Time Magazine reveals the real Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin may be a lot of things, like a religious wacko ("Iraq is a mission from God", and not mention her church up until five years ago spoke in tounges), or a pathological liar (I was against the bridge to nowhere), but one thing she is not is a fiscal conservative. Not that that really matters anyway considering the record of our most recent "fiscal conservatives". See graphic below...

Time Magazine had this to say about Ms. Palin's abysmal record:

Of the 50 states, Alaska ranks No. 1 in taxes per resident and No. 1 in spending per resident. Its tax burden per resident is 2 1/2 times the national average; its spending, more than double. The trick is that Alaska's government spends money on its own citizens and taxes the rest of us to pay for it. Although Palin, like McCain, talks about liberating ourselves from dependence on foreign oil, there is no evidence that being dependent on Alaskan oil would be any more pleasant to the pocketbook.

DNC Day 3: Day of the Big Dog

Wednesday morning I hopped out of bed and pulled the curtains open, ready to tackle day three of the convention. Having one full day under my belt, I felt like I knew the ropes as well as I was going to this go around. When my feet hit the floor, I was reminded how far I had hiked and more specifically, how bad my feet and legs hurt. I would be willing to bet I walked at least five and more likely closer to ten miles a day at the convention. For a fellow who punches keyboard for a living, that is a lot of hiking. Sore legs and all, nothing could contain my downright giddiness at the prospect of seeing Bill Clinton speak live. If you passed me on the streets of Denver that day, I was the one stuttering about going to see the "big dog". I was supposed to get to go see him in Tupelo at the Furniture Market this year, but it snowed and I did not want to try my luck driving in the snow.

I tanked up on a big breakfast at my hotel and made my way to the bus stop with two nice young fellows from California who were part of a Young Democrat delegation. We waited for about 30 minutes for our bus, while one of them ranted about everything that had annoyed him so far at the convention. He mentioned that he wanted to get in to politics. I did not have the heart to tell him that he had the diplomacy skills of a hand grenade.

The word on the street for Wednesday was to watch out for the protesters. Things were supposed to take a turn for the worse as the protests were scheduled to be stepped up. I never saw this amount to anything, but I was warned nevertheless. After riding the RTD (bus) to my usual stop on Market Street, I exited the bus and entered in to a long conversation with a gentlemen with a thick British accent about Naomi Klein's latest book, "The Shock Doctrine". He was the first person I have met that had read the book. I then quickly hopped on the Mall Line to make the ride towards my credentials.

With Wednesday's credentials in hand, I made my way down the Mall Line again to the Big tent. Here it was around 11:00 and I had nothing to do but blog and soak in the action. I found a seat close to the interview corner of the tent. Next to me were bloggers from Washington state, Alabama, South Dakota, and England. There was a girl standing close to me that had on a shirt that read, "I blogged your girlfriend", utterly classic. It was time to get down to the business of blogging. I started working on organizing my notes and began work on several blogs, some of which have yet to come to fruition. It was hard to concentrate, due to the zoo-like atmosphere of the Big Tent. There was a microphone in the corner, with someone making announcements every five minutes. Markos was posted along the wall granting someone an interview every hour or so it seemed. The Kos bunch was set up on some couches in the back of the tent. Here I met Brownsox and Plutonium Page, two well known front pagers for Daily Kos. Brownsox wanted to talk to me about the Musgrove race.

One thing I took away from the Big Tent was the overall excitement for the Musgrove Wicker race. I must have answered questions what felt like 100 times over the four days. I really wish Ronnie Musgrove would have come to Denver and shown up at the Big Tent. He would have been well received. On this Wednesday I had the privilege of shaking Senator John Tester's of Montana hand. He gave a brief interview followed by a round of shaking hands. He, along with Senator Webb, were my two favorites of the class of 2006. Tester reminds me of a Mississippi Democrat in the way he carried the red state of Montana. He is an organic farmer, who is pro-gun, and sports a flat top. Every time I saw an ad for him he was standing on a farm, or in front of a tractor. He neutralized the GOP attack (like Childers) and then whooped them with good ole economic populism.

