And Garfield was assassinated in July; and McKinley in September, and President Kennedy in November...

First of the week she couldn't drop out because of the Florida recount in 2000 and the Civil Rights Movement. Midweek she couldn't drop out because the presidential election in Zimbabwe was rigged. Today she can't drop out because Senator Robert Kennedy was murdered in June during his campaign.

"Batshit crazy," Waldo muttered.

"Hillary Clinton cited the 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy in justifying her decision to keep campaigning for president in videotape released today.

"In a filmed meeting with editors of a newspaper in South Dakota, which holds the final primary of the Democratic race on June 3, Clinton hinted that she might not concede the nomination to Barack Obama until the August nominating convention.

'My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right?" Clinton said. "We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it."'

A few minutes later, she was sorry:

"Clinton spokesman Mo Elleithee says she was only referring to her husband and Kennedy “as historical examples of the nominating process going well into the summer.” '

"Even so, Clinton decided within a couple of hours to make a personal apology. She says she regrets mentioning “that moment of trauma” if it was in any way offensive."

Public policy and tongue-kissing

Those FRATNews boys and their lesbian fantasies.

They remind me of John Candy's big entrance in Splash: "Look, Penthouse printed my letter! 'Never a lesbian again, she cried.'"

California marriage referendum looks like a tossup

An LA Times poll suggests opponents of same-sex marriage may not have the cakewalk to the November ballot they expect. Voters oppose the state supreme court's decision by a margin of 52-41, and support the constitutional ban 54-35.

"But because ballot measures on controversial topics often lose support during the course of a campaign, strategists typically want to start out well above the 50% support level.

"'Although the amendment to reinstate the ban on same-sex marriage is winning by a small majority, this may not bode well for the measure,' said Times Poll Director Susan Pinkus."

The demographics underlying the results are interesting. The younger the voter, the more likely to support marriage equality. The break-point comes about age 45. "The strongest opposition came from Republicans and self-described conservatives. Married respondents, those without college degrees, senior citizens, white evangelical Christians and those in suburban Southern California were also strongly opposed.

"Those same groups were also among the strongest backers of the proposed amendment.

"Most supportive of the court decision were liberals -- more than 7 in 10 of whom favored the ruling -- Democratic men and Democratic women, whites with college degrees and Bay Area residents.

"Majority support -- if barely -- came from the two political groups whose backing generally spells success in California: The state's largest party, Democrats, backed it by a 55%-39% margin, and the fastest-growing political group, independents, supported it 51% to 40%.

"Yet support for the ruling did not necessarily lead to opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment, and vice versa. Democrats and independents narrowly backed the amendment despite their support for the court action. Democratic men favored the ruling but were split on the amendment. Democratic women, meanwhile, approved of both the court decision and the amendment."

The Times story quoted a typical opponent:

"Becky Espinoza of Kerman, an agricultural town west of Fresno, said that if the amendment made the ballot, she would vote for it. But she acknowledged some ambivalence about the matter coming before voters at all.

"'I just don't believe a man and a man should be married," said the 57-year-old Republican. 'How can I put this -- it's just not right. I was brought up very old-fashioned.'

"Even within her own family, however, there are differences of opinion. A younger daughter, she said, feels 'there's nothing wrong with that.'

'To kids nowadays, it's like "Oh well." Maybe it is "Oh well." They see it. We didn't see it. It was one of those in-the-closet things.'

Conversely, the poll results show that "views on gay marriage were greatly influenced by personal connections. Of those who said they knew a friend, a family member or a co-worker who was gay, nearly half approved of the court's ruling -- more than twice the proportion among those who said they were not acquainted with a gay person.

"The divide was as stark when it came to the proposed constitutional amendment: 70% of voters who said they did not know a gay person would vote for it, a position taken by just 49% of voters who said they knew a gay person."

