Category: The Dish

On A Plane

I’m headed to Walla Walla in Washington state tonight – I’m stranded, once again, on the tarmac as I write. Another two hours delay – but I was able to catch the exit polls! Blogging will be spotty as the results come in, but I hope to post a full round-up once the final, actual – you know – results are here. Oh, yeah, and I’m headed from Walla Walla to LA for the Bill Maher show this Friday – the first back with writers. I’ll try not to look in actual physical pain as Jonah did last week.

The District Of Obama

My hometown – the ersatz colony that Americans still poignantly think of as part of their democracy – goes big for the Democratic insurgent. Money quote:

"I voted for the next president of the United States, Barack Obama," said Phil Andonian, a 31-year-old lawyer sporting a Barack Obama T-shirt underneath his winter coat, outside a polling station in the nation’s capital.

"The Clintons have shown themselves to be a political machine not much different than the Bush administration," Andonian said.

Dissents Of The Day

Two readers differ with my characterization of John McCain’s argument that talking about withdrawal from Iraq is intellectually insulting:

That wasn’t temper … that was someone who appeared to me to be passionate about winning the war. It was nice to see!

Another:

Actually, McCain took a good shot at Obama and scored.

Look, Obama has hitched his wagon to the Maneuver A Brigade Out Every Two Months schedule that is supposed to get us out over a period of 16 months. If I’m Al Qaeda and the Iranians, I ramp up my bombings and attacks on the Americans while they are withdrawing to make my Muslim audience think that the Americans are withdrawing under fire. This is Bo-Peep Warmaking and McCain is right to call the Young Lad on it.

McCain gets this. Obama doesn’t. Or, at least, he does intellectually but he isn’t telling his base voters the truth: once he is elected he will be forced by events to adopt Bush’s surge policy. Hand it to McCain-he the one who is being honest about what will have to be a protracted, painful withdraw. Barack is still peddling candy to his base voters.

It feels like the general election has already begun, doesn’t it? On one point: it seems stupid to me to hinge our strategy on how al Qaeda will spin it. However we withdraw from Iraq – and McCain wants us to withdraw as much as Obama – al Qaeda will say it’s a victory for them. What really matters is whether it is a victory for them, how we withdraw prudently, how we get the Iraqis to step up (or not), and whether the costs and blowback of occupying Iraq for the rest of our lives are worth avoiding the unrest that would follow our departure.

Iraq is not Germany. It isn’t even Kuwait. If McCain doesn’t understand that, then he’s the one who’s insulting our intelligence.

McCain’s Virginians

Of the quarter or so of Republicans who somewhat or strongly disapprove of the Iraq war, McCain beats Huckabee. Huckabee wins a majority of those who "strongly support" the war (52 to 41 percent). My only explanation is that support for the Iraq war is actually a religious phenomenon; and the pastor wins the votes of the Bush-cultists. (Hat tip: Matt.)

Republicans For Clinton

A reader writes:

My wife and I have never voted for anything left of Republican, frequently voting on the Conservative party line when available.  Yet today, we both voted for Hillary in the VA primary.  Why?  Because it seems McCain has it wrapped up, so why waste our vote on the Republican side; she is a lot less scary than Obama in many ways (better the Devil you know), and I think she is more easily beaten with her high negatives and lack of charisma.  So we were part of the high Dem turn out today which I am sure you will hear about.  And there is no way we will ever vote Dem in November.

We live in a highly conservative precinct (Eric Cantor is our Congressman).  I saw many folks today picking up the Democratic ballot also.  I think my wife and I were far from alone in our thinking.