NP: Radiohead, Hail To The Thief

While Andrew Sullivan mixes it up with Republican readers on transcending anger via Hillary vs. Barack, Kevin Drum picks apart the argument before heading off for the holiday.

Both posts get at one really important point, and it's the crux of how and why John Kerry got the nomination last time. He was the insider pick, and had the full weight of the Democratic Party machine behind him. Before psychoanalyzing the Democrats, Sullivan's reader notes that "We instantly understand that Hillary controls the money. Hillary controls the Superdelegates. Hillary controls the Party Apparatus." Drum goes on to add that "Hillary is the choice of much of the party leadership as well as much of the rank and file."

While everyone is out watching the voters in Iowa and New Hampshire, I'm curious to see how those outcomes then feed back into that apparatus. If they stay behind Hillary, she still wins, but given how bad they cocked it up last time, the machine may be looking for an excuse to change it's M.O., which seems to be based on some vague order of succession rewarding fealty and devotion to said machine.