Marisacat

Dumb clucks 6 November 2010

Divers swim with great white sharks off the coast of Mexico: As the owner of Big Animal Photographic Expeditions, ex-Israeli special-forces member Amos, 60, takes paying members of the public to interact face to face with great whites. “The aim of these expeditions is to show my clients that great whites are not the ferocious snarling creatures that we see in movies or in some documentaries,” he said. [AMOS NACHOUM / BARCROFT USA]

….amongst the sharks.

Obviously just the bare bones of whatever came down between Alex Sink, the Dem running for FL governor…. and the WH… but it tells enough.

I never heard an interview with her, a debate between the two… so … she easily could be, most probably is, one of those tedious, lame technologists/technocrats the Dems have run for a long time now (this is Florida, after all)… but losing by a single point, in a critical state, has to have hurt.

AND she is willing to complain, quite publicly. AND it is only the second post-election mention I have heard of wObbly being highly vulnerable on BP/Gulf/Dead and dying creatures, people and industries…

At least she said it. And I almost get the impression the wObblies are not clear on Florida – if that is possible…. And a few other states too….

[I]n an interview with POLITICO, Sink said the administration mishandled the response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, doesn’t appreciate the political damage done by healthcare reform and argued that her GOP opponent’s strategy of tying her to the president did grave damage to her candidacy in the state’s conservative Panhandle.

….

But Sink’s pointed critique expressed the sentiments of other Florida Democrats after an election in which the party lost four U.S. House seats and every statewide contest Tuesday, not to mention statehouse losses that left Democrats facing GOP legislative supermajorities in one of the largest states in the nation.   …

And a bit more…

“I think they were tone-deaf,” she said. “They weren’t interested in hearing my opinion on what was happening on the ground with the oil spill. And they never acknowledged that they had problems with the acceptance of health care reform.”

The new law, she said, is “unpopular particularly among seniors” — a key voting bloc in the Sunshine State.

So…… now they have Rubio….. and a R governor. One with a history of Medicare fraud himself, and neither they (nor she) could punch that home…. The state house in R hands… and so on.

And every indication wObbly is just going to waddle on… ably flanked by the OFA and the DNC… snicker snax.

White House aides and Democratic National Committee officials, however, say that without the involvement of the national party and Obama’s political arm, Organizing for America, Sink would have fared worse. [so familiar!]

“The DNC and OFA kept that campaign afloat,” said a senior West Wing official.

I get an image of a very defensive WH… sort of like a cat with the fur on its body electrified. (Good luck!)

Multiple Democratic sources familiar with Sink’s campaign, however, said administration officials were more concerned about the candidate’s effort to separate herself from the White House than with helping her win.

“She needed some distance and the smart thing to do was allow her to have that distance,” said a Democratic operative familiar with the race.“That would have served their long-term interest.”

But when the candidate criticized the White House response to the oil spill and specifically a summer speech by Vice President Joe Biden in a POLITICO article, an angry administration official called her to demand she “walk back” her assessment, said two sources familiar with the situation.

Obviously any WH runs with the self-interest petard at the ready. Hoisting appears to imminent however.

Their brilliance on display….

Still, when they weren’t protecting the president’s image, Obama aides were either totally unhelpful to the campaign or trying to big-foot the operation, according to sources familiar with the contest.

In the spring, when Sink’s campaign was adrift and desperately in need of a shake-up, there was a meeting in Washington with a group of senior Democrats.

Following the meeting, a mid-level White House political official sent out a one-page memo that operatives saw as so illustrative of the Obama team’s cluelessness about the race that they had it laminated and regularly mocked it.

The document, obtained by POLITICO, included such numbered headers as “Hire Key Staff” and “Develop and present a holistic campaign plan.”

A White House official said the memo was only a summary of the conversation for the participants — not a strategic plan.

Likely they were more interested in games with Charlie Crist.  Which fizzled.

***

It seems they are doing a bit more than just denuding the trees of coconuts around the Gandhi shrine…

 [O]n Monday, US secret agents visited the museum to plan Obama’s security detail.

They were accompanied by officers of Mumbai Police and civic officials of the D ward (where Mani Bhavan is located). While inspecting the route and the buildings lining up the route to the museum, the Americans detected a skyscraper near Peddar road and also found the area to be highly populated.

Since it is difficult to monitor such a congested area, they came up with a quick solution which left the Indians accompanying them amazed: A bomb-proof over-ground tunnel — to be installed by US military engineers in just an hour.

The tunnel would be a kilometre long and measure 12ft by 12ft — enough to let Obama’s cavalcade pass through. The tunnel would be centrally air-conditioned, fitted with close-circuit television cameras, and will be heavily guarded at every point, including, of course, its entry and exit.

Details about when exactly the tunnel would be made were not forthcoming. But officials said that the structure would be dismantled immediately after Obama leaves the area.

 Talk about overworking the grist mill. 

I’m calling for a movement (ha!) to Unfound The Foundling.   He’s too much trouble.