Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

I think that we will see many more surrogate attacks on Obama. This is a test to see how he reacts.

I am all for putting as much pressure on him, Hillary and all the other candidates during the runup to the primaries. I want to see what these people are made of. After all they are running for the highest office in the US and will be incontrol of a huge military, I want to see how they react under pressure.

Sorry about the bad news , Dexter. I slipped on a patch of ice walking to my car after work this morning. I thought for sure that I was going to fall over backwards , but I somehow kept my balance.

Dex &TT.....
I'm sorry for both your losses.....

I know I said it before..... but I'll say it again.....
snow is fine....... ice SUCKS.....

thank god the IA caucus and NH primary are almost here......
I will watch the debate this afternoon..... but I've really had enough already.....

If Obama gets the nom (he won't), somebody could just run an ad comparing him to W (per several of my previous posts). There is definitely a personality parallel between them that comes into focus with their drug use.

Having said that, I hope the Dems will just promote their platforms and not attack each other today. Plenty o' time for that in the general.

I looked like a cat walking on tin foil when I was in Iowa. Most of the midwestern grandmas made better time across the parking lots than I did.

I agree Bowmanc, this is how we find what the candidates are made of. How Obama reacts will be instructive.

The Hillary/Bill coalition dynamics are also being tested. With the reports of Bill’s unhappiness with Hillary’s staff being overly cautious puts added pressure on Hillary’s decision-making skills.

Then you have the Edwards camp just waiting to take advantage of any missteps of the others.

Man, I love this stuff!

mornin' all.

Yep, this is where it gets interesting. OK, our firm has it's holiday luncheon today - it's a covered dish kind of affair, and I volunteered to bring my famous Rudy Giuliani 3 bean salad - so named because there's really nothing to making it and I've never made it before but others have so I'll take credit for it. While Mrs. P slept on the couch and I was making my famous salad, I had a rerun of the debate on the tube. Good god. What a bunch of drips. I thought Thompson's little "I'm not doing hand raises today" and refusal to answer the question was stoopid. Rudy came off looking like the guy who went to college and found out you can lie with statistics. I don't know who the "winner" of the debate was, but I'd have to say Romney looked more like a president than any of the others. I think we're in a heap of trouble if he wins the nomination and the general election.

On another note, Little P's swim coach from last year, Hannah Galey, is a junior at Columbia. She was named collegiate swimmer of the week this week. Great kid.

hhhmmmm.....

Mad.... your enthusiasm is infectious....

I think what I'm tired of is the big field of candidates.... it makes for clunky debates....
I'd love to see the field winnowed at this point..... which is what I think will happen after Jan 8th.....

what happens between between that date and Feb 5th should prove very interesting.....

Blue..... that's what you get for wearing high heels..... :0)

Oh, and listening to Huckleberry try and talk about how well the Arkansas education system did under his direction was absolutely laughable.

Dex,
I'm sorry to about you friend. Sad. And way too young.

Tiptoe,
Sorry to hear about your former boss. It's wonderful that you had such a great boss.

cartoon:
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2007/12/17/cartoons_20071210?slide=3#showHeader

Craig,
The Register says the debate will be at 1:00 CST.

Enjoy!! I am going into the office today so will probably be able to read your snappy comments in lurk mode only. It is a bugger working in IS. They don't mind so much if I read stuff on the internets from time to time but they get all bent out of shape if I comment on blogs.

I had a few surprises last night. I posted a blog entry about them this morning.

http://themitchellblog.blogspot.com/

strange duck friend of mine passed last week also.......over 50.....went to school from the age of six until the day he died.just kept going back, never any real graduation: A history MARVEL....never had a "real" job........lived in his mother's house downtown from birth until last week.....pretty good life, I suppose.....nice guy too......so it goes.........

oops, thanks for the catch zoey, it's fixed. got that from the Register and forgot about time difference. debate is at 2 p.m. eastern today.

Dex & tt, just caught up with last nights posts and want to offer my condolences. Death of friends is a real bitch.

Hey Corey
Thanks for the lovely story but also for your wonderful sense of humor. That's a gift that keeps on giving.