The results suggest the big middle part of California voters are thinking this issue through. A lot may have already done so. It's certainly interesting that one of the bellwethers of gay panic- the American Family Association- got all wound up about a same-sex kiss on the daytime soap "As the World Turns" but not the ones on the sweeps month season finales of Brothers & Sisters, Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy.As many such groups have done for decades, they use gay issues as a fundraising tool and a publicity device. Increasingly, the opponents' arguments grow threadbare and circular. We can't allow marriage quality for the first time because it has never been done before. Gays are incapable of maintaining stable relationships but we can't allow them the opportunity to take part in the ultimate stabilizing relationship. Marriage normalizes polymorphous urges (the Dennis Prager argument) into the exclusivity of marriage. All that mattes in marriage is the gender of the parties (the D'Souza argument)- gays can marry lesbians and everyone's fine. Never mind that you get all the tax benefits the Defense of Marriage Act was written to deny you- the appearance of Judeo-Christian marriage is preserved. And what you do in your bedroom(s)- wait, that's the anti- marriage argument- is your own business.

Only in Seattle-

When the WTO riots were in full swing, Jay Leno joked that while the cops used pepper spray on the demonstrators, "it was freshly ground pepper spray." From The Stranger's SLOG:

When There Is A Party in Seattle, Everyone Goes Home with Fennel Salt

posted by Jen Graves on May 23 at 12:04 PM

The above was the party favor at last night’s movie premiere of “Battle in Seattle,” which, unfortunately for the very earnest-seeming Stuart Townsend, belongs on the list of movies never, never to watch. (Also, I do not like Michelle Rodriguez. In the Q&A after the screening, it was apparent that she is an infant. A sexy infant, which is awkward. Andre 3000, by contrast, behaved warmly and graciously, and showed kindness to a nervous, stuttering questioner who would otherwise have been left in a public lurch, meaning that I will henceforth buy every product that Andre 3000 would like me to buy, unless it means I have to watch him again in “Battle in Seattle,” cast as the racist, racist fun-lovin’ Negro Entertainer named Django.)

But back to the fennel salt. I took one of these home, and I suppose I will try it this weekend. According to this link, the stuff, made by Volterra restaurant, retails for $23.

Whoever thought riots would bring free fennel salt?

Live by the media, break up by the media

We admit we have a taste for the tasteless,e specially when it comes to reality shows. Tom Arnold and My Big Redneck Wedding were made for each other. Flavor of Love and its offspring, I Love New York, well, you gotta see them to believe them.

Then there's A Shot At Love. It's your traditional nitwits in a hamster cage performing to win the "love" of the "star." In this case the demicelebrity is a young woman called Tila Tequila. She says she's bisexual, so the roster of suitors for her undying affection is divided equally between men and women. It being TV, the women were all being played: you could tell from episode one that angel was just to keep the teen boys watching.

So she picked a guy and they rode off to wherever people like that ride. Now Queerty reports it all ended unhappily:

"Sad, confused MySpace cewebrity and reality star Tila Tequila blames her unsuccessful quest to find true love on the media. Despite picking Bobby Banhart as the winner of A Shot At Love, the two quickly fell out of, ahem, love when, as this sort of things tends to happen with C-list celebrities, the media started attacking them.

'“The media says something about him, and he retaliates, and I’m like ‘That’s not how it was.’ And it ends up being, like, unfortunate,” she told the Associated Press.

"And also: There’s the little part about Banhart being an egregious self-promoter. Totally in a not-like-Tila way.

Because when we were talking, he was just talking about meeting with agents and getting his own reality show, and meeting with managers. Of course I was happy for him, but at the same time I thought that was really weird. Because if that’s what you were doing, then why didn’t you mention that while we were shooting? It was just odd to me. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. [AP]"

Tossing his bow tie into the ring?

Rumors make the rounds that Tucker Carlson, who has had more failed TV news shows than anyone else we can think of, will jump into the Libertarian presidential race this weekend.

Given his cheerful on-air description last August of taking part in a gay bashing, we're guessing he comes down on the Bob Barr side of the Libertarian spectrum. In his defense, after he recounted his take of citizen activism, he announced, "And I'm the least anti-gay right-winger you'll ever meet."

It happens every day

"Indeed, upon learning Major Keene is gay, the character of Dr. Barton pointedly notes, 'It’s ironic that the army’s extensive battery and psychological test has conclusively determined that the person they are most afraid of is the best suited to make the right choice in this crisis.'"

-From the A&E remake of The Andromeda Strain, in one character holds the key to shut down a biological containment's self-destruct program in the event of a viral escape. The miniseries airs May 26 and 27, 9-11p ET.

