As this race unfolds, the winning coalition for us is clearer and clearer. There are three demographic variables that explain almost all of the voters in the primary—gender, party, and income. Race is a factor as well, but we are fighting hard to neutralize it.
We are the candidate of people with needs.
We win women, lower classes, and Democrats (about 3 to 1 in our favor).
Obama wins men, upper class, and independents (about 2 to 1 in his favor).
Edwards draws from these groups as well.
Our winning strategy builds from a base of women, builds on top of that a lower and middle class constituency, and seeks to minimize his advantages with the high class democrats.
If we double perform with WOMEN, LOWER AND MIDDLE CLASS VOTERS, then we have about 55% of the voters.
The reason the Invisible Americans is so powerful is that it speaks to exactly how you can be a champion for those in needs [sic]. He may be the JFK in the race, but you are the Bobby.
Quelle surprise!
Too bad Lambert wasn’t an Obot. A much more skilled operator like Axelrove would have been manipulating him by remote control to terrorize Hillary’s angel-like supporters by the time the Iowa caucuses rolled around. Thug 4 Life!
Very sad news. Al Weisel, freelance writer and the blogger known as Jon Swift, has passed away due to a sudden aortic aneurysm. He was a great guy and a wonderfully witty writer. He will be sorely missed. Tom Watson has more information here.
If you’re so eager to bolster your Real True Progressive® bonafides that you resort to using the adjective “thuggish” to describe Darcy Burner (Darcy Burner?!?), I guess you’re fully committed to always being picked last in intramural dodgeball. If you think that’s a winning strategy, well, good luck with that, lil’ fella.
With antecedents like that, you’d expect that the much-hyped “CPAC Manifesto” would be traced by a vengeful angelic finger in Words of Power that literally burst into flames on the page. But you’d be in for a disappointment, as the actual Mount Vernon Statement, released this morning, reads like the truck pick-up manifest for a “Save the Founding Fathers” community scrap-collection drive.
I mean, who needs Ambien when you have “stand up and shrug” rhetoric like this?:
The conservatism of the Constitution limits government’s powers but ensures that government performs its proper job effectively. It refines popular will through the filter of representation. It provides checks and balances through the several branches of government and a federal republic.
A Constitutional conservatism unites all conservatives through the natural fusion provided by American principles. It reminds economic conservatives that morality is essential to limited government, social conservatives that unlimited government is a threat to moral self-government, and national security conservatives that energetic but responsible government is the key to America’s safety and leadership role in the world.
Despite last-minute ratfucking initiatives by Democracy-hating GOP strap-ons like RedState to force an unknown Bloomington café-owner on Indiana Dem voters as a replacement for retiring Sen. Evan Bayh in the November election, would-be primary candidate Tamyra d’Ippolito failed to deliver the requisite number of signatures to qualify.
Assuming d’Ippolito doesn’t challenge the signature count and no other under-the-radar aspirants qualify, the Dems will avoid a primary race and an official candidate (rumored to be sitting Indiana Congressman Baron Hill) will be selected by the state Democratic party. That sucks, too—but not as badly as letting a bunch of wingnut opportunists hijack the process in a manner that undermines all their big-ass shit-talkin’ about “We the People” and “playing by the rules.” Supporting d’Ippolito in hopes of locking the Indiana Dems into a weak, easily-beatable candidate is a maneuver worthy of AlinskySatan George Costanza.
For those who weren’t following the drama, d’Ippolito was featured on this morning’s edition of Fox&Friends:
UPDATE: Of the 4,500 certified signatures required to get on the ballot, d’Ippolito has reportedly filed a total of 110. That’s somewhat unexpected, since yesterday she claimed to be only 1,000 signatures short of the goal. Did she misspeak? Did George Soros “disappear” her petitions? Or is this just another instance of an “Operation Chaos” gone awry?
I just watched this Hannity clip (“TELEPROMPTER! TELEPROMPTER! TELEPROMPTER!”) featuring a Dana “Pocket-Size” Perino and fetid bag of British wind I’ve never heard of and I have VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. Why is it that when Democrats poke fun of Republicans, it’s labeled as inhumane and/or immature cruelty that will surely backfire and will always make the Republican “victim” stronger, but when Republicans take jabs at Democrats, it’s above reproach and a winning strategy? And why do so many progressives buy into that bullshit?
RELATED: AP’s Nancy Benac, like countless drool-bucket-wearing wingnut simpletons in the blogosphere and rightwing media, can’t discern the difference between reading speeches from a teleprompter (zing!) and using palm notes during an interview with pre-screened questions. Jesus fuck, our media is stupid.
UPDATE: I’m (obviously) in full agreement with Cole and Cesca.
Thanks for reinforcing the false meme that the tea party movement is non-partisan and principled, Jane Hamsher. That is very helpful!
I don’t know what teabaggery Jane has been observing, but Sarah Palin knew exactly who she was talking to this weekend. The tea party “activists” may have originally come out of “the libertarian arm of conservatism,” but they owned it for all of about three seconds before the sputtering, ill-informed, liberal-hatin’ Limbaugh lunatics swallowed the relatively small, over-amplified movement whole. Teabaggery will not trigger a return to the “paleo roots of the Republican party.” That is utter (and horribly naive) nonsense. It’s the same dull-eyed wingnut mush we’ve been dealing with for years and years tied up in a neat little faux-populism bow.
Teabaggers don’t hate “banksters.” They want their sons, daughters and grandchildren to grow up to be greedy, unregulated bank executives. They only hated the bailout because it was financed with their oh-so-precious taxes. That’s as deep as it goes. Their real hatred is directed at big government (but only when the Dems are in charge), our arrogant Kenyan president, TAXES!!!, and, mostly, progressives/liberals/“socialists” in general. As Steve M. put it last week: “The whole point, for them, is that we are the enemy.” The only reason they’d ever want to share common ground with us is so that they can see the whites of our eyes.
I doubt that the rightbloggers who are pretending to believe that the coverage of [James] O’Keefe’s legal troubles is the real crime here are very concerned with his hide. Hell, if he went to prison, that’d be holy martyrdom, no doubt attributable to the long reach of Eric Holder, and a great way to rally the troops.
His Voice column about O’Keefe’s arrest can be found here.
Everyone needs to calm down and stop taking everything so seriously. I’ve been blogging a long time and I’ve never witnessed anything remotely close to the overall level of anger in the poliblogosphere right now. It’s not healthy or productive. The blogosphere is quickly flipping from being one of the best things to happen to modern day politics to one of the absolute worst.
RELATED: This podcast featuring Blue Gal and Driftglass addressing progressive concerns about the current political environment was a very enjoyable listen. They make some great and very reasonable points. A wonderful (and, at times, funny) discussion and a great antidote to a sucky week. p.s. Who knew Driftglass was Joe Conason?
