Looks like Obama could win South Carolina in the general. Where did all these voters come from? Over half a million? Jeebus.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Apparently Hope is, indeed, alive.
Yep. JFK’s daughter, Caroline, just endorsed Obama – a Sunday NYTimes OP-ED.
A President like My Father
Here’s the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/opinion/27kennedy.html?hp
I’ve just gotta say it:
SWEET Caroline
ba-ba-ba
Good times never seemed so good!
So good! So good! So good!
(and I got me some Red Sox tickets today!)
Best Red State comment:
Notice where he’s from.
No one here believes Hillary would have an easy GE. Not Republicans. Not Democrats.
Some rural state?
well, BooMan thinks so
lol
Why Republicans fear Obama
Someone woke up to a nightmare. All those guys they tried to “cage” just broke out and voted!
Obama is electric. People are going to come out of nowhere to vote for him. That comment from redstate shows they are scared of him already.
I’ll bet a lot more people saw THIS speech than any of his previous ones. I think he gets an enormous bounce from this.
And the Clintons, even earlier today caught playing the race card and tonight, just can’t help themselves.
Their spin
I’m a monkey’s aunt. Guess they’ve yet to go over the exit polls.
and people wonder why I don’t like these people.
Not anymore.
Just wanted to say this…
And post a link to Caroline Kennedy’s op-ed, A President Like My Father.
Oh Hell Yeah! This could be so sweet!
That was so moving. As much as I loved the SC victory, Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement is almost better!
Wow. Just read the Op-Ed. Really powerful stuff.
I hate how Scar says “dimocrat”
Whenever someone refers to him as that I have flashbacks to the hell and torture that was The Lion King.
tonight is pro-Obama. Defending him against Pat Puke-anan. Really, overall, everyone loved that speech, even conservatives.
Joe got his start in politics because of Bobby Kennedy. He’s not as far right as many think.
The South Carolina numbers are amazing.
From Todd Beeton over at MyDD:
We’re blowing them away. I know the GE has a different dynamic, but this feels good.
I also know that starting tomorrow I have to go back to worrying about the Clintons winning. But it feels good tonight.
Not only that, but only Iowa voted for Gore among the states so far.
How do the numbers compare to last time round? on both sides?
Now he needs to make these kinds of gains with the Latinos of CA and AZ. If he can do that, he mops the floor on Feb 5. I’ve noticed on his website that he’s started the ads En Espanol for California – and they’re pretty good. He needs to turn the part of tonight’s speech about Latinos into a new one.
And the Seniors out there need to read Ms. Kennedy’s Op-Ed. They can still come around.
St. Louis Post Dispatch endorses Obama and McCain. From the Obama endorsement:
and this:
and Hillary?
I don’t think I know who Luca Brasi is. But it can’t be good.
And the end is appropriate with Caroline K. endorsement.
The hit man from “The Godfather.”
As in “Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes.”
Bill is a big fat mafioso hit man on the new kid from “Hope.”
Dammit joe.
Thanks you two.
I’m somewhat ashamed to admit that I’ve never seen any of the Godfather Movies all the way through. I’ve seen so many pieces of them I feel like I have. But I haven’t.
Signor Brasi is already hobnobbing with the press and trying to equate Obama with Jesse Jackson.
If I haven’t mentioned lately how much I loathe Bill Clinton, I regret that I can’t convey it adequately in this medium. There are too many hand gestures involved.
From the Godfather. Don Corleone’s trusted hitman I think.
YOur comment is very telling. I belong to the generation who can drop a quote from “The Godfather” and others my age all know where it came from. (There’s a deli down the street that runs it 24/7)
It’s the generation that can’t that has almost given up on government. Obama can get them to vote!
But there’s another quote about being ready for a very nasty fight, that ought to be heeded: Obama doesn’t want to walk out of ‘that men’s room’ with only…
Get ready! If he can beat the Clintons, he can beat anyone the right throws at him.
And I’ve only seen about 15 min. of the first movie. I’ve certainly had friends who could quote the movies, but only certain types. Not everyone has watched them. I know a lot of people who haven’t and they’re my age or older. I don’t think it’s generational at all.
I’m 39 and I can quote you virtually any line from any of the three movies. I think it’s more gender-based than generational, but age is probably a factor too. I can also quote you Scarface, The Untouchables, Star Wars (all 6), and The American President, so I may just be a movie geek:
“I ain’t gonna kill you…Manny, shoot that piece of shit!”
“I don’t approve of your methods!” “You’re not from Chicago!”
“Impressive! Most impressive!”
“Vote your conscience you chicken-shit lame-ass!”