Dog
Rep Wexler would like to come to the impeachment party.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Rep._Wexler_wants_Cheney_impeachment_hearing_1211.html

gee I thought the debate was "Iowa Nice"

the national media especially the cable television networks are insane.

RFLMAO

The repugs in congress, upset that their next war seems to be going off the rails since the NIE found no nuclear weapons threat from Iran, want to form a committee to issue an "alterntive: report based on the same intelligence as the NIE that said Iran abandonnned its nuclear weapons program 5 years ago.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071212/iran-intelligence/

Guess it depends on the meaning of the word ceasedd.

OK, campers, time for your morning quiz. Are you smarter than a White House Press Secretary?

http://www.236.com/news/2007/12/12/are_you_smarter_than_a_white_h_1_2886.php

Sorry, guess I'm just giddy today - couple pieces of rum cake and I'm goofy (as if the rum cake has ANYTHING to do with it).

Zoey: 1pm CST is 2pm EST, unless Craig erred and has since corrected what he wrote.

I hope the debate gets feisty. I think its Hillary's last chance to salvage her slipping numbers.

But let's not forget. According to an article I read in late December 2003, about a month before the New Hampshire Primary, Kerry was ready to settle a distant second in that primary, trailing Dean by 20 points.

If something doesn't change this morning, you may be bombarded with comic links today - Here's Rudi's Dickipedia entry, compliments of 23/6.

http://dickipedia.org/index.php?title=Rudy_Giuliani

And in the spirit of bipartisanship, here's Hillary's Dickipedia entry.

http://www.dickipedia.org/index.php?title=Hillary_Clinton

Good morning peeps. My right wing buddy called to ask for an opinion about yesterday's debate. I was surprised that he "almost" agreed that they were a batch of "throwaway candidates" to clean the party of the spendthrift Bush Wing and put a damper on the Social conservatives so that they can rebuild for 2012

In what is likely to be a rare moment of seriousness this morning...

Thomas, I think it is Hillary's last chance to salvage her slipping numbers in IA, and Obama and Edwards' last chance to have a snowball's chance of keeping from getting humiliated on Super Duper Tuesday.

About that "war on Christmas"

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--hanukkahattack1211dec11,0,1793775.story

OK, I'm posting the home page of Dickipedia. If you don't pee yourself while reading these things, you could have been in yesterday's debate.

http://www.dickipedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page

jamie, that sounds like something SNL would do as a skit about the war on christmas. I guess it's just the christmas side fighting back.

Pogo.... LOL!
keep it up...... humor is good for what ails us......

Jamie.... I know several Republicans who think this election is a throwaway also.....

Nash.... it just occurred to me that I forgot to tell you how much I enjoyed reading your posts yesterday...... I love your humor....

Pogo -- THANKS for Dickapedia! Hilarious!

I'm happy to contribute anything I can to make the world a little nicer, a little lighter, and my stomach now hurts from laughing at the Dicki entries. The one about the Pilgrims is just f*cking brilliant.

Liza collapses on stage.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071213/liza-minnelli/

Oh god, I literally have tears running down my face from laughing at the Dicki entries. I'm glad my secretary is flooded in and isn't here asking me if I've lost my mind. My sincerest, heartiest thanks go out to Arianna Huffington for creating 23/6 and putting Dickipedia on that site.

In a separate statement, released by concert organizer Svensk Nojesutveckling, Minnelli's manager Gary Labriola said: "We don't yet know what happened, we are all very worried."

Morning peeps,

"If Obama gets the nom (he won't), somebody could just run an ad comparing him to W (per several of my previous posts). There is definitely a personality parallel between them that comes into focus with their drug use."

There are no parallels between Obama and Bush, an absurd notion.

Brian, you must forgive blue - she's been spending time in zoey's state, obviously without the training needed to avoid making nutty statements about political figures after personlally meeting each one of them twelve times in a one week period. Thankfully, zoey has that training.

:) @ pogo

As if you needed yet another reason to actively campaign against Huckleberry...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/12/13/falwells-hero-how-hucka_n_76478.html

I think the audience in Iowa was probably happy with the discussion from the candidates and the format of the debate.

