Barring Something Exceptional, This is the Funniest Thing I'll Read All Day Long

Bubba has decided start campaigning actively for Barry...but not until the Jewish holidays are over.

Jake Tapper at ABC described this odd situation best.

And though the Southern Baptist former president isn't known for
being a particularly devout Jew who observes the High Holy Days...

Questions I Wish They Would Have Asked

This is something I've been meaning to put up here for some time...when I read interviews in the paper and a lazy, intimidated, immoral or inept reporter doesn't ask what I think is the obvious followup, I'm going to start posting it here.

That'll show them when my army of three readers rise up!

This week, The Other Katie got an interview with old Bubba. She asked him whether he thought Barry was prepared to be President. This is from the AP.

...Clinton gave a philosophical, not political answer.

"You could argue that no one's ever ready to be president. I mean, I certainly learned a lot about the job in the first year. You could argue that even if you've been vice president for eight years that no one can ever be fully ready for the pressures of the office and that everyone learns something, and something different. You could argue that," Clinton said.

What Kate Should Have Said: Mr. President, I wasn't asking you what someone who's being passive aggressive (as Jon Stewart joked) could argue. I asked what your personal opinion on Barack Obama's fitness for office at this point is.

Bubba Gets a Little Sumthin Sumthin from Barry

Will this keep the Clintons quiet?

MSNBC Says the Darndest Things

This can't have been an accident.

I'm simply not clever enough to read something very funny into it that wasn't intended by some smartass in Secaucus.

I was kind of flipping past MSNBC this morning and they were talking about old Bubba campaigning out in Oregon for his doting wife.

He was making the argument that she's tougher than him and ready to answer the tough questions.

So tough, in fact, "that he's challenging Obama to two debates in the Beaver State."

And If You Were on the Moon, Bill, You'd be Weightless

It's hard to call anything the biggest Clinton whopper of all time, but this might at least get an honorable mention in the hall of fame.

Today, Bill's quoted by ABC as saying that if Hillary were running in a primary under Republican rules, she'd be ahead by hundreds of delegate votes.

ABC's counting brings it closer to 173 ahead, but regardless, there would be a whole hell of a lot things different if Hillary were running in the GOP.

But again, I have to hand it to him. Knowing that most people don't really think about the fact that Bubba hand-picked the people currently in charge of the party and had ample opportunity to change any structural inequities in the nominating process, it was another slick move.

Is it Twoo When Dey Say Dat You People Are...Gifted?

Barack Obama, to his credit, totally lightened the very tense mood during the CNN/BCC-hosted Democratic debate last night.

Anyone walking by my crib in Cleveland would have heard me cackling away at his answer to a question about Toni Morrison's assertion that Bill Clinton was America's first black president.

This was such a classic moment of an otherwise incredibly rough debate...more on that later.

In Praise of Mr. Horvath

Well, as much as I like the opening of Paul Simon's Kodachrome, I'm getting more confirmation this weekend that my high school Government teacher was right.

The opening of the caucus/primary season is all about expectations.

If the Union Leader says you're supposed to get your ass kicked and you come in third, you came in first.

If David Yepsen thinks you're supposed to sleep your way to victory and you only beat #2 by 8 percentage points, you came in third.

So it should be no surprise that Bill Clinton, no slouch when it comes to politics himself, is setting the stage for another 'comeback kid' speech for the second time and in a different state.

Appearing last night with Charlie Rose, old Bubba said that it would be a 'miracle' if his forgiving wife were to win Iowa.

The plausibility of his argument aside, he shows us again how he's just such a friggin' wizard and that he should be the one in charge of her campaign instead of the henchmen.

This race is hotter than a Laredo parking lot.

Bill Clinton as the Wing Man

The courting ritual has long included the use of a wing man.

An American Presidential Campaign, no less a ritual, seem to have a role for this player, too...and it don't hurt if your little helper is the most popular living ex-President of modern times.

The New York Times has a nice piece this morning about the intricate dance the Spouses Clinton are playing as Bill plays a more visible role in his wife's bid for another stint at 1600 Pennsylvania.

While the couple had to start to play down the "two for the price of one" rhetoric in 1992 and 1996, the spousal mentions seem to play a different role this time around. The trick, of course, is not to play it so hard that they're asking people to vote merely for a proxy of the Silver Fox.

I'm very interested to see how much of a bad cop he can play once the field narrows a bit and, of course if Hillary makes it to the big dance after the primary season.

Don't Stop being yourself, Bill.

Item From the Sunday Shows

I haven't caught up on the podcasts of the Sunday shows yet (ABC and Fox affiliates here in Cleveland run theirs at the same time and the latter usually wins out for me on which to watch first, leaving This Week for listening on the way to work).

But I to have to give a tip-of-my-dusty-ballcap to Chris Wallace (shown above with his famous old man), host of Fox News Sunday.  He had Mayor Happy Pants on this morning for the first half hour and during a generally-good interview, finally pressed Giuiliani on a point that I've been waiting years for someone to get a little heat on.

Rudy's standard line on abortion is very close to the practically-patented Clintonion stance that abortions should be 'safe, legal and rare.'

The first item is meant to satisfy...everyone.  No one wants to think of women relying on clothes hangers to do anything but hold up a shirt.

The second is to pacify those who, obviously, believe that there is some right, whether from God, the Founders or the Burger Court, that allows for some degree of reproductive freedom once pregnancy has commenced.

But the third part has always irritated the hell out of me in its escape from scrutiny.

While he didn't push him too far into the hole, Wallace did press Rudy on why abortions should be rare.  Are they morally wrong?  Is it more morally-correct to opt for adoption or raising a child that you might not be willing or fit to raise?  Why is it not the moral equivalent of the options often on the table?

My point here is not so much to sit in judgement of one's stance on this, but to beg the media to go after Hillary and anyone else who attempts to use this lame cop-out without fully atriculating why they believe that abortions should be rare if already legal and safe.

Playing Games with Bubba

It's widely known that former President Bill Clinton is a crossword buff.

He provided the clues for this NYT puzzle.

Whatever you think of the puzzles, it is a nice little plugin they give you to be able to work on the page like that. I remember in the past having to install and launch Across-Lite to do Times puzzles online.

The Silliest Political Event of the Day

Bubba is hitting the road today to raise money for his wife. He'll be speaking at a fundraiser on the People's Democratic Republic of the Upper West Side where folks in a spinning class will be able to watch his lips move for the affordable price of just $2300.

Power to the people.