Good post. I would also add that Fox News Sunday is not like Fox News (the cable network.) It is a production for the Fox Broadcasting network, whose local stations have a bit higher standards. I am not a fan of Fox News Sunday, but it is no better or worse than "This Week" with Snuffilufigus or "Meet The Press" with the Pumkinhead. Really.

I saw Obama's interview with Chris Wallace this morning and he was really good. He knows what he's doing. Chris Wallace was tough and focused on the same stupid shit that Snuffilufigus or The Pumkinhead would have - you know, gotcha shit. But Obama showed that he's not too much of a wimp to sit down with Fox News Sunday. And he might have even changed some minds of those who look to Fox for their news and information.

Matt is still in mourning over the Edwards campaign and is constantly being proded by Joe Trippi.
I posted over there that we NEVETR see detailed posts about the Republican style campaign of the Clintons. How the Clintons are destroying the Democratic party and HATE the progressive movement when it doesn't serve their agenda.... Taylor Marsh brags that Stoller says she is a blogger on the level of Digby....LAUGHABLE.....can you imagine! She can't even clean digbys toilet. His post about Obama and fox was so over the top, there are no words to describe it fully.

Note to the blogosphere: ignoring the problem will not make it go away. Obama went on Fox and pretty much forced them to give him a fair and even-handed interview. Yes, they're going to spend the next week trying to spin it into him being a baby-eating demon who's trying to steal the nomination from their pal Hillary, but they're going to have a hard time of it.

Kill because somebody was killed. Get killed because he killed. Do you think peace will ever come like that?

