A Chicken Is Not Pillage

Bitter Herbs

Wake up and smell the overcooked coffee, the burnt caraway, the nasty sage sauce and the over-toasted lemon tarts.  We know bitter, as folk do.  Oh yes, we know.

I give you Bitter Voters For Barack Obama.

A Touch Of Integrity Would Be In Order

So, it seems that Bill Kennedy has endorsed Hillary Clinton, and at least one moron thinks I should reevaluate my endorsement of Obama.  Actually, I have been reevaluating a few things.

1)  I lost more than a small amount of respect for Mr. Kennedy when he dropped his Congressional run.  I know that he claimed it was for health concerns, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.  Now, I'm somewhat glad he did.  Let a fighter carry the load.

2)  I'm sure as hell glad that Kennedy is *not* a super-delegate.  I'd like to think that that lofty position is carried by those who won't cave at the first faint breath of an ill political wind (or redundantly, a Clinton fart.)

3)  If Kennedy actually thinks that there aren't bitter people in Montana who cling to religion and/or guns then I'd sure as the hell like to see him explain the Freemen.  What fricking Montana does that guy live in?

4)  There was a time I would have supported Clinton for President.  One month ago, I still gladly would have.  Not any longer.  Big Swede is right, I should reevaluate, and indeed I have.  John Cole puts my conclusion into words better than I ever could, so let him explain:

She and her low-brow coterie of lackeys have left a trail of slime and unpaid vendor bills everywhere they have gone the past few months. They have lied, distorted, polled, and then lied some more. They attack viciously, then play the victim when punched back. There is literally NOTHING they will not do to win this nomination. They have convinced themselves and their rabid but diminishing band of followers that she somehow got screwed in Florida and Michigan. They have shit all over every caucus state. They have dismissed every state they have not won as unimportant. They have come up with new names for delegates depending on how useful they are today, and tomorrow they will change their name and corresponding level of importance. Some days they are super delegates. Other days they are automatic delegates. Pledged delegates don’t have to stick with their candidate, we are told, except for Hillary’s who have to stick with her. The only consistent principle is that the only people who matter are the ones who have voted for Hillary. They have threatened, hell, they have promised, a bitter convention fight if the super-delegates do not crown her as the nominee. They bring out the worst in everyone around them, me included.

And I am sick of it, and I am sick of her.

If it walks like a Republican, and talks like a Republican and whines like a Republican and lies like a Republican, it surely must be a Republican.

Since I'm not likely going to find the time to post my sweeping impressions on the outcome of the M-M dinner, kindly allow me to post my thoughts about Hillary's speech here.  That night, she was responsible for the only truly 'WTF'  moment.  She went off talking all kinds of tough smack about forcing China to "play by the rules", rules she will somehow write that force China to yadayada ...  To be honest, that entire bit was completely unreal.  We have no force or club to hold over China.    We can do nothing to stand in the way of their economic hold because we have become entirely dependent on it, just as we have  Middle Eastern oil.  So why would Hillary spew such obvious bullshit?  Simple, she had what she believed to be a bitter union crowd at her disposal, and she wasn't going to miss such an obvious opportunity to pander to that bitterness, with an obvious lie.  Her diatribe was far more elitist and arrogant than anything Obama has said, and vastly more crushing to to those who actually believed that line of crap.

The greatest applause that Hillary garnered on that night were for her bold and cheap denunciations of the current administration.  Where Obama took shots at John McCain and dismissed the outgoing horror of BushCo, Hillary went on the attack against those who will be gone (I hope) soon enough.  She played on the crowd's bitter hatred of Bush and Cheney.  No problem there; I clapped as hard as any.  But then, in a moment that seemed to stun the audience, she lauded and praised John McCain the very man who is heir to the awful legacy she so delightfully helped us revile.  I defy any, Clinton supporter or no, to make sense of such a move.  McCain promises 4 more years of the nightmare we all wish to wake up from, and Hillary demanded that we show deference and respect to him?  No. Fucking. Way.  Period.  Clinton engaged in rank manipulation, dripping with petulant expectation of support and respect.  Since that night 10 days ago, I have gotten madder and madder about that shallow little demand of hers that I give a one salient shit about John McCain.  In case no one's noticed, I don't tend to appreciate efforts to manipulate me.