Former kid star Rick Schroeder: don't ask.

As Johnnie Cochran wold say, to win the prize you must naderize

Waldo's friend The Delaware Libertarian's the place to go for the ins and outs of Libertarian Party politics and doctrine. We're just a bettor at the track wondering about the longshots. So is Newsweek:

A Rasmussen poll released last weekend shows that newly declared Libertarian candidate Bob Barr (assuming he secures his party's nomination) would likely eat into McCain's numbers, winning 6 percent of the electorate and leaving McCain with 38 percent to Sen. Barack Obama's 42 percent (another 4 percent would go to independent candidate Ralph Nader). So a Libertarian candidate could very well swing the election. As Welch put it, there is a "possibility that a third party this year is going to Naderize John McCain," a reference to Nader's spoiler role in the 2000 presidential race.

No reports of it being sold to anyone there

Chang W. Lee/The New York Times

The 125th anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge took place last night.

"What's more, Michigan and Florida voters are like the flowers of democracy trampled by another 100% Saddam Hussein election victory."

Based on this item in Swampland, it appears all that's left for Hillary Clinton is to claim she's Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the world will go up in flames if she doesn't get the nomination:

Desperate to get attention for her cause to seat Florida and Michigan delegates, Hillary Clinton compared the plight of Zimbabweans in their recent fraudulent election to the uncounted votes of Michigan and Florida voters saying it is wrong when “people go through the motions of an election only to have them discarded and disregarded.”

“We’re seeing that right now in Zimbabwe," Clinton explained. "Tragically, an election was held, the president lost, they refused to abide by the will of the people,” Clinton told the crowd of senior citizens at a retirement community in south Florida.

Reason hosting the unreasonable

Mike Gravel revealed today he was a Libertarian mole:

An Alternate Universe

It's a primary fight to the finish -- even, apparently, for the Libertarian Party hopefuls.

LP contenders Wayne Allyn Root, Bob Barr and Mike Gravel, in Washington Tuesday for a forum hosted by reason magazine, made their pleas for their adopted party's nom just days before its Memorial Day weekend convention in Denver.

"I'm the Ronald Reagan of the Libertarian Party," Root, who has a wrestler's build and a mobster's tailor, told reporters before the start of the event. He rattled off his credentials: Vegas odds maker, infomercial pioneer, best-selling author.

"I'm kind of an MTV guy running for president, and so I think I could catch fire with the youth movement in this country," Root added. "What Ron Paul started, I could finish. I'm the frontrunner, I don't think there's any doubt about that."

After Barr arrived late, the 30-minute forum began with the candidates's two-minute opening statements. It had the feel of a speed date.

Gravel railed against the "War On Drugs." Barr, who served four terms in the House, talked about a "rebirth of freedom." And Root won over the crowd with a political bombshell. During a dinner with Karl Rove two years ago, he told Bush's brain: "If you allow the United States Congress to ban [Internet] poker, what you're going to do is destroy the entire Republican revolution. Karl Rove laughed it off, and the Republican revolution ended."

When the show wrapped, Barr, swarmed by reporters, said that Libertarianism had gone mainstream.

"How much more mainstream can you get than serving in the House of Representatives?" said Barr, whose campaign is headed by Russell Verney, Ross Perot's ex-adviser.

Nearby, Gravel explained that he "ran as a Democrat only to get into the debates."

Root, meanwhile, offered this prognostication: "It all comes down to the debate Saturday night on C-Span."

This is where I get off

John McCain rejected the endorsement of that mischievous little pixie, Rev. John Hagee, today. Rev. Hagee withdrew his endorsement, complaining that people were combing through his record and distorting things he'd said about causes near and dear to his heart.

Which leaves "moral compass and spiritual advisor" Rod Parsley on the McCain team.

It's Over

So big David beat little David on American Idol last night. We'll be watching now for the news of a murder-suicide in Murray, Utah. WaPo has all the reasons you were wise to skip the two-hour finale.