Supposedly the media all agree religion shouldn't be an issue but tweety was wetting his pants because there was no coverage of the petty fight between only two of the candidates. what an ass.

su

Huckabee just grows more charming with each passing day! What a creep.

Tee Hee.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1207/Senate_Judiciary_approves_contempt_resolutions_against_Rove_Bolten.html

And will forgiveness follow the apology?

http://thepage.time.com/2007/12/13/another-political-apology/

Damn!! And I thought Dickipedia was funny. The ABA Journal makes it look like the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071212/gonzales-lawyer-of-the-year/

pogo,
I wonder if the denial of the drug flap and the subsequent apology are part of a good cop/bad strategy. Or have an operative send out something really nasty and then publicly apologize for it. It would follow from Bill's rift with Hill's staff about them not being aggressive enough. And with the fact that Shaheen is very close to the family, the whole thing doesn't pass the smell test.

Does anyone find it a gross waist of time that the house and senate are investigating steroid use in pro ball?

dnd
the whole thing is a media set up
first drudge spreads rumors clinton's campaign is lanning on using the drug story

in an interview with Shaheen he is asked about it and that is the answer..the campaign did nothing on its own

what a pile of crap

Oh please KC, Hillary has already apologized, what the hell are you talking about. It's staggering how much of a free ride the females on this group are willing to give Hillary. Makes you wonder who the sexiest really are.

brian
pay attention
no denies shaheen said them...we are talking about the context.

the media has made his drug use an issue
and Romney has said he would use it against him and doesn't think youthful revelations are appropriate

ever since the recent Obama statement there has been stuff in the media

Rumor has it the Edwards campaign has made a deal with Clinton to win in Iowa --keep him in for matching funds and destroy obama and then he will endorse her in the later primaryies

Part of a pattern KC, anytime Hillary is challenged it's someone else's fault. Hillary is responsible for the actions of her staff. Anytime something comes up around Hillary you blame the press. Anytime anyone says something critical of Patsi accuses us of aiding and comforting the enemy. And now Blue is comparing Obama to Bush. It's just all so damn absurd. Whatever the Hillary folks are pouring in the Kool-aid it must be pretty damn powerful stuff!

Clinton Derangement goes over the edge
Posted November 28th, 2007 at 12:48 pm

It’s worth remembering, from time to time, that for those truly overcome with Clinton Derangement Syndrome, there are no depths. For these poor, unhinged critics, concepts like “limits” and “decency” have no meaning at all.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/13741.html

guess barry bond's asterisk won't look so lonely now

ANY of the three top Dems would be 10,000% better than Bush, and the voters know it. Whatever flaws the Dems have are minor.

The five top Republicans, on the other hand, are the scrapings off the bottom of the barrel. Rudy & Mitt governed in liberal states, and took positions necessary to win. They are now trying to repudiate everything they've said for the past 20 years.
Huckabee is a corrupt and dangerous religious fanatic, with a charming smile. (No one is fooled.)
Rudy is also corrupt as the attempt to hide the "mistress bodyguard" costs demonstrates.
Mitt is a hypocrite for railing aganist illegals while employing them to mow lawns on his vast estate.
McCain sold his soul to born-again, forever compromising his maverick image...and it didn't work. They still hate him. And Thompson...even the Republicans now think he's a bad joke.

This isn't even close, no matter what the MSM pundits say. 2008 = Dem landslide.

yeah, Brian....
I think it's ridiculous that Congress is getting involved in baseball steroid use....
that's the job of baseball itself.....

dnd.... I agree the Sheehan drug flap doesn't smell right..... they are both very politically saavy....

just found out a friend slipped on the ice the other day and broke her ankle in 3 places...... what is it with ankles lately...... hope Craig's and Zoey's are on the mend....

Do baseball fans CARE if the players are juiced up? Nah. They want them to hit home runs.

in the past baseball and the fans have cared selectively about the issue. Now can't do that and this will end the Bonds baloney.

One of the benefits of living in northern Maine is that it's SO DAMN COLD here in winter that we don't get any "freezing rain," so ... NO ICE.