So, let Bill Kennedy flee to the security of God, Guns and Gutless pander.  Let the Repubs concern troll at will.  I remain convinced, win or lose, that I have backed the right horse.  Obama told the truth, and if Bill Kennedy can't accept that ... tough.  I'm glad that we have, finally, an opportunity to vote for a candidate with a modicum of integrity and at least a small talent for honesty.  That candidate would be Barack Obama.  For those of you who won't bother to follow a link, I leave you with more words from John Cole:

The woman is a moral black hole- soulless, empty, calculating and nasty all the way to her core (I know, I know- I just don’t know the “real” Hillary, who is charming and friendly and down to earth and likes pizza and beer). While her super-human ambition is admirable, it is not grounded in a sense of decency, and she knows no boundaries. Watching her the past few days has been a real eye opener, and watching her campaign the past few months should be a clear enough indication what America has to look forward to if she should win the election (although, I simply can not conceive how that happens). While she runs around lying about Obama, allowing her surrogates to portray him as unelectable, she fails to mention how she is going to win the general election when she can not even convince a majority of her own party to choose her.

Enough is enough.  Go ahead and call me “Sullivanesque” in my rants about this awful person. Sullivan was right about her essential character and who she really is, and we all know what we will get if she is elected. Four years of bullshit, division, victimhood, and failed policies that would have been great, but those mean old Republicans just didn’t let it pass or people just were not smart enough to do what she wanted. It won’t be her fault, it will be the opposition party for opposing her, or it will be our fault because we didn’t support her enough, or, well, you know how it is with her.

Count me out.

Mansfield Metcalf Dinner Part 1

Let's call this part The Beginnining.

The journey with my beloved to the event in Butte (by way of Dillon) got off to very sour note.  On Saturday morning, the Bozeman Comical ran a lead story that was little else but a Republican hit piece.  It described in garish fantasy how the visit from the Democratic Presidential candidates was ... get this ... bad for state Democrat and a *good thing* for Republicans.  The central theme was that Montana Democrats are afraid to identify as such, and that secretly we all want to be and vote Republican.  Oh, and obviously McCain will win Montana in November.  It was truly a biased op-ed masquerading as journalism (a claim born out when we got to read the fuller version of the AP story in the Montana Standard later in the day.  I tend to view such journamalism with rather derisive humor (especially when they identified Matt Singer as just a "liberal blogger" instead of the CEO of Forward Montana.)  My beloved took it rather more ... harshly.  I guess I should remind her more often that the introductory rate we got for our subscription gains the Comical no profit.  The passing of dinosaurs is her favorite theme, and our local fishwrap is just one instance of the extinct  misunderstanding their own obsolete nature.

So, we booked off to Dillon to pick up the rest of the crew and head to Butte.  We go to Butte.  Driving driving ... (this is the part of the story where there should be a montage to indicate the exciting passage of time.)   And we get in line to get in.  Folks, I am not lying when I say that that line was approaching  a quarter mile long, if not well more than that.  And it was cold.  As amusing as it would be, I won't wax descriptive of the wait to enter, mostly because it wasn't that amusing.  What I will happily say is this:  there were one helluva lot of strong determined people who wanted to enter that event, and nothing was gonna stop   them.  For an hour and a half, we all froze together, joked together, distrusted and trusted each other.  But very damn few, if any, called it quits and left.  There were several people I knew who walked past to get in for floor seating, including Monica Lindeen and Matt.  And dude, would please get a better jacket?  The retro look is cool and all, but you're somebody now, and you ought to dress the part ...  The high point was when the Obama cavalcade drove by.  Cops, SUVs and a bus.  Most of the crowd thought that a way cool thing.  I loved it because when the bus went by it was a way warm thing.  Yeah I was excited too, but still.  It was warm for a second and certain human things come first

