Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Good morning!

Wish I was in Des Moines. It's 25 degrees and snowing here. Time for some harborwoman chile!

dnd

It's 12 in Des Moines and snowing.

http://desmoinesregister.weather.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=WEATHER01&zipcode=50309

Well I would rather be in a get together with the three generation party than shoved into some stadium with several thousand people.

KGC, ok, I'm grateful to be here.

Jamie, why isn't Bill invited?

Bill is in South Carolina

dnd, Girls day out - very smart. Besides Bill is in SC, I believe. He will be back in Iowa on Monday, I think. Also, Maryland Senator Barbara Mukulski making the rounds for Hillary. this weekend.

Bill is campaigning in South Carolina, dnd

I don't know. He was doing appearances in NH. They may have him scheduled elsewhere to spread the assets.

I just cannot understand the Oprah-attraction. I find her to be cold and self-serving, and I doubt her support will be a boost for Obama. When the sex scandal occurred at her school in Africa, she was furious and presented her response in a way that one could assume it was all about her, not much concern or apparent compassion for the alleged victims. I suppose Hillary's generational plan will be well-received, but I'm cynical about that, as well. It reminds me of a "Christmas letter", you know the ones that reveal all sorts of silly and sordid information about family members I hardly know and want to keep it that way.

Just read that the first lady of New Hampshire (who happens to be a doctor) has endorsed Hillary. That is a good one both for the political and health care positions.

Bill his with his peeps in SC.

And given the Demographic make up of caucus attendees in Iowa, I would say Senator Clinton is with her peeps.

They've got BIll in SC doing damage control with black voters, while HRC and the gals try to stem the Oprah tide among women in Iowa.

TypeKey appears to be glitched out today, anyone else having trouble signing in?

Bill will sort of be doing a college tour of Iowa on Monday. He will be in Ames, Grinnell, and Iowa City with at least one other stop scheduled in the non-college town of Newton.

This is a nit picky article but a really stupid mistake for the Clinton staff to make at the Presidential level. She needs a good office manager to nag at the staff indians.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22111927/#storyContinued

I stay signed-in so don't have to deal with TypeKey, at least I haven't had to sign in again yet.

Jamie, your dad sounds like the Ritz! Gotta love the larger than life characters of the world.

ROFL!!!!!

"People were saying, 'It was like George Washington,' 'It was the Gettysburg Address.' I mean, it was unbelievable, the response I heard from the people in there that heard it today. Almost everyone said they were moved to tears." -- Ann Romney, the wife of GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on the reaction she has heard to her husband's "Faith in America" speech.

oh never mind, it was a caps issue with my password. back on TypeKey

Patsi,

Reasonably sober he was wonderful. Unfortunately, until the last ten years of his life, he was rarely in that state. We finally got around to being friends again, but it took a while.

Amanada McBroom's "Errol Flynn" always reminds me of him.

http://www.rhapsody.com/-search?query=Errol+Flynn&searchtype=RhapKeyword

Craig,

Only if you left the leg out of the water, but that position has been known to lead to drowning.

http://www.ehow.com/how_6046_treat-sprained-ankle.html

Increasing incompetence and willful disregard for the law will cause Shrub to steps down with Cheeeney to save the goopers.

They appoint Romney who ends the eyerack war on the basis of their failure to meet management objectives and cost overruns. We'd like to stay he'll say but it's just not cost effective.

So what is everyone listening to today?

I've got Vince Gill's 4 disc "These Days' and Bob Dylan's Modern Times.

I went downtown today. They had an ice sculpture contest going on today. I took pictures , but just with my cell phone camera. There were 4 ice sculptures: A bald eagle , a pig , a horse and a bear. The bear and the horse were pretty cool looking.

Jamie,
Vince Gill, disc 2. Patsy Cline is next. I may need some bluegrass soon to cheer me up as it's snowing sideways here.

Happy Hanukkah, kids!

http://www.videoparodies.com/hanukkahheyya.swf

Jamie...listening to a somewhat eclectic mix of odd companions...the new Eagles CD, followed by Paul Potts and Josh Groban...will change discs soon. May put on some Ozark Mt. Daredevils, just for kicks....

Jamie,

I've just been listening to KIXI in Seattle. Something I'm pretty sure you clued us in to months ago.

