Hillary started off last month with 10.3 million dollars in unpaid bills, not including what she owed herself.  Since April 1st, she has loaned her campaign an additional 6.4 million dollars.  Add that amount to what she has already loaned to her campaign, and you can practically see Bill Clinton scratching his head in his Harlem office wondering if 11.43 million dollars was a little excessive in his attempt to wipe the name “Monica” from his wife’s memory.  After all, Kobe Bryant only had to pay 4.3 million for the purple diamond ring he slid onto his wife’s finger after his tryst with rape.  So, add all this up and you see Hillary in a hole approximately 20 million dollars deep.

That’s a deep fucking hole.

I don’t even make that much in a year.  Seriously.

There has been rumors of Obama advisors “chit-chatting” with the Hillary camp in order to broker a deal whereby he helps her out of her debt and she gets out of the race.  10 million is still owed to Hillary’s former Senior Advisor, Mark Penn.  So, essentially it would be Obama supporters paying Penn for his Karl Rove style atrocities against Obama.  Nowhere is the clang of irony more loud than in the world of politics.  Add to this the topper: immediately after the ax fell on Penn for promoting trade deals Hillary was campaigning against, Howard Paster was brought in as Hillary’s COO.  Anyone know Howard Paster?  Mark Penn does.  It’s his boss.  Needless to say, Paster will be driving the Clinton machine hard toward getting that money into Penn’s greedy pocket.

And so the consensus on the street seems to be that one of the main reasons Hillary is staying in the race is for fundraising, not the White House.  And, to be quite honest, she’s doing pretty well at it.  Her donors are still coughing up cash like you wouldn’t believe. 

So, my question is this: is it ethical?

She continues to campaign, to go out on stage and fire up her supporters, leading them to actually take her for her word: that she still has a shot at winning this.  Obviously, it’s a lie.  She has no chance.  She’s misleading the very people that lifted her to within grasping distance of her career goal. 

Look, it’s totally understandable. 

It’s also totally unethical. 

As much as I liked Hillary Clinton back in the day, her campaign has truly revealed an important sigh of relief: thank God she won’t be our President.

At the 60th anniversary of Israel’s independence today, our esteemed President, W, took it upon himself to use a pivotal foreign relations platform for mere partisan purposes.  On a stage ripe with the opportunity to declare all-too important words of solidarity and world unity, he chose to divide not only our country, but the world as a whole.  This is our President.  A man that has already won the gold medal for divisiveness before this sickening new display of his anti-talent.  A man that started a bloody war based on lies.  A man that weilded his power toward crippling those who attempted to expose such lies.  A man that was reading “The Pet Goat” to a classroom full of kids while innocent Americans leapt from burning buildings in the fiery wreckage of 9/11.  A man that rewarded the National Security Advisor on whose watch 9/11 happened with a promotion to Secretary of State.  A man that was playing guitar at a GOP fundraiser while one of our best cities drowned beneath the torrent of Hurricane Katrina.  A man that made enormous sacrifices for the benefit of his Iraq War, such as giving up golf.  A man that gave record-shattering tax breaks to Exxon-Mobile while Exxon-Mobile made record breaking profit, and all the while gas prices for the American people climbed to record heights.  A man that was doing all this in the face of Global Warming acceleration.

Ladies and gentlemen, our President.  Taking direct aim at Obama, the Democratic nominee for President (Hillary who?), by obviously lumping him into “some” who offer appeasement to the terrorists like some who offered appeasement to Hitler in the lead up to World War II.  Cue the fear.  Cue the GOP tackiness machine.

Our President with a job approval rating of 28% — the lowest for essentially any President since World War II (back when all the appeasers were appeasing). 

And in so much as he continues such attacks, such rhetoric aimed at positing his notions of foreign policy as utterly different than those Obama offers, he is only bolstering Obama’s support.  Key point: Obama’s policy will be very different than Bush’s failed policy.  And in so much as McCain links onto Bush’s attacks and drills them in even further, the clearer the truth that McCain is simply a 3rd Bush term.  Another 4 years of short-sighted, ignorant foreign policy that ironically spreads the fires it is trying to put out.  Like Lennie in “Of Mice and Men” killing the mouse he is trying to save.  Only without the whole ”retardation” excuse.  You can only say “give it another six months” so often before people begin to sense a pattern of endless catastrophe. 

