Steven C. Day

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1409

Democrats have been worrying a lot lately about a possible October surprise. You know, some dramatic game changing event deliberately dropped into the closing months of the campaign in the hope of saving John McCain’s bacon: something along the lines of war with Iran, catching Osama bin Laden or McCain proving the Beltway pundits right by actually walking on water.

So does worrying so much about this (other than the walking on water part) mean we’re paranoid?

Let’s check the definition:

Paranoid: Exhibiting or characterized by extreme and irrational fear or distrust of others.

Nope, no paranoia here: There’s obviously nothing irrational about fearing that George W. Bush will do anything — and I mean anything — to keep his team in the White House.

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http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1382

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http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1380

I lost my father a year-and-a-half ago at the ripe old age of 84. Although, as an aside, there’s no age that’s “ripe” enough when it’s your own father, is there?

For a good portion of his life, Dad was an active minister in the United Church of Christ. Eventually he grew weary of church politics, went back to school for his doctorate and became a sociology professor (where he then, of course, had to put up with academic politics, but that’s a different story). During the last 40 plus years of his life, while he remained an ordained minister and would on occasion fill in on a Sunday, he was never again a church pastor.

So I was a bit surprised when, during his final illness, it became obvious to me that while he was certainly proud of his years spent teaching, at the end of the day he considered himself first and foremost a minister of the United Church of Christ.

It was part of his essence.

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http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1376

Call me a flip-flopper, but it occurs to me that I’ve come a very long way on Barack Obama. At first, I was deeply suspicious of the wisdom of his candidacy. Then I was undecided. Finally, I became a supporter.

But “finally becoming a supporter” actually wasn’t the “final” step of my transformation: I’ve also gradually become convinced that Obama isn’t just the best available candidate. He’s something more.

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http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1375

At long last we’re down to just three remaining primaries, South Dakota and Montana (where Barack Obama is favored to win) and Puerto Rico (where Hillary Clinton is expected to win).

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BuzzFlash's Last Chance Democracy Cafe

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1364

He doesn’t know it’s a damn show! He thinks it’s a damn fight!
(Apollo Creed’s trainer in Rocky (1976))

Trying to read Hillary Clinton’s mind — and that of her famous husband — has become the new favorite parlor game of American politics. Is she angling for the vice presidency? Or is she trying to sabotage Obama, to pave the way for her in 2012? Or, less Machiavellian in nature, is she simply waiting until after the West Virginia and Kentucky primaries, both of which she’s expected to win big, thereby allowing her to depart the campaign on a winning note?

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BuzzFlash's Last Chance Democracy Cafe

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1337

To state the obvious, Joe Lieberman has the Democratic Party in a bit of a bind.

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BuzzFlash's Last Chance Democracy Cafe

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1330

Hi. It’s Christy once again. Did you watch the testimony yesterday from Gen. Petraeus and Amb. Crocker? What should the reaction be?

Last time General Petraeus came to Congress with a report on Iraq, there was an uproar about MoveOn’s "General Betray Us" characterization that prompted a swift repudiation by Congress.

Senate Approves Resolution Denouncing MoveOn.org Ad

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BuzzFlash's Last Chance Democracy Cafe

http://www.lastchancedemocracycafe.com/?p=1326

You could fill an ocean with the tears being shed by Democrats these days — tears of anguish and tears for opportunity lost. Here we stand, in all of our lefty glory, having been handed a historic opportunity to not only reclaim the presidency, but to rewrite the (right wing tilting) genetic code that’s been controlling American politics for almost two generations.

So what are Democrats doing with this great opportunity? Well, by most accounts (including some by me), we’re fu*king it up royally. Far from pushing our considerable advantages over the Republicans to there fullest, we’re allowing the increasingly nasty campaign between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to tear the party apart.

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