Irish Trojan in Tennessee

"Floodgates open" after super-defection?

By Brendan Loy

Very good news for Obama on two fronts tonight. First, it looks like he may be getting a huge union endorsement -- that of the national Service Employees International Union -- possibly at 1pm Friday.

Second, and even more importantly, a development that TPM's Eric Kleefeld says "may well be the beginning of the end for Hillary Clinton's super-delegate strategy": a super-duper switcheroo! According to the New York Times:

Representative John Lewis, an elder statesman from the civil rights era and one of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most prominent black supporters, said Thursday night that he planned to cast his vote as a superdelegate for Senator Barack Obama in hopes of preventing a fight at the Democratic convention.

[UPDATE, 12:52 AM: A late report suggests the Times may have jumped the gun; Lewis may not be switching after all. WTF? Is something fishy going on here?]

Mark Halperin calls Lewis's defection an "earthquake" and the "most serious symbolic threat to Clinton's nomination yet." He elaborates:

Lewis is a universally respected, historic figure who is the first prominent Democrat to go from squarely in Clinton’s camp to Obama’s. The rationale he gave to the New York Times strikes at the heart of the argument that has been circulating among many wavering, undecided superdelegates, and among those now in Clinton’s camp who are feeling pressure to switch. Floodgates could open. The timing could not be worse for Clinton. And those in the party and the press who want to write off her chances will be able to make a big deal about this development. Take whatever you thought Clinton’s chances of winning the nomination before Lewis’ decision and divide that number by as much as two — those are the odds of her winning now.

Michael Crowley says Halperin is exaggerating. "Obviously this is a nasty development for Hillary. ... It hurts. But an event that cuts her odds in half? That's how I would describe a big loss in Wisconsin. Not this."

Regarding Lewis's rationale, here's what the Times said:

Birthday boy Loy clinches Super Tuesday contest

By Brendan Loy

Nine days after Super Tuesday, Democratic Party officials in New Mexico announced today that Hillary Clinton won their state's primary -- which means that Joe Loy, who turned 60 today, is the overall winner of the Irish Trojan Super Tuesday Contest.

With only the Democrats Abroad result still outstanding, Loy is 38-of-44 in predicting the Democratic and Republican elections that were held on February 5. No one else is better than 36-of-44, so even if Loy gets Democrats Abroad wrong (he picked Obama), he'll still win the overall contest.

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

Authorities confirm four people killed by a gunman on the campus of Northern Illinois University. Gunman also dead.

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

A shooting at Northern Illinois University has left at least two people wounded, reports say. Gunman reportedly is dead.

U.S. aims to shoot down errant satellite

By Brendan Loy

Remember the spy satellite that's falling out of orbit and is expected to hit Earth soon? Well, President Bush wants to shoot it out of the sky:

The Pentagon, under orders from President Bush, is planning to shoot down a broken spy satellite expected to hit the Earth in early March, the White House said Thursday.

U.S. officials said that the option preferred by the administration will be to fire a missile from a U.S. Navy cruiser, and shoot down the satellite before it enters Earth's atmosphere. ...

The disabled satellite is expected to hit the Earth the first week of March. Officials said the Navy would likely shoot it down before then, using a special missile modified for the task.

It's interesting that they want to shoot it down before re-entry -- which will create inevitable controversy, given that we condemned the Chinese for doing something similar last year -- when, according to satellite expert James Lewis, another option would be to try and use the Missile Defense System to destroy the satellite just as it begins to re-enter the atmosphere. That would be far less controversial (and would eliminate the "space junk" problem), but I'm guessing the odds of success are lower. In other words, reading the tea leaves, it certainly doesn't sound like the government has much faith in the Missile Defense System, at least as regards its ability to pull off a mission like this one.

Anyway...

Populism pander alert!

By Brendan Loy

Next she'll be saying she's the daughter of a millworker:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) trashed an array of corporate interests in an economic speech in Ohio Thursday, vowing that as president she would go after oil, credit-card, insurance, pharmaceutical, investment and loan firms.

But is this fight "deeply personal" to her?

Sweeeet.

By Brendan Loy

The first Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull trailer is out. (Hat tip: Andrew Hiller.)

CNN Breaking News

By CNN

Mitt Romney will endorse John McCain as the GOP nominee for president, CNN has learned.

Centrists gone wild

By Brendan Loy

First Joe Lieberman endorsed McCain. Now Lincoln Chafee has endorsed Obama. What's next? Chuck Hagel for Hillary? John Breaux for Huckabee?

Meanwhile, is this the start of a Clinton-to-Obama superdelegate switcheroo trend?

UPDATE: Speaking of switcheroos, an unexpectedly rapid answer to my question, "What's next?," has arrived via Wonkette: one of John McCain's top advisers will quit McCain's campaign if Obama is the Democratic nominee because, well, golly, he just likes Obama too darn much to campaign against him! (Hat tip: dcl.)

