New Nine Inch Nails album available completely
free

post from Talking in Circles on 05 May 2008 09:05:00 PM. © Talking in Circles

I just downloaded the FLAC version of it and I haven’t finished listening to it yet. So far, it’s totally kickass.NIN has been putting out a lot of stuff lately, and it’s of consistently good quality. Even better, it’s nice to see a major artist who’s actively embracing creative commons.theslip.nin.com

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tely-free/

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If It Quacks Like A Duck

post from Firedoglake on 05 May 2008 09:00:27 PM. © Firedoglake

It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. -- Upton Sinclair, on numerous occasions. This could be why it's so difficult to get accurate mainstream reporting on Republican activists[...]

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http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/05/if-it-quacks-like-a-duck-2/

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John McCain didnt vote for George Bush in 2000:
Has adopted his platform for 2008

post from Crooks and Liars on 05 May 2008 09:00:04 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Talk about party loyalty. Hillary and Obama both have said they would support the nominee of the Democratic Party to their fullest extent. Apparently—that does ring true for John McCain. The fact that this man was so angry at what George Bush had done to him, and at what Bush represented for their [...]

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n-2000-has-adopted-his-platform-for-2008/

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Insider Advantage Indiana Poll: Another
Statistical Tie

post from TalkLeft on 05 May 2008 09:00:00 PM. © TalkLeft

The Insider Advantage Indiana poll is out. It's Hillary 48, Obama 44, with a 4 point margin of error. Actual results are here (pdf.)

Obama’s problem in Indiana is as clear as black and white, literally. It appears he will pull in his customary 80%-plus of African-Americans, but blacks make up only about 10% of all voters in the Indiana Democratic Primary. Meanwhile, Clinton is leading 54% to 41% among whites.

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http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/TalkleftThePoliticsOfCrime/~3/284295359/92989

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Blog Nightline

post from Taylor Marsh on 05 May 2008 09:00:00 PM. © Taylor Marsh

Guest post by Grey With a ridiculously worded subject line, Thomas Edsall reports that the Clinton campaign might use -??the nuclear option-?? in order to count Michigan and Florida.With at least 50 percent of the Democratic Party’s 30-member Rules[...]

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http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27604

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Fair and Balanced Popular Vote Totals

post from Daily Kos on 05 May 2008 08:25:13 PM. © Daily Kos

A NYT op-ed by Rhodes Cook:

While Hillary Clinton probably can’t catch Barack Obama in the race for most pledged delegates at the Democratic presidential nominating convention, she does have a shot at overtaking him in the popular vote. Whoever triumphs in that symbolic total will have a persuasive argument to use with the wavering superdelegates who are likely to decide the race this summer.

Granted, Mrs. Clinton boasts that she has the lead already, but her count includes the votes in the unsanctioned primaries in Florida and Michigan. A fairer calculation would eliminate the ballots cast in those two states, as well as the votes from caucuses where no statewide tally of the actual vote was compiled. (Those states are Iowa, Maine, Nevada and Washington; Mr. Obama won three of them.) Territories that do not possess any Electoral College votes should be ruled out, too.

What a compelling argument! There's no way Hillary Clinton will come out ahead of Barack Obama in pledged delegates. Obama may soon pass Clinton in commitments from super delegates. It's quite possible that by the end of the primaries that Obama's combined total of pledged delegates and commitments from super delegates will exceed 2,025, the number of delegates required to secure the nomination in Denver. Obama will have won more states. He polls ahead of Clinton nationally, and he consistently polls better than Clinton among independent swing voters.

To be fair, Cook doesn't count the totals from Florida and Michigan, which were not sanctioned by the DNC and which Clinton said shouldn't be counted. She's harped on MI and FL because she needs to keep uncertainty to keep everyone from telling her she's lost, and that she won't be the nominee.

But, if Clinton does really well the rest of the way out, and if you don't count four states that that don't count caucus votes, three of which Obama won outright and the fourth one from which he won more pledged delegates, then maybe Clinton will squeak past Obama in what this author calls the popular vote.

In other words, if you give Clinton a several state handicap, she might look better than Obama, but even then, only on one measurement, and not one that is anywhere in the rules for determining our nominee.

I can't wait for the Olympics. I'm looking forward to hearing and reading arguments about how the winner of the 100-meter dash shouldn't be given the gold medal, because the second-place finisher's time over 92 meters was faster than the time of the winner's over the entire 100 meters.

Who could possibly argue that that's not a fair calculation?

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Tight

post from Talking Points Memo on 05 May 2008 08:25:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

SurveyUSA's final poll of North Carolina: Obama 50%, Clinton 45%.[...]

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McCain Aides Say Hagee Endorsement Was The Result
Of ‘Poor Vetting’

In addition to having previously referred to Catholicism as “The Great Whore,” controversial pastor John Hagee said on NPR in September 2006 that Hurricane Katrina was the result of God condemning New Orleans because “there was to be a homosexual parade there” the day the hurricane hit — a belief he recently reaffirmed.

Despite Hagee’s radical and bigoted beliefs, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) sought and received Hagee’s endorsement for president — one McCain said he was “very honored” to have. Since then, Hagee’s views have garnered more attention, sparking wider questions as to why McCain would accept such an endorsement.

In a recent article on the McCain/Hagee saga, Newsweek reports that McCain aides attribute the courting of Hagee’s support to “poor vetting.” But some from McCain’s own party wonder how his views could have “slipped through the cracks”:

McCain’s aides attribute the Hagee controversy to poor vetting. But even some Republicans (not affiliated with the campaign) privately wonder how the pastor’s extreme views slipped through without notice. McCain personally wooed Hagee for more than a year.

Indeed, “some Republicans” weren’t the only ones greeting this explanation with confusion. The New York Times’s Frank Rich noted yesterday that “[a]ny 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops”:

Are we really to believe that neither Mr. McCain nor his camp knew anything then about Mr. Hagee?s views? This particular YouTube video ? far from the only one ? was posted on Jan. 1, nearly two months before the Hagee-McCain press conference. Mr. Hagee appears on multiple religious networks, including twice daily on the largest, Trinity Broadcasting, which reaches 75 million homes. Any 12-year-old with a laptop could have vetted this preacher in 30 seconds, tops.

Newsweek noted that McCain “likes to think of himself as a straight-shooter” but when asked about Hagee’s endorsement, McCain starts “bobbing and weaving” — which is exactly what happened last month during an interview on ABC’s This Week. McCain agreed that the endorsement was “a mistake,” but 30 seconds later said he is “glad to have it.”

In seeking Hagee’s support, perhaps McCain and his staff did not “properly” vet the controversial pastor because they were taking advice from McCain’s buddy Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who just last year compared Hagee to Moses.

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http://thinkprogress.org/2008/05/05/mccain-hagee-vetting/

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The republican war on voting rights

It’s long past time to talk about this whole “election integrity/voter fraud/voter ID/election fraud/ballot fraud” matter in a very different way. Consider the following hurdles that have not been overcome when talking about the need[...]

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Hospital Airstrike Killed Mahdi Army Commanders

A source in Sadr City confirmed to IraqSlogger that a controversial American airstrike over the weekend on a building adjacent to a major hospital in the eastern Baghdad district killed a number of local commanders of the Mahdi Army militia.

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http://www.iraqslogger.com/index.php/post/5780

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