Come to think of it, that's the ONLY benefit to living up here.

Brian, of HIllary, Bill, Shaheen & Drudge, I'd have to say Bill is the sexiest - and that's from a straight male. :-) (Funny typo in your 12:20 post - assuming it was a typo).

dnd, considering how poorly Hillary's campaign has performed in the past month or so, I'd be surprised to find out the Shaheen flap was planned by the campaign.

nash, amen brudduh, and I hope you are as right as I think you are.

nash, another benefit to living in northern Maine - no crowds.

Bonds made a ton of cash. I don't think he really cares if he's not in the Hall of Fame.

On the other hand, he could soon be sharing a cell with Michael Vick.

"The lower bunk is mine, baseball boy."

"You talkin' to me, or is that a dog barking?"

No typo that I see. Not sure what you mean.

pogo: The only place you find crowds in northern Maine is Wal-Mart on Saturday. Just TRY to find a paking space less than 1/4 mile from the door.

I think a lot of your reluctance to support Obama might be due to unspoken assumption that he cannot win, being a black man.

Personally, I would think he has a much better shot at crossover vote than H Clinton, and he is much more personally inspiring. This is an unprecedented election, and we've suffered through 2 terms of the worst president in U.S. history.

It is thrilling to think of Thanksgiving 2008, when the US is looking forward to the inauguration of our first black president -- and a man capable of healing the divisions Bush/Cheney/Rove have sown for years, both domestically and abroad.

Not so thrilling to think we went with "the first woman president" who, to me, will always seem like the Rosie Ruiz (subway marathoner) of American politics.

Face it, I see 4 years of GOP ugly ugly ugly harrassment of the 2nd President Clinton. They will be doubly angry for their unprecedented electoral losses, and will hate and seethe at Hillary personally.

But turn that vitriol on the first black president, when GOP would admit (privately) they ran a terrible field of contenders for 2008 -- I don't see it.

brian: typo?
" ...females ON this group..."

I hate (love) Christmas luncheons. By being confronted with seemingly endless variety and quantity of delicious food, it reminds me that I have NO willpower. I need a nap.

And they will be so kind to Barak Hussein Obama who is a muslim and went to muslim schools and sold drugs and doesn't have a clue.

Less experience than George Bush.

Brian -sexiest?

dog: I'm for ADD. (ANY Damn Democrat.) I'd even vote for Kerry, again, if they take him out of the cryogenic storage tank.

If Obama wins, maybe the Confederate states will try to secede again.

This time, we should let them. The per capita GDP of the USA would go up 10%, and the STD rate would go down.

nash, figures - there were no Wal-Marts up there when I was there. I should have figured they'd be there by now.

I do not agree with you, KGC, on 1:35 p post.

Assume you are just channeling the negative stuff, most of it factuallly incorrect.

"Less experience than George Bush." Oh puhleez.

Rush Limbaugh called Obama
half african and had over racially charges nicknames
and themes
Look at the attacks on Harold Ford. The goopers are shameless

dog
just arguing with nash but on paper
Shrub was a two term gov of texas

Obama state senator and first term senator.

So ...Shrub more experience on paper. imo

KGC: agreed, the GOP media commandos are shameless.

But the American voter realizes what they were sold last election, and 70% want a new direction for the country.

So the commandos' smear tactics could backfire this time around.

Nas, renee, bowman, everyone up there in the NE - have a look at the gift we have for you. It will be arriving soon.

http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/dopplerradarusnational/northeastdopplerradar1800_large.html?from=wxcenter_maps

Yes pogo sexiest, it's a two way street you know.

If you are or aren't a dog owner you may already be aware of the affliction known has tail chasing syndrome. This is where the dog will chase their tail until the catch it, and it has been documented in some cases where the dog has actually chewed off its own tail. Apparently the Democratic Party is currently suffering from this same affliction.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/12/AR2007121202837_pf.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119750838630225395.html?mod=politics_first_element_hs

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/12/AR2007121201791_pf.html

http://thehill.com/index2.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70300&pop=1&page=0&Itemid=70

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/12/our-view-on-war.html

Brian: think you are going for "sexist", which is a bad quality. Vs "sexiest" which is a good one.

