Er, these are all in your medicine cabinet? ;)

Posted at May 17, 2008 6:44 PM in response to Republican slogan suggestions

Nah, it had that bad attitude before it changed its name to "Present".

Posted at May 17, 2008 5:10 PM in response to CNN Exploits Ted Kennedy

The thing is, it's so easy to just escape them! I don't know why TPM hasn't been able to fix this. It would take an entry level web programmer no more than 10 minutes to fix. (Of course, a more experienced programmer would take longer because s/he'd want to do it with more style, but I digress.)

Posted at May 17, 2008 5:09 PM in response to CNN Exploits Ted Kennedy

It's debatable as to whether Hillary broke the rules, and, in fact, there are those who claim Obama broke them in FL by not preventing his national spot from running there.

Regardless, what's not debatable is that in Michigan, Obama's name was not even on the ballot because he was following the spirit of the rules as well as the letter. (Again, I'm sidestepping the issue of whether or not their pledge required them to take their name off the ballot.) Another, equally pernicious problem, that applies to both states, is that on the day of the primary the general understanding is that the delegates from those states would not be seated. That really encourages people to stay home, I would think. An even bigger problem arises in FL where on the day of (or maybe it was the day before) the primary, Clinton suddenly decides that those delegates should be seated. So, if you're a big Clinton supporter, you're going to show solidarity by showing up and voting, but if you're a big Obama supporter, you could show solidarity by not voting—since he didn't think those delegates should be seated.

So, there are big problems involved in seating these delegates in a fair fashion. Ideally, party officials at the state and national level (including Obama and Hillary) would've been doing their best to resolve this before January. It didn't happen. I think the next best thing would've been to have a second primary. Also didn't happen. So, we are where we are. Not seating the delegates at all is an option, and furthermore is the option currently in the rules (as amended in 2007). However, that alienates voters from FL and MI, which is not going to help us in the general. Reverting back to the rules prior to the 2007 amendment, where FL and MI would be able to seat half of their delegates gives the semblance of following the rules as well as the semblance of the delegates counting. It's an awkward compromise, because neither would really be true. The rules aren't really being followed because we're changing the rules after the fact, even if it's to a prior set of rules. The delegates aren't really counting, because the only reason such a compromise could be readily agreed upon is that they're not going to change the final result (i.e., Obama would still win). No one would be thrilled with this, but hopefully no one would be too annoyed, either.

Posted at May 17, 2008 4:58 PM in response to Hillary begging supporters to contact DNC--the rest of us better respond

Well, Josh has said he's looking into it.

Posted at May 17, 2008 4:38 PM in response to CNN Exploits Ted Kennedy

I understand completely. Suddenly, I have the urge myself.

Posted at May 17, 2008 4:36 PM in response to Guns are dangerous

Actually, having quotes anywhere in your screen name causes this effect. (I first discovered it when adding "Hussein", in quotes, as my middle name.)

Posted at May 17, 2008 4:30 PM in response to CNN Exploits Ted Kennedy

I was having a hard time parsing that last sentence until I figured out that your "here" is not the same as my "here".

Also, for those not in the know (such as myself), I.C.E. = Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Posted at May 17, 2008 4:25 PM in response to So, You're a 'Legal' American, Huh?

:P

I just don't want to drive Huckabee's supporters into the arms of McCain.

Posted at May 17, 2008 4:14 PM in response to Guns are dangerous

Just so you know, Opus, he insulted me personally first, so don't think you're special, OK?

Posted at May 17, 2008 3:36 PM in response to CNN Exploits Ted Kennedy