I know what you’re thinking.
“What” you say, “kind of loser is updating an admittedly unimpressive political blog on a Saturday night?”
An amped loser, that’s who!
I mean I'm not exactly a…aw, who am I kidding? I’m definitely a loser.
But after spending the better part of the day with a group of diverse strangers, all gathered together under a common political banner, here’s hoping I have attached myself to a winner.
I participated in one of several thousand “community kick-off” events hosted by Barack Obama’s online machine.
It was a last minute decision, and another late night Internet romp, that led me to register at Obama’s website. I found no fewer than 100 active groups within a 50-mile radius. On a whim, I picked the kick-off event that had the most RSVPs and off I went, my mother in tow for protection.
We were early. Real early judging by our hostess’ purple Velcro rollers. But true to great hostess form she did not let that stop her from offering a gracious welcome into a beautiful home in one of Charlotte’s most historic, read: expensive, neighborhoods.
Before long about 27 other guests joined us, all squeezed into a quaint and tastefully decorated sitting room.
The group included college students and people who spoke of "ol' Bobby Kennedy" with the wistfulness of those who were actually alive to witness the dying of Camelot. There was a straw vote that revealed the crowd to be 25% registered Republicans and 30% first time political activists. Men and women; black and white – we all shared our reasons for supporting Obama.
I listened as people I suspect are quite different from myself espoused some fairly intimate and passionate beliefs about why Barack represents them and their politics. From globe-trotters who have witnessed first-hand how deep anti-American sentiment runs to registered Republicans who prize common sense over party affiliation; they were all there.
The sentiment that surprised me the most was the oft expressed hope that electing Obama would send a signal to the rest of the world that America is no longer as myopic as our history suggests or as gleefully ignorant as the past 7 years prove.
Mature white woman waxed rhapsodic over the connection they feel with this young black man. An old acquaintance from his Harvard Law Review days offered personal antidotes that reinforced the popular opinion in the room that he is as real as he seems.
By the end of the day money had been raised, a few barriers maybe transgressed and promises to organize rallies and discussion salons made.
And, so, it is with great pleasure that I make the announcement dozens, or maybe two, of you have been waiting for: UnCommon Sense Politics is endorsing Barack Obama for President.
Your Militant Diva has harbored Obama love for quite some time now, but I finally decided that he is not only viable, but timely. It would seem that I am not the only one to come to that conclusion.
To that end, I encourage you all who do not know him to get to know him at http://www.barackobama.com/. Read his two books. As a writer and voracious reader I promise them to be engaging and authentic.
Check him out for yourself and if you feel the same warmth and inspired rightness of this man at this moment, get involved.
Maybe he cannot win as some claim. Maybe he won’t win, as is very much a real possibility. Maybe Hillary has Bill and Rudy has the right. Maybe Fred Thompson is, indeed, the Great White Hope.
But if he does not pull it off, I for one do not want it to be because those of us who truly believe in his message, his politics, and his potential did not do our personal best to support his cause.
After all, what could be more American than a group of passionate individuals crossing gulfs of party, gender, race, and age to gather for civil political discourse on a sunny day in Carolina?
What, indeed.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
I smell Mexican barbecue. You?
Former Department of Justice Aide, Kyle Sampson, took the stand before Congress today and he made one thing perfectly clear for you mo-fos – he’s nobody’s fall guy!
I honestly did not expect it. Granted, he looked about as shaky as Kanye West calling Bush out on Katrina but he made it perfectly clear that Gonzales did, indeed, “deliberate” and “discuss” the selection, and subsequent firing of, eight US Attorneys.
In related news, a White House Spokesperson backed away from Bush’s unconditional support of the embattled Attorney General with a snarky, “Mr. Gonzales will have to speak for himself.”
Damn homie. That’s cold. The man did what y’all told him to do, how you told him to do it and now y’all gonna cut him loose. In the streets, that’s called…well, I don’t exactly know what it’s called in the streets as I grew up in a cul-de-sac but I’m sure I could find a suitable Tupac lyric.