People magazine does not laud the nation's sexists.

Brian :)

sexest unless you mean sexiest in which case
that is us girls...

ok, I see my error now. Well I'm sure several are you are very sexy, just as I'm sure the Hillary crowd is trying to exploit sexism for their own benefit.

here is more of the shaheen interview and why this just a crapfest fed by the media

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/12/post_235.html

everyone ready? only 5 minutes til kickoff of the LAST pre-caucus debate.

Pogo....
that weather is already here...... and it's in the form of all snow....

it's pretty...... it's a winter wonderland.....

going to my studio now in order to watch the debate.....

Yeah Brian
better watch out we are forming into a giant girl gang from coast to coast and we are coming to get you.

Send your brother instead KC, that will get my notice!

Have to go to CNN or Fox

MSNBC is playing baseball

"Send your brother instead KC, that will get my notice!"

so the sexiest thing really wasn't a typo

msgop is covering the mitchell press conference instead of the dem debate

If he is nominated I will vote for him, but it will be against my better judgement as there are at lease four other Democrats running that I would rather have in the office.

He's good at memorizing a briefing book, but real thin on experience and depth of knowledge in the items on which he is questioned. Come see me in eight years.

Jamie: I am delighted to hear you think we will have 2 terms of President Obama! If so, can afford to treat us both to a spectacular dinner out when come to see you in 8 years!

RE memorizing a briefing book: the guy was Harvard Law Review. And not a legacy admission.

Why wasn't Edwards asked about entitlements?

Why do my comments have to be approved by Craig before they are posted. I mean I haven't insinuated anyone here was a drunk or drug addict, and I certainly haven't initially unleashed a verbal assault filled with vitriolic hateful speech on anyone. I even looked in my email box for a message indicating why such actions necessary, but no such email. This is also strange as this has happened once before, but back then I did receive a email from Craig apologizing saying it was unintentional.

Whoa, Hillary wants to re-work NAFTA. Can't wait to see Bill spin that one on the stump.

Democrats so much better than the goopers.

Democrats do have plans and ideas

and the goopers are hoping for fishes and loaves

fry
did you have links in your post
any comment with multiple links gets held.

KGC: NYTimes: Who invited the Dog?

Were I to send out paper invites to dog's impeachment party, think this little guy would be on the front.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/fashion/13pet.html?ei=5087&em=&en=6715c519203561d1&ex=1197694800&pagewanted=all

fd, what kc said - I had a 3 linker held a couple weeks ago - reposted it as one and two link posts and it flew through. Once it's released, and it will be, it will appear in the posts at the time you initially posted it if history is a teacher.

Fry that happened to me last night and to date the post has not been posted. I suspect that it was because of the 4 links I tried to send for Dog about t shirts.

yo soy Horsedooty!

freed your comment from the holding pen, fry. the spam filter holds any with 3 or more links and i keep forgetting to check what's in there. sorry

Dogs Eye

"RE memorizing a briefing book:" is something every candidate must learn to do. You have to be bright to be able to do it. You can see how important it is by listening to the Republican candidates run for talking points when they don't know anything about a subject.

That wasn't a put down of Obama. Where I find him lacking is in response when confronted for details, and that can only be corrected by time. As it stands now, I simply find Biden, Clinton, Edwards, and Richardson more able to take on the duties of President immediately.

interesting that a held post appears at time of initial posting; that could be after the thread is on a new page or 40 comments along.

Fry: whatever you tried to link to better be worth all the discussion!

dooty and all: still on the hunt for good t shirts; all suggestions gratefully accepted.

CAfe Press has a lot of unique items

http://www.cafepress.com/

Obama just had an excellent comeback for Hillary, when she laughed derisively before he could answer the question as to how he would bring about change when he had so many former Clinton advisors advising him. She blurted out, "Yeah, I wanna' hear that." He responded, "Hillary, I'm looking forward to you advising me, as well." Thought it was a great comeback...even though I'm not an Obama fan.

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