Quotes From Around Yon Blogosphere

Although Ron Paul may be mathematically out of contention for the Republican nomination, from what I can tell, he has inspired more do-it-yourself campaign graphics than any of the leading contenders from either party.

In addition to the stickers and buttons produced by his campaign, the Web is full of independent artists and designers — professional and amateur alike — who have contributed unofficial graphics to what is known among his supporters as the "Ron Paul Revolution."

What is intriguing about this fervent grassroots response is how graphic styles designed to appeal to a youthful constituency have been built around Representative Paul’s grandfatherly appearance. Even some of the stylized poster portraits look more like those found on souvenir T-shirts commemorating someone’s retirement, or "the world's best dad," than a political icon. Nonetheless the passion behind such an outpouring of good, bad and kitschy art and design cannot be ignored.

-- STEVEN HELLER

This past week, Vermont senator Patrick Leahy joined a growing chorus of politicians, pundits, bloggers, and Barack Obama supporters urging Hillary Clinton -- trailing by a little more than 100 delegates with a number of contests still to go -- to quit the Democratic race in the interests of party unity.

It is, in truth, an argument virtually without precedent in modern political history, at least at this stage of such a close race. And while it does have its origins in an effort to preserve party unity, it also has its roots in an odd and vitriolic crusade to purge the Clintons and hand the nomination to a candidate who has yet, after all, to win a single large state's primary (other than his own), let alone the nomination.

The fact is that, until now, candidates have rarely, if ever, faced such a concerted movement (featuring prominent names, such as Bill Richardson, and a column in Slate titled "The Hillary Deathwatch"), urging them to drop out before their rival has clinched the nomination.

-- STEVEN STARK

Time hasn’t stood still since the late sixties. The backlash against the Democratic Party came to an end in Presidential politics when Bill Clinton was elected as a New Democrat. But the eternal vulnerability of Democratic candidates—for the past half-century, anyway—is the charge that they are different from ordinary people; that they don’t share the same tastes, habits, and values as their fellow-citizens; that they think themselves superior. They are élites of a certain kind—not economic, but cultural. Richard Nixon based his entire career on setting his Democratic opponents up as this type. John McCain is a much nicer guy, but it isn’t hard to imagine how his supporters will portray a cerebral mixed-race man who grew up in Indonesia, went to Harvard Law School, and is named Barack Obama.

-- GEORGE PACKER

McCain has made it clear that he believes the war in Iraq ought to continue indefinitely. He would prefer that the fighting end sooner rather than later, but he has no intention of bringing it to an end nor does he see any limit in terms of time spent or resources expended beyond which it would make sense to end the war. Since McCain can't serve in office for any more than eight years, he clearly can't commit the country to 100 years of continued fighting in Iraq. A McCain administration would mean not 100 more years of war in Iraq, but 8 more years followed by a new President taking office. But if McCain lived forever and stayed in office forever, the war would continue forever -- he doesn't want it to continue forever, but he does regard all realistic means of ending it as unacceptable. That means endless war.

-- MATTHEW YGLESIAS

You'd have thought that the Clinton people would have wanted to downplay the Richardson's endorsement of Obama. And, if they hadn't squawked so much, I bet it would have been a one- or two-day story. But here we are, nearly two weeks after Richardson did the deed, and the press is still talking about it--because the Clintons won't shut up about it. I don't see how this helps Hillary. Seriously, the Clinton people should just let it go.

-- JASON ZENGERLE

All mainstream journalism involving politics is ultimately political cartooning. The cartoonist does in visible and graphic form what the reporter does invisibly, in the framing of his sentences: He endows his subjects with fixed, sharply defined, and unalterable identities. They have characters, as opposed to personalities. Which is why politicians, as they appear in the news, tend to resemble creations from Dickens novels.

This is because, to write coherently in the language of his craft, the reporter, like the 19th-century novelist, has to sharply delimit the parcels of reality he stacks and restacks every day like building blocks.

-- CALLIMACHUS