only present, she comes up to the altar shortly afterward and appears before the congregation to accept the preacher's blessing.
Here's what he says at about [...]
A great article from the distinguished Chicago Sun-Times critic:
I think I might be able to explain some of Sarah Palin's appeal. She's the "American Idol" candidate. Consider. What defines an "American Idol" finalist? They're good-looking, work well on television, have a sunny personality, are fierce competitors, and so talented, [...]
The McCain camp is doing all it can to lower expectations of Sarah Palin. And expectations should be negligible for her ability to do the VP job. However, like George W. Bush she's clearly a skilled politician—and low expectations of a skilled politician are dangerous.
The technique her team will likely [...]
OK, I'll admit it. I used to be such a fan of John McCain that I voted for him in the 2000 primary election. I registered as a Republican to do it, and I was sincere in my support.
No shit.
I was drawn to his campaign finance reform message. Unless you dealt with that, I [...]
As everyone who reads this blog knows, I've been a fierce supporter of Barack Obama for a long time. But I want to dedicate this post to Senator Clinton, especially after her gracious speech yesterday.
Hillary's always been a leading advocate for universal health care. Having lived in France, where the [...]
In this amazing clip, Chris Matthew gives a pretty harsh history lesson to some dude named Kevin James, who is apparently a right-wing talk show host. James is trying to link Obama with Neville Chamberlain, without having any idea what Chamberlain did. He doesn't get very far.
Sounds like a disturbing number of people thought my April Fools' Day post was serious.
This campaign season has gotten so weird, it's hard to tell truth from fiction...
Via Daily Kos:
If Clinton were to drop out this week, we'd face an uncomfortable situation in West Virginia, with Clinton likely crushing Obama. That would look terrible for the presumptive nominee.
Better than that would be to garner enough superdelegate commitments this week, so that Oregon can push Obama past 2,024. That [...]
This is kinda weird:
There is little evidence that the recent news about Obama's affiliation with the United Church of Christ has dispelled the impression that he is Muslim. While voters who heard "a lot" about Reverend Wright's controversial sermons are more likely than those who have not to correctly identify Obama [...]
Top liberal bloggers are supporting the following candidates:
| Obama | Clinton |
| Josh Marshall (TPM) | Jerome Armstrong (MyDD) |
| Markos Z??niga (Daily Kos) | |
| Ariana Huffington (Huff. Post) |
A month ago, it was already clear that the campaign math overwhelmingly favored Barack Obama. Since then, six more states have voted, and the numbers are even more in Obama's favor. He's won 30 contests to Hillary's 14, leads by about 150 pledged delegates, [...]
You'll remember the "Texas two-step," in which Texas voters participated in both a primary and a caucus. Under that system, two-thirds of Texas delegates are allocated according to the primary results, and one-third are awarded based on the caucus. Well, despite the fact that major media outlets called Texas for Clinton, the results of the [...]
With just a few days left before the critical contests in Texas and Ohio, Hillary Clinton's campaign promised to throw "the kitchen sink" at Barack Obama. Now we know what that looks like: a series of attack methods we've seen from Republicans during the past two presidential elections:
An increasingly improbable series of events must occur for Hillary Clinton to win the Democratic nomination. One of these would have been a major stumble by Obama in last night's debate in Texas. However, it didn't happen, and judging from today's news stories, she's the one who stumbled by leading some viewers to wonder whether [...]
James Carville, Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign strategist and a Hillary Clinton supporter, made news at the International Builders Show on February 13th by admitting that Ohio and Texas were must-win states for Hillary's presidential campaign:
"She???s behind. Make no mistake. If she loses either Texas or Ohio, this thing is done."
Some [...]
With 26% of precincts reporting, Obama leads Clinton 74% to 26% in Hawaii.
[...]Obama will win Wisconsin. With 31% reporting, the margin of victory is about 13%. According to exit polls, Obama won most demographic groups, including women, men, married people, single people, Democrats, and independents.
[...]It's easy for Hawaiians to feel like they lack influence over the mainland. As a character says in David Lodge's Paradise News,
News from the rest of the world takes so long to get here that by the time it arrives it isn't news any more. While we're reading Monday's newspaper, they're already printing [...]
Congrats to Obama on his decisive triple wins today in Maryland, D.C., and Virginia.
The Hawaii caucus is coming soon; more on that shortly.
[...]The Obama Grammy win you've probably already heard about was The Audacity of Hope receiving the award for Best Spoken Word Album, beating Bill Clinton's Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World, among other audio books.
But more touching was Herbie Hancock's speech following the Jazz musician's surprise win [...]
A major benefit of living in Seattle is that we are relatively close to Hawaii. (Given the cloudy winters in the Northwest, we often say that living close to some other location is a benefit of living here, a bit of logic which may not hold up under close scrutiny.) Anyway, [...]
With 96% of precincts reporting, The New York Times reports that Obama took Washington state 68% to 31%. Not much different from earlier in the night.
[...]CNN calls Washington State for Barack Obama with 42% reporting. Obama has received 67% of the vote, Clinton 32%. These results are mostly from rural areas, so it could tip more towards Obama when the Seattle results come in.