The roll call vote was very exciting inside the tent. We all stood and cheered when our state's delegation was called on. I was the lone ranger for Mississippi, but did my best to let the others know there was one redneck in the house. As honored guest after honored guest made their way around the tent, with the microphone belting out each new arrival, I found it increasingly hard to blog. Before long I looked up and realized it was getting close to 5:00. I wanted to see Bill Clinton speak and thought it might be best to try and head on over to the Pepsi Center. The line this time was twice as long as long as the day before. I was not worried after the night before, I just figured it would work out. Boy was I wrong.

I finally made it inside to find all of the curtains to the portals I was assigned to use pulled shut. Apparently the DNCC gave out an extra 3,000 credentials than they had seats. Unfortunately for me, I was a part of the unlucky 3,000 for night three. About that time, I heard "...President Bill Clinton", from inside the arena. My heart sank, but I decided make the best of it and gathered around one of the many big screens that were set up in the corridor. By the time he started talking there was at least 50 of us gathered around this one TV. In our group was young, old, black, white, and a latino fellow wearing a union hard hat with every union pin made this decade adoring his hat band. He was all smiles during Bill's speech. That scene was repeated every other portal where another group would be gathered around a TV. There were easily well over a 1,000 folks out in the hall on just my level, not to mention the other two or three levels of the arena. We cheered and laughed as Bill gave his speech. He is still the best speaker out there, minus a fellow named Obama.

I then decided to watch the rest of the night from the comfort of the Big Tent, where there was free food and free beer. I missed the John Kerry speech in my haste to make it back from the Pepsi Center to the Big Tent. Day three had its share of disappointments for me, but all in all it was a winner. I learned that I better head to Invesco early if I wanted make sure I was able to see Obama speak. After Biden's speech, which was my favorite of the night, I decided it was time for some fun in Denver. The RTD ran up until 11:25, so I had an hour an a half to mill around downtown Denver. I took some great pictures that are being transferred and cleaned up by a friend of mine. Time got away from me, and I had to run two blocks in five minutes to make it to the bus stop in time to get home.

Next up Day 4, the big day, the big speech!!

Why Musgrove is a Democrat

There was a great interview of former Governor Ronnie Musgrove in the Delta Democrat Times. This excerpt of Musgrove explaining why he is a Democrat is insightful.

Note: The DDT interviewer make an invalid assumption that the GOP is the more fiscally responsible party. Funny thing, Bill Clinton is the most fiscally responsible President we have had in 30 years. That is a fact, Jack.

DDT: Speaking of the party, the term “fiscally responsible” and then some of your social positions don't really sound particularly in line with how most people see the Democratic party. What makes you a Democrat?


RM: There are a lot of things. Number one, the Democratic party stands for giving opportunity, economic opportunity, to all people.

I am a product of a big town, population: 42. My mom and dad never graduated from high school. Dad died when I was in the second grade, and my mom raised five of us.

And were it not for the fact that we live in the greatest country in the world, and policies that helped people like me go to college and to have opportunity, then I wouldn't be able to sit here and talk to you today. That's an important area.

My predecessor as governor (Republican Kirk Fordice) had put less than 1,000 children on the children's health insurance program. We retooled the program, and I added over 61,000 children to the children's health insurance program. It's opportunity, it's education, and it's the ability to take part of the American dream.

And yes, I've been endorsed by the NRA (National Rifle Association) in every race that I've run in. And I think that's very symbolic of Mississippi. It's my personal belief, and I think it's very representative, not symbolic. I think representative is a better word.

Likewise, I'm very conservative. I am pro-life, anti-gay marriage. And again, that's my personal belief, but I think it's also very representative of Mississippi.


And again, I think that people in Mississippi want someone who's going to stand up and represent them in the face of a Washington that is just broken and is not working.

It's not that there are just one or two problems today...For the sixth straight month, we've lost a tremendous number of jobs. The result of the borrowing and out-of-control spending has resulted in a very shaky economy, job opportunities that have been lost, trade agreements that haven't been negotiated for the best interests of our workers, a housing mortgage crisis. Available capital for someone trying to get into business or into the market (is) almost cut off.