Tim Williams.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woUq-K18Fv4

ads...some, like Biden's, not on teevee yet..no dough for that..

http://www.slatev.com/li_dspot.html

CNN is playing the Oprah speech.

MSNBC - Out takes from "To Catch a Predator".

The only "all news" channel that goes home on weekends.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/

Lynn Sweet is live blogging the Oprah speech

C-Span 1 carryin it without commercials CNN broke away

I am starting to find Obama's speech pattern annoying. It was cute at first, but I can't imagine listening to a State of the Union address. It would grate on my nerves as much as the current pRestdent.

Obama is not taking advantage of this opportunity and is not providing good sound bites.

Zoey,
I agree. Lots of hyperbole. Little substance. I guess that's to be expected at a celebrity event like this. Obama's wife looks bored with the the whole deal. So does Oprah. The crowd's pretty jacked up though.

Mix of snow flurries, sleet & freezing rain. A lovely day. Now Oprah gets to go see Cedar Rapids.

Oprah went through a list of the things he has supported since being in Washington. I would love to see a list of bills with all of the votes by all of the senators running for president.

Obama's wife is one of the reasons I don't particularly want him in the White House.

I understand what you're saying, Zoey, but NOTHING grates on my nerves more than listening to our current president...and he's earned that distinction with years of lies, inattention to very important national issues, and what appears to be a near-total disinterest in anyone other than the very rich.

maybe it's just me but I wonder if people that base their voting choices on what a celebrity tells them should really be voting in the first place

EdVB: the Banana Boat Song, I was surprised to find one of my favorite celebrities wrote that.

*Obama & Oprah? Too black.
*Edwards & Oprah? Too southern.
*Hillary & Oprah? Too lesbian.

Rudy & Oprah is balanced. Male & female, gay & straight, southern & northern, black & white (well..Italian is close).

too shamelessly self-serving?

obama isn't my second choice
he probably isn't even in the top five.

I don't like the people who support him either
My choices are Edwards, Clinton, Richardson.

But dnd, this is the same speech I have heard over and over. The crowd seemed pretty jacked up at first and I suspect they will be at the end, but the crowd shots during the speech have been telling..a lot of them are bored.

This will dominate the news cycles for a few days unless something else happens. It is still early enough for someone else to come in and still the thunder of this event.

blue,
I don't understand how it can be freezing drizzle when it's 12 degrees, but then again I'm not a meteorologist. Bet that makes for bad roads...

What I don't understand about Obama is that while he says he was raised by a single mom, he doesn't embrace the fact that his mom is a white woman from Nebraska. I'd think that'd play well, particularly with what Hillary is up to.

Kind of ironic for a guy who frequently votes "present" to talk about the need for people to stand up.

audio problems on cspan for me too

dnd, the air aloft is warmer than the air near the ground. Ice crystals fall through the warm air and refreeze near or on the ground.

Bad audio on C-Span for me, too.

My candidates are still...Edwards, Biden, Richardson.... Hillary and Barack aren't registering with me.

geez, c-span's audio making my brain split open -- time to ice down the ankle -- have a good night all

my bad dog
I should have said I don't like the consultants and professional staff.
I did not mean just folks.

zoey & blue,
The reason I love this blog is not so much what people say, but what people say makes me think. And this time it's about the weather!

KGC

We are pretty close. Mine are Biden/Clinton/Edwards

I'm Not There is getting great reviews. It's running 79% on Rotten Tomatoes

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/im_not_there_suppositions_on_a_film_concerning_dylan/

How could you not like a movie with all that Dylan music.

from the ap story on the speech
it looks like they were preaching to the choir

"Terri Johnson of Urbandale, Iowa, lined up about two hours before the Des Moines event with three of her five children along. She said she had not been involved much in politics before, but was drawn to the rally by both Oprah and Obama.

``I would have voted for him without her, but it's nice to see Oprah,'' Johnson said, joking that she hoped Winfrey would have one of her famous giveaways. ``I'd love to get a car.''

Winfrey planned to continue her campaign swing Sunday to two other key primary election states - New Hampshire and South Carolina. "

Tim Russert is interviewing Carolyn Kennedy Schlosburg. Nice childhood stories.

Crawfordslist has empirical proof that celebrity endorsements do little to sway voters.

Jamie and I have both told you Biden is our #1, and I think the most we've accomplished is to have Harborwoman give him a closer look and move him to #2.

