The Party of No

(h/t Arkansas Blog).

Oh, No! I'm Exposed!

My actual birth certificate has been discovered!

(Click it, and it gets big enough to read.)

All You Need To Know About The Tea Parties

Nate Silver has compiled a list of non-partisan estimates of attendance at last Wednesday's anti-tax "tea parties." Being a good Arkie who is interested in the dealings of my home state, I perused his list for the figures for cities in Arkansas. There's an interesting name at the top of the list. Here are the figures:

Baxter, Ark. 1000
Fayetteville, Ark. 700
Little Rock, Ark. 500
Fort Smith, Ark. 500
El Dorado, Ark. 300
Harrison, Ark. 300

Little Rock is the capital and largest city of the state. Fort Smith and Fayetteville are the second and third largest cities, respectively. El Dorado and Harrison are medium-sized towns (15 to 20 thousand residents). Where is Baxter? Why is it on the list? It's a tiny little community in northern Arkansas that is the home of the greatest concentration of Klan members in the state.

I'm sure it's just coincidence.

I Wouldn't Say the New Prez is Perfect...

...but damn if he ain't good. Today, Obama moved to reverse Dubya's gutting of the Endangered Species Act. Obama's taken the responsibility for determining whether or not a species is in peril out of the hands of political appointees and buearucrats, and put it back where it belongs--into the hands of scientists. We have a president now who appreciates and trusts the work of scientists. It's a nice change.

Here's Why I Voted for Obama

It's going to take a long time to clean up the messes of the Bush Administration, but President Obama has gotten off to a good start, despite a few hiccups. Today, his Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar (a choice who made many environmentalists, including myself, a bit leery) announced that a number of last-minute Bush Administration leases to oil and gas drillers outside Utah national parks had been rescinded. Oil and gas companies don't drill on all the leases they have now. There's no reason to drill in our national parks or wildlife refuges. This move by the Obama Administration is an act of faith toward the environmentalists who worked their butts off for Obama's election. Undoubtedly, more will follow.

What a Fantastic Day.

Our long national nightmare is over. Grown-ups are in charge.

Congratulations, President Obama

Time to Go Vote!!!!!

Frequent commenter and Friend of the Blog Steve has posted some awesome pictures of an Obama rally in northern (not the real) Virginia at this link: Obama Rally. Go give them a look, and get pumped up to go vote. Remember, in an attempt to hold down the long lines, Obama supporters vote Tuesday, and McCain supporters on Wednesday.

Arkansas Early Voting Report

Mrs. Archaeoperyx and I just returned from the county courthouse where we cast our ballots on one of those infernal touchscreen machines. We both voted against the gay-hate initiative (to make it illegal for unmarried (code for "gay") couples to act as foster parents). We cancelled each other out on a state lottery (she's for it, and I'm agin' it). We registered our Green-Party-protest votes against our Democratic Senator (a DINO and professed creationist who loves him some Joe Lieberman) and our Democratic Representative (he wants to drill ANWR). Not another single candidate on our ballots with an opponent, so screw 'em. As my mom used to say, they only need one vote, and they won't get it from me.

Oh, yeah, there was that other race. As we walked up to the courthouse a family of black people came out--a mom and three kids. The oldest daughter was wearing a cheerleader outfit, but she might have been old enough to cast her first ballot. If so, she had never voted in a presidential election where a black man wasn't favored to win. Inside, there were two voting machines. At one of the machines was a black man in his late fifties or early sixties. At the other was one of my colleagues. I knew how both men were voting--same way as me. I joked with the poll workers, "How much does it cost to vote again?"

As we finished, a white couple came in to cast their ballots. Maybe late thirties or early forties. Were they cancelling out our votes? As we walked out the door of the courthouse, we passed a black woman who might have been seventy. She smiled at me.

It's All Over But the Crying. And the Burial.

Obama is up in the national polls an average of 6 percent or so.  The number of people who represent themselves as undecided is about 5 percent.  I think even the stupidest of us can do the math.

"Oh," you might say, "McCain and Palin may be able to get people to change their minds."  Maybe.

Not likely.

McCain may be able to shift the polls back in his direction a bit.  As the standard-bearer for the Republican Party, it's his duty to try to do so--for him to completely give up now would be a disaster for the down-ticket Republicans.  Races that seemed uncompetitive just a month a go--Liddy Dole and Mitch McConnell for example--are suddenly toss-ups.  Even such Republican strongholds as Texas and Mississippi are tightening up.  Those GOP incumbents desperately need their base to turn out.  But McCain has shown himself to be contemptuous and detached from the rank-and-file of the Republican Party, and he is a lackluster campaigner at best.  As it continues to sink in that he has no chance to win, he may completely fold up his tent.  Suddenly, the idea of a filibuster-proof Senate seems less like a pipe dream. 

