"loose Virginia"

Lose Virginia.  Loose Virginia sounds like a good prom date.

Loose Virginia is for lovers.

Please stop.  Lets wait until the sun comes up and the body dissolves into Christopher Lee dust to dance on the grave.

Backlash sucks.

SPIELBERG FOR PREZ:

"Spielberg pulls out of Olympics Move marks public relations blow to China"

By TED JOHNSON

"Steven Spielberg has decided not to participate in this summer's Beijing Olympic Games as an artistic adviser, citing China's lack of progress in resolving the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

His move is a public relations blow to the Chinese government, which is under pressure to force the government of Sudan to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

Spielberg's worldwide profile could lead others involved in the Games to pull out and even lead sponsors to reconsider their roles in the event.

As the biggest customer for Sudan's oil, China has been the target of Darfur advocates for the better part of a year, much to the dismay of Chinese officials who have complained that the Games were being politicized.

"I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual," Spielberg said in a statement released on Tuesday. "At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic Ceremonies but doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."

Spielberg was to join a team led by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, but outside of a visit to Beijing a year ago, he had done little work on the event. Spielberg even noted in his statement that he has yet to sign a contract that the Beijing Organizing Committee sent to him about a year ago."

Read the rest:

SPIELBERG FOR PREZ:

"Spielberg pulls out of Olympics Move marks public relations blow to China"

By TED JOHNSON

"Steven Spielberg has decided not to participate in this summer's Beijing Olympic Games as an artistic adviser, citing China's lack of progress in resolving the humanitarian crisis in Darfur.

His move is a public relations blow to the Chinese government, which is under pressure to force the government of Sudan to resolve the crisis in Darfur.

Spielberg's worldwide profile could lead others involved in the Games to pull out and even lead sponsors to reconsider their roles in the event.

As the biggest customer for Sudan's oil, China has been the target of Darfur advocates for the better part of a year, much to the dismay of Chinese officials who have complained that the Games were being politicized.

"I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue with business as usual," Spielberg said in a statement released on Tuesday. "At this point, my time and energy must be spent not on Olympic Ceremonies but doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur."

Spielberg was to join a team led by Chinese director Zhang Yimou, but outside of a visit to Beijing a year ago, he had done little work on the event. Spielberg even noted in his statement that he has yet to sign a contract that the Beijing Organizing Committee sent to him about a year ago."

Read The rest:

www.variety.com/index.asp

You sound despicable. Rejoicing over the downfall of others is disgraceful. Even the Jews mourned their slavemasters after they drown in the Red Sea.

jackson, thanks for the Spielberg post.  And it's about time he made that move.

From the article " As the biggest customer for Sudan's oil, China has been the target of Darfur advocates for the better part of a year, much to the dismay of Chinese officials who have complained that the Games were being politicized."  When have they not been?  If high profile peeps are staying on to work the Games, then you (your country) must be on the correct side of the tracks as viewed by the rest of the world.

As an Obama supporter, I am worried.

Peretz is saying that it is over.

However, he is rarely correct.

Obama carried the white Catholic vote in Virginia. It's over.

White Catholics, and there were many, voted for Bill Clinton in the '90s. This is their first post-Lewinsky opportunity to take their vote back. They're going to take their vote back in Ohio. And in Pennsylvania. In fact, this primary season has a lot to do with people taking their votes back.

Matt Cooper, whose wife is Mandy Grunwald, sums it up: ...the point is that Clinton is starting to resemble Huckabee--a boutique candidate, catering to a small portion of the electorate. In fact, Huckabee is running stronger than Clinton which is saying

As I have mentioned before when the Old Man prematurely exhilerates, Hillary ain't dead yet. She is again on the ropes and if Obama can't put her away now, then he doesn't deserve the nomination.

Hillary is still strong with less affluent Dems and my guess is that she will take a sizable portion of the remaining Latinos in any state. If she starts to lose that demographic, then it is over...but not until....

