And as if we didn’t know that the blogosphere was packing some punch this campaign season, here is this piece from MSNBC’s First Read on ObamaNation:
Curious of what the bitterness and anger could look like if Obama is somehow denied the Democratic nomination? Check out the reaction from the ObamaNation over Wednesday’s debate. To put it simply, ABC was under siege yesterday. This may only be a taste of how the ObamaNation would react to a Clinton nomination. If MoveOn is motivated to do a petition campaign against the media over a debate, imagine what Clinton delegates and undecided superdelegates would face this summer if there is doubt. And as the Politico’s Ben Smith pointed out yesterday, it’s also what the GOP would face in the general election, especially if Obama is nominee. The level of devotion among Obama’s supporters rivals what Bush had with his flock in 2004. The left-wing blogosphere is MUCH more powerful than what you see on the right this cycle and it reminds us of the advantage Bush had in ’04. While we all know about that so-called right-wing voice machine, don’t forget that there is now a left-wing noise machine (on the internet) as well. And it has found its voice.
Who knows how much juice we have? But, we can get the message out fast and make people listen. Empowering it is!
I’ve often posted about how I’d be pissed about Clinton gaining the nomination if the balance came primarily via DNC members who weren’t otherwise elected officials (I make the differentiation b/c elected officials are ultimately at least answerable to their constituents, even if they are powerful US reps in safe districts). And anthony usually chimes in that I’m petulant, an opinion to which he’s entitled.
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p>But frankly, I’m primarily frustrated with Obama’s performance. Sure, the first 50 minutes of the debate were inane, insane, and so on, but Obama let the bastards get in his head. While I think he actually parried the inane stuff reasonably well, I think he fumbled a lot more when they got to the policy stuff.
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p>I still like the guy as much as ever (if you expect perfection of anyone, expect to be disappointed), but it was another missed opportunity to finish this thing off. If he had submitted an exceptional performance in the face of this BS, it would have been amazing. But he didn’t, so we (rightfully) bitch and moan about ABC, and onward we go.
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p>Obama consistently polls in the low to mid 40’s in PA (while Clinton goes from the low 40’s to mid 50’s- all over the place), so the big question is he looking at a <10 pt loss (probably tolerable) or a larger one (more problematic, given the Clinton spin on electability in swing states).
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p>My concerns about Clinton are unchanged (no need to rehash), but I continue to be impressed with the Clinton ability to survive in the face of pretty much anything.
I hope some people in the MSM realize that one reason that the amateur class (bloggers) is eating their lunch is because a lot of the MSM’ers do shoddy work, as we saw in the debate.
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p>The shame, though, is that it seems like it’s the mid-level news staff that are getting the axe as media organizations are forced to cut costs, when it’s the freakin’ vapid elite members (Stephanopoulos et al.) that aren’t doing their jobs properly.
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p>Come to think of it, it’s not just media…
I rewatched the debate and think a few of his weakest answers were on the policy side – otherwise he was fine. The guy is not always at the top of his game.
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p>But one thing is clear, debates don’t tell you much about how a person would be as president. They are performances and Obama has had plenty of decent debates and others that are not so good. It is not really his best platform. That said, I think when he debates McCain (yes I think he will win the nomination) he’s gonna do real well.
The way I see it, she always starts way ahead of Obama. Name a major state where her lead was not massive going into it, always high teens or more She’s a very known entity and he’s not.
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p>He essentially has to introduce himself to each state – she has the name ID from the start. Then he comes in and makes a race out of it but as of yet has not taken her out. She survives in part because she has a foundation. Obama starts from scratch. His climb is always upwards, hers downward.
Yes, Obama took more hits because it happened more was said about him in the past few weeks. I suppose this comes with the territory of being the fromt runner, though it’s hardly an excuse. Clinton was asked about Bosnian sniper fire as well. The first hour was horrible in terms of the questions, but I give both candidates credit for trying to steer back to issues in their answers.