For those who may be unsure, in the above example, Jamie is the celebrity.

Ed...Biden's on C-Span 1 right now...old speech, but worth hearing....

Sorry,

The "celebrity" is watching Dr. Who and listening to Jimmy Buffet

then I am going to watch Dr Who and listen to Jimmy Buffet as well

Jamie: was that you that voted twice in the poll? I figured either you or dnd were testing me :-D

Follow Your Leader

On the poll it was probably me. I got confused on the various iterations of the poll as you were creating it.

It's either that or I have one person looking up to this particular opinion maker. :-)

After hearing Robert Gates touting the administration's fantasy about Iran today, it made me wonder how this will impact Hillary's campaign. She was on the Armed Services committee that unanimously approved his appointment.

I listened to a few minutes of Oprah's 'speech' for Obama. All I could hear was how she talked, not the content. She sounded like a mix between Maya Angelou and a reverend.

tt

Just when you think Tom Tancredo can't be any more racist, he up and does this. What a tool.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/12/08/tom-tancredo-boycotts-univisionspanish-debate-attacks-their-entire-viewership/

yo soy Horsedooty!

Bob Gates isn't a bad guy and the committee probably thought he was the best they were going to get out of this President.

I've often wondered about being in a cabinet. I suppose you almost have to blurt out the party line or resign.

Jamie, you're so right about M$NBC going home on weekends.

BTW, does anyone know if Dan Abrams is still management @ M$NBC now that he's back 'on the air'?

tt

Tancredo will probably get an hour of free time from Lou Dobbs during the Univsion Debate.

blue,
"dnd - And just what do you think about the weather?"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_Qz5M4gtTvM

Jamie,
"I've often wondered about being in a cabinet. I suppose you almost have to blurt out the party line or resign."

If Gates had any integrity or ethics or honor, he'd submit his resignation. And then tell the public why. His shilling for the administration on Iran, after the NIE, proves his credibility and integrity to be seriously in doubt.

The weather? It was 80 today with 70% humidity and winds from the south, of course. No snow.

tt

Well maybe we will get a good book out of him in 2009

tiptoe: you can have my snow

Gates is a Repub. It is to be expected that he lie.

yo soy Horsedooty!

Thanks for the offer, ran, but NO. Been there....

tt

Battling a cold again. Tried to see a friend of mine 3 times the last 2 weeks and no luck. Dammit.

hey Dylanophiles, Bob Dylan: Live in Newport 1963-1965 on PBS

check your local listings

I saw that Dylan on PBS last weekend. Very excellent show.

yo soy Horsedooty!

I did catch Obama for a while then cut out to a Chinese restaurant, the chef really ruined my ginger-garlic chicken and my tongue is still hurting from getting spice-burn.
Obama talks of change constantly, using preacher-cadence in his speech pattern.
I thought Huckabee was the preacher!

Obama promises a yearly COL increase in minimum wage.
He says he will end the war, but we all know the old story about the Russert question about 2013...Obama, Clinton, Edwards, none except Gravel and Dennis Kucinich commited to immediate withdrawal, with Richardson close.
He says his health care plan is better than the rest, when after all the hammering gets done, the plan the dem ends up with will be the same no matter who wins.
We all know a president can't just order minimum wages to be increased...there's a process to follow...it's like pulling hen's teeth to get it upped to any degree of actual living wage.
All the pausing, all the talking...Obama no longer has the allure he had years ago when he spoke at the Dem convention.
I heard the reknown Daniel Schorr on PBS.
He was asked the Oprah question.
Can she push Obama all the way up the mountain in Iowa and S. Carolina?
Schorr, a highly opinionated and respected journalist said:
"I will be fascinated to see."
We just don't know...Bill C , after all, was "the Black President".
Oprah attracts millions of white women viewers and they worship her.
I agree with Craig...Hillary is giving better speeches now.
So we'll wait and see , along with Daniel Schorr.
Fascinating, indeed.
Now...
"A Christmas Carol" 1939. Starring Reginald Owen.
The BEST Scrooge.
Mrs. Dexter and oldest daughter prefer the musical Albert Finney "Scrooge".
As a kid I preferred the "Mr. Magoo" Scrooge. It's odd how Magoo appeared in C-List twice in a few day span!
I'll give anyone a pass who prefers the Lionel Barrymore "Scrooge."