Jack, give at least half the credit to Mia Farrow, who shamed Spielberg into it.  Alas, nobody is willing to ask the Presidential candidates to endorse any sort of cultural boycott of the Chinese Olympics.  

Marty only uses Obama as a tool against the Clintons -- he'll be jumping to McCain in the Fall, as his schizo-posts on Obama and Israel already hint at.  

cookie, I don't follow, you mean if Hillary manages to eke out victories on March 4 she should then get the nod, in fact deserves it? Lose big for a month, then win small and win it all. Kind of like saying who gets the last touchdown wins, even though the score is 48 to 21 at that time. As you yourself state, she has a demographic advantages there. I agree it ain't over for her yet as arsonplus says, backlash sucks.

jackson, while it is right that Spielberg withdraws, it is right only for Spielberg, it will make zero difference to the Chinese, nor do I think the Chinese people will even know about it, and if they did it would only make Spielberg less popular in China. There are far better ways to get China to not support the Sudan, ways the Bush administration has no intention of doing. I am not talking about boycotts or negative sanctions, but positive actions, like guaranteeing the Chinese oil contracts in other areas of the Middle East, as well as jointly developing oil fields in the South China sea, which the Chinese don't have the technological know how and which make little economic sense for the US since the oil there will be soley for Chinese domestic use.

Please Please Marty don't jinx it.

As much as Obama supporters may disLIKE Clinton, those other pesky people who vote in the general election really HATE Clinton. The only way she would have been competitive in the fall would be if she had romped home with the nomination now. Hasn't happened.

Another day, another huge disappointment for Hillary Clinton. Just a week ago, we were scared silly by the prospect of the proverbial smoke-filled room. (How were we even going to fit all 796 superdelegates in there?) But after last night’s latest

It's possible that this is a fleeting problem of low awareness, but hispanics have shown a distinct aversion to Obama so far. Hard to see him winning Texas without solving this problem, and he's behind in Ohio as well.

Fat lady ain't sung yet. Let's hope TNR doesn't roll out the toast .jpg again

Blackton, I agree with you on principle that diplomacy is much better than boycotts. I don’t much like boycotts as too often the wrong people get hurt. I also agree that Bush could have done a better job dealing with China. (But then we are dealing with Bush, the fuck up in chief).

For some reason people in the US see China as an enemy. I am not sure I know why that is unless it’s because we get nervous when another country is seen as a potential competitor on the world scene. ( I tend to blame Huntington who identified Chinese civilization as one of those that will clash with Western culture in his well known book. The evidence he gives doesn’t support his claim in my opinion.)

In any case, with these caveats I still think that Spielberg’s pulling out of the Olympics is a good thing. I hope it embarrasses Peking into changing its policies on the Sudan.

Blackie,

Let me clarify: HC isn't dead yet because it appears that she still may have the capacity to contest in larger Blue states, attracting working class dems and latinos and asians, who appear to form a dyad of visceral no to Obama obdurance, and continue the stalemate. My gut tells me that as Obama continues his present streak, more and more folks will jump on the bandwagon. Even so, it seems to me that the likelihood of HC totally collapsing is still slim. Thus, dangerous = capacity to continue a rough parity in delegate acrrual.

Even as an Obama believer,  my biggest concern is that should Obama get the nod, I sense that there is a possibliity that some of my brown and asian brothers and sisters may vote for...McCain rather Obama. Call it a hunch. McCain's record on immigration reform is certainly amenable to latinos and hey, the big unspoken in this entire campaign is that asians are even more anti Obama than us brown folks. Pains me to say this shit but it appears to be true.

If enough latinos and asians go to McCain, we've got a bit of trouble in November, irrespective of my exhileration about Obama's growing prospects.

