Snarkastic

Mmmm...barely contained rage...it's a beautiful thing.

He does have a lovely baritone, but 9 minutes and a Murrow shoutout to talk about a campaign problem? Does he do that sort of thing frequently?

Anyway, whether or not Ferraro carries prejudice, blaming an opponent's edge on covert affirmative action is a pretty dastardly, which is to say Rovian, move. Bad karma for a Donkey.

BTW, I picked up Mr. Obama's latest book on a whim. He's a total US History and Civics nerd. That's a big mark in the 'pro' column for me.

He's been doing the signoff for a while now, and it has never stopped rankling.

Safety word: "Huckabee"

Doug ftw!
The bad thing is, now I have a mental image of KO screaming "Huckabee!, Huckabee!"
Damn you, Doug.

It's a true safety word in that it immediately banishes all thought of sexual activity from my mind for the forseeable future. Yeeeeowch.

And now I have that same mental image Picture Me. Ew.

Wow was KO mad. I haven't seen Countdown in a while. That makes me want to start watching again.

DOn't know dude's "status", but if he is married, do you think that his wife and/or kids are on the receiving end of SPECIAL COMMENTS when the circumstances merit.

Before bed "Honey, that dinner tonight, the steak was so tough- have you no shame???"

Or his child fucks up at school? Or gets busted shoplifting or looking at porn?

There's some sketch comedy gold in there to be mined...

Kanu, he's not married -- last I read he was involved with someone about a couple decades his junior.

I'm trying to figure out who would have to play KO in the sketch. I'm thinking Alec Baldwin would be the best candidate.

If only someone had been in place to whisper "Huckabee" in Spitzer's ear, he wouldn't be jobless and in hock to Silda right about now.

As for Olberman, maybe it's the shock of seeing a Democratic campaign tilt to the right during a primary prior to returning in the general election. It's certainly an unusual strategy. Or maybe he needs to switch to decaf.

I keep hoping he'll sign off with, "... and that's how you put the biscuit in the basket. HOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKKKKK!"

I realize I'm way in the minority with you California dudes, but Keith Olbermann is the biggest fucking douche in the world.

www.olbermannwatch.com

Born and raised Red-stater, rabid centrist, and definitely not a dude, and I have a big crush. (In line with him, day in and day out? No, but he makes pretty words, and that goes a long way with me.)

Hmmm.

Having never lived in a county that voted less than 56% D - and in certain instances over 80% -in any Presidential election in my lifetime ('76 and following) one feels compelled to say Alex might just possibly have a slight hint of a point and consider the possibility that KO is not uniformly infallible (to be sure I see no assertion to that effect). At the least Bubba's post SC comment might indeed be considred more inflamatory, perhaps significantly so.

The left needs its yellers and stompers just like the right. And he is ours. And I lurve him, the end.

I meant "dudes" in the inclusive, Holly. As in, dudes and dudettes.

As for what he said, I fail to see how what Ferraro said was in any way racist. Every day I read or see people say how great it is that a black person is close to getting nominated for president. Which I agree, it is. I consider myself to the Right, but if Obama comes out in the summer and fall with something less vague then "I'm for change" I can see myself becoming an Obamacan.

He gives great, impassioned speeches, but so did John Edwards, and he's sitting at home.

As for Olbermann, I watch him sometimes, and I don't understand why a guy who's been reprimanded by the ADL for making the Nazi salute goes around calling other people prejudice. That, and his man-crush on O rly. And also he talks too much about scourge-of-society American Idol.

When's football start?

Alex, the first quote was just part of the various salvos of "who's the bigger victim" that have been fired back and forth over the primary season, but the more she went on, the crazier it got.

This is the same woman who tried to claim that press reports about her husband's shady real estate deals - including for a mob-controlled porn operation - were a result of people hating on her because she's Italian. She's a waste of space; the product of a corrupt local party machine of 30 years ago, and very much reflective of a certain generational mentality about race in the northeast.

I would agree that it was strange that this particular episode was Olbermann's trigger for a freak out. Perhaps there were other Clinton campaign acts that were compiling, a thought I'll save for somewhere that's not Holly's blog. (Looks over shoulder for Orson and his cattle prod...)

But I am pretty sure that we can all agree that Olbermann's American Idol issues are something that we can all reject and denounce. Or is it denounce and reject?

Policy note: Fight/declaim/pontificate all you want. This is why we have the romper room, after all.

KO totally rocks. The "Special Comment" segments, and the story on the Wyandotte Auto Shoot are the best things I have ever seen in a network news program.

I think Bill O'Reilly is always mad at KO because he has linguistic envy.

Sorry H, must avail myself of invitation to pontificate. I really have to sincerely and profoundly apologize for the prolixity, incoherance (and conservatism? - nah, I'll let it stand) in advance.

Alex and Trojan both make compelling points. I have certainly encountered many who very specifically want to have a black President and think this would be good for the country. I have not met anyone of whatever ideological inclination who intimated in any way whatsoever that his race was even the slightest negative. As Ed Randell said quite explicitly, and as I unfortunately do not doubt is true, there are some who will consciously or unconsciously not vote for him for that reason. On balance, however I have little doubt that his race is a net positive and in this Ferraro is correct. Indeed the Democrats enthusiastically promoted him by, inter alia, giving him the Keynote speech at the 2004 Convention, a very unusual distinction for a mere Senate candidate.

There are, however, two huge problems with her statement. First is the one Trojan alludes to where she aggresively plays the victim card. He further notes quite correctly that this is not a first for her. Second is that no objective individual can deny Obama's intelligence, eloquence, elegance, grace. While I do believe that his race constitutes a very thick layer of icing there is not doubt that there is a very substantial cake of political talent and character beneath it and that his ascent can be accounted for much more by referance to that talent and character than his race.

I think Trojan is correct in his supposition that KO's rant was triggered more by the cumulative weight of the Clinton campgaign's various race related shenanigan's than Ferraro's remark made in isolation. I do think that KO is wrong in the relatively little weight he assigns specifically to the campaign in South Carolina. After New Hampshire there were polls showing Obama getting in the mid 50's among black voters and in the 40 s among white voters. In South Carolina he got 78% of the black vote and in subsequent contest has routinely gotten in the mid 80s to low 90s of the same vote. At the same time his precentage of the white vote has (with the notable exceptions of the Potomac primaries and Wisconsin) steadily diminished, falling to 26% in Mississippi. The Clinton's have thus transformed Barak into a much more polorizing candidate and while this may have enhanced Hillary's chances of getting the nomination this is certainly not good for the Democratic party (not my concern) and, much worse, for the country.

The smart money still has to be on Obama getting the nomination and winning the presidency (although somewhat less of that money on the foremer and even less on the latter than as little as a week ago). While what I assume to be the substance of his positions will not allow me to vote for him I do not want to dismiss the the significance of his (perhaps, as Alex says, somewhat content-light rhetoric) his eloquence and personality and the capacity of this to unite the country and diffuse to a large extent the charges issues relating to race. As a conservative who wants a generally more stable society this capacity would be an important redeeming aspect of his presidency. To the extnet that the Clintons' campaign has diminished his ability to do this, it has done the country real damage.

And some say KO went on too long a rant. Sheesh!!!!