Guess Lorne Michaels wanted to show that he isn't a total Clinton partisan: amusing Tracy Morgan "Weekend Update" commentary sent to me by Jack (thanks, Jack!).

- dave //

Olbermann on Clinton: scathing.

- dave //

This whole business w/ Geraldine Ferraro is utterly stupefying--my brain is so completely scrambled by the relentless, toxic inputs from unexpected quarters that I'm rendered speechless. I'm dismayed to say the least to see what some of our Democratic Party establishment players are really made of when power and privilege are really on the line.

We're seeing that the unseemly underbelly of American politics is fundamentally bipartisan. Many of us are having to come to grips for the first time, really, with the uncomfortable truth that the sickness of our politics isn't just a disease of the Republican right; it belongs also to the Democrats, even among those we're long used to calling our friends. We have met the enemy and (s)he is us.

I won't get into the toxic complicity of the Clinton campaign ... nope, won't even go there right now. I'll leave that to Olbermann's Special Comment tonight, and the incisive satire of this little video:

- dave //

My dad sent me a message yesterday about how things have unfolded this past week for the Democrats and how "the McCain campaign must be very, very pleased." What follows is my take on it all, which comes off as something of a rant, but I hope also brings it around to something a bit more positive.

My sense is--and this may be more wishful thinking than anything--is that the Obama campaign is busy retooling and refocusing, trying to figure out how to thread the needle of, on the one hand, shutting down Clinton's trash-talking prevarications, and on the other, making sure that Obama himself doesn't compromise fundamentally who he is. I'm amazed to see the extent to which the main-stream media is buying into Clinton's various bullshit theses, whether about Obama or about their supposed serious shot at locking up the nomination. It's as if, all at once, they fell out of love w/ Obama, rediscovered their awe of the Clinton "not until the last dog dies" mystique, and threw away their brains and balls to boot.

It's worth bearing in mind that Obama actually won Texas in the math that matters (delegates); but the political spin cycle currently belongs to Clinton, and she can for the moment lay claim to winning Texas based on 2/3 of the equation and conveniently ignoring the other third that doesn't suit her narrative. It's frustrating to say the least that a say-anything, do-anything approach to politics still holds such power that everyone's legs immediately go wobbly when the ugly beast rears its head (as it always does). Can't tell you how irritating it is to see how seriously people are taking this ridiculous meme about just giving it to Clinton so that Obama can be VP and we can all congratulate ourselves on getting the best of both worlds somehow... As if the clear frontrunner would just say, "Ah, hell with it, I'll just settle for 2nd place for the good of the party and become an enabler of everything I hold in contempt, even though this whole notion of 'what's good for the party' is completely concocted by the campaign that's losing by all objective criteria." How the hell Obama can keep his head on straight with all the knee-jerk punditry, facile analysis, and rampant chicken-littlism is beyond me.

And yet, at the end of the day, Obama will still have a majority of the popular vote, a majority of states, and a majority of pledged (and super) delegates. We just have to be patient until the tables and media perceptions turn again. And, finally, on the good side, what doesn't kill him will make him stronger, and the continued campaigning helps broaden Obama's exposure while at the same time serves to build up party infrastructure in every state of the country, which in the end will help make a difference in the fall.

As crappy as this past week has been for Obama, there is indeed a silver lining.

UPDATE: And here, from the man himself, a stinging rebuke of this idiotic Obama-as-VP idea.

- dave //