DNC

John McCain can't seem to make up his mind what he thinks about the economy. Sometimes he seems to say the Bush economy is just splendorifous, don't worry, be happy. Other times he gets his serious face and tells us straight talk about things being tough. But you can't have it both ways, Mr. John McBush. You can't say times are tough without recognizing the dismal failures of the Bush economy.

The DNC is calling him on his economic confusion:

And Marc Ambinder discusses some details of the issue at the Atlantic.com.

John McCain seems to think America really is better off than it was 8 years ago. I don't know about you but no one I know is better off. In fact with unemployment, inflation, banks struggling, record level bankruptcy, decaying infrastructure, a second recession in 8 years, and a record deficit, it is hard to see how anyone who isn't CEO of Halliburton or Exxon could see these times as anywhere comparable to the low inflation, low unemployment boom times of the Clinton years.

Reports of the Clintons' dirty politics tactics are mounting every day and it now involves not only officials within the White House but the Prime Minister of Canada as well.

Read and weep from The Globe and Mail :

Reporters were locked up there all day, examining the federal budget until they were allowed to leave once it was tabled in the House of Commons at 4 p.m.

Since the budget contained little in the way of headline-grabbing surprises, some were left with enough free time to gather around a large-screen TV to watch the latest hockey news on NHL trade deadline day.

Mr. Brodie wandered over to speak to Finance Department officials and chatted amiably with journalists — who appreciated this rare moment of direct access to the top official in Mr. Harper's notoriously tight-lipped government.

The former university professor found himself in a room with CTV employees where he was quickly surrounded by a gaggle of reporters while other journalists were within earshot of other colleagues.

At the end of an extended conversation, Mr. Brodie was asked about remarks aimed by the Democratic candidates at Ohio's anti-NAFTA voters that carried serious economic implications for Canada.

Since 75 per cent of Canadian exports go to the U.S., Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton's musings about reopening the North American free-trade pact had caused some concern.

Mr. Brodie downplayed those concerns.

"Quite a few people heard it," said one source in the room.

"He said someone from (Hillary) Clinton's campaign is telling the embassy to take it with a grain of salt. . . That someone called us and told us not to worry."

Government officials did not deny the conversation took place.

They said that Mr. Brodie sought to allay concerns about the impact of Mr. Obama and Ms. Clinton's assertion that they would re-negotiate NAFTA if elected. But they did say that Mr. Brodie had no recollection of discussing any specific candidate — either Ms. Clinton or Mr. Obama.

CTV News President Robert Hurst said he would not discuss his journalists' sources.

But others said the content of Mr. Brodie's remarks was passed on to CTV's Washington bureau and their White House correspondent set out the next day to pursue the story on Ms. Clinton's apparent hypocrisy on the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Although CTV correspondent Tom Clark mentioned Ms. Clinton in passing, the focus of his story was on assurances from the Obama camp.

To say that Canadian government has been embarrassed is to say the least. Whomever leaked this conversation to CTV did it knowing they could use it to hurt Senator Obama. The diplomatic repercussions of this are not only unprecedented. The Canadian government believes it's illegal.

It's the math, stupid! This from Jonathan Alter over at Newsweek :

Let's say the Democratic National Committee schedules do-overs in Florida and (heavily African-American) Michigan. Hillary wins big yet again. But the chances of her netting 56 delegates out of those two states would require two more huge margins. (Unfortunately the Slate calculator isn't helping me here.)

So no matter how you cut it, Obama will almost certainly end the primaries with a pledged-delegate lead, courtesy of all those landslides in February. Hillary would then have to convince the uncommitted superdelegates to reverse the will of the people. Even coming off a big Hillary winning streak, few if any superdelegates will be inclined to do so. For politicians to upend what the voters have decided might be a tad, well, suicidal.

For all of those who have been trashing me for saying this thing is over, please feel free to do your own math. Give Hillary 75 percent in Kentucky and Indiana. Give her a blowout in Oregon. You will still have a hard time getting her through the process with a pledged-delegate lead.

Alter used Slate's Delegate Calculator to calculate the total.

Have you seen the Tom Tancredo ad about how Central American gangs are taking over the United States and he's the only one brave enough to stop them?

Here's the jewel in the son-of-Italian immigrants anti-immigrant crown :

The word "immigration" may have an official definition in dictionaries, yet as a meme it continues to be written and expanded to proportions that are truly mythical.

Tell me if the rabble of Tancredo's rouse is not reminiscent of JR Tolkien's army of Orcs?

Come to think of it, I can understand why the Elvish-looking Tancredo is worried.

Yet, let's look at this closely shall we. As a building block in the narrative of the "immigration" meme, what Tancredo and his team have concocted in that ad is rather impressive.

If Donna Brazille's presence at the DNC Winter Meeting is any validation of my suspicions, then HE WHO SHALL NOT BE NAMED will indeed announce his candidacy. And he will only do so after winning the Oscar for that little documentary of his.

Oscar-winning President kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?

Let's see if my predictions once again are valid. I was after all the first one to announce Hillary's candidacy after she hired Peter Daou.

Just saying.