Several pundits (including some of Slate's writers) have predicted the death of the Republican Party.  When these articles first started appearing last spring, I dismissed them.  I thought what we were seeing was the normal ebb-and-flow of political fortunes.  But the performance of the McCain campaign has been abysmal.  Perhaps the Republican machine has been hampered to a large degree by the erratic behavior of their nominee, but surely McCain is more intelligent, more competent, more presidential than the former governor of Texas?  Is there nobody left in the campaign who would explain why it's important to vet your vice-presidential pick?  Nobody who might object to shutting down your convention?  Nobody who might suggest that antagonizing a press corps that is inherently partial toward you is a bad idea?  These are the heirs of Karl Rove and Lee Atwater?

McCain's defeat, especially if accompanied by a thrashing in the Senate and House races, will leave the Republican Party is a state of disarray unimaginable only a few years ago.  Who do they have left who will lead them?  Mike Huckabee?  Fred Thompson? Sarah Palin?

Why Obama Won the Debate

Immediately after the debate was over, I thought that Obama had probably forced a tie, and that since he was leading in the polls, and McCain's recent behavior could charitably be described as erratic, that a tie translated to a win for Obama.

Imagine my surprise Saturday morning when I read the news sites, to find that all the focus groups, and many of the pundits, had declared Obama the winner. And not even a close winner, but winner by a large margin. While I'm thrilled to hear it, it took me a while to figure out why.

And then it hit me. People are desperately hungry for change. Recent polls have shown that the current administration has an approval rating of 29%. But voters barely know Obama. The Right Wing Noise Machine has been extremely busy painting Obama as a risky, inexperienced neophyte, and, you know, a black guy, absolutely unready to serve as president. Friday night, Obama showed up in a business suit instead of a track suit, he didn't speak in rhyme, and he demonstrated a wide knowledge of every subject that he was asked about. In other words, he's a perfectly acceptable candidate for president. And he's not a Republican. He hasn't spent the last eight years voting for every important Bush program, and indeed, campaigning for Bush.

In other words, Obama won the debate because the American people desperately needed and wanted him to win the debate.

For all practical purposes, this election is over.

Barack Obama for President--of Arkansas

A week ago Saturday, Mrs. Archaeopteryx and I drove up to Pine Bluff to buy a few gewgaws at Lowe's, and to have lunch at Chili's. I wore an Obama 08 t-shirt. Several people stopped me to ask where I'd gotten my shirt. Some were black, some were white. That night at dinner back in Monticello, a man came over to our table and said "I'd like to compliment that shirt." This past Saturday, the missus and I made our monthly trek up to Little Rock to hit Sam's, and Barnes and Noble, and to run a few other errands. Again I wore the t-shirt, and again, people walked up to me and commented on my shirt--it made me a celebrity. I stood in line at Sam's ahead of two old white ladies who were discussing their clearly fundamentalist Bible studies. One of them saw my shirt and said, "Where'd you get that? I've been looking for yard signs and can't find them." A middle-aged white guy walked up to me in Garden Ridge, and made me put down a double-armload of tailgating supplies (Go Weevils!) so that he could shake my hand. "We can't take another four years of the same stuff," he said.

My point--no need to write off Arkansas. Where is the state party on this? How come Governor Beebe isn't publicly supporting the nominee of the party? Maybe it's hopeless to think that Obama could win Arkansas, but it's important that he make a good showing. I understand that the national campaign has to concentrate its resources in the states where it will most likely produce results, but I give money to the state party, and I expect them to at least try to mobilize the electorate here. And, frankly, I think that a lot of people are overestimating the effects of racism in this race. Sure, there are a lot of old fuddy-duddies who wouldn't vote for a black man if he were running against Satan. There are also a lot of old white people who have enough sense to vote their interests, even if it means a brother in the White House. There is a huge amount of pent-up anger against the Republican regime, right here in Arkansas. Somebody should tap it.

It's Time to Stop Demonizing Hillary

Full disclosure: I voted for Hillary in the primary, and then changed my mind after hearing Obama’s speech on race.

Hillary Clinton is a liar. She’s a racist. She’s advocating for the assassination of Obama. She’s put her own personal ambition ahead of the good of the Democratic Party and the country. We all know these things are true, because we hear about them in the media, and read about them on blogs.

Except that these things are not true. This is the same type of politics that turned Max Cleland into a traitor, John Kerry into a war criminal, and Bill Clinton into a raping murderer. Sure, Hillary’s ambitious. She wants to be President of the United States. So she’s exactly as ambitious as Barack Obama and John McCain. The other claims are reminiscent of those spread in the so-called liberal media during the Clinton Administration. When Hillary complained of a “vast right-wing conspiracy,” the press scoffed at her, but now we know the conspiracy was real.

