The Dish

A reality check from Ambers:

HRC won, if you’ll recall, 49 to 33. Can Obama exceed 33% of the vote? That’s his floor — and the floor for his expectation. He is almost certain to improve on this number, which would, under certain circumstances, give him the equivalent of a moral and perceptual victory in the state.

What worries Obama managers in Chicago is the timing: if Florida is seen as a real re-do, and if the media portrays it as a wide open contest, a clear Clinton victory would give her a big bounce of momentum right as the primary window closes.

An online chat with the Times of London’s Danny Finkelstein. I’ve know Danny for a long time and used to be just to his right. Anyway, I try and explain why a self-described small-c conservative likes Obama. I guess I should reiterate that I am undecided about the general election if it turns into a McCain-Obama battle. There are aspects to both men that I deeply admire. Oddly, I find McCain more persuasive on domestic policy and Obama more realistic when it comes to foreign policy. But I can’t be the only person relieved that this may be our choice this fall. It’s about the best outcome one could have hoped for six months ago.

"Would I want Hillary answering the red phone in the middle of the night? No, bloody not. The White House first responder should be a person of steady, consistent character and mood — which describes Obama more than Hillary. And that scare ad was produced with amazing ineptitude. If it’s 3 a.m., why is the male-seeming mother fully dressed as she comes in to check on her sleeping children? Is she a bar crawler or insomniac? An obsessive-compulsive housecleaner, like Joan Crawford in "Mommie Dearest"? And why is Hillary sitting at her desk in full drag and jewelry at that ungodly hour? A president should not be a monomaniac incapable of rest and perched on guard all night like Poe’s baleful raven. People at the top need a relaxed perspective, which gives judgment and balance. Workaholism is an introspection-killing disease, the anxious disability of tunnel-vision middle managers," – Camille Paglia, cheering so many up.

… can you fit into one sentence? A reader forwards this:

Eliot Spitzer’s tumultuous tumble from the zenith of a promising political career to the nadir of a shocking sex scandal came as no surprise Wednesday as the bright, bull-headed governor announced his resignation, effective Monday, under bloating pressure from state lawmakers and the public.

A reader writes:

It is important to note, and try to comprehend why, Bill Clinton would totally de-gay his 950-plus page name-dropping autobiography, "My Life" (Knopf, 2004).

The index of "My Life" is one giant gay redact. Why would Clinton not mention at least one of the positive gay stories from his Presidency? Why wouldn’t he at least mention his appointment of the first openly gay U.S. Ambassador James Hormel? Not a word in the book about Ambassador Hormel. Why wouldn’t he include his naming the first openly gay person to be confirmed for a sub-cabinet post by the Senate, that "damn lesbian" (Jesse Helms), Roberta Achtenberg?

You would think standing up to Jesse Helms’ bigotry might have been considered an interesting and positive anecdote.  Not there.  But Clinton does have time and space to mention that Helms held up the nomination of  Bill Weld to be ambassador to Mexico.   Why couldn’t Clinton summon up the grace to mention his longtime gay friend and supporter– when it counted—David Mixner.  Nothing in the book about Mixner. He is not listed in the index. The first-ever openly gay or lesbian Assistant to the President, Virgina Apuzzo, is not mentioned; nor is Daniel Montoya, an openly gay man who was named Executive Director of the Presidential Advisory Commission on HIV/AIDS. Fred Hochberg, the first openly gay person to be appointed Deputy in a cabinet level agency (Small Business Administration), was not mentioned.   Richard Socarides was not mentioned; he was the openly gay liaison to the gay and lesbian community. Bob Hattoy, a well known supporter and part of the Administration, is not mentioned in the index. Vic Basile, a gay leader, and Peace Corps Liaison is not mentioned. White House Special Counsel Elaine Kaplan is not mentioned. Keith Boykin, whom Clinton sent to Zimbabwe, not mentioned. 

All of these people were openly gay and supporters of President Clinton; and many of them were involved in situations that were significant challenges, even triumphs, for President Clinton.

Bob Hattoy once summed up the Clintons’ approach to gays in their time in the White House in one phrase: "It’s the economy, faggot." The other phrase that springs to mind is: "How much money can they raise"?

Marc Lynch:

What pushed me over the brink was the Clinton campaign’s treatment of Samantha Power.  Not because she’s a personal friend – I’ve never met her – but because of the deeply ugly implications of Clinton’s decision to burn a well-respected, decent, intelligent Democratic Party foreign policy advocate to secure a momentary political advantage.

I’m still amazed so many people are surprised. Do they not know who the Clintons are?

A reader writes:

Last night, I sat reading Gordon W. Prange’s fine book "At Dawn We Slept: The Untold Story of Pearl Harbor" when I came across a passage that made me think of how far we’ve fallen in the years of the Bush administration.

The passage relates that "in later days Yoshikawa [a Japanese agent in Hawaii] frequently spoke of his fear of the FBI" and that perhaps "he equated the FBI with Japan’s sinister Tokko ("Thought Police"), which had an unpleasant habit of arresting and "interrogating" suspects with no such details as evidence, warrants, or habeas corpus to cramp their style."

It’s a sad state of affairs when one can read about the "sinister" methods of a past totalitarian, militaristic regime and see things that the government of the United States of America is doing today.  Once our nation fought against such atrocities, but now we can only look back and see ourselves.