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From the NPR News Blog comes this, “Obama Campaign Skewers Clinton E-Mail Statement.” It’s kinda funny stuff and I certainly agree with the Obama camp’s points here, but jeez, I just want this to wrap-up already….

You may have heard something about this whole Elliot Spitzer thing out there. The thing that occurs to me is that it probably would be pretty easy to go to a contemporary translation of Oedipus Rex and change it into Spitzer Rex. I don’t have time to try my hand it myself, so you can have that idea for free. If someone makes such a version and/or finds one out there, let me know.

Anyway, besides good posts from Deb Hawhee here (I would never cheat on my wife, but beyond that, I too wonder why all these political spouses, including our own local Mrs. Kirkpatrick, so willingly stand by their man) and here from Alex Halavais, I also found myself somewhat amused with this piece by Erica Jong I found on Huffington, “Morals to Be Drawn From Spitzer’s ‘Case’.” It is far from the best piece of writing I’ve seen on the Internets– actually, it reads more like Jong dictating thoughts off the top of her head than anything resembling coherent paragraphs– but she does have some good/amusing points, especially in the ten rules/commandments that start the piece. For example: “If you are famous for closing prostitution “rings,” don’t frequent them;” “Pay hookers in cash;” “Don’t yell at investment bankers on the phone;” and, one that I’ve cleaned up slightly for this space, while in office, don’t sleep with someone other than your spouse, “unless you are in French politics.”

I’m listening to NPR’s “Morning Edition” right now, and they were talking with Debbie Dingle (no, that’s not a made-up name), the wife of John Dingle and a mucky-muck in the Michigan Democratic party, and she just said that the Michigan decision to break the Democratic National Committee rules and have the primary sooner was an act of civil disobedience in protest of a broken system. WTF?! The party bosses in Michigan decide to disenfranchise millions of people because they don’t like the primary system? Even though if they had left things just the way they were, Michigan and Florida would both be hugely relevant right now?!?!

I agree with almost everything Mark is saying right here, and I agree with what I heard Howard Dean saying on the Sunday morning talk shows: changing the rules now is going to give the advantage to one candidate or the other. Senator Carl Levin is apparently talking about/floating a mail ballot system; I’m not sure who would come out on top of that one. And apparently the wisdom out there right now is that neither Michigan nor Florida is going to be enough to put Obama or Clinton over the top anyway.

But what I’d really like to hear someone in a position of power at the Michigan Democratic Party say– I don’t care if it’s Granholm, who is pretty much term-limited and Canadian-ized out of running for anything for the foreseeable future or Mrs. Dingle who isn’t elected to anything anyway– to admit that they screwed up and to apologize. We can argue that the primary system is screwed up and needs to be fixed, though, as a former Iowan, I personally can see the point of a place like Iowa or even New Hampshire going first. But the fact of the matter is these people took a gamble and they lost, and they ought to ‘fess up to that.

Remember that site about Barack Obama is your new bicycle, or something like that? Now comes “Hillary is Mom Jeans,” which is essentially the same thing in reverse.

Good Lord, Ralph Nader is running for president again, and as far as I can tell, he’s doing it because he’s kind of gone from being a really important consumer advocate and progressive politico into a kind of crazy and angry old man. Kind of sad, really.

I think he’s right when he says “if Democrats can’t landslide the Republicans this year, they ought to just wrap up, close down, emerge in a different form.” But I also think that Obama is right when he says that Nader is an egomaniac and “My sense is that Mr.. Nader is somebody who, if you don’t listen and adopt all of his policies, thinks you’re not substantive.”

Oh, if they knew then what they know now: As kos points out, had Michigan and Florida not violated (admittedly stupid) rules of the Democratic party about holding their primary too early, had they held their primaries when they were supposed to (this week or so, I think), then these states would have obviously been hugely important. I guess it just goes to show you there’s been a lot of unexpected stuff this year.

Jack “the funny-voiced political commentator on Michigan Public Radio” Lessenberry wants to have a do-over. Wishful thinking, but maybe not a bad idea.

From the NYT, “With a Surge, Obama Makes His Case.” Here’s a quote:

The sheer consistency of Mr. Obama’s victories over the last few days certainly suggests that many Democratic voters have gotten past whatever reservations they might have had about his electability or his qualifications to be president.

Even before his latest victories, Mr. Obama, of Illinois, had whittled away at the advantages amassed last year by Mrs. Clinton.

He now enjoys a big financial advantage. Her big lead in national polls is gone. By most counts, Mr. Obama can now claim more delegates pledged to him. He has won far more states than Mrs. Clinton, although she won some of the big prizes, like California and New Jersey.

Just think about this for a second: three or so months ago, Barack had a fork in ‘em and Hilary was measuring the drapes in the Oval Office.

Of course, as the rest of this article makes clear, there’s a long way to go before we figure out who is the Democrat’s nominee. Still, it’s pretty exciting to see my dude still in it. Go Obama!

These both might be kind of teachable moments in a couple different classes. First, there’s the Obama inspired “Yes We Can” song/video:

Well-done, inspiring, etc. And then, via Deb Hawhee, I came across this parody featuring almost certain GOP candidate John McCain:

Good luck with that in November 2008 indeed….

I did watch the Superbowl last night, which brings the number of pro football games I watched this year to an all-time high of (about) six. A pretty exciting game.

But I thought I’d post briefly on what it is really all about, selling products/advertisements. Here’s one I didn’t see:

I’ve been an Obama supporter from the beginning, and I continue to keep my fingers crossed that he can still pull it out. If he can get California and/or come out about even with Clinton after Super Tuesday, then I think he has a chance to ultimately pull it out. The longer this thing goes on, the less inevitable the Clinton Dynasty is.

Though I’d vote for Hillary over any Republican out there, of course.

Then there were the eTrade baby ads, which I did see. Here’s a link (which I couldn’t figure out how to embed here). Baby makes a trade, farts, and pukes. Baby makes a bunch of money and rents a creepy clown. Hilarity ensues.