Now these claims are being spread by Obama’s supporters. This is incredibly self-destructive. We in the Democratic Party have the opportunity to retake the White House and to build a filibuster-proof majority in both houses of Congress. For this to occur, we must have the votes of a large majority of Hillary’s supporters. Many of Hillary’s followers are fervent admirers who see her as a ground-breaking standard-bearer for women everywhere. These energized, politically active people are essential to Democratic chances in the fall, and this means that it is important to have the support of Hillary herself.

More importantly, the charges are just untrue. Hillary has made mistakes—she was wrong on the war—but she’s not evil, and characterizing her as such is just using what her husband called the “politics of personal destruction.”

So, Obama supporters, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to relax. We’re going to congratulate her on her win in the Puerto Rico Primary next week. Soon after, the superdelegates will put Obama over the top. Then we’ll salute Hillary’s service to the country, and a race well-run, and welcome her and her supporters into the most important campaign the Democratic Party has ever conducted. In the meantime, we’re going to quit claiming that Hillary is a racist, or that she’s just waiting on someone to kill Obama, or that she’d rather see McCain elected than Obama. We’re going to quit lying about the woman.

After all, we’re not Republicans.

In Which the Blogger Admits He's Made an Error in Judgment

I voted for Hillary Clinton in the Arkansas primary, and I've changed my mind. I explain in an article in Quiblit Magazine.

Enough With the Talking Points

I haven’t decided for whom I’ll cast my vote in the February 5th Arkansas Primary. My decision got harder today when John Edwards dropped out of the race. I thought he was right on the war, right on health care, and his “two Americas” idea resonated with me. I’m sorry he’s out. Now I have to choose between Hillary and Obama. Whichever is the party nominee in November will get my vote, but, for the first time in my life, it seems that I have some small say as to who that nominee will be. How will I decide? Let me tell you some ideas that won’t be entering into my decision.

Barack Obama is the new John F. Kennedy. What does this even mean? Am I supposed to think that Obama is going to bring the country together to some new era of bipartisanship? I guess all the neocons and right-wingers are going to lay down their arms on the first day of an Obama Administration. Or by “bipartisanship” does he mean the “roll-over-and-play-dead” bipartisanship of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? Kennedy had spent six years in the House and eight in the Senate before being elected President. Obama has been a Senator for three years, and has spent most of that time running for President.

The Clintons have had their time. Who started this little meme? Do you suppose it’s the same folks who elected Bush I and Dubya, and salivate at the thought of Jeb Bush running for the White House? Yeah, I can think of all kind of folks I’d rather be voting for than Hillary Clinton. I just don’t know if Barack Obama is one of them.

The Clintons are racists, cold-heartedly playing blacks against whites to get what they want. Claiming that the Clintons are racists is on a par with claiming that Max Cleland was screwing over the veterans or that John Kerry was a traitor.

It’s time to elect a black man president. I wouldn’t vote againt Obama because he’s black—that would be racist. It’s also racist to vote for him because he’s black. If I vote for Barack Obama, it’ll be because I think he’ll make a better president than Hillary.

Hillary Clinton is a cold-hearted, calculating bitch. Hillary Clinton is a politician and a United States Senator. It seems to me that it might be a good idea for a person in such a position to be able to see a move or two ahead in whatever situation she finds herself. If a man—say John McCain—acts in this manner, we call him hard-nosed and pragmatic. Conversely, if Hillary gets a bit emotional, than we’re either told it shows she’s not tough enough to be president, or that she couldn’t possibly have felt real emotion, and her faking it was a calculated move to garner support of women, who of course were all instantly taken in by such a ruse.

The Clintons have done things that are politically expedient, and this proves they are pathological liars. Most assuredly, no Republican and no other Democrat has ever done anything that was politically expedient. Politicians never do this.

Hillary has too many negatives to ever win a national election. George W. Bush is an alcoholic coke-head who, among other disasters, led the country into an unpopular, unsuccessful war, ran the economy into the ground by giving tax cuts to his cronies, ripped the Constitution to shreds, has tried to turn the United States into a theocracy, and made the nation the most hated in the world, and he won an election (sort-of) against a war hero. Don’t ever tell me anybody has too many negatives to be elected president.

Getting Hillary elected president is just a way to get Bill back into the White House. I’m not sure this would be a bad thing. However, Hillary has been a senator for eight years—Bill hasn’t been anywhere around the Senate. Dubya has been president for eight years without obvious interference from his father.

I don’t know who I’ll vote for in the primary, but I’ll decide based on the candidates’ positions on the issues. The war. Health care. Energy. Environment. Not Republican talking points.