"London, more than a century ago..."

We have a special election Tuesday.
Paul GIlmoor, the rich man who was Congressman for us , in the northwest corner of the state, bordering Michigan and Indiana, but who lived on a golf course in Columbus, in a palatial mansion, died a while back.
Robert Latta, ultra-conservative pro-life repugg is runnig vs. Robin Weirauch, a female dem, who is pro-working class , and pro-choice.
Local polls have it for the repugg, 4-1.
See why I would rather live in NYC?

Anyway, I'll be at the polls voting for Robin.

Robin's photo:

http://www.actblue.com/image/small/1620

Dexter,

I'm with your wife on the musical, but of the dramatic versions, I love George C. Scott. He really nailed the darkness of Ebenezer. Of the older versions Lionel.

my favorite Scrooge was Scrooge McDuck

horsedooty: damn, that was a great show on Dylan, substitute the US Constitution for Medgar Evers and the brown skin for the black and Only a Pawn in their Game could have been written yesterday

The first time I saw Lieutenant General Raymond T. Odierno, Commanding General of U.S. III Corps, I immediately thought of Lord Voldemort from the first Harry Potter movie.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/tiptoe221/odiernovoldemort1.jpg

Is it just me? Is there a similarity?

tt

We'll make them turn their head
Everywhere we go...

THE best Ronettes song of all time follows, and
Phil Spector's Wall of Sound
kept Cousin Brucie in bizness at WABC
cuz kids like me couldn't get enough
of Ronnie and the girls.
Cousin Brucie on the radio of my buddy's dad's big Buick
as we cruised around the courthouse block a hundred times
with Ronnie beltin' that tune outta that Buick's speaker...
why, was that heaven...or was it just Indiana?
And on nights when WABC didn't come in , we had WLS and Dick Biondi on the mic, and all the rest of the time we had the best station ever, CKLW, on an island between WIndsor and Detroit, and all thier great disc jockeys, playin' soul and all that Berry Gordie Motown music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuItWrvmho4

those earrings were the only things I could save when the trailer caught fire........

Dex, I remember CKLW from when I lived in Detroit as a kid. Wow.

tt

the great John R. and the Hoss Man.......

http://www.geocities.com/~jimlowe/wlac/wlacdex.html

and WCKY Jamboree, Cincinnatti......WOWO, Ft Wayne.....and some station out of Wheeling West Va.....

100 LIVE BABY CHICKS!

TT...there's tons of stuff on the 'net about CKLW in the old days, with Byron MacGregor "TWENTY TWENTY N E W S !!!"
, he'd bellow out, Grant Hudson, another great news reader...and all those disc jockeys...I was a huge fan of Motown and spent lots of my money on records by all those artist...after all these decades...I can say my faves were:
1) Sam Cooke

2) the late
GREAT

JACKIE WILSON!!
If you never saw Jackie Wilson, you missed the greatest showman I ever saw, this side of The Godfather of Soul himself.

sturgee...I lived real close to WOWO. Nowdays it's a goddam Rush Limbaugh station...all those assholes , and at night it only serves the local area...I live 60 miles away and it doesn't reach here.

this site is better for wlac......playing a cut.....
http://www.yodaslair.com/dumboozle/wlac/wlacdex.html

speaking of Jackie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epev3esCykM&feature=related

A new tagline: Trailmix, the blog that never sleeps. You guys amaze me.

The words from Hyvee Hall are kind of amazing, too. "Out of my pew." Oprah, you've made your billions being "out of [your] pew." Nice way to make a religious tie, lady. It's just sickening and I hope people were just looking for a little entertainment & will take into account Obama's lack of...absolutely everything needed to run this country with competence.

Oprah certainly has the right to speak, but she is so far up her own backside that touting Obama as one of her favorite things is just, well, just read the last line of this article...ahhh! She has some culpability here. One caveat: Remember A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, people.

"I would have voted for him without her, but it's nice to see Oprah," Johnson said, joking that she hoped Winfrey would have one of her famous giveaways. "I'd love to get a car."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071209/ap_on_el_pr/oprah_obama

WaPo is running an excellent series on the background of the candidates

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120801526.html?hpid=artslot

John R and the Wolf Man in one of the best country lyrics ever:

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

George Lucas seems to have graduated a year after I did, but everything going on in Modesto looked awfully familiar for someone who graduated in 1961.