Yep, definitely a movie geek…
My all-time favorite:
I can do the Untouchables and since I know watch all 6 Star War movies once a week (my daughter really loves them), I can’t virtually reenact any scene. But I don’t know that’s it’s gender. I lovelove movies like Goodfellas and Carlito’s Way. I own mostly action movies, especially Hong Kong and yakuza films. Somehow, the Godfather movies, like Scarface just make me want to gouge my eyes out.
We saw it when it came out, but we’re not movie junkies. Our philosophy on movies? See it. Walk out. Talk a bit and forget it. One big exception is Lawrence of Arabia. It wouldn’t hurt people to watch that today–sort of a MidEast history and politics primer.
Lawrence of Arabia is another key piece of cultural literacy.
But with respect to Godfather, if only to understand the politics of our relationship with Cuba, it’s a “must see.” It’s also a primer on how some people view government–a sort of “libertarian” view of the world.
I’m 47 & don’t remember squat about the Godfather films aside of the theme song & Brando’s sneer.
One of the top two or three in the past 50 years; an epic–truly.
Then the references in Shark’s Tale maybe would be that much funnier. DeNiro totally riffed on his Capone from the Untouchables in that, but my husband said that there was some Godfather in there too.
In the interest of full and fair disclosure here, I’m in my late 40’s. I’m just culturally deficient where the Godfather is concerned.
(I also am not one of those people that remembers dialogue. And I usually can’t remember the name of a movie character five minutes after I leave the movie theater – unless it’s in the name of the movie.)
What generation did you think I was in?
Well, the number of registered voters in South Carolina is 2.5 million and 661,699 voted for John Kerry in 2004.
So, either there are 500,000 or so pissed off Kerry voters or the general election is going to look good even in South Carolina.
Plus there is a strain of progressivism in South Carolina, best represented by former Governor Richard Riley.
It is interesting that Obama outpolled McCain and Huckabee together, and Hillary outpolled Thompson and Romney together.
in the South into play. Carry all the Northern states, promote huge young voter turnout, destroy the Re-thugs in ‘purple states’ like Iowa ….
Or we could pray that somehow, someway, we win 50 +1% of the votes in the states that Kerry took and cobble together some ‘coalition’ of people disgusted by the other side. All while the Thugs get revved up by their Hillary hate.
Um, ya, I’m convinced that Hillary is the ‘electable’ candidate.
That remains to be seen. But the white turnout for Obama in South Carolina, aside from the white youth turnout, is encouraging for the Obama folks.
And Hillary’s reliance on the Big (Attack) Dog has raised some serious questions about exactly who is running for president, something that Hillary does not need if she seeks to be the women’s candidate.
But SuperTuesday will tell which of the candidates can effectively manage a complex multi-state campaign, probably the most critical test of electability. And Clinton is at a disadvantage because of the advisers that she has on her team.
2004 results:
Chimpy and Darth Vader Republican 937,974 57.98%
John Kerry John Edwards Democratic 661,699 40.90%
The San Francisco Chronicle and the Philadelphia Inquirer both just endorsed Obama:
SF:
Philly:
In case anyone missed it…
More numbers from Georgia10 over at dKos:
I think I’m going to wake up tomorrow and wonder if I dreamed these numbers.
Just check back here in the morning, maryb.
Thanks for the post.
Please correct me if I’m wrong: now the Clintons have to go to Dean’s DNC, hat in hand, for their FL delegates?
You must not have been in the south for 25 years or more.
Where did they all come from?
THEY CAME FROM THE BLACK MIDDLE AND WORKING CLASSES IS WHERE THEY CAME FROM.
MOST OF THEM.
AND THEY ARE GOING TO KEEP ON COMING, TOO.
For Barack Obama.
Bet on it.
In the south and in the urban states as well.
Where have they been?
They have been waiting.
They have not very much trusted the white Dems who have come to visit them, car doors locked tight as they drove through the neighborhoods.
Obama is different.
He has been profiled, too.
If it were 30 years ago or more…30 years or less actually, in many areas…he could have had the shit kicked out of him or worse for no reason except the color of his skin and he would have shared with them the fact of having no real recourse other than to go home and try to heal up.
The black vote is going to be HUGE.
So is the youth vote, and so is the Hispanic vote.
THIS time around.
Bet on it.
If the old-line Dems…and this includes you, Booman, whether you are aware of that fact or not…if the old line Dems (so-called “reformers” and the mainstream machine people) do not wake up to this fact and fucking INSIST that he be on the ticket as at the very least a VP candidate, then they stand the chance of losing to McCain.
And losing a golden chance to open this racially fucked country up to a real, human-ecology based change.
Which is the ONLY goddamned thing that will save it from eventual collapse.
Un-fucking-believable.
Charles Mingus pinned this 40 years ago.
Go listen to the record.
