Brew City Brawler

Journal Sentinel rolled by the straight talk express

Sunday's issue of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel raises the question of whether Barack Obama will take public financing in the campaign.

From the story:

But while opting out of the public system would likely be a financial boon to Obama - he has proven far better than McCain at raising money - it would open him to sharp criticism.

At the same time that he's running against the influence of money in politics, he would be the first nominee ever to reject public funds and spending limits in the fall election since that system was created more than 30 years ago.

Rival Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton also has left open the possibility of rejecting public financing in the fall. But Clinton has made no prior promises on the issue.

Obama would be going back on a declaration he made in writing last year to a Midwestern campaign reform group that he would accept public financing, provided his GOP opponent did the same.

It's a legitimate point to raise, obviously. But then we get this:

"His word was he'd accept public financing if the Republican candidate did," Republican John McCain said in an interview Monday with the Journal Sentinel. "Obviously, he is now not keeping his word to the American people. I'll keep my word."

Straight-talking John McCain! Thing is, you wouldn't realize from the story that McCain has issues with complying with limits on money. Indeed, it's not unfair to ask to what extent McCain has complied with the election laws -- and to what extent he can be trusted to "keep his word." Did the JS ask him about that? (An election season with a defanged FEC will truly be a thing to behold.) That might complicate the Journal-Sentinel's "Here's a big problem for Obama" narrative arc. And, hey, why not give McCain a free shot?

And for what it's worth, the Brawler sees no reason that Obama (assuming he gets the nom, etc.) should agree to handcuff himself against a guy whose campaign (not a third-party group) has described him as Hamas' candidate. But that's just me.

Now, back to hiatus.

Barack Obama has both kinds of music on his side

Hair metal:

And Funk:

The Brawler is happy to say he has seen both Twisted Sister and George Clinton in concert. And he still recall Dee Snyder's repartee, which involved referring to the audience as "all you twisted motherfuckers in Mil-fucking-waukee" and leading a chant of "assholes" directed to people in the nosebleed seats for waiting until the last minute to get tickets. The Brawler wishes to stress that he saw Twisted Sister only in their capacity as the opening act for Iron Maiden during the 1984 (?) Powerslave tour.

For those white folks who want Obama to scold black folks

A number of conservative commentators, near and far, all doubtless possessing keen insights into black America, have blasted Barack Obama's race speech. One of the main complaints: that Obama failed to criticize black folk in sufficiently strong language. He didn't go Cosby enough for their tastes.

The Brawler suggests they've been bamboozled. Because Obama has gone into Cosby territory. From Newsweek's Jonathan Alter:

But consider what happened late last month in Beaumont, Texas, when I covered Obama speaking before an African-American audience. A woman asked about health care and Obama explained how, for the first time in human history, thousands of obese children, many of them black, were being diagnosed with adult-onset diabetes—a disease that is killing millions and helping bankrupt the health-care system. He told the crowd that kids couldn't keep on "drinking eight sodas a day," ...  "I know some of y'all got that cold Popeye's [chicken] out for breakfast. I know," Obama said with a smile. He continued: "That's why y'all laughing. You can't do that. Children have to have proper nutrition. That affects also how they study, how they learn in school … It's not good enough for you to say to your child, 'Do good in school,' and then when that child comes home, you got the TV set on, you got the radio on, you don't check their homework, there is not a book in the house, you've got the videogame playing." Instead of being jeered, he was cheered wildly.

I don't know. That is one satisfying example of a black man telling other black people how to act. The Brawler can only assume that Sykes is tracking down the audio to run on his show.

The Brawler suspects that Obama may make comments like this again -- and when he does he'll get denounced by conservative critics claiming he's being duplicitous.

Meanwhile, the Brawler awaits McCain's speech denouncing his fellow crackers  sending religious bigot John Hagee's book to the top of Wal-Mart's bestseller list and disproportionately supporting a political party that led us into a ruinous fiscal policy and a disastrous war in Iraq.

