Saying “Hillary only won the Confederacy” isn’t just idiotic — it’s also bad for the Democratic Part

Earlier this week, the activist group Progressive Democrats of America sent out an email in which it tried to downplay Hillary Clinton’s primary victories by noting she has “won the Confederacy” while the rest of the country is “primed to go for Bernie.” This was an awkward attempt to make the case for not giving up on the Bernie Sanders campaign despite Clinton’s almost insurmountable lead in pledged delegates. The race, this line of thinking goes, is now moving on to western states where Sanders has enormous support. A few significant victories, and he could be right back in it.

The backlash to the letter was swift. Detractors pointed out that, for starters, it’s not true — unless Massachusetts, Illinois and Ohio are now considered part of the Confederacy. Also, the argument elided the widely reported fact that Clinton owes a great deal of the margin of her victories in Southern states to African American voters, a group traditionally not, to put it mildly, great supporters of the explicit white-supremacist ideology associated with the Confederacy. That word itself has become shorthand for the voting advantages enjoyed by the majority-white Republican Party in the South. Tying it to wins involving a large share of the African-American vote is silly.

The PDA quickly apologized. In truth, however, the organization was parroting an argument I’ve seen made by scattered Sanders fans on social media over the last few weeks. (Note: I am not saying Sanders himself is responsible for his supporters’ dumb comments, implying Hillary is winning with the votes of unreconstructed Confederates, nor that he and his fans are racists. PLEASE DON’T @ ME!) It has taken a couple of different forms – sometimes the claim substitutes “red states” for “Southern states” – but the implication is always the same: Hillary Clinton is winning states that no Democrat will win in the general election, So we shouldn’t assume they reflect a wider base of support for her in the country.

As an argument about who the Democrats should nominate, this is a supremely dumb one. This is a primary election. The issue of whether Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders is better suited to win, say, Alabama in the general election is not the question that is up for debate.

But there is a wider issue here, of which this dust-up is just an example, and that is the tendency of Democrats and left-of-center voters to throw up our hands and sneer at the South when it comes to talk of a voting coalition, or just about anything else.


http://www.salon.com/2016/03/19/saying_hillary_only_won_the_confederacy_isnt_just_idiotic_its_also_bad_for_the_democratic_party/

Teaser Trailer released for 'Marvel's Luke Cage' on Netflix (VIDEO)

First forecast for Tuesday, March 22 primaries.

American Samoa:
Cruz (R)

Arizona:
Clinton (D)
Trump (R)

Idaho:
Sanders (D)

Utah:
Sanders (D)
Cruz (R)

Spoiler-Free Review: Daredevil's Back, and Somehow Even Better Than Before

This is a show (and a cast) that are fully comfortable in the world they’ve created. Refreshingly, Daredevil deals with the consequences of season one without constantly talking about what happened. You could actually watch this season without seeing the first one, and be fine. Some nuance would be lost, but it totally works. Many movie sequels can’t pull that off.

The returning cast is as strong as ever, and while Charlie Cox is as stubborn and arrogant as ever and Deborah Ann Woll gives Karen both strength and empathy, the absolute stand-out is Elden Henson as Foggy. While the “only sane man” trope is usually played for comedy, Foggy keeps showing how exhausting and frustrating that role is in real life. Foggy tries desperately to find the most practical solution to every problem, and it’s hard to root for the superhero option, over his pragmatism.

The big newcomers are Jon Bernthal as the Punisher and Élodie Yung as Elektra. As he should, the Punisher serves as a contrast to Daredevil, vicious and excessive in his vengeance. The violence dealt by and to the Punisher recall the best brawls of season one, messy but definitely effective. And yet somehow, Elektra is scarier.

Yung’s Elektra is terrifying, because while Punisher feels like a man unchained, Elektra feels like a woman who isn’t even aware there are chains. Both characters act as devils on Matt’s shoulders, but Elektra’s manipulative enough that she might actually succeed in corrupting him. Once Elektra shows up, things get complicated, fast.


http://io9.gizmodo.com/spoiler-free-review-daredevils-back-and-somehow-even-1765416674

I've reached the conclusion that I cannot vote for Hillary at this time.

I have to wait until my primary ballot arrives in May.

Grassley: 'If I Can Meet With A Dictator,' I Can Meet With Garland

en. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on Thursday brushed off the significance of his plan to meet with President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland.

"If I can meet with a dictator in Uganda, I can surely meet with a decent person in America," Grassley told CNN.

Though Republican Senate leaders had said that they would not even meet with Obama's nominee, some GOP senators have now expressed willingness to meet with Garland.

Grassley told CNN it was "pretty hard to say no" to a meeting with Garland.

He spoke with the nominee over the phone, and told him that the Senate would not take up a Supreme Court nomination until the next president is elected.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chuck-grassley-scotus-meeting-dictator

Just finished the first episode of Daredevil Season 2 (No Spoilers)

It was like the comic book was plastered across the screen.

Obama Privately Tells Donors That Time Is Coming to Unite Behind Hillary Clinton

In unusually candid remarks, President Obama privately told a group of Democratic donors last Friday that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was nearing the point at which his campaign against Hillary Clinton would end, and that the party must soon come together to back her.

Mr. Obama acknowledged that Mrs. Clinton was perceived to have weaknesses as a candidate, and that some Democrats did not view her as authentic.

But he played down the importance of authenticity, noting that President George W. Bush — whose record he ran aggressively against in 2008 — was once praised for his authenticity.

Mr. Obama made the remarks after reporters had left a fund-raising event in Austin, Tex., for the Democratic National Committee. The comments were described by three people in the room for the event, all of whom were granted anonymity to describe a candid moment with the president. The comments were later confirmed by a White House official.


http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/us/politics/obama-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders.html?_r=0

Bernie Sanders will not ask for Missouri recount

Just flashed across my phone. Smart move since they'll split the delegates 50/50 regardless.

RNC member: ‘Political parties choose their nominee, not the general public

Curly Haugland, a Republican National Committee member, says the nomination process is pretty straightforward: The party, not the voters, chooses the nominee.

In an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday morning, Haugland, a North Dakotan and current member of the RNC's Rules Committee, said that any assumption otherwise is misguided.

"That's the problem: The media has created the perception that the voters will decide the nomination," he said. He went on: "Political parties choose their nominee, not the general public, contrary to popular belief."

Technically, this is true. The nomination is decided by delegates to this summer's convention, not directly by voters. But it's probably not a terribly helpful argument to make at a time when Republican establishment types are openly talking about wresting the GOP nomination from Donald Trump at the convention. Trump has said doing so could lead to "riots."

And the RNC said in a statement to The Washington Post that those delegates must represent the voters.

"Every RNC member is entitled to have their own interpretation of the rules," RNC spokeswoman Allison Moore said. "However, the rules clearly require states to bind their delegates based off of the state’s preference vote."


http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/rnc-member-‘political-parties-choose-their-nominee-not-the-general-public’/ar-BBqxYNk?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout