Youth, Youth Vote, Wasted on Young

People who know me (all 4 of you) know how skeptical I am about Obama-mania, Hill-arrhea, Democratic "inevitability", and how Hope, Love, and The Youth Vote conquers all. It sounds nice and feels self-satisfying, but it didn't work in 2004 even though like now we were targeted by campaigns, mobilized, angry, eager for change, and running against a total turd sandwich.

To further pump people up and tell themselves and each other how great and inevitable and young and hip they are, along comes DKos to discuss the Youth Vote, and pooh-pooh any skeptics such as myself that the Youth Vote may not turn out like it did in 1972, or, 1992, or 2004.

Meteor Blades may need to review his/her history here because, Democrats lost 2 out of 3 of those elections he claimed were so dominated by the Youth Voting tsunami.

Sorry to be a downer here, and even more sorry to use a sports analogy, but weren't the Patriots talking about how inevitable their ascendency was?

Edwards To Exit Presidential Race

Raw Story

So, it seems that after a lackluster showing in the first few primary contests behind Clinton and Obama, John Edwards will be dropping out of the race. It looks like he's waiting until he gets down to New Orleans to make his announcement. A move which would seem appropriate given that this was the city where he started it all by announcing his campaign for President again.
Edwards will definitely not be out of the picture in this Democratic primary race, though. He has the unique opportunity to play "kingmaker" by endorsing one of the two remaining candidates

John Edwards on Cover of Latest Newsweek: The Sleeper?

Well. Is he the sleeper candidate? Is he?
Damn right he is.
This is for a few of my fellow Crinchers here who are all up on the J-Eds tip. Well guys, here you go. I'm posting about John Edwards. I must admit though, and I've had this discussion within the circle of Crinch Pin bloggers, that there is something to this John Edwards thing lately. I have been noticing how little attention he has been getting and commenting on how this mudslinging between Obama and Hitlery has really been quietly working to Edwards' advantage. He seems to have taken on a new tone lately: a little more angry, and little more ballsy, and a lot less bullshit. Maybe he has been taken off of the establishment's list of "potential puppets" and is finally fighting back against those on the insider track. We know that at one point John Edwards was a darling for the establishment, being essentially chosen as the VP candidate by the Bilderberg Group at their 2004 meeting.
So it's still too early to tell what's really might be going on behind closed doors, but from a glance, it looks like Edwards is NOT being pushed by the machine any longer, and just maybe he's starting to fight back. Hey, he's not known for making great initial decisions (see Iraq War vote) but we can all agree that he has taken a knack for owning up to his mistakes later (see mistaken Iraq War vote admission).

From the Belly of the Beast: Dems Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

***** Note: This will be the first in a (hopefully) weekly series I'm entitling "From the Belly of the Beast" and will discuss specific articles and ideas from the conservative side of the blogosphere. *****

Conservative blogger Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters describes the Democrat's ineptitude with playing politics to their advantage. I admit he has a point. Yet, it seems to me that his point resonates deeper when one considers that GOP idealism rarely gets in the way of their political goals the way a fight for the ethical treatment of prisoners has for the Dems in this case. Even now that they are in the minority in both houses, Republicans are still able to bully and steer the Congress at their will.

The crux is that Democrats have yet to create a united front against the President and his shills in Congress, let alone peel off enough Republicans who will stand up against the status-quo. This seems obvious if not for the fact that even an embattled minority like the GOP is still able to amass enough noise and intimidation to keep something as "given" as S-CHIP from a two-thirds veto-proof majority. What are the Dems missing? Why do their ventures into idealist territory fall flat, or worse, explode in their face?

I never thought I'd say this, but the Dems need a Tom Delay. They need a no-bones meat grinder of a legislator who will pound the round pegs into the square holes in the left and create a united Democratic Party behind a (soon-to-be) Democratic President. Delay isn't the best example, considering his pilfering, fraud, and general disregard for ethical behavior, and I am no fan of the man. Having said that, he was an astonishingly successful legislator who intimidated both sides of the aisle and whose most important contribution might be creating a GOP culture united against the world. Even when the world had tipped in favor of the GOP, they refused to remove the rage from their legislation, or their rhetoric. Granted, constantly throwing haymakers in the House and Senate did not do much for intra-aisle relationships, but that's of little consequence. THIS is what the Dems need to succeed: a strong leader, a united front, and some sheer RAGE.

Last time I called for Harry Reid's head, a fellow Crinch Pinner enlightened me to the Nevada Senator's subtle power play with war funding and the Holy Petreaus Report. Well, we're still going nowhere fast with no end in sight. If I lick my thumb and test the air, I can tell that soon this war will be not only the problem of a Democratic Congress with a slim majority, but the problem of a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress with a vast majority. We need a plan for withdrawal, we need a strong leader, we need a united front against the president and the Republican MINORITY, and we need some motherfucking RAGE.

Let the hate mail begin.