The pre-convention Democratic campaign could not be working out better for the Republicans even if the GOP had planned it this way.
Perhaps they did.
If so, their wholly-owned subsidiary, the corporate media, appears to be dutifully following their instructions to the letter.
Prolonging the Agony:
The optimum course of events for both the GOP and the media is a continuation of the Clinton-Obama slugfest for as long as possible. The media benefits with sustained public interest and inflated ratings, while the Republicans enjoy the advantage to a severely damaged Democratic candidate in the November election.
And so, when Clinton entered the primaries a heavy favorite, the media chatter was all about "Obamamania." Then Obama won the Iowa primary and most states in "Super Tuesday" and headed toward New Hampshire, ahead in the polls. An Obama victory in New Hampshire could have wrapped up his nomination.
But instead, Clinton's campaign stayed alive with an upset win – timely, crucial, and, as I will suggest below, just a little bit suspicious.
Going into the Texas and Ohio primaries, Obama still had a formidable lead in pledged delegates. So up crops the Rev. Wright story ("God damn America!"), and the phony report that Obama surrogates had told the Canadians not to take Obama's anti-NAFTA rhetoric seriously. Obama loses the primaries, and his campaign bogs down.
Then Pennsylvania, disclosure of Obama's "elitism" and comments about voter "bitterness," and another Clinton win, by 9.2 points, which the media and the Clinton campaign spinners somehow interpret as "double digits. Even so, Obama now has a near-mathematical lock on the convention. With Clinton's candidacy now on life support, the media must now keep it alive.
In a blink of an eye, the media has jumped ship from the Obama campaign and become a crucial Clinton ally, pressing just the message -- that Obama is a likely loser in the general election -- that Hillary and her allies have been promoting for the past six weeks.
The new tenor of media coverage is visible almost everywhere, from Politico, Time and The New Republic to The Washington Post and The New York Times.
For Hillary, the shift is a potential lifesaver as she struggles to keep her head above water; without it, she would, metaphorically, drown.
With an Obama lead assured all the way to the convention, the pattern of Clinton-boosting and Obama-knocking is likely to continue on course. Unless, of course, Clinton, however improbably, takes the lead again.
So who's ahead? Clinton or Obama? Whoever has the lead can expect to be beaten back and piled on by the media. If one or another candidate appears about to wrap it up, there's likely an "upset" primary dead ahead. First New Hampshire and then Pennsylvania. Next, Indiana and North Carolina?
It's almost as if the Republicans, not the voters, decided the outcome. However, as we know by now, the media and even the Democrats won't even hint of such a thing, much less investigate it.
Dr. Ernest Partridge is a consultant, writer and lecturer in the field of Environmental Ethics and Public Policy. Partridge has taught philosophy at the University of California, and in Utah, Colorado and Wisconsin. He publishes the website, "The Online Gadfly" (www.igc.org/gadfly) and co-edits the progressive website, "The Crisis Papers" (www.crisispapers.org). His book in progress, "Conscience of a Progressive," can be seen at www.igc.org/gadfly/progressive/^toc.htm .
As a British citizen I find all this election farce quite amusing. Here we have two right wing parties slagging each other off and the dozy electorate think they are in it for the good of the people when history shows otherwise.
If just a handfull of representitives had any interest in the voters welfare their would have been a minimum of healthcare for everybody, I know about medicaid. If the people out there think that medicaid is a solution then they should try it, just go and sit for hours waiting for the front office mafia to call you and then be looked upon as sub-human.
My point is that everybody should be provided with the best care the country can give, not be graded according to your bank balance. Cuba, a country ostracised by the USA looks after its people better, they even provide doctors and medical aid to Africa.
Costa Rica and Switzerland don't need an army to defend their people so why do other countries need military. The USA is military mad and the reason is it gives people of limited intelligence a sense of security but nothing could be further from the truth. It provides the likes of Cheney the means to carry out the most horrendous crimes unchecked.
A true democracy needs to span the whole political spectrum but the three candidates don't fit that criteria by a long way, they're considered right wing by universal standards. Of course any US politician showing any sort of pity for the poor is considered a communist, this is the state of affairs in the " good old USA " which is an odd phrase anyway since it isn't good nor is it old.