Our President.  Endorsing Obama. 

And he doesn’t even realize it.

DING DING DING!!  Round 19 is over!  The candidates have gone to their corners.  And the winner is????

Now honestly.  Do you actually think that’s a legitimate question?  It’s like considering the repercussions of a fly bumping against an elephant.  There is no winner in these battles when the fight is already over.  But, my oh my, are there losers.  And here’s how:

On the face of it, Hillary “won” by 41% points.  And what does this entail?

That Hillary will continue her argument to super delegates and the country at large that she is the better candidate to defeat McCain in the general election.  She will continue her attempt to chip away at Obama’s strength in the general election every chance she can.  Because, as I’m sure you’ve heard, 47% of West Virginia Democratic voters said they would not vote for Obama if he were the nominee.  That’s a direct result mostly of Hillary’s plight.  Clearly, many of these voters will “get over it” by the time election day arrives.  But, even the smallest dent can make the difference.

Imagine a different scenario.  Imagine what would happen to those votes if Hillary were to bow out of the race right now and rally support for Obama.  The selfless and brave act would most likely slide more of that 47% into the hands of the Democratic Party (not to mention the 7% who voted for John Edwards - I mean, really, does West Virginia even have access to news sources?).  This conclusion is justified in part by the simple fact that this would allow more time to sway Democratic voters into the Democratic vote before judgement day.  And it’s also justified by the mammoth gesture: it would truly show this 47% that Hillary is a pragmatist in favor of the greater good, and they would likewise follow her lead.

Instead, she stays in it until the bitter end.  And why?  For one reason, and one reason alone: herself. 

Look around.  Why are we still talking about her and West Virginia when we should be focusing all of our attention on McCain??  Why aren’t we talking about how two McCain aides were just fired over ties to the lobbyist firm helping Burma’s brutal military regime????

So Maybe Obama will lose against McCain, and thereby present the platform for Hillary to launch her “I told you so” campaign for the Presidency in 2012.  Maybe she’ll lock on so tight to her base that Obama will haveto offer her the VP spot in order to mend the party.  Maybe Obama will step onto stage in a clown suit and cluck like a chicken, thereby killing his Presidential image for good and handing the GE spot to Hillary.  Maybe she’ll win some other prize in her career path that we’ve not even considered.  Supreme court.  Cabinet member.  Who knows.

But, one prize that is mutually exclusive with her actions, a prize she will never win: legitimacy as a pivotal world leader.

Acquiring this legitimacy is simple and also extremely difficult.  Simple in that it’s not complicated.  Difficult in that it calls on heroic values.  All it requires is this: taking actions to put the greater good above your own selfish interests.

To this end, Hillary has lost categorically.

I have a burning question.  I have a feeling you all do.

And, no, my question right now is not: why is John Edwards such a pussy that the most he can contribute this late in the game is to say that for Hillary it’s tough to make the math work, but yet he’s still unable to pony up and endorse?  My question is also not: why the hell is everybody so silent about McCain’s endorsements by wackos like John Hagee, people that claim that disasters like 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina are caused by our acceptance of gays, while in the meantime we spend countless hours on Wright?  My question is not even: what the f’ is Hillary Clinton still doing in the primary race??

My question is to the state of West Virginia.  Polls  show Hillary to be ahead by 43 points.  43 POINTS.  That’s huge.  And my question?

Let me set it up…

My wife once wrote a letter to Germany.  Yes, the entire country.  It opened: “Dear Germany…”  She was upset because she thought she was given a ticket on the train unfairly.  She refused to pay the ticket until “Germany” responded to her hand-written letter to the country at large.  Of course, Mr. Germany never responded and now I believe there’s a warrant out for her arrest.

I made fun of her.  But, now here I am, essentially about to do the same thing.  Because my question is this:

Dear West Virginia: What the hell are you thinking voting for Hillary?

Your vote for Hillary will not move her any closer to the White House.  Unless Obama steps in front of a bus, her chances are zero.  So, why do it? 

Here are some theories:

1.) West Virginia is in denial.  They are zombies in the cult of Hillary and actually believe her when she says she’s staying in the race to take it all the way to the White House.  I imagine they also believe her when she says a gas holiday is a fantastic idea.

