The Swamp

Patrick J. Buchanan, MSNBC's Senior Political Analyst, author and all-around "save the white race from annihilation and extinction" advocate comes closer and closer to losing it completely.

Buchanan, whom I had profiled in some detail here, has turned into the white man's foil during this primary season on MSNBC. Always quick to point out the problems with Obama's capture of the lunch bucket crowd and how he can't get out the white vote, Buchanan has warmed to Senator Clinton for becoming the "everyman" that he feels is necessary to capture the race for the Dems. The more Obama wins, the more agitated Buchanan becomes.

I'll set up the video below as I had seen the whole thing live and this clip, while great, does not capture what set Pat off.

This immediately followed John Edwards' endorsement of Obama last night. The subject of conversation with Pat, Matthews and Andrea Mitchell was if anyone thought that Edwards would help Obama capture the working-class white vote. The exit polling on race as a basis for voting in WV was astounding. When asked if race was an important factor for their candidate of choice, Clinton voters answered 85% that race was an important factor - far higher than any primary before.

Editor's note: Tommy Christopher was found early this morning, lying naked and shivering, in a cooling molten crater on the Southbound side of the Garden State Parkway. Paramedics took him to an undisclosed hospital, where he is reportedly in an "unresponsive state."

Tom Fitsimmons, a spokesman for Mr. Christopher, has confirmed that the incident is related to his recent experiments with inter-dimensional travel.

Reporter: So, can we assume that you can't transport clothing or other objects to paralell universes?

Fitzsimmons: No, you can. You're thinking of the "Terminator" movies, that's time travel. We don't know what happened to his clothing.

An early witness on the scene noted that the catatonic, fetally positioned space-time traveller was clutching a document of some sort, along with a $1 bill with a picture of Jesus on it. The witness retrieved the documentbefore the authorities arrived, but spent the dollar bill on a Lotto ticket.

What follows is the content of that document, a news article entitled:

President Kerry to Run For 2nd Term

May 14 - 2008 With yesterday's win in the West Virginia Democratic Primary, President John Kerry has all but sewn up his party's nomination to seek a second term.

Here's one for our Ron Paul readers. I see you all are back and a welcome sight it is - really. No snark. We missed you.

The Web site Miss Ron Paul is doing it's latest contest for Miss Ron Paul. Apparently I'm late to this - they've been doing it for awhile. Congratulations to the past winners! So vote early and vote often. This round ends May 31. Contestant number 3 looks to be the presumptive winner. I wonder why.

I understand from my reading my colleague David Knowles' post that Congressman Paul might have a little surprise for the convention in September. I'm expecting to be there, so I'll try and meet up with Paul supporters. You will definitely be better company that the McCain supporters, I'm sure.

Oh, and I promised this great group of kids that I met after the Philly Democratic debate in April that I'd post their picture the next time I did a post on Ron Paul.

If there's anything positive to come from the Clinton campaign chairman's Meet the Press appearance on Sunday, it's this: There is Scotch in heaven.

During a passionate defense of Senator Clinton's narrowing chances for the Democratic nomination, Terry McAuliffe invoked a vision of his late father and host Tim Russert's father "both in heaven right now probably having a Scotch and looking down and saying, you know what, this fight goes on."

Which hits us all right here. The only problem is, Tim Russert's father is not dead. In fact, according to the Meet the Press host, he's "sitting on a barcalounger" somewhere. [YouTube via Wonkette]



B. Brandon Barker is the author of the novel Operation EMU.

The public corruption trial of businessman and political fundraiser Tony Rezko is expected to end today with closing arguments entered by both sides in Federal District court in Chicago. Rezko stands accused of engaging in kickback schemes involving two powerful Illinois state boards totaling $7 million. Rezko raised funds for a number of prominent Illinois officials, including Sen. Barack Obama, and the outcome of the trial could have an impact on the presidential race. While Obama is not accused of any wrongdoing, a Rezko conviction would be a major embarrassment to his campaign.