One candidate, is being got at by the usual suspects because he associated himself with a religious figure who has the audacity to tell the truth. Just imagine a US citizen calling the USA a terrorist nation when all they did was invade a couple of countries causing the death of millions, millions of others are refugees in Syria and Jordan so in the minds of democratic USA that's not a crime.
They, the selected canditates will go on their merry way and nothing will change the poor will get poorer and the rich, richer, there will be no universal heath care, there will be a massive military and massive taxes for the working person to pay to keep the Autocracy/Theocracy in good health.
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douglas kay (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 83 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 8:33:32 AM
The Congressional Progressive Caucus is such a handful. It consists of 71 members of the House of Representatives and one senator. Most are Democrats. There is nothing at all funny about this tragedy that is threatening the world economy, the environment, human rights, famine and the growing possiblity of WW III and nuclear holocaust.
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Pat Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 8:58:51 AM
If 71 people in the US Congress were sufficient, that would be great. Clearly they are not, and I suspect that if Democrats had a majority in both chambers, even that would not be sufficient to fight the forces arrayed against progressive politics. This is especially true since a considerable number of Democrats identify as conservatives instead of progressives.
This ariticle makes valid points about the likilhood of a conspiracy between media owners, voting machine company executives, and the Republican political leadership to manipulate the election results. Maybe McCain doesn't care what he says becasue he knows the fix is in. But the essential fourth element in this mix is the schizophrenia and self-destructive behavior of the Democratic Party. Afraid of being assaulted by the Republican media (which is funny because they willl be assaulted anyway), Democratic conservatives repudiate Democratic (and in fact all) progressives.
What I suspect will come out of this is the death of the Democratic Party. That this is a bad thing isn't clear anymore, because the Democrats themselves aren't clear. Wanting to have it both ways all the time, they come across to the public as fuzzy, muddled, contradictory, weak, cowardly, and ineffective. It is this last attribute, ineffectiveness, that will put them in the loser's column in November.
A party that cannot muster enough internal discipline at the leadership level to hammer out a compromise between the factions and get on with the business of winning is not going to win. They face formidable forces, but being unable to identify as Democrats by virtue of trying to look like Republicans is what will drive the final nail in their coffin. (IMHO)
Wayne Turner
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Wayne Turner (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 38 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 9:26:52 AM
The first post in this comment section is just a hint of something most Americans will ignore, the truth that our government is a monster with no morals, honor or integrity. At least the guy did not mention the most painful truth, we are collectively about as smart as a bag of hammers.
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Roger (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 336 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 4:05:11 PM
Douglas Kay as a British citizen has a better perspective on the political scene, then all the bought off pundits in our MSM. All three of the remaining front running candidates have ties to the Council on Foreign Relations and assorted other One World Order fascists groups; (Bilderbergers, Trilateral, just to name a few. I've been supporting Ron Paul ever since he decided to enter the race. The power-elite and MSM made sure his candidacy was marginalized and he was only reluctenly allowed to participate in the debates, (everyone he won, according to polls taken afterward); even Rudy Guilani admitted Ron Paul won the debates. Well Ron Paul is still in the race, and he will get my vote. He has a slim chance of winning, but from my perspective, he's the only one who can turn our country around. The others will just obey their corporate masters and America will continue its downward spiral.
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ronheri (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 126 comments)
on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at 8:13:36 PM
During the last primary, the media constantly reported that everything was going smoothly - no problems. There was a phone number that was to be called in the event of problems - and guess what, no one ever answered the phone! Over two hundred people were lined up at one of the voting spots, waiting for broken machines to be replaced. Took 2-1/2 hours for this to be done, meanwhile - many of the people had to leave. When the voting commissioner was asked for permission to let the voting spot remain open to make up for the original lost 2-1/2 hours, permission was refused. Many calls were made pertaining to voting problems, nothing was done about them. If Slick Hilly wins the nomination, it will only be because the republicans fixed the vote - knowing that if there's anyone who stands the slightest chance of facing down grandpa McBush, it is Senator Barack Obama. We wish him all the luck in the world.
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lucydavis (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 90 comments)
on Friday, May 2, 2008 at 5:21:41 PM
