Is The Wilderness Always This Cold In Mid-June?

OKAY, it's a great day to be an American, especially one who owns a telecom company, or a presumptive Democratic nominee with a $half-billion of expected IOUs in your pocket and the remarkable ability to spin 180º and still get kissed by your supporters.

Otherwise, maybe not.

I have no problem with Democrats playing hardball. In fact I've tried to encourage it for years, but the only time Democrats have played hardball over the past three decades it was in order to cover up how little they were actually doing for their constituencies. And I think the Obama campaign probably made the correct decision wrt Federal financing, but they sure made it rather abruptly, and on a day when the Senator could have been fighting for real, important change in Washington. As it is, I've begun to wonder just how often we're going to hear "the system is broken" as an excuse. This particular system has been broken since the day it was implemented, and I don't recall Senator Obama proposing much in the way of a fix. Or, you know, ever talking about a "broken system" before yesterday. But never mind. Though I can't say I see a whole helluva lot of difference between a man with $500 M in lobbyist money in his pocket and one who got it $100 at a time, at least in terms of which one I'd want to go bowling with. Exxon-Mobil and McDonald's take it in in small doses, too, and doesn't appear to have made 'em all that moral.

And I go to Kos, I go to TPM, I check out the Usual A-List Suspects, last night and this morning, to find that a) word of the FISA "compromise" has not reached the Internet yet, or else everyone was too busy chasing down rumors that John McCain once said he didn't love America, and anyway it's all Steny Hoyer's fault; and b) money in politics is now evil only when Republicans have all of it. (The latter might possibly have been true, temporarily, but you wouldn't have heard me say so.) As a bonus I got not one, not two, but three lectures about how of course Obama supporters realize their man isn't Perfect, and how of course they welcome constructive criticism as long as it doesn't hold them, or him, accountable. Is it just me, or did those beards all grow longer overnite?

And these are, I remind you, semi-professional observers of politics who began insisting the weekend before New Hampshire that Hillary Clinton drop out of the race so their man wouldn't be burdened by having to take, or defend, public positions.

But the extra-special bonus was this Pre-"Compromise" thunderbolt hurled from Mount Moulitsas:

A warning to pro-capitulation House Dems

by kos
Thu Jun 19, 2008 at 12:52:12 PM PDT
When we started this "netroots" thing, we worked to get "more and better Democrats" elected. At first, we focused on the "more" part. This year, we're focusing a bit more on the "better" part. And in 2010, we'll have enough Democrats in the House to exclusively focus on the "better" part.
That means primary challenges. And as we decide who to take on, let it be known that this FISA vote will loom large. Voting to give telecommunication companies retroactive immunity may not guarantee a primary challenge, but it will definitely loom large.
We kicked Joe Lieberman out of the caucus. We got rid of Al Wynn this year. Those were test runs, so to speak. We've got a lot more of that ready to unleash in 2010.

Ah, well, he's young. Maybe there's still time to drown him.

And here's the thing, America: sure, I'm just some crackpot in a rocking chair on a screened-in porch, but you're the ones who selflessly stood in line for days waiting to give blood to 9/11 survivors who sadly did not exist, while the blood banks go begging every summer. You sent so much money in in the wake of Katrina that charities had no choice except to abuse it. You can stop giving your time, your attention, and your money to these people for as long as it takes to get the real fucking concerns of real fucking people addressed. And I'm sure you'd consider it, except for John McCain being old.


[Corexion: Kagro X was on the FISA story at Kos, calling for Senator Obama to use his Strength of Ten Men to transfer some of that money he's keeping to where his mouth used to be. My mistake. And we want to exempt Yglesias from the Usuals, for actually mentioning Obama's FISA disappearing act and then making it worse by saying: "Meanwhile, I guess I hope President Obama uses his powers responsibly, but on some level I'm sort of rooting for massive abuses so the right can get what they've been asking for." He's still young.]