The Dish

I’m probably reading too much into this but on Friday night, Obama included Clinton in his rationale for his campaign:

"I would not be here were it not for the fact that somebody, somewhere stood up for me. Because one person stood up, a few more stood up. Then a thousand stood up, and then a million stood up. That’s why Hillary Clinton can run for President.  That’s why I can run for President."

And today, Clinton responded to chants from Obama supporters:

"If Senator Obama is the nominee, you better believe I’ll work my heart out for him."

Hmmm.

A reader writes:

So let’s see if I’ve got this straight. A former White House speechwriter acknowledges what we all knew already….that Fox "news" is functioning as a coordinated appendage of the Republican party? Almost seems as if this might warrant a mention from Howie Kurtz or one of the other self appointed media lapdogs (sorry. "Watchdogs", I meant to say) but I’m not holding my breath.

I will stick up for Fox’s First Amendment rights for as long as is needed, but it does make me wonder what kind of evidence would be needed to demonstrate the level of coordination needed to treat Foxnews’s reporting as a monetary contribution within the ambit of the campaign finance laws. Not sayin’ that that would be a good idea at all.  Still, I feel about 99.9% sure that there is some evidence out there. though probably nothing as strong as an internal memo.

Advice and tips from contestants for "Miss High Times."

Mark Bowden’s 2004 article on Al Sharpton seems appropriate after Wright’s showboating this week:

This brings us to Sharpton’s broader problem: the death of the Negro Spokesman. I use this antiquated term because the concept itself is so dated. Throughout our history white America has recognized a certain few figures as "leaders" of the black community—a pattern that Michael Eric Dyson, a writer and a humanities professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has called "an old, abiding problem." They alone were considered able to speak for the whole race. This was true on a local level and also nationally, as prominent African-Americans from Frederick Douglass to Booker T. Washington to Martin Luther King Jr. stepped up to serve as spokesmen for people otherwise excluded from public life. Sometimes, as with King, these figures had the enthusiastic support of black Americans; sometimes, as with Washington, they did not. In a country that increasingly accepts itself as multiracial, where blacks are no longer even the largest minority, the role of the Negro Spokesman is as outmoded as the Victrola. Most black intellectuals, particularly younger ones, are glad to be rid of it.

And Obama is trying to get beyond it. Hence the internal backlash.

William Saletan’s thoughts on research into artificial blood cells:

The idea of having little plastic sacks pumped into your bloodstream sounds pretty freaky. We’re talking about filling you with petroleum products in a way that challenges the meaning of "flesh and blood." For all I know, further animal or human testing may find unforeseen health risks from this kind of mixture, particularly at such a small scale and with such pervasion of the body. But if the technology turns out to be safe, it’ll go a long way toward loosening our concept of ourselves as biological creatures.

From last night – an interesting point about the black pulpit as a safe space for African-American rage. Many of his points are well taken, which makes Wright’s culture-warping shenanigans more depressing. Wright is not as bad as many white fundamentalist preachers close to Republicans. But Moyers cannot deny the unique link between Wright and Obama:

Astonishing footage of a Frenchman and his horses from the Camargue:

Obama de-friends Wright on Facebook. Ouch.