Happy (?) Valentine's Day

By Brendan Loy

In addition to being my dad's 60th birthday, today is also, of course, Valentine's Day -- "quite clearly the most horrible holiday in the history of the world," according to my brother-in-law. (Not that any day in February, holiday or not, can be expected to be terribly pleasant when you live in Rochester.)

Needless to say, Casey isn't the only man who's less than enthusiastic about Valentine's Day. Nor is hatred of February 14 unique to the male half of the species; plenty of people, of both genders, have had Valentine's Days from Hell.

But hey, a West Virginia radio station is going to make sure that at least one couple in the Mountaineer State will get a nice Valentine's gift: a free divorce. (Just don't tell West Virginia winner Mike Huckabee -- who is celebrating the third anniversary of his "covenant marriage" today.)

Anyway, to the beleaguered men who don't want anything to do with this holiday, just remember: Steak and BJ Day (NSFW??) is only one month away.

P.S. Somebody alert Bill O'Reilly! There's a War on Valentine's Day brewing! (Hat tip: InstaPundit.)

P.P.S. On a marginally related note, the U.S. Supreme Court may soon weigh in on the constitutionality of dildo bans. Link goes to Volokh's post, titled "Dildoes Going to the Supreme Court?," in response to which a commenter writes: "Cert also to be granted on this question:  shouldn't the plural be 'dildi', or is that just pretentious?" (Again, hat tip: Insty.)

Obama vs. McCain = Paula vs. Simon

By Brendan Loy

An amusing analogy, courtesy of an NRO reader: "I was watching American Idol last night, and as usual Paula Abdul was just going on and on about feelings and emotion, and crotchety Simon Cowell was rolling his eyes and telling her to get to the point. It occurred to me that this could be a preview of the election this year if it's Obama and McCain. Paula versus Simon. Who do we want as President?" Heh.

On a more serious note, Quinnipiac Polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania, taken during the week between Super Tuesday and the Potomac Primary, show Hillary up big -- like 15 to 20 points big. If she can hold onto those margins, then this is still a race.

Sampson lied, Hoosier dreams died?

By Brendan Loy

Trouble in Hoosierland:

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Kelvin Sampson's future at Indiana was in doubt Wednesday following the release of an NCAA report that says he committed five "major" violations.

According to the report released Wednesday, the NCAA listed five major violations against Sampson, saying he gave "false or misleading information" to investigators.

Fire Kelvin Sampson? Hey, I hear Bobby Knight's available!

The big 6-0

By Brendan Loy

Sixty years ago today, Harry S. Truman was President of the United States; Joseph Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union; Israel wasn't a country yet; gas cost $0.26 a gallon, and crude oil was $2.50 a barrel; a first-class stamp cost 3 cents; the minimum wage was 40 cents per hour; John McCain was 11 years old; the singer Kenny Loggins was five weeks old; the New York Yankees were reigning World Champions after beating rookie Jackie Robinson and the Brooklyn Dodgers the previous fall; Army's football team had recently seen their 32-game unbeaten streak snapped; the defending NCAA basketball champ was Holy Cross; there were only 21 amendments to the U.S. Constitution; the fastest any human being had ever run a mile was 4 minutes and 1.4 seconds; the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 167; and, oh yes, my dad was born.

That's right -- it's the illustrious Joe Loy's 60th birthday!!

I encourage everyone to leave comments making fun of him for being old. :) Er, and wishing him a happy birthday, too, of course. Hehe.

Happy Birthday, Dad/Papa!!

P.S. Obviously, my dad was a Valentine's baby. What's funny is that Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday in 1948, so if he'd been born a few hours earlier, he would have been a Friday the 13th baby instead!

Also, a fun fact that I learned while researching the history of 1948 for purposes of this post: ten days before my dad was born, an election was held in Ireland, and Fianna Fáil was voted out. As a result, four days after my dad's birth, Éamon de Valera, the first Taoiseach of Ireland, ceded power to John Costello. I'm sure infant Joe had an Irish song prepared for the occasion. :)

There is no truth, However, to the Rumor that his Birth Certificate contained several Instances of Random Capitalization for No apparent Reason. ;)

Hillary Clinton is HOT! HOT! HOT!

By Brendan Loy

Was this Hillary video made by the same people who did the "Appalachian is HOT! HOT! HOT!" video?

Seriously, the similarities are striking. And I'm not just talking about the fact that Hillary and Appy State both won in Michigan. (Though in fairness to the Mountaineers, their win actually counted.*)

Anyway... just listen to the killer lyrics. "Experience is great / Instead of war, we can negotiate / Education, health and world affairs / Hillary is the one who cares" ... ROFL!!

How did this thing not win a Grammy? ;)

(Hat tip: Jason Zengerle.)

*Insert your own joke about Les Miles and "Uncommitted" here.