Category: The Dish

A reader, among many, writes:

I am a white man, straight, Midwestern suburban kid who went to public high school and on to the Ivy Leagues and top-end grad schooling. I was born in 1971, three years after the deaths of MLK and RFK, but I used to listen to recordings of their speeches as early as 5 years old.  My mother taught me that fairness and equality among all people was the most American of values.  So it should come as no surprise that in the already Southern Strategy Republican Party-era I have been a lifelong Democrat.

And I have been scouring the internet and news stations for little reactions like the one you began with this morning.  And I am just sitting here weeping at that report of the shrieks of joy that you posted. What this moment and day means cannot be overstated to this country.

As an American, I have been full of rage and hatred at Republicans these past 7 years for how they have cynically and deliberately and sneeringly fouled every notion of decency this country stands for – my rage was come by honestly.  I feel all of the things the bombthrower feels.  Edwards would seem to be my guy. And I like John Edwards personally.  I want that guy on my side.

But Obama brings me to tears, over and over, and over again.  And I find that the correctness of vitriol and the satisfaction in its venting is trumped by the value of being drawn toward empathy and forgiveness for your sworn enemies.  And reading about the raw elation of African-Americans who see this as the first true real deal for the first moment in all American history, it makes it that much sweeter.

I have a lot of connections to the NH field staff for Obama and I have no doubt whatsoever Obama will win NH from what I hear daily.  And then he will win South Carolina.  And then the machine-chit system Clinton is using for the Feb 5 states will fall like a house of cards.  Obama is already up and running in those states on the ground with his own organization, not proxies.

And on November 4, 2008, you will see a landslide and a national mandate, no matter the Republican opponent. Not even McCain can withstand this.  A 72-year old man cannot stand up to the under 45 generational wave. There was a 30% increase in Republican turnout… over 2000 (remember no caucus in 2004 for them).  Dem increase since 2000?  290%.  290-30.  That is an eloquent statement about the devastation the Bush years have unleashed on their own party, in addition to the nation and the world.  And Huckabee is their cynically created frankenstein, a golem they can no longer control.

This morning is such a beautiful one.

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty.)

Hewitt on Huckabee. You couldn’t make it up:

I’ll be listening to Rush, Sean, Laura and the rest (my friend Michael Medved has thrown in with McCain) and reading the blogs to see if surrender has set in, or whether the coalition that Reagan built is worth fighting for.

It’s the MSM’s fault, of course. But fear not:

The hundreds-of-thousands of individual donors to Romney, Giuliani, and Thompson haven’t agreed to the media’s rules for wresting the party away from them, and the voters of 1994, 2000 and 2004 certainly haven’t.

Really, most enjoyable.

A reader writes:

It was hilarious. They had no idea what to do. Rush Limbaugh was on and he was clearly annoyed that the Republicans did not vote the way that the establishment wanted. It was watching the machine Rove built begin to crumble. They didn’t know what to do about Huckabee, they didn’t know what to do about Paul, and they really didn’t know what to do about the fact that they might not have Hillary to attack come November. It was beautiful.

I did watch Fox. The one thing that kept striking me was that almost every single woman on the channel has been made to look like a Barbie doll (just not as articulate); and almost every man is old and white.

That’s more of an eruption than a caucus.

My take. The outlook is grim. Deservedly so.

Leonard Cohen’s Democracy, which I reprinted in full yesterday. If you don’t know it, check it out. It’s been in my head for a day now, and particularly as the results came in last night:

    I’m sentimental, if you know what I mean
    I love the country but I can’t stand the scene.
    And I’m neither left or right
    I’m just staying home tonight,
    getting lost in that hopeless little screen.

    But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags
    that Time cannot decay,
    I’m junk but I’m still holding up
    this little wild bouquet:
    Democracy is coming to the U.S.A.

A reader writes:

I was in a bar tonight watching the results come in and a pundit came on the TV and said "the people of New Hampshire have two very different candidates."  This was followed quickly by a native Bostonian in the bar who blurted out "Yeah, one’s a wah’r hero and the other’s a douchebag." I think he hit it right on the nose.

Their polling record holds.

In their first head-to-head, Ron Paul thrashed Rudy Giuliani. Will Fox now reconsider?

Wakey, wakey:

I think the manner of Barack Obama’s win is pretty impressive. I can’t be the only one who was a bit inclined toward a cynical roll of the eyes at the idea of winning on the back of unprecedented turnout, mobilizing new voters, brining in young people, etc. That sounds like the kind of thing that people say they’re going to do but never deliver on. But he did deliver. That’s impressive.