[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

Ever since this campaign downshifted into high gear, I've been wishing it was like some sort of Time Traveler's Checkerboard. If we could plug some dynamics of this year into 2000, or 2004, imagine how much less glum we'd all be now, as Americans, and how much less grim our circumstances would be.

I've watched as Hillary Clinton has fought like a tiger throughout the primary season. She and her staffers have at times been ruthless and heavy-handed. Prominent reporters and commentators have been smacked upside the head for perceived transgressions. MSNBC's David Shuster was yanked off the air for a couple of weeks for daring to say something unseemly in reference to Chelsea Clinton. His on-air colleague, Chris Matthews, was deluged with "how DARE you's" from viewers who perceived him as sexist in general and anti-Hillary in particular. Randi Rhodes was pulled from Air America for daring to say unflattering things about Hillary and supporter Geraldine Ferraro during an off-the-air stand-up comedy routine.

I thought that kind of thing only happened to media people who didn't fall in line and stay in line about George W. Bush.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Republicans in the Assembly have blocked Democrats’ attempt to impose extraction and windfall taxes on oil companies,reports the LA Times. The taxes are estimated to generate $1.2 billionin revenue. Speaker Fabian Núñez spoke up on behalf of them, saying,“If 'red' states like Texas, Colorado and Montana tax oil production tofund the services they value, then so should we."

As the LA Times’ Top of the Ticket remarks, it’s better late than never that Hillary Clinton is finally apologizingover her husband’s denigrating comments about Barack Obama’s race whilehe was campaigning for her in South Carolina. In the way ofclarification, she said, “It was certainly not meant in any way to beoffensive.”

Geraldine Ferraro has quit the Clinton campaign over herflap about Barack Obama’s race, reports the LA Times. She continues toargue that her comments were taken out context, and that Obama’scampaign manager, David Axelrod, "shouldn't really antagonize peoplelike me."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Mary Lyon

There are double standards and then there are double standards.

One of the latest ones is as obvious as a punch in the nose. Geraldine Ferraro's comments about Barack Obama - how he wouldn't be where he is now if he weren't black - are painfully obvious. Ouch. Their undercurrent is a raw nerve in the American psyche. It's been one of the most talked-about stories of Mississippi Primary Day. All over the place, from radio to TV to the net and back again.

But that's just it. At least it's being talked about. We're openly gnashing our teeth and rending our garments and everyone understands, and understands why. Racism, the expression of it, and the miscommunication about it, is broadly acknowledged for its gravity as a painful problem across the country. Call it P.C., call it whatever. At least it's out there on the table and openly dissected, recognized as the most glaring shortcoming we collectively still just haven't quite gotten over. But we have evolved as a society to the extent that we're speaking about it in all company, polite or not.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Dear Michelle –

Word has it that recently you had trouble coming up with examples of things that have made you proud of our country; that, in fact, the only thing that has made you proud of your country in your adult life is your husband’s run for president, which certainly can’t be true. So, since you and I are about the same age (I’m 43, you’re 44), and even though I am a Hillary Clinton "partisan", I thought that I would let you know some of the things in our adulthood that have made me proud of my country (and my party) in hopes this might jog your memory.  Below is just a sampling.

1980: U.S. hockey team defeats the Soviet Union in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. "Do you believe in miracles?!"

1984: Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first female nominee for vice-president of a major party -- the Democratic party.

1989/1990: The Berlin Wall falls/the Soviet Union collapses. Yes, I do believe in miracles!

There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

As John Edwards suspended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, he stated that: "It's time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path. We do not know who will take the final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but what we do know is that our Democratic Party will make history." Indeed our party will.

In Denver, barring that runaway spy satellite landing on the Pepsi Center, the Democratic party will nominate a candidate for the presidency who is either female or African American. Who woulda thunk it? Its been a long walk to reach that promised land in the Mile High City.