Now, one of y’all owes me a ten spot. I called it the minute this story lasted beyond a week: won’t no way in hot Hades the little Mexican man wasn’t going to take the heat for this. No way. I actually feel badly for him.
You’ll notice that Sampson is less emphatic about Karl Rove’s involvement. That man said, “I’m a Mormon but I ain’t no fool.”
Rove is now, officially, more gangsta than Scarface. Fiddy and other assorted wanna-be gangstas need to study THIS man’s hustle. He’s as elusive as a ghost and as pervasive as ether.
He’s everywhere and nowhere, if the burden is proof.
Sure, he negatively impacts the lives of millions but if you can remove yourself from the outcome you have to admit he is pretty fly for a white guy.
Even with Rove’s name all up in emails and memos Sampson refused to “recollect” a single instance of Rove’s office exerting any pressure.
Suuuuuuuure.
His name is like Kleenex now – generic for any powers that be.
I tell you, one day the history books are going to whitewash this administration and release only ¼ of the real behind-the-scenes story and it will still give believers of democracy nightmares.
In other news, I keep meaning to discuss all of the great stuff happening in the presidential race. I shall try to break down the top contenders on both sides in the coming week. To hold you 'till then:
-An actor?! You got lucky with the first one Republicans, don’t be greedy.
-Hillary’s BUYING endorsements now?!
-Edwards got a nice sympathy bump. Can he sustain it? I definitely felt a shifting of the polls on the day he made the announcement about his wife’s cancer. We shall see…
-Guiliani? Really? This guy is more abrasive than a Jewish mother of a 40-year-old unwed woman. Get outta here.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Double agents and double crossings
It was something in the air. The putrid smell of justice and retribution could be scented among the foliage of spring and the proliferation of pigeon shit.
The man was on to them.
The Double Agent backed up the files with a snap of her wrist and unconscious toss of her silky blond locks. Anyone of her equally privileged and overworked coworkers would assume she was doing what she always does – handling business.
They would be right. It is the nature of that business, its very insidiousness, that would surprise them. The Double Agent had become an Insider’s Insider, in no small part because she knew how to properly handle, and dispose of, business.
Not to mention she knows the smell of retribution when she inhales it.
In days she would have a high-powered attorney, a justice committee head calling for blood and F-I-F tattooed on the small of her back.
The Double Agent hated the smell of justice almost as much as she hated being on the receiving end of it.
/Scene
That is how I imagine Monica Goodling's final days before she made good on the promise held in the phrase “going underground.”
Fine, I may have taken a few creative liberties, but you have to admit it beats CNN’s “legitimate” reporting (read: snooze fest) wherein all they could dig up was a resume, some law school reunion pics and neighbors who claim they don’t know her.
I do not know what it is Ms. Goodling knows or when she knew it…or when she told it, but I do know that if Ms. Lewinsky had been half as smart as this chick she might be employable and we might have enjoyed the final days of the go-go 90s in peace.
Whatever happens here I find this chick intriguing. In the day and age of reality TV, Internet infamy and Paris Hilton, I am amazed that someone can resist the call of the cameras. This woman must have something to live for.
Or, she’s seen what they do to pretty girls in sing-sing. Either way, I’m just saying, it has the potential to be good news TV.
Something that some folks are saying wasn’t good news TV was Katie Couric’s interview of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth who recently disclosed – in a very discreet and private manner in front of two hundred cameras – that her cancer battle has resumed.
Look, I’m no Couric fan. Neither am I a John Edwards fan – pretty boys make me nervous. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be titillated or intimidated. However, I have always liked Elizabeth.
As is often the case with political wives, people tend to forget that she’s a lawyer with a damn impressive resume herself. In interviews she has always struck me to be the heft behind the Barbie, or the Ken, as it were.
She comes across as human, engaged, self-depreciating and smart.
Her husband often comes across as a Breck girl.
Yet, I do not think Couric’s interview crossed the line. It certainly crossed it no more times than does the media’s relentless pursuit of mistresses, errant lines in a ten-year-old memoir or a candidate’s wife penchant for writing romance novels.
