I can't bear to read another Clinton diary tonight. I need a distraction from the ugliness. I guarantee you this will be one of the most politically irrelevant diaries of the day but perhaps it will bring a welcome relief from what has been a trying week.
I admit, I got the idea of this from someone who posted a "they are so bad they are good" movie diary a few weeks back. Only tonights theme is TV shows. I watched entirely too much TV in the 1980s. If it was on, I would watch it. From the A-Team to the Golden Girls...I didn't discriminate. And being that the 1980s were my formative years, my young brain absorbed every plot line and episode of these TV Shows (remember when Albert Ingalls developed an addiction to morphine and stole drugs from Doc Baker on Little House? Or when Mike Seaver went to a party and people were trying cocaine but in a move of maturity, he went home and told his psychaitrist dad everything that had happend?)
I have lived in relative secrecy with an eating disorder for the past seventeen years. My disease has manifested in every range of the spectrum from anorexia, bulimia, purging, to compulsive overeating. At times it may be apparent to the outside world but mostly it is an internal battle that that is waged in my mind. My symptoms are fluid, depending where I am on that spectrum. But what is constant is the desire for control, feelings of low self-esteem, shame, and isolation. My struggles are not unique. Statistics show that up to 7 million females, and one million males are suffering from an eating disorder in the US. We are your sisters, mothers, neighbors, teachers, waitresses, doctors: eating disorders do not discriminate against race or class. Chances are you know someone who struggles. 5%-20% of all untreated anorexics will die from their disease (many taking their own lives) and it carries the highest death rate of all mental disorders.
My hopes in writing this diary is to raise awareness for those who are not affected, and to assure readers who are affected, that they are not alone.
Richardson responds quickly to the Clinton camp's attempt to marginalize his endorsement of Barack Obama. Earlier today,
Mark Penn had this comment:
The time that he could have been effective has long since passed," Penn told reporters on a conference call. "I don’t think it is a significant endorsement in this environment."
No real surprise there but it seems that Richardson is feeling rather empowered by breaking free of Bill and Hillary.
Apparently, Clinton's team is saying that Hillary will not be dropping out of the race on Tuesday if she loses Texas (the most likely to happen). One could argue that, of course, they have to project an image to her supporters that she is in this all the way to the end-otherwise what is the justification for going out to the polls and voting for her? However, the fact that she is Hillary Clinton, arguably one of the most ambitious people in modern politics, and has spent her post-First Lady years preparing for this nomination, I tend to think she is going for a perceptual win.
Here is the latest:http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...
I'd like to share a real conversation I had this weekend with an "undecided" family member. My uncle lives in Oregon and my cousin attends graduate school in Wisconsin and they are a very proud democratic family. Our phone conversations often fall into political discussions as we know that we can confide to one another without the fear of offending anyone with our political beliefs. Since my cousin will be voting in the upcoming primary, I asked if they had decided who they liked for president. My uncle hesitated and said "Well, it's harder than I thought it would be this year...I think Hillary is ready but we are really intrigued with Obama. It's hard because they seem so close on so many policies." Below is my little anecdotal account of how I switched a leaning Hillary/undecided to Barack Obama.
I am writing this out of much anger and disgust. After hurricane Katrina the national conciousness of race and class issues became mainstream, but unfortunately, old habits die hard. I have felt a sense of great shame for my country, especially since November of 2004. "We" gave our blessings on this unjust war that has taken the life of so many innocent people, "We" have turned our back on the poor, sick and elderly and literally starved them on american soil for all the world to see. If I had a nickel for every time I said "my head is ready to explode"....and here I sit in small town america, confronted with racist attitudes on the street I live and once again feeling ashamed of where I live and the community around me. And again, my blood is boiling.
The Washington Post has written an analysis of Bush's crisis in the white house. While not a damning indictment of the man, it does offer some behind the scenes candor with "aides" who are making it clear that Bush is desperatelty trying to regain his footing. A few of the highlights after the jump.
Okay, Kos says it's that time of the month where we get to think about potential '08 dem. presidential candidates. In that spirit, I thought we could use this diary to take a look at the potential list of GOP candidates and take a poll on who you would LEAST like to see get the GOP nomination. It's not a complete list by any means and I'm sure that there are people I'm forgetting..but here are the one's that have expressed a passing interest (or at least are leaving open the possibility), or have been mentioned in MSM.