Talk to car dealers and all, and they'll tell you it's hard to sell a car today because people have a hard time financing the car. And on top of all that, people see inflation at the highest rate it's been in years, and yet people's incomes have stayed stagnant or in fact gone down in comparison to inflation.

And Washington is sitting around and has not increased minimum wage. My opponent has been against the minimum wage every time, has not worked across the lines together to find solutions.

Another pair of cool Clinton pics from the early days

It's not like this really fits this blog, but I just fell in love with these pictures.

This pic is beautiful,

All I can say for this next pic is, "what time is the show, brah?"

God Bless Bill Clinton, the greatest president since FDR, and his wife Hillary who left the political landscape littered with shards of glass left behind from the glass ceiling shattered by her campaign.

What Digby Said...

If you have never read Digby's Hullabaloo you are really missing out. The blog has won awards for its content in previous years. I am a daily reader and have been for over two years. She had a great piece today on the Democratic primary. I think she really hits the nail on the head with this.

If I might digress a bit and say one word about the Clintons, who to many are personas non grata in the Democratic Party now. Whatever happens, Bill Clinton will still be the 42nd president of the United States and the first two term Democrat since Roosevelt. That's never going to change. Democrats should ask themselves, once the smoke has cleared, if it's really a good idea to discredit his accomplishments. However you personally may feel about him, there is value in a popular ex-president remaining popular. Political value. (See: Reagan legacy project.) The question is what they are valued for.

I see the Clintons as warrior chiefs against the hardcore conservative movement machine that nearly crippled this country (but which may have just run its course after drifting into decadence and hubris.) But, at the time of the movement's greatest power and influence, no one took more crap or was more deft at beating them back. I, for one, am grateful to both of them for taking a nearly unbelievable amount of heat from both the media and the Republicans during that era --- and surviving.

Bill Clinton is in the pantheon of popular ex-presidents who continues to do important work on global initiatives. Hillary Clinton is a Senator and historic breakthrough presidential candidate who won more primary votes than any candidate in history aside from Barack Obama. Al Gore is a global leader and Nobel prize winner. On the other side of that epic battle, Newt Gingrich is a Fox News commentator, writing reviews of mystery thrillers on Amazon. Tom Delay is a private citizen facing indictment. Half of the social conservatives who unctuously criticized Clinton's behavior have been run out of town on morals charges. Fox News is sinking in the ratings faster than George W. Bush.

Roger Wicker Continues To Attempt To Take Credit For Other's Work

Here is his second ad and like the first one this is only showing on the Coast where he is weakest:



"He fought for us after Katrina"

Yeah, right. He's admitted that he barely visited the Coast and only came with a bipartisan group of Congressmen on the invitation of Congressman Gene Taylor; someone who's actually been fighting for us in Washington.

In contrast Wicker's Democratic opponent Ronnie Musgrove was on the Coast dozens of times helping us rebuild without getting himself in the news.

In it Republican Biloxi Mayor AJ Holloway appears to explain what happened to Roger Wicker. 

If Wicker still needs to be told about bayou flooding then he obviously hasn't been paying enough attention.

Roger Wicker is spending a lot of campaign time and political money on the Coast because the facts don't mesh with the truth. He hasn't been a champion of the Coast and he isn't who the Coast needs in the decades of rebuilding ahead.

Bonus Clip of A.J. Holloway at the Hillary Clinton rally featuring Bill Clinton in Biloxi:

Final ARG poll

The final poll from the American Research Group on the Mississippi Democratic Primary.

MS-Pres (D)Mar 10 ------ Obama 54%, Clinton 38%
ARG


Here are the older polls:

MS-Pres (D) Mar 8 ----- Obama 53%, Clinton 39%
Rasmussen

MS-Pres (D)Mar 7 ---- Obama 46%, Clinton 40%
InsiderAdvantage

MS-Pres (D)Mar 7 ---- Obama 58%, Clinton 34%
ARG


Change from last ARG poll
Obama -4
Clinton +4

I would say this is the Bill and Hillary bounce from their tour of state, Chelsea too. The Barack bounce will hit now that he has come to Mississippi.