I don't think people vote this pragmatically, but it makes sense for Latinos to vote McCain over Obama.  For one thing, McCain keeps the GOP open to Latinos so they don't paint themselves into a corner like blacks do with Dems (where the only weapon is turnout).  If they deliver the election to McCain, he owes them and "green card amnesty" surely passes.  If Obama wins, he's already committed to amnesty and demographics will have Dems forcing Obama to follow-through.

cookie, I agree but what can Obama do? eventually you have to take the plunge and hope for the best. if he loses because of bigotry (and at this point I think that is about the only reason he will lose, I love McCain but he doesn't exactly fire anybody up and even now is having a hard time putting the huckster away) it will indeed be a sad day for America.

If McCain does win, I think there is a good chance even he will regret it, he will be the guy who destroyed hope inheriting a Presidency that Bush all but disgraced, with a country in recession, a quagmire in Iraq, all on a platform of "I won't rock the boat for 4 years" As I said, I love the guy, but his time was 8 years ago.

"If McCain does win, I think there is a good chance even he will regret it, he will be the guy who destroyed hope inheriting a Presidency that Bush all but disgraced, with a country in recession, a quagmire in Iraq, all on a platform of "I won't rock the boat for 4 years" As I said, I love the guy, but his time was 8 years ago."

The presidency has been disgarced before, think of Nixon, think of Clinton. Even as a disgraceful President Bush is second rate.

Don't know if anybody is still here, but

1.  Hasn't anyone noticed that McCain has suddenly shut up about his open door policy vis a vis Mexicans?  This is a huge issue for many Republicans, who want our borders completely closed.

2.  Steven Spielberg cares only about Steven Spielberg.  The gesture means nothing, and comes at a rather embarrassing time, given that it took him this long to reach his decision.  He is a rapacious man who might, in some respects, qualify as an Asperger case.  He's a savant who makes shmaltzy movies that have mass appeal, and that's it.  Anyone with half a sense of how he might appear to the world would never have agreed to stage-manage the Chinese Olympics, to say nothing of morals and ethics.  And sadly, nobody in Hollywood has the guts to tell him how stupid he was being.  It's like, you can just hear in his head, "Duh, maybe this isn't such good idea."    

achester99, if a man can't rejoice over the (I hope) impending downfall of the Clintons, then who the hell else's downfall can he gloat over?

Do we have to hold out for a Mussolini or a Hitler?

Jaunty, Asians are going slow on Obama for similar reasons to the compadres.  They tend to be conservative and loyal to trusted brands.  They don't jump quickly to something new and flashy.

I don't think it has much to do with Obama's being black as to Obama being a national brand launched two years ago, and the Clintons being a national brand around since the early 90s.

Uh, well, Molly, you can hardly consolidate the Right Wing base by putting your open-borders foot forward.

And, I'm not sure anybody is thrilled about a totally untrammeled invasion of illegal except for Democratic politicians licking their chops over Hispanic votes, and corporations who love cheap labor.

Even Hispanics who've been here for awhile don't like it.

I don't really hear Hillary and Obama bringing up the subject that much either.

Oh, but they have.  Obama himself has said he believes in licenses for illegal aliens, and that people are using this issue to scape-goat.  

As for Mr. McCain, you don't find it at all strange that this man is was trying to push through amnesty?  And that was say, less than a year ago.  It's all a bit much for  me.  

I support McCain, molly, while despising his stand on illegal immigration.

But if it's him vs Hillary or even the attractive Obama, it's no contest.

You're rarely going to get a presidential candidate who is both "perfect" (for you) and can also win the national election.  Unless you live square in the middle of the road.

channy, and that is where I live, which is why I will be happy with either McCain (Nat. Sec.) or Obama (Nat. greatness). Hillary has just been too horrendous as a human being at this point. So entitled and arrogant. Even if she were to pick me as an adviser and do everything I tell her I still wouldn't vote for her.

Blackie, you're too decent a guy.  Please don't take a job as a Hillary consigliere.

Howie Kurtz is the capitol's -- no, the country's -- authoritative commentator on contemporary