The Walrus, the Carpenter, and a lot of little Libertarian Oysters

Writing in The Murdoch Street Journal today, former Reagan/Bush II aide Bruce Bartlett highlights an interesting contradiction:

"Ron Paul's unexpected success raising money and gaining votes in the Republican primaries – running on an explicitly libertarian platform – has made the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination something worth vying for this year.

"Although Rep. Paul could probably have had the nomination for the asking, he's running instead for re-election in his Texas district. Former Republican Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia and former Democratic Sen. Mike Gravel of Alaska are among those actively seeking the nomination at the LP convention, which begins today in Denver.

"The fact that such well-known, former establishment figures would seek a fringe party's presidential nomination demonstrates to many libertarians that their party has come of age. It's also created fear in Republican ranks that a viable LP candidate could throw a close election to the Democrats...

"Although this may turn out to be a banner year for the Libertarian Party, the LP is not a real alternative to the Republicans and Democrats. Because of the Electoral College, restrictions on ballot access and onerous campaign finance laws, third parties simply aren't viable for actually electing candidates. Nor do they pull the major parties toward their position: Ron Paul's success did not encourage other Republican presidential candidates to even pay lip service to his ideas."

To Mike Gravel and Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party is just a vehicle for the views they already held, small enough to have a chance of taking over, large enough to attract enough funds and attention to be a player in the game. For Barr, the party is just a larger potential version of his PAC.

Enjoy Denver, Libertarians!

They could sell a million of these-

SLOG is on a roll today...

"From the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

"The St. Paul Saints, long known for offbeat, sometimes edgy, promotions, have come up with a real doozy for this Sunday’s game. While lots of sports franchises hand out bobblehead dolls, usually depicting their players, the Saints are handing out 2,500 “bobblefoot” knicknacks.

"The keepsakes consist of a miniature bathroom stall with a couple of lower legs and feet. One of the feet is springloaded and “taps,” which, the Saints’ press release says, is in honor of National Tap Dance Day.

"Right.

"The team also takes pains to note: “It doesn’t matter if your tapping style is done with a ‘wide stance’ or is used as some sort of code.”

"U.S. Sen. Larry “Wide Stance” Craig (R-Idablow), of course, was arrested after he tapped his foot at the wrong stallmate in a toilet at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Distributing “keepsakes” that invoke a disgraced senator, anonymous sex, and GOP hypocrisy… well, I guess I’m a Saints fan now."

Department of Over the Top Rhetoric

It's turning into a good campaign year for the Nazis, what with the Republican congressional candidate who spoke the Hitler birthday dinner President Bush' invocation of them in Israel, suggestions by others that Obama rally crowd remind them of Nazi gatherings, McCain backer Rev. Hagee saying God sent Hitler to advance the return of the Jews to Israel, and now this, via SLOG:

Issuing Marriage Licenses to Gay Couples the Moral Equivalent of Gassing Jews

posted by Dan Savage on May 22 at 9:42 AM

So says Save California, an anti-gay group that is calling asking it supporters to call county clerks and demand that they refuse to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. From their website:

Ask your county clerk if they were a Nazi officer during WWII and had been ordered to gas the Jews, would they? At the Nuremberg trials, they would have been convicted of murder for following this immoral order.

Nice.

I coulda been a contender! I coulda won Dancing with the Stars!

One of Washington's folk figures, Tonya Harding, has come out with a book. And it turns out she was shocked, shocked to find out about the plan to kneecap Nancy Kerrigan.

You've really disappointed us, Democrats, just wait until Hillary gets home

Bubba's chance to get back in the game is slipping, Time writer Karen Tumulty suggests:

What will Clinton's terms of surrender turn out to be? Her husband, for one, seems to have a pretty clear idea what he thinks she should get as a consolation prize. In Bill Clinton's view, she has earned nothing short of an offer to be Obama's running mate, according to some who are close to the former President. Bill "is pushing real hard for this to happen," says a friend.

But now that the she-Clinton's message is that the nomination's being stolen from her a la Florida 2000, it looks increasingly like The Clintons will settle for nothing less than bringing the party to heel and having it crawl back, groveling, to its natural masters.