Some people DO wonder if the announcement was properly positioned to maximize its time on the front page. Some people DO wonder if having an ailing wife hurts or helps Edwards’ campaign. And after so many years of being pandered to and simultaneously raped by our elected officials, many of us *gasp* question the motives of anyone who would want to join their ranks.
It is not the questions that crossed the line, but our need to ask the questions that has pushed us all over the line. And no one is more to blame for that than politicians who kiss cute babies, visit black churches on kente cloth day and screen attendees at “town hall” meetings.
So leave Couric alone. The Hill, the House and the Press created this mess.
Most of us would have been satisfied with an address to send good well cards
The man was on to them.
The Double Agent backed up the files with a snap of her wrist and unconscious toss of her silky blond locks. Anyone of her equally privileged and overworked coworkers would assume she was doing what she always does – handling business.
They would be right. It is the nature of that business, its very insidiousness, that would surprise them. The Double Agent had become an Insider’s Insider, in no small part because she knew how to properly handle, and dispose of, business.
Not to mention she knows the smell of retribution when she inhales it.
In days she would have a high-powered attorney, a justice committee head calling for blood and F-I-F tattooed on the small of her back.
The Double Agent hated the smell of justice almost as much as she hated being on the receiving end of it.
/Scene
That is how I imagine Monica Goodling's final days before she made good on the promise held in the phrase “going underground.”
Fine, I may have taken a few creative liberties, but you have to admit it beats CNN’s “legitimate” reporting (read: snooze fest) wherein all they could dig up was a resume, some law school reunion pics and neighbors who claim they don’t know her.
I do not know what it is Ms. Goodling knows or when she knew it…or when she told it, but I do know that if Ms. Lewinsky had been half as smart as this chick she might be employable and we might have enjoyed the final days of the go-go 90s in peace.
Whatever happens here I find this chick intriguing. In the day and age of reality TV, Internet infamy and Paris Hilton, I am amazed that someone can resist the call of the cameras. This woman must have something to live for.
Or, she’s seen what they do to pretty girls in sing-sing. Either way, I’m just saying, it has the potential to be good news TV.
Something that some folks are saying wasn’t good news TV was Katie Couric’s interview of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth who recently disclosed – in a very discreet and private manner in front of two hundred cameras – that her cancer battle has resumed.
Look, I’m no Couric fan. Neither am I a John Edwards fan – pretty boys make me nervous. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be titillated or intimidated. However, I have always liked Elizabeth.
As is often the case with political wives, people tend to forget that she’s a lawyer with a damn impressive resume herself. In interviews she has always struck me to be the heft behind the Barbie, or the Ken, as it were.
She comes across as human, engaged, self-depreciating and smart.
Her husband often comes across as a Breck girl.
Yet, I do not think Couric’s interview crossed the line. It certainly crossed it no more times than does the media’s relentless pursuit of mistresses, errant lines in a ten-year-old memoir or a candidate’s wife penchant for writing romance novels.
Some people DO wonder if the announcement was properly positioned to maximize its time on the front page. Some people DO wonder if having an ailing wife hurts or helps Edwards’ campaign. And after so many years of being pandered to and simultaneously raped by our elected officials, many of us *gasp* question the motives of anyone who would want to join their ranks.
It is not the questions that crossed the line, but our need to ask the questions that has pushed us all over the line. And no one is more to blame for that than politicians who kiss cute babies, visit black churches on kente cloth day and screen attendees at “town hall” meetings.
So leave Couric alone. The Hill, the House and the Press created this mess.
Most of us would have been satisfied with an address to send good well cards
Monday, March 26, 2007
And Hello Again
I beg all of your pardons, as I have been more dedicated to finishing up the semester and relaunching www.tressiemc.com than spewing forth my political diatribe. In the words of Rakim: I shouldn’t have left you without an opinion to cling to. Well, it could have been Rakim. Shut up, you know I suck at pop culture references.
But I cannot suck at them anymore than this administration seems to suck at comprehending the inherent “politicking” that must be done when your party loses control of Congress. They can say what they want about Bill but at least he knew how to pander to the camera while throwing punches behind the scenes.
