Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Romney is in trouble, the fact checking on some of his boasts is hurting him bad.

Obama seems thin skinned. Anything opposition statements that could be even slightly negative they are complaining about. He may be able to get away with that with democrats, republicans will show no mercey. They will find a way to make him look as foolish as Dukakis was in the tank.

Thanks for laying the CW problem on the laps of pundits, Craig! You know the line I almost have a stroke over? "Well, the American people WANT..." or "The American people THINK..."

And as far as Hillary's so-called inevitibility.....I never felt it, in fact, I worried from the beginning that the smear machine would destroy any chance she had. I spent a long time looking at Obama, Hillary, Edwards, Richardson --- and Biden....before I picked a candidate.

And while I still like Obama on so many levels (despite the fact that he thinks the baby boomers are yesterday's news) I also fear how he'll be able to take the full frontal assault that will come, Bowmanc.

If I had known you guys were doing the Thomas Crown Affair last night, I would have flown into Paris for the Umbrellas of Cherbourg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L51Dm2EnXgk

Patsi,

We are pretty much on the same page. Everything about Obama still seems to thin for me, both his skin and his resume. It is all being held together with the baling wire of rhetoric, but he still feels as if a strong wind from the right could blow the whole candidacy apart.

With you I never thought Hillary was inevitable. There were simply too many Democrats who believe the negative talking points fed to them by more than a decade of right wing mud. She is still my second choice simply as the best person in the race to be President.

Biden is my guy after a brief flirtation with Richardson. Again it is the experience angle at a time when we really need someone who knows what they are doing out there in the great wide world.

Maybe we here in TN are still smarting over what happened to Harold Ford, but most of the folks I know are worried about the racist tactics that will start...one of my black friends had an interesting thought. He said, "Well, if race becomes an issue -- and we know it will -- Obama's people better stop Al Sharpton from stepping into the limelight as the 'black man's spokesman'."

Disclaimer: this guy despises sharpton speaking on his behalf in any situation...thinks Sharpton has done more damage to the dialogue that most white racists have....

I almost shuddered at the thought of anyone trying to keep Sharpton the camera hog out of a fight like that.

Patsi,
The easiest way to get yourself hurt is to step between Sharpton and a camera...

"We haven't been duped by "the vast right wing conspiracy" "

They didn't need to dupe you since you already believed in the first place.

The good news is, any of the Democrats can beat any of the Republicans, and will. The bad news is, Rovian fear-mongering has not wholly lost its effectiveness, so the Dem nominee may unduly and unnecessarily play defense. The Lying, Spying, Torture, Indifference and Incompetence Republicans have nothing to run on except fear of little brown people everywhere. Instead of dreading Republican attacks, the Dem nominee has to be strong enough to stick to the positive message of peace, prosperity and health care reform. The Republican message is worn out exactly because of all its previously successful repetitions. But outside of the states where nobody lives it isn't working now.

add Rudee's front runner status to the iist of
baloney...along with what a nice guy Huckerstebee is .

the newest conventiona wisdom is the democrats oversold during the race in 2006.

What a load of crap. The media fails to explain what is going on in Congress.

If McCain gets the gooper nomination it will be a big example of buyer's remorse on the part of gooper primary voters...and they should regret what they did in 2000

I keep thinking that Huckerstebee's true colors will start to show....and I also keep remembering that he has a dog-hanging son....

Unlike Romney who still supports torture
Senator Clinton is on record saying the policy was wrong --she stated so when asked by Russert in one of the debates ,,even though it disagreed with her husband's pubic position

Also like many things attributed tot he Clinton's like "don't ask don't tell" are really the product of the repubublican congress not the Clinton's

correction.....

her husband's public position ---(Although I'm pretty sure she disagrees with his pubic position as well)

KGC,
No she supported it before she didn't support it.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0907/6050.html

So like Romney, she's a flip-flopper.

As to "don't ask, don't tell" the presidents, being commander in chief, sets those policies. But perhaps Clinton was confused and thought "don't ask, don't tell" was about his own personal liaisons...

Aha, dnd....so underneath it all, for you it's really about Bill's sex life? only half joking.....

dnd

I suggest you read the history of don't ask don't tell

Repubicans led by Gingrich wanted to drum all gay people out of the military with the help of people like Peter Pace --

Did Clinton change her mind...much like Richardson did on the war in eyerack,

Oh the morality of it all.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Let's don't let something like the 14th Amendment get in the way to the 5th stage of Lou Dobbs Disease.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/24/az-initiative-targets-anchor-babies/

yo soy Horsedooty!

