As we’ve seen over the past two years, primaries can be highly divisive. However, through it all, Terry McAuliffe has been a pleasure to watch - frustrating at times, but always entertaining. Whatever the Clinton’s are paying him (I suspect nothing), it’s definitely not enough! Nice work TPM!
This past weekend, we lost Josh Sack. Josh was a great friend and a talented genius in all things musical. Josh lost a courageous battle with Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) on Sunday and he will be deeply missed.
Over the past several years, Josh’s band, The Brakes, have become one of the premiere up-and-coming bands in music. They came onto the scene in Philadelphia back in 2001, and have since built a dedicated fan base throughout the country. The Brakes performed at South by Southwest, along with many other major music festivals, and their tunes are loved by many. In fact, we have featured a number of their songs on DoubleSpeak over the past two years.
That’s Josh the musician. Fortunately, we were all lucky to know Josh as more than that.
Many of Josh’s fans and admirers never had the chance to know him as intimately as we have. Growing up, all three of us have wonderful memories of daily trips to the Sack household to hang out with our fellow partner in crime and Josh’s older brother Bill. As soon as the day ended at Lower Merion High School, we would jump in a car and roll over to the house - indulging (usually overindulging) in delicious snacks that mama Sack would have stashed in the kitchen cabinets.
We can remember sitting on overstuffed leather couches, stomachs filled to the brim, awaiting Josh’s arrival home from school. Despite the fact that he was five years younger than us, even then we knew we were lucky to hang out with such a good kid and talent. As soon as he sat down we would each pickup one of the many different musical instruments that were customarily stashed around the room and begin an epic (or so we thought at the time) jam session. Later we might go upstairs for a round of Golden Eye, though again Josh could beat us all handily at the age of 12.
Even then Josh already showed a remarkable ability to excel at anything he put his mind to. He would put on a Dave Matthews Band CD and literally play note by note along with Dave Matthews’s guitar riffs or Carter Beauford’s drum solos. Suffice to say, that’s not an easy task for anyone.
Josh was a character – he was loud, funny and rambunctious. He had a cutting wit that you couldn’t miss and that you couldn’t help smiling at.
We mourn the loss of a friend and we celebrate the life of a truly great person. To Josh’s family – Bill, Joan and David – we are truly sorry for your loss. Josh has given many people a lot of love, a lot of great memories and probably above all, a lot of fantastic music.
He will live in us forever. He dared to follow his dreams and in doing so made us all want to do the same.
-Peter, Matthew and Josh
The Sack family has requested that donations be made in Josh’s memory to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In addition, you can get The Brakes new album, “Tale of Two Cities,” released only today on Hyena Records in stores and online.
John McCain doesn’t really understand foreign policy at all. He thinks having an American troop presence in Iraq for 100, 1000, or even 1,000,000 years is a good idea. Well, it ain’t. The now famous video of McCain stating that he wouldn’t mind having troops in Iraq for 100 years now has a friend. A **new video** of McCain from an appearance on Good Morning America has turned up where he said we should be in Iraq for one million years. He just doesn’t get it.
It is certainly a minor point, but the media continues to be tremendously lazy with the actual results of yesterday’s Pennsylvania primary. As of 11 am the day after the race, with 99.44% reporting (still missing 52 districts out of 9,264) Clinton is on top of Obama by 9.2%, not the 10% that is widely reported. Yes, this is a small number, but there is a tremendous psychological difference between a double-digit and single-digit win.
Where we stand today (according to the AP Delegate Tracker):
Obama: 1,481 pledged + 233 super = 1,714 delegates
Clinton: 1,331 pledged + 258 super = 1,589 delegates
I’m not sure if this includes this morning’s superdelegate endorsement of Obama by Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry. As Chuck Todd noted on NBC last night, Clinton now needs to win 70% of the delegates on May 6 in NC and IN and 80% after that date if she can’t meet that number.
This morning, Bruce Springsteen endorsed Barack Obama for President of the United States. Here is the letter that he posted on his website.
Dear Friends and Fans:
LIke most of you, I’ve been following the campaign and I have now seen and heard enough to know where I stand. Senator Obama, in my view, is head and shoulders above the rest.
He has the depth, the reflectiveness, and the resilience to be our next President. He speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that’s interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit. A place where “…nobody crowds you, and nobody goes it alone.”
At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships. While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man’s life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, Dreams of My Father, often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.
After the terrible damage done over the past eight years, a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken. I believe that Senator Obama is the best candidate to lead that project and to lead us into the 21st Century with a renewed sense of moral purpose and of ourselves as Americans.
Over here on E Street, we’re proud to support Obama for President.
In 2004, Bruce passionately endorsed John Kerry and played some great shows for him in the final days of the fall campaign. Alas, there is no President Kerry, but given the fact that Obama has had some trouble “connecting” with working class voters (I don’t believe this, but it’s out there in the media narrative), this endorsement from the Boss should help solidify some of that blue-collar support.
Here’s video from that 2004 event in Madison, Wisconsin.
Bitter. That was the word of the weekend. The press, pundits and talking heads are running away with this story, trying to turn it into a full-blown scandal and as expected, the Clinton campaign is pushing Obama’s quote to just about anyone who will listen. This doesn’t surprise me - at this point, they need to find any opening to try and knock down Obama, especially as he picks up a little headwind in Pennsylvania. In fact, Obama’s comments have now taken on a life of their own. He’s being accused of being a snob, out of touch and elitist, even though he said something that Bill Clinton has echoed many times in the recent past.
In fact, many Democrats have made the argument that voters have been acting against their economic interest by simply voting on wedge issues like guns, gays and god and ignoring what policy makers are actually saying about the issues that touch them most - the economy, health care, war and peace, etc. It’s also pretty clear that some Americans are bitter at the way the government have been treating them over the past couple decades. If I didn’t have adequate health care for my family and I had a sick kid, or needed care myself, I too might be a little bitter.
Rest assured for all you worrier’s out there - this story will go away in the next couple days. There is a debate at the Constitution Center in Philadelphia on Wednesday, and assuming that this issue is still swirling, Obama should be able to pacify the situation by giving a more artful explanation of what he meant in his comments and to clarify the pieces of the statement that have seemed to take on a life of their own.
The Obama campaign has wisely decided to put up Bob Casey on television to defend Obama. Here’s the ad.