On the way through the door, I got to do something I've been waiting to do for just shy of three years.  John Parker, who is running for Attorney General of Montana, was passing out stickers right at the entrance.  And I got to shake his hand.  Ya' see, three years ago John Parker had had enough of Roger Koopman's crap, and let him know it.  I've wanted to shake his hand and thank him ever since, and now I have.

Let's call this part of the narrative The Eventening.

Of course I got pulled for the raised-arm-scary-dude security check.  My belt buckle set off the alarm.  I told security that it would, but still, I got the wand.  If I get cancer in my balls, I'm suing somebody; that's for certain.  We all, upon re-meeting, fled up into the stands to find good seats.   Let me just say that the Butte Civic center stadium seating  *sucks rocks*.  It is cramped.  There are no walkways.  The seat-backs add to the aforementioned problems.  It is a poor venue.  But, and that's a huge bootay but, the people were mostly great.  We helped each other get situated, we made room.  There were a few folks who got pissy about pass-through, or stepping on seats, but most  of the people there were common in cause, and very polite.  While I was trying to arrange dinner boxes for our group, I ran into a co-worker (very excited to be there, and probably very cold from the wait) as well as my state representative, Franke Wilmer, looking beautiful and charming as always.

Okay, let's us be honest here.  We all felt somewhat out of place, out of time.   This was a huge huge event.  There was not one person there, great or small including myself, who didn't feel the gravity of what Montana was experiencing.  Our next President was in the house, and was going to speak.  We all felt that awkwardness, that discomfort at socially accepted norms not known, and that simple confidence.  This night was making history.

Throughout the night, I saw many people I knew (most within the 'protected zone').  Some people I've worked with.  Some I have politicked with, and some I still do.  Some I blog with.  I do remain saddened that more social groupings - meetups - get togethers could not have been arranged.  But I was rather heartened by the idea that we were mostly there for common cause.  Let me be honest in pointing out at this point that 10 dollars a seat should not have separated the groupings.   No, I'm not saying that we should have had their food or their legroom.  But we should have not been divided into the center of importance and the masses above.  In that venue, it felt rather artificial and unnecessary.  Throughout the night, I felt that mildly unfair juxtaposition rather acutely, considering the nature and character of the speakers we listened to.

Dennis McDonald is alright by far.  I've never had the opportunity to meet the guy, but I do look forward to the day.  He appears humble, hard-working, humorous and jovial.  He introduced Barack Obama ... and the crowd went wild.    There were many more Hillary signs at the event, but there was no denying the thunder of Obama's support.  I think Obama supporters outnumbered Clinton's by a factor of 3 to 2.  This guy is popular in Montana, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  Obama was very gracious to Montana and his hosts.  I was actually impressed that he admits that he doesn't know what many of us take for granted, fishing.  His praise for our state officials appeared genuine.  This Chicago boy actually seems to like Montana, and his visit here.  I hope that he will fulfill his promise to return, and learn to fish ... though I can think of many who could probably teach him better than our Governor.  I will write more on the substance of the speech later.  And just for the record, though I had planned to do so, I was not the guy who yelled "Freebird!"  during his speech.