This president, however, is living up to his self-professed title of Decider while simultaneously channeling every old Western “shoot off at high noon” posture every struck.
Since my last post we have witnessed his staunch defense of the indefensible Donald Rumsfield…and his subsequent replacement of Donald Rumsfield.
We have watched him needle the left about pork in the national budget while failing to mention its bipartisan appeal.
We have watched him refuse to engage Iran and Syria in bilateral talks to help create an environment in the Middle East where Iraq has the slightest chance of survival should we ever leave.
He has looked up the word veto and upon discovering it’s meaning and has threatened to exceed his previous grand total of ONE.
And as of my last check as midnight my time today he was still showing support for his beleaguered Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez.
Now, say what you will about this issue reeking of retaliation, the truth of the matter is the President’s office does indeed have the right to fire U.S. Attorneys at will. The problem is this issue left behind the discussion of legality the minute Mr. Gonzalez proved himself incapable of towing the line with any conviction or believability.
Now it just all seems to support the idea – right or wrong – that this administration actively participates in subversive and illegal dealings to advance its agenda.
Saying, “Hell yeah! I fired ‘em. They wasn’t my kind of people. I like good people. Good people work for me” may have left a bad taste in folks’ mouths but the issue would have been dead.
Instead this issue has lived for over two weeks now – an eon in political time – and taken on an almost Nixon-ish air. Average folks can’t tell you the details of this issue but every day it takes up another corner above the fold or crawls across the bottom of the screen they get the feeling that something ain’t quite right.
And it is that feeling, more so than email communications that point out blatant inconsistencies in Gonzalez’s previous assertion that he had no part in choosing who got fired, that will linger long after the fall guy takes his hit for the team.
Now…who wants to put money on if and how the whole issue of Monica Goodling choosing to, in the words of Dave Chappelle, “plead da FIF!” will play out?
C’mon! I got that reference right!
But I cannot suck at them anymore than this administration seems to suck at comprehending the inherent “politicking” that must be done when your party loses control of Congress. They can say what they want about Bill but at least he knew how to pander to the camera while throwing punches behind the scenes.
This president, however, is living up to his self-professed title of Decider while simultaneously channeling every old Western “shoot off at high noon” posture every struck.
Since my last post we have witnessed his staunch defense of the indefensible Donald Rumsfield…and his subsequent replacement of Donald Rumsfield.
We have watched him needle the left about pork in the national budget while failing to mention its bipartisan appeal.
We have watched him refuse to engage Iran and Syria in bilateral talks to help create an environment in the Middle East where Iraq has the slightest chance of survival should we ever leave.
He has looked up the word veto and upon discovering it’s meaning and has threatened to exceed his previous grand total of ONE.
And as of my last check as midnight my time today he was still showing support for his beleaguered Attorney General, Alberto Gonzalez.
Now, say what you will about this issue reeking of retaliation, the truth of the matter is the President’s office does indeed have the right to fire U.S. Attorneys at will. The problem is this issue left behind the discussion of legality the minute Mr. Gonzalez proved himself incapable of towing the line with any conviction or believability.
Now it just all seems to support the idea – right or wrong – that this administration actively participates in subversive and illegal dealings to advance its agenda.
Saying, “Hell yeah! I fired ‘em. They wasn’t my kind of people. I like good people. Good people work for me” may have left a bad taste in folks’ mouths but the issue would have been dead.
Instead this issue has lived for over two weeks now – an eon in political time – and taken on an almost Nixon-ish air. Average folks can’t tell you the details of this issue but every day it takes up another corner above the fold or crawls across the bottom of the screen they get the feeling that something ain’t quite right.
And it is that feeling, more so than email communications that point out blatant inconsistencies in Gonzalez’s previous assertion that he had no part in choosing who got fired, that will linger long after the fall guy takes his hit for the team.
Now…who wants to put money on if and how the whole issue of Monica Goodling choosing to, in the words of Dave Chappelle, “plead da FIF!” will play out?
C’mon! I got that reference right!
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