The timing of the trial could not have been worse for Obama, whose relationship to Rezko remains in question. Rezko assisted Obama with the purchase of his suburban Chicago home and was a prominent financial backer of the former community organizer's various political campaigns. In 2005, while Rezko was known to be under Federal investigation, Obama entered into a complicated financial transaction involving Rezko to purchase his $1.6 million home while Rezko's wife purchased the adjacent lot, which the home's owner agreed to split off from the property, for $625,000. The Obamas paid $300,000 less than the asking price for the house. Later, Rezko sold a portion of the adjacent lot to the Obamas for $105,000, rendering Rezko's parcel practically unusable. After first stonewalling on questions about the deal, Obama has since admitted that his involvement with Rezko in the transaction lacked judgment, calling it, "a bone-headed mistake."

Not long after MoveOn.org decided to endorse Barack Obama, the group announced a video ad contest: "Obama in 30 Seconds'.

5.5 million votes were cast for the 1,100 submissions and 15 finalists were selected. An eclectic group of 24 judges that included Ben Affleck, Jesse Jackson, Oliver Stone and Moby, chose the winner, "Obamacan" by David Gaw and Lance Mungia of Monrovia, CA.

MoveOn's donors have committed $200,000 to run this ad in selected markets.

London's Telegraph caught it and HuffPost brings it to our shores... Hillary Clinton referring to the next president as a "he." Oops.

Speaking to voters in the Appalachian state, she said: "All the kitchen table issues that everybody talks to me about are ones that the next president can actually do something about, if he actually cares about it." Realising her faux pas, she added: "More likely if she cares about it!"

Sometimes a verbal slip up is just a verbal slip up. I'm not going to get all Freudian on Hillary and suggest that in her mind the race is already over. Though her language in general over the past week has suggested that she's slowly facing up the realities of her impending loss:

Though Mrs Clinton continues to make her case as the best next president of the US, she has noticeably softened her tone on Mr. Obama in the past few days, after weeks of direct attacks on his readiness for the White House. She also much less regularly peppers her speeches with the phrase "When I am president..." - another sign that her inner conviction is fading.

For his part, it's clear that Barack Obama has moved on. It appears he's done with the primary states, realizing that this year the next president will indeed be a man. Obama headed for Missouri, sure to be up for grabs in November, where he's begun a full scale attack on John McCain's economic proposals.

If you missed Countdown tonight, you missed what is perhaps Bill O'Reilly's finest moment. The conservative talk show host, culture warrior, and loofah enthusiast has rarely been so relatable. I rarely, if ever, find myself identifying with the author of "Those Who Trespass," but I'm right with him in this clip.

Now, Keith Olbermann seemed to think that this clip should be embarrassing to O'Reilly, but anyone who's ever had a piece of technology take up revolutionary arms against them, be it the "blue screen of death" on your laptop, or the accidental use of the "Live" button on the DVR remote during a football game that you started watching late, or even the obnoxious noise your vacuum makes to let you know there's too much hair in the brush, has got to relate to Billo's apoplectic reaction to the cruel misdeeds of his TelePrompter.

Following Friday's resignation by Obama Middle East advisor Rob Malley over his many meetings with Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas, the Obama-Hamas controversy is bubbling up once more. Over the last few weeks the controversy has been a particular point of discussion between the McCain and Obama campaigns. In an interview last week, Senator Obama said that McCain was "losing his bearings" and suggested that the Hamas issue was nothing more than a "smear" tactic. In a subsequent appearance, Senator McCain said he believed the endorsement of Senator Obama by Hamas was "a legitimate point of discussion." Conservative and liberal blogs have been abuzz, albeit to a lesser extent than the "When Will She Get Out" speculation.

Senator Obama's position with regard to rogue states and terrorist groups has been a point of contention for months, starting with his statement during a CNN Debate in July of last year that he would meet with such states without precondition. The Clinton campaign made much use of this, with Senator Clinton herself calling Obama's answer "irresponsible and frankly naive," in an interview with an Iowa newspaper that same month.

Good morning, and welcome again to Videos of the Week. The big story this week was, of course, the virtual coronation of Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee. We have a couple of clips related to the making of that sausage, plus a few morsels of John McCain, a couple of cool tricks, and a Mike Gravel chaser.

Before we get to those, I just want to quickly plug Political Machine reader Tom Fitzsimmons' satire work over at The Specious Report, and at Daily Kos. Drop in there, laugh it up, and leave him a good rating, won't you?

By popular demand, I am adding the Obama 59 state gaffe, right after the jump.

Leading off this week is a video from my buddy Cenk at The Young Turks. For reasons that will be obvious later, I'm going to tell you nothing about it.