Patsi,
"Aha, dnd....so underneath it all, for you it's really about Bill's sex life? only half joking....."

Bill's sex life is none of my business, nor is it anything I want to have to scrub out of my mind's eye. As a female friend said during the Paula Jones scandal: "That's the best he can do?"

ps. I'm about 20 pages into Lakoff's "Moral Politics." That guy is a superb writer. It's hard to put down, but I'd better and finish up my Christmas shopping.

KGC,
"Did Clinton change her mind...much like Richardson did on the war in eyerack,"

Yes, but the difference is Richardson changed his mind before it became politically beneficial to do so.

"Yes, but the difference is Richardson changed his mind before it became politically beneficial to do so."

Really --he changed his mind in 2005 much later than many others and just in time to begin consideration of a run for president.

dnd-- I figured you'd like Lakoff. Oh, I agree about Paula Jones....that's why I didn't completely believe her story. I might have, if Bill was a drinker...:)

Plus, I agree with you that many of Bill's policies PO'd me. Primarily the expansion of surveillance in the US and not anticipating the refugee crisis when NATO went into Kosovo. Also, I called Madeleine Albright a war criminal when she shrugged off what our sanctions against Iraq were doing to children in the country.

None of it prepared me for what a Bush administration would bring.....although after 9/11 and the "with us or against us" rhetoric I felt a prickle go up my spine....

dnd
This is some Salon coverage of the 2006 gov race in NM

http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2005/08/08/bill_richardson/

Conventional Wisdom on Hillary Clinton...
The surprise wasn't in conventional wisdom being wrong on Mrs. Clinton's "inevitability" but that the candidate herself bought into this same flawed prophecy and actually ran with it, further documenting the political professionals' correct perception of her as a capricious, arrogant and bumbling politician.
Matt Thomas

KGC,
"Really --he changed his mind in 2005 much later than many others and just in time to begin consideration of a run for president."

Not true Katie-poo. Much earlier. And what's interesting is that unlike Sen Clinton, he didn't have access to the intelligence, so it was a decision based on what Colin Powell was telling all of us. And unlike Sen Clinton, he admitted it was a mistake. And unlike Sen Clinton he didn't support continued funding or the Kyle/Liberman bill.

More Kool-Aid?

KGC,
"This is some Salon coverage of the 2006 gov race in NM"

Um, yeah. Didn't mention anything about his position on the Iraq war. The only mention of Iraq, other than when as ambassador to the UN he met with Hussein. The Salon piece neglected to mention that he got hostages released as a result of that meeting.

Matt,
Good point. The "It will be me" statement says it all.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=07BPFPy6tkE

(three minutes into the clip)

dnd
he changed his mind right before the nm race and I don't think you read the whole article

but you are a perfect example of someone who had his own version of things and for whom facts are irrelevant\

WRTs to Prez Bill and the choices he made in women...I don't think that Paula Jones' face was ever part of the picking process. I think there were other body parts that played to a higher priority, if ya get my drift. There was never a chance of Paula being seen strolling down the main drag in Little Rock hand in hand with Prez Bill. So who knows, maybe he has a thing for women with larger than average noses. Men have been known for being less choosy. See the Jerry Springer Show for examples of this.

yo soy Horsedooty!

In fact Richardon's position of Iraq has changed since he entered the race. He originally was closer to Biden,then for a phased withdrawal and now for immediate withdrawal.
He has changed his position to be the farthest left.

dnd,

"Bill's sex life is none of my business, nor is it anything I want to have to scrub out of my mind's eye. As a female friend said during the Paula Jones scandal: "That's the best he can do?"

Males have several expressions for that, "going home early ugly", "a 2 six packer", "coyote ugly", and on and on and on.

Now off to some early Christmas celebrations.

Merry Christmas to all.

KGC,
"he changed his mind right before the nm race and I don't think you read the whole article"

I read the whole article. Twice. And used the "find" function on the browser to search for "Iraq." Nada about his position on the war.

"but you are a perfect example of someone who had his own version of things and for whom facts are irrelevant"

Oh, now that's a hurtful thing to say on Christmas Eve.

"In fact Richardon's position of Iraq has changed since he entered the race. He originally was closer to Biden,then for a phased withdrawal and now for immediate withdrawal.
He has changed his position to be the farthest left."

