The Hollywood Liberal

Clinton Lacks Path to Nomination — and Exit
Sen. Hillary Clinton is “darting around the country like a full-fledged presidential candidate,” but the Los Angeles Times notes that within her “circle of advisors and donors, the conversation has turned to how she can make a dignified exit from the race.”

“For all the signs of normalcy, much of the infrastructure that keeps the New York senator’s campaign going — the aides, donors and political allies — is resigned to the hard reality that the Democratic nomination now appears out of reach.”

But just as she can’t find a path to the nomination, she also doesn’t have a clear path to exit.

“Having invested 16 months and raised more than $200 million in the campaign, Clinton may find it difficult to quit. Her campaign persona is now built on the idea that she’s working-class America’s scrappy warrior. So dropping out with six contests left in the campaign season would be awkward.”

McCain’s Lawyer Smacked Down By His Own Organization
McCain’s lawyer, Trevor Potter, poo-poohs the idea that FEC Chairman David Mason was fired because he was critical of McCain’s public finance hypocrisy. But the Campaign Legal Center, the organization that Trevor Potter founded, strongly disagrees…

Created by tw3k

Trevor Potter, John McCain’s lawyer, flips his shit at the notion that there was anything improper about the White House’s removal of FEC Chairman David Mason (per Ambinder):

The McCain campaign believes that Commissioner Mason’s questions have been answered satisfactorily, and that if he is on the Commission when a quorum is restored he will agree that Sen. McCain’s withdrawal from the system was proper. Accordingly, given the lack of evidence that Commissioner Mason thinks otherwise, the controversy about the White House decision to nominate someone else for the Mason seat seems to be a manufactured one.

Really? The Campaign Legal Center, the organization that Trevor Potter founded, strongly disagrees. From J. Gerald Hebert, the Center’s Executive Director:

The White House has thrown the wrong FEC nominee under the bus. Chairman David Mason has been cast aside by the White House for insufficient party fealty while the nomination of an unqualified but loyal partisan remains pending. It is a move sadly reminiscent of the U.S. Attorney purges.

Fred Wertheimer of Democracy 21 also had some choice words for the Mason dismissal. Why have so many of these good governance groups finally found their voices with regard to this wanton politicization of the FEC for McCain’s benefit? Word has it that the Politico is doing an investigative piece on how the reform committees are too close to McCain. It may have been the impetus for many a “come to Jesus” moment.

Obama Has Visited All 57 States But One

Whoops, Obama in Oregon today:

It is wonderful to be back in Oregon,” Obama said. “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it.”

The Times' conscientious Robin Abcarian thought she heard something different there. She checked her tape recorder. It had captured what he had actually said — 57 states now.

He even paused before he said “57” as if he was thinking about the number. Obama explained afterwards:[More…]

At a later stop Obama was talking with reporters and expressed concern he'd also mis-stated the number of potential cyclone victims in Burma. He said, “”I hope I said 100,000 people the first time instead of 100 million. I understand I said there were 57 states today. It's a sign that my numeracy is getting a little, uh.” At that point, an aide cut him off and ushered journalists out. Before he could mis-speak again?)

And who knew that's why he didn't go to Hawaii, the state he grew up in — because his “staff would not justify it.”?

57…The Times asks if it's a reference to John Kerry's Heinz 57. Maybe it's a reference to his supporter Bruce Springsteen's song, “57 channels and nothing on.” I've been thinking that since Tuesday night.

All election topics welcome here.

Deep Thought
Is Lamar Alexander still alive?

David Sirota: Acknowledging the Race Chasm
The pervasive racism that taints our political discourse will persist until we recognize and reject it.

Bashing China (and the US) from the Left – and Below
The problem I see with much of the discussion of Fareed’s book — and Michael Lind’s response in particular– is that it is so centered on relations and conflicts between nation-states and seems to leave little room for analyzing…

We Hardly Know You Anymore
Add Joe Conason to the list of those dismayed by the direction of Hillary’s campaign….

Cheney: US economy ‘envy of world’
Cheney: US economy ‘envy of world’

Iraq veteran gets the call again
‘Convinced that reinstating the draft would definitely end this war.’

ThinkFast: May 9, 2008
As gas and crude oil costs jumped to record highs yesterday, USA Today has released a survey showing that these increasing costs are pushing “Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits.” Seventy-one percent say gas prices are a “financial hardship,” […]

As gas and crude oil costs jumped to record highs yesterday, USA Today has released a survey showing that these increasing costs are pushing “Americans to drive less for the first time in nearly three decades, squeezing family budgets and causing major shifts in driving habits.” Seventy-one percent say gas prices are a “financial hardship,” up from 47 percent in March 2004.

The American Petroleum Institute, Big Oil’s main lobbying group, “has embarked on a multiyear, multimedia, multimillion-dollar campaign” to convince voters that “rising energy prices are not the producers’ fault and that government efforts to punish the industry, especially with higher taxes, would only make pricing problems worse.”

The Senate Democrats unveiled the Consumer-First Energy Act of 2008, a bill to address the root causes of high gas prices. Major oil companies “are getting away with murder” and “gouging” consumers as the price of oil continues to soar, Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) said.

Two months after “the Pentagon announced in March that Maj. Gen. Jay W. Hood would become the senior American officer based in Pakistan,” the military “has quietly canceled the assignment. General Hood, a 33-year Army veteran, “was excoriated in the Pakistani news media for one of his previous jobs: commander of the United States prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.”

“Hezbollah fighters seized control of rival pro-government strongholds in Beirut on Friday as gunbattles rocked the Lebanese capital for a third day, propelling the nation dangerously close to all-out civil war.” Hezbollah has also forced the shutdown of all media forced the shutdown of all media belonging to the family of parliamentary leader Saad Hariri. (more…)

The Trail
Two Hollywood actors who dined with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in early 2001 at actress Candice Bergen’s home confirmed reports that he told the assembled group he did not vote for George W. Bush in the 2000 election, but McCain denied the claim at a news conference.

Obama Now Focusing Mostly on McCain
ALBANY, Ore., May 9 — As Sen. Barack Obama matched her in endorsements from the party leaders who are likely to decide the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, aides to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s struggling campaign dismissed suggestions that she is close to dropping out of the race.