And makes the liberal blogosphere a joke.  We have The Clinton's and Friends always going on Fox, nary a peep.  Bill Clinton goes on flippin' Rush Limbaugh and there's silence. We have Clinton supporters in the blogosphere quoting Rove, Kristol, Buchanan and Scarborough as proof that Hillary is better than Barack.  Hillary Clinton blames MoveOn.org for her losses, she's adopted so many GOP talking points and campaign tactics that it's hard to believe she's a Democrat at times.  And we're supposed to be upset that Obama went of Fox and This is The END, he's nothing but another lying politician, and all that stupid faux outrage that makes up the liberal blogosphere.  Those people are twits.

~~~THIS SPACE FOR RENT~~~

I'd love to see what the Kossacks have to say about this.

You absolutely nailed it, BooMan. This very thing has been bothering me for a few days, and I thought Stoller was being annoyingly alarmist to say the least. (Stoller did sort of the same thing over Obama supposedly supporting mercenary warfare, etc. awhile back I recall.)

It's a bit disconcerting to think a few humble, self-evident points like the ones you just made actually need to be made, but they sure as hell did. It reminds me of all the gnashing of teeth and rending of garments when Obama supposedly threw Wright "under the bus" when he distanced himself from some of the content of Wright's sermons. That was simply smart politics, and he had little choice but to do so, the ultimate goal being to win the General in November.

People need to pick a candidate and trust their judgement and their ability to plan and execute strategy. If they can't trust their candidate's overall approach on stuff like this... well, it's possible their candidate isn't as good a fit for them as they thought.  

my comment on the "social security in crisis thingy" - there are plenty of ostriches to go around - heads in the sand on the left and on the right. Some people just don't want to be told the truth, prefer to hear with their asses. Paul Krugman is Ostrich-in-Chief. He has been grinding at Obama, not a good word to say that leaves one to wonder whether Krugman is not a bigot. A racist.  He has been called out by his peers. Just can't be that dishonest.

Listen up baby boomers, there ain't no social security trust fund. No money. Nada. All gone - raided a long time ago by Bill Clinton and W. Bush. How do you think Bill funded the 1990s prosperity and Bush, the Iraq war?
All they left were IOUs and with the economy heading down stream, with less incoming revenues, the cost of the Iraq war, Feds still printing; hyperinflation is due to hit 2009. Tip of Debtberg. 18 million Baby boomers due to begin collecting, not in 2030 but in 2009.

Oh, the feds will print all the money we need. Not quite.

We's already been robbed and the new multiple crisis(es) ahead won't make good those IOUs. No one to finance these. You'll be told "we can't afford what was promised."

Hmmmm, let's see if what you get can buy one week of food, $6/gallon gas, heating oil at $4.50 gallon. Keep watching American Idol or whatever the new teevee show is on Faux abc and CNN.  Don't prepare.

The crisis window: 2009-2012, Big Ugly brings a wall of hurt. End of the world as we know it.

Taxes, Food and every thing are going higher, whether under McSame, Clinton or Obama.

Pity and sympathy for the next one who sits in the oval office.

In this new world order, energy will govern our lives in new ways and on a daily basis.

It will determine when, and for what purposes, we use our cars; how high (or low) we turn our thermostats; when, where, or even if, we travel; increasingly, what foods we eat (given that the price of producing and distributing many meats and vegetables is profoundly affected by the cost of oil or the allure of growing corn for ethanol); for some of us, where to live; for others, what businesses we engage in; for all of us, when and under what circumstances we go to war or avoid foreign entanglements that could end in war.

This leads to a final observation: the most pressing decision facing the next president and Congress may be how best to accelerate the transition from a fossil-fuel-based energy system to a system based on climate-friendly energy alternatives.

Well, "You can't vote for war and disown the results"

I thought Obama was very very good on it.  And, AMAZINGLY, i thought that Chris Wallace was ... fair and balanced.  I never heard him do such a good job.  The questions were fair.  He did not badger the witness, like he does sometimes - perhaps Obama made  them promise to allow him to answer questions instead of the usual Chris Wallace crap of putting words into people's mouths.

The questions about Wright and Ayers were reasonable.  I thought Obama did an especially good job with the Ayers question.

Obama was excellent about Petreus.  It's very important to re-assert civilian control over the mission.

I only questioned one answer.  Now I can't remember which.

But if you want outreach to "reagan dems" where better than Fox sunday?  OK, maybe a Nascar race, but that would be called pandering.

Of course, listening to that gigantic piece of SHIT Bill Kristol is always a self-control moment.  If I could use waterboarding on a single human (alledgedly), Kristol would be the one.  What a .... words fail me.  I loath that crapulist with every fiber of my being.    

Amen.  And why you are the best commentator out there.

Ignore Krugman. He may have been something once.  But now his hatred of Obama is so deep he is blinded by it.

Same thing for the Clintons.

And let us not spend time fighting the MSM.  We know what they want, McCain.  So don't fight there fights. Ignore them, make fun of them, show them how wrong they are, but don't get bogged down in their nonsense.

This is what Obama will be the best at doing.

Patriotism and religion, like whiskey, is best used in moderation. Mark Twain

And let me add on the Fox bit.

I like Matt, most of the times.

But Fox is the same as CNN and ABC, so good for Obama for going on their.

It will not change the way anyone looks at Fox.  

Matt, you made a statement so stupid, I can only say it is a Fox talking point.

Patriotism and religion, like whiskey, is best used in moderation. Mark Twain

Obsessing over strategy is not our job.

I don't have an issue with the blogosphere obsessing over strategy if they are doing it from an analytical point of view. But this was yet another example of some bloggers thinking that they are part of a strategic team who should be listened to instead of simply analyzing the strategy.   They always get in trouble when they think they are part of the process(or worse yet, they actually become part of the process) instead staying outside the process and figuring out if the process is working or not.  

In general I think it's a good thing to ignore Fox.  But I'm betting that lots of people in Indiana get most of their news from Fox News.  So it was a risky strategy for Obama but there was a lot of upside if he could pull it off.  We'll see how he did as we watch reaction from the non-blogosphere over the next few days.

Ok, I just finished watching the interview and I have to say that I wasn't too impressed with Obama. Not at all.

First, he didn't "take them on" in the least.   Maybe that was a better strategy but if so, he shouldn't have had his spokespeople say he was going to take them on.  It made him look weak.  (And I also thought he came across as a bit condescending.)

And I felt about him the way I felt when he first started running - that he wouldn't give a real answer on this whole reaching across the aisle issue.  He is either misleading on that issue or he's just dumb about it.  I forgot what bad answers he had on that but it all comes back to me now.  

A very disappointing interview.  Obviously geared once again to attracting non-Democrats.  I doubt it's going to attract any of the Hillary coalition to change sides.  

Well I mostly agree BUT....

Who forced the Dems to use the modern 50 state strategy? The bloggers.

Who were the people who stopped Bush's social security plan by reminding people that there is no crisis?
The bloggers.

Who were the people who forced Lieberman out so that he is not campaigning for McCain RIGHT NOW as a Democrat?
The bloggers.

Who were the people who came up with the strategy that turned "stay the course" into an anvil so heavy the Republicans ran away from in a desperate pivot two months before the election?
The bloggers.