One down, the rest to go!

John Edwards actually did the right thing today and stepped aside, handing his votes (regardless of whether they eventually accompany an endorsement) to Obama. He goes from spoiler to kingmaker. Excellent decision, sir. You may be handing California to Obama now, among others.

An hour ago, I noticed a “breaking news” item on multiple news sites: Mormon leader Gordon B. Hinckley has died.

Now there’s an alert on MSNBC that says: Greece’s Orthodox Church leader, Archbishop Christodoulos, has died.

What’s going on???

I’m at 99.4. Going into the office shortly for a little work since I’ve got a dental appointment tomorrow morning. Then it’s home to write a paper for Tuesday’s class.

According to my calculations, I spend 40 hours a week at work and then another 20 or so in class or studying (wah wah, I know…it’s my own fault so I can’t complain). Now I know why I’ve gotten sick three times in three months.

He won by a 2:1 margin in South Carolina today. I’m sure Hillary’s bitching Bill out for all the damage he did this week. Is John Edwards ready to drop out??? Speeches at 9 and 9:30 for Obama and Clinton respectively.

The voter breakdown is telling. Obama won votes from both men and women, white and black, defying all the pundits’ (and Bill Clinton’s) predictions about this being solely a racial contest. In fact, a quarter of the white vote in South Carolina went to Obama today.

Now it’s on to Florida and its meaninglessness… Actually and unfortunately for Obama, Hillary’s expected win there will stop short his South Carolina bump.

This morning I woke up with a fever of 102.6. I’m now down to 101.7. The weird thing is, other than my head being sore all the way around and finding myself dizzy after standing up, I don’t really have many cold or flu-like symptoms. I honestly don’t remember the last time I got sick and had an actual fever, but it sucks. Pity me. *whimper*

In 2000, Ralph Nader ran as an Independent (endorsed by the Reform Party). The votes he took home in New Hampshire and Florida accounted for more than the difference between Gore and Bush, and because of the liberal nature of his platform, it’s logical to assume that if he hadn’t run for President, the last eight years would have been completely different.

Fast-forward to 2008. John Edwards is losing badly in every state in which he campaigns in terms of delegates. As a “change candidate” pulling the same types of ideological voters as Barack Obama, Edwards can be assumed to be responsible for the closeness of the margins between Clinton and Obama in each of the races that have taken place thus far. Moreover, by proudly and selfishly (I’m biased) continuing his presence in the campaign (despite a complete drop-off in media attention), Edwards jeopardizes the very doctrine of change he has so vocally endorsed.

In New Hampshire, Obama lost by three percent to Hillary Clinton but Edwards won 17% of the vote (which covers the Clinton v. Obama margin happily). In Florida on Tuesday, Obama is losing by about 15% to Clinton, the very same margin that Edwards is expected to win. (While Florida doesn’t matter since the DNC stripped it of its delegates as penance for moving their primary up, the media bump the winner will receive should be enough to make a difference in other tight races.

Then there’s Super Tuesday: if Edwards dropped out of the race after tonight’s South Carolina results prove he cannot win anywhere, Barack Obama will surge in public support as liberal Democrats pick the alternative to their first-choice candidate. The bump Obama would receive from collecting Edwards’ voters before February 5 would, by my calculations, result in 8 or 9 currently unexpected or shaky wins that day. That leaves 13 states where recent polling is unavailable, so a prediction is pointless.

In other words, if Edwards drops out after today, I think Obama wins the nomination. Despite still not having the overall lead in pledged delegates, the superdelegates which are currently in Clinton’s camp (presumably) would hopefully respond to the voters’ preferences at the Convention and pick Obama.

The US release of “Wanna Be Startin Somethin 2008 (featuring Akon)” is proving to be more successful than the single being pushed in the UK right now, “The Girl Is Mine 2008 (featuring Will.i.Am).” As you may suspect, this doesn’t happen often for this guy. Currently, the latter is no. 80 on the official UK iTunes chart. The former has moved all the way up to no. 34 on the US iTunes chart!