When Barack left the stage, a form of chaos ensued.  Word to the wise:  never act with kids or animals, and never follow Obama with a speech of your own.  Jon Tester took the stage, and after an impassioned plea of behalf of Jim Hunt, he introduced Max Baucus.  Max, the video is lame.  Just sayen' ...  Max is not a good mass public speaker.  I've known that for  very long time.  His speech here was ... very lame.  It's possible (probable) that I have a biased attitude but I was not impressed.  He kept saying "I will do thing X.  ARE YOU WITH ME?"  And I kept saying, yeah, but are you with us? 
It's at this point that I have to make enemies by writing the truth.  Good God in heaven; what a rude bunch the people on the floor were.  Most of us unwashed masses in the stadium seating were too confined to noisily talk and socialize while the other speakers were speaking, but not so with the floor.  It was damned hard to hear Max (partly his own fault) and it was hard to hear anyone after him until Hillary.  I guess I'm old school, but I was taught that if you have someone speaking, you damn well better listen.  (I've been struggling with this because I didn't want to offend, but ... the folks in the Forward Montana crowd were as bad as any.  V, you looked sharp.  But the eyes in the sky of the unwashed masses see all, and the party rude was ... well ... rude.)

When the chatter below really got offensive was when Stephanie Herseth Sandlin  spoke.  First, I paid attention because she's hot.  No, really, she's hot.  (Yeah, I know I'm a pig).    Second, I really wanted to hear what she had to say.  She's bright, and there's no doubt about that.  Third, I only heard about 2/3 of her speech because of the noise.  I was not amused.  What I did hear, I can't say I was impressed with.  I enjoyed the western anecdotes.  But, mostly I was left with the impression that she talked much and said little.  I find that sad because I really think she had much to say.  She was to be the keynote speaker, but there's nothing like getting up-staged by Presidential candidates.  I hope to hear more from her in the future.  She's obviously bright, and very committed.  And she's hot ... did I mention that?

The nicest thing about listening to Jon Tester and the Governor Brian Schweitzer is that they didn't need attention or the microphone.  Those guys ... project.  They are Montana, through and through.  It's impossible to be a Democrat in Montana and not adore these guys.  Many would have us believe that it's because they are 'characters'.  Nope.  They're just good people doing a good job, good and loudly.  It's hard to fault that.  And Jag is just too damned cool.

Which brings us to the final act, Hillary Clinton.  She looked good, when she finally took the stage.  The other speakers compressed time, and we found ourselves with dead air at 25 to 9.  Still no Hillary.  At 9, still no Hillary.  Dennis McDonald made the introduction at 5 after.  I was looking at my niece and telling her that one thing that will not thrill Montanans is to keep 'em waiting (with her agreement.)  Still, when Ms. Clinton took the stage there was much energy, and a rather sudden quiet.  Her speech was almost a direct mirror of Obama's, with more Chimpy McWorthless hate, and less standing applause.  She said many good things, but most of us were too tired (or in the case of the floor folk, too drunk) to receive the message quite as enthusiastically.  Still, she is a helluva speaker, and she energized the crowd ... somewhat too often to go home.

I just want to say to all of you folks leaving in the middle of Hillary's speech in order to beat the traffic:  You suck!  How rude can you be?  The speech was not bad, and was actually something you might have wanted to hear.  You folks suck!

I will save my after-thoughts (The Endenning) for later.

My Mind's Made Up

I do tend to foul temper as regards politics, and one of the primary reasons is that I revile unfounded certitude.  Put simply, I like to consider my options, and I don't have a great deal of patience for those who don't, or those who simply won't.  Worst of all are those who tell me what I should or must believe.  In keeping with this, I have strongly resisted 'making up my mind' as to who I will support in the upcoming Presidential primary, or the election.  My early support of Bill Richardson was based on what I know of his experience, his stated beliefs and his strong stance against bankrupting our country in Iraq.  And I always knew that my support was a fool's hope.  Since then, I've avoided most of the hoohah coming from either the Clinton campaign or the Obama camp, including an avoidance of Obama's rather seductive speaking ability.   I've tried to be level headed, and have defended both candidates against the specious and silly attacks that have come as a result of the Conservative Fear of the day (or the liberal fear, for that matter).  One needn't worry that I haven't given McCain   a fair look.  I have, and I would vote for Ralph Nader or Ron Paul ... hell, I'd vote for Mickey Mouse ... before I would ever cast a ballot favoring that man.  But that is meat for another post, at a later time.