Freedom, from the record Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus.
It’s about time.
Don’t miss the boat.
Don’t miss it.
AG
When Bobby Kennedy was running, in Los Angeles, the morning of the primary, a reporter drove around various precincts and saw a sight that made him gasp. Already, there were long lines leading from the voting locations. People who had never voted in their lives were turning out in force, because finally, they had a REASON to vote.
Oh yeah. Change is coming!!
Either change is coming…
Or they will attempt to solve their problem the old-fashioned way, these PermaGov motherfuckers.
With a gun.
We shall soon see.
Bet on it.
If they use a gun this time…is there enough backbone in the American soul to stand up this time?
Not just black urban people, but EVERYBODY?
Sometimes I think that there is.
And…sometimes I think that there isn’t.
And SOMETIMES I simply hope and pray that we don’t ever have to find out.
We shall see…
Really soon, I think.
Really soon.
Watch.
AG
They might try. But keep in mind that since Bobby Kennedy’s assasination, the secret service pays closer attention to these threats. Right now Barack Obama has an equal level of protection to that of George W. Bush… a much higher level than Hillary gets as a former first lady. Those guys surrounding him in suits, looking into the crowd – that’s only a small portion of the detail.
You TRUST those guys in suits?
These PermaGov cops who also protect muderers like George Bush and Dick Cheney?
Hmmmm…
Media hypnotism is a awesome device, ain’t it?
Who WAS on the Grassy Knoll that fateful day in Dallas?
AG
I get your point. I trust them to protect him from the average racist, skinhead or foreign spy with lots-o-guns, But if there is such a Perma-Gov type, maybe there is no protection that could possibly br counted on. We’ll see.
I doubt it. At this point such a move would, indeed, cause a popular revolt – the revolution would be televised. If I may venture into tin-foil hat territory, I would expect them to be passive-aggressive about it if they insist that Obama not be president – Kill Bill. Sympathy for the widow Clinton could change the tide of popular opinion (Missouri, 2000), but in reality I don’t expect any gun-play at all – Barack Obama will win it straight up.
I gotta say that if there is going to be an assasination, that it will take a page from the Russians: make it prolonged, public and horrific: radiation poisoning anyone? An object lession in who is REALLY in charge.
It’s a handshake away.
My senior citizen (republican) dad and I live together and he has been telling me for months that this Obama guy ain’t gonna win because he’s black and has a funny name. (Of course he’s never listened to him speak because of this as well.) I have been telling him “No dad, you are wrong this time. He is going to win in a landslide if he can kick Hillary’s fat white ass out of the way.” He still doesn’t get it and is sure that either Hillary or some weak-ass Republican will win because they’re white and don’t have funny names. He seems to think that it will be another 30 years or so before America will elect a black president.
Ugh! I explain the dynamic… JFK, Reagan, Obama. It’s happening. People find inspiration in this man and want to be a part of a movement. They don’t care about his race. And they’re sick of what the baby-boomer generation did to this country. Young people are making sure to vote. Old people will come around when they see their kids and grandkids doing it. It’s gonna happen.
No effect. He’s so sure.
I will be so happy when he is proven wrong. So happy. He’s usually right about most things because he is a wise old man, but I’ve got a feeling… and I’m sticking with it.
Mingus = God-spawn come before his time. There were a few years where I had a hard time listening to anyone else. Where is the Bio-epic starring Forest Whitaker. This guy was America’s Bach, Mozart and Dante rolled in one.
MSNBC’s Tom Curry has long been one of my favorite commentators. I felt he was very fair in all his coverage during the 2004 campaign.
Here’s what he’s saying tonight about Obama’s victory:
More than Edwards and Clinton combined. Obama absolutely, definitively won a huge victory today. Thank goodness. Let’s hope this builds a huge head of steam that powers him into February 5th. I know I’m feeling fired up, ready to go, at last….
Lisa-
YOU inspire me. Keep it up. You’re the best.
Awwww, thanks, Randy!
I’ve said the tide has turned too many times, and it did – inch by inch. But now I think we’re seeing the undersea earthquake that will wash it over us all.
Yes, I am an Edwards supporter, but there’s a lot of pent-up emotion leaking out of my eyes today.
I believe we saw evidence of a backlash against the smears by Team Clinton in the SC results. Will be interesting to see if the backlash carries over to February 5.
It would be a delicious irony for the movement that began as a backlash against Populist Democrats asserting ourselves to be destroyed by a backlash of Populist Democrats asserting ourselves.
Listening to Barack Obama on ABC this morning it was pretty obvious that an endorsement by Ted Kennedy is in the works. Expect more endorsements as momentum builds for the February 5 primaries.
We all should be feeling a little more positive about recent developments!!!!!