[...]Delegate counts from selected Seattle-area precincts:
| Precinct | Obama | Clinton |
| Rainier Beach (37-1558) | 7 | 1 |
| Belltown (43-1773) | 10 | 2 |
| Kirkland (48-0615) | 5 | 1 |
| Laurelhurst (43-1968) | 4 | 1 |
| Capitol Hill (43-2017) | 6 | 1 |
| Capitol Hill (43-2016) | 4 | 2 |
| Capitol Hill (43-1856) | 5 | 2 |
| Capitol Hill (43-1863) | 8 | 3 |
| Capitol Hill (43-1861) | 9 | 2 |
| Capitol Hill (43-1880) | 5 | 1 |
| Central District (43-1883) | 5 | 1 |
We've heard from Gov. Christine Gregoire, Mayor Greg Nichols, and the The Stranger. Now, CDeluxe endorses Obama in her inimitable style:
I am beginning to learn that many of my fellow women (is that an oxymoron) are disgusted that another Vagino-American would not do everything she could to put a [...]
Obama made his fourth visit to Seattle today; this one was different.
Having attended two previous rallies where the crowds were under 5,000,
I assumed that Key Arena, home of the Seattle Supersonics, would be
large enough to handle the crowds. After all, when Paul Simon played
there a [...]
As you know, the main focus of Latte is politics. I work in the software industry, and there are often technology topics I want to write about that aren't appropriate to cover here. For that reason I'm starting a second blog called Latte Tech. Please check it out, and add [...]
Daily Kos ran this analysis:
States Obama won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:
Alaska (over 70%)
Colorado
Georgia
Idaho (over 70%)
Illinois
Kansas (over 70%)
Minnesota
North DakotaStates Clinton won with (so far) more than 60% of the vote:
Arkansas
Thanks to ZS for this one.
[...]My former classmate, the accomplished writer Jonathan Chait asks, "Is the right right on the Clintons?" His column is worth reading, because while he's concerned by the Clintons' behavior, he also responds to a nanny-nanny-boo-boo Wall Street Journal Op-Ed celebrating the fact that Democrats are questioning Hillary's character.
In response [...]
Quick background: Florida lost its Democratic delegates after state party officials rescheduled their primary in violation of national party rules. In support of the national party, all of the Democratic candidates pledged not to campaign in Florida (and in Michigan, which did the same). With no delegates at stake, tonight's result in the Florida primary [...]
Here's the speech Obama gave following his broad-based victory in South Carolina. The best quote, reminiscent of his 2004 Democratic convention speech:
I did not travel around this state over the last year and see a white South Carolina or a black South Carolina; I saw South Carolina.
Watch the whole thing [...]
Daily Kos had a very good post today on the cacophony of conservative calls for Bush to pardon the felonious perjurer Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney's chief of staff who just received a sentence of 30 months imprisonment.
Kos was responding to the far-right National Review, Rudolph Giuliani, Sam Brownback, and [...]
(Update 2/8/08: Coverage of Obama's caucus eve speech is here.)
Barack Obama came back to Seattle Friday night, and his speech was fantastic. His hyper-articulate discourse had a pretty centrist message: government, when it's not corrupt and mismanaged, can do certain things better than individuals can do on their own. [...]
In November 2006, the French comedian Michael Youn put out a satirical music video by the group "Fatal Bazooka," which he had created for the TV show Morning Live. The song become widely popular in France, and the YouTube video (below) has received nearly 2.5 million views.
"Fous Ta Cagoule" [...]
Looks like my November 15, 2006 post about Google using Latte as a test for a "Universal Search" was correct; they finally announced the service two days ago. My days of profiting from mistaken searches are coming to a close.
But speaking of predictions, it looks like Alberto "[...]
The French republic has been saved. No, literally, it's been saved: both of Sarkozy's opponents (Royal on the left and Bayrou in the center) were in favor of tearing up the constitution of the fifth republic and starting over.
It was strange moment to claim that the system was completely broken, what with nearly [...]
The results are in??? the champagne is flowing??? au revoir S??gol??ne, f??licitations Sarkozy!
[...]Early estimates put the turnout in the French election near 85%, the highest level since 1981. This is roughly the same level as the turnout in the first round of voting on April 22. (Source: TF1 TV news)
[...]Remember in 2000, when you looked at George Bush and could see that his knowledge of the world was thin, that his social programs were grounded in ideological purity but practically bankrupt, and that he would never be up to the stature of other leaders if thrust on the world stage?
Well, that kind [...]
The first round of the French presidential election began today with 12 political parties and ended with two. The establishment right- and left-wing parties won, putting an end to the candidacy of the late-surging centrist, Fran??ois Bayrou, and shutting out the right-wing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen, who to France's shame made it to the [...]
In her pre-war New York Times column ???Why We Know Iraq is Lying??? Condoleezza Rice wrote that she knew Saddam had not ???disarmed??? because as an expert on the former Soviet Union, she knew what disarming looked like, and Iraq wasn???t doing it. (Of course, we now know why Saddam wasn???t disarming.)
This week, the administration [...]
Hugh Hewitt, the man who oversaw ???construction of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace,??? appeared last night on the Colbert Report to flog his new book, Painting the Map Red, the Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority.
The ubiquitous Hewitt is also a blogger and columnist, and his attacks toe the Party [...]