For a while (after Richardson and Edwards dropped out) I slightly favored Hillary Clinton.  In some ways, I still do.  Her health care proposals are more mandatory, but if we're going to look to the insurance industry to save our skins, then in for a penny, in for a pound.  Despite the unbelievable bullshit coming from all quarters, I *do* believe that she is more experienced at foreign relations than Obama (save that much of her policy is too status quo).  No First Lady in modern times has been such a vocal and informed advocate for women around the globe.  Like her or hate her, those are the facts.  And despite righty wailing that Democrats don't care about women's issues  (wingnut reality: womens should be in the house makin' dinner, washing shirts and havin' the babies, and then they'd be happy ... heh heh)  Hillary Clinton does care, and so do I.

But a rather inexorable chain of events have led me to favoring and endorsing Barack Obama.  Some of that chain was forged by the negatives attached to Hillary Clinton, but mostly, he's just the better candidate.

1)  I owe my beloved for this one.  Only a complete fool would discount Barack Obama's abilities as a speaker.  I had little idea at all who this guy was until the Democratic Convention in 2004.  The speech he gave then was ... WOW!  My beloved said then that "this guy will be President someday".  Yeah, it was that good.  So I started looking into this guy, and what I found was a dude who uses his abilities to form agreement.  His stances aren't always to my "ultra-left-wing" leanings, but Obama has never failed to get whatever ball he concerns himself with rolling.  Since that time, I have avoided his speeches, simply because I don't like being played by fancy speechifying.  I have focused clearly on what he wants to do, and how he wants to do it.

2)  He's been against the Iraq debacle from the start.  Unlike Hillary Clinton, he didn't vote to hand the playground moron a loaded gun.  Now, the Clinton campaign would have you believe that he's just politicking because he did vote for $3 Billion to fund the occupation.  I can't say that I'm in favor of that, from Obama, Clinton, Tester or Baucus.  But I understand clearly their votes to do so.  To defund the war is in some respects the same as defunding the troops, and that Obama wouldn't do.  Regardless, his rhetoric, his insistence on time-tables for withdrawal, his carrying a torch for the notion that this was a bad fricking idea from the get-go ... he's right on the money.  And, unlike many who are 'anti-war', Obama has focused on the facts of the case.  We need to hunt down the people who have made it their mission to kill us.  Those people are mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan.  Not Iraq.  As a Senator, his voice is one of many with a vote, which his political opponents make great hay with.  As President that role changes considerably.

3)  Of all the candidates running for the highest executive office (save Ron Paul), Obama has been the most consistent in pointing out that we are impoverishing our own nation at the expense of others, predominantly Iraq.  The Jewish community interprets this as being 'anti-Israel' and has pulled out all stops to crush this rational upstart.  To me, that's really the point; Obama is rational about the foreign policy he favors.  He recognizes that Israel is our strongest Middle Eastern ally, without being maniacally tied to their desires for money and defense at the expense of the US.  It's not a zero sum game ... unless one is terrified that they will not be the special snowflake anymore.  Simply put, Obama is correct.  We are better off putting our resources into hunting down extremists than in creating American colonies in the Middle East.

4)  Obama has played by the rules.  The Clinton camp has not.  I love most sports.  I really do.  Nothing disgusts me more than cheating, especially when one has no reason to cheat other than to 'win'.  If you can't win without cheating, don't play the game.  Somebody should have told the Clinton campaign that little tidbit before they attempted to game the system  by bringing in ineligible  players (Florida, Michigan), or by relying on a "Super delegate" strategy.  The Clinton campaign had everything going for it, but they dropped the ball.  Their candidate just wasn't appealing to enough voters.  Sorry Hillary.  SuperDelegateMan is not going to fly on in and save you.  Neither will Florida or Michigan.  If you really want to see how sad the commentary coming from the Clinton folks is, the please read the comments to this MetaFilter thread, paying particular attention to the writings of MetaMan.