No he hasn't. Not one bit. And he's not for immediate withdrawal. It's ASAP. Read his web page. And he's a moderate, not a lefty, which is why so many independents like him.

Now I really need to finish my Christmas shopping or I'll be in deep doo-doo. I haven't even decided what to get you, though I'm leaning towards a donation to the Richardson campaign in your name ;-)

Here is a key portion of his response: "I would set a timetable for withdrawal. I would couple that with a political solution of the three ethic groups forcing them to have a political solution. There is no military solution. Specifically, I would divide up the oil revenue, the cabinet ministries and force them to come up with a new political framework. I would also study Senator Biden's federation [proposal]. I think that may be ultimately the right solution."
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0927/p25s01-usmb.html

Richardson talking about leaving a residual force in Iraq during the gov's race. he made it an issue and he has changed his position.

Richardson continued: "I would set up a Middle East peace conference that would deal with civil administration and reconstruction of Iraq.... Muslim and European nations would be part of that. I would then redeploy [US] troops, leave a residual force in Iraq [and] put [troops] where we really need them, [in] Afghanistan. I would put others in Gulf States to deal with international terrorism threats. And I would also use a large part of those financial budgets and reserves that we use in Iraq on homeland security in this country. This country is not fully protected. I would emphasize port security. I would emphasize security of our subways [and] our aircraft. I would put money in detection of those liquids that became such a problem...."

I would be very happy with a donation in my name to Bill Richardon. Thank you so much.

If I have misunderstandings about Gov Richardson's position on Iraq, my bad.

Doots,
Good point.

BTW, I was at the mall yesterday and I told Santa I wanted that new Joe Ely CD. He said: "Me too."

lol

New cd as in not released yet? Live Cactus? Looks like a good one. He has a lot of live albums. and Best of releases. I think that is an easy way to keep the flow happening.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Hillary gets slammed for that "it will be me" comment, but nothing gets said about any of the others saying "when I'm President" or "during a (insert name) presidency". You can find samples of every single one of the other candidates saying exactly what she says. She gets slammed. They get a mild comment in passing.

Obama is now attacking Edwards for the 527 ads run by a lobbyist once on the Edwards payroll. This gets a one sentence remark, but 527 ads or third party remarks for Hillary get lambasted with "She must have arranged it" while Edwards is accepted when he says, "I have no control over what others say and it would be illegal for me to contact them."

You are going to be putting out two more oopses soon.

Senator Clinton has such deep, broad and sizable support among the Democratic rank and file, that she will survive whatever happens in IA and NH and clinch the nomination in February. The early primaries are just little contests, they are no longer the bell wether tests they were in the past.

McCain is dead, the current surge is coming from the across the pier as the rats jump off the good ship Giuliani. There just aren't enough social moderate war mongers to make McCain's candidacy go.

As for good old Fred, dumb and lazy are the only adjectives available to describe his campaign,,,, but one should never underestimate the power of dumb and lazy in GOP politics. Look at W.

here is a list of people from this last year. Bill Maher is the author. Pretty funny stuff.

http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/17538811/dickheads_of_the_year/photo/1/large

yo soy Horsedooty!

Robert: "As for good old Fred, dumb and lazy are the only adjectives available to describe his campaign,,,, but one should never underestimate the power of dumb and lazy in GOP politics. Look at W."

Heh, heh....sick but true.

Interesting Huckabee article

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NjJiZDBjZWFiNmFmY2M1NDg2ZjM1Y2YwZjdjNzliMDg=

Jamie,
You read the National Review? And cite articles by Clinton hater Rich Lowry?

Who are you and what have you done with Jamie?

NORAD's Santa tracker:

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.htm

I hope I can stay awake long enough to see him when he comes here.

dnd,

I have evil associations among the wing nuts who whisper into my right ear about items I might want to read. Strangely enough, there are many from that viewpoint who are scared to death of The Huckster getting the nomination.

Merry Christmas to all!!! Hope you all have a fun- and family-filled holiday!

http://dpkgi.free.fr/files/deerz2.swf

And, dnd...Maybe you can keep yourself awake by entertaining yourself with this...just click on each reindeer for more action....

Good TM, Craig.

Which Matt Thomas might this be?

tt

"I hope I can stay awake long enough to see him when he comes here."

Santa gets there when he gets there, just follow the five o'clock somewhere rule.