2.) West Virginia is voting out of spite.  They’re angry that Hillary isn’t going to win, so they’re just going to vote for her anyway to prove a point.  Not really sure what that point is.  Perhaps it’s that a massive amount of people can put the entire nation at risk and into the hands of Bush’s 3rd term merely because of a bruised ego. 

3.) West Virginia is dumb.  I’m not a fan of this theory.  It’s a little harsh.  However, we’ve all read the exit polls showing that Hillary garners more support from the uneducated than Obama does.  I’m just sayin’…

4.) West Virginia wants to further divide and crush the Democratic Party.  They want McCain, that’s why they’ll vote for Hillary.  They are soldiers in Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos.”  (Side question: is it just me or is Rush’s head getting larger by the second?  Literally.  Like Violet in “Willy Wonka in the Chocolate Factory,” only it’s not his whole body, just his head.  Crazy.)

5.) West Virginia has been secretly abducted by an alien race involved in a game show where the player wins a million alien dollars everytime someone on Earth utters the word “Hillary,” so they want her to be in the public eye as long as possible.  Hillary.  Hillary.  Hillary.  That’s 3 mil’ right there alone.  You’re welcome.

I have no answers today.  Only questions.  I imagine all of the theories are correct to some degree.  Okay, maybe not the fifth one.  I’ll give you that.

But, I will tell you this: none of these theories bode well for the integrity of the people of West Virginia.  All of the theories are based on toxic thinking and intentions.  So, I don’t really want to believe any of them.  I have more faith in the people of America.  I have more faith in West Virginia… mountain momma… take me home… country roads…

C’mon, West Virginia.  Take us all home.  Please. 

Sincerely,

America

Step right up, kids.  Play the game.  See how you do. 

The Bush-McCain Challenge.

When is done, done? When is over, over? When do grains of sand become a pile? When do two separate entitities capable of endlessly dividing the distance between them actually meet?

So many questions tonight need answering. To fall back on hackneyed phrases, ‘where there’s smoke there’s fire.’ We have smoke filling up the kitchen because this turkey is just a hair past done.

Joe Madison was on Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN, and made a really good point. Hillary is loaning her campaign another $6.4mm to stay alive. One would think she must have confidence that she can pull out a victory, but, BUT - the fact that she had to do so indicates that other people do not share her confidence. She is having to compensate for the lack of faith that her supporters are now demonstrating. Where are the dollars? Where are the donors? Why isn’t she receiving the support of the people if she is the one the people truly want?

CNN had Charlie Rangel, (D) Congressman NY, on earlier and Anderson Cooper asked him point blank, “…at this point, what do you see as a possible path to victory for her?”

Rangel answered Cooper with a quip, “The fact that mathematically she can win…” He went on to compare Clinton to the Giants and how they went into the Superbowl thinking they could win. (He was correctly assuming that many of us out there did not think they could.)

Anderson quickly followed up on this ambiguous retort by saying, “How do you see her possibility of winning…”

Wait for it…

Wait for it…

We’ll just say this moment was brought to you by MasterCard:

Campaign Debt - $11m, Chances of Winning - Less than 1%, Charlie Rangel Endorsement - Priceless

Rangel answered Anderson by saying, “I don’t know. I…I don’t play, uh uh, those kind of cards. All I’m saying is that that clearly if she couldn’t win at all, she would not be in.”

He has no idea how she can win. He only assumes she can win because she is still in the race.

Charlie Rangel, Congressman from the great state of New York - he has no idea how the person he is saying can win, can indeed win.

Charlie Rangel has no idea what he is talking about.

Charlie Rangel is a prominent Clinton Supporter.

Some prominent Clinton supporters have no idea they are talking about. However, they continue to support her.

He gave us a football analogy when he brought up the Giants but he discussed the Giants’ chances prior to the game. Hillary is in the fourth quarter. It is fourth and long with less than two minutes and she is down by four touchdowns. I respect trying to win the game, but there comes a time when you realize the game is out of reach and you take a knee.

Charlie, the reason you don’t know how she is going to win is because none of us do. Your simple utterance, ‘I don’t know,” summed up the opinion of an entire nation. None of us know how she thinks she can win, but she marches on.