Maybe Chris Wallace should call into the Charlie Sykes show

Chris Wallace calls shenanigans on mindless Obama-bashing fest on Fox and Friends. Which leads one to wonder: Where does he think he's working?

Obama mothership drops science on race in America

Generally speaking, I agree with Brad from Sadly No! in re Obama's speech on race:

While both Obama and Clinton supporters came away impressed by Hussein Obama X’s speech this morning, I was rather disappointed. For instance, I thought that Hussein X could have spent far more time detailing his plans to truck all white people off to reparations camps where we’ll be forced to do lawn work for Mexican Reconquistadores and the Global Caliphate. But alas, he’s still trying to trick white people into thinking he’s not conspiring with the Mexicans and the Muslims to destroy us all. I guess this will have to wait until after he’s elected, hee, hee, hee…

Judge for yourself:

It's been amusing to see the reaction of rightwingers in the Wisconsin blogosphere -- including one who proudly calls Latinos "chihuahuas" and then denounces Jeremiah Wright as "racist"-- complain about Wright, his batshit comments and Obama's "inadequate" comments. These are angry, angry people -- people who denounce taxation as theft, make unsustainable analogies between smoking bans and the Third Reich, call Hillary Clinton the Hildabeast or Hitlery, and call public employees lemmings, to cite one of the more benign terms.

No one plays the outraged victim card better than rightwingers. Thing is, the "oppression" they cite is penny ante -- at most -- compared to the actual discrimination that a black man of Wright's generation had to put up with. And that's not "excusing" or "contextualizing" Wright's comments. That's just a fact. Fred Dooley thinks he has reason to be angry now? The Brawler suggests Dooley don't know nothing about reasons to be angry. (This paragraph was edited and expanded for clarity.)

The thing that makes them really angry, though, is they can't stop the awesome power of the fully operation Obama mothership. And they know it.

This just in: Mark Graul is an idiot and Mike Gableman is an empty suit

It takes a lot -- a lot -- for the Associated Press to say a politician is out and out lying as opposed to merely "fudging" or "spinning." But the Gableman campaign manages to inspire such an accurate observation courtesy of an ad suggesting Louis Butler sprung a rapist when he didn't.

From the A(l-Jazeera)ssociated P(LO)ress:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) - Court records show that a new television ad in the state Supreme Court race misleads the public about Justice Louis Butler's role in defending a man accused of rape in 1984 when he was a defense lawyer.

Butler's campaign and former Justice Janine Geske are denouncing the ad by Butler's opponent, Burnett County Circuit Judge Michael Gableman. The ad shows a close-up of Butler and convicted rapist Reuben Lee Mitchell on the screen at the same time.

The narrator says that "Butler found a loophole. Mitchell went on to molest another child."

An Associated Press review of court records shows that statement is misleading, because Mitchell wound up staying in prison until he was paroled in 1992. It was only after his release that the other assaults happened and he was convicted. He's still in prison.

The Butler campaign calls the ad "disgusting," "sleazy" and "dishonest."

Gableman spokesman Mark Graul defends the ad. He says it is informing people about cases Butler handled as a public defender.

No, Mark it's misinforming about what Butler did as a public defender -- which happens to be job that's more or less established under the Constitution.  You want to junk the Constitution -- given your predeliction for voter suppression, that seems your inclination -- fine. But come right out and say it.

And: The Brawler doesn't want to say Gableman is playing the race card -- but why does the ad keep Butler's face on the screen longer than Mitchell's? And why are two scary black guys on the screen longer than pink Mike Gableman?

Everytime the Brawler writes off Butler's chances of winning this race, Mark Graul executes a bit of strategery or Mike Gableman opens his mouth.

Two days before election day will voters in districts crucial to Scott Walker find fliers saying "You can still be a conservative and vote for Louis Butler. Just vote for Scott Walker too!"? The Brawler recommends printing shops call Brian Fraley quickly!