What a cruel twist of fate we have been dealt this past week. Since 2000 we have been screaming that this man is not fit to be CIC; wisdom, curiousity, compassion, ability to think critically, being able to speak beyond short-declarative sentences, etc. are all qualities that are sorely lacking in George W. Bush. You knew it. I knew it. But the masses, for various reasons,always wanted to give Georgie Boy the benefit of the doubt. This naive view that your drinking buddy would make the best president, sprinkled with a little voter fraud has resulted in 5 agonizong years for us all.
It is bad enough to be in mourning but to come here and find the venom being aimed at John Kerry is disgusting. I watched John Kerry and John Edwards deliever a gut-wrenching concession speech and the only mention it gets on here is "Who cares what they have to say" (a comment that was rated a 4). There is a time to move on and reflect on what went wrong (or more importantly, where to go from here) but the frenzy from so many on here to spew hatred against a man who has been fighting his whole life for the right causes, a man that 24hrs ago many on here were claiming, "he could be a truly great president" makes me ill. In response to a "Kerry let us down ..." comment I responded that he wouldn't conceed unless he knew he couldn't win and I was troll-rated. I know tensions and emotions are all over the place, but is it so god-damn hard to show a little respect for the man?
Results are based on telephone interviews with 785 registered voters in Iowa, aged 18+, conducted October 22-25, 2004. For results based on this sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±4 percentage points.
Seems Arnie is not only a thoughtless husband (remember he told us how Maria wouldn't sleep with him after his RNC speech), but a poor nephew-in-law as well. In case you were wondering if the man has any shame about using his family for political gain, the answer is no.
My God. I just finished watching Kerry and Clinton in Philadelphia. My heart is pounding and I feel we are at the end of this dark chapter in American history. The hope, the passion, the intelligence that these two figures represent cannot be overstated. I want my country to be returned the sane, the reasonable, and the respected memebers of our society. I want to see President Kerry on the nightly news. I want to trust that if our brothers and sisters are sent to die in war, it is because we had no other choice.
I'll never forget the moment of relief when Florida was called for Gore. Or the shock and despair when it was awarded to Bush. I have waited, we have waited, for this moment in time. Had I known the terror, and fear that this administration would reign, I would have been even more horrified. Well, now we all know.
It is without sadness that I say good-bye to John Ashcroft, Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Condi Rice, and George Bush. It will take President Kerry to salvage this country and the others that you have destroyed. We're coming and don't let the door hit you on the ass.
Kerry and his team have a plan in place if we face a contested election. They are in this to win and have learned from Gore in 2000. Let's hope we win by a blowout but if not, they are ready for the challenge. Some highlights after the jump.
I appreciate all of the hard work kossacks are doing with regard to Sinclair. I also think we should be focusing on debate 3 tomorrow night. There is hardly a mention of it around here. So let's take a look at tomorrow's topic: Domestic Issues. I personally believe that Kerry will go for the close tomorrow night. It is his last chance to go before the american public unfiltered before election day. Knowing that Rove and others MAY (I stress may) have an "October Surprise" planned, he will want to break out enough to create a buffer, should such an event occur. In an effort to come across clear and concise, Kerry is getting help from Barney Frank.
Here are two areas that may be vulnerable for Kerry tomorrow night (after the jump):
Bush 50 Kerry 46
This remains virtually unchanged. Some highlights:
...the candidates are about even in enthusiasm about their policies: Seventeen percent of all likely voters are enthusiastic about Bush's, 16 percent about Kerry's. Independents are five points more apt to be enthusiastic about Kerry's policies, but that's not a significant difference given the sample size; and moderates are 12 points more apt to be enthusiastic about Kerry, but moderates are a Democratic-leaning group.
In vote preferences, more of a gender gap has opened up in recent days. Bush now leads Kerry by 14 points among men, while Kerry has a narrower five-point edge among women, a more Democratic-leaning group. In the two key swing voter groups, independents divide by 48-44 percent between Bush and Kerry; while Bush has opened a nine-point lead among white Catholics, 53-44 percent.
Kerry's personal ratings improved after more viewers said he won the first presidential debate Sept. 30, and subsequently he moved into a closer race with Bush. Viewers of the second presidential debate, Friday night, divided evenly on who won.