Hillary - look up at the scoreboard, think for a moment and then take a knee. There is no shame in losing a hard fought battle, but there is shame in denying the obvious truth. You still recognize truth, don’t you?

I was listening to Randi Rhodes radio show yesterday when she played the following snippet from a McCain rally speech. I have not been able to find him quoted in print but here’s my transcription:

“My friends i will have an energy policy that we will be talking about which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the middle east….. that will (applause)….. that will then prevent us (applause)…… that will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the middle east.”

Don’t know about you but that pretty much says it all.

Your honor… motion to dismiss the case. The witness has rights.

Here we are on game day.

Again.

Indiana and North Carolina.  Polls show North Carolina to be in the hands of Obama.  And polls show Indiana to be close, with Hillary a couple points in the lead.

Wow.  Exciting.  I can barely contain myself.  Wait.  Hold on.  I have to scratch my arm.  Little mosquito bite.  Those things can itch.  Not like Texas mosquitoes.  I tell you what, those bitches are crazy.  What are they called?  Tiger mosquitoes?  I’m in Los Angeles where most mosquitoes are vegetarian anyways.  Not so bad, but…

Oh.  Sorry.  Where was I?  Oh right.  Very exciting.  Game day.

Hey, let’s do a hypothetical.  For kicks.

Let’s say Hillary takes Indiana by 28 points.  I know, that’s an absolute impossibility.  But, for kicks, let’s play.  Okay.  So she’s got Indiana by 28.  Now let’s give her North Carolina by 28 points as well.  And then let’s…  You know what - let’s give her every single one of the last primaries by 28 points.  The whole gamut.  Indiana, North Carolina, West Virginia, Oregon, South Dakota, Kentucky, Montana, and Puerto Rico.  All of them, 28 points.

Where does that leave us?

Obama: 1890 delegates.  Hillary: 1861 delegates.

In other words, if Hillary scores an impossible upset, and wins all of the remaining primaries by this fantastically impossible amount not even conceivable in the land of Oz, who ends up winning the democratic nod?

Still Obama.

Isn’t that, like, really interesting?  Wow. 

So, anyway, about this mosquito bite…

The McCain-Clinton Gas Tax Holiday proposal is a monumentally bad idea and just another example of the short-sightedness of these two candidates.

Do people care? I am not sure.

We have a knee-jerk, band aid fix that will arbitrarily force down the price of gas encouraging Americans to drive more over the summer. I am no economist but in a situation in which we are already dealing with supply and demand factors driving up the cost of gas, contriving a fix will do nothing to help with our actual situation..or in the more eloquent words of Krugman from the New York Times:

It’s Econ 101 tax incidence theory: if the supply of a good is more or less unresponsive to the price, the price to consumers will always rise until the quantity demanded falls to match the quantity supplied. Cut taxes, and all that happens is that the pretax price rises by the same amount. The McCain gas tax plan is a giveaway to oil companies, disguised as a gift to consumers.

Krugman goes on to say:

So it’s Econ 101: the tax cut really goes to the oil companies.

Hillary is saying she and McCain’s plan will help the people of Indiana and America, but what she really does is put more money into the pockets of big oil, even with her excess profits tax on oil companies. We the people get nothing but another empty promise and your friends in oil and gas get to buy more Cadillacs.

Who is Hillary really helping with this moronic idea? How about terrorists? Here’s a bit from Jonathan Alter in Newsweek:

Hillary Clinton has now joined John McCain in proposing the most irresponsible policy idea of the year—an idea that actually could aid the terrorists.

Clinton, the sniper-fire dodging candidate, is offering help to terrorists and tyrants. Alter is just getting warmed up there though. He goes on to criticize the abject stupidity of the idea:

Not one respectable economist—and not one environmentalist or foreign policy expert—supports the idea, unless they are official members of the Clinton or McCain campaigns (and even some of them privately oppose it). To relieve suffering at the pump, send another rebate check or provide tax credits or something else, but not this.