Rev. Joseph Lowery At Obama Rally In Jackson

I wasn't particularly impressed with his performance in Obama's place in Canton, but boy did he have it tonight.

He had the crowd and the crowd was with him. He came a lot of call and responses.

Followed by (???) Are you ready? Crowd: YEAH!!!

"Obama, Obama, Obama... crowd chant."

There is so much more enthusiasm here than there was for Hillary or Bill at Canton, Hattiesburg, or Biloxi. They sure know how to put on an event.

Bill Clinton In Biloxi For Hillary Complete Video Of Event (Video Fixed)

Bill Clinton's Introduction In Tupelo Friday Night

He identifies Steve Holland and Travis Childers as our two Democratic candidates. They did a side hug. Perhaps Hillary and Obama can take a lesson and "hug it out."

Thanks to reader "olemiss" for the video!

Republican Mayor AJ Holloway Attends Bill Clinton Event For Hillary In Biloxi

I'm at the Biloxi Bill Clinton event. I'm suprised to see Republican Mayor A.J. Holloway here. Perhaps he'll see the light.

Hillary Clinton Robo-Call: Bill Clinton In Pass Christian

I got a Hillary Clinton robo-call about 20 minutes ago encouraging me to attend the Bill Clinton event in Pass Christian. It featured a female narrator.

Here are the Details:
8:30 a.m.
Pass Christain High School
Pass Christian, MS

His full schedule tommorow is posted in the comments:

On the Scene with Big Dog in Tupelo

I will be on the scene in Tupelo tomorrow to see the former President Clinton speak at the Tupelo Furniture Market. Not to mention, we are going to eat some good ole fried catfish. That will be two nights in a row for me, but what do I expect I am on a Clinton tour through Mississippi. My brain has run wild with fantasy visions of the Big Dog knocking back a cold one and slaying some catfish while talking to me. I can hear his voice say, "Hey Bubba, pass me a few of them hush puppies and little more slaw, will ya?"

I will post Friday night post-event if possible. My folks live in the stone age, or at least last century when it comes to technology.

Senator Clinton at the JJH

I was going to title this, "The Insult 37 State Strategy Comes to Canton", but I opted on taking it easy on our Hillary supporters here.

Wow, what an exciting week we are having in my home state. Democrats here are outorganized, outfinanced and outnumbered. Starving for relevance, we have found it in the Democratic Primary here on Tuesday. There is real palpable excitement in the air. I am not sure if we are even outnumbered anymore, by worst measures we are at least in the fight.

Tonight, Thursday the 6th, we had Hillary speaking at the Jefferson Jackson Hamer Dinner in Canton, Mississippi at 7:30. At 5:30 I attended a Barack Obama visiblity rally at the front entrance of the building where the Clinton event occured. Tommorow night I am driving 3 hours north to my real hometown to see the Big Dog speak at a fish fry. Monday my man Barack Obama brings his message of change and hope to the Magnolia State. What a week for a Dem political junkie...


We arrive at the Canton Multi-Purpose Equine Center around 6:00 in time for the Obama rally which was only a hundred or so strong, but people came and went and I did arrive late. There was a small but vocal Clinton contingent there featuring a lady with a banjo belting Hillary cheers. We were laughing with the Sherrif's Officer about how she would be the one photo from the event with her banjo, making us look like a scene from Deliverence. I will give her credit for spunk and gall, she had both and in large measures.

Tickets were $125 for a plate and a seat or $50 for a seat in the bleachers. We elected to buy the dinner plan, since we both had come straight from work. Inside the crowd numbered well into the hundreds. It was a Mississippi melting pot as the Democratic Party is, with rich, poor, black, white, straight, gay, professional, working man you name it.

My friend and I hit the cash bar for a round or two and took our assigned seat. We had a great table. Sitting across from us were two black guys Greg and ???. We enjoyed a great conversation about politics for about a half hour before dinner was serverd. It was beautiful to see all the diversity sitting together talking and breaking bread. For vittles we had a choice of fried catfish, hush puppies, fries, cole slaw,and baked beans. The other choice was BBQ and fixins. We opted for the catfish.