Getting out the vote, one bar stool at a time

So the other night the Brawler and his comrade in anonymity the illusory tenant (he gets pissed if you don't lower case his name while speaking to him) went out for drinks. It was like the Algonquin Round Table in the 1930s, Deux Magots in the 1940s, and a White Hen parking lot in the 1970s all rolled up in one.

A sample snippet of conversation:

Brawler: I don't know, man. I don't think Lou Reed's made a good album since the early 1970s.

it: Whaddya mean? You don't like New Sensations? What, you're such a Milwaukee guy you don't like the album because Lou 'took his GPZ out for a ride' and not his Softail?"

Brawler: No, man, it was a drag.

it: He had a great band.

Brawler: That's true.

it: So the Blue Mask isn't good enough for ya?

Brawler: Boring. Tried to like it. I just don't dig Lou Reed trying to be a poet.

it: He's a humble guy ain't he?

(Laughter)

Brawler: What's that one album with the Bruce Springsteen cameo, Street Legal?

it: Street Hassle.

Brawler: Yeah, that one's OK.

it: Remember that part in Take No Prisoners where someone in the audience calls out for Bruce Springsteen?

Brawler: Yeah. Wait -- Street Legal was that terrible Dylan album.

it: Street Legal's a great album.

You get the point.

Perhaps not surprisingly, a young woman sitting near us piped in. Who could blame her for wanting to participate in this highminded repartee? Anyway, we spoke of the wonderfulness of Milwaukee, the silliness of people who disdain it and the artful presentation of beers at the Roman Coin.

Then the Brawler asked her who she was voting for.

"When?"

She, like thousands of people in the city, was largely unaware that a quite significant election will be taking place in a few weeks. And who can blame her? Sandwiched between an historic presidential primary and a huge event in November, it's getting barely any attention. She works a bunch of jobs, isn't a big enough loser to read local political blogs and while she cares about, and is interested in, the city and country around her, she's not 100% politically engaged.

So, long story short, she readily agreed that Scott Walker was a weasel. She debated iT on Butler's legal philosophy, but conceded Gableman was a joke. And before long, she was fired up about going out to vote.

So, kids, when you head out this weekend, talk to your waiters, your bartenders, the people you meet, your friends, your family, people at church -- anyone you can -- about the upcoming election. No, we don't have the WMC's warchest. But we got the numbers.

And, as always, don't forget to tip your bartenders.

Photographic evidence of this historic meeting!

?uestlove has Obama's back in PA

Sure, Hillary Clinton has a double-digit lead going into the Pennsylvania primary. But give Obama six weeks and you know he's going to narrow it, if not overtake her. And Obama has something Hillary doesn't: the support of ?uestlove (pictured above), the drummer for Illadelphia's own the Roots and a veritable renaissance man (producer/businessman/impresario/blogger/etc.).

From an interview with Indy Week:

I've become an Obama supporter because I believe in him. It's not like I wanted to believe in him. And I'm not for him because he's, like, the lesser of eight evils. It's just from truly seeing him speak and thoroughly investigating him. Everyone won't believe or agree.

That's what's killing me about this "not being black enough" thing. He's trying to repeal three strikes, and end racial profiling, and all of that. That's black enough for me. Nobody else is mentioning that the prison industry is modern day slavery, or talking about viewing prison more in terms of a rehab. He's the only cat talking about after-programs. You know how many brothers I know who've been sent up? Tariq's brother. He's been locked up since like, '87, imprisoned for our entire careers. This brother came out of prison and felt like he was in prison. That's how acclimated he was to the inside. He got out and was like, "I've got to go back to the world I know." If he's conditioned to think that his world is prison....

He's talking 'bout, "I'm not gonna go see my P.O., because I don't know what to do out here." It's like that scene in Shawshank, where the dude got out and they wouldn't lock him up, and he was so lost on the outside that he killed himself.

The fact Obama is talking about rehabilitation for prisoners and drug addicts, to help them so they don't have to go through that again. That is black enough for me. If you really wanna know, I went on every candidate's Web site before making my decision. I read everything about their positions. If you saw McCain's or even Hillary's, it was just very cold. Uninviting. Kudos to whoever built Obama's Web site, for starters. It makes it clear as day what his agenda is.

