Notes From All Over

this is why i have to be better about writing on my blog. i take a few days off and i have mucho to talk about. let the rambling begin:

edwards falls flat
so i watched the AFL-CIO debate this evening (as you knew i would) and i was amazed at how disappointing a performance edwards turned in. this was to be his crowd. he's been positioning himself as the union candidate - but from the get-go he just came across as awkward and phony. i think he tried too hard to attack hillary and the crowd wasn't responding. he came across as disingenuous and more interested in making hill look bad than actually addressing the concerns of the audience.

biden and kuninich did not help matters. kucinich clearly stole edwards thunder with the union crowd. edwards was on board - but dennis said exactly what they wanted to hear. bye-bye NAFTA, WTO and "no child left behind." and when edwards started listing his picket-friendly credentials ("i've walked in 200 picket lines."), biden cut him down basically saying: it's great that you've stood on 20, 30 picket lines over the past two years - since you've started running for president - but where were you those six years you worked in the legislature? ouch.

"i was on a picket line on saturday"
the chicago sun-times is reporting that, yes, edwards was on a picket line on saturday...for about ten minutes. he also used that time to film part of campaign ad, even turning to the camera and saying, "i'm john edwards and i approve this message." ouch.

future cabinet posts
so edwards tried hard to control the dialogue and to strike at hillary, but hillary has two new "surrogates" (as chuck todd put it) and this is something i noticed, as well. suddenly dodd and biden are fighting for hillary. could it be they know she'll be the next president? is joe trying to firm up is candidacy for secretary of state under a clinton administration?

"i'm your girl"
which brings us to my hill. what another masterful performance. yes, she was booed once for her statement about presidents thinking big but not voicing all their thoughts (not a smart comment with the uber-secretive bush administration causing that bad taste in our mouths) - but she otherwise commanded the debate. she stayed above the fray, as lynn sweet put it. and her answer after being attacked by both obama and edwards over and over again early in the debate was a great moment. again, paraphrasing: "you know, i've noticed a lot of the candidates using my name over the past several days. but i'm here to be president, not attack other democrats. i want us to win. and i've been fighting the right-wing machine for the past fifteen years and i've come out stronger. so if you're looking for someone that can win against them... i'm your girl." my inner-feminist cringed at the word "girl" but, hey, woman connected, she humanized herself and, most importantly, she reminded everyone that she is strong and will stand up to the right. brilliant.

most everyone i heard afterwards said hillary won or obama won. i would say obama won on the debate over pakistan (i strong moment for him) but hillary won overall. mostly because all she had to do is not lose.

new poll numbers!
hillary is now ahead 22 points over obama in the latest usa today/gallop poll. hill stands at 48% (almost HALF of the democratic field) with barack trailing at 26 and edwards at 14. it would appear that her continued ascension would be thanks to her mastery of foreign relation issues, including terrorism. the "spat" between hill and barack has seemed to have bumped hillary and lessened obama. newsweek has hillary, obama and edwards at 44%, 23% and 14% respectively (identical to the nbc/wsj poll).

interesting numbers from the washington post/abc poll of likely iowa voters show that over half the voters want change and 39% want strength and experience in their next president. how does that break down?

best change candidate: obama 37%, edwards 31% and clinton 15%. hmmm.....
best strength candidate: clinton 38%, edwards 21% and obama 14%. yea!

to break it down even further: 50% of poll respondents think hillary has the best experience. only 7% think obama is the best experienced, which must be a worrisome number for axelrod and the obama camp. hillary also leads with 36% of the vote as being viewed as the strongest leader.

the same poll, yes, put obama ahead as the most trustworthy and most likeable candidate - with edwards second and hillary trailing in third. but as i heard one pundit say, "we've had 8 years of the guy you want to have a beer with. people now want competence." and national polls still put terrorism and homeland security as the top priority facing america. hillary has positioned herself as the best candidate to answer this call.

and i think it continues to show hillary's electability on the rise. and i think america will continue to warm to her (her likeability numbers are on the rise). which brings us to our....

meet the press quote of the week
compliments of mr. carl bernstein: "so much of (hillary's) character has been defined by acolytes and enemies instead of the best obtainable version of the truth... finally, maybe we're gonna get that." let's hope so...... you go, girl.

what the fuck?!?!
has anyone read about the massive fuck-up the dems have pulled off? they approved bush's previous wire-tapping and have actually increased his authority to listen in on our conversations?!?! and to top it all off....fucking gonzales gets to oversee all of this?!?!

nancy... harry... don't make me regret fighting for you guys to take over in 2004. what in the name of paul wellstone are you doing?!?!

i will back cindy sheehan in california, nancy. don't tempt me!

dipshit of the week
kyra phillips of cnn was reporting on the heartbreaking minneapolis bridge collapse when she mentioned that there had been signs of the weakened state of the bridge for years. then she said, and i quote: "but nobody crossed that proverbial bridge until it was too late."

ummm..... does she not see that it was not a proverbial bridge but an actual bridge? and that people died? what an inconsiderate schmuck.

oh - and wait for it: the bridge's reported problems date back to the 90's. i don't know how, but give the republicans time. somehow - they'll blame this on president bill clinton too. you mark my words.

e.