Bill And Hillary

Roger Ebert tries to imagine what the movie of this campaign would be like:

It would be a sad story, but a true one, and it might contain more truth than political movies are conventionally allowed to have. It might, like "Bulworth," say forbidden things. And issues would not be at issue: The campaign was not about political positions, but about sheer desire.

“Recent Keepers”

As the pace of the Dish has accelerated this year (close to 300 entries a week now), some posts get pushed down the page very rapidly. A few readers have asked about recent posts and within a few hours, they are almost lost to the page. So for some of the longer posts, or mini-essays, we’ve added a new feature on the right hand column of the Dish: "Recent Keepers," or the five most substantive recent posts I’ve written. It keeps them more easily available for longer. Of course, "longer" is a relative term on the web.

McCain’s Latest Preacher Problem

David Corn reports on a man whom McCain has called "a spiritual guide" and who believes that America must destroy the "false religion" of Islam. McCain has not rejected Rod Parsley’s endorsement and shared a stage with him. Of course, a twenty-year relationship with a preacher counts for more than a public political endorsement and embrace of a religious nut-job. But Obama kept Wright at a political distance for a reason; and when McCain keeps no distance and even embraces the religious far right, he has to be held accountable. If the religious left is now part of the politics of association, so too must the religious right.

And the truth is: the GOP is far, far more influenced by its religious fanatics than the Democrats by theirs’. And yet the right-wing extremist ranters are given a pass, as mainstream Republicans like McCain feel obliged to suck up to them. After what the right has done with Wright, they don’t get a pass any more. The GOP needs to be held accountable for every religious extremist it panders to, especially when their sectarian rhetoric could impact the work of American foreign policy:

Lovely Plumage

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From Rod Dreher:

Voter (pointing to delegate-math statistics on CNN): Now that’s what I call a dead candidate.

Geoff Garin: No, no…..No, she’s stunned!

Voter: STUNNED?!?

GG: Yeah! The voters stunned her, just as she was wakin’ up! Hillary stuns easy, major.

Voter: Um…now look…now look, mate, I’ve definitely had enough of this. That campaign is definitely deceased, and when I voted for Mrs. Clinton not two days ago, you assured me that her total lack of movement was due to her bein’ tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.

GG: Well, she’s…she’s, ah…probably pining for Yankee Stadium. She’s a big Yanks fan, you know.

Voter: PININ’ for YANKEE STADIUM?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did she fall flat on her back on Tuesday night?

GG: Hillary Clinton prefers keepin’ on her back! She’s a fighter, an underdog. Remarkable bird, is’nt she, squire? Lovely plumage!

Voter: She’s not pinin’! She’s passed on! Her campaign is no more! It has ceased to be! It’s expired and gone to meet its maker! It’s a stiff! Bereft of life, it rests in peace! If Hillary Clinton hadn’t nailed herself to the Democratic Party perch she’d be pushing up the daisies! This campaign’s metabolic processes are now history! She’s off the twig! She’s kicked the bucket, she’s shuffled off her mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleedin’ choir invisible!! THIS IS AN EX-PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE!!

Clinton Rationale For The Day

She goes there:

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama’s support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

Does she hear herself? "Working, hard-working Americans, white Americans." "Whites in both states." If a Republican said this about a black opponent, his career would be in jeopardy for racism.