Nice work if you can get it

Andrew Sullivan considers what it's like to be out of sight, out of mind:

"It's been rightly praised here where I found it. This passage struck me:

First, who you marry is far more important than what career you choose. Over the course of a life that has taken me across three continents, I have met many accomplished men and women. And I have always been astonished by the number who give more thought to choosing the job they may hold for a couple of years than to choosing the spouse to whom they will pledge – before God and their friends – to remain with until death they do part.

"I wonder if McGurn even thought for a second that for maybe 3 percent of his audience, "who you marry" is an illegal question. In Kansas, where he was speaking, three out of a hundred of the graduates he was addressing are barred from ever marrying the person they love by state constitutional amendment. And McGurn supported a president who wanted to make their potential marriages illegal not just in Kansas but in all fifty states in perpetuity as a matter of the federal constitution.

"Actually, I don't wonder. I don't think such a thing even occurred to McGurn when he said it. Gay people are as invisible to him as they are to the president he served, a president who is supposed to serve all the people but couldn't ever address a gay group or acknowledge gay people's existence - unless explicitly asked - for almost eight years of his presidency.

"But imagine if it meant you; that you are barred by law and by the state constitution from ever marrying the person you love. "Who you marry is far more important than what career you choose." How would that otherwise admirable piece of advice make you feel?"

Dynastic successions

Once the news of Senator Kennedy's illness became public, Waldo- who has spent too much time in life around politicos- wondered aloud how long it would be before people start jockeying to succeed the senator.

Now The Daily News says Senator Kennedy is trying to stage-manage the transition himself. He wants his wife to get the job.

Everybody knows you can't shoot intruders with a Sub Zero-

A bill to exempt purchases of energy-efficient appliances from South Carolina sales tax has passed the legislature, with an amendment that allows tax-free gun purchases over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Who knew high school students were so...easy?

The principal of Irmo (SC) High School has announced his resignation at the end of next academic year because he can't endure a Gay-Straight Alliance student club in the school. And, like the principal of a Florida high school who banned a student from wearing a pro-gay student button while allowing other students to wear clothing bearing Confederate flags ("Davis also testified that he believed rainbows were “sexually suggestive” and would make students unable to study because they’d be picturing gay sex acts in their mind"), it's because he thinks such clubs are a magnet for otherwise straight students to go over to the dark side:

"The formation of this club conflicts with my professional beliefs in that we do not have other clubs at Irmo High school based on sexual orientation, sexual preference, or sexual activity. In fact our sex education curriculum is abstinence based. I feel the formation of a Gay/Straight Alliance Club at Irmo High school implies that students joining the club will have chosen to or will choose to engage in sexual activity with members of the same sex, opposite sex, or members of both sexes."

First time for everything-

John McCain plans a beauty contest interview with three potential veeps this weekend: Florida governor Charlie Crist; Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal; and Mitt the Robot Romney.

Each offers something interesting. Romney, the ability to swing the Mormon vote in western states that are tilting Democratic. Jindal, youth and brilliance: he's a Rhodes Scholar; a converted Catholic who's written about seeing a friend possessed by demons; president of the University of Louisiana at 28; an assistant cabinet secretary; and governor at 36 (On the other hand, his legal first name is Piyush, which may trigger Pavlovian Muslim responses among hard working white voters). Crist, the ability to put the key state of Florida in play and to be the nation's first (well, maybe second, if you believe the stories about William Rufus DeVane King) gay vice president.

It's Coming! It's Coming!

Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the One Laptop per Child program, has decided that “the next generation laptop should be a book.” Or, more precisely, an e-book, with right-and-left pages and hinges.

D'Souzapalooza

Dinesh D'Souza says the answer to same-sex marriage is simple: "In issuing its ruling the California court appealed to the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The basic logic is that gays have a right to be treated like everyone else. But just like everyone else, gays do have the right to marry. They have the right to marry adult members of the opposite sex! What gay activists want is something else: the right to marry members of the same sex. This is not a right currently enjoyed by anyone."

Andrew Sullivan's riposte:

The California court had a more direct response:

It is sophistic to suggest that this conclusion is avoidable by reason of the circumstance that the marriage statutes permit a gay man or a lesbian to marry someone of the opposite sex, because making such a choice would require the negation of the person's sexual orientation.

Of course, the negation of gay people's sexual orientation is the goal of D'Souza. We do not exist, as far as he is concerned.