Stuff I read This Weekend

Stuff I read This Weekend

Bleeding Heartland has a really good thread aimed at the fellow bloggers: How did YOU do with your predictions? My thoughts, among many others, are there.

One thing I said in my prediction post: "Should Obama win the presidency, especially if he carries Florida, will Democrats finally let go of their obsessive hatred of Ralph Nader?" Apparantly not, as Kos launched not one but TWO anti-Nader tirades over the weekend.

Kos neglects to differentiate between folks who went for Nader in 2000 vs. those who stayed with him in `04 and `08. Nationwide, about 80% of the Nader 2000 vote went elsewhere; here it was closer to 90.

Just remember, before he was Saint Al the Martyred Non-President with his Nobel Prize and Oscar, and before W showed us just how bad things could get, Gore was just another DLC-wing moderate. Leaving aside the electoral math, the choice of Nader over the relatively progressive Kerry or Obama makes little sense, but over the 2000 model of Gore, it does. Don't forget, Old Version Al thought the best qualified person to be a heartbeat away was Joementum. Who has proceeded to do just what us Nader 2000 folks were pilloried for: Bolted the party.

Speaking of Lieberman, There's a Senate Democratic caucus vote on that tomorrow. A SECRET ballot. On Friday, the two Vermont senators, Pat Leahy and Bernie Sanders, went public saying he should be stripped of the Homeland Security chair. The secret vote helps anti-Lieberman forces who can express themselves honestly without violating "courtesy."

I'd like to see worse than losing the chairmanship. Give him no committee assignments at all, just let him cast floor votes.

Enough about losers. Let's look at the Big Winner. Barack and family are trying to enjoy the last scraps of Normal Life, but there's a strong possibility that he may have to give up the CrackBerry. And a really cool Kos diary on the history of the Obama's house, which was delayed to post election because of the Ayers conspiracy theorists.

Finally, this headline and byline: "How To Save A Major Automobile Company" by Neil Young.