Can the Clinton's sink any lower?

Have the Clinton's no shame? Bill's role as Hillary's hatchet man is surely unbecoming of an Ex-President. Obviously the strategy goes like this. Obama tends to be the beneficiary of unifying the racial divide of public opinion and has proven his ability to do so by trying hard to keep race out of the campaign. Therefore, Hillary can only gain from injecting race into the campaign and fomenting peoples anxiety over racial fears. However, it would a political disaster for Hillary to overtly do that herself. So, who is the perfect proxy to do this devilish deed? Hubby, Bill!

My friend Ken Blanchard from South Dakota Politics blog made this astute observation:

Obama did try, very hard, to minimize race as a factor in the campaign. And for a while he succeeded. It was the Clintons who, just at the moment their campaign looked to be in crisis, put it back in. Are the Clintons cynically, if very cleverly, using race as a wedge issue to split the Democratic party in their favor? I don't know that for sure. Would the Clintons do so, if they thought they had to to win? About that, there can be no doubt.

And this:

First: the Clintons have succeeded in splitting the Black and White portions of the Democratic party. If Ms. Clinton can hang on to the latter, she will be the nominee. Second, however, is that the Clintons have managed to make themselves look dirtier even than they were before. Mr. Bill explained away the South Carolina results by explicitly linking the Obama victory to those of Jesse Jackson. Everyone now assumes that everything a Clinton says is part of a well considered strategy. White voters may well be hesitant to back a Jackson-like candidate of Black America, but won't they be equally offended to know that they are being played? The Clintons are counting on winning the White vote n a lot of states on Feb. 5th. But by being so transparent, they are running a terrible risk.

Now with the recent endorsement of Democratic party icon Senator Edward Kennedy, it appears that risk has taken a terrible turn for Hillary's chances for the nomination. What goes around comes around.

Study: Bush, aides made 935 false statements in run-up to war

Except from today's CNN:

"In short, the Bush administration led the nation to war on the basis of erroneous information that it methodically propagated and that culminated in military action against Iraq on March 19, 2003,"

The quotes in the study include an August 26, 2002, statement by Cheney to the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction," Cheney said. "There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us."

Entire article here.

Jazz night NYC Jan 08

Another great night of Jazz in NYC:

Curtis Fuller Septet at Iridium:

shown: Curtis Fuller tbn, Randy Brecker tr, Javon Jackson ts,

not shown: Rufus Reed b, Jacey Falk tr, Carl Allen dr, Luke O'Reilly p.

Early show at Jazz Standard, caught Aaron Goldberg Trio with Mark Turner at Jazz Standard.

Aaron Goldberg p, Rueben Rogers b, Eric Harland d, Mark Turner ts.

Obama had it right in 2002

**Begin quote**
... But I also know that Saddam poses no imminent and direct threat to the United States, or to his neighbors, that the Iraqi economy is in shambles, that the Iraqi military a fraction of its former strength, and that in concert with the international community he can be contained until, in the way of all petty dictators, he falls away into the dustbin of history.

I know that even a successful war against Iraq will require a US occupation of undetermined length, at undetermined cost, with undetermined consequences. I know that an invasion of Iraq without a clear rationale and without strong international support will only fan the flames of the Middle East, and encourage the worst, rather than best, impulses of the Arab world, and strengthen the recruitment arm of al-Qaeda.

I am not opposed to all wars. I’m opposed to dumb wars.
**End Quote**

Obama's Iraq speech is worth reading in its entirety.