5)  One of the reasons that I favored Clinton was that she would drive the right-wing absolutely batshit insane.  Witness their ability to hand the crown to her (so they could beat her to pulp) before any real Democrats ever got a chance to voice their opinion.  Now, you have notable head-cases like Limbaugh and Coulter endorsing Hillary Clinton.  If one actually stops to think about it for two seconds that one would realize that they don't favor the woman they call Hitlery, nor do they so revile that RINO McCain.  They are fricking terrified that Democrats might believe in somebody.  Their only hope of Conservatism's survival is to keep Democrats disgusted and disillusioned.  Conservatism is a failed philosophy.  Many on the right have a nightmare, and that nightmare would be that we on the left might believe in something, in someone.  Obama is that someone.  Like watching a bad horror movie, I am seriously enjoying the idiotic terror coming from many on the right.  And I'm hungry for the pay-off ... when they realize that an angry nigra is sitting in the White House and we're (white Christian men) all DOOMED!!!  And now, many on the right are stating with sour-pussed aplomb that Obama is finished.  He's toast.  He can't win ... hand the Oval to McCain.  Except ... they're still focused on Obama.  If they actually thought the threat was Hillary Clinton, we'd be back to the Hitlery ball-buster rhetoric.   We're not.  We won't be.  They are terrified of Barack Obama, because he will likely be the next President of the United States ... and I'm loving the discomfort that affords to some.  To a misanthrope like me, that alone is reason to favor the man.

6)  The "More Perfect Union Speech".   I have a degree which required that I read enormous numbers of good speeches.  This speech was easily one of the best.  The right wingnuts are already spinning it, and they will fail.  They really don't get it.  I've been saying that for years; I've been notifying them of their deep stupidity for years, but they just won't get it.  Jon Stewart, of The Daily Show fame, had it exactly correct.  Obama treated us as if we were adults, and could have a rational discussion of racism in this country.  Apparently, Obama has more faith in the human animal than I do.  That's precisely why I support Obama at this point.  He believes better of us than I do.  Clinton doesn't.  She manipulates.  McCain doesn't.  He panders.  Obama told the truth, to us and the world.  That he believes that as a value is worth it to me for endorsement.

All of this together would not get my endorsement.  I was going top wait until I went to Butte, and hopefully (my hearing is screwed) listen to the man speak in contrast to the woman that I really admire.  I needed to believe that he could  pull things together for the country.  I don't need to wait.  Someone else said the right thing at the right time.

7)  Bill Richardson's endorsement.  THIS is what puts me over the top.  I can't tell you how huge this is to me.  Richardson is a personal  friend of the Clintons.  And yet he chose Obama.  He has more *real* foreign policy experience in his big toe than the other candidates combined.  For him to endorse Obama, well that's huge.  He just lent his credibility and his experience to the next President of the United States.  I'm certain that there are assholes who will claim that Richardson was just hustling for a job.  To which I can only respond ... who the fuck better?  That's like saying that Michaelangelo is hustling for a job as an artist.  *YES*  Richardson might be hustling for a job, but what job would you deny him and why?

I haven't minced words about this.  The next Presidency is going to be a fricking minefield.  This person will be under attack constantly, until the dinosaurs doing the attacking are urged to fade away, harshly.  Clinton won't do that, and McCain is a dinosaur.  Obama, with proper support, can pull this off.  And, as my beloved has so well pointed out, he can get the support to do that very thing.  Good speechifying is a great thing if it motivates people to action.  Obama can do that; he has already done that.  To me, it's no longer a matter of sitting on the fence waiting for the pretty promises.  Nothing that any of these people promise will sway me.  What they have the ability to do will sway me.  And Obama has the ability to sway support in his favor.  Let the dinosaurs wail, and let them pass.  It's time we enter the 21st century, and deal with the problems left to us from the 20th.  Obama can see that.

Can you?