It's like my New Year's. Once the ball falls in New York, that's close enough for me to toast with champagne and hit the sack in Washington.

Oscar Peterson has passed away at 82.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3oHaL5cV9jY

oh tempura.......oh mores...........

--Chef Cicero

a truly american story:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4040228&page=1

The roofing billionaire must be related to Al Franken (who seems to be MIA in the political mist) who wrote, "Stuart Saves His Family" where the men in the family have a tradition of dying by falling off the roof.

tt

I've never understood people who have no fear of heights........

Jamie,
Oscar Peterson was one of Canada's greatest jazz musicians. No wait, he was one of the world's greatest jazz musicians. No wait, he was one of the worlds greatest pianists.

As saddened as I am by his passing, I take great joy is what he gave us, and it will endure for generations to come.

Now I need to wrap that cordless drill I got Mom for Christmas. Hope she likes it ;-)

I figger it as a kind of monkey evolution........weaker monkeys keep gettin' slapped out of the tree where the lion eats 'em.....finally one minor monkey says screw dat and decides to just go down when the lions aint around and see what's happening......but once he gets down there he gotta see over the grass, and the only way to do that without a tree is stand the hell up and look.....unless you want to just jump up every 4 or 5 feet or so.....so these cats who decided that heights werent working out for them is the ones I come from.....

Sturg,
"I've never understood people who have no fear of heights........"

The Mohawk Iron workers amaze me. I get vertigo climbing into the pickup truck.

Michael Kidd, choreographer of so many of the great movie musicals has died at 92.

http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-10/1198541367195730.xml&storylist=entertainment

Here is just one of his classics

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCdiWxzw0RU

oh my goodness:

no Sondheim, this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yRdDnrB5kM

the great god brown: St Lenny with a rap on steve allen's show

the great god brown: St Lenny with a rap on steve allen's show

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3QIKf8Nntk

sorry for da blogga-mogging.....

Ok Sturg I know this is one of your holiday faves.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sU7JoaK9lcQ

yeah, but:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=CRM20GbDfHc

I'm home. Got home this afternoon and celebrated Christmas with my family. The only surprise gift I received was a Nintendo DS from my sister. I also went to church tonight. Not that one time makes up for the rest of the year , but I didn't want my Mom to have to go to church alone on Christmas Eve. That's all for now. Merry Christmas to everyone!

stop me before I hark back again:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8Esf5NRXVrY

Goodness. I was one of those 12 year olds doing the "chicken in the barn" to the Killer!!

Also, I do so miss Steve Allen. It would be nice if just one person on television had half his wit, charm and perception.

Oh Hark Away

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x6UXsgoCAk

I apologise to Lee Sadkowski of Pipe Creek, Texas....I promised I would never tell of the way we really felt about this girl.....

http://youtube.com/watch?v=-lpzsNRJdzw

For the Tom T. Hall fans....the Tennessean reports today that Tom T has a new album out. It's only available at a few places, CD Baby, Ernest Tubb Record Shop....and Tom's site:

www.goodhomegrownmusic.com

From the Tennessean:

"Tom T. Hall changed the language of country music and developed a storytelling song form that was as intelligent and gripping as any short story. On this album, he delivers songs that he wrote with wife Dixie Hall, and they’re all gems. "A Hero In Harlan," about a dead soldier’s return to his home town, is the most devastating piece of music I heard all year. There’s joy here, too, particularly in the album-closing "Jimmy Martin’s Life Story," which features a cameo from Martin, the now-departed King of Bluegrass."

A couple of days ago I was sending around "We Need A Little Christmas" from Mame. "If He Walked Into My Life" was probably the best song in the show.

For Craig, David and all the Crawfordlisters...

Just wanted to wish you all a Joyous Holiday Season.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

God Bless.