So where were you in '62?

http://www.sonic.net/~tdn/movies/graffiti.html

This site is even more fun because of the links

http://www.loti.com/fifties_movies/where_were_you_in_62.htm

I think Politico tilts right but if you sort through that bias this is an interesting piece on Obama and race. One of the uninteneded impacts of Oprah maybe to make him more of a black candidate.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7274_Page2.html

Tonight on The History Channel at 9:00: 1968 With Tom Brokaw. It's the pivotal year that separates the America of the past and the America we live with now and is based on his book Boom.

"This is a Nixon administration without the competence."

-- Joe Biden on "ThisWeek"

Renee,

I wrote a review of the book and of that year. It will be interesting to see the moving images and the people again.

http://jdurward.blogspot.com/2007/11/1968-year-that-changed-generation.html

Bear

this comment is just for you from the atrios bog

"I was on a fucked up express train the other day and the guy next to me said, "Giuliani was a fucking asshole, but the trains ran better when he was mayor. But that was because the people running the trains were afraid of being sexually assaulted with a plunger or shot forty-one times."
res ipsa loquitur | Homepage | 12.09.07 -
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From what I heard of her it sounds like oprah has found out the difference between speaking in a tv studio and political stump speaking......

Is "Oprahpalooza" over yet?

all rudi did on MTP was point out that he's made some pretty big mistakes.........

Why is everybody suddenly trying to sound like a southern preacher, fahchrissakes.......I even noticed old Pervez doing it......

Sturg,
Rudy's biggest mistake was going on MTP. He sounded like he was on release from a mental hospital.

He thinks the reason Iran stopped their nuclear weapons program in '03 was due to military pressure. In direct contradiction to the NIE.

Anybody who would have Norman Podhoretz as a foreign policy adviser must, by definition, be a paranoid sociopath.

Oh my God...this is (part of) what Dr. Dobson has on the web...

http://www.citizenlink.org/Stoplight/A000005834.cfm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVygBcMeBJ4

Doc Severinson goes to high school......?

Sturgeone

They were so young and so very, very good.

But I was so much older then.....I'm younger than that, now......

Jamie......it's amazing just how good they were.....and that with every step they took, they grew by leaps and bounds.......just amazing.......

Short update on Bull Dogger boy (jake reinhart) The daughter has text her mom after each round and the news is always the same. "Jake missed his steer". No time means no money. However, always the optimist, it is to be noted that the cowboys still have 7 days to go to make some big money. Hope springs eternal. Schedule conflict to night. NFR is live on ESPN2 at 7pm Central Standard Time.

yo soy Horsedooty!

I am thinking that if I am sitting in a hot tub and a mountain lion jumps up on the edge of the pool, we gonna need to drain the pool and start with fresh water.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22164071/

yo soy Horsedooty!

Craig,

Will you be going to Nevada for their election?

Can we do Vegas again?

Love at the Mirage anyone?

Borowitz on Obama and Oprah

In Speech on Religion, Obama Explains His Faith in OprahCalls Belief in Talk Show Hostess a “Personal Matter’

http://www.borowitzreport.com/

NEW THREAD

The politics are getting meaner and more nasty. Strangely, it was Obama who started it on the Democratic side.

I like Barak, and I like Hillary. But I have been increasingly disturbed by Barak's attacks on other candidates, particularly Hillary. It isn't like no one else does this, but Barak was campaigning on the need for a "new politics", instead of all the usual attacks one sees in Presidential campaigns. He has apparently abandoned this goal after seeing his popularity figures dwindling and Hillary's skyrocketing. Here is the message:

"I have to say .. Obama has increasingly disappointed me. I really loved his keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, and also his call for a "new politics" when he announced his interest in running for President. But, when he wasn't getting the numbers he hope for, he went on the attack on Hillary particularly. I am a Clinton fan from the days Bill and Hillary were in the White House. I have also watched with great interest and hope with Obama's run for the Presidency. But his vicious attacks on Hillary has taken away the moral high ground he pledged to walk on.

I am still open to Obama, but I need to see less attacks on Hillary and a return to the "new politics" he has given us much hope to see in this election cycle.

Oh and one more thought. Democrats attacking Democrats only hurts the whole party going into the general elections. I wish it would stop. We can't afford another Republican President.