Political Wrap
An interesting night in the primaries, wasn't it? The polls show Kerry could now defeat Bush, and Edwards could too, but by a narrower margin. And they both did well tonight. Kerry cleaned up, actually. Clark squeaked through in Oklahoma. Joe dropped out. Dean looks weak. Sharpton picked up his first delegate.
The odd thing is Edwards' surge. A nice guy people trust, who refuses to rant about the inadequate character of others or about the problems and mistakes of the past, and tends to think instead about how to fix things now and what might be good to do in the future? How odd. Blame is so much fun in politics! Well, the commentators on the right have a new nickname for him - "The Breck Girl." We'll see what happens to him. I'll watch for the Ann Coulter article mocking him.
So this week's primaries are over.
What do it all mean? Too early to tell. But as Markos Moulitsas Z?niga put it:
And on we go.In Kerry's nightmare world, Dean and Clark drop out. He doesn't match up favorably one-on-one versus Edwards. So today's muddy results (Clark wins one, Edwards wins one) was probably Kerry's best realistic outcome (short of winning every contest). It makes sure the field remains fractured.
But if the Super Bowl halftime show showed anything at all, it showed we really care about Janet Jackson's erect nipple.
What really matters? Celebrities.
So as seen from Hollywood, the list of who is supporting whom:
Dean has the backing of two fictional presidents, Martin Sheen (President Josiah Bartlett of "West Wing") and Michael Douglas (President Andrew Shepherd of "The American President"), although the man who created both characters, writer Aaron Sorkin, reportedly decided to support Dick Gephardt. Oops. Gephardt was gone in a flash. Dean also has the support of Director Rob Reiner, comedian Robin Williams, and actors Paul Newman, Whoopi Goldberg and Susan Sarandon. Ah, old folks.
Clark has Madonna, political provocateur Michael Moore, and actor Ted Danson under one big tent. (Looking ahead to a possible Bush-Clark debate, Moore said, "I really want to hear President Bush have to say, 'Yes, General, No, General.'")
In the battle of the bands, Kerry appears to have captured the nostalgia vote with endorsements from James Taylor, Carole King, Bette Midler and Peter Yarrow - of Peter, Paul and Mary. More old folks.
Edwards has the slightly younger folks with Hootie and the Blowfish, while Dennis Kucinich is being backed up by Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Ani Difranco and Michelle Shocked.
Oh yeah, before he dropped out Gephardt was endorsed by Michael Bolton, Barry Manilow and Tony Bennett. Need one say more?
Edwards has been endorsed by "pretty boy" actor Ashton Kutcher.
Kucinich has pretty impressive list of endorsements: Danny Glover, Ed Asner and Joaquin Phoenix.
Now that you know all this, who do you think will receive an endorsement from Janet Jackson, or Michael Jackson, or Kobe Bryant, or Martha Stewart, or Scott Peterson? Enquiring minds want to know!
This is not to say we are a shallow, frivolous people. No.
But doesn't it strike you that the Super Bowl and its halftime show was a great recruiting tool for al-Qaeda and its variants? Was this evening designed to give the "resistance fighters" in Iraq - with their roadside bombs and exploding Toyotas - a reason to fight on?
It wasn't just the briefly bouncing boob and the awful music. Add in the commercials - the farting horse and the dog that bites a fellow's testicular apparatus to get his master a beer. And all this framed by a few hours of costumed steroid-enhanced mutants on speed clobbering each other for glory.
This was showing the people who wonder about what we're doing in their neighborhood just what folks in the Middle East could have if they give in to us - what they could be.
Some future.
Posted by Alan at 21:18 PST
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Updated: Tuesday, 3 February 2004 21:24 PST
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