I got up two days, 4 a.m. in the morning, campaigning. I could have done the celebrity thing, but I wanted to be grassroots. I had a car and a team. They gave me directions. I knocked on doors over the course of 48 hours straight. I'm gonna do it in Penn., too. I'll take days off, whatever I have to do. Drive vans.

Will it be enough for Obama? Not according to this sharp analysis by Al Giordano -- who notes that, in the end, it doesn't really matter for Obama. Not in the primary. Not in the general.

Simply put: If Obama (and supporters) set expectations for a knockout punch in Pennsylvania, they will be giving oxygen to a gasping Clinton machine on its last breaths. But if they keep Pennsylvania in perspective (no single state has determined the nomination, although New Hampshire, Nevada, and Ohio were all frantically seen and spun as such in their moments), they’ll emerge from the coming Pennsylvania Clinton victory – a kind of Last Hurrah for the politics of the last century – to cross into the 21st century beginning in early May.

Important in that equation is to keep in mind: Democratic primary results, state by state, or region by region, have never correlated with general election results in the same places. The “big state” argument is pure fallacy and invention. Clearly, Obama and his supporters will, and need to, fight for every vote and delegate in Pennsylvania, and do what they can to keep the popular vote margin down. They’ll continue donating and making calls to try to narrow the gap from a +26 delegate lead for Clinton to perhaps a +20 lead (and to keep the dial from moving in the other direction), but they should be under no illusion – no matter what the final barrage of polls and tail-wagging pundits tease – that a closed primary in Pennsylvania, with the regional delegate breakdown that exists, is somehow winnable, short of a Spitzer-like moment for Senator Clinton between now and April 22.

We'll know in six weeks. Now it's time to Step into the Realm:

Proletariat declares: All power to the superdelegates

Henry Dubb, of the Proletariat, responds to the Brawler's post "Hillary: Dems deserve to lose if I'm not the nominee," which criticized Hillary for saying McCain is more qualified than Obama -- the Dem frontrunner, mind you -- to be commander in chief. Hillary's experience traveling in Macedonia with Sinbad and Sheryl Crow, meanwhile, pushes her past that threshold:

Or she's just operating in the reality based community. Funny you quoted Gary Hart, he carried the same upper middle class base that Obama is now carrying.

There is no doubt in my mind that if Obama gets the nod, its a oops I did it again.

It seems to me Hillary is doing a needed service of pointing Obama's many weaknesses prior to the general which hopefully can be corrected.

When 13% of Ohio voters say they will vote for Nader if their preference is not selected, or only 16% of Mississippi voters stating they will support Obama as the nominee, then Houston we have a problem.

It seems to me this is the scenario that the Super Delegates were invested for. We'll see if they put Party before candidate.

There's a lot of this with which the Brawler disagrees, but the last line in particular jumped out.

Isn't having the super delegates decide -- as opposed to the pledged dels or, you know, the popular vote (both of which Obama will win under any realistic analysis) -- a bit of a Blanquist position for a champion of the Proletariat?

Obama mothership gets more awesomely powerful

Obama wins in Mississippi, extending his delegate lead over Hillary, and the mothership remains -- despite a few bad weeks -- fully operational.

Interesting observation from Talking Points Memo about Obama doing well among lower and middle-income voters:

Late Update: Political obsessives were asking today what sort of results Obama would get among whites in this deep south state. The exits show that he got barely a quarter. She only won a meager one out of 10 blacks.

But, in an interesting finding, Obama won handily among low and middle income voters, indeed among almost all income groups, and only lost to Hillary among voters with a family income over $75,000.

Also, the good people of Mississippi viewed Hillary as the "negative" candidate and thought her attacks crosses the line threshold.

Bow down.

Meanwhile, Hillary -- who started the day getting dissed by Nancy Pelosi -- best dump and disavow this dumb cracker right quick. I think Wigderson has received more than his fair share of entertainment from this primary.