In line I met a 78 year old man who was from Meridian and knew my dad, a longtime Mississippi Dem. I also met a man who was on his local school board. My father has served on school boards before, my sister teaches, and I work in IT for a school district, so that meant a lot to me. I also met some nice ladies from the coast in line for our fish.

I must say that the Obama crown came in force, with me included. I would venture to say the numbers were very close, if not an advantgae for Obama. While the event was pretty much a draw racially, there were a LOT more whites with Obama stickers than AA's with Clinton stickers. Most of all of the black folks I talked to had no hard feelings towards Hillary, but more of an excitement for their candidate. The look in some of their eyes, especially the really old ones, considering what they had seen and endured in their lifetimes, was something to behold.

Hillary took the stage around 8:30 or so. She did fine considering the poor acoustics in the metal building. She did sound tired, and who can blame her. As usual her substance was solid. She made no attacks at her opponent, but spoke more of her vision as it related to Mississippi. I agreed with 95% of everything she said. She did spend the first 5 minutes or so speaking on civil rights type talk that I have not heard in other stump speeches, but I may be wrong. But that would make sense considering the state, no foul either way. She wrapped up around 9:00.

I said I agreed with 95% of what she said. Here is the other 5%. She said she supported expanding drilling in the Gulf so we could benefit from our resources. Uh, NO!! Later she reiterated a right wing talking point that we gave the Iraqi people the ultimate gift, the gift of freedom. I wanted to puke, freedom via clusterbomb.

All in all it was a great event, and two things I drew out of it were that we are large in numbers this cycle and that we are fired up. But wait until Obama gets here Monday. It will be like the Beatles coming to America. The excitement is unreal in both the white and black communities, but the excitement in the black community for Obama is off the charts.

Clinton Schedule Today and Tomorrow

Hillary Clinton
Thursday, March 6, 7:00PM
Canton Multipurpose and Equine Center
501 Soldiers Colony Road
Canton, MS
There is a cost.

Hillary Clinton
Friday, March 7, 9:00 AM
The Train Depot
308 Newman Street
Hattiesburg, MS
This is free.

Bill Clinton
Friday, March 7, 5:30 PM
Tupelo Furniture Market
1879 North Coley Road
Tupelo, MS
This is free.

Which Clinton is Touring The State Friday?

While we and other media outlets reported that Bill Clinton will be touring the state Friday, a hunch and an unconfirmed source tell me that it may be both Bill and Hillary or Hillary instead. As always, we'll keep you updated (and continue breaking news before the big boys).

More Original Reporting To Come This Week

I will be at the Jefferson Jackson Hamer Dinner with a photographer.

I'll get up my own observations tonight.

One of our other writers will also be there so he will provide another perspective.

I'll also be attending the Bill Clinton event in Hattiesburg.

I intend to post video of both early Friday afternoon.

- John Leek

Bummer: Obama Campaign Confirms That Obama Will Be Unable To Attend JJH Dinner

The Obama Campaign confirmed to me (and various media outlets) that Obama will not be a speaker at Mississippi's Jefferson Jackson Hamer Memorial Dinner tomorrow.

I understand he will be making some appearances in the state, but as of now it looks like he's giving the Clintons an open field media-wise.

Thanks to "ms for hillary" and Vick Warnsley for catching this before I did.

Big Dog in Tupelo Friday Night

Former President Clinton will be in Tupelo at the Mississippi Building of the Tupelo Furniture Market, Building B on Friday March 7. The event will be a fish fry with the Big Dog taking the podium as the keynote speaker. The event is open to all who wish to attend. I can't think of many things that sound more fun than going to a fish fry with Bill Clinton. As of right now the plans are for feeding to begin around 4:30 with Clinton scheduled to speak at 5:45. These times are subject to change according to the schedule of President Clinton.

Bill Clinton Events In Mississippi

The Clinton Campaign has confirmed a tour by President Bill Clinton of Mississippi.

He will headline events in Hattiesburg, Meridian and Tupelo Friday.

He will be at the Hattiesburg Train Depot on Friday from 9 to 10:30 in the morning.

He will leave for Meridian immediately after that.

He is expected to continue the tour Saturday.

Please comment or e-mail with more details if you have them.