I have to point out that this is a bit of an achievement, considering “Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’ 2008 (featuring Akon)” is a remix of a song whose original version is already owned by more than 104 million people and has never had a music video.

More good news for Mr. No-Show: according to SoundScan, MJ’s overall American sales increased 5.8% in 2007. In fact, I dropped the information into a spreadsheet and figured out that he’s sold about 1.4 million units in the United States since his acquittal in 2005. How many have you sold?

God, I’m such a dweeb!

God bless TurboTax and grad school! Thanks to the $18,000 I paid in tuition in 2007 by attending the most expensive damn school in the country, I am getting a federal refund this year of $2,414 and a state refund of $121. On the downside, because Congress dragged its ass on the AMT legislation, the IRS was slow to start up its engine in January–people won’t be able to collect their refunds until late February. While I may have finished filing, I won’t receive my money via direct deposit for a month.

You know what? It wasn’t in my budget, so I can’t complain!

I was fine supporting her with an upturned nose until the debates and the lies about Obama endorsing Reaganism. I’m done and no longer compromising. You suck and you are shameless for this, Mrs. Clinton.

Stolen blatantly from FactCheck.org:

Clinton attacked Obama for supposedly supporting Republican ideas, which she said included federal deficits and “privatizing” Social Security:

Clinton: [He] has said in the last week that he really liked the ideas of the Republicans over the last 10 to 15 years, and we can give you the exact quote. … They were ideas like privatizing Social Security, like moving back from a balanced budget and a surplus to deficit and debt.

Obama pushed back, saying he had never endorsed such notions:

Clinton: [You] talked about the Republicans having ideas over the last 10 to 15 years.

Obama: I didn’t say they were good ones.

Clinton: Well, you can read the context of it.

Obama: Well, I didn’t say they were good ones. …

Clinton: It certainly came across in the way that it was presented…

We can’t speak to how things “came across” to Clinton, but we’ve listened to the entire interview and to our ears, it’s just flatly false that Obama said he “really liked the ideas of the Republicans.” Clinton is referring to what Obama told the editorial board of the Reno Gazette-Journal. A video is available on the Internet.

Here’s what Obama actually said in the portion to which Clinton referred:

Obama (Jan. 14, 2008): The Republican approach has played itself out. I think it’s fair to say that the Republicans were the party of ideas for a pretty long chunk of time there over the last 10, 15 years, in the sense that they were challenging conventional wisdom. Now, you’ve heard it all before. You look at the economic policies when they’re being debated among the presidential candidates, it’s all tax cuts. Well, we know, we’ve done that; we’ve tried it. That’s not really going to solve our energy problems, for example.

There’s a difference between praising someone for having ideas and praising the idea itself. Obama is doing the former – and just as clearly not doing the latter. He says the GOP approach has “played itself out,” for example.

It’s also false to imply – as Clinton did – that Obama endorsed Republican proposals to set up private Social Security accounts or that he praised deficit spending. We listened to the entire 49-minute interview, and Obama said no such thing.

This is a new segment I initially wanted to call “Ray Thinks ____ Sucks” where basically I complain and you enjoy. Consider yourself lucky or you’ll get jeered too.

Jeers to the WGA strike. Sure, eventually underpaid Hollywood writers will be able to claim residuals for DVD sales and internet viewings of their work, but for the time being we are all missing out on the televised sedatives that make life livable in the 21st Century. Bring back “SNL” and don’t ruin my (admittedly ridiculous) awards show season!

Jeers to Bill Clinton. Obama’s got a point: he does have to run against two Clintons and I don’t know if that’s really a fair fight for anyone to undertake. Back off, Bill.

Jeers to Ray Harmon. Who do you think you are? What makes you think people care to read your ceaseless bitching about things you can’t control or influence? Where do you get off, sir? Where do you get off?

Jeers to Britney Spears (hey, that rhymes). I don’t think I should have to elaborate further at this point.

Jeers to President Bush. A Crawford wedding? After the 7 years you’ve just had, you’re foregoing a White House wedding that could at least leave a sweet taste in the mouths of the American public as you depart the presidency? Man, you really shouldn’t have fired Karl Rove.