Patsi,

isn't Dixie Hall one of the Daughters of Bluegrass? Seems like I remember that from some where.

yo soy Horsedooty!

my favorite Tom T song is the one about how he and another fellow were hired to dig a grave for a guy in town. Then Tom talks about him and the widow and how people will miss him. Truth is Tom will miss him more because the dead fellow owed him 40 bucks at the time of his death.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Dooty -- Dixie did some writing on the D of B CD on (I think) a small label she and Tom T have. I do know that Dixie has long loved bluegrass and encouraged Tom to support the genre. I kept thinking that they might have had a kind of bluegrass club or crowd or something that congregated out at Fox Hollow. So I found this pretty cool article about it. Tom is a peach. So is Miss Dixie.

http://countrymusic.about.com/od/news/a/bltthll_cma.htm

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

and God bless us.... everyone..... :0}

I think that Obama will lose ground in Ioway...... mainly over his having Oprah campaign for him......

gee sturg...

according to this poll your are correct
http://americanresearchgroup.com/

Their order Clinton, Edwards Obama
and shows Clinton retaining her strength with woman and Obama losing position with men.

gee sturg...

according to this poll your are correct
http://americanresearchgroup.com/

Their order Clinton, Edwards Obama
and shows Clinton retaining her strength with woman and Obama losing position with men.

For those who don't pay close attention to the C-SPAN schedule, starting tomorrow and for three days, they will be doing features on the last 10 presidents.

Wednesday will be Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower. They will use rare clips and materials from the presidential libraries.

No need for a poll at this house....turns out the big winner of Christmas 2007 was the car load of Doodlebops treats my son brought his neice from DC. The Keytar and microphone were especially popular.....

Keytar?

Here's the link on the Presidential series

http://www.c-span.org/presidentiallibraries/

Another small bulletin: Frank Luntz (still considered a Republican pollster though he says they haven't worked for one for several years) are looking for undecided voters for focus groups in most of the states.

If you are without a firm choice and are interested, you can sign up for consideration at

http://www.luntz.com

oh....Keytar.......just googled it.......

Sturge -- the Keytar opening was hilarious...little Maria loves music and she especially loves a Keytar she played at her friend's house. Her eyes were likesaucers when that wrap cam off! ....she comes by it naturally, both mom and granny worked in the music business... her maternal grandpa plays classical guitar and paternal grandpa played drums with Faron Young, and others. Nothing more fun than seeing a little kid get so excited they are jumping up and down....

pretty cool gift......main thing to love about christmas is excited young'ns........

Special just for y'all.

" Musical Tesla Coils Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opf5jIukSBM

tt

In Washington (state), snow on Christmas is very rare. It just started snowing here...beautiful and exciting! Of course, it's not sticking (yet!), but who knows...and this is as close to a white Christmas as we ever get!

We just got snow in Tacoma as well. Not sticking yet.

You may have seen the announcement on CNN that the Queen Elizabeth II now has her own channel on You Tube. Those who read my blog know that I love history and continuity. She has been giving a Christmas message to her people since 1952. Her first televised message was in 1957 so her 2007 message opens with a snippet of that speech from 50 years ago.

I suppose when you have been a confidant of 11 Prime Ministers and 11 Presidents, you just may have a perspective on the world worth noting. The first clip is the 2007 Xmas speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0nmkYGCljE&feature=user

The second is a short clip about her prime ministers
from Churchill to Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXOSE_8HLYs&feature=user

Watched the first clip, Jamie, and the historical perspective was fun to see. Thanks for posting these! I'll watch the second clip later...family coming through the door now.

Wish you and your son could have come over! Have a merry Christmas! And enjoy the snow!

Merry Christmas all. Hope everyone is enjoying their holiday.

We've got a white Christmas here in the metro Denver area, which is actually pretty rare. It's been snowing since the wee hours of the morning. Based on how sore my back is after shoveling the drive and the walk, I'd say we got 6-8". But I'm not complaining. Compared to the 2' we got last year, this is a walk in the park. Plus I needed the exercise after Christmas brunch...

jewish xmas moo shu.

priceless.

hello. i am familiarizing myself with a notebook.
huge christmas celebration here in ohio's capital city.

i am glad i took the van cuz it will fill up with take-home presents.

yep, now that i have a complete XM Radio setup, now i gotta get one of these notebooks.

this house is filled with lively adults and little children and it's great to be alive!

Here's my Christmas gift list. I got a cd and few dvds from my best friend. He got me "Die Hard: Live Free or Die Hard" , "The Simpsons Movie" and "Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour Live". I just watched The Simpsons movie. They had Lisa do a documentary about the enviroment called "An Irritating Truth". My sister got me a Nintendo DS (hand held video game system) and a game called "Brain Age". The rest of my gifts were some clothes and a new wallet.

no, i didn't get a notebook, i'm just using one here.
my xm radio was my big thing.

now it's cake time,...chocolate 4 me.

For a good laugh!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqEMPYS9XM&feature=related

Corey, I laughed.

tt