Why is this gas pander so bad? Let me count the ways:

* It’s a direct transfer of money from motorists to oil companies, which are getting ready this week to again report record obscene profits. If the federal excise tax were lifted, oil companies would simply raise prices and pocket most of the difference. Clinton’s proposal to recover the money with a windfall profits tax on oil companies sounds nice but won’t happen. That tax was easily blocked by the Senate in December and would likely be blocked again.

* It offers taxpayers only peanuts. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials says the average savings to motorists this summer would be a total of $30. Did I miss something, or was that measly number somehow not included in Clinton’s explanation of her support?

* It sends more hard-earned money to the Middle East, which is terrible for our national security. Remember, 15 of the 19 terrorists on 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia. How did they get the terrorist training? The madrassa indoctrination? Oil money.

* It worsens global warming by encouraging gasoline consumption. When you flee your house in 2020 because of flooding, remember which politicians pandered.

There is no silver lining here and no cause for celebration. It is worse for security, worse for the environment ultimately DOES NOTHING TO LOWER THE PRICE OF GAS in the long-term. However, in the short-term you car-driving maniacs out there will save $30.

$30.

In LA there are bars where that will not buy you two drinks. Is that worth the risk and the expense? Isn’t that just thick-headed pandering in a desperate attempt to get votes from an uninformed and trusting public?

Want to hear something really crazy? The industry you would think might support some sort of lowering of gas costs, the trucking industry in America, also thinks it’s a bad idea. Here’s an excerpt from Sam Stein on the Huffington Post:

UPDATE: Even the American Trucking Association, the group the Clinton camp says is most favorable to it’s idea, offers a tepid thanks but no thanks. From the group’s spokesperson:

ATA appreciates the effort and supports the proposals. But we do have concerns that any fuel tax suspension proposal could damage the already ailing Highway Trust Fund. To the extent that McCain and Snowe’s proposals use general revenue funds to offset the hit to the trust fund, that concern is addressed. ATA did not ask for this legislation. And we believe it is only a very short term answer that does not do anything to address the longer term issue of rising fuel prices. ATA recognizes that rising fuel costs have a disproportionate impact on small trucking companies where even a small savings can be the difference in their staying in business.

Even an industry entirely rooted in the supply and demand chain of gas prices thinks it is a monumentally pathetic idea, short-sighted in nature and damaging to future interests.

Wow.

There is no expert support or endorsing of this idea whatsoever, even from those with very vested interests.

Hillary has accused the oil companies of market manipulation, but much like her Bosnia experience, she needs to take a deep breath and get her story straight. Oil is expensive right now because oil is scarce, real scarce. For every one barrel we produce globally we consume three. There is a fantastic article on the Telegraph about this. If you read nothing else for the rest of the day, read that article. Here is something from the article that should make you shudder:

The idea that oil companies are somehow ‘to blame’ for record oil prices and rising fuel costs is seductive but absurd. For all their power and profits, the international oil companies are in fact in trouble. They may still be swimming in cash, but no longer in oil. Despite vast investment in exploration and production, these days they generally fail to replace the oil they produce each year with fresh discoveries, or even to maintain current levels of output.

Hillary is dead wrong, again. We cannot even maintain our current levels. The time for cheap gas is gone for good no matter what Hillary or McCain try and sell us and there is nothing they or the oil companies can do about it.

Don’t buy it - think for yourself. We have candidates trying to get elected who are throwing out short-term solutions that they say promise to save you money. Walk away from their empty promises and their campaign-speak.

It is time for real solutions that are probably going to hurt. Progress often does, but progress will take us beyond the vacuous words of a desperate and dying campaign and in the direction of a better means of living. Real progress, real change is possible but we have to start thinking for ourselves and behaving responsibly.

It is that simple, but it will not be easy.

Are we still really talking about this Jeremiah Wright non-issue? Seriously? Could it be that this is simply the closest the the corporatic media has come to sticking something on Obama and they just can’t let it go?

This is “manufactured outrage” in it’s most blatant form, primarily aimed at avoidance of important, discussion-worthy issues such as why are certain candidates jerking us off with gas tax “holidays” while Congress considers battling Bush on renewable energy…. something that would actually lead to jobs, energy independence and lower costs?

Fifty, by the way, is how many dead soldiers we lost in Iraq in April bringing our total to almost 4,000 dead and 30,000 wounded. Why aren’t we talking about that?